Category Archives: Pound Ridge

Mortgage originations defy interest rate hikes | Pound Ridge Real Estate

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Mortgage originations rose 12.7 percent year over year and dipped a slight 1.5 percent month to month in June, indicating stability despite increases in interest rates, according to a monthly report from Lender Processing Services.

Through June, originations had their strongest 12-month period since 2007, to 784,000, LPS said.

Prepayment activity, which is historically a good indicator of mortgage refinances, is still largely driving origination volume, the company said.

“Prepayment speeds have been impacted by the sharp increase in mortgage interest rates we’ve seen over the last couple months. However, even with that increasing interest rate pressure, July’s monthly prepayment rates are still about where they were this time last year, when rates were at historic lows,” said LPS Data & Analytics Senior Vice President Herb Blecher in a statement.

“In fact, they are roughly at the same levels as the heights of the ‘mini refinance booms’ in 2010 — when interest rates were comparable to where they are today — and in 2009, when rates were even higher.

“Of course, as interest rates continue to climb, we can expect that both prepayments and associated originations will decline.”

– See more at: http://www.inman.com/wire/mortgage-originations-defy-interest-rate-hikes/#sthash.3Gj9SiEH.dpuf

Homes Appreciate Over 6 Percent for First Time in 7 Years | Pound Ridge Real Estate

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July national home value appreciation rose again in July, up 0.4 percent from June to $161,600, reaching  6 percent year-over-year,  the first time year-over-year appreciation rates have reached 6 percent since 2006.

Monthly home values have risen in 20 of the past 21 months, beginning in November 2011 after the U.S. market bottomed in October of that year. The 6 percent national rate of annual appreciation is the highest since August 2006, according to Zillow.

Of the 393 metros covered in July, 289 (73.5 percent) registered month-over-month appreciation, and 303 (77.1 percent) showed annual appreciation. All 30 of the largest metro areas covered by Zillow registered both monthly and annual appreciation in July, and all have hit their bottom and are expected to show appreciation in the next 12 months. Metros with the largest annual gains in July included Sacramento (33.1 percent), Las Vegas (30.8 percent) and San Francisco (27.8 percent).

For the 12-month period from July 2013 to July 2014, U.S. home values are expected to rise another 4.8 percent to approximately $169,308, according to the Zillow Home Value Forecast. Large metro areas expected to show the most appreciation over the next year include Sacramento (19.6 percent), Riverside (19.2 percent) and San Francisco (13.2 percent).

“After three straight months of annual home value appreciation above 5 percent, the U.S. housing market recovery has proven it is on very sound footing. We have entered a new phase in the recovery when we can begin to turn away from ugly recent history and turn toward what the housing market of the future will look like and how it will act. The time to have these discussions is now, and recent efforts by President Obama and both parties in the House and Senate to begin addressing still-lingering structural issues related to housing finance are very encouraging,” said Zillow Chief Economist Dr. Stan Humphries.

“It may be tempting to look at how the market is currently performing and think that tackling GSE reform and other large issues is no longer necessary. But while we can afford to turn away from the recent past, we cannot afford to forget it, and simply ignoring these problems only dooms us to repeat them. How we handle these all-important policy debates will be critical in keeping the housing market on sound footing for years to come,” he said.

National rents also rose in July compared with June, up 0.5 percent to a Zillow Rent Index[iv] of $1,287. Year-over-year, national rents were up 1.7 percent in July.

The number of completed foreclosures in July fell to 4.9 homes foreclosed out of every 10,000 homes nationwide, down from 5.2 homes in June. Foreclosure resales represented 8.7 percent of homes sold in the U.S. in July, down 0.7 percentage points from June and 3.4 percentage points from July 2012.

Zillow Home Value Index (ZHVI)

Zillow Rent Index (ZRI)

Metropolitan AreasJuly 2013 ZHVIMonth-Month % ChangeYear-Year % ChangeJuly 2013 ZRIMonth-Month % ChangeYear-Year % Change
United States$161,6000.4%6.0%$1,2870.5%1.7%
New York, NY$349,7000.5%2.2%

