Back on March 30th I wrote a post about my son and his girlfriend and their search to purchase their first home. http://activerain.com/blogsview/1010928/walking-a-mile-in-someone-else-s-shoes-

After all an $8000 tax credit would cover improvements and repairs they might want to make and she had diligently set up a "saving for our house" account as soon as they started working last June, a mere 30 days after graduation. So, they had their own money for closing costs and downpayment. And with FHA rates around 5%, how can you NOT buy a home. Thank you President Obama for the housing stimulus package! Yeah - they were on their way!

Well, the house they offered on had some issues that were more than they were prepared for and so they withdrew from that contract after the home inspection. Not to fear, they were on the right track and knew they would find the right house. They kept in touch with their agent and she sent them new listings, they opened their area of search and price range - they really want to buy and not sign a new lease agreement.

But lo and behold, we have to cancel defense contracts and who needs those new helicopters anyway. So to save money, defense budget costs are being cut - great. See the story here, http://news10now.com/content/all_news/369971/stop-work-order-issued-to-lockheed-martin/Default.aspx But wait, Oh-Oh they both work for Lockheed Martin. Whoops! No more helicopters, oh no, now Lockheed Martin has to cut costs. So, here ya go http://news10now.com/default.aspx?ArID=138246.

So thanks for the $8000, but, what are they supposed to do without a job to get a mortgage with? So now, they can't even take the chance of signing a new lease. Of course this is one small example of why this housing stimulus isn't working as well as it could or should. If we as REALTORS cannot support even our own children and encourage them to buy, how can we, in good conscious, encourage our clients? Anyone else having first hand experience?

How do you budget your time? Are you a to do list groupie or a fly by the seat of your pants?

Do you set certain times of the day for specific tasks? I really wish I could get myself on some kind of schedule and stick to it. Right now I have 2 things I do each week that I have scheduled specific times for and have been able to stick to them. One is a mastermind group - and one is a weekly webinar. And I feel really good each time I finish with these once a week one hour commitments. I have other monthly commitments I meet too, but I'm looking for a really good daily schedule.

Does anyone have a really good daily schedule that you would be willing to share? One that fits your home tasks in as well. Like laundry, dinner, paying bills and cleaning. And do you have any set time during the week that you absolutely do not work - at least do not meet clients? I do not meet anyone before one on a Sunday, and usually don't answer my phone before then either (on Sunday). I also like to keep Mondays open and would rather work on Fridays.

Kind of hand in hand with a schedule is the issue of sleep. Of which most of us probably do not get enough of. Do you run well on 5 hours or do you need a full 8. Since it is 1 am here in NY, you'll probably guess I'm a night owl, but what works best for you? Early to bed early to rise? If you were a night owl and have now converted to being a morning person, what tricks did you use to switch over and do you like it better?

Have a question for agents working with buyers. When you show a home, do you prefer the agent to be in attendance, the seller of the home or no one (lockbox access). Listing agents, what do you typically do? Open the house, have your seller on the premises to either show it or make themselves scarce or have it on lockbox?

As a buyer agent, I really do not care for the listing agent to 'show' the house. And I have been a buyer agent specialist for 2 different agents in the past and worked with a lot of buyers. I have found that most times if the seller was home and stayed in the home and showed the property, my buyer clients were not comfortable and would often go through the house quickly. And many times the seller or agent will say the wrong thing when pointing out a really great feature. You may not know what the buyer is looking for, so pointing out all of the great oak trim to a buyer that was beginng to feel all warm and fuzzy just reminded them that they're going to have to paint all of it.

Let's face it, they either like it or they don't. Is anything you say going to make them buy the house? I know a lot of agents feel it is a great service they provide the seller to be at all showings, but can it be a negative too? Most of my listings are on lockbox and I make sure that all of the important structural and mechanical features of the home are listed on the property brochure. Which reminds me, do you list room sizes on your brochure? Is that part of your MLS information? It is not in Rochester, but I have noticed the Binghamton NY MLS has room dimensions.

