Tag Archives: Pound Ridge Luxury Homes

This Classical-ish Indian Creek Estate Is $19.8 Million | Pound Ridge NY Homes

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24 images

Directly after the bridge to Indian Creek Village is this big house constructed in 1994. Listed for $19.8 million, it was designed in what the brokerbabble describes as “French Neo-Classical”, but could also be called “watered down neoclassical blah perhaps with vaguely French proportions.” It has 8,500 square feet of living space, a pool, a dock, twin grand staircases, and a formal drive around a long “looking-glass pool” which, is probably just an inventive way of saying it has a reflecting pool. Oh, and above the grand staircase is a dome. Credit is always deserved when one has a dome.

 

http://miami.curbed.com/archives/2014/02/24/this-classicalish-indian-creek-estate-is-198-million.php

Case-Shiller Home Rise In Line With Expectations | Pound Ridge Real Estate

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The Case-Shiller 20-City home price index was up 0.75% month-over-month in December, and up 13.42% year-over-year in December.

This compares with expectations for a 0.6% MoM and 13.4% YoY rise.

“The S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index ended its best year since 2005,” David M. Blitzer, Chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices said in a press release.
“However, gains are slowing from month-to-month and the strongest part of the recovery in home values may be over. Year-over-year values for the two monthly Composites weakened and the quarterly National Index barely improved. The seasonally adjusted data also exhibit some softness and loss of momentum.”

Recent housing data suggests “a bleaker picture for housing,” he said. We’ve seen a decline in homebuilder confidence, existing home sales tumbled, housing starts missed expectations.

Meanwhile, FHFA home prices were up 0.8% in December, beating expectations for a 0.3% rise.

Home prices were up 1.2% in Q4, compared with expectation sfor a 1% rise.

FHFA’s November numbers were revised down to show a 0.1% MoM fall, compared with a 0.1% rise previously.

 

 

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/comes-case-shiller-home-prices-134120159.html

6 best states to flip a home | Pound Ridge NY Homes

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In 2013, investors bought more than 156,000 homes, only to fix them up and quickly resell them for an average profit of $58,081. Home flipping became increasingly popular as the housing market began to recover. However, while the number of U.S. home flips increased in 2013 compared with 2012, home flips as a proportion of all home sales declined from 7.1% of sales in the fourth quarter of 2012 to just 3.8% of sales in the fourth quarter of 2013, partly because of declining inventory.

Where homes are available, however, substantial profits can still be made. In six states, home flippers made an average profit of considerably more than $80,000 in 2013. In the top state, the gross profit on a flipped home was more than $100,000. 24/7 Wall St. examined the six states where home flipping was most lucrative in 2013.

Buying homes to flip when market prices are relatively high may mean more overhead, but the fact remains that the states and metro areas with the largest average profits on home flips were the more expensive housing markets. All of the six most profitable states to flip a home in 2013 had among the highest average purchase prices that year. “High prices result in higher profits,” confirmed Daren Blomquist, vice president at home data site RealtyTrac. “These states are basically the highest-priced markets in the country.”

24/7 Wall St. examined the six states with an average gross home flip profit of at least $80,000 in 2013, based on data from RealtyTrac. RealtyTrac also provided average flip price, average gross profit, and the proportion of all home sales that were flips for 2011 and 2012, and Q4 2013 for States and U.S. Metro areas. We also reviewed RealtyTrac’s foreclosure rates for 2013.

http://homes.yahoo.com/photos/6-best-states-to-flip-a-house-1392234911-slideshow/

 

Canada house prices rise in January to record high | Pound Ridge NY Homes

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Canadian home prices rose to a record high in January as Vancouver prices surged, the Teranet-National Bank Composite House Price Index showed on Wednesday, even as other housing indicators have shown a cooling market.

The index, which measures price changes for repeat sales of single-family homes, showed national prices rose 0.4 percent last month from December, the largest monthly rise in five months. They had risen 0.1 percent in December.

Canada’s housing market had roared back to life through much of 2013 after a 2012 slowdown, but was showing signs of cooling in the final months of last year, and economists have been calling for a soft landing as construction and demand slow and price gains decelerate.

The Teranet data showed prices were up 4.5 percent from a year earlier, an acceleration from December’s 3.8 percent price gain. The index does not show actual prices.

“Despite the uptick in home prices, we maintain the view that prices will soften,” Mazen Issa, senior Canada macro strategist at TD Securities, said in a research note.

“Very favorable financial conditions are expected to erode as continued tapering by the Federal Reserve and a more robust growth backdrop lead to higher mortgage rates.”

