Remodeling Trend: 'Forever Homes'

Home owners who want to stay put are looking into remodeling their homes with universal design features to turn their homes into “forever homes” that they won’t have to leave in the future as they age, says Steven Mark, senior design consultant with Marrokal Design & Remodeling. Home owners are making decisions and remodeling their homes to age-in-place long before they need the universal design features too, Mark says. Mark assists home owners in planning for future needs with accessibility in homes.




He says the top trends in “forever homes” are wider entry ways, showers that are wheelchair accessible, and grab bars placed in bathroom showers. For home owners building new, Mark says having wider hallways from the beginning can be a smart choice. “It doesn’t cost any more money, but if there’s ever a wheelchair in the house, the [home owners] will be glad that there are just a couple more inches on every single doorway in the house.” Search Bayside NY Real Estate



Installing an elevator is also becoming a more common solution for multi-level homes, Mark says.



"A lot of times what I'll do in my designs is prepare for a future elevator. I can take a closet downstairs and a closet upstairs and that will be the shaft for the elevator," says Mark.Search Bayside NY Real Estate





Source: “Forever Homes: Home Owners Make Their Homes Retirement-Ready,” Realty Times (Nov. 16, 2012)



Trump Jumps into Real Estate Brokerage Business

Real estate mogul Donald Trump has launched a luxury residential real estate firm, Trump International Realty, which is the Trump’s organization first leap into real estate sales beyond the organization’s own properties. Search Bayside NY Real Estate

The rise of foreign buyers in New York City, along with Trump's name recognition abroad, made now a good time to expand, says Kevin Sneddon, senior vice president and managing director of Trump International Realty.

The firm, which opened the last week of October, has 20 agents so far. It has properties primarily in New York City, with plans to expand in the future. Its average listing on the market is $3 million.Search Bayside NY Real Estate

"We want to be a real estate brokerage firm known for handling complex and sophisticated deals," Sneddon says. "We pride ourselves in our resources. The Trump brand expertise gives us a serious competitive advantage that helps us deliver on that next level. The Trump brand gives us a global reach."

Source: "Here's Why Donald Trump Thought It Was A Good Time To Launch A Luxury Real Estate Boutique,” Business Insider (Nov. 15, 2012)

FHA Looks to Raise Mortgage Fees to Avoid Bailout

The Federal Housing Administration plans to raise its mortgage fees next year in order to help avoid a taxpayer bailout, the Obama administration announced. A report last week revealed the FHA, which insures mortgages, faces a $16.3 billion deficit due to a rise in mortgage delinquencies over the last few years, particularly among loans that originated during the housing bubble from 2007 through 2009.

FHA says it plans to raise its premiums on loans it guarantees by 10 basis points, which equates to about $13 per month extra to borrowers’ costs, Reuters reports. Also the FHA says it plans to increase short sales on loans it guarantees, in an effort to avoid more borrowers foreclosing on their properties.

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FHA is a big contributor to first-time home buyer mortgage funding. It insures about 1.2 million mortgages, which is about 15 percent of all U.S. home loans. The number of loans it insures has increased dramatically over the last few years. In 2006, FHA insured just 5 percent of the all U.S. home loans.

FHA is federally mandated to maintain a 2 percent capital ratio—a target it has yet to reach in four years. Its current ratio is negative 1.44 percent, according to a recent audit of its finances. Search Bayside NY Real Estate

"The administration will do its best not to have FHA make a Treasury draw," Cliff Rossi of the University of Maryland's business school and a former employee at Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and Citigroup told Reuters. "Some sort of sleight of hand, they will get creative as they want to be, and likely avoid getting in a payment from Treasury."

Source: “FHA to Shore Up Cash in Bid to Stave Off Bailout,” Reuters (Nov. 16, 2012)

Despite Low Inventory, Listing Prices Slacken

The inventory of for-sale homes remains at historic lows, down 17 percent compared to year-ago levels, but the housing recovery may be slowing with recent rises in median listing prices now showing signs of tapering off, according to October housing data recently released by Realtor.com, which includes single-family homes, condos, townhomes, and co-ops.  Search Bayside NY Real Estate

The median list price in October was $189,900—about the same as last year.

“While lower inventories are a positive sign, the recent erosion in the median list price may foreshadow a dampening of recent increases in housing prices,” according to a Realtor.com release.

As inventories sank dramatically the last few years, the housing recovery started to take off, beginning in Florida more than a year ago, according to Realtor.com. The recovery has since spread to California, Arizona, Nevada, and other parts of the West, with inventories falling and median list prices increasing 10 percent or more compared to a year ago.

“However, a growing number of Midwestern and ‘rust belt’ markets are registering signs of weakness, with list prices below the levels observed last year,” according to Realtor.com.Search Bayside NY Real Estate

Median list prices have dropped the most year-over-year in Peoria-Pekin, Ill., which has seen a nearly 12 percent drop in asking prices in that timeframe. Charleston, W. Va., has seen median list prices drop nearly 10 percent and Reading, Pa., posted a nearly 8 percent drop in asking prices, according to Realtor.com data.

