09/25/08

High Tech Ways to Save on Home Energy Bills Part 1: A Place in the Sun

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...

Posted at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments: 0

09/18/08

Great Estate

While Bedford has its share of grand mansions and manors, the $21.9 million Crowfields is the newest to come on the market. Once a dairy farm and once owned by Cass Canfield, the Harper & Row publisher/editor that signed contracts with (among other notables) James Thurber and EB White, the property is in the heart of Bedford’s historic Guard Hill.

Architect and Georgian classicist Mott Schmidt, known for the ballroom at Gracie Mansion, the Vincent Astor townhouse, as well as for designing homes for members of the Vanderbilt, Rockefeller, and Ford families, redesigned Crowfields in the 1950s. English design firm Colefax &...

Posted at 02:15 PM | Permalink | Comments: 0

09/11/08

New to the Market

Sure inventory is way down but that doesn’t mean there aren’t great homes coming on the market every day. You just have to have a quick computer and scan the listings frequently (trulia.com is a comprehensive site) to find the latest and greatest homes for sale. We did a little scanning of our own and found four homes placed on the market within the last week. So get your home loan pre-approval, call your realtor, and have car keys in hand to check out some of the county’s newest listings.
 

Irvington Clapboard Colonial

List Price: $3,395,000
Price/Sq Ft: $485

Posted at 01:00 PM | Permalink | Comments: 1

09/04/08

Calling All Tightwads: Let’s Save the Low-Tech Way

There are so many things to love about the wintertime: ski trips to Vermont, snowball fights, sledding, hot chocolate in front of a roaring fire, holidays with loved ones, ridiculously high energy bills…wait, scratch that last one. It’s going to be a tough winter ahead with rising energy costs so let’s look at some uncomplicated and relatively inexpensive options to reduce energy consumption.

1. Most of us are aware of the important benefits of home insulation, but there are a number of other ways to keep old man winter out of your home.

• Door jamb weather stripping. It installs like regular molding but has a rubber-sealing gasket along one edge. Once applied, the door will make the same suction-like seal breaking noise as when you open the...

  Posted at 01:26 PM | Permalink | Comments: 0