Westchester County New York Real Estate Blog

Market to the Right Buyer's!

 

Being objective when you sell a house you have lived in for a long time is very difficult for may sellers.  Part of this for some sellers is denial about the overall condition of the house, things you have lived with for years a buyer might consider a problem or a reason to offer a lower number.  From Realty Times:

Even though you may have lived in your neighborhood for years, taking the time to drive or walk around it is a good idea. But this time do it with the same viewpoint you had when you were originally considering buying your home. It can really be a very different view. If you’re objective, you’ll see both the key selling points of the neighborhood as well as the things that may deter buyers. Seeing it all is beneficial because that’s exactly what potential buyers will see.

To read the rest of this article, here.

Why Do Buyer's Always Want to Know?

When buyer's find a house that they like one of the first questions they ask is "Why are the sellers moving".  This is a personal question and not all sellers are willing to say, because it is personal.  As a listing agent we are obligated to protect the seller's interests and if they request that we not disclose their reason for moving, we don't disclose it.  Job relocations, divorces, loss of a job all are personal and a buyer does not have a right to know that information.  A buyer has a right to know anything and everything about a property they are considering buying. 

Things disclosed become public knowledge and what if a seller wants to keep his private stuff private does that in some way effect the house, no it does not.  When I take a listing I explain to the seller that the buyer's will ask why they are moving and what are they comfortable with me disclosing or what would they like me to say.  Sometimes there is no problem and a seller will say downsizing, relocating, etc but sometimes things are a whole lot more complicated like a job change where the current employer hasn't been told yet.

Not disclosing the reason why is rarely about the house, it is personal.

Oops! I Should Have Countered!

Several months ago I had an offer on a house in Westchester County.  My buyer was preapprovaed and very qualfied, very qualified.  We presented a low offer.  The owner said that my buyer needed to come up on their offer before they would counter.  The offer was just too low.

The house was asking $625,000 and the offer was $530,000.  The offer was too low, too low to counter. So they didn't.  Now, I know that my buyer wanted to negotiate.  They wanted a response to their offer, they wanted to hear from the seller a response.  There was no response.   Only the offer was too low.

I said to the other agent, gee, doesn't the owner want to see where this buyer might go and then make a decision.  No, the offer was too low.  Gee, does the owner understand what is going on with the economy?  Hello!

The house just closed for $15,000 less than my buyer had been willing to pay. 

 

^{Copyright 2009, Miriam Bernstein and Westchester Real Estate Blog, All Rights Reserved}

What Does "For Sale" Mean?

Putting a house on the market for sale can really be an inconvenience. Agents make appointments and don't show up or are late, buyer's want to come back more than once before they make an offer, buyers work and want to come at night and so it goes.

Following is a link to a blog post by Lenn Harley A Broker in Maryland who outlines some of the issues with being a seller and why it is in your best interests to let us do our job even though you might find it a pain.

 

"What does "FOR SALE" mean?   

"It means that the home is listed FOR SALE by the owner with the understanding that interested home buyers will be visiting the home to walk through it to help them, the home buyers, determine whether or not the property will be considered as a future home.  Often, after trying to get access to a home listed for sale, I come to believe that the seller wishes to sell but doesn't want anyone visiting.  Fact is, many home buyers need to visit a home for sale more than once before making an offer.  This is particularly true of first time home buyers, which is a huge percentage of our market today"

Lenn's post here.

Buyer and Seller Closing Costs, Single Family Homes, New York

Below is an overview of closing costs in New York State for a single family house. This is just a guide.  The estimated costs are subject to change depending on the bank, the price of the property, which bank attorney, etc.  Please don't quote these numbers but rather compare one estimate to another.

SELLER'S CLOSING COSTS

Transfer Taxes
   New York State .4% (.004) of the sale price; Yonkers and Mt. Vernon have separate          transfer taxes, Peekskill is considering one, please check in your community.   

You Are Late!

I have been busy with showings.  I do my best to judge the amount of time each buyer will take in a property and plan accordingly.   What I can't plan is if the buyer gets stuck in traffic and is late.  Or if the baby sitter doesn't arrive when they said they would and that makes the buyer late.  Or if they get a flat tire on the way.  We agents do our best but things happen that are out of our control.

It would be nice if we could call each home owner and explain we will be late but by the time the buyer arrives we can't site in our car with our buyer and call a multitude of offices and ask them to call each homeonwer and explain that we will be late because by the time we do that we will be later.  Some of the offices are better than others, some aren't even open on Saturday afternoons anymore.

