Tag Archives: Mt Kisco Homes

Mortgage Rates are near record lows. How do they affect buyers qualified to buy a home? | Mt Kisco NY Real Estate

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  • In a previous post, we examined the impact of mortgage rates and house prices on the number of renters qualified to buy to show that lower mortgage rates, rising incomes and changes in house prices have affected the number of renters who could qualify to purchase a median-priced home over time.
  • In this post, we look at the impact of mortgage rates ceteris paribus, a latin term used in economics that means “holding everything else constant.” In this case, we’re going to use the same income distribution, home price, and down payment requirement, but we’re going to change the mortgage rates to see what happens to the number of renter households who qualify to purchase the median priced home.
  • The table below shows the results of our thought experiment. While 20 million renter households qualify based on income to purchase the median-priced home in 2012 at prevailing mortgage rates, that figure would decline if interest rates were to rise.
  • If rates were to return to 5 percent, only 17.6 million renter households would have income sufficient to qualify to purchase the median-priced existing home. A rate increase to 7 percent causes increased monthly payments of $280 per month, and an additional $13,400 is needed to qualify to purchase this home. That type of rate increase would knock nearly 6 million currently qualified renter-households out of the market

  • What is the likelihood of increasing mortgage rates? In our current forecast, NAR Research expects mortgage rates to begin to creep up but still remain below 5 percent through the 2014 forecast horizon. Mortgage rates bottomed in November/December 2012 at 3.4 percent for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages. Over the most recent 15 years, rates have ranged from 3.4 to 8.5 percent and averaged 6 percent as seen in the chart below.

  • One note about the above calculations. They assume that potential buyers meet credit qualifications and have sufficient cash on hand to close a transaction. Lending standards, credit quality, and access to funds will affect the number of households who will ultimately be able to buy a home.

 

http://economistsoutlook.blogs.realtor.org/2013/04/29

Property Wars star says Phoenix’s housing market is booming | Mt Kisco NY Real Estate

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Some good news for the Phoenix housing market. A new report from Standard and Poor’s shows home prices here the valley have skyrocketed in the past year.

They’re up 23 percent — and that’s the biggest gain in the country.

Investors are a big part of that, accounting for 28-percent of the sales in March. And this new data comes on the same day that another report shows that foreclosure rates in Phoenix are among the lowest in the country.

With home values skyrocketing, are these signs of another housing bubble? We spoke to one of the stars of Property Wars. The hit reality show is focused on the Phoenix real estate market.

Doug Hopkins doesn’t just star on the cable show Property Wars — he owns Red Brick Realty in the east valley and he’s been in real estate since 1994.

He likes the way the market looks right now. He says factors like weather, the ages of homes, and the supply of foreclosed houses has attracted investors and improved our housing market.

In his second season on the Discovery Channel’s Property Wars, you can find Doug Hopkins taking huge risks and making big money.

And this valley native, with 20 years of experience in the valley, says the market is great.

“The housing market is hot hot hot. Basically everything we put on the market is selling, especially if it’s priced right, its selling in less than 3 days.”

It sounds like we’re heading for another housing bubble — but Hopkins believes the situation is much different than it was last decade

via myfoxphoenix.com

A potential foreclosure bargain for only $50k | Mt Kisco Real Estate

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New Jersey is one of the hardest-hit states in terms of how long it takes to complete a foreclosure.

But on the flipside, once the distressed inventory hits, there are some real steals out there for first-time homebuyers.

For example, take this home in Trenton, N.J., which is selling well under the market’s median price, according to Patch’s House Hunt in Trenton report.

It’s a small, well-kept single-family home priced at $50,220. That’s right just $50k.

It comes with hard-wood floors, a comfy porch and a homey fireplace.

via housingwire.com

The 6 Worst Types of Real Estate Investments | Mt Kisco Homes

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money down the drain

As any experienced real estate investor will tell you, not all investment properties are created equal. Homes that might be perfect for a primary residence, for example, might not yield positive cash flows — and without positive cash flows, you’re losing money, not making it.

Here are a few things to think about and properties to avoid when you are ready to invest your hard-earned cash equity capital.

1. Anything that doesn’t generate rental income

These include second homes and land investments. Too many people invest in properties hoping that they will go up in value. But there is an opportunity cost to having money sit in real estate that doesn’t pay any income. Even if the property goes up in value, you’ve got to reconcile and account for all the money you would have earned if your money had instead been in the bank or in stocks and/or bonds.

