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Live Green Connecticut! Festival Comes To Norwalk In September | Pound Ridge Homes

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The fourth annual Live Green Connecticut! festival will be held on Saturday, Sept. 14 and Sunday, Sept. 15 at Taylor Farm Park in Norwalk.

The two-day festival will promote environmental education, business, non-profit organizations, green technology, recycling, conservation, health and wellness, climate protection and sustainable living. Eco-friendly businesses will showcase their green and sustainable products and services.

Live Green Connecticut! will feature eco-friendly transportation with over twenty cars on display including Tesla, Lexus, Volvo, Nissan, Toyota, Subaru, and Frito-Lay’s gas-powered truck.

The Ford Go Further Tour will also be returning this year with six eco-friendly cars available for test drives. Anyone who completes a test drive will be given a food voucher worth $15.00 which can be used at the Live Green Connecticut! food exhibitors.

Admission to the festival is free.

For more information, please visit livegreenct.com.

 

Live Green Connecticut! Festival Comes To Norwalk In September | The New Canaan Daily Voice.

3 Strategies for Finding Customers With Social Media | Pound Ridge Realtor

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Do you need a strategy to reach your ideal prospects with social media?

Are you overwhelmed by all the social media options?

If so, you’re not alone. Social media overwhelm is one of the biggest challenges businesses face.

In this article, I’m going to show you three social media strategies so you can focus your efforts on the channels that best align with your business objective and target audience.

 

The Simple Solution

Fortunately, there’s a simple solution for it: only focus on where your customers are.

Where are your customers on social media? Image source: iStockPhoto.

Once you find out where your customers are on social media, it becomes easier to come up with a strategy that will help you find your future customers.

Here are three strategies you should consider:

Strategy #1: Ask Your Customers

Asking is the low-hanging fruit that’s easy for small business owners to overlook. It’s such a simple thing to do and allows you to further cement the personal connection you have with your customers.

If you have a brick-and-mortar business, when your customers visit your location, ask whether they use social media. If you have another type of business, figure out the best time and place to ask your customers whether they use social media.

If they do use social media, ask them what channels they spend their time on. Is it Facebook? Pinterest? Maybe it’s LinkedIn.

 

 

read more….

http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/3-strategies-for-finding-customers-with-social-media/

 

Creative Approaches to Video Storytelling for Brands | Pound Ridge Realtor

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Our first panel at the ReelSEO Video Marketing Summit was called “Creative Storytelling for Brands: Content Strategies that  Resonate.”  It starred Reed Lucas, Director of Channel Management at Channel  Factory, who sponsored the panel, CJ Bruce, founder of New Antics, who moderated.  The  panel included Clayton Talmon de l’Armée, director and video producer at  Salesforce,  Peter Caban, Chairman of Mekanism, Zach Blume, partner and managing director of Portal A, and Chris Gorell Barnes, founder and CEO of Adjust  Your Set.

 

<img  src=”http://i.ytimg.com/vi/QRwZ5ob1KYI/0.jpg” alt=”Creative Approaches to Video  Storytelling for Brands”  title=”0″ />Some highlights (many responses here have been edited and  revised):

On coming up with ideas to produce:

Barnes: How do you get the best ROI…we try to look for  relevance.  Context with the content.  Find a way to get people  talking about the product without overly mentioning the product.  What kind  of problems are keeping your audience awake at night, and does your product  solve that problem?  Creating stories around that.  We try to get our  clients to think more like a publisher, rather than an advertiser.

On whether they use focus groups:

Caban: Definitely not.  When we do comedy and content ,  you just don’t want to see the humor get watered down.  To do it to find an  insight with a demographic you don’t understand, it can be valuable.  So  more for insights, rather than creative.

Clayton: We have a network of chatter that we can get  feedback on.  We’ve got 10,000 employees who can give us feedback, and  we’ll know pretty quickly whether it’s crap or not.  It starts with a small  team, and then we move it up to chatter to figure out whether it’s viable.

On “boring brands” without a real story:

Blume: The first one that comes to mind was a mobile coupon  company.  What we did was make a purposefully over-the-top campaign with  people in a supermarket.  We made a campaign where the tone of the product  didn’t dictate the marketing, but where the marketing redefined the product  itself.

