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Tuesday, May 31, 2011
On the Market: "Deep Throat" Apartment Once Owned by Bob Woodward For Sale
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The Debt Crisis and Mortgage Rates
If you're not talking about the head of the IMF today, then the only thing left really is the debt ceiling, which we officially reached today ($14.294 trillion for anyone who's counting). While estimates are that it will take until August for the US to actually default on its debt obligations, the concern in the short term is how Wall Street sees the situation and how that will be reflected in the bond market and in mortgage interest rates. So I asked a few experts: Michael Barr/Fmr. Asst. Treasury Secretary for Financial Institutions "If the US continues to bump up against the debt limit but Treasury uses "extraordinary measures" to keep the US from exceeding the limit, then the damage is likely to be modest and short-term. I would expect rates to rise, temporarily, by up to low single-digit basis points. It is a bit hard to forecast exactly what the effect will be. Prior experience suggests low single digit bps, but there are a number of factors in play today that were not present in previous debt ceiling crises: fragile economy, fragile housing finance sector, fragile home prices and sales, F/F in conservatorship, no securitization to speak of, higher debt to GDP ratio, turmoil in Europe (exacerbated by DSK's arrest), extremely high levels of US dollar reserves already in China, extremely low Treasury rates. Long term, if we actually default, it is simply devastating, and permanent."Peter Boockvar/Miller Tabak: "I think the market has spoken and the almost 50 bps drop in the 10 year note yield since mid April is clear evidence that the debt ceiling debate has had zero impact on market psychology. Everyone assumes that a deal of some sort will occur and the market impact will be nothing. More impactful in the direction of lower yields has been concerns with growth and a flight to safety due to renewed concerns with Europe." Glenn Kelman, CEO Redfin "We see people being very sensitive to the cost of money; they're very concerned about the debt crisis, they're very concerned about all these rumors that the US could have a money supply problem, so we think that interest rates are the real X factor to watch." Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner made it clear what would happen should the U.S. ultimately default: "Because Treasurys represent the benchmark borrowing rate for all other sectors, default would raise all borrowing costs. Interest rates for state and local government, corporate and consumer borrowing, including home mortgage interest, would all rise sharply. Equity prices and home values would decline, reducing retirement savings and hurting the economic security of all Americans, leading to reductions in spending and investment, which would cause job losses and business failures on a significant scale."Questions? Comments? document.write("");document.write("RealtyCheck"+"@"+"cnbc.com");document.write('');And follow me on Twitter @Diana_OlickBits Bucket for May 22, 2011
Real Estate May 5, 2011, 5:00PM EST
Foreclosure Hits Las Vegas’s High End
In some cases, banks are repossessing luxury homes. In others, owners are walking away from million-dollar mortgages
The view from Nicolas Cage’s former home in Las Vegas Ronda Churchill/Bloomberg
In Las Vegas, which has the highest foreclosure rate among large U.S. cities, the wave of defaults that began with subprime borrowers and the unemployed has spread to upscale homeowners who see no point in staying, even if they can afford to. “You feel like a sucker if you’re paying a $5 million mortgage on a house that’s worth $2 million,” says broker Zar Zanganeh.
In the first quarter, 30 homes in Clark County, which encompasses the Las Vegas Strip and surrounding residential areas, with mortgages exceeding $1 million were repossessed by banks or bought by third parties in foreclosure sales. That’s up from 20 homes a year earlier, according to ForeclosureRadar, a company that tracks defaults. Short sales, in which the bank agrees to accept less than the loan balance, and bank-owned properties accounted for about three-quarters of all home sales in the period, according to the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors.
About 100 homes in the county are listed for $3 million or more, a five-year supply at the current sales pace. One listing with Zanganeh’s firm, Luxe Estates Collection, is a never-occupied, bank-owned mansion overlooking a golf course designed by Jack Nicklaus in The Ridges, a community west of Las Vegas. The asking price is $3 million for the 8,550-square-foot house, which was repossessed in 2010 and had a $3.2 million mortgage from the Community Bank of Nevada, a lender seized by regulators in August 2009. Zanganeh is also handling a seven-bedroom home with a panoramic view of the Strip. Nicolas Cage, the Oscar-winning star of Leaving Las Vegas, paid $8.5 million for the house in 2006. It went into foreclosure in December 2009. The next owner, who property records show paid $4.2 million, has put the house on the market for $7.9 million—an “unrealistic” price, according to Zanganeh.
In Nevada, 23 percent of delinquent borrowers said they “strategically defaulted,” or walked away from their homes by choice rather than necessity, according to a January report by the Nevada Association of Realtors. “It’s folks that feel the hopelessness of it all,” says Rob Wigton, chief executive officer of the state association. “They’ve rolled the dice and lost.” The population of Clark County has fallen by about 16,000 from its estimated high of 1.97 million in 2008, according to the government-funded Nevada State Demographer.
Las Vegas home values have plunged 58 percent since the 2006 peak, the most of the 20 metropolitan areas tracked by the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index. Prices fell 7.4 percent in March from a year earlier, to a median $125,950, the Las Vegas Realtors reported on Apr. 8. Almost 70 percent of Las Vegas area homeowners with mortgages were underwater at the end of 2010, meaning they owed more than the value of the property, according to CoreLogic (CLGX), a real estate information company. Among cities with a population of more than 200,000, Las Vegas has led the nation in the pace of foreclosure actions since November 2009, with one of every 31 homes being subject to a filing in the first quarter of this year, RealtyTrac, an information provider, reported on Apr. 14.
…
Quick Start System Video (John Burley's Progressive Profits Real Estate System)
Someone is killing off nubile real estate agents. A psychologist doing a therapy talk show begins getting calls from the perpetrator, and cooperates with the police to try and stop him. Unfortunately, his lover is a real estate agent, and when it becomes clear that the madman is getting information for his kills from her discarded home listings, they both become endangered.
Price:
[In The Media] CBS Channel 2 – The IMF Chief Strauss-Kahn Circus
[starts after 15 second commercial]
Last Saturday morning, I was walking along Broadway on the way to our WOR Eye on Real Estate radio show and saw about a dozen media vehicles with satellite dishes and throngs of media types across the street from 71 Broadway – didn’t connect why they were there until Tuesday when I got a call from CBS TV.
Did a quick interview on the street about an hour before airtime. Was played at noon, 5 and 11 yesterday and then this morning. Wow, slow news day 
Does a landlord want to put their tenants through this hassle? No.
Monday, May 30, 2011
Octavio Ocampo's Conch Shell Home
Last weekend, while staying in Cancun, Mexico for a wedding, a few friends and I took a ferry to La Isla Mujeres, rented a golf cart, and spent a wonderful, sunny afternoon exploring. We almost screeched to a halt when we saw this amazing conch shell house — the home of Mexican artist Octavio Ocampo.
I'd seen pictures of the Nautilus house in Mexico City before, but I'd never seen a shell-shaped house in person. The Conch Shell house is beautiful, if unusual, and is perfectly situated on a seaside road. I took one photo of it, but a No Trespassing Sign and large hedges discouraged us from further snooping. Luckily, some internet investigation revealed that it has has been featured before on This Beautiful Life, complete with a few details on its design. The house is built of concrete and repurposed materials, such as the found conch shell that serves as a faucet in one bathroom. Inside, the shape of the house and the curves it creates are the main focus, rather than furniture and knickknacks. It's a gorgeous example of iconoclastic architecture — and if you really love it, it's available to rent.
For the full tour and more details see This Beautiful Life.
