Category Archives: Waccabuc NY

Distressed neighborhoods fall behind in housing recovery: Bernanke | South Salem NY Real Estate

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Despite improvements in the overall economy, America’s lower-income communities continue to face hard times, said Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve. 

As a result, aiding low-income neighborhoods requires a “multipronged approach” focusing on various aspects, including housing and employment.

“While employment and housing show signs of improving for the nation as a whole, conditions in lower-income neighborhoods remain difficult by many measures,” the chairman said.

He added, “Resilient communities require more than decent housing, important as that is; they require an array of amenities that support the social fabric of the community and build the capabilities of community residents. The movement toward a holistic approach to community development has been long in the making, but the housing crisis has motivated further progress.”

Bernanke also stressed the vital role played by local leaders in revitalizing lower income communities, citing research by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston of towns that have managed to turn positive.

“Substantial coordination and dedication are needed to break through silos to simultaneously improve housing, connect residents to jobs, and help ensure access to adequate nutrition, health care, education, and day care,” he said.

The 2008 collapse of the housing market and resulting deep recession has deepened the dilemma of many lower-income communities.

Thus, solutions will have to be tailored to whether a low-income neighborhood is urban, suburban or rural.

“Community development leaders have no shortage of commitment to their goals, but with the insights you provide, together with the opportunities to learn from the experiences of other communities, they will be better prepared and thus more successful in meeting the very difficult challenges they face,” Bernanke concluded.

via housingwire.com

Elliman Reports on Manhattan and Brooklyn Rentals | South Salem Homes

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We have just released the “Elliman Report: Manhattan & Brooklyn Rentals March 2013,” the leading resource on the state of the Manhattan and Brooklyn rental markets. As always, our market reports are produced in conjunction with Miller Samuel to provide you and your clients with the most comprehensive and neutral market insight available. 

 

After closing out 2012 with a slight increase in rents at already high levels, Manhattan rental price increases have steadily grown larger in the first three months of 2013. Rents rose across all apartment sizes with the largest gains seen in the 2-bedroom and 3-bedroom markets.  The market remains tight with the lowest vacancy rate in two years. The combination of an improving economy and tight credit is expected to increase pressure on rents throughout the year.

 

Increases in Brooklyn rental prices were strong and have been growing since the beginning of the year. New rental activity slipped as more tenants, unable to find more affordable places to live, signed more renewals. Landlord concessions continue to be the exception and not the rule with tighter supply. As the economy improves and with low mortgage rates in place, we don’t anticipate much change in the market in the coming months.

 

We constantly look for ways to provide our clients with better information to enable them to make more informed decisions. Our efforts to make this market report series possible reflect my strong belief that in a market that is constantly changing, access to timely information is one of the greatest resources we can offer our clients.  We are committed to providing the best information and services in the industry. Explore our full market report series covering Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Long Island, The Hamptons, North Fork, Westchester/Putnam, Miami, Boca Raton, Fort Lauderdale and Palm Beach at http://www.elliman.com/marketreports

via trulia.com

Low Mortgage Interest Rates Masking High Home Price-to-Income Ratios | South Salem NY Real Estate

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Zillow has noticed a trend that could become problematic for both the U.S. housing market and policymakers in coming months.

By looking at two metrics — an affordability index and a price-to-income ratio — Zillow researchers have determined that low mortgage rates that make homes appear incredibly affordable are overshadowing a bigger overall trend in which the overall prices of homes are actually significantly more expensive than historic norms relative to annual incomes.

The affordability index measures the percentage of a homeowner’s monthly income devoted to housing (mortgage) payments. In the pre-bubble period from 1985 through 1999, homeowners spent 19.9 percent of their monthly income on mortgage payments. But because of historically low interest rates currently in the 3 to 4 percent range, at the end of Q4 2012, homeowners were spending only 12.6 percent of their monthly incomes on housing payments — or roughly 37 percent below historic norms. Low interest rates have translated into more purchasing power for homeowners, as the cost to finance homes has gone down.

