via mashable.com
10 Most Innovative Viral Video Ads of 2012 | Armonk NY Real Estate
Leave a reply
Tag Archives: Armonk Luxury Real Estate
FHA Audit Leads to Higher Fees | Armonk NY Real Estate
The results of FHA’s annual audit sent a shock wave through the nation’s housing community Friday afternoon as even agency officials could not confirm that the higher borrowing costs it will charge borrowers will enough to cover losses.
The FHA reported on Friday that its annual audit shows that even if it stopped making any new loans immediately, the agency doesn’t have enough in reserve to cover expected losses on loans already in its portfolio. The result would lead to a $16.3 billion net worth deficit.
The agency announced it will raise premiums and sell delinquent loans as it seeks to avoid taking aid from taxpayers for the first time in its 78- year history, but when asked whether those steps will be enough to overcome the deficit, FHA Acting Commissioner Carol Galante declined to speculate on whether these measures would be enough to keep the agency from seeking Treasury assistance.
“At this point in time, it’s literally impossible to say whether we will or won’t need a draw,” she said during a briefing for reporters in Washington. “We are doing this to increase the likelihood that we will not.” More than 17 percent of all FHA loans were delinquent in September. The agency has lost $70 billion on loans it insured from fiscal years 2007 through 2009.
Most of the FHA’s price increases will go into effect in January. The annual premium FHA charges borrowers in return for guaranteeing loans will rise by 10 basis points on new mortgages, an average cost of about $13 per month for borrowers. The agency also will no longer allow some borrowers to stop paying premiums after 10 years. FHA will also provide deeper levels of payment relief for borrowers who receive loan modifications to avert foreclosure.
In addition, FHA will expand short sales for defaulting borrowers and continue auctioning off at least 10,000 delinquent loans every quarter, urging investors who buy them to take steps to keep families in their homes.
The premium increase comes on top of a significant hike in mortgage insurance premiums and tighter credit standards enacted late last year and earlier this year. The higher costs are driving borrowers who can qualify to use conventional financing, which may be accelerating the deterioration of the quality its portfolio.
Earlier this year, FHA raised upfront mortgage insurance premiums to 1.75 percent of the amount borrowed, due at closing and raised annual mortgage insurance premiums to as high as 1.25 percent a per year. FHA also refused to lend to borrowers with FICO scores below 530 and instituted a 10 percent down payment requirement for those with scores between 530 and 580.
Following implementation of the new policies, use of FHA loans declined. In January, FHA transactions accounted for 27.3 percent of all home purchase transactions. FHA-financed transactions were only 25.9 percent in August, according to the Campbell Surveys/Inside Mortgage Finance Housing Pulse. Ellie Mae also reported that the FHA share of mortgage originations declined, from 29 percent in August 2011 to 17 percent in September 2012. During the same period, conventional mortgages increased their market share of new from 61 to 72 percent.
Higher borrowing costs will affect first-time buyers more than others. FHA mortgages were used by 46 percent of first-time buyers in 2011. In September, the media FICO score of FHA borrowers was 701, according to Ellie Mae, whose software platform processes about 20 percent of all U.S. mortgage originations.
“Conventional mortgages are making a comeback while FHA mortgages are not,” said Thomas Popik, research director for Campbell Surveys in September. “Reasons for the growth in conventional mortgages include low rates, increased underwriting of high LTV mortgages by private mortgage insurers, and a price structure including insurance premiums that is cheaper than the FHA alternative.”
Housing organizations across the spectrum issued statements of concern about the audit. “While there is no doubt that the housing finance system needs to be reformed, the contributions that the FHA has made during this economic downturn underscore the need for a government backstop for both the primary and secondary mortgage markets. In times of crisis, private financial institutions have fled the marketplace and consistently failed to step up to the plate. Without government support for home purchasing and refinancing, the nation’s mortgage markets will grind to a halt, throwing the economy back into recession,” said Barry Rutenberg, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB).
Mike Calhoun, president of the Center for Responsible Lending, said, “FHA has already instituted changes so that its current and more recent loans are projected to generate a profit. Those safeguards, along with the additional changes FHA announced today, should produce the additional revenue that will enable FHA to operate without a subsidy from taxpayers. Further restrictions, however, would undercut the ability of FHA to fulfill its mission.”
