Tag Archives: Lewisboro NY Real Estate

Lewisboro NY Real Estate

U.S. existing home sales rise to more than nine-year high | Cross River Real Estate

U.S. home resales rose in May to a more than nine-year high as improving supply increased choices for buyers, suggesting the economy remains on solid footing despite a sharp slowdown in job growth last month.

The National Association of Realtors said on Wednesday existing home sales increased 1.8 percent to an annual rate of 5.53 million units last month, the highest level since February 2007.

“The economy can’t be going too far off course when home buying is picking up,” said Chris Rupkey, chief economist at MUFG Union Bank in New York.

April’s sales pace was revised down to 5.43 million units from the previously reported 5.45 million units. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast sales rising 1.1 percent to a 5.54 million-unit pace in May.

Sales were up 4.5 percent from a year ago.

U.S. financial markets were little moved by the report as investors nervously awaited the outcome of Britain’s referendum on European Union membership on Thursday.

The housing index .HGX was up 0.13 percent. Shares in the nation’s largest home builder, D.R. Horton Inc (DHI.N), were flat while Lennar Corp (LEN.N) rose 0.2 percent.

The strong home resales added to retail sales data in painting an upbeat picture of the economy. That should help allay the fears that were stoked by last month’s paltry job gains.

The higher existing home sales suggest an increase in brokers’ commissions, which should boost the residential investment portion of the gross domestic product report.

Housing is being driven by improving household formation as some young adults find employment and older Americans move into smaller and cheaper homes.

MEDIAN HOUSE PRICE SURGES

Existing home sales surged 4.1 percent in the Northeast and climbed 4.6 percent in the South. Sales in the West, which has seen a strong increase in house prices amid tight inventories, jumped 5.4 percent.

In the Midwest, sales tumbled 6.5 percent last month. The decline, however, followed recent hefty gains.

The number of unsold homes on the market in May rose 1.4 percent from April to 2.15 million units. Supply was, however, down 5.7 percent from a year ago.

In May, new listings typically stayed on the market for 32 days, the shortest period of time since the NAR started tracking the data. That was down from 39 days in April and 40 days a year ago.

At May’s sales pace, it would take 4.7 months to clear the stock of houses on the market, unchanged from April. A six-month supply is viewed as a healthy balance between supply and demand.

Economists say builders will need to ramp up construction of new homes to meet the pent-up demand.

With inventory still tight, the median house price soared 4.7 percent from a year ago to a record $239,700 last month.

 

read more…

 

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-economy-housing-idUSKCN0Z81ND

Which States Care About the Planet? | Katonah Real Estate

Which States Care About the Planet?

Across the nation, Americans are going green – and they’re heading online for more information. Even their search results prove it, as they type in terms such as “how to save energy,” “eco-friendly,” and “electric cars.”

We researched action phrases people may search for when looking into certain environmentally friendly activities; then we used Google Trends to rank the results by topic and state. Read on for the interesting – and sometimes surprising – results.

REUSING

Old bottles can become candleholders; empty egg cartons can store holiday ornaments. Reusing is all the rage for eco-conscious Americans. When it comes to the phrase “how to reuse,” a high cost of living may explain the top two results: California took the lead, followed by Hawaii. Washington State, Georgia, and Utah rounded out the top five.

WIND POWER

The East and Midwest breezed to the top for “wind power” searches. Maine, Iowa, Indiana, Kansas, and Connecticut displayed the most interest in this unique power source. Maine’s wind power initiative (Wind for ME) helps explain its top spot. Iowa draws a quarter of its electricity from wind, Indiana is an up-and-comer in the wind power sector, and Kansas is second only to Texas in terms of wind power potential. In Connecticut, wind power is a controversial topic: Attempts to construct turbines have met with local opposition, and in 2014, the Supreme Court weighed in to approve wind farms. (This could explain the high volume of searches.)

SOLAR POWER

The top five hotspots for “solar power” searches were Vermont, Utah, Idaho, Nevada, and Hawaii. Vermont is an up-and-coming solar champ, with a 63% increase in money spent on solar installations between 2013 and 2014. In rural Utah and Idaho, where running power lines to some remote locations can be too pricey, solar energy often is an ideal solution. Nevada is home to the most solar jobs per capita. Finally, in Hawaii, almost one in eight homes has installed solar power.

GARDENING

The top four states that searched for the term “how to garden” have something in common: Idaho, South Dakota, Montana, and Utah are all states with low population density. Presumably, that means many residents may have the space to garden.

