The median home in Westchester County listed for $695,000 in March, up 7.1% from the previous month’s $649,000, an analysis of data from Realtor.com shows.
Compared to March 2023, the median home list price increased 15.9% from $601,750.
The statistics in this article only pertain to houses listed for sale in Westchester County, not houses that were sold. Information on your local housing market, along with other useful community data, is available at data.lohud.com.
Westchester County’s median home was 1,700 square feet, listed at $380 per square foot. The price per square foot of homes for sale is up 10.8% from March 2023.
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Search your town’s home sales:Real estate transactions in New York State since 2004
Listings in Westchester County moved briskly, at a median 32 days listed compared to the March national median of 50 days on the market. In the previous month, homes had a median of 49 days on the market. Around 960 homes were newly listed on the market in March, a 2.1% increase from 940 new listings in March 2023.
The median home prices issued by Realtor.com may exclude many, or even most, of a market’s homes. The price and volume represent only single-family homes, condominiums or townhomes. They include existing homes, but exclude most new construction as well as pending and contingent sales.
House prices:Check out the most expensive single-family home ever sold in White Plains
Across the New York-Newark-Jersey City metro area, median home prices rose to $759,900, slightly higher than a month earlier. The median home had 1,502 square feet, at a list price of $555 per square foot.
In New York, median home prices were $685,000, a slight increase from February. The median New York home listed for sale had 1,587 square feet, with a price of $420 per square foot.
Throughout the United States, the median home price was $424,900, a slight increase from the month prior. The median American home for sale was listed at 1,826 square feet, with a price of $228 per square foot.
The median home list price used in this report represents the midway point of all the houses or units listed over the given period of time. Experts say the median offers a more accurate view of what’s happening in a market than the average list price, which would mean taking the sum of all listing prices then dividing by the number of homes sold. The average can be skewed by one particularly low or high price.
The USA TODAY Network is publishing localized versions of this story on its news sites across the country, generated with data from Realtor.com. Please leave any feedback or corrections for this story here. This story was written by Ozge Terzioglu.
One of my favorite “Modern Family” episodes depicts the hilarity and nonsense of a real estate agent’s daily life as Phil Dunphy rattles off deed restrictions and the proper pronunciation of the word “Realtor” (real-TOR).
A registered trademark of its originator, Realtor is a title only real estate agents who pay membership to the National Association of Realtors (NAR) are allowed to boast.
Today, after more than 10 years as one myself, the “Realtor” prestige has lost its allure.
Just when it felt like NAR was bouncing back after a sexual harassment scandal in 2023, we real estate agents and brokers now find ourselves in the aftermath of this month’s multimillion dollar NAR settlement.
While I am nervous about what these NAR settlement changes mean for my residential real estate business and community, I am pleased that we’re all turning our eyes and ears to a company whose pockets have gotten too big and too dark for too long.
But enough about NAR.
Brokers, their agents and our local associations are scrambling to decide how to restructure serving residential buyers fairly without undervaluing our work. It feels a bit like a bomb just went off, and we’re running up to each other screaming, “Can you hear me talking? Are you talking? What are we going to do about this?!”
We have only until mid-July to figure it out.
Here’s what we know now: Buyer broker compensation is no longer allowed to be included on the Multiple Listing Service (MLS). And buyers are now required to sign a Buyer Representation Agreement, which includes the buyer broker’s compensation.
Real estate agents are worth it. So how do we get paid?
Buyer services are harder and more unpredictable, I think, than seller services (even in a buyer’s market!). Some buyer clients take years to find a property, while others take only a few weeks.
The stories we agents could tell would make anyone roll with laughter or cry – probably both. Being a real estate agent is like a reality TV show. How will we divide our whole job into billable hours? Billable tasks?
As an agent, I’m not only giving advice about market data and negotiating terms for sale. I’m also an on-call therapist, a babysitter, an interior designer, a cleaner, an exterminator … agents gladly do an endless list of tasks for our clients. Just ask your favorite agent what she keeps in her car for emergencies!
One thing I can predict with much certainty: Buyers will have to do more work to buy a property in the future. Private tours will be less common and replaced by 3D tours, video tours and open houses. Buyers might also have to meet with their inspectors, contractors and others without their agent.
Maybe buyers really will do it all themselves without losing money.
Buying a house?Don’t go it alone. A real estate agent can make all the difference.
If you’re hoping to buy in the next three months, my recommendation would be to close by July 1. Most first-time homebuyers have no idea what has happened or how it will affect their ability to negotiate.
In the past week, I’ve had to explain the NAR settlement to every friend, neighbor and client outside the industry. I can only tell you that we’re all racing to get it figured out by the time it does affect everyone.
NAR settlement explained: How will this impact home sellers and real estate prices?
Seller-paid buyer broker commissions were created with equitable rights to good representation in mind. Specifically, so that first-time buyers could afford to have a fair negotiation, instead of being swept under the rug by a seller’s agent signed to protect the seller (a law in most states).
My heart breaks for those sellers who were swindled into commissions. As much as I’d like to blame NAR, this error is also on agents, brokers and local boards who clearly violated our ethical code. It’s maddening to watch agents and brokers feed right into the stereotype that real estate agents are lazy and just in it for the biggest paychecks.
So, who will pay the buyer’s agent now, and how will this affect home prices?
Real estate prices:Will home prices fall after Realtor lawsuit settlement? You shouldn’t count on it.
