Tag Archives: Pound Ridge NY Real Estate for Sale

Pound Ridge NY Real Estate for Sale

We all face challenges in our personal lives. How to keep your real estate business on track. | Pound Ridge Homes

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Sooner or later, everyone faces challenges in their personal life that can have a detrimental influence of their business. Whether it’s a serious illness, death of a loved one, divorce or some other life trauma, what can you do to cope when your personal life is falling apart? As a real estate professional, you’re expected to be the calm in the storm. When transactions start to fall apart, you’re the glue that holds the deal together. When the seller is screaming and the buyer is threatening to sue, you’re the one who is supposed to calm the explosive situation.

Even on the best days, this is a tall order. It is particularly difficult when you are dealing with your own issues outside of your business. Making matters worse, the law of attraction says, “Like attracts like.” In other words, if you’re going through a messy divorce or have a loved one facing a serious illness, the probability is high that you will attract clients who are facing the same issues you are facing. If you have a personal situation that is pulling you off focus, here are six steps that can help you weather the storm.

1. Completely describe the challenge you’re facing in writing A difficult situation is like a continuous loop that keeps going around and around in your head. Your conscious mind keeps coming back to it because your unconscious mind is struggling with pain, grief, guilt or a variety of other issues. A proven way to cope with this situation is to record as many details about the situation as possible. This strategy allows you to break the ceaseless pattern of self-talk. –

 

See more at: http://www.inman.com/2014/03/17/6-steps-to-keep-your-real-estate-business-running-smoothly-through-illness-divorce-or-other-life-trauma/?utm_source=20140317&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=dailyheadlinesam#sthash.GSk7yeMx.dpuf

When Should You Begin to Aggressively Pay Down Your Mortgage? | Pound Ridge NY Homes

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The clear advantages of paying off your mortgage as quickly as possible have changed quite a bit over the past few years. The urgency to pay it off has somewhat diminished, as interest rates have plummeted to historical lows. It’s no longer the black and white decision it was back when interest rates hovered between 6% and 9%, and even the 11% to 13% we saw a couple of decades ago.

I am a big proponent of paying down that ugly mortgage beast as soon as is practical. But, before you go cutting a check to the bank, there is a pecking order of financial priorities you need to address before you consider tackling your mortgage.

In order of importance, here are the places you need to put your financial attention first:

  • Take The Cards Off The Table: Pay off all credit cards with high interest rates. Consider the huge discrepancy between credit cards with interest rates of 13% – 23%, and a 4% mortgage interest rate.
  • In Case Of Emergency: You need to build an emergency fund, ideally 8-12 months of living expenses. Yes, today’s job market is improving, but if you suddenly find yourself facing a layoff, you need to be prepared to sustain up to one year of living expenses.
  • Build Up For Retirement: Are you able to make the maximum yearly contributions to your retirement accounts, 401K, IRA or an equivalent?  Ask your accountant what the maximum allowable is for you and go for it!
  • Get The Kids To School: Ah yes, the kids and college funds.  Depending on how many children you have, how old they are, and what type of college enrollment expectation they have, you need to be making adequate contributions to those 529 plans or other college savings accounts.
  • You May Live A Long Time: My mom is 97 this year, and my aunt just turned 100.  So I am keenly aware that my money could run out before my health runs down.  Another priority investment you need to be making each year is toward long-term health care insurance. It is not as costly when you start it in your 30’s or 40’s.  But, if you didn’t get around to it till your 50’s, it will take a hit out of your budget each month.

http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2014/03/09/when-should-you-begin-to-aggressively-pay-down-you.aspx

It’s Time to Spring Clean Your Yard | Pound Ridge Real Estate

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Sure, you typically focus your spring cleaning on the inside of the house, but getting your yard ready for the new season should also be on your list. Here are several tips to streamline your outdoor spring cleaning.

1. Survey the damage, post-melt. Once the last of the snow is gone, survey your lawn for any bare areas or dead spots of grass. Heavy traffic and pet messes can keep the grass from growing back. You can help by sprinkling some soil over the area and adding grass and fertilizer. Be sure to keep the dirt moist until the seeds sprout into grass.

 

2. Tidy up any debris. As you scan your yard, remove any fallen branches and twigs. If your lawn is covered with leaves, there’s no way around pulling out the rake. Before collecting the leaves, be sure the ground is completely dry — raking over wet grass can tear it from the roots, leaving you with even more bare patches. Don’t send the leaves, branches, and twigs to the garbage, though. Use them to create a compost pile.

