A few events lately have me asking why agents defer their professional opinions to the client when the reason lies squarely on their income and no other fact germane to the negotiations. I’ll explain: On more than one transaction, a buyer agent has punctuated their latest negotiation with the remark “and my client is a doctor too” or “she’s an analyst on Wall Street, got it?” I get it. But how does one have anything to do with the other? Understanding the quarterly profit of a tech stock or how to remove a gall bladder does not make you an expert in real estate transactions. 

Doctors are often happy to observe this. My older brother, a financial consultant with a number of physican clients, confirms it. Knowing how to read an X-Ray is far different from understanding how to manage one’s finances or construcingt a real estate transaction. The same goes for computer programmers, actors, big-time publishers, and Wall Street types. I have clients who lost money with Bernard Madoff and other scam artists. Were they unskilled wage earners? No! they were an attorney and an endocrinologist. 

I think that it boils down to the idea that some agents get a little intimidated by prestige or income rather than trusting their own professional skills. A true professional client should appreciate some give and take, input, advice, and even the odd uncomfortable message. They shouldn’t want a “yes agent.” We don’t have to debate. We simply owe them a heads up when we see them veer. A plumber wouldn’t fix a toilet the homeowner’s way to just pacify them- who wants a sewage backup? Why then do agents let their clients wag the dog? 

Professional skill sets can translate to other fields, but I wouldn’t bet a transaction on it. I am no more qualified to remove a kidney than a nephrologist is to negotiate a short sale. Rather than be a deer in the headlights with high-earning clients who, though confident, are out of their area of expertise, we owe clients better: advice, the downside of their idea, clear communication, and respectful disagreement where it is merited. From that position we can manage expectations better and affect a better outcome. 

We are not lower on the food chain when it comes to our profession. More agents need to understand this, and consumers shouldn’t be mislead by their paycheck either.  

As an agent with over 40 listings at any given time I understand the seller’s need to know how showings go. I do too. Stakes are high and clients want feedback. My listings have an automated system that sends two emails to all showing agents, but about 2/3 of showings do not get a response. That in and of itself is feedback: dead end. I am not exactly batting 1.000 on giving feedback from my own buyers, but one automated survey yesterday took the cake. It was like an exam with multiple choice questions followed by a written section. I kid you not- just look at the screenshot. 

You might notice the error box at the top right. It popped up every time I tried to submit my perfectly clear feedback because I had to answer each of the 5 questions with a 6-choice drop box, asking both my and the buyer’s thoughts. For price, the choices ranged from “very underpriced” (who would ever say that?) to “very overpriced.” For how the property showed, the choices were more nuanced. And I can’t submit it without answering everything! 

This is a bit much. 

Feedback, which has always more or less been a courtesy to tell the listing agent and seller what they may not know, has evolved into a debriefing session. And if an agent shows 15-20 homes per week it can get pretty time consuming. Most feedback is not really helpful anyway. People know if they have a small back yard or that the bathroom is from 1970. They know the leftover Yak Fondue on the counter smells like sour milk in a gym locker. And there is no Rotweiller-scented pot pourri for a very good reason. Making the feedback look like the Archdiocese high school entry exam is overkill for conveying such banalities. 

But beyond that, the courtesy (yes, that is what it is- I am not obligated to divulge my client’s thoughts, and as a matter of fact I’d prefer not to) of feedback is being taken too far with these sorts of tactics. Many buyer agents are poker faced, which is actually smart in business. And I have gotten phone calls from fellow listing agents arguing with me over my feedback as if that would make the home appealing to my people. It won’t. Showing agents have one obligation on homes they show, and that is to leave the house as they found it. The seller is owed nothing beyond that- I wish it were different, but it is true. The seller is not the buyer agent’s client. They have different rules. 

Sellers should understand a few things. 

• Feedback is a courtesy that agents are not obligated to give.
• Showing agents are also not obligated to tell what a house is worth or give the listing agent advice.
• Buyer agents don’t work for the seller. They often keep the buyer’s thoughts private.

