Middlesex County Connecticut USGS Topographic Maps on CD

This USGS Topo CD will change the way you view your county! This easy to use USGS topo CD is a great way to print your own maps of anyplace in your County. These are the highest detailed USGS maps available. A scale of 1:24,000 allows considerable detail to be shown; 2.64 inches = 1 mile. All maps have been joined together into one digital file without the text in the borders. Land Owners, Farmers, & Ranchers - quickly create accurate maps of your property. Hunters, Fishermen, Sportsmen, & Outdoor enthusiasts - no need to carry multiple USGS maps into the backcountry. Print just your area, even if it falls on the corner of the original paper map. Our digital maps do not have corners or edges. Real Estate, Developers, Planners & Property Management - a topo map shows the area around a property and can greatly enhance marketing material, reports, presentations or make a fascinating display in the office. Teachers, Professors, and Education Professionals (K-12 & College) - USGS topographic maps are a interesting addition to any classroom, it will bring your lessons to life fascinating everyone involved. Engineers, Planners, and Environmental Professionals - visualize and evaluate site locations prior to your visit. Get more out of a site visit with the USGS Topo Map you print out. This will save you time and money! Geographic Information System (GIS) professionals - the USGS DRGs are mosaiced into one MrSID image file in UTM NAD83 Meters coordinate system. Everything is there for use in you favorite GIS software - All ESRI products, (ArcView, ArcInfo, ArcMap, etc.), Erdas, MapInfo, any other GIS software that reads MrSID format.

Price: $19.99

Click here to buy from Amazon

On The Market: A TIC That We Can Get Behind

× Like us and you'll find top breaking news in your Facebook newsfeed. Sign up for our daily email newsletter and get top stories and breaking news delivered to your inbox. Thursday, April 14, 2011, by Abby Pontzer Sometimes we ask ourselves, "What exactly would it take for us to buy a TIC?" One scenario is that it would be lower-priced (as TICs generally are) and in a two-unit building, so you could convert to condo quickly and get a normal mortgage. That in mind, check out this 3-bed, 2-bath flat in the Mission. Outside there's a quaint backyard with a lovely deck, but you may not care when you're only four blocks from Dolores Park. It's got nicely redone kitchens and bathrooms that you may not hate in five years, and bedrooms with enough space to actual want to be in them, a true rarity. Parking and storage go along with the unit, and it's ready for laundry day as soon as you buy the washer and dryer. Get out your trust fund for the 20% down payment on $679,000, for a whopping 1,400 shiny hardwoody square feet. What do you think, dear readers? Does this flat's TICiness turn you off completely or do you think it might be a good buy in hipsterdom? · 375 Capp [Redfin]

View the original article here

[The New Yorker] Pick Your Own Housing Market Caption

[click to view contest]

I thought Matrix readers might like to enter a caption for The New Yorker’s contest. I didn’t enter the contest but I was thinking along the lines of:

“One the bright side, there’s less yard work and better ventilation.”“The foundation is a lot like our marriage.”“When I said we were looking for a house on the “edge” of town I didn’t mean…”

View the original article here

Decorative Busts

Busts make any room look instantly elegant and rich. These representationalist sculptures can be mixed with modern decor for an eclectic look or placed amongst distressed surroundings for a European sophistication.

Busts never go out of style. Although, it's best to use the sculptures in minimalist, modern or eclectic interiors. Busts can be a bit stodgy when mixed with traditional furniture and floral textiles.

There are still a few master designers who consistantly rely on traditional busts to enhance their interiors. Gary Spain mixes busts with bright colors and geometric patterns. Skona Hem adds these scultpures to pale enchanting palettes in unexpected places, while Paul Costello will add them as a splash of cosmopolitan seriousness in an amusing room.

For more bust inspiration go to Apartment Therapy Decorative Busts in Modern Settings

1. & 3.
Gary Spain Design 2. Design to Inspire 4. & 5. Country Living: Living Large In A Little House 6. Apartment Therapy: The Tyners' Skullduggery House Tour 7. Grayson: Different Shade of Grey via Domino Magazine and Nick Olsen 8. Sarah Laird: Paul Costello Interiors 9. Beeton Associates 10. Belle Maison

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On The Stamp: Food Stamp Participation December 2010

As a logical consequence of the prolonged economic downturn it appears that participation in the federal food stamp program is continuing to rise.

In fact, household participation has been climbing so steadily that it has far surpassed the last peak set as a result of the immediate fallout following hurricane Katrina.

The latest data released by the Department of Agriculture shows that in December, an additional 486,503 new recipients were added to the food stamps program, an increase of 13.09% on a year-over-year basis, while household participation increased 15.55%.

Individual participation as a ratio of the overall civilian non-institutional population has increased 12.16% over the same period.

These results confirm that participation is continuing it's explosive climb, likely as a result of the jump in total unemployment, driving the nominal benefit costs up an lofty 12.31% on a year-over-year basis to $5.890 billion for the month.

Labels: economy, food stamps

Copyright © 2011
PaperEconomy Blog - www.papereconomy.com
All Rights Reserved

Disclaimer

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Gala Introductions: Please Welcome Curbed Seattle to the Dancefloor!

× Like us and you'll find top breaking news in your Facebook newsfeed. Sign up for our daily email newsletter and get top stories and breaking news delivered to your inbox. Tuesday, April 19, 2011, by Sarah Firshein

Fire up those bookmarks—there's a new kid in town. Fresh from the land of Starbucks, Nirvana, and Bill Gates and streaming onto a computer near you is the newest member of the Curbediverse, Curbed Seattle! Headed by Kelly Skahan and launching right this second, the site will join Curbed National, Curbed NY, Curbed LA, Curbed SF, Curbed Hamptons, Curbed Chicago, and Curbed DC on our shared quest for complete and utter domination of real estate and neighborhood news on the web.

In other news, the Eater sphere expands, too, with today's launch of Eater Seattle, which casts wider the Eater net that presently includes Eater National, New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Portland, Chicago, Miami, Austin, and DC. Expect in-depth restaurant, nightlife, and bar-scene reportage. The Emerald City never looked so tasty!

· Curbed Seattle [official site]
· Eater Seattle [official site]

View the original article here

<b>Real Estate</b> Round Up: Travis Barker

Sometime last week–or maybe it was the week before, our boozy brain can't recall–The Bizzy Boys at Celebrity Address Aerial kindly floated Your Mama some 411 about heavily tattooed rocker and airplane crash survivor Travis Barker who recently purchased a perfectly quotidian if not exactly inexpensive home in a gated development in the Bel Air area of Los Angeles. We set the matter aside until yesterday afternoon when Your Mama was overcome with Nosy and started to peek peep and poke around in the public property records to see what we could see.

Mister Barker, the drummer for a slew of pop-punk and rock bands including Blink-182, +44 and Box Car Racer, has successfully parlayed his fame into a small fortune with other ventures that include a record company (LaSalle Records) and a clothing company (Famous Stars and Straps). Among the gossip glossy reading crowd he's perhaps best known for his famously volatile on-again-off-again marriage/relationship with tee-vee presenter Shanna Moakler, a hot-tempered former Miss USA who bore him two rug rats and who had a very public, very trashy and high-larious smack-down in the fall of 2006 with Paris 'the heiress' Hilton after her then-estranged husband Mister Barker was caught canoodling with Miss 'gets around town' Hilton a month or so earlier.

In the fall of 2008 Mister Barker was a passenger on a plane that crashed near Columbia, SC. Only he and friend DJ AM survived the hideous accident. DJ AM died of an apparent drug overdose in his New York City apartment the following year and Mister Barker's injuries were far more significant than first revealed to the public. Last week, in anticipation of the release of his debut solo album next week, it was reported that Mister Barker came damn near close to having his foot amputated and that he's endured 16 surgeries to put his Humpty Dumpty back together again. This probably sounds sappy from a cold-blooded cynic like Your Mama but we think Mister Barker's physical courage and psychic fortitude in the face of such awful adversity is to be commended and admired.

