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Yorktown Heights, NY Real Estate News

By Thomas Santore Lic Associate Real Estate Broker, Realtor®-ABR-Land, Residential & Commercial Sa
(Coldwell Banker Realty/Coldwell Banker Commercial NRT)
What is your strategy for the upcoming year? This year my strategy has been to work with as many buyers as I could and maintain some listings. This worked very well for me this year. This I think I need to increase my house listings by 30% but try to maintain the same amount of buyers. In years past mine had always been to get lots of listings. Sometimes as many 60. When I have a lot of listing my cell phone never stops ringing.I believe that the buyer pool is going to level off. A balanced between buyers and sellers looks like it will be the way to go. This may be the answer to maintaining my level of business in the future. One of the ways I am going to be doing this is more direct mail to areas I have sold homes in.  Has anybody else come to this conclusion
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By Thomas Santore Lic Associate Real Estate Broker, Realtor®-ABR-Land, Residential & Commercial Sa
(Coldwell Banker Realty/Coldwell Banker Commercial NRT)
With the new market, do we price it to sell or try to get more for it? I am seeing agents list homes at a higher price than the ones that just sold. And they are staying on the market for a long time. Before they sell they have to be reduced. Then there are a few agents like myself who are listing our homes to sell, and in some instances for more than asking. Almost all of them sell without reduceing the price.I would love to hear what is going on in your markets. 
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By Thomas Santore Lic Associate Real Estate Broker, Realtor®-ABR-Land, Residential & Commercial Sa
(Coldwell Banker Realty/Coldwell Banker Commercial NRT)
  RENTERS -- Stop paying your Landlord's Mortgage (Westchester/Putnam) RENTERS -- Stop paying your landlord's mortgage. Action is power. Learn how to own your own home with minimal down. All inquiries call 845-590-5488 Inquiries must include name, address and contact phone numbers.   SEE BELOW Don’t Renew Your Lease Imagine yourself in your own home instead!   It simply does not make sense to pay rent when you can pay about the same amount per month and own your own home!   For your personal no obligation interview on how to stop paying rent and own your own home instead call. Thomas Santore (845-590-5488) We will show you how much home you can purchase for the same amount you pay for rent every month.Stop Supporting Your Landlord. Build Equity for Yourself!     Thomas Santore Lincenced...
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By Grant Schneider, Your Coach Helping You Create Successful Outcomes
(Performance Development Strategies)
  It seems that everyone likes a good story.  Stories retain attention of the listener by capturing the imagination.  It is no surprise that many of the great communicators in current events and history are story tellers. Let me introduce Bill Primavera, public relations guru, home guru, and entrepreneur.   Bill  is quite a story teller.  His background began in reporting for restaurants and food and he later parlayed that into a successful public relations firm which currently serves many high profile business clients.  But Bill is also a realtor and is known as “The Home Guru”. I have had the privilege of having Bill as one of my clients. His office is in an 18th century farmhouse in northern Westchester County New York.  What a great setting for creativity and story telling.  In Bill...
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By Bill Primavera
(William Raveis Real Estate)
Only after years of writing about homes and what happens in them do I feel confident enough about how readers may regard me to tell a spooky story that I repeatedly placed on the back burner for fear that I would be perceived as a nut job. Halloween is as good a time as ever to tell it. It's a story about whether the energies of deceased souls stay within a house after their physical presence is no longer there. In other words, are there ghosts living among us? According to a recent Huffington Post/YouGov poll, more than 45 percent of the population believes in ghosts or that the spirits of dead people can come back in certain places and situations. In another poll by Associated Press a while back, 23 percent reported that they have actually seen ghosts or felt their presence in a room....
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By Bill Primavera
(William Raveis Real Estate)
Isn’t it a great feeling to shampoo your hair and have it be clean and shiny again? You can give your house the same treat. Funny how problems and solutions sometimes come together. I had been noticing some dark vertical stains developing on the north side of my roof, and it seemed to happen over a short period of time. What IS that, I thought? Then, I noticed some whitish spots taking hold here and there on the shingles, and finally patches of green moss sprouting out. I’m under attack, I thought. Then, driving around in my neighborhood, I found another roof with the same problem on a relatively new house, then another and another. In each case, the problem made the house look old and uncared for. Soon after, I was watching the local news on TV and one of Mark Franzoso’s commercials ca...
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By Bill Primavera
(William Raveis Real Estate)
It’s a sure sign that you are getting up there in years when suddenly you find that you’re working with the second generation of family-owned businesses that have provided home maintenance services for many years. It happened with my tree service, my plumber, and now my lawn maintenance company. Just recently I received an introductory email from a young man named Leo Martino who introduced himself as the son of Roberto Martino whose landscaping company, Martino Landscape Contractors, has been maintaining our lawn for many years, how many I don’t remember, but when I looked on line for the company’s website I found that it had been established in 1989 and, honestly, I feel that I must have been one of its first customers. Leo suggested in his email that I consider a column about how a h...
