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

You can see it in your mind’s eye: that perfect house, a snug cabin nestled in the woods alongside a pond shimmering in the sun’s slanting rays. You’ve held that image in your head since you were a teenager, and now you’re finally ready to build it. You’d love to build it all by yourself, but you’re not sure you have the necessary skills. Or perhaps you know that you have the skills, but the time and effort of finding all of the materials seems daunting. Maybe a kit house is the answer. Kit houses can be grand or tiny, sophisticated or rustic, traditional or ultra-modern. Kit homes can offer efficiency in construction as well as in energy use after the house has been built, and many kit home companies offer state-of-the-art green and renewable energy options. In short, if you’d like to build an affordable custom home (or cabin), a kit house may be a solution. One of your first decisions will be how big to build. Census statistics show that the average home size in the United States ...

Despite a recent push from the Federal Housing Finance Agency  and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development  to expand the credit box, a Bloomberg article explains that times are still tough for borrowers, especially those using a part-time job to help boost their income. As the economy produces an increasing number of part-time jobs, that trend is colliding with rules that limit their value for homebuyers. The restriction, enacted after the housing crash, makes it more difficult for lenders to consider secondary income, resulting in a growing pile of loan denials, said Susan Wachter, a finance professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. The article explained that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Ability to Repay rule states that part-time wages can be included by banks in determining the ability to repay a mortgage if an employer verifies that the borrower has worked at the job for two years and will continue to d...

In Pipe Creek, TX, turkeys trot across a prime building site at Latigo Ranch. In Plainview, IL, they can be hunted in the yard of a tasteful 3-bedroom, 3-bath home. Forget the deer and the antelope. Thousands of listings on Zillow mention roaming turkeys as a countryside amenity. In this season of Thanksgiving tradition, Zillow researchers wanted to see what role turkeys were playing in the housing market. The answer surprised us. About 14,000 listings have made mention of turkeys since 2012, including homes on Turkey Street, Turkey Creek and other place-names. About 10,000 of those listings are apparently making reference to actual birds, which roam wild in every state except Alaska. In raw numbers, the top turkey towns are in the Midwest. In Springfield, MO, 137 listings mentioned turkeys; 122 Kansas City, MO listings mentioned turkeys. Many of the listings are lots for sale, where buyers can build a home from which to watch the turkeys gobble-gobble. Urban turkeys made ap...

Rates on a thirty-year fixed rate mortgage will hit 5 percent by the end of next year, according to the latest forecast from Freddie Mac’s economists.   Expect to see interest rates climb throughout 2015, with yields on the 10-year Treasury averaging about 2.9 percentage points, up from about 2.6 percentage points in 2014, and rates on the 30-year fixed mortgage gradually climbing, averaging 4.6 percent and rising to 5.0 percent by the end of next year, said Freddie’s November Outlook. Meanwhile price increases will slow from 9.3 percent in 2013, to 4.5 percent in 2014 and 3.0 percent in 2015. Continued house price appreciation and rising mortgage rates will dampen homebuyer affordability. “Historically speaking, that’s moving from very high levels of affordability to high levels of affordability,” said the Outlook. Total housing starts in 2015 will increase by 20 percent and total home sales will increase by about 5 percent over that time period to the best sales pace in eig...

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....

Everyone loves the holidays – the smells, the food, the presents, the time with friends and family. Most people have started making their wish lists, and some have gone so far as to start shopping. Here’s a present for you and your family: the gift of avoiding holiday-related insurance claims. When it comes to the holidays, insurance concerns are usually an afterthought. But many enjoyable aspects of the holidays can also pose dangers. Consider the following elements of the holidays — and their potential for trouble. Hunger pains Who doesn’t love holiday food? Turkey with all the trimmings, Christmas ham and New Year’s Day black-eyed peas and greens are a big part of the season’s fun. So what’s the problem? Cooking is the leading cause of residential fires in the U.S., according to the National Fire Protection Association. And the average home fire claim costs $34,306, according to the Insurance Information Institute (III). What’s the worst that could hap...

Photos via Luxury Villas and Homes via WSJ Located at the tip of the Yamu Peninsula in Phuket, Thailand, this massive beachfront villa is a collaboration between French design ace Philippe Starck and luxury hotel specialist Jean-Michel Gathy . Blending contemporary and traditional Thai touches, the four-level house contains eight bedrooms, all with unobstructed views of the sparkling Phang Nga Bay. The 43,056-square-foot property sits on three acres and is practically a resort in itself. In addition to an 80-foot infinity pool , the home comes equipped with a spa room, gym and yoga area, game room, boathouse, and a golf practice green. The home has been on the rental market for anywhere from $2,050 to $5,500 a night, though it's also listed for sale at $22.5M, though the WSJ reports the owner is entertaining any offers over $20M. read more.... http://curbed.com/archives/2014/11/17/philippe-starck-phuket-thailand-villa-sawarin.php