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2009 AskRey Westchester Market Report

Houses

Closings were down 12% to 3,358 closings for single family homes in Westchester County in 2009. Prices were down 11% respectively for the same period in the county, making the median price for a new house $580,000, just above prices in 2003. Normally a dismal reporting period, but with an up-beat tone, since each quarter saw progressive improvements over record lows in 2008. Transactions are brisk at the beginning of 2010, and realtors are optimistic that a “tortoise recovery” is taking place. The outlook for the future still looks like lower prices, prompting a collective groan from sellers and a cheer from buyers. The transaction volume should pick up in 2010 while buyers take advantage of record low interest rates and play beat the clock for the $8000 tax credit.

Investments

Multi-families experienced a more dramatic drop in 2009. The median sold price for 2-4 family investment property was $380,000, down 20% from last year. Prices were at 2002 levels. The number of closings however was up 33% from the previous year, evidencing that investors were jumping back into the market after plummeting prices generated some great deals for the future Trumps.

Condos

The median condo sold for $355,000 in 2009, down 8% from last year. Prices had been rising steadily until 2007. 2009 saw the sharpest decline in the condo market seen in years and reflected the overall economic condition in the market. Closings also declined 18% in 2009 to 825 transactions. The decline was not as harsh as 2008’s record dip of 31%, but the trend may continue creating more inventory for buyers, further pushing prices downward.

Cooperatives

The median coop sold for $174,500, down 6% from last year. Closings were down 18% from the previous year. The number of transactions was the lowest seen in more than 10 years, reflecting frustrated sellers and tentative buyers. Only three states have coops and New York in one of them. Cheaper than condos, coops require board approval, so new buyers looking for deals had to have their down payments in order, and financials straight to purchase. 2010 looks like cheaper prices and more deals.

Future Outlook

The outlook for 2010 depends greatly on the job market. Given the perfect storm of low interest rates, low purchase prices, and government incentives up the wazoo, buyers still seem tentative to pull the trigger. Recent indications seem to suggest that many buyers are dipping their toes in the water, while smart investors are diving in to snap up those fat cows and golden gooses. Wall Street bonuses seem to have returned, so let’s see if they jump start a great 2010.

Click here, If you would like a quarterly market report for your neighborhood delivered securely to your inbox…AskRey.

Rey Hollingsworth Falu

Licensed Associate Real Estate Broker

Houlihan Lawrence - Bronxville

Direct 917-855-0277

rhollingsworth@houlihanlawrence.com

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Top 10 High Value Remodeling Projects

Every year Remodeling Magazine does a study of which remodeling projects return the highest value for the dollars invested. It’s called the Cost vs. Value Report. They ranked the remodeling projects that returned the biggest impact upon sale of the house. Here are the top ten in the Tri-state area.

If you would like a free home analysis of ten low cost projects you can do, to increase the value of your home…AskRey.

Click here to join the AskRey Blog Ezine.

Rey Hollingsworth Falu

Licensed Associate Real Estate Broker

Houlihan Lawrence - Bronxville

Direct 917-855-0277

rhollingsworth@houlihanlawrence.com

IRS’ New Rules to Claim Homebuyer Tax Credit

• The Internal Revenue Service recently released the new form that eligible homebuyers need to claim the first-time homebuyer credit this tax season and announced processing of those tax returns will begin in mid-February. The IRS also announced new documentation requirements to deter fraud related to the first-time homebuyer credit.

  With the release of Form 5405, First-Time Homebuyer Credit and Repayment of the Credit,and the related instructions eligible homebuyers can now start to file their 2009 tax returns.
  
  In addition to filling out a Form 5405, all eligible homebuyers must include with their 2009 tax returns one of the following documents in order to receive the credit:
  

  • A copy of the settlement statement showing all parties' names and signatures, property address, sales price, and date of purchase. Normally, this is the properly executed Form HUD-1, Settlement Statement.
  • For mobile home purchasers who are unable to get a settlement statement, a copy of the executed retail sales contract showing all parties' names and signatures, property address, purchase price and date of purchase.
  • For a newly constructed home where a settlement statement is not available, a copy of the certificate of occupancy showing the owner’s name, property address and date of the certificate.
    

