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. 

The things you see in this business. This past week I posted about a small child I found after a home showing who wandered out of her home and how I made sure she was back in the care of her (mortified, surprised) mother. I didn’t write it to get a pat on the back but to hope that we all watch each others’ back. 

We have work to do. 

I first heard the term “forgotten man” a few years ago when I saw My Man Godfrey with William Powell and Carole Lombard. We have all seen a forgotten man or woman. 

Yesterday, while showing a home to buyer clients in Stamford, CT, we saw 2 police cars parked at the side of the road. Next to the cars was a tarp covering something on the banks of a wooded neighborhood creek. The area was taped off, and it really did look like the scene of a fatality. After we looked at the house, my client walked over to the two officers and confirmed the sad truth that it was indeed a fatality. To paraphrase what he was told, a local old crazy guy who wandered the city was found to have perished in the creek. From the sounds of things, he was homeless and troubled. The Forgotten Man’s final hour was in that creek. He might have drowned, he might have had a heart attack and fallen in , or something more troubling. Regardless, someone’s baby’s rough life was over. We were random witnesses to the aftermath. 

When I got home, it was late. I missed putting the kids to bed again, but I got to see them sawing wood in their Thomas the Tank Engine bedsheets, snoozing a sweet opera to their father’s ears, resting from a day of summer joy. It was a contrast I could not ignore. They will wake up to another day of idyllic sun-drenched fun, with roller skating day at camp, a blow up kiddie pool, Carvel ice cream, and their mother’s doting. 

I’m not what you’d consider a religious guy but I hope this Forgotten Man will wake up in God’s arms, shed of his troubles, whole again, and as happy as my children. I hope his final hour was not as bad as it appeared, and that he even laughed or remembered an old joke before going to sleep. But beyond that I hope the Forgotten Man will never be forgotten, and the perfunctory police search for next of kin or anyone that knew or loved him will not be fruitless. I hope his memory is more dignified than his demise. If anyone knew the poor soul who breathed his last in east Stamford on Brookside Drive in the creek that feeds Holly Pond I want you to know that I won’t forget. 

Anyone who think we just unlock doors and comment on decorating and do not see what goes on around us is nuts. 

I’m not really a big fan of rebates. Are you a fan of making less money?

Now, before you dismiss me as a broker who only wants to maximize his commission, I am pretty qualified to write about buyer rebates in a real estate transaction, because I am a Redfin Partner Agent, and rebates are one of the linchpins of their business model. I have done dozens of transactions with Redfin buyers, and all have gotten a 15% rebate. So I know what I speak of. I do it. I get it. I have also rebated sellers under certain circumstances. I guess you could say that I am a “master rebater!”

Do I love it? No! Is it the cost of doing business I would not otherwise get? Yes!

Two events have prompted me to offer my thoughts on rebates to buyers in a real estate transaction. 

• Two weeks ago, we received an offer on one of my listings. Before we could make a deal, a 2nd broker submitted an offer for the exact same amount from the same buyer. The buyer switched firms for a $500 rebate. $500.   
• Diana Lisinksi just wrote a featured blog about a client who asked for 50% of her commission after working with her for over a year.  

Those of us in the business for any period of time know the stress of a last minute expense to our buyers– a home not delivered in the same condition as when it was first seen, an unexpected closing cost or tax shortfall, or anything else that hits the already stressed buyer in the pocketbook after a drawn out transaction. It sucks. We’d never intentionally cause a financial hit to a client or customer. And we decry those among us who add fees to their commission at closing which were not approved when first hired. 

Last September I wrote a blog post about the AMC TV Series Mad Men and its connections to my home town of Ossining, NY where the main characters’ home is set. The post was picked up by TIME.com and a number of other sites, including my local paper. With the 4th season of Mad Men starting next week, our local paper contacted me again and did a Sunday Spread on the show’s connection to Westchester County, and Ossining in particular. They met 4 of us, including the mayor at the Ossining Train station last week and we had fun on camera talking about the show.

