It will take more than a decade to clear up all the shadow inventory in the residential real estate market in New York state, according to new report released by Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services. That is more than three times longer than it will take the rest of the nation, a difference that the report largely attributes to the greater time it takes to foreclose on a property in New York.

The quarterly report defines shadow residential inventory as distressed properties that are 90 days or more days delinquent on mortgages not backed by federal agencies. The length of time it takes to liquidate such properties in New York increased by 40 months to 154 months in the final quarter of last year, compared to the same period of 2009, according to the new S&P report. On the bright side, while it is taking longer to clear distressed mortgages in the state, the default rate is not rising, said Diane Westerback, a managing director at Standard & Poor’s. New York’s default rate, 35.8%, is only slightly higher than the national average of 33.1%.

“The good news is delinquencies aren’t noticeably higher and the frequency of loans defaulting is lower than other states,” said Ms. Westerback. “The bad news is once these loans fall into delinquency, they are hardly moving.”

In general, it takes much longer to foreclose on a loan in New York. Liquidation rates for defaulted loans are lower in New York because it’s one of 21 judicial states that require formal court proceedings to carry out foreclosures. In other states, the foreclosure process is less formal and much faster, taking up to seven months. In contrast, in New York and in New Jersey as well, it can take two years for a loan to go in and out of foreclosure, she noted.

The report noted that a New York foreclosure mediation program established in September 2008 may also be contributing to the longer time it will take to clear the state’s shadow inventory. The program, which requires mediation between borrowers and the bank before a foreclosure is finalized, typically means four to eight meetings. As a result it could add a year to the foreclosure process, the report noted.

According to the report, shadow inventory in Brooklyn will take the longest to unwind at more than 17 years. Bronx was close behind at 16.5 years, and Staten Island recorded 12 years. Manhattan fared the best, coming in at a little more than eight years.

Ms. Westerback said it is difficult to explain what exactly is happening in each borough. However, she pointed out that the type of housing in each impacts the numbers and time it will take to clear the shadow.

According to the report, condos go through the foreclosure process faster than single-to-four family houses, and certain counties have higher concentrations of single-to-four family houses. Meanwhile, co-ops make up 3.1% of the New York state market, and co-ops do not go through the court system and are not subject to the mediation programs.

“There aren’t too many single-family homes in Manhattan,” she said.

« Why Telling Stories is Important & Other Learnings from the Power of eMarketing Conference | Main

April 25, 2011

Post-Webinar Q&A: Twitter For Your Business

VerticalResponse Webinars are not only free, but a great resource for small business email marketing and social media tips and advice. If you haven't had a chance to attend one, check out all the great content we have planned as part of our Spring Webinar Series.

We get a lot of questions from our audience at the end of every webinar. Many of these questions and answers are applicable to all of our customers, so we thought it would be fun to share them with you. Here are some of the most relevant ones from our recent webinar, Twitter For Your Business, hosted by Ellery Long and Jill Bastian:

How do you feel about adding an occasional office-centered comment on a business's Twitter account? For example, occasionally tweeting about something going on in our office instead of always tweeting about our products and services. (e.g., "Congrats to our employee of the month winners!")

Not only do we think that kind of tweeting is okay, we encourage it! In fact, we recommend that the majority of your tweets focus on sharing content or interesting information with your followers rather than just direct promotion. There is no hard and fast rule about what this balance should look like, but a good rule of thumb is four "useful" tweets to every one self-promotional tweet. Useful tweets can be anything from a link to your company blog to an article or white paper about your industry. Remember, you already have many channels to promote your product (website, emails, direct) – use Twitter to engage and converse with your fans instead.

As for tweeting about happenings in your office, we love this! While people do follow brands for things like discounts and product information, many of your followers want to know more about your company itself. Twitter is the perfect medium to give your business a little personality!

If your business has multiple lines that are interlinked, but diverse in service, should you maintain separate Twitter accounts for each?

Like many questions about marketing, this one is best answered "it depends". Maintaining separate Twitter accounts for multiple service offerings makes sense a lot of the time. For example, VerticalResponse has two Twitter accounts. @VR4SmallBiz is the main company account where we share the latest news and tips about VR, online marketing, and social media, while @supportVR is the account we use to provide our customers with an additional customer support channel. This works well for us because each of these streams serves different needs.

In some cases, though, it may not be practical to maintain multiple Twitter accounts for your business. Think about what lines of business or service offerings you want on Twitter and then decide whether their audiences are really different enough to warrant separate accounts. Also, make sure that you will have enough content to keep multiple accounts fresh. Ultimately, you don't want any of your Twitter accounts to suffer because you're spread too thin. One great Twitter account always beats a multitude of so-so ones.

