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Katonah NY

Increasing mortgage rates will not ruin the housing recovery | Katonah Real Estate

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Although the era of low mortgages rates are beginning to dwindle away, the housing market is still projected to keep recovering, an article in CNN Money said.

The article explains that higher mortgage rates will not derail the housing market for three reasons.

First, interest rates alone do not drive up home prices, with additional factors like unemployment factoring in.

Additionally, investors armed with cash played a large part in the recovery by buying a lot of foreclosed properties with cash, foregoing the need for a mortgage.

Meanwhile, mortgage rates are still low historically.

Rates are close to what they were in Spring 2012, and people thought the rates were amazingly low then, the article said.

 

Increasing mortgage rates will not ruin the housing recovery | HousingWire.

Arnold Schwarzenegger sells former Pacific Palisades home | Katonah Homes

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Designed in a Mediterranean style typical of homes in the area, the 10,000-square-foot villa is located at the end of a long gated driveway, reported Zillow.

It was built in 1982 but has been remodeled since, with a total of 9 bedrooms, 9.5 baths, a large pool, cabana and championship-size tennis court. The grounds, spanning 2.48 acres, include expansive lawns, gardens and a duck pond. The property also provides direct access to Will Rogers State Historic Park horse trails and polo fields, according to Zillow.

 

Arnold Schwarzenegger sells former Pacific Palisades home | HousingWire.

April home prices rise at a faster pace | Katonah Real Estate

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U.S. home prices continued their upward trajectory in April, rising 0.7% from March, according to data from the latest FNC Residential Price Index. The gain in April marks the largest price appreciation since June 2012, due largely to rising demand in the spring and summer.

More credit availability, interest rates that remain low despite quickly rising and low home prices are driving forces behind the housing recovery. Rising interest rates have most likely drawn out additional pent-up demand. 

Foreclosure activity continued to decline, with distressed sales making up only 16% of total home sales, down from 17.8% in March and 21.6% a year earlier, FNC noted.

When analyzing non-distresses properties in the 100 largest metropolitan areas, the FNC 100-MSA composite index reveals that April home prices increased faster when compared to previous months.

Year-over-year, home prices rose 4.6% in April. For months, the indices have been revised downward, resulting in more moderate annual price accelerations.

Of the component markets tracked by the FNC 30-MSA composite index, 25 showed higher prices in April, with home prices up 1.0% or more in nearly a third of the markets.

 

April home prices rise at a faster pace | HousingWire.

The Del McCoury Band Leads Caramoor Music Festival | Katonah NY Real Estate

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KATONAH, N.Y. – The Del McCoury Band will headline Carmoor’s American Roots Music Festival on Saturday, June 29 at 7:30 p.m. in the Venetian Theater.

The festival is a a daylong celebration of folk, string band, country, blues, gospel, and bluegrass music. The concert will mark the world premiere and the only New York performance of The Del McCoury Band’s new project, “Del & Woody” featuring unheard and unsung words of Woody Guthrie set to music by the bluegrass musician.

The American Roots Music Festival is appropriate for all ages.  Picnicking is encouraged. Festival-goers can bring their own picnic, purchase food or beverages on site or order a picnic in advance for pick-up at Caramoor by calling Great Performances at 212-337-6055 or visiting www.greatperformances.com/caramoorpicnics. 

Tickets for the festival range from $35-$55. Children under 18 are half price. To order tickets, call the box office at 914.232.1252 or visit www.caramoor.org.

 

The Del McCoury Band Leads Caramoor Music Festival | The Bedford Daily Voice.

California home prices soar to new highs | Katonah Real Estate

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California home prices increased by the most in 33 years as a result of strong sales growth in higher-priced markets and continued housing supply shortage, pushing up median home prices in May, the California Association of Realtors said.

Closed escrow sales of existing, single-family detached homes totaled a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 431,370 units, the report noted.

Meanwhile, sales were up 1.9% in May, up from a revised 423,420 units in April, but down 3.6% from a revised 447,530 last year.

The statewide figures represents what would be the total number of homes sold during 2013 if sales maintained the May pace throughout the year and is adjusted to account for seasonal factors that influence home sales, CAR explained.

“It’s encouraging to see median home prices across most parts of the state continuing to recover. The Bay Area, in particular, has been experiencing strong price appreciation, thanks to the region’s robust economic growth, extremely low housing inventory, and an increasing demand from international buyers,” said CAR President Don Faught.

He added, “San Francisco County’s median home price, for example, increased 28% from last May and has just surpassed its previous record high reached in May 2007.”

The median price of an existing, single-family detached home rose to $417,350 in May, up 3.6% from $402,706 in April and also rose 31.9% from the previous year, marking 15 straight months of annual price increases, CAR noted.

The year-over-year increase was the highest since at least 1980, when CAR began tracking the data.

 

California home prices soar to new highs | HousingWire.

