As an agent who has a special focus on the society I live in and ways to improve it, I want to start 2010 with a plea.

Westchester County is an area rich in resources, jobs and the generosity of its people. I am lucky to have been raised here and schooled in the notion of helping others less fortunate than myself. Our schools and religious institutions also make great efforts to run programs so folks can get on board. I do know that even here houses get foreclosed on, many lose jobs and others just feel the immense pressure to hold on. Every town faces financial difficulties in moving ahead with plans or even set agendas. I do believe 2010 will be the year that we move in a positive direction with a better and more appreciative mindset.

All that being said, I would like to remind us all of the many organizations set up to receive items that would be of great benefit to our neighbors and friends. Whether you are cleaning the closets or have outgrown some garments, making a charitable donation with these items is the avenue to take.

• Big Brothers Big Sisters will pick up the largest selection of give aways: clothing, blankets, shoes, & toys - 914-963-4453
• Salvation Army will also pick up from your home - 1-800-95-TRUCK
• Furniture Sharehouse in Larchmont will pick up and redistribute to clients referred by social service agencies.
• New Rochelle Humane Society Thrift Shop - 914-633-7683 NewRochelleHumaneSociety.com.
• Eye Glass Give Away GivetheGiftofSight.org will take old prescription glasses and put them to good use - 1-888-935-4589

The Winter Coat Drive to benefit homeless men and women is taking place in January. Your warm winter coats will be collected by The Rye City Lions Club, Rye Rotary and The Osborn Retirement Home. However the drop off is The Osborn’s Resale Shop at 101 Theall Road, Rye (TheOsborn.org will offer details).

The coats will be distributed at The Open Arms Men’s Shelter and The Samaritan Women’s Shelter.

Let us all begin the New Year helping the less fortunate and finding ways to better all the towns and villages we call home. I know I am a happier and better person for it.

Posted By: Jan Vinikoor

More than ever with today’s needs for conserving energy as well as maintaining a safe home environment, yearly service, tune-ups, and safety checks are strongly advised on all fossil fuel fired heating systems. They are important for gas fired systems and essential for oil fired systems, for both safety and efficiency reasons. Though it is still air conditioning season, soon fall will be here. It is best to have the heating system serviced before it becomes necessary to use it. Many people find it convenient to arrange for an annual service contract with a licensed plumber or heating systems contractor, who is familiar with the system, and can recommend simple maintenance and repairs that will keep the system in top operating condition. Investing in a relatively small amount of money in yearly maintenance can extend the life of your heating system, and prevent an untimely system failure that necessitates replacement.

Posted By: Marjorie Weschler

Twenty-seven years ago, the organization known as Pet Rescue was founded by Sue Kamill and a few other volunteers who were distressed by miserable conditions in animal shelters and thought they could do better. In 2008, this group, which has grown to more than 50 volunteers who donate their time, talent, homes, and love of animals placed almost 900 dogs and cats with local families.Their work is accomplished without a shelter building, through dedicated families who open their homes to foster the animals, nurse them back to health, socialize them, and then carefully place them in “forever” homes, with the guarantee that if for any reason the placement doesn’t work out, they will take the animal back.

For anyone who would like to join in this effort, there is always a need for donations, pet supplies, volunteers, and foster homes. There is an ever-growing group of local children who have held fundraisers, donated their birthday money to Pet Rescue, or participated in the organization with their parents. These children are learning that they can make a difference in the quality of an animal’s life, which is a valuable life lesson.

If you are considering obtaining a pet, you can see the wonderful cats, kittens, dogs and puppies available for adoption at the Pet Rescue Website: NY-PetRescue.org.

Posted By: Marjorie Weschler

My newest listing offers tremendous value in the heart of Larchmont Village. This lovely home is conveniently located close to the train, shops, restaurants, schools and parks, and offers five bedrooms, three new baths, all new windows, central air conditioning, and much more!

Special touches include stenciling on the risers of the staircase, beautiful dentil moldings, hardwood floors, a working fireplace, and a steam shower in the master bath. Ideal for someone who wants a true “in town” location, with all the charm that makes Larchmont so special.

Larchmont is a beautiful waterfront community on the shores of Long Island Sound. It offers excellent schools, beautiful tree-lined streets, exciting recreation opporunities and a pleasant,relaxed lifestyle–all within a 35 minute commute to Manhattan.

Posted By: Marjorie Weschler

Living in lower Westchester County combines two great lifestyles. On one hand there is the City…New York City about half an hour away by Metro North which will bring you right to the center of it all…Grand Central Terminal, the busiest train station in the world!

On the other hand, you are in the country. Meandering through New Rochelle, Larchmont and Mamaroneck you have the Leatherstocking Trail. Granted, although there are places where you might think that you are away from it all, you still see houses here and there along the trail. However, coming from New Rochelle, the trail ends up in the Saxon Woods Park – and here it is like you have left suburbia for good.

When I want to get further away, I have the choice between the Rockefeller State Preserve which my wife and my dogs love and the Ward Pound Ridge Reservation which is much wilder. The Rockefeller State Preserve reminds me of Acadia National Park in Maine with its carriage roads, but much closer to home. The Rockefeller Preserve has 20 miles of carriage roads and over 1,000 acres of woodlands, meadows and wetlands. The Ward Pound Ridge Reservation with more than 4,700 acres, is the county’s largest and most beautiful park. The reservation features over 35 miles of hiking trails through meadows, pine plantations, vernal pools, hardwood forests and sandy moraines. Actually, it has been designated a Biodiversity Reservation Area and an Audubon Important Bird Area.

