Tag Archives: Westchester

Westchester

Investors racing rising home prices for profits | Bedford NY Real Estate

House flippers are racing against rising prices to make fast profits.

In the first half of this year, 9% of the single-family homes that sold were resold again within six months — meaning “flipped,” according to market researcher RealtyTrac.

But some markets are already seeing flippers recede following sharp gains in home prices. Flipping declined in the first half of this year vs. last in 32 of 100 markets, including in cities that have seen rapid price gains, such as Las Vegas, Phoenix, Atlanta and San Jose, RealtyTrac says.

Meanwhile, flipping is increasing in markets with more muted home price gains, including New York, Washington, D.C., Chicago and in several Florida cities.

Palm Coast, Fla., led the way, where 37% of single-family home sales were flipped in the first half of this year. Omaha followed at 32% and Daytona Beach, Fla., at 16%.

“The flippers try to catch the wave at the bottom,” says Daren Blomquist, RealtyTrac vice president. About 8% of sold single-family homes were flipped last year, he says.

Flippers — who take advantage of rising prices to turn quick profits — were partially blamed for inflating the housing bubble before the market crashed in 2006. That could happen again in some markets, says John Burns, CEO of John Burns Real Estate Consulting.

He hopes that rising interest rates will cool price gains and flipper interest. The average 30-year fixed rate was 4.37% this week, up from 3.5% a year ago, Freddie Mac says.

On the other hand, flippers often pay cash for homes that are in such bad shape that banks won’t lend on them, says Mark Goldman, real estate expert at San Diego State University. He’s invested in three flips this year.

Flippers don’t inflate home prices, he says, they “improve housing inventory.”

Strong price gains in San Diego, combined with tight inventories, have made flipping less profitable, Goldman says. Instead of the 20% profits seen two years ago, 10% is now more the norm, he estimates.

 

Investors racing rising home prices for profits.

Mortgage insurance activity picks up in April | South Salem Real Estate

The month of April brought in a slew of new mortgage insurance applications, National Mortgage News reports.

During the month, 49,018 applications for coverage were filed, topping March’s 43,278 estimate.

The three members of the trade group—Genworth, MGIC and Radian—had NIW volume of $11.36 billion in April, compared with $10.04 billion in March, $11.46 billion in October 2012 and $7.1 billion in April 2012.

 

Mortgage insurance activity picks up in April | HousingWire.

What the Housing Market Turnaround Means for You | Bedford Hills Real Estate

In recent months it’s become clear that the housing market has turned around, with prices this spring adding to the 7.3% gains of last year. But future gains are likely to be more modest — about 2.5% this year.

That’s the latest estimate from CoreLogic(CLGX_), the housing-data firm. CoreLogic projects an average gain of 3.9% a year through 2017.

While many homeowners would prefer faster appreciation, gains of 3% to 4% are probably healthier over the long run than larger ones. Too much appreciation produces bubbles, which do terrible damage when they collapse. If homeprices grow faster than incomes, fewer and fewer people can afford to buy, and prices eventually drop to reflect the lower demand that results.

Also, home price gains are not really money in homeowners’ pockets, because the next home you buy is probably getting more expensive too.

But why won’t homes appreciate faster? After all, in most parts of the country, homes are still worth far less than they at their peak in 2006 or 2007.

CoreLogic says several factors are at play. The heavy demand from investors buying foreclosed properties will diminish as rising prices and falling foreclosures reduce the number of bargains. A shortage of homes for sale will diminish as rising prices draw more sellers into the market. Price gains, for example, will reduce the number of underwater mortgages — where the homeowner owes more than the home is worth — making homes easier to sell.

“Price appreciation will also be limited by the increase in supply as more new homes are built,” 

 

What the Housing Market Turnaround Means for You – TheStreet.

Pound Ridge NY Weekly Real Estate Report | RobReportBlog

Pound Ridge NY Weekly Real Estate Report

5/23/2013
Homes for sale
88
Median Ask Price$1,045,000.00
Low Price$285,000.00
High Price$4,250,000.00
Average Size3903
Average Price/foot$354.00
Average DOM119
Average Ask Price$1,357,334.00

 

 

Pound Ridge NY Weekly Real Estate Report | RobReportBlog.

Jobless claims inch down | Cross River NY Real Estate

Jobless claims in the U.S. reversed back down, falling by 23,000 filings for the week ending May 18 and hitting 340,000 total claims.

