Category Archives: Chappaqua

Elliman reports on Boca Raton FL Market | Chappaqua Realtor

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“It has been a year of changes as housing prices and sales volume continued to press higher in Boca Raton in both the overall and luxury markets. Like we observed in recent quarters, the price indicators continued to show double-digit gains from prior year levels. Consistent with rising prices has been the faster marketing times and falling discounts from list price. The market has clearly turned the corner over the past year despite tight credit conditions. We look forward to additional improvement in 2013.

 

As housing conditions change in South Florida, we strive to present our clients with timely insights on the markets we cover. In a region where housing markets are often mischaracterized and misunderstood, we firmly believe that neutral market analysis is one of the best resources we can offer to enable our clients to make more informed decisions. Douglas Elliman is firmly committed to providing information and services to meet our clients’ needs. Explore our full market report series covering south Florida including Miami, Boca Raton, Fort Lauderdale and Palm Beach at  http://www.ellimanflorida.com/market-reports/“

via trulia.com

Facebook Vs. Google+ | Chappaqa Realtor

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Facebook has grown and nurtured its audience since its inception back in February 2004 but the relative novelty of Google + has been questioned by some.Image

The recent release of the new feature ‘Graph Search’ by Facebook as brought new fuel to the clash of these two titans once again. As they both attempt to battle for the hearts and minds of their users with increased functionality and features many will choose one side or other in this increasingly crowded space of social networking.

Below is a brief run through of some of the main differences/similarities of the two’s product offering;

  • Google+ has no advertisements (yet) – This is good news for businesses as the clean interface avoids the clutter of brand messages that may distract users from your posts. Although Google + is still considered to be in its infancy stage of development, it may look for ways to monetize as it grows especially with its already thriving product of ‘Google Ad words.’
  • Facebook users should be quite comfortable with Google+- The layout is similar. Comment streams run down the centre of the page, flanked by groups on the left and friend suggestions on the right. Chat windows appear in the bottom-right corner, just as on Facebook.
  • Google+ seems to post a lot more posts than Facebook where it only displays a portion of your posts to your followers. With Google + you can post to particular circles as well as post publicly to the entire G+ community.
  • By no means did Google+ invent video chatting- But Google Hangouts provides a smart way to connect with your audience in real time across the world, equipped with effects and an intelligent interface.
  • Google certainly does have a product advantage as it has announced early last year it will share user data across all of its products- this is said to create a seamless and slick experience for users and increase Google +’s users overnight.

There’s no need to choose one or the other, many users will avoid the hassle of joining and setting up yet another social profile, others may lured by new and innovative features and better integration with the rest of their Google collection.  With Social Media Management Tool‘s like Sendible you can post to these two social networks (and many others) simultaneously.

via socialmediatoday.com

French Property Sales Slump 25% in 2012 due to lousy economy | Chappaqua Homes

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A poor economic climate and inflexible sellers are to blame for a dramatic dip in property sales across France in 2012, according to experts. A difference in asking price and sales price greater than 5% and properties lingering on the market for an average of nearly 90 days signaled to analysts that prices were too high in 2012, contributing to a 25% in sales. Areas popular with British buyers like Normandy and Brittany were hardest hit while properties in the French Alps bucked the trend with increased sales for the year. For more on this continue reading the following article from Property Wire.

Property sales in France fell by 25% in 2012 and prices fell in most regions, most notably lower Normandy and Brittany, popular areas with British buyers.

According to the latest data from the FNAIM, the organisation representing estate agents, prices actually increased overall by 0.8% but this figure masks considerable regional variations.

Prices increased the most in Ile de France where they climbed 1.5% and also increased in Provence and the Cote d’Azur and Champagne Ardennes by 0.7%. Upper Normandy saw a 0.6% increase, Languedoc Roussillon was up 0.5%, Rhône Alpes by 0.3% and France Comte by 0.1%.

