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CoreLogic: July Prices to Increase 12.5 Percent | Westchester Real Estate

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July 2013 home prices, including distressed sales, are expected to rise by 12.5 percent on a year-over-year basis from July 2012 and rise by 1.8 percent on a month-over-month basis from June 2013m, the fastest pace since 1977, according to CoreLogic’s Pending HPI released this morning.

Excluding distressed sales, July 2013 home prices are poised to rise 11.4 percent year over year from July 2012 and by 1.3 percent month over month from June 2013. The CoreLogic Pending HPI is a proprietary and exclusive metric that provides the most current indication of trends in home prices. It is based on Multiple Listing Service (MLS) data that measure price changes for the most recent month.

Home prices nationwide, including distressed sales, increased 11.9 percent on a year-over-year basis in June 2013 compared to June 2012. This change represents the 16th consecutive monthly increase in home prices nationally. On a month-over-month basis, including distressed sales, home prices increased by 1.9 percent in June 2013 compared to May 2013*.

Excluding distressed sales, home prices increased on a year-over-year basis by 11 percent in June 2013 compared to June 2012. On a month-over-month basis, excluding distressed sales, home prices increased 1.8 percent in June 2013 compared to May 2013. Distressed sales include short sales and real estate owned (REO) transactions.

“In the first six months of 2013, the U.S. housing market appreciated a remarkable 10 percent,” said Dr. Mark Fleming, chief economist for CoreLogic. “This trend in home price gains is moving at the fastest pace since 1977.”

“The U.S. housing market experienced robust price appreciation during the first half of 2013 and our forecast calls for double-digit growth through July,” said Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic. “Despite their rebound of late, home prices remain reasonable in a historical context, with most states near peak affordability levels.”

Highlights as of June 2013:

  • Including distressed sales, the five states with the highest home price appreciation were: Nevada (+26.5 percent), California (+21.4 percent), Wyoming (+16.7 percent), Arizona (+16.2 percent) and Georgia (+14.3 percent).
  • Including distressed sales, this month only two states posted home price depreciation: Mississippi (-2.1 percent) and Delaware (-1.1 percent).
  • Excluding distressed sales, the five states with the highest home price appreciation were: Nevada (+23.6 percent), California (+18.7 percent), Arizona (+14.1 percent), Utah (+13.8 percent) and Florida (+12.7 percent).

 

CoreLogic: July Prices to Increase 12.5 Percent | RealEstateEconomyWatch.com.

Closing Costs Keep Pace with Prices | North Salem Real Estate

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Cash-strapped home buyers struggling with soaring home prices have an unpleasant surprise awaiting them at the closing table. Closing costs are rising nearly as quickly as home prices.

On average, mortgage closing costs rose 6 percent over 2012 to $2,402, according to Bankrate.com. Origination fees accounted for the bulk of the increase, rising 8 percent, while third-party fees for services like title and appraisals edged up 1 percent to $672.

Hawaii’s average closing costs of $2,919 are the highest in the nation. Alaska ($2,675), South Carolina ($2,658), California ($2,639) and New Mexico ($2,566) join the Aloha State in the top five.

Wisconsin ($2,119), Missouri ($2,188), Kansas ($2,193), Michigan ($2,203) and Washington State ($2,208) comprise the bottom five.

“It’s unlikely that you will move to Wisconsin solely to pay lower closing costs, but you should shop around and compare fees from different loan originators to make sure you get the best deal in your area,” said Polyana da Costa, senior mortgage analyst, Bankrate.com.

