Category Archives: Bedford

Watch an Entire Kitchen Remodel in 3½ Minutes | Bedford NY Real Estate

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ver wonder what remodeling a kitchen looks like? So did this homeowner. Only he put his tech-savvy skills to work. For his new kitchen, designed by Main Line Kitchen Design, he recorded the entire three-month-long construction process, then edited the footage down into a three-and-a-half-minute time-lapse video that makes the whole thing look like an organized dance routine.

Workers tear down the old kitchen in a matter of seconds. Oak floors swiftly drop into place board by board like in a smooth game of Tetris. Contractors gracefully slide cabinets and appliances into place as if they were floating from their fingertips. If only the actual process were so flawless and quick.

Check out the video, then see the cost breakdown:

 

 

 

http://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/20361449

Coastal Walter Gropius Design With Ocean Views Asks $2.2M | Bedford NY Real Estate

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Location: Brooklin, Maine Price: $2,200,000 The Skinny: Three years after Bauhaus founder Walter Gropius formed his American firm The Architect’s Collaborative in 1945, he designed this handsome, low-slung residence on the far southern tip of Maine’s Naskeag Point. While it’s a far cry from the radical modernism of the architect’s more famous designs, it does hew closely to the Bauhaus ideals of simplicity and efficiency. The long, narrow floor plan and large windows allow light to fill the home, while the butterfly roof creates high indoor ceilings and allows for taller windows on the seaward side of the house. The parallel siting of the house with the shore maximizes the views of Naskeag Harbor and a pair of private islands across the narrow strait, and the living room opens out onto a partially covered deck that juts out towards the water. For getting out onto the water instead of just gazing at it, the three-bedroom, three-bathroom home also comes with access to a common dock. The house, which has been on and off the market since August 2012, is asking $2.2M.

 

 

 

Ex-Deputy Mayor’s Upper West Side Townhouse Asks $13M | Bedford NY Real Estate

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Dan Doctoroff isn’t a name you hear all that often, but in his role as one of Bloomberg’s deputy mayors from 2001 to 2007, he oversaw the development of some of the city’s most high-profile projects, including the World Trade Center, Atlantic Yards, Governor’s Island, the High Line, and Brooklyn Bridge Park. Now, he’s selling his Upper West Side townhouse and asking an impressive $13 million. The 25′-wide, five-floor limestone mansion was built in 1896 by Clarence True, architect of the landmarked Leech House. Doctoroff and his wife bought the place out of foreclosure for $1 million way back in 1994 and spent millions on a full gut renovation. A “low stoop” townhouse, it features big wrought-iron doors at street-level, plus a formal dining room with high ceilings, floor-to-ceiling bay windows in the living room, a wet bar, gas and wood-burning fireplaces, and a fully landscaped garden. New amenities include an elevator, central air, and a finished basement with a gym.

 

http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2013/11/23/

 

Realtors Now as Old as Congressmen | Old Bedford NY Realtor

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The median age of Realtors now is the same as the median age of members of the current US House of Representatives, according to the latest member profile from the National Association of Realtors.

Since 2007 the median age of Realtors has increased steadily, reaching 57 this year, the oldest on record. The 111th Congress, which took office in 2009, is the oldest in the nation’s history, with an average age of 57 in the House and 63 in the Senate.

Forty-one percent of Realtors are more than 60 years old, while only 2 percent are under 30 years old.  The incremental increase in age may be attributed to professionals staying in real estate longer and putting off retirement, NAR said.

 

 

http://www.realestateeconomywatch.com/2013/11/realtors-now-as-old-as-congressmen/

Declining Prices of U.S. Homebuilder Stocks an Indicator Something Not Right with Housing Market | Bedford NY Homes

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The direction of prices in the housing market has historically been dependent on the direction of mortgage interest rates. If mortgage rates start to increase, it makes homes less affordable for those who want to buy. The math is simple: the higher the mortgage interest rate, the higher the mortgage payment is going to be for the home owner and the more difficult it becomes to keep up with payments—something we learned in the housing market crash of 2007.

Mortgage interest rates are rising, and I believe the U.S. housing market will suffer as a result. Of course, interest rates are nowhere close to what they were in the 1980s, but they are up significantly this year from their lows. The 30-year fixed mortgage rate tracked by Freddie Mac stood at 4.19% this past October. In the same period a year ago, the rate was sitting at 3.38%. (Source: Freddie Mac web site, last accessed November 12, 2013.)

The effects of demand for housing given higher interest rates can be seen in the chart below. The number of new homes sold in the U.S. housing market has been declining since the beginning of the year.

