Probate Real Estate in New York vs. California, with Amber Faruqi

0:02 So, participate in some groups. I host one on Facebook called Probate Weekly. I participate in other groups around the country for real estate agents and for families with questions on probate. And one thing I can say regularly is, well, I don't know how it is in your state, but this is how it is in California. And I will say that there's some similarities in most places. There are some consistent principles in most states. And there are some differences. Generally speaking, probate laws vary by state, procedures and processes vary by county. But today we're really lucky to have an expert who's probably in the only state that's more challenging or as challenging as probate in California, that being the state of New York. And we have Amber Faruqi, who is both a real estate agent and a mediator. Amber, thanks for joining us today.

0:46 Absolute pleasure. Thank you so much for having me. We've been chatting for a while, so it's great to be here. Yeah. So, let's talk about first, how did you end up getting into probate real estate as a field to begin with? You were a real estate agent for a while. I know your husband as well, and he's also a real estate agent. How did you end up in the niche of probate in particular?

1:04 It was actually my first probate maybe 14 years ago when I was sitting with a client and listening to the myths they had, all the misinformation that they had about what was going to happen with their property. Starting with, I have a cash buyer. I think I should take that offer. That offer was 30% below asking. And I might dodge probate. And

1:30 Always the same. Yeah. And also they were from out of town. They seemed rushed. So, I just felt like what a big need for agents to just become, you know, a full service for real estate for estate sales cuz they're lost and misinformed and overwhelmed. And there's a lot of emotionality to that decision as well that I think I kind of enjoyed holding their hand through it. So, it kind of drew me to itself, I guess, and I got drawn to it and since then I was taking inventory of not a not hundreds, but a little under a hundred estate sale transactions.

2:09 So, between us we've done we've done hundreds and in real estate thousands probably. I've been in business for decades myself. But in my mind every single time a seller says to me so-and-so offered me a cash offer, it's on the market yet. My neighbor, my friend my friend, my relative, my some guy who just drove by and saw it.

2:38 Yeah. My experience one hundred percent of the time that offer is twenty percent below the value of the property number one or two they'll never hold that price. They will counter themselves and lower it by at least twenty percent or more. True or false in your experience?

2:53 In New York I think because it's so competitive, very cautiously. Yes, their attempt is to create some distress and delay unfortunately. The contracts go out between the buyer and seller and then the seller finds out there is something they didn't know about the property themselves and there's a further discount now that they're having to be charged with and then there is title issues that come up even if even when the entire contract's executed and then there's further because the buyer is aware that this is something that the seller is very motivated, right? And the taxes here are so high that the inherited property is a liability for the owner. So, all of that comes to surface and yes.

3:38 But generally speaking would you agree that an unsolicited offer is almost always way below what they should have to pay? 30% 25% in some cases and you know 25% in New York can mean as high as $250,000. That's a significant amount of money, right?

3:54 Right. And going back to the question you asked me what motivated me was just seeing some people who had family distress after someone had passed and they were about to take huge losses because they thought that was their only option cuz the taxes weren't paid for example. So that's another thing. How long can a California owner and who's inherited the property get away without paying taxes on your property?

4:23 Well, getting away without paying taxes that's an interesting question. I mean taxes are due every 6 months, but they don't pay then you have a penalty and then accrues and then there's a tax sale I want to say at the end of 7 years. So you can go quite a while without paying and then you can recapture them and then you can also buy it back after it's been sold to tax sale. So I've never seen I've not seen a property lost in tax sale other than the excuse me vacant land that was sold for way more this worth. So there's a there's a whole business model where somebody buys like 100 acres, divides into five-acre plots, tells them like a new airport's going to be coming in town, and sells what's worth $5,000 for $50,000 and the buyer puts 10,000 down and pays a loan and then realizes it's not worth it. They don't pay the taxes. Those go to tax sale.

