via sfgate.com
Poll: Economists foresee weak but improving growth | Chappaqua Realtor
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Realtor.com: Housing hampered by struggling job markets | Cross River Real Estate
Most key housing markets are in recovery mode, but industrialized areas plagued with falling employment numbers continue to deal with distressed assets, Realtor.com, the website run by Move Inc., said in a new September survey of U.S. housing markets.
List prices are still below 2007 peaks, but areas such as California, Seattle and Phoenix are experiencing a recovery while parts of the Midwest and Northeast deal with a lack of jobs and declining manufacturing sectors.
Housing inventory across the U.S. remained at historic lows with only 1.8 million units up for sale in September.
The median list price is slightly higher than a year ago, coming in at $191,500, and the median age of the inventory has fallen by 11.21%.
“Lower inventories, combined with somewhat higher median list prices, suggest that the housing market ending the 2012 home-buying season is in better shape than it was a year ago,” Realtor.com said.
The total number of listings, which stands at 1.8 million, is now down 17.7% from last year and 2.19% from August. Today, inventory is staying on the market 95 days on average, which is up from August but down significantly from last year.
With areas such as the Midwest and industrialized cities remaining the hardest hit areas, the housing problem is beginning to look more like a jobs problem based on data released in the report.
“These patterns suggest that the underlying nature of the country’s housing problems has changed,” Realtor.com said. “What began as a collapse of a housing bubble fueled by poor underwriting and toxic mortgage products has evolved into a housing recession that primarily reflects continued weaknesses in local economies.”
The report’s findings suggest that as economists mull over the housing economy, the lackluster jobs recovery — or areas with drying economic activity — are what is driving the remaining depressed markets.
via housingwire.com
Storied West Hollywood Condo Has Sumptuous Design for $4.75M | Chappaqua NY Realtor
via zillow.com
Cross River NY Realtor | Home Depot CEO: Housing fix will take some time
Home Depot CEO Frank Blake says a full recovery in the housing segment will take at least two years because of steep losses experienced in the period stretching from 2007 through 2009, according to a Reuters article.
Blake acknowledged that the housing recovery is already underway, but a full recovery is years off.
Home Depot’s success in the marketplace rests squarely on construction activity levels, making the recent thaw in housing good news for the firm.
Still, Blake is cautious about calling it a turnaround when chatting with Reuters.
“The way we look at it is there’s going to be a period of a workout, a fine period of one to two years and then you’re going to get a more robust recovery,” Blake told the paper.
The stalled recovery is the result of lingering issues in the mortgage credit markets and a large inventory of distressed properties, according to Blake.
“The way we look at it is there’s going to be a period of a workout, a fine period of one to two years and then you’re going to get a more robust recovery,” the CEO told the publication.
via housingwire.com
Chappaqua NY Real Estate | Top 3 Ways To Kill Your Online Reputation
Life is great when everything is going as planned and moving along seamlessly. But what do you do when things aren’t so bright and cheery and roadblocks appear along your path?
The way in which you respond to situations creates the same reputation of who you are online (i.e., liked and trusted or blacklisted and banned) just as it does offline. So, with this in mind, here are three ways to kill your online reputation at lightening speed!
1. Freak out. If you’re not actively checking to see what is being said about you online, then you may be in for a surprise. Hopefully, that is not the case for the majority of you; however, wouldn’t you prefer to know than just hope for the best?
Setting up a Google Alert with your name (and/or business name) will prove to be the best way of being aware of any review, whether negative or positive.
What should you do if you come across a negative review?
You can:
a) freak out and punch your fist through your monitor;
b) freak out and, without any thought, respond in an unprofessional manner; or
c) take a professional approach — thank them for their opinion and ask how you can improve your wrongdoings and how you can turn that negative review into a positive one.Of course, the latter of the three options is the ONLY thing you should do, no matter how upset you are!
By responding in a professional way, and encouraging communication with the reviewer, you are not only portraying an aware and caring persona to them but to anyone else who may read the review stream. Seeing your willingness to rectify the situation would be better than just seeing the reviewer’s bashing.
(NOTE: If the negative review truly is unjustified, it is possible to request the review to be removed from most of these sites.) In the meantime, work on getting more positive reviews by always asking both current and previous clients for one.
2. Stalk ‘em.
Someone has just requested to be your friend or has liked your page on Facebook. The first thing you need to do is add their email to your “HOT BUYER” campaign. Then, add numerous updates on their Facebook wall about YOU, YOU and YOU. Don’t forget to also include links to your listings over and over again.
