Monthly Archives: February 2013

Branding, Social Business & The Future: 5 Books that will Inspire New Real Estate Ideas | Pound Ridge Realtor

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I love wine tasting in Napa Valley. It’s one of the benefits of living in Northern California. I know you might be thinking it’s the wine I drink that makes it so fun. Wrong. It’s the wineries!

It’s their stories, their winemakers, their micro-climates, their science of discovering new ways to make great wine, and how, above all else each winery makes the experience of tasting their wine an experience different than any other winery.

It’s science, art, inspiration and knowing what’s great. Many wineries share grapes, blend varieties, or have a patch of vines on another wineries’ vineyard to take advantage of the soil they don’t have. And in the end, the Napa Valley has a reputation for a slower, simpler, beautiful community of people who appreciate agriculture, art, and people. There are no signs to tell me to LIKE their Facebook page, follow them on Twitter, sign their guestbook, enter my email on some card, or subscribe to their website. In short, there is not much noise. But what they do is impactful, because of that very thing. They build it and we come — in droves — and buy wine. Lots of it. Napa Valley serves up the good life I want.  We can learn from this. 

Gather your ideas, get inspired, tell your story

There is a shift that is occurring in business, which is a backlash of social media hype. Less noise, more impact. This is a good thing. But it means being ready for change, especially in online marketing, and how it relates to your brand, personal and business. It’s time to start clearing your path for new ways of reaching your audience. There are NO shortcuts, but there is plenty of inspiration. 

  • Do you want to be smarter about decisions that actually build your business?
  • Do you want to execute on some new ideas?
  • How do you want your clients to experience your brand? Do you know what your brand is?
  • How do you position your message to resonate with the right audience?

Great books, great inspiration

(not social media sound bites.)

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The Impact Equation by Chris Brogan & Julien Smith

This is not just another Social Media book. From understanding your goals, your ideas, the platforms, and how you are communicating , OR NOT, this will help you define, and polish the most impactful ways to get your brand and message out there to the right people. From HTML emails, blog content, writing and Instagramming, this book untangles the hype and shows you how to focus on what matters; creating trust.

Brand Delusions by Bill Leider

“Your Brand is a widely held set of beliefs and expectations about what you deliver and how you deliver it, validated by customers’ experiences.” Bill Leider. Whether you are a real estate agent, a broker, an entrepreneur, work in collaborative company environment, or are personally trying to understand what building, having and maintaining a brand really means, then you MUST get this book. It’s not business book, or self-help book, but a philosophy woven into a fictional story with characters that any one of us could relate to. The inner dynamics of relationships, office politics, and personalities all play a role in building the brand experience to your consumer or buyer. You will take away a firm understanding of what BRAND really is, in actions, words and behaviors, and be empowered to explore all aspects of your business that touch your clients.

Change by Design by Tim Brown

How do true innovations happen? How do ideas go from ideas to execution, to something amazing? Is there a formula that we can use that takes inspiration, to an idea, to a prototype, to a real live innovation? By using Design Thinking the goal is to create demand from a need, by using the techniques in this book.

via next.inman.com

Bedford NY Realtor | 3 Awesome Tips to Organize Emails to Evernote

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We all juggle email, right? Evernote gives us three easy tips to organize our important emails breaking it down by notebook, note and even tags!

When you sign up for an Evernote account, free or premium, you are given a specific email address for that account. In your account info you should be able to see an email address listed that says “Email notes to:”. That is your very own specific email address. I find it helpful to add that email address as a contact in my Gmail contacts for easy forwarding in the future.

Where to find your Evernote Email AddressOnce you have your email address figured out, the rest is easy!

1. How do I forward an email directly to a specific notebook in my EN account?
At the end of your subject line add the ‘@’ symbol along with the name of your notebook. Make sure and type it exactly as it’s shown in your Evernote account including spaces between words.

Step1: Forwarding your email to a Notebook2. How do I include tags on an email?
Again, at the end of the subject line, include the # symbol along with any tags that you want to add to this email. The tags have to already exist in your Evernote account for this to work.

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Step 2: Attaching your Evernote tags to your email3. Can I make an email a new note within my notebook?
Yes! Here’s where the + sign comes in handy. Tack the + on the end of the subject line and this email will be created as a new note in your EN account.

via next.inman.com

Luxury Sales Approach Sellers’ Market | Bedford Hills NY Real Estate

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Top tier properties are getting close to ending their multi-year buyers’ market and quickly reaching a more equal balance between buyers and sellers, catching up with less expensive homes .

Since early December, the Institute for Luxury Home Marketing’s Market Action Index has risen 30 percent and is now only seven points away from reaching a seller’s market on a national level. The index, which is managed by Altos Research, measures available supply relative to the current level of demand.

“The ILHM national market is currently in the buyer’s market zone though not strongly so. The Market Action Index stands this week at 23 so luxury buyers should expect to find reasonable levels of selection,” the report noted. On December 2, the index stood at 16.