For the ultimate hiking thrill, I believe that unfortunately you have to leave Westchester and drive up to the Minnewaska State Park Preserve, just a few miles after you go through New Paltz. Although it is 1 1/2 to 2 hours away from Larchmont, it is magnificent. Here over 20,000 acres of public park owned by the State of New York are crisscrossed by carriage and hiking trails. Our Labrador Retriever loves to hike for almost two hours and then take a cool swim in Lake Awosting and on the way back there is Lake Minnewaska, a perfect spot for another swim. Minnewaska is connected to the Mohonk Preserve, famous for its grandiose Mohonk Mountain House, a resort hotel and spa. But to their demerit, according to our Lab, they won’t allow dogs.

Now, don’t you feel like heading out to explore nature this weekend…or maybe it is just me, a kid that grew up steps from the Black Forest.

Posted By: H. Juergen Hess

Last year one of my European clients told me that they were looking for a home that would be totally “American.” But what is “American” – a Victorian House, no that’s British, a Ranch, well, yes that’s better, a Tudor, a Colonial. But there is nothing that screams out: I am American.

Knowing that this client was renting a classic Victorian in the Larchmont Manor at the time and being fully aware how much they loved this house (I actually was the listing agent for this house, that’s how I “inherited” the tenant, my new client), I was confused. Maybe they were counting on the fact that I am European too – and thus should be able to find an “American” house easier.

I took them on several tours of homes on the market, hoping that I would stumble over the “American” house in the process. I showed them what I thought was “American”: one floor ranch houses and split level ones from the ’50s. They were all too dated. After one of these tours, the client showed me a listing that they had downloaded from our MLS-connected site (I like clients that do their homework). But this house was listed as a “colonial” and was for sale, not for rent. The next time we went looking at houses, I made sure that this “colonial” was part of our tour. As it turned out, the “colonial” wasn’t a “colonial” – it had been built in 1974 and was exactly what a modern home looked like in the ’70s. It had had only one owner and a lot of the belongings of the owner were still in the house. The lime green couch, the painting of himself sitting in exactly the same living room (with the green couch), the artificial plants, the Japanese-inspired dinning room furniture and, not to forget, the shag carpeting in the bedrooms.

When I saw this house, a time capsule of 1974, I knew we had found it: the “American House.” The American house was like the American homes on TV that we Europeans had grown up with: welcome to the Partridge Family! (And it took me little effort to convince the listing agent and the owner to rent the house instead of selling it. After all the “colonial” had been on the market for over a year.)

Posted By: H. Juergen Hess

Larchmont Friends of the Family is a wonderful organization that reflects the special qualitities that make Larchmont such an extraordinary place to live. It is an all-volunteer group that provides assistance to community families that have experienced a death or serious illness, usually involving one of the parents. That assistance can be providing meals, driving to doctor’s appointments or treatments, supplying children’s clothing, running errands, driving children to and from school and a myriad of other helpful activities, as well as short-term financial assistance. The group is always in need of committed volunteers, and financial donations.

There are many families in Larchmont that have been the beneficiaries of the compassionate support that this wonderful group provides, and for them that support has made a critical difference in their ability to survive some very difficult situations. The activities of this wonderful organization are one of the ties that bind the residents of Larchmont and the immediate surrounding areas together. For further information, please go to LarchmontGazette.com/Guide/Address/Data/FriendsOfFamily.

Posted By: Marjorie Weschler

My wife just bought a Kindle 2 (from Amazon) as a present for her father on his 75th birthday. Not only can you get thousands of books on the Kindle, but you can have your newspaper displayed on the Kindle too. Wait, did I just say newspaper? If you are reading this blog, do you actually know what a newspaper is? It is news printed on paper! Yes, paper! Of course, I am kidding, but with newspapers closing or moving to the Internet it won’t be long before we will have to talk about them in the past tense.

In the good old days, the newspaper was the source for jobs and real estate. Those two sections used to have many pages in the Sunday editions of the papers. Now, they are minuscule. Where do you look for real estate nowadays? On the real estate (web)sites of course. There is HoulihanLawrence.com, Trulia.com, Realtor.com and many others. It has become an established fact that potential home buyers spend months on the Internet before ever contacting a real estate agent. The anonymity of the buyer is King and who wants to be bothered by those “obnoxious” real estate agents anyway?

The first step for the home buyer away from the “virtual world” of the Internet is visiting “real world” Open Houses. Here you only need to give up a little bit of your anonymity by showing up “in person” to see the house “off screen.” And this brings me to what we are doing on Sunday, April 19th: We are having an “Open House Extravaganza” in the Sound Shore communities of Rye, Mamaroneck, Larchmont and New Rochelle. Over 25 homes will be shown from 2 - 4 pm. These homes range from a townhouse in the Arbor Glen community of New Rochelle for $499K to an estate in Orienta (Mamaroneck) for $2,850K – with everything else in between. Not only will you see great homes, but you will meet great people, some of them are even real estate agents!! And while you are out, take a stroll through Manor Park in Larchmont. You won’t regret it!

Posted By: H. Juergen Hess