Category Archives: Lewisboro

3 Huge Differences Between U.S. and Canadian Mortgages | Katonah NY Real Estate

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As housing reform continues to be part of the Obama administration’s agenda, differences between the mortgage market in the United States and that of other countries have come to light. For instance, how do domestic mortgage products differ from those offered in Canada, a country considered the most comparable to the Unites States?

Here are three critical differences between the home lending market here and in our closest neighbor to the north.

30-year mortgages? Never heard of them While the 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage has become a staple in the U.S., Canada doesn’t offer anything remotely similar. The longest term for a home loan in the North Country is five years, with the amount amortized over a 25-year period. Canadian banks also offer fixed-rate mortgages for two-year, three-year, and four-year terms.

This means Canadians can never count on having a particular loan interest rate last more than five years. At the end of the loan’s life span, borrowers can refinance, but prepaying a loan early to take advantage of a drop in rates can cost mortgage customers dearly, as prepayment fees are quite hefty.

 

http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2014/02/23/3-huge-differences-between-us-and-canadian-mortgag.aspx

Are mortgage servicers back to their old tricks? | Katonah Real Estate

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The housing crisis of 2007-2008 pummeled home prices and tossed millions of people out of their homes because they couldn’t make their mortgage payments. Home prices and sales have rebounded and foreclosures have declined since then, but now there are signs that the recovery may be faltering.

The New York Times reported this week that the same abuses by lenders and mortgage servicers that led to massive foreclosures during the housing crisis are creeping back into the market.

Steven Antonakes, the deputy director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, told an industry meeting of servicers Wednesday that he remains “deeply disappointed by the lack of progress the mortgage servicing industry has made” despite “some improvements,” according to American Banker.

David Stevens, chief executive of the Mortgage Bankers Association, which hosted that meeting, told The Daily Ticker that he can’t speak directly to the Times story but he’s “sure this new set of allegations…will be looked into” and that they reflect “past practice.”

 

 

http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/new-rules-for-mortgage-servicers–will-they-really-protect-borrowers–132212701.html

 

Stop losing buyers because of horrible listing photos | Katonah NY Real Estate

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Since cameras have been getting better and better over the past years, why are the photos most real estate agents take not getting any better? Most agents take photos of rooms without a thought as to what it will look like in print or online. The photos in the MLS can be very poor, and some agents don’t even put in photos at all.

Below is a list of the 10 mistakes I see most often in our MLS.

1. Photographs that still have the date stamps on them. Not only does it look bad, but most often the date is more than a few months old!

Crooked House  2. Crooked photos of the inside or outside of the home. Most everyone has a photo editor that will automatically straighten  your photo. Use it.

3. Blurry or out-of-focus photos. You should always take several shots of each room so that if some are blurry, you have others to use.

 

 

– See more at: http://www.inman.com/next/top-10-photographic-crimes-real-estate-agents-commit/?utm_source=20140220&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=dailyheadlinesam#sthash.huReBwmN.dpuf

Housing Market Is On ‘Road Back To Normal’ | Katonah NY Homes

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As more inventory of for-sale homes helped slow previously high rates of appreciation, from December to January, national home values saw the smallest monthly increase since May 2012, according to the January Zillow Real Estate Market Reports.

National home values rose just 0.2% to a Zillow Home Value Index of $169,600.

Nationwide, while inventory remains tight, the number of homes listed for sale on Zillow was up 11.1% annually in January on a seasonally adjusted basis – the fifth straight month of rising year-over-year inventory.

Inventory rose year-over-year in 22 of the nation’s 35 largest metro areas covered by Zillow, with the largest inventory gains coming in some of the areas that were hit hardest by the housing recession, including Las Vegas (up 42.8%); Phoenix (up 30.5%); and Sacramento, Calif. (up 26%).

Those metros also experienced significant cooling in the pace of home value appreciation in January, Zillow notes, as buyers had more homes to choose from and were less apt to engage in the kinds of bidding wars that helped drive prices up so quickly last year.

“Last year, tight inventory contributed to very rapid home value appreciation. Now, more inventory is helping to moderate home value increases in many areas,” comments Stan Humphries, chief economist for Zillow.

 

http://www.mortgageorb.com/e107_plugins/content/content.php?content.15068

London House-Price Surge Drives U.K. Values in Spring Bounce | Katonah NY Real Estate

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London house prices surged this month, helping national values post their best annual increase since before the financial crisis, Rightmove Plc said.

Asking prices in the U.K. capital jumped 5.2 percent to an average 541,313 pounds ($905,500) from January, the operator of Britain’s biggest property website said in a report today. On the year, they rose 11.2 percent. Nationally, values rose 3.3 percent from the previous month and 6.9 percent on the year, the best annual performance since November 2007.

“This month’s large rise is exacerbated by being a rebound from the festive-season lull,” said Miles Shipside, a director at Rightmove. “The spring moving season is traditionally the busiest time of the year, so that means agents are likely to advise new sellers to aim high, with the best-selling months ahead of them and strong buyer demand in many areas.”

 

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-02-17/london-house-price-surge-drives-u-k-values-in-spring-bounce.html?cmpid=yhoo

Lawn Care Tips for Busy People | Katonah NY Homes

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A beautiful home is not only achieved through stylish interior design, but also through smart lawn care. Your lawn is the first thing that people notice about your home. Keeping a clean and healthy-looking lawn demands a lot of time and maintenance that may seem like a full-time job. In the fall you will want to have a 4 stroke leaf blower, to make it easier to get rid of all those leafs. To achieve a lush green lawn, you need to commit to mowing it on a weekly basis to prevent the grass from turning yellow and dry. Lawn mowing also keeps your grass from growing too high and thwarts pests (e.g. weeds and animals such snakes and other vermin) from invading your yard.

Professionals barely have enough time to maintain even just a healthy lawn. Although we can’t add time to our busy schedules, we certainly can make smart changes to common lawn maintenance practices through these tips:

  • Know when to feed your lawn and stick to the seasonal feeding schedule. Do not feed your lawn daily so the grass will stop growing faster according to King Green Lawn Care.
  • Don’t overuse your lawn mover. Allow a healthy growth of herbs in your lawn and use an effective lawn weed killer.
  • When mowing the lawn, try to cut them a little longer and allow herbs such as thyme to grow. This makes the lawn look greener, especially during dry spells.
  • Remove hard-to-mow areas or those areas that can’t be accessed by the mower. If you want to easily maintain your lawn, especially these tricky areas, consider using gravel to give your lawn more dimensions.
  • Get a high-powered mower that can do heavier tasks for you. Look for a machine that does most of the work in a single press of a button.
  • Leave some of the cuttings, but not all of them. These will provide enough nutrients in the soil and will help the grass to grow stronger and greener.

If you are a beginner, a gardener or an individual who does not have much time taking care of your lawn, at least prioritize these three maintenance tasks:

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/lawn-care-tips-busy-people-204228333.html