Strong Winds In Fairfield County Could Hinder Stamford’s Balloon Parade | The Greenwich Daily Voice.
Strong Winds In Fairfield County Could Hinder Stamford’s Balloon Parade | Pound Ridge Realtor
Leave a reply
Tag Archives: Pound Ridge
New Building Codes Passed After Lessons From Hurricane Sandy | Pound Ridge Real Estate
Acting on the recommendations of a task force convened after Hurricane Sandy, the City Council on Thursday approved new requirements that were expected to make buildings more sustaining during emergencies and prevent some of the hardships that New Yorkers endured after the storm last year.
One change requires residential buildings five stories or higher to add faucets in common areas like laundry rooms so that residents on higher floors have some access to water for drinking, flushing toilets and other uses. Upper floors lose water when electric pumps stop working during blackouts, a problem that worsened conditions and forced many people out of their buildings after the hurricane.
The requirement applies immediately to new residential construction, while existing buildings have eight years to add the fixtures.
“It will make it much more possible to stay in a large building for an extended period without power,” said Russell Unger, chairman of the task force of more than 200 building experts, property owners and city officials that proposed the changes.
Another piece of legislation requires new and existing hospitals and nursing homes in flood zones to install hookups that would enable quick connection to temporary generators and boilers so that such facilities can maintain electricity and heating when the power is out. The law requiring the hookups is effective immediately for new buildings, but gives existing buildings 20 years to comply.
Another new law makes it easier to install backup generators and generators that run on natural gas, which is considered a cleaner and more reliable source of power than diesel fuel. And a fourth law allows temporary flood barriers on sidewalks.
Despite the costs to comply with the new requirements — a 20-story co-op could spend $16,000 for the required one-common-area faucet per 100 residents — property owners have been generally supportive because of the losses suffered during the storm.
“It’d help get buildings up and running faster,” Angela Pinsky, a senior vice president for the Real Estate Board of New York, said of some of the measures.
Spike Lee Wants $32M For UES Home With Celeb-Studded Past | Pound Ridge Real Estate
[Photo via Flickr/Emilio Guerra.]
Though filmmaker Spike Lee is best known for his Brooklyn presence—the house where Crooklyn was shot sold for $400,000 over ask and the Fort Greene brownstone he inhabited in the 90s sold to that controversial dung artist—he actually owns an even more significant property on the Upper East Side. He just put the 8,292-square-foot, 2BR/2BA at 153 East 63rd Street on the market for $32 million, the Post reports, which he originally bought from artist Jasper Johns in 1998 for $16,624,999. (Though the formal deed lists the transaction as being worth nothing, and the rest of public records for the plot are hazy.)
Daytonian in Manhattan has chronicled the long history of the so-called Hatch House, named for the husband of Barbara Rutherford, who married Cyril Hatch in the nineteen-teens. Rutherford’s mother bought the property (formerly two horse stables) as a wedding gift for the Hatches.
Architect Frederick Sterner, who at one point had converted or designed essentially all of 63rd Street, is behind the “three-story Spanish renaissance fancy” with “a stucco facade and red-tile roof.” Though many of the residences he worked on are no longer in their original condition, notes the Times‘ Christopher Gray, Lee’s is
http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2013/11/13/spike_lee_wants_32m_for_ues_home_with_celebstudded_past.php
Real estate industry has never been better capitalized | Pound Ridge Real Estate
In my talks I often preach that real innovation comes when we have the ingredients that got us to the moon: money, brains and passion.
In real estate today, these fundamentals are in place.
A new generation of passionate leaders is taking over — younger and better-educated agents, a new crop of innovative and fearless brokers, and a slew of startup whiz kids. A recovering housing market and successful IPOs such as Zillow and Trulia are attracting supersmart professionals who want in on the largess.
Oscar Wilde said, “When I was young I thought that money was the most important thing in life; now that I am old I know that it is.”
Indeed, capital has returned to the industry and that is a good thing. The largest real estate company, Realogy Holdings Corp. ($6.16 billion market cap), has put a big dent in its debt and gone public with a fresh dose of capital (raised $1 billion with its IPO).
Re/Max has capital to invest after raising $225 million with its successful IPO this fall. One of the richest men in the world, Warren Buffett, is doubling down on real estate services with his Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices franchise. Can Keller Williams be far behind, capitalizing its rapidly growing enterprise?
Then, there are the awe-inspiring IPOs of Zillow ($2.85 billion market cap) and Trulia ($1.25 billion market cap). These two alone have a staggering amount of capital to invest in innovation, and stock prices that are perfectly poised for a slew of acquisitions. Realtor.com operator Move Inc. ($630 million market cap) will also rely on acquisitions as part of its strategy for growth
– See more at: http://www.inman.com/2013/11/13/time-for-an-industry-moon-shot/#sthash.hGLKG0oU.dpuf
Bubble Trouble Seen Brewing in Australia Home Prices | Pound Ridge Real Estate
Pound Ridge School Hosts Science Workshop | Pound Ridge Real Estate
Pound Ridge third- graders are invited to attend a hands-on science workshop that enables students to discover magnetism at the in the Pound Ridge Elementary School Bistro on Nov. 12.
Students will have the opportunity to experience transferring magnetism through water, wood and other media. In addition, they will use electromagnets to learn about other ways to make a magnet.
There will be three 90-minute sessions, 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.; 10:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.
The school is at 7 Pound Ridge Road.
http://mtkisco.dailyvoice.com/schools/pound-ridge-school-hosts-science-workshop
R.I. mortgage delinquency and foreclosure rates take a dip | Pound Ridge Real Estate
Rhode Island’s rates of mortgage delinquency, foreclosure and new foreclosure starts all fell less than 1 percent in the third quarter of 2013, compared with the second quarter, according to statistics released Thursday by the Mortgage Bankers Association.
Still, more than 1 in 10 mortgages in Rhode Island are either in foreclosure or behind in payments, well above historical norms.
Nationally, Rhode Island ranked 13th in delinquencies and 9th in new foreclosures started during the third quarter. The numbers come from the association’s quarterly National Delinquency Survey.
Rhode Island’s delinquency rate was 7.84 percent of mortgage loans, compared with a national rate of 6.67 percent for one-to-four-unit residential properties.
The delinquency rate includes loans that are at least 30 days past due, but it does not include loans in foreclosure. Rhode Island’s foreclosure rate in the third quarter was 3.25 percent, compared with a national rate of 3.08 percent.
For new foreclosures started during the quarter, Rhode Island’s rate was 0.75 percent, while nationally, that rate was 0.61 percent.
Jay Brinkmann, the chief economist for the bankers’ group, said the continuing high foreclosure rate is due to “underlying economic factors impacting the housing markets,” though “we’re also working through the problems of the past,” referring to the many unsustainable loans that led to massive numbers of foreclosures and the banking crisis of 2008.
http://www.providencejournal.com/breaking-news/content/20131107
10 amazing healing plants you can find in your garden | Pound Ridge Homes
Sunflower
As the Massachusetts Medical Society Gardens notes, “a tea made from the leaves is an astringent, a diuretic, an expectorant and an agent to reduce fever.” Because of these properties, sunflowers have been used to treat all sorts of colds and coughs. It can also extract toxic ingredients from the soil and was used by the Russian government to help clean up after the Chernobyl disaster.
How does Google’s Hummingbird Update Impact Social Media Marketers? | Pound Ridge Realtor
Google recently launched a new algorithm, code-named Hummingbird, that was designed to answer more complex queries and present more in-depth knowledge to users. Launched over a month ago, Google’s Hummingbird is its largest algorithm overhaul in 10 years.
At a press conference announcing the change, Google explained that the new algorithm is smarter, able to understand complex queries and return more relevant answers. They are preparing for a future of phone concierges, where you ask your phone for information and it talks back to you, understanding the meaning behind your questions and giving you semantically relevant answers.
According to the NY Times:
“The company made the changes because Google users are asking increasingly long and complex questions and are searching Google more often on mobile phones with voice search.”
So how does Google’s Hummingbird update impact social media marketers?
What can you do to make sure your blog’s visibility improves in the wake of Hummingbird?
