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Google’s Blueprint for Search Domination | Armonk Real Estate

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Do you really think Google would reveal its plans on how they want search to evolve? I sure do. If you don’t believe me just ask Matt Cutts. Or better yet just watch him answering the question below.

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After bypassing the cyborg comments he makes some pretty profound statements that Google should be a “good assistant,” “understand the context,” and “synthesize information.” But more importantly he goes on to say that Google should be able to handle difficult syntax not just by data or knowledge but towards analysis and wisdom. Now what does that mean?

Quick Algorithm Recap

In the famous words of Hitch “You can’t know where you’re going until you know where you’ve been,” so to get a better understanding of the future lets back up a few years and look at what Google has done with previous algorithm updates. I am only going to hit on the high points, but if you want to go further I would recommend referencing SEO Moz’s Algorithm History.

  • Florida Update – November 2003
  • Paid Links – October 2007
  • Rel Canonical – February 2009
  • Social Signals – December 2010
  • Panda – February 2011
  • Google Authorship – June 2011
  • Penguin – April 2012
  • Knowledge Graph – May 2012
  • EMD Update – September 2012

Many of the previous algorithm updates and iterations listed were aimed to dismantle spam, technical manipulation, and improving their infrastructure. It took over a decade of progress before Google was even able to begin to tackle the context issue.

Google Authorship and the Knowledge Graph implementation was the catalyst to bring data together in a sensible format. The Knowledge Graph pulls data from reliable sources to show images, descriptions, background information, people involved, and other related information while Google Authorship connects content with a specific author. The Knowledge Graph is even more sophisticated than it would appear at first glance. Bill Slawski at SEO by the Sea has uncovered that the information in knowledge graphs can be dynamic depending on what users are searching for, so not all knowledge graphs are created equal.

                                               

Back to the Present

So what does Matt Cutts mean when he says that search will be going toward analysis and wisdom? The simple answer is Google wants to answer every single question the user has on the very first try and if possible before the user even asks the question.

In an article in the Guardian, Google’s CEO Larry Page said that they are trying to reduce every possible friction between the user, their thoughts, and the information they want to find. He even mentions brain implants to answer questions at the time a thought originates. Maybe Larry and Matt are in cahoots to make us all cyborgs. But I digress…

In order for Google to get to the point where they can answer every possible question a couple of things have to occur. They need to have access to a lot of data and a way to relationally put it together. Part of the data gathering process has already been explained above with Google Authorship and the Knowledge Graph, but lets continue going down the rabbit trail on more sources they are using to get data.

First they have Google Analytics which is installed on millions of websites. Have you ever wondered why Google Analytics is free for up to 10 million pageviews a month? It is the amount of data that is now at their disposal. Google makes it very easy for you to share your data with them. When you’re setting up a Google Analytics account, they have conveniently pre-checked all the data sharing settings for you even though they are technically optional. This data allows them to understand user behavior for individual websites but more importantly for different verticals.

 

Google’s Blueprint for Search Domination | Find and Convert.

Home sales close in on three-and-a-half year high | Armonk Real Estate

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Home resales rose in April to the highest level in nearly 3-1/2 years and prices surged, offering the economy a buffer from the stiff headwinds posed by belt-tightening by Washington.

The National Association of Realtors said on Wednesday existing home sales advanced 0.6 percent to an annual rate of 4.97 million units, the highest level since November 2009.

The data underscored the housing market’s improving fortunes as it starts to regain its lost glory. Resales were 9.7 percent higher than the same period last year.

“It’s quite supportive of the overall economy,” said Michelle Meyer, a senior economist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in New York. “It’s a cushion against some of the other concerns in the economy.”

Economic activity appears to have slowed somewhat early in the second quarter as the effects of higher taxes and deep government spending cuts started filtering through.

Manufacturing, in particular, has been showing strains, but housing has held up surprisingly well, with the gains in home values helping to boost consumer confidence and retail sales.

The ripples from housing’s recovery have also extended to the jobs market, where construction employment has been rising.

That should limit the degree to which the economy slows this quarter. It expanded at a 2.5 percent annual pace in the first three months of the year.

U.S. stocks were narrowly mixed in afternoon trading. Treasury debt prices were lower while the dollar was higher against a basket of currencies.

PRICES SOAR

Tight supplies in some parts of the country have constrained the pace of home sales, but sellers are starting to wade back into the market, attracted by rising prices.

