Category Archives: Lewisboro

Westchester County Second Quarter Real Estate Report Shows Decrease in Sales | South Salem Real Estate

The following information was sent in by the HUDSON GATEWAY ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®, INC.–

2014 SECOND QUARTER RESIDENTIAL REAL ESTATE SALES REPORT

Westchester, Putnam, Rockland and Orange Counties, New York

Closed residential real estate transactions during the second quarter of 2014 slackened in relation to the same period last year. Realtors participating in the Hudson Gateway Multiple Listing Service, serving Westchester, Putnam, Rockland and Orange Counties, reported 3,195 closings in the four counties, a decrease of 9.2% from the 3,519 closings reported during the second quarter of last year. These grand totals comprised sales of single family houses, condominiums, cooperatives and 2-4 family dwellings.

The second quarter closings largely reflected listing and showing activity that took place during the early months of the year. Many data providers and analysts, including the National Association of Realtors, ascribe at least some of the slowdown in sales here and nationally to exceptionally difficult winter weather conditions that discouraged prospective purchasers from getting out and researching properties of interest. The lower Hudson region undoubtedly experienced some of that effect, but in our case there may also have been an equal or even larger effect from a simple market correction of the fast pace of sales in 2013 and the first quarter of 2014.

Elements of Farmhouse Style | Cross River Real Estate

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The American “farmhouse bathroom” is a bit of an oxymoron. Most original farmhouses were built at a time when the only bathroom was an outhouse. And when farmhouse owners did eventually bring plumbing inside, they didn’t actually build a bathroom; they took over a spare bedroom or other room and put a toilet, sink and stand alone tub in the space. This focus on practicality and function continues to drive the style’s popularity today.

Here are eight elements of a modern-day bath with farmhouse style.

JAMES DIXON ARCHITECT PC

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1. Make it look like a spare room. Again, think back to the time when farmhouse owners switched from an outhouse to an indoor bathroom: Most people ran their new plumbing into a spare bedroom or an attic space. So the new bathrooms were generally spacious and had odd ceiling angles. Plus, it meant that the orientation of the bathtub, sink and toilet didn’t always line up like you see today. Following this approach is a good first step to nailing the style.

Architect James Dixon used the spare-room concept with this New York bathroom, which is actually part of a newly built home. He intentionally made the ceiling pitch down at odd angles to make it feel like the bathtub, sink and toilet were plunked down in an old attic space or extra bedroom. “I live in an 18th-century farmhouse that was once a lot of small bedrooms. Some were converted to bathrooms,” he says. “They tend to be very quirky, so making a new bathroom look this way makes them look more believable.”

Painted antique wood flooring helps convey the style as well.

Colin Cadle Photography

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2. Minimal accessories. “To me a farmhouse is kind of the simplest early house built for practical reasons,” says interior designer Alison Kandler. “You built a porch because sitting outside in Oklahoma was hot. You picked hexagon tile because it was cheap and practical. You built a pitched roof so rain would fall off and you wouldn’t get leaks. There was always a practical side to everything. It’s not ornate. It’s not overdecorated.”

Indeed, most of the people who built farmhouses were interested only in providing four walls and a roof over their head. They didn’t have the time, interest or cash to focus on ornament or details in the wood or construction, so they just kept it simple. Make sure your farmhouse bathroom champions function and repurposing, rather than ornament.

3. Stand-alone bathtub. A claw-foot tub is almost a requirement in a farmhouse bathroom. It’s what you would have seen in original farmhouses when built-ins weren’t around or practical.

Kelly & Co.

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Of course, when we talk about farmhouse style, we’re actually talking about modern farmhouse style. “And that’s a good thing,” says interior designer Kelly Mittleman, who channeled farmhouse style in the bathroom seen here. “You don’t want to replicate the rusticity of yesteryear and have it look clunky or silly like a set piece.”

And farmhouses differ around the world and even regionally in the United States. A New England farmhouse from the 18th century looks and feels different than something in the Midwest, for example. But the general spirit is universal. “When most people think of a farmhouse, they think of simple, no-nonsense details and sturdy construction,” says Dixon.

