Tag Archives: Cross River

I Turned My Tiny, Dark, And Overpriced New York Apartment Into A ‘Smart Home’ For Just $300 | Cross River Homes

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The SmartThings kit has all the basics you need to get started connecting your home.

My apartment gets almost no natural light.

That’s one of the problems with living in New York. I spend about a zillion dollars per month in rent, and still have a teeny tiny apartment that faces the back of a bunch of taller buildings that block the sun. My bedroom window faces some other guy’s bedroom window across a narrow, dark alley.

So no matter what time of day it is, I always have the lights on in my apartment.

For the last several weeks, my apartment has been programmed to light itself up. Whenever I enter my building, my apartment knows I’m home and switches on the lamp in my living room so I don’t have to fumble around in the dark. When I leave the room, the light shuts itself off.

That’s because I’ve been testing something called SmartThings. SmartThings isn’t just one gadget, but a Web-connected system of everyday objects that can control everything in your home from your lights to your coffee maker. I tested one of the SmartThings starter kits, which sell for $199 or $299.

How It Works

SmartThings starts with the hub, a small white plastic box that looks sort of like a WiFi router. The hub plugs into your router and talks to the rest of the connected objects in your home. Since the hub is connected to the Internet, you can control everything from a computer or the SmartThings app, even if you’re out of the house.

From there, you set up the objects you want connected. My starter kit came with two motion sensors, two multi sensors that can tell you when a door or window is open, two presence sensors that you clip to your keychain so the hub knows when you’re home (the app can also double as a presence sensor using your phone’s GPS), a smart outlet for controlling lamps or appliances, and a moisture sensor that goes under the sink to alert you in case of a leak.

 

 

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/turned-tiny-dark-overpriced-york-164004491.html

London housing market showing ‘bubble-like’ conditions | Cross River Real Estate

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London’s housing market is beginning to show “bubble-like conditions” as overseas investors bid up prices and buyers take on more debt to purchase properties, according to a report today by the EY Item Club.

Homeowners are now borrowing as much relative to their income to purchase real estate in the UK capital as they were before the financial crisis, the London-based economic forecaster sponsored by EY, formerly Ernst and Young, said.

The average London home will cost about £600,000 by 2018, it estimates. It is around £404,000 now, according to the land registry. Prices across most of the UK “remain well below their pre-crisis peaks and there seems little danger of a bubble,” Andrew Goodwin, senior economic adviser to the EY Item Club, said in the report.

“But London, which is suffering from a combination of strong demand and a lack of supply, is increasingly giving us cause for concern.”

Surging London home prices, buoyed by demand from overseas investors and government initiatives to aid buyers, have prompted economists, analysts and politicians to warn of unsustainable gains. Asia has been a particularly strong source of demand for the best London properties, EY Item Club said, citing brokers.

Investors from countries such as China and Singapore are taking advantage of the pound’s depreciation since the financial crisis to buy London homes.

 

http://www.irishtimes.com/business/economy/london-housing-market-showing-bubble-like-conditions-1.1677825

Considering The Cloud: A Strategic Guide For Business | Cross River Real Estate

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It’s nearly impossible to turn a page in a business journal these days without seeing an article about the “cloud” or “software as a service (SaaS).” These topics are everywhere you look and a common reason is the impact they have on the bottom line: software as a service often provides a more cost-effective alternative for organizations to achieve their business objectives than traditional packaged applications. But the rising popularity of the cloud isn’t a sufficient reason to retool the underlying technology supporting your business. If you want to win more bids, increase your profitability and keep ahead of the competition, ignoring it isn’t the answer either.

Determining where cloud computing fits in your business and IT strategy is critical for ensuring you’re driving the most value possible out of both capital and operational expenditures and/or equipping your team with the best tools for the job. This whitepaper examines the business advantages of cloud computing, as well as practical barriers facing most organizations, and concludes with advice for implementing an effective solution. Our goal is to help you make pragmatic decisions about deploying a solution (or blend of solutions) that makes sense for your business—whether it’s in the cloud, on-premises or a little of both.

