Happy end of summer (or is it?)
The death of Ted Kennedy brings me back to the summer of 1968, when Bobby Kennedy (RFK) died.
It was the beginning of the summer of 1968, I was 17 years old, thin, I had completed my first year of college at St. Johns University and I was one of a handful of paid employees on the staff of RFK for President, 1968 New York. I was hired because of my experience in running the physical plant of city/wide state/wide political campaigns, and was hired to help run the Eugene Nickerson for U S Senate campaign (run the office, put out mailings, create, prepare, and distribute campaign literature, etc.)
I started working in big city political campaigns when I was 14, when I was on the staff of Screvane, Lehman, Moynihan, during the mayoral election of 1965, and was somewhat of a prodigy. Somewhere in a box are several articles written about me in New York Newspapers when I was a teenager.
I had gotten a call from Ken Auletta, whom I had worked with before in Howard Samuels campaigns, and asked if I would work for the campaign. He was the campaign manager.
I had previously worked for RFK. In 1966 I was employed by “Citizens for a New Constitution”. It was a voter referendum to have a constitutional convention for New York State. It passed, they had the convention, but the new constitution didn’t pass when it was voted on in 1967. I’ll never forget that RFK did the TV commercial to tell people to vote for the referendum. After he made the commercial, we had to go through all kinds of gymnastics to get his social security number, because theoretically he received payment for doing the commercial (the Kennedy’s were never union busters so he got paid scale). There are calls for a new constitution in New York currently, especially with the shenanigans over the leadership of the Senate this past session.
Gene Nickerson was the first democratic county executive in Nassau County. He was a good guy. Bobby Kennedy recognized his abilities and persuaded him to run for US Senate on his ticket. We were running against Joe Resnick, an upstate congressman with a lot of money, who hated Bobby Kennedy; and Paul O ‘Dwyer, who was a New York liberal, running with Eugene McCarthy. We were the favorites, because Kennedy was expected to win the New York primary by a landslide, and we were going to coast in on his coat tails.
Just before the California Primary, Joe Resnick took out a full page ad in the New York Times that said: Bobby Kennedy is a liar. We couldn’t wait for RFK to come in and kick his butt.
The Kennedy Presidential campaign headquarters were set up in a two story store front in mid Manhattan. There was a room where they had the Xerox machine, postage meter, mimeograph machines, etc. A work room. There was also a juke box in this room. But the juke box only had a couple of records on it. The song that kept playing was MacArthur Park. It gets to you after a while, the same long song.
We were located inside in one of the corners. Not a whole lot had occurred in the campaign up to that point, because we didn’t have any money, because the Kennedy money was being used to fight the various primaries around the country. We were busy planning for the day that the campaign was going to return to New York, and what we were going to do then.
That would be the day that RFK comes back to New York to campaign to win the New York Primary-
That was the day after the California primary.
The campaign was supposed to start on June 6, 1968.
We were meeting at 5 am, to start. We were going out on walking tours, rally’s, all over the state with Gene Nickerson along with RFK,
But early in the morning on June 6th, (or in the middle of the night- depends upon how you look at it), my father woke me up to tell me that RFK had been shot.
So on June 6th, 1968; instead of going to work, ready to run, ready to start our state wide senatorial campaign, I walked into a wake.
People were standing around crying, moping, understandably upset.
Well, we had a funeral to run.
First thing that we had to do was send out the invitations.
We are talking about the days before fax machines.
This was the days of the telex. The telex was a cylinder (round) machine that had a metal band around it which spun and sent the message to another telex machine somehow. 1960’s high tech.
We invited every congressman, senator, head of state, governor, mucky muck in the world (except for Joe Resnick, but he showed up anyway). Everyone had to get a telegram or a telex.
We cut the list into manageable sizes, and we delivered them to Western Union offices, and to friends of the campaign who had telex machines in their office.
RFK was laid out at St Patrick’s, and the line to see the coffin was never ending. But they made arrangements for a special time for us to jump the line and pay our last respects.
And then we had to make the arrangements for the train to Washington, the guest list, limo arrangements, seating arrangements, provide for food. All this stuff had to be done.
Can you imagine the arrangements that went into Ted Kennedy’s funeral where they had months to prepare? Longest funeral I’ve ever seen on TV. They even had to provide for umbrellas in case it rained, which it did- did you see all the umbrellas?
Gene Nickerson, the senatorial candidate without a presidential candidate, was still running. But no one wanted to do anything. No active campaigning for a while, don’t forget Martin Luther King had just been assassinated, and now Bobby. All campaigning came to a halt for all of the campaigns.
Except for me.
I didn’t take the train to Washington. I had a campaign to run. I was a professional.
I decided that we would put out a negative mailing about Joe Resnick. The press had noted that he wasn’t invited to the funeral and he showed up anyway.
First thing I did was order One Million Envelopes for the Kennedy campaign. I had them bring it to the shop where the Kennedy mailings were done, so that they would address them (I “borrowed” the Kennedy mailing list). (These were the days before computers also. Rolodex was everything. While everyone was grieving, I was rolodexing).
There was no one to confirm or deny my order, so they did it on my say so, although I had no authorization, just a lot of nerve. I was 17 years old. Besides I had all the right names, numbers, etc.
The campaign finance director owned an insurance company on Madison Avenue. They had three real commercial grade mimeograph machines/ printing presses. I was given access to the equipment, a couple employees, and sufficient supplies after 5pm, and we ran them over night, and printed the million copies of stuff that had to go into the envelopes.
After the funeral, we moved out of the Kennedy Headquarters, into the Doral Hotel on Park Avenue. (I wonder if it’s still there or still called the Doral.) Nickerson and his home staff were from Long Island so they needed a place to change clothes, and stay, etc. I took over their living room, and added an extra room or two to run the campaign from.
I set up a couple of rooms with long tables and showed people how to stuff envelopes (pre-folded the stuffing’s, put them in order, open up the backs of the envelopes- I was pretty good at this stuff).
I grabbed Nickerson, his wife, and his 4 daughters and had them stuff envelopes too. All the mucky mucks from Long Island got to stuff envelopes. And everyone had a great time. Took everyone’s mind off of the assassination.
I stopped people walking on Park Avenue, in front of the hotel, and asked them if they would help Kennedy, and come in and stuff envelopes.
Some of the people who worked in the hotel helped.
I was able to get some of the Kennedy people to help out.
We bought sandwiches’ from a deli on Park Avenue.
I borrowed the Kennedy postage meter. (It had just been loaded because the campaign was about to get started, and they never used it)
I would fill up big postage bags full of mail, and when we had 4 or 5 of them I would take them to the post office. I would go to different post offices because the postal workers often would leave bags around if there were too many. I remember coming back from a run to the post office around 2 or 3 am and parking in front thinking I’d be out again shortly, but I fell asleep. Luckily someone was up when the tow truck was about to take the car (rush hour).
But the mailing got out.
A job well done.
But, unfortunately we lost the primary the following Tuesday.
Thanks to my mailing, Paul O ‘Dwyer won the primary. (His people will say that my mailing had nothing to do with it, but call it literary license, as we get older, our stories get better). I suppose we should have said something in the mailing about voting for us. But we didn’t.
Jacob Javits and Richard Nixon won the general election.
Gene Nickerson went on to become a federal court judge, presiding over Abner Louima, and finding Chin Gigante fit to stand trial. He died in 2002.
Ken Auletta is now a distinguished award winning Journalist, who writes books about media, has written the media column in the New Yorker since 1982, and has written several best sellers. His 11th book, “Googled, the end of the world as we know it” is being published this fall.
After a very short stint with Hubert Humphrey (I quit during the Democratic National Convention), I wound up at Andrew Stein for Assembly but that’s another story for another email.
……….to be continued
NOTES:
After I finished writing this story, I put on my sneakers, and went outside, took out the lawn mower, checked the oil, added some gasoline, took out my hearing aid, and mowed the lawn. Even though I hadn’t done it in almost two months, it all came right back. It’s like riding a bike, once you get started it all comes back.
You know one of the nicest things about mowing the lawn for me is that I don’t have to hear. I put my hearing aid into this small jar with these little balls in it that absorb the moisture, and for a while, I am free, free of having to try to hear, and free of the anxiety of not hearing.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Sunday, August 23, 2009
4th of July, Woodstock, Labor Day and Mowing the lawn .................. continued
Well, when we last left off, I had given up on Sears; and I had decided to go to Home Depot. I went in, guy there pointed to a lawnmower, said it was the best deal in the store in my price range, all assembled, got me a dolly to push it out to the cash register and to load it into my car.
By now it was too late to mow the lawn, so I just took it out of the box, put in the oil, and gassed it up, started it up, mowed one diagonal row and back, shut it off and put it in the garage. (So what do you call the plastic gas can anyway, does anyone know? A gas can?)
Woke up nice and early the next day (well not that early), and mowed the lawn with my new lawn mower. Did a nice job, if I do say so myself, didn’t take that long, and I was able to get right into my day.
I was able to go to my doctor’s appointment. I mentioned in an earlier email that I had met a foot doctor (Podiatrist) at the SIEDC thing at the Hilton, right after I met the person who gave me the free haircut voucher for the Barber College on New Dorp Lane. I still carry my lap top in the Northfield Bank bag.
I have arthritis in my big toes. It’s a family trait. Big Brains, Bald heads, bad skin, bad hearing, and arthritic big toes.
Dr. Rouder told me that he could clean up my arthritic toes and I would then be able to walk and run pain free, so long as I get a physical, blood work, and a chest x-ray, then I can have surgery any Wednesday or Thursday morning.. He wanted to schedule it for the 2nd of July, but we were celebrating 5 years Cancer Free for Angela on the 4th, and I would have to mow the lawn.
A few days later, I had a meeting at the municipal building (City Hall). It was a beautiful day; so I parked at the ferry, “took the ocean voyage”, and walked up (north) to Nassau Street; and after the meeting at DOF, I walked down (south) on Broadway, back to the ferry. I enjoyed seeing all of the local advertisements at the Whitehall Station and on the ferry. Tired and hot, I sat outside and completed my New York Times crossword puzzle thinking not a bad ride if you don’t have to do it every day.
Not a bad walk. When I was a criminal defense attorney with the Legal Aid Society in Manhattan in the 70’s, I did it every day (except in the rain). Some days I even ran it.
But that’s before my arthritis set in, and let me tell you, after walking back and forth that day, any doubts that I had about having the surgery were gone. On this particular day I was lucky. I got off the ferry, caught the shuttle to the parking lot, got into my car, and just as I closed my door, all hell broke loose as it started to rain, torrential downpours (remember June was record rain).
Anyway, so I went and got my chest x-rayed, drew blood to be analyzed, and went to my PCP (primary care physician) who signed a paper that said that I am healthy enough to have my toes cut open.
So now it’s nearing the 4th of July and time for me to “mow the lawn” again. And mow the lawn I did, and I did a great job. I am getting so good at it, arthritic big toes and all.
On the 4th, I set up the place, went out and bought ice cubes, fruity wine, beer, soda, grilled the corn (and I don’t cover the corn in tin foil like we did when I was a kid- rip off the husks and right onto the grill- spray oleo on it), grilled the hot dogs, the hamburgers, sausages, & steak. I am actually a pretty organized cook, getting things done so people are always eating hot food, and bringing it out in stages.
But I didn’t buy enough ice the first time I went, so I went back to Pathmark and bought a couple more bags of ice cubes (they are still in the freezer in the garage refrigerator); and while I was there, I decided that since I was having surgery a few days later, I would buy some of those Pathmark store made square oatmeal raisin cookies.
Everyone commented on how nice the lawn looked, especially after drinking the beer and fruity wine and eating my cooking.
Fast forward to July 8th, Englewood NJ where a Staten Island surgeon performs his surgery- why not on Staten Island? Well that’s another story- a good story for Bob Cutrona to write about in his column in Business Trends perhaps.
Anyway, they knock me out (although not a general anesthesia), and they worked on my toe. Right foot first, because it wasn’t as bad. Cut open my toe, took out their trusty old buzz saw, and went bzzzz along one side of the toe, and then bzzzzz along the other side. Then he changed the blade in the saw, and put in a bigger one, and did it again, so that now there would be space between the two bones. Then he inserted a screw to set the toe back into place. Sewed it up, turned off the sleepy stuff, and I woke up.
I had a bagel and a glass of orange juice and went home spending the next few days with my foot elevated and iced.
That Sunday, we had an open house at our home, so we had to leave the house. I went to work, and sent out emails to y’all from my office computer.
When Angela got home she had a panic attack because the garage door was open, and she thought to herself that someone had stolen the lawn mower. Do you believe this?
He repeated this procedure on the big toe on the other foot on July 22nd. After the second surgery I decided to allow myself a final binge before I start my training for the marathon, now that my toes are going to be better. Pathmark Oatmeal Raisin Cookies. I also stopped taking my B5 Pantothenic Acid. After a month of cookies and no B5, I lost my hearing.
And then the grass began to grow.
A few weeks ago I was able to get one of the landscapers who was working a couple of blocks away to mow the lawn.
But the grass has started to grow again…
So the other day I get a text message from Stuart Garber, a lifelong friend, “Alan you should write about Woodstock this weekend.” Previously Stu had asked me to write a story about the fact that his family’s lumber yard is the last family owned lumber yard on Staten Island, after Farrell Lumber closed their doors. Started in the 50’s by Stu’s father and grandfather, on Greenleaf Avenue near the home port, they also now have a second store, Garber’s Do It Best Hardware at 4890 Amboy Road near the Outerbridge.
In August 1969, 40 years ago, (oh man 40 years – some of you weren’t even born yet), I was 18 years old, thin, my hair was getting long, I was about to enter my junior year at St. John’s University, which was still on Schermerhorn Street in downtown Brooklyn, before it moved to Staten Island. I worked full time on the staff of the Howard J Samuels for Governor Campaign. Howard never got the nomination, lost in the primary; the day after he lost, I was with him when Mayor John Lindsay called and asked him to start up Off Track Betting. Howard became Howie the Horse. Couple of years later I became assistant to the President of OTB (eventually I quit to build houses on Staten Island but that’s another story).
