Wanted - Manhattan Open House Bandits

November 14th, 2007 | 4 Comments

If you’re holding an open house in Manhattan, be aware of the open house bandits. They were caught red handed at one of Doug Heddings open houses this past Sunday. Unfortunately, they managed to flee the scene. Noah from Urban Digs, Joey from Curbed and Peter from Comitini.com also managed to get the story up in hopes of spreading the news about these crooks. The more people that see their picture, the faster we can get them off the streets.

These two knuckleheads obviously don’t read blogs. If they did, they would have known better then to try to rob one of Doug’s open houses. It would be pretty amazing if they were caught because of the online exposure real estate bloggers generated. If they have been doing this for some time, I’m sure the brokerage community will put the pieces together and pool our resources to find them. This is a great example of why all open houses should have at least two or more agents present at all times. Each person can not only help answer questions but also keep an eye out on the bad apples who roam open houses.

If your clients still live in the unit and have personal belongings present, it’s essential to protect their valuables. I’ve seen agents who sit on their asses at open houses and let people wander around not knowing what the heck their doing. It’s dangerous and irresponsible. From my own personal experience, I have to admit that I too have been overwhelmed with a flood of traffic at some of my past open houses. I learned quickly to get some help. I realized that I could not manage all the people at once. Having an assistant there with you is crucial - especially in light of this brazen robbery.

Open question to the real estate community: Besides having people sign in at our open houses, should we take photos or video of everyone who attends our open houses or even check for valid driver license ID? Is that even legal? Does that cross the privacy line? I’m not so sure. Personally, I think we should give it a try. Our clients homes and contents are too valuable to just let anyone in off the streets. Maybe it’s time for a serious open house shakedown?

Posted by Rudolph D. Bachraty III | Filed Under Manhattan Open Houses, NYC News

Star Manhattan Real Estate Broker Linda Stein Murdered in Her Apartment

November 1st, 2007 | 2 Comments

Real Estate Video by - Real Estate Blogger

Last night, Manhattan Real Estate Broker Linda Stein was found murdered in her apartment at 965 Fifth Avenue. Everyone is covering the developing story. She had a famed life with connections to lots of stars including The Ramones, Madonna, Sting and Billy Joel. So naturally the media is focusing on her life story.

News of such nature is always sad to hear. However, the part that I find interesting is how something like this could happen in such a secure Manhattan Co-op apartment building. The building has the supposed security of video surveillance, a doorman and elevator operator - yet nobody saw or heard anything suspicious. How can this be? I’m sure the doorman and elevator operator remember who they saw that evening. Could the murderer be a resident within the building? Maybe. I’m sure we’ll learn soon enough.

According to The New York Times:

Ms. Stein’s body was found face down in the living room in a pool of blood, the police said. She was wearing a sweatshirt with a hood, which was pulled over her head. Investigators at first believed the bleeding could have resulted from a fall, but when the hood was pulled back, a severe skull injury was exposed. Yesterday, the medical examiner’s office ruled the death a homicide.

Although I did not know her personally, I send my deepest condolences to the entire Stein family.

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

OpenHouseNewYork Launch Party in NYC

October 6th, 2007 | Leave a Comment

It’s OpenHouseNewYork weekend in New York City.

annual openhousenewyork weekend

openhousenewyork weekend, America’s largest architect and design event, opens doors throughout New York City each October. The 5th Annual openhousenewyork Weekend will be held October 6 & 7.

Mark your calendars to discover new neighborhoods, explore with friends and family, and experience NYC’s architecture and design in all five boroughs through special talks, tours, performances and family-friendly workshops - all free of charge!

Fashionably late as usual, I attended the OpenHouseNewYork 5th Annual launch party in New York City last night. The place was winding down and the bar was closed. Bummer. So I chatted with a couple people and snapped some shots.

Battery Park City - RiverHouse

Meat-Packing District - The High Line at Gansevoort Street

Williamsburg - New York Restoration Project and Target Community Garden

The Scene

If you have a chance, please visit one of the many free events this long Columbus Day weekend.

Technorati Tags: Openhousenewyork, OHNY, High Line, Williamsburg, Battery Park City, Columbus Day

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

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

September 30th, 2007 | 1 Comment

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.

Technorati Tags: REBNY, 24 hour rule, NYC Real Estate, Co-brokering, Fiduciary Duty, Manhattan Real Estate, Kiosk Realty

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

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: