The numbers: Pending home sales fell a seasonally adjusted 1.5% in April and were 2% lower than a year ago, the National Association of Realtors said Thursday. The consensus Econoday forecast was for a 0.5% increase. What happened: NAR’s index, which tracks home-contract signings, has been volatile, but the trend is solidly downward. April marked the 16th-straight month of annual declines. Contract signings precede closings by about 45-60 days, so the pending home-sales index is a leading indicator for upcoming existing-home sales reports. Only the Midwest saw an increase in April, with a 1.3% uptick. Pending sales were down 1.8% in the Northeast, 2.5% in the South, and 1.8% in the West. Big picture: Housing seemed to be bouncing back from the rough patch at the end of 2018, but as 2019 winds on, that picture is becoming more blurry. On Tuesday, the widely-followed Case-Shiller index showed home prices had risen at the slowest pace since mid-2012 in March. What they’re saying: “Real estate agents throughout the U.S. may have to brace for a more sluggish market than anticipated based on last month’s decline in home showing activity, the ninth consecutive month of a nationwide year-over-year decrease,” according to an index from ShowingTime, which compiles data about property showings. But the Realtor lobby group remains upbeat. “It’s inevitable for sales to turn higher in a few months,” NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said. Market reaction: The 10-year U.S. Treasury note, which sets the tone for fixed-rate mortgage rates, is down again in the most recent week, offering an affordability boost to would-be house hunters. The post Pending Home Sales Fall, Marking the 16th Straight Month of Annual Declines appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com®. via https://www.realtor.com/news/real-estate-news/pending-home-sales-fall-marking-the-16th-straight-month-of-annual-declines/
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The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.99% in the May 30 week, down from 4.06%, Freddie Mac said Thursday. That marked a 16-month low for the popular product, which has eked out a weekly rise only six times so far in 2019. The 15-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.46%, down from 3.51%. The 5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage averaged 3.60%, down 8 basis points. Rates have tumbled for the past few weeks, in line with the broader bond market, on concerns about a U.S.-China trade war and overall slowing global growth. When investors grow worried about future growth, fixed-income assets like bonds look more attractive, and when bond prices rise, yields fall. Fixed-rate mortgages follow the 10-year U.S. Treasury note. But Americans aren’t taking advantage of the rate lull the way they may have been expected to. Mortgage applications for both purchases and refinances fell in the most recent week, the Mortgage Bankers Association said Wednesday. “It is possible that the trade dispute is causing potential homeowners to hold off on buying, with the fear that further escalation – or the lack of resolution – may have adverse impacts on the economy and housing market,” the group said in a release. All eyes are on the crucial spring selling season, in hopes that sales activity will shed more light on the health of the market. Many analysts believed that the market wobble in the second half of 2018 was a one-off, and with rates backing off, more Americans would be lured back into the market. That may turn out to be too optimistic. The post Mortgage Rates Slide Below 4% as the Trade War Buffets Markets appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com®. via https://www.realtor.com/news/real-estate-news/mortgage-rates-slide-below-4-as-the-trade-war-buffets-markets/ The Memphis Grizzlies’ forward Chandler Parsons is selling the immaculate modern farmhouse he bought just a couple of years ago. The home in Los Angeles just landed on the market for $13.5 million. Parsons scored a great deal on the place in 2017, when he paid “only” $10.9 million. That was a bargain, considering that he scored the home for $2.4 million less than the original asking price of $13.3 million. Sitting on three-quarters of an acre near the Bel Air Hotel, the residence features every possible upscale, baller-worthy amenity. There’s a top-of-the-line chef’s kitchen, a full bar and wine cellar, home theater, and a grand entry with double staircase. Measuring in at nearly 12,000 square feet, the interiors of the six-bedroom home truly shine. The backyard is private and built for entertaining, with an outdoor kitchen, pool, basketball half-court, and plenty of seating. Although he’s currently situated in Memphis during the season, Parsons spends a lot of time in Los Angeles. Most recently, he was linked to model Cassie Amato, who lives in SoCal. But according to TMZ, the couple recently split, meaning that Parsons is a single man once again. Maybe he’s ditching the house because it’s filled with too many memories of love lost, or perhaps he sees a juicy money-making opportunity. Either way, Parsons has decided the time is right to part with this luxury property, giving