In April, the median home sales price increased 11 percent from a year ago to $192,800, the highest level since August 2008. It was the fifth consecutive month of double-digit gains.

With prices rising, more sellers put their properties on the market. The inventory of homes on the market rose 11.9 percent from March to 2.16 million.

That represented a 5.2 months’ supply at April’s sales pace, up from 4.7 months in March. It remained, however, below the 6.0 months that is normally considered a good balance between supply and demand.

The market has been helped by monetary stimulus from the Federal Reserve that has kept mortgage rates near record lows. On Wednesday, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke made clear he was not yet ready to retreat from the U.S. central bank’s monthly $85 billion asset purchase program.

Adding to signs that the housing recovery was becoming firmly established, distressed properties – which can weigh on prices because they typically sell at deep discounts – accounted for only 18 percent of sales last month.

That was the lowest since the Realtors group started monitoring them in October 2008. These properties, foreclosures and short sales, had made up 21 percent of sales in March.

In another bright sign, properties are selling faster. The median time on market for homes was 46 days in April, down from 62 days the prior month. That was the fewest days since the NAR started monitoring that number in May 2011. Before the market collapsed in 2006, it usually took about 90 days to sell a home.

 

Home sales close in on three-and-a-half year high | Reuters.

Lending Standards Loosen Up a Little | Armonk NY Real Estate

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FICO scores for approved mortgage applications in April decreased slightly for the fifth consecutive month as lenders turned their attention to financing buyers during the spring buying season.

Average FICO scores for closed mortgages fell from 749 in January to 743 in March, the steepest decline in the critical measure of creditworthiness since last year at this time. The average loan-to-value ratio for all loans rose slightly from 80 to 81 and the front end/back end debt-to-income ratio was virtually unchanged at 23/35, according to the April Ellie Mae Origination Insight Report released today.

The average time to close a loan fell to 46 days from 48 in March for all loans. Purchase loans took only 44 days to close, on average, down from 47 days in March.

Though standards relaxed slightly, approval rates fell. To get a meaningful view of lender “pull-through,” Ellie Mae reviewed a sampling of loan applications initiated 90 days prior (January 2013 applications) to calculate an overall closing rate of 53.2 percent in April 2013, down from 55.1% in March 2013. The closing rate for all loans fell slightly from 56.8 percent in March to 55.1 percent in April. The average rate in 2012 was 49.0 percent.

“The spring buying season appeared to be in full bloom in April with the percentage of closed purchase loans reaching 42 percent last month, up from 38 percent in March 2013 and 32 percent in February 2013,” said Jonathan Corr, president and chief operating officer of Ellie Mae. “The last time purchase loans broke the 40 percent mark was back in July 2012.” In April 2012, the purchase share was 43 percent, virtually the same as it is today.

“The trend toward more relaxed credit also continued in April 2013 as the average FICO score decreased slightly for the fifth consecutive month to 742 in April 2013 from 743 in March 2013,” added Corr. “Pull-through closing rates dropped slightly last month to 53.2% from 55.1% in March 2013. This may be a reaction to interest rates, which had been climbing for the past five months and then reversed course and fell to 3.808 in April 2013 from 3.813 in March 2013.

 

 

 

Lending Standards Loosen Up a Little | RealEstateEconomyWatch.com.

Jennifer Love Hewitt Buys Sleek Pacific Palisades Home | Armonk NY Homes

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DATE:MAY 14, 2013 | CATEGORY:EYE CANDY | AUTHOR: 
Source: IMDb

Source: IMDb

Jennifer Love Hewitt listed two of her homes earlier this year — one for sale and one for rent — so the news that “The Client List” actress just picked up a new home is no surprise.

According to property records and a report from The Real Estalker, Hewitt paid $3.25 million for a super modern pad in Pacific Palisades. The property was first listed for $3.399 million in early February and reported a pending sale — assumably due to Hewitt’s bid — in mid-March.

The home was previously owned by 7 for All Mankind jeans co-founder Peter Koral, who sold the high-end denim company for a hefty sum in 2007.

The same year, the house was designed by local architect Melinda Gray using contemporary wood and glass. The kitchen includes top-of-the-line, energy-efficient appliances and, like many modern homes, the floor plan is open, leading to a sleek outdoor living space. The home boasts both a rooftop deck and a private patio, which has a pool and lounging area complete with a fire pit and flat-screen TV.

