Daily Archives: July 17, 2013

Health Department Issues Heat Advisory In Chappaqua | Chappaqua Real Estate

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WESTCHESTER COUNTY, N.Y. — With temperatures soaring towards 90 degrees on Monday, the Westchester County Health Department has issued a county-wide heat advisory.

Residents are advised to avoid strenuous activity, drink plenty of non-alcoholic, non-caffeinated beverages, and take precautions to prevent heat-related illness.

The Health Department also stated to residents to be alert for symptoms of heat stroke.

Symptoms include hot, red, dry skin; shallow breathing; a rapid, weak pulse; and confusion. Anyone suffering from heat stroke needs to receive emergency medical treatment immediately. Call 911 if you suspect heat stroke and immediately cool the overheated person while waiting for emergency help to arrive.

“Heat stroke and dehydration can take you by surprise,” Westchester County commissioner of health Dr. Sherlita Amler said in a statement. “The elderly, young children and those with high blood pressure, heart disease, or lung conditions need to be especially careful to avoid heat-related illnesses. High humidity and some medications can also increase a person’s risk for heat stroke.”

While less dangerous than heat stroke, heat exhaustion also poses concerns. Seniors, children up to age four, people who are overweight or who have high blood pressure and those who work in hot environments are most at risk. Signs include headache, nausea or vomiting, dizziness and exhaustion, as well as cool, moist, pale or flushed skin. People suffering from heat exhaustion should be moved out of the sun and have cool, wet cloths applied to their skin.

For more information, visit the Westchester County Health Department Website.

9 Creative Ways to Use Social Media to Launch a Product | ArmonkRealtor

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Are you looking for creative ideas to help launch your next product (or company)?

Want some actionable tips to employ social media in your next launch?

If so, keep reading as I explore nine ways we used social media to help launch a new project.

You’re sure to find unusual tactics that will help you with your next launch.

Why Social Media for a Launch?

Social media has changed everything when it comes to marketing.

Now, instead of spending a ton of money hoping to get in front of the “press,” you are the media.  Social media allows you to connect with people and encourage engagement with very little money and only a nominal effort.

 

Like Social Media Examiner, you may have a blog or podcast—or perhaps a video series.  This means you are a media outlet and can leverage that following every time you launch.

Even if you don’t produce content, chances are pretty good you’ve developed relationships across social channels. All of these outposts provide a great opportunity to take the launch process to an entirely new level.

Let me show you how. Below are nine ways we employed social media to help launch a new initiative called My Kids’ Adventures.

Tip #1: Create a Teaser Campaign on Facebook

When your idea is nothing more than a thought, start brainstorming ways you can employ social media to hint that something exciting is coming.

My teaser campaign was code-named “Project Torch” and I referred to it every now and again on Facebook. As you can see below, a lot of folks were intrigued and wondered what I had up my sleeve.

I posted the result of a brainstorming session on Facebook, with the words blurred on the clipboard

Starting months before launch, I regularly posted random images of torches, Indiana Jones and updates about my progress on “Project Torch.”

People were private messaging me, calling me and emailing me (family, friends and business peers) wondering what in the world this secret project was.

Tips when doing a teaser campaign:

  • Experiment using Facebook posts with and without images.
  • Share progress images (I showed fuzzed-out logos we were working on).
  • Reference your “code name” in all of your updates to create natural curiosity.
  • Be very careful not to reveal too much too early (even to your closest friends and employees!).

Tip #2: Create a Video That’s Personal

Social media provides an amazing opportunity to connect with people. Why not create a video that reveals the need you hope to address while simply hinting at the solution?

The video below was put together in less than two weeks. Part was filmed with my iPhone while I was on vacation and the other part was done with the help of a guy at my church on a Saturday afternoon.

 

This video played an instrumental role in setting the tone for our new project.

How I unveiled the video…

The above video was first formally revealed at Social Media Marketing World, following my keynote presentation.

I pulled a Steve Jobs and said, “But wait, there’s one more thing…”  I showed the video and spoke for about 5 minutes and that was it.

 

 

Read more….

http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/social-media-product-launch/

‘Long way to go before the caldron bubbles over’: CoreLogic | Cross River Real Estate

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Analytics firm CoreLogic argued in its latest MarketPulse report that the housing market is not on the road to bubble territory, and rising interest rates will only make it less likely for it to head in that direction.

“Economists are often referred to as dismal scientists because of their emphasis on the downside of economic events. However, CoreLogic is prepared to offer an optimistic opinion about the U.S. housing market,” read the report. “CoreLogic does not believe the market is experiencing a housing bubble, either nationally or even in some of the fastest-growing markets.”

The firm also said that housing today remains highly affordable relative to historical norms.

