State revokes real estate license of Russian spy who lived in Cambridge | Chappaqua Realtor
Leave a reply
Daily Archives: July 7, 2012
Thunderstorms, Lightning & Hail: Before the Storm | Bedford NY Realtor
via weather.com
Mumbai’s Boom Turns Renters Into Millionaires | Cross River Realtor
Why Buy a Green Car? | Armonk NY Real Estate
Just how high will gas prices go? Nobody really knows, but lots of people are understandably worried. Fortunately, there now are dozens and dozens of vehicles that use new (and old) technologies to deliver better fuel economy and produce less emissions. Whether gasoline-only, gasoline-electric hybrid, all-electric or clean diesel, there’s a richer range of “green” car choices than ever before.
These vehicles are efficient, comfortable and fun to drive. Whether now or months from now, if you’re considering a new car or a slightly used vehicle, you’ll find this special issue to be an invaluable resource — from the expert answers to common questions to the buyer’s guide that features 54 models rated at 35 mpg or better in city or highway driving.
The sheer number of cars in our buyer’s guide is evidence that America’s transition to greener transportation is well underway. We will weather the storm of unstable and rising gas prices, but the transition won’t be painless. One way or another, we are going to have to pay more for our transportation, at least for a while. We can continue to drive low-mpg cars and pay at the pump, or we can pay more upfront (in some cases) for fuel-efficient vehicles and save more (fiscally and environmentally) over the long haul
Beekeeping Basics | Chappaqua NY Real Estate
The world of men is always uncertain, seldom inspiring, often a source of discouragement and dismay. But the keeper of bees, like anyone who has welded his life to the cycles and patterns of nature, can always turn to his tiny creatures and his craft ….
Even as a boy, driven by the passions and impulses that make youth so tumultuous and blind and filled with folly, I noted [the] serenity in beekeepers. From time to time I would see one sitting out in his battered chair, basking in the peace and sweetness of the setting … while around him, in spring, the cherries bloomed and the bees hummed, just as they had for a million springs gone by, and as they will for more millions to come.
Richard Taylor The Joys of Beekeeping
The picture of a serene individual calmly tending to the “little golden folk” in his or her beehive presents a rare and heartwarming example of how humans can sometimes work in cooperation with the natural world. Yet although experienced beekeepers may lyrically praise the sweetness of both their labors and their harvests, most people find the idea of actually caretaking a hive to be quite intimidating.
Folks are often frightened by the mere thought of tending to a colony of 30,000 to 80.000 stinger-laden and venom-carrying flying insects. And individuals who do feel inclined to learn beekeeping basics find that many beekeeping how-to guides plunge into such bewildering barrages of complicated explanations that the books actually add to the readers’ muddlement.
Well, in spite of the fact that bees do have stingers, that many texts do seem—especially at first —to be almost unintelligible, and that no beginner can become an expert (and sagaciously serene) beekeeper in a single honey season … it is quite possible for an interested novice to learn to work bees and harvest honey.
As long as there are nectar- and pollen-bearing flowers in your area, you can become a hobbyist beekeeper and successfully manage one or more hives to produce all the fresh unadulterated honey you (and your friends!) can use. This fact holds true even if you live in the middle of a large city, as many urban beekeepers keep hives of honeymakers on apartment house roofs or in attics! (Before doing so, however, city dwellers should check their local ordinances.)
This article, then, will introduce you to the field of beekeeping. It won’t pretend to reveal all you need to know to undertake backyard apiculture (much of that information can be had solely through study and experience) … but it should give you a feel for what’s entailed in the endeavor and, perhaps, a desire to try your hand at tending bees.
Make Organic Compost for Your Garden | Bedford Corners NY Real Estate
Make Organic Compost for Your Garden
Rural author Wendell Berry once wrote of the farmer, “He has seen the light lie down in the dung heap and rise again in the corn.” These words have sharply clarified for me the agricultural life cycle — or, even better, light cycle . Plants convert solar energy into food for animals (ourselves included). Then the wastes from those animals, along with dead plant and animal bodies, “lie down in the dung heap,” are composted, and “rise again in the corn.”
This cycle of light is the central reason that composting is such an important link in organic food production: It returns solar energy to the soil. In this context, such common compost ingredients as onion skins, hair trimmings, eggshells, vegetable parings, and even burnt toast are no longer seen as garbage, but rather as sunlight on the move from one form to another.
By making use of such substances, composting enables us to have large amounts of “dung” for our gardens without necessarily passing most of the ingredients through an animal first. It also greatly speeds up the earth’s own soil-building processes so we can get the results in months instead of centuries.
The benefits of using organic compost are so legion that it’s no exaggeration to say that it is the key to soil fertility. The end product of composting is humus , the broken-down organic matter that is the basis of soil life. And the billions of microorganisms that are in a single teaspoon of fertile soil perform numerous functions. They change nutrients into a form that your plants ran use . . . provide a sustained, ongoing flow of that food . . . and bind earthen particles into small aggregates, helping to build a friable soil.
