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How to Block Politcal Yarn and Herd Facebook Rants | Armonk NY Real Estate
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Tag Archives: Armonk NY
Quick Tip: What Not to Include in Your Facebook Personal Profile | Armonk NY Real Estate
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.”
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
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
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.
Making the White House a ‘Home’ | Armonk NY Realtor
via zillow.com
Seth’s Blog: The no-problem problem | Armonk NY Real Estate
An organization that’s run on emergencies and reaction to incoming doesn’t know what to do when there are no problems.
Instead of seeking out new ways to delight, they run around looking for new emergencies, and if they look hard enough, of course they’ll find them.
(Two reasons for this: emergencies concentrate the mind and allow things to get done, and history).
Armonk Realtor | Housing starts increase by 15%
The U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development reports privately owned housing starts increased 15% since August from an annual rate of 758,000 to 872,000 homes.
That is 34.8% above last year’s rate of 647,000. The single-family housing starts in September climbed 11% at a rate of 603,000 from August where it was at 543,000. The September rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 206,000.
Authorized building permits for privately owned housing grew 11.6% in September at annual rate of 894,000 from August’s annual rate of 801,000, and is a 45.1% increase from last year.
Single-family authorizations in September grew 6.7% in September at a rate of 545,000 from August’s rate of 511,000. Authorizations of units in building with five or more were at a rate of 323,00 in September.
The 15% increase in housing starts is a great thing, because this means that the household formation rates have grown. In 2011, they doubled for a positive housing demand, which means consumers are purchasing more property rather than renting.
Existing home and new home sales are also increasing at a 10% year-over-year rate, which mean demand is significantly higher, and mortgage rates are at an all time low. Since consumers are purchasing properties more now, the existing home inventory is down 20% year-over-year and at six months supply, which is back to normal for a good, healthy market.
Specifically, new home construction will make a fill comeback once the job market rebounds. With these current trends that we are seeing now, analysts expect a slow, but positive improvement in both markets.
via housingwire.com
High Prices Still Lock Middle Class out of Top Cities | Armonk NY Real Estate
A median-income household can only afford a median-priced home in 14 of the 25 largest metropolitan areas in the U.S., according to research released today by Interest.com, a Bankrate company. Detroit, Atlanta and Minneapolis are the most affordable metropolitan areas and San Diego, New York and San Francisco are the least affordable.
A median-income household can only afford a median-priced home in 14 of the 25 largest metropolitan areas in the U.S., according to research released today by Interest.com. Detroit, Atlanta and Minneapolis are the most affordable metropolitan areas and San Diego, New York and San Francisco are the least affordable.
“Despite all of the talk about how homes are more affordable than they have been in decades, buying a home is still a big challenge for many American households,” said Mike Sante, managing editor of Interest.com. “Dealing with rising expenses and stagnant wages is a struggle. Even after years of declining home prices and record-low mortgage rates, median-income households are unable to afford a median-priced home in nearly half of the metropolitan areas that we looked at.”
Most Affordable Metropolitan Areas*
1. Detroit (+45.32%)
2. Atlanta (+40.00%)
3. Minneapolis (+32.20%)
4. Phoenix (+23.67%)
5. St. Louis (+23.49%)
Least Affordable Metropolitan Areas*
21. Los Angeles (-12.52%)
22. Miami (-12.59%)
23. San Diego (-25.90%)
24. New York (-29.71%)
25. San Francisco (-32.76%)
*Percentage reflects how much the median household income in a metropolitan area exceeds or falls short of the income required to purchase a median-priced home in that area
To determine each rating, Interest.com gathered the median home prices in the 25 largest U.S. metropolitan areas and calculated how much financing would be required for a buyer with a 20% down payment. They entered that amount and city-specific data on 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rates, median household income, median property taxes, average homeowners insurance costs and average household debt into the “Required Income Calculator” on Interest.com. Finally, they divided the median household income for each city by the income required to finance the median-priced home.
Median Home Price Source: National Association of Realtors, Q2 2012 study of existing single-family homes [Note: Pittsburgh was not included in that study, so September 2012 data from Real STATS was substituted]
30-Year Fixed-Rate Mortgage Rate Source: Bankrate.com, weekly national survey from September 19, 2012 [Note: City-specific data was not available for Portland (Ore.), Sacramento and San Antonio, so the national average was used for those three cities]
Median Household Income Source: U. S. Census Bureau, 2011 American Community Survey, median household incomes by Metropolitan Statistical Area
Median Property Taxes Source: U. S. Census Bureau, 2011 American Community Survey, median real estate taxes by Metropolitan Statistical Area
Average Homeowners Insurance Source: National Association of Insurance Commissioners, 2009 average premiums by state [Note: average 2009 premiums for Texas cities were obtained from the Texas Department of Insurance]
Average Household Debt Source: Experian’s 2012 State of Credit Study [Notes: did not include mortgage debt; Interest.com calculated monthly debt payments using an 8% interest rate amortized over 60 months]
Inventories Have Fallen for 27 Months | Armonk NY Realtor
Month-to-month inventories have now fallen for 27 consecutive months, according to the monthly RE/MAX National Housing Report. Inventory was 29.1 percent below September 2011 and may have contributed to the drop in sales from August.
The inventory of homes-for-sale in September fell 5.3 percent from August and 29.1 percdent from inventory levels seen in September 2011. Month-to-month inventories have now fallen for 27 consecutive months. While a shrinking inventory is certainly causing home prices to rise, there’s also a concern that it may also be limiting sales. Given the rate of sales in September, the average Months Supply was 5.5, about two months lower than the 7.7 average seen in September 2011. Very low Months Supply continues to be seen in San Francisco, CA 1.3, Los Angeles, CA 1.7, Orlando, FL 2.6, Denver, CO 2.6, Washington, DC 2.8, Detroit, MI 3.0, San Diego, CA 3.2, Seattle, WA 3.2 and Miami, FL 3.3.
In September, the average Days on Market for sold homes was 81. This is unchanged from August, but represents a drop of 13 days from the 94 day average in September 2011. September represents the fourth month in the last 12 months with a Days on Market average below 90, and the lowest average since June 2010. The Days on Market average continues to fall in many markets due to very low inventory. Days on Market is the number of days between first being listed in an MLS and when a sales contract is signed.
While shrinking inventories are is certainly causing home prices to rise, there’s also a concern that it may also be limiting sales and creating bidding wars in some markets, RE/MAX said. September home sales fell 17.5 percent from August, but remained 0.5 percent higher than sales in September 2011. September is the fifteenth consecutive month with sales higher than the same month in the previous year. Of the 52 metro areas surveyed this month, only 29 saw higher sales than one year ago and just 6 saw double digit increases including: Albuquerque, NM +40.9 percent, Chicago, IL +24.1 percent, Raleigh-Durham, NC +22.1 percent, Providence, RI +22.1 percent, Nashville, TN +21.0 percent and Denver, CO +11.4 percent .
