Category Archives: Chappaqua

How to Get Your Executive Team Active in Social Media | Chappaqua Realtor

Leave a reply

As a savvy inbound marketer, you already know thatsocial media is a must-have in your marketing strategy. You’ve spent time looking at what channels work best for your company, creating the best content you can for those outlets, and aligning the social media goals to the business’ bottom line. You live and breathe social media every day on the job.

But that’s not true for everyone else in your organization. Not everyone is sold on the importance of social media — never mind manage their own presence. What about that VP down the hall with tons of killer industry knowledge or that executive you know who spends hours talking to customers? These executives may not be active in social media just yet, but they should be.

This is where you come in. If you think there are executives in your company who could add credibility to what you’re already doing, it’s time to get them on board.

Why Should Your C-Suite Be in Social Media?

Often, executives may feel like there’s not much for them to do in social media. They hired a social media manager to watch over the company’s presence, so why would they need to be in social media as well? Though some executives at your company may have already made up their minds about their social media participation (or lack thereof), it’s incredibly important to have them in social media.

Having a presence in social media gives executives the opportunity to stay relevant with industry trends, engage with your prospects and customers, and show that they stand by and believe in your brand. By not listening and participating in social media, executives are missing out on numerous opportunities to improve your business. And ultimately, growing your business is every executive’s objective.

How to Get Your Executive Team in Social Media

Getting executives in social media isn’t as simple as signing up for a Twitter handle and asking them to tweet. Instead, you’ve got to be strategic if you want to get on board. By following these five steps, you can develop a socially savvy executive team.

1) Pick the right executives for the job. 

Not every executive is ready to dive headfirst into social media — and that’s okay. Instead of proclaiming that all executives must start tweeting immediately, start off with a select few that you know would be successful in social media if you were to show them the ropes. Think about who would be a good advocate for your brand and have the potential to be a thought leader. Also, see how active they are in social media already. You may want to check out LinkedIn first to see who’s active already, since executives prefer LinkedIn to any other social site. This will give you a good indication of who to approach about helping build your brand in social media.

After you understand who’s been up to what, it’s time to think about your approach. Asking an executive who isn’t that familiar with Twitter or Facebook to jump right in isn’t going to work. First, they need to get an understanding of what’s happening on social media for your brand.

 

How to Get Your Executive Team Active in Social Media.

5 Top Things Today’s Home Buyers Want | Chappaqua NY Real Estate

Leave a reply

Many people shopping for real estate today are younger than previous generations of home buyers, and they’re extremely tech savvy. They grew up with smartphones, apps, and Google searches. And they want to use technology not only in their search for a home but throughout the home itself.

A recent survey by Better Homes & Gardens Real Estate shows that 77 percent of Gen X & Gen Y home buyers want their homes “equipped with the technological capabilities they have grown accustomed to.” And it doesn’t stop there. This new generation of home buyers is “rewriting the rules to home ownership and reinterpreting traditional norms to fit their values,” says Better Homes & Gardens Real Estate.

These aren’t your standard-issue young home buyers from 30 or 40 years ago, who were often married couples looking for a starter home in the suburbs to raise a family. Today, single women make up a large percentage of first-time buyers, as do gay couples and the always-connected mobile professional.

As the home buyer evolves, so does the home. Here are five major shifts in homes you can expect to see today and in the coming years.

home theater

1. Man Caves and Smart Homes

The media room or “man cave” emerged in real estate marketing a few years back. Many buyers now prefer high-tech rooms with surround sound, large-screen TV’s, and the most up-to-date A/V equipment to the coveted formal dining room of a generation’s past.

But some aren’t limiting technology to just one room. They’re transforming an entire property into a “smart home” with home automation systems.

At a recent Maple Ridge, N.J. open house, the real estate agent demonstrated the features of the home automation system to excited buyers. With one tap on a touch screen, the owner of that home could remotely lock/unlock doors to let in their kids from school, automatically turn on the A/C or heat before they leave work, or monitor the family dog via webcam.

Given how technology is only going to be more important in our lives, transforming a home into a “smart home” is likely to be a good investment.

Carrie Bradshaw closet

2. Carrie Bradshaw Closets

In the first Sex and the City movie, Carrie Bradshaw excitedly tours her future Manhattan apartment with Mr. Big — and is woefully disappointed at the tiny closet space. He surprises her by dramatically remodeling the cramped space into a dream closet, with glowing, glass-enclosed sub-closets.