How do you choose hashtags (#)? Is there a standard list/directory or do you simply try to find the ones being used the most and use those?

There is no standard list of hashtag (#) terms, but there are resources out there to help you identify the most popular terms being used. Tweet Meme, Trendistic, and Twitscoop are three sites that you can use to see what is popular, or trending, on Twitter. This can be useful if you want to jump into popular conversations and, hopefully, gain new followers. As for identifying which hashtags are being used to describe a particular category, your best bet is just a simple Twitter search. For example, if you are primarily tweeting about the financial industry and want to find out which hashtags are most popular for other tweets in this category, do a search for all the terms that you think might make sense. In this case, you might try #finance, #financialservices, and #banking. Look at your results for each search and pick the hashtag that has the most consistent activity. This is where potential customers looking for financial industry tweets are most likely looking.

Does Twitter Search look beyond hashtags? That is, can you search the text of a tweet whether or not the search term has been hashtagged?

Absolutely. Twitter Search functions like any other search engine you use, but just searches twitter.com for results. The only difference with using a hashtag before a searchable term is that the hashtag tells Twitter that you're categorizing your tweet in a certain way. Twitter then turns the hashtagged term into a clickable link. Clicking the link will generate a stream of all the tweets using that same hashtag. Using popular hashtags pertaining to your business is a great way to make your tweets more visible to potential customers. An example of this is below:

What does #ff mean?

#FF (or #ff) is the hashtag most commonly used for "Follow Friday," a Twitter tradition where you share other accounts you like on Friday. Follow Friday is a good way to share interesting accounts to follow with your current followers. It's also a great method to give recognition to colleagues, partners, and customers who are also using Twitter.

How do we add sharing options (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn etc.) on our VerticalResponse emails so that recipients can re-post?

Our product team is working hard on a new Social Sharing feature set that will make this a one-step process when creating your email. In the meantime, we have put together an easy guide for how to add any kind of share buttons to your emails now. Check it out here and get sharing!

What advantages does Twitter have over other social media like Facebook? We have a lot of Facebook followers, but not many Twitter followers, so should Twitter still have a place in our marketing?

Twitter's main advantages are its real-time quickness, the ability to join in conversations relevant to or about your brand, and the fact that it facilitates viral sharing. We recommend choosing two to three social networks and test out making them as successful as possible. For some businesses, Twitter doesn't always make sense, but in many cases Twitter and Facebook are very complementary. For example, if you already have a good base of Facebook fans, use Facebook to encourage them to follow you on Twitter as well. Then you can use Twitter to post shorter, more regular updates and links as well as to drive traffic back to your Facebook page or company blog. Because the way Facebook prioritizes content, many of your fans rarely see your posts in their news feed. Twitter can be an effective way to let them know when you have new things to share. 

Is there a way to retweet something, but still have the ability to add your own text to the original tweet?

Yes, you can do this for any tweet, but some tools make it easier than others. If you're tweeting directly from the twitter.com website, the default funtionality when you click the retweet button is to post that retweet automatically without the ability to edit. Retweets sent this way will appear to your followers to have come from the account that sent the original tweet. Here is an example of how a retweet sent in this way will appear on your Twitter profile. Notice that Jenny's tweet shows up in the @VR4SmallBiz tweet stream exactly as how she originally sent it, with no additional editing by us: 

Alternately, you can still retweet someone, but add your own text to the tweet that gets published to your followers. Twitter tools like Hootsuite and Tweetdeck make this very easy, offering you the option to send immediately or edit first when you click the retweet button. If you're doing all your tweeting from twitter.com, you'll have to do a bit of a workaround. Rather than send your retweets using the retweet button, simply copy the tweet you want to repost, then paste that text into the message field. Next, type the text "RT @<insert user name>" before the text you just quoted. Now you're ready to edit by placing your own thoughts before the RT. Here's an example of this kind of retweet in action, we included the word "Woot!":

Do these Twitter tools cost money? Or are they free? 

All of the tools we mentioned in the webinar are free to use or at the very least, offer a free version that provides a few less features than the paid version. Some of the more robust monitoring services can get too expensive for many small businesses, but for the most part, the free tools should cover your needs. There are many tools out there, and VR doesn't endorse any of them specifically, but here are the ones we covered in the webinar for your reference:

 
 

I know this is a lot of info, but hopefully you're inspired to get tweeting for your biz! You can always check out @VR4SmallBiz for more Twitter advice and help, as well as read our free social media guides.

