Tag Archives: Mt Kisco NY Homes

2015 will see notable price appreciation | Mt Kisco Real Estate

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With so many fists beating on the housing-is-facing-ruin door, Altos Research is set to release data that claims all that pounding is in vain.

Clients will begin receiving a report Wednesday afternoon, but HousingWire was able to get a sneak peek, and the results say that housing recovery critics are wrong about housing. According to Altos, it’s going to soar in 2015.

“While we see signs of demand easing, we are significantly more bullish on housing than many of the recent headlines seem to suggest,” said Altos CEO Michael Simonsen. “Based on our models, we’re forecasting another year of home price appreciation, with a 7% home price increase for the year of 2015.”

Single-digit appreciation is a remarkable prediction. Many other experts anticipate depreciation in the nation’s housing market, so the Altos call is relatively noteworthy.

What’s driving the negative stand most of the market holds? The media is partially to blame, the report states.

Bearish Headlines, Bullish Reality

In the section titled, “Bearish Headlines, Bullish Reality,” the researchers state their case this way:

 

 

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Altos: Critics wrong about housing, itÕ going to soar

 

U.S. News & World Report Ranks Northern Westchester Hospital Among Best | Mt Kisco Real Estate

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Northern Westchester Hospital (NWH) announced that it has been ranked as one of the best hospitals in New York for 2014 – 2015 by U.S. News & World Report.

The annual U.S. News best hospitals rankings, now in their 25th year, recognize hospitals that excel in treating the most challenging patients. In addition to being recognized as a best hospital, Northern Westchester Hospital was recognized regionally for expertise in gynecology, urology, geriatrics, orthopedics and neurosurgery.

For 2014-2015, U.S. News evaluated hospitals in 16 adult specialties and ranked the top 50 in most of the specialties. Just 12 percent of the nearly 5,000 hospitals that were analyzed for best hospitals in 2014-2015 earned a regional ranking in even one specialty. NWH was ranked within five different specialties.

“Providing the highest level of quality, patient-centered care is our priority at Northern Westchester Hospital,” said Joel Seligman, president and CEO of Northern Westchester Hospital. “We have designed and implemented numerous processes that help to ensure that high quality care is consistently delivered to our patients.

 

 

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http://bedford.dailyvoice.com/news/us-news-world-report-ranks-northern-westchester-hospital-among-best

Here Now, 7 Lovely Houses For Sale in World Cup Country | Mt Kisco Real Estate

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Today, on the opening day of the World Cup in Rio de Janeiro, we celebrate some of the realms Brazil rules: soccer—they’ve got the most World Cup wins, after all—and architecture. (There are other things—string bikinis, coffee, the largest rainforest in the world, for example—but let’s not touch those for now.) There’s a jumble of architectural styles on the luxury market right now in the Cidade Maravilhosa: French Neoclassical, contemporary, and Imperial dwellings, to name a few. The most intriguing of the Rio listings? Well, if one’s discounting the Airbnb offering listed by soccer stall Ronaldinho, it’s just too hard to choose, so, below, find eight mansions in the running.

 

 

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http://curbed.com/archives/2014/06/12/rio-de-janeiro-mansions-for-sale.php

Laid-Back Comfort in the New York Woods | Mt Kisco Real Estate

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Thomas Riker, the codesigner of this house and a principal at design firm jamesthomas, calls the area of upstate New York state where it sits the “anti-Hamptons.” The Hamptons, a collection of villages on Long Island bordering the Atlantic, is known as a summer retreat for business titans and celebrity moguls, and the area contains some of the most expensive real estate in the United States. In contrast, “There’s a very Adirondack feeling to this part of upstate New York,” Riker says. “It’s almost like a throwback to a 1950s camp. It’s an area where the homes are quirky and unpretentious.”

This is where a friend whom Riker grew up with in Detroit decided to stake his claim for a weekend family retreat. They purchased a little cabin that had a lot of charm, but they wanted more room for the family — which includes two adults and three teenagers — and large gatherings with friends. It also was in a major state of disrepair. Together he, business partner James Dolenc and architect Leonard Woods made the house much more comfortable for the family while retaining its rustic sensibility.

rustic exterior by jamesthomas, LLC
jamesthomas, LLC
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rustic entry by jamesthomas, LLC
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Houzz at a Glance
Who lives here: A couple and 3 teens
Location: Upstate New York
Size: 3,700 square feet (344 square meters); 5 bedrooms, 3½ baths
Year built: 1920s

Although the exterior looks much the same, the interior rooms were refreshed and two additions were added. On the front of the house, a single-story addition contains a gracious entry, pictured here, a powder room and a mudroom. A new two-story structure was added on the back. “This structure made way for a screened-in porch on the upper level and a master bedroom suite on the lower level,” says Riker. “The porch is an informal living room in the summer.”

rustic living room by jamesthomas, LLC
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A big goal was to make the house feel rustic, but also fresh and modern. “We didn’t want to do the expected wool plaid,” says Riker.

