Daily Archives: June 20, 2014

Demolition Slated For Fire-Damaged Bedford Hills Home | Bedford Hills Homes

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A fire-damaged house in Bedford Hills is scheduled to be torn down soon.

Bedford Supervisor Chris Burdick, in an interview, outlined the options, which involve the owner. Either demolition of the house must begin by Friday, June 20, or a postponement can be given if $125,000 in performance funding is posted and the owner signs an agreement.

Burdick cited possible injury and trespassing as problems at the structure.

The home was damaged by a three-alarm fire in January 2013, and several departments provided mutual aid, Daily Voice reported in the aftermath.

In a memo, Steve Fraietta, Bedford’s building inspector, outlined several issues and recommended that the house at 109 Stone Bridge Lane be demolished.

The listed owner of the property is Ryann McCarthy. He could not be reached for comment, although his attorney, a video of the Tuesday, June 17, Town Board meeting shows, said that his client began bringing equipment.

In the video, there was also discussion about the timeline possibilities. Addressing the paid extension option at the meeting, Burdick mentioned that the completion deadline would become Aug. 15. A condition of the demolition permit, Burdick explained at the meeting, was completion by July 15.

 

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http://bedford.dailyvoice.com/news/demolition-slated-fire-damaged-bedford-hills-home

The 11 Most Expensive Studios in NYC Are Here to Upset You | Cross River Real Estate

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Earlier this week, Twitter caught wind of the fact that there is a 532-square-foot studio in 205 West 76th Street listed for $1.075 million, or $2,020 per square foot. From the uproar that followed, one would logically assume that this is the most expensive studio apartment in New York City, however—as you may have guessed by now—that is hardly the case. Here now, we present to you an additional 11 studio apartments currently on the market for more than $1 million in NYC. Can you guess how much the most expensive one is asking? Better question: do you even want to?

 

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http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2014/06/19/the_11_most_expensive_studios_in_nyc_are_here_to_upset_you.php

3 Things You Didnt Know About Solar In Developing Countries | South Salem Real Estate

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1.3 billion people in the world lack access to electricity. They depend on mostly kerosene to use as light at night, which gets expensive over time and poses a lot of health risks at home (think toxic fumes and accidental fires). But there is a viable solution already available today: affordable solar energy. In the last 5 years, the cost of solar PV technology has dropped so drastically that companies are sprouting up all over the developing world to manufacture and distribute affordable solar products to light up unelectrified homes. These products range from basic torch lights to entire solar home systems that can power multiple lights, cellphone charging, radio, and even TV. So what’s enabling the off-grid solar revolution? Here are the three main reasons:

 

End-User Financing That Makes Sense

While the cost of solar has gone down, many of the 1.3 billion off-grid population still find the price tag on most solar products prohibitively expensive. However, solar companies have coupled their solar products with financing plans that allow customers to purchase solar products according to their level of income. These plans include monthly installments or weekly installments that span from 3 to 18 months. Some companies even go further and sell solar energy as a service similar to how people in the developed world pay their electric bills. In those cases, each family pays to keep their solar powered electricity services on, and the service will be cut off if the family stops their payment.

Looking at examples of what people currently spend on energy will put these costs and financing plans in context. A typical rural Indian household spends Rs. 150 to Rs. 300 each month on kerosene lighting. If we include diesel generators the cost goes up more. They end up spending a significant part of their overall income, which leaves them with not much funds to do anything else. A micro-grid solar project that was funded on SunFunder’s crowdfunding platform ends up costing each household Rs. 100 a month and it gives them clean, bright solar lighting and overnight cell phone charging. Solar is more affordable and better for the people’s health.

Read more: http://www.motherearthnews.com/renewable-energy/3-things-about-solar-in-developing-countries-zbcz1406.aspx#ixzz35BZ1Qdy5

3 housing charts show we’re heading for an echo bubble | Katonah Real Estate

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Charles Hugh Smith’s Of Two Minds blog is required reading, and in his post Thursday he details how after six years of central planning by the Federal Reserve – and let’s be honest, that’s exactly what it’s been – the economy is more fragile than it was before.

There’s strong evidence he’s not exaggerating.

“The central bank/state intervene in the economy in a dominant fashion, controlling functions such as interest rates by order of central authorities that were once set by decentralized, self-organizing markets,” he writes. “The central bank/state pick winners and losers: for example, the Too Big To Fail Banks (TBTF) were selected to win, as the central bank/state bailed out their private losses with public-taxpayer money. In effect, the central bank/state enrich cronies at the expense of everyone else.

“The central bank/state manipulate the nominally ‘free’ market to boost asset valuations as a way of enriching cronies who own most of the financial assets and as a public-relations charade to mask the failure of their picking winners and losers,” Smith says.

“In other words, in centrally planned economies, markets are not allowed to discover price–they exist only to reflect positively on central planners,” he says.

One of the many current drags on housing has been the more than 30 years of stagnant income growth, especially for the middle class – the bulk of homebuyers.

Smith argues the Fed’s policies are what are causing that stagnation.

“How about real median income? Central planning has greatly boosted the wealth and income of the financier winners picked by the Planners, but sadly this does not include wage earners, who have seen their inflation-adjusted earnings plummet,” Smith writes

 

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http://www.housingwire.com/blogs/1-rewired/post/30377-housing-charts-show-were-heading-for-an-echo-bubble