Tag Archives: Westchester NY Real Estate

How the Cold War Shaped the Design of American Malls | Cross River Real Estate

 

 

southdale_center_1956.jpg
[Photo courtesy of Life Magazine Photo Archive via Shorpy]

Regardless of location, the American shopping mall takes the same form: two floors of enclosed shopping and parking connected by escalators, with a lush central arboretum and two anchor department stores at either end. Today this design seems cliche, but in 1956, it was a revolutionary setup that brought comfort to a nation that feared itself on the brink of nuclear war. America’s first mall, Southdale in Edina, Minnesota, was a Cold War-era invention that forever changed the way America lives and shops.

Southdale was designed by Austrian-born architect Victor Gruen. Gruen grew up in the high arts scene in Vienna and designed housing projects and stores for local merchants, but he fled his home and the rise of Nazi Germany in 1938. He settled in America, where he first designed a leather goods boutique for Ludwig Leder on Fifth Avenue in New York. Gruen turned the typical street-fronting New York boutique on its head by designing a mini arcade entranceway for Lederer. Then he turned his attention to larger-scale design, entering a 1943 Architectural Forum competition called “Architecture 194x,” which solicited ideas from renowned modern architects to design components of a futuristic model town. (The contest title referred to an unspecified year sometime in the postwar future.)

 

 

 

read more…

 

 

http://curbed.com/archives/2014/06/11/how-the-cold-war-shaped-the-design-of-american-malls.php

Down to Earth Farmers Market | Katonah NY Real Estate

 

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Mamaroneck: FULL Market for Last Saturday of the Season;
Bombay Emerald Chutney Co & Sale on Local Meats in Ossining
+ More
May 1st-7th, 2014

DowntoEarthMarkets.com
Lettuce_MSP
What’s New and On Sale This Week

2-3 Pound Whole Chickens
Yellow Bell Farm

Beef Kabob Cubes
SALE: $1.50 OFF per pound
Reg: $11.50/lb; NOW $10/lb

Kiernan Farm

Frozen Kofta, Rajma,
Roti Roll, Saag, & Samosa
Bombay Emerald Chutney Co.


Gluten-Free Apple Pies
and Tarts

Meredith’s Bread

Gluten-Free Reverse
Chocolate Chip Cookies

Meredith’s Bread

Pork Ribs – Country-Style
SALE: $1.50 OFF per pound

Reg: $10/lb; NOW $8.50/lb

Kiernan Farm


Spelt Bread
Made with 100% organic spelt and whole wheat flours

Orwashers Bakery

Wild Ramps
Yellow Bell Farm

Wild Ramps, Ramp Pesto &
Ramp Sausage

Stone & Thistle Farm


Click on a Market to see all vendor and event details…

Westchester
County

Mamaroneck
*LAST DAY THIS SATURDAY*

Saturdays thru May 3rd
9:00 am to 1:00 pm


Rockland
County


Ossining

OPEN ALL YEAR AROUND
Saturdays
9:00 am-1:00 pm


Larchmont

OPENING DAY: MAY 10th
Saturdays
8:30 am-1:00 pm

Piermont

OPENING DAY: MAY 11th
Sundays
9:30 am-3:00 pm

L
Croton

OPENING DAY: MAY 11th
Sundays
9:00 am-2:00 pm


Rye

OPENING DAY: MAY 11th
Sundays
8:30 am-2:00 pm

Spring Valley

Coming in July

Tarrytown/Sleepy Hollow

OPENING DAY: MAY 24th
Saturdays
8:30 am-1:00 pm


New Rochelle

OPENING DAY: JUNE 20th
Fridays
8:30 am-2:30 pm


Headed to the city soon?

Visit a Down to Earth
Farmers Market in NYC!

Announcements
Next Weekend – Mother’s Day Weekend – May 10th & 11th

We’re getting ready to open four farmers markets over Mother’s Day Weekend:
Larchmont, Rye, Croton-on-Hudson, and Piermont. These openings are earlier than in years past, and to celebrate the timing with Mother’s Day, we’re hosting “Make Mom a Card!” events at the markets. Ossining’s Down to Earth Farmers Market will have a creation station for Mother’s Day cards, too. We’ll have great music as well. Visit the Down to Earth Markets Calendar for full details.

Stay tuned to all market happenings via our Down to Earth Markets Facebook page
and follow us on Twitter @DowntoEarthMkts.

It Takes a Village to Raise a Food Company:
The 2014 Food + Enterprise Entrepreneur Pitch Competition
FBF-Radicle
Christopher Washington of Radicle Farm, a hydroponic farm in urban New Jersey

The reason why more and more people want to buy local food may be as simple as this: It is made by local people. And they have stories to share. Last week, we attended the 2014 Food + Enterprise Pitch Competition, hosted by Slow Money NYC and the Food Book Fair. Playfully dubbed “The Shark Tank for Foodies” by Derek Denckla, the Chair of Slow Money NYC, it was really a casting call for ten inspiring entrepreneurs who deserve tremendous support.

