Tag Archives: Westchester Real Estate

Brokerages Step up to One-Stop Shopping | South Salem NY Real Estate

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Despite six years of a depressed housing economy that reduced Realtor ranks by one-third, real estate brokerage companies are closer than ever to achieving the long-sought dream of becoming one-stop shops  providing their customers all the services they need to buy or sell a house.

A new survey Imprev, Inc. found that 75 percent of top real estate executives responding said their brokerage firms offer at least one major ancillary service and mortgages are the No. 1 additional offering.  Some 89 percent of the real estate firms that offer at least one ancillary service offer home loans.

Nearly three-quarters (71 percent) offer title services and nearly half (49 percent) offer home-warranty services.

“For decades, the National Association of REALTORS® has tracked growing consumer interest in a one-stop shop through its surveys,” said Renwick Congdon, chief executive officer of Imprev, a real estate marketing software firm that works with 150,000 agents and brokers nationwide.

“Clearly, the industry’s thought leaders are making it happen in their firms,” he added.

According to a 2011 NAR and Harris Interactive study, the number of consumers interested in using a service provider affiliated with a brokerage firm increased 34 percent from the first survey completed in 2008.

In the NAR/Harris study, 78 percent of homebuyers said that one-stop shopping would save them money; 75 percent said it would make the process more manageable and efficient; and 73 percent said that a one-stop real estate shop would prevent the details relevant to their transactions from “falling through the cracks” — as well as make the entire process “more convenient.”

When real estate executives were asked to select the top benefits from offering ancillary services, 79 percent said “higher profits”; 70 percent said “one-stop marketing opportunities”; 62 percent said “increased customer satisfaction”; and 60 percent said “better quality control.”

The survey was conducted in late May. Poll respondents included top executives at leading franchises and independent brokerage firms responsible for more than one-third of all U.S. residential real estate transactions last year.

http://www.realestateeconomywatch.com/2013/08/

As Mortgage Applications Fall, Lower Loan Limits Loom | Cross River Real Estate

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Rising rates continue to have an impact on home purchase applications. The number of mortgage applications filed last by 13.5% from the prior week on a seasonally adjusted basis as interest rates increased, the Mortgage Bankers Association said Wednesday.

The purchase component eased 2.7% this week relative to last and has fallen 16.8% since the first week in May on a seasonally adjusted basis. Rates reversed course last week and turned upward after easing in the prior week. The average rate for a 30-year fixed rate mortgage was 4.57% last week according to Freddie Mac.

On an unadjusted basis, MBA reported the market composite index declined 23%. The refinance index slipped 28% from a week earlier, while the seasonally adjusted purchase index slid 2.7%.

The sudden drop in purchase applications comes as loans for new homes have taken market share away from refinancing since January, raising its market share from 27% to 53% in July.

While the average rate has been on the rise, the National Association of Realtors reported that the Federal Housing Finance Agency is considering reducing the limits on mortgages that can be backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Currently, the GSEs can support loans up to $417,000 in most markets and up to $625,500 in higher cost markets, while loans above this are supported by the private “jumbo” market made up of banks and private MBS securitizers.

Rates on jumbo loans have eased to party or slightly better than conforming loans in recent months as banks have started taking more loans into portfolio to compensate for weak commercial and refinance business. However, these loans are very high quality with large down payments and high FICO scores. The concern then is that if the loan limits decline, the private sector may still not be ready to pick up the non-pristine lending activity in the high cost portion of the market, cutting off access to credit for this portion of the market, resulting in reduced demand and sales.

 

 

http://www.realestateeconomywatch.com/2013/09/

Two Vintage Carl Fishers Plus Bonus Cottage Now $1M Cheaper | Waccabuc Real Estate

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When we first posted about this compound in Montauk, in between the usual bickering about hipsters and cityfolk, one commenter wrote “If they get anywhere near asking I will be amazed. This place is a total gut renovation.” So far, you’re correct, Guest 14, as the price is now a cool million dollars lower at $3.45M. Any guesses now about the final selling price? (Note: we still love the green bathroom.)

The property has plenty to offer: three acres of land with three buildings on them. We love Carl Fisher Tudors—and this property offers two of them, though they need work. One house has a five bedroom, five bath main part, with the staff quarters as a three bedroom, one bath separate apartment. The second Tudor is in rougher shape and is broken up into two apartments. There’s also a cottage that looks extremely dilapidated. So that’s three buildings with five legal C of Os. · Investment Opportunity-Compound; Carl Fisher Tudors [Corcoran]

Buy the House the Dead Poets Society Built For $15M Flat | Katonah Real Estate

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Newly on the market in the Brentwood area of L.A.: this 9,000-square-foot house, owned by screenwriter Tom Schulman. Schulman purchased the 1.35-acre property in 1989, the year the Dead Poets Society was released, and commissioned California architect Steven Ehrlrich—who trademarked the expression “multicultural modernism” to describe his firm’s philosophy—for this modernist five-bedroom, made of concrete, glass, steel, and wood. The result, according to the brokerbabble, is an “adept interpretation of California modernist style” and “a comprehensive blending of the sensibilities of Schindler and Neutra, with delicate Japanese influences.” Standouts here include a driveway lined with bamboo, an entry bridge (“the balance of striking geometric angles with the soft landing of a water”), shoji screen-inspired interior woodwork, and a double-height living room. Below, a look:

Archbishop Stepinac Goes All-Digital With Textbooks | Armonk Real Estate

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Archbishop Stepinac High School introduced a new concept to its academic program on Tuesday as it rolls out a complete digital textbook library for its students.

