I am often asked why I blog. Clients wonder, fellow agents ask, and many who have read my words are curious why I produce all this commentary. There are a number of reasons: it is therapeutic, I have a big mouth, I like to write, it keeps my company visible, and many other motivations come to mind. A big one for me is Referrals. I love referrals. I love doing a good job when I get a referral. 

Magic happens when you are committed. Late in August, I committed to Karen Bernetti’s 30 day challenge contest, where I pledged to blog at least once a day for 30 days. Perhaps not a stretch for me, but some days I might not blog and other days I could write 3 or 4 posts. At any rate, I committed to 30 consecutive days, and, more importantly, my promise to myself was that I wouldn’t be a robot- I’d try and write good stuff. This post will fulfill my 30th consecutive day, but that’s not the best thing. Here’s the magic:

In late August, I was contacted by Elyse Berman and referred a listing. Elyse is in Florida, as was her friend, but she had a house to sell in my area. I called her and orchestrated a meeting when she returned to New York, and just this past week we signed papers and the house is active on the market as one of my newest listings. Elyse’s friend is happy, I’m ecstatic, and of course I look forward to the day when I can close the deal and mail Elyse’s referral fee. I am very honored she reached out to me, and I will do all I can to take great care of the client. 

Last week, I saw another referral on the Active Rain Referral Exchange. I applied for it, and was told by Dana Voelzke that she had called me the day prior about referring her client to me! She thought of me first! This client was different- they needed a rental with some special circumstances and they needed it quickly. I never overpromise, and I have a terrific team, so I placed the client with one of my very best associate brokers who specializes in the locale that was targeted. The leases are already signed. 

Two referrals in less than 30 days. That is a big deal, and it is better than all the other little accolades I got from blogging; I got some features, added some new subscribers, and met quite a few ‘Rainers at a local ReBar camp. All great. But to me, the referrals are the magic- and 2 in one month is spectacular. I am grateful for their trust and am humbled.  

And I am going for 56 now, so 26 to go! 

Sometimes you just have to tip your hat. It seems so rare these days, especially in New York, where terse tolerance of the competition is the most we expect in this market. With the State Association (NYSAR) in town this week, 4 kids just getting back into the school routine, and my admin out all last week, I haven’t been the best P and Q guy around. So when it occurred to me on my drive home at a tad before 9pm last night that I hadn’t set up a showing requested by a client for 3pm this afternoon, I sheepishly called the listing agent to see if I could set the appointment. 

I got her voicemail, and left a message requesting the showing, that I was sorry for the late hour, and that I’d call her office first thing in the morning if need be. I expected that the best I’d do is not hear from her until after I called her office. It was late, and she really didn’t have to do anything. I should have called earlier. 

At 8:30am this morning, Liz called me back and told me she’d be delighted to confirm the appointment, and that she could log in the showing right now, or I could wait until 9am to call her office and log it. WOW, I told her, what a pleasure to deal with someone so on the ball! 

I have a house to sell! she answered, and then proceeded to give me lockbox instructions and logged me in. I was also informed of a strong price change. No drama, no asking me why such short notice, just advocacy and focus on the matter at hand. 

Now it’s your job to sell it, she said, and I laughed. True. The ball was in my court, because, whether I was on top of things or not, a professional was listing the house my clients wanted to see. Moments later, the confirmation email arrived in my inbox. 

I have to admit that, if the show were on the other foot, I would have asked the agent to call our showing service and log in the showing. Moreover, this was far from a million dollar property, yet it was clearly getting white glove treatment from the broker. How few agents understand this- the best thing you can do for your client is dispassionately get people in their door and save the nitpicking about notice, you coulda, you shoulda, for the gym. 

So hats off to Liz Pereira of Houlihan Lawrence, for being a professional, a colleague, and a good advocate for her clients. You might think it peculiar to give props to the competition, but that is not how I see it. We should focus on the good, no matter where it is, because it is good for the clients. That is who we work for. 

Previous posts on Croton on Hudson

I have blogged about the Peekskill Dog Park before. It just happens to be the creation of clients of mine. The story is that they got the city to dedicate underused parkland to an attraction that gets dozens of users a week. 

In 12 days, the park will have its 2nd annual fundraiser, the Peekskill Dog Splash. It will actually take place at the lake at Depew Park, and all dogs will have a chance to splash around and swim and have a good time. There will be a complimentary dog wash station, so your wet dog will go home smelling fresh and clean, which, frankly, you know you could use about now. Admit it.

If your dog is a little breed, there will be kiddie pools. There will also be music, giveaways, and you’ll meet plenty of other dog aficionados and dog-o-philes who walk on their hind legs. 

