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

Since the introduction of a solar investment tax credit (ITC) in 2006 the number of solar installations has grown by over 1,600%.  Going beyond encouraging the adoption of residential and commercial solar, the ITC has stimulated significant job growth in the industry, with jobs rates at 20 times the national average.  Over the course of its tenure the ITC guided the cost of installed solar from $7.60/W in 2006 to $2.93/W in 2013.  Despite its apparent success, on January 1, 2017 the ITC is scheduled to step down from its current 30% to 10% for commercial customers and expire entirely for residential customers. What does this mean for the industry here in the US? Depending on who you ask answers vary from panic to hard-nosed optimism.  These unknowns have prompted think-tanks and universities alike to publish calculated suggestions for legislators to take into consideration. One such paper out of Stanford calls for a front-loaded phased reduct...

Renters are slightly more optimistic than owners regarding price increases, both in the coming year and thereafter, according to the new consumer survey conducted by the New York Federal Reserve Bank in February and released last week.  In fact, renters respond to the annual survey were more bullish for the second year in a row. Both renters and owners expect prices to increase less than they have to date in most national market reports and to slow considerately to about half the current rate of appreciation in years to come. All survey respondents were asked for the current value of a typical home in their zip code, and what they expected the value of that home to be in one year point higher than the average rate in the 2014 survey and remarkably close and in five years. On average, both renters and owners expected home prices to increase by 4.4 percent over the next twelve months—a rate 0.1 percentage point higher than the average rate in the 2014 survey.  Today CoreL...

You’re in love. And, after careful consideration and heartfelt discussions, you and your significant other have decided to take a leap of faith and move in together. After all, your dogs already get along, and  the apartment you’re renting  is big enough for two and closer to your partner’s work. What could possibly go wrong? Sorry to burst your bubble, but the answer is: a lot. While deciding to cohabitate may seem like nothing more than making a little extra space in your sock drawer, there are serious considerations to discuss. Here are five reasons why ironing out the details beforehand and drafting a cohabitation agreement is the savviest way to protect you and your partner if things begin to unravel. 1. Avoid breaching your lease A  lease agreement  is a type of contract allowing either party the opportunity to seek damages (i.e., money) if its terms are not followed. If you are renting on your own, your lease agreement is between  you and your...

China's housing prices fell on a monthly basis for the seventh straight month in November, a survey showed Sunday, with the market yet to feel the full impact of an interest rate cut. The average price of a new home in China's 100 major cities was 10,589 yuan ($1,736) per square metre in November, down 0.38 percent from October, the independent China Index Academy said in a statement. The fall was a slight improvement from the 0.40 percent month-on-month drop in October, previous figures showed. "We expect the interest rate cut to kick in next year," Bai Yanjun, research director for the China Index Academy, told AFP. "We still believe the market is under downward pressure for the rest of 2014 because the current home inventory levels in first-tier and major second-tier cities are still high," he said. China cut both lending and deposit rates just over a week ago, and analysts said home mortgage buyers would be among the biggest beneficiaries. ...

Norwegian house prices rose more quickly than expected in October and growth will likely accelerate over the rest of the year, even as household debt levels remain among the highest in Europe, a real estate lobby group said on Wednesday. House prices rose by 5.3 percent year-on-year in October, up from 3.6 percent in September with seasonally adjusted prices up by 0.9 percent on the month, hitting all-time-highs in October, Real Estate Norway said. "We're somewhat surprised that we rise above the five percent level. We'll also see a further increase in November and maybe in December," Real Estate Norway Chief Executive Christian Dreyer said, adding it was "quite likely" growth would hit 6 percent. Norway's banking regulator, worried that strong house price growth will further boost household indebtedness and hurt the economy, has warned that banks may face new capital buffer requirements if the development continues. At the start of 2014, Real Es...

When we did our remodel, our contractor suggested a thousand things I had never really thought about. They weren't necessarily design considerations; they were more quality-of-life considerations — just little things you didn't know you were missing until you had them. Here are eight little touches I didn't know I couldn't live without until I lived with them. What are yours? ExpressDecor 1. A built-in dish soap dispenser . Because I don't care how nice the bottle is; it's just one more thing cluttering up your countertop. 2. Soft-close hinges. It is impossible to slam a drawer or cabinet in my kitchen. Each closes with a small whisper. It's calming somehow. Chang + Sylligardos Architects 3. Large kitchen drawers. Looking down into a well-lit space is much better than looking deep into a dark cabinet. In this kitchen large drawers have completely replaced cabinets. Just make sure they are all soft c...

