The five priciest listings on Oahu include a four-bedroom beachfront home in Honolulu that sold for $25 million in 1998.
Now it’s on the market for the bargain price of $16.95 million.
Source: honolulumagazine.com.
read more…
http://www.inman.com/wire/what-16-95m-buys-in-honolulu/#sthash.2OEr6wuV.dpuf
According to Page Six, Calvin Klein is feverishly trying to finish his long-aborning glass house on Meadow Lane in Southampton in time for a Labor Day housewarming. Apparently, even his billionaire neighbors (David Koch? Leon Black? Henry Kravis?) keep coming up the driveway to sneak a look inside. Well, who can blame them? The man is a style icon and one of the greatest designers of all time—isn’t everyone dying to see inside? (Besides maybe his ex Nick Gruber, who recently “came out as straight.”) Calvin, don’t forget, our address for the evite is hamptons@curbed.com. · Calvin Klein Takes Movie Break [NYPost]
Monday Morning Cup of Coffee is a quick look at the news coming across the HousingWire weekend desk, with more coverage to come on bigger issues.
The mooted Federal Reserve tapering of its asset purchases has the capital markets on tenterhooks. So much so, a report in the Financial Times suggests investors are scurrying for riskier parts of the debt markets.
That means junk bonds. Essentially the Fed’s attempt to stabilize the markets may actually harm as those investors exit safe havens as the government does as well.
It’s that old chestnut again: Rising mortgage interest rates and the upward creep of home prices is taking a toll on housing affordability. That is the news from USA Today Sunday report hinged on data from John Burns Real Estate Consulting and Zillow.
The problem is grounded in six key housing markets, five of them in California, and all of them on the Western Seaboard, the newspaper reports. In these cities — which, of course, include San Francisco — home prices have risen dramatically in tandem with the lauded housing recovery.
Furthermore, the cost of housing in 30 of 250 metropolitan areas will exceed historical averages for affordability and the average mortgage rate will pass the dreaded 5% mark.
The Washington Post reported on a weighty potential problem for the wider U.S. economy: the “outsize” influence of the graying population on the housing economy.
According to a study conducted by the Center for Regional Analysis at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., quoted by the newspaper, baby boomers in the Washington, D.C., area make up just 26% of the total area population but account for 47% of the region’s homeowners.
That could be viewed as a microcosm, a kind of allegory for a nation facing a coming calamity — widely written about and apparently occurring in a number of regions across the country, far outside the Beltway and its close confines.
The debate over eminent domain continues apace. Of late, Richmond, Calif., has been ground zero over planned use of the controversial measure.
The city government intends to put the legal mechanism to work to seize troubled mortgages within its limits from bondholders — under the pretext of saving communities. In response, the municipality is facing a legal fight from investors. The Federal Housing Finance Agency, guardian of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, may also take adverse action.
But one voice emerged late last week in support of the Richmond eminent domain plan in a prominent financial organ. Stephen Mihm, associate professor of history at the University of Georgia, wrote a column for Bloomberg claiming the Richmond case had merit, unlike, he wrote, with other examples where state authorities had excessively used eminent domain powers. He argues in favor of a train of thought that says by using eminent domain to keep homeowners in their properties, the risk of default likely would decrease, thereby benefiting the mortgage investors.
“In fact, the city’s plan relies not on a novel use of eminent domain but on one endorsed by the conservative Supreme Court of 1935,” wrote Mihm.
Some more negative press for foreclosure attorneys: The Denver Post carried a report alleging a number of homeowners in Colorado had become the victims of large legal bills in relation to “phantom court cases against them.”
“The Post found 126 foreclosures since January 2012 in which homeowners in 11 counties were told by county public trustees to pay the charges associated with the filings or the foreclosure would continue,” the newspaper reported. “But, in fact, no foreclosure lawsuit was filed.”
Fannie and Freddie appear to be continuing their befuddlement of different points on the investment vehicle spectrum.
read more…
Just recently Barry Smith received a rather jarring voice mail.
“It is disgusting. It is almost like you are portraying the devil,” the caller said in a quavering voice, according to Smith, owner of Washington, D.C.-based Domus Realty. By Smith’s account, the caller later added: “You’re like the dark side, and the dark side does not see well.”
