Let’s review some facts:

• Prices are down. Way down. Asking prices are so low, as a matter of fact, that some homes are getting multiple bids again.
• Rates are low. Really low. I just had a buyer close on a 30-years fixed for their home at 4.875%, and the lender was perfectly happy with the profitablity of the loan.
• Sellers are willing to make a deal. They are digging up oil tanks and making lots of other repairs, throwing in snow blowers, mowers and furniture, paying closing costs, and bending over backwards to pacify buyer demands.
• Bargains are plentiful. Abundant. Prevelant. Common. Ubiquitous. Bank owned inventory? Lots. Short sales? Everywhere. Updated homes aggressively priced? Check.

So why are we seeing a slow market still? Sure, the pool of buyers has shrunk, but there are millions of able buyers out there sitting on their hands. Why? Is it groupthink? Mass hysteria? A herd mentality? Well, when the market was “hot” people bought because the talk on the street was that it was a good time to buy. It wasn’t. But that didn’t matter. They bought because they bought into the hype.

The hype now is that the market is bad. Don’t buy the hype. YES, the market is bad-for SELLERS! Smart people buy low. Well, real estate is low. Ignore the hype. Buy while it is low and the money is cheap. We’ll never see another era like this. Jump on it.

Don’t say I didn’t tell you so. Separate from the herd.  

Valhalla isn’t just where Vikings go when they die; it is where smart central Westchester residents live. Valhalla, NY is a hamlet in the town of Mount Pleasant which is served by the Valhalla School District and punctuated by a quaint downtown, a scenic train station and Kensico Dam. Kensico is one of the largest dams in New York State and is adjacent to downtown Valhalla. Valhalla does indeed have a connection with many great people who have departed, as Kensico Cemetery is the final resting place of such notables as Ayn Rand, Lou Gehrig, Tommy Dorsey, Danny Kaye, and Billie Burke, the Good Witch of the North. 

The downtown is very charming and has been for as long as I can remember. There is plenty of food and window shopping, and you can even eat al fresco. Up the Hill from downtown is the old Columbus school, which is no longer a public school school and owned by Easter Seals. My daughter attended there for early intervention for 2 years and we are grateful for the outstanding job they did. 

Kensico Dam is named for the village that is now under the water of the Kensico reservoir that the dam helped create! Every year they have fireworks on the great lawn of Kensico Plaza, and it is a popular recreation and picnic area. It is walking distance to the train station and Taconic Parkway. This makes Valhalla one of the most unique places in New York. How many towns have a huge dam in their downtown? 

The real estate market in Valhalla had a far better June in 2010 than it had in 2009, with sales more than doubling and the median price increasing almost 50%. With 12 homes currently under contract, this small hamlet is showing no signs of losing momentum. This isn’t luck; the quality of life in Valhalla is very, very good. 

All information is derived from the Westchester Putnam Multiple Listing Service and is for the Valhalla school district, which also encompasses parts of the towns of North Castle and Greenburgh. 

I will be hosting an open house at 4 Hickory Lane in Mahopac today from 1-3pm. The owner is a restaurateur, so you never know what might be on that dining room table!  The home is very unique and has a terrific location for work or play. MLS description is as follows: 

Fantastic value and pride of ownership! Affordable 4 bedroom colonial on a quiet street a stone’s throw from Lake Baldwin. Impressive Meditteranean wall envelops a beautifully landscaped quarter acre plus with 2 patios and a plush green lawn. Inside boasts a family room with sliders to front piaza patio, a living room with a beautiful fireplace, a modern kitchen with stainless steel appliances, and updated tile baths. The basement is finished with plenty of storage, rec room and summer kitchen.

In Westchester County, property taxes are high. Really high. My old house, a modest 2000 square foot home, has taxes of almost $14,000. My current home is pushing $17,000. With numbers that high, an inaccurate tax figure on the MLS can be a deal killer.

When I started my company in 2005, tax figures on our MLS were like the wild west- some were artificially low because of Veterans and STAR (New York’s version of a Homestead discount for primary residences) exemptions, and listing agents would write in the agent only remarks “buyer agent to verify.” This resulted in a slew of phone calls on every listing from buyer agents to discuss the tax figure. “Is that with or without STAR?” “Why are the taxes so high?” “Why are the taxes so low?” “is that for this year or last year?” And on it went. 

