Category Archives: Home & Real Esate

By Christine Graf

For more than 35 years, Ballston Spa-based Hinman Construction has been a fixture in the Capital Region home renovation market. Owners Jami and Kim Hinman work alongside their children, Jesse and Caroline, in the family business. 

“Our son and daughter decided they wanted to work with us after they went off to college and got their business degrees,” said Kim Hinman. “We work very well together, and we all have very clearly defined areas of responsibility”

Hinman Construction offers complete design and build services for those interested in remodeling their kitchens, bathrooms, or other rooms in their home. 

The process begins with a design meeting during which clients view 3D visuals and virtual renderings for their desired project. They are presented with various options, ones tailored to fit into their budgets.

“Our design process is much like you see in the HGTV shows. With the 3D visuals, we can place you in the home so that you can visually see what it’s going to look like,” said Hinman. “It’s photo-realistic, and we can do as much or as little as needed. ”

By Christine Graf

For homeowners looking to save money on heating and cooling costs, heat pumps may be the answer. Heat pumps operate using electricity, extracting heat from outside, bringing it indoors to heat a home during winter. Conversely, the pumps move heat from indoors to outdoors during the summer.

Although heat pumps have been commercially available since the late 1940s, it wasn’t until the energy crisis of the 1970s that their popularity increased. As fuel prices skyrocketed, people looked for more cost-effective ways to heat and cool their homes. 

According to Craig MacDonald, owner of Suburban Services Group in Burnt Hills, heat pumps declined in popularity as fossil fuel heating equipment was mandated and engineered for much higher efficiency.  

“We’ve been installing heat pumps for 30 years, and most people remember that the old heat pumps blew cool air and were often inefficient compared to oil or propane heat. Over time, they fell out of favor as furnace technology improved.  But because of improvements in heat pump technology, today’s heat pumps are capable of heating many homes in cold climates.”

In recent years, heat pumps have been re-engineered, enabling them to recover significantly more heat from the outdoors. Unlike conventional heat pumps, these cold climate heat pumps are ideal for those living in Northern New York and New England.  

By Jill Nagy

 Lihan Bozkurt plans to open his fifth Empire Pizza restaurant next January in Ballston Spa. He recently purchased an I Love New York Pizza outlet and is in the process of renovating it to join his growing family of Empire Pizza outlets. 

Empire Pizza restaurants are located in Corinth, Glens Falls, Hudson Falls, and the newly opened one on South Broadway in Saratoga Springs. Bozkurt’ opened his first  location in Glens Falls in 2009. Further expansion is planned for Clifton Park and Amsterdam. Bozkurt plans to develop the chain into a franchise operation. The first franchises are slated for long-time employees; others will be sold to non-employees.

The Ballston Spa restaurant is planned to seat between 20 and 25 customers. It will also offer take-out service and delivery. Customers will be able order online or in person, as they can at other Empire Pizza outlets.

Allerdice, a leading provider of Marvin Windows & Doors for over 35 years, has announced the grand opening of its new showroom. 

Located at the front of the Allerdice Ace Hardware & Building Supply at 41 Walworth Street in Saratoga Springs, the showroom is set to serve the growing community of homeowners and contractors in the area. The Allerdice Marvin Windows & Doors showroom showcases a comprehensive range of premium products, emphasizing the long-standing partnership between Allerdice and Marvin. This new space provides a dedicated environment for customers to explore and learn about Marvin’s exceptional windows and doors.

The Allerdice team takes pride in its seasoned Marvin Millwork Specialists, including Joe Monaco, Bill Hartloff, and Don Cox. With a collective experience of over 100 years in dealing with Marvin products, they bring unparalleled expertise and knowledge to assist customers in making informed decisions for their homes.

By Jill Nagy

EXIT Realty now has a Glens Falls office in addition to its Clifton Park and Hudson offices.

The real estate group held a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the Glens Falls office in February. But actually, the office had been open since June 2021. The event was delayed by the COVID pandemic. 

The Glens Falls branch is part of the regional franchise, EXIT Realty Empire Associates. The group’s headquarters is in Clifton Par. 

Jennifer Vucetic, principal broker and owner, said the company was doing so much business in the Lake George area, out of its Clifton Park office, they decided to open the new  office at 1 Lawrence St.

Empire Associates celebrate its fifth anniversary this summer. Vucetic has been in the real estate business since 2005.

Currently, there are 12 agents in the Glens Falls office. The core of the group is a team of agents headed by Bill Moon, who is also director of the board of the local Big Brothers and Sisters organization. The office occupies the first floor of a former pediatrics office.

The connection with Big Brothers and Sisters reflects the community service participation that is part of the DNA of both the national EXIT Realty International organization and the local franchise. A portion of every transaction fee received by the parent company is applied to its charitable fund, $7 million, to date, according to the company. 

