Tag Archives: Armonk Realtor

Armonk Realtor

Average home prices rose 5.5% the past 12 months | Armonk NY Homes

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House for sale 

In this Jan. 5, 2013, photo a “for sale” sign is seen outside a home in Glenview, Ill. Average U.S. rates on fixed mortgages rose this week but remained near record lows, keeping home buying more affordable. (Photo: Nam Y. Huh AP)

Story Highlights

  • Home prices in the 20-city index slid 0.1% in November from October
  • Only NY shows year-over-year drop
  • Low supply contributes to higher prices

Home prices rose 5.5% in the 12 months through November, providing more evidence of a recovering housing market, a closely-followed report showed Tuesday.

The Standard & Poor’s Case-Shiller index of 20 major cities showed prices rising in 19 of the 20 cities for the 12-month period. Prices fell only in New York — by 1.2%.

Compared with October, the index showed a 0.1% decline.

“Housing is clearly recovering,” said David Blitzer, chairman of the home price index committee.

The November numbers were stronger than October with 10 cities posting gains month to month. Only seven cities showed monthly gains in October’s Case-Shiller report. Declines in 10 cities are not unexpected for November because of winter weather and normal seasonal slowdowns in housing markets.

In Phoenix, which has led the recovery, home prices posted the strongest monthly gain, up 1.4%. San Francisco also saw a 1.4% rise. Minneapolis followed with 1%. Chicago was among the weakest with a 1.3% drop in November from October.

The housing market helped pulled the economy into recession in 2007 but it has finally emerged as a bright spot in the economy. Prices are rising as are both new and existing home sales.

Case-Shiller’s data shows the Southwest — represented by Phoenix and Las Vegas — have the strongest home price gains while Southeastern cities Miami and Tampa are close behind. Year over year, Phoenix prices are up almost 23%.

California’s cities are also showing strong improvment but the Northeast and Midwest are lagging.

Other home price data also show increases for last year that came in higher than most economists expected.

Prices are being propelled by several factors.

In December, the nation’s supply of homes for sale fell to a 4.4 months, based on that month’s sales pace. That was the lowest level since May 2005, the National Association of Realtors says.

The supply situation, which has been tightening for six months, has led to multiple bids for houses in some markets.

“Any new listings are getting eaten up right away,” says EJ Bowlds, managing broker for Coldwell Banker Bain in Mercer Island, Wash. Multiple offers of 6 to 10 per home are now common, he says.

A slowly improving economy and low interest rates, which ticked up slightly to 3.42% the week ended Jan. 24, are also fueling demand.

Prices are expected to keep moving higher this year, many economists and market watchers say.

Prices will rise an average of 3.1% in 2013, according to the most recent survey of more than 100 economists and real estate experts surveyed by market watcher Zillow.

“We have probably hit bottom and we’ve probably come off the bottom a little,” says Lawrence White, economist at New York University Leonard N. Stern School of Business.

 

 

via usatoday.com

 

5 Twitter Tips — Setting Up for Success | Armonk Real Estate

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Social Media continues to see substantial growth among companies cementing Twitter and the other social media tools as serious business resources and not just a passing trend. Companies are realizing the need for a Twitter page to provide useful information linking back to their business. Here at Power Ten, Inc., it never surprises me, that while performing an evaluation of a company’s social media usage, many businesses overlook taking simple yet important steps to help make Twitter as beneficial as it can be. Keeping Twitter up-to-date is simple and can be a great tool for keeping your brand in front of its audience. The following are 5 easy tips that can help you use Twitter successfully.

  1. Keep your handle simple. Whether you are a company or an individual make it easy for people to find and interact with you, choose a straightforward handle. For Power Ten, Inc., we use @powerteninc as our handle. Due to the length of your name, it may not completely fit so @CorsairEng was chosen for one of our clients at Corsair Engineering Inc.
  2. Use your company logo, or an image that is well connected with your company as your photo. It is important that the logo or picture is clear and crisp (high resolution). In some examples I’ve noticed that the profile picture is pixilated or blurry. This is because a file that was too large or small for the profile image was used. There are several programs that can be used to size your logo correctly such as Photoshop, Inkscape, or even a web application such as Pixlr.
  3. Make sure to include your company URL. If a user is viewing your Twitter page, there is no better way to drive them to your website than by featuring your company’s URL on your Twitter profile. Twitter profiles provide the opportunity for you to include a clickable link to your website. This link will also provide another link back to your website for increasing your Google search placement.
  4. Fill out tour Twitter bio. Tell people who you are and what your company does. The company description should briefly answer these questions and can use @mentions of key people at the company.
  5. Finally, connect with people and connect regularly. Companies often send out Twitter updates and don’t build connections. Twitter is a platform where you can speak to anyone (using the @mention) about any topic using the #hashtag for subject. This is one place where it isn’t bad to be a follower. Follow people and companies you want to know about and connect with, reach out to them and connect.

