David Black's Blog

New Appraisal Rules: Working Against Consumers?

David Black (Keller Williams Realty Metro South) — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 12:25:59 -0800

For being a grim reaper, Tom Horn is a pretty nice guy.

It's just that some folks trying to sell their homes in the Birmingham, Alabama area these days may think of him as the grim reaper. After all, for anyone with an unrealistic idea of what a Buyer would pay for their home, Tom is the one to bring them back to reality.

Horn, who has been a central Alabama appraiser for nearly twenty years, has seen his share of up and down cycles in real estate values. He owns appraisal-source.com, a website that caters to owners selling on their own.

We recently caught up with Tom and got his views about the decline in central Alabama home values, as well as where he thinks the market might be headed.

But it's not just Sellers who will find Horn's comments interesting.

Agents stand to benefit by knowing what's happening as a result of the Government's recently mandated changes in how appraisers are chosen by Lenders.

As it turns out, Sellers--who, among others, were supposed to be benefiting from the new rules--appear to be getting the short end of the deal, instead. And it even may be up to a knowledgeable Agent to keep a sale from falling apart, because of the new regulations.

Tom also operates a blog, full of information that's useful to both Sellers and Agents.

We've divided our interview with Tom into two parts for listening convenience.

Listen to Tom's interview now by going here and clicking the players...

Or, direct links for downloading each segment (MP3 files) are just below.

Click to download Tom Horn interview Part 1 (9 Mb)

Click to download Tom Horn interview Part 2 (7 Mb)

Enjoy!

How A Short Sale Went Underwater (Literally)

David Black (Keller Williams Realty Metro South) — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 13:42:09 -0800

The first phone call makes me a little uneasy.

But when my cell phone rings the second time a few minutes later, I start thinking: This does not sound good.

It’s a sunny but cold day in the low 30s.

The calls come while my wife, Colleen, and I are having lunch. The first caller is a woman who lives near a vacant town home we have listed for sale.

It looks like water may be leaking down the side of the house, she says. Not knowing how to reach the owner, but seeing our yard sign, she calls us.

Odd, we think, because the owner had long since turned off the utilities, including water, and moved out.

Imagining a trickle sort of leak, I thank her for calling and say we’ll check it out. We continue eating when the second call comes moments later. Another resident, same message. “It looks pretty bad,” she says. That’s when I start getting a bad feeling in my stomach (and it’s not from the lunch).

We drive straight over.

When we pull up, water is flowing from the house across the driveway and into the street, and it’s moving fast. As I approach the front, I can’t help but hear what sounds like a good sized waterfall inside. Water is pouring (not trickling, pouring) out of both the front and back doors. It’s also coming down the side of the house.

The scene is almost what you'd expect to see in a movie. The bad feelings in our stomachs have really kicked in now!

I look through the glass in the front door, to see easily an inch and a half of water on the floor. Water is streaming down from the ceiling, splashing below. Streams are running everywhere. The trickle of a leak I had imagined? Not!

We’re talking out of control.

I open the door, and the mini tsunami roars out. Not wanting to get deluged in 30 degree weather, we step quickly out of the way as water rushes out. But my feet still manage to get wet and cold.

We are stumped. How could water be pouring, uncontrolled, at such a fast rate from inside a home where the water was shut off months ago?

The Seller’s daughter (our contact for the sale) is out of state, so, for the moment, it’s all up to us to deal with. I call the Alabaster Fire Department and Water Board. Moments later, an engine crew arrives, followed shortly by Water Board personnel.

The water crew shuts off the water and unravels the mystery. It turns out that the home has a fire/sprinkler system which is served by a separate water line. When water service is disconnected, the regular water is turned off, but for obvious safety reasons, the workers tell us, the sprinkler system feed is always left on.

I wonder how many people with sprinkler systems inside their homes know this?

Take a home that has no heat, add cold water and temperatures well below freezing, and … well, what results isn’t pretty. The sprinkler system pipes just couldn’t take it, and blew.

Sadly, none of this had to happen.

We had this home Under Contract as a Short Sale since the fall of 2009. We had procured a ready, willing and able Buyer, who had been told that getting approval from the Seller’s two Lenders could take anywhere from 60 to 90 days.

The Buyer agrees to ride it out, because she really wants the property. Our Seller really needs to sell. So, here you have parties and their Agents on both sides, all working together to reach a mutual goal. We just need one other component to make this work: Cooperation by the two banks holding loans on the property.

The bank holding the smaller loan signs off and says fine. That leaves us needing only Bank of America’s cooperation.

Ahh, so close, and yet, so far.

We used this Contract as a test of sorts, making it our first transaction in working with a new Short Sale/Foreclosure mitigation group we discovered (we wanted to see how well they do their job in helping get Short Sales approved).

