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Armonk’s Mariani Gardens Granted Zoning Text Amendment For Café Plans | Armonk Homes

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Mariani Gardens in Armonk was recently granted a zoning text amendment from the North Castle Town Board to enlarge its café, according to a report by The Examiner News.

The text amendment would allow the Armonk nursery, located on Bedford Road, to enlarge its café from 1,000-square-feet to up to 3,500-square feet, and it would also be able to increase its seating capacity from 16 to 72, the report said. Certain home furnishing and luxury items, like soaps, lotions and jewelry, could also be sold at the business.

The final step in granting the zoning revision is approval from the North Castle Planning Board.

The text amendment was granted after two years of debate and revised proposals, according to the report.

To read the full story, click here.

 

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http://armonk.dailyvoice.com/news/mariani-gardens-expansion-approval-tops-armonk-news-week

Armonk Weekly Real Estate Report | Armonk NY Real Estate for Sale

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Armonk   NY Weekly Real Estate Report8/29/2013
Homes for sale84
Median Ask Price$1,737,000.00
Low Price$395,000.00
High Price$17,000,000.00
Average Size5188
Average Price/foot$433.00
Average DOM159
Average Ask Price$2,349,718.00

Armonk’s Mariani Gardens Granted Zoning Text Amendment For Café Plans | Armonk Real Estate

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Mariani Gardens in Armonk was recently granted a zoning text amendment from the North Castle Town Board to enlarge its café, according to a report by The Examiner News.

The text amendment would allow the Armonk nursery, located on Bedford Road, to enlarge its café from 1,000-square-feet to up to 3,500-square feet, and it would also be able to increase its seating capacity from 16 to 72, the report said. Certain home furnishing and luxury items, like soaps, lotions and jewelry, could also be sold at the business.

The final step in granting the zoning revision is approval from the North Castle Planning Board.

The text amendment was granted after two years of debate and revised proposals, according to the report.

Don’t Be Shy. Questions To Ask Your Contractor | Armonk Real Estate

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Questions to ask your Contractor

When it comes to hiring a contractor, most folks think they do the right amount of due diligence. They search for reviews, they check with the Better Business Bureau, and they likely ask the prospective pro whether or not they’re licensed and insured. Doing your research is a good thing. It helps you avoid the mistake of hiring the wrong pro. However, many homeowners still feel intimidated when dealing with their contractor. So much so, that nearly 84 percent of homeowners we surveyed spent time researching their project before talking to their contractor in hopes of sounding like they knew what they were talking about!
Getting taken advantage of is a legitimate fear when hiring a pro to tackle a major home improvement project. One of the ways to prevent that from happening is by knowing how much others in your area are paying for similar projects. Our Cost Guide helps you get the pricing info you’re looking for so you can go into the budgeting process with the right information.
However, you’ll need more than pricing info to get the peace of mind you’re looking for. Thankfully, all it takes is the confidence to ask any and all questions you might have. Here are five must ask questions every homeowner should ask, as well as five questions you might not have thought to ask.

 

What you want to hear is that they’ve been in business long enough to establish a credible track record of successful work experience.

2. Are you licensed, insured, and/or bonded?

At the very least you want to know that they’re licensed (and it’s current) and carry worker’s comp and liability insurance to cover any accidents. Being bonded is not a universal requirement, so not all contractors are. Think of bonding as an insurance policy for the homeowner that protects you if the job heads south.

3. Do you guarantee your work in writing?

While a verbal guarantee is nice, it offers no guarantees that the contractor will actually stand behind their work. You want a written guarantee that states exactly what is and isn’t covered.

 

 

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http://welcome.homeadvisor.com/questions_to_ask_your_contractor?m=homesense&entry_point_id=26786319

 

Industry push to raise visibility of home energy efficiency improvements | Armonk Real Estate

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Everybody in real estate knows the rap against “green” and energy efficiency improvements to existing homes: Owners can invest a lot of money and save on utility bills, but then when they go to sell they often find it’s tough to get paybacks through higher prices on their homes.

