This is for single family home activity in the Pleasantville school district for June of 2010. All information is derived from the Westchester-Putnam Multiple Listing Service. I blogged last month about the anomaly of no May sales in Briarcliff or Pleasantville, and true to  my expectation sales recovered strongly in Pleasantville in June.

Compared to June 2009, Pleasantville sales volume increased from 2 to 9 closed transactions. The median price of $510,000 is significantly lower than last June’s $755,000, but the 8 homes under contract have a median price of $769,000, which bodes well for the strength of values.

Of the 9 sales, every single home closed at at least 96% of asking price. There are 62 available home in inventory at a median price of $639,000, which is probably about a year’s worth of inventory. Pleasantville should have a decent July.  If you’d like to search for a home in Pleasantville, get yourself a free Listingbook account and search the MLS like an agent. 

This is for single family home activity in the Briarcliff Manor school district for June of 2010. All information is derived from the Westchester-Putnam Multiple Listing Service. I blogged last month about the anomaly of no May sales in Briarcliff or Pleasantville, and true to  my expectation sales roared back in June.

Compared to June 2009, Briarcliff Manor sales volume more than  doubled. The median price of $649,000 is rather low for the area, but the 14 homes under contract have a median price of $1.1 million so it balances out.

One interesting fact: of the 9 sales, only 2 had more than 120 days on market. The homes that sold in under 90 days got 99% of asking price. The homes that sold in more than 120 days only got 89% of asking price. That is a huge disparity, and it speaks to the weakness of stale listings. Yet again, more evidence that pricing the house right to start with will net the seller more money, and that overpricing hurts in the long run. There are 54 available home in inventory, which is a healthy selection but not a burdensome amount. I expect a strong July in Briarcliff Manor real estate sales as well.  If you’d like to search for a home in Briarcliff, get yourself a free Listingbook account and search the MLS like an agent. 

About a year ago, while driving a client and her toddler up from Manhattan around Westchester looking at homes, I got a flat tire on North Avenue in New Rochelle. This is not a welcome occurrence for obvious reasons, but North Avenue is also very busy. As I began to put my car in jacks, several workers from a restaurant came across the street and offered to help. I looked over at their boss, and he nodded. 6 hands are better than 1, and I was back on the road in a jiffy. I made a mental note to stop by, and proceeded to forget. 

Two weeks ago, I had lunch with an attorney to whom I recently sold a house in the neighborhood, and she suggested me meet at AJ’s Burgers on North Avenue. I didn’t put it together until I met her, but this was the same place from my car incident last year. I had a burger, which was delicious- perfectly cooked, tangy, lightly seasoned and melted in my mouth. And the fries were not heavy, seasoned and still had the potato skin. Yum. My friend proceeded to tell me that AJ’s had been her 2nd home while her kitchen was renovated. One look at the menu explained it. You had plenty of choices if you kept coming back. It isn’t just a burger joint. 

I returned to AJ’s Burgers again this past week and had a pulled pork sandwich with the house-made sauce. It was exquisite-tangy, slightly sweet, and tender. Just so you know it isn’t a house dedicated to clogged arteries, there are always steamed veggies and spinach available, and I loved the spinach. They also have cajun chicken. That’s next on my list. 

This time I got a chance to speak with AJ himself, and thank him for the help with the tire a year ago, as well as hear more about his place. They make their own desserts, and they smoke the meats right on the premises. The ice cream and sherbet is exceptional as well. They cater, deliver, and do take out. Not only that, they have a breakfast menu, and are open 24 hours Wednesday through Saturday. For our area, the price is right too. Dinners are served not on a plate but a warm skillet, which sets the place apart. Actually, there is much that sets AJ’s Burgers apart, and I’ll be going back in the near future.

AJs Burgers is located at 542 North Avenue, New Rochelle, not far from Iona College. Call them at (914) 235 3009.

I had a nice day yesterday at my 84-year old uncle’s home in Connecticut. He was a graphic artist in New York City for decades and had a chance to rub elbows with some very big names. He had a penchant for that; as an adolescent he caddied a number of times for Babe Ruth (excellent tipper; gave my uncle $5 tips, which was a king’s ransom in the late 1930’s). Uncle’s art career yielded a lunch once with Joe DiMaggio, a collaboration with Grace Kelly (“she thought I was nuts”), and professional relationships with many captains of industry. But the man my uncle looked up to the most was not a CEO, MVP, or Academy Award winner. That would be my grandfather, a humble barber who never owned a car and arrived in the US penniless in the 1900’s at Ellis Island. 