Count the Bison in NYC’s Most Taxidermy-Filled Apartment | Katonah Real Estate

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For some, the wonders of nature are too majestic not to have stuffed, mounted, and hung above the chaise longue. For an especially committed subset of that worldwide fraternity of taxidermy lovers, there’s no need to put away one’s collection of fauna when shooting listing photos. After all, who’s to say that a roaring catamount can’t bring together a living room? Recently profiled in the New York Times is the Upper West Side apartment of author, journalist, and socialite Gregory Speck, which gives the most taxidermy-filled home in Brooklyn a run for its money. Apparently there are over 200 dearly departed furry friends decorating the place— acquired from “museum liquidations, taxidermist castoffs and hunters whose wives wouldn’t allow them to hang their trophies in the house”—so many that, rather than go through the hassle of taking them down to document the place for its $3.395M entrance onto the market, Speck had the Halstead Property marketing team digitally remove them. Behold the rest of this menagerie below, and head to Curbed NY for the retouched, fauna-scrubbed glamour shots:

http://curbed.com/archives/2014/07/07/gregory-specks-taxidermy-filled-apartment.php

Purchase index plunges 16% year-over-year | South Salem NY Homes

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A week after a free-fall of 9.2%, mortgage applications continued their decline with a 0.2% decrease from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s weekly mortgage applications survey for the week ending June 27, 2014.

The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, decreased 0.2% on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 1% compared with the previous week.

The Refinance Index increased 0.1% from the previous week. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased 1% from one week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index decreased 1% compared with the previous week and was 16% lower than the same week one year ago.

“The mortgage industry has yet to see purchase activity make up for the drop in refinance volume,” said Quicken Loans vice president Bill Banfield. “Lenders who are able to focus on client experience are bucking this trend and gaining market share despite the recent drops in volume overall.”

The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 53% of total applications from 52% the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage share of activity remained unchanged at 8% of total applications.

http://www.housingwire.com/articles/30523-mortgage-application-decline-continues-after-last-weeks-free-fall

3 reasons all is not lost in housing | Katonah Real Estate

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When mortgage rates jumped in anticipation of the start of Fed tapering back in June 2013, the inherent cracks in the foundation of the housing industry became apparent.

Seriously, how healthy is a housing market that relies on artificially capped interest rates and literally tens of billions of dollars a month of fiat money pumped into Treasurys and bonds?

Now it’s a full year later and despite the fact that interest rates are nearly back to where they were a year ago, housing has stalled out.

Worse, unless you believe the happy-happy-joy-joy analysts on CNBC or anything on Business Insider, it’s been pretty apparent for, oh, the past 12 months.

That’s not to say that it’s doom and gloom. There are some strengths showing, despite the top-line numbers showing year-over-year drops in everything from sales and construction spending to price increases and mortgage originations.

http://www.housingwire.com/blogs/1-rewired/post/30519-reasons-all-is-not-lost-in-housing

Down to Earth Farmers Markets | Cross River Real Estate

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JAN2014-DTE-E-Mail-Masthead_(722x226pxl)FRESH-2-(1

Grand Opening Celebration of New Rochelle Farmers Market Tomorrow;
SALE: Fresh Mussels from American Pride Seafood;
Making Berry Love Last + MORE
June 26th-July 2nd, 2014
DowntoEarthMarkets.com

What’s New, In Season, and On Sale This Week
Amaranth Rexcroft Farm Babagannouj Roasted eggplant dip Nana’s Home Kitchen Beets Alex’s Tomato Farm Fishkill Farm R & G Produce Broccoli Rexcroft Farm Caramelized Garlic Loaf Wave Hill Breads Cookies Chocolate Chip, Ginger & Peanut Butter, all made with local honey Honeybrook Farm Cucumbers Taliaferro Farms Gazpacho Pika’s Farm Table	Giardiniera Cauliflower, carrots, celery, and sweet peppers steeped to perfection for delicious snack Sale: Pint = $4 (Reg. $5) Pickle Licious Fennel Taliaferro Farms Green & Purple Kohlrabi Alex’s Tomato Farm Macadamia Nut Bars 10% OFF this week e-Desserts Mussels SALE: $4/pound or $7 for two pounds American Pride Seafood Nana’s Cheese Beurak Oven baked puff pastry w/cheese Nana’s Home Kitchen New Potatoes R & G Produce	Peas Alex’s Tomato Farm Newgate Farms Taliaferro Farms Rainbow Chard Ravioli with Black Pepper Pasta $10 for 18 pieces Trotta Foods Roman Foccacia Wave Hill Breads Sour Cherry Pies & Tarts Regular & gluten-free – made with local cherries! Meredith’s Bread Strawberries Fishkill Farm Migliorelli Farm Wright Family Farm Tomatoes Wright Family Farm Yellow Zucchini Migliorelli Farm

