After walking through yet another foreclosed home with some high-end renovations that were about 75% finished, I can’t stress this enough:

Renovations to your new home do you no good if they cause you to not be able to afford to stay. 

I don’t give financial or legal advice but it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that your children’s college fund, reserve savings, and retirement planning ought to come before upgrading a 15 year old bath and kitchen. Moreover, if you are borrowing to make those renovations, on a 30-year mortgage you’ll end up paying double for the work over the life of your loan. 

Once you close on a home, plan on saving your money prior to going nuts on renovations. We are descended from eons of people who bathed in rivers. You can deal with a 1975 bathroom that gets visited by adult house guests 4 times per year. If you overspend and lose the house, you’ll have primed the pump for someone else.

Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness should never be leveraged!

** Rant Advisory**

Since my 4 year old has elected to forego sleep and erect a Thomas the Tank Engine memorial on the dining room table, the 2-year old has followed him in the project and my 70 pound German Shepherd feels the need to jam his schnozz in my armpit, slumber has not been an option since 4:30 am. I have therefore stationed myself at my kitchen table to observe Those Two reinvent the planet, canine at my feet, and I have fired the laptop up. Thank God for wireless Internet. 

To my right, peeking out from behind the kitchen hutch, is a 59-watt Nutone radio/intercom system in the wall that probably hasn’t worked since Watergate. Not long after we moved in, we were able to get 104.3 FM, the Home of Rock, in a grainy but understandable signal, nodded at each other, and turned it off. The kitchen counter tops are the same Formica with the stars and metal edges that were installed in 1962.  Just about everything in the kitchen outside of the appliances  is original. Some call that ancient. More charitable souls call it a period piece. I just call it a kitchen. No kidding. My wife’s lasagna will taste like heaven if it were prepared on plywood wrapped in tin foil. Any flat surface will do. It doesn’t bother me that my kitchen dates back to the Kennedy administration. We eat well. 

So I have a confession to make. Sometimes, when I hear a buyer tell me that they think a kitchen or bathroom needs updating I hold my tongue and think about Aruba. It isn’t that I’m not impressed with a fabulous granite counter top, stainless steel appliances, a Viking Stove and Sub Zero refrigerator; they are very nice. The same goes for column sinks, jacuzzi tubs and ceramic tile in the bathroom. Good stuff. I just never got the memo that those things were necessities. 

Maybe I’m just too outcome oriented. In Boy Scouts, they taught us the rudimentary ways of living, cooking, and yes, pooping, outdoors. Among the principles ingrained (aside from the fact that you don’t mix the endeavors) were what it took to make the food appear and the poop go away. The last time I checked, when I flush my toilet, the desired outcome occurred. And I’ve already told you about Ann’s cooking. Plus, we’re indoors, which is very nice indeed, especially when it gets cold. 

Perhaps we just have different priorities. My parents grew up in the Great Depression. Ann’s parents survived the brutal Japanese occupation of Korea and then a horrible war. A new bath or kitchen isn’t a must. When I walk through a foreclosed property and I see a cook’s kitchen and a bathroom that belongs at the Bellaggio, it just kills me. “They must have run out of money” someone says. Can you imagine? Losing your house because you leveraged the hell out of it, not to pay for college or treat some horrible disease, but to cut celery and do Number Two in luxury? Are you kidding me? Have we lost our collective minds? Try this: Make yourself a tuna fish sandwich. This time, add some horseradish and Worcestershire. Unless you hate tuna, that is good, and it is yummy if it was prepared on granite, Formica or a butcher block. Don’t take my word for it, try it. 

I have walked through some amazing homes in this business, and seen some magnificent kitchens and baths. I am a little envious of those extra faucets that give unlimited hot water for coffee and tea. I want one of those. However, before we start gutting this old kitchen and updating the baths, I have college tuition for four children to think about. Once we have that squared away, we’ll make this a place that will give Martha Stewart the chills. But first things first. 

In the meantime, when I represent the buyer, you can bet I’ll tell the listing agent our price is more than fair considering the updates needed. I’m good at that. It is smart, honest bargaining. My buyers may in fact feel that a new kitchen is a necessity. I just hope, that once my clients take ownership, that they’ll make the right decisions, especially if they have children. 

