SuburbanDigs

Getting Back A Slice of Life After All These Years

I just finished writing a piece for the local paper about my team's exceptional business in 2008. Our best year ever, an avalanche of awards. Last week, we culminated it all with the-number-2-in-the-state ranking at the East Brunswick (NJ) Hilton. An awful lot of agents turned out for those awards, more than 1000 of them. Patting yourself on the back is a good thing, once in a while, so everybody marched around with their medals, looking proud as punch. As for our Baldwin Dream Team #2 ranking, in an uncertain market, it's a thankful place to be -- I mean, people know who we are -- but it's also kind of a burden, too. I never used to get up in the morning thinking how I rank locally, regionally, nationally (hovering around 50) or in the world. The world ranking, if there is such a thing, I don't have in hand yet, but I can wait on that. While I do, let me muse a bit on something else...

Time for myself. I have gotten a little bit of it back after all these hectic years. The first tase of it last fall was weird, when the buyer pool suddenly shriveled and I actually had time to swing on the hammock in the backyard and read the paper on a Sunday afternoon. I'd been dreaming of that for years, but never could find the time. Now, I'm in the groove. I often still work the better part of around-the-clock, seven-days-a-week, but today, for instance, when my 2:30s cancelled, I just went home, had a real lunch, and STOPPED. I've actually gone 2 hours without negotiating anything. Okay, now I'm writing this real-estate-related blog, but writing is relaxing for me.

It's a lot different having free time and loving it when you've got a job than when you don't. For growing numbers out there who have plenty of time to smell flowers because they are in between, swinging on hammocks holds little appeal. In the past, having time for myself was most often an outcome of losing or switching jobs, so I know the feeling too well.

I'm lucky that people still have to move and the need for my services will continue. But I'm also relieved that there likely will be more balance in my life for a while. I needed to come up for air! Now, I think I'll take a nap.

Are Things Looking Up?

Okay, Congress deflated the buyer tax credit this week, hacking it from a promising $15,000 to just $8000. But the day after, phones were ringing and website traffic was insane. Could it be that the stimulus package, nearly in place, plus the tax credit, low interest rates and falling prices, are finally making sense to those in a position to purchase?

Could be. I won't rush to conclusions, but our buyers are breathing in the idea that there are really bargains out there now. They may not yet be buying them, but they are taking notice. Today, a fellow Realtor send a snazzy e-flyer over advertising a 3-bedroom, 1.5-bath cape cod for $234,000, el cheapo for just about anywhere in New Jersey. Not long ago, uninhabitable properties were selling for a lot more. This one had hardwood floors, a new kitchen and cute yard. It was small, sure, but you could actually LIVE there nicely while saving for the mansion.

One thing that you have to wonder about is how municipalities that are already in trouble, now that state and county funding is down, will deal with all the tax appeals that  are certain to be on the way. If a home's worth 10 or 20 percent less on the open market, should it still be taxed at the outmoded revaluation level it was given before property values took a dive? It's likely that taxation levels will be a lot harder to reduce than some of the incredible prices we're seeing float by.

And then, in the midst of the down, down, down trend, we hear of one beautiful, new home here that hit the market on a Friday in the millions, had six offers and sold over the moon just four days later. It must be nice!

Second Season, Here We Come

We cast members heard the grapevine report that "Bought & Sold" did really well in its first season on HGTV, although nobody from the network ever shared the stats with us. They reran the episodes about a million times, so somebody must have watched. 

Presumably, the numbers were there to commence Season 2, a full two years after we completed the Season 1 shoot. Like the first time around, the network chose a fall and winter schedule, when we're just not as busy as the rest of the year. With added market uncertainties, balky buyers and nervous sellers, it was a funny time to follow our stories, but we forged ahead and made it work.  Stories like this: Kevin (seen with me, at left) sells his home and moves to a new Manhattan condo, the final step in making a new life after divorce. Bob starts scouting for a condo, still not yet certain he can make the move from his magnificent Victorian home. Holly decides her hedge against economic uncertainty will be to sell the parcel of land she owns next to her own and build a house there.

They somehow turned into REAL stories, thank heaven. My son, Nick, joined the cast this year, along with Sidney Simon, also new to the team. Nick, a trained actor, seemed to glide through his episodes and Sidney, one of the best-dressed women I know, was a natural.

My Season 1 posts were cranky, especially as I waited for the premiere of the show. Being on national TV in a questionable genre seemed incredibly scary, but as it turned out, the producers showed great restraint. The result -- if not the most compelling thing I ever watched -- more than palatable and certainly not embarrassing. I wasn't even embarrassed about the keys-locked-in-the-car episode, although everybody always asks me if I am. As for being recognized, I learned that when you are on a reality show that is not about sex or violence, people identify you in stride. A tap on the shoulder at the mall; a little smile while walking down Fifth Ave. Or, a gentle, "Did I see you on television?" They don't exactly go wild so you don't get much more than a glimpse of fame from this exercise -- which is fine, the way it should be.

You do get the occasional professional perk, though, from performing before a national TV audience., Like the email today from someone who just saw my Season 1 episode on Llewellyn Park, the elegant private, gated community in West Orange, NJ that is is home to some of the most beautiful estates anywhere in this country. After seeing the show, she contacted me to start looking for a home there. Lovely!

Season 2 wrapped yesterday. HGTV is showing a little more zip this time around because, perhaps, we're now kind of...stars. They've invited us to a party to celebrate the first episode, running March 5. We'll be there, even without a red carpet.