Tag Archives: Westchester NY Homes for Sale

Westchester NY Homes for Sale

What does Mel Watt mean for housing finance in 2014? | North Salem NY Homes

Mel Watt (D-NC) is set to take the helm as the next official director at the Federal Housing Finance Administration — and we know there are no shortages of industry opinions out there about what a Democratic-led FHFA may decide to do (or not do) with the reins of the GSEs in their hands.

So, we want to hear from you: what does a Mel Watt-led FHFA mean for U.S. housing finance, in 2014 and beyond?

The best answers will be selected by our team of editors to appear in the February 2014 issue of HW Magazine, in our monthly “Sounding Board” department.

Those selected to appear will also receive a complimentary digital reprint of their contribution ($350 value), highlighting their opinion. It’s our way of saying thank you for telling us what you think.

So, if you’ve got an opinion, speak up! What does Mel Watt mean for housing finance, this year and in the future?

http://www.housingwire.com/blogs/1-rewired/post/28460-what-does-mel-watt-mean-for-housing-finance-in-2014

North Castle Administrator Goldberg Returns Shortly After Abrupt Firing | Armonk Real Estate

Less than a month after her firing, the new North Castle Town Board recently welcomed Joan Goldberg back as town administrator, according to a report from LoHud.com.

The North Castle Town Board voted unanimously to bring back Goldberg on Wednesday, Jan. 8, during the board’s first meeting of the year, according to the report. The North Castle Town Board voted 3-2 to fire Goldberg in December “without cause,” 16 months after she was hired. Town Supervisor Howard Arden and council members Diane Didonato-Roth and John Cronin, who voted for the firing, were not re-elected.

“My only concern is for the work force in North Castle to be able to understand what happened,” Goldberg said in the LoHud report. “It’s disconcerting to see this type of political stuff. When they see something like this, it really shakes the force.”

http://armonk.dailyvoice.com/news/north-castle-administrator-goldberg-returns-shortly-after-abrupt-firing

Katonah-Lewisboro Parents Propose New School Redistricting Option | Katonah NY Real Estate

Edward Burt’s third-grade son may have to change schools in the fall if the Katonah-Lewisboro school board decides to close an elementary school when it votes on the matter Thursday, Jan. 23.

He isn’t alone. The Increase Miller Elementary School parent was one of dozens to attend a forum on the matter Wednesday night, moderated by Goldens Bridge resident and former Assemblyman Robert Castelli.

Mirjana Jovanovic, a mother of two at Increase Miller, asked the two Katonah-Lewisboro school board members present to consider an alternative option to moving 94 students to Katonah Elementary. Since the school runs below capacity, she proposed letting those students stay at Increase Miller and send new and incoming students to Katonah.

The idea caught steam with the board members and parents. Other parents suggested to let just those in fourth and fifth grades finish out their time at Increase Miller.

The school board formed a School Closure Task Force in June to investigate the possibility of closing one or two elementary schools in response to enrollment that has dropped by 700-plus students since 2006. The task force decided closing Lewisboro Elementary would disrupt the fewest students possible and created a redistricting plan that spread the 300-plus students across the remaining three schools.

However, Lewisboro Elementary parents asked the board to alter its redistricting plan to send their kids to only two schools. By sending them in larger groups parents argued this would prevent some students from being torn apart from their friends.

Tobin said the board agreed and the administration develop a second scenario, in which some Increase Miller kids would be redistricted to Katonah Elementary to even out the distribution among the three remaining schools. This, Burt said, would send students, including his son, to Katonah alone, without any of their friends.

“You listened to them, well you should listen to us,” Burt said. “You agreed with them, now here’s the other side of it.”

The other side of it left Burt and scores of parents filling the small room in the Lewisboro Recreation and Parks Building debating which redistricting scenario they prefer, each choosing the one that would impact their child least. Most parents supported Jovanovic’s idea because it would keep their kids together.

The first scenario would give Increase Miller 470 students, Katonah 490 and Meadow Pond 426. The second scenario would give Increase Miller 467, Katonah 472 and Meadow Pond 447.

