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Chappaqua NY Homes

Soaring Rates Spook Sellers | Chappaqua Real Estate

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Nearly half of all sellers in a recent survey are worried that rising mortgage rates will tank buyer demand, a doubling of concern since the first quarter.

Some 47 percent of sellers now are concerned that rising rates would cause a decrease in buyer demand, up from 23 percent in the second quarter, though 32 percent said they had no major concerns about selling.

“Of course home sellers are worried about interest rates, but the reality is that many buyers believe that rates will continue to go up,” said Los Angeles real estate agent Eric Tan. “They know if they don’t move now, they might be kicking themselves all over again in three months.”

Despite increasing concerns over interest rates, 48 percent of sellers believe now is still a good time to sell, up from 45 percent in the second quarter. Interestingly, belief that now is a good time to buy was up one percent from last quarter. Although slight, this increase in buying confidence is the first in more than a year.

However, only 17 percent of respondents believe that home prices will rise “a lot” in their area in the next 12 months, up from 15 percent in the second quarter; 85 percent of respondents believe that home prices will rise in their area in the next 12 months, unchanged from last quarter.

“Results from our seller survey point to growing confidence in the US economy, and recognition that broad economic gains could erode sellers’ advantages in the housing market as mortgage rates rise,” explained Redfin economist Ellen Haberle.

The survey, by Redfin, was based on responses from 1,448 homeowners across the U.S. who had used Redfin in the last three months. Data was collected from July 19 through 21.

Nearly half of all sellers in a recent survey are worried that rising mortgage rates will tank buyer demand, a doubling of concern since the first quarter.

Some 47 percent of sellers now are concerned that rising rates would cause a decrease in buyer demand, up from 23 percent in the second quarter, though 32 percent said they had no major concerns about selling.

 

 

Soaring Rates Spook Sellers | RealEstateEconomyWatch.com.

Rosie O’Donnell Lists 2 New York Penthouses | Chappaqua Real Estate

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In the world of high-end New York real estate, actress and comedian Rosie O’Donnell is a regular. Now she’s at it again, listing two Big Apple properties.

Manhattan

Most recently, she has listed her 2-bedroom, 2.5-bath luxury apartment for $2.25 million in The Platinum, a full-service, award-winning condominium. Located at 247 W 46th St APT 2203, New York, NY 10036, the 22nd-floor unit (shown above) features floor-to-ceiling windows with views of the Midtown Manhattan cityscape.

According to The New York Times, O’Donnell signed a contract to buy the place for $1.97 million in 2007, with property records showing she closed the deal a year later. She has since been privy to The Platinum’s five-star, resort-quality amenities, including a golf simulator, fitness center, yoga studio, sauna, lounge and outdoor terrace. Times Square, Broadway theaters and the 45th Street headquarters for her public school program, Rosie’s Theater Kids, are also just a few blocks away.

The listing is held by The Corcoran Group‘s Ric Swezey.

Greenwich Village

Meanwhile, reports have been circulating that fashion designer Michael Kors has his eye onO’Donnell’s Greenwich Village duplex that she purchased for $8 million last year. The 130 West 12th St penthouse is now on the market for $10.95 million.

“Penthouse 11A is one of the most unique private residences situated in the heart of Greenwich Village,” listing agent Dennis Mangone of Douglas Elliman wrote in the listing description. Spanning more than 3,200 square feet, the 11th-floor suite has 4 bedrooms, 3 baths, spacious living and dining rooms, a chef’s kitchen and private terrace. The building has a 24-hour doorman and concierge as well as other resident-only amenities.

 

 

 

Rosie O’Donnell Lists 2 New York Penthouses | Zillow Blog.

Home Prices Post Another Big Gain In May, Best Boost Since 2006 | Chappaqua Homes

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U.S. home prices posted their best year-over-year gain since March 2006 in May, according to the latest reading from the S&P/Case-Shiller indexes.

Each of the 20 cities that make up the 20-city composite index posted annual and sequential gains, paced by the Southwest and West. San Francisco posted a 24.5% seasonally-adjusted gain over the prior year, followed by Las Vegas’ 23.3% gain and Phoenix’s 20.6% gain. New York posted the weakest annual gain, up 3.3%.

