| Bedford NY Weekly Real Estate Report | 9/3/2013 | |
| Homes for sale | 85 | |
| Median Ask Price | $1,650,000.00 | |
| Low Price | $419,000.00 | |
| High Price | $14,500,000.00 | |
| Average Size | 4849 | |
| Average Price/foot | $410.00 | |
| Average DOM | 145 | |
| Average Ask Price | $2,036,182.00 |
Town Comptroller Edward Ritter presented a bleak financial outlook for the Town of Bedford at a recent work session.
At the Aug. 20 meeting, Ritter presented a financial outlook for the town for the next five years that showed Bedford facing rising pension and benefit costs that will be hard to keep up with.
Like most municipalities, Bedford has seen pension and health care costs skyrocket over the past few years while they try to keep budgets within the 2-percent cap on the tax levy.
The board is already working on its 2014 budget, where, according to Ritter, the town faces a $692,082 budget gap for 2014. The gap could reach $2.6 million by 2018.
Municipalities are required to pass balance budgets. Ritter said the town’s fund balance is also running low. Municipalities often use fund balance to help mitigate two percent.
Ritter said employee benefits will rise from $5.7 million this year to more than $8 million in 2018.
At the work session, the town board discussed possibly overriding the tax cap in future years. The Bedford Town Board can override the tax cap with a 3-2 vote.
Supervisor Lee Roberts said, while she is concerned, she believes Bedford is in better shape than most.
“We have a AAA bond rating and a healthy fund balance,” Roberts said. “We have our concerns. It’s not going to be business as usual.”
Roberts said the town board has to be creative with the town’s future financial direction.
“This exercise is going to give us a longer range view of our finances so we can plan and not just have a knee-jerk reaction,” Roberts said. “It was a call for all of the town board to come up with thoughts and ideas on how we’re going to move forward.”
Bedford’s situation is not unique in New York, Roberts said.
“Every town will be required to have a long range review,” Roberts said. “It’s good to have a sense of direction you’re taking and not just be reactionary when things go wrong.”
The town has tried to keep costs down, having cut for the last five years. But along with pension and health insurance costs increasing, replacing vehicles, paving roads and fuel costs have all gone up. Last year, the town laid off employees for the first time in history.
“Everything goes up,” Roberts lamented. “It’s a very difficult economic picture for municipalities. Mandate relief would go a long way to helping us. The entire financial picture is challenging.”
Roberts noted the town has no control over pension costs, simply getting a bill from the state comptroller’s office.
http://bedford.dailyvoice.com/politics/comptroller-raises-concerns-about-bedfords-finances
Falling foreclosures are the result of heroic homeowners who have spent the past five years deleveraging, or paying down personal debts, says economics reporter Jon Hilsenrath with The Wall Street Journal.
CBS This Morning caught up with Hilsenrath to learn more about this deleveraging trend.
The news agency pulled the following excerpt from the interview:
“Americans have done something heroic, really, in the last five years,” Hilsenrath said. “Faced with all of this debt after the housing boom, they’ve made a lot of progress on paying it down. Almost one-eighth of the household consumer debt got basically paid down.”
Is HUD’s Section 8 housing program about to go on steroids? That’s the question a writer for the Baltimore Sun alluded to over the weekend while outlining the Obama administration’s planned attempt to use the Department of Housing and Urban Development to “track diversity in American neighborhoods” and back policies to change any areas that look discriminatory from a data standpoint.
The editorial claims a discrimination database could be implemented allowing officials to “seek changes in (local) zoning ordinances, housing finance, infrastructure policy and transportation in order to remedy the alleged segregation,” the publication said.
It seems interest rate shocks may have finally taken a toll on the U.S. housing recovery. After a busy week on Wall Street, a new government report showed a 12.4% drop in seasonally adjusted new single-family home sales. The decline prompted market analysts to assume potential homebuyers are beginning to feel the pinch of rising interest rates, the Motley Fool noted. Rates have been edging higher ever since the Fed began teasing the markets with the idea that a curtailment of QE3, or massive Treasury and MBS purchases, could come as early as September.
New York City and the entire state of New York may have lost as much as $100 million in damages stemming from mortgage document fraud, the New York Post claims. The paper reported on an unsealed lawsuit filed by a whistleblower over the weekend. The whistleblower claims dozens of banks and servicers violated the False Claims Act when dealing in mortgage-backed securities during the years 2004 and 2007. The suit has already been partly settled, but the Post says attorneys are still trying to figure out which mortgage-backed securities were purchased in New York to continue on with another critical part of the claim.
