You Could Do So Much With This $1.7M Deco in The Gables | Bedford Hills Real Estate

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This charming art deco house on Coral Gables' picturesque De Soto Boulevard was built around 1938 and retains loads of original details on the exterior, including glass block, decorative pilasters framing the front door, and that cool, collected air of knowing you've got style. The interiors of the $1.7 million dollar house, meanwhile, are pretty literally a blank slate, although it has been updated with new appliances and impact-resistant glass windows. Wooden beams on one of the ceilings (Dade County Pine perhaps?) as well as original-looking floors throughout, and the gorgeous original staircase, are swaddled in a sea of white. The possibilities are endless.


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http://miami.curbed.com/archives/2014/09/22/you-could-do-so-much-with-this-17m-deco-in-the-gables.php

Say Hello to High Line at the Rail Yards, the Park's Final Leg | Bedford NY Real Estate

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The third and final stretch of the High Line will open to the public tomorrow, marking the end of a 15-year development saga, and availing to pedestrians a seamless 22-block stretch between Gansevoort and 34th streets. Known as High Line at the Rail Yards, the park's final portion stretches from 30th Street and Tenth Avenue, cuts west, and curves north to 34th Street near the West Side Highway. Just one portion of the 1.45-mile-long park, the Tenth Avenue spur, is inaccessible and will remain closed until construction of 10 Hudson Yards is complete in 2015


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http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2014/09/20/say_hello_to_high_line_at_the_rail_yards_the_parks_final_leg.php

Merv Griffin's Rehabbed Carmel Valley Ranch Returns for $6M | Pound Ridge Real Estate

The former Carmel Valley estate of the late entertainer and media mogul Merv Griffin is back on the market. The radio and big band singer-turned-talk show host—you might recognize the set of his eponymous show from an unforgettable Seinfeld episode—added the 57 acres to his hefty property portfolio in the 1970s. The hilltop estate consists of what the listing calls a "collection of private cottages and guest suites surrounded by lawns and entertainment areas," along with vineyards and an accompanying ranch. The asking price for the Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune creator's former summer retreat is $5.975M.

                      

That's down from the $6.2M it was shopped around for in 2007, shortly before Griffin's death, when the Real Estalker reported he was putting it on the market because he didn't use it enough. This time around, Hawkridge has been "lovingly restored and updated by Merv's friend and former CEO of the Griffin Group into an extraordinary family compound and private retreat." The buildings on offer include a 2,180-square-foot main house with a combined living-dining room and kitchen (but no bedrooms), a two-bedroom (converted?) pool house, a four-bedroom guest building, a one-bedroom guest cottage, and the two-bedroom cottage that Griffin stayed in. With the caretaker's unit and recently added "entertainment center" thrown in, there's a total "livable area" of 9,378 square feet, which doesn't include a garage with an attached area for wine storage, and a combined barn and workshop.




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http://curbed.com/archives/2014/09/18/merv-griffins-carmel-valley-ranch-for-sale.php
 

Remembering the Grand Spectacle of the 1939 World's Fair | Chappaqua NY Real Estate

All photographs were taken by Harold Webber and printed by Henry Webber. A selection of these photographs is now on view until October 11th at The Civil Service Café and Gallery, 279 Nostrand Avenue, Brooklyn.

"You should've seen it at night," my late grandfather, Harold Webber, used to say as he wistfully described to me the grand spectacle—with its massive architecture, state-of-the-art exhibits, and millions of visitors—that was the 1939 New York World's Fair.

 

At the time of the Fair, my grandfather was a 25-year-old amateur photographer and railroad enthusiast from the Bronx. He had attended Stuyvesant High School and Fordham University during the Depression, and he was about to embark on his 40-year career as a design engineer for Bell Laboratories. He and his younger brother spent their spare time photographing steam locomotives around New York and New Jersey. Through his charter membership in a train hobbyist's group, the Railroadians, my grandfather was asked to volunteer at the Fair's railroad pavilion. In exchange for his help, he received an unlimited admission pass to the Fair's 1939 and 1940 seasons, which granted him expanded access to the grounds and a unique vantage point from which to photograph the event.




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http://curbed.com/archives/2014/09/17/1939-worlds-fair-photos.php

Small Home-Improvement Projects with Big Impact | Armonk Homes

Small Home-Improvement Projects with Big Impact-Kiplinger

15 Space-saving kitchen cabinets with unique designs | Bedford Corners Real Estate

Photo credit: Martin Poole/Digital Vision/Getty Images            

 

While traditional kitchen cabinetry is still certainly in style (and isn't likely to go anywhere), there's a new breed of cabinetry on the block. Sleek, unique and distinctively styled, the cabinetry in these 15 kitchens is full of wow factor.

