I don’t get  to out of town conferences much.  I eat up local stuff, like the New York City REBar camp, two Raincamps and those sorts of things, yes, but I have yet to go to NAR or other more far away events because it is hard to get away. One pilgrimage I am making for the third time, however, is Triple Play in Atlantic City, a joint convention of the New York, New Jersey and Connecticut Realtor Associations. The simple reason is that it is a chance to shift from working “in” my business to working “on” my business. 

In 2009 I came down for a day to check it out. I hardly recall the sessions I attended, but I did run into the triumvirate of Scott Forcino, Stephen Fells, and the late great Joe Ferrara, all of whom I knew from a few sessions at the Lucky Strikers Social Media Club. I was relatively new to real estate blogging, and Joe, whom I considered a celebrity, was complimentary of my writing. WOW!! I ended up staying the duration and spending quite a chunk of time with those three, and I took a renewed commitment to my writing from the event. Sometimes, the best part of a professional convention is the conversation you have in the hallway or over a beer. That was where the red meat was for me that year. 

Last year I returned, this time to soak up as much as I could from the sessions. I got to experience Nicole Nicolay, Darryl Davis, Bill Lublin, and Amy Chorew among others, all of whom were simply awesome. I broke bread with Patrick Healy, Joe Sheehan, and Dawn Bricker, all of whom I consider friends. The Keynote speaker, Stuart Varney, was absolutely electrifying. It was another excellent experience where I took tools back to my business and applied them.

I am proud of the results since that week. While so many firms are closing or merging with larger enterprises, our firm has grown to 26 licensees. Barring a catastrophic collapse of pending transactions, I will personally, for the 5th year in a row, close over 40 deals and qualify for my association’s highest sales award. In a depressed industry where progress seems borne of trench warfare, these are good things to note. 

The point is not that one conference provides an epiphany that works magic. It is that learning and a commitment to understanding new things and skills is crucial to survival, growth and staying ahead of the curve. That is one of the reasons why I am so against the New York State exemption from continuing education for brokers no matter how many years they have been active, and why I drove 3 hours in the fog last night to get here. 

Learn, apply, adopt and adapt. Rinse, repeat. I am eager to discover what I can take back home and use to help grow my company and make more clients happier. 

Hi all, for those of you who are in New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and are planning on going to Triple Play, I’d love to catch up in person. I blogged about it earlier, and I know it is pandemonium when you get there, but let’s carve out some time in the rain. 

NY, NJ and PA Rainers: How About a Triple Play Meetup? 

Raincamp earlier this year had a great after party at Toga Bar at Caesar’s. If we meet at 6pm we’ll avoid the craziness that starts when music and dancing commence at 10pm and actually hear each other talk. My cell phone is (914) 450-8883 . Anne Costello is also on board, so reach out to either of us. I’ve created a Facebook event for the meetup also. 

http://www.facebook.com/events/284487508254836/

Text or email me anytime. 

Prices are down, but volume is up according to the data for single family homes in the Ossining school district for November 1-30 2011. All information is taken from the Empire Access Multiple Listing Service. 

This past November, 11 homes closed at a median sale price of $332,000. 
In November of 2010, 8 homes closed at a median sale price of $367,500. 

It is consistent that lower prices would yield a higher volume of closings. With the winter and end of the year coming, more sellers might be willing to discount their price for expediency. I counted several homes that sold considerably below asking price by percentage, with 7 selling below 90% of asking. Buyers did very well last month. 

30 homes are currently under contract or pending sale, down from 37 last month.This is normal, as activity tends to slow down around the Holidays. My experience is that while activity is lower this time of year, those that are in the market tend to be more serious.  

The median price of those 30 homes is $379,200. Last month, the median price of pending homes was $449,000, so the more expensive homes had an easier time closing. This is also not unexpected- lower cost homes, typically bought by first-time home buyers often hit more roadblocks than higher cost homes where financing is typically less of an issue, and even cash terms are seen with some frequency. As a matter of fact, 2 of the 11 closed sales were cash, including one for $1.975 million. 

119 homes are available for sale, which is only down 2 units from last month. People must be taking my advice and not hibernating for the holidays! 

One thing that remains a constant is that buyers remain in the superior position as winter approaches. The good weather is also a factor, coupled with strong inventory, so we may see spring arrive early in Ossining real estate in 2012. 

Prior posts on Ossining.

Find a home in Ossining with the Listingbook Home Search!

Anyone who is in sales and management learns over the years how to manage the styles of personalities we encounter. I have dealt with all types and consider myself fairly adept at interacting with people smoothly. The one that still gives me trouble, however, and probably you too, is the Jekyll and Hyde type- they start out pleasant, then suddenly become aggressive without warning or cause. I encountered just such a person today. 15 minutes of pleasantries, then 5 awkward minutes of moonbeam, loony tunes arguing and inexplicable confrontation. Mercifully, this is rare, and this one had a flare for the dramatic exit, which was also quite welcome.

There is seldom if ever a chance of winning kooks over to my way of thinking-nor would I wish to try- but the one thing I can happily do is address some of their looney arguments in my blog. Today’s jerk decided that since he owned more than one house, he was the expert in the room. Because, you know, he has bought and sold a few houses.

