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History of Mortgage Rates in North Salem NY | North Salem NY Real Estate

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We keep hearing that mortgage rates are the lowest in recorded history and it is true. Presently, the 30-year fixed rate on Zillow Mortgage Marketplace is 4.16 percent, the 15-year fixed is 3.56 percent and the 5/1 ARM is 3.03 percent.

Take a look at the history of the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate each year since 1972, when Freddie Mac started keeping track:

1972 – 7.38
1973 – 8.04
1974 – 9.19
1975 – 9.05
1976 – 8.87
1977 – 8.85
1978 – 9.64
1979 – 11.20
1980 – 13.74
1981 – 16.63
1982 – 16.04
1983 – 13.24
1984 – 13.88
1985 – 12.43
1986 – 10.19
1987 – 10.21
1988 – 10.34
1989 – 10.32
1990 – 10.13
1991 – 9.25
1992 – 8.39
1993 – 7.31
1994 – 8.38
1995 – 7.93
1996 – 7.81
1997 – 7.6
1998 – 6.94
1999 – 7.44
2000 – 8.05
2001 – 6.97
2002 – 6.54
2003 – 5.83
2004 – 5.84
2005 – 5.87
2006 – 6.41
2007 – 6.34
2008 – 6.03
2009 – 5.04

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Home Mortgage Interest Rate on 30 Year Loan is 4.15% | Katonah NY Real Estate

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Today’s Lowest Mortgage Interest Rates – Refinance 30 Year Fixed Home Loan Rates at 4.15% on November 14, 2010

As November is halfway through mortgage interest rates continue to remain at very low levels with the help of the federal reserve bank. Over the last several months it has been the case that mortgage rates have dropped due to the fact that the federal reserve bank continues to buy treasuries and expand the quantitative easing program. With this being the case today’s lowest mortgage interest rates are around 4.15% for the 30 year fixed mortgage.

When looking at historical trends of overall mortgage rates it is very hard to imagine that refinanced 30 year fixed home loan rates are well below 4.5%. Never in the history of the United States housing market have interest rates stayed so low for such a long period of time. Much of this is due to the fact that the overall economy continues to struggle.

Federal reserve bank chairman Ben Bernanke continues to make the statement that interest rates will stay low until the overall economy begins to recover. This is a double-edged sword as many people want the economy to recover so jobs are available but interest rates will start to move up which means it will be much more difficult to borrow money at cheap rates.

For those Americans who have made very good financial decisions in the past decade the low interest-rate environment has helped them greatly. With the lowest possible mortgage interest rates at 4.15% many Americans have been able to refinance a home loan to a very low rate. Some homeowners have found that they can save hundreds of dollars on a monthly mortgage payment and possibly pay a mortgage off much quicker.

With the advancements of Google and the overall Internet it is quite amazing to see the possibilities when it comes to research. Almost all mortgage lenders throughout the country offer free resources online and it would be wise to take advantage of these resources as refinancing could save money. As with any major financial decision in one’s life it is always important to step back and think about the multiple options.

Home Mortgages

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Chappaqua NY Buyer Real Estate Representation | Chappaqua NY Real Estate

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Buyers Representation is important when you decide to buy a home in Chappaqua NY. 

NYS has codified your relationship with your Realtor and as a buyer you should make sure you understand it.  Knowing your Realtor’s responsibilities to you will make your purchase process go smoothly.  Get it right from the start and you will clear up many misunderstandings.

The relationship formed between an agent and a client is a fiduciary relationship because it is based on trust. 

The agent owes a client:

Loyalty
Diligence
Confidentiality
Reasonable Skill & Care
Obedience
Disclosure
Accountability
Buyer’s Agent

A buyer’s agent is employed to find an acceptable property for a prospective purchaser. The buyer’s agent represents the purchaser in a position of trust and confidence. He or she will negotiate the best possible price and terms for the buyer.

Seller’s Agent
Also know as a listing agent, a seller’s agent works for and represents the seller in a position of trust and confidence.  A listing contract spells out the relationship.  A seller’s agent negotiates the best possible price and terms for the seller

Disclosed Dual Agency
Dual agency is a relationship in which the agent represents both the buyer and the seller in the same real estate transaction.  Since the agent will be in a position of trust and confidence to both buyer and seller, there is the potential for a conflict of interest, especially in negotiating price and terms.  New York law requires the buyer and seller to consent to a dual agency relationship in writing.

Designated Agency
To eliminate the potential conflict of interest that arises in disclosed dual agency, New York law allows the sponsoring broker to designate a salesperson to represent the seller and another salesperson to represent the buyer.  Each designated salesperson can represent their client, without the potential for a conflict.  New York law requires a client to consent to designated agency representation in writing.

NYS DOS

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How much home can you afford In Armonk? | Armonk NY Real Estate

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The answer involves a lot more than the down payment.

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) – The house is perfect: it feels right, it’s in the right neighborhood, and it’s got those star-gazing skylights you’ve always dreamed about. You must have it.

The only question is whether you can afford it.

The answer has to do with far more than the down payment and how big a mortgage you’re told you can get. In fact, just because a lender tells you that you can borrow a bazillion dollars doesn’t mean you should.

That’s because buying a home is probably not your only financial goal. You still have to fund your retirement and you may want to help pay for your kids’ educations, not to mention take a vacation or two. Committing every last dollar to the roof over your head can make for financial frustration at best, disaster at worst.

Here’s a quick guide to help you assess how much home you can really afford without committing yourself to the poorhouse.

Step 1: Make friends with reality
Before running off to see every cute colonial on the market, get estimates from lenders of how much you can borrow and then get a loan preapproval. “Why not couch the entire process in reality?” said Barbara Steinmetz, a certified financial planner and former real estate broker. Otherwise, you’ll waste time falling in love with houses out of your league, which can be “frustrating and demoralizing emotionally,” she said.

There are no absolutes that mortgage lenders apply in assessing a potential borrower’s eligibility, but there are some general guidelines that can help you figure out whether you’re a candidate for some of the best loans. (For a ballpark estimate, try our Mortgage Qualifier.)