Pre registration is required, so go to PeekskillDogPark.com and get your pooch in. Registration is $10, which is almost free in dog dollars. We are still enjoying nice weather in this area, and I’d expect late September to be a bit of a last hurrah for some of us in the “getting out and doing something special with our dog” department. They give us unconditional love, and they earned a play date. 

Howard Sobel posted recently on the FHA program to refinance people who have negative equity. I think the idea is brilliant, and opens up possibilities other than a short sale for people who are underwater and want to keep their home. I’m sure there is small print, but if it helps 3-4 million people in the next 2 years, that should make a huge difference. 

The guidelines strike me as very reasonable as presented. Time to Google the program and get more information. I seldom re blog, but this is an important development. 

Chappaqua is a beautiful hamlet located in the town of New Castle in north central Westchester County. It is known, nominally, as the adopted home of the Clintons and Reader’s Digest, and for being a idyllic, bucolic setting. New Castle abuts the Town of Ossining, and it is time to give the place a little more ink. 

Vanessa Williams is a product of Chappaqua schools, and hails from nearby Millwood. (Ms. Williams, by the way, is THE most talented creature to ever wear the crown of Miss America, and is an extremely nice lady. She still lives in the area as far as I know, and when I was tending bar during my sabbatical way back when she was one of the patrons at Mediterraneo. I did not fix her a drink; she was nursing. If you ever see a re run of the 1984 Miss America pageant, Miss Williams promised to star on Broadway. She did. That is calling the shot on the level of Babe Ruth, another adopted New Yorker. But on to Chappaqua.)

Chappaqua is served by the Chappaqua school district, and includes parts of the town of Mount Pleasant. It is located on the Harlem Line of the Metro North railroad and is about a 50-minute train ride to Grand Central Terminal. 

This market information is for single family homes in the Chappaqua school district. All data is from the Westchester-putnam Multiple Listing Service. 

Prices are up from 2009 and the transaction total is up a tick as well. 22 homes are under contract, another healthy total, and there are mega options for buyers with 124 active listings, or roughly 7 months of inventory on the books. The vastness of the price range of available homes opens the doors to a wide variety of budgets. 

This is the market data for August of 2010 for single family homes in Peekskill, and all information is sourced from the Westchester-Putnam MLS.

OK- here goes:

Prices are way down. Only 1 home sold, so all statistics are at the mercy of a number too small to be considered a representative sample. Median price last month was $65,000 and August of last year was $289,500. There are 77 homes actively for sale- the balance is out of whack, with only 7 homes under contract at a median price of $247,500.

So sales are way down and pending sales are low. Here’s the deal: Peekskill is a nice place- low taxes, affordable homes, a vibrant downtown, and proximity to Manhattan, points upstate, and all the amenities of Westchester County. You could buy a pretty nice joint here for not much money. The law of supply and demand is immutable- someone is going to get some good deals, and that someone should be you. 

Yeah, you. Or someone you know. 

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.  

ReBarCamp Rye was held today at the Rye Town Hilton, and it was my first ever BarCamp. I am typically rather cynical about seminars, camps and such, due mainly because I am tired of being recruited and I abhor being sold to. However, like Raincamp, there was no “product.” The sponsors weren’t hawked, and the subject matter was enlightening, relevant, and helpful. I also connected with a number of people in the offline world for the very first time and caught up with others. 

Lucky Strikers was prominent in the organization of the event, which was held ahead of the annual NYSAR meeting, also in Rye the next 3 days. If you have never been to a REBarcamp, you should go. It is a very fluid day, and the format is ad hoc- the participants are often the purveyors. I gave a session on short sales and anther on blogging, which was dubbed “BLUGGING- Putting the U in Blogging.” Michael Daly coined the phrase, and I love it. Chris Smith, author of Tech Savvy Agent gave a fantastic session on advanced social media, and I was floored by how much I do not know. 

Among those I met up with were 

• Marilyn Katz, and Active Rainer from Connecticut.
• Steve Hubbard, a Remax broker whom I knew from my days selling real estate in Rochester, NY 
• Sonja Lovas, author of Westchesterisms, a wonderful tagline for a blog
• Dawn Bricker, who presided over a lively session on managing your online reputation
• Debbie Gartner, queen of Westchester Flooring and prolific contributor here on Active Rain
• Suzanne Welch, a broker in nearby Croton on Hudson. 

Ann announced today that she’d like us to get a iPad for Gregory. She emailed me a link of 10 apps for iPad which can help children on the Spectrum. Looking over the apps, they strike me as excellent, and right down Gregory’s alley. He responds to interactive, and just mastered the mouse a few weeks ago- what a difference in our lives. 

