Tag Archives: Chappaqua NY Homes

Chappaqua NY Homes

What $3,200/Month Can Rent You Around San Francisco | Chappaqua Real Estate

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↑ In the Excelsior, $3,200 a month will fetch you a three bedroom single-family home, complete with tiered backyard (that’s in need of some TLC). The spacious living room has a decorative fireplace and parquet flooring, and while the kitchen doesn’t have the latest and greatest stainless steel appliances and fancy cabinetry, it’s still charming and has an eat-in area. There are two bedrooms on the main level, and a lower room behind the garage that’s being advertised as another bedroom. Small pets are negotiable and there’s laundry on site.

 

http://sf.curbed.com/archives/2014/02/25/what_3200month_can_rent_you_around_san_francisco.php

The Housing Market Is Plunging. Is It Time to Panic? | Chappaqua Real Estate

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The bottom just dropped out of the housing market. Or, at least, that’s what a report released this week by the government suggests.

According to the Commerce Department, the number of housing starts — new residential construction projects commenced during the month — plummeted by 16% in January compared to December.

It was the worst monthly decline in almost three years. The only recent month that even comes close was April of last year, when housing starts fell by 15%.

The general opinion is that unusually cold and snowy weather caused the dramatic decline, as many of the East Coast’s biggest cities have been bombarded by snowstorms since the beginning of the year.

According to the Associated Press, “U.S. home construction fell in January for a second month, but the weakness in both months reflected severe winter weather in many parts of the country.”

Yet, this appears to tell only half of the story, as housing starts in the hardest-hit region, the Northeast, actually increased by 62% compared to December. It was the Midwest that suffered the biggest blow, where new home construction fell by a staggering 68%.

“While we believe the weather did impact construction activity, we think this is just part of the story, as the new construction slowdown was more broad-based,” an economist at BNP Paribas wrote in a note to clients.

 

 

http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2014/02/23/the-housing-market-is-plunging-is-it-time-to-panic.aspx

15 Painting Mistakes to Avoid in Your Home | Chappaqua NY Homes

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Taking on your next painting project? For a flawless finish, avoid these painting mistakes.

1. Skipping the Tape Do you have the skills to get straight lines around the woodwork, windowsills and doorframes? Grab the painter’s tape and get the nice, clean edges you want.

2. Painting Without Primer Primer gives paint a good surface to adhere to and brings out the true color of the shade you’ve chosen. Going without it can lead to poor results.

3. Impatience You took the time to fix every imperfection with patching compound. Wait. Make sure it’s completely dry before you sand and prime. Otherwise, all that patching was a waste of time.

4. Paint Buildup on Pad Edge When using edge pads around ceiling edges and corners, make sure to wipe off excess paint frequently to avoid marking the surface.

5. Brushing When You Should be Rolling For a large interior area, a roller will do a better job in less time. Select the right nap roller for your sheen of paint and try to avoid pushing the roller into the wall when you paint.

6. Underestimating How Much Paint Needed The pros say you need one gallon for every 400 square feet. Plan ahead and you can avoid running back and forth to the store with a paint swatch in your hand.

7. Assuming Walls are Clean Paint looks much better when it has a good, clean surface to stick to. Wash your walls before painting and get professional results you can be proud of. 8. Painting When the Humidity is High When the air is full of moisture, water-based paint takes longer to dry. If the weather winds up more humid than expected, take the day off and wait for a dry day.

 

 

http://shine.yahoo.com/at-home/15-painting-mistakes-avoid-home-201300426.html

Rapid home price gains make renting more attractive, study says | Chappaqua NY Homes

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It’s now cheaper to rent than own.

Across a large swath of Southern California, owning a house has become less  attractive financially in the wake of rapid home price gains last year,  according to a new study.

The mortgage payment on a median-priced, three-bedroom would exceed the rent  on a comparable property in Los Angeles, Orange and Ventura counties, according  to a RealtyTrac analysis released Thursday, based on prices from the fourth  quarter of 2013.

