Tag Archives: Pound Ridge NY Real Estate

Pound Ridge NY Real Estate

Porch partners with Lowe’s just 3 months after official launch | Pound Ridge NY Homes

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Porch, a 3-month-old startup that’s taking the home remodeling industry by storm, has announced a strategic partnership with Lowe’s that will equip the employees at some of the home improvement store’s locations with tools that will allow them to use the Porch network to connect customers with local professionals.

As part of the partnership, Lowe’s employees in 139 stores in North and South Carolina and the Seattle area will quickly be able to use in-store kiosks or a special mobile app to pull up local professionals on Porch who provide services that Lowe’s doesn’t offer through its installation program, and then refer those professionals to customers, Porch said in a statement. Professionals who offer such services include handymen, painters and landscapers, according to the statement.

“By partnering with Porch, Lowe’s can help our customers achieve their home improvement dreams by providing them with the confidence of knowing who their neighbors have used successfully, and benefit our professional customers by providing them greater opportunities to grow their businesses,” said Jay Rebello, vice president of new business development and corporate innovation at Lowe’s.

Porch, which is one of Real Estate Connect’s “New Kids on the Block” and raised $6.5 million in seed funding in October 2012, claims to provide data on 90 million home projects and 1.5 million professionals. The startup has obtained that data mostly through an array of private partnerships that it cultivated for a year before officially launching three months ago, according to CEO Matt Ehrlichman.

– See more at: http://www.inman.com/2014/01/14/porch-partners-with-lowes-just-3-months-after-official-launch/?utm_source=20140114&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=dailyheadlinesam#sthash.HBQV39yy.dpuf

Four Big Things in Real Estate That WONT Happen in 2014 | Pound Ridge NY Real Estate

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If your inbox is like mine, it’s chock full of predictions and forecasts for 2014. If recent history is any guide, a sizable percentage of them won’t come true-perhaps that’s a result of living in extraordinary times. However, here are some things that you can be certain won’t happen again in the year ahead.

1. Inventory shortages like the one last year are history.

Unusually conditions came together last year to create a real estate perfect storm. Millions of potential sellers underwater on their mortgages when the season began. Millions more were in positive territory by prices hadn’t risen enough to generate enough profit to move. Four million houses once owned by families are no longer on the market; they’re now single family rentals. Couple that with a generation of first-time buyers scared stiff by reports of soaring prices and rates and you got a recipe for a real estate pandemonium, which happened in some Northern California markets.

Not a chance of a repeat in 2014. Rising values pushed another 30 percent of homeowners above the surface last year. They are continuing to rise even as inventories are normalizing, though not as quickly. Markets across the nation have returned to better balance between supply and demand.

2. If interest rates dip below 3.5 percent, its time to move to China.

Rates on a 30 year fixed rate mortgage bottomed out a year ago below 3.5 percent and they remained low through the first of this year despite widespread predictions from the Mortgage Bankers Association on up that higher rates were right around the corner. A crappy economy kept folks guessing until June, when the cork popped out of the bottle and rates blew above 4 percent.

With the economy starting to return to life and the Fed talking about tapering, not if but when, it’s pretty obvious that rates aren’t going back and the 3 percent days are a thing of the past, unless we hit a depression. The question to ask today is not if rates will rise, but how far and how fast.

3. Discounted deals on distressed sales are a thing of the past in the sand states, except for Florida.

The guys who hang out at auctions in Phoenix and Vegas long ago said goodbye to the big discounts on forecloses that made rehabbing and flipping almost a no brainer. The hedge funds got the blame but the real culprit was tight lender standards. No more toxic loans, no more toxic foreclosures. In 2014, however, it will still be possible to do some flipping in places like Jersey City, Albany, Columbus O, and Baltimore where judicial state laws extend the foreclosure pain on homeowners and lenders alike. As for Florida, please email me if you understand the Florida foreclosure picture. I think only Jack McCabe can explain it to the rest of the nation.

http://www.realestateeconomywatch.com/2013/12/four-big-things-in-real-estate-that-wont-happen-in-2014/

Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino: Roads are passable, but dangerous | Pound Ridge NY Homes

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News 12 spoke on the phone with Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino about today’s winter storm.

Astorino said that the roads were passable, but still very dangerous, and that crews are trying to clear them as fast as they can.

He says he is thankful there were minimal outages during the storm, which was due to the lighter, fluffier snow that fell.

