A real estate colleague of mine from another geographic area recently wrote an article on private forum about a REALTOR all of us in the business are all too familiar with. He named her Ethyl Broomhandle and I would give this agent credit for his diatribe, but I have a feeling that he wanted his comments to remain anonymous.
We all know her.
The most obnoxious real estate agent that God ever created. Aggressive, nasty, mentions repeatedly that she has been in the business since the dawn of time. Agents cringe in horror when a buyer falls in love with one of her listings. I’ve written about her before on professional forums. In fact – a good chunk of my time with my real estate coach is spent talking about how to deal with the Ethyl Broomhandle’s of the real estate world without finding myself at the bottom of a bottle of Cabernet every night.
But through all of this, I never came clean. Well I have a confession to make… you see I created Ethyl…I did this 20 years ago when I was young and foolish. While the public was focused on the cloning of Dolly the cloned sheep – they didn’t know that a group of mad scientists – of which I was one – had created clones of thousands of “worst nightmare” real estate agents and deposited them in every brokerage across the continental US.
How did this happen?
You see – about 20 years ago when I was first starting out as a budding mad scientist – we were under a lot of stress. We decided that we deserved to have a “fun project” to lighten our burden. Then one night a couple of us got drunk while watching Star Trek reruns we got our inspiration from this episode: The clip gives you the conclusion…
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It’s been said that numbers don’t lie – or do they? I love statistics. Heck, I worked as a molecular biologist in mammalian genetics. I defy anyone to find a scientific discipline that is more reliant on solid statistical analysis than that!
But…. as anyone in the sciences will tell you – statistics are only as valid as the data they are measuring. I saw more than my share of deceptive creative uses of statistical models. In the science/engineering disciplines “peer review” holds these “creative types” accountable and by and large it does an excellent job. In fact this is often where the rubber meets the road for most of the junk popular pseudo-scientists who whine that they can’t get published.
Sadly – I haven’t run into the real estate watch-dog equivalent of peer review.
Phil Faranda wrote a blog about REALTOR stats being open to the public. He sighted a post from Agent Genius about how when the Houston Association of Realtors started disclosing these stats – agent protest caused the program to be discontinued.
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The weekend rolled around fast and my work schedule prevented me from posting this earlier today. The Westchester events calendar is once again up for your convenience. Once again, there are plenty of Westchester County events to pick from. Sure, the city is just a train ride away – but there is plenty to do in your own back yard.
Friday, August 13
New Rochelle Farmers’ Market
Huguenot Street and Lawton Street
FRIDAYS 8:00 AM TO 3:00 PM
Stone Barns Farmer’s Market
Seasonal Farmer’s Market
2-4 PM for the general public.
630 Bedford Rd – Tarrytown, NY 10591
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I know, I know, this sounds about as interesting as watching paint dry. it’s kind of like having fire insurance. The top BOOOORRRRRRING – until you have a fire and then its a topic of high interest.
Well….we have a fire!!
if you don’t find the topic interesting now – you will. Just as soon as the implications for your own web presence become apparent.
At this moment in time you can access anything on the internet with equal speed. All those big companies with their pockets stuffed full of VC can not do one thing: they can not control the speed with which your web site or theirs is accessed. In this way – we are all equal. My blog will load as fast as Trulia or Zillow.
BUT -what if that could change? What if the Trulia’s and Zillow’s and ALL of those wonderful indexed IDX companies could “buy” their way to the front of the line. Their sites snap up in the blink of an eye – while your site which has been carefully and lovingly nurtured can’t be opened or has been left in the slow lane because you couldn’t pay what they can.
What if your readers suddenly had trouble accessing your site?
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Larchmont NY*, like all other communities in Westchester, has been hit hard by the housing recession. But there is some light at the end of the tunnel for Larchmont. Single family Larchmont NY homes for sale are enjoying renewed strength. Resales are brisk with inventories low and prices are up over the previous year However, the coop and condo markets are showing an entirely different pattern.
Same Location – Two different Markets:
Single Family Homes – Larchmont NY
This market is actually turning into a seller’s market. There are a few pockets in Westchester NY that can make that claim and this is one of them. The price reductions over the past few years along with lower interest rates have brought buyer’s out of hiding in some select areas. Th median sales price in Q 2 2010 was $1,153, 000 – up 11% from the previous year. Sales as a whole were up 156% over the previous year. If you look at the current inventory as well as the number of Solds in Q2 along with current contracts & pending sales – you have about a 3-4 month inventory in Larchmont NY homes for sale. This puts the single family home market into more of a seller’s market than a buyer’s market. The low inventory is suggestive of price increase in the future.
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The weekend rolled around fast this week – and its supposed to be a great one. – The Westchester events calendar is once again up for your convenience. Once again, there are plenty of Westchester County events to pick from. Sure, the city is just a train ride away – but there is plenty to do in your own back yard.
EVERYDAY EVENTS:
Open Gym
The County Center is open to high school students for basketball, foosball, board games, knock hockey and general socializing
6 p.m. to 10 PM – Free to all
Westchster County Center
198 Central Avenue
White Plains, NY 10606
(914) 995-4050
Friday, August 6
New Rochelle Farmers’ Market
Huguenot Street and Lawton Street
FRIDAYS 8:00 AM TO 3:00 PM
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The Stonecrest Cooperative: 21 North Chatsworth Ave – Larchmont NY:
The Stonecrest of Larchmont is an elegant pre-war Tudor cooperative with a rich history in an historic village. Located on N Chatsworth Ave the location is nothing short of ideal. Few Westchester coops could compete with this location. Just steps from Metro-North and center of the village.
21 N Chatsworth Ave. has been a desired location since Lou Gehrig called the Stonecrest home. This is definitely a leave the car behind location – with a coveted “walker’s paradise” score of 92 out of 100 from walkscore.com. The train, shopping and fine dining are just steps from your door.
This is a doorman building with a common laundry. There is a waitlist for parking which can be either outdoor or indoor.
Tarrytown NY is known for its shopping and fine dining. Tarrytown NY restaurants are known for their variety and quality and during the summer months tables and umbrellas dot the landscape of Broadway and Main St. while residents and visitor enjoy outdoor dining. Personally, I like Tarrytown. It has all the charm of a turn-of-the-century Westchester village with an artsy edge that gives it personality and just a touch of funk. Although restaurants like Sweetgrass Tarrytown which offers only the best in organic fine dining, there is an informality that is very appealing and not as apparent in some of the villages along the Long Island Sound. Since Tarrytown to Grand Central is only 37 minutes by express train, this is a commuter village with a vibe all its own.
Plenty of blame to go around on this one. The only blameless soul in the mix was the center of attention Shirley Sherrod. So much of this has to do with the partisan bickering that seems endless these days. But at the end of the day EVERYONE was guilty of reacting to quickly. Jon Stewart is able to put everyone in their place with a sense of humor and sarcasm that would be more hilarious if it weren’t such a sad commentary on the state of our union.
Enjoy the clip – and have a great weekend!
(Here is the link to the video – from the Daily Show Site – should the embed not be working.
© 2010 – Ruthmarie G. Hicks – http://thewestchesterview.com – All rights reserved.
It’s the weekend again – and the Westchester events calendar is once again up for your convenience. Once again, there are plenty of Westchester County events to pick from. Sure, the city is just a train ride away – but there is plenty to do in your own back yard.
EVERYDAY EVENTS:
Open Gym
The County Center is open to high school students for basketball, foosball, board games, knock hockey and general socializing
6 p.m. to 10 PM – Free to all
Westchster County Center
198 Central Avenue
White Plains, NY 10606
(914) 995-4050
Read the rest of this entry »