The Contract required closing on or before December 30th. Early in the process, we thought that—surely to goodness with so much time involved—we can make this work.

But at the rate we would be getting information out of BofA, (can you say ‘molasses pouring’?), we started realizing that success was not a sure thing.

As it turns out, the Foreclosure team we hired does a very good job trying to get information out of Bank of America, responding to our inquiries, and keeping us up to date on their efforts. On one day in December, they call BofA no less than three times, never getting a response.

At one point, BofA says only that the sale is proceeding according to their timeline. So, just what is their timeline? That was never answered. It obviously has nothing to do with the Contract timeline.

We start feeling uneasy about the time between Christmas and New Year’s.

The Buyer even agrees that—if BofA will at least give an answer by the deadline—she will extend the Contract. Come on, here. Throw us a bone. Throw us something. Anything!

Bank of America’s response: Nothing.

Here’s the big question: It's after Christmas, and with the deadline now staring straight at us, will BofA be continuing to try to get this Sale through?

We get our answer: Our Foreclosure team is told that BofA’s negotiator assigned to our case is off that week and, no, there’s no one else who can help. No supervisors. Nobody. Call us back next year.

After just over three months of waiting, the Contract expires. A sale that would have helped a Buyer and Seller get where they need to be—as well as helping recover at least some of the Lenders’ money—crashes and burns.

So, the property remains vacant. And then it gets colder. Temperatures drop into the teens.

About a week later, the sprinkler pipe blows. Water floods our Seller’s home and leaks into the adjoining town home.

What a shame.

If Bank of America had approved the Short Sale in anything close to a reasonable time frame, they would have gotten at least some of their money back, there would likely have been an owner living there keeping the place maintained, there probably would have been heat, and the pipes might not have blown.

We have no idea what the damage is going to cost, but to think the Seller will be in a position to pay for it would be … well, I’d call that a sprinkler pipe dream.

If Bank of America forecloses, they will probably wind up taking an even harder hit when it comes time to sell, now that the property is damaged.

Would you pardon me for saying something ridiculously obvious?

There’s something very wrong with a system that can’t give a Buyer an answer in three months. At least as far as Bank of America is concerned, the system (if you want to call it that) in place now provides good reason for Agents to suggest that their Buyers not walk, but run, from a Short Sale.

What good is a good deal if you can’t get an answer?

What’s with calling it a Short Sale, anyway? I’m thinking … Long Sale would be more fitting. And when some Lenders are involved, maybe it should be ELS (Eternally Long Sale).

This sale was never about the money to us. We had charged a reduced fee for service, because we knew the Seller, knew he really needed to get the home sold, and we just wanted to help. That’s what drove us and the Seller, jumping through all the hoops of submitting all the required initial and ongoing documentation, calling, being called, waiting, waiting and waiting some more.

Even though this sale crashed (or should I say sank underwater?), we knew it was through no fault of the Foreclosure team we hired. They did a good job trying to make the deal fly, and we’ve decided we’re definitely using them on future Short Sales.

We feel badly for our Seller. And we felt badly for the Buyer, too--at least, up until the day the home she had wanted suddenly acquired an indoor pool.

Everyone involved wanted this to work … except, it seemed, for one needed party in the Sale.

If I hear other Agents describe dealing with Bank of America as a horrible experience, I’ll nod my head in agreement.

Yep, I’ll tell them, we’ve been there and have the T-shirt.

And it’s wet.

A Cheap Crummy Grandmother's Final Gift

David Black (Keller Williams Realty Metro South) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 20:03:49 -0700

When I was very little, I don't believe a single birthday or Christmas went by that my grandmother, Wilma Black, whom I called Willie, didn't give me at least two presents. There was always the really neat toy or other gadget that caught my young eyes and I got immediate enjoyment from.

Then, there was the other gift. Frankly, it wasn't as much fun. I was far too young to understand or appreciate what it meant. It looked like money, but you couldn't spend it right away. All I remember understanding about savings bonds was that they were something you could maybe turn into real money at some point down the road, but when you're that little, the years you'd have to wait before being able to do anything with them might as well have been forever.

But when you're a loving grandmother and give bonds to the grandson you're crazy about on a regular basis--as often as Willie did--those bonds add up over the years. As I grew up and kept getting more and more bonds as gifts (many from her), they developed into a pretty decent sized stack.

Of course, they do eventually mature, and at a certain point, they stop maturing, so you might as well do something with them then, like reinvesting, or turning them into cash.

One day, during a conversation I was having with Willie easily forty plus years ago, I jokingly called her a cheap, crummy grandmother. With a description like that coming from such a young child, Willie thought that was hilarious, so the name stuck.