COMPOSTING

Composting involves diverting kitchen waste from the landfill and instead tossing it into bins (possibly with worms) where it can decompose to become a rich additive to soil. “How to compost” was a popular search among Colorado and Washington residents. Colorado cities, such as Denver and Boulder, provide a great deal of outreach on the topic of composting. Washington State is no surprise, either, as a new policy forces Seattle residents to compost food waste or have it sent to a processing site to avoid warnings and even fines.

ELECTRIC CARS

In a search for “electric cars,” California and Hawaii were first and second respectively. These stats align with the number of electric car owners in the nation as well: As of 2014, approximately 5.5 out of every 1,000 registered vehicles in California were electric, while 4.2 out of every 1,000 registered vehicles in Hawaii were electric.

To see more of these maps, explore the infographic below:

It’s Easy Being Green

Saving the Earth is a hot topic these days – and one virtually all Americans would do well to familiarize themselves with. How can you do your part? Next time you have a minute to go online, try a search for some of these topics. You just may discover that you want to plant a garden, set up a compost bin, share tips on recycling, offer to carpool with a friend, or look into alternate energy sources.

read more…

 

https://www.saveonenergy.com/which-states-care-about-the-planet/

#Hamptons real estate prices up, sales slow | #Waccabuc Real Estate

Real estate prices continued to climb in the third quarter of 2015, but sales pace slowed and inventory is more difficult to come by, when compared with the third quarter of 2014, which was a banner season for real estate on the East End.

According to The Corcoran Group’s quarterly Corcoran Report, “the volatility of financial markets world-wide resulted in fewer closed transactions this quarter.”

On the South Fork, according to Corcoran, sales activity and sales volume declined by 16 percent and 13 percent, respectively, compared to the third quarter of 2014. Only East Hampton Village, Southampton and Shelter Island reported more sales than last year.

The Corcoran Group reported that the average sale price on the South Fork increased 3 percent, while the median price rose 6 percent, versus the same quarter a year ago.

Nine sales over $5 million in East Hampton Village skewed the median price there up 70 percent over the third quarter of 2014.

Though recent quarters have shown a good deal of activity in the under-$500,000 range, where such properties can even be found on the South Fork, that share of the market shrank in the third quarter both east and west of the Shinnecock Canal.

East of the canal, under-$500,000 sales shrunk to just 8 percent of the market, from 14 percent in the third quarter of 2014, while the market share of houses under $500,000 west of the canal shrank from 41 percent in the third quarter of 2014 to 38 percent in the third quarter of this year.

On the North Fork, the Corcoran Group reported the number of sales and sales volume decreased 11 percent and 17 percent, respectively, over the third quarter of 2014. They reported the median sales price increased 1 percent, but the average sales price decreased 8 percent.

On the North Fork, they reported the $500,000 to $750,000 market range grew from 23 percent to 31 percent of sales, while market shares above and below those ranges declined by 4 percent.

The Corcoran Group also reported that the total inventory of residential properties for sale on both forks declined by 383 housing units from the third quarter of 2014.

With a limited amount of vacant land available for sale on the East End, the number of vacant land sales decreased quarter-over-quarter by 32 percent on the South Fork and 29 percent on the North Fork.

In commercial markets however, The Corcoran Group saw quite a bit of activity on the North Fork, with the number of sales increasing 67 percent. The number of South Fork commercial sales declined 37 percent over the same period.

Douglas Elliman Real Estate’s Elliman Report also showed a market slow-down on the South Fork when compared with the same quarter in 2014, though they did report greater gains in prices.

Douglas Elliman reported 507 sales on the South Fork in the third quarter, 20 percent below the same quarter in 2014 but 11 percent above the decade quarterly average of 457 sales.

The market share of sales below $12 million fell to 49.5 percent, its lowest point in the past four years, with 44 percent of sales between $1 million and $5 million.

According to Douglas Elliman, listing inventory on the South Fork was unchanged over the third quarter of 2015, with 1,710 houses on the market this quarter. The listing discount, or the difference between the last listing price and the sales price, declined to 10.2 percent from 12 percent in the same quarter last year.

Median sales price rose to $950,000, up 9.8 percent over the same quarter last year, the fourth highest level reported in the past decade.  The average number of days on the market fell 6.4 percent to 161.