 

 

http://shine.yahoo.com/at-home/time-spring-clean-yard-165800417.html

Down to Earth Farmers Market | Pound Ridge NY Homes

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1840’s Dinner Inspired by Oscar Nominated, 12 Years a Slave;                         Sale on Pasture-Raised Meats & More February 27-March 5th, 2014 Down to Earth Markets
MAM w greens
What’s New and On Special This Week
Beef Sirloin Tip Roasts                                     SALE: $2 OFF/lb Reg. $12.75/lb; Now $10.75/lb. Kiernan Farm Beef Knuckle Bones                                     SALE: $1.75 OFF/lb Reg. $3.75/lb; Now $2.00/lb. Kiernan Farm
Gluten Free Dinner Rolls                                     Meredith’s Bread 		Pork Nitrate Free Smoked Ham Shanks/Hocks                                     SALE: $2 OFF/lb Reg. $7/lb; Now $5/lb. Kiernan Farm
Click on a Market to see all vendor and event details…

    Westchester County
Mamaroneck Winter                                     Saturdays, 9:00 am-1:00 pm St. Thomas Episcopal Church                                     168 West Boston Post Road (at Mount Pleasant Ave) Ossining Winter
Saturdays, 9:00 am-1:00 pm At the corner of Spring & Main                                     in downtown Ossining		Headed to the city soon? Visit a Down to Earth                                     Farmers Market in NYC!
                                                 Stay tuned to all market happenings via our Down to Earth Markets Facebook page                           and follow us on Twitter @DowntoEarthMarkets
An American Food Story, Sourced from a Down to Earth Farmers Market
foodgriotdinner

 

 

Chefs prepare to serve dinner inspired by Anne Northup’s 1840s cooking One of the fascinating things about shopping at the farmers market is that we never know who we are going to meet. Our Park Slope market recently led us to Tonya Hopkins, a woman known as “The Food Griot”. Self-described as “an American food storyteller”, Hopkins uses the name the Food Griot to recall the West African legacy of traveling poets, musicians, and                        storytellers who maintain a tradition of oral history.
Recently, Hopkins, together with Executive Chef Heather W. Jones and alumnae from the Institute of Culinary Education prepared a dinner after the style of Anne Northup, the wife of Northup portrayed in the Oscar-nominated movie, 12 Years a Slave. The dinner was served at the historic Morris-Jumel Mansion in NYC, where Anne cooked as a free woman of color during the time her husband was in captivity. Her culinary talents were much sought after.

6 best states to flip a home | Pound Ridge NY Homes

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In 2013, investors bought more than 156,000 homes, only to fix them up and quickly resell them for an average profit of $58,081. Home flipping became increasingly popular as the housing market began to recover. However, while the number of U.S. home flips increased in 2013 compared with 2012, home flips as a proportion of all home sales declined from 7.1% of sales in the fourth quarter of 2012 to just 3.8% of sales in the fourth quarter of 2013, partly because of declining inventory.

Where homes are available, however, substantial profits can still be made. In six states, home flippers made an average profit of considerably more than $80,000 in 2013. In the top state, the gross profit on a flipped home was more than $100,000. 24/7 Wall St. examined the six states where home flipping was most lucrative in 2013.

Buying homes to flip when market prices are relatively high may mean more overhead, but the fact remains that the states and metro areas with the largest average profits on home flips were the more expensive housing markets. All of the six most profitable states to flip a home in 2013 had among the highest average purchase prices that year. “High prices result in higher profits,” confirmed Daren Blomquist, vice president at home data site RealtyTrac. “These states are basically the highest-priced markets in the country.”

24/7 Wall St. examined the six states with an average gross home flip profit of at least $80,000 in 2013, based on data from RealtyTrac. RealtyTrac also provided average flip price, average gross profit, and the proportion of all home sales that were flips for 2011 and 2012, and Q4 2013 for States and U.S. Metro areas. We also reviewed RealtyTrac’s foreclosure rates for 2013.

http://homes.yahoo.com/photos/6-best-states-to-flip-a-house-1392234911-slideshow/

 

5 Ways to Get the Most Space Out of Your Home | Pound Ridge NY Homes

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You look around you and feel like your home is bursting at the seams. Whether it’s an apartment, a condo, or a small single-family house, you see your stuff all over and know that you’re running out of space. But you may not be prepared to make the move to someplace bigger.

No worries: January is a great time to start anew and make the most out of the space you have. To help appeal to shoppers who have resolved to de-clutter in the new year, many stores offer discounts on storage systems and organization supplies. In cold-weather cities, contractors probably aren’t working on outdoor projects, so you might be able to catch one during a slow time and get a decent deal.

With a little planning and some creative thinking, your home may turn out to have more space than you think.

