Daily Archives: October 11, 2013

Undervalued Investment Markets Won’t Last Long | Bedford NY Real Estate

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That’s how Ingo Winzer, president and founder of Local Market Monitor, sees the future of rental markets for investors, but “investing in rental properties will be an attractive proposition for many years because of the increasing numbers of people who can’t afford to be homeowners.”

LMM’s third quarter ranking of best 300 rental markets, co-sponsored by HomeVestors, also known as the “We Buy Ugly Houses®” company, found that the best opportunities are in the South, where five markets made the ranking’s top ten: n the Top 10, including Atlanta (number three), Fort Worth, Texas (number five), Little Rock (number six), Orlando (number eight), Jacksonville, Florida (number nine) and Baton Rouge (number 10).

Other top 10 markets are Las Vegas (number one), Columbus, Ohio (number two), Indianapolis (number four), and Stockton, California (number seven).

“The markets in the Top 10 listing all had strong job growth during the past year, and in many cases, strong home price appreciation, too, but are still undervalued by at least 15 percent,” said Winzer. “Even Las Vegas, where prices jumped as high as18 percent, remains 31 percent undervalued.”

David Hicks, HomeVestors co-president, noted that risk of investing in all markets across the country has decreased sharply.  “Only six of the markets in the top 100 list are ranked as “speculative,” down from 13 during the last quarter.  The others are ranked as either “low risk” or “medium risk”, since there are many different types of investment out there. Looking for the top Canadian Stocks to invest in for a winning portfolio? Most successful investors website is https://www.stocktrades.ca/. If you have a smaller account, you can find stocks under $1 to invest in.

The “speculative” markets include Los Angles, Gary, Providence, Buffalo, Toledo and Cleveland.  “Most of these markets have higher than average unemployment rates, but have other factors such as undervalued home prices that make them attractive, albeit more risky,  investments,” Hicks said.

“Even though most local real estate markets have rounded the corner, opportunities for investment remain plentiful because home values in many markets are well below the level that local incomes can support,” Winzer added. “In these undervalued markets, both rents and home values will be increasing rapidly as the local economy improves and demand for housing runs up against the fact that there has been very little new construction in recent years.”

Hicks said that the pace of growth the company is experiencing reflects the strong housing market.  “Our housing purchases have steadily increased over the past eight months and are on track to grow 60 percent over 2012. The interest in the housing market is also reflected in franchise sales – where we’re on track to add more new franchises than any year in our history.”

http://www.realestateeconomywatch.com/2013/09/undervalued-investment-markets-won%e2%80%99t-last-long/

9 Strategies for Self-Sufficient Living | Pound Ridge NY Homes

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When you grow your own food, generate your own energy, and work from a home  office or farm for your livelihood, the so-called “costs of living” largely  disappear. You become untethered to the work-earn-spend consumer economy and  thrive, instead, in a more locally centered, self-sufficient economy in which  monetary income is less essential for a rich life. Making this self-sufficiency  dream a reality has been our goal since my wife, Lisa Kivirist, and I moved to  our 5 1/2-acre farmstead in southwestern Wisconsin in 1996.

Self-reliant living can take many forms. You can provide your own food and  energy and be your own barber, repair person, home-school teacher, house  cleaner, painter, and child care provider. By running a home-based business, you  can generate the money needed to obtain essential products or services you’re  unable to produce for yourself.

Transitioning to self-sufficient living requires research and planning. But  have no fear: You can get started today, wherever you live and with whatever  resources and skills you already have.

The Journey to Self-Reliance Begins

Today, our one-third-acre garden meets about 70 percent of our food needs. A  wind turbine and a photovoltaic system generate a surplus of electricity  annually. Our home-based enterprises include running a bed-and-breakfast named  Inn Serendipity, consulting for various nonprofit organizations, and writing  books about sustainable living. A modest farmhouse houses both our family and  our businesses. But it didn’t start out this way.

We moved to our farm from Chicago, newly married and eager to begin our quest  to reclaim the skills and services that we had been buying from others for so  long. We wanted to break free from our fossil fuel addiction and sequester more  carbon dioxide than we emit each year. We knew these goals would take years to  achieve. Here are the strategies we have followed to make our vision a  reality.

1. Be Frugal

Practice financial discipline by making a commitment to frugality. Forgoing  luxuries, such as satellite TV and smartphone service, allows us to live below  our means. We’ve never owned a new car or carried a balance on our credit  card.

Why rent a movie when you can get it free from the library? “Shop” at  clothing swaps, where you drop off the clothes your children have outgrown while  picking up something new for yourself. We chop cords of firewood with neighbors  and enjoy cooking with our Sun Oven solar cooker. The combined savings from  these creative ways to share and use free resources, along with our food and  energy production, allowed us to pay off our mortgage.

With our mortgage retired, we can live on about $10,000 a year. When we do  purchase items, they’re high-quality and durable — many with warranties for a  decade or more — and are bought from cooperatives when possible. As for  retirement, why would we want to stop what we love doing?

2. Think Long-Term and Stay Put

Commit to a permanent location and develop a long-term vision. You will want  to have a practical plan that you can achieve over a time period appropriate to  your current stage of life. Taking on a project in your 50s that would require  years to see through is not the same as doing so in your 20s. Be reasonable and  honest with yourself regarding your abilities and project time frames.

We plotted our journey to self-reliance by the decade, leaving ample time to  figure out projects big and small, from how to plant potatoes to how to take  advantage of renewable energy incentives that made our home energy systems  possible. We also factored in time to persevere when setbacks occurred — which  they did, such as when a severe windstorm damaged all three blades on our wind  turbine. We typically only take on one or two major self-sufficiency projects a  year.

