Tag Archives: Pound Ridge Luxury Real Estate

Earthy Decor Adds Warmth to a Modern Home | Pound Ridge Real Estate

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In 2008 these Santa Monica, California, homeowners worked with their architects to build a minimalist, modern home. Several years later they still loved their custom home, but they thought it could be cozier and more touchable. They hired an interior design team to take their rooms to a new, warmer level.
Modern Living Room by DISC Interiors
DISC Interiors
Houzz at a Glance
Who lives here: A landscape architect, her husband and their son
Location: Santa Monica, California
Size: 3,500 square feet (325 square meters); 4 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms

Interior designers Krista Schrock and David Dick of Disc Interiors picked up the design reins last year. To fully understand why they added earthy, touchable elements and nature-based colors to the pure white spaces, you have to know that the woman in the house is a landscape designer and her husband is an avid surfer who works at a nonprofit dedicated to restoring Santa Monica Bay. “They wanted us to bring in more natural elements, to make the spaces warmer and more approachable,” says Dick.

The living room illustrates the strategy — a metal sunburst hangs over furniture done in watery shades of blue and a nubby Moroccan rug. Rustic elements such as the stone-topped coffee table and pottery accessories on the shelves turn up the visual temperature several degrees.

“We sometimes like to work with opposites,” says Dick. “We were working with something that was new, white and minimal. We added elements that are the opposite: vintage, brass, glass, ceramics and touches of black — we’ve always thought a bit of black sharpens up almost any room.”

Metal sculpture: vintage Curtis Jeré; sofa: custom; coffee table: Lawson-Fenning

Modern Living Room by DISC Interiors
DISC Interiors
The designers created a custom light fixture that is like a large mobile. The black and brass light breaks up the boxiness of the room.

Given the home’s modernist nature, it’s no surprise that it has been the backdrop for several Design Within Reach catalog photo shoots. The armchair is, in fact, a DWR piece the couple owns. “We wanted to avoid the cliché of midcentury furniture in a modern house, so we re-covered the chair in a pinstripe fabric,” says Dick.

Most of the seating is now directed toward the garden, seen through the large glass doors. The sofa was moved to face the garden, and the other armchair is a swivel chair, which allows its occupant to swing around and take in the view. “Because she is a landscape designer, the rooms are all about the gardens,” says Dick. “The colors we chose were a counterbalance to the beautiful greens outside.”

Contemporary Kitchen by DISC Interiors
DISC Interiors
The couple likes to cook, and the kitchen was done to their liking. The designers added a new dimension by installing two large mica globe lights over the island. “They are a big, strong statement,” says Dick. “They are different sizes, which makes them playful and fun, and the mica shades make a beautiful, warm glow in the room.”

Light fixtures: Robert Lewis Studio; bar stools: Thomas Hayes Gallery

Santa Monica
The watery look picks up again in the dining room, where the designers used patterned curtains to create a kind of floor-to-ceiling artwork. “They make for a bold moment,” says Dick. “Every room should have one.”
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http://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/33539358?utm_source=Houzz&utm_campaign=u989&utm_medium=email&utm_content=gallery0

Live in a Marcel Breuer Home Inspired By a MoMA Showhouse | Pound Ridge Real Estate

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880_south facade night.jpg

Location: Princeton, New Jersey
Price: $2,000,000
In 1949, Philip Johnson commissioned a series of exhibition houses for MoMA’s sculpture garden, to offer up an “economical solution for an individually built, architect-designed country home,” as an alternative to the prefabs and Cape Cod-style dwellingsfilling America’s new suburbs. The “House in the Museum Garden” series may not have had the transformative effect he hoped for, but for Marcel Breuer, who designed the first home in the series,the exposure yielded a handful of commissions built in the same style. These included the Lauck House, on four acres in Princeton, New Jersey, which was recently put on the market for$2M.

A 2011 Dwell article on Breuer’s original MoMA home—which the Rockefellers purchased and had rebuilt on their estate, in Pocantico Hills, New York, where it now hosts the resident artists of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund—shows a very close resemblance. Both were built with butterfly roofs, and a “bi-nuclear” layout so that they could adapt as families grew, essentially creating ‘apartments’ at each end; the master bedroom and master bath in one, and bedrooms, a bathroom, and a playroom at the other, with a kitchen in between.

This idea has since been expanded upon with the Lauck House, by way of a double-height extension built in the ’80s, adding a glassed-in communal area to what would have been the childrens’ side. The 3,800-square-foot home has vertical wood siding both outside and in, flagstone floors, and like the home upon which it was based, a kind of funky rope railing in the living room. It’s currently owned by an architect couple, who purchased it in 2008 an undertook “complete restoration and preservation work.”

