I met with a new client to sign papers to list his house this morning. As I entered the house I was met at the top of the stairs by what sounded like a sonic boom with teeth. There, telling me who was boss, was Sam, a 90 pound German Shepherd. I have a Shepherd […]

New York Law requires that sellers of residential property provide the buyers with a property condition disclosure form filled out. The form is a series of questions on the physical condition of the house and property. The penalty for not providing this form is a $500 credit to the buyer at closing. In our Westchester […]

It happens once every year in New York real estate. I’m not talking about baseball Spring Training, Groundhog Day, or my son’s birthday. This is hammer time, courtesy of the winter frost line in the ground. In case you are wondering, this is the time of year that I have to break out the sledge hammer and […]

A client called today asking about a listing she found on Realtor.com. It was there in her zip code, but she couldn’t find it in her client IDX portal. The MLS number did not match our MLS. We contacted the phone number on the Realtor.com write up, and it is one of those companies that will list a house […]

As many people outside New York may know, lawyers handle the contracts in the purchase and sale of real estate in this market. That little aspect of the industry has created more than its share of animosity because of the extra layer of red tape it adds to a transaction and because, well, they are lawyers.  Very recently, on […]

We just got word that one of our short sale transactions in Peekskill, NY was approved. This comes just one day after we listed another one for sale across town!  On the approved sale, we had multiple offers. The one sent to the bank was less than 2% short of a full price bid, and […]

Closing costs on a New York transaction can be quite high. The state has a high transfer tax, municipalities, especially New York City, have their own tax, and title insurance is expensive. Otherwise qualified buyers might need to finance some of these costs, and a the mechanism for doing so is a seller concession.  There are […]

Westchester County is the first county north of New York City. Westchester’s southernmost border is with the New York City borough of the Bronx. To the east, several municipalities are on the shoreline of the Long Island Sound and the rest of the eastern towns border Fairfield County, Connecticut. Putnam County is to the north. The western […]

I attended Marie Graham’s home staging workshop this morning at the Ossining Public Library. It was outstanding. While I never disputed the value of stagers, I have gotten into my share of disagreements with them on matters probably not worth arguing about. One is about taking down personal photos. Marie made a good analogy about […]

There have been a number of featured blogs on Active Rain decrying what the authors perceive as either negativity, finger pointing, or undignified criticism of the competition on the part of fellow bloggers. Their rationale is honorable; they don’t want the public to see agents bickering among themselves, nor do they feel it professional for one licensee to point […]

We got a call the other day from Ronnie, our admin who is in the office daily from 9-5. Half the office was without electricity, and the other half still had juice. I told her to contact the property manager, a bookkeeper upstairs who arrives between 9 and 10am.  By the way: there are two […]

Did you ever write a thoughtful, heartfelt post and as soon as you posted it, got a comment right away? You click on the comment to see what the reader’s reaction is to your sharing, only to read this: Thanks for your thoughts. We learn so much on Active Rain. Best wishes. Huh? Did they […]

This will be somewhat of a rant, but after being sick as a dog with some exotic bug my kids brought home from school, I am in one of those moods. There is a word for a home inspector who will take $500 from a home buyer for inspecting a co op apartment they are […]

I posted earlier this week that an agent in my company had elected to leave for another firm. The day after he resigned, prior to our meeting and settling our affairs, he sent an email expressing irritation at me for not releasing him on the Department of State website right away. That only served to […]

RPR, which stand for Realtors Property Resource, has been described as Big Brother, NAR’s answer to Zillow, the precursor to a National MLS, and many other things. But regardless of what opinion you may have of the system, it is coming, and it knows you. The project is the National Association of Realtors initiative to index […]

Spam is spam, whether it is for a Nigerian diplomat or a 3 bedroom ranch. The whole point of a high tech MLS system is so we don’t have to exchange information via archaic means, such as listing books, letters, faxes, or smoke signals. The information is at our fingertips. Moreover, saved searches and hotsheets tell us when a […]

This is inspired by Richard Weisser’s outstanding blog piece about, well, blogging. It is admirable the way his blog has built his personal brand.  A real estate broker is always recruiting people in 3 categories: sellers, buyers, and salespeople. Hiring, however, always seems to come as an afterthought, especially to an independent firm. We don’t […]

Back in December I wrote a blog post aimed at my fellow broker owners asking them how fast they paid their agents once a deal closed. The post was featured and got over 100 comments. It was gratifying to get input from my colleagues across the country.  Today I have a new question, and this […]

To my way of thinking, few things make a house a home like a pet. We’ve rescued a few dogs in our time, and the latest is Max, pictured below. He is a purebred German Shepherd whom I rescued for a fraction of what it would have cost to buy a new puppy with papers. […]

This is an important clarification for all home buyers who want that tax credit: While everyone is talking about the April 30 deadline for qualification, there is another deadline to be aware of, and that is July 1, 2010. You have to be in contract to purchase by April 30, 2010 and close by July […]