Tag Archives: Cross River NY Homes for Sale

Government thinks it can fix struggling communities | Cross River Real Estate

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The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development joined the education and agriculture secretaries Thursday in a press conference to elaborate on what will be involved in President Obama’s new “promise zone” initiative.

President Barack Obama announced that he is starting a new government program designed to help economically challenged communities.

The promise zone initiative, Obama said, will focus on attracting private investment to replace distressed housing with what they call “mixed-income” housing, reducing crime, providing tax incentives to stimulate economic growth, and promoting programs to help high schools retain and graduate students.

The first five locations will be San Antonio, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Southeastern Kentucky, and the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. The White House plans to announce 15 more promise zones over the next two years in blighted rural and urban areas.

HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan said the effort will integrate housing, education and crime relief efforts, and bring together local community leaders with businesses through tax credits, coordinated by federal oversight.

“This is a sharp departure from the way the government provided aid in the past,” Donovan said. “Washington would swoop in and impose solutions without working with local leaders to support their visions and strengthen all assets needed for communities to thrive.”

“We want to bring together a wide variety of stake holders to better communities,” Donovan said. “Home is the foundation of all of our lives. Now we are going to connect housing with other efforts to expand opportunity.”

Donovan said that the tax credit component of the promise zone initiative is critical, especially for housing and job creation.

“Yes, these zones will work without tax credits, but no, not to full capacity,” he said. “Those tax credits that will be proposed are critical in accelerating job creation and improving housing.”

He added he believed the promise zones initiatives and tax credits will receive bipartisan support in Congress.

http://www.housingwire.com/articles/28537-big-promises-the-white-house-is-making-now-about-housing

Glass Home With Dramatic View of the Rockies Asks $4.25M | Cross River Real Estate

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Location: Boulder, Colo. Price: $4,250,000 The Skinny: Overlooking the city of Boulder from its perch at the feet of the Rocky Mountains, this glass-and-steel home is perfectly situated to take in 360 degrees of mountain and city views. Designed by AIA award winner Thomas Phifer (who is perhaps best known for his work on the North Carolina Museum of Art), the Boulder House is another winning iteration of his exciting approach to residential architecture. The front of the house is a 35-foot-high wall of glass addressing the city, the back is partially built into the hill and offers wilderness and mountain views, and the uppermost level combines both vistas in an all-encompassing scenic panorama. The stunning light-filled interior features a ground floor art gallery with open space that soars to the upper reaches of the home, where an operable 15-by-12-foot skylight sits atop the roof, while the rest of the house, including the two bedrooms and three bathrooms, has 11-foot ceilings. The home, which is asking $4.25M, becomes the second Phifer design to hit the market in recent years, with his Taghkanic House currently listed for $6.75M

 

http://curbed.com/archives/2013/12/23/glass-home-with-dramatic-view-of-the-rockies-asks-425m.php

 

Latest Figures Show New Home Sales and Prices Decline in New York | Cross River Real Estate

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In August, the New York, NY market saw a decline year-over-year in new home closings, and with a percentage decline steeper than July 2013, there were suggestions the market may be worsening. Closings sank 29.5% from a year earlier to 665. This was after the housing market saw a 25.0% fall year-over-year in July.

A total of 7,252 new homes were sold during the 12 months that ended in August, down from 7,530 for the year that ended in July.

Out of all housing closings, new home closings made up 4.8%. This is down from the 7.5% of closings a year earlier. Closings of new and existing homes increased year-over-year in August after also rising in July year-over-year.

 

 

 

http://www.builderonline.com/local-housing-data/mid-atlantic/new-york-northern-new-jersey-long-island-ny-nj-pa.aspx?cid=lmkt:new-york-northern-new-jersey-long-island-ny-nj-pa:20131215&rdrnum=1000073719

 

 

 

How Much Does it Cost to Install Countertops? | Cross River NY Real Estate

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Whether in the kitchen or bathroom, the countertop can be the star of the room. A countertop should fit both your aesthetic style and your lifestyle. How much you pay for your countertops will depend on the sizes needed, the materials used and the labor involved.
Countertops usually get a lot of use. You don’t want to spend money on something that loses its beauty quickly or chips easily. The more you plan to use your counters, the more durability must be a major concern.
Laminate Countertops

Laminate provides the best selection of colors and patterns at the lowest prices. Laminate can be used to form a seamless cove backsplash to keep spills from seeping behind the cabinets. They’re also cheap and easy to install. The down sides? Laminate scratches or chips easily. It can be tough to clean, and its colors can fade over time.

Ceramic Tile Countertops

No surface offers more choices than tile. The price you pay for tile will largely depend on where you get them. Go for a big box store and you can go as cheap as $10 per square foot. Contact an artist in Florence, and you could pay $5,000 per tile. Tile can adapt as easily to Mexican fiesta as it can to Tokyo contemporary. There are two downsides of tile. One is that it can expensive to install, depending on the square footage of your counters. The other is grout lines, which attract crumbs and stains and require periodic sealing to repel moisture.

