As contrary as “Horses” and “The Bronx” might sound, there is in fact a very notable riding club in Riverdale, right on Broadway. Riverdale Equestrian Centre is right there at the Intersection of Broadway and 254th Street, with an enormous facility at the north side of Van Cortlandt Park. 

It is an impressive set up. The club itself is on 21 acres, with 62 horse stalls. They have 8 paddocks, 4 riding rings, an indoor arena, and there is immediate access to Van Cortlandt Park’s 1000+ acres with miles of trails. They offer a summer camp, an after school program, and lessons for all ages. 

Obviously, this is one of those things a guy like me views as one of those amazing, unexpected things New York City has that never fails to amaze me. I first heard of the facility in the early 2000s from a co-worker who lived in the Bronx. I found it hard to believe, but when I drove to the city once I did exit 9A at Broadway in Riverdale and there it was. As you’ll see in the video, it is right there on Broadway with a fence and hedge between horse farm and Gotham.

As you’ll see in the video I took, the place could be anywhere-Kentucky, Upstate, you name it. That is, until the camera pans out toward the street. If you thought the Bronx was just a concrete jungle, you were wrong.   

The Hendrick Hudson School District is located in northwest Westchester County, spanning from the northern tip of the village of Croton on Hudson to the southern part of the city of Peekskill. It includes the village of Buchanan and the hamlets of Montrose, Verplanck and parts of southern Cortlandt Manor. This is River Town country, which means that there are homes and neighborhoods with water views. The area is home to the Indian Point Nuclear power plant and the VA hospital in Montrose. It is served by the Hudson Line of the Metro North railroad.  

On a personal note, Hen Hud High and my alma later played each other in all sports. It should come as no surprise that their mascot is the Sailor. 

There have been 35 single family homes sold in the past 180 days in the Hen Hud school district. The mean and median prices are very similar:

Average Price: $489,662

Median Price: $485,000

17 homes are pending sale or are under contract to be sold. The median asking price is just under $477,000. 

There are a whopping 72 homes actively available for sale in the Hendrick Hudson district, suggesting year’s worth of available inventory, and a significant imbalance between homes for sale and homes sold. The reason may very well be that the average asking price is just under $550,000. Since the average sale price is roughly 95% of asking price, that means that the buying public is waiting for many homes to reduce their prices before they will attract a buyer. 

It happens. My buyers had an accepted offer less than 24 hours old and were preparing to call their home inspector when the listing agent called me. A competing offer raised their bid to a number higher than ours, and the seller was giving us the courtesy of a chance to match or beat before they considered switching horses. 

We do it a little different here in New York; attorneys prepare contracts, and until they are signed, anything can happen. Most times you get one buyer. No issues there. But even in this market, nicer homes can get competing offers. Often, if all offers come in at the same time one decision is made and it is clean going forward. However, sometimes you get a late entry, and that is when it can get dicey. Many sellers never switch buyers because they gave their word. Some let the math guide them and do switch. 

Occasionally, I have seen the seller bump Buyer A in favor of Buyer B, and when Buyer B falls through Buyer A has moved on. They’ve gone from 2 buyers to zero. That isn’t a nice feeling. 

In our case, we are buyer A and all indications are that Buyer B will get the house. My people elected to stick with their bid, because they felt that the seller should honor their word, but spoken words don’t hold up prior to contracts being signed. There is nothing I could have done short of beating them up to raise their bid. I couldn’t speak with the seller, and nothing I said to the listing agent could change the seller’s mind. In their view, we had our chance to raise our number and didn’t. 

Still, they are now very discouraged. It is part of this business; sometimes you lose a house you really wanted. They have laid low the past week, and while I certainly hope they don’t blame me, emotions run high and anything can happen going forward. 

There really is a “wild west” component to real estate that is rough on people- buyers, sellers, and yes, brokers. 