Next week: Are walk in closets a communist plot to weaken America? 

Most of my listings are homes that were not sold by another brokerage. I work the “expired” niche, and I speak with people who have been trying to sell their home for 3, 6 and sometimes 12 months or more with another broker before they decided to go in another direction at the end of their contracts.

And some of their reasons for choosing their last agent blow me away. Before I go on, let me share something. Just yesterday, I was in Best Buy to upgrade my Blue Tooth. Among my fellow shoppers were some people driving their sales clerk utterly nuts. They were couldn’t decide whether or not to buy something for $59.99 or the other model for $79.99. You would think they were trying to choose a brain surgeon. I’ve seen the same thing at car dealerships, hobby shops, the Post Office (“To confirm delivery or not? I shall hold the 40 people behind me up as I ponder…”),  and plenty of other places that are small potatoes compared to the largest transaction of one’s life.

Yet many of these same people, who will drive to 3 different department stores to match curtains and blankets, will end up listing their home with someone they hardly know anything about. Their reasons for choosing their real estate agents run the absurd to the height of greed.

“He quoted me the highest price.” “She is my hairdresser’s daughter.” “I know him from Little League.” “She advertises in the church bulletin.”

I mean, gag me. Would you have your gall bladder removed by a doctor just because he’s a fellow stamp collector? People have made more effort choosing between 2% and skim milk at the grocer!

Here are some classic examples of poor judgment in choosing an agent I’ve heard from the past 2 weeks:

1. They said no to the owner of an independent firm who sells a high volume of homes because they were put off by his car and, and they prefer a larger franchise.
2. He said no to an experienced agent with a well known local office with many years of success under her belt because she advised him that harvest gold appliances and shag carpeting might not be well recieved by the buying public.
3. She told a successful team from the next town to hit the road because she weren’t happy with the valuation they made of the home.

Search the MLS like an agent here. Read my short sale bog here. See the New York Photo blog here. J. Philip Serves Briarcliff Manor, Ossining, the River Towns, Westchester County, and the bedroom counties of New York City.

Here in the New York area, it is not uncommon for people who live in the suburbs and work in New York City to request showings on weeknights after 7pm. If you leave work at 5 or 5:30 and it takes an hour to get home and settled, 5:30 showings are a logistical impossibility. I have one such buyer, and this afternoon I got a phone call from a listing office denying our request to see their listing tomorrow at 7pm. 

I don’t believe that 7pm is unreasonably late for a weeknight showing, but I have 4 children and know better than to crab about it and then get informed that the seller takes home dialysis or some other understandable thing that would preclude a 7pm showing. However, a call to the listing agent revealed that it was just inconvenient to the seller. I have to say that in this market, that isn’t too bright. There are just too many choices for buyers, and those buyers are all too rare in this market to squander a showing request. 

Convenience is relative for a half million dollar property. If you can suck it up a few times on a weeknight that may not be ideal for catching Dancing with the Stars, but it beats another 90 days on the market  and a $25,000 price reduction. THAT’s what I’d call inconvenient.  

Search the MLS like an agent here. Read my short sale bog here. See the New York Photo blog here. J. Philip Serves Briarcliff Manor, Ossining, the River Towns, Westchester County, and the bedroom counties of New York City.

Feedback on home showings has gotten automated, which is a good thing. Centralized Showings sends out 2 feedback requests to agents who show my listings, and if they don’t reply I presume that they don’t have anything Earth-shattering to report. Seller clients get upset when they don’t get feedback sometimes, but they need to understand that if an agent shows 6 people 5 houses each in a week then they are forced to write the Magna Charta. I can’t be debriefed on every showing I make either. If your home is beneath high tension wires or has a train speeding past 30 feet away you don’t need me to tell you.  