A group of students who paid thousands of dollars to learn the art of real estate investing from Donald Trump want a refund, Reuters reports. And it seems New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is happy to oblige. The AG filed suit against Trump this past week, claiming Trump University, otherwise referred to as the Trump Entrepreneur Initiative, swindled students out of $40 million by offering courses in real estate investment that were costly and fell short of providing the type of education needed to enter the market as an effective investor.
The housing market has another week of key reports ahead of it, with the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index scheduled for release Tuesday, followed by the Pending Home Sales Index on Wednesday. Visit HW’s US Economic Calendar to track these reports and more.
Financial regulators in Arizona and the FDIC shut down Sunrise Bank of Arizona on Friday, Aug. 23, with all deposits transferred to First Fidelity Bank National Association. The former Sunrise branches will reopen as part of First Fidelity Bank.
The FDIC also announced the closing of Community South Bank in Parsons, Tenn., moving all brokered and account deposits to CB&S Bank Inc. in Russellville, Ala.
read more…
http://www.housingwire.com/articles/26414-rising-rates-take-toll-on-us-housing-recovery
Six farms, in North Salem, Lewisboro and Bedford, have been added to the county’s agricultural district.
The farms are SweetWater Farm in North Salem (13.30 acres), Gossett Brothers Nursery in Lewisboro (5.50 acres), Sun Raven Farm in Bedford, (4 acres), Canterwood Farm in North Salem (19.11 acres), 102 Titicus Road in North Salem (1.31 acres) and Mill Pond Farm in Bedford (24.79 acres).
Adding farms to the agricultural district allows the county to apply for state grants.
“This protects these parcels,” county Legislator Peter Hatckham said. The parcels are all in Harckham’s district.
Harckham said farming in Northern Westchester is becoming a big business, which is good for the county and the environment.
“Farms help lower obesity rates,” Harckham said. “We need to make more of an effort to harvest locally and give our kids fresh produce.”
Harckham said people in Westchester are beginning to realize how beneficial farms are, especially with tourism.
“In the fall people are always going up to farms picking apples, pumpkins and berries. It builds sales tax revenue,” Harckham said.
The properties are used mainly for farming crops, dairy production or raising horses. Agricultural land in Westchester, including family farms and homesteads passed from generation to generation, has been converted to other land uses in the past several decades. Therefore, agricultural property buyers might be interested in viewing these farms.
read more…
http://bedford.dailyvoice.com/news/bedford-farms-added-westchester-county-agriculture-district
Existing-home sales flourished in July, with the median price continuing to see double-digit year-over-year increases, according to data from the National Association of Realtors.
Total existing-home sales — which include single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops — rose 6.5% in July to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.39 million units, up from a downwardly revised 5.06 million in June. Year-over-year, existing-home sales rose 17.2% from the 4.50 million-unit pace set in July 2012.
The impressive growth in existing-home sales would seem to suggest a continually improving housing market. But David Berson, chief economist at Nationwide, believes it may be premature to assume this report is directly correlated with the current housing market.
Existing-home sales data tends to lag what’s happening in the market to some extent because the data takes into account when a buyer actually closes on the home.
The lag time for existing-home sales is typically 60-90 days, said Berson, meaning the report on July sales is actually more reflective of the housing market between April and June, when mortgage rates were significantly lower than they are today.
read more…
http://www.housingwire.com/articles/26329-existing-home-sales-not-reflective-of-current-market
Creating headlines that drive traffic and attracts readers is part art with a dose of science.
If you don’t learn how to write a good headline then the chances are you will have trouble attracting traffic to your website or blog. In a digital economy that can cost sales, because you need readers to turn up to buy your goods and services.
Newspapers and magazines have been perfecting the art for over a hundred years. Write a good headline and your circulation increases. Headlines are vital not just for newspapers but for advertisements both offline and online.
Even Facebook ads are not immune.
Twitter with only 140 characters is the perfect platform for honing headlines if you want people to click on the embedded link. Online stores need to create banners with headlines that make people click. The skill of headline writing is also vital for those important emails that you send out to your subscribers….if you want them opened.
The power of effective headlines was something I discovered after reading a series of printed marketing guides 20 years ago by Jay Abraham (an American marketing wizard). I implemented some of his ideas for print media and found they worked.
Print or web, the principles have not changed.
Writing a good blog post or article often starts with the headline and it flows from there. I often stop what I am doing (even a conversation..politely of course) and write down a headline idea. Don’t let that inspiration escape.
Stopping the car has been done on several occasions.
Headlines come in all shapes and sizes but some work better than others.
Here are a few types to get you thinking.
These lists can be 5, 10 or mega. The mega list is often guaranteed to produce a ton of traffic. It means you might have to spend longer writing the article but it will be worth it.
