Category Archives: Chappaqua

Reno market better than rest of Nevada | Chappaqua NY Real Estate

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After years of experiencing the lows of the real estate market, many industry professionals expressed hope that better days are on the horizon.

“The market continues to improve,” said Joel Sarmiento, senior vice president of community outreach regional manager for Wells Fargo. “There continues to be new legislation that is coming. It’s going to be a while before we are through this whole entire thing, but there’s light at the end of the tunnel.”

More than 100 gathered for the State of the Housing Market event hosted by the Reno chapter of the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals on Friday at the Atlantis Casino Resort Spa. Sarmiento was one of the speakers.

Even though Nevada continues to top distressed property lists and hundreds of thousands of people have sought help to stay in their homes, it was much worse two to three years ago, experts said. The state seems to hit bottom, and the Reno-Sparks region is recovering, they said.

“The state in Reno is better than what we see nationally and also better than what we are seeing in the entire state of Nevada,” Sarmiento said. “It is one of those markets that is performing at a much higher level than the state of Nevada and, say, Las Vegas, for example.”

About 95 percent of Wells Fargo’s home loan customers are current on their mortgages in the area, he said during the presentation.

Northern Nevada is doing better because homeowner legislation has slowed down the foreclosure process more in Southern Nevada in comparison, he said.

Wells Fargo, the national’s largest home lender and a sponsor of Friday’s event, has invested in technology and hired more people to handle increased activity and are seeing improvements in the time it takes to process short sales and foreclosures, he said.

Meanwhile, home prices still are well below the peak of the market in the mid-2000s and more people are entering the home-buying market. The low existing homes for sale inventory is driving bids higher and moving others to sell their homes.

 

Reno market better than rest of Nevada | Reno Gazette-Journal | rgj.com.

Lane Closures, Detours Begin Monday For Route 100-C In Mount Pleasant | Chappaqua Realtor

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Work on the Route 100C bridge over the Sprain Brook Parkway will cause lane closures and detours beginning Monday.

All eastbound lanes on Grasslands Road over the bridge will be closed to traffic, with detours onto Route 9A, Brighton Avenue and Route 100.

No westbound lane closures are planned during the project.

The bridge work is expected to last through August 30.

Residents should expect traffic delays and use alternate routes whenever possible.

 

Lane Closures, Detours Begin Monday For Route 100-C In Mount Pleasant | The Chappaqua Daily Voice.

Home construction climbs 5% in May: McGraw Hill | Chappaqua Real Estate

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At a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $495.7 billion, new construction starts in May advanced 5% from April, according to McGraw Hill Construction.

Much of the uptick came from nonresidential building, which registered moderate growth for the second month in a row after its sluggish performance at the outset of 2013.

During the first five months of 2013, total construction starts on an unadjusted basis were reported at $187.6 billion, down 3% from last year.

Residential building advanced 3% in May to $206.8 billion.

Single-family housing also edged up 2% in May, the company noted.

The rate of activity for single-family housing continues to be high by recent standards, with May up 26% from the average monthly pace during 2012.

By geography, single-family housing in May revealed gains in the Midwest, up 6%; the West, up 5%, and the South Atlantic, up 2%, respectively.

 

Home construction climbs 5% in May: McGraw Hill | HousingWire.

What is Your Posting Rhythm to Social Media? | Chappaqua Realtor

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Last week I was on a panel discussing social media at a conference here in Australia and a question from the floor asked about how often is ideal to post to Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest?

I was fascinated to hear the range of answers we gave as panelists and I thought it might be a good discussion to have here on ProBlogger.

What frequency do you publish to the social networks that you’re active on?

I’ll kick things off:

Facebook Pages: On the dPS Facebook page I try to update 3-4 times a day with posts spread out over a 24 hour cycle. I find if I do it too much more regularly that the posts don’t get as much engagement.

Twitter: On my ProBlogger Twitter account I find I can post at a higher frequency on Twitter as tweets tend to have a shorter life. Having said that most of my tweets are done live when I have something to say (and time to tweet).

Tweets go up automatically when I post a new post here on the blog or when a new job goes up on the Job Boards and I’ll often share another link to a blog post 12 or so hours later. The rest of my tweets are more personal/conversational and not scheduled.

Pinterest: on the dPS Pinterest account I’ve employed Jade to update our board.

Google+: My Google+ account is something I don’t update with great frequency. I use it more when I want to test an idea that I’m thinking through, ask a question or share something I’m excited about.

As a result there are days when I might post 2-3 times and then it might be 2-3 days before I post again! My posts there can be as short as a link or up to 2000 words!

LinkedIn: I’m a dismal failure on LinkedIn. Status updates are largely new posts on the blog and automated. I feel like I could improve a lot in this area.