Complicating the situation is the fact that many multiple listing services do not have “green fields” in their listing formats to highlight energy efficiency improvements, so buyers who are potentially interested in high-performance homes can’t shop for them effectively. Then come the appraisers and lenders. In an era of appraisal management companies, assignments often are made based on low fees, and appraisers with no training in valuing green improvements either ignore them or give them only minimal upward adjustments. And when they try to give significant adjustments, underwriters often challenge them or simply ask for a revised, lower number.

Builders routinely market new homes carrying Energy Star, HERS, LEED and National Green Building Standard certifications, and buyers across the country recognize these as credible performance indicators. But purchasers of existing homes have no standardized guidance.

This is despite the fact that National Association of Realtors’ annual surveys of homebuyers and sellers have consistently found that buyers care about energy efficiency.

The 2012 survey, for instance, reported that 87 percent of buyers surveyed said a home’s heating and cooling costs were “important” or “very important” to them, whatever the age of the house. Energy efficient lighting and appliances also are seen as major pluses, with roughly 70 percent of purchasers ranking them important or very important

 

 

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http://www.inman.com/2013/08/13/industry-push-to-raise-visibility-of-home-energy-efficiency-improvements/#sthash.d9jEKXNb.dpuf

North Castle Names New Police Chief | Armonk Real Estate

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According to Supervisor Howard Arden, Harisch has done practically every job on the force as he has risen steadily through the ranks of the North Castle Police, “Geoffrey Harisch is taking the reins as our new Police Chief and we all look forward to working with him.”

Harisch is filling the position vacated by Chief Robert D’Angelo who retired in January 2013. D’Angelo worked his way up the ranks as well and was named Police Chief in 1991. Lt. William Fisher was appointed as Provisional Chief following D’Angelo’s retirement.

In March 2013, three department lieutenants were eligible to take the Police Chief examination. After the Police Chief test results were received, Lt. Harisch was the only officer eligible to become Police Chief.

Harisch said, “I’m looking forward to serving the town and have covered every aspect and done every task. A lot of people know me in this town and I intend to do my best.”

Harisch started as a patrolman for the North Castle Police Department in April of 1987. About four years later, he was promoted to the rank of Detective, at which he served for three years. During his tenure as a detective, Harisch was named youth officer beginning in 1991. He was then promoted to Sergeant, while retaining the youth officer title with those duties for five years.

During the time he was Sergeant, Harisch revamped the Department’s property management system of evidence and other items that were taken into the department. He also revamped the police candidate hiring investigation with the assistance of Sergeant Dennis Murray. Harisch ran the tours around the clock as all patrol sergeants do.

Harisch was involved with the first North Castle Police Department vehicle enforcement unit to safely move trucks within a five mile radius of North Castle. The truck enforcement officer has to be well versed in transportation law and tax law, said Harisch. “We still currently have a vehicle enforcement unit, but it hasn’t been active,” according to Harisch. He commented that he would like to get the vehicle enforcement unit up and running again. This would involve working with a certified person from the New York State Department of Transportation and using weighing scales from the State Police, County Police, or Yorktown Police.

 

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http://www.allaboutarmonk.com/northcastle/

 

Southern California home market cools; prices remain flat | Armonk Real Estate

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The red-hot Southern California housing market finally got a dose of cold water.

The region’s median home price in July remained flat from a month earlier, at $385,000, real estate firm DataQuick said Wednesday. The figures followed a record-setting June, when the median price rose 4.6% over the previous month and 28% year-over-year, the highest percentage since DataQuick started tracking the statistic in 1989.

The cooling off came with a surge in the number of sales to an eight-year high, indicating a growing supply of homes that could steady the market after this year’s frenzy. Rising mortgage rates may also have propelled more buyers to close deals, fearful that rates could climb higher, the San Diego research firm said.

“We are slowly moving toward a normalized market,” said Stuart Gabriel, director of UCLA‘s Ziman Center for Real Estate.

The market nonetheless remained strong, with the median price up 25.8% from July 2012.