1. Look in the nook.

The alcove by your front door, or a corner or recess in a downstairs or upstairs hallway, could be a good spot to set up some prefabricated bookshelves. You can even buy the components for a home office space that hangs from the wall. Of course, if you live in rental space, you should check with your landlord before drilling holes in the wall. But small touches like these can move things—books, laptop, printer, CDs—out of your main living space. These also tend to be smaller projects that you can do yourself.

  Vertical space is precious andoften-overlookedreal estate.

If the thought of a few hours of quality time with an Allen wrench isn’t your idea of fun, see if your building’s maintenance staff is looking for extra work. They may be willing to do it for less if you’re able to pay them swiftly, so consider using the Popmoney ® personal payment service which allows you to send money to virtually anyone’s U.S. bank account easily with your phone, directly from your bank account, using the Citi Mobile ®  App.

 

 

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/5-ways-most-space-home-143052537.html

When Water Conservation is Not Enough | Pound Ridge Real Estate

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For those people involved in sustainability, water—or specifically the lack of water to meet future demands—is a growing concern. This is perhaps most apparent to residents in the Western U.S., where a drought has caused a rather dramatic decline in water flowing in the Colorado River, which provides water for thousands of people and millions of acres of farmland. However, what many people don’t know if that this drought has lasted for 14 years.

Earlier this month, The New York Times reported that these conditions are “unrivaled in 1,250 years…The once broad and blue river has in many places dwindled to a murky brown trickle. Reservoirs have shrunk to less than half their capacities, the canyon walls around them ringed with white mineral deposits where water once lapped.”

According to the newspaper, communities depending on the river are turning to a variety of recycling programs, including recycling sewage effluent, to help address this mounting concern. Tax rebates to remove lawns and water-thirsty vegetation have become the norm in states like New Mexico and Arizona, and many states are also offering rebates to consumers and businesses to replace older water-using appliances with more efficient alternatives. For commercial facilities, this includes restroom fixtures that are either low-flow or, in many cases, no-flow systems, such as waterless urinals, which can save as much as 40,000 gallons of water per urinal.

However, what the residents and businesses in these states must now realize is that they are not being asked to conserve water temporarily; instead, they are being asked to use it more efficiently now and into the future. There is a big difference between the two propositions and greatly affects the way we design our buildings.

 

 

http://www.ecobuildingpulse.com/water-conservation/when-water-conservation-is-not-enough_o.aspx?dfpzone=home&utm_source=newsletter&utm_content=jump&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=EBP_013014&day=2014-01-30

Mortgage Loan Rates Dip as Home Sales Stabilize | Pound Ridge NY Homes

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The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) released its weekly report on mortgage applications Wednesday morning, noting a decrease of 0.2% in the group’s seasonally adjusted composite index, following a rise of 4.7% for the previous week. Mortgage loan rates decreased last week on three of four loan types to their lowest levels since late November.

The seasonally adjusted purchase index increased by 2% from the prior week’s report. On an unadjusted basis, the composite index decreased by 9% week-over-week. The unadjusted purchase index decreased by 3% for the week and is 12% lower year-over-year.

Mortgage rates continue to inch downward, with only the 5/1 ARM interest rate adding three basis points last week. Adjustable rate mortgage loans account for 7% of all applications.

The MBA’s refinance index decreased by 2%, after rising by 10% in the previous week. The share of refinancings fell by two points, totaling 62% of all applications.

The average mortgage loan rate for a conforming 30-year fixed-rate mortgage decreased from 4.57% to 4.52%. The rate for a jumbo 30-year fixed-rate mortgage fell from 4.57% to 4.47%. The average interest rate for a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage fell from 3.68% to 3.59%.

The contract interest rate for a 5/1 adjustable rate mortgage loan rose from 3.23% to 3.25%.

Sales have held fairly stable in January after an initial recovery, which is good news for sellers. As inventories increase with better weather, buyers should get a break too.

 

http://247wallst.com/housing/2014/01/29/mortgage-loan-rates-dip-as-home-sales-stabilize/

 

Home Prices in 20 U.S. Cities Rise Most Since February 2006 | Pound Ridge NY Real Estate

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Home prices in 20 U.S. cities rose in November from a year ago by the most in almost eight years, providing a boost to household wealth.

The S&P/Case-Shiller index of property prices in 20 cities climbed 13.7 percent from November 2012, the biggest 12-month gain since February 2006, after a 13.6 percent increase in the year ended in October, a report from the group showed today in New York. The median projection of 31 economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for a 13.8 percent advance.

A limited number of available properties is helping to sustain home price appreciation even as higher mortgage rates cool demand and leave purchases out of reach for some Americans. Further strides in the housing market this year would be made easier by a pickup in job and income growth.

 

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-01-28/home-prices-in-20-u-s-cities-rise-by-most-in-almost-eight-years.html