I was invited by the Larchmont Rotary Club to speak on real estate this past Friday. It was a cool experience. I was unaware of the Rotary and the good work they do, but that, along with lunch, was a cool fringe benefit. And they gave me a pen. 

Not long ago I blogged about speaking at another brokerage’s “lunch and learn,” which is something I have now done twice. It might seem counter intuitive to train the competition, but it has other good outcomes: good relations with cooperating firms and raising the bar in the industry, to name two. In May I am going to speak before the Monmouth County Women’s Council of Realtors, so I guess my speaking schedule is growing. 

For the rotary, I wasn’t in front of licensees, I was actually addressing consumers. My material dealt with selling your home in the current slump. One gratifying thing: among my small audience were two former clients. One had a successful closing. The other, a builder, never sold. I acknowledged this, and he graciously said I did a good job anyway. I loved that. 

Anyway, I’ll continue speaking, and if you want to hear me yap to your group, my contact information is all over my sidebar. And you don’t need to feed me or shower me with gifts! 

We had some massive flooding yesterday all over the county, closing most of the main highways, such as the Saw Mill Parkways and 9A. It was probably a mix of the thaw upstate along with torrential rtains the past few days. I snapped an amazing video of a parking lot in Hawthorne that looked more like a fast moving river, and some other spectacles. Getting anywhere south of I-287 was nearly impossible. 

These are some photos of VE Macy Park in Ardsley, NY which is alongside the Saw Mill River. The park is a big grass field with a soccer playing field on one end. Yesterday it was a pond. 

The picnic tables these guys are standing on were actually floating. 

9A was closed as well. I got a ticket for taking this photo! Can you guess why? 

Here is the video of the Garden Center’s parking lot in Hawthorne being overrun by the flood waters:

Don’t mess with Mother Nature. 

$295,000 will get you a solid 3 bedroom, 1.5 bath colonial in the village.

The one we just closed on yesterday was built in the 1980s at the end of a dead end street in the Sparta neighborhood, walking distance from the Arcadian Shoping Center and the Jug Tavern. It boasted a finished walkout basement with sliding doors to a patio, a 2-car garage, gorgeous landscaping, a formal dining room, hardwood floors, central vaccum, and plenty of closet space. 

We wish the new homeowners luck in their new home, and we wish our seller client Evelyn much happiness in her new life now that the home is sold and closed. We’ll remain in touch. 

If you’d like to find yourself a nice home like this one in Ossining or the surrounding area, get yourself a free Listingbook account and search the MLS database almost exaclty like an agent. 

Last year I blogged about the 1,096 day short sale I had in Putnam County getting a “final approval.” The thought entered my mind that blogging about such a snake-bitten file prior to closing might jinx it, but with a final approval and a solid buyer I thought “what could go wrong?”

Plenty. 

I won’t bore you with the details, but when we failed to close by the deadline the lender rather callously re-set the timer and made us start from scratch. They ordered a new Broker Price Opinion (BPO) and that came in $100,000 higher. The buyer’s mortgage commitment expired. We were back at square one. It was heartbreaking yet almost humorous if you could somehow divorce yourself from the fact that my clients financial life, let alone my living, hung in the balance. 

10 months later, we finally closed. The buyer came up in price $50,000 to make the deal work, and coordinating approvals from the second lender and first, coupled with the buyer’s new mortgage, took us from this past December to today. My youngest son, who was born a week after the place was originally listed in 2007, turns 4 tomorrow. It will be the first day of his life when I am not working on getting this home sold. 

My typical short sale is incredibly faster than this- as a matter of fact, my friend and CDPE (certified distressed property expert) instructor, Mark Boyland, joked with me last week that he’d like to help me get approvals in under 1000 days. Well, we can smile about it now. 

There isn’t much more to say, except that we’re relieved and glad it is over with a happy outcome. The buyer hung in for 18 months. The sellers had their hearts broken so many times we lost count. And yet there we all were at the closing table together, as if we were graduating from a 4-year education together.

4 years and 4 days. The only thing missing was pomp and circumstance.

It is a rare thing for me to have to reconnect and heat up a winterized home, especially as a listing agent, but I did just that today for a short sale scheduled to close Monday. The interior temperature when we started at around 1pm was 39 degrees, and it was cold and rainy today. Shivering in the basement as I watched my plumber work, I really looked forward to that furnace firing up and getting some warmth.