For many years, whenever a gift was exchanged, the "To" or "From" tag bore the name Cheap Crummy. Some of the envelopes my savings bond gifts came in were signed, "Love, Cheap Crummy."

Not long ago, my wife, Colleen, and I went through all the bonds I've ever received and sorted them, pulling the bonds that had matured. I took the matured bonds to the bank and cashed them in. I'd have been smart to invest the money back into something else, but not having anything really in mind for the money, and not wanting to dump it into an existing account for fear it would, in effect, lose its identity as gift money, I held the cash in an envelope in a safe at home. I figured I'd do something with it one day.

One day has finally come.

Over the past few years, I've admired the ever advancing technology of digital photography. I've never owned a digital SLR camera, mainly because of cost. I haven't been buying many things for myself lately, choosing instead to go easy on expenditures amid the current state of our business. I've watched as the technology came from behind and surpassed by miles in some cases what film cameras did in their day.

Colleen has been watching me do research on cameras recently and, knowing my hesitancy to spend the money, she suggested using the cash I got from the bonds Willie gave me all those years ago. It would probably make your grandmother very happy to know you were using that money to get something you really want, she said. Those words really hit home and stayed with me. The more I thought about it, the more I realized: she's absolutely right.

So, several decades later--longer than I would have ever guessed--I am getting one final gift from Wilma. A new Nikon digital SLR camera and telephoto lens, with plenty of bells and whistles, arrive tomorrow. From the research I've done, I have no doubt I'll get some great use out of it and will probably enjoy it tremendously. It's a purchase for both pleasure and need for me, but I really think of it as something else. It's a tribute to Willie. I have to think she would be smiling to know what she made possible, twenty years after leaving us.

From a childhood of wonderful memories she made possible for me, including staying with her in her small Plainview, Texas home one summer and travelling with her, I have come, yet again, to realize how special and good Cheap Crummy was to me, and how lucky I was to have her as my grandmother.

I will think of her when I use my new camera.

David

Short Sale Blues

David Black (Keller Williams Realty Metro South) — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 19:06:10 -0700

Talk about frustrating...

We've been working with a Seller who has been behind on his payments. Unfortunately, he Listed with us late in the game, so to speak, already having tried to sell on his own (unsuccessfully), and long since having received a notice of Foreclosure. But we told him we'd give it our best shot in an effort to help him avoid being Foreclosed.

We managed to get an Offer on his property and began immediately to try and obtain Short Sale approval. But if you haven't been through the process before, rest assured that it's not as easy as picking up the phone one time and getting cleared. One Agent told me recently, "Why do they call it short? It's anything but short."

Complicating this was the delay we encountered in getting verification of the Seller's income, a critical Document Lenders must have.

Around mid-day today, one day before our Seller's Foreclosure date, we received the final needed Document. We quickly submitted all the paperwork to the Lender, along with a copy of the Sales Contract (we had to wait until all the documentation was in before we could submit it). Our Seller called the Lender twice to tell them that a Contract is in hand and to ask that his Foreclosure be delayed until they at least take the time to look at the Offer.

But guess what?

The Lender (one of those really big names everyone knows) is so big and bureaucratic that just getting the paperwork actually entered into their system takes--ready for this?--seven to ten days after they receive it. The Lender, we were told, outsources their incoming paperwork flow to another company to process.

So, you could FAX everything in as needed on, say, the first of the month (e-mail? no way...has to be FAXed), and if you call about it eight or nine days later, there's a good chance the Lender will tell you that they have no record of it. That's what the Seller we're working with was told when he called today to make his final plea. Without a Contract, there is absolutely nothing we can do for you, the Lender told our Seller.

How's that for efficient?

Unless something totally unforseen happens, our Seller will lose his property tomorrow, despite the fact that we procured a Buyer.

Who knows ... maybe, in another week or ten days, the Lender will run a cross a copy of the Sales Contract.

I can see it now: "Hmm. Hey Fred, look at this. Looks like a Contract to buy one of our properties. Say, didn't we already Foreclose that one? I wonder how long it's been sitting here? Oh well..."

Who wins when it ends up like this?

David

What Walter Cronkite Did For A Kid In Texas

David Black (Keller Williams Realty Metro South) — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 19:08:53 -0700

I will always be grateful for Walter Cronkite.

You'd know why I say that if you grew up in the 1960's or '70s, when television news was such a totally different industry from what it is today, and when we depended on it so much to learn about our world.

Back then, television news was real.

The most trusted man in America, as he was frequently called, held that title for a reason. Mr. Cronkite brought honesty and integrity to a profession in its infancy. It was inevitable that so many Americans would connect with his down home demeanor and sincerity.