 

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/02/12/canada-economy-teranet-idUSL2N0LH0R520140212

 

Real Estate agents turn to video to shoot for a marketing edge | Pound Ridge Realtor

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Steve Dao spent a recent Friday rushing from the office to the gym, picking up some freshly-rolled sushi and, back home as the city lights came up, impressing his date with the view of Toronto’s skyline from the terrace of his King Street East loft.

All the while, a camera crew was capturing the lifestyle of a successful, thirtysomething loft owner and single dad. Mr. Dao is an actor and on that day he was the star of a video designed to show off the amenities of the loft and the surrounding King and Parliament neighbourhood to prospective buyers. Taking on the role of his date was real estate agent Karyn Filiatrault of Bosley Real Estate Ltd., who also commissioned the video.

 

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/home-and-garden/real-estate/real-estate-agents-turn-to-video-to-shoot-for-a-marketing-edge/article16726182/

 

5 Ways to Get the Most Space Out of Your Home | Pound Ridge NY Homes

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You look around you and feel like your home is bursting at the seams. Whether it’s an apartment, a condo, or a small single-family house, you see your stuff all over and know that you’re running out of space. But you may not be prepared to make the move to someplace bigger.

No worries: January is a great time to start anew and make the most out of the space you have. To help appeal to shoppers who have resolved to de-clutter in the new year, many stores offer discounts on storage systems and organization supplies. In cold-weather cities, contractors probably aren’t working on outdoor projects, so you might be able to catch one during a slow time and get a decent deal.

With a little planning and some creative thinking, your home may turn out to have more space than you think.

1. Look in the nook.

The alcove by your front door, or a corner or recess in a downstairs or upstairs hallway, could be a good spot to set up some prefabricated bookshelves. You can even buy the components for a home office space that hangs from the wall. Of course, if you live in rental space, you should check with your landlord before drilling holes in the wall. But small touches like these can move things—books, laptop, printer, CDs—out of your main living space. These also tend to be smaller projects that you can do yourself.

  Vertical space is precious andoften-overlookedreal estate.

If the thought of a few hours of quality time with an Allen wrench isn’t your idea of fun, see if your building’s maintenance staff is looking for extra work. They may be willing to do it for less if you’re able to pay them swiftly, so consider using the Popmoney ® personal payment service which allows you to send money to virtually anyone’s U.S. bank account easily with your phone, directly from your bank account, using the Citi Mobile ®  App.

 

 

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/5-ways-most-space-home-143052537.html

Fear that rising home prices will fuel market instability | Pound RidgeNY Real Estate

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Even though home prices in the valley have risen 55 percent and distressed sales have fallen to 15 percent from a high of 60 percent, many people worry about this housing market — not just in the desert but also throughout the country. Some believe prices might be forming another housing bubble. Others worry that early foreclosure investors will begin selling their investments, raising inventories and depressing prices. In our opinion, only one of these issues has merit — and just slightly.

Fear of Bubbles

I’ve studied market bubbles for more than 40 years. In fact, I wrote a book in 2000 on the stock market dot-com bubble, and the current housing market shows no signs of impending trouble. One important sign there is “no bubble” is the constant talk and worry about one. While this may seem strange, it’s rooted in history.

Bubbles occur after many years of constantly rising prices. Buyers become convinced the market carries little risk, since prices never seem to decline. Any warnings that prices have advanced beyond what the economy or wages can support are thought “out of touch” and generally ignored. That prices continue to move higher is proof these warnings are wrong. Alan Greenspan called this condition “irrational exuberance,” and it doesn’t exist today.

“Normal” Affordability

What we have now is simply a rapidly recovering housing market driven upward by a special Federal Reserve program that keeps mortgage rates low. When we measure home prices against affordability — the percentage of homeowners who can afford the current median-priced home — we find no bubble; prices are generally in line with historic norms.

Foreclosure Investors

We do think there is validity to the worry that investors might begin selling, but we believe it is somewhat overblown.

During the dark days of valley housing — from 2010 through 2011 — we had an inverted market that couldn’t right itself. The normal mechanisms to rebalance weren’t there. Too many buyers throughout California were underwater, and those who could buy were restricted by extremely tight lending conditions. Then an army of cash investors came forth who bought up the huge inventory of distressed homes. Resented by some for their good timing, they did help turn things around and save the day.

 

 

http://www.palmspringslife.com/Palm-Springs-Life/February-2014/Market-Watch-Bubble-Free-Zone/