"Recliner with Head in Hands" will go on display at Mitchel Square Park, at the intersection of 168th Street and Broadway. View Full Caption
Broadway Mall Association
UPPER WEST SIDE — At 1,200 pounds and
10 feet in length, her arrival would be virtually impossible to miss
— if it weren't happening under the cloak of darkness.
"Recliner with Head in Hands" is one of nine bronze sculptures by
artist Joy Brown touching down in the green malls along
Broadway between 72nd Street to 168th St. Monday night, according to the
Broadway Mall Association, the park beautification and maintenance nonprofit organizing the installation.
The larger-than-life abstract nudes, which were cast in Shanghai, are
being brought to the city via flatbed truck to be hoisted mechanically
into place starting around 10 p.m. at 72nd Street, Broadway Mall
Association board member Deborah Foord said. Brown herself will be there
to supervise.
"It’s quite a production," said Foord, who is chairwoman of the organization's public art committee. "It’s exciting to see."
The exhibition will mark the first time the sculptures are displayed in the U.S., according to the Connecticut-based Morrison Gallery, which helped organize the show.
Brown's work, which draws inspiration from her childhood in Japan and
apprenticeship in traditional Japanese ceramics, "convey[s] the heavy
gravity of stone," the gallery said.
"The expressions and gestures transcend that weight, suggesting
warmth and lightness of being. Simplicity of the forms and the
earth-toned patina evoke a feeling of stillness and peace."
Community Board 7 parks and environment committee member Ken Coughlin
had a simpler assessment at a CB7 meeting earlier this month: “They’re
very large and they’re very cute," he said.
The show officially opens May 17 in celebration of BMA's 30th anniversary and continues through November 2017.
For many of us, the Berkshire International
Film Festival is the signifier that the summer season is about to begin. The
tourists flock here, the second homeowners make it a point to be in town (or
country), and even if we don't plan to attend any of BIFF's social events, we
will certainly hear about them. It's like having our own little Hollywood for
one long weekend...and then we still have the rest of the summer to enjoy. It
all starts June 1.
The Trump Administration on Thursday released a budget outline
for the 2018 fiscal year, proposing $6.2 billion in cuts to the
Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), or a 13.2 percent
reduction. Funding for the agency would total $40.7 billion, with $35
billion allocated to rental assistance programs, $130 million to
lead-based paint mitigation in low-income housing, and $4.5 million to
low-income housing assistance.
“This budget reflects the President’s commitment to fiscal
responsibility while supporting critical functions that provide rental
assistance to low-income and vulnerable households and help
work-eligible families achieve self-sufficiency,” the outline states.
“The budget also recognizes a greater role for state and local
governments and the private sector to address community and economic
development needs.”
The budget eliminates funding for Community Development Block Grants,
a long-running program providing resources to communities in need of
aid in areas such as affordable housing, disaster recovery and
foreclosure rehabilitation. The elimination of the program would save $3
billion.
“The program is not well-targeted to the poorest populations and has
not demonstrated results,” the outline states. “The Budget devolves
community and economic development activities to the state and local
level, and redirects federal resources to other activities.”
The budget also eliminates funding for the Choice Neighborhoods
program, which replaces distressed public housing with mixed-income
housing, among other initiatives; the HOME Investment Partnerships
Program, which assists communities with affordable housing development;
and the Self-Help Homeownership Opportunity Program (SHOP), which awards
grants to nonprofits for low-income housing development. The
elimination of the programs would save $1.1 billion.
“State and local governments are better positioned to serve their
communities based on local needs and priorities,” the outline states.
The budget, in addition, eliminates funding for Section 4 Capacity
Building for Community Development and Affordable Housing, saving $35
billion.
The outline briefly addresses insurance premiums for Federal Housing
Administration-backed mortgages, stating it “supports homeownership
through provision of Federal Housing Administration mortgage insurance
programs.” The Trump Administration suspended a reduction to premiums issued in January.
HUD elaborated on that provision, stating “The spending plan supports
the longstanding homeownership mission of the Federal Housing
Administration (FHA) to provide mortgage insurance credit to qualified
households. A more detailed program-by-program budget proposal will be
announced in May.”
“If enacted, Trump’s proposed budget would result in the most severe
cut to HUD since President Reagan dramatically reduced funding in the
early 1980s,” said Diane Yentel, president and CEO of the National Low
Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC), in a statement.
“These budget cuts would have a devastating impact on millions of the
lowest income people across the country,” Yentel said. “More than
200,000 seniors, families, and people with disabilities will be at
immediate risk of evictions and homelessness, and local communities will
be starved of the funding they need to build and repair affordable
homes and revitalize distressed communities.”
The budget, if approved, would take effect October 1.
Thursday, March 9, 2017
Market Update
The numbers are in and 2016 was clearly a pivotal year in
real estate.Nationally real estate
sales transactions were up 12% over 2015 figures.Litchfield
County overall saw just
over 8% increase. Locally we have seen a similar bump resulting in the volume
of sale increase around 14%! In summation, real estate in Sharon is on a steady upswing as the market
recognizes good values.
