Real Estate Information

The world is cashing in on American real estate prices, as more and more overseas private and corporate buyers are snapping up homes and commercial properties in the upstate New York area.  And the buyers aren’t afraid to open up their wallets to some pretty big deals.

A prime example was announced last week.  The Arden House in Harriman, NY has been purchased by a Chinese website consortium. SouFun Holdings bought the property for $6.5 million, and plans to use the 100,000 square foot house and its 450 acres of woodland property as a conference center.  The home was built in 1909 by railroad baron Edward Henry Harriman, and was finished just a few months before he died.

The sale was complicated by several sales restrictions. One was that the buyer had to be a non-profit organization. In this case, the purchaser was The Research Center on Natural Conservation, a non-profit organization held by SouFun. Another restriction was a conservation easement protecting 400 of the property’s 450 acres from development. SouFun is not a stranger to foreign real estate investing, in 2010, it bought another New York property formerly owned by American International Group (AIG) for $46 million . SouFun is a Beijing- based operator of home-furnishings websites, they agreed to buy the Lower Manhattan building for $46 million. “SouFun plans to use the former AIG Training Center as its own global training center to train its expanding management, staff and clients,” according to the company statement.

Last month President Obama advocated the EC-5 program stating  “The administration is working to improve and leverage, by a factor of four, the number of entrepreneurs from other countries allowed entry into the United States”.  American consumers and the federal government haven't been able to bail out the sinking U.S. real estate market. Now wealthy Chinese, Canadians and other foreign buyers could get their chance. Last week two U.S. senators including New York’s Senator Chuck Schumer introduced a bill that would allow foreigners who spend at least $500,000 on residential property to obtain visas allowing them to live in the United States.

My business is now over 87% working with international buyers and investors. As an international property specialist I work with immigration attorneys well versed in the lengthy EB-5 and EB-2 Investor visa’s, and global corporations. They are looking for properties from single family homes for corporate executives,  to land suitable for development and existing businesses ripe for investment.

This is a time for Realtors well versed in international business or even with language skills to develop the potential to grow their business be it single family homes or commercial. Taking the CIPS designation and opening up the ability to network globally is a good place to start.

Real estate sales may be slow for American buyers, but for foreign investors, this market is on fire!

For more information on investing in the New York Greater Metro or Lower Hudson Valley or for currently available properties for sale, please contact Vanessa Saunders.

Beijing lawyer Chang Li  is heading to the United States on a shopping trip, looking not for designer clothes or jewelry, but for a $1 million home in New York or perhaps California

He expects to get a bargain. Li is part of a growing number of Chinese who are joining tours organized especially for investors who want to take advantage of slumping U.S. real estate prices amid a financial crisis.

"It's a great time to buy because of the financial crisis, and houses in large cities like New York and Los Angeles will definitely go up in a few years," Ying said. The home is an investment, but he's also planning long-term: He hopes his 5-year-old son might use it if he goes to college in the United States.

Li is one of 40 investors visiting  New York, California, Boston and Las Vegas on a tour organized by Beijing-based SouFun Holdings Ltd., a real estate Web site. SouFun plans to show participants foreclosed properties priced at $300,000 to $800,000.

"We never thought these tours would garner such interest, but we've had an overwhelming response," said SouFun CEO Richard Dai. "Before, we had only heard of Chinese or Hong Kong movie stars buying homes in the U.S.

The home-buying opportunities mirror a larger trend. Cash-rich Chinese companies are looking to buy resources made suddenly cheaper by the downturn or companies suffering under the global debt meltdown.

Chinese with money in the bank have few good investment options at home. Real estate prices have cooled and stock prices peaked in October 2007 after years in which foreign money poured into China to take advantage of the hot economy. Economists estimate that tens of billions of dollars began leaving the country as Chinese investors began bargain-hunting.

Chinese buyers are looking at both commercial property and homes to rent out or use on business trips. And the U.S. has plenty of unsold homes to offer, over 4 million according to the National Association of Realtors in October 2011.

Cuba announced a new property law Thursday that promises to allow citizens and permanent residents to buy and sell real estate — the most significant market-oriented change yet approved by the government of Raúl Castro, and one that will probably reshape Cuba’s cities and conceptions of class.

The new rules go into effect on Nov. 10, according to Cuba’s state-run newspaper, and while some of the fine print is still being written, the law published on Thursday amounts to a major break from decades of socialist housing. For the first time since the early days of the revolution, buyers and sellers will be allowed to set home prices and move when they want. Transactions of various kinds, including sales, trades and gifts to relatives by Cubans who are emigrating, will no longer be subject to government approval, the new law says.

“To say that it’s huge is an understatement,” said Pedro Freyre, an expert in Cuban-American legal relations who teaches at Columbia Law School. “This is the foundation, this is how you build capitalism, by allowing the free trade of property.”