We have a teacher supply store in a nearby city with tons of ABA sorts of toys, and Gregory is also progressing on NickJr.com’s more rudimentary interactive activities, but the big breakthrough was his recent grasp of the mouse. Prior to that it required our full-time assistance. 

Ironic, as I understand that iPad does not use a mouse. Regardless, the outcome is crucial to us, and anyting that will develop and enrich is a welcome thing. 

Oh, and we can use the thing too, which certainly doesn’t suck!!!

There are many fellow New Yorkers (and New Jerseyans- they might have even had a better view) who might have a more up close and personal recollection of September 11, 2001. I think there is value in sharing our memories. 

Ann and I were in Rego Park Queens. Our wedding was 18 days away, and her parents were in the air on their way to NY from Korea. I was going to drive her into Manhattan to work on the Upper East Side and then head up to Westchester. When the first plane hit, we all thought it was a horrible accident- I thought it was like some private guy who had a Thurman Munson-like accident. On the way in to work, we could see the smoke coming from the towers from Queens Boulevard, and it honestly looked like a big chimney a few hundred yards away (That’s how large the WTC was- dominated the skyline), billowing a big black cloud of smoke. 

When we got to Ann’s office at Rockefeller University, I accompanied her upstairs, which was something I never did before. Everyone was watching TV, in shock. We saw the second plane hit on live TV. I remember the commentators not saying anything initially, and then another talking head describing it calmly, I think even saying the word “apparently.”

This went from a terrible accident to realizing I was on the edge of a war zone. We were in a war, and worse, in a battle zone. They are flying effing airplanes into the effing world trade towers. We have to get out of here. Then word comes that the Port Authority is closing bridges into Manhattan. Ann  wanted to stay at the office- she was afraid for her parents’ plane and wanted to be where she could be reached by phone. 

I wanted no part of sticking around. If the bridges were closed, we could be stranded. 

What would happen next? 

What would they do to the subways? What if the destruction continued uptown? Were there planted agents with suitcases of gas ready to blow in buses or crowded buildings? I remember thinking about these things. 

The very first (and last) time I ever gave Ann a direct order was to get out of the building with me. I suddenly wondered if this was the feeling my dad felt when he was a GI overseas. I think what convinced her to come was that she couldn’t reach her aunt in Chinatown on the phone- maybe they had already sabotaged the phones. And she wasn’t going on the subway after this. Ann’s last protest was that the bridges were closed, but I told her the Port Authority bridges were closed, not all bridges. We’d take the 3rd Avenue Bridge and drive through the Bronx. 

Our cell phones didn’t work (it would take Verizon months to restore the phones in lower Manhattan as a matter of fact. I still remember those stupid trailers people had to use), and the highway driving north was empty- I felt like I was in a post apocalyptic movie. But it was real. And we didn’t know what was happening next. If the AM radio didn’t work I don’t know what I’d have thought. 

When we got home to my mother’s house in Ossining There was a test pattern on some channels. My Mom, who lived Pearl Harbor via radio in 1941, just shook her head all day. Ann’s parents, we learned from the airline, were grounded in Minnesota and in a high school gym. 

My older brother called to check in and all Farandas were OK. My nephew, who went to college in Manhattan, was also OK. We were lucky. 

Lucky. 

It was hellish, but not the hell some went through, and I am thankful my loved ones are all intact. 17 or so fellow Villanova alumni died that morning. My brother lost a client who was never found. So we cried with everyone else for weeks, and on September 29, got married in a subdued ceremony, all things considered. 2 days later we boarded a plane for Aruba, and that was strange as well. 

Today I will attend NYSAR BAR camp at the Rye Town Hilton, and live my life and work fully. But I will do it mindful of that day, and thankful that I got the rest of my life. I will never forget, and I hope we end the threat somehow. It still feels raw to walk myself through my memories of that time, especially those black clouds in the distance, framed against an idyllically blue sky. 

With a median home price hovering near $700,000, even a modest price reduction on a Westchester County home can be tens of thousands of dollars. I have to approach a reduction with the diplomacy of a funeral director but be as convincing as a physician imploring his patient to quit smoking. 

No one could predict after the stimulus where prices would go, but it is clear that what few buyers we have are skimming the absolute cream off the top and leaving the rest. They even fight over the good stuff, creating an illusion of urgency in isolated precincts. Overall, sadly, median home price is an illusion; it is a metric of the value of those few, unique sought after homes that people watch even when they weren’t on sale. They needed nothing. They were priced to the bone for their category. 