The message represents just one of many reactions to a colorful job ad that Smith, once a philosophy professor at Georgetown University, recently penned and fired off to what he said were about 10,000 email addresses.
Calling for an “agent-priest,” the job ad has struck a chord with some real estate professionals who say it has given voice to their disillusionment with broker culture. At the same time, some readers of the post, like the woman who seemed to view Smith as something of a Sith lord, have found its cynical tone deeply unnerving.
The second reaction may be understandable: Certain passages in the ad, titled “Domus Realty — From Agony to Ecstasy,” express approval of prospective agents who wish to hurl both gadgets and themselves out windows, “scorn happy faces” and may commit suicide if the world “does not soon remedy or cure its superficiality and shallow notion of freedom.”
But Smith, who once taught college classes with titles like “Nietzsche and Postmodernity” and “Freud and Philosophy,” argues that critics of the ad may not fully appreciate its tongue-and-cheek hyperbole, and also could be missing what he says is its ultimately redeeming message.
– See more at: http://www.inman.com/2013/08/19/broker-priest-gives-voice-to-disillusioned-agents/#sthash.9ptammcE.dpuf
A new Metro-North train schedule goes into effect for all Harlem and Hudson Line customers on Monday, Aug. 19 so that track repairs can expand and continue on the Bronx Right-of-Way Improvement Project, the railroad announced.
The new schedule includes changes on all three New Haven, Harlem and Hudson Line trains. On the Harlem Line, the 8:03 a.m. local train from Mount Vernon West to Grand Central will be restored. The New Haven Line’s 7:35 a.m. train from Port Chester to Grand Central will also be restored, as well as the 8:30 a.m. train from New Rochelle to Grand Central. This schedule will remain in effect through the fall until the Bronx-Right-of-Way Improvement Project is completed. The schedules for trains on the Hudson, Harlem and New Haven Lines will be adjusted between two and ten minutes to more accurately reflect travel times, the release said. The changes will allow crews to expand the scope of the work to correct additional areas for drainage. “Further inspections, aided by the use of new technology such as ground penetrating radar, have indicated additional areas not visible at the surface where drainage needs to be improved,” a press release said. Metro-North said it is working to improve the reliability of its service and to address delays. The railroad said the new schedule changes are necessary to restore the three trains that were cancelled on July 1. Track work for the Bronx Right-of-Way Improvements Program, which began July 1, is being conducted to about 6 miles of track in the Bronx, used by the New Haven Line and the Harlem Line in the Bronx. Additionally, schedule changes include special shuttle bus service to and from Tremont and Melrose stations. Customers may take buses to Fordham for train service. Buses will operate on a half-hourly basis during peak periods on weekdays, and hourly during off-peak periods and weekends.
read more…
http://bedford.dailyvoice.com/news/bedford-commuters-prepare-new-train-schedule-harlem-line
When I was little I so wanted to be a superhero. I couldn’t wait to get home from school to watch cartoons. I marveled at the mild-mannered Clark Kent’s quick change from reporter to Man of Steel and the amazing Wonder Woman with her ability to miraculously foil the bad guys without ever breaking a sweat. I haven’t forgotten my dream, although truthfully I never imagined it would require superhuman feats to be successful in life. Juggling friends, family, health and career just to enter the game.
What’s become more and more apparent in the world of online marketing is that the game has changed and we all need to become superheroes if we want to be heard above the noise. Now that everyone is a publisher, it’s not enough to create content and send out a few tweets: Your Spidey sense has to kick in, allowing you to really listen to your audience, create compelling content, and share it with an audience that you’ve taken the time to nurture.
While we may not be able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, we still have the potential to do great things. Here’s a good place to start. Let me know what superpowers you think are required to be a great marketer and I’ll add them to the list.
– See more at: http://www.inman.com/next/10-superpowers-of-the-worlds-greatest-social-media-marketer/#sthash.4V2oly07.dpuf
10 superpowers of the world’s greatest social media marketer | Inman News.
Escalating home prices and mortgage rates prompted many investors to pull back from housing, causing current homeowners to become the main buying force behind the real estate market.