Here I am day 3 and already stuck! So here goes. Since sitting at the computer for 10 minutes turns into 2 hours, how do you set limits for time spent on blogging and social media contributions?

Do you follow everyone that follows you on twitter? I was, except for a couple of people that I didn't think seemed appropriate after taking a peek at some of their updates. But then the other day, I actually un-followed someone! They were sending so many tweets that the first 2 pages were almost all of them, and I was looking for something else. I realize there are other ways to get to the updates of people you are interested in, but I just found that so annoying. And what about all of the fake celebrity tweeters? How do you tell the real from the fake? Does anyone know who gossipgirl90 is? Someone named Mandy Moore - I tried to google her, but really didn't get a satisfactory answer, I don't think it is THE Mandy Moore and if it is, why would she follow me?

The other thing about twitter that I obviously must not understand, is when some people are having a chat, you see the little bits and pieces but I feel like I am eavesdropping on a conversation I am not included in. So I ask, how is that supposed to be fun or interesting if you don't have a clue what they're discussing?

So, are you social in the morning, afternoon, evening or late night (that's me) and how much time do you allow yourself.

Funny how I always find something to talk about but sitting down to write something worthwhile that others would be interested in reading is a whole 'nother story.

How about this email subject I received today: looking for East Irondequoit under $90,000. And there have been others for Webster, Fairport and Brighton. We actually have a shortage of inventory. Agents wanting to know about new listings coming up because they have seen everything in the market and they didn't like any of it. But that also says to me that the buyer expectation of what they can buy for the money they choose to spend is skewed. I'm showing 3 homes tomorrow and 1 of them has 3 other showings. Price, under $115,000. This still buys a nice house. Raised ranch, almost 2000 SF with a 2 car attached garage on a 79x175 lot. But the total school, town & county taxes on that will run around $4700 a year.

It's the taxes that are killing us in Rochester (Monroe County). If someone was to purchase my 1.2 acre $849,900 Lake Ontario listing, the taxes would potentially be $31,702 a year. This of course keeps our prices down.

I would love to know how we stack up against taxes in other parts of the country. Well, I did it! 2 days in a row. Now if I could just diet along with blogging that would really be something.

Well, here I am 10:52 PM. Have been at this laptop almost all day. Why is it I can't fit everything in? And now, I am going to add one more thing to my to do list. Blogging every day for 21 days. Have to make it a habit. That and better time management. I just bought one of those really big round clocks with the white face and black frame, like the ones in school. I am serious, I really did. Didn't hang it yet - has to be 6' away from the computer. Since I want to re-arrange the office, not sure where the computer will end up. What was I sayng? Oh yes, too many things to do.

My head is filled with keywords, ad words, search terms, seo, google, twitter, facebook (never got around to that today!) and the like. But, it is really energizing! Reading other blogs is amazing, the sharing of ideas and encouragement is astounding - and from people that don't fare much better than used car salesmen on the consumer "who not to trust" scale. The real estate community is such a caring group of people and very, very funny? Who would have ever thought? I could spend all day here, but, then I'd never fit everything in.

Well, have to go and read the blogs I've just subscribed too. Leapfish anyone?

Hel-lo! Don't you just love these comments on your listings? And I'm not talking about the buyer's. I'm talking about the agents showing your listings.

This is not an agent bash - I think it is a result of how we now work with buyers. In the old days we'd sit over the computer and pour over the printouts (how many of us remember the printed cards and then the big books?) to find houses that suited the buyers needs. Now we set them up on an email, they look at the list, call, text or email - I want to see this and this and this. We dutifully call and schedule the appointments. Only to find out, it's too small, too big, not the right place. If we did a better job of reviewing the printouts for the obvious information and review it with the buyer, we could eliminate a waste of everyone's time and not cause seller's to be disappointed over and over again.

My favorite is, if only it didn't have this (perceived flaw) my buyer would love it. But if it didn't have that perceived flaw - it would be worth $xx,xxx MORE! If it was updated to the nines, not on the corner, had a bigger garage, whatever, your buyer could not afford it! I think this problem is caused by too many agents not knowing their market and letting the buyer intimidate them.

