Real Estate Matters | What home sellers can expect in the market this year.
What home sellers can expect in the market this year | Waccabuc Real Estate
Leave a reply
Tag Archives: Waccabuc NY Homes
Sandy Forced Poor to Leave Illegal Units | Waccabuc NY Homes
Superstorm Sandy has placed a spotlight on tens of thousands of basement apartments, attics and other informal living spaces which are forms of affordable housing that are often illegal but also vital in New York City.
Advocates for the poor said thousands of people were dislodged from such apartments after the 2012 storm, and many are still homeless, as their landlords have difficulty finding resources to fix illegal residences. Such units often rented for less than nearby legal units and were home to people with low incomes.
It is hard to come by hard numbers of illegal apartments in the coastal areas slammed by Sandy, neighborhoods such as Midland Beach in Staten Island and Rockaway Park in Queens. City officials say 63,000 residential units were damaged during Sandy, and advocates estimate that under counts thousands of illegal apartments.
“It’s true that a lot of the units were maybe illegal, almost definitely substandard,” said Judith Goldiner, an attorney with the Legal Aid Society. “I’m not going to tell you they were great housing, but on the other hand they were affordable housing to a lot of low-income people.”
Related
Landowners Fight Protective Dunes
Not all basement apartments are illegal. They can be legally rented in some cases if they are more than half above ground, have seven-foot or higher ceilings and comply with a host of other city regulations. Housing advocates are pushing to legalize basement apartments that meet safety standards, and Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio has said he supports bringing them into the regulated housing system. Safety concerns have slowed such efforts.
Unregulated apartments posed special problems for homeowners trying to make repairs after Sandy. Many were unable to get government funding to repair illegal basement units, or their units now sit below the floodplain and can’t be rebuilt.
Others were afraid of seeking help and getting fined when their undeclared apartments were discovered. The Department of Buildings has issued about 30,000 violations for illegal apartments since 2009, including more than 4,400 in 2012.
Some homeowners relied on the rental income to help pay their mortgages, putting them in danger of foreclosure. Of 31,700 pre-foreclosure notices filed in the city between November 2012 and November 2013 nearly 8% were in Sandy-hit areas, according to the Center for New York City Neighborhoods.
Before Sandy, Gloria Harris, a 49-year-old Health and Hospitals Corp. employee, lived on the second floor of her two-story Rockaway Peninsula home and rented the main floor for $1,100 a month. When she asked for disaster recovery money, she said the Federal Emergency Management Agency called her house a one-family home and wouldn’t pay for repairs to the second floor. She has stopped making mortgage payments but said she can’t afford to lose the house.
“Even if I sell the house and I go to rent, with the money I make I can’t afford rent in Brooklyn, or even in Queens,” said Ms. Harris, who bought her home in June 2011.
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303799404579282352875335252#utm_source=Rebuilding%20NY%20Alert&utm_medium=alert-html&utm_campaign=Newsletters
14 Predictions for NYC’s Housing Market in 2014 | Waccabuc Real Estate
Low inventory, bidding wars and record-setting prices were recurring themes for New York’s residential real estate market in 2013.
In 2014, rising mortgage rates, a new mayor and administration and a surge in new construction could be the factors that spark major changes in real estate. DNAinfo asked the experts for their forecasts.
1. Rising mortgage rates will likely dampen price growth by mid 2014
Concern over rising mortgage rates pushed some prospective buyers to seal the deal in 2013. In Manhattan’s third quarter, for instance, the number of sales spiked 30 percent compared with the year before — the most transactions since the recession began — according to a report released by Douglas Elliman, the city’s largest residential brokerage.
But with rates expected to rise, resulting in higher monthly costs, buying may no longer be an option for some, which may make for a less frenzied market.
“2014 is going to be the year of ‘slow and steady,'” said Dottie Herman, president and CEO of Douglas Elliman, “With interest rates inching up, that should help level things off to a more sustainable level of housing price growth.”
Frances Katzen, one of Elliman’s top brokers, agreed: “I also believe 2014 will reflect an adjustment in purchase power due to mortgage rate hikes, and I do expect the mid-year to mellow down with respect to heated prices.”
2. Inventory will expand … just a bit
In terms of new construction, Manhattan will see more condos and Brooklyn will see more rentals, real estate expert Jonathan Miller said.
“I do see inventory edging higher, but not sharply,” Miller said. “That will keep prices making modest gains.”
He added: “I don’t see 2014 as a bad market, but I view it as a little disappointment relative to the euphoria in 2013.”
3. Manhattan will see a wave of ultra-luxury condos opening
A slew of new buildings are slated to open, according to Jeff Schleider, founder of Miron Properties. He noted that nearly every developer his firm represents has a few projects in progress that will hit the market in 2014.
Because land costs have soared in Manhattan, with some areas commanding more than $700 a foot, these projects are primarily luxury: priced at more than $2,500 a square foot and above in order to be profitable — which means they won’t ease the housing shortage, brokers said.
4. But the prices of these high-end projects may not be sustainable
“It will be interesting to see if the market demand for this product will be strong enough to absorb this volume of units,” Schleider said.
Many brokers aren’t convinced these prices can be sustained beyond the first wave of these buildings.
“The new construction is so over-luxurious,” Elliman’s Katzen said. “It comes down to the quality of what you’re looking for — a lot of them are like hotel rooms. [But] I think there are a few of us who appreciate more classical homes.”
Kirk Henckels, director of Stribling Private Brokerage’s division that focuses on luxury sales above $5 million, said, “Smart developers are reassessing. Some prices will go up and some will go down.”
http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20140102/east-harlem/14-predictions-for-nycs-housing-market-2014
Housing market could be facing another bubble: Shiller | Waccabuc NY Real Estate
Should You Invest in Residential Real Estate? | Waccabuc NY Homes
We saw what was probably the biggest real estate bubble in American history just recently, when housing prices topped out somewhere in 2006 or 2007.
