For the second time in a week I had a conversation where the idea came up that a high volume producer (which, I guess, I am for my market) doesn’t typically give the same level of service to the client as a smaller numbers person who ostensibly has more time. I don’t take umbrage with the thought; there might be some truth to it, but not here. So I’ll share something. 

One of my agents brought in a listing once that was a co op apartment in serious arrears to the bank and the management company. An auction date was set for a week hence, and no agency was going near this home owner. She didn’t have the money to hire an attorney, and even if she stopped the auction, problems with the co op loomed large. 

She had one thing: equity. The mortgage was relatively small, and the apartment, while in disrepair, would sell if priced right. New York agents know, however, that you can’t just dump a co op; the board has to approve the price. It is an obstacle course. This much I knew: If I advanced her the money to stop the auction, then all I’d need to do to make the sale, get her out of hot water, and get paid back would be to simply sell the place. 

So I drove her to a good lawyer referred by the real estate attorney we were using and paid him, myself, to help her file. We then drove to the courthouse and filed. The auction was stopped 3 hours before it was to occur. 

Now, you should know that having owned the place for 30 years and a septuagenarian, my client was more than a little stressed. A teacher for decades, she was ill at ease with financial distress and all that came with it. She needed hand holding, patience, support, and now then, a shoulder and handkerchief. 

We then got to work at selling her apartment, which took another 4 months and another procedure to stop an auction. I paid for that also. Finally, we found our own buyer, and ironed out a deal we thought the co op could live with. And, with some cajoling, they were approved. They closed 6 days before a 3rd auction date that was set. 

In total, I was paid back every cent of the $2700 I advanced the client. She realized almost a quarter million in equity that she rolled over to start her new life again as a retiree. Does she love me? Yes. And not because I threw money at a problem. I treated her like she was a million dollar client. The lawyer who help us stop the auctions still to this day can’t believe it and he told me on more than one occasion that I was absolutely nuts, and it was impossible to make this work. But it did, I I frankly give more credit to my first broker, who taught me the business, than my own wits. After it closed, I called him to thank him, again, for teaching me how to solve problems just a little better than the other guys. 

I’ve loaded moving vans, dumpsters, and picked up shovels to fill holes for FHA or to show a footer is legal. But I am more proud of the mundane, day to day, person to person caring that clients get. So, I would say that my little company, while being perceived by some as a transaction mill, gives service that goes above and beyond the regular, the hardworking, and maybe even the sane. But I like it like that. 

$350,000 goes pretty far in Brewster these days. Today we closed on a listing at that very price which was quite uncommon: a Victorian manor house on 2 acres with a carriage house/garage and a view of the reservoir. It had been purchased in 2005 for $562,000 and restored before the economy tanked. An 1870 build (by circus entrepreneur Seth Howes), it had all the original moulding and trim, a root cellar, a greenhouse, a small out building, cobalt glass windows, porches, balconies, the original outhouse, and had been featured in some publications for its beauty and architectural note. As a matter of fact, the new owner is only the 4th owner since it was built during the Civil War reconstruction period! 

The home is 2300 square feet and has 5 bedrooms and 2.5 baths. The whole setting is private, secluded and wonderful, yet the location is convenient to the highways and the village of Brewster, just 5 minutes away by car.

The home was a short sale, and in the process of getting the approvals, we were able to procure for the seller a $7,000 relocation credit from the first lender. Happy endings all around-not easy, but happy all the same!  

Every first of the month Ronnie, our administrative assistant, arrives at the office and begins the daunting task of addressing letters to several hundred homeowners whose listing expired at the end of the previous month. One of the good people who came off the market on November 30th called me and we met just this evening to see how I could help them sell. The details of why homes do not sell are not unfamiliar to me; price is certainly a big reason, but there are often other fatal mistakes the prior agent made that punctuate the home’s failure to sell. In this case, the home’s MLS data indicated as the size of the yard as “0 acres.” In other words, anyone who put the yard size in their search criteria would not find the house. Not good. 

In discussing the options facing the home owners and what could be done to get the house sold, I was impressed with one of the seller’s concerns about the feelings of their prior agent. They didn’t get the job done, and they didn’t have my record in sales, but all the same she felt bad about letting them go after they tried so hard and were so nice. 

I have to say, I wish more people cared about my feelings the way she cared for theirs. This is a woman with a good heart. I told her that this is business, not personal, but she was still kind of bummed about her old agent. 

I wish there were more people like her. We spoke about it more, and the thing she acknowledged in our discussion was that it doesn’t take a cold and calculating person to make a smart business decision. You can still be a good person and do what is right in a business sense without being mercenary. Being good to people is important. That does not mean, however, that you subordinate your financial health and well being to appearing nice. If the right thing for her is to get a new, better broker, she owes it to herself to do so. 

