It happens. My buyers had an accepted offer less than 24 hours old and were preparing to call their home inspector when the listing agent called me. A competing offer raised their bid to a number higher than ours, and the seller was giving us the courtesy of a chance to match or beat before […]

In light of the fact that I just spouted about the importance of live classes over online courses, here is a great live event that is open to all local professionals:  Westchester Real Estate Professionals puts on a monthly event at the Rye Grill that I have gotten great value from, and the coming event on […]

Not long ago, the licensing requirements for real estate salespeople in New York became more rigorous, with the 40-hour course expanded to 75 hours. It was a good move. I still recall my class in 1996, given by the real estate school at the Greater Rochester Association of REALTORS. My instructors were knowledgeable and engaging, the classes […]

Here in New York we have attorneys heavily involved in real estate transactions. Their function technically is to handle contracts, act as escrowees in the holding of good faith deposits, and examine title. They are another advocate for our clients. By and large, most attorneys play it straight and do not mother hen, interfere, or […]

April is Fair Housing Month in observance of the 1968 landmark legislation that ended housing discrimination by law. It seems hard to believe that a generation and a half ago that the things we take for granted were the subject of debate. Fair housing and equal access are so ingrained in our collective minds and profession […]

Certain details are simplified for expediency.  Recently, we had a short sale fall apart because the buyer’s circumstances supposedly changed and they could no longer qualify. It stunk a little, and the attorney, who had done yeoman work to get the short sale approved, indicated she felt that the deposit should not be returned. We had been […]

Arrowcrest is small, exclusive neighborhood in Croton on Hudson that has a beautiful view of the Hudson River and abuts Hudson National Golf Club. The striking thing about the development is the great job they did to blend Arrowcrest homes in with the wooded nature of the area. The builder did not “scorch the Earth” […]

I just received a “rebuttal” to feedback I left on a home I showed earlier this week.  The issue was that this 3 bedroom home wasn’t really a 3 bedroom home unless you like walking through one bedroom to get to another. The only solution would be to cannibalize the middle room with a wall to create […]

I have blogged before that the stimulus package, set to expire April 30, has fulfilled it’s purpose. Sales in Westchester for the first quarter of 2010 have dwarfed those of the 2009 first quarter. This may seem hard to believe, but that $8000 tax credit is now over a year old. The Westchester County housing […]

I started out as a sole operator in 2005. I hired my first licensee in 2006 and as of April 1 we have 20 members on our team with more coming aboard soon after. Some are former clients; some are agents we did deals with before and liked me (no accounting for taste). Whatever the […]

The Tree Streets is an unofficial nickname of a small neighborhood in the village of Briarcliff Manor that has a number -but not all- of streets named after trees. What sets it apart from much of the rest of the village is the moderate prices and predominant amount of pre war homes. The Tree Steets […]

Castle Village is the sort of apartment community that dispels the myth of New York City as the Concrete Jungle. Located in the Hudson Heights section of Upper Manhattan, it occupies a site where a castle once indeed stood, with a spectacular view of the Hudson River, George Washington Bridge, and the Palisades in New […]

This post is inspired by Richard Weisser’s excellent piece on his upcoming Spring yard work. I really don’t have the time or energy right now to stop and become my own part-time landscaper, but the time that I do take working in my yard are times I relish.  I’ll be planting a lilac from an oversized pot […]

Let me first say that no good agent will work for less than they feel they deserve. However, I know agents who could leave where they currently are for a higher split yet choose not to change brokerages. Entropy? Fear of change? What makes an agent stay for a lower split, not leave for a […]

I have great respect for home inspectors. They perform a crucial job in the real estate process, and most I have worked with do their work with merit. Just about every good inspector I have ever dealt with has understood two very fundamental truths: Be thorough and accurate.  Do not scare the crap out of […]

There has long been an argument on how best to handle the first 30 days of a listing, and that is whether or not to speculate a bit at a slightly higher price, or to enter the market at a more aggressive number in the hope of a knockout punch. Some sellers, when they get […]

One of the most misunderstood aspects of real estate is the tension on the part of agents, landlords and tenants when it comes to the sale of the rental property. It is really a 3-headed monster.  Landlords selling their property often want to “keep it a secret” that the building is for sale; they fear […]

Last week I wrote a blog post entitled Developers Should Spare the Trees. In it, I decried the clear cutting, scorched-Earth methodology of removing every single tree in the building of a new subdivision. Lo and behold, this past week, while driving not far from the inspiration of that post, I came upon the Sagamor subdivision in […]

Located in the Scarborough area of Briarcliff Manor, Kemey’s Cove is a quiet condo community nestled off of Revolutionary road overlooking the Kemey’s Cove lagoon off the Hudson River. Historic places  nearby include Sparta Cemetery as well as the Jug Tavern. The setting gives it a stunning view of the Hudson and the Metro North train line […]