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Los Angeles, CA$475,6002.0%21.5%$2,3080.3%1.2%
Chicago, IL$167,4001.5%2.9%$1,5350.5%0.7%
Dallas-Fort Worth, TX$136,7001.1%7.1%$1,3450.2%3.0%
Philadelphia, PA$190,3000.5%1.8%$1,5000.4%0.4%
Washington, DC$339,4001.1%8.2%$2,0820.2%1.3%
Miami-Fort Lauderdale,   FL$167,8001.8%13.5%$1,6480.8%3.5%
Atlanta, GA$123,9002.2%10.1%$1,1330.1%0.6%
Boston, MA$338,0001.4%8.4%$1,9970.3%4.0%
San Francisco, CA$628,2002.6%27.8%$2,5490.0%2.7%
Detroit, MI$91,6001.6%16.5%$1,0361.8%1.1%
Riverside, CA$234,3003.5%27.3%$1,5840.3%2.6%
Phoenix, AZ$179,4002.5%22.2%$1,147-0.3%0.0%
Seattle, WA$302,6002.3%15.3%$1,6600.3%3.2%
Minneapolis-St Paul,   MN$191,8001.2%12.5%$1,4580.1%1.4%
San Diego, CA$428,9002.1%23.1%$2,1430.3%3.0%
St. Louis, MO$128,9000.2%1.4%$1,0800.7%-1.7%
Tampa, FL$125,0002.4%12.8%$1,2050.3%2.8%
Baltimore, MD$230,3001.2%5.7%$1,6770.3%0.3%
Denver, CO$245,1001.6%13.4%$1,5640.4%5.0%
Pittsburgh, PA$113,4000.8%2.8%$992-2.1%-5.2%
Portland, OR$253,7001.8%14.9%$1,4270.3%3.6%
Sacramento, CA$274,6002.9%33.1%$1,4620.4%-0.3%
Orlando, FL$139,7001.6%15.1%$1,2420.2%3.5%
Cincinnati, OH$126,8000.9%2.3%$1,1320.2%10.4%
Cleveland, OH$116,1001.0%4.6%$1,1070.2%2.9%
Las Vegas, NV$151,6002.5%30.8%$1,1550.2%0.3%
San Jose, CA$735,7002.2%25.1%$2,6690.6%3.5%
Columbus, OH$132,2000.9%5.6%$1,1820.4%2.1%
Charlotte, NC$138,0000.8%2.8%$1,146-0.1%1.0

Rustic Lakefront Living in Northern California for $29M | Pound Ridge Real Estate

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Location: South Lake Tahoe, Calif.
Price: $29,000,000
The Skinny: Despite an address in the town of South Lake Tahoe, this 77-acre wooded property actually fronts on the much smaller Fallen Leaf Lake, a pristine glacial lake that lies a mile south of Lake Tahoe. Equipped only with a rustic cabin that dates to the 1920s, the property has been listed for a whopping $29M. Of course, one would expect that a buyer with eight-figure budget will build a monstrosity on the property—like the nearby Lake Tahoe estate that once wanted $100M—but the pristine land has been subdivided into three lots, meaning developers may take interest too. Those rich folks just looking for a little peace and quiet would also be satisfied with this lakeside retreat. According to the listing, the nearest neighbor is nearly a mile away.

 

 

Rustic Lakefront Living in Northern California for $29M – House of the Day – Curbed National.

Oyster Festival Returns To Norwalk This Weekend | Pound Ridge Real Estate

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The 36th annual Norwalk Seaport Association Oyster Festival will return Friday through Sunday, complete with the always-popular Oyster Slurping and Oyster Shucking contests.

The festival will again offer a wide range of activities for the whole family, including an Arts & Crafts Pavilion, the Kids Cove, with rides, games and child-centered entertainment, and a food court with everything from Italian to seafood. New this year for the adults is the Craft Beer Tasting Tent with more than 25 beers to sample and brewers to meet.

The festival also features entertainment by local musicians and national acts. On Friday, Max Creek brings its unique blend of rock, country, reggae, soul, and calypso.

Fans who missed Village People last year due to bad weather can catch them on Saturday night. Sunday’s headliner will be The Zoo, winner of MTV’s Ultimate Cover Band contest.

Returning this year is the Paul Bunyan Lumberjack Show featuring logrolling, ax throwing, tree climbing, dragster chain sawing and more. Joining them on the schedule is Eastern Action Sports Team providing visitors with BMX shows. The Arts and Crafts Pavilion hosts dozens of artists and crafters displaying a wide range of creative and practical items.

Taste-test some of the Festival’s culinary offerings such as barbecue, oysters, mussels and clams, and other food selections available at the Food Court. Food is prepared by dozens of local nonprofit organizations allowing them to raise funds for their charitable causes.

The event is held at Veterans Memorial Park, adjacent to Norwalk Harbor on Seaview Avenue in Norwalk. Admission for adults is $10 on Friday, $12 on Saturday and Sunday.

Children 5 to 12 years old are $5. U.S. military personnel on active duty are free. All entertainment is included in ticket prices. Tickets can be purchased online at the Norwalk Seaport Association’s website.

The annual festival supports the Norwalk Seaport Association, which has owned, restored and maintained the Sheffield Island Lighthouse since 1986. It is the official U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Friends group for the Norwalk Islands.

 

 

Oyster Festival Returns To Norwalk This Weekend | The Greenwich Daily Voice.

