One sultry summer night, it was warm enough for an open window with a fan, but not so warm for use of air conditioning. I laid there enjoying the sound  of the crickets and was just about to drifting off to sleep, when a very unpleasant smell wafted in thru my windows and jolted me fully awake. The smell was so overwhelming there was no sleeping for me anytime soon until it thoroughly dissipated. I knew what it was immediately but there was nothing I could do about it.

 The summer had been so pleasant  at night there was no need to put my air conditioning unit in yet and it was not something I was going to do about it at that hour.Sleep alluded me most of that night. So in order to avoid this nightly assault I will be forced to give up the peaceful lull of the crickets and listen to the drone of an air conditioner at night. Not only an annoying thing, but also a costly adjustment on my part, but needed to get a restful night's sleep.

 The smell was from my neighbor's cigarette and her husband's very strong and smelly cigar. Their air conditioning was humming, so apparently they had stepped out on their balcony to smoke instead of smoking up their own home. How considerate of them, NOT.  Their back yard borders on my side yard, and it is a considerable distance, but the smoke does travel.  

This is a theme that seems to be universal. I read about it on real estate boards where owners are bothered by smokers on their baloneys. I read it on cruise discussion boards where people in balcony cabins have to keep their sliding doors closed to keep the smoke out from the adjacent cabins. And  of course from workers when they have to walk passed the cloud of smoke from their colleagues who are huddled outside. So then there are arguments about smoker's rights vs non smokers rights. But really who has the right to the air? When I indulge in my own vices, they never impinge on anyone else's air, aura or rights in general. so the question is, I own the property and what I do on it is private, but who owns the air?

Why is it that some homeowners say they want their home sold, but then go out of their way to work against you? At first you haggle over the listing price and say, let's try this price for awhile. Since the price is not horribly off, you agree, well we will see and after a month is up, we will need to reduce the pricing if we get no showings. This is agreed on. We also mention, it is important the home be as accessible as possible.You take the listing in spite of misgivings because it is a well maintained beautiful home and you know it will sell eventually.

So we market the home and set up the open house, and this was also a hassle. Excuses are:" Well this weekend we are having company, next weekend is ok, but 3 hours is too long, and it needs to be earlier in the day and shorter." The open house comes and goes, too few buyers because of the timing in the day, not one bit of interest, all comments wind up being, nice home, too high. We pass this along only to hear, well it is too early and they do not know what they are talking about.

The month passes, and only one showing and agent showing it had to jump the hoops to get in. Grandma is home alone and gets scared, we can only show it when someone is with her. Again feedback is, nice home, too high. Mind you a home you listed at the same time has already had 2 dozen showings and 2 offers. And this is a home in need of major work, but reasonable sellers. Now we go back armed with all sorts of regional data showing how prices are still dropping we need to be in line with the trend. 

We mention a NEW home in the area is the same price and older homes can not compete.You hear excuses like well the local newspaper says prices are not falling, and our home has xxx features, and oh by the way why aren't you bringing any buyers, only one person has come.

 We show financial news and reports.

Mortgage Bankers Association: 2011 "The housing market may not stabilize until the first quarter of 2011." Business Week: 2012 - "With any luck, three years should be long enough for the U.S. economy to recover and for the nation's housing inventory to shrink to more normal levels." FHFA Price Decline Study: 2010 - "Indexes suggest that the time from peak to bottom tends to be about 3¾ years, whereas the median recovery period (from bottom to prior peak) was 6? years." Case Schiller Future Price Index (as of 6/09): May 2010

And then come the questions and comments: Did you put up signs directional showing the way to the house?(???????? even a new agent knows to do this.)Why don't we get any feedback. (Every feedback that has come back negative is ignored or refuted.) You of course can not be doing a good job, people should be flocking to this home. In response, you bring up other home listed at the same time, that was marketed the same way with different results (now in contract), but you hear, well it is a different area, you can not compare. We think it is too soon to drop the price we will wait another 2 months.

Two months pass, 3 showings, one a repeat. Get feedback from showing agents (when they actually return you calls or emails).Wonderful home, to high because it needs updating. You ask us to ask the agent to ask the buyer to justify their comments. (Hmm they saw a house down the street for less, just as nice and more updated.)

We even go so far as making a buyer survey asking each buyer that comes thru the door about condition and price, all say the same. Too much money, lovely house, but overpriced. Now you want know to why they said this and maybe we should call them and make them justify the comments.

We send them more data, local reports, newly solds and listed on MLS, and no response.

Money Magazine told their readers on 6/30/09: "To sell your home fast, you're going to have to dip 10% to 15% below what comparable homes in your neighborhood recently sold for. You still may not be able to compete with foreclosures and short sales, but at least you stand a chance of getting buyers to notice your listing." Talk to your agent about your price today!

Are you really sure you want to sell this house? If you are then you need to know:

Agents do not control the Market, Buyers do.

You are competing with other sellers.

Home must be easily accessible.

Listen to your agent.

Don't be stubborn about the price, or your house may sit for months and months with no offers. The longer it sits on the market, the staler it becomes.

You want to sell your home in a buyers' market? Then listen to the price your agent suggests, even if you think it should be higher.

Here is an article we all need to read, our health is an important aspect of our job:

It amazes me how many people buying homes know "someone in the business"  or family members who know a little about everything, who they drag along to see a house with them. These are people who think they know everything about buying selling and or conditions of homes. in most cases it only makes things worse.  

For instance we took a friend of a friend out to look for a home for a very long time. When they found a home they like they brought in their "pit bull"  to look over and criticize the homes ( a ploy to overshadow the fact that they grossly underbid on every house). While this man had some knowledge he was no home inspector and talked them out of homes that sold within days of their seeing it, and of course for a much higher price than they were offering. After awhile of this they stopped bringing him, but by that time, I no longer wanted to waste my time with them as clients.