Images: This Beautiful Life
Window Havoc : Fail Whale For 1355 Market Street Window
× Like us and you'll find top breaking news in your Facebook newsfeed. Sign up for our daily email newsletter and get top stories and breaking news delivered to your inbox. Monday, May 23, 2011, by Sally Kuchar
A reader altered us to a a bit of scare at 1355 Market Street, which is the future home of Twitter. At around 3pm, a window pane blew from its window frame on the 11th floor, above 9th Street where Walgreens is located. According to San Francisco Furniture Mart security, heavy winds were responsible for the incident. The triangular-shaped pane of glass fell eleven stories, hitting parked cars on 9th Street below, security told us. The SFPD and SFFD were immediately at the scene to remove the debris, and confirmed that no one was hurt. [Curbed Inbox]
FHFA Monthly Home Prices: March 2011
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At Home With David Cameron: Today the Daily Mail takes a...
× Like us and you'll find top breaking news in your Facebook newsfeed. Sign up for our daily email newsletter and get top stories and breaking news delivered to your inbox. Wednesday, May 25, 2011, by Sarah Firshein
? Previous: Michael Vick's Dog-Fighting House May Be Animal-Rights HQ
The Tappan Zee Bridge Replacement as Proxy for Bureacracy
Here’s a sobering City Journal (love the pub and iPad app!) article on the state of the “The Tappan Zee Is Falling Down” – the replacement of the Tappan Zee Bridge crossing the Hudson River and connecting Westchester and Rockland County New York.
The Tappan Zee exemplifies the state of America’s infrastructure in 2011. We rely on it more than ever: each year, 51 million cars, trucks, and buses traverse the seven-lane “Tap,” as locals call it. More people commute over it than through the Lincoln or the Holland Tunnel, both of which cross the river to the south. Yet New York outgrew the bridge decades ago, with today’s traffic far exceeding the structure’s designed capacity. Worse, the Tappan Zee is a disaster in slow motion.
The bridge has several decades too old and undergoes continuous renovations. I thought the stimulus package would accelerate construction of roads and bridges but alas, the process is bogged down by the same federal government that brought us the stimulus package.
Its a key regional asset that impacts the economy and as an extension, the housing market.
Bridge naming: Tappan Indian tribe, + Dutch word for “sea”.
Video Interlude: Renzo Piano's Whitney Museum Gets Video Rendering Treatment
× Like us and you'll find top breaking news in your Facebook newsfeed. Sign up for our daily email newsletter and get top stories and breaking news delivered to your inbox. Wednesday, May 25, 2011, by Rob Bear
The Whitney Museum of American Art broke ground yesterday on its new Renzo Piano-designed facility in NYC's Meatpacking District. Situated at the southern end of the High Line, the new museum will replace the museum's current Marcel Breuer building on Madison Avenue by 2015. That is, if city philanthropists find it in their hearts to pony up the remaining $212M required to complete construction. That budget gap might help to explain the stunningly detailed video rendering released by the museum yesterday. When the starchitect designing it describes it as a meteorite fallen from the sky, those deep-pocketed donors like to see what they're actually paying for.
Sunday, May 29, 2011
New Home Sales: April 2011
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AM Linkage: Slower Cycling on Golden Gate Bridge; Urban Gardening; Get Yourself Some Frank Lloyd Wright; More!
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Houses of Tennis Stars: With the French Open kicking off...
× Like us and you'll find top breaking news in your Facebook newsfeed. Sign up for our daily email newsletter and get top stories and breaking news delivered to your inbox. Wednesday, May 25, 2011, by Sally Kuchar
? Previous: Enjoy Up To 85% off The Economist
Globe Trotting: Portuguese Farmland Residence Really Shows Off its Curves
× Like us and you'll find top breaking news in your Facebook newsfeed. Sign up for our daily email newsletter and get top stories and breaking news delivered to your inbox. Wednesday, May 25, 2011, by Sarah Firshein Photos: Iwan Bann via Freshome
Freshome is taking a look at House on the Flight of Birds, which not, in fact, the working title of Nicholas Sparks's new book but rather a terrific-looking modernist house in the Azores. Designed by Portuguese architect Bernando Rodrigues, the place was designed to block rain and wind prevalent in the region. Plus, there's an absolutely sick-looking roof deck with views of the beach. Have a look at the photos above.
· Bernando Rodrigues Arquitecto [official site]
· Stunning Ondulating [sic] Home in the Azores: House on the Flight of Birds [Freshome]
A Mess, A Battle, A War Zone In Florida
The St Petersburg Times reports from Florida. “Josephine Cartagena stepped out of Jefferson High School on Saturday morning with tears in her eyes. Her home is facing foreclosure. But that wasn’t the reason for her tears. These were happy ones. On this morning, she had found hope. Cartagena is one of more than 100 people who attended a foreclosure prevention assistance workshop hosted by U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor. The Chase representative she talked with on Saturday helped her set up a meeting with a person in Tampa to talk further about modifying her loan. ‘It’s like a beacon of light for me to be able to keep my house,’ Cartagena said.”
“But not everyone left happy. ‘There’s nothing being done here,’ said Ronald Roppolo of Brandon. ‘You keep submitting the same paperwork and nobody knows what the other people are doing.’”
“Chris Thayer of Tampa felt the same way. Thayer said he was approved for the Making Home Affordable Program last year but his lender, Bank of America, has since retracted the offer. He came Saturday to find out why, but wasn’t able to get an answer. ‘I just wanted to get assistance,’ Thayer said.”
The Bradenton Herald. “One Realtor calls it ‘the quiet before the storm.’ The ’storm’ is the flurry of foreclosed homes expected to saturate the market soon with word today that foreclosure filings in Manatee County increased 75 percent from March to April. ‘If those foreclosed homes are all stockpiled, at some point they’re going to all be on the market, and that’s going to further decrease the price of homes,’ says May Aston, a Realtor with ReMax Alliance Group who has been working with foreclosure sales since 1991. ‘And that’s not what we want. We want to stabilize, and you can’t stabilize if you keep getting clumped on the market.’”
“‘They’re just not on the market yet,’ says Nikki Smith, a Realtor with Coldwell Banker. ‘Right now, it’s almost like we don’t have any inventory.’ The lack of homes for sale is creating a seller’s market, Aston says, when the high rate of foreclosures should be creating a buyer’s market. ‘When we do get a property on the market, there’s five or six offers out there at a time. Then there’s a bidding war, which drives the price up.’”
“Smith says she suspects that the increased involvement of attorneys may be keeping even foreclosed properties from going on the market. ‘People have become very savvy. They’ve found all kinds of ways to make sure they stay in their house. Attorneys are involved. It’s a mess, a battle, a war zone.’”
The News Press. “The existing-home median price in Lee County surged to a two-year high of $118,900 - up 17 percent from $101,900 in March, according to statistics released by Florida Realtors. But real estate authorities said the sharp increase likely was caused mostly by the changing market for bank-owned foreclosure homes, not an actual 17 percent increase in value.”
“In Lee County, ‘the real reason it’s going up so much is that the low end, the foreclosure market, that spigot has been cut off. The low end is not coming on the market and buyers have to substitute higher-priced properties,’ said Denny Grimes, president of Denny Grimes & Co. at Royal Shell in Fort Myers.”
“A new experiment to help prevent foreclosures from further clogging the courts is coming to Southwest Florida in about two weeks. The program allows homeowners who have Fannie Mae-backed mortgage loans to go to mediation with their lender before a foreclosure lawsuit is filed, rather than after.”
“‘Before foreclosure, a lot of things are possible,’ said Roderick N. Petrey, Collins Center president. After foreclosure, ‘banks don’t want to make a deal,’ he said.
“But the problem is that even though the court mediation is mandatory, many homeowners simply don’t show up. ‘A lot of them are scared,’ Petrey said.”
“Currently it takes about 600 days in Florida for a foreclosure lawsuit to be processed. In the meantime, the houses are in inventory limbo until they are sold at fire-sale prices and further depress the real estate market, Petrey said. He is on the board of the BAC Florida Bank in Miami, which realizes about 40 cents on the dollar when a foreclosed property is sold, he said. And it appears the bottom of the real estate market has not been reached yet, Petrey said.”
