By By Special to the Sentinel Monday, March 9, 2015

Last day to Expo!!! If you havent made the trip down to Two Rivers Convention Center for the 40th Annual Home Improvement & Remodeling Expo, today is our last day! Join us from 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. Over 90 different companies are represented, each showcasing a variety of products that can make your house a home! No need to drive all over the western slope getting your questions answered from all of the contractors you may need for your next home improvement projectwe have them all here, at the expo! Have too much stuff in your current home? Remodel or build a storage shed. Need a larger home for a growing family or is it time to downsize? We have builders and real estate agents on site to answer your questions and find you your next home or your first home. Need to find a lender to finance your new home or take out a line of credit to finance your improvement projects? Find out current mortgage rates and financing options from our lenders. Does your to-do list include making your home or a loved ones home safer and more accessible? We have on site Aging in Place Specialists (CAPS Certified) to help you find solutions. Seminars at todays expo include:

Basic Paver Installation & Retaining Wall Installation - how to do it! Foundation Failure? What do look for & what to do about it Pellet Grill vs Propane: Taste the difference Rebates for evaporative coolers: learn more Working with Concrete Patch & Crack Repair Products - you can do it! How to fix Settled concrete Space Age Solution

FREE Home Tour: See the latest in design and technology at our Bank of America Home Loans sponsored custom home tour! This year we have 9 beautiful homes, built by 8 local HBA builder members. Who knows, you may find your dream home on the tour! (Some of these homes were featured in our 2014 Parade of Homes!)

Have kids?

Mor Storage Sales and Home Depot have teamed up and are offering a free kids clinic by the Mor Storage Sales buildings on the courtyard of the convention center. Kids are able to build a fun project and take it home! Home Depot will be on site today from 10-2. Admission is $5/Adult $3/Seniors 55+ and Young Adults (13-18) Kids 12 & under are FREE We hope to see you at the show! Visit http://www.hbaevents.com for information about times and pricing or call us at 245-0253.

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Last day for HBA show

Custom Home Builders In Kansas City | BL Rieke Home Builders
http://blrieke.com | Another satisfied customer in another great Kansas City custom home. Let us show you why we are Kansas City #39;s favorite home builders. BL...

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Custom Home Builders In Kansas City | BL Rieke Home Builders - Video

Martinsburg, WV Custom Home Builders | Start to Finish
Custom home builder Miller #39;s Residential Creations of Martinsburg, WV shows off a custom-built home from the ground up. To learn more visit our website: http...

By: Brian Miller

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Martinsburg, WV Custom Home Builders | Start to Finish - Video

Home sales of $1 million and higher account for only a small share of the overall market. Sales of new homes over $750,000 made up just 3.7 percent of all new-home sales in 2013, according to census data. But for Toll Brothers and several other builders, the million-dollar price point has become a new sweet spot for attracting buyers.

Last year, Toll Brothers sold 585 homes across the nation priced at $1 million or more, according to Metrostudy, a research company that focuses on residential real estate development and new-home construction. That was nearly three times the number it sold just two years previously, the company reported.

Toll Brothers has long included the high end in its spectrum of new homes, but even builders known primarily for affordable offerings, like D.R. Horton, are selling a lot more million-dollar homes. According to Metrostudy, D.R. Horton in 2012 sold just five homes for $1 million or more; last year it sold 145. PulteGroup/Del Webb/Centex, Taylor Morrison and Lennar followed similar patterns in recent years.

For wealthy buyers, the recession is long gone, said Mike Castleman Jr., senior vice president of Metrostudy. "If the builders want to stay in business and keep the flywheel running, they go after that market."

Read MoreWall Street on edge after Yellen, housing data in focus

Even apart from the million-dollar level, many builders are moving upscale as fast as they can. The price of newly constructed homes has risen significantly faster than the price of existing homes, according to an analysis from Zillow, the online real estate firm. In September 2005, the average price gap between existing and new homes was about $32,000; by December 2014 it had widened to $122,000.

