Tag Archives: Chappaqua NY Real Estate

Chappaqua NY Real Estate

Seller financing: an untapped resource for real estate agents | Chappaqua Real Estate

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While the residential real estate market is generally believed to be improving nationwide, some of the residual effects of the Great Recession still affect the ability of real estate agents to facilitate home sales.

Emerging employment opportunities in many parts of the country are bringing workers into new communities. Even though financial institutions have brought reserve levels back to all-time highs within the past few years, banks are unable to fund loans due to restrictive lending criteria.

For buyers, the regulatory pendulum has swung too far. Though fully capable of making payments, many are marked with imperfect credit or low cash reserves as a result of short sales, foreclosures or plummeting values of their prior residences. For sellers, this means a significantly smaller pool of potential buyers, which negatively impacts their home values as well as their financial well-being.

Prime opportunity

According to the Pew Research Center, about 10,000 people will turn 65 every day for the next 17 years. With baby boomers entering retirement at an exponential rate, many are looking to their homes as an additional source of revenue to supplement Social Security or other insufficient income.

Today’s rising home values present a perfect opportunity for sellers to capitalize on their homes’ increasing market values, and savvy real estate agents recognize the prime opportunity that seller financing presents. The trend of tight lending standards combined with willing buyers, sellers and an appreciating housing market is certainly not permanent, so this nontraditional financing option must be quickly leveraged to yield maximum benefit.

– See more at: http://www.inman.com/2013/05/22/seller-financing-an-untapped-resource-for-real-estate-agents/#sthash.glExI8Fd.dpuf

 

Seller financing: an untapped resource for real estate agents | Inman News.

Astorino: Update On Affordable Housing In Westchester | Chappaqua Real Estate

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In 2009, my predecessor, Andrew Spano and the Board of Legislators signed a legal settlement obligating the county to spend $51.6 million to develop 750 units of fair and affordable housing in 31 so-called eligible or mostly white communities by the end of 2016.

Here’s an update on the status.  Let’s start with the bad news.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is trying to use the settlement to dismantle local zoning laws.  HUD has the misguided view that zoning and discrimination is the same thing.

It is not. Zoning restricts how land is used, not who lives there. The impediment to where people live in Westchester is money, not race or ethnicity.

Washington bureaucrats, who you will never see or meet, want the power to determine who will live where and how each neighborhood will look.  What’s at stake is the fundamental right of our cities, towns, and villages to plan and zone for themselves.  This home rule is guaranteed by the New York State Constitution.

HUD wants no restrictions – in any neighborhood – on height, size, acreage, density, or number of bedrooms. HUD even sees sewers as a problem, which is critically significant since Westchester zoning protects the drinking water of 8 million New Yorkers.

If there are no restrictions for HUD, there will be no restrictions for any developer. A high rise can be built on any street, even right next door to you. And if HUD can trample on zoning here, it can do it anywhere.

I urge you to read the HUD letters for yourself and see how the federal government is trying to abolish even basic zoning protections.

Now here’s the good news.

The county is ahead of schedule in fulfilling its obligation in the settlement. Our current benchmark is to have 300 units with financing in place by the end of 2013. The county exceeded the mark in December and currently has 309 units in place with financing, of which 117 are already occupied. Over 91 percent of the required 750 units are already in the pipeline.

Ask yourself this: If the county is ahead of schedule in building affordable housing in these communities, how can their zoning be exclusionary?

One of Westchester’s greatest strengths is its diversity. It is the fourth most-diverse county in the state — tied with Manhattan — in terms of African-Americans and Hispanics.

I pledge to defend with every tool at my disposal the right of people to live anywhere in Westchester in any home they can afford.  There is absolutely no place for discrimination in our county. But we won’t be bullied or threatened by HUD to do things that are not in the settlement.

 

Astorino: Update On Affordable Housing In Westchester | The Bedford Daily Voice.

Jam Packed Weekend On Deck In Chappaqua | Chappaqua Real Estate

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CHAPPAQUA, N.Y. – Looking for something to do around Chappaqua this weekend will not be a problem—but choosing what you do might be. Several exciting events are slated to take place this weekend, along with a favorable weather forecast. You can also visit our Events page for more options in the area.

