Tag Archives: Bedford

The Town of Bedford

Home flipping frenzy returns to Southland real estate market | Bedford Real Estate

Leave a reply

Like most real estate agents, Tarek El Moussa saw much of his livelihood evaporate in the housing bust.

But with prices beaten down, El Moussa also started seeing bargains everywhere. He bought a Santa Ana condo for $115,000 in 2010, made modest renovations and flipped it for a $35,000 profit. Last year, he repeated the process 20 times and this year expects to flip 50 homes.

“I absolutely loved it,” El Moussa said about that first house flip. “I made a good profit, and I saw the opportunity to do it not only once, but do it over and over.”

With Southland home prices rising in a fast-paced recovery, home flippers have returned to the market in force. In May, investors flipped 1,377 homes — a level not seen since the height of the housing boom, when investors turned over 1,394 homes in June 2005, according to real estate research firm DataQuick. The firm defines flipping as buying and reselling a home within six months.

The frenzy has brought new interest in home flippers as celebrities, after earlier TV reality shows featuring them went the way of the housing market. “Flip this House,” on A&E, was canceled in 2009. Bravo’s “Flipping Out” first aired in 2007 but switched gears after the second season to focus on interior design. El Moussa has turned his experience into a new show, “Flip or Flop,” which premiered on HGTV in April.

After the crash, experts — in hindsight — pointed to get-rich-quick home flipping as a missed warning sign before the housing bubble burst. But whether the return of flipping constitutes cause for alarm remains a murkier question.

Many housing experts and economists say it may simply signal a healthy recovery — a quick bounce back from prices that had dropped sharply. Others see it as a sign that fast-rising markets may again be getting overheated. In Southern California, the median price has seen year-over-year increases of more than 20% in every month so far this year, according to DataQuick, hitting a record 28% in June.

 

 

Home flipping frenzy returns to Southland real estate market – latimes.com.

11 Things You Should Know About Homeowners Insurance | Bedford Real Estate

Leave a reply

 

Insurance requires you to think about bad occurrences: medical problems, car accidents, emergency home repairs. But while it may sound pessimistic to dwell on what could happen (carpe diem, anyone?), it’s important to protect yourself from some of life’s biggest surprises.

When it comes to protecting your home, it’s not just about safeguarding against structural damage or theft — it’s just as much about feeling secure in where you live. If disaster strikes, your focus should be on reclaiming your sense of stability. The last thing you should worry about is money.

We spoke to LearnVest Planning Services certified financial planner™ Ellen Derrick — and some real homeowners — about the top 11 things you should know about homeowners insurance.

No. 1: What it covers

A typical policy will pay for damage to your property and your possessions in the event of certain storms, fire, theft or vandalism. Like renters insurance, it also provides liability coverage if someone gets hurt on your property and decides to sue. Homeowners insurance also covers shelter costs, so you don’t have to face crazy hotel bills if you’re temporarily displaced from your house.

Homeowners insurance can protect belongings outside the home, too. If something is stolen from your car, auto insurance won’t cover it — but your homeowners policy likely will. “Most policies will cover your belongings when they are traveling with you,” Derrick said. “If you have a $1,200 laptop and it gets lost by the airline, call your insurance agent — right after you file the claim with the airline, of course.”

No. 2: What it doesn’t cover

A standard policy has exclusions including earth movements (landslides, earthquakes, sinkholes), power failure, war, nuclear hazard, government action, faulty zoning, bad repair or workmanship, defective maintenance and flooding. Windstorms are typically covered, including tornadoes, although insurance companies exclude tornadoes or hurricanes in some high-risk areas.

Water damage is tricky. As a rule of thumb, water from above (rainwater or a burst pipe in an upstairs apartment) is usually covered, but water from below (backed-up sewers or ground flooding) generally isn’t. If your region is prone to floods and earthquakes, you should consider supplemental coverage.

No. 3: Why you should shop around

Before committing to a policy, take the time to research an agent whom you trust — preferably one with good reviews online or via a personal recommendation. It’s certainly something that homeowner Ramzy Ayyad, who struggled to receive benefits following a house fire in November 2008, recommends that prospective homeowners do. “I had to deal with a rude adjuster,” he said. After complaining assertively to the adjuster’s boss, Ayyad finally received a check for the damages — but the process was exhausting.