At the Newtown Square development, called Liseter, even the harsh winter weather was doing little to slow the bulldozers breaking through the frosty ground this month for homes that will feature cathedral ceilings, hand-scraped hardwood floors, winding staircases, his-and-her walk-in closets and garages with what look like antique barn doors. The development sits on a former Monticello-inspired estate where Jean Liseter Austin du Pont once bred Welsh ponies and hunting beagles.

Buyers can tweak the floor plan, pick from a variety of shower designs and fireplace tiles, and adjust the number of data ports in the walls. Since construction began in January 2013, Toll Brothers has sold 136 homes at Liseter and hopes to sell about 300 more.

Not all the Liseter homes begin at $1 million, but buyers want extras sunrooms, built-in wine storage, even the ultimate man cave with a glass-encased room for brewing beer that push the price as much as $300,000 higher.

"We're trying to cater to the higher end just because that's what the market is demanding," Brian Thierrin, a Toll Brothers senior vice president who is overseeing the Liseter project, explained as he meandered through model homes after showing off a club house that looked like a fancy restaurant and spacious gym in a separate building. Final work on an infinity pool awaited warmer temperatures.

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Home builders catering to wealthy

A two-story addition completed in four months tops is what was promised to Jeffrey Goldstein in 2009. Before long, though, he suspected that promise would be broken.

A couple of months into construction, subcontractors claimed they werent paid. And the contractor, John Succi, routinely arrived at the Richboro home without building materials and supplies, then asked Goldsteins wife to buy them. Succi also kept asking for more than the $80,000 price in the contract they Goldsteins signed.

Still, Goldstein said he wasnt worried at the time. He knew that months earlier, the Legislature had adopted the Pennsylvania Home Improvement Consumer Protection Act, which was designed to regulate the home improvement and repair industry. After he found strong evidence that Succi had violated virtually every aspect of the new law, Goldstein figured prosecuting him would be easy.

I felt completely protected, he said. I felt like it would be righted if I went to the authorities and told them what was going on.

He was wrong.

As it turns out, enforcement of the 6-year-old law is lackluster and relies on contractors to provide accurate information, according to consumer advocates and others.

Even the trade group for the states home improvement industry calls the laws enforcement lax, despite changes the Pennsylvania Attorney Generals Office, which administers the law, implemented last year to address complaints. Those changes include a new regulatory compliance unit, random checks of applications and devoting more resources to investigating complaints.

There are really no teeth (in the law)," said Peter Gallagher, president of the Pennsylvania Builders Association, which represents 5,400 companies. There is a number at the Attorney Generals Office that you can call and complain, and if you complain, theyll put it on their list, but that doesnt mean it (investigation) will get done in a timely fashion.

In 2010, when Goldstein said he first complained to the Attorney Generals Office and the Bucks County Office of Consumer Protection, he was told other complaints would be necessary before theyd investigate Succis business.

Last year four years after Goldstein first brought his fraud suspicions to authorities Succi went on trial for home improvement fraud. A jury found the Lower Makefield resident guilty of bilking 14 customers out of $2.5 million over at least eight years, in the largest home improvement contractor fraud case in recent memory.

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Does home improvement law have cracks in its foundation?

As Valve continues to fiddle with Steam OS, the key cog in the Steam Machine initiative it announced way at CES back in 2014, system builders have been taking matters into their own hands. We've seen various small form-factor gaming PCs that boot directly into Steams Big Picture mode, a 10-foot user interface designed for big-screen TVs. Many of the options have just been smaller versions of big desktops, while others look more like Xbox One or PlayStation 4 video-game consoles.

Origin PC is taking a whole different approach with its new Omega line, a new generation of home-theater PCs we first spied at CES 2015. Unlike Origins own Chronos line and the majority of SFF gaming PCs currently available, the Omega is designed specifically for living-room deployments, with a choice of legitimate HTPC enclosures that will look right at home in an A/V rack. These are understated square and rectangular cases that forgo the usual LED light show, although Origin does offer the option of custom airbrushed paint in any design or color.