Friday, May 17

Free Ice Cream for Middle Schoolers: 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. For Bell Middle School and Seven Bridges Middle School students, free ice cream will be served at “Local” compliments of Chappaqua Pediatrics. 75 South Greeley Avenue

Lecture: Screenwriter Mark Bomback: 7:30 p.m. Screenwriting and Mark’s film Unstoppable, starring Denzel Washington, will be the subject of the talk. A short clip of the film will be shown. Mark is also the screenwriter for Live free or Die Hard, Race to Witch Mountain and Total Recoil. Free and open to the public. Chappaqua Public Library, 195 South Greeley Avenue, Chappaqua.

Saturday, May 18

Chappaqua Farmers Market Outdoor Season: 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.  The Chappaqua Farmers Market will welcome shoppers for their third season with new offerings.  The market’s spring/summer season will now take place outdoors at the Chappaqua train station.

Family Fun Day at Wagon Road Camp: Noon to 4 p.m. Experience “a day in the life” of summer camp at Wagon Road Day Camp. Experience the amazing adventure ropes course and imagination playground, take a pony ride, visit our petting zoo, enjoy the bouncy castle, get your face painted, and enjoy a free lunch from our Summer Camp menu.  Kids can participate in our scavenger hunt and win a prize! Free for all Chappaqua families. 431 Quaker Road, Chappaqua.

Relay For Life of Chappaqua: 7 p.m. The journey to end cancer starts with a single step. The American Cancer Society invites you to take that step with us by joining the global Relay For Life movement. When you walk to end cancer at a Relay event, it’s your opportunity to not only honor cancer survivors and remember loved ones lost, but also to raise awareness about what we can do to stay well from cancer and raise money to help fuel the world’s largest walk to end cancer. Held in the Horace Greelye High School, 70 Roaring Brook Road.

Sunday, May 19

New Castle 10K Road Race: 8:10 a.m. Sponsored by New Castle Physical Therapy and Personal Training, the 26th annual New Castle 10K Road Race is slated to begin outside of Town Hall. If you did not already register, it costs $25 to do so on the day of the race. 200 South Greeley Avenue, Chappaqua.

Tails to Trails: 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Chappaqua-Millwood Chamber of Commerce will hold Millwood’s first annual “Tails to Trails” this Sunday in the parking lot of the Millwood Animal Hospital. The event is a combination of a pet fair and a walk along the North County Trailway. The fair will include free hot dogs, water and a raffle with items such as an iPod, pet exams and Frontline products.

Free Family Concert: 3 p.m. The Pleasantville Fire Department Band will include music of Benny Goodman, Rimsky Korsakov, as well as marches by John Phillip Sousa. Featured will be solos by the flute and drum. Free and open to the public. Chappaqua Public Library, 195 South Greeley Avenue.

 

 

Jam Packed Weekend On Deck In Chappaqua | The Chappaqua Daily Voice.

Homebuilders ready to kick it up a notch | Chappaqua Real Estate

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With tight inventory stifling a full housing recovery in many markets and foreclosures slowing down, builders are responding by ramping up plans to put new homes on the market, according to an analysis of U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development data by RealtyTrac.

During the first quarter, single-family housing permits  – approvals given by a local authority to start construction — were up 27 percent from a year ago, to the highest level since the first quarter of 2008, RealtyTrac reported. The majority of building permits issued in the first quarter — 64 percent — were for single-family homes.

Houston, Oklahoma City, Austin, El Paso and Fort Worth topped the list of cities where the most single-family building permits were issues, while Texas, Florida, North Carolina, California and Georgia were the top states.

Single-family building permits and foreclosure starts increased by at least 10 percent in Las Vegas, Seattle, Raleigh, N.C., Reno, Nevada, and Boca Raton, Fla.

REALTYTRAC_Q12013_INVENTORY

Foreclosure starts were down 27 percent in the quarter from a year ago, according to RealtyTrac, to the lowest level in a quarter since the second quarter of 2006.

