Cultural Affair in Buying Real Estate
Buying an apartment is very much a cultural affair. I straddle the Chinese and American ways daily and it’s fascinating to see it play out. One of my Chinese buyers wanted a beautiful 4 bed-room condo in a particular building in Chelsea. I wrote a letter to the owners, who graciously entertained our viewing requests. A deal was made after weeks of negotiations, only to fall apart after some Feng Shui concerns came to light. Exactly like the hearsay.
Sometimes it’s not so much the “culture” but the way real estate is done in other places. Once I had a buyer, to whom it was very important to move into the new apartment by a certain date. But the closing date here in NYC was an “On or About” date, meaning there was no guarantee. Having bought and sold in China, this was a foreign concept to the buyer. Complicating things further, the seller had a tenant in place. It got to a point where the buyer thought that the seller had something to hide (that the tenant might not vacate in time) and the seller was furious that the buyer was unreasonable and greedy (buyer asked for a penalty if we didn’t close by then, which again was not common practice in NYC). Knowing where both sides were coming from, I stepped in to tell the buyer that I would pay some of the penalty if the tenant didn’t leave (after having done plenty of due diligence). This deal was thankfully saved.
Places where we feel at home share a lot of things in common with us. Our homes embody our values and our cultures. As a real estate agent, I bring familiarity and trust to the foreign buyers and sellers who come to our great city.
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The NYC real estate market was the tale of two cities in October. Total transaction volume ticked higher, even though rates moved higher and sentiment was tense. Most of our new clients were understandably quiet. But quite a few of our repeat clients, the real estate veterans, were busy putting deals together.