I get that seller clients want follow up on all showings and questions answered thoroughly. But that’s not business; if you do that to a girl who doesn’t agree to a second date, it makes you a stalker.  Sellers should be at peace with 2/3 of the feedback being a silent declination, because that is 100% accurate. It is best to not dwell on those who aren’t responding, because the reasons are typically personal and seldom enlightening. A listing agent’s time is better spent finding another buyer who is interested enough to respond with an offer. 

I seldom see this discussed among real estate professionals, but it is worth addressing as more people consider putting their home on the market. There are some exceptions, such as an acrimonious divorce or estate with multiple heirs, but overall it is a rule I run my business by. When I am brought over to be interviewed to possibly list a house, I need all the decision makers present. Typically, that is a husband and wife, but it can be siblings, partners or parents and children. But when there are two people on the title in a “traditional” scenario, I can’t speak with just one owner- in the business, we call this a “one legged” meeting, and they are often time-wasters.  

The reason for this is pretty simple: The person who isn’t present and doesn’t meet with me doesn’t get a feel for me, my marketing plan, how I do business, or look me in the eye. They just see my recommended price and commission from their spouse or partner, and that isn’t enough to make an informed decision. Invariably, the one person present can’t make a decision, needs to discuss it with their spouse or partner, and then I end up chasing them around for days or weeks, only to see them list the home with a compromise candidate. 

Like anyone else, my time is extremely valuable. My clients expect me to follow up with other agents who showed their house, mortgage loan officers, lawyers, home inspectors, appraisers and all the other vagaries that go into selling and closing on my transactions. They don’t want me chasing you around to see if you had a chance to speak with your spouse or mother. Neither would you if I were your agent. If I am going to meet with you, I need that time to count. 

I’m not the sort of guy who pressures people into a decision when we meet the first time. Some of my clients call me days or even months after we meet. It’s really fine by me- people have a decision making process that must be respected. But what I am a stickler about is personally giving every decision maker the information they need to make that decision. I know this isn’t always easy. More people are travelling, working long hours, or even taking out of town jobs to make things work in this economy. That’s fine; I can wait. Given the stakes and what goes into getting property sold these days, it is worth working together so our schedules can match, and everyone can meet with me once, so we are all on the same page going forward. 

So, to all the good folks considering selling their home and bringing Phil, or anyone else for that matter, over to your home to interview as the listing agent, please understand the importance of having all the principals in the same room when we meet. Information is power, and I want all of my clients to be right there with me as we work as a team to get you sold, packed, closed and moved. 

Like many of us, I followed yesterday’s news of the shooting in Arizona with sorrow and revulsion at the events. Thus far, half a dozen people, including a 9-year old child and a federal judge have perished and congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords is in critical condition after being shot in the head. 

I posted on Twitter last night that thanks to social media, I knew more in 20 minutes about the shooter, Jared Loughner, than I cared to the rest of my life. The cyber-world is still going bananas about this, and unfortunately many are politicizing this. She was on Sarah Palin’s “target list.” The shooter is a right wing gun nut. The shooter is a lefty anarchist lunatic. Very sad stuff. 

I also came across the Twitter account of Caitie Parker, who has already been on the news by the time you read this, and was a high school classmate of Jared’s. She was understandably distressed by the events and the attention that one tweet garnered her, especially from some kooky people who had time on their hands to antagonize her. One of the people interacting with her piqued my interest (if you can call it that). The guy has a relatively new Twitter account, and in the past 12 hours has posted dozens of things asserting what the Arizona shooter’s political background is. And no unsourced, nut job link is off limits.

Here’s where it gets ironic. Our Mad Tweeter, a recent college graduate, is in the job market. He went back to school later in life and just got his degree, and has posted, among other things, his graduate thesis and resume. I found all this stuff in 10 minutes. The earnest, thoughtful graduate seeking a job has a (literally) radically different voice online from the ranting political screecher on Twitter and Facebook. 

Employers see this. Prospective associates see this. Google indexes social media. The guy is shooting himself in the foot. When you are a married 40-something going for a job against 20-somethings who’ll work for less, one thing you have to your advantage is maturity and good judgement. But not this guy. 

