On a More Personal Note – Love your Pet
Categories: Crazy Ball, Hoboken Condos
Today is the one year anniversary of our dog, Sempai’s, diagnosis of being 100% cancer free after having undergone two surgeries and chemotherapy. In his honor, starting today, which we now refer to as “F**K You Cancer Day”, the Turoff Team will donate 1% of all our real estate commissions to the Save U.S. Pets Foundation.
Save US Pets is the organization that Sempai’s oncologist, Dr. Josh Lachowicz supports through the sale of his music CDs. In addition to being a top notch doctor, he is also a talented musician. In fact, he will be performing at 7pm this Thursday night at The National Underground at 159 East Houston Street in the city. 
Save US Pets provides financial assistance for pets to receive critical medical care when their human companions are unable to afford it. We ask all of our customers, buyers and sellers alike, to match our donation to Save US Pets at the closing table and help support this worthwhile charity. Of course, if they were to prefer to support another, similar charitable cause we would be OK with that. We believe it’s all about being fortunate enough to give back.
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Some Hoboken News to Help Keep you Cool
Categories: Crazy Ball, Hoboken Condos
Well it certainly feels like summer is here! 
Looks like Toll Brothers is doing something over at the big empty parking lot in front of Hudson Tea. No word on what’s being done though.
The “Secret Garden Tour” is this Sunday. It’s a great way to peek at some amazing backyards in Hoboken and the fee goes to a good cause – the Hoboken Historical Museum. Be prepared for an overwhelming number of yards “done” by the main sponsor of the event. Personally, I’d rather see some do-it-yourself gardens instead of ones that cost tens of thousands of dollars.
There is talk about closing Sinatra Drive to traffic during the day on Sunday’s at least for the summer months. I think it’s at least worth a try. UPDATE – City Council passed resolution to close Sinatra Drive. Stay tuned for more details.
Here is the latest news on the relocation of the Hoboken Municipal Garage.
Finally, the Hoboken International Film Festival starts tomorrow, just not in Hoboken. It will be in Teaneck.
The one and only original, most comprehensive and detailed Hoboken Open House Google Map will be up tomorrow. (By next week at the latest, you will be able togo to it directly at HobokenOHmap.com. Accept no substitutes!
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A Strange Open House
Categories: About Realtors, Crazy Ball, Hoboken Condos
Who is Selling This Hoboken Property?
I was out with some buyers yesterday looking at condos. As usual, I searched the MLS, printed out the properties we were to see, made appointments with each agency and picked up keys at the various offices. Midway through the morning, we were on our way to a particular property on the list, when my buyer noticed this sign in front of the building (I blurred out the address):
What was so strange about it was that it looked like a “For Sale By Owner” sign. Yet I had in my hand the MLS sheet for a listing from a reputable agency in town for the very same property. The sign was clearly hand written, and lacked an agency name (as required by the real estate commission for agents). There were no identifying names, no phone number, no agency logo, none of the usual trappings. I thought perhaps the sign was for a different unit in the same building than the listing for which I had made the appointment. It wasn’t.
Upon entering, we found the unit door unlocked and 3 men inside. They welcomed us and invited us in. I immediately identified myself as a realtor with my customers. I called the agency and asked if they were holding an open house. They said no. While I was on the phone, one of the men picked up a stack of flyers from the kitchen counter, which I could see were property flyers, and shoved them in the kitchen cabinet. I asked if one of them was a realtor but they said they were the owners. Two of the three promptly left the premises.
We looked around the unit. I opened the cabinet and saw that the flyer was indeed a “fsbo” style property flyer with no identifying real estate agency info and, this was even more strange, no price!
Now, every owner is certainly entitled to try to sell his or her own property without using a realtor. My understanding, however, is that once an owner signs a listing agreement with an agency the agency typically handles the sale. The agency does the marketing, makes the appointments and hosts the open houses. The listing agreement specifies that even for a number of days after the agreement expires, the seller is obligated to pay the agency the agreed upon commission even if the seller finds his or her own buyer (unless a named party has specifically been excluded from the listing agreement when it was originally entered int0).
I wonder if the listing agent knew that these owners were holding their own open house with their own materials. Why would they have their own sign and flyers (without a price) rather than use the agency’s? What if they had found a buyer? So what exactly was going on here? Very strange indeed!
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