Tomorrow I’ll be a featured speaker at The Northeast New Jersey Chapter of the Appraisal Institute’s 6th Annual Meadowlands Conference in Teaneck, NJ.

My presentation is called:

The Intersection of Housing and Credit in 2012, How This Cycle Ends.

Always great to hang out with valuation professionals who care about their profession.

It’s time to share my Three Cents Worth on Curbed NY, at the intersection of neighborhood and real estate in the capitol of the world. And I’m simply here to take measurements.

Read today’s 3CW post on Curbed New York:

Since the Euro is creaking under the prevailing sentiment that Greece will flee, I thought it would be interesting to take a look at how Manhattan looks from Europe and the UK’s perspective. I threw in Canada and Australia for good measure. I applied their currencies against the US dollar and the Manhattan inflation adjusted average sales price (dark blue line)…

[click to expand]

• Curbed NY Three Cents Worth Archive
  
• Curbed DC Three Cents Worth Archive

Knight Frank’s Prime Global Cities Index showed more weakness this quarter.

The first three months of 2012 brought with it little new momentum. The Eurozone’s debt debacle remained at the forefront of the global economic agenda, several critical elections were on the horizon (Russia, France, Greece) and Asia’s highly-effective cooling measures showed no sign of being relaxed. Against this backdrop some luxury buyers took to the side-lines to observe their market’s trajectory.

Primary markets seem to be cooling off a bit. I thought the conclusion was quite powerful.

The safe-haven argument still resonates. Capital flight will continue to focus on cities with low political risk, transparent legal systems, good security and ideally those with an HNWI-friendly tax regime.

• Prime world city markets turn negative [Global Briefing/Knight Frank]
  
• Prime Global Cities Index Q1 2012 [Knight Frank]

About five years ago, The New York Observer started a publicity campaign called The Power 100 where they selected 100 notables in New York Real Estate circles, put them on a list and threw a party to build loyalty and hopefully attract advertisers. It was a fun thing to be a part of. It wasn’t scientific and it wasn’t a serious endeavor nor was it taken seriously. It was just fun and created appreciation from those selected.

I was part of the list in three of it’s first four years. Myself and many others blogged about it. The effort got a lot of attention for NYO which was the intent.

I’ve always liked and respected the reporters there (still do) and I love the flagship NYO publication. I’ve subscribed for years and have been a regular source of market information for the publication.

However this year the publisher changed the methodology by switching it to their other publication The Commercial Observer and excluded media types and most residential types unless you owned a brokerage or sold a few apartments north of $20M.

Of course I’m down with that.

However I didn’t expect the publication to be mean about it. (Not to be confused with snark.) The Commercial Observer published a list of who was cast off (your’s truly) without disclosing the methodology change.

Imagine your kid applying to college but they don’t get accepted – only the college decides to publish their name in a list with all those who weren’t accepted?

I think the “Out” list is just as interesting as the “In” list – here’s a sample.

• Bill Ackman – Pershing Square Capital
• Serena Boardman – Sotheby’s
• Timothy Dolan – Archbishop, RC Church of NY.
• Steve Cuozzo – New York Post
• Si Newhouse – Conde Nast
• Howard Rubenstein – Rubenstein Communications
• Steven Rubenstein – Rubenstein Communications
• Sheldon Silver – Speaker NYS Assembly
• Lockhart Steele – Curbed Network
• Jay Walder – MTA

I’m going to start a new list “The Tepid 25″ since the word “Power” is a bit obnoxious.

Ok, enough of this drivel already. Back to work.

UPDATE: Here’s the response (tweet) to my post although they neglected to include my link and changed the topic – the social media person at TCO treated this as opportunity expand the conversation thread rather than addressing the issue of right versus wrong. In media relations this technique is called “reframing the conversation” since my post was addressing how they mocked people being removed as being “Out” in a fit of self-importance, although many are sources for the publication and have been long time friends of it. When you don’t disclose your methodology you can’t do what they did. It’s simply wrong. No, it’s mean.

So here’s a lesson on what not to do on Twitter when your actions are challenged:

CO: Dear @jonathanmiller, you provide your list of the 100 Most Powerful, we’ll publish in our pages 2 weeks from now. Sincerely, The CO #co100

JM: @commercial_nyo yes I’m sure you would. #disconnect

CO: Weak RT @jonathanmiller @commercial_nyo yes I’m sure you would. #disconnect

Absorption defined for the purposes of this chart is: Number of months to sell all listing inventory at the annual pace of sales activity. (The definition of absorption in my market report series reflects the quarterly pace – nearly the same)

I started this analysis in August 2009 so I am able to show side-by side year-over-year comparisons. The blue line showing the 10-year quarterly average travels up and down because of the change in scale caused by some of the significant volatility seen at the upper end of the market. The “blue” line for average changes very little year to year but the scale of the chart does frequently.

Side by side Manhattan regional comparison:

April 2011 v. April 2012

[click images to expand]

Thoughts on the year-over-year comparisons

• Manhattan All price segments below $2M experienced noticeable increase in pace of absorption.
• East Side Condo market accelerating except for $10M+
• West Side $3M to $10M accelerating
• Downtown Below $2M went from faster than average absorption to a lot faster.

Note: This chart series does not include shadow inventory (properties ready for market but not yet listed for sale) so this analysis somewhat understates the pace of condo absorption. The Uptown (Northern Manhattan) data set is too thin for a reliable presentation.

It’s time to share my Three Cents Worth on Curbed NY, at the intersection of neighborhood and real estate in the capitol of the world. And I’m simply here to take measurements.

Read today’s 3CW post on Curbed New York:

With all the hoopla about record low mortgage rates, the resurgence of entry-level buyers despite the headline-creating high end market, entering the “gray” area of rent versus buy, I thought I’d take a look at how falling mortgage rates impact the size of apartments being sold. The logic being that smaller apartments thrive as rates fall. I recognize that there is a lot more nuance in the size of what sells at any given time, but hey, this is Curbed…

[click to expand]

• Curbed NY Three Cents Worth Archive
  
• Curbed DC Three Cents Worth Archive

Last night the championship dreams for Knicks fans that began in earnest with Linsanity, was officially over, ending with a final loss to Miami in Miami. The Knicks resurgence has been one of the few feel good stories of the year. I will now shift my sports focus to the Yankees and, oh yes, Tebow. Seriously considering following Curling instead.

During the regular season, my sons and I began to collect “Clydisms” by Walt “Clyde” Frazier, our Knicks hero from the championship years. He uses sing-songy phrases to describe the action. Even his new restaurant name has the same style to it.

When one of us wasn’t able to watch a game, the others texted the rest of us new phrases hoping to discover a new one to add to our list.

