Tag Archives: Bedford Hills Real Estate

Bedford Hills Real Estate

Rooftop solar takes off across California as costs come down | Bedford Hills Real Estate

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California’s groundbreaking efforts to encourage homeowners and businesses to install rooftop solar panels were so successful in 2012 that the program is now effectively winding down, according to a new report.

A record 391 megawatts of solar power were installed statewide in 2012, a growth of 26 percent from 2011, according to a report by the California Solar Initiative released Wednesday.

“The program has made solar affordable for ordinary Californians,” said Susannah Churchill of the San Francisco-based solar advocacy group Vote Solar. “Solar is a classic California success story.”

In January 2007, California launched an unprecedented $3.3 billion effort to install 3,000 megawatts of new solar over

the next decade and transform the market for solar energy by reducing the cost of solar-generating equipment.

One megawatt is enough to power 750 to 1,000 homes. But because the sun doesn’t shine all the time, solar industry experts say that one megawatt of solar can power about 200 households.

The California Public Utilities Commission’s California Solar Initiative, known as CSI,provides rebates for residential and commercial customers of the state’s three large, investor-owned utilities: Pacific Gas & Electric, Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric.

The initiative’s road map calls for 1,750 new megawatts of solar power to be installed on residential and commercial roofs in the state by

 

 

Rooftop solar takes off across California as costs come down – San Jose Mercury News.

Bedford School District Updates 2013-14 Calendar | Bedford Hills Real Estate

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The Bedford Central School District updated its 2013-14 school calendar this week, adding dates that teacher and superintendent conferences will take place.

A superintendent conference will be held on Sept. 30 and students will not have to attend school that day.

Elementary school students will have a half-day on Dec. 6 for parent conferences. All students will have a half-day on Dec. 12 for more afternoon and evening parent conferences. Students will have the entire day off on Dec. 13 for morning conferences.

Elementary school students will have half-days on March 14 and 20 for afternoon and evening conferences. Elementary school students will have the entire day off on March 21 for morning conferences.

The first day of school for the 2013-14 year in Bedford is Sept. 3.

To see the full 2013-14 Bedford school year schedule,click here.

 

 

Bedford School District Updates 2013-14 Calendar | The Bedford Daily Voice.

Rising Mortgage Rates Could Chill Housing Market | Bedford Hills NY Real Estate

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A recent, sharp rise in mortgage-interest rates has raised concerns about whether the housing recovery will soften as home loans become more expensive.

 

Two weeks ago, the average rate nationwide for a 30-year mortgage jumped to 4.46 percent from 3.93 percent — the biggest one-week increase since 1987 and the highest rate since July 2011, according to the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp.

 

“We do think that, as rates go higher, there will be additional affordability issues,” said Brad Hunter, a Florida-based economist for the real-estate research firm MetroStudy Inc.

 

“Everyone is getting nervous now as the Fed is taking away the Kool-Aid bowl soon,” he said. Rates started moving up after the Federal Reserve said on June 19 that it might end its economic-stimulation program by the end of this year or in 2014.

 

An increase in interest rates could temper the housing recovery in several ways.

 

For one thing, higher rates would mean prospective buyers could afford less house, possibly easing demand for new and existing homes. For another, the equity funds that have been buying up foreclosures would likely go looking elsewhere for better ways to invest their money, which would likely limit competition for new listings. Home builders may be pressured by higher carrying costs, even as fewer prospects show up to tour their model units. And homeowners not interested in selling would be less likely to refinance their existing loans.

 

Here’s a closer look at how rising rates could affect those four groups:

 

Buyers : For home buyers, many of whom have struggled since the Great Recession and global credit crisis to qualify for mortgages, an uptick in rates would also cut into their buying power once they were approved for a loan.

 

For example, buyers who obtained a $200,000 mortgage when interest rates were about 3.5 percent in April landed a monthly payment of about $900. But if rates head north to 5 percent, buyers hoping to get that same monthly payment would have to limit their mortgage to $170,000 — or $30,000 less than they could have afforded with the lower loan rate.

