Our First Listing is in Contract!

As some of you know we have recently begun a model for listing properties. To date we have not advertised this offering outside of a news letter that goes out to our client base. Although our buy-side approach has been a huge success, I have held off on representing sellers for a few reasons, first and foremost I wanted a model that I knew would work and be an effective means for sellers to bring about the sale of their home.

My thought is I want to offer this model to sellers who have 'low hanging fruit'; homes that essentially sell themselves. If you have have a home that will sell in 30 days or less, why not expect a reduced commission? That said the unit we have in contract is a ground floor, rear facing home in need of some updates!

From a purely mechanical point of view it doesn't matter who you list with (as long as they are members of REBNY). We all play by the same rules and our listings all go into the same feed. When a buy-side broker has a client they all essentially do the same thing; enter the data points of the search into their listing database and hit enter! This will generate a list of available properties that will be edited down and sent off to their client for consideration.

Remember one very important fact, the buyer agent does 90% of the selling. Now that is not to minimize the work of the listing agent, they have the herculean task of managing, dealing with the sellers! Not easy, especially when a property has sat, with no offer for 30 days! Of course the listing agent also needs to be a competent negotiator as should your buyer representation.

I could go on and on about all this, but in a nutshell I have simply done with listings what I did with buy-side representation: Marrying outstanding full service with a highly effective and efficient brokerage model. We list at 3.75% with 2.5% going to a buyer agent that brings a deal to the table.

Please feel free to call me to find out how we can assist you with the sale of
your home.

http://www.theburkhardtgroup.com/333-4th-st

Best,

Keith
917.770.4951

I was ranked 188th broker by sales volume in the country in the Wall Street Journal/Real Trends real estate rankings. Our model works.

It's Been a Long, Busy Summer!

Due to a number of things I have not written a post in some time, First we were on a family vacation the last two weeks of July in Costa Rica. Then upon our return some old health issue I thought were in my past reoccurred. The good news is I am on the mend and my excellent team kept things running smoothly!

We have a great model and process in place. I wouldn't say it runs itself, however with the right people running the operation, I don't think you could have a more efficient way to buy and sell real estate coupled with excellent, knowledgeable customer service. No one is better than Christian Bari and Norman Brannon, the Dream team!

The summer has been very, very active. We did not get a break from all the buying until last week when someone finally put the brakes on! We set records for closings, signed contracts for July and August, it was just nonstop. We are happy that buyers are finally taking some time off to enjoy the dog days of summer with Labor Day just around the corner.

Best,

Keith Burkhardt
917.770.4951

Another very happy buyer:

"Keith, Christian and Norman,

Thank you all so much for a wonderful experience buying our first home! We learned so much from you all in the process, and we really appreciate how you patiently and masterfully answered all of our newbie questions! 

We felt comfortable to take our time and make every decision with your sound advice and recommendations in mind. We appreciate never feeling rushed, or pressured in any way. Your recommendations to work with Guard Hill and Luk and Luk were excellent as well, as everyone played their part in helping this run smoothly. Norman was so professional, friendly and knowledgeable and he really taught us so much over the course of this process. 

We really felt like we were in great hands, and we will recommend the Burkhardt Group to anyone who asks!

Best,

Liz and Prathap (8/24/2017)"

Something No One Wants to Talk About...Reduced Commissions

A very interesting article in July's The Real Deal. We don't criticize our competition, we're just cognizant of the fact and have listened to clients who want an alternative approach to the brokerage process. As an agent at a large firm I had fair level of success and I could have easily continued building my career. I decided to take a risk and change the landscape and build a model based on what I thought many buyers wanted. It's about more than rebates. If you could just hand out checks at closing and do $90M a year in sales, believe me more agents would be doing it! Our clients know the difference.

I am coming up on a 10 year anniversary with The Burkhardt Group; to date I have spent ZERO dollars on advertising! Please have a look at our testimonials page to see the raving fans that we have created. It did not happen over night.

The buy-side brokerage model was ripe for disruption, that is easy enough to understand. Just like the travel business, financial services, book selling, transportation, hospitality etc. It is not simply about trying to undercut other agents or being desperate; it is about innovating.

Selling real estate is not that complicated, 90% of apartments don't need large marketing budgets to sell. They need to be priced correctly, be desirable and listed so the entire brokerage community can participate. Oh yeah, and be on Streeteasy where more buyers than you can imagine will be able to view, schedule an appointment and discover the history of the unit.

