Tag Archives: Bedford Hills NY

Bedford Hills NY

Home Sales Cool Down as Summer Heats Up | Bedford Hills Real Estate

Leave a reply

Sales in the nation’s fastest markets are slowing down as inventories rebound. In June fewer homes went under contract within one or two weeks of being listed, continuing a slowing pattern that began in April.

In June, 30.5 percent of homes went under contract within two weeks of being listed, down from 31.9 percent in May. The 1.4 percentage point drop was the largest seen in the US housing market since December 2012. Nineteen percent of homes went under contract within one week in June, down from 19.9 percent in May

The June slowdown follows three months of gains in the number of homes for sale and the subsequent easing of competition among homebuyers. Additionally, the interest rate hikes that began in May led some active homebuyers to take a step back from the market and reassess what they could afford while others were deterred from entering the market. As a result, homebuyers who were committed to continuing their home searches felt a reduced sense of urgency to submit an offer within hours of a home being listed for sale.

“Even though Bay Area listings are now receiving a fraction of the number of offers they did just a couple of months ago–five to eight instead of 30 to 40–homebuyers are still acting quickly when they see a home they like,” said Redfin San Francisco area manager Charmaine Frank. “Offer deadlines are becoming less common, but buyers are still anxious to get their offers in early to find out if they have a chance, or move on.”

Silicon Valley (San Jose), CA was the fastest-moving market, with 52 percent of new listings under contract within two weeks, a slowdown from 58 percent in May.

Las Vegas and Philadelphia were the slowest-moving markets in June, with 11 percent and 9 percent of homes under contract within 14 days of their debut.

 

Home Sales Cool Down as Summer Heats Up | RealEstateEconomyWatch.com.

Investors Still Bullish on Real Estate | Bedford Hills Real Estate

Leave a reply

Real estate ranks second as America’s favorite long term investment despite the three trillion dollars in equity homeowners lost during the housing depression, according to a new survey by Bankrate.com.

More than one in four Americans (26 percent) favor cash, edging out real estate (23 percent). One in six (16 percent) favor gold or other precious metals, even though those investments have been pummeled in 2013, while only 14 percent say stocks would be their choice. Just eight percent of Americans chose bonds. For money not needed for more than 10 years, 26 percent of Americans favor cash, 23 percent real estate, 16 percent gold/other precious metals, 14 percent stocks and 8 percent bonds.

“Americans not saving enough is well-documented, but hunkering down in cash investments and settling for low returns will only magnify the problem of not having a sufficient nest egg to meet longer-range financial goals such as retirement,” said Greg McBride, CFA, Bankrate.com’s senior financial analyst. “Other choices may not do the trick either, as real estate is not only very cash-intensive, but often illiquid. And precious metals spit out zero cash flows, with gains solely dependent on price appreciation.”

McBride said using a 401K or IRA to invest in residential real estate is not a good idea except for high end investors who are diversifying their portfolio. That real estate very illiquid and hard to access during an emergency and real estate investments are more cash-intensive that many investors realize.

A recent study by economists at the Atlanta Federal Reserve found that real estate was less profitable than securities as an investment. .

“We compute that 40 percent of homes owned for less than 13 years have negative average annual returns, compared to 12 percent of homes owned for 13 years or more. Interestingly, while a much greater portion of those owning for 13 or more years obtain positive returns, the average annual return was actually slightly higher for those owning fewer than 13 years (0.95 percent versus 1.03 percent),” said Ellyn Terry and Jessica Dill, two economists at the Atlanta Federal Reserve, in a working paper published June 12.

Bankrate.com estimates the average money-market deposit account yields just 0.11 percent, so a $10,000 initial investment would only gain $110.55 over a 10-year period. And the average five-year CD currently yields just 0.78 percent.

 

 

Investors Still Bullish on Real Estate | RealEstateEconomyWatch.com.

8 Costs To Consider When Buying A Rental Property | Bedford Hills Real Estate

Leave a reply

Even as home prices and mortgage rates rise, there are still bargains available for borrowers looking to purchase rental properties.

 

According to the National Association of Realtors’ 2013 Investment and Vacation Home Buyers Survey, investment-home purchases accounted for 24 percent of all sales in 2012, the second highest mark since 2005.

 

“Investors have been very active in the market over the past two years, attracted mostly by discounted foreclosures that could be quickly turned into profitable rentals,” Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said in a statement.