His phrases are addictive, part of the complete game experience, yet at the same time, completely uninformative. Sort of like national housing market studies. Although the headlines for housing have decidedly turned positive.

Here’s our collective hard earned list:

Moving and grooving
Sliding and Gliding
Swishing and dishing
Rebounding and astounding
Running and stunning
He’s the Novack in novocaine
He’s the Guadeloupe with the hoop
Whacked and hacked
Cruisin’ and Bruisin’
Perculating and devastating
Fields with the steal
Hanging and banging
Duke and hoop
Dishing and swishing
Tantalizing and mesmerizing
Huffing and puffing
Penetrate and devastate
Posting and toasting
Hustling and muscling
Resounding rebounding
Dooming and glooming
Hounding and pounding
Hang and bang
Hanging and banging
Thriving and driving
Duping and hooping
Stops and pops
The Knicks with the knack
Eratic, dramatic, ecstatic and charismatic
Straining and paining
Slammin’ and jammin’
Winning and grinning
In the Knick of time
Slicing and dicing
Wishing they were swishing
Huff and stuff
Sharing and caring
Using and abusing
In the Knick of time
Hurrying and worrying
Hustling and bustling
Spinning and winning
Shakin’ and bakin’
Shake and bake
Stumbling and bumbling
Puffing and stuffing
Penetrating and creating
Agile and hostile
Elton got branded
Swoops to the hoop
Contagious and outrageous
Duping and hooping
A little more pep in their step
Amazing grace
Wheeling and dealing
Hustle with muscle
Transitioning and swishing
Stoppin’ and poppin’
Velcro “d”, stickin’ to the man
Plays with heart and smart
Hacking and whacking
Cruising and bruising
Fortitude and aptitude
Wheels and deals
Bounded and astounded
Posting and toasting
Stooping and hooping
Pulverized in the paint
Huffs and stuffs
Fire and desire
Spinning and winning
So nice we’ll show it twice
Showing his amazing grace
Tenacity and sagacity
Penetrating and creating
Hustling and bustling
Shaking and faking
Dancing and prancing
Prancing on the perimeter
Nasty and sassy
Synergy and energy
The attack, attacking the rack
Trying to keep from crying
Moving and grooving
Stumbling and bumbling
Not hesitating but devastating

My fave? “Moving and grooving” hands down.

Julie Satow’s New York Times ‘Square Foot’ Column Accuracy of Appraisals Is Spotty, Study Says takes a look at a study that concluded that commercial appraisals were too high when tested against what the property actually sold for. My partner John Cicero in our commercial valuation firm Miller Cicero was referenced in the piece. While he liked the article and agreed with the conclusions, he pointed out the potential flaws in the study.

Of course the report is pointing out what has been an obvious problem for at least the past decade. Banks have transitioned into the view that an appraisal report is a commodity and not a professional consultation. The irony here is the same thinking applies across both commercial and residential valuation assignments for banks but with polar opposite results.

Commercial valuations are seen as “too high” and residential valuations are seen as “too low.” This probably has a lot to do with the fact that commercial real estate, especially class a office space in markets like NYC, Washington DC and San Francisco is probably in the middle of a bubble and there is clearly indirect pressure on the appraiser to make the deal work (no matter what is being said publicly).

Of course residential valuations were way too high during the housing boom so a similarity can be drawn during that period as lenders relied on mortgage brokers to deliver the majority (2/3) of loan volume by the time the market peaked.

The common thread in all this is to understand how the appraiser is engaged by the bank. In residential valuation it has morphed over to the appraisal management company process (B of A’s Landsafe is the poster child for bad appraisals) and in commercial valuation it has become a robotic automated engagement process:

John Cicero, a managing principal of the appraisal firm Miller Cicero, said: “It is a broken profession in a lot of ways. The appraisal industry has become commoditized, where lenders see appraisals as simply a commodity to be purchased by a vendor and where more emphasis is placed on the price of an appraisal than the expertise of the appraiser.”

For example, Mr. Cicero said, in the past lenders would often have long discussions about the project and the appraiser’s qualifications before hiring. Now, it is more common for lenders to use an online bidding system, where they issue a request for proposals from appraisers and often choose the least expensive. “They actually refer to us as vendors submitting a bid, not educated professionals who are providing an important service,” he said.

After a while (and it’s been a while) this becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy and the majority of appraisers used by banks are simply bad at their craft (taking liberties here) because the system attracts that “type” appraiser. As a result many of the good appraisers have either left the business or switched their client base to those who see valuations as more than the equivalent of a “title search.”

Banking’s shortsightedness illustrated
When a bank is considering lending $200M on a commercial office building, they are usually are more concerned about shaving $500 off the appraisal fee than they are contracting with a seasoned local market expert. [Commercial] high-ballers with fast turn times are thriving and their product is very weak. The same goes for a residential mortgage [low-ballers] only with commercial lending, the stakes are much higher because the exposure is so much greater – then ask yourself, who is the party that lacks competency? I’d say it’s systemic.

• Accuracy of Appraisals Is Spotty, Study Says [New York Times]
  
• John Cicero’s Bio [Miller Cicero]
  

Last fall Prudential Douglas Elliman turned 100 years old and they asked me to write an article for their Elliman magazine. If you’ve been living in a cave, I’ve been writing their housing market report series since 1994.

What started as a simple project morphed into a fun, albeit gigantic, research project. I learned a lot about the evolution of the Manhattan housing market, largely through the amazing incredible New York Times archives. This was right about the time of my web site revision and semi-necessary hiatus so I am cleaning out my desk of posts I have been itching to write so please indulge me.

The article I wrote for Douglas Elliman was beautifully presented by their marketing department and prominently inserted in their Elliman magazine (and iPad app!).

Diane Cardwell of the New York Times in her “The Appraisal” (an incredible column name BTW) penned a great piece: In an Earlier Time of Boom and Bust, Rentals Also Gained Favor that originated from my article and zeroed in on the 1920s and 1930s to draw a comparison to the current market.

I have the feeling my project is going to morph into something bigger – it’s just too interesting (to me). A few things I learned about the Manhattan market over this period:

• Douglas Elliman published the first market study in 1927 [heh, heh] not counting other marketing materials written before WWI)
• Real estate media coverage in the first half of the century was social scene fodder (same as today) but with extensive and excessive personal details presented on tenants, buyers and sellers yet housing prices and rents were rarely presented in public.
• Manhattan made a rapid transition from single family to luxury apartment rentals and eventually co-ops.
• Housing prices and rents by mid century weren’t that much different than the beginning of the century.
• Manhattan’s population peaked at 2.3M around WWI.
• Wall Street in the 1920′s was seen as the driver of the real estate market.
• Federal and state credit fixes in the late 1930′s help bail out the housing market.

