Tag Archives: Armonk Homes for Sale

Armonk Homes for Sale

October Prices Lag in the Midwest | Armonk NY Real Estate

Leave a reply

Price growth was strong in every region in October, including the Northeast where prices rose more than any other region. However, Midwest prices continued to trail the nation as the recovery is still fragile in the nation’s heartland.

While current quarterly gains are all under 5 percent, October marks the fifth consecutive month of quarter-over-quarter home price growth. Nationally, prices edged up 2.1 percent over the rolling quarter, higher than over September’s rate of growth. The West came in strong again, with quarterly gains of 3.7 percent. The South posted gains of 2 percent over the rolling quarter, according to Clear Capital’s October HDI Market Report.

Previously trailing in quarterly gains, the Northeast saw the largest jump in regional performance. Up 1.7 percentage points from September, the Northeast posted 1.9 percent growth quarter-over-quarter. Price gains across the low, mid, and top tier sectors all contributed to the region’s quarterly improvement.

Meanwhile, in Midwest quarterly growth of 1.0 percent was 0.9 percentage points lower than September’s. The Midwest tends to see quicker shifts in percentage change due to relatively low price points when compared to other regions. But there are certainly states within the Midwest, like Ohio, that have made notable progress. Ohio’s recorded quarterly gains of 1.6 percent are secondary to its more substantial long term price growth of 15.0 percent since 2008.

Today the National Association of Realtors released median prices for metropolitan areas for the third quarter. Prices in Chicago are down 1.8 percent from a year ago; Madison, WI is down 4.3 percent; Bloomington, IL is down 0.5 percent; and Champaign-Urbana is down 3.6 percent.

Yearly home prices in October came in strong. National gains of 4.6 percent are the highest since August 2010, when the first-time-homebuyer tax credit was enticing buyers.

The West posted its first double digit yearly gains since 2006, at 11.4 percent. While the hard hit region showed little signs of slowing down, it has a long way to go. Current prices are still 42.9 percent below the peak. On par with quarterly trends, the Midwest saw yearly gains soften to 1.1 percent. This, in part, reflects higher prices a year ago when the region saw a short uptick.

October year-over-year home prices in the South and the Northeast made headway; each up at least 1.0 percentage point over September, to 4.2 percent and 2.0 percent, respectively. With yearly growth of 6.8 percent, Virginia outpaced its region by 2.6 points.

The highest performing metros are a diverse group. In October, strong markets like Phoenix and Seattle were bested by Atlanta. However, Atlanta is in the early stages of a recovery, highlighted by a relatively high REO saturation rate of 37.8 percent.

Atlanta’s growth of 8.0 percent over the last rolling quarter represents a significant reversal for the market. Even though REO saturation remains the highest on the list, the new found growth was supported by a 9.7 percentage point drop over the last six months.

While trends are improving, Atlanta’s price points are extremely low, with a median price-per-square-foot of just $58. That’s nearly half the national median price-per-square-foot of $107. Even slight shifts in price can have a relatively large impact on percentage change for Atlanta.

Cleveland’s quarterly and yearly gains of 7.1 percent and 4.9 percent, respectively, outpaced national, regional, and state returns

The group of lowest performing metros are a great example of how housing trends continue to differ market by market. While Ohio and Virginia are doing relatively well overall, markets like Columbus, Cincinnati, and Richmond lag behind top performers, though each has posted yearly growth.

And after coming in as one of the strongest 15 markets four times in 2012, Tampa landed on the list of lowest performing metros in October. Over the last year, the low tier segment has been a key growth driver for Tampa. But, losses of 5.3 percent over the last quarter in Tampa’s low price segment (homes selling for $62,000 and less) created a drag on the overall market’s quarterly gains of 1.5 percent. Additionally, Tampa’s REO saturation rose nearly one percentage point over the last quarter. While this market continues to see measured growth, it’s not on the same trajectory as other markets, like Atlanta.