The ILHM National Luxury Composite Price has risen 2 percent since December 30, from $1,196,838 to $1,221,962, despite the slow winter season. Despite the fact that the number of new listings has increased 51 percent over the past six weeks, the average days on market at 204 has declined slightly, from 209 to 204. Luxury homes typically take longer to sell than less expensive ones and the ILHM average days on market (204) are much higher than Realtor.com’s January median of 119 days for all price ranges. The percent of properties with a price decrease, another sign of buyer dominance, has also decreased over the past six weeks, from 26 percent to 24 percent of all luxury properties.

The index is rising in nearly every one of the 31 markets tracked by the institute. The ten hottest luxury markets are Washington DC where the average days on market is 123; San Francisco DOM 140, Las Vegas DOM 142, Silicon Valley DOM 157, San Diego DOM 161, Austin DOM 174, Seattle DOM 176, Houston DOM 178, Atlanta DOM 183, and Phoenix DOM 191.

Brokers and agents around the country report accelerated sales around the country. “After a substantial slump in 2008-2010, migration to Florida is accelerating again and is expected to generate new jobs and boost the continuing recovery. Buyers of lavish mansions and luxury homes for sale led the wave of those heading into Florida at the beginning of 2013. In Sarasota County in December 2012, 47 homes and condominiums sold for over $1,000,000, a figure higher than any other 2012 month,” reported William True of Sarasota Real Estate.

via realestateeconomywatch.com

Lending Standards, Rising Rents Box in Single Buyers | Katonah NY Real Estate

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Once the hottest trend in real estate, single homebuyers find themselves trapped between soaring rents and stiff underwriting standards that make it tough for a single income-earner to qualify for mortgages that buy homes that will cost more tomorrow than they do today.

In 2001, 27 percent of all homes were purchased by single homebuyers the real estate industry, from builders to brokers, catered to the new market with security features, gourmet kitchens and yards with little or no maintenance required, and sales promotions targeted at single buyers.

However, the salad days of single buyers apparently are over. For 2012, the National Association of Realtors reported the highest share of married couples and the lowest share of single buyers since 2001. Sixty-five percent of recent home buyers were married couples-the highest share since 2001. Sixteen percent of recent home buyers were single females-the lowest share since 2001.

Women always have dominated the single buyers’ market and they may be suffering most from a combinations and economic and political forces that have trapped singles into rental units at a time when rents are rising rapidly as vacancy rates reach history lows or 4.5 percent or lower. Today’s potential single buyer faces serious hurdles.

1. A sputtering economic recovery has made it difficult for first-time buyers to afford homeownership. The 2011 American median household income was 1.13 percent lower than what it was 12 years ago. Single buyers are actually slightly older than married buyers (46 for men, 48 for women compared to 42 for married couples) but have only a single income to pay the costs of homeownership. Some 47.5 percent of couples have dual incomes.

2. Tougher mortgage underwriting standards result in only about 60 percent of all purchase applications being approved. FICO scores, income to debt ratios and documentation requirements are tougher than six years ago. Single buyers, generally have greater difficulties meeting these requirements without the help of a co-signer.

via realestateeconomywatch.com

NYC Styrofoam Ban Might Actually Happen | North Salem Real Estate

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Attention NYC eateries: It may be time to start thinking beyond styrofoam.

A sanitation official Wednesday revealed that a potential ban on the white stuff is under discussion as part of an upcoming report on increasing recycling rates in residential areas. “We’re studying all the different things in our waste stream. We want to make sure that everything in our waste stream is recyclable,” Ron Gonen, deputy commissioner for recycling at Sanitation, told The Post.

According to the AP, Mayor Michael Bloomberg last year set a goal of recycling 30 percent of the city’s household trash by 2017, up from about 15 percent now.

Of course, none of this is surprising. Styrofoam in notoriously difficult to recycle and takes a very long time to decompose (anywhere from a decade to centuries). Here’s NYC current official position on the stuff: 

Styrofoam is very difficult to recycle unless kept very clean and separate from all other types of plastic. For this reason, New York City and most other cities’ plastics recycling programs do not collect it with commingled recycling.

Because of the difficulty of recycling expanded polystyrene, there are relatively few plants in the U.S. that will take it. This means that the material must be shipped to distant factories. The transport and processing is expensive, unsustainable, and not environmentally friendly.

DSNY Bureau of Waste Prevention, Reuse and Recycling encourages New Yorkers to consider alternatives to Styrofoam wherever possible.

So yes, it’s basically only a matter of time before styrofoam is shown the door. Naturally, the restaurant industry is less than pleased.

“We shouldn’t start banning products until we have done a more full analysis of the costs associated, not only with government but for small businesses,” New York State Restaurant Association spokesman Andrew Moesel told the AP Wednesday. “Now is not the time to continue to put more regulations and cost burdens on an industry that is already struggling to make a profit.”

Photo credit: Shutterstock.com

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About Michael dEstries

Michael has been blogging since 2005 on issues such as sustainability, renewable energy, philanthropy, and healthy living. He regularly contributes to a slew of publications, as well as consulting with companies looking to make an impact using the web and social media. He lives in Ithaca, NY with his family on an apple farm.

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