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If you are a PC owner, then it is for you. Mac crowd in computer terms is already in paradise (LOL)
I was feeling crummy yesterday, so I was working from home when I got a call from my contractor. The tile I'd picked for a pre-listing project wasn't available, so I needed to pick another right away. My sick stomach got a little worse: the house is supposed to be ready to list in a week and the bathroom isn't done? Darn, darn, darn.
With the preponderance of buyers beginning their search for a home online, it's amazing how many agents fail to give their homeowners the benefit of a well written description and the best quality, wide angle photos they can when showcasing the property. What the photos don't show often speaks volumes to a prospective purchaser. Missing in a number of listings is the kitchen, or master bedroom, or baths, suggesting they're very outdated, or dismal or too small. Some real estate agents rush to get photos taken and displayed on the MLS, not considering their impact on the consumer. They're often dark, unattractive, with uninviting … (35 comments)
Decks, especially those that are high off the ground, can be extremely unsafe. They are likely to be homebrew affairs with missing or inadequate guardrails, steps or handrails. Those are the more obvious issues. But often the problems with decks are more subtle -- poor attachment to the home, no ledger board flashing and rot at connectors, poor connections at joists, posts and all structural members. If you put all of this together, you have a deck that is slowly moving toward the eve of destruction.
Before the month of September started, there were signals to remind me of the upcoming Fall Season. Believe it or not, we have a little bit of a cooling off here in Hawaii during the Fall Season too. Yuk yuk. Needless to say, each of the seasons may depict a certain theme and I see the Fall Season as a means for CHANGE. 
Dear Home Seller, On behalf of ourselves and our real estate industry, we have a small request for you. We're here to serve YOU, but when you make that decision about who to hire to list your home, could you let us know? We're professionals, we won't yell, scream, question your heritage or anything like that! We're not saying it's rude not to let the agents know who didn't get your listing, but we're all human...we're curious, we'd like to have closure! When you decide to use another agent to list your home, we understand! We may be disappointed, but we … (109 comments)
Every day...more and more...I am finding that conventional sources of Real Estate data are not current or accurate. Some take data and repeat it not realizing the harm that they contribute due to misinformation. Not so on ActiveRain.....live reporting, sharing and exchange...rules the day 
A recent inspection proved interesting. Aren't they all? This was a house purchased on auction and remodeled. I don't know if that qualifies as a flip, but probably.
Hi folks. Today I want to clear up one big misunderstanding about the Equator.com system. For those of you that aren't familiar with Equator, Equator is the online portal that Bank of America and GMAC use to help expedite their short sales. Quite often I hear from agents, buyers and sellers that......"Equator accepted our offer" or "Equator denied our short sale." In fact, here's a question I pulled off of www.ShortSaleSuperStars.com this morning.
House hunting is one of the part of my job I love best. Two weeks ago, some Buyer clients and I were in a particular neighborhood where it seemed every home was staged. No detail was overlooked. Pillows arranged on sofas and beds, just so. Towels immaculate in their alignment in each bathroom. Tables set for imaginary meals. House hunting was made all the more pleasant by the attention to detail of each and every home owner.
Can you believe this? Curtis Brooks posted on FB-from Cicero 55 BC: "The budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled, public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed lest Rome become bankrupt. People must again learn to work instead of living on public assistance." ---Cicero, 55 BC 
So, it's Sassy Sunday. I've had a nail in my tire today, and I have a burr under my saddle pad.
A while back an agent in my office asked if I would be willing to spend some time with her. She asked me to explain how to do a daily real estate blog and show her what I do online. While it may seem to some that everybody is online these days, I know that they aren't. Especially older real estate agents, which tend to make up most of the population of any given real estate office. But I like to help people when I can, so I agreed to talk with this agent.
Let me preface my remarks by making it clear that, all things being equal, I'd choose an agent from my own town over an agent half the county away...if all things were equal.
We toured a home that had many updates from a new concrete driveway to updated kitchen and our buyers were excited about the further changes that they could make to make it "their own" from wall colors to flooring choices.
When someone is in the throws of a buying a home, it usually takes front and center in terms of their attention. Quite naturally, people talk with their friends and family about the process and what they're experiencing along the way. And while most of those people are trying to be helpful, occasionally they have the unintended consequence of creating additional fear and anxiety in the would-be home owner.
Carlsbad Sellers - Are You Jeopardizing Your Negotiations? Or Sharing Private Information Without Realizing it? 
Not in this gentleman's case. In broad day light!
… (42 comments)
As Realtors, we have an obligation to respect the homes of people that allow us entry. Too many agents carry little consideration for the owners and are too careless with the way they leave the homes as they leave.
I wrote a post a couple of days ago about a low-ball offer I wrote for a buyer that was rejected in the most visual way. Some nincompoop suggested it for a feature and to date I have over 80 hysterical comments. The post was about my buyer's offer being rejected by the seller using a rubber stamp ... Rejected by Seller.
