Daily Archives: July 19, 2011

Bedford NY Real Estate | 6 tips for timing a real estate purchase | Inman News for Bedford NY Homes

Leave a reply

6 tips for timing a real estate purchase

How fence-sitters can get a jump on the competition

In mid-June, interest rates on home loans were lower than they were a year ago. However, this failed to ignite the housing market. Many buyers and homeowners would like to make a move, but some find it impossible to make a decision. They are commonly referred to as fence-sitters, poised to make a move when the time seems right.

The housing market is unlikely to turn around soon, but this doesn’t mean that now is not a good time to buy or sell. It depends on your personal situation and market conditions in the area where you plan to buy or sell.

Become an expert on your local market. Knowing a good deal when you see it or what price to ask if you decide to sell depends on having a good understanding of how much properties are selling for in your neighborhood.

While you’re trying to decide what to do, line up a team that can help you accomplish your goal when you decide to move ahead. You can do this by researching online, attending open houses in the area and asking a real estate agent to keep you on top of market fluctuations.

Your decision to buy should be based on your personal financial situation, not on the national or global economy. For example, if you bought during the bubble market and are now getting divorced, you’ll probably sell for less than you paid.

But, if the house is too expensive for one to support, it may be cheaper in the long run to cut your losses and sell now. No one knows how long the housing downturn will last. Prices could move lower before rebounding. This is not an ordinary recession.

HOUSE-HUNTING TIP: Don’t get caught up following the herd. Just because most people in your area aren’t buying or are having difficulty selling doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t make a move. Just make sure if you’re a buyer that you have job security, a relatively healthy economy in your local area and a plan to stay put for at least 10 years.

The housing market will be volatile going forward. Good economic news will help fence-sitters make the decision to get serious about moving. Bad news of any sort can cause the market to stall. To take advantage of the upticks in the market, you need to be prepared in advance.

Find a good local real estate agent to work with who understands your needs, and wait to buy or sell until the time is right for you. It could take you a year or so to make the final decision. Some agents don’t have the patience to stick it out.

Select an agent who will educate you about the market and the idiosyncrasies of the home-sale business in your area. Ask to be kept informed about sales in the area. Many agents are set up to do this electronically, which is an easy way to keep you informed without taking up a lot of the agent’s time.

One of the most difficult aspects of the current home-sale business is financing the transaction. Find a loan agent or mortgage broker who is a real professional, has been in the business for years and who understands what current underwriters will require from you to process your loan.

Assemble all the financial documents you’ll need for loan approval even before you start looking. Ask your agent or broker to have your loan package previewed by an underwriter so that you know beforehand if there are any problems.

THE CLOSING: Remedy these in advance so that they don’t cause last-minute delays in closing.

Dian Hymer, a real estate broker with more than 30 years’ experience, is a nationally syndicated real estate columnist and author of “House Hunting: The Take-Along Workbook for Home Buyers” and “Starting Out, The Complete Home Buyer’s Guide

via inman.com

North Salem NY Real Estate | Bing Hits Record Search Share, Google Stays Stable

Leave a reply

Jul 15 2011

Bing Hits Record Search Share, Google Stays Stable

While the picture varies around the globe, the reality is that Google reigns supreme in almost every market. In fact, for those who have forgotten, Google is the main search engine in all but five countries that regularly access the internet. However, despite themonolithic size of Google, Bing and its partner Yahoo are making gains. Bing hit a record high in June, while Google remained stable.

That record high for Bing is 14.4 percent of market share – fairly impressive when you consider how young Bing is overall and that they only breached the 10 percent mark over the last year. This 14.4 percent market share combines with Yahoo’s 15.9 percent (about the same as Yahoo has held historically over the last couple years) to hit over 30 percent of the total market – up from about 20 percent last year and 25 percent at the end of 2010.

Still, despite the impressive gains, Google isn’t suffering. In fact, Google has remained stable or improved in each of its given search markets. Google holds at 65.5 percent of search share currently, and saw a rise in core search from 63.3 percent last month to 64.5 percent; “core search” includes all contextually-driven searches (which don’t indicate any actual intent to interact with search results) as well as standard searches.

So where is the Bing growth coming from? It seems that, rather than penetrating the fortress being held by Google, Bing is killing off the remaining competitors: Ask and AOL both remain strong in their core search site, but search sites networked to these companies saw an approximate 5 percent drop. Meanwhile, search activity on the whole has increased by about 8 percent over the last year.