What’s It Like to Live Inside a Work of Art? | Pound Ridge Real Estate

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21 images

Architect Michael Haverland is in the news lately with the completion of Calvin Klein’s house on Meadow Lane in Southampton. Tucked away in Springs is an earlier house of his, done for clients David Steward and M. Pierre Friedrichs, which overlooks Accabonac Harbor. (You wonder if Calvin, who is reportedly annoyed that curious folk are peering into his glass house—hey, who could have foreseen that?—shouldn’t have taken inspiration from this house and asked for a solid façade to face the street.)

This house pays tribute to twentieth century architectural and design masters, names like Frank Lloyd Wright (a particular favorite of the owners), Mies van der Rohe, Robert Venturi (with whom Michael Haverland once interned), and Le Corbusier. One of the most striking features of the building is the textured concrete, a nod to Wright’s “textile block” houses built in the 1920s in Los Angeles. Once you’re inside, of course, most striking is the beautiful view of the outdoors.
So what is it like to live inside a work of art? We sat down with David Steward and found out.

 

 

read more…

 

 

http://hamptons.curbed.com/archives/2013/09/04/whats_it_like_to_live_inside_a_work_of_art.php

How to Use the New Facebook Insights | Pound Ridge Realtor

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Do you rely on Facebook Insights to track the performance of your Facebook page?

Are you wondering how the new Insights can help you refine your Facebook activities?

In this article, I’ll give you a tour of the new Facebook Insights and the data you’ll find there, so you’re better equipped to support your marketing goals with Facebook.

What’s New With Facebook Insights?

Facebook Insights has long been valued by successful marketers as a source of data that can help drive strategic marketing decisions. Until recently, the bulk of that valuable data was accessible only through the export of clumsy, difficult-to-navigate spreadsheet files that often buried key metrics.

Thankfully, Facebook has refreshed the web version of Insights to bring you clear data sets that are presented in easier-to-navigate graphs that are highly dynamic and customizable. New features include:

  • Benchmarking
  • Easy start and end date slider
  • When your fans are online feature
  • Best post types feature
  • Comparisons vs. general Facebook audience
  • Advanced filtering
  • Addition of Post Clicks stat

Keep reading to discover more…

Access the New Insights

view insights in admin panel

Access the new Insights from within your admin panel.

From your admin panel, the Insights box is located next to the Get More Likes box. If it looks like the example above, you have the new Insights. Click on See All to launch the Overview.

If it looks like it used to a month or more back, you don’t have it yet. Patience! You’ll get it soon. In the meantime, here’s what you can expect…

Explore the New Overview Tab

Immediately upon arriving at the new Insights, you’ll get an updated Overview screen. This is Facebook’s way of showing you as much data as they can at one time.

The new Insights are broken down into the following tabbed sections:

  • Overview
  • Page
  • Posts
  • People

The Overview tab of Facebook Insights summarizes what’s going on with your page.

You’ll recall the old Insights had an Overview screen as well. Now, new graphs represent snapshots of your Page Likes growth, Post Reach and Engagement. The most recent posts are still found at the bottom of the screen.

If you aren’t sure what a data set refers to, hover over the title and a definition will pop up.

Hover over People Engaged to get a definition of the data segment.

The definition of an Engaged User has long been confusing to page admins. Many have incorrectly assumed that an engaged user is anyone who likes, comments on or shares a post. In reality, it includes any click at all.

Facebook Insights now clarifies this and breaks the stat into Post Clicks (see below) and Comments, Likes and Shares only (we’ll see this later).

 

 

read more…

 

 

http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/new-facebook-insights/

Protecting our planet is an issue that resonates with a lot of people | Pound Ridge Real Estate

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Melissa Seipel, HR Manager of Global Operations, replies:

Thank you so much for your interest in a career in conservation! You don’t mention your previous work experience or professional background, but we have over 3300 staff working in fifty states and thirty five countries in a wide variety of roles. While our science and conservation staff are critical to our mission, we couldn’t do it without the contributions of men and women in fields such as marketing, finance, legal, administrative and operations, information science, fundraising, human resources — and the list goes on! At our beautiful Pine Butte guest ranch in Montana, we also hire seasonal cooks and housekeepers. We post new positions often on www.nature.org/careers and you can create a “Job Search Agent” in the locations where you would like to work and receive and email you the moment that new jobs are posted. All positions list the “basic qualifications” required and while many do require four year or advanced degrees, a large number do not. We also depend heavily on the contributions of our volunteers. Volunteering is also a great way to get to know staff in the offices and learn about what potential needs they may have in the future. If you find that the positions you are most interested in do require degrees, you may also want to explore the many evening and online degree programs available geared towards working adults, many with financial aid available. It’s never too late to pursue your dreams!