Last month, Ann and I were honored to be guests at the wedding of Eileen Hsu and Morgan Evans, and the event took place on a boat ride in New York Harbor. We cruised past Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty, and I paused for more than a moment at what must have gone through my grandfather’s mind when he first saw Lady Liberty. I don’t need to look far to know I’m not alone- Ann’s parents both came to America from Seoul, Korea when she was a toddler in 1969. South Korea was experiencing tension with the North in those days (sounds familiar) and her parents saw the USA as a safe place to raise their daughter. Ann went to NYC public schools, including Stuyvesant High, and graduated from Columbia University.

While I may look like a descendant of the Mayflower, I am only one generation removed from a penniless Ellis Island immigrant. My wife is a first generation citizen, having become naturalized many years ago. Our children are true Americans, like millions of others, not because of any similarity in how they appear but the similarity in their story. They know nothing of the tension and prejudices of even 25 years ago. 

Freedom from fear is a big theme in our home, because both sides of my family came to America, not just for a better life economically, but to go to bed at night knowing that we’d wake up safe- safe to express ourselves, safe from persecution, and free to go about our lives with no thought of repercussion from the state about our chosen faith, occupation, or opinions. We live where we choose. We earn our living as we choose, and when we looked for a home in 2007 the only doubt was our mortgage rate. In 1950 my marriage would have been a scandal in some precincts. I’ve never gotten a hint of that. America moves forward rapidly.

So in between the barbecues and fireworks, those are the things I think about lately. Capo D’Orlando, Sicily and Seoul, Korea, living in Briarcliff Manor, on our own terms, free from fear. That’s America to me.

Here’s how another son of an immigrant put it in 1945:   

The following email thread is cut and pasted with the address redacted. I left the “reputable” guy’s name etc be, since he’s so reputable and ethical.

For the record, a Google search of the two companies yield only their web pages, and although the author claims to be in business for 6 years, the Better Business Bureau has no record of either firm. For context, my firm has been in business for 5 years and has an A rating with the BBB at this time. 

I told the highly reputable and ethical person we used our own attorney to negotiate the short sale because I’ve seen this movie before and knew that the person would insist on using his guy. His response didn’t surprise me. Google either one and they are curiously close to each other. 

Sorry; too many red flags. But who wouldn’t want to trust a client’s financial life with a guy with an email address of apocolyps89@hotmail.com?  

___________________________________________________________________

J Philip Real Estate  to Bryan

show details 11:08 PM (10 hours ago)

This post is inspired by Mark Boyd’s thoughts on short sales. I don’t understand why agents say no to business they are perfectly capable of handling (or referring). Mark’s beef is with short sales, and having done plenty, I agree. I would also add rentals to the mix. I often hear agents say they don’t do rentals, often because they don’t pay enough. Well, excuse me. Even if you are swamped, the least you could do is refer that prospect to someone who can help them. 

I used to rent. Now I own. You probably used to rent. Today’s renters are tomorrows buyers. They are also people who need a home, just like you and me. I have had past rental clients call me up to buy when the time came, and they all say the same thing. They called me because I treated them with respect the first time around. I don’t personally handle every rental inquiry that comes into the company, nor do I handle every sale. But anyone who contacts my firm to do business will be treated like a million dollar client. That is our commitment. 

We are open for business, and we are open for rental business. We represent landlords and tenants alike. We’ll do rentals in Westchester, Rockland, Putnam, Dutchess and the Bronx. We are working on opening a merchant credit verification account to assist with rental applications. We mean it. My company is all about putting a roof over your head. I deal in homes, and my bottom line is more long term than the disparity between a sale and a rental fee. 

I have blogged about the Ossining reservoir before. I grew up a block away and rode my bike around it when it was an overgrown mess. It was rededicated as a park about 10 years ago. It was mentioned in the TV series Mad Men, as the Drapers live in Ossining in that program. I actually got a fair bit of attention when I wrote about the many historically accurate references from that fictional show to the reality of Ossining history. That’s all good, but what’s better is actually being there. I drove past a few days ago and took a nice pause at my childhood haunt.

You can see the infamous water tanks in the back. They were sky blue and covered with graffiti when I was a kid. Now you hardly notice them. However, they did put the reservoir out of a job when they replaced it as the primary water source for the village in the 1960s. 

The pace is never vacant- there is always someone else walking, running, or reflecting.  

I still live a few blocks away, and it remains one of my favorite places. I am not alone. You can read more about the history of the Reservoir in one of my earlier posts. 

