Buying and selling real estate isn’t like buying clothes or furniture or dinner out: It’s expensive, complicated, and emotionally draining. In 2019, it was most of those things, for most people…
…
Imagine you are a buyer. Like most buyers, your first choice is probably a brand-new home in a top neighborhood, but your budget may not match up with those offerings…
…
I am writing this on a holiday weekend morning. The daily email just arrived with the list of today’s open houses. Ready? It’s 45 pages long and there is an average of eleven houses per page…
…
A few years back, in the pre-internet days, I worked with a couple who told me they wanted a “modern,” “private” house. No problem…
…
I recently had two separate conversations about real estate that led me to the same conclusion: Buyers and sellers have never been more polarized…
…
Everyone is on the internet nowadays — including shoppers.
And that’s why real estate sites are so popular: They provide up-to-the-minute information on prices, values and listings, school zones and neighborhoods, and surrounding homes and businesses.…
…
A few years ago, a client called with a complaint. Her friends who knew her house was for sale had asked why it wasn’t advertised. That seemed … odd. I’d received several requests to show it just this week, I told her, from potential buyers who had seen ads on the internet and posts on social media.…
…
This April was the first tax season where homeowners’ taxes were affected by tax reform. And people felt it. I’ve been helping people buy and sell homes in the Hamptons for about 30 years, and I can tell you that a property’s taxes used to be one of the last questions that came up…
…
Brokers know that when the sun is shining and the pools are glimmering, it’s the perfect time to show houses. We pop in and out of homes with our clients on a whim, dropping in here and there to check out a kitchen, a backyard, or a view. Just kidding.…
…
Let me begin, here, by describing a real estate situation that’s far more common (and much more complicated) than you might think: A would-be buyer finds a four-bedroom home that’s almost perfect. It’s just lacking a fifth bedroom — however, there’s plenty of space for one in the basement. The buyer offers to purchase the house, subject to being able to create that extra bedroom in the basement. Shouldn’t be a problem…
…
Ask any broker: There’s always a story at the ready about buyer-seller conflicts. We expect them and are very rarely disappointed. At best, we hope to get to the closing table without some horror…
Read More
If you’re already fantasizing about lazy Hamptons beach weekends: It’s time to start looking at homes to rent or buy. It might seem premature, but after 30 years working in Hamptons real estate, I can promise you that people are already getting their ducks in a row for the summer. Below, I’m sharing the steps you should take now if you want to buy or rent a house for the summer. If you want to buy a house: It’s time.
Read More
In the season of puffy coats and 5 p.m. sunsets, summer couldn’t feel further away. But if you’re hoping to sell or rent your Hamptons home for the upcoming summer, it’s time to get on it. Some home shoppers have already claimed their 2019 summer homes, but don’t worry if yours isn’t ready to show: There is still plenty of time. Weather permitting, the three-day weekend in honor Martin Luther King is the unofficial start to the new year home shopping season.…
Read More
In early 2016, I published a blog post, Reflections: a look back at the year in real estate.
That was three years ago (can you believe it?), and many things haven’t changed…
The rental market is still perplexing, increasingly reliant on online home-rental sites. Most of the towns have rental registries now, and they’ve turned out to be inconvenient but ultimately not problematic for business…
Read More
If you’ve listed your home for sale, there’s a good chance you love it. It’s full of memories, from your child’s first birthday to her college graduation. When you look at it, you remember backyard barbecues and diving contests in the pool. It’s a wonderful place, and whoever buys it will be lucky to have it.
Let’s talk about yet another scenario in real estate in which buyers and sellers are from Mars and Venus, respectively: when there are multiple offers on a home.
If you’re a seller, one buyer is welcome, and multiple buyers are a windfall. Because you know what multiple buyers can mean, right? A bidding war…
Read More
Summer 2018 rental security deposits may still be pending, but homeowners are already looking to the 2019 season and pondering the annual question: rent or sell? Many answer that question with another: Why not try both? List the property for rent or sale and decide what to do if/when they get an offer for one or the other. It sounds like a win-win, but I can offer five reasons why it may not be all that it seems — and one reason why they should consider it.
If you’ve ever sold your Hamptons home and bought another — or vice versa — you probably think this blog is about you…
Read More