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Credit Unions Grow Mortgage Business | Bedford Real Estate

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Credit unions continued to steal market share from other mortgage lenders, originating 2.5 percent more first lien mortgages in the second quarter than the first and growing 5.6 percent over the same period last year.

First mortgage real estate loans rose to $253.8 billion, up 2.1 percent for the quarter and 5.6 percent year-over-year, the National Credit Union Administration reported yesterday.

Virtually all of the mortgage business was underwritten by larger credit unions, which are responsible for most of the growth during the quarter.

“Although the industry is performing well overall, smaller credit unions continue to face challenges with making loans, generating earnings and attracting members,” said NCUA Board Chairman Debbie Matz. “NCUA is committed to providing assistance and support to ensure the viability of small credit unions so they can continue to serve local communities.”

“The increases in lending, net worth and membership are especially positive signs,”. “The brisk loan growth shows that federally insured credit unions are meeting the needs of more borrowers and putting their assets to productive use. The net worth ratio rose to 10.5 percent, its highest level since 2008. Credit union membership continues to reach a new milestone each quarter.”

Membership in federally insured credit unions reached 95.2 million, a record high, in the second quarter of 2013. Membership grew by 560,670, or 0.6 percent. Nearly 2.1 million Americans have joined a credit union in the last four quarters.

While adding members, the number of federally insured credit unions dipped to 6,681, a drop of 72. The decrease is consistent with recent trends, as most consolidations were voluntary mergers.

Federally insured credit unions reported $613.7 billion in total loans in the second quarter of 2013, an increase of $13.8 billion over the previous quarter.

The industry’s net worth ratio stood at 10.5 percent of assets at the end of the second quarter, up 34 basis points from the end of the second quarter of 2012. The ratio is at its highest level since the fourth quarter of 2008.

 

 

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http://www.realestateeconomywatch.com/2013/08/credit-unions-move-into-mortgages/

Bedford NY Real Estate Under $999k sales up 20% | Median price Up 1.6% | RobReportBlog

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Bedford   NY Real Estate Under $1 Mill ReportRobReportBlog
20136 months ending 9/42012
71Sales59Up 20%
$620,000.00median sold price$610,000.00Up 1.60%
$170,000.00low sold price$263,000.00
$950,000.00high sold price$995,000.00
2177average size2374
$289.00ave. price per foot$259.00
160ave. days on market179
$604,401.00average sold price$598,262.00
95.12%ave sold to ask95.32%

5 Common Mistakes to Avoid on Google+ | Bedford Realtor

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Google+ maybe a newer social network, but it’s a powerful one.5 Common Mistakes to Avoid on Google+

In fact it is now the second largest social media network behind Facebook after only launching just over two years ago.

So why are so many Google+ users confused about how to use it? The fact is, if  you’re like most people on Google+, you’re still a little confused about the site.

So what should you do?

To answer that question, here’s a list of some of the most common mistakes  users make on the network. Examine these errors and avoid them, and you set  yourself up to be ahead of the pack.

1. Not Optimizing Your Profile

Completing your profile is Google+ 101.

When you add your name, bio, photo and other information, you let other users  know who you are and how to identify you. This not only encourages connection,  but it also reinforces your brand. To make the most of your profile, optimize it  with keywords relevant to your industry. Likewise, include relevant links  throughout your About page, from the “introduction” to the “website” section.

Look at my profile as an example:

  • Completed tagline
  • Keyword-rich introduction
  • Contact information
  • Photo

5 Common Mistakes to Avoid on Google+

Also optimize your profile by listing all the of the sites where your  writing or content appears.

5 Common Mistakes to Avoid on Google+

2. Never Posting

You gain the most exposure on Google+ when you post regularly.

Fresh content keeps you current in the feeds of contacts and makes you seem  relevant, as is shown in the feed below. Likewise, regular posting benefits search engine optimization, improving your results when  users search for content related to what you share.

Read more at http://www.jeffbullas.com/2013/08/26/5-common-mistakes-to-avoid-on-google/#kImM2Q5AWspxokA7.99

Comptroller Raises Concerns About Bedford’s Finances | Bedford Homes

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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: A sign of borrower heroism | Bedford Real Estate

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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.”

                    Source: CBS News – WSJ

Bedford Central Schools, Teachers’ Union Reach Deal | Bedford Real Estate

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The Bedford Central School Board and the Bedford Teachers’ Association have reached a tentative agreement on a new three-year deal.

The deal will be retroactive to July 1 and continue through June 30, 2016, according to patch.com

Based on the new collective bargaining agreement, current teachers will receive “modified compensation,” though exact numbers were not announced. New teachers, however will be subject to a new compensation framework.

Current teachers on “step increases” will receive partial increases for the 2013-2014 and 2014-15 school years. A full step increase won’t take place until the 2015-2016 school year and will involve an off-schedule payment.

The new compensation structure is designed to comply with the state-mandated tax levy cap. The tax levy cap limits tax revenue increases to the lesser of 2 percent or inflation.

The previous four-year contract expired June 30.

Though the tentative agreement has been reached, it still requires formal approval. The union will vote on the deal in September; the school board will vote after the union.

 

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http://bedford.dailyvoice.com/schools/bedford-central-schools-teachers-union-reach-deal

 

Rising rates take toll on US housing recovery | Bedford NY Real Estate

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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.

 

 

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http://www.housingwire.com/articles/26414-rising-rates-take-toll-on-us-housing-recovery

 

Existing-home sales not reflective of current market | Bedford NY Real Estate

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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.

 

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http://www.housingwire.com/articles/26329-existing-home-sales-not-reflective-of-current-market

10 Awesome Headlines that Drive Traffic and Attract Readers | Bedford Realtor

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Creating headlines that drive traffic and attracts readers is part art with a dose of science.10 Awesome Headlines that Drive Traffic and Attract Readers

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.

Stopping the car

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.

So what are some headline types that work?

Headlines come in all shapes and sizes but some work better than others.

Here are a few types to get you thinking.

1. The “List” headline

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“

2. The “How to”

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“


Read more at http://www.jeffbullas.com/2013/08/21/10-awesome-headlines-that-drive-traffic-and-attracts-readers/#Ru9sHhZURD23J7DB.99 

 

10 Awesome Headlines that Drive Traffic and Attract Readers – Jeffbullas’s Blog.