Tag Archives: Waccabuc Realtor

Do you have what it takes to be a real estate rainmaker, or will you remain a buyer’s agent? 4 clues | Waccabuc Homes

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In real estate, nothing happens until you generate a lead. Whether you want to be a top-producing salesperson or the head of a successful agent team, successful “rainmakers” differ from lower-producing agents in a variety of ways. If you’re an agent who would like to be the rainmaker for a team of agents or if you’re aspiring to become a top producer, your behavioral profile and your values will strongly influence how easy or difficult it is for you to succeed. An Online Real Estate Broker Pre License Course is a must before you start to acquire leads. Do you fit the rainmaker profile? Here’s how to tell: 1. The rainmaker profile Your behavioral and values profiles are highly correlated with real estate sales success or failure. Target Training International’s (TTI) version of the DISC personality assessment that incorporates its former PIAV (Personal Interests, Attitudes and Values) assessment is perhaps the most accurate predictor available today. The rainmaker profile on the TTI version of the DISC is high score on the “D” and “I” factors coupled with a high “Utilitarian” score on the Values. In case you’re not familiar with this jargon, here’s how this information translates into real estate practice:“D” is for Dominance People who score high on the “D” factor on the DISC are high-powered, get-it-done types. Because they are so motivated to accomplish what they set out to do, they find it easier to “ask for forgiveness” as opposed to ask for permission. A great example of this type is Donald Trump — he has no issue or compunction about firing people; if they’re not doing the job, they’re out. How can you recognize the agents who score high on the “D” factor? Here are some statements that typify these individuals:“Rejection? What’s that? If they don’t want to work with me, it’s their loss.” “Objections? Not a problem! Objections are buying signs!”You can also identify people who score high on the “D” factor on the DISC — they’re generally the ones calling on owners of expired listings, for-sale-by-owners and cold calling. Rejection simply doesn’t bother them. They schedule their two to three hours of prospecting per day and keep to that schedule day in and day out.“I” is for Influencing The second factor is the “I” factor for influencing. People who score high on the “I” factors are the “people persons.” They like to talk and enjoy bonding with others. If you put a person who scores high on this factor in a roomful of 100 strangers, they won’t be strangers for very long. The challenge for people who score high on Influencing is that without a high Dominance score they tend to talk a lot without accomplishing much. Moreover, they are reluctant to put themselves into situations where they may by rejected. They’re much too sensitive to have someone slam a door in their face.

– See more at: http://www.inman.com/2014/03/24/do-you-have-what-it-takes-to-be-a-real-estate-rainmaker-or-will-you-remain-a-buyers-agent-4-clues/?utm_source=20140324&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=dailyheadlinesam#sthash.4DtRKNLl.dpuf

Pending homes plunge, surprising economists | Waccabuc NY Real Estate

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Signed contracts to buy existing homes dropped 8.7 percent in December as abnormally cold weather hit much of the U.S., according to a new report from the National Association of Realtors.

The plunge caught economists by surprise. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast pending home sales would tick up 0.3 percent.

 

  This pending home sales index fell to 92.4 from a downwardly revised 101.2 in November. These signed contracts are an indicator of sales in January and February, and are at the lowest level since October 2011.

“Home prices rising faster than income is also giving pause to some potential buyers, while at the same time a lack of inventory means insufficient choice. Although it could take several months for us to get a clearer read on market momentum, job growth and pent-up demand are positive factors,” said the association’s chief economist, Lawrence Yun.

 

 

http://www.cnbc.com/id/101377134

30-Year Fixed Mortgage Rate Declines Slightly | Waccabuc NY Homes

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Mortgage rates for 30-year fixed mortgages fell this week, with the current rate borrowers were quoted on Zillow Mortgage Marketplace 4.18 percent, down from 4.23 percent at this same time last week.

The 30-year fixed mortgage rate remained stable for the majority of the week, peaking on Wednesday at 4.26 percent before dropping to the current rate over the weekend.

“Last week, rates dipped abruptly after China’s lackluster manufacturing report triggered concerns about the health of the global economy,” said Erin Lantz, director of mortgages at Zillow. “This week, markets will look to Wednesday’s Fed announcement about unwinding its stimulus program and Thursday’s GDP numbers as indicators of whether the U.S. economy can continue to improve. Mortgage rates could be affected by either or both.”

Additionally, the 15-year fixed mortgage rate this morning was 3.18 percent and for 5/1 ARMs, the rate was 2.80 percent.

