Well, now that we've had a couple of days to calm down after the near-flood here in Mount Vernon, Washington, I want to pass along a tip.
My wife Kellie and I made the decision late Monday afternoon to "pack and leave" - based on the best info from the weather service. It was a frantic couple of hours, getting the kids organized, etc. But this time (we've done this before)... I realized that taking some 'before' pictures of the house might greatly speed potential Insurance hassles in the coming weeks.
Digital camera? Well, of course. But what about upcoming computer connections?
So before the major packing and moving valuables up on top of shelves... I took about 10 minutes and walked the house, taking pictures with the camera built into my cell phone!
Sounds like a simple idea but the benefits are immediate. First, the cell-phone is always at hand. And taking digital pics is as quick as 'point-and-shoot.' Next: because the pictures are in the cell phone, it's a trivial matter to 'send' them to insurance reps if the absolute worst happens.
Now that the flood threat has passed, I've got about 30 snapshots of our house in the 'before' state. Furniture, stereo, garage/shop equipment, etc. All ready to go. At this point, I'll delete them. But the cell-phone is ready for the next time.
For those who haven't followed the news, our hometown of Mount Vernon, Washington has been under 'flood watch' and 'flood warning' for about the past 36 hours. Sheesh.
Not something that we'd planned for, but at the same time, we were fairly ready to deal with it. We spent a frantic afternoon moving computers, placing valuables on top of high bookcases (hoping for the best). Shut off the gas and electricity at the house.
We've got a sailboat at La Conner Marina (about 9 miles west of our home). In the end, we packed the kids, packed the car, and went to the boat for what turned out to be a Great Family Adventure!
Played movies on our wide-screen laptop computers. Listened to the rain on the top of the boat. Watched the tides rise and fall. Checked the latest news on the flood situation via our online computer connection. And this morning, we had a great family breakfast in downtown La Conner.
And as of this afternoon... it seems that it's all over. Thank God.
Wow. Turns out that there's a 24-yr-old "Real Estate Expert" in the Sacramento, CA area who has bought no less than 8 properties in the past calendar year. He was a subscriber to the Carlton Sheets program, among others. And he's in a world of ship right now.
If you don't know about the story of this guy, Casey Serin... now is the time to learn. His website is a wildly entertaining read. Throughout his website, he dodges the gray line of what's right and what's wrong.
Worse: He's put enough info on his website that ... well, he can do some serious jail time.
And the news goes on... every day. Just do a Google search on http://news.google.com and enter "Casey Serin"
You'll be amazed. This ... er, 'investor' has lied, cheated, swindled and taken advantage of our current Mortgage Lending System - nine ways from Sunday.
There are lessons here. Many. Again: read and be amazed.
Well, the ongoing saga of the house spruce-up and Appraisal. Power tools are just that: they have power!
So I was working on our patio, cutting the odd bits of wood we needed to complete the project.
I'd clamped these bits of wood to our patio table, so I could get a square, clean cut.
Realize that this is a BIG patio table. Worse: it was glass-topped.
Radial-saw in hand, I tore into a long-ish piece of plywood. Initially, there was a bit of resistance. Then, it glided straight ahead. Glided ahead to the...
CRASHING SOUND OF GLASS! I watched as the entire glass top fell to a pile of broken chunky glass-bits, all over the patio.
Next, I had to walk back into the house, and explain this noise to my wife/partner. Sheesh.
"Honey, I just killed the Patio Table."
Ow.
Now... if I'd just moved that plywood plank about 3-inches over the left edge of the table, there would have been no problem. None whatsoever. Sheesh.
I remember a quote from an old Clint Eastwood movie: "A man's GOT to know his limitations."
The wife and I just did a re-fi on our own house, which of course means a fresh Appraisal. Which also meant it was time for a quick spruce-up of the property. And getting around to those interior painting projects we'd been putting off.
As long as we were painting some walls and a few doors, we figured why not upgrade the door hardware? Besides, taking door knobs apart is nearly as easy as taping them off, and as long as they're off the doors… well, you can see where this is going.
Well, it turns out that the door knob hardware from our 50's era house was, well, smaller than the stuff used today. Sheesh. This meant enlarging the holes for the new door knobs, as well as replacing the striker plates in the door frame.
A half hour of ditzing around with a power drill and a wood chisel took care of making the new stuff fit… right up to aligning the new striker plates in the door frame. Where I found off-center holes, long since stripped out by the fumble-fingered efforts of past owners. And just enough off-center that I couldn't get a fresh 'bite' in the wood where the new holes needed to be. Aiyee!
What to do? The Toothpick Trick! The idea is you need to 'build back' wood into the off-center holes so you can shoot a small pilot-hole in the correct location. For this, grab a box of wooden toothpicks, and a bottle of carpenter's wood glue.
Next, dab the end of a toothpick into the glue, and jam it deep into the offending hole. Then bend the toothpick to break it off flush at the top of the hole. Repeat this process until the hole is completely crammed full of glue and toothpicks.
Let this dry for 24 hours, and you're all set to drill fresh pilot-holes exactly where they need to be for the new striker plate.