With fall approaching, those imagining a change of scenery may be inspired to seek out a new home. It is no secret that housing markets vary across the United States. The types of homes offered at a specific price can vastly differ between neighborhoods, counties, states and regions. Curious how much house you can get for your money in other parts of the country? Here’s what $300,000 can buy in cities across the United States. read more... http://realestate.msn.com/what-you-can-buy-for-300-000-or-less

Here's a 15,000 square foot mansion that is sadly going a little Grey Gardens on the inside, which leaves the realtor writing the sales text in a tough spot. Positioning an over-priced dilapidated mess (the owner wants $800,000) is a real challenge. One might just freak out and decide to write a little fiction instead of deal with reality. Like this: Potentially THE best home in the city for entertaining. Oh dear God. Did they mean for entertaining mice? It looks like the dining room wasn't cleaned after the last party and the library has what looks like several inches of hastily pushed aside dust. The highest sales price in this neighborhood from the last several years was $485,000 for a 9,300 square foot mansion (bought by the President of Shinola). At 15,000 square feet this is a lot more house, but also a lot more mess. Whoever is it selling only paid $410,000 for the crazy estate in 2012, according to Zillow, which makes this one of the wildest attempted flips...

To be a successful real estate investor you have to keep your business growing. That means finding real estate to invest in and not just any real estate will do.We investors have to find real estate deals! We have to find properties where the numbers make sense, properties which will provide a decent return for our investment. Finding these deals however is not always easy. In fact, sometimes you really have to search for them. But that is just the way this business is. If this business was easy and deals were a dime a dozen, then everyone would be investing in real estate. What I am saying is that finding deals takes work and effort.It takes work and effort each and every day. As an investor, you need to be tuned into and looking at many various sources to find potential deals. Just one will never be enough! Here are some thoughts on where you might want to focus part of your daily efforts to find deals: 1. The Realtor’s Multiple Listing System (MLS) This is the databas...

6 images <div class="gallery loaded"><a href="http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2014/07/03/what_3100month_can_rent_you_around_new_york_city.php"><img src="http://cdn.cstatic.net/images/gridfs/53b584eaf92ea146a3004b2e/78604185.jpg" width="500" height="333"></a><br /><a href="http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2014/07/03/what_3100month_can_rent_you_around_new_york_city.php" style="font-size: 9px; text-align: center;">Click here to view the full photogallery.</a></div> ↑ In Clinton Hill , a floor-through garden apartment with two bedrooms (one of which is very small, but features a skylight) is asking $3,175/month . It has a washer/dryer, a dishwasher, and a concrete paved backyard that does looks like it's probably shared with the rest of the building, but hey — outdoor space is outdoor space. read more.... http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2014/07/03/wh...

Apartment landlords continued to push through hefty rent hikes in the second quarter, squeezing U.S. households that already are struggling financially after four years of steady increases. The average monthly rent for an apartment rose to $1,099 in the second quarter, up 0.8% from the first quarter, according to data to be released Wednesday by real-estate research firm Reis Inc.             That was the 18th consecutive quarter of rent increases. For the 12-month period ended in June, rents rose 3.4%. Effective rents—which tend to be lower than asking rents—were up in all 79 U.S. metro areas tracked in the Reis report. West Coast cities that have been the model of recovery continued to top the list of highest rent growth for the quarter and over the past 12 months. read more... http://online.wsj.com/articles/apartment-rents-rise-as-incomes-stagnate-1404273662?ru=yahoo?...

San Francisco is a gorgeous town – a rich tapestry of interwoven and ever-changing cultures, generations, and avant garde political movements. Throw in three generations of bleeding heart hippies, an influx of smart young techies whose worst problem is money storage, and progressive politics ranging from smartly liberal to literally communist and you have the makings of a lovely little housing war. What’s odd is that while San Francisco is on the forefront of this issue, it’s hardly alone. Everywhere from Harlem in New York to Austin, Texas is dealing with gentrification that mirror image of the challenge of middle class flight. With all the money pouring into the housing market and all the well-monied employees and entrepreneurs from the tech nexus that is that part of California, it’s not surprising that there has been a 115% increase in evictions over the past year read more... http://www.housingwire.com/blogs/1-rewired/post/30293-a-lovely-little-housing-war-brewi...

This $449,900 "cottage" in Madison, Wisc. owes its very Wrightish look to the fact that it was designed by William Wesley Peters , who became Frank Lloyd Wright's first apprentice in 1932, and went on to assist in the construction of Falling Water and the Johnson Wax Administration Building , and was also responsible for the structural design of New York's Guggenheim Museum . Peters remained involved with Wright's Taliesin School throughout the bulk of his career, and even joined the family in 1935, when he married Wright's adopted daughter Svetlana. (After she and their son died in a car accident in 1946, Peters was briefly married to Joseph Stalin's daughter, also named Svetlana, in an ill-fated union arranged by Wright's third wife). According to the listing, Peters and some Taliesin students designed this three-bedroom in 1963 as a "thank you" to "two friends" who unsuccessfully fought to have Madison's Wright-desi...