The second scenario also comes with a lower savings total at $1.74 million, down from $1.89 million.

Tobin said she will bring the parents’ third scenario to the board at its regular meeting at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, where they are scheduled to discuss which scenario is best. If four of the seven agree the phasing in, or grandfather clause should be looked into, the administration will do so, she said.

A public hearing on the school closing is scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 16 and the final vote is Thursday, Jan. 23.

Parents may email all seven school board members, the superintendent and assistant superintendents ahead of the meeting Thursday, which will be held at the John Jay High School library on 60 Cross River Road, Cross River.

http://bedford.dailyvoice.com/schools/katonah-lewisboro-parents-propose-new-school-redistricting-option

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Roads: Traffic light on snowy roads; live traffic video, images | Bedford Corners NY Homes

Lower Hudson Valley roads are a snowy, treacherously dangerous mess Friday morning, and many drivers are staying off the roads.

“I normally don’t ask people to stay home, but this is one of those days,” said White Plains Public Works Commissioner Joseph “Bud” Nicoletti. “Because of the cold it’s much more treacherous than it looks. If you do have to go out, please make sure to go slow and give yourself plenty of space to stop.”

Traffic appeared light on many major roads, which remained snowy, about 9 a.m. But a rollover accident in the median of Interstate 84 east of the Taconic State Parkway was causing delays, according to hudsonvalleytraveler.com.

Also, an accident closed Exit 10B off the Bronx River Parkway to Bronx River Road in Yonkers shortly before 8:40 a.m. Icing had temporarily closed the ramp from the northbound Bronx River Parkway to the Cross County Parkway, but the road was reopened before 9 a.m., police said.

Talk about the storm in a live chat: http://lohud.us/1i1f3lc
School closings list: http://lohud.us/1bDzvmk
Latest mass transit updates: http://lohud.us/1iyMApq

Officials continued to advise people to stay off the roads if possible.

In New Rochelle, the main roads were passable, and snow plow crews were attacking the secondary streets, said City Manager Charles Strome III.

“I would say there passable, but if you don’t have to go out, don’t,” Strome said shortly before 9:30 a.m. The snow fell so heavily between 10 p.m. and 3 a.m. that the crews were forced to plow and re-plow the main roads, he said.

The temperatures dropped so low overnight that liquid mix of sodium chloride and rock salt often used to pre-treat roads before snowfall loses its ability to prevent snow and ice from sticking to pavement.

“The problem is that once the temperature falls to about 10 degrees, salt and sodium chloride loses it’s effectiveness,” Nicoletti said. “That’s why we’re seeing packed snow instead of bare pavement right now.”

The New York State Thruway reopened to passenger cars at 5 a.m. and commercial vehicles at 8 a.m. Interstate 84 reopened at 8 a.m. after being closed overnight.

Roadways were said to be open in most municipalities. In Yonkers, on Warburton Avenue, near the city line with Hastings, a downed power line caused a partial road closure, police said.

In the pre-dawn hours, drives to White Plains from New Rochelle and Mamaroneck found main roads plowed but the surfaces packed with snow, visibility limited by wind-blow snow. The Hutchinson River Parkway was snow-packed, it was difficult to distinguish the plowed driving lanes from the shoulder in the dark, and snow was higher on the ramps. Speed was about 30 mph under the conditions, and few cars were on the parkway.

By about 6:40 a.m., major roads such as Palmer Avenue in New Rochelle and Mamaroneck Avenue in Mamaroneck remained snowy with light traffic easing along the roads.

In Rockland County, Route 304, Route 59 and a southern stretch of the Palisades Interstate Parkway were plowed and passable, with an inch or two of snow cover. Ramps connecting the highways were a little sketchy, though, requiring motorists to proceed at a crawl for a few white-knuckle minutes.

Police across Rockland reported no accidents as they said few cars were on the road, competing with plows pushing aside snow.

