Westchester View

This post was initially published on Active Rain about a year ago. It was during the election cycle so the parallels to our political system make more sense. I have modified it somewhat for this blog. My reason for reposting is simple: Many buyers and sellers seem to fall for the smooth-as-silk , extremely slick salesperson. Many of whom promise to help buyers “steal” a home and sellers sell for a price that hasn’t been seen since 2006. I tend to not work with scripts. I don’t like being scripted to – so I try not to script to others. So here is the post. Enjoy the clip at the end – its interesting nearly a year later as an example of how scripting devoid of understanding or true content can be dangerous to the “scripter” as well as the “scriptee. “

OK, so this idea was stolen from Jennifer Allen and Karen Rice. I only lift ideas from the very best! When I do, at least I’m honest about it! Recently Jennifer wrote about how she felt after she had been pitched to with a script. Karen Rice later described going to a “free” REALTOR.com technology tools seminar. She may have gotten a free meal, but she paid for it with a long hard sales pitch that went on endlessly and offered little of practical value.

For the most part, I readily agree – most of us like to feel that we are too important for a script or “pat” dialogue. Personally, I hate scripts, and haven’t used them. However, my down-to-earth approach comes at a price. I’m not SMOOTH. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not sloppy, but I’m not as polished as a scripted agent because mine is generally an honest response to an honest question. To be smooth – most of us need scripts. That lack of smoothness, answering questions honestly as they are presented can create a feeling of roughness, less polish – the opposite of slick. In many cases it won’t fly. Many audiences are so used to being scripted, they won’t tolerate anything so direct. In some ways, they need to be “sold.”

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It may be the dead of winter, but a buyer’s housing market is in full bloom in Scarsdale. Some sales statistics point to one of the best buyers markets for single family homes than has been seen in a very long time.

Cooperatives:

Coops in the coveted Scarsdale zip code (10583) showed less stress than single family homes. They were one of the bright spots in an otherwise grim quarter. Prices were down a mere 4.6% over the previous year – with an average sales price of $251,000 for the 4th quarter. There was a mild (perhaps insignificant) average price increase of $13,000 from the previous quarter. The number of units sold in 2008 was not significantly different from the 2007 numbers. But there has been a significant inventory increase of 8.4 months reflecting the season and the general weakness in the New York market.

It should be noted that for cooperatives I use the Scarsdale post office and not the municipality for these statistics. This reflects the way buyers tend to shop of for cooperatives. Buyers shop in terms location not municipality.
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Westchester has been resistant to price decreases since 2005:

Until recently, the Westchester real estate market has been very resistant to the housing recession that has been headline news in many parts of the country. Don’t get me wrong, there were signs that the market was far softer. But average and median sales prices had held up and even increased since 2005 when the housing recession began.

Westchester prices are heavily influenced by its unique location:

Reasons for the resilience are many – but I will mention the most obvious one. There is this old saying: Real estate is location, location, LOCATION. Okay – I know its a cliche – but in this case it happens to be true. The primary reason Lower Westchester has remained on solid footing is its location. From most points, mid-town Manhattan is a 40 minute commute or less. The train ride is convenient and comfortable. That is a HUGE perk and people are willing to trade real money up-front in exchange for more family time, less wear and tear on their cars and gasoline. Ask anyone who has experienced the grinding commutes north and west of lower Westchester and they will tell you more than you ever wanted to know about how a long commute saps your strength, your wallet and family time. Although some of the stats ahead are not looking too pretty, this fact should be uppermost in everyone’s mind for when the market recovers – which it will.

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In my previous blog on choosing a listing agent, I explained why agents sell homes – not brokerages. If that’s the case, then the issue uppermost in most seller’s minds should be:

How do I choose a good listing agent?

How do you find an agent who is worth their weight in gold rather than straw?

Here are some tips on what to look for and what to avoid:

What to avoid in a real estate agent:

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In these difficult and challenging times, it is very difficult for the potential seller to cut through all the “noise” and “hype” about listing agents and what individual brokerages bring to the table. In an industry that desperately needs more transparency, there is probably more hocus pocus floating around than ever before. Tales about how agent “X” can sell your home for more than agent “Y” in less time abound and have become the stuff of legend. Apparently agent “X” has that secret potion that moves homes – and what’s more, he’s got the sales figures to prove it! Big box brokerages also make the same claim. “Our Rumpelstiltskin marketing plan will attract buyers willing to pony up pure gold for your house made of straw!” In truth, like most fairy tales, these claims usually don’t amount to much.

First and foremost – AGENTS sell homes – brokerages don’t. With a few notable exceptions, most brokerages spend shockingly little money marketing a seller’s home. I’ve seen situations where brokerages will spend about 0.1% of the list price. That’s about $500 for a $500,000 home. If the home lingers on the market – and the advertising money is used up – that’s just too bad. The rest is left up to the individual agent who is unlikely to have very deep pockets in this current market.

True, many brokerages have spent hundreds of thousands for very fancy web sites brimming with eye candy and tons of nooks and crannies for buyers and sellers to explore. They try to blow sellers away with the fanciness of it all. As in the story of Snow White – there is a lot of smoke and mirrors to this tale. Bottom line – these sites are designed to do two things: Convince sellers to list and buyers to call.
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Sometimes agents talk amongst themselves. Share our war stories and generally discuss the market and where we think it is going. Over the past few weeks I have been hearing a similar theme being expressed in different ways by several agents and brokers. It’s something that I’ve been feeling too – but haven’t expressed verbally – until now. Yesterday, one agent finally put his finger on all the euphemisms regarding “buyer behavior” over the past year when he said he is seeing a lot of “angry buyers.”

We are in one of the best buyer’s markets that Westchester County has ever seen. So why all the hostility? Buyers are in the drivers seat. But like the angry comic, Lewis Black, there are quite a few buyers who seem almost hostile no matter how much the pot is sweetened. It’s never quite enough and they keep pushing the envelope until there is no more. Even after they’ve been offered a gooey sweet pot – they sometimes walk away convinced that they are being ripped off.

My guess is that many of these angry buyers feel that they have been denied their “market crash.” They have been patiently waiting for the market to take a blissful dive off a cliff. After all, a crash of catastrophic proportions was promised by news media. A cohort of buyers were waitin’ and hopin’ and wishin’ and prayin’ for a complete collapse in the Westchester housing market. Then they were then going to swoop in and snag a steal and live happily ever after purchasing a $600,000 home for $200,000.
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The first time I was asked this question, I was quite surprised. Since that time I have been asked that question several times by real estate professionals, potential clients and friends. All questioned the time and effort involved in maintaining a successful blog and several suggested that I should simply be happy to do what “everyone else” was doing and create website.

But that’s exactly the point. Real estate is a service profession. A well thought out blog organized for ease of use providing high-quality content can be of great value to those contemplating a major real estate transaction. It is service that I offer to the public. Blogs are continually updated providing a venue that leaves most websites in the dust. Such a format permits a more in depth look at issues of specific interest to those interested in buying or selling, such as market reports, neighborhood profiles, neighborhood statistics, lending information and much more. If well organized, the archives of a well-run blog can provide hundreds of relevant posts that are at the reader’s fingertips. Websites can not hope to provide such in-depth content.

In addition to the regular posts, this blog also has many of the features that a strong website boasts, including a link to the public version of the MLS and information and local data such as reports on local school systems.

So enjoy your time on my blog. And feel free to stop lurking long enough to post some remarks. I would love to hear what you think of my site, including the good, the bad, and the ugly.