Tag Archives: South Salem NY Homes

Free FICO credit scores offered to millions | South Salem Real Estate

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Millions of credit card customers of Barclaycard US, the payments business of Barclays in the U.S., and First Bankcard, the credit card division of First National Bank of Omaha, can now access their FICO credit scores for free.

The two banks are the first to participate in the FICO Open Access Program, which in addition to offering free FICO Scores, allows customers to see the two most important factors affecting their score and provides them with FICO educational materials to help them better understand credit scoring and what behaviors impact their FICO Score. The program is open to all consumer lenders, including mortgage lenders.

“This new program provides individuals with the specific FICO Score used by lenders to make credit decisions regarding an individual customer,” said James Wehmann, executive vice president of scores at FICO, in a statement.

“In 2012 approximately 10 billion FICO Scores were bought by lenders for risk management purposes, and we are prepared to allow all of them to be shared with bank customers without any additional score fee charged by FICO to lenders.”

FICO expects more than 25 million Americans to have access through the program within 12 months.

Source: FICO

– See more at: http://www.inman.com/wire/free-fico-credit-scores-offered-to-millions/#sthash.mMbN7TKy.dpuf

Gruesome incidents may not be disclosed to homebuyers | South Salem NY Real Estate

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Halloween is upon us and some house hunters out there may be wondering what spooky things have occurred in the homes they’re eyeing. Tales of haunted real estate abound at this time of year, and they are often tied to a particularly traumatic incident in a home’s history. But the reality is that most prospective buyers may not find out about any such incident unless they ask.

In most states, a murder, suicide or other violent crime occurring in a home does not have to be disclosed, Walt Molony, spokesman for the National Association of Realtors, told USA Today.

Most lawmakers agree the psychological damage of such an incident in a home would not be a material defect that should be required to be disclosed to buyers, the paper said.

But at least one case is heading to a state supreme court next month. In 2007, Pennsylvania homeowner Janet Milliken found out her home, purchased the year before, had been the scene of a murder-suicide after experiencing several disturbing incidents in the home, including the sound of a gun clicking.

She filed suit against the former owner of the house and the real estate agents involved in the deal, alleging fraud and breach of the state’s real-estate disclosure law.

Source: USA Today

– See more at: http://www.inman.com/wire/gruesome-incidents-may-not-be-disclosed-to-homebuyers/#sthash.CgJAr5ol.dpuf

Dropping Knowledge: When is the Best Time to Sell a Place? | South Salem Real Estate

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Welcome to Dropping Knowledge, a new video series in which we offer pieces of advice—one-minute or less—from experts in the world of real estate and architecture. Our first guest, well-known to Curbed readers, is the one and only Jonathan Miller, who will teach us about apartment values and the market. Want to nominate a future guest? Let us know.

 

Appraiser, graph guru, and Three Cents Worth columnist Jonathan Miller is a source of much wisdom regarding the real estate market, so he was a natural first choice for Dropping Knowledge, a new video series featuring answers to common market questions. Today, JMillz answers a frequent market query: when is the best time to sell your apartment? Have questions you’d like answered in future videos? Please leave them in comments or via the tipline. · Three Cents Worth archive [Curbed] · Curbed Moving Pictures archive [Curbed]

 

 

http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2013/10/08/dropping_knowledge_when_is_the_best_time_to_sell_a_place.php

Westchester CSEA endorses all Democrats | South Salem Real Estate

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Here’s the statement of the union. All the candidates are Democrats:

WHITE PLAINS – Leaders of CSEA, the largest union representing public employees across Westchester County, today announced the union’s full list of endorsements for county-level races.

The endorsements were made by the CSEA Southern Region Political Action Committee.

“We are excited to endorse a strong slate of qualified individuals who have worked and will continue to work to preserve a strong middle class in Westchester County,” said CSEA Southern Region President Billy Riccaldo.

