I’m not the first to lament what stupid things some agents do to tarnish our profession. Incompetence, malfeasance, shoddy standards and putting their own needs ahead of the client’s have been well documented. It isn’t much fun being the first licensee the person speaks with after a bad experience with their last agent. 

Earlier this evening I met with a home owner who had just ended a 6 month listing contract with another broker. His experiences made me sad, to say the least. The curious thing was how a well priced, beautiful home like his could have expired unsold. The answer was that it WAS sold, but the deal died after he’d been in contract for 2 months. The instances of poor brokering and bad advice just kept piling up as he explained. 

• After he accepted an offer on the home, someone knocked on his door with a $30,000 check. They had been trying to reach his agent but couldn’t get a call back. They wanted to buy the home. His broker never returned their call. So, in desperation the buyer knocked on his door. It was too late, as contracts had been signed not long before. 
• The buyer’s downpayment with the signed contract was half what they agreed. His agent told him that they shouldn’t worry over such a detail, as it would close in 45 days anyway. 
• The buyer applied for an FHA loan, but the contract forbade that sort of financing, because it was a condo in a complex without FHA approval. 
• The buyer pumped the contract price up $20,000 to finance a seller concession without disclosing their need for a concession in the beginning. His agent told him not to sweat this, and that it would close quickly. 
• The house under appraised. When the seller’s attorney demanded proof, it was found to have appraised out just fine, 
• The buyer was turned down for a loan after the house had been off the market and under contract for the previous 2 months. 
• Given the bad faith displayed by the buyer, the seller decided not to release their downpayment. His agent screamed that he could not do so. The seller wondered aloud who the listing broker worked for. I don’t blame him, nor does his attorney. 
• When the discussion of extending the expired listing came up, the seller wanted to renegotiate the commission. The broker told him to take it or leave it. 

10 McDougal Lane in Cortlandt Manor closed Friday, December 4. I listed it September 5, we had 2 offers by mid October, and it went under contract  10/31. The buyers went FHA, so it was a little bit of a wait from there. This is not to pat myself on the back, but rather to pat the seller on the back. 

Every so often, a seller “gets it.” They are eager to know what I know, and they follow my recommendations as best they can, often to the letter. And guess what? They get what they want. Case in point: There was a home very similar to our listing that was priced in the low 300’s for quite a while. It looked like the same house on a nearby street and the builder and architect were probably the same guys.  After some time, that other listing cancelled at $309,000. 

My view was that if we priced at 299,000, we’d get more and better eyeballs on our place. And even though the economy was crummy and the autumn was less than ideal, we averaged a showing every 2.5 days until we got our accepted offer and the thing got put to bed in early December. Price points matter, and my client saw what I saw. We collaborated well as a team, handled the negotiations and inspection issues like soldiers and now the guy can have a Christmas without the old house to worry about. My hat is off to him. 

It goes without saying that there are dozens of homes in that zip code that were for sale when John’s house went up for sale that remain unsold. The moral of the story? Find the right broker (like, for instance, ME), take their coaching, and be a team. 

I have been on both sides of an offer in multiple offer situations. Whether I am the listing agent or buyer agent I often see buyers view the news of multiple offers with incredulity. More often than not, they just don’t believe it. If they think that the news is just a trick to get them to raise their offer and they hold firm, they often lose the house. 

While I don’t dispute the existence of dishonest licensees who fabricate competing offers, in my experience the overwhelming majority of multiple bid situations are legitimate. There are two main reasons for this:

1. If you like a well priced, well cared for, updated house in a good location, then the chances of someone else liking it are fairly high. The notion that a buyer’s market is devoid of anyone actively looking but you is inaccurate. This is still the USA. There are still people looking to buy a home. 
2. The consequences of fabricating a false competing offer are catastrophic. Suppose the agent lied about another offer to get you to raise your bid and it backfired-instead of raising your offer, you instead withdraw it. That agent just lost their commission, and will look pretty silly when the house never goes under contract in the MLS. Few listing agents would risk losing their entire commission and reputation when a solid sale is within their grasp. Moreover, if the seller found out, they could rightly get the agent in huge trouble with the law and real estate board. It makes no sense to take that risk, even if you don’t have scruples. 

