Can a Realtor help you find a home to rent? 

The short answer is yes.

Realtors have listing’s of home rentals and are astute in finding the right rental for all situations.  With access to MLS and their knowledge of the local area, they are ideally suited for helping anyone find the proper rental for any situation. 

The Blogging ACE

Alex C. Elie
Licensed Sales Associate
Century 21 Prevete Real Estate
70 Manetto Hill Mall
Plainview, NY 11803-1302
(C) 631-374-1698
(O) 516-433-5777
(F)  516-433-5490
Email: RealtyAce@Optimum.net
Website: http://alexcelie.listingbook.com
Blog: http://www.acerealty.wordpress.com
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/alexcelie
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AlexCElie
Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/AlexCElie

Today is the first day of the rest of my career… 

This is my Linked in post that I shared with my network on Monday morning…

Today I permanently transition from a corporate drone to a truly Independent Consultant, with the grand opening of my web site, which I bought from myself on Friday, am creating today on Monday and debuting on Tuesday at our monthly AITP meeting.  I hope to see most of you there, and if not, I’ll send out my website link when I complete it tonight.  (Yes I’m starting with a blank page at 10am today and will have a completely functional website by midnight tonight.)

Read more on my blog, which I’ll be updating throughout the day…

http://acerealty.wordpress.com/2010/09/20/the-grand-opening/

ACE
631-374-1698
Alex Charles Elie 
ACE Consulting Expeditors, Inc.
Expediting your consulting needs since 2009…

My transition started after my job was displaced at CitiGroup in December of 2008, reinforced with a mutual decision to terminate my consulting contract at Cablevision and culminating with last Friday’s AITP meeting when I decided to go for it and sponsor a table at next Tuesday’s AITP Battle of the Operating Systems meeting to launch my Website and Consulting Company to the world. 

Look out world, The Consulting ACE is here to stay… 

I called the WebCenter Design Center at 10:51 and started working with my WebCenter Specialist Michelle.  Since the demo site I utilized was a Real Estate site, she deleted all the pages and we are starting off with a new template, more closely resembling a consulting firms layout.  I described the general idea that I had for the site and emailed her my company flyer and brochure for her to use to set up my website.  She was also checking on my 10 domain names that I created on Friday to see if they were ready to use.  I then left Woodhaven and ran some errands.  I needed to return a Belkin router to Costco that I couldn’t seem to set up properly and pick up a DVD player to show my WebCenter Presentation at the AITP meeting tomorrow.  I’m updating this blog from Johnny Rockets at the Broadway mall, thanks to my optimumwifi connection, getting ready to call Michelle to see where we are at. 

I bought the website & domain on Friday, www.TheConsultingACE.com and jotted down ideas for my website over the weeked and on Monday @ 10:51am est, I started to work with my webcenter design team to start building my website. I gave Michelle my idea’s over the phone and emailed her my business flyers and the CYO Hoodie flyer & she went to work.  We had a few calls throughout the to clarify what I wanted and add new pages to my site.  I finally freed up after 10 pm to look at what she did and send her comments to she could update the site prior to my Noon launch.  Turns out she forgot to publish it and it was still in her development workspace, so I couldn’t see what she did yet. When we last spoke, she said that she was going to have someone finish my ACE Commerce Express Page to sell the CYO Hoodies and when she got in at 7am, we could make some last minute changes, see if my domain name was ready & link it to the site.  I woke up at 7am to call Michelle to publish it when I realized that she works in Las Vegas, which translates to 10am est, 2 hours from my launch & I was planning on getting to & setting up for the AITP Sponsorship table at the Huntington Hilton from 10 to 12.
I tried to call Michelle, hands free, from my Company car, and got a different Michelle from the design center. She tried to find the first Michelle but she was already usy with another client and she offered to help. I explained my delema and she published the site and we walked through the site over the phone, made additional changes and republished. My domain name was finalized and she was able to associate TheConsultingAce.com to my new website.