2. Anything with negative cash flows

If you buy a “prize property” — such as a fancy downtown fancy condo, beach property or vacation rental — it’s probably going to be 20+ years before you get your first dime of positive cash flow. And that’s just no way to invest your hard-earned money. Pencil out any potential deal ahead of time, and buy properties that pay cash flow from day one — the moderately priced properties in non-prize areas.

3.Tenant-in-common (TIC) investments

These were popular from 2005 to 2007 as a way to diversify a portfolio without having to deal with the hassle of owning and managing real estate. But few people ever earned a dime because of all the costs and fees associated with the agreements.

4.Development deals

Development of land is extremely high risk. There are entitlement, construction and market pricing risks, plus countless others. These investments are best left to the extremely wealthy and experienced investors who can take the chance that they’ll never see their money again.

5.Condo-hotels, intervals & time-shares

These aren’t even investments. There’s no ability to predict cash flows, rental income or future value/sales prices. And they are very hard to resell and typically only at a fraction of the original cost.

6.Foreign real estate

You might be OK buying real estate in Canada or Britain – however don’t forget about the foreign currency risk — but foreign countries generally have different real estate laws, protections and fluctuating currencies, making these properties extremely high risk.

Related:

Leonard Baron, MBA, is America’s Real Estate Professor®. His unbiased, neutral and inexpensive “Real Estate Ownership, Investment and Due Diligence 101” textbook teaches real estate owners how to make smart and safe purchase decisions. He is a San Diego State University Lecturer, blogs at Zillow.com, and loves kicking the tires of a good piece of dirt! More at ProfessorBaron.com.

Note: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinion or position of Zillow.

via zillowblog.com

Believe it or not … Phoenix is facing a housing shortage | Mt Kisco Real Estate

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A Phoenix home with 95 bids is just one example of a housing market entering a new and unprecedented phase. Experts with Arizona State University’s W.P. Carey School of Business say the city is heading for a significant housing shortage.

Long gone are the days when the Phoenix metro was riddled with available, well-built single-family homes in the wake of the 2008 housing market bust. 

Five years after the crash, the desert metro is facing lagging home construction, predictions of population growth and rising land prices, according to real estate experts with ASU.

The end result could be a significant housing shortage in the near future, experts contend.

During a forum titled the ‘Phoenix Housing Market Explained’, ASU real estate analysts gave a contrasting view to the long-held belief that Phoenix real estate is booming from all angles. (An online video of the forum discussion is now available at ASU’s knowre real estate website).

“After five years of very low construction volumes, we don’t have enough homes to match the rate of population increase,” said Mike Orr, director of ASU’s Center for Real Estate Theory and Practice.

Arizona may have had plenty of distressed and never-used inventory after the market slowdown a few years ago, but times have changed and demand and demographic shifts could create an even tighter inventory shortage, they warned.

ASU experts attending the forum said Phoenix already has less than half its normal supply of homes for sale and active listings for houses under the $200,000-range have fallen 74% since January 2011.

Home construction has picked up a bit, but not enough to meet the projected future demand, ASU panelists said.

Making matters worse is the expected population growth of 2.6 million people by 2040.

“To accommodate our future growth, we have to build the equivalent of an infrastructure sufficient to support metropolitan population of Denver,” said Mark Stapp, director of the Master of Science in Real Estate Development. “That’s pretty unbelievable.”

Stapp says the recession and foreclosures – along with credit issues – pushed new home construction down, reducing new home inventory in Phoenix. But now, land prices in desirable areas of the metro are extremely high, costing $100,000 or more per acre, based on ASU research.

Until existing home prices rise significantly, Stapp does not see homebuilders easily justifying a significant increase in volume production.

There’s also a construction labor shortage, the panelists argued.  Having less labor and higher land prices is a poor combination for incentivizing builders.

“So we have a long-term chronic supply shortage of housing until the construction industry can grow to its former size in 2000,” Orr said. “And they are not obligated to build the homes that we need. They are commercial operations, right? They build homes when they can make a profit.”

via housingwire.com

Don’t underestimate the impact of housing market on economy | Mt Kisco NY Homes

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When real estate is discussed, the conversation most often turns to the number of homes sold, the median price in the area, available inventory or pending sales. All of those items and the trends they represent are important, but rarely does anyone take a look at the overall impact of the real estate market on the economy.

