Tag Archives: Cross River NY Real Estate

Q&A: Patching Water-Damaged Plaster | Cross River Real Estate

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Q.

My company has done plaster repair work for many years. After repairing water-damaged walls or ceilings, we occasionally get called back to “fix” an unsuccessful repair. Our second repair attempt involves digging out a very bumpy, chalky substance, and more often than not, we have to repeat this process a number of times until the patch finally takes hold. What causes this reaction on some water damage jobs and not others? What is the most efficient way to deal with this problem?

A.

Mel Hines responds: The problem you refer to is caused by efflorescence — salts in the plaster are brought to the surface by the intruding water. The water often causes the magnesium in the lime coat to expand and produce the blisterlike effect you refer to. One of our recent reader, hired a water damage restoration contractor in Phoenix area and got rid of such problems.

Assuming that the water intrusion has been stopped, the first step is to chip away the lime coat at the affected area. Other than this, if you want a best solution then go for plumbing service in the sutherland shire.  There is a good chance that the bond between the finish lime coat and the plaster base coat has been weakened.

When faced with this situation, I use a wire brush to scrub away any loose base-coat particles, then apply a coat of Kilz (Masterchem Industries, Inc., P.O. Box 368, Barnhart, MO 63012; 314/942-2510) to the base-coat plaster. Kilz is an alkyd-based sealer, primer, and stain blocker. The plaster base coat must be completely dry before application. Next, I apply a coat of Durabond (United States Gypsum Corp., 125 S. Franklin, Chicago, IL 60606; 800/552-9785). Durabond is a fast-setting, low-shrinkage compound with tenacious bonding qualities and accelerated setting times. When the plaster walls and ceilings in your home are damaged, it can cause various practical problems, as well as decrease your home’s value. To fix this eyesore, you’ll need to repair the plaster, hire professional contractor like Plaster Installation New Jersey Agency.

Finally, I apply a skim coat of ready-mixed all-purpose joint compound. After a light sanding, the repair is ready for painting.

Mel Hines owns Atlanta/Pro-Serve, a ceiling and wall repair service in Atlanta, Ga.

Mortgage rates fall to 2-month low after Fed announcement | Cross River Real Estate

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Rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages dropped to a two-month low this week following a recent announcement from the Fed that it would not begin to wind down its bond-buying program.

Rates on 30-year fixed-rate loans averaged 4.32 percent with an average point of 0.7 percent for the week ending Sept. 26, down from 4.5 percent last week but up from 3.4 percent a year ago, according to Freddie Mac’s latest Primary Mortgage Market Survey.

“Mortgage rates fell following the Federal Reserve announcement that it will maintain its bond-buying stimulus,” said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac’s vice president and chief economist, in a statement. “These low rates should somewhat offset the house price gains seen the last number of months and keep housing affordability elevated.”

Rates on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) loans and one-year Treasury-indexed ARMs also fell.

 

Source: Freddie Mac

 

 

– See more at: http://www.inman.com/wire/mortgage-rates-fall-to-2-month-low-after-fed-announcement/#sthash.sZ0FPtml.dpuf

Single-family housing starts improve | Cross River Real Estate

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The increase in housing starts fell short of expectations in August, up a slight 0.9% from July, the Census Bureau revealed Wednesday.

Housing starts in August were at a seasonally adjusted rate of 891,000, compared to the revised July estimate of 883,000.

“The small rise in starts in August, which was below expectations and would have been a fall were it not for downward revisions to earlier data, is not as disappointing as it first appears,” said analysts at Capital Economics. “The figures are skewed by the volatile multi-family sector; single-family starts posted an encouraging gain.”

The August rate is 19% higher than the August 2012 rate of 749,000.

Daren Blomquist, vice president of RealtyTrac, believes that the latest report suggests builders are looking much more carefully at the market.

“Builders continue to be very cautious given what they’ve been through the past seven years,” said Blomquist. “They do recognize that you have several things at play that could change this sort of frenzied buying activity that we’ve been seeing over the last six months,” he added.

According to Blomquist, the current market is similar to the market we were seeing 5-to-10 years ago, so many of the builders that experienced that market aren’t assuming this one will last.

“That’s what got them into trouble last time,” said Blomquist. He added that Wednesday’s report may not be what some people want to see from an economic perspective, but he believes it is a good sign that builders are being cautious and not overextending themselves.

Auction.com Executive Vice President Rick Sharga has a much brighter view of Wednesday’s housing starts data.

“The most positive aspect of today’s numbers were the fact that single-family starts were up pretty significantly,” said Sharga.

In August, single-family housing starts were at a rate of 628,000, up 7% from the revised July figure of 587,000. The August rate for homes in buildings with five units or more reached a pace of 252,000 units.

Sharga noted that it’s not unusual on a month-to-month basis to see some ebb and flow. “What we’re seeing is really an adjustment as builders try to figure out where they really are,” he added.

