Last week I read in Agent Genius about a homeowner that was suing their real estate broker after the theft of $162,000 worth of jewelry from their home during an open house. The homeowners claim that they are entitled to damages because the crime basically occurred on the agent’s watch, and that the agent was […]

Note: It has been a solid month since I last wrote a blog entry. We endured 8 days with no power after hurricane Sandy, then another week with no phone or Internet. The disconnection and subsequent mad rush to catch up on lost work forced me to put many of my writing efforts on hold. […]

It is no secret that anyone selling their home in Westchester County, or Iowa for that matter, wants to get as much money as they possibly can for their property. There are a variety of things a seller can do to maximize their price, such as staging the home, having the broker do a good […]

All things being equal, I think most people would prefer to not have nuclear fission occur in their own back yard. I have often stated that if Indian Point were to cease operations, the property values in Verplanck would skyrocket. The debate about the renewal of Indian Point’s license rages while I believe that most […]

Rye Playland has been a Westchester institution since 1927. We take our children there every year, and few places have a softer place in my heart. Unfortunately, 85-year old amusement parks (even when great pains have been taken to keep current, as they do in Rye) don’t attract the crowds they once did, and the […]

The results are in for the month of September for single family home sales in the county and they are mixed. According to the Hudson Gateway MLS data, September 2012 was slightly weaker than the same time period in 2011, but overall 2012 is still well ahead of last year’s pace. Median price is down […]

The New York State Association of Realtors will hold their annual fall conference from Sunday, September 30 to Wednesday, October 3. I am a state director on the MLS and technology committees, so I will be in attendance. Association meetings cover a broad range of matters, and consumers should know that their interests are first […]

The Powers That Be must have had a different attitude about prime waterfront land in centuries past, at least in Westchester County. Just in our northern River Towns alone, we have had a nuclear power plant, a landfill, a maximum security prison, and an automobile factory on the banks of the Hudson. Those aren’t very […]

I wrote last year on the sad passing of fellow broker George Groves, who was a well respected figure for decades in Westchester real estate. Yesterday, George was honored with the dedication of park benches in his memory at the Eastchester Public Library. Several dozen people attended, including a number of public officials and industry colleagues, both […]

I just discovered Sulia, a this cool, channel based social media platform that allows people to follow subjects instead of people. It is a phenomenal idea. Clicking on the real estate channel, I found the same social media fail by my esteemed colleagues that plagues every other platform: spam. They think people will want to […]

Perhaps you’ve heard the news that the Federal Reserve announced today that it will buy $40 billion per month of mortgage backed securities to keep rates low. Lots of terms have been thrown around, like quantitative easing, QE3, short term rates, and I even heard one guy mention Malaysian nutmeg, but I think he was […]

August of 2012 will be remembered for the completion of the first two thirds of a year which has been the first upward year in sales totals since the boom.  According to the Hudson Gateway Multiple Listing Service statistics for single family home closings in August, we saw the highest sales volume since 2007. Here are the breakdowns for […]

I’d like to take a moment from real estate and discuss art, beauty, and things that endure. After a terrible accident Sunday, our community lost a very good man when Noel DeGaetano very tragically died this past weekend. I knew Noel from our BNI group, and got an opportunity to visit his studio in Tuckahoe earlier this year. […]

A small, benign event occurred recently that made me dust off a list I have been compiling as a broker who has had his share of communication fails over the years with the real estate agents in my brokerage. You might be going out of town, need help with a file, or just want to […]

What can you buy in West Harrison for $475,000? One buyer recently closed on a beautiful 3 bedroom 2 bath cape in Silver Lake for $475,000 this past week. The home had great hardwoods, a bright, airy sun porch, a full walkout basement and a garage. It also had a large eat in kitchen, plenty […]

I was raised by a very strong woman. She was not simply a high spirited person, she changed things. My mother had her own quite distinguished career, spearheaded changing the school’s then “mothers guild” to the Parent’s Guild in the 60s, and became a leader in most of the things she devoted her energies to. […]

What can you buy for just under $250,000 in Greenburgh? I’m glad you asked. $245,000 buys you a 3 bedroom condo in Granada Crescent in White Plains with 2 full baths, a balcony, and a beautiful swimming pool right in the middle of the complex like the one we just closed on last week. The […]

Sometime back in 2006 I was in Otisville, New York working with a buyer client who wanted information on some new construction she couldn’t afford and she insisted that I call the listing agent. I was in a foul mood, an hour away from home, and I think it was about dusk on a Sunday. […]

One of the more unflattering stereotypes of real estate agents is that of a passive, uncommunicative person who does not carry their own weight in the transaction. It is, sadly, rooted in actual events, and I have head my share of these folks in my own deals all too often. You probably know the type. […]

On Thursday and Friday I attended two consecutive forums for real estate agents on short sales put on by Chase and Bank of America respectively. Both forums were informative. Both forums sent a clear communication that the lenders wanted to make the short sale process better. And both forums also sent very differing messages about […]