Tag Archives: Westchester Homes for Sale

Westchester Homes for Sale

Freddie Mac: Housing will remain generally affordable | Pound Ridge Real Estate

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The next year brings a bevy of unprecedented changes to the mortgage market as it shifts from a refinance to purchase business.

Despite all of this, in an environment of rising interest rates and tightening loan criteria, Freddie Mac still believes most of the nation’s housing will remain affordable. The issue that remains, is getting responsible mortgages to the homeowners who deserve them.

Frank Nothaft, chief economist at Freddie, released the enterprise’s 2014 outlook report in conjunction with a HousingWire webinar he participated in.

“The big shift ahead will occur as the single-family mortgage market begins transitioning from a rate-and-term refinance dominated market, to the first purchase-dominated market we’ve seen since 2000,” Nothaft said. “The emerging purchase market should gather momentum in the coming year.”

The webinar, titled Competitive lending in the Qualified Mortgage world, also took a hard look at the challenges lenders will face after the ruling comes into effect in January.

Craig Crabtree, general manager of Equifax Mortgage Services, spoke at length of the critical importance of underwriting and outlined the types of mortgage products that would likely be prohibited under the QM.

This aspect of great underwriting standards will need to be carefully balanced against the need to shorten closing times to under 30 days. Regional banks, for example, should re-approach their underwriting methodology to seek greater efficiency in writing new mortgages.

 

 

 

http://www.housingwire.com/articles/28039-freddie-mac-housing-will-remain-generally-affordable

Pattern-Happy Personality in Los Angeles | Bedford Corners Real Estate

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thousand square feet of blank space might feel intimidating to some, but this apartment’s empty walls and cookie-cutter materials turned out to be a dream come true for Ariane Bartosh. The Los Angeles designer and painter used the space as a blank canvas on which to showcase her love of color, pattern and texture. Now hand-drawn patterns and vintage wallpaper adorn the walls and colorful, quirky furniture fills the apartment with unmistakable personality.
Houzz at a Glance Who lives here: Ariane Bartosh Location: Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles Size: 1,200 square feet; 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom Budget: $35,000, including labor, furniture and materials

Bartosh had just started on her own as a designer when she found this apartment, so she used it as an opportunity to show off her personal style, painting ready-made white curtains with fabric paint and filling the living room with pink, salmon and orange hues. A 1960s German light fixture — one of several in the house — adds glam to the white ceiling.
Rug: Flokati.com; wall paint: Petal Bloom, Pratt & Lambert
Most of the furniture is a result of Bartosh’s passion for vintage. The armchairs are Italian Techno chairs from the 1980s, reupholstered in a plush salmon corduroy. She found the vintage Milo Baughman sofa for a steal ($1,000!) on eBay and upholstered it in orange fabric from Osborne & Little. “I’ll find things I like on 1stdibs. And obviously I can’t afford it,” Bartosh says. “So I’ll hunt eBay until I find exactly what I’m looking for.”

Dive Into New York’s Historic Rental Ads, From The 1830s On | Chappaqua Real Estate

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As the world has transformed over time, so, too, has the courtship between the owners of empty rooms and potential tenants. The Roman burden of donning your toga and trekking to the agora to find your next rental in one centralized marketplace has given way to virtual tours. (Which you can also do in a toga, should you so desire, although no one needs to know.) But because of various changes to the way letted spaces move, the past century has seen a full circuit in the evolution of rental ads.

18641014%20BDE.png [Want to check out this tony Clinton Hill residence on your own time? You know where to find it! (Brooklyn Daily Eagle, October 14, 1865)]

In the 1800s, such ads were usually posted by the owner. Unencumbered by character-limits, spots for rentals were filled with prose and description. The landlord wanted to fill his vacancy. Nothing else mattered. If your space came equipped with rosewood furniture and a piano—to some, the 19th-century equivalent to Carrara marble and a private gym—all the better to pitch. The newspaper, of course, was a common resort (or the only resort) for those who couldn’t fill their spaces by word of mouth or through their own networks.

18370624%20Wburg%20Gazette.jpg [Really pitching to the perfect “respectable genteel family.” The ad (click for big!) sells the lots’ proximity to the Peck Slip Ferry, which connected the Williamsburg waterfront with downtown Manhattan, or the base of today’s Brooklyn Bridge. (Williamsburg Gazette, June 24, 1837)]

Then, in the early 20th century, brokers began to flood the market. Although the oldest of today’s largest firms, Brown Harris Stevens, traces its roots to 1874, what is now the National Association of Realtors was founded in 1908. But perhaps most importantly, a ten-year moratorium on taxes for new housing (warning: PDF!) led to a building boom starting in 1920. Those units needed people to live inside them… and fast.