That 2008 movie raised the bar and set the tone for closets. Today, the walk-in closet is a must-have on many buyers’ wish list. Some homeowners are paring down a four-bedroom home to three by transforming one bedroom into an oversized walk-in closet. It’s a far cry from the Victorian era, when bedroom closets were often the size of a coat closet today.

A large closet will probably never go out of style. If you intend to expand a closet or bedroom into a grand walk-in closet, just be careful not to overly customize it. The more specific you get with your taste, the fewer people your closet will appeal to when you go to sell later.

Home office

3. Home Offices

Even though a few companies (most notably Yahoo!) are instituting a ban on working from home, most encourage it. And so, in our always-on culture, many people entering the real estate market are tethered to email well into the evening hours and on weekends.

A home office tops this buyer’s wish list. Depending on the number of bedrooms, some will create a home office with built-in desks, shelving and cabinets. The customized home office with built-ins could deter some buyers, however, who feel they’ve lost a bedroom or other space. But many prefer to have one place dedicated to their laptops, printers and work-related stuff. (A dedicated home office is better for tax purposes, too). Either way, try to make your home office as appealing to the next buyer as it is to you. And keep in mind that, provided you don’t create a built-in a desk or bookshelf, the space can easily be reverted back to a bedroom.

hardwood floor

4. Hardwood Floors

If you walk into a home that hasn’t been on the market for decades, you’ll probably see a lot of wall-to-wall carpeting. This was common in the mid 20th century. Not only did carpeting help reduce heating bills, it was seen as physically comforting and less sterile.

Fast forward 50 years, a time when most buyers prefer gleaming hardwood floors. Hardwood floors make a space feel less confined and give it a new, clean feeling. No matter how many times the carpet has been cleaned Top Carpet Cleaning Services from Super Kleen, there’s something about stepping on someone else’s carpet with your bare feet that turns off today’s buyers.

If you see a home you love, with wall-to-wall carpeting you don’t love, ask the agent what’s underneath it. You might be surprised to find a hardwood floor that, with some sanding and polishing, will give the home that updated, lighter look you want.

community pool

5 Top Things Today’s Home Buyers Want | Zillow Blog.

Refi apps tumble for third week | Chappaqua NY Real Estate

Leave a reply

Mortgage applications plummeted once again, falling 8.8% from the week prior, the Mortgage Bankers Association posted.

Refinancing and purchase applications did little to revive the decline suffered last week.

The refinance index tumbled 12%, the largest single week drop in refinance applications this year, from the previous week to the lowest level since December 2012.

For the second week in a row, the seasonally adjusted purchase index dropped 3%, the industry trade group said.

“Refinance applications fell for the third straight week bringing the refinance index to its lowest level since December 2012 as mortgage rates increased to their highest level in a year,” said Mike Fratantoni, MBA’s vice president of research and economics.

He explained, “Rates rose in response to stronger economic data and an increasing chance that the Fed may soon begin to taper their asset purchases.”

Meanwhile, the refinance share of overall mortgage activity inched down to 71% of total applications, compared to 74% the prior week.

The adjustable-rate mortgage share of activity slightly increased to 5% of all mortgage applications.

The average 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage with a conforming loan balance skyrocketed to 3.90%, the highest rate since May 2012, from 3.78%,

 

 

Refi apps tumble for third week | HousingWire.

Give Me Your Opinion — What Should Be My Next Online Video Course? | Chappaqua Realtor

Leave a reply

In April 50 people signed up to take one of my online video courses that I offer through Udemy.com. A big thank you to those who have signed up for a course. I have enjoyed putting these together, and the feedback I’m getting is that they are helpful and that people are learning a lot by taking them.

Now I need YOUR feedback on what the next courses should be that I develop.

Currently I have these four courses:

Task Analysis Boot Camp Course Logo

Personas & Scenarios Course Logo

Secrets of Intuitive Design Course Logo

Designing For Engagement

I’m working right now on this course:

Great Presenter

which will be ready in a few weeks.

Now the question is, what’s next?

I have a lot of ideas (in fact I have a whole list of courses in the queue, but I haven’t started them). Give me your opinion. What online video courses are you interested in taking that I should consider developing?

 

Give Me Your Opinion — What Should Be My Next Online Video Course? | Weinschenk Institute, LLC.

How to set PPC Marketing Goals | Chappaqua Realor

Leave a reply

What are your PPC marketing goals?