The best way to get maximum results from Twitter is to use it. Don’t worry about making mistakes, if they do happen, learn from them and move on. Begin by following, retweeting, mentioning and sharing, this will get you going and help raise your comfort level. After you have established your desired level of comfort, move on to creating your own content. Remember, as with any marketing or advertising, be patient, your company on Twitter may not be an overnight sensation, but it can help position you for the masses to see.

via socialmediatoday.com

Armonk NY Area Low Sales Price for 2012 | Armonk NY Homes

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Armonk NY Area Low Sales Price for 2012  |  Armonk NY Homes

2012 Low Sales Price
Katonah$365,000.00
Mt Kisco$262,500.00
Bedford Hills$263,000.00
Bedford Village$418,500.00
North Salem$125,000.00
South Salem$185,000.00
Pound Ridge$355,000.00
Chappaqua$225,000.00
Armonk$150,000.00
via trulia.com

Trulia’s mobile app for agents gets social media capabilities | Armonk NY Real Estate

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<a href=The added exposure gives up to four times more views than Trulia property listings without check-ins, said Heather Fernandez, Trulia’s vice president of agent services.

Trulia first released a mobile app for agents for the iPhone that featured property check-ins and lead notifications in December, 2011.

The following August, Listing syndicator ListHub instituted a policy restricting the use of listings in agent tools, including mobile apps designed for real estate agents by Trulia and others.

The change was required under the terms of a new syndication agreement between Trulia and ListHub’s parent company, Realtor.com operator Move Inc.

Although ListHub is the largest syndicator of listings data to third-party sites like Zillow and Trulia, those sites can also get listings directly from multiple listing services and brokers.

via inman.com

4 affordable improvements to make to your home now | Armonk NY Real Estate

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Samuel Johnson once wrote that “[t]o be happy at home is the ultimate result of all ambition, the end to which every enterprise and labour tends.” Unfortunately, over the generations, we have managed to figure out loads of ways to be very unhappy at and because of our homes, whether because we overextend ourselves on our mortgages, procrastinate on needed repairs or live in homes with features that are less than optimally functional for our lives.

Now’s a perfect time of year to create a plan for how you can tweak and hack your home to be a happier place. Here are a few inexpensive suggestions:

1. Paint like a scientist. Studies show that painting rooms colors that are consistent with their purpose actually makes a home’s residents happier than they were before the paint job. Spending a weekend shifting to crisp and clean green bathrooms, soothing blue or cream bedrooms, and warm browns, golds, oranges and reds for dining and living areas turns out to be one of the least expensive ways you can use your home to give your family an emotional boost.

2. Fix (or toss) what’s broken. If your coffee machine has been sitting on the counter for four months waiting on a trip to the repair shop, you have drawers that don’t close all the way, your dining table wobbles or your shower needs regrouting, you are incurring a little drain of energy, getting a little injection of frustration every single time you look at or try to use these items. Throw out or repair items that don’t work — stat. Just let them go.

Then, create a little inventory for home projects that need to happen, and get a handyman or the appropriate contractors on the horn and get bids so you can budget and plan for getting them done.

If someone in your home is a big do-it-yourselfer, negotiate an agreement that she will have X items fixed by Y date or you will call out a repairperson.

In any event, at least get the bids on the repairs; you might be surprised at how quickly and inexpensively they can get five or 10 little repairs done on a weekend, and your in-house do-it-yourselfer might decide that her time is more precious than the repair costs.

Same goes for situational setups that are simply not working for your life and your activities: If your office space or your kids’ rooms are overflowing with clutter, after you purge (see No. 4, below), explore the many built-in and off-the-shelf storage solutions that are affordable and can render this space much more functional.

Generally, get aggressive about setting up each of your home’s rooms to help your family optimally experience whatever purpose that room is designed for: Research how you can maximize your bedroom’s restfulness, your living room’s conversationality, your office’s efficiency and your dining area’s coziness.

3. Trick out your trims. If you’ve ever done a soup-to-nuts remodel of your home’s exterior and/or landscaping, you know that there’s nothing like the feeling of driving up to your house at the end of the workday and simply loving the way it looks. But what if you don’t have a ton of cash to drop on a complete curb appeal overhaul? I believe one of the most underestimated ways to change the way your home looks is to focus on the trims:

  • Get a new door or just paint the door and get a new knocker, handle or kickplate.
  • Refresh with new house numbers.
  • Install exterior shutters, or paint existing shutters an entirely new color.
  • Get new outside lights.
  • Paint all the eaves and trims in a bold new color scheme.

You’ll be amazed; painting a home’s front door, eaves, shutters and trims can make the entire home look like it’s had a fresh paint job.