 

 

Jennifer Love Hewitt Buys Sleek Pacific Palisades Home | Zillow Blog.

President Obama Urges Congress to Boost Homeowners in ‘Healing’ Housing Market | Armonk Homes

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President Obama today declared that the housing market has reached a point where it is “healing” and reaffirmed the administration’s commitment to promoting initiatives that benefit responsible homeowners, including measures encourage refinancing at low rates.

“Today, seven years after the real estate bubble burst, triggering the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression and costing millions of responsible Americans their jobs and their homes, our housing market is healing,” Obama said in his weekly address. “Sales are up.  Foreclosures are down.  Construction is expanding.  And thanks to rising home prices over the past year, 1.7 million more families have been able to come up for air because they’re no longer underwater on their mortgages.

ap barack obama ll 130506 wblog President Obama Urges Congress to Boost Homeowners in Healing Housing Market

Jose Luis Magana/AP Photo

“But we’ve got more work to do,” he added. “We’ve got more responsible homeowners to help – folks who have never missed a mortgage payment but aren’t allowed to refinance; working families who have done everything right, but still owe more on their homes than they’re worth.”

As he highlighted the administration’s initiatives to boost the housing market, the president called on Congress to confirm Mel Watt, who he recently nominated to head the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

“He’s the right person for the job, and that’s why Congress should do its job and confirm him without delay,” the president said.

Obama also urged Congress to pass additional measures that would allow homeowners to refinance their homes at low rates.

“Our economy and our housing market are poised for progress – but we could do so much more if we work together,” he said. “More good jobs.  Greater security for middle-class families.  A sense that your hard work is rewarded.  That’s what I’m fighting for – and that’s what I’m going to keep fighting for as long as I hold this office.”

While gun control and a battle over government spending has dominated much of the president’s agenda this year, the White House has made an direct push this week to turn attention to the economy.  On Thursday, the president held a series of events promoting innovation and job creation in the technology industry as part of his “Middle Class Jobs & Opportunity Tours,” which he will continue next week with events in Baltimore.

 

 

President Obama Urges Congress to Boost Homeowners in ‘Healing’ Housing Market – ABC News.

Dallas-area builders worry that new-home prices are rising too fast | Armonk Real Estate

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Jumps in new home development and construction costs have builders worried that their sales prices are outpacing buyer incomes.
Dallas-Fort Worth new home prices in the first quarter hit a record high of $244,113, according to Dallas-based housing analyst Residential Strategies Inc.
And with costs such as building lots, lumber and labor rising rapidly, the outlook is for more price increases in new homes throughout 2013.
“Builders are reporting that they have increased housing prices $20,000 to $50,000 in some submarkets,” Residential Strategies principal Ted Wilson said Thursday morning at a seminar for local builders.
“They are raising prices not to make more money but to keep up with the pass-through price increases they are facing.”
Wilson said that lot prices in North Texas are up as much as 60 percent and lumber prices are 30 percent to 50 percent higher than a year ago.
If it wasn’t for the near-record low mortgage finance costs, many buyers couldn’t afford the housing being built in D-FW, he said.
“The homebuyer can now purchase almost 31 percent more house today than he could three years ago because of the drop in mortgage rates,” Wilson said. “The drop in the mortgage rate is helping to mask the inflation many homebuyers are now experiencing.”
More construction
Residential Strategies reports that first-quarter new home starts were up about 30 percent from the same period of 2012. The analyst is predicting that local builders will start between 20,000 and 21,000 homes in North Texas in 2013.
That’s still less than half the number of houses that builders constructed in the area in 2006.
“The housing recovery is in full bloom this spring,” Wilson said. “Starts are up 46 percent from the market bottom” in 2009.
The biggest rise in local home starts has been in houses priced above $300,000.
“The $300,000 to $500,000 category continues to see what we think is astounding growth,” said Residential Strategies’ Cassie Gibson. “Year-over-year growth was about 40 percent in this price range.”
These more expensive houses account for about 1 in 4 homes being built in North Texas, she said.
Under $200,000
Starts of homes under $200,000 have grown at less than half the rate of pricier properties. This price range once accounted for more than half of the D-FW starts each year, but it’s now down to about a third of total construction.
“Many submarkets are reaching historic highs in terms of the average and median home prices,” Gibson said. “The market will need help in the way of rising household income levels.
“There obviously is a ceiling to how high prices can rise, and in some areas the market may be close to reaching it,” she said.
Homebuilders worry about their ability to keep passing on cost increases to the consumer.
“It’s the biggest concern of all builders right now,” said Dustin Nelson, president of David Weekley Homes’ D-FW division. “I think when the lending market for residential developers opens up a little bit more, they won’t have to get the lot price increases they are asking today.

