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

Although he considered his villainous roles his best (such as Walter Neff, the murder-minded insurance salesman in Double Indemnity ), to his fans Fred MacMurray was synonymous with his more charming characters, such as the all-American television dad Steve Douglas on My Three Sons. According to his daughter Kate MacMurray, the latter character was closest to the real man. The actor was known to millions for his work in more than 100 movies and many popular television shows, but what most admirers don’t realize is that he created a life for himself far from Hollywood on a ranch outside of Healdsburg, California. Save Photo He bought the Sonoma County spread, now called MacMurray Estate Vineyards, in 1941 and remodeled the existing farmhouse in a charming period style that has endured for more than 70 years. Today the property is owned by the Gallo family and produces lush pinot noir, pinot gris and chardonnay wines, but the house remains much as it did when MacMurr...

Freddie Mac ( OTCQB : FMCC ) today released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey® (PMMS ® ), showing average fixed mortgage rates largely flat for the week, remaining just above their lows for 2014 and helping to support homebuyer affordability. News Facts 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 4.13 percent with an average 0.6 point for the week ending July 24, 2014 , unchanged from last week. A year ago at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 4.31 percent. 15-year FRM this week averaged 3.26 percent with an average 0.6 point, up from last week when it averaged 3.23 percent. A year ago at this time, the 15-year FRM averaged 3.39 percent. 5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) averaged 2.99 percent this week with an average 0.5 point, up from last week when it averaged 2.97 percent. A year ago, the 5-year ARM averaged 3.16 percent. 1-year Treasury-indexed ARM averaged 2.39 percent this week with an average 0.4 point, unchanged from la...

Freddie Mac ( OTCQB : FMCC ) today released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey® (PMMS ® ), showing average fixed mortgage rates following Treasury yields higher and coming off the May jobs report, which largely met forecast expectations. News Facts 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 4.20 percent with an average 0.6 point for the week ending June 12, 2014 , up from last week when it averaged 4.14 percent. A year ago at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 3.98 percent. 15-year FRM this week averaged 3.31 percent with an average 0.5 point, up from last week when it averaged 3.23 percent. A year ago at this time, the 15-year FRM averaged 3.10 percent. 5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) averaged 3.05 percent this week with an average 0.4 point, up from last week when it averaged 2.93 percent. A year ago, the 5-year ARM averaged 2.79 percent. 1-year Treasury-indexed ARM averaged 2.40 percent this week with an average 0.4 point...

Halfway through the spring buying season, mortgage applications fell 1.2 percent for the week ending May 21 and the unadjusted Mortgage Bankers Association’s Purchase Index fell even more. It was down 2 percent in just one week–15 percent lower than it was a year ago at this time. Such a decline in borrowing to buy a home in the third week of May is virtually unprecedented, but it corresponds with the anemic sales reports from the National Association of Realtors. Sales are down year over year. April sales are down 6.8 percent from a year ago (see April Sales Disappoint ). Cash sales continue to account for a large percentage of purchases and financed purchases have fallen far below normal even though it’s easier (not a lot easier) to get a mortgage today that it was during the mini-boon of a year ago. According to Ellie Mae’s March data, purchase loans are closing in 41 days compared to 47 days a year ago, some 60.7 percent of applications for purchase loans are approved co...

U.S. homebuilders are feeling less confident this month in their near-term sales prospects, reflecting doubts stirred by a sluggish start to the annual spring home-selling season. Even so, builders are more optimistic that sales will perk up later this year. That would bode well for home construction, which slowed early this year as severe winter weather dampened sales in many markets. The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo builder sentiment index released Thursday fell to 45. That's down one point from a revised reading of 46 in April and the lowest level in 12 months. Readings below 50 indicate that more builders view sales conditions as poor rather than good. The overall index has been below 50 since February. "Builders are waiting for consumers to feel more secure about their financial situation," said David Crowe, the NAHB's chief economist. "Once job growth becomes more consistent, consumers will return to the market in la...

[One of many hand-painted signs in the hospital's basement. All photos by Charles Giraudet .] 22 images <div class="gallery loaded"><a href="http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2014/05/01/inside_roosevelt_islands_abandoned_hospital_predemolition.php"><img src="http://cdn.cstatic.net/images/gridfs/53627f69f92ea1117500daae/Mortuary Sign - IMG_0463.jpg" width="500" height="379"></a><br /><a href="http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2014/05/01/inside_roosevelt_islands_abandoned_hospital_predemolition.php" style="font-size: 9px; text-align: center;">Click here to view the full photogallery.</a></div> Trained as an architect in his native France, Charles Giraudet wanted to enter Roosevelt Island's massive Goldwater Hospital ever since he laid eyes on it about two decades ago. Giraudet, now a full-time photographer , got the chance he'd been waiting for in late Decembe...

[Renderings via NBWW] 5 images <div class="gallery loaded"><a href="http://miami.curbed.com/archives/2014/04/16/fontainebleau-penthouse-versailles-tower-suites.php"><img src="http://cdn.cstatic.net/images/gridfs/534ec1c6f92ea1358500fc7b/SHOT2for web.jpg" width="500" height="355"></a><br /><a href="http://miami.curbed.com/archives/2014/04/16/fontainebleau-penthouse-versailles-tower-suites.php" style="font-size: 9px; text-align: center;">Click here to view the full photogallery.</a></div> The old historical feud between the Fontainebleau and Eden Roc Hotels that produced the Fontainebleau's "Spite Wall" , actually called the Versailles Tower, was more or less resolved years ago. The Eden Roc built a new, Spite Wall-proof pool deck and their own tower to hide the wall's blank whiteness, and they both changed hands to new ownership that didn't ho...