The price-to-income ratio looks at the total cost/price of a home relative to median annual incomes. Historically, the typical, median home in the U.S. cost 2.6 times as much as the median annual income (so if the median income in an area was $100,000, the median price of a home would typically be about $260,000: $100,000 * 2.6).

While historically low mortgage rates are translating into big savings for homeowners, those same low monthly payments are masking a troubling trend. While home values have been on the rise for the past year — in some areas appreciating by 15 percent or more annually — median wages haven’t kept pace. As a result, home price-to-income ratios in many areas are climbing.

Because wage appreciation has failed to keep pace with home value appreciation, once rates rise and the illusion of affordability driven by smaller monthly payments disappears, the market will be left with homes that could potentially be too expensive to afford on the typical median wage.

“The days of historically high levels of housing affordability are numbered,” said Zillow Chief Economist Stan Humphries. “Current affordability is almost entirely dependent on low interest rates, and there’s no doubt that rates will begin to rise in the next few years. This will have an undeniable effect on demand for housing, as home buyers will have to spend more of their incomes to buy a home. Home values will have to either remain stagnant while incomes catch up or, quite possibly, home values will have to fall in some markets. This will especially be the case in some markets that have seen strong home value appreciation.”

Homeowners in 24 of the 30 largest metros covered by Zillow were paying more for homes in the fourth quarter of 2012 relative to their region’s median income than they were from 1985 through 1999. Metros with the largest difference between their pre-bubble and fourth quarter 2012 price-to-income ratios included San Jose (52.1 percent more), Los Angeles (48.8 percent more), Portland, OR, (45.4 percent more), San Diego (44.6 percent more) and Denver (40.8 percent more).

Of the 30 largest metros covered by Zillow, only Cincinnati (3.1 percent less), Chicago (3.9 percent less), Cleveland (6.7 percent less), Atlanta (13.9 percent less), Las Vegas (14.6 percent less) and Detroit (25.5 percent less) posted price-to-income ratios in the fourth quarter of 2012 that were less than historic norms.

Metro Area% Of Monthly Income Dedicated to Mortgage Payments, 1985-1999% Of Monthly Income Dedicated to Mortgage Payments, 2012 Q4Median Home Price Relative To Median Annual Income,
1985-1999		Median Home Price Relative
To Median Annual Income,
2012 Q4
UNITED STATES

19.9%

12.6%

2.6

3.0

New York

30.7%

21.9%

4.0

5.2

Los Angeles

35.3%

29.0%

4.6

6.8

Chicago

21.4%

11.4%

2.8

2.7

Dallas

16.6%

9.3%

2.1

2.2

Philadelphia

17.5%

12.4%

2.3

2.9

Washington, DC

20.4%

14.9%

2.7

3.5

Miami

18.9%

13.5%

2.5

3.2

Atlanta

17.3%

8.1%

2.2

1.9

Boston

27.0%

19.0%

3.5

4.5

San Francisco

38.0%

28.8%

4.9

6.8

Detroit

15.8%

6.5%

2.1

1.5

Riverside

23.1%

14.9%

3.0

3.5

Phoenix

20.1%

12.7%

2.6

3.0

Seattle

25.0%

17.2%

3.3

4.1

Minneapolis-St. Paul

18.3%

11.2%

2.4

2.6

San Diego

31.3%

25.0%

4.1

5.9

Tampa, FL

17.5%

10.4%

2.3

2.5

St. Louis

15.6%

10.0%

2.0

2.4

Baltimore

19.5%

13.6%

2.5

3.2

Denver

20.2%

15.7%

2.6

3.7

Pittsburgh

14.3%

9.7%

1.9

2.3

Portland, OR

21.3%

17.3%

2.8

4.1

Sacramento, CA

25.9%

15.8%

3.4

3.7

Orlando, FL

18.5%

10.7%

2.4

2.5

Cincinnati

18.0%

9.6%

2.3

2.3

Cleveland

18.7%

9.7%

2.5

2.3

Las Vegas

21.7%

10.2%

2.8

2.4

San Jose, CA

35.2%

29.5%

4.6

7.0

Columbus, OH

17.5%

9.9%

2.3

2.3

Charlotte, NC

16.2%

10.9%

2.1

2.6

via zillowblog.com

Sellers Becoming Confident In The Housing Market | South Salem Real Estate

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Realtor.com March data indicates that the amount of homes on the market showed a modest increase since February 2013