Crafted by hired hands, ads began to take on a sense of urgency—and offered much less description. Mentions of specific addresses gave way to pitches for streets or neighborhoods; vowels became the victims of cost-cutting measures when every word cost cash.

19750825%20Post.jpg [KITCH PRIVLS BMT EXP? I’ll take two! Translated: furnished room somewhere in the five miles(!) between Prospect Park and Sheepshead Bay, with kitchen access, and close to the express BMT, which is today’s B train. (New York Post, August 25, 1975)]

This modern format—concise, with no frills—remained the standard for generations, and is still in occasional use today. Such a listing published in the last few decades usually lays out the specifics of the apartment’s interior (“2 BR, 1.5 BA, southern light”) while giving a vague idea of its location (“3 blocks from the R”).

19850406%20BP.jpg [In some cases, no location is given at all. Given the broker’s coordinates, we assume they are in northwest Brooklyn, but… (Brooklyn Paper, April 6, 1985)]

The intentional omission of a street address was actually a matter of self-preservation—not for the landlord, who just wanted a steady stream of income, but for the broker, who risked losing his fee if others got wind that an owner was actively seeking a tenant and moved the apartment before she herself did.

 

 

http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2013/11/18/dive_into_new_yorks_historic_rental_ads_from_the_1830s_on.php

 

Banks willing to finance house flippers who burned them before | North Salem NY Real Estate

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Homes are being flipped in Southwest Florida at the fastest pace since the housing boom, and about 1 in 4 deals involve some kind of financing — often provided by the same banks that fueled the last bubble, who have proven themselves willing to lend money to flippers who burned them during the crash, according to an analysis by the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.

The newspaper reviewed 1,287 property flips in Sarasota, Manatee and Charlotte counties identified by RealtyTrac Inc., examining who was behind the flips, the source of their funding, and who the properties were sold to.

Many flippers who had defaulted on loans they’d obtained during the boom were able to finance new deals, often from the same lenders they’d burned before. Big banks that “played a central role in the financial meltdown” have been the most active in financing flips, the paper found, along with personal financiers and smaller credit unions.

So far, the deals have been profitable — the flips analyzed by the Herald-Tribune generated almost $23 million in profits, or close to $18,000 per deal. But some wonder how long that trend can last.

“We’re starting to see many of the same factors we saw during the last boom and bust,” real estate analyst Jack McCabe told the paper. “There is going to come a day of reckoning.”

 

 

 

 

Source: heraldtribune.com

Despite uncertainties, homebuilders remain optimistic | Mount Kisco Real Estate

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Despite some recent wobbling in economic and housing indicators, more homebuilders still view market conditions as good than poor, the National Association of Home Builders said today.

The NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market index remained at 54 in November unchanged from October after a downward revision.

“Given the current interest rate and pricing environment, consumers continue to show interest in purchasing new homes, but are holding back because Congress keeps pushing critical decisions on budget, tax and government spending issues down the road,” NAHB Chairman Rick Judson editorialized in a statement accompanying the release of the latest index.

“Meanwhile, builders continue to face challenges related to rising construction costs and low appraisals.”NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe said that uncertainty about government policies and economic uncertainty is undermining consumer confidence, but that builder confidence remains above 50 “is an encouraging sign, considering the unresolved debt and federal budget issues cause builders and consumers to remain on the sideline.

”The NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index gauges builder perceptions of current single-family home sales and sales expectations for the next six months, and asks builders to rate traffic of prospective buyers. Scores from each component are used to calculate a seasonally adjusted index, with any number over 50 indicating that more builders view conditions as good than poor.

The HMI index gauging current sales conditions in November held steady at 58. Expectations for future sales fell one point to 60, and traffic of prospective buyers dropped one point to 42.

 

 

Source: nahb.org – See more at: http://www.inman.com/wire/despite-uncertainties-homebuilders-remain-optimistic/#sthash.5wFo8nm7.dpuf

Major changes proposed to the King Street and South Greeley Avenue intersection | Chappaqua Real Estate

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Two engineering firms presented concepts for how to improve downtown Chappaqua during a recent New Castle Town Board work session.

The companies responded to a request for proposals (RFP) from the town and came with plans to improve infrastructure and streetscapes, hoping to be selected.

