Articles Tagged "Queens County"

The holiday season always brings plenty of opportunities to run on Long Island! With lots of great holiday 5k walks and runs coming up, our real estate agents are excited to share some of their favorites. 

And if you're looking for someplace to get in shape for your next big race, then you're in luck. Long Island is also home to some great trails and greenways where you can practice. So lace up your shoes, and get ready to hit the pavement in Nassau and Suffolk counties.

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The purpose of showing your home is to hook a buyer. You want the buyers to come through your house and be impressed - so impressed in fact, that they're ready to make an offer! You'll have one chance to make a great first impression on the potential buyers, so make sure to follow these five helpful tips to really make it count!

1. Focus on the outside. Make sure that you don't neglect the outside of your home. Curb appeal can make or break the odds of someone even bothering to get out of the car to come in. If they pull up and see a home with a lawn that obviously needs edging and has an unkempt flower bed, they're going to wonder what else hasn't been cared for properly. You want the outside of your home to be spotless. Clean the siding, the windows, and the doors. Make sure there are no dirt smudges, no cobwebs and that anything that needs painting has been spiffed up. 

1. Take yourself out of the house. That means that you want to take out all the personal stuff. Remove the family photos from the wall or tables. You want the home to look neutral so that the potential buyers can look at your house and picture it as themselves living there. Everything should be as neutral as possible in terms of personal items. 

1. Remove all the extra clutter you see at first glance. If you look around, it'll amaze you at how much stuff you've accumulated over the years. Some of it might very well be important, but that doesn't mean that your potential buyers should see it. When you have a lot of clutter, it shrinks the living space of the house. It makes it look and feel cramped and smaller. Many homeowners get something called house blindness. They've lived in the home for so long with the same clutter that they don't even really see it anymore. But a stranger will always notice. So clean out your house and make the space as big as possible.

1. If you have a pet, no one that walks through your house should be able to notice it exists. That means no cat litter box, no dog to jump on anyone, no food sitting around in a dish. Your home should not have any pet odors. Having a clean house that's odor free is a big selling point. You don't want to lose a possible deal just because they can smell your pet's presence or your pet makes a bad impression.

1. Stage your home! You can hire a professional or you can do it yourself. Stage your living areas in a way that shows off your home. You can rent furniture to make your home furnishings look good if you don't use a stager. Someone who knows how to stage a house knows how to play up the best features of your home and knows what to bring in or get rid of to make the entire house appeal to a buyer. 

First impressions are HUGE when showing you home to potential buyers, but by following the simple tips above you will be well on your way to making a great impression and, hopefully, receiving multiple offers!  (And if you are at all anxious about this important step, just reach out to a trusted real estate agent in your area who can help guide you through this process!)

Laffey Real Estate, a leading residential real estate broker on Long Island, launched their Virtual Showing Platform in early April to much acclaim.  The demand for virtual viewings is still strong.  Visit Laffey.com/OpenHouse page to participate.  Interested buyers can find homes to preview every Wednesday from noon to 1:00 pm via Facebook Premier and Laffey.com. 

This is simple and safe home showings.  Go to Laffey.com/OpenHouse page.  Choose the property.  Click on the Facebook Live button under the listing address.  The open houses are scheduled in advance so the date and time is shown on the listing page as well.  Visitors will be notified when they are registered and will receive a notification that their Virtual Open House is beginning.  It is easy to explore open houses from a desktop, laptop and smart device.   

The market is very robust.  Nationwide, there was a 20.7 percent increase in existing-home sales — which includes single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums, and co-ops — between May and June of this year, according to the National Association of Realtors. 

On Long Island, the number of pending sales spiked by 60.6% in Nassau County and by 55.6% in Suffolk last month, compared with a year earlier, OneKey MLS, the multiple listing service that includes Long Island, reported Thursday.

Prices increased in both counties. In Nassau, closed sale prices ticked up 1.1% annually, to a median $551,250, and pending sale prices rose by 6.4%, to a median $580,000. Suffolk County median closed sale prices jumped by 5.8% to $439,000 and pending sale prices rose by 8.4% to $450,000, the listing service reported.

In July 2020, the median list price of single family homes in Queens County, NY was $750K, and media sale price was $650,000; condos median list price was $638,000 and media sold was $530,000. Homes in Queens County, NY sold for 3.5% below asking price on average in July 2020

Combined with record-low interest rates and high rents, City dwellers are adding another element to the frenzied pace of available home buyers. The average interest rate was 2.96% last week, down 0.64 percentage points from a year ago, mortgage giant Freddie Mac reported Thursday.

"This method of engaging our customers have proven fruitful for everyone", explained Donnamarie Chaimanis, President Laffey Real Estate.  "With Zoom, WhatsApp, Google Meets live streaming and showing appointments, the overwhelming number of buyers coming to our website requesting virtual showings and meetings has been awe-inspiring." 

Since mid-April, during the height of the pandemic and beyond, Laffey Real Estate débuted more than 500 Virtual Open Houses reaching thousands of potential buyers across Laffey.com, Agent Websites and Facebook. 

Laffey Real Estate is proud to be featured in the July 2020 Delta Media Group's industry publication, Real Estate Marketing and Technology Magazine, titled In A Town Full of Apples, Be the Orange. How Long Island's Laffey Real Estate Stands Out from the Competition. 

An orange you might say?  Well, frankly, yes!  In terms of standing out, the metaphor works.  Laffey Real Estate has made it their mission to be unique in both brand and business model.  

if this pandemic has taught us anything, as a brokerage and as a society, it is that we have to learn to adapt.  And, adapt quickly!  Once the senior management team realized that the world as they knew it was coming to a screeching halt, they jumped in and, using Delta's Virtual Business Platform, began the training program that gave agents the tools to keep focused and help buyers and sellers once the world reset.

Laffey Real Estate is proud of the team that orchestrated the single most daunting responsibility in recent memory.  How could they maintain a safe environment for the agents and employees while keeping the doors open for the clients and customers?  Embracing the virtual platform was the answer.  Using Facebook Premiere, Zoom, Google Meet and a great technology partner, the months following the shutdown were certainly difficult but the Laffey Real Estate agents didn't miss out on being able to 'get in front of' their sellers and work with buyers and renters alike.

Kudos Team Laffey!  

Read the full article here -->  In a Town Full of Apples...

Are you looking for a way to skip a few trips to the grocery store and enjoy one night without a sink full of dishes? Then let these Long Island restaurants and cafes keep your family fed throughout the week. Our real estate agents have identified six restaurants around Nassau, Suffolk, and Queens Counties that offer convenient take-out and delivery options.

1. Ben's — 211-37 26th Ave., Bayside, NY 11360
   Ben's knows that there's nothing quite like a classic New York deli sandwich to remind us of simpler times. Thankfully, their overstuffed sandwiches, paninis, burgers, salads, and other menu items are available to-go. Hot entrees and cold entrees, including their family-style dinners, are all available for pick-up. Close to Bayside homes for sale, Ben's is closed for Passover, but you can still purchase gift cards online to use once the restaurant reopens April 17 for takeout orders.

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