Closing costs
2013
rank

2012 rank†

State

Lender’s
origination fees

Third-party
fees

Origination plus
third-party fees

12Hawaii$1,970$949$2,919
24Alaska$1,925$750$2,675
36South Carolina$1,935$723$2,658
435California$1,977$662$2,639
543New Mexico$1,807$760$2,566
68North Carolina$1,840$718$2,558
718New Jersey$1,804$741$2,545
834Oklahoma$1,919$600$2,519
920Florida$1,798$719$2,517
107Delaware$1,742$760$2,502
1127Ohio$1,803$693$2,496
1211Georgia$1,816$674$2,490
133Texas$1,690$778$2,468
14*26Pennsylvania$1,920$540$2,460
14*13North Dakota$1,797$663$2,460
1624District of Columbia$1,826$623$2,449
1722Montana$1,767$680$2,446
1819Louisiana$1,782$662$2,443
1933Maryland$1,816$624$2,441
2031Tennessee$1,806$631$2,437
2121Connecticut$1,757$680$2,436
2236Maine$1,761$647$2,408
2349Idaho$1,767$641$2,407
2438Iowa$1,757$647$2,403
2541Arkansas$1,782$614$2,396
2628Indiana$1,732$656$2,387
2748Colorado$1,758$625$2,383
2817Kentucky$1,732$649$2,381
2937Arizona$1,752$621$2,372
3046Oregon$1,707$663$2,370
3123Virginia$1,718$650$2,369
3244South Dakota$1,732$617$2,349
3339Alabama$1,721$627$2,348
3415Rhode Island$1,686$660$2,347
3551Nevada$1,642$704$2,346
3610Nebraska$1,656$689$2,345
371New York$1,504$827$2,331
3840Mississippi$1,682$639$2,320
3945Utah$1,663$653$2,316
4050Wyoming$1,678$623$2,301
4114Massachusetts$1,601$699$2,300
4216West Virginia$1,578$705$2,283
4329Minnesota$1,641$612$2,253
4412New Hampshire$1,576$676$2,252
4542Vermont$1,578$667$2,245
469Illinois$1,591$647$2,238
4747Washington$1,603$605$2,208
4832Michigan$1,591$611$2,203
4930Kansas$1,558$635$2,193
5025Missouri$1,542$646$2,188
515Wisconsin$1,438$682$2,119
Average$1,730$672$2,402

*Denotes a tie

 

 

Closing Costs Keep Pace with Prices | RealEstateEconomyWatch.com.

Ellen and Portia List $11M SoCal Ranch Featured in Elle Decor | Pound Ridge Real Estate

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Hollywood power couple and prolific flippers Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi have decided to part with yet another high-dollar property, just months after it was featured in an Elle Decor spread. The equestrian farm in Thousand Oaks, Calif. has been owned by DeGeneres and de Rossi since 2009 and undergone a complete renovation. The 26-acre compound, listed for close to$11M, includes eight cottages, an office, several barns, and a tennis court. Despite de Rossi’s passion for horses and love for the property, the couple seems to be moving on to assuage Ellen’s obsession with decorating. They are said to have purchased a $26M Montecito villa that has already received a pricey renovation from designer-to-the-stars John Saladino. Meanwhile, the couple has a much more modest Beverly Hills penthouse—perhaps housing for staff or family—on the market for a comparatively paltry $899K.

· Hidden Valley Farm [Sotheby’s International Realty]
· Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi List Thousand Oaks Ranch [Zillow Blog]

Ellen and Portia List $11M SoCal Ranch Featured in Elle Decor – Celebrity Real Estate – Curbed National.

Linkin Park’s Joe Hahn Relists Brentwood Home | North Salem Real Estate

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You may know him as the cool headphones-wearing Mr. Hahn or as that guy behind the turntable at a Linkin Park concert. Either way, Joe Hahn has left his mark on the rock music scene.

He’s also trying to leave his Brentwood home. After listing the modern 6,458-square-foot house for $5.5 million in January, he dropped the price to $4.9 million before temporarily taking it off the market. Now relisted for $4.6 million, the home is still 143.7 percent more expensive than the median Brentwood home.

The high price tag isn’t surprising, though. Located in an exclusive Brentwood Hills gated community at 1076 Carrara Pl, Los Angeles, CA 90049, the 5-bedroom, 6-bath property is designed around floor-to-ceiling windows with ocean, city and canyon views. The home is also equipped with solar panels, an on-site compost center and sleek finishes inside and out.