 

 

Home Prices Post Another Big Gain In May, Best Boost Since 2006 – Forbes.

Power Outages Hitting White Plains, More Possible | Chappaqua Real Estate

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Scarsdale Village officials notified residents Friday that Con Edison reported a power outage Thursday night and more blackouts are possible.

“The Con Ed sub-station located off Tompkins Road near the Public Safety Building, is not functioning as designed and is causing periodic outages in the north end of Fox Meadow and the Greenacres neighborhoods as well as a portion of White Plains (800-900 customers),” John D. Goodwin of the village manager’s office said in an email to residents. “The sub-station is designed to operate so that if a main feeder line is lost the sub-station trips to an alternate line or back-up line.  The problem is that when the feeder line is lost due to the current excessive heat issues, the sub-station is “over-tripping” breaking the whole system down resulting in power loss to the resident.”

Goodwin said the system has been fixing itself over a two to four hour time period, though the problem is re-occurring.

“Con Edison engineers are working on a permanent solution. In the meantime, Con Ed has made some temporary changes to the sub-station to prevent over-tripping and, as a back-up, has a generator in the area in case the sub-station fails again prior to a permanent solution,” he said.

 

 

Power Outages Hitting White Plains, More Possible | The White Plains Daily Voice.

Improving Your Content Marketing | Chappaqua Realtor

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Content marketing is required for success in today’s competitive business world.  No matter which industry you are in, your website visitors want high-quality, information-rich, high-impact and captivatingcontent-marketing-superpowerscontent with deep industry insight.  We are in the midst of the information age; your prospects do a significant amount of research, comparing you to your top competitors.  How can you distinguish your company and win content marketing game?  A top-notch company blog is the foundation for winning content marketing.  If you have committed to content marketing, you may as well dive in, and grant your content marketing some superpowers.

Achieving high rates of social content curation—social sharing—is now vital to SEO and the ranking of search engine results pages (SERPS).  Each time someone shares your content with their network of friends and industry contacts, it gets a stamp of approval—increasing its reach and amplifying your chances for higher rates of traffic and lead generation.  The need to create content, which readers find valuable enough to share, will ultimately improve the quality of online marketing and the Internet as a whole.

There are no shortcuts to producing highly shareable content, which calls for vision, creativity, a deep knowledge base and a sophisticated understanding of your industry.  Consistently creating valuable, relevant and share-worthy content will inevitably improve your search rankings, which are increasingly taking into account the social exposure and influence of content and the authors who create it.  Creating highly shareable content will get others to promote your content for you.  While originality is an important goal of content creation, highly shared content does have some common characteristics.

Highly Shareable Content Defined

1.  It has no typos, spelling or grammatical errors.

2.  It features fresh ideas and innovative best practices.

3.  Highly shareable content is not overly “salesy” and avoids a primary focus on pushing products or services.

4.  It maintains breadth and depth of subject matter.

5.  It has captivating images.

6.  Highly shareable content leverages newsjacking of hot industry-relevant news.

7.  It highlights industry thought leadership.

8. Highly shared titles are actionable, concise, clear, descriptive, authoritative, intriguing and sometimes even a little mysterious.

9.  Highly shearable content includes information-rich and captivating infographics.

10.  It is visually striking and presented in an organized fashion.

5 Ways to Make Your Content More Formidable 

 

1.  Create Easy-to-Process Content

Everyone with an Internet browser is inundated with content on a daily basis.  The best way to keep people reading your content is to structure it so that it can be easily skimmed over.  Paragraphs should have headlines, and main points should be put into numbered lists and bullet points.  People may not want to read every single point you make; this practice allows them to skip some information and search for what they find most intriguing, which increases your chances of high rates of content curation.

 

 

Improving Your Content Marketing | Social Media Today.

First-time home buyers getting shut out | Chappaqua NY Real Estate

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U.S. home prices have risen for 14 straight months, but first-time buyers have been increasingly on the sidelines.