– See more at: http://www.inman.com/2013/05/15/homebuilders-ready-to-kick-it-up-a-notch/#sthash.NimmQjIn.dpuf

 

Homebuilders ready to kick it up a notch | Inman News.

Mortgage Rates – Today’s Home Loan Rates and Trends | Chappaqua NY Homes

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Latest rates from zillow.com

 

3.625% APR
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3.641% APR
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    $1,094 /mo
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3.641% APR
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    $1,094 /mo
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3.672% APR
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3.752% APR
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    $1,111 /mo
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Mortgage Rates – Today’s Home Loan Rates and Trends | Zillow.

Is Paying Down Your Mortgage a Bad Idea? | Chappaqua Real Estate

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Making extra payments on your mortgage?
Many people do — they’re anxious to get that mortgage paid down as quick as they can. But especially with interest rates this low, that might not be the best place to put that next dollar.
So what are the top five reasons to postpone that mortgage burning party?

Your emergency fund is on the scrawny side.

Before you send another extra dollar to your mortgage company, beef up your cash reserves.
Sure, you are saving more in interest than you’re earning in your bank account, but what happens if you lose your job?
You can’t rip out your bathtub and sell it on eBay for grocery money. And the bank isn’t likely to loan you the money back while you’re unemployed.
Likewise, if you’re still saving for retirement, putting that extra money toward your retirement savings is a smart move.
You’ll be taking advantage of the power of compounding by putting the money to work for you sooner. You get an extra bonus if adding to your retirement savings garners you more of an employer match.

You are carrying other debt, like credit card debt or a car loan.

Those consumer loans should be paid down first.
It’s likely your credit card interest is higher than your mortgage rate, and your mortgage interest may offer you a tax deduction that you’re not going to get from a credit card or car loan.
Work on reducing your consumer debt to zero before even considering paying down your mortgage.

Capture the arbitrage.

Remember not that long ago when online banks were paying 3.5%? That’s about what you can get a 30-year fixed mortgage for these days.
Economies are cyclical; it’s only a matter of time until those deposit rates return, and go even higher. And when they do, you’ll be glad to have your money earning more in the bank than the bank is charging you on your mortgage.
Imagine the scenario where you could pay off your mortgage if you wanted to, but instead watch the interest you’re earning outpace the interest you’re paying.

Those extra dollars could be put to use elsewhere.

Perhaps your career could use a boost from some coaching or certifications?
The additional money you’ll earn year after year from investing in your working future may return loads more than the savings on your mortgage.

 

Is Paying Down Your Mortgage a Bad Idea? | Chappaqua Real Estate | Bedford NY Real Estate | Robert Paul Talks Life in Bedford NY.

Maine’s Real Estate Report | Chappaqua Real Estate

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Today’s Real Estate Report – Maine
At Gay Realty Watch, we look for news to share with you about the gay real estate market – both lgbt real estate news and news specific to gay and lesbian real estate meccas. If you have a gay real estate story that you’d like to share with us, contact us at info@gayrealtynetwork.com.

Today, in our ongoing series about local real estate markets, we’ll take a look at home sales and trends in the Maine real estate market.

Overall, Maine home sales were up more than 8% in the first quarter of 2013 vs. 2012, the Bangor Daily News reports:

In Maine, home sales were up 8.3 percent in the first quarter of 2013 compared with the same quarter last year. During the same period, home sales in the Bangor metropolitan service area, which includes all of Penobscot County, were up 9.1 percent, while the Portland metropolitan service area — which is York, Cumberland and Sagadahoc counties — experienced an 8.6 percent rise in home sales, according to Nothaft.

Maine’s home prices have not seen a big spike, but then the market didn’t suffer as much during the recession as other states:

“You had a big run-up in home values, but it pales in comparison to what we saw in some of the real hot markets that are the poster childs for the boom and bust,” Nothaft said. “The decline in home values, while pretty substantive here in this market — 15 percent or so decline from the peak — is much more moderate compared to what we see in national indices and much more moderate relative to what we saw in the really distressed markets … like Las Vegas down 60 to 70 percent in value. So it’s a much more moderate boom and bust relative to other markets.”