Photo via Business Insider The 80-person team at Kickstarter —an online crowd-funding powerhouse that has helped some truly cool architecture projects find funding—recently migrated from Manhattan to Brooklyn to set up shop in a renovated, multi-story pencil factory that's heavy on industrial detailing and hipster-centric quirkiness. Largely updated with reclaimed wood and other sustainable materials, the space feels remarkably like an old fashioned library, thanks to rows of wooden bookshelves, long communal work tables—"where the late-night Dungeons and Dragons games go down," according to Business Insider—and little cubby-like nooks. More, right this way. >> The space also boasts a pillow-lined room devoted to napping, an NYC diner-themed cafeteria, and, as is Cool Office custom, a vintage arcade room. Out on the roof there's a 8,500 square-foot garden rigged with a rainwater irrigation system, as well as just a bit more lounging space. Take a cl...

Photo via Home Adore Glittering like a real estate mirage, this insanely chic apartment in Paris, France was designed in collaboration between Israel-based Ando Studio and what must be one very fashionable client. Done up in an almost entirely monochrome palette—yet somehow dodging that austere look color-free homes tend to take on—the so-called Saint Germain Apartment pairs its classic moldings and marble floors with an eclectic mix of framed photography, gold accent pieces—including some cool, hanging light fixtures—and modern, neutral-hued furniture. While every room is pretty darn spectacular, the ridiculously lovely, high-ceilinged bathroom, with its sculptural chandelier and vibrant tiled floors, might just be the chicest of them all. By all means, get an eyeful of the photos below, then head over to Home Adore for the full gallery. http://curbed.com/archives/2014/04/16/this-parisian-dream-apartment-looks-too-perfect-to-be-real.php

hen this couple and their two young children moved from California to Oregon, they carried north a love of relaxed California midcentury modern style. “This was a true collaboration with our clients, Paula and Mike, who had a very specific design aesthetic,” says interior designer Jenny Baines. Together, Baines, her colleague Lara White and the homeowners mixed comfortable new pieces with eclectic retro ones, laid soft textures atop rough and paired dark wood with white to create a room that’s light, comfy, beachy and infused with bursts of bold color and midcentury energy. Save to Ideabook Email Photo The room had great bones, but they were bare. “I think Mike and Paula had probably picked up this furniture after graduating from college,” Baines says. Jenny Baines, Jennifer Baines Interiors Save to Ideabook Email Photo AFTER: Baines and White set out to make things light, starting with neutral-colored base pieces like the rug and the sofas. Then they...

The largest homes on the market range from $5.9 million to $68.8 million, and the house with the smallest footprint on this list is 33,500 square feet. Habitations on such a grand scale bring with them famous occupants, prominent families, renowned architects and imported special features with historic pasts. Oh, and one of these mansions has a 5,000-square-foot closet. "Homes of this scale are always fun to watch as they tend to require a very unique buyer," said Alison Schwartz, vice president of corporate communications for Move Inc., operator of realtor.com. "We're looking forward to seeing who scoops these up, especially as we approach the... http://realestate.msn.com/largest-homes-for-sale-right-now

Are you leveraging social proof to get more shares on Twitter ? Are you giving readers a one-click way to tweet your blog posts? When it comes to sharing your posts, the less effort it takes, the better. It doesn’t get much easier than writing the tweet for your readers and using one-click sharing. In this article you’ll discover five easy-to-use Twitter tools that make it simple and fast for readers to spread the word about your newest blog content . Installing WordPress Plugins Four of the five tools in this article are WordPress plugins . It’s not hard to install a plugin, but if you’re just getting started with WordPress or haven’t installed one before, it’s worth reviewing this quick tutorial. Step 1: Log into your WordPress blog. Step 2: In the sidebar, click Plugins , then click the Add New button . Click the Add New button to install a new WordPress plugin. Step 3: On the next page (below), type the name of the plugin you want to install in the search box and cli...

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Today S&P/Case-Shiller released its monthly housing data report, the leading measure of home prices across the nation. Immediately, reporters posted dozens of stories about January’s numbers–with oddly contradictory headlines. “US home prices rise in January: S&P/Case-Shiller” , Reuters proclaimed. “ Home prices decline for third month in January,” the Wall Street Journal ‘s MarketWatch blog wrote. “Case-Shiller sees housing market cooling ever so slightly,” the Los Angeles Times proclaimed. Which is it? Well, depending which numbers you look at, the answer is both–and all three. The S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices track home prices across the nation, looking at the data a number of ways. The driver behind the conflicting headlines is whether the reporter is using non-seasonally adjusted numbers (the raw data from that month) or seasonally adjusted (with seasonal peaks and valleys smoothed out). http://www.forbes.com/sites/erincarlyle/2014/03/25/housing-price...