So there was a guy who worked in the campaign also named Howard, but this one was Howard Hirsch. He had curly hair and a curly mustache (maybe he had a perm). His claim to fame up until that moment was that he had started something called the Psychedelicatessen (psychedelic delicatessen) an early 60’s hip venue.
Howard Hirsch was asked by the guys running Woodstock to put on an art show to showcase work of some aspiring young hippie artists of the day.
An Aquarian Expedition-
The Woodstock Music and Art Fair.
Howard asked me to bring some friends to Woodstock to help him run the Art Fair.
So I brought my good friend Bobby Garber (that’s why Stuart texted me in the first place), and a few others; and you know, its 40 years later, and I just don’t remember. (I haven’t seen any of these people, except Stuart and Bobby Garber, in years).
We got free tickets, a place to stay, and free meals.
Friday morning I left for Woodstock from Kingston NY, where I had picked up one of our friends. The NY Thruway was still fine, but after we got off of the main highway and started on some of the secondary roads, we began to crawl in the Woodstock traffic.
Eventually, as we approached Bethel, I realized that it made sense to park the car. I pulled into a deli (general store?) and asked the owner if I could leave my car there, which started something, because the owner filled up his lot, side yard, and rear yard, in no time at all after I left. (I can’t remember what kind of a car I drove that day- I remember it was white).
So we started to walk, and caught a ride “on” someone else’s car (people were riding on the trunk and on the roof and on the hood. The communal spirit had begun.
We got to the hotel, which was actually like a 3 or 4 room Inn, and there was a room that was wall to wall mattresses- all next to each other. Not dormitory style, like a room of mattresses. Catch as catch can. No air conditioning.
Then we walked to the fair, to find the Art Show.
The hotel was in “town” (such as it was), and it was a schlep to “Yasgar’s Farm” where the concert (and art show) were being held. Plus there were a lot of people, (hundreds of thousands) so the walk was a journey.
I got to the Art Fair, and this was about the time that they were deciding to make it a free concert. The reason they made it a free concert was that people kept knocking down the fences. During my walk to the art fair I watched (and participated) in fences coming down.
Howard gave me staff passes for everyone (mine is framed on the wall in the kitchen). Remember this was 1969, things were mimeographed. The logo in black print on a green card (construction paper?) that said STAFF, my name, and ART.
It reminds me of the time that JFK came to Staten Island while he was running for President, in 1959. Well he didn’t really come to Staten Island, he took the ferry to Staten Island, where he addressed the crowd at the end of one of the ramps (the old pick up ramp). My father was a big Democrat in those days, but the local Staten Island Democratic Organization was run by the Irish. We went to someone’s office in St George so we could get close to JFK. That person (I can’t remember his name) took a blank card in clear plastic that you pin on your clothes (Hello my name is- w/o the hello my name is), and took out a green magic marker and wrote OFFICIAL on it. He said, we use green because they’re all Irish. It worked. I got right up to JFK on the platform, and did get to shake JFK’s hand. I always remembered while he was shaking 10 hands at a time, I had a whole hand to myself (hey I was 8 or 9 years old).
So back to the Art Show, we are putting up “fences” to hang the art on. As soon as we put up a fence, someone comes and knocks it down, and says- hey it’s a free concert. So up with the fences, down with the fences. Even with art work on them, the hippies insisted upon knocking them down.
There was a van or something parked not far from the art show, and they had an 8 track player in the van, but they only had one tape: Sly and the Family Stone. Sly and Family Stone would start and I thought- great the concert is starting. This happened several times over the next day or so until the concert actually did start.
Then it started to rain.
So much for the art show, we had to protect the art from the rain, so we put it away.
Since it was raining, the smart move was to go back to the hotel and get some sleep. It was hot and muggy in there, but I slept. I can sleep standing up, sleep is never a problem for me. But I remember a couple of my friends couldn’t sleep and wound up outside the hotel all night.
Saturday was the muddy day. It stopped raining. It got nice out.
I walked to the fair, and there was a truck (like a U-Haul) with cases and cases of #10 cans of juices (like the big spaghetti sauce cans), that they were selling for $1 a can. I bought a can.
10 feet away was a hippie, telling people to leave their unfinished cans with him so he could give them to others to take a sip. “Don’t buy from the capitalist pigs, drink for free, or buy and share.” I left the rest of the can with him.
Woodstock Nation.
So it is pretty calm- muddy, but calm.
I walked to the art fair, nothing happening there. Hung around with Howard and others. The van played Sly and the Family Stone, and every time it did, I thought the concert had starting.
I walked around. Saw the information booth. The medical tent. The freak outs. Saw the hog farm. They had this really neat vehicle. Like a little jeep, but small, like a four seater, jet ski size. Really neat.
Bobby Garber (unbeknownst to me) took his staff pass and went back stage. He and a couple of our other friends watched much of the concert from the stage.
All this past weekend on the History Channel they ran a Woodstock show, interviewing some of the people from then, now. I read it on my closed captioned TV.
They said that at the beginning of Woodstock, the press was reporting false information about Woodstock. They were reporting that there were fights, and illness, and chaos.
They also showed the pay phones at Woodstock. They said that so many people called home and told their parents how wonderful it was, who then called their local TV stations, that is how the real story got out that it was a love festival and not chaos.
Being a good son, I called my mother. I didn’t call my father. I didn't not call my father. Wow- what a revelation!!! sorry Zack and Jake.
On the TV, they also showed Woodstock memorabilia, but no staff passes. Wonder what mine is worth? Anyone interested? I’m taking offers. Not!
Back to the concert. All of a sudden I heard Richie Havens. And it wasn’t on the 8 track. The concert had started.
Freedom. Freedom. Freedom. Freedom.
But I wasn’t dug in for music. I listened to Richie Havens set (6 songs), and started to walk around some more. Couldn’t find my friends. (There were hundreds of thousands of people there). (They were on the stage). Didn’t run into anyone else that I knew there either.
I listened to Santana do Soul Sacrifice, although I had never heard of Santana before, but thought that they were great.
There were a lot of announcements about don’t take this acid or that acid. I didn’t take any drugs at Woodstock.
Sometime later Saturday I met a girl who was with a bunch of people whose car was parked somewhat near the art show. And she had a bottle of Chianti. I can’t remember her name, or where she was from, and I never saw her again. I also didn’t really listen to any more of the concert, and really don’t remember anything else about the fair until it was time to leave.
So we all sort of ran into each other back at the hotel, and leaving Woodstock, we caught a ride on the back of someone’s car, to my car, and came home “the conquering heroes”.
Woodstock’s anniversary is now over, my hearing has returned, the ringing has stopped. (Was it stress? Was it lack of vitamins? Was it too much sugar? Who knows.
I have now decided that I am going to start to get into the best shape of my life. No more oatmeal raisin cookies from Pathmark.
But before I run the marathon, I first have to be able to get my sneakers on my feet. However, as soon as I do, the first thing on my agenda, before Labor Day weekend, is that I am going to mow the lawn.
By now it was too late to mow the lawn, so I just took it out of the box, put in the oil, and gassed it up, started it up, mowed one diagonal row and back, shut it off and put it in the garage. (So what do you call the plastic gas can anyway, does anyone know? A gas can?)
Woke up nice and early the next day (well not that early), and mowed the lawn with my new lawn mower. Did a nice job, if I do say so myself, didn’t take that long, and I was able to get right into my day.
I was able to go to my doctor’s appointment. I mentioned in an earlier email that I had met a foot doctor (Podiatrist) at the SIEDC thing at the Hilton, right after I met the person who gave me the free haircut voucher for the Barber College on New Dorp Lane. I still carry my lap top in the Northfield Bank bag.
I have arthritis in my big toes. It’s a family trait. Big Brains, Bald heads, bad skin, bad hearing, and arthritic big toes.
Dr. Rouder told me that he could clean up my arthritic toes and I would then be able to walk and run pain free, so long as I get a physical, blood work, and a chest x-ray, then I can have surgery any Wednesday or Thursday morning.. He wanted to schedule it for the 2nd of July, but we were celebrating 5 years Cancer Free for Angela on the 4th, and I would have to mow the lawn.
A few days later, I had a meeting at the municipal building (City Hall). It was a beautiful day; so I parked at the ferry, “took the ocean voyage”, and walked up (north) to Nassau Street; and after the meeting at DOF, I walked down (south) on Broadway, back to the ferry. I enjoyed seeing all of the local advertisements at the Whitehall Station and on the ferry. Tired and hot, I sat outside and completed my New York Times crossword puzzle thinking not a bad ride if you don’t have to do it every day.
Not a bad walk. When I was a criminal defense attorney with the Legal Aid Society in Manhattan in the 70’s, I did it every day (except in the rain). Some days I even ran it.
But that’s before my arthritis set in, and let me tell you, after walking back and forth that day, any doubts that I had about having the surgery were gone. On this particular day I was lucky. I got off the ferry, caught the shuttle to the parking lot, got into my car, and just as I closed my door, all hell broke loose as it started to rain, torrential downpours (remember June was record rain).
Anyway, so I went and got my chest x-rayed, drew blood to be analyzed, and went to my PCP (primary care physician) who signed a paper that said that I am healthy enough to have my toes cut open.
So now it’s nearing the 4th of July and time for me to “mow the lawn” again. And mow the lawn I did, and I did a great job. I am getting so good at it, arthritic big toes and all.
On the 4th, I set up the place, went out and bought ice cubes, fruity wine, beer, soda, grilled the corn (and I don’t cover the corn in tin foil like we did when I was a kid- rip off the husks and right onto the grill- spray oleo on it), grilled the hot dogs, the hamburgers, sausages, & steak. I am actually a pretty organized cook, getting things done so people are always eating hot food, and bringing it out in stages.
But I didn’t buy enough ice the first time I went, so I went back to Pathmark and bought a couple more bags of ice cubes (they are still in the freezer in the garage refrigerator); and while I was there, I decided that since I was having surgery a few days later, I would buy some of those Pathmark store made square oatmeal raisin cookies.
Everyone commented on how nice the lawn looked, especially after drinking the beer and fruity wine and eating my cooking.
Fast forward to July 8th, Englewood NJ where a Staten Island surgeon performs his surgery- why not on Staten Island? Well that’s another story- a good story for Bob Cutrona to write about in his column in Business Trends perhaps.
Anyway, they knock me out (although not a general anesthesia), and they worked on my toe. Right foot first, because it wasn’t as bad. Cut open my toe, took out their trusty old buzz saw, and went bzzzz along one side of the toe, and then bzzzzz along the other side. Then he changed the blade in the saw, and put in a bigger one, and did it again, so that now there would be space between the two bones. Then he inserted a screw to set the toe back into place. Sewed it up, turned off the sleepy stuff, and I woke up.
I had a bagel and a glass of orange juice and went home spending the next few days with my foot elevated and iced.
That Sunday, we had an open house at our home, so we had to leave the house. I went to work, and sent out emails to y’all from my office computer.
When Angela got home she had a panic attack because the garage door was open, and she thought to herself that someone had stolen the lawn mower. Do you believe this?
He repeated this procedure on the big toe on the other foot on July 22nd. After the second surgery I decided to allow myself a final binge before I start my training for the marathon, now that my toes are going to be better. Pathmark Oatmeal Raisin Cookies. I also stopped taking my B5 Pantothenic Acid. After a month of cookies and no B5, I lost my hearing.
And then the grass began to grow.
A few weeks ago I was able to get one of the landscapers who was working a couple of blocks away to mow the lawn.
But the grass has started to grow again…
So the other day I get a text message from Stuart Garber, a lifelong friend, “Alan you should write about Woodstock this weekend.” Previously Stu had asked me to write a story about the fact that his family’s lumber yard is the last family owned lumber yard on Staten Island, after Farrell Lumber closed their doors. Started in the 50’s by Stu’s father and grandfather, on Greenleaf Avenue near the home port, they also now have a second store, Garber’s Do It Best Hardware at 4890 Amboy Road near the Outerbridge.
In August 1969, 40 years ago, (oh man 40 years – some of you weren’t even born yet), I was 18 years old, thin, my hair was getting long, I was about to enter my junior year at St. John’s University, which was still on Schermerhorn Street in downtown Brooklyn, before it moved to Staten Island. I worked full time on the staff of the Howard J Samuels for Governor Campaign. Howard never got the nomination, lost in the primary; the day after he lost, I was with him when Mayor John Lindsay called and asked him to start up Off Track Betting. Howard became Howie the Horse. Couple of years later I became assistant to the President of OTB (eventually I quit to build houses on Staten Island but that’s another story).
So there was a guy who worked in the campaign also named Howard, but this one was Howard Hirsch. He had curly hair and a curly mustache (maybe he had a perm). His claim to fame up until that moment was that he had started something called the Psychedelicatessen (psychedelic delicatessen) an early 60’s hip venue.
Howard Hirsch was asked by the guys running Woodstock to put on an art show to showcase work of some aspiring young hippie artists of the day.
An Aquarian Expedition-
The Woodstock Music and Art Fair.
Howard asked me to bring some friends to Woodstock to help him run the Art Fair.
So I brought my good friend Bobby Garber (that’s why Stuart texted me in the first place), and a few others; and you know, its 40 years later, and I just don’t remember. (I haven’t seen any of these people, except Stuart and Bobby Garber, in years).
We got free tickets, a place to stay, and free meals.
Friday morning I left for Woodstock from Kingston NY, where I had picked up one of our friends. The NY Thruway was still fine, but after we got off of the main highway and started on some of the secondary roads, we began to crawl in the Woodstock traffic.
Eventually, as we approached Bethel, I realized that it made sense to park the car. I pulled into a deli (general store?) and asked the owner if I could leave my car there, which started something, because the owner filled up his lot, side yard, and rear yard, in no time at all after I left. (I can’t remember what kind of a car I drove that day- I remember it was white).
So we started to walk, and caught a ride “on” someone else’s car (people were riding on the trunk and on the roof and on the hood. The communal spirit had begun.