 

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http://curbed.com/archives/2015/01/15/breuer-lauck-house-princeton-for-sale.php

Innovative Home Shows What It’s Made Of | Pound Ridge Real Estate

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This couple had an especially ambitious list of goals when they hired Meditch Murphey Architects to build a new house for them outside of Washington, D.C. Like many people planning a new home these days, they wanted to design for the future, incorporate sustainability and create a comfortable environment that blended indoor and outdoor living spaces.

But that wasn’t all the homeowners wanted their house to do. They decided to build a new home that would double as a demonstration house, allowing the designers to experiment with innovative materials, spatial arrangements and energy-efficient features. Starting with the demolition of the property’s existing house, the homeowners and architects invited neighbors to observe and engage with the project in progress.

Contemporary Exterior by Meditch Murphey Architects
Meditch Murphey Architects
Photos by Michael Moran

Houzz at a Glance
Location: Chevy Chase, Maryland
Who lives here: A middle-aged couple planning to live here the rest of their lives
Size: 2,400 square feet (223 square meters), plus a 1,000-square-foot (93-square-meter) basement
Year completed: 2013

Major foundation and structural problems made it necessary to tear down the existing house on the lot. During the home’s demolition, the Meditch Murphey team worked withCommunity Forklift, a D.C. nonprofit that sells surplus and salvaged building materials. Students working with the organization used the demolition as a summer school project, learning about demolition and deconstruction techniques. Afterward, usable materials were donated to the organization.

The team continued to include the community throughout the design and build phases. During construction they installed an educational billboard in front of the house and posted information about the house and specific features they planned to include. As soon as it was safe to do so, the architects gave tours of the house, answering questions and hearing neighbors’ thoughts about the home. Even now the homeowners lead tours for anyone interested in seeing what’s going on.

Modern Exterior by Meditch Murphey Architects
Meditch Murphey Architects
The modern house, nestled between two colonial-style homes, stands out in this suburban neighborhood. But the architects worked to make sure it respected the context and scale of the area. “The goal was not to mimic other houses on the street,” says architect Marcie Meditch. The house faces out to the street and was kept as open as possible. Balconies, windows and sliding walls invite interaction and bring views of trees and the neighborhood into the home.

The exterior has an interesting mix of materials. White stucco walls reflect hot sun and are heavily insulated to keep the house warm in winter and cool in summer. Windows cover most of the remaining walls. Tulip poplar bark on the second story is perhaps the most distinct exterior feature. The architects saw the material used in a project at the Solar Decathlon; the material is a waste product from tulip poplar trees being milled for lumber. Companies are starting to use the kiln-dried bark for shingles, but Meditch Murphy left it as one big sheet. “People are blown away by the tree bark,” Meditch says. The sliding front door is Accoya wood, a resilient, low-maintenance hardwood that’s a sustainable and renewable alternative to tropical hardwoods.

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http://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/32229865?utm_source=Houzz&utm_campaign=u896&utm_medium=email&utm_content=gallery0

Walking and Biking More Common in New Homes | Pound Ridge Real Estate

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Residents of newly built homes are more likely to bike or walk, according to 2013 American Housing Survey (AHS) data recently released by HUD and the Census Bureau.  The data show that nearly 44 percent of households in new construction either bike or walk, compared to about 40 percent of households overall (see the graph immediately below).

Bike-Walk

In general, walking is more common than biking.  A little under a quarter of households walk but don’t bike, while fewer than 4 percent bike but don’t walk.  The new-overall difference shows up most strongly in the households that both bike and walk: over 16 percent of households in new construction both bike and walk, compared to just under 12 percent of households overall.  This occurs even though, as the next graph shows, many trip  destinations are less often accessible by biking/walking to households in new homes.

Destinations

For example, a grocery store (the most commonly accessible destination in the chart) is accessible by biking or walking to about one-fifth of households in new construction, compared to more than one-fourth of households overall.  A similar new-overall difference is apparent for every destination down in the graph─down to the least often accessible school or work, accessible to 11.4 percent of households in new construction, and 13.4 percent of households overall.  It’s possible that, in some cases, homes may go up in a new subdivision before stores, banks, etc. in the surrounding area are completely built out.

On the other hand, new homes are more likely to be built in neighborhoods with amenities designed to facilitate walking and biking.  Over 61 percent of households in new homes report that their neighborhoods have sidewalks, compared to 55.7 percent of households overall.  New homes are also more likely to be located in neighborhoods that have well-lit sidewalks and bike lanes (see chart below).