 

In a talk to Congress last month, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke noted that housing’s vital role in the nation’s economic recovery is due partly to the real estate-related jobs it creates “but also because higher house prices increase consumer wealth and promote consumer spending.”

 

Over the 30-year life of a $200,000 mortgage, however, a home buyer would pay an additional $63,000 in interest with a 5 percent rate than with a 3.5 percent rate — money not available for spending on consumer goods or services.

 

And even though mortgage lenders stand to earn more money with higher rates of return on their loans, borrowers would not find it easier to qualify for home loans should interest rates keep rising, said Rob Nunziata, president of Orlando, Fla.-based FBC Mortgage LLC.

 

Rising Mortgage Rates Could Chill Housing Market | Valley News.

How New York City Renters Are Getting Screwed By Taxes | Bedford Hills Real Estate

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[Via Business Insider.]

Josh Barro took property tax data from the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy and broke it down for Business Insider, showing just how high the taxes levied on New York City rental buildings are, especially compared with other high-rent cities. And though we don’t know exactly how much of that is passed on the renters themselves, general wisdom is that it’s a lot. Now for some fun facts: Of the 50 largest cities in the U.S., only Detroit has a has a higher tax rate on apartment buildings. And just think about how much more New York real estate costs—but then, when you compare New York solely to other high-rent cities (where median rents exceeded $1,000 in 2011), New York still comes out on top in the tax department. This is not a contest we want to win.

Check out this other graph, which shows that owner-occupied homes and small apartment buildings are taxed at much lower rates than walk-up rentals and apartment buildings with elevators. “Our tax rates on owner-occupied homes are actually some of the lowest among large cities. But who can afford to buy here?” Barro asks.

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[Via Business Insider.]

So we know that rental buildings get taxed more than rental buildings in other cities and 6.4 times owner-occupied homes, but how much is really passed on to renters? In Boston, a study showed that landlords take care of 85 percent of the burden, but in New York it’s likely that more of the cost is shouldered by tenants paying inflated rents, mostly because apartment supply here is more limited and there needs to be some kind of incentive for landlords not to convert their buildings to co-ops or condos.

“Rent control does shield many New York renters from the burden of property tax increases. But that doesn’t help market-rate tenants like me. And tax abatements for new rental buildings are tied to requirements to set aside affordable units; again, the benefit of the abatement does not flow through to tenants paying market rate,” Barro concludes. “Living in New York is crazy expensive. Partly, that’s for reasons outside the control of policymakers. But one reason is this hidden tax on renters that New York has decided, uniquely among large cities, to impose. It’s a big mistake.”

How New York City Renters Are Getting Screwed By Taxes – The Rent Is Too Damn High – Curbed NY.

Pending home sales hit highest level in more than 6 years | Bedford Hills Real Estate

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Pending home sales in May hit their highest level since December 2006, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported today.

“Even with limited choices, it appears some of the rise in contract signings could be from buyers wanting to take advantage of current affordability conditions before mortgage interest rates move higher,” said Lawrence Yun, chief economist at NAR.  “This implies a continuation of double-digit price increases from a year earlier, with a strong push from pent-up demand.”

Pending home sales, a forward-looking indicator based on contracts signed to purchase homes, increased 6.7 percent month over month in May, and were up 12.1 percent from a year ago, according to NAR’s Pending Home Sales Index.

In response to the jump in contract signings, Yun raised his home price forecast for 2013. The economist now predicts that the median existing-home price will rise by more than 10 percent to $195,000. That would be the strongest increase since 2005, when the median price rose by 12.4 percent, NAR said.

The sunny news accompanies a murkier report released by Freddie Mac today that found that mortgage interest rates spiked by their largest weekly margin in 26 years on news that the Federal Reserve could soon begin to taper its stimulus program. Source: NAR

– See more at: http://www.inman.com/wire/pending-home-sales-hit-highest-level-in-over-6-years/#sthash.9InfQ6aY.dpuf

 

Pending home sales hit highest level in more than 6 years | Inman News.