 

Dallas-area builders worry that new-home prices are rising too fast | Armonk Real Estate | Bedford NY Real Estate | Robert Paul Talks Life in Bedford NY.

Deer Resistant Plants? Fact or Fiction? by P Allen Smith | Armonk Homes

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Raise your hand if deer like to graze in your garden. How many different tactics have you tried to protect your plants? Have you tried hanging bars of soap from tree limbs, sprayed predator urine or scattered human hair around flower beds?

While these inventive measures may work temporarily, a long term solution requires a holistic approach. First, you have to give up the idea that you are ever going to deer proof your garden. Unless you build a 7-foot tall fence around your place, there’s not much you can do to keep them out. Next, make your garden less appealing to deer. Stop planting their favorites like tulips, roses and hostas and choose plants that deer are less inclined to eat. A few plant characteristics to look out for are fuzzy foliage, an antiseptic aroma and a bad taste.

Are there plants that are 100 percent deer resistant? No. The truth is that deer will eat anything when food is scarce, but if your garden is filled with plants that deer find unpleasant, there is a good chance they will move on to the delicacies in your neighbor’s yard.

 

 

http://www.pallensmith.com/blog

We Now Watch 6 Billion Hours of Content A Month on YouTube | Armonk NY Realtor

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We Now Watch 6 Billion Hours of Content A Month on YouTube

YouTube, which is putting on the best face it can during this week’s NewFronts, slipped in an amazing statistic during their announcement of Dreamworks’ acquisition of AwesomenessTV, a network that reaches 14 million subscribers over 55,000 YouTube channels.  Earthlings now watch YouTube to the tune of 6 billion hours a month.  That’s a 50 percent increase year-over-year.  And, they are citing a conclusion from Nielsen that YouTube reaches more people in the 18-34 demographic than any cable network.  That’s some kind of reach.

YouTube: 6 Billion Hours And Counting

As YouTube points out, 6 billion hours in a month is almost an hour for every person who lives on Earth.  Of course, it’s not nearly like that…it is a bunch of people, a little over a billion unique visitors, watching hours of content every month.  The figure was at 4 billion hours, and now it’s at 6 billion…a 50 percent increase.  That’s just mind-blowing.  But it also shows that YouTube has been hard at work finding people everywhere they go, increasing its reach in different countries (70 percent of its traffic comes outside the U.S.) and on almost every device you can think of.

I’m wondering if this time next year, we’ll be talking about 9 billion hours a month.  It was impressive when it was 4 billion.  Just imagine it being more than twice that next year.

Source: We Now Watch 6 Billion Hours of Content A Month on YouTube http://www.reelseo.com/we-watch-6-billion-hours-content-a-month-youtube/#ixzz2SFQPoDWc

Country Legend George Jones’ Estate on the Market for $8 Million | Armonk Homes

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If a good country song tells a story, then George Jones was a master storyteller.

The Country Music Hall of Famer, who passed away April 26 at age 81, spun tales both comical and heart-breaking — from his autobiographical drinking-gone-awry hit “Honky Tonk Song” to the emotionally charged ballad “He Stopped Loving Her Today,” regarded by many to be the greatest country music recording of all time.

Unfortunately, the story of selling Jones’ Franklin, TN estate could be a song in its own right.

First listed for $15 million in March 2011, the 80-acre property at 4025 Nestledown Dr, Franklin, TN 37067 has received a series of price cuts since hitting the market. Jones and his wife even tried dividing the property into five parcels and putting it up for auction, but total bids only reached the $2 million mark, and the couple declined. The price was dropped in late March to its current $8 million — 500 percent more expensive per square foot than a middle-of-the-road Franklin home.

The equestrian estate was built in 1993 and boasts immaculate green pastures, with a 9,704-square-foot main house and several outbuildings. Showcasing its Tennessee character, the 4-bedroom, 7.5-bath mansion also features a grand entryway, long porch and even a personal barber shop.

The for-sale listing for Jones’ longtime residence is held by Bailey & Ivey.