AT HOME

News and tips on real estate, home design and gardening in Central New York

DeRuyter, NY - Randy Wood turned to green living long before today's conservation movement. In 1982, he built a green house that is not only energy efficient, it is literally green: The house is built into a grassy hill. Wood mows his roof. The location came courtesy of Wood's parents, Delmer and Mary Wood, who owned about 200 acres of hayfield and woodland in DeRuyter, southeast of Syracuse. Inspiration came courtesy of the first energy crises. "I lived through the oil shortages of the 1970s," Wood said. "It costs a lot to heat a house, so I figured I could find a way to heat a house so that it would pay for itself." Wood decided to build a house that was so energy efficient it would cost him nothing to heat, even in Central New York winters. For all intents, he's succeeded. Continue reading "His hill is his castle" »

Morrisville, NY -- Two workshops are coming up in Madison County to help people learn how to "Save Energy, Save Dollars."

Explore the many ways to reduce your energy bill through no-cost/low-cost energy actions. Choose ideas that work for your family and find out how much they will save you.

Programs are scheduled for 1 p.m. Dec. 11 and 2 p.m. Jan. 10 at Cornell Cooperative Extension in Morrisville.

For information or to register, call (607) 336-2101 or (866) 456-3051, ext. 121. Free energy-saving items will be provided at the workshops.

Jim Juczak hates mortgages. When he started building his home in rural Jefferson County, he resolved to stay out of debt.

The house he finished five years later is an 18-sided structure with 3,000 square feet of space. It is mortgage-free.

And much of it is made from junk.

The support beams are salvaged from a bowling alley that was being demolished.

A two-story concrete column that supports the center of the house is made from scrapped manholes.

Windows, interior doors, sinks, tubs and other materials were bought cheap or salvaged for free after being removed from renovated buildings.

And the mortar for the outer wall was made from paper sludge, a waste material from a nearby mill. Juczak had to get a special permit from the state Department of Environmental Conservation to divert the sludge from a landfill.

"Everyone gave it (the permit) with much humor, because this is basically garbage," Juczak said. "You know -- 'Oh, my gosh! He's living in a house made of trash!'"

Continue reading "King of Scrounge: North Country man finds simple living is easy" »

Eleven multifamily homes in Syracuse are available for just a dollar apiece.

For rehabilitating one of the houses, the new owner will get a seven-year tax break, plus as much as $45,400 from the city to help cover the cost of the fix-up.

It may sound great, but there's a catch. To take one of these properties off the city's hands, you must be a qualified developer and an experienced property manager, said Tim Carroll, the city operations director.

Continue reading "Syracuse selling houses for just $1, but with some strings attached" »

Syracuse, NY - John Gidding, a designer on HGTV's Design to Sell, spoke today at the Ready to Remodel Expo about how to cheaply prepare your home for resale. He gave visitors to the expo, sponsored by Home Builders and Remodelers of CNY, insight on painting walls a neutral color, decluttering and cleaning and finding bargains on the internet. Gidding will speak again at the expo at 1 p.m. Sunday. Admission to the expo is $6 for adults.

On his Atlanta-based show, Gidding is given five weeks, a budget of $2,000 and a team of carpenters to help him turn a house into a showplace. For those of us who don't have master craftsmen willing to work for free, he offers these tips on getting your home ready to show:

Continue reading "HGTV designer John Gidding speaks at Remodel Expo" »

The episode of ABC's "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" filmed over the summer in nearby Geneva will air at 8 p.m. Nov. 2, NewsChannel 9 is reporting on the air and its Web site.

The ABC reality show spent a week demolishing, then rebuilding the home of Tim and Michelle Hill and their children. The Hills were chosen to receive a new home because of Tim Hill's work with underprivileged children at the Geneva Boxing Club he founded 10 years ago.

Channel 9 will also reportedly air a local special about the "Extreme Makeover" build in Geneva on Oct. 28.

Mahoney Design & Build of Canasota supervised the construction project.

Central New York's housing market could only stay in its protected bubble for so long.

Over the past year, as the national housing market crumbled so quickly it needed government intervention, Central New York became an anomaly.

Nationally, the prices of homes are down 7.7 percent from a year ago, according to the National Association of Realtors. In the Syracuse metropolitan area, the prices of single-family homes remained steady, rising 0.8 percent over the past year. Meanwhile, we weren't seeing the same terrifying foreclosure rates that ravaged other areas of the country, such as California, Nevada and Florida.

But now, agents say, Central New York may have become caught in the national undertow. After a tour of open houses in Onondaga County Sunday, most of the real estate agents and homeowners -- especially in higher-priced homes in the suburbs -- said few potential buyers were coming through the doors and very few were getting offers.

Continue reading "CNY home sellers feel a shiver" »

An Asian flair is carried through the rooms of this three-bedroom ranch in the Strathmore neighborhood of Syracuse.

"My husband is Asian and we both appreciate the Asian culture. We started collecting things when we visited Vietnam," said Susan Branagan-Phame, who works for Onondaga Community College in the Jobs Plus program. Her husband, Thomas Phame, works for the Syracuse school district.

The ranch is at 104 Overlook Drive, off Velasko Road.

It's priced at $174,900. It was built in 1953.

The home has been extensively renovated since the couple purchased it eight years ago. Among the improvements are landscaping with lighting; new brick front entrance and post light; brick patio; lots of built-in bookcases and cabinets; renovated kitchen; remodeled bathroom and all kinds of new lighting, including 96 recessed lights.

Continue reading "House of the Week: 104 Overlook Drive" »