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Foreclosures Are Getting Too Close To Home October 3, 2008

Posted by Geri in family, foreclosures, Long Island, New York, Real Estate, Real Estate Market.
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I shouldn’t be surprised about the ever increasing number of foreclosures on Long Island.  After all, it’s old news and it’s pervasive.  My friends in real estate are experiencing upside down sales, short sales and foreclosures all over the country.  But it’s like anything else, you feel the sting when it gets too close to home.
A colleague of mine asked me recently to take a look at a home he was thinking of purchasing to flip.  He was looking for reassurance in these uncertain times that he was not biting off more than he could chew.  He asked me to meet him at the home and to give him my advice.  From the moment he gave me the address I had an uneasy feeling.  I knew this property.  As I drove up I got a lump in my throat.  It was as I feared, a house I sold not all that many years ago.  Sadness overcame me as I walked through the rooms with him, remembering the final walk through and the excitement this couple felt at finally owning a home after years of renting. 
It was hard to focus on the task at hand as memories flooded my brain.  These were good people — caught in difficult economic times.  Though they had moved a number of times before, it was always by choice, not happenstance.  My heart broke for them.  I don’t live under a rock and I see the direction the housing market has taken over the past two years, but this made it personal . . . too personal. 
The number of lis pendens (notice of pending action) in one town of Long Island in just the last 24 hours was six.  That’s astounding and it’s only one day.  The situation is critical and someone has to stop the bleeding and find a way for these people to be able to stay in their homes and get back on track.  I’m not talking about the people who used their homes as ATMs, pulling equity out time and again to finance their lifestyles.  I’m talking about people who simply need time to get back on track.
There was an article in Newsday that says it more succinctly than I can.  There were 134 homes repossessed on Long Island last month.  This is a microcosm of the national level of default.  Though the problem may have begun as a result of the subprime fiasco, it has filtered down to the mainstream loans, to people just like us.  It would behoove the powers that be to consider Hillary Clinton’s proposed moratorium on foreclosures.
Something needs to be done.  I hope someone is listening.

Let’s Give Them Information and Get Your House Sold December 5, 2006

Posted by Geri in Buying a Home, Home, Long Island, Marketing, Real Estate, Real Estate Market, Selling Your Home, Uncategorized.
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I suppose the holiday season plays some part in my reflections on the past year, professionally and personally, and the industry in which I function.  As a Realtor, you might think I’m in the business of selling homes, but bricks and mortar are not at all what it’s about.  In reality, I’m in the people business.  An excited smile on the face of a buyer when I finally get to say “you got the house,” is my reward, as is the relief erasing deep lines of tension on the forehead of a seller left behind to mop up the final details of a home sale.

I’m lucky enough to be there at times of transition, when my support is a rock they can lean on, so it disturbs me more than I can say when I hear stories about agents who care far more about themselves than the people they represent.  It is not unusual for a listing agent to suggest to an unwary seller that his/her buyer is the best choice because . . . you fill in the blank.  Unfortunately, it may or may not be true.  With a much higher commission at stake, it’s easy for some to convince you and themselves that they’re acting in your best interest.   You need information presented to you in a dispassionate way.

Then there’s the question about how much information should be shared about your property.  A days old post in the blogosphere brought the topic front and center for me . . . again.  Believing that the ultimate goal is to get your home sold at the best price the current market will bear, in a timely fashion, we want it to be found — by a lot of potential buyers.  Understanding that people in search of real estate are likely to want to know where it is, I always (with my sellers’ permission) include the address.  Sometimes purchasers are interested in a particular school, or proximity to highways or shopping.  If they have no defining data, they very well might pass on your home, depriving you of what might be the perfect match.

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.
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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.

The Annual Debate — Is It Time To Sell, or Buy? November 21, 2006

Posted by Geri in Buying a Home, Home, Long Island, New York, Real Estate, Real Estate Market, Selling Your Home, Uncategorized.
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Thanksgiving, just two days away, kicks off the holiday season, focusing attention on shopping for gifts not houses.  I’ve had sellers ask me for weeks whether the market for homes is dead for the balance of the year.  This may come as a surprise, but in my world there’s usually a surge of activity between now and Christmas, setting the wheels in motion for a number of closings in the early months of the new year.

