Thursday, November 20, 2014

Update on What We are Up To!

Since I no longer keep a running tab on the blog of what we have in contract or sold year to year, I occasionally put it up here. Of course it is always available for an up to date look over at my agent page.

In Contract 2014
245 East 93rd street 2 Bedroom
290 West street 4 Bedroom
126 West 12th Street 1 Bedroom
145 East 15th street Studio
55 East 87th 2 Bedroom
159 Carlton 2 Bedroom (Brooklyn)
130 West 86th street 2 Bedroom
802 Dean Street 1 Bedroom (Brooklyn)
205 West End Avenue Studio
210 East 17th Street 2 Bedroom
305 East 51st Street 1 Bedroom
101 Leonard 2 Bedroom loft
Closed 2014
500 East 83rd 3 Bedroom
345 West 58th Street 2 Bedroom
330 West 145th 2 Bedroom
235 East 49th 1 Bedroom
21 West 22nd Street Loft
184 Thompson Studio
10 West End Avenue 2 Bedroom
27 Clarkson (Townhouse) Brooklyn
460 3rd Street 2 Bedroom Brooklyn
263 West End Avenue 2 bedroom
101 Warren Street 2 Bedroom
25 Plaza Street 2 Bedroom (Brooklyn)
126 West 11th Street 2 Bedroom
2025 Broadway Studio
39 Plaza Street 2 Bedroom (Brooklyn)
133 West 22nd street 1 Bedroom
425 East 63rd Street 1 Bedroom
141 East 3rd Street 2 Bedroom
50 West 67th Street 1 Bedroom
200 West End Ave 2 Bedroom
736 186th Street 2 Bedroom
72 Orange Studio Brookln
170 WEA 1 Bedroom 
382 West Street 2 Bedroom
33 East End Avenue 2 Bedroom
155 East 93rd Street 2 Bedroom

Million Dollar Listing.....Bravo!

Just a quick post, I know many people enjoy getting a glimpse into the wonderfully crazy world of NYC real estate and tune into Bravo to watch Fredrik Eklund and company do their thing. We had the pleasure to work with Fredrik, John and company on another deal, this time at 290 West Street an absolutely fabulous new project they are part of.

I can only imagine how busy Fredrik must be, yet once the offer process begins he is on it like it's the only deal in the world. I received an email from him about two minutes after our initial offer was submitted "This offer is rejected", lol I felt like I was on the show! By the end of the day we had come to terms and Mr. Eklund continued to follow up on the progress of the contract via emails and texts.

 His business partner John Gomes is also a pleasure to work with, personally arranged for my clients to have a meeting with the buildings design team. I first met John well over 10 years ago, i'm sure he doesn't remember, however his client purchased a small one bedroom in a little co-op on Thompson street that I had listed. He looked great, the guy has style and treated his client like she was buying a million dollar home instead of a 500 square foot one bedroom that needed a bit of work...a total class act.


Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Wise Words from a Wise Owl

Warren Buffett's 9 rules for running a business http://www.cnbc.com/id/102156277

Friday, November 7, 2014

Brokers as consultants? Who would have thunk it? (Me)

While perusing Twitter this morning I came across a piece posted by BrickUnderground from a recent conference on real estate in NYC. I don't usually pay a lot of attention to this stuff as most of the chatter is inter-broker related, nothing paradigm shifting which is what would get my attention. I eyed over the content and nothing stood out until I got to "Think of your broker as a consultant". Any one who has ever called me to inquire about our services knows part of my spiel is to describe our biz as a consulting model meets real estate brokerage operation; in other words we don't consider ourselves to be sales people.Nothing against sales folks, just not what we do over in this space.

As the paragraph in the blog points out everyone looking for an apartment these days is most likely looking at sites like StreetEasy , quite frankly the only site you need to look at. They give you all the data you need in one place and of course you can search for your new home there as well. Our focus has always been to help you understand all the quantifiable data that is relevant to your home purchase and add in my personal knowledge after 28 years as a broker in NYC. Not to mention the fact I raised two children in Chelsea, the West Village having arrived in the city in 1982. I have seen it all and then some! The dynamics of the city has changed so much since I first sent my son to West Village Nursery School in 1987 that you will never see the collapse in prices, services (baring a total collapse of all systems) that some predicted after the 2008 credit collapse. There are many reasons for this, however that is another conversation.

So it was very interesting for me to read this as this is what we do and it continues to evolve as we go along and continue to learn from our experiences. It is not just about rebates, that is simply one piece of our puzzle, it is the complete puzzle that makes us so successful.

Some don't understand our model, some may feel threatened by it (like many did when StreetEasy appeared) but in the end we feel the entire industry is better served through diversity, consumers having a choice in how they want to purchase property. Ask anyone who trades stocks through E trade, buys diamonds through Blue Nile or books a vacation via Kayak; now you can add "or purchased a home with the assistance of The Burkhardt Group." Successful agents, brokers understand this as it is our fiduciary duty to see to the highest needs of our clients, whether we are representing sellers or buyers; it is not just about us.