By contrast, homeowner Terri Corcoran has nothing but glowing reviews for her adjuster. After a snowstorm caused a major leak in Corcoran’s laundry room, an insurance agent came to her home to assess the damage and promptly determined that the entire room needed to be redone. “They wrote me a check on the spot for what it should cost,” Corcoran said. “I was really impressed by how the company responded!”

 

11 Things You Should Know About Homeowners Insurance | Zillow Blog.

Solar energy gets boost with New York state funding | Bedford Real Estate

Leave a reply

 

New York’s solar energy capacity is getting an upgrade with $54 million announced by Gov. Andrew Cuomo for 79 solar projects across the state to help reduce stress on the electric grid.

The competitive funding is part of the governor’s NY-Sun initiative working to make the state a leader in solar energy by addressing climate change and boosting clean energy technologies.

“The investments we are making in solar power will help businesses around the state control and reduce their utility expenses, while increasing the amount of electricity the state gets from renewable energy and reducing demand on the electric grid,” saidFrancis Murray, CEO of the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA).

The Capital Region is expected to have 10 sites that will house solar energy projects including Raymour & Flanigan stores in Clifton Park and Niskayuna. The other eight sites are to be determined.

The awards were administered by NYSERDA to 20 recipients to finance the solar energy projects that will be located in 26 counties. The sites themselves would use the solar power to drop electricity usage.

The projects are expected to add up to 64 megawatts to the state’s solar capacity. One megawatt is equal to one million watts of power. Most of the projects should be finished by the first half of next year, Cuomo said.

“Not only will these projects benefit our environment by reducing dependence on fossil fuels and using renewable energy, but they are also creating well-paying jobs for New Yorkers,” Cuomo said in a statement.

 

Solar energy gets boost with New York state funding – The Business Review.

Half Empty but Full of History, Brill Building Seeks Tenants | Bedford Real Estate

Leave a reply

 

If ghosts paid the rent, Eric Hadar would have an all-star tenancy: Freddy Bienstock, Johnny Burke, Cab Calloway, Nat King Cole, Tommy Dorsey, Duke Ellington and Jimmy Van Heusen, to name a few. Not to mention J.J. Hunsecker and Danny Rose.

The Brill Building, at 49th Street and Broadway, currently stands more than half empty, after the closing last year of Colony Records and the Sound One postproduction studio.

But ghosts do not pay the rent. Neither do fictional characters. Their onetime home, the Brill Building, 1619 Broadway, at West 49th Street, now stands more than half empty, after the closing last year of Colony Recordsand the Sound One postproduction studio.

Mr. Hadar, the chairman of Allied Partners, a private real estate investment company, believes he can breathe life back into the Brill Building by evoking its show business past. He paid $185 million for the 11-story landmark in February.

For starters, he is in discussions with the Songwriters Hall of Fame — a 44-year-old organization with plenty of fame but no hall — about establishing a small museum in the Brill Building, where songwriters once swarmed to stake out the 80 or 90 music publishers or catch the attention of entertainers whose offices were there. The songwriters group will also curate a permanent exhibition in the lobby.

Irwin Z. Robinson, the chairman of the National Music Publishers’ Association, briefly had an office in the 11th-floor penthouse suite leased to Mr. Bienstock, who was closely associated with Elvis Presley. Mr. Robinson recalled certain songwriters, naming no names, who would knock on enough doors at the Brill that they would end up with a couple of buyers, meaning that two or three publishers owned 100 percent of their songs.

The tale was greeted with amusement by two celebrated songwriters, Jimmy Webb (“By the Time I Get to Phoenix,” “Wichita Lineman, “Up, Up and Away”) and Desmond Child(“Livin’ la Vida Loca,” “You Give Love a Bad Name,” “Angel”), who were visiting the building with Mr. Robinson and Mr. Hadar.