Cuban officials would disagree; they argue that they are carefully protecting socialism as they move toward economic reform, and the new law includes some provisions that seem aimed at controlling both speculation and the concentration of wealth. Owners will be limited to two homes (a residence and a vacation property) and financing must go through Cuba’s Central Bank, which will charge fees, which have not been determined. And a tax of 8 percent will be split by the buyer and seller.

Nonetheless, experts and Cuban residents — who have been expecting the law for months — say the law’s implications are likely to be far-reaching. In a country defined by limited change and pent-up demand for freedom of all kinds, they argue, the law will probably open a Pandora’s box of benefits and risks.

On one hand, billions of dollars in property assets that have been essentially unvalued or undervalued and locked in place for decades would be available for sale.

Economists on the island favoring economic liberalization have said the country’s other changes — making room for small businesses, and private agriculture — have been limited by lack of internal demand. Some experts say home sales could free up the capital needed to jumpstart the island’s economy. At the very least, they argue, it will probably lead to a boom in renovation.

“With a housing market, suddenly people have some wealth and that’s a stake in the economy that generates activity,” said Ted Henken, a professor at Baruch College in New York.

Yet on the other hand, there are also significant social concerns. Mario Coyula, Havana’s director of urbanism and architecture in the 1970s and ’80s, said that wide-scale buying and selling would lead to a “huge rearrangement” in Havana and other cities as the wealthy move to better areas. He and others said it would inevitably exacerbate class conflict.

And because the island has a shortage of housing — with many families and even divorced couples continuing to live together for lack of a better option — critics say that any displacement could raise the prospect of homelessness. For example, if two families are sharing a home and one holds what currently amounts to Cuban title with limited rights, the new law says that the titleholder can sell and the tenant family will eventually have to move.

Many Cubans say they are afraid that the market system will leave them in the lurch.

“What happens if I sell my home and then I can’t find another one to buy? Where do I sleep?” said Félix Méndez, a 47-year-old hospital technician looking at signs for property exchanges tacked to trees on a Havana boulevard. He said he would prefer to stick with the complex bartering system currently in use. (Under the new law, that too will be subject to a tax — 4 percent of the value of the transaction.)

One unanswered question involves the role of foreigners and Cuban exiles. The law generally requires permanent residency, but Mr. Freyre said the section of the law applying to areas of “descanso” or “veraneo” — vacation or summer destinations — leaves open the possibility of looser enforcement in selected places, perhaps coastal areas, Old Havana and the golf communities that are currently under development with foreign investment.

The new law does not broach the subject of property confiscated by the government in the early years of the revolution. Lawyers and experts say these claims, representing tens of billions of dollars, are still a long shot. Property law worldwide generally favors compensation, not the right of return, and Cuba has yet to show serious interest in addressing the issue. Officials have insisted that the United States must first pay restitution for the economic damage caused by the 1962 trade embargo.

Still, sanctioned or not, Cuban-Americans will undoubtedly find a way into Cuban real estate. With President Obama’s 2009 decision to allow unlimited travel and remittances for Cuban-Americans, a constant flow of money and visita has become the norm. In exile communities like Miami, there are already efforts under way to funnel money to relatives so that they can buy new homes or old family homes that were nationalized.

Most experts, and Cubans on the island, expect these efforts to accelerate. Nov. 10 may be the starting gun for an indirect investment race.

“I don’t know if they will control the market,” Philip Peters, an expert at the Lexington Institute in Washington, said of Cuban-Americans. “But it is certainly going to be the case that the market is going to settle in a way that’s heavily influenced by demand from outside Cuba coming from relatives.”

Of course, even if the market is open, it may not be transparent. The culture of hiding wealth, from the government, from neighbors, is deeply engrained in Cuba, and though the new law includes the threat of prison for people caught lying about home prices, Cubans who work in real estate today expect buyers and sellers to disguise the true value of transactions.

“Nobody who has been working, honestly, in a job in Cuba in the past 50 years could possibly afford to buy a second home,” said Gerardo, a property broker in Havana who asked that his full name not be used because his job was still illegal. “That money has to come from relatives overseas.”

He added that nascent capitalism would probably include a black market just as hard to figure out and uproot as the underground economy that has grown up around decades of socialism.

Copyright National Association of REALTORS®. Reprinted with permission

REALTOR.com Goes Global

Daily Real Estate News | Thursday, November 03, 2011

The National Association of REALTORS® and Move Inc. have announced the launch of the REALTOR.com International Web site. Available at www.REALTOR.com/International, the new site delivers 4.4 million for-sale property listings to buyers across the globe, as well as residential properties fed to the site by foreign content providers. 