It isn’t just the one dude in the tin foil hat who is sabotaging himself; legions of people – agents, job applicants, single people in the mate market, you name it- are harming their image with what they post online. I have passed on applicants to my company because their Facebook profiles were filled with drunken, unsavory pictures. I have passed on possible clients as well- it goes both ways! Often, it isn’t that what is posted that is so objectionable, but rather the judgement in posting it is questioned. For example, 23-year olds drink and party. But smart 23-year olds don’t post pictures. 43 year olds can harbor strong political or religious views. But smart 43 year olds don’t broadcast them when they are in the job market. 

“Judgement” is going to be a big buzzword as the online social world grows. If you participate in social media, make sure you use judgement of the good variety. 

I’m not a big gambler but I’ve always had a muse about what I would do with windfall money. Like many, the fantasy of setting up close friends and family, a comfortable lifestyle, and a few toys always comes up when the guy on the radio is hawking lottery tickets. Since big numbers like $300+ million come along only so often, I thought I’d indulge. The list is extremely partial, and presupposes that I would put family first in my largess. 

• I’d still operate my company. How I’d operate would change in some ways. With more capital I’d buy and restore a vacant building I have my eye on, make some struggling indie firms an offer they couldn’t refuse, and outsource much of the grunt work I currently do so I could work more on the big picture portion of my business.
• I would start the best real estate instruction school known to man. I love the RETT concept down in Phoenix, but it would have licensure class available, continuing education, and leverage the best real estate minds here in New York and anyone who could travel here. 
• I would start a charitable foundation in my late brother’s name. It would have divisions for the eradication of juvenile diabetes, kidney health, and preservation of home ownership for at risk folks affected by the downturn.
• I might sue the living $%^& out of about 3-5 mean people who have it coming. 
• I would buy Holly Hill, the late Brooke Astor’s 65 acre estate, which is walking distance from my home and operate it as a gentleman’s farm. 
• I would acquire controlling interest in a successfully operating company in the housing industry. Day to day operations would be kept with those that run it, so Washburn and Stewart are safe. 😉
• I would start a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT). 
• I would spend more time immersed in my kids.
• I would write a fat each check to Villanova University and John F. Kennedy Catholic High School, both my alma mater.  

What I wouldn’t do:

• I wouldn’t stop blogging. 
• I wouldn’t take a cruise around the world. 
• I wouldn’t just live off the interest. 
• I wouldn’t be arrested at a strip club. You have to know where the back door is to these places. 

Yes, there are $900,000 breakfasts. There are $400,000 out of town guests. There are also $600,000 naps. Have you ever seen a $300,000 pack of cigarettes? I have. I personally witnessed a $900,000 litter box once this past spring. I’ll never forget the $675,000 dog either. 

What I am referring to are the banal, small indulgences many home sellers grant themselves that cost them the sale of their home to another more motivated homeowner. This morning, an out of state buyer asked me to add on two homes to the tour we had scheduled, and the homes we were seeing weren’t far shy of $1 million. There is still 6 inches of snow, it is cold and windy, and they are serious buyers or they wouldn’t be out in this weather on a Monday. 

One home declined the showing with 2 hours’ notice. Now, as a listing agent I see both sides of this; 2 hours notice can be an inconvenience. They might not want to run around and straighten up. There could be more compelling reasons, such as a sick child or home dialysis. After several months of bending over backwards for inconsiderate mud trackers I can see how people wouldn’t be up for that again. It’s like dating. By the time I was in my early 30’s I was so sick of asking first dates about social small talk I wanted to put a voice-activated tape recorder on the table and eat in peace. I get it. But that’s how it is. And all too often viewings are denied because they just aren’t up to it on shorter notice. They might be having their first quiet breakfast on the Monday after 2 straight frantic holiday weekends.  

But if people with close to $1 million to spend are going to drive in from out of state in the snowy winter to see your house and you say no out of convenience, that coffee had better be mighty delicious. Those croissants should be laced with ambrosia. That quiet morning after 2 weeks of holiday madness might be well earned and hell to give up for people to walk through your home, but I’ve got news for you: it may well have cost you every dime of $900,000 to say no and stay in your bathrobe. 