Money lost in a price reduction was never your money. It was an illusion. It didn’t exist. I find myself, more and more, explaining to mournful sellers that the $25,000 that went down the drain when they went from $624,900 to $599,900 was a paramour that never loved them. She never cared, Johnny. The baby wasn’t yours. She wanted to close the Copa and make sure you never worked in this town again. For God’s sake man pull yourself together, it was all an illusion. 

You know, that sort of thing they cover day 2 in licensing class. Or not. 

In 2005, 852 single family homes sold in Westchester County with a median price of $732,000.

In 2010, 424 single family homes sold in Westchester County with a median price of $715,000. 428 people got nothing. 

The pool of able buyers has shrunken by an absurd amount. Millions of prospects have vanished due to either their own disasters or the new draconian lender underwriting guidelines. What few buyers remain are skeptical, drunk with options, terrified of making a mistake, have no confidence in the future, and are heavily invested in the group think notion that they must get a steal or they will be exposed to grave financial risk. You know, all those happy things perspective home buyers have always focused on. 

Here’s the reality: If you are multiple listed, staged well, tidy, and have been on the market for 60 or 90 days with no offers or few lookers, the market has spoken; you need to reduce your price. You aren’t the McClotchkees down at the end of the cul de sac who sold in the first 30 days. They had something, or ten things, you don’t have. And the only adjustment you can make to the buying public is price. A feature ad won’t do it. A newspaper display ad won’t get it done. Busting your agent’s chops to chase down Gladys Pflarphlingston for feedback on a showing 2 weeks ago won’t do it. If you are on the MLS, I can show you how many people have clicked on you online and clicked off every week since we listed. You aren’t a secret. Quite the opposite: with public searches, serious prospects can tell me their opinion of your toothpaste.  

If we are in showing condition with my marketing and you aren’t sold, the faster we address price the faster we’ll sell. The money you are asking for is not on deposit in the bank of buyer opinion.

This market report is for single family home activity in the Ossining school district for August of 2010. All information is derived from the Westchester-Putnam Multiple Listing Service. 

The numbers are up, which is encouraging we we distance ourselves from the stimulus. The number of transactions is up 40% from August of 2009 and the median price is up almost $20,000. Encouraging stuff. 

Another fact from the data: For both 2008 and 2009, homes that sold in the first 90 days got a higher percentage of asking price than homes that took over 90 days- about 2% in 2010 and a whopping 4.5% in 2009. Moral of the story: price it right in the beginning and you’ll sell, and sell for more. 2% at a median price of about $400,000 is $8,000!!! There’s your stimulus! Who needs the government? In 2009 the market was awful, but aggressively priced homes still sold fast.

Available inventory is high (150), with lots of choices on the market. 22 homes are under contract, which has been steady since June and bodes well for the coming months. 

Previous postings on Ossining.  

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

We got word last week that a past client’s loan modification was approved. As happy and relieved as they were, my beleaguered clients had to swallow a rough pill: on the terms of the approved loan modification, their mortgage payment would be several hundred dollars higher than their original payment. 

It had been a long process. First, they had a job loss which resulted in their initial default. They were in arrears for almost a year before they could overcome the shock and paralysis and make any headway on a loan modification. All the while they worked like dogs at anything they could find before thankfully re entering the workforce. The trial payments, which were several hundred dollars less then their original payment, started immediately on application to the HAMP process.

It took 10 more months, and they made their trial payments religiously. They were issued a denial once because they allegedly missed payment, which the court referee threw back after given proof all payments were in fact made on time. When the approval came through, it was the same rate and term, and the arrearage was added to the principle, resulting in a higher payment than even their original loan. The bank basically negatively amortized the loan and hit the reset button. 

In their case, they were in a take it or leave it situation; ironically, getting a better job knocked them out of the HAMP program, and the modification was due to the lender’s largess, not the government’s. Since their issue was an inability to write a check for tens of thousands (50k+) of dollars to reinstate and not the amount of their payment, they are going to take it. The only issue they’ll have going forward is if they lose a job again, but that makes them no different than anyone else. 

A few observations:

• Even for sophisticated, educated people with college degrees, the loan mod process is complicated and grueling. 
• Bank staff does little to make the process understandable, probably because in large part the staff themselves don’t get it. 
• If the red tape and vagaries are this much of an ordeal for educated professionals, it must be UberHell for people who aren’t. 
• It is no wonder the re-default rate is so high. People stagger across the finish line and collapse, even in the best of scenarios. 

On the whole in this case however, my people will not lose their house. Disaster was averted. This is one listing I am glad to not get. 