Click on a Market to see all vendor and event details…

Westchester County		Rockland County
Ossining Saturdays 8:30 am-1:00 pm	Larchmont Saturdays 8:30 am-1:00 pm	Piermont Sundays 9:30 am-3:00 pm
L Croton-on-Hudson Sundays 9:00 am-2:00 pm	Rye Sundays 8:30 am-2:00 pm	Spring Valley OPENING DAY: July 9th Wednesdays 8:30 am-3:00 pm
Tarrytown/Sleepy Hollow Saturdays 8:30 am-1:00 pm	New Rochelle Fridays 8:30 am-2:30 pm	*Headed to the city soon?* Visit a Down to Earth Farmers Market in NYC!

Announcements

Croton-on-Hudson

Susan Chasen from the Organic Teaching Kitchen will be at the Croton-on-Hudson farmers market this Sunday from 11:30 am to 1:30 pm, creating a seasonal raw kale salad for all to sample. Pick up a recipe to try at home and learn more about organic eating.

New Rochelle – Tomorrow – Grand Opening at 10:30 am

It is time to cut the ribbon and celebrate the 2014 season of New Rochelle’s Down to Earth Farmers Market! On Friday, June 27th, help us welcome several community leaders and market supporters, including State Senator George Latimer and Mayor Noam Bramson. The market now has an expanded selection of seasonal fruits and vegetables, pasture-raised meats, local honey, and baked goods. We’re located on North Avenue, at Huguenot Park, in front of New Rochelle High School. See you there every Friday, through November 21st, from 8:30 am to 2:30 pm.

Rye

Calling all kids! The Rye Free Reading Room will be hosting an ‘Eating Green with Granny Jean’ Storytelling event at the market on Sunday from 11:30 am to noon. Join storyteller Granny Jean as she reads stories and shares activities to inspire curiosity about healthy foods.

For additional events, visit our Down to Earth Markets Event Calendar.

Stay tuned to all market happenings via our Down to Earth Markets Facebook page
and follow us on Instagram and on Twitter @DowntoEarthMkts.

Berries, Let’s Make this Love Last

This is how we feel about the annual berry harvest

This week we went on a Choose Your Own Adventure – of the berry variety. Our quest was to preserve the beautiful berry harvest of late June. We chose strawberries as our protagonist in this story, but it could have just as easily starred the season’s blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, or cherries. They are all appearing at our farmers markets these days – have you seen them? Have you tried them? Have you relished every bite, and with each one, taken a moment to say thank you to summer? Yes, SAME HERE.

We tried two different methods of preserving our quarts of fresh, local strawberries: 1) drying and 2) freezing. On the drying front, we don’t have a dehydrator, so we tried the oven method. It calls for cleaning the berries, cutting off the green stem, and then placing them in the oven for 3-4 hours at 200 degrees Fahrenheit. We’re sharing this because we’d like our fellow preservationists to learn from our mistakes: Don’t do it.

When we pulled out the berries at hour #4, our they had shriveled to little flakes and used a lot of energy in the process. Yes, shriveling is the point of drying, but nonetheless, it was an energy-intensive process that created a hot kitchen on a hotter summer day — without much return. In seeing the final outcome, the phrase “Pinterest Fail “ quickly came to mind.

