Tag Archives: Lewisboro Homes for Sale

Mortgage rates average 2.86% | Lewisboro Real Estate

Freddie Mac (OTCQB: FMCC) today released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey® (PMMS®), showing that the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 2.86 percent.

“It’s Groundhog Day for mortgage rates, as they have remained virtually flat for over two months. The holding pattern in rates reflects the markets’ view that the prospects for the economy have dimmed somewhat due to the rebound in new COVID cases,” said Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s Chief Economist. “While our collective attention is on the pandemic, fundamental changes in the economy are occurring, such as increased migration, the extended continuation of remote work, increased use of automation, and the focus on a more energy efficient and resilient economy. These factors will likely lead to significant investment and new post-pandemic economic models that will spur economic growth.”

News Facts

  • 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 2.86 percent with an average 0.7 point for the week ending September 16, 2021, down slightly from last week when it averaged 2.88 percent. A year ago at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 2.87 percent.
  • 15-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 2.12 percent with an average 0.6 point, down from last week when it averaged 2.19 percent. A year ago at this time, the 15-year FRM averaged 2.35 percent.
  • 5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) averaged 2.51 percent with an average 0.1 point, up from last week when it averaged 2.42 percent. A year ago at this time, the 5-year ARM averaged 2.96 percent.

The PMMS® is focused on conventional, conforming, fully amortizing home purchase loans for borrowers who put 20 percent down and have excellent credit. Average commitment rates should be reported along with average fees and points to reflect the total upfront cost of obtaining the mortgage. Visit the following link for the Definitions. Borrowers may still pay closing costs which are not included in the survey.

Freddie Mac makes home possible for millions of families and individuals by providing mortgage capital to lenders. Since our creation by Congress in 1970, we’ve made housing more accessible and affordable for homebuyers and renters in communities nationwide. We are building a better housing finance system for homebuyers, renters, lenders, investors and taxpayers. Learn more at FreddieMac.com, Twitter @FreddieMac and Freddie Mac’s blog FreddieMac.com/blog.

2017 conforming loan limits rise across the country | Lewisboro Real Estate

For the first time since the housing crisis, the Federal Housing Finance Agency is increasing the maximum conforming loan limits for mortgages to be acquired by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in 2017.

For much of the country, the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loan limit remained at $417,000 for one-unit properties (or single-family homes) in 2016, just as it had for the previous 10 years.

The FHFA announced Wednesday that for 2017, it is increasing the loan limit from $417,000 to $424,100 for single-family homes.

The conforming loan limits for Fannie and Freddie are determined by the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, which established the baseline loan limit at $417,000 and mandated that, after a period of price declines, the baseline loan limit cannot rise again until home prices return to pre-decline levels.

The FHFA noted that until this year, the average U.S. home price remained below the level achieved in the third quarter of 2007, which it designates as the pre-decline price level, and therefore the baseline loan limit had not been increased.

But as the FHFA noted earlier Wednesday, its Home Price Index for the third quarter of 2016 makes it “clear” that average home prices are now above the level of the third quarter of 2007, which means that the conforming loan limits can be increased.

According to the FHFA, the expanded-data HPI value for the third quarter of 2016 was approximately 1.7% above the value for the third quarter of 2007, meaning the baseline loan limit will increase by that same percentage.

As noted above, the conforming loan limits for much of the country will increase from $417,000 to $424,100.

Loan limits will also be increasing in what the FHFA calls “high-cost areas,” where 115% of the local median home value exceeds the baseline loan limit.

As the FHFA notes, median home values generally rose in high-cost areas during this year.

According to the FHFA, the new ceiling loan limit, which applies in areas with the most expensive homes, will be $636,150 (which is 150% of $424,100) for one-unit properties in the contiguous U.S.

According to the FHFA, there are special statutory provisions that establish different loan limit calculations for Alaska, Hawaii, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

In these areas, the baseline loan limit will be $636,150 for one-unit properties, but actual loan limits may be higher in some specific locations.

For a full list of the conforming loan limits by county, click here.

The increase in conforming loan limits is a long time coming, according to William Brown, the president of the National Association of Realtors.