Quite a few years ago I had a listing on the corner of a busy street. The agent had the nerve to go to the door, tell the seller that the buyer did not want to see the house because of the busy corner, and she should tell her agent that the corner lot should be in the listing. I was furious because it WAS in the listing with the busy street being listed as the closest street.

Well, I have to go, my buyer is calling . . .

Just wondering how many consumers and real estate professionals assume (ugh!) that if something is included in the listing and the brochure, that is is still included if the offer comes in under the offered list price? It seems to me that there are many people that don't understand this and are surprised when an item is countered out, or, if the agent forgot to ask for it, just plain gone at the walk through.

If the appliances are offered with the house at $249,900 and your offer is for anything less, here in Rochester, you'd better be asking for those appliances in your offer - I always include them if offered in the listing no matter what the price being offered so there is no misunderstanding. Same with window treatments and the like.

Point being, if you want something make sure to put it in writing even if it is in the offered listing. If a buyer client wants to ask for furniture in the offer, I usually discourage this as I have had many sellers very offended when offers come in asking for these types of furnishings. I am not a used appliance or used furniture salesperson - please don't ask me what it's worth.

What is typical in your area?

So, here I sit catching up on the work of the day, hoping I really am not acting like a first time home buyer parent! But, alas, I am in Rochester NY and they are in Endicott NY and as much as I'd like to be in control, I don't know the market there.

So, about 10 days ago I went on a REALTOR search. Found someone that I really liked (OK, so I liked her face!) and her web site. She's also a RE/MAX agent, so that made me happy. Gave her a call, and referred, my baby, my pride and joy! All 5'10 240 lbs, ex-college football player of him and his beautiful, smart, hardworking (yes, I am kissing up, my mother didn't raise a fool) significant other to this great agent. And off to look at homes they went.

But, the $120,000 they wanted to spend was not giving them the kind of home they wanted (sound familar?). So, they saw a couple they kind of liked - each liked a different one, but not enough to really consider. So, this past Saturday searching all of the home internet sites (like, how often do we tell our buyers, if I didn't send it to you, it's not in your price range!) they found the home of their dreams at only $149,900. And guess who has it listed? You guessed right. So, they called her, she had not told them about it because it's $30K more than they wanted to spend. We talked it over, looked at the pics and info, they knew the location and I encouraged them to go and see it.

Long story short (who am I kidding?) they went on Sunday, loved it. On Monday the mortgage rep relooked at their numbers, they can do it. So we spent the day on the phone talking it through because the agent is now a dual agent. Trying to think of all of the things I always do and say with my first time home buyers to make sure they are comfortable with the process, understand everything. Reviewing sales comps (heaven help me, I looked at Zillow!) and trying to give them advice without stepping all over their agents toes! What to remember to ask, put in the contract, negotiate for, inspections, etc. and encourage them at the same time because they really don't want to rent anymore. So, their REALTOR went to their apartment to write the offer (did I mention he is down and out with a really bad flu strain?) wrote the offer, presented it to her seller clients and they accepted! They are so happy and I keep thinking . . .what did I forget? And can I come to the inspection?

OK, so last weekend I had offers on 2 listings, and wrote an offer for a buyer client. This weekend, no one at the open house on Sunday and no calls in the past 10 days on a new listing at an affordable price point of $160,000.

And why do some homes get lots of calls and showings but no offers and others no calls at all. We used to say, the answer is the same - overpriced! But I don't think that's the case anymore. It seems now patience is a virute and you have to advise sellers they just have to wait for the buyer to step up to the plate. There are just fewer of them and unless selling is an absolute MUST, they need to hang in there.

I have a listing - really beautiful, priced aggressively - 3 weeks ago an offer came in 13% under asking and last week same home received an offer 2.5% under asking from a stronger buyer. Both offers written by other agents @ different companies.

I think sincere buyers want to buy and will still pay a fair price for a good home. The others are just trying to steal a home they really cannot afford.

Well, back to my listings . . . have to figure out how to get these sold.