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. 

Interesting day of showing homes to a buyer client. 

Of the 5 homes we saw, 3 were an instant “NO.” And they all had something in common: Poor upkeep and, shall we say, optimistic asking prices. 

• Home #1: Lots of updating was needed, but the deal killer was, if you can believe it, drop ceilings in two rooms on the first floor. Sadly, a 3rd room gave the reason- there was water damage at one point which was never completely repaired. It wouldn’t take a 2nd mortgage to fix this, just a long weekend and maybe -maybe- as much as $2,000. The buyer perceived that if the seller had such low standards that the rest of the house might have other defects. At the asking price, the interior should have been pristine. It wasn’t. Pass. 
• Home #2: As I opened the lockbox, the seller flew over from the barbecue next door and explained she wasn’t aware of the showing and to please excuse that the house wasn’t prepped. Understandable. What we didn’t understand was how the teenager playing video games in the living room in his gym shorts couldn’t get up and pick up his underwear off the floor of his bedroom. There were other issues, but this shed them in the worst light. Few want to do business with people with poor common sense. Pass. 
• Home #3 (the coup de grâce ): As we pull up to the home, we see a stone retaining wall bowing and deteriorating. We’ve had tons of rain, so they get a pass because this might be a new development. Then, the walk up to the front door is an obsacle course of crumbling slate. As we opened the screen door to access the lockbox, it scraped the ceiling of the porch. Inside, it appeared as if the sellers left the house in haste and did  nothing to prepare for a showing. It was cluttered and there was a distinct cooking odor. When a home looks as if the occupants were abducted as opposed to tidying up and leaving on their own terms, it is a distraction. We didn’t make it upstairs- it was probably $50,000 over priced. Pass. 

If you think buyers are just too picky, think again. If a seller wants to get what the Jeffersons down the road got for their house, the sellers have to make sure that their house is as maintained and updated as the Jefferson’s place was, or they’ll sit. Buyers have too many options to look past foibles. Jury rigged maintenance, sloppy housekeeping and lackadaisical upkeep will just have them moving on to the next home on the ever-growing list. 

Yesterday was the last day of school, and as the two oldest got on the bus, Ann said “Goodbye first and third grades, hello second and fourth!” This really struck me, because it seems like a few weeks ago that Luke and Catherine were little toddlers. One of the very sweet things Catherine does is just sit next to me when I come home exhausted. It is nice to just sit with her next to me, typically not saying much, as I decompress with my little sweetheart’s head on my shoulder. 

What I love about this picture is that we’re sitting together alright, just ignoring each other as we both play Angry Birds! The kids have gotten a little too addicted to the game, probably because of me, so it is now rationed. But beyond that it reminds me that I don’t sell land or wood or kitchens, I sell homes. Homes are places where we spend our time with family, where we make memories, and where we spend tons of forgotten moments with loved ones. 

This candid snapshot in time just spoke to me. I am sure I spent a million moments like this with my own Mom and Dad, but I don’t have many photos. We have hundreds with our pups. I love that part about technology.  

And that’s what my clients do also, in their homes, that I hopefully got them a good deal on, comfortable that the roof over their heads is secure, safe, and permanent. 

In December of 2008 I posted a blog article articulating my support of gay marriage, and why the real estate industry should support marriage equality.

Tonight, by a margin of 33-29 with four Republicans crossing over, the State Senate of New York agreed with me, paving the way for the bill to be signed into law by Governor Cuomo. This is a very, very good development for the State of New York and for all of us as human beings. For the first time in my memory, New York is actually ahead of the curve in something, and that something, Liberty, is no trivial thing. 

In 1998, while selling real estate in Rochester, NY I was approached to buy an ad in what was then known as the Rainbow pages, sort of like a directory of gay and gay friendly enterprises. It seemed like a smart business move. My broker at the time, good man that he still is, simply said that everyone’s money was green. And I remember like yesterday how my first client from that ad explained to me that before he made an offer on a home he loved that he wanted to show it to his daughter. 

