Tag Archives: Pound Ridge NY Homes

Pound Ridge NY Homes

Get a Perfectly Built Home the First Time Around | Pound Ridge Homes

 

There’s a myth going around to the effect that you’ll never get your house built just right.  There will always be something you forgot, something you’d do differently, something that’s just not quite right.  I’ve heard folks tell me time and again that that’s just the way it is.  There’s just no getting around the simple fact that the house you build just won’t be 100 percent right.
Well, I have to say that this is simply not true.  There are steps anyone can take that will ensure that a house will be perfect, with no regrets.  Here are some of them.

Know thyself.  Who are you?  What do you like?  What do you hate?  What is your ideal living arrangement?  What is your favorite season?
What do you enjoy doing?
These are some of the many questions you’ll have to answer to create the perfect home.  You see, we simply don’t live in a space bounded by four walls, a ceiling and a floor.  While we all share a lot of common traits, each of us is unique.  So yes, start with a room count and a square footage and a style, but then take that to the next level by tailoring the plan to you and yours.

Plaza Hotel owner surrenders to Indian police | Pound Ridge Homes

 

From left: Subrata Roy and 1 Central Park South

From left: Subrata Roy and 1 Central Park South

Subrata Roy, owner of the Plaza Hotel, turned himself into police Friday following his no-show at a contempt hearing in Indian Supreme Court.

The subject of an investigation into whether Roy failed to repay investors $3.9 billion following an illegal bond scheme, Roy previously said that he wouldn’t be able to appear for his court date because he had to care for his ailing 92-year-old mother. Nevertheless, the court ordered him to show, and police were dispatched to track him down when he did not.

Owner of $11 billion company Sahara, which owns the Plaza, Roy was barred from selling any of the firm’s assets or leaving India in November as the nation’s highest court investigated the conglomerate’s alleged violation of securities laws. Earlier reports indicated that Sahara was looking to sell its Plaza and Dream Downtown hotels, as well as the Grosvenor House in London. The group received a $1.6 billion offer for the trio of hotels from an unidentified Middle Eastern investor, according to previous reports.

 

http://therealdeal.com/blog/2014/02/28/plaza-hotel-owner-surrenders-to-indian-police/

Case-Shiller Home Rise In Line With Expectations | Pound Ridge Real Estate

 

The Case-Shiller 20-City home price index was up 0.75% month-over-month in December, and up 13.42% year-over-year in December.

This compares with expectations for a 0.6% MoM and 13.4% YoY rise.

“The S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index ended its best year since 2005,” David M. Blitzer, Chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices said in a press release.
“However, gains are slowing from month-to-month and the strongest part of the recovery in home values may be over. Year-over-year values for the two monthly Composites weakened and the quarterly National Index barely improved. The seasonally adjusted data also exhibit some softness and loss of momentum.”

Recent housing data suggests “a bleaker picture for housing,” he said. We’ve seen a decline in homebuilder confidence, existing home sales tumbled, housing starts missed expectations.

Meanwhile, FHFA home prices were up 0.8% in December, beating expectations for a 0.3% rise.

Home prices were up 1.2% in Q4, compared with expectation sfor a 1% rise.

FHFA’s November numbers were revised down to show a 0.1% MoM fall, compared with a 0.1% rise previously.

 

 

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/comes-case-shiller-home-prices-134120159.html

Why is the Miami real estate market burning so hot? | Pound Ridge NY Homes

 

Strong demand for real estate in the city styled the “Capital of Latin America” resulted in a third consecutive record sales year and two years of double-digit price appreciation.

That’s the word from the 31,000-member Miami Association of Realtors and the local MLS down in the land of Cuban press sandwiches, sunshine, salsa and sexy swimwear.

“Record demand for Miami properties from both domestic and international buyers resulted in another sales record in 2013,” said 2014 Chairman of the Board of the MIAMI Association of REALTORS Liza Mendez. “We expect strong demand to continue in 2014 for Miami real estate but are encouraged that more homeowners are listing homes for sale, creating more balance between buyers and sellers.”

There were 30,041 homes and condos sold in Miami-Dade County in 2013, setting a new annual record that is 8% higher than the previous record set in 2012. Sales of single-family homes last year totaled 12,901, an increase of 12.5% compared to the previous year’s total of 11,463. Condominium sales increased 4.6%, from 16,383 in 2012 to 17,140 in 2013.

 

http://www.housingwire.com/articles/29031-why-is-the-miami-real-estate-market-burning-so-hot

6 best states to flip a home | Pound Ridge NY Homes

 

In 2013, investors bought more than 156,000 homes, only to fix them up and quickly resell them for an average profit of $58,081. Home flipping became increasingly popular as the housing market began to recover. However, while the number of U.S. home flips increased in 2013 compared with 2012, home flips as a proportion of all home sales declined from 7.1% of sales in the fourth quarter of 2012 to just 3.8% of sales in the fourth quarter of 2013, partly because of declining inventory.

Where homes are available, however, substantial profits can still be made. In six states, home flippers made an average profit of considerably more than $80,000 in 2013. In the top state, the gross profit on a flipped home was more than $100,000. 24/7 Wall St. examined the six states where home flipping was most lucrative in 2013.

Buying homes to flip when market prices are relatively high may mean more overhead, but the fact remains that the states and metro areas with the largest average profits on home flips were the more expensive housing markets. All of the six most profitable states to flip a home in 2013 had among the highest average purchase prices that year. “High prices result in higher profits,” confirmed Daren Blomquist, vice president at home data site RealtyTrac. “These states are basically the highest-priced markets in the country.”