Said Debra W. Still, CMB, Chairman of the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA): “While everyone had hoped for a better report, the news that the Fund has gone negative is not wholly unexpected, as last year’s report predicted there was a 50 percent likelihood this would occur. The characteristics and stresses on FHA’s pre-2010 books of business continue to be the source of losses, while books from 2010 onward are performing well.
“The good news is that the steps that FHA has taken to better manage its risk in recent years have succeeded in vastly improving loan performance on more recent vintages. The industry welcomed many of those changes and believes that policymakers can take further steps that would stabilize FHA single family programs, starting with a rigorous look at the data driving the actuarial results and an open, robust discussion over the future of the government’s role in housing finance.”
“Given the significant role that housing plays in the economy, policymakers need to take a long-term, holistic approach to housing finance reform and carefully gauge how it affects other efforts under way to get the nation’s fiscal house in order and achieve long-term economic growth.”
A Glimpse Into Mobile Measurement and Apps Today and Tomorrow | Armonk NY Homes
We recently teamed up with ClickZ to learn how marketers around the world are approaching mobile marketing and measurement, and where it’s headed next. We hope these stats will provide useful context for your planning in the coming year. Here are some of the key takeaways:
Mobile is now an important part of the integrated marketing mix
Mobile is no longer an add-on to a campaign, and for many it’s increasingly becoming a central focus.
- 87% of marketers are planning to increase emphasis on mobile during 2013, and belief in the power of mobile is rapidly growing stronger.
- Marketers have a broad mix of mobile tactics planned in the next year:
- 52% plan to create a mobile- or tablet-optimized website
- 48% plan to increase engagement in mobile advertising
- 41% hope to develop a mobile app
- 39% are planning to market a mobile app
For many, mobile measurement is still new territory
- More than half (59%) of marketers consider themselves either novice or inexperienced when it comes to measuring mobile. This presents an opportunity for organizations to invest in training and education today to stay ahead of the curve tomorrow.
- 58% of marketers are currently accountable for mobile metrics, and more than one-third are already sharing internal dashboards to show mobile marketing results.
Mobile measurement unlocks new opportunities
- 53% of marketers who analyzed their mobile metrics say there is a lot of untapped opportunity and plan to increase their mobile spending.
- Tools, technologies and talent are in demand: 68% of marketers plan to increase technology investment and ad spend, and 32% plan to focus more in talent.
A deeper look at mobile app measurement
Here’s a look at the mobile app-related metrics that marketers say matter the most to them:As shown above, marketers are interested in measuring the full app lifecycle, which we’re excited to see as our new Mobile App Analytics covers a majority of the desired metrics marketers are seeking.The opportunity for marketers
This research shows the opportunity that mobile offers app developers and marketers to reach consumers on the go. Effective measurement across mobile sites, ads and apps will help marketers create winning strategies. Mobile’s role in marketing is becoming a central part of integrated campaigns and will only continue to grow. We know that marketers want simple tools that help them seamlessly integrate mobile into their marketing and measurement, and we’re working hard to create robust tools to help.
Treasury Bond Demand Most This Year on Fiscal-Cliff Concern | Armonk NY Homes
Treasury 30-year bond yields fell to a two-month low as the U.S. received the highest demand this year at an auction of the debt amid concern lawmakers risk pushing the economy into recession over a budget showdown.
The difference in yields between 10- and 30-year debt narrowed to the least since August with demand for the bonds, as measured by the number of bids submitted compared with the amount of debt sold, the highest since December. Treasuries have risen since the re-election of President Barack Obama and a split Congress on concern they’ll be unable to compromise and avoid a series of automatic tax increases and spending cuts that have become known as the fiscal cliff.
Today’s auction was the final of three offerings of coupon-bearing securities by the Treasury this week totaling $72 billion. Photographer: Ken Cedeno/Bloomberg
Austan Goolsbee, a professor at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business and a former chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, talks about the re-election of President Barack Obama and the outlook for new tax and entitlement legislation. Goolsbee speaks with Betty Liu on Bloomberg Television’s “In the Loop.” (Source: Bloomberg)‘The strong auction reflects strong demand,’’ said Priya Misra, head of U.S. rates strategy at Bank of America Corp. in New York, one of the Federal Reserve’s 21 primary dealers that are required to bid on the auction. “If you are worried about the fiscal cliff, the place to be is the long end of the Treasury curve, as the yield there has more room to fall.”
The yield on the current 30-year bond dropped six basis points, or 0.06 percentage point, to 2.77 percent at 2:13 p.m. New York time, according to Bloomberg Bond Trader data. The price of the 2.75 percent security maturing in August 2042 rose 1 6/32, or $11.88 per $1,000 face value, to 99 19/32.