After a mild autumn, a light snowfall has covered Westchester County. Like most of Westchester, Briarcliff is already quite pretty, so seeing it covered with snow adds to the beauty. We have friends in from out of town, so it is actually kind of idyllic. Kevin Crego, my old college roomie at Villanova just arrived (and apparently brought the snow from Rochester), and we’ve already had Mike Brophy since yesterday. 

Typical day with a friend from out of town- Mike rode shotgun with me this morning while I showed some clients co op apartments. 

Kevin taught me the real estate business and is Luke’s godfather. Mike was the best man at my wedding and is godfather to Catherine. Both live far away, so visits like this are rare. Kevin runs a brokerage in Rochester, while Mike lives in Texas. The photo doesn’t do the view justice- it as if everything outside were covered in crystal while we enjoy the warmth of catching up with dear friends indoors.

This was a video taken at my house after Thanksgiving dinner (and before dessert) by my older brother Tom. Clearly, my children have mastered the art of saying “cheese” when they see a camera. The oldest of our 4, Luke, makes only a brief appearance for some reason because he was preoccupied with some project. The older 2 are my nephews Joe and Tim, and my mother, Sister in law Brigid, and Ann round out the cast (oh, and Max, our rescued German Shepherd who, as nearly 2, is still a pup).

2 year old Mark seems like triplets at times, but it is all the same little guy. That extra couch next to the piano has been there for months. We still have to figure out what we want to do with it. That’s life!

Here’s one we don’t often ask: When an agent has a closing, how long before they get paid their commission? The reasons I ask is this: when one of my agents brings in a check, I pay them. I know some places they wait until the check clears, but that is really not a big issue here because the odds of an attorney trust check or a bank check bouncing are very long and the consequences dire. 

Other firms cut checks on designated days of the month just to have a system. We are an independent firm with a rather manageable size, so that seems unneeded for us. I was interviewing agents today, and their current firm takes 30 days to pay them. That is just ridiculous. I get paid on the spot, why not the agent who brought in the business? They’ve already waited months in most cases. 

I welcome thoughts from those that sign checks and those that cash them. 

10. Oh, I was just about to call you (after 3 days of voicemails)

9. We’ve had 3 offers higher than yours and we said no to all of them.

8. I’ve been in the business for 35 years and…

7. Let’s just let the lawyers deal with it.

6. I can get them to take $505,000

5. The other offer is $490,000

4. My buyer cannot afford your seller’s (less than full price) counter offer

3. Is your seller negotiable? 

2. How do you get your listings? 

1. I don’t want to put the offer in writing until we have an agreement

Home sales rose almost 10% in Westchester County this October compared to last October while the median price remained almost exactly the same at $575,000. The average (mean) sale price actually rose by $10,000. How can this be? How could prices remain steady yet the number of sales actually rise? Is Westchester that insulated from the economic woes of the rest of the nation? Neighboring Rockland county also had an increase in sales but their median price was down over 11% from last October. So what gives with Westchester?  

There are a number of reasons why this was a better October than 2008. First, October of 2008 was utterly deplorable; the financial crisis had just hit, wiping out scores of pending closings as Wall Street reeled and Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac nearly went insolvent. Second, after a year of sluggishness, there was pent up demand that transcended circumstances for people still able to buy. Third, the tax credit made a difference, especially in view of the fact that many thought it would expire November 30 and buyers scrambled to beat the deadline. 

Now wait, you might ask, people buying a $575,000 house didn’t qualify for the tax credit. Maybe some didn’t but who do you think bought their homes, if they weren’t first time buyers? I’ll tell you who: people who qualified for the credit, that’s who. 

We are far from a solid recovery in my view. There are too many distressed homes to have a permanent upward trend in prices. We had a slightly better October than a rotten previous October. But better than “rotten” doesn’t make it great, any more than having the best suite in the Titanic made that trip any better. In spite of this piece of encouragement, don’t be shocked if prices go down even more. 

10 years ago, during Thanksgiving week of 1999, I went on a lunch date. It went pretty well; we said goodbye at 1:30… AM. I lived upstate in Rochester at the time and she was in Queens, so by June of 2000 I was back home in Westchester to be closer to her. In December of 2000 we were engaged, and on September 29, 2001 Ann Lee became Ann Lee Faranda. 

Luke arrived 9 months and 2 weeks later; After a miscarriage, Catherine came to us in January of 2004. In December of 2004 Gregory completed our “Korean Twins,” and Mark was born in March of 2007. 

