Monthly Archives: September 2013

Las Vegas bomb shelter estate for sale at $1.7M | Bedford NY Real Estate

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In 1978, a Las Vegas businessman built a bomb shelter for him and his wife to live in in case of Soviet attack.

Now, the estate, made up of two underground houses and an above-ground house with a garage and an acre of land, is listed for sale at $1.7 million. Amenities include a putting green, 360-degree mural, and an underground yard surrounding the place on all sides.

Source: Fast Company

– See more at: http://www.inman.com/wire/las-vegas-bomb-shelter-estate-for-sale-at-1-7m/#sthash.rFDXbJte.dpuf

Archbishop Stepinac Goes All-Digital With Textbooks | Armonk Real Estate

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Archbishop Stepinac High School introduced a new concept to its academic program on Tuesday as it rolls out a complete digital textbook library for its students.

This program will eliminate the need for the traditionally heavy and expensive books that students use for their academic courses.
In partnership with Pearson, a provider of educational materials, technologies, assessments and related services, Stepinac implemented the new digital library for its 675 students on their first day of the new school year. Stepinac has worked with Pearson for the past two years to offer select digital books to its students, but this is the first time all of its textbooks will be online.

“In keeping with Stepinac’s commitment to remain at the forefront of educational technology, we have moved to this digital library,” said the Rev. Thomas Collins, president of Stepinac. “We are thankful to Pearson, the world’s leading learning company, for working with us on this national pilot program that will set the trend for schools across the United States for years to come. The digital library will help keep our tuition affordable as well as prepare our students for their college careers.”

After a student is charged a one-time annual fee of $150, he can visit the 40-textbook digital library through a website or application for various Androids and iPads to gain access to its College Prep Digital Library and the Honors/AP Digital Library. Typically, students purchase seven hard copy textbooks for the school year, costing $500 to $600 on average.

 

 

http://whiteplains.dailyvoice.com/schools/archbishop-stepinac-goes-all-digital-textbooks

 

 

 

7 Ways to Increase Traffic to Your Blog | Pound Ridge Realtor

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Blogs have become one of the most fascinating and popular platforms upon  which individuals may sell their wares, offer advice or simply journal about  their daily lives.

But what is the point of having a blog if no one is going to read it?

There are many reasons why you’d would want to increase the traffic to your blog . It could be for  monetary reasons, to gain more public exposure or to show off your skills.  Bloggers want to see their sites develop, evolve and grow.

So, how can you get more visitors to your blog?

Here are 7 easy ways to increase traffic to your blog.

1. Optimize Your Content

The initial structuring of a blog should evolve around designing it to  attract maximum traffic. Pages on your blog can be optimized  to attract readers and potential consumers. This  can be done by organizing content by putting it into categories that will enable  readers to find what they are looking for quickly and easily.

This includes sub-titles,  bullet points and lists.

Search engines pick up on themes of related content, so include keywords and  keyword phrases. If you work a little on your blog’s SEO (Search Engine  Optimisation) in this kind of way, you’re likely to get more search engine  traffic.

2. Define Your Audience

The most important question a blogger can themselves is, Who is going to read  my blog? Focus your content on what your blog is based on. Then carefully  consider your target audience and address that audience directly. If you write  what they want to read it’s quite likely that they’ll recommend your content to  their peers.

You might already have a good idea of who reads your blog through a quick  look at your followers on Twitter, for example. But to get a better insight you  could sign up to Alexa.com or Quantcast.com  to see in depth information such as the gender or browsing location of your  blog’s visitors.

7 ways to increase traffic to your blog

3. Ensure The Blog Works Properly

Regardless of how many readers hit on a blog, if the blog is not working, as  it should, visitors will not stay, and in most cases, will not return. It can be  frustrating and off putting for readers to visit your site and discover that the  page refuses to load.

One way to find a reliable web host is via a free service offered by WhoIsHostingThis.com. Find a high performance web host  that load your web pages fast and you’ll be on your way to impressing visitors  by having a consistently visible site.

It’s worth keeping in mind that Google will penalize your website  or  blog in its search rankings or blog if it takes longer than two seconds to  load.

7 ways to increase traffic to your blog

4. Advertise! Advertise! Advertise!

It always helps to get the word out about your blog, and the best way to do  that is to advertise. There are two main types of advertising; paid and  free.

Free Advertising

There are ways to advertise  your blog without paying to do so. For instance, word of mouth through  social media. Obviously there are monetary benefits to doing this. If you don’t  already have one, get a profile set up on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Google+ – these are all free.

Getting involved in various  groups that specialize in the topic that is being addressed on your blog is a  great way to get free advertising. If you share other people’s posts through a  few quick clicks on Twitter your own content may well be shared in  turn.

