Bedford NY Real Estate | Robert Paul Talks Life in Bedford NY

During my 25 years as a designer, I have compiled a list of habits I’ve observed in the decorating and design world. Habits that I believe need to be broken. Many of these may have begun as good intentions — but we all know where that path leads! I’ve assembled 12 of those habits here. I’ve struggled with each and every one of them personally and feel I have come out on the other side a better designer for it. Although each lesson is valuable, in the hierarchy of habits to be broken, there is none more important than No. 12. Hugh Jefferson Randolph Architects Save to Ideabook Email Photo 1. Foyer neglect. Mama always said you never get a second chance to make a first impression. And she was right. Don’t let your entry hall fall prey to lack of attention. How to break this habit? Most of us with attached garages never use our foyers — and it shows. So use it. Showcase a favorite object that has a story behind it. This will immediately set a personal tone in your h...

nce you’ve decided whether your cabinets will be painted or stain-grade , how the boxes and doors will be constructed , and what style of doors they’ll feature, there are still some final decisions that need to be made. The cabinets’ hardware and millwork will help determine how the units look and function — and will also have a big impact on the cost. Ventana Construction LLC Save to Ideabook Email Photo Hardware. Hardware has come a long way from the days of visible, face-mounted hinges and no drawer guides. (Drawers would just slide over internal wood supports.) Now consumers can choose from a panoply of beautifully engineered and inventive options. Save to Ideabook Email Photo Hinges. Most cabinets sold now don’t have visible door hinges. These concealed workhorses fit neatly into routered spaces inside the door, and some interesting upgrades are available. The simplest concealed hardware is usually still adjustable, allowing up-and-down and side-...

hen it came to designing a contemporary second home for a Chicago-area family, architect Bill Bickford looked to an old barn on their 200-acre working farm in Wisconsin. The farm has been in the family for more than 25 years, and they had forged a strong connection to the property. “When you look out to the surroundings, you see beautiful old oaks, barns and silos dotting the landscape,” he says. Bickford designed a home that’s both contemporary and technologically advanced, and also fits the rural context and the family’s desire for wide-open spaces, family gatherings and relaxing weekends. Houzz at a Glance Who lives here: This is a second home of a family with young children. Location: The countryside west of Madison, Wisconsin Size: 4,500 square feet (418 square meters); 3 bedrooms plus bunk room, 3 ½ bathrooms Photography by Werner Straube Photography Northworks Architects and Planners Save to Ideabook Email Photo The old barn, near the top of one of the rollin...

Pending Home Sales at 30-Month Low | South Salem Homes | Bedford New York Real Estate | Bedford NY Homes by Robert Paul Realtor

When Housing Prices Become Fish Stories, the Economy Suffers | Chappaqua Real Estate | Bedford New York Real Estate | Bedford NY Homes by Robert Paul Realtor

Survivors Face Foreclosures After Reverse Mortgage Borrower’s Death | Waccabuc Real Estate | Bedford New York Real Estate | Bedford NY Homes by Robert Paul Realtor

Bullish consumers, rising home prices brighten U.S. growth picture | Reuters

John Lautner's Bayfront 'Jaws' House Asks $6M In SoCal - House of the Day - Curbed National

The Top 5 Brands on Instagram to Follow - Jeffbullas's Blog

Is homeownership a smart investment again | Pound Ridge Real Estate | Bedford New York Real Estate | Bedford NY Homes by Robert Paul Realtor

Oliver Vows Lower Canada Role as Banks Cut Mortgage Rates | Cross River Real Estate | Bedford New York Real Estate | Bedford NY Homes by Robert Paul Realtor

Oliver Vows Lower Canada Role as Banks Cut Mortgage Rates | Cross River Real Estate | Bedford New York Real Estate | Bedford NY Homes by Robert Paul Realtor

U.S. mortgage rates for 30-year loans rose to a two-month high, increasing borrowing costs for homebuyers as the market’s recovery showed signs of weakening. The average rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage was 4.4 percent this week, up from 4.32 percent, Freddie Mac said today in a statement. The average 15-year rate climbed to 3.42 percent from 3.32 percent, according to the McLean, Virginia-based mortgage-finance company. Housing demand has cooled as higher prices and mortgage rates cut into affordability and harsh weather in many parts of the U.S. kept would-be buyers away. New-home (NHSLTOT) purchases dropped in February to the lowest level in five months, Commerce Department data showed this week. Sales of existing houses fell last month to a 4.6 million annual rate, the fewest since July 2012, according to the National Association of Realtors. “The housing numbers have been really disappointing,” Patrick Newport , an economist with IHS Global Insight in Lexington, Massach...

