Tag Archives: Mount Kisco Homes

Immigrants, An Emerging Base of Clients: The Virginia Story | Mt Kisco Real Estate

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The United States attracts about 1 million immigrants (permanent residents) every year. Over time, they achieve the American dream of having higher incomes and homeownership.

Did you know that India is the top origination country of immigrants entering Virginia in 2011? Virginia accounted for about 3% of immigrants entering the United States in 2011; studies show that the majority of immigrants will ultimately buy a home. India, El Salvador, Ethiopia, the People’s Republic of China, and the Philippines rounded out the top 5 countries.

What this Means for REALTORS®: Immigrants have a huge potential to become future homeowners. REALTORS® can seize the opportunity by initiating and expanding interaction with the immigrant community, possibly learning about customs, requirements, and interests of foreign-born clients. You can find information on foreign-buyers and international programs and services at http://www.realtor.org/reports/profile-of-international-home-buying-activity, http://www.realtor.org/global, and http://www.realtor.org/reports/state-by-state-international-business-reports.

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via economistsoutlook.blogs.realtor.org

Forecast for steady growth, but no boom in home sales | Mount Kisco Real Estate

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The national outlook for home sales next year looks “very good,” though tight credit means housing will not see rapid growth anytime soon.

That’s according to Kenneth T. Rosen, chairman of the University of California, Berkeley, Fisher Center for Real Estate and Urban Economics, who spoke at the 35th Annual Real Estate & Economics Symposium hosted by the center Monday.

Interest rates at a 50-year low, job growth and low inventory mean that the housing market is recovering, Rosen said.

“It’s not a boom, but it’s recovering,” he said.

Rosen thinks the reason housing isn’t booming is because the government has responded to the economic downturn by trying to fight the wrong problem.

“The problem is not (that there is not) enough money, because the (Federal Reserve) has poured in a lot of money into the economy,” Rosen said. “We have too much money out there, not too little money. The problem is loan availability.”

Restrictive credit score requirements mean 40 percent of people can’t get a loan, he said.

According to Ellie Mae, a provider of software to mortgage originators, borrowers approved for conventional purchase loans in October had an average FICO score of 762. The average FICO score for purchase mortgages insured by the Federal Housing Administration was 700.

“I think the average FICO score should be back at 650,” Rosen said.

But he held little hope for improved credit availability in the near future.

“Credit is not going to get a lot looser. This administration is not pro-homeownership. They are not homeowner advocates, they are renter advocates” because their constituency is largely in urban areas, which typically have a high share of renters, Rosen said.

The FHA, whose mission is to provide homeownership opportunities for moderate-income families, particularly first-time buyers and minorities, is an exception, Rosen said.

“The FHA is doing a great job, but they’re the only ones there,” he said.

The FHA reported a $16.3 billion deficit last week, raising the specter that the agency will require a taxpayer bailout next year for the first time in its 78-year history.

Rosen said the shortfall was “not surprising,” given the FHA’s role in shoring up the housing market during the downturn. The agency expects $70 billion in future losses from loans made between 2007 and 2009.

“It’s a function of history and they’ll get through it,” Rosen said.

On the inventory front, underwater homeowners are likely to sell as prices rise next year, increasing the number of available homes for sale, said Daren Blomquist, vice president of foreclosure data aggregator RealtyTrac, who also spoke at the symposium.

But “I don’t see a flood of inventory; it’ll be slowly meted out as prices come up,” he said.

The role foreclosures will play will vary by state, Blomquist said.

In states where foreclosures are handled by the courts (judicial foreclosure states) foreclosures take considerably longer to process than in nonjudicial foreclosure states. For example, in New York, a judicial foreclosure state, it took an average of 1,072 days to process a foreclosure in the third quarter; in California, a nonjudicial foreclosure state, it took 335 days.

Though delayed, foreclosures are being processed in judicial foreclosure states such as Florida, Illinois, New York, New Jersey, Ohio and Pennsylvania, and each has seen increasing foreclosure activity in the last nine to 10 months, Blomquist said.

“That indicates more foreclosure sales next year,” he said.

But in nonjudicial foreclosure states like California, Arizona and Nevada, there’ll be less foreclosure inventory to add to for-sale inventory, he said.

“If Realtors are looking for shadow inventory in those states, it’s probably not very likely,” he said.

Clouds on the horizon

Overall, the U.S. economy has many positives going for it right now, though there are some clouds on the horizon that could affect the housing market next year.

“We have very strong job creation. Private sector job creation is very good, (though) a little slow in summer. Auto sales are quite strong. Home sales are coming back. We have very low interest rates. Corporate profits are very high and cash balances are high,” Rosen said.

