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

U.S. home building surged in April to the highest level since before the recession officially began, a sign of thaw in the housing market during the crucial spring selling season. U.S. housing starts rose 20.2% from a month earlier to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.135 million in April, the Commerce Department said Tuesday. That was the highest reading since November 2007, and the biggest percentage increase since February 1991. New applications for building permits, a bellwether for construction in coming months, increased 10.1%. Home-construction figures are volatile and often revised, and housing data have been mixed over the past several months. But economists have been cautiously optimistic despite the uneven readings and many said Tuesday's report offered reassurance the housing market is rebounding after a dismal first quarter. "It is hard to know where the underlying trends in the starts and permits data are because of the recent big changes in the...

When cold weather approaches, it's time to give your home's exterior a once-over to make sure water won't find its way indoors. There are ways to spot the problem areas on your home's exterior before a drip from the ceiling or a flooded basement alerts you. You just need to learn to think like water. Habitations Residential Design Group Save Photo Gutters If you do nothing else in fall to get ready for winter, clean your gutters. A lot of products purport to save you the need to perform this possibly dangerous and at least tedious task. I have seen many of them fail when sediment builds up. They may buy you some time, but there are advantages to giving your house a periodic once-over, and the roof and gutters aren't spots you're likely to keep an eye on otherwise. So whether you hire someone or clean them yourself, I recommend using old-fashioned gutters and keeping them clean. Most homes have gutters attached to the edge of the roofline....

TMZ reports that Lady Gaga has bought a 10,270-square-foot house in the Zuma Beach neighborhood of Malibu, California. The mansion was listed in June for $24.95M by Dan Romanelli, founder of the Warner Brothers Worldwide Consumer Products Division, around which time there was much talk of his home having a "Batcave," seeing as he developed a lot of the toys and apparel linked to the Batman movies. Curbed is sad to report that, while it does have an underground bowling alley reached via secret passage, there is nary a stalagmite or costume display case to be found in Lady Gaga's new basement rec room. (The latter will likely be remedied soon.) "Inspired by traditional homes in the South of France." >> The "Batcave," which looks like a McMansion-y basement save for the "1960s-era two-lane bowling alley," also has a wetbar-equipped theater and an 800-bottle wine cellar. The 2005 house was designed by ...

Construction spending during July 2014 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $981.3 billion, 1.8% above the revised June estimate of $963.7 billion and the biggest jump in two years. The growth was driven mostly by non-residential and public construction spending, although residential spending was up. The July figure is 8.2% above the July 2013 estimate of $906.6 billion. During the first seven months of this year, construction spending amounted to $535.4 billion, 7.9% above the $496.3 billion for the same period in 2013. Spending on private construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $701.7 billion, 1.4% above the revised June estimate of $692.2 billion. Residential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $358.1 billion in July, 0.7% above the revised June estimate of $355.6 billion. Nonresidential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $343.6 billion in July, 2.1% above the revised June estimate of $336.6...

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...

Can home prices record 23 months of increases? | Katonah NY Real Estate | Bedford New York Real Estate | Bedford NY Homes by Robert Paul Realtor

Recovery Remains Uneven as Cities Spared in Bust Soar, but Many Others Struggle | Katonah Real Estate | Bedford New York Real Estate | Bedford NY Homes by Robert Paul Realtor

In 2014, I’ll be watching a couple of new technologies that could bring about some big changes in the way our industry works. I’m particularly interested in Google Glass, set for a still undisclosed but imminent public release, and iBeacon, which is already out there, but not yet comprehensively implemented. Google Glass , of course, is a computer you wear like glasses, with an optical display, a smartphone-type interface and voice commands. IBeacon is a Bluetooth Low Energy system that allows small transmitters to send push notifications to iOS or Android devices, such as Google Glass, in their vicinity. We have some basic awareness of these new gizmos, but we’re just not quite sure how they’re going to emerge, whether they’ll catch on, and what differences they’ll make. But when you think about pairing the two of these in an information-sharing environment, very powerful capabilities emerge, and the potential is enormous. As a minor example from our little part of the pictur...

Floored’s interactive 3-D experiences may represent future of virtual home tours | Katonah NY Homes | Bedford New York Real Estate | Bedford NY Homes by Robert Paul Realtor

Analysts at the National Association of Realtors (NAR) are pleased with the amount of growth in the real estate market in 2013, but many feel that the gains are not sustainable throughout 2014. NAR’s 2014 forecast states that homes should retain the gains that have been made over the past year, but that value increases are likely to slow. Another problem will be income as employment and wage growth continues to lag far behind real estate price increases. Economists note that the price will be what the market will bear, and dwindling affordability will play a role in next year’s home prices. For more on this continue reading the following article from TheStreet .    The real estate market is in full slumber, as usual during the holiday season, but 2014 is only weeks away. And next year, the housing market will see some fresh complications that could slow growth when it should be springing back, according to one leading economist. The National Association of Realtors' 2...

New home sales shot up in October, evidence that buyers nationwide may be absorbing higher mortgage interest rates. Sales of newly built single-family houses rose 25.4% from September to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 444,000, the Commerce Department said Wednesday. The sharp rise comes after new home sales fell 6.6% in September. Compared with October 2012, sales are up 21.6%.New homes in October sold for a median price of $245,800 nationally. Sales rose in all regions. The West saw the smallest rise as buyers purchased 15.2% more new houses than a month earlier. The pause and decline in the third quarter appears to be a reaction to rising interest rates and the rising uncertainty around government debt and deficit resolution that led to the shutdown in early October. As rates fell back and the shutdown ended, consumers returned to the market. Even with the large variances, the 25.4% change is enough to be considered an increase at the 90% confidence level. The inventory...