Stocks of some of the nation's publicly traded home builders are hovering in correction territory. This, despite higher sales of newly built homes in February and satisfactory, if not stellar, quarterly earnings for most of the companies. Housing starts are still running well below historical norms, but are still about twice what they were at the trough of the construction crash in 2009. "It seems like everything is set up very nicely for the housing market to have a solid year, not a boom that we can't replicate, like we saw in the first half of 2013, but I think it's just about right-sizing people's expectations," said analyst Ivy Zelman, CEO of Zelman Associates. Last year, Zelman famously declared the market was in "housing nirvana." Then last month, she admitted nirvana had taken a pause but was "around the corner" yet again. She said fundamentals are still good, and she is surprised at the bearishness among traders. "...

The Mount Kisco Board of Trustees will hold a public hearing on Monday, April 7, at 7 p.m. in Village Hall to consider the adoption of the 2014-15 proposed budget. The complete proposed budget can be downloaded by clicking here. Mount Kisco Village Hall is at 104 Main St. http://mtkisco.dailyvoice.com/news/mount-kisco-hold-public-hearing-village-budget

Today S&P/Case-Shiller released its monthly housing data report, the leading measure of home prices across the nation. Immediately, reporters posted dozens of stories about January’s numbers–with oddly contradictory headlines. “US home prices rise in January: S&P/Case-Shiller” , Reuters proclaimed. “ Home prices decline for third month in January,” the Wall Street Journal ‘s MarketWatch blog wrote. “Case-Shiller sees housing market cooling ever so slightly,” the Los Angeles Times proclaimed. Which is it? Well, depending which numbers you look at, the answer is both–and all three. The S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices track home prices across the nation, looking at the data a number of ways. The driver behind the conflicting headlines is whether the reporter is using non-seasonally adjusted numbers (the raw data from that month) or seasonally adjusted (with seasonal peaks and valleys smoothed out). http://www.forbes.com/sites/erincarlyle/2014/03/25/housing-price...

Since the dawn of time, humans have built shelters in the wilderness to protect them from storms and dangers lurking in the dark. Society may have changed, but the yearning persists -- with urbanites in particular seeking to escape the stresses of city life and rekindle their connection with nature. Increasingly, these little hideouts have evolved from simple shacks to sophisticated examples of ultra-compact architecture. Some of the most exquisite of these are featured in Rock the Shack , a new book spanning the world of beautiful bolt-holes, classy cabins and luxurious lairs. Squish Studio, Canada This sharp-edged studio in a breathtaking location in Canada's Newfoundland is part of a small artist community where painters, filmmakers, sculptors and other creators are chosen to spend between two weeks and four months. It's the brainchild of architect Todd Saunders , who wanted the buildings to act as beacons on the coastline: "I wanted the studios to ...

According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), pending home sales declined for the eighth straight month in February. Modest increases in the Midwest and West were offset by declines in the Northeast and South; all regions are below a year ago. NAR's Pending Home Sales Index, a forward-looking indicator based on contract signings, dipped 0.8 percent to 93.9 from a downwardly revised 94.7 in January, and is 10.5 percent below February 2013 when it was 104.9. The February reading was the lowest since October 2011, when it was 92.2. Lawrence Yun Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said the recent slowdown in home sales may be behind us, while home prices continue to rise. "Contract signings for the past three months have been little changed, implying the market appears to be stabilizing," he said. "Moreover, buyer traffic information from our monthly Realtor survey shows a modest turnaround, and some weather delayed transactions should close in the sprin...

Zillow Inc. is focusing on expanding on-the-go usage for StreetEasy.com, the New York City property-listings website it acquired in August , with plans to introduce a mobile application for more devices this year. Zillow will relaunch StreetEasy for the iPhone and add apps for Android and iPads, Chief Executive Officer Spencer Rascoff said. About one-third of StreetEasy traffic is from mobile devices, less than the two-thirds share for the Seattle-based parent company, he said. Zillow, which bought StreetEasy for $50 million and made the service free earlier this year, is seeking to boost the site's mobile usage as a growing number of New York apartment hunters search for property information on their phones and other devices. The plan is in line with a broader strategy within the company to bring in mobile users, Mr. Rascoff said. "We're a software company, not a brokerage," Mr. Rascoff said. "Our technology expertise is truly differentiated in mobile. It...

