We haven’t heard about it much lately, so here’s a quick update. Just over four months after the abdicated King of Miami basketball LeBron Jamesput his castle on the market, signaling that, yes, he was giving up Miami for good, the$17 millionhouse still there. Not that that’s all that surprising. It’s only been four months. But then again the total absence of this house from headlines since then might also say something. James’ house comes with a “sommelier’s dream wine cellar”, a fancy kitchen, dockage space for two 60-foot yachts, a big wall around it, an infinity pool with a rather bold lighting scheme, 16,768 square feet of living space, 4500 square feet of entertainment space, six bedrooms, and 6.5 baths, an infinity pool, ceilings high enough for a basketball player, and some gorgeous listing photos.
More and more home buyers are finally getting the financing they need, according the year-end Elli Mae Originations Insights Report. But not everyone fared so well.
Two out of three applications for a mortgage were approved in November and December, the highest approval rate in years. Some 67.1 percent of applications were approved, up from 31 percent two years ago and well above the 2014 annual average of 63.3 percent.
Even more importantly, today more people with good but not perfect credit scores are getting mortgages to buy a home. The average FICO score for all loans in 2014 was 726, 12 points lower than 2013 and 22 points lower than it was 748 in 2012. However, the average FICO for a mortgage still higher than the median average FICO score of 692.
FHA borrowers with even lower FICO scores are more likely to get a mortgage approval than conventional borrowers. The average FICO score to buy a home in 2014 was only 684, down from 695 in 2013.
Yet there’s bad news for student loan debtors. Debt to income requirements for purchase loans barely budged in 2014. Average front end ratios for purchase loans were the same in 2014 as 2013: 24 percent. Back end ratios loosened slightly, rising only from 36 to 37 percent. The data may reflect the impact of the QM Rule, implemented in 2014, which limits DTI ratios to 43 percent. For first-time buyers saddled with high student loan debt, this is not good news.
Home buyers applying for conventional financing saw very little improvement in average FICO scores during the year. FICO scores remain very high compared to other loan types. In 2014 the average FICO was 755 for conventional loans, far above the average of 726 for all loan types. By comparison, the average FICO for conventional purchase loan borrowers was 759 in 2013 and 763 in 2012. In two years, the average FICO score for approved conventional purchase loans has changed only 8 points.
Borrowers with the credit and down payment for a conventional loan were also more likely to get approved. A higher percentage of conventional purchase loan applications were approved than any other loan type. In December, 62.8 percent were approved compared to 63.2 percent for FHA loans and 7.1 percent for all purchase loans.
First up is this beautiful brick townhouse in Brooklyn Heights. The house was built in 1849 and there’s a ton of historic details, plus an elevator, 12′ ceilings, and bay windows overlooking a garden designed by landscape architect Alice Ireys. The place is 25′-wide and has around 6,500 square feet of living space. It’s asking $7.2 million.
↑ Over in Williamsburg, this three-story townhouse is asking $4.3 million. The place was built in 1890 and was gut-renovated 13 years ago. It’s currently configured for multiple families but it can be converted into a single-family home quite easily.
↑ This four-unit, two-story investment property in Weeksville is asking $1.495 million. The place is fully-rented and offers an income of $8,400/month. It has a two-car garage, separate boilers, hardwood flooring, and a coin operated laundry.
U.S. homebuilders are feeling slightly less confident in their sales prospects heading into next year, even as their overall sales outlook remains favorable.
The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo builder sentiment index released Monday slipped this month to 57, down one point from 58 in November.
Readings above 50 indicate more builders view sales conditions as good, rather than poor.
Builders’ view of current sales conditions and their outlook for sales over the next six months also declined slightly. A measure of traffic by prospective buyers held steady.
The index also found sentiment had improved in the West and Northeast, but took a step back in the Midwest and South, which accounts for half of the new-home market.
The latest reading reflects a housing market that is slowly recovering, said David Crowe, the NAHB’s chief economist.
“As we head into 2015, the housing market should continue to recover at a steady, gradual pace,” Crowe said.