5:14 Yes. But I've not in my career I've not seen one property I'm aware of or anybody who's bought one at a tax sale in metro or suburban areas of Los Angeles in Southern California.

5:27 The reason I asked is because you see in New York we have plenty of time and it's got to be by county. Nassau County has a lot more penalty than Queens and Brooklyn and the city does. But there is a myth, right? When people come from another state where they actually have to pay taxes in 6 months and then the very different rules and they come to New York in a frenzy to sell the property because the taxes are like 20,000 or 18,000 and they don't think they can catch up. So, that misconception is also there and when it comes to state sales.

6:01 Now, one difference in New York, I think it's purely just the title of it, what you refer to as real estate attorneys for the most part, we handle here in California through a process at least in residential properties primarily with an escrow company. An escrow officer is a specific licensed position California where a certain set of rules that normally apply for attorneys are given to those people who are licensed. I.E. Collect money, hold it, collect the deed, hold it, exchange and such. So, when you refer to real estate attorneys, most of the time you're talking about people who do that kind of transaction work. You're not talking about somebody who advises you on lot lines and litigation regarding real estate disputes.

6:41 Have escrow agents, Bill. We just don't and so this brings in the most precarious part of New York because when once you start the conversation about going into contract, you absolutely need an attorney at that time. Even prior to I recommend having an attorney who's going to be a closing attorney, mind you, not the same person who put your trust together. An attorney that does trusts, there are very few attorneys that are experts at that and do closings really well with full attention. Have an a trust setting up attorney and then you'll have an attorney that does closings and just does closings and has full attention on that as a staff to take care of that and I've seen very little overlap that both of those are done really well. A lot of the times because of loyalty towards the parents, siblings will be like, "No, we have to go to the same attorney that did the trust work." And then when it comes to closing and looking into the property and the you know, the hair that are growing on it and things problems that are kind of piling on. The trust attorney is not the right guy sometimes to go to. It's really the transaction attorney the closing attorney. We don't have escrow agents. We have attorneys that keep the check from the buyer. Agents do not. It's a big difference in all our transactions not just a state sales, right?

8:02 We don't receive a check. We're not supposed to take any money and you know, there used to be this deposit for a good faith for the offer. Yeah.

8:10 No as well cuz checks got lost and things happened. It goes straight to the attorney. So seller attorney and a transactional closing attorney is key part of the team. Besides the person who did the trust and will if there was. If there was no will, there was no trust. Similar, right? In California as well, you guys have to go through probate, right?

8:33 Well, that's a big misconception here. So let me just wrap up the first piece and we'll go into that one. So again, from where I sit, what you refer to as a real estate attorney is not an attorney who handles some multi-billion dollar building with all the legal complications. It's really what we would think of as an escrow officer. In my experience, those attorneys, I mean to degrade their position, but it's not as the common residential transactions are not at the outer edges of the legal theory. It's more about administration and paperwork and processing. Not big commercial buildings, they have real estate attorneys to do those transactions as well and more complicated. Okay, so let's just close that. Now, your next question, wills and probate.

9:13 Yeah. The biggest misconception I deal with is families believe that they have a will, they avoid probate. That might be true in many states. I think New York's one of them. But California, a will is probated in probate court. A will is executed in probate and somebody's named to be the executor in court and then they carry out the will through probate process. The only way to avoid probate, typically, is with a another entity, whether be a corporation or commonly a trust, for estate planning. So, you can put the property in a trust and then the trustee or successor trustee makes decisions. If the property is in a corporation, then the corporation makes decisions and then the upon death of the decedent's shares can be transferred and that avoids probate as well in some cases. So, but it in all in California, it's the big misconception, "Oh, I don't need probate. I have a will." No, you're going to bring your will to probate in court and there's really not much difference other than the will can specify the rules, as long as court accepts it, but it doesn't

10:12 Really good point, right? Yeah, absolutely. How long are you guys running right now where you are specifically in terms of the whole probate process from the time of the filing?

