When my family moved to the south when I was at the impressionable age of eight, I was amazed with some of the colloquialisms I heard that were so foreign to my ear transplanted from South Philadelphia, like one from my our next door neighbor Ethel who liked to say how much she loved her husband even though he was as “ugly as a mud fence.”I thought of that phrase recently when I pondered an ugly fence confronting me upon removing a row of sickly hemlocks, stricken years ago by a thrip infestation, pulled out by their roots, revealing a weather beaten stockade fence that separates the back of my property from another. It had fallen into disrepair with slats cracked and pieces missing here and there. Rather than replacing it at considerable expense, I thought of a more creative approach: ... 06/21/2015

After a year of great upheaval in my personal and professional domains, having moved to a new residence and expanded my space in my office building, I was feeling off kilter everywhere, a little uncomfortable in my own skin, not sleeping well at home and working in a tangle of misplaced folders, temporary filing boxes and a jumble of crossed wires.Six months ago, I moved from my large historic property that for over 40 years had housed my public relations business and domicile to make way for an ever expanding enterprise after my wife had declared, “Enough! I’ve lived ‘above the store’ my entire married life and now I’m living ‘INSIDE’ the store!” That’s when we purchased a new residence at Trump Park in Shrub Oak which we’ve been decorating madly while at our historic property, we conv... 06/14/2015

Soon after I moved into my new residence at Trump Park in Yorktown, a neighbor named Dan Potter introduced himself to me as a retired fireman from New York City and said that he had read my column about Fireman Joe who instructed school children about fire safety in the home. Dan told me not to forget about seniors who have a much higher risk of dying from fire in their own homes than the general population and that he had done educational programs for them on the subject. I told him that I wanted to know more.This week we got together and I learned number of new things, some surprising, including his personal history.Dan had been at the World Trade Center on 9/11 as one of the first responders, arriving between the times the first and second planes hit the towers. His wife Jean was wor... 06/06/2015

Whenever I see a model home, I marvel at how a professional designer can throw together a beautiful living space with so many creative ideas so quickly. Some peoples’ minds are just wired that way, but obviously mine is not. In fact, the one course in college I ever dropped mid-term was Interior Design. While I’ve frequently heard other people boast about how quickly they’ve “settled in” when they’ve purchased a new home or moved from one place to another, either working with a decorator or doing it themselves, as for me, I need to add the element of time to be fully happy with any design project I tackle.I remember years ago when I invited one of the editors of Good Housekeeping to my home and she surveyed my garden, she asked how long I had lived at my property and when I responded “2... 05/25/2015

Most every spring I write a piece about simplifying garden chores to achieve maximum effect in design and color with minimum effort in terms of planting, weeding and especially bending and kneeling for us folk who are “getting better” each year as they say now about active, mature adults.But, a lot happens to a property in decades of living with it, much of it not good, and that sometimes throws a monkey wrench into landscaping simplification.How naïve I was as a young homeowner thinking that every tree, shrub and bulb I discovered on my property, as well as all that I plopped there over the years, would continue to grow and prosper during their lifetimes and mine.Oh, my, how the landscape that embraces my historic property has changed over the years thanks to pestilence, severe winters... 05/18/2015

My wife and I frequently comment about how barren those new multimillion-dollar condos in Manhattan look when we see those ads with only sofa, a coffee table, and maybe a sideboard in the living room and nothing else. God forbid that you would walk around in your underwear in that room, put your feet up, and munch on a bagel with lox and cream cheese. How do you live in a room like that? And what do you enjoy visually, other than the view of the skyline? Maybe that’s the point? Just look beyond the void of the room into the wild blue yonder, because there’s certainly nothing to ponder inside!While most of us seem possessed with decluttering, especially when it comes time to sell our homes, fashion designer Iris Apfel, aged 93, is known for keeping her house filled with all sorts of trea... 05/12/2015

Lately I’ve been made aware that I’m probably a noisy person. Not to myself so much, but maybe to others. More and more, if I’m watching TV in one room and my wife in another, for instance, she’ll say mine is too loud. And just the other day, when I had driven into my property which houses my PR business and jumped out of the car without turning off the motor to unlock the place for my painters who are redecorating my offices, the realization really struck home. One of the painters who’s worked for me for a long time looked at me askance and said, “Knowing the kind of man you are, I never would have thought you’d play loud music in your car!” I guess I was busted. Yes, I like loud music, whether in my car or at home. Not rock or country, but Broadway show tunes that get my heart pumping... 05/05/2015

