Category Archives: Pound Ridge

Florida Markets Still the Best Places to Buy Foreclosures | Pound Ridge NY Real Estate

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Hot foreclosure markets have come and gone over the past seven years but one thing seems to stay the same.  The markets with the most and the cheapest foreclosures are still located in Florida.

A judicial state that has had its share of controversy over robo-signing practices as well as high levels of negative equity and deep declines in home values since 2006, Florida markets still offer investors the best opportunities to buy and profit by either flipping or renting and holding renovated foreclosures.

To select the best places to buy foreclosures in 2013, RealtyTrac scored all metro areas with a population of 500,000 or more by summing up four numbers: months’ supply of foreclosure inventory, percentage of foreclosure sales, foreclosure discount, and percentage increase in foreclosure activity in 2012.

Topping the list of best places to buy foreclosures in 2013 was the Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville metro area in Florida with a total score of 394: 34 months’ supply of inventory, foreclosure sales representing 24 percent of all sales, average foreclosure discount of 28 percent, and a 308 percent increase in foreclosure activity in 2012 compared to 2011.

Five other Florida cities ranked among the Top 20 best places to buy foreclosures: Lakeland, Tampa, Jacksonville, Orlando, and Miami.

Late last year, Zillow calculated that the foreclosure discounts in Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties shrank to 2.9 percent discount in September, down from 6.8 percent a year earlier  Accordiong to Zillow, South Florida’s peak foreclosure discount was 22.7 percent in August 2008. But during the past year, a lack of homes for sale has frustrated buyers and led to multiple offers and bidding wars.

via realestateeconomywatch.com

Dubai Ready To Welcome Foreign Investors | Pound Ridge Homes

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Foreign investors may soon be welcome in Dubai as the government puts together a blueprint to revitalise the flagging economy.

The idea is that investors would not tie up with a Dubai national, as is currently required, but could start a business with someone from the Gulf Cooperative Region (GCC).

This would be a major change in Dubai’s position in allowing foreign investors to start up in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

That means investors from Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia would be free to link with a foreign business and begin trading in Dubai.

Dubai’s Department of Economic Development has formed a committee to look at how the rule could be implemented – and how it will benefit the economy.

Foreign capital

Currently foreign businesses are only allowed to have a minority stake in a business in Dubai, and the wider UAE, and they must have a local partner.

However, foreign firms can own 100% of a company but only when they are the country’s ‘free zones’.

The move widens the net for potential investors to team up and bring investment to a country keen on bringing in foreign capital after a property market collapse and a corporate debt crisis.

Dubai is particularly keen to develop industry, services and tourism and will expect a minimum investment of £1.7 million is needed before any business without the involvement of a Dubai national could go-ahead.

According to government data, foreign investment in the country is slowly increasing with investment projects worth £2.9 billion unveiled in the first six months of 2012 – up 7% on the year before.

No timescale

No timescale is laid out for the introduction of new investment rules. Critics say the government could spend several years bringing in regulations allowing foreign investors to do business outside of the ‘free zones’.

Meanwhile, Dubai is also making strong moves to establish the emirate as a leading centre for Islamic banking and finance.

The emirate already has the top banking centre for the Gulf, a position reinforced by the opening of the International Finance Centre more than 10 years ago.

The government is keen to attract fresh investors and will promote Islamic banks and insurance companies, and their products, to other Islamic countries.

Though the Islamic finance market is much smaller than mainstream finance, the sector is rapidly growing as people are attracted to its ban on interest and financial speculation.

Dubai’s government is also looking at creating international standards for halal foods and becoming the main arbitrator for Islamic business contracts.

via iexpats.com

Affordability Hangs Tough Despite Rising Prices | Pound Ridge Real Estate

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Despite the greatest price increases in years, affordability has hardly budged from six year peaks and in many of the nation’s most expensive markets, it’s still rising.

Year-over-year price increases through the final months of last year, which range from 4.5 percent/5.5 percent for the Case-Shiller composites to NAR’s 11.5 percent, have made less than a dent in soaring affordability ratings, especially in some of the nation’s most expensive markets in California and the Northeast.