Douglas Elliman reported that North Fork housing prices also skewed higher, with the median sales price jumping 16.1 percent to $516,250, the second highest median price in the past seven years. Only the second quarter of 2015 saw higher prices on the North Fork, and the year-over-year increase was the sixth consecutive quarterly increase.

 

read more…

 

http://www.eastendbeacon.com/2015/11/04/real-estate-third-quarter-figures-pale-after-banner-2014-season/

Local Farmers Markets | Katonah NY Real Estate

 

JAN2014-DTE-E-Mail-Masthead_(722x226pxl)FRESH-2-(1

Farmers Markets Open This Weekend with Music & Make Mom a Card Events
May 8-14th, 2014

DowntoEarthMarkets.com
Lettuce_MSP
What’s New, In Season, and On Sale This Week

Asparagus
Gajeski Produce
Newgate Farms

Baked German Goodies
Bienenstich, Mohnstreusel, Linzer,
and more

Christiane’s Backstube

Brioche Loaves
Perfect for French Toast on
Mother’s Day morning

Wave Hill Bread

Chocolate Explosions
Meredith’s Bread

Chutneys & Frozen Kofta, Rajma,
Roti Roll, Saag, & Samosa
SALE: $2 OFF order when you buy 4 or more items – use code 051014
Bombay Emerald Chutney Co.

Farm Egg Frittata
Enjoy on site at the market
Rockland Roots

Fiddleheads

Newgate Farms


Flowering Tuscan Kale
Gajeski Produce

FREE Cinnamon Roll for all kids,
aged 12 & younger

Orwashers Bakery

Gluten-Free & Regular Mother’s Day Cookies & Cupcakes
Meredith’s Bread

Goat Cheeses: Fresh Chevre, Greek-Style Feta, & Fresh Ricotta
Acorn Hill Farm

Grass-fed Beef Short Ribs
With Farmer Ground polenta – Enjoy on site at the market
Rockland Roots

Green Elephant Garlic
Gajeski Produce

Ground Beef: Buy five 1lb pkgs
& get $2 OFF per pound
(Reg $9.75/lb; now $7.75/lb)

Kiernan Farm


JUST CRUST Antioxidant Chips
& Croutons

SALE: $1 OFF (Reg. $5: now $4)

Wave Hill Breads

Mother’s Day Baskets
Includes apples, applesauce, jam
& fresh herbs

Mead Orchards

Mother’s Day Gift Boxes
Bombay Emerald Chutney Company

Olive & Roasted Red Pepper Ciabatta
Wave Hill Breads

Red Wine-Soaked Alfonso Olives
Pickle Licious

Ramps
Newgate Farms

Rhubarb
Newgate Farms


Rhubarb Almond Squares
Christiane’s Backstube

Spinach
Newgate Farms


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

Westchester
County

Mamaroneck

Thank you
for a great winter season.
Starting this weekend, find many of your favorite vendors in Larchmont.


Rockland
County


Ossining

OPEN ALL YEAR AROUND
Saturdays
9:00 am-1:00 pm


Larchmont

OPENING DAY: MAY 10th
Saturdays
8:30 am-1:00 pm

Piermont

OPENING DAY: MAY 11th
Sundays
9:30 am-3:00 pm

L
Croton-on-Hudson

OPENING DAY: MAY 11th
Sundays
9:00 am-2:00 pm


Rye

OPENING DAY: MAY 11th
Sundays
8:30 am-2:00 pm

Spring Valley

Coming in July

Tarrytown/Sleepy Hollow

OPENING DAY: MAY 24th
Saturdays
8:30 am-1:00 pm


New Rochelle

OPENING DAY: JUNE 20th
Fridays
8:30 am-2:30 pm


Headed to the city soon?

Visit a Down to Earth
Farmers Market in NYC!

Announcements
Music & Make Mom a Card Events This Weekend

Calling all Moms and those of us who love you: Stop by our markets in Larchmont, Ossining, Rye, Croton-on-Hudson, and Piermont this weekend and Make Mom a Card. At Market Manager’s tent, you’ll find colored papers, markers, crayons, gluesticks, and more for artists of all ages. We’ll have great music at all these markets, too!
We’re excited to begin the 2014 season and look forward to seeing new and old friends.

Visit the Down to Earth Markets Calendar for full details.

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

US home prices dipped in Nov. on colder weather | Katonah NY Real Estate

 

U.S. home prices fell slightly in November as colder weather slowed buying, ending nine straight months of price gains.

