Monday, January 30, 2012

This is How We Do It...


Keith,

It was great working with you throughout the process and having Christian at the closing.  Thank you very much for the service.  We're slowly getting settled in at the new place...the view of Manhattan is amazing.

Thanks again and we'll be sure to recommend the service to others.

Best,
Matt and Kathy
  



We love happy, satisfied clients! I am not a salesman, our model is for people who are on-line doing there own research (which quite frankly is a breeze these days). So I'm never selling, more like a consultant that looks at the property you want to purchase and gives you my opinion on value, pros and cons and helps develop and implement a bidding strategy. In truth my relationship and interaction with my clients can get much more involved than that. Why? Because very quickly even the most jaded client realizes I don't have an agenda different from their own. I'm not trying to sell them something; I'm just offering them my opinion along with additional buying power. This is how we do it...

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Street Beat Update

We remain busy with three deals closed and in the books for 2012. That said it has been tough getting my buyers expectations aligned with the sellers over the last few weeks, we are really grinding it out. We were out bid with an all cash, $100k higher bid a day before signing the contract on a lower fifth avenue two bedroom (2nd time in this building with the same clients! I really feel for them).

 We were also outbid on a two bedroom, newer construction apartment in Clinton after arriving at an accepted offer. This one was disappointing as we really beat the price down, though trades are thin in the building this would have been sweet from a financial standpoint. Similar situation with some of the new construction out in Brooklyn, sponsors are tightening up. If your bid is not in line with their expectations, forget about getting transfer taxes paid on many of the buildings.

 Even on units that have been sitting for 100+ days I am getting resistance to what I consider strong bids; 5% off ask with TT's paid by the sponsor. They are digging in at about 1.5-3% off ask, yeah you would think we were close enough that if we dug in our heels and and walked they would come back to us; nope.

 There are a couple of buildings out there that if I gave up names and all the specifics you would really be very surprised by what is going on. That said we were able to come too terms on three fairly large deals with my clients feeling very satisfied. But they all required quite a bit of massaging and negotiating to get to home base.

 Many of the bears don't like to hear this but the markets are stable, inventory is low for quality apartments in desirable neighborhoods. This market is far to segmented to try and generalize at the present moment and I think it will continue on this track for sometime. What has been very amusing is that even clients bidding on apartments that are in sub-par locations are getting a lot of resistance to their bids. I mean these are apartments on the fringes that have been sitting for 120+ days or more and the listing broker tells me our bid is "insulting"???? On a few of these I thought our bid was damn generous!

 So that's the story so far this year from my little part of the world. We have a lot of irons in the fire and my clients are patient. But the bottom-line is no one is giving anything away. Be prepared to pay a reasonable price based on the actual recent comps, otherwise be prepared to move on.

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Teahupoo! Get Lost in this Video for a Moment...

BIGGEST TEAHUPOO EVER from UnFuzzy on Vimeo.

This day at Teahupoo- Aug 27th 2011 during the Billabong Pro waiting period is what many are calling the biggest and gnarliest Teahupoo ever ridden. Chris Bryan was fortunate enough to be there working for Billabong on a day that will go down in the history of big wave surfing. The French Navy labeled this day a double code red prohibiting and threatening to arrest anyone that entered the water. Kelly Slater described the day by saying "witnessing this was a draining feeling being terrified for other people's lives all day long, it's life or death. Letting go of that rope one time can change your life and not many people will ever experience that in their life." All images where shot by Chris Bryan using the Phantom HD Gold camera. To see more of Chris' work check out his website. WWW.CHRISBRYANFILMS.COM Music: Lower Your Eyelids to Die with the Sun' by M83. by Chris Bryan

Thursday, January 19, 2012

A Sample of What You Can Expect To Hear From Me

This is a simple email response to a current client regarding my opinion on a home he just visited. This is a bit short as he knows I have also looked at all the sales of similar homes in the building. Here I just break it down plain and simple. Based on this he will revisit the apartment at different times to get a feel for the natural light before considering how to proceed.



XXXXXXX,

To start let’s look at the 2C comp which closed at $512,000 dollars 4/2011. I am going to use a price per share comparison, 800 shares ($640 per share) for 2C and 850 shares ($704 per share) for 3C.  If we just look at the close per share price that puts 3C value at $544,000 dollars I’ll add in $25,000 for kitchen and bath and $5,000 for 1 floor up that gets 3C to about $574,000 dollars; that sounds about right to me (max I would want to pay).

I like the space, location and condition. My only concern would be the exposure, if as Christian pointed out to me all the windows are facing a wall or small courtyard; this is a big issue for resale, even if you don’t mind. If there is no view but good indirect light this helps quite a bit and then at the right price would be OK. If it has no view and no light I would not recommend a purchase.

Best,

Keith


Thursday, January 12, 2012

This is Why I love What We Do at The Burkhardt Group

I just received this from a client who closed on a wonderful new home for her family;


"Thanks. It was a pleasure working with you. This arrangement provided exactly what we needed. Believe me, we appreciate your talking us out of the others as much or more than helping us get the right one! Thanks again for all of your help. 


 Best, 
 ZXXX"

Oh No He Didn't Say That...

I find it truly interesting when a listing broker (sellers agent) tells a client (especially one of my clients!), "Why are you using a broker, you don't need one-I'll assist you". I wonder if this is what they tell their own buy-side customers? Lol. Agency disclosure is a wonderful thing. The vast majority of brokers I deal with are awesome, professional and honest. But there are a few rotten apples out there, be wary of these types they only have their own interests in mind; not the seller or buyer. That said you certainly don't need a broker to transact, of course you know how I feel about this (just read through my blog). But you need to decide that on your own for your own case specific reasons. The Burkhardt Group is here to provide you with an alternative brokerage model that may (or may not) suit your taste. Having choices is a good thing.

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Chinese Build Hotel in 15 Days

Monday, January 2, 2012

Apple Original Drawings

See all of them here. The subsequent story of Apple's third "founder", Ron Wayne makes for an interesting read. He seems quite content with his path in life even though removing his name from the original Apple Company partnership papers cost him perhaps billions of the fiat currency he so fears. This is the story of a "gold-bug" that has outlived his predictions of a total worldwide systemic financial collapse. This is of some interest today because one of our presidential candidates (Ron Paul) has brought attention to these theories regarding fiat money and economic systems.