Although the room had a peaked roofline, it didn’t have the Douglas fir beams. The addition of the wood on the high ceiling brings it down to human scale and adds an element of casual rusticity.

rustic living room by jamesthomas, LLC
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Two bobbin armchairs wear the only plaid upholstery in the home. “But we chose a plaid in a bright color,” says Riker. This is horse country, he adds, so a coffee table with equestrian leather straps feels like a natural choice.

The windows are original, but the window seat and sconces were added. “This is where the kids like to go and read,” says Riker. It’s also where they like to play games, so there’s a game table to the left of the window.

“My client found several trays that are made to look like vintage game boards,” says Riker. “She wasn’t sure what to do with them, but she thought they were cool. They look great hanging on the walls in this room.”

Armchairs: Spindle Chairs, Wisteria; coffee table: Equis, Casamidy

rustic living room by jamesthomas, LLC
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The adults have staked their claim to this modern take on a wing chair. This is their comfortable spot for relaxing and reading by the fire. The original stone fireplace was crumbling; a new stone surround mimics the original.
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http://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/26338734?utm_source=Houzz&utm_campaign=u506&utm_medium=email&utm_content=gallery0

Super Realtor Man rescues ‘urgent seller’ | Mount Kisco Real Estate

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Erick Motta, owner of Fresno, Calif.-based Home Star, is tired of watching YouTube videos of agents pitching themselves to potential clients.

So to set his brokerage apart, he decided to produce a different kind of promotional video. Motta — the latest winner of Inman News #madREskillz contest – cast himself as Superman.

In the video, Motta soars across Fresno, Calif. to answer the call of a client who must sell her home in 24 hours. The video is a spoof on the viral hit “Superman With a GoPro,” and is designed to showcase Home Star’s expertise with video marketing, Motta said.

Like “Superman with a GoPro,” Motta’s video features what is supposed be first-person footage of a superhero flying through the atmosphere.

The video opens with animation showing a conversation between “Super Realtor Man,” played by Motta, and a damsel in distress, the “urgent seller.” Home Star bought the animation sequence from VideoHive, and filled the dialogue bubbles with original content, Motta said.

“When do you need to sell it by?” Super Realtor Man asks in the video.

“By Friday,” she says — not next week, but tomorrow.

 

 

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http://www.inman.com/2014/05/02/super-realtor-man-rescues-urgent-seller/?utm_source=20140502&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=dailyheadlinesam

Shadow Inventory Down 23 Percent, Foreclosure Inventory Shrinks 35 Percent | Mt Kisco Homes

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The numbers of foreclosures and potential foreclosures have fallen dramatically over the past 12 months as the foreclosure picture rapidly returns to pre-2006 levels.  The decline in foreclosures in the pipeline has important ramifications for real estate investors and local markets that are returning to health as they recover from the foreclosure flood that produced 4.9 million foreclosures since 2008.

CoreLogic reported today that as of February 2014, approximately 752,000 homes in the United States were in some stage of foreclosure, known as the foreclosure inventory, compared to 1.2 million in February 2013, a year-over-year decrease of 35 percent. Month over month, the foreclosure inventory was down 3.3 percent from January 2014. The foreclosure inventory as of February represented 1.9 percent of all homes with a mortgage, compared to 2.9 percent in February 2013.

At the end of February 2014, there were 1.9 million mortgages, or 4.9 percent, in serious delinquency, defined as 90 days or more past due, including those loans in foreclosure or real estate owned (REO) that there were 43,000 completed foreclosures in the United States in February 2014, down from 51,000 in February 2013, a year-over-year decrease of 15 percent. On a month-over-month basis, completed foreclosures decreased 13.1 percent from 50,000 in January 2014.

The national residential shadow inventory was 1.7 million homes as of January 2014 compared to 2.2 million in January 2013, a year-over-year decrease of 23 percent.

“Although there is good news that completed foreclosures are trending lower, the bigger news is the impressive decline in the foreclosure and shadow inventories,” said Dr. Mark Fleming, chief economist for CoreLogic. “Every state has had double-digit, year-over-year declines in foreclosure inventory, which is reflected in the $70 billion decline in the shadow inventory.”

“The stock of seriously delinquent homes and the foreclosure rate are back to levels last seen in the final quarter of 2008,” said Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic. “The shadow inventory has also declined year over year for the past 3 years as the housing market continues to heal, including double-digit declines for the past 16 consecutive months.”

 

 

http://www.realestateeconomywatch.com/2014/04/shadow-inventory-down-23-percent-foreclosure-inventory-shrinks-35-percent/

Russian sanctions have real impact on U.S. real estate market | Mt Kisco Real Estate

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It’s been easy to shrug off the U.S. sanctions against Russia as something that only impacts people half a world away. That could be changing. Anecdotal evidence suggests that wealthy Russians, who have become a big part of the luxury real estate market in places like New York and Miami, may be sitting on the sidelines while our two countries duke it out on the diplomatic stage.

Julie Satow, a contributor to The New York Times, took a closer look at the issue and told The Daily Ticker about a member of Russia’s parliament who “was looking for a $25 million-$52 million purchase and he sent [his realtor] an email after the invasion saying ‘I’m sorry. I’m pulling out.’”

