Category Archives: Bedford Hills

New home? Tips for getting to know the garden | Bedford Hills NY Real Estate

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Americans are a restless bunch. They change locations with a frequency that would tire a migrating songbird.

But there is more to moving day than unpacking boxes; there’s also learning to care for that garden inherited with the new home.

If you were thinking ahead, you asked for an inventory of the plants and accessories that came with the house.

“There’s no problem with asking owners for a list of landscape items and for an explanation about the plantings,” said Shirley French, an agent with the Woodstock, Va., office of Funkhouser Real Estate Group. “Usually, the owners are more than happy to give you a list. In fact, if they know the purchasers are interested, that will make for good feelings on both sides.”

Gardening priorities are determined mostly by the seasons. You won’t be mowing the lawn in February, although you might be combing the seed catalogs.

But where to start with a newly purchased property?

Michael Becker, president of Estate Gardeners Inc. in Omaha, Neb., suggests that putting safety first.

“Check out the dangers,” said Becker, a spokesman for Planet, the Professional Landcare Network that certifies green industry professionals. “Are the retaining walls stable? Are any trees leaning or diseased with dead branches?

 

 

 

http://news.yahoo.com/home-tips-getting-know-garden-144102428.html

Things to Watch in China’s Housing Market in the Year of the Horse | Bedford Hills Homes

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Growth in China’s housing market is expected to slow this year even as it becomes more uneven across the country. This comes as the world’s second-largest economy is grappling with overly high housing prices in major cities festering resentment among people who can’t afford a home, as well as huge amounts of worrisome shadow-banking debt linked to questionable property deals and infrastructure.

In 2013, housing prices in major Chinese cities shot up quickly as homebuyers returned to the market after concluding the central government is unlikely to impose further property curbs that had a limited effect in reining in runaway housing prices. Housing sales in China rose 26.6% in 2013, accelerating from the 10.9% growth in 2012, but the consensus view is that pent-up demand for homes has been digested, and growth in housing sales would moderate this year.

Strong demand and a lack of new homes in downtown areas in major cities are pushing prices up, while sluggish demand and oversupply in smaller cities threatening to drive home prices and the local economy down.

 

http://blogs.wsj.com/five-things/2014/02/06/5-things-to-watch-in-chinas-housing-market-in-the-year-of-the-horse/

The State of the Real Estate Market | Bedford Hills NY Real Estate

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According to Movoto Real Estate‘s State of the Market report, the market followed seasonal trends on a month-over-month basis, as the number of available homes on the market and the median list price per square foot index dipped when compared to November. At the same time, our data shows that year-over-year changes in the median list price per square foot and inventory level indexes are similar to previous years’ numbers.

How This Report Is Made

In building Movoto Real Estate’s monthly State of the Real Estate Market report, we look at 38 geographically diverse cities in order to determine total inventory levels and median price per square foot index. In addition, we further break down this data on a month-over-month and year-over-year basis. The data used comes from each city’s Multiple Listing Service.

Median List Price Per Square Foot Index

YEAR-OVER-YEAR

During the 12-month period between December 2012 and December 2013, there were 33 cities in which the median list price per square foot increased. Of the cities that had increases, 17 witnessed double-digit gains.

In total, across the cities we track, the median list price per square foot index increased from $159 in December 2012 to $176 in December 2013, a gain of 10.4 percent.

The cities that saw the largest gains by percentage were:

  • Boston: The value for a home in Boston increased by about 27 percent in the past year, going from $361 in December 2012 to $458 in December 2013.
  • Sacramento: The median list price per square foot for a home inSacramento increased by about 21 percent in the past 12 months. The price rose from $123 in December 2012 to $149 in December 2013.
  • Phoenix: Phoenix home prices increased by about 20 percent in the past year. The median list price per square foot increased from $101 to $121 from December 2012 to December 2013.

 

http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2014/02/03/the-state-of-the-real-estate-market.aspx

The best and worst housing markets in America right now | Bedford Hills Homes

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Valuation services provider Pro Teck releases a monthly home value forecast listing the top 10 real estate markets, ranked by the impact of foreclosure sales on localized housing recovery.