The first company to present at the work session, held Nov. 6, was WSP, which is located near by in Briarcliff Manor. David Weiss, a representative from the company, touted the fact that it has employees of varying specialties – he remarked that everyone is “under one roof” – and its close location. He also noted that the WSP has done similar projects and has a record of coming in under budget.

WSP’s team went through existing problems that the hamlet has, including worn pavement to traffic back-up during peak activity. The scope of its review includes North Greeley Avenue, South Greeley Avenue and King Street.

The WSP proposal, which is in the conceptual phase, was fairly detailed. It calls for eliminating left-hand exit turns from Woodburn onto South Greeley Avenue during peak evening time and instead diverting the traffic to Washington Avenue, where it would then turn onto the main road.

Notably, the intersection of King Street, South Greeley Avenue and North Greeley Avenue would become an “all-stop” intersection, with drivers having to stop once they come down the King Street hill. The intersection would also lose its right-turn slip lane, which would be filled in, and would become a “T” intersection. To make up for the removal of the slip lane, and extra lane would be added to the northbound side of South Greeley Avenue. The intersection would also get stamped concrete pavement and stamped concrete crosswalks, with a fourth crosswalk added so people can cross South Greeley.

The project also calls for bump-out spaces, which have the effect of calming traffic, at the intersection of South Greeley and Senter Street, and at the corner of King Street and North Greeley Avenue. On the infrastructure side, WSP described assessing water and sewer operations, along with some water main replacement and sewer repair. Additionally, it includes adding a water fountain on the triangle at the intersection of South Greeley and the Route 120 bridge.

The company also addressed disruption to the business community, suggesting measures ranging from use of a precast concrete driveway apron to doing test pits to avoid conflicts with utilities.

The second firm to present was VHB, which has a presence in White Plains. A representative touted its assortment of services, including civil engineering and landscape architecture, noting that everything is under one roof and it is a “coordinated and efficient approach.”

Its presentation promoted pedestrian safety, walkability and lighting. Among the principals stated for street usage, were that pedestrians will cross at convenient spaces, that narrow streets can calm traffic and that crossings should be short.

Matthew Carmody, a VHB representative, discussed taking a “complete” streets approach, which involves involving the area from building to building and taking what is called a zonal approach. The firm would do simulation for traffic and phase construction to help merchants.

A concept presented by VHB also shows improving the intersection of South Greeley Avenue, North Greeley Avenue and King Street. It also includes filling in the slip lane but does not add a new right-hand turn to replace it. A fountain would be placed in the plaza area created by eliminating the slip lane, while marked crosswalks would be in all four directions at the intersection.

The proposals are of the town board’s latest effort to improve the aesthetics of the downtown. Previous studies included the 2003 Vollmer Associates Report, a 2007 report from Project for Public Spaces and a 2008 conceptual project from Pouder Design Group. Details on previous work are available on the town’s website at this link.

One conceptual overview – it was called the Chappaqua Hamlet Vision Plan – included two projects that have since been completed, such as construction of a new gazebo and a reconstruction of the South Greeley Avenue parking lot in 2011. It also included doing work in the area currently under consideration.

 

 

 

http://chappaqua.patch.com/groups/politics-and-elections/p/firms-vie-for-downtown-chappaqua-overhaul

 

 

 

 

A Pond House in the Arizona Desert | South Salem Homes

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Some of the best modern residential architecture can be found in the U.S. desert Southwest. Phoenix can be considered the epicenter of many of these houses, which seem to rise from the desert through the use of materials like stone and Cor-Ten steel. About 30 miles north of Phoenix is the Pond House, a 1,775-square-foot weekend house designed by Will Bruder, an architect who trained under Paolo Soleri (famous for devoting much of his life to realizing the experimental desert town of Arcosanti). Perched above part of Cave Creek in the upper Bajada desert, the Pond House is skillfully integrated into the landscape, giving a great view of it and being a part of it.
Builder: 180 Degrees Photography by Bill Timmerman

The view from the southeast, looking at the back of the house, shows the water feature that gives the house its name. This “year-round swimming hole,” as Bruder calls it, is an obvious amenity for the weekend retreat.
The front of the house, facing west, is much more opaque, defined by Cor-Ten steel walls that rise from the desert landscape. The curved wall in the foreground defines the edge of the property adjacent to the unpaved approach road. This wall, also Cor-Ten steel, is just out of frame to the right, to allow access to the house; a detached garage lies just beyond the opening.
As you drive alongside the house, its entry is signaled by a couple of small windows above a low roof next to the curved site wall. The rising Cor-Ten wall and roof reach a peak and then descend, only to turn into a stone wall.
Here we are at the break in the curved Cor-Ten site wall, where a water feature rises from the pavement. Water flows over the concrete walls of the fountain to descend toward the house’s entry.
In this dusk shot, the descent to the entrance is clearer, as is the way the stones follow the angle of the wall, something Bruder says gives “a sense of mythical ruins of past cultures.” Perhaps, but It reminds me of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin West, particularly the rising and descending angular forms. Moving inside we’ll see other details that further recall Wright’s Southwestern home.