It’s commonly acknowledged that the 5-6% sales commission was “baked into” the sales price. Investor agents and builders have been using low-to-zero percent buyer broker commissions as leverage for years.
While I do think that 5-6% sales commissions will be a thing of the past, there is a chance that sellers will find a way to simply advertise buyer broker commissions through a different medium. This compromise walks a fine line with the new restriction.
Seller-paid “buyer credits” is my favorite idea bumping around. Buyer credits would be offered on the listing, and could be distributed as the buyer sees fit at the closing table. The buyer could use the funds for themselves, their broker or both.
If buyers are responsible for the buyer broker commission on top of other purchasing costs, the sales prices will have to come down. Lower sales prices should not affect the sellers’ net proceeds in this instance, since the sales price deficit should roughly mirror the now absent buyer broker’s commission.
In short, even though most sellers think they should be celebrating now, these new rules probably won’t affect sellers much, if at all, once the dust settles.
What does the NAR settlement mean for buyers?
Gone are the “Let’s go tour this house for fun!” days.
A signed Buyer Representation Agreement is now required before a property showing. This has always been best practice. For some states this will be a big change.
For example, I usually complete a buyer consultation and one or two property tours before requiring a buyer’s agreement. I do this to be sure we’re a good match for each other. A successful client-agent squad requires a lot of trust and a common communication style.
Take the tours off the table, and I think things will get awkward. Now I spend one hour with a potential buyer and then prompt, “So do you trust me to guide you through your biggest life purchase? Sign here.” I’m sure thankful many of my clients are referrals.
How will the commission change impact real estate agents in 2024?
The part-time agents and small brokerages will likely diminish over time, which will either be great or horrible for the industry. Agents will have to do more with less, and our 60 to 70 hour work week will feel impossible without high sales volume.
Once in escrow, the brunt of the work usually lands on the buyer’s agent, too. If there are more transactions without buyer’s agents, then the seller’s agent will have to pick up the slack.
I often joke that as a 1099 real estate agent, I’m either overpaid or underpaid on each property. Still, my annual income mashes up into a worthwhile sum despite the work-life balance.
Without that 2-3% buyer’s commission propping up half my income, I am not sure the 11:30 p.m. phone calls, 6 a.m. texts, missing my daughter’s basketball game for an impromptu showing, and never having paid time off or maternity leave will be worth it.
Maybe I ought to go back to copywriting.
It feels like most brokers and Realtor associations are strategizing how to make the buyer agent obsolete with new technologies. I think they’re focusing on the wrong solution, but that’s a story for another day.
Emily Ross has been a real estate agent in Austin, Texas, for 10 years and a writer for much longer. Her background is in copywriting and editing, and she holds a master’s degree from Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism.
We’re officially in the thick of the spring housing market, and we’ve already seen an increase in real estate activity across the country. But there’s always one week that’s expected to stand out the most for homeowners looking to sell their property.
This year, Realtor.com has deemed the week of April 14-20 as the best week to sell nationwide. This week is expected to combine higher buyer demand, lower competition from other sellers and fewer price reductions than what is seen during a typical week.
“We looked at six different metrics that all kind of captured inventory on the market, time on the market and prices,” said Hannah Jones, senior economic research analyst at Realtor.com. “So, we looked at all six of those metrics and we looked at how those metrics move both nationally and within a metro area over the course of a year. We weighted all of those equally and looked at where that perfect sweet spot is where you’re bringing together all of those metrics.”
What makes the third week of April the best time to sell nationwide?
The third week of April is expected to have a favorable balance of market conditions for sellers, including elevated prices, increase buyer demand and lower competition from other sellers, Jones said.
“We kind of found that optimization point where you’re seeing prices that are over the average price for the year but time on market that’s faster and less competition from other sellers,” Jones said. “You can expect to see good demand for you home because there aren’t too many sellers in the market quite yet, and you can see your home sell quickly.”
In terms of home prices, media listing prices are expected to be about 1.1% higher — or $7,400 more — than the average week, and home costs could be about 10.4% higher — or $34,000 more — than they were at the start of 2024.
While active inventory was 7.9% higher at the start of 2024 compared to 2023, the highest beginning-of-year inventory since 2020, inventory was still 39.7% lower than pre-pandemic levels, according to the report. As a result, it is predicted that there will be 13.7% fewer homes on the market during the best week compared to the average week.
Home listings are also expected to receive about 18.4% more views during the best week than the rest of the year. According to the report, this week in 2023 had 22.8% more views per listing. So, if mortgage rates see a significant drop this spring, we could see a greater surge in buyer demand sooner.
Homes are also expected to sit on the market for as few as nine days, or about 17% faster than during an average week.
When is the best week to sell in North Jersey?
While the week of April 14-20 may be the best time to sell nationally, March 31 to April 6 is the best week to sell in the New York metropolitan area.
In our region, median listing prices are expected to be 5.2% more — or $38,000 — during this week than they were at the start of 2024, according to the report. There are also expected to be 16.7% fewer price reductions during this week than there are during the average week.
This week is also anticipated to yield 7.1% fewer active listings than during an average week, resulting in 16% more views per property. And, active listings are expected to stay on the market for 11 fewer days than during an average week.
“While we did determine that this is the optimal week, the weeks surrounding it are also really good weeks to sell. This may bring together a tiny bit of favorability either on price or other seller competition, whatever it may be, to make it really the best week. But, in general, if you’re not ready to sell that week, that’s okay,” Jones said. “It’s still a good time of year to start thinking about putting your home on the market, being on the early side of spring and the busy season, so you can get in there and get buyer attention before there are a ton of other sellers in the market who are also vying for that same attention.
