Monthly Archives: August 2013

Why Your Brand Must Tell A Compelling Story | Armonk Realtor

Leave a reply

We think in story. It’s hardwired in our brain. It’s how we make strategic sense of the otherwise overwhelming world around us. – Lisa Cron, Wired for Story

It’s no longer enough to build a great looking web site that gets traffic.  Those are just the bare essentials and won’t take you very far.  In a world where we are inundated with inputs, your business and your brand must tell a compelling story. As human beings we’re wired for story.

Changing The Story on my About Page

A few days ago I came across an amazing article by Erika Napoletano about the 3 copywriting mistakes that are holding your business back.  When I looked  at it, I realized I was making all of those mistakes. So I decided to make some changes.

Here is the first version of my bio:

BLOGCAST FM founder/host Srinivas Rao has been a 2-time speaker at Blogworld Expo and was listed on Problogger’s annual list of 40 Bloggers to Watch in 2011. He’s a regular contributor to the adage 150 blog {GROW} and his work has been featured on Social Mouths, Write to Done, Dumb Little Man, Twitip, Kikolani, and many other social media and personal development blogs.

As you can see it was written in third person, and it’s just a list of my accolades. It’s not very relatable. There’s no sense of anticipation.

Below is the second version of my bio:

My name is Srinivas Rao and I’m a connector, instigator and corporate misfit who is allergic to cubicles and office buildings. I’m the guy you’ll hear shouting “let’s shift gears” in every episode of BlogcastFM. In other words I’m the host of the show.  I’ve never been particularly good at having a  ”real” job, been fired more than a handful of times, and if I wasn’t, I usually quit before I was going to be fired. It seems I was meant to set the world on fire instead. In April 2009 I graduated from business school, was completely

 

 

 

read more…

 

http://www.searchenginejournal.com/why-your-brand-must-tell-a-compelling-story/67086/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+SearchEngineJournal+%28Search+Engine+Journal%29&utm_content=Yahoo%21+Mail

 

What Does Your Kitchen Say About You? | Bedford Hills Real Estate

Leave a reply

ModernModern Design

Fun fact: despite its name, modern design traces its origins to the late 1800s. While easy to confuse with contemporary design, modern design refers to a style that was popular from the 1920s through the 1950s and is defined by clean lines, the moderate use of color, and the use of natural materials (we love the wood flooring and understated white cabinets). If you consider yourself kind of retro, but not quite trendy, a modern kitchen is the style for you.

ContemporaryContemporary Design

If you like making bold statements and consider yourself stylish and sophisticated, you’ll be a fan of contemporary design. Defined by tone-on-tone color choices, clean lines with smooth surfaces, metallic finished, and natural fabrics, contemporary design is the perfect choice for those who think form is just as important as function. With beautiful black cabinets, lustrous stainless steel appliances, and crisp white granite countertops and marble flooring, this kitchen proves how stunning contemporary design can be when done right.

 

 

read more…

 

http://welcome.homeadvisor.com/kitchenstyles?m=homesense&entry_point_id=26784861

Are July Prices Signaling the New Normal? | Bedford Corners Homes

Leave a reply

While extremes continue in some markets, the national trend in Clear Capital’s July data is moderation as markets at both ends of the spectrum stabilize and return to historic patterns.  Has the New Normal arrived?

Clear Capital reports that national home prices gained 9.3 percent over the last year and 1.6 percent over the last quarter. Yet national home prices remain 33.4 percent below peak values.

Regional yearly gains were led by the West’s 17.8 percent, while the Northeast trailed with 4.8 percent growth. The Midwest and the South continued to closely track, with yearly gains of 7.5 percent and 7.6 percent, respectively.

The top 15 performing metro markets, exhibited impressive yearly gains, with average growth of more than 20.0 percent. 14 metros posted yearly gains above 15.0 percent.