Hahn grew up in Glendale before joining Linkin Park as the band’s DJ and programmer. He became the first Korean-American to receive a Grammy when the band won the award for Best Hard Rock Performance in 2002.

He purchased the home under a trust for $3.9 million in 2006, according to property records. The for-sale listing is held by Rodeo Realty’s Ben Salem.

 

 

Linkin Park’s Joe Hahn Relists Brentwood Home | Zillow Blog.

Las Vegas Real Estate Market is Looking Good | Bedford Hills Real Estate

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Las Vegas, it’s the town where no one sleeps and so much happens. Then, this great city was hit hard when the economy crashed back in 2007, but just like losing at slots, one can always come back for a win, and that is exactly what the Las Vegas real estate market is doing.

 

Numbers show that there has been an increase from April of 1.8 percent and an overall 32.8 percent increase since 2012. The market is also showing there are less than 13,815 homes in the Las Vegas area available as of May of this year. That means more and more homebuyers are acquiring homes as they are predicting the prices to rise even more as the year continues. It was also reported that building permits hit a five year high this month alone.

 

Investors are also getting involved in this market and buying up homes, leaving areas with little or no available homes, which include new and foreclosed properties. One of the neighborhoods that is being sought and looked at hard is the Henderson Nevada homes for sale. There are great Las Vegas homes for sale for unbelievable prices.

 

Real estate in Las Vegas is becoming a premier spot for investors again, and that helps increase the housing prices. This makes it an ideal market for sellers, which is a good turn around since 2006. The National Association of Realtors has stated that new homes for sale in Las Vegas were once again heading towards being number one in America. Users are also encouraged to look at Lake Las Vegas homes for sale.

 

It has been reported that the average price for a residential home in the metro area of Las Vegas has risen compared to last year by 30.6 percent. The average price of a home was $120,000, and the price rose to $143,000 during the first quarter of this year. Homes for sale in Las Vegas had an amount of 4,512 foreclosed home sales registered during the beginning of the year, which meant foreclosed houses were down 63 percent based on the data last year. It is also being reported that there is going to be a possible shortage of houses if the spike of buying continues. The price of a median price of a single family home was up 3.7 percent from last month and up 30.6 percent from this time last year. That is quite significant.

 

Home sales are on the move and this is one city that is going to remain a great location for home buyers and investors. When searching for homes for sale in Las Vegas, buyers are encouraged to take a look at Summerlin because there are many homes for sale in Summerlin Las Vegas.

 

 

Las Vegas Real Estate Market is Looking Good According to One Las Vegas Real Estate Company.

What Words Should Real-Estate Listings Use? Depends on the Market | North Salem Real Estate

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A strong market means homes with more sun and more views—that is, if you are going by real-estate listings.

During strong market cycles, agents tend to reference lifestyle features, including sunshine, entertainment and views, more frequently in their listings than during slow periods, says Kirsten Robertson, senior lecturer in marketing at the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand, who researched language in residential property listings.

About 55% of the listings she studied mentioned sunshine and 42% referenced views during a buoyant market, compared with 41% that referenced sunshine and 26% that referenced views during a slow market.

[image]James Gulliver Hancock

Because a home’s exposure to the sun and its views aren’t things that change, the listings demonstrate that agents are homing in on different elements depending on market strength, Prof. Robertson says. That, in turn, may affect how people see the housing market as a whole. “All the language they use will influence how people will feel about a property,” she says.

Prof. Robertson and co-author Antony Doig of the University of Otago, working with experts in linguistics, examined 965 residential listings from 2001 to 2008 in Dunedin, New Zealand. They categorized the years 2002 through 2007 as buoyant market cycles, and 2001 and 2008 as slow market cycles. They then coded the listings for 13 variables, including references to emotive language, good value and sunshine; adjectives such as “bright” and “capacious” and adverbs such as “effortlessly” and “generously.” The study, “An Empirical Investigation of Variations in Real-Estate Marketing Language over a Market Cycle,” was published in Housing, Theory and Society in June 2010.

