The corporation, or village of Ossining, will be 200 years old in 2013, and our fair municipality was the first village to incorporate in the State of New York. The bicentennial will rightly observe a long, rich history as well as cultural significance from being the cradle of the “up the river” line from old […]

I think the idea of an Active Rain meetup is a capital idea, and I would like to propose one for Westchester and surrounding RainFolk on Tuesday, September 6 at 7pm at the Brazen Fox in White Plains NY. If you can drive to White Plains from wherever you are, you are welcome. The full […]

It is hard to believe that it was almost a year ago that fellow blogger Elyse Berman referred a listing client to me here in New York. A terrific lady, the client had recently lost her husband and relocated to Florida. She had expired unsold with another broker, and I met her last September. There […]

The Wall Street Journal has reported that ForSaleBYOwner.com founder Colby Sambrotto has sold his Manhattan condo with a broker after failing for 6 months as a For Sale by Owner.  Here’s the best part: The broker got him $150,000 more than he was asking when he was selling on his own. So much for saving […]

 

I got a call from an agent today and the conversation turned to a deal one of my team members tried to make on her listing which never went together. It wasn’t that they didn’t like our price, she explained. It was the seller concession. While the net to seller was quite acceptable, their attorney […]

As Yogi Berra says, you can see an awful lot by watching. And as a broker who oversees 20+ agents, 50+ listings and who still works in the field with select buyers, I do see both sides of an issue that sellers often bring up in the discussion of listing and selling their house.  Many […]

The Multiple Listing Service statistics for July closings in Ossining and Croton indicate good news for market watchers. Comparing data from this past July to July 2010, Ossining is way up, and Croton is virtually identical. July is typically a high volume month in the market cycle due to the weather and school year schedule, […]

Law Memorial Park in Briarcliff Manor is, to my eyes, one of the most attractive downtown parks of any municipality in Westchester County. It is literally walking distance from downtown (perhaps 2 city blocks) and has the village library, a huge swimming pool, a small wading pool, a huge clubhouse pavilion, clay tennis courts, a […]

To the best of my knowledge, only two things exist under stairs: little creatures who eat pens and underwear and poop lint, and storage. I have never seen the little creatures. Most people innately know that there is storage, or, in some cases, a full-blown closet under stairs because they have their own junk they […]

Right now, you could buy a 3 bedroom, 2 bath home in Ossining for less than $160,000. No, it isn’t a bombed out foreclosure behind a gas station, it is a co-op. Co -ops are one of the most affordable options for housing in all of Westchester county, and Ossining has almost 50 available priced […]

Growth and the addition of a new team member is always a happy event for us, and I am pleased to introduce Linda Polay as the newest licensee on the J. Philip team. Linda has quite a stellar background, and I look forward to supporting her in serving her lucky clients.  Linda comes to us […]

While I cannot be in attendance at Inman Connect San Francisco, I am following the Twitter stream on the event. I wish I could go, but I have to make hay while the sun shines. One tweet that caught my attention referenced a speaker by the name of Laura Roeder advising attendees to NOT blog […]

Today I came home to the usual flurry email requests for feedback for a full afternoon of showings homes to a great buyer client. I’m not the biggest fan of feedback for reasons posted before, but this afternoon I was more forthcoming. The following are my responses to feedback requests that I really did send. […]

I could start a whole separate blog for the things I consciously decide not to write about, because it’s just too easy to express bemusement or incredulity at the stuff a small number of agents do with a straight face. For example, a few minutes ago an agent just asked me “what kind of person” […]

I see an interesting trend on the blog dashboard this morning from colleagues across the US- poor conduct by agents, and understandable incredulity by the authors about it. I agree. If an agent won’t present an offer, return a call, or just behave, it is a problem with an unattracive domino effect. I myself have […]