New York City Real Estate

Buying Real Estate - Questions & Answers

noreply@blogger.com (Alligator) — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 08:28:00 +0000

How much house you can afford?
There are several ways to determine how much you can afford to spend on a house.
But before you go house-hunting, get pre-qualified for a mortgage so that you will know
in a price range you can store.
It is not unusual for first-time buyers, some bewilderment about how to assess what mortgage payments they can handle each month, and how much money needed for down payment and closing costs.
That is why it is a good idea to get pre-qualified by the lender before even begin to seek shelter. Pre-qualification allows the buyer to know exactly how much the lender is prepared to loan them. As to qualifications in hand, the buyer can save a lot of time and frustration.
Pre-qualification does not oblige buyers to take loans from the lender should not have any fees (until later, when they did apply for the loan).
At the same time, you should be aware that the preliminary screening is not a prior approval for a loan which is a much more active participation of the official process that leads to the actual letter of credit with a lending institution for a particular loan. Depending on your unique circumstances, you may wish to consider adoption as an option, but it is not necessary, consult with your real estate professional to decide what is right for you.
In less formal pre-qualification procedure, on the other hand, is a great tool for buyers have when making an offer. Typically, to qualified buyers have an advantage when buying offer because the seller knows that the buyer is pre-qualified and that there is at least one lender is willing to make this happen.
In addition, it allows you the flexibility to choose the mortgage that is best for you at the time of the actual acquisition, which sometimes months later. This can be important in the face of instability in interest rates.
When the lender requirements in advance, they are more concerned about the buyer's ability to pay than the value of the property.
For this reason, creditors are interested in more than just a buyer's income. They also want to know how much existing debt the buyer is, what about their current financial obligations to be observed and that the buyer monthly budget is as follows.
Lenders use the established debt to income, usually between .28-1 and .38-1, to calculate the amount of credit they are willing to give the buyer. For example, a creditor who uses .3 to 1 debt-income ratio was determined that payments to reduce debt, including existing debt, as well as debts associated with the purchase of homes can be more than 30% of the buyer's gross monthly income.
An important factor that can affect the lender to allow the loan with a higher debt-to-income - (where debt payments are taking a higher percentage of income the buyer) - more advance. Customers who place a larger share of the purchase price down (5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, etc.) are considered better risks, because the theory that the more a person has, in fact, invested in purchase , the less likely it is they should default on the loan.
Buyers tend to find that the preliminary qualifying process will make home purchase price, which is about 2 1 / 2 to 3 times their gross annual income. In 2 1 / 2 - for-3 guideline is only a general rule, however, and she will not accept the buyer complete financial situation into account. Since the lender calculations will also consider the actual buyer of debt and current expenditures in the pre-qualification, the loan amount may be higher or lower.
Regardless of the value of the bracket buyer purpose, they should keep in mind the pre-qualification.

How Much budget to own your own house?
In addition to the initial contribution, the three major costs associated with the purchase of homes, as a rule, your monthly mortgage payments, insurance and taxes. Obviously, the amount of your mortgage payment, depending on your assessment, the interest rate and the value of the property.
Take, for example, a house that has a $ 200000 mortgage. In 7% fixed mortgage for 30 years, will serve approximately $ 1330 per month. And what about taxes? The rate will change frequently being of the city to the city, but in general you can expect your annual tax bill, a total of about 1.25% of the purchase price.That funds at home with a market value of $ 250000, annual taxes can run around $ 3125. A local real estate agent can help potential homeowners to clarify the figures.
It is also important to bear in mind that there are many additional costs incurred in home ownership, some of the most obvious are the utilities and garbage collection. Smart homeowners must also budget for one other item maintenance and content at home. If possible, a small amount should be set aside each month to pay for those "rainy day" repairs such as painting, plumbing (hot water heaters, garbage disposals), adding storm windows (to improve energy), isolation (attics) and etc.
But home ownership is not just a one way street, that is, apart from spending money on repairs and maintenance, homeowners can profit from their property. The most significant benefits of the tax deduction. It is no secret that among the last real income tax deductions for consumers today are paid on the home loan, and property taxes. It can be thousands of dollars in deductions every year.
And, of course, the primary benefit of home ownership is an appreciation of shares, which builds every month. A home away from the place that gives shelter can be a lucrative investment, as well as increase the value of the property, often serves as yet another "savings" accounts.
So when it comes to buying a new home, I remember one ... for the acquisition of real estate requires budgeting and planning.

How do you go about finding a mortgage?
At unrest in the house hunt finally over. You found just the right house, and your offer was accepted. He was a great buy. Now it's just another hurdle-and-loan package you home free.
Most buyers so desire to get this "final details" behind them, they rush through this part of the deal, and as a result, far from ideal conditions. Borrowers, however, the lenders want-their business. That is their position to negotiate the best prices (the cost of borrowing), and conditions of service.
Let's look at the price and the cost of credit. The first thing to do is find out what the current rates are the information available on the Internet, in newspapers or from your property. When comparing prices, the figure annual percentage rate (APR), which includes interest, additional fees and costs amortized over the life of the loan. Furthermore, to determine the amount of points, if any, that the lender would charge to make loans.
(A point is equal to one percent of the loan amount.)
Then look at what the parameters of the loan lender offers. There are six or seven major types of loans, which vary in their duration. Check how rates are calculated (fixed or variable), and whether the charges were fully amortized over the life of the loan, or whether you have to pay points at once, and / or balloon payments at the end.
Is there a prepayment penalty clause?
What conditions are best for you depends on factors such as what changes can we expect in your income and what you predict will happen in the interest rates on loans in the coming years.
For example, if you only plan to live in the house for a year or two, starting with a lower adjustable Rate Mortgage (ARM) may be the best choice. If you have no plans to move, and we believe that inflation will rise rapidly, flat rate is likely to be better.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, consider the speed and service. Buyers should not wait for days and weeks for approval to close only because the lender is slow.
Remember, qualified buyers have great prospects for creditors - make it their business to the lender, which shows they not only want, they deserve it.

How difficult it is to get a mortgage if you have a past credit problems?
Credit problems can make it harder to obtain, but it is quite possible for customers with low credit to get a loan house.
Anyone who has financial problems, regardless of the cause for the recent payment of the loan, overdue taxes, and even the decision that was presented, to be expected, these data as a factor when applying for a mortgage.
How critical?
Minor flaws are likely to have little or no effect. Nevertheless, buyers are faced with serious problems may still qualify for a loan, but they may have to pay a higher interest rate or provide a larger advance.
There are three stages that people with past credit problems should be taken before applying for credit.
First, request a credit profile of one of the three major credit reporting agencies. To obtain a copy of a credit report, start with: CreditNow - Credit reports
Secondly, the buyer must optimize his or her credit profile, citing the prompt payment of rent, utilities and other bills is not reported on credit profiles.
Finally, the buyer must be prepared to provide comprehensive and candid explanation of any late payments on the loan officer. This is important, because the problem does not tell the buyer, but found the lender will reflect adverse.
Many lenders have about a one-time problems, such as loss of employment, a medical emergency, etc.
Buyers with patterns of late payments could consider the inclusion of six months or one year, their impeccable credit record before reaching their home-buying plans.
So remember-if thinking about buying a home, but they are concerned about their past financial reporting don't give up.
There is a solution, lenders and agents who in the business to help us.
What are the five most common mistakes made by first time buyers, and how you can avoid them?
A good home-buying decision one that fits your lifestyle and your budget-home can be resold, when the time is right. Sound simple? Not always.
Five common mistakes frequently made by first time buyers.
1. Looking beyond your price range. To avoid disappointment, contact the real estate that can help you pre-qualify before you start looking for a house. The agent can also provide valuable information on taxes and other costs associated with the house (utilities, etc.)
2. Buying in the impulse. The buyers, especially first-timers, can be impressed by the first two or three homes they view. Look at the good choice. List the positives and negatives. Narrow the prospects for three or four, and then return to more attention. Assessing more than just property. Look at the neighborhood and community amenities. Is this what you and your family, want and need?
3. Not planning ahead. Think seriously about any personal changes that you plan in the next five to seven years.
For example, if you plan to have children, think about how the house will meet your current and future needs. If a dual income needed to obtain financing and to make their payments, make your plans include an income sufficient to continue payments?
4. The inability to concentrate at the site. Do not simply focus on the house, inspect the neighborhood. There is the safe, well-maintained, moderately quiet and close to work, shops and schools?
Find out about zoning and that the new construction is planned for any vacant land in the immediate environs.
Will the property be easy to market when you are ready to sell?
5. Failure to understand the home buying process. Once you have chosen the house, to intervene. Find a real estate agent willing to spend time with you and not be afraid to ask questions. Ask them to explain the negotiation, financing and escrow processes and other elements involved in the transaction.
Home-purchase involves knowing the price, and that in and around the property.
Consider all the options carefully.
This may be the most important financial transaction of your life.
What is the real difference between the old and new home?
Although each offers its own style and charm, the difference is usually boils down to two things:
1. As the home buyer is part of life.
2. The state of the property.
Houses that are 10 years or less, such as better insulation - or have double-glazed windows, or thermal glass - which translate into lower heating and cooling bills. And, in today's cost-energy environment, these considerations are significant. Although there are some exceptions, houses, which were built in all electrical systems tend to have higher utility bills.
Houses, ranging from 15 to 20 years old may need new water pipes, especially if the old ones have been galvanized and if water softener was used. Water plasticizers and galvanized pipe can be deadly, but after 15-20 years, re-plumbing is usually required. There is a plumber or a general contractor to inspect the pipe. Needless to say, that it can be expensive to re-plumb whole system. Check built-in equipment and devices for any visible damage.
Flush toilets, the testing of all water taps and electrical outlets, open and close windows, and try all the lights.
A window, which will not be opened can be a symptom of a more serious problem, for example, the wall can be moved, or even worse, it could indicate a problem with its very foundations.
It is also a good idea to ask the seller for the last copies of utility bills. Study them some idea of what you can expect a monthly gas and electric costs will be.
While new homes may be without significant physical or structural problems, there are other things to consider in making your decision.
Typically, the size of rooms and size of the yard, as a rule, less in some new homes. While on the other hand, they tend to offer in favor of the latest design and construction technology. Many new homes also have more windows and natural light are included in the development plan, which would allow more spacious feel and energy efficiency.

If the buyer get a professional to inspect the house they buy?
Definitely. Engaging professional home inspector can save a great grief for buyers. The only exception would be when a house is new and has a written guarantee from the developer.
Many buyers mistakenly believe that the only reason to have a house inspection to make sure that the house they buy is not serious enough defects require the support of the transaction. But there is more than that.
Of course, inspection, as a rule, to identify the main problems that may surprise even the seller. Obvious of them corroded plumbing, outdated and unsafe electrical systems, or structural and foundation problems. And, the discovery of such problems could lead to re-think the buyer, his or her sentence.
Despite the fact that the competent inspector may reveal cause of grinding defects, these problems are usually not routine. Typically, the seller has already told the buyer about anything major. Most of the time, checks showed less serious problems, problems that could not be serious, but can be aggravating.
For example, there may be electrical defects or worse ventilated heating systems or fireplace. If so, the buyer is usually in the position, the purchase price to reduce or eliminate the defect. More importantly, it also prevents minor problems developing in a major accident a year or two later.
There is, of course, the possibility that the home inspection will give another result: everything is fine. In this case, they arrived buyer piece of mind and confidence in the substantial investment he or she is going to do. This, too, is of great benefit to cover the cost of inspections.
Now, as the buyer find a house inspection?
To ask them to real estate, friends, or the lender. Inspectors also listed in the Yellow Pages under "Home Inspection Services. No word Board did not hire a contractor. Contractors earn a living by doing repairs and maintenance work, so that their recommendations could not be objective, as in the professional inspector.
Is real estate a wise investment?
There are fewer investments, which showed a better return. Nevertheless, the key to investing wisely in real estate is an understanding of how the industry is different from others.
For example, when the defence industry dips, it usually indicates national recession, and the stock prices of defense companies to reduce across the board. The same can be said of most industries. They have influence at the national level.
That is not the case with real estate, which, incidentally, industry and investment is determined by local conditions. One community can suddenly lose manufacturing facility, and almost immediately the market flooded with properties for sale. A good example is Southern California. Several years ago, when the defense started reduce oversupply of houses went up for sale, the increased supply and reduced demand. There, it was a buyer in the market. At the same time, Bakersfield, a community of less than 150 miles from Los Angeles continues to experience strong demand for real estate. With supplies short, it was a seller on the market.
Obviously, the key to successful real estate investments as stocks and bonds, is to buy low and sell high. But, as you know, when the "low" has been achieved? Or, for that matter, how you can judge when you property may be peaking in value?
Some investors rely partly on the media. They read newspapers, watch television and monitor trends. Despite the fact that the media gives a lot of information, remember that by the time things are printed or broadcast, the news may be old.
For example, you can find statistics often quoted in the media, which were presented at the National Association of REALTORS (NAR). But NAR statistics-like the majority - to tell you where things were, not where they are going.
So, what can you do?
First, check the local economic indicators. If, for example, the community is dependent on defence spending, and there is a public lacquer, you can be sure that your area will distort.
Even if the community does not have a major defense contractor, it may have subcontractors.
The local Chamber of Commerce can often help. They tend to be aware of companies that are moving into and out of an area.
Logically, the translation company in the community as a whole shows that the demand for real estate in that market will grow, and if the company moved from the area of demand for housing will often shrink.
In addition to the economic indicators, checking real estate trends and cycles. Talk to a real estate agent. They can provide statistics on how quickly homes sold as prices fluctuated in the past six to 12 months, and forecasts of future home sales. They can show you how today on the market compared with last year. There is spearheaded sales? Down? The same?
The answers will not only help you determine that the market is in your area, but they are also critically important in helping you determine when and where to make your real estate investment.

Does the home buyer's guarantee of protection in the event of failure after they acquired the property?
Sometimes. That's because home warranties sometimes incorrectly, and not everyone guarantee the same protection. All warranty companies, which are not equal, either.
The guarantees, of course, were designed to protect buyers from the problems that have arisen after they entered the apartment. For example, if a major appliance breaks or leaks in the roof, the ideal guarantee their feet and pay for the repairs.
At first glance, this sounds simple and straight-forward. But in most cases this is not the case.
First, all guarantees are different. Apart form the obvious differences, the amount of deductible required, they can also vary, depending on what is covered and what does not. For example, in some safeguards, if the hot water heater works on the closing day, but suddenly not work after six months, it may be closed. I, on the other policies, if the heater was not in good working order when the house was purchased, and breaks a week or two later, there is no lighting.
Guarantees can be extremely important when it comes to new construction, too. Obviously, the builder's reputation is an important consideration. However, the problems associated with new homes can be very expensive, if they are not covered under warranty.
There are two types of defects, in the case of new houses - patent or latent.
Patent problems, which can be observed. Cracked plaster, a fence that is for kilter, etc.
Hidden problems of development later, and may not appear for five or six months. Ground shift, for example. Hidden problems are usually more expensive than a patent problems.
Thus, the guarantee for a new home can be one of the most important documents, executed during the buying process.
Whether you are buying a new home or resale, it should be remembered that guarantee, of course, occur when it comes to the protection and peace or mind to real estate transactions, but make sure you check them carefully.
Is the final walk, checking property to the buyer before they moved in
-- is really important?
Yes, it is. The purpose of a preliminary inspection of the closure is to give the buyer one last chance to make sure they get everything that was promised in the contract of sale. Although buyers still legal protection if they discover, even after the closure-that the condition of the house, not as it should be.
The best time to identify problems before closing, the seller will be when the incentives to address any deficiencies in order to close the deal.
Typically, the buyer takes possession of the property of one to three months after signing the sales contract. But, a lot can happen before the actual displacement. Instruments and equipment can break down, and walls, carpets and doors can be damaged during the move from the seller. Sometimes the seller simply forgotten that he or she decided to leave in the refrigerator or window coverings of the house. Whatever the reasons, problems identified before closing have the best chance of being cured.
If possible, schedule the inspection right before closing, as the day before. Ask your real estate agent to participate in the audit with you. What should be inspected? Using a copy of the sales contract as a checklist, first make sure that all the items that should be in place (appliances, built-in furniture, window coverings, lamps, etc.) are available.
Test each device to make sure they are working properly. Test all electrical switches and garage door opener, if any. Run the garbage disposal and include all tap water, checking for leaks under sinks. - Flush toilets. Check floors, carpets, walls and doors in recent damage.
If you discover that something is damaged or missing, make a note of it and inform your agent immediately.
In most cases, the seller is usually in a position to take care of small problems at once, either by making necessary repairs or compensation deal with this. And if there are serious problems, the seller may even sign a statement acknowledging the shortcomings and correct it. While the inspection will be required prior to the closing time, and can be inconvenient, they are important and deserve the time buyer.