All too often lately, I have gotten phone calls from listing agents who would rather joust with me over my feedback than tell their clients what they need to hear. And very often, what they need to hear is that they are overpriced for the circumstances. Nobody in the history of the world has ever rejected a property because it backed up to an interstate and then decided to buy it because they were then told that they just needed to plant a hedge of arborvitae. It just doesn’t happen. Look at the home you live in. Did you buy it because the listing agent shot a pithy retort to your agent about what to do about something that disqualified the property for you? Any hands?

So if you are a listing agent or home seller and you are told why the buyer didn’t decide on your home, save your breath and review the comps again. It is a waste of your and my valuable time to regurgitate and re-chew a buyer’s objections. Real estate isn’t a set of encyclopedias or long term care insurance. Nobody buys a home because of the salesperson’s enthusiasm. Pretending that it happens that way is a fallacy, and a time-consuming one at that. Real Estate is rather like romance; people buy The One. If you aren’t The One, take the feedback graciously and apply it for the next people.

People only buy one home, and it is the one they love. Rebutting and debating feedback is a big waste of time. You can’t convince someone that their reasons for not buying are wrong. It doesn’t work in romance, and it doesn’t work in real estate. If they like your home but don’t love it, move on.

Search the MLS like an agent here. Read my short sale bog here. See the New York Photo blog here. J. Philip Serves Briarcliff Manor, Ossining, the River Towns, Westchester County, and the bedroom counties of New York City.

The $8,000 first-time home buyers tax credit is going to go away after December 1, 2009. This means that if you are in New York and want to take advantage, you don’t have much more than 60 days. 

“How can that be?” you might ask, since December 1 is almost 120 days away. 

Note that I said if you are in New York. New York, unlike many other states, takes far longer to close a real estate transaction, which means that if you wait until October 15 to buy a home you might not close until after December 1, which could cost you $8,000. Lawyers, lenders, title companies, underwriters, insurance, code issues, and a ton of other variables make the Empire State the Glacier State when it comes to timely closings. 

We are closing on a house in Connecticut in which the client had their offer accepted 3 weeks ago. That is Connecticut, and it is a cash purchase. If the sale thing were to occur in New York we could possibly still not be under contract. 

How much time do you really have? I’d say that to make sure you avoid a last minute delay, that you should make August THE month to get out there and find a home. You can go into September, but you are pushing it if you get too close to October. Remember, plenty of others are doing the same last minute thing and there will be delays from the backlog. 30 days is ample time to find a great house.

If you are in Westchester, Rockland, Putnam or Dutchess, I know of a really good firm to use! I have some excellent buyer agents right now who know how to advocate for their clients.  

Forewarned is forearmed. Get out there and find a house. You’ve got 8,000 good reasons to act soon. 

Search the MLS like an agent here. New York’s Premier Short Sale REALTOR. Read my short sale bog here. See the New York Photo blog here. J. Philip Serves Briarcliff Manor, Ossining, the River Towns, Westchester County, and the bedroom counties of New York City.

I was caught up in the traffic jam resulting from that horrific wrong-direction accident on the Taconic Parkway that took the lives of 8 people last weekend. I was driving northbound myself, and I found it peculiar that northbound traffic would be so backed up at that time. When I saw that all the cars were diverted to the Saw Mill parkway, I knew this wasn’t rubberneckers; there must have been a huge accident. I never imagined it would be so tragic.

I live very close to the entry ramp on Pleasantville Road in Briarcliff Manor where Diane Schuler entered the Parkway in the wrong direction. As the embedded video details, she must have been ill or disoriented; people attempted to get her attention to no avail. Every day I drive by the embankment between the north and south directions where the van crashed. There is s small makeshift memorial that borders on a large patch of scorched Earth in an otherwise green lawn. It is a terrible tragedy for the friends and loved ones of all 8 people who lost their lives that day. My heart aches for all of them.

Search the MLS like an agent here. New York’s Premier Short Sale REALTOR. Read my short sale bog here. See the New York Photo blog here. J. Philip Serves Briarcliff Manor, Ossining, the River Towns, Westchester County, and the bedroom counties of New York City.

Do you really need an attorney to buy or sell real estate in Westchester County? I was posed this very question by a first-time buyer recently. I asked Lisa Fantino, attorney, author, and friend, for her perspective.

