CITY LAWYER HAS NEW UNDERSTANDING OF HOW THE LAW WORKS A lawyer for New York City was sentenced to 20 months in prison after pleading guilty to defrauding clients in real estate deals, reports Courthouse News. Hugh Zuber, 39, pleaded guilty in December 2009 to two counts of mail fraud. He had persuaded clients to accept risky purchase offers without disclosing that one of the buyers was his sister and that he had a business relationship with another buyer, the U.S. attorney's office said. Formerly with the city's Office of Corporation Counsel, Zuber also was ordered to pay $384,000 in restitution and to forfeit $301,250. PACE OF FORECLOSURES INCREASES OVER A YEAR The foreclosure problem hit New York City homeowners later than most other cities, but the problems are growing, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. In the first quarter of this year, there were 4,226 foreclosures across the city, up 16.3 percent from a year ago, says NYU's Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy. Queens and Brooklyn were responsible for more than 70 percent, and Manhattan was last on the quarterly foreclosure list, with 164 compared with 98 a year ago. SPARROWS GOTTA LIVE TOO A family of house sparrows is living inside a crosswalk signal on an Upper West Side street, coming and going through a golf ball-size hole in the side, says the New York Post. Karen Purcell, an urban-birds specialist with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology speculated that the cozy, steel-encased and rat-proof casing may have housed a bluebird, tree swallow or titmouse before the sparrows took over. "They are fierce nest competitors," she said. "They are able to evict other birds, even native species. They are survivors." Nicole Garcia, a spokeswoman for the city Department of Transportation, said the agency would remove the nest if workers find it. "We will inspect any location and remove anything obstructing a signal," she said pragmatically, if insensitively. DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT FLAT MONTHLY APARTMENT COSTS
SALES OF PREVIOUSLY OWNED HOMES JUMP IN THE CITY'S REGION Sales of existing homes in New York City and its surrounding suburbs posted a 39.6 percent gain in April, the fourth-largest rise in sales activities in the country, after Portland, Ore., (49.2 percent), Pittsburgh (42.2 percent) and Boston (41.8 percent), says the Wall Street Journal. In 2009, "there was just a screeching halt in transactions," said Sofia Song, vice president for research of StreetEasy.com. "Any increase over nothing is going to be huge." But the median price for the New York metropolitan area rose only 2.8 percent in April compared with a year earlier. INVENTORY HELD BACK MAY EMERGE FROM THE SHADOWS At the Dillon, an 83-unit Hell's Kitchen condo, apartments were listed for sale nearly four weeks ago after avoiding the market for years, says Crain's. And at the 87-unit Olive Park in Williamsburg, 30 units that the developer rented out last year will come back on line sometime this year. While those and other developments test their luck, a long list of others is queuing up in the wings. In Manhattan, sales are expected to resume by the end of the year at 1 Rector Square, a 174-unit condo conversion in Battery Park City; 34 Leonard, a 16-unit Tribeca co-op conversion; and 245 10th Ave., a new 22-unit development in Chelsea. But the influx of apartments has insiders wondering how much supply the market can cope with before the bottom begins to give way again, especially since much of the former shadow space is being offered at cut-rate prices. "If pricing is competitive, you'll see supply rise and sale prices fall," says Jonathan Miller of the Miller Samuel appraisal firm. "That is a concern." WITH RENTAL SUPPLY SLIPPING, TENANTS PAY MORE Manhattan rents are up 1.94 percent from April and 1.72 percent over last May, reports the Real Estate Group of New York. Inventories inched down 0.71 percent, suggesting that the rental market may have turned the corner. On the Upper West Side, however, tenants continue to get a break on rents, which averaged $2,896 in buildings without doormen, the lowest price point since data was tracked beginning in 2007. A year ago the average rent was $3,367. As for the East Village, one-bedroom units in buildings without doormen fell 6.15 percent, to $2,313, their nadir in more than two years. On the Lower East Side, two-bedroom units were going for $3,022, a 2.07 percent decline from April and the lowest amount since 2007. THREE MAJOR MANHATTAN LANDLORDS END CONCESSIONS At least three major Manhattan landlords have decided to stop paying broker's fees on some rental properties, signaling that many tenants need to brace themselves for extra expenses when apartment shopping, reports the Wall Street Journal. Ogden CAP Properties says it won't pay fees at several properties, including Normandie Court on East 95th Street and One Lincoln Plaza on West 64th Street. Pan Am Equities, another large apartment owner, intends to stop paying the fee on June 1, according to brokers. The rental unit of Related Cos., which has about 5,000 units across Manhattan, will stop paying the fee May 31. "There has been a serious uptick in the market. We have seen across-the-board a strengthening in the marketplace," Related official Daria Salusbury declared. Related's vacancy below 1 percent, down from about 3.5 percent a year ago, "is better than projected," she added. 