What are the interest rates right now? Check Zillow Mortgage Marketplace for mortgage rate trends and up-to-the-minute mortgage rates for your state.

 

 

http://homes.yahoo.com/news/30-fixed-mortgage-rate-declines-slightly-190915610.html

Sandy Forced Poor to Leave Illegal Units | Waccabuc NY Homes

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Superstorm Sandy has placed a spotlight on tens of thousands of basement apartments, attics and other informal living spaces which are forms of affordable housing that are often illegal but also vital in New York City.

Advocates for the poor said thousands of people were dislodged from such apartments after the 2012 storm, and many are still homeless, as their landlords have difficulty finding resources to fix illegal residences. Such units often rented for less than nearby legal units and were home to people with low incomes.

It is hard to come by hard numbers of illegal apartments in the coastal areas slammed by Sandy, neighborhoods such as Midland Beach in Staten Island and Rockaway Park in Queens. City officials say 63,000 residential units were damaged during Sandy, and advocates estimate that under counts thousands of illegal apartments.

“It’s true that a lot of the units were maybe illegal, almost definitely substandard,” said Judith Goldiner, an attorney with the Legal Aid Society. “I’m not going to tell you they were great housing, but on the other hand they were affordable housing to a lot of low-income people.”

Related
Landowners Fight Protective Dunes

Not all basement apartments are illegal. They can be legally rented in some cases if they are more than half above ground, have seven-foot or higher ceilings and comply with a host of other city regulations. Housing advocates are pushing to legalize basement apartments that meet safety standards, and Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio has said he supports bringing them into the regulated housing system. Safety concerns have slowed such efforts.

Unregulated apartments posed special problems for homeowners trying to make repairs after Sandy. Many were unable to get government funding to repair illegal basement units, or their units now sit below the floodplain and can’t be rebuilt.

Others were afraid of seeking help and getting fined when their undeclared apartments were discovered. The Department of Buildings has issued about 30,000 violations for illegal apartments since 2009, including more than 4,400 in 2012.

Some homeowners relied on the rental income to help pay their mortgages, putting them in danger of foreclosure. Of 31,700 pre-foreclosure notices filed in the city between November 2012 and November 2013 nearly 8% were in Sandy-hit areas, according to the Center for New York City Neighborhoods.

Before Sandy, Gloria Harris, a 49-year-old Health and Hospitals Corp. employee, lived on the second floor of her two-story Rockaway Peninsula home and rented the main floor for $1,100 a month. When she asked for disaster recovery money, she said the Federal Emergency Management Agency called her house a one-family home and wouldn’t pay for repairs to the second floor. She has stopped making mortgage payments but said she can’t afford to lose the house.

“Even if I sell the house and I go to rent, with the money I make I can’t afford rent in Brooklyn, or even in Queens,” said Ms. Harris, who bought her home in June 2011.

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303799404579282352875335252#utm_source=Rebuilding%20NY%20Alert&utm_medium=alert-html&utm_campaign=Newsletters

Housing starts jump to near 6-year high in good sign for economy | Waccabuc NY Homes

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U.S. builders broke ground on homes at the fastest pace in more than five years, strong evidence that the housing recovery is accelerating despite higher mortgage rates.

The Commerce Department said Wednesday that developers began construction on houses and apartments in November at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.09 million. That’s 23 percent more than October’s pace of 889,000 and the fastest since February 2008, just a few months after the recession began.

Construction of single-family homes jumped 21 percent to an annual pace of 727,000, also the highest in more than five years. Apartment construction soared 26 percent to a 354,000 annual pace.

Permits for future building slipped 3 percent to just over 1 million, down from 1.04 million in October. The drop reflected a decline in apartments, which can be volatile. Permits for single-family homes rose.

“Evidently, builders in the field are genuinely confident about the outlook for sales of new single-family houses, despite the rise in mortgage rates,” said Pierre Ellis, an economist at Decision Economics.

The housing market has been improving steadily since early last year, but construction had leveled off this summer after first reaching a 1 million annual pace in March. Last month’s surge comes as mortgage rates remain about a percentage point higher than they were in the spring. That suggests home building will boost economic growth in the final three months of the year.