The NAHB/ Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index has fallen only 4.3 percent from its January 2012 high.  NAR’s Housing Affordability Index is down only 4.6 percent from its multi-year peak in January 2012.  Both measures use median income levels, interest rates and home price data to calculate affordability on national and local levels.

However, in many markets, especially the nation’s most expensive housing markets, affordability is still rising.  These include San Francisco, Boston, San Diego, Washington DC, Las Vegas, West Palm Beach, New York City, Orlando and Sacramento.  In some, the pace of increase have slowed, but none have registered two consecutive quarters of affordability decline, as measured by Home Value Forecast’s Affordability Forecast, which uses regional household income trends with interest rates and local housing prices and to calculate the proportion of local households that can afford the median priced house

via realestateeconomywatch.com

The Morning Ledger: Housing Lifts Corporate Results | Pound Ridge Real Estate

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WOW SOME SIGNS OF GROWTH IN HOUSING BUT MAINLY IN MULTIPLES NOT MUCH IN SINGLES. WHY?BERNANKES EASY MONEY FOR INVESTORS BUT TIGHT FOR JOE VOTER AS LABOUR MUST MOVE TO GET THEIR SHARE OF THE RECORD PROFITS TO OUTPUT ECONOMIC PIE WITH 10000 BABYBOOMERS TURNING 65 DAILY WITH A 1% RETIREMENT SAVING ACCOUNT WITH SILVER SPOON PROGRAMS WITH A MILLION $ DEFICIT ADDED ONTO A 16.4 TRILLION $ FED .DEBT WE SHOULD ALL BE HAPPY THAT THE CART CONTINUES TO GET FED AND NOT THE HORSE. HOW CAN WE INCREASE EMPLOYMENT WHEN W EFOCUS ON FOREIGN MARKETS INSTEAD OF FEEDING OUR OWN HOUSE FIRST AS WE DO NOT USE TARIFFS BUT DEVALUE OUR CURRENCY TO GROW IN THE GLOBALMARKET.

via blogs.wsj.com

Pending Sales of Existing Homes in U.S. Decreased 4.3% | Pound Ridge Real Estate

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Pending U.S. home sales declined in December for the first time since August, showing uneven progress in the housing market.

The index of contracts for the purchase of previously owned homes fell 4.3 percent to 101.7 after a revised 1.6 percent increase, the National Association of Realtors reported today in Washington. The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey projected no change in the gauge. Compared with a year earlier, pending sales before seasonal adjustment climbed 4.9 percent.

 

Pending Sales of Existing U.S. Homes Decreased 4.3% in December

Pending Sales of Existing U.S. Homes Decreased 4.3% in December

Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg

Cheaper borrowing costs, improved property values and job gains may combine to drive further gains in housing demand, a source of strength for the expansion.

Cheaper borrowing costs, improved property values and job gains may combine to drive further gains in housing demand, a source of strength for the expansion. 


 

Jan. 25 (Bloomberg) — Susan Wachter, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, and Keith Jurow, author of a report on the U.S. housing market for Minyanville, discuss the outlook for the housing market. They speak with Mark Crumpton on Bloomberg Television’s “Bottom Line.” (Source: Bloomberg)

Cheaper borrowing costs, improved property values and job gains may combine to drive further gains in housing demand, a source of strength for the expansion. The Realtors group said fewer homes in inventory are holding back sales after the best year for the industry since 2007.

“Our expectation is that the U.S. housing market will deliver more of the same in 2013 — increased start activity, modest home price appreciation, and continued cleansing of the stock of shadow inventory,” Michael Gapen, a New York-based senior economist at Barclays Plc, said in a research note before the report.

Estimates in the Bloomberg survey of 37 economists ranged from a 5 percent drop to a 5 percent gain after a previously reported 1.7 percent increase.

Another report today showed orders for durable goods rose more than forecast in December, reflecting gains in demand for aircraft, communications equipment and electronics. The 4.6 percent surge last month followed a 0.7 percent gain, according to the Commerce Department in Washington. The median projection in the Bloomberg survey called for a 2 percent advance.

By Region

Three of four regions showed a drop in pending home sales last month, including an 8.2 percent decrease in the West and a 5.4 percent drop in the Northeast. Sales contracts advanced 0.9 percent in the Midwest.

