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Tag Archives: Chappaqua Homes
Talking a Big Game About Energy Efficiency | Chappaqua Real Estate
Listing Portals: What’s the Real End Game? | Chappaqua Real Estate
The ongoing contention regarding the ultimate motives of the major online listing portals recently came to a head during a rousing panel discussion at RISMedia’s Real Estate CEO Exchange earlier this fall. During the session – “The Data Debate: Is Disintermediation a Real Risk?” – the true intentions of the online portals were debated with the hopes of revealing whether the current players are in fact, broker and agent friendly.
Held at New York City’s prestigious Yale Club on Sept. 18, the panel was moderated by longtime industry veteran Ken Jenny, managing partner, Mediatise, LLC. Panelists included leading listing portal executives and brokerage representatives, including: Curt Beardsley, VP, Customer & Industry Development, MOVE/realtor.com®; David Charron, president and CEO, MRIS; Alon Chaver, vice president, Industry Services, Trulia; Bob Hale, president and CEO, Houston Association of REALTORS®; Greg Schwartz, chief revenue officer, Zillow; and Andy Woolley, vice president/GM, Homes.com.
Jenny opened the discussion in the spirit of unity. “It’s not my goal to push the two factions further apart, because the idea is to learn to work together,” he stated. “We just love to hate something in this business. When something comes along that does a great job of working with us, we’re highly suspicious of the motives. We want to know, ‘how can it hurt me?’”
According to Jenny, given the voluminous amounts of listing data flowing through today’s market, if real estate professionals only advertised their listings through traditional avenues, they would be doing a disservice to themselves and their consumers. Jenny asserted that the distribution solutions offered by online portals, when blended with a print strategy, provide brokers and agents with the right marketing strategy for listings.
Jenny launched the debate, therefore, by asking listing-portal executives the question on the minds of many brokers: “Are you a disintermediator?”
“I get up every morning with the same purpose,” responded Zillow’s Schwartz. “Our purpose is to help real estate consumers find homes they love and can afford by working with the world’s best agents. We do that by mining data and utilizing social community. I never woke up saying, ‘we’re going to get our brokerage license.’ We know how to write software and how to sell ads. That’s our thing. You all do something that is very hard, complicated and demanding. We think we amplify your efforts. That’s our purpose.”
Trulia’s Chaver put forth a similar assertion. “We are not disintermediators in any sense of the word,” he explained. “We have a very simple mission and that is to connect consumers with agents. We want to partner with brokers as they are transitioning from newspapers. We also want to take the looky-loos and teach them about real estate, so when they are ready, we can connect them with an agent. We never take FSBOs. We work with over 2,500 brokers. Consumers generally don’t know much about Trulia, and that’s because our intent is to accelerate and build the broker’s brand, not ours.”
High Wind Watch In Effect For Tuesday As Heavy Rain Arrives In Chappaqua | Chappaqua Real Estate
Temperatures will be climbing on Tuesday, but watch out for the winds — and then rain. The National Weather Service has put a High Wind Watch in place for late Tuesday into Wednesday afternoon.
Strong southerly winds of 20 to 30 miles per hour with gusts of 50 to 60 mph are possible with downed trees and limbs as well as power outages possible, the weather service said.
The heavy winds were expected as a storm system tracks up the East Coast on Tuesday, with the potential to bring 2 to 4 inches of rainfall to the region.
Urban and small stream flooding are possible, and the weather service warned a Flood Watch may be declared if the storm increases in strength.
The forecast calls for increasing clouds Monday night, with a low around 26. Southwest wind 6 to 8 mph.
Tuesday: A chance of rain after noon. Cloudy, with a high around 40. West wind around 7 mph becoming southeast in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 50%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible.
Tuesday Night: Rain. The rain could be heavy at times. Temperature rising to around 50 by 4 a.m. East wind 8 to 18 mph, with gusts as high as 46 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90 percent. New precipitation amounts between 1 and 2 inches possible.
Wednesday: Rain before noon, then showers after noon. The rain could be heavy at times. High near 60. Breezy, with a south wind 13 to 21 mph, with gusts as high as 48 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100 percent. New precipitation amounts between 1 and 2 inches possible.
Wednesday Night: A chance of rain before midnight, then a slight chance of rain and snow between midnight and 3 a.m., then a slight chance of snow after 3 a.m. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 26. Breezy, with a west wind 17 to 21 mph, with gusts as high as 32 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40 percent.
