Tag Archives: Pound Ridge NY Real Estate

Pound Ridge NY Real Estate

What real estate trends suggest for 2013 | Pound Ridge NY Real Estate

Leave a reply

As 2012 comes to an end, most real estate professionals sit on the edge of their seats, anticipating the outcome of the fiscal cliff and how it will affect the housing market going into 2013.

However, there are real estate trends, both nationally and locally, from 2012 that may indicate what is expected in 2013, according to the latest trend data released by Realtor.com.

Inventory was a huge player in 2012, with the total U.S. for-sale inventory falling 45% since its peak in 2007 to 1.674 million units for sale. The median age of the inventory dropped as well, down by 11.4% since November 2011. These numbers indicate supply-and-demand playing a big role moving into 2013, at least for the first half of the year.

On a local level, markets that were the epicenter of the housing crisis continued to gain momentum while the Midwest and Northeast areas — typically more industrialized — continued to falter. States such as Arizona, California and Washington ended the year with dramatic drops in inventory and significant price appreciation of at least 10% year-over-year.

Click on the image below to see the greatest year-over-year inventory reductions.

Conversely, markets in states such as Illinois, Indiana and Ohio, which gained little price appreciation, did not experience dramatic inventory change. Only five areas saw a year-over-year increase in for-sale inventory including Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Philadelphia, Pa., and Shreveport, La. This increase in inventory indicates a continued weakness in both their housing markets as well as the local economy.

Richard Green, director of USC Lusk Center for Real Estate, believes the housing inventory will even out in 2013.

“I was surprised at how good 2012 turned out to be,” Green told HousingWire. “As prices go up, you’re going to see fewer and fewer people underwater on their houses. They are going to feel more and more free to sell their houses.”

Green also offered advice to real estate professionals who may be unsure about what the next few months will bring to the housing market.

“The fiscal cliff is overhyped. If we go over it, we go over it. It’s not a cliff, it’s a slope.”

This reiterates a report released by Barclays on Monday indicating that if the fiscal cliff were to hit, the housing industry would likely slow, but not enough to a point where it would become particularly vulnerable to a sharp contraction.

Additionally, Doug Duncan, chief economist of Fannie Mae, said Tuesday, “Despite unsteady macroeconomic conditions, we anticipate housing and mortgage activity to gain momentum in 2013.”

via housingwire.com

Property values continue to gain momentum | Pound Ridge Homes

Leave a reply

Monday Morning Cup of Coffee takes a look at news coming across the HousingWire weekend desk, with more coverage to come on bigger issues.

Residential property values in the U.S. continued to gain momentum in October, showing signs of an ongoing expansion in national economic activity, according to FNC’s latest residential price index. By comparison, September values showed little change.

Home prices in the U.S. were up for the eight consecutive month in October by 0.4%, leading to a total appreciation rate of 5.1% year to date. On the other hand, foreclosures dropped from 26.7% at the beginning of the year to 17.6% in October.

See the full residential price index by clicking here.

Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan said the U.S. government, lender and borrowers need to reset their expectations that anybody can become a homeowner.

“We need to look hard at some of the old assumptions and ask the question is homeownership the right solution for everyone?” Moynihan said.

Moynihan believes the rest should include an alteration in the government’s role in housing and an “orderly transition” in the role of Fannie and Freddie. In order to get even the lowest-income families into homes, Moynihan said the FHA needs to return to its original focus on helping low- and moderate-income borrowers.

“FHA has been instrumental in sustaining the market the past few years, but they have come a long way from their original mission,” he said.

Read the full article by Bloomberg by clicking here.

Boston will enforce a program that gives the Natick Housing Authority, provider of low-income housing for state-assisted families and the elderly, nearly $255,000 in order to fix up 28 vacant units. There are 33 agencies taking part in the state-enforced program.

The program will provide $2.2 million in grant money to help local housing agencies fix up vacant units so they can be rented. Vacant units that are eligible for renovations must require repair costing between $2,500 and $25,000 and the grants will be doled out as reimbursements after the work is complete.