We’re happy to say that the journey of freezing the berries went much better. It’s so easy to do in just 5 steps:

Rinse the berries.
Dry them with a paper towel. Our method is to roll them around in a colander lined with paper towels.
Cut off the green stem, so there is a flat surface on one side.
Distribute them across a baking sheet; do not allow them to touch. This is how we prevent the berries from freezing into one massive bunch.
Put the berries in the freezer. Once they are frozen (2+ hours), add them into a Zip-Loc freezer bag. Now we’ve got berries to add to smoothies, pancakes, and more for many months to come. And they taste divine.

To share the process visually, we snapped a few photos along the way and posted this photo album online. Click on any photo to read its caption.

Are you preserving the harvest this year? If so, we’d love to see what you’re up to, so let us know. AND – See you at the farmers market berry table this weekend!

Rotating* Vendors This Week
*Vendors who rotate through various markets during the season.
They enjoy getting to know many communities, and here’s where to find them this week:

Larchmont

Calcutta Kitchens
#Freedom Craft Brewery
Lulu’s Southern Pies
The Peanut Principle
The RAD Soap Company
Trotta Foods

New Rochelle

e-Desserts (Freshly baked scones, cakes, and more!)

Ossining

Hudson River Apiaries
Nana’s Home Kitchen

Piermont

Kontoulis Family Olive Oil
Tuthilltown Spirits Farm Distillery

Rye

Kontoulis Family Olive Oil

Down to Earth Markets 173 Main Street Ossining, NY 10562 Phone: 914-923-4837
DowntoEarthMarkets.com

Zillow and Douglas Elliman Real Estate Enter Into Marketing Partnership | South Salem NY Homes

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Zillow Inc. and Douglas Elliman Real Estate, one of the largest real estate brokerages in the nation and New York City’s largest residential brokerage, announced they have entered into a new strategic marketing partnership. All of Douglas Elliman’s listings will appear as featured listings on the Yahoo!-Zillow Real Estate Network, the largest real estate network on the web, via a direct feed from Douglas Elliman. The direct feed ensures accurate and up-to-date information is being shared with home shoppers from across the many regions Douglas Elliman serves, including New York, Westchester/Putnam, Long Island, The Hamptons, South Florida and Los Angeles. Also as part of the partnership, Douglas Elliman’s exclusive inventory of Manhattan properties will be marketed on Zillow for the very first time. As featured listings, all of Douglas Elliman’s listings will appear at the top of the search results on Zillow as well as on Zillow’s popular suite of mobile apps and on Zillow partners AOL Real Estate and HGTV’s FrontDoor.

“We are excited about our partnership with Douglas Elliman,” said Spencer Rascoff, Zillow CEO. “Combining Douglas Elliman’s listing inventory with our broad marketing capabilities and audience of nearly 82 million users brings many benefits not only to Douglas Elliman’s agents, but also to home shoppers looking for property in Manhattan and in the other markets served by Douglas Elliman.”

In addition to displaying as a featured listing on Zillow, all Douglas Elliman’s listings will feature unique branding and the company’s agents will get priority placement next to their listings, including a logo and link back to their website. The partnership will be live later this week.

http://nationalmortgageprofessional.com/news49950/zillow-and-douglas-elliman-real-estate-enter-marketing-partnership

Fixed Mortgage Rates Lower Than Same Time Last Year | Katonah Real Estate

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Freddie Mac (OTCQB: FMCC) today released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey® (PMMS^®), showing average fixed mortgage rates moving lower following the release of the first quarter real GDP final estimate. Fixed mortgage rates are lower this week than at the same time last year when Fed remarks spurred market speculation that it could begin tapering its bond purchases causing mortgage rates to spike.

News Facts

30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 4.14 percent with an average 0.5 point for the week ending June 26, 2014, down from last week when it averaged 4.17 percent. A year ago at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 4.46 percent.
15-year FRM this week averaged 3.22 percent with an average 0.5 point, down from last week when it averaged 3.30 percent. A year ago at this time, the 15-year FRM averaged 3.50 percent.
5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) averaged 2.98 percent this week with an average 0.3 point, down from last week when it averaged 3.00 percent. A year ago, the 5-year ARM averaged 3.08 percent.
1-year Treasury-indexed ARM averaged 2.40 percent this week with an average 0.4 point, down from last week when it averaged 2.41 percent. At this time last year, the 1-year ARM averaged 2.66 percent.

