'Best Living Room Ever' Takes Another Price Cut, Down to $13M | Chappaqua Real Estate

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Apparently, "best living room(s) in the history of New York City" just aren't worth what they used to be. Or at least not what their owners thought they were. The penthouse in West 77th Street's Studio Building just had its price cut once again, this time down to $12.995 million (that extra $5,000 ought to do the trick) down from an original ask of $20 million. Swiftly approaching the PriceChopper Hall of Fame, the 4,187-square-foot 3BR/2.5BA has already been chopped once, significantly, since it was first listed in August of 2012. While the Natural History Museum views, 22-foot hand-painted ceilings, and eight-foot-tall 17th century stone fireplace imported from the Iberian Peninsula are all surely impressive, they weren't nearly enough to entice some buyer into paying upwards of $4,000 per square foot. Now, the apartment is "just" hoping to get over $3,000 per square foot.



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http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2014/04/29/best_living_room_ever_takes_another_price_cut_down_to_13m.php

Did the Housing Market Finally Receive Some Good News? | Armonk Real Estate

The housing market finally received some good news. After reaching its worst level in over two years, pending home sales in the United States posted the first gain in nine months.

The Pending Home Sales Index, a forward-looking indicator based on contract signings, increased 3.4 percent to 97.4 in March from an upwardly revised 94.2 in February, according to the latest report from the National Association of Realtors. On average, economists expected sales to only gain about 1 percent. However, sales are still 7.9 percent below the March 2013 level of 105.7. In February, pending home sales declined to their lowest reading since October 2011.
With better weather conditions and increased housing inventory, more activity is expected in the coming months. “After a dismal winter, more buyers got an opportunity to look at homes last month and are beginning to make contract offers,” said Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, in a press release. “Sales activity is expected to steadily pick up as more inventory reaches the market, and from ongoing job creation in the economy.”


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http://wallstcheatsheet.com/personal-finance/did-the-housing-market-finally-receive-some-good-news.html/?ref=YF

This brand-new hotel looks like it’s from the future | Pound Ridge Real Estate

The InterContinental Davos is one hotel that it’s impossible to take our eyes off of, with its shimmering rounded golden façade designed by the Munich firm Oikios.

It’s like a luxury space ship has landed in this tony town, most famous for its annual economic forum but also one of Switzerland’s most popular ski resorts.

The 216 guest rooms have a modern edge to them, too, while still looking like very appealing places to hole up and watch the snow fall.

Though there are no typical ski lodge touches in sight, the Capricorn restaurant will keep it local with a menu featuring dishes from the South Tyrol, Savoy, and Piedmont regions.

Futuristic hotel




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http://living.msn.com/life-inspired/life-unleashed/this-brand-new-hotel-looks-like-it%e2%80%99s-from-the-future

Sales Launch at Shigeru Ban's Cast Iron House in Tribeca | Bedford Hills Real Estate

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After architect Shigeru Ban won the Pritzker Prize in March, interest in his Metal Shutter House went through the roof, so it's probably safe to say that the award will have the same effect at the Cast Iron House, which launches sales today. When Ban's designs for the condo conversion and addition at 67 Franklin Street were approved two years ago, words like "magical" and "breathtaking" were used to describe the project, and now we finally get to see if buyers feel the same way. The interior of the 132-year-old cast iron building has been completely reconfigured, with 11 duplexes on the lower floors and two duplex penthouses on top. Currently five condos are listed. The least expensive is a 2,990-square-foot 3BR/3BA on the second floor that's asking $4.975 million, while the priciest pad is the east penthouse, listed for $12.95 million. It's a 3,809-square-foot four-bedroom with 1,531-square-foot terrace.