Las Vegas yearly gains grew to 31.2 percent, the first metro to surpass 30.0 percent since the start of the recovery. Quarterly gains of 4.3 percent, the strongest of all the metros, signal this metro could retain its number one spot over the near-term. While Las Vegas leads the recovery, its median price of $145,000 ranks it below 35 of the top 50 markets. This suggests low price points are in part driving Las Vegas’ gains. Conversely, San Jose has seen gains of 26.0 percent over the year, despite its high median price of $710,000, an indication that demand is fueled by a strong local economy. As such, these two markets will likely see a variance in their trends moving forward.

“While July home prices continue to ramp up throughout the country led by Las Vegas posting more than 30.0 percent yearly growth, let’s not forget a healthy recovery means moderation as the new normal takes hold” said Dr. Alex Villacorta, vice president of research and analytics at Clear Capital. “Over the last half of 2013, we continue to call for a moderation in home price trends. A rising price floor will dampen some potential homebuyers’ appetites, particularly as recent gains bring many markets back into pre-bubble equilibrium. In other words, homebuyers are starting to adjust to the new normal, where steep discounts from the peak are not as attractive as they once were. Having said that, if housing inventory continues rising, it should help alleviate some of the recent pressure on prices, as well as homebuyer’ confidence in the market’s health overall.

 

 

read more…

http://www.realestateeconomywatch.com/2013/08/are-july-prices-signaling-the-new-normal/

 

More Consumers Expect Rates to Rise | Mt Kisco Real Estate

Leave a reply

The share of consumers who believe interest rates will go up over the next year increased another 5 percentage points to 62 percent, the highest level in the three-year history of Fannie Mae’s July 2013 National Housing Survey. Consumers also expect home prices to climb 3.9 percent on average over the next 12 months, holding steady from the May and June survey results. At the same time, the share of respondents who say it is a good time to buy a house increased to 74 percent, while the share who say it’s a good time to sell a house increased to 40 percent, matching the survey high. “Consumers have taken the interest rate rise in stride. Expectations for continued improvement in housing persist, and sentiment toward the current buying and selling environment is back on track from its dip last month,” said Doug Duncan, senior vice president and chief economist at Fannie Mae. “These results are consistent with our own analysis of previous housing cycles, which finds that interest rates and home prices are not strongly correlated.” Homeownership and Renting

At 3.9 percent, the average 12-month home price change expectation increased slightly to match May 2013’s survey high. The share of people who say home prices will go up in the next 12 months fell 4 percentage points from June’s survey high to 53 percent, while those who say home prices will go down reached a survey low of 6 percent. The share of respondents who say mortgage rates will go up in the next 12 months jumped 5 percentage points to 62 percent, the highest level since the survey’s inception. The share who say it is a good time to buy a house increased slightly to 74 percent, and those who say it is a good time to sell a house increased 4 percentage points to 40 percent. The average 12-month rental price expectation fell to 4.2 percent, a 0.4 percent decrease from last month.

Fifty-four percent of those surveyed say home rental prices will go up in the next 12 months, a 2 percentage point decrease from June’s survey high.  Forty-five percent of respondents think it would be easy for them to get a home mortgage today, a 2 percentage point decrease from last month.  The share of respondents who said they would buy if they were going to move decreased slightly to 64 percent.

 

 

read more…

 

http://www.realestateeconomywatch.com/2013/08/more-consumers-expect-rates-to-rise/

Las Vegas home prices continue steady rise, surprising experts | North Salem Homes

Leave a reply

Despite an expected slowdown, Las Vegas housing prices keep going up.

The median price of a previously owned single-family home sold in Southern Nevada last month was $180,000, up 35 percent from $133,000 a year earlier, according to a new report from the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors.

Sales prices have now climbed 17 of the past 18 months after bottoming out in January 2012, at $118,000. According to research firm CoreLogic, Nevada home prices are the fastest-rising in the country.

“We keep expecting these price increases to slow down at some point, but it hasn’t happened yet,” GLVAR President Dave Tina said.

He’s not the only one to predict that Las Vegas’ housing market will cool off. Home values are expected to grow 9 percent by June 2014 after soaring 29 percent over the past year, the second-fastest rate among major metro areas, according to Zillow.