Average commitment rates should be reported along with average fees and points to reflect the total upfront cost of obtaining the mortgage. Visit the following links for the Regional and National Mortgage Rate Details and Definitions. Borrowers may still pay closing costs which are not included in the survey.

Quotes
Attributed to Frank Nothaft, vice president and chief economist, Freddie Mac.

“Mortgage rates were down following the release of first quarter real GDP final estimate, which fell at a 2.9 percent annualized rate, a steeper than expected decline and the worst reading since the first quarter of 2009. Also, the seasonally-adjusted S&P/Case-Shiller 20-city home price index was up only 0.2 percent in April from the previous month. On a year-over-year basis, prices remained strong in April up 10.8 percent, but slower than the 12.3 percent in March.”

The 11 Most Expensive Studios in NYC Are Here to Upset You | Cross River Real Estate

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Earlier this week, Twitter caught wind of the fact that there is a 532-square-foot studio in 205 West 76th Street listed for $1.075 million, or $2,020 per square foot. From the uproar that followed, one would logically assume that this is the most expensive studio apartment in New York City, however—as you may have guessed by now—that is hardly the case. Here now, we present to you an additional 11 studio apartments currently on the market for more than $1 million in NYC. Can you guess how much the most expensive one is asking? Better question: do you even want to?

http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2014/06/19/the_11_most_expensive_studios_in_nyc_are_here_to_upset_you.php

3 housing charts show we’re heading for an echo bubble | Katonah Real Estate

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Charles Hugh Smith’s Of Two Minds blog is required reading, and in his post Thursday he details how after six years of central planning by the Federal Reserve – and let’s be honest, that’s exactly what it’s been – the economy is more fragile than it was before.

There’s strong evidence he’s not exaggerating.

“The central bank/state intervene in the economy in a dominant fashion, controlling functions such as interest rates by order of central authorities that were once set by decentralized, self-organizing markets,” he writes. “The central bank/state pick winners and losers: for example, the Too Big To Fail Banks (TBTF) were selected to win, as the central bank/state bailed out their private losses with public-taxpayer money. In effect, the central bank/state enrich cronies at the expense of everyone else.

“The central bank/state manipulate the nominally ‘free’ market to boost asset valuations as a way of enriching cronies who own most of the financial assets and as a public-relations charade to mask the failure of their picking winners and losers,” Smith says.

“In other words, in centrally planned economies, markets are not allowed to discover price–they exist only to reflect positively on central planners,” he says.

One of the many current drags on housing has been the more than 30 years of stagnant income growth, especially for the middle class – the bulk of homebuyers.

Smith argues the Fed’s policies are what are causing that stagnation.

“How about real median income? Central planning has greatly boosted the wealth and income of the financier winners picked by the Planners, but sadly this does not include wage earners, who have seen their inflation-adjusted earnings plummet,” Smith writes

http://www.housingwire.com/blogs/1-rewired/post/30377-housing-charts-show-were-heading-for-an-echo-bubble

Buying Bedford Real Estate

Robert Paul Realtor buying Bedford real estate

Category Archives: Lewisboro

Westchester County Second Quarter Real Estate Report Shows Decrease in Sales | South Salem Real Estate

Elements of Farmhouse Style | Cross River Real Estate

Count the Bison in NYC’s Most Taxidermy-Filled Apartment | Katonah Real Estate

Purchase index plunges 16% year-over-year | South Salem NY Homes

3 reasons all is not lost in housing | Katonah Real Estate

Down to Earth Farmers Markets | Cross River Real Estate

Zillow and Douglas Elliman Real Estate Enter Into Marketing Partnership | South Salem NY Homes

Fixed Mortgage Rates Lower Than Same Time Last Year | Katonah Real Estate

The 11 Most Expensive Studios in NYC Are Here to Upset You | Cross River Real Estate

3 housing charts show we’re heading for an echo bubble | Katonah Real Estate