I got to the Huntington Hilton with Sally, my Market America business partner, and at 11:15 am. I was finally able to see my site after setting up my table, at 11:51 am, 25 hours after I started with my Michelle’s from the MA Design Center Team. This is the version that is up and running right now. The only thing missing was to fill out a form with ITransact to accept credit card payments and let the know which bank account to deposit the payments.

Please give me your impressions of the site as it is now and any suggestions you have would be appreciated as I get ready to customize and grow the site.

If I could do this over the phone in just 25 hours, imagine what I could do in 25 days with a computer.

Keep checking back as I will blogging about the next 25 days of updating my website for it’s official grand opening 25 days later on October 22, 2010, the day before the Sayville Fall Fest on Saturday, October 23rd, 2010 in Sayville, NY. 

ACE

Alex Charles Elie
(C) (W) (H) 631-374-1698
www.TheConsultingACE.com
ACE Consulting Expeditors, Inc.
EMail: ACE@TheConsultingACE.com
Expediting your consulting needs since 2009…
Get 2-35% cash back on your everyday purchases @ www.MarketAmerica.com/MarketingACE

How to sell your house without a realtor? 

This is a loaded question that I get asked a lot, both directly and indirectly.  Most people feel that they can sell their home without a realtor, and that’s true if they are willing to do the work, correctly price their home, pay for the advertising, find the right buyer, do a few open houses, work with the lawyers, negotiate a fair selling price, ect,ect.ect…  And after all that, they usually get a lower selling price than if they listed their home with a Realtor.  Realtor’s have a tremendous amount of resources available to them to sell your home, and most home buyers, especially new home buyers,  go to Realtors to find a home for guidance through the process.

But getting back to the question, here is how you can sell your home without a Realtor…

The first thing you need to do is to come up with a proper selling price for your home.  You will need to research your area and see what similar homes are currently on the market and find out how much similar homes in the area sold for.  This will give an idea of  how best to price your home.  You will be commonly be called FSBO’s, which is short for For Sale By Owner, and most Realtors will be willing to give you a free market analysis of your home, based on the competition and inventory in your area.  Realtors love FSBO’s, and are willing to help them, because after a few months, FSBO’s usually end up listing with a Realtor and usually go with the ones that have helped them in the past.   

After you have a selling price for your home, and are ready to sell, you need retain a Real Estate Lawyer and to put a sign on your front lawn, with your name and phone number so potential buyers can contact you.  Unfortunately, you can not avoid Lawyers in a New York State Real Estate transaction, so you should have one picked out so you can go to contract if you find a buyer for your home.   

You will also need to make sure that your C/O, Certificate Of Occupancy, is current and that all permits for any improvements have been filled and approved so you can sell your home.  Many home owners build pools, decks, sheds, additions, bathrooms, finish their basements without filing any permits and then can’t sell their home until all their permits are up to date, or the improvements removed.  My parents had to remove their pool and 2/3′s of their deck in order to sell their home and it almost cost them the sale of the home. 

A sign on your front lawn let’s your neighbors know that you are selling your home.  This is important, not because they will want to buy your home, but they may know people who want to move into the neighborhood.  Actually, my uncle move across the street because he liked the area and wanted a bigger home, so you never know. 

Next, you need to build a website to showcase your home and make sure that your home is found when people are searching the internet for a home like yours.  If you don’t want to build a website, you can use Craig’s list, FSBO.com or other website’s to get your home on the web.  Some are free and some others will charge a fee.   

Once you get potential buyers for your home, you will need to be available to show your home, ensure that they are qualified to purchase your home and close the deal.  Usually, as a FSBO, buyers know that you are not paying a commission and expect a better deal, so you will need to be a good negotiator. 

Once you are in contract, you will need to work with your lawyer to get the appropriate paperwork and inspections completed to complete the sale.  Once you have sold your home, you also need to know where you are going to live.  Hopefully you have coordinated that and have either purchased another home or made arrangements to move somewhere else withing 1 to 3 days of the closing. 

