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About 43% of Americans expect home prices to rise | Pound Ridge NY Real Estate

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The share of surveyed Americans who believe home prices will tick up in the next year reached the highest level to-date, at 43%, up 6 percentage points from November, according to Fannie Mae‘s December National Housing Survey results.

The Fannie Mae National Housing Survey polled 1,002 Americans to assess their attitudes toward owning and renting a home, mortgage rates, homeownership distress, the economy, household finances and overall consumer confidence.

Consumer confidence in the housing industry continued its upswing as home prices, rental prices and mortgage rate expectations increased in November.

Thus, the growing confidence that housing indicators will continue well into 2013 is expected to boost home price activity during the year.

“Combined with consumers’ growing mortgage rate and rental price increase expectations, the positive home price outlook could incentivize those waiting on the sidelines of the housing market to buy a home sooner rather than later and thus support continued housing acceleration,” said Doug Duncan, senior vice president and chief economist of Fannie Mae.

The average 12-month home price change expectation rose to 2.6%, the highest level since the survey’s inception in 2010.

The percentage of those surveyed that believe mortgage rates will rise continued to increase, rising 2 percentage points to 43%, the highest level recorded since August 2011.

About 21% of respondents suggest it’s a good time to sell, down two percentage points from last month’s record high. However, this is still a 10-percentage point increase year-over-year.

The 12-month rental price expectation hit the highest level since the survey’s inception in 2010, at 4.4%, up 0.4% from last month.

About 49% of those surveyed said home rental prices will go up in the next year. Also, the share of respondents who said they would buy if they were to move declined slightly to 66%.

However, consumer outlook toward the economy and personal finances due to the fiscal cliff and debt ceiling caused volatility in perceptions of the larger economy.

“This uncertainty seems to be prompting a growing share of consumers to expect their personal finances to worsen and may contribute to weaker near-term economic growth,” Duncan said.

Those who expect their personal finances to worsen over the next year increased to 20%, the highest level since August 2011.

About 37% reported higher household expenses compared to last year, a 3-percentage point increase from last month and the highest level since December 2011.

via housingwire.com

Pound Ridge NY Homes | The next ‘fiscal cliff’ fight has officially begun

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In the next stage of the “fiscal cliff” fight — news outlets are already calling it the “debt ceiling fight,” though the White House would probably prefer to think of it as a sequester fight — the debate will essentially boil down to two questions: What kind of entitlement and spending cuts will Republicans be demanding? And will Democrats manage to get revenue on the table? On the Sunday morning shows, leaders from both parties laid down their opening positions.

Getty Images

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Source: Getty Images)

The challenge for the Democrats will be to make the case that changes to the tax code shouldn’t stop with the George W. Bush tax cuts, which they’ve so monolithically focused on in the lead-up to Dec. 31. On Sunday, CNN’s Candy Crowley challenged Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) to answer whether he thought “that taxes have been raised enough on the wealthy.” Durbin’s response was revealing: Rather than focus directly on the tax treatment of the wealthiest, he framed the need for more tax revenue in terms of broader “tax reform” to get rid of loopholes and deductions, eluding to the need to eliminate tax breaks for the “1 percent”:

I can tell you that there are still deductions, credits, special treatments under the tax code which ought to be looked at very carefully. We forgo about $1.2 trillion a year in the tax code, money that otherwise would go to the government, and when you look closely, some of those things are near and dear to us individually and to the economy — the mortgage interest deduction, charitable deductions, deductions for state and local taxes, but beyond that, trust me, there are plenty of things within that tax code, these loopholes where people can park their money in some island offshore and not pay taxes, these are things that need to be closed. We can do that and use the money to reduce the deficit.

Durbin, in essence, outlined the Democratic strategy for the next round of the “fiscal cliff” debate: Find revenue to offset the sequester by promising to get rid of “loopholes” in the tax code, framed as common-sense tax reform. (Tax policy experts Len Burman and Joel Slemrod have some ideas about where to start.)

The recent outcry over the corporate tax giveaways in the recent “fiscal cliff” deal could help them make the case for finding more revenue, as Durbin suggested (though the White House’s promise for revenue-neutral corporate reform could complicate matters). “Max Baucus has been the first to say we need to sit down and look at these,” he said. “And who knows who represents the algae lobby on Capitol Hill, but they must have been very happy with the outcome.”

However, Republicans have made their opening position as clear as well: They believe the debate over tax revenue has been closed altogether. “The tax issue is behind us. Now, the question is what are we going to do about the real problem. … Now it’s time to pivot and turn to the real issue, which is our spending addiction,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell told ABC News’s George Stephanopoulos.

via washingtonpost.com

Mortgage Rates Seen Staying Below Four Percent | Pound Ridge Homes

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Though a number of critical questions face the US economy, from the unfinished business in Washington like the debt limit and spending cuts to lackluster growth, the outlook for mortgage rates is relatively predictable and not very exciting.