“Within the next year, Hillsborough and Hernando counties expect to join Pasco, Pinellas and 20 other Florida counties in shifting foreclosure sales online. The foreclosure-heavy state was the first in the nation to allow online sales, when the Legislature approved the practice in October 2008.”
“Online, potential bidders are warned multiple times to check whether a property has multiple liens. An Orlando accountant submitted a $20,000 deposit for a home on which there was a mortgage for $220,000. After the bidding ended, he discovered a homeowners association had foreclosed for delinquent fees, the Orlando Sentinel reported in February. John Dey lost his deposit.”
“‘I said, ‘Oh, my God,’ he told the newspaper. ‘I just all of sudden lost $20,000. I’m sick to my stomach.’ He added: ‘At least it’s not $200,000.’”
The Tampa Tribune. “Florida’s turbulent housing market has had an unintended consequence: Thousands of homeowners don’t pay a dollar in property tax. Blame higher homestead exemptions and falling home prices that essentially removed houses from the tax rolls. Consider this condo conversion at the Towers at Carrollwood Village. One condo unit sold for $90,000 in 2005 and is now valued at $19,657. The homestead exemption is $17,250, bringing the taxable value to zero.”
“The Villas Condominiums has 282 units, said Chris Weiss of the Hillsborough County property appraiser’s office, and was also saturated with investor-owners. Both complexes have been hit hard by foreclosures, he said. A condo at the New Tampa development sold for $106,900 in 2005 and is now worth just $16,230. The homestead exemption brings the taxable value to nothing.”
“Private property appraiser David Teacher said he understands people wanting their neighbors to pay their fair share but, he said, there is an upside. Falling home prices and no — or low — property tax is a big incentive for investors to buy. Teacher said he has seen homes in East Tampa selling for as low as $7,000. Sure, he said, they need work, but most still could be good deals.”
“‘What better investment,’ he said. ‘Look at the return on your money. Some homes are selling for less than the cost of a car.’”
The Herald Tribune. “Sarasota County’s tax base took a hit for the fourth year in a row, dropping $2.7 billion — a bigger decline than state economists had projected. North Port continues to be the hardest hit among the county’s four cities, according to Sarasota County Property Appraiser Bill Furst, who put that city’s decline at 8.8 percent. North Port’s tax base has now dropped 59 percent since 2007.”
“The property appraiser’s estimate puts the four-year decline in Sarasota County’s tax base at $22.9 billion. That is a measurement in the change of the taxable value of property after exemptions, such as the homestead exemption and the Save Our Homes adjustment. Market values have dropped even more steeply. From 2007 to 2010, the market value of property dropped $30 billion, from $85 billion to $55 billion.”
“Claiming the real estate world has changed, Benderson Development wants to shed its promise that the University Town Center mall project would include 437 affordable homes. ‘2011 literally is a different planet,’ said Benderson project manager Paul Blackketter.”
“Referring to the sharp drop in home prices over the past four years, University of Central Florida economist Sean Snaith termed affordable housing ‘the housing formerly known as luxury housing.’ ‘I’m sure at the time … affordable housing was a real issue,’ he said. But now? ‘It seems kind of senseless.’”
The Sun Sentinel. “Miami developer Jorge Perez is taking reservations for a proposed oceanfront condominium in Hollywood – and he’s asking buyers to put down 70 percent of the purchase price before closing. During the housing boom, most condo buyers put down only 20 percent. Many were investors who turned big profits by flipping the units before they were even completed. Ultimately, not enough long-term owners bought condos. Values plummeted, creating a glut of properties for sale that left the condo market – and Perez – reeling.”
“The luxury condo will feature 49 units with two, three, four and five bedrooms, and the average sales price is $350 to $450 a square foot. Unit prices are expected to range from about $600,000 to $2 million.”
“‘I don’t think there’s enough people willing to belly up to the bar,’ said Longtime Miami housing consultant Lewis Goodkin. Goodkin said he’s surprised Perez is eager to jump back into the beleaguered condo sector. Perez is counting on demand from international buyers who have helped stabilize the overbuilt Miami market in the past two years, Goodkin said.”
“‘That’s the only justification I could see,’ he said. ‘If he was building this for the domestic market, I would absolutely not touch it.’”
“Apogee Beach will be about a mile south of Trump Hollywood, the luxury condo Perez built as part of a licensing agreement with Donald Trump. That was one of a handful of projects Perez handed back to lenders amid the housing downturn.”
From Flagler Live. “In Palm Coast and Flagler County, property values are still falling at double-digit rates. Home prices are also still falling. Short sales aside, homes are not selling. Foreclosures are burdening the housing supply. The county’s population has stalled or fallen in the past couple of years. Not only is there no indication that the housing market is returning. There is no indication that either city or county need new development.”
“Yet the city and the county have on paper close to 40,000 new homes approved between them, and 9 million square feet of new commercial and retail space. Those homes would more than double the population of the county–assuming there was demand for them, and assuming that, between the lingering crash in housing and values, that demand could somehow override the depressing effect a glut of home would have on local housing prices regardless of broader economic conditions.”
The Orlando Sentinel. “Twenty-five years of growth management, down the toilet. And all because legislators kept repeating the Big Lie. In the waning hours of the session, the Florida Legislature planted a sloppy smooch on the lips of the developers: It virtually eliminated state control of growth and turned the tables on any homeowner who tries to challenge a cookie-cutter subdivision planned for next door.”
“The accepted mantra was that excessive regulation had halted economic growth — code for ‘out-of-control homebuilding’ — in Florida. Really? On which planet? Look around. Exactly where has growth been hampered by all these dreadful regulations? How about in Orange County? Is there a single suitable swath of prime development land even left that isn’t besmirched by squat little houses?”
“The state Department of Community Affairs, before it was skinned alive, took a snapshot of developments either approved or pending since 2007, when the economy melted. The result? Some 630,965 new homes had been approved or requested for 410,126 acres. In Lake County alone, for example, the School Board estimated about 100,000 parcels have development approvals, which could more than double the population of Lake if houses went up on them all.”
“So, build! What’s stopping construction? Nothing.”
“What legislators failed even to mention is that during the boom years developers pushed to build what they wanted, when they wanted and where they wanted it. Weak — sometimes corrupt — elected officials helped them. The result was overbuilding of biblical proportion, which in turn created an extra heaping helping of special pain for Central Florida that other areas of the country sidestepped when the downturn hit.”
“Developers not only have failed to shoulder their share of responsibility for the economic disaster and the resulting vortex of foreclosures, but in the fantasy universe of the Florida Legislature, they’ve become the victims.”
Introductions: A Reminder That Tiffani (Amber) Thiessen Designs Kids' Furniture
× Like us and you'll find top breaking news in your Facebook newsfeed. Sign up for our daily email newsletter and get top stories and breaking news delivered to your inbox. Monday, May 23, 2011, by Sarah Firshein
Today Editor at Large runs an announcement about PetitNest, the relatively new line of kids' furniture from Tiffani Thiessen(aka Tiffani Amber Thiessen aka Valerie Malone aka Kelly Kapowski) and interior designer Lonni Paul. "Rather than worrying about whether you need to go all-pink or all-blue, pick a color you love and design the whole room around that. Then you can truly make it your own," said Thiessen in a statement, eschewing "mass-produced, generic, primary-colored furniture." All items within the PetitNest collection are certified by the Sustainable Furnishings Council. As for price points, the Noe Dresser (above left) costs $1,650; green Odette Glider, $1,390.