 

 

 

While rental properties are certainly appealing, offering the promise of monthly cash flow in addition to long-term appreciation, investment properties have a number of costs that are both visible and hidden, says Michael Whitbeck, real estate investor and founder of Residential Mortgage Underwriting and Processing Institute, a mortgage underwriting training firm in West Bloomfield, Mich. Even the most obvious expenses, like the monthly mortgage payment, might pack a few surprises.

 

Before you start searching for rental properties, run the numbers to understand whether investing in a rental property will be a windfall or a money pit.

 

8 rental costs to consider

 

No. 1: Mortgage requirements

 

Investment properties are considered riskier because the home is not your primary residence. Whitbeck says you should expect to pay roughly 1.5 percent more than the mortgage rates you see advertised. The down payment requirements for a fixed and adjustable 1-unit structure would be about 15 percent and 25 percent, respectively. If 2 to 4 units, those down payment requirements jump to 25 percent and 35 percent, respectively, says Whitbeck. Furthermore, if your credit score is less than 720, expect to pay even more.

 

No. 2: Property taxes

 

Depending on where you purchase, property taxes can add significantly to the property cost, says Whitbeck. Be sure to contact the municipality directly to ensure that the taxes listed on the Multiple Listing Service are accurate. It’s also a good idea to find out what services those taxes include. For example, does that include garbage removal?

 

8 Costs To Consider When Buying A Rental Property – TheStreet.

The Portrait of a LinkedIn User in 2013 | Bedford Hills Realtor

Leave a reply

According to this infographic, two people join LinkedIn every second of every day. It then proceeds to ask “Then what?”

“How are they using it and is it really helping them?” this infographic from Power Formula asks.

According to the infographic, though LinkedIn has a paid option, 84.4 percent of people who use it use the free version of the social networking site. That is, just 15.1 percent pay to use linkedIn. There is a small number of LinkedIn users (0.5 percent) who are not sure whether they use the free or the paid version of the professional-leaning social network.

When it comes to first-level connections – that is, the people a user is directly connected to – the largest group is at 500 to 999 connections (21.7 percent). The smallest group is not those with fewer connections, it’s those who have 300 or more connections (1.3 percent).

Looking at the numbers LinkedIn consultant and author Wayne Brietbarth provided Power Formula, the next largest group of first-level connections is people who have 301 to 499 connections (18.7 percent) followed by people who have 101 to 200 connections (15.9 percent).

As to sharing their first-level network with their first-level connections, most LinkedIn user share who they are connected to (63.3 percent). Only 12.2 percent keep their first-level network private to their first-level connections. However, 24.5 percent are not sure so maybe their LinkedIn settings are not really transparent to them.

LinkedIn, users, data, infographic,

When talking about groups, the LinkedIn user of 2013 mostly is a member in 1 to 9 groups (35.5 percent). The infographic notes that 2.2 percent of LinkedIn users are not members of any group, 25.1 percent are members of 10 to 19 groups, 9.3 percent are members of 20 to 29 groups, 4 percent are members of 30 to 39 groups, 7.8 percent are members of 40 to 49 groups, a large 14 percent are members of 50 groups (the maximum number of groups LinkedIn allows a user to be a member of), and 2 percent have no idea that LinkedIn had groups.

Meanwhile, more than half (52.2 percent) of those asked said they use LinkedIn 0 to 2 hours every week which is not a great statistic if you are LinkedIn. Nonetheless, there are people who use it more than that with most of the others using it 3 to 4 hours every week.

When asked how LinkedIn has helped them, the most common answer users gave was that the social network helped them research people and companies (75.8 percent). The second-most given answer to the question was that LinedIn helped reconnect with past business associates and colleagues (70.6 percent). The least-given answer was generating identifiable business opportunities at 28.3 percent.

Learn more including what feature LinkedIn users think is the most helpful, company page statistics and how company pages are used, and how important people think LinkedIn is in the Power Formula infographic below.

LinkedIn, users, data, infographic,

 

 

The Portrait of a LinkedIn User in 2013 | Social Media Today.

Help to Buy risks new house price ‘bubble’, warns Cable | Bedford Hills Real Estate

Leave a reply

Vince Cable said that the help-to-buy scheme unveiled in the Budget earlier this year could simply “inflate” the housing market as occurred in the last decade.

From next year, first and second time buyers will be offered government guarantees which should allow them to obtain competitive mortgages even if they have relatively small deposits.

The £130 billion scheme has been heralded as a flagship measure which should help boost the economic recovery while allowing hundreds of thousands of people to meet their aspirations of buying a home.

However, some economists and business leaders have voiced warnings about the scheme and Mr Cable – who previously warned about the dangerous levels of debt before the financial crisis – has now indicated he shares their concerns.