someone else a shot at living in high style. Parsons is heading into the final year of his mind-blowing $94 million contract. A prime candidate to be dealt or bought out, his playing out the 2019-20 NBA season in Grind City remains in doubt. But the couple of million he stands to make on this sale of this property can just go on the pile. Put another way, it’s nice to be Chandler Parsons—really nice. The post Chandler Parsons Lists Bel Air Bachelor Paradise for $13.5M appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com®. via https://www.realtor.com/news/celebrity-real-estate/chandler-parsons-selling-bel-air-bachelor-paradise/ All that glitters is gold when you’re talking about high-end real estate along the Atlantic Ocean. The Golden Isles are a chain of barrier islands sitting midway between Savannah, GA, and Jacksonville, FL. If you’re unfamiliar with names like St. Simons Island, Little St. Simons Island, Sea Island, Jekyll Island, and Brunswick, that’s because they’re hidden gems along Georgia’s oft-overlooked coastline. The island chain offers just the right blend of notoriety and privacy and was tabbed last year as “The Secluded Island Hideaways for America’s Rich and Famous” by the Wall Street Journal. In addition to seclusion, the allure of these isles is intimately tied to golf. In fact, the golf tradition of the Golden Isles dates back at least a century. With a backdrop of golf history and award-winning courses, it’s no surprise that pro golfers have snapped up homes in the Golden Isles. Golf Hall of Famer Davis Love III is one such linksman. The 21-time PGA Tour winner owns a pristine plantation-style home on St. Simons Island. Love’s 5-acre spread is located in a private, serene neighborhood and includes a fully functioning farm. Known as Sinclair Farm, Love’s summery sanctuary is way, way above par. It’s currently on the market for $4.48 million and eagerly awaits a buyer in search of a place with a golden reputation. There’s only one divot—the golfer’s home has been up for sale for six long years. We’ll spare you the albatross jokes. In 2013, Love’s property landed on the market at a price of $5.5 million. So what’s the holdup? Why aren’t buyers swooning over Love’s beautiful island compound? St. Simons Island offers the best of island life. The plantation-style house is gorgeous. The property is enormous and lush. We’re talking endless summer, twinkling stars on clear nights with fireflies flitting around. The beach right around the corner. To dig in to the reasons, we spoke with a couple of local agents. An abundance of optionsOn Sea Island and St. Simons Island, there are over 50 listings priced between $1 million and $14 million, according to Rhonda NeSmith, an agent with Coldwell Banker Platinum Partners. “People who can afford to buy in this price range have options,” she said. “This property is really nice and private, but a lot of people come to the area to be either in a golf community or on the water.” Love’s secluded property is located in an area with only six other homes, and the street to reach the home is quite dark and winding, NeSmith said. With an abundance of waterfront and golf course properties available, this lovely island spread might be … too remote? The listing mentions views of a marsh in the distance. NeSmith said “distance” is a bit of an understatement: “There’s a 50-acre property in between this one and the marsh, so there’s not much to see in that regard.” However, the views of the sky are unparalleled. NeSmith told us, “I can guarantee the view of the night sky from this property is an amazing sight.” The home is also competing with luxury homes on the other Golden Isles, and many of those options are gated, private islands for residents only. New construction in the area also plays a role. Even though Love’s home is only two decades old, many high-end buyers want a place with no previous owners. “This home was built in 1999,” said Maria Jennings, real estate agent with DeLoach Sotheby’s International Realty. “There’s a fair amount of new construction in the area. This presents some competition for this kind of home.” The vacation vibeJennings told us the Golden Isles are a popular destination for vacationers, retirees, and owners of second homes. “The island tends to attract retirees that want to downsize,” Jennings said. “They’re looking for something that’s easy to maintain, and this property requires a lot of upkeep.” Five acres aren’t going to tend to themselves. And with a fully functioning farm, upkeep is a daily commitment, which runs counter to the idea of having a low-key retreat. Vacationers, she said, are looking for something similar: a place to stay that requires little maintenance and has enough space to spread out and relax, but not so much that keeping things clean, tidy, and in working order takes the fun out of the experience. “The farm makes this property really unique, which is good, but it also narrows down the kind of buyer looking for this kind of home.” You can’t hurry LoveFor someone like Love, a native of the Golden Isles area and a professional athlete with presumably a sizable nest egg, selling the property quickly isn’t a top priority. He ranks among the