I really do not relish listing the homes of couples who are undergoing a divorce. These are people that are already going through a traumatic and unpleasant time and adding the stress of selling a home can greatly enhance anxieties of all parties concerned. Frequently, other Realtors have regaled me with horror stories of divorcing couples where one soon-to-be-ex spouse outright sabotages any prospects of an interested buyer. As a Realtor, it is our obligation to treat each of the divorcing spouses with equal respect, and not get involved in the drama unfolding with the dissolution of a marriage. 
Today, I'm feeling thankful and reflective. Not sure why. The seasons are changing . . . I love Fall.
Wow! I was surprised at the response to starting the new group HyperLocal Neighborhood and Community Posts! It was great to see so many join and submit their fantastic Hyperlocal posts! If you are searching for a group for you HyperLocal posts then please, come check us out - we'd LOVE to have you!
Is this a down time for you or a time to improve yourself, your business and your odds of closing the deal?
You probably have had this happen at some point in your career, although perhaps not in this most current market downswing. Sellers prepare a property for sale listening intently to their Realtor regarding staging tips, de-cluttering, accommodating buyers' requests for showing times, and ultimately establishing a price point for the listing. In fact, the price point is confirmed by a second and third agent, all of whom are in general agreement. 
Last week was interesting. The high point was a settlement out in Loudoun County that turned into about a dozen great ideas for blog posts. I found out someone right in my reasonably fashionalbe neighborhood has bed bugs, and I still managed to find fifteen posts that I found worthy of mention. Oh, and I arbitrarily changed one of my own rules. If I find something totally great from a previous week that I missed, and if it wasn't featured by the Gold Star Pixie, I might include it. So here goes!
A lot has been written here about the conversational aspect of blogging here on ActiveRain. I have even written posts about how I think that this is one of the things that is fundamental and special about blogging on AR. But what happens, when as in an actual conversation, someone has a bit too much to say and knows it all?
Happy Birthday To Me ~ Today I'm 3...Who wudda thunk it. Today, I've turned 3. 3 years ago today, I was the low man on the totem pole. Being the new kid in town, is akin to being the loneliest number. Needless to say, the view from the bottom was spectacular. I had a lot of great bloggers to look up to for inspiration, guidance and friendship. For someone who didn't have 2 coherent thoughts to rub together, blogging resembled learning to ride a bicycle with no training wheels. After a few spectacular crashes, I was peddling through the blogisphere. Look … (73 comments)
I have used buyer letters for several of my first time homebuyers this year, all with success in convincing the seller to accept a slightly lower than market offer. I think that putting a personal touch such as a buyer letter telling the seller about what they love about the home can really help to personalize the offer. 
As my regular readers know, I'm kinda of a technology junkie. I can't get enough of the techno stuff. Most recently, I've been trying to learn everything there is to know about Google. Yes, I bit into that cookie and can't stop. In the process of learning, I discovered I don't know half as much as I thought I did. I thought that as long as I delete LSO's (Local Shared Objects), I'd be served clean, shiny Google results for our business. Not true. Although, deleting LSO's will help you get more accurate Google results, you have to take it one … (77 comments)
I am so enthralled by watching the "hummer wars" unfold around my hummingbird feeders. They are a constant source of amusement, inspiration, and admiration. Watching the territorial displays and defense of the feeder from all comers by these diminutive demons can be both entertaining, and educational... The Hummingbird Marketing Plan... Take notes, it's important stuff!
I had an open house at a beautiful two year old house yesterday. It was a waste of time. There is new construction still going on and the model house is next door so I thought some of the buyers would come in but no one did. In fact I only saw one car at the new construction .
Brookdale Farm Stand, Hollis New Hampshire - What's Being Picked?
Listing of Sunday’s Open Houses from I-Tech MLS
Short Sales in Discovery Bay
It's a great time to move up to a new larger home or just to buy a new home. If you are considering selling your home, remember while you may not be selling at the highest point in the marrket since prices are down, but you are also buying another home that has depreciated also, esentially trading one apple for another apple, and the larger the new apple the greater the amount of savings if both have depreciated the same percentage in this market.
Northeast Los Angeles is home to some truly excellent local bloggers.
Colorful Feast Following the Fast
September, 2010 Real Estate Report
Beat the Sunday Blues
This 1966 Stately built home is on Nampa's south side and offers 5 bedrooms, 3.5 baths, 2 kitchens, a wonderful rec room in the daylight basement & a fabulous in-ground POOL!%20copy_med%20edited-2.jpg?1358721140)
The British Invasion in Stowe, Vermont - September 17-19, 2010
Disclaimer: ActiveRain Corp. does not necessarily endorse the real estate agents, loan officers and brokers listed on this site. These real estate profiles, blogs and blog entries are provided here as a courtesy to our visitors to help them make an informed decision when buying or selling a house. ActiveRain Corp. takes no responsibility for the content in these profiles, that are written by the members of this community.
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