For starters, the better your credit score, the better your chances of getting a favorable deal. Typically, too, a mortgage lender uses two ratios to assess the risk you’ll default on a mortgage. The first is the ratio of your total monthly housing costs to your total monthly gross income. Ideally, your expected housing costs — namely, the mortgage principal, interest, taxes and homeowner’s insurance (PITI) — shouldn’t exceed 28 percent of your income, although many lenders may allow up to 33 percent, according to Eric Tyson, coauthor of “Mortgages for Dummies.” The second is a debt-to-income ratio. Ideally, your total monthly debt — including your expected housing costs plus credit card bills and loan payments — shouldn’t exceed 38 percent of your gross, and preferably not more than 36 percent.

Having said that, there are numerous programs designed to help low-income consumers and those with weak credit obtain an affordable mortgage. For example, Freddie Mac, a government-established company that buys mortgages from banks, offers programs that do not apply a maximum on the housing-to-income ratio, that raise the cap on the debt-to-income ratio and that let home buyers obtain mortgages for as little as 3 percent down.

By learning which loans you qualify for, you can better assess the maximium price of the homes you should be looking at. “Now you can narrow the market,” Steinmetz said.

Step 2: Learn to love gutters and lawyers
Say you’ve got $60,000 saved for a new home and a bank willing to lend you up to $240,000. You figure you could look at homes priced up to $300,000, right?

Not so fast.

Two of the most shocking realizations for new home buyers is the cost of buying a house and the cost of owning it. First there’s the down payment, often tens of thousands of dollars. And if you put down less than 20 percent of the purchase price, you’ll end up paying monthly for private mortgage insurance (PMI), which protects the lender against the possibility you’ll default.

On top of that, you’ll pay anywhere from 2 to 5 percent of the purchase price in closing costs, which include inspections, discount loan points and lawyers’ fees.

Once you get the keys, you may pay far more, depending on how much renovation and redecorating you’d like to do. Then there’s the cost of maintaining your home and making repairs — everything from gutter cleaning, lawn care and termite inspection to replacing the water heater.

So, in calculating how much home you can afford, factor in the cash cushion you’ll need, after browsing through this official site, once you’re through yelling at the movers for scratching your new floor. Tyson recommends having at least three months’ worth of expenses on hand to help pay for maintenance and emergency repairs. And, indeed, a lender will insist you have some cash reserves left over after the closing.

Step 3: Flirt with the future
“Yeah, yeah, o.k.,” you say, still stuck on the house. “I’ll make the numbers work.”

Alright then. Start working. Estimate what your monthly payments would be if you actually had a $240,000 mortgage and then live for at least three months as if you had to make those payments, Steinmetz suggests. This dry-run serves two purposes: first, you get a good sense of what your cash flow would be with a mortgage that size; and second, you’ll save more money toward a new home by socking away the difference between your current house payments and your imagined ones, Steinmetz said.

In calculating your monthly payments, don’t just count the principal and interest on your mortgage, the property taxes and the insurance. Estimate, too, how much it will cost to heat — or cool — your new home. And factor in all your other expenses — from your commute to your club memberships. Don’t neglect your retirement account, either, and, if you have kids, continue to put aside money for college if that’s a priority. And remember, you’re no monk. You’ll probably still want to buy new clothes, go to the movies, eat out and indulge your love for pricey gizmos.

If, after all this, you find yourself running short every month, then you’ll know you either have to make some lifestyle changes or you have to get a smaller mortgage.

Step 4: Remember, ‘hock’ is a bad word
Given all these costs, that $300,000 house may be out of your league. Take closing costs alone. Assume you have $10,000 in closing costs (3.3 percent of purchase price); that reduces your $60,000 in savings to $50,000. Coupled with a $240,000 mortgage, that would only add up to $290,000. You’d have to borrow more money to buy the house, and you’d have to take out PMI since $50,000 is only 16.6 percent of $300,000.

But even if you know you can afford the monthly payments a $240,000 mortgage incurs, you have an emergency fund on top of your $60,000 and you’re willing to put down less than 20 percent, Steinmetz suggests looking for homes that are slightly less than you can afford. Here’s why: Real estate brokers, she explained, often show clients homes that are more expensive than the client’s stated price range. So it’s better to set your ceiling lower than your real top limit. That way, if you tell your broker you don’t want to spend more than $275,000 but are shown a $290,000 house you love, you’ve left yourself wiggle room to make a bid.

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Housing Market Forecast is Mixed | Katonah NY Real Estate

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WHEN it comes to the housing market, predictions are perilous business. A market that looked as if it was verging on a renaissance one month could, depending on the factors that go into analyzing it, look pretty lousy the next.

This has certainly been the case in New York City of late. The local rollercoaster comes amid dark news on the national housing market; and there are indications that the New York market may not be as resilient to the country’s economic woes in 2011 as it was in 2010.

For example, if you take a look at Manhattan data for October, from an analysis by StreetEasy.com, the number of newly signed contracts represented about the same number as in October 2007, a year before the housing crash, during a period considered a relatively healthy benchmark for the market. Any sign of normalcy is said to be good news these days.

The city’s biggest brokerages are reporting that their agents have been busy, and October is traditionally a strong month on the real estate calendar, which flew into chaos in 2008, 2009 and parts of 2010.

Also, August was a slow month for contracts signed — another factor more typical of the precrash days. And because of the lag time between signings and closings — typically about 60 days — that slowness resulted in data showing sluggish sales in October: another sign of normalcy.

Still, even with the higher volume of signed contracts in October — which would then be expected to show strong sales in December — average asking prices this October were down by 11 percent compared with October 2007, and the units selling were smaller, with deeper price cuts, according to Sofia Song, the vice president for research of StreetEasy.com.

“It’s a different climate,” Ms. Song said.

Jonathan J. Miller, the president of the appraisal firm Miller Samuel, who analyzes market data for Prudential Douglas Elliman, said that despite the bursts of “happy housing news” in 2010, driven in part by the federal tax credit that spurred home-buying early in the year, he expected the 2011 New York market to be weaker.