Prices have risen at a breakneck pace this year with an improving economy, a short supply of homes and heavy investor demand. The gains have frustrated many would-be buyers who found themselves on the losing end of bidding wars and raised questions about whether the market is getting overheated.

Many economists say the increases should moderate as the inventory crunch loosens. Rising prices, many have predicted, will spur new-home construction and lure more sellers into the market.

Rising mortgage rates should also eventually help cool the market. But rate increases could also spur more sales and price increases in the short term, as buyers look to get into the market before rates go up further. Mortgage rates have risen about 1 percentage point since the beginning of May.

Inventory has increased in all six Southern California counties last month from June, according to Realtor.com. Los Angeles County, for instance, saw 7.8% more home listings in July than a month earlier. Orange County inventory rose 8.4% last month.

 

Southern California home market cools; prices remain flat – latimes.com.

Must See Social Media Statistics | Armonk Realtor

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Social media marketing is not just a trendy word, it is fast becoming and in some cases already is a viable acquisition channel for most businesses.

In fact, Hubspot reports that 70% of business-to-consumer marketers have acquired a customer through Facebook.
If you are still having trouble convincing your boss that social media is worth the investment, here are 28 must see statistics for 2013 to make him/her jump on board.
YouTube
 
YouTube
photo credit: webtreats
This may be well-known now, but it’s worth mentioning that YouTube is the #2 search engine on the web making it one great resource for traffic and leads.
As a matter of fact, Zappos reports that YouTube drove 250,000 visits to its website in 2012.
If you have no clue where to start with YouTube, check out our Complete Guide to Video Marketing.
Another resource is an interview that David Siteman Garland with James Wedmore. James talks about how he finds keywords with high search traffic, creates videos for those terms, and ultimately turns those views into email leads.
1. 700 YouTube video links are shared on Twitter every minute (source: Relevancy Group)
 
2. 500 years of YouTube videos are watched on Facebook every day (source: Relevancy Group)
 
3. The equivalent of 100 hours of video is uploaded to YouTube each minute (source: Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers)
 
4. 99% of US online specialty retailers use YouTube, up from 93% in 2012 (source: L2)
 
Facebook
 
Facebook
photo credit: Scott Beale
With close to a billion active users on the site, Facebook is a behemoth in the social media world.
Amy Porterfield is an expert on Facebook Marketing and has a great blog post about how to increase fans on your page.
Also, if you haven’t looked into Facebook Ads, it’s one channel worth checking out. In fact, at SmartShoot we were able to attract more leads at half the price on Facebook than we were on Google Adwords.
5. 79% of social media log ins by online retailers are with Facebook, compared to 12% for Google+, and 4% for Twitter (source: Gigya)
 
6. Facebook will account for 13% of worldwide mobile ad revenue in 2013 (source: L2)
 
7. Facebook users share 2.5B pieces of content on the site each day (source: Nielsen)
 
8. 70% of business-to-consumer marketers have acquired a customer through Facebook (source: Hubspot)

 

 

Must See Social Media Statistics | Social Media Today.

Realtor.com(R) National Housing Trend Report Shows Dramatic National Year-Over-Year Inventory Declines are Easing | Armonk Homes

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Realtor.com(R), the leader in online real estate operated by Move, Inc. (NASDAQ: MOVE), today released the realtor.com(R) National Housing Trend Report for the month of July 2013. July’s real estate market data shows the nation experienced a 5.24 percent decline in housing inventory, which is the second month in a row with year-over-year inventory declines in the single digits. National median list prices increased 5.27 percent year-over-year while median age of inventory is down 16.67 percent.

While California markets have dominated the list of markets with the largest housing inventory declines in the first part of 2013, they have been replaced by a new set of market leaders including: Detroit, Mich.; Boston; Denver; Honolulu and Naples, Fla. The large decreases in the for-sale inventory in these markets suggests the beginning of a housing market recovery process similar to what was observed in Florida in 2011, and in California in 2012 and 2013.

“The recovery is entering a new phase where inventory shortfalls are no longer the driving force behind changes in housing prices in many markets. Larger inventories, especially in the hotter markets that experienced rapid price increases in the spring, are expanding buyers’ choices and helping to moderate price increases,” said Steve Berkowitz, CEO of Move, Inc. “This month’s report also underscores the uneven nature of the housing recovery and its dependence on the strength of the local economy.”