• Change Is The Constant In A Century of New York City Real Estate – pdf [Miller Samuel]
• My Theory of Negative Milestones [Matrix]

Sidebar/Appendix

Here’s a separate piece I also wrote during my DE research project (to clear my head after pouring through all the historical articles) which incorporates my “theory of negative milestones.”

While researching the last 100 years of New York City residential real estate I came to appreciate the one constant in the ebb and flow of housing. It is a market that has continually adapted to significant economic, political and social change. History showed us that the New York City housing market reacts to this change as an opportunity to reinvent itself resulting in more growth.

Despite significant challenges, the New York has thrived during its transition from an industrial to service economy as a core driver of housing demand. Over the past 100 years, the city has been held together by a diverse economy linked with other economic capitals across the globe. Yet like the economy of today and the early part of the 20th century had a commonality in financial services. It remains an important sector, driving the creation of wealth and influencing the demand for housing.

“With the continued prosperity of the country as a whole and the tremendous activity in Wall Street, there is no reason why the new year should not be an extremely prosperous one in the real estate field.” – 1927 Douglas L. Elliman & Co., Inc. report (NYT)

Because the series of milestones is measured in decades and we live in the moment, it is hard to appreciate the many changes that define the housing market we currently enjoy. The housing stock moved from dependence on single unit dwellings to apartment rentals to co-operatives to condominiums. It has ranged from overcrowded tenements to newly developed luxury highrises. The addition of new housing or re-purposing of existing structures has resulted in a wide array of residential property that forms the texture of the New York City real estate market.

An irony of this evolving housing legacy comes from the sense of permanence that resonates from simply gazing at the physical asset both as a shelter and as a home. Leaf through “before and after” photo books of New York and the revolving landscape is readily apparent.

Historic milestones mark the moment of change in the housing market, making conditions that existed before largely irrelevant to the “new” market, prompting new patterns and incentives. Participants seek out understanding and then re-enter the market.

Here’s a Manhattan timeline that includes a rough survey of luxury pricing.

1910’s The surge in demand for housing, World War I
[Sale: $8 PPSF, Rent: $40/Mo.]
A bustling economy, railroads were thriving and Manhattan’s population was at its peak of 2.3 million as it moved towards World War I. Over the prior 30 years, the Upper East Side and Upper West Side had transitioned from farmland with single family houses to higher density tenements and apartments. The Zoning Resolution of 1916 was a comprehensive zoning law passed to require height and setbacks to new building so the surrounding streets could receive natural light. By now, rents were double those of comparable properties in Paris.

1920’s The “Roaring Twenties”
[Sale: $15 PPSF, Rent: $60/Mo.]
The decade result in rising prices in a 1927 market report by Douglas L. Elliman & Co., Inc. Building sites were becoming increasingly scarce on primary streets, best suited for apartments causing development to press east. By 1929, Elliman reported that land prices along Park Avenue had risen 44% over the prior several years. Prices of co-operative apartments with views of the East River were seeing rapid appreciation. Prices of Sutton Place co-operative apartments jumped 75% over the same period.

1930’s The 1929 Stock Market Crash and “The Great Depression”
[Sale: $5 PPSF, Rent: $45/Mo.]
Sales fell by 30% a year after the crash, but by the middle of the decade, the rental market began to improve. Douglas L. Elliman & Co., Inc. reported a 22% increase in the number of signed leases on the East Side. Rents increased 6% over the prior year and some buildings were reporting 100% occupancy. “…this will enable many properties to be placed on a sound financial basis where taxes and interest and other fixed charges can be met regularly for the first time since the depression.”

1940’s World War II
[Sale: $8 PPSF, Rent: $50/Mo.]
Manhattan townhouses sales begin to pick up but prices remain below peak levels during the “Roaring Twenties.” On the 30th anniversary of Douglas L. Elliman & Co., Inc. the company reported the highest number of rental transactions in its history. “Apartment builders are more active now than at any time in nearly a decade in the construction of new multifamily buildings on the East Side of Manhattan.” After the war ends, New Yorkers face a housing shortage as GI’s returned home. Large scale housing developments emerged.

1950’s The post-World War II Housing Boom
[Sale: $12 PPSF, Rent: $60/Mo.]
The housing boom was the product of pent-up demand from the prior two decades as household formation was outpacing supply. Apartment and co-op demand increased as buildable space became scarce. As the economy grew, the midtown central business district expanded. At least 15 large apartment buildings on Park Avenue just north of Grand Central Terminal, known as the “Gold Coast” were replaced by office buildings. Only 40 years earlier that location had been created by covering the railroad tracks north of the terminal.

1960’s First condo building, World’s Fair, Building Boom
[Sale: $25 PPSF, Rent: $200/Mo.]
The 1961 Zoning Resolution updated the zoning principals established in 1916 establishing parking areas and open plaza design in exchange for additional floor height. The World’s Fair exhibition opens and the first condominium building begins its sales effort. The introduction of air conditioning and in-house intercoms became standard. A three year building boom occurred mid-decade and co-op sales prices peaked by 1969.

1970’s World Trade Center Completed, Near Bankruptcy, Finishes Stronger
[Sale: $45 PPSF, Rent: $335/Mo.]
The first half of the decade saw the completion of the World Trade Center, a weak economy and surging oil prices. Weak conditions were punctuated in 1975 with New York City narrowly avoiding bankruptcy despite the famous October 30 New York Daily News Headline “Ford to City: Drop Dead” (which the president didn’t actually say). The second half saw improvement with a 1979 market survey by Douglas Elliman-Gibbons & Ives, Inc. indicating that co-op prices were up 224% since 1974.

1980’s Co-op Conversion Boom, “Black Monday” Stock Market Crash
[Sale: $250 PPSF, Rent: $1,700/Mo.]
This decade will be long identified with the enormous volume of rental to co-op conversions. Pre-war and post-war rental building were rapidly converted to co-op apartments and the phrase “insider pricing” for a tenant became the object of envy by those who were not. The 1987 stock market correction cooled off the conversion frenzy market leading into the next decade.

1990’s From Recession to Lofts and the “Silicon Alley” Dot-Com Boom
[Sale: $590 PPSF, Rent: $3,200/Mo.]
The New York City housing market began the period in recession. The city adopted a “broken windows” theory to focus small details to improve the “quality of life” for its residents, resulting in significant unsung benefits for the housing market in the future. As the economy improved, the downtown loft market evolved into a mainstream part of the housing market. It was a perfect fit for the booming tech sector that provided a worthy counterpart to “Silicon Alley” on the west coast. The Lincoln Center area sees the beginning of significant luxury condo development.