It’s somewhat of a different approach, to hinge a data call on distressed properties, but nonetheless exceedingly fascinating.

Right now, in America, according to Pro Teck, Long Island, New York, leads the rankings of hottest real estate markets.

“Many factors account for Long Island’s strong market, including foreclosures making up an inconsequential 2.18% of sales and available housing inventory at only 3.63 months,” said Tom O’Grady, CEO of Pro Teck. “Looking at the extended forecast, we see Long Island reaching peak highs again within five years.”

The following top ten lists highlight the best and worst metros in January with regard to a number of leading real estate market indicators, including: sales/listing activity and prices, months of remaining inventory, days on market, sold-to-list price ratio and foreclosure and REO activity, according to Pro Teck.

 

January’s top ten:

Nassau County-Suffolk County, N.Y.

Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale, Calif.

Ann Arbor, Mich.

Anaheim-Santa Ana-Irvine, Calif.

Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, Calif.

San Diego-Carlsbad, Calif.

San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles-Arroyo Grande, Calif.

Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, Calif.

Ashville, N.C.

Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, Texas

 

 

 

http://www.housingwire.com/blogs/1-rewired/post/28843-the-best-and-worst-housing-markets-in-america-right-now

Classic Scarsdale Colonial With a Recent Redo Asks $16.5M | Bedford Hills NY Homes

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30 images

Location: Scarsdale, N.Y. Price: $16,500,000 The Skinny: Colonial Revival architecture may have long ago been demoted to being the go-to style for designers of Midwestern housing developments and exurban strip malls, but this elegant Scarsdale manse harks back to an era when Doric columns and sheltering porticoes were, briefly, the height of fashion. Built in 1914 and owned by one family since 1953, the home recently benefited from a much-needed redo during the Designer Showhouse of Westchester charity event, which thoroughly de-frumped the place (see these before and after shots for all the gory details) and showed that yes, a Colonial home can be adapted to modern tastes. Décor aside, the mansion ticks all the proper Neo-Classical boxes: Palladian-style windows, a porte-cochère at the main entrance, and a grand dining hall are all present and accounted for, not to mention a conservatory and 10-foot-high ceilings. Besides the 12-bedroom, 11-bathroom main house, the 3.75-acre estate also includes a pool and an unusual combination five-car garage/two-bedroom guest cottage/greenhouse, for which the owners are asking $16.5M.

 

 

http://curbed.com/archives/2014/02/03/classic-scarsdale-colonial-with-a-recent-redo-askss-165m.php

Pending home sales mirror pre-crash levels | Bedford Hills Homes

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Pending home sales fell steadily from May to December last year, closely mirroring the trajectory of the same economic indicator months before the 2007 home price crash, analysts Chris Flanagan and Justin Borst with Bank of America-Merrill Lynch claim in a new report.
But don’t get sour on housing just yet, or assume we are in store for another home price crash.
While pending home sales fell sharply in December ??— and experienced steady declines last year — other factors, not existent in 2007, are likely to save housing from a free-fall in prices, the two researchers say.
But before analyzing the year 2014, we have to look back to 2007 when a quiet housing storm was silently brewing in America.
Fortunately, unlike 2007, current housing prices are closer to fair market values and inventory levels remain constrained. Buffered by these two factors, a wide swing in prices is unlikely, the researchers said. On the other hand, the perfect storm of 2007 had additional headwinds in the form of excess inventory and steep price drops from peak levels.
Yes, it’s true year-over-year growth has likely reached its peak and growth will be slower in the future, but Borst and Flanagan are still calling for 5% home price growth in 2014.

In fact, prices are unlikely to move dramatically, they say, since mortgage credit is still wound tight and builders are not creating excess housing supply.

 

 

http://www.housingwire.com/articles/28813-pending-home-sales-data-mirrors-pre-crash-levels

 

 

 

Friday is last day to sign up for early ‘.realtor’ domain notifications | Bedford Hills NY Real Estate

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Members of the National Association of Realtors have until Friday at midnight to sign up for “priority registration” of their own “.realtor” domain name.