Sellers should start preparing their homes to sell now
There’s just about a month until the national best week to sell arrives, and even less time until the best week to sell in the New York metropolitan area. So, if you’d like to take advantage of this time, you better start preparing now.
“Even though it is the best time to sell — it’s the selling season and there are going to be buyers looking for a home — buyers are still probably going to be a little bit picky because they’re paying a lot for a home right now. So, the best way to prepare is to have realistic expectations,” Jones said.
Preparation not only involves doing things like finding a real estate agent and ensuring that your home is priced attractively, but also making any repairs, deep cleaning the interior and adding a fresh coat of paint to the inside of the home. You can also take some time to improve your home’s curb appeal by adding plants and colorful flowers to the front of your home, as well as repainting things like your garage door, fences and railings.
“I think that, in general, the consistency of it is a little bit comforting because even though mortgage rates are moving around and all of this stuff feels very out of control, those typical seasonal housing dynamics do continue and they do persist,” Jones said.
Maddie McGay is the real estate reporter for NorthJersey.com and The Record, covering all things worth celebrating about living in North Jersey. Find her on Instagram @maddiemcgay, on X @maddiemcgayy, and sign up for her North Jersey Living newsletter. Do you have a tip, trend or terrific house she should know about? Email her at MMcGay@gannett.com.
Through the first two-and-a-half months of 2024, Volusia County has already seen the sale of at least 41 luxury homes for $1 million or more.
That number already exceeds the 38 million-dollar-plus homes sold during the first three months of last year.
Most, although not all, high-end homes in Volusia County are purchased in cash, according to Realtors. A few deals involve financing, but not as much as for homes sold for less than a million dollars. That’s why luxury home sales are not as affected by high interest rates as properties listed in lower price ranges.
Here’s a look at the top luxury home sales in Volusia County so far this year.
1. 1316 N. Peninsula Ave., New Smyrna Beach
SALE PRICE: $7.4 million
DATE SALE CLOSED: Feb. 7, 2024
DESCRIPTION: Built in 2005, this 3-story riverfront home has 5 bedrooms, 7 baths and 7,439 square feet of living space on a 0.41-acre lot. The open-concept floor plan includes floor-to-ceiling windows in the grand living area and panoramic views of the Indian River and surrounding landscape. The home includes a gourmet kitchen and a separate combination kitchen/family room. Outside, it offers an expansive terrace along with a pool, spa, covered patio and a dock and boat house with a boat lift. The property also includes an attached 2-car garage.
WHO HANDLED THE DEAL: The listing agent was Loretta Burn of Haven Waterfront Real Estate in Edgewater. The buyers were represented by G. Scott Yurchison of Collado Real Estate in New Smyrna Beach.
2. $5.18 million: 700 N. Peninsula Ave., New Smyrna Beach
SALE PRICE: $5.185 million
DATE SALE CLOSED: March 1
DESCRIPTION: Built in 2009, this 5-bedroom, 6-bath house along the Intracoastal Waterway offers 5,120-square-feet of living space and a 3.5-car garage. It sits on a half-acre lot with 57 feet of frontage along the river as well as a dock. The backyard includes a covered lanai and an outdoor kitchen as well as an infinity pool and spa and a view of the Ponce Inlet lighthouse located just a mile to the north.
WHO HANDLED THE DEAL: The listing agent was Realtor Terri Jackson of The Keyes Company in New Smyrna Beach. The buyers’ agent was Pat Collado, the broker/owner of Collado Real Estate in New Smyrna Beach.
More:Ormond mansion of Hawaiian Tropic’s Ron Rice finally sells for $3.6M
3. $3.6 million: 175 Ocean Shore Blvd., Ormond Beach
SALE PRICE: $3.6 milllion
DATE SALE CLOSED: March 15
DESCRIPTION: Built in 1987, this 4-bedroom, 5-bath oceanfront home was the longtime home of the late Hawaiian Tropic founder Ron Rice, who died in May 2022 at the age of 81. The massive three-story house offers 12,400 square feet of living space and sits on a full acre that includes 200 feet along the beach.
The home includes a room that Rice used as a discotheque modeled after the famous Studio 54 in New York City. The mansion’s crowning glory is its huge indoor pool adorned with statues of winged fairy nymphs that connects to one of the property’s two outdoor pools.
WHO HANDLED THE DEAL: The listing agent was Bill Navarra, the broker/owner of Realty Pros Assured in Ormond Beach. Navarra wound up representing both the Ron Rice Estate as well as the buyers, a couple from the Carolinas whose son plans to relocate from South Florida to live in the house.
4. $3.4 million: 357 N. Beach St., Ormond Beach
SALE PRICE: $3.4 million
DATE SALE CLOSED: March 4
DESCRIPTION: Built in 2012, this 4-bedroom, 4.5-bath riverfront home offers 6,813 square feet of living space. It sits on a 0.67-acre lot that includes 150 feet along the Halifax River as well as a refurbished dock. The backyard includes a pool and spa. The view from the house includes the river as well as the Granada Bridge.
WHO HANDLED THE DEAL: The listing agent was also the property’s seller, Janelle Mertins, a Realtor and former owner of Pegasus Realty & Associates in Ocala. Mertins bought the home two years ago as a vacation getaway. The buyers’ agents were Matthew Renshaw and Ann Alexander, both with Realty Pros Assured in Ormond Beach.
