Tag Archives: Cross River NY Real Estate

How the Cold War Shaped the Design of American Malls | Cross River Real Estate

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[Photo courtesy of Life Magazine Photo Archive via Shorpy]

Regardless of location, the American shopping mall takes the same form: two floors of enclosed shopping and parking connected by escalators, with a lush central arboretum and two anchor department stores at either end. Today this design seems cliche, but in 1956, it was a revolutionary setup that brought comfort to a nation that feared itself on the brink of nuclear war. America’s first mall, Southdale in Edina, Minnesota, was a Cold War-era invention that forever changed the way America lives and shops.

Southdale was designed by Austrian-born architect Victor Gruen. Gruen grew up in the high arts scene in Vienna and designed housing projects and stores for local merchants, but he fled his home and the rise of Nazi Germany in 1938. He settled in America, where he first designed a leather goods boutique for Ludwig Leder on Fifth Avenue in New York. Gruen turned the typical street-fronting New York boutique on its head by designing a mini arcade entranceway for Lederer. Then he turned his attention to larger-scale design, entering a 1943 Architectural Forum competition called “Architecture 194x,” which solicited ideas from renowned modern architects to design components of a futuristic model town. (The contest title referred to an unspecified year sometime in the postwar future.)

 

 

 

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http://curbed.com/archives/2014/06/11/how-the-cold-war-shaped-the-design-of-american-malls.php

Alejandro Sanz Taking His 15 Grammys, Selling His Historic N. Bay Road Hacienda For $15M | Cross River Homes

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26 images


Click here to view the full photogallery.

Many grammy winning Latin singer Alejandro Sanz is selling his guitar-filled mediterranean revival villa built in 1933 on the shores of Sunset Lake, the body of water formed by the sheltering embrace of the four Sunset Islands. The house, which we’re curious to identify the original architect of (could it be DeGarmo, Pancoast, Fatio?), was renovated by “legendary designer” Wallace Tutt, of Thomas Kramer’s ‘haunted’ house fame. A search of property appraiser’s records for the architect proved fruitless. So did the Miami Beach historic property database. Just from the look of it, however, the house could be a Russell Pancoast or even an August Geiger. It’s sleuthing time.

 

 

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http://miami.curbed.com/archives/2014/06/05/alejandro-sanz-house.php

 

Housing is in danger of overheating again: Zillow’s Stan Humphries | Cross River Homes

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Home values in more than 1,000 U.S. cities are expected to surpass their pre-2008 levels within the year, according to a new report released today by Zillow.

“It’s definitely a mixed bag of news,” says Humphries in the video above. “On the one hand you’re happy that home prices are recovering so nicely. On the other hand home values were definitely overvalued in 2006 and the fact that just so shortly after the greatest housing recession of the century we’re already seeing a lot of metros return to their peak levels is a sign for how robust the recovery is…but some markets are definitely in danger of overheating again.”

He continues: “In some markets, people are spending more of their incomes on a mortgage than they did during the 15 years before the housing runoff,” says Humphries. “Broadly speaking though, at a national level we think homes are still very affordable.”

Another issue that’s affecting home buyers: lending requirements. Now that the volume of refinancing has decreased, banks are getting searching for new ways to make money: they’re lowering down payment requirements, targeting lower credit-score borrowers and more.

A recent Wall Street Journal article reveals that mortgage standards are becoming more lax. Within the past year, one in six homebuyers made down payments of less than 10%, which is the highest share since 2008 (excluding FHA mortgages). But in early 2007 that figure was more than 44%.

 

 

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http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/housing-is-in-danger-of-overheating-again–zillow-s-stan-humphries-122948058.html

Menachem Stark did not leave a will | Cross River Real Estate

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Brooklyn developer Menachem Stark, whose slaying has yet to yield an arrest, did not have a will, according to court records. His widow Bashie Stark was appointed yesterday as administrator of the estate, which will be required to list all of Stark’s assets in bankruptcy court as well as surrogate’s court. Bashie’s seven children have been named as beneficiaries.