Economic development efforts sometimes overlook the key impact of the housing market.

Let’s take a look at the economic impact of single-family homes in Greater Nashville just so far this year (not even including condominiums) using the number of closings and median prices already reported. Based on the number of homes sold in the first quarter, at the median price reported in each of the first three months of this year, there have been more than $825 million in residential real estate sales in the Greater Nashville area.

In addition to that, whenever someone purchases a home, there is a significant amount of money put into the economy through the add-on purchases such as appliances, furniture, flooring, cabinetry, lighting, window treatments, landscaping, lawn service and much more.

via tennessean.com

YouTube, Get On This (Part 2): The YouTube Wish List Continues | Mt Kisco Real Estate

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Earlier, we talked about some things that needed to be improved with YouTube.  But that was only the beginning.  There are so many more things that could make the experience better.  So without further ado, let’s take a look at Part 2 of the YouTube Wish List.

These Are Things We Want, YouTube (Part 2)

Tim Schmoyer, who gives us Creator’s Tips every Thursday, has quite a few awesome suggestions, and I still have a roster of wishes from Ronnie Bincer at Video Leads Online, which will complete this (initial) list.  So in no particular order:

A More Robust Editor

One of the big problems with uploading your videos is if something is just a bit off, you can’t do too much to it without re-uploading, and especially if you have a video with lots of views, you don’t want to start all over again.  A more robust editor would be great for tweaking older videos, adding outro slates, updating your video intro/bumper, etc.

More Access to YouTube Live Stream

This is by invitation only, for accounts in good standing, and there’s nothing you can particularly do to get on it.  But YouTube Live would be pretty awesome for those who would like to use more than a webcam for their events and putting them on Google Hangouts.  You can set up multi-camera events with this thing.  And you can even put ads on it.  So you see how valuable an option this would be for most people.  But, the help section does promise this is rolling out soon, so stay tuned.

Better Analytics Concerning Subscriber and Non-Subscriber Engagement

Tim mentioned this one, and I said, “Yes!”  This is a big one, because it’s very difficult to see how your subscribers are interacting with the video versus non-subscribers.  When you see your view count, how many times are your subscribers contributing to that total?  How many times do they comment?  You don’t need to know any personal information, just the general stuff.  Another big thing Tim mentions is “how does one video perform in converting non-subscriber views into subscribers versus another?”  And how many people see the video in their feed and don’t watch it?  These kinds of analytics would be extremely helpful in figuring out how your audience watches your videos.

Allow for More Than One External Linked Website

A few months ago, YouTube made it so that you could link  your videos to an external website.  Finally, you were able to get people to click on an annotation that took your audience off YouTube so you could do things that YouTube doesn’t allow you to do, like sell your own merchandise.  With reason, YouTube wants you to link to a site that is “all you,” and not something that tricks viewers into going to a non-relevant site.  But what if you have a bunch of relevant sites?  You can’t link to all of them, just the one.  So having the ability to send people to multiple relevant sites would be pretty awesome.

Better Ways to Collaborate and Interact with Your Audience

Right now, you can make comments, and maybe interact with people through social media.  And that’s about it.  But “video responses” could be much more interactive than they are now, where you could respond to a comment, common comments, or multiple comments, with video.

Improved System to Help People Know that the Annotations Are Not On

You may have turned them off, or didn’t know you ever turned them off.  So a little message somewhere in the bottom part of the player might be helpful.

Analysis of Average Retention

Right now, YouTube tells you the total watch time for your videos, but not the average retention, or how long a video is keeping viewers watching.  Knowing which ones keep the most interest can make it easier to know which ones to feature on the channel page and which ones to link to in the outro slate.  And going back to the subscriber/non-subscriber data, being able to distinguish the retention between those two groups would be helpful.

Mass Updates to Annotations

YouTube came out with Bulk Actions a few weeks ago, and you could do use almost everything with it except annotations.  If you have annotations that need to be updated, you have to go to each video and change each one individually.

Mobile Analytics

This is apparently coming soon, but right now you can only really see the views from a mobile device.  You can’t separate all the other data, though, from desktop viewing.

Is That All?

I’d like to thank Tim and Ronnie for giving me suggestions.  All of these would make running a YouTube channel better.  Read Part 1 here and comment below if you have any others to share.

via reelseo.com