5. $3 million: 1000 Sudbury Lane, Ormond Beach
SALE PRICE: $3 million
DATE SALE CLOSED: March 15
DESCRIPTION: Built in 2021, this 5-bedroom, 6.5-bath custom home in Ormond Beach’s Plantation Bay community offers 5,835 square feet of living space and includes a four-car garage. It overlooks a golf course. The 1.03-acre property includes a pool, an outdoor kitchen, and a full bath. The house includes an additional apartment suite.
WHO HANDLED THE DEAL: Realtor Debbie Spelman of Venture Development Realty (based at Plantation Bay) represented the sellers. Her colleague at Venture Development Realtor, Realtor Carol Paquette, represented the buyers.
A landmark settlement in an antitrust challenge to the National Association of Realtors’ standards for real estate agent commissions has understandably been celebrated as a victory for homebuyers. At around 5.5%, average commissions in the United States are some of the highest in the world, and if the NAR settlement results in lower commissions (and if sellers, who typically pay the fees, incorporate the savings into their listing price), prospective homebuyers could save thousands of dollars.
Any such savings would be welcomed, and for good reason. But homebuyers shouldn’t expect fundamental changes to the brutal U.S. housing market.
First, it’s unclear just how much they’ll benefit from the settlement because it doesn’t address the other, and arguably bigger, anticompetitive facet of the U.S. real estate agent market: occupational licensing regulations.
All states require real estate brokers to obtain a license, and 44 states license real estate salespeople (who must work for a licensed broker). In many states, this system creates a high barrier to entry into the profession and severely limits competition.
Colorado, for example, demands 168 hours of education from a state-approved real estate school (or college equivalent), passage of the state licensing exam, fingerprinting and background check, a sponsoring broker, errors and omissions insurance and $485 broker licensing fee. All told, the process can take more than a year to complete and cost more than $1,000. Once licensed, brokers must annually complete another 24 hours of continuing education at a substantial additional expense.
Licensing leads to higher costs for consumers
Research has consistently found that by limiting competition, occupational licenses like these increase consumer costs while providing few, if any, benefits in terms of quality, health or safety. For home buyers and sellers, this probably means paying higher commissions for no good reason.
Consider, for example, the United Kingdom, which doesn’t license real estate agents and enjoys average commissions of just 1.3%. Even after this month’s settlement, U.S. homebuyers can only dream of such rates.
In a free market, providers should be able to offer any service at whatever price they want, and if consumers don’t like it, a competing provider can – and almost certainly will – offer it for less. But this is no free market. And until state laws that create local real estate cartels are reformed or eliminated, we should expect commissions to remain higher than they’d otherwise be.
How much should it cost to sell a house?Your real estate agent may be charging too much.
Even then, however, homebuyers wouldn’t be spared from the most important problem in the U.S. real estate market today: home prices and rents increasing at a pace that far exceeds overall inflation. That trend has nothing to do with cartels or commissions and almost everything to do with the limited supply of housing, particularly in high-growth metro areas.
Building more homes will slow price increases
Research has repeatedly shown that the most effective check on skyrocketing home prices is simply to build more homes. One survey of the literature found that new construction of market-rate units in several U.S. cities moderated the prices of all typesof nearby housing, both high- and low-priced.
Housing shortage squeezes budgets:Rising home prices create an enormous burden. So why aren’t we building more houses?
Recent experience shows much the same: places that have seen housing construction at rates above national or regional averages – Austin, Phoenix, Atlanta, Raleigh, Minneapolis and more – have enjoyed slower rent and home price appreciation.
Unfortunately, regulation is a big problem here too, severely restricting the construction of market-rate housing across the country and thus boosting prices. The biggest impediments, studies show, are local zoning and land use regulations that dictate home sizes, yard sizes, parking and more, while giving politicians and residents an effective veto over anything that might deviate from these strict terms.
The restrictions’ effect on prices is significant: One recent study examined 24 different metropolitan areas and calculated a “zoning tax” of up to $500,000 per quarter-acre in cities with onerous land-use regimes – a finding consistent with previous research.
In case after case, in the U.S. and abroad, the lesson is always the same: new housing supply lowers prices; land use regulation discourages new supply; and homebuyers suffer as a result.
Other policies do further damage. Federal tariffs on construction materials, hard caps on immigration, high local permitting and building fees, and property and other taxes increase American homebuilders’ costs and thus discourage the construction of smaller starter homes with lower profit margins. National housing subsidies and city building codes preference traditional, “stick-built” homes over less expensive manufactured housing. And the U.S. government’s ownership of large amounts of land, particularly in the West, makes it unavailable for development and acts as hard barrier to the expansion of neighboring localities.
Combine state-sanctioned Realtor cartels with a witches’ brew of federal, state and local regulation, and it’s no surprise that home prices are skyrocketing today. Unfortunately, there’s no settlement amount that will change this troubling reality.
Scott Lincicome is vice president of general economics and trade at the Cato Institute.
LANSING — The area has a number of commercial properties for sale, some that seem to have been on the market for long periods without a buyer — despite seemingly having a lot to offer prospective buyers or tenants.
Real estate brokers say there are many reasons a piece of property can sit on the market, even if it makes those who own the property and passersby wonder what’s taking so long.
In 2019, when the Centennial Group put a 70-year-old former bus station on South Washington Avenue, its headquarters for nearly two decades, up for sale, company CEO Salvatore Durso thought a buyer would come along quickly, but that hasn’t been the case.
