Suburban Digs

We're going for unique next weekend in Montclair, NJ and surrounding towns by holding the first ever Condo Crawl. In just a week, more than 30 agents signed on to represent their current condo listings next Sunday, Nov. 1, from 1-4. We've gotten the popular local editorial blog, Baristanet.com, t...

I'm often asked how it's possible that my real estate team's stayed together so long. My senior associate has been with me since the team's beginning, almost 7 years ago. Another joined almost 5 years ago, with the babies on the team soon celebrating the conclusion of Year 2. We've had one person...

Everywhere we turn these days, including the online ad that stares at me as I write this blog, agents are faced with their own worst selves: "Attention Struggling Realtors...click here now!!!" If only a little click could connect us up to our best selves, out there productively, morning til night...

Dirty grout. Broken tiles. Ripply roof. Scuffy floors. Chipped cabinets. Scraggly radiators. Faded countertops. Outdated colors. Appalling old wallpaper. Peeling ceilings. Jumbly closets. Rumply bedding. Dingy curtains. Overgrown landscaping. Scary basements. MOLD! Etc.In other people's houses, u...

On various socially-oriented portals such as this, Realtors vie for business by trying to be the first to answer questions posed by buyers and sellers. Others host Sunday open houses where they can chat in person with prospective customers and convey the knowledge and enthusiasm that may lead to...

You would have thought that over the last 10 years, as the market crept ever up, those who wanted to sell, would have. They only had to look next door or down the block to see money being made. But, apparently, a decade of profit came and went too fast for some. They were too busy adding on, repl...

I'm sure we all have funny/sad/pathetic stories about our days in the short-sale trenches. Today, our team had another. With no word from the lender in 2 months in response to our officers, we put in still another call and hung in there for a good hour before a live person got on the line. Voila!...

"Home Wreckers -- How Banks Are Making the Foreclosure Crisis Worse...What Happens Now?" is Business Week's lead story this week (Issue of Feb. 23, 2009). Finally, a major national publication has picked up on and researched the dirty-and-getting-truly-filthy story of how banks are handling bank-...

With the changing market, surely there will be alterations in some of the relationships we have with clients, even those we felt closest to. Those who purchased at the highest point in the overheated market of the past, while understanding that the economy is larger than all of us, may yet place ...