Actually somewhat of a classic, but would I purchase the property because of it? Nope.

This stove seems kind of shy…

I suppose this picture is really about bad frig pictures, as it is dominated by the slab side of the appliance, but i felt sorry for the poor stove tucked away in the corner. At least is has a nice view. If the photographer had moved to the left a couple of feet you would have had a much better view of the overall space.

The early February storm was particularly beautiful, and I managed to take a few pictures which set off our wonderful building nicely. And did I mention that we have several great apartments available for sale?? Junior one bedrooms start at $129,000, and all the one bedrooms, including our largest line with a new kitchen, are affordably priced under $200k! Only 10% down, and walk to train and shops. Contact me for more information.  http://www.bronxvilleterrace.com

Ok, advertisement is done. Enjoy the pictures!

The law already requires that upon sale of a home that a CM detector be in place, but that really is insufficient; in existing homes that have not sold too many people do have not have them, and many do not even have smoke detectors. Hard to believe but I know its true.

If this law saves one life it is worth it.

Thanks to the New York State Association of Realtors http://www.NYSAR.org  who made me aware of the new law.

Section 1. Short title. This act shall be known and may be cited as “Amanda’s Law”.
§  2.  Subdivision 5-a of section 378 of the executive law, as amended by chapter 202 of the laws of 2006, is amended to read as follows:
5-a. Standards for installation of carbon monoxide detectors requiring that every one or two-family dwelling, or any dwelling accommodation located in a building owned as a condominium or cooperative in the state  or  any multiple dwellings shall have installed an operable carbon monoxide detector of such manufacture, design and installation standards as are established by the council. Carbon monoxide detectors required by this section are required only where the dwelling unit has appliances, devices or systems that may emit carbon monoxide or has an attached garage. For purposes of this  subdivision,  multiple  dwelling  means  a dwelling  which  is either rented, leased, let or hired out, to be occupied, or is occupied as the temporary or permanent residence or home  of three or more families living independently of each other, including but not  limited to the following: a tenement, flat house, maisonette apartment, apartment house, apartment hotel, tourist house,  bachelor  apartment,  studio apartment, duplex apartment, kitchenette apartment, hotel, lodging house, rooming  house,  boarding  house,  boarding  and  nursery school,  furnished  room  house, club, sorority house, fraternity house, college and school dormitory, convalescent, old age or nursing homes  or residences.  It shall also include a dwelling, two or more stories in height and with five or more boarders, roomers or lodgers residing with any one family.  New construction shall mean a new facility or a separate building added to an existing facility.
     § 3. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after it shall have become a law.

Headline got your attention? It should! How does up to $555 in free money from cash strapped New York State sound? Well its true! From February 12th until the 21st, or until the money runs out, NYSERDA is offering rebates for qualifying refrigerators, freezers and clothes washers. Enhanced rebates are available for people who recycle their old machines and the best benefits are for those who purchase a package of all three appliances and recycle all the old clunkers. (Did I just say “Cash for Clunkers!”)

Since this is a government program there are RULES, so to make sure you get the accurate information, I am going to direct you to the NYSERDA page where you can get the full details and all the links for everything you need to know.

In these difficult times, why turn down the opportunity to save on your electric bill, and get FREE MONEY$$$$ from the State!! So Click below for the full details:

CLICK HERE FOR THE NYSERDA APPLIANCE SWAP OUT PROGRAM PAGE

2009 was dismal, but we have turned the corner.

That is the crux of the market report issued this week by the Westchester Putnam MLS. I generally let this document speak for itself because I frankly am not in love with it. Not because anything in it is wrong - not at all. it just is as the old chestnut goes: all real estate is local . Well that is never more true in residential res estate. What transpires in Bronxville is not the same as Yorktown!  To aggregate them together and draw a conclusion is simplistic at best.

This is precisely why a local Realtor is so valuable. I may sound like an advertisement but an agent who knows his or her local market in depth has valuable knowledge to impart to a buyer or seller that no dry statistics, and certainly no broad brush county-wide chart can impart. So find a good agent and listen.

Ok, I will shut up with the glories of Realtors. of course I am wonderfu, and there are many other excellent brethren as well. But what did the dry as dust report that I alluded to say? Well before I give you the link to it, a couple of tidbits. here goes:

2009 sucked

Yes, that is a real estate term for it was rotten, lousy, stinky, slow, frustrating, infuriating, exasperating, well, you get the picture.

BUT, it also set the beginnings of the recovery. If you have spoken to me this year you know I have probably spoken to you about the concept of value cycles and the slow inexorable movement of real estate markets. I learned this concept while working at Pricewaterhousecoopers LLP and meeting the legendary Peter Korpacz MAI, one of the great market researchers and analysts in the commercial real estate industry, who was able to develop a mathematical model to project value cycles of markets all over the United states and plot their position on a curve showing an upswing, stasis or a downturn. It was remarkably accurate and is still used in the Korpacz Investment Survey. The point being that the market, while currently weak, WILL recover. When, I cannot give you an exact answer but it will not be 2010. 2011, doubt it, but it will be more stable than this year. beyond that it is hard to tell. Cycles are slow, but crashes are fairly quick, and that part is basicallyly over. The bumpy portion of the cycle is here now, with psychological ups and down now until unemployment improves and consumer confidence gets stronger.

I will not bore you with an endless rehash of what you can read at the Link below. Everything is down. What is interesting is that coops showed the smallest decline last year, with a median sales price decline of 5.4%, which is half the decline of single family homes. Coops are fantastic defensive purchases in a recession, and I am quite frankly surprised that they do not sell better.

So read the Boards report, and comment away. I want to know what you think. I have prepared statistical analysis of several submarkets in southern Westchester that show different results than the blended rates from the county-wide results, which only confirm that all sales are local!

Click the link below for the end of year Westchester Putnam Board of Realtors 2009 Report:

http://bit.ly/WPAR4Q09

Eligability Requirements:  http://www.cbs.com/cbs_casting/amazing_race/Eligibility_Requirements.pdf

First up is this romantic photograph of a bathroom vanity. I don’t know about you, but I think I might have a hard time combing my hair in the mirror. TURN ON THE LIGHT!!!!!!!!!

“I am sorry Madame, but everyone has already left the ballroom and have gone to the lifeboats.  There is little time left so I suggest you hurry!!!”

Seriously there is a freeware program called Photoscape that can correct this and so much more http://download.cnet.com/PhotoScape/3000-2192_4-10703122.html?tag=mncol;pop

Download it!!

Well……no photo software in the world can fix this one, whatever it is!!