Westchester View

The Time:  Wednesday August 3rd – 6:30-8:30 PM

The Place:  Keller Williams NY Realty -  120 Bloomingdale Rd.  Suite #101 – White Plains NY 

The Topic:  Facing Foreclosure?  You have options!

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Recently, I’ve posted several posts on the issue of the French American School of New York and their  purchase of the Ridgeway Golf Club.   Previously many of the home owners in Gedney Farms enjoyed the wonderful vista of golf course views from their back yards.  Most bought their homes with the understanding that should the golf club disappear, the local zoning was for very low-density housing . Now FASNY wants to build a major campus for 1200 students on the grounds.
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If a lockbox could talk – they would probably have a lot to say for themselves.  They know that they are more than just a pretty face adorning your front door.  They understand that most sellers  don’t fully appreciate them, but they don’t mind.  They know that if you understood what they do -you appreciate them more.   After all – they look like a simple mechanical device – but a lock box is much more than that.  A lock box increases the flow of buyers through your home and  it is an indication to agents and buyers that you are serious about selling your home.

Nothing is more irritating to a busy buyers agent who has  multiple showing tours every day  than finding   a notation that they have to go and pick up keys at the brokerage – and return them once they are done.  This wastes an enormous amount of time and gasoline and throws a major monkey wrench into a carefully planned tour that may have taken a couple of hours to set up.  Unless the home is a must-see, if the schedule is tight – I will drop the home from my tour.  Does that sound harsh?  It isn’t.

Picking up keys  turns a process that should involve one trip into three trips – which includes parking, meters, and perhaps a parking structure with an elevator.  It is a needless waste of time, money and gasoline.

Why do sellers and agents shoot themselves in the foot like this?  Privacy should not be an issue because showings are subject to appointments.  Security shouldn’t be glitch either since the new lockboxes require a “key” that licensed agents pay a pretty penny for.  So why create barriers for showings  for no good reason?

There are reasons why some agents prefer to have the keys picked up at the brokerage.  I’ve never heard any that actually hold water and for the most part the “real” reasons are for the  benefit of the agent and the brokerage – not the seller.   Be skeptical of an agent who really wants to “control” the listing in this way.  An exception to this rule would be a high end property that has many valuables on the premises.  In that case the showings might have to be accompanied – and for good reason.  But that is the rare exception to the rule.

A seller might get away with this in a few parts of our market where inventory isn’t that soft.  But I’m seeing this in places where theres 14 months of overhang. It just seems surreal  that an agent or  seller  would erect  roadblocks  to showings when there is enough competing inventory out there to sink the Titanic.

So use a lockbox – and be kind to it.  You lockbox  knows its job – and they  have a tremendous work ethic – they are on duty 24/7 for you until your home is sold.

© 2011 – Ruthmarie  G. Hicks – http://thewestchesterview.com – All rights reserved.

About 10 days ago I had about an hour to spare – so I grabbed the camera and spent some quality time on the Yonkers Waterfront.  After writing about the Science Barge and my new feathered friends, I thought it was time to share the waterfront photos.  The area is the southernmost  part of the River Walk that is being built along the Hudson from Peekskill to the Bronx border.  Eventually it will be a contiguous walk.  The views of Manhattan were pretty amazing even though it was hazy and hot – and that little girl in the last photo was obviously having a great time…

The Manhattan Skyline from the Yonkers NY Waterfront

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One of the strange ironies of home selling is that paint is one of the easiest changes a home buyer can make to personalize a home.  Nevertheless,  I have seen the wrong paint color become an insurmountable obstacle for many potential buyers.  The home is perfect in every way for this buyer – all it needs is a new paint color – but the buyer moves on. Why is that.  Marie Graham – Ninja Stager Extraordinaire – explains why this is.  If you are selling your home, and your agent or stager suggests painting – take that suggestion to heart.  How you sell a home is not how you live in a home. You are creating a depersonalized space with a neutral palate that allow buyers to mentally move in. – Ruthmarie G. Hicks..