We’ve added a new section to Brownstoner called Market Trends that offers real time info on rental and sales prices throughout Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan and upstate. It can show you neighborhoods in your price range you might not have known about or what your property is currently worth — and many other stats. It’s based on the listings on our site and is updated throughout the day. A quick look this morning revealed that most of the more affordable neighborhoods of Brooklyn, from Crown Heights to Bushwick to Bed Stuy and more, all clock in at the same median rental price: about $24 a square foot. Average rental prices vary considerably, with Windsor Terrace at the top at $35.65 a square foot and Bay Ridge at the bottom (cheaper than Crown Heights, Bushwick, Flatbush and Bed Stuy) at $25 a square foot. The more expensive neighborhoods of Brooklyn Heights, Dumbo and Williamsburg all exceed a median rent of $48 a square foot, with averages as high as $55.97 (the Heights wins). A...

Home prices jumped over the past year, according to a new report, but worries are growing over whether the housing market is fading as a bright spot in the economy's murky recovery.   The S&P/Case-Shiller index of home prices in 20 U.S. cities on Tuesday rose 13.3 percent in September from the same month last year and ticked up 0.7 percent from August. But the pace of growth slowed in many places.   Those gains are also a double-edged sword. Rising values are essential for the approximately 7 million Americans whose mortgages are larger than their homes are worth. But housing affordability has suffered as a result, just as interest rates have moved significantly higher.   New regulations slated to take effect in January could also make it more difficult for many potential home buyers to qualify for a loan.   "It's pretty clear that the recovery in home sales has at least stalled," said Jim O'Sullivan, chief U.S. economist at High Frequency Economi...

Permits to build new U.S. homes climbed 6.2% in October to the highest level in more than five years, mainly because of a big increase in applications to construct apartments and other multi-family dwellings. Bloomberg Homes under construction stand at the Gale Ranch housing development by Shapell Homes in San Ramon, California. The number of permits issued last month rose to an annual rate of 1.03 million from an upwardly revised 974,000 in September, the Commerce Department said Tuesday. Permits are a barometer of future demand for new housing, though not all applications lead to immediate construction Applications for buildings of five units or more, a volatile sector that often seesaws, shot up 17%, with virtually all of the demand in the South and West. Yet applications for single-family homes, — the bread and butter of the housing market — rose less than 1% compared to the prior month. Investors traded up shares of the country’s three largest home builders Tuesday, ...

Katonah Museum Of Art Selects Local Artists To Exhibit Portraits | The Armonk Daily Voice

Remember Michael Jordan's massive Chicago mansion he put on auction this month ? Bovada put out odds on what he'll get for it. Yes, you can bet on what Michael Jordan will make from selling a house. America is awesome. Well, OK, you can't actually bet here. So not really America. The internet, though. How much will Michael Jordan's Highland Park estate sell for at auction? Over/Under 24.5 (Million) We thought it would be a few million. We were wrong. Kobe Bryant could buy that house with his salary this year and still have room left over to pay for a rookie contract in the NBA. Sometimes the money involved in this stuff just blows my mind. http://www.cbssports.com/nba/eye-on-basketball/24204263/

Every once in awhile , the MTA likes to release some photos of the Second Avenue Subway construction, as if to say, "Hey world, we promise that this is a thing that is still going on." Well, another batch has just surfaced , via the agency's surprisingly active Flickr account , revealing updated glimpses of tunnels, scaffolding, tarps, and more in the sections that will become the 86th Street and 96th Street stations. Progress is, in fact, being made —even rails have arrived!—and the work is apparently on schedule . UPDATE: Second Avenue Sags has some technical explanations for the images. Obviously, the project has been quite a saga . After starting work in 2007, with three stations projected to open December 2016, let's just say folks need any reassurance they can get along the way. Head down below for more shots >> http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2013/11/05/see_the_second_avenue_subways_subterranean_progress.php

Detroit, Santa Barbara, Calif. and Reno, Nev. markets are currently leading the nation in recovery according to realtor.com’s third quarter ranking of America’s top turnaround markets. The median age of inventory dropped 17.7 percent over the same period in 2012, with typical homes selling in 84 days between July and September of this year. Median list prices rose 7.6 percent year-over-year to $199,128 in the third quarter. The number of homes available on the market dropped across the country by 3.3 percent year-over-year, with an average of 1.96 million homes on the market on any given day in the period. Most noteworthy in the third quarter of 2013 is the acceleration in markets that have been less impacted by the highs and lows of the past several years, such as Ann Arbor, Mich., Dallas, Boston and Boulder, Colo. These markets have demonstrated more consistent, incremental improvement, and their appearance on the list may be a bellwether of stronger improvements in similar marke...

Katonah NY Weekly Real Estate Report   11/4/2013 Homes for sale 57 Median Ask Price $995,000.00 Low Price $359,000.00 High Price $18,995,000.00 Average Size 3876 Average Price/foot $438.00 Average DOM 128 Average Ask Price $2,167,544.00

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