In a buoyant market, listings also were more attention-grabbing—using so-called intensifying words such as “totally,” “ultra” and “absolutely”—and more frequently referred to “you.”

Enlarge Image

image

Bloomberg

In a buoyant market, listings were more attention-grabbing—using so-called intensifying words such as ‘totally,’ ‘ultra’ and ‘absolutely.’

During a slower market, listings included references to “cheap” and “value” and included more emotive language to entice people to buy.

Agents also stressed that the market was a “buyers’ market” in slow periods—using terms such as “desperate” and “has to go”—to coerce people to buy, Prof. Robertson adds. Agents referenced “sellers’ market” during strong cycles, with phrases such as “not going to last” and “will sell,” to draw more people to a listing. “The more competition they got, the higher the final offer will be,” she says.

 

 

What Words Should Real-Estate Listings Use? Depends on the Market – WSJ.com.

Real estate investment trust yields robust rewards despite risk | Armonk Real Estate

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Sinking money into real estate investment trusts is considered to be one of Wall Street’s most complex investments.

Owning shares of REITs gives investors an opportunity to get investment exposure to real estate, including apartments, shopping centers and office buildings. But they’ve gained a reputation of being risky and confusing — especially after the industry was pummeled during the last real estate crash.

Even Lloyd McAdams, chief executive of Anworth Mortgage Asset Corp., makes no bones about saying his Santa Monica REIT does carry some risk. But it also has given shareholders high dividend yields as the real estate market has recovered.

“The potential magnitude of the risks we have to manage around has been the most daunting aspect of managing the business,” said McAdams, who has been CEO since the company was founded in 1998.

Market shocks have been a challenge for Anworth, whose portfolio holds residential real estate where the mortgages are secured by government guarantees from Freddie Mac,Fannie Mae and Ginny Mae.

Anworth’s stock price has had big gyrations because of the company’s ties to the housing market. The stock at one point traded above $15 before the housing crisis walloped the industry. It now trades for about $5 a share.

But analysts are bullish on the company’s prospects and hail its consistent dividend. The company has averaged about a 10% payout every year for the last decade. That compares to the 2.65% average weighted dividend yield for the Standard & Poor’s 500 index.

 

 

Real estate investment trust yields robust rewards despite risk – latimes.com.

Malcolm Forbes’ NJ Estate Listed for $3.4 Million | Waccabuc Real Estate

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A treasured estate can be hard to give up, especially one with a special history and a family legacy.

The legendary 24-acre Forbes estate that once hosted lavish galas attended by international celebrities and dignitaries is listed for $3.4 million. The 6-bedroom, 7.5-bathroom property, dubbed “Timberfield,” was purchased in 1950 by the late publisher/owner of Forbes magazine, Malcolm S. Forbes.  Despite owning properties all over the world, he chose to raise his five children here, including current CEO and editor-in-chief of Forbes Media, Steve Forbes.

According to the Timberfield’s real estate agent, Sylvia Kissel of Turpin Realtors, the home stayed in the family after Malcolm Forbes’ passing in 1990. The estate is currently owned by one of his sons.

Located at 95 Old Dutch Pl, Bedminster, NJ 07921, the breathtaking property is a piece of history in itself. Once a farmhouse, the oldest section of the house dates back to 1760, with additions following in the 1860s, the 1920s and again in 1961, when a bomb shelter was built. The room has since been renovated into a movie theater, Kissel said.

Besides being owner/publisher of Forbes magazine and close friends with Hollywood icon Elizabeth Taylor, Malcolm Forbes was known for his collections, including motorcycles and hot air balloons. It was at this estate that Forbes housed his precious collectibles, utilizing one garage for his motorcycles and a larger garage for his ballooning equipment and vehicles.