Rates will stay low, below 4 percent on a thirty-year fixed mortgage, predicts Bankrate.com senior financial analyst Greg McBride.  Even the prospect that Congress might finally act on reforming the GSEs does not deter him from his view that the Fed will not abandon QE3 in light of the fragility of both the national economy and housing economies.

With Fannie and Freddie originating 90 percent of new mortgages, removing the government guarantee that helps make these loans possible would ruin the recovery.  “Say what they want about ending the GSEs, it’s not going to happen,” said McBride.

Nor does he see significant changes in lending standards that many claim are making it too difficult for first-time buyers to get financing.  “Today’s median FICO of 750 and other financial qualifications are not insurmountable to young buyers with low debt and good jobs.” he said.

“Lukewarm jobs reports of 155,000 to 160,000 new jobs are not enough.  We need to see job growth twice that size before the Fed should even think about changing its policies,” he said.

This week on Bankrate.com’s  Rate Trend Index, 55 percent of the panelists believe mortgage rates will rise over the next week or so, 27 percent think rates will fall, and 18 percent believe rates will remain relatively unchanged (plus or minus 2 basis points).

Bankrate.com surveys experts in the mortgage field to see if they believe mortgage rates will rise, fall or remain relatively unchanged. The panel is comprised of mortgage bankers, mortgage brokers and other industry experts who provide residential first mortgages to consumers.

via realestateeconomywatch.com

How To Tap Into The Social Media Community Through SEO | Pound Ridge Realtor

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EMDs, Pandas, Penguins; Google has been in frequent action. Multiple algorithms were released this year, and they left a huge impact on the rankings of online businesses. No one really knows what Google wants at this point. However, there is one thing that no longer works: writing for Google. ‘Write for Google and Google will reward you’, this was the statement made by so-called SEO gurus and online marketing experts. While this statement did hold true in recent times where everyone was being rewarded (even companies creating auto-generated web pages), the trend has shifted. While some online companies saw their rankings declined, others have seen a boost in search engine results.

Website owners who saw an improvement in their rankings were the ones who had a community. The latest Google algorithms have given the advertising power in the hands of the customers. Strategies that were considered to be the most important are now given the

Businesses that got affected can get back to the search engine results by devising their strategies in line with the new trend. Rather than spending money on banner ads, link-building, and other search engine optimization strategies, they should focus on building a community that gives them constant mentions on social media, and even offline. Here are few tips for building a community.

1. Increase social media awareness

You may have been spending on social media already. The common thing most businesses do is focus on getting more followers. While followers do play a role, they won’t benefit in the long run if they aren’t engaged. Cough… Lady Gaga’s Facebook page. Try to attract followers that are really interested in what you have to offer (no, don’t go on organizing competitions). Start networking with people in your industry, offer free advice, answer as many questions as possible and network with your existing customers.

2. Be active on all channels

Yes, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Google+ have a huge member base and you’ll find many people interested in your brands. However, that doesn’t mean you should ignore the less popular social media channels. Referral traffic should come from as many channels as possible. You may never know that a customer coming from a less popular social media site may be more engaged.

3. Sign up customers

A simple pop up asking customers to sign up won’t cut it. You need to be different. Customers are signing up to be a part of your community, and they should have a good reason to do so. Your landing page shouldn’t be boring, and should have a well-organized hierarchy. It should match the desire of the customer. Additional things, if possible, should include a video and existing customer count.

4. Hire someone who can get people to talk

If you’re able to get someone who can get people to create a buzz, you’ll build and grow your community with ease. Content that touches the heart of the customer will get Liked, retweeted and Pinned automatically, getting more members for your community in return.  As opposed to investing in mercurial SEO tactics that can change overtime, hiring a good writer, as mentioned in this post on the Spread Effect content marketing blog, may turn out to be the best investment you ever made.

5. Involve others

You won’t be able to do this alone. You’ll have to involve others, and the best option lies in your staff. Give them freedom to talk about your brand, and answer customer queries. Hostgator was able to build a strong online presence through their live customer support. The representatives have the freedom to talk about the brand, give suggestions and solve any customer queries.

6. Attend events

The offline tactic has a part to play. Going to events will get you more mentions. Introduce yourself to others, and tell them about your company. Take interest in their business as well. You may be able to find people who aren’t related to your business, but have a strong online community. They may mention your company name, and who knows, the new referrals may already have interests related to your brand.

Be sure to attend online ‘events’ as well, and by this I mean stay connected to the overall SEO community. Many prominent SEOs keep up with social media networks as if they were the future of content marketing. And, in some ways, they are.

