Daily Archives: October 25, 2013

Peaking Prenups Prove Housing is Hot | Bedford Hills NY Homes

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Nearly two-thirds of divorce attorneys report an increase in prenuptial agreements over the past three years.  Protection of the increased value of property was the leading asset spouses want protected.

A clear majority of 63% of divorce attorneys cited an increase in prenuptial agreements during the past three years in a recent survey of American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyer (AAML) members.  The top three items most commonly covered in prenups throughout this period of time were noted as “protection of separate property” by 80% of respondents, “alimony/spousal maintenance” at 77% and “division of property” with a 72% total.  Interestingly enough, 46% also noted an increase in women initiating requests for these agreements.

“As the financial and real estate markets continue to improve, there is a greater awareness of risk to possibly sharing these gains in a divorce,” said Alton Abramowitz, president of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers.  “The trend of divorcing spouses fighting over which one has to take possession of a devalued home and other depreciated assets appears to be coming to an end.”

Overall, 63% of AAML members have cited an increase in the number of prenuptial agreements during the past three years, while 36% stated no change, and 1% saw a decrease.  In addition to the top three prenup items selected, the next three most common coverage areas picked by respondents were “protection of the increase of value in separate property” at 62% followed by “inheritance rights” at 39% with 23% choosing “community property division.”

 

 

http://www.realestateeconomywatch.com/2013/10/peaking-prenups-prove-housing-is-hot/

US Default Seen Pushing Housing to the Brink | Katonah NY Real Estate

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Housing largely dodged a bullet on the government shut down that went into effect October 1, the pending default, however, is an entirely different matter. As the October 17 default deadline nears, knuckle in the housing industry are turning white.

All the progress that the housing recovery has achieved since the crashed could be erased overnight if the US defaults on its debts, according to the president of the National Association of Realtors. But Gary Thomas is not the only housing leader raising alarms and the debt default clock ticks down.

In testimony before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, NAR president Gary Thomas said that unless the debt ceiling is raised in “a timely manner,” the country would face a recession that would wipe out the recent progress made in home prices, home sales and new residential construction.

Robert Dietz, Vice President for Tax and Market Analysis for the National Association of Homebuilders, says the primary effect of a default or downgrade would be increased uncertainty. “Home buyers are making purchase of a capital asset that they will own, on average, for ten years. Given other sources of uncertainty, particularly from the labor market, the largest impact from a failure to reach a deal that increases the debt ceiling would be to further increase concern and anxiety of families attempting to make long-term economic decisions.

“What the housing market needs now is more, not less, certainty, with respect to housing policy and access to capital via the mortgage markets. This will help stabilize housing prices, thereby helping households repair balance sheets and set the stage for more robust economic growth.”

Writing in Friday’s New York Times, economist Paul Krugman argues that a default would create a shock to the economy on a scale of the Great Recession or the Housing Crash of 2007. The default would put the burden of paying interest on Treasury bonds. Currently the cash-flow deficit is a bit more than 4 percent of GDP, which would have to be closed immediately and the government would then fall even further behind on its bills, he says.

“So, when did we last see a spending shock this big? As it happens, we’re looking at something just about the size of the post-bubble housing bust, which was also about 4 percent of GDP:

NAR’s Lawrence Yun describes a similar scenario. “Should the government decide to pay bills other than interest obligations, we can expect interest rates on Treasury bonds to rise as investors look for more return to compensate for the increased risk of their not getting paid. And if that happens, mortgage rates will rise, because mortgage rates follow Treasury rates.”

Yun says home sales can be expected to drop by 350,000 to 450,000 units for each 100 basis-point rise in mortgage rates.

 

 

 

Westchester County Executive Candidate Debate Moved To Larger Venue | South Salem Real Estate

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The county executive debate between incumbent Rob Astorino (R) and New Rochelle Mayor Noam Bramson (D) is set to attract a large crowd and officials are changing the venue to accommodate.

The debate, hosted by the Westchester County Association, is being moved to the Atrium at 1133 Westchester Avenue in White Plains, officials said. The debate is set to begin at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 16 and will feature Astorino and Bramson as well as moderator Steve Scott, host of WCBS 880’s “Eye on Politics.”

“Due to overwhelming demand, we’ve moved the Candidate Debate hosted by the Westchester County Association to a larger venue,” representatives said in the release. “The results of this hotly contested race will have far-reaching implications for Westchester, New York and beyond; this is an opportunity for the business community and general public to get up to speed on the candidates’ positions and initiatives that will drive economic development in the region.”

The Astorino-Bramson debate is also sponsored by the Building Contractors Association of Westchester and Mid-Hudson Valley, the Construction Industry Council of Westchester and Hudson Valley and the RPW Group, according to the release.

 

The Oct. 16 debate between incumbent County Executive Rob Astorino and New Rochelle mayor Noam Bramson has been moved to a larger venue. Photo Credit: Suzanne Samin, File Photo

 

 

 

8 Facebook Apps to Enhance Your Facebook Page | Waccabuc Realtor

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Do you want to add more function and flair to your Facebook page?

Would you like to add storefront, generate leads or promote something special on a Facebook tab within your page?

In this article I’ll reveal Facebook applications that can help you easily add functionality to your Facebook page.

How Do Facebook Apps Work?

Before we get started, let’s review how Facebook apps (also known as custom tabs on Facebook) pages work.

Custom tabs are installed manually on your Facebook page and show up underneath the cover photo. If you’re visiting a page that has more than four tabs, you can click the down arrow on the right side of the tab cover photos to reveal them all.

Custom tabs appear under your cover photo.