10:22 So, again, it varies by county. In Los Angeles County, I've run the data, the median, so what that means is not the average cuz the average is longer. If you have one probate that goes 20 years, it skews the average out too high for the next 19 cases. The median means if I took all the probates and put you put them in a line like the actual middle one is over 2 years, about 2 years and 3 months, which people understand. So, they'll say the probate process should take no more than a year and 2 months. That might be true theoretically, but in practice because so many people try themselves, use attorneys not professional in this field or specialist in this field, or just cuz it's complicated, the median probate takes about 2 and 1/2 years, which means that the inheritance isn't distributed until the very end at the 2 and 1/2 year mark. So, you get a prob- and that's another thing people don't understand is your money's just sitting there. Now, if you sell the house, you know, if it's vacant, you're not getting any income, maybe the house is depreciating a little bit. Maybe you're paying a mortgage. If you sell the house and put the money you can put it in an interest-bearing account. You typically can't put it in the securities. So, an interest-bearing account maybe gets 3% or 4% most is all you're going to get. And you're not going to get the actual distribution until the very last stage of the probate. So, it's about 2 and 1/2 years in less than that. Now, other counties are less. Some are a year and a half I've seen more commonly year and a half to 2 years is more common, the median in other counties. How about in New York?

11:47 So, depends county by county. This we have Kings County, which is Brooklyn. We have Queens County, which is Queens. We have Nassau County and they're all different. So Brooklyn's running 2 years. Queens

12:01 Yeah. Yes. When someone comes to me and said, "Oh, I want to sell my property. I think I'm I just filed my probate." I'm like, "You're 2 years away." And then I need to speak to the attorney that filed it to get an idea. And then they, you know, they'll probably give us a better clearer idea as to how long depending on the complications in the probate. If there's people contesting, there's all of that, too, right? It gets messy. As you know, if there's siblings and people who contest, like, "Hey, no, I'm a I get to have a part of this because of such and such reason." Then you've got and that's where some of my services can come into play as well cuz I mediate some of those misconceptions. And Bill I shared a story with you. Yesterday I was in between two siblings. One of the sibling, they both inherited the property. One of the sibling, had this idea that the other one's taking advantage of her because he had a real estate friend. And just that thought made her so paranoid about her sibling. And you know, as we know, when sibling rivalry starts, we all turn 4 years old. You back you're gone back to being kids.

13:03 And so, mediating those things I really take away all that emotionality and remind them that this is really for two reasons that they're mediating. One out of respect for their parents because they have paid mortgage on this property for years and definitely wouldn't like to see people fighting over it.

13:20 Right. And two, because economically it doesn't make sense to be disagreeing while taxes are up, decisions are piling up. And if they can come to an agreement on what that split is because one sibling fixed the roof 10 years ago and doesn't have a receipt for it, how do we come up with that number? And all of that stuff comes up, right? So that's the stuff that I would come in, talk to them about, get both of them to agree through mediation, and while probate is happening, so when by the time property is coming out of probate and it's going to sale, there's no unresolved stuff, right? Stuff that's unresolved. So yeah. That's kind of where why I got myself certified cuz there were so many of these situations.

14:04 Now, you call the court in New York, I think, Surrogate's Court? Yes. Yeah, so what we call Probate Court is Surrogate's Court in New York.

14:13 What do you guys call it? Yes, because Probate Court. Probate Court. Okay. Even guardianships, which in California law are for minors or conservatorships, which are for adults who don't have capacity, are all are all adjudicated in and tried in Probate Court. So that's kind of the general the term for it, at least in LA County it's all and same thing statewide, it's all called Probate Court. And it all falls under probate law, but in New York I know it's called Surrogate law. So it's just interesting when you talk to people in other states, it's kind of the same principle, it's just a different name. And again, you know, New York is an older state than California. And it's older both in the United States and it was established with laws before California was settled. So you have kind of these blocks, you know, King's County, Queen's County. We have I think we have actually we have a King's County in We have King County in California. I don't think we have King's County. I think it's different. Named after men named King.