top 20 money earners all-time in the world of professional golf, having pulled down nearly $45 million in career earnings. “I tend to think he built this as his forever home, but obviously something changed,” says NeSmith. “Still, he probably doesn’t need to sell it for the money.” The lack of urgency is reflected in the years the home has spent on the market and the relative lack of price cuts. The asking price was cut in 2015, 2017, and then again earlier this year to its present price. “The house is worth its current asking price,” said NeSmith. “So that’s not the issue here. The property is just really unique for the area.” So what kind of buyer will fall in love with an island farm? “It’s probably going to be someone middle-aged that’s relocating that wants to be close to the water but still have the farm feel,” said Jennings. “That’s a pretty unique buyer.” If you fit the very specific bill, Love is still waiting for you to take a swing. The post Why Won’t Anyone Buy PGA Champ Davis Love III’s Gorgeous Georgia Property? appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com®. via https://www.realtor.com/news/celebrity-real-estate/why-wont-anyone-buy-davis-love-iii-gorgeous-georgia-property/ For years, we’ve looked to Sandra Lee for that perfect, relatively simple family dinner recipe. She’s guided us through holiday side dishes, perfect table settings, and we’ve paged through all 27 of her books. We often imagined what it would be like to bake, baste, and garnish in the kitchen of the cook who popularized the “semi-homemade” meal. Well, wonder no more. Lee and her partner, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, are selling a storybook-style home in Mount Kisco, NY, for $2 million, and it has just about everything you could wish for. First off, let’s address the curb appeal. The manicured, green lawn and mature trees flank a quintessential colonial home with shutters and a white picket fence. Gorgeous of course, but there’s also a creek flowing into double ponds and a tranquil waterfall on the property’s 2.8 acres. There are gardens to the side and out back, and a picture-perfect porch area to soak in all the natural beauty. The interiors of the 4,000-square-foot residence are exactly what we’d expect from the queen of the domicile. Every single room looks straight from the pages of Elle Decor magazine. There’s a light and airy office with custom corner bookshelves that frame a perfect little window. The custom, dual living space is bright white, with crown molding details and inviting bench seats to enjoy the natural light pouring through the windows. The dining room is comfy and inviting, with wall details and a rich but light theme. And the kitchen? Exactly what we’d expect from Lee. Marble countertops. A walk-in pantry. A dining nook and a breakfast room. Honestly, this is the kitchen dreams are made of. There are four beautifully appointed bedrooms and five and a half bathrooms— plenty of space for a large family or an abundance of guests. The house also includes a gym, theater, and office. Whoever secures this amazing abode, please invite us over for dinner. Lee and Cuomo have denied a New York Post report that the two were living apart, leading to the listing of this Westchester County gem. Lee’s name is the only name that appears on ownership records for the home she purchased 14 years ago. The post Sandra Lee and Gov. Andrew Cuomo Selling New York Storybook Stunner appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com®. via https://www.realtor.com/news/celebrity-real-estate/sandra-lee-and-andrew-cuomo-selling-new-york-home/ Just because Cindy Crawford and Rande Gerber have put their sweet waterfront beach bungalow on the market for $7.5 million doesn’t mean you won’t see them around Malibu. They still own a much larger, bluff-top luxury compound on the coast that they bought in 2015 for $50.5 million. This smaller place has been a relatively humble rental, if you consider paying rent of $45,000 per month humble. The couple purchased it back in the late 1990’s for $1.85 million, according to Variety, so they stand to do quite well on their investment. The home was built in 1974 and features four bedrooms and 2.5 baths. Its top feature is the unobstructed beachfront view of the Pacific Ocean. The listing notes that the 2,413-square-foot home is “newly renovated,” and it certainly shows in the sun-filled great room, which features high, wood-beamed ceilings and a fireplace. The dining area and breakfast bar border a gourmet kitchen with granite countertops and high-grade stainless-steel appliances. The wide-plank wood floors also appear to be shiny and new. A wall of custom glass sliders opens to a wood deck that overlooks the beach. The master bedroom upstairs also has a fireplace and a sundeck overlooking the beach, accessed by lovely French doors. The Spanish-style home with the distinctive red-tiled roof is quite private, located in the western part of Malibu, at the end of a private gated road just north of Broad Beach. It doesn’t get a lot of foot traffic from tourists, which is always an asset in these parts. The supermodel and her husband sold an elegant remodeled Malibu home adjacent to their large