I have owned 11 cars. I would never pretend to be a mechanic. 

Real estate is a very expensive place to make a mistake. I have seen misfortune in real estate end marriages, cause financial ruin, and even cost people their health. Weekend hobbyists and DIY enthusiasts are better suited to ant farms or decoupage. 

In the state of New York, all that is required to be a licensed real estate salesperson is a 75 hour licensure course. That doesn’t make you an expert. It makes you a rookie. If you spend 15 years in the industry, sell almost 500 homes, found your own brokerage firm and throw in 5 years of mortgage origination, you might be getting warm. But even someone with that experience knows that in the shifting sands of this industry there is always more to learn. 

It is therefore patently ridiculous for a consumer who has bought or sold 5 or even 10 homes to assume that they know better than a broker how banks, for example, should dispense with their defaulted assets. Short sales, as an illustration, are often counter intuitive. Cash offers are not an advantage and can actually flag the transaction as a possible investor buying below market value. Now, explaining this to a guy that can’t get his kids to not touch a piano or piece of furniture is a lost cause. I feel better just typing it, though. 

My older brother jokes that he knows a lot about Rugby and a little about Wall Street. I know a lot about the New York Yankees and a thing or two about real estate. But I would never tell my mechanic how to fix my brakes, nor my doctor what ails me, or even my landscaper how to operate his equipment. Smart people play their position and defer to the professionals. That is why George Washington appointed his cabinet, and that is why wise consumers listen, learn and never assume they know more than the professional. 

You seldom get to rub elbows with a $200 million producer, but when Keller Williams Scarsdale Team Leader and friend Jen Maher invited me to see the great Ilan Bracha yesterday, I wouldn’t miss it for the world. 

If you have never heard of Ilan, he’s quite a story. An emigre from Israel, when he was working for a moving company at age 21 he was encouraged to get his license from a broker whose stuff he was packing. In his first year, he says he made $25,000. Last year he closed over 150 properties at a volume of over $200,000,000.00. He started the Keller Williams office in Manhattan. 

The neat thing about being so up close and personal with such a high producer is how you are reminded that they are human beings just like you and me. If Ilan had a Texas twang instead of an Israeli accent, you’d call him a good old boy. He is a single minded, upbeat soul with a unique focus and a commitment to high production. I found him to be very down to Earth and warm. 

The hour long discussion was bascially an introductory talk from Ilan himself, with questions moderated by Jen Maher. Being the “ball hog” that I am, I asked several questions myself, which I’ll share with you here:

• What is your client management system? His answer was E-Edge, a KW system. 
• When did you first believe you could make it in this industry? As soon as he was encouraged to get his license. 

File this under “you can’t make this up.”

Whilst confirming the home inspection with a seller client, he filled me in on garage access and then casually said ” oh- don’t mind any free roaming sheep if you see them on the property. The adjoining 98 acre farm is corralling them in.” 

Now, after 15 years in the business I seldom look at my phone and laugh, but this is one of those surreal moments. This is New York. I could be in Manhattan in half an hour with the wind at my back. Sheep? 

Yes, sheep. The home is located in Brewster, NY, bordering the top of Westchester County, NY in neighboring Putnam County. My uncle’s family lived in Brewster for many years and visiting his home was like going to a farm; it had a pond, 2 acres of land, and they rode their lawnmower instead of pushing it. I always related to that city mouse/country mouse story from childhood because of this. 

Just about all of Putnam is pastoral, bucolic, often wooded, and an awesome quality of life with Westchester a stones throw away and New York a manageable commute. My clients, a couple of super awesome special education teachers, still work in southern Westchester, where they grew up. 

And apparently, they have gotten accustomed to some runaway sheep every so often. For me that is still going to take some getting used to! 

This is what is so great about Westchester and the surrounding areas like Putnam: A little south of us is Broadway and Times Square. A little north is horse farm country. There is no place like this in the world. 

Want to find your own home (with or without sheep) in Brewster? Get yourself a free Listingbook account. 

Is a contingent offer at market value? 

I have the same conversation over and over as I meet people in the same situation. Case in point: Today I interviewed a very nice couple in a small town just north of Westchester County who expired with their broker last month. I won’t bore you with the details, but it was brought up that they *may* have a buyer for their home. However, the would-be buyers have to sell their own home first. This is not an unfamiliar scenario. 

In many cases, people who have a contingent (as in, they have to sell their own house first) buyer have even gone so far as to discuss-and agree to- a purchase price. When they interview an agent to list their home in case their contingent prospect can’t perform, they sometimes can’t reconcile the recommended list price from the agent with the (higher) price of their contingent prospect with the house to sell. They don’t understand that their prospect with the contingency is not really offering them market value. 

Market value is what the ready, willing and able buying public will pay you for your home. Someone with a house to sell isn’t able. As such, there are two hazards a seller faces when hanging their hat on that contingent offer. 

The Math Hazard. Buyers who still have a house to sell often have an inflated opinion of their own value. Sure, they’ll give you every dime of the asking price after they cash out $100,000 from the sale of their home. However, life happens. What if they can only get $50,000 out of their home? They’ll have to lower their offer on the house. They can’t afford more with reduced proceeds.

