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Katonah NY Real Estate

Russian oligarch’s record $75M co-op buy in peril | Katonah NY Real Estate

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Roman Abramovich and 828 Fifth Avenue

Roman Abramovich and 828 Fifth Avenue

Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich’s move to buy a Fifth Avenue mansion owned by the estate of  the late real estate mogul Howard Ronson for $75 million is in jeopardy, because Ronson’s widow  believes she can squeeze even more cash out of the oligarch.

Abramovich, who is the owner of the Chelsea Football Club, agreed in October to buy the 828 Fifth Avenue home for $75 million, and were the deal for the 22-room property to close at that price, it would dwarf the $54 million David Geffen paid for 785 Fifth Avenue, which is currently the record sale price for a co-op in the city.

But sources close to Ronson’s widow Angelika Ivanc told the New York Post that Abramovich was willing to pay even more for the mansion before trustees for Ronson’s estate accepted the offer. Ivanc is now looking to challenge the executors’ approval of the co-op sale in court in the English Channel island of Guernsey, according to the newspaper.

 

 

http://therealdeal.com/blog/2014/01/22/russian-oligarchs-record-75m-co-op-buy-in-peril/

Hard proof Dodd-Frank isn’t working | Katonah NY Real Estate

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Reuters is running a pretty shocking exclusive right now. Apparently the Federal Bureau of Investigation, of all agencies, is investigating the claim that derivative traders are front running swaps orders from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

The article itself goes into the unethical, if technically legal, nature of these trades. So I won’t. Still the contents are disturbing in implication.

The first is that the government-sponsored enterprises didn’t even look to monitor shifts in markets BEFORE placing these huge orders. Clearly, they were getting played, but aren’t even wide awake enough to take notice.

Second, this is proof Dodd-Frank isn’t working. The financial reform made plenty to do with how it would regulate derivatives and how this was going to happen: “The Dodd-Frank Act divides regulatory authority over swap agreements between the CFTC and SEC.”

Yet the FBI is investigating? Clearly something about this whole ordeal should be illegal, if not yet explicitly so as of today. How did this get past regulatory authority?

After all, we were led to believe that Dodd-Frank is meant to prevent activities just as this.

Three points from the article that show Dodd-Frank isn’t working. Read them and weep (the italics are my responses):

1: “Senior bankers at the two banks ‘planned and encouraged this behavior because it led to higher revenue for their respective parent banks’.”

Dodd-Frank is meant to serve as a model for disincentivizing this exact behavior.

2: There is “low confidence that law enforcement could prosecute suspected traders because the trades concerned seem to be completely legitimate.”

This kind of market manipulation may or may not be illegal? Dodd-Frank should have made it clear.

3: “GSEs frequently submit large interest-rate swap trades, making them easy targets for front running and lucrative targets for market manipulation,” the FBI bulletin said.

 

 

http://www.housingwire.com/blogs/1-rewired/post/28585-heres-hard-proof-dodd-frank-isnt-working

Australia Housing Report Revives Bubble Fears | Katonah Homes

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Australia’s latest housing data, while promising on the surface, has increased concern the market may be overheating, posing a potential threat to a still fragile economic recovery.

A government report Monday showed the value of home loans approved in Australia rose 1.1% in November from October and 15% from a year earlier, confirming that record-low interest rates are continuing to fuel demand for houses and apartments.

However, the data also highlighted two trends that policy makers will be less thrilled about.

First, the rise in the value of mortgages approved continues to be driven by people looking to invest in property, rather than those seeking to move into houses or apartments. Second, first-home buyers are increasingly being frozen out of a market in which house prices have hit record highs in some large cities.

“While owner-occupier demand is intensifying, investor demand is surging well ahead,” said Janu Chan, a Sydney-based economist at St. George Bank in a note to clients, pointing out that investor loans for housing exceeded 30% in November.

