Daily Archives: December 24, 2013

Couple has been living under a rock, literally | Armonk NY Homes

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For many people, the idea of living under a rock might seem like the punchline of a joke. But for one Mexican couple, a hut wedged below a 130-foot boulder in Coahuila, Mexico, has been home for the past 30 years.

A reporter recently visited the couple, Benito Hernandez and Santa Martha de la Cruz Villarreal, in their primitive desert home 50 miles south of Texas. Hernandez is a farmer who plants and collects the Candelilla plant used in making Candelilla wax.

He first saw this boulder 55 years ago, when he was 8, and decided to make it a home one day. Twenty years later he was able to secure rights to the land.

“I started coming here when I was 8 years old to visit the Candelilla (harvesting) fields, and I liked it here. I liked it and then I continued visiting every three to four months. I wasn’t married and I didn’t have a family yet, but I liked it and I had to keep coming to put my foot in (on the property) because lands here are won through claiming them,” Hernandez told Reuters.

The home, made of sun-dried bricks and cement, has a dirt floor, a wood stove, and no plumbing. Electrical service is said to be unreliable. A nearby stream supplies fresh drinking water. In winter, though, the water source freezes over.

“It gets very cold here and we struggle to get food. We have to work hard here on the Candelilla (fields). That’s the only job we have. That’s what we live from,” said Hernandez.

The couple have seven children, six of whom are married and live nearby.

 

 

 

http://homes.yahoo.com/blogs/spaces/couple-living-under-rock-quite-literally-230218154.html

Come Have a Good Look at 2013’s Best Designer Dwellings | Chappaqua NY Real Estate

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1item1.rendition.slideshowWideVertical.timothy-corrigan-02-grand-salon-chateau-du-grand-luce.jpgPhoto by Eric Piasecki/Architectural Digest

This year shelter magazines tilled their terrain with many many a designer home—and why wouldn’t they? Parading the over-the-top digs of aesthetes whose entire lives drip with the glamour and point of view that made them gazillionaires is fascinating. More to the point, as much as any human’s habitat reflects his or her personal style, designers use their home to cloy the senses with their signature ballsiness—be it Ralph Lauren’s red, white, and blue tartan, Jonathan Adler’s pillows embroidered with with 1960s bouffant hairdos, or Orla Kiely’s groovy, ’70s inspired prints. These highlights (and so much more) below.

Photos by Roger Davies/Architectural Digest↑ Waldo Fernandez in Beverly Hills. Fernandez, a prolific Cuban-born interior designer, not only boasts Elizabeth Taylor, Jennifer Aniston, Sean Connery, and the Pitt-Jolie clan as clients, but also a SoCal a midcentury spread lacquered to a high shine and laced with contemporary art. After replacing the pool and adding a second-story bedroom suite, Fernandez called upon what Arch Digest calls his “perfectionist disposition” for the interiors, bringing in wenge-wood flooring, large doors “finished in exactly 17 coats of deep brown–black lacquer,” and a collection of carefully curated art and furniture. “I’m obsessed with keeping the house fresh,” he told AD. [link]

Photos by William Waldron/Architectural Digest↑ Jamie Drake in NYC. After spending years waiting for his two-bedroom unit in NYC’s Annabelle Selldorf-designed 200 Eleventh Avenue condo building to be finished—”it taunts me,” he said about the work-in-process in ’09—Drake, a big-name famed for his use of high-octane color, finally settled into his 3,000-square-foot apartment last year. Unsurprisingly, he took little time to swath it in the go-to garb—punches of bright hues, assertive art—that’s ensnared clients like Madonna and (outgoing) New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. The home is also stuffed with pieces Drake designed, including the living room’s marble-and-granite table and his bed and headboard. [link]

↑ Howard Slatkin in NYC. In October, interior designer Howard Slatkin, who’s made a living off a layered more-is-more approach to florals, chintz, gilding, tassels, and chair skirts, released a monster tome all about a single 6,000-square-foot New York City apartment: his. Frustrated by the penchant of shelter magazines to breeze over the private, and possibly the most interesting, areas of a home—the pantries, the linen closets, the crowded, computer-topped desks—Slatkin opened up every cranny of his pad: the elevator vestibule, the back hall, the laundry area, and, duh, the “flower room” and “candle room.” For any other apartment, an editorial dive this deep would be silly, but for an apartment overflowing with ivory objets, curtains made of “17th-century Portuguese polychrome embroidered bedcovers,” French Chantilly plates, and—oh my—mahogany doors “embellished with Japanese lacquer panels inset in gild-wood frames, which are bordered with patinated mirrors,” 240 pages is really the only way to go. [link]

Move-in-ready homes are hot | Bedford Corners NY Real Estate

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Luxury buyers are gravitating toward homes fully stocked with furniture, knickknacks and elaborate decor, the Los Angeles Times reports. In some cases, they are drawn by the allure of inheriting a lifestyle — sometimes bequeathed by celebrities. In others, their busy schedules make homes that do not initially require significant time and energy preferable.

