Daily Archives: November 12, 2012

Downpayments Fall to Three Year Low | Armonk NY Realtor

The median downpayment made by all homebuyers in 2012 was 9 percent, ranging from 4 percent for first-time buyers to 13 percent for repeat buyers.  The median down payment was the lowest since 2009 but still far above the levels during the housing boom, when nearly half of first-time buyers made no downpayment at all.

First-time buyers who financed their purchase used a variety of resources for the downpayment:  76 percent tapped into savings; 24 percent received a gift from a friend or relative, typically from their parents; and 6 percent received a loan from a relative or friend.  Eleven percent tapped into a 401(k) fund, and 6 percent sold stocks or bonds.  Ninety-three percent of entry-level buyers chose a fixed-rate mortgage, reported the National Association of Realtors.

Forty-six percent of first-time buyers financed with a low-downpayment FHA mortgage, and 10 percent used the VA loan program with no downpayment requirements.  Forty-two percent cut spending on luxury items to buy their first home, 35 percent cut spending on entertainment and 27 percent cut spending on clothes.

In 2005, the median first-time home buyer scraped together a down payment of only 2 percent to buy a $150,000 home .  Two years later, in 2007, the median downpayment by first-time buyers was still only 2 percent and 45 percent purchased with no money down – the same as in 2006. That year 43 percent of first-time home buyers purchased their homes with no-money-down loans.

After lenders tightened standards in the wake of the housing crash, the median downpayment soared , reaching 11 percent in 2010-2011. First time buyers put about 5 percent down in 2011. Repeat buyers, pooling equity with savings, typically put down about 15 percent.  Investment and vacation-home buyers have been paying higher down payments than those buying a primary residence. The median down payment for both was 27 percent, according to NAR’s 2011 Profile of Investment and Vacation Buyers.

“First-time buyers historically make small downpayments, but repeat buyers like to put down 20 percent if they can to avoid paying mortgage insurance,” NAR’s Paul Bishop said.  “The general loss in home value since the peak of the housing boom means many repeat buyers in recent years had to make smaller downpayments.  Fortunately, prices have turned up this year and are showing sustained increases, so we’re on the road to a recovery in home equity.”

Why 1700 CEOs Are Wrong about Social Media | Mount Kisco Real Estate

Social media CEOs eyes are on social

IBM asked CEOs all over the world what they believe is going to happen with social media for the next three to five years. What they had to say was revealing.

“For the first time in my career, I feel old. People in their 20s work and think about this social stuff in a different way,” a U.K. insurance industry CEO shared. “We’re using it as a way of connecting with friends and socializing; the kids coming up are using it as a way of life.”

But do most CEOs acknowledge what is happening with social?

Over half of the CEOs “expect social channels to be a primary way of engaging customers.”

We are the email generation, they are the social generation.

That’s an important way to look at social. Marketers are constantly looking at outbound social efforts. But listening to what customers are saying about your brand on social channels is critical. Here the CEOs have it right. Your company better be listening to what customers are saying on social channels, because customers aren’t saying things anywhere else.

A U.S. CEO from the financial vertical said

“We’re approaching the stage when almost everyone will have to figure out how to use social to conduct business successfully.”

Interestingly, views on social media among the CEOs vary widely across industries. Here’s the percentage of CEOs in these verticals that expect social media to be a key channel for customer engagement.

Education 77%
Telecommunications 73%
Retail 72%
Insurance 51%
Electronics 52 %
Industrial products 34%

CEOs recognize social media’s real value as a source of insight and a means of collaboration.

“We use social media less as a marketing or distribution channel and more as a knowledge platform to obtain information about customers,” said an Insurance CEO from Switzerland.

Along the lines of the B2B market, a U.K. CEO from the media and entertainment vertical pointed out,

“Our B2B customers are also consumers of social media; you cannot split the two.”

The way we collaborate with our customers will be transformed.

What that means is that whether you are using social media to promote and monitor your brand or not, your customers are. It’s not your choice. You can’t opt-out of social.

In the words of one Australian healthcare industry CEO, “Social media has grown faster than industry knowledge on how to use it.” And a life sciences industry CEO from Switzerland admitted, “We are all scared to death about social media within our industry. We want to start with it. But we’re all just looking at each other, and nothing material is happening.”

