The stories started early last night, and the favorite was her memory of us going to Disneyland when she was a kid, and waiting in line for autographs from a boy band who was playing that week.
Before we got to the front of the line, they shut down the signings – and Kayla was crushed.
That night, she talked me into taking her back, just so she could get her autographs. Over Mom’s objections, we returned the next day and she got what she wanted!
She is equally determined to stay in Manhattan for the duration, and make it as a realtor. She had two sales set up for closing next week, which would have been a new record for her.
But one of the sales just got delayed because the seller didn’t feel like moving until middle of August. Because the sale was in a co-op building where the owners have to approve of the new buyer, the purchase contract (authored by attorneys) doesn’t specify a closing date due to the uncertainty of the approval process.
It’s part of Kayla’s job as buyer’s agent to submit a ‘board package’ so they can review the buyers and their financials, which she did well in advance and got it approved. But without a closing date set in advance like we do it in California, her buyers will have to wait another month before moving in, which was fine – but different!
Happy Birthday Kayla – it is my life’s joy to be your Daddy! I love you!
Bubbleinfo.com has been in existence for 15 years! The peak audience here was at the bottom of the market (~11k), but having 5.6k users over the last 28 days is fantastic – thanks for being here!
Over the last 15 years:
Total number of Blog Posts: 9,820 (plus a few hundred more on the previous Squarespace format)
Instagram: 482 posts, 1,087 followers (Natalie is running it)
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The big news this week is that Kayla is going solo!
You’re never going to be comfortable and ready to go on your own, so at some point, every agent has to take the plunge. She is going to keep working at Douglas Elliman in their midtown Manhattan office, and she has pledged to have her new blog up and running by October 1st!
The leaders of Kayla’s real estate team will be speaking with America’s most famous appraiser today at 3pm. There will be a NYC-focus, but I’ve heard all three of these speakers before and it will be worth a listen:
Join us and guest speaker,Jonathan J. Miller, industry-leading commentator, appraiser, consultant, and author of real estate reports, for an in-depth discussion:
Valuations then, now and the day after tomorrow… Where are the bargains?
The banking industry. New Corona lending guidelines.
Re-opening the real estate industry – what, when, and how?
Kayla flew home from Manhattan this morning on Delta – there were only 20 people on the plane!
Her Douglas Elliman offices are closed through March 31st and probably longer. Hopefully she didn’t bring the bug back with her, but it’s better than her catching it there and having to cope with it alone.
She loves being in Manhattan, and plans to go back, of course.
But what will the market be like for newer agents everywhere?
The big, successful agents will use this off-time to prepare additional marketing materials, and be ready to go once the virus is done. We’ll have 1-3 months of pent-up supply and demand, so we’ll try to squeeze the whole 6-month selling season into 60 days. The crafty experienced agents will be glad to facilitate those sales, but there won’t be enough to go around for everyone.
I’m guessing that we will probably sell 20% to 30% fewer homes this year, and it could be less. The sales will drop off long before sellers think about dumping on price, and because the virus isn’t a permanent change in the marketplace, it will be too easy for sellers to wait it out instead. It will be tough on every agent who is on the edge.
Somebody said today that they expect to see big price declines and foreclosures in the next 2-3 months, but that’s not happening. The moratoriums are in place, and homeowners who can’t make payments will get as much time as they need. It’s more likely that we will experience the Big Stall-Out, with the market still airborne and just waiting for the engine to kick back on.
Kayla has joined the Jacky Teplitzky Team, one of the most successful realtor teams in the history of Manhattan real estate – and she couldn’t be more excited! Her first week on the job was jam-packed with tours of their listings, and other training. Look out now, NYC!
The process began when Kayla was aggressively pursuing a deal on one of Jacky’s listings, and partner Barak took notice and suggested Kayla should work for them. She did interview with two other teams – one at Compass and another Elliman team – but she felt Jacky’s team was a perfect fit for her.
Jacky is known as a leader in the realtor community, and was featured as a panelist this week – an excerpt:
They’re worried about the health of the economy and the state of politics, both local and national. And they’re just as concerned about the rise of disruptors and third-party lead-generation companies. More than 100 people crammed into the lobby of the Elad Group’s under-construction condo on West 43 Street to hear what top residential brokerage executives and agents had to say about it all.
The whiplash between reality and market predictions is leaving many people “starving for information,” according to Shlomi Reuveni, founder of Reuveni Real Estate, who organized and moderated the event. “I have never seen a market like this,” he said. “This is as surreal as it gets.”
While the crowd sipped champagne and picked at a catered lunch, Brown Harris Stevens’ CEO Bess Freedman, Warburg Realty’s Frederick Peters and Modern Spaces’ CEO Eric Benaim debated Donna Olshan, Nancy Packes, Compass’ Kyle Blackmon and Douglas Elliman’s Jacky Teplitzky swapped takes on the health of the market.
Teplitzky called it a “schizophrenic” market, saying that she’s finding there’s “no rhyme or reason” to what transacts. (She did underline a “surge” of buyers from Mexico and potentially Argentina as a bright spot for buyers with some urgency.)
Olshan noted that she believed that the elimination of the state and local tax deductions was “the tipping point.”
Teplitzky disagreed. She attributed the slowdown in purchasing to the vast amount of product buyers can choose from, adding that “there is more off the market than on the market.”
At first they told Kayla that she probably wouldn’t be doing an open house for three months, but her first week went so well that she is having an open house today!
Do you know of anyone who is thinking of moving into or out of Manhattan? Contact Kayla!
