Westchester Real Estate Talk

Westchester County has until now managed to withstand the current decline in sales.  Until Now.  Yesterday the Westchester Multiple Listing Service issued it's 1st Quarter 2008 market report.  The number of single family homes is down 30% for the period.  Some snippets:

To read the entire report from the Westchester Multiple Listing service, here.

I view staging as part of the marketing of a home, one piece of the puzzle.  Price, brochures, pictures on the internet are all parts of the marketing.  When going on listing presentations if a home would benefit from staging I will discuss it with a seller.  I explain that staging can help maximize the investment they have, buyers will walk in and be so pleased they will want to buy their property.  Not all seller's feel they want to stage their properties for various reasons and I respect that.

Last September I posted a study and discussion from the National Association of Exclusive Buyer's Agents about staging which offers a differing view:

NAEBA advices buyer's to look beyond the staging and admit that most buyer's can't. 

"A survey of the group's 500 members, who represent buyers and only buyers -- they take no listings -- found that more than four out of five house hunters are likely to be distracted from important issues when they tour a staged home. Worse, though, is that more than half of the respondents said that staged homes often cover up defects, including structural damage"

What's the Problem with Staging

For buyers staging shows them the possibilities in houses, furniture placement, beautiful wood floors and cleared counters in the kitchen.  But some buyer's would rather pay less.  They didn't hire the stager to show them the possibilities.

Two days ago I received a call from a buyer.  Let's call her Betty.  Betty has been going with a broker to look at properties. Betty walked into a property that she loved and made an offer.  Her broker presented the offer, let's call her Broker, Janet.  Janet presented the offer.  Janet then gets a call that there is another offer and the owner is going to accept it.  Better terms and a higher amount.  Janet calls Betty and tells her there is another offer.  Betty decides to increase her offer to the asking price, she really wants this apartment.

Janet does not call her back for two days.  For two days.  Betty is upset she is afraid she will lose the apartment. So she calls me to go see other properties in case she can't buy that apartment.

I ask her to please call Janet back and see what is going on as I didn't want to run around needlessly showing her properties.  Betty says no I tried and she doesn't call me back - it's been two days.  I tell her to call the Office Manager at Janet's office and explain the problem because if she waits she will lose the apartment.

The punch line.  No Betty says.  I don't want to complain about her she is such a nice lady and she is older I don't want to upset her.  But it's about you not the agent!  No, no, no she is such a nice women.

She lost the apartment.  And this is a business? 

Last weekend in Westchester County, New York there was a horrific accident where a home was struck by lightening.  According to the news reports the roof of the home was struck, the fire lingered in the attic for two hours and then the ceiling collapsed.  If there were fire alarms in the home they may not have been set off by this fire whch was contained in the attic.

One of the most important fire safety devices for the home is the smoke alarm. After becoming generally available in the early 1970's home smoke alarm sales grew rapidly and the price fell, so that by 1991, 88% of US homes had at least one, and alarms could be purchased for under $10.

Several studies have concluded that when working smoke alarms are present, the chance of dying from the fire is cut in half. The smoke alarms currently in place have saved thousands of lives, but several problems exist. First, the 12% of homes without alarms have more than half of the fires; second, it is estimated that a third of the smoke alarms in place are not working, often due to failure to replace a worn out battery; and third, many homes do not have as many smoke alarms as are needed to protect the occupants properly. In this section, we will examine how to protect your family with smoke alarms.

From FEMA, guidelines for smoke alarms, here.

 

    

Images of the home Aaron and Christine Boring bought in the Pittsburgh suburb of Franklin Park in October 2006 appeared on Google's "Street View" feature, which allows users to find street-level photos by clicking on a map"

here

A few weeks ago I did a blog about the legality of taking pictures of homes and posting them on the internet.  Here is a link to this post, if you want to see the comments. Several of the comments mentioned Google amd their Street View Pictures and stated that if Google took pictures and posted them on the internet it meant it was okay for all of us to do it.  Well, this evening on Fox News there was a segment about a couple who is suing Google for $12,000.  This couple has a "Private Road" sign at the beginning of their property which Google drove right past with their car with the camera on top.  Before this couple knew it there were pictures of their house and their pool on the internet.  Well guess what.  Google will take down pictures of houses that the homeowner wants taken down.  They took down this couples pictures.

In my area in central Westchester County, New York the Google car drove street by street several months ago so if you feel your privacy has been invaded because Google has posted pictures of your property on the internet, take note

Here's a nifty tool to see by zip code and/or community  a Dynamic Map of Nonprime Mortgage Conditions in the United States from the Federal Reserve, check it  out or here.  The snapshot above is a list of the information available.  You can figure out where your particular area is headed from the information on this site.

I had this experience this week.  A property came on the market,  priced right, staged, in the right community. Multiple good offers.

Although official numbers are not yet tallied for the first quarter of 2008, the slowness in the market that began to take hold last year "is really here in Westchester now in a serious way," said P. Gilbert Mercurio, the chief executive of the Westchester County Board of Realtors.

Bidding wars may be anomalous in this environment, but they do happen. Mr. Mercurio is one of several experts who theorize that multiple bids result from a combination of shrewd pricing and falling inventory levels, as some sellers take their homes off the market and others hold off putting theirs on.

"With the supply limited," he said "people are competing hard for the few properties that are exceptional," and the owners of those properties have sized up the market realistically in pricing their homes.

From the New York Times, here.

Miriam Bernstein, CRS, ABR, GRI, e-Pro, SRES       
Associate Broker, Licensed in the State of New York
RE/MAX Prime Properties, Westchester County, New York 10583
www.MiriamBernstein.com
"Content of this blog is solely my opinion

Westchester County's Earth Day Celebration
Kensico Dam Plaza, Valhalla
April 13, 2008,11am - 3pm

Discover practical and easy ways to make your home, the earth and Westchester County a cleaner, greener and healthier place to live - and have some fun at the same time. Admission and parking are free.

In addition to Westchester County holding an Earth Day many communities around Westchester County will also be holding their own Celebrations, Hastings-on-Hudsonm Bedford, Tarrytown, plus others will be added, schedules click below

Westchester County Earth Day Schedule.

Earth Day Schedules by Community