When reports fall short of expectations, it’s easy to take a negative view of it, said Sharga. However, it’s important to look at the composition under the top-line numbers, he explained.

 

 

 

http://www.housingwire.com/articles/26903-single-family-starts-improve

Information overload to blame for fewer home sales? | Cross River Real Estate

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Forget about inventory shortages, tight mortgage underwriting and the lack of affordability in many markets.

The real reason home sales remain below historical levels is the “explosive growth of real estate websites and online homebuying tools,” says Qazzoo founder Michael Urbanski.

“Potential homebuyers search the Internet for information to purchase a home and miss out on the valuable counsel of Realtors, who are the real estate experts in that area,” Urbanski says.

“Often, potential homebuyers become overwhelmed by all the information they collect online and the process ends there.”Urbanski says Qazzoo “improves the house-hunting and homebuying experience by connecting interested homebuyers and Realtors in their area.”

Translation: Qazzoo sells the contact info of consumers visiting the site to real estate brokers and agents (“for less than $2 per lead“).Which pretty much describes the business model of every listing portal on the Web, including the big three: Zillow, Trulia and realtor.com. Source: prweb.com

 

 

read more…

 

 

http://www.inman.com/wire/information-overload-to-blame-for-fewer-home-sales/#sthash.PXa8UZU4.dpuf

Short Sales Peak, Then Plummet | Cross River Real Estate

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Distress sales as a whole are falling but short sales are declining twice as fast as fewer homeowners are losing their homes over the past year.

For the 12-month period ending in June 2013, distressed sales overall (including both REO and short sales) were down nearly 30 percent from the same period ending in June 2012 — from 650,000 to 463,000. Of these, short sales had declined significantly — by nearly 60 percent — accounting for just over 46,000 sales during that timeframe as compared to 104,000 in 2012 according to residential real estate transaction data from the LPS Home Price Index.

Short sales rose and fell quickly.  In the first quarter of 2012, some 109,521 properties were sold in pre-foreclosure — a proxy for short sales, according to RealtyTrac.  At that time, LPS reported a 25 percent increase from the same quarter the previous year and a three-year high and for the first time, short sale transactions are exceeding foreclosure deals. In January, short sales made up 23.9 percent of home purchases, according to LPS. Meanwhile, foreclosures made up 19.7 percent of sales.  Just one year prior, in the first quarter of 2011, foreclosures made up the bulk at 24.9 percent of transactions while short sales made up 16.3 percent.

LPS’ July Mortgage Monitor report also found that while loan origination volume had slowed slightly from May to June, overall activity remained relatively strong. According to LPS Data & Analytics Senior Vice President Herb Blecher, prepayment activity (historically a good indicator of mortgage refinances) is still largely driving origination volume, as has been the case for some time now.

“Prepayment speeds have been impacted by the sharp increase in mortgage interest rates we’ve seen over the last couple months,” Blecher said. “However, even with that increasing interest rate pressure, July’s monthly prepayment rates are still about where they were this time last year, when rates were at historic lows. In fact, they are roughly at the same levels as the heights of the ‘mini refinance booms’ in 2010 — when interest rates were comparable to where they are today — and in 2009, when rates were even higher. Of course, as interest rates continue to climb, we can expect that both prepayments and associated originations will decline. It’s notable however, that we saw an increase in prepayment activity in July among higher loan-to-value (LTV) mortgages — those with LTVs of 100 percent or more — indicating continued HARP refinance activity.

 

 

http://www.realestateeconomywatch.com/2013/09/short-sales-peak-then-plummet/

 

 

 

Citigroup to pay Freddie Mac $395 million to resolve mortgage claims | Cross River Real Estate

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According to Businessweek, Citigroup (C) agreed to pay Freddie Mac $395 million to resolve potential future repurchase claims tied to about 3.7 million loans sold to Freddie between 2000 and 2012.

The deal with Freddie Mac is “another important milestone in successfully resolving Citi’s remaining legacy mortgage issues,” Jane Fraser, chief executive officer of CitiMortgage, said.

The deal doesn’t release the bank from liability tied to servicing the loans. It excludes less than 1,000 loans from the period, and Citigroup said it believes it is adequately reserved for those.

                    Source: Businessweek

5 tips for career longevity in real estate | Cross River Real Estate

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Have you ever wondered what differentiates those who stay healthy and engaged well into their 80s or even their 90s as opposed to those who don’t? If you want to have a healthier, happier and more fulfilling life, take a few hints from some people who have managed to do it.

I recently had a conversation with fellow real estate coach Joeann Fossland about a session she will be doing for our Awesome Females in Real Estate group called “Being Beautiful at Any Age.”

As we were chatting about the session, she shared an interesting conversation that she had with one of her coaching clients. She was having some issues with her back and she flinched when she moved. Her client asked her, “Do you have arthritis?”After careful thought, Joeann responded by saying, “Having arthritis sounds like something is broken and that it can’t be fixed.

I prefer to think that there are some days when I have some pain and other days when I don’t.”She then shared another story about a speaker who had been told he would need knee surgery.

