Armonk NY Area Low Sales Price for 2012 | Armonk NY Homes
2012 Low Sales Price Katonah $365,000.00 Mt Kisco $262,500.00 Bedford Hills $263,000.00 Bedford Village $418,500.00 North Salem $125,000.00 South Salem $185,000.00 Pound Ridge $355,000.00 Chappaqua $225,000.00 Armonk $150,000.00
The following editorial appeared in the Miami Herald on Tuesday, Jan. 22:
In his first inaugural speech four years ago, President Obama acknowledged that the nation was facing a moment of economic crisis that hit many Americans where they live. “Homes have been lost,” the president intoned solemnly, a meaningful reference to the collapse of the housing market and the urgent need to fix it.
In the ensuing four years, millions of homeowners around the country learned painfully and firsthand the meaning of “short sale,” “foreclosure,” “loan modification” and other terms describing the housing mess. They also learned about the abuses in mortgage lending that created the housing crisis.
On Monday, Obama did not make so much as a passing reference to housing or lost homes in his second inaugural, signaling that the worst of the crisis is behind us.
But few consumer advocates give the president high marks for devising effective solutions, nor should they. To the extent that the market is recovering, it is due largely to the broader improvement in the economy rather than specific programs put forth by Obama and his appointees.
In the last few weeks and months, however, a series of actions by the federal government have sought to put closure on the housing crisis through a variety of actions that we would describe as good and not so good.
The good. Last September, the Fed announced a new program to buy large quantities of mortgage bonds each month. This welcome shift in policy has done more than any other initiative to aid housing.
Last week, in another win for homeowners and buyers, the administration’s new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued new rules for mortgage servicers. It will require them to deal fairly with struggling borrowers and offer clear information about costs.
One week earlier, the CFPB issued new mortgage standards that should rid the market of “toxic mortgages” and thus remove a major obstacle keeping banks from making home loans.
All of these moves will benefit borrowers, as well as home sellers.
Not so good: The government announced an $8.5 billion settlement earlier this month with 10 giant banks for mortgage abuses such as robo-signing and improper foreclosure tactics.
Ostensibly this is a win for consumers – $3.3 billion will go directly to borrowers who faced foreclosure, and $5.2 billion for loan modification and reduced interest payments.
But where’s the accountability for all the misdeeds? No one is being punished. And what about making the benefit fit the level of wrongdoing? Borrowers will receive a check based on the type of error the banks made, but many will be undercompensated, and some people receiving a check suffered little or no harm.
Going forward, consumers and their advocates – and lawmakers – must ensure that the rules are applied fairly, with an emphasis on helping consumers.
One reason borrowers in this state are skeptical is because Florida has yet to provide much help to consumers under a $25 billion settlement between five big banks and 49 attorneys general, following a wrangle over the money between legislators and Attorney General Pam Bondi. The state should accelerate its response.
The federal government will follow up on the $8.5 billion settlement by spelling out enforcement actions, which must benefit consumers. Those who suffered the most wrong deserve to receive the greatest benefit.
Half of U.S. states saw an annual increase in the number of foreclosure-related filings in 2012, but most of those were judicial foreclosure states where loan servicers were catching up on the backlog from the “robo-signing” controversy, according to a year-end report by data aggregator RealtyTrac.
All told, RealtyTrac reported foreclosure-related filings against 1.84 million U.S. properties in 2012, down 3 percent from 2011 and down 36 percent from a 2010 peak of 2.9 million homes.
All but five of the 25 states seeing an increase in foreclosure-related filings (default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions) were states where courts handle most foreclosure proceedings.
Many foreclosure proceedings against homeowners in those states were stalled, but not derailed, by allegations that loan servicers failed to follow proper procedures in filing legal documents.
After loan servicers reached a settlement last March with state and federal officials last over so-called “robo-signing” practices and revised their procedures, they began pushing new and existing proceedings through the system again (many also started approving more short sales to meet their obligations under the terms of the settlement).
Foreclosures are handled by courts in the six states seeing the biggest annual increase in 2012 foreclosure filings — New Jersey (up 55 percent), Florida (53 percent), Connecticut (48 percent), Indiana (46 percent), Illinois (33 percent), and New York (31 percent).