What is "contingencies", and why they are important?
A "contingency" is the escape-clause that added to the written contract, which allows the buyer to back out of the deal if certain conditions are met.
Some unforeseen circumstances, often called `riders'-approval of the treaty as a lawyer or taking home inspections, obviously designed to protect buyers from poorly written contract or defective homes.
Other unexpected purchases could depend on the buyer's current life situation, or its cash flow. For example, when it comes to many contingencies, the first time buyers can be better prospects for the seller's home than go activities buyers. Why? As the offers from homeowners tend to depend on the sale of their present home. And, even if the proposal to defer action for the buyer of their home in hand, the buyer's proposal can be put on another contingency (or sale), and so on down the line. If a transaction in the chain falls through, they all can.
Cash offers can also be more attractive to sellers.
Why?
Eventually, the seller will get their money at closing or no cash buyer
or takes credit.
True, but not cash proposals require approval by creditors, and loan approval is never a certainty, and may delay or prevent the closing. (By the way, for this reason, buyers who are pre-qualified for a loan have an advantage over other buyers. A pre-qualified buyer same as a cash buyer.)
Buyers are offering a larger than normal number of "earnest money" (deposit that accompanies the offer) can be more attractive, too. The rest of the money deposited with the signed contract often demonstrates great sincerity and motivation to close the deal.

Choosing a House - How to Look

noreply@blogger.com (Alligator) — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 08:26:00 +0000

Before Looking
Before you actively look at homes to buy, you need to know how much you can get. Using mortgage calculators to determine how much you can buy with your advance payment and closing cost money, and what your monthly payments will be.
Know your creditworthiness
Look at your credit report before proceeding to a creditor. It is not uncommon to find problems with the reports, especially if you have a common surname.
To obtain a copy of a credit report, start with My FICO Score.

Get pre-approved
Once you see your credit report, and any problems resolved, get pre-approved lender. Take the necessary steps to get a letter from the lender stating you are "pre-approved" for credit in a certain price range. It is important that this letter before making the proposal a contract to purchase real estate. Once your pre-approved, you know what price range of homes you should consider.

What's house right?
Determine the specifics you in the house.
-- What are your day to day and future needs?
-- Do you like swinging a hammer?
-- Older homes with great charm, but may need updating.
-- New homes offer the latest energy efficiency and design features.
-- Major can give a lot of room for additions and swimming pools.
-- A fixer upper can dramatically increase in the amount.
-- A PUD may have private recreational facilities such as swimming pool and play parks.
-- A condo or town house relieve you from yard work, maintenance and exterior.
Sit down with the real estate and make up the list of wants and needs. Knowing the price range, your agent can identify areas and cities in the search. You may find that you are limited when you look at the basis of your situation.
There is no sense to waste your time or the agent in the areas of your price range.

The wishes and needs
-- Price Range
-- Construction style / design
-- New construction
-- Remodeled
-- Fixer upper
-- Minimum # bedrooms
-- Bathrooms
-- Family room
-- Fire seat
-- Office / den
-- hardwood floors
-- Pool / Spa
-- The fourth law
-- Workshop
-- Central Air Conditioning
-- Parking facilities
-- Yard size
-- School District
-- jobs
-- A special zoning or location

The list of homes that you can afford to buy, drive-to and check the surrounding area. Then make an appointment with your real estate to view the interior of the ones you are interested in.
Once you have narrowed your choices to a few houses, it is important to visit them at different times of day. Visit them during the morning time change. If you visit only in the middle of the day, you may not notice if the street in front of the house used as a small artery or label. This is also a good time to find out how you get out of your residential area at the traffic on highways, or how long it takes for highway access. Return after dark, and walk around the block. You may have noticed that traffic approaching headlights shine in the house or hear the sound of a nearby nightclub or in the park that you did not know about.

After reviewing a number of houses, you want to see some for the second time.
This is the time to make measurements, ask questions and make a self-closer inspection.
If you want to make an offer, ask your agent for the sales to come to a competition offering price.
A "seller's market" and "buyer's market can have a major impact on how much to offer. There is no point in making a proposal for a low price and the seller in the home market.

A properly written contract will allow the customer to a number of outs if certain items are not met or approval. Get a copy of a typical real estate contract proposal before making your agent and move with you.
To know that the prices of homes are listed in the areas you are considering, go to the local MLS Search

Selling a Home Guide

noreply@blogger.com (Alligator) — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 08:26:00 +0000

Sell Time - You Want
-- The right price
-- On the right terms
-- In necessasry.

To achieve these goals:
-- Make your house look good.
-- The price of the market value immediately.
-- Using real estate professionals.

Make your house look like
It is important you make your house look presentable before put it on the market. Exterior and interior paint, you get the best return on their money.
Clear the yard, fertilize and add some flowers for that most important first impression.
You have to listen to your house agent give you suggestions.
If you have an old house, your agent should recommend termite and / or property inspection at the initial stage.
This can work to your advantage in several ways. Negotiations go easy if you are aware of problems at the initial stage.
It allows time to remove or correct things before offer is brought in, which may give the buyer confidence, offer more. Knowing about the problems at once will give you and your agent for more time to prepare the way for negotiations around them, if you choose not to install them.

Price it right
Price your home to the market value at the outset, as a rule, result in the best price you get for the property in the least amount of time and inconvenience to you.
List your high property initially only helps sell other homes, as your market. Remember that buyers listen to a lot of homes, so they know that this too.
The price for the sale to assess the market value in order to get credit for it.

Pricing homes is Key
When you figure the additional mortgage payments, property tax, insurance, time and energy to keep your house promising good and the inconvenience of your home on the market a few extra months of pricing is not practical.

Real estate professionals
Real estate has become a business today, which is very labour-on many fronts. Continuing education should stay with all the changes and requirements for real estate. Most home owners do not have the time or knowledge to successfully market and sell their homes and get a better price.
To save commissions, some people are beginning to market their home FSBO (for sale owner). Some are successful, while most will eventually list with the agent.

Most buyers work with the agent, because they do not want to go through the buying process without the use of experienced professionals, they basically get the service for free. Since the commission be one of the homes, typically a source of income for buyers agent FSBOs are much less market exposure. Agents generally prefer not to work with FSBOs collapse as they do much more work. Why - FSBOs because, as a rule, do not have the necessary knowledge and forms required for the sale of homes to the winds agent and providing consultation with the owner.
Real estate professionals have the necessary information to make the market value. A real estate agent will conduct a comparative market analysis (CMA), using several List Service (MLS). It includes a survey of houses, which are on the market or recently sold that are similar to yours. Agent will be available to advise you on the added value (or deficit) of your home unique features and factor that into the equation.
Converting from an agent, which recommends the highest price is not always the best. This method is used to obtain the listing. Reject any agent, which could not justify the high price estimate. Vendors mistakenly believe that they have a price above their house, knowing that they could come down in price if it does not sell. Buyers shop around before buying, and recognize the value in a certain price range, as the comparison shopping.
Houses that wind in the market a long time tend to sell below market value.

Commission
Quick word on commissions. Commissions are negotiable. They may range from 4% -10%, depending on the type of property, current market conditions and motivated sellers. 6% seem to be the most typical. Many people wrongly assume the entire commission goes to one person. Normally, it is divided in four ways: recording agent, the listing agent, broker, the buyer's agent and the buyer's agent's broker. Transfer payments and franchise fees many times are also a factor.

Commissions
Get your home listed at 5% may not net you more if you are listed at 6%.
When a house is listed, the commission is split between the listing agent and the buyer's authority in the office. When the agents show properties for potential buyers, one thing they tend to be on how much commission is that they offer. Agents tend to show homes, offering them up to 3%, 2.5% offering. If your house offers 2.5% for other agents, he will receive a lower value indicating fewer people would even look at his house. Result: you will be helping other vendors to get their homes sold in the first place. If the list of office proposes 3% to the buyer agents at 5.5% or less of a contract best of both worlds. This scenario reduces costs for you, along with good marketing incentives for other agents.
MLS fees, insurance and membership fees can run thousands of dollars a year for each agent. There is the cost of overhead, computers, office equipment, transportation, signage, and advertising and so on. This is a business with the many expenses without weekly paycheck.

Real Estate Marketing
In MLS continues to be the most effective way to market your home to the public.
Internet
Internet is rapidly becoming the preferred method for finding homes. More and more potential buyers start looking for homes on the Internet. A wealth of information can be found on the Internet. Soon it will be the norm for the buying and selling of real estate.
Now you can take a virtual tour of the home of one click. More and more homes will be sold this way, especially high at home or special equipment. Real estate companies who use this technology will be serving customers better. Leaflets on Sale sign are common today, virtual tours tomorrow will be common.

Seals
A FOR SALE sign to be placed on your front yard.
Do not allow you to mark property will greatly reduce your marketing power.
Using signs that there is a field for leaflets on the property.

A lock
It is important that you have a lock so agents can listen and show property during the day. Not allowing the lock will dramatically reduce the need to properly market impact your home. Lock boxes are very secure devices that record, which he uses.
Agents do not like to show the property if access is a nuisance. Use the block.
Talking Houses, effective marketing is a new device that allows potential buyers by driving to customize radio to hear about your house functions. It also allows the agent to get a phone number for that person for further marketing.
Advertising in property, magazines, newspapers and open houses are additional methods, and probably the least effective way to the real estate market.

Does size matter
Is it more real estate companies better?
Most major franchises want to sellers and their agents to believe that.
Which company is the best?
Large companies can be flexible in the commission because they have more layers to feed. Smaller companies have less overhead with less or no other property involved in the feed. As a result, a lower commission may be agreed upon with the same effective marketing of a large company. Talk with agents from different companies to find out what services they can provide, and decide what is the best value to get your property sold.

Select an agent / Company
-- Good knowledge of the local market
-- This market through MLS
-- There is a good site - Internet Marketing
-- Give better value for the commission rates.

To find that the price of homes for sale and receive a comprehensive report on the neighborhood, try Zillow which covers most of the communities in the United States. It's free and accurate.
A local real estate agent, as a rule, will be more accurate, is that the house, apparently for sale in the neighborhood specfic place.

Selling Real Estate

noreply@blogger.com (Alligator) — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 08:23:00 +0000

How much is your house worth?
In today's real estate market fluctuations, responding to a question about what can be extremely difficult. Actually, there are four criteria that can help homeowners determine accurate, and the maximum home sales price.
First: investigation trends. Check with real estate, to determine the current selling price of housing in your area. Real estate firms, as a survey of properties in surrounding areas and translate that to computerized reports are divided into specific communities. Compare your home with similar homes that have sold. This should provide you with the notion that homes are sold, but not for the fact that they were written on.
Next, pay attention to the "migration" trend and see if people (and businesses) are moving in or out of the area. One of the best ways to track the movement is to read the business section of local newspapers or talk to the Chamber of Commerce. If there is a lot of movement in the society is likely home prices will rise at a relatively rapid pace. Obviously, if there is a big migration prices will be flat or even decline.

Remember also that the two houses side by side team could radically different prices.
In part can be attributed to some of the features that might lead to an increase in the value of homes in the eyes of the buyer. For example, in the old houses, which have been upgraded with new fixtures, window or room additions command higher prices than at home, which remain unchanged. In many cases, minimal expenses, the prices and expanding functions can be added and sellers often can increase the value of the property to thousands of dollars. Unchangeable elements such as lot size, or the history of one to two stories could, of course, affect the value of adjacent homes.
Perhaps one of the most important elements in the sale of homes, is pricing.
By closely following the local real estate market, or by contacting real estate professional, sellers may not only determine the right time to sell, but, most importantly, they can also determine the right prices for a list of equipment that it sold.

Why do some houses sell faster than others?
They have the right prices. Prices are usually the number one factor, as short or as long house will be on the market.
Obviously, the property must be competitively priced, but not set the price based on what you have heard a neighbor received for their homes.
Adjacent homes can be totally different. They both may have the same floor plans, but the improvements, more desirable place in the tract, and other seemingly small variations can make a significant difference when it comes to price.
In determining the right price, one of the most important traits you need is objectivity. Homeowners, of course, there is an emotional attachment to their homeland, and because of their feelings, they often overestimate what their house is worth.
Despite mounting, try to be practical and logical. Make a competitive study of recent sales, which are comparable to your home. Evaluation of price per square foot, age, condition, location, schools, and the extras.
Keep in mind that the value of your home can influence events, which have not yet been established. Are there any vacant land nearby? If so, what companies or structures will be erected there in the future? This is a desirable addition to the neighborhood? If there is a vacant land, a visit to the local planning and zoning commission to see what could be built, or check with a local real estate professional to help you know what the development plans may be in offing. He or she should also explain the elements that went on pricing, and why. And, I ask to join the CMA (comparative market analysis), and what it means.

Remember the little things can make a big difference, as soon as the house was priced. Cosmetics are crucial. Spruce property activities to the extent possible.
Just outside the paint, some new shrubbery, and make sure that the house is always neat and clean can make a huge difference. The most important impression is the first and the first thing buyers see the exterior. He should look good.
To get an idea of how determined the price to get in touch with local real estate professional. Ask them to carefully select junior who knows your neighborhood.
In today's market, there are buyers for the home-which at competitive prices.
A lack of "action", usually indicates that your property was one of those that were incorrectly priced. Most importantly, be objective. Try to look at their property, just as if you were the buyer takes place through it. What do you want? No? How does it compare with other properties in the area? Is it any more? Less?
The answer to these questions objectively, and you not only towards pricing your home properly. . . , but to sell it, too.

Thinking about selling your home?
If so, there are two ways to do it - sell themselves or engage in professional services REALTOR.
Obviously, the advantage of selling homes themselves, if you do not pay a commission. But statistics show when working with real estate professionals, the chances of selling homes in a shorter period of time (and often for more money) is much better.
There are advantages and disadvantages of each method.
To determine which path you are going to take, first of all, ask yourself a question --
If you need medical operation would comply with its own,
professional or do it for you?

Sell the house in today's market is not as it was ten years ago.
The market, as well as consumers, much more astute, and the laws more difficult. Accountability and disclosure could complicate the sale.

Perhaps the biggest obstacle facing the seller when they decide to market their property emotional attachment. Many owners turn a blind eye to weaknesses that the real estate professional shows. And, a good Realtor goes further and recommends steps that homeowners can take to make a property more attractive fresh coast of paint in the kitchen, replacing rusty mailbox or delete unwanted messages do at home, such as more open. The objective opinion can be the difference in making the sale.
An experienced Realtor can also become a seller with a comparative market analysis, so that the owner knows that the house is actually worth, rather than what they believe it's worth.

Which home improvements add?
While some home improvements can add significant dollars to the resale value of their residence, while others barely worth of investments. So, how to solve the homeowners who add significant value improvements, and who will not?
Here are some tips for cost-effective improvements, the upgrade that can make a difference in the sales price and the value of your property.
Typically, kitchens and bathrooms are the two areas that make the most difference in the sale. They make the greatest impact on customers, and, of course, the impact that buyers perceive the property is worth. No, kitchens and bathrooms are not inexpensive to upgrade.
The average for the whole kitchen renovation is more than 20000 USD USA, with some more than $ 30000. Full repairs could include classrooms, floors, counters, sinks, appliances, lighting and new windows.
But there is a way to put a fresh look at this important area without spending significant amounts of money. For a relatively low cost, homeowners can make spot improvements. For example, at the existing level of $ 1000 countertop can be replaced with Formica top. For $ 2500 to $ 3000, the existing cabinet faces may be replaced by solid oak stands. Homeowners can buy a new sink at home and shop equipment contractor install it for approximately $ 300 - $ 400. As a result, to improve the look-and usually a higher selling price at a relatively minimal cost.
Other areas that affect the price: Central air-conditioning is an important element for buyers, who typically pay extra. Room additions, on the other hand, may add value, but may not eventually pay for itself. Upgraded carpeting, the very top line of windows and vaulted ceilings can command higher resale prices, but it is unlikely that the seller will be able to recoup their initial investment.
Existing features, which have been reduced with age, as a rule, can be repaired without much additional cost. Hardwood floors, for example, cost $ 1.50 - $ 2.00 per square foot to repair, but it is a good investment because buyers are willing to pay more for the appearance refinished.
For older homes, the people more power, knowing well that improvement in the isolation of windows, doors and storm doors smart investment.
In general, neutral, and the bright light are the best rules to follow a neutral decor, freshly painted walls and clean carpets also help sell a house faster.

