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Gobble ‘Till You Wobble

Nestled on a quiet street corner of the Campwoods neighborhood in Ossining is an old school, kid friendly cafe with an old fashioned counter, and wallet friendly prices. I just spent of of the nicer afternoons with Catherine, and the highlight was our time at the Wobble Cafe. Catherine had a strawberry smoothie and PB […]
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Starting From Scratch

I got a phone call from a fellow independent broker-owner yesterday asking how one would transition into being a listing agent when they were not focused on that part of the business before. Good question, and it is one that has been asked before by Brian Rugg when he relocated to a new state. […]
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Pack 49 Visits Cortlandt Town Court

This past Thursday Luke’s Cub Scout den had a visit to Cortlandt Town Court to get their badge for civics. I was eager to go, because I actually know the judge. I sold his aunt’s house a few years ago! One thing that struck me about court was the huge number of drunk driving cases […]
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Speechless Sundays: What Daddy Sees as He Leaves for Work Saturday
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Ladies and Gentlemen, Start Your Engines

We are less than a week into “Spring” but the Spring Market has already begun in Westchester. Things are getting busy, as the cyclical nature of our industry turns to the most active period between now and July 4th. If this is the year you are looking to buy that first home, or even if […]
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Bucking the Trend

A Shameless, Brazen Self Pimping Piece Follows. All sold data is taken from the Empire Access MLS: Much like the rest of the country, there is still a significant malaise over the Westchester County real estate market. From January 1, 2010 until March 26, 2010 there were 708 single family homes sold in Westchester County […]
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Short Sale Seller: Everyone is Getting Paid But Me.

Just about every home sale is stressful on the seller. A short sale, given the higher stakes and financial ramifications, often has even more stress for the seller than a typical transaction. On a few occasions, I have had a short sale client lament that they are “left out” in a way, in that everyone […]
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Why I Will Happily Shell Out the 40 Bucks

For my colleagues in the real estate industry…”politics makes strange bedfellows” I’ll preface my thoughts by tipping my cap to the memory of Elizabeth Taylor to make a point: when you think of the late Ms. Taylor, what number do you first think of? If the number is her 8 marriages, may I suggest 100,000,000. […]
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What Can You Buy for $540,000 in Tuckahoe, NY?

What Can You Buy for $540,000 in Tuckahoe, NY? $540,000 goes alot farther than a few years ago in places like Tuckahoe. Take for example this 4 bedroom, 3 bath 2800 square foot home our buyers recently closed on. They got a big living room and formal dining room, a family room with a fireplace, […]
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Wordless Wednesday: Spring Snow
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Forget About the Furniture

It all starts out innocently enough. The seller comes in at the tail end of the home inspection and meets the buyer. They press the flesh, exchange some small talk, and the conversation drifts around to the furniture. The seller might be willing to sell some. The buyer likes some of the pieces. Like many […]
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Buyers Want a Home, Not an Agent

For my fellow agents: Steve Loynd has written a post I relate to quite a bit- the experience of shelling out big bucks to a service that promises to deliver a pipeline of prospective buyer clients to your inbox, only to pull the plug after thousands of dollars down the drain with no return on […]
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What Does $825,000 Buy in Pelham, NY?

What Does $825,000 Buy in Pelham, NY? Here’s what you can get for $825,00: A 2300+ square foot 4 bedroom 3 bath 1920’s Lewis Bowman designed New England colonial on over a third of an acre in Pelham Manor. It has a rocking chair porch, patio, plenty of parking, and a manicured lawn. Inside is […]
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Hail to my Son the Champion

I’m going to indulge on a completely non-real estate topic because I am a proud dad. On Saturday, my son Luke won first place at his pack’s Pinewood Derby event. He is on cloud 9 and so am I. Luke is in 3rd grade and in his thid year of Cub Scouts. Our first two […]
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Honor

Earlier this week, I called a For Sale by Owner to show their home to a buyer I am working with. We just put their home under contract and need to find that next move up home for their family. They are nice people, and while I do not work with buyers as often as […]
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My 3 Gold Star Bloggers

Craig Daniels has challenged us to name 3 bloggers we love– the sort of folks that if a glitch in Active Rain were to erase our subscription list that we’d immediately seek them out again. I have more than three, but the limit is three, so I’ll refrain from mentioning bloggers I know are on […]
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Answering the Broker Haters in the New York Times

The following is a comment I wrote this morning on this article on real estate brokers in the New York Times. The piece was on smaller brokers contrasted with larger ones, and as is common in Times articles on brokerage, the haters were out there in the comments telling us how bad brokers are. I […]
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How to Prepare Your Home for Sale

How to get that Westchester County Home Staged to Sell! First, make sure the landscaping is appealing with decorative additions. A mere lawn won’t do. Next, consider the Feng Shui of the “regular guy.” If you think your home might appeal to a certain niche, leverage that fact. This home, for example, would be great […]
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Speechless Sundays: The First Step is a Doozy
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Yapping

I was invited by the Larchmont Rotary Club to speak on real estate this past Friday. It was a cool experience. I was unaware of the Rotary and the good work they do, but that, along with lunch, was a cool fringe benefit. And they gave me a pen. Not long ago I blogged about […]

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