STOP!!! Of course, I am joking, but you’d be surprised at how many people truly get social networking completely wrong! When you’re using the multiple social media platforms available to you, please, don’t be a stalker about it. As Chris Smith mentioned in his latest webinar, 12 Secrets to Converting Leads from Facebook, “the No. 1 best practice on Facebook is don’t be creepy”!
So what should you do when you get a new friend or new like? Continue on as usual. They probably began following you because they liked what you were saying without any pressure from you to begin with! Be social. Be you!
3. Permanent markers
What you post, what you link to, what you upload … all are like writing with a permanent marker, not a pencil. It is there for all to see, and it is there for good. Your mother seeing something less than respectable online is the least of your worries … what if you were looking into becoming a professional real estate speaker? Or what about if you were attempting to move up the corporate ladder in any way, shape or form?
Seventy-seven percent of employers search Google for their prospective employees; what do you want to have visible to the public’s eye?
If your past updates or uploads to any social media platform are questionable, I would recommend changing your privacy settings so that future posts are more protected. Here’s a direct link to Facebook’s privacy settings: https://www.facebook.com/settings/?tab=privacy. On Twitter, you have the ability to protect your tweets through the settings page of your account, and LinkedIn has similar privacy features within your profile settings.
The moral of this story is think before you do. This is a golden rule for life in general, but when it comes to your online reputation, this is definitely a doozy.
These are my top three ways to kill your online reputations, but what other ways can you protect it from being demolished?
via next.inman.com
Property insurance: South Florida State Farm rates may drop | Cross River NY Homes
The company, the state’s third largest property insurer, was granted a 6.4 percent statewide increase for homeowners for policies that kick in or are renewed in early 2013. State Farm, once the state’s largest property insurer, now has about 403,000 homeowners policies across the state, according to Insurance Regulation data.
Overall, about one in three State Farm homeowners will see premium decreases of up to 10 percent. Another one in three would see premiums increase by a similar amount. Earlier this month, the Office of Insurance Regulation approved an average 10.8 percent rate hike for homeowners covered by Citizens Property Insurance.
Corp., which has more than 1.4 million policies.
Since 2009, the Office has approved increases for State Farm five times. The rates come as the company has reduced its exposure in Florida.
Under the approved rates, Broward County customers would see rates fall about $305 per year, or 8.4 percent. That would translate into an average premium of $3,334 per year.
Miami-Dade homeowners would see rates drop 4.4 percent, or $161, in 2013 to $3,483 per year. Palm Beach County homeowner premiums.
would drop to $2,388, a 7.7 percent reduction.
The homeowners rate details were included among a package of rates that come weeks after the regulators approved overall hikes for the company. Regulators also approved rate adjustments for rental property and condominium owners.
Renters, on average, would see rates climb by about 6 percent, while condo owners will see average rates drop 5 percent.
Among other changes, most policyholders
will see deductibles increase from $500 to $1,000.
Mortgage rates have room to move lower | Chappaqua NY Homes for sale
Financial markets are surprisingly stable, especially credit markets. Following the Fed’s September QE3 announcement of open-ended intent to buy mortgage-backed securities, the 10-year Treasury note was left to the mercy of markets.
Since then, 10-year Treasurys have not traded above 1.75 percent or below 1.5 percent. Meanwhile, 30-fixed mortgages have broken as low as 3.25 percent.
In “normal” times, mortgage rates track the ups and downs in 10-year Treasury yields fairly well. There’s a “spread” between 10-year Treasurys and mortgage-backed securities — bond-like investments that fund most mortgage loans — that relects, in part, investor perceptions that Treasurys are safer investments than MBS. The “spreads” we’re seeing now between yields on 10-year Treasury notes and MBS are lower and tighter at any time since “normality” went out the window in 2007.
I had thought that 3 percent was probably the lowest mortgage rates could go, but if the Fed buys MBS for long enough to work off presently infinite refinance demand (which will last many months, maybe through the end of 2013), retail mortgage prices can fall below that barrier just by more compression of “spread.”
Today, the main thing holding rates above 3 percent is the profiteering of big banks, increasing their margins as the Fed tries to shrink them. The worst of the piracy: jacking margins on refis of underwater households. I would say, “Shame,” but to no effect on bank boards and executive suites ethically unreformed through this whole process. All the new rules in the world cannot substitute for a sense of citizenship.
While we enjoy new, super-historical lows, more in prospect, consider the causes …
U.S. data is as unchanged as can be, on a 1.5 percent-2 percent GDP slope but fragile. The September small-business survey by the National Federation of Independent Businesses downshifted by an undetectable 0.1 percent. The trade picture was a bit more cautionary, both imports and exports contracting; imports slide when U.S. demand fades, and exports dim when the outside world fizzles.