 

 

 

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303819704579317782145387774?mg=reno64-wsj&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB10001424052702303819704579317782145387774.html

Recovery Remains Uneven as Cities Spared in Bust Soar, but Many Others Struggle | Katonah Real Estate

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Home prices have zipped back into record territory in a handful of American cities, a milestone that comes seven years after the housing bust ravaged the market and the broader economy.

Values are up more than 13% from their 2007 high in Oklahoma City and by more than 6% in the Denver metro area. Prices are back to all-time highs in 10 of the nation’s 50 largest metropolitan areas, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of price data from Zillow, an online real-estate information service. Prices are within 5% of their previous peak in San Jose, Calif.; Nashville, Tenn.; and Dallas.

Prices nationally remain below the highs of the past decade, and many of the cities that have seen the biggest gains largely escaped a boom and bust.

Home prices in some parts of the country that did experience a bust have benefited from low supplies of homes for sale and historically low interest rates that have boosted prices—and sparked concerns that prices could again be overvalued.

The figures aren’t adjusted for inflation, but experts say they underscore the uneven nature of the U.S. housing recovery.

“The main story in a lot of these places is that they didn’t have much of a housing recession. It’s much easier to be back at peak levels when you didn’t have a big boom and bust,” said                                     Stan Humphries,                                 chief economist at Zillow.

 

 

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304202204579256620643694940

 

 

 

 

Home sales leveling off | Katonah NY Real Estate

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The number of Americans who signed contracts to buy existing homes in November
was essentially unchanged from October, suggesting sales are stabilizing after
several months of declines.

The National Association of Realtors said
Monday that its seasonally adjusted pending home sales index ticked up to 101.7
from 101.5 in October. The October figure was revised lower from an initial
reading of 102.1.

Higher mortgage rates and strong price gains over the
past two years have slowed sales. The pending home sales index had fallen for
five straight months before November. And completed sales of existing homes fell
for three straight months, the Realtors said earlier this month. There is
generally a one- to two-month lag between a signed contract and a completed
sale.

“Bottom line, it’s clear that the rise in mortgage rates slowed
the pace of improvement in the housing market in addition to double digit price
increases and tough lending standards, which have put a pause particularly on
those buying a home with a mortgage,” said Peter Boockvar, chief market analyst
with The Lindsey Group, in a research note.

The average interest rate on
a 30-year mortgage edged higher to 4.48 percent last week, from 4.47 percent the
previous week. Rates jumped about 1.25 percentage points from May through
September, peaking at 4.6 percent.

 

 

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/home-sales-leveling-off/

Blue is the new cool kid on the backsplash block | Katonah NY Real Estate

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Continuing our series on colorful backsplashes, we turn to blue. Blue kitchens are, er, red hot right now. After years of our being advised to not use blue in a kitchen (it’s thought to be appetite suppressing), cool shades of the color are showing up more and more in kitchen tools, accessories and, yes, backsplash materials. Here’s a small glimpse at some of the many blue backsplash options, along with a few tips for working the color into your own kitchen.

One of my favorite kitchen color trends is a palette consisting of black, white and shades of gray and watery blues. The blue glass subway tile backsplash here adds just the right punch of color. Mix in a wooden or natural cork floor for added warmth and texture.
Backsplash: 3- by 6-inch glass subway tiles in Frosted Ocean Grey from The Five Elements
Cobalt blue becomes fashionable every 15 years or so and is currently enjoying an upswing in popularity. But I would never advocate using a color for your backsplash just because it’s trending, as the expense and hassle of changing it once the trend passes is much too great. So if you aren’t sure you’d want this color in your kitchen for very long, paint it on a wall instead. It’ll be much easier (not to mention affordable) to swap out down the road.
If you truly love this color — ever-changing color trends aside — and want to use it for a backsplash, I say go for it. It’s close enough to the indigo color of blue jeans, which we are used to seeing accessorized with any and every color, that it functions as a neutral, giving you flexibility with the palette.
Backsplash: Classic field tile in Opal Blue from Heath Ceramics
It’s tough to compete for attention with this fantastic range, vent hood and stone arch but, boy, the backsplash sure does a good job of it. These beautiful Moroccan blue tiles are hand made in Casablanca. You can mix and match the patterns to create a unique backsplash in your own kitchen.
Backsplash: 4-inch square Fez tiles from Moorish Architectural Design
Navy blue is an elegant, dramatic backsplash color choice. It looks superb when paired with medium to dark wood tones as well as shades of orange, its complementary hue on the color wheel. Backsplash: 2- by 8-inch Debris Series field tile in Navy Gloss from Fireclay.