Declining Prices of U.S. Homebuilder Stocks an Indicator Something Not Right with Housing Market image House Sold New One Family Chart1Declining Prices of U.S. Homebuilder Stocks an Indicator Something Not Right with Housing Market Chart courtesy of www.StockCharts.com

In early 2013, the annual rate of new homes sold in the U.S. housing market was close to 460,000 units. This number came in at just 421,000 units in August, down eight percent.

The weakness in the housing market can be seen in the statistics being released by new home builders. For example, D.R. Horton, Inc. (NYSE/DHI), a large U.S. homebuilder, said that in the fourth quarter of its fiscal year 2013 (which ended on September 30) the cancellation rate (that’s the rate of home buyers canceling their purchase contracts) stood at 31%. (Source: D.R. Horton, Inc., November 12, 2013.) Last fiscal quarter, the company’s cancellation rate stood at 24%, and in the second fiscal quarter, it was 19%! The number of people walking away from deals at DR Horton is skyrocketing, and if we checked the rates of other homebuilders, I’m sure we’d see the same trend.

 

 

 

http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/advisor/declining-prices-u-homebuilder-stocks-indicator-something-not-195035784.html

Corcoran Group CEO Pamela Liebman now on Twitter | Bedford NY Homes

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In what Matthew Shadbolt described as a “HUGE day for Corcoran on Twitter today,” Corcoran Group CEO Pamela Liebman is now on the microblogging site.

Handle: @PamelaBLiebman.

 

 

Source: twitter.com – See more at: http://www.inman.com/wire/corcoran-group-ceo-pamela-liebman-now-on-twitter/#sthash.BqXATIO4.dpuf

JPMorgan settlement gives glimpse into mortgage machine | Bedford Real Estate

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The historic settlement with JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM) over the bank’s mortgage practices offers a unique look at how the bank packaged and marketed the mortgages it sold as securities, according to The New York Times:

At the heart of the civil settlement, which materialized after months of wrangling, is a statement of facts negotiated with the government that provides details into how JPMorgan assembled mortgage securities sold from 2005 through 2008. While the bank did not admit any violations of law, its decision to approve the statement was one of a few critical concessions it made in order to strike the deal.

The statement shows that as JPMorgan packaged the residential mortgages into complex securities, the bank promised to alert investors to any flaws that might raise questions about the loans, according to the statement.

Of course, the real news about the settlement is that it isn’t really about JPMorgan Chase at all. It’s about the crappy loans sold by Bear Stearns and Washington Mutual:

Many of the mortgage securities included in the settlement are not JPMorgan’s. Instead, they belong to Bear Stearns and Washington Mutual, which JPMorgan bought in 2008.

On a conference call on Tuesday, Marianne Lake, the bank’s chief financial officer, said that roughly 80 percent of the losses at issue in the settlement stem from Bear Stearns.

Bet JPM feels great about those purchases right about now.

 

 

http://www.housingwire.com/articles/28047-jpmorgan-settlement-give-glimpse-into-mortgage-making

Bedford Real Estate weekly report | #RobReportBlog | Bedford NY Homes

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Bedford   NY Weekly Real Estate Report11/20/2013
Homes for sale78
Median Ask Price$1,537,500.00
Low Price$415,000.00
High Price$14,500,000.00
Average Size4701
Average Price/foot$409.00
Average DOM159
Average Ask Price$2,013,776.00

Planting the seeds of brand perception | Bedford NY Real Estate

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I hear this sentence all the time: “I don’t know what a brand is, but I don’t think I need one.” I decided to take this opportunity to try to define the concept of branding to explain why you need a brand.

In a way, it’s like explaining why we need air. So, please hang in there with me, and let me know if what follows makes sense.

How can you recognize a brand? AstonMartin275Raise your hand if you recognize the car in the photo to the left. If you didn’t raise your hand, you know that it’s a sporty-looking car. Just looking at the car, for all you know, it could be a hybrid with a top speed of 60 miles an hour. That could be your perception just from looking at the photo.

If you did raise your hand, you know that you’re looking at an Aston Martin. A 2010 DB9 Volante, to be exact. And, now that the rest of you know it’s an Aston Martin, you probably have quite a different perception of the vehicle.

What do you know about Aston Martins? If you’re a car buff at all, you know that James Bond was fond of Aston Martins. So, does that fact make you feel differently about the car than when you thought it might be a hybrid? Indeed. Why?

Because you now perceive the car to be a hot sports car, capable of making beautiful women swoon, achieving high rates of speed, completing very sharp turns, and, in the hands of  “Q,” launching rockets. And that perception is reinforced by other things you may know if you are a car buff.

 

 

 

 

– See more at: http://www.inman.com/next/planting-the-seeds-of-brand-perception-agents-must-be-the-aston-martins-of-real-estate/#sthash.LBy4fAih.dpuf