Daily Archives: January 25, 2013

Sizzling housing prices may turn Westchester, Rockland renters into buyers | Bedford NY Real Estate

Photo credit: Angela Gaul | A “sold” sign hangs outside a home located at 293 Congers Rd. in New City. (Dec. 28, 2012)
Westchester County’s white-hot rental market trails only New York City and San Francisco as the most expensive in the country, and the combination of low inventory and high prices may be pushing prospective renters to consider buying instead, according to analysts and recent statistics.
In the fourth quarter of 2012, the average rent for Westchester County properties across all property types, from studios to penthouses, climbed .4 percent to $1,852, according to preliminary data from real estate research company Reis Inc. The vacancy rate expanded 14.3 percent — from 3 percent to 3.5 percent — but remained 1 percentage point below the national average of 4.5 percent.
Ryan Severino, senior economist at Reis, said that renters who avoided buying property as the housing bubble collapsed may reconsider.
“You have a segment of the population who delayed buying houses because of deflationary expectations,” he said. “They’ve already had to stomach 8-10 percent rent increases. What we’re starting to see at the top of the food chain is people are going to say: ‘Why pay two, three thousand in rent? Maybe I should buy into the for-sale housing market again?'”
For those who remain in the Westchester County rental market in 2013, Severino forecast that rents will climb 2.5-3 percent and that the vacancy rate will expand a hair, by .1 to .2 percent. That compares with a 2.2 percent increase in rents in 2012 and a .6 percent increase in the vacancy rate.
Steve Bernasconi, a real estate agent at Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate/Rand Realty in Nanuet, said that the Rockland County rental market also is showing signs of a turn.
“More people are in a buying mode,” he said. “In today’s world [with rents of] $1,900 a month, if you’ve got any sort of credibility, you have to be buying.”
Of the 240 Rockland County rental properties on the Multiple Listing Service, the median price was $1,785 for a two-bedroom, one-bath unit with 948 square feet. Skewing the prices, however, are properties at the top end, like the nearly 7,000-square-foot single-family house overlooking the Hudson River at 28 River Rd. in Grand View-on-Hudson. Monthly rent? $18,000.
Though market forces are prompting some to consider buying, Lori Morrow, a broker with Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in New Rochelle, said individual circumstances sometimes can take precedence.
“Most of the people who are renting at the high end — there’s a purpose for their renting,” she said. “They’re not going to be here very long or they want to test the area or they don’t have the down payment or the credit score.”
In some cases, renters are newly divorced and want to take a year to transition before they buy, she added.
Tougher mortgage requirements by banks and a sluggish employment market also have conspired to keep prospective buyers out of the market.
Rental prices in New York City averaged $2,985 in the fourth quarter of 2012, far outstripping No. 2 San Francisco at $1,970 and almost triple the national average of $1,048, according to Reis.
Vacancy rates in the New York City market were 2.1 percent, the tightest of the 82 metropolitan areas surveyed.
The average fourth quarter rent for northern New Jersey was $1,531, and Long Island’s was $1,609.
Morrow said scores of co-ops are sitting vacant in Westchester County, and the county’s apartment inventory would expand if the boards of cooperatives allowed more units to be rented.
“They can’t sell them and they can’t rent them,” she said. “We have co-ops all over the place just sitting there. Boards just don’t allow rentals.”
There is a 22-month backlog of co-op units for sale in New Rochelle, Morrow said, and that likely reflects market conditions in the rest of Westchester County. By contrast, at the end of September, there was an 11-month supply of condominiums, she said.

via newyork.newsday.com

Hamptons High End Sales Way Up in 2012 Elliman.com Reports | Bedford NY Realtor

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‘The Hamptons housing market had more fourth quarter sales and the fewest listings in inventory than there had been at any point in the past 6 years. Fiscal cliff tax planning was a key driver of the market, especially at the upper end, resulting in the highest average sales price in more than seven years. We saw many more sales above $1M and a record number of sales over $5M. We anticipate that the increased market momentum will continue to carry into 2013.