I suppose I could title this “for spouses,” but having never been a wife I felt it best to come from my perspective as a husband. 

It is not easy being married to a real estate licensee. We aren’t just on straight commission; what we go through for that commission typically takes months and often comes with with risk, rejection, crisis, and drama. Our profession epitomizes the high risk/high reward lifestyle. Ann and I are coming up on our 9th anniversary this September 29th, and the past 5 years I have run my own brokerage. We are in our 40’s and are bookended by geriatric parents and our 4 children. No day is a cake walk. 

I would not be where I am without her support, encouragement, belief, confidence and skills that have complimented my own. I joke that I am the hot air; Ann is the administrator. But even if a wife has no involvement in her husband’s real estate career, much of what Ann and I have learned (sometimes the hard way) is worth sharing. If these things relate to other industries, all the better. Here goes: 

1. Please understand that I’ll eat whatever you put in front of me. After a day of making decisions, many of which were punctuated by high stakes and high stress, I don’t want to decide between pasta or chicken. As a matter of fact, I don’t want to make a single decision in the first hour I come home about anything. 
2. Respect the cave. I need to decompress. I’ll be far more use to you once I settle my thoughts. I just had a home inspector tell me my buyer had him inspect another home 2 weeks ago, and I didn’t show him that place.  A prospective client who told me I got the job just went on the market with another agent. I need to place all of that, along with the entire crazy day I just had, on my mental bookshelf. I need some quiet, a quick revenge fantasy, and ponder who is pitching for the Yankees tonight. Once I do that, I’m yours.
3. Never, ever ever shield me from bad news. Tell me straight, and early. Never spin, control the message or try and manage my reaction. I could be wrestling with an anaconda in quicksand that is on fire, just call me when the bad news comes in and I will manage. 
4. There is never a good time to bring up a touchy subject, but there are some bad times. For me, bringing up money after I collapse in bed is a rough one.  
5. I am all about the Big Picture to a fault. Short term difficulty is a means to an end. My eyes are on a goal far larger than this snapshot in time’s challenges and crisis. If I make a decision you dislike, or one that makes no sense to you, or if I take on an expense that you feel is too ambitious, I have a plan. Support that. Own it. Speak your mind, but never undermine.  
6. Your belief in me is more important than money, or that other thing. I can’t enjoy either without it anyway. As a matter of fact, I don’t work this hard to push you away. It is a big picture thing. 
7. Yes, I do love this. I love the challenge. I live the reward. I love building my empire. It’s mine. 
8. I do this for you. As a matter of fact, I see your or one of our children’s faces before I do anything difficult and it helps me to do better. 
9. It is not lost on me that you’ve had a day yourself. 

• Board approval is required for all new shareholders (owners). The board meets monthly. 
• Minimum down payment required is 20%
• Flip tax is $1 per share (We found shares vary from 500s to the 900s, depending on the size of the unit). 
• Monthly Maintenance/co-op fee is approximately 50% deductible. 
• Buyers must pay 3 months monthly maintenance at closing upfront to the Edgemont reserve fund at closing.
• Heat is hot water baseboard. Air conditioning is wall units. 
• Electricity is paid separately from the monthly fee. Heat is included!

While the Edgemont is right on Central Avenue, it isn’t on top of the traffic. The buildings are set back from the road and have wooded coverage. It backs up to the Greenburgh Nature Center, so there are no neighbors on the other side except birds. Another nice thing about the Edgemont is that there is ample visitor parking, which can be an issue in other complexes. 

There are other nice things to note about the Edgemont. Both buildings are 24 hour security buildings, the management staff are excellent, and many apartments, as the pictures show, have balconies. The buildings were erected in 1970, and they are updated and in solid shape. All units are broadband and cable compatible. If you are looking for a nice co op in the area, the Edgemont is probably compatible with you as well. 

I appreciated Michael Thornton’s thoughts on featured blogs and the many great blogs out there that seldom or never have shown up on the dashboard. Sadly, some people who write great stuff have stopped their efforts on Active Rain, and it could be that they were discouraged by a lack of recognition. As much as I love seeing my posts earn a star, there are other sources of acknowledgement than getting featured. 