Rosen said the so-called “fiscal cliff” — a series of tax increases and spending cuts that will go into effect at the beginning of next year unless U.S. lawmakers come up with an alternative plan to reduce the federal deficit — remains a concern. At the moment, he said, a grand bargain seems to be more likely than congressional gridlock.

Regardless, he said, the U.S. economy could face headwinds including instability, a slowdown in overseas growth, and tax increases at home.

Rosen estimates there’s a 30 percent chance the U.S. economy will double-dip back into recession if any one of three events occur: we fall off the fiscal cliff, the euro collapses, or the supply of oil from the Middle East is disrupted.

Should we go over the fiscal cliff, taxes will rise for all taxpayers. These include a jump in capital gains taxes; tax rate increases in the top four brackets to 39.6 percent (from 35 percent), 36 percent (from 33 percent), 31 percent (from 28 percent), or 28 percent (from 25 percent); and 28 million more taxpayers will be subject to the alternative minimum tax (see “What happens to your taxes if we go over the fiscal cliff.)”

New Medicare taxes will kick in next year regardless for for high-income taxpayers under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”). Married couples with adjusted gross incomes over $250,000, and singles with AGIs over $200,000, will face a 0.9 percent increase in the current Medicare tax and a 3.8 percent tax on investment income. All taxpayers who itemize will also face more restrictive limits on deductions for medical expenses.

A payroll tax holiday that has reduced workers’ share of Social Security taxes from 6.2 percent to 4.2 percent for the last two years is set to expire at the end of 2012. Reuters reports support for an extension of the tax holiday is growing in Congress, particularly among Democrats. The tax break has provided workers with an average of about $1,000 a year in extra cash, Reuters said.

At the state level, in California, the newly passed Proposition 30 will raise the sales tax for everyone, from 7.25 percent to 7.5 percent, and also raise income taxes for those earning more than $250,000 a year.

A deal to avoid the fiscal cliff could include limits on the mortgage interest tax deduction. Also, if the Mortgage Debt Relief Act is allowed to expire, mortgage debt forgiven in a short sale, loan modification or foreclosure could be considered taxable income next year.

“We don’t know what’s going to happen, but we do know taxes will be higher,” Rosen said. “A lot higher or a little higher we don’t know.”

“It will hurt the housing market because there will be less money in the system,” he said. How much it hurts depends on the tax increases themselves, which are as yet uncertain, he said.

On a global scale, the eurozone sovereign debt crisis and recession as well as economic slowdowns in the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) could blunt U.S. exports and increase the trade deficit, which fell to its lowest level in nearly two years in September.

Rosen predicted the euro would not last due to a lack of homogeneity among European countries.

“One currency requires an integration level that I don’t think is going to happen,” Rosen said. “So, I think within several years we’ll will have shadow currencies and country after country will say they don’t need one currency.”

That doesn’t mean other eurozone policies, such as open borders, can’t remain in place, he said.

As far as oil prices, Rosen noted oil and gas booms in states like North Dakota and Ohio, but said the technologies that are creating those booms, namely hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”), would be exported to other countries, who would then have their own energy booms.

The result may be a $10 or $20 drop in the per barrel price of oil, though it may only be a 10-year phenomenon as supplies run out, Rosen said. Alternative energy is a better bet for the long term, he said.

For now, oil prices are still very high, he said, and “if the Middle East blows up, we could see $150 a barrel overnight,” he said.

via inman.com

Why’d You Choose That Domain Name? | Mt Kisco Realtor

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Let’s admit one thing. We all started this web thing honestly, naively.

Our first site was designed to help people, to fill a gaping void we saw in the online world.

We wanted to do so much good.

Where, then, did it go so wrong? And why? Why did we end up with a website like “www.how-to-earn-money-online.com” that we can barely mention across the dinner table without blushing?

In this post, I’m going to target the psychology behind our seemingly harmless paths to web domination. I’ve been curious for a while about why a few of us start the Zygna.coms and Digg.coms while others go a, well, different path. It all dates back to the mid 1970s, when a man name Albert Bandura, the guy behind Social Cognitive Theory, examined how we seek to replicate success we see in our surroundings and in media, often at all costs. It gets a bit creepy.

Day 1: A new beginnning

It all began with GoDaddy.

“What is GoDaddy?” we ask Google. And Google responds with a full tutorial on GoDaddy.

“Thank you, Google. Now I’ve got my first domain and I have no idea how to use it.”