One of the things I discuss is my view of where the Draper’s fictional house is most likely set, as Bullet Hole Road is nonexistent. A local historian, Norman McDonald, opined that their home is set in Chilmark; nothing would thrill me more, since that is where I live. However, there are several reasons why that wouldn’t work, not the least of which is that the Chilmark neighborhood is in Briarcliff Manor- not Ossining. Also, their daughter attends Brookside school, which is not where a child from Chilmark would attend in that day and age. The Drapers live in a pre war home – Chilmark was built from 1960-62. They would have lived on or near Justamere Drive in my view up by Maryknoll. Both neighborhoods have a street named “Orchard.” It is a fun debate.

There are many other connections,  such as the Ossining Reservoir, Cedar lane, the old A & P Market, and my beloved carvel Ice Cream. There will be new references and when the new season starts next Sunday I’ll be sure to blog about them.

Note to self: hit the gym. The camera may add pounds but mix in a salad!

All you autograph seekers can see me today from 1-3pm at a gorgeous 2006 built bank-owned foreclosure that I will be holding open at 6 Marble Place in Ossining. The builder never sold the house and it was rented only briefly, so it shows as virtually brand new. It is almost 3000 square feet above grade (excluding basement and garage) 4 bedrooms and 2.5 baths with hardwoods throughout most. The kitchen is granite and stainless steel, the master suite is massive with a great walk in closet, and the family room has a wood burning fireplace and sliding doors to the rear deck. It also has a first floor laundry, garage, flat rectangular yard and a poured concrete foundation. You can walk to shopping and restaurants from the convenient village location. 

You can see more photos at OssiningForeclosure.NET. 

Has something like this ever happened to you when you are seeing houses? We finished up our last showing, shook hands and exchanged thoughts, then got in our cars to drive away. I turned a corner, maybe 15 yards away, and my client was stopped, perplexed, as she looked at a little girl from the neighborhood standing in the street right in front of her car. Weird. I parked and asked the Little Princess where her home was, and she didn’t say anything. I’d say she was maybe 4 years old. 

A neighbor who was sitting on her front step walked over, and we got the child to get out of the road, but she wouldn’t tell us her name or where she lived. However, after some prodding, she went into a nearby front door. My client (with 2 children in her own car) drove off as all appeared well. The neighbor returned to her cell phone call. I went back to my car, and spied my new friend sneaking back out of the house now that the coast was ostensibly clear. I hesitated; was I making too much of this? Not enough? I then asked myself if this were my daughter, Catherine, what I’d want me to do. That cleared things up in a hurry. 

Mindful that there was a neighbor nearby, I went to the house where the little lass opened the door and started ringing the bell. I crossed my fingers this was the right house, and kept her in the corner of my eye, playing in a yard across the street (thank God- a dead end road) while I waited for someone to come to the door. It was a 2-family home. I rang both bells. It seemed like a long wait but it was probably only a minute before Momma came down the stairs, looking like she just woke up. She looked at me perplexed until she saw me pointing to her little girl, and he eyes became wide as saucers. She was out there like a lightning bolt, taking her daughter inside, and nodded at me as they came back up the stairs. I told her I had a daughter, but I don’t think she spoke English. 

From the looks of things, Mommy worked a night shift and daughter figured out how to go outside while she slept. I doubt it will happen again. I was relieved I found her mother. I was self conscious and unsure of how things would appear if I couldn’t find her family. What if she were afraid of me or a neighbor thought I was trying to abduct her? Hell, my car was still running. Still, there is a certain confidence one feels when they know they are doing the right thing. If that were my child, I’d want the whole village watching her back. It helped that a neighbor was hip to all this.

As licensees we see more than kitchens and basements. We see abused and neglected pets, hoarders, vandalism, and many other things that cause us to pause and determine we cannot ignore or forget, but act upon. We aren’t behind desks all day, we are out seeing humanity. We are exposed to more. I think, every day, there are those among us who do the right thing because there is no one else around to handle it, not because we want praise or credit but because we have to sleep at night. I hope that little girl grows up and finds a cure for cancer or something. 

Would any of you take a seat in the restaurant and then try and sell them tablecloths when the waiter came over? 

Why would I ever want to do business with this person? 