 

There are four standard Facebook apps that come with every page—Photos, Events, Videos and Likes—and any other apps you add are created by a third-party developer (not Facebook).

Many of the apps are designed on the app website after you sign up, and then installed later onto your Facebook page when you’re ready.

Things You Should Know

There are a few important details about Facebook apps that will help with your design. The app width is 810 pixels. If you’re going to create graphics that go all the way across the tab, you’ll need to keep the graphic to that width to prevent scroll bars on your tab.

The graphic can be as long as you want it to be, but keep in mind that it should be shorter than around 500 pixels to appear “above the fold” on most computer screens.

You’ll probably also want to design a custom tab cover photo to draw attention to the tab. The dimensions of the tab cover photo are 111 pixels wide by 74 pixels tall.

Also note that some tabs will not appear on mobile devices. Some are “mobile-ready”; meaning they have a separate URL that they direct people on mobile devices to so they can see the content on that custom tab.

If you’ve been out there searching in the blogosphere, you may have come across Welcome Pages, where the content of your Facebook page could be “hidden” until the user clicks the Like button. That function no longer exists, but you can still hide the content of a Tab until someone clicks the Like button.

Hiding part of the content of your custom Tab is called “like-gating” or “fan-gating“, meaning that someone has to like your page (be your fan) before they can see the good content. This can work especially well for contests or sweepstakes on Facebook. By doing this, you can ensure that the person is a Fan before getting access to the contest entry form.

There are a lot of other apps available that provide a variety of features, like easily bringing in your Pinterest boards, running a contest or adding your blog posts.

These apps are more like a blank canvas, where you can do anything you can do on a website by either using custom templates to get you started or custom-designing something from scratch.

Without further ado, let’s dive into the top 8 apps (in alphabetical order) with some notes about each one.

 

 

http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/facebook-apps-for-custom-tabs/

Historic Firehouse-Turned-Modern Mansion Wants $5.25M | Cross River Real Estate

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28 images

Location: San Francisco, Calif. Price: $5,250,000 The Skinny: Renovated from 2006 to 2008 into a breathtaking modern home, Historic Firehouse 44 in San Francisco’s Noe Valley is an undeniably impressive residence, but the 5,814-square-foot house has still had quite a bit of trouble landing buyers in the past. It was listed for $6.375M in May 2008, and, after numerous price reductions, finally sold in 2011 for $4.05M. Now, the new owner has already returned it to market, with a brand new asking price—$5.25M. The house, which was, pre-renovation, home to artists Mark Adams and Beth Van Hoesen, now features a four-story atrium with glass-and-wood stairs, an elevator, “numerous bars,” and original firehouse details, including a pole and rear metal staircase. The whole place is also wired with sound, lighting, and media systems. You can see a lot more of the house, and listen to some dramatic piano music, in this video tour.

 

 

http://curbed.com/archives/2013/10/03/historic-firehouseturnedmodern-mansion-wants-525m.php

Stabilizing September Prices and Inventories Build Market Equilibrium | North Salem Homes

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In September, inventories have returned to levels of a year ago and the buying season ended with the greatest price gains seen in years, according to realtor.com’s September trend report.

Many markets in California, Arizona and Nevada–plus Detroit–that were the center of the housing crisis now appear to be well on the road to a robust recovery. More than 20 percent of the markets covered by realtor.com reported exceptionally large year over year list price gains of 12 percent or more and exceptionally large inventory shortages.  As both prices and inventories become more balanced, affordability and availability will improve, creating better market conditions for both sellers and buyers, realtor.com said.

The recovery has yet to make an impact on markets where prices are the same or lower than they were last year at this time. Representing 20 percent of realtor.com’s markets, these are located in the Midwest, South and Northeast, including Cleveland, Trenton, Hartford, Cincinnati and Buffalo.  The impact of a weak economy continues to takes in toll in many of these markets but most have put in place the foundation for future growth.  Both inventories and age of inventories are down compared to a year ago.

The recovery is having an extraordinary impact on the heartland.  A number of major markets that didn’t suffer the brunt of the housing crisis nor face difficult local economic conditions had in an amazing buying season.  Chicago, Boise, Portland OR, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Ann Arbor, Washington, DC, Nashville, Houston, Denver and Corpus Christie have all achieved price appreciation of 12 percent or higher over last year.

 

 

http://www.realestateeconomywatch.com/2013/10/stabilizing-september-prices-and-inventories-build-market-equilibrium/

The 10 Most Annoying Types of People on Facebook | Mt Kisco Realtor

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Social media amplifies humanity.

Have you ever been to a barbecue and had to listen to someone prattle on  about themselves for hours? Attended a cocktail party and had the most  intriguing conversation with a tall dark stranger? Been invited to a friends  place and viewed so many baby photos that you felt compelled to have a  vasectomy!

Facebook, Twitter and social media take those conversations and multiply it  via the crowd. Facebook is insights, conversations and news on  steroids.

It  is a reflection of what makes us human, except that it is visible to  billions of people. We are different, fun and sometimes boring. It is a  kaleidoscope of emotions, events and the bizarre. That’s why we tune into  Facebook. Its a voyeur’s paradise. Never dull and often entertaining.

So what entices us to reveal our lives online? Is it narcissism, vanity or  just wanting to get something off our chest. Annoyance is noticed and often  shared.

Here are the results of a fun survey to find the 10 most annoying types of  people on Facebook.

The 10 most annoying people on facebook

Infographic source: Lovemyvouchers.co.uk

Who and what annoys you on Facebook?

 

 

 

Read more at http://www.jeffbullas.com/2013/10/15/the-10-most-annoying-types-of-people-on-facebook/#88WiemX4jwB425JI.99