QRM email

One of the unique pieces of local lore attached to Ossining is the Leatherman, a well known drifter seen for decades around Westchester and Fairfield counties in the late 1800s who is buried in Sparta cemetery.

His origins were largely unknown. He was unique: a quiet, itinerant wanderer who walked a 365 mile loop through the Hudson Valley and Connecticut clad entirely in leather, slept in outdoor shelters of his own making, he seldom spoke (and when he did, it was often in French) and revealed little about himself. What we do know of him is largely derived from old newspaper records mentioning his comings and goings, and the odd word of mouth stories passed through the generations. I learned of the Leatherman in the late 1970′s from my scoutmaster.

He was kindly and helpful but immensely private. While a vagabond, he was well regarded enough for many towns to exempt him from local vagrant statutes, and he came and went freely. He died in 1889 near Ossining, and was buried in a pauper’s grave in Sparta Cemetery on Route 9. Recently, the Ossining Historical Society petitioned the court to move the grave due to its close proximity to the widening highway, and to exhume and study his remains for any forensic DNA evidence of his true ethnicity and perhaps his medical condition.

Over the protests of some, the exhumation took place May 25, 2011 and his grave was dug up and relocated to higher ground on the small, historic cemetery, further in from the road. The Leatherman had the last say in the exhumation. The fiercely private, enigmatic old soul will remain a mystery- all that remained of his corporeal form was the soil and a few coffin nails.

Refreshing sentiments! How true! But you won’t believe who John Connaughton of UNC Charlotte is referring to. He’s not talking about you or me. He’s talking about the banks! While Connaughton offers the “olive leaf” of not justifying the bad things lenders have done, he says that if a lender, individually, finds itself in a tight spot, it ought not fear retribution should it need to go to the Fed to borrow more.

Continued

I can’t tell you. Brokers are forbidden from steering.

I can tell you where to go:

• Westchester School District Report Cards- published by the State of New York.
• National Center for Education Statistics- published by the US Department of Education
• Westchester School District Profiles- map based, put out by the Westchester County government. Mostly census data.

Use it in good health.

Shared via AddThis

1.  Last night, the world found out that Mark “the Bird” Fydrich had died tragically at his farm in Massachusetts. Fydrich, the 1976 AL Rookie of the Year with the Detroit Tigers, won 19 games and made the country smile with his unusual on-field habits. He’d talk to the ball, shake infielder’s hands after a good play, and get on his knees and smooth out the dirt on the mound when he wasn’t getting opposing hitters out. I remember reading his autobiography as a kid in the St. Ann School library. Injuries cut short his career, but by all accounts he remained the same happy go lucky, down to earth civilian that he was in his all too brief major league career. He was only 54. 
2. Harry Kalas, the long-time voice of the Philadelphia Phillies, died at age 73. Kalas was known for his unique, distinctive voice that made me consider him the John Facenda of baseball (he did decades of work for NFL films too). I thought he’d make a great replacement for Bob Sheperd as the PA announcer at Yankee Stadium. If you want to hear a great Harry Kalas call, go to YouTube and search for Mike Schmidt’s 500th home run call. It is an iconic moment, visually thanks to Schmidt and audibly thanks to Mr. Kalas. His last broadcast of last season was the Phillies winning the 2008 World Series. He was far too young. 
3. Marilyn Chambers, iconic 70′s adult film star, was found dead at her home. Her popularity crested before I ever knew who she was, but I have three older brothers. Fraternal osmosis, I guess. She was also the original baby on the Ivory Snow box, which didn’t last very long after her adult film career began. She was only 56 and had been through many highs and lows, from addiction to marriage and motherhood. The Times story tells how she thought in the 70′s that her porn notoriety would help her cross over into legitimate cinema. Again, she was too young to die. 

Not a banner day in the life of any male baseball fan, expecially if you are in Detroit or Philladelphia. My symapthies go out to all three families.

I have not read every article in this series, but the two I have read were written by an agent whose blog paints a picture of frustration who is muses for a salary; and a web-based firm which doesn’t do traditional brokerage in a market where local listing agents have to accompany every single showing (no easy feat).

Inman may get alot of chatter and mileage from these articles, but in light of the failure of Foxtons and Iggy’s House, Real Estate never had the massive Internet-fueled sea change we saw in travel, insurance and stock brokerage, which revolutionized entire industries almost overnight.

I’m also a little tired of people poo-pooing the role agents play in the home buying process. The “I saw it first on the ‘Net so I don’t need a broker” game is tired, inaccurate and obtuse. You saw it on the net first because you were on a broker’s website and they figured out how to make it play into their model. The rest of the process is so clunky, complicated and drawn out that the best brokers who do the most business drive the traffic while working at companies where they can earn the most for their expertise.

Read the rest here on my ActiveRain Blog .