We got to the hotel, which was actually like a 3 or 4 room Inn, and there was a room that was wall to wall mattresses- all next to each other. Not dormitory style, like a room of mattresses. Catch as catch can. No air conditioning.
Then we walked to the fair, to find the Art Show.
The hotel was in “town” (such as it was), and it was a schlep to “Yasgar’s Farm” where the concert (and art show) were being held. Plus there were a lot of people, (hundreds of thousands) so the walk was a journey.
I got to the Art Fair, and this was about the time that they were deciding to make it a free concert. The reason they made it a free concert was that people kept knocking down the fences. During my walk to the art fair I watched (and participated) in fences coming down.
Howard gave me staff passes for everyone (mine is framed on the wall in the kitchen). Remember this was 1969, things were mimeographed. The logo in black print on a green card (construction paper?) that said STAFF, my name, and ART.
It reminds me of the time that JFK came to Staten Island while he was running for President, in 1959. Well he didn’t really come to Staten Island, he took the ferry to Staten Island, where he addressed the crowd at the end of one of the ramps (the old pick up ramp). My father was a big Democrat in those days, but the local Staten Island Democratic Organization was run by the Irish. We went to someone’s office in St George so we could get close to JFK. That person (I can’t remember his name) took a blank card in clear plastic that you pin on your clothes (Hello my name is- w/o the hello my name is), and took out a green magic marker and wrote OFFICIAL on it. He said, we use green because they’re all Irish. It worked. I got right up to JFK on the platform, and did get to shake JFK’s hand. I always remembered while he was shaking 10 hands at a time, I had a whole hand to myself (hey I was 8 or 9 years old).
So back to the Art Show, we are putting up “fences” to hang the art on. As soon as we put up a fence, someone comes and knocks it down, and says- hey it’s a free concert. So up with the fences, down with the fences. Even with art work on them, the hippies insisted upon knocking them down.
There was a van or something parked not far from the art show, and they had an 8 track player in the van, but they only had one tape: Sly and the Family Stone. Sly and Family Stone would start and I thought- great the concert is starting. This happened several times over the next day or so until the concert actually did start.
Then it started to rain.
So much for the art show, we had to protect the art from the rain, so we put it away.
Since it was raining, the smart move was to go back to the hotel and get some sleep. It was hot and muggy in there, but I slept. I can sleep standing up, sleep is never a problem for me. But I remember a couple of my friends couldn’t sleep and wound up outside the hotel all night.
Saturday was the muddy day. It stopped raining. It got nice out.
I walked to the fair, and there was a truck (like a U-Haul) with cases and cases of #10 cans of juices (like the big spaghetti sauce cans), that they were selling for $1 a can. I bought a can.
10 feet away was a hippie, telling people to leave their unfinished cans with him so he could give them to others to take a sip. “Don’t buy from the capitalist pigs, drink for free, or buy and share.” I left the rest of the can with him.
Woodstock Nation.
So it is pretty calm- muddy, but calm.
I walked to the art fair, nothing happening there. Hung around with Howard and others. The van played Sly and the Family Stone, and every time it did, I thought the concert had starting.
I walked around. Saw the information booth. The medical tent. The freak outs. Saw the hog farm. They had this really neat vehicle. Like a little jeep, but small, like a four seater, jet ski size. Really neat.
Bobby Garber (unbeknownst to me) took his staff pass and went back stage. He and a couple of our other friends watched much of the concert from the stage.
All this past weekend on the History Channel they ran a Woodstock show, interviewing some of the people from then, now. I read it on my closed captioned TV.
They said that at the beginning of Woodstock, the press was reporting false information about Woodstock. They were reporting that there were fights, and illness, and chaos.
They also showed the pay phones at Woodstock. They said that so many people called home and told their parents how wonderful it was, who then called their local TV stations, that is how the real story got out that it was a love festival and not chaos.
Being a good son, I called my mother. I didn’t call my father. I didn't not call my father. Wow- what a revelation!!! sorry Zack and Jake.
On the TV, they also showed Woodstock memorabilia, but no staff passes. Wonder what mine is worth? Anyone interested? I’m taking offers. Not!
Back to the concert. All of a sudden I heard Richie Havens. And it wasn’t on the 8 track. The concert had started.
Freedom. Freedom. Freedom. Freedom.
But I wasn’t dug in for music. I listened to Richie Havens set (6 songs), and started to walk around some more. Couldn’t find my friends. (There were hundreds of thousands of people there). (They were on the stage). Didn’t run into anyone else that I knew there either.
I listened to Santana do Soul Sacrifice, although I had never heard of Santana before, but thought that they were great.
There were a lot of announcements about don’t take this acid or that acid. I didn’t take any drugs at Woodstock.
Sometime later Saturday I met a girl who was with a bunch of people whose car was parked somewhat near the art show. And she had a bottle of Chianti. I can’t remember her name, or where she was from, and I never saw her again. I also didn’t really listen to any more of the concert, and really don’t remember anything else about the fair until it was time to leave.
So we all sort of ran into each other back at the hotel, and leaving Woodstock, we caught a ride on the back of someone’s car, to my car, and came home “the conquering heroes”.
Woodstock’s anniversary is now over, my hearing has returned, the ringing has stopped. (Was it stress? Was it lack of vitamins? Was it too much sugar? Who knows.
I have now decided that I am going to start to get into the best shape of my life. No more oatmeal raisin cookies from Pathmark.
But before I run the marathon, I first have to be able to get my sneakers on my feet. However, as soon as I do, the first thing on my agenda, before Labor Day weekend, is that I am going to mow the lawn.
Saturday, August 8, 2009
The long road to the bottom of the market.
Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?
Those of you that receive my emails of foreclosures have been seeing notes on some of the properties saying things like “This price must be the bottom of the market,” or “this house is another sign of the bottom of the market.” (Those of you who don’t receive these emails, and would like to, please tell me. Those of you who would like to receive the cheapo cheapo listings, that I no longer send out, email me to be put on the cheapo cheapo list).
In preparation of writing this article, I gazed at my crystal ball, read tea leaves, threw tarot cards, and counted the bumps on my head, to find the answers. What did I find? I found Questions, like:
Which market are we looking at for the bottom? We have the stock market, we have the bond market, we have the gold market, we have the Real Estate market, and lots of other markets.
The Stock Market
The stock market reacts to all of the markets. Wall Street says that this recession and fall of the stock market is in response to the crash of the subprime mortgage market. My friends in the market tell me that the market still hasn’t dealt with the inflation, and unemployment, so the stock market has not hit bottom, and could even have another serious down spin, or crash. Of course that’s easy to say.
The Unemployment Factor
Many say that we haven’t peaked in unemployment as yet. That as unemployment grows, more people will lose their houses to foreclosures, and there will be more REO property on the market, less buyers due to unemployment, and on and on.
345,000 US jobs were lost in May 2009, and the unemployment rate jumped to 9.4%, its highest point in 25 years (1984- just before the wild 80’s took off?). Economists said that job losses are likely to continue to pile up through the rest of the year.
Yet the stock market took this as a good sign, because the pace of losses was lower than they anticipated, and that is was showing sustained signs of stabilizing (does stabilizing mean hitting bottom?).
But does the stock market really ever make sense?
There are lots of people selling books and emails, and courses that offer advice on how to buy and sell stocks, and play the market, based upon their formulas which always worked, always did better than the stock market. I just Googled “bottom of the market” and came across one of these guys, who shows how to tell the signs of the bottom of the market. This particular genius stated that after a crash; check the BKX index for a 10% rise…that will be the bottom. He also said when the economy reaches the front page of the NY Times, and every other major newspaper, that is when the market has hit mega bottom, and it is time to buy. He was wrong, the market continued to tank.
I never trusted the stock market. I never trusted the prices of stocks, IPO’s, stock tips, etc. If I got a stock tip, I know how far down the food chain I am, it can’t possibly be any good at that point. It was probably time to sell, by the time I got the tip. Especially after watching the films Wall Street and Pretty Woman. And what about Ivan Boesky, Michael Milken and Nicholas Leeson,… companies manipulate stock prices for their own accounts, and to big Wall Street players. We all know that.
Over the past several years, prior to the crash of the sub-prime mortgage crisis, I sat on the side lines, and watched as the prices of real estate climbed, and the stock market went up, despite our financial losses and costs in running the war in Iraq. (Which at this point seems small). I never could understand why the prices of stocks kept going up, and why the prices of real estate kept going up. Made no sense then.
So why should the stock market make sense now? Has anything changed? Aren’t the big players, just buying up the bargains while they can? They have the money; they borrowed billions from the fed. They had to have done something with the money; they bought stock that they can manipulate later. And didn’t they clean house? Got rid of the older high paid employees? Trimmed the fat, as it were? But mark my words, when the time is right, when the money is flowing again, when their customers are in the mode called buy and spend, they will re-sell these companies and stocks at huge profits. Next time the stock market is on the rise.
Housing Market
Now the housing market is different than the stock market. The major difference is that housing is a necessity shelter. People have to have a place where they can go with a roof over their heads to protect them from the elements. I don’t have to explain the use and necessity of housing.
But in the housing market there are certain constants, and there are always new people entering the housing market, and people ready to make a move to their next house:
People graduate; get married; have babies; get new jobs; get promotions; hit the lottery and/or have other windfalls and inheritances; children grow, and leave the house (empty nesters- I wish).
So there is a constant flow of new people entering the housing market, but what happens during the bad market times (or whatever you want to call whatever it is), these people don’t enter the market.
Why aren’t they entering the market now?
People aren’t entering the market for the obvious reasons, like they are afraid, they want to wait until the bottom is hit, they are waiting for the buy of their life to come knocking on their door. No one wants to buy on the way down, when it could still go down further. When things start to go up however, “when the train is starting to leave the station” according to my friend Jon Salmon, that’s when everyone wants to buy!
While there are good reasons to buy now, and good reasons not to buy now, the result of these people not buying is being felt in the market. Today, there is a growing amount of pent up demand for housing. At some point, we will understand that we have passed the bottom, and that it is “okay” to buy real estate now. At that time, there will be a rush, which will bring the prices up, because of this pent up demand. (Look what happened with the stimulus package to buy a new car and trade in your clunker- all of the pent up demand hit the market and the program was overwhelmed- The amount provided to last for 3 months, was used up in 3 days).
History has this strange habit of repeating itself.
In the late 70’s and again in the early 80’s, our economy was in really bad shape. We had left Vietnam, in disgrace, and the Shah of Iran was overthrown and our embassy was held hostage for 444 days. Our cities were falling apart; New York was on the verge of bankruptcy. Money for mortgages disappeared. Interest rates were up to 16% for a home mortgage, if you could get one.
And the real estate industry, including new home construction, grinded to a halt.
So some of the builders and some of the bankers came up with an idea, where they could lower the interest on the mortgage for a short period (3 years or so), and make them affordable.
Woodbrook Condominiums had just opened its first phase, and they offered a deal where you could get a mortgage at Citibank where the interest rate for the first three years was 10.5%. The builder paid the bank three years interest on the difference in rates, and sales were phenomenal. (they were called negative amortization mortgages).Other builders got the idea, and the market began again, slowly. And then we ran out of inventory, the builders that had the jobs ready to go, became the biggest builders. (Does Mirador ring a bell?).
Perhaps what really kick started the real estate market was the influx of foreign money, in the mid 80’s, as the United States had become such a terrific bargain. Large buyers from Japan, Germany and other European countries went on a buying spree, stimulating the market, as these dollars trickled down. Of course they not only spent money on real estate, they also spent money buying companies, and stocks. Next came the wild days of the 80’s where people made so much money that opulence was the way of the day.
The buzz around was he who has the most toys at the end- wins. Michael Douglas’ movie Wall Street had a scene where he was preaching GREED to his shareholders.
The builders on Staten Island decided that the best way to go was to utilize existing zoning laws and build as many townhouses on a piece of land as was possible. Houses went from 20 feet wide to 12 feet wide. Townhouses’ were built attached on all sides including the rear so the only property would be the 8’ front yard. And the price of houses went through the roof. I remember wondering how a person making $40,000 is going to be able to buy a house that cost $180,000. The price of homes went up faster than the salaries.
But then in the late 80’s government got into the act and all of a sudden the market crashed, and all of the banks built on their houses of cards fell with them.
In New York City, government (city council) decided to change the zoning laws and created something called contextual zoning. This only affected houses in Staten Island and Queens. It meant that from then on, garages counted in the computations of FAR (Floor Area Ratio’s), and other changes that made absolutely no sense to us on Staten Island were enacted. The net effect was that houses would either be 1/3rd smaller, buyers would get less room (no more garages, lofts, splays, etc.) and builders would get less units or yield from their land.
At the same time, President Reagan changed the tax code and eliminated capital gains treatment in real estate. That meant that profit from real estate was taxed as ordinary income, instead of as capital gains, which is taxed at a lower rate.
Bye Bye foreign money, hello recession.
Bye Bye banks, hello RTC (Resolution Trust Corporation.)
And then there were lean years and slow markets, etc., but then a funny thing happened.
Instead of building townhouses, some builders started to build detached one and two family homes, and the people who were ready to move out of their “starter home” into their next home, started buying these homes. The new entry level buyers, with all of that pent up demand, started buying the resale’s from those I just mentioned, and again we ran out of inventory, and prices started to climb again.
Only this time, they were fueled by real easy credit, and the subprime mortgage business, which enabled anyone who could breath and had a driver’s license (or was it a library card) could get a mortgage and buy a house.
So what will happen this time?
Smart money is already buying up the bargains. How much longer do you really believe that you will be able to buy a two family house for under $200,000? C’mon. Maybe we haven’t hit bottom, but some of the merchandise has.
Is now the time to invest in Real Estate?
Yes
Here are some of the reasons why:
First: $8,000 Tax Incentive available at closing- does not get paid back. (Unless you don’t live in the house as your primary residence or violate the other terms). Expires November 30, 2009. (First time homebuyers- haven't owned a home in 3 years)
Second: 96.5% Financing FHA & SONYMA
Third: Lowest Rates in History, and below market programs available.
Fourth: Lowest prices in 20 years
Fifth: This is a buyer’s market- Huge Inventories. Sellers are nervous and are negotiable.
