Mortgage foreclosure activity hits 2008 lows | 2013-09-26 | HousingWire.
Mortgage foreclosure activity hits 2008 lows | Pound Ridge Homes
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Mortgage Bankers Association reveals new branding | Pound Ridge Real Estate
The Mortgage Bankers Association revealed its latest rebranding strategy Wednesday, which includes a new logo, revamped corporate messaging and updated web and email domains. The trade group’s signature MBA logo will now be shown with a lower case ‘a’ to emphasize the group’s work in mortgage banking.
“This new brand reflects MBa’s forward looking approach, and brings us fully in step with who we are now, and where we will lead our industry into the future,” said MBAs President and CEO David H. Stevens. “Our message behind the brand is simple: We put our members first. We are constantly evolving to better support and serve our members. We pull strength from the broad diversity of our membership – by bringing them together – in one voice with one vision – on behalf of a vibrant and sustainable real estate finance system.”
http://www.housingwire.com/articles/26897-mortgage-bankers-association-reveals-new-branding
Considering or Dreaming About Buying a Home? How to Pick the Best Mortgage Rate for You | Pound Ridge Homes
Even though the 15-year fixed-rate mortgage was just 2.5 percent last year, the lowest in recorded history, and three-quarters of a percentage point below the 30-year fixed-rate loan, more than 85 percent of the home loan market was dominated by 30-year fixed-rate mortgages.
The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage has been popular particularly in recent times after the housing bubble and crash, said Lawrence Yun, chief economist with the National Association of Realtors.
Yun said consumers want certainty, and by getting a 30-year fixed rate mortgage while they are in their homes is protection against the uncertainty of other economic factors.
As for the second reason, stability, a fixed interest rate over 30 years also means a monthly principal and interest payment that is predictable to homeowners.
“Moreover, by avoiding payment shock and negative amortization, fixed-rate borrowers are less likely to fall behind on their payments, – a plus for investors too,” Nothaft writes.
Why not a longer period than 30 years?
Yun says institutions and homeowners rely on the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage for both tradition and history.
Also, “People view more than 30 years as lifetime of payments,” Yun said. “Thirty years offers a term limit to say, ‘At a certain point in my life, I will not have to pay a mortgage.’ I think that assurance is comforting.”
Yun adds that given the mortgage’s standardization and popularity, it makes it easy for Wall Street, or Fannie and Freddie to guarantee those mortgages.
Nothaft said 30-year fixed-rate loan is flexible because it is generally prepayable at any time without penalty.
If homebuyers choose to pay off the loan before maturity, in the case of refinancing or selling the home, for example, they can do so without paying an early prepayment fee, Nothaft said.
Singapore’s Home Sales Rebound to Be Short-Lived: Southeast Asia | Pound Ridge Real Estate
Singapore’s jump in private home sales last month was only a temporary reprieve for developers as the government’s cooling measures take root and mortgage rates begin to rise.
The city’s housing sales climbed 54 percent to 742 in August from July, when they fell to 482, the lowest in almost four years, according to government data. With nine rounds of cooling measures since mid-2009, the increase will be short-lived, according to Mizuho Bank Ltd. and UOB Kay Hian Pte. Monthly sales averaged about 1,700 units in the first six months of the year.
A man cycles past CapitaLand Ltd.’s The Wharf Residence in Singapore. CapitaLand said July 25 it expects prices and sales of residential properties to moderate. Photographer: Munshi Ahmed/Bloomberg
CapitaLand Ltd.’s The Orchard Residences, center, stands in Singapore. Photographer: Munshi Ahmed/Bloomberg
“There have been successive rounds of measures coming through and with mortgage rates also beginning to move up, you will find that buyers are becoming more circumspect and wondering if these are the right entry levels,” said Vishnu Varathan, a Singapore-based economist at Mizuho, who forecasthome prices to fall 10 percent to 15 percent by 2016.
Singapore unveiled new rules in June governing how financial institutions grant property loans to individuals. Record home prices amid low interest rates raised concerns of a housing bubble and prompted the government to widen a more than four-year campaign to curb speculation in Asia’s second-most expensive housing market, according to a Knight Frank LLP and Citi Private Bank report.