92 ECONOMISTS, ANALYSTS SEE UPTREND STARTING NEXT YEAR U.S. home prices will begin a gradual recovery by next year, according to a survey of 92 economists and other housing analysts by MacroMarkets. "The survey results are important because they represent a consensus view among experts with rich and diverse knowledge," said Yale economist Robert Schiller, co-founder of the firm. "In the May survey, they see only the slightest hint of a downdraft in home prices this year, and after that a respectable uptrend in prices, well ahead of the likely inflation rate." He cautioned that a number of the respondents made predictions considerably above or below the average, reflecting "continuing volatility and risk in the U.S. housing market." Prices will increase by more than 12.4 percent between 2010 and the end of 2014, MacroMarkets reported, adding that home prices nationwide are expected to have risen 4.9 percent in the 12-month period ended March 2010 while, at the same time, falling 0.4 percent during the first quarter. RATES DROP TO FIVE-MONTH LOW The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 4.78 percent this week, down from last week's 4.84 percent and last year's 4.91 percent, according to Freddie Mac. It has not been lower since the week ending Dec. 3, 2009, when it was 4.71 percent. The 15-year rate slipped to 4.21 percent from 4.24 percent. A year ago at this time, it was 4.53 percent and has not been lower since Freddie Mac started tracking the 15-year FRM in August of 1991. The five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) averaged 3.97 percent this week, up from 3.91 percent but below the 4.82 percent rate a year earlier. The one-year Treasury-indexed ARM was lower than last week's 4.00 percent at 3.95 percent. At this time last year, the one-year ARM averaged 4.69 percent and has not been lower since May 27, 2004's level of 3.87 percent. BEWARE OF SECOND CREDIT CHECK JUST BEFORE CLOSING Beginning June 1, your lender is likely to order a second full credit screening immediately before closing, warns Kenneth B. Harney in the Washington Post. If you've made applications for credit of any type - for furnishings and appliances for the new house, a car, landscaping, home equity line, new credit card et cetera - the closing could be put on hold pending additional research by the lender. If you've taken out new loans that are sizable enough to affect the debt-to-income ratio calculations used in your original mortgage approval, the whole deal could fall through. VOLUME OF PURCHASE LOAN APPLICATIONS PLUNGES For the week ending May 14, mortgage loan application volume decreased 1.5 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier; unadjusted, the change was 3.1 percent, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA). Although refinance activity went up 14.5 percent, purchase volume plummeted 27.1 percent following the deadline for homebuyers' tax credits. It was the lowest purchase activity in 13 years and 24.1 percent lower than the same week one year ago. "The data continue to suggest that the tax credit pulled sales into April at the expense of the remainder of the spring buying season," commented MBA Chief Economist Michael Fratantoni. The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 68.1 percent of total applications from 57.7 percent the previous week, and the adjustable-rate mortgage share was unchanged at 6.3 percent. DELINQUENT LOANS FLATTEN IN 1ST QUARTER
EUROPE'S PAIN MAY PROVE TO BE GAIN FOR U.S. BORROWERS The financial turmoil in Europe is providing an unexpected windfall for American home buyers, reports the Wall Street Journal. The publication notes that international money seeking a safe haven is flowing into the U.S., pushing domestic mortgage rates to the lowest levels of the year and back near 50-year lows. Many in the industry now say rates could drift as low as 4.5 percent this summer, instead of rising to 6 percent as some economists projected, making for significantly lower payments for Americans buying homes or refinancing their mortgages. Until 2003, rates on 30-year fixed-rate loans hadn't dipped below 5 percent since the 1960s, but rates fell to similar points throughout much of the past year as the government was helping to hold down costs for borrowers. PURCHASE APPLICATIONS DROP TO 13-YEAR LOW The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) says loan application volume increased 11.3 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from the week ending May 14 to the one ending May 21. On an unadjusted basis, the rise was 10.3 percent. Although refinancings went up 17.0 percent, up for the third consecutive week, purchase activity fell 3.3 percent to the lowest amount since April 1997. Unadjusted, purchases declined 4.0 percent from the prior week, 27.1 percent compared with the previous four weeks, and 27.5 percent from the same week one year ago. The refinance share of mortgage activity swelled to 72.2 percent of total applications from 68.1 percent the previous week, and the adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share decreased to 6.0 percent from 6.3 