Daily Archives: January 3, 2014

Sandy Forced Poor to Leave Illegal Units | Waccabuc NY Homes

Superstorm Sandy has placed a spotlight on tens of thousands of basement apartments, attics and other informal living spaces which are forms of affordable housing that are often illegal but also vital in New York City.

Advocates for the poor said thousands of people were dislodged from such apartments after the 2012 storm, and many are still homeless, as their landlords have difficulty finding resources to fix illegal residences. Such units often rented for less than nearby legal units and were home to people with low incomes.

It is hard to come by hard numbers of illegal apartments in the coastal areas slammed by Sandy, neighborhoods such as Midland Beach in Staten Island and Rockaway Park in Queens. City officials say 63,000 residential units were damaged during Sandy, and advocates estimate that under counts thousands of illegal apartments.

“It’s true that a lot of the units were maybe illegal, almost definitely substandard,” said Judith Goldiner, an attorney with the Legal Aid Society. “I’m not going to tell you they were great housing, but on the other hand they were affordable housing to a lot of low-income people.”

Related
Landowners Fight Protective Dunes

Not all basement apartments are illegal. They can be legally rented in some cases if they are more than half above ground, have seven-foot or higher ceilings and comply with a host of other city regulations. Housing advocates are pushing to legalize basement apartments that meet safety standards, and Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio has said he supports bringing them into the regulated housing system. Safety concerns have slowed such efforts.

Unregulated apartments posed special problems for homeowners trying to make repairs after Sandy. Many were unable to get government funding to repair illegal basement units, or their units now sit below the floodplain and can’t be rebuilt.

Others were afraid of seeking help and getting fined when their undeclared apartments were discovered. The Department of Buildings has issued about 30,000 violations for illegal apartments since 2009, including more than 4,400 in 2012.

Some homeowners relied on the rental income to help pay their mortgages, putting them in danger of foreclosure. Of 31,700 pre-foreclosure notices filed in the city between November 2012 and November 2013 nearly 8% were in Sandy-hit areas, according to the Center for New York City Neighborhoods.

Before Sandy, Gloria Harris, a 49-year-old Health and Hospitals Corp. employee, lived on the second floor of her two-story Rockaway Peninsula home and rented the main floor for $1,100 a month. When she asked for disaster recovery money, she said the Federal Emergency Management Agency called her house a one-family home and wouldn’t pay for repairs to the second floor. She has stopped making mortgage payments but said she can’t afford to lose the house.

“Even if I sell the house and I go to rent, with the money I make I can’t afford rent in Brooklyn, or even in Queens,” said Ms. Harris, who bought her home in June 2011.

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303799404579282352875335252#utm_source=Rebuilding%20NY%20Alert&utm_medium=alert-html&utm_campaign=Newsletters

Consolidated Edison rate freeze announced | Katonah NY Real Estate

New York officials say Consolidated Edison Co. has agreed to a two-year freeze in electric delivery rates and a three-year freeze in gas and steam distribution rates starting in 2014.

The settlement proposal, pending approval by the state Public Service Commission, could result in rate decreases for some commercial and industrial customers.

The joint proposal recommends spending $1 billion to make more resilient the company’s electric, gas and steam systems.

Con Edison said lower financing costs and other savings will help offset rates, with most customers seeing little change, and will also fund its program to harden equipment against storms.

http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20140102/ECONOMY/140109995

Power: Few storm-related outages reported | Bedford Hills NY Homes

Nearly everyone appeared to have electricity in Westchester, Rockland and Putnam counties Friday morning in the wake of the overnight snowstorm.

Consolidated Edison, Orange & Rockland Utilities, NYSEG, and Central Hudson Gas and Electric were showing few weather-related outages in the three counties.

“We had almost no activity last night,” Orange and Rockland spokesman Michael Donovan said. The dry, light snow left by the storm “didn’t have an impact on the system whatsoever,” he said.

Sidney Alvarez, a Consolidated Edison spokesman, said just a handful of Westchester customers were left without power. A fuse in a transformer in Greenburgh blew at 7:43 a.m., he said, leaving 116 customers near the intersection of Underhill Road and Central Park Avenue without lights for several hours. By about 10:45 a.m., however, power had been restored to all but eight customers in the area.

In Ossining, he said, a vehicle struck a utility pole, leaving 21 customers there without power.

“We were prepared for some major impacts on our system,” Alvarez said. “We’re quite fortunate that Mother Nature didn’t have a huge impact.”

