Assistance with federally backed home mortgages announced.

home_in_eltingville_400If you have fallen victim to Hurricane Sandy and have a mortgage loan that is backed by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, or the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) there may be help for you.These three programs have put together some ways of helping you with your mortgage while you repair or replace your home, due to the damage from Hurricane Sandy.

For those of you who have a Freddie Mac backed mortgage, here are some options they are putting out for you, but it is case-by-case. Freddie Mac is waiving late fees and penalties and will either bring down the amount of your payment or let you not pay it for up to 12 months. They will put off the foreclosure of your home or the eviction…

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If your property received an extensive amount of damage due to Hurricane Sandy, you may qualify for the Casualty Tax Deduction. I know, it sounds great, right?  Well, as with most good things, there's a catch. There's a lot of work that goes into the process and there are limitations.


damaged_roof_Hurricane Sandy Staten IslandAccording to the Internal Revenue Service, "a casualty is the damage, destruction, or loss of property resulting from an identifiable event that is sudden, unexpected, or unusual." Included among these events are earthquakes, floods, mine cave-ins, sonic booms, storms, and vandalism.

There are two types of casualties: those which occurred in a federally declared disaster area and those which did not. The State of New York was declared by the president as a disaster area.…

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goodall_st_flooding_in_great_kills_400Homeowners insurance policies come in all types of packages and have different coverages. Since there are different packages and policy types, we are going to show you what the standard homeowners insurance covers. (This is not a full list of coverage; check your own policy to see what is covered.)


Standard homeowners insurance should cover:


• Fire, lightning, windstorm, hurricane, hail, weight of snow or ice, falling objects, and vehicle or aircraft damage to your home

• Burglary, theft, vandalism, malicious mischief, and glass breakage

•Explosion, riot commotion, and civil commotion

• Water from or freezing of plumbing systems, electrical damage to appliances, electrical wiring, and water heaters or heating system breaks

• Detached garages,…

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To the west of Father Capodanno Boulevard and located right next to Ocean Breeze Park, there is a small wetland that south_beach_wetlands_400is about 5 acres in size called South Beach Wetlands. This wetland became a part of the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation in December of 1999 and was named after the neighborhood in which it is located, South Beach.

Although this may not be a regular park that you would take your children to, it is still an important part of Staten Island. The South Beach Wetlands is one of the many parks on Staten Island that is more of a nature preserve, even though it may not be classified as one of the Forever Wild Nature Preserves. This park has been left to its own devices and is made up of marshy areas--as well as forest and…

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hurricane_sandy_goodall_400On Saturday, October 29th, President Obama signed a Major Disaster Declaration for New York in Hurricane Sandy's aftermath.  In order to assist those whose homes were damaged from Hurricane Sandy, the Federal Emergency Management Agency is willing to provide these victims with temporary housing.

To qualify for assistance:

  • Your property must not be covered by your insurance
  • You or someone you live with must be a citizen of the United States, a non-citizen national, or a qualified alien
  • The damaged home must be your primary residence or the residence in which you reside for the majority of the year
  • You must not be able to reside in your home at the present

Normally, you will not qualify for disaster assistance if you have insurance. …

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Ocean Breeze ParkOn the eastern shore of Staten Island's Mid-Island section, you can find Ocean Breeze Park. This park is right across the street from the Franklin D. Roosevelt Boardwalk and behind Staten Island University Hospital North and the South Beach Psychiatric Center. Ocean Breeze Park is an approximately 110-acre nature preserve that has been undergoing some changes.

Before the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation took over this land to make it a park, the land was a part of Staten Island University Hospital. Prior to becoming a park and as a park today, the land is filled with sand dunes, wetlands, shrub forests, and grassland areas. With Ocean Breeze Park containing all of these natural habitats, the New York City Department of Parks and…

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P.S. 35 was established in 1907 in the neighborhood of Stapleton. By the middle of the twentieth century, the school was Terrace Playground, Stapletonmoved to 60 Foote Avenue, in the Grymes Hill neighborhood. Around that time, an adjacent plot of land was acquired by New York City. This less-than-two-acres parcel was transferred to the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, as well as the New York City Board of Education.

In 1953, when the site had opened as a park, it was called P.S. 35 Playground. At that time, the park was given basketball courts, handball courts, play equipment, and shuffleboard areas. A plaque was erected in the park in 1997 to commemorate the opening of the park.

Since P.S. 35 is known as the Clove Valley School, the adjacent playground's name…

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During the eleventh and twelfth centuries, Europeans began to adopt building features of Ancient Rome. The buildings they constructed are today described as being of Romanesque Architecture. The most prominent feature used in the style was the semi-circular Roman arch. Other features of Romanesque Architecture include barrel vaults, porticoes, and heavy walls without much fenestration.


Germany saw a revival of the Romanesque style during the mid-1800s. By the latter part of the century, the Romanesque Revival style spread to the United States, where it was used in designing many buildings. The architectural style incorporated some features of Romanesque-style buildings, such as the heavy walls and the constant use of the Roman arch.  The Revival style…

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crimson_beach_400In the first half of the twentieth century, it was rare to find an architect who had never heard of Frank Lloyd Wright. Frank Lloyd Wright had made a name for himself by developing new styles of housing, including the Prairie style and the Organic style.  He was known for his practical house designs and for his love of manufactured homes. After the Great Depression, he realized that what people needed were affordable homes. By the 1950s, he had teamed up with Marshall Erdman, a house manufacturer, to create a series of affordable prefabricated homes which would cater to middle-class Americans.


The homes created by Wright and Erdman became known as the Marshall Erdman Prefab Houses. They had two different designs which were quite similar.  The first…

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gothic_388Gothic architecture was popular in Europe during the Middle Ages-specifically between the twelfth and sixteenth centuries. It is best known for its use in churches and cathedrals. Prominent features of Gothic-style buildings included flying buttresses and pointed arches.

By the middle of the eighteenth century, a revival of the Gothic architectural style began in England. Roughly one century later, the style had spread to the United States, where it became quite popular in housing construction. Like its medieval counterpart, Gothic Revival architecture was common in the construction of religious buildings, as well.

There are many distinguishable features of Gothic Revival-style architecture. A number of different types of windows can be found on…

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