Standing in the gleaming, mirrored lobby, Mr. Webb said, “It’s like the physical manifestation of the Songwriters Hall of Fame.” He is the organization’s chairman.

Mr. Hadar said he was prepared to spend $50 million or more to finance, renovate, repair, maintain and lease the Brill Building.

“I would like to get a premium in rents by developing a building that’s exciting because of the people who are in there,” he said.

Though the building was designated an official landmark in 2010, it scarcely stands out these days on Broadway, especially without Colony Records. Its other retail space, where Jack Dempsey’s Restaurant did business from 1937 to 1974, is also dark.

The Brill Building is still home to three important show-business offices: Paul Simon, an inductee of the Songwriters Hall of Fame; Broadway Video Entertainment, a production, postproduction, marketing and distribution company led by Lorne Michaels; and Key Brand Entertainment, which develops touring theatrical productions.

There is also at least one remnant of the days when the Brill Building was a kind of vertical Tin Pan Alley. On the sixth floor, a visitor can find “St. Nicholas Music Inc.,” as the hand-painted gold-leaf letters proclaim on the transom over a door with chicken-wire frosted glass, brass hardware and a mail slot. This is the company that licenses “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” 64 years after Johnny Marks wrote it.

 

Half Empty but Full of History, Brill Building Seeks Tenants – NYTimes.com.

Singapore Home Prices Climb to Record as Loan Curbs Imposed | Bedford NY Homes

Leave a reply

Singapore home prices climbed to a record in the second quarter as gains in suburban housing values accelerated, prompting the government to implement new measures on property loans.

The island-state’s private residential property price index rose 1 percent to 215.4 points in the three months ended June 30, extending a 0.6 percent increase in the first quarter, according to revised figures released by the Urban Redevelopment Authority today. The pace of gains in prices in the suburbs more than doubled from the previous three months.

Enlarge imageSingapore Home Prices Climb to Record as Government Curbs Loans

Traffic travels along the Benjamin Sheares Bridge, past a condominium development, in Singapore. Photographer: Munshi Ahmed/Bloomberg

Record home prices amid low interest rates raised concerns of a housing bubble and prompted the government to widen a four-year campaign to curb speculation in Asia’s second-most expensive housing market. Singapore on June 28 unveiled new rules governing how financial institutions grant property loans to individuals.

Apartment prices fell 0.2 percent in prime districts in the second quarter, compared with a 0.6 percent gain in the previous three months. Those in the suburbs climbed 3.8 percent, compared with the 1.4 percent increase in the previous quarter, according to today’s government data.

Suburban Demand

Suburban demand was boosted by Singaporeans upgrading from living in apartments built by the state to private condominiums. About 82 percent of Singaporeans reside in government-built units, according to Housing Development Board’s website.

CapitaLand Ltd. (CAPL) may alter the size of its apartments as it seeks to improve affordability to combat government measures, Lim Ming Yan, president and chief executive officer at Singapore’s biggest developer, said in a Bloomberg Television interview in Singapore yesterday.

“We want the right sizing, put in the right layout, so our users will find it a lot more user-friendly and at the same time something they can afford,” Lim said.

Singapore is Asia’s most-expensive housing market after Hong Kong, according to a Knight Frank LLP and Citi Private Bank report released last year that compared 63 locations globally. Hong Kong homes cost an average $28,300 per square meter in 2011 compared to Singaporewhere an apartment would cost $25,600 per square meter, the report showed.

 

Singapore Home Prices Climb to Record as Loan Curbs Imposed – Bloomberg.

Outdoor Shakespeare Festival In Mount Kisco Starts Friday | Bedford Real Estate

Leave a reply

You can spend a mid-summer’s evening watching Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Westmoreland Sanctuary this weekend.

The 60-minute, family-friendly adaptation will be performed four times: Friday, July 26 at 6:30pm; Saturday July 27 at 2:00pm and 6:30pm;  and Sunday July 27 at 1:00pm.

The grounds will open 90 minutes ahead of the performances for picnicking.  The evening performances will end with a marshmallow roast around a campfire.

Tickets are $17.50 for Westmoreland Sanctuary members and $20 for non-members.  Contact Michele Miller at MMiller@WestmorelandSanctuary.org for more information.