2000’s 9/11 to Housing Boom to Lehman
[Sale: $1,200 PPSF, Rent: $3,800/Mo.]
After the events of 9/11 stunned the world, the housing market took less than two months to restart. The Federal Reserve pressed interest rates to the floor and the consumer responded quickly, leading to one of the largest periods of new development in the modern era. Wall Street enjoyed record compensation as the regional economy and the housing market thrived. The credit boom that fueled this growth in activity came to an end with the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy in late 2008, but began a rebound the following year.

2010’s Quick Rebound, Tax Credit and Housing Seasons
[Sale: $1,070 PPSF, Rent: $3,500/Mo.]
The decade began with a rebound in sales activity and the introduction of an expanded federal tax credit for new and existing homebuyers. By 2011, the housing market began to return to more normal seasonal patterns after several years of volatility. The August 2011 historic downgrade of US debt caused global investor panic and pushed mortgage rates to all time historic lows but credit remained unusually tight. Trophy property sales, including an $88m condo purchase by a Russian billionaire became more common place as the weak US dollar enticed luxury purchases by foreign buyers yet the balance of the market remained stable, albeit fragile.

Of course there will always be more milestones for New York City to grapple with and that’s the constant above the fray.

We released our report on the Manhattan co-op/condo market for 2002-2011 this morning. This report is 60 pages of data bliss as far as I’m concerned. More than 100,000 sales collected, cleaned, sliced, whipped chopped and pureed.

Absolutely love the cover photo the graphics people selected.

I’ve been authoring this market report series for Douglas Elliman since 1994.

Co-ops and condos consistently account for roughly 98% of Manhattan residential sales. Manhattan is primarily a rental market and single family sales are a very specific high end niche market.

Here’s an excerpt from the report:

The number of sales remained above the 10,000 sale threshold for the second consecutive year and for the fourth time in the decade. There were 10,161 sales in 2011, the third highest total of the decade. The total was 1% above the prior year total of 10,060, but 24.3% below the 2007 housing boom peak of 13,430. The weakest period of sales activity for the decade was in 2009, the year after the “Lehman tipping point” in late 2008, when the credit crunch and low consumer confidence stifled sales activity. The second weakest period surprisingly occurred in 2005, after affordability fell sharply with the highest pace of price appreciation in the decade. The last two years of the decade saw the most sales of 3-bedroom and 4-bedroom apartments as the market benefited from unstable global economic conditions. Foreign buyers and the wealthy continued to seek financial refuge in the high-end Manhattan housing market.

The custom data tables are updated and ready for you to play with. The chart section on the new site remains a work in progress.

The Elliman Report: Manhattan Decade 2002-2011 (Co-ops+Condos) [Prudential Douglas Elliman]

The Elliman Report: Manhattan Decade 2002-2011 (Co-ops+Condos [Miller Samuel]

Last year I got an email from a Matrix reader, Ben Tanen, a former VC now running his own investment partnership that invests in public companies, with an interesting take on the buying power of gold as it relates to Manhattan apartments.

Like many things in my life, I let this “nugget” (sorry) slip through the cracks last year. He recently updated it with our new numbers in the recent release and it’s quite compelling.

The value of gold has risen sharply in recent years during the wobbling of the global financial markets – investors see precious metals like gold as a way of preserving purchasing power over the long run. In fact, in 2011, gold had more purchasing power relative to Manhattan real estate than at anytime during the past 22 years (the limit of our publicly released data).

It would take 908 ounces of gold to purchase the average Manhattan apartment versus the 1996 low point of 1,030 ounces, a point where many think our asset bubble problems began (stocks, then housing).

PART II OF II

(Listen to Part 1)

I’ve been on a 6 month hiatus from podcasting after 150+ interviews over the previous 2 years – had a bunch of other things going and I needed to take a little break.  I’ve been itching to return and was talking to my friend Barry the other day and he wanted to do another one (his 3rd) and here it is.

It’s “R”-rated (for Ritholtz) so wear your earphones if around sensitive-types as he covers the state of housing, a possible recession and his exciting conference next Tuesday.

This podcast was too big so I cut it into 2 parts.  The first part was presented yesterday.

Enjoy!

PART I OF II

I’ve been on a 6 month hiatus from podcasting after 150+ interviews over the previous 2 years – had a bunch of other things going and I needed to take a little break.  I’ve been itching to return and was talking to my friend Barry the other day and he wanted to do another one (his 3rd) and here it is.

It’s “R”-rated (for Ritholtz) so wear your earphones if around sensitive-types as he covers the state of housing, a possible recession and his exciting conference next Tuesday.

This podcast was too big so I cut it into 2 parts.  The next will be up tomorrow.

Enjoy!

This podcast is an overview of the RBI Pending Home Sales Index – February 2011 covering the Washington, DC Metro area just released for RealEstate Business Intelligence (RBI), the data, research and analytics arm of MRIS.

This podcast is an overview of the RBI Pending Home Sales Index – February 2011 covering the Baltimore Metro market just released for RealEstate Business Intelligence (RBI), the data, research and analytics arm of MRIS.

I had the pleasure of speaking with Guy Kawasaki, former Chief (Software) Evangelist at Apple Computer in the early days of Macintosh – who has become a prolific author in addition to being a technology entrepreneur.  While I claim to avoid the self-help book genre, I realize I’ve read nearly all of his books.  Guy released his 10th book today: Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds and Actions.  Here are some reviews.

His first book, The Macintosh Way, is now a free download and was always one of my faves – because it came out as we were building our company, Miller Samuel, entirely by using Macs.  He later ran ACIUS, developer of 4th Dimension, the database application we ran for about 15 years to manage our data.

This was a pure treat for me as I got to talk about the early days of Apple, reminisced about Guy’s one word email technique (I shared my 15 second voicemail rule), his other ventures such as Alltop.com and Garage.com, the state of marketing today and how to make yourself enchanting.

Fun!

Here’s a brief recap of the 2010 annual data just released by RealEstate Business Intelligence (RBI) covering the Washington, DC metro housing market.

Here’s a brief recap of the 2010 annual data just released by RealEstate Business Intelligence (RBI) covering the Baltimore metro housing market.

I was brought in by RealEstate Business Intelligence (RBI), the statistics and research arm of MRIS to further their effort to provide more transparency in their regional housing market.  One of the first things I did with their information, whose depth and quality is unlike anything else I have ever analyzed, is build a pending home sales index for the Washington, DC Metro and Baltimore Metro markets.

The biggest problem in understanding the state of housing today is the quality and timing of the information. This podcast is a review of my thoughts on the subject and why a pending home sale index tends to be better at providing the state of a housing market than price indices.

Hint: they lag the moment when buyer and seller agree on a price aka “meeting of the minds” by as much as 5 months, don’t consider the different seasons of the year and are often skewed by seasonal adjustments.

Although I released these reports a few weeks ago, here’s a belated summary of two reports I prepare for Prudential Douglas Elliman: 2001-2010 Manhattan Townhouse Report + 2001-2010 Manhattan Market Report.