Anyhoodles poodles, let's get down to brass tacks, shall we? Our odyssey through Mister Barkers real estate journey begins in August of 2003 when property records show the then twenty-something year old skins pounder paid $3,150,000 for a very adult mansion with 7,620 square feet located within the guard-gated Bel Air Crest community in the mountains on the upscale but much less glitzy far western border of hoity-toity Bel Air. The 6 bedroom and 8 pooper property, which has an impress-the-guests-style entry with wrought iron dual staircases and a cozy backyard with swimming pool and mountain views, practically hovers over the always clogged up 405 freeway, an ever-present source of vehicular aggravation for many Angelenos.

Mister Barker quickly caught a case of that ol' Real Estate Fickle and flipped his Bel Air Crest beehawtcha back on the market. Records reveal it was sold in May 2004 for $3,500,000 and, as it turns out, the property is currently back on the market with an asking price of $4,495,000.

Even though he was quick to flip, Mister Barker must have liked living up in the Bel Air Crest because on September 2004, just a month or so before he legally hitched his wagon Miss Moakler, the tatted-up rocker went and paid $6,200,000 for a much larger 12,184 square foot mcmansion just around the corner from his previous house on Queensborough Lane. It was here, in this 8 bedroom and 9 bathroom beast of an abode, that Mister and Missus Barker filmed two seasons of a reality program called Meet the Barkers, a lame rock-n-roll version of the equally lame Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica.

September of 2004 was a busy real estate month for Mister Barker. Records show that in addition to snatching up a new mcmansion in Bel Air paid $480,000 for a 2,752 square foot tract house in the middle-brow resort community of Lake Elsinore, CA. Interestingly, information we dug up the interweb shows that a naughty notice of default was filed on the property in May 2007 but was quickly cleared up. Your Mama has not idea if Mister Barker used this house for personal use, an investment and/or as a residence for a family member.

In December of 2006 Mister Barker and Miss Moakler split up for the first of many times and in February of 2007 they sold their behemoth abode in the Bel Air Crest community for $8,000,000 to a prominent Los Angeles attorney. The attorney somehow managed to flip the mansion just three short weeks later for $9,500,000, a mind-blowing $1,500,000 profit before he even had to make a second mortgage payment. The buyer who lined the attorney's pockets with an impressive and, let's be honest, revolting $1,500,000 profit was none other than rebellious Canuck pop-puck princess Avril "The Spitter" Lavigne who occupied the large and lavish residence with her then huzband Deryck Whibley, front man of some band called Sum 41. That marriage, as anyone who reads the tabs knows, has done swirled down the terlit of Hollywood love.

At that same time Mister Barker sold his hu-mongo house in the Bel Air Crest community to the L.A.-based attorney in Feb. 2007 he bought a slightly smaller but still-titanic 10,198 square foot mansion within an exclusive gated enclave inside an affluent and also gated community in über-suburban Calabasas, CA. As far as we know–and we really know so very little–Mister Barker remains in residence at his Calabasas crib that happens to be located in the same double-gated enclave where pop superstar Britney Spears was living in a massive rented mansion until she recently decamped for and even larger leased estate in the celebrity-friendly equestrian community of Hidden Hills, CA.

Riverside, CA is about as far from the Tinseltown klieg lights as one can get but in January of 2008 Mister Barker shelled out $370,000 to acquire a fairly modest house in a banal tract development in the decidedly un-glam suburban city. For what purpose Mister Barker wanted this house is unknown.
Later in the year, Mister Barker was involved in the above mentioned aircraft accident and with better things to do than buy and sell houses Mister Barker kept his real estate checkbook in check until March of 2010 when property records reveal he whipped it out and paid $1,300,000 to purchase a large but very ordinary and architecturally sad 5,529 square foot house in Rancho Cucamonga, CA (above). Once again we have no idea what Mister Barker might want or need with a 5 bedroom and 5.5 pooper house way out near the flavorless city of San Bernadino in ur-suburban Riverside County.

Listing information shows the house sits on a gentle slope with 180-degree views of city lights and the surrounding mountains and includes garage space for four cars, 3 fireplaces including a massive freestanding number in the backyard, a technology alcove, library with custom cabinets and large gore-may kitchen that's open to a family room. A covered patio at the rear of the house protects people from frying themselves in Rancho Cucamonga's scorching summer heat. A built in barbecue center makes for year-round grillin' and chillin' and instead of a swimming pool and/or spa there's some sort of hybrid situation that listing information refers to as a "spool." As best as we can tell that's a plunge pool that can be heated up to a boil where Mister Barker and his guests can wallow in the water like they're a damn human stew.
Mister Barker's 2010 real estate activities continued apace in December 2010 with the $1,495,000 acquisition of a truly insipid 2,960 square foot mock-Med tract house situation in the Bel Air Crest community (above) , the same upscale development that the children who are paying attention will recognize as the same one in which he previously owned two much larger mansions.

Listing information shows the house includes 3-4 bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms, a living room with extra-high ceiling and hardwood floors, and an eat-in kitchen with stainless steel appliances and granite counter tops. Although there's but a sliver of a front yard and an only slightly larger backyard, listing information from the time of the purchase indicates the landscaping was new and includes a spa and built-in barbecue.

Once again, Your Mama hasn't an iota why Mister Barker would want this house but if we've said it twice we've said it twice too many times before, who are we to comprehend the capricious real estate ways of the rich and famous

listing photos (Rancho Cucamonga): Prudential California Realty
listing photos (Bel Air): Nelson Shelton & Associates

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Tales from the Way Back Machine: The Chronicle brings us the fascinating...

× Like us and you'll find top breaking news in your Facebook newsfeed. Sign up for our daily email newsletter and get top stories and breaking news delivered to your inbox. Monday, April 18, 2011, by Abby Pontzer

The Chronicle brings us the fascinating first-person account of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire. Leonie von Zesch, 23 years old at the time, experienced the quake from her family's home at Sutter and Leavenworth, and went on to explore the damage in the rest of the city with her mother. Her diary was only found recently, by her 85-year old niece who hasdn't previously bothered to look through the box that Leonie had left to her. So a few things we can learn from this story: for Pete's sake, open boxes of old stuff, and when they tell you the gas main is broken, stop trying to light your stove. [SFGate]

View the original article here

Masterpiece Studios Imprintable Blank Personalized Stationery Stock - Real Estate Letterhead

Blank Imprintable Letterhead Personalized Stationery. White 8 1/2" x 11" imprintable blank stationery letterhead paper (24 lb. bond / 60 lb. text) by Masterpiece Studios, available in packs of 25 or 100. Envelopes sold separately in packs of 25.

Price:

Click here to buy from Amazon

Real Estate Sold: One Bedroom at the Royal Towers Sold For $2,900,000

× Like us and you'll find top breaking news in your Facebook newsfeed. Sign up for our daily email newsletter and get top stories and breaking news delivered to your inbox. Monday, April 18, 2011, by Sally Kuchar

Originally asking $4,500,000, unit #205 in the Royal Towers has finally sold after hanging out on the market for over a year. Sale price? $2,900,000. As we've mentioned before, this is a 1-bedroom, 1.5-bath co-op. Sure, it clocks it at 2,849-square-feet, and yes, interior designer and famous person Ann Getty designed the abode. But $2,900,000 for a one bedroom? Pair that with headache-inducing monthly HOA dues of $4,312.91 and we're ready for our nightly martini, thank you very much. The unit is packed full of fancy like a hexagonal onyx foyer, Jaipur arches and a silver ceiling in the dining room. No word yet on who gets the keep the furniture.
· Major Reduction for Royal Towers One Bedroom [Curbed SF]
· 1750 Taylor #205 [Redfin]

View the original article here

Searching for Real Estate Foreclosures

Investing in real estate foreclosures is a process comprised of several steps towards acquiring the ideal property. The first thing a future investor would need to take care of is their own financial capability.

