From Lohud.com:
The slump is over: real estate is back
Looks like very good news for homeowners across the Lower Hudson Valley — experts are saying that the multi-year real estate slump is finally over.
“It’s the best market we’ve had since 2007, both in price and the velocity of sales,” said Arthur Scinta of Houlihan Lawrence, who works exclusively in the red-hot Pelhams.
In Rockland, the number of home sales is up 16 percent this spring compared to 2014. In Putnam, they shot up 23 percent compared to last spring. Westchester has seen a more temperate increase of 6 percent.
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“It’s a sellers’ market,” said Brian Levine, manager of the Houlihan Lawrence office in Irvington, another strong market.”We’re seeing bidding wars, we’re seeing all-cash offers. We’re sending people away with really good credit. They’re not getting the houses they want because people are showing up with all cash, and as we all know cash is king.”The endless winter we endured put a big damper on the early spring real estate market, leaving buyers and sellers alike huddled indoors behind mountains of snow. Who wants to put their home on the market when you can’t even goose up the curb appeal with basics like a newly painted front door and fresh landscaping?
But for parts of the Lower Hudson Valley and for certain price points the market has come roaring back to life these last couple of months.
Some houses are selling very fast. “I listed a house on May 13th in West Harrison and we had signed contracts on it by the evening of the 20th,” said Wendy Alper, an agent with Julia B. Fee Sotheby’s International Realty in Rye.
It’s definitely a seller’s market, Scinta said. At least 30 of the 59 houses sold in Pelham so far this year had multiple bids. “Generally, that translates into over the asking price,” he said.
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Buyer demand remains strong locally and a shortage of homes on the market continues to be a problem, Levine said. “There is a severe inventory shortage across the nation, and that’s true here as well.”In Yonkers, Jane McAfee of Houlihan Lawrence has seen a very low inventory since January. “At the beginning of the year there were 199 houses on the market in Yonkers, and for Yonkers that’s not many,” she said. On June 1, 2014, for example, there were 304 single-family homes for sale in the city.
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“It’s unlike any spring market I’ve been in — and I’ve been doing this for 21 years — because it’s so late,” McAfee said. “It’s not just that there were storms, it was so bad all winter long. People were not getting their houses ready — they certainly couldn’t do any work outside.”In most years, “we’d be at the tail end of the spring market now, but we’re still in the thick of it,” said Levine, the Irvington manager. “We’re seeing a lot of activity. I keep looking at the calendar and saying it should be starting to slow down now.”
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“The closer to New York City the better — Pelham, Bronxville, Larchmont, the river towns (Dobbs Ferry, Hastings-on-Hudson, Irvington and Tarrytown),” said Scinta, the Pelham agent. “The market is always driven by the city and it rolls north. As the market recovers, it pushes its way up.”
Not only north, also west to jersey. Already spread to Hoboken and the likes, now spreading past them.
“The closer to New York City the better — Pelham, Bronxville, Larchmont, the river towns (Dobbs Ferry, Hastings-on-Hudson, Irvington and Tarrytown),” said Scinta, the Pelham agent. “The market is always driven by the city and it rolls north. As the market recovers, it pushes its way up.”
Guy is horrible.
“Most Americans don’t know Chris Christie like I do, so it’s only natural to wonder what testimony I might offer after covering his every move for the last 14 years.
Is it his raw political talent? No, they can see that.
Is it his measurable failure to fix the economy, solve the budget crisis or even repair the crumbling bridges? No, his opponents will cover that if he ever gets traction.
My testimony amounts to a warning: Don’t believe a word the man says.
If you have the stomach for it, this column offers some greatest hits in Christie’s catalog of lies.
Don’t misunderstand me. They all lie, and I get that. But Christie does it with such audacity, and such frequency, that he stands out.
He’s been lying on steroids lately, on core issues like Bridgegate, guns and that cozy personal friendship with his buddy, the King of Jordan. I’ll get to all that”
http://www.nj.com/opinion/index.ssf/2015/06/after_14_years_of_watching_christie_a_warning_he_l.html#incart_river
2-
“Webster’s defines lie this way: “To make an untrue statement with intent to deceive.” That fits neatly.
And that’s my warning to America. When Christie picks up the microphone, he speaks so clearly and forcefully that you assume genuine conviction is behind it.