· Lonni Paul and Tiffani Thiessen team up on furnishings line [Editor at Large]
· Petit Nest [official site]
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Reading Rates: MBA Application Survey – May 18 2011
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Under 500K Club: Pacific Heights Pied-Ã -Terre
× Like us and you'll find top breaking news in your Facebook newsfeed. Sign up for our daily email newsletter and get top stories and breaking news delivered to your inbox. Wednesday, May 25, 2011, by Sally Kuchar We found the newest addition to our Under 500K Club! This Pacific Heights condo is located on Baker between Jackson and Washington. It's a ground floor unit that's being described as a "charming patio unit." The listing also says it's "small but sexy." The unit clocks in at a little under 600 square feet, and there's one bedroom and one bathroom. Asking price? $417,000. Although the condo resides in a building that was built in 1900, the apartment itself is newly built and meets "high energy efficiency standards." We suspect that statement's achieved by the bamboo flooring, fluorescent lighting and Energy Star appliances. Monthly HOA dues are $400 and there's no parking.
· 2114 Baker #1 [Redfin]
· Under 500K Club [Curbed SF archives]
· 2114 Baker #1 [Redfin]
· Under 500K Club [Curbed SF archives]
Bits Bucket for May 26, 2011
This is not good for NY State. When will our politicians do the right thing for the citizens of this state? Perhaps never. Andrew Cuomo is a disaster for NYS.
What the 2 percent tax cap deal really means for Central New York taxpayers
There’s just one catch: Under the new plan, individual property tax bills will likely continue to go up beyond the advertised 2 percent cap.
That’s because the proposal would allow local governments and school districts to ignore the cap if their pension costs increase by more than 2 percent — which has happened with regularity in New York in recent years.
The proposal would allow local governments to carve out other things from the cap, too, like expenses caused by hefty lawsuit settlements and potential revenues from new housing developments or businesses.
And, critics say, the plan introduced Tuesday by Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver does nothing to limit other state-mandated costs to local communities at a time when the Legislature and Gov. Andrew Cuomo have cut aid to schools, cities, towns and villages.
Syracuse expects its pension costs to jump 42 percent in the 2011-12 fiscal year, to $28 million. Facing that kind of skyrocketing expense, the 2 percent cap may be a mirage.
“Unless you address those cost factors, the property tax cap is really just a symbolic, at most, gesture,” said Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner.
http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2011/05/nys_political_leaders_agree_to.html
[NYT] Overwhelmed by (Tax) Appeal: Westchester
[click to open]
My friend and colleague Todd Huttunen, a periodic contributor here in his column “The Hall Monitor” and my old blog, the now defunct Soapbox, is an assessor for the Town of Eastchester, New York. He penned a response to the NYT article earlier this month: Westchester Towns Take Hit From Rise in Tax Appeals.
Todd is spot on with his commentary on the growing phenomenon of tax appeals as the economy flounders.
The increase in this number is the appropriate and predictable response to the devastating economic events of the last three years, and their impact on homeowners.
In fact, property taxes are rising in a weak economy despite much lower real estate values. This is an expected result in any economic downturn.
Government spending always lags such a downturn since it is much harder and less politically popular to address. Spending expanded during the boom largely due to real estate tax related revenue growth (property, transfer, permits, construction/housing related jobs, etc.)
Large local government shortfalls, with the lag in response to the change in economic conditions, is the next big thing the US will have to grapple with.
It’s particular interesting how private sector employment is finally rising but being partially offset by government employment declines. That’s the lag.
House of the Day: Venetian Palazzo Steps Out of a Saddlery With Capone Connection
× Like us and you'll find top breaking news in your Facebook newsfeed. Sign up for our daily email newsletter and get top stories and breaking news delivered to your inbox. Wednesday, May 25, 2011, by Rob Bear
Have a nomination for a jaw-dropping listing that would make a mighty fine House of the Day? Get thee to the tipline and send us your suggestions. We'd love to see what you've got.
Location: Austin, Texas
Price: $4,400,000
The Skinny: Since the 1930s, Capitol Saddlery had been operating out of a converted fire station in downtown Austin, Tex. The shop supplied boots to some famous and infamous people—Al Capone sourced a pair of manheels from Capitol back in the '40s. (The gangster connection shouldn't come as a shock, considering the owner started the shop using seed money from his rum-running activities.) Today, things are a little more legal at 1614 Lavaca Street, but no more sedate. In 2007, "professional muse" Giselle Koy transformed the old shop into a decadent palace reminiscent of a threadbare Venetian palazzo. But Koy apparently tired of Austin before completion, as she now spends more time in California, and listed the downtown pad for $4.4M. So far, it's been on the market for more than a year without finding a buyer or taking a price chop.
· 1614 Lavaca [Realtor.com]
· Capitol Saddlery, first firehouse turns Venetian palace in downtown Austin [Statesman]
Under 500K Club: Problematic Marina Studio Is Packed Full of Charm
× Like us and you'll find top breaking news in your Facebook newsfeed. Sign up for our daily email newsletter and get top stories and breaking news delivered to your inbox. Friday, May 20, 2011, by Sally Kuchar The difficult news: it's a short sale. Make sure your agents has expertise in negotiating a short sale if you're interested in this place. Moving on… it's a studio apartment in the Marina. It's been on and off the market and for almost two years, and we're quite smitten by it. Look at that pink bathroom! It's adorable. And at $410,000, it's the newest member of our Under 500K Club. At 547 square feet, we think it's fair to call this studio a large unit or perhaps even a junior one bedroom. Hard to say without floorplan porn. There's 1-car parking in the garage and monthly HOA dues are $400.
· 2701 Van Ness #405 [Redfin]
· 2701 Van Ness #405 [Redfin]
Friday, May 27, 2011
Billionaire's Row: Pacific Heights: Woodman, Spare That View-Blocking Tree
× Like us and you'll find top breaking news in your Facebook newsfeed. Sign up for our daily email newsletter and get top stories and breaking news delivered to your inbox. Wednesday, May 11, 2011, by Philip Ferrato
[Photo Credit: Curbed SF]
More drama in the battle between upslope Larry Ellison and downslope Jane and Bernard von Bothmer and their view-blocking trees. Yesterday the Urban Forestry Council's Landmark Tree Committee recommended that the von Bothmer's offending Acacia Melanoxylon be given landmark status. No mention of the von Bothmer's overly-enthusiastic redwoods, but the full Council will vote on the acacia on May 27th. Much back-and-forth, including dueling arborists, over the tree's provenance- was the garden designed by Thomas Church?- and habitat, with the acacia's being much loved by hummingbirds and red-tailed hawks, as well as humans. One arborist (Ellison's, of course) sniffed that the owners irreparably damaged the tree when they put in a swimming pool next to it. The huge tree is well over eighty years old; acacias were imported along with eucalyptus from Australia as ornamentals in the early 20th century. They're also classified as invasive, but that's a garden path we'll stay off for now, plus we know there's a "we all should have such problems" joke in here somewhere.
· Pacific Heights: Birds Gotta Fly... Rich People Fight [Curbed SF]
· Meeting Agenda, 5-10-11 [Urban Forestry Council]
· Woodman, Spare That Tree (full text) [Bartleby]
PM Linkage: Tomorrow We Bike to Work; Citiapartment Troubles; Bernal Heights Prettiness; More!
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On The Pulse: Ceridian-UCLA Pulse of Commerce Index April 2011
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Reading Rates: MBA Application Survey – May 11 2011
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House Wars: Two Top Tier (and Expensive) Properties Battle it Out For Your Love and Admiration
× Like us and you'll find top breaking news in your Facebook newsfeed. Sign up for our daily email newsletter and get top stories and breaking news delivered to your inbox. Friday, May 13, 2011, by Sally Kuchar
Two top tier homes just hit the market. Both have Victorian facades, both are asking almost $5,000,000. But which is best? They're both outstanding examples of a specific design style. One stays true to its Victorian roots, the other started anew and went for sleek and sexy contemporary. Click through to see the full galleries. Dear readers, please cast your vote after the jump, and leave a comment if you do so desire!