The strongest positive here is housing, but its improvement is far oversold in media commentary. Most economic punditry comes from financial markets, which had housing wrong all the way down, and can be counted upon to have it wrong on the way up. Housing industry analysts tend to perpetual optimism, correct only by accident.
The finance guys cannot process the differences between their markets and housing: Their securities are uniform and move all together, while our houses are no-two-the-same, and any concerted market movement is at the neighborhood level.
Terms of credit affect stock and bond markets, but nothing like housing. Imagine if you wanted to sell a share of Apple today, and had a willing buyer at $630 but the NASDQ exchange required an independent appraisal of the stock, made you wait two weeks, and then capped the price at $500 based on “sound underwriting.”
Housing now enjoys very gradual improvement, especially in states whose foreclosure-by-trustee has speeded the process. However, the “recovery” that finance types see propelling the entire economy is still over the horizon.
“Mortgage equity withdrawal” is a measure of net contribution of housing to personal income, during the bubble adding as much as 10 percent per year(!). Since 2008, MEW has subtracted about 3 percent annually from personal income, and still does — no mere headwind, but hail in the face.
The greatest risks are overseas, quantifiable in some ways, but timing unknown. Greece lies prostrate in depression, its national debt still 160 percent of GDP requiring another restructuring transfusion.
That debt is now held by European governments, the ECB and the IMF, none of which can face the need to write off the two-thirds necessary to allow the Greek economy to function. Thus the next transfusion will be just enough to buy time, not for Greece itself, but the utterly corrupt European leadership.
That leadership had a signal week on other grounds. France-based EADS and U.K.-based BAE were close to merger, $90 billion in combined aerospace and defense sales, the merger a benefit to both, enabling competition with the likes of Boeing.
Any big merger in Europe requires multigovernmental approval, and Germany insisted on a Munich headquarters for the new company and expansion of German operations. All media concur: On Wednesday Angela Merkel personally pulled the plug on the merger, and Germany did not attempt any form of denial. “One Europe” the euro objective? Sure.
The global balance is delicate, but the economic/political weakness in Europe, China and emergings still strongly favors the U.S., if only by removing any threat of inflation, which is the prerequisite for continuing QE3 and super-low rates here.
via inman.com
Foreclosures Split America | Chappaqua NY Real Estate
September’s foreclosure data showed America has become bipolar over foreclosures, with dramatic decreases in most states but increases nearly as great in judicial states where lenders are speeding up processing of defaults.
Foreclosure activity nationwide fell to the lowest level in five years in but increased in 14 judicial states, including Florida, Illinois, Ohio, New Jersey and New York as lenders begin to move on backlogged defaults after processing standards fully implementing the Attorneys General agreement take effect.
The national decrease in September marked the ninth consecutive quarter with an annual decrease in foreclosure activity and helped drop the third quarter foreclosure numbers to the lowest level since the fourth quarter of 2007. Foreclosure filings for the quarter decreased 7 percent from August and 16 percent from September 2011. Third quarter filings were down 5 percent from the second quarter and 13 percent from the third quarter of 2011, according to RealtyTrac.
In the West, declines were even more dramatic. In California, notices of defaults were down 20.7 percent from the prior month, and down 48.1 percent compared to last year. In Arizona, new foreclosures were down 37.1 percent, in Nevada down 40.1 percent, down 40.0 percent in Oregon and Washington saw new foreclosures fall 31.2 percent from August. Sales are also down with Arizona down 24.3 percent, Nevada down 19.5 percent, Oregon down 0.3 percent, and Washington down 33.5 percent from the prior month, ForeclosureRadar reported today.
Third quarter foreclosure activity increased on a year-over-year basis in New Jersey (130 percent increase), New York (53 percent increase), Indiana (36 percent increase), Pennsylvania (35 percent increase), Connecticut (34 percent increase), Illinois (31 percent increase), Maryland (28 percent increase), South Carolina (16 percent increase), North Carolina (14 percent increase), and Florida (14 percent increase). Among judicial states foreclosure activity in the third quarter decreased on annual basis in Massachusetts (16 percent decrease) and Wisconsin (12 percent decrease).
However, more foreclosures may be in store. “It was recently reported that the nation’s five largest mortgage servicers have implemented all of the 320 servicing standards required under the national mortgage settlement. The continued decline in Foreclosure Starts clearly shows that even though servicers are now apparently in compliance and clear to move forward with foreclosures, they are still in no rush to foreclose on the majority of delinquent borrowers,” said Sean O’Toole, founder & CEO of ForeclosureRadar.