In light of the fact that I just spouted about the importance of live classes over online courses, here is a great live event that is open to all local professionals: 

Westchester Real Estate Professionals puts on a monthly event at the Rye Grill that I have gotten great value from, and the coming event on April 29 will be no exception. Allan Dalton, RISMedia Chief Marketing Officer, will be speaking on Social Media for Real Estate Professionals with his “Dalton Don’ts and Do’s.” Mr Dalton has quite a resume and should hold up the organization’s reputation for giving fantastic value in their workshops. Among the feathers in his cap:

• Former President and CEO of Realtor.com
• Former co-owner, Coldwell Banker of New England with 32 offices
• Co-creator, Century 21’s Customized Marketing System

Not long ago, the licensing requirements for real estate salespeople in New York became more rigorous, with the 40-hour course expanded to 75 hours. It was a good move. I still recall my class in 1996, given by the real estate school at the Greater Rochester Association of REALTORS. My instructors were knowledgeable and engaging, the classes were lively and punctuated by debate and discussion, and I befriended a number of classmates at breaks, lunch and after class study sessions. Some of the throw away comments the instructors made even stick with me today. I was enriched if I never sold a house. 

New York has a 22.5 continuing education requirement for every 2 year license renewal, and we discovered a few years ago that I could take courses online for a fraction of the cost of live classes at my computer. Very convenient for busy people. So I took them. And learned nothing. And met no one. I witnessed no discussion, debate, or human interaction. It didn’t take 22.5 hours. It was mind-numbing. I passed online courses, but my education was not continued, I assure you. 

Now licensing courses are offered online, and I assert that whatever good the expansion of the course to 75 hours did, it is nullified by being taken online. You cannot convince me that the course which allows people to broker the largest transactions of most peoples’ lives is done justice by a mind-numbing reading and multiple choice process. This is especially the case in discussions of fair housing, agency law, and other matters of real estate that ought to be accompanied by discussion and direction by a competent instructor. Fair housing cannot be reduced to multiple choice questions. Fiduciary responsibility cannot be done justice by true and false choices. Ethics are far too important to be addressed with no discussion. 

I freely admit I am an education guy. I don’t have alphabet soup after my name, but I have a college degree and know know what role the campus, professors, and lectures played in my B.A. The only argument for online courses is convenience, but I would argue that ineptitude and lack of insight are far more inconvenient when introduced to a half a million dollar transaction. If you have to wait 6 weeks for a course to start you wait. Learning to plan is part of the business process. 

It is called education for a reason. It is not test-passing. We are about to introduce a generation of less qualified agents with this move. Convenience and microeconomics are bad reasons for weakening our collective minds. We need insight, linear thinking and empathy in licensees. The bar for entry needs to be raised, not lowered. Online licensing classes will end up being bad for the industry. 

Here in New York we have attorneys heavily involved in real estate transactions. Their function technically is to handle contracts, act as escrowees in the holding of good faith deposits, and examine title. They are another advocate for our clients. By and large, most attorneys play it straight and do not mother hen, interfere, or sabotage. But some do. I could write posts on attorneys who take a week to send contracts out, debate language with the other side’s lawyer until the buyer walks, who won’t return phone calls, or who 2nd-guess brokers until our credibility with the client is undermined. The subtext is typically an unspoken but all too evident attitude that they are higher on the food chain than brokers. 

The latest shenanigan I am seeing is the practice of talking buyer clients out of buying a short sale. 

Let’s back up: In Westchester and the surrounding areas, it can take 2-3 weeks for contracts to be fully executed from the day an offer is accepted. Once you have a meeting of the minds, inspections have to be done (the inspection contingency is not something lawyers around here want to deal with). Once inspections are done, memos go out if they haven’t already. The buyer’s attorney then sets up an appointment to meet with the buyer and go over the contracts. Often, the contract is sent back with changes that the seller’s attorney has to review and, of course, go over with the seller. Once all that is settled, the buyers sign. If anything comes up at that point, their attorney can “hold” the contract and/or their deposit until the issue is settled, the signed contract and deposit are sent to the seller’s attorney. Most of our jobs in the first month of a transaction is, frankly, to nag the crap out of the paralegals to ask where the contracts are and what can be done to get to the next step. 

Nagging paralegals. I did not go to college to nag paralegals. But it is the only thing I can do. 

All the while, we are bound by the rules to disclose that there is an accepted offer on the house, scaring away many prospective buyers. If the deal doesn’t go together, we could lose a month of precious time on the market.

And twice in the past week, I have seen deals die when the buyer’s attorney advises the client that they should not buy a short sale. They like the house. They can afford the house. The attorney is probably too lazy to know that I have closed 18 out of the last 20 short sales I have had go under contract. They just don’t feel like holding the buyer’s hand that long. So they scare them and they walk. They piss on the herculean efforts of the agents and squash the prospects of the sellers to sell with dignity, because we not only lost a buyer, we lost time to find another buyer. I was never given any good reason, just that they know better than I do. Sure they do. They know next to nothing of the particulars of the transaction or who is working on it, and do not bother to find out. They just kill it because that’s what they do. 