For the price of property?
The high price sends a message that the seller may not be interested in selling. And, when home prices are too high, agents and buyers tend to cross it only to leave their list and move forward. After all, there are many other records.
Of course, the decision on the value of the home, not an exact science, so it is understandable that the seller could put their homes on the market with a request that the price is on the high side.
Moreover, most of us believe that our homes are really "worth more" than a block down around the corner, or a number that was just sold. And if we are wrong, we can always drop the price later, we can not? Yes, but by that time, the seller may not only lost potential customers, but they might also be interested to leave on the initiative of Realtors and realtors are the main source of customers. Typically, they are buyers.
When the property put up for sale, the first 30 days are the most critical. Statistics show that when a majority of buyers (and realtors), see the property. Interest is high at the moment. But, the higher the price of real estate on the market, the less prospect (and Realtors) would view it. Thus, the initial period is crucial to the corresponding price.
Some vendors, however, believe that if someone is really interested, they counter-offer. Some will, some will not. Some well-qualified buyers may simply leave. The bottom line is a high price list will turn many buyers off.
However, the seller wants to be sure he or she gets the best prices for their homeland.
The way to achieve this is by talking to the list of real estate properties. Ask for a comparative analysis of the market, that is, research that similar homes in the area sold for recently. Compare those your property, and the agent can help you calculate the fair market value. Be objective-even if it is your house.
Remember that the above list prices tend to lead to unsold property.

How to create a home Look "More and better."
One sure way for your house, as larger and more attractive if the clutter is impossible, and furniture and household goods reorganized.
Indeed, the time to have a garage sale is before you put your house on the market, not after it is sold! When you decide to sell, start going through your closets and cupboards, the elimination of items you do not want to keep.
Do the same in the garage and in the background.
Get rid, or shop, and the chances of ending. It is interesting to note that more than someone living in the house, the more accustomed to clutter them.
Unfortunately, cabinets, cupboards and garages brimming with the "old values" make homes look small and cramped for a prospective buyer. Sellers also should carefully examine their furniture, and consigned items that are not necessary for the storage or sale of the garage. Most of the houses occupied by the same owner for several years, usually slightly more - in furniture. Erring on the side of space, do not clutter makes for a more market-based home.
Another "item", which leads to an increase in disorder in the country, the excess knickknacks. Scrutinize rarely used for kitchen utensils / gadgets; other items in closets and cupboards, even small furniture and throw rugs that can be neatly stored.
Packet or give away clothing, which would not be as well.
Rearrange and organize. Remove as many articles as possible from the kitchen and bathroom cabinets to tables below they'll still handy in the pursuit of the newly created space. Organize closets. Clear your night stands and offices.
The size of the organization of your furniture-any room for improvement there?
Examine walls and windows. Lee they need repainting, or new window coverings?
For some experts, objective recommendations that your real estate professional to go home. Realtors know that improves the appearance of property - and what inhibits it.
One last hint - do not forget the outside. Requests to the garage and sidewalks, planting shrubs and lawn, wash all the windows, inside and out. It all helps to make your home look fresher, brighter and more.

How Can Two similar houses in the Price War at more than $ 10000?
Forgetting for a moment, the interior improvements that set a house, in addition to another, there are external factors that also affect price. For example, in a house in the initial hit and out-streets (that is, the main streets that lead into and out of a tract), how to get more slowly than those tract, which do not fall in the main streets.
Primary ingress / O streets to generate more traffic, and therefore tend to be less desirable. Thus, they have lower prices.
In tract, the house at the cul-de-sac may generate a higher price for the same reason-less traffic. Cul-de-sacks often as a maze, and they hinder the drive-runs, which, of course, benefit some of residential privacy.
Even properties on one side of the street can be worth more than a similar property in front of him. Why? Some communities, as their name, a more prestigious than others. Beverly Hills, California, of course, one. He is known worldwide for its high end shopping, expensive housing and perfect name. In sections where Beverly Hills consists of other towns and / or communities in the streets, houses on the side of Beverly Hills Prospect command higher prices than those in the non-Beverly Hills city it.
Existing homes can vary dramatically in price for another reason-a homeowner wants to sell, and the other must sell. Motivation for each quite different, and therefore may be pricing strategy.
Some of the other factors that affect the price: Which commercial developments adjacent to the tract? How (un) it is desirable? And do not forget supply and demand.
The wise buyer verifies one thing-community master plan. This is necessary, especially if the tract (or home) surrounded by vacant land. Most communities have one. This is usually based on planning in the city and county approved by the local Planning Commission. Find out what will be built nearby, and to determine how it might affect the value of the tract.All this, of course, takes time and homework. But, as it stands well, especially when you consider that the acquisition of the house, will tend to be the largest, single financial investment most people make in their lives.

If you assess your Home Before Putting it on the market?
It is not necessary, but will provide a good assessment of the seller's prices actually receive for their property. A real estate agent can give you such accurate data to determine the current market value.
First, ask for determining the price, the seller, the agent will look at the "competition", the cost of which "comparable" homes in the area were recently sold.
Based on these prices, the seller must adjust what they request. For example, if similar properties in the area selling for $ 210000, and then trying to get $ 250000, as a rule, does not make sense. Thus, before putting the house on the market, the seller should review the "competition", which can be obtained from local real estate professional.
The evaluation process is licensed appraiser is more theoretical than "compensation" rather than to predict that the buyer would be prepared to pay. Why would anyone get an assessment of that? Although rarely require buyers or sellers, assessment typically require creditors, which is considering the possibility of making the loan.
However, sellers of expensive, custom homes can be evaluated because there are no homes in the area that compare. Buyers of them one-of-a-kind homes will also have more confidence that its request is based on the price evaluation.
Before identifying asking price, sellers must give their agent a list of major improvements done to the home, such as a new roof or heating system upgraded.
This helps the agent to consider all factors when to recommend the bid.
It will also put him or her in a better position to sell the house and all its features for the best price.

What is the MLS?
MLS stands for "multiple list service, which is usually a computerized list of virtually all homes, which are intended for sale in a particular area.
When your Realtor lists property for sale, they pay a fee, and your house is on the MLS system. The big advantage is that sellers MSS is # 1 resource used by customers (and agents) to find homes.
Properties that are not listed (as a rule, those that are sold by their owners) are not on MLS-So, there are a lot of buyers and realtors that will not be at home.
In MLS has become such a standard in real estate that no major broker would consider trying to sell real estate without it. It would be like an accountant trying to work without calculator.
About the only residential brokers, who may not use the MLS who exclusively with foreclosed properties, or high-end homes owned by celebrities and the like.
In MLS is a surprising amount of detail, depending on the area of the country it could include the location (on postal codes); size of the home (area); lot size, number of bedrooms and bathrooms; such additional rooms in the day, family room, formal dining room, patio or closed; amenities such as yard, fireplace, sauna, swimming pool, the kitchen features, new carpet and drapes; building garage; age homes, and. Certainly, the sale price and date.
Buyers can narrow their search for a house-hunting sharply through MLS. For example, their real estate professional can do computer searches and ask for a list of all houses in a certain place and the range of prices, which have two or three bedrooms, and that no more than ten years. Not only this request will generate a short list of viable opportunities, but also helps customers evaluate about what they can expect to get for their money and compare the value of homes listed.
Thus, the MLS is more than a system, which lists the properties. This is a relief both buyers and sellers, and that some asset for consumers when it comes to real estate.

What is Escrow?
Escrow is a process that starts from the moment of purchase offer documents signed by both parties, and ends when the loan approved, and all necessary requirements have been met as a buyer and the seller.
At the escrow holder is a broker, or agent, so buyer and seller.
At the escrow holder is granted the buyer deposit, and holds all of the facilities until the definitive agreement. They notify the seller when the deposit was received, and if the check has cleared the bank.
At the escrow holder is also developing a series of instructions, listing what should be done to the property before it is sold and the title is transferred.
For example, if the seller must deliver termite inspection, the owner will track deposit this duty, and to do so fulfilled before any funds are transferred to the seller. Findings termite inspection report must be corrected prior to the closing or escrow. If the report calls for a plumber, roofer and another contractor, the agent will tell the seller and obtain a work permit.
At the escrow company, as a rule, the name of the company (in California) ..
At escrow / title company provides full ownership history of the property and liens on any record in the preliminary title report. All that is outside the ordinary, such as condo liens, judgments, etc. against the buyer and the seller must be clarified before closing escrow.
At the escrow process can be any number of days, depending on what is between the buyer and seller. To ensure a timely closing, the buyer should do something like to report on the deposit holder's name and phone number of your insurance agent as soon as possible. In homeowners insurance policy should be made at the beginning, so that verification can be carried out with the creditor. The lender would not fund the new credit without housing policy. If there is a delay, the escrow process can be held up.

Closing Costs
First, the responsibility for those who pay for closing costs are always negotiable. Local customs duties May dictate that the buyer will pay and those paid by the seller.
Typically, the buyer pays for a home inspection services and the deposit on the preparation and accounting fees, depending on what is common property to the county is in. He or she may also pay for title insurance, as required by the lender. The buyer is also responsible for any fees or costs associated with obtaining the credit for the purchase.
The seller usually pays the real estate agent's commission, as well as costs associated with the transfer of unencumbered title, such as a title search, reconveyance affairs and documentary transfer tax.
Often, the seller will sweeten the deal by offering one-year home warranty.
Who will pay for the closing costs, usually differs from one country to another, and must always be explicitly stated in the purchase offer. A sales associate creative consider cash income and tax situation in the home seller and the buyer in the construction of an offer. For example, if the buyer does not have enough money, the agent may ask the seller to pay the buyer's loan moments immediately in exchange for other concessions from the buyer. In this case, the buyer and the seller benefits, and how to get what they want.

How badly has housing hurt the economy?

noreply@blogger.com (Alligator) — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 16:49:00 +0000

Recession still seems unlikely, but odds rising, analysts say

Friday’s report on the job market in August — showing the first monthly drop in four years — raised concerns that the recession afflicting the housing sector may be spilling over into the wider economy. The much weaker-than expected employment report puts added pressure on the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates at its next scheduled meeting Sept. 18.

But it’s still too soon to assess just how much long-term damage will be caused by the downturn in housing prices and the mortgage mess that has rocked the financial markets.

Friday’s employment report was a stunner: Economists and market watchers had expected the report to show some 110,000 new jobs created in August. But the government tallied a net loss of 4,000 jobs, the first monthly drop since August 2003. The government also revised job gains reported earlier for June and July, cutting the numbers for those two months by 81,000 jobs.

With the latest report, payroll growth has been averaging just 44,000 jobs a month over the past three months, well below the second-quarter average of 162,000.

As the economic numbers for August begin to roll in, the impact of the financial storm that hit global credit markets last month is slowly becoming clearer. An already-slowing economy seems to have weakened further.

Most economists say it's too soon to forecast a recession, but the consensus view is that the odds of one are rising.

“A recession is still avoidable in my opinion, but the Fed will need to act promptly and with authority to right this sinking ship,” said Scott Anderson, a senior economist at Wells Fargo Bank.

Even before Friday's report, economists had been trimming their growth forecasts. The latest survey of 50 economists by the Blue Chip Economic Indicators newsletter, conducted Aug. 1 and 2, found the consensus GDP growth forecast dropped a tenth of a percentage point to 2.0 percent for this year and 2.8 percent next year.

Before the meltdown in the credit markets last month, the Blue Chip consensus pegged the odds of recession in the next year at about one in four. That number recently jumped to one in three, according to Randell Moore, the newsletter’s editor.

Friday’s jobs report slammed stocks and raised the volume of calls for the Federal Reserve to cut rates again soon help stimulate growth.

The Fed cut its mostly symbolic discount rate in August but is expected to cut the more important federal funds rate by at least a quarter-point this month and another quarter-point in the fall, which would make many loans cheaper for consumers and businesses. Some Fed watchers say a third quarter point cut may be needed by year-end.

The Fed funds rate affects a wide range of consumer and business lending rates including rates on credit cards, home equity credit lines and some mortgages.

The growing signs of economic strain have consumers feeling more pessimistic — especially since most no longer have rising equity in their home to help fund their shopping trips. Consumer confidence dropped sharply in August, based on a widely watched University of Michigan survey.

Still, while consumers say they are more worried, they seem to have kept spending in August. Car sales showed surprising strength, and sales also held up relatively well at big chain stores like Wal-Mart. As long as job and wage growth continue to provide the cash to keep consumers spending, say many economists, the drop in housing prices won’t necessarily bring a wider pullback.

Some economists caution that Friday’s jobs report was at odds with the Federal Reserve’s periodic economic review released earlier this week. The so-called “beige book” survey of business conditions by the Fed’s 12 regional banks found that while the ongoing tightening of credit continues to weigh on the housing market, the impact on the rest of the economy so far appears to be limited.

And while the last big housing downturn in the late 1980s pushed the economy into recession in 1990, some economists make the case that the economy is less vulnerable now for several reasons. With inflation at or close to the Federal Reserve’s assumed target level of about 2 percent, the central bank has fairly broad latitude in cutting interest rates if GDP growth slows sharply. And as long as the global economy continues on a strong growth track, the U.S. economy is getting an unusual boost from outside its borders.

A lot depends on how long it takes the housing market to get back on its feet.

“You still need binoculars to find the bottom,” said Stuart Hoffman at PNC Financial. “It’s not in sight.”

With the inventory of unsold homes at double the levels seen during the housing boom, some market watchers and builders say recovery is at least a year away. The National Association of Realtors reported this week that an index tracking pending home sales fell in July to its lowest level in six years.

The impact of the housing recession has been widespread, but like everything else about real estate, a lot depends on where you live. While mortgage defaults and foreclosures are setting records, more than half of them are coming from four states: California, Florida, Nevada and Arizona. Michigan and Ohio also have been hard hit.

Lender layoffs soar
Just as the economy’s strength varies from one region to the next, some industries are faring better than others. Not surprisingly, much of the current weakness is showing up in housing-related industries – from a slowdown in construction to weak sales of home furnishings.

Despite the drop in jobs in August, the fallout from the collapse of dozens of mortgage didn’t account for big job losses in the government’s August figures; the steepest drop came in government jobs.

But there are signs that steeper housing-related layoffs may be coming. Financial firms announced more than 35,000 job cuts in August — the biggest monthly total for the industry in nearly 15 years, according figures compiled by the employment firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas.

Still, it’s too soon to assess the long-term damage from the financial storm that swept through the global credit markets last month and brought an abrupt tightening of credit. To calm the markets and free up credit, the Fed already has cut the so-called discount rate — the price of loans made directly to big banks. That seems to have restored some confidence to lenders and investors who had been spooked by problems stemming from mortgage loans made to borrowers with poor credit.

Now many economists and investors expect the central bank to use its next regular meeting to follow that easing with a quarter-point cut in federal funds rate — the broadest pricing for short-term borrowing under the Fed’s control.

But as long as the economy continues to post slow, steady growth, it’s not clear those rate cuts will be needed. While such cuts would be welcomed by financial markets, they also could taken as a sign that the Fed has succumbed to political pressure and eased up too soon, said Brian Wesbury, chief economist at First Trust Advisors.

Fed rate cut no quick cure for housing mess

noreply@blogger.com (Alligator) — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 16:43:00 +0000

Home builders cut back in August, say it's too soon to see the bottom

This week’s half-point cut in interest rates by the Federal Reserve accomplished several important objectives, reassuring jittery financial markets by cutting the cost of money while demonstrating its determination to head off an economic downturn. But the move will have little short-term impact on the worst housing market in 16 years, which is at the root of the problem.

That was made clear in the latest report on the ailing industry, just a day after the rate cut, showing a sharp drop in housing starts last month to the slowest pace in 12 years.

"Housing starts have come down, at least in part, as a reaction by the home building industry to too much (unsold) inventory,” said Jerry Howard, CEO of the National Association of Home Builders.

Individual home builders say it’s too soon to know when conditions will begin to pick up again. On Tuesday, the NAHB reported that its index of builder confidence fell in September to the lowest level on record.

And while the Fed’s rate cuts may have provided a psychological boost to the markets, many analysts and builders think it will take more cuts — and more time — before the housing market recovers.

“Does anybody want to call this as a bottom because of the Fed cut?” said Robert Toll, CEO of home builder Toll Bros. at an investor conference Tuesday. “I don’t think you can call it yet.”