The new loan framework requires that lenders take a borrower’s debt into consideration when granting property loans, the Monetary Authority of Singapore said June 28. Home loans should not exceed a total debt-servicing ratio of 60 percent and those that do will be considered imprudent, it said.
“Normalizing interest rates” will pose significant financial risks to individual borrowers and the economy, the Ministry of National Development said on its website in response to questions in parliament yesterday. The property curbs are needed to avoid a “major price correction,” it said.
Higher Rates
Singapore’s home lending rates have risen about 0.5 percentage points in the past year, according to Keff Hui, a director at Mortgage Supermart Singapore, a mortgage broker.
Executive condominiums made up almost half of the homes sold in August, an unprecedented level, according to SLP International Property Consultants. Including these apartments, offered with some restrictions such as a monthly household income cap of S$12,000 ($9,523), August sales were 1,468, according to the government data.
“The bulk of the sales in August was on the executive condo side, not on private sales, which shows demand for private home sales is still low,” said Vikrant Pandey, a Singapore-based analyst at UOB Kay Hian, who expects the number of residential properties sold to drop 30 percent in the next 12 months and as much as a 10 percent decline in prices. “The measures are having their impact.”
Record Prices
Among the developers that began sales of projects in August was Wing Tai Holdings Ltd. (WINGT), which marketed its condominium in the Tampines area, an eastern suburb of Singapore. It sold 218 units of 337 marketed last month, according to the data. RV Residences, offered by Allgreen Properties Ltd., in the central district sold 39 of 83 units marketed, the data showed.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-09-16/
Pound Ridge NY Weekly Real Estate Report | #RobReportBlog
| Pound Ridge NY Weekly Real Estate Report | 9/19/2013 | |
| Homes for sale | 86 | |
| Median Ask Price | $967,500.00 | |
| Low Price | $285,000.00 | |
| High Price | $5,700,000.00 | |
| Average Size | 3624 | |
| Average Price/foot | $348.00 | |
| Average DOM | 121 | |
| Average Ask Price | $1,293,598.00 | |
7 Ways to Increase Traffic to Your Blog | Pound Ridge Realtor
Blogs have become one of the most fascinating and popular platforms upon which individuals may sell their wares, offer advice or simply journal about their daily lives.
But what is the point of having a blog if no one is going to read it?
There are many reasons why you’d would want to increase the traffic to your blog . It could be for monetary reasons, to gain more public exposure or to show off your skills. Bloggers want to see their sites develop, evolve and grow.
So, how can you get more visitors to your blog?
Here are 7 easy ways to increase traffic to your blog.
1. Optimize Your Content
The initial structuring of a blog should evolve around designing it to attract maximum traffic. Pages on your blog can be optimized to attract readers and potential consumers. This can be done by organizing content by putting it into categories that will enable readers to find what they are looking for quickly and easily.
This includes sub-titles, bullet points and lists.
Search engines pick up on themes of related content, so include keywords and keyword phrases. If you work a little on your blog’s SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) in this kind of way, you’re likely to get more search engine traffic.
2. Define Your Audience
The most important question a blogger can themselves is, Who is going to read my blog? Focus your content on what your blog is based on. Then carefully consider your target audience and address that audience directly. If you write what they want to read it’s quite likely that they’ll recommend your content to their peers.
You might already have a good idea of who reads your blog through a quick look at your followers on Twitter, for example. But to get a better insight you could sign up to Alexa.com or Quantcast.com to see in depth information such as the gender or browsing location of your blog’s visitors.
3. Ensure The Blog Works Properly
Regardless of how many readers hit on a blog, if the blog is not working, as it should, visitors will not stay, and in most cases, will not return. It can be frustrating and off putting for readers to visit your site and discover that the page refuses to load.
One way to find a reliable web host is via a free service offered by WhoIsHostingThis.com. Find a high performance web host that load your web pages fast and you’ll be on your way to impressing visitors by having a consistently visible site.
It’s worth keeping in mind that Google will penalize your website or blog in its search rankings or blog if it takes longer than two seconds to load.