Name and contact info is redacted to protect the clueless. 

An Inquiry from Realtor.com(R)

Wikipedia defines the term Strategic Default as 

“the decision by a borrower to stop making payments (i.e. default) on a debt despite having the financial ability to make the payments.” (my emphasis added)

Given the huge amount of attention given to the practice, I thought that I would offer my own observations on what I am seeing in Westchester County. Given our proximity, I think the commentary holds true for other parts of the New York Metropolitan area, including Rockland, Fairfield and Long Island. 

Simply put, I don’t see many people consciously deciding to walk from mortgages that they could otherwise pay in this area. While it may be said that a short sale Realtor like myself would not be approached by someone considering a strategic default, I would argue to the contrary- the very definition of “strategic” would indicate that some thought and research would go into the mix before deciding to default. I have spoken with people who are considering it; there are just aren’t as many here as in other areas. I think the reason lies primarily in the characteristics of our marketplace, and the fact that you have to live somewhere, and this isn’t the easiest place to change where you live.

Here are a few reasons I think strategic defaults are not as prevelant in Westchester as they might be elsewhere:

• We don’t have the options other markets have. In places like the Sunbelt, which have been hit very hard, I can see why it would be tempting to move into a similar house right in your own subdivision and cut your payment in half. We just don’t have those subdivisions with dozens of available options. Westchester has been a mature county for decades, and there are no vast new subdivisions with lots of available inventory to be had. The options might not allow their children to remain in the same school, or that one identical house might be a mothball smelling geriatric special with a 1975 kitchen and baths. And if there is a tempting option at an attractive price, there might be competition, shrinking the financial advantage in moving.  
• The economy of scale is bigger than other places. Take a homeowner in an area like Eastchester or Yorktown who paid $600,000 for their home in 2006 and is now only worth $485,000 with a balance of $525,000. They are indeed underwater, but there isn’t much of a step forward in renting or buying a similar house for $485,000. In the case of buying, they’d still to come up with a downpayment and closing costs, which, even for an FHA loan, could be $40,000-$50,000. Remember, just the tax escrow on a home here would be $10,000 before you paid a dime in closing costs. There may be some who rent, but maintaining status quo in quality of life in that case, especially in light of losing the tax advantages, is dubious. I would argue that anyone who takes this option isn’t being strategic, but has their hand forced due to financial hardship. 
• The downturn hasn’t been as big here. Oh, it’s been big alright, and in dollar value perhaps even larger than most, but in terms of percentages, we’ve only lost 20-25% of value, half of the percent of the harder hit regions. The climb back, therefore, isn’t as steep. So if the choice on the table were to lower your mortgage payment from $4300 to $3800, come up with $50,000 and wreck your credit, I think most people would decide to stay put. Elsewhere, where the option is a far smaller payment and much less cash of an upfront cash outlay, the credit consequence might not seem as high a price to pay. 

Rockland County’s Ramapo and Clarkstown both made Money Magazine’s top 100 places to live. I blogged yesterday about Westchester’s 2 entries, New Rochelle and White Plains. Rockland County is right across the Hudson from Westchester and borders Bergen County, New Jersey. I have done business in both towns and they are both good choices. 

Ramapo is the westernmost town in Rockland, and includes the communities of Suffern, Airmont, Monsey, Spring Valley, Chestnut Ridge and New Hempstead, among others. We have a pending transaction in Chestnut Ridge.  

Clarkstown borders the Hudson on the east side of the county and includes the communities of New City, Nyack, Congers, and Valley Cottage. I sold a house in Congers not long ago and am working on a deal in Nyack now. 

I LOVE Nyack. It is a quaint village with lots of pre war homes, a neat, healthy downtown and a view of the Hudson in much of the area. Downtown Nyack is the ultimate place for window shopping in Rockland- coffee shops, boutiques, art, books and neat bistros line the streets and if you venture toward the riverfront you can get some great seafood. 

Ramapo and Clarkstown, along with Rockland’s other three towns, Orangetown, Stony Point and Haverstraw, all offer a terrific quality of life and are worth considering if you aren’t married to Westchester or Putnam.