“Sojo Spa Club” in Edgewater opens in Oct
- Korean Style Super Spa Resort/ 8 stories / 25,000 sf
- 2013 began/ construction for 3 years
- 1-3 floor: parking/office, 4-8 floor: 7 theme facility, Kids club, Lounge, 70 room hotel, etc.
- 24 hour open. At 660 River Rd between Russell Ave and Vreeland Ter.
“Hudson Lights” will open on Mid August
- 276 unit Apt : residence moving will begin / iPic movie theater will open.
- 140,000 sf project (announced in 2013)
- iPic -> Dinning theater. (Movie “Operation Chromite”(InChun SangRyukJakJun”) will be viewed : first opening in US)
Pal Park, Fort Lee issued over 20,000 traffic tickets
- Pal Park: 20,739 tickets between 7/2015 – 6/2016
- Fort Lee: 25,289 tickets same time. Hackensack: 35,037 tickets
- Ridgefield/Leonia/Englewood Cliffs/Tenafly -> under 6000.
- Pal Park: long time complaints –not enough parkingà no results
- Fort Lee: parking fee increase without proper announcement (25C/30 minà50C)
NYC eyes on “black money” to buy properties
- Manhattan: Over $3M, Other Co: Over $1.5M -> buyer will be reported. (Fl: $1M, Cal: $2M)
- To prevent money laundry, phantom companies->title insurance co will report buyer’s identity info
- For last 5 months, 25% of transaction are under suspicion.
IT companies started Construction Biz?
- Facebook started APT pre-sale: announced to build 1500 unit APT in Menro Park near company’s HQ (New hiring of 6500 workers. Plans to sell them to other residence around
- Tesla planed a village at suburban area in new Zealand. Will build “Power Wall” (Battery Charge Sys from solar energy). Among total 2500 homes, 60 homes soldà eco-friendly community
- Alphabet(Google’s mother company) is leading the way to 21 C urban planning.
(Google’s auto car/ Urban-engines -> “Google city”(Smart city) ->More quality employees can be hired)
(Alphabet also jumped into Bio-engineering : joint venture with UK biggest Pharmaceutical Co. GSK.)
Lowest Interest rate age à Want to buy homes?
- Freddie Mac-3.45% , Market- 3.18%(APR)
- Big banks offer 3%, 1%, 0% down payment program.(Chase, BOA)
- Quicken Loan offers 1% down : HPA(Home Possible Advantage) -> Buyer pays
- 1% down, Quicken Loan pays 2% Grant.
- Waterstone Mortgage : 0% down ( Wealth Building Loan)
20 year ( 7 year fixed) ARM up to loan $417,000.
Remove Mortgage Insurance 4 year earlier than conventional loan
Manhattan 32nd St will be without cars?
- Proposal submitted No car block on 32nd St between Broadway Ave and 5th Ave.
- Similar to “Little Italy” in downtown
- Increase accessibility, no garbage on the street: Fri, Sat 7:00 pm to 12:00 am.
Home ownership rate : lowest for 51 years
- 2nd Qt, 2016 -> 9% ( 0.5% Down form year) : Same as 1965
- Reason: Mil Gen did not buy enough ( Student Loan…) / Still low income increase rate < home price increase rate
- Cal: 57.9% / NE : 59.2% / Mid West: 67.7% / South:64.8%)
- Apt vacancy rate: decreased / 2nd Qt, US VR: 6.7% ( 6.8% last year)
- House VR: 1.7%
- In general, below 5% -> considered as “Perfect occupancy” (Cal:4.9%, NY:5.2%)
Big cities eases building permits as VR goes low
- Housing supply cannot meet rent demandà allows builder build more housing
- Seattle: for future 20 years, 6000 units to be built every year.
- NYC: “Upzoning” allowed. Chicago: allows to build apt in down town with condition of funding for low income family.
- US big cities, between 2006 – 2014, rent population increase is 6% faster than
Units supply. ( Atlanta : rent population increase 40% same period, rental unit increase 26% only)
Tech News:
- Samsung, Galaxy Note 7 unveiled with S pen: 5.7 “ Front / 64 G Bytes memory/ Retina recognition(iris scanner)/Water proof/Vibration proof/ USB support( Type-C, Micro Type)