One of the Wainscott ‘Magnificent Seven’ Still Wants $23.5M – 80s! We’re Living in the 80s! | Bedford Real Estate
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Tag Archives: Bedford NY Luxury Homes for Sale
EH Town and Residents Lock Horns Over Deer Cull | Bedford NY Homes
[Both the town and village of East Hampton are going ahead with their plans to reduce the local deer population via a sharpshooters’ cull. The plan is enthusiastically supported by those who believe the town is being overrun with deer and decried by local nature lovers. Concert promoter and East Hampton resident Ron Delsener is retaining a New York law firm to try to stop the plan from going ahead. An online petition at change.org, “Stop Long Island Farm Bureau/USDA Stealth Plan to Brutally Slaughter 5,000 East End Deer,” currently has more than 2500 signatures. The Humane Society of the United States is also considering getting involved. Laura Simon, a wildlife ecologist there, mentioned the “bounceback effect”: does typically become more fertile after a herd has been reduced. “‘Deer will have twins and triplets after their numbers have been reduced,’ Ms. Simon said. ‘This is going to be a long-term, ongoing commitment from towns to try to keep killing deer every year, and then their numbers will pop right back up.'” ·
Mounting Anger on Deer Reduction Plan [EH Star] · All deer coverage [Curbed Hamptons]
Ultra-high-end foreclosures up 61% in 2013 | Bedford NY Real Estate
Looking for eight bedrooms, 13 bathrooms and 23,000-square feet in Houston?
For a cool $6.3 million you may be able to take it off the bank’s hands since it repossessed a house fitting this description in April.
According to RealtyTrac, foreclosures on ultra-high-end homes — those with a value over $5 million — are up 61% over last year, defying the trend in the overall market that has seen foreclosure activity down 23% through October.
Panoramic ocean views, stunning architecture and landscaping — even putting greens — are some of the hallmarks of these luxury properties.
And although they account for a tiny part of the market — less than 200 total in 2013 so far — they can cost a foreclosing lender a sizable amount.
However, as Emmett Laffey, CEO of Laffey Fine Home International in New York City, said, “Any foreclosure properties in this kind of ultra-luxury market get purchased very quickly since there is one thing all super-rich buyers want — an outstanding deal on a real estate transaction, and in most cases foreclosures of this magnitude come with several million dollars of built-in value.”
According to RealtyTrac the top market for foreclosures in the $5 million-plus range is in the Miami/Fort Lauderdale area, followed by Los Angeles.
Rounding out the top five list are Atlanta, Ga.; Orlando, Fla.; and the New York City/Northern New Jersey area. Although Los Angeles made the top-five list, foreclosure activity in California as a whole is down compared to last year.
http://www.housingwire.com/articles/28215-ultra-high-end-foreclosures-up-61-in-2013
Naples Real Estate Professional Recognized in Luxury Marketing Competition | Bedford Homes
Realtors Now as Old as Congressmen | Old Bedford NY Realtor
The median age of Realtors now is the same as the median age of members of the current US House of Representatives, according to the latest member profile from the National Association of Realtors.
Since 2007 the median age of Realtors has increased steadily, reaching 57 this year, the oldest on record. The 111th Congress, which took office in 2009, is the oldest in the nation’s history, with an average age of 57 in the House and 63 in the Senate.
Forty-one percent of Realtors are more than 60 years old, while only 2 percent are under 30 years old. The incremental increase in age may be attributed to professionals staying in real estate longer and putting off retirement, NAR said.
http://www.realestateeconomywatch.com/2013/11/realtors-now-as-old-as-congressmen/
Declining Prices of U.S. Homebuilder Stocks an Indicator Something Not Right with Housing Market | Bedford NY Homes
The direction of prices in the housing market has historically been dependent on the direction of mortgage interest rates. If mortgage rates start to increase, it makes homes less affordable for those who want to buy. The math is simple: the higher the mortgage interest rate, the higher the mortgage payment is going to be for the home owner and the more difficult it becomes to keep up with payments—something we learned in the housing market crash of 2007.
Mortgage interest rates are rising, and I believe the U.S. housing market will suffer as a result. Of course, interest rates are nowhere close to what they were in the 1980s, but they are up significantly this year from their lows. The 30-year fixed mortgage rate tracked by Freddie Mac stood at 4.19% this past October. In the same period a year ago, the rate was sitting at 3.38%. (Source: Freddie Mac web site, last accessed November 12, 2013.)
The effects of demand for housing given higher interest rates can be seen in the chart below. The number of new homes sold in the U.S. housing market has been declining since the beginning of the year.