Mortgage interest rates are starting to creep back up from record lows; unemployment is still stubbornly high; and banks remain extremely strict on lending.

There are also uncertainties that could stall buying for the rest of 2010 and into 2011, and perhaps the biggest is whether Wall Street bonuses will be fat, slim, or somewhere in between. There have been mixed reports. Some have recently indicated that bonuses may fall far short of last year’s, which were ample enough to help spur buying in early 2010.

“If the bonuses are big as we go into 2011,” said Pamela Liebman, the chief executive of the Corcoran Group, “we’ll have the wind behind us. If the bonuses are down, the wind is at our face and it’s a tougher climb.”

There are also other question marks, including how the election will affect the market, particularly whether Congress will stop increases in capital gains and estate taxes, two key rates that heavily influence buying and selling decisions.

In 2011 the long-term capital gains tax is due to increase to 20 percent from 15 percent, and estates of $1 million or more would be taxable at top rates of 55 percent. But with the Republicans winning the majority in the House, lawmakers could step in to stop those changes, Mr. Miller said.

While acknowledging that the near future is a great unknown, city brokerages are clinging to a few factors that they say show the New York market will continue to fare better in 2011 than the national housing market.

Several brokerages pointed to an increase in foreign investment in New York real estate in recent months. A few also said that there had been a recent increase in sales of high-end properties — those listed for $10 million and above — the kinds of deals that for the most part had been rare since the crash.

The volume of transactions and the prices of properties in the luxury niche are still well below those before the crash, but sales at the high end can promote consumer confidence, brokers say, because of the message they send: people who can choose where to park their cash are spending money on real estate.

“We were not seeing those deals,” said Hall F. Willkie, the president of Brown Harris Stevens. “But the activity is returning.”

Some brokerages say that there are built-in protections from a meaningful housing dip in New York, among them the city’s comparatively low housing inventory. Markets elsewhere are still flooded with inventory, particularly from new developments, but the city’s unsold housing supply has returned to typically low levels, which means that one key to market health — the relationship of supply to demand — isn’t out of kilter.

Dorothy Herman, the president of Prudential Douglas Elliman, said she disagreed with predictions of a weaker 2011, saying she believed the market would very likely be no better or no worse than 2010, but would “move sideways.”

NYT Article

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Women Are Entering the Man Cave For The Better | Bedford NY Real Estate

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Craig Schuelke’s Forest Hill, Md., basement is a testament to manliness. There’s the Arnold Schwarzenegger pinball machine and about $30,000 of signed Michigan and Maryland sports memorabilia the construction superintendent has enshrined on the walls. An air-hockey table commands one corner, flanked by a pool table, shot-glass collection and dart board.

 Wendy Bounds tells Simon Constable and David Weidner why ‘Man Caves’ aren’t just for men anymore.

It’s a quintessential “man cave,” except for one feature: Mr. Schuelke’s wife, Melanie.

“He doesn’t know what we’re doing when he’s not home,” says Mrs. Schuelke. “My female friends, we shoot pool, drink beer and throw darts down there.”

The man cave has a secret: Women use them, too. Their new interest comes as these spaces have morphed from cold garage outposts into tricked-out comfy spreads, complete with flat screens TVs, fully stocked bars, arcade games and plush (clean!) furniture.

As a result, men are learning to share with the family while combating the inevitable intrusion of scented candles, flowers and kiddie toys. While couples often cozy up together or party in caves with friends, a growing number of women say they retreat there—even holding the occasional quilting party—without the guys.

The struggling housing market is partly behind the evolution of the man cave into a multipurpose space. Rather than trade up or build on, more homeowners are squeezing the most out of their existing living quarters—but splurging on the decor. As a result, today’s man caves are desirable and even luxurious pads that the whole family wants to enjoy.

An entire marketplace has emerged in recent years to outfit these spaces. There’s Man Cave LLC, modeled after Mary Kay cosmetics, where guys hold barbecue parties dubbed “meatings” to sell steak and cave accoutrements, such as bacon-scented candles and beer pagers to locate lost brew. Online retailers mancavemarket.com and themancaveoutletstore.com hawk essentials, such as beer kegerators, pool tables and Skee-Ball games.

Higher-ticket items make women feel more proprietary over caves, originally intended as spots where guys could be alone or hang with pals, says Mike Yost, who runs cave community site mancavesite.org. “If the guys spend on the big-screen TV and chairs, the wife typically is going to have to sign off on it, too.”

The Juggle: A ‘Man Cave’ of One’s Own

Further stoking female cave envy is cable TV’s “Man Caves” show on the DIY Network. Episodes feature bling such as a pool table that rises out of the floor. “These are really, really nice spaces, and when the guys want to spend time there, the family wants to spend time there,” says Andy Singer, DIY Network’s general manager.
 
Cushy chairs Not one, but two cupholders are built into this red-hot Coja Malibu recliner for $1,493.
That’s the case in Robert Butterfield’s Sierra Vista, Ariz., home. His retreat is a 400-square-foot homage to Nascar racers Dale Earnhardt and his son. It also sports a 50-inch TV, couch, hundreds of Diecast model cars, even a Christmas tree decked in Earnhardt ornaments—about a $50,000 investment. Mr. Butterfield, 43, calls it “my space,” but it’s often where his wife Maria and sons also congregate when he’s home from his overseas government-contracting job.

Says Mrs. Butterfield, 45: “I enjoy being in there because it’s kind of like a little getaway from the rest of the house. When I’m in there, I’m not reminded about dishes or laundry.” That’s cool with her husband: “Sure, I like time to chill alone, but I started a family because I wanted to be with them.”

Still, the gender cohabitation raises a nettlesome question: When does a man cave stop being a man cave and become just a family room? “There’s a real blurring of the line between man cave and family room,” warns Minnesota decorator Sue Hunter, who runs mancaveinteriors.com. “I think guys are going to start taking charge back in that area.”