What about you? What’s your posting rhythm on to social media? Do you update them all the same or have different strategies for each one?

 

What is Your Posting Rhythm to Social Media? : @ProBlogger.

Be the go-to luxury specialist in your market | Chappaqua Real Estate

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Do you have what it takes to be the agent who represents the most luxurious properties in your marketplace? While taking classes can help you be better prepared to represent luxury clients, the real key to your success results from your ability to build personal connection.

Recently, I was at a party where a top-producing agent who specializes in luxury properties asked whether agents should be “certified” to sell luxury properties. She went on to answer her own question by saying, “I don’t know a single agent who specializes in the million-dollar-plus price range who needs a certification.” I spent 20 years selling in that price range and I had to agree. None of the luxury agents who worked with me in Los Angeles ever attended a luxury certification class.

When I first moved to Austin, Texas, a local title company asked me to put together a course on how to market luxury properties. Since I had been an active agent in Southern California (Brentwood, Bel Air and Beverly Hills) for almost 20 years and had run the training program for the 4,000-agent Beverly Hills-based Jon Douglas Co., this was second nature for me.

One of the biggest surprises came as I chatted with the agents during the break. Most of them were terrified at the thought of representing a buyer or seller in the $700,000-$800,000 range. A million-dollar listing was absolutely out of the question. Nevertheless, they were hopeful that this class or a certification program would provide the magic bullet that would somehow transform them into luxury agents. Sadly, this underlying lack of confidence would probably be the biggest stumbling block to their success.

In a different class, we had about 50 agents in attendance. One agent arrived in shorts, a Hawaiian shirt and strapless sandals. Nevertheless, I remembering thinking, I’ll bet he’s a luxury agent. When I surveyed the class, he was the only one who had actually sold a property priced at more than $1 million. In fact, he had owned commercial offices both in Beverly Hills and Austin.

– See more at: http://www.inman.com/2013/06/17/be-the-go-to-luxury-specialist-in-your-market/#sthash.VPy7tX2H.dpuf

 

Be the go-to luxury specialist in your market | Inman News.

June NAHB Homebuilder Confidence Rises To 52 | Chappaqua NY Real Estate

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The NAHB housing market index for June jumped to 52. This is the highest level since April 2006.

This beat expectations for a rise to 45, from 44 in May.

The eight point increase from May to June is the biggest one month gain since August and September of 2002.

A reading over 50 shows that more builders think sales conditions are good rather than poor.

What’s more? All three sub-indices gained in June.

The index gauging current sales conditions climbed eight points to 56. The index measuring future sales expectations climbed from 52 in May to  61 in June — the highest level since March 2006. Finally, the index of prospective buyers traffic increased seven points to 40.

Investors track this index because it is a leading indicator for housing starts. “Today’s report is consistent with our forecast for a 29 percent increase in total housing starts this year, which would mark the first time since 2007 that starts have topped the 1 million mark,” NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe said in a press release.

In recent months it was reported that affordable mortgage rates were helping buyers. But mortgage rates have been rising and while these haven’t impacted purchase applications, they have weighed on refinance applications. Today’s report shows that homebuilders aren’t fazed by the rise in mortgage rates.

The NAHB housing market index is a sentiment index in which respondents rate not just the housing market but also the economy in general.

The index draws on builder perceptions of current single-family home sales and sales expectations for the next six months. It also includes builders’ expectations of traffic of prospective buyers.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/june-nahb-homebuilder-confidence-2013-6#ixzz2WUdofU2t

 

June NAHB Homebuilder Confidence Rises To 52 – Business Insider.

Short-term money and investors dominate real estate market | Chappaqua Real Estate

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The trend in high institutional investor activity isn’t new, but it takes on added relevance as their share of purchases increases, having an “outsized impact on housing prices.” The institutional housing trade is a highly localized phenomenon, particularly relevant in some of the worst-hit markets—the same ones which are experiencing some of the most impressive gains in prices, writes Forbes.

 

Short-term money and investors dominate real estate market | HousingWire.

County Exec Blasts HUD for Changing Terms of Affordable Housing Settlement | Chappaqua Real Estate

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They were talking about an affordable housing “report card” sent by Maurice Jones, secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, last month.

Astorino said the affordable housing allocations given in the report cards are based on a Rutgers study released in 2004 that was never approved by the county. He said the allocations exceed the benchmarks set forth for the county during its affordable housing settlement in 2009 and that the new numbers are an attempt by HUD to force localities to change their zoning.

“The 2004 study, for all intents and purposes, should be thrown out,” Astorino said. “It has nothing to do with the settlement. Nothing. Seven hundred and fifty is the only number that anyone should be talking about.”

