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

Sales of new single-family houses in January 2015 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 481,000, according to estimates released jointly today by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. This is 0.2 percent (±22.2%)* below the revised December rate of 482,000, but is 5.3 percent (±22.1%)* above the January 2014 estimate of 457,000. The median sales price of new houses sold in January 2015 was $294,300; the average sales price was $348,300. The seasonally adjusted estimate of new houses for sale at the end of January was 218,000. This represents a supply of 5.4 months at the current sales rate

Another year is upon us — I can tell because just yesterday I had half a dozen plant catalogs in my mailbox (and probably another half-dozen in my email). Dreaming up garden plans for the growing season is what I value most about winter. In no other season can I take the time to carefully strategize and rethink what works and what doesn’t for my landscape. Will I finally tear out the gangly plant that annoys me even though it’s healthy? What can I do for that problem area of dry shade in the corner? What are some fundamental ways in which I can garden in healthier ways for myself and wildlife? Well, here’s what I’ve been thinking and that I hope helps you this year. Benjamin Vogt / Monarch Gardens Let it go to see what we can learn.  This doesn’t mean I’m advocating “messy” design; instead, see what the garden has to teach you. Gardens aren’t static, and neither are we. If you let a portion of the garden be itself for the entire year, what happens? If weeds move in an...

Family, a job and friends have always been a reason to relocate, but one reason is starting to take up a larger portion of the pie: housing affordability. Per The NewYork Times : Rising rents and the inabiilty to secure a mortgage has started to push people inland, the article explained. But of those who moved more than 500 miles, the share who said they were chiefly motivated by housing has risen to 18 percent in 2014, from 8 percent in 2007, the earliest year such data is available, according to the Census Bureau. The desire for a new, better or cheaper home and the opportunity to buy instead of rent were among the housing-related reasons people cited. Source: NYT

23 images <div class="gallery loaded"><a href="http://curbed.com/archives/2014/07/29/16thcentury-castle-comes-with-a-tiny-replica-of-itself.php"><img src="http://cdn.cstatic.net/images/gridfs/53d7a142f92ea169f80294f6/imagereader.jpg" width="500" height="334"></a><br /><a href="http://curbed.com/archives/2014/07/29/16thcentury-castle-comes-with-a-tiny-replica-of-itself.php" style="font-size: 9px; text-align: center;">Click here to view the full photogallery.</a></div> Plunked right down in the middle of two canals in Gestel, Belgium, the elaborately-moated Castle Gestelhof is newly on the market for a regal $27M. Called "a work of art you can live in" by the excitable brokerbabble, the 20,989-square-foot, 12-bedroom kingdom harks back to the 16th century, according to Architectural Digest, but underwent a series of renovations in 1796 and a few additi...

The Federal Reserve Board and Federal Reserve Bank presidents released its updated economic projections for changes in real GDP, unemployment rate and PCE inflation. In addition, it updated policymakers’ assessments of the appropriate path for the Federal Open Market Committee’s target federal funds rate. These five charts give an inside look into what the FOMC forecasts for the U.S. economy. The source for all the charts is the Federal Reserve (click mage for larger view). The three charts show actual values and projections based on FOMC’s participants’ individual assessments of appropriate monetary policy. To understand the following three charts: -Lightly shaded areas represent the rages of the projections of policymakers. The bottom of the range for each variable is the lowest of all of the projections for that year or period. Likewise, the top of the range is the highest of all of the projections for that year or period. -Dark shaded areas represent the central ten...

61 Middle Road 9 images <div class="gallery loaded"><a href="http://miami.curbed.com/archives/2014/06/02/palm-beach-estate-with-jimmy-buffet-links-sells-for-429m.php"><img src="http://cdn.cstatic.net/images/gridfs/526951adf92ea142d8026cbe/20130927172926246715000000-o.jpg" width="500" height="349"></a><br /><a href="http://miami.curbed.com/archives/2014/06/02/palm-beach-estate-with-jimmy-buffet-links-sells-for-429m.php" style="font-size: 9px; text-align: center;">Click here to view the full photogallery.</a></div> The Palm Beach oceanfront compound where Jimmy Buffett long lived has been sold by Buffet's old neighbor Jon L. Stryker for $42.9 million to "seasonal Palm Beacher" and "English businessman" Peter Wood. Buffett lived in his 1920s Federal Style Marion Sims Wyeth designed house "for at least a decade" before selling...

Do you have an edible garden or farm animals? Do you live in a farmhouse or decorate as if you do? Whether you’ve got more raised beds than bedrooms, count barn animals as part of your family or have rescued a dilapidated barn, we’d love to see pictures of your home. Check out some of the unique farmhouses from around the world that have been featured on Houzz. Yours could be next! Share your farmhouse: Upload photos to the Comments section below and tell us about your home. Your space may end up as a My Houzz feature, covered by one of our editorial photographers. Corynne Pless Save to Ideabook Email Photo Fox Heart Farm. Mark and Kelley Ash of Horton, Alabama, built their family’s colorful shotgun-style farmhouse on a 9-acre property. Pictured here is their kitchen, built with salvaged wood from Kelley’s grandmother’s home and a restored washboard sink found on Craigslist. Their farm is host to a number of animals, including three horses, one donkey, five ...