Well at some point, no thanks to GoDaddy, we find Blogger or WordPress. Your first domain name most-likely had a .blogspot or .wordpress in it. Hello, new blog.

“Wow, this is so interesting,” we think. “I can write posts, post images, create links, and put things in my side bar. And what exactly is a sidebar? I’m going to grow this blog to be huge! I’m getting 100 views a day! Wait, I was tracking my own views. Shut that off. So this actually is difficult … okay, I can handle that.”

We set up our first Google Analytics profile and hardly use it. We’re too focused positioning Adsense ads and garnering Facebook likes.

“Suggest to friends? I think so. Why did he not like it? Not my friend anymore! Write posts, write posts, write posts. Write even more. How am I ever going to have as many posts as that other site? Three a week, that’s it. Must happen. Three great posts of 500 words at least. More coffee. You can do this! Backlinks. Backlins! Need more. Alexa tells me I don’t have enough. Must network. Got one! Got a tweet too! Oh my dear god prepare yourself for traffic! Traffic didn’t come…why not? More posts … more domination!”

At some fateful point after much deliberation we decide to hack off the .blogger/.wordpress and basically think the world will rejoice over our decision.

“Sigh, they don’t. People don’t care. They’re focused on their own websites. Oh well, more networking, more Facebook marketing! Backlinks!”

Day 2: Day 1 got old

At some point in blogging, we become jaded. It just isn’t like it was on Day 1. Our community blog, our niche review site, and our Google Adsense landing page just didn’t work as planned. It wasn’t all we were told it would be, but we did learn in the process.

So, we start a new blog. We suck up our pride. We hobble back over to the computer. We probably woke up later that day because we were up late making it big the night before.

This is where it gets interesting.

The day we start up a second website defines us in our blogging careers.

Why? Because (in case you didn’t realize yet) everyone starts a semi-successful-yet-pretty-mediocre website at first, then moves on to another project. It’s in that second project that we either:

  • show the world we’ve learned from our mistakes and are ready to build something useful, or
  • totally sell out and continue down the path to eventual existential failure.

I’m sorry, but it’s one or the other. Which path are you on?

Maybe you’re on a different path?! If so, let’s hear about it in the comments.

Day 3: Pick a new domain

It may not be on actual day 3 of blogging, but the “third day” in your blogging career is the day you choose your next domain name. On Day 1 you made your first website, on Day 2 you decided to build another one, and on Day 3 you picked this new domain. And on Day 7 s/he rested.

So what did you pick?

The brandable domain

If you picked a brandable domain then I’d like to buy you a beer. I’m proud of you. A brandable domain is something like “Twitter.com”. It’s something like “Coursehero.com” or “Koofers.com”. It’s a brother of “Problogger.net” and a cousin of “Alexa.com”. Its recognizable. It stands out.

It holds its own in a conversation across the dinner table. (Should that be the new standard?)

People learn not just from trying and failing, but from observing, sometimes subconsciously, sometimes for means of survival, what works for our peers.—Albert Bandura

The importance of a brandable domain is five-fold:

  • Unique: It stands out.
  • Recognizable: People remember it.
  • Bizarre: It’s weird enough to generate some intrigue the first time someone hears it.
  • Worth mentioning: People want to talk about weird things.
  • Worth putting on a t-shirt: Yes, you would consider wearing that logo with it’s branded image on a t-shirt.

If you picked a brandable domain I commend you because, while you won’t get immediate “direct match” traffic from Google, you will get many more returning visits because you have a pretty cool concept.

These websites are more likely to get blog comments and will inevitably build larger email followings. They may not be the best at making a quick buck, but they do have a long-term trajectory to success. Props to you for choosing this option!

The keyword-rich domain

If you picked this type of domain, you may want to watch this short video as Matt Cutts talks about how Google is changing the algorithm.

Short summary: A lot of noise and competition exists among keyword-rich domains. Google is altering the algorithm so websites with keyword-rich domains won’t get as much an advantage over similar websites with less keyword friendly domains.

If you picked a keyword-rich domain, this is my advice for you.

  • Check out onlineprofits.com: It’s a successful community that makes online profits.
  • Check howtomakemyblog.com: It’s actually an awesome how-to site by Marko Saric.
  • Check out onlinecolleges.com and literally every other domain name with some variation of the phrase “online colleges” in it. You’ll begin to see just how competitive things are getting.
  • Learn some on-page SEO: It’ll help you immensely against the waves of others like you.
  • Get used to being #2: Hey, look at how well Monster does in the shadow of Redbull.