Contemporary Kitchen Cabinets by Minneapolis Kitchen & Bath Designers Belle Design Build

 

Not only are these contemporary kitchen cabinets by German designer Leicht visually stunning, but they're full of function to boot. Super-deep drawers take the fuss out of storing larger items like pitchers, soup pots and more.

Contemporary Kitchen Cabinets by Daytona Beach Cabinets & Cabinetry ADI Supply

 

These Adornus cabinets by ADI Supply feature sleek, euro slab frameless doors for an unmistakably modern feel. Also, note the to-die-for aluminum toe kick along the cabinetry's base.




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http://www.sheknows.com/home-and-gardening/articles/1049825/unique-kitchen-cabinet-designs

 

Report: Credit card debt nearing "tipping point" | #Waccabuc Real Estate

As the housing market continues to remain stagnant, consumers are quickly racking up credit card debt and teetering the edge of instability, according to a report released today.

The average household credit card balance increased by $174 during the second quarter of 2014, now up to $6,802, according to a recent study by CardHub.

And this is expected to easily surpass the $7,000 mark during 2014, officially reaching levels not witnessed since the end of 2010.

"Assuming the above projection holds true, by the end of 2014 U.S. consumers will be roughly $1,300 away from the credit card debt tipping point, where minimum payments become unsustainable and delinquencies skyrocket," CardHub said.

This year’s second quarter increase was 46% higher than the next highest Q2 debt buildup, which was recorded in 2011. And it is nearly 200% higher than the increase witnessed in Q2 2009, when the country’s economy was just emerging from the Great Recession.

The year started off strong, with consumers actually paying down their credit card debt in a big way in the first quarter of 2014.

But this all quickly changed. “For the first time in the past six years, consumers reversed almost the entirety of their standard first quarter paydown during the second quarter of the year,” the study found.



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http://www.housingwire.com/articles/31334-report-credit-card-debt-nearing-tipping-point

A Walnut Wall of Storage Opens Up a Kitchen | North Salem Real Estate

Traditional kitchens reign supreme in this particular suburb of Philadelphia. And that’s exactly what this family of four didn’t want. So finding a local designer to do something different proved challenging. “They didn’t get what we were looking for,” says one of the homeowners. “We wanted someone who could think outside the box a little bit.”

They wanted something, well, the opposite of traditional. They wanted “all the cliché things, like clean lines, an open floor plan, all white, no upper cabinets,” the homeowner says. So they searched for home professionals on Houzz and came across general contractor Brian Osborne. “He just got us,” the homeowner says. Osborne and his team of designers and fabricators helped modernize the space by integrating a 30-foot black walnut wall of storage that took all the pressure off the cooking stations and hangout areas to create an incredibly spacious and airy kitchen.

Osborne Construction

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A structural wall that housed the air conditioner return originally broke up the kitchen where the island is now. Osborne removed it and put in a beam, then moved the HVAC behind the wall of black walnut cabinetry.

The cabinet wall, a collaboration between Osborne, the homeowners, C2 Architecture, Loubier Design and Kole Made, is 30 feet long and 8 feet tall. “It’s like a furniture pantry,” Osborne says. “There’s endless real estate to store things.” The wall helps keep the rest of the space open and airy. There’s room for plates, serving platters, food and even a Sonos stereo system housed in a slide-out shelf. At the far end is a homework station for the kids, and at the other is a recess that creates a buffet-style table that often acts as a cocktail station.

 

 

 

 

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http://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/31491768?utm_source=Houzz&utm_campaign=u643&utm_medium=email&utm_content=gallery5

 

Housing Price Gains Hit The Brakes In June, S&P/Case-Shiller Says | #SouthSalem NY Real Estate

In another indicator that the double-digit housing price gains of 2013 appear to be behind us, price increases continued to slow in June, S&P/Case-Shiller home price data released Tuesday shows.
The National Home Price Index gained just 6.2% in the 12 months ending June 2014, while the 10-City and 20-City Composites gained 8.1%. That’s a dramatic shift from the double-digit, year-over-year price increases that had become the norm in the second half of 2013 and the first part of this year. All three indices saw their rates slow significantly from last month, when the year-over-year price changes for 10-City Composite stood at 9.4%, the 20-City at 9.3%, and the National Index at 7.1%.

“Home price gains continue to ease as they have since last fall,” says David M. Blitzer, Chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices. “For the first time since February 2008, all cities showed lower annual rates than the previous month. Other housing indicators – starts, existing home sales and builders’ sentiment – are positive. Taken together, these point to a more normal housing sector.”