Sixth: High amount of foreclosures and short sales available. There are bargains galore in every area of town, even Million dollar short sales.
Seventh: Prices in the neighborhood that you are interested in are relatively stable- either they are holding their own, increasing, or the pace of decline is slowing.
Eighth: You plan on staying in this home for more than 5 years. That way regardless of the market at this point, it will have stabilized and you will ride out any downturn, and come out ahead in price.
Ninth: Your rent equals a mortgage payment.
Tenth: You can use the tax deduction against your income.
Eleventh: You’ve found the right house in the right area for you. The schools are great. You know that if the market were better, this house would have been sold already, or there would be more competition for it.
Twelfth: You’ve got equity in your house, and want to move to a smaller house (empty nester). Although you will not be getting as much for your sale, you will more than make up for it in your purchase.
Thirteenth: If you don't buy now, you will kick yourself for the rest of your life.
Fourteenth: There probably will never be another market like this one in our lifetimes.
There is a lot of competition for the bargains
While there are lots of good deals out there these days, there are also a lot of savvy real estate professionals in the marketplace that are buying up the good deals wherever they can. Here on Staten Island, because of the large numbers of foreclosures on the market, there are a whole new group of OFF Island Realtors® who have joined SIBOR, because they receive foreclosures (REO) from the banks. These off island realtors also have “off island customers” who have discovered Staten Island as a fantastic bargain basement -the best bang for the buck- (compared to the prices of real estate in Brooklyn and Queens, and are grabbing huge amounts of these great deals as they occur.)
So how will we know that we’ve hit the Bottom of the Market?
We will know for sure that we've hit the bottom of the market, well after we are on the way up. We will read about it in Newsweek and Time Magazine, we will see TV shows about it. More and more of the articles and stories we hear and read about will be talking about the bottom, and then they will be talking about the bottom as having passed the bottom. In other words, we won't know for sure officially that we are at the bottom, until we are well passed it.
So are we there yet?
Yes and No.
The June numbers are in, and new construction sales are up for the 4th month in a row, although still below last year's numbers.
New Building Permits are up for the 4th month in a row, which means that the Building Industry is confident that the worst is over.
I am getting more calls than ever before, and more inquiries and requests to be added to the email list to receive free foreclosure listings.
Some aspects have hit bottom, others haven’t. Some things will get worse, some things are getting better.
Some house prices have hit the bottom, others have a ways to go.
So what is the answer?
…………………to be continued
Those of you that receive my emails of foreclosures have been seeing notes on some of the properties saying things like “This price must be the bottom of the market,” or “this house is another sign of the bottom of the market.” (Those of you who don’t receive these emails, and would like to, please tell me. Those of you who would like to receive the cheapo cheapo listings, that I no longer send out, email me to be put on the cheapo cheapo list).
In preparation of writing this article, I gazed at my crystal ball, read tea leaves, threw tarot cards, and counted the bumps on my head, to find the answers. What did I find? I found Questions, like:
Which market are we looking at for the bottom? We have the stock market, we have the bond market, we have the gold market, we have the Real Estate market, and lots of other markets.
The Stock Market
The stock market reacts to all of the markets. Wall Street says that this recession and fall of the stock market is in response to the crash of the subprime mortgage market. My friends in the market tell me that the market still hasn’t dealt with the inflation, and unemployment, so the stock market has not hit bottom, and could even have another serious down spin, or crash. Of course that’s easy to say.
The Unemployment Factor
Many say that we haven’t peaked in unemployment as yet. That as unemployment grows, more people will lose their houses to foreclosures, and there will be more REO property on the market, less buyers due to unemployment, and on and on.
345,000 US jobs were lost in May 2009, and the unemployment rate jumped to 9.4%, its highest point in 25 years (1984- just before the wild 80’s took off?). Economists said that job losses are likely to continue to pile up through the rest of the year.
Yet the stock market took this as a good sign, because the pace of losses was lower than they anticipated, and that is was showing sustained signs of stabilizing (does stabilizing mean hitting bottom?).
But does the stock market really ever make sense?
There are lots of people selling books and emails, and courses that offer advice on how to buy and sell stocks, and play the market, based upon their formulas which always worked, always did better than the stock market. I just Googled “bottom of the market” and came across one of these guys, who shows how to tell the signs of the bottom of the market. This particular genius stated that after a crash; check the BKX index for a 10% rise…that will be the bottom. He also said when the economy reaches the front page of the NY Times, and every other major newspaper, that is when the market has hit mega bottom, and it is time to buy. He was wrong, the market continued to tank.
I never trusted the stock market. I never trusted the prices of stocks, IPO’s, stock tips, etc. If I got a stock tip, I know how far down the food chain I am, it can’t possibly be any good at that point. It was probably time to sell, by the time I got the tip. Especially after watching the films Wall Street and Pretty Woman. And what about Ivan Boesky, Michael Milken and Nicholas Leeson,… companies manipulate stock prices for their own accounts, and to big Wall Street players. We all know that.
Over the past several years, prior to the crash of the sub-prime mortgage crisis, I sat on the side lines, and watched as the prices of real estate climbed, and the stock market went up, despite our financial losses and costs in running the war in Iraq. (Which at this point seems small). I never could understand why the prices of stocks kept going up, and why the prices of real estate kept going up. Made no sense then.
So why should the stock market make sense now? Has anything changed? Aren’t the big players, just buying up the bargains while they can? They have the money; they borrowed billions from the fed. They had to have done something with the money; they bought stock that they can manipulate later. And didn’t they clean house? Got rid of the older high paid employees? Trimmed the fat, as it were? But mark my words, when the time is right, when the money is flowing again, when their customers are in the mode called buy and spend, they will re-sell these companies and stocks at huge profits. Next time the stock market is on the rise.
Housing Market
Now the housing market is different than the stock market. The major difference is that housing is a necessity shelter. People have to have a place where they can go with a roof over their heads to protect them from the elements. I don’t have to explain the use and necessity of housing.
But in the housing market there are certain constants, and there are always new people entering the housing market, and people ready to make a move to their next house:
People graduate; get married; have babies; get new jobs; get promotions; hit the lottery and/or have other windfalls and inheritances; children grow, and leave the house (empty nesters- I wish).
So there is a constant flow of new people entering the housing market, but what happens during the bad market times (or whatever you want to call whatever it is), these people don’t enter the market.
Why aren’t they entering the market now?
People aren’t entering the market for the obvious reasons, like they are afraid, they want to wait until the bottom is hit, they are waiting for the buy of their life to come knocking on their door. No one wants to buy on the way down, when it could still go down further. When things start to go up however, “when the train is starting to leave the station” according to my friend Jon Salmon, that’s when everyone wants to buy!
While there are good reasons to buy now, and good reasons not to buy now, the result of these people not buying is being felt in the market. Today, there is a growing amount of pent up demand for housing. At some point, we will understand that we have passed the bottom, and that it is “okay” to buy real estate now. At that time, there will be a rush, which will bring the prices up, because of this pent up demand. (Look what happened with the stimulus package to buy a new car and trade in your clunker- all of the pent up demand hit the market and the program was overwhelmed- The amount provided to last for 3 months, was used up in 3 days).
History has this strange habit of repeating itself.
In the late 70’s and again in the early 80’s, our economy was in really bad shape. We had left Vietnam, in disgrace, and the Shah of Iran was overthrown and our embassy was held hostage for 444 days. Our cities were falling apart; New York was on the verge of bankruptcy. Money for mortgages disappeared. Interest rates were up to 16% for a home mortgage, if you could get one.
And the real estate industry, including new home construction, grinded to a halt.
So some of the builders and some of the bankers came up with an idea, where they could lower the interest on the mortgage for a short period (3 years or so), and make them affordable.
Woodbrook Condominiums had just opened its first phase, and they offered a deal where you could get a mortgage at Citibank where the interest rate for the first three years was 10.5%. The builder paid the bank three years interest on the difference in rates, and sales were phenomenal. (they were called negative amortization mortgages).Other builders got the idea, and the market began again, slowly. And then we ran out of inventory, the builders that had the jobs ready to go, became the biggest builders. (Does Mirador ring a bell?).
Perhaps what really kick started the real estate market was the influx of foreign money, in the mid 80’s, as the United States had become such a terrific bargain. Large buyers from Japan, Germany and other European countries went on a buying spree, stimulating the market, as these dollars trickled down. Of course they not only spent money on real estate, they also spent money buying companies, and stocks. Next came the wild days of the 80’s where people made so much money that opulence was the way of the day.
The buzz around was he who has the most toys at the end- wins. Michael Douglas’ movie Wall Street had a scene where he was preaching GREED to his shareholders.
The builders on Staten Island decided that the best way to go was to utilize existing zoning laws and build as many townhouses on a piece of land as was possible. Houses went from 20 feet wide to 12 feet wide. Townhouses’ were built attached on all sides including the rear so the only property would be the 8’ front yard. And the price of houses went through the roof. I remember wondering how a person making $40,000 is going to be able to buy a house that cost $180,000. The price of homes went up faster than the salaries.
But then in the late 80’s government got into the act and all of a sudden the market crashed, and all of the banks built on their houses of cards fell with them.
In New York City, government (city council) decided to change the zoning laws and created something called contextual zoning. This only affected houses in Staten Island and Queens. It meant that from then on, garages counted in the computations of FAR (Floor Area Ratio’s), and other changes that made absolutely no sense to us on Staten Island were enacted. The net effect was that houses would either be 1/3rd smaller, buyers would get less room (no more garages, lofts, splays, etc.) and builders would get less units or yield from their land.
At the same time, President Reagan changed the tax code and eliminated capital gains treatment in real estate. That meant that profit from real estate was taxed as ordinary income, instead of as capital gains, which is taxed at a lower rate.
Bye Bye foreign money, hello recession.
Bye Bye banks, hello RTC (Resolution Trust Corporation.)
And then there were lean years and slow markets, etc., but then a funny thing happened.
Instead of building townhouses, some builders started to build detached one and two family homes, and the people who were ready to move out of their “starter home” into their next home, started buying these homes. The new entry level buyers, with all of that pent up demand, started buying the resale’s from those I just mentioned, and again we ran out of inventory, and prices started to climb again.
Only this time, they were fueled by real easy credit, and the subprime mortgage business, which enabled anyone who could breath and had a driver’s license (or was it a library card) could get a mortgage and buy a house.
So what will happen this time?
Smart money is already buying up the bargains. How much longer do you really believe that you will be able to buy a two family house for under $200,000? C’mon. Maybe we haven’t hit bottom, but some of the merchandise has.
Is now the time to invest in Real Estate?
Yes
Here are some of the reasons why:
First: $8,000 Tax Incentive available at closing- does not get paid back. (Unless you don’t live in the house as your primary residence or violate the other terms). Expires November 30, 2009. (First time homebuyers- haven't owned a home in 3 years)
Second: 96.5% Financing FHA & SONYMA
Third: Lowest Rates in History, and below market programs available.
Fourth: Lowest prices in 20 years
Fifth: This is a buyer’s market- Huge Inventories. Sellers are nervous and are negotiable.
Sixth: High amount of foreclosures and short sales available. There are bargains galore in every area of town, even Million dollar short sales.
Seventh: Prices in the neighborhood that you are interested in are relatively stable- either they are holding their own, increasing, or the pace of decline is slowing.
Eighth: You plan on staying in this home for more than 5 years. That way regardless of the market at this point, it will have stabilized and you will ride out any downturn, and come out ahead in price.
Ninth: Your rent equals a mortgage payment.
Tenth: You can use the tax deduction against your income.
Eleventh: You’ve found the right house in the right area for you. The schools are great. You know that if the market were better, this house would have been sold already, or there would be more competition for it.
Twelfth: You’ve got equity in your house, and want to move to a smaller house (empty nester). Although you will not be getting as much for your sale, you will more than make up for it in your purchase.
Thirteenth: If you don't buy now, you will kick yourself for the rest of your life.
Fourteenth: There probably will never be another market like this one in our lifetimes.
There is a lot of competition for the bargains
While there are lots of good deals out there these days, there are also a lot of savvy real estate professionals in the marketplace that are buying up the good deals wherever they can. Here on Staten Island, because of the large numbers of foreclosures on the market, there are a whole new group of OFF Island Realtors® who have joined SIBOR, because they receive foreclosures (REO) from the banks. These off island realtors also have “off island customers” who have discovered Staten Island as a fantastic bargain basement -the best bang for the buck- (compared to the prices of real estate in Brooklyn and Queens, and are grabbing huge amounts of these great deals as they occur.)
So how will we know that we’ve hit the Bottom of the Market?
We will know for sure that we've hit the bottom of the market, well after we are on the way up. We will read about it in Newsweek and Time Magazine, we will see TV shows about it. More and more of the articles and stories we hear and read about will be talking about the bottom, and then they will be talking about the bottom as having passed the bottom. In other words, we won't know for sure officially that we are at the bottom, until we are well passed it.
So are we there yet?
Yes and No.
The June numbers are in, and new construction sales are up for the 4th month in a row, although still below last year's numbers.
New Building Permits are up for the 4th month in a row, which means that the Building Industry is confident that the worst is over.
I am getting more calls than ever before, and more inquiries and requests to be added to the email list to receive free foreclosure listings.
Some aspects have hit bottom, others haven’t. Some things will get worse, some things are getting better.
Some house prices have hit the bottom, others have a ways to go.
So what is the answer?
…………………to be continued
Friday, July 24, 2009
Mother's Day, Father's Day, and Mowing the Lawn
This year was a very special mother’s day for my wife, Angela.
Angela was adopted.
Angela said that her entire life she felt like there was something missing and she always wanted to find her birth mother, even though she has a cousin who is also adopted who has a relationship with her birth mother, that isn't very good.
A couple of times when she was younger, she went to psychics who both told her that she was very close to her birth mother. She was living in Queens.
In 2003, Angela was diagnosed with advanced lung cancer, and she became even more determined to find her Mom.
She registered on several black market adoption sites, and continually updated them through the years. Every time there was a new person who found adoptees on one of the talk shows, Angela would go to their web site and register.
