Category Archives: Bedford Corners NY

Actual homeownership becomes an illusory dream | Bedford Corners Real Estate

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Homeownership is said to be at the core of the American Dream, but data posted on the Cato Institute’s website suggests the dream of owning one’s home outright has become an illusory dream for most Americans.

A blog post from Cato’s Mark Calabria claims fewer Americans actually own their homes outright today when compared to 1960 or even as far back as 1890. This data presented by Calabria suggests most Americans carry mortgages for their entire lives.

Calabria writes: “Currently, the percentage of homeowners that own without any mortgage is just under 30%. Prior to 1960, an actual majority of owners held their homes with no mortgage at all. For most of American history, the typical homeowner did not have any mortgage, not having to answer to a bank and also having some wealth to pass along to future generations.”

“The primary impact of U.S. homeownership policy has not been to increase homeownership, but to increase debt along with driving up housing prices.”

via housingwire.com

Moody’s, S&P Knew of Ratings Fraud | Bedford Corners Real Estate

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A quick reminder of the extent of corruption at the ratings agencies: They were well aware of the fraud that was going on, they just elected to ignore it.

Recall this 2010 NYT article:

“In 2004, well before the risks embedded in Wall Street’s bets on subprime mortgages became widely known, employees at Standard & Poor’s, the credit rating agency, were feeling pressure to expand the business.

One employee warned in internal e-mail that the company would lose business if it failed to give high enough ratings to collateralized debt obligations, the investments that later emerged at the heart of the financial crisis.

“We are meeting with your group this week to discuss adjusting criteria for rating C.D.O.s of real estate assets this week because of the ongoing threat of losing deals,” the e-mail said. “Lose the C.D.O. and lose the base business — a self reinforcing loop.”

In June 2005, an S.& P. employee warned that tampering “with criteria to ‘get the deal’ is putting the entire S.& P. franchise at risk — it’s a bad idea.” A Senate panel will release 550 pages of exhibits on Friday — including these and other internal messages — at a hearing scrutinizing the role S.& P. and the ratings agency Moody’s Investors Service played in the 2008 financial crisis. The panel, the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, released excerpts of the messages Thursday.

Understand the litigation against Standard & Poors — and eventually Moody’s and Fitcvh Ratings — is not about “Opinion” — its about knowing, willful fraud.

 

 

Source:
Documents Show Internal Qualms at Rating Agencies
SEWELL CHAN
NYT, April 22, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/23/business/23ratings.html

via ritholtz.com

Help your buyers compromise and close more deals | Bedford Corners Real Estate

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Recently I ordered a bowl of black bean soup for lunch. The server returned from the kitchen and said they were out of black bean soup. I told her I would have tomato soup. After she wrote it down, I changed my mind and ordered a Caesar salad.

Did I lie to the server? No. I did what most home buyers do. I compromised.

If your prospective buyers tell you they want a three-bedroom, two-bath resale home, but purchase a new four-bedroom, three-bath residence, did they lie to you?

No, of course not. Seriously — why would any buyer purposely lie about they want to purchase?

via inman.com

Asking prices up in 86 of 100 largest markets | Bedford Corners NY Real Estate

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Asking prices of homes listed for sale on real estate portal Trulia.com in January were up from a year ago in 86 of the 100 largest U.S. metros, according to a monthly report released today.

The report, which covers roughly 4.5 million for-sale and for-rent properties listed on Trulia through Jan. 31, showed asking prices up 5.9 percent from a year ago, and growing by a seasonally adjusted 0.9 percent from December to January — the biggest month-over-month gain since March 2012. 

In some markets, the strong growth in asking prices doesn’t necessarily indicate that worries are over, said Jed Kolko, Trulia’s chief economist.

“In many local markets today, dramatic price gains can mask serious red flags,” Kolko said in a blog post. “Strong job growth, low vacancy rate, and low foreclosure inventory — not huge price gains — are signs of a healthy housing market.”

Trulia identified San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle, Denver and Salt Lake city as “booming” markets with strong fundamentals.

via inman.com

California luxury market outpaces traditional home sales | Bedford Hills Real Estate

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California is known for its rich and famous property owners, but could they be getting richer? The number of California homes that sold for $1 million or more jumped to a five-year high in 2012.

Analysts believe a recovering economy, rising home prices and a record number of cash purchases are all driving factors behind this increase.

Taking things a notch higher, the number of homes sold for more than $5 million reached an all-time high. 

San Diego-based DataQuick reported that a total of 26,993 homes sold for $1 million or more in 2012, a 26.9% increase from the 21,267 sold in 2011.

It seems that the luxury-home market is outpacing overall sales in California. The 2012 luxury-home increase of 26.9% was significantly higher than the 8.2% increase in overall sales. 

“It should go without saying that buyers and sellers in the prestige market tend to respond to different motivations and incentives than the rest of the market,” said John Walsh, DataQuick president. “Job security, down payment sizes and mortgage interest rates don’t play the same role. Returns on investments in a low interest-rate financial environment and safe-haven investing do play a role.”

This shift in sales toward luxury homes has established itself within the past two years.

In the state of California, 697 homes were sold for more than $5 million in 2012, compared to the 491 sold in the Golden State in 2011.

For homes ranging from $4 million to $5 million, a record 460-homes sold, up from the 344 sold in 2011.

DataQuick reported that the most expensive confirmed purchase last year was an 8,930 sq. ft., 4-bedroom, 4.5 bathroom luxury-home in Woodside, Calif., selling for $117,500,000 in November. 

Richard Green, director of the USC Lusk Center for Real Estate, says it’s not surprising that luxury homes are flying off the market right now. 

“If you look at the 1%, they are doing better than everybody else since the recovery started in 2009,” said Green. “The most recent data I’ve seen shows that benefits of the recovery have gone 93% to the top 1%, so it’s not surprising that their demand for housing is stronger than everybody else.”

mhopkins@housingwire.com

via housingwire.com