Prices starts at $999 for a modest configuration consisting of an Intel Pentium Anniversary Edition dual-core processor overclocked to 4.5GHz, an Asus H97 mini-ITX motherboard, 8GB of DDR3-1600 memory, an Nvidia GeForce GTX 960 graphics card, a 500GB hard drive, a Silverstone 450W power supply, and Windows 8.1 Home.

This chassis would look right at home in any home-theater equipment rack, but it's one of several cases you can choose from should you order an Origin Omega system.

Hardcore gamers with deeper pockets have the option of configuring far more muscular builds, with up to three GeForce GTX 980 graphics cards in SLIthats more than enough to push pixels around a 4K resolution Ultra HD TV. Faster and higher capacity storage options are available too, up to 14TB of space for installing large libraries of games and storing movies, music and other media.

On the OS side, the Omega can boot directly into Steams Big Picture mode, with optional mouse emulation software for Xbox controllers as a stop-gap solution until Steam OS finally arrives (which the Omega will also support). Likewise, movie buffs can stick with Windows 8.1 for easy access to Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon Instant Video, and similar video-streaming services.

Why this matters:Its anyones guess when Valve will put the finishing touches on Steam OS, but system builders arent waiting. Origins Omega allows anxious gamers to jump the gun with a configurable system that looks like it belongs in the living room; one that can be upgraded to Steam OS, should the software prove be worth the wait. And with triple GTX 980 support, the Omega shouldnt skip a beat when you trade in that Full HD 1080p TV for a 4K model.

Paul Lilly is a freelance technology writer and an avid Boston sports fan. More by Paul Lilly

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Origin Omega brings hardcore gaming credibility to the home theater PC

Kansas City Builders | Rieke Custom Home Builders
http://blrieke.com | This is Kansas City Custom home builders BL Rieke #39;s home page video. From classic custom homes to rustic homes and everything in between.

By: B.L. Rieke Custom Homes

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Kansas City Builders | Rieke Custom Home Builders - Video

Toronto, Canada (PRWEB) March 06, 2015

Bremont Homes (http://www.BremontHomes.com), the Greater Toronto Areas finest home building company, is announcing that the estate homes it is building in Brampton for its Kings Manor Estates project are a fraction of the cost of similar homes in Mississauga and Oakville.

Fresh off last months announcement of the launch of the Kings Manor Estates project in Brampton, Bremont Homes is announcing that these residences within the Creditview community in Brampton will be offered at much more affordable prices than similar estate homes in nearby Mississauga and Oakville.

The homes were building for the Kings Manor Estates project are going to be incredible, says Gary Breda, president of Bremont Homes. And we arent sparing any luxuries. These homes will be situated in close proximity to the Lionhead Golf Club & Conference Centre and Eldorado Park. As for within the home, were including top luxury finishes with marble and hardwood floors and, of course, granite.

Breda assures that while these luxuries would typically come at a high cost if they were in most other jurisdictions, Bremont Homes Kings Manor Estates come at much more affordable costs.

We dont feel luxury should be completely out of reach for people who work hard and have made sound financial decisions, Breda concludes. Yes, we do promote the private and exclusive lifestyle that the Kings Manor Estates will provide, but that lifestyle does not come with as hefty a price tag as you would think.

Bremont Homes has recently concluded its Crown of Creditview custom homes, also in the Brampton area, and will have exciting news about that project coming soon. To learn more about the Kings Manor Estates, Crown of Creditview, and other custom home building projects from Bremont Homes, visit http://www.BremontHomes.com.

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Bremont Homes, Torontos Finest Home Builders, Announces Cost of Kings Manor Estates in Brampton Are a Fraction of ...

Get Your Dream Home With the Help Of Professional Custom Home Builders
Get Your Dream Home With the Help Of Professional Custom Home Builders.

By: Di Prima Custom Homes

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Get Your Dream Home With the Help Of Professional Custom Home Builders - Video

The West Real Estate Program on ch7 2015 S04E01 101 Residential Plug
101 Residential are custom home builders who create the home that #39;s perfect for you. Find out more at http://www.101residential.com.au.

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The West Real Estate Program on ch7 2015 S04E01 101 Residential Plug - Video