Tag Archives: Mt Kisco Homes

Foreclosures Disappear Even Faster | Mt Kisco Real Estate

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Foreclosure inventories fell 24 percent from last year at this time and completed foreclosures fell 16 percent year over year, according to the CoreLogic April National Foreclosure Report.

According to CoreLogic, there were 52,000 completed foreclosures in the U.S. in April 2013, down from 62,000 in April 2012, a year-over-year decrease of 16 percent. On a month-over-month basis, completed foreclosures remained flat at 52,000*, the same number reported for March 2013.

As a basis of comparison, prior to the decline in the housing market in 2007, completed foreclosures averaged 21,000 per month nationwide between 2000 and 2006. Completed foreclosures are an indication of the total number of homes actually lost to foreclosure. Since the financial crisis began in September 2008, there have been approximately 4.4 million completed foreclosures across the country.

As of April 2013, approximately 1.1 million homes in the U.S. were in some stage of foreclosure, known as the foreclosure inventory, compared to 1.5 million in April 2012, a year-over-year decrease of 24 percent. Month over month, the foreclosure inventory was down 2 percent from March 2013 to April 2013. The foreclosure inventory as of April 2013 represented 2.8 percent of all homes with a mortgage compared to 3.5 percent in March 2013.

“The shadow of foreclosure and distress continues to fade, with the annualized sum of completed foreclosures having declined for 17 straight months,” said Dr. Mark Fleming, chief economist for CoreLogic. “Six states have year-over-year declines in the foreclosure inventory of more than 40 percent, and in Arizona and California the year-over-year decline is more than 50 percent.”

“The shadow inventory continued to drop in April as the number of completed foreclosures fell by 16 percent on a year-over-year basis,” said Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic. “Fewer distressed properties combined with improving home prices and a pickup in home purchases are significant signals that the ongoing recovery in the housing and mortgage markets continues to gather steam.”

Highlights as of April 2013:

The five states with the highest number of completed foreclosures for the 12 months ending in April 2013 were: Florida (102,000), California (79,000), Michigan (68,000), Texas (53,000) and Georgia (47,000). These five states account for almost half of all completed foreclosures nationally.

The five states with the lowest number of completed foreclosures for the 12 months ending in April 2013 were: South Dakota (81), District of Columbia (100), North Dakota (461), Hawaii (466) and West Virginia (527).

The five states with the highest foreclosure inventory as a percentage of all mortgaged homes were: Florida (9.5 percent), New Jersey (7.4 percent), New York (5.1 percent), Maine (4.4 percent) and Nevada (4.3 percent).

The five states with the lowest foreclosure inventory as a percentage of all mortgaged homes were: Wyoming (0.5 percent), Alaska (0.6 percent), North Dakota (0.7 percent), Nebraska (0.8 percent) and Virginia (0.9 percent).

*March data was revised. Revisions are standard, and to ensure accuracy, CoreLogic incorporates newly released data to provide updated results.

Foreclosures Disappear Even Faster | RealEstateEconomyWatch.com.

U.S. Commercial Real Estate Forecast Reveals ‘Modest Optimism’ | Mt Kisco Real Estate

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Industry executives currently have a “modestly optimistic” outlook on the U.S. commercial real estate market, as economic fundamentals show slow yet steady improvement, according to the latest Sentiment Index from The Real Estate Roundtable. However, public policy uncertainties and concerns over a potential rise in interest rates cast doubts on the market’s future.

“Commercial real estate executives are seeing increased interest in transactions outside healthy core markets, but that sliver of good news is mired in anxiety, centered on whether the development of pro-growth policies could fall victim to political gridlock,” says Jeffrey DeBoer, president and CEO of the Real Estate Roundtable.

The company’s survey for the second quarter of 2013 reveals an overall Sentiment Index of 69 – unchanged from the previous quarter and one point lower than in the second quarter of 2012. The overall index score is based on the average of two indices: the Current Conditions Index (which stands at 71, up one point from the previous quarter) and the Future Conditions Index (67, unchanged since the first quarter).

Figures above 50 indicate a positive market trajectory, the Real Estate Roundtable notes. This quarter’s index indicates that senior commercial real estate executives continue to see favorable trends in both values and capital availability in major gateway markets, but remain nervous about how a potential rise in interest rates and political uncertainty could worsen market conditions.

 

 

MortgageOrb: U.S. Commercial Real Estate Forecast Reveals ‘Modest Optimism’.