I got this idea from Terry Hunnefeld from the old Goldrush program in the mid 1990’s. Terry was a Grand Rapids based broker who has since merged with By Referral Only. This was my first foray into Direct Response Marketing, and it does indeed make the phone ring, and that is the first step. 

A few things to note:

• The disclaimer is right on top, which is necessary for compliance. 
• The USP, or Unique Selling Proposition, is gutsy and radically different from what people are getting from other agents. 
• The card itself is not fancy, and almost looks handwritten and again, separates you from other mailers which try to be glitzy and impressive.
• If prices in your market area are lower than they are here, make the amount $500. 

 Here’s the small print, given at the listing presentation on company letterhead: 

1. Home has to be priced at a recommended 60-day market price mutually agreed upon by agent and seller. 
2. Home MUST be shown to all reasonable requests- denying a reasonable showing request invalidates the guarantee because it could lose the buyer we were supposed to have. 
3. If an offer that results in a closed sale is not promulgated within 60 days of going on market and the above 2 conditions are met, the amount will be deducted from the commission at closing when the house does sell. 

When I started in real estate in 1996, one of the things my mentor gave me was a dog eared book with a bald guy on the cover wearing a brown suit and pinky ring. 

The book was entitled “List More, Sell More,” and the author, Jerry Bresser, is a legend among real estate trainers. I did not judge the book by the cover; I read it and made the philosophy my mantra: if you want to make a high income in this business, you have to list more properties. The book is out of print; Bresser still sells it, and you can buy it used on Amazon for a lot of money. I own 2 copies. 

“List More, Sell More” was written in 1983, so it did not take into account the possibility of other business models, such as exclusive buyer agencies. If you run an EBA, my thoughts don’t apply. But if you work with sellers or want to, here’s the deal: You’ll make more sales, build a larger team, and build a bigger operation if you have a strong inventory of listings.The more listings you have, typically the more money you’ll make. And as Barbara Todaro (Thanks, BTW, for inspiring me to finish the draft) recently pointed out, if you focus on listings, your time becomes more your own. Working with a buyer means your time in that moment is singular. Working with listings duplicates your time and replicates income. 

I’m not knocking working with buyers; we need  them. I still work with buyers, but I have never made it my primary focus. If you like working with buyers, great. Work with buyers. And if you want to take your operation to the next level, you’ll get more buyers and make more sales if you increase your listing inventory. You can’t really have a store if there is nothing on the shelves, and the firms with the most signs in the yards around here have the largest market share. 

Imagine working with a buyer for 6 hours on a rainy Saturday. You get home tired and soggy. They found nothing worth buying, and you made nothing. You have hope, though, that you’ll sell them something. 

Now imagine working with a buyer for 6 hours on a rainy Saturday. You get home tired and soggy. They found nothing worth buying, and you made nothing. Or so you think- because on your fax are two offers on 2 different listings of yours. You now have more than hope! You have INCOME, 2 happy sellers, and lucrative work to do on converting the offers into closings. 

OK, let’s suppose there are no offers. You are still soggy. But believe me, there will be buyer inquiries on your listings! You work for buyers. But listings in many ways work for you. It is that simple. And you are protected for your commission, no matter what. Show me an agent with 15-20 listings, and I’ll show you a person who is not leaving the business anytime soon because they can’t make money. 

It might be difficult at first, and getting over the initial hump is always the rub for an independent, but let me tell you- when a prospective seller tells you that they’ve seen your sign before, you have reached critical mass. And there is no exhilaration like building your own brand. There is also no greater feeling of momentum than planting YOUR sign in the yard of a referral from a happy seller whose home you listed successfully. 

Feel free to contact me with any questions, and we have plenty of openings in my Expired Listing Mastermind group. 

Happy Labor Day. I’ll be working with a buyer later today, but all of my listings are working for me 24/7. 

This is for single family home activity in the Briarcliff Manor school district for August of 2010. All information is derived from the Westchester-Putnam Multiple Listing Service. I decided to mix things up a little this month and see if I could compare this past August with the previous Augusts going back to the peak of 2005. 

Compared to August 2009, Briarcliff Manor sales volume is down by 2 deals, but the median price, which had nowhere to go but up, grew by $118,000. 2008 must have been an anomaly, as the peak in 2005-2006 had median prices in the low 900’s. 

16 Homes are currently under contract with a median asking price of $839,000. 

There are 49 available home in inventory with a median asking price of $865,222. 

Well, no real trend. Days on market are longer, and prices are lower. No surprises there. But it is interesting to look back. 

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.