Why Color Sells….by Marie Graham

We’ve all heard that saying…but do you know why?

More importantly, do you want know how it can help sell your house? 

There are three parts to the equation, the  first being that the eye is drawn to color and light.  Always, and immediately.

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This post is inspired by Tni LeBlanc  who wrote about getting a steal of a deal  in real estate today   In her post she suggested that HGTV might want to take this one up….

So I have a proposal for HGTV – Let’s create  a show entitled “The Real Estate For Robber Barons Challenge“   By turning it into a competition we can create criteria for the best Robber Baron.  Think competition like Design Star with the ruthless cut-throat edge of The Apprentice.

Each week contestants need to find a distressed seller who is willing to sell their home for a fraction of its actual value.  The ability to achieve this is based on  the contestant’s capacity to con  the seller to ignoring  the basic principles of mathematics,  common sense  and their own best interests.  The contestant  then creates almost instant profits  via the the slum Lord route or by flipping for an obscene profit. This is all done with minimal seed money that the contestants saved in a cookie jar over a period of six months.

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Last Friday, I made a few new friends.  Not of the human variety – my new pals had feathers and seemed to enjoy  spending their time time soaring above the Hudson River near the Yonkers NY waterfront.

I don’t spend that much time down there so I was surprised at the number of seagulls that  had made themselves at home in this location.   They were  perched along the River Walk – Kings of all they survey.  They graciously allow us land-locked bipeds to share their  habitat with them.  And a couple of them obliged me by posing for a photo shoot.   The little guy below was particularly generous with his time.  He posed for shot after shot.  When he finally flew away, I promised I would pick a photo that showed off his best side…I hope his nest has a high-speed connection and that he approves  of the shot.

© 2011 – Ruthmarie G. Hicks – http://thewestchesterview.com – All rights reserved.

Sometimes you learn about something new when you don’t expect to.

I was at the Yonkers Waterfront between appointments the other day – and enjoying the blazing hot sunshine.  I don’t get to this location all that often so I hadn’t noticed “The Science Barge” before.

The Science Barge  is a sustainable urban farm that serves the dual purpose of being an educational center.  It is a functioning sustainable food production system and demonstrates the power of renewable energy.   They grow tomatoes, cucumbers, and lettuce with no net carbon emissions, no pesticides and no runoff.

The Science Barge program is now in the being administered  under the Groundwork Hudson Valley

The Barge is open to the public on Saturdays and Sundays from 12-6 PM  and $3.00 is the suggested donation. 

This is a great and inexpensive way to learn about sustainable farming  and fun for the family as well.

For even more information on the science barge – visit their blog   -  http://thesciencebarge.tumblr.com/

© 2011 – Ruthmarie G. Hicks – http://thewestchesterview.com

The other day I was in Tarrytown in the late afternoon  and as I was  looking up at at the Tappan Zee Bridge I  saw the long snaking trail of cars and trucks at a dead standstill.  I could  feel their misery.  They were on a bridge that spans about 3 miles traveling so slowly that might as well be going in reverse.  With no  way out  the drivers are burning gasoline, inhaling fumes and wasting their most valuable commodity on on earth – TIME.  All on a hot summer day.   Been there, done that many times myself.

But this brought to my feeble mind one of the biggest cliches in real estate. May sound trite, but it is all too true .

“Real estate is location, location, location!”

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One of the nice things about living in Westchester NY is that every town and village  has its own events and unique character that all Westchester residents can enjoy.  Larchmont NY Homes are very popular because of all that the village has to offer.     This summer Larchmont’s Memorial Park is hosting concerts at 7 PM every Monday from July 11 – August 1.    Granted the first concert has already passed us by – but there are three more:

July 18 – A Night of R&B with Reunion
July 25,  Caribbean Rock & Roll with Twist of Fate
August 1 – Woodstock Here We Come with Back To The Garden 1969

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