In Yonkers, a city of 200,000 people, only seven customers were without power.

http://www.lohud.com/article/20140103/NEWS02/301030041/Power-Few-storm-related-outages-reported

7 Quick Tips for Staying Safe During a Winter Storm | Bedford NY Real Estate

The first big snow day of this winter has arrived in the Northeast, bringing with it freezing temperatures and as much as 14 inches of fresh powder.

If you’re in an area being walloped by the winter weather, we hope you’re hunkered down somewhere warm (preferably at home) with a hot beverage by your side.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offers these emergency preparedness tips for staying safe during a winter storm:
•Relax, take it easy. Cold weather puts an extra strain on the heart. If you must trek through the snow or do chores, dress warmly and work slowly.
•Be extra vigilant with the sources of heat in your home. Fireplaces, wood stoves and other combustion heaters should only be used if they have proper outside ventilation and there aren’t any leaks. Make sure space heaters are at least 3 feet away from anything that could catch fire, such as drapes or bedding.
•If there’s a power outage, use battery-powered flashlights or lanterns. If you must use candles, do not leave them unattended.
•Conserve heat inside your home by opening windows and doors only if necessary. Stock up on freeze dried food and safe keep it.
•Check on elderly relatives and neighbors to make sure they have enough food, heat and supplies to wait out the storm.
•Try to prevent your pipes from freezing or rupturing by leaving all taps slightly open so they drip continuously. If your pipes do freeze, thaw them slowly with the warm air from an electric hair dryer.
•Avoid travel, but if you must, let someone know your destination and when you expect to arrive. Make sure you’re dressed warmly and your vehicle is stocked a winter weather survival kit, including water, matches, a flashlight, chains and emergency flares. Carry extra warm winter gear such as a sleeping bag and blankets in case your car breaks down and you lose heat.

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2014/01/7-quick-tips-for-staying-safe-during-a-winter-storm/

Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino: Roads are passable, but dangerous | Pound Ridge NY Homes

News 12 spoke on the phone with Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino about today’s winter storm.

Astorino said that the roads were passable, but still very dangerous, and that crews are trying to clear them as fast as they can.

He says he is thankful there were minimal outages during the storm, which was due to the lighter, fluffier snow that fell.

Read More: Westchester Top Stories

The Bee-Line bus system is suspended until further notice, which he says is to ensure the safety of the drivers and passengers.

http://westchester.news12.com/news/westchester-county-executive-rob-astorino-roads-are-passable-but-dangerous-1.6721359

Roads: Traffic light on snowy roads; live traffic video, images | Bedford Corners NY Homes

Lower Hudson Valley roads are a snowy, treacherously dangerous mess Friday morning, and many drivers are staying off the roads.

“I normally don’t ask people to stay home, but this is one of those days,” said White Plains Public Works Commissioner Joseph “Bud” Nicoletti. “Because of the cold it’s much more treacherous than it looks. If you do have to go out, please make sure to go slow and give yourself plenty of space to stop.”

Traffic appeared light on many major roads, which remained snowy, about 9 a.m. But a rollover accident in the median of Interstate 84 east of the Taconic State Parkway was causing delays, according to hudsonvalleytraveler.com.

Also, an accident closed Exit 10B off the Bronx River Parkway to Bronx River Road in Yonkers shortly before 8:40 a.m. Icing had temporarily closed the ramp from the northbound Bronx River Parkway to the Cross County Parkway, but the road was reopened before 9 a.m., police said.

Talk about the storm in a live chat: http://lohud.us/1i1f3lc
School closings list: http://lohud.us/1bDzvmk
Latest mass transit updates: http://lohud.us/1iyMApq

Officials continued to advise people to stay off the roads if possible.

In New Rochelle, the main roads were passable, and snow plow crews were attacking the secondary streets, said City Manager Charles Strome III.

“I would say there passable, but if you don’t have to go out, don’t,” Strome said shortly before 9:30 a.m. The snow fell so heavily between 10 p.m. and 3 a.m. that the crews were forced to plow and re-plow the main roads, he said.

The temperatures dropped so low overnight that liquid mix of sodium chloride and rock salt often used to pre-treat roads before snowfall loses its ability to prevent snow and ice from sticking to pavement.

“The problem is that once the temperature falls to about 10 degrees, salt and sodium chloride loses it’s effectiveness,” Nicoletti said. “That’s why we’re seeing packed snow instead of bare pavement right now.”

The New York State Thruway reopened to passenger cars at 5 a.m. and commercial vehicles at 8 a.m. Interstate 84 reopened at 8 a.m. after being closed overnight.