And people wonder why I rant about attorneys! 

April is Fair Housing Month in observance of the 1968 landmark legislation that ended housing discrimination by law. It seems hard to believe that a generation and a half ago that the things we take for granted were the subject of debate. Fair housing and equal access are so ingrained in our collective minds and profession that it seems inconceivable that we would ever discriminate based on race, religion or anything else for that matter.

I recall hearing Cornell West giving a history of fair housing and telling how race was even written into FHA underwriting guidelines, how licensees would block-bust and steer, and even how in California, Proposition 14 was passed with a 65% vote in favor to overturn the Rumsford Fair Housing law in 1964. Sadly, some advocates of Prop 14 were licensees invoking private property rights. The Supreme Court overturned Prop 14 in 1966. It would be another 2 years before the Fair Housing Act would become the law of the land.  

I am white. My wife is of Korean descent, so our children are bi-racial. My older brother’s children are ethnically Dominican and Guyanese. I can’t imagine anyone looking at use sideways in this day and age, yet there was a time when we could have been discriminated against, simply because of family members who looked different. 

Willie Mays, one of the greatest baseball players ever, had a rough time buying his home when the New York Giants moved to San Francisco in 1958. 

Yankee great Mariano Rivera walked out of a real estate office in the 1990’s when a really stupid agent who didn’t know who he was judged him by his appearance. Anyone who heard this story is amazed.

We should take this time to re-dedicate ourselves to equality in housing, fairness in our industry, and the incredibly important role we as licensees play in the observance of what is actually, in context, a new idea.  

Certain details are simplified for expediency. 

Recently, we had a short sale fall apart because the buyer’s circumstances supposedly changed and they could no longer qualify. It stunk a little, and the attorney, who had done yeoman work to get the short sale approved, indicated she felt that the deposit should not be returned. We had been told that the buyers mortgage commitment had been issued a month prior; we were never furnished with a copy, and therefore we were never privy to the conditions. 

In the end, because we were left in the dark and the threat of a lawsuit and subsequent lis pendens would imperil the seller client to sell to another buyer, the deposit was released. 

Just yesterday, on another transaction we are working on (not a short sale), the buyer’s mortgage company informed the borrower that they would not close until certain repairs were made to the house. The buyer, concerned that the repairs would derail the transaction, threatened to walk. When they were told they risked their deposit if they broke the contract, they claimed that the conditions of their mortgage gave them an “out.” 

Guess what? We had not yet received her mortgage commitment, 3 weeks after being told it was issued. 

Why would the seller embark on repairs if there is no commitment in his hand? 

Worse, how could it be good faith to purposely withhold the commitment just in case you wanted to not complete the transaction? The answer, of course, is that it is NOT good faith to withhold the commitment if it has been issued. It isn’t a clever faith deposit, it is a good faith deposit. 

The conditions of a mortgage commitment, as well as its very existence, are the seller’s business if he is in contract with a buyer. The seller nullifies all other possibilities of selling, taking advantage of the tax credit, the Spring market, and other options when he goes into contract with a buyer. The seller depends on the buyer to be transparent and have integrity. It may be clever for the buyer’s attorney to “hold” the commitment to “protect” the client, but it is also bad faith. It is not advocacy to operate in bad faith. It is just bad faith. 

I should point out that on the latest example we received the commitment today. Work begins tomorrow. 

Arrowcrest is small, exclusive neighborhood in Croton on Hudson that has a beautiful view of the Hudson River and abuts Hudson National Golf Club. The striking thing about the development is the great job they did to blend Arrowcrest homes in with the wooded nature of the area. The builder did not “scorch the Earth” and clear cut every inch the way I have lamented in the past. This is not only prettier, it yields more privacy for the homes. Although the oldest home here is only about 12, the maturity of the Arrowcrest neighborhood makes it feel far more established. 

The subdivision was built mostly from 1998-2000. The average Arrowcrest home is about 4000 square feet with a 1-plus-acre lot. The last three sales in the development, all within the last 6 months, ranged from $875,000 to $910,000. There is a homeowner’s association. Despite the atmosphere that suggests the contrary, the neighborhood enjoys municipal services for water and sewer- no wells or septic tanks here. Homes feature 2 car garages, full basements, central air conditioning, hydro air heat, and kitchens and master suites to die for. 