Whether managing PPC marketing yourself or hiring an agency, before you start spending money advertising on search engines, carefully consider what you are trying to achieve.

Of course everyone wants sales but unless you are running an e-commerce site where visitors can buy from you right then and there, you should ask yourself what you expect in return for your PPC marketing investment. Look at how you advertise today, consider what works and what doesn’t and then think about how can you carry a successful sales model into a place where you get to advertise directly to prospects who are already interested in what you are selling.

Let’s review a few basics of Search Engine Pay per Click marketing.

  1. PPC provides any company the opportunity to place ads in front of businesses and individual consumers based upon specific search queries.
  2. It is a pay-to-play bidding platform that rewards companies who are willing to pay more and/or dedicate more time with better ad placement and performance.
  3. Ads positioned at the top of the search results page perform better than ads appearing elsewhere.
  4. When an ad is displayed on the screen for a person who uses a search engine to type a search query, it is called an impression. Impressions are free but in order to get them you must be willing to pay  more than your competitor.
  5. Pay per click… you only pay when someone clicks on your ad.
  6. What you pay is determined by a number of factors including what your competitors are willing to pay, how well your ad is written, how relevant your ad is, how well your landing page performs and how successful your ad is.
  7. As with all web based marketing, you need a good website. The more informative, relevant, compelling and encouraging your website is for your target audience the better your PPC marketing will perform.

What should my PPC marketing goal be?

This question is important because without a goal, you cannot measure whether your PPC marketing investment is working for you. Over the years, I have created thousands of campaigns for customers and although the goals may be similar, they are never exactly the same for each campaign. Every business need is unique. Every marketing goal should be unique your business needs.

Is your goal to increase sales, get more leads or expand your brand?

If you answered yes (don’t worry, everyone does) you are partly right, but you need more specificity. Lofty goals are great, but in the real world success more often comes from setting goals that are realistic, achievable and measurable. Are you capable of running a four minute mile? What about a marathon? Although most people could never run a four minute mile (the unrealistic goal), most people could finish a marathon if they were willing to make the investment in time, resources, dedication and perseverance. The same holds true for PPC marketing. Just like dedicating yourself to running a marathon, dedicate yourself to investing the time it takes to set goals, learn what works for your unique business and adjust your goals as you move ahead.

What are some examples?

What is your goal when advertising? Is it to put your ad in front of people who are in your market and are in need of your services to pick up the phone and call you? What about setting a goal for the number of people you want calling or when you want them to call? Do you put a value on each call? Do you break it down by the type of service they are interested in?

Each business will have their own unique set of PPC goals. Some example search engine PPC goals are:

  1. Track when someone clicks on an ad and completes a lead form.
  2. Keep the cost per conversion from PPC less than $25 each.
  3. PPC should drive 15 new leads per month from my website’s contact form.
  4. PPC should get us 50 call leads per month.
  5. With a small budget, the average cost per click (CPC) cannot exceed $5
  6. My website is not doing well in some organic search results and I want to be sure my business is listed on the first page of Google for those search terms.
  7. Average PPC visitor time on the website is more than the time spent by organic site visitors.
  8. Maintain visibility in search engines along with my key competitors.
  9. Be easily discovered in search engines for a variety of relevant keywords.
  10. Target mobile users only.

 

How to set PPC Marketing Goals | Find and Convert.

Chappaqua Realtor | Responsive Marketing

Leave a reply

Screen Shot 2013-05-18 at 1.01.19 PM
In the beginning, there were products and services, and some were good. Fewer became trusted brands, but those that did enjoyed unquestioned loyalty supported by a simple yet effective marketing engines built to reach people in mass quantity. The formula worked for decades. An empire was built on the shoulders of Madison Avenue and expanded globally. It is an empire, which still exists today, though arguably it’s a diminished version of its former self.

More recently, technology has had it’s own evolutionary process which it’s still going through. Well over a decade ago, when large organizations developed and updated their complex Web properties, the most popular and rigorous process one could follow in development was referred to as “Waterfall”.  Think of this as a descending, linear staircase where one step of the process was completed in full before moving on the next. The methodology was rigorous, but also left little room for tweaking, testing, adapting and improving along the way.

