Category Archives: Katonah

Fed holding off on taper | Katonah Real Estate

Leave a reply

Citing rising mortgage rates and an unstable economy, the Federal Reserve said that it’s holding off on its decision to pull back on its bond-buying activity.

“Household spending and business fixed investment advanced, and the housing sector has been strengthening, but mortgage rates have risen further and fiscal policy is restraining economic growth,” the Fed said in a statement.

Many, including Inman News columnist Lou Barnes, had expected that the Fed would begin tapering today. U.S. and global bond markets have been highly reactive to the Fed’s taper talk.

“This is incredibly wimpy,” David Kelly, chief market strategist at Morgan Stanley, told CNBC.

Source: CNBC and Federal Reserve

 

 

 

– See more at: http://www.inman.com/wire/fed-holding-off-on-taper/#sthash.pOY0uRAz.dpuf

Social Sharing: How to Inspire Fans to Share Your Stories | Katonah Real Estate

Leave a reply

Do you use stories to market your business?

Are you wondering how you can get people to share your content?

To learn how to inspire your fans and followers to share your stories via social media, I interview Simon Mainwaring for this episode of the Social Media Marketing podcast.

More About This Show

The Social Media Marketing podcast is a show from Social Media Examiner.

It’s designed to help busy marketers and business owners discover what works with social media marketing.

The show format is on-demand talk radio (also known as podcasting).

In this episode, I interview Simon Mainwaring, author of We First: How Brands and Consumers Use Social Media to Build a Better World. He’s a consultant who’s worked with brands like Nike and Motorola. Simon also hosts the upcoming We First Social Branding Seminar in West Hollywood in a few days.

Simon shares the importance of tapping into the power of your fans to share your story.

You’ll learn how you can create a story and the kind of content you need to use to succeed.

Share your feedback, read the show notes and get the links mentioned in this episode below!

Listen Now

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

You can also subscribe via iTunes, RSS, Stitcher or Blackberry.

 

Here are some of the things you’ll discover in this show:

Social Sharing

Why is it important to tap the power of fans?

Simon states that the power of social media is not in the ability of a brand to sell directly to a customer; it’s more to inspire a customer who made a purchase to talk about your brand to others.

With traditional media, it was “one to many.” A television commercial would reach many people. Whereas with social media, it’s about “one to one to many.” Kevin Kelly, co-founder of Wired magazine, said, “One member of those thousand fans and those thousand fans will promote you to so many other people.”

Apple‘s marketing looks effortless, but they do very conscious things to build their rabid fan base.

They celebrate the customer through the priority they give to the user experience. There is no other brand out there that spends so much time and attention to make sure their customer experience is so well-captured in the product itself.

Apple really listens to their customers and the marketing is done in a very human way. The video below shows the campaign for the iPod, which was done in very simple language.

 

You’ll discover what else Apple does to tap into the human dynamics and how they have a raving fan base.

Not everybody has the brilliance of what Apple has built and Simon says there is a fundamental shift that every brand needs to make.

The shift is for companies to market themselves not as the celebrity of their customer community but rather as a celebrant. You have to stop talking about yourself. Instead talk about your customers. Now thanks to social media, there is real-time dialog between brands and consumers.

If you want to inspire your fans to promote your brand and build your business, you need to reframe your marketing as a celebration of your customer community. You’ll hear the questions you need to think about that get customers to share and what gives you the power of one to one to many. You can then use your marketing platform to celebrate your customers.

There are many entrepreneurs and big brands that transform their experience with social media. Brands have changed their positioning and it’s become a benefit to their customers.