spread in June 2018 for a reported $45 million. They originally listed it for $60 million. The post Cindy Crawford and Rande Gerber Selling $7.5M Malibu Bungalow appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com®. via https://www.realtor.com/news/celebrity-real-estate/cindy-crawford-and-rande-gerber-selling-malibu-bungalow/ At first, Amazon was all in to open a new headquarters in New York City, which it announced in November. Then in February, the tech giant announced it was scrapping the plans, after facing local blowback for the tax incentives it had been promised. Now the company appears to be looking into expanding its presence in the Big Apple again. Amazon has reportedly been shopping around for office space on Manhattan’s West Side, according to The New York Post. The company is taking another look at two skyscrapers, the recently built One Manhattan West and the nearly finished Two Manhattan West, near Pennsylvania Station. Amazon had been considering those towers before it chose Long Island City, a former industrial neighborhood in Queens, for its ill-fated headquarters. Amazon officials wouldn’t confirm or deny the reports. “We don’t comment on rumors or speculation,” a company official said in response to questions from realtor.com®. But even if the online retailing giant does expand its existing New York City workforce of 5,000 employees, it’s not likely to have as large an impact on the already expensive real estate market of Manhattan as it would have had on Long Island City. It’s also unclear just how many new jobs the Seattle-based company would be thinking to add in the City That Never Sleeps. “It’s not going to move the needle in Manhattan, the way it would have in Long Island City,” says New York City-based real estate appraiser Jonathan Miller. “It is not expected to have a significant impact on the Manhattan housing market.” That’s because Manhattan is already filled with Fortune 500 company headquarters and outposts offering employees exorbitantly high compensation. Those workers, along with celebrities, socialites, and international investors, can support the country’s priciest housing market. Manhattan’s median list price is $1.45 million, according to realtor.com® data. That’s even more expensive than San Jose, CA, in the heart of Silicon Valley, where the median list price is roughly $950,000. Meanwhile, Long Island City is still a growing community just across the East River from Manhattan. Yet it’s only a relative bargain, with a median list price of $1.04 million, due to all the sleek, luxury towers that have gone up on the water in recent years. Long Island City “was essentially a clean slate,” says Miller. “Nothing like that had been proposed for that market.” Amazon is reportedly looking for at least 100,000 square feet of office space, with room to grow, according to the Post. That’s nothing compared with the space it would have needed to house the up to 25,000 new employees the company had originally planned for the city. To put that into perspective, Google closed on an eight-story building with 325,000 square feet in the western Manhattan neighborhood of Chelsea in May. But even if the tech behemoth does expand in Manhattan, Miller doesn’t expect prices to surge. Rents are likely to notch up a little—but not by much. He expects nominal increases at most, under 5%. “There’s not a sea change here,” says Miller. However, it could give the sales market a boost. Sales have stagnated recently thanks to tax changes that limit how much homeowners can deduct in mortgage income and property taxes. Amazon is also going ahead with its plans to open a new headquarters outside Washington, DC, in the Arlington, VA, neighborhood of Crystal City. The post Amazon May Be Expanding in NYC After All: What That Means for Real Estate appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com®. via https://www.realtor.com/news/trends/amazon-may-be-expanding-in-nyc-after-all-what-that-means-for-real-estate/ The former family home of beloved San Diego Padres great Tony Gwynn has had a rough few years since the Hall of Famer passed away in 2014. In 2018, the home, still owned by Gwynn’s widow, Alicia, fell into foreclosure. At the time, the property was worth about $2 million, but she owed more than $2.5 million to the bank, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported. The home went to auction in June 2018, but failed to attract a buyer, so ownership fell to the lender. Property records indicate that the current owner of the home is a trust associated with Deutsche Bank. Earlier this year, neighbors spotted squatters living in the home. These interlopers were difficult to evict due to California’s squatters rights, so a civil case was brought to rid the home of any inhabitants. Now the vagrants have scattered, and the bank is ready to find a new owner for the 2-acre property, so the mansion is on the market in Poway, CA, for $2,120,000. Built in 1991, the home has seven bedrooms, 5.5 bathrooms, and more than 7,300 square feet. Outside, there’s plenty of room for outdoor activities, plus a pool and sports court. One of the best hitters ever, Gwynn played his entire 20-year career with the San Diego Padres