The U.S. faces $1.2 trillion in mandated spending cuts and tax increases starting Jan. 1 if Congress can’t agree to reduce the deficit, which totaled $1.09 trillion in fiscal 2012. The Congressional Budget Office has said the world’s biggest economy would slow by as much as 0.5 percent next year if Congress fails to prevent the measures from kicking in, pushing the economy over what’s become known as the fiscal cliff.
As Obama was re-elected this week, Republicans maintained control of the House of Representatives and Democrats held on to a Senate majority.
Auction Yield
The 30-year bonds sold today drew a yield of 2.82 percent, compared with a forecast of 2.848 percent in a Bloomberg News survey of nine primary dealers. The bid-to-cover ratio, which gauges demand by comparing total bids with the amount of bonds offered, was 2.77, versus an average of 2.59 for the past 10 sales.
Indirect bidders, an investor class that includes foreign central banks, purchased 45.4 percent of the bonds sold today, compared with 26.5 percent at the October sale, which was the lowest level since August 2011, and an average for the past 10 offerings of 32.6 percent.
Direct bidders, non-primary dealer investors that place their bids directly with the Treasury, purchased 12.4 percent on the bonds, versus 14.2 percent at the last sale and an average of 14.4 percent for the past 10 auctions.
Thirty-year bonds have returned 4.3 percent this year, compared with a 2.4 percent gain in the broader U.S. Treasuries market, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch indexes.
Final Sale
Today’s auction was the final of three offerings of coupon- bearing securities by the Treasury this week totaling $72 billion.
The U.S. sold $24 billion of 10-year debt yesterday at a yield of 1.675 percent and auctioned $32 billion of three-year notes on Nov. 6 at a yield of 0.392 percent. Both sales drew lower demand than at previous offerings. Investors bid for 2.59 times the amount of securities available yesterday, versus 3.26 times at the auction in October. For the three-year sale, the figure dropped to 3.41, from 3.96 a month earlier.
“There is definitely concern out there, given the policy and economic uncertainties, and even at these low yields investors are willing to pay up to get the long end,” said Jason Rogan, director of U.S. government trading at Guggenheim Partners LLC, a New York-based brokerage for institutional investors.
Quantitative Easing
Long-bond yields fell yesterday the most in 11 weeks as Obama’s re-election also fueled speculation the Fed will keep buying Treasuries.
The Fed purchased $2.3 trillion of Treasuries and mortgage- related bonds in two rounds of quantitative-easing stimulus from 2008 to 2011 and has begun a third effort. The central bank announced Sept. 13 it would buy $40 billion a month of mortgage- backed securities until the outlook for the labor market improves “substantially.”
Fewer Americans than forecast filed claims for unemployment insurance last week as the effects of Hurricane Sandy started to show up. Applications for jobless benefits fell by 8,000 to 355,000 in the week ended Nov. 3, the Labor Department said today in Washington. A Bloomberg News survey had forecast claims for jobless benefits increased by 2,000 to 365,000 last week.
via bloomberg.com
How to Get Started with Social Media Marketing | Armonk NY Real Estate
Social media is changing everything. How we communicate, do business and read our news.
The biggest change to business is that it is democratizing marketing. Marketing is no longer monopolized by mass media, expensive printing firms or marketing agencies that controlled access to your customers and prospective audience.
You are now free to create and publish and market your own 30 second advertisement on YouTube and the world can watch.
Your brand now has its own TV channel
You can publish your own articles and educate your customers with posts created on your blog.
You “are” the publisher.
Then you can engage, distribute and market to your customers and prospects on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
You now “own” your marketing distribution platforms and they are called social networks.
You can gain control over your marketing. It is the end of business as usual.
The Challenges
We as humans are slow to change but technology is changing rapidly with the pace accelerating. Radio took 38 years to reach 50 million users while Facebook added 200 million users in less than 12 months.
CEO’s and management are struggling to cope with the pace of the shift. This is also a cultural challenge.
We think that we are competing with a store across the street or in the same suburb but modern logistics, online stores and the social web are creating competitors in Canada, Korea and Hong Kong and across the globe.
Getting noticed in a daily torrent of over 1.5 billion new pieces of content , more than 200 million tweets and 1.5 million new YouTube videos is like being a grain of sand on the beach. It is hard to stand out.