The Blogging ACE

Alex C. Elie
Licensed Sales Associate
Century 21 Prevete Real Estate
70 Manetto Hill Mall
Plainview, NY 11803-1302
(C) 631-374-1698
(O) 516-433-5777
(F)  516-433-5490
Email: RealtyAce@Optimum.net
Website: http://alexcelie.listingbook.com
Blog: http://www.acerealty.wordpress.com
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/alexcelie
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AlexCElie
Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/AlexCElie

We all had a great time and learned a lot about wine making, distilleries and the North Shore of Long Island.  We took a bus from a Park and Ride and Freddie, our excellent bus driver, took care of the rest of the driving for us.  Our first stop was one of the most beautiful vineyards on our tour and possibly of the North Shore.  They were our first stop because they had a wedding planned for that afternoon.  Modeled after a European monastery, Raphael vineyards, www.raphaelwine.com, was beautiful, breathtaking and educational.  Gabrielle gave us a great tour of the vineyard, their processing center and their wine cellars, explaining that due to the glaciers path and when they melted, the North Fork, containing approximately 62 vineyards, received perfect soil for growing grapes.  As opposed to the South Fork, which only has 2 vineyards due to their poor soil content, missing all the minerals and rich soil that was deposited by the glaciers onto the North Fork.   They are as green as they can be by recycling all the stems, leaves and wine byproducts by composting them for next seasons crop.  Our second stop was Borghese Vineyards, www.borghesevineyard.com, one of the oldest vineyards on North fork.  Our wine taster guide thinks that 2007 was on of the best years for North Fork wines.  After we had a delicious picnic lunch, catered by ACE Catering, www.acecaterers.com, we headed to Macari vineyards, www.macariwines.com, the biggest and most commercial of the three wineries, with over 500 acres, 3 wine masters and 2 assistants.  The wine tastings at all three wineries were great and all the wines were unique, flavorful and most enjoyable.  As we headed back toward our last stop of the day, Long Island Spirits, www.lispirits.com, for a tasting of LiV Vodka, we had to stop at the famous Briermere Farms, http://briermere.com for some hot cider, pies and local produce.  The last stop of the day was the most unique and interesting of the day, as they are the Islands first craft distillery, producing craft vodka from our very own Long Island potatoes.  We had a taste of their LiV Vodka, which was the smoothest vodka I have ever had, and a sneak taste of their upcoming lemon vodka, which was equally smooth and delicious.  They are presently waiting for labeling approval for their lemon, orange and strawberry potato vodka’s, which I predict will be a tremendous hit, just like their award-winning original LiV potato vodka. 

This was one of the best “staycations” I’ve had in a long time, and it was right in our own backyard.  I especially like going to the East End of Long Island during the off-season, as it’s less crowded, more relaxed and enjoyable.  I’d like to thank AITP for organizing, researching and picking these great stops for this wonderful Long Island winery tour.  I’m already looking forward to next years trip.

The Blogging ACE

Alex C. Elie
Licensed Sales Associate
Century 21 Prevete Real Estate
70 Manetto Hill Mall
Plainview, NY 11803-1302
(C) 631-374-1698
(O) 516-433-5777 x514
(F)  516-433-5490
Email: RealtyAce@Optimum.net
Web Site: http://alexcelie.listingbook.com
Blog: http://www.acerealty.wordpress.com
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/alexcelie
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AlexCElie
Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/AlexCElie

Their last day of operation for most of their rides was on Columbus Day, the day after we stopped by.  Although the Cyclone was closed since September 20th, as so was the Thunderbolt and Super Shot, we rode the Wonder Wheel, the Spook-A-Rama and Liz had a blast on the Bumper Cars.  After the rides we took a walk along their famous Boardwalk and the beach.  Although it was late in the season, there we still a lot of people enjoying Coney Island, but it still seemed that we had the whole place to ourselves. 

