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

After slowly winding down over the summer months, the third and fourth quarter data now being released shows that price appreciation is no longer slowing.  It is now within inches of a total screeching halt that could presage a shift in the recovery’s momentum as real estate markets don their pajamas for the winter hibernation. The September 2014 index data for the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices released yesterday showed that home prices continue to decelerate. The 10-City Composite gained 4.8% year-over-year, down from 5.5% in August. The 20-City Composite gained 4.9% year-over-year, compared to 5.6% in August. The National and Composite Indices were both slightly negative in September. Both the 10 and 20-City Composites reported a slight downturn while the National Index posted a -0.1% change for the month. Charlotte and Miami led all cities in September with increases of 0.6%. Atlanta and Washington D.C. offset those gains by reporting decreases of 0.3% and 0.4%. ...

I am the North Castle Supervisor, but I write to you as a resident who will live in this Town for many more years than I will serve on our Town Board.  In a small Town like ours (pop. 11,841), the ward system is a solution in search of a problem.  I am opposed to the Ward System and I urge you to vote “No”  on both Ward propositions, as it will invite divisiveness between neighborhoods, fiscal irresponsibility, horse trading, and larger government. Our Town Board has always worked collaboratively based on the needs of both the entire town and specific areas, despite differences of opinion or where they lived, Recent decisions - the Banksville Avenue zoning solution (Banksville), sewers in Quarry Heights (North White Plains), the DeCicco’s shopping center (Armonk) – were all possible because of Town Boards that were elected by, and responsible to, the entire town and not just to a specific neighborhood.  In a Ward system, solutions like these may not be possi...

Two-and-a-half years into the U.S. housing recovery, the real-estate industry is rolling out new ways for individuals to invest in the property market. Brokers, property managers and others are helping buyers purchase houses in distant cities and manage them as rentals for a fee. Publicly traded trusts that collect rental income are selling shares to investors. And crowdfunding startups are matching buyers with willing lenders. The latest pitches generally aim to eliminate the day-to-day headaches of being a landlord, and the potential payoff can make the concept worth considering. Investors can buy in for the price of a single-family home or a single share of stock. But the plunge in U.S. home prices in the financial crisis should be a fresh reminder that bets on housing can sour in a hurry. The latest deals often don’t depend on home values going up, which sets them apart from the house-flipping strategies that cost many home buyers dearly when the market collapsed. Yet inve...

8 images <div class="gallery loaded"><a href="http://seattle.curbed.com/archives/2014/09/seattles-pricey-shorts-15m-1909-mansion.php"><img src="http://cdn.cstatic.net/images/gridfs/540e224ef92ea17373016ee2/1_689448_0_1409618413_636x435.jpg" width="500" height="334"></a><br /><a href="http://seattle.curbed.com/archives/2014/09/seattles-pricey-shorts-15m-1909-mansion.php" style="font-size: 9px; text-align: center;">Click here to view the full photogallery.</a></div> A mansion built in 1909 is now up for a short sale 105 years later . Must be time for a rebirth in spirit only because it certainly doesn't look like it needs a remodel or renovation. $1,500,000 buys a brick classi...

Transunion: Mortgage delinquency rate falls to mid-2008 low | Armonk NY Homes | Bedford New York Real Estate | Bedford NY Homes by Robert Paul Realtor

12 images <div class="gallery loaded"><a href="http://curbed.com/archives/2014/05/06/canary-yellow-florida-manse-assaults-senses-wants-17m.php"><img src="http://cdn.cstatic.net/images/gridfs/536865b8f92ea13dd000e9ab/l9ee7ae44-m0o.jpg" width="500" height="334"></a><br /><a href="http://curbed.com/archives/2014/05/06/canary-yellow-florida-manse-assaults-senses-wants-17m.php" style="font-size: 9px; text-align: center;">Click here to view the full photogallery.</a></div> Location: Lantana, Fla. Price: $16,995,000 The Skinny: The eye-scorching canary yellow exterior is just the beginning with this home in an exclusive gated neighborhood on South Florida's Hypoluxo Island; within these walls lies room after room of diabolically decorated interiors, revealed layer by layer like a Russian nesting doll of bad taste and worse furniture. The Florida room sets the tone...

32 images <div class="gallery loaded"><a href="http://curbed.com/archives/2014/04/30/satsang-and-its-insane-indoor-pool-ask-20m-in-socal.php"><img src="http://cdn.cstatic.net/images/gridfs/5360a640f92ea1611b029e48/22.jpeg" width="500" height="326"></a><br /><a href="http://curbed.com/archives/2014/04/30/satsang-and-its-insane-indoor-pool-ask-20m-in-socal.php" style="font-size: 9px; text-align: center;">Click here to view the full photogallery.</a></div> Location: Yorba Linda, Calif. Price: $20,000,000 The Skinny: Apologies to the listing , but if you're looking for an "architectural masterpiece", move along, nothing to see here. If, however, you're looking for the best SoCal trainwreck since this rough beast slouched toward La Quinta, waiting to be sold, step right up and behold Satsang. This truly amazing home, which looks sort of like Richar...

Advocating Good Government Concerned Citizens of North Castle Established 2004 You are Cordially Invited To An Open Discussion of Property Tax Trends and Issues in Westchester County Featuring: Mary Beth Murphy Executive Director Westchester County Tax Commission Thursday, April 24 th at 7:00 pm at the American Legion Hall 35 Bedford Road, Armonk, NY 10504 Come and meet your neighbors, enjoy some wine and cheese, discuss the future of property taxes in Westchester County and the Town of North Castle, and how they affect your home values now and in the future. The Concerned Citizens of North Castle, Inc.* was established in 2004 as a non-partisan, not for profit community organization. Its mission is to help North Castle residents learn about, and objectively discuss, all sides of critical issues impacting the Town. This meeting is the first of a series of ...

