The Financing Race is ON!! - 07/31/08 10:12 PM
OK everyone do you and your clients have your running shoes on!  I have been speaking with different mortgage bankers and with the new LAW that was just signed into effect the FHA downpayments are going to be going bye bye.  That is going to be putting a real damper on some of builders out there that are relaying on those first time home buyers say the condo market.  The buyers are going to have to have a load of documentation of to show where all the money comes from.  The gravy train is coming to a halt.  I am sure … (3 comments)

Wonderfully Warm large townhome in established community - 07/30/08 08:51 PM
… (0 comments)

Lazy agents UPDATE YOUR LISTINGS - 07/30/08 07:46 PM
OK how many times have you gone all the way out with your client to a home and the client loves the home.  Then while showing it you talk strategy about the offer you are going to make.  Both of you leave the house thinking this is the one.  In the mean time you have called the listing agent twice already. An hour or two later you get THE CALL.   "Oh I am sorry that went under contract yesterday"  I mean come on people how hard is it.  First no response, second you can't even keep up with your listings.  So … (12 comments)

Pictures are worth a thousand words UNLESS they are bad pictures. - 07/30/08 08:11 AM
OK everyone knows me a little by now and that I try to show a professional image in every aspect of my work.  I recently took over a listing and just wanted to share with you the difference that it makes when you have an agent running around with a cheap point and shoot camera and then you have a professional photographer come in and shoot the same home. You also have to move everything and clean up before each shot but, you do want that excellent picture don't you?
   Old picture of the deck
       
New Picture of the … (12 comments)

Buyers remorse deals left undone. - 07/29/08 05:06 PM
OK so maybe it is just a good lessoned learned.  At least that is the way I use a lost deal to educate a buyer.  Yes, there are so many deals out there but, in my area in Greensboro, North Carolina at least there are alot of buyers out there in the 100K to 180K range. The investors are on the prowl to under 100K.  So when one of my buyers likes a property but continues to look and then someone else comes along and buys that home.  Now begins the lesson.  Once we see the home and they express interest the teaching … (8 comments)

New Mortgage Legislation and your marketing approach. - 07/29/08 07:19 AM
I have already been talking to a mortgage banker about doing buyer seminars in relation to the new legislation that is coming out.  With such caveats as the $7,500 credit for first-time homebuyers that will basically give them an interest free loan that would be repaid over 15 years.  Then there is the $3.92 billion to the states to buy up the abandoned and foreclosed homes and residential properties. 
The bill will raise the FHA limits in high cost areas (which is not Greensboro, NC), but it will allow the FHA to extend the loan term to 40 years and to … (2 comments)

Active Rain and your online and offline exposure. - 07/28/08 10:26 PM
I will admit when I first jumped on Active Rain not too long ago I was unsure as to what the Rain would do for my business.  Guess what I now know.  I now routinely get calls from agents, people moving to town, and I am basically getting cold called!  How is that for a switch.  No cold calling for me they call me.  I got a call last week from someone that simply read some of my blogs and then he also saw me on Trulia.  So he called me about his real estate deal and what he should do.  … (16 comments)

What is your word worth to you? - 07/25/08 10:10 PM
Have you run into the unscrupulous type?  I went on a listing appointment today and the client to be is still listed with another agent.  I was first contacted by the sellers a few days ago when they called to ask me to come meet with them.  He explained that he was presently listed with another agent but, that the listing was about to expire.  I explained to them that I could talk to them (since he contacted me) but, we could not do any contracts or move forward on anything until his listing contract had expired or he had them … (11 comments)

I NEED a really great website! - 07/25/08 09:51 PM
OK all my fellow rainmakers.  I really need a great website.  I have been working with and trying to get a new website up and running.  The only problem is my "web designer" is doing this on the side and while he is an excellent IT person he has a fulltime IT job.  So while I have not wanted to go with a "site in a box" I am at the point where I am in definite need of something.  So I am asking everyone who they use and who they got to do their website.  I mean I need a … (14 comments)

Greensboro, North Carolina turns 200 and AR gets 100!! - 07/25/08 09:35 PM
Congratulations to Activerain for achieving 100,000 members from Greensboro the city that is turning 200 this year.  On this date in our 200 year birthday in the grand ole year of 1960 (my birth year) the sit-in protests by hundreds of students and residents at the Woolworth and Kress stores on S. Elm Street downtown Greensboro ended peacefully. By the stores giving in and integrating their lunch counters on this day in history. Three Woolworth employees were the first to sit down and eat at the store's lunch counter.
So with a very temperate climate and in the middle of everything this is … (0 comments)