The surge has been fueled in large part by cash investors who buy cheap houses in bulk to turn into rentals, crimping the inventory of homes for sale. Availability also has been limited by homeowners who refuse to sell or can’t sell because they’re underwater or stuck in foreclosure processing delays.

Analysts say the valley is not mired in another housing bubble, as prices and values simply are rising from historic lows. Some experts, however, say the valley could be on the cusp of another false housing boom.

Yale University economist Robert Shiller, co-founder of the closely watched S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index, said in late June that Las Vegas is one of several cities at risk of a bubble

 

 

read more…

 

http://www.vegasinc.com/news/2013/aug/08/nevada-home-prices-continue-steady-rise-surprising/

 

Obama Housing Scorecard: Foreclosure starts reach 8-year low | Pound Ridge Real Estate

Leave a reply

 

President Obama spoke Tuesday about how far housing has come from its pit in the middle of the crisis. The latest housing scorecard from the Obama Administration only strengthened the president’s statements, yet serves as a reminder that there is still a long ways to go.

“As the July housing scorecard indicates, the Obama Administration’s efforts to speed the housing recovery are continuing to build upon the progress that has been made over the last four years,” said U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Deputy Assistant Secretary for Economic Affairs Kurt Usowski.

Home prices continue to trudge forward, with the S&P Case-Shiller home price index up from 152.4 in April to 156.1 in the latest report in May. Year-over-year the index is up from 139.2 in May 2012.

 

As rising mortgage rates begin to catch up with the housing recovery, less buyers are feeling the pressure to buy a home right now. According to the National Association of Realtors, existing-home sales fell from a revised 428,300 in May to 423,300 in June.

However, homebuilders can breath a sigh of relief, as new home sales continued to increase, up from 38,300 in May to 41,400 in June, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau and HUD.

 

The pool of existing-homes for sale has continued to grow, a positive sign for potential buyers, with inventory up from a 5.0-month supply in May to a 5.2-month supply in June, NAR reported. Surprisingly, the supply of new homes for sale dropped slightly to 3.9 months, down from 4.2 months in May.

Foreclosure starts take the cake for the most notable change in this month’s housing scorecard. Foreclosure starts dropped from 72,700 in May to 57,300 in June, data from RealtyTrac revealed.

According to a report from Lender Processing Services, mortgage delinquency rates for prime borrowers made a turnaround, heading upward from May. June’s delinquency rate was 3.5%, up from 3.1% in May.

“The annual home price increases over the last several months remain at levels not seen since 2006 and newly initiated foreclosures are at their lowest level since December 2005.  As we regain stability in our housing markets, it is time to begin the process of reforming the housing finance system to reduce the federal government footprint and ensure that private capital takes a sustainable central role,” Usowski added.

 

 

http://www.housingwire.com/articles/26083-obama-housing-scorecard-foreclosure-starts-reach-8-year-low

 

Foreclosure Discounts Fade Away | Bedford Hills Real Estate

Leave a reply

Two years ago, to the delight of investors and the anguish of homeowners, foreclosures regularly sold for 30 percent or more below the price of “normal” homes.  How times have change! Now the foreclosure discount is less than half that amount and still headed south.

The discounts investors receive for buying homes that have languished in default for months, if not years, are what attracted most investors to real estate in the first place.  It was hard to pass up a property priced far below the one next door when all that’s needed to flip it is a little elbow grease and a few visits to Home Depot.  Mouth-watering discounts right down the street enticed thousands into investing

In fact, rehabbing often proved to be more expensive than anticipated, making a healthy foreclosure discount even more essential.  Investors spent an average of average of $15,600 per property fixing up, for a total of $3.9 billion in 2011, according to the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies.  As rehab costs have risen over time, foreclosure discounts have gone in the other direction.

Foreclosure discounts, however, were also widely blamed-fairly or unfairly–for lowering home values when appraisers mixed them in with other comparable properties when valuing a home.  This practice was so controversial that it contributed to a two-year long, highly charged re-do of appraisal guidelines and today appraisers are discouraged from using foreclosures as comps.