In the midst of all this production, Ann got her real estate license and started to help me build the company. With her help (and belief in me), the company went from a part-time venture out of a bedroom in mid-2005 to a dozen agent operation and growing, with multiple offices as I type this. Her strengths made up for my weaknesses, and we have made a great team. 

So today, 43 year years to the day after she was born and 10 years and a few days after we first met I have to say that I’m glad I took her to lunch. She didn’t look her age when we met and like most “cougars,” she sure doesn’t look her age now. That is saying a great deal for a self employed mom of 4, all under the age of 8…and who has to deal with ME every day. 

A few things you don’t know about Ann, the silent partner who is not silent when we’re alone:

• After a 3-day ordeal giving birth to Luke and an Emergency C-Section, the first time she held her son she buried her face in his hair and said we should have 10 more. If we met at 23 instead of 33 we might have. 
• When she was in labor, she’s talk about what we needed to do differently next pregnancy/delivery.
• She speaks 5 languages.
• She plays piano, guitar and cello
• She OK’d a dog in our wedding party
• She is the company webmaster/webmistress (oh, the imagery) 
• She went to Columbia as an undergrad and has an MBA as well, but she is most proud of being a Stuyvesant alum
• She’s on only child who revels in our children’s relationships with each other
• She makes better lasagna than my mother
• If you can think of it, she can make an excel spreadsheet on it
• She types almost 200 wpm
• She still has the legs of a Rockette!
• In spite of the above facts, she still married ME.

So, lucky me, and happy birthday to Ann/Mommy/Mrs. Faranda, and at least 43 more (please).  

Groups and Channels and Categories Oh My

Unless you are already making too much money, the name of the game with this blogging thing is to get found. If you want readers to find you, you need to maximize your exposure. Often, I find blog postings that are fantastic but under read, not because they aren’t good (some of them are great) but because they are unintentionally “hidden.” And if your best stuff is hiding, people can’t find you. Here are some mistakes I see that are easy to avoid and will make a difference if corrected:

1. Making a post “Member’s Only” when it is really geared toward the public. Unless a posting is only meant for other professionals, it should be public. That way, if you are advising buyers, for instance, they’ll actually get to see your words. This increases your exposure from Active Rain members to the other 300+ million people out there. 
2. Not posting to groups. Let’s suppose your blog post would be appreciated, commented on, and SHARED (reblogged/emailed/spread around) by like-minded agents. You should post it to the applicable groups. Click on the GROUPS link in the Active Rain header. There, you can find a group or groups that address the theme, no matter if it is short sales, blogging, complaining, dealing with an autistic child, or sharing pets or photography. Join the ones that float your boat; post your words to up to 5 groups with the same theme. That puts your post in front of more readers who share your interest. 
3. Ignoring Channels and Categories. Consumers have access to channels and categories in many cases, so in a way it is like posting to groups that include consumers. For instance, if you are posting about interest rates, you can post it in the Mortgage/Finance Channel. This puts it in front of the eyeballs for whom it will be the most value. 
4. Missing Localism. If you are writing about your local market or town, then you are missing out if you don’t post it to Localism for your area. This is far more consumer-centric, and positions you as a person of knowledge in that area. And that’s the point. Link that Sheboygin post to Sheboygin, and Sheboygin will thank you. 

How not to price your home:

1. Take your mortgage balance.
2. Add your credit cards.
3. Throw in your cars.
4. Add a generous portion of all the money you borrowed from relatives. 
5. Pile on your down payment for that other house you have your eye on.
6. Last but not least, give yourself an extra 50 grand just for being you. 
7. Get a blank look on your face when you are told that the buying public doesn’t care what you owe. 
8. Wait.
9. Wait some more. 
10. Decide you’ll stay after all. 

1. Find out what homes like your have sold for in the past 90 days
2. Price the house at that number or 5% less. 
3. As my son’s teacher says “you get what you get and you don’t get upset.”
4. Pack your bags.

The buying public is utterly ambivalent about what you owe to whom as it relates to pricing your property. They only care about their own needs. What you need isn’t on their radar, and if you aren’t priced in line with the current perception of value, your listing will get stale and sit unsold for months as you chase the market. 