Be careful, though. It’s a kind of spell.
He is a remarkable talent with a silver tongue. But if you look closely, you can see that it is forked like a serpent’s.”
Your point of view is based on what? You teach and are omnipotent regarding every district in the state?
My issues with the schools has more to do with a demoralized workforce and a misguided state/ federal mandates than the perceived quality of the schools .
I teach in a district that a lot of people on this board have yearned to be in. The school district has a lot less to do with your child’s success than your child his/herself. In fact, it can become a hindrance to their college applications.
First off, your child will be taking the same subjects in most above average districts. The “good districts” simply have 80 to 100 kids enrolled in each AP class as opposed to 20 to 30 kids. There’s a reason why. The town itself has way more smart kids. The only thing you should do is make sure that the school itself has the AP classes you want your kid to be enrolled in.
Second, your child will get diluted in a pool of smart kids. Harvard, Princeton, and all the other schools are accepting 1 to 2 kids max if any from each school here, no matter how good the district is. Not good when you have 15 kids with straight A+ averages and a 2400 on the SAT to go along with 800s in every single subject test they took.
If your child is smart, you’d be better off sending them to an above average district so they can be in the top 5 there. I have students who would have been shoe ins for Princeton or Columbia had they graduated from Bridgewater…instead they get diluted by a gigantic pool of smart kids.
If you want to live in a nice town, you should live in it because its nice. However, putting your kids in a good school district can sometimes put them at a big disadvantage with respect to college admissions.
Now the other thing is, if your kid is average, you are simply just wasting your time with the school districts. They get the same education as everyone else.
“There is a severe inventory shortage across the nation, and that’s true here as well.”
Sales are up but there’s no inventory. Repeat that a few time in your head. And there’s no inventory because there’s too many unqualified sellers. 10 people going after 2 houses is not a seller’s market. It’s a patch on a leaking tire. They’re fighting for scraps. And the one lucky b.astard who has lived in a house for 20 years and has a decent house to sell feels like a genius because there are plenty of m0rons looking to outbid the next m0ron. Again, if times are so great, why are the interest rates in the cellar?
Translated: “as the scam reaches its zenith, latecomers pour in, paying top dollar into a market that is trip-wired to explode into a million shards of hot shrapnel. As the market collapses, the latecomers bear the brunt of the economic damage and sustain the worst losses.”
“As the market recovers, it pushes its way up.”
0% interest rates are a sign of money that cannot find a home.
The only entities that benefit from 0% interest rates are corporations, not actual people or families. And, corporations use free money to buy back stock, issue massive amounts of debt paper and flip real estate to sorry, unlucky individuals who must pay an interest rate above 0% in order to participate.
One day closer to death, vermin.
Thank you for confirming something I have thought and advised for years.
Ben says:
June 28, 2015 at 9:08 am
If you want to live in a nice town, you should live in it because its nice. However, putting your kids in a good school district can sometimes put them at a big disadvantage with respect to college admissions.
Now the other thing is, if your kid is average, you are simply just wasting your time with the school districts. They get the same education as everyone else.
No college once we’re all wandering the country in armed packs, sleeping in the open and warming ourselves next to trash can fires.
Via Bloomberg:
ECB SAID TO SEE EXISTING GREEK ELA INADEQUATE FOR BANKS’ NEEDS
ECB SAID TO VIEW BANK HOLIDAY FOR GREECE AS NECESSARY
Soon playing at a necronomy near you…
I’m putting an offer in on a house today.
I know, you all just fell off a chair.
Fla. deputy suspended over ‘unsafe’ target practice
An investigation revealed that several rounds accidentally struck and damaged a private citizen’s residence
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A Hillsborough County sheriff’s deputy involved in an off-duty target-practice gathering in Lithia that left a neighbor’s house riddled with bullet holes has been suspended for one day without pay, according to an internal affairs report released Monday.
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The investigation did not find Adee committed the misdemeanor count of discharging a firearm in public.
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“It’s sad,” she said.”I think we were told that Adee was going to stand up and help pay for my window. We’ve sent certified letters to Scott (Radford), and none of it has been fixed.”
