In all the panic about the drop in sales nationally this past July, few news outlets made much mention of the fact that Westchester’s real estate market went up. Now that August is past, how did we do as a follow up? 

Good question. In short, the answer is “steady.”

In July 2010, there were 449 closings with a median sales price of $799,000. 

In August 2010, there were 424 closings with a median sales price of $715,000. 

In August of 2009, there were 430 closings with a median sales price of $644,250. 

From July to August of 2010, transaction totals were down 5.6%. That median sales price of $799,000 was utterly unsustainable; $715,000 is still remarkably robust.

Comparing this August to last August is more relevant in my view, as the business is cyclical. Transaction totals are down just 2% from a year ago at this time, and median price is up a whopping 11%. 

Overall, there has not been much of a drop in transactions worth speaking of, and values are steady if not healthy. But in historical terms were are still in a malaise. 

Some context: at the peak of the market locally in the summer of 2005, the August totals were 852 transactions (which is why we call it a “peak”) and the median sales price was $732,500. In August of 2000, there were 752 transactions with a median price of $447,000. 

Westchester is doing better than most areas, overall.  But there are still plenty of people hurting. Those 300-400 sales not being made are rough on the sellers, many of whom are distressed. 

Note: all information is taken from the Westchester-Putnam MLS and is for single family home sales only. 

Out of area phone calls could be anyone- a bank negotiator, out of town prospect, or a client on a business trip, so I answer. 

I saw something today I never witnessed before. It happened when I was covering a home inspection for one of my agents (Yes- I know. What a great guy I am).  A home inspector brought the buyer onto the roof to show him something. I was so surprised to see this that I snapped a picture of it on my phone. Now, this was the first time I ever met the inspector. He was a sharp guy, handled the buyer’s 3-year old son like a champ, and from everything I saw made a thorough, straight inspection. He even had one of those infrared thingies that can detect moisture and rodents in the walls. He really was very good in every other way. 

However, I know inspectors who wouldn’t go up on a roof themselves. It’s part of risk management. I have often said that New York is a shark tank of liability, and many inspectors don’t feel it wise to climb up there, opting instead to making a visual inspection , even using binoculars. But they don’t go up there. 

We can argue whether or not that is right or wrong, but I have never seen an inspector take a buyer up there with him. The buyer is a young guy, ostensibly fit, flexible, and coordinated. But gravity is gravity, and I really wonder if the inspector’s insurance, let alone the home owner, would be comfortable with such a thing. 

I am not trying to give the inspector a hard time, or impugn his judgement, but I really do have to wonder if that move is very wise. 

OK, maybe Nietzsche is a little bit heavy for breakfast, but the theme of many blog posts I have read lately from my colleagues around the country is that this industry, which was never a walk in the park, is a real test of endurance, strength, and fortitude on both a physical and mental level.

When I was on the college rowing team we had a race with Princeton University, which was a far higher calibre of program. They were Ivy League, which is the top of the heap in crew. We were a club. The race was at Carnegie Lake in Princeton, New Jersey, and we got pasted. This was not unexpected. What I recall even more vividly than the whooping we got was the message on the bright orange T-shirt every Princeton oarsman wore that day: 

That Which Hurts Me Only Makes Me Stronger

Our T-shirts said things like “Villanova Basketball” and “Nike.” Our coach was furious with us after my boat’s race, not because we lost, but because we didn’t row well. And instead of going straight back to campus, we stayed on that nice lake and had a rare, post race practice session. It hurt. Our boat made the finals of the Dad Vail Regatta (small program championships) later that spring, where we missed a bronze medal by a few feet. In doing so, we beat several other crews whom we lost to earlier in the season. Not bad for a club program. 

Hopefully, that is a lesson that will carry over. 

We work long hours, fight more buyer resistance, seller grief, and lender red tape than probably anytime in modern history. Transactions are mine fields, not the rocky, negotiable paths they once were. We are travelling that field of peril  while multi tasking with new regulations, new technologies, and unpredictable news which can scuttle the already fragile mindsets of those whose cooperation we desperately need. Some clients are unreasonably obstinate; other are paralyzed with fear; getting both buyer, seller, lender and two lawyers to cooperate in a transaction is like conducting a symphony on a high wire these days, yet we have to keep our cool. 

