Buyers need to get truly organized as they search

Your own spreadsheet doesn’t have to be as complex as this one. (flickr photo by Ivan Walsh)

The search for a new home can be fun. But it also can be frustrating, exhausting and confusing.

To emphasize fun, the wise course is to get as organized as possible. That is the case even if you are the sort of person who values spontaneity, impulsiveness and instinctive decision-making above all.

One useful approach is to assemble a loose-leaf notebook or its electronic equivalent.

Begin by

Weekly Roundup: Storm effects, U.S. price and sales trends, credit scores, timing of rate locks, buyer rebates and growing optimism. Much more!

Daylight Savings Time Ends Saturday Night

Firm cost of storm’s damage to area homes long way off, but total will be astronomical — perhaps as much as 64 percent of $50 billion total

Sandy ravages Long Island’s East End, decimating homes of the rich and famous

Storm could shape how residential housing along the water is built, marketed, sold

Buyfolio collaborative service for consumers and agents finds deep-pocketed buyer

‘Prewar’ speaks volumes

Boards may promise buyer applicants one thing, then do something else

World Series pitcher lists California mansion for $11.45 million

Buyer of late pop star’s estate so eager to move in that he’ll occupy the place before sale closes

Actress takes substantial loss on her sale of Hollywood Hills house fit for a queen

Late Oscar nominee’s duplex overlooking Central Park on the market for $13.95 million

Case-Shiller records continuing upward price trend

Homewnership, rental vacancy rates

Private ‘MLS’ permits statewide property search

Everyone selling real estate and most prospective purchasers realize that there is no Multiple Listing Service (MLS) in New York City.

That void results in brokers having to resort to their shared databases through systems such as OLR (OnLine Residential), though listings by many boutique firms never appear in them.

Still, the vast majority of listings are fed into StreetEasy.com, where many buyers check to see what’s available along with services such BuyFolio.com.  Both the New York Times and Craigslist can be sources of properties being sold by their owners without brokerage assistance.

It’s not a great system.

Little did I know until meeting Dawn Pfaff at a monthly dinner meeting of the Lucky Strikers Social Media Club that there exists something she has describes as a statewide MLS.  Sort of. 

The Big Apple: Look for 1,200 new condos this year

NEWSPAPER SAYS SALE OF FORMER VILLAGE NURSING HOME SIGNALS MARKET RECOVERY

In 2007, before the financial world turned upside down, a condominium developer signed a contract to pay more than $33 million for a former assisted living facility in the heart of the West Village.

More than three years later, the developer, FLAnk, has closed on the purchase of the building at Hudson and West 12th streets. FLAnk paid just a few million dollars short the full pre-crash price: $33.3 million.

The deal is the latest sign that the city’s residential development engine is beginning to crank up again, opines the Wall Street Journal.

SITE OFFERS EXPANDED PROPERTY SEARCHES FOR BUYERS

Pulling data from the Real Estate Board of New York’s RealPlus database–which collects listings information from brokerages–