Tag Archives: Bedford Corners NY Real Estate

Bedford Corners NY Real Estate

Facebook Contests, How to Get Your Fans Excited | Bedford Corners Realtor

Have you ever run a Facebook contest?

Are you wondering if you should use them for your business?

To learn about Facebook contests, I interview Andrea Vahl for this episode of the Social Media Marketing podcast.

More About This Show

Social Media Marketing Podcast w/ Michael Stelzner

 

The Social Media Marketing podcast is a show from Social Media Examiner.

It’s designed to help busy marketers and business owners discover what works with social media marketing.

The show format is on-demand talk radio (also known as podcasting).

In this episode, I interview Andrea Vahl, co-author of Facebook Marketing All-in-One for Dummies.She regularly writes about Facebook for Social Media Examiner (in fact she was our community manager for 2 years), and has an alter-ego known online as Grandma Mary.

Andrea shares how a Facebook contest can work for your page and your business.

You’ll learn about the different contests available and what contest apps to use.

Share your feedback, read the show notes and get the links mentioned in this episode below!

Listen Now

You can also subscribe via iTunesRSSStitcher or Blackberry.

 Here are some of the things you’ll discover in this show:

Facebook Contests

Why should businesses run contests on Facebook?

When it comes to what contests can do for your Facebook page and your business, Andrea is a contest fan girl.

There are many benefits of running a contest and Andrea’s top three follow. You’ll hear the benefits of each and the best types of prizes to give away.

  1. Help grow the likes on your page and your Facebook presence
  2. Grow your email list
  3. Help promote a product you’re selling

Listen to the show to find out how we did a photo contest called Help Me Launch.

Examples of successful contests

Andrea shares a few success stories with Facebook contests and what range of prizes can develop good success.

Andrea helped set up a contest for a client on Facebook called Chocolate for Breakfast. It was a contest where the giveaway was a small box of premium chocolate truffles.

The contest was run for one week. From this, the client got 700 new fans and 400 email addresses. At the time, the page was at the early stages with around 1200 fans. So for the cost of the premium box of chocolates, the client got a huge response.

chocolate for breakfast truffles

The Chocolates for Breakfast prize was very well branded with the page.

The contest was on the client’s Facebook tab (like you’re supposed to do), and it required people to like the page to enter.

Discover how a contest on a tab works and what information people need to enter to participate.

It was a sweepstakes contest where you didn’t have to enter any photos, essay or video. It was a random-draw winner with anyone eligible to win.

You’ll hear how it was promoted and the frequency of the posts.

Another client of Andrea’s, Camp Bow Wow, did a contest called Bad to the Bone. They’re a doggy daycare facility and also have home buddies dog training courses that they give away.

 

 

Facebook Contests, How to Get Your Fans Excited | Social Media Examiner.

Home Depot piggybacks off housing recovery | Bedford Corners Real Estate

According to CNBC, Home Depot (HD) experienced a booming second quarter, with its net earnings surging to $1.8 billion, or $1.24 a share, in the second quarter, from $1.53 billion, or $1.01 a share, a year earlier.

“I know there’s been a debate lately about the strength of the housing market,” Brian Nagel, senior equity research analyst at Oppenheimer & Co., told CNBC’s Squawk Box. “I think the housing market is recovering quite well here. And I think Home Depot is capitalizing quite well.”

                    Source: CNBC

Michael Palladino-Designed Mansion on 218 Acres Asks $15.9M | Bedford Corners Real Estate

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Location: Santa Ynez, Calif. Price: $15,900,000 The Skinny: Designed by architect Michael Palladino, a design partner in Richard Meier & Partners Architects, this sprawling modernist mansion occupies a prime hilltop site amid 218 private acres of Santa Barbara wine country. Completed in 2005, the five-bed, five-bath spread is now listed for $15.9M, along with the aforementioned acreage, a separate guest suite, a two-bedroom cottage, a ranch manager’s house, an eight-stall horse barn, and extensive equestrian facilities. Though the current owner’s identity is disguised by a blind trust, the house is said to have been commissioned by Nancy Englander and Harold Williams, both former executives at the J. Paul Getty Trust and he the former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission. That the pair picked Meier’s office for their residence shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, considering Williams headed up the team that selected Richard Meier as the architect of the Getty Center.

 

 

read more…

 

http://curbed.com/archives/2013/08/22/michael-palladinodesigned-mansion-on-218-acres-asks-159m.php

 

 

 

How to Use Tumblr for Your Business | Bedford Corners Realtor

Are you wondering if Tumblr could help your business?