Buyers don’t mean to be bullies when they request showings. They can tweak their criteria and see something new and worth seeing on their smart phone when they are taking their ride up here. They have money to spend. And they are looking to spend it. Maybe even on your house, if you let them. They are going to look at something when they go out, and if they like it, they’ll buy it. And then they are gone. They simply have too many other choices. 

There is a natural tension between the urgency of million dollar buyers and the desire for million dollar sellers to not be living in a constant state of accommodation. But in this market, the buyers win the stalemate.

Buyers, my dear people, are rare in this market. 

Very rare. 

As my home stager friend Marie Graham says, the way we live is very different from the way we sell our home. It is a hassle. It is intrusive. It takes us away from our routine. But the sums of money involved ought to motivate us to bite the bullet and let the folks in. Yes, it would be nice to have a week’s notice, preferably on a day when your kid isn’t home from college or the laundry isn’t piled up. But buyers who are willing to wait a week aren’t what I’d call urgently interested, would you? Someone who found you today and wants in today is a hot buyer. And accepting the showing request from a hot buyer could be a trip to the drugstore or coffee shop that pays you $900,000.  

The prices I am discussing reflect the Westchester County, NY housing market. Your mileage may vary. 

This is a photo I took of a recent brokers and managers meeting the Westchester-Putnam Association of REALTORS held to bring us up on the recent changes to real estate laws and how that affected our responsibilities to our clients. 

The quality of the snapshot isn’t good because I thought it would be a tad obnoxious to use my flash in the session. It was a packed house. When I got into the business in 1996, I was a fly on the wall for manager and owner meetings on a few occasions. Their tone was that of a social gathering; nothing to criticize, but it was not like it is today. What I saw in this meeting was all business about making sure the P’s and Q’s of our conduct were kosher. There was plenty of collegiality, but it seemed to take a backseat to mastering the subject matter and understanding the changes to the law. 

The presenters, including WPAR President Leah Caro, gave an energetic, engaged, and connected multi media presentation and interacted with us to make sure all questions were answered. They stayed after to make sure no one went home without being complete. We have excellent leadership. 

I have to say that the clients of Westchester and Putnam Association brokerages should rightly expect exemplary conduct from our members. More importantly, the brokers and owners expect the same from themselves. The consumer wins. 

David Popoff has written an intriguing post, asking us what our top 10 posts o 2010 were. His metric was clicks, but you could, I suppose also do a list for comments. Comments don’t make me money, so I’ll stick with clicks also. Here are my top 10:

1. The Money You “Lost” in Your Price Reduction Wasn’t Real                   6916 
2. Male Agents are From Mars: Advice for Wives of Agents                       5021
3. Why Tons of Buyers Are Screwing Up                                                    4597
4. 2 Things Listing Agents Should Never Say on Accompanied Showings  3875
5. What Makes a Short Sale Specialist?                                                     2826
6. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Taking Flat Fee Listings                 2536
7. Sellers Should Pay Closing Costs Only When Buyer Needs It                2353
8. Do Me A Teensy Weensy Little Favor                                                     2254
9. Why do Buyers Make Lowball Offers?                                                    2207
10. 10 Day Short Sale Rule                                                                          1833

I’ll begin this post with the plain fact that if it weren’t for Active Rain, my business would be far less than what it is. I am a big believer in the platform, and I am grateful for how it has enriched me. That said, I am the sort of guy who prefers to talk to people whom I think will listen, so I would like to propose a few things to take AR to the next level. And while I know I can get a stand alone website with a “blog” on other platforms, there is no bell or whistle from another company that trumps the community here. So what I want, I would love here.

I want more tools & features. And I’ll tell you why. You can break your ass researching and posting a ton of hyper local community information and get “found,” and those same people can thank you very much for telling them where the fireworks are this July 4 or what the amenities are at a condo complex, then turn around and buy a home with the agent whose on whose site they found a house online. People don’t want an agent. They want a home. Getting found is only a start-if you don’t have everything consumers want on one site, they’ll find it elsewhere.

What I essentially want is this: I want one (1) website for my company that has everything in one place. Right now I have a company website, a separate IDX solution, my Active Rain account, my outside blog from Active Rain (pictured), and several other niche blogs. One stop shopping it ain’t. I want all that here. Our current outside blog sites were cutting edge when they came out. Widgets! But what was new and impressive in 2009 is sort of bland and not what I’d call feature-rich in 2011. Little has changed in 2 years. I want more.  