Neighborhood

The implication is that, for the sheer number of households walking & biking, neighborhood features like sidewalks and bike lanes are more important than nearness of particular destinations, and these features are somewhat more common in new subdivisions.

 

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http://eyeonhousing.org/2014/12/walking-and-biking-more-common-in-new-homes/

 

New Mortgages Sank This Year | Pound Ridge Real Estate

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Mortgage originations are down by 39 percent so far in 2014, with one in 79 households securing a new mortgage (compared with one in 48 in 2013), according to the Experian credit reporting service.

However, credit scores and card lending both experienced more positive signs of growth since 2013. While these categories are showing upward growth, fewer people have opened a new mortgage in the past year.

Other findings from Experian’s Fifth Annual State of Credit Study:

•The national VantageScore® credit score1 is up by two points, from 664 to 666
•Bankcard lending is on the rise, with new bankcards up 21.1 percent, with one in 17 consumers opening at least one bankcard (compared with one in 21 consumers in 2013)
•The average number of bankcards per person is up 4.2 percent to 2.18 cards
•Retail card lending also is on the upswing with a 3.5 percent increase
•The average number of retail cards is up 6.7 percent to 1.54 cards per consumer
•Average debt2 is up 2.3 percent to $28,496 per person

“This has been a notable year for borrowing, with more new credit being extended and consumers feeling more comfortable and confident about accepting those credit offers,” said Michele Raneri, vice president of analytics, Experian. “Even with some categories like mortgage taking longer to bounce back, an early glimpse at our third-quarter data indicates that an upward trend may be on the horizon.”

The study not only examined the national credit picture, but also looked at more than 100 Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) across the country and compared their credit scores with one another to see how they are faring. Topping the list with an average credit score of 706 are the residents of Mankato, Minn., followed by three other Minneapolis cities securing top spots. The city in need of the most improvement is Greenwood, Miss., with the lowest credit score of 609. The full list of the top 10 and bottom 10 cities are featured below. Scores are rounded to the nearest whole number.

 

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http://www.realestateeconomywatch.com/2014/11/new-mortgages-sank-this-year/

 

Chicago sales are soaring for $1 million and above homes | Pound Ridge Real Estate

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Luxury home sales in the Chicago area are thriving in 2014. Home sales for the $1 million-plus segment of homes in the seven-county Chicago metro area are up 8% over 2013, according to the RE/MAX Luxury Report on Metro Chicago Real Estate.

In the first three quarters of 2014, there were 1,675 total units sold at $1 million or more in Chicago, with a median sales price of $1,350,000, which is up 3% compared to the same period in 2013.

During the third quarter, sales of luxury homes totaled 736 units, a 13% increase over the same quarter of last year, the RE/MAX report states. The median sales price for luxury properties rose 3% in the third quarter to $1,340,000.

The average time on the market for luxury properties sold during the first nine months of this year in the seven-county Chicago metropolitan area was 130 days, down from an average of 166 days in 2013.

Average market time during the third quarter was 123 days, down from 132 days in 2013.

In the City of Chicago itself, luxury sales were up 13% to 763 units through the first nine months of 2014, while the median sales price for the period was $1,400,000, up 2%.

During the third quarter, sales of $1 million or more totaled 320 units in the city, up from 270 in 2013, representing a 19% gain. The median sales price for the third quarter was $1,425,000, up 6% from the same quarter of 2013.

Sales activity in the first nine months of 2014 increased in each of the three neighborhoods that dominate Chicago’s luxury attached-home (condominiums, townhouses or co-ops) market. The Loop saw sales rise to 51 units from 44 the prior year.

In Lincoln Park, sales rose to 60 units from 33, and the Near North Side had 219 sales, up from 199. The median sales price was $1.25 million in Lincoln Park and $1.4 million in both the Loop and Near North Side.

 

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Chicago luxury home sales booming

Remodeling Market Index Reclaims All-Time High | Pound Ridge Real Estate

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The Remodeling Market Index (RMI) rose one point to 57 in the third quarter of 2014, the sixth consecutive 3-month period the index has been over 50.  An RMI above 50 indicates that more remodelers report market activity is higher (compared to the prior quarter) than report it is lower.

The overall RMI averages ratings of current remodeling activity with indicators of future remodeling activity. The current market conditions index increased one point to 57 this quarter, with all three of its subcomponents (major and minor additions/alterations and maintenance/repair) posting readings of 56 or higher.

The RMI’s future market conditions index rose to 58 from 56 in the previous quarter. All four of its subcomponents—calls for bids, amount of work committed for the next three months, backlog of jobs and appointments for proposals—increased or remained level with the previous quarter’s reading.