Even with the less than stellar environment we find ourselves in on Long Island, I see increased interest and activity.  Possibly some of those buyers waiting on the sidelines for the elections to be over are now ready to make a move and are positioning themselves to act when the right property presents itself.  So to all those sellers and buyers trying to decide whether the time is right, the answer is — if it fits into your life plans, your timing is perfect.

It’s Time To Buy — Just Ask NAR November 3, 2006

Posted by Geri in Buying a Home, Changing Market, Home, In The News, Marketing, NAR, National Association of Realtors, Real Estate, Real Estate Market, Selling Your Home.
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There is so much discussion in the press and the blogosphere about NAR’s decision to start an ad campaign in order to counteract some of the doomsayers’ predictions of a precipitous fall in real estate prices.  Short on memory or steeped in drama, the media at first having denied the existence of a bubble, then backtracking and announcing it and their subsequent take on the “burst,” blasted the airwaves with a defeatist scenario.   The last time I checked, none of us had a working crystal ball.  If we did, I suspect we’d pick the winning lottery numbers or the next Microsoft and not waste our time in the business of selling or reporting on real estate. 

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan announced in mid-2005 that “at a minimum, there’s a little ‘froth’ (in the U.S. housing market) … it’s hard not to see that there are a lot of local bubbles.” President Bush said of the U.S. housing boom in early 2006 “If houses get too expensive, people will stop buying them … Economies should cycle,” and cycle they do.  The problem with all the prognosticating about a crash or hard landing for the real estate market is the probability of it becoming a self fulfilling prophesy.  Say anything often enough and people start to believe it, especially if it comes from a “credible” source.

It’s understandable then that the National Association of Realtors would take a stand on behalf of its constituency and attempt to counteract the negative press and stampeding mentality of those paid to publish bad news.

I Couldn’t Have Said It Better Myself October 28, 2006

Posted by Geri in blog, Bloggers, Blogging, General, Marketing, Real Estate, Real Estate Market, Selling Your Home, Uncategorized.
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Under the category “I couldn’t have said it better myself . . .” is this post from  Seth Godin.  I sat down to share it two days ago but sheer exhaustion forced me to temporarily put it on the back burner.  I’ve been spending weeks unexpectedly acting as a general contractor, getting a home ready to market, and shopping for the necessary accoutrements to stage it for sale.  The house was stuck in a time warp, with flocked wallpaper heralding your arrival into it’s archaic past.  This project is in addition to a full load of other business in various stages of development.  However, in our stagnant market in order to really serve our clients, we have to be very creative in our approach to selling their property.

But I digress . . . Seth’s very straightforward comments about how we interact with our clients and the impact it has on both them and our business reminds me of a technique we used many years ago when I was vice president of a sales and marketing company.  We ran seminars all over the country and Canada, showing CEOs how to maximize their marketing dollars.  Before these meetings we would phone their companies incognito and record the conversations to demonstrate how important the person answering the phone was to the financial well being of that company.

Grown men sat, head in hands, listening to the most appalling dialogues between their employees and us, or worse . . . they sat shifting in their chairs as time ticked slowly away while we were put on hold.   Astoundingly these pregnant pauses sometimes lasted for four or five minutes.  Bill, my boss, would then take out a crisp one hundred dollar bill and dramatically set it on fire as they reached out in horror trying to put out the blaze.  When the room was once again still he would quietly tell them, “this is what you’re doing to your advertising dollars if you don’t train your people. 

That challenge was made at least twenty-five years ago and nothing’s changed.  If we’re trying to generate business but haven’t figured out how to nurture it once we have it, we defeat everyone in the process.  The old adage “do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” certainly applies.

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.
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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.

