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Buying, Commentary, Selling, Uncategorized

Sale Contingency vs Closing Contingency

People live indoors. Its hard to say that without sounding sarcastic, but I am sincere. It should not come as a surprise to a seller or their listing agent that their purchaser is selling their own home, especially if they are in a higher than average priced property. I shouldn’t have to explain, for example, […]
Market, Uncategorized

What $449,000 Buys in Peekskill

$449,000 will buy you a condominium with Hudson Views like the one I just closed on. The MLS description for the property are as follows: “Amazing Hudson River views, just yards from the metro north train station, and minutes from all that downtown Peekskill and the wonderful waterfront offer! Modern kitchen with roomy granite countertops. […]
Commentary, Uncategorized

The Real Estate Ethics Rule that is Broken the Most ( and It Isn’t Even Close)

The REALTOR Code of Ethics Standard of Practice 3-6 states the following: REALTORS® shall disclose the existence of accepted offers, including offers with unresolved contingencies, to any broker seeking cooperation. (Adopted 5/86, Amended 1/04) This has been the rule since Reagan was president. I was 18 when it was instituted (I am now 51). Cleveland had […]
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Insider Tips On Becoming A Snowbird From New York to South Florida

A rare guest post from my friend Elyse Berman, a star agent in Boca Raton, Florida. I have known Elyse for ages and she’s more than knowledgeable about the New York to Florida real estate process. You can connect with here at her sites below. https://BuySellHomesBocaRaton.com http://www.ElyseBerman.com ADVANTAGES OF OWNING A HOME IN SOUTH […]

Buying Sale Contingency vs Closing Contingency People live indoors. Its hard to say that without sounding sarcastic, but I am sincere. It should not come as a surprise to a seller or their listing agent that their purchaser is selling their own home, especially if they are in a higher than average priced property. I shouldn’t have to explain, for example, […]

Market What $449,000 Buys in Peekskill $449,000 will buy you a condominium with Hudson Views like the one I just closed on. The MLS description for the property are as follows: “Amazing Hudson River views, just yards from the metro north train station, and minutes from all that downtown Peekskill and the wonderful waterfront offer! Modern kitchen with roomy granite countertops. […]

Commentary The Real Estate Ethics Rule that is Broken the Most ( and It Isn’t Even Close) The REALTOR Code of Ethics Standard of Practice 3-6 states the following: REALTORS® shall disclose the existence of accepted offers, including offers with unresolved contingencies, to any broker seeking cooperation. (Adopted 5/86, Amended 1/04) This has been the rule since Reagan was president. I was 18 when it was instituted (I am now 51). Cleveland had […]

Uncategorized Insider Tips On Becoming A Snowbird From New York to South Florida A rare guest post from my friend Elyse Berman, a star agent in Boca Raton, Florida. I have known Elyse for ages and she’s more than knowledgeable about the New York to Florida real estate process. You can connect with here at her sites below. https://BuySellHomesBocaRaton.com http://www.ElyseBerman.com ADVANTAGES OF OWNING A HOME IN SOUTH […]

Uncategorized Torching Last Year After crunching the numbers a bit, I have some good news to report. The firm is 30% ahead of last year at this time for transactions closed, and 15% over last year for dollar volume closed. On April 20, 2017, we had 58 transactions closed for a dollar volume of just under $20 million. For […]

Uncategorized J. Philip Welcomes Stephanie Finney “Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you’ve imagined. As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler.” ― Henry David Thoreau My first impression of Stephanie was that she announced on Facebook that she’d joined the firm with a roll out of sharp, new professional head […]

Uncategorized Of Saints, Josephs, and J’s Today, March 19th, is the feast of St Joseph, my namesake. Yes- the “J” stands for Joseph. My father, Joseph S Faranda, wanted to name me Joseph, and my mother, who had successfully avoided the matter with my three older brothers (she didn’t want a “Joseph Jr.”), made him a deal: I would be named […]

