Housing prices’ rise could be a mixed blessing | Armonk Homes
Leave a reply
Tag Archives: Westchester NY Homes
Case Study: Advanced Content Marketing | Armonk Realtor
Content is a two syllable word that has become an online marketing strategy. Its impact has far reaching effects that belies its verbal simplicity. It influences search engine results, drives online engagement and can create brand awareness at velocity when it goes viral.
With Google’s recent updates, the role of content has increased in priority. The search giant is now rewarding sites with higher rankings that offer unique content that delivers a quality user experience.
This means that progressive brands need to become publishers and not just advertisers. Advanced content marketing is a human and creative art form with soul enabled by technology and process driven. It is multi-media content at scale that leverages a brand’s reach that is efficient and amplified.
Is corporate media getting better than mainstream media?
In a recent article on the Hubspot blog, Dan Lyon poses an intriguing question.
“Is corporate media getting better than mainstream media?”
He then cites examples of Microsoft, General Electric and Google who are using both technology and their great content archives to “out publish” existing traditional media companies.
I think that in some cases he may be right.
Today’s companies do have the technology and platforms to go it alone. They often have the marketing CRM’s, databases, access to vast libraries of content and the technology to make a traditional newspaper brand look bland.
Marketing and publishing has been democratized
Technology changes have put the power in the users hands. Companies don’t need to understand how to use a printing press.
- Want to publish. Launch a blog
- Need to design and create an online magazine. Hire a designer, assign an editor and writer and create your brand magazine using Photoshop.
- Have the impulse to shoot a video. Buy a $1,000 video camera, create a video and upload it to YouTube
- Feel the motivation to market. Amplify your content to your Facebook and Twitter fans and followers
Should some advertising dollars be moved to publishing?
Companies such as Red Bull are moving their spending from advertising to publishing. They are also about creating “conversations around the brand” not “about” the brand. This means creating content that has heart and soul of the brand embedded but not mentioned.
No-one wants to talk about the drink but the lifestyle that revolves around the brand image.
Advanced content marketing case study: Lorna Jane
Lorna Jane is an “activewear” label for women that has been around for over 20 years. The brand is about fitness and fashion for women. They have embraced the the strategy of advanced content marketing.
Their aim “to inspire women to live their best life through active living”. Their mantra and mission is based upon a three pillared philosophy of:
- Move
- Nourish
- Believe
“Lorna Jane is not simply a clothing label, it is a way of life”. They are about fitness and a healthy lifestyle.
Lorna Jane’s marketing is not about talking about its product but being a publisher. The heart and soul is about creating conversations around the brand.
Jessie Dean, the Digital Marketing Manager at Lorna Jane has a team that includes:
- Social media specialist
- Social media coordinator
- Editor of “Move Nourish Believe”
They have also created a separate and secondary brand that is about the lifestyle and mission that is core to the Lorna Jane message.
Read more at http://www.jeffbullas.com/2013/11/27/case-study-advanced-content-marketing/#CgUbpkk6o1KJEJiZ.99
Rent or Buy? Running the Numbers On Five Downtown Studios | South Salem Real Estate
Every few weeks, our friends at StreetEasy run the numbers on apartments that are listed for both sale and rent in New York to compares the monthly costs for apartment hunters searching for the best deal. The tool doesn’t take into account every single thing (tax deductions are not factored in), but it’s one way to try to answer the eternal “rent or buy” question. Here now, we compare the data on five downtown studios, all of which are members of the Six Digit Club. These numbers assume a 20 percent downpayment and a 30-year fixed mortgage rate of 4.406 percent.
Address: 40 Broad Street, #28C, in FiDi (above) The Skinny: 590-square-foot unit in the amenity-laden Setai Wall Street Sale Price: $699,000 Maintenance/Taxes: $759/month Total monthly costs when buying: $4,047 Rental price: $3,000/month
9 images
Address: 23 Waverly Place, #3A (above) The Skinny: A co-op studio with a sleeping loft in a building with a shared courtyard and rooftop deck Sale Price: $529,000 Maintenance/Taxes: $755 Total monthly costs when buying: $2,876 Rental price: $2,795/month
8 images
Address: 317 East 18th Street, #SE (above) The Skinny: Near Gramercy Park, a co-op unit with a half-sized kitchen Sale Price: $290,000 Maintenance/Taxes: $890 Total monthly costs when buying: $2,053 Rental price: $2,000/month
14 images
Address: 99 John Street, #813 (above) The Skinny: 671-square-foot studio with a home office in the Financial District Sale Price: $775,000 Maintenance/Taxes: $425 Total monthly costs when buying: $3,907 Rental price: $3,650/month
US Home Values Fall for Second Straight Month in October | Bedford Corners NY Homes
National home values fell in October from September, according to the October Zillow Real Estate Market Reports, the second month in a row of falling home values and the first consecutive monthly declines since the market hit bottom in October 2011. The U.S. Zillow Home Value Index was $162,800 in October, down 0.1 percent from September.