4. Advertise! Advertise! Advertise!
It always helps to get the word out about your blog, and the best way to do that is to advertise. There are two main types of advertising; paid and free.
Free Advertising
There are ways to advertise your blog without paying to do so. For instance, word of mouth through social media. Obviously there are monetary benefits to doing this. If you don’t already have one, get a profile set up on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Google+ – these are all free.
Getting involved in various groups that specialize in the topic that is being addressed on your blog is a great way to get free advertising. If you share other people’s posts through a few quick clicks on Twitter your own content may well be shared in turn.
Read more…
http://www.jeffbullas.com/2013/09/18/7-ways-to-increase-traffic-to-your-blog/#86LVCo3l2JRMmvhP.99
North Stamford Home Rocked By Fiery Explosion | Pound Ridge Homes
An explosion ripped through a home in Stamford on Tuesday afternoon, causing heavy damage to the structure and spreading fire to neighboring buildings, according to Stamford Fire and Rescue.
Very little of the structure at 305 Webbs Hill Road in Stamford appeared to remain in a photograph taken by an eyewitness.
The cause was unknown as of Tuesday afternoon. No injuries had been reported as of yet.
UPDATE 4 p.m.: Yankee Gas spokesman Mitch Gross said that there is no natural gas service to that part of Stamford.
“Yankee Gas was requested to come to the scene by the Stamford Fire Department,” he said. “This is standard procedure.”
The Daily Voice will have more information as it becomes available.
Improved Equity Empowers Trade-up Buyers | Pound Ridge Real Estate
Housing demand by trade-up buyers is rising as the home equity available to these prospective buyers is improving as foreclosures sales decline nationwide and are in high demand in many fast-rising markets
According to FNC’s Foreclosure Market Report, the foreclosure market has rapidly improved in recent months with foreclosure rates approaching pre-crisis levels – an indication of strengthening supply-side conditions. On the demand side, steadily rising home prices and an expectation of continued recovery have stimulated housing turnover by prospective buyers who are in a position to take advantage of low home prices. In the meantime, higher home prices are bringing out trade-up demand from existing homeowners who are experiencing rising home equity, which supports a down payment on their next bigger house.
“We’ve seen hard data from the past 18 months that shows rising home prices and a foreclosure market with diminished impact due to decreasing foreclosure inventories and fewer new foreclosure filings,” said FNC Director of Research Yanling Mayer. “Meanwhile, a very encouraging trend that has been developing is the rising participation of trade-up buyers who are seeing improving home equity position and positive capital appreciation on existing homes.
“An important sign of a healthy and sustainable recovery is increased housing turnover driven by trade-up buying, which is more or less discretionary spending,” Mayer said. “These buyers are typically more responsive to market conditions and financial incentives.”
FNC’s report shows that foreclosure price discounts, which compare a foreclosed home’s estimated market value to the price paid by investors or home buyers, have dropped to a 10-year low at about 8.1% in Q2 2013, down from 12.5% a year ago. At the height of the mortgage crisis in 2008 and 2009, foreclosed homes were typically sold at close to 25% below their estimated market value. In many fast-rising markets, such as Phoenix, Las Vegas, and California, investor activity and low foreclosure inventory drove foreclosure prices up, frequently resulting in a price premium relative to estimated market value.
FNC publishes the mortgage industry’s first market-value based foreclosure price discount to gauge the degree of market distress. For more information about the foreclosure price discount, please refer to FNC’s March 2011 report located here.
According to the FNC report, investing in foreclosed property continues to be profitable with gross capital appreciation – the annualized percentage difference between a foreclosed property’s sales price and subsequent resale price – averaged at 7.8% on sales of homes previously purchased at foreclosure sales. In the meantime, ownership duration on distressed investment is up, along with the average ownership duration of all existing home sales.
More highlights from FNC’s Foreclosure Market Report:
- Single-family REO and foreclosure sales are 12.2% of total home sales as of July, down from 17.3% a year ago.
