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

Photo by Amanda Lucidon courtesy of  White House Photo After six years in the White House,  Michelle Obama  has finally embarked on a major  redecorating project  for the late 18th-century neoclassical mansion on 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. The First Lady decided to set a striking, contemporary tone for the Old Family Dining Room, a small room for private events that is adjacent to the official State Dining Room. The room, which was previously furnished with Kennedy-era antiques and painted yellow, now has gray walls hung with bold modern artworks by Robert Rauschenberg, Josef Albers, Anni Albers, and Alma Thomas, whose 1966 painting "Resurrection" is the first work by an African-American woman to be incorporated into the White House's permanent collection. Ms. Obama also added burgundy window treatments and bronze sconces. Ms. Obama has mixed these newer items with a selection of fine antiques, including a mahogany table dating to 1800, when construction on...

I was meeting with a client the other day for an interior paint color consultation, and at one point we found ourselves sitting on the stairs just outside of her powder room trying to figure out the exact shade of blue she wanted for an accent wall in the room. We couldn’t find the color in the paint fan deck I had with me, but then she suddenly pointed to my ponytail elastic and said, “That’s the blue I want!” I’d describe it as a bold electric blue that has the teensiest touch of green in it. That very afternoon I saw the announcement of Blue Paisley as PPG Pittsburgh Paints’ Color of the Year for 2015 and realized it was the exact hue my client wanted for her powder room wall. And now I am suddenly seeing this color popping up everywhere, from accent walls to winter clothing to decorative accessories. One in a series: See more featured colors of the year Jennifer Ott Design Blue Paisley was chosen for the 2015 Color of the Year by PPG Pittsburgh Paints because ...

You can see it in your mind’s eye: that perfect house, a snug cabin nestled in the woods alongside a pond shimmering in the sun’s slanting rays. You’ve held that image in your head since you were a teenager, and now you’re finally ready to build it. You’d love to build it all by yourself, but you’re not sure you have the necessary skills. Or perhaps you know that you have the skills, but the time and effort of finding all of the materials seems daunting. Maybe a kit house is the answer. Kit houses can be grand or tiny, sophisticated or rustic, traditional or ultra-modern. Kit homes can offer efficiency in construction as well as in energy use after the house has been built, and many kit home companies offer state-of-the-art green and renewable energy options. In short, if you’d like to build an affordable custom home (or cabin), a kit house may be a solution. One of your first decisions will be how big to build. Census statistics show that the average home size in the United States ...

350 Wickapogue Road Southampton 18 images <div class="gallery loaded"><a href="http://hamptons.curbed.com/archives/2014/11/04/spare_simple_modern_mansion_in_southampton.php"><img src="http://cdn.cstatic.net/images/gridfs/5458e519f92ea179e600e3d3/11009254.jpg" width="500" height="282"></a><br /><a href="http://hamptons.curbed.com/archives/2014/11/04/spare_simple_modern_mansion_in_southampton.php" style="font-size: 9px; text-align: center;">Click here to view the full photogallery.</a></div> If you're looking for a unique house, something in between the traditional style and the glass box, this may be the place for you. Of course you'll need deep pockets, as the asking price is $21.995M . For that, you get 2....

July was not a strong month for the California housing market as the state continued to underperform. California pending homes sales dropped in July, with the pending home sales index falling 2.3% from 107 in June to 104.5 in July, based on signed contracts, according to the  California Association of Realtors. However, the month-to-month drop was consistent with seasonal trends. This is also down 9.2% from 115.1 in July 2013. “Pending sales have been down year to year since October 2012, but the pace appears to be decelerating as the decrease in July was smaller than the average in the last six months. Pending home sales are forward-looking indicators of future home sales activity, providing information on the future direction of the market,” CAR said. As noted in the 3 facts crippling California’s housing recovery , the combined share of all distressed property sales continued to decrease in July, dropping from 9.7% in June to 9.4% in July. On the other side, the share...

