Category Archives: South Salem

‘Rare and Mythical’ Cobble Hill Carriage House Asks $8M | South Salem Real Estate

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Is this Pacific Street home a unicorn? The listing’s brokerbabble seems to think so. Built in 1840, this “rare and mythical” former carriage and fire house is “what real estate dreams are made of.” The 25-foot-wide by 85-foot-deep three-story home is currently configured as two units, but can be combined to be a four- to six-bedroom single-family dwelling. The home’s layout skirts the “inconvenience of vertical townhouse living” with its 2,125-square-foot main floor, which has double-height ceilings, big skylights, and an impressively large fireplace. The brokerbabble goes on: “Add to that the drama of massive exposed wood beams, arched windows, a charming greenhouse, a perennial garden … 12-inch-wide wood-plank floors … a terrace off the second floor … and you have a one-of-kind property with the warmth and grandeur only found in historical homes, but the open layout of more modern living.” Unlike a unicorn, this carriage house can be bought for $7.995 million.

 

read more…

http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2014/04/22/rare_and_mythical_cobble_hill_carriage_house_asks_8m.php

Building a Foolproof Low-Slope Roof | South Salem Homes

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Carolyn Wood is building a house 80 miles north of Vancouver, British Columbia, and if nothing else she’d like to get all the details in the roof assembly right, since in her last home, she had to get several hail damage roof repair services throughout the years. The question is whether the house is too far along to let her reach that goal.

The roof, with a 2-in-12 pitch, is framed with I-joists, strapped with 2x4s, and sheathed with 1/2-in. plywood. Above the roof sheathing, the roofers plan to install NovaSeal roofing underlayment and standing-seam metal roofing.

Below the sheathing are two layers of Roxul mineral wood insulation, providing a total of R-36. Wood plans to finish the ceiling with 1×6 tongue-and-groove boards. Against her builder’s advice, there will be no polyethylene vapor barrier in the ceilings or in the walls, but Wood would like to know whether, as she has recently heard, there should be a layer of drywall between the T&G ceiling boards and the insulation.

As currently built, an experienced tampa roofing company says the roof assembly has 1-inch-high ventilation gap between the top of the insulation and the underside of the roof sheathing, Wood writes in Q&A post at GreenBuildingAdvisor, but the question is whether 1 inch will be adequate. That’s the topic for this Q&A Spotlight.

http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/qa-spotlight/building-foolproof-low-slope-roof

Chatting with George Filopoulos about the New Gurney’s Inn | South Salem Real Estate

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Last year, struggling Montauk resort Gurney’s Inn was taken over by real estate moguls George Filopoulos and Lloyd Goldman. A multi-phase, multi-year refresh and renovation means that Gurney’s will soon have a sleek new look. First up is a brand new 38-room oceanfront building, with private verandas and floor to ceiling windows encasing custom built furniture and wire brushed hardwood floors. The new aesthetic is the work of Michael Kramer, a young designer who is already considered one of New York’s most impressive new talents.

Food and beverages will be under the stewardship of Jennifer LeRoy, daughter of Warner LeRoy, famous for Tavern on the Green and Russian Tea Room, among others. The Beach Club, launched last year, and the spa will also be refreshed, as will the fantastic sand-filtered seawater swimming pool, the only one in North America.

Thrilled that an East End icon is being saved (heck, our mom used to babysit there back in the 1950s), we sat down with George to chat about Gurney’s.

You’re a Montauk resident. How far do your roots go in Montauk? As a kid, my family’s annual vacation was a week in Montauk during the month of July. My wife and I started renting out here when we were newly married and have owned a home for the last 10 years.

 

 

 

http://hamptons.curbed.com/archives/2014/04/14/chatting_with_george_filopoulos_about_the_new_gurneys_inn.php

How will school-boundary changes affect the DC real estate market? | South Salem Real Estate

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Homebuying just got a little more complicated in the District of  Columbia.

Many buyers, whether or not they have children, want to know they’re moving into  an area with good schools. For those with children, it’s an immediate concern. For  those without children, it’s a question of resale value.

This week, Mayor Vincent Gray unveiled a proposal to overhaul school boundaries,  including changes to the way school assignments are determined. It’s the first  proposal to change the boundaries in decades, and it comes as the D.C. real estate  market has heated up, including in neighborhoods east of the Anacostia River.  Darrin Davis, owner of Anacostia River Realty, says, “The D.C. market is hot. I  just sold five houses this week.”

So will changes to school boundaries cool that market?

Eldad Moraru, with Long and Foster, says D.C. has become a desirable place — not  just for young career-minded singles, but for families too. And the proposed  school-boundary changes raise questions.