 

Outdoor Shakespeare Festival In Mount Kisco Starts Friday | The Bedford Daily Voice.

Give unrealistic sellers the ‘shock treatment’ | Bedford NY Homes

Leave a reply

There’s an old saying that it’s best to be the first born, second spouse and the third listing agent. So whose fault is it when a property doesn’t sell?

There are thousands of reasons that cause listings to expire. An agent may do everything possible and the property still doesn’t sell due to lack of activity in that price range or location. Other times, the listing agent didn’t market the property adequately, or conditions under the seller’s control prevented the sale. In almost every case, however, the reason most properties do not sell is the price.

A major misconception

Many people, including a large number of real estate professionals, fail to realize that it is the buyers (and sometimes the appraisers) who determine the selling price, not the sellers or agents.

The stock market provides a good analogy for understanding this situation. Assume that an investor paid $100 for a share of IBM stock. Today that stock is trading at $60 a share. If the investor insists on getting $100 a share, he will have to wait to sell until the market conditions improve. Otherwise, if he must sell now he will need to reduce his price to $60 a share.

The same is true for the real estate market. If someone paid $225,000 for a home and today similar homes are selling for $180,000, the owner has the same choices as the investor in the example above: sell at today’s prices or wait for the market to improve.

– See more at: http://www.inman.com/2013/07/22/give-unrealistic-sellers-the-shock-treatment/#sthash.IKPvdyVR.dpuf

 

Give unrealistic sellers the ‘shock treatment’ | Inman News.

Investors racing rising home prices for profits | Bedford NY Real Estate

Leave a reply

House flippers are racing against rising prices to make fast profits.

In the first half of this year, 9% of the single-family homes that sold were resold again within six months — meaning “flipped,” according to market researcher RealtyTrac.

But some markets are already seeing flippers recede following sharp gains in home prices. Flipping declined in the first half of this year vs. last in 32 of 100 markets, including in cities that have seen rapid price gains, such as Las Vegas, Phoenix, Atlanta and San Jose, RealtyTrac says.

Meanwhile, flipping is increasing in markets with more muted home price gains, including New York, Washington, D.C., Chicago and in several Florida cities.

Palm Coast, Fla., led the way, where 37% of single-family home sales were flipped in the first half of this year. Omaha followed at 32% and Daytona Beach, Fla., at 16%.

“The flippers try to catch the wave at the bottom,” says Daren Blomquist, RealtyTrac vice president. About 8% of sold single-family homes were flipped last year, he says.

Flippers — who take advantage of rising prices to turn quick profits — were partially blamed for inflating the housing bubble before the market crashed in 2006. That could happen again in some markets, says John Burns, CEO of John Burns Real Estate Consulting.

He hopes that rising interest rates will cool price gains and flipper interest. The average 30-year fixed rate was 4.37% this week, up from 3.5% a year ago, Freddie Mac says.

On the other hand, flippers often pay cash for homes that are in such bad shape that banks won’t lend on them, says Mark Goldman, real estate expert at San Diego State University. He’s invested in three flips this year.

Flippers don’t inflate home prices, he says, they “improve housing inventory.”

Strong price gains in San Diego, combined with tight inventories, have made flipping less profitable, Goldman says. Instead of the 20% profits seen two years ago, 10% is now more the norm, he estimates.

 

Investors racing rising home prices for profits.

Cleveland Fed Study: Negative Equity Doesn’t Lock in Jobseekers | Bedford Real Estate

Leave a reply

Are underwater homes deterring unemployed people from moving to get new jobs? Not according to a new study from the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, which finds that homeowners will relocate for a job, even if they will lose money on the sale of their home.

 

The study found that “the lock-in effect,” a term coined to help explain why joblessness persisted so stubbornly during the recovery’s first fitful years, is really a myth.

 

After the financial crisis, the number of homeowners who relocated from one state to another declined. At the same time, the number of homeowners who were underwater, i.e., owed more than their house was worth, increased. Some studies suggested that the decline in mobility rates was caused by homeowners being locked in to their underwater homes, contributing to higher unemployment rates.