The insurance company, which moved to a building down the street, invested about $1.2 million in renovating the property at 511 S. Washington Ave., which had become an eyesore by the late 1990s, with broken windows and people with nowhere else to go frequently staying the night inside.
“It was a classic urban blight when we bought it,” Durso said.
Centennial Group brought the building back to life, restoring the original terrazzo tile floors and enclosing a portion of the structure where buses would park to pick up riders.
“We felt pretty strongly that we would be able to sell the property even though we weren’t using all of it,” Durso said.
Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit, changing the landscape in downtown Lansing. Downtown companies sent their workers home to work remotely. Today, filling vacant office space is still a struggle, and Centennial Group’s former home is still for sale.
It’s one of several large, visible commercial properties in the Lansing area that have been for sale for more than a year. Here’s a closer look at five of them and how real estate brokers see them being returned to use.
511 S. Washington Ave., Lansing
Centennial Group’s 10,665-square-foot, two-story building on South Washington Avenue has been on the market for four years. It has high ceilings, a front reception and lobby area, conference and training rooms, lots of open space and more than 30 parking spaces on the property, the property’s broker said.
There are pieces of history in the building’s basement, too, including signage and seating from when it was a bus station.
The property, priced at just over $1.19 million, has character, said Woodworth Commerical’s Todd Kosta, who represents the listing.
“You would never see these floors or this beautiful staircase today,” he said recently during a tour of the building. “We’ve had some people look at this and talk about restaurants or something like that.”
But Kosta said it’s likely it will be utilized as office space.
“We’re starting to see a lot of people coming back to the office,” he said.
3992 Coleman Road, East Lansing
Owner Mike Howard said the 1,830-square-foot former Tim Hortons at the corner of Coleman and Chandler roads is perfectly positioned to serve a fast-casual restaurant.
The property has been vacant for five years and on the market to buy or lease for about a year. Howard, a real estate agent with Colliers, bought it last spring, and has primarily marketed it to national companies.
Howard is in the process of working through a pending lease with a “national pizza chain,” though he declined to name them because the paperwork hasn’t been finalized. The business, which could open in six to 12 months, will utilize a pickup window on the building, he said.
“I’ve got some work to do on the outside of the building,” Howard said.
172 E. Edgewood Blvd., Lansing
The 5,286-square-foot former Hooters restaurant off East Edgewood Boulevard has been vacant since the chain closed the location in July 2019.
Kosta has been representing the property, on the market to lease, for six months. It sits on over an acre of land near Celebration Cinema Lansing & IMAX and Texas Roadhouse.
The property’s owner would prefer to lease it, but would entertain offers to buy it, though there is no price listed, Kosta said.
The building already has kitchen equipment, including a large oven hood, multiple fryers, a grill, a walk-in freezer and a refrigerator, but Kosta said whoever leases or buys it would likely want to make it their own.
“It’s going to take a substantial investment for somebody to do that,” he said. “I have seen interest, not from the regional or national restaurateurs we would like. We got a lot more interest from local mom-and-pop operators, which just makes it that much harder of a business model for them to come in there and do the kind of revenue that’s needed.”
2006 W. Willow St., Lansing
The nearly 7,000-square-foot building on West Willow Street has been vacant and on the market since late 2021 when DeLuca’s Restaurant closed its doors after more than 60 years of business. The property is listed for $649,900.
It remains for sale, despite having quite a lot to offer prospective buyers, said Gino Baldino, a real estate agent with NAI Mid-Michigan, which has represented the property for just over a year. Whoever buys it will get all the kitchen equipment, ovens and seating that is still inside, the restaurant’s liquor license, and ample parking on nearly an acre and a half.
“It’s a great building,” Baldino said. “The owners still maintain it very, very well. It is basically ready to go.”
Over the years, agents have shown the property to several prospective buyers, he said.
“I get inquiries,” he said. “Sometimes they go in spurts. Sometimes I get two or three calls in a week and sometimes, for a couple of weeks, I don’t get a call.”
Most of the people he’s shown the property to were considering opening their own restaurant, Baldino said.
809 E. Michigan Ave., Lansing
The nearly 15,000-square-foot building on East Michigan Avenue where Jon Anthony Florist has operated for at least 50 years sits on just over an acre and has over 200 feet of street frontage.
The property has been on the market for two years, listed for $1.6 million, but the flower shop, which dates back to the 1940s, still operates there. When the property sells, the flower business won’t close. It will likely move to a new location, said Pamela Sage.
Sage’s parents, and the founders of the flower shop, John and Harriet Anthony, passed away in the last five years.
“I’m the executor of their estate,” Sage said. “So we need to sell the property and settle with the rest of the inheritors.”
The decision to sell the property was emotional, she said.
“It was so much of my parents’ life. They absolutely loved their business. My mother worked there until she was 96,” she said.
Kosta, who is representing the property, said it’s been marketed to national companies, including restaurant groups.
“This property really just sets up well for redeveloping,” he said. “It’s an older building. I don’t think somebody will reuse the building, but to come in there and demolish it, you have a really good site. This has a lot of potential being right on Michigan Avenue.”
READ MORE:
‘Mediterranean-inspired’ chain Middle Eats to open first Lansing location
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Contact Reporter Rachel Greco at rgreco@lsj.com. Follow her on X @GrecoatLSJ .
This week’s top-selling home in Taunton is a remodeled two family that sold for $610,000.