Nationwide, there were only 29 large counties in that situation, including  the Northern California counties of Santa Clara, Alameda and San Francisco. A  year earlier, nowhere in Southern California was rent cheaper than monthly house  payments.

In Los Angeles County, RealtyTrac reported, the monthly house payment for a  median-priced three-bedroom was $1,987 — about $100 more expensive than fair  market rent for a similar property, as calculated by the U.S. Department of  Housing and Urban Development.

A year earlier, house payments were about $500 a month cheaper than rent.

The median price for a three-bedroom L.A. County house was $417,333 in the  fourth quarter. The monthly house payment for such a home rose 40% compared with  the fourth quarter of 2012.

To qualify to purchase such a house, a buyer would now need to make at least  $95,389 annually, according to RealtyTrac. That’s about $42,000 more than the  median-household income and $27,000 more than the income needed to buy the  median house a year earlier.

The widening disparity between rent and home prices underscores a growing  affordability crunch across the region. Real estate experts say the high costs,  without corresponding income growth, have depressed sales

http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-rent-or-buy-20140220,0,6388101.story#ixzz2ty69WsxW

Living in Las Vegas: A Look Beyond the Strip | Chappaqua Homes

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Sky-high hotels, desert sun and entertainment galore. It’s not surprising Las Vegas continues to be one of the most popular Spring Break destinations attracting college students around the country.

Today’s Vegas reaches far beyond the Strip’s neon lights and slot machines. In fact, a growing number of families are putting down roots in the Gambling Capital of the World.

To get a feel for what it’s like to live in Vegas, we asked longtime residents Christa Schueler and Michelle Radcliff to share their experiences.

Family-friendly culture

“I moved here in the ’80s and the common belief was that you must work and live in a hotel, or have some affiliation to a casino,” said Schueler, who writes an online magazine geared toward local women. “Then in the ’90s, Las Vegas started trying to get that family demographic because growth started to explode here. They started trying to appeal to families living here as well as those who were vacationing.”

Schueler said efforts to make Vegas more conducive to a family lifestyle weren’t hugely successful in the ’90s, but she notes there’s been a recent movement to appeal to families with children.

“Now, we’re not just looked at as gambling town,” she said. “People are realizing families do live here and that there are things to do, whether you’re a tourist or a local.”

Radcliff, who also moved to Vegas in the 1980s, agrees.

“I have a daughter who was born here,” she said. “A lot of people raise families in Vegas. There are a lot of things you can do with children.”

 

http://homes.yahoo.com/news/living-las-vegas-look-beyond-strip-182059598.html

Wash. state housing prices up 6 percent from year ago | Chappaqua NY Real Estate

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The state’s housing market softened in the fourth quarter of 2013 compared to the quarter before, but remained stronger than a year ago.

That’s according to a new report from the Runstad Center for Real Estate Studies at the University of Washington.

Sales of existing homes declined 8.6 percent from the third to the fourth quarter of 2013. But they were still 9.2 percent higher than the fourth quarter of 2012.

The report says the statewide median home sales price during the fourth quarter was 6 percent above a year ago at $256,300. Price increases were especially strong in the metropolitan Seattle area.

Median home prices ranged from $70,000 in Lincoln County to $421,000 in King County.

 

http://www.komonews.com/news/local/Wash-state-housing-prices-up-from-1-year-ago-245218321.html

Is Now the Right Time to Sell Your Home? | Chappaqua NY Real Estate

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With the housing market on an upswing, is now the right time to put your house on the market?

A recent survey by Redfin found 38% of home sellers believe now is a good time to sell, up from 34% last quarter and an enormous improvement from 22% in the fourth quarter of last year.

It is no secret that a lot of homeowners who want to sell their homes have been waiting (for several years in some cases) for a better housing market before listing their house.  Mortgage rates are relatively low, inventories are at their lowest level in years, and confidence in the housing market is the highest it’s been since before the mortgage crisis.