[Sources include: comScore]

 

Written By:

PG

Rob D Young | @RobDYoungWrites

Rob has been insatiably obsessed with Google, search engine technology, and the trends of the web-based world since he began life as a webmaster in 2002. His move into SEO work in 2006, and subsequently to writing for technology and internet-focused publications, has done nothing but fuel this passion.

More Posts By Rob Young

  • Interesting, i’m sure Bing will continue to increase its figures in the future. And a skyrocket due to an agreement with facebook to integrate bing as a search engine in the social network ?

blog comments powered by Disqus

via searchenginejournal.com

Armonk NY Homes | Small Fish In A Big Brand Pond | Search Engine Journal for Armonk NY Real Estate

Leave a reply

Jul 18 2011

Small Fish In A Big Brand Pond

Recently my husband did something that scared the life out of me: he bought a major appliance from a minor e-retailer. After finding a great price on an item that he wanted, he dug into their online reputation and found that it was practically spotless, so he took a big chance and spent a lot of money at an unknown company. I’d not have been so brave. As I expected, being a Negative Nancy, there was a flaw in the item. However, said minor e-retailer sent a replacement with zero hassle.

Now, I never check a brand’s backlinks before I buy from them of course (being mostly sane) but I definitely check out their online reputation I’ll check their offline reputation out too if possible, but I do look into them. Are most of their reviews positive or negative? Do they have major customer service issues? Do their items tend to fall apart after one month? I want to know these things before I commit my dollars.

Big brand backlinks have been in the news a lot recently as these brands have come under suspicion about how exactly they got their rankings. We know that major brands have enjoyed a certain level of security online for the most part, one that has never been afforded to the little guys. Big brands can play fast and loose and eat up all the online space for keywords that you may want to rank for. Add some polluted local SERPs for certain industries and you have a mess to wade through. How on earth is a small guy supposed to compete?

Here’s how..by capitalizing not on your well-known name (um, because you might not have one yet), but on why you’re different from everyone else who does what you do. What can YOU bring to the table?

For starters you can make darn sure that you don’t make any customer service mistakes that can garner you negative reviews online, and you can make sure that in the event that you do get some negative press, you respond to it and you fix it asap. Nothing is worse than seeing unaddressed complaints online.

You also need to define why you’re different than the bigger guys. Having a few bright spots in how you do business is a definite, but you also need to be able to distinguish yourself in the online world, playing by the online world’s rules. As I’ve said many times before, hiding crappy links in a giant backlink profile is much easier than hiding them in a small profile. If you only have 50 backlinks, you’ll want to make sure that they’re really good ones.

Do:

  • Get listed in (relevant) niche and local business directories.
  • Set up every possible form of social media alert for your brand and URL. This way you can respond to anything that pops up online, positive and negative.
  • Respond to the first instance of negative experience. Don’t wait for someone to complain twice before you address it.
  • Use some form of web analytics in order to keep an eye on where your traffic is coming from.
  • Keep a very close eye on any links pointing to you. Many people are unaware of what’s lurking in their link profile. As much as I hate to say it, you need to be extra careful if you’re working with someone who isn’t telling you how he’s building links. I come across some really nasty links almost every week, and the clients have no clue.
  • Use social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook, but use them wisely, to build up and be a part of a community.
  • If you have a local business presence and it makes sense for you, put a lot of your effort into local marketing. Network with other business owners in your area both online and offline.
  • Keep producing good content that is easily shareable using social media buttons.
  • Reach out for links when you find a great site. The worst that will happen is that you’ll be turned down.

Don’t:

  • Comment or forum spam. You have no idea how many times people ask me to look at what they’re doing wrong with link building and their profile is nothing BUT comment and forum spam.
  • Reach out to spammy sites that are comprised of nothing but links. Yes, they’ll probably link to you, but no, you don’t want that link.
  • Sit back and rest. Your competitors, especially the bigger ones, certainly aren’t. Building good links is an ongoing effort.
  • Think that you can write great content and have us find it accidentally. You need to send us to it.
  • Use Twitter and Facebook to only post links to your new blog post, sale, product offering, etc.
  • Set up 10 different microsites that all crosslink and concentrate on a specific microtopic for each site. Yep, people are still doing that.
  • Crank out impersonal link requests. If these ever get read, they’ll most likely get trashed. And don’t assume the webmaster is male…that’s a personal pet peeve of mine.

Just remember: you can definitely compete online, but you don’t have the same room for mistakes that big brands do. However, if you’re conscientious about how you market your site, you can build a well-optimized web presence that doesn’t rely on what only works at the time.

