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Latest from Brynwood Development in Armonk | Armonk Homes

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August 23rd, 2013

Dear Neighbor,

 

Over the past several weeks many of you may have received inflammatory e-mails from a new group bearing the name “Responsible Development in North Castle, LLC”. The group described its mission as one that “…hopes to strengthen the Town’s approval process by utilizing the skills and experience of local residents who have experience in real estate development and finance – and by keeping in touch with residents’ wishes.”

 

As its first “analysis”, this entity has embarked on a mission to scuttle the proposed re-development of the Brynwood club into an active adult community for affluent empty nesters. Regrettably, in email after email, this group has disseminated mis-information that is designed to cause confusion and unwarranted anxiety about the project.

 

As the late U.S. Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan so eloquently stated during one of his debates: “…one is entitled to his own opinions but one is not entitled to his own facts.” Here are the basic facts about Brynwood drawn from expert analyses submitted to the Town in the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS):

 

  • Brynwood’s plans call for the creation of a world-class country club community designed for affluent “empty nesters” and retirees. With a renovated golf course and new clubhouse, the residential community will offer a new housing alternative to baby boomers who want to stay in the area after their children have grown up and they have sold their large homes. Please click on www.brynwoodvision.com for more detail.
  • The project will generate (on a recurring basis) over $1 million of gross revenue and almost $700,000 in net revenue to the school district without any meaningful increase in school-age children.
  • Notwithstanding the fact that  Brynwood  has drilled test wells and established its own water supply, it has offered to explore  joining the Windmill Farms water district and may contribute over $1 million for that privilege – this would help reduce Windmill residents’ debt costs on their existing project to replace their water pipes  and improve their service.
  • The combination of condominium property taxes and the club-house’s property taxes paid to the Town will be approximately equal to the property taxes anticipated for single family homes — which are the alternative plan to the Brynwood country club community. However, on a net basis, the condominium plan generates far more to the town and the Byram Hills schools than a single family home subdivision.
  • The proposed plan calls for the preservation of over 140 of the 156 acres of green open space forever and the upgrade of an out of date facility.  It will maintain a valuable local amenity that has been fixture in North Castle since the 1960’s.
  • An active adult community with affluent residents who have substantial disposable income, will be an economic boon for Armonk’s merchants and other service providers in the surrounding area   Brynwood also happens to be one of largest employers in the area of local teenagers.

 

Should you have any further questions or comments, please contact us so we may respond to you directly. We believe in the Town of North Castle, deeply respect its careful approval process (through which we are currently navigating), and are committed to improving the lives of all who call it home — our success is closely tied to the Town’s and vice-versa. We hope you agree and see the merits of the Brynwood plan.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Jeffrey B. Mendell                Edward Baquero jbmendell@gmail.com         ebaquero@corigin.com

Downtown Armonk’s Water District seeks more water | Armonk Real Estate

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Downtown Armonk’s Water District seeks more water and more water storage, according to North Castle’s Director of Water and Sewer Operations, Sal Misti. Director Misti spoke with allaboutarmonk.com about North Castle’s Water District #4.

The Water District #4 includes customers in Whippoorwill Hills, Whippoorwill Ridge, Wampus Close, and downtown Armonk’s commercial accounts, a total of about 370 accounts. There are an additional 117 homes in Whippoorwill that are in Water District #5, which are supplied by Water District #4.

Water District #4 uses four existing wells. The two wells located in Armonk’s Community Park are in good shape. But because of the close proximity of these two wells, they can only be run efficiently one at a time. During peak usage periods, other sources of water are needed. Monthly water usage over the past three years, at peak times such as in July 2010, was recorded as 600,000 gallons per day. During the summer, irrigation systems put a strain on the water supply.

The two other District #4 wells are located on School Street. These original wells were built in 1991 by the US Environmental Protection Agency. One is in bedrock and the other is a gravel-packed well. They are located next to each other, but draw from two different aquifers. The gravel-packed well is developed with a screen in the bottom of a column with a pump inside packed with fine sand. The gravel filters the incoming water which develops into the water supply. The wells have a limited yield because they require treatment due to the presence of iron and magnesium in the water. The treatment limits the wells’ production to about 100 gallons of water per minute from both wells.