A quick, simple and strong fix. This fix is also dandy for screws that are flat-out stripped in their wooden bedding, like on door hinges. Pass this along to sellers thinking of updating their home before selling!
Okay, great. So you're a Realtor, and you have a listing up on the MLS.
Fact is: there a few simple tools that you should have on hand to help you make that listing look ... well, great!
Even better: have these tools available for any current or future listing. It will make a big difference in the appearance of the property.
1) Pressure Washer. I've 'Blogged enough about this in the past. But it makes it easy to sparkle-shine the outsides of any listing. Quick, fast and easy. You can get a good Pressure Washer for about $250. Have it available for any new listing. And let your listing/sellers do the work... you just provide the Pressure Washer!
2) Air Compressor, and Nail Gun. This combination can quickly and easily zap down loose ends of hardwood floors. No more squeek!
3) Air Compressor, and a Staple Gun. This combination can pin down loose carpet ends. In minutes, there's no more loose carpet at the corners of the room!
4) Extension Stick. This one's easy: a long stick that can be screwed onto the end of a window-washing (and other) pole. Lots of uses for a Listed Property. Put one in the trunk of your car, and it's ready to go when you are!
Got these items? Cool! Let me know any I've forgotten!
It’s easy to understand the popularity of the Reality TV shows. Ordinary people doing extraordinary things, oft times for life-changing windfalls of cash and prizes.
And the current hit show “Property Ladder” is no exception. However, unlike other mostly unreal Reality shows, the Property Ladder dangles the carrot of real-life circumstances that virtually anyone with good credit can pull off: Find a beater house, put in a few months of sweat equity, and walk away with a jackpot like you’d picked 6 of 7 in the Mega Lottery.
That’s the fantasy, anyway… and the Property Ladder show plays it up pretty well. How popular is that show? I can tell you first hand that when the show hit the air, my next months of Floor Shifts had a startling number of calls from folks who were looking for a “fixer” – that was listed for no more than 50% of its corresponding perfect-condition market value. The carrot of easy riches in exchange for a few months behind a paint brush ignited nothing short of a phone stampede at our office.
Well, guess what? Mortgage Lenders and Mortgage Underwriters watch that show too. And in my situation with a recent transaction, it caused more than its share of hassles and complications. Let me set the scene:
Last July, a investor picked up a shabby 3br, 2ba w/garage house on 1/3 acre lot for a mere $140K. This was a foreclosure sale, and the property was listed as Pending the same day it hit the MLS. Somebody was at the right place at the right time. Perhaps, even an inside job. Who knows? But fact is, that property, when fixed up, would pull down a not-too-bad profit.
Guess what? 9 weeks later, that same property did reappear on the market. New carpet, fresh paint, lawn and landscaping fixed up… cleaned up, cleared out and ready to go. For a mere $199K. And even at that price, compared to other properties on the market, it was a relative bargain.
We found buyers for this property. We wrote a strong offer, which was accepted. Qualified buyers, inspections passed, appraisal came in at value, loan approved by the lender, seller motivated (obviously), buyers sold their house with a closing date that would work for both transactions, and everything proceeding smoothly.
Three days before closing, the Underwriter ‘discovers’ that this house had just previously sold just 90 days before, and for a whopping $60K less than shown on the current Purchase-and-Sale agreement. Whoops.
So what’s the problem? The Underwriter smells a scam. How could a property be worth so much more money in just 90 days? Is this, perhaps a conspiracy that involves the seller and the appraiser? Or worse?
Well, from our side, Escrow ground to a halt. The Underwriter has taken the extra step of a “Property Review” – which involves a separate, independent appraisal, and a personal property inspection and review by the Lender. Steps the Underwriter is perhaps wisely taking to protect herself.
And steps usually reserved for those properties that have no direct comparables, or where comparables are ‘pending sales.’
Well, Escrow did finally close – a mere 10 days late. I’m told this could have been avoided by alerting the Lender/Underwriter that this was a ‘cosmetic flip’ situation.
Ten days. In the end, the Underwriter did everything but say that my buyer was lucky to get the loan. Thanks, Property Ladder!
When I started in Real Estate years ago, I made certain assumptions about the business. Among those was that I had to get a “Real Estate Car.” You know, a conservative-looking 4-door sedan. I very consciously chose a Saturn – American-made (which I still feel is important), and a make devoid of ‘brand loyalties” associated with Ford, Chevy, etc.
And I sold my beloved Corvette to make that happen… we all know that the first year in Real Estate is er, ‘financially challenging.’
So after years of driving around in that stupid Saturn, I stopped to realize: how many times had I actually driven clients around in that car? Turned out to be less than once a year.
Well, finances and opportunity came together, and I’m back to driving a Corvette – a bright red one at that. This, as my ‘daily driver’ for Real Estate work!
It’s been four months now. I knew a red Corvette would make a statement… I just didn’t know if it would be a good or a bad one. But the results even surprised me: it’s always a conversation starter (which is good). It makes it fun to drive around to preview properties. And get this: it even gets slightly better gas mileage than my wife’s SUV!
I’d be curious to hear from other Realtors – did you consciously choose a particular car for Real Estate work?
