Category Archives: Pound Ridge

Murky Real-Estate Market Comes Into Focus | Pound Ridge Real Estate

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Regulators are about to shine a light on an expanding but opaque corner of the real-estate investment market.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Wall Street’s self-regulator, is planning rule changes that would require so-called nontraded real-estate investment trusts to improve disclosure on fees and to more quickly report on changes in the value of properties in their portfolios.

The move comes amid a boom in demand for these types of funds, which buy office buildings, stores and other commercial real estate and send most of the properties’ income to shareholders. Unlike typical REITs, shares in these funds don’t trade on public exchanges, making them less liquid.

Alan Gerboc, a retired marketing executive who collects contemporary photography, invested $100,000 in a nontraded REIT in 2006.                     Emily Berl for The Wall Street Journal

Investors are on pace to buy $20 billion of new shares in these funds this year, according to Robert A. Stanger & Co., an investment bank based in Shrewsbury, NJ. That is the highest amount ever and almost twice the $10.3 billion raised last year. Many investors are attracted by dividends that can top 7% a year for some nontraded REITs, according to Blue Vault Partners LLC, a Georgia research firm.

But Finra believes investors aren’t getting a clear enough picture of the performance of their funds, according to Joseph Price, Finra’s senior vice president for corporate finance.

These funds and their brokers can charge fees and expenses of as much as 12%, yet that cost isn’t required to be taken into account when the funds value their stock in reports to investors.

 

 

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304403804579264552406913102

 

Stop throwing away awesome prospects and start nurturing them | Pound Ridge Realtor

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Let’s start this out with a single truth: A lead is the name and contact information for someone who is potentially a future client. That’s it. It’s not something fancy. There are no semantics (although lots of “experts” will make you think so). If you have a single way to contact that person, then that is a lead. Some “gurus” define leads as having a full name, a phone number (at minimum), and have expressed interest in your services. Sorry, that’s wrong. Especially with the advent of the Internet. A lead is sometimes even JUST an email address. No name. No phone number. Sometimes it’s even Mickey Mouse or Arnold Schwarzenegger (you know, those fake-name sign-ins who give you a real email address). Now, don’t get me wrong, you definitely want to move the lead along, get them to become a prospect, then a client, then a closed client. That’s typical. But don’t make the mistake of thinking a lead is “dead end” or not viable because you have only an email address. All leads that have a legitimate way to contact them are viable. Every. Single. One. Even the ones that are only an email address. Even the ones that say “no.” –

See more at: http://www.inman.com/next/no-1-mistake-real-estate-agents-make-in-lead-generation-thinking-a-lead-is-a-dead-end-if-it-isnt-ready-right-now/?utm_source=20131218&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=dailyheadlinesam#sthash.mhQ0KbmH.dpuf

The Best of West Chelsea at the New AVA High Line | Pound Ridge NY Real Estate

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488_AVAHighLine_SponsoredKitchen_10-30%20%281%29%20copy.pngAVA High Line, located alongside the High Line Park, offers some of West Chelsea’s best new rental apartments, plus a host of unique amenities, all within easy walking distance of the neighborhood’s cutting-edge galleries and restaurants. Opening in December—and now accepting lease applications—the pet-friendly AVA High Line includes studios, one- and two-bedroom apartments.

Residents can hang in the Chill Lounge or the nearby backyard fire pit. And inside the apartments, it gets even better, with features like sliding barn doors, stainless appliances and wood plank flooring. Don’t just take our word for it, check it out for yourself. Now renting for immediate move-ins. Visit AVA High Line at 525 West 28th Street (28th Street and 11th Avenue).>>

Old-world German architecture and a modern-day film spur a Hill Country farmhouse’s warm style | Pound Ridge Homes

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It’s no surprise these homeowners have comfortably nestled into their guesthouse, as one major inspiration for the home was the cozy English cottage Kate Winslet’s character owned in The Holiday. Their plan was to build the guesthouse in the Texas Hill Country, retire, move down from Lubbock, then complete construction on the main house. Surrounded by over 20 acres full of oaks and wildlife, they enjoyed the guesthouse so much that they put off the construction for a few years, and they secretly fear they won’t love the main house as much. As we take a tour through this charming home, you’ll understand why.
Houzz at a Glance Who lives here: A retired couple Location: Fredericksburg, Texas Size: About 1,000 square feet; 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom

Austin Pitner, owner of Bonterra Building & Design, worked with the homeowners’ large inspiration file full of homes (most over a hundred years old) and with a floor plan and elevations from architect David Rowland. Bonterra completed all of the construction and designed all of the interior details and finishes, such as the timber frame beams, custom fireplace, doors and cabinetry.
The home has a regional feel, which is German influenced and rural (Fredericksburg was originally settled by German immigrants). The standing-seam metal roof is preweathered Galvalume. The stone is chopped white limestone, indigenous to the area.
The porch floor is part of the concrete foundation; the beams are western red cedar.
“No one is around for miles, so this outdoor shower is completely private and great for hot Texas days,” Pitner says. The stones around the house are crushed local granite.
The retaining wall is made of stones found onsite while digging holes for the septic tanks. “When you dig around here, you never know what you’re going to find,” Pitner says. They hit upon these perfect layers of rock.
“When they came out of the ground, they were dark gray and ugly; we stacked them and wondered what to do with them,” he says. During the time they mulled it over, several rainstorms hit, and the rock lightened to a beautiful color. They decided to use it for the wall. “You couldn’t shop for anything better than these stones,” he says.
The front door is mahogany planks with metal straps. The metal details, wood beams and lanterns lend an old-world European farm feel.
“We wanted the interiors to be rough but clean,” Pitner says. He used timber-frame construction throughout. The beams are hewn Douglas fir, hand notched for corner support. They avoided using molding to create the feeling of a monolithic, old blocked house. While the stones and beams lend the look of an old European farmhouse, the stained concrete floors, lack of moldings and simple floating kitchen shelves mix in contemporary touches.
Pitner advises hiring a professional to stain concrete floors; he was very impressed with the way the pros were able to match the floors to tones in the beams.
The kitchen has an indigenous feel, like it rose naturally right out of the land. The countertops are limestone, and the cabinets are alder.
One of the homeowners enjoys feeding the foxes and their babies who come to visit through the Dutch door.
Shaws Farmhouse Sink: Rohl