And certainly purists remain, such as Tommy “Buck Buck” Sattler of Islip, N.Y., who rigged his 325-square-foot getaway with New York Giants football paraphernalia, seven TVs, a red-oak bar top, and urinal in the bathroom.

Mr. Sattler flips on an outdoor blue light to let the neighbors know when his “underground lounge” is open, but jokes that women, including his wife, typically stop by only if “they are dropping off food or bringing cleaning products.”

Most guys, however, seem game for co-ed caves—so long as there are ground rules, such as no potpourri or decorative pillows. Ms. Hunter, the man-cave decorator, steers clear of big glass vases and baskets in favor of art, she says, that means something to a man, such as “I want to go kill the buck in that picture.”

Then there’s the “no touch” rule that’s reigned in Mr. Butterfield’s Nascar sanctuary since he found his 4-year-old son’s fingerprints on the display cases with his model cars. “It’s a little bit of an ownership thing,” he says. “I’m really detail oriented, and this is the way I want the room.”

Other regulations are trickier to enforce. Karen Dixon gladly turned over her Friendswood, Texas, garage to husband Shawn, even though parking outside means unloading groceries in the rain. “I’m not controlling, and it makes him happy,” she says. Inside, he’s stationed his Harley Davidson motorcycle, a 1967 Cavalier Coca-Cola machine, pay phone painted Harley orange, and heavy-weight punching bag.

The Dixons, both 38, often play cards together in the cave, but she balks at his suggestion that usage is by “invitation” only. “Really? I think that he doesn’t own it,” says Mrs. Dixon, who believes her husband would be secretly “flattered if I brought my friends in there to have crafts and a book club.” Mr. Dixon’s concern: “I’d be afraid something would be moved and I’d never find it.”

The stickiest time can be during cave construction. Mrs. Dixon advises other women to negotiate time limits. “When Shawn is focused on something, it consumes him. Looking back, what I should have done is said, ‘Spend as much time with your family as with the man cave. If you work out there for an hour, then come inside for an hour.’ ”

Indeed, compromise is critical in any man cave negotiation. Married 36 years, Steve and Pam Flaten, both 56, share space in AutoMotorPlex Minneapolis, a compound of high-end garages ranging from 1,000- to 6,500-square feet for fixing up and storing specialty vehicles.

In the loft living area the Flatens constructed inside their garage, Mrs. Flaten typically quilts while her husband tinkers with his race cars below. Recently she held a quilting party.

Despite the domestic influence, Mr. Flaten has stood his ground on certain points. The racing flames on the toilet seat, those get to stay. The flowers she wanted for an end table, those got moved outside.

Women’s interest in the man cave phenomenon is sparking a logical next step: woman caves. The DIY Network is exploring development of a new show around the concept. Retailer HomeGoods just launched a campaign to outfit what it dubs “Mom Caves.”

WSJ Article

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The Powerful Role of Laughter in Small Groups in Bedford NY | Bedford NY Real Estate

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Recently, researchers from North Carolina State University used jury deliberations recorded during a capital murder case to study the role of laughter in small group dynamics. They were particularly interested in using the transcripts of jury deliberations (of a capital punishment case) to study laughter because there is very little research on the role of laughter in communication, particularly when divorced from humor.

What the researchers found was that laughter in this situation was used in a multitude of ways; namely to question, control, and regulate relationships, procedures, and information in the group. For example, sometimes laughter was used to signal support for a group member; at other times it was used to signal a lack of support. At times people used laughter as a tool, intentionally and strategically, to control communication and affect group dynamics, or to shift power.

Full Story on Psychology Today

Dealing With Debt Collectors is Not Fun | Katonah NY Real Estate

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Invasion of the money snatchers

Book Review: ‘Fight Back Against Unfair Debt Collection Practices’


You’d have to have lived under a very large rock for the last few years to not have heard of the not-so-slow death of investigative journalism. Newspapers are fast being replaced by websites, and those that remain have been largely reformatted to appeal to the miniscule 21st century American attention span.

One revision? The virtual elimination of both (a) the class of reporters who are paid to take weeks, months or even years to investigate a story (think: Watergate) and (b) the long-form stories born of such extended inquiries.

Enterprising journalists of this near-extinct ilk are, perhaps fortunately for us, being forced to turn elsewhere to flex their investigative writing muscle. One example: former newspaper reporter Fred Williams, who went deep cover as a collection agency employee to get the dirt and then spill it in his new book, “Fight Back Against Unfair Debt Collection Practices.”

As a result, this very timely tome reads as part action plan (or, more accurately, reaction plan), part memoir, and all gritty and real when it comes to illuminating what happens inside America’s collection agencies.

Right from the introduction, Williams begins to impress upon readers exactly how heartless and even willing to disobey the law he found the collection agencies he worked in to be, as he retells the story of a collection call he once made to the widower of the debtor.

The man’s wife, Williams was told, died after years of drug abuse. “All that money you’re looking for … (she) put it up her nose,” the man said.

After listening to the man’s now-motherless children in the background, Williams marked the account deceased in accordance with that state’s law, under which the widower was not responsible for his wife’s bills, only to be told by a co-worker, “Someone’s going to get it out of them, only it won’t be you. If you don’t call them, I will.”

In the context of educating readers about how to fight back against collectors gone wild, these heinous stories don’t ring in the vein of the standard us vs. them — they’re evil-type moans and groans.

They serve to shake emotional debtors into the reality that their adversaries, collectors, are in this for one reason only: to collect as much money as possible from whomever they can, however they can.

Their business is not about reason, logic, empathy or sympathy. Given the stories Williams cites of the many collection agencies who are fined hundreds of thousands, even millions, of dollars for violating fair debt collection statutes, the business of collections apparently is not always about collecting what they can within the guidelines stated by law.

With this understanding girding their telephonic loins, Williams proceeds to provide readers with insights and action items to defend themselves from collectors.

“Fight Back” is divided into two parts: Part I is devoted to exposing various debt collection secrets — literal insider secrets Williams culled during his training and experience inside collection agencies.