The industry was already one rife with rejection, competition,  and the odd unscrupulous agent. Now we have, thanks to layers of meltdowns, burst bubbles, collapse of massive institutions, recessions and a shell-shocked public to deal with an unknown frontier to conquer. And you thought getting a real estate license was a good idea. 

Anyone who can survive and thrive in this environment will prosper incredibly when stability (and, I’ll whisper: prosperity) returns. They also have my respect. 

If you are a consumer, consider these things when choosing your advocate.

If you are a licensee, take heart. 

This too shall pass, and we’ll be the better for it. 

Just because you can multi task doesn’t mean you should multi task!!

The things we real estate brokers see out in the field. I don’t think an explanation is needed, the video tells it all. Suffice to say that I was showing clients a home in Westchester County, NY and we came upon this particular comode with an unusual characteristic. While it technically should be ingenious, it still clicks the “gross out” circuit. We got a great laugh out of it. 

Would you use this toilet in your home? In your master bedroom? Does multitasking this particular way appeal? 

Both state and county are getting the word out that downpayment assistance and grant money is being made available to Westchester and surrounding county home buyers. Some highlights of state programs include the following:

• Veterans assistance
• Remodeling purchase money mortgages
• Down payment assistance loans
• Construction incentives
• SONYMA low interest and low down payment programs

Imagine a buyer looking online for a home. They examine the inventory, veto the ones they dislike, dutifully check off their favorites, and compile a list of homes they’d like to see. It has taken over an hour, but final choices are made and one of my listings made the cut. They like the photos, the property description is enticing, and the house looks like a winner. The buyer want to see my listing!

Next, they call their buyer agent and request to schedule a showing. 

I have succeeded, right? I am bringing another set of eyeballs to my listing thanks in no small part to my marketing prowess. We are one step away from selling a house. 

Are my sellers happy? I think they should be. 

YET…

Some sellers, for reasons I still have yet to grasp, are critical of their listing agent when they themselves have not shown the house themselves! On a number of occasions, I have actually had clients criticize me because I didn’t show the house. Leaving aside the irony that many of these same people are vocal about not wanting dual agency, they just feel as if the listing agent is not earning the paycheck unless that listing agent also showed the house. 

I have sold many a listing where I never got a call on it. And it was ubiquitous- enormous exposure on all the websites, enhanced and featured in many, and copious, quality photos in tandem with written descriptions that make the mouth water. 

But no calls to my office. Other agents have shown it plenty, but not me. 

Am I am bad agent? 

Am I not doing my job? 

Am I lazily sitting back and waiting for the cooperating agents to “do my job for me?”

Or…is it possible, that if a listing is getting showings-just not with me- that the serious buyers in the market already have representation and choose to call their agent instead of me? 

Is there any marketing out there that is actually good enough to make someone approach the largest transaction of their life without an advocate? 

While Westchester County has remained a sought after destination for home buyers and 450 single family homes closed in July, there were still an enormous number of homes that quietly came off the market this August, unsold. While it would be easy to dismiss the results on the poor market, even a casual examination of the homes that the public threw back reveals more than the seller might think they know. 

I don’t have any issues with For Sale By Owners. It is a free market. I equally have no issue with FSBOs who pay a fee to enter their home on the MLS and then try and act as their own listing agent. What I do have a problem with is people who distrust agents because they paint us with a broad brush in the lack of integrity department but then turn around and misrepresent themselves. That wastes my time. 

Today I walked through a home which was billed as a “totally renovated home.” It was not. It was an incomplete, sloppy, half finished do it yourself job of dubious quality. What I observed was a patchwork of poor workmanship, probably illegal (which is to say, no permits) “improvements” and a desk in the basement covered with indications that the owners were unskilled weekend warriors. 

We saw:  

• Exposed wiring everywhere
• Missing molding and sloppy finishing where it wasn’t missing
• An incomplete kitchen with a CURTAIN for a sink cabinet door
• An incomplete master bath
• A finished basement with a 6-foot ceiling -which couldn’t be legal in their wildest dreams
• An HVAC unit in a basement closet with hanging wires and ductwork that was separated and leaning