15:07 And you have yeah, Westchester County where Bronx falls in. Yeah, because of the population density. We're so dense in population per square foot that I think that they have to find systems to manage things that have been in place for a longer time. And then we have the whole title and now do you guys have that as well where once a property is sold you run title, you make sure there's no violations. I don't know how common it is to find violations on a property for one in you know one in two that there'll be something.

15:44 What kind of violations? Garbage violation. The somebody wasn't well, they didn't take out the garbage, they got a ticket and they didn't pay it and it added on. Sidewalk violation. So the sidewalk was not fixed in front of the property although it's the city's responsibility but if someone can fall on that and a slab is broken that's on the homeowner to fix it and you get a violation for it and it only be fixed in a very specific way with the city's contractor or an approved contractor by the city. So it's a process.

16:17 Wow. What does that cost? So depends on the size of the slab. It's quite by square foot. You have to take the picture, you have to send it to a contractor. So I have those people in my phone be like, "Hey, can you do this? Can you can you price this out because we need to remove this?" And the sidewalk violation can be as old as 15 years and it's even possible that it got fixed by the owner but the city never came to review it, to look at it and take it off because the city is overwhelmed and that's very common. That's very common.

16:48 We don't have that We don't have that yet in California. Well yeah, it sounds like something we would we would do. We don't have that yet. Yeah, it's not a We have people now being cited for We have trash cans here in St. Bella. We have green for shrubbery and you know vegetation and then black is for regular garbage and blue is recycling. And now we have inspectors checking that you're not putting recycling in the black and putting garbage in the blue and they're giving you tickets if you do have the wrong

17:15 And so you could get a ticket? So you could get ticket. It just started. The C 4 9 just now was ticketing us for trash. It should be they're very lenient about that stuff. I came here, you know, 22 years from Canada and Canada was very strict about recycling and separating that stuff. I was shocked when I came to New York at how lax that was. But yes, people get a ticket for leaving garbage out. That's mainly the reason cuz some neighbor complained.

17:38 So when in I'm fortunate that being a probate specialist I create some relationships with title companies where when I'm getting ready to list a property I'll pull the prelim right away. Certainly when I list it before it goes to sale 100% of time I'll pull it as soon as I get it listed. And title companies will allow me to they'll allow everybody to because they there's work involved and money involved. Are you able to order prelims when you list a property? Are you able to order them before you list a property to make sure you list a property or check the violations?

18:07 A good question. So we can check violations that are recent by going to public record. If they're very old, we won't see them because they're the electronic system came into place I think about maybe eight to 12 years ago. So before that, which happens, people have owned properties for 30 years, didn't clear something up, it can be there. Or they filed a work, that's another thing. They filed a job to do something and the plumber didn't close the job. That will show up because it's an open job. So all of that depends. You know, our answer best answer is depends. For and it's all now electronically recorded. Also anything very recent in the last 6 months won't show up because it updates in a way that you won't see something that just happened a month ago. So I can see that without anyone having to pay for a title review. But if you want to get a I always recommend get a proper title review. Have your title be read and then this way you'll save, you know. So between a title review and a home inspector, which is also something I recommend, just to have someone inspect for very simple stuff like I have a I have home inspectors that will come for $120 and just do some basic stuff to make sure there's no cracks or walk the roof to make sure it's not going to come up as a negotiation piece especially if the homeowner you know the inheritance tell us that yes we want to spend that money and fix those little things so we can you know price it on the top and sell it then I recommend let's do a you know a quick home inspection like just a walk through of the roof and the and the water basement boiler turns on you know all of that stuff.