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http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2014/04/21/sales_launch_at_shigeru_bans_cast_iron_house_in_tribeca.php

6 Ways to Use Pinterest to Promote Your Brand | Bedford NY Realtor

Is Pinterest part of your marketing strategy?
Have you ignored Pinterest because you think your brand isn’t a fit?
Every brand has a story to tell and visual content can help you tell it.
Sharing your story with Pinterest’s engaged and active audience via compelling pictures is a great place to start.
In this article you’ll see how six brands got creative with Pinterest and captured new followers and interest.

Why Pinterest?

Visual marketing is the current trend, so it’s no wonder brands see huge potential in Pinterest. It’s an ultra-hot social media site where photos are center stage and sharing is second nature to the audience.

Pin It

Pinterest has over 70 million users and 25 billion pins.

Pinterest launched in March 2010 and has over 70 million users; 500,000 of those are business accounts. Pinterest’s audience is engaged and active.
While some brands have been quick to adopt Pinterest as a marketing tool to drive targeted engagement, there are a number of companies that can do more to harness the power of Pinterest and visual storytelling.
Below are six innovative ways brands are using Pinterest. If you’re not making the most of Pinterest, get ready to be inspired!

#1: Bring Pinterest to You

Pinterest is so integral to Nordstrom‘s overall marketing strategy that they’re using it as an in-store promotional tool. The store highlights its most popular pins by ‘pinning’ them in the stores.
Nordstrom has around 4.5 million followers on Pinterest. It’s a safe bet many of them are shopping in-store. When those followers see the popular pinned items in the store it can translate into big sales.





http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/how-to-promote-with-pinterest/

The ultimate list of must-have mobile apps for today’s real estate professional | Pound Ridge Homes

The ultimate list of must-have mobile apps for today’s real estate professional | Pound Ridge Homes | Bedford New York Real Estate | Bedford NY Homes by Robert Paul Realtor

Come Party at a Neon Vacation Villa in Where Else!? Ibiza! | Waccabuc Real Estate

Photo via Design Milk
Built on a tree-lined, hillside property in Ibiza, Spain, this stunning Villa Terramar vacation house—designed by Spanish architecture firm Andres Jaque Architects—just might be the most Ibiza party palace of all time, thanks to its funky, stilted layout, nightclub-worthy color palette, and dance floor-esque terraces. The dayglo home is split into four free-standing bedrooms—all lofted to different heights—but rents as a single residence for €430 a night ( that's about $595 a night.) The largest of the units houses an aqua blue kitchen dotted with palm trees growing up through the floor, as well as a large, airy living space that opens onto a massive infinity pool and groovy hot tub. Take it all in, below...



http://curbed.com/archives/2014/04/16/come-party-at-a-neon-vacation-villa-in-where-else-ibiza.php

Rising food, housing costs push up U.S. inflation | Cross River Homes

Rising food, housing costs push up U.S. inflation | Reuters

Mortgage Rates Remain a Gift to Homebuyers | Katonah Real Estate

Mortgage Rates Remain a Gift to Homebuyers - Yahoo Finance

The Art of Joining Materials | Bedford Hills Real Estate

I remember the first time I set foot on a bustling construction site as an intern architect fresh out of school. It was the first time I connected the abstract vision I had been drawing on paper to the reality — and chaos — of construction. It all stood, literally and figuratively, in stark contrast to the design process. Hammers flying, tons of concrete being cast, beams being welded to soaring steel columns — it was hard to make sense of it all. This is when the true education of an architect begins, the moment when one realizes that the lines on paper represent the meeting points of materials, what we call joints.

Like most architects, I’m consumed with the process of making and the art of joining materials. What these joints say about a structure and how carefully they’ve been designed and crafted are hallmarks of good architecture. Let’s look at two projects that differ in their execution and style but share similarly striking results, due in large part to a skilled joining of materials.

Hammer & Hand

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Passive in Portland

This high-performance passive house is sited on a south-facing mountainside in Portland, Oregon. Capitalizing on the solar exposure, the house has a strong visual presence. Anchored by two vertical tower elements, which house the stairs and double-height spaces, the design is a complex composition of slipped volumes and geometry. To achieve this look while maintaining the strict energy performance goals was no small feat.