This home at 647 Somerset Avenue has undergone significant upgrades to create a trendy and bright atmosphere. Built in 1880, the home has had a complete overhaul, it features new windows, flooring, and stunning tile.
With 1,636 square feet of living space, the first floor offers three spacious bedrooms, a modernized kitchen, and a lot of storage. The second floor has two large bedrooms and a kitchen with a walk-in pantry.
The property includes an inviting front porch and a two-car garage with an attached workshop. It was last sold in 2023 for $325,000.
Here are all of the residential property transfers recorded in the Greater Taunton area this week according to The Warren Group.
Dighton
1940 Putters Way, $642,500
Nelson, Jennie L Nelson, Randy to Salloum, Sammy
434 School St, $567,000
Daniel, Margaret E to Munson, Riley G Munson, Courtnee S
Raynham
20 Alvin Cir, $735,000
Liberman, Scott Liberman, Maureen to Klarou, Salomon
Taunton
602 Bay St, $528,000
Auguste, Thessie P Pierre, Darnley A to Depina, Maria R Darosa, Liziane
90 Lakeview Ave, $269,500
Medeiros Victoria J Est Medeiros, Michael M to Figara, Colby T Figara, Jeni N
55 Chester St, $400,000
Vicente, Herminia B to Fortuna, Pedro
16 Arthur St, $585,000
Fenton, David W to Hooker, Dane C
19 Ingell St, $425,000
Binda Realty LLC to Lawson, Anthony R Lawson, Desiree A
620 Somerset Ave, $455,900
Aspen Prop Group LLC to Lerebours, Katherine
65-R 1st St, $544,000
Meunier, Steven F Meunier, Debra to Massillon, Vanessa
150 Cullen St, $420,000
Brandao, Ana F Brandao, Joarez A to Naidjate, Boubakeur Kradra, Wafa
190 Winthrop St, $360,000
Snell Theckla H Est Helides, Joanne to Philips, George W Philips, Cynthia
647 Somerset Ave, $610,000
809 Central St LLC to Rodriguez-Pinto, Angel
166 Copley Dr, $577,000
Almeida, Alexander Silva, Andrea M to Trozzi, Amanda
Copyrighted material previously published in Banker & Tradesman/The Commercial Record, a weekly trade newspaper. It is reprinted with permission from the publisher, The Warren Group. For a searchable database of real estate transactions and property information, visit www.thewarrengroup.com.
Realtor commission fees consumers pay to buy and sell a house could soon change.
The National Association of Realtors, embroiled in legal battles over the real estate industry’s commission structure, has reached a settlement that could dramatically slash the fees paid to agents.
NAR said Friday that the settlement would lead to it put in place a new Multiple Listing Service rule, which would prohibit offers of broker compensation.
The association’s rules do not set commission rates, NAR said, which are negotiated between consumers and their agents.
However, the real estate industry has long worked under a model of a 5% to 6% commission paid by the seller and split between the seller’s agent and the buyer’s agent.
A federal case in Missouri that challenged that commission structure led to a jury deciding in October that NAR and large brokerage firms conspired to keep costs artificially high. The jury awarded $1.8 billion in damages, which could rise to more than $5 billion under antitrust rules.
What could happen to real estate commissions?
If the class-action case settlement announced Friday is approved, the changes could dramatically lower costs for those looking to sell their home.
The settlement must still get court approval. If it gets the okay, changes would go into effect in mid July, NAR said.
“This would mean that offers of broker compensation could not be communicated via the MLS, but they could continue to be an option consumers can pursue off-MLS through negotiation and consultation with real estate professionals,” NAR said in a press release. “Offers of compensation help make professional representation more accessible, decrease costs for home buyers to secure these services, increase fair housing opportunities, and increase the potential buyer pool for sellers. They are also consistent with the real estate laws in the many states that expressly authorize them.”
Commission change is good for consumers
“This is a major win for consumers,” said Ryan Tomasello, a real estate industry analyst with Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, who has written several reports about the lawsuits challenging the industry’s fee structure and effects they could have on the industry.
“The first reason it’s a win is because this is going to add much needed transparency to the process for both sellers and buyers, particularly for buyers who historically have lacked the knowledge to be able to negotiate lower commissions that could ultimately benefit them in their home closing process,” Tomasello told USA TODAY.
A key question, Tomasello said, will be whether buyers will now be strapped with an additional cost to pay their agent, which they can’t afford, or whether there will be updated mortgage writing guidelines that would allow buyers to finance their commissions.
Sellers still have the option to offer to pay for the buyer’s agent commissions and so that would occur on a case-by-case basis, he said.
In a series of reports, Tomasello has predicted the lawsuits could result in a 30% reduction in the $100 billion paid in real estate commissions by Americans every year. Additionally, Tomasello thinks the legal decisions could result in 60% to 80% of the 1.6 million agents leaving the industry.
Commissions going away?:How much you pay to buy or sell a home may be about to change. Here’s what you need to know
According to survey data from his company, close to 75% of recent homebuyers didn’t know how their agent was compensated.
Tomasello’s firm’s research shows that overall commission prices in a home sale could come down by upward of 2% or more.
Stephen Brobek, a senior fellow at the Consumer Federation of America, has said elimination of the practice of a house seller paying fees to both the seller’s and buyer’s agent will be a watershed moment for the industry.
“This settlement over time will benefit home sellers and buyers greatly, eventually lowering agent commissions by tens of billions of dollars a year and helping align agent compensation and services rendered,” he said Friday.
