Active Rain How Long to Get Paid? Here’s one we don’t often ask: When an agent has a closing, how long before they get paid their commission? The reasons I ask is this: when one of my agents brings in a check, I pay them. I know some places they wait until the check clears, but that is really not a big […]
Active Rain Top 10 Idiotic Things Agents Said to Me This Year 10. Oh, I was just about to call you (after 3 days of voicemails) 9. We’ve had 3 offers higher than yours and we said no to all of them. 8. I’ve been in the business for 35 years and… 7. Let’s just let the lawyers deal with it. 6. I can get them to […]
Active Rain Westchester County Home Sales Are Up Home sales rose almost 10% in Westchester County this October compared to last October while the median price remained almost exactly the same at $575,000. The average (mean) sale price actually rose by $10,000. How can this be? How could prices remain steady yet the number of sales actually rise? Is Westchester that insulated from […]
Active Rain XLIII 10 years ago, during Thanksgiving week of 1999, I went on a lunch date. It went pretty well; we said goodbye at 1:30… AM. I lived upstate in Rochester at the time and she was in Queens, so by June of 2000 I was back home in Westchester to be closer to her. In December […]
Active Rain Common Blogging Mistakes that Cost You Money Groups and Channels and Categories Oh My Unless you are already making too much money, the name of the game with this blogging thing is to get found. If you want readers to find you, you need to maximize your exposure. Often, I find blog postings that are fantastic but under read, not because they […]
Active Rain How NOT to Price Your Home How not to price your home: Take your mortgage balance. Add your credit cards. Throw in your cars. Add a generous portion of all the money you borrowed from relatives.  Pile on your down payment for that other house you have your eye on. Last but not least, give yourself an extra 50 grand just […]
Active Rain An Idea Whose Time Has Come: Mobile Active Rain Can someone second the motion? Isn’t it high time we can access Active Rain from our mobile phone? I can get the NY Post for goodness sake. It shouldn’t be that hard- it is a mostly text site anyway. Well, powers that be? what say you? sent from my mobile phone
Active Rain Another Open House Theft The following was posted on the Mid Hudson MLS recently: SECURITY WARNING   Yesterday a home was robbed of cash and jewelry during an open house in the town of Poughkeepsie. Two woman entered a home and while one occupied the agent the other committed the crime. PLEASE! PLEASE! PLEASE! establish office policies that protect […]
Don't Miss Our Next Post
Subscribe Now
Active Rain Thoughts on 100k Well, on reaching 100,000 points I was invited here to the Silver Star HOF by Kathy Clulow and here I am. $100,880 points ago I began blogging here, not to earn points or money, and not even to make friends, but to vent. I already had a WordPress blog, and I didn’t have any time anyway. I […]
Active Rain Happy Thanksgiving Happy Thanksgiving to all who read this. I hope the holidays bring you peace and abundance, and may 2010 be filled with health, happiness and prosperity. 2009 has been a challenge, and my experiences with many of you have made the year easier. For that I am truly thankful.   
Active Rain 100,000 I should eclipse 100,000 points with this post, exactly a year after I began blogging in earnest. While I’ve certainly had my light periods, in the past 12 months I’ve made some good friends and made money as well. How has Active Rain helped me to get “found?” Let me count the ways:   Appeared […]
Active Rain Wordless Wednesday: On the Brink…with Cheerleader
Active Rain “But That’s Not Capitalism” As happy as most of us seem that the housing stimulus was extended, I have heard and read a number of individuals express an opinion to the contrary. There are two main objections to the stimulus, and both are, in my view, fallacious. Let me preface my words by stating I am a free market […]
Active Rain Case-Shiller: We Aren’t Out of the Woods Yet Originally posted 11/24/09 on Active Rain According to today’s Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller home price index, US home prices remain unsteady with more declines expected in some areas. Of the 20 areas examined, almost half experienced falling prices, including New York. While this is not good news, it is news and should be interpreted by our profession (and trade […]
Active Rain Case-Shiller: We Aren’t Out of the Woods Yet According to today’s Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller home price index, US home prices remain unsteady with more declines expected in some areas. Of the 20 areas examined, almost half experienced falling prices, including New York. While this is not good news, it is news and should be interpreted by our profession (and trade organizations) without rose colored glasses. You […]
Active Rain Welcome to 40 Somethings! Welcome to 40 Somethings, the group for anyone in their 40’s in body or mind. Feel free to post anything a Forty Something can relate to. It can be content that is business or life related, so your thoughts on your aching back, unpredictable teenager or curmudgeonly in-laws are as topical as your latest buyer, seller or listing experience. You don’t have to […]
Active Rain New Group: 40 Somethings In between Gatorade and Geritol, there is a s strange in-between world that isn’t young but sure isn’t old. Being 40 something puts you in a multi tasking generation, in between your own kids and your aging parents, all while building your career in real estate. Remember when forty was old? Can’t get your mind […]
Active Rain Westchester Magazine: 52 Reasons to Love Westchester We often give clients a subscription to Westchester Magazine after they close on their home. The publication comes out monthly and does a good job of selling the county (and a great job of selling cosmetic surgery). 52 Reasons to Love Westchester is this month’s cover story, and here are a few of my favorites. My yapping is […]
Active Rain The Day of Extremes I have listed two houses in a day before, but in 13 years I have never seen such contrast in a day. 10am: Listed a double wide mobile home in Middletown, NY for $39,900. 4pm: Listed a 3,500 square foot 6 bedroom English Tudor in New Rochelle for $975,000. Two different counties, two altogether different communities, and […]
Active Rain What is a Buyer’s Market Anyway? Now is a great time to buy real estate. I was quoted 3.75% on a 7/1 ARM today (great if you are putting a lot down and plan to move in 5 years or less), and 30 year fixed are getting deliciously close to 5%. The high inventory and low prices are all in the […]