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Tag Archives: Pound Ridge NY Realtor
Real Estate Impossible: Spy Homes for Sale | Pound Ridge NY Realtor
via zillow.com
Pound Ridge NY Real Estate | U.S. Mortgage Relief Program Widens Its Scope
via nytimes.com
New Digs at Lincoln Harbor | Pound Ridge Realtor
via online.wsj.com
Pound Ridge NY Real Estate | The Las Vegas Real Estate Agent Who Sold 931 Homes Last Year
How many homes do you think a real estate agent sells in a year? Ten? Maybe a couple dozen in a really good year? Well, it turns out the median agent does seven “sides” — that is, represents either a buyer or seller in a home transaction — in the course of a year. So it’s pretty remarkable that there’s an agent in Las Vegas who did 931 last year.
In fact, our Vegas mega-agent, Jared Jones of Horizon Realty Group, isn’t even the most successful agent in the country. According to a list known as “The Thousand,” put out each year by The Wall Street Journal with industry analysts REAL Trendson, he’s only No. 4. in the ranking by number of deals. (The Thousand is actually four sub-lists: Agents by dollar volume of deals, teams by dollar volume of deals, agents by number of transaction sides, and teams by number of transaction sides.) The top real estate pro on the list of agents by number of transaction sides, Mike Phillips of Kansas City, Mo., did 1,268 sides last year. That’s about four transactions a day.
(GALLERY: Top 10 Cities to Buy vs. Rent)
But it seemed particularly striking to me that agents were thriving on this scale even in places where real estate prices have been in the toilet. In Las Vegas, for example, Jones was joined by No. 7 Sue Nelson, and No. 67 Raymond Smith; meanwhile, No. 105 Diane Keane is in Delray Beach, Florida, and No. 231 Jack Coden is in Miami Beach.
So I called Jones to see if there were any broader lessons to learn or insights to be gleaned from his success.
I thought one theme might be the rise of the investor — 30 percent of homes are going to cash buyers, and the percentage is over half in distressed markets like Vegas and South Florida. Indeed, the 32-year-old agent – yes, he’s just 32 — explains that a large portion of Las Vegas sales (78%) are distressed properties, and they account for most of his business. “There are a lot of sales of bank-owned properties,” Jones says. “And there’s a large pre-foreclosure market — people who need to sell their homes to avoid foreclosure.” Meanwhile, Jones says he keeps his deal flow high by courting investors looking to purchase more than one property — especially those looking at public auctions of distressed properties with an eye toward turning the homes into rental properties.
(GALLERY: Historical Walt Disney, Tammy Wynette and Civil War Homes)
And what advice does Jones have for non-agents mired in the current market? “If a seller is upside-down in their home and wants to sell, they should find the right short sale agent,” notes Jones, who says that prospective sellers should ask about an agent’s processing center and previous closings. “The key to getting short sales closed is persistence and a strong understanding of how the banks work.”
For primary residence buyers, on the other hand, “I think caution is the key,” Jones notes. “Make sure that you understand the deal that you are getting into — and do a home inspection!”
Pound Ridge NY Real Estate | SEO Lessons From Apple’s Steve Jobs
To some he is the devil incarnate, and to others he is nothing short of a god-like genius. Love him or hate him, you cannot deny that he has a fairly nifty way with words (as well as considerable business acumen and good taste in design).
After reading a recent article in a geeky magazine, I got to thinking that maybe the esteemed Mr. Jobs could teach us a thing or two about modern SEO – and when I say modern SEO I am not talking about the spammy, repetitive strain of meta keywords and directory submissions. I’m talking about creating great content, beautiful sites, link building through real relationships and the creation of new brand names.
So, without further ado let us dive into some of his most famous quotes:
“Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me … Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful… that’s what matters to me.”
Gone are the days of being propelled into the upper echelons of Google results by submitting a thousand blog comments and creating different pages for different search engines. What are you creating for your site that is truly wonderful? Sites that work hard on the content (and promote it a little) tend to do that little bit better nowadays. Put effort into what you create.
Think with the audience in mind. What would you want to see? If you wouldn’t want to see it, scrap it. You have to feel that the content you create belongs on that first page of Google.
“We made the buttons on the screen look so good you’ll want to lick them.”
We know that Google is looking at the design of the site to some extent nowadays. Several versions of the Panda update debuted this year, and before that, Google rolled out its site-preview option on search results pages. Apple products are testament to the fact that people appreciate nice design as long as you don’t forget functionality.
Make your site ooze sexiness or authority or whatever is relevant to your vertical. Investin finding a good designer who will work alongside your SEO team. Usability and beauty do not have to be mutually exclusive. Which leads us to:
“Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.”
Think of the iPod and the dial on the front. Not only does it look beautiful but it is practical (and to be honest, it feels good when you slide you fingers around it). Consider the slid-to-open function on the iPhone, it feels good doesn’t it? Sites should be created with these things in mind. Make sure the design is an integral part of functionality.