This slight increase comes after last week’s revised figure of 363,000, according to the Department of Labor

The four-week moving average was 339,500, a drop of 500 filings from the previous week.

Analysts with Econoday said there have been a few bright spots on the outlook for May’s economic data.

“This report is definitely a strong positive for the employment outlook. Whether this correlates with gains for the Dow is uncertain given the possibility, following yesterday’s hawkish sounding FOMC minutes, that strong data could begin to trigger withdrawal of Federal Reserve stimulus,” Econoday said.

 

Jobless claims inch down | HousingWire.

Offers remain high even in depreciating markets | Pound Ridge Real Estate

Forty-one percent of buyers surveyed by Redfin said today’s low inventory has caused them to consider paying more for a home in the second quarter of 2013. This is up from 34% of survey respondents in the first quarter and 26% in the fourth quarter of 2012.

As someone who was looking to buy a home in this crazy North Texas market where prices continue to appreciate, I can attest to feeling the need to offer over list price. In fact, on the second home my husband and I put an offer on, we offered nearly $4,000 more than the original listing price of $214,000. This was only to find out that the home ended up selling for $225,000… another $5,000 on top of our offer. 

But what about the markets where prices are still depreciating?

According to the April Trulia Price Monitor, Honolulu, HI, New York, NY and Rochester, NY, also saw a decrease in the seasonally adjusted asking prices year-over-year. So are offers going in above listing price in these markets as well? 

Patrick Hastings, a broker/associate at RE/MAX Plus in Rochester, NY, says the market is surprisingly stable. 

Hastings said buyers are still going over the listing price on homes from time to time in multiple offer situations. In the good neighborhoods, there is still pent up demand, says Hastings. 

Patti West, an agent in Manhattan, said she is definitely still seeing offers come in at or above listing price.

It depends on the property, West said, because there are so many variables: how it’s priced to begin with, if it’s priced right to begin with, etc. 

There are some who still try to negotiate, but it depends on what the property is. For instance, condos are a bit more money, so they’re going in at asking or above listing price, while co-ops are a little bit more negotiable, according to West. 

So it seems that even in markets that are still depreciating, demand remains high. This only raises the question: at what point will that depreciation turn into appreciation? We’re going to guess soon.

 

Offers remain high even in depreciating markets | REwired.

Two Ways to Motivate Employees to Do Content Marketing | Bedford Corners Real Estate

By Definition a Social Business Creates a Lot of Content

In order for most businesses to create a lot of high quality content, employee participation is necessary. I’ve said many times, no marketing department is big enough to produce all the content it needs. Additionally, consider that in most businesses the marketing team is not comprised of domain experts.

Here’s what Forrester Research says on this topic: “Today’s B2B buyer will find three pieces of content about a vendor for every one piece that marketing can publish or sales can deliver. They are finding this content in an ever-expanding number and variety of channels.” Read the full article here.

The way I see it, there are two primary methods to harness employee involvement in a social business. One involves a carrot and one involves a stick.

The Stick

You could mandate employees to contribute content. Revise the company policy to require employees who meet a domain expert criteria to contribute original content. Non-compliance with this policy could be cause for termination. If you’re going to take this approach, my recommendation is to provide employees ample resources to fulfill their obligation. For example, the marketing team should deliver a well planned communication plan explaining the virtues of a content marketing strategy to the business. Ideally, the CEO should have a hand in this plan with an endorsement of the strategy. This communication plan should serve to inspire employees to participate in the content production process by offering them choices of topics and content formats.

The marketing team should publish an editorial calendar with topics where employees can “sign up” to contribute content. Most importantly, the marketing team should provide an easy-to-comply-with process that allows content production to be painless to the employee. For example, offer to interview employees with a video camera so the interview will be recorded, edited and produced into high quality content by the marketing team. The marketing team should repurpose the video into other content formats such as a white paper or blog post. By allowing the employee to painlessly share her domain expertise through an interview format, you take away the heavy lifting from the employee. The result can be high quality content from domain experts. This approach mitigates the biggest objections from employees who are asked to contribute content: “I don’t have time,” or “I hate to write.”