Homes in New York took the longest to move through the foreclosure process — 1,089 days — followed by New Jersey (987 days), Florida (853 days), Hawaii (781 days), and Illinois (697 days).
In the 25 states that saw foreclosure filings drop from 2011 to 2012, 19 handle most foreclosures outside of the court system, and loan servicers in those states continued to move homes through the foreclosure process during the robo-signing controversy.
Nonjudicial foreclosure states seeing the biggest drop in foreclosure filings in 2012 were Nevada (down 57 percent), Utah (down 40 percent), Oregon (down 40 percent), Arizona (down 33 percent), California (down 25 percent), and Michigan (down 23 percent).
RealtyTrac warned there could be a foreclosure backlog building up some states that saw filings decline in 2012, as the result of new state legislation and court rulings that make it more difficult for lenders to foreclose.
So 2013 could see “two discrete jumps in foreclosure activity,” at the beginning and end of the year, said Realty Trac’s Daren Blomquist.
“We expect to see continued increases in judicial foreclosure states near the beginning of the year as lenders finish catching up with the backlogs in those states, and another set of increases in some nonjudicial states near the end of the year as lenders adjust to the new laws and process some deferred foreclosures in those states.”
The rise in foreclosure activity in many local markets in 2012 “should translate into more foreclosure inventory available for sale in 2013 in those markets,” Blomquist said. “That is good news for buyers and investors, but could result in some short-term weakness in home prices as the often-discounted foreclosure sales weigh down overall home values” in those markets.
States with the highest foreclosure rates in 2012 were Florida (with filings against 3.11 percent of homes), Nevada (2.7 percent), Arizona (2.69 percent), Georgia (2.58 percent), California (2.33 percent), Ohio (1.75 percent), Michigan (1.69 percent), South Carolina (1.66 percent), and Colorado (1.64 percent).
Among metro areas with a population of 200,000 or more, Stockton, Calif., had the nation’s highest foreclosure rate (3.98 percent). Six other California cities made RealtyTrac’s list of the 20 metro areas with the highest foreclosure rates, and Florida landed eight cities on the list, including Miami (3.71 percent) and Orlando (3.46 percent).
Zillow is projecting that a half-dozen markets in California, including some Central Valley cities hard hit by foreclosures, will see double-digit home price aprreciation in the months ahead. The real estate portal’s analysis of more than 250 markets predicts that national home prices will appreciate 2.5 percent in the year ending November 2013.
“The U.S. housing market bottomed in the fourth quarter of 2011 and has since entered a sustainable recovery,” Zillow Chief Economist Stan Humphries said in a blog post.
California metros Zillow expects to see the biggest gains are Modesto (projected to gain 14.7 percent), Merced (12.1 percent), Bakersfied (10.7 percent), Vallejo (10.4 percent), Sacramento (10.1 percent) and Visalia (10.0 percent).
A couple of years ago, we saw Rhett & Link put a telephone conversation through YouTube’s caption generator, and the video was hilarious. Now, YouTube’s Collective Cadenza, or “cdza,” has run the “Fresh Prince of Bel Air” theme song through Google translate several times through several languages, and the results that they received back became this entertaining video, where the song is sung with new lyrics. One day, captioning and voice recognition won’t be so comical. But today, it is, and it brings us some fine entertainment.
Fresh Prince: Google Translated
Here you go:
Once again, translating technology gives us a good, hearty laugh. People in the future must be rolling on the floor at our primitive computer translating. But hey, what do you expect when so many languages have so many different rules? Right now, that requires a human to correct the intent and meaning. And thus, laughs ensue when the computer fails to recognize these differences.
This channel has a unique vibe to it, playing around and having fun with music in a variety of ways. Their very first video covered “lyrics that aren’t really lyrics” and it chalked up over a million views. That’s right, on their first try:
Another big hit was when they sang “misheard lyrics:”
The channel is fairly new, with 16 videos, so it becomes a sort of “one to watch” in the upcoming year. If they continue to have fun with music like this, they’ll be a surefire brand name on YouTube.
Shanghai
Kay Sun, a 32 year-old administrative assistant put down a deposit last month on a 2.85 million yuan ($460,000) one-bedroom apartment in Shanghai.