Tampa is a great example of how seemingly small shifts in the status quo can disrupt the momentum of price gains. The housing recovery has been built upon the delicate balance between declining distressed sales and increased buyer activity. Until more of the middle class has access to credit, the recovery will be constrained.

via realestateeconomywatch.com

The Viral Video Formula Revealed: 7 Key Elements for Viral Content | Armonk NY Real Estate

Leave a reply

So, at about this time in our study of viral videos, we should know a few things: it’s rarely an accident.  I’m about to break down a formula from the good people at Salesforce, who were kind of enough to make a video about this early this year.  But a mere formula always has one thing missing: it’s easy enough to say you’ve got to make great content, but you have to know what that is and how to make it.  If you have the ability to make it, then this formula should work fine.  It all comes down to how much work you’re willing to do after creating and publishing a great video.  Let’s take a look.

A Formula and Equation for Viral Success

Let’s take a look at their video, provided by Jamie Grenney, VP of Social Media at Salesforce:

YouTube Preview Image

The formula breaks down like this:

Frequency (Who is talking about it?) x Proximity (How many people have they shared it with?) x Potency (How potent is the message?) x Incubation (How long after someone shares the content is it ultimately viewed?)

7 Key Elements of the Viral Video Formula: A Viral Loop Checklist

The formula comes from how actual viruses are spread.  So how do you make content spread like a virus?  They’ve broken it down into a checklist:

1. Answers a question, or evokes an emotional response.

The first part of this step is why “how-to” videos do so well on YouTube.  Giving people information about things they are actively seeking.  Like, for instance, I suddenly thought of pancakes.  How do I make pancakes?  Wait…how do I make perfect pancakes?

YouTube Preview Image

Making pancakes.  1 million views.  Answers a question, makes me hungry.  In fact, that video also evokes an emotional response.

Emotional responses were a huge factor for the Olympic Games this summer.  It’s what distinguished the top brands when looking for viral success:

YouTube Preview Image

2. Addresses a hot topic that people are searching for or talking about.

Remember the pancakes?  Well, actually, that kind of thing is always on people’s minds, or maybe it’s just mine.  Anyway, pancakes aren’t likely to be a “hot topic” unless they’ve hit the news somehow.  And believe me, we don’t ever want to see pancakes make the news, unless scientists find a way to make them even more fluffy and delicious and it’s a slow news day.

But maybe there’s a trending topic floating around.  It’s not hard to find those if you’re roving around Facebook or Twitter or news outlets.  You can totally capitalize on this.  For instance, when the Higgs-Boson particle was discovered, it generated a lot of interest, and curiosity.  What is so darn important about the Higgs-Boson anyway?

YouTube Preview Image

Not done:

YouTube Preview Image

Not nearly done:

YouTube Preview Image

Seriously, Minute Physics took a topic and ran with it for three videos.  That’s genius.  If you’ve got particular knowledge on a currently trending subject, or if you have a way to incorporate a trending topic into one of your videos, you can use that tent-pole event to raise interest in your video.

3. Title, description, & video thumbnail are compelling and drive clicks.

I hate it when people talk about thumbnails, because that’s something YouTube hasn’t completely ironed out yet.  And then I look like a jerk for expressing the need to make good thumbnails, when A.) some people can’t generate custom thumbnails because they’re not allowed and B.) they have to rely on the good ol’ 3 randomly generated thumbnails that YouTube provides.  They’re getting better at this, and most any channel that’s been around for awhile can do them.  But hey, not everything is YouTube.  Many services allow you to do what you like with thumbnails.  And you should have a compelling one.

When you make titles it should be something that is not only compelling, but relevant.  I think some creators kind of tiptoe a line with this, but in the end, you want a title that you yourself would click if you came across it.  So that’s why you see a lot of “BEST PANCAKES EVER!!!!” and “HOW TO MAKE KILLER PANCAKES!!!” and stuff like that.  You’ve entered a sort of huckster field here.  “Step right up, I promise you’ll see something amazing that will change your life.”  You should really talk to our founder Mark Robertson sometime about this.  That guy is always thinking of titles.