Read More: Westchester Top Stories

The Bee-Line bus system is suspended until further notice, which he says is to ensure the safety of the drivers and passengers.

http://westchester.news12.com/news/westchester-county-executive-rob-astorino-roads-are-passable-but-dangerous-1.6721359

Mapping the 20 Most Expensive Sales of 2013 | Pound Ridge NY Real Estate

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2013biggestsales.jpg

While 2013 was undoubtedly a huge year for New York City real estate, with prices climbing rapidly, luxury towers springing out of the ground, and a plethora of blockbuster deals, that’s not necessarily indicated in this map of the Biggest Sales of the Year. That’s mainly because, despite the excess of record-breaking megadeals, at One57, 432 Park Avenue, Walker Tower, 10 Madison Square West, etc. almost none of them have actually closed yet. All that means, though, is that next year’s map is going to be crazy, so let’s all agree to meet back here in one year’s time and if we’re all still single, get married look at a map of hugely expensive apartments.

And don’t worry, because there were still a whole bunch of fancy, pricey apartments that were sold this year, from Rosario Candela-designed apartments on Central Park, to West Village townhouses, to other Rosario Candela-designed apartments on Central Park.

 

 

http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2013/12/23/mapping_the_20_most_expensive_sales_of_2013.php

Murky Real-Estate Market Comes Into Focus | Pound Ridge Real Estate

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Regulators are about to shine a light on an expanding but opaque corner of the real-estate investment market.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Wall Street’s self-regulator, is planning rule changes that would require so-called nontraded real-estate investment trusts to improve disclosure on fees and to more quickly report on changes in the value of properties in their portfolios.

The move comes amid a boom in demand for these types of funds, which buy office buildings, stores and other commercial real estate and send most of the properties’ income to shareholders. Unlike typical REITs, shares in these funds don’t trade on public exchanges, making them less liquid.

Alan Gerboc, a retired marketing executive who collects contemporary photography, invested $100,000 in a nontraded REIT in 2006.                     Emily Berl for The Wall Street Journal

Investors are on pace to buy $20 billion of new shares in these funds this year, according to Robert A. Stanger & Co., an investment bank based in Shrewsbury, NJ. That is the highest amount ever and almost twice the $10.3 billion raised last year. Many investors are attracted by dividends that can top 7% a year for some nontraded REITs, according to Blue Vault Partners LLC, a Georgia research firm.

But Finra believes investors aren’t getting a clear enough picture of the performance of their funds, according to Joseph Price, Finra’s senior vice president for corporate finance.

These funds and their brokers can charge fees and expenses of as much as 12%, yet that cost isn’t required to be taken into account when the funds value their stock in reports to investors.

 

 

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304403804579264552406913102

 

Stop throwing away awesome prospects and start nurturing them | Pound Ridge Realtor

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Let’s start this out with a single truth: A lead is the name and contact information for someone who is potentially a future client. That’s it. It’s not something fancy. There are no semantics (although lots of “experts” will make you think so). If you have a single way to contact that person, then that is a lead. Some “gurus” define leads as having a full name, a phone number (at minimum), and have expressed interest in your services. Sorry, that’s wrong. Especially with the advent of the Internet. A lead is sometimes even JUST an email address. No name. No phone number. Sometimes it’s even Mickey Mouse or Arnold Schwarzenegger (you know, those fake-name sign-ins who give you a real email address). Now, don’t get me wrong, you definitely want to move the lead along, get them to become a prospect, then a client, then a closed client. That’s typical. But don’t make the mistake of thinking a lead is “dead end” or not viable because you have only an email address. All leads that have a legitimate way to contact them are viable. Every. Single. One. Even the ones that are only an email address. Even the ones that say “no.” –

See more at: http://www.inman.com/next/no-1-mistake-real-estate-agents-make-in-lead-generation-thinking-a-lead-is-a-dead-end-if-it-isnt-ready-right-now/?utm_source=20131218&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=dailyheadlinesam#sthash.mhQ0KbmH.dpuf

Furnace check-up or tune-up is much like a visit to the doctor | Pound Ridge Real Estate

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Heating & Cooling

Nobody wants to think about a  heating system when it’s still warm and sunny outside, but winter is never that  far away, and servicing a heating system now will ensure that the heat  will click on when you want it to.

