This will be my first-ever blog post written by candlelight, courtesy of my Verizon 3G hotspot and a generous battery life on the laptop. When you mix a severe combination of snow and ice to trees that still have all of their leaves, you get downed fallen branches by the thousands and power outages all over the area. North Jersey is hit hardest, although Ridgefield, Connecticut also made the news. I have to add Ossining and Briarcliff Manor to the list, as almost 70,000 Con Ed customers in Westchester are entering their second day without power. In all over 2 million are without light. 

We’ve been “camping,” as the blackout has robbed us of light and heat. We do have running water and the gas stove works, so it has made for an interesting weekend. For example, reheating food in the microwave is out. Heating it in the fireplace is in! 

The fridge has been shut all of the last 36 hours, but the ice has melted. As has the ice cream. We’ve put the snow outside to good use, harnessing mother nature for some food preservation, and when the orange juice got too warm I improvised myself. It kind of reminded me of a slushy they used to sell at the delis. No high fructose corn syrup here, though!

 My cell phone, tablet computer and bluetooth all got recharged in the car today. I am good to go all night with power in 2 batteries for the droid phone. The tablet will have to be off as soon as I am done on the laptop, which should leave me with enough power to check for school closings and weather reports- to say nothing of updates from our utility company- until the morning. 

Speaking of the utility company, Con Ed has informed us that we should expect power to be out until 11:50pm on November 2nd. I hope they are subscribing to the “under promise, over deliver” philosophy, because I really could use a shower. A warm one. And it would nice to be able to start living normally again. The kids are in good spirits, but the candle thing doesn’t have the same romance for them. I am starting to agree. 

Earlier today, we stocked up on firewood and tomorrow, in between earning a living, we’ll bone up on the indoor kerosene heater we have in the garage. We have an amazing blower contraption in the fireplace now but it is electric, so I am afraid it is useless to us. Nest year, I install a wood stove. Period. 

 While I was out, the kids had a ball in the snow. I love how they get into it. For me, I have to get into keeping the fire going all night while we all camp in the living room, and I’ll hunt and peck on Ann’s laptop until it runs out of juice, or I run out of inspiration, which ever comes first. The blackout has been an inconvenience, and I am glad that today was by and large supposed to be a light day, so no work was lost or missed. But I really hope the power comes back sooner than the second. I just don’t have enough Abe Lincoln in me to do three more days of this! 

The best use of an agent’s time is to be in front of someone who wants to buy or sell real estate. That is what we work for- we advertise, blog, do mailings, answer the phone, and some even knock on doors to be belly to belly with someone who want to buy or sell real estate. 

So I really have to laugh when I get a phone call from an agent who wants to speak with me for 15 minutes about  one of my listings when just reading the information, a simple drive by, preview, or (shudder) an appointment with their client would answer everything. I understand calling ahead to see if the yard is flat or something that doesn’t make them a time vampire. But these pre-showing interviews really are over the top. 

Do we really need to chat all through lunch to decide if my listing is right for your client? When an agent tries to monopolize my time with a ton of questions a visit or showing would uncover, their answer to my asking why we need to “interview” is always the same:

I don’t want to waste my time if they won’t buy the house. 

Now, the sarcastic side of me says things like Waste your time? What would you be doing if you weren’t with the client? A crossword puzzle?? Farmville? Are you inventing a vaccine for stupidity that you can’t be interrupted to go see the house? 

What could possibly be a better use of one’s time than showing a client a home? The idea that homes must be screened to a fault before you can show the client misses the point. NO client looks at one home. They look at a bunch. And the ones they don’t buy are not a waste of time. They are important work. It’s like dating. You have to get out there and kiss frogs. That’s our work. 

I have learned plenty about clients on days when we didn’t find the house but spent an afternoon together. It helps me get them. We bond. It makes me more attuned to their needs. It is part of the job. As a matter of fact, I have earned my share of loyal buyers who appreciated that I told them I thought a place wasn’t the right fit instead of closing them after every showing. 

If the home fits their criteria, Mr/Ms agent, show them the home. It is the best use of your time and far more productive than asking me how old the roof is and a hundred other questions that make no sense if they haven’t seen the place. 

Bizarro World continues in the real estate industry as our government and business leaders raise tanking consumer confidence in the market to a fine art. 

Take today’s exchange I had with a fellow agent for example. I have a very aggressively priced southern Westchester County listing in a beautiful area that has been on the market for less than a month. It has had almost 30 showings. We’ve gotten 2 offers, but in both cases the buyers backed out before they even did their inspections. Peculiar, and in each instance the buyer agent couldn’t overcome what amounted to cold feet. My seller client, who is not under any financial strain but eager to make a deal, instructed me to sweeten the price to make something happen. 