In the description, this is where you tell people what’s in the video.  Hopefully, a bit of a teaser that will get people to want to click.  Descriptions are helpful in SEO, as it describes the content of the video and helps a search engine to figure out what it is.  But the small description below the video, before someone clicks, “Show More” should be something compelling, engaging curiosity.

4. Video is short and sweet, ideally 2 minutes or less.

Wait a minute…come on, ReelSEO.  You tell us the top branded videos that get shared are 4 minutes, 11 seconds in length, then someone else turns right around and says, well, except for cars.  So how long does any video need to be, anyway?

This could show how much length is a case-by-case basis.  I think if you’re a brand, you shoot for a story to tell, something interesting and unique with your product that enriches lives, and you show how by telling someone’s story.  Those go viral for different reasons than just someone trying to make a quick video hoping for it to go viral.  So maybe you want to make a video about something not all that substantial, something funny, something light.  Something people want to share with their friends during a busy workday.  That’s where a 2-minutes-or-less video comes in.  You get those people who are looking to take a break and they see that your video is less than 2 minutes, and that’s attractive during a busy day.  Either way, grab a viewer within 15 seconds, as the YouTube Creator Playbook says.

This step is entirely dependent on what kind of video you want to make.  So I think it’s important that when you make any video, good content reigns, and if it drags, you’ll want to edit it down to where everything “pops.”  So I’m not entirely sold on the “2 minutes or less” rule described here.  It kind of depends on the situation, doesn’t it?

5. Get your video off to a strong start propelled by paid, owned, and earned media.

This takes a lot of work.  Well, not so much work that you’ll feel like a construction worker who hauls bricks all day, but you’re going to have to prepare yourself for lots of rejection, even if your content is good.

You want to submit your video to relevant media outlets, those who feel like your content helps them attract readers/viewers.  There are a ton of news aggregation sites like Reddit, Digg, FARK, StumbleUpon, and so forth.  But let’s say your content is about movies.  You now have a ton of sites to send your video, as long as it’s something you think they’ll enjoy and you follow their submission guidelines.  You’re going to be rejected, or just not get a response, most of the time.  But if your content is good, you’ll have a few bites on it.  That’s all you need.  Eventually, if it gets big enough, those sites who rejected you might start posting the video anyway.

And once people start watching the video on other sites, they start sharing it with others.  Facebook and Twitter become huge, especially if you get one of those “big fish” Twitter users who have thousands or tens of thousands of followers.

I pretty much always bring up Freddie Wong’s “I Am AWESOME at Price is Right” video when it comes to this.  He submitted this video to Price is Right fan pages, which accepted the video with open arms, and he got a lot of views from that:

YouTube Preview Image

6. There are 4 reasons people share a video.  Find one reason.

Salesforce outlines these 4 reasons.  People share content:

  1. That source information and spark discussions
  2. That others might find valuable
  3. Because it aligns with their identity and how they want to be perceived
  4. That maintain and grow relationships

This sort of goes back to step 1: it answers a question or elicits an emotional response.  What you want to have in mind when pitching this video to other people is one or more of the reasons above.  One of these reasons might be your “sales pitch” to blogs and friends.

7. Eliminate things that would make people reluctant to share.

Tough source material, depressing things, perhaps too much profanity.  Things that make the video toxic to a wide audience.  Salesforce also mentions that too much branding in a video could be considered a turn-off.  But I think if you’ve successfully navigated the first step, this shouldn’t be too much of an issue.  You’re making content people want to share.  I don’t know what kind of crazy video you have where you’ve successfully navigated most of this formula and then you get stopped in your tracks once you come to this one, but maybe I want to watch that video.

Give Salesforce’s blog post on this video a look. They break these steps down into other details you might find valuable.

via reelseo.com

New-home sales up 27 percent from a year ago | Armonk New Homes

Leave a reply

Sales of new single-family homes were up 5.7 percent from August to September and 27.1 percent from a year ago, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 389,000 — the strongest pace of sales since April 2010, the Census Bureau reported today.

The picture varied widely by region, with new-home sales up 75 percent from a year ago in the Northeast, 62.1 percent in the West and 24.3 percent in the South, but falling 31.9 percent in the Midwest.