 

http://www.fieldtechnologiesonline.com/doc/considering-cloud-strategic-guide-business-technology-leaders-0001

 

 

 

Bay Area home prices are taking a breather | Cross River Real Estate

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The Bay Area’s roaring housing market appears to be quieting down to more of an inside voice.

In November, home prices in the region increased by about 1.3 percent — a gain, but not nearly as strong as the city’s 23.2 percent year-over-year leap, according to the SP/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, which tracks home prices across the country.

Nationwide, home prices in November fell by 0.1 percent, but showed 13.8 percent growth during the previous year. San Francisco remains in the country’s top 10, but experts expect the market to return to lower home price appreciation levels.

“Individual markets are showing signs of slowing down, which is helping to set up a mixed bag this year for buyers and sellers,” said Stan Humphries, chief economist with Zillow, a real estate information company. “Buyers can expect more inventory and less investor competition, while sellers used to seeing huge price gains month after month may feel some whiplash as that slows down.”

A slowdown maybe be good news for prospective buyers, but another major concern is rising interest rates, which can curb rising prices since they increase the cost of owning home.

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/blog/real-estate/2014/01/bay-area-home-prices-slow-down-november.html

Are You Making These 25 Common Decorating Mistakes? | Cross River NY Homes

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 3. Too Many Knickknacks Knickknacks, decorations, tchotchkes, accessories, call them what you want, but we all have too many of them. Rotate what you have, and if you really like something but it’s been out for a while, store it for a bit. You don’t have to have it all out at once and every surface should not be covered. Edit your collections so they’re pointed and look good as a small grouping.

2. Pillow Overload If the pillows actually hinder being able to sit on a couch or lie comfortably on a bed, then it’s obviously too much. Instead of buying so many pillows, spend your time, energy and money decorating an area of the room you’re actually looking at when sitting in bed.

1. Fake Flowers This is a controversial topic, but fake flowers (and plants) are a mistake. They gather dust and don’t bring life into your home like real flowers, which look and smell better. Fresh flowers are expensive, but there are other things you can do instead of buying them all the time. Put lemons or other fruit in a bowl for a punch of color. Or, use some dried natural material like curly willow or bamboo stalks for a fresh look.

 

 

http://shine.yahoo.com/at-home/making-25-common-decorating-mistakes-002000324.html

Buyers want a photo-driven search experience | Cross River Real Estate

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Upwards of 80 percent of buyers want to see property photos first when searching for a home, according to Robyn Woodman, a real estate broker and head of business development at Portland, Ore.-based real estate startup Househappy.

Househappy, a participant in Startup Alley at Real Estate Connect New York City, was founded in 2011 by Kevin McCloskey, a real estate broker with 27 years’ experience in the business.

The startup launched its visually based search site in March 2013. Househappy.org is free for consumers, agents and brokers, and McCloskey has vowed it will remain so. He plans to monetize the site with advertising from home services and other merchants near properties. Listing agents or brokers are posted directly on a listing page with no competing advertising from other agents.

The site obtains its listings from broker data feeds and manual uploads from listing agents or brokers. A deal with a major listing syndicator is also in the works.

Househappy recently raised $1.5 million in a funding round lead by Skechers exec Jeff Greenberg. That funding was on top of $1 million in seed funding previously raised from angel investors.

– See more at: http://www.inman.com/2014/01/15/buyers-want-a-photo-driven-search-experience/?utm_source=20140116&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=dailyheadlinesam#sthash.S2Yc3QBi.dpuf

Upgrade Your House With New Interior Doors | Cross River NY Real Estate

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Interior doors play a more important role than you might realize. While they are minor elements in the grand scheme, they add architectural detail and style to a house.  As something we use every day, doors create a tactile experience that leaves a significant impression. Closing a solid wood door, for example, feels very different than closing a hollow door made of synthetic materials.