US Homebuilder Confidence Edges Up In April | Wochit - Yahoo Screen

The Katonah-Lewisboro school board will vote Thursday night at John Jay High School on whether or not to close Lewisboro Elementary School for the fall 2014. A parent-led petition opposing the closure has hit 1,059 signatures. There have been five public hearings held since September, many drawing crowds of more than 100 parents concerned about how closing Lewisboro Elementary would impact their child. If the school board votes to close the school Thursday, 214 Lewisboro Elementary students would be moved to Increase Miller Elementary, and the remaining 136 would be moved to Meadow Pond, under a tentative redistricting scenario that may still be tweaked. In order to even out class sections under this scenario, 94 Increase Miller Elementary students would be moved to Katonah. http://bedford.dailyvoice.com/news/lewisboro-elementary-school-closure-vote-thursday

Hard proof Dodd-Frank isn’t working | Katonah NY Real Estate | Bedford New York Real Estate | Bedford NY Homes by Robert Paul Realtor

Home values in the Northwest Corner have been skyrocketing in the past decade and more than doubled property prices in some communities, according to a new report. Median Prices Triple The report shows median home values in Salisbury to be up almost 160 percent from 13 years ago, followed by Sharon at 120 percent. This growth far outdistances the 80 percent average of both the rest of the county and the state. The housing data profiles were compiled by the Partnership For Strong Community, a non-profit organization aiming to end homelessness, develop healthy neighborhoods and to create more affordable housing opportunities for workers, young professionals and families. Data were drawn from the 2000 Census, the American Community Survey (2007-11, 2009-11 and/or 2012), 2-1-1 data from the United Way of Connecticut, population projections from the Connecticut State Data Center, foreclosure data from the Warren Group, and Affordable Housing Appeals List data collected by the Connecticut De...

Mortgage rates are still so low because it’s a big world, full of surprises | Katonah NY Real Estate | Bedford New York Real Estate | Bedford NY Homes by Robert Paul Realtor

Over the past 15 years, I’ve performed energy audits in thousands of homes. I tell people energy efficiency shouldn’t be a hardship—in fact, it can be rewarding. Increasing your home’s energy efficiency lowers energy bills and makes your home more comfortable. It doesn’t take much to keep your heating costs minimal, although once you get started, you may want to dig deeper. Even if you must finance them, professionally installed, major energy improvements almost guarantee you positive cash flow. For now, here’s are simple energy saving tips you can do yourself. 1. Get Smart With Your Thermostat Your thermostat is a valve between your fuel supplier and your wallet. For every degree you turn it down, you use up to 2 percent less heating energy. A 10-degree setback overnight or while you’re at work cuts your heating bill by up to 10 percent. 2 Ways to Save • A programmable thermostat saves energy without you even thinking about it. Simply adjust the settings to turn down th...

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...

The Related Companies’ unusual decision to collaborate with outside marketing pros at Corcoran Sunshine to sell the residential units at its mammoth Hudson Yards project will be a boon for the new development marketing sector, industry experts told The Real Deal , since it signals a reversal of a recent trend towards marketing big-ticket projects internally. Related announced the partnership earlier this week, surprising some in the real estate community, since the giant developer has historically handled sales in-house. Going forward, Corcoran Sunshine, the new development marketing wing of the Corcoran Group, will handle about $5 billion worth of projects in Related’s New York City pipeline, including the Zaha Hadid-designed 520 West 28th Street condominiums. Though brokerage executives could be forgiven for quaking at a competitor landing such a plum assignment, industry pros insisted that the news was positive for the sector overall. “It shows that this short wave of develop...

Which do you select first — kitchen counter or backsplash? How do you coordinate colors? Is it OK to mix patterns? The seemingly unlimited countertop and backsplash choices can feel overwhelming. I've had homeowners approach me after weeks or months of looking at and collecting samples of materials that they love separately but just don't love together. Some settle on a combination that looks good together, but they don't actually like either material on its own. Here are 10 examples of stunning and successful countertop and backsplash combinations to help you plan your own mix of kitchen finishes, along with tips to ease your selection process. Nolan Painting Inc. Save to Ideabook Email Photo Approach 1: Select the Countertop First If you feel overwhelmed by the countertop and backsplash options, try focusing on countertop selection first. Your countertop is the workhorse in your kitchen and can constitute a good chunk of your budget, so you'll want...

Applications for purchase loans dropped a seasonally adjusted 1 percent for the week ending Nov. 8 compared to a week earlier, and were down 6 percent from a year ago, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s latest Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey. Applications for refinancings were down 2 percent from the previous week.  The MBA’s survey showed interest rates climbing to their highest level in a month, with the average rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage with a balance of $417,000 or less rising to 4.44 percent from 4.32 percent a week earlier. Source: mbaa.org. - See more at: http://www.inman.com/wire/purchase-applications-still-lagging/#sthash.4R7gfTaY.dpuf

Gigi Wong beat four other bidders in an auction of a three-bedroom Sydney house with peeling wallpaper, cracked doors and an overgrown backyard by paying A$856,000 ($811,060), 14 percent more than the realtor expected the property to fetch. "I’m not sure if I paid too much," said Wong, an accountant at the University of Sydney , after winning the bidding war for the investment property in an inner-west suburb where prices have tripled in the past 15 years. "Since I can, and have capacity to borrow money, I should utilize it." Paul Bloxham, chief Australia economist at HSBC Holdings Plc in Sydney, talks about the nation's economy, central bank monetary policy and the local currency. The Reserve Bank of Australia left its benchmark interest rate unchanged at a record low as it weighs rising housing prices against renewed currency strength. Bloxham speaks with Angie Lau on Bloomberg Television's "Asia Edge." (Source: Bloomberg) A prospectiv...

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