“I’m as proud of what we don’t do as I am of what we do.”
Think of some of the most famous people operating in SEO at the moment. They wear their white-hat credentials (rightly so) as a badge of honor. Be proud of only carrying out white-hat techniques on your (or client’s) sites. It is a long race when you are playing by the rules but it pays off at the end. Think of the guys and gals who have succeeded in SEO (mostly white hat, right?), whilst the black hats are busy burning sites and worrying whether this morning will be the morning that they wake up and the site is gone from the search results. (That quote comes from Wil Reynolds.)
“It is hard to think that a $2 billion company with 4,300-plus people couldn’t compete with six people in blue jeans.”
As Google starts to favor brands more and more it is easy to think that you are not going to be able to compete with the big guys. We are the guys in the jeans, and we can compete. Be inventive, be flexible, create and innovate. It can seem fairly obvious that you are not going to get a little bitty site to be No. 1 for the keyword “insurance,” but you can find a niche that the big guys haven’t. It is all out there for you. You just have to find it.
“We have always been shameless about stealing great ideas.”
I wasn’t at mozcon, but I have seen the slides, and both Rand Fishkin and Will Critchlow talked about this in their face-off. There is nothing wrong with “appropriating” a few good ideas from other successful companies. Twist them to fit your style, your site, you social media campaign or whatever. Most SEO strategies start with a little bit of borrowing – from keyword ideas to low-hanging link-building opportunities.
So love him or hate him, Steve Jobs has some great ideas that you can appropriate for you web strategy, and let us not forget he has been fairly successful with that little company of his.
I will leave you with two more quotes that I have in the pile, they go quite nicely together, and pretty much sum up this post:
“It’s not about pop culture, and it’s not about fooling people, and it’s not about convincing people that they want something they don’t. We figure out what we want. And I think we’re pretty good at having the right discipline to think through whether a lot of other people are going to want it, too. That’s what we get paid to do. We just want to make great products.”
“Click. Boom. Amazing!”
Pound Ridge NY Real Estate | Bing Releases Optimized Mobile Version | Search Engine Journal
Jul 22 2011
Bing Releases Optimized Mobile Version
One of the features from Bing that I praise most often is its intuitive, mobile-optimized apps for Android, iOS, and (of course)WP7. But for those who have a mobile phone that either doesn’t support these apps or that you don’t want to download the apponto, Bing has a solution: a new version of Bing’s default mobile version that includes a variety of the site’s most important features.
This updated mobile version can be found at m.bing.com, and is accessible from any smartphone that is HTML 5–capable (every version of the iPhone, Android 2.0+ systems, and RIM 6.0+ systems). Here’s a quick breakdown of the important features:
- The Bing daily image will be displayed.
- Users will receive region-specific home page information.
- Image search is enabled.
- Autosuggestions and recent search item suggestions are now enabled.
- Bing Maps has been optimized for a split view that shows the map and directions on the same screen.
- Bing Maps has added seamless image updates when you scroll to new areas of the map.
- A “Share on Facebook” option has been added to many pages, including restaurant pages, images, and more.
Several of these feature updates also foreshadow the “deeply integrated” Bing experience of the Windows Phone 7. WP7 will be updated later this year with the next version of the OS, titled Mango. In addition to expected security and user experience updates, Mango will be adding “quick cards” that give a brief rundown of select Bing-stored items (restaurants, local businesses, Bing Shopping products, etc.), a “local scout” option that gives “hyper-local” results, and specialized Bing searches (including visual search, music search, and voice search).
[Sources include: The Bing Blog]
Written By:
Rob D Young | @RobDYoungWrites
Rob has been insatiably obsessed with Google, search engine technology, and the trends of the web-based world since he began life as a webmaster in 2002. His move into SEO work in 2006, and subsequently to writing for technology and internet-focused publications, has done nothing but fuel this passion.
More Posts By Rob Young
Good to hear that bing is taking care for the internet users who use it over mobile phones.
Pound Ridge NY Real Estate up 40% | Sales Up Prices down | Six Month RobReportBlog
Pound Ridge NY Real Estate up 40% | Sales Up Prices down | Six Month RobReportBlog
Pound Ridge NY Real Estate Report RobReportBlog May 2011
Pound Ridge NY real estate saw Sales up 40% but the median price has dropped to $650,000 from $751,000. The lesson learned is if you want to sell your home price it aggressively.