So…

I want what Jay Thompson has, and I don’t want to pay thousands of dollars to a developer or spend thousands of hours making it. Blog. IDX. Company web page. Bells and whistles that talk to Facebook and Twitter and Mars and Jupiter. One site. I want indexable IDX with a customizable virtual office administrative back end so I can manage prospective clients’ needs. All this stuff is out there, but it isn’t here. And I want it here on Active Rain. 

What would make everything really easy is if there were a means by which I could import my blog content to a self-hosted WordPress site (my apologies if this is too techie- I want to understand this stuff as much as I want to understand how fission works; I just need outcomes) that also allows for the comments to populate instead of the current outside blogs. I have found more than one way to get my content over, which I have not done yet, but my comments won’t go. And, frankly, content without comments is a black cocktail dress without Audrey Hepburn in it. 

There has to be a way for this to be done that doesn’t involve a non-sanctioned Rube Goldberg plugin or massive development at Active Rain headquarters for outside blogs we currently import to. Scrap them. I am willing to pay, guys (actually, a one-stop shop would be a money saver for me). How about it. This is the largest real estate think tank in the world. Let’s have our Active Rain accounts capture the web traffic and keep it for everything, not just our blog content- home search, company pages, social media integration, and whatever else is next. Let’s be cutting edge, and let’s be cutting edge right here at home. 

I never attended a REBarCamp until this past October in Rye at the NYSAR event. I didn’t know what they were all about, but I had a baptism of fire when I was actually conscripted to moderate a session! 

If you have never been to a REBarCamp and you are wondering, don’t fret. All you need to do is register for FREE for the New York event this coming January 11 at the Roger Smith hotel in midtown Manhattan and you can experience a great one for the first time and then play in the Big Apple afterwards. You’ll have a ton of fun, you’ll learn as much as you can absorb and then some, and it is a killer networking opportunity to rub elbows with colleagues from all over the Metropolitan area in our varied industries. 

To get more information, shoot me an email, or, better yet, log onto one of the following sites:

• http://www.rebarcampnewyork.com/
• http://www.facebook.com/REBCNY

Here are some of the particulars:

What: RE BarCamp New York 2011 

When: Tuesday, January 11, 2011 

Time: 9:00am to 5:00-ish PM (registration starts at 8:00 AM-ish) 

Where: The Roger Smith Hotel
501 Lexington Avenue, 
New York, New York 10017, NYC 

Twitter Hashtag: #REBCNY 

Who: Realtors, lenders, title, escrow, appraisers, inspectors, virtual assistants, home stagers and anyone in real estate hoping to improve their business through social media. 

What is REBarCamp? It is a day of free form sessions in the real world addressing real estate in 2011. And it is free, thanks to our numerous sponsors, but the whole thing is coordinated by the Lucky Strikers Social Media Club, of which I am a proud member. 

Come feed your brain and recharge your batteries to start 2011 off right. 

I am going to indulge in a brazen self promotional post since the end of the year is here, mainly to state the facts, since Ann tells me I don’t stress the level of performance I, um, perform. So here are a few facts about how J. Philip did in 2010, both myself personally and the team. 

10– My rank for residential transactions closed out of over 7000 EAMLS member agents. In other words, I sold more homes than 99.86% of my competition. I averaged just under 1 transaction side (.9) per week. I am proud of that, but prouder still of the job done for each individual client, with the great help from Ann and Ronnie, my two administrative goddesses. 

45– My company’s rank for transactions closed out of about 920 member firms of the EAMLS. That put J. Philip in the top 5% of the MLS for sales volume, outselling quite a few larger offices and a slew of national chain offices. Overall we had 81 transaction sides as a team, and I aim to make that number far larger this year as my guys take their individual games to the next level. But that is another post. 

19-The number of licensees now associated with the company, which has grown in spite of the crummy housing market. We have a few more on deck who will be joining the team in early 2011. Half the team didn’t sell a thing under our license in 2010- that is fine by me. Not everyone is full time or with the firm very long, but everyone made a contribution. 

