Tag Archives: Armonk Homes for Sale

Armonk Homes for Sale

5 Ways to Sell Your Home Faster This Spring | Armonk NY Homes

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A polar vortex may still have much of the country singing the winter blues, but real estate experts say it’s not too early to prep for – the busy spring and summer selling season.

Sellers who get their homes listed early in the season actually have a better shot at closing a deal and doing so at a better price. While peak season varies by region, home asking prices peak nationally in May and inventory peaks in the summer – but buyers tend to start searching for homes as early as March, according to Trulia data.

“Buyers wake up from hibernation before sellers do,” says Trulia housing analyst Jed Kolko. “Sellers who list earlier may get higher prices and face less competition.”

 

 

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/5-ways-sell-home-faster-180600658.html

Home Foreclosure Numbers Improve, but Still Far to Go | Armonk NY Homes

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In the month of January, 48,000 U.S. home foreclosures were completed, down 11.8% month over month and down 19% from 59,000 in January 2013, according to research firm CoreLogic. While an improvement, the number of foreclosures is still well above the 2000 to 2006 average of 21,000 foreclosures per month. CoreLogic notes that since September 2008, some 4.9 million foreclosures have been completed in the United States.

The five states with the highest number of completed foreclosures in the past 12 months were Florida (116,000), Michigan (52,000), Texas (39,000), California (38,000) and Georgia (35,000). The five states with the fewest foreclosures in the 12 months through January were District of Columbia (60), North Dakota (427), Hawaii (526), West Virginia (543) and Wyoming (732).

 

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/home-foreclosure-numbers-improve-still-133053522.html

Checking In On The East Side Access Project’s Massive Caverns | Armonk Real Estate

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exc1.jpg [All photos by Rehema Trimiew for MTA Capital Construction via Gizmodo]

Last we heard of the plagued East Side Access Project, the tunnel extending the LIRR to Grand Central station was not due to be completed until 2023 at a cost of $10.8 billion, a decade later and $6.5 billion more than anticipated. Now, checking in with the project via a series of photos Gizmodo brought to our attention, we’re almost willing to forgive the delay and massive overdraft. The project is indeed moving forward, and doing so on a scale so massive that it’s almost too large for a picture to capture. The photos, on the Grand Central Terminal side of the project, show what will become a new subterranean station for the LIRR. Gizmodo notes that the tunnel’s yellow walls won’t stay that way forever, as the coatings are just geotextiles that will get covered over with some drab concrete. Nevertheless, these photos of the cavernous excavations taking place below our very feet are certainly humbling (and reassuring that progress is indeed being made.)

 

 

http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2014/02/21/checking_in_on_the_east_side_access_projects_massive_caverns.php

 

Owners again borrowing against homes as housing market recovers | Armonk Homes

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Retired aerospace engineer Owen Klasen was rejected last year when he sought  a second mortgage to paint and re-roof his house.

Home prices hadn’t risen enough, the loan officer told him.

But last month, the same loan officer offered him more than  double the credit he needed.

“I told him I needed $25,000” on a home equity line of credit, said Klasen,  who lives in Fillmore in Ventura County. “He said we were qualified to go up to  $60,000.”

Klasen is among a wave of homeowners in California and nationally who are  again putting their homes in hock — despite the costly lessons of the housing  meltdown.

After a home equity credit binge during the housing bubble, banks shut off  the tap as home prices plummeted. Sobered homeowners stopped viewing equity as  free money for cars, vacations and college educations.

But now second mortgages are back in vogue. Homeowners in the six-county  Southern California region took out 47,542 home equity lines of credit last year — 48% more than in 2012, according to research firm DataQuick. The median credit  line was $100,000.

The same trend is taking hold nationwide. Bank  of America, for instance, saw its home equity business surge 75% last year  compared with 2012, said Matthew Potere, who oversees home equity lending for  the Charlotte, N.C., giant. In the fourth quarter, BofA issued $1.9 billion in  new home equity credit lines, up from $1 billion a year earlier.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-home-equity-20140219,0,1496901.story#ixzz2ty5oOA3k

2014 Housing Comebacks | Armonk NY Real Estate

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Home prices aren’t the only thing making a comeback. Take a look at some other trends gaining ground in housing:

McMansions

In 2007, the median size of a new home built for sale peaked at 2,295 square feet. It then fell to 2,159 square feet two years later, after the crash. As Americans downsized, many experts incorrectly predicted that smaller homes were here to stay. However, as our economy recovers and our collective equity continues to rise (up $1.9 trillion last year), our love affair with over-sized homes has been reignited. According to the National Association of Home Builders, in 2012, new homes grew again, with a median size of 2,384 square feet. Also in 2012, 41 percent of new homes had four or more bedrooms, up from 34 percent three years earlier.

Luxury buyers

While the lower-end of the market may be stalling as first-time buyers struggle to come up with down payments and meet strict loan qualifications, luxury buyers — with secure jobs, steady income and money to burn — are back, and they’re flocking to real estate. In fact, applications for home loans of $625,000 to $729,000 were up a whopping 57 percent from August 2012 to August 2013; applications for more than $729,000 were up 41 percent.

 

http://homes.yahoo.com/news/2014-housing-comebacks-174555776.html

 

30-year-mortgage rate falls to 4.23% | Armonk NY Homes

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The average rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage fell to 4.23% in the week that ended Feb. 6, hitting the lowest level since November, from 4.32% in the prior week, according to a Thursday report from federally controlled mortgage buyer Freddie Mac/quotes/zigman/226335/delayed/quotes/nls/fmccFMCC-1.69%. A year ago, the 30-year rate was at 3.53%. “Mortgage rates fell further this week following the release of weaker housing data,” said Frank Nothaft, Freddie’s chief economist, citing a recent drop in a gauge of upcoming home sales, among other reports. The average rate for the 15-year fixed-rate mortgage declined to 3.33% in the latest week from 3.40% in the prior week. Meanwhile, the rate for a 5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage fell to 3.08% from 3.12%. The rate for a 1-year Treasury-indexed ARM fell to 2.51% from 2.55%.

 

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/30-year-mortgage-rate-falls-to-423-2014-02-06-9915956?siteid=yhoof2

 

Home Prices May Not Get Back to Peaks Until 2021 | Armonk NY Homes

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Despite the recent breakneck clip of home appreciation in some parts of the country, national home prices are on pace to rise just 3 percent to 5 percent annually, according to a new report by real estate analytics firm Clear Capital.

The report finds that national market has finally recovered from housing bust, with home prices have been increasing within 2 percent of their inflation-adjusted long-run average levels. That doesn’t mean prices are anywhere near their peaks at the height of the bubble; at the current pace of appreciation, they won’t reach those levels until 2021.

“With the majority of metro markets still so far below peak prices, it’s time for conversations surrounding price trends to shift away from the 2006 peak as a point of reference, and  back to current trends an forecasts,” Alex Villacorta, Clear Capital vice president of research and analytics said in a statement.

“While there are certainly investors and homeowners holding real estate assets tat will be underwater for seven years or more, the current housing market is positioned to behave very sillier or even below historical norms.”

In real terms, inflation-adjusted home prices are below their 2003 levels in 92 percent of markets, and half of markets are still below their 2000 levels. Honolulu is the only city in the top 50 markets to be near its peak level.

 

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/home-prices-may-not-back-175500422.html