Related posts:

• Want More Clicks? Tease Your Readers!
• Top 10 Social Media Blog Posts
• 3 Ways to Make Your Email More Social

Upcoming Social Media Webinars:

• Facebook for Your Business (May 13)
• LinkedIn for Your Business (June 9)

Posted in Email Marketing, Social Media, VR Shameless Self-Promotion | Permalink

| Digg This | Save to del.icio.us | Tweet This!’); |

TrackBack

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d83451b09469e201538e03281f970b

Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Post-Webinar Q&A: Twitter For Your Business:

Comments

Verify your Comment

Previewing your Comment

Posted by:  | 

This is only a preview. Your comment has not yet been posted.

Your comment could not be posted. Error type:

Your comment has been saved. Comments are moderated and will not appear until approved by the author. Post another comment

The letters and numbers you entered did not match the image. Please try again.

As a final step before posting your comment, enter the letters and numbers you see in the image below. This prevents automated programs from posting comments.

Having trouble reading this image? View an alternate.

–>

• Share

–>

Comments(0)

Partial investments grow in Manhattan commercial real estate

April 25, 2011 11:45AM

As investors flood the Manhattan commercial market and few buildings go up for sale, buyers are increasingly taking partial stakes in buildings. Crain’s cited RXR Realty’s purchase of 40 percent of 1166 Sixth Avenue, L&L Holdings finding an investor for part of 195 Broadway, SL Green Realty’s $138 million investment in 3 Columbus Circle and Vornado Realty Trust’s deal with SL Green for 280 Park Avenue. While the activity is a healthy sign for the market, it also requires multiple parties with millions of dollars at stake to work together on a single project. Often, these partial investors are sought by the building’s owners because bank loans are not possible considering the debt that already exists on the buildings. And with debt prices rising, some owners prefer to sell a stake rather than become handcuffed by looming obligations. [Crain’s] Tags: 1166 sixth avenue 195 broadway 280 Park Avenue l&l holdings rxr realty sl green
–>

• Share

–>

Comments(0)

Comments

The Real Deal reserves the right to delete any comment it finds to be rude, obscene, racist, sexist, bigoted, irrelevant or repetitive, as well as inappropriate comments about anyone’s personal appearance or advertisements. The Real Deal does not endorse any comments posted on its website nor does it verify the veracity of comments or the identity of posters.

Revered with shrine-like fervor by countless recovering alcoholics, Stepping Stones on Oak Road in Bedford Hills has also become—at least in the eyes of some unhappy residents—a neighborhood nuisance, generating traffic, noisy crowds and even overnight lodgers.

A half-dozen neighbors last week seized on an initial permit application to the town as an opportunity to air pent-up grievances with operations today at the onetime home of William Griffith Wilson, the Bill W. who founded Alcoholics Anonymous. The neighbors alternately acknowledged Stepping Stones’ historic contributions to the world of Twelve-Step self-help and criticized what they see as increased activity at 62 Oak Road, especially since the death of Wilson’s wife, Lois, in 1988. Bill W. died in 1971, 30 years after buying the Colonial Revival and writing much of AA’s enduring literature at the estate.

Ironically, the permit Stepping Stones is seeking would give the philanthropic foundation a chance to mollify some critics. As the foundation’s attorney, Whitney W. Singleton of Mount Kisco, told the town board last Wednesday, parking by visitors on the street has been a source of “commotion.” So the foundation proposes to build and screen off a 14-space off-street parking area and rework the eight-acre estate’s lone entrance and exit.

A 1983 zoning code amendment will require Stepping Stones to apply to the zoning board of appeals for a variance, the town board for a special-use permit and the planning board for site-plan approval, with public hearings along each step of that potentially rocky path. Nevertheless, some nearby neighbors lined up along a wall in town hall Wednesday night, eager already to describe—almost apologetically at times but with full-throated disdain at others—Stepping Stones’ current incarnation as both AA museum and bus-stop mecca for “tremendous” numbers of grateful adherents celebrating sobriety.

Supervisor Lee V.A. Roberts, pointing out that the public hearings, with ample opportunity to be heard, are yet to come on the Stepping Stones application, asked speakers last week to keep their remarks brief. Some even did.

Richard H. Timme, who has lived across the street at 69 Oak Road since 1982, assured the board he had “no problem” with his neighbor. “I think everybody agrees Bill Wilson, Lois Wilson were great humanitarians and contributed greatly to the world we live in.” Still, he noted, visitor traffic is invariably concentrated on the weekend. “When you put that traffic into two days of the week, it’s tremendous.”