There are other benefits of organic compost:
Control of pH. Acid or alkaline soil can lock up many nutrients so that they’re unavailable to plants. The regular addition of compost rounds off such sharp edges, helping to bring soil to the crop-favoring pH range of between 6.5 and 7.5.
Heat absorption. Finished compost will help darken most soils, helping them to better absorb heat from sunlight. This can actually extend your spring and fall growing seasons.
Drainage, water retention, and aeration. Imagine the life of a root for a moment, ever tunneling in search of water and food. If the soil is clayey, the roots will have trouble making headway. They become shallow, never reaching the food and water reserves deeper down. And their oxygen supply is easily cut off in the tightly packed soil.
How to Build a Deluxe Homemade Composter | Pound Ridge Real Estate
The great thing about organic decomposition is that it’s always ready to start without you. However, if you want to be assured of consistently composted material on a regular basis, you’ll need to take the matter into your own hands and provide a setting in which the breakdown process can occur under the best conditions and with your supervision.
How to Build a Deluxe Homemade Composter
Fortunately, compost doesn’t ask much in the way of accommodations . . . so, depending on how much you’re willing to spend, your homemade composter bin can be as unassuming as a simple wire enclosure, or as fancy as a covered “post-and-beam” model.
If you’re short on time and not ready to spend much money on a composter, the “quickie” homemade composter version is right up your alley. It’ll take about $40 and less than two hours to put together, and it’s made of a 16 foot-long, 14 inch-wire stock panel hacksawed into 48 inch by 52 inch sections and clipped together at the corners with quick-connecting chain links. To ease the chore of filling it up, one of the wire sections can be cut in two, halfway up its 4 foot height, and similarly linked at the horizontal split to make a hinged flap which you can secure at the top with a couple of snap hooks.
Since the panels’ wire openings are 2 inches by 8 inches at the bottom and increase to 6 inches by 8 inches toward the top, it’s necessary to line the walls with cage fencing (or some other product with openings no larger than 2 inch by 4 inch); this inner grid can be secured to the outer with baling wire or leftover strands from the trimmed-down panels. To put the lid on the kettle, just invest a couple of bucks in a 5 foot by 7 foot polyethylene tarp and some S-hooks or rope to keep the heavy rain of your working pile. Then when it comes time to start a new heap, simply open one corner of the enclosure, remove it, and set it up at a different location.
The Importance of Your Essence in Blogging Success | Bedford NY Real Estate
So you got your blog started up. It’s time to put everything in place.
You start to study the market and conduct all the research needed. You read up on other blogs, scout forums, and buy an ebook that’s supposed to help you succeed.
Having bought into the hype, you actually force yourself to apply all the tactics you learnt, even though you don’t have a good feeling about them.
You’re basically basing your work on others’ success!
Already you’ve fallen into the category of tired bloggers who’ve tried everything and yet not seen any success. And then you’re attracted by other “gurus” who advertise “the real deal”. It’s a vicious cycle.
What’s lacking? What is that one, invisible quality that the top bloggers all seem to have? You may be spending too much time doing what others are doing, when the real problem is this:
Your blog lacks your “why”
How much energy are you expending on your blog? I don’t just mean writing, designing, optimizing SEO, or using social media.
I mean how much of yourself are you putting into your blog?
The power of your self, injected in your blog, can take you far. It’s about bringing forth your beliefs to the world and sharing your vision with people.
And it all fuses together to create your “why”.
The goal is not to do business with everybody who needs what you have. The goal is to do business with people who believe what you believe.”—Simon Sinek, Start with Why
This attitude goes beyond merely following your passion and showing people you’re doing what you love. It’s also a step ahead of putting personality in your writing.
It’s the belief and vision you need to create your purpose. And with purpose, you’ll never be lost again.
How to find and express your blog’s essence
1. Find your own purpose in person
In order to find your blog’s essence, you’ve first got to find your own purpose in life.
Remember, your blog is you. You aren’t a ball of marketing tactics and business strategies. You need to continually express yourself in your blog to get all that essence out there.
I found and fine-tuned my purpose with this little exercise I did at RyzeOnline. This powerful exercise can help you to zoom in on your very being, building the strong roots needed for both yourself and your blog.
Furthermore, one of the things the exercise teaches is to be fully proud of your essence and loudly proclaim it to the world. You can easily do that by writing and portraying that on your About Me page, and in all your articles.
Ever since I completed this exercise, I’ve only written with purpose. To put it another way, I don’t write if I’m not inspired. I stopped churning out content just for the sake of having an update for my blog. Not only does it feel a lot better, but my articles have been receiving greater response in terms of comments.
