New REBNY 24 Hour Rule - Duh - It’s About Time

September 30th, 2007 | 1 Comment

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According to the Real Deal, at the ResidentialNYC.com press conference on Thursday, REBNY announced that exclusive real estate listings must be shared with co-operating real estate brokerages within 24 hours as opposed to the previous 72 hour rule. Personally, the sooner listings are shared amongst brokerages the better it is for consumers and the Manhattan real estate brokerage community. Is this big news, no, not really. Just thought you should know.

So why did the 72 hour rule exist? It gave the exclusive listing broker an opportunity to sell the listing in-house. This usually meant that if they had a buyer, they could quite possibly get both sides of the commission. Some refer to it as double dipping. However, after 72 hours of receiving an executed exclusive right to sell contract with a home seller, the brokerage was required to share the listing with the brokerage community. I say, the sooner the better.

There are lots of issues with this rule to begin with. Regardless of whether it’s 72 or 24 hours. Is it in the sellers best interest to withhold the listing data from the open marketplace for any amount of time? I don’t think so. The open market place sets the price. An in-house buyer may pay a lower price or be less qualified than a potential buyer on the open market. Is that in the best interest of the seller? I don’t think so.

Our fiduciary duty is to our seller clients. It is our job to market the property to the fullest. This includes finding the most qualified buyer, at the highest price in the shortest amount of time. If we already have a ready willing and able buyer standing by after the ink has dried, then great. Gather their information and present it to the seller for review. But please don’t hog the listing from the rest of us. The best candidate will eventually get the apartment, regardless if it’s sold in-house or not. This mentality of trying to sell an apartment without co-brokering is just plain greedy and not in the sellers best interest. Gee-sh, did I say sellers best interest enough. Ok, I’ll say it again. As the exclusive listing broker, it’s our fiduciary duty to represent our seller clients best interest.

Note: The 24 hour rule takes effect on October 15, 2007 - so hog away until then if you so desire.

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Posted by Rudolph D. Bachraty III | Filed Under NYC News 

Real Estate Listings From The New York Times Now Available on your Mobile or PDA

September 29th, 2007 | Leave a Comment

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The New York Times gets with the times by introducing mobile access to all it’s real estate listings. For tech savvy Manhattan home buyers, this is great news. Now they’ll be able to search over 350,000 real estate listings advertised in The New York Times from virtually anywhere - their car, the corner or even while visiting an open house. Cool!

Some of the beta testers of the program include:

  • Century 21 Laffey Associates
  • Citi Habitats
  • Corcoran
  • Halstead Property
  • Houlihan Lawrence
  • Prudential Douglas Elliman

In a competitive marketplace, this new offering from the New York Times adds value to their brand. It also gives real estate companies another reason to continue to advertise their listings with the conglomerate - More bang for your buck. More importantly, consumers have more options to help them with their home search. The convenience of being able to search from virtually anywhere is priceless. I wonder how REBNY feels about this?

Consumers will be able to search for real estate listings directly from their mobile device by the following methods:

  • New York Times listing ID
  • neighborhood
  • price
  • number of bedrooms

If you try using the new features, please let me know how it goes.

H/T to 78th and 2nd

More on The Story:

Branding Unbound - New York Times Launches Mobile Real Estate Listings
CyberJournalist - The New York Times Introduces Mobile Real Estate Listings

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Posted by Rudolph D. Bachraty III | Filed Under NYC News, NYC Real Estate, Real Estate Blog 

Foxtons Real Estate Lives in Manhattan

September 28th, 2007 | 2 Comments

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Indeed, Foxtons is alive and well in Manhattan - as an umbrella for a fruit stand. The title had you going didn’t it? Anywho, I’m sure you’ve all heard the news that Foxtons has let go of 350 people and is filing for bankruptcy. Hmm, I wonder why?

It has long been known that their business model was just not sustainable. Many, including myself are surprised they lasted this long. The carrot that they offered home sellers was a lower commission - 2%. Later, their model changed to 3% plus a salary for the agents. Most traditional agents had some issues showing homes listed by Foxtons. I remember hearing that there just wasn’t enough of the pie to go around. But that’s a whole other story.

The Bloomberg article had this interesting quote:

“I’m amazed they lasted as long as they did,” said Kathy Platt, a real estate agent in Bergen County, New Jersey. “They don’t provide any service.”

The lack of service sentiment was echoed by countless home sellers. Some of the stories were remarkably the same. The agent would come to the house in their Mini Cooper, show them the comps on their wireless laptop, price it any way they wanted as long as they signed the contract. After that, virtually nothing. Some would say they were pretty much order takers.

One little birdie once told me that their brokerage added legal language to their contracts specifying a reduced co-brokerage commission to Foxtons agents who brought qualified buyers to their exclusive listings. I guess what’s good for the goose is good for the gander.

I spoke to the owner of the fruit stand who wanted to remain nameless and asked her if she knew about Foxtons. She did not. When I told her that they were filing for bankruptcy she laughed and told me a story of how she acquired the Foxtons umbrella. Apparently, “they”, not sure if it was Foxtons or and umbrella vendor, paid her $10 to use the umbrella. I told her she had a collectors item on her hands and asked if she would consider selling it. She said make me an offer. I offered her $11 for the Foxtons unbrella. She said she’d consider it and asked me to stop by another day for her answer. I will.

For a boatload of links about the Foxtons story, see what Marlow Harris’ Blog - 360 Digest.

My Previous Foxtons Post:

Inman News - Real Estate Branding

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Juan Valdez Cafe Renovation on 57th Street

September 28th, 2007 | Leave a Comment

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The Juan Valdez Cafe on 140 East 57th street in Manhattan is undergoing a renovation. The neighborhood favorite is popular for it’s authentic Colombian Coffee as well as for it’s atmosphere.

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Construction shot of the Fields Construction Crew in action - 9/28/07

I spoke with Metehan Akgdag, the Project Engineer for Fields Construction. He was kind enough to tell me a little bit about the project. For one, the project is fast tracked to be completed within a week and a half and is scheduled to re-open by October 3rd. That’s great news for the regular coffee aficionados.

The project is going well minus a few minor obstacles. For one, since the city is full of United Nation officials and heads of state, the traffic has been a nightmare for drivers. Lanes have been designated for police caravans thus reducing a lane of normal traffic. As a result, they weren’t permitted to have a dumpster in front of the store to remove the demolition debris. So they had to get creative by arranging for a late night trash pick up as well as an early morning drywall delivery. I guess that’s one way to remain on schedule.

I for one look forward to seeing the new and improved Juan Valdez Cafe. Hey, maybe they’ll even bring back the slide show projector and add some more outlets for us bloggers. :)

This is my first edition of NYC Storefronts - my on the scene observations of local retail and commercial businesses.

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Posted by Rudolph D. Bachraty III | Filed Under NYC Storefronts, Real Estate Blog 

Truckvertising - Digital Life in NYC

September 27th, 2007 | Leave a Comment

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Street blimp spotted on 52nd and 3rd Avenue in Manhattan

If your a gadget or gaming geek, the DigitalLife show at the Javits Center is a must see this weekend. For a great rundown, see the Gothamist for the inside scoop. I’ll be there tomorrow to get my hands on some possible future new toys.

Maybe I should get me one of those street blimps….

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Posted by Rudolph D. Bachraty III | Filed Under Manhattan, NYC Photos 

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