By far the most definitive, interesting statement contained in this study is that as a method of engaging with customers, CEOs predict

Social media will be bigger than websites, call centers, and channel partners, and become the number-two way to engage customers (the number one way is still sales reps).

Social media has grown faster than industry knowledge on how to use it.

Although these leaders have the right idea about social, the study has one major flaw. It didn’t ask what CEOs feel is the most effective method of driving revenue. Kind of an important thing don’t you think? Although you might believe social media is the greatest thing ever, and that social will be a major revenue driver in the next 3-5 years, the reality is that social media’s impact on actual revenue sucks compared to email marketing.  When it comes to actually marketing to customers, email dwarfs social in terms of customer preference of communication channels*. My point? Social media is great, I use it myself. Just don’t get too cocky about it.

View the infographic
* ExactTarget Subscribers, Fans, and Followers. 2012.

The 15 Commandments of Social Media Communication | Cross River NY Real Estate

Utilizing social media is a great way to spread the word about your brand or your business. Some businesses rely almost exclusively on social media to get the word out about their products and services. If you are going to use social media for your business, you should be aware of some key rules to follow in your communication strategy. Here are what we believe to be the 15 Commandments of Social Media Communication:

1. Keep your Interactions Clean & Positive

Be Positive

Any time you post content, or comment on someone else’s posts, you are representing your business. Try to avoid saying anything offensive or controversial unless that is what your brand is all about. In most cases, it is best to be polite and courteous, so that people will view you and your company in a positive way.

2. Respond to all External Communications

When you post content on a social media site, people will usually comment on it. You should respond to the comments quickly or even it’s not quick, just make sure you respond. This will show that you take your business seriously, and that you appreciate the people who take the time to read your posts or watch your videos.

3. Take Time to Get Involved in the Community Get Involved


It’s tempting for a business owner to use social media only for their own benefit. They don’t want to waste time on something that is not going to bring in more customers. However, if people get the sense that the only reason you are involved in a social media site is to promote your business, they may not like it too much. Take some time to participate in discussions that are not directly related to your business. You never know, doing so may actually bring you more customers and at the very least, it will make you look like a more valuable member of the community.

4. Respect the Ownership of Digital Property

When someone posts articles, videos, photos, or anything else online, it’s not okay to use that content however you see fit. You cannot use someone else’s content as if it were your own or even change it up and repurpose it in some way. If you want to post something on a social media site, make sure you are posting original content.

5. Lay off the Sales Pitch Once in a While

No sales pitch

Social media is a great way to get traffic to your website and sell more products and services. However, it’s a good idea to just participate in some of these communities once in a while without trying to sell products. If every message you ever send out on social media is pitching a product, a lot of people won’t be interested in following you or reading your content any longer.

6. Learn from your Competition & Not Attack It

It’s a good idea to follow your competitors on any social networking sites so that you can see what they are up to. You may have competitors following you as well. Be respectful and never attack your competitors.

7. Handle Negative Communications in a Positive Manner Handling Negative Comments


If someone posts a negative comment about you or your products on a social media site, you don’t want to get into a fight with that person where you start to verbally assault each other. However, it’s not always a good idea to simply ignore people either. You need to defend your products or services, but be as courteous and respectful as you can when doing so.

8. Be Modest When You Get Positive Reviews

If someone posts positive comments on your products or services, it may be tempting to re-tweet those comments every time you get them. If you are over the top in pointing out the praise you are getting, it will turn a lot of people off.

9. Don’t Use Cookie-Cutter Responses

When someone comments on a piece of content you have posted, take some time to come up with a thoughtful response. It won’t look good if you just paste in “thanks” under every comment and your followers will appreciate it if you are actively involved in conversations taking place about the content you have posted.

10. Promote Other Peoples Products and Services too

Your followers will appreciate it if you recommend good quality products and services to them, even if you are not the owner of those products and services. If you promote some quality products and services that you do not profit from directly, it can help build trust and respect in your followers.

11. Don’t Try to Hide the Fact That You Are Promoting a Business

If you are using social media to try to sell products and services, be upfront about it. Most people will realize if you are promoting your business and it looks very dishonest if you try to hide it.

12. Get to the Point

There’s no need to have very long, drawnout messages when you post content to social media sites. Keep your messages short and sweet, and get to the point. People are busy and your followers may not have time to read a 2000 word essay.

