Monthly Archives: April 2013

Real estate experts expect the housing bubble to burst soon | Waccabuc NY Real Estate

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The royal order related to land grants and construction loans will lead to a reduction in the Kingdom’s current exorbitant rents and property prices, a spokesman for the Ministry of Housing was quoted as saying in local media.
Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah has ordered the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs, municipalities and localities, to hand over all developed pieces of land and plots ready for construction to the Ministry of Housing which will, in turn, distribute them to citizens with loans.
Real estate experts say the king’s ruling will see a drop in real estate prices. Some expect a huge decline in rents because the land will be available to citizens within a year.
They believe there has been a real estate bubble in the Kingdom, which will soon be deflated by the government’s action to either build houses and provide them to citizens at reduced prices, or provide land and construction loans.
“The market will sooner or later witness a big decline in prices, since the supply is huge, and could in its first stage satisfy a large part of the demand,” said Ibrahim Al-Ubaid, a real estate expert.
“Investors are concerned now. They feel that consumers might turn to government projects because of their quality and easy terms of ownership,” he added.
“The next step will see a large number of investors compete for the government projects. I expect there will be alliances in the market by a number of contractors to compete for the projects, especially now that we are looking at huge projects that will require a great many contractors and developers,” he said.
Abdullah Ash Shaiqi, of Ash Shaiqi Real Estate Group, said that after the Housing Ministry becomes the sole agency handling housing issues, he expects a gradual decline in property prices, and as soon as the decision to build materializes, prices will go down “instantly” by about 10 percent. “There will be a big difference in prices between the commercial supply on the one hand and the government supply on the other,” he said.
Abdullah Alrobayan, a Saudi columnist, said the Ministry of Housing has no more excuses. “In the past, the ministry used to say that the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs was very slow in handing over land to create housing projects. Now the king has given the Ministry of Housing all the government land and money it needs.”
Mohammed Al-Dowsari, a real estate developer, told Arab News that the king’s decision would have an impact on rented apartments in the medium term. He did not want to pre-judge the overall impact on real estate prices. “As we know such decisions will take time until they are implemented and there might be some changes in future,” he said.
Al-Dowsari believes that the Ministry of Housing should not be a regulatory and executive body at the same time. He said that having a real estate commission to regulate and govern the market has now become a necessity.
Saudi citizens will benefit from the royal order in less than one year, which is aimed at providing suitable housing units for them, Mohammed Al-Zumai, the ministry spokesman, said.
Although the Ministry of Housing has finalized the construction of some housing units, it needs to ensure only deserving people receive the homes, he said.
A total of 1.3 million people have applied to the Real Estate Development Fund (REDF), he said.
Al-Zumai said the royal order ensures one ministry is responsible for housing and that citizens are given various options including land, construction loans or housing units.
Others will be given the option of working in partnership with private sector firms, which is crucial for the success of the government’s housing program. The ministry has worked out a partnership framework with the private sector in this regard, he said.
Al-Zumai said the ministry has proposed that vacant land be converted into housing at affordable prices. The ministry has also recommended that new land ownership policies be enacted to ensure more land supply that could curb price hikes and manipulation, he said.
The government has already set aside a whopping SR 250 billion to build 500,000 houses across Saudi Arabia. The Housing Ministry will be given a free hand in all matters related to real estate, which will likely create a boom in the construction industry and other ancillary sub-sectors.

via arabnews.com

Blackstone real estate chief says L.A. is a tough market | South Salem Real Estate

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“It’s become harder, because the pricing has moved up,” said Gray, the global head of real estate for private equity firm Blackstone Group. “L.A. is probably the toughest market.”

As chief of one of the world’s largest real estate investment funds, with $60 billion in assets, Gray is the walking embodiment of the term “smart money.” To put it succinctly, he is “the man with the bank account,” which was how Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa introduced him Thursday at a chummy ceremony in downtown’s Arts District.