 

 

http://www.nbcnews.com/business/bitcoin-price-plunges-china-clampdown-escalates-2D11765766?ocid=msnhp&pos=7#housing-starts-jump-near-6-year-high-good-sign-economy-2D11765607

 

Reno’d English Manor in Connecticut Countryside Asks $20M | Waccabuc Real Estate

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Location: Greenwich, Conn. Price: $20,000,000 The Skinny: A complete renovation and expansion of a 1929 home, this English country manor sits on five acres of land in pricey Khakum Woods, an exceedingly exclusive neighborhood that was once part of the extensive estate of famed New York architect I. N. Phelps Stokes. Linden Court, as the home is now known, was stripped to the studs and rebuilt by luxury builders Xhema, with interior work by David Easton. An impressive modern pedigree, to be sure, but the home’s $20M asking price (down $5M from the original ask, yet still nearly $10M over the highest sale price of nearby homes) has stirred debate—not to mention genteel snarking—among those residing in the rarefied air of Greenwich real estate circles. Which, “po-tay-to, po-tah-to”, it’s a huge sum of money either way.

· 218 Clapboard Ridge Rd. [Sotheby’s International Realty via Architectural Digest]

Manhattan Rents Dip Again, But Brooklyn’s Won’t Stop Rising | Waccbuc Real Estate

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Elliman%20-%20Manhattan%20Rents%20November%202013.png [Chart via The Elliman Report.]

An NYC newbie might look at the data from Elliman’s monthly rental market report for November and say, “Hey, the rents in Manhattan have declined for three straight months now. Yippee!” The median rental price did, once again, drop year-over-year, down 3 percent to $3,100/month. Hold up: report guru and general market whiz Jonathan Miller cautions that Manhattan renters should contain their glee. “We are seeing rents top out, but the market is still strong,” he says, adding that the rental market saw much of its number exit in order to buy this summer in a flurry of record sales activity. Vacancy rates rose to a relatively high 2.8 percent, and so in order to appease renters, landlords were more willing than usual to offer concessions (say, a free month’s rent). Yet, concludes JMillz, “I don’t think we should expect a long downward trend in rents. The key drivers—rising NYC employment and tight credit—remain in place. I see rents bouncing up and down going forward on some sort of plateau and remaining at a high level.”

MNS%20-%20Manhattan%20YoY%20Rent%20Changes.png [Infographic via MNS.]

Meanwhile, brokerage MNS breaks down its extensive monthly report by neighborhood and type of apartment. Taking all the data together, though, Midtown West, Battery Park City, and the East Village saw the most intense rent hikes, while rents dropped for the Upper East Side, Chelsea, and the Lower East Side.

Elliman%20-%20Brooklyn%20Rents%20November%202013.png [Chart via The Elliman Report.]

Let’s turn our attention to Brooklyn, once seen as a bastion of affordability. Not anymore, folks, given that Elliman found median rents in the booming north and northwest parts of the borough rose yet again, this time by 3.8 percent to $2,800/month. And as rents are climbing, the availability of rentable apartments is decreasing: the number of new rentals slipped 6.5 percent from November of last year. The gap between Brooklyn and Manhattan median rents continues to narrow, with only $300/month between them now. “I see Brooklyn as about a year behind the Manhattan cycle,” Miller says. “I think they have more upside, whereas Manhattan more stable.” But, fear not, there’s relief ahead, in the form of increased supply: “Much of the new development in Brooklyn is rental, so that will temper growth next year, whereas most of the new development in Manhattan is condo.”

 

 

http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2013/12/11/manhattan_rents_dip_again_but_brooklyns_wont_stop_rising.php

Westchester pol considers challenging Cuomo | Waccabuc Real Estate

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Newly re-elected Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino, a Republican, paid a surprise visit to the all Democratic Somos El Futuro gathering of state politicians in Puerto Rico last week, delivering an address in fluent Spanish and impressing many who were there.

Gov. Cuomo, by contrast, skipped the event, disappointing many and reinforcing his image as aloof from, and even contemptuous of, his fellow Democrats.

Astorino’s visit wasn’t by accident. The Post has learned that he told several aides and key fund-raisers in recent weeks that if he won last week’s election by a comfortable margin, he would “seriously consider” challenging Cuomo next year.

He won by a landslide in a heavily Democratic county within the critical New York City media market, and challenging Cuomo is exactly what he said he is considering in an expansive telephone interview with The Post from Puerto Rico.

“I am considering it right now. I have to consider it,’’ declared Astorino. “New York is hemorrhaging jobs, I think we just went from 49th to 50th in terms of a bad business climate. We’re going in the wrong direction.

“I feel New York is fundamentally out of balance right now with extraordinarily high taxes, a terrible regulatory climate and an explosion of Medicaid and pension costs that is really killing counties, local governments and school districts. There have to be some fundamental changes going forward,’’ he added.