percent. DISPARITIES BY STATE FOUND IN MORTGAGE DEDUCTION Newly released IRS tax data by state for 2008 reveal that the average tax return in the U.S. had a $3,279 deduction for mortgage interest, according to the Tax Foundation. (The figure includes all tax returns, even non-homeowners and non-itemizers.) Counting only the tax returns that deducted mortgage interest, the average was $12,221. Nearly 27 percent of the nation's tax returns claimed the deduction. Overall, Maryland and California were the biggest winners. Maryland had the highest percentage of tax returns claiming the deduction, 37.9 percent, and the average dollar amount claimed, $5,372, was the second-highest among all tax returns; for those returns claiming the deduction, the average in Maryland was $14,162,the fifth highest nationwide. For New York State, 27.3 percent of the returns included the deduction, which averaged $2,897; the amount for only those returns with the deduction was $12,206, 13th place in the U.S. REMOVING VINYL WALL COVERING IS A CHORE The first step is to remove the vinyl layer, counsels the Washington Post. Use a wide joint knife or a sharp wallpaper scraper to loosen the top corner of a panel of vinyl. The wall still may have some of the vinyl's paper backing as well as a lot of adhesive residue. To remove, spray with a chemical wallpaper remover such as Dif. If drywall, not plaster, use as little liquid as possible. Let the remover work for about 10 minutes, then use a scraper. You probably will need to use a rag moistened with liquid remover to clean up the last traces of adhesive and backing paper. Minor nicks and gouges can be patched with spackling compound or wallpaper joint compound after the walls dry. Let the patches dry, then prime the entire wall with an acrylic-latex primer. When the prime coat is thoroughly dry, the walls can be painted. If the walls are severely damaged, they will have to be skim-coated with drywall compound before painting. Leave that work to a professional. IF YOUR WOOD FLOORS DEPRESS YOU, READ THIS Most wood floors can be refinished at least five times, and depending on wear or tear, can go 15-20 years between facelifts. But when nail heads start to surface or the wood begins to flake, your floor has reached the end of its journey: It's time to start from scratch, says BrickUnderground in a short and extremely informative post. IS YOUR HOME POISONING YOU Matthew Waletzke, a "building biology" consultant with a practice called Healthy Dwellings, recently performed a "healthy home evaluation" on Penelope Green's East Village apartment as recounted by the writer in the New York Times. He scoped out the air, water and building materials, as well as her cleaning products and cosmetics, for toxins. He also tested for electromagnetic radiation and moisture intrusion, and then offered a set of prescriptions, over which you are welcome to obsess by scrolling to the end of the preceding link. Many modern appliances are so well designed that it's easy to forget they need annual attention, the Times adds in another piece on the same day. Unlike the yearly spring cleaning of a house, however, appliance maintenance does not take long, and it can extend the lifespan of dishwashers, refrigerators, air conditioners, vacuums, ceiling fans and stoves. THERE ARE 10 PATHS TO A SMOOTH RENOVATION So says lawyer Ronald Gitter in a guide that he offers on his Web site. "Sooner or later, almost every happy homeowner undertakes an apartment renovation or upgrade to his or her co-op or condo," he writes. "Integral to that process is hiring an architect, a contractor or both. Each professional has vastly different responsibilities and each relationship has its own set of challenges." CONSTRUCTION MUSHROOMS IN HARD-HIT AREAS From the recession's lows, construction has nearly doubled in Las Vegas, Phoenix and Tucson, notes the New York Times. It is up 74 percent in inland Southern California and soaring in Florida. "There's a surprising rebound in the hardest-hit markets," said Brad Hunter, chief economist with the consulting firm Metrostudy. "People are buying again." Some of the demand is coming from families that are getting shut out of the bidding for foreclosures by syndicates that pay in cash, and some is from investors who are back on the prowl. Land and labor costs have fallen significantly, so the newest homes are competitively priced. Surprisingly, some of the boom-era homes are in developments that feel like ghost towns, perhaps because many Americans always will believe the latest model of something is their only option, an attitude builders are doing their utmost to reinforce. IF A HIGH PRICE DOESN'T SCARE YOU, HEAD FOR AMITYVILLE The infamous Amityville Horror house has just hit the market for $1.15 million, reports the Wall Street Journal. The five-bedroom home on New York's Long Island sold for just $55,000 in the early years after Ronald DeFeo Jr. shot six family members in their sleep there in 1974. By 1997, it went for $310,000. The dwelling has been renovated considerably since the murders and the listing photos show a lovely little property with hardwood floors, water views and an enclosed porch. Boasting about the "legendary" status of the house, the listing agent also cites recent improvements such as a renovated