It was a slow process due to the age of the home and the type of system. De-winterizing a home can only take a half hour in most cases, but today it actually took four. At one point we thought we were complete but hit a snag and I ended up calling the HC/AC firm on the maintenance tag, who came within 15 minutes and had us going. 

I tend to get a little funny when I am cold and irritable, and I said to the second contractor “you mean, just standing here and cursing at the boiler won’t work?”

Total damage on the day was $475 between the two contractors. I’ll never get reimbursed; the short sale bank won’t throw in a dime and I have to view it as the cost of doing business. 

It felt really nice to return home and sit in front of a roaring foreplace after shivering in that basement for 4 hours. Yesterday I had a great appraisal with a big huggable dog. Today I froze my buns off. No day is the same in this business. But my clients are great people and I am happy to get this done for them. That’s what I think about when I feel cold. 

I’m not the biggest fan of attending appraisals, but sometimes I have to make the best of it when so conscripted. Today was one of those days, and prior to meeting the appraisor I ducked into the office of the listing brokerage to say hello to the broker and recharge my lockbox smart card. After hugs and card updating, I pulled up to the house 15 minutes early to see the appraiser there, also early. 

I like that. 

We recognized each other from a prior inspection, and he and I proceeded to enter the house and get started. 

Upon opening the door, I was surprised to hear someone home- it was the owner, who was expecting us. Had I known she’d be home I would have knocked, but she was fine- no worries there. Right next to her, and probably no small reason for her being at such ease, was a chestnut colored mountain with floppy ears: a gigantic mastiff. He had to be 120 pounds. I immediately forgot I was at an appraisal and started making friends with the big pooch. You don’t see a Mastiff every day. And this one was a big mush. 

I’m a dog guy, and I love big dogs like this one. He was a gentle giant, and it was a welcome departure from business as usual. Every so often you get a nice change of pace, and this was the only appraisal I have ever been on since 1996 that I can honestly say was too short. 

Quick one here.

I am getting offers from agents who don’t have a pre approval for their buyers. This means that they are committing the real estate version of picking up hitchhikers- putting people in their car who have not been checked out, vetted, or qualified to buy a home, let alone be alone with them in a vacant house. 

Often, when I ask these agents about it, I get some hokey reply like “they are in the process,” which speaks to complete ignorance about that very process.

Folks, in 2011 it takes a 15 minute call to a loan officer to get run through Desktop Underwriter and you can have an answer by that afternoon, often within an hour in real time. It might take some time to collect documents, but at the very least, having your credit run and stating your assets & income subject to confirmation is not rocket science or over laborious. 

What if they are credit worthy, but they love a house that is beyond their affordability bracket? 

What if they aren’t credit worthy?

It is heartbreaking to find these things out once you find a house you love. 

The facts are that I have listings with 15, 25 and sometimes 40 showings and I know that there aren’t half that many sales in the local markets for that property type. These agents are just chauffeuring people around looking at houses. 

Ann is not pregnant. 

The company, however, is attracting some excellent people. So here are a few welcomes:

We welcome Leslie Miller, buyer agent extraordinaire, who specializes in Westchester county, including but not limited to Ossining, Briarcliff, Chappaqua, Pleasantville, and even as far south as Scarsdale and White Plains. Leslie is a very conscientious and caring individual and buyers can expect great representation from her! You can email Leslie at leslie@jphilip.com. 

We also welcome Jim Brick, formerly of Century 21 VJF. Jim has something in common with Joe Namath! OK, so it’s a bad knee. But he’s on our team now, and will be back on his feet soon, serving Putnam County and north Westchester. Reach Jim at jbrickco@yahoo.com.

And now something really cool: It is going to get a little, shall we say…chaotic around here. The Ambassador of Chaos herself, the artist, the Renaissance Woman, the one and only Carolyn Tann-Starr is joining the J. Philip Real estate family-when else? April 1st! Carolyn posted recently that she was looking for a new broker, but needed one who appreciated social media and her online efforts. I saw the match and asked her to call me in her comments. 

And she did. 

And I initially didn’t know who was calling me (hey I was on my mobile phone). 