“I am worried about the dangers of getting into another house price bubble,” the senior Liberal Democrat said.

 

 

 

Help to Buy risks new house price ‘bubble’, warns Cable – Telegraph.

‘Without a Trace’ Star Enrique Murciano Sells Home | Bedford Hills Real Estate

Leave a reply

Enrique Murciano may be leaving celebrity-central Woodrow Wilson Drive, but he isn’t leaving without a trace. The 40-year-old actor has been hopping from one L.A. bachelor pad to another for the past few years.

In 2004, he purchased a 3-bedroom home that he later sold in 2008. He upgraded to a 4-bedroom, 3.5-bath at 7334 Woodrow Wilson Dr, Los Angeles, CA 90046 in 2009 but got the real estate bug again four years later.

Murciano listed the place for $1.749 million in May. He must have had more than one offer because he just closed the deal for $2.042 million, well above his asking price.

The interior, spanning 2,709 square feet, has a cool retro-meets-modern vibe. A grand piano contrasts with an abstract painting in the living room, while vintage-inspired appliances are modernized with sleek black countertops in the kitchen.

Framed by walls of windows, the home provides a hilltop view, yet still affords privacy.

“This wonderful home is secluded and gated — perfect for the celebrity type,” the seller’s agent wrote in the listing description. “The property is lushly landscaped.”

Murciano, who’s most-known for his role on the CBS drama “Without a Trace,” has also appeared on popular TV shows including “CSI” and “NCIS” and films such as “Black Hawk Down” and “Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous.”

 

‘Without a Trace’ Star Enrique Murciano Sells Home | Zillow Blog.

Region’s Real Estate Sales Slip, But Prices Still Surging | Bedford Hills Homes

Leave a reply

 

Total sales in the region in June were 6,308, down 2.8 percent from 6,491 in the same month of 2012.

 

The median sale price in the region, however, jumped 44.7 percent from a year earlier, to $123,000, from $85,000 in June 2012.

 

The sales decline was felt most strongly in Detroit, Dearborn and Dearborn Heights, Genesee County, and in rural areas like Huron and Sanilac counties.

 

The biggest price pops, however, came in Dearborn and Dearborn Heights and Genesee County. Also reporting strong price increases were the Grosse Pointes, Lapeer County, Macomb County, Oakland County, and rural Sanilac and Tuscola counties.

 

Inventory on the market shrank a whopping 28.4 percent, with 19,459 houses for sale in the region in June, down from 27,191 a year earlier. Of that inventory, 7 percent is identified as short sales, and 12.6 percent as foreclosure sales. Average number of days on the market before a home sells also continues to tumble, to 66 days, from 81 days a year earlier.

 

By county or other sub-market, sales were as follows:

 

Detroit (includes Hamtramck, Highland Park and Harper Woods): 296 foreclosure sales, down 28.5 percent from 414 a year earlier, 183 non-foreclosure sales, down 3.2 percent from 189 a year earlier. Median sale price on foreclosure ales, $7,701, down 4 percent from $8,025 a year earlier. Median sale price on non-foreclosure sales, $23,000, up 76.9 percnet from $13,000 a year earlier.

 

Dearborn and Dearborn Heights: 40 foreclosure sales, down 45.9 percent from 74 a year earlier. 123 non-foreclosure sales, down 8.2 percent from 134 a year earlier. Median sale price on foreclosure sales, $57,500, up 36.2 percnet from $42,210 a year earlier. Median sale price on non-foreclosure sales, $100,000, up 44.9 percent from $69,000 a year earlier.

 

 

Genesee County: 160 foreclosure sales, down 36.5 percent from 252 a year earlier. 291 non-foreclosure sales, up 9.8 percnet from 265 a year earlier. Median sale price on foreclosure sales, $27,000, up 6.8 percent from $25,287 a year earlier. Median sale price on non-foreclosure sales, $97,000, down 2 percent from $99,000 a year earlier.

 

Region’s Real Estate Sales Slip, But Prices Still Surging « CBS Detroit.

Dallas real estate market is hot, hot, hot | Bedford Hills Homes

Leave a reply

We have been telling you this for months now: Home prices around North Texas have never been higher. Sales of pre-owned home in the first half of 2013 are running more than 20 percent higher than in the same period of 2012. In fact, that is a new North Texas sales record for a single six-month period.

Déjà vu 2006!

Steve Brown says, and I agree, that some Dallas neighborhoods are experiencing the largest home price gains this area has seen since the early 1980s. Park Cities would be one, Lakewood two, Bluffview three, Preston Hollow four, and Frisco, yes Frisco, five.