This program will eliminate the need for the traditionally heavy and expensive books that students use for their academic courses.
In partnership with Pearson, a provider of educational materials, technologies, assessments and related services, Stepinac implemented the new digital library for its 675 students on their first day of the new school year. Stepinac has worked with Pearson for the past two years to offer select digital books to its students, but this is the first time all of its textbooks will be online.

“In keeping with Stepinac’s commitment to remain at the forefront of educational technology, we have moved to this digital library,” said the Rev. Thomas Collins, president of Stepinac. “We are thankful to Pearson, the world’s leading learning company, for working with us on this national pilot program that will set the trend for schools across the United States for years to come. The digital library will help keep our tuition affordable as well as prepare our students for their college careers.”

After a student is charged a one-time annual fee of $150, he can visit the 40-textbook digital library through a website or application for various Androids and iPads to gain access to its College Prep Digital Library and the Honors/AP Digital Library. Typically, students purchase seven hard copy textbooks for the school year, costing $500 to $600 on average.

 

 

http://whiteplains.dailyvoice.com/schools/archbishop-stepinac-goes-all-digital-textbooks

 

 

 

7 Ways to Increase Traffic to Your Blog | Pound Ridge Realtor

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Blogs have become one of the most fascinating and popular platforms upon  which individuals may sell their wares, offer advice or simply journal about  their daily lives.

But what is the point of having a blog if no one is going to read it?

There are many reasons why you’d would want to increase the traffic to your blog . It could be for  monetary reasons, to gain more public exposure or to show off your skills.  Bloggers want to see their sites develop, evolve and grow.

So, how can you get more visitors to your blog?

Here are 7 easy ways to increase traffic to your blog.

1. Optimize Your Content

The initial structuring of a blog should evolve around designing it to  attract maximum traffic. Pages on your blog can be optimized  to attract readers and potential consumers. This  can be done by organizing content by putting it into categories that will enable  readers to find what they are looking for quickly and easily.

This includes sub-titles,  bullet points and lists.

Search engines pick up on themes of related content, so include keywords and  keyword phrases. If you work a little on your blog’s SEO (Search Engine  Optimisation) in this kind of way, you’re likely to get more search engine  traffic.

2. Define Your Audience

The most important question a blogger can themselves is, Who is going to read  my blog? Focus your content on what your blog is based on. Then carefully  consider your target audience and address that audience directly. If you write  what they want to read it’s quite likely that they’ll recommend your content to  their peers.

You might already have a good idea of who reads your blog through a quick  look at your followers on Twitter, for example. But to get a better insight you  could sign up to Alexa.com or Quantcast.com  to see in depth information such as the gender or browsing location of your  blog’s visitors.

7 ways to increase traffic to your blog

3. Ensure The Blog Works Properly

Regardless of how many readers hit on a blog, if the blog is not working, as  it should, visitors will not stay, and in most cases, will not return. It can be  frustrating and off putting for readers to visit your site and discover that the  page refuses to load.

One way to find a reliable web host is via a free service offered by WhoIsHostingThis.com. Find a high performance web host  that load your web pages fast and you’ll be on your way to impressing visitors  by having a consistently visible site.

It’s worth keeping in mind that Google will penalize your website  or  blog in its search rankings or blog if it takes longer than two seconds to  load.

7 ways to increase traffic to your blog

4. Advertise! Advertise! Advertise!

It always helps to get the word out about your blog, and the best way to do  that is to advertise. There are two main types of advertising; paid and  free.

Free Advertising

There are ways to advertise  your blog without paying to do so. For instance, word of mouth through  social media. Obviously there are monetary benefits to doing this. If you don’t  already have one, get a profile set up on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Google+ – these are all free.

Getting involved in various  groups that specialize in the topic that is being addressed on your blog is a  great way to get free advertising. If you share other people’s posts through a  few quick clicks on Twitter your own content may well be shared in  turn.

Read more…

 

http://www.jeffbullas.com/2013/09/18/7-ways-to-increase-traffic-to-your-blog/#86LVCo3l2JRMmvhP.99

California home sales fall | Chappaqua Real Estate

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August home sales in California slipped 1.9% from July, while still improving 3.1% from a year earlier, according to data from research firm DataQuick.