Read more…

 

http://www.jeffbullas.com/2013/09/18/7-ways-to-increase-traffic-to-your-blog/#86LVCo3l2JRMmvhP.99

California home sales fall | Chappaqua Real Estate

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August home sales in California slipped 1.9% from July, while still improving 3.1% from a year earlier, according to data from research firm DataQuick.

The Mortgage Bankers Association elaborated on the report Tuesday:

DataQuick said 42,546 new and resale houses and condos sold in California in August, down from a revised 43,381 in July but up from 41,280 sales a year ago. The sales count was the highest for any August since 51,054 homes sold in August 2006. August sales have varied from a low of 29,764 in 1992 to a high of 73,285 in 2005. Last month’s sales were 11.1 percent below the average of 47,849 sales for all the months of August since 1988, when DataQuick’s statistics begin.

 

 

http://www.housingwire.com/articles/26873-california-home-sales-fall

 

 

 

North Stamford Home Rocked By Fiery Explosion | Pound Ridge Homes

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An explosion ripped through a home in Stamford on Tuesday afternoon, causing heavy damage to the structure and spreading fire to neighboring buildings, according to Stamford Fire and Rescue.

Very little of the structure at 305 Webbs Hill Road in Stamford appeared to remain in a photograph taken by an eyewitness.

The cause was unknown as of Tuesday afternoon. No injuries had been reported as of yet.

UPDATE 4 p.m.: Yankee Gas spokesman Mitch Gross said that there is no natural gas service to that part of Stamford.

“Yankee Gas was requested to come to the scene by the Stamford Fire Department,” he said. “This is standard procedure.”

The Daily Voice will have more information as it becomes available.

 

 

 

http://newcanaan.dailyvoice.com/police-fire/

Three Cents Worth: Manhattan’s Middle Market Shows Life | Cross River Real Estate

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This week I thought I’d take a look at the breakdown of sales by price in the most recently completed quarter.  Last year I was using a donut analogy to describe the Manhattan apartment market—weak in middle and strong on the outside (bottom/top). I wanted to illustrate how the mix in 2013 could be showing signs of change rather than continuing to see a disproportionate amount of activity on the margins. For reference I provided an inset in the form of a pie (sorry) chart to show a simple breakdown of the market in the second quarter of 2013.  The column chart was a bit more involved.  It represents the difference between 2Q 2013 and 2Q 2012 as measured by percentage to illustrate any market shifts that may be occurring. For example, the market share of the $1K-$500K was 21.3 percent (in pie chart), 4.1 percent less (in column chart) than 25.4 percent in the year ago quarter.

· Sub $500k market lost share (4.1 percent) likely due to lack of supply and tight credit.  Too soon in the data to see rise in mortgage rates but expect more weakness. · $501k to $4M or middle, upper middle of market showed slight gains from a year ago—something we haven’t seen in quite a while.  This is nearly 3/4 of the entire market so “middle” is quite a broad description. · $4M+ showed mixed results but generally unchanged.

With rising mortgage rates and little gain in supply across much of the market, I suspect we will continue to see an erosion in market share at the entry level sales as more first time buyers get shut out.  I’d like to think the middle of the market would continue to improve in share—a market starting to see more trade-ups and lateral movement but perhaps not at the pace we’ve seen year to date.  The overhyped high end will probably muddle along in balance with no real change in supply.

 

 

http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2013/08/20/

 

 

 

52nd Armonk Art Show To Include 50 New Artists | Armonk Real Estate

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The  Armonk Art Show, consistently ranked among the top “fine art and design shows” in the New York area by Sunshine Artist Magazine, returns for its 52nd season on Sept. 28-29.

The show, which benefits the North Castle Public Library, runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., at Community Park, 205 Business Park Drive.

More than 185 juried artists will be featured in the show, including 50 new artists. They will display a broad spectrum of media, including oils/acrylics, water colors, mixed media, printmaking/drawing/pastels, sculpture, photography/digital art, wearable art and fine crafts.

There is free parking, and a food court. The library will show a free-art-themed film on Sept. 27, and the Fishtank Ensemble will perform on Sept. 28, at Whippoorwill Hall.

A road race, Jamie’s 5k Race for the Library, will also be run in conjunction with the show. It begins at 9:45 a.m. on Sept. 22.

For complete information, or to register for the 5k race/walk, visit the event’s website.

 

 

http://armonk.dailyvoice.com/events/52nd-armonk-art-show-include-50-new-artists

Jersey Leads in Mortgage Fraud Factors | Waccabuc Real Estate

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New Jersey was the only state to make it on all three top 10 lists for mortgage fraud and misrepresentation reported to MIDEX, potential collusion and property defaults, according to the LexisNexis® Risk Solutions 15th Annual Mortgage Fraud Report.

Five states appear on both the Investigation and Origination Mortgage Fraud Indices (MFIs) and the newly-established list of Property Default Rankings: Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Nevada and Ohio.1

Ohio, which ranked first on the Origination MFI list, with a ranking of 224, had more than two times the expected rate of fraud or misrepresentation based on origination volume.