For a house with modest detail, beautiful doors may add enough interest to make the spaces feel more stylistically specific. Even if your house has significant architecture, upgraded doors can complement and complete your design. For example, gilt, intricate details and the best stained wood finish make this Italian door remarkable. (We’ll get into looks for modern and other home styles soon.)
Who to hire: Replacing an interior door can be a good DIY project for someone who has at least a moderate level of skill in home improvement — but it doesn’t cost much to have interior doors installed by a reliable handyperson or licensed contractor. As for the design and which doors to choose, you will never regret the assistance of a competent design professional.
Permit: Rarely will you need a permit to replace an interior door. While there are minimum widths required for certain circumstances, it is unlikely that you would want less than the minimum anyway. One door that many consider an interior door is the one between the house and the garage. This technically is considered an exterior door, and it is wise to understand that these doors must have self-closing hardware and be fire rated. Consult a professional if you are changing this door.
First step: Get a quick lesson from this ideabook for some basic knowledge of door parts. Then determine if all you need to do is replace the door alone, or if you will want to replace the door and its jamb along with the casing (or molding) around the door. It is likely that you will want to replace the jamb.
Even if you hire someone to do the work, it is always a good idea to have a basic understanding of what needs to be done, so read this tutorial on how to replace one kind of door and jamb.
Project length: Give yourself a few hours per door. A handyperson or contractor can probably replace a door in about an hour. It all depends on how many doors you replace at once, but this is a project that can likely be done in less than a month, even in more complicated cases.
Best time to do this project: Since all of the work takes place inside the house, you can do this project just about any time of year, though it is best not to start projects of this nature in the weeks before significant holidays, since you probably want your house neat if you intend to entertain.
Types of Door Styles
Let’s take a look at the simplest door first and then progress by the number of panels.
Flush Doors
A flush door can come with a hollow or solid core, primed for painting or finished in a wood veneer, as shown here. Typically it is the least expensive, and is well suited to modern architecture.
Cost: Doors start at under $50 for a hollow core with a primed surface. Prices jump significantly for solid wood doors; expect to pay between $200 and $300 for the more common styles and sizes.
Moving on up into specialty woods, such as exotic veneers, the price will balloon to $500 to $1,000 per door, or more for antique and custom doors. Keep in mind that you have to pay for installation labor and finish materials in all circumstances.
This flush door has a more complex veneer finish. Some manufacturers will offer set choices for veneer designs, while others can do custom configurations.
Patterned veneers increase the cost substantially.
Single-Panel Doors
Single-panel doors are suitable for and often found in Craftsman houses as well as other modest houses of the 1920s and 1930s.
You can get a single panel on an arched door like this one. Just one or two of these in key places in your house can add lots of character. You will often find these in Spanish colonial and Spanish eclectic architecture.
Two-Panel Doors
As you will see in the following examples, variations on two-panel designs are many. This particular type, with its segmental arched top panel, is great for French country and French eclectic homes.
Very similar to the previous example, this door has a plank detail within the panel. This evokes a farmhouse or country feeling. This embossed design comes from the tongue and groove wood joinery found on old-fashioned stile and rail doors.

The Google Bus Protests Are Really About Bay Area Home Prices | Cross River NY Homes

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So I haven’t been following this very closely, but I’m catching up on  the Google bus controversy in the Bay Area.

From what I’ve gathered, a growing number of Silicon Valley workers,  from Google and other companies, are finding themselves in San Francisco, some  40 miles from San Jose, Palo Alto, Sunnyvale, Cupertino, Mountain View and the  other towns that make up the high-tech hub.

Workers are moving to the City By The Bay presumably because they’re  drawn to the city’s attractiveness, amenities and dynamism, which the Valley  apparently lacks (never been there, so this is totally  impressionistic).
In response to this shift, Google and  others are orchestrating private buses to transport workers from the City to the  Valley, and paying the City of San Francisco good  money to use its bus stops.  This has prompted protests from  SF residents decrying the impact of the Valley workers on affordable housing and  in altering the character of the city.

Read more:  http://cornersideyard.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-wheels-on-bus-go-round-and-round.html#ixzz2qI1vy4Kg