Category Archives: Westchester NY

30-Year Fixed Mortgage Rates Hold Steady | Chappaqua Real Estate

Mortgage rates for 30-year fixed mortgages remained stable this week, with the current rate borrowers were quoted on Zillow Mortgage Marketplace at 4.04 percent, up only three basis points from this time last week.

The 30-year fixed mortgage rate peaked at 4.12 percent on Thursday before dropping to 4.03 percent on Friday, where rates hovered for the remainder of the week.

“Mortgage rates were flat last week as two highly anticipated announcements, the European Central Bank’s stimulus plan and the latest U.S. employment report, confirmed the outcomes the markets were expecting,” said Erin Lantz, vice president of mortgages at Zillow. “Next week there is a limited number of market-moving news or events scheduled, so we expect rates to remain stable.”

Additionally, the 15-year fixed mortgage rate this morning was 3.03 percent and for 5/1 ARMs, the rate was 2.78 percent.

http://www.zillow.com/blog/30-year-fixed-steady-153618/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ZillowBlog+%28Zillow+Blog%29

Boom! Richard Sherman Buys Seattle-area Home from Jamal Crawford | Armonk Real Estate

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It’s been a big year for Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman. First, he helped lead his team to its first-ever Super Bowl victory — a crushing 43-8 win over the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XLVIII. On June 6, it was announced he would be featured on the cover of Madden NFL 15, a popular video game series. And lastly, he recently went home shopping and landed himself a nice deal.

Source: Wikipedia

The famously outspoken All-Pro defender has bought a $2.3 million mansion in the Seattle area from Jamal Crawford, a Seattle native and star guard for the Los Angeles Clippers. The sale was first reported in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, and the sale is recorded in property records.

Crawford lost $1 million on the 4-bedroom, 6.25-bath home in Maple Valley, WA. He bought it in April 2006 for $3.231 million.

Maple Valley is about 45 minutes from Seattle and convenient to the Seahawks practice field in Renton.

After an extension deal announced last month, Sherman is the highest-paid cornerback in the NFL, with a four-year, $56 million contract.

The private, gated Mediterranean mansion has a curved staircase, “Tuscan columns,” and two stone fireplaces. A red game room has a pool table and wet bar, and three bedrooms have private decks. There’s also an indoor swimming pool and a basketball court.

http://www.zillow.com/blog/richard-sherman-buys-seattle-home-153690/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ZillowBlog+%28Zillow+Blog%29

Why renters are ending up in the suburbs | Mt Kisco Real Estate

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At the Atlantic, they’ve taken note of something we’ve been tracking for a while at HousingWire: namely the growth of single-family rentals, and the reversal of migration to urban centers and back towards the suburbs.

The magazine reports on how the bulk of residential construction in the first half now of 2014 has been in multifamily, and the rise of REO-to-rental.

The magazine makes the standard urbanist complaint about the “dreaded” suburbs, but it at least recognizes and quotes someone saying the obvious – eventually, all the hip urban dwellers (most anyway) will get tired of ironic mustaches, get married, and have children – and they will want something more than high-density living with mediocre public schools.

As Census Bureau data show, growth in cities is tilting ever so slightly back toward the suburbs. Yet multifamily housing, mostly situated in urban centers, is still driving the American housing market. Are developers out of step with demand?
…
In McKinney (Texas) and other fast-growing suburbs and exurbs, rentals are the major force driving growth—just not multifamily rentals. Abundant stock left over from the single-family housing boom whose bust fueled the Great Recession are being opened to a new generation of suburban renters by major private-equity firms such as the Blackstone Group.
This transformation of the suburbs is a new and not-altogether-welcome development. The single-family homes being bought up, rehabilitated, and then rented out again by investment units such as the Blackstone Group’s Invitation Homes—in the suburbs and exurbs outside Seattle, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, and other cities—are leftovers from a housing boom characterized by cheap construction and easy credit. The conversion of unsold or foreclosed single-family homes creates fewer jobs than new construction. From an urbanist perspective, single-family home rentals come with all the drawbacks of large-plot suburban development and none of the benefits.

read more…

http://www.housingwire.com/articles/30290-why-renters-are-ending-up-in-the-suburbs

Realtors expect median home prices to rise 4% | North Salem Real Estate

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Realtors expect home prices to continue to appreciate over the next year, with a median price increase expected of 4% over the next 12 months, according to the latest survey of the National Association of Realtors in their confidence index.

