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Just Give Me These Three Things and We’ll be Fine

Cynthia Larsen wrote a post I almost missed (but caught, because I subscribe to her) about an agent that left a voice mail message with no name and number. I feel the same way and expressed it before in a different context. It really isn’t rocket science, but many agents still don’t get that when they […]
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New York Home Inspectors Must be Licensed

It has been New York law since 2005 that home inspectors be licensed by the Department of State. The reasons are fairly numerous, but they include the following: Consumer protection. Licensure is a starting point for vetting people to hire for the job. Oversight. The population of inspectors is no longer murky, either. Peace […]
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New York Property Condition Disclosure vs $500 Credit

Buyers of residential property in the state of New York are by law supposed to be furnished with a form known as a Property Condition Disclosure from the seller. It is a form with several dozen questions on the physical characteristics of the property, such as the roof, plumbing, and electric systems. One question asks […]

Active Rain Just Give Me These Three Things and We’ll be Fine Cynthia Larsen wrote a post I almost missed (but caught, because I subscribe to her) about an agent that left a voice mail message with no name and number. I feel the same way and expressed it before in a different context. It really isn’t rocket science, but many agents still don’t get that when they […]

Active Rain New York Home Inspectors Must be Licensed It has been New York law since 2005 that home inspectors be licensed by the Department of State. The reasons are fairly numerous, but they include the following: Consumer protection. Licensure is a starting point for vetting people to hire for the job. Oversight. The population of inspectors is no longer murky, either. Peace […]

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Active Rain New York Property Condition Disclosure vs $500 Credit Buyers of residential property in the state of New York are by law supposed to be furnished with a form known as a Property Condition Disclosure from the seller. It is a form with several dozen questions on the physical characteristics of the property, such as the roof, plumbing, and electric systems. One question asks […]

Active Rain St Augustine Parish Italian Festival July 27-Aug 1 The St Augustine’s Parish annual Italian festival will be held at the Parish Grounds Tuesday July 27 through Sunday August 1. There will be children’s rides, game booths, lots of food, a white elephant sale, and a $10,000 grand raffle. Last year my kids went bananas on the rides, which were good fun, and Luke’s […]

Active Rain A Forgotten Man The things you see in this business. This past week I posted about a small child I found after a home showing who wandered out of her home and how I made sure she was back in the care of her (mortified, surprised) mother. I didn’t write it to get a pat on the back but to […]

Active Rain Rebates: Negotiated Upfront or Not at All I’m not really a big fan of rebates. Are you a fan of making less money? Now, before you dismiss me as a broker who only wants to maximize his commission, I am pretty qualified to write about buyer rebates in a real estate transaction, because I am a Redfin Partner Agent, and rebates are […]

Active Rain Speechless Sundays: White Plains, NY Skyline at Night

Active Rain J. Philip Interviewed by Journal News about Mad Men TV Series Last September I wrote a blog post about the AMC TV Series Mad Men and its connections to my home town of Ossining, NY where the main characters’ home is set. The post was picked up by TIME.com and a number of other sites, including my local paper. With the 4th season of Mad Men starting […]

Active Rain Open House Bank Owned Foreclosure 6 Marble Pl Ossining 7/18 1-3pm All you autograph seekers can see me today from 1-3pm at a gorgeous 2006 built bank-owned foreclosure that I will be holding open at 6 Marble Place in Ossining. The builder never sold the house and it was rented only briefly, so it shows as virtually brand new. It is almost 3000 square feet above […]

Active Rain Little Girl Lost Has something like this ever happened to you when you are seeing houses? We finished up our last showing, shook hands and exchanged thoughts, then got in our cars to drive away. I turned a corner, maybe 15 yards away, and my client was stopped, perplexed, as she looked at a little girl from the neighborhood standing in the […]

Active Rain Some People Need to Buy a Clue Would any of you take a seat in the restaurant and then try and sell them tablecloths when the waiter came over? Why would I ever want to do business with this person? Name and contact info is redacted to protect the clueless. An Inquiry from Realtor.com(R) J Philip Real Estate to Cxxxx show […]

Active Rain Are Strategic Defaults a Problem in Westchester County? Wikipedia defines the term Strategic Default as “the decision by a borrower to stop making payments (i.e. default) on a debt despite having the financial ability to make the payments.” (my emphasis added) Given the huge amount of attention given to the practice, I thought that I would offer my own observations on what I am […]

Active Rain Towns of Ramapo and Clarkstown Make Money Magazine’s Top 100 Rockland County’s Ramapo and Clarkstown both made Money Magazine’s top 100 places to live. I blogged yesterday about Westchester’s 2 entries, New Rochelle and White Plains. Rockland County is right across the Hudson from Westchester and borders Bergen County, New Jersey. I have done business in both towns and they are both good choices. Ramapo is the […]

Active Rain New Rochelle Makes Money’s Top 100 Like White Plains, New Rochelle has been ranked in Money magazines top 100 small cities to live in America with a ranking of number 82. I am not surprised. New Rochelle (of Dick van Dyke show fame to those of you who have never been) is on the Long Island Sound, is home to Iona […]

Active Rain White Plains Makes Money’s Top 100 Hat tip to Craig Rutman: Money Magazine has ranked America’s top 100 small cities to live and White Plains came in ranked #53 . I am closing on a home in White Plains tomorrow as a matter of fact, with another closing later this month, and I do believe that Money has it right with […]

Active Rain My Home Town On this, my forty-third birthday, I thought I’d pay a small tribute to my roots and share Ossining, New York with you. I was born in nearby Sleepy Hollow (known then as North Tarrytown) in 1967 and lived in Ossining until I graduated high school. I then left for college in Pennsylvania and had a 15-year odyssey of homes before […]

Active Rain Re-thinking Our Profiles I was contacted yesterday by a colleague asking if I could help him find an agent in another state. His brother in law is looking for new a one- he’s not happy with his current representation. That’s an easy one, right? I’ll just log onto Active Rain and refer one of the slew of agents […]

Active Rain Yorktown NY Real Estate Market June 2010 Yorktown is a larger town in north Westchester County between Cortlandt and Somers. It is is very suburban in character- think post-war/baby boom subdivisions with ranches, splits and raised ranches and with larger colonials in the newer developments. It is served primarily by the Yorktown and Lakeland school districts, and it has abundant shopping and […]

Active Rain Croton on Hudson, NY Real Estate Market June 2010 Croton on Hudson is a village located directly north of Ossining in northwest Westchester County in the town of Cortlandt. The train station is considered a busy hub on the Hudson line of Metro North, and the village is also the home of my older brother. Do with that last bit what you will. This market report […]