$600,000 in Broker Commission Rebates to Clients in 2016

2016 was a pretty crazy year!

Digs Year in Review

  • $600,000 in Rebates.  In 2016, we hit a huge milestone and eclipsed $1,000,000 in gross broker commission rebates and discounts given since we launched Digs full time in 2014 – real money that has helped make home ownership a bit more affordable for our clients and has funded value-adding renovations.
  • 27 Closed Transactions.  Our goal was to increase business by 50% in 2016 from our pleasantly surprising 2015, but we crushed it with a nearly 75% increase in the number of deals we closed!  And we have another 11 contracts going into 2017, paving the way for an even better year and even more broker commission rebates for our clients!
  • $31,000,000 in Sales.  Our gross sales increased 64% over 2015, with our largest transaction at $3.775M and our smallest at $355K.  In 2016, 50% of our transactions were priced under $1M, with seven under $750K.  We are proud to serve all clients at all price points with the same high level of service, and while many in the brokerage community reluctantly work with low-budget buyers or, worse, provide them with limited service, we treat all of our buyers the same regardless of their budget, and everybody gets a broker commission rebate.
  • 21 Neighborhoods.  We are truly a city-wide broker, having represented clients in contracts and closed deals this year (and given broker commission rebates) in Astoria, Battery Park City, Bedford-Stuyvesant, Downtown Brooklyn, East Village, Financial District, Greenwich Village, Hell’s Kitchen, Hudson Heights, Hunters Point, Manhattan Valley, Morningside Heights, Murray Hill, Park Slope, Prospect Heights, Red Hook, Sutton Place, Tribeca, the Upper West Side, the Upper East Side, and the West Village!  And we are continuing to expand our reach every day, presently representing clients from Flatbush to Forest Hills and dozens of neighborhoods in between.

Market Review

With the new administration about to take office, we now have to prepare for the Trump era of NYC real estate and what that might look like.  Already, the stock market – especially the financial sector – has responded very favorably to the election results, with the Dow approaching 20,000 and financial sector ETFs up close to 20% (Goldman Sachs is up in excess of 30%), significantly boosting the net worth of many, including the finance professionals who have historically been some of the more voracious consumers of residential real estate in NYC.  Additionally, given the President-elect’s cabinet choices and stated policy goals, we can probably expect lower taxes and more relaxed mortgage lending standards, which will likely foster further investment in the market, as well as sustained strength and stability in the near term.  At the same time, we are looking at potential restrictions on immigration and modified trade agreements, together with a higher dollar valuation and rising interest rates, all of which could have an impact on the NYC economy.  2017 will definitely be interesting.

Many Digs clients who began working with us prior to the election are bemoaning the sharp rise in mortgage interest rates, which have risen, generally speaking, around 25% since November.  Although this has perhaps dampened enthusiasm slightly, it seems to be more of an annoyance to buyers than anything and not something that is going to cause a mass exodus from the buyer pool.  We are still in a period of historically low rates, and it is important to remember that at the peak of the last cycle, mortgage interest rates for 30-year fixed rate loans were largely in excess of 6%.

Many experts are calling the summer of 2015 the peak of the current cycle, and while prices are still high, buyer enthusiasm has cooled somewhat, causing some to even begin referring to the current period as a buyer’s market.  That, however, is a stretch in certain segments of the market, as bidding wars are still common (some of our clients have endured several this past month) for lower priced units $1M or less.  But given the period of remarkable (albeit unsustainable) growth that the market has enjoyed since the bottom of the last cycle, just the feeling of a slightly different sentiment is a welcome respite for buyers.  For sellers, the market is still strong, but pricing has become extremely important.  If a unit is not priced properly from the outset, the listing can suffer and go stale.  Generally speaking, when a seller prices a unit within a reasonable range of its market value, it will promote offers and spark negotiations.  If a unit is priced too high in today’s market, buyers will not make offers, as they will perceive the seller as unreasonable and unlikely willing to work toward getting a deal done close to the market price.  This is in stark contrast to 12-18 months ago, when sellers regularly priced units above their reasonable market value and not only received offers, but often sold in excess of their ask in a bidding war.

And we have a new listing heading into 2017…

A super sweet 1 bedroom co-op with open north and south city views on 72nd Street between Columbus and Broadway – an unbeatable price ($599,000) for an amazing co-op in an awesome Upper West Side location. Let me know if you or anyone you know is interested in checking it out before it comes to market.


About Digs:

Digs Realty is a full-service residential brokerage company specializing in home purchases and sales in New York City.  Clients working with Digs on a purchase are eligible for a rebate of up to 2% of the purchase price, and clients working with Digs on a sale are eligible for commission discounts.  

For more information:
Web:  
www.digsrealtynyc.com
Email:  dan@digsrealtynyc.com
Phone:  (917) 675-0037


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