Now somewhere along the line, Angela had gotten a copy of one of the adoption proceedings, which had the birth mother’s last name. We tried to find a Brooklyn phone book from 1960, but were unsuccessful.
Angela’s birth mother’s name was a somewhat common Italian name, and there are a couple of politicians including an assemblyman who had the same name. We reached out to a couple of local politicians to make the call, but no one wanted to get involved.
At some point, under the guise of trying to find medical history, I went to the Surrogate and asked him to call his counterpart in Brooklyn, where the adoption took place 40 some odd years ago, but of course he said no.
Well, Angela went through her chemo therapy, radiation therapy, surgery, more chemo, over the next couple of years, without finding her birth mother, but continued to update her information at all of the adoption sites…nothing ever happened.
Out of nowhere, Angela received an email from her birthmother’s sister whose other sister had Googled Angela’s birth mothers name, and came across one of Angela’s postings.
Very soon after the email, we met at a restaurant at Grand Central Station- (Angela, me, two aunts and her newly found younger brother).
At it happened, Angela’s birth mother had died several years ago- of lung cancer (isn’t that spooky?).
For most of her life, they lived 9 blocks away from each other.
They kept the same telephone number until 2006.
No relation to the Assemblyman, or the other two well known politicians.
Anyway, Angela’s life has now become fuller, more complete, and she is a much happier person. She has a brother that she kids around with, like you only can with a sibling, and a whole new family that she has become extremely close with including nieces, nephews, and aunts.
Speaking of Google, if you haven’t yet, you should “Google” your own name & significant others, names, long lost friends, enemies, etc. I ran my father’s name recently and found a photograph of him and his Air Corp. crew from World War II in front of their airplane, a photograph that I had never seen, nor knew that it even existed. (In World War II, the air corp was part of the army, later it became a separate branch of the armed services).
So this mother’s day I wanted to make it special for her.
I drove to Queens, and picked up my mother in law, Angela’s adoptive mother, to spend the weekend.
I cooked (on the grill), and I mowed the lawn.
Now I hadn’t mowed a lawn in perhaps 40 years. I’ve had landscapers all these years. And when I was a kid and mowed the lawn at my parents house, the lawn was 15 feet wide by 15 feet deep if it was that.
But this house has a lot 185 x 185 totally surrounded by grass, except for the driveway, and the house footprint itself. Do the math.
So I borrowed my next door neighbors mower (he does it every weekend, religiously, unless his kids are home from college, and then they do it), but his lawn looks like Yankee Stadium. When I started going straight across, my wife stopped me and pointed me in the right direction (diagonal).
It took me most of the day. Of course I stopped, drank several bottles of water, ate a Myoplex protein-energy bar, but mowed the entire property, all ¾ of an acre, not exactly straight lines, but definitely diagonally. (I can't walk in a straight line on a good day, because of my Meniers disease that I have spoken of, is also a balance disorder- vertigo and all that- you should see me try to do step aerobics).
Although I am a “tad” on the pleasantly plump side, I happen to be in great shape (round is a shape!)- I work out fairly regularly, I go on the cross trainer for 45-60 minutes at a time, several times a week, currently at level 11. I lift weights, do pushups and sit ups. But man, did I ache the next day. In fact when I woke up in the morning, I was totally disoriented, and it took me a couple days to get it back together.
But I did such a great job, my wife decided that we would skip the landscaper this summer and I would do it.
Lucky me.
So a few weeks later we had a day with no rain and I was volunteered into "mowing the lawn" again.
Remember we had record rain fall this year in June. It seems to me that this is the first week and weekend we've had that have felt like summer.
My neighbor was going out for the day so he gave me the mower & gas can and said "Have a Nice Day." Now this lawn mower was pretty old. The lever that you have to pull/turn/click into in order to make the wheels turn had broken off, so you had to have fingers of steel and be strong as an ox to make it catch. Next the bag that collected the mowed lawn was way dented beyond recognition. It still caught most of the grass, but it also makes a trail on the sides of the run, which on the one hand is nice, because it gives definition to the diagonals, but on the other hand makes for a sloppy job.
But, having run out of excuses, I started to mow the lawn again. Only problem this time, was that the lawn mower was smoking, and kept stalling out. I couldn't tell if was stalling because the bag was full of grass (don't forget it had been raining a lot, and it hadn't been mowed in a while, so it could very well have filled up the bag quickly); or if it was some sort of a mechanical issue (which is not my expertise).
So here I am, mowing, and emptying the bag into a paper "recycle mowed lawn bag."
I was able to complete the front and sides of the houses, and was about 1/3rd into the rear when it just pooped out on me, and I was pretty pooped out myself, so I put it in his garage, and took a shower. Actually I used up all his oil, went out and bought a quart and I used half of that, which was probably the reason it was running so hot and smoking. A little while later, his son came home and was mowing his lawn, and he said it was running great - told me I should finish mine, but I begged off for the day. (I probably fixed it so that it worked for him).
Which brings us to FATHERS DAY. Remember fathers' day? That’s the day where fathers get to sleep late, go fishing or go play golf, or do whatever they like to do.
Not moi. I got up on father's day and we got in the car and went to Sears to look at, you guessed it, LAWN MOWERS.
My wish came true, I was getting a brand new lawn mower for father's day. Yippee I Oh kayyea.
Oy Vey.
So off to Sears. Because of the rough terrain of our property we opted for larger wheels in the back than the front. Has to do with turning and working around tree roots, etc. We also wanted one with wheels that turned by themselves (self propelled), and must have a bag to collect the mowed lawn.
Now you can buy a lawn mower for thousands of dollars. Maybe you can. I can't.
We picked one out that they were "pushing" (i.e. on sale), the guy checked the store computer, and sure enough they had one in stock, we picked up a gasoline can (state of the art plastic gasoline can, really cool), and an extra quart of oil. Paid for it, drove around the back to pick it up.
Guess what- they didn't have it in stock. They have one in inventory, but they don't have one in the back of the store where you pick it up. They tried to explain it to me, but it was beyond my comprehension.
Now next to the cash register, where we paid there was a sign that stated Sears policy- If we do not have an advertised item in stock, we will give you a better one for the same price.
Didn't happen. I tried. I said- hey the sign says- but no matter what, they didn't want to hear it, no good, the manager will never go for it (I demanded that they go find the manager, but he was nowhere to be found, it was father's day, he was probably sleeping late or playing golf or gone fishing).
So back to the display, and there was the other just about the same grade lawn mower, self propelled, with a bag, in stock, in the box.
So back to the back of the store, and sure enough, in a box, but mostly assembled (just have to do a couple of little things).
Stopped at the gas station and filled up my new really cool plastic gasoline can (It's not really a can, its plastic, so what is it called?),
Put it all together, added the oil and gasoline, pulled the guaranteed to start every time cord and , vroom vroom, ready to mow the lawn.
So I make the first run, "diagonally" as far as I could go, turned it around, and this brand new, spiffy, bright red lawn mower just isn't working properly. I look at the wheels, and they won't remain level, so I try to adjust the back wheels so that they were on the same page. I can't get the lawn mower level on the driveway. So I take off my glasses so I can see up close (those of you over 50 will know what that meant), and I examine the wheels to see what is wrong.
Sure enough, I notice that the thingamajig that you adjust the wheel with on one of the sides is not stationary. I search some more and I discovered that there is a piece of metal sticking out of the gizmo that is supposed to be fitted into a hole in the thing to secure it in place. But on one side, it isn't there- it's been bent under the hole, instead of sticking straight out through the hole (whoever put it together in China or wherever it was built, cheated), but the point is, it didn't work.
So back in the car, back to Sears.
I can't find the guy who sold me the first two, and the person there is asking me if I drained the oil and gasoline.
Those of you who knew my father, probably remember him as an extremely loud person. He was known to be an extremely loud person. Many people liked him because he was so loud, many people didn't like him because he was so loud.
I am much louder.
#w&#%!!!! Expletive!!!! --deleted--
So while they were looking for my salesman, I went around the back for the third time today.
When I got there, they helped me take it out of the jeep, and took it back, and gave me a piece of paper to bring to the salespeople.
They mentioned that I was supposed to remove the fluids, but that it was "okay", they'd handle it.
(Damn right)
Back to the front, I found a nice lounge chair display to wait for my salesman. When he woke me up, very gently, he told me to stay there while he did the paperwork, and brought me back my money.
Home Depot, there I went
………………….to be continued
Angela was adopted.
Angela said that her entire life she felt like there was something missing and she always wanted to find her birth mother, even though she has a cousin who is also adopted who has a relationship with her birth mother, that isn't very good.
A couple of times when she was younger, she went to psychics who both told her that she was very close to her birth mother. She was living in Queens.
In 2003, Angela was diagnosed with advanced lung cancer, and she became even more determined to find her Mom.
She registered on several black market adoption sites, and continually updated them through the years. Every time there was a new person who found adoptees on one of the talk shows, Angela would go to their web site and register.
Now somewhere along the line, Angela had gotten a copy of one of the adoption proceedings, which had the birth mother’s last name. We tried to find a Brooklyn phone book from 1960, but were unsuccessful.
Angela’s birth mother’s name was a somewhat common Italian name, and there are a couple of politicians including an assemblyman who had the same name. We reached out to a couple of local politicians to make the call, but no one wanted to get involved.
At some point, under the guise of trying to find medical history, I went to the Surrogate and asked him to call his counterpart in Brooklyn, where the adoption took place 40 some odd years ago, but of course he said no.
Well, Angela went through her chemo therapy, radiation therapy, surgery, more chemo, over the next couple of years, without finding her birth mother, but continued to update her information at all of the adoption sites…nothing ever happened.
Out of nowhere, Angela received an email from her birthmother’s sister whose other sister had Googled Angela’s birth mothers name, and came across one of Angela’s postings.
Very soon after the email, we met at a restaurant at Grand Central Station- (Angela, me, two aunts and her newly found younger brother).
At it happened, Angela’s birth mother had died several years ago- of lung cancer (isn’t that spooky?).
For most of her life, they lived 9 blocks away from each other.
They kept the same telephone number until 2006.
No relation to the Assemblyman, or the other two well known politicians.
Anyway, Angela’s life has now become fuller, more complete, and she is a much happier person. She has a brother that she kids around with, like you only can with a sibling, and a whole new family that she has become extremely close with including nieces, nephews, and aunts.
Speaking of Google, if you haven’t yet, you should “Google” your own name & significant others, names, long lost friends, enemies, etc. I ran my father’s name recently and found a photograph of him and his Air Corp. crew from World War II in front of their airplane, a photograph that I had never seen, nor knew that it even existed. (In World War II, the air corp was part of the army, later it became a separate branch of the armed services).
So this mother’s day I wanted to make it special for her.
I drove to Queens, and picked up my mother in law, Angela’s adoptive mother, to spend the weekend.
I cooked (on the grill), and I mowed the lawn.
Now I hadn’t mowed a lawn in perhaps 40 years. I’ve had landscapers all these years. And when I was a kid and mowed the lawn at my parents house, the lawn was 15 feet wide by 15 feet deep if it was that.
But this house has a lot 185 x 185 totally surrounded by grass, except for the driveway, and the house footprint itself. Do the math.
So I borrowed my next door neighbors mower (he does it every weekend, religiously, unless his kids are home from college, and then they do it), but his lawn looks like Yankee Stadium. When I started going straight across, my wife stopped me and pointed me in the right direction (diagonal).
It took me most of the day. Of course I stopped, drank several bottles of water, ate a Myoplex protein-energy bar, but mowed the entire property, all ¾ of an acre, not exactly straight lines, but definitely diagonally. (I can't walk in a straight line on a good day, because of my Meniers disease that I have spoken of, is also a balance disorder- vertigo and all that- you should see me try to do step aerobics).
Although I am a “tad” on the pleasantly plump side, I happen to be in great shape (round is a shape!)- I work out fairly regularly, I go on the cross trainer for 45-60 minutes at a time, several times a week, currently at level 11. I lift weights, do pushups and sit ups. But man, did I ache the next day. In fact when I woke up in the morning, I was totally disoriented, and it took me a couple days to get it back together.
But I did such a great job, my wife decided that we would skip the landscaper this summer and I would do it.
Lucky me.
So a few weeks later we had a day with no rain and I was volunteered into "mowing the lawn" again.
Remember we had record rain fall this year in June. It seems to me that this is the first week and weekend we've had that have felt like summer.
My neighbor was going out for the day so he gave me the mower & gas can and said "Have a Nice Day." Now this lawn mower was pretty old. The lever that you have to pull/turn/click into in order to make the wheels turn had broken off, so you had to have fingers of steel and be strong as an ox to make it catch. Next the bag that collected the mowed lawn was way dented beyond recognition. It still caught most of the grass, but it also makes a trail on the sides of the run, which on the one hand is nice, because it gives definition to the diagonals, but on the other hand makes for a sloppy job.
But, having run out of excuses, I started to mow the lawn again. Only problem this time, was that the lawn mower was smoking, and kept stalling out. I couldn't tell if was stalling because the bag was full of grass (don't forget it had been raining a lot, and it hadn't been mowed in a while, so it could very well have filled up the bag quickly); or if it was some sort of a mechanical issue (which is not my expertise).
So here I am, mowing, and emptying the bag into a paper "recycle mowed lawn bag."
I was able to complete the front and sides of the houses, and was about 1/3rd into the rear when it just pooped out on me, and I was pretty pooped out myself, so I put it in his garage, and took a shower. Actually I used up all his oil, went out and bought a quart and I used half of that, which was probably the reason it was running so hot and smoking. A little while later, his son came home and was mowing his lawn, and he said it was running great - told me I should finish mine, but I begged off for the day. (I probably fixed it so that it worked for him).
Which brings us to FATHERS DAY. Remember fathers' day? That’s the day where fathers get to sleep late, go fishing or go play golf, or do whatever they like to do.
Not moi. I got up on father's day and we got in the car and went to Sears to look at, you guessed it, LAWN MOWERS.
My wish came true, I was getting a brand new lawn mower for father's day. Yippee I Oh kayyea.
Oy Vey.