And it looks like prices will continue to rise, at least until next year, even with creeping mortgage rates that mostly affect home sales below a million. Why is our market doing so well while others are not?

Jobs and our strong Texas economy.

“The increase of sales we are seeing is a pure function of economics,” said Ted Jones, chief economist for Stewart Title Co. “This is not false hopes.”

When people move into an area, they need a place to live. D/FW created 104,600 new jobs in the last 12 months, said Jones, which led to 34,720 residential building permits being issued. Jones also says we could have built twice as many home and apartments and still not overbuilt this market.

It looks like prices will continue to rise in DFW.

It looks like prices will continue to rise in DFW.

That’s because we have a shortage of homes for sale. Builders froze during the deep recession, and financing was scarce. Which has led to our dwindling home inventory: 1.5 to 3 month supplies of homes for sale. Normal is considered 6 months.

And according to Core-Logic, WE are back to our pre-2006 price value levels. That means that if you purchased your home at the tip top of the market in 2006, your values have more or less inched back up there, depending, of course, on the condition of your home. Interesting to see that even the pricey highly sought markets like San Francisco and Boston, have still not reached 2006 levels. But Texas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, and South Dakota are back to 2006 levels while every other state is in the negative, still!

All this makes people here feel more secure. Rich, even. And it spurs some people to sell.

 

 

Dallas real estate market is hot, hot, hot | www.pegasusnews.com | Dallas/Fort Worth.

Rising home prices cause real estate investors to retreat | Bedford Hills NY Homes

Leave a reply

Escalating home prices and mortgage rates prompted many investors to pull back from housing, causing current homeowners to become the main buying force behind the real estate market.

According to the latest Campbell/Inside Mortgage FinanceHousingPulse Tracking Survey, current homeowners were the only group that saw its share of home purchases increase in June — from 43.8% in May to 44.6% last month based on a three-month average. 

First-time homebuyers have backed away ever so slightly, with their market share going from 36.0% to 35.7% during the same one-month period. 

But the real highlight of the report was the investor share of home purchase transactions, which fell to 19.7%, the lowest level recorded since September 2012. 

For the fourth month in a row, the HousingPulse investor traffic index fell, this month more sharply than either the current homeowner traffic index or the first-time homebuyer index. 

The survey’s respondents linked the ongoing decline in investor activity to rising home prices coupled with less opportunity for investors to flip homes.

A shrinking supply of distressed properties is doing investors no favors either. The HousingPulse Distressed Property Index revealed that the percentage of home purchases involving foreclosures or short sales fell to 28.2% in June, a significant drop from the 40.3% level recorded a year earlier. This also represented the lowest distressed property share recorded in at least three and a half years.

 

 

Rising home prices cause real estate investors to retreat | HousingWire.

Q&A: Painting Popcorn Ceilings | Bedford Hills Real Estate

Leave a reply

 

Q.Several of my customers have “popcorn” ceilings that are old and dirty. Is there any way of painting them short of spray-painting?

A.Dan Greenough, a painting and finishing contractor in the San Francisco Bay area, responds: I always spray-paint popcorn — or blown-on acoustic — ceilings. When you roll them, the material breaks loose and clogs the roller.

If you have to roll them, look for a special textured foam roller cover designed for acoustic ceilings. These covers have slits and cross-hatchings that allow the foam to better conform to the irregular ceiling surface. The idea is to apply the paint with the least possible pressure to prevent the ceiling material from breaking loose.

Cutting in the corners can also be tricky. If you try to cut in with a brush, you will have to work hard to avoid lap marks. It may be faster to mask the walls and roll right up to the edge.

It will take several coats of paint on the entire ceiling to produce an even finish. Be advised that the water in the paint will wet the popcorn surface, causing it to roll off with the roller. Apply the first coat and allow it to dry thoroughly before you try to backroll or apply additional coats.

One reason people often want to repaint acoustic ceiling is to hide water stains caused by plumbing or roof leaks. But those stains are water soluble and will telegraph through new paint. To prevent that, always use several coats of a shellac primer to lock in the stain and prevent it from bleeding through.

While you’re at the paint store, inquire about ceiling paints that are engineered especially for acoustic ceilings. Such paints have less resin density than standard smooth-wall paints and will help maintain the acoustic qualities of the rough, textured surface.

 

 

Q&A: Painting Popcorn Ceilings – Painting, Walls, Paints, Finishes And Surfaces, Acoustics – JLC Online.