 
      Realtor.com(R)'s Key National Market Indicators for July 2013 

                                     Year-over-Year %  Month-over-Month % 
                          July 2013       Change             Change 
                          ---------  ----------------  ------------------ 
Number of Listings        1,959,030       -5.24%             1.41% 
------------------------  ---------  ----------------  ------------------ 
Median Age of Inventory    85 days       -16.67%             6.25% 
------------------------  ---------  ----------------  ------------------ 
Median List Price         $199,900        5.27%              0.00% 
------------------------  ---------  ----------------  ------------------

National Highlights:

   -- Dramatic national year-over-year inventory declines have evaporated. 
      Nationally inventories in July are only 5.24 percent below the level of a 
      year ago compared to being down 16.47 percent year-over-year in January. 

   -- Inventory declines decrease in local markets.  In July 2013, the number 
      of markets with decreases in year-over-year inventory declined from 125 
      markets in June to 118 markets in July.  This suggests that this fall 
      inventories in some markets may return to levels of a year ago and may 
      continue to slow price increases in some markets. 

   -- Markets are still moving fast. All but five markets are continuing to 
      experience year-over-year declines in age of inventory and on a 
      month-over-month basis. On a national level, housing inventory is 
      approximately 17 percent below last year, but the national age of 
      inventory increased 6.25 percent month-over-month. 

   -- Price declines decrease in local markets.  Median listing prices are now 
      negative year-over-year in only 31 markets, which is down from 36 in 
      June

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http://online.wsj.com/article/PR-CO-20130813-907459.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Fannie Mae to pay Treasury $10.2B as housing prices rise | Armonk Homes

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Fannie Mae, the mortgage financier seized by U.S. regulators in 2008, will pay the Treasury Department $10.2 billion after reporting its sixth consecutive quarterly profit on continued recovery in the housing market.

The government-sponsored enterprise, which is operating under federal conservatorship, had net income of $10.1 billion for the three-month period that ended June 30, according to a statement released Thursday.

“Fannie Mae reported a strong second quarter in 2013 driven primarily by continued stable revenues and boosted by a significant increase in home prices in the quarter, which resulted in a reduction in the company’s loss reserves,” the company said in the statement.

After its latest payment, Washington-based Fannie Mae will have sent the Treasury a total of $105 billion, compared with the $117.1 billion of aid the company has received. Freddie Mac, which Wednesday reported a $5 billion quarterly profit, will have paid about $41 billion after drawing $72 billion.

Don Layton, Freddie Mac’s chief executive officer, said his McLean, Va.-based company may send Treasury as much as $28.6 billion within the next two quarters if tax credits it holds have value based on expectation of continued profitability.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have returned to profitability as the housing market recovered and they raised fees for loan guarantees. Fannie Mae’s net income last year exceeded that of companies such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc., General Electric Co. and Berkshire Hathaway Inc., according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

The two companies were seized in September 2008, shortly before the failure of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and the rescue of American International Group Inc., amid losses that pushed them toward collapse. They ceased this year paying 10 percent dividends that returned $65 billion to Treasury and now turn over any profits above a permitted capital reserve.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which were created by the federal government before becoming publicly traded companies, buy mortgages from lenders and package them into securities on which they guarantee payments of principal and interest.

President Barack Obama on Aug. 6 called for the two companies to be replaced with a government mortgage reinsurer that would sustain losses only in catastrophic circumstances.

Hedge funds including Paulson & Co. Inc. have been pushing Congress to abandon plans to liquidate the companies as they buy up preferred stock that has been soaring after being considered worthless, according to people with knowledge of the discussions. Some owners of preferred shares have sued the U.S. government, charging that some of the companies’ profits should eventually go to stockholders.

From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20130808/BIZ/308080078#ixzz2bi7uV22s

 

Fannie Mae to pay Treasury $10.2B as housing prices rise | The Detroit News.