 

In May, first-time buyers accounted for 28 percent of existing-home purchases, down from 34 percent a year before and 36 percent two years ago, according to the National Association of Realtors.

 

The declining share of first timers means that many have missed out on low interest rates, which recently moved up from near-record lows, and home prices that have risen sharply from their bottom.

 

“The people buying homes today … are participating in home price growth. Younger people, they are being left out,” says Lawrence Yun, chief economist of the NAR. “It remains to be seen when the first-time buyer can return.”

 

First-tme buyers are critical to a housing recovery because they help existing-home owners sell and move up to larger or more expensive homes. But their presence is being reduced by:

 

• Competition. Cash buyers accounted for 33 percent of existing home sales in May. Investors, who are often all-cash buyers, accounted for 18 percent of purchases, the NAR says.

 

Cash buyers are tough competitors, especially in markets with limited inventory and for first-time buyers who often use low down-payment loans to finance purchases.

 

The first-time buyer “is being squeezed out of the market a lot,” says Zillow economist Svenja Gudell.

 

There are also more repeat buyers in the market, given that higher home prices have enabled more people to sell homes and buy others, says Glenn Kelman, CEO of brokerage Redfin.

 

• Tight credit. Home loans are harder to get than before the housing bust, and that’s true for first-time buyers, too.

 

Almost half of first-timers get low down-payment loans through the Federal Housing Administration, NAR data show.

 

New FHA home loans in the last three months of 2012 went to borrowers with an average credit score of 696, vs. under 660 in 2007 and 2008, FHA data shows. Credit scores, which run up to 850, for conventional loans have also risen.

 

• Recession. It hit the 25- to 34-year-old group with higher unemployment than for adults overall, says Jed Kolko, Trulia economist. Young people have made a strong recovery, but it takes years of steady employment to save a down payment and build strong credit, he says. High levels of student debt will also delay homeownership, Kolko says.

 

Increases in home prices and mortgage rates since last year have made a big difference in costs.

 

In May, the median value of the bottom third of homes in San Francisco was $287,500, Zillow says. With today’s 4.4 percent interest rate and 20 percent down, the mortgage payment runs $1,154, that’s $313 more than at last year’s prices and rates, its data shows.

 

“You’re getting a double whammy with higher prices and rates,” says Ashley Krause, 31, of Boston, who’s been trying to buy her first home for six months with a down payment of 5 percent or less.

 

The hospital pharmacist has lost two bids to others.

 

 

First-time home buyers getting shut out | Sheboygan Press | sheboyganpress.com.

Luxury Homes Officially Enter Seller’s Market | Chappaqua Real Estate

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For the first time since the Institute for Luxury Home Marketing began tracking upper tier market trends in 2008, its Market Action Index hit the threshold that separates buyer’s and seller’s markets earlier this month.

The highest tier of luxury homes for sale, homes priced over $500,000, has been the last part of the market to feel the effects of the housing recovery.  On June 2, the ILHM reported its Market Action Index had reached 30 for the first time and in subsequent weekly reports the index has maintained its position.

“The ILHM National market is currently slightly in the Seller’s Market zone (greater than 30).The Market Action Index stands at 30 which indicates that luxury demand is relatively strong but the available supply of new listings doesn’t get acquired immediately,” the ILHM noted in its June 23 report.

The ILHM Luxury Composite Price for the week ending June 23 was $1,273,414 and the asking price per square foot was $324. Homes have been on the market for an average of 151 days.

“I believe that it was in the first week of June that we first saw the Market Action Index hit the 30 threshold which defines the entry point into a “Seller’s Market.”  All month it is has been trending along right around that 30 mark,” said Waco Moore, the Institute’s president. ILHM staff could not identify a time when institute’s market index crossed over into seller’s territory in the past five years.

Hot markets in the ILHM report where luxury properties on selling on average faster than the national average last week were Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Washington, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle and Silicon Valley. Share/Save

Luxury Homes Officially Enter Seller’s Market | RealEstateEconomyWatch.com.