He said that when Lois Wilson was alive, Stepping Stones was very much a private home, with activities confined to perhaps one picnic a year. “The use there has escalated since we [moved in] in 1982,” he maintained, but added, “With that said, they are a great neighbor.”

His wife, Leslie, agreed, saying that from her deck she can “hear the noise and commotion” that accompany Stepping Stones visitors. “People are respectful; please don’t misunderstand,” she said. “The problem is I fear future growth.” She implored the board members to “treat this issue as if this was your back yard.”

Another neighbor, Robert W. Forman of Lily Pond Lane, challenged the foundation’s tax-exempt status, asserting that Stepping Stones is “a profit-making organization” since it sells books and rents rooms to overnight guests.

“My concern is the tax rolls,” he said. “I want to know how in god’s name . . .  you call this a place that should be off the tax rolls.” Singleton, the Stepping Stones attorney, later denied the foundation rented rooms.

Diane S. Briganti called herself “the vocal neighbor” and for the next dozen minutes, referring to photos, personal logs and planning board minutes, she complained about traffic, parking and crowds at Stepping Stones. Briganti said she’s complained about nighttime AA meetings—“We’ve always had to complain to get things stopped”—and filed another complaint with the town five months ago. “I’ve lived in my house 27 years, paid hundreds of thousands in taxes and still can’t get an answer,” she charged.

Briganti also challenged Stepping Stones’ tax-exempt status, noting that it paid $20,000 in taxes as a private home in 1990. “This is the first I’m ever hearing that this property has been a philanthropy since 1941,” she said. “This is ridiculous.”

Patricia A. Bishop, a Woodfield Road resident since 1978, also drew a sharp contrast between Lois Wilson’s low-key gatherings of yesteryear, populated largely by people arriving on foot, with today’s crowds pulling up in cars and buses for an event. “It has morphed into unbelievable heights right now,” she said.”I’ve never seen such traffic.”  

IN OTHER ACTION WEDNESDAY, the town board:

Reappointed Richard Lemon to the Blue Mountain Housing Development Corp., which promotes creation of affordable housing, and the Bedford Town Housing Committee, which administers middle-income housing; and Rosemary Lee to the Conservation Board, Bedford’s environmental watchdog agency, which advises on natural resources and defines town open space.

Set a public hearing for May 3 on an application by Willy Nick’s Restaurant in Katonah to renew its outdoor dining permit.

Authorized a contract with Atlantic Westchester to perform service and maintenance on the heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems of town offices at 425 Cherry St.

To help a team get off to a 4-1 start—as the Fox Lane softball squad has done—would give any player satisfaction. It’s even a better feeling when that feat is accomplished with your own sister, say the Lombardi sisters.

The duo includes Allison, a junior pitching standout who plays first base when she isn’t in the circle, and Christie, who has a great arm and plays superb defensive catching. As a sophomore, Christie is already the team’s number one catcher, and when she isn’t behind the plate, covers third base.

They are the same size (5-foot-9) and build and are often mistaken for twins as Allison is just 17 months older.

In addition to standing out on the field, the Lombardi’s also thrive in the classroom. Each student makes the high-honor roll every quarter and achieves an approximate 96 average in honors courses. 

“I think it’s even more fun playing with your sister when one is the pitcher and the other is the catcher because there is a closer bond between the pitcher and the catcher than any other positions on the field,” Allison said.

Working with her sister has produced great results for Allison. She is 4-0 in the circle this year and is now 20-11 in her career at Fox Lane.

Allison is effective because she has good control. The proof is in the six walks she allowed in in 30 innings pitched this season. She has good off-speed pitches and uses a curve, drop and change-up. 

Both Lombardi’s are also off to great starts at plate. Allison, who leads off for the Foxes, is 10 for 19 (.526) with one double, two triples, seven RBI and eight runs scored. Christie, who bats second in Fox Lane’s lineup, is 9 for 18 (.500) with two doubles, six RBI and six runs scored.

“Christie is a great all-around player,” Allison said. “She is a really good defensive catcher and also she bats second for our team. She puts up huge power numbers.”

What helps both Lombardi’s is that because they know each other so well, they can help one another with any part of their game.

“We really know each other’s strengths and weaknesses,” Christie said. “We can really help each other out because we know what each other needs to work on.”

The Lombardi’s know each other so well because not only do they play softball together, they play other sports with each other as well.