boathouse, central air condition, a deck and a patio. A BYE-BYE FOR LA-LA LAND FINALLY PAYS OFF FOR LATE-NIGHT HOST Conan O'Brien's huge duplex apartment at the Majestic, the twin-towers co-op on Central Park West across the street from the Dakota, has found a buyer, brokers tell the Wall Street Journal. The transaction was said to be at or close to the $29.5 million asking price. The buyer wasn't identified. O'Brien and his wife Elizabeth combined two apartment on the 17th and 18th floors a few years ago to create a sprawling duplex that has seven bedrooms, three terraces, two libraries, and eight and a half baths. SHE IS OPTING FOR A VIEW FROM A BUILDING Jessica Hecht, who was just nominated for a Tony Award for her role in "A View From the Bridge," has just bought a three-bedroom apartment in the Alwyn Court, the landmarked building at 58th Street and Seventh Avenue near Carnegie Hall that is famous for its French Renaissance-style terra cotta façade, says the New York Times. Hecht and husband Adam Bernstein, a television and music video director, paid $2.05 million for a co-op that was originally listed for $2.295 million last September. The price was dropped to $2.195 million in late November, and the sale closed late last month. ACTOR FINDS AN APARTMENT ARRESTING Christopher Meloni and his wife just paid $910,000 for an 800-sf one-bedroom apartment at 88 Greenwich St., a 37-story Art Deco tower in the Financial District, says the Wall Street Journal. Now called the Greenwich Club, the building was converted from rentals a few years back. The apartment in the full-service condo building was first listed for $995,000, but the price had been reduced to $925,000 by the time Meloni came calling. The seller paid $926,000 for the place back in 2007. Married since then, she has moved to Connecticut. As for the Melonis, one thing is all but certain: They won't be living there. That's because the couple already owns a glam apartment in the Park Imperial on West 56th Street, which has attracted a string of other celebrities. COMPOSER IS BECOMING PHANTOM OF THE TOWER Andrew Lloyd Webber's on-again, off-again effort to sell his Trump Tower duplex is back on again, according to Curbed.com. The asking price this time is $19 million, 15 percent below the list price in 2007. The British composer bought the more than 5,000-sf unit in 1987 for $5.5 million. Lord Lloyd-Webber and his family are said to be re-evaluating their property holdings following his recent treatment for prostate cancer. The 60th-floor duplex, which is the most expensive listing in the building, has Central Park views, formal dining room, den with a wet bar and wine cellar, and an eat-in kitchen. Cats are not included. $3.8 MILLION IS NO LAUGHING MATTER Jon Stewart and wife Tracey paid $3.8 million for a 4,999-sf waterfront house in Red Bank, N.J., about an hour from lower Manhattan, according to Real Estalker in the Real Deal. Stewart closed on the 1.26-acre estate last December. The gated property has a large circular drive, swimming pool, two-car garage, adjacent pool house, and a wide lawn that slopes steeply down to 166 feet of river frontage, where there is a boat house, small deck and private dock. The Stewarts sold their Greenwich Village apartment to fashion designer Michael Kors for $3.995 million five years ago and moved to a $5.8-million duplex penthouse in Tribeca, where they now live. Records show that Stewart also owns a water front home in the Bay Point area of Sag Harbor through his real estate trust. THE BUYER IS CRAIG, DANIEL CRAIG The 42-year-old English actor and American film producer Satsuki Mitchell and longtime boyfriend Daniel Craig have contracted to purchase a one-bedroom penthouse apartment at 53 Warren St. in Tribeca, says the Wall Street Journal. The sale is expected to close next week. They relied on an all-cash offer to seal the deal on the $1.9 million-listed apartment that had received multiple bids. The duplex loft has 20-foot ceilings, floor-to-ceiling windows and three terraces. Its private elevator opens directly onto one of those terraces. ANOTHER CELEB IS DESERTING MANHATTAN FOR CALIFORNIA Connie Stevens, who was born in Brooklyn, is cutting the cord and selling her New York residence to spend more time with her grandchildren in California, says the New York Times. Her 2,500-sf Manhattan penthouse at 101 West 67th Street has just gone into contract. The three-bedroom apartment is on the 54th floor of the Park Millennium. The last listed price was $8.2 million, but the sale price was not disclosed. "As much as I love New York, it’s hard to leave this now with all the babies running around," she told the newspaper by telephone in Los Angeles. Another reason: the view she had on Sept. 11, 2001. "The memories were not good," Stevens allowed. A CONDO FIT FOR A KI— PRINCE CAN BE YOURS IN D.C. Saudi Arabia's Prince Bandar bin Sultan is asking $3.75 million for his 5,400-sf prewar condo in Washington, D.C., says the Wall Street Journal. The former Saudi ambassador to the U.S. bought the four-bedroom apartment in the Kalorama neighborhood in the 1980s for $600,000. Prince Bandar renovated the unit, which he used as a guest apartment, according to his attorney, Nancy Dutton. It has a cherry-paneled library with fireplace—and, of course, a patina