The agent I spoke with today showed the property a second time to her buyers and emailed me that they were considering an offer. I reached out to see where things stood this morning, and she explained that they liked the place, but were a little hesitant, and wondered aloud why we lowered our price so early into the listing. 

Now, let’s take a look here. The buyer is questioning a price reduction. So here is what I asked the agent:

Would your client rather work with a stubborn seller who is unrealistic about their price? That would be more comfortable? 

She laughed, of course, because not everything is a conspiracy. The guy doesn’t want to wait all winter. That isn’t suspicion. It is motivation. She said she’d advise her people not to look a gift horse in the mouth and get back to me as soon as she could. 

Call me crazy, but I’d rather work with a seller who was eager to make a deal. Maybe we are being too easy! 

People are hurting in this economy. Many good folks who did nothing wrong are caught in the undertow of the recession and can’t find a soft spot to land. Upon occasion, I run into people in those circumstance. If they had been born at any other time in history, they wouldn’t face foreclosure. They’d have equity, probably their job, and even if they were in a pinch they could sell and realize respectable proceeds. But not in this day and age. 

The worst part of owning distressed property is not financial. It is emotional. Most people that face bankruptcy or foreclosure know where their next meal is coming from. But they don’t know what the next mail delivery will bring or who will be calling them the next time a phone rings. Add to that the fact that in Westchester, even modest homes have high prices compared to most of the country, and the hole they stand in seems deeper. 

Today, I explained to a new client what I always say to anyone facing foreclosure:

I will get this done for you. I promise you my very best, and frankly that is pretty good. I will not let you down. I have done this sort of thing over 50 times. I like your chances. 

And with that, my brand new client burst into tears. In a sea of collection calls, nasty letters, a failed loan modification and 2 years of financial setbacks, someone they were referred to by their lender out of the CDPE directory told them that they finally had an ally. 

Ronnie, my admin, had to run and get some tissues, and Mr Seller did what he could to comfort his wife. But the whole thing was cathartic. 

And maybe I sound cocky, I don’t know. All I do know is that we have a track record, I have an awesome team, great lawyers, and a support staff on the admin side that cares as much as I do. I put my good name on the line when I make promises in the face of the unknown, but thus far we’ve been pretty fortunate. The last short sale application that failed and ended in foreclosure was 2007 (and the bank took a six figure bath). The rest closed. 

My clients left the office out a few tears and also having shed some worries as well. For the first time, they had a plan. And a team. And professional help. All my best. Typically, my best gets the job done, and I am not afraid to reassure my clients. Some people need to hear it. 

This afternoon at the Crown Plaza Hotel in Suffern, the membership of the Rockland County Board of Realtors voted overwhelmingly to merge their organization with the Westchester-Putnam and Orange Associations. This was the second thumbs up in three days, as Westchester-Putnam had a similar yes-vote on Monday. Orange will vote on Tuesday. 

You might ask why this is significant to the public. What do consumers care about all this inside baseball stuff? They still have to pay their X% when the house sells no matter who licks the stamps on the stationary. Perhaps. But then again, the public really does not understand the importance of a vibrant and healthy trade organization, it’s impact on the industry, or the benefits to the consumer. And it is our fault for not getting the word out. 

I was in the multi-association work group that explored and shaped the merger initiative. One of the themes of our meetings was that bigger is not automatically better. And it was that sentiment that made us want to make sure that our work made us better first, bigger second. The leadership, by laws, and operations of the new Hudson Gateway Association of Realtors will be more efficient, better serve the members’ needs, and more attuned to addressing the challenges that face our industry. 

We will have a larger pool to choose leadership our ranks. Quality leadership sets the tone for the organization. We will be more tech savvy, more forward thinking, and more in touch with what consumers want and need. 

We will have improved buying power to keep costs down for the products and services our members use to conduct business. Costs savings means stronger companies with more resources to market their listings. 

We will have a continued high bar for our professional standards. The Realtor Code of Ethics is not PR- it governs the standards and practices of members for fair play, advocacy for our clients, the consumers, and keeps the playing field level and fair. 

We will eradicate the mythical boundaries that hinder the mobility of buyers to move from points south to points north. It is well known that wealth in our region often flows from New York city, which borders Westchester county. One association is far better than three for facilitating that commerce. 

A bigger organization that is more solvent means a better organization that can focus on fair play and good business. And that is good for consumers. That is why I am excited.