The Manhattan Open House Bandits are Caught
November 26th, 2007 | 5 Comments
Last night, Doug Heddings reported on his blog that the Manhattan Open House Bandits were caught. Today, both Curbed and the New York Post follow up on the story:
Two Upper East Side women could soon be en route to the big house - for targeting rich Manhattan residents at open houses and making off with their valuables, cops said yesterday.
Jessica Joyner, 39, and Jennifer Jones, 33, were arrested on Saturday and charged with petit larceny, grand larceny and criminal possession of stolen property.
Big ups to Doug for reporting them in the first place and to the person who managed to get the license plate number. This is by no means an end to a very serious problem. Real estate agents who conduct open houses need to have a system in place that insures that our clients valuables are safeguarded. Whether it’s having multiple agents or assistants conducting open houses and escorting buyers or checking for valid ID, as a brokerage community, we owe our clients a piece of mind. Step up New York!
Update:
Jennifer Jones on FaceBook
Although they did steal some things from open houses, everyone deserves a second chance. I’m interested on hearing their side of the story to see why they did this. Was it for fun? Were they broke? Drugs? Mental issues? I mean, let’s take a step back for a second. Yes, they did do some bad things but they didn’t kill anyone. Let’s all learn from this event. Take some notes. Make some changes. Be smarter and more aware of our surroundings. Be more professional.
Update - 11.27.07
According to the New York Post via Curbed:
Joyner was convicted in New Jersey of drug possession seven years ago, according to her lawyer, Karen Newirth, who told a judge that “Joyner has medical and psychiatric issues.”
Records reveal a slew of civil judgments against Joyner for unpaid or uncollected bills totaling nearly $30,000 in Virginia and New York.
Both Joyner and Jones were clients of the Some Like it Hot Yoga salon on East 63rd Street, whose owner said Jones claimed to be the head of a financial firm, even as she tried to hawk a line of “energy juices” to staff there.
Jones was arrested in Brooklyn for robbery in September 1989, and busted again a month later for drug possession and sale a month and a half later, records show. She spent nearly four months in jail, but the outcome of those cases was not known yesterday.
Her lawyer, Newirth, said Jones “is active in the recovery community” and “has medical issues and severe pain” caused by a neurological condition.
And, according to the New York Sun:
The two women suspected of stealing luxury goods from Manhattan open houses are being linked to a similar crime in an affluent New Jersey town, officials said.
So, it seems they have quite the history. Like I said earlier, I just wanted to know why they did it. This information gives us an idea of their state of mind and reasons behind their criminal actions.
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?
Manhattan Open House Report - Midtown East 1 Bedrooms
October 6th, 2007 | Leave a Comment
The past two Sunday’s, I previewed a number of Open Houses in the Midtown East area - Sutton Place, Turtle Bay, Beekman and the fringes of Murray Hill.
- Price range - $600,000 to $1,000,000
- Co-ops, Condo and Condops
- Pre and Post war
Generally speaking, I did notice more buyers at some of the open houses, yet I still managed to find some that were dead. There were some good choices as far as location and views were concerned, but some of the asking prices were a tad bit unrealistic.
There were some possible deals to be had. Apartments that have been languishing on the market for over 3 months were offering price reductions as well as incentives. The brokers made it pretty clear that their sellers were “motivated” - in other words - desperate to sell. The problem is when you overprice the apartment from the beginning, you do a disservice to your seller client. Overpriced apartments have longer days on market. Savvy buyers overlook them and move on. When price reductions occur, a seller may lose some of his leverage. As a buyer, it’s an opportunity to use the apartment statistics against a “motivated” seller to make a deal. If you’re a seller, price your apartment right from the beginning if you want it to sell faster and at a good price.
Mid-Town East Inventory remains tight. Contrary to other reports, from conversations that I’ve had with buyers, they are waiting for a desperate seller with the perfect apartment before they make the offer. This may be a geo-macro issue, specific to a certain neighborhood - not sure. From my experience, the September, October, November period is when ready, willing and able buyers try to seal a deal before the holiday season. The goal is for 1st quarter occupancy. They want to avoid the swarm of cash strapped buyers swooping into the market during the Wall Street bonus buying season. Makes sense. Why would you want to compete for a home with someone who has money to burn? Not fun.