NOTE: I originally posted this about 2 weeks ago. My friend (mentioned below) begged me to take the post off of ActiveRain because... believe it or not... the crud-person who stole his laptop computer contacted him via e-mail! And there was a chance he could get his computer back! So... the following post was removed in hopes that this crud-person could be located, without seeing any details if said crud-person clicked on the 'ActiveRain' link in the browser. Sheesh. I post it here again because many have not seen it, and there was some good info about laptops, theft, and backup strategies. - Jim
Got a call yesterday from a fellow Real Estate agent - and the news was not good. He'd just got a shiny-new Dell laptop computer last July, and it was stolen. Sheesh. Fortunately, his insurance will cover most of his loss. Unfortunately, he lost about 3 years of Real Estate data. Ouch.
Some of the details about his experience are important, some are not. Theft happens. But over the course of our half-hour phone call, I pointed out several things, and want to pass those along:
1) Copy files, instead of Moving files. When he bought this laptop, he used a local 'expert' to help him move his data from his office Desktop computer, over to his new Laptop computer. The keyword here is MOVE. This 'expert' actually MOVED the files from the desktop to the laptop - which means that as the files were moved, one by one, the original files were DELETED from the desktop computer! To make things worse... my friend had no backup copy of his original data files. The only copies left in the world were on this laptop. And I mean everything: all e-mail correspondence, contact names and phone numbers, the works.
When you transfer files from one hard-disk drive to another, NEVER MOVE those files. Instead, COPY them. That way, you're left with two copies of each crucial file: one on each hard-disk drive. This is super important in the event of a power failure or computer crash: either could permanently render your data files unreadable. Don't ask me how I know: it's embarassing.
2) If you have lost files on your computer, because some moron MOVED the files, instead of COPYING the files, there's still hope. There are software products out there that can recover the files that were deleted from your hard-disk drive. Two products come to mind: PC Tools File Recover, and WinUndelete. Good stuff.
3) Always put your important data files in your 'My Documents' folder. That makes it easy to create backup copies of your important stuff. (See #4, below.) If you use Microsoft Outlook or Outlook Express for your e-mail, be aware that the 'data files' with all of your e-mail messages are buried deep within Windows folders, and are difficult to find. You can change where those data files are stored, but it's complicated. With Outlook or Outlook Express, check the online help for more information (which is just about useless). Do a Google search on "Outlook Data Backup" for useful information.
4) Buy an external hard-disk drive. Get a USB-2 drive, and one that's bigger than the internal drive of your computer. These are overall cheap: like, less than $200. Plug one of these into your computer, you'll be prompted to ... do many things. Choose to 'open the contents of this disk in a new window' or something like that. That's what you want. And then:
5) Copy your data files onto your external hard-disk drive. Just drag-and-drop the icon of your 'My Documents' onto the new blank data window of your external hard-disk drive. Simple, easy, and slow, but free. There are software programs that can automate this process, but they cost. If you have a lot of data, it's probably worth what they charge. These backup-software programs can also help you with other data (such as your Outlook e-mail), which may make them worth the price of admission.
6) Make a written copy of the 'Identity' of your computer. Okay, common sense tells you to write down the serial number of your computer - desktop or laptop - right? Right. That will help law-enforcement folks find your computer and return it to you if it turns up one day in the 'evidence' room at the PD. But there are two other crucial numbers that can help identify your computer - if it is used on the Internet after its stolen. These are the IP address, and the MAC address. Both of these numbers are embedded in the circuit chips of your computer, and are every bit as unique as a fingerprint. Getting these numbers is a hassle, but worth the effort. do a Google search on 'finding IP Address' and 'finding MAC address.' You'll find procedures for both. Write these numbers down: they positively identify your computer on the Internet if it's used after it's stolen. Right? Right.
7) Check eBay.com Most detectives with local law-enforcement view eBay.com as the "biggest fencing operation in the world" (their words, not mine). If your computer is stolen, do a search on eBay.com for the same make and model number showing up 'for auction' in your local area. You can even configure eBay to alert you when the same make and model shows up on a new auction. Cool You might be eBay-surprised about how dumb most crooks are... you may well find your lost computer up for auction in a few days!
8) Insure your computer. Yeah, you might have homeowner's insurance that will cover a stolen laptop. But what's the deductible? Fact is: if you're in business and rely on your computer, you can't wait to find out replacement terms, costs, etc. For example: State Farm will write a specific-item policy for ... like a laptop computer ... for about $50/year. Not bad. And they'll cover it if it's stolen, thrown overboard (I'm on a sailboat as I type this), or run over by a car. If you're a Real Estate agent and depend on your laptop, you need to buy a policy like this.
Well... Long and rambling, but I hope that I've helped. Useful replies and comments are welcome. As usual, check our website: PreviewHomePro.com.
Disclaimer: ActiveRain Corp. does not necessarily endorse the real estate agents, loan officers and brokers listed on this site. These real estate profiles, blogs and blog entries are provided here as a courtesy to our visitors to help them make an informed decision when buying or selling a house. ActiveRain Corp. takes no responsibility for the content in these profiles, that are written by the members of this community.
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