and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2007. After a long battle with cancer, Gwynn died in 2014 at the age of 54. The Gwynn family moved to Poway, an upscale San Diego suburb, in the 1980s, eventually settling in this luxury home. Now it’s time for a new buyer to enjoy this house with a prestigious Padres pedigree and create a new chapter for the most high-profile property in Poway. The bank is ready to play ball. The post Now Bank-Owned, Tony Gwynn’s Former Poway Home Lists for $2.12M appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com®. via https://www.realtor.com/news/celebrity-real-estate/tony-gwynn-poway-foreclosure-for-sale/ Home builders are applying for permits to build houses in the “exurbs” more than any other area of the country, another sign of how the housing affordability crunch is driving consumer and industry decisions. Exurbs, which the National Association of Home Builders defines as outlying counties of large metro areas, were the only region of the country that had net year-over-year growth in single-family permits in the first quarter, the industry group said in a report out Tuesday. In the exurbs, year-over-year permit growth was just 1.6% compared to a year before. It was a tepid quarter: there were declines in every other category. But NAHB has tracked the four-quarter moving average of permit applications back to 2016, and the exurbs have consistently had among the strongest interest from builders, as shown in the chart below. That may seem worrisome. Exurban areas like the Central Valley of California were some of the poster children of the housing bust a decade ago. House-hunters were priced further and frrther away from where they worked, and when jobs dried up, it was impossible to pay the mortgage. The far-flung communities where they’d been able to buy became some of the most distressed in the country. NAHB Chief Economist Rob Dietz is reluctant to characterize the recent outward migration as good or bad. “In order to gain access to single-family homeownership, people are choosing to pay through longer commutes,” Dietz said in an interview. Buyers have other options, Dietz points out, like townhouses in closer-in areas. Still, he acknowledges it’s worth watching the many ways the lack of affordability is shaping — or reshaping — the housing market. The post Americans Are Driving Until They Qualify Again, and Builders Are Responding appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com®. via https://www.realtor.com/news/real-estate-news/americans-are-driving-until-they-qualify-again-and-builders-are-responding/ House Party Podcast: Were Shocked! The Truth About Amazons $7K House; the Los Feliz Murder Mansion5/28/2019 “House Party” is realtor.com’®s official podcast about the overlapping worlds of real estate and pop culture, hosted by Natalie Way, Erik Gunther, and Rachel Stults. Click the player above to hear our takes on this week’s hot topics. The infamous Los Feliz, CA, murder house is for sale once again, and while some people would say, “Hard pass!” to living at the site of this gruesome crime, others aren’t bothered by the idea. The slaying did take place a whole 60 years ago. Would you consider buying it, or is its sinister history enough to keep you away? This week, we also pull back the curtain on the viral $7,000 Amazon “tiny house” that sold out in record time. A word to the wise: If it seems too good to be true, it probably is. We uncover all the ways this seemingly affordable abode isn’t all it appears to be. And home sellers, if you plan on hosting an open house soon, you’ll want to tune in to our segment on things in your bedroom that are freaking out buyers. As always, we’ve got the week’s real estate winners and losers. Our losers ruled the pop music charts in the early 2000s, but selling their home has been a little “Complicated.” And our winner is a member of rock ‘n’ roll royalty who just made a small fortune on a house she bought over four decades ago. So what are you waiting for? Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Play Music, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. And please: Throw us a five-star rating if you like what you hear. The more good ratings and reviews we have, the easier it’ll be for people to find us. Want to chime in? Have your own crazy home-related story you’re dying to share? We’re all ears, eagerly waiting to discuss all your burning real estate questions. Email us at [email protected], or tweet us @housepartypod on Twitter. ——-- Stories we discussed on ‘House Party’ this week:Famous Los Feliz Murder Mansion in L.A. for Sale—Would You Want to Live in It? Are You Killing the Mood? 8 Things in Your Bedroom That Freak Out Potential Buyers The Terrible Truth About This ‘Viral’ $7K Tiny House on Amazon 6 Facts About Avril Lavigne and Chad Kroeger’s Sherman Oaks Home Priscilla Presley Sells Longtime Family Home in Los Angeles The post ‘House Party’ Podcast: We’re Shocked! The Truth About Amazon’s $7K House; the Los Feliz Murder Mansion appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com®. via https://www.realtor.com/news/podcast/episode-30-house-party/ |
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