It was a financial stretch for the single Ms. Sun, who works at an information-technology firm in a position that typically pays about 15,000 yuan a month. She needed money from her parents to fund the down payment.
Her move may seem bold, but she isn’t atypical. Around China, signs are growing that a government campaign to bring housing prices closer in line with incomes is starting to bear fruit.
That is breathing new life into China’s real-estate market and economy. Data slated for release Friday is expected to show growth in gross domestic product accelerating to 7.8% year on year in the fourth quarter, up from 7.4% in the third.
Since 2009, average disposable income in China’s cities has risen around 43%, but house prices only 11% according to official data. An average-priced apartment purchased outright would now cost around 16 years of average income, still high by international comparisons but down from a high of 21 years in 2007. That raises hopes that millions of young professionals will be able to get a hand on the first rung of the housing ladder, buoying demand.
In Shanghai, the campaign—which includes purchase restrictions on multiple homes and higher down-payment requirements—has kept average property prices flat for two years, according to data from property consultancy SouFun. Meanwhile, Ms. Sun said her salary rose by more than 10% on average each year, typical of many white-collar Chinese workers, placing her at a point where a house purchase seemed within reach.
“It’s not cheap, but the location is good,” she says of the apartment in a high-rise building in a residential district north of the Shanghai Bund. “I heard that prices may start rising this year, so I thought, better to buy now, since I can afford it.”
Chinese house buyers pay a much higher multiple of their incomes on purchases than do buyers in the U.S., where prices are typically a midsingle digit multiple of average income. In 2010, as prices approached astronomical heights, the government stepped in to halt escalation, allowing incomes some space to catch up.
Three years after government controls curtailed growth, Chinese developers have turned cautiously optimistic. China Vanke, the mainland’s largest developer by revenue, reported Jan. 7 that sales more than doubled in December from a year earlier, with sales for the year as a whole up 16.2%.
Stocks of major developers have rallied. Shares in Hong Kong-listed China Overseas Land & Investment Ltd. are among the best-performing on the territory’s stock exchange, up more than 90% from the start of 2012, compared with 26% for the overall market.
“Home buyers are returning to the market in droves. One asked me recently, ‘I bought a home on the third floor at a new launch, is that OK’? I said, count yourself lucky you managed to get a unit.” said Yang Jun, a real-estate agent in Shanghai.
Stronger sales are pushing developers to break ground on new projects. New floor area under construction was up 6.3% year on year in November, after spending much of the year in negative territory.
“We will see stronger construction in 2013,” said Jinsong Du, China property analyst at Credit Suisse CSGN.VX +1.33% .
Real estate is the single biggest driver of output in China’s economy. According to the International Monetary Fund, it accounts for about 12% of the total. Factoring in the impact on everything from steel and cement to furniture and home appliances, the sector’s contribution is even higher.
“Steel mills anticipate stronger demand from real estate in the year ahead” said Graeme Train, metals analyst at Macquarie. China’s steel production rose 15% year on year in November after flat-lining in the first half of the year. Rising iron-ore prices have prompted Australia’s Fortescue Metals Group FMG.AU -1.90% to resuscitate its plans for $1.2 billion in stalled investment projects.
Leaders now seem less nervous about a property bubble. Officials from the Ministry of Housing and Urban Rural Development have said the government will support owners looking to upgrade as well as first-time buyers, raising the prospect they will get better access to mortgage loans.
Developers caution that the recovery has come from a low base. “Although transactions in major cities rose significantly in 2012 from 2011, this is based on the low growth rates in 2010 and 2011,” said Tan Huajie, Vanke’s board secretary.
There are plenty of risks for the market. Three years of government controls have left developers with higher debt and unsold inventory. There is enough residential property currently under construction to meet about five years of demand, without new projects being started, up from 2.9 years in 2009.
A return to the boom years for China’s property isn’t in the cards. Keeping apartments affordable for first-time buyers is a priority for the government, including Vice Premier Li Keqiang who has been a prime force behind the push to build millions of subsidized homes for low-income households.
China’s house prices are edging back up now, with SouFun data showing average prices up 0.03% year on year in January, ending eight months of declines.
