Category Archives: Mount Kisco
Wall Street banks on distressed single-family homes | North Salem NY Real Estate
Wall Street investors, hedge funds and other institutions are crowing out individuals home buyers because they are drawn by the prospect of double-figure profit margins on rents and the resale of homes whose prices plummeted in the crash.
If the chain of easy credit and dangerous leverage that started on Wall Street fanned the housing bubble and eventual crash, some analysts find it disturbing that major investors are the ones snapping up the bargains — and eventual big profits — left in its wake.
“There is the possibility that Wall Street and the banks and the affluent 1% stand to gain the most from this,” said Jack McCabe, a real estate consultant. “Meanwhile, lower-income Americans will lose their opportunity for the American Dream of building wealth through owning a home.”
How to Use Pinterest to Promote Your Products | Mt Kisco NY Realtor
Existing home sales dip 0.6% in March | Mt Kisco Real Estate
A low supply of homes for sale took a bite out of existing home sales in March while prices continued to climb, the National Association of Realtors says.
Total existing home sales declined 0.6% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.92 million in March from a downwardly revised 4.95 million in February, the Realtors reported Monday.
Wall Street had been expecting sales to rise in the month, and the miss is a sign that it’s been “overestimating the strength on the housing market recovery,” says Steven Ricchiuto, chief economist for Mizuho Securities.
Sales were still 10.3% above last year’s pace in March.
Despite the month over month drop in sales, there were more signs of a market recovery, says Jed Kolko, chief economist of real estate website Trulia.
For the second month in a row, inventory was up slightly. Also, the March drop in sales came from a shift of distressed home sales to more conventional sales. They were up 23% year-over-year. Increased sales of properties that aren’t either foreclosures or short sales is a sign of a market in recovery, Kolko says.
Inventory, though expanding, is still tight, says Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist. As a result, homes are selling fast and multiple bidding is more common. In March, the typical home sold was on the market for one month less than a year ago.
Assemblyman David Buchwald to open downtown Mount Kisco office | Mt Kisco NY Homes
State Assemblyman David Buchwald will host a grand opening for his new district office in Mount Kisco today.
“I want my constituents to know that this office is for you, and we are open for business,” Buchwald wrote in a press release. “We’ve moved to an accessible location within walking distance of both bus stops and the Metro-North train station in the heart of our district. My doors are open to hear your concerns firsthand and to ensure we keep Westchester a great place to live, work and raise a family.”
Mount Kisco Chamber of Commerce President Philip Bronzi wrote in the press release that he’s pleased by the development.
“The Chamber is very much looking forward to the opening of Assemblyman Buchwald’s Mount Kisco district office,” Bronzi wrote. “We hope visitors and families will take the opportunity to interact with our downtown business community. We are also excited to have truly local representation in Albany for our members and this wonderful community.”
The office is located at 125-131 E. Main St., Suite 204 in Mount Kisco. Today’s event will last from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., and the ribbon cutting will be held at 4:30 p.m.
Circa: News reinvented for your phone | Mt Kisco Realtor
You lead a very busy life. A lot of us admit that social media keeps us “in the know” on events and news, but you need to catch up quick. Maybe you just need to squeeze in some time for content research for your blog.
A mobile app called Circa has reinvented how, and where, you view the latest news. If you don’t have time for all the “extras” that come with news, Circa’s got a team of editors and writers to give you the most important pieces of information in a story. It’s all beautifully set up for your phone too. Let’s check it out.
The thing I love about Circa is that it’s very intuitive. Quickly sign up for an account (optional) and you’re on your way!
North Salem Realtor | Gmail’s spam filter is killing your drip campaign: Top tips to get personal
Businesses that sell directly to consumers love to automate their work. Whether it’s a regular postcard blast, outsourced call center, or an email drip campaign, staying “in contact” with a company’s sphere of connections has always been easier when it is scheduled, standardized, and managed in a way that takes as little custom interaction with individuals as possible.
While the lack of unique, personal interaction could certainly be criticized, it’s indisputable that many companies have been very successful at reaching a large audience at a low cost with email drip campaigns. The “set it and forget it” mentality is attractive to a busy marketing department, and even if it only creates a marginal return on investment, it allows salespeople to feel that they’re keeping in touch with their client base. Email drip campaigns allow us to reach a larger audience, at a faster rate, with much lower labor and financial costs than nearly any other marketing.
Enter Gmail And Its Ever-Encroaching Spam Filter
Google’s Gmail products are quickly taking over the email ecosystem. In less than ten years, Gmail went from an invitation-only beta product to the most popular web-based email in the world. With over 400 million users. the product is becoming ubiquitous for personal email accounts. It is also the fastest-growing business-class email platform.In short, Gmail is the prevailing platform for consumers, and any business marketing to consumers must craft their contact plans around the parameters that Google creates. When Gmail first started, it had a spam filter like most other email platforms. It picked up a fair percentage of spam, but it erred on the side of caution, letting plenty of bulk mailers and generic content through to the user’s inbox.
More recently, though, Gmail’s spam filters have become aggressive. Google’s goal is clearly to keep a user’s inbox as clean as possible. The company has decided that a few casualties along the way are justified when the overall outcome is less spam in the inbox. This means that a far higher percentage of newsletters, customer update emails, and other drip campaigns are finding their way directly into Gmail users’ spam folders, never to be seen by the intended recipient
Financier Jamie Dimon Wins OK to Park a Cottage in His Garage | Mt Kisco Real Estate
JPMorgan Chase chief Jamie Dimon won the right Tuesday to deposit a house in his Sarles Street home.
With final blessings from the planning board, Dimon can proceed with plans to convert a four-car garage in the 9,600 square-foot main residence into a two-bedroom, two-bath cottage with its own kitchenette.
The 1,069-square-foot cottage will be carved from an existing 1,617-square-foot garage. The leftover space will house a 229-square-foot security-console room, with pantry and bath, and 319 square feet of space for mechanical and electrical equipment.
Dimon’s property, largely a family summer retreat, includes a tennis court and a pool, with a cabana currently under construction for a future pool. Another accessory cottage also sits on the more than 29 acres off Sarles Street.
The new cottage will be topped by a slate gambrel roof, the banker’s land-use lawyer, John Marwell of Mount Kisco, said.
Accompanied by other members of the development team, including architect Gary Savitzky of Scarsdale, Marwell addressed the planning board Tuesday, saying, “We are in front of you this evening for site-plan approval and special-use-permit approval.” Marwell won three needed variances—exceptions from the strict letter of the town’s land-use code—from the zoning board of appeals last month.
Should Home Prices Rise Over Time? | Pound Ridge NY Real Estate
Nationwide home prices are up 8% over the last year, according to the Case-Shiller housing index.
This isn’t surprising. The supply of existing homes for sale is at a seven-year low. Construction of new homes is still well below the rate of household formation. Prices will almost always rise in that situation. It’s simple supply and demand. And it’s pulled millions of homeowners out from being underwater on their mortgage and brought new hope to the housing industry, boosting shares of D.R. Horton (NYSE: DHI ) and NVR (NYSE: NVR ) as the outlook for construction rises.
That’s the good news. But what should homeowners expect the price of their house to do over time?
In this video, Fool analysts Morgan Housel and Matt Koppenheffer tackle that question.