Deputies were called and took statements, but after compiling a 198-page criminal report, never brought charges. Investigators and prosecutors said that because the firearms were being passed around, there was no way to determine who fired the shots that struck Bryan’s home.
(Where have I heard something similar before? Oh yeah, it’s when cops can’t figure out what or who to charge… they just charge everyone with everything they know how to spell. Wasn’t there a recent supreme court ruling that referenced equal protection or some such thing?)
Well this is inconvenient . . .
http://www.judicialwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Pg.-291-Pgs.-287-293-JW-v-DOD-and-State-14-812-DOD-Release-2015-04-10-final-version11.pdf
Seems anon was on to something when he alleged that the president created ISIS. He simply pinned it on the wrong president
[4] Ben
Now that’s something I could never get through to the missus. I wanted to live in a lower tax town, use the public schools, and plow the savings into tutoring. I figured if she was valedictorian in Mountainside, it counted for a lot more than being Top 20% in the Brig. You’d end up with a better educated kid with better prospects at the same price or possibly even less.
But the wife was adamant that the kids would have all that she never did. She just never thought to ask if it’s worth having.
OT —
OPA! Greek crisis: Banks to stay shut as capital controls imposed
#4, Ben,
I so agree with you. We did exactly that. Our children went to public school in an above average district, but not top of the heap district. They found a great group of like minded friends, sought out those activities that they enjoyed, and had a very positive experience. Neither had any issues getting into the universities they applied to, although admittedly they didn’t apply to the Ivy Leagues. We are really happy that we chose this town. Plus, on a personal note, I had no desire to be with an upper crusty type of community. I had enough of that nonsense growing up, didn’t want to deal with it again.
#4 Speaking of good vs average school districts, anyone notice Lodi will send their valedictorian to Harvard? (this was the kid the district would not let participate in the ceremony) Wonder if the same kid gets in when he graduates from a top tier.
To those determined that their kids go to college (especially a prestigious one):
What occupation(s) are they going to study for? How will you and/or they pay for it? Will they be guaranteed a job when they graduate?
Sure, you want them to be executives at a Fortune 500 but they have to start at the bottom somewhere.
Offshoring, outsourcing and use of H1B’s has decimated entry level and even some mid-high level positions all across Corporate America.
The only secure and well paying path I see (via a degree) is Government and military.
*My son is going to tradeschool for welding and daughter (so far) ROTC and a military career.
Speaking of good vs average school districts, anyone notice Lodi will send their valedictorian to Harvard? (this was the kid the district would not let participate in the ceremony) Wonder if the same kid gets in when he graduates from a top tier.
My school has only sent 1 kid to Harvard in the past 5 years. And he had a legitimate claim to top student in the nation. Other than that…nobody. That being said, each year, my top 10 students can run circles around 75% of the Harvard student body academically. None of them get in.
[20] My daughter’s school sends about 25-30 kids to Harvard each year.
[20] Ben
I’m from 02138. Yes, I admit it. The PRC.
I know plenty of Crimson grads and took a few courses there. And from what I observed, it’s true what they say: “the hardest thing about Harvard is getting in.”
I’ve schooled enough of them to know. Harvard College and HLS
[21] expat,
Hardly a surprise. She attends one of the most prestigious public high schools in the nation.
Yeah, but how is their football team in the PRC?
My daughter’s school sends about 25-30 kids to Harvard each year.
Magnet school I presume?
I live right near Lawrenceville Prep. They sent 30% of their school to Princeton. I think it’s essentially a $200k bribe.
Excuse me, has anyone noticed that Greece has declared a one-week bank holiday?
Greece’s economy is tiny. No one really cares. Though, I see our country eventually going the same route if we keep creating unnecessary jobs at every downturn, because it’s supposedly better than paying welfare.
[24] Not so hot. No Athletic Scholarships. That’s why they have their own Ivy League. Smallish white guys not trying to give each other concussions.
Yeah, but how is their football team in the PRC?
[22] Forget about it not being hard, it’s hard not to get straight A’s not to get straight A’s once you’re in. Harvard’s average grade is an A. At Yale 62% of all grades given are A.
I know plenty of Crimson grads and took a few courses there. And from what I observed, it’s true what they say: “the hardest thing about Harvard is getting in.”
Harvard, Yale, etc…overrated, overpriced.