Determining just how high you can go in terms of funding can set you off to a fruitful search for a property.
Most investors take out a home loan to pay for their real estate foreclosures. There are several hurdles to clear before a loan can be granted. Banks and other lending companies have always followed some stringent measures before extending any kind of credit to anyone, but more so for personal loans. They will demand several documents to support your request for a loan as they need to feel secure that lending you money will be a good decision.

Financial Preparation

It is a given that anyone planning to borrow money for a home purchase need to have a clean credit record. Make sure you do not have significant loans that you are still paying off if you plan to take out a home loan. Banks will also look for a stable source of income from their borrowers because the terms of a home loan will go on for a number of years and will be exposed to the shifts in the economy. Having a job is sometimes not enough, one has to be able to prove that their source of income is stable and will continue to be so for a number of years.

If you are self-employed, you just need to be sure you are religiously filing your taxes and declaring your income and, of course, the value of your monthly income should be static and not given to fluctuations. You may also provide other proof of financial standing, such as deeds to other properties or bank accounts.

Your financial situation should be able to withstand external forces like an economic recession. Many people have lost their homes at the first sign of an economic downturn because they lost their job, which is their primary source of livelihood and nobody wants to fall into the same trap. Indeed financial security is a necessity when investing in real estate foreclosures.

View the original article here

Bits Bucket for April 18, 2011

Looks like people are getting nervous. They want physical bullion. I remember something said on here before the housing bubble collapsed, “DON’T PANIC, but if you do panic, be first!”

Gold-Shortage Threat Drives Texas Schools Hoarding 664,000 Ounces at HSBC
By David Mildenberg and Pham-Duy Nguyen - Apr 17, 2011 8:00 AM PT

Dallas hedge-fund manager J. Kyle Bass helped advise the University of Texas Investment Management Co. on taking delivery of 6,643 gold bars, worth $987 million on April 15, now stored in a bank warehouse in New York.

Bass, who made $500 million with 2006 bets on a U.S. subprime-mortgage market collapse, said managers of the endowment, known as UTIMCO, sought board approval to convert its gold investments into bullion this year. A board member, Bass, 41, said he was asked to help with that process.

While Bass, a managing partner at Hayman Capital Management LP, said in an April 16 e-mail that “the decision to purchase and take delivery of the physical gold” was made by endowment staff members, “I helped where I could.” Gold futures touched a record $1,489.10 an ounce April 15 in New York before closing at $1,486.

The Texas fund’s $19.9 billion in assets ranked it behind only Harvard University’s endowment as of August, according to the National Association of College and University Business Officers. Last year, UTIMCO added about $500 million in gold investments to an existing stake, said Bruce Zimmerman, the endowment’s chief executive officer. The fund’s managers sought to take delivery of bullion to protect against demand for the metal overwhelming supply, according to Bass.

Open interest in gold futures and options traded on the Comex typically exceeds supplies held in its warehouses. If the holders of just 5 percent of those contracts opted to take delivery of the metal, there wouldn’t be enough to cover the demand, Bass said.
Printing Money

“If you own a paper contract where they can only deliver you 10 cents on the dollar or less, you should probably convert it to physical,” said Bass, who isn’t related to Fort Worth’s billionaire Bass family. He said holding cash wasn’t a better choice because the rate of inflation exceeds money-market rates by 2.5 percent to 3 percent, eroding the value of cash.

“Central banks are printing more money than they ever have, so what’s the value of money in terms of purchases of goods and services,” Bass said April 15 in a telephone interview. “I look at gold as just another currency that they can’t print any more of.”

Sovereign-debt concerns also boosted demand for the metal on April 15, driving Comex futures to an all-time high. The price has climbed 28 percent in the past year.

Gold’s 10-year rally has attracted billionaire investors such as George Soros and John Paulson, who seek a store of value as record-low interest rates erode returns on currencies.
Wealthy Buyers

Few investors take physical delivery of bullion. As of April 14, 2,860 contracts this month, about 0.5 percent of total open interest, had been converted to metal, exchange data show.

Physical deliveries have slowed as gold topped records this year, said Blake Robben, a senior market strategist who handles deliveries of Comex metals for clients at Chicago-based broker Lind-Waldock.

“It’s usually wealthy individuals with net worths over $1 million who want to take delivery to diversify away from the dollar,” Robben said. “Generally, it’s a big hassle and not worth it to take delivery.”

Investors can own 100 ounces of gold futures with Lind- Waldock by paying a $100 fee and putting up $6,571 in a margin account to purchase one contract. To take delivery of a 100- ounce bar, investors have to pay the full price of the contract.

Bass, a Texas Christian University graduate who was named to the endowment’s board in August, is a former salesman with Bear Stearns Cos. and Legg Mason Inc. He said about 5 percent of his hedge fund is invested in gold.

The endowment, which oversees funds held by the University of Texas System and Texas A&M University, has 664,300 ounces of bullion in a Comex-registered vault in New York owned by HSBC Holdings Plc, the London-based bank, according to a report distributed at a meeting in Austin.

“I simply voted as a board member to approve the storage facility and concurred with their decisions,” Bass said.

To contact the reporters on this story: David Mildenberg in Austin, Texas, at dmildenberg@bloomberg.net. Pham-Duy Nguyen in Seattle at pnguyen@bloomberg.net.

View the original article here

A Badge Of Honor: My HP 12c And Reverse Polish Notation

By my calculations (no pun intended), this year is the 30th anniversary of the HP12C. I wrote about the 25th anniversary 5 years ago on my former blog Soapbox back in 2006.

And today, after months of dealing with sticking keys on my HP12C, adorned with dents, scratches, scuffs, missing foot pads, a crud encrusted display after seemingly billions of keystrokes, I finally came to terms that it was time to retire it – which means keeping it in a safe place for posterity.

For a serial gadget person, I am surprised I stuck with a device of any kind for 25 years and only replaced it with an identical but new version.

I have one on my iPhone and one on my MacBook Pro, but its not the same as using old (new) reliable.

Here’s a rehash of my March 30, 2006 post:

This year is the 25th anniversary of the launch of the HP 12c. I have had mine for about 20 years. The logo has been chipped off, two of the foot pads are missing, its scratched, dented and scuffed.

But it still works like a charm. I have purchased more powerful upgrades to the 12c by HP but I was soon back to my baby. Billions of numbers have shown through the dirty display and a whole lot of appraisals got done using this nifty tool. I have become protective of it, getting concerned when it gets swapped accidentally in the office with a newer one thats shiny, clean and unweathered. Its just not the same.

I have only changed my battery once in twenty years. I remember taking a Cap A class offered by the Appraisal Institute and the logic given for learning the J-Factor and K-Factor was that it would come in handy if you were on the witness stand as an expert and your HP 12c battery died. I kid you not.

The HP 12C was the world’s first horizontal financial calculator. Its innovative design and breakthrough Reverse Polish Notation (RPN) entry forever changed the way students and professionals reach their goals. After 25 years, this iconic calculator is still sold under its original name and model number and retains its world-famous horizontal design.

I even use the software equivalent on my laptop. In addition, my Mac OSX operating system allows me thankfully, to change the system calculator to use reverse polish notation (RPN)

Remember: 1 enter 1 +

Should I finally break down and buy a new one?