Basic stats: 2719 Pacific is a 6-bed, 5.5-bath single-family home in Pacific Heights. It's asking $4,995,000.
Cons: We worry about the cleaning bill. Can you imagine how many hours someone would have to spend just dusting the many crevices? We're not quite sure how big the backyard is (there aren't any photos), but Google Maps shows us that it's pretty tiny.
Basic stats: 844 Bay is a 3-bed, 3.5-bath single-family home in Russian Hill. It's asking $4,800,000.
Pros: It's a contemporary wonderland in there, and has pretty epic bay views. It seems more private and airy than the Pacific Heights manse. There's also a detached yoga studio in the lush backyard. Speaking of backyards, this property's definitely trumps the other. Oh, there's a 1,300-bottle climate controlled wine room.Cons: The bottom line is you're pay about the same for less. Less bedrooms and less bathrooms. While we're huge fans of the contemporary look, we realize it's not for everybody.
· 2719 Pacific [Redfin] · 844 Bay [Redfin]Reality TV: Million Dollar Decorators on Gold-Leaf Garages, Housewives, More!
× Like us and you'll find top breaking news in your Facebook newsfeed. Sign up for our daily email newsletter and get top stories and breaking news delivered to your inbox. Thursday, May 12, 2011, by Raina Cox
After teasing us with video sneak peeks and jumping the gun with the premiere date, Bravo TV is finally set to unveil its most anticipated reality show to date, at least in these parts: Million Dollar Decorators. On May 31, the elegantly trimmed curtain will be pulled back on the professional and personal lives of five high-end Los Angeles designers.
Today, Bravo hosted a media-only chat with three of MDD's designers: Martyn Lawrence-Bullard, Kathryn Ireland, and Jeffrey Alan Marks. These three friends on- and off-screen were more than happy to dish the dirt on their celebrity clients and what happens behind the scenes of the new series.
10. Instead of the glammy shabby chic vibe Real Housewife Lisa Vanderpump now has in her Beverly Hills home, Lawrence-Bullard thinks she should bring in a more rustic European country look: "[In her restaurants] it feels like you're in Marbella or something, and I feel that she should translate a bit more of that sort of south of France/southern Spain flavor to her own home."
9. Lawrence-Bullard questions the taste of the other Real Housewives of Beverly Hills: "Those girls seem to have a lot of money but not a lot of style going on there."
8. In a bit of reality TV scoop, Lawrence-Bullard revealed he will be working with a fellow Bravo personality in the near future: "Camille Grammar has just reached out to me and said when she buys a new house she actually wants me to decorate it."
7. Marks wants to redecorate superstar stylist Rachael Zoe's house. "I would just clean it up and make it maybe a little bit more in line with her fashion. A little cleaner, a little more hip, not so scary."
6. Ireland is horrified by the Real Housewives' homes in general: "I think any of those Real Housewives all need our help. Atlanta, New York, New Jersey—any of them—they could all use us because their houses are all slightly desperate."
5. Lawrence-Bullard promises lots of "star glamour" with appearances by his celebrity clients including singer Elton John and his husband David Furnish, British model Sophie Dahl, "crazy adult industry mogul" Joe Francis of "Girls Gone Wild" fame, TV personality Daisy Fuentes, and Sharon and Ozzy Osborne.
4. Ireland spoke of the frequent imbibing viewers will see on the series: "One thing we all have in common is we all like to have a good time. There is not one teetotaler in the group." Describing her own proclivities, Ireland said: "Detoxing during the day, and then I retox at night."
3. Lawrence-Bullard has no qualms about reining in the outlandish desires of his wealthy clients: "I had a request once to goldleaf the entire interior of a garage, which I actually have to tell you I declined because I thought if that ever gets out to the press that will end my career."
2. When installing Joe Francis's house in Punta Mita, Mexico, Lawrence-Bullard was the victim of a roadside heist: "I had most of the furniture made in either Indonesia or the US. [...] It was all taken in lorries [trucks] down to Mexico and I had one of the lorries highjacked. I ended up having to do an illegal gangster-like deal by exchanging money with the hijackers to get my van of furniture back."
1. Even high-end design professionals like Lawrence-Bullard have to deal with extremely unusual requests from clients: "I once had a rather famous diva ask me to take a bath with her, which I politely declined." On his website, the British decorator lists the following celebrity clients, all of whom could be described as "divas": Sir Elton John, Cher, Christina Aguilera, and Jimmy Choo CEO Tamara Mellon. Any guesses as to who wanted to get randy?
· Watch a Sneak Peek of Million Dollar Decorators [Curbed National]
· Million Dollar Decorators Pushed Back [Curbed National]
· Martyn Lawrence-Bullard [official site]
· Million Dollar Decorators website [Bravo TV]
· All Million Dollar Decorators coverage [Curbed National]
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Treasure Island Gets Naked: In the vein of the old...
× Like us and you'll find top breaking news in your Facebook newsfeed. Sign up for our daily email newsletter and get top stories and breaking news delivered to your inbox. Monday, May 9, 2011, by Abby Pontzer
? Previous: Laundry to Landscape
AM Linkage: Bike to Work Day Tomorrow!; Smart & Final Gets Better Inventory; BART Wants to Embrace Tech; More!
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Radar Watching: March 2011
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The Fall of Greece: March 2011
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Beveridge Curve Balancing Act: March 2011
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Showhouses: First Look Inside Elle Decor's Modern Life Concept House
× Like us and you'll find top breaking news in your Facebook newsfeed. Sign up for our daily email newsletter and get top stories and breaking news delivered to your inbox. Thursday, May 12, 2011, by Sarah Firshein Photos: Will Femia
There aren't many things that will have us hauling over to the far-west edge of Manhattan, but the Elle Decor Modern Life Concept House, which opens to the public May 20, is most certainly one of them. It's all happening in two adjacent two-bedroom units on the 10th floor of +aRT, a not-yet-finished condo building whose marketing brochure encourages would-be residents to "gaze out of the wall-sized windows to gape at the collective passersby, plot your next buy at Balenciaga, or curl up in the Art Yard with a friend." (Also, we're prompted to "walk barefoot across the white oak floors.") Elle Decor editor in chief Michael Boodro, dressed in his Tuesday best, gave Curbed a tour through the magazine's first-ever NYC showhouse.
Unlike us, though, Boodro doesn't actually call it that—"It's the idea of young designers and that's why we don't call it a showhouse, we call it a concept house," he said, adding that there's no narrative or imaginary resident who's supposed to live here (unlike their showhouse in San Francisco). "We pair them up with brands that have supported the magazine and they work with them. This is an apartment that most of our readers, and probably most of your readers, would live in."
The designers are all the magazine's A-List Designers to Watch, five from this year and five from last. "We wanted people who had a little bit of a history," Boodro explained as we sat in the kitchen of unit 10B, a space designed by Katie Lydon with Bosch. "We were looking for designers who sort of had our aesthetic in the sense that they're sort of eclectic and young with an appreciation of tradition—and ones that we felt had staying power and had proven themselves enough that weren't just flashes in the pan but also brought something a little bit different and distinctive to the scene. They're people who really have demonstrated that they've gotten their acts together, and now only have vision and creativity but can sustain a business." Ah, if only all our interviews could be conducted around marble-top Saarinen dining tables!
On deck: a Gilt Home sale (or rather five of them) selling off some of the items in the Modern Life Concept House, plus an entire, full-fledged showhouse to correspond with Design Miami in December. The NYC space will be featured in a 12-page spread in the magazine's September issue; in the mean time, though, have a look at the photos above. And if you prefer to watch a video tour, head over here.
(Oh, and proceeds from Modern Life Concept House ticket sales benefit Housing Works.)
