Active Rain

This is the walking tour I filmed today while the New York Times photographer took pictures.  This is not glitzy, but it does give answers and a good feel for the home. After the tour was uploaded, I printed fact sheets that included a QR code linking to the walking tour for people that drive […]

I was contacted by a reporter from the New York Times this past week who is working on a story on how technology is being utlized by real estate professionals. I guess I did OK in the interview, because she called back and asked if they could take some photos of me in action with […]

I held a listing open this past Sunday and it went quite well. One interesting scenario I never dealt with before was the issue of putting open house signs on the street corners nearby the property, because we were still so buried under snow that the edge of the road was pushed out several feel. […]

We have just listed two very nice starter homes in beautiful Chappaqua, NY.  173 Birchwood Close, Chappaqua 10514. Old Farm Lake complex. 2 bedroom, 2 bath townhome style condo, fireplace, formal dining room, updated kitchen, deck, and great complex aminities-pool, clubhouse, tennis. $399,900. Short sale.     374 Quaker Rd, Chappaqua 10514. Terrific 3 bedroom, 2 […]

Surfing on Active Rain this morning has yielded a neat discovery: There is a baseball junkies group here. I happen to be a huge baseball guy. When I was in Brooklyn, I took photos of the apartment complex that sits where Ebbets Field once was. I have been to an apartment in  Harlem that is […]

Buyers buy the sizzle

Rob Hahn has written an extremely thought provoking piece on the role that broker commissions play in the pricing of real estate. It isn’t what I originally thought when I read the title- I was expecting a “commission is just a markup” but it wasn’t about that at all. It did get me to wonder […]

The company has grown over the years and in the first quarter of 2011 we’ll pass 20 salespersons and associate brokers. I am not an overt recruiter; our growth has been organic, but in looking at the good folks we’ve attracted I do see some patterns. Chiefly, we have drawn 2 types of people: new […]

It is a well deserved fact that one of the knocks on real estate agents is that they don’t return phone calls. I have been there, & bought the picture they took of me walking in. Really, I have.  It is a little discussed fact that some members of the public don’t have the same […]

I am no fan of open houses. I haven’t made a sale at one in a dog’s age (1998 if you really care), they are typically poorly attended, and I can think of better places to catch up on email and reading. Today, however, I hosted a really busy open, with 6 very friendly and […]

Two quick things in the past 24 hours that made me feel just a tad old. One cute, one not so cute.  Not so cute: One of my agents fired a client today (yes, we do that in some cases) because, frankly, they were too immature. Newlyweds, lots of good reasons to have hope for […]

Just in case you’re up late and licking your chops about the market change toward equilibrium I just blogged about, I did a comparision of the first 6 weeks of 2010 compared to the first 6 weeks this year.  In 2010, the first 6 weeks had 377 closings for single family homes at a median […]

Upon occasion, I meet an agent for the first time and they look nothing like their picture on their website or card. Let’s face it…real estate agents are notorious for having absurdly old photos of themselves for way too long. It’s hard to tell someone that they look like the grandmother of the person on […]

I used to joke that if you needed my advice or to borrow money from me that you were doomed. That may still be so; we’ll have to see. One place to look on the advice side is Keller Williams Realty Group in Scarsdale, NY where team leader and Active Rainer Jennifer Maher took a […]

“Please remove shoes.” These are reasonable instructions, especially in New York, where we have folks of many cultures who don’t wear street shoes in the house. My own home is a shoes off house by and large, as Ann is of Korean descent and the kids are heavily into the rug rat years. My kids’ rolling around […]

About three weeks ago I wrote a rather forgettable blog post about what $335,000 will buy you in Peekskill, New York. I really like to post these sorts of pieces because they are informative and sneakily self promotional (and I kind of lack any shame about promoting myself), but I have to admit that they aren’t exactly cutting edge […]

Tonight, the Ossining school board will vote on putting a $69,000,000 bond for school expansions and renovations up for referendum.  $69,000,000.00. The issue the district is facing is how to house the growing population of students they serve, which is a good thing. The solution, to spend almost $70 million, strikes me as not such a good […]