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

Joel Weber said he's determined to incur less college debt by living in the tiny, 145-square-foot house he built, rather than struggling to pay higher rent in his college town of Austin, Texas. "I wanted a place to call home," Weber told ABC News. "I wanted it to be affordable so I could be debt-free and let it be an investment to give back to the community — not just dumped into rent that I wouldn't get any return on." Weber, who will begin his junior year at the University of Texas at Austin, said it can cost upwards of $800 a month to live in the area near his school. In a bid to save himself from further debt, the 25-year-old said it was summer 2014 when he decided that he'd build his own home, rather than stressing over higher costs for an apartment, or on-campus dormitories. The dwelling, Weber said, took one year to complete and cost an estimated $20,000. "I saved up quite a bit and what I didn’t have, family, friends,...

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...

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...

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...

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...

A guide to cultural and recreational events in the Hudson Valley. Items for the calendar should be sent at least three weeks in advance to westweek@nytimes.com .   Comedy ROSENDALE Rosendale Theater The Gang Show, variety. July 12 at 9:30 p.m. $5. Rosendale Theater, 408 Main Street. (845) 658-8989; rosendaletheatre.org . TARRYTOWN Tarrytown Music Hall Sinbad. July 12 at 8 p.m. $35 to $48. Tarrytown Music Hall, 13 Main Street. tarrytownmusichall.org ; (877) 840-0457. WEST NYACK Levity Live John Moses, Mark DeMayo, Meghan Hanley, Derek Gaines and Jon Fisch. July 3, 5 and 6. $20. Greg Stone. July 9 at 7:30 p.m. $15. Steve Trevino. July 10 through 13. $17 and $20. Levity Live, 4210 Palisades Center Drive. (845) 353-5400; levitylive.com . Film ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON The Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts, Bard College “Schubert and the Long 19th Century,” film series. Through Aug. 3. $8 and $10 per screening. The Richard B. Fisher Center for the Perf...

2014 does not stand a chance against the record-breaking housing numbers -- such as housing starts and originations -- witnessed in 2013 but that does not mean it is all bad news for this year. Despite a freezing winter and a slow start to the spring homebuying season, there are still bright spots in the economy. This week provided some good tidbits for housing, with mortgage applications rising and record traffic for online real estate sites. So here are a few shining gems for the housing market in 2014. 1. Record breaking online real estate site traffic At least people are looking to buy homes. Trulia ( TRLA ) and Zillow ( Z ) are watching their unique visitor count rise month over month, continuously breaking the prior record. Trulia consumer traffic accelerated to a new high and experienced more than 51 million unique visitors using the site in May. “Trulia’s consumer audience is at an all-time high, which is a good indicator of a strong housing market heading ...

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 ...

Single-family homes, condominiums and townhomes sold at an estimated annual pace of 5,253,464 in March, an increase of 0.4% from February and up 8% from a year ago, according to RealtyTrac’s March and Q1 2014 Residential & Foreclosure Sales Report. This report includes all sales, not just new home sales , which took a beating in March, dropping 14.5% for the month and 13.3% year-over-year. “The housing market showed signs of coming out of hibernation in March after a sluggish fall and winter,” said Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac. “Median home prices increased on a monthly basis following six consecutive months where they were flat or declining, and increased on an annual basis by the biggest percentage since hitting bottom in March 2012. The median sales price of U.S. residential properties — including both distressed and non-distressed sales — was $164,500 in March, up 1% from February and up 10% from March 2013. March was the 24th consecutive month wher...

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

  You could literally be washing soap (and money) down the drain. Suspicious that you've been using too much soap in your laundry? Follow these guidelines to get it right every time.   1. Choose the detergent that works with your machine. Today, many detergents are formulated for both regular and high-efficiency machines, but some brands, like Tide and Gain, still offer separate product lines. Pick the wrong one, and you may end up with too many suds in your clothes. 2. Make sure you're measuring. The instructions on your detergent's packaging are accurate guidelines -- it's when you ignore them that errors occur. "Don't pour in your detergent without measuring," says Carolyn Forte, the director of the Home Appliances and Cleaning Products department in the Good Housekeeping Research Institute. "Eyeballing the correct amount is more difficult than you think. You'll get it wrong." If measuring into your detergent'...

A record tide of foreign buyers flooded into the city last year snapping up Manhattan office buildings. All told, overseas investors bought $5.5 billion worth of office towers in Manhattan in 2013, according to a new report released by the real estate brokerage Colliers International. The deals included One Chase Manhattan Plaza in lower Manhattan, 1211 Sixth Ave. in midtown and a large stake in the city's most expensive office tower, the General Motors Building on East 59th Street. Not only did that spending set a new record for foreign investment in Manhattan commercial real estate, it also established a new high for such spending as a portion of the total. Last year foreigners accounted for 28% of the $20 billion worth of office property deals done in Manhattan. The total dollar figure was nearly twice as much as the previous record, the $3 billion that foreigners poured into the Manhattan market in 2007, according to James Murphy, a sales broker at Colliers International, w...

Stop losing buyers because of horrible listing photos | Katonah NY Real Estate | Bedford New York Real Estate | Bedford NY Homes by Robert Paul Realtor

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

Berkshire Hathaway moves into local real estate market | Katonah NY Real Estate | Bedford New York Real Estate | Bedford NY Homes by Robert Paul Realtor