It would be nice if seller's understood we are doing our best and we can't always be on time.  It can be annoying to have a house on the market for sale but it is the only way to get the job done.  Please be patient and cut us some slack.  Thank you.

                                       

     Miriam Bernstein can be reached at 914-907-1922
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Using a Lock Box if You Are Selling is Important!

This past weekend I had a buyer who is relocating from out of this area.  They are in the initial stages of this search and while they have spent a lot of time on the internet and learned a lot it is now time to go and see and check things out.  This particular buyer would like a short trip into NYC.  They wanted to see houses in Pelham, New York which is one community that doesn't use lock boxes.  In an hour instead of seeing multiple houses because of this practice of no lock boxes and having to pick up and return keys to offices located in congested areas with no parking we could see far fewer houses than if lock boxes were available.  It is possible that some of the offices in Pelham use lock boxes but the listings I called to show all needed keys to be picked up.  The buyer having to wait while I returned keys before we could move on to other communities they wanted to see.

As of yesterday there were 97 active single family houses available for sale in the Pelham area.  Ease of access for showings would increase the number of showings and help market and sell more homes.  Throughout Westchester County with the exception of this community and one other that I am aware of , lock boxes are used and buyer's are not inconvenienced.

It's Hard to Make Plans!

 

Back in January I listed a house at 23 Harvard Drive in Hartsdale, New York.  The seller had found a house out of the area but needed to sell in order to buy and move.  Not so easy in this market.  With the average days on market standing at 197 I knew this was not going to be easy.  After a bidding war and multiple offers we found a buyer. Not all agents are the same, not all agents use the same marketing.  There are really major differences in agents, agency's and marketing.

Listed on January 23, 2009
Contract Signed on February 16, 2009

Sold on April 23,2009

ps: they bought their house!

99 Harvard Drive, Scarsdale, New York 10583 - SOLD!

 

This was my listing and was listed on December 11, 2008.  Agents called me and asked why would you put a house on the market in the middle of December just a few days before the school vacations and end of year holidays!  NOONE IS LOOKING, you should wait until after the New Year and spring is better.  No I said and 23 week days later the contract was signed.

listed 12/11/08
contract signed 1/9/09

Need to Sell?

Address is Scarsdale (po), New Rochelle Schools.

A Second Way to Not Sell A Home

If your house is on the market I would bet you have heard more than once that pricing it right is the most important thing you can do.  Yesterday I showed a house in lower Westchester County.  It's nice house.  The homeowner has lived there for about 17 years years and has done quite a bit to keep the condition current.  Nice house, nice location.  Here is the problem.

This homeowner was home to let me and my buyer in to preview the house.  This homeowner as we walked into the kitchen gave my buyers three seconds to look around before she felt compelled to say "would you like to see the basement now" and opened the basement door.  I said to this homeowner, "please give us a minute to look at the kitchen, we will call you when we have a question".  This homeowner would have none of that.  She followed us all over the house.  She told us that every bedroom has a closet and that every closet has a light.  She followed us up to the third floor.  She followed us to the lower level, she sat outside while the buyer looked at the property.

She followed us everywhere.  My buyer felt a bit uncomfortable about looking at the house.  If you are trying to sell your house the best thing to do during showings is GO TO A MOVIE! or FOR A WALK! or anywhere other than staying in the house.  This was truly awful and uncomfortable.  Your agent will tell  you to leave during showings, please listen.

Search for A Home Like an Agent!

Whether you are buying or selling now in Westchester County New York you can sign up for a free account and search directly from the Westchester Multiple Listing Service.  Sellers can check oiut properties that have sold in their area and receive automatic updates of properties on the market. Click here and check it out.

Between Agents

Real Estate agents have all kinds of ways of going from beginning to end in a Real Estate transaction.  Some agents put in an offer, communicate attorney information and then disappear into some large black hole never communicating the progress of the deal.  Others agents will return an email or phone call when asked, others don't stay on top of their deals and don't know how to respond.

This is what happened to me on a recent transaction. The other agent is rather new in the business and her client was a relative.  This agent thought it would be okay to pick which information she would divulge and would not permit the listing agent to properly do their job.  Even in the climate we find ourselves with the banks, where listing agents in order to do their job properly need to scrutinize a buyer this is how she proceeded.  Other than understanding that this is the job her perception was that the listing agent was unnecessarily giving her a hard time by questioning the ability of her buyer to get a mortgage.