At launch, Realtor.com International will feature residential real estate listings from Brazil, Bulgaria, Croatia, France, Italy, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, and Spain. The site can also be accessed from the REALTOR.com home page. In the past three months, nearly 2.6 million international visitors searched for U.S. real estate on REALTOR.com. The top five countries where searches originated from are Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, and India.

“Increasingly, more and more REALTORS® are working with international clients who want to buy property in the U.S. and the new REALTOR.com International web site will not only allow REALTORS® to offer their expertise and knowledge to a broader audience, but will also bring buyers and sellers together across the globe,” said NAR President Ron Phipps. “Foreign buyers understand the value of owning a home in the U.S. and can rely on a REALTOR® because of their global perspective and understanding of different cultures and real estate practices. This collaboration with Move is just one of many ways REALTORS® can expand and grow their business globally.”

To help international and foreign-born buyers as they search for U.S. residential real estate, the new REALTOR.com International search experience delivers enhanced translation options in 11 languages including Chinese, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish. The site also features easy-to-use currency and dimension converters available on all pages.

NAR’s 2011 Profile of International Home Buying Activity reports the U.S. remains a top destination for foreign buyers with international purchases surging $16 billion in the last year. According to the survey, total residential international sales last year in the U.S. equaled $82 billion. Total international sales were split evenly between non-resident foreigners and recent immigrants.

International buyers of U.S. residential real estate came from 70 countries; the top five (Canada, Mexico, China, U.K., and India) accounted for 53 percent of all transactions from March 2010 to March 2011. Most states in the U.S. had at least one international transaction, while Arizona, California, Florida, and Texas accounted for 58 percent of all U.S. residential transactions completed by international buyers. Proximity to the home country, the convenience of air transportation, and climate and location are the most important considerations to international buyers.

Source: NAR

For those sellers that have agents certified to work with corporate relocation clients there is some great news...

Between 2006 and 2009 corporate sponsored relocation has been on the decline, with 2008 and 2009 experiencing double digits declines. The good news was that 2010 saw a 15% increase in transfer volume. 2011 looks promising with many corporations projecting another 10% increase in transfer volume which includes current employees as well as new hires. Relocation is all about employee mobility. For much of the country, the real estate market has been challenging. Many homeowner employees were unable to relocate because they were upside down on their mortgages or lost considerable equity in their homes making it difficult to move to a new location. In response to this many corporations now assess home value as part of their pre-decision programs so employees have a clearer understanding of their financial picture. Some employers have added a “loss on sale” policy or increased the cap of their existing policy to enable their employee to make the move.

In the past, according to Worldwide ERC there was an equal division of homeowner and renters being relocated from their old location. In 2010, 62% of those employees being relocated were renters while only 38% were homeowners. In response to this, many employers have either extended their homeowner benefits or modified their current renter policy. Again, the good news is corporations are willing to modify their policies to meet the needs of their employees.

Here are some interesting facts and statistics on US Domestic transfers provided by Worldwide ERC:

Call Vanessa Saunders for more corporate relocation insider information...845 598 5083

• $10 Billion: amount spent annually in U.S. on corporate relocation by Worldwide ERC member corporations
• $15,110,135: average annual amount each company spends to transfer its employees
• 216,143: annual number of U.S. domestic transfers from Worldwide ERC member companies
• $90,081: average cost to relocate current employee homeowner
• $23,497: average cost to relocate current employee renter

Nationally, median list prices have risen 1.60 percent to $190,000, based on year-over-year data from September. However, some cities haven’t fared so well.

California continues to have the most cities seeing some of the largest drops in median list prices the past year. Of the cities that have seen the largest drops in list prices year-over-year from September 2011, California cities make up half of those in the top 10. Yet, California cities haven’t faced the largest drops in for-sale prices the last year — that belongs to Chicago.

The following are the 10 cities where median list prices have dropped the most, based on year-over-year Realtor.com data from September 2011.

1. Chicago

Year-over-year change in median list price: -11.56 percent

Median list price: $199,000

2. Las Vegas

Year-over-year change in median list price: -11.05 percent

Median list price: $120,000

3. Detroit

Year-over-year change in median list price: -10.01 percent

Median list price: $89,900

4. Ventura, Calif.

Year-over-year change in median list price: -9.09 percent

Median list price: $409,000

5. Atlanta

Year-over-year change in median list price: -8.63 percent

Median list price: $159,900

6. San Francisco

Year-over-year change in median list price: -8.63 percent

Median list price: $635,000

7. Santa Barbara-Santa Maria-Lompoc, Calif.

Year-over-year change in median list price: -8.35 percent

Median list price: $549,000

8. Sacramento, Calif.

Year-over-year change in median list price: -8.30 percent

Median list price: $210,000

9. Los Angeles-Long Beach, Calif.

Year-over-year change in median list price: -6.94 percent

Median list price: $335,000

10. Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Fla.