 

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http://eyeonhousing.org/2014/10/remodeling-market-index-reclaims-all-time-high/

Mortgage Rates Decline Further | Pound Ridge 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 hitting fresh lows for the year for the second consecutive week amid declining bond yields. At 3.92 percent the average 30-year fixed rate is at its lowest level since the week of June 6, 2013.

News Facts

  • 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 3.92 percent with an average 0.5 point for the week ending October 23, 2014, down from last week when it averaged 3.97 percent. A year ago at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 4.13 percent.
  • 15-year FRM this week averaged 3.08 percent with an average 0.5 point, down from last week when it averaged 3.18 percent. A year ago at this time, the 15-year FRM averaged 3.24 percent.
  • 5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) averaged 2.91 percent this week with an average 0.5 point, down from last week when it averaged 2.92 percent. A year ago, the 5-year ARM averaged 3.00 percent.
  • 1-year Treasury-indexed ARM averaged 2.41 percent this week with an average 0.4 point, up from last week when it averaged 2.38 percent. At this time last year, the 1-year ARM averaged 2.60 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 theRegional 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.

“Fixed mortgage rates continued to fall this week after the yield on 10 year Treasuries dropped to their lowest point of the year. Existing home sales beat expectations in September clocking in at an annual rate of 5.17 million units, up 2.4 percent from August. Housing starts were up 6.3 percent in September adding a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.017 million units. Building permits rose 1.5 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.018 million units in September.”

$65M Historic Mansion is Miami’s Most Expensive Listing | Pound Ridge Homes

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25LaBrisaFacadeDay.jpg

A 17,000-square-foot historic mansion dating to the 1920s has hit the market in Miami for $65M, making it the city’s priciest listing. Naturally, it’s represented by same real estate agent who listed America’s most expensive property, a $139M spectacle with a 22-carat gold leaf entry gate, also in Florida. This comparatively modest nine-bedroom mansion in the affluent Coconut Grove neighborhood comes with 6.9 acres of “mature landscaping,” a private port that accommodates a 70-foot yacht, and a lot of charming original woodwork, including exposed ceiling beams and wooden balconies.

Gawk away at the 1920s splendor. >>

It’s not Miami’s most expensive listing ever—those honors go to Gianni Versace’s over-the-top Casa Casuarina, listed for $125M before getting a bunch of PriceChops and selling at auction a year later for just $41.5M—but this place does have a guest cottage and a four-car garage in a converted coach house. Oh, and there’s a bit of policy history here: original owner Kirk Munroe, who was deeded the land in 1886, introduced the first animal protection legislation in Florida’s history after an injured manatee washed onto his property. Hopefully the oligarch who buys this will also be an advocate for manatees (or at least be careful when parking the yacht).

 

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http://curbed.com/archives/2014/10/20/65-million-house-for-sale-miami-la-brisa-most-expensive-house.php

 

 

 

Mortgage rates drop near yearly lows | Pound Ridge Real Estate

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Mortgage rates slightly fell back down following the Federal Reserve’s latest tapering announcement, dropping down near their yearly lows, Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market survey results showed.

The 30-year, fixed rate mortgage declined from 4.19% last week to 4.12% and is significantly down from 4.23% a year ago.

In addition, the 15-year, FRM decreased to 3.30% after remaining frozen at 3.36% a week ago. This is close to 2013’s 15-year, FRM of 3.31%.

The 5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable rate-mortgage averaged 3.05%, compared to 3.06% a week prior and 3.05% a year ago.

The 1-year Treasury-indexed ARM stayed unchanged at 2.42%. This is down from 2.64% last year.

“Fixed mortgage rates were down on a week filled with bleak forward projections from the Federal Reserve and concern over growth in Europe. Despite gloomy vernacular from the Fed, mortgage purchase applications were up 2% on the week and the labor market added 248,000 jobs, beating expectations and lowering headline unemployment to 5.9%,” said Frank Nothaft, vice president and chief economist with Freddie Mac.

Bankrate reported similar results, with the 30-year, FRM dropping to 4.18% from 4.27% a year ago.

The 15-year, FRM fell to 3.37%, down from 3.44% a week ago, while the 5/1 ARM declined to 3.27%, down from 3.29% a week prior.

“Continued nervousness about slower growth in the global economy proved to be good news for mortgage rates, with mortgage rates pulling back to the lowest level since June 2013. This also takes mortgage rates out of the narrow band of approximately one-tenth of a percentage point that had prevailed since mid-May,” Bankrate said in a press release.

 

 

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Freddie Mac: Mortgage rates drop near yearly lows