The index reflects the responses of more than 3,000 NAR members about their sales transactions.

The full report can be read here.

“Slower sales due to tight credit conditions, declining affordability due to the recent price growth amid modest income gains, and fewer distressed sales likely account for the modest expectations,” economists note in the report.

Some states are slightly more optimistic about home price increases, such as in Florida, where low housing inventories and high demand are expected to boost prices.

Zillow: 30-year mortgage rates remain stable | Waccabuc Real Estate

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Mortgage rates for 30-year fixed mortgages rose ever so slightly from last week’s figures, according to Zillow’s Mortgage Marketplace. Current rate borrowers were quoted interest rates of 4.04% on Zillow (Z) this week, up only three basis points from last week’s rate of 4.01%.

Zillow’s mortgage rate report is based on Zillow clients, and is not as comprehensive as the weekly rate report from Freddie Mac, but it is a good measure of what prospective buyers are seeing in the market.

According to Zillow’s data, the 30-year fixed mortgage rate peaked at 4.12% on Thursday before dropping to 4.03% on Friday, where rates remained for the rest of the week.

Zillow: 30-year mortgage rates remain stable

Tapering won’t end this year and housing is not recovering | Bedford Hills Real Estate

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Billionaire Investor Sam Zell says he doesn’t believe the Federal Reserve will be done tapering quantitative easing by the October, as most on the Fed and most observers seem to think.

“I just do not know whether the Fed has the guts to really complete the taper,” said Tuesday on FOX Business Network’s Opening Bell with Maria Bartiromo. “I’m worried about whether I’m young enough to be around when QE3 ends.”

In a wide-ranging interview Zell talked about the Federal Reserve, the stock market and growth sectors in the economy.

“I think the stock market is over exuberant” and “I think that the stock market reflects the fact that there’s very little other options” for investors.

“I think that, first of all, I am skeptical about, ‘the tapering process,’” Zell said. “I am encouraging by Stanley Fischer’s presence, who I think is a terrific, terrific addition to the Fed. But I do not think that the Fed will be able to end tapering as quickly as they thought.

“And I think the potential for inflation in a QE2 environment like this is very high,” Zell continued. “And as far as interest rates are concerned, it is pretty easy to say they are going up when they’re at zero today. But it is hard for me to imagine that you are going to have a scenario like this without it having a very negative impact on our country.”

Zell also talked about real estate and housing.

“I think that the single family market is, I don’t know, benign would be a good way to describe it. The traffic is relatively slow, certainly at the first homebuyer level,” he said on FBN. “As a matter of fact, most of the traffic between the top and between the very top and down is down.”

Refinance share continues to grow | Bedford NY Real Estate

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After weeks of steady declines and levels well below originations the same time last year, mortgage applications jumped a surprising 10.3% from one week earlier, according to data for the week ending June 6 from the Mortgage Bankers Association.

The previous week’s results included an adjustment for the Memorial Day holiday.
The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, increased 10.3% on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier.

The Refinance Index increased 11% from the previous week. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 9% from one week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index increased 19% compared with the previous week and was 13% lower than the same week one year ago.

“The jump in applications shows folks are taking notice of rates near six-month lows,” said Quicken Loans vice president Bill Banfield. “The jump in purchase applications is especially good to see, as homeowners may finally be getting comfortable putting their home on the market with the level of inventory they see around them.”