Are you unfamiliar with Tumblr and wondering how to get started?

Do you want to let a new set of customers share your brand or product on this social platform?

If so, keep reading as I reveal how to use Tumblr for your business.

Why Tumblr?

Tumblr is a blogging and social platform that houses more than 132 million blogs and is among the top 15 websites in the United States.

It’s website explains, “Tumblr lets you effortlessly share anything. Post text, photos, quotes, links, music, and videos from your browser, phone, desktop, email or wherever you happen to be. You can customize everything, from colors to your theme’s HTML.”

According to Quantcast, Tumblr received over 5.5 billion page views in May 2013 alone. With user numbers and popularity on the rise, it’s a perfect marketing tool for businesses that are trying to extend their reach and raise brand awareness.

Tumblr is quickly growing in popularity.

In this article I’ll show you how to get started using Tumblr in your online marketing strategy.

#1: Sign Up

Signing up is easy and can be done in minutes. Enter your email, choose a password and select a username. Try to get an exact match for your brand name or primary website URL. Alternatively, if you’re already established on Twitter, see if your Twitter username is available.

Provide Tumblr with accurate, complete and updated registration information.

Consider using the same avatar image on your Tumblr page that you use on your Facebook Page, Twitter account and other social media channels.

#2: Dress to Impress

First impressions matter. To build a solid brand presence on Tumblr, ensure you make a good impression and select a catchy design for your page.

There’s an abundance of free and paid themes on Tumblr. Choose from one-, two- and three-column or grid-style layouts and find a design that matches your image. Browse the available themes, select one that fits your business and install it in seconds.

Tumblr has a large library of free and premium themes to choose from.

Many themes allow for a considerable amount of customization to give you a unique look that’s perfect for punctuating your brand image. Compared to Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest, Tumblr is much more customizable and doesn’t require any serious programming abilities.

 

 

read more…

 

http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/tumblr-for-business/

Existing Home Sales Crush Expectations, Surge 6.5% | Bedford Corners Homes

Existing home sales crushed expectations climbing 6.5% in July to an annualized pace of 5.39 million units. This was up 17.2% year-over-year. 

June’s numbers were revised lower to show a 1.6% fall to 5.06 million units.

Meanwhile, total housing inventory was up 5.6% at the end of July to 2.28 million. This represents a 5.1-month supply at the current sales pace. The median time that most homes spend on the market was 42 days in July, this is up from 37 the previous month

The national median price for existing homes was 13.7% higher than a year ago at $213,500. This is the seventeenth straight monthly rise. A key finding was that first time buyers were down from 34% of all purchases a year ago, to 29% this time around.

Distressed homes, which include foreclosures and short sales accounted for 15% of July sales, the same as June.

Economists have been watching for the impact of the run up in mortgage rates on existing and new home sales. The 30-year mortgage rate stands at 4.4% according to Freddie Mac’s primary mortgage market survey (PMMS).

“Mortgage interest rates are at the highest level in two years, pushing some buyers off the sidelines,” said Lawrence Yun chief economist at NAR in a press release.

“The initial rise in interest rates provided strong incentive for closing deals.  However, further rate increases will diminish the pool of eligible buyers.”

Economists at Credit Suisse expect existing home sales to fall to the lowest level in three months and post the first consecutive decline in over two years.

“One percent increases in mortgage rates over a two-month span are rare,” they write. “When they have happened in the past, home sales — both existing and new — usually register a monthly decline in the second month of the two-month back-up (in our case, that’s July).”

But their July monthly survey of real estate agents showed that most buyers don’t expect mortgage rates to go much higher and they’re waiting to see if there’s a pullback in rates that could create a buying opportunity.

“There is still not a lot to choose from for homebuyers, and this tight inventory continues to limit sales gains.  Other headwinds include tight underwriting standards, protracted bank approval processes, and a delayed selling process.”

Existing home sales account for a larger share of the market than new homes.

 

 

Existing Home Sales Crush Expectations, Surge 6.5% – Yahoo! Finance.

Single-family home construction slips in July | Bedford Corners Real Estate

U.S. housing starts  rose 5.9 percent month over month in July to a seasonally adjusted rate of 896,000, and were up 20.9 percent from a year ago, according to a monthly report from the U.S. Census Bureau released today.