The North Fork housing market also saw a drop in listing inventory, which fell sharply to a four-year low. Thanks to record low mortgage rates, the fastest monthly absorption rate in more than four years, and rising sales, there was some upward pressure on housing prices. With a stable listing discount, negotiability between buyers and sellers remained stable as well, while average marketing times increased as tight inventory caused older listings to be more readily absorbed. We expected conditions to continue toimprove in 2013.’ elliman.com reports

via trulia.com

Elliman Reports Long Island Sales Up for 2012 | Katonah NY Realtor

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‘In the final quarter of 2012, Long Island inventory fell to its lowest level in seven years. The market continued to gain momentum towards the end of the year, evidenced by the fact that there was a larger increase in signed contracts than in closed sales this quarter. In fact, Long Island finished 2012 with more sales than in 2011, the first year-over-year increase since 2006 and a clear sign that the market has finally turned the corner. We are excited about the improving conditions and expect to see an even better market in 2013.’ elliman.com reports

via trulia.com

Florida officials tackle foreclosure crisis | Katonah Real Estate

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It was deemed America’s new foreclosure capital in 2012, with a 53% increase in filings last year, but Florida officials wanted a change. So they took the bull by the horns.
Attorney General Pam Bondi, joined by the state’s Senate President Don Gaetz and House Speaker Will Weatherford, addressed a newly approved $60 million program for housing aid in Florida on Thursday.
The program, part of the multibillion-dollar national settlement that included cash payments to states, will fund homebuyer assistance, legal aid and foreclosure prevention.
“This is real relief for real people,” Bondi noted.
Florida’s total monetary benefits are over $8 billion in the settlement, with the $60 million in housing aid just one part of a larger settlement.
Broken down, the $60 million program includes $35 million for down payment assistance, $10 million for foreclosure counseling, $5 million for foreclosure backlog reduction, $5 million for legal aid and another $5 million for attorney general’s legal fees.
“We all know, living in Florida, we have been affected by the mortgage foreclosure crisis that has been in the state of Florida more so than just about any other state in America,” said Weatherford. “This has been a long time coming, to know that $8 billion of resources has come to our state to aid people in need, but more specifically the $60 million that we’ve agreed to in the last week that’s going to help people with counseling, with down payment assistance, etc.”
Florida homeowners received billions of dollars worth of direct mortgage assistance from banks. “Almost 50,000 Floridians have received at least $73,000,” said Bondi. “That’s a lot of money.”
Bondi said $200 million is still going through the legislative process and remains to be spent.
Bondi also took the opportunity to address those who faced wrongful foreclosure, but have yet to file a claim. This group respresents approximately 49% of the harmed homeowners in the state.
The Attorney General urged those who have yet to make their claims to follow up by visiting myfloridalegal.com to redeem the money they are owe.

