Tag Archives: Westchester Homes for Sale

Westchester Homes for Sale

Art Dealer’s Mott Schmidt Georgian Manor Asks $9.8M | Chappaqua Real Estate

Leave a reply

13 images

Location: Briarcliff Manor, N.Y. Price: $9,800,000 The Skinny: Built in 1929 for New York banker William S. Lambie, this Georgian manor was designed by architect-to-the-moneyed Mott Schmidt, whose work came into vogue when the tastes of the rich swung from Gilded Age opulence to something (relatively) more restrained. Despite its lack of garish flourishes, with eight bedrooms and 10 bathrooms spread out over 13,242 square feet the property still manages to announce the original owner’s wealth very effectively. Located on a 16-acre wooded lot not far from the Hudson River, it’s adjacent to the Sleepy Hollow Country Club, and actually sits on the road that inspired Washington Irving’s tale of the headless horseman. Schmidt, whose client list reads like a list of Who’s Who in early 20th-century New York, also designed homes in the town and country for the Vanderbilts, the Rockefellers, and the Astors. This home is currently owned by the art dealer Warren Adelson and asking $9.8M, a slight drop from the original $10.9M it asked was listed earlier this year.

· 842 Sleepy Hollow Road [Zillow] · 842 Sleepy Hollow Road [Coldwell Banker]

Prices Turn Frosty in First November Data | Waccabuc Real Estate

Leave a reply

National and regional rates of growth showed clear signs of winter chills in November, as summer buying activity gave way to the typical winter slow down.  Nationally, home prices cooled off to a 10.8% year-over-year growth, a slight tapering over the previous quarter’s 11.0% yearly growth.

More notable moderation took place in quarterly growth. November national quarterly growth of 1.8% was nearly cut in half when compared to the previous quarter’s 3.3% growth.  The regions experienced moderation over yearly and quarterly rates of growth as well, with few exceptions. The Midwest and the Northeast were the only regions to see slight gains in yearly rates of growth over the previous quarter, according to Clear Capital’s Market Report

While REOs and short sales accounted for 21.6% of all national sales over the previous quarter, it is substantially lower than peak rates of 41.0% in 2011Distressed sale activity, as a portion of total sales, can increase over winter due to some fair market sellers waiting for the more active spring season to list their homes.

Prior to the recovery taking hold, increasing distressed sale saturation rates pushed prices down. Yet, the First-In-First-Out recovery saw distressed markets drive gains, creating a new relationship between high levels of distressed sale saturation and price gains.

The Phoenix MSA has embodied this behavior as one of the first markets to exhibit a sustained recovery alongside its high levels of distressed sale saturation. After significant gains, the market’s growth is now moderating with quarterly growth of 2.4%, less than half of the current annual rate of growth when annualized. Having led the recovery for the better part of a year, Phoenix no longer sits on the top 15 performing list. Other metro markets also confirm higher levels of distressed sale activity can now correlate with higher price gains.

Average rates of yearly growth in the top performing markets were 19.2% in November, while average distressed sale saturation sat at a relatively high 24.5%.

Low performing markets, on the other hand, had average rates of yearly growth of 4.9% in November, while average distressed sale saturation sat at a relatively low 17.2%.

 

http://www.realestateeconomywatch.com/2013/12/prices-turn-frosty-in-first-november-data/

Turn-Of-The-Century Pacific Heights Mansion Asks $27M | Armonk Real Estate

Leave a reply

Have a nomination for a jaw-dropping listing that would make a mighty fine House of the Day? Get thee to the tipline and send us your suggestions. We’d love to see what you’ve got.