His daughter? 

Yes, I learned, he came out when he was married and couldn’t continue to live a lie to please family and society. He had to be him. It was no short discussion, but in the dozens of transactions I have closed since with LGBT clients I have heard so many stories from good, wonderful people about how it simply is not easy to be gay, and sometimes it is hell. For a guy who hates bullies, this has always broken my heart. 

When I started my firm in 2005, one of the first niches I spought was to put the company on every gay-friendly business directory I could find. And thanks in part to dozens of fantastic clients from the gay and lesbian community, it has helped sustain and grow my company through one hell of a crappy market cycle. But beyond that I have always felt like I was making a difference, lighting my own candle in a way in a society that still snickers and kvetches about treating good people with dignity. 

For our part, it hasn’t always been easy either. A few years ago I moved my office from my home in no small part to some anonymous harassment for working with my chosen clientele. It wasn’t the only reason, but it was a consideration. Someday, I hope that a gay friendly business of any kind is as necessary as a buggy whip. But for now, with the stakes as high as they in in a matter as important as housing, I continue to do what I do. I am proud that my state, not known for being too swift lately, is ahead of the curve as my professional trade organization is with regard to equality. 

I hope the new law brings more people to our state, which has lost almost 900,000 people since the 2000 census. I hope more marriages mean more homes bought, more lawnmowers, more refrigerators, and more energy to our state. I sincerely believe that I am on the right side of history, and that tonight’s news is not a legislative anomaly. I am happy for all my friends and clients that a little more sun can shine on their face. And I am ready to go to work with more people, gay and straight, who value liberty for all, no matter who they choose to spend their lives with. 

Straight talk for home sellers who really want to sell. 

One of the misconceptions among consumers about real estate is that when they hire an agent to sell their home that the agent isn’t doing their job unless they are in “motion.” Most people can’t relate to the idea that we are paid for something that is somewhat intangible, and that the tools for our trade reside in a different realm than the conventional image of work, effort or labor. In a very real way, like a doctor, lawyer, teacher or architect, we get paid for what we know more than what we do. 

This isn’t to say that agents make money by lounging around, playing golf, and surfing on Facebook all day once they load the house onto the MLS. Far from it. We still have to execute, but getting your home sold will be hindered if we spend our time pacifying an uneducated taskmaster. Here are some dead ends that sellers often insist on their agents driving into that should be understood and avoided.

• Chasing feedback. Virtually worthless. What a buyer will tell you about your home that you don’t already know after years in the place is beyond me. You didn’t know that you lived on a busy street or backed up to high tension wires? On rare occasions a buyer agent will shed insight on something, but you know what? Those agents will tell the listing broker agent right away! Buyer agents don’t want to disclose their client’s thoughts any more than your agent does yours, and buyers’ reasons for buying are intensely personal- It didn’t feel like home. That shouldn’t be an epiphany. Having yor agent de-brief showing agents or attempting to overcome their objections is time management suicide. No one has ever bought a house because their buyer agent lost an argument with the listing agent. 
• Open House centered marketing. In some markets such as Manhattan, this is actually a good idea. Westchester County isn’t Manhattan. Sellers don’t understand the futility of open houses, but they at least see their agent spending money on ads and sitting in their living room “working on it.” They don’t understand how buyers buy in 2011. But you will give your neighbors lots of opportunities to see how you live. Open houses should be used like perfume- sparingly, or overuse will repel. 
• Print advertising. Again, this is where the seller sees the agent writing a check and doing something. Westchester home buyers are pretty connected and sophisticated. They aren’t looking through the home magazines or newspaper, they are online where they can see pictures and get instant answers. The theory on print is that someone who who wasn’t looking will stumble upon your house and fall in love. That’s now how people buy real estate. It’s how we meet our spouses. And my wife has way better gams than your living room. Trust me. 
• Honorable mention: Spam emailing other agents about your listing, calling other agents cold to “get the word out,” and other forms of un-targeted, time intensive, low-return throw-mud-on-the-wall efforts.