The Moral Hazard. 7 months later, after 2 deals die and 3 price reductions, the formerly cheerful and enthusiastic buyers with the house to sell stagger back to the negotiation table embittered and jaded. They have been through hell and had a huge chunk ripped out of their hide. And by gum, they are going to do the very same thing when they get their purchase done. Buyer’s market, huh? Well, now they are buyers and they are out for blood. How much do you want? Fat chance fella. You’ll take less from me. 

The folks I spoke with today didn’t need much convincing- they were far to mature and understood human nature. But some sellers, subjective as they are, need to know this. Contingent offers are seldom indicative of the true market conditions because the other would be principal has not gone through their own process.  

I love my team. 

The stomach bug domino effect has hit the Faranda household, and I packed it in earlier today with one last thing on my “to do” list undone. A short sale we have listed in Putnam Valley is due to have the electricity turned on for inspections to take place (yes, we brought the buyer on that one, thanks Ellise), but the owners are out of town. I needed to get up there today to switch the main breaker off, but couldn’t. Ellise is in Massachusetts due to a death in the family. 

What to do? 

Nothing to it. Tom Liberati, himself working very well on a sale that just went under contract down in Yonkers, volunteered to help. He had to help his father in Connecticut tonight, but when he was done he drove all the way over to the house at 10:30 at night and flipped the switch. 

Tom is not involved in this sale. He gets no financial gain and he may not have met Ellise yet for that matter. None of that is on the radar for a team player. He ignored the clock, took his flashlight, and texted me at 10:42pm that the job was done. Finally, after 11, he’ll get to go home to his wife and young son and call it a day. I have been there. I know what it is like. 

Is Tom the kind of agent you’d want? Do I even need to ask? Do you know many agents that would do this? I sure don’t. Would you sleep well at night knowing your agent was this committed? I sure would. 

I have often said that it isn’t what you do between 9-5 that makes you successful, but what you do after 5 and before 9 that determines your fortunes. Anyone that uses Tom for their real estate needs gets a truly dedicated professional that thinks of himself last, after family and work. This is the kind of guy we have on our team. This is the kind of agent I would want. Tom is a newer licensee, but is already starting to make waves, listing homes and getting buyers into contract. The reports I have on his work are stellar. This won’t be the last time I brag about Tom Liberati. 

If you are looking for a good agent who has the extra mile programmed into his GPS, you want Tom. Email him at tliberati@jphilip.com or call (914) 434-0072 to get connected to a great agent. Or log onto his Listingbook home search. 

 I am associated with awesome people. 

Athletes speak of a “good tired” and a “bad tired” after a game, good after a win and bad after a loss. Tonight I am the good kind of tired. 13 months ago I met with a very nice lady in White Plains who called me after a Realtor she was interviewing proposed that since she was a short sale, she should deposit an amount equal to the commission in escrow with the broker to ensure their fee payment. That didn’t strike her as terribly kosher, she got on the Internet to research short sales in Westchester County, and she found me. 

I got the listing; Ms. Escrowed Commission didn’t. The condo market was slow at that time, and we went the first 6 months with only one aborted offer. However, I earned her trust in the process and got an extention. We determined that in order to secure a buyer, we should clean up the overgrown outside patio. I put on jeans one afternoon and trimmed, raked and perspired the area to an appealing level. It worked. This past June we got our buyer, and in perhaps some of the best work I have ever seen from our team, the approval came through on August 2nd. 

You read that right. It took us under 60 days to get the short sale approved (with two lenders!), but we didn’t close for another 4 months. When the buyer was unable to close at the end of August for what was then an unknown reason, we got a rare 30-day extension from the two lenders-yes, two lenders. When the second deadline approached, the buyer was again not ready. For the first time in my career, we got a second extension from both lenders. As the 3rd deadline approached, we discovered the buyer’s problem: They didn’t tell us this, but to raise their downpayment they were refinancing another property. This was a very unsettling revelation. Had we known that their mortgage hinged on such a dubious condition (a financed down payment), we might never have engaged them. 

As you might imagine, the stress on my client, an Ivy League graduate, a cancer survivor and a single mother, was mammoth. As you might not have imagined, we actually had to negotiate a THIRD extension with both lenders, and were told that no further extensions would be granted. On the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, their refinance closed. Today, we closed our tranaction one day before our final deadline. My client, a hardworking soul, hugged me after the closing was buttoned up and returned to her job to finish her day. 

Sometimes, you can do a great job and have it squandered because the people on the other side of the table aren’t on point themselves. Among the crosses we had to bear were a frustratingly uncommunicative attorney on the other side, and a weak and not terribly forthcoming buyer. I truly believe the agent on the other side was not at fault and frankly aghast at events on their side. My seller and her attorney, two consummate professionals and people of high character, did voice their feelings-professionally and calmly- at the closing table and left complete. 

There are very few easy deals, and that is especially the case on this deal. Tonight, I will sleep soundly. And so will my client. 

Originally posted on the New York Short Sale Blog