Some Wall Street investors seem to think the industry may have hit bottom; shares of many home builders surged Wednesday on news they have scaled back on new construction. The building slowdown in August is seen as a sign that a bulge in inventories of unsold homes may begin to shrink.

To cope with the inventory, builders have been slashing prices with some success. Hovnanian Enterprises, a builder with operations in 19 states, staged a nationwide sale last weekend, cutting prices by as much as 25 percent and offering some six-figure savings. The company said it sold 2,100 homes in one day — nearly as many as it sold in the three months ended July 31.

CEO Ara Hovnanian said Wednesday the company was "very thrilled" with the results and said the sale demonstrated that there are still plenty of buyers. But while he praised the Fed for providing an important psychological boost to consumers, Hovnanian says the housing market hasn’t bottomed yet.

“I expect housing starts to continue to come down in the coming months regardless of this rate cut," hee said. “There's a lot of momentum right now to slow the housing market down.”

Still, the Fed’s willingness to cut rates for the first time in four years may have helped prevent a further slide.

“We have a housing recession,” said Susan Wachter, a real estate professor at the Wharton School of Business. “This stops a housing depression.”

The move is also aimed at preventing the problems in the housing industry from broadening into a wider economic recession. Consumer spending, buoyed for years by the rapid rise in home prices, has begun to cool off.

Though auto sales have held up relatively well, that’s because fleet sales to corporations and rental car companies have offset weakness in consumer spending on cars, according to Michael Jackson, CEO of AutoNation, one of the country's largest car dealers.

“Once everybody figures out that the consumer has pulled back on big-ticket items, that brings the risk of recession into play,” he said. “I think that's what the Federal Reserve sees.”

Tuesday’s cut — double the quarter-point that many Fed watchers had expected — is a sign that Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke “understands that there is a psychological downward spiral, that a quarter-point wouldn’t break that downward spiral, and that it would take something like a half a point to do it," said Jackson.

But homeowners facing foreclosure will likely see little benefit from the Fed’s move. Many are already behind on adjustable mortgages that have reset from initial low “teaser” rates. The roughly 2 million homeowners who face resets this year and next will still see substantial jumps in their monthly payments. Borrowers who are locked into loans they can’t afford because of steep “prepayment” penalties won’t be helped by the Fed’s move.

And shoppers for new mortgages won’t catch much of a break. While short-term rates have moved lower as a result of the Fed’s cut, the market-based long-term rates that are used to price mortgages edged higher.

A lot depends on the Fed’s next move. In announcing the rate cut, the policymakers said they were keeping a watchful eye on inflation — which lower rates could make worse. Though the latest round of monthly data showed prices were fairly well in check, a recent jump in oil prices could erase those gains in the Fed’s fight to keep prices stable.

Stuart Hoffman, chief economist at PNC Financial Group, is in the camp that believes the short-term federal funds rate is headed as low as 4.25 percent by late this year or early next.

“They did start out boldly, but what really matters is the cumulative impact,” he said. “Much like you take an antibiotic, you are not going to feel better overnight. You are going to have to take a couple more doses, and I think this is just the first.”

ANALYSIS
By John W. Schoen
Senior Producer
MSNBC
updated 3:58 p.m. ET Sept. 19, 2007

New York City falls in apartment index

noreply@blogger.com (Alligator) — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 13:10:00 +0000

New York City could be considered one of the rental market, but it can no longer boast the first place in the Marcus and Millichap National Apartment Index evaluating 43 rental markets.

The slowdown in employment growth and a mild uptick in the vacancies resulting from New York to slip on № 3, the Seattle № № 1 and 2 of San Francisco. The evaluation rating strongest markets on the basis of projected demand and conditions.

Brokerage annual national report apartment projects, which had requested rents in market rate units in New York will increase 6.3 per cent to $ 2976 per month this year, but will remain slightly lower than the 6.5 per cent increase in 2007, and 6.4 percent growth in 2006.

This position will remain low, but is expected to rise this year to 2.8 percent. At the same time, construction costs are expected to rise and the construction of 2800 will drop to a market rate of 3600 units in 2007.

Signs of slowing in New York, evident in the report, but its Manhattan office has a positive outlook.

"It may be safe to assume that demand will outstrip the proposal in the foreseeable future for most products," said Edward Jordan, a regional manager at the Manhattan office Marcus and Millichap Real Estate Investment services. "As long as rents continue to rise and the vacancy rate remains low, 2008 looks like a strong year in terms of the foundations of Manhattan real estate investments."

Gary Malin, COO of citizens living, said in the Manhattan rental market: "On the whole, we believe that the rental market in Manhattan will remain strong in 2008 in terms of the low vacancy rates and an increase in market rental rates. What remains unclear , and is a key factor as vacancies and rents, is the economic outlook in Manhattan, particularly in terms of employment. Clearly, in the case of hiring remains strong and at levels in 2007, we will continue to see strong gains in the rental market. "

Marcus and Millichap predicted that employment growth will slow down to 0.4 per cent, or 16000 new jobs this year. In 2007, there were 34,300 new positions.

The market rent in outer areas looks promising, the report states, in connection with the rezoning, renovation and new opportunities for growth.

New York City Real Estate

noreply@blogger.com (Alligator) — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 13:06:00 +0000

New York real estate

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NYC for sale in the foreign press

noreply@blogger.com (Alligator) — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 12:56:00 +0000

Stephen Toumbas, a stock investor in London, is a prime example of the type of buyer foreign newspapers fawning over these days. On taking advantage of the fall of the dollar and the fall in real estate prices to make his dream of buying a second home in Manhattan in reality.

Toumbas planned to purchase 540 - square-foot luxury apartment in Trump SoHo listed at 1.2 million U.S. USA, the London Financial Times reported on 10 November. At the current exchange rates, it will only cost him about £ 572000, or 820000 euros, but he decided to wait a few more discount.

"I am going to give subprime sediment stabilization, let FRS further lowering of interest rates, and let that further weakening of the dollar", Toumbas quoted as saying in the article. "The British pound was aware at a high level."

As the dollar has fallen in value against foreign currencies in recent months, journalists overseas and across the Canadian border, offering potential buyers advice on how to maximize the use of a rare opportunity.

The articles repeat the same refrain: There has never been a better time to find deals in New York City, as soon as the price prohibitive luxury real estate market. They cite statistics, like the fact that almost one out of every five dollars of realtors selling for overseas clients in the past year, according to a study published in July, the National Association of Realtors. third sold Europeans, and 12 percent of them are sold to people from the United Kingdom.

Although several articles warn customers about the volatility of the market and prepare for unexpected expenses, such as subscription, almost all stories about the prime New York property, snatched at incredible discounts for people like Toumbas.

"Dollar in the collapse took many by surprise, and made one of the most elite American housing markets suddenly accessible to foreigners, despite the fact that local residents are suffering prices," the London Observer reported on 18 November. These days, investing in New York real estate was "an absolute no-brainer," Eric McLendon, a broker at Corcoran, quoted as saying.

A May 12 article in the Irish edition of the Sunday Mirror described buyers from Ireland buying apartments, mansions and even the unfinished high-rise building blocks in Manhattan.

"This is a far cry from the days when starvation and penniless Irish arrived in New York, eking a meagre salary makes nobody wants, while rats living in the dense slums," wrote journalist Julian Brouwer.

Anne-Marie Moriarty of the Corcoran Group, often cited in the foreign press, shows that the majority of Irish buyers it concerns the purchase of one or two apartments at the same time, and they did not even come to New York in advance.

"Even if they can afford to buy in Dublin, they could not get any rent near what they get here," Moriarty said in the article.

A July 12 article in the Irish Times suggests purchasing property in the former headquarters in the town of JP Morgan Chase Bank at 75 Wall Street, which is currently being refurbished in the Hyatt Hotel group, 251 hotel suites and 349 private condominiums.

At that time, condo prices in the building range from $ 615000, or 447691 euros to 439 square feet studio at 2 million U.S. USA, or 1.46 million euro during the three-room flats in 1692 square feet.

After taxes and maintenance fees, the owners can count on a monthly rental income of about $ 3000, or 2184 euro for one-bedroom apartment.

No villas are also good value because the building was near Ground Zero, and as a result of tax benefits, the article said. "75 Wall Street will benefit from a significant reduction in property tax for 15 years without any taxes paid in two years to nine - a huge asset, as property taxes are high in Manhattan," said history.

A November 10 article in The Daily Telegraph in London is a list of properties and tips on buying real estate in the United States, such as a lawyer and seek independent financial advice. Investors were advised to be cautious, but because "Many property investors and developers believe that 2008 will be characterised by uncertainty." But for those who are "at the time, money and patience to be in it for long, however, the prospects look promising."

Some of the most promising deals in New York can be found in Brooklyn, the Daily Telegraph reported on October 27. Brownstones in Brooklyn neighborhoods, is not only more affordable, they appeal to the British "sentiments".

"With their beautiful cornices, tall sash windows, they are similar in appearance between the mayor's office that British buyers may covet in London or Bath," wrote journalist Mark Martin. "It is easy to understand why many in the English expat would be living here to have been filed against them in the vast anonymous ziggurat, which is typical Manhattan apartment block."

I value Brooklyn property should only increase in coming years, thanks to the shoreline development, which will include the park site to rival any in the city, while the east of the Boerum Hill a copse of high rises is called the Atlantic Yards rise… Extent These projects are so large that some analysts predict that the area will become a second Brooklyn Manhattan that prices for a further impetus, "Martin wrote.

The same unbridled optimism was supported by just north of Manhattan in Canada. Like Pound, the Canadian "loonie" continues to rise in value against the dollar, and newspaper articles helped Canadians head south and buy more than iPod players and designer jeans.

A July 7 article in the Financial Post of Canada notes that the New York real estate traded more than people think, thanks to the depreciating dollar. According to the latest cost of living survey by Mercer Consulting Personnel found that New York is the 15 most expensive cities in the world (she was 10th last year). Mercer-in quality of life survey, however, the city has taken 48th and 77th overall in terms of health and sanitation. "

New York City elite housing, not only deals can be found these days. The article in the International Herald Tribune of 12 December stated that the group Irish, Italian, Spanish, German, Australian and Asian investment groups are "trophy hunt" for the landmark commercial buildings in Manhattan, such as the Chrysler Building, the Seagram Building and Lever House.

"Hardly a week goes when you do not see the new offshore investment group entry into the market," Dan Fasulo, managing director of Real Capital Analytics, quoted as saying. "Any trophy office building, which is for sale, you are going to get offshore queries . In the global monetary boom, lacks the means to go. "

New Blows Hit - Housing Industry

noreply@blogger.com (Alligator) — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 12:54:00 +0000

More than two years in the housing downturn unpleasant surprises and market rumours continue to wreak havoc in the industry, which may be the leading economy in recession.

The market got its first boost yesterday with KB Home, a leading home builder, which investors viewed as quite capable of travel downturn. KB posted a net loss of $ 772.7 million, or $ 9.99 share, in its fourth quarter ended November 30, more than nine times greater than the losses that analysts had expected.

Most of the losses relate to the 514 million U.S. USA noncash charges due to changes in accounting for tax purposes. Nevertheless, investors took flight, KB driving shares down 9.2%.

More homes linked to the stock take a beating yesterday, Countrywide Financial Corp., a leading provider of mortgage loans. Its shares dropped 28% against the backdrop of growing concern among investors about the fall in the price of houses and the sharp rise ransom.

The housing news and caring for the weak consumer spending helped drive down the broader market. In the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 238.42, or 1.9%, to 12589.07. Banking stocks were generally lower in the corporation Citigroup Inc leave about 4%. In the Dow fell 11% from the beginning of his high-October, lower, in line with the traditional definition of a correction.

"The state of American business in the year will depend, in my view, of how we get through the toughest housing correction in our lives," Daniel Mudd, chief executive officer of Fannie Mae, the Government-backed mortgage investors, said in his speech the United States Chamber of Commerce in Washington yesterday.

Rumours persist that the country may be preparing a bankruptcy-court filing fueled its decline. The company categorically denied such plans. "There is no substance to the rumor the country that is planning to file for bankruptcy, a Countrywide said.

Weak earnings report, the Los Angeles-based KB Home was a signal that the housing is in free fall from the bottom yet in sight. "As we enter 2008, we see no indication that the markets are stabilizing," KB Chief Executive Jeff Mezger told investors during a conference yesterday.

Builders and mortgage companies have been fought for several months with a decline in home prices and the collapse in the market subprime mortgages for people with poor credit. In recent weeks, further darkened the prospects for housing, as unemployment grows and the broader economy treads closer to a recession. Last week, the Department of Labor Statistics reported unemployment surged in December to its highest level in more than two years.

"Job losses final piece," said Paul Puryear, a real estate analyst at Raymond James & Partners. "If we are in recession - and we may well be there now - it will be difficult to sell the house."

Driving KB quarterly loss was 514 million U.S. USA charges related to its deferred tax assets. The opportunity to save on future taxes in the past or may be entered in the balance of the company as an asset. But some auditors say it is unclear when the home builders will be able to implement these tax cuts because of their losses in recent years. Therefore, they require some companies to effectively write most of its deferred tax assets.

Analysts say other builders may face a similar write-because of the fall in the uncertain industry outlook, and that the builders could not be profitable until 2009 or 2010. In the deferred tax assets, while enrolled at the present time, will eventually receive money.

KB was lowering prices to move homes. Its average selling price fell 12% to $ 247800 in the fourth quarter from a year earlier. But the supply of homes remains stubbornly high. In addition, several of KB buyers in the cancellation of contracts for the home than some analysts had expected.

As a result of the cancellation of the fall is the ghost of investors and forcing some builders, including KB to revise the terms of its line of credit with lenders. That's because the tax asset charges, coupled with the continuing record of land and home values, may cause many builders to fall below the minimum tangible net worth required level of their creditors.

KB said that is expected to achieve a new agreement with the banks by the end of its first quarter. Red Bank, New Jersey, builder Hovnanian Enterprises Inc., which reported $ 216 million in tax assets related charges last month, said he had received the necessary waivers from its creditors.

"This is a common headache for builders,''said Ivy Zelman, chief executive Zelman and Associates, the housing research firm." I do not think that he is going to pursue any of them to bankruptcy. But that's poker chip that banks in their favor. "

Many analysts took comfort in KB ability to generate cash and reduce its debt. The company increased its cash balance by $ 625 million from a year earlier, while its share in total debt capital more than 31% from 43% a year earlier.

In the country, investors are concerned not only about their subprime impact, but also about its stocks of other types of risky loans, including option-adjustable rate mortgages. Option ARMs allow borrowers to choose smaller monthly payments that increase their loan balance. If borrowers are not careful, they may ultimately over their heads in debt.

Kenneth Posner, an analyst at Morgan Stanley, said he believed that the country's bankruptcy filing is unlikely, at least in the short term. Mr. Posner said that the company appears to have enough cash to meet its debt obligations in 2008, although there is a "thin margin for error."

The company plans to release fourth quarter results on January 29. After reporting a loss of 1.2 billion U.S. USA for the third quarter, the country is projected that it would return to profitability in the fourth quarter. Now, however, "very few people, I think, to say that in a realistic," said Frederick Cannon, an analyst at Keefe, Bruyette and Woods in San Francisco.

Wall Street Trader Paulson (Made Billions on Subprime)

noreply@blogger.com (Alligator) — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 12:53:00 +0000

On Wall Street, the losers in the collapse of the housing market are legion. The biggest winner appears to be John Polson, a little-known hedge fund manager smelled problems, which two years ago.

The money he raised 15 billion U.S. USA in 2007 for an incredibly successful bid in respect of the housing market. Mr. Polson has received an estimated $ 3 billion up to 4 billion U.S. USA itself - is considered the largest one-year payday in the history of Wall Street.

Now, in another twist in financial history, Mr. Polson is to preserve as a consultant the man some blame for helping feed the housing market bubble by holding interest rates are so low: former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan. (See article.)

On the way to his great expense, Mr. Polson did battle with Wall Street firms, he is accused of attempting to manipulate the market. He faced skepticism from other large investors. At the same time, fear of imitators, he used software that fund investors blocked from sending his letters.

One thing he did not expect: A friend, in which he tried to rely on its own strategy - a considerable profit racks, and the tension in their friendship. (See article.)

