Named for a family of Bald Eagles that still nested on its grounds as of an Architectural Digest write-up in 2001 (in an issue that also devoted pages to the home of actor Paul Hogan, of Crocodile Dundee fame) Winter Park’s Palazzo delle Aquile is owned by Marc Thee and Michael Abbott, partners at Marc-Michaels Interior Design, a full-service Boca Raton firm that boasts on its website a “thorough understanding of the luxury buyer’s needs and desires.” Marc and Michael should know; they were luxury buyers themselves (at least) once, back when they commissioned the home from architect Carlos Martin for a lakeside lot on a brick-lined, oak-flanked street in the part of Winter Park that still wears proud its resort community roots. Apparently done with their five-bedroom Venetian-style villa, the two-time AD 100 designers listed the place last week for $7.85M.

In a big city, it can be tough finding an affordable apartment near work, especially if you want to use public transit to commute. A new map tool developed in London is making that search a little easier. Created by the apartment search website Find Properly, the tool reproduces the London Tube map, with rental and house prices (and links to property listings) detailed for each station. Click on the station, and the map reproduces the different prices at each stop along the line, creating a graph that sometimes looks like rolling hills and sometimes like a set of alpine peaks and chasms.

(If you’re having any trouble seeing or using the embedded map above, click here for the full version)

While the prices (and do note that they are listed by week instead of month) could make your eyes water, the map is nonetheless a remarkably helpful tool. Commuters can decide how many Tube stops and changeovers away from work they’re prepared to live, then work out what they can afford within that area.

Even for people who know London well, a map like this can blow assumptions out of the water by showing the gap between a neighborhood’s reputation and its actual prices. People have long paid very high prices, for example, in the North London hilltop district of Hampstead, attracted by its village-like 18th century streets and massive woodland park. The map shows that the neighborhoods further down the same hill – once considered a second-best overflow area – can cost even more. It also turns out that the South London area where I live is actually more expensive than the nicer neighborhood next door (time to move, perhaps?).

Browsing the map, some clear trends develop. Across town, rent rises and falls are far less spiky than those for house prices. This is especially true for one-bedroom apartments, less so the more bedrooms you add – though the figures don’t take into account the smaller size of city center apartments. For cheaper housing, you’re generally better off looking in the Far East of London. And for bargains? You’re best off looking in another city entirely.

read more…

http://www.theatlanticcities.com/technology/2014/04/so-helpful-map-housing-prices-every-london-tube-stop/8949/

Mortgage credit availability remains on the upward trajectory that it has been on since November 2013, a trade industry group said.

According to the Mortgage Bankers Association, the mortgage credit availability index increased .44% from 113.5 in February to 114 in March.

The index was benchmarked to 100 in March 2012, and if the MCAI was tracked in 2007, it would have been at a level of roughly 800.

“Consistent with past months, many lenders and investors are providing borrowers seeking higher loan amounts with a broader range of financing options by introducing new jumbo loan programs,” said Mike Fratantoni, MBA’s chief economist.

This trend in jumbo mortgages follows the recent mortgage application reports from the trade group, which show a growth in purchase volume for applications with higher loan amounts and contraction in home purchase application volume for lower-balance loans.

According to the most recent survey, the average contract interest rate for 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages with jumbo loan balances increased to 4.46% from 4.45%.

“Over the month, some lenders made a complete exit from wholesale lending operations, while other lenders moved to enter that space or expanded operations,” Fratantoni said.

http://www.housingwire.com/articles/29603-jumbo-mortgages-fill-in-lending-gap