The word on the street is mixed regarding the size of this seasons Wall Street bonuses. Regardless of what happens, I think that in the first quarter of 2008, the pool of buyers in the lower price ranges will increase. Buyers will go smaller rather than bigger. They may be more flexible on location and amenities. More buyers + low inventory = higher prices.
On this long Columbus Day weekend, Open Houses in Manhattan may slow down a bit. The serious buyers however, will be out in full force. Happy hunting.
This week, I’ll venture out of my geographic area of expertise and get a pulse on what’s happening in the downtown real estate market.
Episode: Happy Hunting by Rachel Natalie Klein of INTOTHEBOX.tv
Technorati Tags: NYC Open Houses, Midtown East, Sutton Place, Turtle Bay, Beekman, Murray HilL, Manhattan Real Estate, Home Buyers, Intothebox.tv
Manhattan Open House Report - I Think I Heard Crickets
September 22nd, 2007 | Leave a Comment
This is the Manhattan Open House Report. A weekly post that I hope to be able to maintain in the coming weeks. It will be my first hand observations of what’s happening in various sectors of the Manhattan real estate market. I’ll take photos, video and quite possibly even interview some courageous buyers and brokers on video. Overall, I hope to give you, the reader, a glimpse into what’s happening on the ground floor in the New York City real estate market.
This past Sunday I attended 7 Open Houses in the Mid Town East area. More specifically, the Sutton Place and Turtle Bay neighborhoods. My search included studios and 1 bedroom apartments priced under $600k. I focused on larger studios, some with alcoves - called junior one bedrooms, and smaller one bedrooms.
To make things interesting, I thought it would be fun to do a search from a DIY consumers point of view. I used Streeteasy, a free New York City real estate search engine, to organize my search. In just a few easy steps, I was ready to roll.
1. Create my free Streeteasy user account
2. Enter a specific area, price range and beds and baths
3. Narrow down the results
4. Save them in my Open House Planner
5. Print Out the Map and property information
Now that I had my lovely Sunday afternoon open house search agenda on paper, it was time to hit the cobblestones. Being that it was a holiday weekend - Rosh Hashanah - the city was very quiet. And so were the open houses. I think I heard crickets.
Now let me back up a second. As a real estate broker, I held a few open houses on holiday weekends myself over the years so I had a general idea of what type of foot traffic I would see. But today was different. Based on the sign in sheets, I was either the first, second or the fifth person to sign in at the most. This was unusual because I had attended most of the open houses towards the end of their alloted showings. Granted, it was a beautiful day outside and the the second avenue street fair was in full swing but darn it, it was pretty eerie I tell ya.
I could also sense some desperation in some of the agents. Most of whom were actually covering for the listing agent. Some of the homes were on the market for a few months. Some had price reductions. Some were cluttered. Some had an half inch of soot on the windows. I asked some basic questions that potential buyers and other agents might ask and surprisingly, I received plenty of I don’t know answers. Not good.
As a listing agent, it’s your responsibility to know as much about the building and unit as possible. You owe that much to you seller clients. Not knowing basic answers to common buyer questions is unprofessional. When I say basic, I mean things like are pets allowed or whether washer/dryers are permitted inside the unit. Should you have someone cover for you, it’s a good idea to prepare them with this information. It just doesn’t seem right when a real estate professional has too many “I don’t know” answers. And we wonder why consumers have such a skewed view about our profession. Damm the order takers!
This weekend may be different considering the half point fed interest rate cut and the 300 point jump in the Dow. Maybe buyers will get a much needed boost of confidence. Maybe not. My takeaway from this past weekends open houses is that, in most instances, real estate brokers have but one chance to make that exclusive listing shine to potential home buyers. Know your stuff and make the home presentable.
P.S. Streeteasy rocks!
Technorati Tags: Manhattan Open Houses, Real Estate, NYC, New York City, Streeteasy, Kiosk Realty
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