Half of the 388 metros covered experienced monthly home value depreciation in October from September. Among the 30 largest metro areas covered by Zillow, 10 exhibited monthly depreciation in October, and two more were flat.
Home values nationwide rose 5.2 percent year-over-year, a much slower pace than annual appreciation rates in the 7 percent range experienced over the summer, and further proof that the market has begun to cool off after months of unsustainable appreciation. For the 12-month period from October 2013 to October 2014, national home values are expected to rise just 2.7 percent, roughly half the current pace, according to the Zillow Home Value Forecast. Seven of the top 30 metros covered by Zillow are expected to see home values fall over the next year, with the biggest declines in St. Louis (-1.5 percent), Philadelphia (-0.9 percent) and New York (-0.7 percent).
“The months-long period of annual home value appreciation rates in the 6 and 7 percent range was great while it lasted, but we knew it would not continue indefinitely. The slowdown we’ve seen these past few months was expected and is largely welcome news for a market still struggling to find its natural balance,” said Zillow Chief Economist Dr. Stan Humphries. “The conditions that led to the robust appreciation experienced earlier this year, including historically low mortgage interest rates, high affordability, low inventory and high demand, are waning. In their place, we’re beginning to see more inventory and rising mortgage rates, which will lead to further normalization in the market going forward.”
National rents rose in October from September, up 0.2 percent to a Zillow Rent Index of $1,300. Year-over-year, national rents were up 2.3 percent in October.
The number of completed foreclosures in October fell to 5.44 homes foreclosed out of every 10,000 homes nationwide, down from 5.5 homes in September. Foreclosure resales represented 8.7 percent of homes sold in the U.S. in October, up 0.5 percentage points from September but down 2.1 percentage points from October 2012.
http://www.zillow.com/blog/2013-11-25/us-home-values-fall-for-second-straight-month-in-october/
As a general rule, leave the leaves | Armonk Real Estate
If you had driven past my house in recent days, you might have thought you were watching a movie in reverse. There I was, opening trash bags, dumping out leaves and spreading them over the ground.
These were bags left curbside for me by neighbors near and far.
It does seem crazy, doesn’t it, gathering up all these bags and dumping out all those leaves? But dried, dead leaves contain stored energy, the sun’s energy. Put them on or in the soil, as I have been doing, and they release their energy to support the growth and activity of fungi, earthworms and other soil organisms. Mostly, these are friendly creatures, and nurturing them allows them to thwart unfriendly organisms, such as those causing some plant diseases.
Besides disease prevention, when leaves are gobbled up by soil organisms, the nutrients in them are being released. Think of all those minerals taken in by a tree’s wide, spreading and deep roots. Just falling to the ground all around you, leaves are, pound for pound, about as rich in minerals as is manure.
NOT FOR EVERYWHERE
Of course, spreading leaves over the ground or just leaving them there in the first place is not an option for every site.
I have spread leaves over a hayfield in which I’ve planted chestnut trees. In coming years, these trees will shade out the grass; I’m just helping the ground become the leaf-blanketed forest floor that it will eventually turn into.
http://news.yahoo.com/general-rule-leave-leaves-144622286.html
RIP Fail Whale: Twitter’s iconic error image bites the dust | North Salem Realtor
There was a time when the sight of the Fail Whale was common on Twitter, back when the growing startup struggled to keep pace with its users and the sheer volume of tweets. Much has changed since then — including many more users and, of course, Twitter’s recent IPO — and now the company has admitted it killed off the cult whale this past summer.
Christopher Fry, senior vice president of engineering at Twitter, confirmed in an interview with Wired that the iconic image of birds lifting a whale has been replaced by robots.
The Fail Whale is a thing of the past. Actually, this summer we took the Fail Whale out of production. So if you come to Twitter, and there are always gonna be problems, no service is ever perfect. But right now you will see robots instead of the Fail Whale. So the Fail Whale image is not served by Twitter anymore. It had a long history and some of our users feel very connected to it. But in the end, it did represent a time when I don’t think we lived up to what the world needed Twitter to be.
Twitter had already effectively slayed the whale by improving its service and minimizing downtime, so the chances of spotting it were fairly remote. Still, those of us who were acquainted with it will mourn the passing of a symbolic image.
http://thenextweb.com/twitter/2013/11/25/
Investors’ Market Share Rises as Foreclosures Fade | Mount Kisco Real Estate
Despite a seasonal slowdown in activity, the housing market continued to post some interesting metrics in October, according to the latest Campbell/Inside Mortgage Finance HousingPulse Tracking Survey.
One of most interesting was a rise in home purchases by investors despite declining numbers of foreclosures. Since hitting a 23.1 percent home purchase market share back in February, investor participation has tumbled through most of this year – hitting a three-year low of just 16.6 percent in August. The monthly rate is based on a three-month moving average.
