I think that most real estate professionals would agree that technology, for all it enables us to do, does not foster a more relaxed lifestyle. We live in an age where multitasking is so prevalent that we actually have to remind people that they need focus on the road when they are driving. I grew up on “please do not smoke” and “Don’t drink and drive.” Now, I hear Oprah devote shows to getting people to not text while they operate a moving car. Madness.

Call waiting is one of those things that can vex. It is an intrusion, welcome sometimes, unwelcome in others. Ordinarily, I try to not let another call interrupt a call I am on, opting to allow another piece of oft-misused technology, voicemail, to catch what I miss.  

However, there are times when I have to ask to take a call. It could be a bank calling on a short sale, a hard to reach attorney, or another equally urgent call that would be bad to miss.

Here’s the problem: Some people can’t grasp that when I either ask them to hold on or end the call to get the incoming call, that it would really help if they stopped talking. Only one person in my life besides my wife gets the ” I have to take this call” thing, and she immediately says a cheerful ‘goodbye!’ so I can get the new call. Some people just keep talking. Some people decide to “wrap it up” with more eloquence. Yesterday I literally hung up on a soliciter who felt her pitch was more important to my earning a living. 

As rare and regrettable as it is, when I have to take another call I really need for people to either say that they’ll hold or say goodbye. 

I met with a new client to sign papers to list his house this morning. As I entered the house I was met at the top of the stairs by what sounded like a sonic boom with teeth. There, telling me who was boss, was Sam, a 90 pound German Shepherd. I have a Shepherd at home, and, thankfully, Sam’s dad told her I was OK, so my heart was in my throat for only a short time. We were fast friends, and she positioned herself near the table on her bed, hoping for a belly rub as I spoke with her people. I was happy to comply. I don’t mind brushing fur off my blazer. 

This is a dog I want on my side. 

New York Law requires that sellers of residential property provide the buyers with a property condition disclosure form filled out. The form is a series of questions on the physical condition of the house and property. The penalty for not providing this form is a $500 credit to the buyer at closing. In our Westchester County market, attorneys often advise the sellers to pay the $500 in lieu of the form. The rationale is to avoid making any representation, however well intended, which could come back to haunt the seller later on. For example, one of the questions asks if there was ever an oil tank used above or below ground on the property. This may not always be an easy answer; on a property with a 100 year old house and barn, there could be an ancient tank that no one has known about for decades. 

The $500 credit is common in Westchester (and a rarity upstate- go figure). However, it is not immunity from liability. The seller still has an obligation to disclose material defects known about the property. For example, if a seller knows that the basement floods every spring or the roof leaks, they cannot conceal this fact. If a seller has doubts about a possible issue, or whether or not they should disclose something, they should consult with their attorney. My thoughts on the brokerage end would be that if you have to ask yourself if something should be disclosed, it probably should be. This often fosters good will and a little bit of Golden Rule dust. 

It happens once every year in New York real estate. I’m not talking about baseball Spring Training, Groundhog Day, or my son’s birthday. This is hammer time, courtesy of the winter frost line in the ground. In case you are wondering, this is the time of year that I have to break out the sledge hammer and cold chisel in order to put my yard signs in the ground. Unlike December, when the ground is still soft enough to put signs in without tools, this time of year I need a hammer and chisel to pierce Mother Earth to install my sign. 

Just today I bought a new cold chisel at Home Depot. It is a 1 inch, alloy steel chisel that is as cold as a freshly shaken martini to the touch. The cap and foam sleeve will be gone, and I’ll be out in a few front yards the next few days working out some therapy with my sledge hammer on that little bugger. I’ll have two neat holes to set my signs into, and, just like that, I’ll have overcome the frost line’s challenge to making my living. There is something deliciously lucrative about that steel on steel impact in 20 degree weather. 

I know this is probably a foreign thing to my condo or warm blooded colleagues, but those of you who know the change of seasons know what I mean. It is that time of year again in New York real estate. Happy hammering! 

A client called today asking about a listing she found on Realtor.com. It was there in her zip code, but she couldn’t find it in her client IDX portal. The MLS number did not match our MLS. We contacted the phone number on the Realtor.com write up, and it is one of those companies that will list a house on the MLS for a flat fee. I’ve dealt with them before and closed a few transactions. I was paid, and they were on our MLS. No issues there. 