This podcast is an overview of the RBI Pending Home Sales Index – January 2011 covering the Baltimore Metro market just released for RealEstate Business Intelligence (RBI), the data, research and analytics arm of MRIS.

This podcast is an overview of the RBI Pending Home Sales Index – January 2011 covering the Washington, DC Metro area just released for RealEstate Business Intelligence (RBI), the data, research and analytics arm of MRIS.

I provided a brief summary of the 4Q 2010 Hamptons North Fork Market Overview that my firm prepares for Prudential Douglas Elliman as well as The Douglas Elliman Report: 2001-2010 Hamptons North Fork Edition.

Here’s a brief recap of the 4Q 2010 Long Island Market Overview that my firm prepares for Prudential Douglas Elliman.

I sat down with my good friend Barry Ritholtz, CEO/Director of Equity Research of Fusion IQ, Author of Bailout Nation and the engine behind The Big Picture Blog.

Barry is the only person I know who is described as providing “trenchant economic commentary” -(Norris/NYT) in fact, I’ve never even used “trenchant” in a sentence before now.  Barry makes his 3rd visit to The Housing Helix podcast and he does not disappoint his fans for the depth of his insight.

This is an R-rated (“R” for “Ritholtz”) podcast – children, young adults, rating agencies and commercial bankers beware.

Here’s a brief recap of the 4Q 2010 Brooklyn Market Overview released today prepared for Prudential Douglas Elliman.

Here’s a brief recap of the 4Q 2010 Queens Market Overview that my firm prepares for Prudential Douglas Elliman.

Here’s a brief recap on the 4Q 2010 Manhattan Rental Market Overview we prepare for Prudential  Douglas Elliman.  For hard core data geeks we have additional raw data and charts to check out.

Here’s a quick and dirty recap of the Manhattan Market Overview released today that we prepare for Prudential Douglas Elliman.  Audio quality is so-so because I used my iphone mic and then tried to clean it up with filters.

You get the idea.

I sit down with my friend John Mehigan, an associate broker at Gumley Haft Kleier who, when he is not selling real estate, is in the cast of HGTV’s number one show Selling New York (new season on HGTV premieres at 9pm EST).  We talk about his perspective on the Irish economy/Mahattan housing market and what I dubbed the “Irish Carpenter Syndrome” a few years ago as the Celtic Tiger was at full strength.

When he’s not selling on “the island” he’s selling an island in his first episode on January 13th on HGTV at 9pm.  It promises to be fun (like the conversation on this podcast).

I got to interview my namesake, Jonathan Miller who is the longtime author of the seminal publication Emerging Trends in Real Estate, the Urban Land Institute’s (ULI) annual commercial real estate industry forecast and speaks extensively on suburban and urban issues.

Our real estate lives have intersected for years.  For example, I would get complimented for a presentation at the Waldorf Hotel (although he gave the speech) while he would get inquiries about the NYC co-op condo market (which I track).

He is the co-founder of Miller Ryan LLC, a firm that provides strategic marketing communications counsel to the financial services and real estate industries.  He also writes over at GlobeSt.com on his Trend Czar blog.

I have made it a point to attend Mark Zandi‘s economic forecast presentations over the years and had the opportunity to meet and speak with him at the Counselors of Real Estate meeting in Philadelphia a few months ago.  He graciously accepted my invitation to have a conversation with me (via Skype).  In 2009 Time magazine called him The Recession’s Hot Wonk.  He’s got a more optimistic outlook than consensus at the moment, but he describes his optimism in its proper context during our conversation.

Mark is also an author, including Financial Shock: Global Panic and Government Bailouts–How We Got Here and What Must Be Done to Fix It and his new book Paying the Price: The New Economic Mess We Have Created and How to Get Out of It.

I get to have another conversation with Rick Sharga of RealtyTrac – this time via skype.  I’ve long admired his ability to articulate the state of the US foreclosure market.  We touch on foreclosure mapping, robo-signing, and a sense of where we seem to be headed foreclosure-wise.

For years I’ve watched Gary Shilling‘s media interviews on the economy and read his columns in Forbes.  I ran into him recently when we were both on Bloomberg Surveillance with Tom Keene and Ken Prewitt and invited him to sit down with me and have a conversation about housing.  He runs his epomonyous economic consulting firm and published a widely read newsletter called INSIGHTS.

Gary’s latest book was just released called “The Age of Deleveraging” which resides on my iPad (via Kindle app). We have an engaging discussion even though we don’t touch on his other passion, bee keeping.

In a first for this podcast series, I have included a press call on a new product release.  While I participate in media calls fairly regularly for my Matrix blog, I have never recorded one.

I spoke with Steve Berkowitz, CEO of Move, Inc., a publicly traded company, that counts Realtor.com and Move.com as two of their assets, on the launch of MortgageMatch.com today.  It’s a new web site designed to help home buyers and those looking to refinance, find and prequalify for a mortgage in as little as 10 minutes.  Sue Stewart, SVP who is overseeing MortgageMatch.com, provided the details of the services the site provides.

I’ve often said that the terms of the transaction (including financing) are as critical as pricing in today’s tight credit environment.  They say they are focused on improving transparency in the real estate transaction and are also helping consumers and realtors to be more efficient by better defining expectations.

Press Release [pdf]

I got to catch up with Bob Dorsey, Chief Data and Analytics Officer of FNC which he is a co-founder.  Bob is a principal force behind their US residential housing price index that combines public record data and data collected from appraisal reports submitted to lenders.

The index takes a different approach than the primary indices already in use, namely Case Shiller, FHFA and NAR Existing Home Sales.  It’s an intriguing approach to refine the accuracy of measuring housing markets.

Via Skype, I have a great conversation with Alan Mark, founder and president of The Mark Company.  Based in San Francisco, his firm is well-known for its work with new development, conversion and project turnarounds throughout the Western US.  His firm specializes in design consulting, market research, sales and marketing.

Originally from the New York region, he has made a name for his firm in new development marketing arena and explains how he adapted his firm to the post-credit crunch world.

I finally got to meet and have a conversation with Florence Quinn, Founder and President of Quinn & Co., a leading public relations firm specializing in food, wine + spirits, real estate and travel.  Her practice continues to grow, providing services for both national and international clients.

Florence built a highly respected and successful practice with a wide array of expertise from her team who seems to be everywhere these days. She has always been on my radar – many thanks to Lara Berdine for getting us together.

Here’s a brief recap of the results of the 3Q 2010 Manhattan Rental Market Overview I released a few weeks ago.  I am tardy getting this online and recorded it on my iphone late in the evening at my hotel while at a conference.  I’m not up to my sharpest delivery with a bunch of “ums” but as they say (whoever “they” is), it should all about the content or am I getting that confused with “right or wrong spell my name right?

