Tag Archives: Mount Kisco NY

Home Advisor Cost Guide: Roofing | Mount Kisco Real Estate

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Cost Guide: Roofing

When installing a new roof, the biggest decision you’re going to have to make, outside of choosing which roofing pro to hire, is what material to use. If you’re replacing an existing roof this will likely be an easier decision, as there’s a good chance you’ll go with the same material you’re replacing. The decision gets a bit more complicated if you’re building a new home. However, before jumping into the pros and cons of each material, let’s take a look at the two factors that will affect your budget independent of the material you choose.

Not surprisingly, the size of your roof plays a big role in determining the project cost. And if you’re going to be talking to a roofer, it helps to know some of their lingo – specifically, the term they use to measure the size of your roof. While many contractors base their estimates on square footage, roofing pros go by squares, where each square is 100 square feet. So if your roof is 2,000 square feet it will be 20 squares. The more squares, the more the project will cost (most of the time).

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http://welcome.homeadvisor.com/costguide_roofing?m=homesense&entry_point_id=27783150

Where are homebuilders breaking ground? | Mt Kisco Real Estate

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While it is difficult to gauge the economy across the nation and in regional markets, these two charts from PulteGroup (PHM) and D.R. Horton (DHI) help to paint a decent picture.

However, keep in mind that the two homebuilders do not operate in every market.

PulteGroup currently builds in 26 states and posted first-quarter net income Thursday morning of $75 million, or 19 cents per share.

Meanwhile, D.R. Horton operates in 27 states and posted first-quarter net income for its second fiscal quarter ended March 31, 2014 of $131 million, or 38 cents per diluted share.

So how does this disperse regionally?

According to Pulte’s earnings, most regions witnessed a drawback in regional home closings in the first quarter, with the southwest falling from 734 last quarter to 468. The only region to experience an uptick was the northeast, which grew from 302 to 343 closings. (click picture for bigger image)

 

 

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Where are homebuilders breaking ground?

Home values in 20 percent of US housing markets headed for record highs within a year | Mount Kisco Real Estate

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Home values in almost 20 percent of all U.S. metros will surpass their housing boom peaks over the next year, and affordability problems that have begun to affect a fraction of markets may spread to others over the next few years, Zillow reported.

“The lows of the housing recession are becoming an increasingly distant memory as home values reach new highs and homes become more expensive than ever in many areas,” said Zillow Chief Economist Stan Humphries in a statement. “This is a remarkable milestone coming only two and a half years after the end of the worst housing recession since the Great Depression.”

Home values nationwide were up 0.5 percent from the fourth quarter of 2013 to the first quarter of 2014, and were up 5.7 percent from the same time a year ago, according to the latest Zillow Real Estate Market Report.

Over the next year, Zillow forecasts that national home prices will appreciate by an additional 3.3 percent.

Price gains have already pushed values close to or above their housing boom peak in about 12 percent of the 8,700 markets tracked by Zillow.

Among the more than 300 metros tracked by Zillow, home values in nearly 20 percent of them have already passed or are expected to pass their prerecession peaks over the next year. Those fully or almost fully recovered metros include Dallas, Houston, Denver, Pittsburgh, San Antonio, Texas, San Jose, Calif., and Austin, Texas.

– See more at: http://www.inman.com/2014/04/22/home-values-in-20-percent-of-u-s-housing-markets-will-be-more-expensive-than-ever-within-a-year/?utm_source=20140422&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=dailyheadlinespm#sthash.lzVRtVwk.dpuf

Fixed Mortgage Rates Tick Down | Mt Kisco NY Realtor

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Freddie Mac (OTCQB: FMCC) today released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey® (PMMS®), showing average fixed mortgage rates moving down slightly as we head into the spring homebuying season.