“Blackstone is a very, very important entity in this world, and they fund great real estate projects, hedge funds, private equity — they do a lot of stuff,” Villaraigosa went on to say. “One of the important things they are doing is investing in L.A. real estate.”

Gray was in town from New York to celebrate the construction of the final phase of a fancy condominium project Blackstone invested in. His company also has made headlines lately for becoming one of the biggest bulk buyers of foreclosed homes in the United States, including in Southern California. Blackstone — and a handful of other Wall Street firms — have been racing to snap up single-family homes to rent out for profit and long-term gains.

According to recent reports by The Times, Blackstone has poured close to $740 million into California real estate through January. But with the sharp recovery in home values, finding deals on properties these days is not easy, Gray said.

That’s a lament many hopeful, home-shopping families in the region can relate to. As The Times recently reported, real estate has gone from recovery to frenzy in recent months. Even buying a home in the hard-hit Inland Empire is tough.

Nevertheless, Blackstone has bought up enough homes in the Southland to get the kind of scale it was hoping for, Gray said. And its rental price per square foot remains about 34% less than the average rent in the region, he added, making the company’s product attractive. Nationwide, the company has had success in leasing out about 80% of its renovated homes, meaning demand is strong.

Although Blackstone rarely funds new projects, Gray said, it also saw an opportunity in the Barker Block condominium project downtown.

The condo project is across the street from the perpetually packed and trendy Urth Caffe on South Hewitt Street. It will boast a total of 310 units when complete. The latest phase, being celebrated Thursday, includes 68 units that will begin selling for about $400,000.

“We saw an opportunity to create value for our investors, and in doing so we are doing something good for the local community by helping to revive one of the city’s most historic neighborhoods,” Gray said during a speech at the construction party Thursday. “The Barker Block … will develop some of the first for-sale homes in downtown Los Angeles since the crisis, and it will be done in a style that will preserve the character of the Arts District.”

Gray was joined by Villaraigosa and Henry Cisneros, a former Clinton administration housing official who is now chairman of the project’s developer, CityView. Guests munched on fancy hors d’oeuvres and took tours of the under-construction and completed portions of the condominium project, which boasted sweeping views of downtown Los Angeles from its rooftop gym.

Overall, Gray thinks it’s good time to be in the real estate business. The housing market is improving. That’s not because firms like his are snapping up every cheap home in sight, he said, but because so few homes were built during the recession. And people still need a place to live.

“It’s simply supply and demand,” he said.

ALSO:

New players have big piece of housing pie

L.A. and other hot markets are getting frothy, report says

Inland Empire housing is more affordable but out of reach

via latimes.com

Build targeted marketing around emotional cues | Cross River Real Estate

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One of the things I love about where I live is that there is constant opportunity to learn interesting new things. My town has several universities that pull in interesting lecturers on a variety of topics, as well as an engaged and intellectually generous business culture.

Last week I had the opportunity to hear Sep Kamvar, director of the social computing group at MIT’s Media Lab, speak at seminar hosted by the University of Vermont’s Complex Systems Center.

Kamvar discussed a number of topics, including Dog-Lang, a computer language he is creating that assumes programs will be social, require connecting to a wide variety of APIs, and utilize asynchronous state management. He also provided some insight into the guts of Google’s personalized search ranking algorithm, which he helped create while at Stanford. Unless you love linear algebra as much as I do, this discussion would make your eyes glaze over.

The topic Kamvar approached that I want to dig into today is data and humanness.

via inman.com

Shooting video is only the beginning | Bedford Hills NY Real Estate

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Editor’s note: This is the second of a three-part series on video creation tools for Realtors. Read Part 1, “Turn mobile photos into listing videos.”

Have you jumped on the video bandwagon yet? If not, you’re missing a huge opportunity to convert more buyer and seller leads into closed transactions.

Many agents are intimidated by video. They may not like the way they look on camera, or feel it’s too hard to do video well. Or they’re simply too busy.

