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Dublin Home Prices Rose Most in Six Years | Chappaqua NY Real Estate

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Dublin home prices rose the most in six years in September, the latest sign that Irish residential property prices are stabilizing after the country’s decade-long real estate bubble started to deflate in 2007.

Home prices in the Irish capital rose 2.4 percent from a month earlier, the biggest gain since August 2006, the Central Statistics Office said today. Residential property prices nationwide rose 0.9 percent in September, marking the third consecutive month of gains.

“Anecdotal evidence points to pent-up demand for family homes, especially in certain areas of Dublin,” said Alan McQuaid, chief economist at Merrion Capital in Dublin. “While the figures are encouraging, I think it is too early to say whether house prices are on a steady upward rise.”

Irish property prices are gaining after homes lost half their value since a property crash pushed the nation to the brink of insolvency and the unemployment rate tripled. A lack of bank credit and the end of tax-relief measures for new buyers next year along with high unemployment will weigh on the housing market, according to McQuaid.

Ireland’s unemployment rate was unchanged at 14.8 percent in September. New Irish mortgages granted in the second quarter declined 16 percent to 524 million euros ($678 million) from the same period a year earlier, the Irish Banking Federation said in August.

“For homes in well-established parts of Dublin, demand is outstripping supply,” Aoife Brennan, head of research at Lisney, an Irish broker, said in a statement today. “In recent months, cash buyers have been making up about 40 percent of the Dublin market.”

The CSO data is compiled with mortgage data from lenders. Dublin home prices would show a bigger increase if cash purchases were included, according to Lisney.

via businessweek.com

The Realtor’s 3 Step Guide to Managing Online Reputation | Chappaqua NY Real Estate

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The Realtor’s 3 Step Guide to Managing Online Reputation

I thought this was a nice infographic from our friends at DooID.  We talk a lot about your online reputation on Tech Savvy and the things you need to do to stay on top of it, so this graphic falls right into place here.

Here are the three steps they recommend to get started.

1. Define Your Personal Brand

2. Build Your Online Identity

3. Monitor Your Reputation

Check out the graphic below to see the tools you can use to successfully manage your reputation.

via techsavvyagent.com

Lost Home Equity Leaves Thirty-somethings Vulnerable | Chappaqua NY Real Estate

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Contrary to popular belief, loss of equity in their homes since 2007 has hurt adults in their late thirties more than their Baby Boomer parents, contributing to fears that they will not have enough income and assets for their retirement, according to a new Pew Research survey released today.

Americans today are more worried about their retirement finances than they were at the end of the recession in 2009, especially younger and middle-aged adults rather than among those closer to retirement age-a major shift in the pattern that had prevailed at the end of the recession.

About four-in-ten adults (38 percent) say they are “not too” or “not at all” confident that they will have enough income and assets for their retirement, up from 25 percent in a Pew Research survey conducted in late February and March of 2009. Among adults between the ages of 36 and 40, 53 percent say they are either “not too” or “not at all” confident that their income and assets will last through retirement. In contrast, only about a third (34 percent) of those ages 60 to 64 express similar concerns, as do a somewhat smaller share (27 percent) of those 18 to 22 years old.

Fears over retirement are driven by a companion Pew Research analysis of data collected by the Federal Reserve Board in its Survey of Consumer Finances. For most Americans, equity in their homes represents most of their wealth and the collapse of housing values in the middle of the past decade sent personal wealth into a nose dive for most homeowners, regardless of age.

Overall, the Consumer Finances survey found that median home equity-the fair market value of a home less the amount of the outstanding mortgage and other liens-fell by about a third (32 percent) from 2007 to 2010. And U.S. Census data released in June found that most of the decline in median wealth between 2005 and 2010 can be attributed to sinking home values.

Median home equity-so-called housing wealth-declined the most for homeowners ages 35 to 44. Between 2007 and 2010, the equity of homeowners in this age group was cut in half (52 percent). In contrast, housing wealth fell by 30 percent among those 55 to 64 and by 20 percent among adults 65 and older.

Adults 35 to 44 years old have a much greater share of their wealth represented by their home equity because they have not yet had the time to accumulate financial wealth. Moreover, these younger adults have had less time to build equity, so the market collapse cut into a greater share of a smaller base than for longtime homeowners. Finally, this age group benefitted less than older adults from the rise in stock market values since many sold their holdings when stocks fell in 2009.

The S&P 500 Index peaked at 1,576 in October 2007 but then fell to a modern low of 667 in March 2009. Since then, the stock market began a steady rise, closing at 1,258 on the last day of December 2010. It now stands at about 1,450, nearly back to its earlier peak.