Mortgage rates for 30-year fixed mortgages remained fairly stable this week, with the current rate borrowers were quoted on Zillow Mortgages at 4.06 percent, down from 4.08 percent at this same time last week. The 30-year fixed mortgage rate hovered around 4.08 percent for the majority of the week, falling to 3.97 percent on Friday before returning to the current rate. “Mortgage rates dropped mid-week to their lowest level in two months on weak U.S. economic data and geopolitical concerns over the escalating tensions between Ukraine and Russia,” said Erin Lantz , vice president of mortgages at Zillow. “This week, we expect rates to inch back up unless international turmoil continues to lead the news.” Additionally, the 15-year fixed mortgage rate this morning was 3.12 percent, and for 5/1 ARMs , the rate was 2.79 percent. read more... https://homes.yahoo.com/news/30-fixed-mortgage-rates-hold-steady-185235422.html

New foreclosure activity data from June, when a total of 107,194 U.S. properties had a foreclosure filing, fell 2 percent from the previous month and was down 16 percent from a year ago to lowest level since July 2006, before the housing price bubble burst Total foreclosure activity in June was the lowest since the housing bubble burst in August 2006 in 10 states, including Texas, Georgia, Colorado, Tennessee, Arizona and Nevada, according to the latest foreclosure report from RealtyTrac. “Nationwide foreclosure activity in June reached an important milestone, dropping to levels not seen since before the housing price bubble burst in August 2006,” said Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac. “Over the next six to nine months nationwide foreclosure numbers should start to flat line at consistent historically normal levels. “There continue to be concerning trends in some states and local markets that clearly indicate those markets are not completely out of the woods when it ...

For the ultra-wealthy, New York City is becoming an investment haven, a place to store cash in a stable commodity with the promise of long-term growth and the opportunity for near anonymity, according to a detailed feature in New York Magazine chronicling the new trend. “There’s really no safer way to get that kind of return than in New York City real estate,” Santo Rosabianca, a broker with Wire International Realty, told New York Magazine writer Andrew Rice. The privacy that Big Apple real estate affords through limited liability corporations and other buyer-obscurity measures also lures investors to the market, Rice reported, especially with recent efforts to increase transparency of overseas’ bank accounts including those notoriously secretive repositories: Swiss bank accounts. Source: New York Magazine

[ Simon Cowell/wikipedia ] Last year, we suggested some East End houses for entertainment mogul Simon Cowell to buy along with his baby mama Lauren Silverman . Cowell unaccountably failed to heed our advice, and now word has it that he and Lauren are looking to rent a place this summer . [Update: they rented a place in Bridgehampton!] Since we are nothing but obliging, we ferreted out some rentals for him. We decided to skip the more obvious homes like Joe Farrell's Sandcastle (pictured above) this time (although we do think it would be perfect for Cowell). Which do you think Cowell should take? read more.... http://hamptons.curbed.com/archives/2014/05/28/where_should_simon_cowell_rent_in_the_hamptons.php

The etymology of the phrase “everything but the kitchen sink” probably has to do with the fact that the sink is difficult to move. For instance, if a person absconded with “everything but the kitchen sink,” it means he or she made off with every conceivable portable item. But here is a new way of looking at the term: What if said person didn’t take the hypothetical sink because it was too necessary to the kitchen? When you think about it, there are very few features in the home that are used as often. And what other home item performs as many different tasks? It could be argued that the selection of a sink is one of the most important kitchen choices you will make — and it’s a decision that will affect your daily life for many years to come. We spoke to designers who belong to the National Kitchen and Bath Association (NKBA) about how to select the right sink. Justrich Design Save to Ideabook Email Photo How Many Basins, and in What Configuration? 1. A large, single ...