But over the past two months, the investor share has actually risen, climbing to 16.9 percent in September and then 17.4 percent in October. The two-month rise in investor activity is significant given that it occurred at the same time that the proportion of distressed properties in the housing market has continued to fall.
The HousingPulse Distressed Properties Index, which reflects the share of home purchases involving real estate owned or short sales, fell to a four-year low of 24.1 percent in October based on a three-month moving average. This was down from 24.6 percent in September and 35.1 percent in October of 2012.
Among the other positive housing market metrics seen in the October HousingPulse results were continuing low average time-on-market for non-distressed properties and high average number of offers for non-distressed properties. The national average-time-on-market for non-distressed properties was 8.9 weeks in October, while the national average number of offers on non-distressed properties last month was 2.1.
Lot owners: Put up or pay up says new Mayor | Armonk Homes
Staten Island will host city’s largest solar power facility | Katonah Homes
What was once the world’s largest landfill will become the home to the city’s largest solar energy facility, Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced Monday.
“It’s fitting that this site, long associated with the most stubborn challenges of urban development, will now be a shining example of cutting-edge solutions,” Bloomberg said at Freshkills Park, formerly the city’s garbage dump. Dumpsters can be needed whenever a large amount of waste needs to be disposed of. Most homeowners and contractors hire dumpster rentals for home renovation projects because at that time, a large amount of waste is produced that needs to be cleared from the property. Clearing waste is difficult with your conventional garbage bins or dumpsters. For large amount of waste, you need a large sized dumpster that can easily help you get rid of all the waste that is produced during your project. Finding cheap and affordable dumpster rentals might be an issue for many, especially if they are hiring such services for the first time. Therefore, following are some tips that will help you find lowest prices of junk removal services. Then have a peek here for the dumpster rental.
The solar panels will be installed and operated by Sun Edison, at no cost to the city. The city will earn money from the project through a leasing agreement that is still being negotiated – and business owners in the city will be able to get a green energy credit thanks to their installation.
“The solar panels Sun Edison will install on the site will be able to produce up to 10 megawatts of energy, and that’s enough to power 2,000 homes,” Bloomberg said.
The energy will be fed back into Con Edison’s grid system, so it won’t go to specific homeowners but will help power the entire city.
Sun Edison was selected after bidding to lease 47 acres of the park, and will install 30,000 to 35,000 high-efficiency solar panels on the site.
General Manager Attila Toth praised the city for their forward-thinking approach.
“This is the largest city in the nation and the largest city is developing the largest brownfield to park conversion site,” Toth said. “This is a very innovative solution and this kind of thinking does not happen in every city around the nation.”
Toth said the plant would employ more than 100 workers when it’s up and running in 2016.
The city already captures methane gas created underground – enough to heat 22,000 homes — at the site and sells it to National Grid for about $3 million a year.
Among those who have long been pressing for renewable energy at Freshkills is Borough President James Molinaro.
“Who knew that he would be a tree-hugger when he was elected?” Bloomberg joked. “But it runs out he has been very environmentally conscious and has really done a great job for the people of Staten Island.”
Molinaro called it an historic day, and recalled asking the Port Authority for $500,000 to study renewable energy at the site shortly after the landfill closed in 2001.
http://www.silive.com/news/index.ssf/2013/11/staten_island_will_host_citys.html
Gramercy Unit Sells for $17.3M; Transplants Can’t Cut it in City | South Salem NY Homes
Welcome to It Happened One Weekend, our weekly roundup of The New York Times real estate section…
1)Big Ticket The award for biggest sale of the week goes to 18 Gramercy Park South, where a full-floor, 4,207-square-foot apartment sold for $17.3 million. Carrying costs rounded out at about $11,225.31 and the sponsors, Zeckendorf Development and Global Holdings, bestowed a key to the private Gramercy Park as a customary closing gift, which sounds wonderfully dramatic and fun. We wish we had a key to a secret park . . . [“Big Ticket | Luxury Lodging for $17.3 Million”]
2) Every “The Hunt” column begins with the Hunters describing the apartment they want, and ends with them rationalizing whatever they came away with. This is The Hunt: Dreams vs. Reality The Hunters: a couple sick of city-life looking to move to the ‘burbs Price Dream: $350,000 to $450,000 Reality: $387,500 Neighborhood Dream: Westchester Reality: Hartsdale Amenities Dream: quiet, spacious Reality: 3BR/2BA, spacious Summary After seeing their rent on the Upper East Side skyrocket, this couple decided that city-life (and its modern hullaballoo!) wasn’t for them and decided to look for a two-story home in the suburbs, focusing on Westchester. They eventually settled on a two-story, Cape-style home with three beds and two baths in Hartsdale, attracted by its small ask and spaciousness. They paid $387,500 and are apparently loving life because everything’s cheaper and commuting to work doesn’t make them homicidal. But alas, they now live in the suburbs, trading crippling neurosis for soul-shattering boredom.
[The Hunt/”In Westchester, an End to Elevator and Subway Commutes”]