Tag Archives: Katonah NY Homes for Sale

Katonah NY Homes for Sale

Cuomo: Westchester Would Get $6.8M From Casino Revenue | Katonah NY Real Estate

The passage of Proposal One on Election Day to authorize casino gaming in New York could bring more than $6.8 million in school aid and property tax relief according to a study released by the Governor’s office. ss

Gov. Andrew Cuomo spent the day after voters decided to pass a measure to bring casinos and mobile casinos like www.slotsformoney.com to the state in Bethel touting the potential merits of the plan and the revenue it will bring to the state.

The Governor estimates that the casino will bring more than $51 million in aid to 10 counties in the state and boost tourism, casinos online and gambling games, MST Online is one of them.

“The passage of Proposal One is a big win for local governments, school districts and taxpayers in the Catskills and Hudson Valley region,” Cuomo said in a statement.

One casino that has given a permission to operate online is the 666Casino which is one of the best casinos so far that you can play anywhere with just your phone or tablets. “Yesterday’s vote by New Yorkers to authorize casino gaming will keep hundreds of millions of dollars spent each year in neighboring states right here in New York, providing more revenue for local schools, relief for property taxpayers and countless jobs for New Yorkers, while bringing proper regulation to the industry.”

http://armonk.dailyvoice.com/news/cuomo-westchester-would-get-68m-casino-revenue

50 Years Later, Relive the Destruction of Old Penn Station in Photos | Katonah NY Real Estate

54 images

It was 50 years ago today that demolition began on the New York icon that evokes intense nostalgia and mourning even today: the old Pennsylvania Station. To honor the day, Atlantic Cities rounded up some beautiful photos of the transit hub in its prime, but Curbed has opted to immerse us all in sad images of the de-construction process, as plans for Madison Square Garden loomed ahead. After all, it was the painful ripping apart of the soaring archways, domed ceilings, handsome columns, and more that lit a fire under the arse of the coalition that eventually made New York’s landmarks law a reality. The extensive demolition porn of yore comes to you courtesy of the Museum of the City of New York’s wonderfully extensive photo archives. Below, you’ll also find a handful of photos of Penn when it was still gloriously intact, which kinda intensifies the grief a little. While the site’s future remains uncertain—could we feasibly see a bonkers starchitect-designed railway station in our lifetimes?—the past is, sadly, a done deal.

Raw Materials Revealed: Brick, Block and Stone Help Homes Last | Katonah NY Homes

he basic building materials that fall under the heading of masonry have been used since people started building protective structures. Some of those first buildings are still standing, a testament to the longevity of brick, block and stone. In this time of increased attention to green building, it’s important to remember that one of the greenest things you can do is build something that will last.
Below you’ll learn more about these building essentials and how they can improve the look and durability of your home.

traditional exterior by Burns and Beyerl Architects

Save to Ideabook
Email Photo
Everyone plays with blocks as a child, but not everyone is cut out to become a mason. It takes great skill to construct walls from brick, block and stone.
The materials are heavy and difficult to cut and shape. Though each piece is laid by hand and walls go up slowly (especially compared to a wall framed with wood), the wall must be perfectly plumb at the end, because there is no way to shim, trim or shift a masonry wall the way you can do with a frame wall covered in siding.
modern exterior by Kariouk Associates

Save to Ideabook
Email Photo
Concrete Masonry Unit
CMU is the most common building block masons use these days. CMU stands for concrete masonry unit, and is usually referred to as CMU on architectural plans.
Laypeople tend to refer to CMU as cinder block, concrete block or just block. Regardless of what you call it, this material is frequently used thanks to its large sizes (8 by 8 by 16 inches is common), which help a structural wall go up quickly.
Browse designs built with CMUs
farmhouse family room by Paul Rice Architecture

Save to Ideabook
Email Photo
Brick
There are many variations, but in general, a brick is made of clay rather than the concrete in a CMU. Bricks are also generally smaller (about 3 by 8 by 2 inches) and red, though as you can see in this photo, bricks come in all the earthen colors, including black. Though brick looks impenetrable, a brick wall should have gaps in the mortar at the bottom to let moisture out. I also recommend avoiding paint on exterior brick to allow the bricks to breathe.