While the Thruway had been closed all night, there was still plenty of plowing work to be done on the road from the Palisades Parkway to the Tappan Zee Bridge. At 6:30 a.m., the southbound Thruway had better than 2 inches of snow and motorists were traveling single file, with only a few drivers daring to skirt around to create a second travel lane. Once on the Tappan Zee, the wind off the Hudson was whipping and, at the superstructure, had done the work the plows had not, clearing it to bare asphalt. The toll plaza was in bad shape, with packed snow left and right and drifting snow in the middle.

The posted speed limit on the bridge was reduced to 35 mph, but few drivers were going faster than 30 on the wind-swept span

http://www.lohud.com/article/20140103/NEWS02/301030036/Roads-Snow-covered-treacherous-I-87-I-84-open-live-video-ridealong

If you want to know more than read resources from Cohen Law Group.

Porsche Design Tower Selling Out Like Cheap Gasoline | South Salem NY Homes

Screen%20Shot%202013-12-19%20at%205.19.33%20PM.png Rendering via Porsche Design’s website.

The folks at exMiami report Gil Dezer has about 80 percent of the currently under construction Porsche Design Tower’s 132 units under contract, representing $624 million dollars in sales, should all those under contract to buy actually go through with it. Prices at Stuttgart-based Porsche Design’s first condo top out at $32.5 million. Dezer says there are at least two dozen billionaires under contract for units in his unapologetically car-crazy tower. Let’s see if he can snag a few more with those remaining units. · Porsche Design Tower: 80% Of Units Now Under Contract [exMiami] · Gil Dezer’s Life In The Fast Lane [The Real Deal] · Porsche Design Tower coverage [Curbed Miami]

U.S. Home Values Seen Gaining Most Since ’05, Zillow Says | Mt Kisco Real Estate

U.S. homes gained $1.9 trillion in total value this year, the biggest jump since 2005, as the real estate market rebounded from the recession, Zillow Inc. (Z) said.

At the end of 2013, the housing stock will be worth about $25.7 trillion, Zillow said today in a statement. U.S. homes as a whole lost $6.3 trillion in value from 2007 through 2011 and have recovered 44 percent of that, according to the Seattle-based property-data firm.

Home prices are rising across the U.S. as investors drain markets of inventory and improving employment brings in more buyers. Almost 90 percent of the 485 metropolitan areas analyzed by Zillow had price gains this year. The total value of the nation’s housing stock jumped about 7.9 percent from 2012, the second straight annual increase, according to the report.

“The housing market continued to build on the positive momentum that began in 2012,” Stan Humphries, Zillow’s chief economist, said in the statement. “Low mortgage rates and an improving economy helped bring buyers into the market.”

Price increases will slow next year to a pace closer to the historic norm of 3 percent to 5 percent, according to Humphries.

The Federal Reserve yesterday said it will scale back asset purchases that have bolstered housing demand by keeping interest rates low. Improvements in the job market spurred the decision to cut spending on Treasuries and mortgage bonds to $75 billion from $85 billion starting in January, the Federal Open Market Committee said at the end of a two-day meeting in Washington.

 

 

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-12-19/u-s-home-values-gain-most-since-2005-zillow-says.html?cmpid=yhoo

Twitter is reportedly working on an ‘Edit’ feature to let you make “slight changes” to tweets | South Salem NY Realtor

Is Twitter working on a way to enable users to edit their Tweets once they’re out in the ether? The Desk’s Matthew Keys says it’s true. Sources tell him that this feature has been in the works for months and will allow the author to make “slight changes” to the contents of the Tweet only once.

Here’s how the feature would work: after publishing a Tweet, a user will see an “edit” feature appear for a brief period. How long remains unknown. However, during this time, the content creator can correct typos, add new words, and other small tweaks. While these changes are minor, it’s said that Twitter doesn’t want the overall message of the Tweet to be changed.

Update: A Twitter spokesperson declined to comment on the news. Of course, let’s not forget that the company experiments with many different features all the time and while it’s been said that this is in development, we may actually never see something like this go live.

 

 

http://thenextweb.com/twitter/2013/12/16/twitter-reportedly-working-edit-feature-let-make-slight-changes-tweets/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily