Daily Archives: October 2, 2013

$30 Million Home Is The Bedford Daily Voice’s House Of The Week | Bedford Hills Real Estate

Photo Credit: Douglas Elliman Real Estate

 

BEDFORD, N.Y. – A six-bedroom home at 55 Springhurst Road listed at $30 million is the Daily Voice’s Bedford house of the week.

Check out the details of this home listing:

  • 8,395 square feet
  • six bedrooms
  • nine full bathrooms
  • two partial bathrooms
  • built on 21.70 acres
  • a lake stocked with Koi
  • gym, pool
  • tennis/paddle court with stone pavilion.
  • specimen trees and perennial gardens.

See Douglas Elliman Real Estate for the complete listing.

 

http://bedford.dailyvoice.com/real-estate/30-million-home-bedford-daily-voice-s-house-week

 

Study Finds Bedford’s 500-Year-Old Oak Tree In Good Health | Bedford NY Homes

A high-tech study conducted on Bedford’s most famous tree, a 500-year-old white oak at the intersection of Route 22 and The Hook Road, has found it to be in “overall good health” and should live for many more years to come with proper care.

After a limb recently fell off, SavATree took an in-depth look into the tree using visual observation and radar to assess its health.

The scan inspected a 27-inch section of limb that had previously been cut and stands 20-feet above the ground. Radar was also used to explore the trunk and the roots at different points.

The scan found very early stages of saprot in both the branch and a part of the tree, but the study says there is “no cause for alarm.”

“There is no treatment or cure to stop decay in the tree, but optimizing tree health can delay the process and maximize tree longevity,” according to the study.

The study recommends trimming the “crown” area of the branches by 10-percent this winter and another 10-percent over the following three years depending on the tree’s response. This is expected to help bring the weight of the branches closer to the trunk, lowering the chance of a branch breaking off and falling.

It also recommends to include ArborBalance in the tree’s regimen, replace the current turf near the roots with composited mulch and place benches and paths outside of the zone where visitors could potentially get hit by a falling branch.

It is estimated to cost the town $5,650 over the next three years to maintain the tree.

The oak is more than 30 feet thick at its biggest girth and its branches spread more than 120 feet from tip to tip.

The land the oak sits on has been owned by the town since 1977.

See the full SavATree study here.

 

 

 

http://mtkisco.dailyvoice.com/lifestyle/study-finds-bedfords-500-year-old-oak-tree-good-health

Gorgeous Sagaponack Six-Bedroom is Yours for $10.95M | Waccabuc Real Estate

This house really is beautiful. We love all the white, which contrasts beautifully with the piano-finish floors (hopefully the new owners will have staff with Swiffers on standby). The kitchen and bathrooms are faultless, the pool and landscaping are perfection. There’s 1.6 acres in a great location, and six bedrooms and 7.5 baths inside. As for the artwork, we’re on record in favor of Damien Hirst dot paintings, but the Beatles? Unless you were actually in the Beatles (and that guy lives in Amagansett, not Sagaponack), come on. Also, photographers gotta be more careful with the wide-angle lenses. Yes, they can make the rooms look bigger, but they can also give a funhouse-mirror effect that’s offputting. Again, minor complaints in a stunning house. · Sagaponack Sanctuary With Style [Saunders]

Fed holding off on taper | Katonah Real Estate

Citing rising mortgage rates and an unstable economy, the Federal Reserve said that it’s holding off on its decision to pull back on its bond-buying activity.

“Household spending and business fixed investment advanced, and the housing sector has been strengthening, but mortgage rates have risen further and fiscal policy is restraining economic growth,” the Fed said in a statement.

Many, including Inman News columnist Lou Barnes, had expected that the Fed would begin tapering today. U.S. and global bond markets have been highly reactive to the Fed’s taper talk.

“This is incredibly wimpy,” David Kelly, chief market strategist at Morgan Stanley, told CNBC.

Source: CNBC and Federal Reserve

 

 

 

– See more at: http://www.inman.com/wire/fed-holding-off-on-taper/#sthash.pOY0uRAz.dpuf

Tag Sales In And Around Armonk | Armonk Homes

Several tag sales are taking place in Northern Westchester County this weekend:

A resident of Bedford is hosting a moving sale between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

A tag sale will be held at 720 North Bedford Rd. in Mount Kisco between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. from Tuesday to Saturday and between 12.00 p.m. and 5.00 p.m. on Sunday.

A resident of Cortlandt Manor is hosting a moving sale by appointment.

35 North Riverside Ave. in Croton is hosting a tag sale between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. on Saturday.

30 Pine Hill Dr. in South Salem is hosting a tag sale between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.

24 Mead St. in Waccabuc is hosting a moving sale between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

A resident of Mount Kisco is hosting a tag sale of warm mist humidifier by appointment.

165 Bradhurst Ave. in Hawthorne is hosting a tag sale between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. on Saturday.