 

 

Source: Los Angeles Times – See more at: http://www.inman.com/wire/move-in-ready-homes-are-hot/?utm_source=20131223&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=dailyheadlinespm#sthash.jweuxyBW.dpuf

Mapping the 20 Most Expensive Sales of 2013 | Pound Ridge NY Real Estate

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2013biggestsales.jpg

While 2013 was undoubtedly a huge year for New York City real estate, with prices climbing rapidly, luxury towers springing out of the ground, and a plethora of blockbuster deals, that’s not necessarily indicated in this map of the Biggest Sales of the Year. That’s mainly because, despite the excess of record-breaking megadeals, at One57, 432 Park Avenue, Walker Tower, 10 Madison Square West, etc. almost none of them have actually closed yet. All that means, though, is that next year’s map is going to be crazy, so let’s all agree to meet back here in one year’s time and if we’re all still single, get married look at a map of hugely expensive apartments.

And don’t worry, because there were still a whole bunch of fancy, pricey apartments that were sold this year, from Rosario Candela-designed apartments on Central Park, to West Village townhouses, to other Rosario Candela-designed apartments on Central Park.

 

 

http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2013/12/23/mapping_the_20_most_expensive_sales_of_2013.php

As governor, Donald Trump would overhaul Tappan Zee bridge for “peanuts” | Bedford NY Real Estate

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The Donald says he would easily trounce Republican gubernatorial frontrunner Rob Astorino should he decide to run in 2014 thanks to his plentiful personal coffers and a much cheaper proposal for overhauling the Tappan Zee bridge.

Dubbing Astorino a “big, big long shot,” Donald Trump told WGDJ’s Fred Dicker in a radio interview that the establishment favorite would have to raise “$30 million at least” to finance a successful bid for the top job in Albany, according to Capital New York.

“I think I’d win if I decide to do it, because I wouldn’t have to raise money,” Trump said in the interview.

He also offered up an alternative to a current plan to replace the Tappan Zee bridge that would cost as much as $10 billion and necessitate a $25-per-car toll. Without specifying how he arrived at those numbers, Trump said that he could renovate the existing structure for “peanuts” in comparison to the state’s current replacement plan.

“The bridge is a totally fine structure, but it needs renewal, and the renewal can be done for a tiny fraction of the, in my opinion, $10 billion,” he said in the radio interview. “You get the right engineers — I mean the right people — not the egg heads that sit on their Park Avenue stools and they just design away because they’re going to make about ten times or a hundred times more in fees by designing a new bridge.”

The Thruway Authority, which holds the bridge construction contract, did not immediately comment to Capital New York on Trump’s statements, nor did Governor Cuomo’s office. [Capital New York]

 

 

http://therealdeal.com/blog/2013/12/23/as-governor-donald-trump-would-overhaul-tappan-zee-bridge-for-peanuts/

 

Priciest home sales in 2013 eclipsed by the previous year | Bedford Hills NY Homes

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When it comes to the priciest residential sales of the year, it seems that 2013 isn’t quite up to snuff, at least compared to 2012.

For example, the city’s top townhouse sale this past year, a $34.35 million deal at 21 Beekman Place, was lower than the $42 million sale of 973 Fifth Avenue — the priciest townhouse to sell 2012. The trade of a unit at 720 Park Avenue snagged the most expensive co-op sale for this year, but its $24 million price tag fell flat after the record-setting $54 million sale of Denise Rich’s 785 Fifth Avenue co-op in 2012. Indeed, none of the residential sales came close to the $88 million deal for Sandy Weill’s 15 Central Park West penthouse the year before, the New York Observer reported.

Of course, the Observer’s ranking did not take into account contracts signed at numerous swanky condo properties, including the two apartments that went for more than $90 million at Extell Development’s One57, nor the deals signed at 56 Leonard and Walker Tower for $47 million and more than $50 million, respectively.

The year’s priciest listings have idled, with the Pierre’s $125 million triplex penthouse at 795 Fifth Avenue and River Club’s massive $130 million planned mansion — the city’s most expensive listing — sitting on the market with, so far, no bites. [NYO]

 

 

http://therealdeal.com/blog/2013/12/23/priciest-home-sales-in-2013-eclipsed-by-the-previous-year/

New Jersey brokers accused of using client home for sex fests | Katonah NY Real Estate

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Real estate agents are supposed to give homeowners the best bang for their buck. But a Coldwell Banker duo in New Jersey is being sued by two homeowners for allegedly using their house to engage in sexual trysts.