And, unlike so much of the reporting Americans watch today, Walter Cronkite was willing to question authority.

His nearly two decades as anchor of the CBS Evening News coincided with what became a daily viewing routine for millions of families, including mine. Hurry, Mom would say, “it's almost time for Walter.”

We always made it a point to gather around the television set at 5:30 p.m. to hear Mr. Cronkite explain the events taking place at home and abroad. If you missed him, you had to wait until the next day; after all, there were no constant news cable channels, no electronic ticker tape bulletins crawling across the screen, and no Internet. Pretty much, there was just Walter and his fellow journalists, inching their way along in a new electronic medium, void of splashy motion graphics and sound effects, doing what they did best: informing.

Walter Cronkite is part of the reason I vividly remember July 20, 1969, when the black and white television set in our Texas living room brought us fuzzy images of Neil Armstrong setting foot upon the moon. We watched in suspense, while Mr. Cronkite, through his compelling storytelling, helped us realize the magnitude of what we were witnessing. There are so many other memories I have of seeing Mr. Cronkite bringing us news that I can't count them all. When someone is in your living room every day, well, he's family.

Mr. Cronkite didn't know it, but he helped inspire a young Texas kid to pursue a career in the news business. Prior to getting into real estate, I spent more than 30 years in broadcast journalism, including working in television news in Texas and, later, Alabama. My love of journalism started around age seven, and included recording make believe newscasts on our old reel-to-reel tape recorder, as well as creating newspapers while seated at Dad's IBM electric typewriter.

My mother once said to me that she expected me to one day sit in Mr. Cronkite's anchor chair. That wasn't meant to be, but a wonderful thing happened, anyway: I got to grow up in the Cronkite era.

From all the TV news I watched in the days of the Cronkite era, I could tell you the names of many on-air correspondents, as they were known. Eric Sevareid and Howard K. Smith were familiar; I traveled across America, On The Road, with Charles Kuralt, a regular feature on the CBS Evening News. There was John Chancellor. Dan Rather. Chet Huntley. David Brinkley. Daniel Schorr. Hughes Rudd. Roy Neal. And so many more. I followed local news on both television and radio, as closely, too.

The fire really got lit after a trip to New York City when Dad took a budding young journalist of around age ten to 51 W. 52nd St to see the CBS Morning and Evening newscasts produced live. Mr. Cronkite was off that day, but I still got to see where the giants of the industry worked! My eyes were wide open when Mr. Rudd welcomed us into his small office for a visit following the morning newscast. The thrill of getting to watch the news from the main Control Room was the experience of a lifetime (which reminds me … I need to tell my Dad, again, how cool it was of him to arrange that).

The Cronkite thrill didn't stop after childhood. It came back for me as recently as September 9, 2006. While watching the launch of the Shuttle Atlantis from the Kennedy Space Center, I saw the media stands where Mr. Cronkite once sat and, with NASA astronauts adding commentary, brought us the Apollo launches that I and millions of others watched live.

Many will probably say that Mr. Cronkite's passing represents the end of an era for television news. But the era, I think, was ending earlier, while he was alive, as broadcast ownership and managements began to change, not once, but repeatedly, and as cable and other technology started creating new challenges for the industry. The broadcast news profession was starting to undergo a profound change, and its long-held stability was the first casualty.

When broadcasters started losing more and more audience in the 1980s, consultants advised them to go younger and sexier to get viewers back. By then, the Cronkite look was dinosaur era. “Make it sizzle and splash,” broadcasters were told. Entertainment started nudging its nose alongside news content.

Infotainment was in.

I wish the broadcasters had instead gone to Mr. Cronkite and asked, “What would you do to keep our audience?” My bet is that he would have told them the answer in a few simple words: “Keep doing what you do best.”

Mr. Cronkite wasn't slick or flashy. He never tried to be. It wasn't his character, and it wasn't why he was on the air. “That my delivery is straight, even dull at times, is probably a valid criticism. But I built my reputation on honest, straightforward reporting. To do anything else would be phony," he said.

I missed out on the Edward R. Murrow era. But I call the Cronkite generation home. And I feel for people who missed it, and who instead rely on today's broadcast news diet, one I think of as the rough equivalent of lots of empty calories with virtually no nutrition. It caused me to go through a big change, turning from someone who lived and breathed the news business 24 hours a day to someone who pretty much stopped watching years ago.

What an amazing transition the industry has gone through in the years since Mr. Cronkite retired. The Cronkite era was all about “get it right.” Today's era is “get it first,” regardless of other considerations. So, I'm old fashioned? Guilty.

Technology changed everything, including the definition of news.