Online business and appearing high in Google search results is often touted as easy as printing your own money if you believe the spammers and scammers. The reality is much different but there are ways to move your brand and business from invisible to visible.
The Solutions
Many businesses still have not noticed the tsunami wave of change as we move to a digital world. From a distance it looks like a ripple on the ocean. That wave will soon reek havoc unless you have planned for its arrival.
So we need to embrace the world of an increasingly digital and social web. The solutions and answers are increasingly found online.
Accept the fact that most people will find you or your business on a Google search, an email from a colleague or a friend telling you on Facebook.
Social networks and social media are the game changers.
Why Use Social Media Marketing?
The real power of social media marketing lies in its amplification of your message as it is shared on an exponential and low friction web but there are some other reasons why you should step into the social media game.
- It accelerates the speed of your brand message and story. Tweets can be sent in a second while publishing a brochure takes weeks.
- It is networking on steroids (It takes you beyond the Dunbar limitation of 150 connections on a global scale and empowers weak ties)
- It makes self publishing easy and intuitive
- It enlists the power of “World of Mouth”
- It facilitates trust
Any one of these on their own are reason to throw your marketing chips on the table.
Core Social Media Marketing Principles
Social media marketing is not a one way conversation, pushing your product or corporate speak.
It is about creating content that engages and builds online tribes that crowd source your marketing and online conversations.
There are also some core principles in building a long lasting social media marketing foundation that will survive a Facebook meltdown.
- Create “Liquid” (Content that flows and is easily shared) and “Linked” (content that is linked to your core brand values) content
- Publish to multiple social networks with your core content residing on your website and blog.
- Create compelling “Multi-Media Content (not everyone wants to read a 400 word article but would view that same content on YouTube or Slideshare)
- Embrace visual communication marketing with images and videos published on Facebook, Google+. Pinterest or Instagram
- Make it easy to share with sharing buttons for Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest and Google+
This will provide the bedrock of compelling contagious content that will be shared and will bring your customers and prospects back for more. These digital assets will be indexed by Google and other search engines that will provide enduring and long lasting benefits.
The Two Step Social Media Marketing Program
Social media marketing is not a one trick pony and approaching with the singular tactic of just publishing a Facebook Page is a risky approach and will not produce any substantial benefit.
Firstly create a social media marketing strategy that defines your audience and marketing goals
Secondly implement tactics on multiple social media channels that set out to deliver on achieving results congruent with that strategy.
You only need to look at the approach taken by the Old Spice brand which was one of the best integrated social media marketing campaigns in recent memory to realize what power a multi-channel and multi-media social media marketing strategy can bring to the table.
Some tips and tactics for social media marketing.
- Blog – Create a home base for your content that you own
- Facebook – include visual content when publishing to your timeline and use it to build engagement with your fans
- Twitter – Learn the art of the headline as you only have 140 characters to tweet (including the link)
- YouTube – Create short videos (2 minutes was the norm but Old Spice videos moved the gateposts and 15-25 seconds is much more common
- LinkedIn – Embrace the power of “Groups” on LinkedIn to position you as an expert and thought leader
- Slideshare – Make your PowerPoints a visual marketing medium that people will download share and embed
- Pinterest – Create boards that suit your business product categories and have some visual sharing fun
- Instagram – Make it personal and humanize your brand as social media is about being human
Just one tip to finish. Keep giving away free content till it hurts!
Be Patient
Social media marketing is not a quick fix but needs to be built on the premise that a long term approach will build an online brand asset that keeps on giving long after your first tweet or YouTube video is published.
You will need to persist and continue to publish and build tribes and keep them nourished with content that educates, informs, entertains and inspires.
It is like building a home “one brick at a time”
Want to Learn How to Market Your Business and Brand on Social Networks?
My book – Blogging the Smart Way “How to Create and Market a Killer Blog with Social Media” – will show you how.
It is now available to download. I show you how to create and build a blog that rocks and grow tribes, fans and followers on social networks such as Twitter and Facebook. It also includes dozens of tips to create contagious content that begs to be shared and tempts people to link to your website and blog.
I also reveal the tactics I used to grow my Twitter followers to over 115,000.
You can download and read it now.
60
in Share
via jeffbullas.com
5 Tornado Ingredients that’ll Ensure Your Next Post Turns Viral | Armonk NY Homes
via problogger.net
Mobile Search for the Armonk NY Realtor | Armonk Luxury Properties
According to research from Email A/B Split Test Experiment | Email Marketing Strategy | Armonk NY Homes
No amount of experimentation can ever prove me right; a single experiment can prove me wrong.