Roadways were said to be open in most municipalities. In Yonkers, on Warburton Avenue, near the city line with Hastings, a downed power line caused a partial road closure, police said.

In the pre-dawn hours, drives to White Plains from New Rochelle and Mamaroneck found main roads plowed but the surfaces packed with snow, visibility limited by wind-blow snow. The Hutchinson River Parkway was snow-packed, it was difficult to distinguish the plowed driving lanes from the shoulder in the dark, and snow was higher on the ramps. Speed was about 30 mph under the conditions, and few cars were on the parkway.

By about 6:40 a.m., major roads such as Palmer Avenue in New Rochelle and Mamaroneck Avenue in Mamaroneck remained snowy with light traffic easing along the roads.

In Rockland County, Route 304, Route 59 and a southern stretch of the Palisades Interstate Parkway were plowed and passable, with an inch or two of snow cover. Ramps connecting the highways were a little sketchy, though, requiring motorists to proceed at a crawl for a few white-knuckle minutes.

Police across Rockland reported no accidents as they said few cars were on the road, competing with plows pushing aside snow.

While the Thruway had been closed all night, there was still plenty of plowing work to be done on the road from the Palisades Parkway to the Tappan Zee Bridge. At 6:30 a.m., the southbound Thruway had better than 2 inches of snow and motorists were traveling single file, with only a few drivers daring to skirt around to create a second travel lane. Once on the Tappan Zee, the wind off the Hudson was whipping and, at the superstructure, had done the work the plows had not, clearing it to bare asphalt. The toll plaza was in bad shape, with packed snow left and right and drifting snow in the middle.

The posted speed limit on the bridge was reduced to 35 mph, but few drivers were going faster than 30 on the wind-swept span

http://www.lohud.com/article/20140103/NEWS02/301030036/Roads-Snow-covered-treacherous-I-87-I-84-open-live-video-ridealong

If you want to know more than read resources from Cohen Law Group.

Mobile Advertising Projected to Increase 64% in 2014 | Chappaqua NY Realtor

As our web presence expands, so does the advertising space. Agencies are using mobile and native advertising to catch consumers’ attention on a variety of online platforms.

Companies nearly tripled the amount of money spent on mobile advertising, from $1.2 billion in 2012 to $3 billion in 2013, according to LinkedIn Marketing Solutions. Roughly 65% of both ad agencies and marketers plan to invest in native advertising, for an estimated total of $4.3 billion, in 2014.

See also: 10 Tips for Improving Your Mobile Advertising Campaign

Social and mobile marketing go hand-in-hand, since at least 17% of the time people spend on their mobile devices is on a social network. It’s no wonder then that analysts predict mobile and social advertising will increase 64% and 47%, respectively.

Marketers are expected to spend nearly $47.6 billion on online ads alone in 2014, with $13.1 billion of that figure allocated for mobile ads.

http://mashable.com/2014/01/03/native-mobile-advertising/?utm_cid=Mash-Prod-RSS-Feedburner-All-Partial

Manhattan apartment sales hit a high | Armonk NY Homes

Sales of Manhattan apartments have hit a fourth-quarter record, with wealthy international buyers competing with New Yorkers to get a foot in the door as prices soar.

The number of purchases rose 27 percent compared with the same period the year before to 3,297, according to new data released on Friday. Although down from 3,837 in the third quarter, this was the highest fourth-quarter tally since records began 25 years ago, according to appraiser Miller Samuel and brokerage Douglas Elliman Real Estate.

(Read more: New York is running out of luxury apartments)

Limited supply has led to buyers often making immediate all-cash offers, participating in bidding wars and making decisions based on floor plans alone, in an echo of the previous property boom. The number of days a property was on the market in the fourth quarter almost halved from the previous year to 95 days.

“Demand from foreign buyers has never been stronger. Those from the Middle East, Russia, South America, China have been on an incredible buying spree and it is these sales that are driving prices,” said Pamela Liebman, chief executive of property broker The Corcoran Group.

The median price of a luxury apartment – usually above $3 million – jumped 10 percent from a year ago to $4.9 million.

(Read more: New York apartment prices hit four-year high)

An abrupt increase in mortgage rates over the summer tipped more buyers into the Manhattan market at a time when inventories were already tight, a trend that continued to the end of 2013.

“This wasn’t a sleepy year end,” said Jonathan Miller, president of New York-based Miller Samuel. “There was a lot of good economic news last year and people from New Yorkers to international investors were keen to secure the best buying conditions from mortgage rates to prices. It was a record third quarter and now a record fourth.”

http://www.cnbc.com/id/101307173