Homeowners Richard and Sandra Weiner alleged that agents Robert Lindsay and Jeannemarie Phelan used their Wayne, N.J., home for a minimum of 10 racy meetings, according to a lawsuit filed in Passaic County court.

“The security cameras further show that at 1:02 p.m., Lindsay and Phelan entered the master bedroom, undressed and proceeded to have sex on the Weiners’ bed,” the lawsuit, seen by the Record, states. “All visits were for sexual encounters.”

The Weiners also said in the suit that Lindsay “intentionally listed the house above market value to avoid Realtor traffic in the home while he and Phelan carried on their trysts.”

They are seeking damages for invasion of privacy, emotional distress, breach of contract, trespass of land and other civil counts, according to the newspaper.

Coldwell Banker fired the two agents after learning about the allegations, an executive for the brokerage told NorthJersey.

Earlier this month, an agent at boutique Williamsburg firm Nooklyn was fired for uploading nude photos of herself to company servers. [Record] – Hiten Samtani

NYC agent count surges in 2013, especially in Brooklyn | Cross River NY Real Estate

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It’s been an active year (to say the least) for New York City real estate, so it should come as no shock that the number of real estate agents and brokers licensed in the five boroughs has increased.

The rise was concentrated in Manhattan and Brooklyn. In Manhattan, headlines about mega-luxury apartments and reality shows about high-flying brokers who sling them prompted many to get into the business, while in Kings County the continuing tide of gentrification (and its attendant rising rents) may have brought on the nearly 10 percent increase in licensed agents.

The number of licensed real estate salespeople in New York City grew by 7.2 percent, to 29,503 from 27,530 since last year at this time, data from the New York State Department of State provided to The Real Deal show.

In Manhattan alone, the number was 15,798, up 7.4 percent from 14,708 last December. In Brooklyn, the ranks of salespeople burgeoned 9.2 percent, to 5,210 from 4,772, the data show.

In the Bronx, there were 54 new agents licensed with the state this year, bringing the total in the borough to 1200; in Queens the ranks of salespeople swelled 6.3 percent – to 5,887 from 5,538. Meanwhile, on Staten Island, the 1366 agents added less than 50 new licensees to their ranks, to reach a total of 1408 salespeople in Richmond County.

The volume of licensed brokers citywide ticked up slightly as well, to 23,690 from 23,134 last year –an increase of 2.4 percent. (Agents are typically greener salespeople, while licensed brokers must have at least two years of industry experience and pass a licensing test to earn the designation.)

While the DOS figures do not distinguish residential from commercial brokers, anecdotal evidence suggests that the bulk of agents are in the residential sector. And while commercial leasing had an up and down year and may have even shed brokers, the commercial sales industry thrived, said David Behin, head of investment sales at commercial and residential brokerage MNS.

 

 

http://therealdeal.com/blog/2013/12/23/nyc-agent-count-surges-in-2013-especially-in-brooklyn/

Porsche Design Tower Selling Out Like Cheap Gasoline | South Salem NY Homes

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Screen%20Shot%202013-12-19%20at%205.19.33%20PM.png Rendering via Porsche Design’s website.

The folks at exMiami report Gil Dezer has about 80 percent of the currently under construction Porsche Design Tower’s 132 units under contract, representing $624 million dollars in sales, should all those under contract to buy actually go through with it. Prices at Stuttgart-based Porsche Design’s first condo top out at $32.5 million. Dezer says there are at least two dozen billionaires under contract for units in his unapologetically car-crazy tower. Let’s see if he can snag a few more with those remaining units. · Porsche Design Tower: 80% Of Units Now Under Contract [exMiami] · Gil Dezer’s Life In The Fast Lane [The Real Deal] · Porsche Design Tower coverage [Curbed Miami]

Evander Holyfield’s Foreclosed, 109-Room Palace | Waccabuc NY Real Estate

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Selling a home for $7.5 million usually calls for champagne — but not if you’re Evander Holyfield and you owe nearly twice that much on the property. The former heavyweight champ sold his palatial Fayette County estate with 109 rooms last year in a public auction to a bank, which his attorney softly described as “technically part of a foreclosure.” The famed 54,000 square-foot mansion sits on 235 acres, has a bowling alley and theater and costs more than $1 million annually to maintain, Holyfield once told the AJC. On his website, Holyfield boasts of making more than $230 million in the boxing ring, but child support cases in Georgia, Texas and California — in additional to the general drying up of boxing royalties — took a heavy toll. · Holyfield sells Fayette mansion for $7.5 million [AJC] · When Selling Your House for $7.5 Mil Actually Sucks [TMZ]