Tag Archives: South Salem NY Homes for Sale

Mortgage-Bond Yields Soar to Highest in Four Months on QE Doubt | South Salem NY Real Estate

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Yields on mortgage securities that guide U.S. home-loan rates jumped to the highest in almost four months as the minutes of a Federal Reserve meeting signaled the central bank’s bond buying may end this year.

A Bloomberg index of yields on Fannie Mae-guaranteed mortgage bonds trading closest to face value rose 0.07 percentage point to 2.34 percent as of 3 p.m. in New York, the highest since Sept. 12. That was the day before the central bank announced plans to add $40 billion more of government-backed home-loan securities to its balance sheet each month.

Fed policy makers said they will probably end their purchases of the debt and $45 billion of Treasuries each month sometime in 2013, with Federal Open Market Committee members divided between a mid- or end-of-year finish, according to the record of its Dec. 11-12 gathering released today in Washington. That assessment of its so-called quantitative easing, or QE, program was a “big surprise” to the bond market, according to Jim Vogel, a debt analyst at FTN Financial in Memphis, Tennessee

Higher bond yields “point to the Fed’s very real QE dilemma,” Vogel said in a note to clients. “When it signals an end to QE, higher rates could endanger the very recovery that is improving the labor market conditions. Look no further than how many bullish economic forecasts for 2013 lead with a better housing market.”

Yields on the Fannie Mae bonds widened about 0.03 percentage point relative to an average of five- and 10-year Treasury rates, to 0.99 percentage point, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That’s 0.01 percentage point less than the average during the past three months, and up from a record low of 0.55 percentage point on Sept. 25.

The Fed minutes were “somewhat bearish” for spreads and an end to its buying in the third quarter may mean they “find a floor at current levels,” Nomura Securities International analysts led by Ohmsatya Ravi wrote in a note. “Most” traders and investors had been “expecting the Fed’s purchase program to continue at least until the end of 2013,” they said.

via bloomberg.com

3 Key Google Analytics for a Successful Blog in 2013 | South Salem NY Homes

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When I set business goals, I always try and make them data-based. I believe I have pretty good instincts, but I trust data. Numbers give me direct feedback on the effectiveness of my tactics.  So, when it comes to my blog, one of the places I look for feedback is Google Analytics.  There is a wealth of information there, so I am looking for specific analytics that match my goals. Here are three key stats I am following.

1. Traffic Source: Referral Trafpic of 2013fic

Bloggers want to be read, want to be seen, and want to drive people to their website. For those of us whose websites showcase our blogs, getting more people to the website is key. Even though guest posting and syndication are great exposure, they don’t necessarily get people to my website.  Succinct calls to actions in a guest blog post (link to another related article on your website) can help, but nothing beats direct traffic.

Where is my traffic coming from? For me, it’s Twitter first at 42 percent, and then it drops off drastically to a number of sources under ten percent with LinkedIn high on the list and Google lower. So, I continue to strengthen my Twitter presence. One way is leaving my Twitter footprint on the web wherever I go, like commenting on other blog pieces using my Twitter login. Also, I will be using LinkedIn and Google+ more this year to promote my blog. But that low Google referral number is troubling to me, which leads to my second stat.

2. Keywords

I admit that I have neglected keywords in the past—mostly due to a misunderstanding of how they are used. Last summer I hired a web developer to redesign my website and part of the redesign was an in-depth lesson in SEO. Now, I have five checkpoints for every blog piece that help insure that I am taking full advantage of good search practices. The developer installed a handy application on my WordPress dashboard called Yoast that helps me “check off” SEO priorities before I post. The biggest change: blog titles. I paid absolutely zero attention the SEO value of blog titles in the past—now I know better.

3. Page Goals

This is my project for early 2013. My blog doubles as my website. In order to get people past the initial blog entry to my business pages, I am devising strategies to get more visitors to click through to a business page.  One way to help measure their effectiveness and then tweak the strategies is to set up custom page goals.  Also, page goals will help me measure landing page effectiveness like free download offers, referral traffic from LinkedIn offers, and newsletter sign-ups.  This is new terrain for me, but I need to be more strategic in measuring returns on my efforts.