The underground water quality in the District’s property has been tested for possible future wells to increase the water supply to downtown Armonk. But building new wells for public water sources requires a significant amount of regulations and conditions for approval from Westchester County’s Health Department. Misti explained, “It is quite a task to get a municipal well approved, it takes years.”

There are two wells in the Whippoorwill Ridge area on Old Route 22 that were taken out of service about 12 years ago because of high iron content. These two will require some treatment, but could add about 45 gallons per minute. The hydrologists recommend bringing the Whippoorwill Ridge wells back online to add much needed water to the system. Months of work is required to fix them; a request for proposal is required for the necessary work to surge and clean the wells, change the filters, and check the pumps.

IBM built its own wells at Business Park field in 1960s. The IBM infrastructure was approved and then turned over to Water District #4 to become part of the distribution system. IBM donated the park property to the town’s water district and extended the water main infrastructure to Maple and Bedford Road. The main line was continued to Whippoorwill Ridge on Old Route 22, across Route 22 and up to IBM’s facility. Public water became available for the Old Route 22 area.

 

read more…

 

http://www.allaboutarmonk.com/development/

Here’s Kobe Bryant’s ‘United States of Generica’ McMansion | Armonk Homes

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“OH MY GAUD-Y.” “Like my mother-in-law’s condo, just more frilly.” “A plain faux French pizza palace.” “UNITED STATES OF GENERICA.” The commenters over at Curbed LA are a little more belligerent than usual in their assessment of the ultra beige, though still unambiguously nice (French pizza palace? now what does that even mean?) digs of L.A. hero and Lakers star Kobe Bryant. He and his wife Vanessa are unloading the gated, palm tree’d McMansion (a spare—he’s got a second one nearby) in Orange County they bought in 2001, asking$8.599M for four bedrooms and a pool that looks like it belongs at a Vegas hotel (and that, believe it or not, is a compliment). Also included? A hair salon, a theater (with lobby and wet bar), an 850-square-foot gym, and—cruelly not pictured—a library with a shark tank in it. Because, really, is a library without sharks really a library at all?

 

 

 

 

Here’s Kobe Bryant’s ‘United States of Generica’ McMansion – Celebrity Real Estate – Curbed National.

Industry push to raise visibility of home energy efficiency improvements | Armonk Real Estate

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Everybody in real estate knows the rap against “green” and energy efficiency improvements to existing homes: Owners can invest a lot of money and save on utility bills, but then when they go to sell they often find it’s tough to get paybacks through higher prices on their homes.

Complicating the situation is the fact that many multiple listing services do not have “green fields” in their listing formats to highlight energy efficiency improvements, so buyers who are potentially interested in high-performance homes can’t shop for them effectively. Then come the appraisers and lenders. In an era of appraisal management companies, assignments often are made based on low fees, and appraisers with no training in valuing green improvements either ignore them or give them only minimal upward adjustments. And when they try to give significant adjustments, underwriters often challenge them or simply ask for a revised, lower number.

Builders routinely market new homes carrying Energy Star, HERS, LEED and National Green Building Standard certifications, and buyers across the country recognize these as credible performance indicators. But purchasers of existing homes have no standardized guidance.

This is despite the fact that National Association of Realtors’ annual surveys of homebuyers and sellers have consistently found that buyers care about energy efficiency.

The 2012 survey, for instance, reported that 87 percent of buyers surveyed said a home’s heating and cooling costs were “important” or “very important” to them, whatever the age of the house. Energy efficient lighting and appliances also are seen as major pluses, with roughly 70 percent of purchasers ranking them important or very important

 

 

See more…

 

http://www.inman.com/2013/08/13/industry-push-to-raise-visibility-of-home-energy-efficiency-improvements/#sthash.d9jEKXNb.dpuf

Facebook Changes News Feed Algorithm | Armonk Realtor

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Welcome to our weekly edition of what’s hot in social media news. To help you stay up to date with social media, here are some of the news items that caught our attention.

What’s New This Week?

Facebook Updates the News Feed Ranking Algorithm: There are two new features to note regarding Facebook’s new news feed: Story Bumping and Last Actor. Both of these now ensure that Facebook users see more of the updates from the people they interact with.

“This update does a better job of showing people the stories they want to see, even if they missed them the first time.”

