Daily Archives: July 12, 2011

Sales Down 16% in Westchester for the first half of 2011 | Bedford NY Homes

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July 12, 2011

2011 SECOND QUARTER RESIDENTIAL REAL ESTATE SALES REPORT

Westchester and Putnam Counties, New York

An assessment of the Westchester-Putnam real estate market in recent months can generate an optimistic or pessimistic outlook depending on how far back one makes the comparisons. Thus far in the two counties, from January 1 to June 30 of this year, total real estate closings reported to the Empire Access Multiple Listing Service were about 16% fewer than for the first half of 2010. On the other hand, they were about 35% ahead of the volume posted in the first half of 2009.

Both comparisons are made to abnormal markets, however. The 2009 data reflected the depth of the recession as it affected real estate in this region. Sales volumes fell to levels not experienced since the early 1990s. To say that there was no direction but up would not have been an exaggeration. 2010’s sales volumes, in contrast, and particularly from January to June, reflected the first-time homebuyers tax credit with its initial June 30

th closing deadline that had the effect of bulking up the second quarter market activity at the expense of subsequent quarters.

Seasonally adjusted

1, a measure that somewhat evens out the effect of unusual swings in activity, the 2011 second quarter sales rate was equivalent to an annual rate of 6,010 sales in Westchester and 740 in Putnam, down 7% from the prior quarter but substantially ahead of the third and fourth quarters of 2010. From this aspect, the second quarter market could be characterized as on Pause with no clear trend line Forward or Rewind.

source:  wpar

 

 

Pound Ridge NY Homes finds Unique real estate video content is king | Inman News for Pound Ridge NY real estate market

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Unique real estate video content is king

Corner your market, win clients

Whether you’re new to using video in your business or a seasoned pro, one of the greatest challenges you face is how to create compelling content that will attract viewers. The secret to creating compelling content is to have fun, be unique, and to provide something of value to your viewers.

You can shoot the perfect video, but if your content is boring, no one will watch. On the other hand, if you have fun by shooting a video that stands out from the crowd, your video will be shared repeatedly.

Here are six ways to create video content that can supercharge your real estate business.

1. Create compelling listing videos
Creating a video where you walk through a house and say, “This is the living room and this is the kitchen,” is boring. Don’t waste your time. What engages people is a personal story about the house or the family who lived there.

via inman.com

Bedford Corners NY Homes | Million Dollar Home Developer Targets Small House Buyers for the Bedford Corners NY real estate market

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Robyn Griggs Lawrence thumbnailLast week’s AIA Housing Trends Survey indicated that Americans may already be turning away from smaller homes and building bigger again, after the 2008 housing market crash caused a decline for the first time in decades. This morning I spotted an item in the Middletown, New York, Times Herald-Record that gives me anecdotal hope about housing size.

In “Home Developer Thinks Small,” the newspaper reports that luxury home developer Woodstone Development is offering a new product for its gated community of million-dollar, 5,000-square-foot luxury homes in Bethel, New York: 1,250-square-foot Adirondack cabins with a starting price of $279,000. “Up until this point, we’ve only really addressed the top of the pyramid,” Howard Schoor, Woodstone’s chairman and CEO, told the newspaper. “This is designed more to meet the realities of 2011 — that people are downsizing.” Schoor believes the smaller, less expensive homes will attract younger, more upwardly mobile home buyers.

A National Association of Home Builders’ (NAHB) survey released in April predicted that homes will become greener and smaller by 2015. According to Builder magazine, the average home is currently about 2,380 square feet, but the NAHB expects that to be 2,150 square feet by 2013. Stephen Melman, NAHB director of economic services, says that affordability is key. Home buyers, especially those looking at custom homes, are saying ‘This is how much I can spend. How can we make it fit?’ ” he says. 

Surveys can be wrong. I firmly believe that we’ll see tremendous growth in the small home market yet.

via motherearthnews.com