Survey: 64% of millennials worry about buying a home | Katonah Real Estate

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Of millennials aged 18 to 34, 64% express some level of worry that they will have trouble affording their rent or mortgage, according to a survey by Think Finance.

Additionally, the same percentage worry that they will never be able to buy a home, the Fort Worth, Texas-based analytics firm found.

The survey was conducted online among 1,021 Americans by Harris Interactive, on behalf of Think Finance. 

 

 

Survey: 64% of millennials worry about buying a home | HousingWire.

Inventories Hit Ten Month High | Katonah Real Estate

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As the spring home buying season transitions into summer, month-over-month inventories are rising faster than they were as sellers respond to price increases at a faster pace than earlier in the buying season.  On a national basis, both list prices and Inventories rose in last month, according to Realtor.com’s May data.

Inventories have risen by about 25 percent since the beginning of the year, signaling a potential end to a sellers’ market and a greater balance between market supply and demand. The monthly increases in the for-sale inventory that took place in the past two months are among the highest observed since Realtor.com has been collecting these data.

In May the inventory deficit fell to 10.11 percent on a year-over-year basis.  Realtor.com’s inventory (1,852,740) was larger in May than it has been in ten months.

“We are seeing large regional markets across the country leading the way to national recovery. These regions are acting as a microcosm for what’s slowly happening in the larger real estate market,” said Steve Berkowitz, chief executive officer of Move. “Overall, we’re seeing seller confidence beginning to respond to consumer demand. Nationally, there are more homes going on the market for a shorter amount of time.  And this is happening in our hot markets on a much larger scale.”

The nationwide median list price rose to $199,000 in May, the highest level since mid-2009. On a year-over-year basis, the median list price was up by almost 5 percent. At the same time, the average age of the for-sale inventory dropped on both a monthly and year-over-year basis, reflecting a surge of new property listings.

The median age of the inventory fell to 79 days in May, down by 2.47 percent over the month and by 13.19 percent on a year-over-year basis.  It’s the youngest median age of inventory ever reported by Realtor.com.

Super-heated markets are in the process of cooling down as a surge in recent listings is a greater balance between supply and demand.  For example, the month-over-month median list price increase in the top 10 markets in the nation, which includes 7 California markets, dropped from an average of 7 percent in April to just 3 percent in May, while the size of their for-sale inventories rose by an average of 13 percent.

On a year-over-year basis, median list prices in May were up by 1 percent or more in 103 of the 146 MSAs covered by Realtor.com, and were up by 5 percent or more in 71 MSAs.  Only 3 markets experienced a decline of more than 5 percent.  These results represent a steady improvement since the beginning of the year, with an increasing number of markets registering increasingly larger list price gains.

Inventories Hit Ten Month High | RealEstateEconomyWatch.com.

How to Improve Your Social Media Marketing Return on Investment | Katonah Realtor

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Have you ever been asked to show the return on investment (ROI) for your social media work?

Have you had trouble giving an exact number to explain your ROI or even set quantitative goals for your social media?

25% of marketers said that their biggest marketing challenge was finding the ROI of their marketing activities.

In this article, I’ll show you how to tweak some of your social media actions with your business goals in mind and make them easier to tie to your ROI.

#1: Use Social Media to Promote Your Offers

Social media is an important channel to promote any content you create. Whether you’ve created an ebook, blog post, webinar or white paper, you should promote it through social media.

Tap into your social audience whether you’re on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn,Google+ or Pinterest.

sme tweet

Social Media Examiner uses Twitter to share content and generate traffic.

As you can see on Twitter, it’s important to link to all of your content with your tweets. And remember to include hashtags to gain further visibility on Twitter.

For other social channels such as Facebook or Google+, take advantage of the visual real estate you have and include an engaging photo.

facebook update

Social Media Examiner adds the image of the report on a Facebook update.

On LinkedIn, post your content in marketing groups that are discussing similar marketing principles.

Is one of your goals for your business to engage potential prospects on social media? Then you’ll want to make sure you use each social media platform in the best way to connect with them.

#2: Tag Your URLs so You Know They Come from Social

Part of tying your social media efforts to ROI is to understand what actually comes from social media. You may be promoting an offer across multiple channels, but without understanding if it’s successful or unsuccessful through social media or another channel, it’s hard to plan future campaigns.

One way to attribute campaigns to social media is to tag the URL so you know it comes from social.

In the example below, you can see that the link was promoted on social media because of the UTM tags in the URL line at the top that say “twitter” and “social.”

buzz feed

Link to landing page coming from social.

A UTM tag allows you to add identifying information to your URL that will help youkeep track of the source the link is coming from. By doing this, you’ll be able to properly track what comes from social media vs. other channels.

Is one of your goals to understand how your social media is working for you? Then you’ll want to be sure to track the traffic that comes from social media to see what’s working and what needs to be tweaked.

#3: Survey Your Customers About How They Found You

Another way to find out where your customers are first hearing about your company is through surveys. Include a question that asks how your customers found your company at strategic points of contact. This will help you find out where your visitors first found your company.