“This year’s study suggests that the more shared problematic economic indicators a state has, the greater its financial challenges will be in the coming years,” said Tom Brown, Senior Vice President, Financial Services, LexisNexis. “With Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) mortgage regulations going into effect in January 2014, and demanding new rules for quality loans, it will be interesting to see what impact this has on overall mortgage defaults.”

Five states – Arizona, California, Florida, New Jersey and New York – occupy space on both the Investigation and Origination MFIs.

Eight states – Alabama, Delaware, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, New York and Vermont – rank highly on both Collusion Indicator Indices (CIIs) as areas with high percentages of potential non-arm’s length transaction activity.

Analysis of all loans investigated in 2012 and submitted to MIDEX shows a five-year high of 69 percent of all reports received having some type of application misrepresentation or fraud. Similarly, when focusing on just those loans originated in 2012, 61 percent report application misrepresentation and/or fraud. This is up from 49 percent of loans originated in 2011 and 43 percent in 2010.

For the first time in the study, a nationwide aggregation of available LexisNexis property data was used to determine states most likely suffering from the largest percentage of properties in default. Florida and Nevada experienced the most dramatic decreases in properties in default even though they were ranked first and fourth, respectively, on the list for 2012.

 

 

http://www.realestateeconomywatch.com/2013/09/

Economists Expect Fed to Cut Asset Purchases Next Year | North Salem Real Estate

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Businesses economists surveyed by the National Association of Business Economists believe there is an 80 percent probability the Federal Reserve will reduce its purchase of assets next year and 45 percent believe both purchases of Treasurys and mortgage-backed securities will be reduced this year.  The Fed’s asset purchase program has been keeping mortgage rates are record lows in recent years.

In light of their expectations the purchasing program will decline next year, which is likely to raise mortgage rates substantially, the economists’ expectations for slower home price growth in 2014 relative to 2013.

Home prices are likely to grow 6% in 2013, which is an upward revision from the last NABE survey in May, when panelists suggested a 4.4% increase. Moreover, panelists suggest that home prices will grow at 4.8% in 2014, which is an increase from their 4% estimate for 2014.

They estimate that real residential investment will grow 13.8% in 2013, which is an increase from the 12.1% increase in residential investment in 2012, and that it will grow 14% in 2014. Moreover, housing starts are estimated to grow at 0.95 million units in 2013 and at 1.16 million units in 2014, which is an improvement from 0.78 million housing starts in 2012.

Regarding asset purchases, the economists believe that there is a 45% probability that the Fed will reduce both the monthly purchases of $40 billion in mortgage-backed securities and the monthly purchases of $45 billion in Treasurys and a 19% probability that these monthly purchases of Treasurys and mortgage-backed securities will not be reduced.

They believe that there is a 20% probability that the asset purchases of the $45 billion in Treasurys will be reduced, with no change in the monthly purchases of the mortgage-backed securities; and a 15% probability that the asset purchase of mortgage-backed securities will be reduced, but that the purchases of Treasurys will be unchanged.

 

 

http://www.realestateeconomywatch.com/2013/09/

Facebook takes on Twitter with new tools to give TV broadcasters access to its user data | Mt Kisco Real Estate

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Facebook is rolling out a set of tools designed to help media and news organizations better integrate Facebook conversations into their broadcasts, such as displaying public posts in real-time of relevant topics. Starting today, the social network company is making available its Keyword Insights API and the Public Feed API — both are being made available to a small group of partners initially.

Screen Shot 2013 09 09 at 12.06.05 AM Facebook takes on Twitter with new tools to give TV broadcasters access to its user data

Conversations are certainly happening on Facebook and the company has been paying attention. In data it published today, it was revealed that between 88 and 100 million people in the US were logged into the site during television primetime hours of 8pm and 11pm.

What do these new tools do exactly? Facebook says that with the Keyword Insights API, news organizations can aggregate the total number of posts relating to a specific term within a given time frame. It can also display results based on gender, age, and location — and all done anonymously.

The Public Feed API gives access to a real-time feed of public posts for a specific word. Only those posts made public from Pages and Profiles with the “Follow” option enabled are available with the API.

Facebook is certainly mimicking what Twitter is already doing with news and media organizations. Just watch any show on networks like NBC, CBS, ABC, USA, Comedy Central, and the likes and you’ll see that they’re already integrating social media content, specifically tweets.

With Facebook launching hashtag support to unify topical conversations, along with testing trending topics, it wouldn’t be far-fetched to believe that producers would dive in to integrate discussions that people are saying right into their shows. For some, importing user comments from Facebook might be better than on Twitter — there aren’t any character limitations, opening it up hearing more significant discussions instead of trying to interpret the statement based on 140 characters.

 

 

http://thenextweb.com/facebook/2013/09/09/