Housing, while still a long way from the boom of several years ago, has been recovering over the past two years.
New home sales reached a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 458,000 homes in October, the highest point since May. Still, sales remain sharply below the annual rate of 700,000 seen during the 1990s.
At the same time, home prices continue to climb.
The median price of a home sold in October was $305,000, up 16.5 percent from a year ago. November data on new-home sales are due out next week.
The steady rise in home prices has held back many potential buyers, particularly first-time buyers. Many lack the savings and strong credit history needed to afford a home, causing them to rent or remain in their existing homes instead of upgrading.
Sales of new homes in the United States printed at an annual rate of 458,000 for the month of October, up 0.7% from September.
This tepid gain was saved from being a decline by a surprising jump in sales in the Midwest, which saw 15.8% gains, and better than usual gains in the northeast of 7.7% month-over-month.
“The slight rise in new home sales in October is somewhat disappointing, as it is more of the same of what we’ve seen throughout 2014 – tepid growth in housing constrained by a slowly recovering economy,” said Quicken Loans vice president Bill Banfield.
October’s gain is 1.8% above the October 2013 estimate of 450,000.
But that month-over-month gain was only achieved because September’s new home sales figure was dramatically revised downward from 467,000 to 453,000.
Dragging down new home sales was the West and South, which saw a -2.7% decline and -1.9% decline, respectively.
The imbalance there is due to the fact that the West and the South are vastly larger housing markets compared to the Midwest and Northeast.
The median sales price of new houses sold in October 2014 was $305,000, while the average sales price was $401,100.
The seasonally adjusted estimate of new houses for sale at the end of October was 212,000. This represents a supply of 5.6 months at the current sales rate.
Advanced Registration is required for all programs. Unless noted, all programs meet in the Nature Center and are $7 per person or FREE for members. Please register by calling (914) 762-2912 ext. 110.
Preparing for Winter
Saturday, November 29
1 pm – 2:30 pm
How do wildlife prepare for winter? Who migrates? Who hibernates? Who is active throughout the season? Join us for this animal program where we will answer these questions, meet a couple of Teatown’s animal ambassadors, take a short walk outside, and make a craft to take home.
After the Turkey Hike
Member’s Only
Sunday, November 30
10 am – 12 pm
It’s time to hike off those extra pounds gained from the Thanksgiving feast. The Overlook Trail will give us a good workout and some views too! Moderate hike with some steep sections. Wear hiking boots, bring water and a snack.
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Upcoming Events and Workshops:
Island in the River – Hike with Club Fit
Saturday, December 6
10 am – 2 pm
Join us for a pleasant stroll through Croton Point Park a picturesque riverside park that’s almost an island in the Hudson River.
Hike Length is 4 miles / 3 hours. Rain cancels. Bring lunch and a warm drink. Comfortable shoes a must! Meet in the Club Fit – Jefferson Valley parking lot located on Bank Road at 10am or at Croton Point Park at 10:30 am.
Feathers, Scales & Fur
Sunday, December 7
10 am – 11:30 am
December is upon us and animals have a strategy to make it through the winter. How does an animal’s wardrobe determine
what it does when the weather turns cold?
Join us to find out!
In the Nature Center Gallery:
Ceramic Plates & Sculpture
by Barbara Krohn
On exhibit November & December 2014
Ms. Krohn and her family have long standing connections to Teatown and we are very pleased to be hosting an exhibit of her recent works.
The holidays are coming: when school is out and nature is in! Come for a day, or two or more of fun in the outdoors. There will be hiking, crafts, and enough adventure to keep your child busy and active throughout the holiday season.
Teatown is helping Open Door Family Medical Centers collect new toys for children from families of less fortunate means this holiday season. Please donate new, unwrapped toys for their young patients ages newborn to 14 years old. Every toy counts!
Please bring your new, unwrapped toys for children newborn to 14 years old to Teatown’s Nature Center between November 22 and December 10. Suggested Value: $10 – $20
As the city’s known more nowadays for its inflated, six-zero asks, it might be hard to believe that apartments still exist within its confines under the $300,000 threshold. Okay, they may be small and not quite where all the action’s happening, but that doesn’t have to be a negative. Example: this slim studio on 87th Street between York and First avenues on the Upper East Side is south-facing and looks onto the block’s courtyards. It comes with two closets and a renovated bathroom all for $249,000.