Selling a home is serious business. And it is not a vehicle for relationships. It is something some people do but once in their lives, and they owe it to themselves to have the best representation, even if their prior agents were cordial and nice. Huge money is involved, and there are no do-overs once a closing is over. I would say that all people should have a good agent, but good people especially deserve a good agent. I know of no other Westchester agent that sells more homes that previously expired with other brokers than myself. It is what we do, what we excel at, and how we grow the company in these rough times. When we do get started with this particular family, we’ll get them the results they very richly deserve. 

According to the Empire Access Multiple Listing Service, 82 single family homes closed in Westchester County this past week, with a median sales price of $586,000. In the same period last year, there were 96 single family home closings with a median sale price of $608,000. Given the general abysmal year that 2009 was, that makes this past week not much to write home about. 

HOWEVER…overall, we are far ahead of the 2009 totals for the county. Last year through December 10, there were 3130 single family homes sold at a median price of $580,000. Thus far in 2010, we have seen 3,812 homes closed at a median sales price of $635,000. 

With 248 homes pending sale, we have a strong chance of breaking the 4000 closing mark, which would be almost a 33% improvement by volume over 2009. 

Low rates, more realistic sellers, and a general sense that the sky isn’t going to fall after all have contributed to the improvement in sales. Hopefully, we are in the beginning of a very steady, sustainable recovery. 

Carmel, NY is a community located in Putnam County, NY about an hour north of New York City. It is very close to Westchester County, but the cost of living, especially the cost of homes and property taxes, are often less than Westchester. 

What can you get for $525,000 in Carmel? Well, we just sold this 3000 square foot 2001-built 5 bedroom, 3.5 bath colonial on nearly 2 acres this past week. Located on a cul de sac, it has a beautiful master suite, an additional 1300 finished square feet in the walkout basement, rocking chair porch, 2 car garage, fireplace, rear deck, rear patio, and an updated kitchen.

The subdivision is very close to the downtown area of Carmel, with Mahopac and Brewster a short drive away as well. I-684 is about 7 minutes away.  

Our sellers got 100% of their asking price and the home spent just 81 days on the market. As you can see, in Carmel these days, $525,000 buys quite a nice home.  

The Scarsdale postal address can mean Scarsdale/Scarsdale schools, or Scarsdale/Edgemont schools. One is co-terminus with the town/village of Scarsdale and the other (Edgemont) is in the town of Hartsdale. Both are wonderful places to live. 

$720,000 in the Edgemont area can buy a nearly 2500 square foot split like the one pictured that we just closed on this past week. It has 3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths (including a mater bath), a 2 car garage, formal dining room, family room, rec room in the basement, a den which could be a 4th bedroom or guest room, a rear patio and central air conditioning, all on a half acre lot. 

Edgemont is a very convenient area as well, with all the amenities and advantages of Central Park Avenue just a stones throw away- shopping, restaurants, bus, you name it. This home is also a decent walk from the Scarsdale train station, making it great for Manhattan commuters. 

Our buyers are planning on doing some updates to this 1964-built home, and when they are finished they’ll have an even more beautiful home on their hands. We wish our clients many happy years in their new home. 

I do endeavor to be semi on top of things, and upon occasion I get a well meaning request from a friend for technical help with something they are doing on their computer or online. But I am really not that great a tekkie. I can type; I rely on others for web design. 

I therefore did not really know what a QR code really was until this past week, after speaking about them with a smarter guy than myself, Stephen Fells, who writes code and does things on computers that would completely stump me. Simply put, a QR code (quick response code) creates a hyperlink of sorts on print material where a hyperlink would not otherwise be possible.

For example, if you have a printed brochure to a listing, you can put a QR code on it and if people have a device such as a cell phone with the right app to read the code, it will take them to the web page on the phone. This makes them great for print ads, signage, riders, and even business cards. The limitation, of course, is that you could also just print “www.jphilip.com” and people can just input the url in their phone to get there.

But it is faster, and I can see them in places where web-based advertising might not have been feasible before, such as men’s rooms of restaurants and mass transit wall ads. You see it, you scan it, and you are dowloading their message instantly. 

Now, what I don’t get is all the QR codes I am seeing on web pages and blogs, because people are already online, and the QR code is simply a hyperlink in print, so to speak. To link on a web page or blog, you just need to put in a link. To my understanding, putting a QR code on a web page is redundant. Yet I am seeing them everywhere- in footers, sidebars, and I think I spotted one in a header not long ago. Why? Where else will we see them popping up next? It seems like real estate people are so paranoid about being ahead of the curve that they jump on a trend they perceive as important without really thinking it through. 

