Daily Archives: September 10, 2011

Mount Kisco NY Real Estate | Online Success Need Not Be Measured in Enemies

This guest post is by Margie Clayman of margieclayman.com.

One of my favorite Elvis Costello choruses goes like this:

“What’s so funny ‘bout peace, love, and understanding?”

I have always liked that song, but I never really thought I would live in a time where that question would resonate. I always thought, “Well, that was written when peace and love seemed hokey, perhaps, or maybe impossible. It was more than a rhetorical question when Elvis first sang it.”

And yet, as I sit here in the year 2011, I have to ask the same question. What is so funny ‘bout peace, love, and understanding? It sure seems like all three concepts are running into a PR crisis in the online world.

“You’re nice. That’s so boring.”

I have gotten picked on a bit over my year in the world of social media. Why? Because I’m nice. I’m lovey dovey. People have told me that it’s really boring listening to someone like me because I never ruffle any feathers.

To put it kindly, I think that’s a totally ridiculous sentiment.

Sure, you get a powerful response if you call someone out, bash someone, hurl insults, or say that someone is really stupid. There’s no question that ruffling feathers tends to be great for attention-grabbing and traffic spikes. So what?

If you want to entice people to read your blog posts, what about the concept of writing really good content? Really thought-provoking content? What about writing about something people aren’t writing a lot about? Like, I don’t know … like being nice, maybe? Why does excitement in the online world, or interest, have to be synonymous with cruelty or malicious intent? I’d rather be boring and nice than enjoy a modicum of success at the expense of others.

“If you don’t have haters, you’re doing something wrong.”

This is another phrase I’ve seen a lot in the online world over my year navigating the wild Internet waters, and I also think it’s utter nonsense. Why are we measuring success by how many people hate us? There is no other realm that I can think of in the human world where we measure success that way.

“Congratulations, Daisy. Everyone in your department hates you so we’re going to promote you now!” That just doesn’t happen. So why do we need to pull out haters instead of a yardstick when we talk about measuring online success? What is this need to have people attack us all about?

How do I measure my online success? I look at how many people say they enjoy my posts. I look at the solid relationships I have built. It’s not exactly a revolutionary concept, folks.

“Women can’t be successful because they can’t be narcissistic morons.”

My friend Sean McGinnis ran into a post that made this claim: that women may not find as much success in the world because women just can’t be egotistical or selfish enough.

First of all, let me tell you about some of the women I’ve encountered in my life. If you want to know about knife stabbing, in-it-for-herself, ruthless, downright cruel women, I could spin ya a yarn, sonny jim. That’s not an issue.

Second of all, what?!? Are we really saying that success rests on how much you make people want to throw up when they see you? I mean, that doesn’t sound like success to me. That sounds kind of like, I don’t know … crazy-sauce?

The glorification of “Ick!”

Next to the glorification of failure, I find the glorification of crassness or cruelty to be the most nauseating thing I’ve encountered on the Web. You should not be applauded for breaking your Censor button. You should not gain accolades because every other post has an f-bomb in it. Surely there is more to online success than being someone who invites comparisons to male and female genitalia? I mean, really. Can we aim a little higher?

Then again, maybe I’m just a boring nice person.

You tell me what this is all about.

Margie Clayman represents the third generation at her family’s marketing firm. She is the resident librarian at the Blog Library and is the resident blogger at www.margieclayman.com.

North Salem NY Real Estate | Q-and-A with real estate tech guru Eric Bryn | Inman News

Q-and-A with real estate tech guru Eric Bryn

Finding the right fit in mobile, social tools

Eric BrynEric Bryn

I had a great conversation with Eric Bryn this summer at Real Estate Connect regarding social media, mobile and more. Bryn, Baird & Warner’s vice president of digital innovation, serves as a catalyst between Baird & Warner sales associates and corporate headquarters to ensure that Baird & Warner sales associates have ready access to digital marketing tools.

He works closely with the company’s marketing, information technology, and residential sales units to develop and introduce new technology solutions. Bryn formerly served as vice president of strategic development for Leading Real Estate Companies of the World. He authors the Real Estate Relativity blog.