What was peculiar about this listing was that the home was on an out of state MLS specifically so that it would be on Realtor.com in the sight of consumers but off the local MLS so it would be out of sight to brokers. In other words, the object is to get Realtor.com exposure without offering compensation to buyer agents. When I asked how they could circumvent an offer of compensation on whatever MLS they house was actually on, they told me that they just filled in $1.00 in the commission field. One dollar. All commissions are negotiable right? If the buyer brought a broker, they said, they would have to pay the broker fee. 

This strikes me as contrary to the spirit of the Multiple Listing Service. MLS is an offer of compensation for cooperation. Gaming the system so compensation can be avoided may make them clever, but it doesn’t have integrity to me. 

Is this what our MLS is all about? 

Is this an honorable way to get a home on Realtor.com? 

Is this what the NAR settled for with the DOJ over Virtual Office Websites? 

It seems to me that a private organization like the NAR has a right to determine what they can put on the public portal within a reasonable parameter. The MLS and Realtor.com are not a public network, nor are they a social utility. They are a private database that should be allowed to operate within its own rules. 

For me, I consider this practice cyber subterfuge.  

As many people outside New York may know, lawyers handle the contracts in the purchase and sale of real estate in this market. That little aspect of the industry has created more than its share of animosity because of the extra layer of red tape it adds to a transaction and because, well, they are lawyers. 

Very recently, on a co op transaction where I was representing the buyer in her purchase, I got a panicked phone call. My client had seen her prospective new home advertised on the Internet as available, when she had, in fact already signed the contract. When I checked the MLS, I saw that the status showed “back on market,” and that the contract was cancelled on that very date. It was 8 o’clock in the evening. I put in a call to the buyer’s attorney to leave him a voicemail asking him if he knew something I didn’t. I also called the listing agent, who had been annoyed with me a little earlier over something trivial. Had they cancelled the transaction over a silly spat? Were we being sandbagged for another offer? Was it an in house offer? My mind raced about having to start over looking again, my client’s broken heart, and a thousand other crummy things. 

After I left a voicemail for the listing agent to see what the issue was, I got an unfamiliar number on my caller ID. Thinking it was the listing agent, I answered. 

It was my client’s attorney. He was calling me back after 8pm. I brought him up to speed (after thanking him profusely for unprecedented responsiveness) and he explained to me that he was in close communication with the seller’s attorney that very day and he knew nothing of any issue. He promised to get me an update first thing in the morning.

It’s funny how luck has momentum whether it is good or bad. After I hung up with the attorney, the listing agent called back. It was an innocent issue- the seller had not counter signed yet and they had to change status back from “under contract” until they signed. No crisis, no bad news, mystery solved.

As good as the news was, the thing that stuck with me was that in 15 years I have never had an attorney call me back after 8pm, let alone 5 minutes after I left them a message. This guy will get moved up the speed dial. If you do business in New York and want his contact info, drop me an email.  

We just got word that one of our short sale transactions in Peekskill, NY was approved. This comes just one day after we listed another one for sale across town! 

On the approved sale, we had multiple offers. The one sent to the bank was less than 2% short of a full price bid, and it should close in the next 2 weeks. The property was put under contract on December 18, 2009, so the approval only took about 45 days. In the short sale world, that is lightning speed. I hope this is a sign of things to come in the field. Long approvals are rough on everyone, especially the sellers, who have their own share of stress. This will be our second sale in this subdivision, which should give us more visibility for other nearby prospective sellers.

On the new short sale, we have listed a fantastic 3 bedroom brick ranch right across the street from Depew Park. If you are a Jets fan, you’ll recognize that name: it was the pre season practice field of the Titans/Jets in their AFL days from 1960-1969. The house therefore has a very quiet setting, abutting pastoral woods and a field on 2 sides. It has a large, detached 2 car garage and a full basement. The kitchen and baths are updated and it is in move in condition with shiny hardwoods and a fireplace.  

It is listed at $299,900. I consider it one of the better buys in Peekskill. Come see for yourself. If you like it we’ll work on a fast approval. The great thing about short sales is that they aren’t priced to chase the market, they are the market. 

