Really Real Estate Blog

The Certificate of Occupancy

“I bought the house this way” or “I didn’t want my taxes to go up” or the ever popular “I didn’t think I needed one just for a bathroom downstairs” are all valid reasons not to get the Certificate of Occupancy but no longer applicable once you decide to sell your house. One of the single greatest impediments to successfully closing on the sale of your house is the absence of a proper Certificate of Occupancy.

Scrambling at the last minute to obtain the CO’s necessary can be a major headache for all: the buyer, the seller, the lawyers and the agents.  The misery is equally spread around. Despite the due diligence of the listing agent, the lack of aproper CO might not be discoverable until the Title search comes in. 

Case in point, I represented a house that for all appearances had no CO issues until we learned through the title search that the date the house was built was not accurately recorded in the town. We thought the house was eligible to a prior to zoning letter when in fact it was not and now needed a whole house CO. This involved getting a Variance for road frontage, getting certifications for the plumbing, heating, electrical systems. In other words, a nightmare. It took us eleven months to get the CO. Unfortunately, we lost the original buyer in the process. In the end we had to sell the house for 15% less a year later.

 That was a worst case. Another case in point: I’ve had a listing where the seller had to tear down his deck (which didn’t have a CO) and give the buyer a credit for building a new deck because we would not be able to get the CO in time for the buyer to close on the purchase of the house.

 Most of the time these issues are preventable if the homeowner is willing to get the proper CO’s at the time they list the house for sale. 

Needless to say I have learned my lesson. The answer is get your Certificate of Occupancy and get it now rather than waiting until you’re in contract and scrambling to close. It is a lot less wear and tear on all involved.

homes for sale in Yorktown Heights, NY 10598 Westchester, NY

The Art of Talking to Yourself

If you are in the real estate business long enough, you will talk to yourself. When I was a green agent (new not energy efficient) and first walked into my real estate office I noticed a lot of the agents exhibiting this very strange behavior. I was having conversation with some agents who, it turns out, weren’t talking to me. They were talking to themselves. They were actually having a discussion with themselves. I checked their ear for the cell phone Bluetooth but it wasn’t that. They were really talking to themselves. Like mental patients. But it wasn’t the new agents or the part time agents, it was the senior agents, the busy ones. So responding to idea of mimicking the habits of successful people, I started talking to myself. It was only then that I started to get busy. You get so busy that you now actually have to talk to yourself just to sort through all the random stuff floating around your brain. It works. It is fun to watch too.  

Houses in Yorktown Heights, NY 10598

Having Fun with Real Estate

Looking at houses should be fun. I know I still have fun looking at houses. I try to make sure my buyers find the process of looking for a house fun. You have time later in the process to stress out. But for now, in the looking stage, it should still be fun. And why not. I think it is a universal thrill walking into a strange house for the first time. Will I like it? Will it look like the pictures? Is the blue room really that color blue? “Look,  They have the same taste as I do” or “Oh my god, how could they live in that room?” Where should I put the new flat screen I have to buy (or rather, save up for) after I buy the house? You’re not going to like every house you walk into so it’s okay to joke around as long as the sellers aren’t home to hear you. If the Buyer enjoys the experience of looking for a house it 1.) makes your job easier and 2.) it will ease the buyers stress when they actually move forward in the process of buying a house.

Pricing Your House or Marketing Your House to Buyers

I just had an interesting discussion with a seller. He was expecting me to compare his house to others that are active on the market. He didn’t want to price his house below where similar other houses were priced. In looking over the other houses many of them were priced ‘to negotiate” and not to sell at the asking price. Most sellers believe that they should pad the asking price of their house so they have “room’ to negotiate. While that was an acceptable position in a strong sellers market I don’t think it is one for our market today. Instead, I suggested we figure out what a buyer is actually going to pay for his house, not just the special one of a kind buyer, but the average joe buyer looking in the market today. If the Buyer is going to only pay $400K for his house then we should list the house for $409K. At least we have a shot a the buyer who can afford to pay $400k for a house to find yours. If we list it for $439K or $449 we might miss that buyer completely. If we list it for $419 or $429k that $400k buyer may be looking at the top of his range and still may miss the house. You can’t take a chance anymore not having the buyer see your house because of the ‘asking price”. This way the seller is still in control. He does not have to accept a $350k offer.

Price your house to sell to a buyer not another seller.  

Vacation

I am sitting poolside at my friends beautiful new house in the Hamptons, right on the bay facing the ocean. I have a drink in hand and its just noon. I realize I haven’t taken a day off like this since the market collapsed two years ago. I don’t remember how to relax like this. I am constantly checking my cell phone and email. I have to make sure that my time off doesn’t impact my clients or associates need to communicate with me. I am impatient and restless. I am forcing myself to sit still. You see what good that did me. It struck me as so bizzare that I had to write about it.

