Out and About: Estate sales challenge listing brokers

Even spiffed up, this estate listing reveals a long past.

When it comes to selling a tired old estate, don’t envy the listing broker, even for a property that will garner a healthy commission.

Estate sales are tough, not only because the properties tend to be in miserable condition, but also because the beneficiary or beneficiaries can cause complications.

One issue can be unfamiliarity with the property so that it’s often hard to know what is behind a wall, what changes were made and what the condition is of a variety of elements.

Weekly roundup of news you don’t want to miss

Here’s your chance to catch up with news and information included to inform, enlighten and perhaps even entertain you. To read about The Big Apple, check out another of today’s three posts.

HE’S TRADING LIFE IN L.A. FOR LIFE IN A BIG APPLE THEATER (2nd item)

IN SELLING, DID THIS COUPLE MAKE THE RIGHT DECISION?

BABY JANE GARNERS GROWN-UP PROFIT

IF WALLS COULD HOWL, YOU CAN FINDING OUT WITH THIS RENTAL

FELON’S CONNECTICUT ESTATE FINALLY FINDS A BUYER–FOR $7.9 MILLION

HOME PRICES FLAT FROM JULY 2009 TO THIS YEAR WITH SALES CONTINUING TO FALL (pdf)

PRICE REDUCTIONS REACH HIGHEST LEVEL OF THE YEAR NATIONWIDE

The Big Apple: Is the housing market stabilizing?

THE TIMES SUGGESTS STABILITY IS RETURNING TO OUR HOUSING MARKET

New York City’s largest brokerage firms are reporting something of a rebound and, with a sense of relief, even a possible state of stability, according to the New York Times.

“It is too soon to tell about a return to normalcy,” said Noah Rosenblatt, an independent broker who publishes real estate data on his Web site, UrbanDigs, and has been analyzing recent property listings, new contracts and sales. “It looks to me that we hit the bottom” in the sales slump that drove home prices down, he said, and that “activity is starting to really pick up.”

The major brokerages agree that: prices, while low, are holding steady; inventory over all appears to be at a relatively healthy level; and sales have risen substantially over the last six months.

The exception was a slightly slower-than-normal summer, but it came after a slightly better bonus season earlier in the year, and there are now reports of a more typical post-Labor Day upswing.

The prospect of a return to seasons in real estate — a busy spring and fall, slow summer months and a sleepy market during the holidays, followed by bonus-driven sales from the start of the year to spring — is itself cause for some muted celebration, the Times opined.

FORECLOSURE ACTIVITY JUMPS IN THE CITY

The number of New York City residences entering the foreclosure process surged by nearly 38 percent in August, reversing a six-month trend and suggesting that the foreclosure cycle has yet to fully run its course in the Big Apple, reports RealtyTrac, according to the Real Deal.