Tag Archives: Bedford Corners NY Homes

Bedford Corners NY Homes

Foreclosures slow but nearly 2M homes in serious delinquency | Bedford Corners Homes

Leave a reply

 

CoreLogic’s (CLGX) new national foreclosure report shows there were 43,000 completed foreclosures in the United States in February 2014, down from 51,000 in February 2013, a year-over-year decrease of 15%.

On a month-over-month basis, completed foreclosures decreased 13.1% from 50,000 in January 2014.

In all of 2013, CoreLogic’s numbers shows that 4 million homes returned to positive equity, bringing the total number of mortgaged homes with equity to 42.7 million at the start of 2014.

Nearly 6.5 million homes, or 13.3% of all residential properties with a mortgage, were still in negative equity at the end of 2013.

“Although there is good news that completed foreclosures are trending lower, the bigger news is the impressive decline in the foreclosure and shadow inventories,” said Mark Fleming, chief economist for CoreLogic. “Every state has had double-digit, year-over-year declines in foreclosure inventory, which is reflected in the $70 billion decline in the shadow inventory.”

Completed foreclosures are an indication of the total number of homes actually lost to foreclosure.

Since September 2008, there have been approximately 4.9 million completed foreclosures across the country.

 

 

 

http://www.housingwire.com/articles/29549-foreclosures-slow-but-nearly-2m-homes-in-serious-delinquency

Dream Spaces: 12 Beautiful White Kitchens | Bedford Corners Real Estate

Leave a reply

 

Crisp, clean white kitchens with gleaming marble counters and backsplashes are everywhere you look these days. It’s easy to see why: White makes a space look bigger and airier, and enhances other design elements. Wood floors look richer against white, pendant lights stand out as sculptural elements, and stainless steel appliances sparkle.  Adding marble to the mix introduces a luxurious touch.
That said, there are drawbacks to this kind of simple elegance. A white kitchen demands upkeep; all that white isn’t going to stay clean without maintenance. And marble is definitely not for everyone. It’s soft and porous, so it scratches and stains easily, and acidic foods can cause surface etching. Marble aficionados learn to love the patina (or live with the patina) that time brings. If you can’t abide the inevitable signs of wear and tear, consider alternative materials, such as quartz.
But if you’re ready to take on the challenge, or just want to do a little daydreaming, check out the collection assembled here. You won’t be disappointed.
Tour dozens of white Kitchens of the Week

Big and beautiful, this kitchen has it all, from original wide-plank oak floors to expanses of beautifully designed and fitted cabinetry. Note the netted-glass Sorenson Lanterns and the French café stools around the island, with its columned legs and Carrara marble top. The textural backsplash is done in a skinny pencil tile fashioned from Bianco Carrara marble.
This petite, light-filled brownstone kitchen in Boston almost has a feminine feel, with its silvery Bertazzoni range hood and its filmy pendant drum shades. White Calacatta marble wraps around the island and is used on the counters, while Calacatta subway tiles adorn the backsplash. Floor-to-ceiling windows flood the space with sunlight.

Top 10 kitchen trends of 2014 | Bedford Corners Real Estate

Leave a reply

 

Photo: Thermador Kitchens

This year is definitely the year for your kitchen! Over the past years the trend of modernizing your kitchen to fit you lifestyle has been apparent with technology driven appliances and innovative surfaces and materials. This February I traveled to Las Vegas, Nevada for the annual Kitchen & Bath Industry show (KBIS). Here are 10 wonderful highlights of the show and how your kitchen still rules the home.

 

http://homes.yahoo.com/news/top-10-kitchen-trends-of-2014-000221270.html

Mortgage Rates Turn Downward (Again) | Bedford Corners Real Estate

Leave a reply

 

Remember all the dire predictions about what the Federal Reserve’s tapering was going to do to the housing market? It seems mortgage rates have gotten a reprieve — and from a somewhat unlikely source.

Mortgage rates fell throughout January and into early February. However, that is not entirely good news.

Relief for mortgage rates 2013 was the first year in seven in which mortgage rates rose, and 2014 was expected to see more of the same. The economy appeared to be strengthening, and in December the Fed announced it would start cutting back its quantitative easing program. That program had been seen as instrumental in driving mortgage rates down to record levels.