#1. Improve your mobile’s web search experience
On InsideSearch, Amit Singhal, Google’s chief technologist, explained:
“The world has changed so much: billions of people have come online, the Web has grown exponentially, and now you can ask any question on the powerful little device in your pocket.”
Obviously mobile is a major focus for Google, and Hummingbird presents a way for Google to serve better results for mobile users. Given the massive amounts of data Google has at their fingertips, they can anticipate trends better than any other company…and if they are focusing on mobile and overhauling their entire algorithm to serve better mobile results, then this is something social media marketers must pay attention to. Just this week, Google changed their User Interface for tablet and mobile users.
What can you do to get your website mobile ready?
- Make your website responsive
- Optimize your site for speed
- Fix faulty redirects and smartphone only errors
Do you need more information? Check out Google’s extensive guide on how to build Mobile-Optimized Websites.
#2. Connect your blog to your Google+ profile using Authorship
Authorship is a way of identifying categorical influencers and featuring their content in Google.
According to Google:
“Using authorship helps searchers discover great information by highlighting content from authors who they might find interesting. If you’re an author, signing up for authorship will help users recognize content that you’ve written. Additionally, searchers can click the byline to see more articles you’ve authored or to follow you on Google+”.
It’s that simple!
$65M In Housing Aid Brings Sandy Recovery Funds In Connecticut To $500M | Pound Ridge Real Estate
Connecticut will receive an additional $65 million from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to bolster its Superstorm Sandy recovery efforts, bringing the total aid from the federal government over the last year to an unprecedented $500 million.
The aid was announced by Gov. Dannel Malloy in a statement Monday, the eve of the first anniversary of the hurricane. The $500 million will support recovery and relief efforts for residents, local education systems, small businesses, nonprofits and municipalities.
“Families across the state are still coping with the devastation caused by Superstorm Sandy last year,” said U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn. “With the winter months again approaching, we need to ensure these families have the tools they need to fully recover and prepare for future severe weather.”
HUD had previously provided $71.82 million to help residents, businesses and communities recover and rebuild after the storm. The first allocation of funding was made based on unmet needs and applications for individual assistance from FEMA; this new funding allocation was distributed based on a formula driven by federal data and statistics detailing unmet need and public assistance, including damage to transportation infrastructure, in Sandy-affected states.
The state Department of Housing will develop an action plan to disburse the new funding, which will require approval from both the state legislature and HUD.
“One year later, it’s clear these communities continue to be challenged by the sheer scale of this devastating storm, requiring further investment to make certain these needs are met,” HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan said. “These resources are making a difference helping individuals, families, and businesses to get back on their feet and come back stronger and more resilient than ever.”
Projects in Fairfield, New London, New Haven, and Middlesex counties and the Mashantucket Pequot tribal area are eligible for assistance. Eligible expenses are those not covered by insurance, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or any other sources of funding. Specific work that is eligible includes:
- Structural repair or replacement of damaged property;
- Mitigation assistance to elevate homes and/or reduce the damage from future disasters; and
- Rehabilitation, modification and/or improvements to infrastructure and public facilities to address damage from the storm and to reduce the damage from future disasters.
“We continue to plan—and meet—aggressive timetables in order get these funds out to homeowners and businesses as fast as possible,” said Evonne Klein, housing commissioner. “We continue to accept applications and encourage those impacted by the storm to visit one of our intake centers or visit the Web site to learn about the many ways we can help.”
U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said: “I commend the efforts over the past year to restore and repair our shoreline communities, but much work remains to ensure homeowners, businesses and municipalities have the resources they need to fully recover from the devastation of Superstorm Sandy.
“As storms like Sandy become the new normal, it is vital that we continue to invest in mitigation efforts to reduce future damages, emergency costs, injuries and hardships. Further, we must work to improve our systems and processes so that those in need receive the assistance they need when they need it most.”
The state recently opened four intake centers in East Haven, Fairfield, Milford and Norwalk to provide one-on-one assistance to homeowners. (Read more about the centers here.) The state’s official CT Recovers website provides information on assistance available to homeowners and businesses impacted by Superstorm Sandy from all state agencies.