A few years ago, I wrote a piece about litter and how it relates to the real estate industry. I was inspired to write on that particular subject because I had just been asked to cancel a showing appointment when a couple had done an advance drive-by of the house and found that it was in a neighborhood where they felt there was an excessive amount of litter left on the streets.  “We wouldn’t want to live in a place where our neighbors could just leave litter in front of their own homes without picking it up,” they told me. They even added for emphasis, “We just wouldn’t want to live among people who could stand to live like that.” I must confess, I have similar feelings when I’m driving down any road or byway. I don’t know if I’m obsessive, okay, maybe I am, but any foreign object of lit... 04/20/2015

Either the piano is about to become as extinct as the dodo bird from American homes or, much like Mark Twain, its untimely death has been greatly exaggerated. It depends on what you read and who you believe.Within the past few weeks, there’s been good news and bad news about the piano industry and, oddly enough, a report of its connection to the real estate industry.First I heard an interview on SiriusXM Radio that referenced a New York Times article about a “graveyard” for unwanted pianos in Southhampton, Pa., and that particular graveyard was only one of many.As a realtor, I frequently am asked by clients selling their homes for advice about how to dispose of their pianos, especially if they are downsizing.It wasn’t all that long ago that a piano was as integral to a home’s living roo... 04/17/2015

The Yorktown Chamber of Commerce covers the northern part of Westchester County. The Chamber has had a successful year with strong membership growth.  New members were introduced at the networking meeting at the Jefferson Valley Mall in Yorktown Heights.   The Chamber holds monthly networking events hosted at a different member's location.  However, next month it will hold a breakfast event to mix things up.  You get additional information here at the Chamber's website.   Information and photos provided by Grant Schneider, Performance Development Strategies.    Would you like to know how to make your local business thrive?   Contact us! 03/24/2015

More than a dozen years ago, Ed McMahon, the famous pitch man and announcer for Johnny Carson, brought to the public’s attention the health problems that can result from living with toxic mold in the home. After a long legal battle, McMahon was awarded $7.2 million from several companies who were negligent in allowing toxic mold into his home resulting from a broken pipe, sickening him and his wife and killing their dog. As it happens, I had been aware for some years that I had a mold problem in my home, but not being sensitive to it, I thought it was a minor situation and let it go without remediating it. Last week, however, I learned that this was a mistake and my health has probably been affected to some degree by my procrastination. It started on Christmas Eve three years ago, befor... 03/09/2015

When I was younger and forced by the lack of money to be a do-it-yourselfer around the house and in the garden, I dreamed of the day when I could employ others to do all that sweat labor to maintain and upgrade everything that needed to be done. That day came a long time ago, and I considered myself lucky that I had more time available to pursue other dreams like a satisfying second career, and even a third career. At an age when many people are retired, I have the opportunity to work long, happy hours every day. But just last weekend, surprisingly, I found myself with a free Saturday for the first time in several years where I was caught up on all my assignments and just itching for something to do around the house. More than just itching. Starving. As it happens, my wife and I were in... 02/23/2015

With my recent move, I learned that hanging on to keys and identifying which key is for which lock is important because it was necessary for me to call my local Locksmith-on-Wheels in Yorktown Heights, owned by Eugene and Carl Camia, to open two locked file cabinets with long lost keys. And there was also an unexpected mystery that unfolded before me. Buried deep in the eaves of my attic was a footlocker that I had placed there over 43 years ago when I moved into the house and totally forgot about. It was an item my parents had purchased for me when I was 13 years old and being shipped off to military school. It was to hold all my clothes and other possessions for that experience. Afterwards, as an adult, I used it for moving from one place to another and storage. As I lugged it from it... 02/15/2015