- The median foreclosure price is $98,000 or $67 per square foot, up 6.8% since the housing recovery began 18 months ago. In comparison, the median price on non-foreclosure sales is $205,000 or $118 per square foot, up 21.7% during the same 18-month period.
- Foreclosure price discounts are typically larger for low-tier properties, averaging 13.7% in Q2 2013. One in four homes continues to be discounted heavily. High-end properties, on the other hand, are typically sold close to their market value.
- At 86% of total foreclosure sales, low-tier properties continue to account for the bulk of foreclosure sales. Prior to the housing bubble, low-tier homes contributed more than 90% to foreclosure sales.
- Collateral depreciation on foreclosure sales – the difference between a property’s prior purchase price and foreclosure sale price – continues to decelerate, down to 3.8% in Q2 2013 from 6.4% a year earlier. Among the re-sales of non-distressed homes, for 16 consecutive months the median home is sold at a price above its prior purchase price – enabling potential trade-up buyers to capture a small capital appreciation.
http://www.realestateeconomywatch.com/2013/09/improved-equity-empowers-trade-up-buyers/
New York sees rise in real estate fakers | Pound Ridge Real Estate
The number of scammers posing as real estate agents is on the rise, prompting the New York State Division of Consumer Protection to issue a warning to apartment hunters.
Since January, the state agency has received 211 complaints from people, mostly immigrants or young people new to the state, conned out of cash by a fake rental agent, 121 of them in New York City, Real Estate Weekly reported.
And consumers are not the only ones getting duped. Clients with fake identities are not unheard of either, the news outlet said.
New York City-based independent broker Kathy Matson advised that the best way to do business, no matter which side of the deal you’re on, is through referrals.
Source: Real Estate Weekly
– See more at: http://www.inman.com/wire/new-york-sees-rise-in-real-estate-fakers/#sthash.MBq9TdOB.dpuf
Inside Tom Brady and Gisele Bündchen’s ‘French Chateau via the Pacific Coast Highway’ | Pound Ridge Real Estate
Photo by Roger Davies/Architectural Digest
When you’re really rich and beautiful and build a much-whispered-about 14,000-square-foot acid-washed limestone mansion from scratch, there’s no better place for a big reveal than the glossy pages of Architectural Digest. Despite an early slipup by the builder, who released photos of the project prematurely, the magazine continued apace and published New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and supermodel Gisele Bündchen’s new “French chateau via the Pacific Coast Highway” in its October issue.
The story, which dropped online this morning after editor in chief Margaret Russell made a Today Show appearance, makes clear that it’s actually “normal” home. None of those “lavish pleasure dome replete with sultry sirens and gridiron gods cavorting around the pool” nor “sprawling palace staffed with a battalion of liveried footmen proffering protein shakes on silver trays,” writes Mayer Rus. Rather, there’s just the regular plebeian driveway that “leads over a pond to a motor court paved in reclaimed cobblestones and then to a stone bridge spanning a koi-stocked moat that’s picturesque but not pompous”; an unassuming pool “laid out with two straight sides and one long, sinuous edge that helps give the impression of a nautral lake, particularly in the early-morning and late-afternoon light”; and just your average “custom-made wrought iron monkey bars” in the gym. Bündchen sums it up: “I want to live in a place that feels like a real home, where you can put your feet up on the couch and just relax.”
It was important for the Bündchen, whom interior designer Joan Behnke describes as an “earth mother”—”she’s drawn to certain things because of the energy they give off”—that the home incorporate as many reclaimed materials as possible, from the decking and floorboards to the tiles, bricks, doors, and marble fireplace surrounds. Well we have great post to read about choosing best decking supplier. In addition, composting, gray-water technology, solar panels, and eco-friendly construction materials were all factored into the overall design, which was completed by architect Richard Landry. (Brady tells Rus that he’s “all about team dynamics and putting the right people together,” presumably while huddling.) The neutral interiors are filled with pieces from RH and Christian Liaigre, Loro Piana fabrics, Tai Ping carpets, custom pieces, and, of course, a black-and-white photo of Gillette Stadium hanging over the fireplace in the master bath. Check it out below—and head to Racked National for a look at Bundchen’s utterly insane closet.