Q-and-A with Eric Bryn

FLANAGAN: Cartoonist and blogger Hugh Macleod recently announced that he was leaving Facebook and Twitter to focus more on developing content for his own blog. He is not the first notable blogger to make this move and many have recently contemplated the advantages and disadvantages of Hugh’s announcement.

North Salem NY Real Estate | Is mortgage interest tax break getting axed? | Inman News

Is mortgage interest tax break getting axed?

REThink Real Estate

Q: I recently purchased my first property. My concern is: Will the home mortgage interest deduction (MID) still be available for use? –Roberto

A: As you know, homeowners are currently able to deduct the interest they pay on their mortgages, by and large — the tax code also authorizes homeowners to deduct their property taxes.

To take the deduction, you have to itemize your tax return, and it turns out that for some homeowners, the standard deduction is actually larger than what they pay in property taxes and mortgage interest, so those homeowners take the standard deduction. Additional restrictions on the deduction as it currently stands include that:

  • It applies only to the first $1 million of mortgage debt used to buy or fix up a home;
  • It applies only to mortgage debt on a primary or second home; and
  • It applies only to the first $100,000 in home equity debt — no matter what the debt was used for.

Since 1913, when the tax code began authorizing a mortgage interest deduction, the deduction has been two things. First, it has been a primary motivator and rationale for people to buy homes in the first place — the deduction essentially reduces the owner’s net costs of housing, making her home more affordable than if she were renting a place at the same monthly payment.

Second, it has been untouchable, politically speaking, because homeowners, homebuyers, home sellers, homebuilders, mortgage banks and the entire real estate industry, to name a few massive constituent groups, are so clearly in favor of the deduction that it has been considered career suicide for decades for any politico to even suggest that the deduction be reduced or eliminated — until this recession.

Last fall, the bipartisan National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform was tasked by the Obama administration with finding big budget cuts that could bring the federal budget into the black, which is no small feat. And the two chairs of this commission, former Republican Sen.

Alan Simpson and former chief of staff for President Clinton, Erskine Bowles, were equal to the challenge: They issued a sweeping plan to cut the overall tax rate, but also to eliminate or reform hundreds of tax exemptions, in a plan that would actually increase tax revenue by $80 billion annually, and bring the deficit down by $4 trillion by 2020.

Notably, the co-chairs’ proposal suggested the elimination or reform of many of what the Los Angeles Times called “pet projects” of politicians, like earmarks and other longtime sacred cows including the one you write to ask about: the mortgage interest deduction.

For this reason, many legislators were stunned that Simpson and Bowles even “went there,” so to speak; some applauded their boldness, while others just wrote the plan off as dead on arrival, labeling it a “nonstarter.”

Simpson himself even pointed out that no stone was left unturned, no tax exemption or budget cut considered too precious: “This is not the usual stuff. It’s all out there. We have harpooned every whale in the ocean.”

Ultimately, the proposal was not adopted, but what its authors said then about that has since been proven true, which is that the debt drama is not going anywhere. At some point, we’re going to have to deal with it, and when Congress decides it’s ready to get serious about tackling the deficit, its members will, of course, circle back and reconsider the cuts proposed in this report.

And that’s exactly what happened in the debt-ceiling debate — the mortgage interest deduction issue was put back on the table, although again was left untouched. And I imagine this is the cause for your concern. But I don’t believe you need to be concerned that the MID is going away anytime soon.

To understand why, let’s take a deeper look at what exactly has been proposed. No one has seriously proposed that the deduction be eliminated entirely; rather, it was suggested that it be reformed.

One reform suggested in the co-chairs’ report was that the deduction should simply offer a blanket 12 percent, nonrefundable tax credit for every homeowner, not just for those who itemize. (Currently, the deduction is refundable; homeowners who end up with a net negative tax liability because of their MID are issued a refund check.)

An alternative proposal was that the deduction should simply be limited to the first $500,000 of mortgage debt rather than the first $1 million.