However, we sorted it out in a jiffy, and shook hands over the ether about 5 minutes later. I look forward to our association. 

A few other nice bits of progress in our little corner of the world:

• Congratulations to Stephanie Solano for getting a good solid accepted offer yesterday on behalf of a delighted buyer client in Port Chester, NY. 
• Congratulations to client Scott on the successful closing of his White Plains Co op listed by Yours Truly. 
• Best wishes to my buyer clients Tom and Janine on the closing of their purchase in Scarsdale, NY.
• High fives to seller clients Terence & Nicole and Marty and Tricia on their homes getting accepted offers this past week. Both inspections went well and contracts are out on both! 

Affordability is seldom a word associated with a beautiful renovated home in southern Westchester County, but one gem recently closed that was just that. It is a 1700 square foot colonial with a beautiful updated ceramic and stainless steel kitchen, two updated baths, three roomy bedrooms with gleaming hardwoods and fresh paint, crown molding, a formal dining room, a huge living room, a rear patio, and all within a few hundred yards of the Scarsdale train station. 

The home is in the Scarsdale postal area and in the Eastchester school district. It is also very close to the wonderful Garth Road area.

We wish our buyer clients Tom, Janine and their beautiful children many happy and healthy years in their new home. I sold their house 2 years ago in Mahopac and they are repeat clients. I truly appreciate their business. 

If you would like to find a home like this for yourself, get yourself a free Listingbook Account and search the MLS database ike an agent. 

For years, co ops have been considered the starter home of Westchester, with plenty of inventory in great areas for under $200,000. This 1 bedroom apartment is no exception. It is in a pet friendly building with an updated itchen, huge living room, lots of closet space, hardwoods, and 1 block away from Mamaroneck Avenue and all the conveniences of downtown White Plains. We just closed on it this past week, and as you can see, $162,000 not only gets a conveniently located home, it buys a beautiful one.

If you’d like to find a nice place for yourself in White Plains or the surrounding area, register yourself for a free ListingBook account and search the MLS like an agent. 

Yesterday morning, as I was at the sign in table for the CDPE (Certified Distressed Property Expert) course, the agent behind me heard my name and said “Why are you here? You could teach this class.” I turned to her and said that was very kind of her to say. But believe me, I was there to learn. I may have closed dozens of short sales, but arrogance is not a good mix with the financial well being of my clients. I have 20 agents and 45 listings in my company, and they expect me to be cutting edge. Yesterday’s accolades are meaningless. 

So, after 2 full days of of learning at the feet of the illustrious Mark Boyland, was it worth it? Or did I just get 13+ hours of continuing education in an area that didn’t expand my horizons? 

Frankly, I was blown away, and I have never said that about a continuing education class since I was first licensed in 1996. Getting the CDPE designation is not only a game changer for me, I think every active agent should take it because it will literally make an army of better agents. I know this much- I am a better broker now than I was on Wednesday. 

I have better tools to price my listings properly.
I have a better ability to safeguard transactions from failing to close. 
I am equipped to better manage the expectations of my clients, both buyer and seller (who likes to be in the dark?).
I am now an improved advocate for my clients.
I am a better negotiator- with both lenders and principals.
I am more confident that I understand how my industry is trending.

Oh- and I am even better at short sales than I was Wednesday.

I want my attorneys to take this course. I want my wife and business partner to take it. I want every agent in my firm to take it.  

My ADD self was very engaged, due in no small part to Mark’s passion for the material, but also to the relevance of the curriculum. The two days were simply loaded with knowledge, news and tools. And anyone that knows me knows I can never sit still for stuff like this. If short sales are in your market, you should take the class. It doesn’t matter if you will never list a short sale- you’ll be a buyer agent on one at some point. And this is so beyond the mere nuts and bolts of a short sale it is humbling. If I were a buyer I’d want to work with a CDPE whether I bought distressed or not. 

I did it, I am glad I did, and as I said earlier, this has been a game changer. 

I just finished my first day of CDPE (Certified Distressed Property Expert) class, and am reflecting on one of the more profound insights given by the instructor, Mark Boyland. Mark, who is an excellent presenter, compared the difficult issues we have to sort out with distressed homeowners with the rather matter of fact way a doctor handles another rather touchy thing:

“Please take off your clothes. “

At my last physical, the doctor hardly looked up from his clipboard when he said that. But he was pretty comfortable about the request- so comfortable, that it seemed as mundane as asking his secretary if anyone called while he was out.