Pending sales are considered a leading indicator because they track purchase contracts in advance of actual transactions, which are tabulated a month or two later. Existing or previously owned homes account for more than 90 percent of the housing market.

Sales of U.S. existing homes unexpectedly dropped in December, restrained by the lowest supply of properties in more than a decade, the Realtors group reported last week. Purchases fell 1 percent to a 4.94 million annual rate last month.

“The supply limitation appears to be the main factor holding back contract signings in the past month,” Lawrence Yun, the Realtors group’s chief economist, said in a statement. Still, “buyer interest remains solid.”

New Homes

New-home sales, logged when contracts are signed, declined 7.3 percent in December to a 369,000 annual pace, following a revised 398,000 rate the previous month that was higher than previously estimated and the strongest since April 2010, the Commerce Department reported last week.

For all of 2012, 5.02 million new and previously owned homes were sold, the most since 5.03 million in 2007.

Borrowing costs have remained affordable for those who qualify for financing. The average rate on a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage was 3.42 percent last week, according to Freddie Mac. A reading of 3.31 percent in November was the lowest in data going back to 1972.

Low interest rates are driving activity for lenders such as Atlanta-based SunTrust Banks Inc. (STI), which saw gains in 2012 bolstered by refinancing applications.

Sales Improving

“We do expect a current favorable mortgage market to remain, certainly for the near-term,” Chief Executive Officer William Rogers said on a Jan. 18 earnings call. “There are a lot more clients that can benefit from refinancing, the purchase market is improving and so is the overall housing market.”

Rising home prices also have helped heal the real-estate market that triggered the last recession. The S&P/Case-Shiller index of property values in 20 cities increased 4.3 percent in the year to October, the biggest 12-month advance since May 2010, according to data released Dec. 26. The group will report November figures tomorrow.

 

via bloomberg.com

 

3 Lessons for Bloggers, Gangnam Style | Pound Ridge Real Estate

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The PSY Gangnam Style video: you watched it … but missed some key points about blogging.

That’s right, blogging. As bloggers, we can learn extremely useful lessons from things that are unrelated to our topic.

Yesterday, I listened to the song. Replayed it, and replayed it again. I kept listening to the song for around half an hour.

Why did I keep listening to the song? Was there a marketing trick hidden in it?

I did some research and discovered three aspects of Gangnam Style which can be applied to your blog.

1. Innovate

Innovation was a major reason for my addiction to the song.

I’d never seen anyone getting inspiration from horse-back riders, and turn it into a dance move. That move is completely new, and people love new.

Look at your blog. Look at your competition. Is there a difference between you? When you are the same as others, how can you stand out of the crowd?

Innovation takes effort, but it doesn’t need to be difficult. Focus on doing something extra that can be loved by your readers. Yes, you will have to think hard, but if your mind is caught by the right idea, you will be on fire like Gangnam style…

2. Never take anything as insignificant, even if it’s small

Another big cause of Gangnam Style’s popularity is Gangnam itself. Gangnam is a city in Korea which is not big. People never proclaim that they are from there. But now, everybody wants to be from Gangnam, and to have Gangnam Style. It’s a case of the small thing gone big.

Most of the bloggers follow the big trends that are mostly created by the top blogs in their niche. Yes, those topics might be trending, but there is problem: everyone is writing about the same topic, so it’s difficult to get attention by writing on it.

If you start writing about something else that is given little importance, you have the chance to create a new trend in your industry. This also leads back to innovation. The more innovative your idea is, the better your chances are that it will go viral.

3. Inspire the influencers

PSY was not a big pop star before. The thing that took him to that position was the fact that he inspired the influencers in the music world, who spread it all over social media.

You made an innovation. You’ve spent time thinking about it and developing it, but now you’re wasting that effort by keeping it limited to your blog only. Step outside your blog! Tell the big names in your niche. They might like it and tell their audience, too.

In a nutshell: you can learn a lot of things from the famous song Gangnam Style including the importance of innovation, never under-estimating the power of small things, and the potential to inspire the influencers in your niche.

Tell me now. Have you learned anything from Gangnam Style?

 

via problogger.net