So off to Sears. Because of the rough terrain of our property we opted for larger wheels in the back than the front. Has to do with turning and working around tree roots, etc. We also wanted one with wheels that turned by themselves (self propelled), and must have a bag to collect the mowed lawn.
Now you can buy a lawn mower for thousands of dollars. Maybe you can. I can't.
We picked one out that they were "pushing" (i.e. on sale), the guy checked the store computer, and sure enough they had one in stock, we picked up a gasoline can (state of the art plastic gasoline can, really cool), and an extra quart of oil. Paid for it, drove around the back to pick it up.
Guess what- they didn't have it in stock. They have one in inventory, but they don't have one in the back of the store where you pick it up. They tried to explain it to me, but it was beyond my comprehension.
Now next to the cash register, where we paid there was a sign that stated Sears policy- If we do not have an advertised item in stock, we will give you a better one for the same price.
Didn't happen. I tried. I said- hey the sign says- but no matter what, they didn't want to hear it, no good, the manager will never go for it (I demanded that they go find the manager, but he was nowhere to be found, it was father's day, he was probably sleeping late or playing golf or gone fishing).
So back to the display, and there was the other just about the same grade lawn mower, self propelled, with a bag, in stock, in the box.
So back to the back of the store, and sure enough, in a box, but mostly assembled (just have to do a couple of little things).
Stopped at the gas station and filled up my new really cool plastic gasoline can (It's not really a can, its plastic, so what is it called?),
Put it all together, added the oil and gasoline, pulled the guaranteed to start every time cord and , vroom vroom, ready to mow the lawn.
So I make the first run, "diagonally" as far as I could go, turned it around, and this brand new, spiffy, bright red lawn mower just isn't working properly. I look at the wheels, and they won't remain level, so I try to adjust the back wheels so that they were on the same page. I can't get the lawn mower level on the driveway. So I take off my glasses so I can see up close (those of you over 50 will know what that meant), and I examine the wheels to see what is wrong.
Sure enough, I notice that the thingamajig that you adjust the wheel with on one of the sides is not stationary. I search some more and I discovered that there is a piece of metal sticking out of the gizmo that is supposed to be fitted into a hole in the thing to secure it in place. But on one side, it isn't there- it's been bent under the hole, instead of sticking straight out through the hole (whoever put it together in China or wherever it was built, cheated), but the point is, it didn't work.
So back in the car, back to Sears.
I can't find the guy who sold me the first two, and the person there is asking me if I drained the oil and gasoline.
Those of you who knew my father, probably remember him as an extremely loud person. He was known to be an extremely loud person. Many people liked him because he was so loud, many people didn't like him because he was so loud.
I am much louder.
#w&#%!!!! Expletive!!!! --deleted--
So while they were looking for my salesman, I went around the back for the third time today.
When I got there, they helped me take it out of the jeep, and took it back, and gave me a piece of paper to bring to the salespeople.
They mentioned that I was supposed to remove the fluids, but that it was "okay", they'd handle it.
(Damn right)
Back to the front, I found a nice lounge chair display to wait for my salesman. When he woke me up, very gently, he told me to stay there while he did the paperwork, and brought me back my money.
Home Depot, there I went
………………….to be continued
Thursday, July 2, 2009
So how do you buy a foreclosure anyway?
While foreclosures are plentiful, making up a huge chunk of the real estate market, the way that you buy them is not a whole lot different than the way that you purchase any other property.
Seeing the Inside of a Foreclosure
First of all, seeing foreclosures is easier than any other house. They are always vacant, generally they have been cleaned out of debris (although not always), and they usually have a lock box These lock boxes have combinations of either numbers or letters, which when set properly will release a key
There are three condo's in a building on the North shore that I have been trying to show for some time to my customer. And we just can't coordinate it. Friday we showed up, and the homeowner wasn't there. One homeowner says only after 4, and one says only before 2, and the third says wait until next Monday. Oy vey.
Foreclosures are Sold “As Is”
When you buy a foreclosure, the banks make no representations, other than good and clean title,. They don’t represent the roof is free from leaks, nor that the plumbing, heating, and electrical systems are working.
Sometimes, you can’t check things because the water has been shut off, and there is no electric on. But you can still see roof and basement leaks, and other structural items. They will allow you to bring in an engineer to make an inspection/evaluation, even after they have accepted your offer. A decent engineer can pretty much tell you the condition of everything, even without electric, gas or water. You know that the bank gave a mortgage to someone and at that time, these things worked. There aren’t that many moving parts in a furnace. You can still follow the path of damage to a unit. You know when the pipes broke, what the damage was. Leaks leave stains and odors.
Speaking of engineers and home inspections, Bill Coull, who was the first person on Staten Island to specifically do home inspections and reports died this week of cancer. I have to wonder how many people bought houses on Staten Island only after Bill said they were okay first. I knew Bill for 30 years, and I never heard a single negative thing ever said about him, or by him. He was a good guy, a good engineer/home inspector, and will surely be missed.
Making an Offer
In order to make an offer, you have to submit, in writing with proof, how you will pay for the property if your offer is accepted. If it is an offer of all cash, you must show proof that you have the cash (bank statements). If you plan on putting down a certain percentage, and getting a mortgage for the balance, then you must substantiate the cash part, and submit a “pre qual”, a letter from a lending institution that states that you have been “pre-qualified” for a loan in the amount of at least what you have put into your offer.
Now some banks/asset managers require that the Pre Qual be case specific- that it specifically mentions the property that you are making the offer on. Not a problem, as most mortgage brokers/bankers want your business and would gladly accommodate you with as many letters as you want. It’s easy since its all word processing anyway.
Some selling banks require that you get the “Pre Qual:” from them, regardless of whether you have a pre qual or not from another lender, they want you to go through them. (They want this to make sure that they aren’t wasting their time - or - to try to sell you a loan?)
Still other banks will make the financing attractive to purchasers of their inventory. Lenders like Wells Fargo, Countywide, Chase, etc. They have bitten the bullet, and decided to make the best of their situation by turning the non-performing loan into a new performing loan. These banks are in the loan business.
Finally, there are situations where there have been undocumented alterations which may render the property un-mortgageable in the conventional market. Often times in these cases the bank will offer the financing.
I had a customer who wanted a certain house, but there was an alteration that needed to be filed, so he couldn't get the 3% down below market first time homebuyer FHA deal he wanted, so he didn't buy the property, even though Wells Fargo agreed to loan 90%.
As you know from my prior emails, no one is quite sure who owns many of the loans that are merely “toxic assets”, Mortgage Based Securities’, that were the cause of the crash of the subprime mortgage industry, and the fall of wall street, etc. These mortgages were bundled in packages and sold to investors, and have ownership like Deutche Bank as trustee of series of bonds #200-212, of 2007, etc.). In these cases, there is no bank to offer financing, and the servicing company is not in the business of making new loans.
(If you are new to Lasher’s List, or just want to re-read some of my past articles including the explanation of the crash, why there are so many foreclosures on Staten Island, the role of organized crime, and all the rest., they are all posted at my blog, at http://lasherslist.blogspot.com/)
When you make an offer to buy a foreclosure, the bank generally responds in one of three ways:
1. If your offer is full asking price, all cash, and close in 30 days, they might say yes.
2. If your offer is for less, and your terms are reasonable and your financing checks out, they probably will counter at “give us your highest and best offer”
3. If your offer is too low, and the servicing agent is not having a good day, then they will not respond at all.
Even if your offer was not responded to, they do not take it personally, you can then make a new higher offer, and again one of the three above will occur.
Some banks respond quicker than others.
Sometimes a property hits the market that is in a desirable location, and lots of people see it and make offers. Sometimes the bank will tell everyone to come back with their highest and best offer, and take the best deal in their eyes.
We don't really know how they see the offers in their eyes - You would think that a stronger buyer all cash would beat out a 3% down deal for more money, but it doesn't. Sometimes higher price wins, sometimes all cash quick closing gets it. Probably depends upon the history of the particular property, how many times they've sold it, but the buyer wasn't able to get financing after a long drawn out process.
Those of you that receive all of my emails receive these BOM's which I identify as outstanding opportunities. If you do not receive all of my emails and would like to, just send me an email and I will move you to the appropriate list. (Some people only get occasional listings, but all of my news type emails and my pontifications).
Your offer is accepted/Contract signing
Now that your offer has been accepted, a contract is sent out to your lawyer, or some banks require the customer to sign an 8-18 page agreement that you are not able to make any changes to. Sign it, or you don’t get the house. It doesn’t matter whether it’s the addendum/agreement or the regular contract of sale by and between the lawyers. Sign it without making any changes, or you don’t get the house. This is just the way that it is.
One of my clients who is a well known substantial builder on Staten Island asked that the contract of sale be put into his building corporation, instead of his personal name. the bank said no, and put the property back on the market, while we prepared a new offer, for the same amount, same terms, in the name of the building corporation, and had to get a separate letter from the bank showing the funds in the name of the building corporation.
Some of the lawyers for the lenders are requiring certified funds or bank checks for the down payments. It used to be that the contract down payment clause said “subject to collection”
I think that it has to do with the fact that the bank is taking a hit, and it's a kind of like their way of getting some sort of Montezuma's revenge.
No biggie, small price to pay for the bargain that you are getting.
Financing a Foreclosure
Financing a foreclosure is no different from financing any other property.
If the buyer is going to occupy the house themselves as their primary residence, then all of the mortgages available for any other buyer is available for the foreclosure, depending upon the condition of the house. In order to get a 96.5% FHA or SONYMA, the house has to be in good shape, with everything working. But regardless of the percentage down, the house is going to have to appraise, and you still only can borrow the percentage in the particular mortgage you apply for (The loan to value of the property).
If the house is a wreck, then foreclosure or resale, the same financing is available generally. The difference is the conditions to obtain financing that the seller allows you. But if the house is a fixer upper with things not working, so that the house doesn’t qualify for FANYMA etc., then you have to go to a commercial lender to get the financing, although there are mortgage programs out there for fixer uppers- but generally calling for you to get architectural plans permits and approvals first.
My associate Don Adler and I just sold the Landmarked 1869 Bedell house in Tottenville to a young lawyer on Lasher’s List, Thomas Kocian and his wife. They plan on restoring it for their primary residence and an office for Tommy’s law practice. This house had gotten a lot of notoriety because the prior owner had painted the outside precipitating the Landmarks Preservation Commission to jump in and landmark the house. The house is/was a wreck. The selling bank required that the “prequal” acknowledge that the house was a Designated Landmark, that it could not be torn down, and that it was in a deplorable condition in order to make an offer. Kocian had a prequal from an international well known bank that he had been doing business with for years, but they refused to issue the specific prequal, as did several other lenders that Kocian tried. Victory State Bank stepped up to the plate, and made the deal happen. Victory loaned the money for the acquisition, and gave a commitment for the rehabilitation, and after the work is completed they will refinance. If you need financing, go see Richie Boyle, head of the Loan Department @ Victory State Bank 718-979-2000. (Tell him I sent you)
Sometimes the seller bank will not give you a mortgage contingency on a property, so what you have to do is either get a loan on your own home, or other property, or go to a commercial lender like Victory that will give financing on your own home as well as the foreclosure being purchased.
But regardless of what you do, it all boils down to Loan to Value (LTV). What percentage is the bank lending of the total purchase?
The Closing
The contracts of sale now have provisions that all of the funds have to be sent to the attorney for the lender and then they will send out the deed. In other words, at the closing the only ones there may be you and your attorney at the lenders office, unless you go to the Sellers lawyers’ office. Closings that are done via wire and fed ex, are similar to how closings are done in other parts of the country.
Another difference with a foreclosure closing and a regular closing is that the buyer usually pays the Real Property Transfer Tax (NYC 1%), and the NYS Transfer Tax .4%, in addition to all other expenses. Normally the seller pays these items. Now because the buyer is paying these items, they pay the tax on the tax too. (1.4% of the purchase price, and 1.4% of the tax- don’t ask me why, makes no sense to me, other than an opportunity for the taxing authorities to make an extra couple of bucks).
Is this negotiable- NO. It is written in Stone.
What is the rationale? When the bank foreclosed on the property, they received a deed from the referee appointed for the foreclosure. In order to record the deed, they had to pay the transfer tax (1% and .4%). Since they just paid it, they don’t want to pay it again, and since they can get away with it, they do. It is called Sour Grapes.
………to be continued
Seeing the Inside of a Foreclosure
First of all, seeing foreclosures is easier than any other house. They are always vacant, generally they have been cleaned out of debris (although not always), and they usually have a lock box These lock boxes have combinations of either numbers or letters, which when set properly will release a key
There are three condo's in a building on the North shore that I have been trying to show for some time to my customer. And we just can't coordinate it. Friday we showed up, and the homeowner wasn't there. One homeowner says only after 4, and one says only before 2, and the third says wait until next Monday. Oy vey.
Foreclosures are Sold “As Is”
When you buy a foreclosure, the banks make no representations, other than good and clean title,. They don’t represent the roof is free from leaks, nor that the plumbing, heating, and electrical systems are working.
Sometimes, you can’t check things because the water has been shut off, and there is no electric on. But you can still see roof and basement leaks, and other structural items. They will allow you to bring in an engineer to make an inspection/evaluation, even after they have accepted your offer. A decent engineer can pretty much tell you the condition of everything, even without electric, gas or water. You know that the bank gave a mortgage to someone and at that time, these things worked. There aren’t that many moving parts in a furnace. You can still follow the path of damage to a unit. You know when the pipes broke, what the damage was. Leaks leave stains and odors.
Speaking of engineers and home inspections, Bill Coull, who was the first person on Staten Island to specifically do home inspections and reports died this week of cancer. I have to wonder how many people bought houses on Staten Island only after Bill said they were okay first. I knew Bill for 30 years, and I never heard a single negative thing ever said about him, or by him. He was a good guy, a good engineer/home inspector, and will surely be missed.
Making an Offer
In order to make an offer, you have to submit, in writing with proof, how you will pay for the property if your offer is accepted. If it is an offer of all cash, you must show proof that you have the cash (bank statements). If you plan on putting down a certain percentage, and getting a mortgage for the balance, then you must substantiate the cash part, and submit a “pre qual”, a letter from a lending institution that states that you have been “pre-qualified” for a loan in the amount of at least what you have put into your offer.