Maintain market relevance by writing ‘timeless,’ hyperlocal posts | Pound Ridge NY Realtor

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We all know that having posts that are timeless is important. You know the ones that people will find year after year and are still relevant, regardless of the topic.

You do know that, right? Well, now you do, if you didn’t already.

There are a number of reasons for doing timeless posts. Here are a few:

  1. They are relevant and informative for years if written appropriately.
  2. They continue to get views over the years and potentially drive more traffic to your website.
  3. They show you are a knowledgeable real estate professional in the area and on that topic.
  4. You can use them in lots of ways.

Timeless posts can be about a variety of topics: the larger community (Carlsbad); neighborhoods (La Costa); subdivisions or master-planned communities (Bressi Ranch); condo communities (Sanderling); and community amenities including parks, tourist attractions and recreation, and to some extent shopping and dining. Those places do go out of business on occasion, so they may not truly be timeless.

Community and similar localism posts tend to get a lot of traffic. I have a bunch with more than 15,000 clicks since they were first written

– See more at: http://www.inman.com/next/maintain-market-relevance-by-writing-timeless-hyperlocal-posts/?utm_source=20131213&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=dailyheadlinesam#sthash.BdrHAetU.dpuf

PriceChopped Minty Green Cottage in NOLA Wants $389K | Pound Ridge Homes

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For those out there who’ve always wanted an adorable (if slightly slanted?) pastel Victorian cottage to call home, here’s a New Orleans offering that has recently undergone a $10K PriceChop, lowering the ask way down to $389K. First spotted by Curbed NOLA, the two-bedroom measures 1,707-square-feet and—though extensively renovated—still has “most original architectural details intact,” including heart pine floors, original moldings, and vintage fireplaces. Exterior details include a leafy little backyard, ornate detailing around the home’s front door and street-facing windows, and, of course, that charming, Easter egg paint job that proves that committing to a single vibrant color doesn’t always end horribly. By all means, do have a look:

Understanding cultural expectations helps agents better market to buyers | Pound Ridge NY Homes

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Offshore buyers, unemployment rates hovering between 12 and 25 percent for adults aged 18-25, and an onslaught of baby boomers has caused the number of multigenerational households to explode. If you’re looking for a great niche in 2014, specializing in multigenerational housing can be an excellent choice.

According to NAR’s 2013 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers:“Fourteen percent of recent buyers purchased a home for a multigenerational household — a home that had adult siblings, adult children over the age of 18, parents, and/or grandparents in the household. One-quarter of these homes were bought because children over the age of 18 were moving back into the home and for cost savings.

One of five multigenerational households purchased this household type because of health and caretaking of aging parents, while 1 in 10 purchase this type of home to spend more time with aging parents.”The real driver: foreign-born seniors? In a recent Wall Street Journal article, Neil Shah argued that what’s really driving the trend towards multigenerational households is not low income or high joblessness, it’s the fact the number of seniors born outside the U.S. has risen from 8 percent in 1994 to 13 percent in 2013.

According to Shah: “… Foreign-born seniors are four times more likely to live with their children. Around 25 percent of foreign-born seniors in the U.S. live with relatives, compared with just 6 percent for U.S.-born seniors. … Nearly half of all U.S. seniors born in India (47 percent) were living with relatives. Vietnam (44 percent), the Philippines (38 percent), Mexico (35 percent) and China (34 percent) also posted high shares.”

 

 

– See more at: http://www.inman.com/2013/12/09/multigenerational-households-an-often-overlooked-real-estate-niche-offers-agents-prime-opportunity-in-2014/?utm_source=20131209&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=dailyheadlinesam#sthash.aZfhudbH.dpuf

Gray Day: Greenwich Remains Under Dense Fog Advisory | Pound Ridge Homes

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Fog was continuing to create hazardous travel conditions Thursday morning as a Dense Fog Advisory was in place until noon, the National Weather Service said.

The warning is in effect in all of southern Connecticut, the lower Hudson Valley, northeast New Jersey and on Long Island, creating dreary, gray conditions.

Dense fog can create a visibility of a quarter mile or less. The warning is through noon but the fog may continue into the afternoon and evening, especially along the coast, the National Weather Service said.

High temperatures Thursday will reach the mid-50s, but showers are expected to move in by afternoon or the evening, the weather service said. Rain is likely overnight with more fog.

The reduced visibility can create hazards for on the road. Drivers should slow down, use low beam headlights and leave plenty of distance ahead in case a sudden stop is needed.

 

 

http://greenwich.dailyvoice.com/news/fairfield-county-remains-under-dense-fog-advisory