Even though most homeowners in America would still benefit from the MID under these proposals, they are still much tougher than anything that is likely to actually become law in the next decade, while the housing market is still in recovery mode.

What is more likely to become law are the very minimal tweaks to the MID of the vein the president included in his latest budget proposal, which will affect very few Americans: Single taxpayers earning more than $200,000 and married taxpayers with incomes of more than $250,000 would have a 28 percent cap on their mortgage interest deduction, under the most recent proposal for this coming fiscal year.

It’s also likely that the MID could be eliminated on second homes and home equity lines of credit. The long and the short is that no one in Congress wants to be seen as endangering the housing market’s recovery, even if they disagree in principle that homeownership should be federally subsidized via the MID.

So, if I were a first-time homeowner of a moderately priced home, like you, I would not be worried. I am a homeowner and am not worried about the MID disappearing anytime soon.

Barney Frank, D-Mass., ranking member of the House Finance Committee, perhaps best articulated the prevailing sentiment on the Hill, even among those who, like himself, disagree with the deduction in principle: “The mortgage interest deduction is going nowhere. The sun will go away before it does.

“Given the extent to which people’s legitimate, vested interest include that, trying to abolish it now, even if we were in a wonderful economy, would be unfair. You cannot do it without being disruptive to people. Houses are still a large part of the wealth for many people. I think it’s important for people to know that that’s staying around and we can build on that,” Frank said.

Tara-Nicholle Nelson is author of “The Savvy Woman’s Homebuying Handbook” and “Trillion Dollar Women: Use Your Power to Make Buying and Remodeling Decisions.” Tara is also the Consumer Ambassador and Educator for real estate listings search site Trulia.com. Ask her a real estate question online or visit her website, www.rethinkrealestate.com.

South Salem NY Real Estate | Real estate broker tosses out paper | Inman News

Real estate broker tosses out paper

From InmanNext

Editor’s note: View the original article at InmanNext: “Working Paperlessly in the Mile High City.”

Andrea Altieri is managing broker of the Walters Team at Candlewood Realty in Denver, one of the Top Markets For Real Estate Agents, according to an Inman News Special Report.

As a discerning adopter of new technology, Altieri has kept the same ream of paper around for more than a year. Altieri shares her thoughts with InmanNext on staying savvy in a changing market and how a good old-fashioned financing offer still generates leads.

What is the No. 1 “tech challenge” you are faced with?
Keeping up with all of the changes and developments is my No. 1 challenge. I’m pretty tech-savvy and am faced with new choices practically every day. For example, I need a new laptop, but do I buy a tablet or a laptop? IPads don’t support some real estate apps yet, and they haven’t reached what I’d call a fully developed platform, so it’s a conundrum.

“It’s taken me a whole year to use up one ream of paper.”–Andrea Altieri

Are you involved in social networking — i.e., Facebook and Twitter? If so, briefly tell us how you use it to build your business. If you are not, please tell us why.
Of course I am. Using FacebookTwitterLinkedIn, BranchOut, Google Plus and others are all part of my marketing strategy. The more my name gets out there with good information, the more I am considered an expert.

Do you use tools to work “paperlessly,” like DocuSign or DotLoop? Why or why not? How important is that to you?
I use zipForm for contracts and an Adobe digital signature so I can work anywhere, “paperlessly.” I email everything and have an e-fax service. It’s taken me a whole year to use up one ream of paper.

Tell us about your website and/or blog. How many leads do you generate from your site on a monthly basis? Is that an important part of your business?
Our Walters Team Real Estate website generates most all of our leads. It depends upon the month and the current economic news for how many leads we generate. It could be 10, it could be 50. People are still looking for properties, but investors are the market force.

We have only a 6.6-month inventory in the Denver metro area because many folks aren’t selling, so I’m running into multiple-offer situations again.

How important do you feel content creation is to your business — i.e., social media posts, blogging and email newsletters? Do you create content yourself or do you outsource part of it?
I generate it when I can. Our team is also developing video webinars on current topical information. My (master’s degree) is in journalism, so I’m a pretty good writer.