Diversify your skills Learn a new language! - 07/25/08 07:10 PM
I guess I fell into the language skills by my past careers.  I use to own my own restaurants and when I first started out I was working for others.  Way back when I worked for a Japanese family in a tourist location.  Now in order to communicate with many of the staff I had to start learning Japanese.  In order to call the owner's home (which the elderly mother lived in)  you had to speak Japanese since the matriarch of the family the mother spoke no English.  Well a little; when you called the house if you spoke English she … (0 comments)

Everyone's watching! What is the market doing here! - 07/23/08 09:29 PM
OK AR let's here how many times a day do you get asked how is the market?  I get this wonderful conversation starter several times a day.  Hey jackpot I went in for my physical and who asked me, MY DOCTOR!  He is not ready to sell but, I could tell how attentive he was to my answer.  I love those open ended questions it is like SELL ME!   I don't fluff or blow smoke I will tell them how it is.  This is the first step to winning their trust.  The intelligent client will appreicate it and value you.  Otherwise … (10 comments)

Wanna Make a Deal? Listing vs Buying - 07/23/08 08:42 PM
I had a rather spirited conversation the other day with some agents that we will say are primarily "listing" agents.  We were in a discussion of the local real estate market and the "mood out there".   Well I think the first verbal jab was thrown that the depression of the market values of some neighborhoods is the fault of the "buyers" agents.  They basically said that the buyer's agents out there are beating the prices down with their negotiating.  Now not to be cold hearted or anything I am both, I have listings and buyers.  I have actually shifted business now to … (6 comments)

Men Can Cook in Greensboro, North Carolina! Certainly when it is for a good cause. - 07/21/08 10:22 PM
The Women's Resource Center of Greensboro is throwing the 7th Annual Men Can Cook Fundraiser.  So we gather 50 men from the Greensboro Triad area and dazzle the crowd with our culinary prowess.  A Silent Auction, and a Chef Cook off are just part of the show. 
So at the Greensboro Coliseum on Saturday, August 2nd I get to be one of the fifty showing our various culinary skills.  I am just rather torn as to what to prepare.  I have thought maybe mini cheesecakes and an entree of some type.  Now I have to prepare enough for 400 people.  Now … (2 comments)

How to Buy a home = WORK BACKWARDS! - 07/19/08 03:29 PM
So you want to buy a home eh. We need to backwards engineer this process to help you realize what you need versus what you want as well as what you can afford versus what the bank will lend you.  So do you know how much you can borrow to buy your palace?  So first off get pre-qualified to see what you will be allowed to buy!
Ok now that we know what the bank will let you borrow now how much can you really afford?  I mean do you want to live off PBJ sandwiches and EasyMac's?  Be realistic in your budget to allow … (3 comments)

Ethic's is no one paying attention? - 07/19/08 02:52 PM
I have run into a number of issues that I have posted on in the past.  I know our commission cannot be everywhere all the time but, time after time I hear and experience questionable acts that sometime boogle the mind.  We have an agent now in our office that is being threatened and this broker (I use this term loosely with this person)  has called and threatened her client and her own.  I am basically dumbfounded.  Of course we have kicked this one upstairs and if this person keeps their license it would be a miracle.  I believe they said … (10 comments)

The Kirkwood Neighborhood in Greensboro, NC an old fashioned close knit community - 07/16/08 09:36 AM
The Kirkwood neighborhood is one of the older established communities within the metro area of Greensboro.  On quiet streets these adorable little homes thrive with young families and older residents that take care of their area with pride.   The residents walk their children and their pets through the quiet streets and stop and talk with their neighbors just like neighborhoods use to be. Recently Walgreens decided to try and put one of their twenty-four hour stores on the outside corner of this thriving neighborhood by way of slipping in because of the cities future use plan for the corridor along Lawndale … (0 comments)