Mayor Bill de Blasio, who has promised a more tenant-friendly administration, appointed five new members to the city board that sets rents for the approximately 1 million apartments across the city that are subject to the Rent Stabilization law. Mr. de Blasio named Sarah Williams Willard as an owners' representative to the Rent Guidelines Board, Cecilia Joza and Steven Flax as public members, and Sheila Garcia as a tenant representative. The mayor also re-appointed current tenants' representative Harvey Epstein to the board. Mr. de Blasio announced the appointments Thursday morning in advance of the board's first public meeting of his administration . Ms. Joza is currently the housing counseling program director at Mutual Housing Association of New York, a not-for-profit housing organization that owns and manages more than 1,200 affordable rental apartments in New York. Mr. Flax is a vice president of community reinvestment at M&T Bank, where he oversees community ...

Slick and uncluttered countertops and cabinetry create a minimalist look in this kitchen by RI Kitchen & Bath . “Less is more.” That’s the mantra of minimalists, who are drawn to styles and designs that use the fewest elements to create maximum effect. Clean lines and clear colors can lend a modern, sophisticated look to bedrooms, living rooms, dining rooms — and even kitchens. Kitchens? Yes, but if you’re like most homeowners, you’re going to have to adjust your thinking to get there. Whether you need to chop, mix, steam, warm, broil, roast, blend, core, toast, slice, dehydrate, tenderize or even butter your food — there’s a gadget for that. Architect and author Sarah Susanka fears this obsession with small appliances and assorted doohickeys is more about cluttering countertops than it is about simplifying food preparation. Even worse, she says, is the fact that homeowners often believe they need gargantuan kitchens to accommodate all their culinary contraptions. What...

Home prices rose more slowly in January, extending a trend of moderating gains. The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller 20-city Index rose 13.2% from a year ago, 0.1% less than December's year-over-year change. The pace of annual gains has slowed for three straight months and January's increase was below the 13.4% for all of 2013. All 20 cities showed higher prices than in January 2013. But compared with December, prices fell in 12. The decliners were led by Chicago, which was down 1.2%. "The housing recovery may have taken a breather due to the cold weather," said David Blitzer, chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices. The cities with the five highest monthly gains were all in the Sun Belt. Las Vegas, up 1.1%, was tops among gainers.The other four were Miami, up 0.7%; San Diego, 0.6%; San Francisco, 0.5%; and Tampa, 0.1%. Among other cities in the 20-city index, New York and Washington D.C. saw their highest year-over-year returns s...

Mortgage foreclosures are at a six-year low, according to data from Back Night (formerly Lending Processing Services), and that is helping boost the vast majority of local housing markets to their best showing since 2010. Separate data from Irvine, Calif.-based RealtyTrac says 96% of 410 U.S. counties are "better off than they were four years ago," when foreclosures were at historic highs. (The 410 counties in the survey represent about 63% of the U.S. population.) There is still a downside, and a fairly substantial one: RealtyTrac reports that just 8% of county markets are "better off" than in 2006, just before the housing sector went bust in a big way.   Apparently, the housing market is in the second year of an upward trend after six years of downside price activity. RealtyTrac says the real estate market hit bottom in 2012 in terms of median residential home prices, and 80% of homeowners are better off than they were in 2012, the firm says.   To cal...

29 images <div class="gallery loaded"><a href="http://curbed.com/archives/2014/03/24/miami-beach-manse-sets-its-sail-headway-for-225m.php"><img src="http://cdn.cstatic.net/images/gridfs/532ffa27f92ea1490a025605/imagereader.jpg" width="500" height="375"></a><br /><a href="http://curbed.com/archives/2014/03/24/miami-beach-manse-sets-its-sail-headway-for-225m.php" style="font-size: 9px; text-align: center;">Click here to view the full photogallery.</a></div> Location: Miami Beach, Fla. Price: $22,500,000 The Skinny: New to market in Miami Beach is this slightly bizarro compound on guard-gated Hibiscus Island, which is asking $22.5M for six bedrooms, eight bathrooms, and hundreds of square feet of sailcloth. The home, which Curbed has covered before but deems worth another shout-out as House of the Day sheerly for its strangeness, has 13,000 square feet of living ...

