Weekly Roundup: City’s sales sag, U.S. resales up

It’s oh so hard to snag a reasonably priced rental

Pending sales, inventory sag over last three months

Owners subletting illegally may want to note shoes of prospective tenant

Lawsuits mount against accused rabbi

If you’re searching for a bargain, look no more

When negotiating with a developer, be smart about asking for concessions

Now tenants can rent off floorplans in unfinished buildings

If you’re bedbugged, check a 11 ways to judge an exterminator

Obsessive Dorothy Parker enthusiast fights to save her childhood home from demolition

Interactive database lets renters and buyers track nearly all privately held subsidized housing

Developers do their thing on a stretch of Fifth Avenue dubbed ‘Upper Carnegie Hill’

His matches are long past, but

Weekly Roundup: Manhattan iffy, U.S. supply low

Making the case for buyers’ brokers, the Times calls it a ‘buddy system’

Empty for 19 years, Park Avenue apartment that Yugoslavia owned leaves much to be desired

You won’t find more households with roommates than in Williamsburg

Manhattan market slackens, but weakness may be only seasonal

In a co-op or condo that leaks, who pays?

Newly scheduled foreclosure auctions post 7 percent decline in August from a year earlier

Influential rabbi accused in $220,000 rent subsidy scheme of unprecedented size in city

Manhattan condo prices in June continue their gradual improvement, especially on the Upper West Side (pdf)

Buff designer finally moves from $15,000 monthly rental to townhouse that’s superior

Sculptor expands his horizons in Tribeca

Disgraced as congressman, he ditches his old Queens district for a rental in Greenwich Village

Actress gives up Canadian perch after break-up (2nd item)

Housing inventory hits this year’s low

10 cities are the worst

Weekly Roundup: Charlie’s new angle. More!

Here’s your chance to catch up with news included to inform, enlighten and perhaps even entertain you. To read about The Big Apple, check out the other of today’s posts and look for Out and About early next week.

If you yearn for a Chagall, his onetime apartment is for sale

How do you spell h-i-t for a seller who sticks to asking price in Los Angeles?

Charlie’s angles include a second-home sale

Retired reliever, cultural misfit, radio sidewalk feed appetite for RE gossip

May home construction rises above April but slumps below one year earlier

Data show more homes listed in May, then

Weekly Roundup: Rates rather stable. Much more!

Here’s your chance to catch up with news included to inform, enlighten and perhaps even entertain you. To read about The Big Apple, check out the other of today’s posts and look for Out and About early next week.

RUTH FORD’S BUTLER BENEFICIARY CLEANS UP

PINK TOWNHOUSE WHERE NINA LIVED WITH MOM AND ARTISTIC DAD IS ON THE MARKET

LATE MAGAZINE MAGNATE’S TOWNHOUSE IS LISTED FOR $15.3 MILLION

HOME VALUES FALLING IN MANY REGIONS AT ACCELERATED RATES, ACCORDING TO JOURNAL ANALYSIS

SHADOW INVENTORY CONTINUES TO FALL, BUT AT A PROGRESSIVELY SLOWER RATE

CLEAR CAPITAL REPORTS THAT PRICES IN Q4 WERE DOWN BUT UP

CONSUMERS’ INTEREST IN

Weekly roundup: Foreclosure scandal gets messier

Here’s your chance to catch up with news included to inform, enlighten and perhaps even entertain you. To read about The Big Apple, check out another of today’s three posts.

LIVE! FROM 71 MURRAY STREET, IT’S A FORMER NEWS ANCHOR

DONNY MAKES A HONEY OF A DEAL, AND NO, IT’S NOT OSMAND

PALM BEACH HOME OF

Volume of mortgage applications is tepid

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA)reported today that loan application volume slumped 1.2 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis the week of Feb. 5 from one week earlier.   Unadjusted, activity increased 0.6 percent.

Refinancing applications went up 1.4 percent and purchases fell 7.0 percent seasonally adjusted.  Unadjusted purchase volume decreased 1.1 percent; it was 7.5 percent lower than the same week one year ago.

The refinance share of mortgage activity grew to 69.7 percent of total applications from 69.2 percent the previous week, and the adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share was unchanged at 4.5 percent.

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Malcolm Carter
Licensed Associate Real Estate Broker
Senior Vice President
Charles Rutenberg Realty
127 E. 56th Street
New York, NY 10022

M: 347-886-0248
F: 347-438-3201

Malcolm@ServiceYouCanTrust.com
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Condo refinancing may be easier than was known; One reason: some banks now welcome jumbos

A downtown Manhattan Web site called The Broadsheet tells the tale of a condo owner with good credit whose applications for refinancing his mortgage at Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase were rejected.

The banks said they based their decision on a Fannie Mae rule that discourages banks from making loans on apartments in buildings in which a single entity (even the sponsor) owns more than 10 percent of the units.

Unable to get specific answers from loan officers about how any condo where the developer retains a substantial presence (there are hundreds in Manhattan alone) could be eligible for financing, the unidentified applicant went directly to Fannie Mae and discovered the following:

“When I finally tracked down the people who are in charge of mortgages for condos, they explained to me that most banks were not interpreting these rules correctly.The Fannie Mae executive I spoke to said that banks in places like New York actually have much more leeway than they realize.”

This executive pointed out that the new rules do not apply to every bank and to every market on a blanket basis.