13. Participate Consistently

Be-consistent

It’s a good idea to post content on social media sites on a regular basis. Even if it’s just once or twice per week, make regular posts to keep in touch with your followers, and of course to keep your products and services in front of your potential customers.

14. Provide Some Visual Interest

Most of the time on social media sites, you will be posting text. It’s also a good idea to include a photo or a video once in a while to keep things visually interesting.

15. Provide Value to Your Followers

To keep your followers interested in following you on social media sites, provide value to them. Post useful information, or links to useful information. But avoid spamming on social media sites.  If you offer your followers value on a regular basis, they will continue to follow you.

What Every Agency Wants to Know—Feedback from the Other Side | Waccabuc NY Real Estate

  • Every month, our agency invites a guest speaker from other startups and agencies around town, typically offering related but different services. The goal is always to expand our knowledge base and develop deeper relationships for strategic partnerships. We do these in the form of a “brown bag” lunch session for a more casual lunch-and-learn type vibe. This month, however, we decided to switch it up and invite a past employee of ours that has since moved in-house.

We thought it would be insightful to get the perspective from someone who not only has been on both the agency and client side, but who knows the ins and outs of how we as an agency operate on a day-to-day basis. An insightful experience, indeed it was. I’ve highlighted a few of my favorite takeaways as they relate to both sales and account management.

Top Sales Takeaways

1. Getting budgets approved takes a lot of legwork.

Depending on the size of the company, there can be A LOT of red tape in getting the green light to sign off on new budgets. For starters, many companies may need to write an internal brief detailing the pros and cons of working with the new vendor, making the case for outsourcing versus tackling in-house, projecting ROI, and more.

So, what does this mean for us vendors as we wait for proposals to get pushed through? For starters, manage your own expectations and be patient. Getting approval may take some time, depending on the number of hoops the prospective client needs to jump through. In the meantime, while you are being patient however, be helpful. Provide case studies, testimonials, references, etc. Anything that can help to build the case for internal buy off.

2. Understand what level of priority your solutions are to the prospective client.

This is something I’ve never consciously sought during discovery meetings, but makes perfect sense. If your solutions are

Video Advertising Sees Massive Growth in UK, Agencies Need Guidance | Bedford Hills NY Real Estate

Brightroll did some research over in the UK to see how video advertising is getting on there and it seems that stiff upper lip mentality is working for them as things are really picking up. The second annual survey and report, the 2012 UK Video Advertising Report, gathers insight from more than 100 top decision makers and media buyers at leading UK advertising agencies and shares their unique perspective of the UK video advertising landscape.

As with all Brightroll surveys, things should be weighed carefully before making any decisions. After all, it’s a survey and included a small fraction of the industry as a whole. With that said, let’s get onto the numbers.

Video Advertising Reach Rises in the UK

Around 63% of the UK population watches a video online each month. That’s a pretty good reach. Meanwhile, about 65% of that audience sees video ads monthly which is around 28.6 million people who are seeing a billion ads a month (comScore).

Part of why those numbers are all on the rise is because more advertisers and agencies believe in its efficacy. 87% surveyed believe it more effective than display and 52% believe it better than TV. Brightroll attributes some lower numbers to a confusion as to what digital video is. Maybe more ReelSEO reading is necessary?

Some of these beliefs could be attributed to the often made assumption that VOD (video on demand) and digital video are one in the same. However, digital video encompasses more than just VOD and includes in-app, user-generated content, gaming, or anywhere video can run.

UK effectiveness trend e1352397015777 Digital Video Advertising Sees Massive Growth in UK, But Ad Agencies Need More Guidance [Study]

When it comes to digital video advertising, many UK advertisers may spend their budgets specifically on VOD, working directly with broadcasters. In fact, when asked who they are most inclined to buy video inventory from, 41 percent of respondents indicate they are most likely to buy video inventory from a broadcaster with 22 percent who are most likely to buy from an ad network.

Where Are UK Video Advertisers Placing Inventory?

A lot of those UK companies are advertising outside of the country. A good amount of ad networks are placing ads in the US and Canada, while publishers are looking to Germany and the US for their main purchasing areas. Broadcasters are the ones doing the most buying in the UK itself followed by ad networks.

UK ad placement 606x173 Digital Video Advertising Sees Massive Growth in UK, But Ad Agencies Need More Guidance [Study]

Click for larger image.