They have their place, these QR codes. But I think the QR Code fever we are witnessing is a little bit of overkill.

Just a quick thought on rentals after an experience one of my agents just had. We have a situation where we need to get a client into a rental. They need something specific, she found one they liked and they made an offer. However, the offer was only for about 80% of the monthly rental price. In other words, if the unit was on the market for $1000, the client offered only $800 per month. The landlord declined. By the time we raised our offer, someone else came in at full price and swooped it away. 

Rentals are different animal from purchases in our area, and the market is relatively healthy when a place is priced right. Even if there is no other offer, if a place fills a specific need, such as a first floor entrance or proximity to a train station for example, it is unwise to be too much of a wheeler dealer when submitting offers. There is a far more open minded appetite for low offers on purchases than rentals. 

While I have your attention, the wise thing to do in submitting an offer here in Westchester is to include a fully filled out rental application (name, address, employment, current address, and landlord references) as well as the first page of the credit report showing your score. This is what landlords need to make a judgement and withholding this sort of information is considered a red flag. 

We happily service rentals at J. Philip Real Estate. Some brokers aren’t excited about them because they aren’t super lucrative, but we are all about putting a roof over your head. We also know that many of today’s renters will be buyers down the road, and we want to establish a relationship when they need us, not just when we need them. I’ll put my money where my mouth is: Anyone who hires J. Philip Real Estate to represent them in getting a rental in the first quarter of 2011 (Jan 1- March 31- we’ll include leases that start April 1 because I’m that kind of guy) will get a rebate equal to half a month’s rent (often our rental fee) if they buy a home with us in the 3 years after. 

Find all the rentals you want with a free Listingbook account. 

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Another overt self-pimping piece of information: I am rather prominent in a piece run in yesterday’s AOL Daily Finance on the real estate market in Mt Vernon, NY.

The article addresses how there are certain pockets of Westchester County more adversely affected by the housing decline than most. Even though I am in the northern part of the county, I do my fair share of business in Mt Vernon and the piece sheds light on  how the foreclosure crisis has affected one neighborhood. The numbers are rough; values overall in the neighborhood we examined was down 50%, mainly because of the huge amount of foreclosures clustering the city. 

Here’s what isn’t in the article: I have been through a number of those REOs, and many were partially or fully renovated. The owners simply ran out of money, lost their jobs, or got caught in the cross hairs of the declining economy. The people who bought the repossessions got new kitchens, new baths, and in many cases homes that needed very little. It was sad, in a way, they they benefited from the prior owner’s efforts at a huge discount. And many would-be owner occupant bidders lost their shot at affordable ownership to cash investors. But that’s the reality. 

I’m glad the blog is getting the company a little ink, but more glad the media is focusing on where we are falling down in this economy- that’s the first step in getting back on our feet as a society. 

I had very mixed feelings when I came across the article New Rochelle neighbors get rowdy over Iona dorm plan in the local paper. The neighbors are essentially concerned about more dorms undermining their quality of life and property values. The article talks about broken bottles, loud music and drunk students. Colleges in residential areas can have issues. As a real estate broker, I understand the concern.

As a former college student, however, I have a more visceral reaction. It is in my financial interest to support the neighborhood homeowners. I want them to think favorably of my company. I want them to list with me when it is time to sell. But they are wrong.

When I was a student at Villanova University in the 1980’s Radnor Township had draconian regulations on the dormitories the school could build, resulting in no guaranteed housing for upperclassmen. After sophomore year we were forced to live in the surrounding community, right in the middle of suburbia, in rental homes, low rent apartments, and basements.  What made things worse was that the municipalities in the area had severe “blue laws” limiting the number of non-related people who could live in one housing unit to just 2 or 3. Students often live in larger numbers due for budgetary reasons, so we either lived in fear, moved way out, or, like me, got evicted by the town authorities. Not fun. 

All of those problems could have been been avoided had the University been allowed to build more dorms. Eventually, they developed west campus on an old estate adjacent to main campus, and the problem was alleviated. Far fewer students parking on the side streets and living in the neighborhood absolutely helped. My nephew, a junior at Villanova, lives on campus. And he’s never spoken a word to me about problems with the township.

If the Iona students can’t live in that dormitory, then they’ll have to live in the surrounding area, right among the homeowners at odds with the college now. I’ve lived that way, and it isn’t my fondest college memory. It is my considered opinion that the only thing worse than that dormitory being built would be to not build it. 

