You Get What You Pay For — Or Do You? November 29, 2006
Posted by Geri in Buying a Home, Long Island, Marketing, New York, Real Estate, Real Estate Market, Selling Your Home.4 comments
There is more and more discussion in the real estate community of late about discount brokers damaging our reputation as an industry, while offering consumers what appears on the surface to be a real bargain. In order to understand just exactly what you’re getting when you hire anyone to represent you in the sale or purchase of a home you have to ask questions.
I will start by saying there is no such thing as a free lunch. Therefore, if someone tells you they’ll market your home as extensively for a bargain price as the full service broker, generally speaking it simply isn’t so. We all face certain fixed costs and we allocate dollars from every sale to keep our businesses running. To be successful for ourselves and for you, we’re constantly looking for new and more effective ways to attract buyers for our homeowners.
Recognizing that most of us in the business have no trust funds and have families to feed, when commissions are discounted, something has to give. Unfortunately when there is not enough money in the coffer, the clients suffer. Nobody can run a business successfully without making a profit. Given a choice of diluting those profits or reducing costly marketing, the loser is more often than not the seller.
There is nothing wrong with opting for a lesser service for a lower dollar amount . . . as long as you understand the rules of the game. I just sold a home in which the owners knowingly chose a flat fee listing broker. They paid simply to have their home in the MLS (multiple listing service). They understood that all the showings, ads, open houses and negotiations were their responsibility. After four weeks they were tiring of giving up their weekends to wait and hope someone would show up at their open houses. They got to experience, as we do, the tire kickers, the pseudo buyers who express great interest only to disappear into the ether, and the nosy neighbors.
Fortunately for them, I had the perfect buyer for their home so their discomfort was short lived. Had they continued with the process as most people do in the current buyers’ market, I’m not sure they would have been happy campers. I must say though, unlike the experience most people have had in their circumstances here, their limited service broker stepped up to the plate more than once when they had concerns about the progress of the transaction.
Even though I’m tempted to say the obvious, “you get what you pay for,” I’m stymied by the occasional maverick like Greg Swann, a staunch proponent of a discount pricing model who refuses to lower his outstanding level of service and who manages to make it all work. I’ve yet to meet his counterpart on Long Island however.
Selling On Long Island . . . The New Math October 24, 2006
Posted by Geri in Buying a Home, Changing Market, General, Home, Long Island, New York, Real Estate, Real Estate Market, Selling Your Home, Uncategorized.1 comment so far
Your home is currently on the market or you’re just about to list it for sale. There are a few very important things you must remember if you want to keep it from languishing on the “failed to sell” heap. With ever increasing numbers of houses available, yours has to appeal to a buyer on one of several levels. They will either perceive it to be a real value, meaning it’s priced very well for what it has to offer, or it may be in a very desirable location. The latter can mean a beautiful view, waterfront, a lovely development or a gated community with great amenities. Sometimes it’s the home itself that pulls people in and makes for a faster sale.
You have but to drive down almost any street on Long Island to see multiple signs announcing to the world, “buy me.” Because of the increased length of time it takes to find a ready, willing and able buyer, you have to be realistic if your motivation is get your home sold. The days of multiple offers and bidding wars are a thing of the past and there’s a new mentality among the buying public. They very often and after much thought, proffer a price only to refuse to then play the game. It’s a one time offer and it’s not negotiable. And sadly it’s happening more and more. So think carefully before you feel insulted or turn it down out of hand, you might be chasing after them by next spring..
Sellers in Nassau and Suffolk counties who want to move on have to learn the new math. Don’t overprice and be willing to entertain all reasonable offers.
Snowbirds — What You Need To Know! October 22, 2006
Posted by Geri in Buying a Home, family, General, Home, Long Island, New York, Real Estate, Selling Your Home, Uncategorized.add a comment
For many Long Islanders, especially as they grow older, winter and 
cold weather is something they’d just as soon avoid. In growing numbers they head south for the season, many to their second homes in Florida. It seemed the ideal solution when they purchased, offering the opportunity to remain near family and friends in the north for the greater part of the year and to enjoy “paradise” while we shiver, and where nobody’s heard of a snow shovel.
Because of the inequity in Florida’s tax structure, these snowbirds aren’t entitled to the homestead exemption, resulting in property taxes totally out of whack with year round residents who just might be their next door neighbors. Unless Florida does something to accommodate their winter population, they’re likely to lose revenue to other states in the sunbelt.
Everybody’s A Doctor, But Find Yourself A Good Plumber October 15, 2006
Posted by Geri in Buying a Home, family, feelings, General, Home, Real Estate, Uncategorized.add a comment
I’m always amazed when buyers, especially first time buyers, are ready to make an offer on a listing only to get “expert” advice from . . . everyone. It can be incredibly confusing in a frightening enough transaction involving enormous amounts of money when you get conflicting advice. I’m reminded of a statement my allergist made many years ago when we couldn’t figure out just what was causing my problem. This brilliant and talented man was putting me through a battery of tests to determine what allergen was creating havoc in my body. In surprising numbers almost everyone I met had a theory and a cure. When I called the doctor to ask about some of these possibilities, he said “everybody’s a doctor, but find yourself a good plumber.” That statement has remained with me all these years. It’s so true, everyone is an expert. Well meaning friends and family are all to willing to offer advice but their experience, if they have any might be so dated as to be worthless or worse, it could be a premise built on shifting sand.
If you’re in the market to buy a home, find yourself a competent professional and feel free to ask as many questions as you need to in order to feel comfortable with the process. Then rely on their expertise to point you in the right direction. Your goal, as is theirs, is to get you into a home that will serve your needs and hopefully bring you a lot of happiness.
The First Time’s The Hardest September 8, 2006
Posted by Geri in Buying a Home, Long Island, New York, Real Estate, Uncategorized.add a comment
If you’ve never bought a home on Long Island you may find the process a little daunting, like having your first child. Unfortunately, neither event comes with instructions, you take tentative steps and 
gain experience along the way. Couple this with a language as foreign as any you’ve yet to learn and you just might suffer inexplicable terror. Find a good agent to work with and you’ll have a guide to walk you through the process, steering you past any mine field along the way. Choosing the right broker for you will determine your level of stress. Pick someone you can talk to and voice your concerns. You’ll know the first time out whether this is the person for you. Go with your gut instincts.
There are many unique aspects to buying or selling property in downstate New York. Attorneys write contracts here, unlike most of the rest of the country. Because of this and because it’s extremely rare to have a “sit down” contract any more, the paperwork goes back and forth between both legal representatives until all the details and wording are acceptable to both. A check, traditionally in the amount of 10% (although many times negotiated to 5%) of the purchase price is written and transmitted with the signed contract to the seller’s attorney. The down payment is then put into an escrow account until the closing, typically 60 to 90 days later. In other parts of the country they’re shocked by what is perceived as our antiquated methodology for transferring title of real property. To us it’s simply business as usual.
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