The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 54% of total applications from 53% the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage share of activity remained unchanged at 8% of total applications.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($417,000 or less) increased to 4.34% from 4.26%, with points increasing to 0.16 from 0.13 (including the origination fee) for 80% loan-to-value ratio loans. The effective rate increased from last week.

http://www.housingwire.com/articles/30280-mortgage-applications-unexpectedly-jump-10-for-week

Alejandro Sanz Taking His 15 Grammys, Selling His Historic N. Bay Road Hacienda For $15M | Cross River Homes

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26 images

Many grammy winning Latin singer Alejandro Sanz is selling his guitar-filled mediterranean revival villa built in 1933 on the shores of Sunset Lake, the body of water formed by the sheltering embrace of the four Sunset Islands. The house, which we’re curious to identify the original architect of (could it be DeGarmo, Pancoast, Fatio?), was renovated by “legendary designer” Wallace Tutt, of Thomas Kramer’s ‘haunted’ house fame. A search of property appraiser’s records for the architect proved fruitless. So did the Miami Beach historic property database. Just from the look of it, however, the house could be a Russell Pancoast or even an August Geiger. It’s sleuthing time.

http://miami.curbed.com/archives/2014/06/05/alejandro-sanz-house.php

Inside a Vintage Store Owner’s Treasure-Strewn NYC Home | Katonah NY Real Estate

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Photo by Dreily S./Racked NY

Considering the fact that Ariana Boussard-Reifel owns the lovely Mode Marteau—a vintage store known for its high-end luxury brands and eclectic artisan goods—it should come as no surprise that her Victorian-era brownstone in NYC is a veritable treasure trove of artistic collages, turn-of-the-century furnishings, and jewelry used as home decor. Boussard-Reifel renovated the entire pad herself, outfitting the space in antiques, flea market finds, and even barstools found on the street. An ornate spiral staircase leads to the two-bedroom’s second floor, which offers “secret chambers in the walls” and an airy outdoor area further decorated in colorful, exotic pieces. “I like to keep all my internationally collected objects around me to keep my mind wandering,” says the artist, entrepreneur, and avid collector to Racked NY. “Sometimes I feel like my apartment looks more like The Explorer’s Club than a home.”

http://curbed.com/archives/2014/06/09/inside-a-vintage-store-owners-treasurestrewn-nyc-brownstone.php

Enjoy a Rustic Vacation in This Cave-Like Renovated Stable | Pound Ridge Real Estate

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Photo via Dezeen

At first glance, this modest, abandoned stable certainly doesn’t look like much of a holiday getaway spot, despite its location on the beautiful—and vacation home-packed— island of Tinos, Greece. Inside, though, Athens-based architect Ioannis Exarchou meticulously renovated the so-called Retreat to provide everything a couple on holiday might need, without any frivolous extras. “My main objective was to retain and preserve the cavernous unique feeling of the space,” says the architect. True enough, the building team focused on maintenance over changing the actual look of the stone dwelling, plastering only the interior walls, putting in new flooring, and patching up the dark (unwittingly trendy) exterior stonework.

Take a look inside. >>

The white plaster walls and concrete floor inside are hardly luxurious, but look undeniably cool and minimalistic. The lower level of the home is reserved for a sitting area and a small bedroom—with wooden cupboards, a sunken bed, and not much else in the way of furniture—while the upstairs offers a kitchen dotted with arched windows. Dezeen has the full gallery, this way.

Buying Bedford Real Estate

Robert Paul Realtor buying Bedford real estate

Category Archives: Westchester NY

30-Year Fixed Mortgage Rates Hold Steady | Chappaqua Real Estate

Boom! Richard Sherman Buys Seattle-area Home from Jamal Crawford | Armonk Real Estate

Why renters are ending up in the suburbs | Mt Kisco Real Estate

Realtors expect median home prices to rise 4% | North Salem Real Estate

Zillow: 30-year mortgage rates remain stable | Waccabuc Real Estate

Tapering won’t end this year and housing is not recovering | Bedford Hills Real Estate

Refinance share continues to grow | Bedford NY Real Estate

Alejandro Sanz Taking His 15 Grammys, Selling His Historic N. Bay Road Hacienda For $15M | Cross River Homes

Inside a Vintage Store Owner’s Treasure-Strewn NYC Home | Katonah NY Real Estate

Enjoy a Rustic Vacation in This Cave-Like Renovated Stable | Pound Ridge Real Estate