“The assets of the estate are unknown,” Seth Rubenstein, a lawyer for the widow, said. “The administrator must appear in a bankruptcy proceeding whose resolution may or may not bring assets into the estate.”

The 39-year-old developer’s body was found in a Long Island dumpster in January. Stark owed several million dollars to multiple creditors and was the defendant in several lawsuits. Investigators said earlier this week they are closing in on a suspect in the killing.

 

 

http://therealdeal.com/blog/2014/04/02/menachem-stark-did-not-leave-a-will/

Pending home sales down 10.5% from February 2013 | Cross River Real Estate

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Pending home sales fell for the eighth straight month, down 0.8% from the downwardly revised January report and down 10.5% from February 2013, according to the index from the National Association of Realtors.

NAR’s pending sales index is an indicator of closings that usually happen within three months.

“Contract signings for the past three months have been little changed, implying the market appears to be stabilizing,” said Lawrence Yun, chief economist for NAR. “Moreover, buyer traffic information from our monthly Realtor survey shows a modest turnaround, and some weather delayed transactions should close in the spring.”

Existing home sales have been down since September 2013, with buyers facing the challenges of an increasing affordability gap as investors have driven up prices and lending requirements have tightened.

“Upon first glance, it may seem high that a quarter of all ZipRealty home sales closed without financing in 2012 and 2013,” said ZipRealty CEO and president Lanny Baker. “But based on our own internal analysis and data from the National Association of Realtors, the percentage of all-cash real estate transactions may actually be moderating. Nationwide, the percentage of all-cash real estate transactions reached a five-year high in 2010 at 27%, and the percentage of all-cash property sales has slowly declined or flattened every subsequent year.”

All-cash transactions accounted for 20% of the residential real estate market in 2009, and 25.6% of the market in 2011, NAR reports.

According to ZipRealty’s analysis, in 2013 26% of all the real estate transactions closed by ZipRealty agents were purchased with cash, while 25% of the homes purchased through ZipRealty agents were acquired with cash.

 

http://www.housingwire.com/articles/29460-pending-home-sales-down-105-from-february-2013

 

Here Now, The 10 Richest Neighborhoods In New York City | Cross River Real Estate

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[Original image via Curbed Flickr Pool/Vivienne Gucwa]

Following the example set by our sister-site, Curbed LA, we too are dissecting the Higley 1000, a list that uses information from the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey 2006-2010 to rank the nation’s most affluent neighborhoods according to their mean household income. In their coverage of the list, Atlantic Cities notes that denser urban areas are subject to more variance than the suburbs, whose large-lot exclusionary zoning keeps them the territory of the uber-wealthy. So only somewhat surprisingly, NYC environs far outshone city neighborhoods to take the list’s top spots. Coming in at the most affluent neighborhood in the nation on the Higley 1000? Greenwich, Connecticut’s “Golden Triangle,” where a mean household income is $614,242 annually. The first New York City ‘hood to appear on the list ranks 90th. Think you can guess what it is?:

10) Upper East Side: ($278,040)

9) Cobble Hill: ($281,303)

8) Beekman Place: ($283,316)

7) Forest Hills: ($288,699)

6) Dumbo: ($295,153)

5) Tribeca: ($332,138)

4) Carnegie Hill: ($333,067)

3) Flatiron District: ($347,688)

Don’t Waste Money on These 5 Remodeling Projects | Cross River Real Estate

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The herky-jerky real estate market — recovering here, lagging there and nearly reaching a bubble in some cities – has buyers, sellers and homeowners all scratching their heads. Uncertainty is the word.

It’s risky to delve into lavish home improvement projects that are unlikely to earn back what you put into them. Even if you’re in one of the markets where CNN Money expects the greatest increases this year – Oakland, Calif.; Tampa, Fla.; Fort Worth, Texas; New Orleans; Richmond, Va.; Hartford, Conn.; Baltimore; Birmingham, Ala.; New York; and Memphis, Tenn. – don’t go hog wild.