“Some of them — I won’t say all of them, but some buyers are holding off on  making decisions until this plays out to its completion.”

Moraru, who is licensed in D.C., Virginia and Maryland, says the uncertainty  created by Gray’s proposals could send buyers elsewhere. “I’m sure there are some  people who’ve opted to go ahead and purchase in other school districts like  Maryland and Virginia because of this, but others are taking a wait-and-see  approach.”

Davis says buyers who are looking to Anacostia, where the housing stock is  plentiful and the prices are within reach for many priced out of other  neighborhoods, tend to be young singles. Schools may not be a major consideration  for those buyers right now, but he says, “I do see that being an issue five to ten  years down the line.”

 

 

http://www.wtop.com/109/3600068/How-will-school-boundary-changes-affect-DC-real-estate

Who Pays America’s Highest (and Lowest) Property Taxes? | South Salem NY Homes

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The second biggest cost of home ownership — following the mortgage — is usually property taxes. In 2012, U.S. homeowners paid an average of about $2,800 in property taxes, according to a recent Zillow study. And if you live in New York, New Jersey, or Colorado your taxes were in some cases five times more than the national average. The numbers are based on an average of real estate taxes paid on single family housing in 2012.

The residents of Westchester County in New York pay more in property taxes than the typical resident of any other major American county. The average property tax bill for a single family home in Westchester County comes to $14,829 a year.

Want to know how your county stacks up against the rest of the country? Check out our rankings below.

 

https://homes.yahoo.com/news/pays-america-highest-lowest-property-taxes-163136546.html

 

3 reasons you should be rationally exuberant on housing | South Salem Homes

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Have you noticed that there is a cacophony of opinion and conflicting information on the health of the housing market this spring?

Rising rates and regulation will stifle demand. Housing is suddenly unaffordable and there is risk of another bubble.

Aren’t these contradictory arguments?  If demand is going to be stifled, then how can we have another bubble?

After all, an asset bubble is defined by irrational exuberance as exhibited by excess demand. Isn’t the rule, you can’t have your cake and eat it too?

Either demand is stifled or there is a bubble, but not both.

Instead, here are the three things that, in my mind, really matter this spring.

1. Availability of Credit

The housing market runs on the availability of credit. Most of us can’t buy a home without it. Analysis of the credit profiles of recent purchase transactions tells us that the only real dimension in which credit availability is “tight” right now is with credit scores. Under more normal circumstances in the early aughts, a little more than 10 percent of purchase originations had credit scores below 620.

At the moment, only 0.3% of purchase mortgage originations have credit scores below 620. There are good signs this spring, however, that standards are relaxing in this dimension as lenders are announcing reductions in minimum credit score requirements. Before you lament the resurgence of the disastrous subprime loan, remember that lending to borrowers with lower credit scores can be done successfully if you don’t also layer on payment shock risk and high leverage.

2. Pent-Up Supply

Most homebuyers are also first home sellers. Even in the best of times, first-time homebuyers account for well less than half of home purchases. The existing homeowner who sells and then buys (we call this housing turnover) is the lifeblood of the housing market. Yet, many still are under-equitied, meaning they’re underwater or have less than a 20% equity stake.

The impressive gains in home price appreciation in many of the hardest hit markets have created a virtuous cycle though, relieving more homeowners’ under-equitied situations and putting them in the position to become sellers and then buyers again this spring.

 

 

 

http://www.housingwire.com/blogs/1-rewired/post/29594-corelogic-economist-3-reasons-you-should-be-rationally-exuberant-on-housing

Eroding home affordability carries housing bubble concerns | South Salem Real Estate

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As home prices and mortgage interest rates rise, potential homebuyers are finding that fewer homes are within their financial grasp, prompting parallels to the most recent housing bubble.

A study by real estate portal Zillow has found that, for a full one-third of homes for sale nationwide in the fourth quarter, buyers would pay a larger percentage of their income toward a mortgage than in the pre-bubble era.

Zillow analyzed fourth-quarter income, mortgage and home value data. The company measured affordability by comparing how the share of an area’s median household income needed to cover the mortgage payment of a median-priced area home in the fourth quarter measured relative to the income-share needed to make a mortgage payment on a median-priced home in the same area between the years of 1985 and 2000.

While two-thirds of U.S. homes for sale were affordable in the quarter compared to the pre-bubble years, Zillow expects affordability to wane as interest rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages continue to rise toward an expected 5 percent over the next year. Rates on that type of mortgage have jumped close to 1 percentage point from 3.54 percent in April 2013 to 4.41 percent this week, according to Freddie Mac.