Nationwide, there were 145,000 new homes on the market at the end of September, which represented 4.5 months of supply at the current sales rate, down from a record 12.1 months in January 2009, Bill McBride noted on the blog Calculated Risk.

The median sales price of new homes sold in September 2012 was $242,400, up nearly 12 percent from a year ago.


Source: Calculated Risk blog.

New homes include “not started,” “under construction” and “completed.”

At 38,000, the number of completed new homes for sale in September was the lowest level since the Census Bureau started tracking the stat in 1973, according to McBride.

Last week, the Census Bureau reported that housing starts increased 24.5 percent from September 2011 to September 2012.

via inman.com

How to Get Started with Social Media Marketing | Armonk NY Real Estate

Leave a reply

Social media is changing everything. How we communicate, do business and read our news.How to Get Started with Social Media Marketing

The biggest change to business is that it is democratizing marketing. Marketing is no longer monopolized by mass media, expensive printing firms or marketing agencies that controlled access to your customers and prospective audience.

You are now free to create and publish and market your own 30 second advertisement on YouTube and the world can watch.

Your brand now has its own TV channel

You can publish your own articles and educate your customers with posts created on your blog.

You “are” the publisher.

Then you can engage, distribute and market to your customers and prospects on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

You  now “own” your marketing distribution platforms and they are called social networks.

You can gain control over your marketing. It is the end of business as usual.

The Challenges

We as humans are slow to change but technology is changing rapidly with the pace accelerating. Radio took 38 years to reach 50 million users while Facebook added 200 million users in less than 12 months.

CEO’s and management are struggling to cope with the pace of the shift. This is also a cultural challenge.

We think that we are competing with a store across the street or in the same suburb but modern logistics, online stores and the social web are creating competitors in Canada, Korea and Hong Kong and across the globe.

Getting noticed in a daily torrent of over 1.5 billion new pieces of content , more than 200 million tweets  and  1.5 million new YouTube videos is like being a grain of sand on the beach.  It is hard to stand out.

Online business and appearing high in Google search results is often touted as easy as printing your own money if you believe the spammers and scammers. The reality is much different but there are ways to move  your brand and business from invisible to visible.

The Solutions

Many businesses still have not noticed the tsunami  wave of change as we move to a digital world. From a distance it looks like a ripple on the ocean. That wave will soon reek havoc unless you have planned for its arrival.

So we need to embrace the world of an increasingly digital and social web. The solutions and answers are increasingly found online.

Accept the fact that most people will find you or your business on a Google search, an email from a colleague or a friend telling you on Facebook.

Social networks and social media are the game changers.

Why Use Social Media Marketing?

The real power of social media marketing lies in its amplification of your message as it is shared on an exponential and low friction web but there are some other reasons why you should step into the social media game.

  • It  accelerates the speed of your brand message and story. Tweets can be sent in a second while publishing a brochure takes weeks.
  • It is networking on steroids (It takes you beyond the Dunbar limitation of 150 connections on a global scale and empowers weak ties)
  • It makes self publishing easy and intuitive
  • It enlists the power of “World of Mouth”
  • It facilitates trust

Any one of these on their own are reason to throw your marketing chips on the table.

Core Social Media Marketing Principles

Social media marketing is not a one way conversation, pushing your product or corporate speak.

It is about creating content that engages and builds online tribes that crowd source your marketing and online conversations.

There are also some core principles in building a long lasting social media marketing foundation that will survive a Facebook meltdown.

  • Create “Liquid” (Content that flows and is easily shared) and “Linked” (content that is linked to your core brand values) content
  • Publish to multiple social networks with your core content residing on your website and blog.
  • Create compelling “Multi-Media Content (not everyone wants to read a 400 word article but would view that same content on YouTube or Slideshare)
  • Embrace visual communication marketing with images and videos published on Facebook, Google+. Pinterest or Instagram
  • Make it easy to share with sharing buttons for Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest and Google+

This will provide the bedrock of compelling contagious content that will be shared and will bring your customers and prospects back for more. These digital assets will be indexed by Google and other search engines that will provide enduring and long lasting benefits.