I interview the always intense Adam Leitman Bailey, the eponymous founder of the real estate law practice that specializes in real estate.

He’s involved in two high profile cases at the moment, representing the developer of the proposed mosque and cultural center near Ground Zero in a lawsuit and the recent decision in favor of his clients in the case against the sponsor of a luxury condominium building on the Upper East Side who must return a $510,000 buyer’s deposit.  Adam also touches on a another case involving new development known as Sykes v. RFD Third Avenue Associates LLC.

We talk Interstate Land Sales Full Disclosure Act of 1968, how it was interpreted in the Related Co case and what it means to the new development market going forward.

Adam has written a guide for first-time home buyers through the purchase process: Finding the Uncommon Deal: A Top New York Lawyer Explains How to Buy a Home for the Lowest Possible Price, that is scheduled for release by John Wiley & Sons in April 2011.

I sit down with Doug Heddings, founder of The Heddings Property Group and blogger at True Gotham.  He’s a long time top producing real estate broker who made the move to start his own company, with his own take on the real estate brokerage model…and its working.

I do my best to keep kitchen appliance references (note appliances over my shoulder) to a minimum while we talk about brokerage models, the challenges of social media and making that entrepreneurial leap.

Here is a brief recap of the 3Q 2010 Manhattan Market Overview that I author for Prudential Douglas Elliman.

It’s all about the new normal?

Last week I wrote a post on Matrix called [Shortsighted] Appraisal Institute Decides To Leave Appraisal Foundation where I expressed my frustration at the rift between The Appraisal Foundation and one of its sponsoring organizations, The Appraisal Institute.  I thought high drama was the purview of real estate brokers and economists.  The situation seemed to have morphed into a he-said, she-said type debate. I am concerned that in a time of unprecedented housing market turmoil we are left with no leadership as an industry and no ability to participate in the debate to shape our future.

To my surprise David C. Wilkes, Esq., CRE, FRICS, Chairman of The Appraisal Foundation commented:

Well balanced views and comments on the matter, Jonathan. I’m seeing quite a lot of misinformation and misstatements of the facts (in some cases amazingly far from the truth) among the online discussions and emails out there. I am happy to speak directly to any appraiser groups that may have concerns or questions and clear up any confusion.

Not able to let a podcast guest opportunity to pass me by, I reached out to David to have a conversation.  He agreed and I very much appreciated his candor and clarity.  Among his many accomplishments, David is

In this podcast David provides insights on The Appraisal Foundation, how it works, what this rift is about and how this situation could be resolved.

I will be extending an offer to the Appraisal Institute to present their views on this issue as well.

Source: Las Vegas Sun

A few months ago I met Mark Stark, CEO of Prudential Americana Group in Las Vegas, NV so I thought I’d ask him to have a conversation about the challenges of his market. Mark is very candid about his market and we had a compelling conversation.

I met Ilyce Glink a few years ago when she moderated a panel I was on during an Inman conference and she impressed me.  She is a high energy, prolific writer and provider of personal finance, real estate and consumer advice through countless medium.  Her efforts include her recent book Buy, Close, Move In!, her publishing company Think Glink, LLC, her web site ThinkGlink.com, her weekly radio show on WSB in Atlanta, her blog, or should I say, blogs, nationally syndicated column and, well, you get the picture.

She sets me straight on eBooks, typos and provides insight on how she gets it all done.  It’s a great conversation.

I have a great discussion with Jon Gollinger, Founder and CEO, Accelerated Marketing Partners who sets me straight on the concept of accelerated marketing as a process (hint: it’s not all about auctions).

In early 2009, he and I were part of a New York Times page one story on his marketing prowess.

Jon pulls no punches when it comes to understanding the consumer – they are the ones who set market price.  I have long admired his skill in creating a market environment that attracts real participation, best exemplified in his company slogan:

“You bid it, you win it.”

I spoke via Skype with Ian Huckabee, who is a web marketing strategist/technologist, self proclaimed Chief Weejee at Weejee Media and developer of DwellWell.  He has a unique background with audio and marketing stints at Sony and a successful home builder.

Our mutual friend Andrea Powell, when she is not a vampire, suggested we would get along famously (no pun intended).

Ian’s got great insights into social media and I really enjoyed the conversation.

Here’s a quick recap of the 2Q 2010 Queens Market Overview that we prepare for Prudential Douglas Elliman that was released today.

Here’s a brief recap of the 2Q 2010 Brooklyn Market Overview I authored for Prudential Douglas Elliman and released today.

Here’s a brief, ok not so brief, recap of the Manhattan Rental Market Overview I authored a last week for Prudential Douglas Elliman.

I’ve known Jeff Appel for many years as one of the leading mortgage consultants and experts in the New York City metro area.  Jeff is a Vice President at Bank of America Home Loans and co-host along with Cathy Hobbs of Metro Residential that airs 11am Sundays on WPIX Channel 11 in the NYC metro area.

Last week Jeff invited me to speak on a panel he was moderating and I thought he provided some invaluable insights on the state of the mortgage environment for residential housing so I asked him to join me on The Housing Helix.

Here’s a brief summary of the 2Q 2010 Manhattan Market Overview released today.  I’ve been authoring a series of market studies covering the New York City metro area for real estate firm Prudential Douglas Elliman since 1994.

I really enjoyed speaking with Orest Tomaselli, CEO, National Condo Advisors, LLC about project approvals, reserve funds, Fannie Mae, FHA and shadow inventory.  National Condo Advisors, LLC, is comprised of real estate finance and legal professionals and provides expert consultation to builders, developers, homeowners’ associations, institutional investors, lenders, and real estate firms.

His other firm National Condo Inspections, LLC provides services such as reserve studies, phase I environmental site assessments, noise studies, and flood zone solutions.

He’s going to be busy for a number of years.

A while back, Erica Ferencik cold-called me to pitch her self-published novel as blog-worthy for Matrix called Cracks in the Foundation, a humorous story of real estate broker who has listed an outhouse for sale.  She is an active real estate broker in the Boston area (including the town I grew up in, the ‘ham).  She was a stand-up comedienne for 12 years as she describes, “in a prior life.”  She has ghost-written several novels, writes articles for magazines and websites, is a prizewinning screenwriter and has performed several radio pieces for WGBH (Boston NPR affiliate) for “Morning Stories.”

I thought it would be fun to have a conversation with her, and of course, it was.

I “peel the apple” with Ana Maria Sencovici of The Apple, Peeled and end up having a great conversation about helping the real estate broker move from salesperson to trusted advisor.  She and her business partner Marie Espinal launched their blog and newsletter at the beginning of the year.  Their focus is to provide content that their clients, who are real estate agents, can use to help them stay connected with the issues of today to be more effective.