This part serves as a briefing to consumers about the collection agencies’ modus operandi. Each indivdual secret, from “Anger Can Be Power” to “The Golden Rule: Money Today,” offers a story, a real-life example that illustrates the key tenets of how agencies operate — and also offers a glimpse past the bogus stories that collectors may tell debtors in an effort to guilt, threaten, scare, lie or humiliate them into helping them meet their targets.

Each of these mini-chapters (18 in all) closes with an action item for debtors who are facing the particular collection tactic exposed in the chapter, and also refers them to more detailed solutions in Part II of “Fight Back.”

Part II covers nothing but mechanisms and strategies for coping with unfair debt collection tactics. Here, Williams provides a very user-friendly action guide for consumers at every phase of the debt-collection lifestyle.

Whether you’re looking to stop collectors from calling, file a complaint against them with a regulatory agency or to actually negotiate a debt settlement, the book provides the information debtors need.

Williams doesn’t stop where many books do, by simply quoting from the various legal debt-collection guidelines, although that material is in “Fight Back.”

He offers readers scripts in point-counterpoint format for how to engage in conversation with collectors, rebut their overly aggressive tactics, and still arrive at the desired aim of the conversation in the first place.

Dealing with collectors is not fun — and no book will ever make it so. But with so many Americans forgoing credit card payments to keep up with mortgage payments and finding themselves in collection situations for any number of other reasons, if you find yourself in this situation, it would behoove you to have Fight Back as a weapon in your self-protection arsenal.

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6 Steps To Sell Your Home Fast In North Salem NY | North Salem NY Real Estate

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How to Price a Home to Sell Fast

It’s a tough time to be a homeowner trying to sell. The national statistics show inventories and prices holding steady through the first half of 2010. While this is a relief from the grim free fall that home sellers faced after the real estate bubble burst, there still isn’t the upward momentum that owners prefer when they’re looking for home sales.

According to a Wall Street Journal report, only 47 percent of houses listed for sale in major U.S. markets had actually sold by August 2010. Several of the remaining listings were taken off the market. Moreover, the national averages belie the differences that realtors and other experts are seeing from one region to another, and even one neighborhood to the next.

“There’s no longer a national housing market,” says Armando Montelongo, the real estate maven who was featured on A&E’s “Flip This House,” a housing-bubble-era reality show. “You can drive 200 miles and see a totally different real estate climate.”

You might not have to drive that far. Realtors report homes getting offers after a few days on the market in some neighborhoods and languishing for six months or more the next town over. So how do you figure home value and set the right price?

“We have a lot of pockets of activity,” says Debbie Cobb, RE/MAX realtor in the Research Triangle area of North Carolina. “Out in the country we had foreclosures and that area is still sluggish, but we also have an area closer in, called North Hills. That market is still steady, although it’s not as quick a sale as it use to be.”

In short, home sellers who want a quick home sale, say to move for a job or transition to a more affordable place, need to be very price sensitive, especially if they live in average or underperforming areas (like those hit hard by foreclosures). “You can’t price a home too low today, but you can price it too high and not have it sell,” Montelongo cautions.

The best thing, real estate agents say, is to price a home appropriately to begin with. Try to resist the urge to overestimate your home’s value; you want to avoid having your house sit for several months while you lower the price again and again. The more you do this, the more people will wonder what’s wrong with your place, says Chad Goldwasser, a realtor with his own shop in Austin, Texas.

Here’s how to figure out a fair home value:

1. Don’t make it personal

The second you decide to put a house on the market, stop referring to it as “my home,” Montelongo says. “It’s a property,” or at the very least, “the house.” This will help you to get some emotional distance as a home seller. You can view the place with the objectivity that potential buyers have and think about pricing, and the home’s value, in a realistic way.

2. Tour the neighborhood

Cobb suggests asking your Realtor to take you around to open houses in the neighborhood, or grabbing the local listings and going yourself to research home values. Focus on homes within a mile of your own that are a similar size with similar property, adds Montelongo, who has been buying and selling properties around the country for 10 years.

Pay attention to “how they show.” That is, does the outside property look tended to? Are the kitchen and bathrooms up to date? The windows and siding in good shape? The floors and carpets clean and the walls freshly painted? Would the buyer have to make any immediate, obvious repairs or correct any extreme style choices (like a macho black-marble bathroom or way-too-green kitchen)? Is the temperature comfortable? Consider the price and see how long the house stays on the market. In the meantime, come back to your house and approach it the same way you did the others, the way a buyer would. How does your house “show” in comparison? Be ready to make some improvements or adjust your price.

“The homes selling quickly are in the best condition they can be in. They’re cleaned up, staged well and priced correctly,” says Goldwasser.

3. Follow the comps

“Comps” are the price tags on homes, comparable to a seller’s, that have sold or gone into contract. While open houses will tell what home sellers are asking, comps tell you what they’re actually getting, and therefore what the true home values are in your neighborhood. The comparison of those two numbers can itself be instructive. Your Realtor can give you local comps, as can websites like AOL Real Estate.

Since many Realtors won’t list a price until the deal has closed, comps can lag a little bit. Follow them for as long as you have a property on the market to know which way local prices are trending.

Montelongo adds that you also want to know how long comparable houses sit on the market. If local properties are moving in less than a month, you’re in a robust market and can price more aggressively. Thirty to 60 days means a good but not great market; more than 90 days means you’re in a slow market and you’ve got your work cut out for you.

4. Do a test run

Watch what happens during the first three weeks that your property is on the market. If people look but don’t make offers, you probably priced it a little too high. If no one even comes to look, you aren’t in the right ballpark. In either case, “Get the price down as quickly as you can,” says Goldwasser.

How much do you cut? Look at the latest comps and set a price that sits on the low end of them, or lower.

5. Reset the clock

If you’ve already made too many price cuts or the house has sat for too long and is getting stale, you might consider taking it off the market for a while. But before you do, Cobb advises, find out how long you’ll have to wait before it shows up as a new listing (it could be one or a few months) and if the listing will tell how many cumulative days the house has been on the market; then decide whether it’s worthwhile to do so.