The endorsements are as follows:

• County Executive: Noam Bramson

• County Clerk: Tim Idoni

• Board of Legislators, District 1:Duane Jackson

• Board of Legislators, District 2: Peter Harckham

• Board of Legislators, District 5: Ben Boykin

• Board of Legislators, District 8: Alfreda Williams

• Board of Legislators, District 9: Catherine Borgia

• Board of Legislators, District 10: Mary Jo Jacobs

• Board of Legislators, District 11: Stavros Pantelis

• Board of Legislators, District 12: Mary Jane Shimsky

• Board of Legislators, District 13: Lyndon Williams

• Board of Legislators, District 14: Rachelle “Rocky” Richard

?• Board of Legislators, District 16: Ken Jenkins

CSEA is New York’s leading union, representing employees of the state and its counties, towns, villages, school districts, library systems, authorities and public benefit corporations. Together with a growing population of private sector members and retirees, CSEA is the largest affiliate of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), which is one of the largest affiliates of the AFL-CIO.

 

 

http://northernwestchester.lohudblogs.com/2013/09/25/westchester-elections-csea-announces-endorsements/

 

CoreLogic: 2.5 million homes float back into positive territory | South Salem Real Estate

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Approximately 2.5 million more residential properties returned to a state of positive equity during the second quarter of 2013, according to the CoreLogic second- quarter home equity report.

The total number of mortgaged residential properties with positive equity stands at 41.5 million, the research firm found.

“Equity rebuilding continued in the second quarter of this year as the share of underwater mortgaged homes fell to 14.5%,” said CoreLogic Chief Economist Mark Fleming.

He added, “In just the first half of 2013 almost three and a half million homeowners have returned to positive equity, but the pace of improvement will likely slow as price appreciation moderates in the second half.”

Despite the substantial decline in negative equity, there’s more ground left to cover with the remaining 7.1 million underwater borrowers.

Meanwhile, 7.1 million, or 14.5%, of all residential properties with a mortgage were still in negative equity at the end of the second quarter of 2013 with a total value of $428 billion, down from $576 billion at the end of the first quarter.

This figure is drastically down as a result of a steady home price improvements.

Of the residential properties with positive equity, 10.3 million have less than 20% equity, meaning these borrowers may have a more difficult time obtaining new financing for their homes due to underwriting constraints, according to the report.

At the end of the second quarter, 1.7 million residential properties had less than 5% equity.

Looking at individual states, Nevada had the highest percentage of mortgaged properties in negative equity at 36.4%, with Florida and Arizona following behind with 31.5% and 24.7%, respectively.

Of the largest 25 metropolitan areas, Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall, Fla., held the highest percentage of mortgaged properties in negative equity at 36.5%, with Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Fla., and Phoenix-Mesa-Glendale, Ariz., following behind with 33.8% and 25.6%, respectively.

 

http://www.housingwire.com/articles/26744-corelogic-25-million-homes-float-back-into-positive-territory

 

New Google+ Website Plugins: This Week in Social Media | South Salem Realtor

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Welcome to our weekly edition of what’s hot in social media news. To help you stay up to date with social media, here are some of the news items that caught our attention.

What’s New This Week?

Google+ Launches New Plugins for Your Website: Google+ launches “a bunch of new plugins that help visitors to connect with you on Google+, directly from your website.”  There’s an updated Google+ Follow plugin and updated badges for your Google+ Profiles and Pages.  You can now also create a badge for your Google+ Communities.

Check out the updated Google+ Page badges.

LinkedIn Adds the Top Requested Features to Their Mobile App: LinkedIn has “added the top requested features — the ability to search for jobs, companies, groups and people on-the-go. In addition they have added a few tips to help you be more productive from wherever you may be working.”

With LinkedIn mobile, you can now find and discover people, jobs and groups.

Discussion From Our Networking Clubs: Thousands of social media marketers and small business owners are asking questions and helping others in our free Networking Clubs. Here are a few interesting discussions worth highlighting:

How are the Facebook Hashtags going for you so far?

Are you drowning in social media?

Facebook Announces a New Review Policy for Pages and Groups: Facebook will “implement a new review process for determining which Pages and Groups should feature ads alongside their content. This process will expand the scope of Pages and Groups that should be ad-restricted.”

For example, Facebook “will now seek to restrict ads from appearing next to Pages and Groups that contain any violent, graphic or sexual content [content that does not violate (current) community standards]. Prior to this change, a Page selling adult products was eligible to have ads appear on its right-hand side; now there will not be ads displayed next to this type of content.”

Twitter Decides Auto-Follow-Back Is Now Taboo: SocialOomph reports that “Twitter changed their terms of service and outlawed automated following back of people who followed you first.”