“We have been playing together for so long in a bunch of different sports (field hockey and basketball in addition to softball) so we are totally used to having to work together,” Christie said.

Besides playing softball at Fox Lane, the Lombardi’s also play travel softball ball for The Junction Girls out of Eastchester. Its coaches are Jim Bell, whose daughter Bonnie Bell (Eastchester ’90) will be inducted next year into the New York State Softball Hall of Fame and Mike Mitchell, whose daughter Brittany Mitchell is a star shortstop for Ursuline. 

Many of Section 1’s best players play for The Junction Girls, including Jamie Weisser (Horace Greeley), Andrea Abbetiello and Bronwyn Bingham (Dobbs Ferry), Kelly Dillon (New Rochelle), Essence Savignon (Our Lady of Victory), Casey Stevko (Tuckahoe), Summer Horowitz (Briarcliff) and Jackie Inglesias (White Plains).

The Lombardi’s also play AAU basketball together for the Westchester Titans coached by Fox Lane coach Ayo Hart.

Regardless of what team the Lombardi’s play on, they are glad that they have each other to play with.

“The best thing about playing with your sister is that it’s like having a guaranteed friend on the team,” Christie said. “It’s someone that you always know, you can talk to, someone you know that will always be there for you.”

Allison concurred.

“It’s just so fun to be able to throw to her,” Allison said. “She is always there for me. It’s just so much fun to be able to play a sport with someone that you know and love so well.”

The Foxes will look to continue to play well this week with two big games on their schedule against rival Horace Greeley. Fox Lane will travel to Greeley on Tuesday, April 26 before hosting the Quakers on Thursday, April 28.

Both games are at 4:30 p.m.

“It’s a huge rivalry for us,” Allison said. “They are a good team. We are having good practices. We are excited and are ready to play them.”

A South Salem man is accused of bilking his clients of hundreds of thousands of dollars after he was arraigned on numerous fraud-related charges in Westchester County Court Monday.

Frank De Grasse, 50, of South Salem, was arraigned on a 31-count indictment charging him with felony counts of grand larceny, criminal possession of stolen property, identity theft,  criminal possession of a forged instrument, falsifying business records and scheme to defraud, according to the county District Attorney Janet DiFiore.

Authorities allege that De Grasse, a disbarred attorney and a former detective with the New York City Police Department, defrauded 10 clients during time frame spanning Nov. 4, 2008 to Jan. 7 2009.

De Grasse allegedly deposited $250,000 in counterfeit checks was into five different bank accounts and used stolen identities to open three of those accounts.

De Grasse also used one of these accounts to deposit nearly $75,000 from an equity line of credit that was opened in the name of one victim without their permission.

According to state records, De Grasse attended law school Pace University and was admitted in the New York State Bar Association in 1999. He was disbarred in 2007, the same year he pleaded guilty to a $750,000 mortgage scam in Suffolk County.

De Grasse is scheduled to appear in county Court on May 10. He faces a maximum sentence of 15 years.

Source: IMDb

Fast-chatting comedian, Chris Tucker, has been a Tarzana, CA resident since 1996 when he purchased his first Mulholland Park Estates home for $1,113,500. That’s right – his first. According to The Real Estalker, this wasn’t Tucker’s only Tarzana real estate transaction. After earning a jaw-dropping $20 million for his second performance as Detective James Carter in “Rush Hour 2,” the karate-chopping actor dropped $2.4 million on a second Tarzana property that just so happened to be right next door to his current home.

The 38-year-old actor was a two-house homeowner in the elite neighborhood up until 2008 when he sold his second purchased property, a 6,549-sq ft, 5-bedroom, 7.5-bathroom home, for $3,800,000. Now, it appears Tucker is ready to cut the rest of his Los Angeles real estate ties as he stuck a $2,499,000 listing price on his long-time Tarzana home earlier this month.

Tucker’s Tarzana home features “unobstructed views overlooking the San Fernando valley,” nearly 6,400-sq ft, 7 bathrooms, a large living room, dining room, office, spacious kitchen, master bedroom with a sitting area, fireplace and balcony, and 4 additional bedrooms, all of which are junior suites with their own en suite bathrooms. Outdoor amenities include a basketball court, motor court, and pool all situated on a beautifully landscaped .73-acre lot.

Tucker won’t be rushing to find a new mansion in the Sunshine State. He still owns two properties on the opposite side of the country — a 13,227-sq ft mansion in McDonough, GA and a 5,907-sq ft home in Montverde, FL.

Tony Truisi of Coldwell Banker, Beverly Hills, holds the listing.