Down Market — What Down Market? October 9, 2006

Posted by Geri in Billy Joel, Changing Market, Entertainment, Estates, General, Home, Long Island, New York, Real Estate, Real Estate Market, Selling Your Home.
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All the doom and gloom predicted for the Long Island real estate market seems to have had little impact on the proposed sale of Billy Joel’s Centre Island waterfront estate.  What do you get for the $37.5 million dollar asking price?  If the 14,000 square foot, 5 bedroom home with eight fireplaces, a guest cottage, bowling alley, wine cellar and pool don’t tempt you, perhaps it’s location on 14.2 acres of prime property hugging the shore at Oyster Bay Harbor will cause your heart to flutter and have you reaching for your wallet.  

Not there yet?  There’s always the added cachet of owning the home of a star — and one of Long Island’s own.  But before you put the agent’s phone number on speed dial you might want to consider that even Billy Joel couldn’t build a dock on his property, though he made a valiant effort.   As a national wildlife refuge, no new piers have been approved on these waters for a very long time.

If you get past the inconvenience of having to dock your boat(s) elsewhere, you just might find a little homestead you could love.

If You Want It Sold . . . September 7, 2006

Posted by Geri in Blogroll, Changing Market, Long Island, New York, Real Estate, Real Estate Market, Selling Your Home.
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There was a time when all you had to do to get a home sold was list it.  Nothing fancy, though some very classy marketing pieces were used by those of us who saw a value in it.  It set our listings apart from the crowd, but if truth be told, the market for home sales on Long Island was white hot.  Those were the years when you didn’t have to have great expertise to get the job done.  The frenetic activity by a buying public did it for us.

Then came the change.  As we watched the long touted “bubble burst” those in the industry for six years or less had no frame of reference for how to deal with a new environment.  Prices were coming down like lead balloons and with inventory increasing at alarming rates, none of the tried and true was working.  Buyers were sitting on the sidelines waiting to see how things leveled out, ignoring ads in local newspapers.  Equally ignored were the full color ads in local real estate magazines.  Even web sites, formerly drawing the eyes of huge numbers of potential purchasers, were sitting dormant.

In today’s real estate marketplace, at least here on Long Island, the single most important tool we have is pricing your home right from the start.   We need to assess where similar homes have been selling within the last two to three months and price yours aggressively.  The temptation to get you just a little bit more can wind up costing you tens of thousands of dollars as time and buyers pass you by.   

The Current Real Estate Market August 30, 2006

Posted by Geri in Buying a Home, Changing Market, Long Island, New York, Real Estate, Real Estate Market, Selling Your Home.
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If any of you have bought or sold a home on Long Island in the last five or six years, you’re aware of the incredible ride the real estate market has taken during that time.  There was one two year span during which prices increased fifty three percent, forcing first time home buyers to explore other alternatives.  Acquiring their piece of the American dream seemed elusive. 

Some buyers, to break into the market, gave up their visions of a verdant backyard space for the confines of a condo or co-op development, just to stick a toe into the real estate waters on Long Island.  Prices on those in many areas were astounding, with numbers upward of $500,000.  Those were lean times for the uninitiated, but the tide has turned.  Those same buyers are today holding most of the cards as prices tumble from their astronomical highs.

For sellers it’s been another sort of adjustment.  Having expectations that their family’s home would fund a comfortable future, no matter what part of their evolution, they are now confronted with a new reality.  They are not likely to get prices that their friends and neighbors got two short years ago and they are slow to adapt to the new math.  Because real estate professionals find themselves in uncharted territory, they’re often not much help to a floundering public.  What should your home sell for?  The honest answer is, “we just don’t know, but it’s worth no more than a buyer is willing to pay for it in this market.”  Unfortunately because agents are afraid to lose a potential listing, they sometimes take houses on to market at prices they know the market won’t substantiate.  This creates two problems; one is that inventory is ever climbing since properties are taking much longer to sell, and two, they’re faced with unhappy sellers who refuse to see the light and assume it must be the fault of the agent representing them.

The market we currently find ourselves in, much like the rest of the country, is in transition.  It’s normal and has been long overdue.   Real estate is and always has been cyclical.  So if you’re looking to buy, you’ll benefit from the change.  Selling today, though you’re likely to get less than two years ago, can be a wash.  If you’re both a seller and buyer, you just might make it up at the other end.