Prices fell the most in lower Normandy, down 5.7%, and were down 5.3% in Brittany. Prices fell 4.4% in Poitou Charentes, 3.3% in Pays de la Loire, 2.7% in the Midi Pyrenees, 2.5% in Centre and in Lorraine, 2.2% in Limousin, 1.5% in Alsace, 1.1% in Bourgogne, 0.5% in Auvergne and 0.2% in Aquitaine.

Once reason for such a large fall in sales is due to the economic climate and also the fact that sellers are not prepared to bring down their prices to a level that buyers are prepared to pay, according to Michel Mouillard, economics professor at the University of Paris-X at Nanterre who specialises in the housing sector.

Figures also show that the difference between asking price and sale price was 5.46% in 2012, up from 5.08% in 2011. The number of days a property is on the marker until an offer is made was 87, down slightly from the highs of 2009, but still well above the 64 days of 2004.

Standard & Poor’s has forecast that prices will fall by 5% in France in 2013 while figures from different real estate organisations vary. The FNAIM is predicting a fall of up to 2%, Century 21 says 1% to 2% and Orpi 3%.

Mouillard reckons that a lot will depend in jobs. ‘We are in deteriorating economic climate. Only the very low bank interest rates have prevented the market from collapsing,’ said Mouillard.

He added that someone buying a house in 2012 would need a mortgage of 32 year compared with 15 years for the same property in 2000.

One area where the market is bucking the trend is in the Alps. According to the Chamber of Notaries of Savoie and Haute Savoie the French Alps property market is holding up relatively well but there is variations between resorts and chalets are generally selling better than apartments.

For example, in Morzine the average price per square metre increased by 12.8% year on year, reaching €4,711 and in Meribel it increased by 15.1% over the same period to €7.239 per square metre.

In Courchevel 1850, the average price of apartments fell by 4.9% this year to €11,170 per square metre and apartment prices nfell by 8.7% in Le Chablais but chalets have increased by 5.7% on the same period, to reach an average of €300,000.

This article was republished with permission from Property Wire.

via nuwireinvestor.com

Average Size of a 2012 Sold Home in the Chappaqua NY Area | RobReportBlog

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Average Size of a 2012 Sold Home in the Chappaqua NY Area | RobReportBlog

Square Feet2012 Average Size of a Sold Home
3668Armonk
3606Chappaqua
3363Pound Ridge
2762North Salem
4081Bedford NY
2842South Salem
3176Bedford Hills
2907Mount Kisco
2721Katonah
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Remodeling market reports strong fourth quarter numbers | Chappaqua Homes

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The Remodeling Market Index hit its highest reading since the first quarter 2004, hitting 55 in the fourth quarter of 2012, according to the National Association of Home Builders. The fourth quarter report increased five points from the previous quarter.

Any RMI above 50 means most home improvement workers are reporting strong demand for their services.

“Remodelers are optimistic about the outlook for slow and steady market growth in the new year,” said 2013 NAHB Remodelers Chairman Bill Shaw. “Professional remodelers reported more work from large and small projects as well as overall home repair.”

Future remodeling activity indicators rose to 56, up from the previous quarter’s 49. Current conditions also revealed improvement, up from 52 in the previous quarter to 54.

“With existing home sales up, the increase in the RMI partially reflects the remodeling work new home owners undertake when they move in,” said NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe. “Consumers are gaining confidence in the economy and feeling more comfortable pulling the trigger on large and small renovations.”

The RMI in the Northeast saw the largest increase, jumping 24 points. This is due largely to the start of remodeling work related to Hurricane Sandy damage. All four regions of the country saw an RMI above 50.

via housingwire.com

Katonah NY Area 2012 High Sold Price Report | RobReportBlog

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2012 High Sold Price

$9,300,000.00 Armonk

$2,575,000.00 Chappaqua

$2,872,500.00 Pound Ridge

$2,600,000.00 North Salem

$4,750,000.00 Bedford NY

$1,557,000.00 South Salem

$3,995,000.00 Bedford Hills

$3,950,000.00 Mount Kisco

$4,000,000.00 Katonah

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Foreclosure filings up in half of US states in 2012 | Armonk Real Estate

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Half of U.S. states saw an annual increase in the number of foreclosure-related filings in 2012, but most of those were judicial foreclosure states where loan servicers were catching up on the backlog from the “robo-signing” controversy, according to a year-end report by data aggregator RealtyTrac.

