Tag Archives: Bedford Corners NY Real Estate for sale

Adjustable Rate Mortgages: It’s All About Timing | Bedford Corners Real Estate

Rate shoppers naturally gravitate toward the lowest quotes, but a lower rate can lead to financial trouble if you don’t understand your loan terms. It’s important to know the relationship between rates and fixed terms so you can determine when it’s appropriate to use a shorter loan term instead of a longer one.

A 30-year fixed mortgage rate is higher than a five-year adjustable rate mortgage (ARM) rate because a financial institution is taking more risk to lend you the money for a longer period of time.

The reason for this goes to the root concept of how banks operate. A bank’s business model is to ensure that interest they collect on loans exceeds interest they must pay out on deposits.

Interest that banks must pay you on deposits rises as the economy expands, and falls as the economy contracts over time. It’s easier for banks to manage this interest rate risk in the short term.

For example, interest rates paid on checking and savings deposits are very low because you’re free to withdraw your money any time, while rates paid on certificate of deposit (CD) accounts are slightly higher because the bank requires you to keep those funds deposited for periods of one month to five years.

Because banks know  their expenses on deposits for periods up to five years, they know how to price mortgage loans up to five years. Today, many banks would pay you about 2.25 percent on a five-year CD, and they’d charge you about 3.25 percent for a five-year ARM.

But if you were getting a 30-year fixed loan, they might charge you about 3.875 percent — although these rates fluctuate. This rate is higher in order to compensate a bank for the interest rate risk they’re taking. Rates they must pay on deposits might be much higher during that 30-year period as the economy fluctuates, but your 3.875-percent mortgage rate is guaranteed.

Peg loan term to expected time in the loan

Let’s say you were buying a $300,000 home with 20 percent down, and chose the five-year term at 3.25 percent because the $1,044 payment sounded more affordable than the $1,129 payment on the 30-year fixed at 3.875 percent.

You must be aware that your rate is set for five years, then will adjust each year for 25 years. These adjustments protect the bank from interest rate risk by allowing the loan to move to a market rate when the five-year fixed period expires.

The initial fixed rate of 3.25 percent will change to a market rate comprised of a fluctuating index such as the one-year LIBOR rate (a benchmark for short-term interest rates worldwide) plus a base rate (called a margin) of about 2.25 percent. If the loan adjusted today, it would go down to 2.94 percent because LIBOR remains abnormally low — it was recently .69 percent — as the global economy struggles.

A more normal LIBOR rate is about 3.25 percent. Add that to the ARM margin of 2.25 percent, and your adjusted rate would be more like 6.5 percent, making your new payment in year six jump to $1,447 (which is calculated by amortizing the remaining balance at the five-year mark over the remaining 25 years of the loan).

This is $403 more than the payment on the initial five-year fixed period, and $318 more than the 30-year fixed you could’ve taken. And the loan will adjust to current LIBOR plus 2.25-percent margin once per year from that point forward.

It’s a lot of risk, and raises the question: How do you choose the right balance between the lowest rate and longest fixed term?

The answer is simple: Make sure your rate is fixed for as long as you expect to be in the home or in the loan.

If you know you’ll sell the home or pay off the loan in five years, a five-year ARM is appropriate. Other ARMs you can get have initial fixed periods of three, seven and 10 years, and rates rise as the terms lengthen. If you know you’ll be in the home or the loan longer than 10 years, then your safest budget move is to choose a 15-year fixed or 30-year fixed loan.

 

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http://www.zillow.com/blog/adjustable-rate-mortgage-timing-170590

 

Off-the-Grid Island Home | Bedford Corners Real Estate

It was something like 25 degrees below zero one February in Winnipeg, Canada, when Holly McNally picked up the National Post newspaper and flipped to the travel section. A full-page story raved about Sidney Island, part of the Gulf Islands off the coast of Victoria and just south of Vancouver. Everything about it — the remoteness, the scenery — seemed to fit with Holly and her husband, Paul. “We got on a plane within days and went to check it out,” Holly says.

