Daily Archives: December 14, 2012

Bedford NY area real estate selling for under $500k up 39% | RobReportBlog

Bedford NY area real estate selling for under $500k up 39% |  RobReportBlogBedford NY Real Estate Market Report  –  last six months

2012

120  homes sold

2011

86  homes sold

The market for homes selling for under $500k is up 39.5% from last year.  Low rates and market realistic pricing has been good news for the market.

Currently there are 133 homes for sale asking under $500k in the area and at the current pace they will sell in     6.65 months.  A very healthy market in this price range.

Bedford NY area luxury market down 14% | RobReportBlog

Bedford NY area luxury market down 14%  |   RobReportBlog

Homes selling for more than $2,000,000  –  last six months

2012

23  homes sold

2011

27  homes sold

There are currently 135 homes for sale asking over $2,000,000.  At the current rate it will take 35.22 months to sell these homes.  There is a great inventory of un sold homes to choose from.

Quick Tip: 7 Great Sources to Curate Real Estate Content | South Salem NY Real Estate

These days, curating content is the name of the game – especially as you plan your 2013 social media strategy. As a real estate agent, broker or marketing professional you need to be on the lookout for some of the best content that you can share to increase engagement. Here are 7 of my favorite sources for great content.

1. Apps, apps and more apps. There are tons of fantastic apps out there for content and news but my favorites include: Zite, Flipboard, Google Currents and Pulse News. Most of these channels won’t let you post directly to a Facebook business page from the app, so you can send interesting articles to Evernote or InstaPaper and then post or schedule them as needed later.

2. Google alerts. Set up searches of neighborhood and community news to go right to your inbox once a day or more. This is one of my favorite sources of content because it comes right to my email. You can even filter to receive just video or blog content depending on what you are looking for.

3. AllTop. Former Apple chief evangelist Guy Kawasaki set up AllTop a few years back. This site has different channels with links to some of the best content on the web. Search for “real estate” or “home improvement” and you will see a wealth of content.

4. Quora. The Quora forum is a great site to see what interesting conversations are happening and get questions answered by the community. Often times, this can be an interesting and unique source of content.

5. Flickr and Instagram. Photos are all the rage and are some of the best type of content to post onto social networks. Search both sites for photos relevant to your city and/or community. You will be amazed at some of the incredible images found. Make sure when posting to Facebook you credit the source of these images. Also, Flickr has set up copywrite blocks, so if you try to Pin a copywrited photo, it won’t let you do it!

Article continues below

–>

6. Google News. Google News is a great way to source content from thousands of news outlets. All sources on Google News are manually vetted by Google, so you are ensured to receive content from a reputable source.

7. Sulia. With 10M users under its belt this year, Sulia is a new subject-based social network. For curating content, it’s a fantastic source – check out the real estate channel.

I know there are many more great sources to curate content. Which ones are your favorite? Leave me a comment below!

 

 

U.S. Solar Industry on Pace for Record Growth in 2012 | Bedford NY Real Estate

solar installs 2012

With only weeks left in 2012, it appears that the U.S. solar installs will surpass 2011 levels in dramatic fashion. A new report from GTM Research and the Solar Energy Industries Association® (SEIA®) released today shows 684 megawatts added in the third quarter (Q3) of 2012, representing 44-percent growth over the same period last year. Already, 1,992 megawatts have been added to the grid – surpassing 2011′s total of 1,885 megawatts. And we’ve still got reporting on the fourth quarter of 2012 to go!

According to the report, there are more than 6.4 gigawatts of solar electric capacity installed in the U.S., enough to power more than one million average American households.

“While Q3 2012 was remarkable for the U.S. PV market, it is just the opening act for what we expect to see in Q4,” said Shayle Kann, vice president of research at GTM. “We forecast more than 1.2 gigawatts of PV to be installed next quarter on the back of developers who are pushing to meet year-end deadlines in both the utility and commercial segments. We also expect to see the residential PV market post another record number in Q4, as third-party residential installers gain more traction in mature, cost-effective markets.”

Ok – so what’s all this mean? Greener energy, more acceptance, and cheaper prices. Average residential system prices dropped $5.45 per watt to $5.21 per watt nationally. In the utility sector, the savings were even greater – dropping to $2.40 per watt – a 30% decrease from last year.

Check out the full report here.

Photo credit: Shutterstock.com