The changes could eventually save consumers $20 billion to $30 billion in real estate commissions each year, he said. The Consumer Federation of America has predicted commission rates could decline from a range of 5% to 6%, to 3% to 4%.
First-time homebuyers could feel pinch
But changes to the existing commission structure could create an unfair disadvantage for first-time home buyers, especially people of color, said Gary Acosta, co-founder and CEO of the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals.
“The plaintiffs and proponents of these lawsuits claim they represent consumers but in reality, they have been nothing more than vicious attacks on first-time home buyers and small businesses,” Acosta said. “In the settlement, NAR made the right choice by prioritizing the protection of its members from unfair liability, and preserving the option of broker cooperation; which reduces the financial burden on minorities and first-time homebuyers.”
Other parts of the settlement
Another new rule that is part of the proposed settlement would require MLS participants working with buyers to enter into written agreements with those clients.
Additionally, NAR will pay $418 million over approximately four years as part of the class-action settlement.
“NAR has worked hard for years to resolve this litigation in a manner that benefits our members and American consumers. It has always been our goal to preserve consumer choice and protect our members to the greatest extent possible. This settlement achieves both of those goals,” said Nykia Wright, Interim CEO of NAR said in a statement.
Added Kevin Sears, NAR president: “This will be a time of adjustment, but the fundamentals will remain: buyers and sellers will continue to have many choices when deciding to buy or sell a home, and NAR members will continue to use their skill, care, and diligence to protect the interests of their clients.”
The settlement by NAR resolves four class-action cases filed against the organization, according to Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll, a firm representing plaintiffs in one of the legal actions.
“Consumers have really been locked out of the process of negotiating the price for their brokers when they’re on the buyer side of housing purchases,” said Benjamin D. Brown, managing partner of Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll and co-chair of its Antitrust practice. “Once this relief goes into effect, I think that the industry is going to develop in a new direction where there are some innovative brokerages offering lower commissions for buyer broker services.”
Betty Lin-Fisher is a consumer reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at blinfisher@USATODAY.com or follow her on X, Facebook or Instagram @blinfisher. Sign up for our free The Daily Money newsletter, which will include consumer news on Fridays,here.
Newly released data for November shows that potential buyers and sellers in Westchester County saw houses sell for higher than the previous month’s median sale price of $700,000.
The median home sold for $730,000, an analysis of data from Realtor.com shows. That means November, the most recent month for which figures are available, was up 4.3% from October.
Compared to November 2022, the median home sale price was up 5.6% at $730,000 compared to $691,000.
Realtor.com sources sales data from real estate deeds, resulting in a few months’ delay in up-to-date data. The statistics don’t include homes currently listed for sale, and aren’t directly comparable to listings data.
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Search your town’s home sales:Real estate transactions in New York State since 2004
Looking only at single-family homes, the $794,500 median selling price in Westchester County was up 5.9% in November from $750,000 the month prior. Since November 2022, the sale price of single-family homes was up 9.6% from a median of $725,000.
One hundred two single family homes sold for $1 million or more during the month, compared to 127 recorded transactions of at least $1 million in November 2022.
Condominiums and townhomes decreased by 7.7% in sales price during November to a median of $520,000 from $563,250 in October. Compared to November 2022, the sales price of condominiums and townhomes was up 7.8% from $482,500. Nine condominiums or townhomes sold for $1 million or more during the month, compared to 15 recorded transactions of at least $1 million in November 2022.
House prices:Check out the most expensive single-family home ever sold in White Plains
In November, the number of recorded sales in Westchester County dropped by 29.4% since November 2022 from 591 to 417. All residential home sales totaled to $496.1 million.
In New York, homes sold at a median of $355,946 during November, down 7.5% from $385,000 in October. There were 9,431 recorded sales across the state during November, down 26.3% from 12,789 recorded sales in November 2022.
The total value of recorded residential home sales in New York decreased by 14.4% from $7.9 billion in October to $6.8 billion this November.
House prices:What kind of house will $1M get you in Westchester, Rockland, Putnam? We checked
Out of all residential home sales in New York, 12.5% of homes sold for at least $1 million in November, up from 11.85% in November 2022.
Sales prices of single-family homes across New York decreased by 10.1% from a median of $344,828 in October to $310,166 in November. Since November 2022, the sale price of single-family homes across the state was down 20.5% from $390,138.
Across the state, the sale price of condominiums and townhomes rose 1.4% from a median of $499,387 in October to $506,527 during November. The median sale price of condominiums and townhomes is up 3.6% from the median of $489,013 in November 2022.
The median home sale price used in this report represents the midway point of all the houses or units listed over the given period of time. The median offers a more accurate view of what’s happening in a market than the average sale price, which would mean taking the sum of all sale prices then dividing by the number of homes sold. The average can be skewed by one particularly low or high sale.
The USA TODAY Network is publishing localized versions of this story on its news sites across the country, generated with data from Realtor.com. Please leave any feedback or corrections for this story here. This story was written by Ozge Terzioglu.
- The median price of a single-family house in December was $427,000
- Competition is increasing for the few homes on the market
Over the weekend, real estate agent Jill Sweetman hosted three open houses.
Despite occurring on some of the coldest days of the winter so far, each open house pulled in 20 to 25 people, which came as a surprise.
“It was biting cold, it was miserable, and normally when the weather is terrible, no one comes out to see houses,” Sweetman said.