NO WAY

View the original article here

Rent, Don&apos;t Buy: Dungeon Apartment in "Cowboy Cassidy&apos;s" Basement Can Be Yours

× Like us and you'll find top breaking news in your Facebook newsfeed. Sign up for our daily email newsletter and get top stories and breaking news delivered to your inbox. Wednesday, April 20, 2011, by Sarah Firshein

As a general rule of thumb, folks who rent apartments on Craigslist try to avoid ending up in the landlord's dungeon. Yet the Los Angeles Times home blog encourages renters to reconsider, offering a story about the totally normal-sounding, affable George Ehling, an octogenarian who has been renting out the basement apartment—"bigger than a studio and smaller than a one bedroom"—in his Hollywood Hills home for five years. The subterranean space is clad with rocks that Ehling dug up in the backyard and affixed to the concrete walls; it's renting for $1,350 a month. One word of advice, though: in his earlier days, Ehling used to wrestle under the nickname "Cowboy Cassidy."

· Dungeon apartment for rent in the Hollywood Hills [L.A. at Home]

View the original article here

UPDATED: Charlie Sheen Buys Mediterranean Manse: On Friday, we reported on the...

× Like us and you'll find top breaking news in your Facebook newsfeed. Sign up for our daily email newsletter and get top stories and breaking news delivered to your inbox. Monday, March 7, 2011, by Sarah Firshein

? Back to top

? Previous: Mounted in Alaska: History Channel's New Taxidermy Decor Show

View the original article here

Celebrity Real Estate: Glenn Beck Leaving Liberal Bastion NYC For Parts Unknown

× Like us and you'll find top breaking news in your Facebook newsfeed. Sign up for our daily email newsletter and get top stories and breaking news delivered to your inbox. Monday, April 18, 2011, by Rob Bear

Just over a week after announcing he would be parting ways with Fox News, conservative talking head Glenn Beck has sold his New Canaan, Conn. home and says he plans on moving from New York. The colorful commentator—who has recently been raking in more than $20M a year—had most recently listed the white colonial for $3.7M, but something tells us he might have cut the price to expedite his departure. Beck paid $4.25M for the house back in 2005. The 8,700-square-foot manse features six bedrooms, 6.5 baths, five fireplaces, a tennis court and an in-ground pool, plus listing photos reveal an office with no fewer than four computer monitors and two televisions. Will Beck unplug long enough to unload his swank NYC apartment too? Only time will tell, but we've grabbed some photos of the pundit's pied-a-terre for your perusal.

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Globe Trotting: Embrace the Turreted Life: Rent a Room in an Irish Castle!

× Like us and you'll find top breaking news in your Facebook newsfeed. Sign up for our daily email newsletter and get top stories and breaking news delivered to your inbox. Monday, March 7, 2011, by Sarah Firshein

Hotels? So plebe. Anyone who's anyone is now lodging at an Irish castle. Take this, Clontarf Castle in Dublin—perhaps you'd consider naming your first born Clontarf. No? Anyway, rooms start at $225 a night, which is actually cheaper than staying a Marriott in midtown Manhattan. Plus, you've got history (the place was built in 1172), a bucolic setting, and a $13.9M renovation that's yielded some pretty sweet modern interiors. Design Crave's got plenty of other options this castle just doesn't have you at hello.

· Top O' the Morning: 10 Irish Castles to Spend the Night [Design Crave]
· Accommodation [Clontarf Castle Hotel]

View the original article here

Demolition: Great Gatsby Mansion Beaten Ceaselessly Into The Ground

× Like us and you'll find top breaking news in your Facebook newsfeed. Sign up for our daily email newsletter and get top stories and breaking news delivered to your inbox. Monday, April 18, 2011, by Rob Bear

On Saturday, a Long Island developer made good on his promise to demolish Land's End, the Gold Coast estate said to have inspired F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. CBS News was there to catch the gruesome act on camera and interviewed owner and developer Bert Brodsky, who waxed poetic about the house and its history just minutes before a metal claw tore through the fine woodwork. The grand columned mansion had certainly seen better days—as a set of old listing photos revealed last month can attest—and Brodsky says he and his son had "no choice" but to demolish the aging summer cottage. The dilapidated home languished on the market, priced at $30M, before the father-son duo decided to redevelop the 13-acre property into five luxury homes priced at $10M a piece, so their claims of poverty are a little shaky at best. Get all the history, demolition footage, and developer grandstanding in the video, after the jump.

View the original article here

At the Foot of Famous Buildings: There&apos;s a Brooklyn artist who has...

× Like us and you'll find top breaking news in your Facebook newsfeed. Sign up for our daily email newsletter and get top stories and breaking news delivered to your inbox. Monday, March 7, 2011, by Sarah Firshein

? Back to top

? Previous: Decorating a $6M Richard Meier Apartment

? Next: Embrace the Turreted Life: Rent a Room in an Irish Castle!

View the original article here

Bits Bucket for April 19, 2011

Foreclosure prevention workshop tonight in West Palm Beach

by Kim Miller
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

The Neighborhood Community Foundation is holding a free foreclosure prevention workshop tonight at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in West Palm Beach.

It’s the second West Palm Beach visit for the non-profit group, which says it is returning because of an overwhelming response from homeowners when it was here April 5.

“Our call center was swamped with homeowners anxious to gain clarity about the circumstances surrounding their foreclosure,” said Jim Boyer, the organization’s spokesperson.

The program runs from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. The Crowne Plaza Hotel is located at 1601 Belvedere Road, West Palm Beach.

Topics covered in the workshop include:
• Securitization – Where the problems began
• Loan Review – How to identify errors in your loan papers
• Loan Modifications – Aggressive techniques in working with banks
• Federal Foreclosure Programs – HAMP and HAFA
• Buying More Time in Your Home – Steps to postpone your move
• Protecting Against Foreclosure Predators
• County Agency Resources
• Potential Legal Defenses

For more information go to http://neighborhood-community.org or call 877-306-5299.

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Tags: foreclosure, Foreclosures, real estate

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 19th, 2011 at 5:00 am and is filed under Housing affordability, Mortgage fraud, Real estate bust, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

3 Responses to “Foreclosure prevention workshop tonight in West Palm Beach”

1. Get in the Game Says:
April 19th, 2011 at 8:07 am
“Homeowners anxious to gain clarity…surrounding their foreclosure”

The only correct word in that statement was THEIR.

They do NOT ‘own’ the house. (The Creditor does)

It is a house NOT a ‘home.’ (A RE trader trick to leave your rational side and tie a bunch of emotion to a commodity)

Of course they are anxious. (They want to stay in the house longer for freeeeeeeeeeee or at least stay rent free for another 500+ days)

Typcial, I do not read squat about paying back the money they borrowed.

Only on how to receive MORE free money, MORE entitlements, MORE lawsuits, MORE rent free months, more and more of giving stuff away for freeeeeeeee.

Americans just continuing to be lazy and undisciplined!

Priceless…

2. Governor Skeletor Says:
April 19th, 2011 at 8:36 am
NO HELP FOR THE DEADBEATS!! THROW THEM INTO THE STREETS>>>SELL THE HOME TO THE HIGHEST BIDDER!!

3. WPB Esquire Says:
April 19th, 2011 at 8:46 am
Love to keep these folks in THEIR HOME for FREE for as long as possible.

The longer the better…longer rent-FREE time for them; more fees for ME.

Why should these folks pay the loan back ?? America was build, and continues to be build, on a few who have been stealing from the masses for decades.

That’s why now there are approximately 500 BILLIONares, and thousands of MILLIONares in america; all squeezing the last nickel and dime from the masses because “they” never have enough money.

So why not stick it to the bank for a change?

View the original article here

Tree House!: Slovenia sure is looking bright these...