Written By:

PG

Julie Joyce | Link Fish Media | @JulieJoyce

Julie Joyce owns the link development agency Link Fish Media, is one of SEO Chicks, and contributes to Search Engine Land and Search Marketing Gurus.

More Posts By Julie Joyce

  • The best defense is a good offense, and managing your online brand reputation means being proactive! Brands cannot afford (literally) to hide their heads in the sand when a bad review or bad press pops up. Thank customers for positive reviews, and reach out to those who had a bad experience quickly.

  • Totally agree Nick, epsicially since rules changed and well they have in the uk where you cannt try and hide the fact you got bad reviews if a customer gives you a review good or bad you are supposed to put on website so people know however nothing wrong with you showing your reply on there, Abit like ebay when people got negative feedback you could reply and justify what had happened as customers who dont get what experience they wanted will leave negative comments about your company even if its not your fault

  • Rich source 

blog comments powered by Disqus

via searchenginejournal.com

Mt Kisco NY Homes | Borders Books Liquidation Appears Imminent – Bedford-Katonah, NY Patch

Leave a reply

Borders Book & Music is likely to be liquidated later this week, resulting in the closing of the Mount Kisco store, along with its remaining locations, The Wall Street Journal has reported.

The book store, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in February, failed to get a buyer to save it, and will present a liquidation takeover offer from companies Hilco Merchant Resources and Gordon Brothers, the paper reported, which would be on Thursday unless a last-minute buyer emerges. In that case, according to the WSJ, there would then be an auction for its assets.

In a press statement, posted by the Journal, Borders announced that it expects to start the liquidation process at the end of this week, with a phased shut down into late September.

In response, several of Borders’ creditors have made objections to the proposed liquidation, Bloomberg reported Monday afternoon, with one argument being that there would not be anyone to take over its business contracts.

If the Mount Kisco store is closed, it will leave the community without a store for new books.

Borders would become the most recent of several former book stores in the village to go to a retail grave.

In 1995, the established independent Fox & Sutherland shuttered, but was soon replaced by another independent store, Mount Kisco Book Company, according to The New York Times. Just months after opening, on Nov. 25, 1996, that store was the victim of a major fire that disrupted stores on its block, The Times reported, but was able to get back on its feet and reopen at the former Fox & Sutherland site, on South Moger Avenue with charitable local support.

Mount Kisco Book Company, which reportedly struggled during its existence, pulled the plug in 2000, with multiple media outlets at the time, ironically, reporting the emergence of Borders—reported as having opened in 1997—being a contributing factor.

The loss of Borders will also serve as a blow to residents in New Castle and Bedford, many of whom have it as their closest book store. Just two years ago, New Castle residents lost Second Story Book Shop, which was located in downtown Chappaqua. That store, The Times reported, was a major fixture locally, even bringing in former President Bill Clinton for a signing of his book when it was released in 2004.

via bedford.patch.com

South Salem NY Homes | Appeal Possible After Wolf Center’s Court Setback – Bedford-Katonah, NY Patch

Leave a reply

Keeping all options open, the Wolf Conservation Center in South Salem will likely move to appeal a judge’s rejection of a wolf compound on town-owned land, the organization’s executive director says.

While no firm decision has been reached, executive director Deborah Heineman said in a telephone interview that the center will probably file a notice of appeal while it studies other alternatives when she returns to work after her current vacation.

The notice, which is not itself a formal appeal, keeps the legal door open to filing one later if the center decides to go that route.

State Supreme Court Justice J. Emmett Murphy ruled against the Wolf Conservation Center Tuesday in a lawsuit brought by the Westchester Land Trust against both the center and Town of Lewisboro. In a five-page opinion, Murphy upheld the trust’s central contention that building enclosures for the wolf compound would violate a conservation easement restricting use of the property.

The proposed eight-acre wolf compound would have occupied a sliver of the Leon Levy Preserve, a 380-acre stretch of hardwood forests and wetlands, bounded by routes 35 and 123. It includes about 90 acres of New York City watershed and is formally bound to remain forever wild.

Lewisboro bought the property in 2005, when it could still be developed. In return for the town’s granting a conservation easement—including the prohibition against any development—the land trust chipped in $5.5 million of the $8.3 million purchase price. A foundation largely funded by Levy, a fund manager and philanthropist who died in 2003, supplied $5 million of the land trust’s contribution. His widow, Shelby White, who arranged the gift, could not be reached for comment.