Bob Newhart Lists Bel-Air Beauty Designed by Wallace Neff | Chappaqua Homes

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You may picture him as Papa Elf living in a miniature home in the North Pole, but off-screen Bob Newhart owns a recently expanded estate on Amapola Lane in Los Angeles. For the first time in 23 years, the actor and comedian has listed the 5-bedroom, 7-bath home for $15.5 million.

Built in 1941 by architect Wallace Neff, the home is one of several mansions designed in his famous “California style,” which drew heavily from Spanish and Mediterranean architecture. Neff’s designs grew in popularity among Old Hollywood stars and remain in high demand by celebrities today — Bill and Melinda Gates, Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston, Diane Keaton and Madonna have paid top dollar to live in a “California style” home.

Newhart’s French-country estate is located in Old Bel-Air, an affluent suburban pocket outside L.A. The remodeled main house features spacious living rooms, a formal dining room, maid’s quarters, cook’s kitchen and a sunny breakfast nook. The second floor includes a master suite with a sitting area, his-and-hers baths and walk-in closets, as well as two additional bedroom suites. A poolside cabana — complete with a kitchen, 2 baths and a second-floor guest apartment — provides outdoor entertainment space.

Property records show Newhart purchased the home under a family trust in 1990. The Chicago native reportedly launched his acting career in 1958 as a copywriter for a major independent film and television producer. He went on to record a best-selling album of comedic monologues, “The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart” and star on “The Bob Newhart Show.” More recently, Newhart has played film roles in “Catch-22,””Elf” and “The Librarian.”

 

Bob Newhart Lists Bel-Air Beauty Designed by Wallace Neff | Zillow Blog.

Wayne Gretzky Lists Scottsdale Home for $3.395M | Chappaqua Real Estate

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With 20 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) under his belt, you’d think Wayne Gretzky would be ready to settle down. But in real estate, “The Great One” is just warming up.

In 2007, he sold his Thousand Oaks, CA home for $18.5 million. While that property recently returned to the for-sale market, the former professional hockey player has listed his Scottsdale, AZ residence for $3.395 million.

According to the Los Angeles Times and property records, Gretzky purchased the home at 6436 E Gainsborough Rd, Scottsdale, AZ 85251 in 2003 while putting the finishing touches on his 6.5-acre Sherwood Country Club estate, which he custom designed with architect Richard Landry.

The Scottsdale property is an architectural gem as well, described by listing agent Pam Wugalter as “both sophisticated and elegant, with finishes that are of superior quality and workmanship.” Built in a Spanish-Mediterranean style, the home boasts high ceilings, vintage chandeliers and wood beams throughout.

One of 13 homes in a secluded Arcadia development, the property affords more than an acre of privacy with a large, covered poolside patio for outdoor entertaining. The main house has 3 bedrooms, each with its own bathroom, and a 1-bed, 1-bath casita provides additional living space for guests.

After retiring in ’99, Gretzky was immediately inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. He has since purchased real estate in Westlake Village, CA, in addition to his Scottsdale and former Thousand Oaks homes. Today, he’s considered by many to be the greatest player in the history of the NHL.

 

Wayne Gretzky Lists Scottsdale Home for $3.395M | Zillow Blog.