Articulation. Revealing the individual parts of an architectural composition and its place in the larger whole is called articulation. Architects use this term frequently, because it’s one of the ways we establish order in design. We express the different building blocks of architecture — the walls, floors, roof and ground planes — to achieve certain effects. Put simply, articulation is expression.

Viewed from afar, the volumes clad in white plaster and wood are articulated or expressed as distinct elements. The white is more vertically oriented and anchors the wood and glass volumes, which appear more horizontal. This is done using reveal joints.

 

 

 

 

http://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/25050867?utm_source=Houzz&utm_campaign=u479&utm_medium=email&utm_content=gallery4

Updates from the Town of Bedford | Bedford NY Real Estate

Upcoming Meetings

Meeting agenda and backup materials are available for the following meetings:

4/11 Town Board

Public Information Session 4/16 @ 8:30pm
There will be a public information session on April 16th at 8:30pm at the Town Board monthly meeting regarding the water storage tank removal on Town owned property on Beaver Dam Road.

Commuter Parking Permits

The Town of Bedford resident commuter parking permit applications for the 2014-2015 permit season will be mailed out after May 1st this year.

Energize Bedford
Spring is a perfect time for a home energy assessment!

Consider signing up with Energize Bedford, a non-profit that helps homeowners make their homes more energy efficient and less costly to operate. Get help with the home energy assessment application on Saturday, April 12th from 10:30-12:30 at the Bedford Hills Library. Call 914-302-7300 to make an appointment or just drop by!

Sign up online at www.EnergizeBedford.org

Reminder:

There will be an update/progress report meeting on April 24th at 6:30pm on the Stormwater Retrofit Project at the Bedford Hills Memorial Park.

'Castle Hill' Colonial Estate Near Monticello Asks $11.5M | Mt Kisco Real Estate

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Location: Keswick, Virginia
Price: $11,500,000
The Skinny: This lovely home in one of the loveliest parts of Virginia dates from 1764 and, according to the delightfully cornpone brokerbabble, "George Washington trod its hallways and James Madison danced in the parlor to the fiddle playing of Thomas Jefferson." On the question of whether the tune Jefferson scratched out on his catgut strings was "Yankee Doodle" or that other popular favorite "The Rich Lady Across the Sea" the listing is silent, but no doubt a super patriotic time was had by all. The estate, which is just a short buggy ride from Monticello, is known as Castle Hill, and features buildings from both the 18th and 19th centuries, with modern updates including a new horse barn and a chef's kitchen. The main house has five bedrooms and six bathrooms across 8,500 square feet, with the outbuildings spread out over 601 acres. It's asking $11.5M, which is exactly 25 percent over its going price when it last sold in 2010.




http://curbed.com/archives/2014/04/10/castle-hill-colonial-estate-near-monticello-asks-115m.php

Solar is cheaper, but consumers don’t seem to know | South Salem Real Estate

Homeowners across the country are making more environmentally-conscious shopping decisions, but when it comes to powering their homes, many overestimate the cost of solar energy, according to a recent survey from a company that sells solar energy systems.

More than half of American homeowners are more likely to take consider a product's environmental sustainability into consideration than they were three years ago when making a purchasing decision, according to a survey commissioned by SolarCity and conducted by Zogby Analytics. About 62 percent said that they want solar power for their homes.

 

"We think people just don't realize how affordable solar has become. Less than half homeowners surveyed said that they realize that solar power is less expensive today than it was three years ago, when in reality the costs have fallen dramatically," said Jonathan Bass, vice president of communications at SolarCity.

About 29 percent of those surveyed said that they could be convinced to start using solar power at home if solar panel installation and equipment were free. Free solar panel installations are available in 14 states, Bass said.

 

Approximately 70 percent of all homeowners consider or investigate the sustainability of big-ticket items when making purchasing decisions, and more than half are more likely to take sustainability considerations into account today than they were three years ago, according to the data from SolarCity.