Identify hot buying behavior | Katonah NY Real Estate

There’s nothing worse than working day and night chasing leads that never seem to amount to anything. Working manually through the process only exasperates the frustration, especially when it seems like leads are slipping right through your fingers. Below are thoughts to help you identify hot buyers and reach out effectively.

However, the tips assume you have already handled the following three items: (1) You have an automated marketing tool in place; (2) You are already capturing the name and email of browsers; and (3) You have property search and detail pages to monitor online behavior. For more information on why these assumptions are important, take a moment to read the previous Digital Mind Shift articles: part one | part two | part three.

Monitor hot behavior Think of your property search and detail pages as a stocked pond. Drive as much traffic to your pond as possible because that’s the best place to catch fish. This is where you can discover the hot buying behavior of browsers. Look for a combination of the following behaviors to determine how and when to reach out. Saved or preferred properties: Give your users the opportunity to favorite or save properties that most interest them. In doing so, you provide a value-added online benefit and know precisely the type of properties the user wants. Length of time browsing on site: Pay attention to browsers who are spending considerable lengths of time searching for properties.

This is a key indicator they are serious about finding the right home to buy. Expense level of properties: Buyers who are interested in more expensive properties should raise an eyebrow and warrant your attention. Just sayin’.Frequency of returns to the site: Buyers who are visiting your site frequently and searching for properties are demonstrating clear signs of hot buying behavior.

Frequency of returns to a particular property: When a browser keeps checking out the same property repeatedly over the course of a few weeks, you might want to take notice. Communicate like a human, not a machine It’s important you don’t scare customers away or annoy them with messages that look and feel like spam. Yes, you should set up automated campaigns to reach the maximum amount of people, but you can do it with a personalized and human approach. Here’s how: Let the customer know you’re paying attention by putting the property address she has shown interest in directly in the note.

This can be done automatically with most marketing tools. Give the impression the email is from a real person by always signing off with a name and contact information. Also, be sure to craft the messages like you would in any normal email correspondence. Be positive, personable and try to generate a dialogue.

Show yourself as helpful and friendly by offering to answer any questions about the property. Every customer who responds to an email should immediately be contacted by a real person (even though they think the note came from a real person to begin with). Start building your campaigns around hot buying behavior and personalized messaging techniques. Happy fishing!

 

– See more at: http://www.inman.com/next/identify-hot-buying-behavior/#sthash.Ucbg1gup.dpuf

September foreclosure activity falls 27% | Katonah NY Homes

Foreclosure filings in the U.S. dropped 27% year-over-year in September, RealtyTrac reported in its latest foreclosure update.

The report shows 131,232 U.S. homes facing either a default notice, auction sale or bank repossession in September, down 27% from last year and 2% from the previous update.

In fact, the month of September marked 36 months of annual declines in foreclosure activity, with third-quarter foreclosure activity falling to its lowest quarterly level since 2Q 2007, RealtyTrac noted.

As a whole, the data and research firm recorded 376,931 properties with foreclosure filings in the third quarter, down 7% from the previous quarter and a 29% drop from last year.

“The September and third-quarter foreclosure numbers show a housing market that is haltingly returning to health,” said Daren Blomquist, vice president of RealtyTrac. “In a healthy housing market foreclosures are rare but streamlined while still protecting the rights of the homeowner.”

“While foreclosures are clearly becoming fewer and farther between in most markets, the increasing time it takes to foreclose is holding back a more robust and sustainable recovery,” Blomquist added.

 

 

http://www.housingwire.com/articles/27345-september-foreclosure-activity-falls-27

How to Grow Your Business Network With Social Media | Katonah NY Realtor

Is your business or company struggling to find new customers?

Do you know how to build your business network on social media?

Before you can sell, you have to create a trusted relationship with your future customer.

In this article, you’ll discover four ways to use social media to find and establish relationships with new prospects and leads for your business.

#1: Join a Conversation on Twitter

Tweet chats are great for person-to-person networking on Twitter and they can act as one of the single best lead generation tools in social media.