Example: “57 ways to Boost your Blog Traffic“
Everyone is trying to work out how to do something. How to be rich, beautiful or fit. Tell them how and they will not only read the rest but tell their friends about your article and retweet and share on Facebook.
Example of this “How to Get More Retweets on Twitter“
10 Awesome Headlines that Drive Traffic and Attract Readers – Jeffbullas’s Blog.
News from the Bedford Central School District on the Board of Education vacancy:
The Board of Education is seeking an individual to serve on the Board to fill the seat of Ms. Lee Goldstein, who will be resigning due to family relocation. The term of office will conclude on May 20, 2014, the date of the next school board election. The Board of Education invites interested individuals to submit an application by September 13, 2013. The Board will meet in Public Special Session in the Fox Lane Middle School Little Theater to conduct interviews of all candidates on September 18 at a time not earlier than 7 pm. The meeting, which is open to the public, will be televised on BCSD-TV and on the website via live video streaming. To assist the Board in preparing questions and to gather community input, community members are asked to submit a topic or question for consideration at the public interviews to boe@bcsdny.org no later than September 13. Following the public interview of candidates, community members may also submit input to the Board from September 18 through September 23, 2013 by email at boe@bcsdny.org.
The Board is expected to make an appointment on or about September 25, 2013. The term of office will commence with the Board’s appointment and continue until the next school board election on May 20, 2014.
To be eligible for this position, an individual must be a qualified voter of the district and have lived in the school district for at least one continuous year. At a minimum, service on the Board requires preparation for and attendance at bimonthly Board meetings. In addition, School Board members serve on at least one Board subcommittee, which meets monthly.
read more…
http://northernwestchester.lohudblogs.com/2013/08/14/bedford-board-of-education-seeks-applicant/
After months of decline, foreclosure activity increased in July, led by Florida and six other judicial states where legal procedures delay foreclosure processing.
The top six state foreclosure rates in July were in states with a judicial foreclosure process, although two of those top six states posted decreasing foreclosure activity from a year ago: Ohio (down 18 percent) and Illinois (down 44 percent).
RealtyTrac reported default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions on 130,888 U.S. properties in July, an increase of 2 percent from the 78-month low in June but still down 32 percent from July 2012. The report also shows one in every 1,001 U.S. housing units with a foreclosure filing during the month.
Foreclosure starts increased from the previous month in 26 states and were up from a year ago in 15 states, including Maryland (up 275 percent), Oregon (up 137 percent), New Jersey (up 89 percent), Connecticut (up 37 percent), and New York (up 27 percent).
Bank repossessions increased from the previous month in 29 states and were up from a year ago in 18 states, including Arkansas (up 266 percent), Oklahoma (up 126 percent), Maryland (up 101 percent), New York (up 100 percent), Connecticut (up 67 percent), New Jersey (up 40 percent), and Ohio (up 20 percent).
Among the nation’s 20 largest metropolitan statistical areas, 10 posted increasing foreclosure activity from the previous month and five posted increasing foreclosure activity from a year ago: Baltimore (up 182 percent), Miami (up 58 percent), New York (up 42 percent), Philadelphia (up 11 percent), and Washington, D.C. (up 5 percent).
Nine of the nation’s 10 highest metro foreclosure rates in July were in Florida cities, and five of those nine Florida cities posted increasing foreclosure activity from a year ago. Florida also led the states in foreclosures for the third consecutive month.
read more….
Facebook news feeds are like the crawl on CNN. You’ve seen the scrolling words on your TV screen. Item after item after item that are “nice to knows” until there is breaking news. Then, we get a big “BREAKING NEWS” in red that hooks us in.
The job of real estate salesperson on Facebook is to participate in the mundane while figuring out a way to break through. What’s the big red “BREAKING NEWS” items in your network’s world that will impact you?
This “big news” often includes major lifestyle announcements like getting a new job, announcing a pregnancy, getting engaged/married/divorced and even retiring. These lifestyle announcements occasionally have a direct correlation to housing needs but are sometimes overlooked by real estate professionals.
When someone in your social stream mentions any of these lifestyle triggers they are opening a door of opportunity and you should be prepared to walk right in. To effectively execute this strategy you need to follow these three easy steps:
Be an active engager
After connecting with a current or prospective client on a social network like Facebook, it is imperative to stay in touch. By engaging them continuously, you will nurture your relationship on a personal level and have an easier time opening the door of opportunity when the time is appropriate.
read more…
– See more at: http://www.inman.com/next/secure-more-real-estate-leads-on-facebook/#sthash.JHTgM9Cb.dpuf