Screen Shot 2013-05-18 at 1.41.52 PM

Responsive Design
Today, digital design and development is often done leveraging the “agile” method of development, which favors smaller, cyclical bursts of development and rapid testing. Start-ups favor this approach as well building not only their tech products but also their business models in a way, which resembles more of an agile philosophy vs. a rigid, sequential approach. Even “large” start-ups like Facebook demonstrate this in how they roll out enhancements to their global platform, often making the changes incrementally, rolling them out with select users and then adjusting based off the data they analyze. Google often works this was as well. If you were to undertake designing and building a digital property today—you would also have to ensure that it would perform across multiple platforms (desktop, tablet, mobile). A popular methodology for developing this way is called “responsive design”—a technique, which leverages code that results in a shape shifting design which auto-magically fits the medium it, is being interacted with in.

Screen Shot 2013-05-18 at 1.19.43 PM
Most Marketing Remains Linear And Unresponsive
Despite the pervasive nature of all manifestations of digital, including social and mobile, much of the marketing emphasis remains dedicated to reaching people in mass, following a tried and true formula for advertising designed to build off consumer insights and craft compelling messages which could be distributed across a myriad of channels (including digital). The approach is designed for the broadcast industrial machine including print, radio and television, which, despite rumors of its demise is likely to stay with us for some time. The problem it poses however is that it is an approach that much like its counterpart in tech development, (Waterfall) is neither nimble nor flexible and isn’t built for rapid change nor does it adapt well beyond the dominant media it was designed for.

Screen Shot 2013-05-18 at 1.31.31 PM

“Content Marketing” Is Disrupting Modern Day Brand Building
CMOs, chief digital officers and brand managers across many organizations are currently grappling with the notion of content used in the context of marketing—inherently they understand that their customers value content, consume it, create it, and share it—and they want in on the action. They also understand that this type of content isn’t often the traditional campaigns they execute for broadcast so they face a dilemma:

What content do consumers value most?

How do they find it?

What gets individuals sharing content with peers?

How does content scale, reaching the right audience at the right time?

How do brands insert themselves into the content ecosystem in ways that bring value back to the brand?

Screen Shot 2013-05-18 at 3.25.25 PM

Responsive Marketing
The solution to the content question lies somewhere between acknowledging that a brand must support both a traditional, linear marketing model in addition to a newer, cyclical construct which is constantly in tune with the current environment and operates in consolidated time frames. Responsive marketing sits at the core of the content evolution that many companies find themselves trying to navigate as they pull together newsrooms,command centers and media operations which are designed to help brands act more like publishers. All of these can be effective in treating the symptoms a brand may exhibit if they possess only competencies in linear forms of marketing, but they do not address the root issue—deconstructing a marketing machine which places the majority of resources on mass marketing will ensure it never gains proficiency in alternate forms of content and media.

A more holistic approach is needed.

 

Logic+Emotion: Responsive Marketing.

Seller financing: an untapped resource for real estate agents | Chappaqua Real Estate

Leave a reply

While the residential real estate market is generally believed to be improving nationwide, some of the residual effects of the Great Recession still affect the ability of real estate agents to facilitate home sales.

Emerging employment opportunities in many parts of the country are bringing workers into new communities. Even though financial institutions have brought reserve levels back to all-time highs within the past few years, banks are unable to fund loans due to restrictive lending criteria.

For buyers, the regulatory pendulum has swung too far. Though fully capable of making payments, many are marked with imperfect credit or low cash reserves as a result of short sales, foreclosures or plummeting values of their prior residences. For sellers, this means a significantly smaller pool of potential buyers, which negatively impacts their home values as well as their financial well-being.

Prime opportunity

According to the Pew Research Center, about 10,000 people will turn 65 every day for the next 17 years. With baby boomers entering retirement at an exponential rate, many are looking to their homes as an additional source of revenue to supplement Social Security or other insufficient income.

Today’s rising home values present a perfect opportunity for sellers to capitalize on their homes’ increasing market values, and savvy real estate agents recognize the prime opportunity that seller financing presents. The trend of tight lending standards combined with willing buyers, sellers and an appreciating housing market is certainly not permanent, so this nontraditional financing option must be quickly leveraged to yield maximum benefit.

– See more at: http://www.inman.com/2013/05/22/seller-financing-an-untapped-resource-for-real-estate-agents/#sthash.glExI8Fd.dpuf

 

Seller financing: an untapped resource for real estate agents | Inman News.

Bernanke Says Premature Tightening Would Endanger Recover | Chappaqua NY Homes

Leave a reply

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said raising interest rates or reducing asset purchases too soon would endanger the recovery as the economy remains hampered by high unemployment and government spending cuts.

