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Showing posts from September, 2015

Detroit Prices up 28% | Bedford Corners Real Estate

Sold prices rose 28 percent in Detroit over the past year, topping the list of Pro Teck Valuation Services’ Home Value Forecast. Others included in the list were Palm Bay, FL; Port St. Lucie, FL; Merced, CA; and, San Francisco, CA. “While Detroit has seen healthy gains this year, the Home Value Forecast rating system shows that Detroit is still a soft market,” said Tom O’Grady, CEO of Pro Teck Valuation Services. “Although examining one indicator is helpful, it’s important to analyze several home price indicators to best understand the health of a real estate market.” This month’s HVF update also looked at the Collateral Analytics forecast for those top markets and found that San Francisco home prices are at an all-time high while Detroit is still trying to return to pre-crash levels. In Home Value Forecast’s rating system Detroit’s market is considered “soft” while San Francisco is “strong.” They also noted that that while recent gains have been encouraging in Port St. Lucie, h

Living off the grid | Chappaqua Real Estate

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Sometimes you just have to go for it. About a year and a half ago, Dabney Tompkins and Alan Colley moved from a condo in Portland to 388 square feet in rural Oregon. Their house, a  40-foot-high fire lookout , doesn’t have a street address or a bathroom. And the nearest neighbor is three miles away. “We still have that sense of ‘are we really doing this?'” Colley admits. When the couple decided to go off grid, they didn’t know a thing about solar power. But through trial and error — and lots of Googling — they figured out how to pump running water into their kitchen, power LED lights and have Internet using only 80 watts of electricity.  As for the bathroom, they “visit the bear” (aka an outhouse in the woods) or use one of three  alternative options designed for emergencies — or a few laughs . Through it all, Tompkins and Colley have tried to keep things in perspective. “Every time I think could I really do that — could I really live in a place where all you had was