Cash Sales: 28 Percent of Residential Sales | Bedford Hills NY Real Estate
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10 Ways to Grow Your Facebook Following | Bedford Hills NY Homes
8 Ways SEO Should Influence Your Marketing Copywriting | Bedford Hills NY Real Estate
via blog.hubspot.com
Bedford Hills NY Real Estate | A tough week for the Dow, housing stocks
The Dow Jones Industrial average plunged 205 points, or 1.52%, closing at 13,343 on Friday, adding a dose of pessimism to mildly optimistic housing data from the week.
The Dow’s drop, which analysts compared to the 1987 stock plunge, didn’t necessarily kill the momentum homebuilders found earlier in the week when home starts were reported to be on the rise. But bank and builder stocks finished the week with mostly unimpressive results.
Bank of America’s ($9.44 -0.03%) stock barely moved the needle when comparing Friday’s close to the company’s price at opening. Wells Fargo’s ($34.34 -0.23%) stock edged down slightly, along with JPMorgan Chase ($42.32 -0.69%).
Citigroup ($37.16 -1.26%) took the biggest hit with its stock down 3% at market close before rising somewhat in after-hours trading. The banking giant made headlines earlier in the week when its CEO Vikram Pandit stepped down.
Homebuilders, on the other hand, are still feeling some momentum from rising home starts, which suggested a mildly positive turn on the home construction side of the housing market.
KB Home ($34.64 -0.9%) finished the week up 1.02%, while Pulte Group Inc. ($17.89 0.24%) and luxury builder Toll Brothers ($35.10 0.4%) rose just over 1%. D.R. Horton’s ($21.48 -0.07%) edged down slightly, while Lennar ($38.73 0.05%) inched up.
Still, the housing sector is facing some uncertainty.
September existing-home sales fell slightly from the previous month in September, but remain well above year-ago levels, according to the National Association of Realtors.
via housingwire.com
Report: Britney Spears Buys in Thousand Oaks | Bedford Hills NY Homes for Sale
via zillow.com
Bedford Hills NY Real Estate | Jobless claims shoot back up to 388,000 filings
After a week of positive employment data, jobless claims shot back up for the week ending Oct. 13, derailing confidence in the economic recovery.
The Labor Department reported 388,000 jobless claims for the week, an increase of 46,000 filings from the prior week’s revised figure of 342,000.
The four-week moving average hit 365,500, which is higher than the 364,750 level established a week prior.
Seasonal adjustments in California contributed to the quick jump in claims, Econoday researchers said Thursday. The jump was expected at the beginning of the quarter, but came in the second week of the period, the research firm said.
“This is a major factor behind violent swings in weekly jobless claims, up 46,000 in the October 13 week after dropping a revised 27,000 in the prior week,” Econoday said. “Swings like this, which weekly data are subject to, put in focus the four-week average which is only slightly higher, up less than 1,000 to 365,500.”
The news disrupts a few weeks of moderately optimistic reports with the unemployment rate falling to 7.8% in September as nonfarm payrolls rose by 114,000 positions, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
via housingwire.com
Tips for Handling Negative Comments and Trolls on Social Media | Bedford Hills NY Realtor
Some of us are more sensitive than others. Make a negative comment and some people will break into tears. Some will take it on board and modify their behavior. Others will turn into an attack dog and bite right back.
If you are a business then that approach is maybe not optimal if your brand is the target of the negative comment.
In the past, customers could only complain in a fairly private manner, either via phone call, within the storefront, or by letters.
Today, many businesses have second thoughts about joining the social media world because they are afraid of the potential for negative comments. Instead of missing out on one of the best marketing tools available, businesses can be prepared to handle the negativity that is likely to come their way.
The fact is, the negativity is likely already happening, but without a presence on social media sites, these companies have no way to combat it.
Taking a proactive presence on social media will allow you to respond and have a better chance of controlling your brand image online.
4 Social Media Monitoring and Management Tips
Before you engage in any responses to complaints, consider the following general policies as a guidelines to how you monitor and manage your handling of negative comments and complaints.
- Track all complaints (this can be done internally or externally by a “community manager”)
- Respond quickly in public
- Stay positive publicly
- Deal with details privately
This will assist you in stopping minor issues becoming a major public relations disaster.
Valid Complaints and Trolls
Negative comments come in two main types: Valid complaints and Trolls. Real complaints are problems that customers are having with your products or services that you need to address.
Valid Complaints
When a valid customer complaint shows up on one of your social media sites, take action quickly.
- First, document the comment in case it ends up being deleted so that you can keep track of the conversation.
- Take some time to think through a response. Don’t take the comment personally. The customer has had a frustrating experience with your product and is seeking you out, giving you a second chance.
- Handle the issue with tact and respect
If you take this assertive and positive approach you will most likely gain your customer’s trust and continued loyalty and they will become a a raving fan.
Trolls
Trolls are a type of public spam that is usually illicit and unrelated to your business. Their language is strong and emotive and it is designed to get you to react. If you respond they win.
They are hunting for attention and gain their energy by eliciting a response on a public forum that they don’t deserve. Usually they don’t have a large social network audience of their own but are relying on your social networks to leverage and amplify the message.