So far though, 2014 has defied expectations. Thirty-year mortgage rates were at 4.53 percent on January 2, but had fallen to 4.23 percent by February 6. This drop comes as a relief to prospective home buyers, but existing home owners also have reason to cheer lower rates: Low mortgage rates create refinance opportunities, and generally support property values.

Does this take the Fed off the hook? Under different circumstances, the Fed might also welcome lower mortgage rates. Throughout last year, there were continual debates about how the Fed could back off from quantitative easing without sending mortgage rates so high they would choke off the housing rally and dampen economic growth.

Instead, the Fed has now taken two steps toward tapering its monetary stimulus, and rates have fallen rather than risen. Does this get the Fed off the hook for any potential adverse effects of tapering? Not exactly.

After all, starting last May, mortgage rates rose by more than a percentage point in anticipation of Fed tapering, so even with the recent easing of rates, they are still much higher than they were a year ago. Also, current mortgage rates reflect a series of disappointing economic news releases, which is hardly something the Fed could have wished for. After all, the idea of bringing rates down in the first place was to stimulate the economy.

Business as usual for deposit rates For now, it is fair to say that mortgage rates have abandoned their upward course, and it will take either some more positive economic news or signs of inflation to send them higher again. Though current mortgage rates are higher than they were a year ago, they are still much lower than historical norms.

There has been no such change of course for rates on CDs, savings accounts and money market accounts. These remained unchanged throughout last year, having hit bottom and then appearing dead in the water. As the recent downturn in mortgage rates suggests, the deteriorating economic news of late should only prolong the time deposit rates spend near zero.

 

http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2014/03/20/mortgage-rates-turn-downward-again.aspx

Great agents and technology: One without the other only takes you so far | Bedford Corners Real Estate

Leave a reply

 

Providing a comprehensive set of rental and for-sale listings that’s accessible via mobile, and employing a stable of “highly experienced agents” helps Urban Compass stand out from the competition in the fragmented New York City market, says co-founder and CEO Robert Reffkin. “We’re making every part of the process online, in mobile. Search, schedule, visit, apply, pay — all integrated from listings to CRM,” Refkin says.“There’s no reason why if I’m working with you, and we go look at an apartment, and you realize you want something slightly different, you want a different neighborhood or you want a terrace, that I should have to tell you, ‘OK, let’s go back to my office, and we’ll look for things together.’ “

 

– See more at: http://www.inman.com/2014/03/19/great-agents-and-technology-one-without-the-other-only-takes-you-so-far/?utm_source=20140319&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=dailyheadlinesam#sthash.m9LLjiP2.dpuf

15 Small-space Decorating Tips | Bedford Corners Homes

Leave a reply

 

At the height of Seattle’s real estate market in 2003, when Leah and Chad Steen bought their first home, the property was far from picture perfect. “There was no landscaping; the previous owners even left us a note about the sad-looking Charlie Brown tree in the front yard,” says Leah, who owns Revival Home & Garden (revivalhomeandgarden.com), a shop in Capitol Hill. “But the house had tons of character, and there weren’t holes in the ceiling, like other places we’d seen.”

Inexpensive mingles with high-end Inexpensive mingles with high-end Mix high and low Inexpensive furniture mingles with high-end touches in the living room: Ikea curtains hang on plumbing pipe behind a $1,200 chandelier from Leah’s shop; custom pillows sit atop a bargain (at $579) settee from Urban Outfitters; a hand-painted chinoi­serie coffee table rests on an old Pakistani rug ($85 on eBay). How to decorate in a global style

High class with a couple of coats of paintHigh class with a couple of coats of paint Update secondhand furnishings

A $10 framed mirror from Goodwill reads “high class” with a couple of coats of high-gloss red paint. Decorating with second-hand finds

Just $2!Just $2! Find treasures at thrift stores

This large oil painting was just $2 from Second Use (seconduse.com).

 

 

http://shine.yahoo.com/at-home/15-small-space-decorating-tips-041200413.html

Surging Home Prices Are a Double-Edged Sword | Bedford Corners Real Estate

Leave a reply

 

The U.S. housing market faces a challenge at the start of the spring sales season: higher prices.