Update your marketing, or get left behind | Mt Kisco Realtor

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You update your clothing and your technology, but have you updated your marketing? If you’re still using the same old outdated tactics from five, 10 or even 20 years ago, it’s time to freshen up those old approaches with a new look for 2013.

With all the buzz about video, mobile and social media, it’s easy to get caught up in the never-ending chase for the latest shiny new object. On the other hand, it’s also just as easy to become complacent and to keep on doing what you have always done.

The challenge is that if you constantly chase what’s new, you don’t develop consistent systems. On the other hand, if you don’t adapt regularly, you’ll be left behind by the agents who do.

So how can a busy agent like you determine what needs a remake? Here are some useful tips.

1. Real estate is, and always will be, a face-to-face business

Does calling on owners of expired listings, for-sale-by-owners (FSBOs) and door knocking still work? Absolutely! These tried and true techniques that put you in direct contact with owners are as effective today as they were 50 years ago.

– See more at: http://www.inman.com/2013/05/20/update-your-marketing-or-get-left-behind/#sthash.Nw89CfqV.dpuf

 

Update your marketing, or get left behind | Inman News.

How smart photos will change real estate | Mount Kisco Real Estate

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Everything around us is getting smarter.  Phones, cars, televisions, refrigerators, books, thermostats…and maybe even humans.  I find most of these advancements to be very interesting, and quite useful in the daily lives of most people around me.

Photographs, however, are something that I’m particularly interested in watching (and helping) become smarter.

Photos are everywhere; and are certainly at the crux of online real estate, which, in 2012, included 93% of people who sold a home, and 96% of people (under age 44) who bought a home.  Oh, and don’t forget the hundreds of millions of people who visit real estate websites each month.

Today

Recently, a company called ‘Stipple’ has been making some noise in the image monetization and social shopping arena.  They allow businesses to create content and messaging within an image (without widgets or code), and then analyze & track the interaction with the data inside that image.

As it pertains to real estate, I think Stipple provides a viable strategy to those professionals who are active in distributing (quality) visual content across the web.  You can share a link, or better yet, embed the photo into your social pages, blog or website.

Here is an example, using a real estate photo as the context.  Take a look at the picture…and then the tweet that I’ve embedded with the same photo after it was “Stippled”.  Stipple has actually implemented Twitter Cards (which I wrote about in a previous post) which allows you to view and interact with the photo, directly within the twitter feed.

In addition, check out some of the analytical tools that come with Stipple:

stippled-photo-49486160

Check out this beautiful home in Statesville, North Carolina (stipple.com/photos/49486160) — Jeff Nieto (@jeffnieto) Click Here to view the Stippled Tweet

stippled-photo-49514930

In The Future

While products like Stipple are innovative, and quite fascinating; they are admittedly built for e-commerce, photographers, and bloggers.

There’s no question that real estate professionals can leverage these type of tools today.  However, I think there is more to offer the industry when it comes to intelligent photographs.

In addition to what exists, here are some high points on how I think smart photos can provide additional value to real estate professionals AND consumers:

  • Determine and embed which room/view a photograph is displaying.
  • Identify and attach the “features” of a photograph (i.e. granite countertops, 10 foot ceilings, etc).
  • Embed contact information, bios, and videos from the appropriate listing agent.
  • Allow consumers to search & discover using the embedded data.
  • Compile the data within the photographs that are interacted with; and provide summary analytics and “intelligence” to the consumer and their agent.

If the data is embedded and used appropriately, consumers should be able to enjoy a more enhanced (and effective) search.  Furthermore, real estate agents would be able to market properties strategically, while learning specifics about their listings and customers.

 

How smart photos will change real estate | Inman News.

Renters are facing a housing squeeze | Mount Kisco Real Estate

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From 2008 to 2011, renters’ housing costs increased almost 6%, while their income fell 3.2% according to the Center for Housing Policy. More than 26% of working renters spent at least half their income on housing in 2011, up from about 23% in 2008, writes Bloomberg Businessweek.

One reason: There just aren’t enough affordable rental units to go around. In 2010, there were 5.1 million more low-income families than there were affordable units.

Renters are facing a housing squeeze | HousingWire.

Mobile Marketing, How to Get Started | Mt Kisco Realtor

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Do you use mobile marketing for business?

Are you wondering how to get started?