– Albert Einstein (1879-1955)If you’ve been following my Marketing Over Coffee (MoC) blog series, you know that we’ve been running a little experiment here at the Factory. My first blog post introduced the experiment, which involved testing two MoC email templates against each other. The first template was very text-heavy and light on design. The second, which Blue Sky Factory designed, involved more HTML design, followed industry best practices, and was more polished and professional looking.
My second blog post revealed these two creatives and compared them against each other. I explained how, by all email best practices, the second template was “better” than the first. I then went on to outline how the A/B split test would work.
Previously Used Template
New Template
Let The Testing Begin!
The A/B split test was launched on September 22nd to 40% of the MoC email list. 20% of their list received the old template, while the other 20% received the new template. Subject line, From Name, email content and date/time of send were all completely identical so that the only factor we were testing was the actual template design. We allowed the A/B test to run for a sufficient amount of time, then gathered the email metrics to determine the winning email that would be sent to the remaining 60% of the list.
After letting the A/B test run for two hours, the new template had a slight edge on the old template. The old template had received an open rate of 9.8% and a click-through rate of 0.9%. The new template, however, had received an open rate of 11.6% and a click-through rate of 2.3%. Satisfied with these results, we sent the “winning” new template to the remainder of the list.
We continued to follow the results of the A/B test into the next day, and then something interesting happened…
It Turned Into A TIE!
Seriously, the results were almost identical. The old template finished strong with a 25.7% open rate and a 4.2% click-through rate, whereas the new template received a 27.0% open rate and a 4.7% click-through rate. The new template’s results were still slightly higher, but it certainly did not blow the old template out of the water. In addition, the MoC team tracked downloads of an OPML file on their site. MoC found that unique clicks from each email to the OPML file were almost identical from the two templates, while there were more repeat clicks to the file from the old template than the new template.
What We Learned
What a colossal waste of time, you may be thinking. Not so! What we learned from this experiment was that industry best practices do not necessarily work for all audiences. To learn what works for your email recipients, you must Test, Test, Test! Not all audiences will respond to the same type of subject line, call-to-action, email design, landing page, etc. Test different types with your own email recipients, and use what works best for your email campaigns.
So What Now?!?
With these inconclusive results in mind, what does Marketing Over Coffee plan to do moving forward? After speaking with Chris Penn, one of the co-hosts of MoC, about the A/B test results, they plan on using a “hybrid” email template for future campaigns. They will use the design and look of the new template, and apply that to the “barebones simplicity” of the old template. This will help MoC to maintain the polished, professional look of the new template, while keeping the email template easy to use for the MoC team.
Intrigued by this experiment and want to conduct your own? Click here to read how to get started with your own A/B test. Ready to run a creative A/B test of your own? Check out our creative portfolio to see what our team can do, and contact us if you’re ready to start experimenting!
Joanna Lawson-Matthew
Account Manager, Blue Sky Factory
Armonk NY Weekend Real Estate Report | RobReportBlog | Armonk NY Homes
Armonk NY Real Estate | RobReportBlog
63 homes available
$1,450,000 median price
$14,995,000 high price
$469,000 low price
$412 average price per foot
205 average DOM
5009 average size
More Homeowners Under Water With Their Mortgages | Armonk NY Homes – Robert Paul’s blog
Sometime, somehow, the foreclosure crisis will ease. But probably not anytime soon.
Home prices dropped 2.6% nationwide during the last three months of 2010, pushing more borrowers underwater, according to a quarterly real estate market survey from Zillow.com.
Now 27% of homeowners with mortgages owe more than their homes are worth. That’s up from 23.2% a quarter earlier.That will surely lead to higher foreclosure rates soon. That’s because being underwater is second only to unaffordable payments in leading to foreclosure, according to Zillow’s chief economist, Stan Humphries.
Additionally, the report found that more than one-third of all homes were sold at a loss in December. That trend has been on a steady uptick for the past six months, as homeowners try to find ways around foreclosure or out from under their homes.
The so-called “robo-signing” events of the fall also forced the number of underwater mortgages higher.
When banks’ foreclosure paperwork came under scrutiny, many halted all repossessions until they could straighten things out. With foreclosures no longer being cleaned out of the system, more homes stayed underwater rather than moving on to foreclosure.
Full Story
Armonk NY Homes
Armonk Luxury Homes