Now some banks/asset managers require that the Pre Qual be case specific- that it specifically mentions the property that you are making the offer on. Not a problem, as most mortgage brokers/bankers want your business and would gladly accommodate you with as many letters as you want. It’s easy since its all word processing anyway.
Some selling banks require that you get the “Pre Qual:” from them, regardless of whether you have a pre qual or not from another lender, they want you to go through them. (They want this to make sure that they aren’t wasting their time - or - to try to sell you a loan?)
Still other banks will make the financing attractive to purchasers of their inventory. Lenders like Wells Fargo, Countywide, Chase, etc. They have bitten the bullet, and decided to make the best of their situation by turning the non-performing loan into a new performing loan. These banks are in the loan business.
Finally, there are situations where there have been undocumented alterations which may render the property un-mortgageable in the conventional market. Often times in these cases the bank will offer the financing.
I had a customer who wanted a certain house, but there was an alteration that needed to be filed, so he couldn't get the 3% down below market first time homebuyer FHA deal he wanted, so he didn't buy the property, even though Wells Fargo agreed to loan 90%.
As you know from my prior emails, no one is quite sure who owns many of the loans that are merely “toxic assets”, Mortgage Based Securities’, that were the cause of the crash of the subprime mortgage industry, and the fall of wall street, etc. These mortgages were bundled in packages and sold to investors, and have ownership like Deutche Bank as trustee of series of bonds #200-212, of 2007, etc.). In these cases, there is no bank to offer financing, and the servicing company is not in the business of making new loans.
(If you are new to Lasher’s List, or just want to re-read some of my past articles including the explanation of the crash, why there are so many foreclosures on Staten Island, the role of organized crime, and all the rest., they are all posted at my blog, at http://lasherslist.blogspot.com/)
When you make an offer to buy a foreclosure, the bank generally responds in one of three ways:
1. If your offer is full asking price, all cash, and close in 30 days, they might say yes.
2. If your offer is for less, and your terms are reasonable and your financing checks out, they probably will counter at “give us your highest and best offer”
3. If your offer is too low, and the servicing agent is not having a good day, then they will not respond at all.
Even if your offer was not responded to, they do not take it personally, you can then make a new higher offer, and again one of the three above will occur.
Some banks respond quicker than others.
Sometimes a property hits the market that is in a desirable location, and lots of people see it and make offers. Sometimes the bank will tell everyone to come back with their highest and best offer, and take the best deal in their eyes.
We don't really know how they see the offers in their eyes - You would think that a stronger buyer all cash would beat out a 3% down deal for more money, but it doesn't. Sometimes higher price wins, sometimes all cash quick closing gets it. Probably depends upon the history of the particular property, how many times they've sold it, but the buyer wasn't able to get financing after a long drawn out process.
Those of you that receive all of my emails receive these BOM's which I identify as outstanding opportunities. If you do not receive all of my emails and would like to, just send me an email and I will move you to the appropriate list. (Some people only get occasional listings, but all of my news type emails and my pontifications).
Your offer is accepted/Contract signing
Now that your offer has been accepted, a contract is sent out to your lawyer, or some banks require the customer to sign an 8-18 page agreement that you are not able to make any changes to. Sign it, or you don’t get the house. It doesn’t matter whether it’s the addendum/agreement or the regular contract of sale by and between the lawyers. Sign it without making any changes, or you don’t get the house. This is just the way that it is.
One of my clients who is a well known substantial builder on Staten Island asked that the contract of sale be put into his building corporation, instead of his personal name. the bank said no, and put the property back on the market, while we prepared a new offer, for the same amount, same terms, in the name of the building corporation, and had to get a separate letter from the bank showing the funds in the name of the building corporation.
Some of the lawyers for the lenders are requiring certified funds or bank checks for the down payments. It used to be that the contract down payment clause said “subject to collection”
I think that it has to do with the fact that the bank is taking a hit, and it's a kind of like their way of getting some sort of Montezuma's revenge.
No biggie, small price to pay for the bargain that you are getting.
Financing a Foreclosure
Financing a foreclosure is no different from financing any other property.
If the buyer is going to occupy the house themselves as their primary residence, then all of the mortgages available for any other buyer is available for the foreclosure, depending upon the condition of the house. In order to get a 96.5% FHA or SONYMA, the house has to be in good shape, with everything working. But regardless of the percentage down, the house is going to have to appraise, and you still only can borrow the percentage in the particular mortgage you apply for (The loan to value of the property).
If the house is a wreck, then foreclosure or resale, the same financing is available generally. The difference is the conditions to obtain financing that the seller allows you. But if the house is a fixer upper with things not working, so that the house doesn’t qualify for FANYMA etc., then you have to go to a commercial lender to get the financing, although there are mortgage programs out there for fixer uppers- but generally calling for you to get architectural plans permits and approvals first.
My associate Don Adler and I just sold the Landmarked 1869 Bedell house in Tottenville to a young lawyer on Lasher’s List, Thomas Kocian and his wife. They plan on restoring it for their primary residence and an office for Tommy’s law practice. This house had gotten a lot of notoriety because the prior owner had painted the outside precipitating the Landmarks Preservation Commission to jump in and landmark the house. The house is/was a wreck. The selling bank required that the “prequal” acknowledge that the house was a Designated Landmark, that it could not be torn down, and that it was in a deplorable condition in order to make an offer. Kocian had a prequal from an international well known bank that he had been doing business with for years, but they refused to issue the specific prequal, as did several other lenders that Kocian tried. Victory State Bank stepped up to the plate, and made the deal happen. Victory loaned the money for the acquisition, and gave a commitment for the rehabilitation, and after the work is completed they will refinance. If you need financing, go see Richie Boyle, head of the Loan Department @ Victory State Bank 718-979-2000. (Tell him I sent you)
Sometimes the seller bank will not give you a mortgage contingency on a property, so what you have to do is either get a loan on your own home, or other property, or go to a commercial lender like Victory that will give financing on your own home as well as the foreclosure being purchased.
But regardless of what you do, it all boils down to Loan to Value (LTV). What percentage is the bank lending of the total purchase?
The Closing
The contracts of sale now have provisions that all of the funds have to be sent to the attorney for the lender and then they will send out the deed. In other words, at the closing the only ones there may be you and your attorney at the lenders office, unless you go to the Sellers lawyers’ office. Closings that are done via wire and fed ex, are similar to how closings are done in other parts of the country.
Another difference with a foreclosure closing and a regular closing is that the buyer usually pays the Real Property Transfer Tax (NYC 1%), and the NYS Transfer Tax .4%, in addition to all other expenses. Normally the seller pays these items. Now because the buyer is paying these items, they pay the tax on the tax too. (1.4% of the purchase price, and 1.4% of the tax- don’t ask me why, makes no sense to me, other than an opportunity for the taxing authorities to make an extra couple of bucks).
Is this negotiable- NO. It is written in Stone.
What is the rationale? When the bank foreclosed on the property, they received a deed from the referee appointed for the foreclosure. In order to record the deed, they had to pay the transfer tax (1% and .4%). Since they just paid it, they don’t want to pay it again, and since they can get away with it, they do. It is called Sour Grapes.
………to be continued
Friday, June 12, 2009
Lasher's List: Buying a Bank Owned Foreclosed property at a National Auction at the New York Hyatt
Being in the foreclosure business, I found myself at the New York Hyatt on Sunday, at the REDC auction, with two separate clients. They had advertised 294 properties including 11 from Staten Island. On the day of the auction 108 properties were offered, including 6 properties on Staten Island. All of the Staten Island properties were currently listed as active in the Staten Island Multiple Listing Service (MLS).
The atmosphere was one of a circus, with 3 huge screens in front; but instead of clowns, they had men in tuxedos for entertainment. These were the “bid assisters”. Their stated purpose was to help the bidders understand what they were bidding, but the subliminal purpose was to get the bidders into the excitement of the auction so that they would bid over their heads and get caught up in the action.
They did this with sounds, and gyrations. When you bid, they would run and jump in front of you and try to pump you up by rounding their arms in large circles, with eye contact, with clapping and whooping, etc..
The auction started when a person claiming to be the president of the company stood in front of the rows of anxious bidders and talked about how auctions were the easiest way to buy real estate. If you were the successful bidder,and if the property were financeable, you would go to the back of the stage where one of the several banks in attendance would qualify you and get you a mortgage. Even if it were all cash, you would go to the side and sign a contract and give them the deposit ($2500 bank check) plus the difference in a personal check).
And then it begins.
There were three screens. On the left, a screen that had boxes of each of the item numbers in the auction (The Staten Island #’s were 311, 316d, 317, 319, 320, & 321). Once a property was sold and the buyer had signed the paperwork, submitted the check, and their credit checked out, the number changed to a green “CONTRACT”.
On the screen in the center was a photo of the property; and on the right hand side of it was the starting bid (which in many cases was $1,000), and what the property had been valued at once before. Can you imagine? These homes were in this auction because they either had phony appraisals to justify ridiculously high prices in the first place, but most certainly because they weren’t worth what was owed on them, and they were currently pushing the highest value they had ever had.
The final screen on the right showed the number of the item being auctioned at the time. This screen also contained a legend of either CASH or financeable.
And so it went. First a few properties from Newark, NJ; then East Orange, NJ; and then it jumped upstate to Newburgh, New York for a few; then back to New Jersey, and then to Connecticut.
Surprisingly there was bidding on every single property! All the while the auctioneer was doing what auctioneers do: speaking very fast, repeating the price he had, the price he was looking for, etc. (The auctioneer was so loud that I took off my hearing aid and was able to hear a lot of what he said). The auctioneer would also tell the audience how great a deal
they were getting because of the previoiusly appraised value.
Every once in a while a property that had already been bid on was returned to the auction and was re-auctioned; or, as it was put: “we were given a 2nd chance.” This was because either the original buyer didn’t realize what he had done, or he wasn’t credit worthy, or some other reason why the successful bidder did not sign a contract.
Finally, they got to the Staten Island properties. The first one on the agenda was a property at 45 Anjali Loop: a two-family semi in New Springville. The property had originally been listed for $399,000 on March 30, 2009, and reduced to $394,000 shortly thereafter. At the auction it was a hot item. It got high into the $300,000’s before the bidding ended. You could see that there were several people who came to the auction just for this one property, because a lot of people left when it was finished. They probably could have purchased it through the MLS for less.
Next up was a house that had been in the previous REDC auction held a couple of months ago: a two-family in a not-so-good part of Stapleton. 97 Osgood Avenue had been listed in the MLS originally in October of 2008 for $299,000; but over the months the asking price has been reduced to $168,000. The Staten Island Advance had reported that this property had been sold at the prior auction, but apparently that deal died. This property also was hotly contested and sold above the MLS asking price.
Another property that had a lot of action was a townhouse called Mariners Lane. I checked REDC; and in spite of its activity at the auction, they are listing it as "still active", ready for the next auction; so I guess that deal died too.
Meanwhile, the two properties that one of my customers was there to bid on sold for much higher than he was prepared to pay, and higher than the offers he had made through the MLS prior to the auction on both.
The final Staten Island Property, and one which I was very familiar with and with a customer to buy, was vacant land on Scribner Avenue. It was originally listed for $97,500, later reduced to $49,000. I had a customer whose offer had been accepted for $60,000; but during his "due diligence", he discovered that there was a commercial overlay on the property so that you might not be able to build a house; so my customer had walked away. My customer at the auction had asked the bank for a contingency of 45 days to determine by filing if he could build a house, but the bank said no. He went to the auction to try to buy the property for $20,000 or less. The property had formerly been a 4-family prior to the city’s demolition of it as an unsafe building, which had occurred within the past 2 years and which put the zoning issue into a gray area.
The opening bid was $1,000.
The screen stated that the property had previously been valued at $540,000. And the crowd went wild.
My guys went to $32,500. A couple of other people in the crowd kept bidding at the urging of the “bid assisters” who were egging them on, yelling, screaming, cheering, while the auctioneer was saying that the property is such a fantastic deal because it had been previously valued at $540,000 (he didn’t say, mind you, that it had been valued that highly with a 4-family on it).
The bidding ended at $65,000. I went up to the successful bidder and asked him whether he knew that there was a commercial overlay on the property. He had no idea what I was talking about. He asked me if I knew what the size of the property was and what could be built on it.
I recommended that he contact an architect before he did anything else.
Shortly thereafter I saw him again, after he had signed the contract, and given them his $2500 bank check and the rest of the 10% down payment by personal check. Again he asked me what he could build, and again I told him that he might be able to build a store with an apartment, but he should go to his architect.
Speed forward to Tuesday when I received a call from the successful bidder telling me that he lives in Queens and realizes he has no use for the vacant land on Staten Island. I suggested that he contact an attorney immediately (within 72 hours of the auction).
So what is the point of my story you may be asking yourself? The point is that buying at auction is probably not generally the smartest move. While it may be easy, as the president of the company says, but it might not be wise. I am not talking about the foreclosure auction at the County Clerk's office. I am talking about a situation like this, with professional hawkers.
What I have learned from this auction is that there were no real great bargains; no deals were made that you couldn’t have gotten from the MLS. Want to buy a foreclosure? Call me, its safer, and smarter.
………………………to be continued
The atmosphere was one of a circus, with 3 huge screens in front; but instead of clowns, they had men in tuxedos for entertainment. These were the “bid assisters”. Their stated purpose was to help the bidders understand what they were bidding, but the subliminal purpose was to get the bidders into the excitement of the auction so that they would bid over their heads and get caught up in the action.
They did this with sounds, and gyrations. When you bid, they would run and jump in front of you and try to pump you up by rounding their arms in large circles, with eye contact, with clapping and whooping, etc..
The auction started when a person claiming to be the president of the company stood in front of the rows of anxious bidders and talked about how auctions were the easiest way to buy real estate. If you were the successful bidder,and if the property were financeable, you would go to the back of the stage where one of the several banks in attendance would qualify you and get you a mortgage. Even if it were all cash, you would go to the side and sign a contract and give them the deposit ($2500 bank check) plus the difference in a personal check).