2– The number of branch offices now open since we put down stakes in northern Manhattan in March. 

2– The number of times I have been elected as Vice President of the MLS after being re-elected last month. 

514– The number of blog posts I have authored on this platform, not including my outside niche blogs. I do not think it is a coincidence that I have blogged obsessively and that we’ve performed well in 2010. 

2010 was a superior year to 2008 and much better than last year as well. We’ve had our challenges, and I’ll be blogging about how I did with my 2010 goals soon, but suffice to say I am gratified for the position the firm is in and the caliber of people we have on the team. Real estate agents are notorious for bragging, but I have tried to keep this as close to the banal numbers as possible. The best feedback I can get is that I have walked my talk. 

Now that the holidays are all but past, the “slow season” is officially over. Spring gets busy, but when does Spring start in Westchester real estate? March? After the Super Bowl? In my experience, “Spring” in real estate starts January 2nd. It may sound silly, but motivated buyers have been lurking online for months now, checking out the inventory and bookmarking certain homes that may meet their criteria with the intention of getting out and seeing things as soon as the holiday season is completed.

Time moves quickly, and those folks who want to be in a house by the end of the school year need to be in contract 60 days ahead of time. If school ends June 20th, then late April is when you’d need to be in contract. Seeing how it takes some time to find a home you love, negotiate an offer, do inspections and go to contract, then you’d need to be active well before April- most likely February the latest. Many will start earlier, perhaps not intending to buy in January, but certainly to get the lay of the land. 

Moreover, the “move up” consumer has to sell their own house this year prior to buying another one. They would be very wise to be ready and on the market as soon as the new year begins. If they close on their home by May or June, they still have time to find and prepare their next home. 

Like the great Yogi Berra says, “it gets late early out there.” The early bird does get the real estate worm, and if you wait until April you may lose the best deals out there- by July you could well be looking at leftovers.

Bust a move in January- that’s when the motivated buyers and sellers here in Westchester “spring” into action.  

Believe it or not, New Yorkers are not the rudest people I have run into. Having lived in several different places, including Boston, Philadelphia and New Orleans, I have run into some meanies (few in N.O.). But when I moved back to Westchester in 2001, I was pleasantly reminded how comparatively nice my fellow noo yawkas are. But we still have some pieces of work. And the holiday season doesn’t make a difference with some. 

Most of the time I blow it off. However, today there is a guy walking amongst us that doesn’t know it, but he is fortunate that his head is still attached to his torso. 

Due to the light week, today I took our 6-year old, Gregory out for a short trip with me. We went to White Plains to the Toys R Us that happens to be in the same building as our board of REALTORS, and Gregory kept asking to go upstairs. I finally gave in, because I thought he wanted to ride the escalator, but the little bugger somehow knew there was a McDonald’s one level up. I still don’t know where he saw the sign or how he knew, because he had never been there. 

It was crowded and busy, but the line appeared to be moving, so I took a chance and went in with him. Gregory is on the spectrum for autism and still learning boundaries, so I had to really be on my toes. When we got to the counter and ordered, we waited very briefly and a tray was put in front of us with food, which Gregory instinctively reached for. From right next to me, I hear a guy growl something nasty and snatch his food- my son didn’t know. I grabbed Gregory’s hand before he even took anything, but Big Mouth still had to act like we were fondling his wife.

Now, in this day and age we live in, I would think that everyone who walks on their hind legs has gotten the memo that you don’t mess with someone’s kids in public. You don’t touch them, you don’t yell at them, and if you do address anything you should be as disarming as possible because you don’t know who or what you are dealing with.

I don’t even remember what the guy said, but it was over the top and hostile. And after my reflex to take my son’s hand was over and the schmuck walked off chomping like a self centered troglodyte I felt myself getting angry. Very angry. I wanted to say “you don’t need to be nasty to a 6-year old with autism” but I knew that if I opened my mouth it could escalate- I felt, very viscerally, that I didn’t care what the people around us would think if I made a scene. So I bit my lip out of the sheer intellectual knowledge that it would be bad to indulge my clenched jaw. 