During this decade of wild market swings, ownership of stocks and retirement accounts, such as 401(k) and thrift accounts, fell among most age groups. But the declines were greatest among those ages 35 to 44. The proportion of adults in this age group who directly held stocks declined by nine percentage points from 2001 to 2010, with half of this drop occurring before 2007. In contrast, the share of adults 65 and older who directly held stocks declined only 3 percentage points from 2001 to 2010, from 21 percent to 18 percent.

The proportion of 35- to 44-year-olds who held stocks indirectly through retirement accounts also disproportionately fell by 9 percentage points, about double the decline among those younger than 35 or between 45 and 54 years old (4 percentage points for both groups). As a consequence, those in the 35 to 44 age group have benefited less from the rapid increase in stock prices since 2009 because they were less likely than their older counterparts to own stock and retirement accounts.

via realestateeconomywatch.com

Get over your real estate trauma | Chappaqua Realtor

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Editor’s note: This is the first of a two-part series.

Every day, more and more Americans click into a decidedly post-recession state of mind. Whether or not they’re still unemployed or upside-down, ever-increasing numbers of us have grown tired of being down and depressed and decided to do whatever it takes to get back on our feet and back into the flow of life — it’s so short, after all.

Fortunately, the real estate market seems to be flowing in that same direction: Millions of Americans have seen their underwater mortgages dry out this year, due to nothing more than increased buyer demand, which, in turn, increased home values. But millions more still owe more than their homes are worth — and many more than that are still dealing with the financial and emotional trauma of struggling to make the mortgage payment, tussling with their banks over loan modification requests, a past foreclosure or short sale, or even recession-created fears around buying a home, or selling and locking in losses.

Here’s the deal: The more you fear or focus on this trauma, the more it becomes a major influence on your decisions and your life. So, how can you extinguish it altogether? Here are some strategies:

1. Focus on what you are for, not on what you are against. We often create what we fear, largely out of our panic and paralysis around the topic. So, if you constantly worry about losing your home, being upside-down and whether your home’s value will ever recover, you are simply more likely to get and stay in these situations. Anxiety will cause you to spend more than you should, or to perform poorly at work, snowballing into high credit card bills or an interruption in income.

It’s a small mindset tweak, but a powerful one, to focus instead on what you want to have happen — or, as “Three Simple Steps” author Trevor Blake puts it, what you are for.

If you are for being debt-free, you might be inspired to start a small business and be your own bailout. If you are for getting out from underwater, you might decide to aggressively pursue the loan modification options, or to rent out an extra room on Airbnb to fund extra payments to reduce your mortgage principal.

I’m not saying these are the things you have to do to create the situations you want — I’m simply suggesting what I know from personal experience, which is that if you focus on what you are for, then you are much more likely to see that happen than when all of your time, energy and emotion is fixated on the things you hope don’t happen.

2. Metabolize the trauma. I believe that everything we do — every endeavor we make, every decision, no matter how painful or joyous the outcome — is a success. We are either successful at what we were trying to accomplish, or the experience is a successful education. But when we have painful experiences, it’s difficult to get free from the pain and move on until we can appreciate the successful education that the experience holds.

In order to let go of the trauma you might still have from things that happened around your mortgage or your home, you might find it helpful to work with the image Dr. Henry Cloud creates in his book “Necessary Endings”: the image of metabolizing the experience.

When we eat food, we metabolize it, holding onto the elements that are nourishing and beneficial and eliminating the rest. You can do the same thing with experiences like losing a home to foreclosure or short sale, or being upside-down on your mortgage: Take some quiet time to be real with yourself and identify what learnings you can cull from all the decisions and events that led to your real estate trauma.

Once you do that, you can almost have a ceremony of sorts where you simply declare to yourself that you’ve got what you needed from the experience, and you’re ready to let the rest go. It might sound new age-y, but even the most wizened business execs and hardened military strategists will tell you that learning and letting go of past failures and disappointments so you can fight the next battle are essential ingredients of resilience, and that resilience is a prerequisite for long-term success.

Next week, I’ll provide you with three more strategies for letting go of your real estate baggage.

via inman.com

Agents: Do not be afraid to set yourself on fire | Chappaqua NY Real Estate

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“Success isn’t a result of spontaneous combustion. You have to set yourself on fire.”

That’s a quote by Arnold H. Glasow I came across years ago that always stayed with me.

I speak with agents almost every day. Selling real estate is a tough business.

Between navigating the shifting expectations from buyers and sellers, building your brand presence online and trying to keep up with all the shiny new tech and social media tools in our space, pushing yourself to innovate your business and experiment with your marketing strategies can be daunting.