4. Purge. I used to buy my homes around my stuff. Since downsizing by 1,000 square feet a few years back, though, I’ve learned the delights of constantly pruning my possessions. Books, papers, clothing — these things accumulate as if through their own volition, and can create clutter and claustrophobia, the feeling that you have much less space than you truly do and the feeling of being trapped under a daunting pile of stuff you rarely, if ever, use.

If you crave to purge your stuff and simply seem to never get started make a game of it. Last year, I decided to get rid of 100 things in one month. The number 100 is uber-accessible, and if you give yourself a full month to do it, that can also help you feel confident that this is a mountain you can tackle.

Ultimately, I stopped counting at right around 250 items. The feeling of clearing and the sensory rest all that empty space in your home will create are both addictive sensations — once you get started, I believe you’ll find it easy and even exciting to get rid of things you no longer use or need.

via inman.com

5 New Content Types to Try in 2013 | Armonk Real Estate

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Break out the fireworks, shiny hats and confetti! It is time to say goodbye to 2012 and hello to the New Year and your 2013 resolution. As 2013 begins, consider how you can spice up your website or blog with new content ideas to inspire and excite your readers. Although most content found online is the written – or in this case the typed word, readers are more prone to share visually stimulating and interesting content that not only explains but also helps them to understand easily and quickly. Try the five content types below and become a resource for your site visitors this year.

Infographic

Infographics are exactly that: a visual presentation of information or data.  The art of designing and creating infographics includes combining large amounts of statistical information with easy to understand visuals. This creative way of presenting data has continued to gain popularity and is frequently used by magazines, newspapers and blogs. Readers prefer them to lengthy paragraphs because infographics make it easy to gather and comprehend facts quickly.

Well-designed infographics are centered around one topic, visually interesting and present a whole picture. From an in depth look at diabetes to a breakdown of who uses Instagram, infographics are optimized for easy comprehension and retention. A strategically executed infographic is not only interesting and informative, but plays to the psychology behind visual cues like color, shape, and shiny things.

Video

With basic video editing technology coming standard on computers and most phones, videos offer an easy alternative to traditionally written content.  Add video producer and director to your job description by filming and editing a video then posting it online directly from your iPhone.

Whether you are pulling at heartstrings or tickling a funny bone, make your viewers feel something to encourage sharing. According to Mashable.com, videos are shared twelve times more than links and text on social media sites. Making them a perfect option for blogs and websites to introduce written content, give examples, share tutorials or tell an entire story.

Problem Solvers

Many readers look to blogs and websites for information or to learn how to solve a problem. Consider what your readers are looking for and give them the answers – become a resource.

Try an instructional “How To” piece of content that explains each step in a process. Or write a FAQ post with answers to commonly asked questions from your readers. If you produce content for runners or athletes, consider publishing recipes for energy packed meals. Do you write a blog focused on the home? Try giving tips for better room organization or decoration. Think about the issues your readers may be having and help solve them. Keep in mind, successful problem solving content is easy to read and often bulleted or numbered.

Analysis

There aren’t many things in the world that can’t be analyzed. Consider recent news that can have an affect on your readers. Examine current issues or industry changes. Give the facts and your opinion. If possible, gather information from other professionals and showcase both sides of the debate. Are you a financial institution? Construct a post regarding the pros and cons of a simple IRA. Do you aspire to be THE place to find sports updates? Compare the offensive playbooks of Notre Dame and the University of Alabama for the BCS National Championship game. Basically, do more that just present the facts. Give your readers something to think about.

Prezi

Prezi is a zooming demonstration software that creates presentations that are a balance of minute details and the bigger picture. Each tells a story by magnifying small portions of a larger image. Prezi works to transform traditional presentations into unique conversations, making them an interesting addition to a website or blog. Each presentation works as a flowing, interactive storyboard that switches the viewer’s focus between a bird’s eye view and a magnifying glass. Specifically, Prezis are great for presentations, education, or to graphically explain a large amount of information.

Quick Tip

Don’t forget to share your content over your social media profiles and other sharing sites like Digg, Delicious and StumbleUpon. By further pushing out your content onto the Internet, your infographics, videos, and posts have a better chance at reaching more readers.

Whether you have been creating interesting content for years or are just starting your own blog, give your readers something new to read this year. By varying the types of content you provide, you keep your readers engaged, invested and coming back for more.

Author Bio: Erika Karas is a Junior Account Associate at Search Influence a digital marketing firm in New Orleans, Louisiana. It is the never-ending domino effect of communication and engagement that makes her love of marketing burn so bright. When she isn’t working in the wild word of SEO and Google search rankings, she can often be found at her oven trying a new recipe or exploring the world through her camera.

The post 5 New Content Types to Try in 2013 appeared first on Viralheat Social Media Strategy Blog.

via socialmediatoday.com