Tag Archives: Katonah Real Estate

Katonah Real Estate

Westchester housing conflict heats up; county could be held in contempt | Katonah NY Homes

A residential desegregation conflict between the United States Justice Department and Westchester County was ratcheted up when the department threatened to ask that the county be held in contempt of court, according to a report by ProPublica.

The four-year dispute pits Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino against the Justice Department, and stems from a 2009 settlement in which the county agreed to pass a law aimed at ending discrimination against people receiving government subsidies to pay rent, the report said. However, Astorino vetoed that legislation, leading to a federal court decision earlier this month that he had violated the settlement, and included an order to sign the legislation, ProPublica said.

In its letter to the county, the Justice Department gave Astorino until Thursday to enact the legislation, ProPublica reported, and the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development added that it would withhold $7.4 million in federal grants if the county does not comply with the court order by Thursday

More young couples buy a home before getting married | Katonah NY Real Estate

The local CBS affiliate out of Minneapolis says a home is the new engagement ring. In fact, if you look at the behavior of more young American couples, their first step towards lifelong companionship is purchasing a home together, not a ring.

Citing a Coldwell Banker study, CBS says a quarter of married couples in the 18-to-34 age range bought a home before getting married

Katonah Real Estate | Housing market in San Diego County heating up

SAN DIEGO – The housing market in San Diego County is heating up. The “for sale” signs you do see often disappear in days or weeks.

Supply and demand are pushing prices through the roof and real estate is on a roll.

Broker Scott Voak, who is with Voak Homes in Rancho Bernardo, says the supply is so low that he does not have any homes to market right now. The demand has created fierce bidding wars.

“It’s insane,” said Voak. “We had the only house in the market under $650,000 and we had 10 offers and sold for $55,000 over the appraisal.”

The latest numbers in San Diego County show inventory is down 40 percent from a year ago. Home prices are up 24 percent for attached homes and 16 percent for detached homes. 

Neighborhoods in the Poway Unified School District seem to be the hottest ticket.

Voak says foreign investors are buying up properties and that all those distressed properties from the collapse are dwindling in supply. It all creates a perfect storm for demand.

“That’s pushing prices up and causing a frenzy with buyers,” said Voak. “A lot of buyers are scared… it’s no fun for buyers.”

However, buyers still have a good interest rate on their side, and many are resorting to what has been coined “love letters.”

The Shadow Inventory is Slowly Disappearing | Katonah NY Homes

Florida, California, New York, Illinois and New Jersey were home to four out of ten distressed properties in the nation in January, an indication of how far east America’s foreclosure nightmare has moved.

CoreLogic reported that the overall shadow inventory is down 28 percent from its peak in January 2010, when it reached 3 million homes. Current residential shadow inventory as of January 2013 was at 2.2 million units, representing a supply of nine months. This figure represents an 18-percent drop from January 2012, when shadow inventory stood at 2.6 million units.

“The shadow inventory continued to drop at double the rate in January from prior-year levels. At this point in the recovery, we are seeing healthy reductions across much of the nation,” said Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic. “As we move forward in 2013, we need to see more progress in Florida, New York, California, Illinois and New Jersey which now account for almost half of the country’s remaining shadow inventory.”

“The shadow inventory is declining steadily as properties are moving through the distressed pipeline,” said Dr. Mark Fleming, chief economist for CoreLogic. “States like Arizona, California and Colorado are experiencing significant declines year over year in the stock of serious delinquencies, a positive sign for further improvement in the shadow inventory.”

As of January 2013, shadow inventory was at 2.2 million units, or nine months’ supply, and represented 85 percent of the 2.6 million properties currently seriously delinquent, in foreclosure or REO.

Of the 2.2 million properties currently in the shadow inventory (Figures 1 and 2), 1 million units are seriously delinquent (4.1 months’ supply), 798,000 are in some stage of foreclosure (3.2 months’ supply) and 342,000 are already in REO (1.4 months’ supply).

The value of shadow inventory was $350 billion as of January 2013, down from $402 billion a year ago and down from $381 billion six months ago.

Over the twelve months ending January 2013, serious delinquencies, which are the main driver of the shadow inventory, declined the most in Arizona (40 percent), California (33 percent), Colorado (27 percent), Michigan (25 percent) and Wyoming (23 percent).

CoreLogic estimates the current stock of properties in the shadow inventory, also known as pending supply, by calculating the number of properties that are seriously delinquent, in foreclosure and held as real estate owned (REO) by mortgage servicers, but not currently listed on multiple listing services (MLSs). Transition rates of “delinquency to foreclosure” and “foreclosure to REO” are used to identify the currently distressed unlisted properties most likely to become REO properties. Properties that are not yet delinquent, but may become delinquent in the future, are not included in the estimate of the current shadow inventory. Shadow inventory is typically not included in the official reporting measurements of unsold inventory.