Pound Ridge Police Chief Lends Voice To Panel On Domestic Violence | Pound Ridge Homes

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A recent panel discussion organized by the Domestic Abuse Network of Northeastern Westchester (DANNEW) was held at the Pound Ridge Library. Among those speaking was Town Police Chief David Ryan, who presented a convincing case as to how this issue is more prevalent in a small community like ours than most people may think.

The 90-minute discussion was moderated by Nicole Malgarinos of DANNEW.

The panel included six dedicated professionals who compared their views on working with victims when providing assistance. Included on the panel were Chip Andrus, pastor of the South Salem Presbyterian Church and Kymberly McNair, associate minister of the Antioch Baptist Church of Bedford Hills. McNair is also a coordinator at My Sister’s Place, an advocacy service that provides emergency housing for victims of domestic abuse.

In many communities, clergy are usually considered first responders because they are usually the ones a victim will turn to for help.

Also part of the panel was a local resident who through her resilience, spoke of dealing with domestic abuse and how she was able to receive assistance from people trained to reach out to anyone experiencing an abusive situation. In acknowledging Ryan, this individual started out by saying “If not for him I would not be alive today.”

In explaining what she went through before receiving help, she continued “It’s like living a nightmare and then feeling like being dumped into an ocean and you don’t know if you’re swimming up or down but you’re swimming as hard as you can.”

 

 

 

http://armonk.dailyvoice.com/news/pound-ridge-police-chief-lends-voice-panel-domestic-violence

JPMorgan reaches $4.5B settlement over mortgage-bond claims | Cross River NY Homes

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Mega bank JPMorgan Chase (JPM) reached a $4.5 billion agreement with 21 major institutional investors Friday to resolve legacy mortgage-backed securities issues.

The institution made a binding offer to the trustees of 330 RMBS trusts issued by Chase and Bear Stearns — a firm taken over by JPM in the wake of the financial crisis.

The settlement represents another critical step in the bank’s efforts to resolve mortgage-related legacy matters, the bank said.

“As agreed in today’s settlement, the institutional investors have committed to support the settlement and have requested that the trustees accept the settlement offer,” the company said.

The announcement continued, “The offer, which the trustees may seek court approval for, would resolve all representation and warranty claims as well as servicing claims on all trusts issued by JPMorgan Chase and Bear Stearns between 2005 and 2008.”

The offer will remain open until Jan. 15, 2014, but may be extended pursuant to its terms for an additional 60 days.

The offer includes six key terms, including payment by the bank of $4.5 billion in cash to settle all representation and warranty claims as well as servicing claims that were asserted by the RMBS trusts.

Additionally, it provides for the implementation of certain servicing changes to mortgages serviced by Chase in the RMBS trusts, as well as continuation of a previously agreed tolling and forbearance agreement among the bank and the trustees while the proposed settlement is evaluated.

 

 

http://www.housingwire.com/articles/27997-jpmorgan-reaches-45b-settlement-over-mortgage-bond-claims

 

Brokers blanket entire neighborhoods with mass mailings to scare up sellers | Katonah Real Estate

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Real estate brokers in the Charlotte, N.C., region are doing mass mailings to entire neighborhoods and even knocking on doors to let homeowners know that if they want to sell, there are plenty of buyers.

The supply of existing homes in the 18-county area fell to 5.3 months in October, down from 6.9 months the same time a year ago and 10.4 months in October 2011, the Charlotte Observer reports.

Many underwater homeowners are waiting for further price gains before putting their homes on the market, Champ Claris of Berkshire HomeServices Carolinas Realty told the paper.

 

 

Source: charlotteobserver.com – See more at: http://www.inman.com/wire/brokers-blanketing-entire-neighborhoods-with-mass-mailings-to-scare-up-sellers/#sthash.yxZkAbIg.dpuf