The Facebook Conversion Formula: A Blueprint for Turning Fans into Customers | Katonah Realtor

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The Facebook Conversion Formula- A Blueprint for Turning Fans into Customers

Just having a Facebook Page is really just the beginning of building a  successful social media strategy. But with the right formula will not only help  you engage with Fans, but generate hot leads and real ROI from your Facebook  following.

So the Facebook sales cycle in its simplest form is:

  1. Grow your Facebook fans
  2. Promote to gain email and phone inquiries
  3. Nurture those fans to convert them to hot leads
  4. Convert those hot leads into revenue

That is the Facebook conversion formula. In essence a blueprint for turning  fans into customers

sales cycle Facebook

So how do you implement that process?

How to get more (relevant) fans

8.11% of all traffic on the internet comes from Facebook. The people looking for your products are already  on Facebook, the question is how do you find them where they are already  looking? The first step to growing your fan base is developing a user persona around  your ideal Facebook Fan. You can’t find what you’re not looking for.

Traits of your ideal fan, and ultimately your leads and customers, are based  on demographics, interests and likes, jobs experience and geography. Combining  characteristics from each of these categories will allow you develop a usage  scenario. In this case, the usage scenario is how your brand and ideal user  interact on social media and Facebook in particular.

All of your usage scenarios come together to become your content strategy.  Your content strategy should be broken into pillars; categories of content that  are relevant to your ideal fan personas and on-strategy for your business.

Below are 5 examples of types of pillars you may develop for your persona.  All of your content and posts should fit into one of these categories. Note,  that these 5 may or may not be relevant to your own business.

Turning Facebook Fans into sales

Convert your Facebook fans into leads

A fan becomes a lead when they willingly provide contact information, sign-up for your email  newsletter or otherwise opt-in to learn more about your business. This is best  achieved when there is already brand affinity in-place and you have already  positioned yourself as the industry expert.

To build that brand awareness and affinity, you’ll use your content pillars  to create good and engaging content. In providing immense value, you will create  trust and solidify yourself as an industry expert. This exchange of information  will create long-term, loyal customers.

Start by encouraging engagement with your content in the Facebook news feed.  According to a Hubspot Study in 2013, photos on Facebook generate 53% more  likes than the average post. The more likes, shares and comments you receive,  the more visible future content will be to your fans.

 

 

 

Read more at http://www.jeffbullas.com/2013/12/06/the-facebook-conversion-formula-a-blueprint-for-turning-fans-into-customers/#ucYOOSCXLMH6x0jm.99

Staten Island will host city’s largest solar power facility | Katonah Homes

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What was once the world’s largest landfill will become the home to the city’s largest solar energy facility, Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced Monday.

“It’s fitting that this site, long associated with the most stubborn challenges of urban development, will now be a shining example of cutting-edge solutions,” Bloomberg said at Freshkills Park, formerly the city’s garbage dump. Dumpsters can be needed whenever a large amount of waste needs to be disposed of. Most homeowners and contractors hire dumpster rentals for home renovation projects because at that time, a large amount of waste is produced that needs to be cleared from the property. Clearing waste is difficult with your conventional garbage bins or dumpsters. For large amount of waste, you need a large sized dumpster that can easily help you get rid of all the waste that is produced during your project. Finding cheap and affordable dumpster rentals might be an issue for many, especially if they are hiring such services for the first time. Therefore, following are some tips that will help you find lowest prices of junk removal services. Then have a peek here for the dumpster rental.

The solar panels will be installed and operated by Sun Edison, at no cost to the city. The city will earn money from the project through a leasing agreement that is still being negotiated – and business owners in the city will be able to get a green energy credit thanks to their installation.

