Active Rain

Active Rain

Buyers Stopped Calling, More Buyers Than Ever.

I got the following email today: Dear Customer, This is the reminder note to let you know that your order at <company> is almost two years old. Your order Reference I.D.# 100-9113361 will be automatically deleted in 10 business days. We want to let you know in case you plan to re-order a product […]
Active Rain

The Importance of a Good Faith Estimate

The Good Faith Estimate (GFE) is among the most important documents in your life in my view. When you apply for a mortgage, you have to, by law, be given one, and it is aptly named- it is an estimate of the costs associated with your mortgage, itemized and estimated, deemed in good faith to be […]
Active Rain

It is Only Buyer’s Market if You Buy Something

Let me preface my remarks by stating that when I act as a buyer agent I truly enjoy negotiating the best deal I can for my buyers. But make no mistake; we make a deal. I’ll explain after I list a few examples of what I don’t mean: On a $450,000 listing, an offer of […]
Active Rain

Triple Play

Two weeks ago a colleague asked me about Triple Play. I had no idea what he was talking about. Triple Play, he explained, is a convention put on jointly for NAR members from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York, held in Atlantic City. I’m not a big convention guy, but I checked it out. The […]

Active Rain Buyers Stopped Calling, More Buyers Than Ever. I got the following email today: Dear Customer, This is the reminder note to let you know that your order at <company> is almost two years old. Your order Reference I.D.# 100-9113361 will be automatically deleted in 10 business days. We want to let you know in case you plan to re-order a product […]

Active Rain The Importance of a Good Faith Estimate The Good Faith Estimate (GFE) is among the most important documents in your life in my view. When you apply for a mortgage, you have to, by law, be given one, and it is aptly named- it is an estimate of the costs associated with your mortgage, itemized and estimated, deemed in good faith to be […]

Active Rain It is Only Buyer’s Market if You Buy Something Let me preface my remarks by stating that when I act as a buyer agent I truly enjoy negotiating the best deal I can for my buyers. But make no mistake; we make a deal. I’ll explain after I list a few examples of what I don’t mean: On a $450,000 listing, an offer of […]

Active Rain Triple Play Two weeks ago a colleague asked me about Triple Play. I had no idea what he was talking about. Triple Play, he explained, is a convention put on jointly for NAR members from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York, held in Atlantic City. I’m not a big convention guy, but I checked it out. The […]

Active Rain Another Mess to Clean Up for the Profession I’m not the first to lament what stupid things some agents do to tarnish our profession. Incompetence, malfeasance, shoddy standards and putting their own needs ahead of the client’s have been well documented. It isn’t much fun being the first licensee the person speaks with after a bad experience with their last agent. Earlier this evening […]

Active Rain CLOSED- Because the Seller and Broker were a TEAM 10 McDougal Lane in Cortlandt Manor closed Friday, December 4. I listed it September 5, we had 2 offers by mid October, and it went under contract 10/31. The buyers went FHA, so it was a little bit of a wait from there. This is not to pat myself on the back, but rather to […]

Active Rain Are Multiple Offers a Trick or For Real? I have been on both sides of an offer in multiple offer situations. Whether I am the listing agent or buyer agent I often see buyers view the news of multiple offers with incredulity. More often than not, they just don’t believe it. If they think that the news is just a trick to get […]

Active Rain First Snow of 2009 in Briarcliff Manor After a mild autumn, a light snowfall has covered Westchester County. Like most of Westchester, Briarcliff is already quite pretty, so seeing it covered with snow adds to the beauty. We have friends in from out of town, so it is actually kind of idyllic. Kevin Crego, my old college roomie at Villanova just arrived […]

Active Rain Quick Thanksgiving Video This was a video taken at my house after Thanksgiving dinner (and before dessert) by my older brother Tom. Clearly, my children have mastered the art of saying “cheese” when they see a camera. The oldest of our 4, Luke, makes only a brief appearance for some reason because he was preoccupied with some project. […]

Active Rain How Long to Get Paid? Here’s one we don’t often ask: When an agent has a closing, how long before they get paid their commission? The reasons I ask is this: when one of my agents brings in a check, I pay them. I know some places they wait until the check clears, but that is really not a big […]

Active Rain Top 10 Idiotic Things Agents Said to Me This Year 10. Oh, I was just about to call you (after 3 days of voicemails) 9. We’ve had 3 offers higher than yours and we said no to all of them. 8. I’ve been in the business for 35 years and… 7. Let’s just let the lawyers deal with it. 6. I can get them to […]

Active Rain Westchester County Home Sales Are Up Home sales rose almost 10% in Westchester County this October compared to last October while the median price remained almost exactly the same at $575,000. The average (mean) sale price actually rose by $10,000. How can this be? How could prices remain steady yet the number of sales actually rise? Is Westchester that insulated from […]

Active Rain XLIII 10 years ago, during Thanksgiving week of 1999, I went on a lunch date. It went pretty well; we said goodbye at 1:30… AM. I lived upstate in Rochester at the time and she was in Queens, so by June of 2000 I was back home in Westchester to be closer to her. In December […]

Active Rain Common Blogging Mistakes that Cost You Money Groups and Channels and Categories Oh My Unless you are already making too much money, the name of the game with this blogging thing is to get found. If you want readers to find you, you need to maximize your exposure. Often, I find blog postings that are fantastic but under read, not because they […]

Active Rain How NOT to Price Your Home How not to price your home: Take your mortgage balance. Add your credit cards. Throw in your cars. Add a generous portion of all the money you borrowed from relatives. Pile on your down payment for that other house you have your eye on. Last but not least, give yourself an extra 50 grand just […]

Active Rain An Idea Whose Time Has Come: Mobile Active Rain Can someone second the motion? Isn’t it high time we can access Active Rain from our mobile phone? I can get the NY Post for goodness sake. It shouldn’t be that hard- it is a mostly text site anyway. Well, powers that be? what say you? sent from my mobile phone

Active Rain Another Open House Theft The following was posted on the Mid Hudson MLS recently: SECURITY WARNING Yesterday a home was robbed of cash and jewelry during an open house in the town of Poughkeepsie. Two woman entered a home and while one occupied the agent the other committed the crime. PLEASE! PLEASE! PLEASE! establish office policies that protect […]

Active Rain Thoughts on 100k Well, on reaching 100,000 points I was invited here to the Silver Star HOF by Kathy Clulow and here I am. $100,880 points ago I began blogging here, not to earn points or money, and not even to make friends, but to vent. I already had a WordPress blog, and I didn’t have any time anyway. I […]

Active Rain Happy Thanksgiving Happy Thanksgiving to all who read this. I hope the holidays bring you peace and abundance, and may 2010 be filled with health, happiness and prosperity. 2009 has been a challenge, and my experiences with many of you have made the year easier. For that I am truly thankful.

Active Rain 100,000 I should eclipse 100,000 points with this post, exactly a year after I began blogging in earnest. While I’ve certainly had my light periods, in the past 12 months I’ve made some good friends and made money as well. How has Active Rain helped me to get “found?” Let me count the ways: Appeared […]