Don’t Call It Home Staging. Call It Superstaging! | Bedford Hills Real Estate

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It’s not news that San Francisco home sales have been rocketing above expectations since the beginning of the year. Bay area buyers have seen themselves outbid by the cost of a mansion in their home towns; sellers have found that even an unstaged home, or even raw fixer-upper, will sell above asking within a week.

 

You might think this’d encourage laziness among sellers, but at least one boutique agency is thinking just the opposite: a little extra effort might result in record sales within record times. They call it simple marketing, but I call it “uberstaging.”

 

Climb Real Estate has been creating a niche for itself with its rolling Airstream satellite office. Now they’re talking their sellers into spending as much as $50K on pre-sale improvements, betting that the payoff will more than cover the cost.

 

The first step is to identify the potential buyer. In the case of this property, on Page Street in Hayes Valley, they  pitched their concept toward a single, professional woman in her 30s buying her first home – a powerful buying force in today’s market, by the way. Then they hired a interior designer Ian Stalling, art consultants from Art Haus, color consultant Wendy Trotter, and even landscape designer Dat Pham to create a space designed specifically for this fictitious buyer.

 

“This isn’t about the four walls,” says Chris Lim, Climb’s marketing director. “It’s about what happens in those four walls. How is your life going to be better if you buy this property? Is it that Blue Bottle coffee is just down the street? Is it the restaurants and the easy commute to downtown? How do you create a storyline that will convince someone that this is meant to be her home?” The stack of takeout menus and bottles of coffee in the kitchen are only the beginning of that story.

 

Don’t Call It Home Staging. Call It Superstaging! | Houses | HGTV FrontDoor.

Former first daughter Chelsea Clinton lists NY Flatiron condo | Bedford Hills Real Estate

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The couple bought their new place in The Whitman, a secure building on East 26th Street, for $10.5 million in early March, which led them to list their former home at the nearby Grand Madison for $4.475 million. The couple didn’t move far; both buildings are located in the Flatiron District and have views of Madison Square Park.

Mezvinsky bought the Grand Madison condo in 2008 for $4 million, reported the Real Deal. The couple had been living there since their marriage in 2010 until very recently, writes Zillow.

 

Former first daughter Chelsea Clinton lists NY Flatiron condo | HousingWire.

Demand for architects recovers along with housing market | Bedford Hills Real Estate

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Apparently feeding on a stream of new buyers, architects are reporting that business is better than it’s been in eight years, with demand for their services in designing move-up homes, custom or luxury homes, and starter homes sharply increasing in the first quarter of 2013, the American Institute of Architects’ first-quarter 2013 Home Design Trends Survey suggests.

The trade group’s Home Design Survey Index for last quarter registered a score of 67 out of 100 for billings and 75 out of 100 for inquiries for new projects. Any score above 50 reflects positive business conditions, AIA said.

“With business conditions at residential architecture firms at the strongest growth level since 2005, this is a very encouraging sign for the housing sector and broader economy in general, especially when you look at the year-over-year improvement in the marketplace,” said AIA Chief Economist Kermit Baker.

An index that captures demand for specific types of homes found that demand for architects in designing move-up homes improved from a score of -3 in 2012 to 32 in the first quarter of 2013. During the same period, demand for starter homes jumped from -7 to 21, and demand for custom and luxury homes increased from -2 to 16.

In addition, a majority of architecture firms reported that demand for kitchen and bath remodeling, additions, in-home accessibility, informal spaces and open-space layouts increased in the first quarter.

“We’ve seen over the past few years, an increased interest in seamlessly blending indoor and outdoor spaces and building in more informal spaces into homes,” Baker said. “Because lot sizes don’t show any signs of increasing, it’s clear that homeowners want to maximize their current square footage to its highest potential, as opposed to increasing it.”

– See more at: http://www.inman.com/2013/06/14/demand-for-architects-recovers-along-with-housing-market/#sthash.mgGMNzNV.dpuf

 

Demand for architects recovers along with housing market | Inman News.

Impact Of Mortgage Refinance On Housing | Bedford Hills Homes

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Mortgage refinance applications have been taking a hit recently.