Caban: Yeah, that is interesting…whenever we have a topic  that could be interpreted as “dry,” we try to turn it around and run it the  other way.

Caban mentions a series Mekanism did for GE called “Datalandia:”

 

<img  src=”http://i.ytimg.com/vi/bdidA6Uukxk/0.jpg” alt=”Creative Approaches to Video  Storytelling for Brands”  title=”0″ />Common elements in the most successful videos:

Barnes: The best success we’ve had is when we have a  strategic approach before we shoot.  A lot of people sort of shoot first,  and ask questions later.  Very few brands have a proper video  strategy.  Understand what content you’re going to make, where it’s going  to go, what’s the measurement of success, how is it going to drive the right  ROI.  You need to think about the technology and the content, not taking a  piece of content and hiding it on YouTube.

Clayton: It’s all about story, and as soon as we get to that  point where we find that emotional connection, then we know we’re getting  there.

What storytelling tips would you give this  audience?

Blume: Know your audience.  Another thing is we’ve  created content when we’re not involved with a brand, so we get the chance to  experiment, to test, and to try different things, and to learn from it.

Caban: Internally, I think of about 5 directors who work  with us that are the right natural fit that can crack the code on the tone or  the writing.  Looking at the kind of director or writer will determine if  it’s great.  Many times, checking through their reels will determine who  might be the right fit.

Clayton: Don’t be boring.  We deal with a lot of stiff  business types and we’ll pitch them an idea and they’ll be like, “Are you out of  your mind?” and we say, “Yeah, that’s the point.”

What do you do when a client is stuck on being  conservative?

Clayton: Ultimately, we make two cuts.  Our cut and  their cut.  And oftentimes, they’ll take our cut.

Blume: I think it’s all about getting on the same level at  the beginning of the project.  When a client comes to us, they know what  kind of content we create, which is edgy, fun stuff, so I think it’s about  setting expectations at the beginning.

 

view more….

 

http://www.reelseo.com/video-storytelling-brands/

 

 

 

U.K. Inflation Cools, But House Prices Race Ahead | Pound Ridge Homes

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The annual rate of inflation in the U.K. fell in July and is likely to continue cooling, but house prices are heading in the opposite direction, stoking fears of a new housing market bubble.

The Office for National Statistics said annual inflation slowed to 2.8% in July from 2.9% in June, aided by smaller rises in prices for items including airfares and clothing than a year earlier.

Economists said inflation is likely to continue falling this year and next, easing pressure on household budgets that have been squeezed for several years as wage growth has failed to keep pace with price increases.

Slowing inflation should help put a fledgling recovery in the U.K. economy “on a firmer footing,” said Rob Wood, chief U.K. economist at Berenberg Bank.

Economists added the anticipated slowdown in inflation toward the Bank of England’s 2% annual target should help Bank of England Gov. Mark Carney stick with a pledge to keep the central bank’s benchmark interest rate at a record low of 0.5% until joblessness falls to 7%, unless inflation looks poised to accelerate.

Unemployment averaged 7.8% in the three months to May, and the BOE doesn’t expect unemployment to hit the 7% target until 2016, a sign that it intends to keep British borrowing costs low for another two to three years to support recovery.

Yet even as price pressures in the economy overall are retreating, house prices are rising more sharply and broadly than in more than six years.

In the latest sign of housing market strength, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors’ monthly house prices balance surged to 36 in July from 21 the previous month, the highest since November 2006 when it reached 42.

The balance is calculated by subtracting the proportion of surveyors reporting house prices falls from those who say prices rose. The rise in the balance indicates that the increase in house prices is becoming sharper and broader based.

While it remains some way below the peak in the series of 68.6 in September 1999, what is striking about the pickup is its speed. After a 32nd straight negative or flat balance in March this year, house price growth has surged sharply in just four months.

 

 

U.K. Inflation Cools, But House Prices Race Ahead – WSJ.com.

With Mortgage Rates In A Holding Pattern, What Will Housing Prices Do? | Pound Ridge Real Estate

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After rising by more than a full percentage point from early May till the end of June, 30-year mortgage rates have more or less leveled off. However, the impact of higher mortgage rates on the housing market is still unknown.