Analysts caution that a sharp rise in prices would likely trigger a return of strict controls by the government.
“We will be looking to invest in smaller-scale projects this year,” said Freddy Lee, chief executive of major developer Shui On Land 0272.HK +0.80% . Mr. Lee said that the developer suffered from cash flow issues following heavy investment into large-scale, mixed used projects in recent years.
Samuel Johnson once wrote that “[t]o be happy at home is the ultimate result of all ambition, the end to which every enterprise and labour tends.” Unfortunately, over the generations, we have managed to figure out loads of ways to be very unhappy at and because of our homes, whether because we overextend ourselves on our mortgages, procrastinate on needed repairs or live in homes with features that are less than optimally functional for our lives.
Now’s a perfect time of year to create a plan for how you can tweak and hack your home to be a happier place. Here are a few inexpensive suggestions:
1. Paint like a scientist. Studies show that painting rooms colors that are consistent with their purpose actually makes a home’s residents happier than they were before the paint job. Spending a weekend shifting to crisp and clean green bathrooms, soothing blue or cream bedrooms, and warm browns, golds, oranges and reds for dining and living areas turns out to be one of the least expensive ways you can use your home to give your family an emotional boost.
2. Fix (or toss) what’s broken. If your coffee machine has been sitting on the counter for four months waiting on a trip to the repair shop, you have drawers that don’t close all the way, your dining table wobbles or your shower needs regrouting, you are incurring a little drain of energy, getting a little injection of frustration every single time you look at or try to use these items. Throw out or repair items that don’t work — stat. Just let them go.
Then, create a little inventory for home projects that need to happen, and get a handyman or the appropriate contractors on the horn and get bids so you can budget and plan for getting them done.
If someone in your home is a big do-it-yourselfer, negotiate an agreement that she will have X items fixed by Y date or you will call out a repairperson.
In any event, at least get the bids on the repairs; you might be surprised at how quickly and inexpensively they can get five or 10 little repairs done on a weekend, and your in-house do-it-yourselfer might decide that her time is more precious than the repair costs.
Same goes for situational setups that are simply not working for your life and your activities: If your office space or your kids’ rooms are overflowing with clutter, after you purge (see No. 4, below), explore the many built-in and off-the-shelf storage solutions that are affordable and can render this space much more functional.
Generally, get aggressive about setting up each of your home’s rooms to help your family optimally experience whatever purpose that room is designed for: Research how you can maximize your bedroom’s restfulness, your living room’s conversationality, your office’s efficiency and your dining area’s coziness.
3. Trick out your trims. If you’ve ever done a soup-to-nuts remodel of your home’s exterior and/or landscaping, you know that there’s nothing like the feeling of driving up to your house at the end of the workday and simply loving the way it looks. But what if you don’t have a ton of cash to drop on a complete curb appeal overhaul? I believe one of the most underestimated ways to change the way your home looks is to focus on the trims:
- Get a new door or just paint the door and get a new knocker, handle or kickplate.
- Refresh with new house numbers.
- Install exterior shutters, or paint existing shutters an entirely new color.
- Get new outside lights.
- Paint all the eaves and trims in a bold new color scheme.
You’ll be amazed; painting a home’s front door, eaves, shutters and trims can make the entire home look like it’s had a fresh paint job.
4. Purge. I used to buy my homes around my stuff. Since downsizing by 1,000 square feet a few years back, though, I’ve learned the delights of constantly pruning my possessions. Books, papers, clothing — these things accumulate as if through their own volition, and can create clutter and claustrophobia, the feeling that you have much less space than you truly do and the feeling of being trapped under a daunting pile of stuff you rarely, if ever, use.
If you crave to purge your stuff and simply seem to never get started make a game of it. Last year, I decided to get rid of 100 things in one month. The number 100 is uber-accessible, and if you give yourself a full month to do it, that can also help you feel confident that this is a mountain you can tackle.
Ultimately, I stopped counting at right around 250 items. The feeling of clearing and the sensory rest all that empty space in your home will create are both addictive sensations — once you get started, I believe you’ll find it easy and even exciting to get rid of things you no longer use or need.
