J. Philip Faranda is broker and owner of J. Philip Real Estate in Briarcliff Manor, NY which he founded in 2005. The firm is one of the premier independent boutique brokerages in Westchester County, serving all of Westchester as well as nearby Rockland, Putnam and Dutchess Counties. There are 20 licensees with the company, which has grown throughout this challenging market period.
Philip has appeared on ABC World News, and been a source for MSNBC On the Money, The New York Times, The New York Post, Associated Press, Gannett, AOL, The Real Deal, 1010Wins.com, Smart Money, MSN Money and various other media outlets. An industry veteran since 1996, he is one of the top-selling broker agents for single family transaction totals in the Empire Access MLS since 2007 (ranking in the top 10 out of over 7000 members), and is the Vice President of the Empire Access (formerly Westchester-Putnam) Multiple Listing Service. He is a board member on the Guild of Independent Real Estate Professionals, part of the Lucky Strikers Social Media Club(who run the annual New York REBar Camp) and the author of the widely read Westchester Real Estate Blog and New York Short Sale Blog.
Phil lives in Briarcliff Manor, NY with his wife Ann and their 4 children. Ann is co-owner of the firm and a graduate of Stuyvesant and Columbia.
Sales Record
2006: Gold Award, over 30 closed sales
2007: Diamond Award, over 80 Closed Sales
2008: Diamond Award, over 50 Closed Sales
2009: Diamond Award, over 50 Closed Sales
2010: Diamond Award, over 45 Closed Sales & Served as MLS Vice President
Source: Westchester Putnam, Mid Hudson, Greater Hudson Valley, Consolidated Fairfield, and Long Island MLS systems
Marketing System: How We Do It
Growing a company from a spare bedroom in 2005 to two offices and 20 associates in the worst decline in 80 years doesn’t happen by accident. Here are just a few of the things in our proactive, aggressive marketing system that put our listings ahead of the crowd, ahead of the curve and ahead of “circumstances”:
- Listing Syndication- to more than 50 sites like Zillow and Trulia
- Single Property Websites
- International Reach
- Prolific Blogging
- YouTube video Walk through tours
- Niche Marketing
- Exposure to New York City market
- Technology to deliver answers to consumers 24/7 via text, smart phone, and online-all on demand
- One of New York’s best Home Search sites, Homespotters.com
- Collaborative Pricing
- Free Home Staging Consultation
- Free Pre listing home inspection
- Experienced Negotiation skills that can only come from selling a house a week
- Prospect profiling where we determine a personalized plan to find a buyer-not wait for the MLS to bring one
- Interactive seller resources for feedback, web analytics, and showing journal 24/7/365
- MUCH more. The results are there, year in, year out. Phil ranks in the top 10 agents out of over 7000 for closed transactions since 2006.
For more information on how we can help you, simply fill out the form below and start packing.
Some Frequently Asked Questions, answered in the First Person:
Q: What does the “J.” stand for?
A: Joseph. My father was named Joseph Faranda and wanted to name me Joseph, but my mother did not want a “Junior.” They compromised by making Joseph my first name but calling me by my middle name, which was different from my father’s middle name.
Q: So what do people call you? “J?” “Jay?” “Philip?”
A:You can call me Phil. I won’t be insulted if you call me J., but I’m not very accustomed to it. Some people call me J. and I don’t correct them because it confuses matters.
Q: Why did you get into real estate?
A: Like many people, real estate is my second career. I never had any intention of going into it in college. I started in publishing sales for an educational concern in New Jersey, and I advanced to management rather quickly. However, they relocated me six times in seven years and I was dissatisfied with that and the compensation. My college roommate convinced me to move to Rochester and work with him in real estate.
Q: Where do you see the real estate market going in the next 2-3 years?
A: The last big correction (or crash, depending on your preferred nomenclature) was 1987. The lost value was not recouped until the mid 90’s. Anyone who sees the market turning the corner in the next year doesn’t understand that we have years worth of inventory on the books now and a great deal of it is foreclosed property, which suppresses prices further. And there will be many more foreclosures in the next 18 months, which means a recovery is not close at hand.
We could stabilize the market very quickly if sellers were able to simply lower their prices enough to bring the buyers back, but most cannot because they owe too much. This is why short sales are so necessary to a sustainable recovery.
Q: Who is to blame for the current real estate crash?
A: Everyone shares some culpability- government, bankers, Wall Street, lenders, speculators, and borrowers/homeowners themselves. We can argue about percentage of blame until we are old. I believe that everyone lost sight of the fundamentals because they were too self interested. Responsible self regulation by the lending industry as well as prudent governmental oversight should keep history from repeating itself.
Q: You left out real estate agents. Don’t they share in the blame?
A: Real estate licensees and mortgage loan officers were the foot soldiers in the economic Waterloo we are experiencing. They are certainly paying the price for it- an attorney I know tells me that he is frequently helping real estate agents file for bankruptcy. As I said before, we are all responsible.
Q: Why are you blogging?
A: I love real estate and I love to write. My degree is in English, so I have a copy of the Elements of Style right next to my real estate books. I also feel that my commentary is credible due to the fact that I am in the field daily and not an armchair quarterback. I am one of the few real estate brokers I know with substantial mortgage experience and I am an active investor. The perspective from my marketplace is also rather unique- I straddle a very cosmopolitan New York market, suburbs, and a rather rural Hudson Valley. All that is a wide lens.
J. Philip Faranda