In the Cronkite era, covering news meant sending a crew to some remote part of the world where they shot film. The film would typically then have to be flown somewhere else to be developed (often, back to New York). Today, anyone with an iPhone can shoot video and upload it to the Internet for the world to see in a matter of seconds.

In the days of Mr. Cronkite, breaking news meant that you stopped whatever it was you were doing, sat down, and watched what he had to say. You didn't even have to ask if something big had happened. Today, breaking news means newly discovered footage of Michael Jackson's hair on fire.

After the Cronkite era, I started feeling less and less payoff for the time spent watching. I'd be hard pressed to tell you who's on any of the channels today. You can't go back, but I secretly wished for the days when faces with wrinkles and few showmanship skills delivered factual, informative accounts of events that really affect us. I longed for the people who wanted to be on the air, not to be stars or famous, but to communicate information that mattered to us. That's what attracted me to the business.

Distracting graphics, messages that pollute the screen, swish sound effects, slick coiffures and people talking at the same time instead of listening? No thanks. What happened to the good story telling and investigative reporting where tough questions were asked? Nowadays, you have to really hunt to find those.

I had many wonderful experiences during my years in broadcasting and still respect the difficult and often dangerous job journalists have. But the changes I saw coming in the administrative offices and on the air told me it was time to move on.

The end of the Cronkite era is as close as your television set. Not many years back, during the 9 p.m. news on one of the network affiliates in my market, the long time anchor said, “We have some breaking news to tell you about tonight.” The picture switched to video, live from the scene, showing a parked fire department rescue truck that had been involved in a fender bender while responding to an emergency call. Nobody hurt; just a torn up front bumper. If I had been the anchor reading that, I would have been embarrassed.

When I was a television news reporter in the 1990's, a supervisor at our daily editorial meeting (where we decided what stories to cover) turned down my suggestion of doing a report about the local area's economy. “That's a newspaper story,” she said.

I don't think editorial decisions like these would have been likely in the Cronkite era.

A friend and former television news anchor commented recently on the changes the industry has undergone. “Journalism isn't an honest profession, anymore,” he said.

The question more and more people ask today about the news media's coverage of many subjects is usually the same: What are they not telling us? Is the coverage balanced? Are we hearing all the sides? So much reporting has become so superficial and often one-sided (a concern Mr. Cronkite himself spoke about) that our skepticism of the media grows more all the time, while our confidence in it drops.

Most kids had baseball players or cowboys as their heroes. Mine was Mr. Cronkite (though Sky King, with his ultra cool twin engine Cessna, and Commander Scott McCloud with his spaceship Starduster from the science fiction cartoon Space Angel, were pretty close behind).

I wish I had written Mr. Cronkite a letter. I could have told him how much I appreciated the job he did. I could have told him how much I wish the electronic media could be trusted and relied upon again, more like it was when he and the associates of his day were on the air.

Most of all, I would just tell him, “Thank you.”

The Holiday We Should Celebrate Year 'Round

David Black (Keller Williams Realty Metro South) — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 09:28:25 -0700

The moist, delicious turkey with all the trimmings, I must admit, are temptations in and of themselves. But it's not about the food. Yesterday reminds me of the real reasons.

My daily morning walk with Fisbo, our six pound poodle, brought the first reminder. We are sometimes joined in our walk by a neighbor and her dog who live one street over from us. Seeing each other, we walked together and began catching up on the latest neighborhood news.

That's when she informed me that her husband, who had worked in sales for a local industrial business, had lost his job two weeks ago. After thirteen years with the company, one of the telltale signs of what was only days ahead came at the gas pumps out of town when he was unable to charge a fill-up using his company-issued gas card. Sorry, the boss told him, business is so bad that we just can't keep you on board any more. Good luck!

So, the two of them--in their sixties, never having been late on a payment and now having to start over--are trying to figure out how to cope. I tried to offer words of encouragement. It may not be obvious now, I said to her, but maybe this is opening a new door of opportunity for both of you. She agreed. And I sure want to think so.

Reminder number two is the phone call I get shortly after finishing our walk, informing me that Charles, a friend for the past 25 years or so, had lost his battle with cancer about an hour before my neighborhood walk. His family had kept a low profile on his struggle, and I had learned of his illness only three days earlier. We only saw each other once or twice a year, but we always spoke and caught up on the latest news when our paths crossed. Our circuit of mutual friends finds Charles' death hard to believe, given the healthy lifestyle he tried to lead, and the fact that he was only in his 50's. His son, brother and sister, whom most of us know, as well, are making final arrangements as I write this.

Reminder number three is the call from a couple Colleen and I have been friends with for many years. The wife needs advice on how to help her father, who has been struggling financially, and who found a Foreclosure letter in his mailbox over the weekend. They, too, need our help. We plan to be there for them, too.