 

YouTube Rolls Out Live Streaming and More Channel Tools: Live streaming is rolling out for channels with 100+ subscribers. You can also choose and upload your favorite image to create your custom thumbnail. You can add annotations to your video to “link externally to various online stores and your associated websites.” And you can now mark your playlist as a “series”—YouTube will then show viewers of your videos the next episode from the series and a link to the whole playlist. If you’re on YouTube, be sure to check them out.

You can activate YouTube Live Streaming under your video manager channel settings

LinkedIn Introduces the Ability to Apply for Jobs on Mobile: LinkedIn makes “it possible for LinkedIn members to directly apply for jobs that interest them, right from their iOS or Android device.”

Facebook Launches Graph Search to Everyone in U.S. English: “Graph Search makes it easier to make new connections; you can continue to search for friends and pages by name, or use simple phrases to find something specific across people, photos, places, interests and more.” It is now available to everyone in the U.S. in English.

Southern California home market cools; prices remain flat | Armonk Real Estate

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The red-hot Southern California housing market finally got a dose of cold water.

The region’s median home price in July remained flat from a month earlier, at $385,000, real estate firm DataQuick said Wednesday. The figures followed a record-setting June, when the median price rose 4.6% over the previous month and 28% year-over-year, the highest percentage since DataQuick started tracking the statistic in 1989.

The cooling off came with a surge in the number of sales to an eight-year high, indicating a growing supply of homes that could steady the market after this year’s frenzy. Rising mortgage rates may also have propelled more buyers to close deals, fearful that rates could climb higher, the San Diego research firm said.

“We are slowly moving toward a normalized market,” said Stuart Gabriel, director of UCLA‘s Ziman Center for Real Estate.

The market nonetheless remained strong, with the median price up 25.8% from July 2012.

Prices have risen at a breakneck pace this year with an improving economy, a short supply of homes and heavy investor demand. The gains have frustrated many would-be buyers who found themselves on the losing end of bidding wars and raised questions about whether the market is getting overheated.

Many economists say the increases should moderate as the inventory crunch loosens. Rising prices, many have predicted, will spur new-home construction and lure more sellers into the market.

Rising mortgage rates should also eventually help cool the market. But rate increases could also spur more sales and price increases in the short term, as buyers look to get into the market before rates go up further. Mortgage rates have risen about 1 percentage point since the beginning of May.

Inventory has increased in all six Southern California counties last month from June, according to Realtor.com. Los Angeles County, for instance, saw 7.8% more home listings in July than a month earlier. Orange County inventory rose 8.4% last month.

 

Southern California home market cools; prices remain flat – latimes.com.

Must See Social Media Statistics | Armonk Realtor

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Social media marketing is not just a trendy word, it is fast becoming and in some cases already is a viable acquisition channel for most businesses.

In fact, Hubspot reports that 70% of business-to-consumer marketers have acquired a customer through Facebook.
If you are still having trouble convincing your boss that social media is worth the investment, here are 28 must see statistics for 2013 to make him/her jump on board.
YouTube
 
YouTube
photo credit: webtreats
This may be well-known now, but it’s worth mentioning that YouTube is the #2 search engine on the web making it one great resource for traffic and leads.
As a matter of fact, Zappos reports that YouTube drove 250,000 visits to its website in 2012.
If you have no clue where to start with YouTube, check out our Complete Guide to Video Marketing.
Another resource is an interview that David Siteman Garland with James Wedmore. James talks about how he finds keywords with high search traffic, creates videos for those terms, and ultimately turns those views into email leads.
1. 700 YouTube video links are shared on Twitter every minute (source: Relevancy Group)
 
2. 500 years of YouTube videos are watched on Facebook every day (source: Relevancy Group)
 
3. The equivalent of 100 hours of video is uploaded to YouTube each minute (source: Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers)
 
4. 99% of US online specialty retailers use YouTube, up from 93% in 2012 (source: L2)
 
Facebook
 
Facebook
photo credit: Scott Beale
With close to a billion active users on the site, Facebook is a behemoth in the social media world.
Amy Porterfield is an expert on Facebook Marketing and has a great blog post about how to increase fans on your page.
Also, if you haven’t looked into Facebook Ads, it’s one channel worth checking out. In fact, at SmartShoot we were able to attract more leads at half the price on Facebook than we were on Google Adwords.
5. 79% of social media log ins by online retailers are with Facebook, compared to 12% for Google+, and 4% for Twitter (source: Gigya)
 
6. Facebook will account for 13% of worldwide mobile ad revenue in 2013 (source: L2)
 
7. Facebook users share 2.5B pieces of content on the site each day (source: Nielsen)
 
8. 70% of business-to-consumer marketers have acquired a customer through Facebook (source: Hubspot)

 

 

Must See Social Media Statistics | Social Media Today.

