Category Archives: Bedford Corners NY

GDP Growth in the Third Quarter – And It Just Keeps Getting Better | Bedford Corners Real Estate

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The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) released its third estimate of real GDP growth for the third quarter. Growth in economic output was revised upward to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.0% from 3.9% in the second and 3.5% in the advance estimate. The pace was 4.6% in the second quarter.

The revisions were largely concentrated in personal consumption expenditures (PCE) and fixed nonresidential investment, a very positive signal for momentum in final demand going forward. PCE growth accelerated to an annualized pace of 3.2% from 2.5% in the second quarter. Growth in fixed nonresidential investment accelerated to 8.9% from 7.1%.

The previously reported slowdown in GDP growth between the second and third quarters has been erased by the latest revision, or more likely postponed until the fourth quarter. The acceleration in PCE showed surprising strength, business investment held up better than expected, imports (which subtract from growth) are likely to strengthen, and the ramp-up in federal defense spending will be unwound generating drag going forward.

We still expect strong 3.0% growth in the fourth quarter and an acceleration in growth in 2015 but the surprising strength in third quarter growth is unlikely to be sustained.

blog gdp 2014_12

 

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http://eyeonhousing.org/2014/12/gdp-growth-in-the-third-quarter-and-it-just-keeps-getting-better/

US homebuilder sentiment slips in December | Bedford Corners Real Estate

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U.S. homebuilders are feeling slightly less confident in their sales prospects heading into next year, even as their overall sales outlook remains favorable.

The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo builder sentiment index released Monday slipped this month to 57, down one point from 58 in November.

Readings above 50 indicate more builders view sales conditions as good, rather than poor.

Builders’ view of current sales conditions and their outlook for sales over the next six months also declined slightly. A measure of traffic by prospective buyers held steady.

The index also found sentiment had improved in the West and Northeast, but took a step back in the Midwest and South, which accounts for half of the new-home market.

The latest reading reflects a housing market that is slowly recovering, said David Crowe, the NAHB’s chief economist.

“As we head into 2015, the housing market should continue to recover at a steady, gradual pace,” Crowe said.

Housing, while still a long way from the boom of several years ago, has been recovering over the past two years.

New home sales reached a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 458,000 homes in October, the highest point since May. Still, sales remain sharply below the annual rate of 700,000 seen during the 1990s.

At the same time, home prices continue to climb.

The median price of a home sold in October was $305,000, up 16.5 percent from a year ago. November data on new-home sales are due out next week.

The steady rise in home prices has held back many potential buyers, particularly first-time buyers. Many lack the savings and strong credit history needed to afford a home, causing them to rent or remain in their existing homes instead of upgrading.

 

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http://news.yahoo.com/us-homebuilder-sentiment-slips-december-150117768–finance.html

Just How Much Rainwater Can You Collect Off Your Roof? | #BedfordCorners #RealEstate

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When we watch the evening news, the weatherperson will oftentimes say things like “X city received an inch of rain today”, which does not really sound like all that much. We imagine a single inch of rain in a small puddle somewhere it seems rather insignificant. But what if you knew that a single inch of rain could allow you to collect hundreds and hundreds of gallons of water, if not more? Now that one inch of rainfall seems like a lot more!

Let’s take a look at a hypothetical example to see just how much water we can collect from rainfall. If you have 1,000 square feet of roof on your house, and it rains just 1 inch, you can collect 600 gallons of water to be used in your garden, for washing your car, or just for drop irrigation around your property. That’s 600 less gallons you have to pay for and use from your town water supply! So how can you do the math for your own roof? Just multiple the square footage of roof space you have available X 0.6 gallons per square foot per inch of rain, and you can see how much water you can collect from each inch of rain that falls.

So if you have 2,500 square feet of roof available for water catchment, and a single inch of rain falls one day, we see that:

2,500 X 0.6 = 1,500 gallons of water can be harvested for future use…from only one inch of rainfall!

