Archives of real estate blog entries for August 22, 2006

Featured blog posts


Excuse me sir, do you know how to get to.................. - 09:50 AM
I have closing today. This house has only been on the market for about 2 months with me and sold for a little under market value. The issue is, it was on the market with another Realtor for 6 months and didn't sale. From what I could see, it wasn't from pricing, but from neglect.
This property is Investor owned and was purchased to rent for a year, to avoid short term capital gains, and then to sell for a profit. Fortunately, it was purchased at the right price and he will achieve his goal.
The reasons it had sat on the … (7 comments)

Turnabout is fair play - 08:29 AM
After enduring dozens of e mails from the "Reverend Franks" of the world wanting me to help them find real estate, received their 'over invoiced' oil revenues, loot fictional dead people's bank accounts, etc., etc., ad naseum, it's time to fight back with a little dose of their own medicine.
"August 21, 2006
My Dearest Reverend Frank,
Thank you for your recent missive looking for an American Realtor to help you buy property in this country for your flock.
Unfortunately I can't help with that task right now because I'm busy with another, much bigger project that maybe you could help me … (7 comments)

Sellers demand causes my Buyer to run! - 05:23 PM
We`re having a hard time getting the lender to close next week. With Labor Day approachingl the Lender has told me he would need an extension on closing for another 5 days. Not unreasonable, quite common, certain conditions haven`t been cleared. We call the sellers agent explain the situation giving the Seller advanced notice of what`s transpiring.
The agent who is a tad nervous, tells us, she`ll get right back to us! Two hours later the Sellers agent gives us a list of demand. Here they are as follows.
1- $1000 for the additional 5 days.
2- Seller to keep escrow … (7 comments)

See ya in Hawaii! Maybe, hopefully, someday. Aloha! - 04:16 PM
What is ActiveRain to me and how has is affected my business? An excellent question.
Since becoming a member of AR about 2 months ago, my technical knowledge has increased 10 fold. Before joining AR, I had a website that I have had for years, but really never paid much attention to SEO, meta-tags, keywords or any of the other technical thingies (Matt's new coined word) that would increase my web presence. Since implementing some of the ideas I have learned from AR my ranking has skyrocketed and I have a renewed interest in my website. This in itself, justifies all the … (15 comments)


Blog posts


Stop birds from eating your strawberries - 07:06 PM
My wife's parents have started growing strawberries. But apparently the native birds love to eat the juicy fruit. The  ugly bird netting that they use works fine, but little birds still find their way in. Unfortunately, they don't always find their way out. Well, I have a better solution... A ScareCrow®.
The ScareCrow® is an automated animal deterrent. It's basically a water sprinkler with a motion sensor. See it in action and watch how it can protect your garden (and keep your garden green!).
via: The Gadget Blog
… (5 comments)

Dallas Real Estate- New, Elite Neighborhood Starts at $4M - 11:37 AM
The property at the corner of very busy Royal and Inwood was finally settled.  It will be turned into a very Elite Neighborhood called the Creeks of Preston Hollow.  Perot's company, Hillwood Residential will be working the deal.
They are anticipating building 17 properties within this 22 acre area.  Some will be spec homes and others will be custom.  Lot prices alone will range from $1.5- 3.5M and the homes themselves will range from $4-12M.
So, if you're going to spend anywhere near $4M, wouldn't you want the entire house to be custom?  I can't believe they would build a spec in this … (1 comments)

ChitownLiving - 06:00 PM
For my blog and to learn more about my real estate practice, visit ChitownLiving. … (5 comments)

Stopping Spam - 05:39 PM
For those of you that actively comment (or blog a lot), you will have noticed a new requirement when leaving a comment----the SPAM STOPPER!  Basically its a security measure designed to stop bots (scripts that spammers and hackers use to scan websites and insert various things) from filling out comments on our blogs.  I'm sure you've all experienced it in your guestbook or contact forms.  Requests for link exchanges with pharmacy or adult sites, praise for your website with a small note to visit our site at the live link of xxx. com.
If you are getting a lot of spam through your … (9 comments)

Great Sales Movies - 10:40 PM
I was reading Maureens blog about her Costco experience and selling the seller there, when it got me thinking. But first, I highly encourage anyone with a membership to upgrade it, it will pay for itself.  I LOVE Costco.  Case in point, my wife had a prescription she needed filled asap but Costco was closed. She went to Walgreens it was over 80 bucks for a 30 day supply.  The same prescription at Costco is under $20!!!  But I digress.  Anyway, I had comment that she remembered her ABC's, Always Be Closing which taking the long road is related to the name … (1 comments)

