Bedford NY Real Estate | Robert Paul Talks Life in Bedford NY

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Avenida Paulista in São Paulo. When it comes to rising housing prices, no country in the world beats Brazil . According to Knight Frank’s Global Real Estate Index, released this month, Brazil ranks No. 3 in the world and No. 1 in the Americas for rising home prices. Only ridiculously expensive Hong Kong and Dubai, which are not countries, have seen prices rise more. So in fact, no single country has seen its housing prices rise as much as Brazil. Brazil housing prices rose 13.7% from the fourth quarter of 2011 to Dec. 31, 2012. By comparison, U.S. housing prices rose 7.3% in the same period, putting it at No. 12 in a list of 55 countries ranked by Knight Frank. The only other country in the hemisphere to make it into the top 20 was Colombia , with real estate prices rising 8.3% in 2012. Brazil stands out. And one reason is the low cost of financing. Or at least low by Brazilian standards. Mortgage rates are at least 1.3% a month , and loan payments a

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The wrecking ball could be on a collision course with history more often as interest in city real estate picks up. Batmasian said he'll put a plaque in front of the planned development at 101 Pine Circle to commemorate the top-secret radar training during World War II. But beyond that, he said he doesn't understand what all the fuss is about. He just wants to build a new daycare center, something he believes the community needs. "This happens to be an eyesore and a hazard in the neighborhood," Batmasian said. "There are bums and homeless people staying there. It's old and it's falling apart." Batmasian said he's met with officials of the Boca Raton Historical Society & Museum about the property he bought at a foreclosure auction six months ago. Officials there declined to comment on the situation, but its website calls the site "one of the most historically significant structures in all of Boca Raton ." It is "a major contr

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The American Public Transportation Association and the National Association of REALT0RS® recently released a study analyzing changes in residential prices for houses near high frequency public transportation. The study analyzed residential prices in five cities: Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Minneapolis-St. Paul, and Phoenix. During the Great Recession residential property values declined substantially between 2006 and 2011. However, the data showed that residential property values performed 42 percent better on average if they were located near public transportation with high-frequency service. Homes near rapid transit in congested areas benefit from increased walkability and accessibility to jobs and amenities. Although there has been a lot of media coverage about home prices in recent years, it is important to remember that a major reason most people purchase a house is to obtain the social benefits of homeownership. NAR studies have shown that compared to rental options hom

DEAR BENNY: What is a "hard money" loan? --Irene DEAR IRENE: Technically, it is a loan that is given in exchange for money, rather than to assist a consumer in buying a house. The latter would be called a "purchase money" mortgage. Hard-money lenders do not rely on the creditworthiness of the borrower. Instead, they look to the value of the property. The lender wants to make sure that if the borrower defaults, there will be sufficient equity in the property over and above the amount of the loan. Accordingly, you will not get a hard-money loan of 80 or 90 percent loan to value; typically, they will range from 50 to 70 percent loan to value. Such loans are considered "loans of last resort." If you are unable to get a conventional loan from a bank or mortgage broker, you may be forced to negotiate with a hard-money lender, who often are private individuals loaning money from their pension plans. via inman.com

As listing sites ramp up efforts to augment their statistical data with local color, a real estate developer may soon launch a new website devoted solely to delivering qualitative, community information to homeowners, buyers and sellers. WikiRealty  aims to crowdsource information from professionals in all facets of the real estate industry in order to bring the sort of insider information to consumers that they traditionally can only glean from face-to-face interactions with locals, says founder Sanjay Kuttemperoor, a Naples, Fla.-based real estate developer and attorney.  "Getting access to granular location-based information is almost impossible," Kuttemperoor said. "I want [WikiRealty] to be the repository for that kind of information." via inman.com

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The hottest housing prices in the nation at last are encourage more sellers to list their homes, promising more sales and cooler price hikes in the weeks come. Seldom has American real estate seen such a surge of price increases as those experienced by Northern California markets over the past six month.  Median prices through March 25 are 56.8 percent above those of a year ago in Sacramento, 45.6 percent higher year over year in San Francisco and up 33.3 percent over 2012 in San Jose. While some have been concerned that a new “bubble” is forming, the reality is that soaring prices are simply supply and demand at work.  Demand, fueled by buyers eager for a piece of pricey California real estate before prices rose even higher, crashed head on with contracting supply, which instead of growing to meet demand continued to shrink through the first weeks in the year. Now, with the possible exception of Sacramento, soaring prices are having an effect on sellers, according to the most c

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We’ve all done it: Baked cookies or lit a scented candle before dinner guests arrive. Maybe you even turned on some Frank Sinatra to set the mood. But new research shows that while popular scents or songs may elicit positive emotions, they can distract from our ability to make decisions. “If you’re trying to sell your home, having the wrong smell or music playing is worse than having none at all,” said Eric R. Spangenberg, dean for the College of Business at Washington State University and longtime professor specializing in environmental psychology. “There is a lot of cognitive processing involved in a home purchase. A 30-year mortgage is a big decision.” Spangenberg has studied the effects of scents and music in retail environments since the late ’80s. His latest research, published in the Journal of Retailing, shows that what consumers hear and smell is a determining factor in how much time and money they spend. “The [home] staging business should incorporate other senses,