It was perfect for them, as well as their two Newfoundland dogs. So they snatched up a building lot and started designing an off-the-grid home with the help of Kim Smith, of Helliwell + Smith | Blue Sky Architecture. The result is a circular layout that captures views of the ocean while creating a sunny courtyard protected from the strong sea winds. It’s a place where Holly can finally garden (lacking this ability on the frozen clay prairies back home had frustrated her), and where Paul can build furniture in his woodshop. Plus, after retiring from the business they founded and ran, McNally Robinson Booksellers —one of the largest independent bookstores in Canada — they can finally kick back and enjoy a few good books. OK, a lot of good books.

US homebuilder sentiment slips in December | Bedford Corners Real Estate

 

U.S. homebuilders are feeling slightly less confident in their sales prospects heading into next year, even as their overall sales outlook remains favorable.

The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo builder sentiment index released Monday slipped this month to 57, down one point from 58 in November.

Readings above 50 indicate more builders view sales conditions as good, rather than poor.

Builders’ view of current sales conditions and their outlook for sales over the next six months also declined slightly. A measure of traffic by prospective buyers held steady.

The index also found sentiment had improved in the West and Northeast, but took a step back in the Midwest and South, which accounts for half of the new-home market.

The latest reading reflects a housing market that is slowly recovering, said David Crowe, the NAHB’s chief economist.

“As we head into 2015, the housing market should continue to recover at a steady, gradual pace,” Crowe said.

Housing, while still a long way from the boom of several years ago, has been recovering over the past two years.

New home sales reached a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 458,000 homes in October, the highest point since May. Still, sales remain sharply below the annual rate of 700,000 seen during the 1990s.

At the same time, home prices continue to climb.

The median price of a home sold in October was $305,000, up 16.5 percent from a year ago. November data on new-home sales are due out next week.

The steady rise in home prices has held back many potential buyers, particularly first-time buyers. Many lack the savings and strong credit history needed to afford a home, causing them to rent or remain in their existing homes instead of upgrading.

 

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http://news.yahoo.com/us-homebuilder-sentiment-slips-december-150117768–finance.html

Standard home insurance doesn’t handle these situations | Bedford Corners Real Estate

If you’re like many homeowners, you bought your home insurance policy, got standard coverage and haven’t given it another thought. Unfortunately, that type of thinking could lead to gaps in your coverage.

A standard homeowners policy offers coverage for a wide variety of perils — theft, vandalism, fire, wind, lightning and ice, among others — but not for everything. Here are six situations where you need to bolster your policy to get help.

Mold

Mold in your home is bad news. It can cause major health problems for you and your family, and can even make your house uninhabitable. Insurance providers handle mold in a variety of ways. Some limit coverage for damage caused by mold, while others don’t cover mold at all.

Every state except Arkansas, New York, North Carolina and Virginia has adopted an ISO mold limitation for homeowners insurance coverage, which allows insurers to exclude coverage unless the condition results from a covered peril. For example, if the water from a burst pipe in your home causes mold, your insurer might cover it.

The solution: If you find out that you aren’t sufficiently covered for mold, you can purchase a separate rider to cover mold in your home.

Pests

From mice and rats to termites and bed bugs, standard home insurance policies do not cover damage from pests. That means if a rat chews through your electrical wiring or termites destroy the wood support for your roof, you’re on your own.

The best way to tackle this issue is through prevention. Keep an eye out for signs of pests around your property. If you see something suspicious, call an exterminator before the problem gets out of control.

The solution: Schedule annual termite inspections. By the time you see damage, it could be too late.

Sewage back-up

Backed-up sewers can wreak havoc on a home, causing thousands of dollars in damage. Most agents will ask you about this coverage when you’re buying a home insurance policy, but many consumers ignore the topic.

The solution: Add this coverage to your policy — it generally only tacks $40-$50 onto your premium, according to the Insurance Information Institute (III).

Floods

That’s right, standard home insurance policies do not provide coverage for flood damage. For flood coverage, homeowners must purchase a flood insurance policy through the National Flood Insurance Program.

While many mortgage lenders require flood coverage as a loan condition, homeowners in moderate- to low-risk flood zones have the option to forgo it altogether.

Before you decide to take a chance, you should know that 25 percent of all NFIP claims come from people outside of mapped high-risk flood areas.

The solution: Purchase a flood insurance policy; they start at as little as $129 a year in low-risk areas.