You are Cordially Invited To An Open Discussion of Property Tax Trends and Issues in Weschester County Featuring: Mary Beth Murphy Executive Director Westchester County Tax Commission Thursday, April 24 th at 7:00 pm at the American Legion Hall 35 Bedford Road, Armonk, NY 10504 Come and meet your neighbors, enjoy some wine and cheese, discuss the future of property taxes in Westchester County and the Town of North Castle, and how they affect your home values now and in the future.

Only about 17% of the 350 metro markets in America have seen a return to or growth beyond their last normal levels of housing activity, according to the National Association of Home Builders /First American Leading Markets Index. Exactly 59 metros can be said to have fully recovered. This represents a net gain of 11 metros year over year. Notably, a large number of the most recovered metros are in and around renewed petroleum activity – places in West Texas and North Dakota. The index’s nationwide score ticked up to .88 from a March reading of .87. This means that based on current permit, price and employment data, the nationwide average is running at 88% of normal economic and housing activity. For single-family permits and home prices, 2000-2003 is used as the last normal period, and for employment, 2007 is the base comparison. A little more than a quarter of metros saw their score rise this month and 83% have shown an improvement over the past year, the report says. ...

12 images <div class="gallery loaded"><a href="http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2014/04/08/here_now_brooklyns_10_most_expensive_apartments_for_rent.php"><img src="http://cdn.cstatic.net/images/gridfs/534441c7f92ea17a8902e09b/69706880.jpg" width="500" height="334"></a><br /><a href="http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2014/04/08/here_now_brooklyns_10_most_expensive_apartments_for_rent.php" style="font-size: 9px; text-align: center;">Click here to view the full photogallery.</a></div> Attempting to round up the most expensive rental apartments in all of New York City leaves us with options that are only in Manhattan, asking upwards of $70,000 a month. But limiting the search to Brooklyn yields some slightly more accessible options; namely, the fanciest townhouses and chicest condos that the borough has to offer . We start with No. 10, the historic-looking y...

The bloom may be officially off the boom in investment sales as they declined in 2013 for a second straight year after soaring in 2011 at the height of the large foreclosure inventories. Investor purchases declined 15.9 percent last year from the 1.23 million sales peak set in 2011. Investment-home sales fell 8.5 percent to an estimated 1.10 million in 2013 from 1.21 million in 2012. By comparison, owner-occupied purchases rose 13.1 percent to 3.70 million last year from 3.27 million in 2012. The sales estimates are based on responses from households and exclude institutional investment activity according to NAR’s 2014 Investment and Vacation Home Buyers Survey. NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said the pullback in investment activity is understandable. “Investment buyers slowed their purchasing in 2013 because prices were rising quickly along with a declining availability of discounted foreclosures over the course of the year,” he said. “In 2011 and 2012, investment property was...

10 homes on wheels | Armonk Real Estate | Bedford New York Real Estate | Bedford NY Homes by Robert Paul Realtor

Checking In On The East Side Access Project’s Massive Caverns | Armonk Real Estate | Bedford New York Real Estate | Bedford NY Homes by Robert Paul Realtor

Photo courtesy of The Estate of Huguette M. Clark, from the book Empty Mansions via Bill Dedman Whereas mogul William A. Clark, a copper baron and politician who died in 1925, had exacting standards for his eye-popping mansions—his Fifth Avenue manor on NYC's 77th Street had 121 rooms, 30 bathrooms, and a golden chamber that well put the "gilded" in the Gilded Age—his daughter, reclusive heiress Huguette Clark, whose 2011 death spurred a tangle of slogging inheritance battles, siphoned her energies and cash into home details on a much tinier scale. One of her Japanese miniatures, for example, required getting special permission from the Japanese government to use rare cedar reserved solely for imperial buildings. She spent $80K to get it built. "You could call them dollhouses, but they were really historical art projects," said investigative reporter Bill Dedman, who—quite literally— wrote the book on Huguette Clark's houses, large and small. "Lik...

Freddie Mac ( OTCQB : FMCC ) today released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey® (PMMS ® ), reflecting that weaker housing data is putting downward pressure on average fixed mortgage rates. News Facts 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 4.23 percent with an average 0.7 point for the week ending February 6, 2014 , down from last week when it averaged 4.32 percent. A year ago at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 3.53 percent. 15-year FRM this week averaged 3.33 percent with an average 0.7 point, down from last week when it averaged 3.40 percent. A year ago at this time, the 15-year FRM averaged 2.77 percent. 5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) averaged 3.08 percent this week with an average 0.5 point, down from last week when it averaged 3.12 percent. A year ago, the 5-year ARM averaged 2.63 percent. 1-year Treasury-indexed ARM averaged 2.51 percent this week with an average 0.5 point, down from last week when it averaged 2.5...

Ground Hog ‘Phil’ Sees Shadow; Snow Likely Monday In Armonk | Armonk Realtor | Bedford New York Real Estate | Bedford NY Homes by Robert Paul Realtor

Wall Street bonuses heat up January real estate market in Greenwich, Darien | Armonk NY Real Estate | Bedford New York Real Estate | Bedford NY Homes by Robert Paul Realtor

The ‘McMansion’ is back | Armonk NY Real Estate | Bedford New York Real Estate | Bedford NY Homes by Robert Paul Realtor

North Castle Administrator Goldberg Returns Shortly After Abrupt Firing | Armonk Real Estate | Bedford New York Real Estate | Bedford NY Homes by Robert Paul Realtor