These days it is tough to find anything in Westchester for under $200,000. Unless, of course, you are talking about a co-op, the “starter home of Westchester” as they say. The Dehaven Drive complex in Yonkers is a terrific collection of condos and cooperatives very conveniently located near shopping, transportation and schools with plenty of parking and a quiet atmosphere. 

For $165,000, you can get a 2 bedroom co-op in the Greystone 4, a garden-style apartment with an updated granite kitchen, updated bath, hardwood floors, and new appliances, all on the ground floor. Our buyer just closed on it last week with the fantastic guidance of Tom Ricapito. The unit is 950 square feet with a monthly co op fee of $756, which includes all utilities and is 50% deductible.

We wish our buyers much happiness and health in their new home.  

This is the market data for September of 2010 for single family homes in Peekskill, and all information is sourced from the Empire access (formerly Westchester-Putnam) MLS.

To say that I am bullish on Peekskill is an understatement. 

Now, the good news. There are FIFTEEN homes under contract in Peekskill now, and I have one of them. It is simply too nice a place for people not to take advantage of the affordability. I said this in September:

when the buyers wake up to what they can get at these low prices, you’ll see a spike. All markets are cyclical, and I think we are witnessing the calm before a storm of activity. 

Expect a powerful finish to 2010 and strong first quarter for 2011 in this wonderful Hudson River town. 

Get yourself a free Listingbook account and check out homes for sale in Peekskill. It is absolutely a buyer’s market here.

Previous posts about Peekskill are here.  

The call came in at 11am this morning, and it was a buyer one of my agents has been working with the past few weekends. They are looking for a home, and that is our favorite kind of client. They had a list if beautiful homes in Southern Westchester for sale they wanted to see. 

Unfortunately, I couldn’t help them this day. I had to offer a raincheck. The reason? Weekends are our busy days in this business, and Saturdays and Sundays get filled pretty fast. If you don’t have yourself in the schedule by Friday, I can’t promise that I can make time for you on a weekend day. Most people are off on the weekends, and because of that, we in the real estate biz are “on.” That’s the way it is, and if you don’t work weekends in this business, you are losing business. Clients and customers need us at these times.  

But Sunday at 11am is too late for me to make time sometimes-like today. I tried- My agent was already booked, I was booked, and everyone else in the firm I called had other clients scheduled. We couldn’t honor the request. And that is a bummer! Had we known Friday they’d be in. 

In my book, anyone who is looking for a house in December is a serious buyer whom we take seriously. I love December business. We just need more notice, and we’ll go to the mat for our buyers! 

You can search for a home 24/7 in your pajamas just by registering for a free Listingbook account. 

This is the second time I have reblogged something by this home inspector, Joseph Michalski, and for good reason. The home inspector’s job, done properly, takes these 10 rules into account. Excellent commentary on a crucial part of the home buying process. 

J. Philip real estate excels in providing a strong inventory of pre foreclosures and short sales in Westchester, Putnam and Rockland counties that are great for people looking for a handyman or fixer upper at a good price. 

We have a  short sale opportunity for a handyman or developer in northern Westchester County. This is a colonial era 2400 square foot 4 bedroom, 3 bath farmhouse on 2.6 acres for $449,000. Includes a large barn on a flat wooded lot. Restore or build new. 178 Smith Ridge Rd South Salem, NY 10590. 

In Mahopac, Putnam County, we have a fixer upper short sale on almost 2 acres with 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, woodburning fireplace, eat-in kitchen, hardwoods, ample parking and a rear deck on 192 Barrett Hill Road, 10541 for $275,000. 

Short sales do take longer to close, as bank approval is required, but for the patient buyer these can be gems. For more information on short sales, check out the New York Short Sale blog. To find pre foreclosures in other areas, get a free Listingbook account and search the MLS like an agent. 

The local rag has quoted me in the Sunday edition of the paper in an article on strategic defaults. The local rag, being, of course, the New York Times. The interview for the article was this past week, and the reporter, Lynnley Brown, was very nice. She said I’m a mortgage broker, which is a mistake, as I am a real estate broker, but that’s baseball. It showed up in my Google Alert anyway. And I’m sure they’ll print a page 1 retraction on Monday. Right? 

The Times, to its credit, has reported more lately on defaulting home owners; the editorial tone has been typically more sympathetic to the borrowers, and critical of banks who encumber short sales and loan modifications. The article I appear in discusses the ramifications of strategic defaults as they vary from state to state, as some are “recourse” states and others are “non-recourse.” It is an informative article.

It is always nice to have the company appear in the fish wrap, and it is a nice result of how blogging has helped the firm create a presence. 

Of course, when you have great sources, it is easy to publish a good piece.   