The school district serving Arrowcrest homeowners is Croton-Harmon, which encompasses Tompkins Elementary, Van Cortlandt Middle School, and Croton-Harmon Senior High School. In addition to the golf course next door, there is Croton Point Park, Teatown Nature Reservation, and shopping in Mt Kisco or Peekskill is also close by. The Village of Croton is 5 minutes away down Riverside Avenue. To get anywhere from Arrowcrest you drive down the main road with a spectacular view of the Hudson River. 

There is to be sure plenty of upscale housing in north Westchester; however, to get newer vintage homes in a wooded setting with a view of the Hudson is rare, and that scarcity makes Arrowcrest special indeed.

I just received a “rebuttal” to feedback I left on a home I showed earlier this week. 

The issue was that this 3 bedroom home wasn’t really a 3 bedroom home unless you like walking through one bedroom to get to another. The only solution would be to cannibalize the middle room with a wall to create a hallway, rendering the room absurdly tiny. There is no good answer. The “hall” solution created a new problem. There may be people who didn’t mind the tandem arrangement. One thing is for sure- nobody likes closet-sized bedrooms. 

My point, of course is not about floorplans; it is the misguided notion that a smart answer can make a house you don’t want to buy suddenly feel like home. More and more lately, I have found myself avoiding debates with listing agents as if their ability to rebut an objection will change my clients’ mind. It probably won’t, but it will waste time. People choose a house because it feels like home. I never saw anyone buy a home because of a clever answer from the listing agent. Did you ever have a buyer tell you they bought the house because of the listing agent? Mine say it felt like home. 

There are some rare exceptions where the listing agent has to find an answer, but that is uncommon to say the least, and is usually solicited by the buyer in some way, such as figuring out how to make a back yard more private (hedge) or troubleshooting a dilemma the buyer has with logistics. However, that seldom occurs, and is not the sole creation of the listing agent. 

Outside of these chicken’s tooth instances, I find myself subject to surveys, questionnaires, and phone interviews eliciting insightful answers when the fact of the matter is that the people just didn’t like it enough to make an offer. If I am stupid enough to say that it was nice, or priced right, I then get chased to make an offer. People are now obligated to make an offer on a home they feel is nice but not for them? If that were so I’d have married my junior prom date. The feedback train has become derailed.

The tone of feedback request calls has become almost comical, as if I forgot my homework. I don’t owe you a B.P.O. I don’t owe you a 5 minute discussion on why my buyers don’t want to deal with paneling or wish to live 90 feet from a high tension wire. Chances are you already know why people haven’t bought your listing. So why harangue me? Tell your sellers I showed 20 houses this week and only 1 got an offer. The rest didn’t. 

Here’s your feedback in advance: 

• It’s overpriced.
• It was a mess.
• It didn’t fit my client’s needs. And no, I don’t owe you an in depth discussion of what my clients’ needs are so you can steer me to your other listings. 

Nothing you can say, rebut, answer or solve will change our minds. It just didn’t feel like home. 

I have blogged before that the stimulus package, set to expire April 30, has fulfilled it’s purpose. Sales in Westchester for the first quarter of 2010 have dwarfed those of the 2009 first quarter. This may seem hard to believe, but that $8000 tax credit is now over a year old. The Westchester County housing market, good or bad, has been reflective of this law for quite a while. With no substantive efforts I know of to extend the credit, after May 1 Westchester will have a more organic market with which to either put up or shut up. 

So what will happen May 1st? Will buyers give up, now that the tax credit will be gone? Will Westchester sellers get more motivated now that a small piece of leverage they enjoyed will be gone? 

Yes and yes. It will remain a buyer’s market. Here is what I think will happen after April 30, 2010. 

• Every house will lose $8,000 worth of value. Poof. Buyers will try to compensate for the loss of the credit by negotiating lower prices. Sellers will have little choice but acquiesce if they want to move. 
• Sellers will get more motivated, and in many cases, desperate. Because of the perception that buyers have less reason to act, sellers will try and create their own incentives by lowering prices, being more negotiable, and doing more to make the deal work. 
• Smart buyers will exploit a more pensive seller population to their advantage. Think of it this way: after “cash for clunkers” disappeared, crickets began to chirp again in the auto industry. Buyers who bought afterward had a captive audience at the dealership. The same will happen in housing. 