On average, Americans use about 69 gallons of water per person per day for bathing, cooking, cleaning and flushing toilets – and is just for indoor water use and does not account for any watering/car washing going on outside. That amounts to about 2,100 gallons a month for each person – or only slightly more than you might be able to collect off your roof in a single rainstorm. Sure, you might not want to use that water for your showers or drinking water, but it can be done…and many people are putting cisterns in their yard and systems in their house to be able to do so. But if you are not interested in doing that and just wanted to use it outside, using a rain barrel or two under your downspouts can make a big difference in your monthly water usage and bill. Let’s take a look at one more example to see how much of a difference collecting rainwater can make – If you live in Boston, Massachusetts, which gets an average of 42.53 inches of rain per year, and you live in a house with 1,000 square feet of roof space…

1,000 X 0.6 X 42.53 = 25,518 gallons of water collected each year in Boston, MA.

That’s a lot of water that you can save (and money!) by hooking up and using rainwater catchment systems at your house. It’s a big return for a very small investment, and I bet you will hear something different the next time the weatherperson says “X city received an inch of rain today”!

Buying in December | Bedford Corners Real Estate

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In the market for a new home? Here are four reasons to add real estate shopping to your December to-do list.

Bargain prices

Did you know that, historically, home prices are lower in December than in any other month?

As for the overall housing picture, if you’re not yet in the market, you’ll like this news: While home prices are continuing to rise, it’s happening at a much slower pace.

According to a recent report from Zillow, U.S. home values are currently up 6.4 percent year-over-year and have been slowing for nearly two years. Next year home values are expected to grow at 3 percent — roughly half their current pace.  These changing dynamics, and a shift toward healthy stabilization, put more power in the hands of buyers.

Low mortgage rates    

What’s driving affordability? Low mortgage rates. Currently hovering in the 4 percent range, rates are projected to edge up to 5 percent by the end of 2015, according to Zillow Chief Economist, Stan Humphries.

To put this in perspective, did you know that if rates go up by just one percentage point, your purchasing power is reduced by a whopping 11 percent? Find out how much waiting to buy could cost you.

Motivated sellers

If sellers are listing their home for sale this time of year, this likely means they’re serious about shedding the weight of their residences.

Regardless of why that is – perhaps they’ve recently gotten divorced, have to relocate for a new job opportunity, or are under some other personal pressure – this puts you, the buyer, in a much better position to negotiate and ultimately cut a deal, particularly since competition is minimal this time of year.

Tax savings

At the end of the year, everyone is looking for ways to lower their tax bill. And closing on your new home before Dec. 31st is one way to get some breaks.

After all, you can deduct home purchase costs, including mortgage interest, property taxes and points — while you build equity and save yourself a significant amount of money.

 

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http://www.zillow.com/blog/buy-a-home-during-the-holidays-164715/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ZillowBlog+%28Zillow+Blog%29

The Remotest Huts: Defining Americana, Rest Stop by Rest Stop | Bedford Corners Real Estate

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Flower-Mound-TXv.jpgA rest stop in Flower Mound, Texas. Photos by Ryann Ford via Design Milk

Over the past five years, Austin-based photographer Ryann Ford has documented over 150 of America’s rest stops, a dying breed of roadside shelter that’s been largely superseded by the gas station and the drive-thru. On the Kickstarter page for The Last Stop: Vanishing Relics of the American Roadside, she writes that the disappearance of their “teepees and wagon wheels, and geometric shapes echoing classic mid-century design,” filled her with the need to “capture as many as I could before they were gone forever.”

A few selections from across the Southwest. >>

Below are a few standout images from the book Ford hopes to produce, all shot on a medium-format film camera. You can check out some more over at Design Milk

Troy Aikman selling his home | Bedford Corners Real Estate

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Former Dallas Cowboys quarterback and current Fox broadcaster Troy Aikman is selling one of his homes in the Dallas area.

After selling his long-time home in the chic Dallas enclave of Highland Park, Aikman purchased two homes last year, one for $4.6 million and another for $4.3 million.

According to new report from the Los Angeles Times, Aikman is looking to sell the more expensive of the two homes and he’s looking to make a profit as well. After paying $4.6 million for the home last year, Aikman is listing the home for 5.3 million.