Now, when a guy is that blasé about your prostate test, there is a lesson to be learned.

We have to ask clients questions that are probing and invasive in any other context but real estate:

• How much do you owe on your house?
• Are you current on your mortgage?
• Why did you fall behind on your payments?
• Are there any judgments or liens on the property?
• Etc. etc.

These aren’t comfortable questions to ask. And the answers might be very difficult to examine for a seller who is facing foreclosure or imminent default. But we have to ask.  As I have blogged before, privacy does not reside in a vacuum. The more we know about a client’s situation, the better we can serve them.

Originally published on the New York Short Sale Blog

I had a newer agent ask me yesterday if his wearing an earring was a bad idea. He had friends who said he shouldn’t.

It reminded me of my pre-real estate life as a sales manager for a publisher in the early 1990’s and the battles I had with some of my more youthful charges about dressing professionally. I recall a young, pretty 20-something who dressed like she was going to a nightclub and not a business meeting: short skirts, teased hair, lots of jewelry, and fingernails painted like the Sistine chapel. It was kitchen table sales, and when I accompanied her on calls, I would see husband’s eyes glaze over and wives get annoyed and impatient. Ironically, the agitation was not at her specifically- but they didn’t buy. I recall how offended she got at the notion that I was proposing that she not be herself. It is touchy. 

Like it or not, people judge us by our appearance. I could care less if a guy has an earring. But I’m not everyone. It speaks to judgment and credibility. If you have to ask yourself if appearing a certain way might put off a potential client or make you less than credible, the answer is probably yes. We sell homes to regular people. We aren’t selling high end art, interior design, or some other thing where dressing for the part is more Lady Gaga than Margaret Thatcher. Therefore, anything that might distract or draw attention to ourselves and off the subject at hand is a potential problem. 

It isn’t that somebody would say “I didn’t buy the house because the agent wore an earring.” They just might not buy what the agent said. In an industry where our product is often the trust in our word and advice, appearance, therefore, is part of our value proposition. If you don’t have the smarts to dress wisely, why would I bank on your real estate advice? I think my new agent’s friends gave him sage advice. 

With our audience in Westchester, you don’t have to think or vote conservative, but yes, dress conservative. 

You probably remember the Google commercial that told the story of the story of courtship and love through Google searches entitled “Parisian Love.”

Thanks to Jackie Connelly-Fornuff, I got hip to the YouTube feature that lets you create your own search story. It is pretty cool, and it can take as little as 5 minutes if you are familiar with your search terms. They are very customizable- you can input your search terms, choose your music, and create your own little YouTube commercial with an huge combination of search terms and musical themes. 

Just go to Youtube.com/searchstories and try it. They even have a wizard that will give you the Google results for the search terms so you’ll know how to tweak it. 

I made one last night and while it is no Superbowl commercial, I like how it gets the message across. Best ofall, it’s free.

We’ve got gadgets aplenty around here- desktop computers, laptops, and Ann loves her iPad. I love it too, but there are two of us an one of it. I thought it silly to buy another when there are tablets out there for half the price and less which might be perfectly fine for my purposes, which is to accompany my ADD, workaholic, always connected self to every room when I’m home. Tablets are so much easier than a laptop- mouseless, a touch screen, light, and the battery life is enormously longer. 

So I’ve decided, after perusing Amazon and Bestbuy, that for 200-300 bucks I can get my self a tablet which will do what I need- mostly Internet and email. I have to trade off MLS access for now- Rappatoni, our MLS software, doesn’t translate well to anything outside of Windows. 

The operating system for the tablets in my price preference is Android, but ironically, it seems hit and miss with Active Rain of all places. I haven’t tried WordPress yet. 

My question is this- does anyone know of a tablet, preferably a 10″, that interfaces with Active Rain that doesn’t cost a ton? The Motorola Xoom has Android 3 OS but for that money I might as well get another iPad. Android 2 OS doesn’t seem to allow commenting. Amazon has a ton of inexpensive, highly rated tablets but if it doesn’t work on Acive Rain it sort of defeats the purpose.

Thoughts? Suggestions? 