SAN JOSE, Calif., April 10, 2013 /PRNewswire/ – Realtor.com, the leader in online real estate operated by Move, Inc. (NASDAQ:MOVE), today released its March data on the U.S. housing market that shows growing optimism and confidence among potential sellers. Realtor.com’s March 2013 data indicates that while national housing inventory decreased 15.22 percent since last year, the number of listings increased 2.36 percent since February 2013. This month-over-month increase indicates a renewed willingness in sellers to put their homes on the market as list prices increased .05 percent both year-over-year and month-over-month to a national average list price of $190,000. The data also showed that the median age of inventory dropped to 78 days — a decrease of 20.41 percent since February.

“The newest data shows that the outlook is optimistic for the overall real estate recovery,” said Steve Berkowitz, chief executive officer of Move, Inc. “The housing market is a key indicator for the national economy, and things are slowly picking up steam. The next three months will be significant in determining the impact of the recovering housing market.”

A month-over-month inventory increase of 2.36 percent reflects a rise in new property listings since February 2013, but there are drastically fewer homes on the market compared with this time last year (15.22 percent less). While the median age of housing inventory continues to decline year-over-year by 12.35 percent, the amount of time houses are sitting on the market has decreased dramatically by 20 days since February, suggesting that a broad-based housing recovery is beginning to take hold.

via dailymarkets.com

The Only Real Way to Learn About Blogging | Waccabuc Realtor

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Darren,

I couldn’t agree more! I started a blog a few years ago – just to learn about blogging. I started with an assumption of who my target audience was. But I wasn’t sure. Nonetheless, I decided to JUST START and to see who showed up to read it. I wrote “essays,” which were simply my opinions and observations about a particular topic (Business Process Management). Nobody cared. Not even my Mom. I got very little traffic.

But I paid attention to my stats. My stats told me what pages and file downloads were popular. Once in awhile, one of my site visitors would E-mail me or call me with a question. Those people weren’t from my assumed target audience. After a few E-mails and calls, I began to suspect that those people were my TRUE target audience. So, I started another blog (http://www.bpaacademy.com) to test my assumption.

But first, I created a couple of information products: an eBook and an assessment spreadsheet. Then, I started transferring some popular posts from the old blog to the new blog. Right away, a few sales trickled in. That made me suspect that I might be on the right track.

Then I crashed my site and now I’m working to rebuild it – into something better. That incident was certainly tragic, but I learned how not to make those mistakes again.

I have lots to do on the second blog. It’s crude and needs many more posts. But, because I had that first, experimental blog, I KNOW what to do. Yes, the first blog was not a “success” from a monetization perspective. But it was an overwhelming success from a learning perspective.

“Just start” is some of the best advice we can give fellow prospective bloggers. Results prove this is a very practical approach.

Good Blogging!

Jim Reardan

via problogger.net

30 Steps to Energy Efficiency – Step 1: Call Your Utility Company | South Salem Real Estate

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The following energy-saving tip is brought to you by CleanEdison.

cleanedison tip1

Tonight when you get home from work or school, call your utility company and ask what incentives they have for you to get an energy audit for your home. Many utilities have been offering free energy audits for years, but very few people have actually taken advantage.

In case you’re unfamiliar, an energy audit is an assessment of your home by a certified energy rater in which they use diagnostic equipment to determine a list of recommendations for how you can improve the efficiency (and comfort) of your home.

If your utility offers free or discounted audits, make an appointment for after April, so you’ll have done most of the easy stuff before he/she gets there.

via motherearthnews.com