Like many legendary Market murders, from Warren Buffett in acquisitions of smaller companies to v'70 s Wilbur Ross in steelmaker consolidation at the beginning of the decade, Mr. Polson has grown in defiance of the conventional wisdom. At the beginning of 2006, was that wisdom, while loose lending standards may be of some concern, deep problems in the housing and mortgage markets unlikely. Lots of big Wall Street players were in the camp, as seen by the giant mortgage market losses they disclose.

"Many people have told us, house prices never go down at the national level, and that there has never been default investment-grade-rated mortgage bonds," said Mr. Polson. "Mortgage experts were too caught up in the housing boom.

In several interviews, Mr. Polson made his first comments about how he made his historic coup. Simply holding different opinions from blundering herd was not enough to gain huge profits. He also had to invent a way to bet against technological housing and mortgage markets, given that, as he notes, "you can not short at home."

Also key: Mr. Polson not become bearish too early. Some close students of the housing market is indeed just that, investing in the recession years ago - only to suffer such painful losses waiting collapse that they finally unwound their bearish bets. Mr. Polson, whose specialty lay other investments, turned his attention to the housing market in recent times, and received only bearish right time.

Word got around his success in the world of hedge funds - investment partnerships for institutions and wealthy individuals. George Soros invited Mr. Polson at lunch, with a request for more detail on how he laid his bets, with documents that did not exist a few years ago. Mr. Soros is another big figure, in 1992 against the British pound rate, which earned $ 1 billion for his Quantum hedge funds. He declined to comment.

Mr. Polson, who grew up in New York's Queens district, began his career still on the legendary investor, Leon Levy Odyssey Partners. Now 51 years old, Mr. Polson previously benefited from housing recession 15 years ago by buying in the New York apartment and a big house in the Hamptons on Long Island, both in the ransom sales.

After Odyssey, Mr. Polson - irrelevant to the Treasury secretary - has become a mergers and acquisitions investment banker at Bear Stearns Cos. He further merger arbitrager at Gruss & Co., often bidding on the bonds to lower the cost.

In 1994, he started his own hedge fund, with an emphasis on M & A. As of 2 million U.S. USA, he built it to 500 million U.S. Dollars by the year 2002 through a combination of its return and new money from investors. After the post-tech-bubble economic downturn, he bought up debt of struggling companies, and profit, as the economy recovered. His funds dry up Manhattan office decorated with sculptures of Alexander Calder, really well, but not spectacularly.

Auto Suppliers

By 2005, Mr. Polson, known as JP, worried that the economic power of the United States flag will be. He began to sell short the bonds of companies such as auto suppliers, that is, rates are falling in value. Instead, they kept growing, even bonds of companies in bankruptcy proceedings.

"This is crazy, Mr. Polson said analyst said his firm. He called their traders to find a way to protect their investment and profit if problems developed in the overall economy. This question he asked them:" Where is the bubble we can short? "

They found it in housing. Optimistic mortgage specialists kept repeating that home prices never fall on a national basis, or that the Fed may save on the market, a reduction in interest rates.

One of Wall Street during the boom specialty was re-mortgage securities, in documents called collateralized debt obligations, or CDOs, and then sell these pieces with varying degrees of risk.

For buyers of the pieces that want to insure against bad debt will be, Wall Street submitted another tool called credit-default swaps.

Of course, more risky debt that the swap "protected", the greater the swap will cost. And that price will go up if the default risk appears to be increasing. This meant an investor can buy a bearish bent swaps as a way to bet on bad news happening.

During the boom, however, many were so blind to housing risk that the "default insurance" was very cheap prices. An analysis of reams of data late in the evening in his office, Mr. Polson became convinced investors are far from underestimating the dangers in the mortgage market. In its bid to survive, "I have never been involved in trafficking that such unlimited up with very little down," he says.

Paulo Pelligrini, a portfolio manager at Polson and Co, has initiated a complex debt trades that would pay off if the lost value of the mortgage. One trade is to short risky CDO pieces.

Another is to buy on credit default swaps that complacent investors seem to be too low prices.

"We have received so much to take advantage of this as we can, Mr. Polson recalled telling a colleague around mid-2005, when optimism about the housing market was at its peak.

His bid was for the first losers. But lenders were becoming less and less strict about making sure that the borrowers can pay their mortgages. Mr. Polson research told him, the prices of homes have been flattening. Suspecting that the rating agencies have been too generous in assessing complex built from mortgage securities, it is his team begin to track tens of thousands of mortgages. They concluded, it is becoming increasingly difficult for creditors to collect.

His confidence grew in January 2006. Ameriquest Mortgage Co., then the largest manufacturer of "subprime loans for buyers with spotty credit, settled a probe of improper lending practices by agreeing to the $ 325 million payment. Transaction Mr. Polson is convinced that aggressive lending was widespread.

He decided to start hedge funds to bet against the extremely risky mortgages. Skeptical investors told him that others with more experience in the field remained optimistic, and that he had deviated from its area of expertise. Mr. Polson collected some 150 million U.S. USA for the new fund, mainly from European investors. It opened in mid-2006 with Mr. Pelligrini as co-manager.

Adding to Bet

Housing remains strong, and the fund lost money. A concerned friend called, asking Mr. Polson if it is going to reduce their losses. No, "I add" to bid, he responded, in accordance with the investor. He said his wife, it is simply a matter of expectations, and its ease stress five miles takes place in Central Park.

"Someone from a commercial background would be blown up on trade, and reducing its losses," said Peter Soros, George Soros a relative who invest in Polson funds. But, "if anything, the loss made him more determined."

Investors have recently acquired a new way to bet for or against subprime mortgages. This was ABX, index, which reflects the value of a basket of subprime mortgages for six months. Pointer those made in the first half of 2006 than in July 2006. In Polson means it is sold short.

Index weakened in the second half. By year end, the new Polson Credit Opportunities Fund was about 20%. Mr. Polson started the second such fund.

On February 7, 2007, ran a trader's office in a press release: New Century Financial Corp., another big subprime lender, predicted a quarterly loss and consolidation of earlier results.

Once-complacent investors are now starting to get worried. In ABX, which began with a value of 100 in July 2006 decreased by 60. New Polson funds grew by more than 60% in February alone.

But as his successes piled up, Mr. Polson bidding fretted that it might still go badly. Based on the accounts of barroom conversation, and other chatter on Bear Stearns trader, he became convinced that Bear Stearns and some other companies are planning to try to prop mortgage securities market by buying individual mortgages.

Adding to his suspicion, he heard that Bear Stearns group asked the industry to codify in law underwriter to modify or redeem a faltering pool of loans on which the mortgage security was founded. Mr. Polson said it would "give cover to market manipulation." He hired former Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Harvey Pitt to spread the word about this alleged threat.

Eventually, Bear Stearns withdrew the proposal. It was only on the clarification of "our right to continue to service loans - be that the loans will change when people are unable to pay their mortgage loans to purchase or when a department, as well as issues of guarantees involved in underwriting process", said the press Bear Stearns.

Events at Bear Stearns added to the disturbing soon: Bear Stearns two hedge funds, which invest in subprime mortgages collapsed in mid-2007. Suddenly, investors started to avoid such liens.

As Mr. Polson funds racked substantial profit, some of its investors have started telling others about the funds tactics. Mr. Polson was furious, worried that others will steal his thunder. He began using the technology that does not allow its customers from forwarding messages.

Since autumn, the ABX subprime-mortgage index crashed into 20. The funds' bid against him have paid off richly.

Credit-default swaps, that the funds in property has increased dramatically, as investors perception of risk almost panic levels, and they clamored for that insurance.

I sliced debt funds were bid will lose value really dropped - to almost worthless.

Debt Protection

One problem is that even if Mr. Polson bid law, it would be difficult to cash out their bets, as many of them were in markets with limited trade. This is not a problem, however, because of incorrect rates in some major banks and Wall Street firms. To hedge their holdings of mortgage securities, they scrambled to buy debt protection, which sometimes means buying that Mr. Polson, which have already taken place.

Result: In the old Polson credit funds grew 590% last year and a 350% later.

Mr. Polson is trying to keep a low profile, "he said reluctantly celebrate, but other causes pain housing. He told friends he will increase his charitable donations. In October, he gave $ 15 million Center for Responsible lending to fund legal aid for families facing redemption. In the center of the lobby for a law that would allow bankruptcy judges to restructure some of the mortgage.

Help Homeowners

"Although we have never made a subprime loan, and not predatory lenders, we believe that many homeowners were victims," said Mr. Polson. "Bankruptcy is the best way to keep homeowners in a house without cost government any money."

The bill also helps borrowers can help Polson means a bearish mortgage rates. If the result is that a judge reduce monthly payments on a number of mortgage loans, their market value can be affected. Mr Polson said that since then, some of its funds will benefit. The center said that none of the $ 15 million will be used for lobbying.

Mr. Polson, which was already worth more than 100 million U.S. USA before it suddenly does not change his routine much. He still gets his Manhattan office early - a dark suit and tie, unlike many hedge fund operators - and leaves around 6 pm for the short replace its East Side Hall.

One thing is different: It's easy to attract investors today. The company started 2007 management 7 billion U.S. USA. Investors pour into 6 billion U.S. USA most in the past year. This 2007 plus investment income increased the total company maintains its funding to $ 28 billion, making it one of the largest in the world.

Mr. Polson took profits on some, but not most, of its bid. He still bears on housing, predicting it will take years for home prices to recover. He also bid on other parts of the economy, such as credit cards and auto loans. He tells investors, "it is still not too late" to bet on economic issues.

At the same time, he expects the next turn in the cycle. In recent investor presentation, he said that his company will at some point "begin preparing for the possibility of troubled debt.

Real Estate: How Far | Will It Fall in 2008?

noreply@blogger.com (Alligator) — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 12:52:00 +0000

There is a big issue, threatening to homeowners and commercial real estate investors this year: It will get worse?

The past year has been the most painful in the decades to residential property, and defaults on loans to less creditworthy borrowers from increased credit squeeze. House prices fell, home ownership dropped, the ransom has increased dramatically, and the housing market into a soft hypogastrium in the economy.

Commercial real hit its peak in early 2007, when the private equity firms Blackstone Group LP paid 23 billion U.S. USA office giant shares Office Properties Trust, and then made some eyes. How tightening credit in all sectors of the economy, trade and property values tilted downwards for the first time in several years.

Housing prices may slide further this year as credit remains tight and interest rates for many mortgages are set to rise, or "reset" and could trigger a default.

Commercial real estate market, which includes, for example, offices, residential buildings and shopping centers, may continue to soften as the economic slowdown causes rents to rise at a slower pace than in the past.

Residential Blues

Exemption from the housing woes unlikely at any early date. "This will be another very bleak year in the worst place it in the first half," predicts Mark Zandi, chief economist at the economic research site Moody's Economy.com. "Inventory only increasing, and must be before there is stability in the market," he said.

In the third quarter of 2007, slightly more than 2.5% of all homes, or more than two million people have been vacant and for sale, according to the United States Census Bureau. After the first record had been maintained in 1965, the figure has never been higher than 2%, to the fourth quarter of 2005.

Demand may remain low, keeping prices low, as high-risk borrowers, which in the past could be subprime loans are deprived of the market. Borrowers with little, if any, money for the down payment, and those who do not want to document their finances also are likely to find will be tough.

House prices fell by 6,5%, as of October, since peaking in June 2006, according to S and P / Case-Shiller Home Price Index, which measures the values of homes in 20 cities. Daniel Mudd, government sponsored mortgage investors Fannie Mae, hopes for lower prices another 4% to 5% in 2008.

Among the worst affected residential markets of Florida, where thousands of high-rise condominiums under construction are expected to be completed in 2008. While buyers put deposits on many of these units, during the housing boom, developers worry that the decline in property values and tighter credit will lead buyers to refuse.

"People will not respond to the call to close," said Lewis Freeman, the Miami bankruptcy consultant who said he is busy, it was not possible to condo projects. If enough buyers can not close the entire projects can be sent to the default on construction loans.

This will be a difficult year for home builders faced with slow sales. In November, Levitt Corp. 's Levitt and Sons extrajudicial unit filed for bankruptcy protection. Tousa Inc., in Hollywood, Fla. Said that considering several "in and out of court restructuring and re-engineering" options, including a possible Chapter 11 bankruptcy registration.

Mr. Zandi model in predicting bottom in the housing market, in 2008, but only if the economy is at a relatively high level. "If the slides of a broad-based slowdown, it will not be until the end of this decade, that the market finds a bottom," he said.

Commercial Cracks

Optimism about the commercial real estate constrained availability of credit and slowly growing economy.

"Rent growth will continue to slow during 2008 as we face weaker demand and slower growth in the wider economy and create jobs," said Sam Chandan, chief economist Rice Inc. property research firm based in New York.

About 15% of property investors expect the price of office buildings to rise, according to the survey, real estate services firm Marcus and Millichap Real Estate Investment Services Inc. in Encino, Calif. Two years ago, 39% of property investors, it is expected price increases.

In 2007, the acquisition of shares Blackstone Office marked the high point of the commercial real estate market. At $ 23 billion has become the largest real estate transaction ever in dollar terms. Blackstone quickly turned around and sold many of the properties at prices so high that buyers may not see big profits from the first year of their investments.

In the frenzied deal making has come to symbolize the frothy evaluation investors were to pay for commercial real estate.

Moody's Investors Service, a division of Moody's Corp., in April said lenders "underwriting standards have become too weak during the preparation prices. Warning scared investors and bankers led to higher interest rates for borrowers and require more of their own money on the price.

Changing credit markets deflated value of commercial real estate. In late May, Tishman Speyer Properties, along with Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., said they will buy Archstone-Smith Trust, one of the largest apartment construction companies in terms of market capitalization, for 15.2 billion dollars USA. Before the deal was announced, Tishman Speyer and Lehman was lowered their tender price, citing the credit markets and unforeseen tax issues.

Rents and occupancy rates - the basis of property values - are expected to stay relatively firm in 2008. Mr. Chandan predicts landlords will be able to charge 6.2% more for office space in the current year. In 2007, rents increased by 10.4%.

Any decline in the commercial real estate will be different from the past, said Harvey Green, chief executive Marcus and Millichap, because, in contrast to the housing market, there has been relatively modest production of new supply.

"We were not in a big growth cycle rent to justify that much new construction," said Mr. Green.

Buying your dream house

noreply@blogger.com (Alligator) — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 13:19:00 +0000

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - You can imagine it: a white house, a picket fence, a brick walkway to a green front door, and a beautiful foyer. Backyard barbecues, a two-car garage, and a living room with plenty of space for your surround-sound theater.

Stop salivating. What's holding you back from buying that dream house? Do the words "housing bubble" keep you up at night?

You're not alone: experts are cringing too. Some are waiting for a pop, others for more ballooning growth.

All the talk has left many wannabe buyers on the sidelines. Hey, you can still buy that home in today's market, but read today's five tips first to learn how to do it wisely.

1. Walk around town

Okay, so we talk about the housing market as if every home in the country was selling the same way. It's not. Real estate is a local thing -- and I mean really local.

Take this example: Home prices in Bradenton, Florida jumped 45.6 percent in one year, according to the National Association of Realtors. But 13 miles away, in Sarasota, home prices only rose 36 percent. And 46 miles north in the Tampa, Clearwater, St. Petersburg area, home prices only rose 15.7 percent.

The moral of the story is you'd be wise to walk around town, and investigate growth in each market. Stephen Israel, president of Buyer's Edge, a company that represents homebuyers, recommends you take a list of zip codes to the local real estate agent.

Ask them to look up the one-year and five-year change in home prices in those zip codes. Avoid any standout zip codes, like Bradenton from the example above. Places where there have been major market swings can come with falling or leaping prices, and bidding wars.
2. Think location, location, location

Let's get down to it -- real estate 101. The most important thing to look for is great location, says Israel. After that, you want to look for the best lot, and then finally, look at the home.

Goes against your instinct, doesn't it? Remember, you can fix a house. But you can't move your house into the city's best school district, push it away from a freeway, or turn your shabby neighborhood chic.

When looking at location, make sure you look at proximity to city centers, transportation, the best schools, culture, and work centers. But think it through, and take into account where you live. Living near a bus stop may be a major plus in Brooklyn, NY, but it may be a disturbance in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.

When you're looking for the best lot, "Stay away from any major negatives," says Israel. The location and house may be great, but if there's a swampy backyard, the neighborhood looks dingy, or there are no trees on the lot, you could pay for it when it comes time for you to move again.
3. Don't show your cards

It's a seller's market. So be ready to play poker, my friends, and don't show your cards.

First off, be careful who you talk to. "Most consumers don't understand when they call number on a yard sign or speak to a person at an open house that they are talking to the seller's agent," the Massachusetts Association of Buyers Agents (MABA) warns.