In the meantime, they’re spending hundreds of hours on Facebook, hoping to generate leads. Others are paying for Google Adwords in the hope the online advertising model will drive visitors from their site.

via inman.com

Mirrors don’t have to be kitschy | Bedford NY Real Estate

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Mirrors in architecture have somehow gained the reputation of being cheap trickery. Part of this bad rap stems from the dreadful gold-veined mirror tiles that were so popular during the 1970s. They were applied haphazardly by laypeople and decorators alike, and became associated with all the other excesses of this period.

Such kitsch aside, mirrors are one of the simplest and most effective ways to enhance interior architecture. But to be successful, they must be integrated into the architecture, not applied as an afterthought.

1. First, make sure you buy good-quality float or plate glass mirrors. Cheaper mirrors have ripples that distort the reflection, as well as thin silvering, which will quickly corrode. Also, for a really clean installation, attach mirrors with mastic rather than clips (you may wish to have a glazier do this for you). Mirror size is limited mainly by cost and by the clearances available in your house; floor-to-ceiling mirrors up to 4 feet wide are not uncommon.

via inman.com

140 Characters is a Joke | Chappaqua Realtor

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THERE IS ALWAYS more to the story than what we are told. I am not omniscient. It is better to light a single candle than to join a lynch mob. Other people’s behavior is not my business. Truth is hard, epigrams are easy. Anything worth saying takes more than 140 characters. Blogging’s not dead. F____ the 140 character morality police.

Filed under: Best practices, Blogs and Blogging, Community, Design, engagement, Responsibility, State of the Web, twitter, writing

38 Responses to “140 Characters is a Joke”

  1. Jesse said on 27 March 2013 at 10:46 am:

    Wait, we aren’t supposed to look (solely) to the Facetweet feeds of our industry leaders for solid moral guidance?

    Power to the 140+ character enabled humans.

  2. Nishant said on 27 March 2013 at 10:51 am:

    Thank you, Jeffrey.

  3. Chris Ferdinandi said on 27 March 2013 at 10:53 am:

    Yes!

  4. Iain said on 27 March 2013 at 10:55 am:

    This, THIS, THIS!!

  5. claudia snell said on 27 March 2013 at 10:55 am:

    Love it! You are amazing, again.

  6. Julia Gregory said on 27 March 2013 at 10:56 am:

    Word.

  7. Anton Peck said on 27 March 2013 at 10:56 am:

    Sir, I completely agree. I wrote about a similar thing quite recently: http://antonpeck.com/journal/article/write_now

    I’m totally being selfish when I say: “I want to see people get back to writing great content again.” I miss the great authors of the internet.

  8. Brian Hassett said on 27 March 2013 at 10:59 am:

    I completely agree! 140 characters is your basic introduction. Doesn’t get you much further than that.

  9. Matt Steele said on 27 March 2013 at 11:00 am:

    This is exactly what keeps me from being a heavy twitter user. Too many knee jerk reactions from armchair pundits.

    “It’s better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid than to open it and remove all doubt.”
    -Mark Twain

  10. Michel Vuijlsteke said on 27 March 2013 at 11:01 am:

    tl;dr: “Anything worth saying takes more than 140 characters. Blogging’s not dead.” (66 characters to go) 🙂

  11. Shawn said on 27 March 2013 at 11:14 am:

    What is this in reference to?

  12. Emil Lunnergård said on 27 March 2013 at 11:18 am:

    I do not read so much of your posts, but this one got me. I can’t say how much I appreciate a good, well-written article about anything. 140 characters is just for people with no depth in their lives (if I am allowed to generalize).

    Good statement! Keep it up

  13. Kodiak said on 27 March 2013 at 11:43 am:

    A local ambulance-chaser law firm just recently got a snazzy new phone number to which they can receive texts. Their new marketing campaign is “sometimes it’s not convenient to call.” I’m not sure, but if I ever need to hire a lawyer, I think I’m going to have a lot more to say 140 characters will allow.