Sounds like you should consider selling, right? The short answer is “maybe”, but there are several factors to consider in determining whether it is the right time to sell for you.

Location: What’s going on in your local market? Before deciding to put your home on the market, it is very important to contact a local realtor (or a few) in order to see what’s happening where you live.

Maybe smaller homes are selling but larger, more expensive homes are sitting on the market for six months or more.  Maybe there is a high amount of inventory of homes like yours on the market, which generally creates more pressure to lower the asking price. In many coastal areas, markets are at a standstill due to the ongoing drama regarding flood insurance.

On the other hand, maybe your particular type of home is very popular in the area you live in.  Maybe condos are in high demand where you live.  Maybe a new large employer opened up and homes nearby are in high demand.

The point is there is a tremendous variety of real estate markets in the United States, and there is no way to determine the level of demand for a particular property just by looking at national statistics

 

http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2014/02/09/is-now-the-right-time-to-sell-your-home.aspx

Dec. home prices see 11% annual rise | Chappaqua Real Estate

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Home prices were up 11% in December year over year as 2013 marked the strongest year for home price gains since 2005, market watcher CoreLogic says.

Ten states and the District of Columbia reached new all-time price peaks, mostly in the second half of the year, CoreLogic says.

Home price gains this year are not expected to be as robust. Rising prices will attract more sellers, leading to an increased supply of homes on the market, and that will have a “moderating effect on prices,” says Mark Fleming, CoreLogic chief economist.

The 10 states hitting all-time price peaks tend to be ones with strong energy economies or places where the home price bubble didn’t inflate as much so prices fell less during the downturn.

The states are Texas, North Dakota, Nebraska, Vermont, South Dakota, Iowa, Colorado, Alaska, Oklahoma and Wyoming, CoreLogic’s data shows.

It’s hardly surprising that 2013 was the strongest year for home price gains since 2005. The historic housing bust took off in earnest in 2006 and it wasn’t until 2011 before prices started to recover in the first major markets.

Most economists see price growth slowing a lot this year, but the nagging question remains how much inventory will come on the market.

 

 

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2014/02/04/december-home-prices-corelogic/5189675/

Tiny Greenwich Village Triplex Wants $785,000 | Chappaqua NY Real Estate

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If you were looking for a triplex apartment in Greenwich Village for under a million dollars, smart money would say you probably wouldn’t find one. But smart money would be wrong because this weird little three-room triplex on East 12th and Broadway exists. Recently renovated and located in a prewar building, the $785,000 unit features a living room on the lower level, a kitchen in the middle, and bedroom with a tiny balcony half a flight above that. It actually looks kind of nice for the price, although the placement of the kitchen is a little odd.

 

 

 

http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2014/02/03/tiny_greenwich_village_triplex_wants_785000.php

5 Cities With the Fastest Rising Home Prices | Chappaqua NY Homes

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According to the latest data, housing prices had their best November since 2005 according to the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index.

Home prices generally dip downwards in November, and while the average home price fell by a fraction of a percent (0.1% to be exactly), the chairman of the Index Committee, David Blitzer, noted that even despite the dip, “November was a good month for home prices.”

The steady road to recovery Although home prices plummeted following the financial meltdown and subsequent bursting of the housing bubble, 2013 has marked a year where home prices have rebounded significantly. Through the end of September last year, the average home price in the U.S. grew by nearly 12% since January, and prices in the major 20 cities measured in the Case-Shiller Index grew by 13.5%.

While there was wide variation in the rate of that price growth, ranging from 6% to 25%, there were still encouraging signs in all cities as home prices rose, even despite the rising mortgage rates. It is also widely anticipated that home prices will rise in 2014, just at a slower rate than what was seen in 2013.

To see which cities have watched their prices rise the most this year, as well as the national trends, check out the infographic below.

 

http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2014/02/02/5-cities-with-the-fastest-rising-home-prices.aspx