I worked in restaurants for years and know how primal people are when they are hungry. But I never felt that was a valid excuse for nastiness. I know plenty of people are stressed out these days and that money is tight and nothing is easy. But there is no justification to bark at a stranger’s child. Honestly if some kid grabbed my fries I’d spring for the 99 cents and 45 second delay and get more fries if it really skeeved me out. But I’d mind my tongue, and it wouldn’t take nearly as much self control as I exercised today sparing Supersize Asshat some considerable discomfort. Be as big a jerk as you want with me but do not mess with the cubs. 

Reader’s Digest has a huge world headquarters in nearby Chappaqua, New York. I should say HAD a huge headquarters. The company quietly left the campus this past week to smaller digs in Manhattan. This represents the fall of a local giant, and the final exit of a company that was a Westchester institution. To work at Reader’s Digest was special; it was one of the companies that made Westchester County unique. And now it is gone. You can still subscribe to the publication, mind you, but the Reader’s Digest I grew up with is dead. 

You really should read the article to get an appreciation of how Roy and Lila Wallace ran their own privately held firm  from 1922 until they passed away in the 1980’s. It was a special place that took amazing care of the employees and was loyal to an editorial vision that worked incredibly well. And it was hugely profitable. Amazingly profitable. By the time I was born in 1967 the Reader’s Digest Association had a world headquarters that was like a college campus. 

In 1990, after the Wallaces had both died, the company went public. 

And the suits came in and ruined everything. The thing about running any successful business in my experience is that those who truly own the enterprise are not slaves to the quarterly profit. I myself have lost battles in order to win the war. You can’t measure success in quarterly statements. Sometimes that makes you burn the axe handle. But that is just what the MBAs who came in the 1990’s did, and by 2005 the black ink was gone. The company hasn’t made a profit since 2005, and it went from being the sole tenant of their own wholly owned campus to a minor tenant that just got out of their lease with a bankruptcy filing. 

Like I said, read the article- it tells the tale of bad decisions, short sighted moves and strategies antithetical to the core vision of the Wallaces better than I could condense it. That is is ironic, because condensing great stories was what the Digest did. 

The lesson: those that own their own firm take the best care of it. In 2005, after busting my posterior working for others for 16 years, some of whom I adored, others that I abhorred, I opened my own firm. I can tell you firsthand that I have never worked so hard, martialed as much creativity, or been more resourceful than when I held the rudder in my own hands. This company is my baby. Having ownership makes the buck stop at my desk. I am accountable for solutions. I navigate obstacles. I have to plan and execute. And there is no safety net. When what I do succeeds, it is as sweet as it gets. When I fail, I get up again and attack, because it is all me and no one will do it for me. 

Most real estate licensees are 1099 independent contractors, and that is ownership that a w-2 employee seldom grasps. And some of us take the plunge and run our own firms, building our brand and practice on the mere capital of our good name, our good work, and our vision. That is not something to dismiss lightly. Those of us who are succeeding in this environment aren’t doing so because we’re lucky, as much as the fact that we are on to something. If I speak, it might be worth a listen. I am sure the suits at Reader’s Digest would sure love to get a little advice from the Wallaces. 

Merry Christmas from New York. 

One of the things I love about where I live is a Christmas Eve tradition in my old neighborhood where the people line the streets with candles. It is a sight to behold in person, and even though it was late on a Christmas Eve, you can see other cars driving through in the video to see the lights for themselves. I always loved this as a child, and I was jazzed to show it to Catherine, my 6 year old daughter, for the first time tonight. We live in the adjacent neighborhood now. 

I have blogged about this “Indian Village” neighborhood tradition before, but this is the first time I ever posted a video of the lights. 

The US Department of Housing and Urban Development has rejected Westchester County’s latest proposal for affordable housing to be built in the county as a result of last year’s settlement of the government’s lawsuit.

The “problem” is as old as the county, but the upshot is that the government has said enough is enough and it is time to break down the economic barriers that have kept some towns in the county overwhelmingly white. You can read more background on the issue from the NY Times and Anti discrimination Center website. 

There are some who will accuse the government of trying to be a social engineer, and I can understand the sentiment. However, I think that the crux of the matter is that the county has been taking money from the government under false pretenses for decades, and government money comes with mandates that if not met can get you in hot water. In our county’s case, that hot water spelled out to a $50 million settlement and the construction of 750 affordable units in towns that had a dearth of diversity or housing priced to foster it. 