of princedom. PRICES SWING UP 1.7% IN MARCH OVER YEAR EARLIER National home prices, including distressed sales, increased by 1.7 percent in March compared with March 2009, according to CoreLogic and its Home Price Index (HPI). The rise was an improvement over February's year-over-year price increase of 0.8 percent. Excluding distressed sales, year-over-year prices increased in March by 1.9 percent, growth that bettered February's non-distressed HPI, which fell by 0.2 percent year-over-year. On a month-over-month basis, the national average home price index fell by 0.3 percent in March 2010 from February. But the difference was smaller than the previous one-month decline of 1.7 percent, from January to February. "March's year-over-year increase in the HPI shows that the housing market is continuing to exhibit signs of stability," said CoreLogic Chief Economist Mark Fleming. "The differences between trends, including and excluding distressed sales, indicate the strong influence of distressed activity remains, but the surge in home sales in March is giving the market a boost this spring. As the influence of the tail end of the tax credit and spring buying season fade, price growth will fade with it as we go into summer." TAX CREDIT BOOSTS EXISTING-HOME SALES EXPECTEDLY HIGH The sales volume of previously owned homes in April was 7.6 percent over March, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). Completed transactions of single-family, townhomes, condos and co-ops were 22.8 percent higher than one year earlier. "The upswing in April existing-home sales was expected because of the tax-credit inducement, and no doubt there will be some temporary fallback in the months immediately after it expires," said Chief Economist Lawrence Yun. Total housing inventory rose 11.5 percent, increasing supply to 8.4 months from 8.1 months in March, but the median price went up 4 percent to $173,100. Distressed homes accounted for 33 percent of sales last month in comparison with 35 percent in March. Single-family home sales grew 7.4 percent above the March total and 20.5 percent above April 2009, even though prices were up 4.5 percent from a year ago. ALSO SURGING WERE SALES OF NEW SINGLE-FAMILY HOMES
CASE-SHILLER REPORT AGAIN OFFERS MIXED MESSAGE Case-Shiller's U.S. National Home Price Index fell 3.2 percent in the first quarter of 2010 while remaining above its year-earlier level. In March, 13 of the 20 Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) covered by the indices and both monthly composites were down, yet the two composites and 10 MSAs showed year-over-year gains. (Case-Shiller does not tabulate the sale of condos and co-ops, the percentage of sales of single-family homes in Manhattan is in the low single digits, and the MSA in which Manhattan falls includes all five boroughs plus parts of suburban New Jersey and Westchester County.) Said David M. Blitzer, chairman of S&P's Index Committee: "The housing market may be in better shape than this time last year. But, when you look at recent trends there are signs of some renewed weakening in home prices." Far more information is available on the Service You Can Trust blog. FREDDIE MAC CALCULATES 1.1% PRICE DECLINE OVER A YEAR Freddie Mac's price index for conventional fixed-rate mortgages – below $729,750 in high-priced area and less elsewhere - registered a 1.1 percent decline from the first quarter of 2009 to the first quarter of 2010. In the first quarter this year, the U.S. Index was down 2.1 percent relative to the previous fourth quarter. Still, three of nine regions posted price gains - the Pacific region, the Middle Atlantic and the West South Central. LUXURY MARKET MAY BE PICKING UP The luxury market appears to be making a comeback, reports the Wall Street Journal. Attractively priced homes in some of the nation's most coveted neighborhoods are selling, sometimes fast and sometimes with multiple offers. Nationwide, sales of homes selling for $2 million to $5 million in the first quarter totaled 2,461, up 32 percent from a year before, says CoreLogic. But a study for the newspaper by MDA DataQuick found that in some areas of the country, sales of homes over $2 million in the first quarter were actually on par with the levels of 2005, the peak year for existing-home sales volume nationwide. In San Francisco, 49 homes sold for $2 million or more in this year's first quarter, according to the study, in comparison with 47 in 2005. In Manhattan, there were 402 sales of $2 million or more in the latest quarter versus 311 in the first quarter of 2005, says the appraisal firm Miller Samuel. Other areas with strong rebounds included New York's Hamptons, Menlo Park, Calif., and Beverly Hills. BUILDER CONFIDENCE IS ALMOST HALFWAY TO OPTIMISTIC Builder confidence in the market for newly built, single-family homes rose for a second consecutive month in May to its highest level in more than two years, according to the latest National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI). The HMI gained three points, to 22, on a 100-point scale, its highest point since August of 2007. "The really encouraging part of today's HMI is that sales expectations for the next six months continued to gain, despite the expiration of the home buyer tax credits at the end of April," said NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe. "This means builders are more comfortable that the market is truly beginning to recover. . ." Of course, the very same builders are the ones who overbuilt during the bubble, and they have long way to go to reach 50, the division between equally optimistic and pessimistic. HOME CONSTRUCTION BUMPS UP IN APRIL, BUT PERMITS SLIDE Housing starts in April rose 5.8 percent above March and 40.9 percent above April 2009, according to the Commerce Department. Single-family housing starts alone were 10.2 percent higher than March. But permits for new construction were 11.5 percent lower than March while 15.9 percent above the previous April. "The builders overestimated, economist Patrick Newport of IHS Global Insight told the New York Times. "They thought they would sell more because of the tax credit." SURVEY FINDS FEWER BUYERS FOR FORECLOSURES A Harris Interactive survey conducted for RealtyTrac and Trulia finds that 45 percent of adults are at least somewhat likely to consider buying a foreclosed home in the future in contrast to 55 percent one year earlier. In addition, only 1 percent of homeowners with a mortgage say walking away from their home would be their first choice if they were unable to make their mortgage payments. If their mortgage were to go "under water," 41 percent would at least consider walking away. Still, 59 percent would not consider walking away, no matter how much their mortgage was higher than the value of their property. ONE-SIXTH OF HOMEOWNERS BELIEVE THEIR HOUSE VALUES GREW
BUT RESPONDENTS IN ANOTHER SURVEY PREFER RENTING A new online survey commissioned by the National Apartment Association finds 76 percent of consumers deem renting to be the more favorable option to owning a home in the current real estate market, a five-point increase from 2008. The survey also found that both renters and homeowners are not eager to make any changes in their housing status within the next year. Conducted by market research firm Harris Interactive, the survey of 2,140 adults also recorded an increase to 64 percent from 57 percent in 2008 in those who said that the additional burden of major home repairs or maintenance was a primary benefit of renting a home vs. owning. The National Apartment Association is an advocacy organization for quality rental housing, and its membership comprises multifamily housing owners, managers, developers and suppliers. Nothing sells like charm Not only do buyers glom onto glam in an apartment and long for light, but the charm of original details as varied as dentil molding and pocket doors may well appeal to many of them. Notwithstanding such characteristics often can't hold a candle to the charm of a particular block. Perhaps you wonder what can trump a block's charm, and that can be the aura of an enclave such as ones that come to mind near Washington Square Park, on Murray Hill or on the Upper West Side. The attached homes in these areas generally have rooms of small proportions and carry the assorted other burdens. But so powerful is the draw of the scale and ambience of these contained communities that buyers usually accept any tradeoffs that the Old World features in such enclaves necessitate. So few are the properties and so infrequently do dwellings in a mews come on the market that open houses for them tend to be jammed. That was the case recently for an open house on a rainy Sunday in what is known as Pomander Walk between 94th and 95th streets west of Broadway. Passing through an iron gate below the stone arch there is like treading into the past and a garden of earthly delights. The sounds and grit of the city are left far behind. There are flowers everywhere – in window boxes, along the sides of the central path and in front of each little Tudor-style house, constructed in 1921. Broker ethics restrict what can be said about the property (explaining the absence of precise locations in the bulleted items below and always in this section), but there is little fault to be found with this particular duplex. The first floor of the three-bedroom, two-and-a-half-bath co-op, which seems to be approximately 25 feet wide, has been opened up to foster an uncommon sense of airiness. A wall of built-ins was added, the renovated kitchen with an inviting marble-topped center island includes two Sub-Zero refrigerators plus freezer under the countertops, and the newer floors gleam brightly. Upstairs are the bedrooms and handsome full baths, neither en suite and one with a skylight, as well as wall-to-wall carpeting, Bosch washer and dryer, and French doors between the two smaller bedrooms, originally one. With regard to the price, the only right price is, as always, what the market determines. The price of charm runs high, but this approximately 1,400-sf place certainly is within range of its reasonable $1.495 million with maintenance of $2,266 a month. Unsurprisingly, the place went under contract in less than a month. Other properties listed by various brokers and seen recently:
Some of Manhattan's Latest Listings Please click here to view a sampling of properties newly listed by various brokers. To see more of them or to obtain more information, please don't hesitate to be in touch. Click Here to Sign Up For Your Free Issue of Realty Digest!