– See more at: http://www.inman.com/2014/04/04/eroding-home-affordability-carries-housing-bubble-concerns/?utm_source=20140404&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=dailyheadlinespm#sthash.BZUVApUm.dpuf

Construction worker dies from fall at Dream Hotel | South Salem Real Estate

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A male construction worker, likely in his 40s, died today after falling from a four-story scaffold at the Dream Hotel, at 210 West 55th Street, a New York Police Department spokesperson confirmed.

An investigation into the incident is ongoing. The identity of the worker is not being released at this time. He fell on top of a sidewalk shed and was pronounced dead at the scene.

A spokesperson for Hampshire Hotels, the owner of the building, was not immediately available for comment.

Hampshire appears to have been  performing repair work to the building’s terracotta facade and general remediation in connection with Local Law 11 compliance, according to Department of Buildings permits.

http://therealdeal.com/blog/2014/04/02/construction-worker-dies-from-fall-at-dream-hotel/

 

L.A.’s ‘Unsellable’ Fleur de Lys Just Sold for $102M… in Cash | South Salem Real Estate

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Nobody freak out, but it seems that Los Angeles’ Fleur de Lys, the estate that broke records when it hit the market in 2007 for $125M and, despite years of floundering, stuck stubbornly to its exorbitant ask, has sold for $102M, a record for L.A. county. What’s more, the “trophy estate,” as the L.A. Times dubs it, apparently sold amid a bidding war that engaged three billionaires, with the winner (previously reported to be businessman and “junk bond king” Michael Milken) agreeing to pay all cash for this 100-room mansion, as well as its rare Louis XIV and Louis XV antiques.

Designed by Richard Robertson III and completed 2002, Fleur de Lys comes with 35,000 square feet of marble walls and spindly furnishings, all spread across 12 bedrooms, 15 bathrooms, accommodations for a 10-person staff, a 50-seat screening room, and a three-bedroom caretaker’s house. As the Los Angeles Times writes, “The 3,000-square-foot wine cellar and tasting room is larger than most American houses, as is the manager’s house.” The jumbomanse was built for billionaire David Saperstein and his then-wife, Suzanne. After David’s much-publicized affair with their Swedish nanny, the two went through a much-publicized divorce that left his ex with the palace. This, of course, all went through in 2007, when a recession made it extremely difficult to sell megalomansions.

Much like the largest private residence in the country, Fleur de Lys took inspiration from Versailles—practically a requirement for homes of this stature, apparently. The property first hit the market in 2007, slinked off the market in October 2009, and again listed for its original ask—a staggering $125M—in July 2011.

Thought it was once rumored to have sold to Formula One heiress Tamara Ecclestone, it seems Fleur de Lys actually went to Milken, a businessman/philanthropist and onetime so-called “junk bond king.” The buyer was initially identified as an anonymous French billionaire, but the paper has since uncovered that “taxes will be mailed to the Milken Institute in Santa Monica.”

 

 

http://curbed.com/archives/2014/03/31/las-unsellable-fleur-de-lys-just-sold-for-102m-in-cash.php

10 things your real-estate agent won’t tell you | South Salem Homes

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1. “I’m using your house to sell myself.”

U.S. home prices have rebounded to mid-2004 levels, according to the latest S&P/Case-Shiller home price survey, and though monthly gains are slowing, this spring — traditionally the prime home-buying season — looks to be a sellers’ market.

That’s good news for real-estate agents as well. A 2013 National Association of Realtors member survey showed that agents’ $34,000 median annual income last year reflected a level not seen since 2006, just before the U.S. housing boom went bust; incomes in 2012 were up 37% from 2010.

But while most agents are hardworking professionals, buyers and sellers may encounter some agents who see only the “me” in home.

To get a listing, some agents tell dazzling stories about houses they’ve sold in your area. They’ll promise to splash photos of your home across the advertising pages of glossy magazines and blanket your neighborhood with direct mail to lure move-up buyers.

Critics say these agents are great marketers — of themselves. Photos in real-estate circulars “market the agent,” says Karen Krupsaw, vice president of real-estate operations at brokerage website Redfin. Mailers generate interest in the neighborhood — not the home. “It’s an avenue [brokers take] to generate business for themselves — using your house,” she says.

Furthermore, just because an agent does a lot of business, that doesn’t necessarily mean his clients were happy with his work, Krupsaw says. Indeed, the Council of Better Business Bureaus reports that consumer complaints against agents nationwide rose 22% in 2012 over the previous year.

The real estate website Trulia advises sellers to ask an agent how long their recent listings stayed on the market before selling, and compare that to the neighborhood’s history. Find out the average sale price compared with the average listing price of the homes they’ve sold. And ask how many other sellers the agent currently represents.

 

 

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/10-things-real-estate-agent-124050800.html