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Hudson Valley Home Sales Rise While Inventory Falls

Posted on April 11, 2017 6:19 am by Scott Rosasco

Total-Residential-Sales-2017-Q1
From Real Estate In-Depth

WHITE PLAINS— High sales rates, a sharp decline in inventory, and an uneven pattern of price increases across the region marked 2017’s first quarter entry to the real estate market recovery of the past five years, according to the recently released “2017 First Quarter Residential Real Estate Sales Report for Westchester, Putnam, Rockland and Orange Counties, New York” report authored by the Hudson Gateway Multiple Listing Service Inc. Realtors participating in the HGMLS, a subsidiary of the Hudson Gateway Association of Realtors, Inc., reported a grand total of 3,700 closed transactions in the four-county region during the first three months of 2017, a 9.1% increase or 309 units more than last year’s first quarter results. The closings largely resulted from sales and market activity during the winter months of 2016 and early 2017, and comprised single-family houses, condominiums, cooperatives and 2-4 family houses……….

Read the Full Article at: Hudson Valley Home Sales Rise While Inventory Falls

Rising sales and rising prices, coupled with low inventory, makes this a great season to sell your home. If you are thinking of selling, either Email Me or call me at 914-960-3837

Filed under: Local News, Real Estate | Tagged: Bidding War, Low Inventory, Real Estate, Rivertowns, Rivertowns Real Estate, Scott Roasaco, Westchester Real Estate | Leave a comment »

Existing Home Sales Surge 14.7%, Prices Up 7.6%

Posted on January 26, 2016 6:03 am by Scott Rosasco

From Bloomberg Business: “Purchases of previously owned U.S. homes rose more than projected in December, helped in part by warmer weather and wrapping up the best year since 2006. Contract closings jumped 14.7 percent, the most on record, to a 5.46 million annualized rate, figures from the National Association of Realtors showed Friday. The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey called for a gain to 5.2 million. Prices picked up as inventories eased. For all of 2015, sales climbed to 5.26 million from 4.94 million……”

Read the full article at: Existing Home Sales Surge

Filed under: Real Estate | Tagged: Bloomberg, Bloomberg Business, Inventory, National Association of Realtors, Real Estate, Rivertowns Real Estate, Scott Rosasco | Leave a comment »

Dobbs Ferry Lands In The Wall Street Journal

Posted on August 7, 2013 6:12 am by Scott Rosasco

This past Saturday’s, August 3rd edition of the Wall Street Journal featured a great review of living in Dobbs Ferry. Two Realtors were interviewed, myself included, as well as the Dobbs Ferry Mayor, Hartley Connett. In addition to great commentary and information on the flavors of the village, some of Dobbs Ferry’s wonderful dining and shopping destinations were mentioned. Featured on this list were Half Moon Restaurant and The Cookery, as well as the Fiamor and Affordables boutiques. All in all, a great article in a nationally read, financial newspaper.
The full article can either be viewed on the wsj.com site, generally by subscription only, at:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324136204578642362803411642.html

Or a transcript can be found here, at Scribd.com:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/158527225/More-Homebuyers-Make-a-Landing-in-Dobbs-Ferry

Filed under: Dining and Entertainment, Local News, Real Estate, Recreation, Rivertown Schools, Rivertowns Design | Tagged: Dobbs Ferry, Dobbs Ferry Homes, Half Moon, Hudson River, Juhring Estate, Real Estate, Scott Rosasco, Waterfront Park | Leave a comment »