× Like us and you'll find top breaking news in your Facebook newsfeed. Sign up for our daily email newsletter and get top stories and breaking news delivered to your inbox. Friday, March 4, 2011, by Sarah Firshein

? Back to top

? Previous: Mountain Estate Took More Than A Jigsaw To Assemble

View the original article here

Video Interlude: Watch a Revamped Ikea Coffee Table Function as a Toy Train Set

× Like us and you'll find top breaking news in your Facebook newsfeed. Sign up for our daily email newsletter and get top stories and breaking news delivered to your inbox. Tuesday, April 19, 2011, by Sarah Firshein

With a boring glass top and a run-of-the-mill knick-knack drawer, Ikea's white LIATORP coffee table is approximately $279 worth of blandness. So what did one person do? Turn the entire thing into a showcase for an N Scale Model Train Set. The move was a labor of love by a Sacramento, Calif., guy named Jaxan, who threw caution to the wind and painted his LIATORP black. He then used a Web program called AnyRail to design a veritable locomotive diorama with cars, rails, houses, and detailed landscaping. "Since this was my first attempt," he ever-so-humbly writes, "I spent a little more than I probably would have liked but I think it was worth it." Jump for some video closeups.

VIDEO: Ikea Toy Train Set:

· LIATORP Coffee Table [Ikea]
· Coffee Table Train Set [IKEA Hackers via Freshome]
· N Scale Train Set in Ikea Coffee Table [YouTube via Freshome]

View the original article here

HP 12c Financial Calculator (12C#ABA)

A must for the home, business professionals, accountants with 120+ built-in functions for business, 20 memory-storage registers and keystroke programming

Price: $95.19

Click here to buy from Amazon

Apartment Therapy Web Designer Search

We're looking for a great full-time web designer to join us in our NYC offices as we revamp everything from top to bottom this year.

In particular, we're looking for someone with strong graphic design and branding skills, who also has a very good working knowledge of HTML and CSS.

The first job will be to join in our redesign process with our art director, Thomas Porostocky, and work through a complete redesign for launch in September. With general look and feel being completed now, we'll be applying design to all of our pages and then working them into front end form. The more you can do with HTML and CSS, the better.

After that, you will be working on everything: site pages, email templates, cross browser compliance, media kits, and ad driven event campaigns. This last area - integrated ad campaigns - will be a big part of the job, as we work with advertisers to fit elegantly into our site.

To apply, please cover email with availability and resume to herma @ apartmenttherapy . com.

View the original article here

Furniture Gets Combative: Sofas shaped like sandbags may look...

× Like us and you'll find top breaking news in your Facebook newsfeed. Sign up for our daily email newsletter and get top stories and breaking news delivered to your inbox. Thursday, March 3, 2011, by Sarah Firshein

? Back to top

? Previous: Minnesota Design Firm Builds Whole Pirate Ship in Kid's Bedroom

? Next: Sprawling Contemporary Offers Alternative to Preppy Standards

View the original article here

Back-Patting: AIA SF 2011 Design Award Winners Announced

× Like us and you'll find top breaking news in your Facebook newsfeed. Sign up for our daily email newsletter and get top stories and breaking news delivered to your inbox. Monday, April 18, 2011, by Sally Kuchar

[Kenneth Probst Photography]

Last week the San Francisco chapter of the American Institute of Architects gathered at the War Memorial Performing Arts Center's Green Room for the annual AIA SF Awards. A Citation Award in interior architecture went to Sand Studios for their work on SPARC, a medical marijuana dispensary located in SoMa. Ogrydziak / Prillinger Architects took home an Excellent in Architecture Honor Award for their Gallery House in South Park, with the jury noting that they were impressed with the home's "reinterpretation of the San Francisco bay window." Architect Rafael Viñoly received an Excellent in Architecture Merit Award for his work on the UCSF Ray and Dagmar Dolby Rengeration Medicine Building. Take a look at the AIA SF's 2011 Design Awards website for a complete list of all 27 awards presented.
· 2011 Design Awards [AIA SF]

View the original article here

Adventures With Weather: Massive Ice Sculpture is Just About as Big as One Man&apos;s House

× Like us and you'll find top breaking news in your Facebook newsfeed. Sign up for our daily email newsletter and get top stories and breaking news delivered to your inbox. Monday, March 7, 2011, by Sarah Firshein

We've got to hand it to proud Minnesota resident Roger Hanson. Instead of complaining about the weather in his fair state, he's turned lemons into lemonade a 65-foot-tall ice sculpture with the help of a snazzy at-home geothermal heating system. In November, Hanson erects structural poles; later, a computer system determines when the weather is so cold that any water sprayed onto the poles will freeze, thus "growing" the castle. It looks like his creation is about the width of his house, but luckily for Hanson there seems to be nary a NIMBY in sight. Comments on Hanson's official Winter Water Wonder page range from "Thank you for sharing your talent and your artistry with everyone" to "That is such a GREAT THING YOU ARE DOING!...When will you hit the 100 ft. mark and turn it into an amusement park?" Looks like that former Blue's Clues star who built a sorry little igloo in his Brooklyn backyard should get to work.

· Incredible Ice Castles Grown by a Minnesota Man Using Geothermal Heating System [Inhabitat via Gizmodo]
· Winter Water Wonder [official site]
· Former Blue's Clues Star Builds an Igloo in His Courtyard [Curbed National]

View the original article here

Video Interlude: Tour One Hyde Park, Home to London&apos;s Most Expensive Flat

× Like us and you'll find top breaking news in your Facebook newsfeed. Sign up for our daily email newsletter and get top stories and breaking news delivered to your inbox. Monday, April 18, 2011, by Rob Bear

Last fall, an anonymous Ukranian buyer—and presumed billionaire—plunked down $222.8M for a penthouse at One Hyde Park, setting a record for a residential transaction in England. Set between the tony neighborhood of Knightsbridge—home to luxe retailers like Harrod's—and the leafy expanse of Hyde Park, apartments in the building are commanding insane premiums. According to this report by Al Jazeera, prices have reached as high as $9,500 per square foot in the Richard Rogers-designed building. The project was helmed by Britain's own youthful development duo, the Candy brothers, who plunged $1.6B into the project. Check out interviews with the Candys and Rogers, along with shots of the sumptuous interiors, after the jump.

View the original article here

Rich Dad's Guide to Investing: What the Rich Invest in, That the Poor and the Middle Class Do Not!

Become the Ultimate Investor.

End those fears that keep you up at night regarding the financial choices you make. By reading Rich Dad’s Guide to Investing, you will get the tools and advice you need to become the ultimate investor, and learn how you can reduce your investment risk and convert your earned income into passive and portfolio income.

Successful investor, entrepreneur, and author, Robert Kiyosaki’s, Rich Dad’s Guide to Investing is the perfect guide for your investing adventure. It offers basic principles of investing that are a must for any investor to be successful. Just as in life, there are no guarantees that you will be a successful investor, but with a sound financial education from Rich Dad’s Guide to Investing, you will be one-step ahead of other investors who operate on faulty and outdated advice.

So if you are ready to take your investing acumen to the next level, Rich Dad’s Guide to Investing is a must-have book for you.

Price: $19.99

Click here to buy from Amazon

The Printed Page: How to Be a Legendary Designer: Lessons From Robert Couturier

× Like us and you'll find top breaking news in your Facebook newsfeed. Sign up for our daily email newsletter and get top stories and breaking news delivered to your inbox. Tuesday, April 19, 2011, by Sarah Firshein

Photos from the May issue of Elle Decor by William Abranowicz

We just caught a glimpse of the May issue of Elle Decor in which the much-anticipated feature on the NYC home of famed interior designer Robert Couturier takes front and center. Couturier, dressed for the shoot in his usual dapper garb, plays every bit the part of the seasoned designer whose client roster so happens to include the likes of Anne Hearst, Frederic Fekkai, and Jay McInerney. And when push comes to shove, there's no better guy than a suit-clad French-born industry veteran to impart valuable lessons about how to create the sort of lifestyle that has a high chance, statistically speaking, of grooming the next generation of aspiring interior designers. We've pulled some handy advice from the 10-page feature; consider it CliffNotes, of sorts. Here goes:

10: Be born in Paris, and preferably in the 1950s when it "was very much still a 19th-century town" with "dressmaker[s] who made your clothes." Always be nostalgic for these times, even in the age of online shopping.
9: Move to Manhattan at age 25. Gloss over the details of how you paid for things.

