Plainview, NY

I would like to share an interesting sales experience I had in the Long Island, NY real estate market. I decided to market my listings to reflect the slow conditions we have been experiencing here in Long Island. I had two back to back listings sell in less than 14 days for far more than their asking prices. This first listing was an out of area property I received from a referral. The funny part was during the process I had local agents calling me and asking what the blank am I doing. They were telling my client that their agent (me) was short changing him by making the selling price way off the mark. (Note the average DOM for listing out there is over 120 days.) On the other side of the coin within an hour after the listings went live my cell phone started to ring. The homeowner alerted me that his house was getting a lot of traffic. Agents were knocking on the door and asking to see the house. I allowed a few agents to view/show the property that afternoon and the rest had to wait for the open house. When I arrived Sunday morning to set up the open house there were people and agents waiting for an early preview. I called my office and requested that they send me help because this was going to be a traffic jam. At 1pm the start of the open house I had a line 10-15 deep waiting at the front door and had to do traffic control to keep it going smoothly. I had a buyer's agent phone in an offer before the open house after viewing it the previous day. Her client drove by and witnessed the activity and increased her offer twice before the day was done. At the end of the day about 50 people viewed the house and I had two offers written at the kitchen table. The house eventually sold for $56,000 above asking price and had seven other strong offers as back up in case this fell through. The agents that were telling my client that I listed the house to low were presenting offers way below the asking price. I was working with the home owner for many weeks to make the open house go as smoothly as it did. My client was great in that he followed my advice to make it work. He painted, removed wall paper and carpet, cleaned and cleaned. Yes we had a picture perfect open house. The second house was a local listing that sold in a similar manner same marketing, great clients. By that time I had my running shows on. These experiences gave birth to my specialty www.HardToSellHouses.com With creative marketing any house will sell. I have limited my markets to Plainview, Old-Bethpage and the surrounding communities on Long Island. My listings require more time so I like to keep them close to home and never take on more than I can service.

Address Style Closing Price

•1. 53 Nassau Ave, Cape, $286,140

•2. 60 Jamaica Ave, Exp Cape $300,000

•3. 88 Jamaica Ave, Split, $330,000

•4. 8 Jano Pl, Hi Ranch, $385,000

•5. 68 Jamaica Ave, Split, $380,000

•6. 105 Knickerbocker Rd, Ranch, $420,000

•7. 48 Sunrise St, Cape $416,5000

•8. 10 Gates Ave, Split, $427,3000

•9. 26E Cedar Dr, Exp Cape, $440,500

•10. 14 Virginia Ave, Colonial, $440,000

•11. 23 Opal Dr, Split, $549,000

•12. 66 Joyce Rd, Split, $640,000

•13. 25 Southwick Ct, Ranch, $682,000

16 Ruth Pl, Colonial, $820,000

** Info gathered from, Public Records

It's February 1st already and the first month's sales and inventory stats are in. Nassau county under contracts are up slightly - about 3% while inventory has increased slightly giving us a 9 month supply of inventory to sell at this time. Plainview itself faired better with a good jump in under contracts from a dismal 18 last January to a more normal 28 under contracts this year. With inventory only up slightly from a 3 year low there is a little less than a 6 month supply of inventory. Suffolk County continues to slide with a 17% drop in sales which gives it a full 12 months supply at this sales rate. I believe Suffolk County will continue to lag until Nassau County picks up a bit more. The activity in the houses shows some serious buyers are meeting realistic sellers and we keep our fingers crossed that the year will improve as we move into Spring.

Check out my new Face Book discussion group. Get tips on how to buy or sell your home, add comments, give feedback.

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=51202751850

Mark Schreier

Licensed Realtor

516 263-9094