The increase was powered by a sharp rise in multifamily construction. Construction of single-family homes actually dropped by 2.2 percent.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

– See more at: http://www.inman.com/wire/single-family-home-construction-slips-in-july/#sthash.XoeKv5es.dpuf

Canada’s housing market still running hot | Bedford Corners Real Estate

The surprising resilience of the country’s housing market is renewing concerns that it could be overshooting.

 

Housing starts, sales and prices are once again defying expectations, one year after Finance Minister Jim Flaherty shocked the market with tighter mortgage insurance rules. The sector is showing such strength this summer that some economists are wondering whether Mr. Flaherty will go further in a bid to stem rising house prices and consumer debt levels.

 

A for sale sign is seen on the lawn of a Toronto home. The Canadian Real Estate Association says home sales were down in June from year-earlier levels, but higher compared with the previous month.

 

“There may be some dusting off of potential measures to cool housing,” Bank of Montreal economist Douglas Porter wrote in a research note. He thinks the market could be on the verge of running away again.

 

Both Mr. Flaherty and economists will have a better sense of where things stand on Thursday, when the Canadian Real Estate Association releases July’s sales figures. Mr. Porter thinks the data will show that the number of existing homes changing hands is 10 per cent higher than this time last year, which would mean that they are “within striking distance of the record highs hit in 2007.”

 

July data from some local real estate boards appear to back that assumption. Vancouver, for instance, saw a whopping 40.4-per-cent year-over-year increase in sales of existing homes over the Multiple Listing Service, while Toronto posted a still-impressive 16-per-cent gain. Calgary’s sales were up 17 per cent from last year. (Not all markets are showing gains. Ottawa and Montreal each saw sales fall by about 2 per cent year over year).

 

Toronto-Dominion Bank economist Diana Petramala says sales have now recovered from the changes that Mr. Flaherty made to the mortgage insurance rules. “In Vancouver, sales have recovered to their highest level since 2010,” she notes.

 

In addition to the changes that Ottawa made to the rules for consumers, such as cutting the maximum length of an insured mortgage to 25 years and doing away with mortgage insurance for homes worth more than $1-million, Mr. Flaherty has been taking steps to curtail the degree to which Canada Housing and Mortgage Corp., and therefore taxpayers, backstop the banks’ activities. He has been worried that ultralow mortgage rates are adding too much fuel to the housing fire.

 

 

Canada’s housing market still running hot – The Globe and Mail.

How to Use LinkedIn Sponsored Updates | Bedford Corners Realtor

Are you wondering how to use LinkedIn Sponsored Updates?

Does your business have a LinkedIn company page?

Do you want to grow your following outside of your company page?

In this article I’ll show you 6 steps for creating and measuring the impact of your first LinkedIn Sponsored Update.

Why Sponsored Updates?

If you’re one of the 3 million companies that have a LinkedIn company page, you’ll know that you can post updates directly from your company rather than as an individual. And you can like and comment as your company as well.

And now, just like Promoted Posts and Sponsored Stories on other social sites, LinkedIn has launched its own Sponsored Updates function, which runs on the same principle.

If you’re a B2B marketer, Sponsored Updates allow you to promote your message to others outside your company page following. At the same time, you can target who sees that message, so your marketing efforts can be focused on the right people.

Here’s how to use Sponsored Updates:

#1: Create Your Post

Post your update to your company page as normal. You’ll need to wait a few minutes and then refresh your page until you see the Sponsor Update button.

 

 

read a lot more…

http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/linkedin-sponsored-updates/

 

Optimize your real estate brand with Instagram video | Bedford Corners Real Estate

As a real estate agent, what could you do with 15 seconds? With the latest update, Instagram 4.1 is opening some creative doors for its users by allowing video uploads directly from your library. Here are some great examples:

Coldwell Banker I love this from Coldwell Banker. A combination of a live video introduction and still shots from a home featured in Payson, Ariz., make this 15 seconds enjoyable and definitely recognizable as the CB brand.

Anne Jones I admire what Anne is able to capture with Instagram and now that video keeps getting better, I can’t wait to see more from the Tacoma area!

– See more at: http://www.inman.com/next/optimize-your-real-estate-brand-with-instagram-video/#sthash.wiMd5fxN.dpuf

Bedford Corners Weekly Real Estate Report | RobReportBlog

Bedford   Corners NY Weekly Real Estate Report8/13/2013
Homes for sale47
Median Ask Price$1,525,000.00
Low Price$525,000.00
High Price$12,000,000.00
Average Size5036
Average Price/foot$471.00
Average DOM141
Average Ask Price$2,605,957.00