via housingwire.com

Manti Te’o’s Imaginary Social Relationship | South Salem Realtor

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Notre Dame football star Manti Te’o’s story continues its strange course: his grandmother and girlfriend, Lennay Kekua, die on the same day within six hours of one another. His grandmother actually died; however, what is becoming clear is that the girlfriend never existed.
After reviewing the many articles that have been written about the hoax, at first it wasn’t clear whether Te’o ever actually met the girl or if this was a virtual romance, taking place through mobile phone texts and over the Internet through social media like Twitter. It has now come to light that this was a virtual romance, which explains Te’o’s reluctance to clarify the matter; indeed, he lied about it. He is embarrassed, which is understandable, but he need not be. Manti Te’o was involved in an imaginary social relationship.
It’s important to point out that pretty much everyone in Western culture engages in imaginary relationships, although it is common for people not to want to admit they do so. Imaginary social relationships may take the form of a teacher-student, parent-child, or even a love relationship, as is the case with Te’o and Kekua. Such imaginary relationships are quite normal, and only become pathological when one party stalks or perhaps attempts to physically hurt the other (the individual or individuals that perpetrated this hoax may fall into the latter category). I have studied imaginary social relationships between fans and celebrities over the past 20 years. In some instances there is a wish for a fairy tale romance; in other instances, it might include an imaginary invitation to join a rock band. The range is wide.
However, social media has been a game changer with regard to imaginary social relationships, because social media open up the possibility for the imaginary to become real or seemingly so. When a fan tweets at Kim Kardashian and Kim tweets back inviting the fan to her birthday party, or Michael Phelps tweets back to a fan asking what kind of sandwich she got at Subway, it feels real. Furthermore, with the advent of social media, we have all become media figures, at least all those who participate in it, because we are performing when we use social media, just like celebrities perform on stage or in social media.
So, the difference is diminished between a celebrity, micro-celebrity (some ordinary person who temporarily becomes a viral sensation on YouTube), or in this case where the sports figure is attracted to an ordinary person. On this point Te’o’s official statement is quite telling: “This is incredibly embarrassing to talk about, but over an extended period of time, I developed an emotional relationship with a woman I met online. We maintained what I thought to be an authentic relationship by communicating frequently online and on the phone, and I grew to care deeply about her.”
The key word in the statement is authentic. Social media provide the possibility of increased confidence that the individual is who she or he claims to be, lending to the atmosphere of authenticity. Social media also provide two key markers: first, the absence of privacy, as what takes place on social media platforms is public, making the exchange seem real; and second, spontaneity, which leads to the feeling of sincerity. The illusion engendered by tweets, for example, provides a glimpse into the inner life of the individual, encouraging him or her at the most basic level to believe (or want to believe) that the person tweeting or posting to their Twitter feed or Facebook wall is who they claim to be.
Manti Te’o need not feel embarrassed because he was duped. All of us who participate in a culture of social media dupe ourselves every day.

via socialmediatoday.com

A Social Media Marketing Plan Geared Toward Small Businesses. | Cross River Realtor