The positive economic confluence of lower unemployment,
strong trends in the financial markets and tightening interest rates have
bolstered consumer confidence. This confidence mixed with the reduction of
available homes to buy has solidified real estate values and will predictably
push value higher.This is already
happening.
545 acres outlined in red. More that 10 square miles of openspace in green abd blue
Wednesday, February 1, 2017
How fast can you make a profit with Airbnb?
Airbnb can dramatically reduce the amount of time it takes to make money back on a rental.
Local regulations can play a big role in whether or not buying to run an Airbnb is worth your time.
In the past few years, some real estate investors have picked up property with the idea of making a tidy profit on Airbnb. But is becoming a professional vacation rental investor really all it’s cracked up to be?
The answer is mostly “yes.”
New research from Nested,
a London-based online estate agent, breaks down the length of time it
takes to recover property investment via traditional rental vs. Airbnb,
and the results show that using Airbnb can cut down the amount of time
it takes to make back your investment (depending on local regulations,
of course).
Nested looked at all closed property sales in 75
cities over the past six months and current market listings for all
locations researched, calculating exactly how long it would take you, in
months, to recoup the property value of an average three-bedroom
property based on average rental and Airbnb costs.
The complete ROI (return on investment) index from Nested can be accessed here.
How the U.S. measures up
Six
American cities appear in the index, with the research showing that a
three-bedroom property in Washington, D.C., would take 219 months to
recoup value via traditional rental methods, and 64 months via Airbnb.
This was the fastest ROI via Airbnb in the U.S., followed by:
Los Angeles (122 months via Airbnb versus 278 traditional)
Chicago (126 months versus 173 traditional)
Miami (137 months versus 312 months traditional)
New York City (181 months versus 317 traditional)
San Francisco (204 months, without regulations)
San
Francisco calculates to have the longest ROI term, and the time span
would be even longer when taking the city’s regulations into account.
Current San Francisco regulations limit rentals where the host is not present in the unit to a maximum of 90 days per year.
When
these terms are applied, property in the city would take 816 months to
recoup value via Airbnb, 554 months longer than a traditional rental.
Internationally the picture is even brighter for vacation rentals, especially where prices are low.
Properties
in Durban, South Africa take just 18 months on average using an Airbnb
rental (the average cost to buy there is $94,343).
Athens, Greece is the fastest European city without regulations to recuperate property value via Airbnb at 42 months.
On
the opposite end of the spectrum, properties in Beijing, China take 670
months via rental and 714 months via Airbnb (the average cost is
$1,344,934).
Lagos, Nigeria is the fastest city worldwide to
recover property prices via traditional renting at 132 months (instead
of 22 months for Airbnb).
The price of the property makes a big difference, as does the average rental price.
Cairo,
Egypt, has the most affordable average cost of a three-bedroom property
at $60,293, while Hong Kong has the most expensive average cost at
$2,404,789.
Of all cities surveyed, the rent for a three-bedroom
property is also the most affordable in Cairo, Egypt, at a monthly
average of $387. The rent for a three-bedroom property is the most
expensive in San Francisco, at a monthly average of $5,437.
The
ROI index doesn’t seem take into account the added time or money that
might be involved in making a home Airbnb-ready, including furnishings,
photography, cleaning and increased maintenance.
Bad news for renters, good news for owners?
While
this news is great for investors who want to Airbnb, it does shed light
on why cities may need to enact regulations in order to make sure that
long-term renters are protected.
Matt Robinson, CEO of Nested,
said: “The rise of Airbnb is making it harder for renters to find
properties as more landlords are preferring to rent to short-term
renters who pay a premium, but this is a great opportunity for those who
have managed to fight their way onto the property ladder to make the
most out of their property.”
Nested is a London startup that aims
to assist house sellers by selling their property within 90 days
guaranteed, based on their valuation of the home. It charges a standard
fee on all transactions of 1.8 percent (1.5 percent + value-added tax,
or VAT) plus 20 percent of any amount above the guaranteed price
(including VAT). They also can advance money to the seller ahead of the
90-day guaranteed sale at a rate of 1.5 percent.
Is Airbnb contributing to the West Coast inventory crunch?
In a similar project, Estately recently crunched the numbers on whether or not a high number of Airbnb units might account for some of the lack of inventory in West Coast cities.
In
San Francisco, the ratio of units on Airbnb to units for sale is 17.3
to 1. The data also show that a buyer may make a lot more from a
homestay in a tight real estate market than in a less competitive one,
causing more people to trying buy homes in these competitive markets
with the intent of turning them into Airbnb units.
Aiding this, Estately even offers a potential monthly Airbnb income estimate on listings.
For
both buyers and renters in cities with a large influx of tourists and
people seeking temporary housing, Airbnb continues to be a disrupting
influence, adding strain to markets already struggling with
affordability.