What Sweetman saw goes a long way to describe the current state of the housing market as the Rhode Island Association of Realtors released the housing sales data for December 2023.
In December, the median price of a single-family home dipped slightly to $427,000, down $4,000 from November. The median house price is up 10% from December 2022 and 50% from December 2019.
“People are getting desperate for houses again, because all these people braved temperatures in the teens to come and see these houses,” said Sweetman, who is with Nathan Clark and Associates.
In December, the number of houses listed on the market continued a downward slide, with 917, down from 1,152 in November. The number of houses sold fell from 569 in November to 532 in December.
When Sweetman checked the number of listings on Monday morning, the number of houses listed had sunk even lower, to 708.
What November’s market looked like:House prices and interest rates are down in Rhode Island, but does it really matter?
Interest rates keep sales depressed, lack of inventory keeps prices high
“We’re in a weird limbo area where sellers aren’t putting their homes onto the market, and for buyers there are no homes, so when there is a really good house, people are competing for it, even though interest rates aren’t fantastic,” Sweetman said.
Interest rates have been climbing, mostly, since record lows in 2021 and 2022, dropping below 3%, peaking at 7.8% in October 2023 and then easing back down to 6.6% as of Jan. 18, according to data from the mortgage lender Freddie Mac.
Higher interest rates normally depress prices as demand slows, but when there is little supply, prices stay the same or barely decrease.
“This is like it was at the start of 2022, when there were like 680 single-family homes on the market,” Sweetman said. “It seems like we’re getting back to that.”
With the market so tight, prices so high and increased mortgage rates reducing buying power, Sweetman said, it’s difficult to make offers stand out, and it isn’t always the highest bidder that wins. Often, it’s the person who offers the smoothest or most secure house sale.
Sweetman recently helped her clients buy a house that was being sold by the former owner’s estate, including all of the furniture, knick-knacks, all of the things that accumulate over a lifetime. To win the bid, they offered to take the house as-is and deal with cleaning out the stuff themselves.
“Junk removal costs $1,000 to $1,500. They take everything out of the old house and you’ve spent $1,500 and were picked over five other people – versus tacking $50,000 on to a mortgage,” Sweetman said.
What the multi-family markets look like
While single-family homes get most of the attention and make up most of the housing stock, condos and multi-family homes are hot commodities.
The median price of a multi-family house dipped slightly to $480,000 in December, down from $492,000 in November and $482,000 in October, but still below the all-time high of $500,000 in June and July 2023.
The number of listings was down slightly in December to 214, from 220 in November.
Multi-family house prices have seen the biggest percentage increase since the pandemic, with December’s median price 68% higher than it was in December 2019. Multi-family houses have been relatively quick to sell, with an average of 23 days on the market for the last three months of 2023.
In all, there were 214 multi-family listings in December, which has dropped to 176 as of this week.
What the RI condo market looks like
With condos, the median price was up slightly, to $360,000, up $3,500 over November. The cost of condos is up 60% compared with December 2019.
Condos are spending longer on the market, 37 days in December compared to 27 days in November. The number of condos listed on the market decreased slightly to 214 in December. As of this week, it’s even lower, at 197.
Houses priced correctly will bring lines, competing offers
When a house is right in that sweet spot, near the new median price, $350,000 to $450,000, appears to be worth it and is in decent shape, it will go fast and there will be competing offers, Sweetman said.
For her buyers, that means going to the first open house scheduled, even if it’s a bitterly cold weeknight, and either offering more than the asking price or figuring out what the seller wants and making that part of the offer.
“Sometimes it’s offering nice terms to a seller, like you’re willing to pay some of their closing costs,” Sweetman said. “Again, it’s a nice way to spend a small amount of money and get a big result.”
While some sellers want top dollar, others just want to move on.
“A smooth transaction where nothing falls apart is often worth more than an extra $20,000,” Sweetman said.
Onslaught of natural disasters affects buyers and sellers
The recent bouts of flooding and tornado-inducing storms have been hitting many of Sweetman’s would-be buyers and sellers.
One couple who own a multi-family house and was looking to move into a single-family is spending the money they had saved for a down payment replacing a roof after it was torn off during a recent wind storm.
RI’s September floods were a disaster.What help is available for victims?
Others are calling Sweetman to ask what to do as their basements flood for the first time since they’ve owned the houses they are now looking to sell.
“They’re spending all their money on mitigation,” she said. “It’s like a perfect storm.”
South County and Newport housing numbers
In Newport County, a total of 41 houses were sold in December, 7% of the total for the state. Jamestown, with six sales, saw the biggest swing in median price over last year, hitting $1.6 million across those six sales, compared with $725,000 across seven sales in December 2022.
Jamestown had the highest median price in the entire state, followed by Block Island, where one house sold for $1.3 million, and then Newport, with $1.1 million over six sales.
Little Compton saw the biggest decrease in single-family home sales, from five in December 2022 to none last month, followed by Newport, down to six last month compared with 16 a year ago. Little Compton was the only municipality in the state to register no sales last month, while Block Island and Hopkinton both registered a single sale.
Portsmouth was the only town in Newport County to see an increase in sales, 14, two more than in November.
Tiverton was the most affordable Newport County town, with a median price of $448,000 across 11 sales, down from 14 a year ago. The median price in Tiverton was up 23% from $357,000.
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Reach reporter Wheeler Cowperthwaite at wcowperthwaite@providencejournal.com or follow him on Twitter @WheelerReporter.