Active Rain "en espanol" - 09:40 AM
Fellow members...
You may or may not care, but today I plan to write to Matt and Caleb and suggest a new feature to ActiveRain.
Wouldn't make sense to have the site translated into different languages...let's say, starting with spanish?
We're talking about a HUGE demographic that should be targeted (currently 20-30 million households and growing). It's estimated that by the year 2030, nearly 1/3 of the US population will be of hispanic decent. Most of the homes are bi-lingual (with 2nd & 3rd generations being born in the US).
Check out these major sites who've already idenified the need: (esta pagina en espanol)
http://espanol.hud.gov/buying/index.cfm?&lang=es
http://www.lendingtree.com/stm3/loans/spanish.asp
http://espanol.era.com/
http://www.ziprealty.com/index.jsp
...and many … (10 comments)

Today's Wall Street Journal! - 09:33 AM
I was quoted in today's Wall Street Journal! The title of the article: Make Me an Offer: Buying Unlisted Homes-  
  "Margaret Rome, a Coldwell Banker agent in Baltimore, once ran an ad in theBaltimore Jewish Times announcing that one of her buyers was seeking a "funky"four-bedroom ranch house in a particular school district for less than $400,000.An owner of such a house, which wasn't yet listed, responded, and a sale wasquickly arranged, Ms. Rome says."
You can read the article on line if you are a WSJ subsciriber. www.wsj.com
And today was my Mom's birthday and she would have been so proud!
 Happy … (9 comments)

A New Real Estate Market Indicator - 08:34 PM
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
A New Real Estate Market Indicator
There are as many opinions about what the market will do - or is doing - as there are Realtors and real estate columnists. Finding an indicator you can trust is not easy. So I was happy to read about one that I can understand...statues of St. Joseph. That's right, one of the seller's favorites to bring good buyers to their home has become a reliable indicator of how the housing market is doing in any area. A recent Boston Globe article tells how a local shopkeeper sees a real estate downturn … (3 comments)

Marketing Library - 02:54 PM
How many of you have books, notebooks of marketing materials, old tapes, or cd's you have collected over the years.  It might not be a bad idea to spring clean.  Put together all the STUFF and donate to your office marketing library, or board to be given away to new agents that might benefit from the content. 
Just a thought  since throwing it away reminds me of Geri's statement "you might as well be buring $$$" and who knows it could inspire someone else.  Any other ideas about what to do with it all...there are some great books but what good are … (2 comments)

Find a House With your Mouse! - 03:16 PM
Tips and Tricks in finding your dream home on the internet.  Introduction for net customers but I would like to know what IDX systems everyone is using.  I am evaluating moving to use Wolfnet a company from Minn. does anyone use them and if so what do you think?  The organization of the back office is very thorough and allows you at a glance to evaluate what's going on.  If you know of other IDX solutions that are doing the job for you please share them with us.  IDX solutions are available but what are you using and what is the … (0 comments)

Excuse me sir, do you know how to get to.................. - 09:50 AM
I have closing today. This house has only been on the market for about 2 months with me and sold for a little under market value. The issue is, it was on the market with another Realtor for 6 months and didn't sale. From what I could see, it wasn't from pricing, but from neglect.
This property is Investor owned and was purchased to rent for a year, to avoid short term capital gains, and then to sell for a profit. Fortunately, it was purchased at the right price and he will achieve his goal.
The reasons it had sat on the … (7 comments)

See ya in Hawaii! Maybe, hopefully, someday. Aloha! - 04:16 PM
What is ActiveRain to me and how has is affected my business? An excellent question.
Since becoming a member of AR about 2 months ago, my technical knowledge has increased 10 fold. Before joining AR, I had a website that I have had for years, but really never paid much attention to SEO, meta-tags, keywords or any of the other technical thingies (Matt's new coined word) that would increase my web presence. Since implementing some of the ideas I have learned from AR my ranking has skyrocketed and I have a renewed interest in my website. This in itself, justifies all the … (15 comments)