Is your goal to try to change the terminology, or is your goal to create a scalable business based on happy clients? Yes, this is another one of my “off my normal topic” posts …I’m so not into the altruistic idea that if we change the terminology we use — standardized terminology, by the way — that it will inherently change our industry. That it will change our mindset. It won’t. We will always have unethical agents, always have idiot agents, always have greedy agents, always have hobby agents. …There’s this “passion” that’s been around since the beginning of time — OK, maybe not the beginning of time — but definitely the entire course of my real estate career (spanning over two decades so far) that when we say the word “lead” we are some how demeaning, degrading and/or debasing an individual person. Oy vey. Seriously? Someone is a lead, until I get to know them a little bit and they get to know me a little bit. It’s that simple. You have to bring in a lot of “leads” and funnel the...

Home prices declined in January for the third straight month, slowing the pace of year-over-year appreciation, according to the key 20-city S&P/Case-Shiller survey of home prices. With the decline of -0.08% in January the index saw its longest consecutive streak of declines since March 2012. Economists rushed this morning to say the results do not mean there is a housing bubble and it is popping. Actually, they say, the opposite is true . Month-on-month, U.S. home prices inched down 0.1% in January, matching expectations and after dipping 0.1% in the preceding month. Fully 12 of 20 tracked cities posting drops. Year-over-year, prices increased 13.24%, a drop from the December year-over-year gain of 13.38%, indicating a general slowing of home price appreciation. "You may not realize it given the eye-popping levels, but today’s Case-Shiller numbers actually do represent a bit of moderation for the venerable index. The real pace of gains is probably really half that...

While the housing market is feeling some wobbles right now, leading economists say there is no cause for concern that, one, the market is in a bubble and, two, there is a chance of that bubble popping soon. The reason for this conclusion is primary due to doubts that there is even a bubble in the first place. More than 4 million residential property owners regained lost equity in 2013, primarily due to home price gains, but as a result, the market is starting to talk of a bubble, CoreLogic ( CLGX ) most recent MarketPulse report said. However, rising home prices are not the only angle to look at the housing market. “Because most homeowners use their income to pay for a home mortgage, there is an established relationship between income levels and home prices,” Mark Fleming, chief economist with CoreLogic, said. “In the long run, home price growth cannot be sustained above income growth because housing would become unaffordable, demand would decline and home price growth woul...

Earlier this month, Inman News reported from an industry conference that a study by Jonathan Green, vice president real estate services for CoreLogic ( CLGX ), found that nearly half of all homes sold last year were never listed in an MLS or were listed only after a buyer was lined up. The MLS, that coveted and proprietary listing report that gave unique value and advantage to real estate agents using it for decades, is falling out of use in favor of more open, free listing services, such as Zillow ( Z ) and other off-MLS listings. Inman reported that CoreLogic’s analysis compared public record transaction data with MLS data in four counties, and extrapolating on those findings shows that MLS use is rapidly declining. Inman reported that Corelogic says that this raises significant questions for the industry: Will the prevalence of off-MLS listings (or FSBOs) continue to grow? Will behavior change in proportion to inventory? Will brokers attempt to systematically or ...

recent_searches federal housing finance agency / florida ends foreclosure mediation program / citigroup jobs / broker compensation / u s department housing urban development REwired   Monday Morning Cup of Coffee takes a look at news crossing HousingWire's weekend desk, with more coverage to come on bigger issues. Black Knight Financial Services' "First Look" at February 2014 data Black Knight, formerly Lender Processing Services , report on mortgage performance in February include the following highlights: The number of loans in foreclosure has dropped by more than 500K since last year (1.24M as of Feb.) There are now nearly 1 million fewer non-current mortgages since last February (4.1M as of Feb). The roughly 92K foreclosure starts in February marked a 30% year-over-year decline. The monthly prepayment rate (historically a good indicator of refinance activity) declined almost 64% year-over-year. Mississippi, Nevada & Rhode I...

Photo via Design Boom Japanese architect Junya Ishigami —apparently known as "a brash upstart with a flair for the controversial" —has just released plans for a private residence commissioned by an art collector, to be sited on a secret location in Chile. Clearly ready to on one-up the other precarious, teetering structures of the world, the one-story, disk-like dwelling will be positioned to face the South Pacific from a point between two rock formations, hovering above the ground. From the inside, the home resembles a shallow bowl with curving, windowless walls and (probably glass-covered?) circular cut-outs in the floor to provide both a source of light, and that impending fear of falling through the floor that homeowners love so much. Above, a totally flat roof "devoid of any boundaries or walls" offers unobstructed views of the surrounding landscape. Enter a tiny world, this way. >> So how does one get to this odd and slightly dangerous locale? S...

