This is the market report for Ossining, NY for the 2nd quarter of 2011. It covers single family homes in the Ossining School District from April 1, 2011 to June 30, 2011. All data is from the Empire Acess MLS. 

In the second quarter  of 2011, Ossining had 28 closings at a median sale price of $374,250.

In the 2nd quarter  of 2010, Ossining had 44 closings at a median sale price of $443,000.

This is a significant drop in both volume and price, and speaks to the decline of the market we are witnessing both in Ossining and other parts of Westchester County. This is great for buyers, but it is tough on sellers. 

Currently, there are 31 homes under contract at a median asking price of $375,000. This shows that pending prices are virtually pinned to within a few hundred dollars of last quarter’s median. At least it is consistent. 

There are 161 active listings at a median asking price of $440,000. The reason volume is so swollen is that prices remain higher than buyers are willing to pay. Lower your price, get an offer. 

I had a client make an offer on a nice home in the village last week but we couldn’t get the seller to come down. They are asking the same price as they paid in 2004. They’ll never get it. 

It’s a great time to be a buyer in Ossining! 

Previous posts on Ossining are here. 

Search Ossining homes like an agent with a free Listingbook account. 

Forbes.com has published one of those silly For Sale By Owner glorifying articles we sometimes see and the advice in it is so poor it borders on comedy. I’ve blogged before on the trainwrecks I saw when I ran a flat fee MLS for sale by owner assistance business, and I feel quite qualified to answer. 

They start with Exhibit A, Barbara Marquardt, who estimates that she’s saved $30,000 in commissions over 20 years selling her homes herself without a broker. I firmly believe that this is the truth. Ms. Marquardt has indeed avoided paying $30,000 in commission. When I ran my FSBO firm we had dozens of people not pay hundreds of thousands in commissions as well. 

Note that I said “not pay.” I didn’t say “save.” Because regardless of Ms Marquardt’s case, which has no evidence but her own assertions, the transactions I saw varied from passing gas in an elevator on a first date to full-blown train wrecks. Selling a $500,000 house for $465,000 with a drama-filled 4 month contract period isn’t saving money. And that was on the kinder side of typical transactions we saw. 

The next jewel of advice came from the article author, conceding that some properties, such as an upscale, 7-figure home should have a broker. The criteria for hiring an agent? They needed to drive “a Lexus, Cadillac, BMW or Mercedes.”

Wow. Not have experience, references and a proven track record. Just be able to avoid the repo man. Great advice. 

There were other golden nuggets, such as reducing brokers to middle men, which, as I commented, belies a fundamental misunderstanding of the industry that is so terrible it really didn’t edify the Forbes platform. 

The only piece of advice worth taking was the sage thought that sellers have to view the transaction objectively, like a business transaction. 

That’s the trick isn’t it? If there is a challenge even the best broker faces, it isn’t unlocking doors. It is unlocking the mind of a biased seller who may be sophisticated at computer programming, testifying before a grand jury or removing a cancerous tumor but only sells a house once in 20 years and is out of their depth, much as they might hate to concede it. 

Hardcore FSBOs are all too often more committed to a suicide pact of avoiding a commission rather than seeing the big picture. They’ll avoid help which could net them tens of thousands more with the same obstinacy that my 7 year old daughter dispays when she wants to braid her hair all on her own. They don’t care if they look like a dyslexic Princess Leia after she lost a fight with a hair dryer. It’s their party, and they can trash it all they want.

Carry on. 

I have stopped doing monthly market reports in favor of quarterly version in the hope of smoothing out the data and minimizing anomalies. Even so, the results of this quarter’s data for Croton-Harmon schools are impressive. All data is taken from the Empire Access Multiple Listing Service. 

In the 2nd quarter of 2010, 17 single family homes sold at a median price of $486,500. 

In the 2nd quarter of 2011, 14 single family homes sold at a median price of $592,500, over $100,000 more than the same time period last year. 

They are down three sales, but that is a massive jump and can’t be attributed to just one strange month. That is for three whole months. That speaks to the fact that Croton is attracting higher priced buyers seeking more expensive homes than years past. Upscale housing is more common now than it was before, as newer subdivisions attest.  Activity there raises the median price.   

16 homes are under contract with a buyer at a median asking price of $479,450, so prices appear to be coming back in line with history, and that punctuates the strong quarter the area just enjoyed. 

59 homes are on the market at a median asking price of $529,900, or about a year’s worth of inventory. If you’d like to search Croton’s available homes for sale like an agent, get yourself a free Listingbook Account.

Previous posts on Croton on Hudson. 

They did a fireworks show on the Hudson River this evening right on the Ossining, NY waterfront. The kids lobbied hard to go, and even though I was kind of tired and we can sort of see it from our upstairs rear window, I gave in. Up close was much better. I’m glad we went. 