8: Live in the kind of structure that takes five words to describe: "Italianate cast-iron loft building." (Always use these words, and always in this order.)
7: Scatter an eclectic grouping of furnishings ranging from Louis XIV to Art Deco.
6: Bunk in a famous hotel for a while as you figure things out—bonus points for being located on NYC's Upper East Side.
5: Eschew the very notion of ever using your kitchen; instead, strongly affirm the fact that you dine out four nights of the week and travel every weekend. It's a lifestyle thing.
4: Make sure there's no separation between living and working space—extra credit if the bedroom and office are a "single chic space." Double extra credit if said space includes a zebra-patterned sofa, a '30s desk, and a daybed that's actually the main bed.
3: Have insomnia.
2: Have a "Franco-American lifestyle," most certainly.
1: Finally, always be an "uptown gentleman," even if living downtown.

· Robert Couturier Will Be Featured in Elle Decor [Curbed National]
· All Elle Decor coverage [Curbed National]

View the original article here

Investing in Real Estate

A fully revised, new edition of one of the bestselling real estate investing guides of all time

Through its five previous editions, Investing in Real Estate has shown investors how to intelligently build wealth with their investments in houses, condominiums, and small apartment buildings. Unlike many titles in this genre, Investing in Real Estate steers clear of the hyped-up “no cash, no credit, no problem” promises. Instead, it provides sound, real-world advice and instruction that reflects the author’s time-tested wisdom and experience. This book shows you how to invest profitably, safely, and reliably as you navigate the risks and opportunities of today’s property market. It covers all the topics investors need to master, including how to find, negotiate, finance, lease out, and manage your property acquisitions. Plus, you will discover how to add tens of thousands of dollars of value to nearly any property. Whether you plan to start investing or move your current investing strategy to a higher level, two decades of sales success testifies to the fact that this investing guide stands superior to any others that you will find.

This new edition covers all the recent changes in the market, including the latest housing rescue legislation from Congress, a historical review of how to profit from property cycles, and insightful new ways to gain from the current excess inventories of for-sale properties, foreclosures, and REOs.

• Author Gary W. Eldred has also authored ten other successful real estate titles, including The Beginner’s Guide to Real Estate Investing, The 106 Mistakes Homebuyers Makeâ??and How to Avoid Them, and The 106 Mortgage Secrets that All Borrowers Must Learnâ??but Lenders Don’t Tell
• Completely revised to cover current ways to prosper in today’s property markets
• Includes new, insider techniques for foreclosure investing
• Features fifteen new ways to profit with property investments
• Shows you how to buy properties for less than they are worth from many sources including auctions, bank sales, and homebuilders

Investing in Real Estate, Sixth Edition retains its premier position as the most reliable, informative, and comprehensive guides to successful real estate investing.

Price: $19.95

Click here to buy from Amazon

Garage Porn: Upper Haight Features World's Coolest Garage Door

× Like us and you'll find top breaking news in your Facebook newsfeed. Sign up for our daily email newsletter and get top stories and breaking news delivered to your inbox. Wednesday, April 20, 2011, by Sally Kuchar

A Curbed SF reader sent us the above video of a magical garage door in the Upper Haight. McMills Construction was working on an investment property on Oak Street, and they were scratching their heads over how to build a garage to enhance the tenant's use of the building. As we all know, it's nearly impossible to consistently score a decent parking spot in the Upper Haight. The problem, you see, is that the city planning department had recently started enforcing its mandate to limit changes to the character of historic building's front facades-- especially when it came to converting bay windows into garage doors. Corey McMills, who's got a background in mechanical engineering, thought of an idea to covert the walls of the bay window into door panels that would fold into the garage space to allow cars to enter. The planning department accepted it. McMills Construction teamed up with Beausoleil Architects to help with the details. The result is brilliant.
· Architectural Magic [Beausoleil Architects]

View the original article here

[Freddie] Downpayments Rising: Flip Side Comes At Cost

There’s a whole weird risk aversion dueling thing going on.

On one hand, Freddie and Fannie are losing a lot of money, although its arguably from legacy lending rather than the AAA product today. On June 1 Freddie will require 5% for all conventional mortgages, up from 3%.

On the other hand, increasing down payment requirements reduces the number of people that can afford to buy. In the days before the credit boom, we had plenty of sub-20% down payment mortgage lending. Perhaps the amount of the downpayment should be intelligently weighed against credit risk rather than setting some sort of arbitrary number.

Still, what good is homeownership if its not sustainable?

Is requiring 20% down the next step? I doubt it. 10%?

Plus, with 90%+ GSE current market share for current mortgage volume will have to be replaced. Risk aversion as a mindset is probably a good way to bring back in the private investors.

The…intention to wind down Fannie and Freddie on a responsible timeline. That tells you this reform/winding down process will take many years and much debate. 5 to 7 years according to Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner.

View the original article here

Globe Trotting: Starchitect-Designed Ceiling Collapses For the Second Time

× Like us and you'll find top breaking news in your Facebook newsfeed. Sign up for our daily email newsletter and get top stories and breaking news delivered to your inbox. Wednesday, April 20, 2011, by Sarah Firshein

For the second time since its 2008 completion, the ceiling in the Daniel Libeskind-designed Westside Shopping Center, in Bern, Switzerland, has collapsed over the pool area. A couple of people, one pulled bleeding from the wreckage of gypsum board and insulation, have been hospitalized and are reportedly doing well. Libeskind's rep says the architect “would wait until the outcome of the investigation to comment.”

View the original article here

Before You Invest in <b>Real Estate</b>

Investing in the real estate market is quite an interesting venture, and if you play your card right, you just may build yourself a nice fortune. You can begin investing in the real estate market in a number of different ways. One of the simplest ways to invest in the real estate market is to purchase a property, renovate and put it up for rent or sell it.

If you choose to become a landlord and rent your property, you can count on a guaranteed cash flow as long as you have tenants who pay on time. If you decide to sell your property, then you need to focus on making a large one-time profit from your investment. It is up to you to determine which method of investment in the real estate industry is right for you.

Investing in the real estate market requires a considerable amount of capital; however, the payoff from a proper sale is worth every penny you invest. One of the greatest attractions to investing in the real estate market is the easy advertising. You do not have to worry about building an entire fund for your project because several financial organizations are more than willing to support profitable real estate ventures.

It is easy to see the many advantages of investing in the real estate market. However, do you have what it takes to succeed in this industry? To make it in the real estate profession, you do not have to have a college degree, but you do have to be educated in the industry itself if you plan to succeed.

If you are ready to get started in the real estate business, you should:

Make sure you have enough cash on reserve to take care of your daily living expenses.Make sure you have enough money to hold a property until you can earn a profit.Be ready to take huge risks.Be prepared for the worst.Plan accordingly.

Related posts:

Are You The Right Person For Real Estate InvestingTypes Of Investing In Real EstateIs Investing In Real Estate Right For You?How You Profit From Using The Right Real Estate SoftwareThought You Needed Money To Make Money From Property?

View the original article here

Lincoln Logs: Mindblowing Timber Homes Stray from Log House Standard

× Like us and you'll find top breaking news in your Facebook newsfeed. Sign up for our daily email newsletter and get top stories and breaking news delivered to your inbox. Wednesday, April 20, 2011, by Rob Bear

Photo: John Greim/Mira

The Arctic Brotherhood Hall in Skagway, Alaska, built by pioneers during the Klondike Gold Rush of the late 1890s, is fronted with more than 9,000 individual pieces of driftwood. The wood is arranged in an intricate thatched pattern that might seem beyond the artistic capabilities of a bunch of gold-hungry prospectors, but it's one of the most oddly beautiful buildings we've come across. In the 120 years since, wood has become a nearly ubiquitous building material, so it takes some novel thinking—or deep pockets—to make new-age log homes stand out from the crowd. After the jump, we've got four properties that take the humble wood home into a flashier new era.