I personnally love it when an agent informs me along the way as to the status of the transaction.  A call that says, my buyer has submitted his application to the bank, my buyer has gotten a provisional approval, the appraisor will be coming next week, my buyer has submitted their application to the the co-op board, my buyer is going to be interviewed on such and such, etc.  I find these calls invaluable for an owner.  I always approach my transactions this way and keep a listing agent and seller informed.  It helps a seller plan their next step.  I explain this to my buyer's so that they know to keep me informed.

Buyer's need to understand that properly analyzing a buyers ability to purchase a property helps a seller make a favorable decision as to whether to accept their offer.  Seller's need to feel comfortable that a buyer is qualfiied.  It is no longer enough to just present a bank pre-approval.  Listing agents may require further information, may call the mortgage broker or bank the buyer went to and ask some tough questions.  Be prepared.

 

Selling? Check out my Selling Videos

If you thinking of selling and want some helpful tips on how to prepare your home, painting tips, room by room suggestions, curb appeal- what to do, check out my home sellings videos.  Click on the box below .

The Agent Said What? Selling and Things you Should Know

If your property is on the market or you are thinking of listing your property there are some things you need to know about your listing agreement.  When you discuss the commission you and your agent will arrive at an amount of commission.  You and your agent will then need to decide how to split that amount between the agent representing you (the listing agent LA) and the agent that brings the buyer.

There are three ways on the Westchester Multiple Listing agreement that you can split the commission.  You can agree to pay a sub-agent, a buyer’s agent or a broker’s agent. 

1. Historically we were all agents who worked for the seller.  Even if we brought the buyer, we represented the interests of the seller.  The seller was responsible for what we said and what the agent who brought the buyer said.  This was called sub-agency.  If an agent brought a buyer to a property and the agent said “oh, no problem, of course you can expand the house” the seller was responsible for that statement true or not.
2. Next came buyer agency.  As a seller you could now choose to compensate a buyer’s agent.  That agent has a fiduciary responsibility to the buyer.  That agent is looking out for the interests of the buyer.  As a seller it is in your best interests to pay an agent to bring a buyer even if they represent the buyer.  Buyer’s then have the right to hire an agent to represent them, they don't have to use the same agent as the seller. Most buyer's need their agent paid out of the proceeds of the transaction so if a seller does not agree to pay a buyer's agent in a sense they are taking away the buyer's right to have their own agent. Their rights are protected.  The seller is not liable for the statements made by the buyer’s agent.
3. Now we have something called broker’s agency.  This is an agent that the listing agent is responsible for.  If a broker’s agent says something without checking it first, the listing agent is responsible for that statement.  The seller is not liable for what the broker’s agent says.

As a seller it is important that you clearly understand this part of the contract.  In one area of Westchester County the seller's are advised to only compensate a buyer's agent.  That way the seller is not liable and the listing agent is not lliable.  The buyer's agent is responsible for what they say.  This is different throughout Westchester County, area by area.   

Allowing Access to Brokers Means Showings

If you are thinking of selling your home you will have a discussion with your Agent about how to provide access for showings.  The easier you make it for buyer's to see your home the more showings you will get.

In Westchester County our Multiple Listing Service uses the Sentrilock System.  Each member of the MLS has a card that is about the size of a credit card.  We have to "renew" this card every three days through a card reader.  The showings are recorded on this card which is encoded and when we renew it on the interenet it records which properties we have accessed.

You and your agent will know at all times who has been in your house, it is recorded.  Appointments need to be made prior to showings.  There are some agents who belong to our MLS and may be from another area so they don't have a "Sentricard".  These agents have to call the listing agent for special instructions on how to access the property.  At all times we need to verify that the individuals calling for access are indeed licensed with the New York Department of State.

These Sentrilock boxes hang on fences, front doors and I have even seen them hanging up a tree because a homeowner felt more comfortable that this box not be in plain view from the street.

When I call to make an appointment at a property the last thing I want to hear is that there is no lockbox and I need to pick up a key.  I know that for some homeowners the thought of a lockbox is uncomfortable but truthfully when there is no lockbox I can't always show the house.  Sometimes my buyer is pressed for time and I can't make it to your listing agents office to pick up a key and return it after the showing - too time consuming.

Easy access equals more showings which in turn equals more offers.

Copyright © by Miriam Bernstein, All Rights Reserved*Allowing Brokers Access to Show Your Home