24/7 Wall St. examined the six states with an average gross home flip profit of at least $80,000 in 2013, based on data from RealtyTrac. RealtyTrac also provided average flip price, average gross profit, and the proportion of all home sales that were flips for 2011 and 2012, and Q4 2013 for States and U.S. Metro areas. We also reviewed RealtyTrac’s foreclosure rates for 2013.

http://homes.yahoo.com/photos/6-best-states-to-flip-a-house-1392234911-slideshow/

 

Real Estate agents turn to video to shoot for a marketing edge | Pound Ridge Realtor

 

Steve Dao spent a recent Friday rushing from the office to the gym, picking up some freshly-rolled sushi and, back home as the city lights came up, impressing his date with the view of Toronto’s skyline from the terrace of his King Street East loft.

All the while, a camera crew was capturing the lifestyle of a successful, thirtysomething loft owner and single dad. Mr. Dao is an actor and on that day he was the star of a video designed to show off the amenities of the loft and the surrounding King and Parliament neighbourhood to prospective buyers. Taking on the role of his date was real estate agent Karyn Filiatrault of Bosley Real Estate Ltd., who also commissioned the video.

 

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/home-and-garden/real-estate/real-estate-agents-turn-to-video-to-shoot-for-a-marketing-edge/article16726182/

 

The 8 most common tax filing errors, and how to avoid them | Pound Ridge NY Real Estate

 

It’s tax time! The IRS started accepting individual returns for processing on Jan. 31 — later than usual, but better late than never.

Last year, the IRS issued a useful list of the eight most common filing errors made by individual taxpayers. Many of the mistakes people make are incredibly easy to avoid — it just takes a little care and attention.

If the IRS owes you a refund, it could be delayed if your return contains an error like one of these:

1. Wrong or missing Social Security numbers: Your refund could be delayed simply because you made a mistake listing your Social Security number. The number on your return must match the number on your Social Security cards.

2. Names wrong or misspelled: You’ve got to spell your own name right, or the IRS will get confused. Again, your name on your return should match the name on your Social Security card.

If you’ve changed your name since you filed your last return, you need to notify the Social Security Administration (SSA) and obtain a new Social Security card before you file your taxes. The SSA will issue a new Social Security card with your new name, but will keep your old Social Security number. This way, the name on your tax return will match Social Security records.

– See more at: http://www.inman.com/2014/02/03/the-8-most-common-tax-filing-errors-and-how-to-avoid-them/?utm_source=20140203&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=dailyheadlinespm#sthash.LpVsBQUg.dpuf

5 Ways to Get the Most Space Out of Your Home | Pound Ridge NY Homes

 

You look around you and feel like your home is bursting at the seams. Whether it’s an apartment, a condo, or a small single-family house, you see your stuff all over and know that you’re running out of space. But you may not be prepared to make the move to someplace bigger.

No worries: January is a great time to start anew and make the most out of the space you have. To help appeal to shoppers who have resolved to de-clutter in the new year, many stores offer discounts on storage systems and organization supplies. In cold-weather cities, contractors probably aren’t working on outdoor projects, so you might be able to catch one during a slow time and get a decent deal.

With a little planning and some creative thinking, your home may turn out to have more space than you think.

1. Look in the nook.

The alcove by your front door, or a corner or recess in a downstairs or upstairs hallway, could be a good spot to set up some prefabricated bookshelves. You can even buy the components for a home office space that hangs from the wall. Of course, if you live in rental space, you should check with your landlord before drilling holes in the wall. But small touches like these can move things—books, laptop, printer, CDs—out of your main living space. These also tend to be smaller projects that you can do yourself.

  Vertical space is precious andoften-overlookedreal estate.

If the thought of a few hours of quality time with an Allen wrench isn’t your idea of fun, see if your building’s maintenance staff is looking for extra work. They may be willing to do it for less if you’re able to pay them swiftly, so consider using the Popmoney ® personal payment service which allows you to send money to virtually anyone’s U.S. bank account easily with your phone, directly from your bank account, using the Citi Mobile ®  App.

 

 

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/5-ways-most-space-home-143052537.html

When Water Conservation is Not Enough | Pound Ridge Real Estate

 

For those people involved in sustainability, water—or specifically the lack of water to meet future demands—is a growing concern. This is perhaps most apparent to residents in the Western U.S., where a drought has caused a rather dramatic decline in water flowing in the Colorado River, which provides water for thousands of people and millions of acres of farmland. However, what many people don’t know if that this drought has lasted for 14 years.

Earlier this month, The New York Times reported that these conditions are “unrivaled in 1,250 years…The once broad and blue river has in many places dwindled to a murky brown trickle. Reservoirs have shrunk to less than half their capacities, the canyon walls around them ringed with white mineral deposits where water once lapped.”

According to the newspaper, communities depending on the river are turning to a variety of recycling programs, including recycling sewage effluent, to help address this mounting concern. Tax rebates to remove lawns and water-thirsty vegetation have become the norm in states like New Mexico and Arizona, and many states are also offering rebates to consumers and businesses to replace older water-using appliances with more efficient alternatives. For commercial facilities, this includes restroom fixtures that are either low-flow or, in many cases, no-flow systems, such as waterless urinals, which can save as much as 40,000 gallons of water per urinal.

However, what the residents and businesses in these states must now realize is that they are not being asked to conserve water temporarily; instead, they are being asked to use it more efficiently now and into the future. There is a big difference between the two propositions and greatly affects the way we design our buildings.

 

 

http://www.ecobuildingpulse.com/water-conservation/when-water-conservation-is-not-enough_o.aspx?dfpzone=home&utm_source=newsletter&utm_content=jump&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=EBP_013014&day=2014-01-30