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

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Bond oracle Jeff Gundlach and recent Nobel Prize-winner Robert Shiller sat down with Barron's for a joint interview to "size up the world." These guys are, quite simply, two of the sharpest market minds out there right now, so it's especially interesting when their opinions line up. And it seems the two are in agreement over Norway's bubbly, "out of whack" housing market. First, Gundlach serves up some numbery goodness, and then Shiller brings it home with a dose of cerebral cultural commentary. From Barron's : Gundlach: Take a look at Norway if you want to see a country that really looks out of whack. The housing market there has been so strong, and the debt ratios are so high. People don't think about Norway as being that type of a country. But if you look at the charts, it is pretty remarkable. By last June, the Norway housing index had risen 77% from year-end 2004, an all-time high. The U.S. home-price index, by contrast...

Real estate in Miami is traditionally one of the most popular markets for overseas buyers, and prices have steadily increased for 23 consecutive months. According to the article in Propertywire, the median sales price for a Miami home in October was $220,000, compared to a price of $185,000 for the same time last year, a massive increase of 18.9%. The prices of Miami condos have also shown double digit increases. A year ago the median sales price for a Miami condo was $145,000, but in October it reached $170,000, an increase of 17.2%. The average sales prices have also risen considerably.© jovannig – Fotolia.com In October the average Miami condo price reached $296,568 compared to a year earlier when the average price was $265,225. This is an increase of 11.8%. The average sale price of a single-family home in Miami in October reached $421,546. This is a 29.9% increase compared to a year earlier when the average price was just $324,611. Overall sales figures did decline slightl...

The real estate market will continue its road to recovery in 2014, with home prices rising 6 percent and mortgage rates hitting 5.4 percent. In addition, demand is predicted to plateau, all according to Lawrence Yun, chief economist and senior vice president of Research for the National Association of REALTORS®, who presented his 2014 market forecast during last week’s REALTORS® Conference and Expo. Other factors aim to set the market back on the right path. Although there could be a possible negative impact due to rising mortgage rates, job creation and loosening underwriting standards should balance out 2014’s sales volume. “There were two million jobs created in the past few months and we’ll see the same next year,” says Yun. “These people could potentially enter the market.” Yun does not see, however, an increase in unit sales nationwide, as inventory levels remain an issue to keep an eye on. Currently, the nation is under one million and this number needs to increase 50-60...

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Bedford resident Kerry Kennedy knows when and what time her trial will begin, but where is still in question. Judge Elyse Lazansky on Tuesday set Jan. 22, 2014 at 8:30 a.m. as the beginning of Kennedy's trial for impaired driving, a misdemeanor, after a July 2012 car accident on I-684 in which she was arrested after her Lexus swerved into a tractor-trailer. Kennedy admitted to taking a small amount of Ambien prior to the crash, but claims she ingested it accidentally. Kennedy, accompanied by her sister-in-law Molly Kennedy of Mount Pleasant, arrived and left North Castle Court in a white Lexus without speaking to reporters. Both defense and prosecution agree North Castle Town Court is too small to host Kennedy's trial. The court is looking at keeping the trial in North Castle, though is still trying to find a suitable venue. Kennedy's attorney, White Plains-based William Aronwald, offered White Plains as a suitable replacement. "They cannot try the case here,...

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’s a magical feeling to open your door and find your home all clean and smelling fresh. Like Samantha from “Bewitched” just wiggled her nose and, voila, everything shines. A reliable cleaning service can do wonders not only for your home but your state of mind. But keep in mind that the value cleaning services offer may go beyond polished floors and spotless toilets. Sparkling windows, pollutant-free ducts and clear gutters and downspouts are critical to home maintenance as well. How much you’ll pay for a cleaning service often depends on the extent of the cleaning job and the specialized services needed. Maid Service The most significant factors affecting the cost of any interior house cleaning or maid service are the number and size of your rooms, whether you own pets, and how often you schedule your cleanings. Many maid services will charge you less per cleaning if you have them come once a week rather than once a month. Some companies will charge more for specialty service...

Is HUD’s Section 8 housing program about to go on steroids?  That’s the question a  writer for the Baltimore Sun alluded  to over the weekend while outlining the Obama administration’s planned attempt to use the  Department of Housing and Urban Development  to “track diversity in American neighborhoods” and back policies to change any areas that look discriminatory from a data standpoint. The editorial claims a discrimination database could be implemented allowing officials to “seek changes in (local) zoning ordinances, housing finance, infrastructure policy and transportation in order to remedy the alleged segregation,” the publication said. It seems interest rate shocks may have finally taken  a toll on the U.S. housing recovery. After a busy week on Wall Street, a new government report showed a 12.4% drop in seasonally adjusted new single-family home sales. The decline prompted market analysts to assume potential homebuyers are beginning to feel the...