 

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FHFA increases conforming loan limits for first time since 2006

In the Horse Race for Millennials, is Renting Gaining on Buying? | Waccabuc Real Estate

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Apartment rents are rising rapidly, up 3.5 percent in 2015, then they are expected to moderate to 3.0 percent in 2016 and 2.7 percent in 2017, according to the Urban Land Institute.  But home sales prices are rising even faster, tipping the scales of the rent vs buy equation towards rentals in the dollar for dollar comparisons Millennials face, according to the latest national housing market index produced by Florida Atlantic University and Florida International University faculty.

As of the end of the first quarter of 2015, the housing market in the U.S. and all 13 cities in the index are trending either closer to renting being the superior option or strictly favoring renting over purchasing a home.

Three of the hottest real estate markets in the nation, Dallas, Denver and Houston, are clearly in rent territory, with property pricing out-pacing rents, meaning buyers should proceed with strong caution.

Seven more cities (Miami, Honolulu, Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, Portland, San Francisco and Seattle) are at or near the indifference point between ownership and renting. Here the spread between monthly rent payments and ownership payments appears to be at a point where neither ownership nor renting is statistically favored.

Four cities (Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland and Detroit) remain in strong buy territory with scores that have historically favored wealth accumulation through home ownership.

 

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http://www.realestateeconomywatch.com/2015/06/

Slight Uptick in Rates on Loans for New Homes | Lewisboro Real Estate

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This morning, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) reported that interest rates on home mortgages increased slightly in March.  The same was true for the subset of mortgages used to purchase new homes.

Eff Rate Mar 15

On conventional mortgages used to purchase newly built homes, the average contract rate and average initial fees and charges each increased by 2 basis points.  The contract interest rate increased from 3.79 percent to 3.81, and the initial fees and charges increased from 1.11 percent to 1.13.  The result was an average effective interest rate (which amortizes initial fees over the estimated life of the loan) that edged up from 3.91 to 3.93 percent.  That marks the second month in a row that the effective rate has been below 4 percent, following 19 consecutive months above that threshold.

Loan Amt Mar 15

Meanwhile, the average size of the conventional loans used to purchase newly built homes continued to inch toward $340,000, increasing by $400 to $339,000 in March, which is an all-time high.

However, the average price of the new homes purchased with the loans in March declined by $3,800 (a little under 1 percent) to $445,700.  Consequently the loan-to-price ratio moved back up over 78 percent for the first time in three months.

 

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http://eyeonhousing.org/2015/04/slight-uptick-in-rates-on-loans-for-new-homes/

Farmers Market in the Area | Waccabuc Real Estate

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Mamaroneck:
Aroma Coffee Roast, Calcutta Kitchens, OM Champagne Tea,
and Robinson & Co. Catering Join Weekly Roster;

Ossining:
Bombay Emerald Chutney Company, Hudson River Apiaries, Nana’s Home Kitchen, and Taiim Falafel Shack Add to Saturday Bounty!

April 9th-15th, 2015
DowntoEarthMarkets.com
BrooklynWinterOffer
 What’s New, In Season, and On Sale This Week
$2 OFF when you buy 2 items: Frozen samosa, kofta, saag, rajma, and/or chutneys
Bombay Emerald Chutney Co. 		Chicken Bone Broth
$10 for one 24 oz bag or $18 for two.Great for the “Bone Broth Challenge”
(a cup a day) or in wide variety of cooking!
Yellow Bell Farm		 Gluten Free Peasant Bread
Meredith’s Bread

Gluten Free
Rosemary Olive Bread
Meredith’s Bread

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

Ossining Winter
​
Saturdays
9:00 am-1:00 pm
In Market Square: The corner of Spring & Main Streets in downtown Ossining

Mamaroneck Winter

Saturdays
9:00 am-1:00 pm
St. Thomas Episcopal Church
168 W. Boston Post Road

Headed to the city? We’ve got markets there, too. CLICK HERE for details.

Announcements
PieLadyandSon_Mom&Wil_2014

The Fearless Pie Crust with Pie Lady & Son
Wednesday, May 6th, from 7-9 pm
Down to Earth Markets Office, 173 Main Street, 3rd Floor, Ossining, NY

Next up in our Learning Center — and just in time for Mother’s Day — the mother and son team of Deborah and Wil Tyler invite you to learn how to make the perfect pie crust.

Deborah learned to bake during her college studies in England when she worked in the campus kitchen. She was inspired by the lead baker, a woman who made huge batches of all-butter pie crust and who “didn’t even measure the water” for her recipes.

