House Buyers

Today, our office visited several broker open houses. In conversation at a condo listing that had excellent Mango and Strawberry smoothies, we talked about the housing market. My broker, Maureen Singleton, had a lengthy discussion with another leading house seller in the area, a brokerage that is sometimes our competitor, and a respected office. The managing agent and broker of that office reaffirmed what we have been seeing: the brownstone market is turbulent. Lately it goes through ups and downs. We will sell a bunch of houses suddenly and at good prices and then a month later, similar just-as-good houses, sit and don't sell, sometimes for months. It is unpredictable. Overall, the brownstone market is a very strong market. Houses are few and demand is great. However, nervous buyers are more hesitant lately and more demanding during attorney review.

We talked about the oil tank issue. Increasingly, it is a problem. Buyers generally just want them out of the ground. Typically, they are tested first and usually fail, therefore, the sellers must remove the tank. Occasionally, the tank checks out and the sellers do not want to bear the additional expense. But more and more, it seems to be an unavoidable headache for the sellers and just part of a list of demands that buyers expect to have met.