In 2006, the Anti-Discrimination Center of Metro New York brought a federal lawsuit that claimed the county failed to live up to its obligation to provide affordable housing and address issues of racial segregation in its housing markets.

That suit eventually led to a $63 million settlement in 2009 that requires the county to see to it that 750 units of affordable housing are built in 31 of the county’s predominantly white communities and to market those units to the nine counties surrounding Westchester.

But Astorino said HUD’s plan in the report cards would require the county to build 5,097 additional affordable housing units. The two largest allocations were 975 affordable housing units for Mount Pleasant and 756 units for Harrison, meaning each town’s individual report card allocation surpasses the settlement’s total, according to Astorino.

Jones wrote another letter to Ken Jenkins, chairman of the Westchester county Board of Legislators, last month refuting Astorino’s claims that HUD is requiring the county to build additional affordable housing units.

“Under paragraph 7 of the Settlement, the County is obligated to ensure the development of “at least” 750 new affordable housing units that affirmatively further fair housing,” Jones wrote. “By its terms, this is a floor, not a ceiling.”

Jones said the Rutgers study, which estimates that the county would need to build nearly 11,000 affordable housing units to meet the regions needs, was used as a starting point

“In any event, HUD is not requiring the County to build this number of units, but to use this study as a tool to examine how the eligible municipalities are contributing to meet the regional needs,” Jones wrote to Jenkins. “Such an examination does not equate to a new funding mandate.”

Joan Maybury, supervisor of the Town of Mount Pleasant, said she wanted to know why HUD sent out the report cards using the Rutgers figures if they really didn’t mean anything.

“The idea that the federal monitor would send a report card beforehand and have it with flaws—in the Town of Mount Pleasant it said we didn’t have any affordable accessory apartment, which is absolutely not true…I think the public deserves a little bit better in regards to communication,” Maybury said.

Astorino said that this was another example of how HUD has continued to ‘move the goalposts’ when it comes to Westchester and is attempting to see how far it can push.

He said the county had 386 units with financing so far, which is well past the goal of 300 units that was set for 2013.

“When I say we’re done, are they going to say no your not, this is going on forever?” Astorino said. “I think this is what we’d like to know.  When we get to 750 units, is it game over? Or do we have ongoing obligations to build more?”

 

County Exec Blasts HUD for Changing Terms of Affordable Housing Settlement – Government – Pleasantville-Briarcliff Manor, NY Patch.

East Hampton Town Attempts to Rein in Drunken Partiers at Beach | Chappaqua Real Estate

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[photo credit: guest of a guest]

So far, East Hampton hasn’t walled off the parking lot, as was mooted in March, but the town board approved restricted parking access at Indian Wells Beach in Amagansett. The party scene was out of control on the beach last summer, with rowdy behavior, urinating in the dunes, and mounds of garbage left behind. The new law would restrict vehicles weighing more than 4 tons, longer than 30 feet or carrying more than eight passengers from parking on Indian Wells Highway, 175 feet south of Bluff Road to the end. Parking will also be prohibited on two roads near Indian Wells Highway from 8AM to 6PM. We’ll see what happens.

 

 

East Hampton Town Attempts to Rein in Drunken Partiers at Indian Wells Beach – drunkhampton – Curbed Hamptons.

Chappaqua’s Bill Clinton To Receive ‘Father Of the Year’ Award | Chappaqua Homes

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As Sunday’s Father’s day approaches, Chappaqua resident and former President Bill Clinton will be honored with “Father of the Year” by the National Father’s Day Council at its 72nd Annual Father of the Year Awards Tuesday afternoon in New York City in a luncheon at the Grand Hyatt Hotel.

Macy’s CEO Terry J. Lundgren will also be honored. Both were deemed with the honor back in January.

“We are extremely honored to have President Clinton accept this award for Father of the Year,” said Dan Orwig, chairman of the National Father’s Day Committee.

“With the profound generosity, leadership and tireless dedication to both his public office and many philanthropic organizations, President Clinton exemplifies the attributes that we celebrate through this award.”

Clinton, whose only child, Chelsea, is now 32 years old and married, was elected President in 1992 and served two terms. His wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, the nation’s former secretary of state. The former president focuses on his William J. Clinton Foundation, which seeks to improve global health, strengthen economies, promote healthier childhoods and protect the environment.

About the National Father’s Day Council: As part of its commitment to support meaningful philanthropies dealing with issues affecting mothers, fathers and children, the National Father’s Day/Mother’s Day Council, Inc., has donated more than $30 million to date to meaningful charities nationwide.

 

Chappaqua’s Bill Clinton To Receive ‘Father Of the Year’ Award Tuesday | The Armonk Daily Voice.