The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller 20-city home price index slipped 0.1 percent from October to November, partly reversing the previous monthly increase of 0.2 percent. But the index is not adjusted for seasonal variations, so the monthly decline partly reflects slower buying in the late fall as temperatures drop.

“November was a good month for home prices,” said David Blitzer, chairman of the S&P Dow Jones index committee. “Prices typically weaken as we move closer to the winter.”

Despite the overall decline, home values have continued to rise in many Sun Belt cities. Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Phoenix have registered 20 straight months of rising prices.

But home prices surged for much of 2013, driven by big gains earlier in the year. Prices have risen 13.7 percent over the past 12 months.

Dallas enjoyed its strongest annual gain since 2000. And Chicago home prices climbed at their strongest annual clip since December 1988. Among the cities in the index, only Detroit prices remain below their 2000 level.

 

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-home-prices-dipped-nov-colder-weather-140018478–finance.html

 

For 2014 listen to your clients, neighbors and smart friends | Cross River Homes

It isn’t even December yet, and I’m already tired of the holidays and of reading about what I need to do to be successful in 2014.

Usually the articles are about the three, five, eight, 10 or 14 things that I need to do. Before throwing caution to the wind and taking all of that wonderful advice, I like to consider who is writing it and why. There are plenty of armchair real estate quarterbacks who just know what we need to do to be successful.

They give advice and never have to implement any of the ideas. Right now I can’t see any reason why 2014 will be very different from 2013. I think the tight inventory of homes for sale will loosen up a bit, and interest rates will rise slightly, as will home prices. Real estate is local, so that last sentence may not apply to your market. Here are 10 things I think everyone should take into consideration as they plan for 2014:

1. The Internet is not going to replace most real estate agents, and it isn’t going to go away.

 

 

– See more at: http://www.inman.com/2013/11/22/tune-out-generic-advice-on-how-to-succeed-in-2014-and-listen-to-your-clients-neighbors-and-smart-friends/#sthash.cjZ4CeAZ.dpuf

6 Reasons Social Media Is Critical To Your SEO | South Salem Real Estate

Once upon a time, “the old SEO” ruled the website marketing world. This was during the early, pioneering days of online marketing — before it was typical for a small business to have a website and long before your grandmother had an online presence that could rival a teenager. The old SEO strategy centered around one primary factor: Link Building. But today, link building as a direct SEO tactic is completely dead. The fact is, Google has found smarter ways to measure the popularity of your website: it’s called social media.

The fact that social media is critical to your online presence (and your search engine rankings) is often a tough pill for small business owners to swallow. It can be a difficult marketing strategy to measure, and it can seem like a strange way to grow their business.

But the days of easily measuring your SEO strategy are long gone. It’s no longer about building X amount of links and creating Y amount of optimized content pages on your website. These old approaches to getting search engine attention are very static. The new strategy is about being dynamic, engaged, and interactive within your marketplace and when acquiring SEO for commercial real estate companies. Social media is the only place you can make that happen.

Here are six reasons social media needs to be an important part of your website marketing and SEO strategy for years to come:

1. Link building was always about social proofing.

Think about it – why did Google ever allow links to determine which websites ranked above all the others? The answer is simple: links were like “votes” for your website. The more votes you get, the better off you are. So SEO companies started building links (aka “votes”) manually. Then, Google — to counter all of the fake voting — figured out that some votes should count more than other votes. So SEO companies went around manufacturing websites with the best votes. And Google, finally, realized that SEO link building would never work long-term for ranking websites. So Google started penalizing websites with “fake votes” (which is basically anyone who pays a company to do SEO link building for them). Seeing a trend here? The idea behind links as a ranking factor is a very good idea, but since it’s become so easy to manipulate, Google has been forced to turn to social media channels which do the same thing but are much harder to manipulate. Link building was always about social proofing.

2. Social media allows you to “crowd source” your link building.

When you have a following on Twitter or Facebook or LinkedIn, you create a team of fans who can share your content. That’s what social media is all about, folks — being social! (Imagine that.) So when you write a new blog post on your business blog, you can take that content and share it on Twitter and then get some of your followers to share your content. You can also get your website visitors to share pages of your site and your blog on social media by adding simple social buttons to allow people to quickly and easily “vote” for your content right there on your website. Sure, many of these people will never become your actual customers, but that’s not your objective here. Your objective is to build buzz and attention around your website.