 

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http://www.zillow.com/blog/things-home-insurance-doesnt-cover-164964/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ZillowBlog+%28Zillow+Blog%29

 

Luxury Meets Off the Grid in the Aspen Groves | Bedford Corners Real Estate

 

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2015 Colorow Rd, Edwards, CO
For sale: $7.995 million

A sleeker, smarter species of mountain real estate has emerged from the aspen groves of White River National Forest. It’s called Squaw Creek Estate.

“This home is very cutting edge,” said listing agent Matthew Blake of Ascent Sotheby’s International Realty.

For starters, a glass-ceiling elevator leads to an observatory with a research-grade telescope for taking in a commanding view of Gore Range, Lake Creek Valley and Finnegan’s Peak of the Sawatch Range.

“It’s one of the best places for [an observatory] on a ridge line,” Blake said.

The current owners also wanted to add more green features when they bought the property in 2008. Of note, they added solar panels and a geo-thermal pond, paying for half of the 10,561-square-foot home’s energy expenses.

“The gas and electric bills are less than a town home on the valley floor,” Blake said.

They also added a state-of-the-art greenhouse that provides year-round tropical produce including bananas, mangoes and spices. “It can be winter and feel like you’re in Hawaii,” Blake said.

In fact, even with Vail and Beaver Creek ski resorts just 30 minutes away, the home feels and operates like you’re off the grid.

 

 

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https://homes.yahoo.com/news/house-week-luxury-meets-off-grid-aspen-groves-183325032.html

 

 

How hard is it to get a mortgage? | Bedford Corners Real Estate

Is it really that hard? Yes. And no. And mostly yes again. And maybe it should be.

And since January 10 when the CFPB’s Qualified Mortgage rule took effect, it is definitely harder. So yes.

But there’s more to the story than that, and it doesn’t mean only Patsy Pays Perfect can qualify anymore.

The Qualified Mortgage rule has definitely put the squeeze on would-be homebuyers seeking a mortgage. People with lower income, the self-employed, those with credit scores on the margin, and people whose income comes from tips, bonuses or other harder to document sources are definitely being are all facing an uphill battle.

Industry analysts say that anywhere from 10% on the low side to 20% on the high side of people who have a mortgage now would not qualify for a mortgage under today’s rules.

But the rules and standards for getting a mortgage were already tightening long before the CFPB put their screws to it. In fact, the industry had largely self-corrected – as if it had a choice – long before Washington put it in ink with heightened documentation and tighter standards.

Mortgage applications, the first step in the mortgage process, have been down this year almost consistently.

 

 

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http://www.housingwire.com/blogs/1-rewired/post/31082-how-hard-is-it-to-get-a-mortgage

 

Unraveling the History of Central Park’s Bethesda Fountain | Bedford Corners Real Estate

 

BethesdaFountain_Article_01.jpg
[Bethesda Fountain, 1901. Via Library of Congress]

“There’s a spot in Central Park, the Bethesda Fountain, where if you sit there long enough, the entire city walks by.”
—Matthew Perry as Alex Whitman, “Fools Rush In” (1997)

Central Park co-designer Calvert Vaux called Bethesda Fountain “the centre of the centre.” Its story is one of uplifting innovation in water transport, impressive architecture, and the novel creation of spaces dedicated to leisure in verdant surrounds; meanwhile, the little-known tale of its underdog designer getting her first shot in the art world is one that’s not touted nearly enough. The structure’s symbolic meaning, too, synonymous with love, peace, and healing, shouldn’t be overlooked. So let’s start at the beginning.

 

 

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http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2014/07/16/unraveling_the_history_of_central_parks_bethesda_fountain.php

Glass House Floating on a Lake in Texas Wants $5.3M | Bedford Corners Real Estate

 