The state officials are tightening the rules a bit, however, requiring that tenants be in the refurbished units by March 31 in order for the local agencies to receive reimbursements.

Read more about the newly announced housing program by clicking here.

The Missouri Division of Finance closed Sunrise Beach, MO.-based Community Banks of the Ozarks on Dec. 14. 2012. The Bank of Sullivan acquired all assets and deposits. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation was named Receiver.

Community Bank of the Ozarks owns two branches and $42.8 million in total assets and $41.9 million in total deposits as of Sept. 30, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. According to the FDIC, the two branches will operate as branches of Bank of Sullivan beginning Dec. 15.

It is estimated the closure of Community Bank of the Ozarks will cost $10.4 million for the Deposit Insurance Fund.

via housingwire.com

Using YouTube as an Effective Marketing Tool | Pound Ridge Real Estate

Leave a reply

There are plenty of companies that effectively use many different kinds of social media. Whether it’s interacting with customers on Twitter, or posting interesting information on Facebook, lots of companies do a great job of keeping customers engaged. Often though, many companies fail to use YouTube as a marketing tool. It’s perplexing, because there are so many plusses to having a YouTube account yet so many marketing departments fail to use YouTube. Whether you’re a small company or a large one, using YouTube as a marketing tool can increase revenues and create more customer loyalty. If you’re considering integrating YouTube into your marketing plan, consider the following to make sure it is effective.

Interacting

Just like Twitter or Facebook, YouTube can be a great and creative way to interact with your customer base. Some companies have integrated full on interactive YouTube campaigns to answer customer’s questions and provide witty comments. Old Spice even hired an actor to answer YouTuber’s questions, and created videos with real responses to user submitted questions.

If you get creative, YouTube can essentially replace the frequently asked questions section on your website. You can use YouTube to directly respond to user’s questions and have a large database full of answered questions. This will also make your company appear more personal, as there is somebody visually answering a question.

Explanations

Use YouTube as a way to explain the different products or services your company offers. You can use it to physically demonstrate a product so your customers can see exactly how a certain product is used. You can easily show the difference in products by using YouTube to highlight each of your products. For example, if your company offers Free Music Downloads, produce videos of the different types of subscriptions that you offer and how to access each one. Make it very clear in your videos on how your product is different than others on the market, and the advantages your product offers.

Playlists

Creating playlists on YouTube, whether composed of your own videos or someone else’s, is a great way to get your company increased visibility on the Internet. Try to find videos related to your business that don’t have millions of views, so the content is fresh to viewers. If you make effective playlists, people will associate your playlists with your videos and your company, and you’ll start seeing more views on your videos. The more views you get, the better chance you have of growing your customer base.

Responses

Aside from creating different kinds of videos and putting them on YouTube, interacting with other companies or YouTubers with video responses is a great way to increase your online presence. If you create a particularly interesting response or offer a different point of view, people will be directed to your company’s YouTube channel and will view your other videos. Make sure you are strategic in the way that you target your responses; keep them relevant to your industry and only comment on popular videos. You’ll start to be recognized in the YouTube community, and you’ll see the views on your videos go up.

via realestateeconomywatch.com

Is The Internet Bad For Your Health? [Infographic] | Pound Ridge Real Estate

Leave a reply

Some of you probably already know that leading a sedentary lifestyle where your fingers and eyes do the most of your work is not exactly the best thing for your health. But working on the Internet not only causes eye strain or bad posture, it also brings in a slew of other health hazards that is not as apparent.

This telling infographic by Insurance.com listed some other health hazards in the form of depression, cyberbullying, sleep deprivation, relationship stress and brain damage! Take a look at the some of the stats and percentages they shared and maybe re-evaluate the amount of time you spend on the Internet and in front of the computer.

Spot an infographic you think will be a perfect fit here? Send the link to us with relevant details and we’ll credit you with the find.

via hongkiat.com