“A premature tightening of monetary policy could lead interest rates to rise temporarily but would also carry a substantial risk of slowing or ending the economic recovery and causing inflation to fall further,” Bernanke said today in testimony to the Joint Economic Committee of Congress in Washington.

Bernanke lamented the human and economic costs of anunemployment rate at 7.5 percent nearly four years into the recovery from the deepest recession since the Great Depression, and he said the Fed’s record easing is providing “significant benefits.” His comments echoed remarks by William C. Dudley, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, who said in an interview that it would take three to four months before policy makers will know whether a sustainable recovery is in place.

Fed officials “need to see inflation expectations remain in a desired range, they need to see that the peak home-buying season goes as well as it can, and they need to see that we have absorbed the bulk of the huge fiscal consolidation” before they reduce the pace of purchases from $85 billion a month, said Lou Crandall, chief economist at Wrightson ICAP LLC inJersey City, New Jersey.

Stocks erased an early rally and Treasuries fell after Bernanke said the Fed could “take a step down in our pace of purchases” in the “next few meetings.”

Brady Question

“We’re trying to make an assessment of whether or not we have seen real and sustainable progress in the labor market outlook,” Bernanke said in response to a question from Representative Kevin Brady, the Texas Republican who chairs the committee. “If we see continued improvement and we have confidence that that is going to be sustained, then we could in — in the next few meetings, we could take a step down in our pace of purchases.”

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index fell 0.6 percent to 1,659.54 at 2:54 p.m. in New York. Yields on the U.S. 10-year note rose above 2 percent for the first time since March.

“The market reacts pretty wildly to any hint of exit,” said Michael Hanson, senior economist at Bank of America Corp. in New York. “It’s a small exit and a lot of people are trying to get out of it — like a rock concert.”

“The Fed is not looking to very quickly get out of this,” said Hanson, a former Fed economist. “There’s obviously a few members who want to wrap this up sooner than later, but Bernanke doesn’t seem eager to pull back on QE very soon. He wants to see more evidence that the economy really is moving on a forward path.”

More Progress

Many Fed officials said more progress in the labor market is needed before deciding to slow the pace of asset purchases, according to minutes of their last meeting released after Bernanke’s testimony.

“Most observed that the outlook for the labor market had shown progress” since the bond-buying program began in September, according to the record of the April 30-May 1 gathering released today in Washington. “But many of these participants indicated that continued progress, more confidence in the outlook, or diminished downside risks would be required before slowing the pace of purchases would become appropriate.”

 

Bernanke Says Premature Tightening Would Endanger Recover – Bloomberg.

Ratio of Sold to List Prices Shows Inventory Shortages Driving Price Hikes | Chappaqua NY Real Estate

Leave a reply

The Sold-to-List Price Ratio, one of the leading market indicators for predicting home prices, is helping analysts predict home prices in markets with varying economic condition, shortages of available housing inventory and its impact on home prices. Pro Teck Valuation Services’ May Home Value Forecast (HVF) Update analyzes the Honolulu, Tucson, San Francisco, and Chicago metro areas to determine how the indicator has been useful from a historical perspective and in current market conditions.

“While many were predicting that REO and the ‘shadow inventory’ would keep real estate markets depressed, in reality the shortage of housing inventory has lead buyers to bid more competitively against one another leading to significant home price increases and tighter housing conditions,” said Tom O’Grady, CEO of Pro Teck Valuation Services. “Aside from anecdotal stories, Home Value Forecast shows that one of the most reliable leading indicators to support this theory is the Sold-To- List Price ratio.”

In May’s Home Value Forecast Update, the authors examine how the ratio of the sold price to the listing price (Sold-to-List Price Ratio) typically fluctuates between 92 percent and 98 percent, but in very hot markets can exceed 100 percent. The update takes a historical look (1978 to 2011) at the Honolulu metro Sold-to-List Price Ratio and the annual percent change in the median condominium sold price.

“The Sold-to-Listed Price Ratio has historically lead home prices by approximately six months over the past three real estate cycles and its turning points have been excellent signals for the same in condo prices,” added O’Grady.

In addition, the authors highlight quarterly value back to 1994 for the Tucson, AZ single family market and determine that the Sold-to-List Price Ratio exceeded 100 percent during the bubble period in 2006, which was indicative of a very frenzied market. The authors also demonstrate that the indicator moves directly with the market itself and can be a useful tool for determining if a market is “hot” as in San Francisco or in “normal” conditions as in Chicago, where the market could transition to heated conditions in the coming year.