↑ At $299,000, this plain jane of an East Village studio just barely makes the cut. The unit, which has two closets and a separate, windowed kitchen with room for two stools at a breakfast bar, is on the sixth floor of a prewar elevator building on 12th Street between Second and Third avenues. The photos don’t show a bed in the living area, though, so be warned that it looks larger than it probably is! (Which is, according to the listing, 350 square feet.)
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↑ In Chelsea, there’s a townhouse co-op with a fun purple stripe on the wall asking $285K. It’s a walk-up, but there are hardwood floors. The location is central, on West 18th Street near Eighth Avenue, and the two windows have a bright westward view, plus there’s built-in storage above the kitchen and bathroom doors.
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↑ The kitchen in this Park Slope apartment is divided from the living room by a partial wall with a pass-through window that also has shades, making it easier to divide up a small space into even smaller ones. There’s also a separate lofted area for sleeping, though that’s not pictured, with a walk-in closet underneath. The location is hard to beat: half a block away from Prospect Park West on Union Street, right near Grand Army Plaza. Asking price: $299,000.
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↑ This Brighton Beach studio comes with a lovely oceanfront view for a discounted $214,000. Sure, the apartment is small tiny, but packs a punch in its nearly 500 square feet: the kitchen has all new stainless steel appliances (dishwasher included), there’s a terrace, and oceanfront and Manhattan views. And in those steamy summer months, the boardwalk and beach are but steps away.
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↑ In Brooklyn Heights, $299,000 buys this shady studio in classy prewar co-op building The Remsen, off of Remsen and Henry streets. The apartment’s been recently renovated and has new floors, cabinets (installed post-picture taking), countertop, sink and backsplash, as well as two walk-in closets. The building also has a 24-hour doorman. Water, heat, electricity, and gas are all included.
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↑ There’s no floorplan for this seventh-floor prewar co-op on Broadway between 102nd and 103rd Streets, but the listing promises “plenty of closet space, pre-war molding and original hardwood flooring throughout.” The main room of this $275,000 unit does look spacious, and the building (called the Broadmoor) has a nicely furnished shared roof deck with views of the Hudson.
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↑ This studio in a 1939 Art Deco building in Washington Heights has a windowed kitchen and bath, deep closets, 9-foot ceilings, and hardwood floors throughout (although not a whole lot of windows in the living area). The studio is asking$249,000, and is close to neighborhood amenities like Fort Tryon Park. A negative?’ it’ll cost buyers an extra $240 per year to use the building’s gym.
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↑ Near the Midtown Tunnel entrance, Murray Hill offers up this petite pad in a doorman building on 36th Street between Second and Third avenues. It’s basically one big room, but there’s an “entry hall” and a separate galley kitchen, as well as two “large and deep closets.” For $299,000 you’ll get a communal outdoor space on the roof here, too, in the event of claustrophobia.
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↑ At the top of a building that towers over low-lying Forest Hills is this $268,000 studio. The 25th-floor digs have a recently enlarged and updated bathroom, and a renovated kitchen with Moen and Kohler fixtures, a wine refrigerator, and Caeserstone countertops. Gerard Tower has a 24-hour doorman, a seasonal pool, gym, in-building laundry, and underground parking.
The economy continues to produce jobs at a modest pace, although wages gains remain weak according to the most recent labor market reports from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Improvements in both areas should help support growth in both owner-occupied and rental housing demand in the coming year.
In October, home builders and remodelers added 8,000 jobs to the residential construction sector on a seasonal adjusted basis according to NAHB analysis of BLS data. Over the last 12 months, the industry has created 131,000 jobs. Since the low point of industry employment following the Great Recession, the residential construction industry has gained 333,700 positions, although employment remains 1.132 million lower than the peak level seen in early 2006. Employment growth for the sector has been steady recently, adding on average just a little more than 10,000 jobs per month over the last six months.