Considering that a lot in the UK think of digital video in terms of VOD it’s not all that surprising that the broadcasters are leading the ad buys there right now. It must be them trying to lure the online video viewers away from the short-form online content they’re watching because the average time spent with a video is 5 minutes and only 5% of videos online are from the UK broadcasters. Clearly they might feel threatened.

What Matters to UK Video Advertisers?

When looking at the how and why of ad placement, targeting tops the requirements with over 50% saying that’s most valuable. Reach was just around 37% and then everything else was minimal, including price versus TV.

Meanwhile, ad spend is usually based on cost-per-view (CPV) with CPM (cost-per-impression) second and engagement third.

UK ad spending Digital Video Advertising Sees Massive Growth in UK, But Ad Agencies Need More Guidance [Study]

It seems that if you’re offering video ad placement and hoping to reach UK advertisers you’ve now got a pretty clear picture of what to offer them and pique their interest. CPV with excellent targeting would be the ideal one-two punch of features for them.

In fact, demographic targeting is the most often desired form of targeting at 35% while behavior is used by 25% and contextual is around 20%. Data and geographic were lower at 15% and 5% roughly.

Measuring the Success of Video Advertising

Determining the success of an online video advertising campaign is usually campaign or company specific. In the survey they found that for the most part it’s views (30%) that are the measurement. Hovering near the 15% point are conversion, brand uplift and CTR with Sales impact at about 10%.

GRP isn’t all that popular there which is telling since most of the ads seem to be placed by TV broadcasters. I suppose that goes hand-in-hand with that targeting over reach from the previous graph.

UK Taking Shots in the Dark? Need Guidance

The odd thing is that it seems like the UK online video ad industry is groping blindly to figure out what works best. 90% of respondents said research is vital to success, but 70% stated they had done no research. To me it almost seems like throwing money down a hole and are simply following the trend without bothering to figure out how to do it right.

The crazy thing is that when talking about barriers to online video advertising, the cost of video is the largest one for them. Just over a third cited that as the most limiting factor. Clearly, they didn’t do any research because they would have found great video ad creation platforms like ViddyAd (in beta) and places like PopTent for crowdsourced video creation, just to name a few alternative options to production company made video content.

There are far more insights in the full 2012 UK Video Advertising Report which you can pull from the Brightroll Industry Report page.

6 Practices to Overcome Your Fears of Playing Bigger | South Salem NY Homes for Sale

Playing bigger. Putting yourself out there. What others will think? Not being good enough.

Most bloggers have had to face those fears at same point. Dreams and goals tend to bring up our ugly stories after all.

Being a life coach who works primarily with women looking to overcome fears, blocks, beliefs, and barriers is what I do. So of course I have an opinion on why it is our fears come up one step behind our dreams.

Because they need to.

They need to seen, heard, and dealt with. They need to be examined and released. Life will hear our desire to step up to the plate as a desire to step away from the dugout. “You want to play bigger? Good! Here’s the first thing you get to examine and let go of in order to do so.”

Our fear is not meant to be our saboteur. It’s just an emotion we’ve attached to the thoughts that go swirling through our head on overtime we go to hit that Publish button, or send out a tweet.

Digging deep to overcome that fear can be both a long, mindful process, or as fast and life-changing as a simple Aha! moment that forever changes the lens through which we see the world.

But if a client were to ask me which steps they most likely needed to take, here’s what I would say.

1. Surround yourself with the right systems of support

A big reason so many of us get freaked out at the perspective of blogging is because it’s new and probably mostly unheard of in our intimate circles.

Now I’m not knocking those intimate circles. We need those like we need water. But they serve a purpose of their own, and encouraging you to do something big and in a completely new arena is not likely the role they need to serve in your life.

By surrounding yourself with other bloggers (local meetups, online groups, tele-conferences circles with accountability partners), you’ll find more encouragement to match your fear and what looks a little crazy from the outside will begin to look natural and “what-was-there-to-be-afraid-of-again?”.

Get a coach, get a group, get a friend. Get support.

2. Don’t “push through fear.” Process through it

I loathe when I hear that term. It’s not that it’s always a big thing. I pushed through fear when I went cliff jumping. But this whole “Fear of Playing Bigger” thing isn’t over as soon as you hit the water.