Outer Banks Real Estate-Average Price Still Holding Steady - 03:21 PM
The market here on the Outer Banks seems to be holding steady with the average sale price only 0.7% off from last year. It's basically flat and with the amount of buyer activity picking up it seems that barring a total collapse the market values will remain flat until the end of the year. In my company the number of showings are as high as they have been all year and it seems to be that way all over the Outer Banks. Will this lead to a flurry of sales over the next few months?? Who knows, buyers seem to still be … (0 comments)

National Foreclosures Up 5 Percent in July - 05:54 AM
Can you imagine my surprise when I read that headline?
The Virginia Association of Realtors® newsletter recently referred to a report published by RealtyTrac regarding the foreclosure rate in Virginia.  Naturally, I had some interest in the subject.  I went to their website and learned quite a bit about our state and others.
The state with the lowest rate was Vermont; one foreclosure for every 147,191 households.  Unfortunately, Colorado ranked highest with one per 480 households.  Mind you these figures are for July 2006.
Interestingly, six states account for 54% of the nation's foreclosures.  Those are Texas, Florida, California, Michigan, Ohio, and Illinois.
This is … (1 comments)

Isn't technology grand? - 03:17 PM
As I sit here waiting for the maintenance work on my Landcruiser to get done it strikes me how wonderful technology can be.
My Treo 650 sits next to me with a bluetooth earpiece on my ear to easily take calls. My Tablet is connected to the internet with my Cingular Broadband UMTS/HSPDA connection (I just tested almost a 1 mb per second connection, this is very exciting as Cingular just turned on the high speed service in the last week or so in Naperville) posting on active rain and occassionaly switching back to the MLS for the incoming inquiries. 
They asked me if … (3 comments)

La Dolce Vita - 03:42 PM
Just got back from a two week vacation in central Italy. Wow! Italy might just be my favorite European country.
Like the typical Real Estate agent, I spent a good part of my career concerned about missing something important if I took the time to go on vacation. In fact, my wife and sons would go on vacation without me and I would join them when I was "able" (with cell phone in hand)
In 2001 I had the opportunity to take a cruise on Holland America's newest ship in the Baltic Sea for twelve days. I asked three different agents to handle various parts of … (5 comments)

"Junior Listing Agreement" - 05:29 PM
When I take a listing with children in the home, I like to use a "junior" listing agreent for them. It makes them become more involved in the transaction and motivates them to keep their rooms in order.
The undersigned, a junior occupant of the residence located at _____________currently listed with RE/MAX Northwest, hereby enters into this "Junior Listing Agreement" WIth Karen Schweinfurth, listing agent for the subject property.
It is hereby agreed between the "Junior Occupant" and "Listing Agent" as follows:
Junior occupant agrees to keep his/her room in "show condition" until the residence is sold. "Show Condition" shal mean:
***All clothes put away … (7 comments)

Service Industry - 10:19 PM
In this day and age of quality customer service, it never ceases to amaze me what little we get from service providers. I am having a problem with my Dell computer freezing on the windows screen upon startup. I called Verizon because I was having trouble with a program on my Treo; however, they referred me to Dell to fix the Windows problem.
After a 35, yes 35 minute wait, I was connected to someone that sounded like a "computer generated voice". He kept repeating his instructions, and my hand was quicker than my ear and we double backed information. After changing … (2 comments)

Personal Property - 12:17 AM
I recently wrote a blog concerning this subject.  Today I want to take it one step further and off in a different direction.  Generally, the purchase of a home includes the purchase of all fixtures, but does not normally include personal property, such as a refrigerator and/or washer/dryer.
If the Buyer wants the refrigerator or washer/dryer, the buyer should check the applicable box on line 40 of the Residential Purchase Contract.  Furthermore, these items should be described more in detail on lines 41-42 of the contract.
But what happens if in the MLS a Seller lists refrigerator and/or washer/dryer conveys with the premises and the Buyer does … (1 comments)

Dual Agency? - 12:29 AM
Some of the agents in my office have had problems with the co-operating agent over Dual Agency issues.
Our office, West USA Premier Properties is a franchise of West USA Realty.  As such we are a separate entity with our own Designated Broker.  The fact that we share a similar name does not mean a cross-sale between the offices creates a Dual Agency.
There are several other Realty Companies with franchises that I'm certain have had this problem.  Let me clear this up very easily for every one:
If the Selling Agent's Broker is NOT same as the Listing Agent's Broker, there is NO … (0 comments)

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