Ana Maria is passionate about their mission (and I am paraphrasing) to elevate the level of discourse in the world of Manhattan real estate covering markets trends, real estate topics and developments with a transparent and objective lens.

I concur to the “core”.

I have a great conversation with Nicholas Retsinas, Director, Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies. He and his staff just released The State of the Nation’s Housing 2010, a must read overview of the challenges facing the US housing market.

Here are other resources published by JCHS.

[click to open report]

I talk “dirt” with Jane Gladstein, President of Gladstein Development Group about the process of development.   Hint: it’s not all about bricks and mortar.

Jane is a 30 year veteran who has developed such notable projects as 255 Hudson, The Sycamore, Soho 25 and the award winning 505 Greenwich.

I have a conversation with Mark Willis, a Resident Research Fellow at the Furman Center for Real Estate & Urban Policy at New York University.

He is the co-author of Improving U.S. Housing Finance through Reform of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac: Assessing the Options along with Ingrid Gould Ellen and John Napier Tye.  This white paper was completed as part of the What Works Collaborative, a foundation-supported partnership that conducts timely research and analysis to help federal, state and local housing policy-makers frame and implement evidence-based housing and urban policy agendas.

The paper is essential reading as we go through a period of financial reform.  The report is described as a timely assessment of alternative proposals for the future of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, ranging from nationalization to dissolution.  The paper explains the role Fannie and Freddie have played, explores the goals a healthy secondary market for both single- and multifamily housing should serve, and develops a framework to help understand and evaluate the various proposals for reform.

Last January I moderated a distressed property panel at the Inman Real Estate conference in New York.  One of the panelists was Travis Waller, a sharp real estate agent from New Jersey who spoke with great clarity on his specialty, distressed real estate.  In this podcast we have a great conversation via Skype on what life will be like after the end of the federal tax credit for first time and existing home buyers, how banks are coming to grips with property disposition, differences between short sale and foreclosure transactions, marketing distressed property, to name a few.

It’s great insight from someone who deals with distressed property first hand.  Follow Travis on Twitter.

I sat down with Dottie Herman, President and CEO of Prudential Douglas Elliman Real Estate to talk about her journey from certified financial planner to one of the most successful real estate brokers in the United States.  Dottie leads an organization of 3,800 real estate professionals and 675 employees in more than 60 offices.  Its a candid and insightful conversation, and of course, fun and energetic.

We spoke right after our live weekly radio show “Eye on Real Estate” on WOR710 that Dottie hosts on Saturdays from 10am to noon along with her team of experts (including moi).

I have a candid conversation with Chris Meyers, COO of Houlihan Lawrence, the largest real estate brokerage firm in Westchester County, New York.  A family business, Houlihan Lawrence has 1,200 agents and 24 offices to service Westchester, Putnam and Duchess Counties.

We talk about many things including the housing market of the past 18 months, finding good agents and the introduction of social media to the real estate brokerage business.

I have a great conversation with Leah Caro, President and Principal Broker of Bronxville-Ley Real Estate and President of Westchester Putnam Association of Realtors. I met Leah when I was the keynote speaker at the last two annual Westchester Real Estate, Inc. awards luncheons.  She is a candid and knowledgeable real estate broker who is very active within her profession, currently serving as the Chair of the Professional Standards Committee for the New York State Association of Realtors, and is a Director in both the State and National REALTOR Associations among others.

Today I speak with Chris Williams, President and Chief Technology Officer of AIMSdashboard,

“Williams is a 15-year veteran of the IT industry, having served stints with Cisco Systems and PolyServe, a software startup acquired by HP. At one time he was co-owner of Carolina Appraisers, a real estate appraisal firm based in Raleigh.”

AIMS stands for “appraisal independence management system,” and “dashboard” is a software term meaning a control panel housing two or more applications.

His venture was enabled by introduction of the May 1, 2009 agreement between Fannie Mae and NY Attorney General Andrew Cuomo known as the Home Valuation Code of Conduct.

AIMSdashboard is intended to help financial institutions take back control of the mortgage process through a software solution. Chris was very quick to point out that his company is a software company, NOT an appraisal management company.

Think lender pressure on appraisers is a distant memory?  Think again.  Here is some commentary on a new report that indicates appraisal fraud is up 50% over the past year.  It is laid out in Kenneth Harney’s excellent column in the Washington Post.

“Despite 2009 restrictions, mortgage and appraisal fraud spiked”

I also provide commentary on a recent episode with a bank client we now refuse to work with who pressured our firm to raise the appraised value of a property or they would not pay us for services already rendered.

In fact, they didn’t really understand what they were saying.

Last month I spoke to and interviewed Tony Pistilli, a certified real estate appraiser on the Minnesota Department of Commerce Real Estate Appraiser Advisory Board.  He’s got a possible solution to the current appraiser – appraisal management company conflict.  Its all about conforming to RESPA and preventing banks from shifting the burden to appraisers to pay for bank compliance.

Its the first logical solution I’ve heard.  The banks are essentially making the appraiser pay for their RESPA compliance by taking it out of the appraiser’s fee, often 50% of the stated appraisal fee.  The consumer is being mislead by the appraisal fee stated by the lender at time of mortgage application.

• - Appraisers and borrowers are paying for services the banks receive, not the bank.
• - Banks should pay for the services received from the AMC’s who manage the appraisal process.
• - Appraiser’s fees should be market driven.
• - Banks should be held accountable for the quality of the appraisal.

He’s been spreading the word through all the channels/usual suspects in the blogosphere.  Here’s my original post, including his article:

[HVCC and AMCs Violate RESPA?] Here’s a possible solution

His views seemed to have been picked up by the Appraisal Institute, the largest appraisal trade organization in the US, in their letter to HUD looking for clarification on RESPA and the disclosure of fees paid by consumers.  Here’s the FAQ on the new RESPA rule.

Last month I was a panelist at an Institute of Real Estate Management (IREM) conference covering lending trends.  I was matched up with 2 lenders and attorney Steven Einig.  I appreciated his take on the escalating foreclosure situation and his ability to articulate it.

I provide a quick recap of the East End housing market in the first quarter of 2010.

Here’s a quick recap of the Long Island Market Overview I authored for Prudential Douglas Elliman that we released last Thursday.

Last Thursday we published our 1st Quarter 2010 Brooklyn Market Overview and since I am in the throes (sp?) of working on our upcoming Long Island and Hamptons/North Fork reports to be released later this week, I am tardy posting my quick summery to the site.  I view this particular podcast as basically an excuse to play with my iPhone recording software but there is some fairly coherent info presented on the numbers presented in the report.  Check it out.

This is a belated podcast covering the Queens Market Overview I released last Thursday – that I recorded impromptu on my iPhone but then didn’t upload until today.

