The first words of M. Scott Peck’s seminal book The Road Less Traveled are “Life is hard.” It was actually required reading in a senior elective at Villanova back in 1988. I thought of it yesterday as I was driving and I snapped the shot below, a sight all of us in the industry are familiar […]

I hate to rain on a guy’s parade. As a colleague from another industry sat across my desk, we pondered why his home, listed with another broker prior to meeting me, had not sold. Looking at the market activity, his bottom line and what it appeared he’d get were about $10,000 apart. My suggestion was […]

I’m not interested in discussing whether or not it will ever be Morning in America anytime soon, but I think we can all agree that it isn’t Morning in Real Estate right now. We are in a dark evening in some precincts, and from my observations the freaks really do come out at night. The […]

With the closure and razing of the old building that housed Big Top and several other small businesses and their imminent replacement by Walgreen’s, the village of Ossining will have yet another “big box” drug store. Nearby Chilmark shopping center on the border in Briarcliff also has a proposal on the table for the arrival […]

This is the market report for the Byram Hills School district (predominantly Armonk and parts of Bedford and Mount Pleasant) for the 2nd quarter of 2011. All information is for single family homes and is sourced by the Empire Access Multiple Listing Service.  For the second quarter of 2011, 23 homes closed with a median […]

This Market Report is for the Yorktown school district and all data is for single family homes taken from the Empire Access (formerly Westchester-Putnam Multiple) Listing Service. In the 2nd quarter of 2011, Yorktown had 27 closed sales at a median sale price of $380,000. In the same time period of 2010, 45 homes sold at […]

Last year I did a blog post on the churches in Ossining. Today I’ll share some of the very beautiful houses of worship in Briarcliff Manor. This is St Mary’s Episcopal Church of Scarborough on Albany Post Road (Route 9) right next to Sleepy Hollow Country Club. I love Gothic stone buildings like this.   […]

This is the market data for the second quarter of 2011 for single family homes in Peekskill, and all information is sourced from the Empire Access (formerly Westchester-Putnam) Multiple Listing Service. In the 2nd quarter of 2011 there were 14 closings at a median price of $239,500.  In the 2nd quarter of 2010, Peekskill had […]

I remember as a child in the 1970’s hearing my mother lament that she knew that she was making less than her male counterparts. It was a problem, and pay equality continues to be an issue to this day. Things are improving, but I don’t think we’re there yet.  But is real estate an occupation […]

7 things you can do on Google + that you can’t do on Facebook You can edit posts later- add/remove links, photos, and fix typos.  You can “follow” people (like on Twitter) without having to be friends.  If someone posts a bummer update, you don’t feel like a schmuck when you click “+1” to be […]

A short one this evening, but worth sharing:  I have been having challenges keeping up lately. A reality of my position and how the company is growing is that I really can’t devote as much time to buyers as I once could. Today alone a three headed monster arose: one timeslot, two buyers wanting to […]

I had an appointment this morning where I was reminded of two cornerstone laws of real estate: Unrealistic people tend to remain unrealistic no matter what evidence is brought before them. The price one asks for their house and the price one gets are two entirely different animals.  As for part 1, my colleagues know […]

Back to the zinc mine after stealing some rest over the July 4th weekend. A few thoughts thus far as I rely on “mental muscle memory” to get going: To my colleague agents who email me their listings: cut it out. I read the hotsheets and I have amazing technology to match buyers and sellers. […]

I review market statistics ever quarter, and since we just passed the halfway point of 2011 I found some very powerful data on the relationship between percent of asking price that Westchester County homes sell for and how long they have been on the market. As the table from the Empire Access MLS below illustrates, the percentage […]

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776. The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which […]

This is the market report for Chappaqua, NY for the 2nd quarter of 2011. It covers single family homes in the Chappaqua from April 1, 2011 to June 30, 2011. All data is from the Empire Access MLS.  In the 2nd quarter  of 2011, Chappaqua had 35 closings at a median sale price of $745,000. In the 2nd quarter  of 2010, Chappaqua […]

This is the market report for Briarcliff Manor, NY for the 2nd quarter of 2011. It covers single family homes in the Briarcliff from April 1, 2011 to June 30, 2011. All data is from the Empire Acess MLS.  In the 2nd quarter  of 2011, Briarcliff Manor had 7 closings at a median sale price of $650,000. In the 2nd quarter  of 2010, Briarcliff had […]