 

 

http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/inspire-fans-to-share-your-stories/

Pull inspiration from these creative garage makeovers | Katonah Real Estate

Leave a reply

ost of us could use a little extra space — for an office, for entertaining or just for relaxing — but few of us have the budget or room to add on to our existing homes. But there may be a blank slate nearby, just waiting to be reinvented: the garage. Garage Door Repairs within the Plano area are often frustrating. They always seem to happen at the worst possible time. Like when you’re late for work, trying to urge the youngsters to high school, or close to head out for vacation. Broken or damaged garage doors are often noisy, ugly, and just downright embarrassing. The professionals at Metro Garage Door Repair are your local experts in Garage Door Installations and Repairs. If you want best garage door repair service, you can go to this website.
These six Houzzer garage conversions have gone above and beyond the average remodel. No longer in need of a parking spot, or tired of looking at the mess that had piled up, these homeowners took advantage of their empty or dilapidated garages. The resulting dream rooms gave these families the extra space they were looking for.

traditional garage and shed by Suzanne Dingley Interiors

Save to Ideabook
Email Photo
Houzzer: Suzanne Dingley, Suzanne Dingley Interiors Location: Salt Lake City Garage size: 180 square feet, detached DIY or professional project? Both
A new work-from-home job meant that Suzanne Dingley’s husband needed a new office. Instead of cramming one into their house, the couple turned to their detached garage, which had become a dark and dirty dumping ground for junk. They gutted the space, exposed the rafters and pitched roof, and installed new flooring and built-in storage.
traditional garage and shed by Suzanne Dingley Interiors

Save to Ideabook
Email Photo
The red and white color palette evolved from this Ikea photo of a London bus — a tribute to the couple’s British roots.
traditional garage and shed by Suzanne Dingley Interiors

Save to Ideabook
Email Photo
The pair replaced the existing garage doors with two sets of French doors and two new windows to let in natural light. The newly insulated ceiling and floors control the internal temperature, but a window cooler and space heater help out, too. “My husband is very happy with his space, especially with his short commute across the yard,” says Dingley.
traditional garage and shed Garage Conversion

Save to Ideabook
Email Photo
Houzzer: Rick Giudicessi Location: Des Moines, Iowa Garage size: 240 square feet, attached DIY or professional project? Professional
This 1930s garage wasn’t just worn out and beat up; its odd layout and tiny garage door made it impossible for Rick Giudicessi to park his car inside. Instead of using it for storage, he turned it into a tiki bar with an attached patio where his family can entertain year-round. “When the weather ends the use of the patio and tiki bar area, we move inside to the heated area,”
he says.

Purchase apps increase as interest rates slip | Katonah Homes

Leave a reply

Applications for purchase loans increased a seasonally adjusted 3 percent for the week ending Sept. 18 compared to a week earlier and were up 1 percent on an annual basis, according to the latest Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications survey.

During the same period, refinance applications jumped 18 percent, as the average rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage with a balance of $417,500 or less dropped from 4.8 percent to 4.75 percent.

Source: MBA

 

 

– See more at: http://www.inman.com/wire/purchase-apps-increase-as-interest-rates-slip/#sthash.lKzd5toO.dpuf

To back up … or not to back up? | Katonah Realtor

Leave a reply

Well, that should not even be a question — the answer is obvious and always yes! Admittedly, I might be a tad more than anal-retentive, especially when it comes to my mobile devices and specifically my contacts. I still remember the day my Palm device was lost and I didn’t have a current backup.

I later remember, far more painfully, how excited I was about the sled modem for my Palm Vx — the OmniSky modem — and having mobile Internet access.

What I didn’t count on was how unstable it made my device, prone to crashing and data loss. The first time this happened I was traveling and was left to rely on my paper agenda — not having a way to quickly and efficiently restore. Just thinking about this makes me skittish.

By the time I was using my last Treo 650 (which I’m pretty sure is still in my house somewhere), I could back up to a card, which was pretty handy when you consider I had not one but four of these devices over a period of time. I could not imagine not having a current backup, in case of emergency. With my iDevices, Blackberry and other assorted devices, I worry.

Sure, there’s iCloud and Google but, did you know there’s an app for that? Enter IS Contacts Kit.

 

read more…

 

http://www.inman.com/next/to-backup-or-not-to-backup/#sthash.LtRGzg0f.dpuf

Bedford Town Board Approves Water Hike | Katonah Real Estate

Leave a reply

Bedford residents will have to pay a little more for their water in order to pay for a new water filtration plant in Katonah.

The Bedford Town Board unanimously approved water rate increases last week. Average water rates will increase by 20 percent, abut $97 a year.

“The water filtration plant is in operation and is producing great quality water,” Department of Public Works Commissioner Kevin Winn said. “Due to the increased expenses of the plant, we do need to have slight rate increase though it is less than anticipated.”