Declining Prices of U.S. Homebuilder Stocks an Indicator Something Not Right with Housing Market Chart courtesy of www.StockCharts.com
In early 2013, the annual rate of new homes sold in the U.S. housing market was close to 460,000 units. This number came in at just 421,000 units in August, down eight percent.
The weakness in the housing market can be seen in the statistics being released by new home builders. For example, D.R. Horton, Inc. (NYSE/DHI), a large U.S. homebuilder, said that in the fourth quarter of its fiscal year 2013 (which ended on September 30) the cancellation rate (that’s the rate of home buyers canceling their purchase contracts) stood at 31%. (Source: D.R. Horton, Inc., November 12, 2013.) Last fiscal quarter, the company’s cancellation rate stood at 24%, and in the second fiscal quarter, it was 19%! The number of people walking away from deals at DR Horton is skyrocketing, and if we checked the rates of other homebuilders, I’m sure we’d see the same trend.
Corcoran Group CEO Pamela Liebman now on Twitter | Bedford NY Homes
In what Matthew Shadbolt described as a “HUGE day for Corcoran on Twitter today,” Corcoran Group CEO Pamela Liebman is now on the microblogging site.
Handle: @PamelaBLiebman.
Source: twitter.com – See more at: http://www.inman.com/wire/corcoran-group-ceo-pamela-liebman-now-on-twitter/#sthash.BqXATIO4.dpuf
Market forces will decide property prices | Bedford NY Real Estate
HAVE developers become too greedy?” Ask this question to Real Estate and Housing Development Association (Rehda) president Datuk Seri Michael Yam and there is a momentary pause on the other side of the line.
Then just as quickly, Yam springs to the defence of developers, insisting that this is just perception and not at all true.
“It is because property affects every facet of people’s lives that it becomes so sensitive and almost a political issue.”
He points out that developers have over the years delivered more than four million housing units including a huge number of subsidised units.
“Ninety-five per cent do a proper job, so it’s not fair to call us greedy,” he says.
Yam says property prices are based on supply and demand, and that prices will be kept at an equilibrium when the supply in the market meets the demand.
“When there is an oversupply, people will stop buying and the less efficient developers will be forced out of business.”
He stresses that developers have had a lot of conditions and requirements imposed on them in the past, like building low-cost housing, offering bumiputra subsidy for housing, building community centres and other approvals, which all adds to the cost.
“If people claim developers make a lot of profit, don’t forget a number of developers are SMEs. Those who develop Kelantan, Terengganu and Johor – ask them if it is very profitable,” he says.
Even for the public-listed property companies, he points out that their profit margins are usually less than 20%.
“If they make more than 20% to 25%, then it’s usually from the sale of parcel of land and they realise the profit from that year,” he says.
Yam says the property sector is no more different than those in manufacturing or trading but points out that the top public-listed companies that made billions are in fact not property companies but those in banking, plantation, trading and services.
He admits that the stringent measures announced in Budget 2014 to curb property speculation took the industry by shock because the quantum of the real property gains tax (RPGT) was even higher than the rates imposed before April 1, 2007, which were already deemed to be high at that time.
“We expected a revision of RPGT upwards but not by this quantum.”
On the RM1mil minimum for foreigners to buy property in Malaysia, Yam says Malaysia has never been a spot for property speculation by foreigners in the past because the appreciation had been too slow compared to its neighbouring countries.
“But property prices in Hong Kong and Singapore have gone to dizzying heights to the detriment of their citizens, and so these countries are doing some serious curbing. So what Malaysia has done (with regard to purchases by foreigners) is a pre-emptive move because knowing that all the other doors are closed, you don’t want the horse to bolt.”
http://www.thestar.com.my/News/Nation/2013/11/17/Market-forces-will-decide-property-prices.aspx
Realtors meet in S.F., celebrate strong market | Bedford NY Realtor
Widespread Brush Fire Consumes NY Parkland | Bedford NY Real Estate
Dozens of acres of woodland are burning in Rockland County as a set of brush fires zigzag their way through a state park, torching trees in their path and sending thick smoke and flames into the sky.
More than 150 firefighters began battling the brush fires in Clausland Mountain State Park in Orangeburg Thursday afternoon. The flames spread quickly with the windy and dry conditions, and were consuming about 50 acres of land by nighttime.
“It’s blowing it all over. It just took off, the wind blew it right up the mountain,” said Orangeburg Fire Chief Cornelius Lynady.
The firefighters had to halt their efforts when the rugged mountain terrain became too steep and the nighttime hours became dangerously dark. They’re expected to resume their work Friday morning, and helicopter units will join in to douse the flames with water.
The flames are not threatening the roughly 100 homes located on perimeter roads, according to officials, though if residents see the fire getting close, are urged to call 911.