· Sketchy Sneak Peek at the Elle Decor Showhouse [Curbed National]
· All +aRT coverage [Curbed NY]
· Elle Decor Announces Designers for NYC Showhouse! [Curbed National]
· The Modern Life Concept House [Elle Decor]
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Real Estate Sold: Four Seasons Condo Goes For $7,200,000
× Like us and you'll find top breaking news in your Facebook newsfeed. Sign up for our daily email newsletter and get top stories and breaking news delivered to your inbox. Wednesday, May 11, 2011, by Sally Kuchar Dear readers, take a deep breath and have a seat. Unit 27A at the Four Seasons just sold for $7,200,000. You read that right, $7,200,000. The 3-bed, 4.5-bath condo clocks in at 3,318 square feet. The interiors were designed by the award-winning Orlando Diaz-Azcuy Design Associates. The original listing states that the "stunning custom designed furniture" is included in the sale. Perhaps that justifies the final figure? Congrats to the new home owners. And please invite us over for a martini.
Update: Since some readers asked, the monthly HOA dues are $2,447.28.
· 765 Market Street, Unit 27A [Redfin]
Update: Since some readers asked, the monthly HOA dues are $2,447.28.
· 765 Market Street, Unit 27A [Redfin]
Is Lady Gaga Building a Manse in the Vineyard?: More Gaga rumormongering, here goes: The...
× Like us and you'll find top breaking news in your Facebook newsfeed. Sign up for our daily email newsletter and get top stories and breaking news delivered to your inbox. Wednesday, May 11, 2011, by Sarah Firshein
? Previous: Holy Crap! Someone Really Hates Living Next to a Mosque
? Next: Buenos Aires; Jennifer Aniston Closes; Airstreams; More!
Foreclosure Delays Plague Housing Recovery
Foreclosure activity decreased in April for the seventh straight month, bringing total foreclosure activity to a 40-month low, according to a new report from RealtyTrac. 
This is not to say that default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions aren't running well above the norms, with one in every 593 US households receiving a foreclosure filing in April. The numbers are actually quite deceptive. "This slowdown continues to be largely the result of massive delays in processing foreclosures, rather than the result of a housing recovery that is lifting people out of foreclosure," notes RealtyTrac CEO James Saccacio in a statement. There are currently 3.7 million loans that are 90 days or more delinquent, according to RealtyTrac's Rick Sharga. Nationwide, completed foreclosures (REOs) took an average of 400 days from initial default notice to REO in the first quarter of this year. That's up from 340 days a year ago and more than double the 151 days in 2007. At the current rate, it would take three to four years to move those loans through the foreclosure process. In some states, the picture is far worse. In New York and New Jersey, it takes more than 900 days to get through the foreclosure process from start to finish, in Florida 619 days, and in California 330 days, according to RealtyTrac. "Part of it is exacerbated by robo signing," says Sharga, speaking of the paperwork scandal at major servicers that was uncovered last Fall. "We really believe that a big part of it is simply market saturation. We're simply not seeing enough buying activity taking place to dispose of the properties the banks have already repossessed. If you're a lender sitting on tens of thousands of properties you already can't sell, why on earth would you be motivated to accelerate foreclosure proceedings on another 3.7 million homes?" The big banks dispute this charge, claiming they are moving the process along as quickly as possible to mitigate their own losses. Once they get to REO, as we noted in yesterday's blog, they try to sell them as quickly as possible. "We don't hold [REOs] to have any market placement or timing. We need to clear inventory, so as soon as we go through that process, the property is marketed as an REO and we move it out," Doug Jones of Bank of America told an audience of Realtors Tuesday at a conference. But according to Sharga's data, there are 900,000 bank-owned properties, and less than 30 percent of those are available for sale. Fannie Mae, which owns more than 153,000 foreclosed properties, according to its latest earnings statement, claims it is aggressively pushing these properties through the pipeline and out onto the housing market. "We’ve created one of the largest REO operations in the country," Fannie Mae CEO Mike Williams told me in a rare interview. "We always try to strike the right balance between moving properties, which reduces losses but making sure we’re not moving them in a way that going to either hurt communities or hurt our bottom line. So we have a team that’s very focused on those set of activities and we measure those results on a daily, weekly and monthly basis." The vast supply of foreclosures, owned by the banks and coming down the pike to REO, represent the single greatest barrier to housing's recovery. The longer it takes to process these delinquent loans, the longer it will take for home prices to recover. While some of the delay in the process can be attributed to the banks working harder to modify loans or work out short sales, they themselves admit the volume is overwhelming, and their staffs are still struggling just to keep up. Questions? Comments? document.write("");document.write("RealtyCheck"+"@"+"cnbc.com");document.write('');And follow me on Twitter @Diana_Olick![]()
This is not to say that default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions aren't running well above the norms, with one in every 593 US households receiving a foreclosure filing in April. The numbers are actually quite deceptive. "This slowdown continues to be largely the result of massive delays in processing foreclosures, rather than the result of a housing recovery that is lifting people out of foreclosure," notes RealtyTrac CEO James Saccacio in a statement. There are currently 3.7 million loans that are 90 days or more delinquent, according to RealtyTrac's Rick Sharga. Nationwide, completed foreclosures (REOs) took an average of 400 days from initial default notice to REO in the first quarter of this year. That's up from 340 days a year ago and more than double the 151 days in 2007. At the current rate, it would take three to four years to move those loans through the foreclosure process. In some states, the picture is far worse. In New York and New Jersey, it takes more than 900 days to get through the foreclosure process from start to finish, in Florida 619 days, and in California 330 days, according to RealtyTrac. "Part of it is exacerbated by robo signing," says Sharga, speaking of the paperwork scandal at major servicers that was uncovered last Fall. "We really believe that a big part of it is simply market saturation. We're simply not seeing enough buying activity taking place to dispose of the properties the banks have already repossessed. If you're a lender sitting on tens of thousands of properties you already can't sell, why on earth would you be motivated to accelerate foreclosure proceedings on another 3.7 million homes?" The big banks dispute this charge, claiming they are moving the process along as quickly as possible to mitigate their own losses. Once they get to REO, as we noted in yesterday's blog, they try to sell them as quickly as possible. "We don't hold [REOs] to have any market placement or timing. We need to clear inventory, so as soon as we go through that process, the property is marketed as an REO and we move it out," Doug Jones of Bank of America told an audience of Realtors Tuesday at a conference. But according to Sharga's data, there are 900,000 bank-owned properties, and less than 30 percent of those are available for sale. Fannie Mae, which owns more than 153,000 foreclosed properties, according to its latest earnings statement, claims it is aggressively pushing these properties through the pipeline and out onto the housing market. "We’ve created one of the largest REO operations in the country," Fannie Mae CEO Mike Williams told me in a rare interview. "We always try to strike the right balance between moving properties, which reduces losses but making sure we’re not moving them in a way that going to either hurt communities or hurt our bottom line. So we have a team that’s very focused on those set of activities and we measure those results on a daily, weekly and monthly basis." The vast supply of foreclosures, owned by the banks and coming down the pike to REO, represent the single greatest barrier to housing's recovery. The longer it takes to process these delinquent loans, the longer it will take for home prices to recover. While some of the delay in the process can be attributed to the banks working harder to modify loans or work out short sales, they themselves admit the volume is overwhelming, and their staffs are still struggling just to keep up. Questions? Comments? document.write("");document.write("RealtyCheck"+"@"+"cnbc.com");document.write('');And follow me on Twitter @Diana_OlickThat's Rather Hideous: Our cousins over at Curbed DC...
× Like us and you'll find top breaking news in your Facebook newsfeed. Sign up for our daily email newsletter and get top stories and breaking news delivered to your inbox. Friday, May 13, 2011, by Sarah Firshein
? Previous: Stumped by Trump
? Next: No Reserve Auction Set for Auto Dealer's Tennessee Folly
Naming Names: Bernalwood reader Vizetelly suggested that the...
