Daily Archives: December 24, 2014

Mortgage Rates Remain Near 2014 Lows | Bedford Hills Real Estate

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Freddie Mac today released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey® (PMMS®), showing average fixed mortgage rates edging slightly higher while remaining near their 2014 lows amid mixed housing and economic news.

News Facts

  • 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 3.83 percent with an average 0.6 point for the week ending December 24, 2014, up from last week when it averaged 3.80 percent. A year ago at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 4.48 percent.
  • 15-year FRM this week averaged 3.10 percent with an average 0.6 point, up from last week when it averaged 3.09 percent. A year ago at this time, the 15-year FRM averaged 3.52 percent.
  • 5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) averaged 3.01 percent this week with an average 0.5 point, up from last week when it averaged 2.95 percent. A year ago, the 5-year ARM averaged 3.00 percent.
  • 1-year Treasury-indexed ARM averaged 2.39 percent this week with an average 0.4 point, up from last week when it averaged 2.38 percent. At this time last year, the 1-year ARM averaged 2.56 percent.

Average commitment rates should be reported along with average fees and points to reflect the total upfront cost of obtaining the mortgage. Visit the following links for theRegional and National Mortgage Rate Details and Definitions. Borrowers may still pay closing costs which are not included in the survey.

Quotes
Attributed to Frank Nothaft, vice president and chief economist, Freddie Mac.

“Mortgage rates were up slightly, following a week of mixed economic releases. Existing home sales were down 6.1 percent in November to annual rate of 4.93 million units, below economists’ expectations. New home sales fell 1.6 percent last month to an annual rate of 438,000, also below expectations. Meanwhile, the third quarter real GDP was revised sharply higher to 5.0 percent according to the final estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis.”

1896 Victorian Home Gets a Contemporary Lift | Bedford Real Estate

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“With two children and the two of us working from home, our house is always buzzing with energy,” says interior designer Kristen Peña. “People are coming and going, and we love that. We love nothing more than having a bunch of kids laughing and playing around us while we work or relax.“ That is why it was important for Kristen and her husband, Luis, a director, to find a home in which they could raise a family and carve out a studio space dedicated to their work. After waiting patiently for five years, they found their dream house in their dream city — a 118-year-old Victorian in San Francisco’s Noe Valley neighborhood.

The house needed a heavy renovation, including adding a new foundation and removing an inefficient sunroom that wrapped around the back of the house. Construction began in 2006, when Kristen was pregnant with the couple’s second child. The couple worked with CCS Architecture to convert the two-bedroom, one-bathroom, single-story residence — with the master bed and bath off the kitchen — into a three-level home with four bedrooms and four bathrooms. They kept the home’s original character but added modern elements.

Eclectic Living Room by Le Michelle Nguyen
Le Michelle Nguyen
Houzz at a Glance
Who lives here: Kristen and Luis Peña, daughters Sadie and Emmi, and cat Penny
Location: Noe Valley neighborhood of San Francisco
Size: 3,800 square feet (353 square meters); 4 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms
Year built: 1896

They also wanted to keep a clear distinction between their living space and their workspace, which they achieved by creating a separate entrance for their offices on the ground level. On the upper levels, they focused on warming up their living spaces with art and vintage furnishings collected from their trips abroad, as they did in the living room shown here.

“My mother is a lovely homemaker. I know I got my sense of balance and visual strengths from her,” says Kristen, of K Interiors. “I think my mind was blown when I started traveling the world in college, and still to this day my interior style is very much influenced by my travels.”

Eclectic by Le Michelle Nguyen
Le Michelle Nguyen
Throughout the home, Kristen displays small vignettes featuring pieces the family has collected during travels abroad.

Decorating their home was Kristen’s first formal foray into interior design, which she now does professionally. She had been running her own clothing company but found she loved working with the architects on the design of the home as well as finding materials and products. The home she and Luis created reflects her design approach.

“In design I aim to create very open, contemporary, light-filled spaces,” she says. “I then soften the lines with layers of textures, treasures and art to create a cozy, warm, inviting space — a home!”

Eclectic Living Room by Le Michelle Nguyen
Le Michelle Nguyen
The front room is filled with light throughout most of the day, thanks to its large windows, making it an ideal spot for older daughter Sadie to work on homework in. The furnishings are a perfect example of Kristen’s design sense. She says, “I love to find vintage pieces and often rework them.” The armchair is vintage with new cushions made with fabric fromMark Alexander, while the rug is from Madeline Weinrib.
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http://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/34959260?utm_source=Houzz&utm_campaign=u896&utm_medium=email&utm_content=gallery4

Innovative Home Shows What It’s Made Of | Pound Ridge Real Estate

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This couple had an especially ambitious list of goals when they hired Meditch Murphey Architects to build a new house for them outside of Washington, D.C. Like many people planning a new home these days, they wanted to design for the future, incorporate sustainability and create a comfortable environment that blended indoor and outdoor living spaces.

But that wasn’t all the homeowners wanted their house to do. They decided to build a new home that would double as a demonstration house, allowing the designers to experiment with innovative materials, spatial arrangements and energy-efficient features. Starting with the demolition of the property’s existing house, the homeowners and architects invited neighbors to observe and engage with the project in progress.

Contemporary Exterior by Meditch Murphey Architects
Meditch Murphey Architects
Photos by Michael Moran

Houzz at a Glance
Location: Chevy Chase, Maryland
Who lives here: A middle-aged couple planning to live here the rest of their lives
Size: 2,400 square feet (223 square meters), plus a 1,000-square-foot (93-square-meter) basement
Year completed: 2013

Major foundation and structural problems made it necessary to tear down the existing house on the lot. During the home’s demolition, the Meditch Murphey team worked withCommunity Forklift, a D.C. nonprofit that sells surplus and salvaged building materials. Students working with the organization used the demolition as a summer school project, learning about demolition and deconstruction techniques. Afterward, usable materials were donated to the organization.

The team continued to include the community throughout the design and build phases. During construction they installed an educational billboard in front of the house and posted information about the house and specific features they planned to include. As soon as it was safe to do so, the architects gave tours of the house, answering questions and hearing neighbors’ thoughts about the home. Even now the homeowners lead tours for anyone interested in seeing what’s going on.

Modern Exterior by Meditch Murphey Architects
Meditch Murphey Architects
The modern house, nestled between two colonial-style homes, stands out in this suburban neighborhood. But the architects worked to make sure it respected the context and scale of the area. “The goal was not to mimic other houses on the street,” says architect Marcie Meditch. The house faces out to the street and was kept as open as possible. Balconies, windows and sliding walls invite interaction and bring views of trees and the neighborhood into the home.

The exterior has an interesting mix of materials. White stucco walls reflect hot sun and are heavily insulated to keep the house warm in winter and cool in summer. Windows cover most of the remaining walls. Tulip poplar bark on the second story is perhaps the most distinct exterior feature. The architects saw the material used in a project at the Solar Decathlon; the material is a waste product from tulip poplar trees being milled for lumber. Companies are starting to use the kiln-dried bark for shingles, but Meditch Murphy left it as one big sheet. “People are blown away by the tree bark,” Meditch says. The sliding front door is Accoya wood, a resilient, low-maintenance hardwood that’s a sustainable and renewable alternative to tropical hardwoods.

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http://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/32229865?utm_source=Houzz&utm_campaign=u896&utm_medium=email&utm_content=gallery0