    Status messages are for statuses. In status meetings I report that projects are “green” because the parties involved only care that things are on track. That doesn’t absolve me from keeping detailed documentation of the project. Likewise, hearing “things are great” might be enough for particular situations and audiences, but when I run into an old friend that I haven’t seen in years, I’m going to want to hear a little more of the story. It’s no different in the Intertubes.

  14. Scott Phelps said on 27 March 2013 at 12:22 pm:

    It’s Ok to swear. You’re an adult.

  15. John Slegers said on 27 March 2013 at 12:32 pm:

    The early 21st century has become a world of tweets and sound bites, where getting anyone’s attention for longer than 3 minutes has become a major accomplishment.

    Saying too much usually leads to people ignoring you and saying too little usually leads to people wanting to know more.

    So from a marketing perspective, going with 140 characters or less is best. Just don’t expect to learn all you need to know by never looking at what lies underneath.

  16. Tanner Christensen said on 27 March 2013 at 12:32 pm:

    Maybe that’s the point? Captivate readers and point them in a direction where they can learn more of the story.

    Besides, you CAN tell a great story in 140 characters. It’s not going to cover everything under the sun, but you don’t always need to.

  17. Chris Cullmann said on 27 March 2013 at 1:00 pm:

    The brevity of this article underscores how impactful concise writing can be, but an artificial contraint can be a hindrance to a strong message. Nice post.

  18. Emily said on 27 March 2013 at 1:02 pm:

    Funny how such a simple realization is so easy to forget when we get caught in the moment. It’s like having the epiphany that we didn’t need to wear the latest pair of Abercrombie jeans or rock that trendy hairstyle back in High School in order to be cool, yet we struggle to drop the concern of what our peers think of us.

    I have been trying to teach our nine year old the importance of standing up for herself and for others and avoiding the lynch mob mentality that pervades the playground. Thanks for reminding us adults of this lesson as well.

  19. Jameos said on 27 March 2013 at 1:21 pm:

    Ya know, it’s ok to disagree with Mr. Z now and again. I’ve read as many lame tweets as I have long and rambling blog posts. Someone who has true command of writing can get their point across with or without limitations…in the end, it’s all a matter of taste in how well they pull it off. Short = elegance, long = substance. Anyone who says short- or long-form writing is right or wrong…is wrong. Tweet or blog that as you please.

  20. Daniel said on 27 March 2013 at 1:29 pm:

    Hi Jeffrey, I edited this “article” to fit within 140 characters while still delivering the message:

    “THERE IS ALWAYS more to the story. Truth = hard / epigrams = easy. Anything worth saying takes > 140 char. Bloggings not dead. Click here to cancel reply.

Mortgages are Coming Home | Armonk Real Estate

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Since late last year, industry experts forecast a drop in mortgage refinancings as rates rise and a revival of purchase mortgages as the housing recovery creates business for lenders willing to working with home buyers.  The spring housing market is here and now the mortgage market is following.

Purchase mortgages zoomed to their highest monthly market share since last August in Ellie Mae’s latest originations report, a sign that the mortgage business is shifting gears and the greatest boom in refis in recent years is ending.   Loans to home buyers made up 38 percent of all loans processed by the nation’s largest mortgage processing platform, up from 32 percent in February and 27 percent in January.

The Mortgage Bankers’ Association reported that the refinance share of mortgage activity was unchanged at 75 percent of total applications from the previous week. The MBA’s weekly Purchase Index increased 4 percent from one week earlier is at its highest level since May of 2010 and the adjusted Conventional Purchase Index increased 3 percent to the highest level since October 2009.  However, the MBA’s Refinance Index also increased 5 percent from the previous week and is at its highest level since mid-January of 2013.

