It is said that it takes just a quick glance - - possibly the first 2 to 3 seconds that someone meets you for the first time for them to form an opinion about you.  We have all heard that many, many times.  This also applies to homes.

SELLERS AND LISTING AGENTS, it does matter, in any type of real estate market, whether its a seller's market or a buyer's market, that the property is at its best at all showings and open houses.  A good first impression is crucial if you want the property sold quickly and at its value. 

I have had sellers who wanted us to list their homes and show them at a Broker's Open before the home has been de-cluttered and cleaned.  They think that Agents are able to look pass the clutter, the dirty windows, and in our case here in the islands - the gecko poo on the walls.  We are all human.  Even if we as agents can look past all of that, we remember the clutter and the dirt and are not sure that our buyers can.

As I tell my sellers, we want the agents and prospective buyers to remember your home for its special qualities and features.

Recently I had the pleasure of representing a very nice couple in the sale of their home and then represent them in the purchase of their replacement property.  A nice simultaneous closing.  As is normal with the sale of a home, I would contact the seller to inform him of the inspection date and appraisal date, etc.  Every time I would call him to let him know when we would need access to his home he would respond that he would need to check his work schedule to make sure he could have that time off.  Each time I would tell him that was my job to be there and he could stay at work.

On the purchase of his new home, he was shocked that I was there with him during the inspection and I was there when the appraiser was done.  During the process, I called his lender to make sure things were on track and as always, kept in touch with the escrow officer.  I would remind the home seller/buyer of upcoming events.  I was also there with my seller/buyer during the signing of both his mortgage docs and escrow docs.

After we closed, he wrote a very kind letter stating that in all of his former purchases and sales, agents would write the contract up and he had to arrange for all the inspections, be there for the appraisals and had contact directly with the escrow officer.  The agents really didn't contact him any more.

I was shocked and saddened that there are agents out there that believe that their job is over once the client signs the contract.  I always tell my associates and my clients, "that is when our real work begins."  I know there have been a few times that I have had to really "ride" the cooperating agent in a transaction to get them to do their jobs.  I believe this attitude by some agents or belief that getting the deal signed and then they have no other obligation to the client gives us all a bad name.  Truly, if I was a buyer or seller and my agent just left me to do the rest of the work myself, I would wonder why I was paying a commission!!

As a Principal Broker, if I knew any of my associates were not doing their job, they would either need to step up to the plate or find somewhere else to hang their license.  No just order takers here . . .

Beautiful Condo in Wailea - Maui Hawaii.

GRAND CHAMPIONS #32

OPEN HOUSE

Saturday, November 7, 2009 and Sunday, November 8, 2009 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.

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http://karlacasey.vflyer.com/home/flyer/home/2888917

I just found out the hard way that it is not.  As a warning to all of you who send personal information, and/or expensive or time sensitive items via Fed Ex.  Fed Ex will leave packages with neighbors or anyone else that will sign for the package.

I purchased a computer recently for my daughter and had Fed Ex deliver it. The computer never arrived.  I tracked the delivery on the Fed Ex website.  The Fed Ex delivery verification showed the signature of someone I had never heard of.  I called Fed Ex and asked who the person was.  They informed me that since my daughter was not at home, they left it with her neighbor.  My daughter lives in an apartment building.  The Fed Ex driver didn't even attempt to leave it with the office.

I asked my daughter who lived at the apartment across from her.  Her description was "a creep that moved out last week." He moved out just a few days after he signed for the computer.  I called Fed Ex to inquiry why they would leave a box clearly marked that it was a computer with someone it was not addressed to.  They told me that is their policy and I would have to take it up with the computer company that sent the package.

I called the computer company, they did not believe what I was telling them.  They called Fed Ex and got the same answer.  Luckily for me, the computer company is sending us another computer.

The same week I sent my daughter a package via United States Postal Service.  She wasn't home.  They left a little pink slip in her mail box.  She went to the Post Office, showed her ID and picked up her package.  It arrived safely in her hands.

Guess which service I will be using from here on?

My sister just sent me an article from, I believe, Time Magazine.  It is about how buyers, after signing their mortgage documents for their new home which they have purchased at a huge discount as a short sale or REO, they stop making payments on the home they had purchased a few years ago for twice the amount.  The buyer then allows the previous home to go into foreclosure or be sold as a Short Sale.  My first thought is that the buyers that are doing this must be financially sound.  If they were not, they would not have been approved for the new purchase with a mortgage already outstanding on their first home.

I am a Broker in Hawaii.  We don't have the number of foreclosures that are seen on the mainland.  Prices have dropped in some areas where there were over building and on the outer islands, because of job losses, etc.  We have not experienced the multitude of foreclosures or short sales as we hear about on the mainland.

My question to all of you that are experiencing this type of buying and letting go on the mainland, what are your thoughts on this?  How do you believe this will affect the economy?  As I'm reading the article, it looks as though some agents are promoting this.  As a REALTOR, it seems highly unethical.

During a recent home inspection wherein I was representing the seller, the buyer told me that as soon as she and her husband had first walked through the doors of the home several weeks before, they knew the home was for them.  It was just what they were looking for.  I knew they had written an offer on another home that didn't work out so I asked why they didn't write on offer on this one at that time.  The buyer stated they really didn't like the other home as much, but that their agent had strongly encouraged them to put an offer on the other home and they were glad it didn't work out.

I was shocked that an agent would try to talk a buyer into a home that they didn't want and out of a home that they found that they did want.  Both homes were in the same neighborhood and in similar condition.  I began to wonder if I had ever been guilty of persuading a buyer to purchase a home they weren't as interested in as another.  Of course, it is our obligation to tell the prospective buyer of defects in a home and encourage them to consult an inspector and contractors. However, steering them to another home just because the agent liked it better doesn't seem to be in the best interest of the client.

As for me, in the future, I am going to be more careful of my words and listen more carefully to what my buyers' needs and wants are.  Just because I may like a home better than another does not mean they will.  We all have different tastes and needs.  What works for one family, may not work for another.