  In addition, the new law allows a long-time resident of the same main home to claim the homebuyer credit if they purchase a new principal residence. To qualify, eligible taxpayers must show that they lived in their old homes for a five-consecutive-year period during the eight-year period ending on the purchase date of the new home. The IRS has stepped up compliance checks involving the homebuyer credit, and it encouraged homebuyers claiming this part of the credit to avoid refund delays by attaching documentation covering the five-consecutive-year period:
  

  • Form 1098, Mortgage Interest Statement, or substitute mortgage interest statements,
  • Property tax records or
  • Homeowner’s insurance records.
    

  More details on claiming the credit can be found in the instructions to Form 5405, as well as on theFirst-Time Homebuyer Credit page on IRS.gov.

  Source: IRS.gov

Homebuyer Tax Credit Changes in 2010

How to Buy a Home: For Women

This article is only for women … so men please walk away from the computer now….

OK ladies are we alone yet? Good. So I will admit a few things to you. Maybe you gals are smarter than us, and perhaps you do mature a little faster. Maybe you do make meticulous plans for the purchase of your new home and perhaps your “significant other” is a clueless bag of meat walking around saying “I don’t know, what do you think?” But we definitely bench press more than you, so I think that just about makes us even.

We are not however even when it comes to purchasing a new home. Everybody knows that the woman makes the home purchasing decision (with few notable exceptions). You gals are the ones combing the internet home listings at 2:00AM. You show up at the open houses a year before you are ready to actually purchase a house. (Grrrrrr… that is frustrating by the way.) You are the ones planning out what wall colors will match your bedroom and living room furniture. You are even starting to outnumber the men at Home Depot!!! So since you have become the Sadie Hawkins of home buying, I would like to offer you some tips to help make it a pleasurable run.

Please make sure that your man thinks that the decision was his. Yes, I know some of you are masters of this game already. But for those of you that are not, let me school you. If your man thinks you are making all the purchasing decisions, then he will thwart your every move. He really only cares about a few things anyway; where the television will go, where the car will go, and how much this will cost him. So ask him what he wants and make sure he thinks he is getting it. Lots of kisses work and make sure you tell him how smart he is. We love that!

Prioritize your search. I don’t even know you, but I already know what you are looking for. Let me guess. You want a home in a great neighborhood. It’s got to have enough bedrooms for the family plus an extra room would be nice. It’s got to have somewhere to park your car. You must be in a great school district. You need a great view with updated kitchen and bathrooms and enough closet space. Oh… and you want it for the price of a foreclosure you saw on TV. Am I close? You can get all this, but probably not for the price you want, so prioritize.

Finally, don’t go out until you are really ready. Ready means you have a pre-approval from a real lender. (not Joe-Shmo Financial) Ready means you have real down payment money sitting in a real bank account. Ready means you have already walked through the neighborhood you are considering buying into. Do not wait for your realtor to take you there. You go first. Ready means that you don’t have another house to sell or a lease to break to buy this home.

As I always tell husbands, “Happy Wife, Happy Life”, so… what was that?...  Shhhhh… what’s his name is coming back. Um...Err... like I was saying, Westchester has some great homes for couples like yourselves. I would love to help you. ;)

To find wonderful Westchester single family homes, condos and coops… AskRey.

Riverdale Jr Four Back on Market

Large Junior Four

• 885 sq. ft., 1 bath, 1 bdrm single story - MLS® $187,000 - Back on the Market

Riverdale, Bronx  -  Large Junior four coop (1.5 bedroom) in this beautiful pre-war building in the heart of Riverdale. Enjoy an oversized living room, updated full bath and eat in kitchen. Close to shops and houses of worship. Minutes to NYC via Metro North, MTA Hudson Rail Link buses will shuttle you to and from station. Near Manhattan College. Take advantage of the $8000 Tax Credit if you close before 12/01/2009.

Property information

4 Bedroom Back on Market in Fleetwood

Corner Lot

• 2,038 sq. ft., 3 bath, 3 bdrm single story - MLS® $399,000 - Short Sale

Fleetwood, Mount Vernon  -  Large three bedroom home for sale in Fleetwood on a corner lot. Bonus room on third floor. Step inside this beautifully maintained home and you will find hardwood floors, high ceilings, bay windows, custom woodwork, stained glass windows, and a fireplace. Corner lot includes driveway, a patio and plenty of space. Priced under market due to short sale. Take advantage of the $8000 Tax Credit if you close before 12/01/2009.