This morning’s MBA purchase applications showed that refinance index was down 15% for the May 31st week.

The refinancing index is down four straight weeks, and was down 12% the previous week.

Refinance applications tends to be more sensitive to a rise in mortgage rates.

The MBA 30-year fixed mortgage rate climbed from 3.59% in the first week of May to 4.07% in the first week of June. The decline in refinance activity reflects the rise in mortgage rates, Ed Stansfield, chief housing economist at Capital Economics explained in an email interview.

There are three key reasons to watch this data.

First, despite the recent sharp rise, mortgage rates are still at low levels. So the impact on refinance activity shows that both the housing market and overall economic confidence are still “fragile” and the the recovery is dependent on the loose monetary policy.

Second, is the impact on consumer spending, which Stansfield doesn’t think will be “large.”

Third, for those with adjustable rate mortgages (ARM) the rising interest rates have been a bigger blow. “This could offset some of the benefits of falling unemployment on delinquency rates, though again I would not really expect this effect to be large based on the rise in mortgage rates seen so far.”

But how significant is it?

“In terms of its significance, in my view, it is less of a concern than if home purchase approvals had fallen to a similar degree – they have been softening too, but not by as much,” Stansfield said. “After all, home purchase approvals are a better gauge of the strength of the demand for housing than the number of people who are switching from one mortgage deal to another.”

Bottomline: Stansfield expects the housing market to continue to recover but says this data shows that the recovery “may not proceed in a straight line.”

 

Impact Of Mortgage Refinance On Housing – Business Insider.

Robust growth seen to prop up real estate | Bedford Hills Real Estate

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FORECAST ROBUST growth within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is expected to prop up the real estate sector on the back of strong domestic demand, according to a report from consulting firm Jones Lang LaSalle released yesterday.

In particular, growth will be experienced in the office, industrial and logistics and retail spaces.

“This growth translates to robust domestic investment into commercial property, driving demand for office and logistics space.

“Increased consumer spending will boost demand for expanded retail formats, which in turn will support the developments of retail malls and the subsequent accompanying infrastructure in emerging markets,” said Chris Fossick, managing director of Jones Lang LaSalle Singapore and Southeast Asia.

Add to the upbeat outlook is the “increased transparency in the real estate market” in ASEAN economies, or proper disclosure of costs and transactions involved in property ownership.

The consulting firm said in its recent transparency report that six ASEAN countries saw improved scores last year, namely, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam.

Meanwhile, Jones Lang LaSalle sees a growing labor market, more sophisticated needs and new markets as key opportunities for the property sector.

“While economic growth drives corporate activity across Southeast Asia, businesses are making changes to accommodate growing workforce and modernized office spaces in new, emerging markets,” the report said.

In particular, Jakarta, the Philippines and Thailand were cited to rising demand in office space.

It said the Philippines “often overlooked by investors, witnessed record levels in demand for office space, sparking new developments in previously unexplored sub markets and a 3% rise in rents from the same period 2012.”

Indonesia was noted to have more than doubled its office space demand in four years, while Thailand saw a recovery in its real estate market.

Jones Lang LaSalle said “demand for offices will spike and vacancy levels are forecasted to reach historic lows by 2014.”

The industrial and logistics market will also see growth “thanks to improvements in Southeast Asian economies and international trade, ASEAN industrial and logistics markets have reached historic highs and show no signs of slowing, as trade volumes are predicted to increase by 130%.”

“Real estate will have a critical role in driving trade and industrial growth,” the firm said. It added many markets have already experienced an increase in rates as most developers “will seek new markets.”

Further, the consulting firm noted that stronger consumer confidence is expected to drive the retail market.

Jones Lang LaSalle said Indonesia leads the region in retail market growth followed by Thailand.

“… (T)he retail industry is in a unique position to influence and be involved in many key aspects of development in the Southeast Asia region, both economic and social. There is a role for the industry in areas such as infrastructure, housing, education, health care, tourism and industry and trade which are all inextricably linked,” said Mr. Fossick.

 

Robust growth seen to prop up real estate | BusinessWorld Online.