Bing Integrates Search Prevalence Into the Klout Score: Klout announces “the official integration of Bing search results into the Klout Score.” This means that “the number of times you are searched for on Bing will now contribute directly to your Klout Score.”

 

New Google+ Website Plugins: This Week in Social Media | Social Media Examiner.

Obama Weekly Address: Growing The “Healing” Housing Market | South Salem Real Estate

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Obama Weekly Address: Growing The “Healing” Housing Market

WHITE HOUSE: In this week’s address, President Obama said seven years after the real estate bubble burst, our housing market is healing. The administration’s policies have helped responsible homeowners save money on their mortgages and stay in their homes, and the President’s consumer watchdog agency is working to protect consumers from being taken advantage of on their mortgages, but there is still more work to do. The President urges Congress to quickly confirm Mel Watt to lead the Federal Housing Finance Agency, and take action to give every responsible homeowner the chance to refinance and save money on their mortgage, so that we can keep growing the housing market, support working families, and strengthen the economy.

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Hi, everybody. Our top priority as a nation is reigniting the true engine of our economic growth – a rising, thriving middle class. And few things define what it is to be middle class in America more than owning your own cornerstone of the American Dream: a home.

Today, seven years after the real estate bubble burst, triggering the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression and costing millions of responsible Americans their jobs and their homes, our housing market is healing. Sales are up. Foreclosures are down. Construction is expanding. And thanks to rising home prices over the past year, 1.7 million more families have been able to come up for air, because they’re no longer underwater on their mortgages.

From the day I took office, I’ve made it a priority to help responsible homeowners and prevent the kind of recklessness that helped cause this crisis in the first place.

My housing plan has already helped more than two million people refinance their mortgages, and they’re saving an average of $3000 per year.

My new consumer watchdog agency is moving forward on protections like a simpler, shorter mortgage form that will help to keep hard-working families from getting ripped off.

But we’ve got more work to do. We’ve got more responsible homeowners to help – folks who have never missed a mortgage payment, but aren’t allowed to refinance; working families who have done everything right, but still owe more on their homes than they’re worth.

Last week, I nominated a man named Mel Watt to take on these challenges as the head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency. Mel’s represented the people of North Carolina in Congress for 20 years, and in that time, he helped lead efforts to put in place rules of the road that protect consumers from dishonest mortgage lenders, and give responsible Americans the chance to own their own home. He’s the right person for the job, and that’s why Congress should do its job, and confirm him without delay.

And they shouldn’t stop there. As I said before, more than two million Americans have already refinanced at today’s low rates, but we can do a lot better than that. I’ve called on Congress to give every responsible homeowner the chance to refinance, and with it, the opportunity to save $3,000 a year. That’s like a $3,000 tax cut. And if you’re one of the millions of Americans who could take advantage of that, you should ask your representative in Congress why they won’t act on it.

Our economy and our housing market are poised for progress – but we could do so much more if we work together. More good jobs. Greater security for middle-class families. A sense that your hard work is rewarded. That’s what I’m fighting for – and that’s what I’m going to keep fighting for as long as I hold this office.




Obama Weekly Address: Growing The “Healing” Housing Market | RealClearPolitics

 

 

Obama Weekly Address: Growing The “Healing” Housing Market | South Salem Real Estate | Bedford NY Real Estate | Robert Paul Talks Life in Bedford NY.

South Salem NY Homes | Qualified mortgage rule may come in early January

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Mortgage lenders and servicers are preparing for an “unprecedented” period in January when they will be forced to analyze some of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s final lending, servicing and appraisal rules scheduled for release next month.

The rules do not take effect immediately, but will set in motion a yearlong frenzy as servicers and lenders analyze the guidelines, revamp their tech and regulatory strategies and, in some cases, change their product offerings to stave off litigation risks.

Richard Andreano Jr., a partner at Ballard Spahr, says the most watched of those rules – the qualified mortgage rule that defines guidelines for determining a borrower’s ability-to-repay a mortgage – could come as early as Jan. 9.

The Jan. 9th date emerged as a possible drop-date for the final QM rule since the CFPB scheduled public hearings to collect feedback on Jan. 10 and Jan. 17, according to Andreano. Nothing has been officially confirmed by the CFPB, but the scheduling of those hearings is a suggestion the rules will be released right before the feedback sessions.