Chasing the market is always being one price point behind what the public is willing to pay. You enter the market at $599,000 when you really ought to be at $549,900. You lower to $575 when the market for the house is $525,000. By the time you hit $499,000, it could be a year later and the public isn’t willing to pay more than $450,000. Each price drop seems harsh, but your real enemy was starting out too high. 

Sellers are in a war of attrition with buyers who lurk before they call, call before they look, and look at everything before they buy. You won’t get a call, look or offer until your price conforms to what the public deems fair. The only offers overpriced homes get is low ball offers from bold types who wouldn’t pay as much as fair minded people would on a fairly priced home. The only way to win the battle is to price as aggressively as possible and not allow your ego or personal preferences to cloud your objectivity. 

Easier said than done!

Can someone second the motion? Isn’t it high time we can access Active Rain from our mobile phone? I can get the NY Post for goodness sake.

It shouldn’t be that hard- it is a mostly text site anyway. Well, powers that be? what say you?

sent from my mobile phone

The following was posted on the Mid Hudson MLS recently:

I hosted an open House this past March when 2 women robbed my clients of jewelry. One distracted me for about 2 minutes while the other lifted the valuables. 

What is unfortunate aside from the obvious is the crummy job the local boards have done in getting the information out about these two women (and I’ll bet they are the very same women who stole from my clients). The associations exists to get the word out about things germane to our profession. Yet these people continue to openly and notoriously steal. Why? Because no one is mobilized. Nobody is warned. The thieves stole from offices in Westchester, several open houses in Rockland, and now they’ve hit Dutchess. 3 separate counties, 3 MLS systems, no communication. 

If you are a Licensee anywhere in the New York area, North Jersey, Long Island, Connecticut, or the Hudson Valley, be on the lookout. These are two women in their 50’s or 60’s. They are loud. They wear overcoats. They drive a rented car. Their sign in sheet will say they are from Yonkers. They’ll separate and one will casually block you while the other steals. They work FAST (2-3 minutes). You’ll have the feeling that they don’t belong in the house. They gush just a bit too much as if they never spent any time in a nice place. 

Don’t be a hero. Just get a license plate number. 

Well, on reaching 100,000 points I was invited here to the Silver Star HOF by Kathy Clulow and here I am. $100,880 points ago I began blogging here, not to earn points or money, and not even to make friends, but to vent. I already had a WordPress blog, and I didn’t have any time anyway. I just wanted to see if anyone else had been scammed by a certain thing going around, and I found Active Rain on a Google search. I registered, but I wouldn’t make a comment for 6 months and I wouldn’t make a blog entry for almost a year. I started blogging consistently after being a member over a year. What’s happened in the interim? If I knew what was in store, I would have started earlier. My blogging and Internet efforts have yielded the following results in the past year:

• Appeared on ABC World News on May 27, 2009. 
• Gotten 4 clients’ homes on CNBC’s On the Money program
• Appeared in 2 AP stories on the housing market
• Appeared twice in the Real Deal, a NY real estate publication
• Gotten 2 clients on the front page of the NY Journal News, paper of record for Westchester, Rockland and Putnam Counties (total population 1.4 million+)
• Numerous referrals from around the USA from fellow AR members
• Dozens of inquiries from consumers who found me on a Google search in one of my niches.
• Referred out one of Manhattan’s very first successful short sales to the great (and recently engaged) Eileen Hsu, whom I met right here on Active Rain (where else?), which will close in the coming week. 

Happy Thanksgiving to all who read this. I hope the holidays bring you peace and abundance, and may 2010 be filled with health, happiness and prosperity. 2009 has been a challenge, and my experiences with many of you have made the year easier. For that I am truly thankful. 

I should eclipse 100,000 points with this post, exactly a year after I began blogging in earnest. While I’ve certainly had my light periods, in the past 12 months I’ve made some good friends and made money as well. How has Active Rain helped me to get “found?” Let me count the ways:

• Appeared on ABC World News on May 27, 2009. 
• Gotten 4 clients’ homes on CNBC’s On the Money program
• Appeared in 2 AP stories on the housing market
• Appeared twice in the Real Deal, a NY real estate publication
• Gotten 2 clients on the front page of the NY Journal News, paper of record for Westchester, Rockland and Putnam Counties (total population 1.4 million+)
• Numerous referrals from around the USA from fellow AR members
• Dozens of inquiries from consumers who found me on a Google search in one of my niches.
• Referred out one of Manhattan’s very first successful short sales to the great (and recently engaged) Eileen Hsu, whom I met right here on Active Rain (where else?), which will close in the coming week. 