He was a runner and refused to stop running. Each time he ran, he kept telling himself that the pain he was experiencing was his body healing itself. Several months later when he went in for another MRI, and his knee had healed.

 

read more…

 

http://www.inman.com/2013/09/19/5-tips-for-career-longevity-in-real-estate/#sthash.CGbxtIRc.dpuf

12 Awesome Social Media Facts and Statistics for 2013 | Cross River Realtor

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social media facts and statistics

As the world continues to embrace social media, the ways we use the social  networks are becoming clearer.

Twitter with its short and snappy messaging is very dependent on mobile usage  and smart phones. The rise of the visual web is making Pinterest and Tumblr the  fastest growing social networks on the planet. Facebook is where we share with  friends and family. Google+ is no longer an afterthought and is embedded in  Google’s web assets including Gmail, local checkins and the mobile Android  ecosystems.

Google is getting the data it wants from Google+. Demographics, usage and  content popularity. This is feeding into how it is ranking search results and  much more. The universes of content, social and search are being woven together  and creating a web experience that looks more like magic everyday. The social  and mobile web is becoming an extension of our lives as we share, search and  upload photos.

Artificial intelligence that adds other dimensions to humanity has already  arrived but we just don’t notice it. We take it for granted

So what are the latest social media facts and statistics provided by the  latest study by GlobalWebIndex for the second quarter of 2013?

#1. Google+ is catching up to Facebook

Facebook still dominates at 70% of account ownership but Google+ is not far  behind at just over 50%. Keep in mind though that Google+ account is mandatory  whenever you create a new  Gmail account. This is pushing up the account  ownership stats. No other social network has Google’s web assets leverage.

The large Chinese internet user population is producing some large Chinese  centric social networks including Sina Weibo, Tencent Weibo and Qzone. So  Facebook doesn’t just have Google+ breathing down its neck. The rise of China’s  social networks will possibly be a threat in the future.

Social media facts figures and statistics 2013 1

#2. Facebook active usage still dominates

Facebook has nearly 50% of all the world’s internet users as active users.  This is only set to increase as regions and countries in the developing world  including Africa, Asia and South America get connected to the web.

Social media facts figures and statistics 2013 1

#3. Pinterest is the fastest growing social network

The visual web is driving the rise of Pinterest and Tumblr with growth rates  of 88% and 74% respectively over the last 12 months. Twitter and LinkedIn though  are still rapid risers with growth rates around 40%.

Social media facts figures and statistics 2013 1

#4. LinkedIn is the most popular for older users

LinkedIn is the network of choice for most knowledge workers and  professionals. It is maybe the most conservative of the social networks due to  the fact it is all about business. It is becoming more social as it has realized  that this will enhance its user penetration and attractiveness.

The latest statistics show it having 7% of its users over 55 and 14% in the  45 to 54 age range.

Social media facts figures and statistics 2013 1

#5. Usage of social networks by older users is increasing

Social networks were and still are a hit with the younger demographics. Don’t  think though that social media is for the teens. The increase in usage by the 55  to 64 year olds is greater than 100% for Facebook, Twitter and Google+.

The young aren’t the only ones having fun.

 

 

 

Read more at http://www.jeffbullas.com/2013/09/20/12-awesome-social-media-facts-and-statistics-for-2013/#zcxL7Wyd1SvY5LVq.99

Hidden single-family rental markets remain profitable for investors | Cross River Real Estate

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There have been a number of reports out recently indicating that institutional investors are losing interest in real estate. However, a recent report from RentRange and RealtyTrac revealed that there are still a number of single-family rental markets that investors would benefit from checking into.

The markets were determined by evaluating gross rental yield data, a commonly used method of comparing properties. The rental yield is determined by dividing the gross annual rental income by the purchase price or market value of the property.

The analysis was limited to single-family homes with three bedrooms. The top 25 markets had the highest gross rental yields in counties where institutional investor like Gainesville Coins purchases accounted for 5% or less of all residential sales in the three-month period ending in July, and the unemployment rate was 7.5% or lower.

“Buying single-family homes as rentals still yields solid returns in many markets across the nation, but it is difficult for individual investors and even small-to medium-sized institutional investors to find reasonably priced inventory in markets dominated by the 800-pound gorillas in the single-family rental space,” said Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac.

A September report from Preqin, based on interviews with 140 private real estate investors, revealed that the proportion of investors making new private real estate commitments dropped in the last year, with smaller investors becoming more hesitant to make commitments.

Blomquist noted that this analysis has identified the top overlooked markets where single-family rentals still make good financial sense but where there is little to no competition from the big players.

According to Wally Charnoff, CEO of RentRange, “Real estate investment opportunities vary greatly market by market. “The availability of gross rental yield information and other valuable analytics empower buyers to make more scientific decisions about where to invest,” he added.

http://www.housingwire.com/articles/26921-hidden-single-family-rental-markets-still-profitable-for-investors