Lewisboro and New York City’s Department of Environmental Protection also kicked in $1 million each and the Dextra Baldwin McGonagle Foundation contributed $500,000 over five years.

In his decision, Murphy called the restrictions on the land’s use “unequivocal,” saying, “The plain language of the easement itself expressly provides that its purpose is . . . to hold the land which comprises the preserve in an ‘undeveloped state’ in perpetuity and to provide for ‘passive recreational activities.’”

While the easement does not specifically outlaw a wolf compound, he noted, it clearly forbids the kind of “excavation, extraction, grading or removal of soil” associated with fence building.

Heineman called it unfair to make fences an issue. “Of course you have to have fences when there are wolves,” she said. “But nobody said a word about them when we were walking the property [in 2009, discussing a lease for the compound].”

But Tom Andersen, the land trust’s director at the time of those discussions, disputed her recollection, saying fences had been an integral part of the talks from the beginning. Asked why the land trust had not simply rejected the wolf center’s overtures at the first mention of any construction, Andersen said the discussions never got beyond the talking stage.

“We always said that for the land trust to make a decision, we needed to see a real [written] proposal,” he said. “They never did that.” Instead, the Wolf Conservation Center negotiated a lease directly with the Town of Lewisboro, he said, prompting the land trust’s lawsuit.

Andersen called the court decision “very important,” going beyond the Wolf Conservation Center dispute to provide judicial affirmation of the land trust’s many conservation easements.

Heineman said the Wolf Conservation Center, believing it had a green light for the compound, applied for and subsequently received a $300,000 grant from the state’s Department of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. Another $1.3 million in private donations also came into the center to help fund the compound.

Pianist Hélène Grimaud and others founded the nationally known Wolf Conservation Center in 1999. Some wolves roam the center’s current grounds in South Salem, shielded from people and eventually set free in the wild. A handful of others—now down to one—become “ambassadors,” trained to meet the public, both at the center and at venues far removed, to educate people about wolves and the center’s work.

Westchester Land Trust, with roots in Lewisboro and Bedford, was founded in 1988 and has since grown into a countywide organization that seeks to protect environmentally important open space.

via bedford.patch.com

Katonah NY Real Estate | Star Spangled Classics at Caramoor – Bedford-Katonah, NY Patch

Leave a reply

The people who attended Saturday’s Star Spangled Classics concert at the Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts were treated to a fun, educational and exciting musical event. 

Featuring Katie Kresek and Kaleidoscope, the Teaching Artists Ensemble of the New York Philharmonic, the quintet was comprised of Katie Kresek and Janey Choi on violins, Amy Sue Barston on cello, Erin Wight on viola and Richard Mannoia on clarinet.  

The group took the audience on an exciting musical adventure, engaging them in rhythmic activities, question and answer, close listening and singing.

Works included Charles Ives’ Arguments, a piece in which the instruments ‘quarrel’ with each other to be heard, Jimi Hendrix’s Purple Haze, Elder Joseph Brachett’s Simple Gifts, in which the audience participated with singing, and a rousing rendition of West Side Story’s America. 

After the concert was over, the audience was invited to come up to the stage to meet the performers and to explore their instruments first hand. 

“This was the best show I’ve seen”, said Helen from Chappaqua.  “And I’ve seen a lot of shows!” 

Browse our gallery to see photos from the event.

More upcoming Caramoor Family Programming includes Dancing at Dusk and Al Fresco Sundays.   Please visit http://www.caramoor.org/festival/familyfun – family for more information.


via bedford.patch.com

Bedford Hills NY Homes | Meet The “Mad Men” of Bedford Hills: BeeHarris Creative – Bedford-Katonah, NY Patch

Leave a reply

In recent years, ad campaigns have become so cleverly engaging and entertaining that the audience often view ads as the main attraction instead of the side show. 

Fashion magazine readers focus on the glossy advertisements; Super Bowl watchers look forward to the commercials and YouTube viewers seek out the most avant-garde marketing campaigns. And, thanks to AMC’s Mad Men, the award winning series about the advertising executives during the 1960s, many are captivated with the men and women behind the ads.

Here Patch introduces the “mad men” of Bee Harris Creative, Robert Bruzio of Mahopac and Richard Bastardi of Golden’s Bridge. Rather than have a Don Draper-style commute to Manhattan, they relocated their full service advertising agency, BeeHarris Creative, from Mount Vernon and Yonkers to Bedford Hills, less than a year ago.