That’s why HomeFinder.com set out to find some of the most creative agents across the country who blaze their own trails and find success using digital marketing across YouTube, Instagram, Blogging, Facebook and Single Property Websites. For these agents, success meant actual sales, marketing credibility and lasting client relationships.

We put their stories together in this free E-book, Five Agent Success Stories – Close More Business Using Digital Marketing.

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Five Agent Success Stories – Close More Business Using Digital Marketing

In each story, you’ll learn:

  • How that agent uses that specific marketing channel or tactic in his/her business
  • Detailed success stories that led to a sale
  • Advice to get started or recharge your past or current efforts

Here’s a sneak peek and a few excerpts from one of our fire-starters – Kendyl Young.

Kendyl is an agent with Teles Properties in Glendale, CA. She has produced videos for her business for three years and has more than 146 videos on her YouTube channel for her listings and neighborhoods.

Kendyl constantly gets into situations in which she knocks on someone’s door or
sees someone out at a restaurant and they recognize her from her videos. One such instance happened at a pizza place, where a fellow patron instantly recognized her.

This man watched her market report videos and said he’d always wanted to meet her because of them. He thought she was very smart and would always forward her videos to his
friends who were interested in real estate.

By using YouTube like this, Kendyl made invaluable inroads to this potential client’s insular community without ever having met him or any of his friends.

“It’s made me realize my videos have far more reach than I would have thought,” she said.

A few of Kendyl’s YouTube tips:

  • Resist the temptation to turn on your smartphone and shoot whatever comes to mind and post.
  • Watch as many real estate videos as you can. Note what you like and what you don’t.
  • If you are not willing to learn how to make good videos yourself, find a professional. Everything you put out there is a reflection of the quality of your business.
  • Good sound is more important than good visual.

Kendyl’s story continues in this E-book, along with four others.

Take a cue from these agents who have already tried and succeeded. Learn, borrow, adapt.

And don’t forget to keep those matches handy.

via next.inman.com

Home Warranties Take Some of the Worry out of Home Buying | Chappaqua Homes fo Sale

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If you buy a silk blouse and the sleeve falls off after just one wearing, you’re likely to get your money back — or at least an exchange — from the retailer who sold it.

If you buy a house and the furnace stops working two weeks after you move in, you’re out of luck — unless you purchased or received a home warranty.

Two products — the home warranty and the builder warranty — can take some of the worry out of buying or selling a home. These warranties typically insure appliances and major systems in a home, whether it’s new or just new to you.

Builder warranties

Most builder warranties cover a new home’s materials and workmanship for one to two years, with coverage that lasts up to 10 years on major structural elements.

Rules vary from state to state, but generally these warranties only apply to the sale of a new home from the person or company that constructed it, to a new owner-occupant. Your state attorney general’s office can help you determine whether your builder is offering all the warranties required by state law.

Home warranties

A homeowner who gets a builder warranty with the purchase of his new home may also opt to add another layer of coverage by purchasing a home warranty. Additionally, home warranties can provide protection for those buying older homes. Home warranties generally cannot be purchased for mixed-use properties or mobile homes.

A basic one-year warranty can cost as little as $200 and will generally cover plumbing, heating and some appliances. The price of a warranty will increase as additional items and coverages — such as a swimming pool, washing machine or garage door opener — are added.

Home warranties may be purchased by sellers, who often add them to their closing costs, but they may also be purchased by buyers. Some real estate agents will give buyers a home warranty as a gift at closing.

Home warranties are not the same as homeowners insurance. Insurance protects against perils including fire, hail, property crimes and certain types of water damage. A home warranty does not cover these perils but, rather, covers specific components of the home.

A home warranty is a contract between a homeowner and a home warranty company that provides for discounted repair and replacement service on named items. When something that is covered by a home warranty breaks down, the homeowner calls the home warranty company, which dispatches one of its contracted service providers to examine the problem. If the necessary repair or replacement is covered by the warranty, the homeowner only pays a small service fee (in addition to the money already spent to purchase the warranty), and the service provider completes the work.

If you’re thinking about purchasing a home warranty, do your homework. Shop around for the coverage and pricing that best fits your needs. Ask the warranty company:

  • What is covered?
  • What is excluded from coverage?
  • When does coverage begin? Some companies provide coverage on closing day, while others don’t take effect for two weeks to a month.
  • How long does coverage last?
  • What is the claim-filing process?
  • Is there a cost to file a claim?

Knowing your warranty options and doing your research ahead of time can provide peace of mind when moving into your new home.

via zillow.com