Category Archives: Pound Ridge

Overcoming job stress: Don’t discount the power of positive thinking, superstition | Pound Ridge Realtor

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Have you ever had a particularly bad day, week or month that left you feeling like the mole in the “Whac-a-Mole” game?

As a Realtor, someone is always taking a swat at you or your business; what can you do to cope? Recently I had a conversation about the impending changes coming in January with respect to the qualified residential mortgage, as well as how the “Obamacare” health insurance cancellations and premium increases may impact the real estate market.

As we were discussing how these uncertainties could put the brakes on the real estate market, it struck me that the “Whac-a-Mole” game was the perfect metaphor to describe what Realtors experience on a day-in, day-out basis.

Realtors are constantly being “whacked” by unrealistic sellers; buyers who work with them and then buy from a different agent; tight credit; low appraisals; and a host of other transaction-related issues.

Moreover, federal, state and local regulations (the qualified residential mortgage is a great example) often create such high degrees of uncertainty that even the experts are uncertain about what’s coming and what real estate professionals must do in order to comply.

Now couple this with the normal day-to-day stresses such as family issues, money woes and traffic, plus the never-ending onslaught of text messages, Facebook notifications and other digital distractions, and it’s no wonder that so many agents are feeling battered about as if they’re the mole in the “Whac-a-Mole” game.

 

– See more at: http://www.inman.com/2013/11/21/overcoming-job-stress-dont-discount-the-power-of-positive-thinking-superstition/#sthash.UY1PuFGS.dpuf

Freddie Mac: Housing will remain generally affordable | Pound Ridge Real Estate

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The next year brings a bevy of unprecedented changes to the mortgage market as it shifts from a refinance to purchase business.

Despite all of this, in an environment of rising interest rates and tightening loan criteria, Freddie Mac still believes most of the nation’s housing will remain affordable. The issue that remains, is getting responsible mortgages to the homeowners who deserve them.

Frank Nothaft, chief economist at Freddie, released the enterprise’s 2014 outlook report in conjunction with a HousingWire webinar he participated in.

“The big shift ahead will occur as the single-family mortgage market begins transitioning from a rate-and-term refinance dominated market, to the first purchase-dominated market we’ve seen since 2000,” Nothaft said. “The emerging purchase market should gather momentum in the coming year.”

The webinar, titled Competitive lending in the Qualified Mortgage world, also took a hard look at the challenges lenders will face after the ruling comes into effect in January.

Craig Crabtree, general manager of Equifax Mortgage Services, spoke at length of the critical importance of underwriting and outlined the types of mortgage products that would likely be prohibited under the QM.

This aspect of great underwriting standards will need to be carefully balanced against the need to shorten closing times to under 30 days. Regional banks, for example, should re-approach their underwriting methodology to seek greater efficiency in writing new mortgages.

 

 

 

http://www.housingwire.com/articles/28039-freddie-mac-housing-will-remain-generally-affordable

Fox Lane Senior Stars In Off-Broadway Production | Pound Ridge Homes

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Pound Ridge teenager Lindsay Avellino aspires to perform on Broadway. Beginning Tuesday, Nov. 19, she will be just a few steps from what she hopes is her ultimate destination.

Avellino, a senior at Fox Lane High School, will have the lead female role in “Towards The Moon,” which makes its American debut at the 59E59 Theater in New York. The play opens off-Broadway on Tuesday, Nov. 19 and runs through Dec. 1. More information about dates and tickets can be found online or by calling 212 753 5959 ext 102.

The play is being presented by the Infinity Repertory Theatre Company of Mount Kisco. Avellino has been part of the group for four years, and is in her second year as the group’s artistic director. She has performed in numerous productions with Infinity and was even part of a previous show at the East 59th Street Theatre. Her role in Towards The Moon as Mags is her biggest challenge so far in her budding career.

“I’m ecstatic, I can’t wait to get started,’’ Avellino said. “But it’s also scary, knowing there will be reviewers. Having already experienced performing in New York before, I know how to go into it but it’s still scary.”

