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GREAT IDEA FOR A GROUP!

I completed the old 2 weekend Forum in Philadelphia in December of 1989. I then did the 6 Day in the summer of 1990. I don’t know how many seminars. 20? I suppose in a community that is pushing 170,000 with such diverse groups as Autistic Spectrum Disorders , Dog Lovers Group and my personal favorite, 40 Somethings , that I’d come across […]
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Redfin Redux

Now that Greg Nino and Bob Haywood have blogged recently about Redfin I thought I’d add my own 2 cents. Why not? I’m a Redfin Partner Agent. I blogged a earlier this year about the firm when I wrote Why Redfin Won’t be Redflop. I was contacted by Redfin’s area manager, Michael Daly, earlier this year around […]
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Some Saw the Crash Coming

While going through some old archives to rebut some gnu who feels agents are overpaid, I found the following passage, which I authored on May 1, 2006, on another blog. This was over a year prior to the sub prime collapse of 2007 and the Fannie/Freddie crisis of 2008. The sales statistics for homes sold […]
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Nyack, NY: To Use a Broker or Sell By Owner?

There is an article in today’s NY Times asking the old question of whether using a broker is right for some home sellers. The piece invited comments, and I shared my thoughts. I’ll adapt them for this post. I am a broker who does business in Nyack, where the first two homes in the report […]

Active Rain GREAT IDEA FOR A GROUP! I completed the old 2 weekend Forum in Philadelphia in December of 1989. I then did the 6 Day in the summer of 1990. I don’t know how many seminars. 20? I suppose in a community that is pushing 170,000 with such diverse groups as Autistic Spectrum Disorders , Dog Lovers Group and my personal favorite, 40 Somethings , that I’d come across […]

Active Rain Redfin Redux Now that Greg Nino and Bob Haywood have blogged recently about Redfin I thought I’d add my own 2 cents. Why not? I’m a Redfin Partner Agent. I blogged a earlier this year about the firm when I wrote Why Redfin Won’t be Redflop. I was contacted by Redfin’s area manager, Michael Daly, earlier this year around […]

Active Rain Some Saw the Crash Coming While going through some old archives to rebut some gnu who feels agents are overpaid, I found the following passage, which I authored on May 1, 2006, on another blog. This was over a year prior to the sub prime collapse of 2007 and the Fannie/Freddie crisis of 2008. The sales statistics for homes sold […]

Active Rain Nyack, NY: To Use a Broker or Sell By Owner? There is an article in today’s NY Times asking the old question of whether using a broker is right for some home sellers. The piece invited comments, and I shared my thoughts. I’ll adapt them for this post. I am a broker who does business in Nyack, where the first two homes in the report […]

Active Rain The Short Sale “Investor” Canard Given the number of blogs on the difficulties agents experience on short sales, I thought I’d take another shot at a canard that banks are now using to justify more delays, and that is the following: “The investor is reviewing the file.” This is typically followed by 60 days of nothing. Now, I don’t argue […]

Active Rain Gregory Blaise- Five! Today is the 5th birthday of Gregory, our 3rd Treasure. Gregory is on the spectrum for Autism, and attends a special school with an extensive ABA (applied behavioral analysis) program. It has help him enormously. He is great with eye contact, affection, and being “there.” We are still working on boundaries, executive functions, and meaningful speech. Gregory […]

Active Rain First Facebook Deal When I graduated college in 1989 (ouch), I decided that I wanted to follow my older brother in sales. So, I interviewed insurance companies and financial planning firms, only to find that I was ill-suited to that industry. I was advised to make a list of my 100 closest friends and relatives and tell them I was […]

Active Rain Ossining- Indian Village One of the great neighborhoods in Ossining is known as the Indian Village. All of the streets have tribal names, such as Mohawk and Seneca Roads. I happened to grow up on Osage Drive. Although most of the streets are pre war, the majority of the homes are baby-boom era housing. In that respect the […]

Active Rain NY Times on Croton on Hudson I’ve got Croton on Hudson on the mind lately. It isn’t because my older brother has lived there for 30 years or because I camped at Croton Point Park as a young scout dozens of times. It could be because the only Bed and Breakfast in all of Westchester County is here, or maybe the […]

Active Rain Wordless Wednesday: Manhattan From Astoria Queens 12-15-09

Active Rain Wordless Wednesday: Pure Beauty

Active Rain Terms: Down Payment Terms are often overlooked because people are so preoccupied with price in this economy. However, they are, in many cases, just as important as price. I often have buyers question what difference the size of their down payment makes to the seller, since the money is just as green if it comes from the lender […]

Active Rain Peekskill Dog Park Peekskill, NY now has a wonderful Dog Park! Opened October 31, 2009, the project was started by Peekskill homeowner (and dog owner) Michael Sellers, who devoted a year and a half to getting the city to dedicate unused park land to the project. The park now has a board of directors, a terrific website with […]

Active Rain Questions? Email is Best If this isn’t protocol already, it should be. If you are an agent with a buyer interested in a listing, by far the best way to get their questions answered is to email the listing agent. There are many reasons to do this, not the least of which is that you’ll get answers in writing, […]

Active Rain Ossining NY Real Estate Market 2009 I grew up in Ossining and still reside in the Ossining school district. Ossining is the fictional home of the Draper Family from the AMC Series Mad Men, and is also home of both Sing Sing Prison (the origin of the phrase “up the river” from the old gangster movies) and Maryknoll Catholic Mission. It […]

Active Rain Croton on Hudson, NY Real Estate Market I have blogged about Croton on Hudson previously. Croton is a beautiful river village just about an hour north of Manhattan by train, and is a popular commuting point. I spent much of my youth there, as my older brother and his family have resided there since about 1980. Of the 42 single homes sales […]

Active Rain Downtown Ossining Revitalization I suppose I should have blogged earlier about an article published last month, but when the subject property has been vacant since 1966 it seems only right. IN my experience, the most enigmatic downtown area in all of Westchester County is that of my own hometown of Ossining, NY. It has been punctuated by old, derelict and […]

Active Rain HOUSTON! From today’s NY Times: Houston is the Largest City to Elect an Openly Gay Mayor My hometown of Ossining (pop: 29,000) also has an openly gay mayor and was one of the first municipalities to elect one. This is a tremendous step forward for everyone, gay and straight, as we progress toward a better, hate-free […]

Active Rain Home and Hearth After 3 days away this week there is nothing like being back home. My kids, my wife, my dog. Ann’s chicken thingies with the bread crumbs. Yummy. Last night was the first really cold night of the season, so I lit a good fire. I have to say that my fireplace is one of my […]

Active Rain Friday Funny- Good Lawyer Joke From my humor consultant, Tiffany Pratt: Question: Why are there so many toxic waste dumps in New Jersey and so many lawyers in New York? Answer: New Jersey got to pick first. I love that one.