Category Archives: Pound Ridge

The Foreclosure Iceberg is Slowly Melting | North Salem NY Real Estate

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The shadow and visible inventories of foreclosures accumulated during the processing slowdown in the wake of the Robogate scandal are slowing shrinking, absorbed by healthy demand so health that distress sales are actually rising faster on a national basis that full-priced homes.

CoreLogic reported Monday that October prices that exclude distress sales rose only 5.8 percent while prices that include distressed sales increased on a year-over-year basis by 6.3 percent in October 2012, the biggest increase since June 2006 and the eighth consecutive increase in home prices nationally.

In a separate report, CoreLogic said that despite the demand only 58,000 foreclosures were completed in October, a year-over-year decrease of 17 percent and a decrease of 25 percent from September.

There are still 1.3 million foreclosures in the visible inventory, a decline of only 13 percent from a year ago, when there were 1.5 million backlogged in the final months before the AG settlement was reached. Some 3.9 million foreclosures that have been completed since the housing crisis began in September 2008.

With demand strong and new standards in place, the pace of foreclosure completions could pick up next year. Where this will happen is very import to investors. As time passes, the differences between markets in judicial and non-judicial states continue to increase, and a handful of markets, largely in the Midwest and Northeast, today are the hotbeds of foreclosure activity

Here’s how CoreLogic sees the geography of foreclosure completions:

  • The five states with the highest number of completed foreclosures for the 12 months ending in October 2012 were: California (105,000), Florida (95,000), Michigan (68,000), Texas (59,000) and Georgia (54,000).These five states account for 49.0 percent of all completed foreclosures nationally.
  • The five states with the lowest number of completed foreclosures for the 12 months ending in October 2012 were: South Dakota (19), District of Columbia (64), Hawaii (452), North Dakota (511) and Maine (643).
  • The five states with the highest foreclosure inventory as a percentage of all mortgaged homes were: Florida (11.1 percent), New Jersey (7.7 percent), New York (5.3 percent), Illinois (5.0 percent) and Nevada (4.8 percent).
  • The five states with the lowest foreclosure inventory as a percentage of all mortgaged homes were: Wyoming (0.5 percent), Alaska (0.7 percent), North Dakota (0.7 percent), Nebraska (0.8 percent) and South Dakota (1.0 percent).
via realestateeconomywatch.com

Homeowners’ Equity Reaches Highest Level in Four Years | South Salem Real Estate

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In the third quarter, homeowners’ equity rose nearly 18 percent over the level of a year ago to reach the highest level recorded since the second quarter of 2008.

Homeowners’ equity reached $7714.3 billion, a 5.2 percent increase over the second quarter and an 18 percent increase over the level of $6526.9 in the third quarter of 20011.  In 2007, homeowners’ equity reached $1.02 trillion, but fell to $7050.9 billion in 2008, according to the quarterly Federal Reserve Flow of Funds report.

CoreLogic previously reported that as of the second quarter, improving equity helped the number of underwater homeowners fall to 10,779,000, a 5.2 percent decline from the first quarter and 8.1 percent less than a year ago. About 22.3 percent of all homes with mortgage owed more on their homes than those properties are worth. That was an improvement from the first quarter, when there were about 11.4 million underwater homes, amounting to about 23.7% of all mortgaged homes.  The number of underwater homeowners in the third quarter has not yet been reported.

The value of real estate owned by households increased about $370 billion over the second quarter as more and more markets reported improving home values. The Federal Housing Finance Administration reported earlier that home prices through the third quarter are rising at an annualized rate of 4.34 percent and rose 1.08 percent over the second quarter.

Total household net worth-the difference between the value of households’ assets and liabilities-was about $64.8 trillion at the end of the third quarter of 2012, $1.7 trillion more than at the end of the second quarter.  Household debt decreased at an annual rate of 2 percent in the third quarter.  Home mortgage debt contracted 3 percent, continuing the downtrend that commenced in early 2008.  Consumer credit rose at an annual rate of 4 ¼ percent, the eighth consecutive quarterly increase.

via realestateeconomywatch.com

Using YouTube as an Effective Marketing Tool | Pound Ridge Real Estate

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There are plenty of companies that effectively use many different kinds of social media. Whether it’s interacting with customers on Twitter, or posting interesting information on Facebook, lots of companies do a great job of keeping customers engaged. Often though, many companies fail to use YouTube as a marketing tool. It’s perplexing, because there are so many plusses to having a YouTube account yet so many marketing departments fail to use YouTube. Whether you’re a small company or a large one, using YouTube as a marketing tool can increase revenues and create more customer loyalty. If you’re considering integrating YouTube into your marketing plan, consider the following to make sure it is effective.

Interacting

Just like Twitter or Facebook, YouTube can be a great and creative way to interact with your customer base. Some companies have integrated full on interactive YouTube campaigns to answer customer’s questions and provide witty comments. Old Spice even hired an actor to answer YouTuber’s questions, and created videos with real responses to user submitted questions.

If you get creative, YouTube can essentially replace the frequently asked questions section on your website. You can use YouTube to directly respond to user’s questions and have a large database full of answered questions. This will also make your company appear more personal, as there is somebody visually answering a question.

Explanations

Use YouTube as a way to explain the different products or services your company offers. You can use it to physically demonstrate a product so your customers can see exactly how a certain product is used. You can easily show the difference in products by using YouTube to highlight each of your products. For example, if your company offers Free Music Downloads, produce videos of the different types of subscriptions that you offer and how to access each one. Make it very clear in your videos on how your product is different than others on the market, and the advantages your product offers.

Playlists

Creating playlists on YouTube, whether composed of your own videos or someone else’s, is a great way to get your company increased visibility on the Internet. Try to find videos related to your business that don’t have millions of views, so the content is fresh to viewers. If you make effective playlists, people will associate your playlists with your videos and your company, and you’ll start seeing more views on your videos. The more views you get, the better chance you have of growing your customer base.

Responses

Aside from creating different kinds of videos and putting them on YouTube, interacting with other companies or YouTubers with video responses is a great way to increase your online presence. If you create a particularly interesting response or offer a different point of view, people will be directed to your company’s YouTube channel and will view your other videos. Make sure you are strategic in the way that you target your responses; keep them relevant to your industry and only comment on popular videos. You’ll start to be recognized in the YouTube community, and you’ll see the views on your videos go up.

via realestateeconomywatch.com

South Salem NY real estate sales up 39% – Prices up 6% | RobReportBlog

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South Salem NY real estate sales up 39% – Prices up 6% | RobReportBlog

South Salem NY Real Estate Report  – last six months

2012

39    sales

$575,000   median sales price

$245,000   low price

$1,300,000  high price

2869   ave. size

$230   ave. price per foot

208     ave. DOM

$649,193   ave. sales price

via trulia.com