The $400 toilet seat has always been the symbol of government waste, but now it is the TARP (Troubled Asset Recovery Program, or, better known as the “bailout”) funds that banks are, in my view, squandering. What I personally experienced below is the tip of the iceburg. 225 West Lovell, Mahopac, NY: Offer of $225,000 […]

This may be a touchy subject to some, but many people sabotage their own efforts to sell their home because of how their house smells. The source is most often a food or pet odor, and in both cases it is relatively preventable, especially as the warmer weather is upon us. This is probably the […]

One of my agents has a listing in a very desirable part of her town. It expired not long ago, and we will put it back as active once some projects has been finished. In the interim, the sign has remained up, per the seller’s preference.  An agent from out of town drove by, saw […]

Did you know my home’s assessed value is $30,000? Or that my last home was assessed at $25,100? Over in Congers I have a listing at $589,900 which is assessed at $177,800. In nearby Pleasantville I have a listing priced at $599,900 which is assessed for only $6600. I think the last year a home sold in Pleasantville […]

I’ve blogged about this house before. It is a stunner. The Program was CNBC’s “On the Money” with Carmen Wong Ulrich. One of the panelists is Dolly Lenz, Vice Chairman of Prudential Douglas Elliman Real Estate, a respected expert and extremely nice person. The segment with my listing starts at 1:30 of the video.    […]

Get a pre -approval before you make an offer on a new home. Here’s why.  85% of my business is on the listing side representing sellers. There is no setback in real estate as devastating as the “deal dying.” Typically, when a deal has died in my experience, it has been because the buyer was […]

   You can search the MLS like an agent here.  See J. Philip’s New York Photo Blog Here. J. Philip Faranda is New York’s Premier Short Sale REALTOR. Read Phil’s short sale blog here at http://NYShortSaleBlog.net. J. Philip Serves Briarcliff Manor, Ossining, the River towns , Westchester County & the bedroom counties of New York City.  

Just Listed! Price Reduced! Must Sell! New Price! Open! Buzz off. You know who you are. I spend $200-300 per month on my primary MLS and then more money on programs to match buyer clients to listed properties. Simply put, if your listing matches my buyer, I’ll know before you do. If you just reduced […]

As more inventory enters the spring market, over half of my new listings are upside down. I list and sell many short sales in Westchester County and beyond, so they tend to find me, but that still speaks to the fact that there are still billions in toxic assets & lots of people underwater out there. […]

This building is one of the biggest enigmas in Westchester. It is located in a very affluent area (in the Edgment section on busy Central Park Avenue), but has been derelict for years. More information here and  here. One of the real neat pieces of architecture you’ll see in southern Westchester, it sits, year after […]

I was working all day Saturday and didn’t get to see the Kentucky Derby; my wife replayed it for me this morning on DVR. For those of you who ran track or perhaps participated in rowing in college as I did, you’ll know that races involve more than speed; they require strategy. The basic underpinning […]

128 days ago, I sat at a dining room table in Putnam Valley, New York, just north of the Westchester County border with a young couple who were listed 4 times previously with 3 different brokerages in unsuccessful attempts to sell their home. Along the way, they got behind on their payments due to loss […]

   You can search the MLS like an agent here.  See J. Philip’s New York Photo Blog Here. J. Philip Faranda is New York’s Premier Short Sale REALTOR. Read Phil’s short sale blog here at http://NYShortSaleBlog.net. J. Philip Serves Briarcliff Manor, Ossining, the River towns , Westchester County & the bedroom counties of New York City.

At the heart of doing business in good faith is representing accurate information. This doesn’t just go for square footage, what appliances convey, or when the roof was replaced. It also applies to compensation. Actually, in my opinion, it especially applies to compensation.  Charles Stallions has written a thought-provoking post on the re-negotiation of a […]

Driving around New York with a digital camera has yielded some pretty neat photos that I can’t put on the MLS. There was the time a herd of deer dropped in on the photo shoot of a new listing, for instance.   So, I have started a photo blog, exclusively to post all the neat […]

When I posted Spring photos yesterday the cherry blossoms weren’t ready, but they greeted me this morning.  Of course, two family members had to beautify the photo in a “where’s waldo” kind of way.  So, there they are. Posted a day late but just as pretty.    ____________________________________________________________________      You can search the MLS […]

When I walked outside this morning, I was greeted by an old friend: warmth. Warm weather isn’t new this year, but the norm lately has been brisk mornings, warm days and cool evenings. A warm morning, for me, is a first in 2009.  Briarcliff Manor is beautiful in the Spring, and I took some photos […]

There has been some chatter on the Internet and here on Active Rain about Redfin, and I suppose that any non-traditional firm will attract controversy, especially from the rank and file orthodoxy. We have seen non-traditional firms come and go in the New York market; Foxtons went out of business in 2007, and Zip Realty […]

I am not a fan of open houses. The reasons are plentiful- technology has supplanted the need, my weekend afternoons are better spent elsewhere, and oh, I haven’t sold a house at an open since 1998 (more on that later).  All markets are local, so I do understand why, for instance, a Manhattan agent would […]

I have blogged previously that lizards who are smart enough to move survive and those that sit still are quickly eaten by any colonies. Both sitting still and moving are survival mechanisms, but depending on the circumstances one can kill you and the other can save your life. In a New York short sale, curling […]