The Mortgage Bankers Association elaborated on the report Tuesday:

DataQuick said 42,546 new and resale houses and condos sold in California in August, down from a revised 43,381 in July but up from 41,280 sales a year ago. The sales count was the highest for any August since 51,054 homes sold in August 2006. August sales have varied from a low of 29,764 in 1992 to a high of 73,285 in 2005. Last month’s sales were 11.1 percent below the average of 47,849 sales for all the months of August since 1988, when DataQuick’s statistics begin.

 

 

http://www.housingwire.com/articles/26873-california-home-sales-fall

 

 

 

Three Cents Worth: Manhattan’s Middle Market Shows Life | Cross River Real Estate

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This week I thought I’d take a look at the breakdown of sales by price in the most recently completed quarter.  Last year I was using a donut analogy to describe the Manhattan apartment market—weak in middle and strong on the outside (bottom/top). I wanted to illustrate how the mix in 2013 could be showing signs of change rather than continuing to see a disproportionate amount of activity on the margins. For reference I provided an inset in the form of a pie (sorry) chart to show a simple breakdown of the market in the second quarter of 2013.  The column chart was a bit more involved.  It represents the difference between 2Q 2013 and 2Q 2012 as measured by percentage to illustrate any market shifts that may be occurring. For example, the market share of the $1K-$500K was 21.3 percent (in pie chart), 4.1 percent less (in column chart) than 25.4 percent in the year ago quarter.

· Sub $500k market lost share (4.1 percent) likely due to lack of supply and tight credit.  Too soon in the data to see rise in mortgage rates but expect more weakness. · $501k to $4M or middle, upper middle of market showed slight gains from a year ago—something we haven’t seen in quite a while.  This is nearly 3/4 of the entire market so “middle” is quite a broad description. · $4M+ showed mixed results but generally unchanged.

With rising mortgage rates and little gain in supply across much of the market, I suspect we will continue to see an erosion in market share at the entry level sales as more first time buyers get shut out.  I’d like to think the middle of the market would continue to improve in share—a market starting to see more trade-ups and lateral movement but perhaps not at the pace we’ve seen year to date.  The overhyped high end will probably muddle along in balance with no real change in supply.

 

 

http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2013/08/20/

 

 

 

52nd Armonk Art Show To Include 50 New Artists | Armonk Real Estate

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The  Armonk Art Show, consistently ranked among the top “fine art and design shows” in the New York area by Sunshine Artist Magazine, returns for its 52nd season on Sept. 28-29.

The show, which benefits the North Castle Public Library, runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., at Community Park, 205 Business Park Drive.

More than 185 juried artists will be featured in the show, including 50 new artists. They will display a broad spectrum of media, including oils/acrylics, water colors, mixed media, printmaking/drawing/pastels, sculpture, photography/digital art, wearable art and fine crafts.

There is free parking, and a food court. The library will show a free-art-themed film on Sept. 27, and the Fishtank Ensemble will perform on Sept. 28, at Whippoorwill Hall.

A road race, Jamie’s 5k Race for the Library, will also be run in conjunction with the show. It begins at 9:45 a.m. on Sept. 22.

For complete information, or to register for the 5k race/walk, visit the event’s website.

 

 

http://armonk.dailyvoice.com/events/52nd-armonk-art-show-include-50-new-artists

Jersey Leads in Mortgage Fraud Factors | Waccabuc Real Estate

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New Jersey was the only state to make it on all three top 10 lists for mortgage fraud and misrepresentation reported to MIDEX, potential collusion and property defaults, according to the LexisNexis® Risk Solutions 15th Annual Mortgage Fraud Report.

Five states appear on both the Investigation and Origination Mortgage Fraud Indices (MFIs) and the newly-established list of Property Default Rankings: Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Nevada and Ohio.1

Ohio, which ranked first on the Origination MFI list, with a ranking of 224, had more than two times the expected rate of fraud or misrepresentation based on origination volume.

“This year’s study suggests that the more shared problematic economic indicators a state has, the greater its financial challenges will be in the coming years,” said Tom Brown, Senior Vice President, Financial Services, LexisNexis. “With Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) mortgage regulations going into effect in January 2014, and demanding new rules for quality loans, it will be interesting to see what impact this has on overall mortgage defaults.”

Five states – Arizona, California, Florida, New Jersey and New York – occupy space on both the Investigation and Origination MFIs.

Eight states – Alabama, Delaware, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, New York and Vermont – rank highly on both Collusion Indicator Indices (CIIs) as areas with high percentages of potential non-arm’s length transaction activity.

Analysis of all loans investigated in 2012 and submitted to MIDEX shows a five-year high of 69 percent of all reports received having some type of application misrepresentation or fraud. Similarly, when focusing on just those loans originated in 2012, 61 percent report application misrepresentation and/or fraud. This is up from 49 percent of loans originated in 2011 and 43 percent in 2010.

For the first time in the study, a nationwide aggregation of available LexisNexis property data was used to determine states most likely suffering from the largest percentage of properties in default. Florida and Nevada experienced the most dramatic decreases in properties in default even though they were ranked first and fourth, respectively, on the list for 2012.

 

 

http://www.realestateeconomywatch.com/2013/09/