6. Make your house a good deal

If he knows homes in a certain market are selling for about $300,000, Montelongo won’t hesitate to put his on the market for $275,000. He figures that making it look like a really good deal will make people curious enough to come out and look. “You want to generate interest,” he says. He’s OK with selling for less than he could if it means getting out from under a house quickly. But it’s not unusual, he says, for homebuyers who think they’ve spotted a good deal to bid the house up a little, bringing it closer to what the seller who lists at $300,000 might wind up having to come down to.

In a few select markets, trying to sell your home for too much might mean sitting on it for a lot longer than you prefer, but in most markets, it might mean not selling at all, experts say. As long as it’s a buyers’ market, getting the price right, and correcting pricing mistakes quickly, is one of the most important things that a home seller can do to attract a buyer and get to that closing date fast.

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Westchester Magazine List of Top Towns | Bedford Luxury Real Estate

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Call us gluttons for punishment (and angry letters from you), but this year, we dared to tackle the unthinkable—we’ve numerically ranked (virtually) every place there is to live in our county, from best to worst. Yes, this means there is indeed a Number 1—and it also means there is a Number 40. Read on, and see where your town fell in our rankings.

Photo by Phil Mansfield

 Maybe we all ask ourselves these questions at some point: “Did we make the right decision moving here?” “Are the schools better elsewhere?” “Did we pay too much for our house?”

I ask myself why I moved to New Rochelle every time I drive along one of the city’s crowded streets, with the traffic lights so poorly timed that it seems they’re always red, and I can’t move a block without having to stop. Must be that everyone else in the city feels the same way, because they’re all honking their horns. It’s like a massive case of road rage. But then, just as I’ve decided to pack up and move someplace better—and saner—I catch a glimpse of New Rochelle’s shoreline, and I head for it, down to the marina, where everyone is happy and friendly and smiling, and the city seems to have an entirely different personality.

That’s what this article is about: weighing the plusses and minuses of a community. Of course, we all have different criteria for what makes one town great and another town just okay. Good schools may be super-important to a young family, but to a retired couple, less so. A lively downtown may be what a single twentysomething is looking for, but fortysomething marrieds with children may not care at all about how many clubs their downtown has. Nevertheless, how does one go about evaluating a town? How can we determine the best places to live?

“Best” is, of course, subjective. And while a town may look good on paper—good schools, a breezy commute, plentiful parks—that certainly doesn’t guarantee that everyone living there loves it. Nevertheless, there is some merit in trying to determine the livability of an area, and, fortunately for us, there is a load of information available that helped us do so.

We found reams and reams of statistics to pull from. Our county government, in particular its Databook and its Land Use Report, offers information on just about everything in our 450-square-mile piece of earth that 950,000 of us call home. We also used the online site bestplaces.net to procure other data—e.g., how much houses cost and how much homeowners pay in taxes annually for their homes. To determine the quality of a school, we used the most recent SAT scores available (which we obtained from the New York State Department of Education). And yes, we know that SAT scores do not tell the entire story of a public school’s quality—indeed, we have in previous articles pointed out that there is a high correlation between the wealth of a community and its children’s SAT scores—but SATs are still one of the most frequently used criteria for judging a school’s success, and the scores are, of course, one of the factors colleges use to admit or reject students.

In all, we looked at 11 categories to determine the quality of a town: its public schools (high schools, specifically); housing costs; property taxes; proximity to New York City (as measured in commute time, in minutes, from the center of each town to Times Square as calculated by Google Maps); safety (per the violent crime index from bestplaces.net); diversity (as measured by the odds that two random people from the same town will be of different ethnicities); parks and recreation (average acreage of open/green space per residential unit); proximity to water (distance from the center of each town to the Hudson River or the Long Island Sound, whichever is closer); a lively downtown; shopping; and nightlife. Another brilliant option for incredible nightlife has to be Magaluf as they are some stunning nightlife with some of the best clubs, bars and parties anywhere.

While most of the categories are measurable, the last three—a lively downtown (cafés, restaurants, pedestrian activity, general atmosphere, cultural offerings); nightlife (quantity and quality of bars, clubs, evening dining, and evening activities); and shopping (the quality and quantity of, and accessibility to, retail establishments)—are all subjective, of course. We used our knowledge of the county, as well as that of our trusted writers and sources.

Obviously, every one of our categories is not equally important. Many of us would be willing to do without a few music clubs for safe streets; diversity may be important to some of us but not to others. So we weighted the categories. How did we come up with our formula? We asked visitors to our website to tell us which of the 11 categories are most important to them. We also asked our friends, families, and anyone who would talk to us. And then we hashed it out in our offices (“I don’t care how close I am to the river,” one editor declared. Argued another, “It’s one of the first things I considered when I looked for my new apartment.”) And this is what we worked out, in terms of importance:

Schools
25.3%
Housing Costs
15.4%
Property Taxes
12.1%
Proximity to NYC
9.9%
Safety
7.7%
Diversity
6.6%
Lively Downtown
5.5%
Shopping
5.5%
Parks and Recreation
4.4%
Nightlife
4.4%
Proximity to Water
3.3%
(total equals 100.1% due to rounding)


Is your hamlet, village, or town not specifically ranked? Blame it on the county. As we all know, our county is a confusing hodgepodge of incorporated and unincorporated villages and hamlets tucked into towns, cities, and municipalities (e.g., the town of Rye, which is bigger than the city of Rye, contains two villages—Port Chester and Rye Brook—along with the Rye Neck section of Mamaroneck. Got that?). Which municipalities (very loosely speaking) to include and how to group them was largely dictated by the availability of the stats and how taxes are collected, etc. In all, we looked at 40 communities. Also, since some communities are served by more than one high school, we calculated weighted composite average SAT scores for those towns.

Our goal was to assimilate all this information, weigh the variables, crunch the numbers (we enlisted the help of Pace University Mathematics Professor Augustine B. Mascuilli), and come up with our rankings. Disagree with us? Go online and use our sortable data chart to view which factors you deem most important. Read on for a community-by-community analysis.