Rivertowns Real Estate Turning Into A Sellers Market

Posted on February 26, 2013 6:45 am by Scott Rosasco

Courtesy: National Association of Realtors

A recent article in the Wall Street Journal appears to confirm some of the more hyper-local activity that we have been noticing here in Westchester and the Rivertowns. Sellers are gaining the upper hand once again in the sale of their homes. Due to a low inventory, which can be traced to a number of reasons, homeowners are often picking and choosing between multiple offers on their homes. It goes without saying that if you have multiple offers on your home, within two weeks of listing, some of those offers are likely at or above the full asking price. I have had experiences in the past two weeks, of my clients bidding against other buyers, where the full asking price was just not enough. In these cases, buyers who have the full purchase price or more available in cash, are able to forgo the mortgage process and are often the winners. These are not foreclosed, short or otherwise distressed sales. Simply homes which show very well to prospective buyers and are perceived to be a good value in a given price range, currently well over $1,000,000 in that market. This trend is not unique to any particular price point though. In the village of Dobbs Ferry, in the Rivertowns, I have another listing at a significantly lower price point of the market, currently in contract for just slightly less than full asking. Back up offers have come in, even after it is made clear to prospective purchasers that binding contracts of sale have already been signed with other buyers. These back up offers are at full asking, hoping for a failure of the current buyers, so they may gladly take their place in the process. There are other accounts of this at all levels of Rivertowns real estate.
Whether this is a temporary blip in the market, until inventory or interest rates rise or a more prolonged phenomena remains to be seen. The short story for sellers though, may be to not wait until the traditional spring market starts in April and instead to list now while this situation still exists. Read the full Wall Street Journal article at: http://blogs.wsj.com/developments/2013/02/21/housing-its-becoming-a-sellers-market/?mod=WSJBlog&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wsj%2Fdevelopments%2Ffeed+%28WSJ.com%3A+Developments+Blog%29

Related Articles:

Some Homes Are Selling In Less Than Two Weeks (dobbsferry-rivertowns.com)
Is There a Window of Opportunity for Sellers Right Now? (szerlip.wordpress.com)
Presentation Is Everything… Does Your Home Have the “Wow” Factor? (streetsvillerealestatebuzz.wordpress.com)
Real estate report: A seller’s market is in the making (bizjournals.com)

Filed under: Local News, Real Estate | Tagged: Dobbs Ferry, Inventory, Real Estate, Rivertowns, Scott Rosasco, Sellers Market, Wall Street Journal, Westchester | Leave a comment »

The Housing Bust Is Over

Posted on July 17, 2012 6:55 am by Scott Rosasco

According to the Wall Street Journal: “The housing market has turned—at last.The U.S. finally has moved beyond attention-grabbing predictions from housing “experts” that housing is bottoming. The numbers are now convincing.Nearly seven years after the housing bubble burst, most indexes of house prices are bending up. “We finally saw some rising home prices,” S&P’s David Blitzer said a few weeks ago as he reported the first monthly increase in the slow-moving S&P/Case-Shiller house-price data after seven months of declines.The U.S. finally has moved beyond attention-grabbing predictions from housing “experts” that housing is bottoming. The numbers are now convincing, according to David Wessel on The News Hub. Nearly 10% more existing homes were sold in May than in the same month a year earlier, many purchased by investors who plan to rent them for now and sell them later, an important sign of an inflection point. In something of a surprise, the inventory of existing homes for sale has fallen close to the normal level of six months’ worth despite all the foreclosed homes that lenders own. The fraction of homes that are vacant is at its lowest level since 2006″.
Read the full article at the Wall Street Journal webpage: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303644004577520414196790098.html

Filed under: Real Estate | Tagged: Real Estate, Real estate bubble, Scott Rosasco, Standard & Poor's, Wall Street Journal | Leave a comment »