The Two Step Social Media Marketing Program

Social media marketing is not a one trick pony and approaching with the singular tactic of  just publishing a Facebook Page is a risky approach and will not produce any substantial benefit.

Firstly create a social media marketing strategy that defines your audience and marketing goals

Secondly implement tactics on multiple social media channels that set out to deliver on achieving results congruent with that strategy.

You only need to look at the approach taken by the Old Spice brand which was one of  the best integrated social media marketing campaigns in recent memory to realize what power a multi-channel and multi-media social media marketing strategy can bring to the table.

Some tips and tactics for social media marketing.

  1. Blog – Create a home base for your content that you own
  2. Facebook – include visual content when publishing to your timeline and use it to build engagement with your fans
  3. Twitter – Learn the art of the headline as you only have 140 characters to tweet (including the link)
  4. YouTube – Create short videos (2 minutes was the norm but Old Spice videos moved the gateposts and 15-25 seconds is much more common
  5. LinkedIn – Embrace the power of “Groups” on LinkedIn to position you as an expert and thought leader
  6. Slideshare – Make your PowerPoints a visual marketing medium that people will download share and embed
  7. Pinterest – Create boards that suit your business product categories and have some visual sharing fun
  8. Instagram – Make it personal and humanize your brand as social media is about being human

Just one tip to finish. Keep giving away free content till it hurts!

Be Patient

Social media marketing is not a quick fix but needs to be built on the premise that a long term approach will build an online brand asset that keeps on giving long after your first tweet or YouTube video is published.

You will need to persist and continue to publish and build tribes and keep them nourished with content that educates, informs, entertains and inspires.

It is like building a home “one brick at a time”

Want to Learn How to Market Your Business and Brand on Social Networks?

My book – Blogging the Smart Way “How to Create and Market a Killer Blog with Social Media” – will show you how.

It is now available to download. I show you how to create and build a blog that rocks and grow tribes, fans and followers on social networks such as Twitter and Facebook. It also includes dozens of tips to create contagious content that begs to be shared and tempts people to link to your website and blog.

I also reveal the tactics I used to grow my Twitter followers to over 115,000.

You can download and read it now.

60
in Share

via jeffbullas.com

Quick Tip: What Not to Include in Your Facebook Personal Profile | Armonk NY Real Estate

Leave a reply

There is a lot of advice out there about what to include in your Facebook personal profile, but how about what NOT to include? There are a number of things, but the most important thing is not to include any other words in your name. You should not include your company name or title. Too often, I see a personal profile that says something like: “Jane Smith, Realtor.”

Facebook personal profile – do not include any other words in your name

There are two reasons not to do this:

1. It is against Facebook’s terms of service to have your name on your personal profile be anything other than your name — this includes titles.

2. It is also against Facebook’s terms of service to use a personal profile primarily for business.

If you want to primarily promote your business on Facebook, you should start a Facebook business page . This is the perfect place to showcase listings, market reports, client success stories and everything related to your business.

However, you can smartly talk about your business on your personal profile by sharing exciting moments — like when a first-time homebuyer closes on her first home ever, or the moment you give a homeowner the keys to her new home. These moments are some of the reasons you love being a real estate agent and are perfectly appropriate to share on your personal profile alongside personal interests.

via next.inman.com

Making Your Next Move Easier on the Kids | Armonk NY Homes

Leave a reply

Moving can be a stressful for adults, and that stress level can skyrocket if the whole family isn’t on board. How do you get buy-in from kids who are being forced to leave their schools, sports teams, friends and family? Chances are, there will be tears along the way, but these tips may help ease the shock and make the experience a positive one for the whole gang:

Share the news in a timely fashion

The more time they have to think about and prepare for the move, the easier it will be for them. Plus, the absolute worst thing that could happen is to have your children inadvertently hear about the move from a teacher or a friend’s parent. When you first talk about the move, make sure you allow plenty of time for the conversation: It’s likely your children will have lots of questions.