News Facts

  • 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 4.34 percent with an average 0.7 point for the week ending April 10, 2014, down from last week when it averaged 4.41 percent. A year ago at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 3.43 percent.
  • 15-year FRM this week averaged 3.38 percent with an average 0.6 point, down from last week when it averaged 3.47 percent. A year ago at this time, the 15-year FRM averaged 2.65 percent.
  • 5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) averaged 3.09 percent this week with an average 0.5 point, down from last week when it averaged 3.12 percent. A year ago, the 5-year ARM averaged 2.62 percent.
  • 1-year Treasury-indexed ARM averaged 2.41 percent this week with an average 0.5 point, down from last week when it averaged 2.45 percent. At this time last year, the 1-year ARM averaged 2.62 percent.

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 links for the Regional and National Mortgage Rate Details and Definitions. Borrowers may still pay closing costs which are not included in the survey.

Quotes Attributed to Frank Nothaft, vice president and chief economist, Freddie Mac.

“Mortgage rates eased a bit following the decline in 10-year Treasury yields. Also, the economy added 192,000 jobs in March, which was below the market consensus forecast but followed an upward revision of 22,000 jobs in February. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate held steady at 6.7 percent.”

Freddie Mac was established by Congress in 1970 to provide liquidity, stability and affordability to the nation’s residential mortgage markets. Freddie Mac supports communities across the nation by providing mortgage capital to lenders. Today Freddie Mac is making home possible for one in four home borrowers and is one of the largest sources of financing for multifamily housing. Additional information is available at FreddieMac.com, Twitter @FreddieMac and Freddie Mac’s blog FreddieMac.com/blog.

 

 

 

Big Boys Have Moved into Smaller Markets | Mt Kisco Real Estate

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Big institutional investors — companies that have purchased at least 10 properties in a calendar year — accounted for 5.9 percent of all U.S. residential property sales in February, up from a revised 5.0 percent of sales in January but down from 7.2 percent of sales in February 2013. February was the third consecutive month where the institutional investor share of sales declined on a year-over-year basis after 19 consecutive months of year-over-year increases, according to the latest report from RealtyTrac.

Among metropolitan statistical areas with a population of 500,000 or more, cities with the highest share of institutional investor purchases in February were Atlanta (25.2 percent), Columbus, Ohio, (21.4 percent), Knoxville, Tenn., (18.2 percent), Phoenix (15.2 percent), and Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Fla. (14.8 percent).

“Since Fannie Mae inventory is mostly comprised of completed home foreclosures with FHA loans, investors target these properties because they tend to be smaller homes that make for better rental property investments,” said Sheldon Detrick, CEO of Prudential Detrick/Alliance Realty, covering the Oklahoma City and Tulsa, Okla., where the institutional investor share of purchases dropped from a year ago. “There is very little Fannie Mae inventory left, which coincides with the fact that institutional investors have slowly backed out of the market.”

Metros with the biggest year-over-year increases in institutional investor share were Knoxville, Tenn., (from 3.3 percent in February 2013 to 18.2 percent in February 2014), Little Rock, Ark., (from 3.2 percent in February 2013 to 12.1 percent in February 2014), Milwaukee, Wis. (from 3.5 percent in February 2013 to 9.2 percent in February 2014), San Francisco (from 3.9 percent in February 2013 to 9.5 percent in February 2014), San Antonio, Texas (from 4.6 percent in February 2013 to 8.3 percent in February 2014), and Columbus, Ohio (from 13.3 percent in February 2013 to 21.4 percent in February 2014).

 

 

http://www.realestateeconomywatch.com/2014/03/big-boys-have-moved-into-smaller-markets-in-the-south-and-midwest/

Eliot Spitzer puts $145M worth of apts. on the block | Mt Kisco Real Estate

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Real estate scion and former governor Eliot Spitzer is selling a big portfolio of apartments his family owns on the East Side in a deal that could fetch $145 million or more.

Mr. Spitzer has put 144 rental units at the Corinthian, a huge apartment tower his father Bernard Spitzer began building in the mid 1980s and finished in 1987. Robert Knakal, chairman of the brokerage firm Massey Knakal Realty Services, is marketing the apartments and confirmed the units were on the market.