Andrew McGregor, a native of Scotland, wrote Towards The Moon for the 2012  Edinburgh Fringe Festival. It was there that Paul Perez, Infinity’s Executive Director, saw the play. Infinity was granted the rights to produce the play in the United States.

It follows the story of a boy who wants to leave a small town and become a great writer. His journey is a tale of angst-filled creativity and lost and found friendships. Liam Nelligan plays Bobby, the play’s central character. Ricky Romano, Elene Rnigomez, Lindsay Wund and Elizabeth Price Davies are the other students who appear on stage. Infinity is an all-student company that educates and involves children of all backgrounds and ages in the theater arts.

“Mags is the best friend of the main character,’’ Avellino said. “She’s a hippie, kind of weird, does her own thing and is in love with Bobby. It’s a character that’s a bit out of my comfort zone. She’s older and has a lot more life experience than I have. But it’s a challenge and I’m enjoying it.”

Avellino, who plans to study musical theater in college, captured the lead in an audition earlier this year. She saw the production in Scotland and loved the script. “It’s a beautiful show,’’ she said. “It moved all of us when we saw it. It’s unique because it’s a musical, but it doesn’t move like a musical. It feels like a drama. You feel good after watching it. It’s very relatable, and very real.”

 

 

http://mtkisco.dailyvoice.com/neighbors/fox-lane-senior-stars-broadway-production

 

Pound Ridge Police Chief Lends Voice To Panel On Domestic Violence | Pound Ridge Homes

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A recent panel discussion organized by the Domestic Abuse Network of Northeastern Westchester (DANNEW) was held at the Pound Ridge Library. Among those speaking was Town Police Chief David Ryan, who presented a convincing case as to how this issue is more prevalent in a small community like ours than most people may think.

The 90-minute discussion was moderated by Nicole Malgarinos of DANNEW.

The panel included six dedicated professionals who compared their views on working with victims when providing assistance. Included on the panel were Chip Andrus, pastor of the South Salem Presbyterian Church and Kymberly McNair, associate minister of the Antioch Baptist Church of Bedford Hills. McNair is also a coordinator at My Sister’s Place, an advocacy service that provides emergency housing for victims of domestic abuse.

In many communities, clergy are usually considered first responders because they are usually the ones a victim will turn to for help.

Also part of the panel was a local resident who through her resilience, spoke of dealing with domestic abuse and how she was able to receive assistance from people trained to reach out to anyone experiencing an abusive situation. In acknowledging Ryan, this individual started out by saying “If not for him I would not be alive today.”

In explaining what she went through before receiving help, she continued “It’s like living a nightmare and then feeling like being dumped into an ocean and you don’t know if you’re swimming up or down but you’re swimming as hard as you can.”

 

 

 

http://armonk.dailyvoice.com/news/pound-ridge-police-chief-lends-voice-panel-domestic-violence

This North Andover home has style and elegance | Pound Ridge Real Estate

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We’ve seen a lot of huge regal houses in town. But who says you need land to have luxury?

Check out this luxury condominium located at 2705 Tupelo Circle, the most expensive condo on the market in North Andover today, listed at

It’s not your typical condo — with three bedrooms and more than 3,000 square feet of living space, it’s larger than many single-family homes on the market today.

The unit has shiny hardwood floors and new carpeting; a large gourmet kitchen with high-end upgrades; a fireplace in the living room and another in the master bedroom; a two-stall garage; and a master bathroom with French doors and a big jacuzzi bath.

The condominium complex, Oakridge Village, has a community swimming pool, a community fitness center, laundry room and a park.

 

 

 

 

http://northandover.patch.com/groups/real-estate/p/high-end-most-expensive-condo-on-the-market

 

 

 

 

New Building Codes Passed After Lessons From Hurricane Sandy | Pound Ridge Real Estate

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Acting on the recommendations of a task force convened after Hurricane Sandy, the City Council on Thursday approved new requirements that were expected to make buildings more sustaining during emergencies and prevent some of the hardships that New Yorkers endured after the storm last year.

