Staten Island Real Estate Today

I set out the other day  to call my expired listings as planned.  I was anticipating the usual outcome- answering machines, no one home, “I’m just the cleaning lady, mother, father,  or babysitter”,  “this number is no longer in service, or has been disconnected”, “you must have dialed the wrong number”,  “we’ve decided to take it off the market indefinitely” (or at least until we hung up the phone) or hopefully the response I wanted- “Yes, I want to sell my house, when can you come over?”

But,  on this day,  to take away the monotony of it all- there was a twist.   I called on a 1908 house that used to be a farmhouse “back when” and I thought to myself- “how interesting!”  When the  homeowner answered, I introduced myself and started to inquire about her desire to sell  her house that was now expired.   She sounded very distraught and started to say “I’ll never sell this house!   No one will ever buy it!  It’s off the market!” and trying to be positive,  I said “Don’t think like that, why would you say such a thing?”   She said “BECAUSE MY HOUSE IS HAUNTED!   THAT’S WHY!”   I said “Oh, reeeeeeally, what’s  happening?”, even though I really didn’t want to know.  She said” I can’t discuss it, I have to go, too many things going on here to talk about” and hung up. I have to admit, I was  relieved.   Mysterious.  My husband said “why don’t you tell her to get a priest to bless the house, etc.” but I think I’ll pass on this one.   This kind of spooked me for the rest of the day but it goes back to what I love about real estate.  It’s never the same thing day in and day out,  NEVER boring.  Always exciting and new-almost like an adventure. Like  going on a different ride each time at the amusement park- you never know what to expect and you may not go on again-but you just have to try it.   And aren’t we lucky, the amusment park has just a limited number  of rides.  We  can come up with a new one every day!

DEBORAH BRACCO

LICENSED REAL ESTATE SALESPERSON

APPLESEED HOMES

718-619-5701

email:deborahbracco@live.com, web: deborahbracco.com

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A” HAUNTED” AGENT!!!

CLICK HERE TO VIEW MY JANUARY HOUSING TRENDS NEWSLETTER

Deborah Bracco-Licensed Real Estate Salesperson
Appleseed Homes
718-619-5701
email:deborahbracco@live.com, web: deborahbracco.com

You know how sometimes we say to ourselves during the holiday times, “well, things are going to slow down now”?. Amidst all the celebrating, prepping, Christmas shopping, etc. I put a nailbiter of a deal together the last week of Christmas, that’s what I’ve done.
A few weeks ago a couple (through their agent) made several offers on my listing that were low and the sellers of course, refused it. Fast forward and the agent called me December 22, Wednesday, at 4pm and told me her customers would now meet the sellers previous counter offer. The sellers verbally accepted the offer and the binder was sent to me but without all the other necessary paperwork. The agent then tells me the buyers want to think about it some more, it’s a big decision, yadda, yadda, yadda. Well, I told them to think real fast (the listing was going to expire December 25th) and the sellers were heading to Florida December 26th getting ready to put the “whole house thing” on hold till they returned in April because they’ve “had it!” Sooooooooo, I ran over to the sellers house on December 23rd, Thursday, and had the binder signed while I prayed and hoped that the buyers would go through with their present offer. While at their house, the office secretary called me and said the remainder of the paperwork had been faxed and looked like it was “good to go!” The agent did confirm her buyers were going ahead as planned and I had an accepted status as of December 23rd. Now, my sellers wanted the engineer inspection to be the next day, Christmas Eve, before they left, but this was a no go! I will have to take over from here.
So, I guess the moral of the story is holiday time doesn’t stop serious buyers from buying!! When holidays come around again never say “business will probably slow down now”-WAS I WRONG!
I hope you enjoy this video, it’s one of my favorites by John Lennon. This year it has even more meaning not only because of my real estate story, and hopefully, war will be over, but my son, Thomas, is autistic and he sang this song so perfectly for the first time in his High School Christmas Show and he’s 18yrs old. Anyway, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and Happy Holidays to all!!
Deborah Bracco
Licensed Real Estate Salesperson- Appleseed Homes
718-619-5701
deborahbracco@live.com, deborahbracco.com