Thanksgiving Day: Sunny, with a high near 33. Breezy.
http://chappaqua.dailyvoice.com/news/high-wind-watch-effect-tuesday-heavy-rain-arrives-westchester
20 tips to harden your home security for next to nothing | Chappaqua NY Real Estate
Most burglars work the daytime shift, just like most of us do. “Daylight jobs require a burglar to be quick, typically spending around 45 minutes selecting a home to target and just three minutes actually doing the job,” Los Angeles security expert Chris McGoey tells MSN Real Estate.
Burglars decide whether to hit your home based on appearances: Is it easy to crack or not worth the trouble? The most effective improvements are the ones that convince a burglar to move on to the next guy’s home. How? see it here. Sonitrol verified electronic security, this company for commercial security systems in New England notes. Alarm New England’s home security systems in Boston provide multiple safety and home automation features, For more information you could check here. The locksmith walnut creek ca provide locksmith services such as: lock & key cutting, lost car keys replacement, re key and unlock door assistance. Sonitrol provides security systems like Intrusion detection, fire protection, video surveillance and access control.
- Enlist local police. Local police departments typically will send a trained officer to your home to do a “walk through” with you, pointing out your vulnerabilities and suggesting simple fixes. Check your police department’s website for crime statistics and tips. Any resident who lives in Norwalk would do well to protect themselves, by resorting to security systems that will help prevent crimes or at least help pinpoint and catch perpetrators when they do occur, for more information contact Mammoth Security Inc. For example, here is the Los Angeles Police Department’s detailed list of home-security tips for residents. Remember to alert police when you’ll be out of town.
- Chat up the neighbors. Join the local Neighborhood Watch program or start one. Chatting with neighbors updates you on local crime problems and enlists allies who’ll watch your home while you’re away. Neighbors are terrific watchdogs. My retired neighbor up the hill who likes peering out his window through a giant telescope spotted and chased a pre-dawn intruder from my garden once.
- Use your locks. Even if your neighborhood feels safe, make locking up a habit. Burglars often test a home by knocking on a door and, if no one answers, opening it. Keep every exterior door and window locked, including the door between the garage and house. If you need help finding locksmith companies working in Philly willing to take your job.
- Fake it. Getting a dog is a great security move. But if you can’t, pretend to have one, McGoey advises. Buy a couple “Beware of Dog” signs at a hardware store and put them up. When a stranger is at the door, make a show of putting the “dog” in the other room before you open the door.
- Install Long Distance Wireless Security Cameras. That way you will not only get indoor but also outdoor protection, using wireless technology avoid the use of communication wires and it will make your security cameras almost invisible at night time. For more details about security camera, click here now to find out the solution for camera installation.
- Paste a local security company’s sticker on your front window.
- Keep the place looking lived in. Rotate lights on timers when you’re gone. Sign up for USPS’ Hold Mail service, reschedule expected deliveries and get friends to drop by randomly to water plants or just walk around.
- Trim shrubs. Bushy trees and shrubs provide cover for bad deeds. Keep the foliage well-trimmed.
- Use your head. “Don’t open the door — and don’t let kids open the door — to uninvited strangers,” McGoey tells MSN Real Estate. Stay home when workers are in or around your home. Don’t put keys in obvious places like fake rocks and under pots and doormats. “Train children (especially teens) to keep key locations, alarm codes and other family security information private from their friends,” the article adds.Locksmith sacramento ca provide us a good security solution.
- Light the night. Install bright, motion-triggered security lights outside the front and back of your home. Battery-powered lights start at around $10 each. Hard-wired products start at around $50.
- Replace the door … or don’t. The best entry doors are solid wood ($100 and up) or 16-gauge minimum steel ($120 and up), says the Los Angeles Police Department. Use non-removable hinge pins and avoid doors with glass windows unless the glass is burglar-resistant. Consumer Reports’ test of entry doors found, however, that a strong door frame may count more than the door: “All [doors] eventually failed because the doorjamb split near the lock’s strike plate, though we also found that beefed-up locks and strike plates can greatly increase a door’s kick-in resistance.”
- Install a high-quality deadbolt – or two. Whatever you do, don’t rely on a simple knob lock (built into the door handle) alone. Install a deadbolt above a knob lock. McGoey recommends:
- Use a solid core or metal door for all entrance points.