I take another shot at my podcast recording adventure using my iPhone and the resulting sound quality isn’t bad.

The 1Q 2010 Manhattan Rental Market Overview that my firm Miller Samuel prepares for Prudential Douglas Elliman was published today.  Look for a lot of extracurricular Manhattan market rental analysis between now and the 2Q release in July.

How I did it – Once I record the podcast on my iPhone, I am able to convert the file to an mp4 fomat on my iPhone, upload the file to my ftp server.  I then grab the file from my ftp server and copy it onto my laptop, move it into the Garageband app, add the intro and outro, apply the filters, convert to a new mp3 file and export into iTunes and then upload to this blog. Phew!

I really enjoyed my conversation with Candace Taylor, writer for The Real Deal Magazine, one of the best resources for residential real estate news in NYC.  She covers real estate all day long and we speak about many issues including square footage discrepancies and getting people mad.

Here’s a brief but belated recap of the 1Q 2010 Manhattan Market Overview I prepare for Prudential Douglas Elliman.

This is also the first time I used my iPhone to capture the audio using the FiRe app, but relied on its built-in internal mic and then applied filters in Garageband.  I’m surprised how well the sound quality is given the mic I used.  But I digress…

The Wealth Report 2010 was released today by Knight Frank.  It is a much anticipated annual survey targeted at the high end consumer with great detail on global residential property trends. I have had an ongoing exchange of ideas and have followed their research for quite a while.  I was invited to provide commentary on the New York City market which is included in the report.  In this podcast I interview Editor Andrew Shirley and Liam Bailey, Head of Residential Research.  The interviews were conducted via Skype to their London offices so the quality is a bit lacking.  Nevertheless the quality of their conversation is terrific.

Download The Wealth Report 2010.

After moderating a foreclosure panel at the recent Inman Real Estate Connect conference in New York, I thought it would be great to have a conversation with one of the panelists, Phil Tesoriero principal of  Gelip Inc. Consulting.  A former New York City Firefighter, his experience includes rehabbing REO’s and distressed properties as an investor and contractor, working as a sales agent specializing in the sale of HUD and REO properties and owner of a real estate brokerage firm, Phil now helps real estate professionals with the sale and management of distressed real estate.

You can find out more about Phil’s services at TheBigForeclosureSecret.com (Hint: its all about short sales) and his new product ForeclosureGuard.net.

In this podcast I check in with Dave Perry, Director of Sales and Leasing for The Clarett Group, a real estate development company. I’ve known Dave for for a number of years and was always impressed me with his understanding of pricing.

Hey!

Its been a year since I ventured into the world of podcasting. I ended up with 76 podcasts (not including this one) totaling 1.4 days of audio and 1.17 gigs of mp3 files, fraught with audio and hardware challenges, Skype, a new laptop, multiple types of microphones (usb, xlr, lavalier), mixers, cables, scheduling, web site issues, WordPress plug-ins, Amazon S3 and bandwidth made this a year to remember (for me anyway).

Thanks so much for listening!

The idea was to bring the real estate conversation into long form, something I wasn’t able to find anywhere else.  I’ve always loved content you could listen to while commuting that wasn’t sound bite driven and shallow.

For original subscribers, periodic and new listeners, I hope you’ve enjoyed it! I certainly have enjoyed bringing it to you.

In 2010 I plan to deliver more content, more timely uploads (2x per week), off site interviews and a wider interview base, I still need your feedback and suggestions.  I was thinking regular days ie Mondays, Thursdays with special reports interspersed.

While I don’t really have a master plan (despite wide spread rumors of my intentions of global domination) other than this being a fun, entertaining and informative endeavor, I feel strongly that it will lead to other things.  It may already have!  More on that later this year.

Again, thanks for listening and spread the word!

I recently had the good fortune of getting to know the founder and owner of LINK Boston, Debra Taylor Blair.  Her firm built and operates the MLS system in Boston.  She also provides invaluable information to the public and the real estate community through her Conversation Series.

She and I are kindred spirits in the world of data and look forward to a better understanding of the Boston market.

Coming soon:  Matrix coverage of the Boston market.

I speak with Nancy Chemtob, a partner with Chemtob Moss Forman & Talbert, LLP a New York City law firm specializing in divorce, family and matrimonial law.  My firm has done a lot of work with Nancy and her partners over the years and admire her approach and candor.  Plus she’s fun to talk with.

The biggest asset in a divorce action is most often the real estate.  The housing market crunch of the past 18 months has played havoc with the divorce process.  What’s most interesting is the fact that divorce attorneys are often at the leading edge of a changing real estate market as their clients deal with the reality of market conditions within their strategy.

Note: I’ve got a new equipment set-up (again) and I am still wrangling with it so my audio track is a bit too loud.  But Nancy makes her presence heard.

I had a great discussion with Steve Wagner, an attorney who specializes in representing co-ops/condos, litigation and technology, among other areas.  I have worked with his firm Wagner Davis, P.C. over the years on some crazy cases.

Steve has a wealth of knowledge, but don’t get him started on grandfathering in co-ops.  Listen to find out why.

I have a great conversation with Ryan Slack, Founder and CEO of Green Pearl Events aka Green Pearl that specializes in real estate events for industry professionals across the US.  Ryan was a co-founder of Property Shark before he started Green Pearl Events.  He is all about delivering reliable information to his customers.

We cover a lot of ground including his background and some insights on social media I had never heard before.

Here’s a schedule of upcoming events hosted by Green Pearl Events.

Here is a brief recap of the 2000-2009 Manhattan Market Market Report my appraisal firm Miller Samuel prepares for Prudential Douglas Elliman. Its 92,000 data points in 53 markets crammed into 61 pages of phonebook-like data bliss.

2000-2009 Manhattan Market Report [Miller Samuel]

Here is a brief recap of the 2000-2009 Manhattan Townhouse Market Report my appraisal firm Miller Samuel prepares for Prudential Douglas Elliman. Its a ten year look at a niche high end market that comprises 2% of all Manhattan residential sales.

2000-2009 Manhattan Townhouse Report [Miller Samuel]

Here is a brief recap of the 4Q 2009 Hamptons/North Fork Market Overview and 2000-2009 Hamptons/North Fork Market Report my appraisal firm Miller Samuel prepares for Prudential Douglas Elliman. Its a grains of sand datafest.

4Q 2009 Hamptons/North Fork Market Overview [Miller Samuel]

2000-2009 Hamptons/North Fork Market Report [Miller Samuel]

Here is a brief recap of the 4Q 2009 Long Island Market Overview my appraisal firm Miller Samuel prepares for Prudential Douglas Elliman. I am a bit tardy getting this recap to podcast from this quarter.

4Q 2009 Long Island Market Overview [Miller Samuel]