19:47 I deviated. Do you do a special What does this special cost you? So I have an inspector who will do I'll have an inspector who'll do the roof look at the boiler look at the because in the winter we need the boiler right and you don't know that until your buyer's inspector comes in and checks if the heating system's on. You know if the property's been vacant it might not be working and then that's a last minute surprise very close to contract signing you don't want. In New York that's another thing is a transactional coordination piece. Buyers will not sign a contract without a home inspection. I know that in California it can be contingency after but in New York attorneys will not allow them to sign a contract without them having had a home inspection over and over.

20:32 Really? Even if the buyer waved it even if the buyer wants to wave it the minute they sit down with their attorney to sign the contract the attorney's going to say turn around do a home inspection sign it now but call me after the home inspection's done and then I will release the contract to the seller because I don't want to be responsible for you not having done that because it's a liability on them right?

20:56 Well also I think that in my case my escrow officer is going to take my business and you know I close you know nine out of 10 of my escrows and the one that doesn't close because the inspection is just part of her business cost. But there are agents who close half or less because they don't know what they're doing. An attorney's time is probably more valuable, so they don't want to take the case and have them fall out. So then do you order and do you order inspections and we get listing right away so that you can provide that to the buyer? Is that how you do it?

21:25 Yes, so if one I'm on the buyer's side, right? If I'm on the No, you're on the seller's side. Do you order an inspection that you have ahead of time so that you can give to the buyer and will they accept it?

21:35 Yeah. A very good very good point. That inspection is not the $450 $100 inspection. So for me to forward that, I think it increases liability for the seller to say that hey, everything's okay with the property. Here's an inspection. So that inspection's only done to tie up a few knots. And in a situation that the seller says I want to price the property like at the top price and I don't want to negotiate later, that's when I recommend that we do a quick inspection cuz I don't know the roof. I'm not walking on the roof in case I fall. And we're you know, we're a husband and wife team. My husband would do it, but I would stop him from doing that.

22:12 No, right. And then also turning the boiler on, making sure it's running for long enough in the heating system. Like those are the major reasons and then you got windows cracked and you know, it goes on and on, right? And or not, I generally the buyer tells us if they will do an inspection and in the situation of representing the seller and there's no agent representing the buyer, I would still let them the agent represent the attorney represent them. I'll just tell them like have your attorney or and attorneys 99.9% of the time will tell them to turn around and do a home inspection. So what I will do is do it schedule it really quickly, really fast. And you know, and have them turn around in two to three days. And inspectors are very good at that here cuz they know time's at a crunch all the time.

22:58 One thing that I've started doing is I'll say to my seller, if you pay for the home inspection now, when we list the property, I will reimburse you at close out of my commission.

23:07 Because it will make the transaction smoother. I'll attach it to the MLS, so the buyer will see it before they write their offer and before we accept the offer, so there's no countering, so they can't say and they're able to do their own inspection, of course, afterwards and if our inspector missed something, then that's a problem on the inspector.

23:25 Yeah. But if it's the same thing, then they kind of don't have the opportunity to negotiate because this is what you bought. You already paid for what's in this report. And I feel like it makes my job a lot easier, the chance of closing easier. And so, that's one of the things I've learned to do to get the seller kind of invested in the deal. You put the money up and that way if it cancels, it's out of your pocket.

23:43 Yeah. But if we close it, then we're able to move more quickly. Good way to do it and I also have advanced cash on a on a small loan because I felt like this property was so prime, this you know, few of them, they were so prime, so well placed and

23:58 Yeah. The damage of the clean up and the loss would have been in thousands, of thousands if they just didn't do that cuz you couldn't see so much of the property Right. Right.

24:07 So, yeah, that's kind of similar across. That's all that all depends on the agent's desire to help and I guess to provide full service. But yeah, I think that's both of us have that in common.

24:19 Do you ever use probate advances where you help your seller or the family arrange for an advance of funds to pay for filing fees or other probate expenses? Yeah?