For better or worse, the buyer herd will thin on May 1st. Fewer buyers will yield fewer showings, fewer offers, and fewer deals. New listings to the market will be priced more aggressively. People who have to sell will cut as low as they can go and then some. The buyers who remain in the market will likely strengthen the upper hand they have already possessed for the past few years. it will mean more than the seller throwing in the garden set or snow blower.  The market will try to compensate for what the government takes away and smart buyers will take advantage. I welcome crystal balls and differing opinions.  

I don’t know whether to tell you to buckle your seatbelt or tighten your belt. 

I started out as a sole operator in 2005. I hired my first licensee in 2006 and as of April 1 we have 20 members on our team with more coming aboard soon after. Some are former clients; some are agents we did deals with before and liked me (no accounting for taste). Whatever the reason, the team is growing because our company is a good place to build a real estate career. 

Ann and I are a team, with her as the administrative goddess and myself in the Hot Air department. It works. Our agents have great backup on both fronts. What’s more, which I think is important, is that we appreciate our team members. We know that earning a living is no laughing matter, and whether the issue is training, marketing, getting a tough prospect signed on, troubleshooting a problem transaction, or dealing with a challenging client, I am right there are the table with my team, and we have a great record of getting to the goal.

Yes, we have a good commission split, and yes, we think our signs are pretty. It is more than that. I have a relationship with each and every associate with the company, and the priority is their growth and development in this industry.

If you are in New York or Connecticut and in the Metropolitan area, we are hiring. Westchester, the Hudson valley, Connecticut, Long Island, and the New York City Boros. Here are a few of the areas we could use good agents in particular:

• Westchester County
• Upper Manhattan and Riverdale
• Queens
• Fairfield, CT
• Rockland and Putnam Counties

In many cases we need agents because I can’t follow up on leads personally. What I can offer personally is support, training, mentoring and a system that works.  

The Tree Streets is an unofficial nickname of a small neighborhood in the village of Briarcliff Manor that has a number -but not all- of streets named after trees. What sets it apart from much of the rest of the village is the moderate prices and predominant amount of pre war homes. The Tree Steets are also conveniently located…REALLY conveniently located. Todd Elementary School (Briarcliff Manor School district) is walking distance, and the neighborhood borders the 9A highway and the Taconic State Parkway. The village park, pool, downtown, tennis courts, library and Pace University’s Briarcliff campus are also very close. 

Because of price and location, the tree streets are very popular as starter homes. It is not at all uncommon to see people walking, jogging, and pushing strollers up and down the tree streets. The young and upwardly mobile are attracted to good commuting points, village amenities in walking distance, and the sense of community you feel when you spend any time in the neighborhood. Think of Wisteria Lane without the drama. 

While many of the homes predate the 2nd World War, there are a number of baby-boom era houses here as well. The mixture of the architecture and styles give the flavor of variety that is the antithesis of cookie cutter subdivisions. Moreover, the tree streets are a very mature neighborhood, with plenty of tall trees offering shade and charm. The nickname is very fitting. 

The average Tree Streets home is roughly 2100 square feet with 4 bedrooms and 2.5 baths, and the median sales price for the past 12 months is $610,000. The lots are typically about a quarter acre. What doesn’t show up in the data is the charm, the curb appeal, and that warm fuzzy you get when you walk down one of those nice tree streets. 

Castle Village is the sort of apartment community that dispels the myth of New York City as the Concrete Jungle. Located in the Hudson Heights section of Upper Manhattan, it occupies a site where a castle once indeed stood, with a spectacular view of the Hudson River, George Washington Bridge, and the Palisades in New Jersey. Built in 1939, Castle Village has classic pre war architecture that gives it charm and warmth both on the exterior and the interior of the apartments.

Co op apartments are a type of ownership that is virtually unique to New York, although they do exist in rare form elsewhere. Owners are technically stockholders in a corporation, who, depending on the amount of stock they own, get a proprietary lease to an apartment of commensurate value.  The monthly co op fees typically cover heat, maintenance and property taxes on the building. Because of that arrangement, the co op board has to approve owners and can mandate the type of down payment required, as well as the financial credentials of perspective shareholders. Being a shareholder not only entitles one to an apartment, but also the other many amenities the complex offers, such as the roof deck,community room, health club and children’s playroom & playgrounds.  