 

However, the data used in those earlier studies had many limitations. Using anonymous data from two major credit bureaus, a team of researchers, including the Cleveland Fed’s Yuliya Demyanyk, were able to obtain information about the mortgage debt of tens of millions of individuals. Their study found compelling evidence that equity in a home is not a crucial part of the decision to relocate for a job. In fact, underwater homeowners are probably more likely to move than borrowers with equity in their homes.

 

Says Demyanyk, “If an unemployed homeowner with negative equity is able to find a job in another region, he or she is likely to accept the job because the benefits of earning a higher income outweigh the costs associated with selling an underwater home.”

 

One story that made the media rounds during the recession and early recovery claimed that under­water homes – when people owe more than the property’s value – were deterring unemployed people from moving to get new jobs. People with negative equity could sell only at a loss, an option so unattractive that they refused to pull up stakes in search of work.

 

“If a hypothetical unemployed, underwater homeowner gets a job offer, he is going to take it,” Demyanyk said.

 

The study was twofold. First, the researchers looked at credit-report data. The reports gave them enough longitudinal information about borrowers to infer whether they moved to new regions and whether falling home prices limited mobility – particularly for people with negative home equity.

 

Next, the researchers designed a theoretical model to replicate the experience of real-world homeowners. It churned out results suggesting that the findings – that underwater homeowners weren’t reluctant to move – were plausible. Key to the model is the idea that people would rather move to get a steady paycheck than stay in an underwater home in a place with no job prospects.

 

This paper is not the first to debunk the lock-in-effect story. Others, including work by the San Francisco Fed, have likewise found little evidence that people didn’t move during the recession because of the condition of their mortgages.

 

More plausible is that Americans faced almost uniformly dismal employment options across the country – opportunities to move for good jobs were few and far between.

 

An implication for national policy­makers is that job creation efforts need not focus on the regions hit hardest by the housing bust. Consider that at the end of 2009, the under­water problem was concentrated in four “sand” states – Arizona, Florida, California, and Nevada – and in Michigan, all with negative equity rates topping 35 percent of total mortgages. If national policymakers thought only about creating jobs in those states out of fear that negative-equity borrowers wouldn’t move to other states for employment, they might be missing an opportunity to lift employment more broadly.

 

 

RealEstateEconomyWatch.com » Cleveland Fed Study: Negative Equity Doesn’t Lock in Jobseekers » Print.

Cubans on the move as new real estate market grows | Bedford Real Estate

Leave a reply

“Its capitalist!” So goes the Cuban real estate description of a great house to buy. After President Raul Castro eased restrictions in 2011, the housing market is beginning to boom, though underground maneuvers are of course part of the wheeling and dealing.

HAVANA — At an informal housing market on Havana’s historic Paseo del Prado, Renaldo Belen puts the hard sell on a prospective buyer under a tree hung with hand-lettered signs advertising homes for sale.

A house near Boyeros, the avenue to the city’s airport, is being offered for the equivalent of $120,000, with all the amenities.

“The house is beautiful. It has four bedrooms, a pool with a bar and a fountain with a lion’s head on top. Look,” says Belen, pointing to photos on the sign, “water comes out of the lion’s mouth.”

Pausing for dramatic effect, Belen, one of the many touts, or “runners” working at the market, delivers what he hopes will be the coup de grace.

“This place needs no work. It is of capitalist construction,” he says, using a now frequently invoked commendation meaning it was built before Cuba’s 1959 revolution and is therefore of superior quality.

Given that “capitalist” has been a dirty word in communist-run Cuba for the last half century, the description perhaps grates on the nerves of Cuban leaders.

Cuban real estate market grows: A child stands at the door of a farm with a 'For Sale' notice on the outskirts of Havana Tuesday. IMAGEReuters: Desmond Boylan

But its widespread usage is a sign of the times on the Caribbean island, where President Raul Castro has loosened things up as he tries to modernize the country’s economy in the name of preserving the socialist system put in place by his older brother Fidel Castro.

Cubans on the move as new real estate market grows.