You can consult a number of lists to quickly locate chats that are relevant to you. These lists include hashtags and other key information like date, time and the name of the host or owner of the chat.

A tweet chat example.

The best thing about tweet chats is that while almost everyone starts out a stranger, over time the participants begin to know one another and develop relationships that extend beyond the regularly scheduled chat.

During the chat, you’ll find people who ask questions you can answer. Your replies will be limited to 140 characters, so they’ll need to be as concise as possible. Use the opportunity to let participants know you’re open to accepting a follow and a direct message from them and carrying the conversation further by phone or on another platform.

#2: Participate in LinkedIn Groups

LinkedIn groups hold a lot of opportunity for networking with people who fit your prospect profile.

There’s an easy way to find the groups you are interested in. Hover on Interests in the header navigation and click on Groups. From here, click on More>> in the Groups You May Like box.

From here, use keywords specific to your industry to search for and find groups relevant to your business. You can filter your search results by Relationship, Categories and Languages.

Use the search function to identify the right groups for you to join.

Next, check out each of those groups and join one or two that are made up of people who could be interested in what you offer.

This isn’t a place to sell. Be nice, be helpful and focus on providing service to the other members. Answer questions, give advice and share your knowledge.

Pay attention to who likes your posts and comments. Similar to Facebook, you can click on the Like button to see a list of people who have liked your comment.

Follow the people who like your comments.

Visit the profiles of those folks and see if any of them fit your prospect profile. Follow them on LinkedIn to get to know them better and when the opportunity arises, ask them to connect with you.

Use tags to sort your new contacts into one of two groups—prospects and strategic partners who can refer prospects. The tags will make it easier for you to keep track of the relationships as they evolve.

If there’s not an existing group that fits your needs, create one to network with your current prospects and attract new ones.

#3: Share Insights From an Event

When you attend trade shows or conferences, share the highlights and notes with people who can’t attend and you’ll attract people interested in the same niche.

On Twitter, share your notes in real time with your followers. Use the official event hashtag in your tweets so they are included in the larger conversation, and they’ll be visible to people who don’t follow you. Make sure you pay attention to new follows during this time, as they could well be new prospects for you.

You can accomplish the same goal with your company’s website. A tool such as Storify will help you consolidate your notes into a blog post with a rundown of all of the most important points made during the conference.

This event recap blog post was created using Storify.

Pay attention to the folks who follow along, comment or retweet your information. This is a simple way to surface invisible prospects that you might otherwise miss. Connect with each person on the platform or network that makes the most sense, and when the time is right, reach out and offer your help.

 

 

 

 

http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/build-your-business-network/

 

 

 

Investors pull out of rental market | Katonah Homes

According to CNBC, some big investors are pulling out of the single-family rental market after witnessing a stall in home price gains and a large drop in the number of distressed properties. CNBC has more:

“I think the investor market is largely past us,” Doug Lebda, chief executive of Lending Tree told CNBC. “People were buying investment properties three, four, five years ago. What I hear is that’s slowing now.”

Recent reports that Oaktree Capital Group is selling about 500 of its homes added fuel to other reports that Och-Ziff Capital management is selling its homes as well. Both declined to comment on the reports. Carrington Mortgage Services stopped buying distressed homes late last year, claiming the market was “a bit too frothy.”

                    Source: CNBC

Pull inspiration from these creative garage makeovers | Katonah Real Estate

ost of us could use a little extra space — for an office, for entertaining or just for relaxing — but few of us have the budget or room to add on to our existing homes. But there may be a blank slate nearby, just waiting to be reinvented: the garage. Garage Door Repairs within the Plano area are often frustrating. They always seem to happen at the worst possible time. Like when you’re late for work, trying to urge the youngsters to high school, or close to head out for vacation. Broken or damaged garage doors are often noisy, ugly, and just downright embarrassing. The professionals at Metro Garage Door Repair are your local experts in Garage Door Installations and Repairs. If you want best garage door repair service, you can go to this website.
These six Houzzer garage conversions have gone above and beyond the average remodel. No longer in need of a parking spot, or tired of looking at the mess that had piled up, these homeowners took advantage of their empty or dilapidated garages. The resulting dream rooms gave these families the extra space they were looking for.