What analytics do you use to measure success on your blog or website? I’m interested in getting your ideas and input in the comments.

via socialmediatoday.com

South Salem NY real estate sales up 39% – Prices up 6% | RobReportBlog

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South Salem NY real estate sales up 39% – Prices up 6% | RobReportBlog

South Salem NY Real Estate Report  – last six months

2012

39    sales

$575,000   median sales price

$245,000   low price

$1,300,000  high price

2869   ave. size

$230   ave. price per foot

208     ave. DOM

$649,193   ave. sales price

via trulia.com

Quick Tip: 7 Great Sources to Curate Real Estate Content | South Salem NY Real Estate

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These days, curating content is the name of the game – especially as you plan your 2013 social media strategy. As a real estate agent, broker or marketing professional you need to be on the lookout for some of the best content that you can share to increase engagement. Here are 7 of my favorite sources for great content.

1. Apps, apps and more apps. There are tons of fantastic apps out there for content and news but my favorites include: Zite, Flipboard, Google Currents and Pulse News. Most of these channels won’t let you post directly to a Facebook business page from the app, so you can send interesting articles to Evernote or InstaPaper and then post or schedule them as needed later.

2. Google alerts. Set up searches of neighborhood and community news to go right to your inbox once a day or more. This is one of my favorite sources of content because it comes right to my email. You can even filter to receive just video or blog content depending on what you are looking for.

3. AllTop. Former Apple chief evangelist Guy Kawasaki set up AllTop a few years back. This site has different channels with links to some of the best content on the web. Search for “real estate” or “home improvement” and you will see a wealth of content.

4. Quora. The Quora forum is a great site to see what interesting conversations are happening and get questions answered by the community. Often times, this can be an interesting and unique source of content.

5. Flickr and Instagram. Photos are all the rage and are some of the best type of content to post onto social networks. Search both sites for photos relevant to your city and/or community. You will be amazed at some of the incredible images found. Make sure when posting to Facebook you credit the source of these images. Also, Flickr has set up copywrite blocks, so if you try to Pin a copywrited photo, it won’t let you do it!

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6. Google News. Google News is a great way to source content from thousands of news outlets. All sources on Google News are manually vetted by Google, so you are ensured to receive content from a reputable source.

7. Sulia. With 10M users under its belt this year, Sulia is a new subject-based social network. For curating content, it’s a fantastic source – check out the real estate channel.

I know there are many more great sources to curate content. Which ones are your favorite? Leave me a comment below!

 

 

via next.inman.com

Homeowners’ Equity Reaches Highest Level in Four Years | South Salem Real Estate

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In the third quarter, homeowners’ equity rose nearly 18 percent over the level of a year ago to reach the highest level recorded since the second quarter of 2008.

Homeowners’ equity reached $7714.3 billion, a 5.2 percent increase over the second quarter and an 18 percent increase over the level of $6526.9 in the third quarter of 20011.  In 2007, homeowners’ equity reached $1.02 trillion, but fell to $7050.9 billion in 2008, according to the quarterly Federal Reserve Flow of Funds report.

CoreLogic previously reported that as of the second quarter, improving equity helped the number of underwater homeowners fall to 10,779,000, a 5.2 percent decline from the first quarter and 8.1 percent less than a year ago. About 22.3 percent of all homes with mortgage owed more on their homes than those properties are worth. That was an improvement from the first quarter, when there were about 11.4 million underwater homes, amounting to about 23.7% of all mortgaged homes.  The number of underwater homeowners in the third quarter has not yet been reported.

The value of real estate owned by households increased about $370 billion over the second quarter as more and more markets reported improving home values. The Federal Housing Finance Administration reported earlier that home prices through the third quarter are rising at an annualized rate of 4.34 percent and rose 1.08 percent over the second quarter.

Total household net worth-the difference between the value of households’ assets and liabilities-was about $64.8 trillion at the end of the third quarter of 2012, $1.7 trillion more than at the end of the second quarter.  Household debt decreased at an annual rate of 2 percent in the third quarter.  Home mortgage debt contracted 3 percent, continuing the downtrend that commenced in early 2008.  Consumer credit rose at an annual rate of 4 ¼ percent, the eighth consecutive quarterly increase.

via realestateeconomywatch.com