Pound Ridge NY homes 2011 Sales stats (6 months)
21 homes have sold
$650,000 median price
$3,100,000 high price
$375,000 low price
3499 average size
$244 average price per foot
192 average dom
90.11% sold to ask price
Pound Ridge NY homes 2010 Sales stats (6 months)
15 homes sold
$751,700 median price
$3,325,000 high price
$295,000 low price
4034 average size
$263 average price per foot
195 average dom
93.27% sold to ask price
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The Marketing and Selling Process in Pound Ridge NY | Pound Ridge Real Estate
Comprehensive Market Analysis in Pricing Your Home
Property Specific Marketing of Your Home
All the Benefits of Our Rock Solid Alliance with Prudential
Consumers do not look to a single source to purchase a home. They are researching and shopping on the internet, in local papers and the real estate sections of a vast array of publications. Prudential Holmes and Kennedy’s proprietary marketing model surrounds the consumer with our property listings from traditional print media, public relations and direct mail to superior internet exposure. Our ongoing commitment ensures your property will be previewed in a consumer’s initial search, leading to a personal showing where your Prudential Holmes & Kennedy REALTOR will bring all your property’s unique features to life.
The most important factor to consider when choosing a real estate firm to represent your home is to find a firm with significant experience in selling comparable property. Our marketing model directs the most potential buyers to personally preview your home. Any REALTOR can promise you an ad in the local paper, but our experience has shown that full exposure of your property in multiple mediums is the best way to reach the largest potential buyer pool.
Internet Marketing
Over 80% of homebuyers begin their search on the internet.
Prudential Tri-State Connection
No other brokerage in Northern Westchester can claim our unique affiliation with our Tri-State partners. Others may have offices throughout the county, but no one else has their own website, joint marketing, tri-state co-brokerage groups and networking events. Even our tri-state relocation directors meet quarterly.
PrudentialTristate.com is the gateway to over 100,000 current property listings within the 100-mile radius of Midtown Manhattan. In 2004, the Prudential Tri-state group concluded 21 Billion Dollars in sales with 47,000 transactions. As part of the Prudential Tri-state group, we are linked to:
Prudential Douglas-Elliman in New York City
Prudential Douglas-Elliman in Long Island
Prudential Connecticut
Prudential New Jersey
Relocation Services
Prudential Relocation is a leading provider of global mobility, creating a constant flow of home buyer traffic in and out of our Westchester market.
Referral Services
Our affiliation has a membership of over 2000 offices and over 64,000 real estate professionals throughout the United States and Canada. The Prudential referral program maximizes lead opportunities by supporting broker-to-broker activity.
Multiple Listing Services (MLS)
Founded in 1916, the Westchester County Board of REALTORS®, Inc. (WCBR Inc.) is a not-for-profit trade association representing more than 7,000 real estate professionals doing business in Westchester County and the surrounding region. WCBR owns and operates the Westchester-Putnam Multiple Listing Service, Inc. a corporation that manages a large database of available properties listed by REALTORS®.
The term REALTOR® is a registered mark. It refers only to those licensed real estate brokers and salespersons that hold membership in a REALTOR® organization such as ours, who agree to be held accountable to a strict Code of Ethics and who also agree to periodic ethics education and other professional instruction that is required by the Board.
Direct Mail – Published by Prudential Holmes & Kennedy
The Holmes Report
Quarterly Reports
Residence Guide
Just Listed Cards
Brochures
A detailed, four-color brochure ensures that prospective buyers, open house visitors and cooperating agents will recall the critical features of your property long after they have viewed your home. It is displayed in the home, in our office lobbies, used for special mailings and sent to out-of-town prospects.
Advertising
Our experts will developed a high impact print media advertising plan identifying selected media vehicles that present your home to target buyers. Our affiliation with Prudential extends our advertising strength. Its network members spend millions of dollars each year placing advertising in the most prestigious publications and on high profile television stations to promote brand awareness.
Yard Signs
A 24 hour marketing tool that attracts the attention of prospective buyers.
Broker and Public Open Houses
An invitation to the Broker and public communities to view your property without an appointment or obligation to buy. Open houses are announced via print media and on various websites such as: MLS, Realtor.com, NYTimes.com and Pruholmes.com.
Additional Marketing Activities
Introduce the Property to Fellow Agents
Provide a Secure Lockbox for your Home
Follow-up with Buyers and Agents
Educate You to the Real Estate Market
Arrange Showings
Pre-screen potential buyers
Attend Inspections on your Behalf
Provide Home Warranty Options
Present, Evaluate and Negotiate Offers
Prepare and Distribute Required Documentation
Resolve Seller/Buyer Conflicts
Coordinate Repairs
Facilitate Closing and Transfer of Property
Heating With Gas Or Heating With Oil – The Great Energy Debate | Pound Ridge NY Real Estate
How to Decide Between Oil and Natural Gas to Heat Your Home
Every year, thousands of homeowners make a decision about which fuel will be their primary heating source for the winter: use oil or natural gas?. The pressure of winter’s arrival often leads to a quick decision, but determining which fuel makes the most economic sense depends on a complex set of circumstances that most homeowners have difficulty sorting out . With this simple questionnaire, the gas boiler service dublin offers a guide to help determine the best way for you to keep warm this winter and reduce your heating bills.
