Binge on the Design of ‘House of Cards’ | Pound Ridge Real Estate
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Category Archives: Pound Ridge
Spring Thaw May Not Heat up This Housing Market | Pound Ridge NY Homes
The severe winter weather has been a convenient scapegoat for the slowdown in the housing market. While many analysts and builders predict a significant pickup in activity in the spring, slack demand may continue to define an uneven recovery — even as green grass replaces ice in the coming months.
The Commerce Department said Wednesday that groundbreaking on new homes last month tumbled 16 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 880,000 units, the lowest level since September. The percentage drop was the largest since February 2011. Starts for December were revised up to a 1.05 million-unit pace from the previously reported 999,000-unit rate.
Warmer weather could certainly get more people out looking, but with monthly payments potentially much higher this year, new buyers will have to clear a high bar.
“There must be low demand — that’s what we’re seeing,” said Glenn Kelman, CEO of Redfin, an online real estate brokerage based in California. “We saw a huge spike in demand last year, which is why we were so confident the market had bottomed. … We’re not seeing the same thing this year, so even though there aren’t many homes for sale, there aren’t many buyers looking for them, either.”
http://www.nbcnews.com/#/business/real-estate/spring-thaw-may-not-heat-housing-market-n33531
Why is the Miami real estate market burning so hot? | Pound Ridge NY Homes
Strong demand for real estate in the city styled the “Capital of Latin America” resulted in a third consecutive record sales year and two years of double-digit price appreciation.
That’s the word from the 31,000-member Miami Association of Realtors and the local MLS down in the land of Cuban press sandwiches, sunshine, salsa and sexy swimwear.
“Record demand for Miami properties from both domestic and international buyers resulted in another sales record in 2013,” said 2014 Chairman of the Board of the MIAMI Association of REALTORS Liza Mendez. “We expect strong demand to continue in 2014 for Miami real estate but are encouraged that more homeowners are listing homes for sale, creating more balance between buyers and sellers.”
There were 30,041 homes and condos sold in Miami-Dade County in 2013, setting a new annual record that is 8% higher than the previous record set in 2012. Sales of single-family homes last year totaled 12,901, an increase of 12.5% compared to the previous year’s total of 11,463. Condominium sales increased 4.6%, from 16,383 in 2012 to 17,140 in 2013.
http://www.housingwire.com/articles/29031-why-is-the-miami-real-estate-market-burning-so-hot
Crunching the numbers: the promise, and practical applications, of predictive data | Pound Ridge Real Estate
Los Angeles’ CLAW is first MLS in the country to delay listing syndication feeds | Pound Ridge Realtor
6 best states to flip a home | Pound Ridge NY Homes
In 2013, investors bought more than 156,000 homes, only to fix them up and quickly resell them for an average profit of $58,081. Home flipping became increasingly popular as the housing market began to recover. However, while the number of U.S. home flips increased in 2013 compared with 2012, home flips as a proportion of all home sales declined from 7.1% of sales in the fourth quarter of 2012 to just 3.8% of sales in the fourth quarter of 2013, partly because of declining inventory.
Where homes are available, however, substantial profits can still be made. In six states, home flippers made an average profit of considerably more than $80,000 in 2013. In the top state, the gross profit on a flipped home was more than $100,000. 24/7 Wall St. examined the six states where home flipping was most lucrative in 2013.
Buying homes to flip when market prices are relatively high may mean more overhead, but the fact remains that the states and metro areas with the largest average profits on home flips were the more expensive housing markets. All of the six most profitable states to flip a home in 2013 had among the highest average purchase prices that year. “High prices result in higher profits,” confirmed Daren Blomquist, vice president at home data site RealtyTrac. “These states are basically the highest-priced markets in the country.”
24/7 Wall St. examined the six states with an average gross home flip profit of at least $80,000 in 2013, based on data from RealtyTrac. RealtyTrac also provided average flip price, average gross profit, and the proportion of all home sales that were flips for 2011 and 2012, and Q4 2013 for States and U.S. Metro areas. We also reviewed RealtyTrac’s foreclosure rates for 2013.
http://homes.yahoo.com/photos/6-best-states-to-flip-a-house-1392234911-slideshow/
Canada house prices rise in January to record high | Pound Ridge NY Homes
Canadian home prices rose to a record high in January as Vancouver prices surged, the Teranet-National Bank Composite House Price Index showed on Wednesday, even as other housing indicators have shown a cooling market.
The index, which measures price changes for repeat sales of single-family homes, showed national prices rose 0.4 percent last month from December, the largest monthly rise in five months. They had risen 0.1 percent in December.
Canada’s housing market had roared back to life through much of 2013 after a 2012 slowdown, but was showing signs of cooling in the final months of last year, and economists have been calling for a soft landing as construction and demand slow and price gains decelerate.
The Teranet data showed prices were up 4.5 percent from a year earlier, an acceleration from December’s 3.8 percent price gain. The index does not show actual prices.
“Despite the uptick in home prices, we maintain the view that prices will soften,” Mazen Issa, senior Canada macro strategist at TD Securities, said in a research note.
“Very favorable financial conditions are expected to erode as continued tapering by the Federal Reserve and a more robust growth backdrop lead to higher mortgage rates.”
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/02/12/canada-economy-teranet-idUSL2N0LH0R520140212
Obtaining a mortgage increasingly seen as ‘easy,’ survey says | Pound Ridge Homes
Even though new federal rules for mortgages kicked in this year, and lenders’ standards remain high, Americans are increasingly likely to think it’s “easy” to get a home loan, according to a report released Monday.
Last month 52% of respondents to a survey from federally controlled mortgage buyer Fannie Mae
/quotes/zigman/226360/delayed/quotes/nls/fnmaFNMA said they thought it would be “easy” to get a home mortgage today. That share was a record-high for the series, which goes back to mid-2010. Fannie’s survey polls 1,000 American adults each month.
January’s result should be good news for housing-market observers who have been concerned about the impact of new mortgage rules, along with rising rates, on demand. It seems that at least some would-be borrowers aren’t letting an evolving mortgage marketplace get them too down. Indeed, 70% of Fannie’s respondents said in January that they would buy a home if they were to move, matching a series high hit in October.
While Fannie’s results may be a bit surprising, recent data from the Federal Reserve signaled that some large banks are easing standards for prime home mortgages. Given the beating that lenders took from plunging refinancing applications last year, it makes sense that they are looking elsewhere to feed their hunger for mortgage revenue
What $5,200/Month Can Rent You Around New York City | Pound Ridge NY Homes
Real Estate agents turn to video to shoot for a marketing edge | Pound Ridge Realtor
Steve Dao spent a recent Friday rushing from the office to the gym, picking up some freshly-rolled sushi and, back home as the city lights came up, impressing his date with the view of Toronto’s skyline from the terrace of his King Street East loft.
All the while, a camera crew was capturing the lifestyle of a successful, thirtysomething loft owner and single dad. Mr. Dao is an actor and on that day he was the star of a video designed to show off the amenities of the loft and the surrounding King and Parliament neighbourhood to prospective buyers. Taking on the role of his date was real estate agent Karyn Filiatrault of Bosley Real Estate Ltd., who also commissioned the video.