By Susan Elise Campbell

Shannon McCarthy may be ahead of the curve when it comes to rapidly changing trends in the local real estate industry.

The Shannon McCarthy Team of 14 real estate professionals, formerly part of Keller Williams, has moved en masse to eXp Realty, a cloud-based firm that trades on NASDAQ and claims to be the number-one independent real estate broker in the U.S. in terms of transactions and closed sales, according to the company’s website.

McCarthy is a Saratoga native who sold her first home in 2003. She has her flagship realty office in Saratoga and a second office in Lake George. 

In the next month she plans to expand south into the Tri-Cities, where she said there is need for experienced real estate professionals.

“Once you have team members in an area and working it, you slowly grow market share,” said McCarthy.  “It grows organically because you are attracting more agents.”

Whatever brick-and-mortar presence the team may build next, headquarters is now a cloud-based, non-traditional business model that McCarthy says benefits both agents and consumers.

By Christine Graf

Miranda Real Estate Group Inc. recently opened its third Capital Region office at 1412 Route 9P on Saratoga Lake in Saratoga Springs. In addition to its corporate office in Clifton Park, the company has a satellite office in Rotterdam.

Owner Willie Miranda, a real estate broker with 29 years of industry experience, is also the owner of Miranda Insurance Agency, an Allstate Insurance franchise in Clifton Park. When the Schenectady native and Clifton Park resident opened his real estate company 20 years ago, his staff included four agents.

“Little by little we went from a small team to a big team. In 2009, we were the number one team in the Capital District, and in 2011 I decided to be more of a broker—helping other agents build their business within our business,” he said. “We’re currently at about 89 agents.”

Because the company does a considerable amount of business in Saratoga, opening an office on Saratoga Lake made good business sense.

“There was an opportunity that came up that we thought would be good for our business,” said Miranda. “There are no other real estate brokerages that have an office on Saratoga Lake.”  

Miranda Real Estate Group handles both residential and commercial properties. The company’s residential agents have been especially busy over the past several years.

By Christine Graf

After seven years of working as a commercial Realtor at Berkshire Hathaway, real estate broker Anne Cabral made the decision to venture out on her own. 

At the end of 2020, she established Glorious Day Real Estate, a commercial and residential real estate company with an office in Ballston Lake. Cabral recently relocated her office to a newly-renovated 2,500-square-foot space at 763 Saratoga Road in Burnt Hills. She is leasing the property with the option to buy.

While at Berkshire Hathaway, Cabral earned her broker’s license and gained experience as an associate broker. It was during the early days of the pandemic that she began to seriously consider the possibility of opening her own real estate company. At the time, the commercial real estate market was at a standstill. 

“It gave me a lot of time to think,” she said. “It was one of those things where I knew that if I was going to go out on my own that now was the time to do it. I had thought about it for a while but had just never really had the time. Starting a new business takes a lot of work.”

While working on her business plan, Cabral reflected on her career as a real estate agent. She thought about the things she liked as well as those that she didn’t.  

 “One of the things that I really don’t like about the real estate industry is that brokers can take listings. Agents are in competition with their broker, and I felt that if I were a broker to agents that I would like the agents to be my clients. I would like to be available to help educate, inspire, and support them with their clients,” she said.

 It was for that reason that Cabral made the decision to forgo taking on clients of her own. Although she is sometimes asked to co-list a property with one of her agents, she does not share in the agent’s commission.

By Christine Graf

As demand for new homes surges throughout the country, supply shortages and price increases continue to plague the construction industry. According to the National Association of Homebuilders (NAHB), more than 90 percent  of builders experienced materials shortages and delays in 2021.

Builders were encouraged when lumber prices began to fall after a record high in May of 2021, but prices began to climb again in December. The average cost of lumber is now about three times more than it was before the pandemic, industry officials say.

Economists predicted that supply chain shortages and material costs would begin to ease, but that was before Russia invaded Ukraine. Experts say the war in Ukraine will disrupt supply chains and further exacerbate shortages and price increases. The increase in oil and gas prices that have resulted from Russian sanctions will also impact production and transportation costs.

According to Cecil Provost, owner of Saratoga Construction and Saratoga Modular Homes, increased material costs have caused the average home price to skyrocket.

His companies build custom “stick-built” homes as well as custom modular homes. Stick-built homes are constructed on the job site, whereas modular homes are built in sections at a factory.

“Our specialty is building custom homes with modular construction. We are typically doing porches, and garages, and decks, and higher end finishes. What’s unusual about us is that we design every home from scratch for the customer. We can customize it right down to the bathroom faucets. We are the only builder that I know of in this region and one of the few in the northeast that do what we do.”