Winn said the town’s goal with the rate increase was to advocate for more water conservation. Minimum water rates are lower, but the rates increase with the more water used.

The rate increase will go into effect on Oct. 1. The rate increase was less than anticipated due to electric and waste disposal costs being less than anticipated.

Gordon Strong, a Katonah resident, complained he was being penalized by the new rate structure. Strong has a one inch water main and would be paying more than his neighbors who have larger homes and might use more water.

“I don’t think it’s fair,” Strong said. “I am being asked to pay a higher rate. I should be made an exception.”

Winn said he should change the size of his water meter and residents are charged for meters because they put more tax on the water system.

 

 

http://bedford.dailyvoice.com/news/bedford-town-board-approves-water-hike

Rising Rates Flatten Consumer Price Expectations | Katonah Real Estate

Leave a reply

After rising since the beginning of the year, consumers’ outlook for home price increases plateaued in August – which has been trending upward- has hit a plateau, likely due to concerns regarding the potential tapering of the Federal Reserve’s asset purchases, according to Fannie Mae’s August 2013 National Housing Survey.

“The spike in mortgage rates associated with the possibility that the Fed will begin to wind down its asset purchase program later this month has dampened the improving trend in consumer sentiment regarding housing witnessed in our survey since the start of this year,” said Doug Duncan, senior vice president and chief economist at Fannie Mae. “The pause in positive momentum is consistent with slowing trends in home purchase contract signings and mortgage applications. Interest rate volatility will likely remain elevated, even after we have more clarity on the pace of the Fed’s tapering, due to concerns over the upcoming budget and debt ceiling debates as well as the crisis in Syria.”

Survey data show that consumers expect home prices to continue to grow on average during the next 12 months, but at a slightly reduced pace of 3.4 percent. Additionally, the share who say it is a good time to buy a home has stayed relatively flat during the past year while those who say it is a good time to sell a home has lost momentum recently.

SURVEY HIGHLIGHTS

Homeownership and Renting

  • At 3.4 percent, the average 12-month home price change expectation decreased 0.5 percent from last month’s high.
  • The share of people who say home prices will go up in the next 12 months rose 2 percentage points to 55 percent, while those who say home prices will go down increased slightly from July’s survey low to 7 percent.
  • The share of respondents who say mortgage rates will go up in the next 12 months decreased 2 percentage points from last month’s survey high to 60 percent.
  • The share who say it is a good time to buy a house decreased 3 percentage points to 71 percent, and those who say it is a good time to sell a house fell 4 percentage points to 36 percent.
  • The average 12-month rental price change expectation fell to 4.1 percent, a slight decrease from last month.
  • Fifty-three percent of those surveyed say home rental prices will go up in the next 12 months, a slight decrease from July.
  • Forty-six percent of respondents think it would be easy for them to get a home mortgage today, a slight increase from last month.
  • The share of respondents who said they would buy if they were going to move increased slightly to 65 percent.

The Economy and Household Finances

  • At 37 percent, the share of respondents who say the economy is on the right track decreased 3 percentage points from July.

 

 

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

Buy the House the Dead Poets Society Built For $15M Flat | Katonah Real Estate

Leave a reply

Newly on the market in the Brentwood area of L.A.: this 9,000-square-foot house, owned by screenwriter Tom Schulman. Schulman purchased the 1.35-acre property in 1989, the year theDead Poets Society was released, and commissioned California architect Steven Ehrlrich—who trademarked the expression “multicultural modernism” to describe his firm’s philosophy—for this modernist five-bedroom, made of concrete, glass, steel, and wood. The result, according to the brokerbabble, is an “adept interpretation of California modernist style” and “a comprehensive blending of the sensibilities of Schindler and Neutra, with delicate Japanese influences.” Standouts here include a driveway lined with bamboo, an entry bridge (“the balance of striking geometric angles with the soft landing of a water”), shoji screen-inspired interior woodwork, and a double-height living room. Below, a look:

 

 

Bedford New York Real Estate | Bedford NY Homes by Robert Paul Realtor » Blog Archive » Buy the House the Dead Poets Society Built For $15M Flat | Katonah Real Estate.