NAR will provide a free “.realtor” top-level domain for one year to the first 500,000 members who apply for a .realtor domain that incorporates their name. Members who file a “priority registration” request by Jan. 31 will receive an advance email notification that will provide information on how they can claim their .realtor domain with their name, one day prior to the domain’s general availability.

No specific date has been set for the general release. NAR says it will be “sometime this year.”

Only NAR members (agents and brokers), local and state Realtor associations, association multiple listing services, affiliated institutes, societies and councils, and other NAR-approved licensees will be able to register for the .realtor domain.

Source: RealtorMag

– See more at: http://www.inman.com/wire/friday-is-last-day-to-sign-up-for-early-realtor-domain-notifications/?utm_source=20140131&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=dailyheadlinesam#sthash.PAlD59L8.dpuf

Home Price Climb Returning to Average | Bedford Hills NY Real Estate

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Home prices rose faster in the third quarter than at any time since 2006, but are expected to slow considerably in 2014, according to data released Thursday by Corelogic.
Indeed, pending home sales data from the National Association of Realtors, also released Thursday, came in weaker than expected, showing a decline of 8.7% vs. the previous month. Consensus estimates were for just a 0.3% drop.
Corelogic expects the pace of home price increases to slow to 4.2% nationally through the third quarter of 2014, close to its long-term annual average of 4.5% recorded since 1975.
According to the Corelogic data, prices rose nearly 30% in Las Vegas and in several California cities, while Detroit also saw a near-20% jump. Gains in Northeastern cities such as Philadelphia and Hartford were around 3%.

“Investor demand and sales of foreclosed properties are dropping quickly,” said CoreLogic Case-Shiller economist David Stiff. “This is especially true in states that were caught up early in the bubble and have non-judicial foreclosure proceedings, such as California and Arizona. In these states, inventories of bank-owned properties are close to being cleared. Non-investor demand, although increasing, will not replace demand from investors.”

Home prices across the U.S. were 17% above the trough reached in the fourth quarter of 2011, but they are still 23% below the peak reached in the first quarter of 2006, Corelogic concluded.

 

http://www.thestreet.com/story/12286471/1/home-price-climb-returning-to-average.html?puc=yahoo&cm_ven=YAHOO

 

The “Vanishing” First-Time Home Buyer; What It Means for the Housing Market | Bedford Hills Real Estate

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Ah, the U.S. housing market, the so-called silver lining in the U.S. recovery—but not for long, as it may be rusting. The U.S. housing numbers are in, and they aren’t spectacular.

In the U.S. housing market, December existing-home sales rose one percent month-over-month at an annualized pace of 4.87 million units. Analysts were expecting December existing-home numbers to come in at 4.93 million. The one-percent increase also has to be taken with a grain of salt, as it was helped, in part, by a downward revision in November existing-home U.S. housing market sales to 4.82 million units. (Source: “December Existing-Home Sales Rise, 2013 Strongest in Seven Years,” National Association of Realtors web site, January 23, 2014.)

The December existing-home U.S. housing market sales of 4.87 million are also 0.6% below the 4.9-million-unit level recorded in December 2012. And sales of existing homes were down 27.9% at an annualized rate for the entire fourth quarter.

First-time home buyers—the fuel of the U.S. housing market—accounted for just 27% of all purchases in December, down from 28% in November and October and 30% in December 2012. That’s a huge drop over the 30-year average of 40% and a number real estate professionals and economists consider ideal. It is also the lowest level since the National Association of Realtors began tracking this metric in 2008.

First-time home buyers, who tend to purchase lower-priced homes, are being pushed out of the U.S. housing market recovery by all-cash sales. All-cash sales accounted for a whopping 42.1% of all U.S. residential sales in December, up from 38.1% in November and 18.0% in December 2012. (Source: “Short Sales and Foreclosure Sales Combined Accounted for 16 percent of U.S. Residential Sales in 2013,” RealtyTrac web site, January 22, 2014.)

 

 

http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/advisor/vanishing-first-time-home-buyer-means-housing-market-172534837.html