These actions will help you start and maintain your own place in the SEO community, which is going to grow over time if you stay on the right path. A strong community will have a strong voice, and the authority of your online business is going to increase. Search engines are now favoring website owners and online businesses that are authoritative. Once customers start giving you importance, and mentioning you on a daily basis, search engines would have no choice but to give you importance as well.

via socialmediatoday.com

Pound Ridge 2012 Sales Up 25% | Median Price Down 9.54% | RobReportBlog

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Pound Ridge 2012 Sales Up 25% | Median Price Down 9.54% | RobReportBlog

Pound Ridge NY Sales
2012 2011
64Sales5125.49%UP
$698,750.00Median Price$772,500.009.54%DOWN
$355,000.00Low Price$330,000.00
$2,872,500.00High Price$400,000.00
3363Ave. Size3847
$262.00Ave. Price/foot$257.00
201Ave. DOM188
93..10%Ave. Sold/Ask0.9234
$892,754.00Ave. Sold Price$1,056,793.00
via trulia.com

Fiscal cliff compromise leaves few satisfied | Pound Ridge Real Estate

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President Obama praised lawmakers and Vice President Joe Biden after the House of Representatives voted to pass a Senate measure to avert the most serious impacts of the so-called “fiscal cliff.”

By Daniel Strieff, NBC News

The last-minute deal-making on Capitol Hill may have helped avert the fiscal cliff for now, but many commentators expressed pessimism over the agreement and the distressing sight of lawmakers allowing the world’s largest economy to teeter near economic disaster.

“This is a bad bill that made a bad situation worse,” Richard Haas, the president of the Council on Foreign Relations, said Wednesday on MSNBC’s Morning Joe.

“The only thing it did was avoiding sending the signal (to the rest of the world) that we’re reckless and out of control,” he added.

Consumers, businesses and financial markets have been rattled by the months of budget brinkmanship. The crisis ended when dozens of Republicans in the House of Representatives buckled and backed tax hikes approved by the Democratic-controlled Senate.

But even with the agreement, more budget drama is expected on the way. In February, Congress will have to decide what to do about a slew of other spending cuts. Then, in March, lawmakers will decide on whether to increase the federal borrowing limit.

“We could see an early lift in the markets because of relief the deal went through,” Gary Thayer, the chief macro strategist at Wells Fargo Advisors, told The New York Times. “The response may be muted because the deal left out many long-term issues.”

‘A missed opportunity’
Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson, who headed a deficit commission for Obama, said lawmakers missed a “magic moment to do something big” for the American economy.

“The deal approved today is truly a missed opportunity to do something big to reduce our long term fiscal problems, but it is a small step forward in our efforts to reduce the federal deficit,” they said in a joint statement released Tuesday.

In a scathing editorial, the Wall Street Journal called for the parties to go their own ways in Congress and tried to rally Republicans against Obama.

“Having been cornered into letting Democrats carry this special-interest slag heap through the House, Speaker John Boehner should from now on cease all backdoor negotiations and pursue regular legislative order. House Republicans should pursue their own agenda and let Mr. Obama and Senate Democrats pursue theirs. Mr. Obama has his tax triumph. Let it be his last,” it wrote on the editorial page.

Economists had been warning that the tax increases and spending cuts could take a chunk out of the U.S. economy.

But early Wednesday, world markets registered relief over the deal.

Benchmarks in Australia and Hong Kong boomeranged on the first trading day of the year. Asian markets had slipped on Monday, fearing that negotiations over the measure might collapse.

Many analysts were gloomy about long-term prospects.

“The process was so chaotic and the outcome so unsatisfactory that we are likely to see a further U.S. downgrade at some point,” Steven Englander, fixed-income strategist at Citi, wrote in a research note.

The House voted Monday to approve the Senate’s fiscal cliff bill by a vote of 257-167. Richard Lui, Luke Russert and Mike Viqueira report on MSNBC.

But China’s state news agency Xinhua took a more severe view, warning the United States must get to grips with a budget deficit that threatened not a “fiscal cliff” but a “fiscal abyss.” Most of China’s $3.3 trillion foreign exchange reserves are held in dollars.

For the Washington Post, the entire episode was depressing.

The newspaper expressed discouragement for what the episode suggests for political compromise going forward.

“The United States will have to wait longer yet for its inevitable budget reckoning,” it wrote in an editorial.

“We hope the nation’s leaders will be able to accomplish in stages what they have been unable to do in a series of self-imposed crises: raise more revenue and significantly reduce future entitlement spending. But the fiscal cliff episode offers little encouragement,” the newspaper concluded.

via nbcpolitics.nbcnews.com