• Comments. I have made more good friends from comments than seeing them on page 1. Debate, discussion and insight get you bonded. Having someone reach out and relate to me about my thoughts is powerful. This is one reason why I never understood the automatons who write “great post we learn so much here,” as if the 25 points were all they were after, even at the expense of fostering associations. Those people would never get a referral from me. 
• Subscribers. To me, a person subscribing to your blog is a bigger reward than being featured. This is a person who is interested in what you have to say and what you’ll say next. That is huge-blogs are all about readership! It is “repeat business,” interest, and a potential referral in the making.
• SEO- Getting FOUND. Even if you never got featured once, but Google is finding you, then you are primed for success. I recently closed a $500,000 sale from someone who found me online, and he sure didn’t care how many featured blogs I wrote.
• Referrals from fellow bloggers. Isn’t this what it is all about? I want people to think of me when they think of Westchester County, New York. I am in business to make money, and referrals are manna from heaven. 

There are other nice things too, such as being featured in groups, and as  broker-owner I have found my blog to be a useful hiring tool. It is an online resume’ and pre-listing package. You control the message. This past week I was contacted by a paralegal in another state to list two properties in New York on behalf of a bankruptcy trustee. She didn’t find me in the Yellow Pages.  

I hate seeing people getting discouraged and giving up. It is not how I am wired, but I do relate to disappointment (who in sales doesn’t relate to that?). I would offer these things to fellow members as encouragement  to keep on keeping on here in the Rain. This is a special community, and if you are consistent, good things will happen for your business even if you don’t show up on that dashboard. 

Parts of the Bronx and Queens have been deemed by NY Secretary of State to be “cease and desist” zones where it is unlawful for real estate licensees to make phone calls, mail flyers or engage in any other activity soliciting business. This is far more wide a prohibition than a Do Not Call list. It is the government forbidding licensees to call, mail or otherwise contact homeowners. They can’t call expired listings. They can’t call For Sale By Owners. 

The justification of the move, which came after 3 public hearings, was “intense and repeated solicitation.” People who want to be on the cease and desist list can register with the Department of State and licensees are then required to ensure that anyone they are contacting is not on the list. These zones are in force for 5 years. There was already one in Brooklyn. The exact geographic areas can be found on the Department of State website.  

With so much being written on Facebook, Twitter and other social media’s real estate applications, many people are choosing different camps. You have those who embrace social media, many of whom are deriving business from it, and then there are those who are either skeptical or prefer in their words, to separate business and personal. I see the point on both sides, but I do believe that the skeptics can have their cake and eat it too. 

Facebook is not for shamelessly spamming and promoting yourself to your friends. Those people are annoying and probably generate zero business. Moreover, it is against Facebook TOS for your Facebook profile to be an advertising vehicle. My personal Facebook page is not spammy, but it does get a feed from my blog. If I were so motivated I’d figure out how to turn that off but it isn’t an issue. Note the difference in my personal and business pages.  

Personal page: 

Facebook has a business only tool anyone can create. It is separate from your personal page, and is a better forum for more business oriented content. Once you have 25 fans, you can create a vanity URL. Mine is Facebook.com/JPhilipRealEstate. 

Now my business page:

Facebook is not for making business contact with people you have no prior connection to. You know who I am talking about- some guy in Colorado who wants to sell me 500 coffee mugs with my company logo or a real estate  motivational speaker I never heard of will not get access to my family photos.  

Facebook is a sphere of influence tool. People who already connected with you are the “farm,” not  people you have never met. 

When you tell people your business and personal are so separate that you don’t want to mix them you can unwittingly create the impression that you have a weird double life. Or, at least it is fun to think so. 

The Westchester Putnam Multiple Listing Service has voted to change its name this morning to the Empire Access Multiple Listing Service. The name change from WPMLS to the EAMLS will be formalized later this year. For years the WPMLS served areas outside Westchester and Putnam Counties, as it has been the dominant MLS in the Bronx and an ever growing number of participants in Dutchess County (that only makes sense, since so many buyers in Dutchess come from Westchester and Putnam). There is also significant inventory in neighboring Fairfield County, CT and Rockland and Orange Counties west of the Hudson. 

It was no easy task coming up with a name that would fit. We have a very large and diverse footprint, and we also wanted a name that would be forward thinking. I think we did it. 

Personally, my next goal is to have the EAMLS get a great public portal that will ensure that buyers can search an MLS sponsored, unbranded database of the entire MLS like MLSLI.com out on Long Island. That might be a long time coming, but I am all for a transparent, consumer-friendly interface. We’ll see what’s next. 

I originated mortgage loans from about 2002 until 2006 or so. I considered starting my own mortgage brokerage but decided against it for several reasons, including the growth of my real estate company and the vast changes in the industry after the sub prime crisis. That required more learning than I could spare if I wanted to properly manage my real estate brokerage. I no longer originate mortgages. However, I do know the difference between interest rate and APR.