But homeowners seem to be starting small. The most popular planned clean-energy purchases in the next year are LED light bulbs (31 percent of homeowners), followed by smart thermostats, double- or triple-pane windows, hybrid cars, and Energy-Star rated hot water heaters, according to SolarCity, whose biggest U.S. competitors include Verengo Solar, Vivint Solar, REC Solar and Sungevity.

http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/big-data-download/solar-is-cheaper--but-consumers-don-t-seem-to-know-163348584.html

Final chapter for Rizzoli bookstore as demolition awaits | Waccabuc Real Estate

Rizzoli Bookstore at 31 West 57th Street

The Landmarks Preservation Commission is weighing an application to preserve the interior of the Rizzoli Bookstore, just days before the retailer plans to shut down
.
The LeFrak family and Vornado Realty Trust, owners of the property at 31 West 57th Street, intend to demolish the property, along with two adjacent buildings. Rizzoli has served as the anchor tenant at the 109-year-old, six-story building for 29 years. The store is offering 40 percent discounts on merchandise prior to its last day on Friday.

The Landmarks board already rejected Rizzoli’s request for individual landmark designation, deciding that it did not meet the criteria. LeFrak and Vornado have not yet filed permits for demolition.

“It is important to note that if a building or interior is landmarked, the Commission does not regulate use,” a spokesperson for the commission said in a statement cited by DNAinfo. “Therefore, a business — like a bookstore — can relocate at any time based on their specific lease agreements.”



http://therealdeal.com/blog/2014/04/08/rizzoli-bookstore-set-to-close-as-landmarks-mulls-new-bid/

Luxury Digs Stake out New Turf | Cross River Real Estate

Market forces are changing the shape of luxury locations, expanding borders to enlarge the supply of million dollar plus homes just outside of historically affluent neighborhoods. Unlike homes at the other end of the price scale where inventory shortages fueled double digit price increases, the new growth is a result of the reviving economy

Coldwell Banker Previews International® released its first Luxury Market Index, which analyzed U.S. cities with at least 25 home sales of $1 million and higher in 2013 and ranked the best performing markets by a number of factors including annualized sales in units, volume, average and median sale price.

Topping the list was Woodside, Calif., home to venture capitalists and international entrepreneurs, was the top performing luxury market for 2013 based on critical metrics including annualized sales in units, volume and average and median sale price. Two other hot Silicon Valley communities, Portola Valley and Hillsborough, Calif., ranked in the top five, with all based less than 30 minutes from the Northern California corporate headquarters of Apple, Facebook and Google.

Inventory is very tight in markets like Woodside, a reserved community with many homes hidden down long tree-lined driveways and private lanes, where 24 of Forbes’ richest people in America own property. Much of Woodside is owned by Stanford University, which is selling any land. With inventory low, the ultra-wealthy are flocking to other surrounding suburbs in the region, including Portola Valley, Hillsborough and Atherton depending on their lifestyle needs.

But unlike lower tiered markets, inventory is not the real powerhouse behind today’s Silicon Valleyu boom. Rather, the exploding tech economy, which is creating immense wealth on a daily basis when start-ups get bought out and new venture flourish.



http://www.realestateeconomywatch.com/2014/04/luxury-digs-stake-out-new-turf/

The Secret Way to Plant Perennials This Spring | Katonah NY Real Estate

Thawing temperatures are starting to lure us outdoors to get back into the garden. Next up in the process of preparing your home for spring: planting perennials

If you're wondering what to plant, we recommend Gaillardia 'Fanfare.' Its glorious sunsetlike colors and unique trumpet-shaped petals distinguish this hardy perennial, which thrives in most U.S. climates and blooms from late spring into fall. ($9.95 each; parkseed.com.)

It will bloom continuously, May through fall, or frost. To prune, cut the stems all the way back to the foliage.