The seller's agent is looking to find the best price possible for the seller's home. So don't tell them what you want to spend or what your motivations are for buying. It gives them bait to jack up the price.

And when you tour a house, be sure you don't make the so-called "$10,000 mistake" -- and exclaim, "I love this house," advises MABA. You'll pay for showing your emotion.

If you want to hire someone to be on your side, look for a buyer's agent, who can split the commission with the seller's agent in the sale. To find a list of buyer's agents, check out the National Association of Exclusive Buyer Agents, Web site: www.NAEBA.org.
4. Pay a smart premium

When you tour a house, make sure you take the time to evaluate the property correctly. Understand what the true value of the house is, and what premium is in the asking price. You're going to pay a premium in many markets because the market's hot. But just make sure you only pay a premium on a house that's worth it.

If it's a good property, it can stand up to any weakness coming in the market. "If you paid $550,000 for a home worth $500,000, you can feel okay knowing even if the market dumps, over time you'll make that 10 percent premium back just because it's a good property," says Israel.
5. Remember it's an investment

You've heard me say it: your home is probably the biggest investment you'll ever make. So treat it like one. Don't panic about the confusing current market conditions.

Israel says if you hold onto a house over the long-term, say five years, you can almost ignore the blips in the market. If your house devalues by 10 percent in the next three years, who cares, you'll probably live in it for seven, and by then, you might come out ahead.

NY, NJ highest payers of property tax

noreply@blogger.com (Alligator) — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 13:15:00 +0000

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- New Jersey and New York homeowners face the highest property taxes in the United States, according to a report released Tuesday by the Tax Foundation.

Of the top 10 counties ranked by median property taxes, five were in New York and five were in New Jersey. The Tax Foundation looked at data on 775 counties from the U.S. Census Bureau's 2005 American Community Survey.

Westchester County, north of New York City, ranked No. 1 with $7,337 in median property taxes paid. No. 2 was Nassau County on Long Island, with $7,025.

In New Jersey, Hunterdon County, Bergen County and Essex Country ranked three, four and five, respectively.

The highest county on the list not located in either New York or New Jersey was Lake County, Ill., ranked No. 15. The median property tax paid in that county totaled $5,393.

Fairfield County, Conn. ranked 17 with $5,213 in property taxes paid.

The counties before and after those two exceptions were located in New York and New Jersey.

Gerald Prante, staff economist at Tax Foundation, which advocates for tax reform, says wherever the housing boom has been big, the property taxes are likely to rise.

If property values fall, it will depend on local governments whether or not property taxes do, too.

"If local governments get used to the revenue, they may continue to raise taxes," said Prante. "Or they can keep tax rates low and keep spending low."

On the other end of the list, St. Landry Parish, La., ranked 774 and local homeowners paid $127 in property taxes.

Apache County, Ariz. ranked 775. Local homeowners there paid $126 in property taxes.

Property taxes are meant to be equalized among homeowners to provide revenue to the locality, said Richard Roll, president of the American Homeowners Association.

If property values go up there's no justification to increase property taxes unless there's a new cost to local budget, Roll said.

Unfunded federal mandates, however, help push tax burdens onto state and local municipalities, which raise significant taxes from property values, Roll said.

Then property taxes "acts as a backdoor tax hike. The tax gets buried because people's property taxes are often paid monthly with their mortgage," Roll said.

For this reason, homeowners should scrutinize their tax assessment, Roll advises.

The American Homeowners Association provides a free property tax reduction kit at ahahome.com/propertytax.

Tax assessors' offices are notoriously understaffed, leaving many to rely on software or even outside companies to figure out your bill, CNN's Gerri Willis reported in the October issue of Money Magazine.

Even when an assessor visits, he may just eyeball your property from the sidewalk or the front seat of a car.

The American Homeowners Association (AHA) estimates that 60% of homes are assessed too high, so it pays to scrutinize your assessment line by line.

"There are uneven changes in neighborhood," said Roll. "The changes are uneven generally. That's why it behooves homeowners to check."

Foreign investors favor NY real estate

noreply@blogger.com (Alligator) — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 13:14:00 +0000

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Big Apple and the nation's capital edged out other world cities as the top spots for foreign commercial real estate dollars, according to a trade group survey released Monday.

The Association of Foreign Investors in Real Estate said foreign investors named New York as the No. 1 city for commercial real estate investment, up from No. 2 the prior year. Washington, D.C., and London tied for second, while Paris followed at fourth and Shanghai at fifth.

The results marked the first time U.S. cities have taken the top two spots since the category was added to the annual survey.

The survey also showed that foreign investors overwhelmingly believe the U.S. offers the most stable and secure real estate investments despite recent credit market disruptions and a slowing economy.

The U.S. market also offers the best opportunity for capital appreciation, investors said, followed by China, India, Russia and Mexico.

On average, investors said U.S. assets will make up more than 50 percent of their real estate acquisitions this year, roughly the same as last year. The weak dollar has not yet prompted any increase in U.S. allocation, 85 percent of respondents said.

U.S. retail ranked as the most preferred property type among foreign investors. Hotels came in second, followed by industrial, multifamily and office.

The survey was conducted in the fourth quarter of 2007 among the group's 200 members.

Real Estate Investing Returns Calculations

noreply@blogger.com (Alligator) — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 13:07:00 +0000

Calculating projected returns can be of paramount importance when deciding on whether or not to pull the trigger on any particular investment property whether it be here in Kansas City or elsewhere. After all, real estate investing is about securing a return. Without that return your money would do better to be somewhere else.

So before buying that next "income" property you need to know whether there will be any income. (That's why I get paid the big dollars.)
Of course how you calculate that return is completely up to you. Jeff Brown recently discussed his Einsteinian theory over at BawldGuy. See the post here. And a nice little Q&A session happened in the comments section so be sure to read those, as well.
Let me just say that I prefer to know what the equity return on any investment property will be before I buy it. What is equity return? Quite simply it's how much I am receiving in benefits divided by how much I have invested.

Remember the 4 Benefits of real estate investing?

1. Cash flow before taxes.
2. Principal reduction.
3. Depreciation.
4. Appreciation.

Let's take the calculation of these step by step.

#1 was cash flow before taxes. Simple enough. Just take the amount the property is actually bringing in and subtract the amount the investment property is actually costing you. What's left over is your cash flow before taxes.

#2 was principal reduction. Again, quite simple to figure out based on the loan you have taken out. If you took out an interest only loan (you're welcome, Jeff) then you won't have any. If you have taken out almost any other kind of loan you can just look at your amortization table and figure out how much principal reduction there should be in any given year for your rental home.

#3 is depreciation. Okay, I could do an entire post here. Or two. If you are breaking down your depreciation between land and building only then you depreciate the building over 27.5 years. Rather simple to calculate and all you have to do to figure out the number is to refer to a depreciation table as to when you put your rental property into service.

If you choose to accelerate your depreciation through cost segregation then you will need to do some more figuring. But it's really only a few more steps. Although, that may be over simplifying things.

#4 is appreciation. Wow! Have you ever tried to predict appreciation? How did that work out for you? Listen, you can guess at what it will be and be awfully darn sure of what it was. But when figuring out if an investment property will be a good buy RIGHT NOW you are going to want to buy a rental property that will make sense based on the previous 3 benefits of real estate investing. Then appreciation is icing on the cake! And you wouldn't buy a cake unless you knew it would have icing, right? (I know, there's pineapple upside down cake. But let's move on.)

Again, before buying your next Kansas City real estate investment property you need to know before you buy whether or not that was a good idea. Take the time to work through your calculations to see if the rental property will be a good buy or a drain on your current resources. After knowing you are making a good investment then you can go back to planning your retirement worth having.

Hiring a Super for the Long Haul

noreply@blogger.com (Alligator) — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 06:26:00 +0000

THINK that finding a spouse is tough? Try hiring a building superintendent.

“You must use extreme caution,” said Herb Rose, a co-op and condominium consultant in Manhattan, “because firing a superintendent could be like going through a divorce, only worse.”

The first issue, Mr. Rose said, is whether the building is a union or nonunion building.

The employees of most large multifamily rental buildings in New York, as well as most large co-ops and condominiums, are members of the Service Employees International Union’s Local 32BJ.

Kate Ferranti, a spokeswoman, says that the union helps to negotiate starting salaries at individual buildings, but that subsequent raises are based on the union contract.

Newly hired superintendents must serve a six-month probationary period during which the building can fire them, but after that, the union contract ensures that they are not fired arbitrarily.

And that is why making the right choice is so important.

Mr. Berg said that a super must possess a combination of skills, including, of course, the mechanical skills necessary to deal with day-to-day issues involving the building’s heating plant, electrical system, plumbing and general maintenance.

Supers also have to have “people skills.” In residential buildings, that will mean dealing with the people who own or rent the apartments, and in a co-op or condo, supers will be reporting to a board of directors and often to a management company as well. In larger buildings, the super will also be directing a number of other maintenance people.

Mr. Rose, the consultant, said the first thing an owner or board should do when hiring a super is to review references thoroughly. As he put it, “You want to find out why the guy left his last job, and you also want to make sure he seems to be the kind of person who will stay with you for a good length of time.”

It is also wise to run a credit check and a criminal background check on all prospects.

Another thing to consider, Mr. Rose said, is that you will not just be hiring an employee, you will be gaining a neighbor as well. “You are going to be living with this family,” he said, “so you want to make sure all the personalities are compatible.”

Neil Garfinkel, a Manhattan real estate lawyer, said that while most supers are expected to do basic maintenance or supervise those who do, a building hiring a super may need specific skills. “If you have a building whose boiler is always breaking down,” he said, “you want someone who really knows boilers.”

Michael Berenson, president of Akam Associates, a Manhattan management company, said that supers being hired today should also have basic computer skills and the ability to compose regular detailed reports on the status of the building.

Mr. Berenson says that supers’ pay varies widely, depending on the size the building and experience and skills.

“I’ve seen salaries range from $40,000 to $100,000” in New York City, he said, adding that a super will also usually get an apartment and utilities free — benefits that can be worth several thousand dollars a month.

Will Offering Plans Be Online?

noreply@blogger.com (Alligator) — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 06:26:00 +0000

Q Can the offering plan for a condo be found on the Internet?

A “Not yet,” said Alfred M. Taffae, a Manhattan co-op and condo lawyer.

Under the New York State’s General Business Law, co-op and condo sales must be made under the terms of an offering plan filed with the Law Department.

The law also requires that prospective purchasers (and tenants in residence in a building being converted) be provided with a “true copy” of the plan.

That’s usually interpreted as meaning a physical printed-and-bound copy, not a virtual copy.

In addition, the law provides that unless a purchaser has had at least three business days to review the plan, he or she has seven days to back out of the purchase.

“Providing the offering plan online would create difficulties in establishing compliance with these disclosure requirements and timelines,” Mr. Taffae said. “To date the attorney general’s office has not approved the idea, and until it does, it won’t happen.”

An additional concern, Mr. Taffae said, is ensuring that the online copies are, and remain, “true copies.”

“Providing these materials online could result in unintentional alterations through programming mistakes or deliberate alterations by hackers,” he said.

Season of Discontent

noreply@blogger.com (Alligator) — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 06:25:00 +0000

THERE may be gloom and uncertainty in the housing market in this winter of economic discontent, but for the small number of brokers serving the truly rich in Manhattan, there is discontent for another reason: the dearth of trophy apartments in trophy buildings.

While prices may be plummeting in Florida, California and Nevada, pity the poor broker who complained last week that she had a businessman from halfway around the world who had tens of millions of dollars to spend, and was looking for at least 5,000 square feet, but then had precious few apartments in Manhattan from which to choose.

Or as another broker, John Burger of Brown Harris Stevens, observed, in Manhattan real estate the law of supply and demand is sometimes turned upside down. “The higher the price point, the more limited the choices,” he said. “When you have an unlimited budget, you have very few choices.”

At the hottest New York buildings, some resales listed a few weeks ago are now in contract. At least four resales are in contract and waiting to close at the Time Warner Center in Columbus Circle, and the first two resales are now in contract at 15 Central Park West, which opened last year a few blocks away.

Doug Russell and his son, Matthew, both brokers at Brown Harris Stevens, asked for sealed bids last month on a three-bedroom with river views at 15 Central Park West, with an asking price of $12.5 million, after they were besieged with offers.

The winning bidder visited the apartment five times, with parents and friends, but hesitated. “They flew in and looked again and said they didn’t want it,” he said. The next highest bidders, also over the original asking price, then stepped up and signed a contract a few days ago, he said.

And now, brokers say, it appears that a record may have been set for the most money paid per square foot at another trophy building — the Pierre Hotel on Fifth Avenue and 60th Street. A $25 million co-op apartment has just been sold to a European buyer, according to brokers. Meredyth Hull Smith, a broker at Sotheby’s International Realty, who had the listing, confirmed that a sale had just closed but declined to provide details.

The price for the nine-room, three-bedroom apartment with Central Park views works out to $7,000 to $8,000 a square foot, or even more, based on a floor plan with room measurements included with the listing, depending on whether interior columns and a separate maid’s room are included.

That would place it above the $6,288 a square foot paid last August by Sanford I. Weill, the former chairman and chief executive of Citigroup, for a penthouse with terraces facing Central Park at 15 Central Park West. That was widely regarded as the highest price per square foot for a trophy apartment in Manhattan.

And last Wednesday, the most expensive co-op was sold — a $46 million duplex at 1060 Fifth Avenue. It was bought by Scott A. Bommer, a hedge fund manager, who received permission from the board to combine two apartments. The unit was previously owned by Georgia Shreve, a writer. She was never successful in past attempts to combine the two apartments. Mr. Burger and colleagues at Brown Harris Stevens represented the seller.

At the Time Warner Center, buyers and sellers are planning a mass closing on Monday — not for buyers looking to get into one of the most sought-after buildings in Manhattan, but to allow current owners to trade up to larger apartments.

The current owner of the 65th-floor apartment in the south tower, once owned by Ricky Martin, the pop star, is trading up to a 75th-floor apartment listed at $25 million in the same tower. An owner of a 66th-floor apartment in the north tower is trading up to the old Ricky Martin apartment.

When the deal for the old Ricky Martin apartment was made, the sale price was said to have been close to the asking price of $17.9 million, which was reduced from $18.9 million. The sellers, impatient to move, had actually agreed to a lower price of $15.85 million, according to a broker briefed on the transaction.

“While the market is very hot and the building is very hot, we had an opportunity to negotiate almost 20 percent off for our client,” said Adam Modlin of the Modlin Group.

The buyers of the old Ricky Martin apartment in turn listed their apartment in the north tower and agreed to sell it for just under $6 million, so they can apply the cash toward their purchase.

With No Time to Spare

noreply@blogger.com (Alligator) — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 06:23:00 +0000

THERE was only a narrow window of opportunity for Kimberly Noble and Eric Carvin, who married last May, to find a new home.

As a resident in pediatrics, Dr. Noble would need to be at work at 6 a.m., and sometimes earlier, so location was paramount. “This is not a time in her life when she needs a long commute,” Mr. Carvin said.

At the same time, she had no idea where she would be commuting to. She had applied to residency programs at several hospitals in the city, but wouldn’t find out where she would end up until match day, March 15.

Then, she would face another narrow window — just over three months — for moving, graduating and marrying, before starting work in June.

“There is no way of ensuring you will find the perfect apartment right when you need it,” she said, “but I started looking, really, years ahead of time.”

Dr. Noble, 31, who is from Broomall, Pa., a Philadelphia suburb, earned all of her degrees, including a joint M.D./Ph.D., from the University of Pennsylvania. As part of her Ph.D. program, she came to New York to study cognitive development in children from differing socioeconomic backgrounds.

A lab mate of hers, suspecting a good fit, fixed her up with a friend’s roommate. That was Mr. Carvin, a Yale graduate from Indialantic, Fla. He and his roommate shared a small two-bedroom on Second Avenue near 12th Street.

Dr. Noble later displaced the roommate. The rent there, which began at nearly $1,700 a decade ago when he moved in, had risen to nearly $2,200.

“Kim will point out that it was really dark, but I would point out that it was really quiet,” said Mr. Carvin, 34, an editor for The Associated Press.

Though Dr. Noble had long been keeping an eye on the market, the couple began hunting seriously for a co-op a year ago. Their budget was something less than $500,000. They concentrated on the Upper West Side, hopeful that she would be assigned to New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center at 168th Street and Broadway. The plan was to be ready to sign on a home the moment she found out.

