And We Are Off.....!

So like a lot of you I sort of took some time off, essentially the last two weeks of August. We were actually pretty busy considering, but not anywhere near our normal pace of biz. Of course that last week leading up to Labor Day is just dead, gladly so! But then after all the barbecuing is finished, I start to wonder when things will pick back up to the frantic pace we are used to. Well that did not take long, we are currently slammed, today for instance we have appointments on the hour until about 7 pm. Ahhh, good to be back on track!?  So off to the races, trying to figure out just when this rabid sellers market will ebb and give our buyers a break.

The good news at least for a handful of our clients, there seems to be a bit more inventory, we are showing clients 3 new town homes in Brooklyn on Sunday, I don't think we showed them as many over the past 3 months! Also we submitted 4 offers this week on behalf of our wonderful clients and we have 4 accepted, not too shabby. We'll celebrate when they are signed, still, very good news for our team.

Just a quick post summer update from The Burkhardt Group.

13 Years since the attack on New York City's World Trade Centers...

Cabin Fever! A pretty cool company leading the charge in the small home movement...

I have always been interested in small homes, a simple, minimalist lifestyle. When I was 20 I bought 10 acres of land in  Schoharie County, NY in a very small town called Summit (just a one pump gas station that served as a "grocery store" as well). Anyway a long story short, I finally drew up some plans and built my own small home, one room, large terrace and open views to the West (along with deer, turkey, raspberries, apples etc). It was a simple cabin, one room, composting toilet and outdoor shower. I built it myself (with an occasional helper) with a hammer, circular saw and various other rented tools and hand tools. Believe me, I have a million funny stories of the process. Here's one: I framed up all the walls after finishing the pole foundation, sort of rushed it but we got it done with the help of our head lights.I came back the following week to put the roof trusses in place, what I found was all the framing lumber scattered like toothpicks all over the property! I thought some local tore it all up! I was later asked if I braced all the walls? Well no. Summit was called Summit as it was the highest point in the county, evidently winds reached 40-60 miles an hour and without the walls braced....lesson learned.

Any way it was really a blast building this little house and we had many awesome weekends, weeks spent in our little cabin. It still stands today and when I'm in the area I always drive over for a look. This is a beautiful part of the Northern Catskills though it is a 3.5 hour trek up there. A snapshot of old NY State.

                                 CABIN FEVER!

I Added a New Button for Our Testimonials!

We are really proud of the work we do and what we have accomplished since starting The Burkhardt Group over 7 years ago. I just read through some of our testimonials from previous clients and it was very touching. I am looking forward to many more!

Best,

Keith

Yes...I'm Tooting Our Own Horn, So Kill Me!

From a top broker at Sotheby's: 

"Christian and Keith,

I just reviewed the package. Thank you that was a extremely well done application (and I have seen some really crazy ones of late that required numerous revisions). THANK YOU. The only remark is perhaps think about putting the proposed closing date on page 1 of the application as "on or about 9/22/14" lest the board feel pressured by that date.

Thank you again for being so wonderful to work with, I foresee this being no issue. Xxxxx'x letter too was well written as was his letter explaining his two forms of income and employment.

Have a good Sunday."

On another note I had a terrible experience with a listing agent last week, actually quite deceptive, enough so that I was very close to calling my contact at the AG's office as well as filing a formal complaint against the agent with the NYDOS. It is amazing how someone will justify away their actions to try and clear their conscience. I will spare you all the details, however the email chain and other docs have been filed away. In my personal life and my business life I practice the Noble Eightfold Path, I'll let it go for now.

Hope everyone is having an amazing summer!!

Buying a Town House/Brownstone in an Up and Coming Neighborhood....

We have represented a few buyers in the purchase of a home in some "up and coming" neighborhoods, primarily in Brooklyn. I refer to them as up and coming in the context of buyers whom may have overlooked such areas in the past are now exploring them, certainly they were intact neighborhoods before this phenomenon occurred. The social and economic circumstances that lead to the decline of such areas is much to complex to tackle here, however let's hope the changes taking place help the entire community become more dynamic, with better services etc for all the residents.

This strong sales market has brought new players to the development business, some trying to exploit this very active sellers market. Neighborhoods such as Bedford Stuyvesant have many once beautiful homes that are now in need of complete restoration. Some of these new developers are doing less than a stellar job and completing renovations and bringing the properties back on market for resale. We have seen shoddy work, non-compliant renovations and basically just covering up the old mess with sheet rock, paint, carpet etc.

Before you spend money on a home inspection, do your own thorough look around and something we have found to be of the utmost importance; ask the listing broker for a list of previous work completed by the current developer (flipper?) Find out the name of the developer and do a thorough GOOGLE search, pour through Brownstoner for information on the builder. Many times a building will look pretty decent, we do our best to scour through the property, building records, DOB etc to garner as much info as we can, however you need a licensed building inspector/engineer to really get a proper understanding of what is going on. But the best place to start after viewing a property you are interested in, ask about the developers previous projects, we have found this to be a great leading indicator of what kind of work was done. Whenever we cannot get a clear answer to this question, it's never been a good outcome.

At least if you are buying a property that needs a gut renovation you know what you are getting into and can plan/budget accordingly to create your dream home. Buying a property that you think has undergone a renovation only later to discover the electrical work was not done to code, plumbing has been hobbled together, a structural wall has been removed and the added beam is not sufficient to support the load will break your heart and then your bank account! No one wants to feel like they have been taken and suddenly the dream of buying your brownstone has become a nightmare.

Vote for Your Favorite Real Estate Photograph!

          Terrible Real Estate Agent Photos!

I have seen some pretty bad photos, especially in the burbs, but there are some real pieces of work in this collection! Enjoy!