? Pictured during its 2003 construction for publishing magnate Jim Moore, this 117,000-square-foot timber-frame home didn't use driftwood for its construction. Instead, the Canadian firm Pioneer Log Homes hand-selected old-growth hardwoods from the forests of British Columbia, assembled the massive house at their Canadian headquarters, then disassembled it again, packed it up, and shipped each and every log to Walden, Colo., where the overgrown log cabin became the centerpiece of a 3,000 acre ranch. The highlight—or low-light for you treehuggers—is a 2,000-year-old, 65-foot trunk supporting the roof above the great room. Estimated cost of construction? $28M.

Photos: Anderson Wise Architects
? For those in the market for a striking wood home, the Stone Creek Camp in Bigfork, Mont. offers up a modern interpretation, stacking split logs like firewood in broad walls at the rear of the house. On the reverse, there is plenty of steel and glass, but at first glance this looks like something a pioneer could have constructed on the prairie given enough time and wood. Today, it costs $19.8M.

? This Adirondack estate on New York's Upper St. Regis Lake features a 100-year-old main house with restored beech and birch bark siding, but also packs in modern features like central air conditioning, a more recently constructed five-bay boathouse, and granite kitchen. Six additional outbuildings dot the property, which was recently featured on HGTV.

? Lastly, we have a more manageable version of Jim Moore's Colorado behemoth, a 5,500-square-foot, glass-and-timber construction on New Hampshire's Squam Lake. The estate boasts 25 acres, broad views of the lake, and a slightly more reasonable price tag at $9.6M.

· Arctic Brotherhood Hall [alaska-in-pictures]
· Pioneer Log Homes [official site]
· Stone Creek Camp [Christies]
· Stone Creek Camp [Anderson Wise Architects]
· St. Regis [Adirondack Real Estate]
· Indian Portage [LandVest]

View the original article here

Aspen&apos;s Cheapest House Costs More Than a Half-Mil: Upper East Side, please step aside....

× Like us and you'll find top breaking news in your Facebook newsfeed. Sign up for our daily email newsletter and get top stories and breaking news delivered to your inbox. Friday, March 4, 2011, by Sarah Firshein

? Back to top

? Previous: British Retiree Fined $32,500 For Installing the Wrong Kind of Door

? Next: Bougiest Quotes of the Week(end?)

View the original article here

Penthouses: What Happens in Vegas Really Does Involve Mirrored Ceilings

× Like us and you'll find top breaking news in your Facebook newsfeed. Sign up for our daily email newsletter and get top stories and breaking news delivered to your inbox. Tuesday, April 19, 2011, by Sarah Firshein

For those with a footing in the strange, strange world of interiors and architecture, there is no greater feeling of Nirvana than when the design of a space melds seamlessly with its surroundings. And so such a feeling came to pass when we stumbled upon this penthouse in Veer Towers, one of the condo buildings in the relatively new Las Vegas mixed-use development CityCenter. Designed and recently completed by Mark Tracy of local firm Chemical Spaces, the space looks like what would happen if someone tried to stuff the entire strip inside a glassy aerie, complete with shimmery blue mosaics on the floors, walls, and ceilings; 120 linear feet of RGB LED lighting that runs around the penthouse's entire perimeter; a custom triangular-shaped mirrored ceiling designed to accentuate "the neon shining through the windows"; and "a chandelier encased in a blue glass cube." Plus, here's something one doesn't ordinarily see mentioned in project descriptions: a "main party area."

· City Center Penthouse by Mark Tracy of Chemical Spaces [Contemporist]
· Chemical Spaces [official site]

View the original article here

Julianne Moore&apos;s Place Hit the Market Again: In September, actress Julianne Moore went...

× Like us and you'll find top breaking news in your Facebook newsfeed. Sign up for our daily email newsletter and get top stories and breaking news delivered to your inbox. Friday, March 4, 2011, by Sarah Firshein

? Back to top

? Previous: Charlie Sheen Wall Decals Exist; Point to the End Times Coming

? Next: "Victory For Interior Design" in Florida

View the original article here

NIMBY-watch: A Potential SRO in the Lower Haight

× Like us and you'll find top breaking news in your Facebook newsfeed. Sign up for our daily email newsletter and get top stories and breaking news delivered to your inbox. Tuesday, April 19, 2011, by Abby Pontzer

The true test for closet NIMBYs: would you let a SRO (Single Room Occupancy) Hotel open in your neighborhood? We talk lots about nosy neighbors having a say on your addition or a restaurant's patio, but in the Lower Haight, neighbors want a say in whether a building owner can turn his Victorian flats into a SRO.

David Nale, who owns a building a block and half off Haight on Fillmore, has already been renting rooms to individuals, but he doesn't have the ability to get each person their own lease. Neighbors have asked the city to review his application for permits to turn the building into an SRO, based on claims that they have seen current residents littering and that there would be noise and light pollution issues from the code-mandated open-space roof deck. Remember, that just a few weeks ago and blocks away, neighbors petitioned to allow an outdoor space at Ragazza, a restaurant on Divisadero. So what makes this different? SRO versus hip pizza joint, that's what.
What do you think, dear readers? Are all NIMBYs created equal? Should these Lower Haight neighbors be lumped into the same batch who ask for hearings on everything? Or are they concerned neighbors trying to protect their community?
· Lower Haight neighbors put up ‘keep out’ sign on residential hotel [SF Ex]
· Ragazza Sees About Opening Its Lovely Patio [SF Eater]

View the original article here

Kentwood <b>Real Estate</b> Celebrates 30th Anniversary in March Premier <b>...</b>

February 28, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Kentwood Real Estate, Colorado’s Premier Real Estate Company, will celebrate its 30th anniversary on March 18, 2011. The high-profile real estate company is regarded within the real estate community as a market leader where the vision, culture and mission established by the firm’s original founders have remained unchanged for the past three decades

Full article: Kentwood Real Estate Celebrates 30th Anniversary in March Premier Company’s Culture, Vision, Mission and High Standards Remain Unchanged After Three Decades ...

