At Home With Joe & Karen

The lovely triangular subdivision known as Hillside Terrace in Hicksville is bounded by Woodbury Road to the north, Plainview Road to the South and South Oyster Bay Road to the East.   The homes in this neighborhood are comprised of spacious Split Levels with 3 to 4 Bedrooms and 1 ½ to 2 baths.  Most also have a basement, garage and family room/den plus a formal dining room, spacious living room and nice private back yard.   There are also nice ranches in this area.  The ranches have 3 bedrooms with an eat in kitchen.  All have basements which are generally finished with a recreation room, work room and sometimes and extra bath.  

The closest grocery shopping is the Plainview Shopping Centre on South Oyster Bay Road.  It has everything you need from a Stop & Shop Super Market to Trader Joes plus plenty of restaurants!!  In addition, the shopping adjacent to the subdivision on the intersection of South Oyster Bay Rd. & Woodbury Rd. has a Staples, Italian restaurant – Pasta-eria (the best!)  and my favorite – Bagel Boss!!

This neighborhood is upscale with tree-lined streets and well-kept properties.  If you’d like to see what is available for sale currently – just send a quick email  to: Donovan_realty@yahoo.com  and we’ll send you the links for the current inventory in the area!

I sent this letter out to one of my clients today. Hope it helps you avoid a costly mistake.

Good Morning ,

I had called yesterday with regard to an email I got from one of the folks who came to the open house. .

Based on my 30 years of experience, my assessment of your property, feedback from numerous buyers before, during and after the open house, plus what other realtors have indicated to me, the offer below, is a very viable and good offer in our present market.

Prices are still on a downward slide. I know this offer is not what you want to hear, but this is our current reality. When I have a home that is priced right, I generally get between 5 to 10 showings per week from other realtors.  For the last two weeks, I have had only one showing from any other realtor.  Yes, we do get lots of "curiosity" calls and visits because of the sign - but this has NOT translated into viable candidates as you well know....

The other agent whose customer did make the offer of a trade of their home in …. (which I checked on the value of their present home & its worth about $170,000) plus the $125,000 mortgage would total $295,000. Not that you would take that one - but it is another confirmation that I am correct in my assessment of what the eventual sales price would be....

I sincerely hope you will consider this offer, as the longer you wait, the more detrimental it could be. Taxes and expenses still have to be paid. A home that is not lived in, even if you continue to come down to keep an eye on it, will cost you more money and be more of a risk in the long run. If an insurance company is aware the home is unoccupied, insurance rates sometimes get raised or canceled altogether.....

These buyers are sincere and they are a nice family who would love and care for your dad's home and bring it back to life!

I apologize for being so candid so early in the sale, however the realities of the last five years of our real estate disaster have prompted me to do so earlier, rather than later.  I see properties sitting on the market for over two years, only to languish and become shop worn and get even lower prices when they do finally sell.  I urge you to seriously consider this offer now.  Like any unpleasant action that is required, sometimes it is better to "grit your teeth", take your loss and move on and get it behind you with no more worries, headaches or aggravation!

The other option to confirm or negate what I am telling you, is for you to order an independent bank appraisal.  This way you can see what a bank would appraise and be willing to loan on the property. As I am sure you are aware, even if we were to get a buyer down the road for a lot more, we might end up getting thwarted when the bank turns them down for their loan because the house doesn't appraise.  (Please keep in mind that the sites you refer to that state a value much more optimistic than what I am advising also have a disclaimer that their figures are for informational purposes only. Time and time again, in tracking their proposed value versus the final sales price,  I have found their figures to be very inaccurate based on ACTUAL, sales prices, because theirs is a COMPUTER generated appraisal only, they never actually see the home!)

O.K.  I've said what I need to say to you as your real estate professional.  The rest is up to you.  Steve's offer is in his email below.  Please seriously consider!