After the beach, we stopped by Nathans Famous for some Hotdogs and Cheese Fries.  (Who could resist)  We found some tables to have our meal and had to share some with the flock of seagulls that was watching us, especially Lefty, who only had one right leg and was hopping on the boardwalk looking for food. 

From the top of the Wonder Wheel, we got a great view of the new Cyclone Ball field, and it looks like a really nice stadium.  Come springtime, I’m taking the kids back to Coney Island for some rides and a ballgame.  (Cyclone^2 LOL)

The Blogging ACE

Alex C. Elie
IT Consultant
ACE Consulting Expeditors
54 Tide Court
Oakdale N.Y. 11769
(C) 631-374-1698
(F) 631-750-5764
Email: alexcelie@optonline.net
Blog: http://acerealty.wordpress.com
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/alexcelie
Follow me on Twitter @alexcelie

This program allows the first time homebuyer to deduct 20% of the mortgage interest as a Federal Tax Credit and the remaining 80% still gets deducted as a regular tax deduction for every year the loan is in effect.  This is good for any single-family home used as a principle residence (including condos & co-ops).  For example, a $200,000 loan with an interest rate of 5.5%, would pay $10,933 in mortgage interest, generating a $2,186 direct tax credit saving the homebuyer $182 per month.  As long as the homebuyer continues to occupy the property, that’s a total savings of $65,520 over the course of a 30 year loan.  If the homebuyer’s tax liability is less than the Mortgage Credit Certificate credit in any one year, the amount of unused tax credit can be carried forward for up to three years.

Prospective homebuyers should apply for the Mortgage Credit Certificate when they apply for a fixed interest-rate mortgage from a participating lending institution.  Not all lenders are participating, so make sure you are dealing with one that does.  The MCC is being administered by the State of New York Mortgage Agency (SONYMA) and program information such as income and purchase price limits can be found at http://www.nyhomes.org.  Ironically, SONYMA mortgages are not eligible for the MCC Tax credit. 

The Blogging ACE

Alex C. Elie
Licensed Sales Associate
Century 21 Prevete Real Estate
70 Manetto Hill Mall
Plainview, NY 11803-1302
(C) 631-374-1698
(O) 516-433-5777
(F)  516-433-5490
Email: RealtyAce@Optimum.net
Web Site: http://alexcelie.listingbook.com
Blog: http://www.acerealty.wordpress.com
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/alexcelie
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AlexCElie
Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/AlexCElie

I figured I’d start working backwards and tell you what happened to me last night, but first a little background on the ACE man.  I was born in Brooklyn in 1963 to Gerald & Jacqueline Elie, who named me Alex Charles Maurice Elie.  My two middle names came from my 2 Grandfathers.  Being the first born, they both wanted dib’s as a namesake, so I got them both.  When I was young, I noticed an ACME truck in a parking lot and realized that those were my initials.  Being a huge Bugs Bunny/Road Runner fan I thought how cool is that and started using those initials.  In 7th grade, I was writing stuff on the blackboard before my math teacher arrived and he asked me why I wrote ACME on the board and I told him that they were my initials.  He then put his hand over the ‘M’ and said, if you drop the ‘M’, your initials would be ACE, and then my nickname was born.  It really wasn’t my true nickname until I went to StonyBrook University in the fall of 1981. 

National Lampoon’s Animal House was a big influence for many college bound students in 1981, and the students’ dorming in Langmuir dorm were no exception.  We had a naming ceremony and all the incoming freshmen were given nicknames.  If you already had a cool nickname, and we all approved, that’s what was used, if not, you were assigned one and most of them were from the movie such as Belushi & Flounder.  So when they came to me, I offered up ACE and it was unanimously approved, and I was the ACE man.