× Like us and you'll find top breaking news in your Facebook newsfeed. Sign up for our daily email newsletter and get top stories and breaking news delivered to your inbox. Wednesday, May 11, 2011, by Sally Kuchar
? Previous: "It's Like Legos For Adults"
Video Interlude: Man Erects Replica of "The David" on Lawn; Pisses Off Neighbors
× Like us and you'll find top breaking news in your Facebook newsfeed. Sign up for our daily email newsletter and get top stories and breaking news delivered to your inbox. Friday, May 13, 2011, by Sarah Firshein
In the quiet Texas town of Abilene, which has adorably named streets like "Sugarberry" and "Cindarella," a man has ruffled feathers by erecting a replica of The David on his front lawn. Of course, this is not the first time some overzealous chap has gone a little overboard with the work of Michelangelo, but all Renaissance supremacy and greatness aside, this guy's neighbors are none too pleased that the genitals of David greet them every time they drive down the block. And apparently the neighbor kids are asking, "Mom, what is that?" The homeowners maintain the statue is "just art."
VIDEO: Nude Statue of David Upsets Neighbors
· Texas Neighborhood Very Upset About Statue Of David’s Penis [Buzz Feed]
· Guy Paints Sistine Chapel in Every Single Room of His House [Curbed National]
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Sunny Day Real Estate: Live [VHS]
![Sunny Day Real Estate: Live [VHS]](http://scamfreepower.com/images/21T6BRKKA7LSL500.jpg)
Trouble Selling Your Home?It may be because you haven't buried a statue of St. Joseph in your front yard! Legend has it, that if you bury him upside down near the "For Sale" sign, in the back yard, or in a flower pot, and then say a little prayer (one is included with your purchase for a little guidance), then your house will sell! Couldn't hurt, right?
Even if you are not in the market to sell, this is a beautiful little resin statue that can be proudly displayed in your home or office. Highly detailed and fabulous coloring. 5" high.
Also included with your underground realtor:
Story of St. Joseph
Saint Card with illustrated picture and prayer
Step-by-step instructions for planting
Price: $19.98
On the Market: We're Scratching Our Heads Over This Wacky Bathroom
× Like us and you'll find top breaking news in your Facebook newsfeed. Sign up for our daily email newsletter and get top stories and breaking news delivered to your inbox. Wednesday, May 11, 2011, by Sally Kuchar This two-level, top floor condo in Bernal Heights is quite a looker, and at $789,000, we think it's reasonably priced. The digs are just over 2,100 square feet, and there's three bedrooms and two bathrooms. So, about those bathrooms. How do we feel about this semiprivate "bathroom" in the unwarranted master suite? It's as listed as a full bath, so there's a toilet in there somewhere. Cast your vote below. · 118 Virginia [Redfin]
Location Scouting: The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory is...
× Like us and you'll find top breaking news in your Facebook newsfeed. Sign up for our daily email newsletter and get top stories and breaking news delivered to your inbox. Tuesday, May 10, 2011, by Sally Kuchar
Magazine Living: A Real Page-Turner...
× Like us and you'll find top breaking news in your Facebook newsfeed. Sign up for our daily email newsletter and get top stories and breaking news delivered to your inbox. Wednesday, May 11, 2011, by Sarah Firshein The all-American characters of Gary and Elaine have wormed their way into households aplenty thanks to the ingenuity of Molly Erdman, whose Catalog Living blog points to styling curiosities within catalogs. Here now, Erdman does the same for shelter magazine photos.
Striking the match, Martin reminded Gareth that he was given plenty of chances to pare down his book collection on his own terms. Photo: Lucas Allen/Country Living
Striking the match, Martin reminded Gareth that he was given plenty of chances to pare down his book collection on his own terms. Photo: Lucas Allen/Country Living That's Rather Hideous: Yuletide Cheer Comes Early (or Late?) in the Lone Star State
× Like us and you'll find top breaking news in your Facebook newsfeed. Sign up for our daily email newsletter and get top stories and breaking news delivered to your inbox. Wednesday, May 11, 2011, by Sarah Firshein
Ho, ho, ho, what have we here? Just a little ghost of Christmas 2010, a 10,364-square-foot Houston Georgian that came on the market some five months ago. Whether or not holiday festooning is the key to proper home staging, a glittery tree in a corner sure as heck won't distract anyone from the excessive use of florals or mounted animal heads. In truth, the place looks like it's got good bones and, to that effect, potential—a gracious formal entry, 20-foot ceilings, a spacious kitchen, a wood-paneled library, and his/hers baths. The cost of all this holiday cheer? $6.9M. If someone would only tell Santa to hang up his hat for the next six months or so the owners would probably be in business.
· 3870 Willowick Road, Houston [HAR]
U.S. Hyperinflation - Route Causes
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Monday, May 23, 2011
On the Market: Dark 'n' Stormy Texan Castle Has Glowing Bath of Wonderment
× Like us and you'll find top breaking news in your Facebook newsfeed. Sign up for our daily email newsletter and get top stories and breaking news delivered to your inbox. Wednesday, May 11, 2011, by Sarah Firshein
$13.25M, folks! $13.25M is all it takes to bathe among the fish in this new-to-market Dallas monster, sharply spotted by our friends over at Homes of the Rich. Kudos to whomever built this house in 2000 (or, say, the people who've since renovated it), for so aptly predicting that at-home aquariums would become a fast-moving design trend toward the end of the first decade of the millennium. As for the rest of the house, it's—oh, wait, never mind. So not as interesting as that bathroom above.
· 9727 Audubon Palace, Dallas [Ebby via Homes of the Rich]
· Aquariums at Home; Small Iron Creatures Holding Lightbulbs [Curbed National]
Linkage: Gardens Galore; Iris Apfel's Wonderland; the Selby's Latest; More!
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Park Closures: Sad news from Sacramento today. State...
× Like us and you'll find top breaking news in your Facebook newsfeed. Sign up for our daily email newsletter and get top stories and breaking news delivered to your inbox. Friday, May 13, 2011, by Sally Kuchar
Sad news from Sacramento today. State parks officials announced that they'll be closing 70 out of 270 parks because of the state budget deficit, including Tomales Bay and the governor's mansion, Sacramento Bee reports. The California State Park System decided which parks to close based on "attendance rates and historical significance." [SacBee/SFist]
? Previous: Sneak Peek: Marin Home Tours
[RBI Pending Home Sales Index] Washington, D.C. Metro Area 4-2011 – Falls Short of March Burst
[click to open release]
I am reporting on the Washington, D.C. and Baltimore metro area housing markets in addition to our NYC metro area and Miami research – for RealEstate Business Intelligence (RBI), the research, analytics arm of MRIS, the largest MLS in the country. It is released 10 days after the close of each period, about 3 weeks before the NAR pending home sale index covering the same period.
Here’s a snippet from the just released April 2011 RBI Pending Home Sales Index [Washington, D.C. Metro Area] report:
…April buyers and sellers in the Washington, D.C. metro area signed 5,170 purchase contracts, the second highest April since 2006. The total was second only to the April 2010 surge in activity related to the final days of the federal homebuyer tax credit. Pending sales in April fell to 5,170, 4.8% short of the heavy volume reached in March, partly a result of last monthÕs release of pent-up demand accumulated during the post-tax credit expiration lull in the second half of 2010. The April 2011 median sales price was $334,000, nominally below $335,000 reached in same month last year and 4.4% above $320,000 in March. The month over month increase was consistent with seasonal patterns…
RBI Pending Home Sales Index™ [Washington, D.C. Metro Area]
Presidential Digs: Opulent homes of people in power...
× Like us and you'll find top breaking news in your Facebook newsfeed. Sign up for our daily email newsletter and get top stories and breaking news delivered to your inbox. Thursday, May 12, 2011, by Sarah Firshein
? Previous: Homes of Athletes
Billionaire-Adjacent, Now for Less: Old-school and lovely, but viewless, that...