548 Sherman Ave. in Thornwood is hosting a garage sale between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. on Saturday.

Grandview Lane in Thornwood is hosting a moving sale between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Sunday.

15 Rockhagen Rd. in Thornwood is hosting a tag sale between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. on Saturday.

A resident of North Salem is hosting a moving sale by appointment.

Reis Park on Route 139 in Somers is hosting a tag sale between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. on Saturday.

A resident of Peekskill is hosting a tag sale by appointment.

A resident of Pound Ridge is hosting a moving sale by appointment.

Veterans Road in Yorktown Heights is hosting a tag sale between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. on Sunday.

225 Chadeayne Rd. in Yorktown is hosting a moving sale on by appointment.

1663 Hanover St. in Yorktown Heights is hosting a tag sale between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. on Saturday.

19 Central Way in Somers is hosting a tag sale by appointment.

Catasauqua Road in Buchanan is hosting a garage sale between 8 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Saturday.

Passyunk Avenue on Montrose Street is hosting a yard sale between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Saturday.

43 Wilton Rd. in Pleasantville is hosting a huge tag sale between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. from Friday to Sunday.

9 Vista Court in Pleasantville is hosting a moving sale between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. on Saturday.

 

 

 

http://armonk.dailyvoice.com/neighbors/tag-sales-set-northern-westchester

Younger Buyers Dominate Luxury Market | Bedford Real Estate

A new survey by Coldwell Banker Previews International® and the Luxury Institute finds that wealthy younger buyers are driving the luxury real estate market, and they are willing to pay more than similar wealthy buyers age 55 and older.

According to the survey of Americans age 21 or older with a minimum gross annual household income of $250,000, 43 percent of younger wealthy consumers are considering the purchase of residential property in the next 12 months, compared to 21 percent of those age 55 and older. On average these younger wealthy consumers spent more than $2.1 million on their most recent purchase of residential property, approximately twice the average amount spent by older and similarly wealthy luxury buyers, which was $1.1 million.

“This trend towards younger luxury buyers is leading a change in desired home amenities,” said Betty Graham, president, Coldwell Banker Previews International NRT. “Whether these younger buyers have young families or are single without children, they are looking for homes that fit their active and unique lifestyle.”

So what are they buying? The survey found:

  • Younger buyers are significantly more likely than wealthy buyers age 55 and older to want homes with amenities such as a pool, outdoor kitchen, home gym, home theater, wine cellar and four or more garages.
  • Wealthy consumers under age 55 are more than twice as likely (23 percent) to value Green or LEED certified residential properties than their older counterparts (11 percent).
  • Open floor plans and a fully automated and “wired” home environment are the top features wealthy consumers, regardless of age, say have become important to them in the last three years. Less importance is placed on staff quarters, tennis/sports courts and separate catering kitchens.
  • “Luxury homes are for more than successful and retired empty nesters,” said Milton Pedraza, CEO of the Luxury Institute. “Today’s luxury buyer is both dynamic and diverse, and it’s reflected in the homes and products they’re buying.”

For majority of luxury buyers, location is the most important factor when considering the purchase of residential property.  Seventy (70) percent of wealthy consumers identified location as the most important factor in their last residential purchase. Other elements included the condition of the property — brand new with no work required, as opposed to needing major renovations (10 percent), price (8 percent), home amenities (6 percent) and view (6 percent). The most commonly cited reason for wealthy consumers not considering the purchase of a residential property was the desire to keep assets liquid (24 percent).

 

 

 

Here Now, a Look at ‘Outlandish Homes on Impossible Sites’ | Pound Ridge Real Estate

While Brooklyn-based painter Dean Monogenis is obsessed with architecture—an interest that began after 9/11, when he “realized that [buildings] were like people in that they could live and die,” he recently told Wired—he has zero interest in actually learning the technical aspects of design. He much prefers to keep his work in that middle-gray area between the surreal and real, where the ultra-modern homes he paints look somewhat possible at first, yet perhaps less so as one looks a little closer. “In a painting you can completely ignore things like gravity and engineering,” he says. “As a painter I am free to make a building as plausible or implausible as I like.”

Gizmodo sums up Monogenis’ scenes, which often feature scaffolding, cranes, and other construction elements, as “outlandish homes on impossible sites,” adding, “it’s as if the entire series is based on an architect’s renderings for a massive speculative development planned for a growing population, unearthed long after that civilization had vanished.”

ku-xlarge-6.jpgPainting by Dean Monogenis via Wired

Head to Wired for more of Monogenis’ work. For other eye-popping examples of architectural paintings, see: Paul Davies’ Pop Art-esque midcentury houses, Sunga Park’s dream-like watercolors of European buildings.

· Gorgeous Architectural Paintings From a World Without Gravity [Wired Design via Gizmodo] · All Artistry coverage [Curbed National]

Westchester Opens Commuter Parking Lots For New Haven Line Riders | Bedford Corners Real Estate

Four temporary parking areas will be set up to provide people who normally ride Metro-North’s New Haven Line access to trains on the Harlem Line and to the subway, Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino announced Sunday.