Ahh Lawyers

Why are lawyers getting involved with house values? I know of two deals that have gone south because the lawyer recommended to the buyer that the house they are buying, according to the lawyer, is not worth the price the buyer is paying for it. The appraisal came in at contract value. The buyers agent provided a Market Evaluation confirming the price. The lawyer, who did not have access to current comparables, who is not qualified to make a price determination, who did not show the client 50 houses in the same market area until the buyers found one that suit them, who did not invest time, money and their expertise in helping them make a decision on what to buy, convinces them that they should wait until the prices fall some more, because any house they are going to buy now is too expensive. The other line I heard was “I wouldn’t buy that house for that price, you can get a better deal.” Needless to say, the buyer who has spent all of fifteen minutes with the lawyer, listens to the lawyer and not the agent, with whom they have spent forty hours with over the last three months. I would expect this to happen with the family lawyer, or a friend of the family but both these situations occurred with a lawyer hired just for the transaction. I’m not sure how the lawyer stands to benefit from interjecting their opinion into what should be an easy and well thought out transaction but I do know if the tables were turned we, as agents, would certainly be admonished for attempting to practice law without a license.  (I know that technically, an attorney can practice real estate, but when was the last time you went out with an attorney to look at houses.)

 

Me on TV

I recently taped a 12 minute segment on Bronx Legal TV. I'm the first guest and come on about 2.30 in. For your viewing pleasure:

BRONX LEGAL/JULY 14, 2009

The Snowstorm

I think the next few blogs are just going to be fun Real estate stories to lighten the mood a little.

 

Here goes my snowstorm story.

 

I was taking a Buyer around. I am one of those agents that find themselves with certain buyers who wind up looking at dozens and dozens of houses before buying one. Sometimes, tens of dozens. I don’t know why… it just happens. Maybe because I show a lot of patience. Maybe I don’t like to let go. Whatever it is, it seems to be my fate. Well, Madame X and I were out for the the tenth time. It is February. We’ve seen a few houses and then it starts to snow. And I mean really snow.  We continue our tour but  are late now to every house. It’s getting dark. The snow is piling up. We have one more house. We are an hour and a half late for the appointment. It is almost 8:30 pm.

“Do you want to go to this last house,” I ask in my most pathetic tone.

“Sure, why not,” is her enthusiastic response.

 

I don’t know why but I decided to risk it. I can’t get my car up the hill to where the house sits. It keeps sliding around the invisible road. We finally make it into the driveway. I knock on the door. Needless to say, the family is in their pajamas.

 

“We didn’t think anyone was coming in this weather”

“Since we’re here do you mind if we look at the house?”

 

Now we wait for the seller to take pity on us and let us in to track snow all over his wood floor. In we went, my Buyer being her exceptionally pleasant self (and I mean that literally). As we walk out of the house, I can tell she is excited about the place. She is wearing very high heeled boots. Next thing you know she’s on her ass in the driveway. I thought she really hurt herself. I get her up and she tells me, “Either you get me this house or I’m going to sue them. "

 

I got her the house.

"Look Mah, I'm On TV"

It is very distressing to watch how Real estate agents are portrayed in movies, novels and TV. I started to do some research on this and was sidetracked by other concerns. I intend to come back to it and someday write a longer article on it than I usually do in this space. I have yet to find a portrayal of a Real Estate agent in a positive image. Take American Beauty, where the real estate agent, Annette Benning, has a sexual encounter with a buyer in an empty house. Or Two and ½ Men, where Holland Taylor sells her own son’s house to a foreign diplomat when it isn’t even on the market. Or everything Nicollete Sheridan does on Desperate Housewives. This is just the tip of the ice berg. I know I go to work everyday trying to come up with a great plan to help my seller sells his house or go out of my way to accommodate a buyer’s schedule. And I know my fellow agents do the same but where are those agents portrayed? Even lawyers get portrayed as the hero every now and then and you know what everyone thinks about lawyers. I am collecting examples of how Real Estate Agents are portrayed in fiction. If you can think of one send it to me. I will put together a list and publish them here on my blog.

The Great Collapse

It seems quite frivolous to blog about silly real estate stuff when there is some really life changing real estate issues dominating the market place. Most of my current transactions are fraught with tensions about mortgages, appraisals, possible and actual job loss, short sales. Some people are selling their homes not by choice but through real need and my empathy goes out to them. Transactions that originated in October are just coming to close now in March. And these are the easy ones. My fellow agents, mortgage brokers, inspectors are seriously questioning their ability to continue in this market place. It is in short, a nightmare for all of us. The bright spot is a heightened camaraderie amongst us, a desire to help each, share whatever business we have with each other and help our buyers and sellers get through these difficult times and transactions, with a positive outlook for the future. It is heartfelt and satisfying to witness our common humanity in an industry that has fingers pointing to it as the cause and culprit of what will one day be named the Great Collapse of the 21 century.