 

 

read more…

 

http://www.nature.org/ourscience/sciencefeatures/ask-the-conservationist-september-2013.xml?src=e.gp

 

Before Bryant Park, There Was NYC’s Doomed First Skyscraper | Pound Ridge Real Estate

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19 images

This little-known piece of old New York was the city’s very first skyscraper. Exactly 160 years ago this summer, the so-called Crystal Palace opened to awed crowds. Its footprint took up nearly one square block on Sixth Avenue between 42nd and 41st Streets, with a cross-shaped floorplan and a central dome that soared so gracefully it seemed it were destined for a Parisian train station rather than a temporary exhibition space. An octagonal tower built at the side of the main hall, called the Latting Observatory, was somewhere between 300 and 315 feet tall, depending on who you asked, unseating the previous record-holder, Trinity Church, whose spire reached a mere 290. It was inaugurated on July 14, 1853, with President Franklin Pierce presiding and an abundance of fireworks and general pizzazz. Inspired by a structure in London, New York would not be outdid. According to the Times, “for a time, no visitor to New York or from neighboring cities or suburban districts considered his life complete without a visit.” In a manner of speaking, it symbolized the irrepressible antebellum feeling of American exceptionalism. “It was a thing to be seen once in a lifetime,” wrote Horace Greeley, “As we grow in wealth and strength, we may build a much greater Crystal Palace.”

  • The whole thing was the work of an ambitious engineer, Christan Detmold, with knowledge of the vagaries of iron and glass and how to weld them together to make something majestic.

 

 

 

read more…

http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2013/08/22/before_bryant_park_there_was_nycs_doomed_first_skyscraper.php

 

Two Philadelphia University students created sophisticated interior furnishings with fungi | Pound Ridge Homes

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Several years ago, forward-thinking Ecovative Design made headlines with its development of insulating and packaging materials made from mushrooms. What these mycological biocomposites lacked in aesthetic refinement they made up for in environmental performance, given their minimal-impact production.

Recently, Philadelphia University industrial design students demonstrated that fungi can be utilized to create more sophisticated interior furnishings. For their senior project, Merjan Tara Sisman and Brian McClellan created the “Living Room Project,” with a prototype chair and pendant light made from the mycelial roots of mushrooms. After discovering various ways in which to control root growth within prefabricated molds, Sisman and McClellan crafted objects of unexpected sturdiness and refinement.

The duo consider their design process—which is similar to that used by Ecovative—akin to a zero-energy type of 3D printing. “What I loved about mycelium was the fact that its act of growth became the design itself,” Sisman told The Philadelphia Inquirer. “It is actually beautiful. It is a pretty little smart thing that holds great potential.”

Blaine Brownell, AIA, is a regularly featured columnist whose stories appear on this website each week. His views and conclusions are not necessarily those of ARCHITECT magazine nor of the American Institute of Architects.

 

read more…

 

http://www.architectmagazine.com/furniture/fungus-furniture.aspx?utm_source=newsletter&utm_content=jump&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=EBP_082713&day=2013-08-27

 

Summer at SoundWaters: Outdoor experiences and lifelong memories | Pound Ridge Real Estate

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Summer at SoundWaters: Outdoor experiences and lifelong memories   

This summer, more than 350 campers explored, examined, investigated and discovered the habitats, marine animals and waters of Long Island Sound as they experienced first-hand the natural world in a joyful and educational outdoor setting.

The unique location of SoundWaters Coastal Education Center in Stamford’s Cove Island Park multiplies the range of outdoor activities available to campers. Through the generosity of SoundWaters donors, one-third received full or partial scholarships, which provided shared opportunities for every boy and girl to feel connected to the Sound.

 

Depending on their ages, some campers used seine nets to gather plankton, went on scavenger hunts and engaged with Long Island Sound animals during “creature feature” sessions in our Teaching Aquarium. Others studied populations of crabs and small fish they found at the shore, and conducted scientific experiments such as dissecting squid in the Learning Laboratory.

 

Canoists learned the parts of the boat, paddling techniques and boarding and maneuvering a canoe. But canoeing was not their only objective: After paddling across Holly Pond, they discovered the animals of the salt marsh and while aboard performed water quality tests using scientific equipment.

Each day, Opti and Pico sailors rigged their boats and raised sails, developing both confidence and proficiency. Lessons in sail theory, navigation and currents, combined with a direct realization that they shared the Sound with living marine animals, enhanced their sailing experience.

A summer camp would not be complete without daily swimming sessions, outdoor games, and of course, camp songs.

The campers often shared their experiences at night with their families, sometimes persuading parents to sign them up for additional sessions. One 6-year-old has already told her mother that she loves “science camp” and wants to have her next birthday party at SoundWaters.

“I cannot thank SoundWaters enough,” said one mother whose son received a scholarship. “This was the best summer because of your camp. I am so grateful.”

Read other Snapshots

Regards,

Leigh Shemitz, Ph.D.
Executive Director
SoundWaters