Try Porch Paint For a New Front Door Color This Spring

Posted on March 13, 2012 9:52 am by Scott Rosasco

With Spring 2012 right around the corner here in the Rivertowns of Westchester County NY, we are all starting to think about ways we can freshen up our real estate for the best possible look in the coming warmer months. A great idea to accomplish a new look without spending a lot of money, is to paint your front door a different color and then accessorize your entranceway to match the new color. Don’t just use any paint though. Use a full bodied porch enamel, deck paint. There are so many different styles of front doors in the charming villages of Dobbs Ferry, Hastings-on-Hudson, Irvington and Tarrytown that to try to pick the most ideal color for every unique door could take forever. Suffice to say that the possibilities for a great new look, in a short period of time, with a little elbow grease are endless.
“A quick color change can give an entryway a whole new look, but painting a door isn’t exactly the most fun job on your to-do list. We’re all for taking a shortcut, as long as it doesn’t mean more work down the road. And that’s when we hit the point in our lives where we were excited about door paint.
It turns out the key to painting a door in one easy step is to use…porch and floor enamel. This type of paint dries to a hard, colorfast, moisture and mildew-resistant surface. (All without needing a primer coat.) It’s ideal for front doors because the enamel dries to a super-strong coating that offers unparalleled protection against scratches. Once you paint a door with it, the color will stay bright and fresh-looking for season after season.
The caveat: Enamel dries to a very glossy finish. So if you aren’t a fan of the look, try an oil-based enamel, which has the same benefits of porch and floor enamel, but comes in eggshell finishes. Just be prepared for a slightly longer drying time.” http://www.stylelist.com/2011/10/23/paint-a-door-porch-floor-enamel_n_1027701.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000008

Filed under: Rivertowns Design | Tagged: Dobbs Ferry, Hastings-on-Hudson, Irvington, Real Estate, Rivertowns, Scott Rosasco, Tarrytown, Westchester | Leave a comment »

NYS STAR Savings Amounts and Income Limits

Posted on October 3, 2011 12:25 pm by Scott Rosasco

The New York State School Tax Relief Program (STAR) provides homeowners with two types of partial exemptions from school property taxes. Almost all homeowners qualify for the first type, Basic STAR, savings if they apply for it.
For 2011, income for Basic STAR purposes is based on the 2009 tax year, and is the combined income of:

all owners who reside at the property, and
any owner’s spouse who resides at the property.

Income is defined as federal “adjusted gross income” minus the “taxable amount” of total distributions from individual retirement accounts or individual retirement annuities (both of which are commonly known as “IRA’s”). For specific line references on your 2009 federal or state income tax returns, see page 2 of the STAR application.

If your assessor notifies you that you’re ineligible for the Basic STAR exemption:

If you agree that you’re ineligible, you don’t need to do anything. However, if your income drops below the limit in the future, you’ll need to re-apply for the exemption.
If your household income is below $500,000 and you believe that you’re eligible for the exemption, contact your assessor. The assessor may advise you to file a formal assessment grievance.

If you receive a notice from your assessor requesting more information:

Provide the assessor with your 2009 federal and state income tax returns.
If you don’t file a tax return, you’ll need to provide the assessor with all of your 2009 income statements (1099 statements, W-2 forms, etc.).

If you don’t receive a notice from your assessor

There’s no need to do anything – you’ll continue to receive the Basic STAR exemption.

For more information on the exact STAR Savings Amount, categorized by school district, see:

http://www.retiredassessor.com/STARSavings.html

Filed under: Real Estate | Tagged: Dobbs Ferry Real Estate, Real Estate, Scott Rosasco, Tax | Leave a comment »

Mortgage Rates Lowest in 50 Years

Posted on August 18, 2011 7:53 pm by Scott Rosasco

Mortgage rates for buyers in the Rivertowns and the rest of the country are at the lowest point they have been in the past 50 years. That is a staggering observation and something that should be taken seriously by any first time homebuyers or those considering moving up to a larger home or downsizing. With rates this low and prices some 30% off their pre-2008 levels, one would be hard pressed to find a better time to purchase real estate. The current rate for a fixed 30 year mortgage with no points is 4.15%. 15 year fixed rate products averaged 3.36% and 5 year hybrid ARM’s averaged 3.08%. Read more at:
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/mortgage-rates-hit-record-lows-freddie-mac-2011-08-18?reflink=MW_GoogleNews