Really Real Estate....................... Blog

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.

Inaguration

It is with tremendous pride in being an American that I watched Barack Obama take the oath of office of the President of The United States. It says a lot about our character as a nation that this took place. Regardless of my personal politics, that we as a nation can come together, grow, change to ultimately fulfill our founding promise (that all mankind is created equal)  is our greatest achievement (surpassing ‘The Love Boat’). What was unimaginable forty years ago was imagined 240 years ago (give or take a decade or two).

And finally realized today.

Patience

The new word is Patience. Every transaction is taking soooo much longer than ever before. At the height of the market the transaction went from showing to offer to accepted offer to engineering to contracts to appraisal in a week’s time. Now it takes two to three weeks just to schedule the inspection. It is taking months before contracts are fully executed. And everyone is at their last nerve, me included. But instead of avoiding the phone calls or the emails, I embrace them as a way moving forward. Every conversation is another step forward. Every request for a utility bill, a septic cleanout, another visit to the property is a positive thing, a show of faith that this deal will move forward. Patience, breath in, breath out ----

Oh My

In the immortal words of George Takei, as Sulu in the Strar Trek series, “Oh My”. Oh my, what a year.  As many of my colleagues retreat into the Holiday Season, one can only speculate on what’s to come.

           Telling ourselves that we should be optimistic, that the bottom of the market has come and gone, the low interest rate will bring buyers back into the market, one can only wonder at what Reality has in store for us.

            The agent who can put a deal together, keep it together and bring it to close has to commend himself for his forbearance and not secretly complain about having to buy his client a closing gift. They will have deserved it.

            My advice: don’t watch the news, don’t read the papers, don’t talk to your friends and relatives. Trust your agent. If they can get the deal done, they will find a way.

            Thank the powers that be for a little snow. It gives us all a chance to lick our wounds and prepare for what’s to come.

            A Happy and Healthy  Holiday Season.

What Do I Think?

A Buyer just asked me what I thought of a particular house. His specific question was, “would you buy it?” I usually respond to that by asking the buyer not to ask me that question. The buyer usually insists on an answer. What he really wants to know is “am I making the right decision.” Am I an idiot for liking this house? Am I paying too much for this house and you’re secretly laughing at me? The question gets even harder to navigate when the couple is divided on which house to purchase and they are looking to me to make that decision for them. “I’m not making that decision for you” is how I answer but I can feel the pressure mounting to give them an answer. Normally, I find a way to tap dance around the question. There are those Buyers that will pin me down for an answer. That’s when it gets tricky. That’s when you have to ask them the questions they need to be asking themselves. Do you need a big dining room? Is the bedroom space big enough for you? Can you live with only one bathroom? Hopefully, they will be able to answer the question about buying the house for themselves. It’s better that way.

Rude

It may have been my fault. I thought that I made the appointment for 9:30 Sunday morning. My clients and I got there about 9:30. Rang the doorbell. The homeowner answered with a look of surprise. “I thought we had changed the appointment to after 11. This is really early for us.” I apologized and asked if it was alright if I showed the house in spite of the mixup. Reluctantly, she agreed. As were coming in, her husband was coming down the stairs. He stopped me. Look right at me and began to berate me for coming too early. “I don’t have to sell the house if I don’t want to. I should kick you the f@&k out. I don’t need this crap from you Realtors.”

            This stopped me cold. It made me look very unprofessional in front of my clients. It embarrassed me. And then it made me angry. We, the Realtors he was unloading on are the ones keeping this market moving despite the horrendous state of things. We go to work everyday and try to make sense of this market to our buyers and sellers. We hold their hands with genuine compassion as we try to accomplish what right now seems the impossible, getting these properties shown and sold.

            That homeowner should have thanked me for showing his house despite the mixup, and been nicer to my clients, the potential buyers of his ‘chalet’, instead of chasing us away with his rude and inexcusable behavior.

State Of the Union

Haven’t written much since my last writers block but not because of writers block. Just don’t know what to say. What do you say about a market like this? Do you make a funny joke? Do you try to analyze what is happening? Do you bitch and moan?  Do you shake your fists in frustration? Do you offer kind words of wisdom? Do you just ignore what is happening? Do you blanky stare at the stock marker ticker in the corner of your computer? Do you pretend that the market is better than it is? Who are you fooling? Or am I going to be the only agent who is so busy he doesn’t even notice the current state of affairs? What do I say to my seller clients? Hold tight. Hang in there. And to my Buyers: Buy something, anything.