The month of January will bring final CFPB rules on ability-to-repay (qualified mortgage), loan originator compensation, servicing practices, appraisals, high-cost mortgages and escrow issues, Andreano said.

But the ability-to-repay rule is getting the most attention with it having the potential to change the product offerings of some lenders, especially smaller players in the market, Andreano told HousingWire. The effects of the rule hinge on how broadly or narrowly a qualified mortgage is defined.

“Overall, I don’t think there has ever been a period of time where an industry has had to implement so many wide-reaching changes,” Andreano said. “The interesting thing is going to be what is the mortgage marketplace going to look like after this in terms of who is still in the marketplace making mortgage loans.”

Andreano added, “Because of the amount of increased complexities, a lot of small banks were rethinking whether they want to be in the mortgage business.” He says after the final rules are released, the effects on small banks will be watched closely.

Andreano believes the rules may be released as “interim final rules,” leaving the CFPB open to make additional changes. And while the rules will be released in January, the CFPB can allow for lengthy implementation periods, Andreano said.

“In talking with some of the supervisory folks over there (CFPB), they were well aware of the fact that it’s going to be typically burdensome on the industry, and they are not going to flip the switch and implement everything.”

via housingwire.com

Pinterest Business pages for real estate: an overview | South Salem NY Real Estate

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By now you’ve probably noticed that Pinterest has introduced business accounts. Not much is new, but now there’s an easier transition if you’re a business versus an individual person. It doesn’t look as if there are any added SEO or analytics at this point, but in my opinion, it’s definitely a step in the right direction for this popular social media platform.

In terms of business, imagine the more businesses that join Pinterest and how large this community will grow and be willing and able to share your content. This will be a huge source of reach and growth for businesses alike.  Think of it as a vision board for potential clients, not just yourself.

There are new terms of service too so make sure to check those out if you’re thinking of starting a business page or converting from a personal account.

Pinterest also gives a handy list of best practices to consider when you convert to your business page:

  • Verifying your website
  • Creating inspiring boards
  • Sharing your business values (what you care about)
  • Highlighting specials
  • Celebrating seasons and holidays
  • Adding a personal touch
  • Take the time to write a good description
  • Link to useful webpages
  • Collaborate with other pinners (perhaps someone in your community or on your team)
  • Ask questions
  • Promote your pins on other social media sites
  • Add the Pinterest follow and share button
  • Create Pinterest tabs on other social media sites

Like any personal Pinterest account, businesses have access to the newly released secret boards. The possibilities are endless – get creative with it. Don’t forget to check out the Goodies section too. The Board Widget looks like an awesome feature you can put up on your website.

via next.inman.com

BofA offers 30,000 borrowers $4.75 billion in principal reductions | South Salem NY Real Estate

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Bank of America ($9.12 0%) approved 30,000 mortgage customers for principal reductions on first-lien mortgages with a total value of $4.75 billion as part of its consumer-relief mandate under the national mortgage servicing settlement program.

Bank of America executives participated on a teleconferenced update to the settlement.

They said that, through September, BofA completed or approved $15.8 billion in mortgage debt relief for 164,000 homeowners.

The progress report comes the same day that four other banks are expected to release their compliance updates with the national mortgage servicing settlement. The $20 bilion-plus settlement, which was reached between the big banks, state attorneys general and the federal government, outlines consumer-relief mandates and servicing requirements for the nation’s largest mortgage servicers.

BofA said in addition to $4.75 billion in principal reductions, the company has extended $230 million in pre-settlement forebearance.

And to date, 45,000 homeowners with mortgages serviced or owned by BofA have received $2.5 billion in relief through programs offering extinguishment of home equity loans and lines of credit.

Another 62,000 BofA customers were greenlighted for short-sales or deeds-in-lieu of foreclosure offering another $7.4 billion in relief on unpaid principal balances.

By Oct. 31, 23,000 homeowners had been offered assistance via interest rate reductions, with most of that activity occurring in just the past month.

Through September, about 1,000 rate reductions were completed with interest-rate aid totaling $250 million in unpaid principal balances.

BofA notes that when evaluating the gross amount of forgiveness activity, the relief is not always calculated dollar-for-dollar, so the aid amount is often higher than what is credited.

via housingwire.com