24:30 I've done that twice cuz it was to their advantage to do that, yeah. Yeah. You know, I it's interesting the way you said that cuz I like the way you the way you answered that because it is expensive money, right? On one hand, you borrow 10,000, I'm sorry, you advance $10,000, you pay back 13,000 and some people say, "Well, that's 30% interest." Well, yeah, but if you're talking about $800,000 home and because of that money, you get your probate filed and approved faster and you close a few months sooner, $8,000 on a home might yield you know, $8,000 a month of extra, you know, return. It's cheap money if you get the ball rolling. So, it really depends on the circumstances. It's just numbers to me.

25:10 100% Bill, and that's what actually got me into estate sales because I feel in New York that could be the difference between selling your property to a cash buyer

25:18 Yes. Financing. Yes. Sometimes, you know, the electric is off or the water's not running because of one small leak, and if I can get a plumber over and he fixes

25:28 Right. It for $1,500, and now the water's running, and we can patch up that little leak so it doesn't look like it's a big problem. You've just raised so much value in that property.

25:38 Correct. So much. It just went from a cash offer to a financing offer. Correct. And which is which can be as big as 30%. $1,500 down on the money, $300,000. I don't think is debatable, right?

25:52 So, and you see that a lot. Well, again, I think let me say that's debatable. I would say that I often get pushed back from attorneys. They'll say, "Oh, it's expensive money." Well, let's look at the numbers.

26:02 Yeah. Yes, it's expensive, but this will help your client a lot. And I think that I would say it's a difference between them hiring you and hiring a bad attorney. What's that What's the difference of that worth? Well, a bad attorney might take an extra year to close the probate. That's a lot of money wasted and such. So, it's just interesting you've done it. Look, when somebody tells me you've done a couple, it tells me, "Okay, good. You know the tool. You bring it up when it's appropriate. At the end of the day, the customer makes the choice. You can't tell them they have to get it.

26:28 You can educate them. You can educate them. Yes. You know, you're borrowing this money for what? Yes. You're paying the tax that you're going to pay very little interest in about 6 months. Don't worry about it. Or you're really painting the kitchen, which you don't need to cuz it's just a color preference. Or, you know, it all depends on how it's spent. And I have so far not seen that money not get a huge return.

26:54 I agree. In fact, I had one client who was literally impoverished and she was going to inherit this $80,000 house and we got an advance for like 10,000 to forget the probate started, which was great. We got a great attorney, that was great. And she called me one day saying, "Could you get another advance?" Her aunt, who really raised her like she was her mother, had died.

27:13 Yeah. Nobody had money to pay for a funeral. And she needed about $10,000 between the funeral and the and the plot and this and that. Yeah. It's your money. You know, you're a big girl. If you want to borrow it and she said, "Well, you know, I'll have to pay back 13,000." I said, "Yeah, exactly. As long as you know the number, then you'll make the right decision." She did. She called me back like 2 weeks afterwards crying in joy. She said, "I felt so special I could do that for her.

27:37 Yeah. I know that's what my This case, I think it was her father who passed who left her this house. I knew this is what my father would want me to do, would take care of the aunt, which was his sister. And so it's like one of those things where I chose was scolding me saying, "It's way too expensive." Well, for you it's expensive, but to the customer it could be life-changing money.

27:56 Yeah. Such a good point, right? And I think that which brings us back to the first question you had, which I which I loved, is that why did I do it? It's think the value add for an agent who's educated and informed in an estate is like so much in the amount of money, the education and experience. You know, I've flipped a few houses and I know it's not my ideal model at all. I don't you know, but at the same time the experience of seeing what little improvements can do and investors who are going to buy at 30% below are going to put 10% into it and sell it more than that 25 difference, right? Cuz now they have a fully renovated property. So, why not put some lipstick on? You know, you don't have to do a full rehab. But so, that I think is common nationwide. You know, I think everyone wants to get their hands on a cheap estate sale. There are situations where people are so fed up with the with the property, they're just like, "I'll take anything. I just want to go." And no matter how much you convince them, they're like, "You don't understand." I've had that seller. I was like, "And Amber, you don't understand. I will take anything as long as I get it in a week." And that's all I want. And I don't want you to educate me. I don't want you to show me how I profit more. I want that money in a week. I'm not doing well health-wise. Emotionally, I just want this over." And there is There are those situations, too. You just get them a cash buyer that really authentically closes in a week.

