Glenmont home featured in national magazine
Jim and Stephanie Bradley are bargain hunters from way back. They started shopping flea markets as a young couple in San Jose, Calif. and honed their skills at antique stores while perfecting their shabby chic style.
The Bradleys moved into a 1943 Cape Cod style home in Glenmont in 2003 and have been fixing it up ever since. They were delighted last year when staff at Country Home noticed. Country Home is a lifestyle magazine published by Dotdash Meredith Corp. with more than 8 million readers and 720,000 followers on Instagram.
The editor of Country Home saw Stephanie Bradley's photo on Instagram of vintage china displayed on white shelves (built by Jim) and asked if the couple would be up for a photo shoot. The Bradleys were pleased — and panicked.
"We were in the middle of a dining room renovation — it was down to the studs," Bradley said.
They pulled everything together in time for a late July photo shoot. Their home is featured
in the spring issue of Country Home, on newsstands now.
The pictures show an idyllic setting — the Bradleys' white home with its pink shutters and scalloped trim (both also built by Jim) surrounded by gardens
and greenery. One image shows the Bradleys enjoying pink lemonade in the yard with one of their two grown daughters. Inside, the photographer captured a variety of the Bradleys treasures, from a vintage sofa they had reupholstered, their primitive pink farm table Jim created out of a vintage door and legs from another table and a cabinet filled with antique laces, tablecloths, new and vintage bedding and heirloom pieces collected over the course of 30 years.
Stephanie Bradley retired recently as a preschool teacher and now devotes herself full time to her businesses — an Etsy shop, Spanish Dahlia; an online antiques business and the Bradleys' specialty, wooden cut outs of Santa, reindeer and sleighs, created by Jim and painted by Stephanie.
See more of the Bradleys' style on their blog, thespanishdahlia.typepad.com, and Instagram @_steph_bradley.
Home prices rise as inventory remains low
The real estate market didn't pause for breath as the calendar turned from 2021 to 2022, according to the latest statistics from the Greater Capital Association of Realtors.
The median sale price increased compared to last January by 9.2 percent from $228,900 to $250,000. Sellers are getting 98.1 percent of their list price in the sale and list prices are expected to continue rising in 2022.
Pending sales increased by nearly 2 percent from January 2021 to 939 for the month. Closed sales decreased 10 percent from January 2021 to 891 for the month. Sales dipped from last year with the continued lack of inventory having a negative impact on other sales metrics.
The sudden increase in rates and home prices means buyers are paying significantly more per month compared to this time last year, which may cause sales to slow as more buyers become priced out of the market.
Here is a breakdown by county of home sales and prices:
Albany County
New listings: 204
Closed sales: 198
Median sales price: $260,000
Rensselaer County
New listings: 98
Closed sales: 107
Median sales price: $249,100
Saratoga County
New listings: 192
Closed sales: 227
Median sales price: $347,730
Schenectady County
New listings: 92
Closed sales: 128
Median sales price: $199,750