Businesses along Irvington’s idyllic Main Street beckon patrons with ample alfresco opportunities.

Photo by Phil Mansfield

[1] Irvington

Diversity: 4 / Housing Costs: 5 / Parks & Recreation: 8
Property Tax: 4 / Proximity to NYC: 7 / Safety: 10 / Schools: 9
Proximity to Water: 10 / Nightlife: 7 / Shopping: 6 / Downtown: 7

Who isn’t smitten with Irvington? Charming, quiet, green, with a darling Main Street, stunning river views, a burgeoning dining scene (Been to the Red Hat lately? What about Day Boat Café, Chutney Masala, or Mima?), this unassuming rivertown is pretty near perfect. Tucked in next to the mighty Hudson, Irvington, named after Washington Irving, who had the smarts to not only write The Legend of Sleepy Hollow but to live in town (Sunnyside, his cottage, is now a tourist destination), scored the highest in our tally, getting a perfect 10 for safety and proximity to water (duh); a 9 for its schools (where the average SAT score last year was 1778, or 267 points above the national average); and an 8 for its green space (23 percent of Irvington land is reserved for parks and recreation). While no one would claim that Irvington’s houses are bargains—the average house costs $585,780—they are below the countywide average of $725,000. And there are alternatives, with co-ops, condos, and smaller wood-frame houses along tree-lined neighborhood streets going for far less. What’s more, the commute to Manhattan isn’t bad at all: in less than 40 minutes, you can zip into Midtown on Metro-North. All in all, a great mix.

Ossining’s dated but charming main street wends its way down to the Hudson.

Photo by Phil Mansfield

[2] Ossining

Diversity: 10 / Housing Costs: 9 / Parks & Recreation: 6
Property Tax: 9 / Proximity to NYC: 4 / Safety: 8 / Schools: 5
Proximity to Water: 10 / Nightlife: 5 / Shopping: 5 / Downtown: 6

We understand why Mad Men producers chose to locate their star couple (now, alas, divorced) smack in the middle of Ossining. This rivertown (population 24,146) scored two 10s—one for its nearness to the river and the other for its diverse population (45 percent of its residents are non-white). And in our pricey county, it’s actually among the most affordable towns in which to purchase a home: the average price of an Ossining house is $383,330, which is $341,670 less than the average price of a house in the county. Ah, but what about property taxes? They’re among the county’s lowest; indeed $6,654 less than the county’s average of $16,689. And while it may not be a hop, skip, and a jump to New York City (it takes 50 minutes to get to Midtown), its schools are above average (SAT scores were 1659 out of a total 2400). Plus Ossining, architecturally, has a charming downtown with underappreciated cast-iron buildings (though the shops can use an upgrade), as well as a historic area (many village structures are on the National Register of Historic Places), and lovely streets that wend their way down to the shoreline.

Despite being on the river, Dobbs Ferry doesn’t have as much open space per resident as some of its neighboring towns—but look at those views.

Photo by Phil Mansfield

[3] Dobbs Ferry

Diversity: 7/ Housing Costs: 7 / Parks & Recreation: 3
Property Tax: 7 / Proximity to NYC: 8 / Safety: 8 / Schools: 6
Proximity to Water: 10 / Nightlife: 7 / Shopping: 6 / Downtown: 7

This densely populated rivertown (population: 10,893), just 20 miles north of Midtown, offers a mix of two-family homes, Victorians from the 1900s, mid-century split-levels and Colonials, and sprawling estates. The average cost of a house is under a half-million, significantly lower than the county average of nearly three-quarters of a million, and its property taxes are relatively low, too: $13,451. Its quaint downtown offers a variety of dining and shopping options, a welcome asset to those whose first choice is small-town living. The village’s public parks—however lovely they may be—are not quite enough to serve the 3,967 households in the village. School performance was above the mid-point but not as high as neighboring Hastings-on-Hudson.

Hastings-on-Hudson’s blend of artsy stores, hot restaurants, and quaint mom-and-pop shops make the village an appealing choice for many.

Photo by Phil Mansfield

[4] Hastings-on-Hudson

Diversity: 4 / Housing Costs: 5 / Parks & Recreation: 5
Property Tax: 5 / Proximity to NYC: 9 / Safety: 4 / Schools: 9
Proximity to Water: 10 / Nightlife: 6 / Shopping: 7 / Downtown: 8

This rather artsy rivertown is right off the Saw Mill River Parkway, about a half-hour drive to Midtown with good schools and some terrific river views. And the combination of all that plus an un-gentrified but nevertheless charming downtown, a couple of “wow” restaurants, and an interesting array of living choices (houses at different price points, condos, co-ops, apartments, and affordable units) add up to one of Westchester’s top places to put down roots.

Mamaroneck offers a thriving, bustling downtown in Westchester.

Photo by Phil Mansfield

[5] Mamaroneck

Diversity: 7 / Housing Costs: 5 / Parks & Recreation: 4
Property Tax: 2 / Proximity to NYC: 7 / Safety: 10 / Schools: 8
Proximity to Water: 10 / Nightlife: 9 / Shopping: 7 / Downtown: 9

Mamaroneck bustles with energy along its main drag, with an array of restaurants and shops reflecting a diverse populace. (Indeed, the odds of someone of one race bumping into someone of another race in Mamaroneck is 50/50.) Check it out on a Thursday night—the town is jumping with music, outdoor dining, and shops open late for business. As for proximity to water, you couldn’t get much closer, and there’s plenty for everyone to do along the Long Island Sound shoreline, from the weekly farmers’ market in the warmer months to opportunities to kayak and sail, and playgrounds and ball fields for youngsters.

Traffic moves smoothly during most hours in the downtown, thanks to many pedestrian-friendly crosswalks and a lack of traffic lights. Like Hastings, Mamaroneck offers a variety of housing, making it an attractive place to live for people of many different income levels—although property taxes are high: $22,738 per year on average.