“The market for any type of property today, but especially residential assets, is spectacular,” Mr. Knakal said. “It’s a great time to take advantage of it.”

The 57-story building, at 330 E. 38th St., is one of Manhattan’s largest residential towers, with 863 units, and a distinct columnar facade that provides the apartments inside with curving bay windows that offer sweeping views of midtown. The Spitzers sold most of those apartments in the years immediately after they constructed the tower, but when the city’s sales market slowed by the late 1980s, they decided to hold on to 144 units and convert them to rental properties.

The family has held onto the apartments, which are scattered throughout the tower, ever since.

Having lost a tightly-fought bid for city comptroller last year and with his father in his 80s and in poor health, the deal is also a sign that the younger Spitzer has begun to take a more active hand in steering the family’s real estate business. In December, he acquired a prime development site in the Hudson Yards for $88 million.

The sale of the Corinthian apartments could be a way for Mr. Spitzer to raise capital for future acquisitions or help finance the purchases he has made.

“Eliot is very sensitive to the fact that the family has extracted as much value as it can from some of the assets it owns,” said Jeffrey Moerdler, a real estate attorney with the firm Mintz Levin, who is a friend of Mr. Spitzer’s and handles the legal work for many of his real estate transactions, including this current sales effort. “He’s trying to monetize those buildings and revinvest in assets that have the opportunity to generate new value.”

 

 

http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20140325/REAL_ESTATE/140329923/eliot-spitzer-puts-145m-worth-of-apts-on-the-block

This Nazi resort never opened, but it will be a luxury vacation spot | Mt Kisco NY Real Estate

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On the picturesque beaches of the northern German island of Rügen, along the Baltic Sea, sits an empty 20,000-person resort. The buildings stretch nearly three miles down the coast, with all 10,000 rooms facing the beautiful bay just 500 feet from the water’s edge. Yet, no one ever used the rooms, movie theater or planned swimming pools.

Prora, known by locals as The Colossus, was built from 1936-1939 as part of the Nazi program of “Strength Through Joy.” The plan was to house workers in eight identical six-story buildings, feed them catered meals in scheduled seatings, and prepare them through propaganda and social activities to do their part in Hitler’s plan for Germany. It was also one of the largest architectural projects of the time, with 9,000 workers. The design, done in a Bauhaus style, won a Grand Prix award at the 1937 Paris World Exposition.

But the Nazi resort plans never came to fruition. The outbreak of World War II meant the project was never finished as construction workers headed to the weapons factories instead.

But finally, some plans are moving forward to turn some of the buildings into luxury apartments and vacation rentals.

 

http://travel.yahoo.com/blogs/compass/nazi-resort-never-opened-luxury-vacation-spot-224346831.html

New York State rejiggers 80/20 program | Mt Kisco Real Estate

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A tweak in New York State’s implementation of its 80/20 program aims to give affordable housing developments a boost, and balance demand for tax-exempt bonds issued by the state division of Homes and Community Renewal.

The plan, starting in January, is to spread a smaller subsidy amount over more projects. Up until now, developers were able to finance more than 50 percent of an 80/20 building via the program, which offers cheaper financing and qualifies a project for lucrative tax credits. Now, only the 20 percent of affordable units in a development will be eligible.

This new approach mirrors a Tribeca project that teamed the city with the Related Companies, where only $7.5 million in tax-exempt bonds were allowed to finance the project’s affordable housing portion. Under this model, Related was forced to seek traditional financing for the remainder of the project.

“This is a very positive step and very welcome in the affordable housing community,” Martin Dunn, principal at Dunn Development Corp., told Crain’s. “It will free up more tax-exempt bonds for affordable projects, and coupled with the expanded housing subsidies announced by Gov. Cuomo last week, we’re going to see more affordable units in the coming years.”

 

 

http://therealdeal.com/blog/2014/01/27/state-rejiggers-8020-program-distribution-model/