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Pending sales of existing homes dipped 0.4 percent from January to February, but remained at their second-highest level in nearly three years, according to an index maintained by the National Association of Realtors. NAR's Pending Home Sales Index , which represents existing-home contracts signed but not yet closed, slipped from a downwardly revised 105.2 in January to 104.8 in February. But February's score was still up 8.4 percent from a year earlier, NAR reported.   The report comes a day after the  S&P/Case-Shiller 20-City Composite Index posted its highest year-over-year gain  in six years. The positive housing news helped drive the  Dow Jones Industrial Average to a record high and push the S&P 500 Index  to just two points short of its own all-time high. A monthly report released yesterday also showed that new-home sales  remained close to the four-year high that they reached in January, dipping 4.6 percent month over month.  Tight inventory, which has risen mar

Despite some bumps in the road, the housing upturn is "intact" and rising home prices are expected to boost household net worth and offset fiscal tightening, according to a monthly economic outlook  released  today by economists at Fannie Mae. Tight inventories continue to restrain sales of existing homes. Although the number of homes on the market grew by nearly 10 percent from January to February, the 1.94 million homes for sale represented a 19.2 percent decline from the same time a year ago. Pending sales of existing homes dipped 0.4 percent from January to February, but remained at their second-highest level in nearly three years, according to the National Association of Realtors.  New-home sales also slipped from January to February and builder confidence was down for the second month in a row in March. But housing starts reached a near five-year high in February and new-home sales climbed 12.3 percent year-over-year. Fannie Mae economists project that existin

t sometimes happens that one of my columns will spark lots of questions from readers, as was the case with a past column on dryer venting. Judging from the questions I've received, there's apparently a lot of confusion and misconceptions about the subject of dryer venting, and a lot of people are struggling with misinformation that they've been gathering from friends, the Internet or other sources. So it seemed like a good time to revisit this topic, and clear up a few misconceptions: Misconception No. 1 : It's OK to vent the dryer directly into the house, so that the air can be used as either a source of humidity or a source of heat. via inman.com

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Editor's note : This is the second in a two-part series. Read Part 1, " Work smarter by honing your mental focus ." Would you like to know which time of day is your most efficient and when you are least likely to function well? Would you be willing to spend 26 minutes a day to obtain a 34 percent improvement in your performance? If so, the latest brain research has some surprising findings that can help you make the most of every single minute of your working day. Recover up to one-third of your workday Part 1 of this series looked at how Broadman's Area 10 (an area of the brain known as "Mother" in the neuroscience community) is incapable of multi-tasking. Instead, Mother requires 0.7 seconds to shift from one task to another. This finding, substantiated by numerous studies, means that it is impossible to multi-task. In fact, the research substantiates that most people spend up to one-third of their day recovering from interruptions. via inman.com

Q: My tenant assigned his lease to his friend without my consent, and I didn't realize it until the new "tenant" withheld rent over repairs. I lost -- believe it or not, the case turned on the anti-assignment clause and the difference between "cannot" and "may not." This seems the height of legal nit-picking. Can you explain it? --Jarod H. A: I'm wading a bit into the unknown to try to answer your question, but I can give it a try. A similar case came up recently in Connecticut, involving a commercial lease. Anti-assignment and subletting clauses are common in both commercial and residential leases. The purpose is to prevent tenants from turning over leases to people whom the landlord has not screened and approved, i.e., people who may not be suitable as tenants. In a commercial context, even the sale of a business to another business may be considered an assignment, which in practice means that the landlord must agree to the sale if

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The real estate market is a lot like it was a decade ago. Homes don't stay on the market for long. Most of us who work with buyers are spending some serious time looking for houses for them. Then we're trying to get them into the house to see it before someone else makes an offer on it. We're also working hard to find more sellers as the inventory of homes continues to plummet. The buyers that I work with rarely -- maybe never -- ask me about the local coffee shop. I occasionally get asked to recommend a pizza place. But by occasionally I mean once in the last decade. There are several things homebuyers want from me and my advice on where to have a beer isn't on the list. This isn't 2008. Buyers are in a hurry. via inman.com

Addition image via Shutterstock. A majority of homeowners believe now is a good time to buy or remodel homes, and more of them feel comfortable beginning planned renovations than they did last year, according to a survey commissioned by home-remodeling website Houzz. Three-quarters of the more than 100,000 homeowners who responded to the " 2013 Houzz and Home Survey " said that now is a good time to buy a home, and 53 percent said it was also a good time to remodel, according to Houzz. The survey hinted at an increase in consumer confidence, with the share of respondents who said they would put off renovations because of economic conditions dropping to 45 percent from 52 percent last year, when Houzz asked the same question. It also found that, compared to last year, a larger share of homeowners planning renovations would rather save for remodeling than splurge on vacations or other big-ticket purchases. In all, 48 percent of homeowners who