In actuality, the real social engineering has been by the local municipalities themselves since the Second World War. When you are less than an hour from Manhattan and your population is some ridiculously high percentage white, the fix is in, whether it is zoning, selective rejection of development, or whatever else they have going on. The result is that neighboring towns become very diverse, creating a checkerboard -like quality in the area that is only spoken of in hushed tones in polite company. 

It is almost 2011. That doesn’t wash. The Not in my Back Yard ethic has to go, and the towns that are behind the affordability and diversity curve need to step up and dispense with the excuses and foot dragging. It is the right thing to do. 

I suppose I could find a real estate angle for just about anything, and I will now as well: in today’s paper, a “spa” located down the street from my office was raided and the police arrested two in a prostitution sting. Earlier this month, the same thing happened in Mohegan Lake, NY a hamlet of Yorktown. Smarter people than I could write volumes on who, why, and how. My observations are those of a guy who brokers real estate, not a commentary on morality. Full disclosure: I have had clients in the, shall we say, adult industry. 

While I know Westchester is considered affluent, the world’s oldest profession has always been with us. And while the perception is that it was always on the other side of the tracks, it has always more or less been in our back yard. Concealed, but there. That said, I have never seen “open and notorious” examples of the thing as much as I have since the economy went south. And brother, I mean almost overnight the change occurred. Here’s what I mean: doctor’s offices, storefronts, and office space are now getting, um clogged with these places, almost all of which popped up (sorry) in 2008 or after. More than one of my friends is going to kid me about this, but you can set your watch now by when your suspicions about a place are confirmed with an arrest report in the paper. You’d read about it once a year before, now we have two reports just this month. 

This tells me that the recession has hit retail and commercial space as hard as it has hit housing. What’s worse, a vacant storefront or a rent-paying “spa?” I don’t blame landlords for erring on the side of paying their bills. 

Another peculiar thing is the practitioners. If you are a child of the 80’s and think Pretty Woman, think again. The ages of the women arrested were 46, 46, 47, and 54. We’re not talking about Julia Roberts working her way through college. Whatever granny was doing before the economy crapped out she’s not doing anymore. 

I think what it all means is that nature abhors (sorry) a vacuum, and that when the real economy goes south the underground economy steps up. The space is there, the cheap rent is there, the willing landlords are there, and the workers desperate for money are there. The clientele has been there since the ink dried in the bible. 

The funniest part of the whole thing was the report that mentioned that the Mohegan Lake place charged credit cards as the “Han Deli.” I am going to go out on a limb and say that an encounter with a prostitute costs more than a corned beef on rye. Can you imagine the look on the wife’s face when she sees a $300 charge to a delicatessen? I want one of those subs! 

One last slightly unrelated item: On one of the tributaries of Google I hit while researching this post I came upon the fact that the 2008 Nobel Prize in Economics was won by a team that researched how strippers who were ovulating earned higher tips than those who were doing that other thing. 

At any rate, I expect to read about fewer 50-year old hookers as the economy recovers. Then I’ll know we’re doing better. 

I suppose I could have rounded off the title to $300,000, but why not be precise. $297,500 buys a really nice cooperative apartment in the Edgemont complex with 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, and a balcony. As you can see, the place is fabulously updated with a sparkling new kitchen with granite counters and stainless steel appliances. It also has newer updated bathrooms, refinished floors, and a fantastic location near all that Central Park Avenue has to offer: shopping, commuting points, and great restaurants.  

The complex itself has great amenities, with a ample parking, laundry on every floor, security, playground, fitness gym, and a beautiful swimming pool. 

We have done business in the Edgemont before, with a 3 bedroom unit we closed on this past summer for $360,000 listed and sold by Yours Truly. Not bad for a little brokerage in Briarcliff Manor. Tom Ricapito, one of our best agents, listed the unit and reported a smooth transaction for the clients. Thanks to Sothebys in bringing the buyer. This one is gone, but we can help you buy or sell others. If you’d like to peruse the inventory, get yourself a free Listingbook account!