I took Catherine out for a little drive with Daddy, just us two, so I could go to Best Buy and scout out my next piece of technology. I live in Briarcliff, so to get to Hartsdale you take the Taconic Parkway south, and Catherine asked me about that big building on the right, which happened to be Westchester Medical Center. I told her it was Grasslands. 

Fellow residents and natives of our fair county will understand the error. Westchester Medical was known Grasslands when I was Catherine’s age. It got me thinking- and remembering. 

I remember when you referred to someone who was rich, the reference wasn’t “like Trump” but “like Rockefeller!” The governor lived in nearby Pocantico Hills. 

I remember my bicycle shop was in Pleasantville. It is a restaurant now. 

I remember when the big employer in Tarrytown was General Motors. They had a big plant on the banks of the Hudson. 

I remember when everyone knew someone that worked at IBM. 

I remember when Croton wasn’t just known for their huge train station- they were known for the landfill at Croton Point. If you ever lost something, you’d shrug your shoulders and say it must be in Croton Dump by now. 

I remember when the Ossining High School vs Sleepy Hollow football game was a rivalry heard ’round the county. Bruce Jenner even played in that game! They haven’t played in 20 years now, but will resume in 2011. 

I remember when the entire Hudson Valley was area code 914. Now it seems like you need a passport to cross the Tappan Zee Bridge into Rockland County, 15 minutes from my house. Only Westchester is 914 after the 845 split, and the local magazine calls our county “The 914.”

I remember when the Galleria in White Plains was the big swanky new mall. 

I remember when Brewster, where my uncle and grandmother both lived, was far away. 

I remember Yankee games on channel 11 and Met games on channel 9.

I remember people lamenting that Joe Namath’s knees were shot.

I remember people in disbelief that the Giants played in New Jersey.

I remember wondering if Heaven was actually better than Rye Playland.

I remember my mother listening to Arlene Francis on WOR 710 AM 

I am sure my fellow Westchesterites can add a few recollections of their own. 

The other day I got a call from a rude and obnoxious representative from a well known template based provider of real estate websites who sounded like he poured red bull and expresso on his morning cereal. I’ve blogged about annoying telemarketers before, but this is the second time this company has had someone call me claiming to be on my website right now and then basically insulting me. It was a short conversation. 

Coincidentally, a professional group I belong to switched their website from that very company’s to a basic wordpress format, saving them $1200 per year. When the site administrator and I spoke about the change, he had a similar story. 

In reviewing the online solutions from which I derive the most value, it is clear that I found all of them through my own searches online. Shocking, no? In reviewing the biggest Edsel-like disasters where I poured money into something that didn’t work, they all found me. As a matter of fact, I found Active Rain initially when I was researching a guy out of Colorado that scammed me. It was the subject of one of my very first blogs. 

We’ve all heard the pitches- be on the top of Google, buy our overpriced leads, use our website template, and many other things preordained to appeal to a population of people hungry to increase their earnings. Yet the biggest promises have always turned out to be the biggest busts for me.

I find it incredibly ironic and contradictory for people to chase, badger and pester me for their service which is meant to help me avoid having to chase, badger and pester people to make my living. I mean, if your medium is SEO and online marketing, why wouldn’t you prove your worth by actually doing that instead of sending Johnny Obnoxious after me? If you are so great at “pull” why the “push?” The guy got more than he bargained for after he told me my Internet presence was crummy. He said that.

I must have missed the sales and marketing principle that tells us to insult people to get them to buy from you. Was it Tom Hopkins? Zig Ziglar?  Brian Tracy? Someone help me out. And pass me a Jolt or Red Bull. 

I have been asked in recent months about the market for building lots in Westchester County. While I am far from a high transaction land guy, I’ll tell you what I do would if I had a double lot, an adjacent building lot to my home, a spot lot nearby, or a small parcel that could be developed with a house or two. 

I’d keep it.

That’s what I’d do. I’d hold on to it until more development made values higher. It doesn’t make me money as a broker to advise people not to sell, but if you don’t need to sell your land, why you let it go when the market has gone so low? 

If you have a small lot that a spot builder could build a spec house on, the market value of that land is far lower than it was a few years ago when they were gobbling up every available parcel. No one is gobbling anything right now except in a few choice, exceptional areas. 