I cringe each time a realtor tells me the seller or buyer is going to represent themselves in the sale or purchase of a home.  I’m a lawyer and I would NEVER represent myself in the biggest financial transaction of my life (not counting law school tuition payments!)  I know that we are all looking to cut back these days but why would you look to cut back on a $1,500 fee when the home may cost $500,000 and the realtor is probably getting a $20,000 to $30,000 commission?  There’s a reason they say “penny wise, pound foolish,” saving a little money only to lose a great deal more due to your own stupidity.

The fee you pay your attorney will be your best small investment on this large transaction.  Why?  The answer is simple – they are the only one looking out for your best interest.  Sure, you can listen to the realtor, who may or may not know the history of the house.  But your new dream home may hold many hidden secrets and they’re not always visible at first blush.  So here’s some advice from this Westchester attorney before looking for, let alone bidding on, your new home:

1. Work with a real estate agent who listens to your needs.  If you are the seller do not let the realtor have the final say on asking price.  Take their opinion as guidance and then do your homework.  Check the comparables in your neighborhood.  They are all easily available now on sites like Trulia.com, Zillow.com and PropertyShark.com.
2. On the other hand, if you are the buyer, make sure you work with an agent who knows what you want and narrows your search down to only those types of listings.  You don’t need to waste your time.  Moving is stressful enough.
3. Placing the bid – In a down economy, many sellers are not realistic in their pricing and the properties are still over-priced.  As the seller, know that your house is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it.  As a buyer, don’t be scared to make a low-ball offer.  The worst that could happen is that the seller rejects it.
4. These days many homes are priced “as is.”  That means it’s a take it or leave it offer.  Sure you would still be well advised to get a home inspection done but the “as is” condition means that even if the inspector finds something wrong, the seller doesn’t want to hear about it.  However, once your bid has been accepted, get a house inspector in there PRONTO, before the attorneys get involved and anything is signed on the dotted line.  You can still pull out before the contract is signed if the home inspector finds problems and the seller does not want to give you a downward adjustment on the price.
5. So, why do you need an attorney?  Have you ever seen a real estate contract?  Do you know what all of the boiler plate language means?  Do you know what is required by the local building code and state statutes in order to sell a house?  What are contingencies and how are they drafted?  How much is a fair down-payment and when should it be paid?  This is not stuff you can pick up by a quick read of “Closings for Dummies.”
6. Have the names of three area lawyers prior to placing the bid.  Ask the realtor, neighbors or friends for referrals in advance.
7. Once the bid is accepted, the contract can drag on or speed along at a pleasant pace depending on whom you retain to represent you.  Now that is not to say that every delay will be the attorney’s fault but you need to know that your business matters to the attorney you hire and that she will give it the appropriate attention.
8. Each party to the deal will have their attorney draft “riders” to the boiler-plate contract, enumerating wants, rights and obligations and then it will be the buyer who signs first and submits a down-payment.  This payment is held in escrow by the seller’s attorney.  If you are the seller and you do not have an attorney, who will hold the escrowed funds?  They do not belong to you until the closing is done and the property transferred.  If you are the buyer, do not make a check out to the seller; make sure those funds are being held by an attorney or escrow agent until the house is yours.
9. Now comes the fun part – the financing.  All cash deals are rare these days but still happen and make everyone at the table smile.  However, most people are taking out loans, seeking mortgages from banks which are reluctant to hand out a dime.  I have seen people with stellar credit ratings, scores in the 700s, be turned down for a mortgage.  Do not shake your head as you read this (I can hear the emptiness rattling around).  Banks today are being run by overworked and under-educated clerks.  The mortgage departments have been left to the inmates at the asylum and no one knows what is going on.  I have had bank clerks tell me they are waiting for me to submit paperwork while I sit looking at a fax from that very person acknowledging receipt of the documents weeks earlier.  Closings these days rarely take an hour and have been known to last 6 hours because the bank has yet to fund the deal.  Have you ever heard of a “dry closing?”  Would you know what to do if that occurs as you sit at the table?
10. These are dangerous economic times we are living in and knowing that there is someone being paid to be in your corner when it hits the fan is a great security blanket when you are writing checks for $500,000 and up!  Happy house hunting!