Timberfield holds the essence of the American dream. The colonial-style architecture is presented in a pristine white exterior with dark shutters. Brick accents are visibly significant, noted in the chimneys, patio structures and pool surroundings. The only thing missing is a white picket fence, but with acreage as vast as this, it is not quite necessary.

The interior decor is classic, boasting pastel walls of pale green, lemon chiffon, ecru and vanilla with delicate floral patterns integrated throughout. The library is reminiscent of Forbes’ Scottish roots, lined with a blue/green tartan rug and rich mahogany walls. Malcolm’s father, Bertie Charles Forbes, was a Scottish immigrant and founded Forbes magazine in 1917.

“We hope to find a buyer that will be the next family to take care of it,” Kissel said, noting the property was dear to Malcolm Forbes and his family.

The estate also features a tennis court and 3 guest cottages, living up to the image of luxury and success that is often attached to the Forbes name. Ten additional acres are also available for purchase, which would bring the total cost of the estate to $4.25 million.

 

Malcolm Forbes’ NJ Estate Listed for $3.4 Million | Zillow Blog.

California foreclosure starts fall to second-lowest level in 7 years | Pound Ridge Homes

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Foreclosure starts in California rose 38.7% from the first to second quarter, but still hover at their second-lowest level in seven years, DataQuick reported.

 

Homeowners in the state have rising prices and new legislation to thank for the dramatic slowdown in default notices.

 

The La Jolla, Calif.-based real estate data firm said 25,747 notices of default were filed in the April-to-June period, up 38.7% from 18,568 filings in the prior quarter and down 52.9% from 54,615 filings a year earlier.

 

The notices of default filed in the first quarter of 2013 marked the lowest quarterly total since 2005, making the most recent report the second lowest quarterly total in seven years.

 

It’s possible new foreclosure legislation in the state is the cause of the slowdown.

 

The Homeowner Bill of Rights took effect in California on Jan. 1, creating a private right of action for foreclosure plaintiffs to sue financial firms for violating one of the law’s many provisions.

 

“In California and other states in recent years foreclosure activity has sometimes plunged temporarily after a new law kicks in and the industry takes time to adjust,” DataQuick explained.

 

On the other hand, home prices are rising, and as they go up, homeowners have more leverage to save their properties.

 

The median price for a California home hit $344,000 in the second quarter, up 14.7% from $300,000 in the first quarter and a 27.4% jump from $270,000 in the second quarter of 2012.

 

The state’s median home price during the market bubble reached $485,500 in 2007.

 

Mortgage defaults in California continue to hit more affordable neighborhoods first, with zip codes featuring homes in the $200,000-price range reporting 4.2 notices of default for every 1,000 homes.

 

That compares to 2.8 notices per every 1,000 homes when analyzing the $200,000-to-$800,000 price range. And, in the above-$800,000-range, 1.1 notices are filed per every 1,000 homes.

 

California foreclosure starts fall to second-lowest level in 7 years | HousingWire.

Improvements eyed for NY’s Westchester County Airport; concerns over runway shortening | Armonk Real Estate

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Officials are discussing what improvements should be made at New York’s Westchester County Airport.

 

The county has begun a yearlong process to come up with a master plan.

 

Its deputy commissioner of public works and transportation says safety and efficiency are priorities.

 

Residents, aviation business owners and pilots gave their input at a meeting this week.

 

The Journal News (http://lohud.us/15Nmi9i ) says a major topic was the importance of one of the airport’s runways.

 

In 2015, it must be shortened to make way for a 300-foot safety zone required by the FAA. There are concerns that the runway might be shut down entirely.

 

The vice president of the Westchester Aviation Association says the loss of the runway could lead to major delays.

 

A study is under way to find a solution.

 

 

Improvements eyed for NY’s Westchester County Airport; concerns over runway shortening – Daily Journal.