Provide accurate information

Do your homework ahead of time so you can tell your children as much as possible about the city or area to which you’re moving. Have photos ready to show them, know everything you can about the schools they’ll be attending (if your son lives to play football, for example, you better know the record of his new team). The more information you can provide — in a positive manner — the less anxious your children will feel about the move.

Listen

Your kids may be excited about the move, or they may feel sad. Either way, you need to hear them out and help them work through their feelings.

Involve them

If at all possible, sit down together and create a family wish list for your new home. Teens may want a game room. A young child may want to live near a park. Don’t make promises but, rather, let family members know their desires will be considered as you search for a new home. Becoming part of the search may help turn anxiety into excitement.

Don’t share too much

This is especially true if you need to move because of financial hardship. Knowing too many details about the family’s finances could just add to a child’s anxiety.

Get them excited about the move

Older kids may be able to help with online searches for information about houses, schools, nearby dog parks and more. Ask the kids to pack and label their own boxes. Empower them to make decisions about how their new bedrooms will be decorated.

Propose stay-in-touch strategies

Social media, email and letters are all good ways for children to stay connected with friends after the move. Help your children gather contact information for school friends and team mates. Don’t promise trips back to visit if you really don’t plan to facilitate them.

Don’t downplay good-byes

Talk with your children about how they’d like to say good-bye to their closest friends. Do they want to invite a bunch of friends to a party? Would they rather host one last sleepover with a best friend? Would they like to create a scrapbook their friends can sign? Let your children know that you appreciate the impact this move will have on them and you want their good-byes to be meaningful.

Make time for post-move adventures

Yes, there will be boxes to unpack and pictures to hang, but it’s important for your family to investigate and explore your new neighborhood and city together. Make it a goal to discover at least one fun, interesting thing to do each week.

via zillow.com

Housing Starts Blow Away the Experts | Armonk NY Real Estate

Leave a reply

More new residential units were started in September than any month since July 2008, blowing away expectations and making national headlines for the resurgence in home construction.

The number of new privately owned housing units that began construction was up for the third straight month.  Starts reached 872,000 units, above the 770,000 expected by a Bloomberg survey of economists and surpassed by 15 percent the upwardly revised to a 758,000 unit rate in August   September starts also exceeded September 2011 by 34.8 percent, the Commerce Department said yesterday,

Building permits, a precursor of future construction activity, also bounced back, up 11.6 percent from August and 45.1 percent from a year earlier. Building permits reached 894,000 units in September.  The increase in building permits suggests the gains in starts will be sustained for months to come.

Single-family starts were a major component of the increase, coming in at an annualized rate of 603,000 units during September, which is 11 percent above August and fully 27.3 percent more than the same month last year. Apartment starts (five units or more) were up 22.8 percent month-over-month and nearly doubled year-over-year, up 93.4 percent, though they tend to be jumpy.

The single family construction numbers are a positive sign for the market as they suggest that homebuilders feel confident in low inventories and are willing to delve back into the market despite tight financing that often requires self-funding of projects.  On Tuesday, the National Assn. of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index showed that builder confidence in the market for new single-family homes rose for the sixth straight month to its highest level since mid-2006.

“It’s no longer a question of whether the industry is rebounding,” Larry Sorsby, chief financial officer of Red Bank, New Jersey-based Hovnanian Enterprises Inc. (HOV), the best-performing homebuilding stock this year, told Bloomberg News in a telephone interview. “There is clear evidence that we have bounced off the bottom and are in the midst of a recovery.”

The September new starts report was “surprisingly strong,” said David Crowe, chief economist at the National Assn. of Home Builders.  “As consumer confidence rises and jobs return, more local markets and more consumers will join the buyer market and I expect housing construction to continue a modest but fairly steady rise throughout 2013 and into 2014,” Crowe wrote in a blog post.

While the annual rate of new home starts still is far below the peak of more than 2.2 million units reached in early 2006 during the peak of the housing bubble, the pace has picked up dramatically from the low of 478,000 in April 2009, and is up sharply from the 706,000 annual rate in May.

via realestateeconomywatch.com