Kentwood Real Estate Surpasses $1 Billion in Sales Volume for 2010 in mid-November
DENVER, CO - December 7, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- Kentwood Real Estate, Colorado’s Premier Real Estate Company, has surpassed $1 billion in total sales volume for 2010. The landmark milestone, recorded in mid-November, was the leading real estate firm’s tenth such accomplishment and firmly establishes Kentwood Real Estate as a national leader in marketing expertise and customer service. Kentwood’s total...Kentwood Real Estate Acquires DenverHomes.com
DENVER, CO - November 26, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- Kentwood Real Estate, Colorado’s Premier Real Estate Company, has acquired the DenverHomes.com Internet domain name in a strategic move that will advance the company’s already leading website presence. The acquisition of DenverHomes.com for real estate searches online will further position Kentwood Real Estate as the best local Internet brand....Kentwood Real Estate Earns Website Quality Certification
DENVER, CO - February 28, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Kentwood Real Estate, Colorado’s Premier Real Estate Company, has earned the Website Quality Certification (WQC) presented by Leading Real Estate Companies of the World (LeadingRE) to member companies that have demonstrated excellence in website design, functionality and execution...Three Vision Awards Presented to MERIT Employees by the California Association of Community Managers
MERIT achieves high honors for outstanding service. Aliso Viejo, CA, August 5, 2009 — MERIT, a leading provider of professional community association and rental management services, announced that Susana McKellar, Jamie Mayo and Marybeth Green were presented with Vision Awards by the California Association of Community Managers (CACM). They were recognized for outstanding service and dedication to their communities at...Maximum Conforming Loan Limits to Remain Unchanged in the First Nine Months of 2011
Washington, DC - November 19, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) has announced that, under terms set forth in a recently-enacted Congressional continuing resolution (Public Law Number 111-242), the maximum conforming loan limits for mortgages originated in the first nine months of 2011 will remain unchanged from existing loan limits for 2010 originations. Those limits are...13 HomeAway Unveils New Vacation Rental ‘Community’ Site
AUSTIN, TX - March 1, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- HomeAway ®, Inc. – the world’s leading network of online vacation rentals – today introduced Community from HomeAway, a site for vacation rental owners and managers to share expertise and opinions, and access blogs and resources to optimize their vacation rental businessesHome Values Decline in Fourth Quarter
McLean, VA - March 1, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Freddie Mac (OTC:FMCC) announced today the results of its fourth quarter Conventional Mortgage Home Price Index (CMHPI).IDX, Inc. showcases Knoxville, Tennessee property listings on website of Jeffrey King
EUGENE, OR - March 1, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Realtor Jeffrey King of Coldwell Banker Wallace & Wallace has opted to integrate the premier IDX technology, IDX Broker software, for his professional real estate website. Now, thousands of Knoxville MLS (KAARMLS) listings are displayed conveniently on the search page that he hosts. King has chosen an IDX solution for his website, and in the process he has changed the online real estate market for himself, his business and countless potential Knoxville buyers.Total Mortgage Services Promotes Erik Martin to National Sales Manager of Retail Channel
MILFORD, CT - March 1, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Total Mortgage Services, LLC, a leading mortgage lender, announced today the promotion of Erik Martin as the company’s National Sales Manager of its retail channel. Mr. Martin brings to this newly-created position 15 years of production, underwriting and operational management experience within the mortgage industry.C.W. Driver Completes Construction of Multidisciplinary Building at Palomar College
San Marcos, CA - March 1, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Work has completed on the new, $37 million, Multidisciplinary Building constructed by C.W. Driver on the campus of Palomar College in San Marcos, Calif. The 111,000 SF, three-story structure in the San Diego County town took 25 months to complete. C.W. Driver, a premier builder of higher education facilities in the Western U.S. since 1919, managed the project from preconstruction through commissioning for the Palomar Community College District

View the original article here

On the Market: Four Bedroom Eureka Valley Stunner Only Has One Bathroom

× Like us and you'll find top breaking news in your Facebook newsfeed. Sign up for our daily email newsletter and get top stories and breaking news delivered to your inbox. Tuesday, April 19, 2011, by Sally Kuchar 177 Liberty was built in 1908, and her exterior looks the part. The inside, however, has been updated to our reflect modern needs. Needs like walls without ornate decoration, and weird overhead lighting. While we're digging the kitchen layout, it should be noted that the buyer of this home will have to be comfortable with having the bulk of their cabinetry covered in semi-transparent glass. Time to color coordinate your dinnerware! Even though this is a four bedroom single-family home in a highly sought-after location, we are scratching our heads over the fact that there's only one bathroom. Time to convert a bedroom into something with plumbing! Which is so easy to do in this city. We also highly recommend that the lucky buyer invest in a fleet of bicycles and/or Clipper Cards, as there's no parking included with the sale. There is, however, two-car rental parking next door for $400 a month. 177 Liberty is on the market for $1,299,000.
· 177 Liberty [Redfin]

View the original article here

BoogieDowner: 2nd Bronx <b>Real Estate</b> Summit to be Held at the Bronx <b>...</b>

Here is an event I will repost as we get closer to the date. One of its main organizers is Ms. Andrea Kretchmer of the Kretchmer Companies. Besides being one of NYC's premier female real estate developers she is also very active in our beloved NY Gauchos basketball organization. I believe the last time we spoke she mentioned she was a board member. I posted the link below to the NY Gauchos basketball program for those interested in learning more about the top notch Bronx based organization. The Real Estate summit will be held at The Bronx Museum of the Arts. Please do see more information on the event below.

Gregory

For more info on NY Gouchos Basketball Organization please log onto the follo0wing web addres
http://www.newyorkgauchos.com/

*****
Bronx Real Estate Summit
The Bronx Real Estate Summit is a gathering of active Bronx real estate professionals – sharing ideas and experiences, learning from each other’s successes!
Developers, lenders, property owners, builders, nonprofits, brokers, business owners, and other interested parties are invited to network, exchange useful strategies, and gain insider knowledge from other respected individuals in the field.
The Economy: Local Impacts, Lessons Learned, Leaps Forward
Panelists
Carol Lamberg, Executive Director, Settlement Housing Fund, Inc.
Radame Perez, Chief Operating Officer, Mastermind Ltd.
Carol J. Samol, Director, Bronx Borough Office, Department of City Planning
DATE: Wednesday, March 30, 2011
TIME: 8:15 a.m. Breakfast/ 9:00 a.m. Program
LOCATION: The Bronx Museum of the Arts
1040 Grand Concourse (@ 163rd St)
Bronx, NY
(B, D, or 4 trains to 161st Street)
RSVP : Jennifer Gilbert at jgilbert@sobro.org
(718) 732-7502
Suggested Contribution: $25
(All proceeds go to the Bronx Museum of the Arts)

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Magazine Living: By the Book...

× Like us and you'll find top breaking news in your Facebook newsfeed. Sign up for our daily email newsletter and get top stories and breaking news delivered to your inbox. Monday, April 18, 2011, by Sarah Firshein

The all-American characters of Gary and Elaine have wormed their way into households and hearts aplenty thanks to the ingenuity of Molly Erdman, whose Catalog Living blog points to certain styling curiosities within catalogs. We enlisted Erdman to author a Curbed National column in which she does the same to photos gracing the glossy pages of shelter magazines. Here now, let the games begin.

Photo: Victoria Pearson/House Beautiful
"Excellent work, Gareth. I have no idea why I doubted you when you insisted on getting rid of our 'impractical' bookshelves."

· Catalog Living [official site]
· All Magazine Living columns [Curbed National]

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Bits Bucket for March 1, 2011

Let’s see, San Diego is one of two areas in the country (DC the other) where prices are increasing. The time to buy in San Diego was Spring 2008, it has been recovering ever since. I have been trying to buy since then, I won’t over pay, and I won’t do bidding wars so I keep “losing”. There are too many cash buyers here that sellers would rather sell too, even if their offers are lower than mine, they win everytime.

28% of San Diego home sales in Jan. were cash
DataQuick: Slow winter season, lower-than-ever prices were likely factors

By Lily Leung

Tuesday, March 1, 2011 at 6 a.m.

Almost three out of 10 homebuyers in San Diego County in January closed with cash, the highest it’s been in 21 years, according to La Jolla-based DataQuick Information Systems.

Company spokesman Andrew LePage said 28 percent of new and resale homes bought in the county last month had no records of mortgages, matching the percentage of cash purchases one year ago during the same time.

The figures from this year and January 2010 are second to only the peak at May 1989, when 29.1 percent of home purchases were made with cash.

LePage said the historic high is likely due to lower-than-normal home prices and investors capitalizing on less competition during the holiday season, when most buyers are scrambling for presents, not homes. DataQuick numbers, which go back to 1988, show the monthly average of cash buyers is 12.6 percent in San Diego County.

The same upward trend was reflected statewide. In January, 30.9 percent of new and resale homes sold in California were bought with cash, the peak in at least 23 years, LePage said. During the same time in 2010, that number for the state was 29.5 percent.

Much of the West, including Las Vegas and Phoenix, also showed increases in cash purchases.

However, it’s important to note that the absence of recorded mortgages could mean “alternative financing arrangements” or cash buyers taking out mortgages after closing deals, LePage said.

“For the past couple of years all-cash deals have become far more common in lower-cost markets where prices have dropped sharply, luring investors and other buyers who either can’t quality for a traditional mortgage, or simply view housing as a relatively attractive place to park their money,” he added.

Lily Leung: (619)293-1719; lily.leung@uniontrib.com; Twitter @LilyShumLeung

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