For most of my time in the industry I worked for brokers, not direct lenders. They seemed to me to have more flexibility in placing loans. My first company said that applicants who made one application with her had dozens of options whereas anyone who applied with a local bank had but one. In 2002, that made sense. It no longer does. Changes in the laws of the land, especially here in New York, have marginalized mortgage brokers and given large direct lenders an advantage in the market place. The reasons why are for another post; the fact is that consumers who use a broker need to know some things. 

First, mortgage brokers are not able to make loans. They place them with 3rd parties. This is  not bad, but it does make a pre approval from a broker a lie. Mortgage brokers can issue prequalification letters. They cannot issue a pre approval letter. They can’t loan. As a matter of fact, New York compliance regulations stipulate that mortgage brokers state that they place loans with 3rd parties on their letters. You’d be surprised how many do not. DUMB. 

Second, mortgage brokers have to disclose what they are earning on a loan (otherwise known as yield spread premium). Bankers do not have to disclose this. Fair or not, it is the law. While pricing is not firmed up until you lock your rate, it is important that you as a consumer get a good faith estimate at the time your application is made. Too often, I have dealt with buyers who did not like their closing statement, and when I asked them what their GFE (good faith estimate) said, they told me that they never got one. It was coming. They couldn’t get it right away. The dog ate it. In any case like that, they were victims of an unethical practice. 

In New York, many good brokers have gone out of business. Public perception has put more confidence in banks, and brokers have borne the brunt of the economic downturn with the sub prime meltdown and so many stories of fraud in the news. You would think that this would make the existing brokers more mindful of watching their Ps and Qs, but in my experience, the opposite is the case. With one notable exception in my experience, mortgage brokers have not adapted to the new environment, causing suspicion and uphill battles.

I still get bogus preapproval letters with no compliance verbiage on Microsoft Word forms. This makes getting an offer accepted really hard for the borrower, who has no idea that they are at a disadvantage. I still get assertions that a borrower is a “slam dunk” from originators at brokerages, and when I ask what the Desktop Underwriter findings were for the borrower I get a blank stare. Desktop Underwriter, or DU, has been the industry standard for both bankers and brokers in automated underwriting. It isn’t foolproof but it is an indication of accuracy and thoroughness. If a borrower hasn’t been submitted to DU without a really valid reasons they are a huge question mark. 

Caveat emptor to both buyers and sellers. Find out who is vetting the prospective buyer/borrower, because that can be the difference between a good sale and a long drawn out non-deal that wastes weeks and months. 

The Westchester-Putnam Association of Realtors has featured me in their monthly spotlight in the Real Estate In Depth publication. The link is a pdf and the article is on page 11. It is a nice piece, and as much as I am tempted to beat my chest, much of my interview for the article was actually on Paul and Kevin Crego (misspelled “Prego” in the article), who taught me the real estate business. 

Kevin was my college roommate at Villanova and recruited me for years to come and work with him and his father at their brokerage in Rochester. I was with them for 5 years. 

It is tough to summarize a 14 year career in a short article, so Paul and Kevin did not get a big role, although I am gratified at the last sentence of the piece- 100% true. 

I had a chance to catch up with Paul and Kevin, as well as their better halves, Helen and Elle, when I was in Ithaca on June 13th. We met in Aurora, New York for lunch, and had a wonderful reunion at the Aurora Inn overlooking Lake Cayuga. 

There is no closer friendship than those with whom you have shared such an intense part of your life as building a career. For 5 years Paul and Kevin treated me like a son and brother as I grew in the business, and when I felt it was time to go come home to Westchester and build my family and career here they remained my biggest supporters. 

We all still work very hard in this economic climate, so getting together in the middle of the state for lunch was about as much as any of us could spare. I was in Ithaca to stand in for my late brother at the Cornell Crew Alumni row, and they were able to play hooky from business in Rochester for half a day. It was not lots of time, but it was quality time. 

I could write a book on each of the things I’ve touched on here, but there is work to be done, and I’ll indulge another time. Suffice to say that time like this are too rare, and one of my goals is to make them more common. 

Time with loved ones is what it is all about. 

I start a new, invitation-only group, and the first 2 people I invite are a Dallas Cowboys and a Boston Red Sox fan! Politics may make strange bedfellows, but so does business! The things I do to feed my kids! 

All kidding aside you two are the best, and we’ll close the Metroplex and Metrowest for the group now.