One by one, small business owners described his or her company to the panel of judges who included Taylor Erkkinen, Co-Owner, The Brooklyn Kitchen; Michael Hurwitz, Director, NYC Greenmarkets (GrowNYC); Liz Neumark, CEO, Great Performances Catering, Katchkie Farm; Elly Truesdell, NE Regional Local Forager, Whole Foods; and our very own Jon Zeltsman, President, Down to Earth Markets. Emilie Baltz expertly moderated the panel.

The first entrepreneur, Arshad Bahl, presented Amrita Health Foods, his plant-based energy bar company. The bars are raw, vegan, grain-free and free of the 8 major allergens. Yet, while those words can seem like familiar chorus, his story made them ring clearly. When his son was two-years old, he was diagnosed with autism. In response, he and his wife drastically changed their son’s diet, and now at age 9, their son is off of autism spectrum. Their son’s transformation is the catalyst behind their company.

Along with way, we also heard from entrepreneurs as varied as a farm on Staten Island, purely dedicated to Mexican heritage foods, to Lindsay Jakubowski of Kriemhild Dairy Farms who told the audience that last year butter sales exceeded margarine sales for the first time in 40 years.

After each presentation, the judges offered their feedback as well as a score on the scale of 1 to 5. A score of 1 meant “not ready to fund today” to a score of 5 meaning, “ready to fund here and now.” The first 5 of the night went to Mark Jaffe of Fresh Connection, a service that aggregates food from local farms in upstate New York for delivery to wholesale accounts and restaurants in the city. His work focuses on a weak link in the local food chain: “last mile delivery.” Jaffe’s execution of a simple, yet sorely needed idea won the competition with the highest score from the judges. As he collected his $500 honorarium in the form of a giant check, he said he was thrilled to receive the award on behalf of truck drivers who are his “unsung heroes.”

After last week’s event, we’ve all got a lot of heroes to sing about.

Day Vendors This Week

Mamaroneck

Calcutta Kitchens
Flourish Baking Company
Hudson River Apiaries
Mortgage Apple Cakes
Robinson & Co. Catering Company (British-inspired prepared foods to go)

Ossining

Bombay Emerald Chutney Company


Down to Earth Markets 173 Main Street Ossining, NY 10562 Phone: 914-923-4837
DowntoEarthMarkets.com

Mortgage Loan Rates Dip as Home Sales Stabilize | Pound Ridge NY Homes

 

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) released its weekly report on mortgage applications Wednesday morning, noting a decrease of 0.2% in the group’s seasonally adjusted composite index, following a rise of 4.7% for the previous week. Mortgage loan rates decreased last week on three of four loan types to their lowest levels since late November.

The seasonally adjusted purchase index increased by 2% from the prior week’s report. On an unadjusted basis, the composite index decreased by 9% week-over-week. The unadjusted purchase index decreased by 3% for the week and is 12% lower year-over-year.

Mortgage rates continue to inch downward, with only the 5/1 ARM interest rate adding three basis points last week. Adjustable rate mortgage loans account for 7% of all applications.

The MBA’s refinance index decreased by 2%, after rising by 10% in the previous week. The share of refinancings fell by two points, totaling 62% of all applications.

The average mortgage loan rate for a conforming 30-year fixed-rate mortgage decreased from 4.57% to 4.52%. The rate for a jumbo 30-year fixed-rate mortgage fell from 4.57% to 4.47%. The average interest rate for a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage fell from 3.68% to 3.59%.

The contract interest rate for a 5/1 adjustable rate mortgage loan rose from 3.23% to 3.25%.

Sales have held fairly stable in January after an initial recovery, which is good news for sellers. As inventories increase with better weather, buyers should get a break too.

 

http://247wallst.com/housing/2014/01/29/mortgage-loan-rates-dip-as-home-sales-stabilize/

 

Mortgage Foreclosures Down 29% in November | Katonah NY Real Estate

 

Homeowners (and investors in the banks holding their mortgages) received a triple dose of good news Thursday, when residential property data provider CoreLogic (NYSE: CLGX ) announced that:

  • The number of completed foreclosures in America dropped 29% year over year in November, as compared to November 2012.
  • Completed foreclosures trended down sequentially from October, falling 8.3%.
  • The inventory of houses in some stage of the foreclosure process, the so-called “foreclosure inventory,” dropped 34% from a year ago. Month-over-month, the foreclosure inventory dropped 4.6% from October 2013 to November 2013.