Greensboro, NC adds another Jewel for the family! - 07/14/08 03:43 PM
Proehlific Park is now open!  Ricky Proehl of the Carolina Panthers has opened a state of the art sports facility for the youth of Greensboro.  On Jessup Grove Road in Northern Greensboro a brand new sports training facility for just kids has emerged.  There is 60,000 square feet of training space for indoor activities.  This includes a full size 70 yard indoor turf field, three basketball courts and volleyball courts, a weight room and an academic center.  You see Ricky does not just want to train these kids he wants them ready for college.  Then you have the outdoor areas of … (0 comments)

Irving Park in Greensboro, NC Where your biggest investment should be your safest. - 07/14/08 02:47 PM
I live and work in Irving Park here in Greensboro, North Carolina and truly love the feeling and serenity of a well established solid neighborhood.  A peaceful setting nestled around the Greensboro Country Club just minutes from everything.  This is a place where we all walk our dogs, go running, walking, or biking on all then slow paced wide streets and greenways with fantastic homes all around.
When most everyone else has seen some drop in home values we have escaped the turmoil that seems rampant in most major metropolitan areas.  The homes here in Old Irving Park are mostly older … (0 comments)

See Greensboro's Passionate side. - 07/10/08 09:48 PM
 
To show a passionate side of Greensboro there are many places to look.  One that I know of personally and am involved with is the Greyhound Friends of North Carolina.  We have satellite facilities across the state but, our main kennel is right outside Greensboro in the wonderful suburb of Oak Ridge.   We can house up to forty of these "gentle giants".  I personally have four of these wonderfully gentle creatures.  As you can see here Dusty my first hound loves playing with my youngest. 
                          
These hounds are amazingly loving even after what some of them have … (2 comments)

Localism.com trying to get in but, it's not happening HELP? - 07/09/08 04:20 PM
I have written several blogs that I have tried to aim to Localism and for some reason I have only seen one there.   I just wrote a new one for people relocating to the area and it is not even there.   I know AR is still working on the site but, I am trying to get on the site and for some reason it is not happening.  Of course not to complain but the errors I get even on AR today are a little frustrating.  I understand about doing new things and I am very appreciative of the website but, I … (4 comments)

Welcome to the TRIAD! - 07/09/08 10:34 AM
For all those of you not familiar with the Triad we are the three municipalities of Greensboro, Winston Salem and High Point as well as twelve counties.  The Triad is consistently ranked as one of the best places to live in the United States and to do business. We are always attracting new business such as Hondajet and the new FEDEX hub.  So come see why so many others have joined us here being right between the best of two worlds.  The mountains are less then an hour away and the beach is only a few hours away. I live in Greensboro and … (0 comments)

Welcome one of the Newest members Becky St. Amour Decroce - 07/08/08 06:43 AM
Good morning AR!  Let's all say welcome to Becky St Amour-Decroce.  Becky is a top selling agent with Coldwell Banker here in the great Triad of North Carolina. Originally from Florida Becky is like me a very hard worker and passionate about getting the best for her clients.  
I have been singing AR's praises and convinced Becky to join up and jump right into the Activerain pool.  I know she will be a benefit and she has some wonderful ideas and creative marketing techniques.
 

… (1 comments)

Greensboro, North Carolina Guilford County Real Estate Statistics - 07/07/08 08:49 AM
The June 2008 statistics on Guilford County continue to show a steady market that remains to be a buyers market.  Although the ratio of new homes listed versus the combinations of pendings and closings is starting to close the gap.  This will eventually bring the inventory levels down as buyers continue to find those deals and move forward to buy.   
RESIDENTIAL HOME SALES:    New Listings   Pending Contracts  Closed Homes   Avg DOM  % SP vs LP
                               June          1018               540                     548              86             96.67%
                                YTD          6468              3257                    2810            93              96.67%
We can see a trend now from May and now June were the home sales is picking up pace and starting to eat … (0 comments)

Persistance PAYS off with leads - 07/03/08 05:04 PM
Ok everyone knows that you must farm to keep your pipeline full.  What you must also do is to be persistent. Don't harass just keep in touch with all those hopeful leads you had.  One day they will buy and who do you want to write that contract or list that home??  It needs to be YOU!  I have a long list of buyers and other leads.  Granted I have not done as good a job keeping track of everyone but, it makes me wonder what contracts I have missed out on. 
I have one buyer that I signed up over … (4 comments)

 
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Greensboro, NC Real Estate Larry Story's Blog of the Triad!

Total Care Realty, LLC

Greensboro, NC

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Address: 1110 Grecade St, Greensboro, NC, 27408

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