We then saw a major bust, the beginning of which actually preceded a bust of the entire economy.
Of course, we have to remember that real estate is a local issue. A few parts of the country didn’t see a housing boom, and some parts, such as New York City, didn’t really see a bust. In general, however, we saw a big boom followed by a big bust.
After housing prices bottomed somewhere around 2011, we have seen them climb quite significantly, though still not to the levels we saw in 2006 in most places.
Different Points of View
There are differing points of view on where real estate is headed, even by advocates of the free market.
Some people think we are in another bubble that will pop again. They point to the fact that the housing market is being propped up by low interest rates, a loose monetary policy by the Fed, and bank bailouts.
While these things are certainly true and they do prop up real estate prices, what’s to say it can’t go on for a while longer?
Other people think that real estate prices will continue to go up and maybe even enter a new bubble at some point, while maintaining that it is not a bubble yet. They correctly point to Federal Reserve inflation.
When there is high inflation, investors look for hard assets. You can’t get more of a hard asset than real estate. So if you expect inflation to continue to get worse, real estate is something to seriously consider.
http://wallstreetsectorselector.com/2013/12/invest-residential-real-estate/
Best Maps of 2013: Where Are the Homes Just Under $200K? | Waccabuc NY Homes
Where Is Content Marketing Headed in 2014? [INFOGRAPHIC | Waccabuc NY Realtor
As the year 2013 comes to an end, marketing experts and internet professionals are taking a look forward to what the marketing terrain will be like in the year 2014, especially in the area of content marketing.
2013 has experienced a lot of innovative changes as far as marketing is concerned. There were a whole lot of new tools and conventions to deal with. But in all of these content marketing stood out! Today, content marketing is not just a buzz word but something that every business now takes as a MUST.
For example, in a recent survey conducted by MarketingProfs and the Content Marketing Institute, it was revealed that 93% B2B organizations now use content-based tactics for their marketing campaigns while 73% indicated they now produce more content than the previous year!
These are not mean figures. They are definitely an indication of what to expect in content marketing trends for 2014. The following infographic from Uberflip gives a concise view of what the trends will be like in content marketing in 2014.
So, whether you are a B2B or B2C business and you are among those who intent drive out-standing results for your content marketing spend in 2014 then you need to study this infographic very carefully because you will definitely get something from it!
So, how are you preparing to make good use of what the experts say about the content marketing in 2014?
Reno’d English Manor in Connecticut Countryside Asks $20M | Waccabuc Real Estate
23 images
Location: Greenwich, Conn. Price: $20,000,000 The Skinny: A complete renovation and expansion of a 1929 home, this English country manor sits on five acres of land in pricey Khakum Woods, an exceedingly exclusive neighborhood that was once part of the extensive estate of famed New York architect I. N. Phelps Stokes. Linden Court, as the home is now known, was stripped to the studs and rebuilt by luxury builders Xhema, with interior work by David Easton. An impressive modern pedigree, to be sure, but the home’s $20M asking price (down $5M from the original ask, yet still nearly $10M over the highest sale price of nearby homes) has stirred debate—not to mention genteel snarking—among those residing in the rarefied air of Greenwich real estate circles. Which, “po-tay-to, po-tah-to”, it’s a huge sum of money either way.
· 218 Clapboard Ridge Rd. [Sotheby’s International Realty via Architectural Digest]
Homes That Might Be Trying to Tell You Something | Waccabuc Homes
Manhattan Rents Dip Again, But Brooklyn’s Won’t Stop Rising | Waccbuc Real Estate
[Chart via The Elliman Report.]
An NYC newbie might look at the data from Elliman’s monthly rental market report for November and say, “Hey, the rents in Manhattan have declined for three straight months now. Yippee!” The median rental price did, once again, drop year-over-year, down 3 percent to $3,100/month. Hold up: report guru and general market whiz Jonathan Miller cautions that Manhattan renters should contain their glee. “We are seeing rents top out, but the market is still strong,” he says, adding that the rental market saw much of its number exit in order to buy this summer in a flurry of record sales activity. Vacancy rates rose to a relatively high 2.8 percent, and so in order to appease renters, landlords were more willing than usual to offer concessions (say, a free month’s rent). Yet, concludes JMillz, “I don’t think we should expect a long downward trend in rents. The key drivers—rising NYC employment and tight credit—remain in place. I see rents bouncing up and down going forward on some sort of plateau and remaining at a high level.”
[Infographic via MNS.]
Meanwhile, brokerage MNS breaks down its extensive monthly report by neighborhood and type of apartment. Taking all the data together, though, Midtown West, Battery Park City, and the East Village saw the most intense rent hikes, while rents dropped for the Upper East Side, Chelsea, and the Lower East Side.
[Chart via The Elliman Report.]
Let’s turn our attention to Brooklyn, once seen as a bastion of affordability. Not anymore, folks, given that Elliman found median rents in the booming north and northwest parts of the borough rose yet again, this time by 3.8 percent to $2,800/month. And as rents are climbing, the availability of rentable apartments is decreasing: the number of new rentals slipped 6.5 percent from November of last year. The gap between Brooklyn and Manhattan median rents continues to narrow, with only $300/month between them now. “I see Brooklyn as about a year behind the Manhattan cycle,” Miller says. “I think they have more upside, whereas Manhattan more stable.” But, fear not, there’s relief ahead, in the form of increased supply: “Much of the new development in Brooklyn is rental, so that will temper growth next year, whereas most of the new development in Manhattan is condo.”