If they bought too soon, they ran the risk that she would be assigned to a faraway hospital and stuck with a long commute. If they waited, they would have to continue the hunt while she traveled from the East Village. In the worst-case scenario, they figured that they could quickly find a convenient rental, or maybe get a car.

In the West 120s, the two-bedroom co-ops they could afford seemed inconveniently far from the train. In a more central location, they could afford only a one-bedroom, though they hoped for some space convertible to a future nursery if need be. In their price range, few places met that requirement.

One that did was on West 102nd Street overlooking Broadway. The listing price was $449,000, reduced from $465,000, with a monthly maintenance of $766.

The layout even allowed for an extra small bedroom with an actual window. “It got a lot of sun,” Mr. Carvin said, “which was novel to me.”

They also visited the Lincoln Guild building on West 66th Street, where a sunny, spacious one-bedroom was available for $495,000.

They were warned that the place showed badly. An elderly man, headed for a nursing home, lay in a hospital bed in the middle of the living room.

As a physician, “I wasn’t freaked out,” Dr. Noble said. She noticed that the dining room was “a separate bedroom waiting to be made.”

The neighborhood, though, seemed characterless and deserted, tucked away near Freedom Place, in the far West 60s. “It is not the New York that I know,” Mr. Carvin said. “It was a long walk to most stuff you might need in your life.”

Because of the size, however, “we felt we couldn’t not put a bid on it,” he said. They found themselves relieved when the seller rejected their low offer of $425,000.

Back at the 102nd Street building, they saw a slightly larger one-bedroom on a higher floor, but it was a pricey $525,000. So they offered $432,000 for the one they had originally liked. The building required just 20 percent down, another incentive.

“They were meticulous in terms of their research,” said the listing agent, Kristina Ojdanic of the Corcoran Group. “They really needed to be sure this was the right apartment for them and they were paying the right price.”

They hadn’t yet signed a contract, and they kept hunting in case the deal didn’t pan out or they found a place they liked even more. They almost did on West 70th Street, in a prime location just west of Broadway. There was no extra space for a nursery, but it had been renovated recently and well.

They offered $475,000, then changed their minds and withdrew their offer.

They were finding themselves increasingly partial to the diverse, middle-class neighborhood farther uptown, sometimes called Bloomingdale. “It seems there is change and growth going on,” Mr. Carvin said.

Still, he hated to leave the East Village. “That was my New York the whole time I had been here,” he said.

They delayed signing a contract on the 102nd Street apartment because they were afraid to commit to the deal if they didn’t know where Dr. Noble would be working. Meanwhile, Ms. Ojdanic held another open house for that apartment. “We didn’t have another offer and the owner wanted someone for backup,” she said.

Dr. Noble and Mr. Carvin went to check out the competition. The place was jammed. Dr. Noble was alarmed to see a sign-in sheet four pages long.

“There weren’t a lot of one-bedrooms on the market, and this one was very attractively priced,” Ms. Ojdanic said.

The day before Dr. Noble was to find out her location for at least the next three years, she signed the contract. Off she went to Philadelphia, where she would receive the news at the University of Pennsylvania. New York-Presbyterian it was!

Elated, she called Mr. Carvin, who ran to their lawyer’s office to add his signature.

They quickly began some small renovations — installing new fixtures in the kitchen and bathroom, and adding a bedroom closet. (They are, however, no longer convinced that it’s possible to carve a baby room from the living room.)

After their wedding in Philadelphia and honeymoon on the Iberian Peninsula, Dr. Noble began work.

“I’m sure a huge portion of this was luck, but we were able to coordinate it,” she said.

Now, she rises at 5 a.m. for what is sometimes a 27-hour shift, walks a block to the subway, and rides the train for 20 minutes or less. All that slows her down is the lumbering, stuffy elevator at the 168th Street station. She and her colleagues call it, fondly, the tuberculator.

Foreign Retailers Follow Their Shoppers to New York

noreply@blogger.com (Alligator) — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 06:22:00 +0000

New York’s chic shopping districts seem to be teeming these days with foreign tourists, particularly Europeans, who have flown over to take advantage of the weak dollar. Less noticeable, perhaps, is the spate of new foreign shops. But brokers say that foreign retailers are also spending lavishly in New York.

“We are seeing record levels of retailers coming from overseas to open flagship stores in coveted Manhattan addresses,” said Faith Hope Consolo, the chairwoman of the retail leasing and sales division of Prudential Douglas Elliman.

Ms. Consolo said there are a few hundred foreign-owned shops open in Manhattan, and she and several other retail brokers agreed that activity among foreign retailers had been exceptionally strong in the last year.

Ms. Consolo alone has completed deals in recent months for retailers from Japan, Switzerland and Canada.

“This is partly because of the advantage of the euro versus the dollar now, but also because their sales volume here is so much higher than anywhere else,” she said.

“The foreign tourists don’t go to the theater as much. Their No. 1 pastime is shopping.”

David LaPierre, a retail broker at CB Richard Ellis, said the market for retail space in Manhattan was “clearly being buoyed by the weakness of the dollar.” Nationwide, the market for retail space is flat, at best, he said, but retail rents have kept rising in Manhattan, in part because foreign retailers were signing new leases.

“Foreign retailers are coming here for multiple reasons,” Mr. LaPierre said. “They know that their loyal customers are coming here to shop now, because of the dollar. But they also want to be in the New York market to build their brand in the U.S.”

Brokers say that most foreign retailers favor a handful of neighborhoods where international tourists congregate, like SoHo and the meatpacking district — two trendy neighborhoods in Lower Manhattan — and Fifth Avenue and Madison Avenue in Midtown.

They say foreign retailers are much less interested in opening shops in areas that appeal primarily to American tourists, like Times Square, or to local residents, like Columbus Avenue.

For example, Iris, a shoe retailer from Italy, recently opened a small ground-level boutique at 827 Washington Street, at Little West 12th Street. This is in the heart of the meatpacking district, which was a gritty corner of the West Village until just a few years ago.

In Midtown, a Japanese jeweler called Niwaka recently opened a 2,000-square-foot store in Rockefeller Center, on the street level at 608 Fifth Avenue, at 49th Street. And Fogal, a Swiss lingerie store, signed a lease in November for a 500-square-foot ground-level store at 609 Madison Avenue, at 58th Street.

In areas that are attractive to foreign retailers, rents are somewhat cheaper in the meatpacking district — around $350 a square foot annually at street level — than they are in SoHo, where brokers say that prime street-level space can rent for around $500 a square foot. But in the busiest sections of Fifth and Madison Avenues, annual rents have soared in recent years — reaching $1,000 to $1,500 a square foot.

One reason that these neighborhoods appeal to foreign tourists and retailers alike might be that they remind them of home, said Karen Bellantoni, a retail broker at Robert K. Futterman & Associates. “SoHo, with its cobblestone streets, feels very much like Europe,” she said, while Fifth and Madison Avenues are like the Champs-Élysées, the fashionable shopping thoroughfare in Paris.

Or there might be a more prosaic explanation. Many foreign retailers that do not yet have brand recognition in New York may be more inclined to rely on foot traffic than their big-name American counterparts, said Joanne Podell, an executive director in Cushman & Wakefield’s retail services division.

But the search for a prime location in these important shopping districts can take years. For example, Mango, a global fashion chain based in Barcelona, Spain, took about four years to find a suitable site in SoHo. It recently opened an 8,000-square-foot street-level store at 561 Broadway, between Prince and Spring Streets.

Susan Kurland, the CB Richard Ellis broker who represented Mango, said the company had the option of expanding to the basement, although it does not have to pay rent for that space unless it decides to convert it for retail use.

Mango, which is privately owned, has grown to more than 1,100 stores in 90 countries since its founder, Isak Andic, opened the first store in Barcelona in 1985. The company opened its first American store in Los Angeles about a year and a half ago. But Jose Gomez, senior vice president in charge of business development for Mango, said it took longer to open a store in New York because of the long hunt for space.

He said he wanted to open a second store on Fifth Avenue, but he has his heart set on a location above 49th Street, where there are seldom vacancies. “Fortunately, we have the luxury of time,” he said, because Mango is a private company that is not beholden to shareholders.

Marc Ullrich, the co-founder and chief executive of Lumas, a privately owned chain of photo galleries based in Berlin, said he thought it had become much harder to find retail space at a reasonable price in the crucial neighborhoods in Manhattan.

Lumas has a bright and airy store in SoHo, at 77 Wooster Street. Like all 13 stores in this global chain, it sells limited-edition photographs signed by the artists. But unlike most high-end art galleries, Lumas sells 100 to 150 copies of each image, so prices are more affordable.

Mr. Ullrich secured the lease in SoHo a couple of years ago. But he said he was having a much harder time finding a reasonably priced space in Midtown. He said rents on Madison Avenue were too steep for a photo gallery, so he was looking for another location in the 50s.

The meatpacking district appeals to some fashion designers who want to promote a more cutting-edge image. “SoHo has its charm, but it has existed for such a long time; it felt like the lazy move,” said Tia Cibani, the creative director of the fashion company Ports 1961. “The meatpacking district seemed like the riskier move.”

Ports 1961 is a subsidiary of Ports International, a Toronto-based fashion company with a large presence in China and Hong Kong.

Ports 1961 recently signed a lease for a 10,000-square-foot building on Ninth Avenue between Gansevoort and Horatio Streets. Ms. Cibani said the company planned to open a store at street level and use the basement for storage and offices. She said the two floors above the store would become her new design studio.

The Ports 1961 store will open in late summer with Ms. Cibani’s fall collection, which she will present next week at Fashion Week in Bryant Park.

DeCamp Bus Line No. 66 From the Port Authority to Upper Montclair, N.J.

noreply@blogger.com (Alligator) — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 06:22:00 +0000

9 p.m., Jan. 29 Tuesday

Montclair, N.J., is a town of options. “There are three middle school choices, and they are all good,” said Robert Smith, a father of two and a professor at CUNY. A year ago, Mr. Smith and his wife moved there from the Bronx, because their children were nearing middle-school age, and they weren’t happy with city schools.

Although it was the major reason for the Smith family’s move, education is not the only category in which Montclair offers decent choices. The commute is another: residents have easy access to both the bus and the train. (And if they choose rail, they can select from among six train stations in the township.)

While the train is the more popular mode in the morning, the bus still has a strong following — especially at night — when it runs more frequently. Tuesday night’s bus at 9 p.m. was packed largely with professionals, couples and 20-something singles.

At the Port Authority, Patricia Cronin was first in line at the gate. She moved from Battery Park City to what she jokingly referred to as “the Upper West Side of the suburbs” 14 years ago. “Our son was a year old and we wanted to raise him in the suburbs,” she said.

The commute played a large role in where she and her husband considered living. “We took a map and looked at train schedules for Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North,” she said, explaining how she and her husband had narrowed their home search to Montclair. “I work long hours and my husband works in Midtown, and we didn’t want to commute more than one and a half hours all in.”

Ms. Cronin said that she used to take the train, but has switched to the bus because it offers more frequent and more convenient service in the evening. “Most of theses buses will stop at whatever corner you ring.”

Last night’s certainly did. People signaled for personal bus stops every few minutes, and the bus easily pulled to the side of the charming, tree-lined residential main road. Despite the apparent ease of the post-rush-hour commute — peak times are a different, traffic-filled story — the DeCamp bus line has lost many passengers to New Jersey Transit’s Midtown Direct service.

“It’s affected us dramatically,” said Gary Pard, vice president of operations. “We used to run 9,400 passengers a day.”

In 2002, New Jersey Transit began rail service from Montclair to Midtown. “When that opened we dropped to 7,200 a day. We’ve since regained some of those and are back to 7,600 a day.” He acknowledged the convenience of the railroad and its imperviousness to traffic (bus delays, he said, are the most common complaint he hears), but attributed the slight rebound to the economy, the bus’s schedule, and people’s preference to avoid the hassle and expense of parking and driving.

“I’ve heard DeCamp has lost customers to the train, but I still struggle to get a seat on most days,” Ms. Cronin said. “But I think the bus is great.”

Nicholas Genchi is also a bus fan. “You have to pay for parking in Montclair,” he said. “Decamp runs on Grove Street; I don’t have to worry about parking, I live right on Grove.” An employee at HBO, Mr. Genchi, 25, recently bought a condo in Clifton, N.J., the town where he grew up. “I looked in Clifton, Lyndhurst, Rutherford, Bellevue,” he said. “I looked mostly for location but also for commute. Most places didn’t have bus or train stops as easily accessible as walking out the front door and walking to Grove Street.”

Robert and Sean, a couple who commute from the Flatiron District (and asked that their last names not be used), also conducted a thorough search before settling on Montclair three months ago. After rattling off a list of potential communities they had considered — Jersey City, Bronx, Yonkers, and “everywhere in New York City” — Sean said they wound up in Montclair “because we could get a plot of land for less than a one-bedroom in the city. Considerably less.” They also knew friends living there already, and the commute seemed painless.

“The commute was very important, but we probably didn’t know exactly what it’d be like,” Sean said. “It’s harder than we thought it’d be, but we’re just getting used to it.”

The change from their Brooklyn lifestyles and the complications of suburb-to-city traffic required an adjustment to their morning schedules. Robert now goes to work around 7 a.m. to avoid the rush, and Sean goes in late, around 9:30 a.m. They both travel home on the 9 p.m. bus.

One thing they’ve learned so far is that despite having two separate commuting methods, those options are inextricably linked. “When you commute from New Jersey, if one way is off, then all ways are affected,” Sean noted. “So if the train is not running, the bus is overcrowded.” He noted that the bus is often overcrowded regardless of the train’s status. But in the end, even with all the pros and cons of both Montclair commutes, it’s still better to have a choice.

Commute Time

37 minutes

At a Glance

Thanks to pick-ups and drop-offs at nearly any requested corner along the route, DeCamp Bus Lines delivers Montclair-area residents almost to their doorsteps. Nevertheless, the company has lost riders to New Jersey Transit’s Midtown Direct line. Montclair has six train stations for commuters to choose from, and the railroad isn’t plagued by the same traffic delays that the bus is.

Where It Goes

The No. 66 bus line runs from the Port Authority to West Orange, N.J. It makes stops in Clifton, Montclair (including Montclair University), Upper Montclair, and West Orange.

Strategies

“Live on the beginning or middle of the bus route so you can get a seat,” said Sean, a recent Brooklyn transplant to Montclair. “Standing is dangerous and we’ve seen people get thrown. The aisles get full, especially in the morning.”

Trivia

DeCamp Bus Lines is the oldest privately-owned bus company in the country. “And proud of it,” said Gary Pard, the vice president of operations, “despite the complaints.” By the end of March, he expects the company’s Web site to be revamped to include route maps, fare schedules, online customer service and the ability to send traffic notices to subscribers — the latter in the hopes of allaying the most common gripe, delays.

Martz Trailways Bus from Mount Pocono, Pa., to the Port Authority in Manhattan

noreply@blogger.com (Alligator) — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 06:21:00 +0000

5:30 a.m., Jan. 28 Monday.

I was amazed by the stamina of the passengers lined up outside the Mount Pocono bus station in the freezing cold at 5:15 a.m. Monday morning. Certainly, it’s not unusual for families to flee the city for the promise of, as one woman put it, “a country lifestyle,” but to achieve a standard of living with safer neighborhoods and better schools, some commuters wake up around 3 a.m. (for those catching one of the even earlier buses) to catch a two-hour bus, to work eight hours and then get back on the bus for a two- to three-hour return trip — in traffic.

“The commute is definitely something you have to consider,” said my seatmate as we pulled away from the Mount Pocono station in Pennsylvania, headed to the Port Authority in Manhattan. “If it wasn’t for the kids, I would still be in the city,” she whispered almost inaudibly, because she did not want to disturb the other passengers.

The morning was pitch black and silent, and so was the bus. There was not a sound uttered or a cellphone opened. I thought I knew about quiet commutes from riding the morning subways, but this was a complete vacuum. Subways were frat parties compared to this.

My seatmate (who asked to remain anonymous) had come prepared with earplugs and a mini blanket. She was a pro, and as I squinted around in the dark, I could see she wasn’t the only one. Neck pillows, headrests, perfectly arranged coats — the Poconos commuters don’t fool around.

They may get up early, but they go right back to bed once they sit down. Their bus ride is an extension of their night’s sleep. An errant cellphone rang at 6:15 a.m. and its owner was angrily shushed. Later, I noticed men in the front row signing silently to each other. At one point during the ride, I even heard someone snoring.

