A few miles north of the former Rockefeller stone manor turned museum, Kykuit, sits Holly Hill, the 13 bedroom Briarcliff Manor home of philanthropist and socialite Brooke Astor. Astor died at age 105 in August 2007. Approximately two weeks ago, the property, after more than a year of legal wrangling by family members, was put on the market for $12.9 million.

Designed by architect William Delano, the creative force behind both Kykuit and Manhattan’s Knickerbocker Club, the 65-acre grand estate is a treasure for those with a love for anything green and flowering. The gronds are two-thirds wooded and...

There are 11 homes around Robin Hood Lake in Pound Ridge, each with plenty of space around it, unlike homes around other Northern Westchester lake communities. “A number of the lakes have a multitude of tiny homes originally intended to be summer cottages,” says realtor Mary Ann Condon of Houlihan Lawrence in Pound Ridge. “The result is a sort of shantytown. Robin Hood Lake has larger zoning so there are fewer homes surrounding it.”

Among them is a three-bedroom Colonial at 1 Sherwood Road, with its own dock, lake access for...

Philip Johnson’s “little jewel box” in New Canaan is for sale. Asking price? $3.5 million. The stone-and-glass, 1,773-square-foot home at 523 Oenoke Ridge Road has been on the market for about a year. It is the second house built by the distinguished architect.

Want to tour the house? You can this weekend Nov 15th and 16th from 12 to 4 pm. The admission price--$15--benefits the New Canaan Historical Society. Victoria Lyon Interiors of Old Greenwich is outfitting the home for the tour.

Part of a group of modernist Harvard-trained architects called the...

From calling taxis to feeding fish to being the keepers of unit keys in cases of emergencies, the concierge is a “can do” guy or gal luxury apartment and condo dwellers can’t live without. A good concierge must be able to multi-task, have good communication skills, and know the surrounding area (where does one get the best pizza or Chinese?). Talking to a few concierges around Westchester about their job however, revealed other skills they must have: lots of patience and a sense of humor.

At the Gramercy in White Plains, a resident’s dog constantly urinated on the floor in the building. A concierge politely asked the owner to have the dog trained—and the resident proceeded to slap the concierge. Police were called but charges were not filed. The...

Lewisboro has a population density of 452 persons per square mile. It now has a few new residents on the 9.11 miles of land (that’s 75 acres) at 27 Oscaleta Road, a private home christened Oscaleta Lodge, which, after being on the market for a mere 31 days, closed October 6 for $8.1 million. The buyers are not from the county and will use the Lodge as a weekend home. Yes, $8.1 mil for a weekend home(!). The seller was nonagenarian Mrs Abrams, who has lived in the house since the 1930s.

Homes costing $5 million or more usually take many months to sell. But this seven-bedroom Colonial is an exception. “It’s a unique...

Selling homes in this market is difficult enough for realtors. Throw in potential buyers acting rudely and asking inappropriate questions, and the job becomes, well, let’s just say Treasury Secretary Paulson may have it easier. Need proof? Read on.

“After showing three women around a nice condo in Briarcliff Manor, we were accused of stealing $1,500 of the owner’s son’s money. The owner, a woman, had a fit, yelling loudly that she was going to call the police--and she did. After having our bags checked, the three women and myself were found innocent. It turns out the money was in the son’s pants pocket in the dryer. What a senior in high school was doing with $1,500 is another story.”
David Fink
Houlihan Lawrence

Posted at 10:00 AM | Permalink | Comments: 0

The concept of an open house scares many people. Everyone and their Aunt Bea traipsing through your house, opening your closets, petting your dog, and commenting on your décor choices. Talking to a few realtors, it seems some people have funny ideas of what’s appropriate behavior at an open house. Very funny, in fact.

“During one of my public open houses in Briarcliff, a middle-aged couple stopped in. I greeted them at the door, thanked them for coming, and asked them what drew them to the open house. Was it the ad in the Times, the ad on our website? The husband responded, ‘No, we saw the sign on the road and my wife had to use the bathroom so we stopped in.’ This was certainly a new take on the ‘open house’ concept.”

Posted at 08:22 AM | Permalink | Comments: 0

In 1986, Susan Glasgall was driving an Oldsmobile 442—a muscle car—when she landed her first real estate job. Her manager at the time Audrey Rapaport suggested she “lose the teenager car,” Glasgall, a realtor at the Rye office for Houlihan Lawrence for the past 21 years. recalls. “She warned clients wouldn’t take me seriously.”
 
Clients certainly take Glasgall seriously now. . . to the tune of a little more than $85 million.
 
The Rye Brook mother of two won the Houlihan Lawrence Realtor of Year award for 2007, competing against 34 Houlihan...

Last week we covered harnessing the sun’s power to lower energy bills. Considering the recent performance (or lack thereof) of the stock market, it looks like we could all use a few additional tips on lowering bills. In this blog, we focus on keeping the warm air in and Old Man Winter out.
 

Pink and Fuzzy

That cotton candy-looking material spread around your attic is not there to make the space look like the Carnival grounds. It’s insulation, of course, providing a continuous thermal barrier minimizing heat flow through the walls, ceiling, and floor. But do you have enough? Measure the depth of existing insulation using a ruler. If there is less than R-22 (7 inches of fiber glass or rock wool or 6 inches of cellulose), you could probably benefit...

First it was a credit and housing crisis, now a Wall Street crisis. Think it’s time to be frugal? Homeowners fretting over high oil, coal, and electricity prices can look skywards for an answer to lowering energy costs: the sun.
(Note: If you are or were an employee of AIG or Merrill Lynch, read the following suggestions extra carefully).

For a long-term energy cost cutting solution with no pollution, noise, or fossil fuels, having solar panels installed on your roof is a smart—and green—choice. There is an initial sizable investment (approximately $10,000 to $30,000* depending primarily on usable area of roof—south facing is best—and level of shading from trees), but a typical solar energy system “will offset...