By Roy Berendsohn
Having been a home improvement editor here for more than 20 years, I can make one prediction with uncanny accuracy: As cooler weather settles in, heating questions will arrive. It may seem obvious. Yet, there’s a specific skew for our readers in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic regions. They ask us which heat source is less expensive over the long haul–oil or natural gas. Based on past experience, these are oil-heat customers, and in the heating battleground that encompasses this region, they’re bombarded with claims about the benefits of both fuels. This year, the cost of natural gas for residential users is low–about where it was three years ago. When you adjust for inflation, its price has actually dropped. So I’m predicting an upswing in interest in this topic (an increase that will likely subside when the price of gas begins to rise). As gas remains competitive, deciding whether to use it becomes more complex.
See the checklist below to sort your way through. The more answers you check as “Yes,” the more likely that the switch from oil to gas may make sense. If you check “Yes” on only on 1 to 3 questions, your current setup works fine. Check more than four, however, and it’s worth investigating your options. Seven or more means it may be time to switch to gas.
Notice that I say, “may.” I’m not advocating one fuel over the other. The fact is, either can be burned cleanly and efficiently. Both have advantages and disadvantages, which can vary–consult your local fuel-oil and gas providers and mechanical contractors (the businesses that install heating and cooling equipment).
Finally, there’s the propane option, and many customers in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic would do well to consider it. If you live in a competitive propane market, the more of the answers that you check as Yes, the more likely that propane could be a viable option as well.
As a side note, consider the Energy Information Administration’s unbiased comparison of heating-fuel costs. To get a sense of how this works in your market, plug local price figures into the cost calculator offered by Penn State’s engineering department.
Here’s the PM guide to heating-fuel options. Check all that apply.
1. Your oil-heat boiler or furnace is shot and needs to be replaced.
| Yes | No |
2. Your chimney is old and needs to be rebuilt or relined. Note: New oil or gas boilers and furnaces can be vented directly through the side of the house, bypassing the chimney entirely.
| Yes | No |
3. You have a natural gas line available and the utility company’s cost to run a lateral line from the street to your house is low.
| Yes | No |
4. The company that will run the gas lateral to your house can place the gas meter conveniently–for example, so that the existing gas line inside the house can access the meter without significant mechanical disruption or remodeling. Note: You need a heating/cooling contractor’s input to answer this question.
| Yes | No |
5. It appears that the gas lateral will create minimal disruption to your property and landscape.
| Yes | No |
6. Over the past ten years, you’ve tried several fuel oil providers in your area, at several different price and service plans. You’re dissatisfied–either the quality of service has been poor from a mechanical standpoint, or the company just seems unfriendly.
| Yes | No |
7. You want the fuel oil tank out of the basement. It’s either old, rusty and smelly, or you just want it out to free up space down there. Note: Getting an old fuel oil tank out of a basement, especially a crowded one, is a big job. Take some careful measurements of the tank and all stairs or exterior doors before proceeding. PM contributor Pat Porzio, a mechanical contractor, reminds us that some municipalities may require you to pull a special building permit just for the removal of the oil tank, regardless of whether it’s above or below ground, indoors or out.
| Yes | No |
8. The fuel tank is free-standing and located outdoors. Although it’s mechanically sound, you find its appearance unattractive and would like to be rid of it Note: See above, regarding tank-removal permits.
| Yes | No |
9. The oil-fired boiler or furnace is located in a utility closet somewhere in close proximity to the living space (not the basement or in a crawlspace) and it’s too loud. You’re hoping to reduce noise in the living space with gas-fired equipment. Note: 10. Oil-fired equipment tends to be noisier than gas-fired, though there are exceptions to this broad rule of thumb. If you’re replacing a furnace or boiler, speak to your oil-heat provider or mechanical contractor about noise reduction. If they know that this is an issue, they can better identify quieter equipment and noise-reduction measures (such as relocating equipment to a place where its sound will be less bothersome).
| Yes | No |
10. You have an electric water heater that needs to be replaced along with the heating equipment. You’re hoping to switch to a gas-fired water heater for better hot-water performance. Note: You can also get an oil-fired water heater. Oil-fired water heaters are generally more expensive than comparable gas-fired models, and they need to be tuned yearly, like an oil-fired boiler or furnace. On the other hand, they’re extremely potent hot-water producers–residential versions of these appliances are nearly as powerful as their commercial counterparts. If plentiful hot water is an issue, they’re hard to beat. Also, an oil-fired boiler can be equipped to produce sufficient hot water, as can a gas boiler. Again, investigate your options by talking to both your oil supplier and a heating/cooling contractor in order to make an informed decision.
| Yes | No |