traditional garage and shed by Suzanne Dingley Interiors

Save to Ideabook
Email Photo
Houzzer: Suzanne Dingley, Suzanne Dingley Interiors Location: Salt Lake City Garage size: 180 square feet, detached DIY or professional project? Both
A new work-from-home job meant that Suzanne Dingley’s husband needed a new office. Instead of cramming one into their house, the couple turned to their detached garage, which had become a dark and dirty dumping ground for junk. They gutted the space, exposed the rafters and pitched roof, and installed new flooring and built-in storage.
traditional garage and shed by Suzanne Dingley Interiors

Save to Ideabook
Email Photo
The red and white color palette evolved from this Ikea photo of a London bus — a tribute to the couple’s British roots.
traditional garage and shed by Suzanne Dingley Interiors

Save to Ideabook
Email Photo
The pair replaced the existing garage doors with two sets of French doors and two new windows to let in natural light. The newly insulated ceiling and floors control the internal temperature, but a window cooler and space heater help out, too. “My husband is very happy with his space, especially with his short commute across the yard,” says Dingley.
traditional garage and shed Garage Conversion

Save to Ideabook
Email Photo
Houzzer: Rick Giudicessi Location: Des Moines, Iowa Garage size: 240 square feet, attached DIY or professional project? Professional
This 1930s garage wasn’t just worn out and beat up; its odd layout and tiny garage door made it impossible for Rick Giudicessi to park his car inside. Instead of using it for storage, he turned it into a tiki bar with an attached patio where his family can entertain year-round. “When the weather ends the use of the patio and tiki bar area, we move inside to the heated area,”
he says.

Rising Rates Flatten Consumer Price Expectations | Katonah Real Estate

After rising since the beginning of the year, consumers’ outlook for home price increases plateaued in August – which has been trending upward- has hit a plateau, likely due to concerns regarding the potential tapering of the Federal Reserve’s asset purchases, according to Fannie Mae’s August 2013 National Housing Survey.

“The spike in mortgage rates associated with the possibility that the Fed will begin to wind down its asset purchase program later this month has dampened the improving trend in consumer sentiment regarding housing witnessed in our survey since the start of this year,” said Doug Duncan, senior vice president and chief economist at Fannie Mae. “The pause in positive momentum is consistent with slowing trends in home purchase contract signings and mortgage applications. Interest rate volatility will likely remain elevated, even after we have more clarity on the pace of the Fed’s tapering, due to concerns over the upcoming budget and debt ceiling debates as well as the crisis in Syria.”

Survey data show that consumers expect home prices to continue to grow on average during the next 12 months, but at a slightly reduced pace of 3.4 percent. Additionally, the share who say it is a good time to buy a home has stayed relatively flat during the past year while those who say it is a good time to sell a home has lost momentum recently.

SURVEY HIGHLIGHTS

Homeownership and Renting

  • At 3.4 percent, the average 12-month home price change expectation decreased 0.5 percent from last month’s high.
  • The share of people who say home prices will go up in the next 12 months rose 2 percentage points to 55 percent, while those who say home prices will go down increased slightly from July’s survey low to 7 percent.
  • The share of respondents who say mortgage rates will go up in the next 12 months decreased 2 percentage points from last month’s survey high to 60 percent.
  • The share who say it is a good time to buy a house decreased 3 percentage points to 71 percent, and those who say it is a good time to sell a house fell 4 percentage points to 36 percent.
  • The average 12-month rental price change expectation fell to 4.1 percent, a slight decrease from last month.
  • Fifty-three percent of those surveyed say home rental prices will go up in the next 12 months, a slight decrease from July.
  • Forty-six percent of respondents think it would be easy for them to get a home mortgage today, a slight increase from last month.
  • The share of respondents who said they would buy if they were going to move increased slightly to 65 percent.

The Economy and Household Finances

  • At 37 percent, the share of respondents who say the economy is on the right track decreased 3 percentage points from July.

 

 

http://www.realestateeconomywatch.com/2013/09/