Just about all of these things have been either a direct or indirect result of my blogging. Blogging costs nothing but my time, and would be gratifying if none of the above happened, so this is all quite good.

Very, very good! 

As happy as most of us seem that the housing stimulus was extended, I have heard and read a number of individuals express an opinion to the contrary. There are two main objections to the stimulus, and both are, in my view, fallacious. Let me preface my words by stating I am a free market entrepreneur who doesn’t really like government involvement in commerce, but I am also a pragmatist. Here are the objections the “purists” offer:

• The Stimulus is artificial. Fine. Let me ask you a question: If you were about to go out to a formal affair with your better half, and she came downstairs in sweats with her hair in curlers, you wouldn’t like that, would you? You were kind of looking forward to that little black dress, weren’t you. But there she is, in sweats and curlers. Just her. No make up. None of that Eau De Whatever that drives you nuts. No artificial accouterments. No fake anything, that’s her with no external additions. Disappointed? Why? It’s the same with the economy. Don’t sit there and tell me you’ve ever said no to a legitimate sale because you didn’t like what motivated the people. You don’t object to cashing a check. The point of a stimulus is to stimulate. People buying homes now and not later because they want to take advantage is real commerce, with real revenue, and circulates real money. They are going to buy real washing machines, real lawnmowers and real rugs. And that’s the point. Money flowing sparks the recovery the same way the cocktail dress and fab perfume get your mojo going. 

• The stimulus is really Socialism. I’ll admit it is a provocative word, but as much as the USA is built on free enterprise and free markets, we are not an unfettered free market by design of the founding fathers. A few examples and the non-free market institutions we espouse and hold dear which are actually socialized are: The US Military, Public Schools, our System of Roads and Highways, and the Postal System. And in times of crisis, I see no issue with us as a collective society doing what can be done to adjust, improvise, and adapt to weather the storm, and ultimately overcome. Free Enterprise is not a suicide pact where we eschew solutions because they don’t conform with our philosophical preferences. We have to do what must be done to get through, solve and get better. If part of the solution is collective, so be it. I’m about getting there and not what car I drive.  

Originally posted 11/24/09 on Active Rain

According to today’s Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller home price index, US home prices remain unsteady with more declines expected in some areas. Of the 20 areas examined, almost half experienced falling prices, including New York. While this is not good news, it is news and should be interpreted by our profession (and trade organizations) without rose colored glasses. You can read the NY Times article on the report here. 

We shouldn’t be surprised. The economy remains very slow, unemployment has probably not peaked, and the flood of foreclosures clogging the inventory will suppress prices for years to come.

Have you ever solved a problem without acknowledging that it exists? I never have, so the NAR should humor us with some all-too-rare candor. 

article continued here. 

What is relevant for 40-somethings is the need to be real. Pretense is immature and unneeded. Being real, and telling it like it is, is appreciated by clients and customers alike. People don’t want an agent who looks at the market through rose colored glasses, there is too much at stake. What they want is the truth so they can act accordingly. 

According to today’s Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller home price index, US home prices remain unsteady with more declines expected in some areas. Of the 20 areas examined, almost half experienced falling prices, including New York. While this is not good news, it is news and should be interpreted by our profession (and trade organizations) without rose colored glasses. You can read the NY Times article on the report here. 

We shouldn’t be surprised. The economy remains very slow, unemployment has probably not peaked, and the flood of foreclosures clogging the inventory will suppress prices for years to come.

Have you ever solved a problem without acknowledging that it exists? I never have, so the NAR should humor us with some all-too-rare candor. Just once, I would like to see the NAR announce something that isn’t Pollyanna about the crisis we are in. Is it a good time to buy? No, it is a great time to buy. Agreed. But it is a down market, and any suggestion that it is getting better anytime soon is not only disingenuous, it is seen as a credibility buster by the public. 

So if you are going to buy, buy and hold. You aren’t going sell again in 12 months and make $100,000 unless you hit 1 in a million circumstances. This is not 2005, and anyone who says those times are coming back anytime soon is selling a bridge, not a home. Yes. Buy. By all means, by because you should buy low. But buy for the long term, not the short term. And remember, unlike other investments, you will get utility from your home. You will live in it.