Stone Slab Countertops (Granite, Marble, Quartz, etc)

Not much can add dazzle to your kitchen or bathroom like a stone slab countertop. The sheer beauty, amazing selection and durability of stone makes it an excellent choice for your home. The depth and character of natural stone cannot be matched by any man-made surface (though some made-made alternatives have taken great strides.) Natural stone does not depreciate with time and this stone will consistently add value to your home. The costs of the stone depend on how rare its elements, the size and particularly the length of the necessary cuts, which must be finished, buffed and polished. You can sometimes save big money on stone slabs by shopping through remnants.

Acrylic Countertops

The most popular of the acrylics is Corian by DuPont. Corian provides the color versatility of laminates with a rich look (and price) that rivals stone slabs. It’s easy to maintain. Scratches and nicks can easily be buffed out. If you want to create a seamless look, Corian can even be formed into sinks, so there’s no gap between the counter and the sink. Price is determined largely by square footage.

Other Expenses

You may want to also add a new sink or new faucets to your installation. This can be an additional cost, not only in purchasing the hardware, but the installation as well. If you’re going with a stone slab, you have the additional cost of cutting the hole. You also may need to hire a plumber, especially if you want to install something new like an instant hot water dispenser or side spray.

If you are upgrading and replacing your existing counters, you may have to pay for their removal from not only their current location, but from your home as well. Debris removal is normally not a huge expense, but it’s one you should talk with your contractor about nonetheless.

Toll Brothers earnings fall in 4Q, drop year-over-year | Cross River Real Estate

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Toll Brothers (TOL), the nation’s largest luxury homebuilder, reported a 65% drop in its net income for fiscal year 2013 versus fiscal year 2012, following a fourth quarter that beat estimates, but was still down from last year.

The firm’s fiscal-year 2013 earnings declined to $170.6 million, or $0.97 per share diluted, compared to earnings of $487.1 million, or $2.86 per share diluted, for fiscal year 2012.

Fourth-quarter earnings for 2013 were $94.9 million, or $0.54 per share diluted, compared to $411.4 million, or $2.35 per share, in fiscal year 2012.

A tax benefit in the fourth quarter of last year could account for some of the disparity.

Toll Brothers’ deferred-tax asset valuation allowance reversal was $394.7 million for the fourth quarter of 2012, versus $4.6 million for their fourth quarter in 2013.

Douglas Yearley, chief executive officer for Toll Brothers, focused on the positive growth the company saw in 2013.

“With revenues and contracts up over 40%, backlog up over 50% and operating income up over 200%, fiscal year 2013 was an excellent year for Toll Brothers,” Yearling said.

Fourth quarter 2013 revenues rose 65% to $1.04 billion compared to the fourth quarter of 2012, with a 36% increase in units to 1,485 deliveries.

The average price of homes delivered rose to $703,000 in the fourth quarter, topping $651,000 in the third quarter of 2013 and $582,000 in the fourth quarter last year.

 

 

http://www.housingwire.com/articles/28253-toll-brothers-earnings-down-for-fourth-quarter-and-fiscal-year-2013

How can I make a worn wood floor look new again? | Cross River Homes

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Sunlight, dents and foot traffic can all take their toll on a wood floor,  causing it to appear worn and resulting in reduced stain color. But with a few  key supplies, you can revive worn wood flooring without heavy-duty sanding. (See  below for an instructional video on how to refinish a worn wood  floor.)

How to Refinish Wood Floors

Start refurbishing your floor by finding a wood stain that matches the color  of your existing floor. If you can’t find an exact match, choose a color that’s  slightly darker. Experiment with the stain by rubbing it into a 1- or  2-square-foot area to see how it looks. The best wood stain I’ve found for this  job, Minwax PolyShades, is actually a stain and sealer combination.

Stained floors need some kind of protective coating over the stain. The  easiest coating to apply is oil-based urethane with a satin sheen, but — just as  you did with the stain — you’ll have to experiment with the product before  coating the entire floor. You don’t want to find out later that your urethane is  incompatible with your stain, which would cause it to peel and pucker. Apply two  coats of urethane over the 1- or 2-square-foot section of floor you stained, and  then live with it for a week.

If both the wood stain and the coating are compatible with the wood, you can  tackle the whole floor. Start by giving the wood a light sanding with 120- or  180-grit sandpaper in a 1/4-sheet finishing sander to roughen any remaining  urethane slightly, then vacuum every last bit of dust and dirt off of the floor  before rubbing in stain. Wearing rubber gloves, rub the stain everywhere, giving  special attention to dented, scratched and worn areas. Let the stain dry for a  day, and then apply two coats of the protective urethane (apply the second coat  after the first coat dries). If all goes well, you’ll end up with a distressed  but elegant floor that looks even better than a freshly sanded floor.

Read more: http://www.motherearthnews.com/green-homes/how-to-refinish-wood-floors-zm0z13onzsor.aspx#ixzz2mzNBRbym