Valhalla isn’t just where Vikings go when they die; it is where smart central Westchester residents live. Valhalla, NY is a hamlet in the town of Mount Pleasant which is served by the Valhalla School District and punctuated by a quaint downtown, a scenic train station and Kensico Dam. Kensico is one of the largest dams in […]

I will be hosting an open house at 4 Hickory Lane in Mahopac today from 1-3pm. The owner is a restaurateur, so you never know what might be on that dining room table!  The home is very unique and has a terrific location for work or play. MLS description is as follows:  Fantastic value and pride […]

In Westchester County, property taxes are high. Really high. My old house, a modest 2000 square foot home, has taxes of almost $14,000. My current home is pushing $17,000. With numbers that high, an inaccurate tax figure on the MLS can be a deal killer. When I started my company in 2005, tax figures on our MLS […]

Cynthia Larsen wrote a post I almost missed (but caught, because I subscribe to her) about an agent that left a voice mail message with no name and number. I feel the same way and expressed it before in a different context. It really isn’t rocket science, but many agents still don’t get that when they […]

It has been New York law since 2005 that home inspectors be licensed by the Department of State. The reasons are fairly numerous, but they include the following: Consumer protection. Licensure is a starting point for vetting people to hire for the job.   Oversight. The population of inspectors is no longer murky, either.  Peace […]

   

Buyers of residential property in the state of New York are by law supposed to be furnished with a form known as a Property Condition Disclosure from the seller. It is a form with several dozen questions on the physical characteristics of the property, such as the roof, plumbing, and electric systems. One question asks […]

The St Augustine’s Parish annual Italian festival will be held at the Parish Grounds Tuesday July 27 through Sunday August 1. There will be children’s rides, game booths, lots of food, a white elephant sale, and a $10,000 grand raffle. Last year my kids went bananas on the rides, which were good fun, and Luke’s […]

The things you see in this business. This past week I posted about a small child I found after a home showing who wandered out of her home and how I made sure she was back in the care of her (mortified, surprised) mother. I didn’t write it to get a pat on the back but to […]

I’m not really a big fan of rebates. Are you a fan of making less money? Now, before you dismiss me as a broker who only wants to maximize his commission, I am pretty qualified to write about buyer rebates in a real estate transaction, because I am a Redfin Partner Agent, and rebates are […]

Last September I wrote a blog post about the AMC TV Series Mad Men and its connections to my home town of Ossining, NY where the main characters’ home is set. The post was picked up by TIME.com and a number of other sites, including my local paper. With the 4th season of Mad Men starting […]

All you autograph seekers can see me today from 1-3pm at a gorgeous 2006 built bank-owned foreclosure that I will be holding open at 6 Marble Place in Ossining. The builder never sold the house and it was rented only briefly, so it shows as virtually brand new. It is almost 3000 square feet above […]

Has something like this ever happened to you when you are seeing houses? We finished up our last showing, shook hands and exchanged thoughts, then got in our cars to drive away. I turned a corner, maybe 15 yards away, and my client was stopped, perplexed, as she looked at a little girl from the neighborhood standing in the […]

Would any of you take a seat in the restaurant and then try and sell them tablecloths when the waiter came over?  Why would I ever want to do business with this person?  Name and contact info is redacted to protect the clueless.    An Inquiry from Realtor.com(R)   J Philip Real Estate  to Cxxxx show […]

Wikipedia defines the term Strategic Default as  “the decision by a borrower to stop making payments (i.e. default) on a debt despite having the financial ability to make the payments.” (my emphasis added) Given the huge amount of attention given to the practice, I thought that I would offer my own observations on what I am […]

Rockland County’s Ramapo and Clarkstown both made Money Magazine’s top 100 places to live. I blogged yesterday about Westchester’s 2 entries, New Rochelle and White Plains. Rockland County is right across the Hudson from Westchester and borders Bergen County, New Jersey. I have done business in both towns and they are both good choices.  Ramapo is the […]

Like White Plains, New Rochelle has been ranked in Money magazines top 100 small cities to live in America with a ranking of number 82. I am not surprised. New Rochelle (of Dick van Dyke show fame to those of you who have never been) is on the Long Island Sound, is home to Iona […]

Hat tip to Craig Rutman: Money Magazine has ranked America’s top 100 small cities to live and White Plains came in ranked #53 . I am closing on a home in White Plains tomorrow as a matter of fact, with another closing later this month, and I do believe that Money has it right with […]