Closing costs on a New York transaction can be quite high. The state has a high transfer tax, municipalities, especially New York City, have their own tax, and title insurance is expensive. Otherwise qualified buyers might need to finance some of these costs, and a the mechanism for doing so is a seller concession. 

There are times when it is appropriate to ask the seller to pay the buyer’s closing costs. In my experience, those times always include necessity. If the contract price will appraise and the cash position of the buyer is such that 3% assistance for example, will enable them to buy, it is perfectly valid to propose a seller concession. This makes the transaction a team effort: the seller concedes equity that they might otherwise pocket, the buyer is able to finance all or part of their closing costs that they don’t currently possess, and everyone wins. 

There are times when it is NOT the right move to propose that a seller pay the buyer’s closing costs. When the buyer has the cash, it is virtually never a good idea to propose a concession. The reasons is simple: a concession enables the buyer who would otherwise not be able. If a buyer does not have this need, then proposing a seller concession is a business equivalent of a submission hold in wrestling. It also puts the buyer in an unflattering light financially. 

We recently had a bid on one of my listings. They were proposing a 20% down payment and we were getting close on price. When my sellers made one last counter offer, the buyer made a fatal tactical error: they proposed meeting us at the price, but then added they wanted the seller to pay their closing costs. The seller elected to go with another offer. Here is what hurt the buyer:

• You can’t propose a 20% down payment, ostensibly the mark of a strong, qualified buyer, then ask for help with closing costs and still expect to be viewed as a strong buyer. That tells them you don’t have the money. 
• If you do have the money, telling the seller to pay comes across as petty. You might feel that in a buyer’s market you have to get over on the seller, so you propose a concession to make them say “uncle.” That backfires, especially when there is other interest on the house. 

Westchester County is the first county north of New York City. Westchester’s southernmost border is with the New York City borough of the Bronx. To the east, several municipalities are on the shoreline of the Long Island Sound and the rest of the eastern towns border Fairfield County, Connecticut. Putnam County is to the north. The western part of Westchester all lies on the banks of the Hudson River (one reason the area is often referred to as the Hudson Valley), with Rockland County, NY and Bergen County, NJ across the river.

Because it is “upstate” from Long Island and NY City, it is often referred to as Upstate New York by the folks down there. However, Westchester County is not upstate New York. My wife, who grew up in Queens, is one of the people who have successfully dispensed with this notion.    

Because of its close proximity to Manhattan and convenient commuting location, it is one of the largest and most affluent counties in the state, indeed in the country. Because of this popularity, no fewer than three commuter train lines run through: The Hudson line runs along the river communities on the river, making it one of the prettier rides, the Harlem line runs through the central part of the county, and the New Haven line runs through the southern shore towns on to Connecticut. 

The county is punctuated by vibrant cities, bucolic towns and charming villages. You could drive 15 minutes and pass horse farms, high rise condos, and everything in between. It is the epitome of the real estate phrase “location, location, location,” because residents benefit from being less than an hour (far less in the southern towns) from Grand Central Station, putting a trip to Broadway, the Arts, museums, and the most amazing array of restaurants tantalizingly close in Manhattan. Westchester is also a close drive to the beauty of the Catskills and the Hudson Valley, Connecticut and New Jersey. 

I grew up in Ossining, NY located right in the center of the county, so I might be biased in my opinion, but having lived elsewhere for many years I am happy to call Westchester home. 

All images courtesy of Wikipedia commons and are either public domain or used with permission.

I attended Marie Graham’s home staging workshop this morning at the Ossining Public Library. It was outstanding. While I never disputed the value of stagers, I have gotten into my share of disagreements with them on matters probably not worth arguing about. One is about taking down personal photos. Marie made a good analogy about overdoing the family photo thing. Imagine, she said, you are seated at a crowded restaurant at a table that had not yet been cleared. As you sit, your expectations of a delicious meal are interrupted by a half-eaten fried egg on someone else’s plate. You know that people eat at a table prior to your arrival; you just don’t want to have to share the experience. 

It is a great metaphor, and it wasn’t even her best line. 

Here is the best reason to hire a stager:

You should hire a stager because their fee is a small fraction of what your first price reduction would be if the home does not sell. 

To my mind, that is not something anyone can argue with. Not even me.