Year-over-year change in median list price: -6.67 percent

Median list price: $140,000

WASHINGTON - About 4 million homeowners who may have been improperly foreclosed upon in 2009 and 2010 are getting an opportunity to have their cases reviewed. Whether they will be reimbursed is up to the same lenders who are accused of moving too swiftly to seize their homes.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency said Monday that mortgage services will begin sending out letters this month that ask borrowers if they want their case reviewed.

The nation’s 14 largest mortgage servicers – including Citibank, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo – were ordered to offer to review cases after the government found that some rushed the foreclosure process without carefully reviewing documents.

The orders require the lenders pay homeowners when a “borrower suffered financial injury.” There is no minimum or maximum dollar amount identified.

Critics, including congressional Democrats, say the orders were too lenient on the banks, and that it was inappropriate for the lenders to review their own potential mistakes.

“Servicers have a poor performance track record in effectively engaging with borrowers, and, in the claims process, have a natural disincentive to reach the households their practices have harmed,” wrote Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) in a letter to regulators.

Regulators say independent consultants will also review the cases and that those reviews would likely take several months. If a consultant finds that a lender erred, it will conduct follow-up reviews on other cases to see if the lender is trying to dodge blame.

“The challenge is substantial, but the steps we have required the servicers to take are vitally important to resolving these issues in a way that respects the rights of those who have been harmed and helps to restore confidence in the system,” said John Walsh, acting Comptroller of the Currency.

In the four years since the housing bust, about 5 million homes have been foreclosed upon. About 2.4 million primary mortgages were in foreclosure at the end of last year. Another 2 million were 90 days or more past due, putting them at serious risk of foreclosure.

The other lenders and service providers cited by the agencies include: Ally Financial Inc., Aurora Bank, EverBank, HSBC, MetLife Bank, OneWest Bank, PNC, Sovereign Bank, SunTrust Banks, U.S. Bank, Lender Processing Services and MER-SCORP.

Eligible homeowners can also call 888-952-9105 or go here for more information. Requests to review specific foreclosure cases must be received by April 30.

It looks like someone is finally throwing a rope to those drowning in high mortgage rates and falling prices. By December 1st, big changes are coming in HARP (Home Affordable Refinance Program) which could actually benefit those it was intended to help. By easing the refinancing guidelines, potentially millions of homeowners might now be able to refinance their Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac backed mortgages and could save thousands of dollars annually, which the current administration hopes will flow back into the economy. New guidelines now won't exclude those who have lost the most of their home's value. Previous restrictions prohibited borrowers from participating if their home's value had fallen to an excess of 25% of their mortgage balance.

http://bottomline.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/10/24/8470326-a-guide-to-administrations-new-mortgage-refi-plan

According to SRI (The Siena Research Institute) New Yorkers don't put much faith in the real estate market unless they are buyers . Today's press release from NYSAR (New York State's Association of Realtors) New Yorkers expect the overall real estate market and the value of property to remain virtually unchanged over the next year. Consumers continue to see now as a very poor time to sell, but a good time to buy.

International buyers are coming to the USA in droves taking advantage of the weak dollar and our current bargain prices. In the past couple of months I've personally worked with more buyers of five nationalities ready to snap up a bargain from a town home on the Hudson River in Piermont, Rockland County, NY to large farm properties upstate and everything in between. The majority of these buyers have the added advantage of bringing cash, causing nothing but relief for the lucky sellers whose property attracted these canny overseas investors.

So my advice to sellers, is not to give up when you read the statistics from SRI. There are many homes that are selling, we as Realtors just have to think outside the box and not just offer a few photos and a paragraph on the MLS and pray that we'll catch a live one! Yes, we actually have to work for our commissions these days to make a decent living. My day starts early around 4:00 am to catch the European and Eastern Block countries and ends late as I hit the Asian Markets. What am I doing at those times? Networking with my fellow associates and clients around the world. Sharing my listings, our current market conditions, local information and whatever they need to convince buyers to jump aboard a flight New York bound.  Social networking globally has revolutionized my life and has kept my business busy in these difficult times. My branding and website reflect the international aspects of what is working for my clients both buyers and sellers also and the best thing I ever did was to invest in the CIPS (Certified International Property Specialist) designation which opened up a whole new world of possibilities, if you'll excuse the pun. NY Congressman (D) Chuck Schumer and Mike Lee (R-UT) are getting the drift by considering a bill allowing visa's to be granted to international buyers who purchase US homes to boost our ailing market. Also being considered is allowing illegal immigrant workers to gain legal status by buying property.

So if you want to continue to be depressed feel free to read the SRI report, but personally I think you reap what you sow. Stay positive, think about the international possibilities and know that your home has no boundaries if you think globally when selling locally.