To be clear, home prices are not dropping, simply rising at a slower rate. Economists like to look at year-over-year data for a better picture of the overall market trend than month-to-month data. The S&P/Case-Shiller Indices measure home prices across the nation as well as in 10 and 20 specific cities. While all cities saw home prices increases in June, every city the indices track recorded slower year-over-year price increases than in the prior month.



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http://www.forbes.com/sites/erincarlyle/2014/08/26/housing-price-gains-hit-the-brakes-in-june-spcase-shiller-says/

When the next housing bust hits, blame the bankers | Cross River Real Estate

The U.S. economic recovery is being endangered by a slowing housing market, as prospective homeowners with lower incomes and credit scores are finding it nearly impossible to get a mortgage.

Six years after the collapse of home prices, the mortgage-lending industry is going through an upheaval. Wells Fargo & Co. WFC, -0.04%  has the largest share of the mortgage market, but CEO John Stumpf in an interview with the Financial Times last week said his company would be unwilling to lend to lower-income borrowers and those with relatively low credit scores. That is, unless regulators made it more difficult for investors to force banks to repurchase securitized loans.

“If you guys want to stick with this program of ‘putting back’ any time, any way, whatever, that’s fine, we’re just not going to make those loans and there’s going to be a whole bunch of Americans that are underserved in the mortgage market,” Stumpf said.

He was referring to loan-repurchase demands by Fannie Mae FNMA, +0.85%Freddie Mac FMCC, -0.28%  and private investors.

J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. JPM, +0.17%  CEO James Dimon, during a July conference call, said the bank’s volume of loans insured by the Federal Housing Administration was “way down,” and that the bank had “lost a tremendous sum of money on the FHA,” which had disputed roughly a third of all insurance claims.

“We want to help the consumers there, but we can’t do it at great risk to J.P. Morgan, so until they come up with some kind of safe harbors or something, we’re going to be very, very cautious in that line of business,” Dimon said.

Even Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen said in June: “It is difficult for any homeowner who doesn’t have pristine credit these days to get a mortgage,” which was one of the causes of the limp housing recovery.

The pace of home-price increases has slowed for the first time since 2008, according to the latest data from Case-Shiller released last week.

Hovnanian Enterprises Inc. HOV, +1.06% which builds homes in planned communities, said today that for its fiscal third quarter ended July 31, net contracts for new homes declined 6.3% from a year earlier, and its cancellation rate increased to 22% from 18%. CEO Ara Hovnanian said “the housing industry remains in the early stages of a recovery,” which is a remarkable statement, considering how many years have passed since the financial crisis.

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http://www.marketwatch.com/story/when-the-next-housing-bust-hits-blame-the-bankers-2014-09-04?link=kiosk

2014's Greenest Cities and States | Chappaqua NY Real Estate

The 2014 U.S. Clean Tech Leadership Index from research firm Clean Edge tracks clean tech progress by state, and in the 50 largest metro areas.

STATE INDEXThe report's state index identifies the top markets and states for clean tech by comparing 70+ indicators in three main categories: Technology, Policy, and Capital.
Clean-energy generation, energy storage installations, green building deployment, energy efficiency expenditures, VC investments, and clean-energy patents data are among the many metrics identified in each state to create the conclusive ranking.



Hovering over the interactive map above displays the Clean Tech Index score for every state, but here's a cheat sheet for the top 10:

1. California: 93.7
2. Massachusetts: 79.4
3. Oregon: 67.0
4. Colorado: 66.8
5. New York: 64.8
6. New Mexico: 61.9
7. Washington: 61.6
8. Illinois: 61.5
9. Vermont: 58.6
10. Connecticut: 57.3
 

CITY INDEX


To determine the top cities, Clean Edge tracks 20 indicators within the categories of: Green Buildings, Advanced Transportation, Clean Electricity & Carbon Management, and Clean Tech Investment & Innovation in the 50 largest U.S. metros.

Each circle in the interactive represents the Clean Tech Index score for a city, but here's your cheat sheet for the top metros (five of the top 10 are located in California):

1. San Francisco, California: 94.4
2. San Jose, California: 79.7
3. San Diego, California: 66.3
4. Portland, Oregon: 62.9
5. Sacramento, California: 61.0
6. Boston, Massachusetts: 56.2
7. Los Angeles, California: 56.0
8. Washington, D.C.: 53.6
9. Austin, Texas: 51.3
10. Denver, Colorado: 49.7





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http://www.ecobuildingpulse.com/business/2014s-greenest-cities-and-states_o.aspx?day=2014-08-12&utm_source=newsletter&utm_content=jump&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=EBP_090214&day=2014-09-02