It’s okay, as a few of these examples will show you. With your keyword-rich domain your blog might actually make that six-figure annual income you dreamed about on Day 2.

However, as time passes I can’t help but think keyword-rich domains will become a dime a dozen, and will get sifted out to the bottom of the blogosphere while unique, original concepts rise to the top. It’s a process that may be happening as you read this.

Why did we choose one option or the other?

We’re human. We don’t want the things we do to eventually lead to failure.

We want to succeed, sometimes badly, and will often consider every means necessary to do so. Sometimes this means selecting a domain we at first would have scoffed at.

Albert Bandura was a renowned Canadian psychologist. He examined the characteristics we learn in our adolescence that leads us to success or failure. From the existing Social Learning Theory, it was known four key factors affect how we learn new behavior: drives, cues, responses, and rewards.

What Bandura found, in plain words, was that those of us who are more aggressive often skip a couple steps to get to the “rewards.”

This can be dangerous.

When our aggression outweighs our engrained moral compass, we exhibit “lapses in judgement,” as Bandura called them, where we totally avoid “cues” and “responses.”

It’s these tendencies which lead us to choose a certain domain and make larger, more long-term business decisions. It’s pretty hard to say a domain doesn’t hold vibes and messages that follow our website throughout its entire existence. So next time you’re sitting at GoDaddy about to make a purchase, remember Bandura and think about the long-term implications of your choice.

Bandura became the endowed chair of social psychology at Standford University in 1974 and is believed to be the fourth most cited pyschologist of all time. Go find more of his related work on Wikipedia.

The Blogger is a 25 year old guy from Manhattan who answers 150 blog questions before breakfast and holds a world record for comment response time. Sign up to his email club if you haven’t already (jeez) and find him on the Twitter.

via problogger.net

6 wrong-headed ideas about remodeling | Mount Kisco NY Homes

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After 30 years in architecture, I still hear the same tired old wives’ tales circulated about remodeling. It’s amazing how long it can take to stamp out a wrong-headed concept. Here are some of my unfavorites:

1. Bathrooms should be planned back to back to save cost. Rubbish. This chestnut goes way back, and probably stems from the practice of placing apartment house bathrooms back to back. You’re not building apartments, however, so the meager savings in plumbing cost — something on the order of a few hundred dollars — doesn’t justify straitjacketing your floor plan with a bathroom arrangement you don’t like.

2. The best way to improve your home’s energy efficiency is by installing new double-glazed windows. Poppycock. In most houses, windows represent a very small fraction of the total heat loss. By far the most heat is lost through ceilings, so attic insulation is the best place to put your energy-efficiency dollars. Once that’s done, consider installing a higher-efficiency furnace and ductwork. Replacing your windows is far down the list of cost-effective energy improvements.

3. Granite is the best choice for kitchen counters. Balderdash. Granite is definitely durable, but it may not make economic sense to install a 100-year countertop on cabinets that will last only 30. In any case, there are lots of other interesting countertop materials out there, from other types of stone slabs, to butcher block, tile, and yes, even plastic laminate. It’s worth taking a look at them before you choose granite by reflex.

4. Skylights are the best way to get daylight into your house. Malarkey. Skylights are a good last resort to improve daylighting, but adding windows should always be your first choice. Why? Because they’re passive solar devices naturally attuned to the seasons, letting in more low-angle sunlight in winter when you want it, and excluding it in summer when you don’t. Skylights do just the reverse. They also look out of place on many styles of homes, particularly those built before World War II.

5. Point-of-use (“tankless”) water heaters are the most efficient way to heat water. Maybe, maybe not. Tankless units can be just the thing for certain applications, such as bathrooms that are remote from the water heater. But their efficiency is typically oversold, with efficiency ratings based on rarified laboratory conditions that are seldom reflected in actual installations. They’re also complex and subject to erratic response under low-flow conditions.

What’s more, if saving space isn’t your primary concern, there are a number of conventional storage water heaters available with efficiencies in the mid-90s, some at surprisingly reasonable cost.

6. Recessed “can” lights are the best way to modernize a home’s lighting. Piffle. Recessed lighting is useful for very specific purposes — highlighting permanent objects or architectural features, for example — but they do a lousy job of general illumination. This is because cans are inherently directional, creating a pool of light beneath them, rather than diffusing light throughout the room. They’re also terribly overused, leading to the notorious “swiss cheese ceiling” effect seen in so many remodeled houses. Be sparing in your use of recessed cans — and if you have a house predating World War II, think twice about using them at all. They’re literally a glaring anachronism in most older homes.

via inman.com

Five bargain renovations that add value | Mount Kisco NY Real Estate

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Photo: Thinkstock

Do you have grand visions of gutting your dated kitchen, or maybe blowing out the bathroom walls to create a spa-like retreat? While major remodeling projects such as these can bring value to a home, budget-friendly projects can also deliver a fresh look – and real value for you and potential buyers.