The unidentified rich Russian isn’t the only one. Satow notes that anti-American propaganda runs rampant in Moscow and it may not be the best time for Russian citizens to flaunt the fact that they are making a big splash in the New York real estate market.

Gone are the days, perhaps, of record breaking buys like billionaire Dmitriy Rybolovlev’s $88 million condo purchase in 2011 (he purportedly bought it for his 22 year-old daughter). While that was the highest-priced example, Russians and other wealthy international clients have long used U.S. real estate as a shelter for their cash. Satow says 40% of the New York real estate market is made up of foreigners and 50% of new construction is snapped up by clients overseas.

So will frosty relations between Moscow and Washington send Russian money elsewhere for good? Probably not. While there may be a “momentary freeze” of such big purchases, Satow suggests the safety of the American market may soon bring in “more buyers…but they may not want to do the super high profile penthouses.” Instead, she says, they might opt for more “conservative” $2 million apartments that won’t make the papers here and back home.

 

 

http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/rich-russians-bailing-out-of-luxury-real-estate-market-140506455.html

 

Gas leaks in NYC not uncommon, records show | Mt Kisco NY Real Estate

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Natural gas leaks — similar to the one thought to have caused an explosion earlier this month in East Harlem that leveled two buildings and killed eight people — are commonplace, according to federal records.

More than half of the 9,906 leaks in New York City and Westchester County reported to suppliers Con Edison and National Grid in 2012 could have harmed people or property, an analysis of federal data from the Department of Transportation showed.

The danger largely stems from the city’s aging network of gas mains made of leak-prone cast iron, wrought iron or unprotected steel, the New York Times reported.

Replacing the 6,302 miles of pipes won’t be cheap or easy — it could cost upwards of $10 billion, the article said. In traffic-heavy areas like Manhattan, installing new mains would likely cost up to $10 million a mile, according to Con Edison officials. Even if the funds are made available, replacing “vintage” pipes will take as long as 25 years, according to National Grid.

“Accelerated replacement is not the answer to today’s problem; it’s the answer to tomorrow’s problem,” Mark McDonald, who investigates gas explosions for insurance companies and landlords, told the Times. “What needs to be happening is increased vigilance, increased leak surveys to spot these problems before it gets into someone’s house.”

 

 

http://therealdeal.com/blog/2014/03/24/gas-leaks-put-nyc-in-perpetual-danger/

Zillow, Trulia Rise as SouFun, E-House Fall | Mt Kisco Real Estate

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Real estate information providers were passing ships last week. The winners and losers just happened to literally be a world apart. Stateside darlings Zillow  (NASDAQ: Z )  and Trulia  (NYSE: TRLA )  rose 15% and 12%, respectively, on the week. Chinese players E-House  (NYSE: EJ )  and SouFun  (NYSE: SFUN)  saw their shares fall by 10% each last week. The double-digit-percentage moves in both directions paint contrasting portraits, but it’s not as good or bad as you might think.

Let’s start with the Chinese sinkers. E-House and SouFun fell as investors retreated out of China’s growth stocks, but if anything, the only substantial news out of the companies was positive.

SouFun, a website operator emphasizing home improvement, furnishings and other real estate topics, should have moved higher after announcing a new ADS-to-share ratio that essentially equates a 5-for-1 stock split. It didn’t.

There was some encouraging news out of E-House on Friday. Tencent’s agreeing to shell out $180 million to E-House for a 15% stake in its previously wholly owned Leju, a provider of real estate online services that E-House is proposing to take public as a stand-alone entity. It didn’t matter. The market just wasn’t interested in Chinese equities.

The market’s reception was far kinder to the real-estate portals toiling away closer to home.

Jim Cramer had some kind words to say about Zillow on Wednesday’s Mad Money show. Zillow also helped make its own luck by introducing a new platform where potential home buyers can get a mortgage provider’s pre-approval letter in just minutes. Zillow claims that this is the first time that this kind of offering — something that will make it easier for aspiring buyers to sway sellers into entering into a sales contract — is being made possible on desktop and mobile platforms.

Trulia announced the residential real estate website’s first national marketing campaign. Trulia is investing $45 million in this “Moment of Trulia” campaign that’s aimed at women between the ages of 25 and 44 and will be promoted across various media platforms.

 

 

http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2014/03/24/zillow-trulia-rise-as-soufun-e-house-fall.aspx

Metro-North Put On-Time Performance Over Safety | Mt Kisco Real Estate

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A review by the Federal Railroad Administration has found that Metro-North places on-time performance over worker and passenger safety, according to the New York Times.

Operation Deep Dive is a review of the railroad prompted by the Dec. 1 derailment in the Bronx that killed four people and injured more than 70 more. The 28-page report analyzes safety measures taken by Metro-North and suggests corrective actions that the railroad can take to improve safety.

The report also found that cell phone usage is commonplace among track workers on the job and that workers are pressured to rush to respond to signal failures, according to the New York Times. It also said that track inspectors receive inadequate training and that safety briefings are poorly attended.

The full report will be released Friday. Click here to see the full story in the New York Times.

 

http://mtkisco.dailyvoice.com/news/report-metro-north-put-time-performance-over-safety