However, processing time actually increased durinmg the quarter to a national average of 382 days to complete the foreclosure process, up from 378 days in the previous quarter and up from 336 days in the third quarter of 2011. It was the highest average number of days to foreclose since the first quarter of 2007.
The average time to complete a foreclosure increased substantially from a year ago in several states where recent legislation and court rulings have extended the foreclosure process. These states included Oregon (up 62 percent to 193 days), Hawaii (up 62 percent to 662 days), Washington (up 62 percent to 248 days) and Nevada (up 42 percent to 520 days).
The average time to foreclose decreased from a year ago in 15 states, including Arkansas (down 49 percent to 199 days), Michigan (down 15 percent to 226 days), Maryland (down 9 percent to 541 days), California (down 8 percent to 335 days), and New Jersey (down 4 percent to 931 days).
New Jersey documented the second longest state foreclosure timeline in the third quarter behind New York, where the average time to complete a foreclosure was 1,072 days for properties foreclosed during the quarter. Florida registered the third highest state foreclosure timeline, 858 days – down slightly from 861 days in the previous quarter – and Illinois registered the fourth highest state foreclosure timeline, 673 days.
Patch: Local Real Estate Market Shows Promise in Third Quarter | Cross River Real Estate
The residential real estate market in the Katonah-Lewisboro and Bedford Central school districts have shown signs of improvement in the third quarter, according to local realtors.
In the Bedford Central School district, 116 homes were sold in the third quarter of 2012, with a total volume of $105 million in sales, according to data provided by Houlihan Lawrence in Bedford.
The numbers are slightly higher than the previous quarter, when 112 homes were sold for a total volume of $97 million. Compared to the previous year, there were slight gains in home sales; in the third quarter of 2011, 112 homes were sold for a total volume of almost $136 million.
Angela Kessel, a top realtor at Houlihan Lawrence in Bedford, said she’s encouraged by the numbers and the fluctuation in sales volume can be explained by the diverse market in the district which includes high-end homes.
“I am cautiously optimistic,” said Kessel. “I think we’ve hit bottom—I’m very bullish on this market.”
In Katonah-Lewisboro, 69 homes were sold in the third quarter of 2012, with a total volume of $46 million in sales, according to data provided by Coldwell Banker. That’s a jump from second quarter when 47 homes were sold at a dollar volume of $36 million, and a year-over-year improvement from third quarter 2011, when 41 homes were sold for $30 million.
“The third quarter is stronger and after the unbelievable downturn we’ve had to now see such phenomenal movement in the market is amazing,” said Nelson Salazar, a real estate broker at Coldwell Banker.
While volume increased, prices have remained steady or dropped in both districts, but locals shouldn’t expect to see them rise to pre-2008 levels, he added.
According to Salazar, the median sale price in Katonah-Lewisboro was $624,000 in the third quarter of this year, compared to $653,000 last quarter, and $600,000 in third quarter 2011.
“Historically there has been a gradual rise in home prices—except for the years between 2000 and 2008, when there was a rocket-like artifical rise in price. It’s unrealistic to think that we’ll see that again,” he said.
In Bedford, the median home price in third quarter 2012 was $637,500, as compared to the previous quarter, when it was $677,500. In the third quarter of 2011 the median price was $776,875.
Westchester County
The county-wide market also saw a second round of increased residential real estate sales during the third quarter, July 1 to Sept. 30, of this year, according to Hudson Gateway Multiple Listing Service.
However, while sales volumes increased for two consecutive quarters, selling prices have not.
Highlights of the HGMLS report:
- Realtor firms participating in the Westchester-Putnam Division of the Hudson Gateway Multiple Listing Service reported 2,243 closed residential transactions in Westchester, a 15 percent increase over the same period last year.
- During the second quarter, the year-over-year increases were 13 percent and 24 percent respectively. For Westchester, the third quarter volume was the highest since 2007, and for Putnam, since 2008.
- If the current sales rate continues, Westchester will close the year with approximately 7,000 sales in all residential categories (single family houses, condominiums, cooperatives, and 2-4 family houses), resetting sales volume convincingly above the 6,639 unit level when our local market entered into real estate recession in 2008.
The increased sales volumes have not boosted selling prices.
The third quarter median sale price of a single family house in Westchester was $630,000 or nearly 8 percent less than last year’s third quarter median.
HGMLS attributes the lower average price in the region to sellers’ price concessions in response to general economic conditions but also partly to a downshift in the proportion of high end ($1 million-plus) properties that were sold. In Westchester, such properties accounted for 22 percent of all house sales in the third quarter; in 2011 that ratio was 26 percent, and in 2010 it was 28 percent.