According to the latest Campbell/Inside Mortgage FinanceHousingPulse Tracking Survey, current homeowners were the only group that saw its share of home purchases increase in June — from 43.8% in May to 44.6% last month based on a three-month average.
First-time homebuyers have backed away ever so slightly, with their market share going from 36.0% to 35.7% during the same one-month period.
But the real highlight of the report was the investor share of home purchase transactions, which fell to 19.7%, the lowest level recorded since September 2012.
For the fourth month in a row, the HousingPulse investor traffic index fell, this month more sharply than either the current homeowner traffic index or the first-time homebuyer index.
The survey’s respondents linked the ongoing decline in investor activity to rising home prices coupled with less opportunity for investors to flip homes.
A shrinking supply of distressed properties is doing investors no favors either. The HousingPulse Distressed Property Index revealed that the percentage of home purchases involving foreclosures or short sales fell to 28.2% in June, a significant drop from the 40.3% level recorded a year earlier. This also represented the lowest distressed property share recorded in at least three and a half years.
Rising home prices cause real estate investors to retreat | HousingWire.
Author William R. Alger once said that public opinion is a second conscience. That seems to be the case with public sentiment towards our nation’s immigration policy. A CNN poll shows 84 percent of Americans back a program that would allow undocumented workers to stay in the U.S. and apply for citizenship if they have been in the country for several years, have a job and pay back taxes.
Reforming our broken system and bringing 11 million people out of the shadows is not only the right thing to do, but also a smart economic move that would generate billions in federal, state and local taxes, stimulate housing purchases and trigger increased consumer spending. According to the Center for American Progress (CAP), new reforms would yield about $1.5 trillion in cumulative U.S. gross domestic product over 10 years.
All of which lawmakers seem to be adding up as a bipartisan committee of senators delivers a common-sense plan that could gain wide support — that is if anti-immigrant advocates don’t derail the bill. A study released by the American Action Forum, a conservative think tank, estimates that immigration reform would increase GDP by a percentage point each year over the next decade and, through this stream of tax revenue, reduce federal deficits by a combined $3.5 trillion.
If fiscal conservatives are doing the math on this, you know serious money is involved. What a difference a few years make. Back in 2004, the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals published a study — “The Potential for Homeownership Among Undocumented Workers” — that estimated that these families would generate about $44 billion in new mortgages.
This was a conservative estimate that factored only 200,000 householders and did not account for the consumption of goods and services these homeowners would incur –
See more at: http://www.inman.com/2013/07/15/immigration-reform-would-boost-housing-markets/#sthash.oOcNlgNC.dpuf
The board of directors of Jupiter, Fla.-based Regional Multiple Listing Service Inc. has voted to dissolve the 11,000-member MLS following the settlement of a lawsuit filed by one of its shareholder associations.
Regional MLS members are now receiving all MLS services directly through their respective associations: the Realtors Association of the Palm Beaches, the Jupiter-Tequesta-Hobe Sound Association of Realtors, and the Realtors Association of St. Lucie.
The dissolution of Regional MLS, which was formed in 1987, is expected to be finalized sometime this summer.
In April, the Jupiter-Tequesta-Hobe Sound Association of Realtors filed a complaint against Regional MLS and its other two shareholder associations, alleging false and deceptive advertising, unfair competition, and interference with business relationships.
The origins of the suit lie in a change in billing structure made by Regional MLS’ board around November 2012. Whereas previously Regional MLS had provided the three associations with MLS services directly, the board voted to allow each association to offer MLS services separately, using a common database provided to the associations by Regional MLS, and thereby making the associations competitors for MLS subscribers, the complaint said.
Gary Nagle, general counsel for the Jupiter-Tequesta-Hobe Sound association, declined to elaborate on the complaint, saying it “speaks for itself.”
– See more at: http://www.inman.com/2013/06/28/associations-vote-to-dissolve-florida-based-regional-mls/#sthash.IxUx0Wmt.dpuf
Associations vote to dissolve Florida-based Regional MLS | Inman News.
When it comes to distressed properties, Florida is still in trouble, Naples News writes.
Florida has jumped to No. 1 from the second spot on the list of states with the highest foreclosure activity.
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