There is something really cool about watching Independence Day fireworks on the historic Hudson River from a vantage by Sing Sing Prison, which dates to when the country was young. This video captures the finale of the show, and my kids’ reaction. After the fireworks were over, you could hear car alarms all over town. They were that powerful. 

I never published any schedule for fireworks this year, so I thought I’d bring them to you! 

There are some periods of the market cycle that don’t appear for everyone. For example, if you’re in Florida, you don’t blog about the time of year when the ground gets frozen and you have to break out the hammer and chisel to install a yard sign. This week is also an annual milestone for us, as school is over and camp has yet to begin, leaving us with 10 consecutive days of our 4 kids at home while we are in the busier time of the market. 

Fun! 

If you don’t know, Ann and I have 4 little ones, aged 4, 6, 7 and 8. Three boys and a girl. Camp starts Tuesday, and school was over last Friday. We are quite busy this time of year, but we adapt because I can work from home quite a bit and we rotate some so the kids are occupied and engaged with productive activities while we still get things done. Yesterday, we went out for ice cream but multi tasked and installed a lockbox on a vacant listing. Ice cream came after, so if you ever show one of my listings and there are sprinkles on the key, don’t blame me. 

It is work, and quite a bit of it at times, but we are also cognizant that time flies, and every moment with them is one we will never get back. Truthfully, I am in awe of my kids. For example, they made a mess in the master bath yesterday that defied Newtonian Physics. I’d ask them how, but I prefer that some of life remain a mystery. 

So what’s the real estate angle? Right here: Your agent, whoever they are, is a flesh and blood human being just like you. Unless they are a clone, they have a family and a life of their own, along with headaches, logistical challenges, and they can (and this may sound nuts, but it’s true) get tired. Isn’t that crazy? Your agent isn’t a robot! They may not be able to get that listing or answer for you in 5 minutes! As for me, I may still answer the phone, but I would ask that you ignore the background noise. It may be noise, but it is my reason for working so hard. 

I seldom reblog, but Ruthmarie Hicks has written an excellent piece on the importance of buyers needing to do their homework before just gallivanting all over the county looking at homes they might never buy if they knew better. 

Ruthmarie then goes the extra mile in giving resources where buyers can go online to get information that we as agents cannot give due to fair housing laws and other restrictions. 

In my book, a buyer that expects all this information from an agent is not a serious buyer. As the commercial says, an educated consumer is our best customer. 

A quick perusal of my inbox confirms the fetish-like obsession that lenders have with paperwork. They just love it when a tree dies. 

Case 1: An active short sale file with a 2nd lender is about to go under contract with a buyer, thank goodness. For the past few weeks, a lady at that lender has been sending me emails for a 12 point checklist of things like the seller’s bank statements and a showing log every Friday. The bank doesn’t own the house. My client owns it. Yet the bank lady is acting like an asset manager, threatening to close the file if I don’t send her the TPS showing log each Friday. What file? There isn’t a buyer until we have a contract! 

Case 2: A newish short sale listing client is getting contacted by his lender and a preservation firm. Again, more dislosures and bank statements (which will expire, then they’ll need more) while we chase our tail explaining to the preservation company that the man LIVES IN HIS HOUSE and does not need it winterized,-re-keyed, or otherwise tampered with. But the client doesn’t know this, and wisely asks me if he should jump through all these hoops. I told him it is as needed about as much as he needs his locks changed. 

Case 3: The new asset manager on a supposed REO that I have now submitted three BPO reports and several occupancy checks wants… another set of photos and a new BPO. When I submit it, he writes back about a comp that is not on the MLS that an investor told him about. I asked for an address. I am still waiting. At least with this the bank does in fact have a deed in lieu process going, but agents doing paperwork all day have skinny kids. 

More and more, we are contacted by middle managment grunts at lenders giving us busywork “for the file.” This busywork is just homework some suit in another state needs to reshuffle to justify their job. To sell a short sale, you need a buyer. Nobody appreciates the importance of a complete short sale package than I do, but without a buyer and contract all that busy work does is waste time and paper and create a thicker file then need be. 

Save the trees, and let’s not waste time on unproductive work. 

$350,000 just bought a beautiful 3 bedroom, 2 updated bath dutch colonial with an newer stainless steel kitchen in Lakeland schools on a level acre of land. It also boasted a sun room with sliding doors to a deck, central air conditioning, and a full basement. 

What is really great about this closing was that it was a short sale that closed 115 days from the day we listed it!  The home was listed March 4, contracts were signed April 20, and it closed today. The seller client received a complete waiver of deficiency as well.  We congratulate our own Vivian Morales for taking such fantastic care of the seller client and for getting the job done far faster than expected.

We have a great company that produces results because we have great people like Vivian.