To learn how mobile marketing and social connect, I interview Jamie Turner for this episode of the Social Media Marketing podcast.

More About This Show

Social Media Marketing Podcast w/ Michael Stelzner

The Social Media Marketing podcast is a show from Social Media Examiner.

It’s designed to help busy marketers and business owners discover what works with social media marketing.

The show format is on-demand talk radio (also known as podcasting).

In this episode, I interview Jamie Turner, co-author of the book Go Mobile. His blog, the 60 Second Marketer is ranked as one of the top 10 marketing blogs by Social Media Examiner. He also runs a social media and mobile marketing agency called 60 Second Communications.

Jamie shares how to start with mobile marketing and why you should pay more attention to mobile customers.

You’ll learn what tools to use and the difference between mobile websites and mobile apps.

Share your feedback, read the show notes and get the links mentioned in this episode below!

Listen Now

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

You can also subscribe via iTunes, RSS, Stitcher or Blackberry.

Here are some of the things you’ll discover in this show:

Mobile Marketing

Why marketers should pay more attention to mobile customers

Jamie states that 15-50% of the people who visit your website come in from a mobile device and this number will continue to grow.

When consumers visit your website from a mobile device, you need to be there to meet them, understand mobile marketing and know how to connect with customers on mobile.

You’ll have to learn how to use mobile, as it’s a way to build a bridge between you and your customer.

standard mobile

Make sure you’re mobile-ready.

You’ll discover how more people check prices on their mobile devices while shopping and what you need to provide them to make sure they buy from you.

And you’ll hear that when people buy a product on mobile devices, particularly tablet computers, their total ticket price is typically higher than it is via a desktop computer.

It’s important to be mobile-ready—not only for B2C but for B2B too.

Listen to the show to find out how many people bought a virtual ticket on a smartphone while attending Social Media Marketing World.

Is there a social media connection when it comes to mobile marketing?

Jamie sees email as a social media tool. Sixty-seven percent of all “C-level” executives check their emails from their mobile devices. The better-known tools being LinkedIn,Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

We all need mobile websites. Remember when consumers visit your site, one of the prominent things you want to do is give them the ability to connect with you on social media platforms from their mobile device.

You’ll hear Jamie give a great example of how you can use LinkedIn on a mobile device in a business environment.

 

Mobile Marketing, How to Get Started | Social Media Examiner.

Lower credit scores disappear from housing market: Fed governor | Mt Kisco Homes

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Originations for borrowers with credit scores below 620 mostly disappeared in recent years, eliminating low credit scores from the housing market, Elizabeth Duke, member of the Board of Governors for the Federal Reserve System, said while speaking at the Housing Policy Executive Council.

Previously, Duke said, “Borrowers with lower credit scores have typically represented a significant segment of first-time homebuyers.”

Between 2007 and 2012, originations for borrowers with a credit score between 620 and 680 tumbled nearly 90%, compared to a 30% drop for borrowers with a score greater than 780.

Meanwhile, the median credit score skyrocketed from 730 in 2007 to a whopping 770 in 2013.

With few lending channels, borrowers have turned to mortgages insured or guaranteed by the Federal Housing Administration, the Department of Veteran Affairs and theRural Housing Service, Duke said.

As a result, the share of purchase mortgages guaranteed or insured by the FHA, the VA, or the RHS escalated from 5% in 2006 to more than 40% in 2011.

 

Lower credit scores disappear from housing market: Fed governor | HousingWire.

Loan officers, banks tighten FICO standards | Mt Kisco NY Real Estate

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Obtaining a mortgage with a FICO score in the 620 range is more difficult in today’s lending environment, the Federal Reserve concluded in its April survey of loan officers and bank lenders.

The Federal Reserve polled a little under 100 banks and found 32 of respondents are less likely to approve a borrower with a FICO score of 620 and a down payment of 10%.

Even with a higher 20% down payment, 18 banks remained skeptical about originating a mortgage.

However, when a FICO score reaches 680, banks differ on the outcome. With a 10% down payment, 16 banks remain less likely to approve the borrower, but another 8 banks said they’re now more likely to bite with this FICO-LTV combination in effect.

If you throw in a 20% down payment and a 680 FICO, only 8 banks said they’re less likely to approve the borrower, while 16 are now more likely.

Meanwhile, the subprime market is still around, but lenders tend to avoid it with tighter FICO requirements and more regulations stifling interest.