On the buy-side  you need an agent that can do a fairly rudimentary analysis of the property, has the experience to add or subtract value based on both mathematical calculations as well as the non-tangible aspects of  the purchase. The agent also has to be trusted to put the clients best interests before their own and not be afraid to tell it like it is. Meaning if the home is a lemon, best to pass and move on. Or if the valuation is silly advise a bid based on reality not the aspirational sales price of a seller.

Offering a reduced commission scale when coupled with outstanding service is not bottom feeding or being desperate. Quite frankly it cuts two ways; unscrupulous listing agents that 'buy a listing', giving the seller an unrealistic sales price in an attempt to secure the listing.

The world is changing, the brokerage model will also continue to change and evolve. It's only natural. No business can survive when they don't keep up with the times. Increased competition thins out the heard and makes us all stronger. And the strong and nimble will thrive.

Best,

Keith Burkhardt
917.770.4951
Call me, I love to talk about real estate.

Many Thanks to Our Wonderful Clients! #188 Agent Wall Street Journal/Realtrends!

It has been quite a journey. When I first conceived of the Burkhardt Group I was met with many naysayers and skeptics who thought it would never work in NYC.  That you could not operate a 'buy-side' brokerage and last, only listing agents succeeded over the long term.

The problem with that hypothesis is there was never a buy-side focused company that was tailor made for buyers and their specific needs. I also focused on all the complaints I received from buyers or read on those early Streeteasy forums. I tackled each one and made changes until I hit on a model that worked seamlessly and addressed these shortcomings. 

We have seen quantum leaps in financial services, transportation services, shopping (Amazon) and travel services that have made it easier and more cost effective to transact. I brought that concept to real estate. 

The #188th ranked agent for transactions by sales volume

10% Down on a NYC Condo? Yes!

Many agents will look at you like you have 3 heads if you tell them you are financing 90%. That said outside of NYC a large portion of homes sales are done with 90% financing, in many cases even 97%.

So here is some hope for those that want to buy, however don't have 20% down or would simply like to save some cash for renovations.

We have now completed 3 deals where our clients secured 90% financing and it was pretty smooth sailing. Now these were all on deals where the seller was willing to accommodate because other options were limited. The quote I have pasted below is from a buyer who just closed at 338 Berry street;

"Keith, Norman, Christian

It was a pleasure working with you!
Thanks for your help throughout the process, and answering all our newbie questions & anxieties.
We are all packed and moving in tomorrow!

We were able to go with 10% down.   
Sunny @ Citizens actually came through, and moved very quickly for us.  They did give us a bit of a fright with an underwriting document request Friday @ 6pm.  It freaked me out, but Sunny said it was not a big deal, and the file would clear on time.  Overall was very happy, and they were extremely responsive.

Guardhill was also offering 10% down, though moved a bit slower and had higher rates.  Beyond them, I believe PNC is also doing 10%.  

SoFi was too much of a blackhole, so I didn't bother proceeding with them once the other lenders came through.  

Interestingly it seemed like most of the banks that wouldn't do 10% really wouldn't do 15% either (except on sub-$1M).

All the best,
Steve & Cristina"

This Says it All

Hi Burkhardt team

Shveta and I wanted to thank you for all your help in our long journey to find our apartment. We ultimately found something that we hope will be the perfect place for our family.

I must say that your business model is ideally suited for today's environment. As we discovered through the process, in the industry there is ample technology solution to the discovery of new listings, yet the bid and closing process remains very inefficient. Your firm is set up to focus on the parts of the process where it is most helpful, with a no-frills-when-not-needed style, which combined with the rebate model is exactly what the competitive NY market needs.

Also the team is lean yet offers the complimentary skills that is needed to deliver a complete service. Keith you have always provided very genuine advice. Christian - you have been an example of cool headed and efficient execution at crunch time. Lance you have diligently showed us to more than 50 apartments during weekdays and weekends.

Once again, thanks all of you. I will be more than happy to provide references if you should require.

Puneet

This is What We Work For

"Keith,

Thank you very much for the warm wishes. It was truly pleasure to work with you, Christian, and Norman. We appreciate all of your guidance, expertise, and support throughout the entire process. The beautiful handwritten card with the check that Christian handed to us at closing was a wonderful surprise.

I also appreciate your recommendation for Weidenbaum & Harari. Barry and his team were great.

I will definitely be sharing the positive experience we had working with you and recommend you highly!

Best regards,

Stephanie"