The Carrot

The carrot approach does not threaten employees with termination if they don’t comply with company policy;“thou shalt contribute content.” Rather, this approach provides employees considerable recognition and reward for their contribution. The same methods described above can be used for the production of content. The difference is that psychology plays a much bigger role. Rather than requiring employees to contribute, you inspire employees so that they want to contribute for the recognition they receive and the sense of contribution to the overall good of the business. Such recognition can bolster their morale, their ego and even their resume. Don’t hesitate to promote the positive impact on the employee’s resume. When you implement programs that help an employee build their career currency, their loyalty to the employer strengthens considerably. Employees talk among themselves about many aspects of their employment. The carrot approach to content marketing participation fuels positive word of mouth for your brand. The improved loyalty also helps in your recruiting efforts.

Another approach is to start out with the stick approach and over a span of time transition to the carrot approach. Once employees beging to enjoy recognition for their content among their peers and even within industry circles, they understand the value of personal branding. Even more remarkable is the appreciation by the employee for the opportunity to build their personal brand under the umbrella of the corporate brand. I call this the halo effect.

The Content Marketing End Game

Reaching your target consumer and earning their trust is influenced less by the brand’s ability to engage him. Rather, it is influenced more by P2P content marketing. In people-to-people content marketing real people who work for a brand engage with real people who might be a customer, a prospective future customer, influencer or future employee. Considering that the C suite is not likely to double or triple the marketing department’s staff size, the only option to produce the content needed to reach target customers is to tap into the inherent assets in the employee population. Personally, I prefer the carrot approach. But, each company is unique. Whichever method works best in your business the important thing is that you recognize the authenticity of P2P content marketing and the economics of leveraging the content marketing potential of employees.

 

 

Two Ways to Motivate Employees to Do Content Marketing | Find and Convert.

15 Actionable Takeaways From Social Media Marketing World 2013 | Bedford Hills Realtor

Did you miss Social Media Marketing World in April?

Or perhaps you were there but weren’t able to attend all the sessions you would have liked to.

In this article I’ve assembled for you 15 actionable social media marketing takeaways from some experts who presented at the event.

Here’s what they had to say.

#1: Prepare for Social Displacement

michael stelzner

Michael Stelzner

With maturity of any new industry comes disruption. Just as email, the web and search disrupted entire industries several years ago (e.g., the postal service, print publications and traditional sales), we can also expect a lot of online disruption to happen because of social media.

  • Facebook messages are displacing email (it’s becoming easier to send your friend a Facebook message rather than find their email address).
  • Asking friends rather than searching (more and more people are asking their Facebook friends or Google+ circles for referrals instead of searching online for a product or service).
  • Listening to podcasts is beginning to replace radio.

This obsession with social is happening because people love social media. According to a McKinsey & Nielsen survey, 76% of people feel good when they network using social media.

social networking sentiments graph

Consumers generally feel good after engaging in social media.

Michael Stelzner is founder and CEO of Social Media Examiner.

#2: Connect With Anyone You Want by Giving Value

larry benet

Larry Benet

Connecting is the ability to identify and relate with people to increase your influence with them. If you can add value, serve others and give freely, then you can connect with anyone, power your business and get whatever you want faster. Here’s what you need to do to become a valuable connector:

  • Make meaningful and authentic connections with others
  • Find out what’s important to them
  • Help them get it
  • Become a value-creator (by connecting people with other people, resources, tools or ideas)
  • Follow up systematically (because out of sight, out of mind)

The more you give, the more you receive; the more value you add, the better things become.” This is the secret sauce of making powerful connections.

humans holding hands

Add value, serve others and give freely.

Larry Benet is known as the Connector and president of the Speakers and Authors Networking Group (SANG).

#3: Invest in Passionate Community Managers to Improve Facebook Reach

mari smith

Mari Smith

Content may be king but engagement is queen and she rules the house,” says Mari Smith. One of the best ways to increase your reach on Facebook is to invest in a passionate community manager who understands how to engage with fans. A great community manager is one who has these qualities:

  • Proper training (knows how to be persuasive and is focused on good customer service)
  • Focused on prompt engagement
  • Focused on quick response to fan posts and comments. Responding to questions makes money (e.g., Gina Alexander Photo Handbags made $28,000 in sales within 24 hours of hosting a live Q&A about her handbags on her Facebook page!)

Mari Smith is a social media leader and Facebook marketing expert.

 

15 Actionable Takeaways From Social Media Marketing World 2013 | Social Media Examiner.

Are maps obliterating your visual branding efforts? | Bedford Corners NY Real Estate

Detail from map-based search results on Redfin.com using map data from Google.Detail from map-based search results on Redfin.com using map data from Google.

Maps and real estate websites seem to go hand in hand.

It only makes sense, I suppose.

Everyone wants to know where the house is, what the neighborhood is like, how far it is from stuff, and so on.