Location: San Francisco, Calif. Price: $27,000,000 The Skinny: Where to start with this stunning Pacific Heights home? The secret Prohibition-era bar? The expansive Art Deco ballroom? The amazing San Francisco Bay views? Or, maybe, the home’s prodigious price tag: $27M, which is a whopping $21M more than the current owner, University of Phoenix co-founder John Murphy, paid for the 9,320-square-foot manse in 1997. That’s a sizable markup, but the home, which was built in 1905 for a member of the Spreckel’s Sugar Company dynasty, does come with an impeccable San Francisco pedigree. It was designed by noted Bay Area architects Bliss and Faville, whose other designs include the American Conservatory Theater and the Bank of California building, and was previously owned by the son of former S.F. Mayor Joseph Alioto. A spiral staircase serves the five-level traditionalist’s delight, which has five bedrooms and dive bathrooms, a walnut-paneled library, solarium, and elevator for the stair-wary. Also: the views!  So why would anyone walk away from a home like this (aside from, of course, the opportunity for a huge profit-taking sale)? Mr. Murphy tells the Wall Street Journal he wants to downsize and spend more time at his Napa Valley estate.

Breathing Room for a California Family | Mt Kisco Real Estate

Leave a reply

San Francisco Bay Area couple raised their children in this home, which worked well enough during that time. But when the kids moved away to start their own families, the couple redid their kitchen as an open concept, creating a more comfortable place for the growing family to spend time together.
The once-confined kitchen needed to be open and inviting for their throngs of friends too, and function like a dream regardless of how many bodies were in it at any given time. And just as important, it needed to have storage to spare. “In all of our 42 years of marriage,” says one of the clients, “I’ve never had room to have all of my accumulated kitchen stuff in my actual kitchen until now.”
Kitchen at a Glance Who lives here: A couple with grown children Location: San Francisco Bay Area Size: 400 square feet

“The project started with the desire to make the kitchen the heart of the house,” says project architect Eugene H. Sakai of Studio S Squared Architecture. “And it is, both functionally and in its location: It’s smack dab in the middle of the house’s floor plan.”
Bar stools: Lamps Plus
Sakai removed walls from the original kitchen to open it up to the dining room. Additional space came from an adjacent bedroom, which was in turn relocated to another part of the house. “Though there was now plenty of space to work with,” says Sakai, “the challenge was to make it easy to pass through in order to get to the living room and backyard.”
Generous walkways offer ample room for large crowds to flow in every direction. These wide clearances are perfect for the couple’s current social and cooking needs but are also designed for accessibility, should someone in the household ever use a wheelchair.
The kitchen centers on the 5- by 7-foot island with special functions on all four sides. “One of the problems with an open floor plan is that there is limited wall space,” says Sakai.
The island solves this by housing a GE oven on one side, a garbage and recycling station and a Sharp microwave drawer on another, and a three-drawer system for everyday needs on a third side. Even the bar seating area offers hidden storage.
Sakai credits the owners for working out the details of the room. “They were very thoughtful with their vision of how they wanted to use the space now and down the line.”
Range hood: Zephyr
The perimeter of the kitchen is just as functional. Matching drawer systems flank the 36-inch Thermador range, while cabinets with ¼-inch beaded glass border the 36-inch Venezia hood to provide the couple with everything they need to prep and plate food.

Understanding cultural expectations helps agents better market to buyers | Pound Ridge NY Homes

Leave a reply

Offshore buyers, unemployment rates hovering between 12 and 25 percent for adults aged 18-25, and an onslaught of baby boomers has caused the number of multigenerational households to explode. If you’re looking for a great niche in 2014, specializing in multigenerational housing can be an excellent choice.

According to NAR’s 2013 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers:“Fourteen percent of recent buyers purchased a home for a multigenerational household — a home that had adult siblings, adult children over the age of 18, parents, and/or grandparents in the household. One-quarter of these homes were bought because children over the age of 18 were moving back into the home and for cost savings.

One of five multigenerational households purchased this household type because of health and caretaking of aging parents, while 1 in 10 purchase this type of home to spend more time with aging parents.”The real driver: foreign-born seniors? In a recent Wall Street Journal article, Neil Shah argued that what’s really driving the trend towards multigenerational households is not low income or high joblessness, it’s the fact the number of seniors born outside the U.S. has risen from 8 percent in 1994 to 13 percent in 2013.