The only sector to enjoy price gains was Westchester condominiums, up by 4 percent to a median of $349,750. The cooperative apartment median fell by 7 percent, to $155,000.
The closings posted with Hudson Gateway Multiple Listing Service in the third quarter largely reflected real estate sales and marketing activity that took place during the late spring and summer months of 2012. Other than low mortgage interest rates in that period there was not much supportive energy from other components of the economy that affect consumer confidence.
For example, the local unemployment rate has remained stuck in the high (for here) range of 7.5-7.6 percent range; and most consumers probably believe it is more than 8 percent due to the focus on that persistent national rate in the presidential election campaigns. The equity markets, which many consumers regard as an index of economic well-being, performed well over the course of this year, but with a pattern of volatility along the way that would intimidate all but sophisticated investors.
Still, posting two consecutive quarters of increased real estate sales in the region is encouraging because it occurred in the face of lackluster or even adverse economic circumstances, according to Hudson Gateway Multiple Listing Service.
“We are probably close to the point where buyers and sellers see eye to eye on the bottom line for prices, and where an increasingly active market generates its own energy for renewed health,” the organization’s latest report states.
Foreclosures Split America | Chappaqua NY Real Estate
September’s foreclosure data showed America has become bipolar over foreclosures, with dramatic decreases in most states but increases nearly as great in judicial states where lenders are speeding up processing of defaults.
Foreclosure activity nationwide fell to the lowest level in five years in but increased in 14 judicial states, including Florida, Illinois, Ohio, New Jersey and New York as lenders begin to move on backlogged defaults after processing standards fully implementing the Attorneys General agreement take effect.
The national decrease in September marked the ninth consecutive quarter with an annual decrease in foreclosure activity and helped drop the third quarter foreclosure numbers to the lowest level since the fourth quarter of 2007. Foreclosure filings for the quarter decreased 7 percent from August and 16 percent from September 2011. Third quarter filings were down 5 percent from the second quarter and 13 percent from the third quarter of 2011, according to RealtyTrac.
In the West, declines were even more dramatic. In California, notices of defaults were down 20.7 percent from the prior month, and down 48.1 percent compared to last year. In Arizona, new foreclosures were down 37.1 percent, in Nevada down 40.1 percent, down 40.0 percent in Oregon and Washington saw new foreclosures fall 31.2 percent from August. Sales are also down with Arizona down 24.3 percent, Nevada down 19.5 percent, Oregon down 0.3 percent, and Washington down 33.5 percent from the prior month, ForeclosureRadar reported today.
Third quarter foreclosure activity increased on a year-over-year basis in New Jersey (130 percent increase), New York (53 percent increase), Indiana (36 percent increase), Pennsylvania (35 percent increase), Connecticut (34 percent increase), Illinois (31 percent increase), Maryland (28 percent increase), South Carolina (16 percent increase), North Carolina (14 percent increase), and Florida (14 percent increase). Among judicial states foreclosure activity in the third quarter decreased on annual basis in Massachusetts (16 percent decrease) and Wisconsin (12 percent decrease).
However, more foreclosures may be in store. “It was recently reported that the nation’s five largest mortgage servicers have implemented all of the 320 servicing standards required under the national mortgage settlement. The continued decline in Foreclosure Starts clearly shows that even though servicers are now apparently in compliance and clear to move forward with foreclosures, they are still in no rush to foreclose on the majority of delinquent borrowers,” said Sean O’Toole, founder & CEO of ForeclosureRadar.
However, processing time actually increased durinmg the quarter to a national average of 382 days to complete the foreclosure process, up from 378 days in the previous quarter and up from 336 days in the third quarter of 2011. It was the highest average number of days to foreclose since the first quarter of 2007.
The average time to complete a foreclosure increased substantially from a year ago in several states where recent legislation and court rulings have extended the foreclosure process. These states included Oregon (up 62 percent to 193 days), Hawaii (up 62 percent to 662 days), Washington (up 62 percent to 248 days) and Nevada (up 42 percent to 520 days).
The average time to foreclose decreased from a year ago in 15 states, including Arkansas (down 49 percent to 199 days), Michigan (down 15 percent to 226 days), Maryland (down 9 percent to 541 days), California (down 8 percent to 335 days), and New Jersey (down 4 percent to 931 days).
New Jersey documented the second longest state foreclosure timeline in the third quarter behind New York, where the average time to complete a foreclosure was 1,072 days for properties foreclosed during the quarter. Florida registered the third highest state foreclosure timeline, 858 days – down slightly from 861 days in the previous quarter – and Illinois registered the fourth highest state foreclosure timeline, 673 days.