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While making a training video on market reports for the agents this past week, I clicked on an old market report I wrote in November 2011 for Ossining. Among other things, I noted that there were 119 single family homes available for sale in the school district at that time. In working on current data, I had to blink and see if the current inventory number was accurate, because it is cartoonishly low.
12.
There are 12 active single family homes in the Ossining School district, and that is at a time when the spring market inventory should be trending up. This has affected prices significantly- in November 2011, the median price was roughly $380,000. Today? $504,000. That’s almost a 33% increase.
Contributing to the low inventory is the reticence of those in a position to sell because they don’t see a viable housing option currently listed. That’s scary. My advice for prospective sellers who aren’t sure where they’ll go if they sell: Look at your options- sell subject to finding suitable property, make sure you have a flexible, extendable closing date, and, if you can, buy before you sell.
Buyers need to have their act together- make sure you have a pre approval for the house you want to see Sunday, because it will be gone by Monday to someone who already learned that lesson the hard way. Buyers in the market need to be locked, loaded and ready to go. The competition for such a small amount of options has never been tighter.
I recently closed on this listing for over $50,000 over asking price. This is an example of how values have grown in the area. The description of the home in the MLS is as follows:
We were actually gratified to list and sell this property after selling it to the owners a few years prior. They did benefit from appreciation, selling for $568,000 after purchasing it for $395,000 7 years before.
$575,000 buys an awfully nice home these days, like the 3 bedroom, 2 bath split we recently closed for a seller client on Leawood Drive.
If your budget is $625,000 you might be able to buy a home like the raised ranch we recently closed on Country Club Lane with a Hudson River View.
$560,000 will buy you a mighty nice 3 bedroom 3 bath split on a dead end like the one we closed on last month.
I am linking to a short video I posted on LinkedIn recently that acknowledged the firm’s milestone in exceeding $100,000,000 worth of real estate sold in our “home field” MLS for the first time in our history. The MLS scene here is very fragmented, and we belong to several systems (7 to be exact, all within a half hour drive save one), but the one we do the most business on is the Hudson Gateway MLS, which comprises Westchester, Putnam, Rockland, Orange, Sullivan, and several surrounding counties. We’ve done $100 million total before combined among all the systems, but never in HGMLS alone. Not only did we do that, we accomplished it with more than a month left to go in the year.
In one corner, we have the Hudson Gateway MLS- weighing in at over 1300 firms, 1650 offices, and 13,000 agents.
The spring real estate market in New York starts January 2 for a variety of reasons. The holidays are behind us, NYC buyers get an early start, and often, those who need to sell know that if they wait too long there will be a smaller selection from which to buy if they don’t sell expediently. I could go on. Perhaps the least discussed reason why the so-called spring market starts in the dead of winter is the anticipation of spring around the corner. In a market where 60 and 90 day closings are the norm, a January contract could stretch into April, and if problems or delays occur, the summer. That’s nuts, but it’s true.
Yesterday, the housing world was rocked when Zillow announced that their CEO of 10 years, Spencer Rascoff, would be stepping aside and that co-founder and original CEO Rich Barton would be taking over again. I, of course, have thoughts; so does the rest of the housing world, and you can divide them between those who hate or distrust Zillow who will spike their collective footballs, and those who either like Zillow or are agnostic who will wake up, shave, eat a well balanced breakfast, and go to work.
Spencer wrote me 3 emails over the next 5 days. The first two were apologies for his crazy schedule and a promise to respond in more detail. The third was a detailed response, copying in, in his words, pretty much the entire Zillow brain trust. Within a few weeks the Agent Advisory Board was formed, and I began a journey that among many other things, introduced me to the finest real estate minds in the world. My time invested in Zillow’s different advisory boards gave me a deep appreciation of the company’s culture, the integrity and character of their leadership, and the Big Picture of their corporate mission (spoiler alert: it isn’t to put agents out of business).