According to Shah: “… Foreign-born seniors are four times more likely to live with their children. Around 25 percent of foreign-born seniors in the U.S. live with relatives, compared with just 6 percent for U.S.-born seniors. … Nearly half of all U.S. seniors born in India (47 percent) were living with relatives. Vietnam (44 percent), the Philippines (38 percent), Mexico (35 percent) and China (34 percent) also posted high shares.”

 

 

– See more at: http://www.inman.com/2013/12/09/multigenerational-households-an-often-overlooked-real-estate-niche-offers-agents-prime-opportunity-in-2014/?utm_source=20131209&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=dailyheadlinesam#sthash.aZfhudbH.dpuf

Bedford Central School District Is Now Closed For Monday | Bedford Corners Real Estate

Leave a reply

MOUNT KISCO/BEDFORD, N.Y. – The Bedford Central School District is now closed for Monday after earlier having a two-hour delay as a result of inclement weather.

 

 

 

http://mtkisco.dailyvoice.com/news/bedford-central-school-district-now-closed-monday

Flood Insurance Spikes Threaten to Cripple Local Real Estate Market | Bedford Corners Homes

Leave a reply

It was a way to remove FEMA subsidies from flood  insurance, but now, an act passed by congress and now in effect  nationwide, is threatening to cripple local real estate markets.

A week ago, WTRF introduced you to two home buyers, who like thousands, are  struggling with the cost of a new flood insurance policy. Now,  another homeowner says the problem is so massive that he’s not about to  sit and watch his neighbors lose their homes.

Greg Kloeppner says he is not optimistic they could find a buyer for his home. He wants to even the playing field and slash residential property values by 90 percent, and commercial  and industrial properties by half to make up for the increasing cost of flood insurance.

 

 

 

http://www.wtrf.com/story/24154577/flood-insurance-spikes-threaten-to-cripple-local-real-estate-market

How to Assess Your Own Site for Solar Potential | Cross River Homes

Leave a reply

With  the current federal tax credits and some local utilities offering incentives,  tapping into solar power is more affordable and pays off sooner than it did four  years ago. Before you bring a solar energy expert out to your house, take some  time to check your site yourself. Evaluating your home for solar is simple: Just  follow these four easy steps.

Check  your paperwork. To be eligible for the solar  incentives from the government and/or utility companies, the person who owns the  system (you) must own the property where the solar array will be installed. The  utility account for the property must be in your name as well.

Check  the orientation. Southern-facing roofs are optimal; west-facing is  the next best. Do none of your roofs face the best directions? Fear not. There  are solutions. Many people use pole mounts and racked panels to maximize their  solar production.

Check  your view. Even a little shading can create a big problem. There are  systems designed to deal effectively with some shading but there is a limit.  There are ways to deal with shading challenges. Obvious solutions are mounting  panels to poles or racks. For one Olympia, Wash., family the best place for  their system was in their backyard. So, they built a pergola and used the  photovoltaic panels as shading.

More  dramatic (and often less desirable) solutions to shading would be removing trees  that cause shading. A good solar installer will be able to give you a reasonable  estimate of how effective tree removal would be before you  break out the chainsaw.

Check  your structure. Outside: If solar panels will be installed  on your roof, you need to take a good look at the roof itself. If the roofing is  due to be replaced in the next 10 years, get it replaced before you have solar  installed. To save money, roofers can replace just the area where solar panels  are being installed. The rest of the roof can be replaced down the line.

 

Your  roof and its supporting structure needs to be in good condition. Solar panels’ additional weight is minimal, but damaged and/or aging roofs require a different  approach. If your roof is sagging, bowing or crumbling, getting your home safe  and solid should be the highest priority.

Inside:  Your home’s wiring needs to be up-to-date. The panels’ electric requirements are  pretty low, but it’s best to make sure your home’s system is able to handle the  additional needs.

Read more: http://www.motherearthnews.com/renewable-energy/how-to-assess-your-own-site-for-solar-potentialzb0z1311zacai.aspx#ixzz2mhvS0TmT