9 Reasons Why Facebook Needs the “I Don’t Care” Button | Katonah Realtor

Do you remember when you joined Facebook? What was it like when you put in your details and joined the world’s biggest social network?9 Reasons Why Facebook Needs the I Don't Care Button - Infographic

When those friends, family and old college acquaintances came up on your screen and you were invited to connect with them after years and maybe decades of no contact. Many looked the same, others looked a bit older and some I couldn’t recognize.

For me it was a bit of a “Wow”moment. Global connection in an instant in full living color.

The network touched us, connected us and provided glimpses into lives forgotten but still lived. It allowed us to share photos, videos and stories of our adventures. Some glimpses into others lives are exciting, others intriguing and some just border on the mundane.

Engaging with your friends online from your news feed can be done in a variety of ways from placing a comment, sharing the update  or just hitting “like” if we don’t have much time.

But we are still working out the ways to play.

Does the “Like” button need an alternative?

The ever present “like” button seems to have been with us forever. In fact it has only been with us for just over four years on personal pages and replaced the “become a fan” button on brand pages in June, 2010.

We have all seen those updates from friends where we silently say “I didn’t want to know that!” Other reactions are sometimes “too much information” and sometimes you feel like saying “I don’t care“.

Maybe we need buttons like “funny” when you see an update like this.

I am proud of myself. I finished the puzzle in just 6 months while the box said 2 to 4 years“.

9 Updates Deserving the “I Don’t Care” Button

Here is a fun look at 9 types of  updates that don’t need a like button.

Do we need a Facebook I don't care button

Infographic source: By www.themaplekind.com  – where you can waste a lot of time and also have a chuckle.

What About You?

Do you often see updates that needed something stronger than the “like” button?

What is the best Facebook update you have seen?

Look forward to your comments.

Want to learn how to create great content for your blog and social media networks?

My book – “Blogging the Smart Way – How to Create and Market a Killer Blog with Social Media” – will show you how.

It is now available to download. I show you how to create and build a blog that rocks and grow tribes, fans and followers on social networks such as Twitter and Facebook. It also includes dozens of tips to create contagious content that begs to be shared and tempts people to link to your website and blog.

I also reveal the tactics I used to grow my Twitter followers to over 140,000.

Download and read it now.

 

Image by Eveline314

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Exciting Ways to Market Your Business in 2013 | Katonah Realtor

The explosion of digital and social media has opened up exciting new avenues for marketers and advertisers. Never before have there been so many ways a business can get their message out to their target market. Some are new tactics while others are new takes on older methods. Here are some of the exciting new marketing strategies for 2013.

Content Marketing

The term “content marketing” only came on the scene recently. Also known as “inbound marketing,” content marketing is the use of articles, blogging, podcasts, videos and other content to answer prospect questions and help generate sales. The goal of content marketing is to create trust, answer objections and illustrate ways clients can use products.

One good example of this from Coca Cola. They have decided to transition their tradition of “Creative Excellence” to the much different platform of “Content Excellence.” That means they want to create content so valuable and interesting it is shared and talked about. The 30-second TV commercial is no longer the best way to get close to consumers. Coke is moving to a collaborative strategy that involves their audience much more than before.

Public Relations

Public relations used to concern itself with sending press releases and trying to get clients in the media. Now that many people get their news and information in social media, public relations has taken on more of a marketing role.

PR departments are working closer with marketing professionals than ever before. Public relations consultants are using their ability to tell stories to help create new narratives for marketing.

User-Generated Content

One of the fastest ways to create a marketing impact is to allow users to generate content. It gives consumers a chance to interact with their favorite brands, and marketers are able to rapidly create lots of content that will improve their presence in search engine rankings.

User generated content can be as simple as encouraging fans to make YouTube videos. Other popular methods are setting up online communities and asking users to contribute articles and blog posts.

Mobile Marketing

Mobile marketing has been on the brink of exploding into the big time for several years. While mobile usage has clearly made huge gains, marketers were never sure the best way to take advantage of the trend; recently they have made great strides in creating content exclusively for mobile.

For example, many businesses have created their own applications that help consumers get information they need. Whether for iPhone, Android or other mobile platforms, there will be more use of “apps” to exploit the power of mobile marketing.

Promotional Products

Promotional products have been a cornerstone of marketing for decades. One might think this marketing method does not mix with new channels like social media. Interestingly, promotional products fit well into new marketing strategies. Since social media is entirely digital, promotional products give marketers the opportunity to make their message more real.

Promotional products are largely used in person and must be touched and handled physically. They are perfect for creating a three-dimensional aspect to a brand message. Promotional products move a brand from the digital realm into the real world.

There has never been a more exciting time in the history of marketing. Changing technology has allowed consumers to play a much bigger role in the conversation around their favourite brands. In the past, marketing was ‘one-way’ with advertisers blasting their message to the world. Marketing has become more dynamic with multiple voices influencing the direction of the brand and its role in the marketplace. Content marketing, mobile marketing, public relations, user-generated content and promotional products are leading these changes for 2013.