This was all yesterday. One tiny slice of life in one community.

What's the lesson for me?

It's yet another reminder of the struggles people all around us face every single day. It's a reminder, as well, about why I need to be grateful for what I have, instead of moaning about what I wish for. I could fill single spaced, typed pages, front and back, with reasons to be thankful. Can you?

Sure, I get stressed at times. The driver who cuts in front of you on the interstate, the associate who doesn't call back, the no-show buyer and a dozen other things can be enough to make your blood boil sometimes. When those things happen, it's amazing what taking a deep breath and thinking about what's really important can do for you.

It changes my perspective every time.

Life's daily irritations aren't struggles. Not when I see what so many people have to deal with. I plan to keep this in mind.

Tomorrow is a new day.

David

The Surprise Occupant In The Vacant New Listing

David Black (Keller Williams Realty Metro South) — Fri, 15 May 2009 17:06:12 -0700

Okay, so we're getting another New Listing ready this afternoon in preparation for turning it loose on the MLS. This involves staging and taking pictures, among other things. Colleen and I are walking around inside the home, which is vacant ... well, it was supposed to be vacant.

Upon entering the Master Suite, I look across the empty room and see a telephone on the floor, next to what looks like a piece of coaxial cable coming out of the wall just above the carpet. They have either satellite or cable TV, I figure. That is coaxial cable, isn't it? Hmm, I don't see what looks like the standard connector on one end. I walk over to take a closer look. Here's who I meet:

Hmm, what would be the appropriate entry in Agent Notes: Seller agrees to include with any reasonable offer?

David

Dave Jenks: Reasons To Be Optimistic About The Housing Market

David Black (Keller Williams Realty Metro South) — Mon, 11 May 2009 16:38:16 -0700

It's not just the credentials Dave Jenks carries that makes him interesting to listen to. He's a good communicator. Jenks, a Vice President of Research and Development with Keller Williams Realty, has a broad knowledge of what's happening in real estate markets all across the country.

Jenks, who is also a best selling author, took time out to give us his perspective on how the 2009 market has performed to date, as well as what he thinks lies ahead. And it's nice to hear that he's optimistic (a lot of years watching the market sure helps give perspective).

We thought other agents might find Dave's comments interesting.

Click the link below:

http://calloncolleen.com/blog/?p=521

David

What the Wal-Mart Lady Taught Me In Five Words

David Black (Keller Williams Realty Metro South) — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 21:56:32 -0700

Sometimes, the people you might least expect to have an influence in your life can be the ones who really surprise you. I'll have to hand that honor to the check-out clerk at the Wal-Mart that my wife, Colleen, and I visited over the weekend.

In the interest of full disclosure, you should be aware that we are not big fans of Wal-Mart and shop there only occasionally at most. That's because, during most of my visits during the past few years, we encountered employees who seemed genuinely uninterested that we were even there. If employee morale is high, I've sure missed out on noticing it. We've stopped there sometimes out of convenience or because their prices really are low on many items, but it seems like almost every visit comes at a price: We often find ourselves walking out disenchanted because of the people we had to deal with, or downright frustrated because we had to wait for what seemed like an eternity to check out. Sometimes it's both.

By the way, is there a law that says if you have ten check-out aisles, no more than three can be open at any one time?

Our weekend visit produced enough groceries and other must-have's that we were well above the limit for the express checkout. And, per the apparent law referenced above, all of the regular check-out aisles were backed up with lines of shoppers pushing carts loaded to the max. That left only one choice: the dreaded self-checkout ... you know, where you don't even speak to a person, because there is no person. It's just you and the machine, pal.

As we swiped our items and listened to the female computer voice bark out her instructions ("please place item in the bagging area..."), we realized that the whole process of checking out didn't seem to be going any quicker than if a human was behind the register, swiping our items across the scanner for us.

Then, as more shoppers wound up waiting in line behind us, the inevitable happened: We hit a snag in the checkout. It was the bird seed. The bag of seed I bought for the cardinals in our back yard and the automated checkout machine just wouldn't get along. We got all sorts of errors and instructions that indicated this was not going to be a smooth sale (sort of like the prospective buyer saying he's really upset that the inspection shows a quarter-inch flaw in the sheet rock in the attic and he's thinking about pulling out of the whole deal).

That's when the Wal-Mart clerk assigned to oversee problems came over to intervene. Colleen said something along the lines of, "I get so frustrated using these systems." And then, out from the clerk's mouth came the words that made us both stop right in our tracks. I guess--in the interest of friendly customer service--we might have been expecting something along the lines of, 'sorry for the problems you're having, I'll be glad to help out.' Nope. That's not the response we got.

"Then, why are you here?" the clerk asked. No laugh, no smile. She was as serious as she could be. She might have well as said, "what were you expecting?"