× Like us and you'll find top breaking news in your Facebook newsfeed. Sign up for our daily email newsletter and get top stories and breaking news delivered to your inbox. Friday, May 13, 2011, by Philip Ferrato
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Realtors Face Off Against Mortgage Bankers
Yesterday I had the great opportunity to moderate a symposium on mortgage liquidity with a pretty heavy panel of mortgage bankers and industry executives. I knew they would be guarded in their answers, as I asked about the new world of underwriting, the wind down of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the tighter more expensive FHA, new federal regulation in the industry and a controversial new appraisal process. And they were guarded, until I opened up the floor to the Realtors, who hammered them hard on foreclosures, short sales, and mortgage credit for independent contractors like themselves. A Realtor from Wilmington, NC asked what are the plans for companies to put the shadow (foreclosed) inventory onto the market? Most agents believe banks are holding on to these properties to somehow game the market, but the bankers were firm in their rebuttal: Cara Heiden/Wells Fargo [WFC Loading... () 
] : "With respect to shadow inventory, we are not holding on to properties. On average we do hold the REO about 160-70 days, but once they're listed they're sold in 90 days and the reason that we hold them for a period of time prior to listing is so that we can get them in better shape for sale and uphold, to the extent that we can, market values. So we're not holding other than for the purpose of getting that property to a level that does help maintain market values whenever possible." Doug Jones/Bank of America [BAC Loading... () ] : "We too don't hold to have any market placement or timing. We need to clear inventory, so as soon as we go through that process, the property is marketed as an REO and we move it out."...but when the President of the National Association of Realtors, Ron Phipps, pushed the bankers on short sales, that is selling a property for less than the value of the mortgage, it got a bit trickier.... Cara Heiden: "When we get the offer in and the paperwork is ready to go, our goal is 5-15 days ... "[the crowd of over 1000 broke out into a huge wave of laughter at this because they don't buy that for a second] ...subject to our investors and what we're authorized to do. Ron Phipps: "In the field our experience is we don't get responses in a timely fashion." Cara Heiden: "I'll just say short sales are frustrating for you and they're frustrating for us."She went on to defend that they are adding staff, training staff, working to improve, etc. But there was no winning that one. A Realtor from Midland, TX asked why banks aren't giving incentives to investors to buy up REO (bank owned foreclosures) properties.Mike Williams, the CEO of Fannie Mae, which currently holds over 153,000 REOs on its books, took the question: "Our first priority is to make sure we preserve the value of the property for the company and secondly for the community." Williams then said they give occupants the first option and then go to the public entities, like the cities. Once that's done, he added, "I can tell you that investors play a crucial role in our ability to market and sell our properties."Williams noted that Fannie Mae will offer loans to investors for a maximum of ten investor properties, but couldn't go much beyond that. A Realtor from Philadelphia, PA then told a story of one of her clients, a young couple who had bought condo in 2006 and then had a baby. They want to move out to the suburbs, but are underwater on their mortgage. They are employed and have excellent credit but are upset that a short sale would ruin their credit, making it impossible to get a mortgage for their next home. Dave Stevens, former FHA commissioner and now president of the Mortgage Bankers Association: "The first concern on negative equity is people in distress. This is a tough example and I think there's a lot of silence on this panel because at some point someone would have to pay the loss on that write down and the question is, who do you want to pay? do you want the taxpayers to pay it? Do you want the banks to pay it? Or is there something that would say if you pay it can the banks also get a share of any upside that occurs in any future appreciation because it isn't a one way option when you make and investment decision."I agree with him, and I couldn't help but add my own rant on borrowers trying to game the housing crash. But things really got uncomfortable when a Realtor from Colorado, a single mother who is current on mortgages on her home and a few investment properties, but is struggling due to loss of income, begged the bankers to take her on; she claims she can't get help because she's self-employed, an independent contractor with a 1099. "Come on guys, I am the perfect save right here," she said to much applause. Doug Jones/Bank of America: "The industry and investors require documentation, our balance sheet requires documentation. It's a problem, I respect your situation, it's very very challenging. I am not going to say today or tomorrow we have a solution where we can't document income. We don't have a solution for that."Questions? Comments? document.write("");document.write("RealtyCheck"+"@"+"cnbc.com");document.write('');And follow me on Twitter @Diana_OlickOn the Market: Curbed NY has all the floorplan...
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What $900K Will Get You:: A four-bedroom, 2.5-bath Queene Anne in...
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On the Market: Prim and Proper Co-op Seeks Well-Heeled Buyer
× Like us and you'll find top breaking news in your Facebook newsfeed. Sign up for our daily email newsletter and get top stories and breaking news delivered to your inbox. Wednesday, May 11, 2011, by Sally Kuchar Want a sliver of one of San Francisco's early stock cooperatives? 2164 Hyde was built by Patterson Ross on Russian Hill in 1915. Apartment #202, which is a 2-bed, 2-bath, 1,800 square foot unit, is on the market asking $1,695,000. Got enough change in your pockets to make an offer? Not so fast. You have to be a certain type of pedigree to score this address. The type that the board approves of. So no flip flops and shaggy hairstyles, please. Poodles are encouraged, as is mentioning something like "we're moving out of Billionaire's Row. We just can't handle the Ellison acacia and redwoods drama anymore!" The unit has big windows, big views and a monthly HOA dues of $1,000. Would you like to see some floorplan porn? Follow us.
Building DIY Plumbing Pipe Shelves in My Dining Room
We've seen more than a few posts featuring DIY plumbing pipe shelves around here and I have been trying to think of a way to incorporate it into my own home for the past year or so. I recently switched around my rooms and ended up with a blank wall surrounding a radiator and that seemed like as good of place as any to finally take on the project myself!
The first post about plumbing pipe shelving that really got my attention was way back in 2009 – Morgan's DIY Plumbing Pipe Shelving. I will be forever indebted to Morgan and her blog, Brick House, for her insightful, detailed post about how she put together her shelves. Without her post I don’t know if I would have ever figured out the details of how to DIY this unit on my own. Even with her post as a guide, my project still required numerous trips to the hardware store, including one last minute trip when my measurements turned out to be a little off. Although, granted, the repeated trips weren’t entirely my fault. One trip to Home Depot was quickly aborted when I learned that the machine that cuts the metal pipes was out of order.
When I had finally collected all the components I needed for the shelves, I set out prepping the area where they were to be installed. (Rather than list the components for the shelves here, I'll refer you back to Morgan's comprehensive how-to post.) Thank God we had the foresight to paint the radiator before we assembled the shelves. For anyone who has never painted a radiator let me just report that it is a pain in the neck to get into all the nooks and crannies! Also, high heat paint is stinky so open all the windows! We stained and drilled the holes for the pipes in the 1” x 12” pine planks that we would be using for the shelves and washed the greasy residue off all the pipes while the radiator paint dried overnight.
With the radiator painted and all the components prepped, it was finally time to start building the shelves. As Morgan at Brick House reported, measuring and planning were the lion’s share of the work for this project, putting it together was the easy part. Still, it’s definitely a two person job and I’m grateful my husband was home to assist.
Basically erecting the shelves was like working with Legos or Lincoln Logs. We screwed together the base, laid a shelf on top of it, screwed together the next level of pipes, laid the next shelf, and so on until we reached the top. Once we had the entire unit pieced together, we straightened it out and then screwed the flanges to the floor at the base and to the wall at the top.
I’m absolutely giddy with the way the shelves turned out. They have a stunning visual impact and, because we went almost to the ceiling with them, make the walls, and thereby the room, seem taller. While I had never thought much about the radiator before, it looks amazing painted black. And surrounded by the black pipes and dark stained shelves, it recedes into the shelving.
Images: Jason Loper
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