“The solar panels Sun Edison will install on the site will be able to produce up to 10 megawatts of energy, and that’s enough to power 2,000 homes,” Bloomberg said.

The energy will be fed back into Con Edison’s grid system, so it won’t go to specific homeowners but will help power the entire city.

Sun Edison was selected after bidding to lease 47 acres of the park, and will install 30,000 to 35,000 high-efficiency solar panels on the site.

General Manager Attila Toth praised the city for their forward-thinking approach.

“This is the largest city in the nation and the largest city is developing the largest brownfield to park conversion site,” Toth said. “This is a very innovative solution and this kind of thinking does not happen in every city around the nation.”

Toth said the plant would employ more than 100 workers when it’s up and running in 2016.

The city already captures methane gas created underground – enough to heat 22,000 homes — at the site and sells it to National Grid for about $3 million a year.

Among those who have long been pressing for renewable energy at Freshkills is Borough President James Molinaro.

“Who knew that he would be a tree-hugger when he was elected?” Bloomberg joked. “But it runs out he has been very environmentally conscious and has really done a great job for the people of Staten Island.”

Molinaro called it an historic day, and recalled asking the Port Authority for $500,000 to study renewable energy at the site shortly after the landfill closed in 2001.

http://www.silive.com/news/index.ssf/2013/11/staten_island_will_host_citys.html

Caramoor In Northern Westchester Announces Lineup For 2014 | Katonah Real Estate

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Jeffrey P. Haydon, Chief Executive Officer of Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts, has announced classical highlights of the 2014 Caramoor Summer Music Festival.

The  festival, which is held annually at the Center’s beautiful 90-acre garden estate in Katonah, New York, will run from June 21 to Aug. 6.
“Caramoor is the premiere destination to experience music in the summer, featuring today’s leading artists such as Angela Meade, Joshua Bell, and Pablo Heras-Casado,” Haydon said. “We are particularly excited about our new artist residency featuring Alisa Weilerstein, an alumni of Caramoor’s Evnin Rising Stars mentoring program and 2013 MacArthur Genius Grant winner.”
Tickets go on sale Jan. 27, Donor pre-sales start Jan. 20.

The schedule includes:
June 21:  Opening Night The opening night of the festival features celebrated violinist, Joshua Bell and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, led by conductor, Cristian MÇŽcelaru, in a program of Ligeti’s Concert Romanesc, Sibelius’s Violin Concerto and Bizet’s Symphony in C.
July 6:  Orchestra of St. Luke’s and Jeffrey Kahane, pianist/conductor The Orchestra of St. Luke’s continues its long and storied relationship with Caramoor. Joining with the orchestra for the July 6 performance is famed pianist and conductor, Jeffrey Kahane.
July 11: The Dover Quartet continues its residency at Caramoor The Dover Quartet, Caramoor’s 2013-14 Ernst Stiefel String Quartet-in-Residence,will delight audiences “with a level of nuance unexpected of musicians so young” (The Wall Street Journal).
Opera/Bel Canto at Caramoor Saturday, July 12 and Friday, July 18: Donizetti’s Lucrezia Borgia Acclaimed soprano Angela Meade, will return to Caramoor to make her highly-anticipated debut as Lucrezia. The cast also includes mezzo soprano Tamara Mumford, tenor Charles Castronovo and bass Christophoros Stamboglis.
Saturday, July 19: Verdi’s Rigoletto Verdi’s Rigoletto will feature baritone Stephen Powell and tenor John Osborn in the roles of Rigoletto and the Duke. Georgia Jarman will perform the role of Gilda.
July 31, August 1 and August 3: Alisa Weilerstein featured in a residency to close the festival Alisa Weilerstein, named “one of the most exciting American cellists of the new generation” by The New York Times, will participate in an artist residency that will include a master class and three performances, Thursday July 31 to August 3.

 

 

http://mtkisco.dailyvoice.com/events/caramoor-northern-westchester-announces-lineup-2014