I’ll explain. This isn’t as huge a problem in other markets where brokers execute contracts and acceptance is the same as going under contract virtually immediately. In Westchester and the surrounding areas, including NYC and Long Island, attorneys draft contracts and instead of a brief day or so between acceptance and contract, it can be two weeks. Some MLS systems have an official status change for “AOs,” but in the Hudson Gateway MLS a listing is either “active” or “contract.”. That is fairly black and white, but it also means that a home could have had an accepted offer for a week, inspections completed, contracts out and movers being called but still showing as active. When the listing agent drops the ball and a consumer drives an hour to see the property and loves it, only to be told it isn’t in fact available, the frustration is hard to describe. 
7 Things the Industry Should be Doing Amid Coronavirus
(Note: the following piece was originally published in Inman News)
Like many of my colleagues, I’ve been reading — with great concern — about how the ripple effect of the coronavirus pandemic is playing out and how it will affect my business.
However, unlike many of my colleagues across the nation, I am seeing serious consequences in my own backyard. New York state ranks second behind Washington state for coronavirus cases. As I type this, my market of Westchester County accounts for over half of the documented COVID-19 cases in New York (178 at last count).
Only a few miles from one of my offices in New Rochelle, New York, there’s a 1-mile diameter containment zone. The governor brought in the National Guard to assist in cleaning up houses of worship and schools, which will remain closed for two weeks.
Schools are closing like we’re under 6 feet of snow. There’s no widespread panic, but there’s certainly grave concern.
Having lived through the Great Recession, I’m really not in the mood for another disruption. Although, even if things get demonstrably worse, it will, in all likelihood, never be a full-blown crash like the one we saw in 2008.
That said, with so many events being cancelled or postponed, a disruption is inevitable. So what can we, as an industry, do to minimize the detriment and squeeze results out of the scarcity of an alarmed consumer base?
Those over 60 are most susceptible, and this practice would minimize their exposure to contagions. It also provides the added fringe benefit of not having a front-row seat to grandma’s sticker shock when she finds out how prices and taxes have gone up since she last bought a house in 1988.
Last week, I got an invitation to a broker-manager meeting my association is holding on March 18. To its credit, the association allowed remote access as news changed.
Since my business partner just became a grandmother last week, she shouldn’t be forced to miss an important meeting because she wants to hold her infant granddaughter. Allow us to attend remotely. The technology isn’t new. Come on associations, we can pivot.
It might be easier to shop on Amazon, but they will never refer you business. That Chinese restaurant down the road is likely taking it on the chin, especially with so many states and counties placing limits on large gatherings and bars and restaurants.
Be a mensch, and have lunch there if you can, or buy a gift card if they cannot serve. Grab a loaf of bread and chicken soup at the corner deli. Now is a great time to get acquainted with local cleaning operations. When all this blows over, they — and all of their referral sources — will know you were a stand-up supporter. That will make you money.
Even if folks aren’t going to actively tour homes, you can bet that they are looking online. 3D tours are a phenomenal differentiation, as well as a great way to attract more inquiries once things return to normal. We see open houses being cancelled in many markets, and this can help.
Chill out on the office meetings, and start leveraging platforms like Zoom, GoToMeeting and Google Hangouts (that goes for you too, associations).
If you’re in a market where it’s customary to drive clients around in your car, rethink the practice. This is a rarity in liability-conscious, litigious New York, but I do know it occurs more frequently elsewhere. Now is no time to be in such close quarters with people you may not know very well.
Whatever business practice changes you make, apply them consistently. NAR released guidelines that aren’t earth-shattering, but they are useful. One of the more timely takeaways for me was that if you’re going to make changes for one client or customer and not the other, you could run afoul of fair housing guidelines. It’s common sense — but crucial.
The situation sucks. It really does. I see a hot start for my own company hijacked by the pandemic, and I see my industry brethren arguing over politics and health policy.
But we will get through it, and when we do, we should hit the ground running with the pent-up demand. Remember: People prefer to live indoors. There will be plenty of work to do when this passes, but we can produce results in the interim as well.