Greater Manchester is served by 90 railway stations and 41 Metrolink stops. In 2010-11 there were over 48 million passenger journeys made by rail within Greater Manchester. So it is no surprise, perhaps, that Greater Manchester residents stump up an extra £12,000 to live near a train station, according to new research.

A report from Nationwide shows that a property 500m from the nearest station compared with a similar property 1,500 carries a significant premium of 7.3 per cent on its price.

Commenting on the figures, Robert Gardner, Nationwide’s Chief Economist, said: “Our research illustrates that people are willing to pay a significant premium to be close to a station. As you would expect, the premium that people are willing to pay increases as you move closer to a station. A property located  1,000m from a station commands a 3.3% premium, at 750m this increases to 5.2% and for a property 500m from the station the premium is 7.3%.”

“65% of properties in Greater Manchester are within 1,500m of a station,” adds Gardner. “The areas that are least well served are currently Oldham and Rochdale, following the closure of the Oldham Loop line. However, Metrolink Phase 3 plans to restore the line from Victoria to Rochdale, which would improve access in this area in the years ahead.

 “In addition to the Oldham line, further extensions of the Metrolink system should help improve transport accessibility in the Greater Manchester area. The South Manchester line will extend from St Werburgh’s Road to East Didsbury, via the popular Didsbury village. Meanwhile, the first phase of the East Manchester line from Piccadilly to Droylsden in Tameside is due to open later this year, with a further extension planned to Ashton-under-Lyne.

“Network Rail’s Northern Hub plans should also benefit residents in Greater Manchester, with improved rail services across the area and beyond to cities such as Liverpool, Leeds and Sheffield. Part of these plans includes the construction of the Ordsall chord, which will provide a direct rail connection between Victoria and Piccadilly stations.”

But even with more stations on the way, Manchester’s homeowners are less keen on transport than those who live in London, where residents pay a far higher premium to live close to a station.

Gardner continues: “While Mancunians clearly place a significant value on proximity to rail links, the evidence suggests that they aren’t willing to pay quite as much extra to be near them as their London counterparts. This probably reflects the greater reliance on public transport in the capital, with residents less likely to drive to and from work. “

North Salem NY Real Estate Report   |    June 2012    |    RobReportBlog

 

The North Salem NY real estate market jumped 53% in 2012 and the median price has fallen 37%.

2012                                                                   2011

23                           sales                                     15

$425,000               median price                            $675,000

2587                      average size                            4547

$244                     price per foot                            $302

212                      average dom                              264

91.87%                average sold to ask                     90.92%

$2,600,000             high price                                $6,480,000

$215,000               low price                                  $147,500

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kevin Hasset, director of economic policy studies for the American Enterprise Institute, and Rob Schapiro, chairman of economic advisory firm Sonecon, dove through new crime data from police departments and home prices collected by DataQuick and Zillow ($33.50 0%)in Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Jacksonville, Milwaukee, Philadelphia and Seattle.

Murder, rape, assault and robberies have are costly for victims and the surrounding community. But Hasset and Schapiro also found a stark correlation to home values. On average, a reduction of one homicide in a ZIP Code for a given year generates a 1.52% increase in home prices the next year, according to their analysis.

“The basic idea is that crime has a big negative effect on property values and if you do a cost benefit analysis it will be a good investment and the impact on home values is statistically significant and very large,” Hasset said in a conference call with reporters Tuesday.

Since the crisis struck in 2007, American homeowners have lost more than $7 trillion in home equity, according to Federal Reserve data. This drives up the likelihood of default, reduces the amount of possible homes for sale and constricts demand.

But 2010 marked the fourth consecutive year of violent crime declines, dropping another 6% from the previous year, according to FBI data.

According to the study, just a 10% reduction violent crimes for these eight major cities during 2010, would have meant a roughly 0.8% increase in prices (click on the chart below to expand).

Marc Moriel, president of the National Urban League, said between 1994 and 2002, violent crimes in New Orleans dropped by 60%. The results were apparent not just for potential victims but for the overall economy, which could incite more investments and renewed focus in areas long ignored.

“The reality of violent crime and the perception on those numbers has been a drag on private investment and business expansion and a drag on the hospitality and tourism sector of our economy,” said Moriel, a former mayor of New Orleans. “When we made investments to crack down on violent crimes, home values improved. The tourist economy dramatically expanded.”

We all spend a large amount of our time verbally communicating with others. We’re trying to get messages across to family, friends, clients, colleagues, employees, or supervisors. We invest a lot of our time crafting correspondence to be heard and noticed. We plan questions and presentations, construct our delivery and view, develop objectives and expectations. With so much of our time spent communicating, our goal should be to achieve effectiveness with brevity.

Brevity is a skill that far too few people understand. Brevity is the ability to convey your intended message in the fewest words possible to achieve the greatest impact.

Some people have the gift of gab, and many people’s natural reaction to someone who is talkative, or even verbose, is to believe they are a wonderful communicator. It’s the salespeople we meet with a lot of energy and enthusiasm for their product or service, who talk fast and think on their feet. These people have probably had a lot of people tell them that they’re such a good talker that they could “sell ice to an Eskimo.” At times, this gift of gab is disguising the curse of being overbearing and lacking in listening skills.

Inevitably, the gift of gab will extend meetings, gather less information than we need, and be less effective in listening, and we will invest more phone time to achieve the same result. This takes away from time spent working on real goals and objectives.

In order to invest less time in communication, you have to be able to direct the communication through the veritable maze of issues, challenges, and distractions that happen. When we engage in leading and guiding through the use of questions, we can control a conversation. Some might not like the word “control” when linked with conversation, so use the word “guide” if that seems more palatable for you.

Whoever asks the questions and asks more questions is always in control of the conversation. Whoever asks the question is also the one gaining the insight, the edge, the upper hand, and all other factors we all desire. Some of us struggle with asking the first question, but most of us struggle asking the second, third, fourth, or fifth.

My wife Joan has always been less likely to ask questions because her grandmother discouraged her by calling her Nosey Josie! What was once an inquisitive mind wanting to learn and ask questions was diminished by the careless words of a loved one. Maybe you were summarily discouraged by a loved one to lessen your curiosity.

By focusing on someone else and keeping them talking, we can gather more useful information. We use that information to be more effective.

We should encourage people to talk through questions. The truth is, people like to talk about their favorite subjects — themselves. When we ask a simple set of questions, we can glean a large amount of valuable information about them, their business, how they make decisions, what’s important to them, their business relationships, their goals, their objectives, their strategic thrusts, their projects, their spouses, and their kids.

People love to talk about almost anything that is happening in their lives, whether it’s family, business, or leisure activities. By asking questions we can really learn what they are thinking and feeling. We can also learn what their needs, wants, and desires are in life. What motivates them to take action to make decisions a certain way? We can identify problems and challenges that they are experiencing. This creates opportunities for us to solve problems and serve them. It might help us to discover new business opportunities for ourselves.

The old adage that God gave us two ears and one mouth for a reason is true. We must learn to listen twice as much as we speak. Doing so we will reduce the amount of time we invest with others to achieve results for them and ourselves. When we monopolize conversations, we’re often looked upon as boorish. When we ask questions and engage people by getting them to talk about themselves, we are a brilliant conversationalist.