Happy Memorial Day!

Memorial day is sort of the official start of summer or at least the gateway to it. But more importantly it is a day to remember the men and woman who serve in the military and those that lost their lives serving their country. I will leave it at that.

2009 for me was the year of the renter, I completed over 80 rental deals that year. The first quarter of 09 started out as one of the bleakest I can recall, but there were the faithful who believed it would pass and seized the moment to improve on their housing. For those brave souls that purchased in the early days of 2009, they were rewarded with the lowest prices since the markets began to stabilize. When doing research for pricing TODAY, we must in many cases ignore or at least factor in the "Armageddon" trade mentality that was happening in January, February and March of 2009. Again based on what is happening NOW, there were some very good to deals made by the brave buyers of early 09.

Now 2010 has been the year of the buyer for me as confidence and stability made a comeback. Don't get me wrong there still is a lot of inventory that is underwhelming in quality and over priced and sitting like so much stale bread. But the quality units that have it all are trading fast and furious, especially under 1 million dollars. I have also been working with buyers that require a two bedroom in the $600,000 to $800,000 dollar range in specific school districts, not easy. These are available, but in a limited supply and when a good one hits the market it's generally sold in short order. Although there are some instances of multiple offers going above ask, this is not always the case. Many of the AAA apartments hitting the market will attract multiple bids, but quite frequently still below ask.

My business model continues to drive an unusual amount of business my way. I am currently working with about 10 buyers and fielding many calls every week from those interested in what I am doing. I currently have 5 or 6 deals in contract and as of today one offer accepted as of Friday and another in negotiations. For the most part it has been smooth sailing and I continue to learn and tweak things as time goes on. I believe in transparency and making sure that my clients are aware of what transpires between me and the listing broker. I have found that it is better to forward communications to my buyers rather than cc them on all emails. For the most part the listing broker is not accustomed to seeing the client cc'ed and in one case contacted the buyer directly, upsetting my buyer. Of course buyers will be aware of all important communications and in many instances  eventually see the trivial stuff such as scheduling appointments since there is generally one thread. I don't forward stuff such as asking a basic listing question or setting up an appointment. If the question is answered of course then that email will be forwarded. That said if the client requests that they be either cc'ed or forwarded ALL communications I am happy to do so.

It would appear that the mortgage markets really are loosening up a bit. One client just received their commitment letter for Jumbo with 25% down and although the process was intense, the loan got done. I still have about 1/3 of my buyers going the cash route and those applying for conforming loans have had very little trouble and pretty normal turnaround time. My buyers continue to be a sophisticated group, very educated and holding out for deals that they believe make sense. These are all people planning on owning their apartments for at least 7 years, if not longer, including one young couple who proclaimed they would die there! Hopefully not anytime soon!!! I have also advised many buyers not to buy at times with things getting a little heated as we apparently disagreed. Two instances were young couple looking to purchase in LIC with a holding time of about two years...not a good idea. They felt (the men!) that they could sell at this time and make a tidy profit? Then move onto the burbs to start a family.OK.

Much of my communication is via email and this can at times be challenging as it's not always easy to judge the intended "tone" of the message. I am a communicator, so when I sense something is wrong or been misunderstood I try and clear the air as quickly as possible. Usually we all get a good laugh over the mis-communication or at the very least we come to an understanding about the mis-understanding.

I try very hard to keep the lines of communication open. I also try very hard not to be what many come to expect from a sales person. I am of course not perfect and if a mistake is made I will own up to it and do my best to correct it. Real estate can become very emotional and I do my best to put myself in my buyers shoes and understand things from their perspective. My thinking is we are a team working together to bring the process of buying a home to a successful conclusion. Keeping the entire process as transparent as possible as we move through the the labyrinth of New York City real estate.

All in all I have been swamped! Adding to that are several rental listings that are sucking up a lot of my time and I cannot wait until they are gone, hopefully by Tuesday. I have been working 6-7 days a week with most nights not getting home until after 8pm. Since I cook dinner most nights it's been a bit challenging! But I am thankful for the business and all the wonderful people I meet. In many cases we become friends and that continues after either the deal closes or even if no deal materializes. Enjoy your long weekend!