How do you balance your time? Are there any tools you use to make juggling everything easier?
Some days I don’t. Some days I just can’t be proactive because multiple people want multiple things. I just have to prioritize and do the best I can.

What is the most important tech tool or app you use on a daily basis?
Virtual Office. It is a great, local MLS (multiple listing service) tool that allows me to generate reports and view properties easily and allows me to send them to my clients easily.

What type of smartphone do you use? IPhone, Droid, Blackberry?
Droid.

Do you use a tablet device? If so, how has it changed your business?
Not yet — I can tether my Droid to my laptop as a wireless hot spot, so I can work anywhere.

What is a specific lead-generation campaign that you did in your local market that worked well, and why?
First-time-buyer financing with $500 down and 100 percent financing (with a credit score of 620 and above) offered by a local bank. It’s still available. (The bank) accepts alternative credit and doesn’t charge PMI (private mortgage insurance). Need I say more?

Bedford NY Real Estate | Consumer pessimism reaches new high in August: Fannie Mae

Thursday, September 8th, 2011, 10:03 am

Americans grew more pessimistic about the economy and home prices in August.

More than one-quarter of those interviewed by Fannie Mae expect home prices to drop further in the months ahead, the government-sponsored enterprise said in its August National Housing Survey.

The GSE interviews about 1,000 Americans via telephone to gauge consumer confidence when it comes to housing and the overall economy.

More than three-quarters of respondents, roughly 78%, believe the economy is on the wrong track, up from 70% in July. Meanwhile, only 16% believe the economy is heading in the right direction.

About 22% of Americans believe their financial situation will worsen over the next year, making it the highest level of pessimism recorded by Fannie since it started tracking economic indicators in August 2010.

"The degree to which consumer attitudes appear to be sensitive to global events is interesting, and seems to be reflected in their view of the economy and their growing overall pessimism," said Doug Duncan, vice president and chief economist of Fannie Mae.

"I believe the public was looking at the U.S. debt, deficit and the ensuing political struggle with one eye, and looking at Europe and their sovereign debt issues with the other eye, and saying: 'This is not what we want,'" he said.

Fannie researchers found 69% of those surveyed think it's a good time to buy a new home, while just 9% believe it's a good time to sell a home. The survey also showed 46% of the people interviewed believe home rental prices will increase in the next 12 months and 6% forecast a decline.

Write to: Kerri Panchuk.

Pound Ridge NY Real Estate | Bernanke: Fed will consider tools to boost economy

Thursday, September 8th, 2011, 1:13 pm

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the Federal Reserve is prepared to employ tools to bolster the U.S. economy as the nation grapples with weak unemployment, a sagging housing market, high unemployment and stagnant wages.

The Fed chair never used the term QE3, but suggested the Fed remains committed to doing what it can to stimulate growth in an economy facing an abysmal cycle of limited hiring in the private sector and  risks from potential  job losses in the public  sector. Bernanke noted the Fed has committed to keeping the federal funds rate near zero.

While speaking Thursday to the Economic Club of Minnesota in Minneapolis, Bernanke said a significant slowing in the housing sector,  financial volatility from supply chain disruptions tied to the Japanese disaster, and skyrocketing commodity prices in the first two quarters challenged efforts to achieve significant economic growth.

Low demand for housing and new home construction remains a lag on the recovery, the chairman noted.

"Depressed construction also has hurt providers of a wide range of goods and services related to housing and homebuilding, such as the household appliance and home furnishing industries," Bernanke said. "Moreover, even as tight credit for builders and potential homebuyers has been one of the factors restraining the housing recovery, the weak housing market has in turn adversely affected financial markets and the flow of credit."

The Fed chair also highlighted strains in the non-residential real estate sector saying "business investment in nonresidential structures, such as office buildings, factories and shopping malls, has remained at a low level."

Bernanke claims investments in these areas were delayed by elevated vacancy rates at existing properties and difficulties in obtaining construction loans.

Write to: Kerri Panchuk.