All told, RealtyTrac reported foreclosure-related filings against 1.84 million U.S. properties in 2012, down 3 percent from 2011 and down 36 percent from a 2010 peak of 2.9 million homes.

All but five of the 25 states seeing an increase in foreclosure-related filings (default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions) were states where courts handle most foreclosure proceedings.

Many foreclosure proceedings against homeowners in those states were stalled, but not derailed, by allegations that loan servicers failed to follow proper procedures in filing legal documents.

After loan servicers reached a settlement last March with state and federal officials last over so-called “robo-signing” practices and revised their procedures, they began pushing new and existing proceedings through the system again (many also started approving more short sales to meet their obligations under the terms of the settlement).

Foreclosures are handled by courts in the six states seeing the biggest annual increase in 2012 foreclosure filings — New Jersey (up 55 percent), Florida (53 percent), Connecticut (48 percent), Indiana (46 percent), Illinois (33 percent), and New York (31 percent).

Homes in New York took the longest to move through the foreclosure process — 1,089 days — followed by New Jersey (987 days), Florida (853 days), Hawaii (781 days), and Illinois (697 days).

In the 25 states that saw foreclosure filings drop from 2011 to 2012, 19 handle most foreclosures outside of the court system, and  loan servicers in those states continued to move homes through the foreclosure process during the robo-signing controversy.

Nonjudicial foreclosure states seeing the biggest drop in foreclosure filings in 2012 were Nevada (down 57 percent), Utah (down 40 percent), Oregon (down 40 percent), Arizona (down 33 percent), California (down 25 percent), and Michigan (down 23 percent).

RealtyTrac warned there could be a foreclosure backlog building up some states that saw filings decline in 2012, as the result of new state legislation and court rulings that make it more difficult for lenders to foreclose.

So 2013 could see “two discrete jumps in foreclosure activity,” at the beginning and end of the year, said Realty Trac’s Daren Blomquist.

“We expect to see continued increases in judicial foreclosure states near the beginning of the year as lenders finish catching up with the backlogs in those states, and another set of increases in some nonjudicial states near the end of the year as lenders adjust to the new laws and process some deferred foreclosures in those states.”

The rise in foreclosure activity in many local markets in 2012 “should translate into more foreclosure inventory available for sale in 2013 in those markets,” Blomquist said. “That is good news for buyers and investors, but could result in some short-term weakness in home prices as the often-discounted foreclosure sales weigh down overall home values” in those markets.

States with the highest foreclosure rates in 2012 were Florida (with filings against 3.11 percent of homes), Nevada (2.7 percent), Arizona (2.69 percent), Georgia (2.58 percent), California (2.33 percent), Ohio (1.75 percent), Michigan (1.69 percent), South Carolina (1.66 percent), and Colorado (1.64 percent).

Among metro areas with a population of 200,000 or more, Stockton, Calif., had the nation’s highest foreclosure rate (3.98 percent). Six other California cities made RealtyTrac’s list of the 20 metro areas with the highest foreclosure rates, and Florida landed eight cities on the list, including Miami (3.71 percent) and Orlando (3.46 percent).

Zillow is projecting that a half-dozen markets in California, including some Central Valley cities hard hit by foreclosures, will see double-digit home price aprreciation in the months ahead. The real estate portal’s analysis of more than 250 markets predicts that national home prices will appreciate 2.5 percent in the year ending November 2013.

“The U.S. housing market bottomed in the fourth quarter of 2011 and has since entered a sustainable recovery,” Zillow Chief Economist Stan Humphries said in a blog post.

California metros Zillow expects to see the biggest gains are Modesto (projected to gain 14.7 percent), Merced (12.1 percent), Bakersfied (10.7 percent), Vallejo (10.4 percent), Sacramento (10.1 percent) and Visalia (10.0 percent).

via inman.com