Furnace Check-up A furnace check-up or furnace repair is much like a visit  to the doctor or taking your car to a mechanic. However, specifically in the  case of your home, a furnace check-up consists of the following steps:

  • Inspect thermostat for proper operation.
  • Inspect filter and change or clean as needed.
  • Check all electrical components and controls.
  • Oil motors as needed.
  • Inspect heat exchanger for possible cracks. A crack in the heat exchanger  will introduce carbon monoxide into the living space.
  • Check air flow. If diminished, it may be necessary to clean the evaporator  coil.
  • Check air fuel mixture, where appropriate.Furnace Maintenance While having your furnace tuned and checked  each year before the cold weather is wise practice, there are also a few things  you can do to assure that your furnace is operating properly, safely, and to its  fullest capacity.
  • The very first thing to check before turning on your unit is to make sure  nothing flammable has been stored next to the furnace over the summer. Many people have set their weed eaters, lawnmowers, and gas cans against their furnace in the garage. This is just asking for a fire or an explosion.
  • Run your heater for a few minutes before you actually need it. Waiting  until the first cold morning to discover it isn’t working will land you at the bottom of a waiting list before a heating and air specialist can come to fix it. If that does happen, call a furnace repair service.
  • Change the filters regularly. Dirty filters restrict air flow, reducing  efficiency and worst case, can cause the heat exchanger to overheat. Disposable  fiberglass filters should be replaced.
  • Electrostatic or electronic filters need to be washed regularly.
  • Be sure all access panels are secure, with all the screws in place.
  • Be sure the thermostat is set in the heating mode. Just setting the dial  above room temperature will not activate the heat if still set in the air  conditioning mode to discard any furnace maintenance is need.Things You Should Know About Your Furnace Many homeowners find that  when they turn their furnace on for the first time that it emits a noxious  smell. This is not Carbon Monoxide. Carbon Monoxide is odorless, so you wouldn’t  be able to smell it even if it was. What is happening here is that dust has  settled on the heat exchanger over the summer and turning on the unit for the  first time is just burning off the dust. Be sure to open some windows to dispel  the odor quickly.

Housing, the next train wreck for Obama? | Pound Ridge Real Estate

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As the Obama administration continues to absorb body blows over its implementation of the Affordable Care Act, another potential crisis looms ever-larger, according to Barron’s: housing.

By trying to protect consumers from the excesses of the run-up during the 2004-2006 period, the administration is set to deliver a gut punch to mortgage markets:

Inadvertently, they are assuring that fewer Americans will qualify for home mortgages. This promises to speed-shrink the housing market, which constitutes an estimated 15% of the nation’s gross domestic product, versus 18.6% prior to the Great Recession. This, in turn, will ensure that the recovery remains anemic into the foreseeable future, with an average of about 190,000 or fewer jobs created each month — far short of the 300,000 required to make up for recession-related losses.

Crucial parts already are flying off the train. Banks are exiting from the mortgage business in large numbers, primarily because of the high operating costs and heightened litigation risks imposed by the Dodd-Frank financial-reform law.

                    Source: Barron’s

5 Backsplashes to Add Pizzazz to the Kitchen | Pound Ridge Homes

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A pencil mosaic backsplash with Kohler’s Vault Kitchen sink and Purist kitchen faucet. Photo courtesy of Kohler.

When doing a kitchen makeover, customers want something both stylish and functional for the room that’s the heart of the home.

Adding a backsplash is a simple way to change the look of a kitchen without taking on the hassle and expense of a complete renovation. Whether the backsplash is behind the sink or stove (or both), there are designs that fit every type of kitchen.

Here are five on-trend backsplash suggestions retailers can share with kitchen-minded customers:

1. Tile It On

Chevron backsplash accenting Kohler's Strive kitchen sink with bottom basin rack.
Chevron backsplash accenting Kohler’s Strive kitchen sink with bottom basin rack. Photo courtesy of Kohler.

Pencil and checkerboard tile patterns are a couple of the many different types that can be used to liven up the kitchen. Customers also might enjoy the classic zigzag of a  subway chevron pattern to add more colors to the space. The smooth surface also makes cleaning up splatter from cooking a breeze!

Adding a backsplash is a simple way to change the look of a kitchen without taking on the hassle and expense of a complete renovation.

2. Marbleized

Calacatta marble backsplash by Mission Stone and Tile
Calacatta marble backsplash by Mission Stone and Tile. Photo courtesy of Mission Stone and Tile.

A light marble backsplash looks great with bright colors like a mint green or an orange (seen here). A marble slab or tiles also are appealing when paired with a matching countertop. Marble is certainly a kitchen enhancer that doesn’t ever go out of style, as Mission Stone & Tile shows with this Calacatta pattern.

 

 

– See more at: http://industryedge.nationalhardwareshow.com/2013/10/5-backsplashes-to-add-pizzazz-to-your-customers-kitchen#sthash.KhvJVTRf.dpuf