On July 30, the latest figures for the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices showed that the housing recovery continued in May, and that their 10-city and 20-city composites posted their strongest year-over-year increases since early 2006. However, since those indices represent three-month averages ending in May, the latest figures just barely overlap the rise in mortgage rates. Thus, it is too early to tell what impact higher interest rates will have on home prices.

In part, the relationship between mortgage rates and home prices can be represented on a mortgage calculator. For any given level of monthly payment on a loan calculator, if you increase the mortgage rate the total size of the loan will shrink. That smaller loan size indicates that the lower price point that consumers can afford at that level of payment.

However, there have been several instances historically when home prices have gone up despite rising mortgage rates. Clearly, there must be a factor at work here beyond what you can see on a loan calculator, and that X factor is consumer wealth. If economic growth is improving, then consumers should be getting wealthier and can afford higher mortgage payments. If you increase the amount of the payment you target on a loan calculator, it can offset the impact of rising mortgage rates.

Because of the lag in home-price data, it will only be in the months to come that the impact of higher mortgage rates on the housing market will become apparent. Whether the housing rally can shake off the effects of higher rates depends a great deal on whether the economy starts to pick up any momentum.

Source: https://www.summit-mortgage.com/buying-a-house/.

With Mortgage Rates In A Holding Pattern, What Will Housing Prices Do? – Forbes.

Are we in a bubble yet? Not even close: Trulia | Pound Ridge Real Estate

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The housing market is not even close to forming a bubble, and recent developments have further diminished the likelihood that it will overheat anytime in the near future, Trulia said in releasing the results of its latest Bubble Watch report.

“Even though prices are less undervalued than one quarter ago, our chances of avoiding a bubble have gotten better. Price gains are slowing down, and asking prices dropped in July,” said Trulia Chief Economist Jed Kolko in an email. “Unlike in last decade’s bubble, prices today have started to cool before reaching dangerous heights.

National home prices in the third quarter of 2013 are 5 percent undervalued, compared with 7 percent undervalued in the second quarter of 2013 and 14 percent undervalued a year ago, Trulia reported.

How does that stack up against home values at the peak of the housing boom?

Prices then were 39 percent overvalued, according to Trulia.

– See more at: http://www.inman.com/wire/are-we-in-a-bubble-yet-not-even-close-trulia/#sthash.RY1QXM09.dpuf

Here’s Why the Housing Market Is Cooling Off and Why It’s OK | Pound Ridge Real Estate

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There is evidence that the real estate market is reaching an equilibrium.

Movoto Real Estate’s August State of the Real Estate Market report showed that the median cost per square foot for a home in the United States increased by 14.9 percent in July compared to July 2012, while inventory fell by close to 16 percent year over year. At the same time, the average list price per square foot remained flat with June’s figures, and the number of homes for sale increased on a month-over-month basis.

That the list price did not increase between June and July indicates that the inventory supply has begun to catch up with demand. “Going forward, we expect prices to continue to move laterally on a month-over-month basis,” report says. “Higher mortgage rates and increased inventory will keep prices from increasing at the same pace we saw in the first half of the year.”

The average interest rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage edged higher to 4.61 percent for the week ended August 2, compared to 4.58 percent in the week before. “For the first time this year, the price did not increase, which could be a sign that the market is loosening and their buying power could increase,” the Movoto concludes.

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Obama Housing Scorecard: Foreclosure starts reach 8-year low | Pound Ridge Real Estate

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President Obama spoke Tuesday about how far housing has come from its pit in the middle of the crisis. The latest housing scorecard from the Obama Administration only strengthened the president’s statements, yet serves as a reminder that there is still a long ways to go.

“As the July housing scorecard indicates, the Obama Administration’s efforts to speed the housing recovery are continuing to build upon the progress that has been made over the last four years,” said U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Deputy Assistant Secretary for Economic Affairs Kurt Usowski.

Home prices continue to trudge forward, with the S&P Case-Shiller home price index up from 152.4 in April to 156.1 in the latest report in May. Year-over-year the index is up from 139.2 in May 2012.

 

As rising mortgage rates begin to catch up with the housing recovery, less buyers are feeling the pressure to buy a home right now. According to the National Association of Realtors, existing-home sales fell from a revised 428,300 in May to 423,300 in June.