So what would one get for $5.3 million? From the Los Angeles Times report:

The French Normandy-style residence, built in 2007 by Tatum-Brown Custom Homes, sits back from the street on about a third of an acre. Accessed through a portico, the updated floor plan includes an updated chef’s kitchen, a formal living room, a dining room, an office/study, four bedrooms, four fireplaces and six bathrooms in about 10,700 square feet.

The home also features a game room, a home theater and a wine cellar.

Source: Los Angeles Times

Standard home insurance doesn’t handle these situations | Bedford Corners Real Estate

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If you’re like many homeowners, you bought your home insurance policy, got standard coverage and haven’t given it another thought. Unfortunately, that type of thinking could lead to gaps in your coverage.

A standard homeowners policy offers coverage for a wide variety of perils — theft, vandalism, fire, wind, lightning and ice, among others — but not for everything. Here are six situations where you need to bolster your policy to get help.

Mold

Mold in your home is bad news. It can cause major health problems for you and your family, and can even make your house uninhabitable. Insurance providers handle mold in a variety of ways. Some limit coverage for damage caused by mold, while others don’t cover mold at all.

Every state except Arkansas, New York, North Carolina and Virginia has adopted an ISO mold limitation for homeowners insurance coverage, which allows insurers to exclude coverage unless the condition results from a covered peril. For example, if the water from a burst pipe in your home causes mold, your insurer might cover it.

The solution: If you find out that you aren’t sufficiently covered for mold, you can purchase a separate rider to cover mold in your home.

Pests

From mice and rats to termites and bed bugs, standard home insurance policies do not cover damage from pests. That means if a rat chews through your electrical wiring or termites destroy the wood support for your roof, you’re on your own.

The best way to tackle this issue is through prevention. Keep an eye out for signs of pests around your property. If you see something suspicious, call an exterminator before the problem gets out of control.

The solution: Schedule annual termite inspections. By the time you see damage, it could be too late.

Sewage back-up

Backed-up sewers can wreak havoc on a home, causing thousands of dollars in damage. Most agents will ask you about this coverage when you’re buying a home insurance policy, but many consumers ignore the topic.

The solution: Add this coverage to your policy — it generally only tacks $40-$50 onto your premium, according to the Insurance Information Institute (III).

Floods

That’s right, standard home insurance policies do not provide coverage for flood damage. For flood coverage, homeowners must purchase a flood insurance policy through the National Flood Insurance Program.

While many mortgage lenders require flood coverage as a loan condition, homeowners in moderate- to low-risk flood zones have the option to forgo it altogether.

Before you decide to take a chance, you should know that 25 percent of all NFIP claims come from people outside of mapped high-risk flood areas.

The solution: Purchase a flood insurance policy; they start at as little as $129 a year in low-risk areas.

 

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http://www.zillow.com/blog/things-home-insurance-doesnt-cover-164964/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ZillowBlog+%28Zillow+Blog%29

 

Purchase Mortgage Approvals Break Record! | Bedford Corners Real Estate

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The approval rate for purchase mortgages hit new heights in October as more than two thirds (66.1 percent) of all applications for loans to buy a home were approved.

The approval rate for October was the highest recorded by the four-year old  Ellie Mae Originations Insight report; the previous high was 65.1 percent in August.  Last year the average approval rate for purchase loans was only 60 percent.

The high approval rate suggests borrowers and lenders are finding ways to overcome tight lending standards that are more difficult for lenders to circumvent following implementation of the QM Rule in January.  Tight credit has crippled access to financing for buyers, especially first time buyers, and slowed home sales this year

The October approval rate for conventional loans also hit a new peak at 67.9 percent; its previous top rate was 67.2 percent in January of this year.  The approval rate for all loan types in October was 59.4 percent.  Only 59.4 percent of refis were given the green light.

The average time to close for purchase loans in 0ctober was 40 days.  Purchase loans accounted for 60 percent of all loans closed in

The October 2014 report also found that the average 30-year interest rate for all loans fell for the sixth consecutive month to 4.371 percent purchase loans, reported in Ellie Mae’s October report.

 

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http://www.realestateeconomywatch.com/2014/11/purchase-mortgage-approvals-break-record/