“For housing price affordability to return to the average level that we saw in the years between 2000 and 2004, either home prices would have to rise an additional 47 percent or interest rates rise to 6.75 percent,” CoreLogic said.

“So while the bubble opinions swirl like the words of Shakespeare, ‘Double, double toil and trouble/Fire burn and caldron bubble,’ this housing market still has a long way to go before the caldron bubbles over,” the report later added.

– See more at: http://www.inman.com/wire/long-way-to-go-before-the-caldron-bubbles-over-corelogic/#sthash.SYMVwu20.dpuf

Surprise: Shiller, NAR differ on the MID | Katonah NY Real Estate

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Homeownership has helped Americans who might otherwise be unable to scrape together a nest egg do just that, Yale economics professor Robert Shiller noted in a New York Times editorial over the weekend. But the Swiss do just fine amassing household savings and have a much lower homeownership rate, Shiller noted, arguing that it’s time to take away some of the “enormous subsidy to homeownership” provided by Uncle Sam — such as the mortgage interest deduction.

Not surprisingly, National Association of Realtors Chief Economist Lawrence Yun believes that Shiller has missed some “obvious facts.”The housing crisis, Yun notes, “arose from easy lending,” and “did not happen because of the mortgage interest deduction.” Eliminating the mortgage interest deduction “will result in home price declines of about 15 percent,” Yun claims.

Shiller might be willing to concede some or all of those claims. His main point is less about the role housing subsidies played in creating the conditions that led to the downturn, and more to do with whether there are societal drawbacks to relying so heavily on homeownership as a mechanism for household savings.

There are, Shiller notes, advantages to being a renter in today’s economy. Renters, he says, “are more mobile. That means they are more likely to accept jobs in another city, or even on the other side of a large metropolis.” –

See more at: http://www.inman.com/2013/07/16/surprise-shiller-nar-differ-on-the-mid/#sthash.1HV2fWzB.dpuf

6 quick and inexpensive ways to turn real estate technology excuses into solutions | Bedford Hills Real Estate

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Homebuyers and sellers today make inferences about real estate agents’ professionalism based on their ability to use current technology. The image we project to the public is heavily influenced by whether or not we keep up with the level of technological service they have come to expect from other industries.

This isn’t about being the most advanced and tech-savvy agent in your city. It’s about adopting the common-sense technology practices that make your business, and your relationship with your clients, more professional. Using technology responsibly and proactively allows us to enhance our outward business persona, as opposed to continually making excuses for why we’re not on board.

We often focus on the cutting edge of technology, but for those who may need a bit of sharpening up, there are a few quick and inexpensive ways to get past objections and move on to a stronger technology reputation:

1. Adjust Your Smartphone Attitude. Statistically, it appears a fair number agents still don’t have a smartphone. There’s not much to say here. $99 — do it. Today.

2. Mobile Communication Is Still Business Communication.“Please excuse any spelling errors – sent from my mobile. …” Erase this from your mobile email signatures. Remove it from every device you own. It shows a lack of care. Here is what it says to your clients/associates:“I am too lazy to properly use this handheld device that has more computing power than the first Space Shuttle.

I’m going to send you a garbled message because you’re not worth the 10 seconds it would have taken to fix it. LOL CUL8R K?” –

 

See more at: http://www.inman.com/next/6-quick-and-inexpensive-ways-to-turn-real-estate-technology-excuses-into-solutions/#sthash.6Vgop77O.dpuf

Talk of doing away with Fannie and Freddie is just that | Pound Ridge Real Estate

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A quick bye-bye to Fannie and Freddie? Don’t bank on it.

With the sudden gush of congressional proposals designed to kill the two government-sponsored companies as fast as possible — the most recent floated at the end of last week by a key committee leader in the House — you’d think Fannie’s and Freddie’s days are numbered.

In the long run they probably are, but a close look at legislative plans such as the “PATH Act” (Protecting American Taxpayers and Homeowners Act) offered Friday by House Financial Services Committee Chairman Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) tells me that Fannie and Freddie are going to be around for years — maybe into the next decade, beyond 2020.

Depending on how you see their current and past roles supplying the bulk of funds for home mortgages along with FHA, that’s either good news or terrible news.

Here’s how I see it.

Fannie and Freddie have been in “conservatorship” — which was designed to be a short-term legal purgatory allowing the White House and Congress time to figure out what to do with both companies — for nearly five years.  Despite a bold-sounding commitment by the Obama administration in early 2011 to work with Congress to return housing finance primarily to the private sector and out of the grips of federally chartered Fannie and Freddie, 2013 has been the first year we’ve seen a serious proposal for how to do that.

– See more at: http://www.inman.com/2013/07/16/talk-of-doing-away-with-fannie-and-freddie-is-just-that/#sthash.sDJFtI8F.dpuf