3. Get Back to Basics

Deciding where to start your journey can feel overwhelming. If you’re like we  were — strung out on lattes, hunkered down in cubicles at stressful big-city  jobs, living off biweekly paychecks — simply finding the time to think through  the how, where and when is challenging. Raising kids  and paying a mortgage or student loans can add to the stress.

 

 

 

Read more: http://www.motherearthnews.com/print.aspx?id={2A393461-2F16-4817-B2C4-914EB682EA48}#ixzz2hQ4dgvr0

17 Social Media Books That Will Make You a Smarter Marketer | Bedford Corners Homes

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Are you looking for a few good books to improve your marketing?

Wondering what books your peers are raving about?

Look no further.

We asked our authors to share the social media marketing books they’ve recently enjoyed reading–ones with useful relevant takeaways.

In this article, you’ll discover 17 books to help you improve your social media marketing recommended by social media pros.

#1: Your Customer Creation Equation

andy crestodinaAndy Crestodina

I love Brian Massey’s Your Customer Creation Equation. It’s a concise, clear-sighted overview of visitors and actions. It explains the how and why of conversions and measurement. And it’s all done in simple terms with relevant examples.

your customer creation equationBrian also covers social media, but in the context of conversion. He reminds us that conversion does not necessarily lead to action. So he encourages us to take a practical approach to social media by focusing either on conversation or content, depending on our business. Smart!

There are different types of websites with different types of visitors. Each type has its own “formula.” You need to first understand what type of site you have before you start work in the “laboratory.”

The key to optimizing your conversion rate is experimentation. Noticing a theme? Brian even calls himself a “Conversion Scientist.” He’s clearly a strong advocate of testing.

Andy Crestodina, principal, strategic director at Orbit Media.

#2: Epic Content Marketing

ian clearyIan Cleary

We talk a lot about producing content, but are we producing the right type of content, targeted at the right audience, delivered in the right format that accomplishes our business goals?

epic content marketing

Joe Pulizzi’s book, Epic Content Marketing, is essential reading if you’re a content marketer. It takes you through all of the necessary phases of producing a content marketing strategy. Without a clear content marketing strategy, you’ll end up producing content for the sake of content and it won’t achieve your business goals.

“Content marketing is the marketing and business process for creating and distributing content to attract, acquire, and engage a clearly defined and understood target audience with the objective of driving profitable customer action.” – Joe Pulizzi

One of my key takeaways from this book is the importance of a content segmentation grid. This is a combination of the stages of your sales process and the content required at each stage.

As Joe says, it’s not a case of just producing content as a ‘spray and pray’ approach similar to advertising. You need to produce content that is relevant for each stage of the buying cycle.

Ian Cleary, founder of RazorSocial.

john lee dumasJohn Lee Dumas

Epic Content Marketing by Joe Pulizzi does an incredible job of helping entrepreneurs define their content niche.

I believe not having a defined content niche is what derails most entrepreneurial efforts. With this book, I was able to define EntrepreneurOnFire’s niche in a powerful way.

John Lee Dumas, founder and host of EntrepreneurOnFire.

#3: Spreadable Media

lisa peytonLisa Peyton

Spreadable Media, by Henry Jenkins, Sam Ford and Joshua Green, is a must-read for any marketer who has been tasked with creating ‘viral’ content. Henry Jenkins, known as the father of Transmedia Storytelling, and the other authors do an amazing job of breaking down the fallacies surrounding the concept of ‘virality,’ and instead offer up the concept of ‘spreadability.’

spreadable media

The book is a refreshing bird’s-eye view of how to make content that connects with your audience. Instead of viewing audience members as passive consumers of content, Spreadable Media suggests that the audience plays an active role in the distribution and meaning of your content.

This might make some marketing managers uncomfortable, but the authors lay out strong evidence that passive consumers are a thing of the past. The companies that connect with the audience and empower them to improve and reuse content are the companies that are cutting through the noise.

They also delve into tactics, including information and how new technology can contribute to ‘spreadability.’ They outline several factors including content availability, portability, reusability and relevance that help create the foundation for spreadable content.

Lisa Peyton, leader in the field of digital marketing and editor at ThoroughlyModernMarketing.com.

 

 

 

http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/17-social-media-marketing-books/

Rising home prices boost household net worth | #Chappaqua NY Real Estate

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According to The Wall Street Journal, net worth of U.S. families hit $1.3 trillion in the second quarter as rising homes values and gains in the stock market lifted American’s balance sheets.

U.S. households’ net worth — the value of homes, stocks and other investments minus debts and other liabilities — climbed 1.8% to $74.82 trillion in the April-to-June period, according to a  Federal Reserve report released Wednesday. That is the highest level since records began in 1945, without adjusting for inflation.

                    Source: WSJ

Analyst forecasts a 20% drop in home prices | Armonk NY Homes

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Mark Hanson, a Menlo Park, Calif., real estate analyst, blogger and founder of consultancy firm Hanson Advisers, may be the only bear left in the housing market, predicting a decline of 20% in housing prices in the next 12 months.

Hanson says private-equity firms caused about 50 percent of the price appreciation in cities like Phoenix and Las Vegas, and generally overpaid by 10 percent to 20 percent, according to his calculations.

With gains of more than 35 percent since the crash for properties in Las Vegas, Phoenix and other of the hardest-hit regions, these vultures will begin to lose interest, he figures.

However, he does not stand completely alone.

Less bearish real estate experts such as Stan Humphries, chief economist at Zillow and a Hanson fan, also see signs of froth.

“There’s a strong distinction between a normal slowdown and the wheels coming off the housing recovery,” says Humphries. “That’s where I depart from Mark’s take.”

                    Source: Bloomberg