Additionally, CoreLogic estimates that the residential “shadow inventory” of homes that are “seriously delinquent, in foreclosure or held as REO [real estate owned] by mortgage servicers, but not currently listed on multiple listing services,” has fallen to levels not seen since the start of the housing crisis in 2008. CoreLogic puts the size of this shadow inventory at 1.7 million homes, down 26.4% from one year ago.

As for actual foreclosures, according to CoreLogic’s data, 46,000 homes were foreclosed upon in November, versus 64,000 completed foreclosures in November 2012.

 

http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2014/01/09/mortgage-foreclosures-down-29-in-november.aspx

Dubai property prices show annual rise of 22.4% | Mt Kisco Real Estate

 

Property prices in Dubai have risen by more than 22 percent so far this year, according to the REIDIN.com Sales Price Indices.

The index, which aims to measure the average change in house prices in certain districts and communities in Dubai, showed real estate values in Dubai rose 2.44 percent in November compared to the previous month.

On an annual basis, REIDIN said prices have increased 22.4 percent.

Apartment sales prices registered an increase in November of 2.90 percent month-on-month and were up by 24.5 percent on an annual basis, the index showed.

 

 

http://www.arabianbusiness.com/dubai-property-prices-show-annual-rise-of-22-4–532866.html

Foreclosure Settlement: Ocwen Agrees to $2 Billion in Mortgage Relief | Armonk NY Homes

Ocwen Financial Corp. will reduce struggling borrowers’ loan balances by $2 billion in an agreement with federal regulators and 49 states over foreclosure abuses. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and state attorneys general announced the deal Thursday with the Atlanta-based company, one of the largest U.S. mortgage servicers. The regulators said Ocwen pushed borrowers into foreclosure through illegal actions, such as failing to promptly and accurately credit mortgage payments.

The company also miscalculated interest rates and charged borrowers improper fees, the regulators said. “We believe that Ocwen violated federal consumer financial laws at every stage of the mortgage servicing process,” CFPB Director Richard Cordray (pictured above) said in a conference call with reporters. “We have concluded that Ocwen made troubled borrowers even more vulnerable to foreclosure.”

Under the agreement, Ocwen also will refund a combined $125 million to about 185,000 borrowers who had been foreclosed upon from 2009 through 2012. It also agreed to change the way it manages mortgages. The company must stop “robo-signing” of documents, the practice of automatically signing off on foreclosures without a proper review. The agreement must be approved by a federal court in Washington.

 

http://realestate.aol.com/blog/2013/12/20/ocwen-foreclosure-settlement-reduces-mortgages/

 

Latest Figures Show New Home Sales and Prices Decline in New York | Cross River Real Estate

In August, the New York, NY market saw a decline year-over-year in new home closings, and with a percentage decline steeper than July 2013, there were suggestions the market may be worsening. Closings sank 29.5% from a year earlier to 665. This was after the housing market saw a 25.0% fall year-over-year in July.

A total of 7,252 new homes were sold during the 12 months that ended in August, down from 7,530 for the year that ended in July.

Out of all housing closings, new home closings made up 4.8%. This is down from the 7.5% of closings a year earlier. Closings of new and existing homes increased year-over-year in August after also rising in July year-over-year.

 

 

 

http://www.builderonline.com/local-housing-data/mid-atlantic/new-york-northern-new-jersey-long-island-ny-nj-pa.aspx?cid=lmkt:new-york-northern-new-jersey-long-island-ny-nj-pa:20131215&rdrnum=1000073719

 

 

 

US homebuilder confidence surges in December | North Salem NY Real Estate

The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo builder sentiment index released Tuesday climbed to 58. That was up from 54 in November and matched an eight-year high reached in August. Readings above 50 indicate that more builders view sales conditions as good than poor.

In addition, builders’ view of current sales conditions jumped this month to the highest level in eight years. And their outlook for sales heading into next year’s spring home-selling season also improved.

The index has stayed above 50 now for seven straight months after being below that level since May 2006. This month’s reading is 11 points higher than a year ago. It reflects a U.S. housing market fueled by steady job growth and still-low mortgage rates.

The latest index suggests that builders remain optimistic that the housing recovery will endure even though mortgage rates have risen in recent months.

“The recent spike in mortgage interest rates has not deterred consumers as rates are still near historically low levels,” said David Crowe, the NAHB’s chief economist. “We continue to look for a gradual improvement in the housing recovery in the year ahead.”

Mortgage rates peaked at 4.6 percent in August and have stabilized since September, when the Federal Reserve surprised markets by taking no action on starting to reduce its bond purchases. Its bond purchases are intended to keep long-term interest rates low, including mortgage rates.

 

 

 

http://news.yahoo.com/us-homebuilder-confidence-surges-december-150049424–finance.html