“People have such trepidation about pie crusts, yet this lady was fearless. I didn’t come back with a recipe, but I came home inspired by her style – by her fearlessness,” Deborah explains.

Now all are invited to cast away our pie crust fears forever with Deborah and Wil.

Learning Center tickets are $15/person and available by calling 914-923-4837.
Tickets will also be available on our website shortly. We look forward to seeing you!

For upcoming events, visit our Down to Earth Markets Event Calendar.

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

Rotating* Vendors This Week
*Vendors who rotate through various markets during the season.
They enjoy getting to know many communities. Here’s where to find them this week:

Mamaroneck – Saturday, April 11th

Aroma Coffee Roast
Calcutta Kitchens
OM Champagne Tea
Robinson & Co. Catering (Calling all culinary Anglophiles!)

Ossining – Saturday, April 11th

Bombay Emerald Chutney Company
Hudson River Apiaries
Nana’s Home Kitchen
Taiim Falafel Shack

North American Passive Building Standard Introduced | Cross River Real Estate

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To adapt the European Passive House standard to North American markets, PHIUS (Passive House Institute US) will launch the new PHIUS+ 2015 passive building standard on March 25 at Seattle’s Bullitt Center.

The event, cosponsored by PHIUS/PHAUS, the passive building research institute and alliance, and Sam Hagerman, past president of PHAUS and owner of passive builder Hammer & Hand, marks implementation of the new energy performance targets in the PHIUS+ project certification program. PHIUS+ is the leading passive building certification program in North America.

“For years we have worked to increase awareness and market penetration of the passive building concept in North America,” said Hagerman. “The new PHIUS+ 2015 standard is a giant leap in this process.”

Executive Director Katrin Klingenberg will will give a brief overview of the impetus for the new standard, as well as a capsule summary of what’s new and what’s better.

Klingenberg said that “PHIUS+ 2015 gives designers and builders a powerful new tool: A building energy performance target that’s in the “sweet spot” where cost effectiveness overlaps with aggressive energy and carbon reduction. As such, it promises to ignite tremendous growth in the application of passive building principles.”

Formally known as PHIUS+ 2015 Passive Building Standard: North America, the standard is the product of nearly three years of research conducted by the PHIUS Technical Committee in partnership with Building Science Corporation under a U.S. Department of Energy Building America grant. The effort employed the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s BEopt tool (a cost-optimizing software tool) to develop optimized design guidelines for use in North America’s wide-ranging climate zones.

Passive building has gained great attention in recent years because of its potential for reducing carbon levels and mitigating climate change, for comfort and resiliency, and for saving energy costs in general. But the adoption of passive principles—superinsulation, airtight envelope, energy recovery ventilation, e.g—has been slower than hoped because of cost and other disincentives.

The new formula and standards remove those obstacles. In addition, passive building is increasingly being adopted as a platform for achieving Net Zero or Net Positive buildings—by reducing building energy requirements from the start, it brings those targets well within reach. The U.S. DOE recognized the synergy between Net Zero and passive building by partnering with PHIUS from 2012 onward. Buildings that earn PHIUS+ certification also earn the U.S. DOE’s Zero Energy Home Ready label. Since the partnership, PHIUS+ certifications have increased exponentially, and the new standard promises to not only sustain but also dramatically increase that growth.

 

 

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http://www.proudgreenhome.com/news/phius-to-launch-north-american-passive-building-standard/

How high-cost housing conquered D.C. in a single decade | Waccabuc Real Estate

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Back in 2005, before the new apartments went up in NoMa, and along 14th Street, and near the Nationals’ ballpark, there was more housing in D.C. renting for less than $500 a month than for more than $1,500*. In the decade since, fortunes at the top and bottom of the city’s housing market have swiftly flipped. By 2012, the most expensive rental units outnumbered the cheapest ones — by more than a three-to-one ratio.

The changing shape of the city’s housing over this short time reflects two powerful trends that are playing out in other big cities, too: Housing that was once more affordable has grown less so, while most of the new housing that’s been built has catered to wealthier (and newer) residents.