Ten banks said demand for subprime mortgages remains the same, while another two banks claim consumer activity in the space has grown somewhat stronger in the past three months.

Despite the slim change in the subprime market, 59 of the surveyed banks still avoid subprime lending.

 

 

http://www.housingwire.com/news

Housing Crash Fades as Defaults Decline to 2007 Levels | Mt Kisco Real Estate

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First-time delinquent home loans fell to 0.84 percent of the 50.2 million mortgages in March, the first month below 1 percent since 2007, before a wave of defaults led to the financial crisis, according to a report today by Lender Processing Services Inc. The rate of first-time defaults, defined as loans that went from performing to at least 60 days delinquent, peaked at 2.89 percent in January 2009.

The decline in new problem loans shows that the recovering U.S. economy, falling unemployment and rising home prices, combined with more than four years of banks’ tightening lending standards, are propelling the worst real estate crash since the Great Depression into the rearview mirror.

“Mortgage quality is improving rapidly,” Mark Zandi, chief economist for Moody’s Analytics Inc. said in a telephone interview from his office in West Chester, Pennsylvania. “Once we’re able to work through this last bulge of foreclosed property, which I think we’ll be able to do over the next 18 to 24 months, mortgage credit quality is going to look absolutely beautiful.”

Mortgages at least 30 days delinquent or in some stage offoreclosure fell to 5 million in March, down from a peak of 7.7 million in January 2010, according to Lender Processing Services, a real estate information service based in Jacksonville, Florida. That’s still more than double the 2.2 million non-current mortgages of January 2005, when the housing market was rising toward its peak.

Lending Standards

Tight lending standards have made it harder for borrowers to obtain mortgages, helping drive down default rates while reducing the homeownership rate in the first quarter to 65 percent, the lowest since 1995.

The Federal Housing Administration, which offers loans to buyers with downpayments as low as 3.5 percent, has steadily raised its credit scores. In the third quarter of 2012, the most recent available, 97 percent of FHA borrowers had credit scores above 620 of a possible 850. In the last quarter of 2006, only 53 percent had a score above 620.

 

 

http://www.bloomberg.com/news

Does Your Brand Offer a Value Proposition? | Mt Kisco Real Estate

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One man’s trash is another man’s treasure, the cliche says. But it’s true — no good or service is of equal value to every person, not even money itself, as interest rates reveal, it all depends on what year it is. So if you’re selling something, it would behoove you to set your customer’s expectations before they start weighing costs and benefits themselves.

A Google Ngram would suggest the term “value proposition” first appeared in 1944; however, usage began to spike in the late 1990s. It’s said that Michael Lanning, a McKinsey & Company consultant first coined the term in 1984. He later wrote a book, “Delivering Profitable Value: A Revolutionary Framework To Accelerate Growth, Generate Wealth, And Rediscover The Heart Of Business,” in 1998, about how companies can grow by paying attention to customers.

In a 1999 book, Neil Rackham writes that a value proposition must include: capability, impact, proof and cost.

Kissmetrics offers tips on how to position your company with the wisdom of the value proposition: “However, if you’re the best in at least one way, you’re the best option for the people who value that aspect.”

As noted, it’s not enough to be an average store with a decent product — be the best at one thing, often in a way that’s memorable.

It’s also important to note what a value proposition is not: a product feature. So what if your brand of chocolate melts slower than all the others — if your customer does not live in warm weather, it may not matter to them — therefore, it’s not valuable, after all. The intersection of the product and the customer needs is the sweet spot of the value proposition.

Of course, the term only got more relevant in the dawn of social media — and can be used to describe both your product and your advertising itself. Unlike TV ads or billboards, it is no longer enough to buy time in front of a consumer’s face. Marketers realized they needed to earn attention. While paid posts on social media can certainly earn more eyeballs than the post would earn organically, a wise social media strategy will have a brand creating good social content that has a value proposition. Yes, your product has a value proposition, but now your marketing itself has a value proposition too.

Your customers ask when they see your brand name, “What will I get in return for reading this?” If there’s not a clear value proposition, they’ll pass.

What else has a value proposition? Well, Santa Claus, and Oprah, according toone source.

Like any good marketing term, a value proposition isn’t a new thing — it’s just a new word for a concept that has existed all along. However, now that the term has its own definition, it’s much easier to discuss. When used correctly, you’ll look smart, and better yet, when implemented well — you’ll sell more.

 

 

http://mashable.com/2013/05/04