[6] Pleasantville

Diversity: 6 / Housing Costs: 6 / Parks & Recreation: 4
Property Tax: 6 / Proximity to NYC: 4 / Safety: 10 / Schools: 7
Proximity to Water: 4 / Nightlife: 10 / Shopping: 8 / Downtown: 9

This central Westchester village (it’s virtually smack-dab in the middle of the county) couldn’t have a more appropriate name. With the Jacob Burns Film Center (in its scant nine-year existence, it’s become a Westchester institution that not only screens top-notch films but frequently hosts the actors and/or directors of those films for enlightening discussions), quaint shops, quality restaurants, and tree-lined streets along which children can safely walk to school (all kids walk—or are driven; there are no school buses here), the town lives up to its moniker. Shopping, nightlife, and the downtown are all admirable. And if you yearn for a lovingly restored Victorian with front porches to rock on and greet your neighbors, this is the place. Usonia, an enclave of low-slung cantilevered houses designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and other architects, shares a zip code with Pleasantville (but is outside the village proper). The town offers an easy commute to Midtown, with many residents living within walking distance of the Metro-North station, and is nestled almost equidistant between the shopping/dining areas of Central Avenue to the south and Mount Kisco’s Main Street to the north.

[7] Scarsdale

Diversity: 5 / Housing Costs: 2 / Parks & Recreation: 7
Property Tax: 1 / Proximity to NYC: 7 / Safety: 10 / Schools: 10
Proximity to Water: 6 / Nightlife: 6 / Shopping: 10 / Downtown: 8

Scarsdale is virtually synonymous with great schools. It should come as no surprise that this quintessential upscale village came in in the top 10, thanks in large part to top scores for its schools (the high school’s students collectively got the highest SAT scores in the county: 1899—or 159 points higher than the county average of 1640 and 388 higher than the national average); safety; and shopping (Wilson & Son, La Dentelliere, BoConcept, Space.NK.apothecary, et al). Which may explain why housing isn’t cheap in this beautifully manicured town of 17,672 residents. The average cost of a house in Scarsdale is $876,740, making it the sixth most expensive place to live in the county. And when it comes to property taxes, it’s among the worst towns to live in (it, along with Bronxville, Harrison, and Rye rated a 1 out of 10—ouch!).

[8] Croton-on-Hudson

Diversity: 5 / Housing Costs: 9 / Parks & Recreation: 8
Property Tax: 8 / Proximity to NYC: 3 / Safety: 5 / Schools: 7
Proximity to Water: 10 / Nightlife: 3 / Shopping: 3 / Downtown: 4

Croton is a little gem of a village—right on the water with lots of parks. It also offers a variety of price points when it comes to housing. But in order to live here, one has to relinquish desires for a quick in-and-out of Manhattan. A daily commute is doable, but it’s still a hefty 35 miles north of the city. It also lacks a sparkling nightlife scene and shopping options are sparse. But the point is—and Crotonites will tell you this in no uncertain terms—you don’t move here for those kinds of amenities. One moves to Croton for its green space, its seven miles of waterfront, its opportunities to hike and boat, and wondrous experiences like witnessing rainstorms barreling across the Hudson from the opposite shoreline.

Bronxville buzzes with one of the loveliest and most vibrant downtowns in all of Westchester.

Photo by Adam Samson

[9] Bronxville

Diversity: 2 / Housing Costs: 2 / Parks & Recreation: 1
Property Tax: 1 / Proximity to NYC: 10 / Safety: 8 / Schools: 10
Proximity to Water: 6 / Nightlife: 9 / Shopping: 9 / Downtown: 9

Like Scarsdale, Bronxville is a community that some might give an eyetooth to live in. And rightly so. In a number of respects (proximity to Manhattan, high-quality schools, a vibrant downtown, great shopping), Bronxville is tops. And it is just gorgeous. Some suspect that Bronxville must have a housing law that prohibits residents from having anything other than drop-dead beautiful houses with lush green lawns. How wonderful.

But, alas, it isn’t perfect. Indeed, when it comes to housing affordability and property tax rate, fugetaboutit. It ain’t cheap; in fact, it has the fourth most expensive homes in the county ($890,210 is the average cost of a Bronxville home) and the highest property tax rate in the county. And as for diversity? Fewer than 9 percent of its residents are minority.

[10] New Castle

Diversity: 3 / Housing Costs: 3 / Parks & Recreation: 8
Property Tax: 3 / Proximity to NYC: 3 / Safety: 10 / Schools: 10
Proximity to Water: 8 / Nightlife: 5 / Shopping: 8 / Downtown: 7

This town, home to the hamlets of Chappaqua and Millwood, did especially well when it came to schools (Horace Greeley High School is a nationally revered high school) and safety, scored nicely for parks and recreation (14 percent of New Castle is reserved for parks and recreation). It’s home to our former first family, Reader’s Digest’s ultra-green campus (a proposal to turn it into condos is before the planning board), and lots of rolling hills and beautiful countryside. But it’s not as diverse as many other towns (less than 10 percent of its residents are minority), housing costs are high (the fifth most expensive real estate values in the county), and property taxes are significant (on average $17,619 a year).

[11] Mount Pleasant

Diversity: 7 / Housing Costs: 7 / Parks & Recreation: 8
Property Tax: 8 / Proximity to NYC: 5 / Safety: 10 / Schools: 4
Proximity to Water: 10 / Nightlife: 7 / Shopping: 4 / Downtown: 5

Located in central Westchester, the town of Mount Pleasant includes the incorporated villages of Pleasantville, Sleepy Hollow, and a small portion of Briarcliff Manor. The remaining area of the town is unincorporated (i.e., not part of any other municipality) and includes the hamlets of Hawthorne, Thornwood, Valhalla, and Pocantico Hills (home to Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture). Eleventh on the livability list, it has a near non-existent crime rate, is filled with parks and playgrounds, and its housing costs are not prohibitive. However, Mount Pleasant (especially its villages of Valhalla, Thornwood, and Hawthorne), doesn’t have much of a nightlife scene or great dining or shopping options.

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