I’m trying to sell an apartment myself and the brokers are calling all the time and making me crazy. What do I do?
The term “for sale by owner” (sometimes abbreviated to FSBO) sounds a little crazy because it is – in New York City, anyway. The good idea behind this notion is that you will spare yourself and your buyer the extra cost associated with brokers’ commission fees (usually 6 percent of the purchase price).
Many brokers, however, will try to get you on the horn even if you state “no brokers” in ads. And a broker might have a qualified buyer interested in buying your property, in which case you’ll have to turn them down or negotiate a fee with the broker.
In New York City, most sales go through brokerage firms. It is simply the norm. One of the reasons is that the idea of FSBO has an embedded flaw: Both the buyer and the seller expect to reap the benefit of not having to pay the commission and that can cause serious negotiation conflicts … which you will have to manage yourself because you have no mediator.
And if you live in a co-op building with a tough board package, it’s impractical to use this method because brokers are well-versed in handling the art of “selling” a potential buyer to a co-op building board of directors.
My advice is to bite the bullet, choose a broker to represent you and hand off all those calls to him or her. You’ll feel an immense sense of relief. Unless you’re a broker yourself, I’d leave the matter to the professionals.
This summer, I want to join a share house in the Hamptons. Since I’m new to the city and don’t have many connections, I was going to look at ads in the paper. Is there anything I should know about summer shares?
First get out a map and learn the area a bit. Westhampton, for example, is a quieter town with a shorter drive from the city than, say, East Hampton, which offers a slicker nighttime scene and excellent shopping. Both offer pristine, gorgeous beaches.
Most share houses offer pools but if a summer on the beach is your goal, be sure you know where the nearest public beach (or beach access is). Unfortunately, the many private clubs that populate the area often prohibit access to the beach, even if the sand is just a parking lot or hedge line away. Legally, the beach is public up to the waterline but if the path to the waterline means crossing private property, you could be out of luck.
Generally, with a fully executed lease, renters are provided passes to town beaches (usually in the form of a bumper sticker or two), but they are given to the persons listed on the lease and the stickers are not transferable from car to car. Therefore, when talking to the house organizers, make sure you understand how, precisely, you will get your toes in the sand. If they hem and haw, that “beach house” is more of a pool house, be on your guard.
Often, one of the benefits of living with a group is that you might not need a car; after all, someone is bound to have one. If you happen to be the one who owns the car, you could become the go-to person for groceries and rides to the bar, so decide early on if you intend to loan out your car and be sure you are insured for those extra drivers. If you don’t have a car, make sure you know the Hampton Jitney schedule and keep a taxi number handy.
Finally, understand where your bed will be. Some houses rent by the room, some by the bed and others simply go by a first-come, first-served basis, which can result in you sleeping in a bed made from pool-furniture cushions.
E-mail: janereillymount@hotmail.com