Property information

2 Bedroom For Rent in Northwest Yonkers

New Private Home

• 1,080 sq. ft., 1 bath, 2 bdrm single story - MLS® $1,500 USD Monthly - Incls Heat/Water/W&D

Northwest Yonkers, Yonkers  -  Two Bedroom rental in a private house on a cul-de-sac. Enjoy the first floor of this newly built home for rent. Rental already inludes heat, hot water, parking, dishwasher and washer/dryer in the unit! Beautiful residential community. Call for an appointment.

Property information

Westchester Market Report 2009 3rd Quarter

Westchester County NY reported a 9.7% decrease from last year’s 3^rd quarter home sales transactions. The median sale price of a single family house in Westchester was $630,000, a decrease of $80,000 or nearly 11% from last year. This would be horrible news if it weren’t for the abysmal performance of the market in the first two quarters, which were down 31% and 37% respectively.

Westchester closed 1898 transactions last quarter; down only 9.7% from the same time last year. The most severely affected properties were homes selling above $1 Million. Before 2008 million dollar homes were 25% of all transactions. In 2009, they fell to 13%, 17% and 20% by quarter.

All recent activity seems to indicate 2009 is slowly improving but will fall below 2008 levels. This follows the trend of lower prices and fewer transactions in recent history. Are we at the bottom? Job losses play a role in answering this question. Mortgage rates are still at historical lows. Buyers are taking advantage of the $8,000 first-time homebuyers’ tax credit, which has been extended past 2009 (with provisions). To get the full WPMLS Westchester report, go to AskRey.net and click on the RE NEWS tab, or…. AskRey.

Make Love to Your Bedroom

As a full time Westchester realtor, I have probably seen over 500 master bedrooms this year alone. I keep asking myself the same question.  Are couples really making love here? Don’t get me wrong. To each his own, I always say. But I know some of these bedrooms aren’t seeing any action. Plus the state of some bedrooms is hurting the sale of the house. So I put together some helpful hints to increase the probability of selling your home by making love to your bedroom.

1.       Make your bed. The simple most effective way to keep a master bedroom looking good is to make the bed every day. Your bed is the centerpiece of the room and visually takes up two thirds of the view. Sheets, comforter, pillows, bed skirt, pillow shams and euro pillows. Make it look like a 5-star hotel room. It will do wonders for presentation.

2.       Take the television out of the bedroom. Are you watching TV at night instead of “entertaining” each other? Cut it out. Bedrooms are for sleeping and … you get the point. Your bedroom television isn’t helping the sale and isn’t helping your love life either. Move it to another room. If you need it to watch “videos” that’s what your laptop is for.

3.       Act like an adult. How old are you? Don’t you think it’s time to dump the wonder woman bedspread? I like Spiderman too, but I don’t want him slinging webs across my comforter. All you sports fans need to tone down the bedroom shrines to Jeter and the 2004 Red Sox. If you want to sell this house, your customer may not like your team and you don’t want that to influence their decision to make an offer.

4.       Music, Candles, Romantic Crap. Please excuse the testosterone but I understand the value of music, candles and that other romantic crap. I get it, and so does your buyer. They are likely a young couple looking for their dream home. So give them the vision they want.  Make them fall in love again with each other in your bedroom. Cha-ching.

5.       It’s a bedroom not an office. Move the office anywhere else. Move it into a closet if you have to but don’t crowd your bedroom. Today’s buyers want big bedrooms so the less crowded the better. Plus hasn’t your spouse been asking you to do this for a while?

6.       It’s not your bedroom anymore. Now it’s your customers’ bedroom. So remove the chotchkies. Few photos good, many photos bad. Keep dressers and side table clear. Let them see what it would look like with their stuff.

7.       Make love to your bedroom. Look around and ask yourself, would another person make love in here? If the answer is no, then they are not buying that house. Do what you must to make it inviting and romantic. It will help your love life and help sell the home.