29:22 And we can close in New York in a week. You don't have a contract. I don't I don't know what you guys do, but in New York, we I've come to a closing, no contract, no signed contract, because it takes too long here, because the two attorneys are talking for a week. A week is gone just two attorneys talking on terms.

29:40 Wow. So, what we did was the buyer did the title. And in the meantime, the seller just on good faith waited. I represented the buyer on that estate. The buyer did what they said they would do. They pulled the title, made sure the title was clear. We came to the closing. They had walked the property twice in that week. They were felt satisfied. It was a cash buyer.

30:03 Wow. We didn't sign contracts, because what's a contract for? It's for an agreement. You just came to the closing, transferred the funds, owned the property that day.

30:12 Wow. I mean, for us, we do contracts all the time. But I think the difference is we can it done in a day. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I do my you know, my typical I'm talking to the customer on the phone. They're filling out the listing agreement, and then you know, a buyer agreement come in, I can reply to it, get it signed, you know, instantaneously on what he's signing. So, there's no reason not to. We do need to take it to escrow, but usually the which you call title attorney, but our contracts are so detailed, the Realtor® contracts, the standard forms, that usually the escrow officers are really wrappers, and they just say what the Realtors® agreed on is the contract and then here are my terms on how I operate as an escrow officer. It really the contract is all been done and so in New York you guys I have to say in some ways we're harder to work with and other ways New York's with his head scratchers okay well if that's how you guys do it and you're happy with it good for you.

31:02 We just see a lot of work the transactional coordination piece is a part-time job like when you when we see those transactional coordinators in Florida and California I'm like you have no idea coming to a transaction in New York and you'll find out because that communication piece between the buyer and seller attorney is tough. They don't want to talk to you and you don't know what the buyer is thinking you don't know what the you know what your seller is thinking you know what your client is thinking right? But you don't know what the buyer is thinking and if there's an attorney then you definitely don't know what's going on. They may be walking away from this so what I do is I continue to show it until the buyer's attorney says I have the deposit check and it's being overnighted tomorrow.

31:40 What how much is the transaction fee for typically in New York? Charged by whom? Transaction coordinator fee?

31:50 Transaction coordination fee is the same it's just the work for the transaction coordination is a lot higher. I do the my own transaction coordination. Oh okay. Yeah here I mean there's

32:00 Which falls between the cup and the lip in New York we call it that you know too much falls between the cup and the lip meaning the conversation that you had with the buyer and the offer they put together and by the time they're signing a contract so much could change.

32:15 Yeah. Interesting. You know leave that transactional coordinator just saying is it done is it done it's not going to you need to know home inspector have inspection happen are there any further negotiations the attorney can come into the picture and start negotiating for the buyer if they don't have any.

32:30 We can I mean I keep pretty tight I hear what you're saying I do think that it was really interesting yesterday I got a phone call from an executive at a big company here recruiting me basically. I mean, you know, wanting to meet me. And his pitch was, "Oh, we do all this stuff for you." And then well, I mean, I have people who do this. I have transaction coordinator, I have virtual assistants, I have technology, I have systems.

32:50 Yeah. Like, you know, and he was describing how hard it he put a listing on how hard it was and I'm thinking I do all that in an hour between as far as my share. I do, you know, I fill out sheets and I send out emails to the people and I have procedures that we that we update. And I think that's the nature of a business now is some of these administrative things just have to be automated and

33:09 Making, I think that is one of the biggest differences in California and New York. I would not give my transaction coordination part to anyone because the negotiation part of it, the property preparation and marketing, and the transaction coordination piece until the buyer's check is with us. After that, once the buyer's check is with the seller's attorney and the seller's signing, after that transaction coordination, no problem. But, the part where the buyer had made an offer and that offer is now going into a formal contract, that piece of it I don't lift up on. After that,

33:41 Same. It's the same after that, right? I mean, how long is things taking, where are we at? It's the business. It's the same. Like, you just, you know, you get information from the loan officer basically on what's happening.