Pushing through fear is like pushing a car through your first marathon. Exhausting, distracting, ridiculous. Stop pushing through it. Stop and address the damn car, so you can get on without it. Yes, it might come up again, but if you keep giving it the space to be heard and the space to process through the fear, you give it the space to heal.

How do you process through it?

Here are a few beginning tips.

3. Know what it is you’re really afraid of

It’s not “playing bigger” that you’re actually afraid of. It’s what “playing bigger” will mean: what you fear will happen, what you think someone might say or do, who you think that someone might be, and what all that might mean?

Right here I’m talking about our deepest core beliefs or fears—the stories we tell ourselves about Who We (or others) Are and what we’re capable of. The stories that keep us playing small in order to play it safe.

The best way to find your deepest core fear is to start with the scenario that’s freaking you out, and question it. Ask yourself why you’re really afraid of it, what you’re afraid might happen, and what that says or means.

This can take some time, and sometimes even support, so go back to #3), then you’ll need to create a scenario that tests it.

For instance, maybe you find you’re really afraid of ridicule from friends. One way to test that fear is to openly and authentically share your concerns and ask for feedback from those friends.

Or if you’re afraid of looking stupid, maybe you can purposefully go out and do something that makes you look ridiculous (think: giant rooster costume) and realize that the world neither crashes down around you, nor do most people even notice.

This isn’t about being rational. Because your fear likely isn’t very rational. This is about speaking to that irrational brain of yours, in terms it can understand: hard-core experiences to the contrary.

5. See those fears (or feedback) with compassion

This one is a hard practice, and I’m not gonna tell you it’s always one to practice. There are times when we don’t need to see the other side; times when we need to ignore the other side because it’s bi-polar and toxic and it’s probably a better bet to change our phone number than to try to empathize. (I’m talking about people who might not support you, but I’m also talking about those bipolar and toxic thoughts of yours too.)

Seeing the other side is about looking with empathy at what’s happening and trying to understand with compassion how it came to be this way, and the deeper needs that are trying to be heard and validated.

For example, a fear of “not being good enough” might be just an attempt to receive acceptance, something that we all need and deserve. Or for another example, the recent criticism of a parent for your career choice might actually be a need to know you will be secure.

I recommend this practice because it can be easy to get washed up in the fear, the drama, the criticism, the he-said/she-said, the messy stories and can we just say drama again? It’s easy to lose sight of what’s really happening beneath the crazy of what we’re thinking, saying, or doing.

But any time we drop beneath that, our path becomes clearer. Pretty soon we’re not wracked with self-doubt because our best friend said she didn’t think we could hack it; we have empathy for the fear or the hurt or the self-consciousness she may be experiencing.

Remember, seeing the other side is not about psycho-analyzing the other person, or even yourself. It’s about looking for love, with love. It’s about seeking understanding, instead of stoking the inferno of self-doubt.

6. Say what you need to say

This is a modified version of an exercise in Digging Deep, to help you have that conversation you’ve been needing to have in order to finally lay to bed the fear you’ve been experiencing.

This might be a letter to a hurtful loved one, to your younger self, or even to your own fear. Imagine yourself having a peaceful but firm conversation.

This likely also means you’ll need to see those fears (or the fears of someone else, perhaps) as in the last step. Send gratitude for the the good intentions of your fear, or the attempt to care for you from a loved one, then describe how it is that you’re okay, capable, ready for this.

You may give the fear your proof in the form of what you’ve been able to do, or how you’ll handle anything that comes up. You may even answer that nagging question of “Who the hell am I?” with an answer that starts something like, “I’ll tell you who I am…”

Take your time with this. Each time I’ve done this I’ve essentially had a four- or five-page “conversation” with my fear, letting it say everything it needed to say and calmly answering it with clear and confident choices. It sounds slightly ridiculous until you really let yourself fall into the exercise. Then you experience that weight lift off your shoulders.

Again, in all these exercises you’re looking to create mindfulness and understanding through acknowledgment and compassion.

Because understanding creates clarity in your choices or next steps, and clarity creates confidence. And confidence creates a wildly authentic, wildly unique, wildly successful blogger.

Tara Wagner offers lots more tools for overcoming self-doubt, fear, and other barriers to creating your own unconventional, authentic, and thriving lifestyle. You can find her and signup for her free e-course/toolkit to start thriving in your life and family (without the fear) at TheOrganicSister.com.