If you need a professional opinion on your bedroom… AskRey.

3 Story Commercial Building with Lot For Sale in Downtown Mount Vernon

Vacant Lot Included!

• 55,500 sq. ft., 7 bath 3 story - MLS® $3,790,000 - 55,500 Sqft Building

Downtown Mount Vernon, Mount Vernon  -  Two properties for sale. 15 S 5th Ave is a 55,500 sqft office building in downtown Mount Vernon. 3 stories, elevator, full basement level, high ceilings, steel framed & brick exterior. Ready to finish. Great location. 15 S 6th Ave is a 100ft x 105ft vacant lot. Both one block from City Hall, two blocks from Metro North stop, 23 minutes from Grand Central Station.

Property information

One Bedroom Bronxville Coop For Sale

Guranteed Parking

• 750 sq. ft., 1 bath, 1 bdrm apartment - MLS® $104,900 - Deal Fell Thru!

Bronx River Road, Yonkers  -  Why are you still renting? Visit this renovated one bedroom Bronxville coop and I promise you will not regret your visit. You have a renovated kitchen, beautiful hardwood floors, renovated lobby and laundry room. No wait list for your guaranteed parking space. Heat and hot water are already paid for in your low maintenance. Close to Metro North (24 minutes from Grand Central Station). Minutes from shopping. Start owning for less than your rental. Take advantage of the $8000 Tax Credit if you close before 12/01/2009.

Property information

4 Family Short Sale Back on Market in East Mount Vernon

Wake Up Investors!

• 4,460 sq. ft., 6 bath, 12 bdrm 2 story - MLS® $512,000 - 4-Family Income Producer

East Mount Vernon, Mount Vernon  -  Four family with basement money maker for sale. One apartment vacant. Has been legally separated into two two-families. Fully rented and available for investor. Short sale. STAR exemption combined discount of $2238. Take advantage of the $8000 Tax Credit if you close before 12/01/2009.

Property information

Best Schools in Westchester

Pennington Elementary School in Mount Vernon, the Greenvale School in Scarsdale and FE Bellows Elementary in Mamaroneck have been awarded the 2009 Blue Ribbon Schools by the Federal Department of Education.

The prestigious Blue Ribbon Schools Program honors public and private elementary, middle and high schools that are either academically superior or that demonstrate dramatic gains in student achievement to high levels. Westchester boasts three of the nineteen public schools in the state that were awarded this honor. The schools will be recognized in Washington DC, and serve as models for other schools throughout the nation. No private New York state schools were recognized this year.

Given the recent controversy over President Obama’s speech to the nation’s students about the importance of education and its impact on the country, it is good to see Westchester’s students achieving at such a high level. It is also personally gratifying to see a Mount Vernon school among the top in the nation, given the amount of bad press this district has seen.

Well done Westchester elementary students, teachers, administrators and parents and keep up the good work! Click here to see the full list.

New York State Offers Mortgage Credit Certificates (MCC)

This guy has been getting a lot of flack lately. Most of it unjustified. However you Empire state home buyers should be giving Gov. Patterson a standing ovation for creating the NYS Mortgage Credit Certificate (MCC). It allows first time home buyers to claim a tax credit equal to 20% of your annual mortgage interest costs.

Most of you are aware of the $8000 Federal government’s tax credit which expires November 30th of this year. Gov. Patterson decided to keep the party going with the MCC, because it gives you a tax break even after the federal credit expires.

The MCC allows first time home buyers to deduct, dollar for dollar, 20% of the amount paid in mortgage interest from your federal tax return. According to the state, in the 1st year of ownership, a new owner with a $150,000 loan at 5.5% interest rate will likely pay $8,200 in interest. The MCC allows you to claim 20% or $1,640 as a direct tax credit. That’s $137 per month in savings.

New homebuyers should apply for the MCC when you apply for your mortgage from your lender. SONYMA will administer the program and more details can be found at http://www.nyhomes.org.

Buyers can still get the $8000 federal tax credit if you close before Nov 30th of this year. MCC applications should be ready by the middle of September 2009. Also buyers who already have commitment letters should be able to apply to their lenders for the MCC before closing.
Time is a tickin, so if you haven’t found your dream home yet…AskRey.