A few years ago, the Westchester Putnam MLS made a rule that all property taxes had to be reported in a standard way, with the “true” tax figure reported, without any exemptions or discounts. The “buyer agent to verify” fig leaf was disallowed. While this has been a game changer overall, not everyone is very good at complying. 

Unfortunately, we just had an instance where a buyer client was hot about a property until they saw the taxes revised higher by almost $3000 the following Monday. I called the municipality, and the listing agent was wrong-the taxes were in fact close to 3k lower. By the time I reached the buyer to clarify this, the emotion to act was gone. Maybe they would have backed out anyway, but maybe not. We’ll never know, and it is because someone didn’t have the right numbers. 

Cynthia Larsen wrote a post I almost missed (but caught, because I subscribe to her) about an agent that left a voice mail message with no name and number. I feel the same way and expressed it before in a different context. It really isn’t rocket science, but many agents still don’t get that when they call, I need to know three things:

1. Your Name

2. Your firm or address

3. Your number, if leaving a message

The biggest offender actually isn’t consumers, but agents. I don’t know if it because they read their own headlines, don’t consider that this is a business, or aren’t trained. I once had a call from a guy who was a a huge (top 20 out of 7000) producer who I thought was a rookie because he didn’t tell me where he worked, and for the first minute I didn’t know he was an agent. I asked him if he was new, and he seemed dismayed and told me he was the top producer in what I recognized to be a great office. I felt bad at first, but you know what? He should know better. 

We speak with people all day, every day. Even a doctor looks at a patients chart when he walks into their hospital room. I need a reference point. I do not have infallible software up here, and as a matter of fact if you reach me I am probably in the middle of an active day running a brokerage, being a father of four, and dealing with what is in front of me. So tell me your name, firm or address, and your number if leaving a message. 

It seems simple, but as I commented on Cynthia’s blog I think the US will convert to the Metric System before all agents (let alone the public) learn this. I wasn’t waiting all day for your call. Help me out so I can help you. My alternative is forensics. 

• Name,

• Firm or address

• Phone number

One more time:

It has been New York law since 2005 that home inspectors be licensed by the Department of State. The reasons are fairly numerous, but they include the following:

• Consumer protection. Licensure is a starting point for vetting people to hire for the job.  
• Oversight. The population of inspectors is no longer murky, either. 
• Peace of Mind. This can be misleading, as licensed inspectors can still stink. 
• Professional Standards. Making them statutory protects the consumer.

Buyers of residential property in the state of New York are by law supposed to be furnished with a form known as a Property Condition Disclosure from the seller. It is a form with several dozen questions on the physical characteristics of the property, such as the roof, plumbing, and electric systems. One question asks if there was ever a buried fuel tank on the property. The law is about 10 years old and states that the seller is required to issue a $500 credit in the absence of furnishing the form. It is very clear. You zig or you zag. And it is up to the seller. 

The choices:

1. Filled out Property Condition Disclosure
2. $500 Credit to the buyer

The St Augustine’s Parish annual Italian festival will be held at the Parish Grounds Tuesday July 27 through Sunday August 1. There will be children’s rides, game booths, lots of food, a white elephant sale, and a $10,000 grand raffle. Last year my kids went bananas on the rides, which were good fun, and Luke’s cub scout pack volunteered at the Goldfish booth. We won one of those huge rubber bouncing balls at one of the game booths, which Max bit, and the goldfish didn’t quite make it to collect social security. But we had fun, and I recall that the parish raised their goal. It is the largest fundraiser for the church and school they have. 

This is as good a time as any to post a few pictures of the church and school grounds, which are utterly beautiful, as the campus overlooks the Hudson River. There are a number of very pretty shrines, the church building is majestic, and there is even an outdoor Station of the Cross. The campus was Mary Immaculate High School, an all -girls institution which closed in 1976, and it re-opened shortly after when St Augustine’s old school was destroyed to widen Route 9. 

My family were parishioners at St Ann’s in Ossining for almost 50 years until I moved in 2007. My brother’s children attended St Augustine’s when Luke started school and we chose to send him there. It is a beautiful place, and these photos don’t really do it justice. I will post some more festival oriented photos soon.