Created in 1995, BeeHarris Creative has served hundreds of clients including Twisted Sister, Coca Cola, Lucille Roberts, and the Metro Transit Authority, among others.

Patch: Why did you relocate to Bedford Hills?

BHC:  When this location became available we relocated because we knew we wanted to expand our reach up into the northern parts of the county and the state.

Patch: Tell us about your services.  

BHC:  We are strategic planners that offer full service integrated marketing. We may develop a television commercial, direct mail campaign, packaging, displays or sales collateral—but each client will require different executions based on their business and the marketplace in which they compete.

What makes us different is that we provide full creative services.  There are not too many firms that offer it all anymore, unless you hire one of the big agencies which come attached to very big costs.

Patch: Do you consider your firm to be a classic advertising firm?

BHC: We are a classic advertising agency (web, print, and broadcast) that provides cutting edge digital marketing and advertising.

Patch: What’s an example of “cutting edge” advertising?

We just finished a print ad campaign for a client using QR code marketing.  QR codes—which are just now gaining traction but are expected to takeover in the next year or two—allow us to communicate through mobile devices to create a very strong message.

The way it works is that the target consumer scans the code with their smart phone or tablet, which links him (the consumer) anywhere that we (the marketer) want to drive him. 

We were inspired to delve into QR code marketing when we spotted a Calvin Klein billboard.  Calvin Klein, notorious for having ads pulled for being too racy, placed a billboard on Houston Street in New York.  All that was on the billboard was this giant QR code with a note on the top which said “Scan to get it uncensored.”

Patch: How has the advertising industry changed in the 15 years that BeeHarris had been around?

BHC:   The big shift has been from technology to content.  When mobile phones and iPhones first entered the market, it was all about technology.  But now that the technology is in place, for us it’s now about content development and content access. With the technology in place it (digital communication) is only going to get bigger, better, and faster.

Bee Harris Creative is located at 438 Cherry Street in Bedford Hills. The owners may be contacted at 914-864-1619.

via bedford.patch.com

Chappaqua NY Homes | Cuomo Approves Extension of Local Sales Tax Increases – Bedford-Katonah, NY Patch

Leave a reply

New York is notorious for its high taxes, and Governor Andrew Cuomo has made the issue one of his top priorities in his first year in office. That has included passing a cap on annual property tax increases and a state budget that closed a $10 billion deficit without raising taxes. He also fought to allow a tax surcharge on wealthy New Yorkers to expire.

But when it comes to sales taxes, Cuomo has allowed county and local governments some latitude. Last week, the governor signed into law a series of bills that will extend until 2014 long-standing sales tax increases in Rockland, Putnam and New Rochelle. Another bill will allow Westchester to continue to distribute sales tax revenue to municipalities and school districts.

State law allows counties to charge up to 3 percent in sales tax, but in the early 1990s lawmakers gave counties the authority to charge 4 percent. Those provisions have been continually extended every two years since. Local officials say the tax is vital to providing services to residences without raising property taxes.

“With budget cuts, all we have left are essential services and losing the sales tax would be devastating,” said New Rochelle City Manager Charles Strome.

In New Rochelle, the extra one-percent sales tax is expected to bring in around $9 million in revenue this year, according to a bill memo. Strome said the city expects total sales tax revenue to surpass $23 million this year.

Rockland County is home to the Palisades Mall, which draws in shoppers from across the region. The county expects to reap about $175 million in sales tax receipts in the current fiscal year, thanks in part to the extension of the one-percent increase.

County Board of Legislators Chair Harriet Cornell said most, if not all, of the county’s property tax revenue goes to pay for state-mandated programs, particularly Medicaid.

“For many years we have shared sales tax revenue with towns and villages, enabling them to keep their property taxes down,” Cornell said.

Westchester also doles out revenue to local governments and school districts, and Cuomo has signed a bill that will continue to allow them to do so. County spokeswoman Donna Greene said in the fourth quarter of 2010 alone, the county collected $112 million in sales tax receipts and distributed $24 million to local governments.

The distribution is all the more important as municipal and school officials brace for the implementation of a measure that will cap annual property tax increases at the lesser of 2 percent or the rate of inflation. Cuomo has said the cap is necessary to rein in skyrocketing property taxes and impose fiscal discipline.

Officials in Putnam did not return calls seeking comment, but in a statement last year former County Executive Robert Bondi said the sales tax extension will bring in $11 million for the county and stave off “double digit property tax increases, significant loss of services, or a combination of both.”

via bedford.patch.com