3. Being social is the fastest way to multiply your presence online.

The problem with old school SEO link building is your always building “signs” to your website in places where nobody is looking. It’s something like buying a billboard in the desert. Social media, on the other hand, is a dynamic world of interaction and activity where things are constantly happening in real time. This is why it’s so crucial that you have a social media PRESENCE — not just social media accounts where you never or rarely post anything. You’ve got to be active, you’ve got to be social. This is the fastest way to multiply your online presence simply because it’s where everyone is. If you get in front of the right people (which is a matter of consistency, not luck) then you can build some buzz around your business and your website.

4. Social signals is a real thing.

I’m sure you’ve heard the term “social signals” floating around out there. Love it or hate it, this is a real thing. Google is definitely measuring your website’s “pulse rate” on social media channels. How often do you share content on social channels? How often do people visit your website for social channels? How many fans/followers do you have? Does your website have social sharing elements available for visitors? Social signals really is the new “link building” metric you should be concerned about and worried about. Forget about how many links you have — especially if you’re building fake links — and start worrying about the health of your social media presence.

http://socialmediatoday.com/stephaniefrasco/1901891/

Long Island Estate With a Royal Connection Asks $11M | Katonah Real Estate

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Location: Glen Head, N.Y. Price: $11,000,000 The Skinny: The Sunninghill estate, a historic property in one of the toniest hamlets on Long Island, is now on the market for $11M just three years after it was dragged into a bruising and embarrassing (there were extremely anatomically correct bronze statues involved) legal battle involving its owner, the flamboyant and controversial Prince Jefri of Brunei. The 10,000-square-foot six-bedroom, eight-bathroom Georgian manor was built in 1928, and features none of the outré décor you might expect (hope?) to find in the home of a man who once auctioned off his set of gold-plated hot tubs and gilded toilet-paper holders. The mansion sits on 26 acres of rolling lawns, and comes complete with a tennis court, a quarter-mile track, and a swimming pool, which, at nearly 2,000 square feet, is bigger than some homes. The location is hard to beat: Manhattan is 26 miles away, and closer to home there’s the North Shore and a bewilderingly dense agglomeration of country clubs.

· 873 Cedar Swamp Rd, Glen Head, NY [Zillow] · Sunninghill [Sotheby’s International Realty]

August Prices Rise to 12.8 Percent Over 2012 | Katonah NY Real Estate

S&P Dow Jones Indices released for its S&P/Case-Shiller1 Home Price Indices showing that the 10-City and 20-City Composites increased 12.8% year-over-year. Compared to July 2013, the annual growth rates accelerated for both Composites and 14 cities.

On a monthly basis, the 10-City and 20-City Composites gained 1.3% in August. Las Vegas led the cities with an increase of 2.9%, its highest since August 2004. Detroit and Los Angeles followed with gains of 2.0%.

In August 2013, the 10- and 20-City Composites posted annual increases of 12.8%.

“The 10-City and 20-City Composites posted a 12.8% annual growth rate,” says David M. Blitzer, Chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices. “Both Composites showed their highest annual increases since February 2006. All 20 cities reported positive year-over-year returns. Thirteen cities posted double-digit annual gains. Las Vegas and California continue to impress with year-over-year increases of over 20%. Denver and Phoenix posted 20 consecutive annual increases; Miami and Minneapolis 19. Despite showing 26 consecutive annual gains, Detroit remains the only city below its January 2000 index level.

“The monthly percentage changes for the 20-City composite show the peak rate of gain in home prices was last April. Since then home prices continued to rise, but at a slower pace each month. This month 16 cities reported smaller gains in August compared to July. Recent increases in mortgage rates and fewer mortgage applications are two factors in these shifts.

“Denver and Dallas again set new highs. All the other cities remain below their peaks. Boston and Charlotte are the two MSAs closest to their peaks with only 8-9% left to go. Las Vegas is still down 47.1% from its peak level.”

As of August 2013, average home prices across the United States are back to their mid-2004 levels. Measured from their June/July 2006 peaks, the peak-to-current decline for both Composites is approximately 20-21%. The recovery from the March 2012 lows is 22.1% and 22.7% for the 10-City and 20-City Composites.

All twenty cities posted monthly gains in August, although most cities showed deceleration compared to July. Las Vegas was at the top of the range at +2.9% and Seattle was at the bottom with a return of +0.5%. Month-over-month, San Francisco has been losing momentum as prices increased 4.9% in April 2013 and 0.9% in August 2013.

 

http://www.realestateeconomywatch.com/2013/10/august-prices-rise-to-128-percent-over-2012/