“Something as simple as replacing the hardware in the kitchen can give you a whole new look,” says Paul Wyman, a regional vice president with the National Association of Realtors. Wyman is also an expert at determining if a remodeling project will add value to a home.

Curious which simple projects will give your home the most value? Keep reading to learn about a few affordable facelifts and bargain renovations that could boost your home’s value and add appeal.

Bargain Renovation #1: Reface Kitchen Cabinets

Would you believe that something as simple as replacing dated cabinetry doors could get you a higher return on investment than other major remodels? We didn’t either, until Remodeling Magazine’s 2011-2012 “Cost vs. Value Report” told us otherwise.

If the cabinets in your kitchen are well laid-out, sturdy, and plentiful but unappealing, refacing can be a cost-effective alternative to complete replacement. This process, which maintains the existing cabinetry’s frames and boxes but replaces the hardware and door and drawer fronts, can be just a quarter of the price of installing all-new cabinetry.

What does that look like in hard figures? Kitchen Solvers, a resurfacing company in La Crosse, Wisc., offers the example of a client paying $6,000 to install solid cherry doors on existing cabinetry, rather than shelling out $24,000 to install everything new. That sure sounds like a good savings to us.

Bargain Renovation #2: Install a New Kitchen Countertop

If you adore the luxurious look of a stone countertop but don’t love the high price, there are ways to achieve the high-end feel of granite or marble without breaking the bank.

You can save on granite, for example, by buying remnants from a stone yard, according to a July 2012 Consumer Reports article titled “Get the luxury look for Less.” Or, if you have your eye on marble, a slab from Vermont will cost at least 20 percent less than one from Italy, according to the report.

For a truly budget-friendly option, Consumer Reports suggests that you consider a laminate countertop.

Laminate, which is made of sheets of plastic resin and paper bonded to particle board or fiberboard, could resemble granite or marble with today’s printing technologies, notes Consumer Reports.

Bargain Renovation #3: Update the Bathroom

According to HGTV’s “Maximum Value Projects,” on FrontDoor.com, updating a bathroom is a great way to add value to your home. And it doesn’t take much to make a big difference.

In fact, HGTV says updating the sink and fixtures will yield more value than replacing the countertop, flooring, toilet, or even the tub and shower. To avoid the premium price and save “hundreds of dollars without compromising quality,” Consumer Reports’ bathroom remodeling guide recommends selecting sinks and fixtures with basic finishes.

Looking for more value-adding updates that are gentle on your wallet? Consumer Reports suggests replacing an outdated wall-to-wall mirror with individual framed mirrors over each sink, or replacing stained grout with stain-resistant grout.

Bargain Renovation #4: Boost Curb Appeal With a New Roof

Honestly, who looks at a roof? Homebuyers, evidently. Even if most of your roof isn’t visible from the street, it is still an important aesthetic and functional feature that’s in a prime position to elevate – or squash – your home’s curb appeal.

“When people buy a house, they expect it to have a roof, but if it’s recently been redone, they will really see the value in that,” Wyman says.

Fortunately, for a flashy and durable roof, you don’t have to select a costly specialty material – like slate, tile, or metal. Composite asphalt shingles is the most common material, and it fits easily in many types of budgets, according to HGTV’s “Maximum Value Home Exterior Projects: Roof.”

Composite shingles are now available in a wide range of styles and colors, according to HGTV, allowing homeowners to create a custom look that matches the home’s façade or plays up its architectural details.

Bargain Renovation #5: Add a Deck

Looking for a new living space that will add value to your home? Look no further than the square footage waiting right outside your back door.

In fact, adding a deck to your home could offer one of the highest cost-recoup opportunities, according to the cost-value report. And you don’t have to choose a high-priced composite material. The survey found that decks built with wood actually delivered a greater return at resale than those built with composite material – boasting a 70 percent return on cost, compared to 62.8 percent.

Because deck-building is a potential DIY project – depending on your familiarity with a power saw, of course – savings could be even higher.

“Any type of work you have the ability to do yourself, with quality, makes it a bigger bargain because you’re saving on labor costs,” Wyman points out.

But if your home improvement skills are a little iffy, or you would rather sit back and relax during the renovation, it’s probably best to leave this one up to the pros.

via homes.yahoo.com