Service on the New Haven Line in Fairfield County has been substantially reduced due to a power outage that arose Wednesday. Repairs are currently underway by Con Edison.

Connecticut riders looking for an alternate route to New York City can try out the four park-and-ride lots. The lots are free and offer a total of 8,600 additional parking spaces along with access to trains and the subway. Here are the locations:

  • The garage at 8 E. 153rd St. near Yankee Stadium will have 1,500 parking space and allow walking access to Yankees-East 153rd Street Station on the Hudson Line Service.
  • Orchard Beach at Pelham Bridge Road/Shore Road and Orchard Beach Road will offer 5,000 parking spaces and a free shuttle to Pelham Bay Park’s #6 Subway.
  • Rye Playland will offer 1,500 parking spots and a bus to the White Plains Station on the Harlem Line. The free bus trip is about 10 miles.
  • Kensico Dam at Park Drive West in Valhalla  will offer 600 parking places and a bus to the North White Plains Station for Harlem Line Service. The bus trip is about a mile.

The parking areas will be open at 4:30 a.m. daily and shuttle buses will start running at 5 a.m. Shuttle bus service will continue throughout the day, the county said. The focus will be on the morning and evening commute, and the schedule will be assessed daily, Astorino said.

“The disruption of service on the New Haven line has caused tremendous inconvenience to thousands of commuters,” Astorino said. “Westchester County government immediately reached out to Metro-North to offer our assistance in making additional parking, buses and other resources available to help get New Haven line commuters to work as quickly and easily as possible.”

The parking lot at Playland, where the amusement park has closed for the season, has spaces for 1,500 cars.  At Kensico Dam Park, parking can be established for up to 600 cars by using the grass field.

The county will be reimbursed by Metro-North for its costs, Astorino said.

The Real Douglas Elliman’s Townhouse on the Market for $18M | Chappaqua Real Estate

Douglas Elliman, who founded the eponymous brokerage in 1911, is sometimes credited with being the man who made uptown chic. So it stands to reason that he got in on the ground floor, commissioning a six-story Neo-Federal red brick townhouse from architect S.E. Gage in 1909. It also stands to reason that that townhouse has proved to be quite the solid real estate investment, selling—most recently—for $5 million in 1999 and $9.5 million in 2006. Now, 177 East 71st Street finds itself back on the market again, asking $18.25 million. The brokerage handling the sale is, of course … Brown Harris Stevens? Ouch. (Sotheby’s had the listing last time around.)

How Much Does it Cost to Install Windows? | Armonk Real Estate

Windows can bring light and warmth, provide views, beautify inside and out and add tremendous value to your home. They also can let in the elements and intruders that put your home at risk. That’s why windows – quality windows – must be considered an important investment. The cost of windows will depend on the type, dimensions, materials used, security features, the complexity of the installation, and, of course, the number of windows needed.
Number of Windows

Generally, the more windows you need to install, the more expensive the installation price. But installation professionals will charge less per window if you install several at the same time. So if you’re thinking about only replacing a couple of windows, it might make sense for you to talk to your pro about the cost of installing multiple windows at one time. It may save you money in the long run.  Continue Reading

Window Sizes

Windows tend toward different dimensions depending on where they’re needed. Living rooms typically have larger picture windows hung in multiples ranging from 3×4′ to 6×6′. Standard bathroom windows are quite a bit smaller, ranging from 2×1.5′ to 2×3′. Major window manufacturers can customize windows to any dimensions, but be aware that you may pay more for odd sizes.

Window Sash Materials

Vinyl windows are inexpensive and require little or no maintenance. They’re also extremely durable; changes in humidity don’t cause them to swell or shrink. Most vinyl window manufacturers stand behind their products with strong warranties. Their greatest drawback is that they’re not as sturdy or attractive as wood. Wood frames, on the other hand, cost more and require much more maintenance. Fail to repaint and finish wooden window frames and they become susceptible to the elements. But all that work and money can be worth it for the classic, authentic architectural appeal of wood. That’s why some historical neighborhoods have covenants requiring that windows be framed with wood. New composite windows attempt to capture the best of both worlds by mixing PVC polymers with wood fiber to create a stronger, more attractive synthetic window frame.

Window Panes

New windows can save you considerable money on your utility bills and make your home more comfortable. Windows are rated by the U-factor. The lower the U-factor, the more energy efficient and higher the initial cost. You’ll pay more for double-pane windows, but they will pay for themselves over time. Experts say double-pane windows can save up to 24 percent in cold climates during the winter and up to 18 percent in hot climates during the summer. More about double-pane options.

Other Window Cost Factors

Replacing existing windows is, of course, usually cheaper than cutting walls for new ones. You might consider talking to both your contractor and a security firm about how to make your windows safe from burglars. Also, be aware that windows above the first floor may be more expensive to install because of access issues.