Warburg Blog

When I became a real estate agent 30 years ago there were certain immutable truths of the business. Wealthy people wanted to live on the Upper East Side (or maybe Central Park West if they were Bohemian…) Most young couples wanted to move to the suburbs when they had kids. There were some buildings to which you COULD NOT bring some people. And the business went to sleep in July and August (not to mention between Thanksgiving and New Years) because, as the mother of a friend once put it, “Everyone’s in the country.”

No longer! Today everybody lives everywhere. You cannot make any assumptions about anyone based on their address. As the 9 to 5 Dad morphed into the 9 to 9 power couple, more and more families decided to stay in the city so family life wasn’t an hour away twice a day on the train. And the city, with its beautiful parks, clean streets, endless events and wonderful restaurants is paradise for little people and middle sized people as well as big people. Not to mention the parental relief of knowing that your teenager and her drunk friends will be traveling by train or taxi and not in someone’s car. Fair housing laws and changing attitudes have opened up closed doors all over town.  And finally, people shop for real estate all year long.

This July, Warburg placed as many deals under contract as we did in May and June. And May and June were active months. My agents tell me they have never been busier. Open house activity is high, offers are flowing in, and deals are being made. Prices are very substantially lower than they were two years ago, and that is good news for all of us. The buyer pool is bigger and more inclusive. The pace at which deals get made is measured ( or in many cases downright slow, with bank approvals still taking weeks to obtain.) But there is no summer slowdown. Activity now drops off between August 15 and Labor Day, and between December 15 and New Year’s Day. Otherwise we are busy all year round, helping buyers and sellers navigate what is for most of them the biggest financial transaction of their lives.

Warburg Realty Partnership, one of Manhattan’s oldest and most respected residential real estate companies, and Saunders & Associates, a leading brokerage firm based in Bridgehampton, NY, have formed a strategic alliance that further enhances their industry-leading services for buyers and sellers of luxury homes.

“We are delighted to partner with Andrew Saunders to bring an additional level of excellence to the services we already provide to our clients,” said Frederick W. Peters, president of Warburg Realty Partnership. “By combining our resources and leveraging the experience of some of the industry’s most talented agents, we can offer access to the finest properties in both New York City and the Hamptons.”

Since its formation more than a century ago, Warburg Realty has consistently improved and enhanced its service offerings to meet the ever-changing needs of residential clients. This strategic alliance further strengthens both firms’ ability to provide comprehensive residential real estate brokerage experience to buyers and sellers of luxury properties in New York City and the Hamptons.

“We share a mutual respect and business philosophy with Frederick and his talented team of agents,” continued Andrew Saunders, president of Saunders & Associates. “The goal of this new alliance is to provide yet another level of the best-in-market real estate expertise our firms have come to represent.”

About Warburg Realty Partnership
Warburg Realty Partnership is one of Manhattan’s leading luxury residential real estate firms, founded in 1896 by Albert B. Ashforth. The company has a long-standing tradition of extraordinary service that has kept it at the forefront of New York real estate for over 100 years.  The firm’s over 150 brokers are strategically located throughout Manhattan to guarantee every Warburg client the quickest access to New York’s finest properties and purchasers.  www.warburgrealty.com

About Saunders & Associates
Saunders & Associates is the fastest growing luxury real estate brand in the Hamptons. The marketing savvy company is known for its ability to empower its seasoned brokers to create and enable deals.  Starting with its fast and cinematic website, Saunders provides exceptional service that is thoughtfully aligned with the Hamptons sophisticated culture.  www.SaundersAssociates.com

In today’s market, the experience of selling your home can resemble a major traumatic life event. With that in mind, I have organized the experience into the six stages many sellers experience:

1) OVERPRICING – This stage, occurring when the listing first goes on the market, indicates the seller’s optimism in the face of the comparable sales presented by the agent. Most sellers, like many proud parents, think what they have is unique. Unfortunately, it is often easy to find an agent who is willing to support an unrealistic price in order to secure the listing. This stage is always followed nowadays by

2) FRUSTRATION – Frustration sets in as the weeks go by and the property, due to overpricing, receives no offers (or very low offers which buyers make to compensate for the very high asking price.) Very often this stage leads to

3) BLAMING THE AGENT – Is the agent doing a good enough job of marketing? Why aren’t more buyers seeing the property? Does the agent really even understand the property and its attributes? The agent may well be recommending that the price be reduced, which, if he manages to retain the listing, will sooner or later be successful. This stage is

4) CAPITULATION – The seller acknowledges that the price is inappropriate for the market and reduces it, thus giving the agent an opportunity to re-market to the broader constituency the new price permits. This in turn leads to

5) OFFERS – Even today, a well priced property can generate multiple offers. One of them is likely to be good enough to lead to

6) SALE – Some properties, priced right from the beginning, avoid the first four stages and go straight to OFFERS. It is all a matter of price.