It is hard to overstate the benefits of rising prices to the economy broadly and to homeowners, banks and home builders specifically after years of declines. Price gains have pulled more Americans from the brink of foreclosure and given home buyers more confidence that they won’t get stuck with an asset whose value will decline.

But those gains have a painful edge, too, especially because prices have bounced back so strongly. The increases have rekindled concerns about affordability, particularly for first-time buyers, and could damp the gains of a housing rebound still in its early stages.

 

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304732804579425120291627990?mg=reno64-wsj&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB10001424052702304732804579425120291627990.html

Can You Afford to Buy a House? | Bedford Corners Homes

Leave a reply

 

With the help of low interest rates and intervention from policymakers, the housing market has been one of the most improved areas of the economy. However, a combination of higher rates, rising home prices, and stagnant wages is building affordability issues.

The cost of homeownership is on the rise across the nation. The estimated monthly house payment for a median-priced, three bedroom home purchased in the fourth-quarter of 2013 surged 21 percent to $865, compared to $714 from a year earlier, according to the latest report from RealtyTrac. The firm analyzed 325 U.S. counties and included other factors such as insurance, taxes, maintenance, and tax deductions. Among the 15 most populated counties analyzed, the estimated monthly house payment jumped an average of 34 percent from a year ago.

“A potent combination of rapidly rising home prices and the often-overlooked but significant uptick in interest rates in the second half of 2013 caused the monthly cost of owning a home using traditional financing to jump substantially in many markets over the last year,” said Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac, in a press release. “The monthly cost of owning a home is still less than renting in the majority of markets, but the cost of financed homeownership is becoming dangerously disconnected with still-stagnant median incomes, driven not by shoddy underwriting practices this time around but by investors and other cash buyers who are not tethered to the typical affordability constraints.”

 

http://wallstcheatsheet.com/politics/economy/can-you-afford-to-buy-a-house.html/?ref=YF

How one homeowner got a home with a $4,000 down payment | Bedford Corners Homes

Leave a reply

 

Ashley Schwartau was tired of living with her parents. She lived in their Nashville, Tennessee home for three years to save money for her own place.

“I didn’t really want to go rent a place,” says Schwartau. “I could get a house with a mortgage cheaper than renting an apartment,” she says. “Houses in this area that I wanted to move into are priced really, really low – in the low $100,000s.”

Living with her parents paid off, as the 29-year-old graphic designer bought her first home in February 2012. The best part? She was able to do so with a low 3.5 percent down payment. Read on to see the details of how she got a home with very little down.

Finding the Perfect Home

Schwartau started looking at homes to buy in October 2011. Most of the homes she viewed were foreclosures that required remodeling, but a little yellow house stood out as quaint and perfect for her. It was in an older neighborhood that was about 15 minutes from downtown Nashville.

Built in 1952, the 1,500 square feet house is comprised of three bedrooms and 1.5 baths – perfect for her and her fiancé.

She wanted a three-bedroom home so both she and her fiancé could have home offices. She works from home and runs the graphic design department for her father’s video/e-learning business.

 

http://homes.yahoo.com/news/how-to-get-a-home-with-3-5-percent-down-221617126.html

Americans Shut Out of Home Market Threaten Recovery: Mortgages | Bedford Corners Real Estate

Leave a reply

 

Kirk Rohrig is concerned he may soon join the growing ranks of Americans shut out of the housing recovery and the financial benefits that spring from it.

Rohrig, who is unmarried, began hunting in November for his first home in Portland, Oregon, where cash buyers are driving up property prices. The software support specialist earns about $55,000 a year, has a high credit score of 790 and can’t find anything worth buying for about $200,000.

“Even fixer uppers are out of my range,” Rohrig, 33, said. “I went to look at a house that was garbage. There were cracks around all the windows and full condensation on the inside. It was on the market for $225,000.”

First-time homebuyers hurt by rising prices and tougher credit standards are disappearing from the market, slowing the pace of the three-year recovery. The decline of these buyers, many of whom are young and non-white, also threatens to widen the wealth gap between owners, who benefit from appreciation, and renters, said Thomas Lawler, a former Fannie Mae economist.