“You gotta do what you gotta do,” my seatmate, a Brooklyn transplant, had told me before she put her earplugs back in and nodded off. The commute was not easy for her, and she wasn’t the only one whose original good intentions had resulted in long, difficult mornings.

The long day — with two hours of commuting each way and an eight-hour workday, many commuters are away from home for 12 hours at a time — can take its toll. “And it’s expensive,” said Josephine Ragusa, who moved with her husband and daughters from Long Island 10 months ago. The back-and-forth is already getting to her. “I’m looking into taking the postal exam to work up here and be closer to my family,” she told me, referring to the exam post office workers take, before she boarded the bus.

One of the problems is that the jobs are in Manhattan. “I thought I’d get work up there, but the jobs don’t pay as well,” complained a woman waiting at the Port Authority to catch the bus back to the Poconos last week. After 10 years of trying to find a high enough salary in her area, she had to go back to her old city job. For a while, she was willing to take on the commute, but that has changed. “It isn’t worth it to me anymore,” she said. “It was a good idea at the time. Our kids were little and were in school. Now we question what we’re doing up there.”

“It’s not for everyone; they move back,” agreed Diana Stanley, a former Bronx resident, who was standing next to her. “Martz is not cheap,” she said, referring to the bus line. “People will move up there thinking it’s cheaper to live, but it’s not.” One of the unexpected catches, she told me, was that although property tax is lower than in New York City, many transplants did not fully anticipate additional costs like heating a home during harsh winters or the heavy commuting, which she figures costs her $6,000 a year. “We have a high rate of foreclosure up there,” she added.

Ms. Stanley wasn’t the only one to voice this concern. Both drivers who shuttled me between the bus stop and my hotel (I’d come up the night before to catch the early commute on Monday morning), were Brooklyn transplants who’d given up commuting and found jobs in the area. “The lure is that the Poconos is the promised land because of low taxes and jobs,” said Tom, who asked not to use his last name. “But it’s not true. School taxes are outrageous and jobs are low paying.” Most pay, he said, is only “$7 to $10 an hour.”

Looking around at the crowd of sleepers on the 5:30 a.m. bus (the fifth one out of Mount Pocono that morning; the earliest bus leaves at 4.10 a.m.), it was clear that they had come to a similar conclusion and knew that they still had to work in the city to accommodate their country lifestyles. However, for them — for now, at least — it was still worth it.

At a Glance

Martz Trailways provides a slew of commuter buses between Pennsylvania’s Pocono region and Manhattan. The ride slowly changes from a mountain view to a city view, with sleep and sunrise as the main attractions.

Where It Goes

One of the most heavily populated routes, the bus from Mount Pocono travels through Pennsylvania and New Jersey along Interstate 80 to I-280 to I-95 and through the Lincoln Tunnel, stopping at the Port Authority and then Wall Street.

Commute Time and Cost

120 minutes from Mount Pocono to the Port Authority.

One way: $30

20 trips: $247.00

Strategies

Arrive at the station 10 to 15 minutes before the scheduled departure time. A line will form and you have to be in it to get a seat. There is a bathroom on board, but it’s probably best to wait until you’re at work to have your morning coffee.

Trivia

Talk of a train connecting the Poconos to New Jersey has been around for a decade, but nothing has come of it. “I didn’t think much about the commute,” said a woman in line at the Mount Pocono bus station who moved from Long Island 13 years ago. “The train was supposed to be here in less than two years.” A man standing in front of her overheard and laughed knowingly, “Yeah, that was a bummer.”

Commuting: The Ferocity and the Fun

noreply@blogger.com (Alligator) — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 06:19:00 +0000

ON Jan. 2, commuters in and around New York City woke up and celebrated the new year by going back to work. On that day and every workday since, I have been commuting with them, traveling in and out of the city to write an online series called Next Stop for The New York Times about how people get to their jobs and what they think of the ritual they go through twice a day.

I have been on Metro-North, New Jersey Transit, the Long Island Rail Road, subways, buses, a tram and a ferry. What I’ve observed so far has reinforced some hard truths about commuting.

For many people, it is the bane of their existence. For others, it’s a trial worth bearing to be near their family, to live in a place they can afford or to get to the job they love. In the more unusual cases, commuting provides downtime and an opportunity for camaraderie.

The daily trek requires weighing priorities: convenience, speed, proximity and, of course, money. A small investment ($2) buys you a hard seat on the subway or a pole to hang on to. A little more money ($5) secures you an express bus like the X68 to Floral Park, with stunning views from the Queensboro Bridge. An even larger payment ($15) lands you a cushy chair on a Hudson River ferry with a balcony, strolling room and free morning coffee.

The subway is the most democratic option. The same $2 will carry any rider from the high-priced real estate of Manhattan to the more affordable outer reaches of the city. As a result, you can see trains gentrifying in the same way real estate does; just ride the G train from its Brooklyn terminus, at Smith and Ninth Streets in Carroll Gardens, to Long Island City, Queens, to see how the passengers mirror the changing neighborhoods.

Most democratic does not mean most popular, however, and the unhappiest travelers I found were on the subway. Worn out by drudgery, angered by slow service, they were the most vocal and the least satisfied, and that makes sense.

Subway commuters rely on these trains for their day-to-day needs the way suburbanites rely on cars: to take the kids to after-school activities, to see the doctor, to go out at night. For them, the subway is not just a way to get to work, it’s a way to get everywhere.

Despite their deep wells of anger, subway riders were generally the most reticent and the most difficult to engage. In a city of ubiquitous crowds, their commute remains a bastion of anonymity. It inspires (and requires) deliberately ignoring other people’s presence, an oblivion that goes beyond just avoiding their eyes or pretending to be absorbed by the grammatical errors of the M.T.A.’s “Subtalk” ads.

These passengers are used to crowded spaces, and they create personal cocoons. Think about it: How often have you seen people clipping their nails as if they were in their own bathrooms?

Other types of commuters have the opposite experiences. A group of Haverstraw residents who take the New York Water Taxi to Wall Street have become fast friends — they even hold onboard happy hours on Friday evenings, taking turns bringing food and drinks.

Similarly, the bar car on the Metro-North New Haven line, the tram from Roosevelt Island and even the X68 express bus to Floral Park, Queens, have all sparked real friendships, a benefit that helps to transform the daily trek from something that must be endured to something that can be enjoyed.

I will continue commuting and posting articles for the next week. From my experience so far, it seems that people choose a commute based on a few not-so-simple factors: where they want to live and where they can afford to live, and what they are willing to put up with to get there. But no matter how they decide or how much they spend, they all end up with stories to tell.

Following are excerpts from the Next Stop articles:

Metro-North Harlem Line

From Fordham, the Bronx, to Chappaqua, N.Y.

When I ducked into the train car out of Friday morning’s drizzle, it was filled with the sound of women laughing. I found the jovial quartet at the back of the car. ...

These four Caribbean women have been commuting together for the past 10 years. Though they get on at different stops — Harlem-125th Street and Fordham — they turn their short commute to Chappaqua into a social outing. ...

All four women were headed to child-care jobs. As we chatted, the conversation brought into focus one of the challenges of reverse commutes in general: getting from your end station to your place of work. And for this reverse commute specifically, there is another challenge — getting to the Fordham station in the first place, since it seemed that many of the riders boarding there had arrived by cab or bus from all over the Bronx. ...

G Train

From Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, to Long Island City, Queens

The G train isn’t like other trains.

Over the years, innumerable articles, blogs and forums have referred to the G train as the stepchild of the subway system. But that’s not quite right — it’s not the stepchild, it’s more like that unwanted drunk uncle everyone has. It’s embarrassing and awkward and doesn’t quite behave as it’s supposed to. “Everybody loves to hate on the G train,” said Antonia Santiago, a purple-haired 26-year-old woman who boarded at Bedford-Nostrand with a host of commuters who had clearly been living in that neighborhood long before she was. “But the thing people don’t realize is that it’s actually on a schedule. You gotta love the G train. If you love it, it’ll love you back.” ...

No. 7 Train

From Flushing, Queens, to Times Square

Stopping at a succession of ethnically diverse neighborhoods, the No. 7 lived up to its nickname as the International Express. Just glancing around the cars as we sped, elevated, over one of the most diverse counties in the country, the passengers represented a perfect cross section of New York City.

You could even see it in the foods people had for their breakfasts: a piece of tropical fruit, a Chinese bun, a bagel and coffee. ...

By the time the train hit the next few stops in Long Island City, a shift in population that had started subtly back in Jackson Heights was becoming more obvious.

Formerly an Upper East Side resident (and before that, Flushing), Shannyn Kirwan moved to Jackson Heights two years ago to buy her own home. “I wanted to buy a place, and this was the most affordable,” said Ms. Kirwan, who is 28 and works near Wall Street. ...

As the train pulled closer to Manhattan, the evidence of gentrification intensified.

Newly constructed high-rise condos loomed in the distance by Hunters Point Avenue and Vernon Boulevard-Jackson Avenue, and the people getting on the train started to look more like expats from Manhattan than adults who’d spent their childhoods in Queens. ...

New York Water Taxi

From Pier 11 in Manhattan to Haverstraw, N.Y.

... The small group of Haverstraw regulars, six to 10 people who travel by ferry from Rockland County every day, cannot praise it enough.

Before the ferry service began from Haverstraw in September, residents of the area had few options for getting to the city, and they all involved complicated combinations of car, bus, train and subway.

“I always emphasize the camaraderie,” said Alberto Flores, a Haverstraw regular who works in the financial district. “Everyone has different backgrounds, but here, we’re all friends.” ...

PATH Train

From Hoboken, N.J., to 33rd Street and from Journal Square to 33rd Street

... Commuters I interrupted from their quick morning naps had ditched city life for greener backyards and bigger houses. Andrew Chan and his wife moved to West Orange, N.J., seven years ago from Bay Ridge, Brooklyn.

“The main thing was housing,” he said. “It was pretty inexpensive at that time, and we wanted more room.”

The commute was an afterthought. “At the time, I didn’t think too much about it, but after we found a place, I looked at a few maps and talked to neighbors,” he said. “We could take an express bus to the city, but it’s over $200 a month for one person.” ...

X68 Express Bus

From Midtown to Floral Park, Queens

People who take the express bus are a special breed. They are willing to pay more — express tickets are $5 for a one-way ride — gamble on the potential for traffic and stand out in the cold. ...

Julie Yan and Ana Giannola met on this bus route two and a half years ago, and have become friends. ...

“I love it out there,” Ms. Giannola said, referring to Floral Park. “As a first-time homeowner, I’m close to everything.”

Both women could take the Long Island Rail Road into Manhattan, but since they work on the East Side, winding up at Penn Station would be more hindrance than help.

Mindy Wagner moved from Flushing to Hollis, Queens, two years ago, and she knew she was giving up a more convenient subway commute. “This takes longer and is more expensive, but I like the bus because it’s a nap, and I know I’m getting a seat,” she said, alluding to the rule that forbids any standing passengers. ...

Roosevelt Island Tram

To 59th Street and Second Avenue

...Eric Schwartzman rides the tram with his young daughter every morning and said that on occasion he has waited for a less crowded car just so she can get the prized “special seat.” It’s actually just a step stool between the conductor’s stand and the tram’s back bench, but it provides the step up in height needed so that small children are able to see out the windows. ...

As the Manhattan-bound commuters pile onto the tram, they all seemed to know one another. They even made sure that their children said hello and goodbye to Gregg Paravati, the amiable conductor who chanced upon the job 32 years ago and has been working the trams ever since.

Bubble-Gum Pink to a Restful Beige

noreply@blogger.com (Alligator) — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 06:15:00 +0000

“I COULD have been Liberace’s daughter,” said Betsy Sue Kleban Rathe during a tour of her apartment.

She was alluding to her taste for crystal chandeliers and zebra-striped upholstery. But in her latest apartment, the décor is relatively sedate, thanks to the input of Henning Meisner, an interior designer.

Mrs. Rathe and her husband, Richard, hired Mr. Meisner of Alveary Architecture in Chelsea to help reconcile her taste — which she describes as bling — and his taste, which extends to Bauhaus.

Much of the place is beige, which Mrs. Rathe (pronounced wrath) admits isn’t her favorite color. “All I could think was, ‘I am going to be in a beige casket for a long time when I die.’ ” Until then, she said, “I like to be surrounded by bright colors.”

But her husband wanted something less startling than the bubble-gum pink walls of their previous apartment, and they decided to defer to Mr. Meisner.

“I learned a lot from Henning,” Mrs. Rathe said, “I’ve got to give him credit. Because I’m not easy to teach.”

Mr. Meisner had a good canvas to work on. The condominium, with 13-foot ceilings and French doors the size of swimming pools, sprawls over more than 3,000 square feet of the neo-Classical-style bank building between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenues and 73rd and 74th Streets.

Known as the Central Bank Building when it opened in 1928, it was designed by York & Sawyer, the firm also responsible for the Federal Reserve Bank in Lower Manhattan. It is now known as the Apple Bank Building, after the current occupant of the barrel-vaulted banking hall.

In the Rathe apartment, nine-foot-high windows face the Ansonia, the fabled apartment building across Broadway. Its facade is so ornate, the effect is like looking out at flocked wallpaper.

Which is fine with the Rathes, who have a well-honed taste for luxury.

Mr. Rathe, 59, is an owner of the Gotham Bar and Grill, the downtown restaurant. He is also a real estate developer and a principal in the Jack Russell Group, which designs and builds trade exhibitions.

For years, Mr. Rathe was a partner with his brother, Robert, in Rathe Productions, which was founded in 1947 by their father, Fred, a former Macy’s display designer. That company built exhibitions at Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty.

Mrs. Rathe, 51, has the title of creative consultant at Kleban Properties, a Connecticut real estate company founded by her father, Albert J. Kleban. The Rathes’ two daughters, Emma and Montana, are both students at the University of Pennsylvania.

During a tour of the apartment, Mrs. Rathe explained that the kitchen is small for a good reason. “This is how I cook,” she said, reaching for the phone and pretending to dial.

Besides, she said, “we couldn’t make the kitchen bigger, because we needed room for this.” She opened a door and revealed a treadmill and an elliptical trainer.

Her husband does like to cook, he said, but is content to do so in their much larger kitchen in Water Mill, on Long Island. Mr. Rathe keeps a Ferrari in the garage there. “It’s a very bling statement,” said his wife, chiding her husband for what she calls his double standard.

Mr. Rathe grew up in Manhattan and bought his first apartment 25 years ago. That place, on East 86th Street, had an 1,800-square-foot wraparound terrace. Mrs. Rathe, who grew up in Connecticut, moved in with him and began remaking the interiors.

There were so many bright colors that “people would ask if I was getting the house ready for Halloween,” she said. Accessories included antique porcelain dogs with feather boas wrapped around their necks. “It wasn’t calming,” she said.

When their younger daughter left for college, Mrs. Rathe was ready to move to the Upper West Side, which, she said, represented freedom.

The couple sold their apartment and moved to a rental in the Belnord, a West 86th Street building famous for its oversize rooms and epic landlord-tenant disputes. It was in the gym at the Belnord that she met Mr. Meisner, who was born in Germany and whom she found intriguingly “reserved and proper.”

At the time, the Rathes needed a designer to help redo their house on Long Island, which had been damaged in a flood. They were also looking for an apartment to buy. But Mrs. Rathe wasn’t in a hurry, she said, because her three dogs — Leo, Henry and Charlie — were happy where they were.

One day, she was walking past the Apple Bank Building with her housekeeper, who urged her to take a look inside. As it turns out, the building has an eighth-floor dog grooming parlor, which Mrs. Rathe considers a wonderful amenity.

An apartment was available that was within the budget the couple had set. (The Rathes declined to say how much they paid, but three duplexes in the 29-unit building are now on the market for $4.085 million to $5.8 million, or about $1,850 a square foot.)

At the time the Rathes bought their apartment, it was still under construction, which allowed them to modify the layout with the help of Mr. Meisner’s firm.

Their entry foyer, covered with murals inspired by Corot and painted by Glenn Palmer-Smith, a New York artist, suggests an outdoor courtyard. The dining room displays a very large crystal chandelier.

In the bedroom, there’s a gold canopy bed, “like what a Saudi Arabian prince might want for his daughter,” said Mrs. Rathe, who, left to her own devices, would have picked something even grander.

Now that Mr. Meisner has finished his work on the apartment, Mrs. Rathe can’t resist adding things like bright red pillows for the sofas.

“Before Henning comes over,” she said, “I hide things in the closets.”