Real estate business is up along Maine’s Midcoast as WCSH reports:

People in the real estate business in the Midcoast say they’ve seen a noticeable increase in business this year. Brokers say homes are selling in all price ranges, which is a change from the past few years, They also say that more people are looking at houses, apparently encouraged by a better economy and continuing low mortgage interest rates.

Up north, things aren’t going as well for The County. The St. John Valley Timesreports:

The number of existing, single-family homes sold (units) and volume (MSP) during the months of January, February and March of 2012 and 2013 for Aroostook County are as follows:

In this rolling quarter of 2012, 65 of the state’s 1,902 units were from The County. For this rolling quarter of 2013, 52 of the state’s 2,049 units were from The County. “Units Sold” therefore saw a decrease of 20 percent. MSP for this rolling quarter of 2012 was $79,000 in Aroostook County. MSP for this rolling quarter of 2013 was $74,500. “MSP” therefore saw a decrease of 5.7 percent. Aroostook County saw the largest percentage drop in Units Sold of all 16 Maine counties for this rolling quarter.

 

Gayapolis News – Today’s Real Estate Report – Maine.

Cuba’s Real Estate Market on the Rise :: EDGE on the Net | Chappaqua Real Estate

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Estrella Diaz sits next to a homemade sign advertising her home for sale, in Havana, Cuba.

Estrella Diaz sits next to a homemade sign advertising her home for sale, in Havana, Cuba.  (Source:AP Photo/Franklin Reyes)
In some ways, Yosuan Crespo’s real estate office resembles any you might find in New York, London or Tokyo. There are slick posters of hot properties hanging from the ceiling, a steady stream of hopeful buyers and sellers and a constant clack of computer keys.

But Crespo’s headquarters in central Havana’s trendy Vedado neighborhood is actually somebody else’s breezy front porch. The computer’s only connection to the Internet is a creaky dial-up link, and Crespo is careful to say he’s not operating as a broker, since the job is still technically illegal.

A baffling, sometimes bizarre real estate market has emerged in the year and a half since President Raul Castro legalized private home sales on this Communist-run island for the first time in five decades.

While trade in homes is now legal, the people who bring buyers together with sellers are not. The government has yet to make good on promises to legitimize brokers, most of whom still operate in the shadows.

It’s a story that has been typical of Castro’s economic reforms, which often have left little space for the sort of middlemen and other services that help markets work.

The Cuban leader also has legalized a used car market, but not the right to open a business that sells them. And while reforms have sparked an explosion of private restaurants and cafes across Cuba, the government has yet to give them access to wholesalers that could keep them better supplied.

Crespo gets around the broker ban by operating as a licensed computer programmer and photographer, helping clients list their properties on Web portals, producing the for-sale posters that hang in his office and offering digital photo services for sellers. He says he doesn’t charge commissions.

Crespo’s listed fees are just a few dollars, but he’s found himself in major demand. He estimates 30 to 40 customers a day wander into his porch-side business, called EspacioCuba. He says his service has 2,500 current listings and has helped sell about 250 properties since it opened in January.

“Right now we are very pleased,” said Crespo, a smartly dressed 28-year-old computer scientist with close-cropped hair, but he added that the market would benefit by the government made brokering legal.

The market also still lacks a workable mortgage system, an easy means of advertising potential sales and, most important, a middle class with resources to buy.

Yet sales are humming, with some 45,000 homes changing hands in the first eight months after Castro legalized the real estate market in November 2011, according to the most recent statistics from the government.

 

 

Cuba’s Real Estate Market on the Rise :: EDGE on the Net | Chappaqua Real Estate | Bedford NY Real Estate | Robert Paul Talks Life in Bedford NY.