Best: Honolulu

The payback on remodeling is up, says Remodeling magazine, which each year publishes a report on the resale value of 35 home improvement projects. But that’s “up” from years of decline. “This trend signals an end to the long slide in the cost-value ratio, which began to fall in 2006 and didn’t begin to rebound until last year,” the magazine says.

Some improvements can raise your home’s value quite a bit, but getting your entire investment back is rare.

The best city for return on your remodeling dollar is Honolulu, Remodeling says. The top 10 cities, in order, are:

  1. Honolulu
  2. San Francisco
  3. San Jose, Calif.
  4. San Diego
  5. Bridgeport, Conn.
  6. Fort Myers, Fla.
  7. Charleston, S.C.
  8. Oklahoma City
  9. Washington, D.C.
  10. Austin, Texas

Money wasted

You can easily end up pouring money down the drain by launching into a home remodeling job without learning what the payback might be. Ask several local real estate agents what a particular project might do to your home’s value. You might go ahead anyway. But you’ll do it with your eyes open.

 

 

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/don-t-waste-money-5-211851621.html

Baby boomers key to robust real estate market | Cross River Real Estate

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“Build it and they will come.” That phrase had characterized Clark County’s real estate market for decades. But are we ready to build the housing that will meet the needs of those who help drive the local market: the baby boomers?

The year 2013 was a continuation of the momentum in home sales that started in 2012. Prices continued to modestly increase. With this stability in the market, many savvy but cautious buyers were ready to take the plunge.

This improvement in the housing market also created hope for many homeowners who had suffered substantial losses in value over the past several years and now found themselves in a more favorable position to sell.

The shift from a buyer’s market to a seller’s market came early in the year, when buyers very aggressively returned to the market. The listing inventory in certain price ranges was quickly depleted.

A seller’s market emerged, with multiple offers on some properties, especially in the lower price ranges — less than $200,000, and $200,000 to $250,000. Prompted by low interest rates and good values, buyers continued to pursue homeownership.

The next 12 months should be characterized by an increase in housing inventory. More homeowners will be reaching the point where their equity position is improved enough to no longer be “underwater.”  As those sellers enter the housing market, we should see inventories adequate to satisfy a thirsty supply of buyers.

Many baby boomers are homeowners who want to move from a large two-story into a single-level home in a quality, secure neighborhood with perhaps a smaller yard. They are not finding many choices in this category, particularly if they aren’t interested in paying more than $400,000 for the home. They want newer, quality construction — they don’t want to downgrade, they just want to downsize.

 

 

http://www.columbian.com/news/2014/jan/23/baby-boomers-key-to-robust-real-estate-market/

Buyers want a photo-driven search experience | Cross River Real Estate

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Upwards of 80 percent of buyers want to see property photos first when searching for a home, according to Robyn Woodman, a real estate broker and head of business development at Portland, Ore.-based real estate startup Househappy.

Househappy, a participant in Startup Alley at Real Estate Connect New York City, was founded in 2011 by Kevin McCloskey, a real estate broker with 27 years’ experience in the business.

The startup launched its visually based search site in March 2013. Househappy.org is free for consumers, agents and brokers, and McCloskey has vowed it will remain so. He plans to monetize the site with advertising from home services and other merchants near properties. Listing agents or brokers are posted directly on a listing page with no competing advertising from other agents.

The site obtains its listings from broker data feeds and manual uploads from listing agents or brokers. A deal with a major listing syndicator is also in the works.

Househappy recently raised $1.5 million in a funding round lead by Skechers exec Jeff Greenberg. That funding was on top of $1 million in seed funding previously raised from angel investors.

– See more at: http://www.inman.com/2014/01/15/buyers-want-a-photo-driven-search-experience/?utm_source=20140116&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=dailyheadlinesam#sthash.S2Yc3QBi.dpuf