The mortgage industry’s focus on refinancing loans rather than purchase loans has been a cause of the breakdowns is the lack of resources devoted to home buyers, according to some critics, especially Federal Reserve Governor Elizabeth Duke.  Last month the staff of the Federal Reserve found that the increase in the refinance workload during the past 18 months appears to be associated with a 50 percent decrease in originations among home buyers with credit scores between 620 and 680 and a 15 percent decrease among buyers with credit scores between 680 and 720.  New mortgages to purchase homes hit their lowest level since the early 1990s. Closing rates for all purchase loans fell to about 55 percent as recently as 18 months ago, and still today only about six in ten applicants are ultimately approved.

via realestateeconomywatch.com

Washington metro real estate market springs into action | Pound Ridge Homes

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The spring real estate season is in full bloom in the Washington metro area, with prices rising in response to a continued inventory shortage and additional blossoms of new listings, a Realtor and market analyst said.

It appears once-apprehensive sellers finally are coming around and the number of new listings is beginning to increase.

“I’m seeing multiple offers, escalation clauses, waiving of home inspections, some waiving of appraisals or being willing to pay over appraised value for a home,” said Realtor Robyn Burdett of Re/Max Allegiance.

Prices increased over the winter. Falls Church City led all areas in February with a 35 percent price increase over the year before, followed by Fairfax County at 15 percent. Prices in the District rose 9.9 percent, and in Montgomery County by 8.8 percent. Overall, prices rose by 11 percent in the metro area.

This trend continued in March, with prices overall increasing by 8 percent based on data from the Metropolitan Regional Information Systems. It was the 14th consecutive month for year-over-year gains. The median sales price in March in the District was $460,000, a record high.

“The low inventory is also pushing up the average sale-to-list price ratio, which is now at its highest level since the summer of 2006,” said Corey Hart of the Real Estate Business Intelligence Index.

Hart said that while active listings overall remained at historic lows, the number of new listings could be a sign the pattern is changing. “This could be an indication that sellers are beginning to respond to the pent-up demand in the market,” he said.

New listings were up over 13 percent across all property segments in the region in March, compared with February, which is well above the 10-year average change.

“Sellers are getting much more aggressive on their pricing. Just like in 2005 to 2006, the last sale, even though it has not settled or appraised, is a new comp when it sells in three to four days.” Burdett said agents still face challenges with appraisers because they are strictly adhering to historical data and are not taking the market into consideration.

Sales continue to improve and in February hit their highest level since February 2007. In March, they increased 33 percent over February, moving that statistic more in line with seasonal patterns.

Burdett said Arlington is the hottest market area but she still had a townhouse in Fairfax City that landed 14 offers in three days. “The first showing was one hour after I put it on the market and the first offer was two-and-a-half hours after I put it on,” she said.

Loudoun, Fair Lakes, Herndon and Burke also are active areas, Burdett said.

The RBI reported condos lead all property types in sales growth and now account for the highest proportion of the region’s sales in over five years.

via washingtonexaminer.com

Twitter stresses that they’re not showing more ads | Bedford Corners Homes

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Twitter has finally crossed the rubicon and will allow advertisers to target ads to you based on the words that you tweet. specifically, the feature is called ‘keyword targeting in timelines‘, and its available today in 15 languages and all markets.

Twitter previously used the content of tweets to fill out its interest graph for advertisers, but this update brings laser targeting based on the topics that you tweet about to the product. Twitter uses the example of a person who tweets about enjoying an album from a band. A local venue could use a combination of Twitter’s location-based targets along with a keyword tuned to that band to pop an ad with a link to buy tickets to that band into the user’s timeline as a Promoted Tweet.

Twitter stresses that they’re not showing more ads in anyone’s timeline, they’re just going to be showing better targeted ones. And users will still be able to voice their disinterest by dismissing un-relevant Promoted Tweets. The ad targeting is also “based on the keywords in their recent Tweets and the Tweets with which users recently engaged.” That engagement could come in the form of retweets, favorites and other actions.

Twitter says that tests run with companies like Microsoft and Walgreens, they saw a jump in interactions with ads based on keyword targeting vs. other kinds of targeting.

Here’s what the new panel will look like for advertisers:

via thenextweb.com