As the discount has declined, the problem with appraisals is disappearing but investors are facing some tough decisions.  The latest data, from the National Association of Realtors Realtor Confidence Index survey of 3400 plus Realtors suggests that for REOs the discount has fallen to 16 percent average discount to market, while short sales are selling at a 13 percent average discount.  For properties in average or better condition, the discount is now only 11 percent.

According to CoreLogic, when foreclosures and short sales are included with normal sales, home prices are now higher than they would be without distress sales.  Excluding distressed sales, home prices increased on a year-over-year basis by 11 percent in June 2013 compared to June 2012. Including distressed sales, prices increased more, 11.9 percent.

Two factors are causing shrinking foreclosure discounts: declining numbers of foreclosures and rising demand, largely due to large scale purchases of foreclosures by institutional investors, who probably can afford to pay more for properties.  In markets where large institutional investors have been actively buying large numbers of foreclosures, the discount has virtually disappeared.  In the second quarter, REOs and normal homes reached the same sales price in Las Vegas and other markets.

 

 

 

read more…

 

http://www.realestateeconomywatch.com/2013/08/foreclosure-discounts-fade-away/

Richard Gere Honorary Chair For Caramoor Harvest Dinner | Katonah Real Estate

Leave a reply

KATONAH, N.Y. – Actor Richard Gere will be the honorary chair for an Oct. 5 Harvest Dinner at Caramoor.

The evening begins at 5:30 p.m. with cocktails, followed by dinner prepared by the Bedford Post Inn at 6:15. A musical performance by The Knights caps the night beginning at 8 p.m. in the Venetian Theater.

The Harvest Dinner is part of the Fall Festival at Caramoor Oct. 4-5. Jazz in the Courtyard will be Oct. 4, beginning at 8 p.m. Concert tickets for The Knights Oct. 5 also are available.

Tickets for the Harvest Dinner are $425. For more information, email events@caramoor.org

 

 

read more…

http://armonk.dailyvoice.com/events/richard-gere-honorary-chair-caramoor-harvest-dinner

How the Top 100 Global Brands use YouTube for Marketing | Bedford Corners Realtor

Leave a reply

Pixability just released a study called, “The Top 100 Global Brands: Key Lessons for Success on YouTube,” which showed how these companies (based on Interbrands’ top 100) have been using the platform.  From these findings, Pixability was able to derive some lessons that all marketers can use.  And they studied everything: what are brands doing with multiple channels, how they used social media, were they properly targeting the ads, did they post consistently, do some brands have channels that are basically dormant, and so on.  What are the best brands doing on YouTube?  Read on.

Top 100 Brands & YouTube: Key Takeaways

Here’s something that has probably been said on this site more than any other thing:

SEE ALSO: How VidIQ Grows Audiences: Announces YouTube Marketing Suite for Brands

1. Post content consistently.

The most successful brands publish 50 percent more videos per channel than the least successful ones.  They do it on a regular schedule.

2. Take YouTube SEO seriously.

Citing its place as the 2nd-largest search engine in the world, behind only its parent company Google, Pixability says discoverability is key.  YouTube SEO is very different from traditional SEO, and Google favors web pages with YouTube embeds.  The best 25 percent of brands optimize their videos properly, utilizing more playlists and tags than the bottom 25 percent.

3. No need for overproduction.

The best brands produce a variety of content.  This goes back to what Baljeet Singh said when referring to one of the biggest myths on YouTube.

4. Always On

The top brands integrate their video strategy with their offline strategy.  17 of the top 100 brands use less than 50 percent of their channels.  Brands should not be afraid to create web series for limited, but highly engaged audiences.

5. Put your brand on everything where it makes sense.

The top brands put the logo in the video and in the metadata.  Why is putting it in the video important?  Because people aren’t always watching your content on your channel.  The regular watch page on YouTube and any embed isn’t likely to have your branding anywhere, so use it where you can.  But don’t go overboard and start sticking it in so many places that you create brand fatigue.



Source: How the Best – Top 100 Global Brands use YouTube for Marketing http://www.reelseo.com/top-100-brands-youtube/#ixzz2bi8l6xqm 

 

 

How the Best – Top 100 Global Brands use YouTube for Marketing.