About the author:  Lisa Fantino is an award-winning journalist turned attorney with a general and entertainment practice in Mamaroneck, NY. You can find her all over the web at her Lady Litigator Blog; Lady Litigator on Facebook and even on Twitter.

The only thing I’d add is this: if you are buying or selling a home in Westchester, Rockland or Putnam, you can bet that the other side has a lawyer working for them. If they have one, you need one. You never go to a gunfight with a knife.

• Abbreviate! Abbrvte! This is especially useful when you have the room to write more in your remarks but you still feel the need to call a living room an LR and a master suite a mstr ste. It really makes for easy reading when each sntce has mltple abbrvtns. 
• “Buyer agent to verify.” Why should you confirm the legality of additions, extra bathrooms or taxes? Caveat emptor, I always say. 
• Misspell. Nothing builds your credibility like “refridgerator” or “Motevated seller”, especially when the error lasts 4 months and your MLS has spell check. And while I’m at it, thanks for keeping that picture of the house under a foot of snow. It’s July; my clients were curious as to what the place looks like if we get a White Christmas. 
• Voicemail greetings are for selling yourself! That minute-plus sales pitch about your commitment to excellence and your website URL, complete with spelling, enriches my day when I need to leave you a quick message. You’ll always get bonus points for repeating the whole spiel in Lithuanian. 
• Who needs square footage? “0” works for me. “2000” or “1450” only make for preconceived notions before a showing. Keep ’em guessing! Special bonus points for when you do throw out a number and include illegal finished basements with falling ceiling tiles and 1950’s panelling. 
• Mapquest. We are professionals; we shouldn’t have to rely on you for cross streets or directions, especially in new areas not on maps or the GPS. Just put “mapquest” in the direction field as a friendly reminder. 
• We really care what the taxes were in 2004. It keeps us on our toes to figure out your listings taxes by triangulating the last 4 school budgets and the rate of inflation. 
• Keep your cell phone a state secret. Want the hot market to return? Act like it’s here already! The buyers will line up if you behave as if you are inundated and need insulation from the hordes looking for houses! So keep that cell number off the MLS printouts! Don’t let the office divulge it. Standing in the rain with no key in the lockbox builds character! 
• Dictate! When I am driving across town and am late for an appointment, it relaxes me to add writing your list of questions from yesterday’s home inspection to my multi-tasking. No need to email them so I have them saved on my hard drive; email is for spam, not business. 
• The Long Island Special: Be Nasty. This is especially for some of my dear colleagues in the 516 area code. If I am trying to show your 448-day old listing, act as if I just tinkled in your corflakes when I call to say we are running late (with 2 toddlers in tow) or I have questions about the asbestos siding. 
• The Queens Special: Status updates are for wimps! It makes us all better agents when our client has a total craving for a listing that shows as active day after day after we have been told contracts were signed last week. Also, when I submit an offer, play “hard to get” until you bring in your own buyer. 
• Queens Special II: Appointments are for wimps. Just call an hour before you want to show and if the key is in the office you can come pick it up. We don’t do lockboxes. We don’t do appointments. We don’t do calenders. Live in the moment. 
• I love homework! Your client likes my listing but wants to know the setback rules for an addition they might want to build? Don’t call the building department silly, just call me! I’ll be happy to be the liason between your client’s idle curiosity and the grump at the building department. My sellers are just as curious about building an addition too. That’s why they’re selling.  
• Lockbox Derby as more fun than a pinata. OK, so the lockbox isn’t on the front door or the rear door. It isn’t on the railing; no need to tell me this on the MLS sheet or when I make the appointment. Make me earn it. 
• Just call me back whenever. New Yorkers are too fast-paced. My clients don’t need answers to their questions too soon. Let them wonder for a while before getting back to me. Quick follow up is overrated; play hard to get. It worked for my wife. 

Read my short sale bog here. See the New York Photo blog here. Send J. Philip Your New York Referral!