This market report is for single family home activity in the Briarcliff Manor school district for November of 2010. All information is derived from the Empire Access (formerly Westchester-Putnam) Multiple Listing Service. 

A light month in Briarcliff Manor. Median price is about the same as last November, but only 3 deals closed. Nine homes are under contract at a median asking of almost $900,000, so we are positioned for a strong December. It happens that way. 

There are 39 available home in inventory, which is a light and typical for this time of year. 

Previous posts on Briarcliff Manor.  

If you’d like to search for a home in Briarcliff, get yourself a free Listingbook account and search the MLS like an agent. 

This market report is for single family home activity in the Ossining school district for October of 2010. All information is derived from the Empire Access (formerly Westchester-Putnam) Multiple Listing Service. 

Ossining is a bouncing ball. Last month the median price was $535,000. November’s median was less than $370,000. The true picture is somewhere in the middle; November was just down. November of 2009 was far stronger, but with 30 pending sales at a median asking price well into the 400’s, December will ensure that Ossining finishes the year on a high note.   

136 active listings is down a touch, but December this time of year is typically a low ebb for inventory. 

A down month, but plenty of evidence that it isn’t down for long.  

Previous postings on Ossining.  

You can search for a home in Ossining by getting yourself a free Listingbook account. 

Maybe it started with the emperors thumbs up or thumbs down in the Roman Coliseum. Maybe it culminated with Fonzie. Or Sally Field. Or Facebook. Nobody knows, but the human fascination with rating each other is well-documented. In light of Zillow’s new agent rating system, I am moved to opine on the online versions of how we rate, like, love, endorse and otherwise measure the performance of those with whom we do business, as even a Facebook remark can be liked as much as a business. 

I LIKE approval and high ratings. I love to be loved. As I have blogged before, I am a Redfin partner agent, and our ratings are very transparent on the site. I am posting a screenshot from my page, because my profile is off while I catch up with the business they have given me. I have nothing to hide. As a matter of fact, I fully expect all real estate agents to be rated very openly in the coming years. Yelp and other ratings site will only grow. Zillow is just the latest entry. It is good for our industry and good for the consumer.  

That said, I have misgivings in how it is carried out. For example, when Redfin first surveyed my clients as a condition of putting me on as a referral agent, I got lots of 10’s. I also got some people asking me why I closed my company. We sorted it out, but the lesson is that the best intentioned ideas executed by really good people can still be problematic. And I have two concerns about the burgeoning industry of thumb extensions to the Heavens or Earth. 

1. I am concerned about crackpots and haters. I live in New York, lunatic capital of the world. Not so much the wacky people who leave anonymous emails or voicemails- I am talking about the folks we occasionally run into in business who can’t be pleased and have expectations that Superman can’t fulfill and then blame their agent. I can’t get you a million dollar foreclosure in Scarsdale for $200,000. I can’t help you with that rare new construction in our area if you suddenly decide to deal directly with the builder in stealth while telling me something different. And no, I can’t get you $600,000 on your $475,000 house just because you want to pay off your car and credit cards.  
2. I am concerned about the system being gamed by unscrupulous agents. This may sound surprising, but in the Bronx, for example, many number of brokerages aren’t MLS participants. Some don’t cooperate. It has gotten so bad in the NYC boroughs that the Department of State has issued cease and desist orders on solicitation to the whole industry, all brokerages, for 5 years because of agent misconduct in some areas. Does that happen where you live? When you have hugely populated areas like the Bronx and Brooklyn with sparse MLS participation with brokerages behaving like it is the wild west, people will default to sites like StreetEasy, Trulia and Zillow for their property searches. With no NAR affiliate or government oversight of those websites, abuse is not just likely, the real question is how they’ll game the system, not if they’ll do it. 

So for me, it all boils down to how it is carried out and overseen. I don’t want to pick on Zillow- Spencer Rascoff is a funny, self-effacing guy and Sara Bonert is swell; however, they never bought a house in Yonkers or Throgs Neck. I appreciate that I can respond to reviews, but what if the only way to defend myself against a flaming review were to involve confidential information? What if calling a brokerage out for bogus reviews got me slapped with a petty or frivolous grievance? 

Call me a cynical New Yorker, but remember, we actually have attorneys draw up contracts in this neck of the woods. It isn’t Kansas. 

So, thumbs up to transparency, but thumbs down to abuse. And those who do provide that looking glass into ratings have a moral obligation to prevent abuse zealously due to the damage it can cause hard working, conscientious professionals who lay it all on the line daily. At any rate, to my clients, the link to my Zillow profile is right there in the sidebar. Speak your mind!