A map is one of those crucial bits of information display that gives a wide variety of context about one of the things we assume people are looking for when they’re on a real estate website: the house.

In this way I suppose it could easily be argued that maps are a sort of data visualization tool. They take a handful of variables and plot them using symbols to show relationships.

There is even a little bit of standardization to them. That’s why we can look at a Rand McNally road atlas and Google Maps and figure out that both are maps and that we use them to get someplace.

– See more at: http://www.inman.com/2013/05/22/are-maps-obliterating-your-visual-branding-efforts/#sthash.tiqYsoA7.dpuf

 

Are maps obliterating your visual branding efforts? | Inman News.

$190 Million Greenwich Compound Is Priciest Home In The U.S. | Bedford Real Estate

A glance at a property in Greenwich that is reported to be the most expensive listing in the United States. It is listed for $190 million. Photo Credit: With permission from David Ogilvy

 

Listing agent David Ogilvy says the 12-bedroom Neo-French Renaissance Victorian and the 50.6-acre property is “a fantastic piece of property.”
“It’s just an incredibly beautiful spot,’’ said Ogilvy, whosereal estate office is part of Christie’s International Real Estate. “There were a few other major houses down on the water. The only one of this size that has sold was in Riverside in 1952 or ’53. There hasn’t been anything else on either side of the water like this.”
The property includes a mile of shoreline and two islands. Other features include a 75-foot pool and spa, grass tennis court, poolhouse, carriage house and gatehouse cottage.
The home was built in 1896 – Ogilvy had no record of its original cost – and was purchased by the Lauder Greenway family. Harriet Lauder Greenway’s father helped Andrew Carnegie start what would become U.S. Steel, according to the Wall Street Journal story. The article also said the home is owned by John Rudey, the chairman of U.S. Timberlands Services. He purchased the property in 1982. The property is being listed for the first time since 1904, according to the Ogilvy listing.
Ogilvy said the price tag was based on appraisals and previous waterfront sales. “A home with 4.2 acres went for $39.5 million, or about $9 million an acre,’’ he said. “You multiply that by 50, and you get a hefty number. Sometimes people are shocked at how much it is. It’s the only one with 50 acres left in Greenwich.”
The Realtor said he and Rudey have had conversations over the past few years about the property. “I knew the property, but I was even more amazed when I saw it,’’ Ogilvy said.
The owner has no timetable for a sale, Ogilvy also said. “There was a property that I listed and sold back in 2004 for $45 million,’’ Ogilvy said. “People told me I had rocks in my head, and we listed it, sold it and closed on it in 100 days. A timetable is not a problem.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Listing agent David Ogilvy says the 12-bedroom Neo-French Renaissance Victorian and the 50.6-acre property is “a fantastic piece of property.”
“It’s just an incredibly beautiful spot,’’ said Ogilvy, whosereal estate office is part of Christie’s International Real Estate. “There were a few other major houses down on the water. The only one of this size that has sold was in Riverside in 1952 or ’53. There hasn’t been anything else on either side of the water like this.”
The property includes a mile of shoreline and two islands. Other features include a 75-foot pool and spa, grass tennis court, poolhouse, carriage house and gatehouse cottage.
The home was built in 1896 – Ogilvy had no record of its original cost – and was purchased by the Lauder Greenway family. Harriet Lauder Greenway’s father helped Andrew Carnegie start what would become U.S. Steel, according to the Wall Street Journal story. The article also said the home is owned by John Rudey, the chairman of U.S. Timberlands Services. He purchased the property in 1982. The property is being listed for the first time since 1904, according to the Ogilvy listing.
Ogilvy said the price tag was based on appraisals and previous waterfront sales. “A home with 4.2 acres went for $39.5 million, or about $9 million an acre,’’ he said. “You multiply that by 50, and you get a hefty number. Sometimes people are shocked at how much it is. It’s the only one with 50 acres left in Greenwich.”
The Realtor said he and Rudey have had conversations over the past few years about the property. “I knew the property, but I was even more amazed when I saw it,’’ Ogilvy said.
The owner has no timetable for a sale, Ogilvy also said. “There was a property that I listed and sold back in 2004 for $45 million,’’ Ogilvy said. “People told me I had rocks in my head, and we listed it, sold it and closed on it in 100 days. A timetable is not a problem.”

 

$190 Million Greenwich Compound Is Priciest Home In The U.S. | The Bedford Daily Voice.