Soaring real estate portal valuations are all about growth | Armonk Real Estate

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Zillow and Trulia are on a growth tear, their “market caps” — the value of outstanding common stock — soaring into the stratosphere in 2013. But like their older sibling, Move Inc., the companies have lost money, overall, since launching.

The three big listing portals all employ a similar business model — selling leads, advertising and tech services to real estate agents. And if Move has racked up a $2 billion net accumulated loss in its 20-year life, why do analysts think the younger startups will not only survive, but thrive?

Move (founded 1993)Zillow (founded 2005)Trulia (founded 2005)
Net accumulated loss through 2012$2.0 billion$71.7 million$47.1 million

Sources: Move, Zillow and Trulia 2012 annual reports.

The answer is projected growth, a focus on consumers, and faith in a new breed of management, analysts who follow the three companies say.

Looking back at the most recent four quarters, Move is still the leader in revenue. But Trulia’s market cap is nearly three times Move’s, and investors think Zillow is worth about six times as much as Move. In 2012, Zillow booked about $6 million in profits on $117 million in revenue, while Trulia lost $11 million on $68 million in revenue. According to its most recent annual report to investors, Move made $4.7 million on $199 million in revenue.

Revenue, market caps and projected revenue growth

CompanyRevenue, four quarters through second-quarter 2013Market cap, Aug. 9, 2013Projected 2013 revenue growth, percent
Zillow$152.1 million$3.24 billion60.0%
Trulia$92.8 million$1.41 billion73.3%*
Move$213.9 million$553.2 million14.2%

Source: Google Finance and firms’ earnings call transcripts. *Estimate generated by projecting 60 percent Q4 year-over-year revenue growth, in line with recent quarters, and using the midpoint of Trulia’s projected Q3 revenue: $31 million.

Their revenue might be less, but Zillow and Trulia’s blazing growth, both in terms of revenue and Web market share, trumps that of Move and realtor.com, which is operated by Move under a special agreement with the National Association of Realtors, through the second quarter.

“Investors are always going to pay more for growth,” said Bradley Safalow, founder and CEO of stock analysis firm PAA Research LLC, who covers all three companies.

Aaron Kessler, a stock analyst who covers Zillow for Raymond James Financial Inc., agreed: Zillow’s faster growth accounts for its much higher relative valuation.

The price of a share of Zillow stock has shot up 233 percent this year, and Trulia’s share price is up 158 percent. Move, too, is up 77 percent, as the housing rebound has stoked investors’ interest in many companies whose fortunes are tied to the real estate sector

– See more at: http://www.inman.com/2013/08/13/soaring-real-estate-portal-valuations-are-all-about-growth/#sthash.wIFi0T96.dpuf

Report: Office of the Supervisor- North Castle NY | Armonk Real Estate

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SUPERVISOR’S UPDATE August 12, 2013

I hope our North Castle families are enjoying the summer and getting some well-deserved time off with their families! As the second week of August begins, I would like to tell you about several improvements you will be seeing around town as well as update you on the status of several issues.

Ongoing Renovation of Winkler Park

As part of our commitment to take care of our parks, I am proud to report that we have made a lot of progress at Winkler Park.  Our wonderful Parks Department has been at work clearing brush, resurfacing the tennis and basketball courts, repairing and power-washing the playground, and cleaning up the parking lot.  The most exciting addition, however, is the new accessible fishing dock at the edge of the pond. The dock was built and donated to the Town by one of our very own Armonk Boy Scouts as part of his effort to become an Eagle Scout. The ramp to the dock allows easy accessibility and there is even enough room for a wheelchair to turn around. I have already seen a few people fishing there and enjoying the dock. Please remember that there is no swimming in the pond or jumping off the dock. If any other residents have ideas for community service projects, we are happy to help facilitate. Also if you are moved to new home or office, how long does mail forwarding last? You may expect that setting up a USPS mail forwarding is the exact opposite thing to stress over.