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By Thomas Santore Lic Associate Real Estate Broker, Realtor®-ABR-Land, Residential & Commercial Sa
(Coldwell Banker Realty/Coldwell Banker Commercial NRT)
Third shift uptime - Agents on 1st and 2nd shift had 6 upcalls. First 4 agents got 6 calls. I am up with another agent. It is a good thing I don't wait for the phone to ring, how many upcalls can we get in a day?Already here for an hour and no calls yet, not even someone to make an appointment!They made 16 appointment earlier today, but not a call yet.Good thing I have some other things to do, like this blog, call some past and present clients, finished my 1800 peice post card mailing and answering some emails. Oh Well Maybe the Next Call Will be a CMA!!!!!
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By Thomas Santore Lic Associate Real Estate Broker, Realtor®-ABR-Land, Residential & Commercial Sa
(Coldwell Banker Realty/Coldwell Banker Commercial NRT)
Vacant Land Sales are up this year from last year! Last year from Jan 1 2012-Oct 29 2012 only three parcels sold in my area (area 1) This year from Jan 1 2012-Oct 29 2012we have already had 8 lots sold. Of the possible 16 sides this year, I have done 8 sides! That means I have 50% of the market in area 1!    
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By Thomas Santore Lic Associate Real Estate Broker, Realtor®-ABR-Land, Residential & Commercial Sa
(Coldwell Banker Realty/Coldwell Banker Commercial NRT)
My lastest Activity In 2012, Thomas Santore set the industry standard. He SOLD more proerties in 2012 than in 2011. He currently has SOLD 20 properties, with 7 still in contract and 23 additional properties listed. Tom is the best in the business. Tom is backed by the area's leading #1 office Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in Yorktown Heights, closing more transactions in the last 4 1/2 years in the area than any other office.Don't settle for anything less.Call Tom today for all your real estate needs! 845-590-5488
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By Thomas Santore Lic Associate Real Estate Broker, Realtor®-ABR-Land, Residential & Commercial Sa
(Coldwell Banker Realty/Coldwell Banker Commercial NRT)
Thomas Santore Lic Associate Real Estate Broker Testimonials Jim Pugliese2013-10-05 Jim Pugliese " Tom has great people skills, listens to his clients needs and delivers what they are looking for" 10/01/2013 Jim is one of the many Mortgage Brokers I have worked with, great guy. Thanks Jim! Michele Ready2013-09-30 Michele Ready Thomas is very professional making sure all the paperwork is completed and sent in on time. He has no problem going out of his way no matter what the day or time is to show property or assist in any way that he can to make either selling or buying a home." 09/30/2013 Another satisfied client Rich Vicinanza 2013-09-30 Rich Vicinanza I have known Tom Santore for over 15 years a have done the mortgage financing for many of exceptionally pleased clients Tom Santore h...
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By Thomas Santore Lic Associate Real Estate Broker, Realtor®-ABR-Land, Residential & Commercial Sa
(Coldwell Banker Realty/Coldwell Banker Commercial NRT)
Old Profile Contents About me:   COLDWELL BANKER RESIDENTIAL BROKERAGECOLDWELL BANKER COMMERCIAL NRT"KNOWLEDGE & EXPERIENCE WORK" Westchester and Putnam County Real Estate   Coldwell Banker Commercial NRT   Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate   Vacant Land, Resale Homes, New Construction, Foreclosures, Multi-family and Commercial.   Coldwell Banker Real Estate. I've been in Real Estate and Construction for the past 35 Years. I am in my third year with Coldwell Banker and am now a member of Coldwell Banker Commercial NRT. For the previous seven years I was with CENTURY 21. Previously, I worked at Jonelle Real Estate where I was awarded the DIAMOND AWARD from WPMLS. In 2003 and 2004 I received the CENTURION AWARD, in 2005 and 2006 the Diamond Award from Century 21. This means that I c...
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By Bill Primavera
(William Raveis Real Estate)
If your house is on sewer, you may think that this piece about septics has no application to you, but as I understand it, as many as a third of us within the reach of this newspaper are on septic. And if you’re not, you may someday fall in love with a house that is, like I did. Recently, when I started a home search for new clients, my first directive was, “Don’t show us anything that isn’t on sewer.” And yet, the couple preferred homes with privacy in more remote locations where, more often than not, there are no sewer lines. As I become more a veteran in the real estate business, I tend more to gently nudge clients if I feel it’s for their own good. So, in response to that preference, I asked, “Why not? A septic system is not something to fear.” The fact that my own 18th century house...