Do the exercise now to create your blog’s roots.
2. Find your one person
Now, with your purpose and essence found, you need to as yourself: who will I bring this to?
Forget about finding a target audience or a demographic. Ask yourself this:
“Are you being completely you when having an intimate conversation with someone or when you’re addressing a large group?” You should be.
There is a fantastic article on finding your one person (or customer) over at Firepole Marketing, complete with a free worksheet.
Finding your one person makes it a lot easier for you and your blog to communicate your essence. It relieves the pressure of marketing and managing your entire blog.
For me now, when I write, everything is directed to my one person. And combining it with the first point—my why—I know for sure I’m on the right track.
So find your one person now, and write, blog, and talk to them.
3. Find your blog’s one true design
Every blog has a layout and design—otherwise it’s just a wall of words.
But does your blog visually scream your essence?
Good marketing for a blog would mean readers would know what you’re all about within just three seconds of landing on your page.
Your content and writing definitely plays a big role, but the fact is, people’s attention span fluctuate a lot, so you definitely have to get your blog’s look alone to grab attention. And when you do grab it, make sure the right messages are going through.
Zenhabits has a minimalist look and it works wonderfully. Firepole Marketing, with its tagline, “Marketing that works” easily tells us of the brand’s speciality in marketing.
I just went through a blog revamp myself. When I started out, I thought of taking pretty pictures of myself with a good camera, thinking that it would look good anyway. Now, the pictures of me easily tell of my life. Let me know if you get that.
Does your blog visually tell your story? If not, tweak it!
People will recognize your blog for you
When I started my own blog, I just thought I’d write and see what comes along, because I knew I was a good writer. But I ended up writing random articles that were at most entertaining.
It was only when I dug deeper into myself and find out why I wanted to blog that I found real purpose in blogging.
Not only does it feel good doing what I do everyday, but people eventually recognized me for that. I got personal emails from readers asking me for real advice. And all my “winning” strategic platforms thrive on their own—now I have more Twitter followers, more Facebook likes and more opt-ins.
Are you a little sceptical in the importance of essence? Essence is not some magical, cosmic energy at work in which the universe rewards you for the passion you have. It’s just building a strong foundation in your blog or business.
Remember, with strong roots, your blog will bear great fruit. And what better way to build your roots than by being yourself, being passionate, and being original?
via problogger.net
Give Your Facebook Page Some TLC (With a Twist) | Bedford Hills NY Real Estate
find myself deep in a sea of Realtor Facebook pages nearly everyday. Some of them are spectacular and some need some serious re-eval. The rest have plenty of potential and creative admins, but lack a focused strategy. And therein lies the main obstacle to differentiation of a Facebook page: a lack of direction and thought about the implications of the page for the growth of your business. You wouldn’t go to a listing presentation without thoroughly preparing and analyzing content to present to potential clients, would you? Of course not. So, why not take the same approach with your Facebook page, which may very well be viewed by current, past and future clients?
When maintaining your Facebook page, remember to give it TLC. Not the cliché-mushy kind, but the drive-results kind. Trans-Marketing, Local Meaning, and Creativity can unleash the true potential behind your Facebook page.
Trans-Marketing
‘Trans’ has its roots in Latin, and is defined as “across,” or “through.” In order to build your business as a real estate agent, you need to rely on trans-marketing efforts, or creating persuasive brand messages across various channels. Potential clients should see symmetry between your postcards, e-newsletters and Facebook posts. If you have created a Facebook landing tab to provide free comprehensive housing newsletters to your fans, market this feature across all your other channels. If you decide you’d like to focus on your in-depth knowledge of a town and are using landmarks in your facebook cover photo, tie this theme into your other channels. If you’ve designed a unique brand name, be sure to place it prominently on Facebook, as well as your other channels.
–>
Facebook is a great place to engage clients with your brand, but leverage those conversations on all your marketing channels to really see results!
Local Meaning
Think about your Facebook page like you think about competition with the annoyingly good agent at the brokerage a few storefronts down-how can you gain the advantage? One of the most valuable pieces of content you can share on Facebook is information people crave about the real estate market. Translation: meaningful numbers. Numbers reflecting local market trends. When working with associates at William Raveis, I encourage them to use local housing data, a source for comprehensive statistics and comps in neighborhoods throughout the northeast. The USP (unique selling proposition) is local housing data provides statistics, such as average sales price, unit sales and inventory, faster than any other major source in the northeast. So, consumers could know, with incredible accuracy, how their market fared in the month of June by the first week in July. I’d say that’s some pretty fast numbers.
The point is, find a source of local housing numbers to share on your Facebook page that will be helpful and bring more transparency to your clients during the often complex home-buying process. With consistency, you will become a valuable source of market information and increase your chances of building client relationships.