The bathroom. When you think about it, while it may not be the room you spend the most time in, it’s probably the room you visit most times during the course of the day and, if you’re in my age group, you probably visit it a little more frequently than when you were younger. I’ve been thinking a lot about the bathroom lately, forced by an unexpected experience I had the first day I was in my new digs at the gorgeous Trump Park Residences in the Shrub Oak hamlet of Yorktown. This joint is outrageous outfitted with the finest materials and fixtures you might imagine: granite, marble and brushed steel everywhere you look. So when it was time for me to visit the bathroom for the more serious function for which one visits the bathroom, and I started that slow descend, I realized that I wasn’... 02/05/2015

In my many years as both a homeowner and homestyles journalist, I have observed that home repair and improvement projects tend to fall into three categories: the ones you need to do, the ones you want to do, and the ones you do solely to increase the value of your home. The urgent projects you find in the first category, such as leaky pipes, cold furnaces or an invasion of termites, are the ones most likely to grab the dollars in the average home owner’s repairs budget. Postponing these repairs can not only make a home uncomfortable, but can also lead to a small problem getting worse and costing even more to repair. Projects meant to boost a home’s value take on their own urgency when we first begin to anticipate moving. The scruffy front door that we learned to ignore or the outdated b... 01/27/2015

As I recall the walls of my childhood home, a simple row home in Philadelphia owned by a first generation Italian family with limited means to decorate, I see only the large obligatory parlor mirror over the sofa and one brightly colored watercolor of gladioli dated 1940 by my Aunt Helen, a self-taught artist, that to this day I display in an honored place. In college, when first exposed to the world of art, I vowed one day to become a collector to the extent that I could afford. And, when as a newcomer to New York City, visiting the home of a cultured gentleman, I was impressed to find that all the walls of his home were covered from floor to ceiling with paintings, prints and other objets d’art, much like an art gallery. Those two experiences created in me a lifelong obsession to have... 01/19/2015

 Are their options for your buyer if you are selling your VACANT LAND? There are a few financing options for someone looking to buy your VACANT LAND. First there is always the cash option in today's economy that is very likely to be the only one available, and most builders will pay cash. Second is the OWNER FINANCING OPTION. This is sometimes a good option and can get you more money in your pocket but you may also have to repossess the property, which can be messy to say the least. Third option is a LAND to CONSTRUCTION  LOAN. This is the slowest way to finance. But will require 20=40% down. and requires APPROVALS TO BUILD before you can close. Bank takes all the risk. Are their options for your buyer if you are selling your VACANT LAND? There are a few financing options for someone lo... 01/17/2015

  When you look at property w/wetlands, do you know if it is buildable?   Have you ever looked at land with wetland on it and wanted to know if it was buildable?   If the land is in Westchester or Putnam Counties in New York, the changes of it being buildable are very slim. Any STRUCTURE, DRIVEWAY, WELL or SEPTIC SYSTEM must maintain a minimum set back from the wet land of 100 feet and sometimes (DEC protected wet land) requires a 200 foot setback. If you don't have enough space beyond the setbacks, the chanced are very slim it is buildable.   This along with steep slope laws in most towns can make even a 1-5 acre parcel un-buildable.   When you look at property w/wetlands, do you know if it is buildable?   Have you ever looked at land with wetland on it and wanted to know if it was bui... 01/17/2015

More than 25 years ago, my friend John Carr was the first person I knew who built his own home, and he was the first who taught me that installing hardwood floors cost pretty much the same as installing subflooring and wall-to-wall carpeting. And naturally, I thought, who would ever want carpeting when they could have hardwood flooring at the same price? And it seems that for the past three decades, everyone else has had the same preference, with the addition of an area rug here and there, or so I thought until I visited my seller client at his place of business which happens to be Redi-Cut Carpets, the largest floor surfacing store in Westchester, located in Port Chester, offering wall-to-wall carpeting, hardwood flooring and area rugs. “Yes, actually, wall-to-wall carpeting is very mu... 01/13/2015

  Are You Ready For The Spring Market????   The spring is when you should have the most listings you can. Buyers will flock to those agents who have the most listings. If you plan on selling 20 Listing sides then you should probably have as many as if not more than 30 listings when the spring market begins.If you do not then you will not attract as many buyers as a listing agent will. Thus it may be hard to meet your goals.Even if you advertise for buyers it can be difficult to generate enough leads to meet your needs. At this time of the year you need to get your mailings out in a timely fashion and follow-up is very important. If you do you will be ready for the spring market.   Are You Ready For The Spring Market????     01/10/2015