Uncategorized The Spring Market is Here- Home Sellers Should Take Note The adage goes that in real estate, Spring starts January 2. The holidays are behind us, and in order to be in a new home by the summer, prospective buyers need some time just to find the right place and then 2-3 months more to close. Home shoppers are out as I type this, making […]

Uncategorized J. Philip Real Estate Welcomes Eric Lebenson J. Philip Real Estate is proud to announce that Eric Lebenson has joined our family of professional achievers as an associate broker. I have known Eric since only a few weeks after founding the company (2005!), and I’ve been the president of his admiration society ever since. A local expert through and through, Eric is […]

Market Second Quarter Single Family Home Sales in Westchester 2011-2017 These are, respectively, the number of closed single family homes for the second quarter (April 1-June 30) in Westchester County along with the median price for the years 2011 through 2017. All data is courtesy of the Hudson Gateway MLS. Year Closings Median Price 2011 994 […]

Commentary On Low Inventory of Homes for Sale Westchester and the surrounding counties are seeing a peculiar phenomenon causing no small amount of consternation to home buyers. There simply aren’t many homes for sale. This is especially the case for homes one might consider in the starter home category; we have buyers who are seeing very little for sale, and what they do find is […]

Company News Money isn’t Everything: On Firing a Top Producer A few weeks ago, Jenn Maher and I made the difficult decision to ask the top producing agent at J. Philip Real Estate to leave the company. These sorts of decisions aren’t made lightly, and such a move cannot help but affect the bottom line, at least in the short term. But it had to […]

Company News J. Philip Real Estate Welcomes Elena Kupka The firm is growing (happily) and more importantly, it is with quality people. Among our newest associates is Elena Kupka, a woman of high character and commitment. I met Elena in 2013 when I listed her home in Briarcliff Manor. After the deal closed we remained in touch and she even referred me more business, which […]

Uncategorized Power 20 at the Stairs For almost 30 years, a small framed Sport Graphics picture has hung on my wall. The image is that of a 4 man rowing shell going down the race course of the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia at the 1988 Dad Vail Regatta, which was the national race for smaller programs. That was my boat. It was […]

Uncategorized Ossining Schools Area Classic Homes I LOVE these classic homes- here are some great homes at great prices with character, style and an awesome lifestyle. http://westchesterrealestateblog.net/idx/city/ossining/

Uncategorized Zillow Acquires Ashley Madison SEATTLE In the very same week that the Zillow Group set social media in the real estate space on fire with their purchase of software firm Dotloop, CEO Spencer Rascoff has announced the purchase of website AshleyMadison.com. It is unknown how the dating platform for cheating spouses fits into Zillow’s model, but industry insider comments […]

Active Rain Father’s Day 2013: The Notebook While I am known as a guy who is never seen without a gizmo in my hand, I actually think better sketching my thoughts on a yellow legal pad. Typically, when meeting with people they’ll see my iPad, smart phone, and computer closely followed by that very old school pad and pen, and only then […]

Uncategorized Small World Sometimes. Very, Very Small. I am one of those brokers who vocally opposes the practice of using appraisers who do not possess local knowledge of the area they work. I have seen too many sales scuttled by robotic, ill-informed appraisals which lack the context that local, more accurate information brings. Out of area appraisers often are less engaged, and […]

Buying Buyers: I’m Not Lying About Other Offers on my Listing Three times in the past two weeks, we have had listings go in bidding wars. Three times in the past two weeks, we have had buyer agents tell me that their buyer client did not believe me that they had competing bids. In each case, those buyers all lost the house. In my own company, […]

Uncategorized Latest Stats Out of Philly Main Line As the data below indicate, all is well in Villanova, Pa. I don’t hold a real estate license there, but a chunk of my heart remains. Go Wildcats. —————– Box Score for Villanova win over Georgetown GEORGETOWN VILLANOVA Points 57 67 FG Made-Attempted 23-50 (.460) 16-34 (.471) 3P Made-Attempted 7-18 (.389) 5-10 […]