Local Chappaqua Area Farmer’s Markets | Chappaqua Homes

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 Fresh Food from Local Sources
5/9-5/15/2013
DowntoEarthMarkets.com
Pickles_2011
What’s New and in Season This Week

Asparagus
Gajeski Produce
Migliorelli Farm

Baby Bok Choy
Migliorelli Farm

Baby Radishes
Migliorelli Farm

Basil
Gajeski Produce

Carrots
John D. Madura Farms

Collards
Gajeski Produce


Green Garlic
John D. Madura Farms

Greenhouse Tomatoes
Jersey Fresh

**Mother’s Day Gifts!**
Treat Mom to a beautifulhanging basket of flowers
Eden Farms Greenhouses
John D. Madura Farms

Potted Flowers
Jersey Fresh

Potted Herbs
John D. Madura Farms


Radishes
Migliorelli Farm

Spinach
Migliorelli Farm

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie
Bread Alone
Pie Lady & Son

Sweet Horseradish Pickles
Horman’s Best Pickles

Tomato Plants
John D. Madura Farms


Click on a Market to see all vendor and event details…                   

Westchester County    
Ossining
Winter Market
Saturdays 9am-1pm

Croton-on-Hudson
Ossining Winter Market Saturdays 9am-1pm

Pleasantville
Ossining Winter Market Saturdays 9am-1pm		 NYC Markets

Larchmont
Mamaroneck Winter Market Saturdays 9am-1pm

Rye
Mamaroneck Winter Market Saturdays 9am-1pm		Greenpoint
McGolrick Park Farmers Market
Sundays 11am-4pm

New Rochelle
Mamaroneck Winter Market
Saturdays 9am-1pm

Tarrytown
Ossining Winter Market
Saturdays 9am-1pm		Park Slope
Sundays 10am-4pm
Market Announcements 
Greenpoint

McGolrick Park’s Down to Earth Farmers Market has a new vendor: La Newyorkina!
Try their delicious Mexican-style ice and sweet treats on Sundays from 11 am to 4 pm.
(Make sure to ask about their new collaboration with Momofuku, as reported by the Zagat blog.)

Park Slope

Please note that Park Slope’s Down to Earth Farmers Market will be closed on Sunday, May 19th
for the annual Fabulous Fifth Avenue Fair. We’ll be back in full swing the following week.

Down to Earth Markets is HIRING

We are looking for a few good CARROTS.
Do you love talking to people about fresh, local food? Would you like to be paid for doing so?
If this sounds great, apply to be a “Carrot” with Down to Earth Markets. Our carrots wear a light, flexible costume and hand out flyers for the markets. It’s a fun, freelance job that helps promote local food!

To be considered, please submit your resume and a short note of why you wish to apply at jobs@downtoearthmarkets.com. 

Stay tuned to all market happenings via our Down to Earth Markets Facebook page
and follow us on Twitter @DowntoEarthMkts.

Take a Fair Trade Coffee Break with Down to Earth Markets & Tierra Farm
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The glory of Tierra Farm products at Patriot Park’s Down to Earth Farmers Mkt

At Down to Earth Farmers Markets, we curate our markets with both regional farmers AND food entrepreneurs. Our founding principle for recruiting vendors is – and will always be – local. For the growers, this is a clear cut path: all of our farmers travel “to the market and back in a day.”

With the food entrepreneurs who create artisanal products, the vetting process looks at the sourcing of their ingredients. We want to offer shoppers a wide variety of products at our markets, but not all of the products in demand can be found in the Northeast. So the question becomes: Where do the ingredients come from?

We embrace small food companies that have a strong connection to the source of their ingredients. We also promote vendors who create products with a culinary history; for example, Kontoulis Olive Oil comes from a vineyard in Greece, planted by the family three generations ago.

In the next two weeks at three area Down to Earth Farmers Markets, we’re going to celebrate these added-values behind our food entrepreneurs. We’re teaming up with Tierra Farm’s coffee roasters to invite shoppers to a “Fair Trade Coffee Break”. At each event, Tierra Farm will discuss their commitment to fair trade sourcing for their locally-roasted nuts and coffees, while offering samples of their amazi

Purchase loans tick up | Chappaqua NY Real Estate

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Applications for purchase loans increased a seasonally adjusted 2 percent for the week ending May 3 from the previous week, and were up 12 percent on an annual basis, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey.

Meanwhile, applications for refinance loans climbed 8 percent from the previous week reaching the highest level since December 2012. The MBA attributed the gain to increases in both the conventional and government refinance indices. Source: MBA

www.inman.com