The inventory of properties in the foreclosure process expanded by nearly 10 percent in the first quarter, casting a pall over the housing recovery as local markets prepare for more foreclosures than expected. However, a high level of demand driving by investor activity may mitigate their impact. RealtyTrac® today said nearly 1.5 million U.S. properties were actively in the foreclosure process or bank-owned (REO) in the first quarter of 2013, up 9 percent from the first quarter of 2012 but still down 32 percent from the peak of 2.2 million in December 2010. “Delinquent loans that fell into a deep sleep after the robo-signing controversy in late 2010 are gradually coming out of hibernation following the finalization of the national mortgage settlement in April 2012,” said Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac. “The settlement provided some closure regarding accepted foreclosure processing practices, and as a result lenders have been reviving more of these delinquent loans a

Buying a house make a national list of the most foolish mistakes American adults feel they have made, according to a survey released to coincide with April Fools’ Day. Nearly half of U.S. adults said they have made a foolish financial mistake they wish they could undo, according to a national survey by Harris Interactive conducted earlier this month. Some 4 percent of the 2,216 adults participating in the survey said buying a house was a foolish financial mistake. Most of those were under 45 years old, equally split between men and women . Since 2007 4.2 million families has lost their homes to foreclosure, and millions more to short sales. Other mistakes ranking high on the list were: Purchasing unnecessary items - 49 percent Not using coupons as much as I should - 28 percent Overdrawing my bank/checking account - 24 percent Only making minimum payments on credit card each month - 22 percent Making late payments on credit cards - 20 percent Making late pay

Last week the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals called on lawmakers in Congress and government officials to reverse investor-favored policies that have created an imbalance in housing inventory and unfavorable conditions for Hispanics and other first-time homebuyers. Executives of NAHREP specifically cited Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac REO to Rental programs that eliminate affordable housing stock from the market and fuel an unfair race between owner-occupant buyers and investors. The programs, they say, create large investor-controlled housing markets and undermine the economic stimulus and recovery owner-occupant buyers can bring to the U.S. economy. In 2012, investors purchased 50 percent of all homes selling for $250,000 or less, with the majority of these transactions driven through bulk sales, auctions and drop-bid trustee sales, according to NAHREP leaders. The net effect of the trend will turn owner-occupant neighborhoods into renter communities. “W

Perhaps the greatest advantage of a short sale to beleaguered homeowner facing default and foreclosure is the opportunity to move on with life and put the bad debt behind them as quickly as possible. Typically, short sales take longer than normal homes or foreclosures to sell because of the time required for the parties-lender, buyer, seller-to respond. “In the past waiting 6-18 months was common…now I find the process taking about 3-4 months if you are aggressively on top of everything,” reports a Realtor specializing in short sales. Improved short sale management systems and lenders more willing to settle for a short sale than foreclose helped the transition have speeded up the process. By comparison, as processing times and backlogged inventories continued to plague foreclosure markets last year, especially in the nation’s 23 judicial states, 2012 was proclaimed the “year of the short sale” and short sale inventories zoomed. However, now there are so many short sales on the

March 28, 2013 Click  here  for more of Teatown's upcoming programs All programs require pre-registration.  To register, call 914-762-2912 x110.   Please note that the Nature Center will be closed Sunday, March 31, in observance of the holiday.   Visit Teatown 1600 Spring Valley Road  Ossining, NY 10562  914-762-2912  www.teatown.org   Nature Center hours:  9:00am-5:00pm everyday Trails are open 365 days a year from dawn to dusk.   Teatown Lake Reservation's mission is to conserve open space and to educate and involve the regional community in order to sustain the diversity of wildlife, plants and habitats for future generations.    Your ongoing generous support helps Teatown to conserve and protect its 875 acres, offer extensive educational programs, and fost

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Mortgage rates for 30-year fixed mortgages rose this week, with the current rate borrowers were quoted on Zillow Mortgage Marketplace at 3.47 percent, up from 3.46 percent at this same time last week. The 30-year fixed mortgage rate hovered between 3.44 and 3.5 percent for the majority of the week, dropping to the current rate this morning. “Mortgage rates fell slightly early last week as markets reacted to economic uncertainty in Cyprus, but later rebounded as the country emerged with a bailout plan.” said Erin Lantz , director of Zillow Mortgage Marketplace. “This coming week, we expect some volatility related to political uncertainty in Italy, but with a shortened U.S. trading week, we expect the impact to be muted.” Additionally, the 15-year fixed mortgage rate this morning was 2.64 percent, and for 5/1 ARMs , the rate was 2.28 percent. What are the rates right now? Check Zillow Mortgage Marketplace for up-to-the-minute mortgage rates for your state. * The weekly ra

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