Here’s the method to my madness: If you are paying taxes of $500 a year on a vacant lot that you might only get $150,000 for, why wouldn’t you hold on for when the market recovers and you can command a better, higher price when builders come back to the table? Land doesn’t have the same appreciation curve as homes, and the fact that we can’t just go make more of it gives it a specific scarcity that plays to the advantage of those that have the land once the recovery is more sustained. 

Even if you held on for another 5 years, that is only $2500 in carrying costs for a price that could be 10, 25 or even 50 thousand higher than what you might get today. What instrument exists where you can pay $500 in annually and make 5 figures in 5 years? Am I being overly speculative? I think not, I see people pay $2500 for minor improvements to make a home ready for sale with no guarantees. Land doesn’t have tenant headaches, you don’t have to fix leaky toilets, plow driveways, or put up with loud music. You simply pay the taxes until the market improves. In the scheme of things, it is incredibly low risk if you don’t need to sell. If you need to sell, then you have to take what comes, naturally, but if you don’t have to, you are in the driver’s seat. As Will Rogers said, God isn’t making any more of it, certainly not in Westchester. 

Karen Crowson wrote a thought-provoking post asking whether it was a good idea or not for buyers and sellers to meet before closing. In spite of many examples of my own transactions where buyers and sellers did hit it off well, my vote would be “no.” There are two main reasons. 

1. Potential for conflict. 
2. Sellers can’t sell. 

Potential conflict is a huge problem and should be avoided. So what if the principals meet and like each other? The deal closes. It was supposed to close. So there isn’t an advantage that I can see, but huge downside potantial. As I type this, I have a seller client in her driveway with her arms folded, watching her buyer, who closes next week, load his belongings into her garage. The pre-possession agreement didn’t specify where the stuff would be stored, but she agreed to the basement. The buyer, who is acting like the house is his already, is putting her off with his attitude as he piles his belongings in her garage. We should have insisted they put their stuff in storage for a week- but buyer and seller spoke, and that was that. Now my client has boxes of her things in the same garage as her buyer’s possessions. Not good. 

On another transaction, I represented the buyers buying a home from retired sellers who were present for all showings. The owner breathed down our neck every visit and didn’t know how to shut his yap. Toward the end of the process near the closing, we needed to get back in to walk contractors through. He wouldn’t let us. Why? We “stayed too long” in previous walks through the house. Ridiculous. 

Sellers can’t sell. Some sellers think they can sell. And they know the house best. But that is often the booby prize. I listed a house once where the buyer agents would call or email me with bizarre, arcane questions on the structure of the house-qustions about the stucco siding, the crawl space sealant under an addition built 50 years ago, and weird stuff like that. We the sellers present for showings? Yup. And they were non stop chatterboxes about every physical detail of the structure with such granular detail that the buyers heads were spinning when they left. Instead of asking themselves if the place felt like home, they’d ask themselves if they heard my clients right about the date the windows were installed, if the attic insulation was R-30 or something else, and so forth. 

Information overload doesan’t make a place feel like home. It kills sales. I know sellers want the showing agents to be jumping up and down “selling” and “pushing” and “closing” but it doesn’t work that way. A house is the largest transaction of a lifetime. It isn’t jewelry or a car. If it doesn’t feel like home, no detail in the world will matter. If it does feel like home, then buyers will make the best buying signal I know: They’ll ask questions. And that is your chance to show your peacock feathers- through your agent. 

For these and many, many many other reasons I have personally seen in my 16 years in the industry, I am for buyers and sellers working through their brokers. It is the best way, it minimizes exposure to risk, and it gets homes sold. 

We held my listing at 8 Harwood Ave White Plains open yesterday, and I thought I’d take the opportunity to create a walking tour of the home, a marketing strategy which has been getting good feedback for me lately. I have blogged recently about the better results I have been getting at open houses; this was no different. I was greeted by a cooperating agent who presented an offer to me at the open house, which I have never had happen in 15 years in this industry. 

As it stands now, we have three offers on the property. 

The tour is one take and very informal; the point is to give you a feel for what it is like to walk through the house, not have high production values or be overproduced. That said, I think future tours will be steadier and easier to watch- the project is a work in progress. I’d redo this one, but I think it won’t be needed after this week. 

Both homes that I have produced walking tours of this past week have had offers come in.