- Use a quality, heavy-duty deadbolt lock with a 1-inch throw bolt.
Chappaqua Crossing Developer Seeks Vote | The Chappaqua Realtor
Chappaqua Homes | Flashes of Industrial Style in a Modern-Rustic Dream Home
Guards Raise Indian Point Security Concern | Chappaqua Real Estate
Several former and current security guards raised concerns about the state of security at Buchanan’s Indian Point Nuclear Facility in a recent Fox 5 report.
Guards falling asleep on the clock, failed drills and faulty computer systems are just some of the problems the five current and former security guards spoke about with Fox 5.
http://chappaqua.dailyvoice.com/news/guards-raise-indian-point-security-concern-fox-5-report
Historic 18th-Century Charleston House Wants $3.5M | Chappaqua NY Homes
Location: Charleston, S.C. Price: $3,499,000 The Skinny: The house that originally stood at this site was built in 1726 for French Huguenot Paul Douxsaint and burned down in Charleston’s Fire of 1796, which destroyed the homes of more than 300 families. Yet a new, clapboard Federal-style house was built in its place over the next four years and, at some point during the 19th century, was purchased by prominent Charleston merchant Daniel Macaulay. The Douxsaint-Macaulay House, as it is now known, has since undergone multiple renovations, the most recent one occurring after it sold for $2.275M in 2006. It has managed to retain a few interior details, such as wainscoting and fireplace mantels, and more of its exterior detail, including the nine-over-nine windows with narrow muntins and dormered hipped roof. It’s now asking $3.5M.
Dive Into New York’s Historic Rental Ads, From The 1830s On | Chappaqua Real Estate
As the world has transformed over time, so, too, has the courtship between the owners of empty rooms and potential tenants. The Roman burden of donning your toga and trekking to the agora to find your next rental in one centralized marketplace has given way to virtual tours. (Which you can also do in a toga, should you so desire, although no one needs to know.) But because of various changes to the way letted spaces move, the past century has seen a full circuit in the evolution of rental ads.
[Want to check out this tony Clinton Hill residence on your own time? You know where to find it! (Brooklyn Daily Eagle, October 14, 1865)]
In the 1800s, such ads were usually posted by the owner. Unencumbered by character-limits, spots for rentals were filled with prose and description. The landlord wanted to fill his vacancy. Nothing else mattered. If your space came equipped with rosewood furniture and a piano—to some, the 19th-century equivalent to Carrara marble and a private gym—all the better to pitch. The newspaper, of course, was a common resort (or the only resort) for those who couldn’t fill their spaces by word of mouth or through their own networks.
[Really pitching to the perfect “respectable genteel family.” The ad (click for big!) sells the lots’ proximity to the Peck Slip Ferry, which connected the Williamsburg waterfront with downtown Manhattan, or the base of today’s Brooklyn Bridge. (Williamsburg Gazette, June 24, 1837)]
Then, in the early 20th century, brokers began to flood the market. Although the oldest of today’s largest firms, Brown Harris Stevens, traces its roots to 1874, what is now the National Association of Realtors was founded in 1908. But perhaps most importantly, a ten-year moratorium on taxes for new housing (warning: PDF!) led to a building boom starting in 1920. Those units needed people to live inside them… and fast.
Crafted by hired hands, ads began to take on a sense of urgency—and offered much less description. Mentions of specific addresses gave way to pitches for streets or neighborhoods; vowels became the victims of cost-cutting measures when every word cost cash.
[KITCH PRIVLS BMT EXP? I’ll take two! Translated: furnished room somewhere in the five miles(!) between Prospect Park and Sheepshead Bay, with kitchen access, and close to the express BMT, which is today’s B train. (New York Post, August 25, 1975)]
This modern format—concise, with no frills—remained the standard for generations, and is still in occasional use today. Such a listing published in the last few decades usually lays out the specifics of the apartment’s interior (“2 BR, 1.5 BA, southern light”) while giving a vague idea of its location (“3 blocks from the R”).
[In some cases, no location is given at all. Given the broker’s coordinates, we assume they are in northwest Brooklyn, but… (Brooklyn Paper, April 6, 1985)]
The intentional omission of a street address was actually a matter of self-preservation—not for the landlord, who just wanted a steady stream of income, but for the broker, who risked losing his fee if others got wind that an owner was actively seeking a tenant and moved the apartment before she herself did.