Overall the whole complex spans 7.5 acres, and the courtyard has a well manicured lawn. The apartments are known for their Herringbone/parquet floors, classic designs and generous closet space. It is a pet-friendly community and all buildings have a doorman. Castle Village is walking distance to beautiful Fort Tryon Park and The Cloisters. There are 9 styles of apartments ranging from 1 to three bedroom units. Board approval is required for resales, or units owned by current investors, but “sponsor units” do not require board approval. The minimum down payment to become a stockholder is 10%.

There are 5 total buildings in Castle Village, and the prices for an apartment range from the 200’s for a studio to the 800,000 range for a 3 bedroom. There is a true community feel here. If you want Manhattan without Manhattan prices and a fantastic setting as well, put Castle Village at the top of the list.   

This post is inspired by Richard Weisser’s excellent piece on his upcoming Spring yard work. I really don’t have the time or energy right now to stop and become my own part-time landscaper, but the time that I do take working in my yard are times I relish. 

I’ll be planting a lilac from an oversized pot it has lived in for the past 3 years when I transplanted it from my old home. It was adopted from a patch of lilac my mother planted there in the 1950’s when they first moved from Yonkers to Ossining. When I put my mother’s lilac in the ground, it will grow. It will not send me a memo after 4 weeks informing me that the file is still missing a 1099. The due diligence of lilac is soil, water, and sunlight.

This is a picture I took this morning of the wood I split myself, without a power splitter, with mostly a sledge and wedge. 

I made the rack the wood rests on myself also. It is about 40 feet wide. It never called me to inform me that it met with an attorney who recommended a different agent. What isn’t in the photo is all the wood we burned already. I loved splitting that wood. Difficult pieces with big knots became easy once I pretended they were lawyers. 

Nature has few technicalities and stipulations beyond the obvious and basic. It is refreshingly simple, reliable, and consistent. When I put something in the ground, it grows. When I prune something, it becomes beautiful. 

Do I need a vacation? Probably. Will I enjoy the times I am alone with my family, working in the yard? Definitely. 

Let me first say that no good agent will work for less than they feel they deserve. However, I know agents who could leave where they currently are for a higher split yet choose not to change brokerages. Entropy? Fear of change? What makes an agent stay for a lower split, not leave for a a larger split, or, in some cases, leave a higher split for a smaller one? 

When I first got into the business in 1996 I was given what I thought at the time to be a generous split of 60%. It went up to 65% after my first year. I never thought to ask for more, and leaving the firm for another was unthinkable. Had I not met my wife and moved back to Westchester I might still be there. The broker was like family.

In my career I have seen agents leave companies to start their own firms like I did, or dock their licenses under a different broker. Some do it fairly often. I know that some of the movements are lateral. But why does an agent leave a company? There could be a number of reasons.

• Lack of support- They might feel that they are not getting the training or tools they need to grow. 
• Lack of appreciation- They might feel that their broker does not acknowledge their efforts, disrespects them, ignores their suggestions, or ignores them altogether. Show me an agent that feels like they work for someone else and not themselves and I’ll show you an agent with a foot out the door. 
• Lack of income- If marketing support, transaction assistance, or leads were promised and not delivered, many agents feel that it is time to change the scenery. 

Once an agent makes a decision to seek greener pastures they begin to look for a place that is different from their current home. They might want more income (can’t blame them), they might want more respect and input, or they might seek a stronger leader. So why does an agent choose one company over another?

Support, respect and income, yes, but I think it has more to do with relationships. The agents that join my company, for example, all have one thing in common: they want me, or at least the leadership and help I offer. They either want the administrative support that come with Ann and Ronnie or the marketing and leads they know I can help them generate, but above all agents want respect and appreciation. They want to know that their thoughts won’t fall on deaf ears. They want a shoulder to cry on sometimes and a “hurrah” when they do well. Splits? Yes, nobody works for free, but in the right environment 60% of a lot beats 95% of almost nothing.

If it were all about the split, the 95% and 100% models would eat everyone else up. They don’t. They have their market share, but leadership, support, mentoring, and, yes, marketing and prospecting also trump raw percentages. 

This was said to me in a different industry, but any good broker who is building a team will recognize the wisdom. Agents don’t work for their broker. The broker works for the agents. Brokers who do not understand this often end up working alone. 

I have great respect for home inspectors. They perform a crucial job in the real estate process, and most I have worked with do their work with merit. Just about every good inspector I have ever dealt with has understood two very fundamental truths:

1. Be thorough and accurate. 
2. Do not scare the crap out of the buyer over a minor finding.