Of course, national employment conditions are a key factor driving housing demand. According to the most recent BLS data, total nonfarm payroll employment grew by 214,000 on a seasonal adjusted basis in October. After upward revisions for September and August, the economy added 673,000 positions over the last three months. In the separate household survey, the national unemployment rate fell from 5.9% to 5.8% in October. Real wage growth continues to lag, posting only a 0.1% pickup in October after a 0.2% decline in September.
After living for six years in his downtown Edmonton loft, in the Canadian province of Alberta, this homeowner was ready for a change. He liked the industrial nature of the space — soaring ceilings, raw redbrick walls, exposed ducting and conduit — but didn’t like its low-grade cabinetry. Plus, he was flat-out tired of his furniture.While he didn’t mind getting his hands dirty doing some of the work of refreshing the space, he knew he needed professional help when it came to the layout and choosing colors and furniture styles. He found designer Brenda Brix of AMR Design while searching for local professionals on Houzz and enlisted her help through a design consultation. She wrote up a detailed plan, and he implemented it himself, finding materials and furnishings and even teaching himself how to build and modify pieces.
For example, he bought mirror tiles and antiqued them. He took a basic pine cabinet from Ikea and distressed it. He even located his own stainless steel and installed it himself as a backsplash. “I wanted to add personal touches and cool things that people would come in and we could talk about them for five minutes,” he says.
Photos by Ryan Patrick Kelly PhotographsBrix’s plan divided up the long, narrow space without interior walls into a TV room with a sectional near the farthest window, a reading area with a single chaise in the middle and a conversation grouping with four chairs, seen here in the foreground. The sleeping area is to the right (not shown), separated by bookshelves.
Each chair in the conversation area is from a different supplier, because Brix and the homeowner felt that four of the same club chair would have made the space feel too heavy.
Breaking up the three walls of brick with artwork also kept things from feeling too heavy. The homeowner made the bus stop–style signs himself on canvas. “It brings a little script into the space and flows with the brick, so it feels like you’re outside,” says Brix.
Red chair: Costco; leather chair with metal: Wayfair; metal chair with sheepskin: Restoration Hardware
BEFORE: The low-grade kitchen cabinets and lack of a backsplash played a big part in the homeowner’s decision for a new look.
AFTER: The homeowner removed the cabinets and countertop himself and found a contractor to weld the sink and integrated countertop from stainless steel. He then had the steel cut for the counter-to-ceiling backsplash and enlisted the help of his neighbor to install it.He created the live-edge floating shelf from a piece of wood he picked out at a local supplier and attached it himself. He bought the range hood from Costco and took it to a local powder-coating shop.
now sits at 1.83 adults in 2012, up from 1.75 in 2000.
However, this phenomenon is concentrated in markets where rent has most outpaced income, notably in California and Florida.
For example, the share of Los Angeles adults in doubled up households in 2000 was 41.2%. It now is at 47.9% in 2012. This is compared to places like Columbus, Ohio, that while it did report an increase, it only increased from 19.1% to 25.8%.
“But there is a silver lining behind this data. Like a coiled spring, all of these doubled-up households represent tremendous potential energy for the market. If and when these compressed households begin to unwind and these millions of Americans do start to create their own households, demand will bounce back, possibly even causing household growth to outpace population growth,” Humphries added.
A recent report from TheDemandInstitute found that millennials are finally moving out of their parents’ homes. Although, they are still opting to rent rather than buy their own house.
“One important difference between millennials and young adults in previous decades is the unique financial challenges of home ownership today, resulting from graduating into a weak job market with growing student loan debt,” said Jeremy Burbank, a vice president at The Demand Institute and Nielsen. “Many millennials are open to alternative approaches to housing finance, including single-family rentals and rent/own hybrid contracts such as lease-to-own.”
“There is no magic bullet, but continued home affordability, an increasing supply of both for-rent and for-sale homes and the potential for incomes to grow more quickly as the economy recovers will all help the market to realize this potential,” Humphries added.