27 images

Location: Round Top, Texas
Price: $5,300,000
The Skinny: If you’re in the market for a glass box that floats atop a four-acre manmade lake stocked with fish, you’re in luck: this three-story cube in Round Top, Texas (Pop: 77) has just hit the market. The 3,000-square-foot sportsman’s paradise’s first and second floors are entertainment areas perfect for drinking beer with your bros before tooling out on the lake in the jon boat to fish or piling on the four-wheeler, shotguns in hand, for a hunting safari across the estate’s 23 acres of whitetail deer-infested scrubland; there’s even a skeet-shooting stand for target practice in preparation for quail season. Drive in from Austin, park your sports car in the garage (which features lifts and a pretty impregnable-looking safe) and put the horrors of I-10 traffic out of your mind by soaking in the pool at the top of the lakeside water feature. Later, your belly full of venison you killed and cooked yourself in the fire pit, climb in bed in the top floor master suite and watch some Cabela’s DVDs on the big screen while the setting sun burns a hole in the East Texas landscape. The one-bedroom retreat is asking $5.3M, which includes the “furnishings, appliances, decor, skeet shooting equipment, utility vehicle & 220-class whitetail deer.”

 

 

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http://curbed.com/archives/2014/06/05/this-glass-house-floating-on-a-lake-in-texas-wants-53m.php

Freddie Mac: Housing Markets Lay an Egg | Bedford Corners Real Estate

 

Housing markets overall are largely flat compared to a month ago and especially since last year at this time. Of those markets that are improving or experiencing a stable range of housing activity, most are benefiting from the energy boom taking place along the country’s mid-section.

Freddie Mac’s Multi-Indicator Market Index (MiMi) reports that:

  • The national MiMi value stands at -3.06 points indicating a weak housing market overall with only a slight improvement (+0.03 points) from February to March and a 3-month flat trend (+0.05 points). However, on a year-over-year basis, the U.S. housing market has improved by 0.66 points. The nation’s all-time MiMi low of -4.49 was in November 2010 when the housing market was at its weakest.
  • Ten of the 50 states plus the District of Columbia are in their stable range with North Dakota, Wyoming, the District of Columbia, Alaska, and Louisiana ranking in the top five and unchanged from last month.
  • Four of the 50 metro areas are in their stable range, San Antonio, New Orleans, Austin and Houston.
  • The five most improving states month-over-month are Ohio (+0.12), Rhode Island (+0.11), Illinois (+0.10), Texas (+0.10) and South Carolina (+0.09). From one year ago the most improving states remained unchanged: Florida (+1.83), Nevada (+1.60), South Carolina (+0.99), California (+0.97) and Texas (+0.96).
  • The five most improving metro areas month-over-month are Cincinnati (+0.11), Columbus (+0.11), Houston (+0.10), Riverside (+0.10), and San Antonio (+0.10). From one year ago the most improving metros remained unchanged: Miami (+2.37), Orlando (+1.91), Las Vegas (+1.71), Tampa (+1.57), and Riverside (+1.44).
  • Overall, in March, 13 of the 50 states plus the District of Columbia are improving based on their three month trend, and 20 of the 50 metros show an improving trend.

 

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http://www.realestateeconomywatch.com/2014/05/freddie-mac-housing-markets-lay-an-egg/

Maker of Cloud CMA, launches MLS listing alert tool | Bedford Corners Real Estate

 

W&R Studios, maker of the popular comparative market analysis tool Cloud CMA, has launched a new tool that allows agents and brokers to set up and brand multiple listing service listing alerts for their clients.

Cloud Streams, which is currently active only in the largest MLS in the U.S., California Regional MLS, also allows clients to share their listing alerts with other users and make comments on specific listings.

“We want to make agents look awesome in front of their clients,” said Greg Robertson, co-founder of W&R Studios. Cloud Streams does that, he said, by providing listing alerts — something many MLSs provide in what Robertson called an unflattering design — in a photo-rich and mobile-responsive way.

Brokers, agents and MLS service providers can license the product, which is designed to work well on iPad, iPhone and desktop computers.

By setting up a listing alert with search criteria like ZIP code, list price, bed and bath count, and other typical search filters, agents ensure that their clients get a branded email with a link to the Cloud Streams Web app, which is also branded to the agent, whenever a new home matching the search criteria hits the MLS.

Agents can choose to have clients notified in real time, daily or weekly.

 

 

– See more at: http://www.inman.com/2014/04/16/wr-studios-maker-of-cloud-cma-launches-mls-listing-alert-tool/?utm_source=20140416&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=dailyheadlinesam#sthash.S8gLWwyg.dpuf