The Hamptons 18 Essential Hotels | Chappaqua Realtor

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Hamptons Hotel Week June 2013
SEE ONEALL
THE 1708 HOUSE
Ancient, charming
This bed-and-breakfast in fact does date from 1708. There are four eighteenth-century guest rooms with original wood floors, beamed ceilings, four-poster beds, and clawfoot tubs and also more modern rooms and cottages. The cellar, dating to 1648, is an atmospheric place to have a glass of wine. Location is unbeatable: you can walk to the center of Southampton and the beach.
126 MAIN ST, SOUTHAMPTON, NY 11968
(631) 287-1708
WEBSITE
THE 1770 HOUSE
Beautiful, luxurious
Everything about the 1770 House is luxurious and the staff goes out of their way to be charming. Originally built as a private residence for William Fithian in 1663, this place has been an inn since 1770. The six guest rooms and carriage house are all beautifully appointed; some rooms even have fireplaces and private entrances. The restaurant is also top-notch.
143 MAIN ST, EAST HAMPTON, NY 11937
(631) 324-1770
WEBSITE
AMERICAN HOTEL
Landmark, atmospheric
You feel like a guest in an old-fashioned mansion at the American Hotel. The hotel was built in 1846 at the height of Sag Harbor’s whaling heyday, but today, the American Hotel is one of the most elegant and charming hotels in the Hamptons, and offers a noted restaurant and bar. If that’s not enough, it is reputedly haunted by drowned whalers.
49 MAIN ST, SAG HARBOR, NY 11963
(631) 725-3535
WEBSITE
THE BAKER HOUSE 1650
Unique, lovely
Nowhere else on the East End will you find a hotel that looks like this. The public rooms and guest rooms are beautifully decorated in William Morris floral wallpapers and fabrics. Originally an eighteenth century house, the building was remodeled the house in the English Arts and Crafts style. Each guest room is different, and the spacious public rooms are inviting places to gather. The hotel is right on East Hampton’s Main Street, walkable to shops and restaurants.
181 MAIN ST, EAST HAMPTON, NY 11937
(631) 324-4081
WEBSITE
C/O THE MAIDSTONE
Charming, luxurious
The Maidstone (aka the William L.H. Osborn House) is another old East Hampton inn, built in 1840. But there’s no stuffiness here. The Scandinavian c/o hospitality group remodeled four years ago; now the guest rooms are filled with Scandinavian antiques and the bathrooms are luxurious. Freestanding cottages out back are frequented by celebrities to hide from the paparazzi. Want to sneak away from your adoring public? Borrow one of the vintage Scandinavian Kronan bikes available for guests.
207 MAIN ST, EAST HAMPTON, NY 11937
(631) 324-5006
WEBSITE
HARTMAN’S BRINEY BREEZES MOTEL
Unpretentious, homey
Briney Breezes is the quintessential Montauk family motel, right across from Umbrella Beach and a short walk to the village. It’s clean, relaxing, and has a huge greensward in front of the pool on which children play on summer nights. Many rooms are efficiencies, which makes it even more useful for family stays.
693 OLD MONTAUK HWY, MONTAUK, NY 11954
WEBSITE
THE HEDGES INN
Cozy, pretty
At the Hedges Inn, each well-appointed room overlooks either Town Pond or the beautiful gardens. The Hedges was built in 1873 as a summer boarding house and has been recently renovated with 21st century comforts. The front porch has been a favorite relaxing spot for generations of visitors to East Hampton and the inn is particularly renowned for its wonderful breakfasts.
JAMES LANE, EAST HAMPTON, NY
(631) 324-7100
WEBSITE
HUNTTING INN
Historic, comfortable
There aren’t many places you can stay that have been an inn since the American Revolution. The oldest part of the house was built for Rev. Nathaniel Huntting in 1699. David Gardiner, the East Hampton historian described in the 1840s, described the “High merriment and frolicking, the oceans of flip” to be found at the Huntting Inn. While you’re not that likely to find flip on the menu of the Palm restaurant onsite, the rooms are picturesque and comfortably furnished with antiques, and the Main Street location means guests can walk to shops and the movies.
94 MAIN ST, EAST HAMPTON, NY 11937
(631) 324-0410
WEBSITE
INN AT WINDMILL LANE
Private, relaxing
At The Inn at Windmill Lane (formerly known as The Reform Club), privacy for guests is ensured: many have their own patios and seating areas. It combines European style with Hamptons relaxation. You can walk to the village; you can walk to the ocean, and the staff is extremely friendly and accommodating.
23 WINDMILL LANE, AMAGANSETT, NY 11930
(631) 267-8500
WEBSITE
MAISON BLANCHE
Cozy, chic
The pet-friendly hotel, close to Crescent Beach, is a Victorian mansion that has been recently updated with modern beach chic and a French vibe. Each room overlooks the beautiful gardens; there’s also an outdoor bar in the garden and a bakery on th

 

The Hamptons 18 Essential Hotels – Hotel 18 – Curbed Hamptons.