In the image below from Born Free, you can see the options for their survey.

survey question

Here’s an example of a survey that answers the question “How did you hear about us?”

Of course, when you gather this information from your customers, you can use it to tie into measuring your social media ROI. And it can also be helpful when planning which marketing resources should be used more heavily.

Is one of your business goals to get more leads from social media? Then be sure toinclude a tracking mechanism, such as asking your clients where they first heard about you.

#4: Use Google+ to Influence Your SEO Presence

Don’t forget about using one of the newest social media platforms, Google+. SEO consultants have proven that having a presence on Google+, Google Places andGoogle Authorship can help your SEO. And good SEO translates into better online visibility for your business.

In the case of Google Authorship, your content (especially when you upload a picture) may appear at the top of search engine results.

Here’s an example. Twitter announced that it’s opening its advertising platform to all users in the United States. When you search for “social media twitter advertising,” the first article to appear after a New York Times article and sponsored results is an article that is pulled in from Google+ with an image.

search results

Search results for “social media twitter advertising.”

Also, remember Google pulls in data from social media to make sure that its results are also influenced by social activity.

Appearing higher up on the page on Google’s search results directly influences your business ROI because most people do not click past the first page on Google results. Having your results appear there will drive more traffic to your website.

Is one of your business goals to get more web traffic? Then you’ll want to optimize your presence on Google’s platforms and track how visible your business is in their search engine results.

Use the best social media tactics to tie activity to your ROI.

Remember, you don’t want to fall into thinking that social media is a panacea to cure all of your business’s problems. And don’t expect to see immediate results.

 

How to Improve Your Social Media Marketing Return on Investment | Social Media Examiner.

5 Creative Ways to Drive More Traffic to Your Blog Posts | Katonah Realtor

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Do you want more traffic to your blog?

Are you struggling to catch the attention of more readers?

Does this sound familiar? You write an amazing piece of content. You made sure tocraft an attention-grabbing headline. You share the link on Twitter, Facebook, even Google+.

Then you wait in breathless anticipation for your share count to skyrocket. Except it doesn’t.

Never fear, in this article you’ll find fresh ideas to generate buzz and get your posts noticed.

two prong

Use a two-pronged approach with a variety of platforms and different types of media to get your post shared. Image source: iStockPhoto.

Promote Your Article Across a “Wider” Variety of Platforms

Everyone is using Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn to promote their content. It’s tempting to focus only on these four networks because they have popularity and community numbers on their side.

However, you get a competitive advantage when you share your content on smaller or less well-known networks. These sites often have active, focused audiences and offer less competition for attention, so your content will stand out.

Here are some examples of smaller networks:

  • Quora.com—A question/answer-based website founded by two former Facebook employees. What makes Quora unique is that all content is created, edited and organized by its user community. The user base tends to be more business- and academic-oriented.
  • Tumblr—A microblogging site that recently made headlines when Yahoo! acquired it. Its user base tends to be younger and more “hip,” making it the perfect platform to share edgier, niche-based content.
  • Empire Avenue—Part social network, part social media marketing tool, Empire Avenue uses gamification to enable users to broadcast content across all of the other social networks. The primary members of EAv are small businesses, social media professionals and bloggers.

    intel on empire ave

    Intel on Empire Avenue.

Grab Viewer Interest With Different Types of Media

Sharing a link to your post isn’t enough to guarantee that it gets read. You need togive users a compelling reason to click your link.

Use one or more of these outside-the-box, creative methods to promote your posts with images, audio and video.

#1: Use Dubbler to Give a Short Audio Introduction

Available for iPhone and Android devices, Dubbler offers a simple way to record up to 60 seconds of audio on your phone, and then share it with other Dubbler community members.

dubbler

Dubbler brings the simplicity and fun of audio to the social world. Record your voice, add a filter or photo and share with your friends.

The app includes voice filters and lets you add a cover image.

Spark interest in your blog post and record an audio message that communicates your excitement and passion about the content in a way that text or static images can’t.

Add an image, enter your blog post URL in the description and you’ve got a ready-made sound bite that can be shared with the Dubbler community, as well as Facebook and Twitter.

 

 

5 Creative Ways to Drive More Traffic to Your Blog Posts | Social Media Examiner.

Home sales may begin to soften this summer | Katonah Real Estate

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Despite the fact that inventory improved in April, and will have improved again in May, Redfin anticipates a lull in sales this summer. Months of bidding wars and record-low inventory earlier this year has finally taken a toll on some buyers. Rising interest rates are likely discouraging some buyers as well, writes Redfin.

Month over month, the number of customers taking tours fell 3.0% from April, compared to a 2.2% loss between April and May in 2012. Meanwhile, the number of customers making offers dropped 2.1% from April to May, also slightly more than last year’s 1.1% decline.

 

Home sales may begin to soften this summer | HousingWire.