With a bit of extra effort-namely, judicious pruning-these choices will offer a repeat performance.



https://shine.yahoo.com/green/secret-planting-perennials-spring-175000581.html

9 Things to Ignore When House Hunting | Bedford Hills Homes

Looking for a new home can be a challenge, especially when you walk into someone's for-sale home and 20 years of their lives are on display and you have to really use your imagination to determine how you can that particular home 'yours.' Many people choose to remodel and stage their homes prior to having their agent listing on Trulia, but then there are the vast majority of people who choose to sell their beloved home “as-is.”

While a turnkey home is ideal for people who want to move right in and make no changes, there are those "time warp" homes that are actually incredible gems that just need a little polishing.
As you step into each home on your house hunt, here are 9 things about a for-sale home that you should "ignore" as you search for your dream home:

An "Older" Home

Old isn't always synonymous with bad. Some homes built decades ago have stood the test of time because they were built with solid, quality materials and have a classic style. Don't always assume that new = nicer, either. Some newer homes are "affordable" because they were built cheaply. Remember that there are many simple fixes for dated homes, and the plus side of an older home is charm and character you can't find in a brand new build.

Paint Colors

Ignore the existing paint choices and focus on the structure of the room, the placement of the windows, etc. Paint is an incredibly easy and a cheap fix in a home and something you can change in just a couple hours.

Wallpaper With Roosters And Chickens

While it may look like you are walking into a barnyard, remember that wallpaper is easily replaced or covered over. So no matter how designed challenged the walls seem to look – it's an easy fix.





http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2014/04/06/9-things-to-ignore-when-house-hunting.aspx

Institutional investor activity taking outsized toll on Hispanic homebuyers | Mt Kisco Homes

Hispanics have powered more than half of the growth in homeownership in recent years, but a severe shortage of for-sale homes exacerbated by a flood of institutional investors significantly constrained Hispanics’ contribution to homeownership growth in 2013, according to the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals (NAHREP).

“This is a story of potential,” said Jason Madiedo, president of NAHREP. “Latinos are ready to buy homes now. Their biggest obstacle coming into today’s market isn’t credit — it’s lack of available housing.”

Hispanics accounted for an increase of 2.6 million owned households between 2000 and 2013, or 47 percent of all homeownership growth in the U.S., according to NAHREP’s 2013 State of Hispanic Homeownership Report.

From 2010 to 2013, Hispanics’ share of homeownership growth was even higher, with 56 percent of homeownership growth attributable to Hispanics, the report found.

But Hispanics’ contribution to owner household growth fell precipitously to 84,000 in 2013 from 324,000 in 2012, according to NAHREP CEO Gary Acosta — a 74 percent decline



- See more at: http://www.inman.com/2014/04/02/nahrep-institutional-investor-activity-taking-outsized-toll-on-hispanic-homebuyers/?utm_source=20140403&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=dailyheadlinesam#sthash.aHC86RwR.dpuf

Home improvements that offer biggest bang for the buck | North Salem Homes

Cleaning up on spring home improvement projects requires more effort than many homeowners anticipate.
Remodeling tends to pick up as the weather improves, and this year is no exception. During the second half of 2013, the National Association of Home Builders' Remodeling Market Index, which measures how busy contractors are, was at its highest level since the spring of 2004.
When the report was released in late January, remodelers were expecting an even busier spring, with more saying they had been called to bid on a job or were already committed to a project.
If you're updating your home with the aim of adding to its value, tread carefully. Some improvements boost value more than others, and in most cases, a project costs more than it adds in value.
According to Remodeling magazine's 2014 Cost vs. Value report, the average portion of cost recouped is 66.1 percent. (Watch the video for some of the projects, small and big, that provide good value.) Of course, what buyers will think of — and might pay for — an upgrade is less of a hurdle if you plan to enjoy your fancy new kitchen or master bath for years to come.




http://www.today.com/money/home-improvements-offer-biggest-bang-buck-2D79452167