The High Road: Seller scofflaws walk free

(Flickr photo by Jeremy Brooks)

Every contract that I have seen for an exclusive listing requires the seller to pay the commission if a ready, willing and able buyer makes an offer to purchase the property.  And there is case law supporting the obligation.

I’m prompted to write this post after chatting with another broker, “Sandy,” who talked about the prospect of being stiffed by property owners who, it seems, merely want to test the market by listing an apartment for sale or, more benignly, have a change of heart.

She mentioned the situation of a growing family

Months are what separate buyers from sellers

Both sides lose when buyers and sellers dig in. (Flickr photo by toffehoff)

I have a theory about the failure these days of the natural tug-o’-war between buyers and sellers to result in successful negotiations.

In short, it is that many sellers set listing prices based on where they think — or hope — the market is today or at least within slingshot range of their aspirations.

Sellers just can’t come to terms with

Out and About: Sellers need to appreciate that price should be no object for them too

This two-bedroom, one-bath Upper West Side co-op has lingered on the market at its original price of $895,000 since last July. It is not described below.

The listings database is filled with properties that have gone unsold for months and months.

One example of many that I recently visited happens to be a one-bedroom co-op in Lincoln Square.  The 700-sf apartment went on the market for $479,000 last April and has ticked down in three steps to $429,000.  Its last reduction: $10,000 back in June.

The problem with this ground-floor unit is small rooms coupled with courtyard exposures.

But those flaws are not why the apartment hasn’t sold, is it?

Properties don’t fail to sell because of

The High Road: Even brokers sometimes need brokers

Consider the real estate broker whom I’ll call Seth, whose experience he recounted last week while my client was taking measurements of the condo that it is to be his in a month.

Seth and his wife recently went into contract to purchase for more than $5 million a Jersey City, N.J. property.

As a New York licensee, he realized that buying in New Jersey is so unlike New York that Seth would be a fool to represent himself. Said he:

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Let us all praise honorable brokers

96 Rockwell Place

A casual buyer to whom I’ve sent listings and shown apartments occasionally over the last year or two called me last week to say that he’s found the one he wants to purchase. It is in Fort Green, Brooklyn, and I have yet to see the studio.

But he wanted me to represent him. Terrific, except that he already had visited the condo in a new development called 96 Rockwell Place.  Twice.

Worse, he has had substantive conversations with the sales associates there and even told them he wanted to make an offer.

In such a circumstance,

Welcome to the housing market’s darkest days

Pounding rain assaults Brisbane (Flickr photo by Burning Image)

No, I don’t mean that sales and prices are plunging.  We’re entering that period when you’ll see fewer new listings, fewer open houses, not so many names on sign-in sheets and more properties going temporarily off the market.

We are entering the dark days.

It’s the holidays!

You can argue both sides of the coin of whether it’s a good idea

Columnist Liz Weston dishes out prosaic advice

Liz Weston (Photo by Art Streiber in AARP magazine)

Reluctant as I am to admit that I have a free subscription to the AARP magazine, I have to confess my wonder at the contents of the most recent advice column by Liz Weston.

Since I believe that you get what you pay for in almost any arena, it occurred to me that the name under which she brands her column–”My Two Cents”–couldn’t be more appropriate.

Sellers, just how selfish is your broker?

Brokers have a statutory requirement to serve the best interests of their clients, whether buyers or sellers.  That it is unethical to operate otherwise is another consideration.

Yet there are brokers out there who seem more concerned about their own welfare than that of their clients.  Those are the brokers who shrink from sharing commissions.  They shun co-brokering, splitting the commission with the broker who could produce a ready, willing and able buyer, as a recent post in TheApplePeeled.com reminds its readers.

 

They obviously have a secret, but it doesn't seem to concern real estate. (Flickr photo by Kira Westland)

The dollars can be considerable. 

Seller financing: A marriage made in heaven or hell

Flickr photo by kevindooley

Flickr photo by darkpatator

In a tough mortgage environment, seller financing can be a boon both for sellers trying to dispose of a property and buyers unable to satisfy a conventional lender.

Among buyers who could run into problems obtaining a mortgage loan are those who recently changed jobs, are self-employed or have a demerit, justified or not, in their credit history. For them, seller financing can be the answer to purchasing a new home.

For sellers trying to add value to their asking price, ability and willingness to offer financing can make the difference between a sale that falls apart and one that succeeds.

But–of course, there always are ‘buts’–each side of such a transaction needs to proceed cautiously and must depend on the services of well qualified attorneys.