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

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...

Sales of existing homes rose in May to the fastest pace since late 2009, as first-time buyers stepped up their purchases and more homes on the market encouraged buyers, according to data released Monday. Sales of existing homes rose 5.1% in May to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.35 million, hitting the fastest pace since November 2009 and rebounding from a drop in April, the National Association of Realtors reported. This year is on track to be the best for home sales since 2007, when the U.S. last entered a recession, NAR said. Economists polled by MarketWatch  had forecast a sales rate of 5.25 million for May, compared with an original estimate of 5.04 million for April. On Monday NAR revised April’s pace to 5.09 million. “Solid gains were seen throughout the country,” said Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist. First-time buyers are accounting for a bigger share of the market. In May they were 32% of sales, compared with 30% in April and 27% in May 2014. ...

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...

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

Is your business using Instagram ? Do you need better tools? Many marketers haven’t adopted Instagram because it doesn’t offer the right tools to help them use it effectively . Here are five Instagram tools to help you become more efficient with Instagram . Why Instagram? Instagram is a rapidly growing photo and video sharing platform with more than 150 million users and 16 billion photos shared. Over 55 million photos are shared on Instagram to a very engaged community every single day. Google Trends show you the volume of searches for “Instagram.” As you can see, over the last year it has grown significantly and is set to grow further in 2014. Pin It Pin It Google Trends show a rapid growth in the search for “Instagram,” which is a good sign for the application’s popularity. Read on to find tools that will help you market yourself or your brand on this popular platform . #1: Improve Your Account Management with Statigr.am Statigr.am is a web-based management too...

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...

A "maid's apartment" in the exorbitantly expensive 15 Central Park West just sold for around $3 million, the Post reports . It's not quite as bad as it sounds, though — the apartment belonged to former Citigroup CEO and chairman Sandford Weill , who also used to own the enormous penthouse that sold for $88 million in 2011 to the daughter of a Russian oligarch . Weill lived in the separate maid's apartment while the penthouse was being renovated and after it sold, so if it's good enough for Sandy Weill it's probably good enough for everyone else, maids and non-maids included. The apartment includes one bedroom, one-and-a-half baths, and a private terrace, and Weill was originally asking $6.25 million. Despite the over-50 percent price cut, he's still walking away with a substantial profit, having paid just under $1 million for the unit in 2007. Although considering that he made a $44 million profit on the penthouse, he probably doesn't care that m...

7 images <div class="gallery loaded"><a href="http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2014/04/02/the_10_most_popular_manhattan_rentals_of_the_past_week.php"><img src="http://cdn.cstatic.net/images/gridfs/533c4eb0f92ea173e2034de6/71970112.jpg" width="500" height="334"></a><br /><a href="http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2014/04/02/the_10_most_popular_manhattan_rentals_of_the_past_week.php" style="font-size: 9px; text-align: center;">Click here to view the full photogallery.</a></div> 10) 161 West 16th Street , #16J, Chelsea This popularity contest starts in Chelsea with a studio that has a walk-in closet, semi-separate kitchen, and a tiled bathroom. Rent is $3,000 , and the building amenities include a 24-hour doorman, rooftop deck, bike storage, and a laundry room. The building allows pets and no co-op board approval is needed. Do they get better or worse from her...

Unusual Mixes of Old and New in Texas | Bedford Corners Real Estate | Bedford New York Real Estate | Bedford NY Homes by Robert Paul Realtor

Buying a House? Here Are 4 Reasons to Reconsider | Bedford Corners NY Homes | Bedford New York Real Estate | Bedford NY Homes by Robert Paul Realtor

Just north of downtown Los Angeles, skinny homes on tiny lots are sprouting from the hillsides — a building boom of miniature proportions. The rectangular structures come in clusters of six or 15, or even 70, and developers are racing to build them in trendy Silver Lake and Echo Park. They're eyeing younger home buyers who crave hip cafes and proximity to work but don't want a sky-high condo or a Craftsman bungalow. The so-called small-lot homes speak to a growing desire for a more compact and walkable Los Angeles, while still clinging to the single-family ideal that spread outward from downtown over the last century. The homes often have a small patio or roof deck but no backyard. The buyer owns little land beyond what sits beneath the house, a tiny footprint that cuts the cost in pricey neighborhoods.   "It's sort of the iPhone or Prius of homes," said Christian Návar, co-founder of L.A. architecture firm Modative, which designs the projects and hired fiv...

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...

Marketing center users can now create full display ads with contact info, photos, company logo | Bedford Corners NY Homes | Bedford New York Real Estate | Bedford NY Homes by Robert Paul Realtor

Rising mortgage rates, closing costs joining higher home prices | Bedford Corners NY Homes | Bedford New York Real Estate | Bedford NY Homes by Robert Paul Realtor

Home Values in Metro Chicago Real Estate Market | Bedford Corners NY Real Estate | Bedford New York Real Estate | Bedford NY Homes by Robert Paul Realtor

While 2013 was the year of the investor, 2014 is expected to usher in several pivotal shifts in the housing market, including the dominance of the repeat homebuyer, Jed Kolko, chief economist with Trulia ( TRLA ) said in his latest housing predictions for 2014. "As prices rise, buying homes will become less attractive to investors as well as first-time home buyers, but repeat buyers will be able to offset the higher price of the home they buy with the higher price from the home they sell," Kolko said. In addition to the prominence of the repeat buyers, Kolko believes next year will also see housing affordability worsen, the homebuying frenzy die down and a slowdown in rising home prices. Furthermore, rental action will swing back toward urban apartments. “Single-family rentals are peaking, and we are already seeing investor purchases declining,” Kolko noted. "There will likely by a decline in the homeownership rate next year since 18-34 year olds will be mo...

Expectations of future British house price rises have hit a 14-year high just as central bank chief Mark Carney signaled monetary policy would remain exceptionally loose despite the potential for them to jump at 'warp speed'. Britain is growing faster than many other big rich economies although it has still not passed its pre-crisis peak. There are some concerns, however, that it is a housing-led recovery - and a potential bubble - spurred by government stimulus. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) said on Tuesday that 59 percent of surveyors in November forecast prices would rise over the next three months, the highest reading since September 1999. http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/12/10/us-britain-housing-idUSBRE9B90CE20131210

Annapolis, Md. Stats : 7 bedrooms, 8.5 baths, 26,000 sq. ft. Price : $28.8 million Pedigree : Completed in the early 1920s, this stately brick manse is situated on a prime spot overlooking the Severn River. A chapel was later added to the building, which once served as a Capuchin monastery but has since been tastefully adapted to suit a single family.