1. Help them grieve their taxes. The taxes on homes I’ve sold in recent years may be reduced. I just emailed 4 recent sales to someone who bought a house with me in 2006 and it looks like his assessed value should go down by $50,000.
2. Market updates. People are curious about how much a new listing as asking or what a nearby home sold for. Better that they ask me than another licensee.
3. Make them hip to my blog. Past clients may wonder what my thoughts are about the stimulus bill, where the market is going, or just I am doing in this economy. I tell them right in these pages. Clients are a built in readership, and they select themselves- no emails for them to delete and they visit when convenient.  
4. Service directory. Most of my clients use the lawyer, lender and home inspector I refer. I also have a filing cabinet filled with plumbers, carpenters, electricians, landscapers, chimney sweeps, heating & cooling firms, oil companies, and other sources that homeowners need. I may not be the good housekeeping seal of approval, but whoever I refer will make me look good for doing so.
5. Network them! I count among my past clients physicians, restaurateurs, free lance artists, contractors, insurance brokers, roofers, teachers and dozens of other professionals. If someone needs E & O insurance, a tutor, artwork or a new driveway and they ask me if I know someone, why wouldn’t I give business to the people who gave business to me? If you need something, call or email me.

ALSO- The STAR exemption for your property taxes is key to saving money on your New York property taxes. All of my clients are encouraged to fill out an application to get it ASAP after closing. If you haven’t followed through, contact me and we’ll help you get it done.

Not all, but a disconcertingly high percentage of the ex-agents should never have been agents in the first place. In the market run up from 2002-2005 we saw an unprecedented number of new and reactivated licensees enter the market to share the bounty. However, while the short term profit may have been favorable, we are still paying the price of the inexperience and, often, the negligence of practitioners who were able to outrun their mistakes in the irrational exuberance.

I remember well the calling cards of new agents who could hardly believe their good fortune at their involvement in a high-dollar transaction. Deals got screwed up left and right, but who cared? Another offer was a week away. And if you had a neophyte representing you in a purchase, it was never their fault your offer wasn’t accepted, you just lost a bidding war. We had people who never sold a house in their life collecting commissions on multimillion dollar sales like it was candy land. Just like the stock market spike of the late 90′s, many of people looked far smarter than they really were.

I know this because I am part of the cleanup crew. People listing their homes for sale today are horrified to discover that decks, finished basements or bathrooms they were told were legal at their purchase are, in fact not in compliance. Neither the last listing agent nor their buyer agent bothered to pull the property card, and the title company missed the detail in the rush of the time. I am in the midst of selling a property that last passed title in 2005 which has a submerged oil tank that would have failed a test in 1995, let alone now. It is costing my clients over $20,000. Twice in the past few months I have run across people who have excellent credit inexplicably stuck in high interest loans, most likely because a loan officer decided that profit superseded honesty. Where was their agent? Where was the advocacy? The list goes on, but I wish I had a dime for everyone who tells me that they regret using their newly licensed cousin or part-time aunt for their agent last time.

In each of these instances, an agent was paid handsomely. They did not earn that commission; it was monopoly money they used to buy homes and cars that they can no longer afford. In many cases they meant well, and their broker is responsible for the mistakes. We’ll never know in most cases, but our collective karma has caught up with the industry. Sadly, whatever price we bear is more than being shared by our clients who trusted us with their financial lives and were often hurt. We made our bed and now we are sleeping in it.

This brings us, of course, to today. One agent I know has his real estate website redirect to another endeavor. BMW’s have given way to Hyundai’s. An attorney told me recently that his biggest source of bankruptcy filings and short sales are real estate agents themselves. Enormous brokerage offices have rows of empty desks. And I am bombarded by solicitations for 2nd income opportunities from people who must know that agents are scrambling for income. Attorneys are actually thanking me for referrals.

But those of us who remain plying our trade have discovered a new environment: fresh air. It isn’t so noisy in here anymore. The overwhelming percentage of agents I am dealing with now are returning my phone calls and emails in a professional, timely manner. Oil tank tests, surveys and other due diligence are being handled in the beginning of transactions and not as part of a last minute scramble. Many agents are telling me how they remember the last decline in the late 80′s and how they coped. We are a profession again, not a pit stop for career nomads. We are conducting business, and even though the circumstances are worse, the process is civil and professional because the frosh and junior varsity are no longer clogging the field. And we know how to cope with the PR problems exacerbated by the “exes” because we always have.

Consumers now should have more confidence in the industry because by and large the pickers of low hanging fruit have left the market. Those who remain are survivors, fighters, and overall far more professional and experienced. They don’t pick apples with a broom and bucket; they know how to use a ladder. The drama may come from the outside, but far seldom from the agents themselves. It is for these reasons that I am glad the herd has thinned. I no longer have to sift through newbie’s to find a competent colleague. And these are people that know how to return a phone call, pull a property card, review a good faith estimate, and advocate for their clients. I’m not doing their work for them, or cleaning up their mess.

I salute the survivors, and I look forward to closing transactions with them. Together, we’ll help repair the damage done in the past decade and build the public’s confidence in the profession.