Greg Leffel, an investor in Columbus, Ohio, said he relishes cash deals as much as he dislikes home loans. He has spent $150,000 buying and renovating 10 foreclosed houses in the past two years and turned them into rentals. “Lending is so tight, and even if you do get a loan you’d have to jump through a bunch of hoops first,” Leffel, 44, said. “I like buying with cash, because then I can control my investments.” Investors like Leffel helped spur all-cash home purchases to a record 43 percent of U.S. deals in the first quarter, more than double the share a year ago, according to data firm RealtyTrac Inc. Cash is keeping residential sales trudging along while mortgage lending plummets, hurt by rising interest rates and stiff credit requirements. Americans seeking a loan to purchase their first dwelling are increasingly shut out. “The cash buyers today mean that all is not well in the housing market,” said Clifford Rossi, finance professor at the University of Maryland’s Rober...

Copper Beech Farm, the 50-acre Greenwich estate that thundered onto the market last May with a record-setting $190M price tag, has sold this morning for $120M, according to CTNews.com. Though it sold for just 61 percent of its initial ask, the property still managed to edge out a win over the reigning champ of single-family residential sales in the United States, a nine-acre Silicon Valley spread that sold for $117.5M in January 2013. (It did not, in fact, beat Montana's Broken O Ranch, which sold in 2012 for $132.5M—though most would consider that a working farm and not a single-family home of the Copper Beech breed.) In all: quite a feat for the debt-saddled mansion, which endured a monstrous PriceChop pummeling, first down to $140M in September, then down to $130M just after the New Year. According to the Greenwich Town Clerk's office, the buyer is "Conservation Institute LLC"—more information forthcoming, no doubt. More about Copper Beech, this way. ...

Auditorium in 1928. [Historic photos by Richard B. Hoit. Post-restoration photos courtesy MCM construction] 16 images <div class="gallery loaded"><a href="http://miami.curbed.com/archives/2014/04/07/miami-senior-high-restoration.php"><img src="http://cdn.cstatic.net/images/gridfs/53430e2ff92ea139c1030643/0542_C9788_Library_Cafeteria_East Bldg_From Northeastfor web.jpg" width="500" height="283"></a><br /><a href="http://miami.curbed.com/archives/2014/04/07/miami-senior-high-restoration.php" style="font-size: 9px; text-align: center;">Click here to view the full photogallery.</a></div> After an extensive historical restoration and expansion (including three new classroom buildings, and a parking garage) the old Miami Senior High School looks like a million bucks, or maybe a million apples on a teacher's desk, or a million extra credit points on a final exam, o...

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...

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Bedford resident Kerry Kennedy's trial for driving under the influence will begin on Monday, Feb. 24 in White Plains. Kennedy appeared in Westchester County Court on Thursday for a pretrial conference, where the court date was set by Judge Robert Neary. The jury selection for the trail will take place Thursday, Feb. 20 and Friday, Feb. 21, though Kennedy will not be present for those days because she will be out of the country. Kennedy is the daughter of Robert F. Kennedy, niece of John F. Kennedy and ex-wife of Gov. Andrew Cuomo. She was arrested in July 2012 in Armonk after an accident in which her Lexus hit a tractor-trailer. She was charged with driving under the influence of an unknown substance, a misdemeanor. She pleaded not guilty, saying that she did take some Ambien, but did so accidentally. http://bedford.dailyvoice.com/news/kerry-kennedy-trial-begin-february

Mortgage applications increased 11.9% from a week ago, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) weekly mortgage applications survey for the week ending Jan. 10, 2014. The previous week’s results included an adjustment for the New Year’s holiday. On an unadjusted basis, the Index increased 61% when compared with the previous week. The refinance index increased 11% from the prior week. The seasonally adjusted purchase index increased 12% from a week ago, but is at a level similar to what was observed in mid-November 2013. The unadjusted Purchase Index increased 66% compared with the previous week and was 10% lower than the same week one year ago. The refinance share of mortgage activity decreased to 62% of total applications from 63% the previous week, which is the lowest share observed since the end of September 2013. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity remained unchanged at 8% of total applications . The average contract interest...

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San Antonio’s luxury real estate market sees surge | Bedford Corners Homes | Bedford New York Real Estate | Bedford NY Homes by Robert Paul Realtor