Blog

Mortgage Rates Have Dropped For a Month Straight Mortgage rates are at their lowest in more than four months.  It’s worth taking a fresh look at them. Yes, the Fed is still making lots of noise as it grapples with inflation.  Ignore that for a moment.  We just had a client get a 4.125% interest rateRead more

Are You All-In On New York City? There are times in your life that force a decision about moving.  Your landlord is selling your apartment.  You have completely outgrown your place.  You get relocated because of a job.   Perhaps you’re going through a divorce.  In these cases, people have to come to terms with moving,Read more

The smart money is buying right now. Look at reports like this – they show that the market above $4mm continues to be as strong as ever.  Within the 5 strongest years on record, in fact! However, many people are scared, because of high mortgage rates.  And what might be pushing them higher.  I’ve postedRead more

My sellers almost lost $150,000 selling to a neighbor.  I’ll tell you how we helped them avoid that. The Story In late 2019, I met this couple who wanted to sell their home in a cooperative building on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.  Like many, their building has units starting as small as studios,Read more

Conforming Loans in Real Estate It begins with the innocuous Federal Housing Financing Agency announcement yesterday as of this writing (link here), which governs Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac, the government-backed lenders you know.  Currently, the US government agencies of Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac buy mortgage loans from Banks post-closing.  There is a capRead more

People think the issue is mortgage rates.  Nope. People think the issue is a recession.  Wrong again. The issue is actually INVENTORY.  There’s not enough good property on the market. All that’s left on the market are properties that either need price reductions (see my other post), or, seemingly, lots of property that needs aRead more

Time Kills Negotiations. Maybe You’ve Heard This One, that time kills negotiations.  Sound familiar? The momentum of real estate deals, and maybe all deals, either builds, or it sputters.  And deals either happen or die based on that momentum.  It’s a rare thing when very lengthy negotiations end up being helpful to successful deals.  IRead more

Watch What Smart People Do Non-Idiots Who Made Money Whether you like them or not, wealthy people are, by and large, not idiots.  They usually did something right, got a little luck, and made a few dollars. In times like this, it’s worth watching the behavior of people who have accrued wealth, and asking yourself:Read more

Can you put a price on proximity to family? That is, how much would you be willing to give up to live close to family?  Can you put a price tag on it?  We tried. We’ve been highlighting sales every month with a question around it.  When our client closed on an apartment in ManhattanRead more

“You keep using that word. I do not think that means what you think it means.” What exactly does “river view” mean? What does “central air conditioning” mean? How can you build trust when words aren’t always used properly in the real estate market?  How does misleading marketing erode the brokerage community and its ability to attractRead more