One change requires residential buildings five stories or higher to add faucets in common areas like laundry rooms so that residents on higher floors have some access to water for drinking, flushing toilets and other uses. Upper floors lose water when electric pumps stop working during blackouts, a problem that worsened conditions and forced many people out of their buildings after the hurricane.

The requirement applies immediately to new residential construction, while existing buildings have eight years to add the fixtures.

“It will make it much more possible to stay in a large building for an extended period without power,” said Russell Unger, chairman of the task force of more than 200 building experts, property owners and city officials that proposed the changes.

Another piece of legislation requires new and existing hospitals and nursing homes in flood zones to install hookups that would enable quick connection to temporary generators and boilers so that such facilities can maintain electricity and heating when the power is out. The law requiring the hookups is effective immediately for new buildings, but gives existing buildings 20 years to comply.

Another new law makes it easier to install backup generators and generators that run on natural gas, which is considered a cleaner and more reliable source of power than diesel fuel. And a fourth law allows temporary flood barriers on sidewalks.

Despite the costs to comply with the new requirements — a 20-story co-op could spend $16,000 for the required one-common-area faucet per 100 residents — property owners have been generally supportive because of the losses suffered during the storm.

“It’d help get buildings up and running faster,” Angela Pinsky, a senior vice president for the Real Estate Board of New York, said of some of the measures.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/15/nyregion/new-building-codes-passed-after-lessons-from-hurricane-sandy.html?_r=0

Spike Lee Wants $32M For UES Home With Celeb-Studded Past | Pound Ridge Real Estate

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Spike-Lee-and-the-Hatch-House.jpg [Photo via Flickr/Emilio Guerra.]

Though filmmaker Spike Lee is best known for his Brooklyn presence—the house where Crooklyn was shot sold for $400,000 over ask and the Fort Greene brownstone he inhabited in the 90s sold to that controversial dung artist—he actually owns an even more significant property on the Upper East Side. He just put the 8,292-square-foot, 2BR/2BA at 153 East 63rd Street on the market for $32 million, the Post reports, which he originally bought from artist Jasper Johns in 1998 for $16,624,999. (Though the formal deed lists the transaction as being worth nothing, and the rest of public records for the plot are hazy.)

Daytonian in Manhattan has chronicled the long history of the so-called Hatch House, named for the husband of Barbara Rutherford, who married Cyril Hatch in the nineteen-teens. Rutherford’s mother bought the property (formerly two horse stables) as a wedding gift for the Hatches.

Architect Frederick Sterner, who at one point had converted or designed essentially all of 63rd Street, is behind the “three-story Spanish renaissance fancy” with “a stucco facade and red-tile roof.” Though many of the residences he worked on are no longer in their original condition, notes the Times‘ Christopher Gray, Lee’s is

 

 

 

http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2013/11/13/spike_lee_wants_32m_for_ues_home_with_celebstudded_past.php

Pound Ridge’s Richard Gere Will Be Honored At Jacob Burns Film Center | Pound Ridge Real Estate

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The 2013 Silver Screen Circle Dinner will honor Pound Ridge’s Richard Gere at the Jacob Burns Film Center Theater in Pleasantville on Monday, Nov. 25.

The evening will include select film clips highlighting  Gere’s career and contributions to the art of film as well as a question-and-answer session with Gere and JBFC Board President Janet Maslin.

This is an exclusive Silver Screen Circle members-only event in appreciation for their generous support. They will receive two to 10 complimentary tickets depending on their level of membership.

Gere, a Golden Globe winner, is known for his roles in films such as “An Officer and a Gentleman,” “Days of Heaven,” “American Gigolo” and “Pretty Woman,” among others.

Off screen, Gere is a devoted advocate for human rights in Tibet and for the rights and lands of tribal peoples throughout the world.

To learn more about the Silver Screen Circle, or to join,  contact Kim Turner at 914-773-7663, ext. 429 or email her.

 

 

http://mtkisco.dailyvoice.com/events/pound-ridges-richard-gere-will-be-honored-jacob-burns-film-center