The markets performing the best year-over-year with median asking prices rising are mostly in California. The following are the eight markets seeing the biggest growth in asking rises from October 2012 compared to October 2011.

Sacramento, Calif.

Year-over-year: 31.01%

Median list price: $275,000

Santa Barbara-Santa Maria-Lompoc, Calif.

Year-over-year: 27.03%

Median list price: $710,000

Phoenix-Mesa, Ariz.

Year-over-year: 25.57%

Median list price: $198,000

San Jose, Calif.

Year-over-year: 20.49%

Median list price: $588,000

Oakland, Calif.

Year-over-year: 17.49%

Median list price: $399,000

San Francisco

Year-over-year: 17.37%

Median list price: $750,000

Fresno, Calif.

Year-over-year: 14.64%

Median list price: $180,000

Atlanta, Ga.

Year-over-year: 13.14%

Median list price: $179,900

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Falling Foreclosures Pushing Up Home Prices

As foreclosure backlogs have decreased, so have many of the big discounts on home prices. The slowdown in foreclosures is partially behind the recent rise in home prices, some economists say. “Deeply discounted existing homes have been subject to strong demand from cash buyers and investors looking to lock into housing’s attractive income returns,” says Paul Diggle, a housing economist at Capital Economics. “The supply of such homes, meanwhile, has been dwindling. Search bayside ny real estate

That has bid up existing house prices, particularly at the lower end of the price spectrum." The median price of existing homes nationwide was 9.5 higher in August compared to a year ago, and new home prices were up 17 percent in that same time period. Distressed properties typically sell for big discounts. For example, in 2007 during a nationwide foreclosure surge, foreclosures tended to sell for about a third of the median price of the home. Search bayside ny real estate

The housing markets with some of the largest price falls tended to have the highest number of distressed home sales. Lately, foreclosures have been posting big drops. Last month, new foreclosure filings reached a five-year low, according to RealtyTrac, a real estate research firm that tracks foreclosure housing data. “There is a shortage of inventory — as crazy as it sounds to say that,” says Daren Blomquist, a RealtyTrac spokesman. “In a lot of market there's less inventory of foreclosed properties than there is demand. You’re hearing about multiple bids for these properties.” Source: “Foreclosure Slowdown Pushing Home Prices Higher,” NBC News (Oct. 11, 2012)

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Foreclosure Scams on the Rise

The number of foreclosure-rescue scams are on the rise and will likely exceed 2011 numbers, according to the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. These scams target struggling home owners and these so-called rescuers promise they will save the home owner from foreclosure by negotiating — for a fee — a loan modification on their behalf or selling their home to investors. In some cases, the home owner not only loses money as a result of these schemes but also the title to their home, FinCen reports. Searh Bayside NY Real Estate

FinCen announced that foreclosure-related scams will likely exceed the 2,782 reported in all of 2011. In just the first half of 2012, 2,360 foreclosure-related scams had already been reported.Bayside NY Real Estate

FinCen officials suspect that a growing public awareness of foreclosure scams is what’s behind the increase in reporting. Bayside NY Real Estate

The Department of Justice announced this week a crackdown on foreclosure-rescue scams with the arrest of more than 500 people accused of conducting such scams, allegedly leading to about $1 billion in losses. Bayside NY Real Estate

While the number of foreclosure scams is on the rise, overall mortgage fraud is falling, dropping 41 percent at the beginning of this year compared to 2011, FinCen reports. Bayside NY Real Estate

Source: “Foreclosure-Rescue Scams on the Rise: FinCen,” HousingWire (Oct. 9, 2012)

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Sales are quickening their pace as the time to sell a home decreases and falls more in line with a “balanced” housing market, according to new research by the National Association of REALTORS®.

The median time a home listed for sale was on the market in July was 69 days, down from 98 days one year earlier. Broken down further, one-third of homes purchased in July were on the market for less than a month, and one in five of homes purchased in July were on the market for at least six months.

“As inventory has tightened homes have been selling more quickly,” says Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist. “A notable shortening of time-on-market began this spring, and this has created a general balance between home buyers and sellers in much of the country. This equilibrium is supporting sustained price growth, and homes that are correctly priced tend to sell quickly, while those that aren’t often languish on the market.”

By the end July, a 6.4-month supply of homes were on the market at the current sales pace. That is 31.2 percent below year-ago levels, when there was a 9.3-month supply.

With supplies of homes tighter, economists expect home prices to continue their trend upward.

“Our current forecast is for the median existing home price to rise 4.5 to 5 percent this year and about 5 percent in 2013, which is somewhat stronger than historic norms because of the inventory shortfall that is most pronounced in the low price ranges,” Yun says.

Source: National Association of REALTORS®

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