And then it begins.
There were three screens. On the left, a screen that had boxes of each of the item numbers in the auction (The Staten Island #’s were 311, 316d, 317, 319, 320, & 321). Once a property was sold and the buyer had signed the paperwork, submitted the check, and their credit checked out, the number changed to a green “CONTRACT”.
On the screen in the center was a photo of the property; and on the right hand side of it was the starting bid (which in many cases was $1,000), and what the property had been valued at once before. Can you imagine? These homes were in this auction because they either had phony appraisals to justify ridiculously high prices in the first place, but most certainly because they weren’t worth what was owed on them, and they were currently pushing the highest value they had ever had.
The final screen on the right showed the number of the item being auctioned at the time. This screen also contained a legend of either CASH or financeable.
And so it went. First a few properties from Newark, NJ; then East Orange, NJ; and then it jumped upstate to Newburgh, New York for a few; then back to New Jersey, and then to Connecticut.
Surprisingly there was bidding on every single property! All the while the auctioneer was doing what auctioneers do: speaking very fast, repeating the price he had, the price he was looking for, etc. (The auctioneer was so loud that I took off my hearing aid and was able to hear a lot of what he said). The auctioneer would also tell the audience how great a deal
they were getting because of the previoiusly appraised value.
Every once in a while a property that had already been bid on was returned to the auction and was re-auctioned; or, as it was put: “we were given a 2nd chance.” This was because either the original buyer didn’t realize what he had done, or he wasn’t credit worthy, or some other reason why the successful bidder did not sign a contract.
Finally, they got to the Staten Island properties. The first one on the agenda was a property at 45 Anjali Loop: a two-family semi in New Springville. The property had originally been listed for $399,000 on March 30, 2009, and reduced to $394,000 shortly thereafter. At the auction it was a hot item. It got high into the $300,000’s before the bidding ended. You could see that there were several people who came to the auction just for this one property, because a lot of people left when it was finished. They probably could have purchased it through the MLS for less.
Next up was a house that had been in the previous REDC auction held a couple of months ago: a two-family in a not-so-good part of Stapleton. 97 Osgood Avenue had been listed in the MLS originally in October of 2008 for $299,000; but over the months the asking price has been reduced to $168,000. The Staten Island Advance had reported that this property had been sold at the prior auction, but apparently that deal died. This property also was hotly contested and sold above the MLS asking price.
Another property that had a lot of action was a townhouse called Mariners Lane. I checked REDC; and in spite of its activity at the auction, they are listing it as "still active", ready for the next auction; so I guess that deal died too.
Meanwhile, the two properties that one of my customers was there to bid on sold for much higher than he was prepared to pay, and higher than the offers he had made through the MLS prior to the auction on both.
The final Staten Island Property, and one which I was very familiar with and with a customer to buy, was vacant land on Scribner Avenue. It was originally listed for $97,500, later reduced to $49,000. I had a customer whose offer had been accepted for $60,000; but during his "due diligence", he discovered that there was a commercial overlay on the property so that you might not be able to build a house; so my customer had walked away. My customer at the auction had asked the bank for a contingency of 45 days to determine by filing if he could build a house, but the bank said no. He went to the auction to try to buy the property for $20,000 or less. The property had formerly been a 4-family prior to the city’s demolition of it as an unsafe building, which had occurred within the past 2 years and which put the zoning issue into a gray area.
The opening bid was $1,000.
The screen stated that the property had previously been valued at $540,000. And the crowd went wild.
My guys went to $32,500. A couple of other people in the crowd kept bidding at the urging of the “bid assisters” who were egging them on, yelling, screaming, cheering, while the auctioneer was saying that the property is such a fantastic deal because it had been previously valued at $540,000 (he didn’t say, mind you, that it had been valued that highly with a 4-family on it).
The bidding ended at $65,000. I went up to the successful bidder and asked him whether he knew that there was a commercial overlay on the property. He had no idea what I was talking about. He asked me if I knew what the size of the property was and what could be built on it.
I recommended that he contact an architect before he did anything else.
Shortly thereafter I saw him again, after he had signed the contract, and given them his $2500 bank check and the rest of the 10% down payment by personal check. Again he asked me what he could build, and again I told him that he might be able to build a store with an apartment, but he should go to his architect.
Speed forward to Tuesday when I received a call from the successful bidder telling me that he lives in Queens and realizes he has no use for the vacant land on Staten Island. I suggested that he contact an attorney immediately (within 72 hours of the auction).
So what is the point of my story you may be asking yourself? The point is that buying at auction is probably not generally the smartest move. While it may be easy, as the president of the company says, but it might not be wise. I am not talking about the foreclosure auction at the County Clerk's office. I am talking about a situation like this, with professional hawkers.
What I have learned from this auction is that there were no real great bargains; no deals were made that you couldn’t have gotten from the MLS. Want to buy a foreclosure? Call me, its safer, and smarter.
………………………to be continued
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Lsher's List: Goals revisited
Hey
Well, here it is, June already. My how time flies. My New Years Eve e-mail was about setting goals for the new year. Long term goals, middle term goals, short term goals, etc.
So how has everyone been doing?
Well 97% of the people in the world, don’t even have goals. 99% of the people in the world haven’t written them down.
But regardless of where you stand or sit in the spectrum now, today, this minute, is the perfect time to take a moment for yourself, sit down, and think about what you’re doing, and to what aim you are doing it..
Upon reflection, most of us will probably realize that we’ve made some progress on some fronts, more progress on others, and no progress, even stepped backwards on the rest.
But, be not discouraged. Today is a brand new day. Whatever was done yesterday is exactly that- done.
One of great things about our government is that a new administration can take over, and make 180 degree turns, change things radically, and start fresh.
My favorite time of the year while I was in school in New England, was September, the beginning of the new school year, new classes, new professors, new clothing, a new beginning.
Well, I’ve decided that today I am going to bring you a new beginning, and I give it to you to start fresh, no matter what or where you may be. Yesterday is over, and it is now tomorrow.
And it’s a brand new day.
So what should we do?
Stop what you are doing (well obviously you’ve stopped what you are doing, when you started to read this email- duh). Take the phone off the hook, and turn off the ringer on your cell phone.
Relax.
Close your eyes.
Now think about what you would be doing, if you could be doing whatever it is that you wanted to do, or if you could have anything that you wanted- either material goods, relationships’, prestige, power, or whatever.
Or Pick an area in your life that is important to you, that you want to improve (Family/Marriage/Relationship; Work/Profession; Health/fitness, etc.)
Figure out what it is, the number one most important thing that you really want for yourself in this one area of your life.
Maybe it’s a new house, or maybe it’s a better relationship with your spouse. Maybe it’s a new career, or maybe it’s a new account. Maybe it’s a new figure for your body, or maybe it’s to run the marathon. Whatever it is, figure out what is your biggest “goal” for yourself.
Now for the hard part:
WRITE IT DOWN
My goal is to……………………….
Make it clear and specific, the clearer and more specific the better.
Now that you have written it down, you are in the top 1% of achievers in the world!!!!!!
Your goal is now attainable.
Now let’s fine tune it a little, like setting a deadline. And if you don’t reach your goal by the deadline, set another deadline. No one sets unreachable goals, only unreasonable deadlines. Figure out what else you need to do to reach your goals. Do them.
Remember, when setting your goals, think big. Don’t let anyone talk you out of setting high goals. Shoot for the stars. “The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.” Michelangelo
And remember the most important thing is that: Failure is not an option!
So how have I done? My mother used to say “Do as I say, not as I do”.
Reminds me of an old joke, Jewish mother says to her son-
“so, ask me how I am doing”
"How are you doing?
“Don’t ask”
These are the goals I had in the email that I sent out on 12/31/08 to you:
I am so happy now that I am the #1 Most Successful Real Estate Broker on Staten Island, measured by the amount of sales and listings. On my way.
I sell one house per week or 52 houses this year. On my way.
I get referrals every day from the people who read my emails, and from the people they pass them along to. Not every day, but getting much more frequent.
I write the most successful email publication on Staten Island, reaching over 5000 people who read it. I still stop at peoples office to get their email addresses, and am adding names all of the time.
I earn $1 Million Dollars. On my way.
In 2051, I will have lived a meaningful, healthy, enjoyable life for over 100 years. We’ll see in 2051.
I run the New York City Marathon I am scheduled for surgery on June 25th to correct the arthritis in my toes so that I can start running again.
I serve on several charitable and quasi-governmental boards. Not on any boards yet, but I did get involved in the March of Dimes.
I am wide awake and out of bed by 5:30 am every day, Oops, not doing well on this one
I eat my breakfast, first of my 5 or 6 meals for the day. I eat my 5 or 6 meals most days,
I am at the gym by 6:30, almost every day, beating various previous personal bests in my work out. I reached my short range goal of 25 pushups per workout by June 1st , and I reached it two weeks early, and am now working on form- today I was able to do 25 full range of motion in a row. I increased the cross trainer to level 10 (from level 9).
I wear a 38 regular suit. I lost 4 inches on my waste, and am down a shirt size. Unfortunately I regressed from Easter to Mothers day and found the oatmeal raisin square cookies at Pathmark again. But I am proud to say, that I read a book, “the end of over eating”, and am back on track. More on that book in a different email, but boy, did I learn a lot! (It’s all a plot. by the food industry).
How are you doing on yours?
Finally, it is important that you read your goals, say them out loud, every day. Keep them in the forefront of your mind.
Good luck.
…………………to be continued
Well, here it is, June already. My how time flies. My New Years Eve e-mail was about setting goals for the new year. Long term goals, middle term goals, short term goals, etc.
So how has everyone been doing?
Well 97% of the people in the world, don’t even have goals. 99% of the people in the world haven’t written them down.
But regardless of where you stand or sit in the spectrum now, today, this minute, is the perfect time to take a moment for yourself, sit down, and think about what you’re doing, and to what aim you are doing it..
Upon reflection, most of us will probably realize that we’ve made some progress on some fronts, more progress on others, and no progress, even stepped backwards on the rest.
But, be not discouraged. Today is a brand new day. Whatever was done yesterday is exactly that- done.
One of great things about our government is that a new administration can take over, and make 180 degree turns, change things radically, and start fresh.
My favorite time of the year while I was in school in New England, was September, the beginning of the new school year, new classes, new professors, new clothing, a new beginning.
Well, I’ve decided that today I am going to bring you a new beginning, and I give it to you to start fresh, no matter what or where you may be. Yesterday is over, and it is now tomorrow.
And it’s a brand new day.
So what should we do?
Stop what you are doing (well obviously you’ve stopped what you are doing, when you started to read this email- duh). Take the phone off the hook, and turn off the ringer on your cell phone.
Relax.
Close your eyes.
Now think about what you would be doing, if you could be doing whatever it is that you wanted to do, or if you could have anything that you wanted- either material goods, relationships’, prestige, power, or whatever.
Or Pick an area in your life that is important to you, that you want to improve (Family/Marriage/Relationship; Work/Profession; Health/fitness, etc.)
Figure out what it is, the number one most important thing that you really want for yourself in this one area of your life.
Maybe it’s a new house, or maybe it’s a better relationship with your spouse. Maybe it’s a new career, or maybe it’s a new account. Maybe it’s a new figure for your body, or maybe it’s to run the marathon. Whatever it is, figure out what is your biggest “goal” for yourself.
Now for the hard part:
WRITE IT DOWN
My goal is to……………………….
Make it clear and specific, the clearer and more specific the better.
Now that you have written it down, you are in the top 1% of achievers in the world!!!!!!
Your goal is now attainable.
Now let’s fine tune it a little, like setting a deadline. And if you don’t reach your goal by the deadline, set another deadline. No one sets unreachable goals, only unreasonable deadlines. Figure out what else you need to do to reach your goals. Do them.
Remember, when setting your goals, think big. Don’t let anyone talk you out of setting high goals. Shoot for the stars. “The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.” Michelangelo
And remember the most important thing is that: Failure is not an option!
So how have I done? My mother used to say “Do as I say, not as I do”.
Reminds me of an old joke, Jewish mother says to her son-
“so, ask me how I am doing”
"How are you doing?
“Don’t ask”
These are the goals I had in the email that I sent out on 12/31/08 to you:
I am so happy now that I am the #1 Most Successful Real Estate Broker on Staten Island, measured by the amount of sales and listings. On my way.
I sell one house per week or 52 houses this year. On my way.
I get referrals every day from the people who read my emails, and from the people they pass them along to. Not every day, but getting much more frequent.
I write the most successful email publication on Staten Island, reaching over 5000 people who read it. I still stop at peoples office to get their email addresses, and am adding names all of the time.
I earn $1 Million Dollars. On my way.
In 2051, I will have lived a meaningful, healthy, enjoyable life for over 100 years. We’ll see in 2051.
I run the New York City Marathon I am scheduled for surgery on June 25th to correct the arthritis in my toes so that I can start running again.
I serve on several charitable and quasi-governmental boards. Not on any boards yet, but I did get involved in the March of Dimes.
I am wide awake and out of bed by 5:30 am every day, Oops, not doing well on this one
I eat my breakfast, first of my 5 or 6 meals for the day. I eat my 5 or 6 meals most days,
I am at the gym by 6:30, almost every day, beating various previous personal bests in my work out. I reached my short range goal of 25 pushups per workout by June 1st , and I reached it two weeks early, and am now working on form- today I was able to do 25 full range of motion in a row. I increased the cross trainer to level 10 (from level 9).
I wear a 38 regular suit. I lost 4 inches on my waste, and am down a shirt size. Unfortunately I regressed from Easter to Mothers day and found the oatmeal raisin square cookies at Pathmark again. But I am proud to say, that I read a book, “the end of over eating”, and am back on track. More on that book in a different email, but boy, did I learn a lot! (It’s all a plot. by the food industry).
How are you doing on yours?
Finally, it is important that you read your goals, say them out loud, every day. Keep them in the forefront of your mind.
Good luck.
…………………to be continued
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