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For the last 15 years or so I have been providing companies with online marketing services to help them improve their sales. I have worked for multi-million dollar companies with big budgets, but have also worked with companies with very limited funds.
When I first started, I worked exclusively for small businesses and I didn’t charge much. But, I made sure that every client got more than their money’s worth by using guerrilla marketing tactics that produced real results. This gave me a feeling of satisfaction that I just never got really from working with the big guys. Yeah, the larger companies paid me a more money, but it was a much more stressful atmosphere, and there was always so much red tape that it was often not much fun to handle some of those campaigns.
Recently I have gone back to my original focus–back to helping small businesses. I’ve decided that I would rather help small businesses than big companies that might pay me more money. I’m very aware this means more work in the long run, but I feel that the satisfaction of helping companies grow within the online space will more than make up for it by a kind of “personal ownership” of the projects I create for them. With that said, from now on I plan on writing articles that help new and small business owners to increase their revenue streams by using the same guerrilla style marketing techniques that I know produce great results.
In this article I would like to discuss social media and give you a few tips on how you, as a small business, can effectively use this powerful marketing channel. I will give you a simple plan that you can follow to increase your Website traffic using social media networks.
1 – Your Website.
I am assuming you already have one, right? In my opinion, a company without an online presence has a long way to go before making it to the big leagues. But it’s also essential that your Website is professionally developed. Try to avoid those services with instant-Website-offers that provide you with cookie-cutter Websites that you can “create yourself” in minutes.
Your Website is your office or storefront on the Web; you want to portray your company the same way the Fortune 500’s do. Those guys spend thousands on their Websites because they know the importance it has in today’s more tech-savvy marketplace. Luckily, a professional Website is not as expensive as in the past and you now can find developers to build an inexpensive business Website that shows your company’s true professionalism.
In this article I’m assuming you already have a Website (shame on you if you don’t), so we’ll start with some online basics.
2 – Understand your audience and have a content plan in place
It’s one thing to understand who a potential customer might be, but it’s quite another to figure out their search patterns and on-line behavior. How are they finding the products or services they need on the Web? What kind of content will they look for, and will yours attract them to your Website? A good content plan will go a long way, but you really have to study this with a little bit of market research.
If you don’t write well (or simply don’t have the time), hire professional writers on the Web for as little as $30-$40 per article. I personally try to make sure that the Website I am working on offers at least 10 articles written for that particular marketplace. However, you don’t need to offer all 10 articles at one time. In fact, I want you to spread 5 of those articles over a set period of time so that we can distribute them alongside your newsletter and via social media networks.
3 – Creating a “Sales Funnel” article series
The idea for this series is to guide your readers into a funnel that eventually turns them into a customer. We start by developing a story that your target audience can relate to and appreciate. For example, let’s say you sell a weight loss product. We could write a story about a woman who is struggling with her weight.
NOTE: This example is weight loss, but the principle is the same regardless what product or service you offer. Of course, as regards any health related topic, please check your state laws or guidelines for your industry before writing your articles. Also remember that in the interests of verisimilitude, (in any industry) there are plenty of real-life stories to be inspired by.
Using this example, in the first article, write about what this woman goes through on a daily basis, describing feelings and thoughts, and try to get the reader to relate to her. Important – DO NOT SELL ANYTHING. Put your own needs aside for the moment. Simply set forth the dilemma of a person who has not yet found a solution to a painful problem. Instead, write a story, not an advertisement. There should be no sales pitches or call-to-action in this article. This article simply introduces the series and leads into the next article.
The second article simply updates the story. Perhaps the woman has finally decided to change her own fate by getting back in shape. We don’t want to get into great detail here about how she planned to do it, but we of course do give real information on what some of her options are–which leads into our third article where we can begin showing what healthy options she chooses to solve her problem.
In the third article, explain the options she picked (one of them can be your product, of course). You can introduce your product or service to the reader now, offering actionable advice that the reader can use, including bits about your product. You still don’t want the article to resemble a sales pitch; it is first and foremost a story.
The fourth article should be a story of success. Describe how her chosen method worked for her and improved her life. This is where you get to explain exactly what your product or service did for this person. Now you can begin to send people to your offer by linking specific words within the article to your sales page. Mostly though, you want to create your “hotlist”. Ask the reader if they would like more information about the product via email, directing them to an opt-in form.
The fifth article is actually a promo. Now that the reader is familiar with your product it is time to write your promo and send it to your hot list and your other marketing channels. Writing a good promo involves a combination of creative writing and direct marketing skills, so it might be worth outsourcing this part to a professional copywriter. Writers have varying talents; writing copy for sales is not the same as writing a story, so make sure the writer you hire (if you decide to go that route) is a copywriter and not just a content writer.
I will cover writing Promos in a future article. Just make sure you keep testing different variations of your promo until you get the absolute highest conversion rates.
To sum up, you must slowly guide readers from a variety of different marketing channels (social media, SEO, newsletters etc.) into your sales funnel, so that they come out the other end as a client. Remember, this formula can be used for just about ANY industry. The articles themselves may be different, but you can always use the same methods.
4 – Distributing your content
On a quick note, I want to point out that you must add the articles to your Website first. Posting your articles to 3rd party Websites before posting to your site can result in you losing authorship of the article, as far as Google’s algorithms are concerned. Google likes unique content, so the author (meaning the first to publish the page) gets credit for authorship, and will also get more SEO value for this page than any other sites that may publish your writing afterward.
Distribute your articles to the top social media outlets on a weekly (or daily, if you have plenty of articles) schedule. Start with the 5 articles you created for your sales funnel series. Post the first article from your series to your Website, and post the link for this new page to your LinkedIn status and groups. Tweet it and post it on your Facebook account. Add the link and title (and description when possible) to any social media site you visit often (I like to personally limit my posts to 5 or 6 networks).
You also want to take those articles and turn them into an auto-responder series using an online service such as Aweber or Get Response. Auto-responders send out your series of emails on a set schedule and any new people who subscribe to your newsletter will begin getting your Sales Funnel series of articles as a newsletter (set to a similar schedule as your original posts). After the series ends they will get your regular articles (the next 5 articles and any new ones you create) in their newsletter.
If your series generates leads and/or sales, RINSE AND REPEAT. Keep using this formula to increase your traffic every week. And, make sure you try out different versions of your articles (especially the sales funnel), in order to test conversion rates. See what layouts, copy or images work, and fine tune your pages and newsletter until you have the absolute highest conversion rates possible.