Residential life
If the Internet has revolutionized the way consumers shop, date and bank, then it was only a matter of time before it changed the way they purchased their next pad ”“ their home that is.
Knowledge is power, yes, but the digital race has changed the game for those who walk the line between buyer, seller and the next real estate transaction.
“Nowadays, statistics show that over 90 percent of people who are looking to buy a home look on the Internet,” said Chip Gedney, a licensed real estate salesperson at Julia B. Fee Sotheby”™s International Realty in Larchmont along with wife, and licensed associate broker, Sue Gedney. “Many times, they”™ll know what they want. They say, ”˜I want to see this house and this house”™ and very rarely is, ”˜I”™m new to Larchmont, can you show me what houses you have?”™”
While many may shudder at the thought of working side by side with one”™s sweetheart, it is a formula that apparently works for the Gedneys, keeping those commissions coming in.
As a long-time volunteer at a New Rochelle soup kitchen, Sue”™s strengths, in addition to real state, are community oriented. She knows which doctors to send the kids to and what events to check out on weekends.
While Chip, a sales veteran for ABC Radio Networks before and during the Disney corporation buyout, is hot on technology and social networking and can effortlessly tick off the differences between Realtor search engines Zillow and Trulia.
“Teams are getting now en vogue,” Chip said. “And though we hate to use the word ”˜synergy”™ it”™s the truth. She (Sue) draws on my strengths and I draw on her 21 years in the business.”
Sue”™s time spent in real estate can be best illustrated by the yellowing pages of a clunky Multiple Listing Service book that sits in the Sotheby”™s office.
“This is how I would do my appraisals to price a house,” she said. “People would come in and they”™d sit and look through the book. Twenty-five years ago, I took a customer out and had to educate them on what a $500,000 price was worth. You didn”™t have all of these tools you have today.”
But one constant in a field of “ebb and flow” is location.
“Real estate is so local,” Chip explained. “The housing collapses you saw in Las Vegas and Florida ”¦ it”™s not true for this area” due in part to its proximity to Manhattan.
As an overall trend, rentals are strong.
Despite the climate of low interest rates, it can still be difficult to obtain financing.
“People are waiting to see (before they purchase),” Chip said. “Rental is still big, but we”™re seeing homes catch up. The ratio between the two is starting to close up.”
And finding a pool of prospective buyers has broadened with technology and digital databases.
“The day of someone putting a ”˜For sale”™ sign outside of their house and wanting to sell it themselves is pretty much gone, probably less than 3 or 4 percent of people do that now,” Chip said. “A house that”™s listed with our (Sotheby”™s) office appears on over 200 websites throughout the country ”¦ in Europe and in ”˜The Wall Street Journal Asia.”™ That”™s what this network gives us as opposed to a mom-and-pop shop.”
The Gedneys appear optimistic about the future of residential real estate.
“The worst, I think is over,” said Chip, who answered “Yes” when asked if he and Sue split commissions.
“But it gets deposited in my checking account,” said Sue, who laughed in playful jest. “That”™s the truth.”
Visit the Gedneys online at jbfsir.com.
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The Insider: Tips of the Trade
- Know thy inventory. As Sue points out, “Buyers are savvy and there are so many good brokers out there.”
- Be in the know. Chip says, “The job of a good broker-manager is to educate everyone in the office. Training (from drafting a contract to more minute details like creating a desktop shortcut) is really important.”
- Network, network, network. Chip says, “Look at your circles of influence (the Gedneys”™ include a church, soup kitchen and their three children”™s friends.) The average age of a first-time homebuyer is 32.”
- Be fearless. Sue says, “Never be afraid or self-conscious to say, ”˜I”™m in real estate, too, I would love to help you out with this or that.”™ Real estate agents know about schools, different churches”¦ they”™re a wealth of information.”