Colleen and I looked at each other and realized immediately: She was right. Why are we here?

We found ourselves answering that question by citing fewer dollars spent. Or maybe it was because the store was close by when we needed to stop. The fact was that expecting customer satisfaction certainly had no role whatsoever in our decision to shop there. There just isn't much of that for us (or others, I suspect) when we shop at Wal-Mart.

The bird seed versus computer battle turned into quite a bit of work on the clerk's part (you see, not even she could get the system to take the bar code number--apparently, as far as that particular store's inventory system was concerned, the type of seed I had selected simply didn't exist). After several tries, she asked if we remembered how much the bag costs. "Umm, $6.97, I think," I answered. "Six ninety seven it is," she said, as she did a complete manual override, noting that whatever price I said would be what we'd pay. Darn, I muttered to myself, I should have said $4.50. But alas, that old honesty thing kicks in.

After walking out and commenting to each other that we probably needed our just-finished experience as a reminder of why we should take our business elsewhere, I realized something. The clerk, whether she knew it or not, had given me something to think about.

I could use her response to help me be a better agent.

Why am I here?

I hope a client never has to ask that question about me as their agent. But if they do ask, they need to be able to answer it quickly and easily:

If the agent was extremely helpful throughout the entire sale or purchase process ... if the agent was responsive to client questions and situations that came up ... if the agent professionally handled even the smallest details of the transaction ... if the agent never stopped looking out for the client's interests ... if the agent always strived to be friendly, supportive and personable.

Those are some of the reasons why we're here.

Those are my goals.

I'm sure not on top of Perfect Mountain, but the lady at Wal-Mart has certainly given me reason to keep climbing.

David Black

The One Part Of Spring We Could Do Without

David Black (Keller Williams Realty Metro South) — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 19:56:26 -0700

Okay, we all feel a bit blue from time to time, but how about ... yellow. Huh?

If you live in the Southeast, if it's yellow around you, it must be spring. For example, take a look at my Ford Explorer, which has been been parked in a covered area (believe it or not):

I actually do keep my Explorer clean (okay, I try to), but you'd never know it from this picture. Yellow pine pollen is a tradition of Spring around our part of the country. There's not a thing we can do about it, but I did learn something about this obnoxious stuff: Most of the people who sneeze and wheeze this time of year really shouldn't be blaming their spring allergies on pine pollen. Experts point out that this stuff is so heavy that it falls to the ground instead of flying through the air, which means that people generally don't inhale it. So, if you're blaming your allergies on pine pollen, it's much more likely that the real culprit is one of the other pollens that really do cause health problems and that is probably high in concentration at the same time.

My wife and I are pretty accustomed to always having to stress the importance of clean looking homes with good curb appeal to enhance the prospect of getting offers, but around this time of year, I guess we have to include another recommendation: Wash the outside of your house ... but be careful, because if you stand outside too long, this yellow stuff may wind up covering you, as well!

David

BusinessWeek has good things to say about our service area in Alabama

David Black (Keller Williams Realty Metro South) — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 10:40:10 -0700

It's always nice to see your home turf get some positive recognition, and BusinessWeek magazine has helped drive home what we tell folks all the time: Alabama is a great place to live.

BusinessWeek has named the city of Alabaster in Shelby Co. has the state's most affordable suburb. This is the one of the key cities we service for people buying or selling homes, and with several good reasons.

Alabaster has enjoyed tremendous growth the past few years, but--unlike many communities--its tax base has been growing, as well, thanks to the Colonial Promenade Shopping Center, along with other businesses opening their doors here.

Some folks say the mall has really put what used to be a 'sleepy little town' on the map. For years, people would drive by Alabaster on Interstate-65 all the time on their way to do their shopping and dining out elsewhere. But that model has changed a lot. My wife and I are accustomed to walking in to many Alabaster area restaurants, especially on weekends, only to be told that there's a wait of at least half an hour or longer. No, we don't enjoy having to wait, but I think that, in many ways, the fact that we do have to wait says something positive about this area's economy.

And then there's quality of life ... well, let's just say the secret is getting out more and more these days. And that holds true for everyone from young families to people looking for a change or to downsize, to folks wanting to escape the frigid winters of the northern states.

According to BusinessWeek, Alabaster's median household income stands at just over $69,000, while the area's unemployment rate stands at 2.3%.

Another amenity of living in this area that's very important to potential buyers is commute time to Birmingham. At barely 30 minutes, this is where more and more buyers find that they can get more home for their money, but without the costs and hassles of excessive travel time.

We're constantly telling folks about how much Shelby Co., Alabama, has to offer. I'm suspecting even more people will learn about the quality of life in our area, thanks to stories like the one appearing in BusinessWeek...