33:51 Yeah. Until that point, that precarious week to 10 days where things can totally fall apart while you think you have a buyer. As a as an agent and a representative, it's very tricky cuz you could have a seller so disappointed and then things are back on the market and you know how that looks. It doesn't look great. But yeah.

34:10 Yeah, I don't I don't I handle all my communication. I don't have anything from the buyer comes through me or this my client, buyer or seller, usually seller. All the attorney comes through me. I just use a TC for, you know, the email. I'll tell you a cute story. I had a agent of my colleague of mine who wanted to call me up and say, "Hey, Bill, I have Michelle on the phone." I said, "Oh, who's Michelle?" "You know Michelle." I said, "Michelle?" "No, I don't think I No, you know Michelle. I'm thinking who is this? It's not I'm not related to her. I don't have a girlfriend. I'm married now, you know, for decades. I Who's Michelle? She says you're TC. And I said, well, you don't understand. I've never spoken to her. The beauty of our and I had closed with I'd worked with her for 3 years. We closed a couple hundred transactions. And I said, the beauty is we never have to talk. We have a system. We have procedures. We have automation. We have emails. And I you know, she doesn't need to talk to me. I don't need to talk to her. It just isn't as convenient. And no, I don't have her talk to the client ever. I don't have her even email directly to the client ever. That's my job. And I do think sometimes agents get a little lazy and you can't delegate away the part of the value that you create for your customer which is your trust and your relationship and your equity value and who you are.

35:22 Yeah, I mean, if you're if you're not going to do that, don't do estate sales cuz most of these estate sellers are very emotional, you know? Yeah.

35:31 Yeah, and so just you shake their trust and then you they kind of like what's happening, right? Right. 100% handing things over to team members is fine as long as they're an expert in what they're doing and you're an expert in what you're doing and then you hand holding closely. Absolutely.

35:47 Well, look, last question. What is the view of over your shoulder? Is it virtual or is it real? That's virtual. It's beautiful, isn't it? New York skyline. I was I'm trying to which building is which there? I'm trying to figure it out. It's a it's a beautiful virtual Go back on you Heather. Okay, I didn't catch up on that.

36:02 Yeah. Look, we got a little longer we planned on here Amber. So I just want to I really appreciate your time. I know you're busy. I know you're busy cuz you want to talk to me in the week as well. I know you're busy then too. So if you want more Amber Farooqi, she's both a real estate professional in New York and located in Brooklyn, right?

36:18 We're I'm my office is you know, it's cloud like yours. We're everywhere and then my personal office is in Long Island, but I still use Brooklyn and Manhattan for estate sales.

36:30 And also a certified mediator. So if you have some challenges as far as resolving you know, challenges on a on a circuit court case or probate real estate case, Amber can help you with that. [phone number]. Amber at faruqiteam.com and the website's faruqiteam.com. Amber, thank you so much for being with us today. I really appreciate both your work and always and today especially. Thank you so much.

36:51 Fantastic. Absolutely. Thank you. Absolute pleasure. And for the rest of you, this is Probate Weekly. We get together every week and usually have a probate attorney or vendor. But today it was good to have a practitioner who both is a Realtor®, I think, and a mediator to give us perspective what New York is like. And one thing about probate is we do business in multiple states. This is the one area where you get more referrals, I think, out of state than other sorts of business. Love to get your comments. Hope you like this. Subscribe. Give me a comment if there's any questions you have. Love to hear from you. Reach out to me at Bill Gross on social media. As always, make today your best day ever. Thanks so much.