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By Bill Primavera
(William Raveis Real Estate)
When I was an aspiring actor doing summer stock, I appeared in the musical “Where’s Charley?” a funny farce by Frank Loesser and George Abbott set at the turn of the last century. One of the cute numbers sung by Amy, the ingénue, predicted such inventions as wireless telegraphy, horseless carriages that fly, and stereopticons that move. What a simple time and what simple dreams for a better future, I thought. At that time, in the 1960s, all I dreamed about was to someday have a color TV so that I could sit comfortably at home, watching movies in living color. I never dreamed of the kind of technology that would allow me to see from home what the rest of the world was doing, nor could I imagine that surveillance technology might allow the rest of the world to see what I was doing at home...
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By Bill Primavera
(William Raveis Real Estate)
Just recently I listed a raised ranch in Yorktown Heights that is set up perfectly as a multigenerational house, with independent living space for a separate or related family on each level.  Thinking about the prospects who might be interested in buying it, I am aware that there is a much bigger market for this kind of living arrangement today, but it also brought back many personal memories. When the Germans invaded Lithuania during World War II, my wife’s father and mother had to escape their native land because my father-in-law was wanted as a high-ranking army officer and surely would have been executed, but both of their sets of parents and most of their siblings chose to remain.  Only after 30 years when the Iron Curtain fell was my wife’s grandmother able to come to America to r...
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By Bill Primavera
(William Raveis Real Estate)
Outgassing. If you don’t know what it is, as I didn’t until recently, it might sound like one of those little slips in bodily function that all humans occasionally have, only outside. But it’s more serious than that. With its unfortunate name, outgassing, sometimes called offgassing, is the release of a gas that has been trapped or absorbed in a solid or liquid material. The process occurs all the time in nature, but for us at home it refers to the release of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from our new home furnishings and coverings. We don’t want to be breathing in VOCs because they include a variety of chemicals that can have short or long term adverse health effects. The problem reached national attention after Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast in 2005. The Federal Emergency...
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By Bill Primavera
(William Raveis Real Estate)
Ah, the ways of nature and how we roll with them on our own properties can be challenging indeed. Recently I read an article online warning of nine plants we should never have on our properties because of their invasive nature, literally taking over the landscape. I was reminded that of the nine deadly sinners, I currently harbor three of them. In order of viciousness in bullying their way into the landscape, they are: wisteria, bamboo and trumpet vine. Wisteria was here when I arrived. Bamboo and trumpet vine I invited in, the first because I think it’s beautiful and the latter, to quickly cover an aging stockade fence. On the same day, I read about how a different kind of predator, the animal kind, specifically white-tailed deer, was removing everything from what is known as the "unde...
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By Thomas Santore Lic Associate Real Estate Broker, Realtor®-ABR-Land, Residential & Commercial Sa
(Coldwell Banker Realty/Coldwell Banker Commercial NRT)
  Do you think the MARKET is BACK????   Well in the past 3 weeks I have 9 Clients that had put things on hold come back to the market.   I have gotten 8 calls on my cell from new clients.   Picked up 5 clients on the up desk.   Do you think the MARKET is BACK????   I have put 5 new listings up. And just did three more CMA’s.   I have 3 Accepted offers for Buyers.   Do you think the MARKET is BACK????   I have seen 7 listings go into bidding wars and 5 go for more than asking.   There have been a lot of new listings that has come on the market and have accepted offers in the first 30 Days.   Some gone in the first week.   Do you think the MARKET is BACK????  
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By Thomas Santore Lic Associate Real Estate Broker, Realtor®-ABR-Land, Residential & Commercial Sa
(Coldwell Banker Realty/Coldwell Banker Commercial NRT)
  It's that time of the year again! Our Annual Friends of Karen Golf Outing IS at the Salem Golf Club in North Salem, NY. This is our 7th Year. We broke our record last year and would like to do it again this year. We are looking for Sponsors, gofers and donations for the silent auction and raffles. Please see below information on how to sign up or donate. It's that time of the year again! WE HAD SOME GREAT Donations and a FEW GOLFERS SIGN UP LAST YEAR and Some GREAT ITEMS FOR THE AUCTION. LET’S DO IT AGAIN!! Below is our 2 page flier. It's that time of the year again!  
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By Thomas Santore Lic Associate Real Estate Broker, Realtor®-ABR-Land, Residential & Commercial Sa
(Coldwell Banker Realty/Coldwell Banker Commercial NRT)
Do you own a large parcel of vacant land??? We need large parcels of vacant land in Westchester County!!! I have a cash buyer for Vacant Land over 40 Acres in Westchester County. It needs to be buildable for 20 or more Single Family Homesor 30 Condos. Do you own a large parcel of vacant land??? We will get all approvals to prove buildabilty at our expense. Please contact me at 845-590-5488 Thomas Santore Do you own a large parcel of vacant land???  
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