David Black

Snowfall in Dixie

David Black (Keller Williams Realty Metro South) — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 10:48:28 -0800

Okay, I admit it. Snow is a big deal around here. Snow in the deep South is a pretty rare event. You don't see scenes like this in Alabama very often:

Nonetheless, we can say that--through neither rain, nor sleet nor snow--Realtors keep doing their job. We'll be showing a home for sale to buyers in Shelby county's Alabaster area shortly, snow or no snow! It would seem that--instead of taking in the winter scene--Fisbo, our spoiled six pound poodle, prefers to climb up my leg while I'm shooting snow pictures:

What Do You Think Of This Marketing Approach?

David Black (Keller Williams Realty Metro South) — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 15:43:15 -0800

Does anyone else have a problem this? I saw this For Sale sign in a subdivison this afternoon
(I blurred the agent's contact information, but the rider on top is exactly as I shot it):

Maybe mentioning agent commissions in front of the world is more common than I realize, but this really stands out to me as being in very poor taste. I can't help but feel that this really cheapens the real estate profession. If I were showing this home to a prospective buyer and pulled up to a sign like this, I'd be embarrassed. What happened to using this space to market the property? There's a place for information about commissions, isn't there? I think it's called Agent Notes.

Am I alone on this? Anyone else have any thoughts?

David

An Old Tactic That Still Helps Buyers And Sellers

David Black (Keller Williams Realty Metro South) — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 17:47:21 -0800

When it comes to achieving successful sales, it helps not to lose sight of some tried and true tricks--especially during challenging times, I'm convinced.

Just completed an interview we did with a local lender about Buy-downs and posted a podcast on our website. A lot of folks still don't really understand buy-downs--perhaps this interview makes the Buy-down clearer.

I hope someone gets benefit out of hearing this.

http://calloncolleen.com/blog/?p=381

Thanks!

David Black

The Shelby County Alabama Real Estate Market: Withstanding The Waves

David Black (Keller Williams Realty Metro South) — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 09:37:48 -0800

Working in Shelby county real estate reminds me of walking into the surf along Alabama's Gulf Coast. Stand only a few feet from shore, and the incoming waves gently surround your feet. You feel the almost tickling sensation of sand washing away as the water recedes. Take a few more steps out, and those incoming waves rise to around your knees. Walk out further, and you start to appreciate the power of nature. Just standing your ground becomes a lot more of a challenge. It's as if the waves are reminding you who's really in control.

As you look further out and see a really big wave forming, you get a new sense of what it means to be vulnerable. Something daunting is heading your way. You know you'll be facing it. The question is, will you still be standing after it passes? And then there's what smart beach veterans know to be wary of afterward: the undertow, a silent and deadly menace that claims many lives every year.

The real estate market seems to be sending a lot of waves and undertows toward us these days. Some sellers are scared of selling. Potential buyers sometimes seem surprised to hear that it's such a great time to buy, almost as if they had expected a very pessimistic answer after asking their agent if the Birmingham area market has any life left, at all. This isn't really surprising, given the 24-hour doom and gloom news cycles saturating us from more sources and directions than ever.

While the economy certainly faces major challenges, my sense is that people are not getting a very balanced perspective about many of the topics getting coverage. Talk with most experts and they'll tell you that the economy runs in cycles, making it a matter of time before certain industries (including real estate) begin a swing back to more normal conditions. Whether you're an agent, or whether you work in a field related to real estate, we have to be able to withstand the pounding waves of negative news and not get caught in the undertow. We need to map a strategy for how to be productive and successful in what we do, even when it's more difficult.

One thing that really helps is enjoying what you do for a living, even when times are tough. It's awfully easy, these days, to forget that we could all be in much worse situations. I make it a point to always try to remember that. Do you ever think of all the blessings around you?

These days, one of the more valuable weapons in my real estate arsenal is information. We're also lucky to have a great Team Leader/Broker, who goes to a lot of effort to be supportive of the agents in our office. Our local MLS has been a good source of data that agents will find helpful in reassuring clients and customers that the Birmingham and Shelby county real estate market is still in pretty healthy shape, all things considered.

We also feel encouraged by what we've seen the past few weeks. Activity has picked up. Prospective buyers have been calling. There's a long way to go, in terms of the activity levels we'd like to see, but the trends are definitely heading in the right direction.

Showing your clients that you are knowledgeable about matters such as trends, pricing and time on market may help to reassure them if they have a big decision of their own to make about buying or selling.

When the big storm passes--as it will--the waves will drop down to a more manageable size. Better times will return. And, hopefully, we'll still be standing.

This is my first post on ActiveRain ... here's hoping it flies!