In the view of Westchester real estate veteran Nicholas R. Wolff, something odd is going on in the marketplace.
Wolff has had his ear to the ground, sizing up real estate trends, ever since he got his broker”™s license while still in high school and entered the Wolff family”™s real estate business in 1970.
“The current level of activity is odd to say the least because it”™s really good in the modest price range if you”™re talking homes anywhere from $400,000 to $700,000 and condos and co-ops in the $200,000, $300,000, $400,000 range and condos slightly higher than that,” he told the Business Journal. “It”™s still very difficult above $800,000 in White Plains to over $1,500,000 and worse I think in other communities: Scarsdale; Bronxville; Rye; Chappaqua. Those communities have a lot more inventory in the higher end.”
Wolff believes the focus on SALT, the change in the federal tax law putting a $10,000 cap on the deductibility of state and local taxes, has dramatically affected the market even though many people with high incomes are only modestly affected, if at all, when it comes to the bottom line of what they get to deduct and what they owe Uncle Sam and the state.
“It”™s the perception of that SALT tax that was instituted last year and people feel you can only deduct up to $10,000. My accountant says that if you do have to pay the alternative minimum tax it is immaterial,” Wolff said.
It was in 1933 that the Wolff name first burst on to the Westchester real estate scene. Nicholas”™ grandmother Elsie Wolff and his father F. Richard Wolff opened the real estate firm aptly named Wolff and Wolff at 400 Mamaroneck Ave. in White Plains. By 1978, the firm had grown and became a Century 21 Realty franchise. The Wolffs wound up with four offices and were ranked among the top producers of all Century 21 operators. F. Richard Wolff passed away in 1991 at age 80.
Although he could have retired, Nicholas Wolff remains active as an associate broker at Better Homes and Gardens Rand Realty in White Plains where he teams up with his son-in-law Daniel Luckner.
“We work together,” Wolff said. “Most properties we do in tandem and they get the benefit of two for the price of one: younger millennial-type input and then the old codger who has been around awhile.
“I work when I have to work. We work many, many Sundays doing public open houses. Sellers want their homes exposed to the public. I certainly know I”™m working more than 40 hours a week, but it”™s very flexible depending on when the buyers want to go out and look at properties or when the sellers need our input.”
Wolff said what should historically be an “up” time of year for sales hasn”™t quite been that way this year.
“The high end has been very soft and not moving the way it usually does in previous years except when you”™ve had serious downturns,” he said. “The (mortgage) rates have been as low as they”™ve ever been in decades and there”™s a lot of inventory and competition in the high end.”
Wolff said historically right after Labor Day the market picks up and remains up until after Thanksgiving.
Wolff said some millennials, thought of as being the prime market for all of the transit-oriented rental apartment development taking place in Westchester, have been looking to buy condos, co-ops or smaller houses.
He said they”™re “asking for convenience. They want to know how close they are to the local train. They want to know what the conveniences are in terms of parking garages and accessibility to get there and get home and not have a long drive or commute.”
Wolff said there”™s been a dramatic change over the years in how people shop for houses and apartments.
“The internet has become a phenomenal way to expose properties to the marketplace,” he said. “We get great response and people look online before they come in. They know what they”™re looking for, what they”™re looking at.”
He said floor plans are included with listings and that helps people get a handle on room sizes and where to place their furniture before going out to visit properties. Having knowledge of the inventory and being able to point out “the good, the bad, the ugly” is vital to success in selling real estate these days, as it has traditionally been, Wolff said.
The most satisfying thing about being in the real estate business for Wolff continues to be “helping people buy or sell a property and the satisfaction of making it a smooth and less stressful transaction on both sides. People are getting something for the future. It”™s a very satisfying feeling to be able to continue to do that after all these years.”