Creativity
With Facebook’s new photo-centric Timeline layout, as well as incredible personality that can be added to your snaps with the Facebook Camera app (think Instagram for Facebook), you can give your page some serious creative flair.
That doesn’t mean you post photos willy-nilly. The idea is still to drive engagement, not clutter your page with disconnected images.
I am an advocate for posting photos of listings-in a clever way. For instance, if you see something unique about a home, like a stunning infinity pool or great room, upload a photo and add a provocative question or thought.
As with opt-in marketing, such as housing or blog e-newsletters, you can provide content that readers expect to see on a certain day, at a certain time. Why not implement that same strategy using photos on Facebook? Pick a certain day of the week to post a photo and ask your fans a question. For instance, William Raveis implemented a “Wednesday What’s the Price?” contest, in which fans guess the price of a home. What gets really fun is seeing the repeat (and new) participants in the contest, showing enthusiasm and thought when answering questions!
As Guy Kawasaki so cleverly put it, “Facebook is the photo economy.” Take advantage of it.
via next.inman.com
Mount KIsco NY Real Estate | Feeding the Social Media Beast: The ‘Why’ Behind Curating Content
I received a tweet last week in response to my last blog post about curating local content on Twitter. I realized pretty quickly, there was no way I could explain the basics or the why behind curating content in just 140 characters.
Let me try to explain why curating content is so important…
If you have a Facebook business page and a Twitter account – and you want to successfully engage your fans and followers, you need to post content consistently. After a couple of days without a strategy, you will soon be asking yourself, “what should I post about today?”
Curating content – knowing how to do it and what type of content to look for, is key to feeding the social media machine. I recommend posting to your Facebook business page once a day (4-5 times a week), and tweeting at least 3-5 times a day, to really see results. Of course there is no “magic number” – the key is being consistent. So often, I run across abandoned REALTOR® Facebook business pages. I call them Facebook graveyards because there has been no activity on them for weeks or months.
And unless you are cranking out an enormous amount of blog posts to use as unique content – you will need to curate content.
–>
I do this everyday for our channels. Now granted, at Inman News and Inman Next – we have an enormous amount of content that we create just for those channels. However, for our other channels like Agent Reboot and Real Estate Connect – I am constantly on the lookout for interesting content.
The key to curating content is knowing your audience, and knowing your brand. I am going to give you an example of how I curate content for one of our channels.
Here is how I do it for Real Estate Connect:
Audience:
- C-Level executives, franchises, MLS/association executives, start-up companies, entrepreneurs, marketing directors and top REALTORS®
- Some local agents and brokers — many from out of town
Brand
- Connect has a long-standing history of being the ‘go-to’ event for industry leaders
- Content of the event is focused on: the intersection of technology and real estate
Where do I curate content?
I am constantly on the lookout for interesting videos or blog posts from our speakers (using Google Alerts) and I have a Twitter list just for speakers. I review this list once or twice a day and re-tweet interesting content. I also mix in special offers and logistics about the event, including travel. Lastly, I promote the beautiful “City by the Bay” through photos on Pinterest, personal photos I take on Instagram, great local sites like CurbedSF or 7×7 that offer articles explaining the local flavor, and local real estate Facebook pages like Pacific Union.
But what is the one little thing that makes a big difference?
When I curate content, I always try to tag the source on their Facebook page and/ or their Twitter account. The value is greater exposure and many times they will repost, like, comment or retweet.
Great post by one of our #ICSF speakers: RT @sherrychris BHGRE Blog: 6 Philosophies Winning Companies Share bit.ly/ME0DJk
— Real Estate Connect(@InmanConnect) June 23, 2012
Reservations must be made by Friday, 6/29 at the @HiltonSFUnionSq to get our #ICSF discount! ht.ly/bQTgJ
— Real Estate Connect(@InmanConnect) June 28, 2012
How about for your business?
If I were a REALTOR®, here are six things I would do to curate great content:
- Twitter lists: I would make a list of all the local news sources in my area and another list of some of the local leaders (celebrities, politicians, hometown heroes, and business owners)
- Google alerts: I would create a daily alert for 3-4 neighborhoods or cities that I market to.
- Photos: I would take 30-40 local photos that tell the story about my local area. I would Instagram those photos and then use those for 30-40 days worth of content.
- Zite: This is one of the best apps for curating local content and displaying it on an elegant display on your iPad. Create custom searches based on your audience and your brand.
- Past Clients: I would individually email (or call) 20 past clients (my favorite ones, of course) and ask them if I can pop by to snap a photo of them in their home or get a quick 15 second video testimonial using apps like Tout or Viddy. Each one of those 20 photos is 20 pieces of great content. Bonus benefit– I just scheduled 20 appointments with past clients!
- Current Clients: I would ask myself – how can I tell the story of the homes I am listing in a unique way? How about a video like this?
via next.inman.com