10 images <div class="gallery loaded"><a href="http://curbed.com/archives/2014/03/20/thatll-be-515k-for-this-buckminster-fuller-dome-home.php"><img src="http://cdn.cstatic.net/images/gridfs/532b491cf92ea13f7901a03b/qyDxpszzujs8dKgOU0NQqu66wIk-Z-5vlTidZXGNa7xGH686615zow-LxB9r-T76g8IvVG7jyhLKbpwGiHtazQ.jpg" width="500" height="281"></a><br /><a href="http://curbed.com/archives/2014/03/20/thatll-be-515k-for-this-buckminster-fuller-dome-home.php" style="font-size: 9px; text-align: center;">Click here to view the full photogallery.</a></div> Last time a geodesic dome designed by American architect, engineer, inventor, and all-around brainiac Buckminster Fuller found its way onto the Curbed radar, it practically reeked of a teardown, and the same can probably be said for other recent dome homes that take after his. Is a Buckster-designed dome that looks...

22 images <div class="gallery loaded"><a href="http://curbed.com/archives/2014/03/21/chateau-in-the-shadow-of-the-biltmore-estate-asks-1075m.php"><img src="http://cdn.cstatic.net/images/gridfs/532bbd05f92ea11ee3058756/548005-1.jpg" width="500" height="375"></a><br /><a href="http://curbed.com/archives/2014/03/21/chateau-in-the-shadow-of-the-biltmore-estate-asks-1075m.php" style="font-size: 9px; text-align: center;">Click here to view the full photogallery.</a></div> Location: Asheville, N.C. Price: $10,750,000 The Skinny: Not far from the world famous Biltmore Estate is this somewhat less renowned chateau nestled along the back nine of the Biltmore Forest County Club in Asheville, N.C. Its three-foot-thick limestone walls contain a virtual circumnavigation of the globe, with a variety of themed rooms depicting life around the world as imagined by people who can a...

Freddie Mac (OTCQB: FMCC) today released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey® (PMMS ® ), showing average fixed mortgage rates moving down slightly after last week's uptick, and remaining within range of average fixed rates for the first quarter of 2014. News Facts 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 4.32 percent with an average 0.6 point for the week ending March 20, 2014, down from last week when it averaged 4.37 percent. A year ago at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 3.54 percent. 15-year FRM this week averaged 3.32 percent with an average 0.6 point, down from last week when it averaged 3.38 percent. A year ago at this time, the 15-year FRM averaged 2.72 percent. 5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) averaged 3.02 percent this week with an average 0.4 point, down from last week when it averaged 3.09 percent. A year ago, the 5-year ARM averaged 2.61 percent. 1-year Treasury-indexed ARM averaged 2.49 percent this week wi...

Prep your home properly before you put it on the market | North Salem Real Estate | Bedford New York Real Estate | Bedford NY Homes by Robert Paul Realtor

Latest Figures Show New Home Sales and Prices Drop in New York | Chappaqua Real Estate | Bedford New York Real Estate | Bedford NY Homes by Robert Paul Realtor

Spring Housing Market Shaping Up as Tale of Two Coasts | Bedford Corners Real Estate | Bedford New York Real Estate | Bedford NY Homes by Robert Paul Realtor

Tom Brady soon will become a year-round Bostonian. The New England Patriots quarterback and his supermodel wife, Gisele Bundchen, have put their four-acre Los Angeles estate on the market, "real estate sources" told TMZ.com on Wednesday. Brady, a California native, and his family reportedly plan to live full-time in a new, 14,000-square-foot mansion currently under construction in Brookline, Mass. So, if you're looking to live in Brady's house -- one that features such amenities as a waterfall and a moat -- you're in luck. If you can afford the $50 million asking price, that is. http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/report-brady-bundchen-put-l-a-mansion-on-market-for-50m-031914

We asked for them , and you gave them to us. From a tractor tire to a toilet tank, you’ve shown us unusual places where, with the right soil, some water and maybe a drain, edibles will grow. Save to Ideabook Email Photo Lack of landscaping doesn’t seem to stand in the way of your edible gardening efforts. Check out these 14 alternative places where Houzzers are growing crops and see if you get inspired to finally make use of those old blue jeans. 1. In a toilet. Not to let any good vessel go to waste, Houzzer drewsigner shared photos of a friend’s old toilet that now has carrots growing in its water tank. Save to Ideabook Email Photo Save to Ideabook Email Photo 2. In a vintage ice chest. Though it’s winter now, user dordesign ’s herb garden takes full advantage of a vintage cooler in summer. If only all raised beds came with their own bottle opener. 3. In a concrete sink. Houzz user Shari showed us how she grows basil and other edible...