However, homebuilders can breath a sigh of relief, as new home sales continued to increase, up from 38,300 in May to 41,400 in June, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau and HUD.

 

The pool of existing-homes for sale has continued to grow, a positive sign for potential buyers, with inventory up from a 5.0-month supply in May to a 5.2-month supply in June, NAR reported. Surprisingly, the supply of new homes for sale dropped slightly to 3.9 months, down from 4.2 months in May.

Foreclosure starts take the cake for the most notable change in this month’s housing scorecard. Foreclosure starts dropped from 72,700 in May to 57,300 in June, data from RealtyTrac revealed.

According to a report from Lender Processing Services, mortgage delinquency rates for prime borrowers made a turnaround, heading upward from May. June’s delinquency rate was 3.5%, up from 3.1% in May.

“The annual home price increases over the last several months remain at levels not seen since 2006 and newly initiated foreclosures are at their lowest level since December 2005.  As we regain stability in our housing markets, it is time to begin the process of reforming the housing finance system to reduce the federal government footprint and ensure that private capital takes a sustainable central role,” Usowski added.

 

 

http://www.housingwire.com/articles/26083-obama-housing-scorecard-foreclosure-starts-reach-8-year-low

 

Home Prices Climb in 87% of U.S. Cities as Recovery Builds | Pound Ridge Real Estate

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Prices for single-family homes climbed in 87 percent of U.S. cities in the second quarter as the national housing recovery accelerated amid competition for a limited number of properties on the market.

The median transaction price rose from a year earlier in 142 of 163 metropolitan areas measured, the National Association of Realtors said in a report today. A year earlier, 75 percent of regions had gains.

Values are increasing as homebuyers, encouraged by improving employment, compete for a tight supply of listed properties. At the end of the second quarter, 2.19 million previously owned homes were available for sale, 7.6 percent fewer than a year earlier, according to the Realtors group.

“There continue to be more buyers than sellers, and that is placing pressure on home prices, with multiple bids common in some areas of the country,” Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors, said in the report.

The median price for an existing single-family home was $203,500 nationally in the second quarter, up 12 percent from a year earlier. That was the biggest gain since the fourth quarter of 2005, according to the Realtors group.

Cities with tight supplies of homes for sale had the strongest price growth, the Realtors said. Eight markets were added to the report in the quarter.

Biggest Gains

The best-performing areas were Sacramento, California, and Atlanta, where prices jumped 39 percent from a year earlier. Prices rose 36 percent in Fort Myers, Florida; 33 percent in Reno, Nevada; and 31 percent in Las Vegas.

 

 

Home Prices Climb in 87% of U.S. Cities as Recovery Builds (2) – Businessweek.

Colombia Inflation Remained Low in July As Housing Prices Fell | Pound Ridge Homes

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Colombia’s consumer price index rose less than expected last month as housing prices fell and food inflation was low.

The consumer price index rose 0.04% in July from a month earlier, the government’s statistics agency, known as DANE, said Monday. That was lower than the 0.11% rise in price economists were expecting, and it puts 12-month trailing inflation at 2.22%, well within the central bank’s 2% to 4% target range.

Colombia has seen persistently low price increases amid a slowing economy that’s crimped consumer demand for goods and services. With little pressure on prices, the central bank could reduce its benchmark interest rate further this year in a bid to spur economic activity, although analysts say the current, key lending rate of 3.25% is already low enough to foster higher growth.

Most economists expect the bank to keep rates unchanged until 2014, when rate increases begin assuming the economy picks up.

Housing prices fell 0.38% last month, while food prices, the sector carrying the most weight in the CPI, rose 0.21%. Entertainment prices saw the highest increases, rising 1.3%.

The moderate inflation last month suggests consumer price increases could end this year similar to last year, when inflation ended at 2.44%.

Colombia’s oil- and coal-driven economy expanded at a 4% clip in 2012, down from 6.6% growth in 2011 as global prices fell for many of the commodities that Colombia produces. During the first quarter of this year, the economy slowed further, to a 2.8% on-year rise.

 

 

Colombia Inflation Remained Low in July As Housing Prices Fell – WSJ.com.