  Next case, a friend of my partner was looking for a home and wanted something near and similar to their parents' home. All seemed innocent in the beginning, but when the parents came along, all we heard was how much better THEIR HOME WAS. After some time they find a house around the corner form the parents, same style, just needed a little updating, but the price was good for the condition. They made an offer, it was accepted and then came the inspection ( by the most stringent inspector we know). Inspector finds NOTHING wrong, but he father then chimes in with it will take XXX dollars to bring it up to the quality of his home, and said they could not afford it. So the deal was nixed, and then again at that point we stopped showing them homes.  

 Last case was this week, new buyer finds a house they love (well at least the woman does). Fiance drags uncles along to inspection. Uncles pour over the house even before inspector gets going. 1/2 hour later they announce house is falling apart from water damage, information not corroborated by inspector and leave. I talk to inspector, who by the way did not get paid for his time, and did not agree with the information they used to back out of the deal. Did the home need work, yes, it was old and needed a real face-lift. But it was not falling down either. They did not want to hear what inspector had to say. Needless to say we will not show them any additional homes.  

When I owned my bridal shop I saw the mother of the bride do similar things to the brides who would not stand up to them.So if I bride asked for my advice, I would tell her to keep the family out of it until she had reached a decision. I say the same for buying a house, wait until the ink is dry then bring in the family. When you buy a home, the only people who need to love it is the people who are going to live in it.

I know when we list a home a sign is expected, but some homeowners do not want them. Many times the reason is that they do not want the neighbors to know ( gee the Open house did not give them a clue, or the parade of realtors comings and going was not another gve away?) But one homeowner gave me pause to wonder last week with the reason she gave me.

She is 92 and home alone during the day, her daughter lives with her and she does not go out unless a friend or family member takes her out. She is very skittish and we have scheduled showings only when her daughter is home or they are away. For an open house her daughter will take her out of the house to visit friends.  SHE does not want the sign because she is afraid someone might knock on her door and she is afraid of vandals if they know the home is on sale. I certainly would never do anything to make a homeowner uncomfortable and do anything and everything to make the transition as smooth and as trouble free as possible. And I know older residents have a hard enogh time dealing with the thought of selling their lifelong home.

What are your feelings on this and have you ever come across anyone who feels like this?

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First Time Home Buyer? Selling or Buying? Refinancing?

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7 P.M.

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   I am sure everyone has dealt with one. It starts out nice enough, you take them out and then it slowly goes downhill as they bring along others for advice, like Moms & Dads and so on. And of course they all have their opinions on what is perfect. So one after one lovely houses are rejected for "street noises" "to close to the railroad", "not close enough to there railroad", "needs too much work", "price to high". Some reasons are legit, others off the wall. But hey this is a "buyer's market" and they want the perfect house at the perfect price.  Translate: get a bargain.

  You are almost ready to tell them to take a hike especially after making low-ball offers on perfectly priced houses. (So low that you were embarrassed to even tell the sellers) But then magically that one perfect house appears that fits everything they want and need. Even the Moms and Pops all like it,  even the price.  

So offer is made and accepted. Now comes in the dreaded engineer. You hate to hear if anything might be wrong, but wait the engineer says house is in good shape for it's age; everything is in working order, nothing will need replacing for a number of years. Well that seems wonderful. OH OH, Dad was along and owns a similar house a few blocks away and interjects." Well I hope you have enough money  to bring it up to  shape. After all he did say a new roof and boiler will be needed down the road and look how dated things are and on and on". Poof all gone in a minute.  

Now you counsel them, show them other homes on the same block are indeed more updated but are also $100,000 to $200,000 more. Plus decent mortgage quotes you have today may not be so decent next month so on and so on.  Mortgage rep is called to confirm the great rate will only be great for the next few days. So they huddle. OK we still want it, but lower the offer  another $20,000 and see what they say. Your jaw drops. House has only been on the market a short time and you know it can easily get the price they offered.

NOW What?  

Yes, we will call the other agent with the ridiculous news, but I am of a mind to stop taking them out as their expectations are not realistic, but we also know that sooner or later they will buy. But is it worth it? And by the way they have been looking for a LONG time. My partner is friends with the wife and feels the need to keep on going, but I know even he is pretty aggravated right now.

Well now we have a new thing to caution our buyer's about, Radon in their countertops. New studies show that granite countertops may contain varying amounts of radon. And we know whow the first question we are asked is, are the countertops granite?

 But the data shows they may emit worrisome levels of radon and radiation, granite is known to contain radioactive uranium, which emits radon gas as it decays.  While the little we are exposed to on a daily basis is generally small compared to other sources, the problem grows, so why the concern? Well as demand for granite countertops grows and sources never used before are now tapped, some may come from places with higher amounts of uranium in them. 

So far a small number of countertops have been found to emit radiation at a level that could conceivably pose a health risk. Not all countrertops have high levels, but there are varying ways of testing them to determine their levels. And while no one at this time suggests they be replaced, why let your buyers be blind to the possible dangers? As simple solution as making sure the area is very well ventilated. But the bottom line is now we have some new issues we may have to research for our buyers.

Wherever I give out my ECO bags for my GO green campaign I get great responses!  On my run yesterday I ran out of bags to disrubute as I only carried so many with me. I will know better for next time. There are more and more people out there  that want to GO GREEN!

We have started a GO GREEN promotion and we are starting off by giving out seedling packages. Then we have recycled grocery totes for customers to use instead of paper or plastic bags. We can send them to you direct if you contact us.

We have also started a GO GREEN page on our website: Http://NewHorizonsRealtyTeam.com. We are adding resources adn linkjs to Green information and will be updated on a regualr basis.

So we have started Join us!