This month’s Home Value Forecast update also includes a listing of the 10 best and 10 worst performing metros as ranked by its market condition ranking model. The rankings are run for the single family home markets in the top 200 CBSAs on a monthly basis to highlight the best and worst metros with regard to a number of leading real estate market indicators, including: sales/listing activity and prices, months of remaining inventory (MRI), days on market (DOM), sold-to-list price ratio and foreclosure and REO activity.

“Two of the top markets this month are in Nevada (Las Vegas-Paradise and Reno-Sparks), both of which had been very distressed since their respective market peaks in 2005 and 2006. Also, California continues to be well represented on the list by Los Angeles, Oakland, and Sacramento metros,” said Michael Sklarz, Principal of Collateral Analytics and contributing author to Home Value Forecast. “Nashville’s metro area is a new entrant this month. Although the market has a more shallow correction than many of the other markets in the recent recession, it appears to be experiencing improving overall economic conditions and one of the most affordable markets in the U.S. now.”

May’s top CBSAs include:

Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro-Franklin, TN

Sacramento-Arden-Arcade-Roseville, CA

Oakland-Fremont-Hayward, CA

Reno-Sparks, NV

Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI

Las Vegas-Paradise, NV

Warren-Troy-Farmington Hills, MI

Salt Lake City, UT

Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale, CA

Dallas-Plano-Irving, TX

“The bottom ranked metros also represent an interesting mix around the U.S. While all have nine to thirteen Months of Remaining Inventory, many of the indicators are showing positive trends even for the bottom metros area this month,” added Sklarz.

The bottom CBSAs for May were:

El Paso, TX

Shreveport-Bossier City, LA

Akron, OH

Spokane, WA

Chattanooga, TN-GA

Dayton, OH

Peoria, IL

Baltimore-Towson, MD

Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway, AR Rochester, NY

Clarksville, TN-KY

About HomeValueForecast.com

 

 

Ratio of Sold to List Prices Shows Inventory Shortages Driving Price Hikes | RealEstateEconomyWatch.com.

Astorino: Update On Affordable Housing In Westchester | Chappaqua Real Estate

Leave a reply

In 2009, my predecessor, Andrew Spano and the Board of Legislators signed a legal settlement obligating the county to spend $51.6 million to develop 750 units of fair and affordable housing in 31 so-called eligible or mostly white communities by the end of 2016.

Here’s an update on the status.  Let’s start with the bad news.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is trying to use the settlement to dismantle local zoning laws.  HUD has the misguided view that zoning and discrimination is the same thing.

It is not. Zoning restricts how land is used, not who lives there. The impediment to where people live in Westchester is money, not race or ethnicity.

Washington bureaucrats, who you will never see or meet, want the power to determine who will live where and how each neighborhood will look.  What’s at stake is the fundamental right of our cities, towns, and villages to plan and zone for themselves.  This home rule is guaranteed by the New York State Constitution.

HUD wants no restrictions – in any neighborhood – on height, size, acreage, density, or number of bedrooms. HUD even sees sewers as a problem, which is critically significant since Westchester zoning protects the drinking water of 8 million New Yorkers.

If there are no restrictions for HUD, there will be no restrictions for any developer. A high rise can be built on any street, even right next door to you. And if HUD can trample on zoning here, it can do it anywhere.

I urge you to read the HUD letters for yourself and see how the federal government is trying to abolish even basic zoning protections.

Now here’s the good news.

The county is ahead of schedule in fulfilling its obligation in the settlement. Our current benchmark is to have 300 units with financing in place by the end of 2013. The county exceeded the mark in December and currently has 309 units in place with financing, of which 117 are already occupied. Over 91 percent of the required 750 units are already in the pipeline.

Ask yourself this: If the county is ahead of schedule in building affordable housing in these communities, how can their zoning be exclusionary?

One of Westchester’s greatest strengths is its diversity. It is the fourth most-diverse county in the state — tied with Manhattan — in terms of African-Americans and Hispanics.

I pledge to defend with every tool at my disposal the right of people to live anywhere in Westchester in any home they can afford.  There is absolutely no place for discrimination in our county. But we won’t be bullied or threatened by HUD to do things that are not in the settlement.

 

Astorino: Update On Affordable Housing In Westchester | The Bedford Daily Voice.