The below chart, from a stark new data visualization of the city’s housing market by the Urban Institute, tells the rental side of this story. It shows that, yes, the city has more rental housing today than a decade ago. But those gains have been to the benefit of people able to pay more than $1,000 a month for housing — and at the expense of residents who can only afford substantially less than that:


Aggregate all rental housing, without taking into account number of bedrooms. Interactive version here. (Urban Institute)

“We want to provide people with some context and some more hopefully objective information about the changes happening in the city, because everyone knows the city is changing — it’s very visible,” says Peter Tatian, a senior fellow at the Urban Institute who worked on the project. “But people experience and perceive that change in different ways depending on their point of view.”

 

 

read more….

 

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/10/07/

New home sales power higher in August, soar by 18 percent | #SouthSalem #RealEstate

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Sales of new U.S. single-family homes surged in August and hit their highest level in more than six years, offering confirmation that the housing recovery remains on course.

The Commerce Department said on Wednesday sales jumped 18.0 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 504,000 units. That was the highest level since May 2008 and marked the second straight month of gains.

July’s sales were revised to show a 1.9 percent gain instead of the previously reported 2.4 percent drop.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast new home sales rising to only a 430,000-unit pace last month.

While the new home sales segment accounts for only 9.1 percent of the housing market, the increase last month should allay fears of renewed housing weakness after a surprise decline in home resales last month.

A survey last week showed homebuilder sentiment hit its highest level in nearly nine years in September, with builders reporting a sharp pick-up in buyer traffic.

In August, new home sales soared 50 percent in the West to their highest level since January 2008.

Sales in the populous South increased 7.8 percent to their highest level in 10 months. In the Northeast, sales rose 29.2 percent, but were flat in the Midwest.

 

 

 

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http://www.cnbc.com/id/102028719

Helocs Jumped 8% in the First Quarter | Cross River Homes

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A rebound in house prices and near-record-low interest rates are prompting homeowners to borrow against their properties, marking the return of a practice that was all the rage before the financial crisis.

Home-equity lines of credit, or Helocs, and home-equity loans jumped 8% in the first quarter from a year earlier, industry newsletter Inside Mortgage Finance said Thursday. The $13 billion extended was the most for the start of a year since 2009. Inside Mortgage Finance noted the bulk of the home-equity originations were Helocs.

While that is still far below the peak of $113 billion during the third quarter of 2006, this year’s gains are the latest evidence that the tight credit conditions that have defined mortgage lending in recent years are starting to loosen. Some lenders are even reviving old loan products that haven’t been seen in years in an attempt to gain market share.

In 2013, lenders extended $59 billion of Helocs and home-equity loans. The last pre-boom year near that level was 2000, when lenders extended $53 billion, according to Inside Mortgage Finance.

“We’re seeing much more aggressive marketing campaigns [for Helocs] by banks in locations where home prices have risen,” said Amy Crews Cutts, chief economist at Equifax Inc., a firm that tracks consumer-lending trends. She said Heloc originations picked up in recent months as consumers began home-improvement projects. “We expect to see quite an uptick in Heloc activity” in the spring, she said.

Unlike home-equity loans, in which the borrower receives a lump sum, borrowers can draw on Helocs as needed. They can sometimes take a tax deduction on the interest from the credit line.

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http://online.wsj.com/articles/borrowers-tap-their-homes-at-a-hot-clip-1401407763

Tour The Palace’s Wildly Lavish $25,000/Night Themed Suites | Waccbuc Homes

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Palace-Suites---Jewel-and-Champagne.jpg All photos by Will Femia.

The New York Palace Hotel is without a doubt one of the city’s most iconic, given its prominent appearances in television and film alone. But taking a look around two of its triplex suites (on the 53rd, 54th, and 55th floors of the Palace’s Towers section) affords an even closer look at the crazy-luxurious options there following a renovation that just finished up last fall. The Jewel Suite opened in November, and it’s completely blinged out with baubles, art, fixtures, and furnishings by jeweler to the stars Martin Katz. Oh, and booking a night there comes with a diamond-studded band. Across the hall lies the Champagne Suite, with a temperature-controlled wine cave and expansive master bathroom. Both suites total more than 5,000 square feet, include private elevators, large terraces with hot tubs, and have floorplans more porn-worthy than many on the market. Oh yes, they’re a mere $25,000/night. Go on, enjoy the photos

 

http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2014/03/24/tour_the_palaces_wildly_lavish_25000night_themed_suites.php