So, don’t give them oxygen , don’t let them use your social media channels to use as a pulpit to scream from and delete them immediately.
Responding
When you respond, use a respectful and even playful tone to keep the mood light and friendly. Admit that you messed up. Use your customer service policy here: the customer is always right (unless it is a completely unfounded complaint). Publicly send an apology on the social media site because you are dealing with more than just that one customer. Privately contact the customer who complained and fix the specific problem by giving a discount or some benefit that fits the problem.
Next, share how your business plans to fix the problem in the future. Explain with the appropriate amount of detail what went wrong and what you have done to fix the problem for all of your customers. The more transparent you are here, the more trust you will gain from your customers.
Although every situation will be different, if you learn how to respond appropriately and effectively to negative comments on social media sites, your customers will be happy to support you even more.
What About You?
Have do you handle negative comments or complaints? Have you had a troll turn up on your social networks?
How have you handled it.
I look forward to hearing your stories in the comments below.
Guest Author: Tara Hornor has a degree in English and has found her niche writing about marketing and web related topics. She writes for PrintPlace.com and other companies.
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Builders We Must Learn To Be | Bedford Hills NY Real Estate
Latest Housing Affordability Index Data | Bedford Hills NY Real Estate
The recent Existing Home Sales release published showed a sixth consecutive month of single-family home prices higher than a year ago. What does this mean for affordability? The answer may surprise you.
The August Existing Home Sales release published in late September showed a strong rise in home prices from a year ago – 10.2 percent for the median priced existing single-family home sold. This news is reassuring for owners who can expect that wealth they have accumulated in their property will maintain or increase, but at first glance this seems to be troubling news for potential buyers who have not purchased a home yet. Have they missed the best time to buy?
The Housing Affordability Index offers some reassurance for these would-be buyers. As it turns out, the Housing Affordability Index suggests that the national median priced home was actually more affordable for the median-income family in August 2012 than it was in August 2011 even though home prices are up.
How is this possible? While prices are up compared to one year ago, mortgage rates are nearly a percentage point lower and incomes are up. In fact, the release of American Community Survey data on family incomes led to a slight upward revision of 2011 income and a subsequent slight increase in NAR’s projections for 2012. If you’re surprised to hear that, it may be because you heard about a decline in REAL family income as measured by the Census bureau. Nominal family income, the data used in this series that measures dollars actually earned in 2011, actually rose by 1.4 percent from 2010 to 2011.
Since the Housing Affordability Index factors in the effect of house prices AND income and mortgage rates, it is the case that nationally, the median priced home is more affordable to the median income family than it was a year ago. At 185.0, the Housing Affordability Index shows that the median income family earns 85 percent more than the income needed to qualify to purchase the typical home that was sold in August. Regionally, affordability is improved over one year ago in every area except the West, where the more than 15 percent year-over-year price gain offset more moderate income gains and the benefit of lower mortgage rates. Still, even in the West, the median income family earns at least 40 percent more than is needed to qualify to purchase the median priced existing home. Check out the data release here.
The Housing Affordability Index calculation assumes a 20 percent down payment and a 25 percent qualifying ratio (principle and interest payment to income). See further details on the methodology and assumptions behind the calculation here.
Diane Keaton Adds New Book Called ‘House’ to Her Housing Collection | Bedford Hills NY Real Estate
Serial house flipper Diane Keaton, who has also been known to light up the big screen and fashion pages with her uniquely quirky style, has a new book.
It’s called “House,” and the coffee-table offering by arty book purveyor Rizzoli doubles down on Keaton’s outsized reputation as a housing connoisseur, which we have blogged about time and again, thanks to her perfectionist precision in buying, restoring and selling homes built by renowned architects such as Wallace Neff and Ralph Flewelling.
Keaton’s flipping work includes the magnificent 1927 Spanish colonial in Beverly Hills that she restored then sold. According to the Los Angeles Times, that home was later used as the set for the pilot of the show “The New Normal,” whose co-creator Ryan Murphy had bought the home from Keaton. The Academy Award-winning actress’s influence was felt in designing the studio sets for the series:
Production designer Tony Fanning said Keaton, a well-known preservationist, was a big factor on the Monterey-influenced interiors. ‘She inspired me,’ Fanning said. ‘Her book California Romantica: Spanish Colonial and Mission-Style Houses really shows her love for, and understanding of, how clean and stark and minimal the interiors are meant to be.”
In between all her own buying and selling, including her latest home in Pacific Palisades that she purchased earlier this year for $5.75 million, Keaton had time to produce the new book, which came out this week.
In “House,” Keaton showcases high-concept houses where repurposed existing structures are key elements or where new houses take their cue from iconic architectural forms.
In an interview with The New York TImes Magazine, Keaton says her love of old homes has not changed: “What’s fun about this particular book is to see who’s working now and what they’re doing with modern structures. These houses are very charming to me.”
Like all things Keaton, the homes and structures she features in “House” could be construed as a kooky woman’s penchant for architectural oddities. However, it doesn’t take too long to realize that she has a keen and disciplined eye that takes account of the offbeat or idiosyncratic only to affirm those elements as essential to American taste, design and, ultimately, culture.
via zillow.com