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Despite the real estate market's decline, building assessments and real estate taxes have continued to go up, the New York Times observes. Property managers say most buildings are facing maintenance increases of 5-7 percent this year, with taxes responsible for the bulk of the increases. "Real estate taxes are continuing to hammer building budgets," said Stuart Smolar, the executive director of the Andrews Building Corporation, which manages more than 300 apartment buildings. He and other property managers said that real estate tax increases this year ranged from 10 to 25 percent, and that, combined with similar increases in previous years, they could easily add up to tax increases of more than 60 percent since 2007. "A lot of people don't realize that assessments are phased in over five years," said David Kuperberg, the chief executive of Cooper Square Realty, which manages about 400 apartment buildings. "We're getting increases in 2010 from valuations that were done in 2006 at the height of the market."
The delinquency rate for mortgage loans on one-to-four-unit residential properties increased to a seasonally adjusted rate of 10.06 percent of all loans outstanding as of the end of the first quarter of 2010, reports the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA). The new rate was 0.59 percent above the previous quarter and 0.94 percent higher than the first quarter of 2009. Unadjusted, the delinquency rate fell 1.06 percent from 10.44 percent in the fourth quarter of 2009 to 9.38 percent. The percentage of loans on which foreclosure actions were started during the first quarter was 1.23 percent, up 0.03 percent from the previous quarter and 0.14 percent from a year ago. (The delinquency rate includes loans that are at least one payment past due but does not include loans in the process of foreclosure.) The percentage of loans in the foreclosure process at the end of the first quarter was 4.63 percent, an increase of 0.5 percent from the fourth quarter of 2009 and 0.78 percent from a year earlier, another record high. The percentage of only those loans at least 90 days past due or in the process of foreclosure slipped to 9.54 percent from 9.41 percent from the from the prior quarter, but it jumped 2.3 percent over the first quarter of last year. Chief Economist Jay Brinkmann noted that the seasonally adjusted numbers should be viewed with "a degree of caution."
Sales of newly built, single-family homes surged 14.8 percent as consumers rushed to beat the deadline for expiring home buyer tax credits, according to data released by the U.S. Commerce Department. It was the strongest level of new-home buying activity since May of 2008, notes the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), which neglected to mention that the median price was the lowest since 2003. Said NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe: "It stands to reason that this activity will level off over the next few months, as sales that would have occurred during that time were likely pulled forward to meet the April deadline." The inventory of new homes on the market fell 5.8 percent in April to its smallest amount since October of 1968. The months of supply at the current sales pace declined from 6.2 in March to 5.0, the lowest level since November of 2005.
More than 16 percent of home owners say their houses increased in value during the past year, the highest percentage in nearly two years, according to a Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan survey cited in Realtor magazine. While 75 percent of home owners viewed current home-buying conditions as good, referring to attractive prices and low mortgage rates, about 89 percent thought market conditions for selling a home were poor. A year ago, nearly 100 percent of homeowners panned the climate for sales. This year, some 43 percent of home owners said their residence was worth less during the past year and responded that their homes will ultimately rise in value. The annual anticipated gain over the next five years was 2.1 percent among respondents.