Anyway, back to last night.  I’m an Information Technology executive, formally working for Citibank, NA.  I was a Vice President working as a Group Manager and was instrumental in setting up their CBNA Project Management Office.  I was transferred to a newly formed Audit & Compliance team and set up new processes and procedures to ensure that Citibank pass their 2009 internal audit before getting laid off earlier this year.  I was given a six month severance package which included outplacement services at Right Management.  The 3 most important things I learned from them and my training as a Licensed Real Estate Agent is Networking, Networking and Networking. 

I was already members of PMI and AITP and they both had networking parties at the FOUR Food Studio in Melville.  (515 broadhollow road, Melville , NY 11747 631.577.4444 www.fourfoodstudio.com)  I’ve been there a few more times and last week the owner sent me an invite to a free party last night to kick off their TGFM promotion, Thank Goodness Four Mondays, with free drinks until 9:00.  After the free drinks were over, I ordered a 4 cheese flatbread appetizer with shrimp which the barmaid accidentally gave to someone else.  20 minutes later they apologized and gave me a free beer and another pizza.  They also delivered a pizza to the couple next to me.  Being alone, I offered to share and we all shared all 3 pizzas.  We introduced ourselves and it turned out that Bob has a band called Copycat that plays at the Riverview in my home town of Oakdale.  They are an all white band that plays Soca, Calypso, Reggae, Top40, 80′s and Rock-n-roll.  I looked up their website on my PALM Treo, www.copycatband.info, and found out they are playing next at Macarthur Park in Rockville Centre on Oct 17th and at El Mariachi in Rockville Centre for a Halloween party on the 31st. 

Then I asked him what he did in real life and he told me that he ran an IT department for an Aerospace company and asked me what I did.  I told him that I just got my Real Estate license to cover myself between IT consulting jobs and that I was a Senior IT Project Manager.  His eyes lit up as I handed him my ACE Consulting Expeditors IT networking card and we talked shop for a bit.  I told him that I used to work for Loral Fairchild Systems and the next thing I know, we are setting up time for an interview later this week.  I’ll let you know what happens on my next blog.

Please feel free to leave comments with your networking success and failures…

Thanks…

The Blogging ACE

Alex C. Elie
Licensed Sales Associate
Century 21 Prevete Real Estate
70 Manetto Hill Mall
Plainview, NY 11803-1302
(C) 631-374-1698
(O) 516-433-5777
(F)  516-433-5490
Email: RealtyAce@Optimum.net
Web Site: http://alexcelie.listingbook.com
Blog: http://www.acerealty.wordpress.com
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/alexcelie
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AlexCElie
Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/AlexCElie

• Open Listing
  An open listing lets an owner sell her home by herself. It is a non-exclusive agreement, meaning the owner may execute open listings with more than one real estate broker and pay only the broker who brings an able buyer whose offer the owner accepts.
• Exclusive Agency Listing
  An exclusive agency listing is similar to an open listing except the major difference is the agent will represent the owner. The owner still reserves the right to sell the property herself and not pay a commission. The broker is free to cooperate with another brokerage, meaning the second brokerage could bring an able buyer whose offer the owner accepts. Typically, the broker is paid a listing commission that is shared selling broker, so the owner pays both fees.
• Exclusive Right-to-Sell Listing
  An exclusive right-to-sell listing is the most commonly utilized instrument. It gives the broker the exclusive right to earn a commission by representing the owner and bringing a buyer, either through another brokerage or directly. The owner pays both the listing and selling broker fees. The owner cannot sell the property herself without paying a commission, unless an exception is noted in the contract.

The Blogging ACE

Alex C. Elie
Licensed Sales Associate
Century 21 Prevete Real Estate
70 Manetto Hill Mall
Plainview, NY 11803-1302
(C) 631-374-1698
(O) 516-433-5777
(F)  516-433-5490
Email: RealtyAce@Optimum.net
Web Site: http://alexcelie.listingbook.com
Blog: http://www.acerealty.wordpress.com
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/alexcelie
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AlexCElie
Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/AlexCElie