Astorino has been working on developing a range of policy positions that would be important in a statewide race for governor.

He said, for instance, that if he did become governor, he would move to create thousands of private-sector jobs by approving “with proper restrictions’’ drilling for natural gas — known as “fracking’’ — in the economically hard-pressed Southern Tier, something Cuomo, facing threats from radical environmentalists, has refused to do for three years, despite promises that he would.

Astorino did credit Cuomo with “baby steps’’ to improve the state’s economic picture during his first year in office.

And he conceded that the governor, who is popular with all but upstate voters, would be difficult to beat, saying, “He’s certainly the prohibitive favorite.’’

 

 

 

 

http://nypost.com/2013/11/11/westchester-pol-considers-challenging-cuomo-for-governors-seat/

Is This the Top Content Marketing Company in the World? | Waccabuc Realtor

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The rise of blogging , Facebook and Twitter has made us all publishers.

Add mobile HD cameras mounted to helmets streaming death defying leaps,  extreme bike moves and dives and you have an explosion of multi-media creators  and publishers. Mobile and modern camera technology coupled with global social  networks are providing platforms and networks with the media fodder that are  supercharging content distribution and sharing.

Content and media is no longer gathering dust in the bottom draw or the  filing cabinet but is published online. Often it is streaming and unedited. It’s  real and raw.

Content now comes in a wide variety of formats and media. It can start with a  140 character micro blog (tweet), a video. image or a long form content piece of  2,000 words on your blog. It can even be a 6 second “Vine” video or a filtered  snapshot on Instagram taken on a smartphone.

These fast changing opportunities and mediums are presenting the traditional  marketer with some thought provoking and uncomfortable choices. You can almost  hear the squirming.

Why content marketing upsets traditional marketers

The old school marketing habits and paradigms don’t cut it anymore because  content marketing requires a different way of thinking. It flips the marketing  model in many ways.

  1. Pull rather than push. Its about attracting the customer to  you rather than pushing advertisements. That’s different.
  2. Entertain and educate first and sell second. Traditional  marketing never heard of the term educate.
  3. You don’t talk  about your product. Mentioning your product in content marketing  is inappropriate. The old school thinking struggles with that.
  4. You must think and act like a publisher not an advertiser.  That is not in the comfort zone.
  5. You operate in real time. This means you have to be  thinking about “continuous marketing” as well as being campaign focused. That’s  demanding.
  6. Need different  resources. This includes staff and software. The status quo is  being challenged.
  7. Needs a different culture. Publishing culture is different  to an advertising mindset. Newsrooms, reporting and editing are a world apart  from corporate marketing and advertising.

These mind warps are presenting some challenges and potential disruption to  the marketing department and the CEO. What are the obstacles in moving from  traditional mass media habits to a publisher paradigm?

The challenges to becoming a media company

The challenges come from many angles. Some are larger than others. It means  adopting a flexible mindset that is open to change. That in itself is a  challenge.

Here are a few to keep in mind as you move to a content marketing culture  that  embraces the new.

  • Re-allocation of  resources. It is hard to discard old habits but it requires a hard look  at what isn’t working or appropriate and try something new.
  • Re-educating the  team. It will mean sometimes forgetting what was taught at university  or college because most of the changes in media are mostly less than a decade  old. YouTube is not yet 10 years old (founded in 2005), tablets have only been  around for 4 years and Facebook was launched in February 2004.
  • Changing the culture. Maybe change management is  needed.
  • Adapting to a mobile content world. Smartphones only  exploded into popular culture when the first iPhone was launched in 2007.  Websites need upgrading to be “mobile responsive” and content optimisation now  has to consider viewing on smartphones.
  • Understanding  re-purposing of content. With the broad range of multi-media formats  (30 plus at last count) and social networks, brands need to understand that we  have different  preferences for the media we read and watch and the social  networks we use to consume them on. Same message but different  media.
  • Developing an integrated mindset. This means weaving  content marketing into other marketing channels. This includes embedding content  marketing in and across all media channels including social, search, email and  traditional mass media.
  • Creating “conversations around the brand” not about the  brand. (Thanks Altimeter for that insightful phrase). This means creating content that has heart and  soul of the brand embedded but not mentioned.

So what does this adaptation look like?

The content marketing stages

Content marketing is still embryonic for most companies. Here is how  Altimeter sees the stages of content marketing maturity.

 

 

 

 

Read more at http://www.jeffbullas.com/2013/11/08/is-this-the-top-content-marketing-company-in-the-world/#5eVc09uyx9ypi8ic.99