Road Repair/Paving

I have received several questions about the repaving of East Middle Patent Road, Byram Lake Road and others.   These roads were due for repair and we have resurfaced them using the industry standard method called “chip and seal” which includes several phases. This method is the ‘best demonstrated practice’ in rural road repair because it doubles the life of the existing road at a lower cost.   Instead of simply repaving with smooth blacktop, it includes the following steps: 1) a sticky blacktop slurry is applied which seals existing cracks, 2) loose “chips” are spread down and compacted into the slurry by auto travel, and 3) after a few weeks, the loose-remaining gravel is swept away by a sweeper truck. This method creates a slightly rougher but much tougher road: one that is able to withstand traffic and extreme weather better than smooth blacktop. In fact, it’s actually safer for cars in bad weather because it gives tires greater traction. I do apologize to all our North Castle bike riders for the interruption. Meanwhile, our Parks Department is working hard to bring our plan for a bike path to fruition!

CVS

As has been reported, the litigation against CVS and the Town by the Concerned Citizens was dismissed for lack of standing. Unfortunately, the Concerned Citizens have filed an appeal, increasing the Town’s already significant legal costs. CVS has decided to proceed with their redevelopment of the property in spite of the legal challenge and is now waiting to obtain D.O.T. permits to improve traffic flow into and out of their parking lot.

Litigation Report

Another legal matter has also been resolved in the Town’s favor. A former part-time employee had filed an employment-discrimination complaint with the New York State Division of Human Rights (SDHR) after she was terminated last year.  The SDHR dismissed her complaint, finding no evidence of discrimination by the Town. The replacement employee’s salary was approximately half of the previous employee’s salary. In its decision, the SHDR recognized the legitimacy of the Town’s basis for her termination: financial savings to the taxpayers.

Brynwood

A group named Responsible Development North Castle has sent out several emails regarding their views on Brynwood.  Other groups who support Brynwood may follow with their own emails. It is the Town Board’s responsibility to address these issues within the context of our legal mandate and not to engage in a public relations “back and forth.” My only request would be that our citizens be wary of efforts to sway their perspectives in one direction or another before they have the facts.  As of this time, no decisions have been made; we are adhering to the town’s legal process for examining such projects.

As always, if you have any comments, ideas or suggestions, we are more than willing to hear them. Meanwhile, my fellow Town Board members and I wish you and your family a healthy and relaxing summer.

Howard B. Arden

Supervisor

Office of the Supervisor

Phone: 914-273-3001 | Fax: 914-273-6936 | Email: supervisor@northcastleny.com

Why Your Brand Must Tell A Compelling Story | Armonk Realtor

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We think in story. It’s hardwired in our brain. It’s how we make strategic sense of the otherwise overwhelming world around us. – Lisa Cron, Wired for Story

It’s no longer enough to build a great looking web site that gets traffic.  Those are just the bare essentials and won’t take you very far.  In a world where we are inundated with inputs, your business and your brand must tell a compelling story. As human beings we’re wired for story.

Changing The Story on my About Page

A few days ago I came across an amazing article by Erika Napoletano about the 3 copywriting mistakes that are holding your business back.  When I looked  at it, I realized I was making all of those mistakes. So I decided to make some changes.

Here is the first version of my bio:

BLOGCAST FM founder/host Srinivas Rao has been a 2-time speaker at Blogworld Expo and was listed on Problogger’s annual list of 40 Bloggers to Watch in 2011. He’s a regular contributor to the adage 150 blog {GROW} and his work has been featured on Social Mouths, Write to Done, Dumb Little Man, Twitip, Kikolani, and many other social media and personal development blogs.

As you can see it was written in third person, and it’s just a list of my accolades. It’s not very relatable. There’s no sense of anticipation.

Below is the second version of my bio:

My name is Srinivas Rao and I’m a connector, instigator and corporate misfit who is allergic to cubicles and office buildings. I’m the guy you’ll hear shouting “let’s shift gears” in every episode of BlogcastFM. In other words I’m the host of the show.  I’ve never been particularly good at having a  ”real” job, been fired more than a handful of times, and if I wasn’t, I usually quit before I was going to be fired. It seems I was meant to set the world on fire instead. In April 2009 I graduated from business school, was completely

 

 

 

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http://www.searchenginejournal.com/why-your-brand-must-tell-a-compelling-story/67086/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+SearchEngineJournal+%28Search+Engine+Journal%29&utm_content=Yahoo%21+Mail