Most of my postings on short sales have a happy ending. This is not one of those postings.  In late 2008 my office brought in an offer on a distressed, vacant property I had listed as a short sale in Mount Vernon. We did yeoman’s work. I listed it and one of my agents brought […]

Jennifer Allan has written a blog post entitled Any Idiot Can Give Their House Away…If Price is All that Matters – What do they need us for?   Her point is that price alone isn’t the only thing we can do to get a listing sold, which is true enough, but it has inspired me to list […]

One of the lowest things an agent can do in this day and age is to blame the agent on the other side when he or she screws up. Here’s one recent event.  I listed a single family home for lease earlier this month. The date of availability was August 1 due to the current […]

 

I was contacted by an Associated Press reporter who was writing a story on the housing market in the Northeast, and the story ran yesterday. This is the 2nd time in a month I have been contacted by a national news outlet with a subsequently appearance in their venue. Last month it was ABC World […]

According REALIST, to the public data provider for the Westchester -Putnam Multiple Listing Service, the median price for a single family home in April of 2009 was $491,250. After peaking at over $700,000 in 2005, this is the first time in a long time the median price has fallen below half a million dollars.  Sales […]

I was contacted by someone out of the blue asking me to show them a home for sale in Eastchester. They found it on Zillow, which isn’t uncommon. I looked up the address on the MLS and it came back with “no properties found.” Checking Zillow revealed that the home was for sale by owner. […]

I have blogged before about the difficulties Zillow has caused. Typically, their “Zestimate” has caused people to 2nd guess the more accurate evidence on the ground and either over or undervalue a home, killing a possible transaction. The galling thing about it is that the more compelling evidence is right under their nose from the […]

According to Inman News, Wisconsin’s largest real estate brokerage has adopted a policy of excluding the listings of non-traditional brokers from appearing on it’s site in home searches. This is not good in my view, for several reasons.    After a long battle with the Department of Justice is finally over for the NAR, one […]

The words jumped off the page:  “It troubles me that I am not identified as the listing agent. The way this listing is displayed it looks like you are. I feel taken advantage of.” This was an email sent to one of my agents from a competing agent in our MLS who googled the address […]

As Westchester County area home sellers are finding out, there are more buyers out there; that doesn’t equate to happy endings. Here is an unscientific example of the pattern I am seeing: The house is listed for a price the sellers feel good about. Not great, good. Shwings the first few weeks, then nothing. The […]

For my 200th blog posting (!!) -I was prompted to write this after someone pointed out a mistake I made but did so without being nasty. This occurred early in my career when I worked in Rochester with my old college rommate Kevin and his father Paul at their company. Both trained me in the […]

I had a choice Tuesday night after wrapping up my last co op showing in Kew Gardens, Queens. I could go home and help put my children to bed, or I could attend the tail end of a small get together in Manhattan. I was invited by Michael Daly, who is my main contact at […]

“Are you busy?” I get asked rather often this spring, and I am indeed busy. How busy? Well, I watched the “Wizard of Oz” earlier in an attempt to relax. A few observations which depart from my childhood memories of the film:   Upon seeing a munchkin emerge from a manhole cover, I note that […]

Imagine you are selling something-anything-on the open market. If we broke down the walls of time and space and put everyone who might be interested in what you are selling into one big room, it is obvious that the more people there are in that room, the better chance you have of not just selling, […]

Paul Krugman is a lauded economist, but he leverages that credential to preach to the echo chamber that is the New York Times readership. In today’s screed, Krugman makes a big fat lie in his assertion that Ronald Reagan is to blame for our current economic problems. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion; they […]

Imagine that you are meeting a prospective client for the first time. You set everything up, leave early to meet them, have the address in the GPS, and set out. For some reason, however, the GPS fails you. An urban street ends due to a new pedestrian walkway. A new townhouse community stands in the […]

I have been contacted by an investment group that showed interest in a short sale listing. They claim to be cash buyers, but have not shown proof of funds. They also want an incredible amount of information on the property and sellers so they can “evaluate” whether or not to go forward. I probably should […]

ABC World News spoke with me not long ago, and it was aired tonight on Charlie Gibson’s 6:30 pm national broadcast. The subject was the housing market and the uptick in sales, and the producers contacted me to speak about the state of housing sales. I was interviewed by Betsy Stark in New Rochelle, NY […]

“We’ll be paying in cash.” “We won’t require a mortgage. We have the funds.” The perception that cash buyers are afforded courtesies, discounts and red carpet treatment has caused some out there to represent themselves as such. The only problem is that they are not cash buyers. Some are just confident that they can get a mortgage, […]