The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America
When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. —
That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. —
Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers. He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries. He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation: For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us: For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States: For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world: For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent: For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury: For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences: For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments: For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people. He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury.
A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people. Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren.
We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us.
We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity.
We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do.
— And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.
You hear a lot these days about lower price, lower price, and lowest price as the only way to get a house sold.
Here are 9 things you can do that will make your house stand out from the crowd, appeal to more potential buyers, and probably sell faster. None of them have anything to do with cutting the price.
Curb appeal, curb appeal, curb appeal! I can’t emphasize this one enough. Buyers have to be attracted to your home to want to see it. I’ve had lots of buyers say: “Let’s pass this one buy.” when we’ve pulled up to a home that was not attractive from the street.
Bright, shiny, and inviting entry. Once you get buyers out of the car and walking up to your front door, you want to continue to set a good tone for your showing. Make sure your front entry is spotless, sweep away the cobwebs over your door, clean front door, paint if necessary, bright, shiny new door hardware if necessary, a new light fixture if the old one is rusty. All these things go a long way towards keeping the mood for showing positive.
PAINT! Biggest selling bang for your buck possible. Neutral paint is the word of the day, no bright or funky colors. A fresh, uniform coat of paint throughout your house if needed will bring a faster sale and more dollars in your pocket.
Your kitchen. Lots of Realtors and buyers say the kitchen is what caused the sale. De-clutter your counter tops, cabinets, pantries, and storage space so buyers can see it.
DEEP CLEANING! It’s gotta be not just spotless but “white glove” inspection clean. No grease on kitchen appliances, bathrooms including tubs, showers, and sinks spotless and clean smelling, all light fixtures wiped down or washed including the bulbs, clean the blades on your ceiling fans, cobwebs from along ceilings and underneath. In fact it will likely pay you to hire a professional house cleaner to do the job for you.
Straighten up, “lean out” and neaten all your storage areas especially your closets. Don’t forget the fresh paint here too.
Let the sun shine in. All blinds and shades should be open for showing even in the evenings. Of course your windows need to be included in the deep cleaning too.
Get a pre-sale home inspection. This will alert you to potential problem areas you might not be aware of and let you fix or repair them at your leisure and also prevent a buyer from using some minor issue as a negotiating tool.
No funky odors or smells. This one is tough because you live there every day and some odors might not be apparent to you. Ask a friend, neighbor, or real estate professional to give your home the “smell test” to see if there might be something there you’re not picking up on. Don’t get carried away with scents to mask odors; too much is almost as bad as the odors you’re trying to cover up. Get rid of the cause of the odor.
You can find lots selling tips as well as get a free copy of my 52 page e-book titled “450 Ideas To Help Your Home Sell Faster” at www. KnoxvilleHomeCenter.com or just send a blank email to 450Ideas@JimLee.com
It seems every time you pick up a newspaper or turn on the TV these days you're bombarded with news like "housing crisis", "financial crisis", "mortgage crisis", "foreclosure crisis", or "pick your crisis".
The result of all these crises or in layman's terms, a great big mess is that it has created one of the strongest buyer markets in history. A buyer's market is defined as a period where the supply of homes is greater than the demand. A buyer's market means there are lots of homes for sale and not that many buyers.
With underwriter's guidelines becoming more strict and tighter than ever it's also becoming harder for even very well qualified buyers to qualify for a loan.
For instance both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, who buy or insure almost 60% of the secondary mortgage market in the US, will only underwrite a loan on a brand new condo where the percentage of owner-occupants is over 70%! The former guideline was 51%. This rule alone is making new condo developments very tough to sell.
Closer to home in Knox County there is a huge number of homes for sale. Today, June 26th for example, there are 4,161 residential listings in all price ranges with an additional 1,068 condos. That's a total of 5,229 homes for sale. The graph below illustrates how many months it will take to sell them at the current sales rate and assuming no new listings come on the market before (which will not happen).
Sellers who want to sell now have a choice. Either sell your house now in the current market at the market price or wait until the market improves (assuming it will improve at some future date) IF you can wait and don't need or have to sell now.
There are some things you can do to put the odds of selling at the best price in your favor. You can get more in depth tips and guides from the "Sellers" and "Free Stuff" section of my website, www.KnoxvilleHomeCenter.com but here's the 25 words of less version.
1. Face the new reality; it’s a buyer’s market.
2. Price it right! In a buyer’s market it doesn’t matter what you or your Realtor think it’s worth, the only thing that does matter is what a buyer is willing to pay.
3. Research the local market and see which houses are selling and just as important, which ones are not. You’ll usually find that the ones selling are not only price right but are in ‘move in’ condition with no repairs needed and little if any cosmetic touch ups needed either.
4. Have an effective Internet strategy. According to National Association of Realtors latest study of Home Buyers and Sellers in 2008, over 84% of all home buyers began their home search on the Internet. Evidence of my Internet effectiveness in selling homes is provided by the fact you’re reading this information; please give me a call if you’re thinking of selling.
5. Make sure your house makes a great first impression, that ‘curb appeal’ and ’shows great’ thing in action. More tips and a free, 52 page eBook titled “450 Ideas to Make Your Home Seller Faster”, yours for the asking at www.KnoxvilleHomeCenter or just send me at email to 450ideas@JimLee.com and I’ll get one back to you right away.
6. Be flexible. Often buyers will ‘try you out’ with a low ball offer just to see what your reaction will be. Don’t take that as a sign you’re going to have to “give away the farm” to sell. Just counter back at a price you can live with and put the ball back in their court. As Michael Corleone said in that now famous “Godfather” movie: “It’s not personal, it’s just business.”
.......................I want to thank you for inviting me over to look at your house and talk with you about selling it.
Before I get started talking about what I'm going to be doing to get your house sold as quickly as possible, let's take just a few minutes to talk about the things I'm not going to be doing and why I'm not going to be doing them.
First and foremost; don't pick up your daily newspaper and start looking for a 3 line ad that looks just like everyone Else's 3 line ad and also, don't be looking for a small color photo in the glossy, color magazines that you pick up at the bank or grocery because you won't be in them either.
The reason is simple; print ads are not as effective, both from a cost standpoint and being effective. According to a National Association of Realtors (NAR) study, "87 percent used the Internet", way over twice the number that said they looked at print ads. NAR's study went on to say: "Fewer buyers rely on a home book or magazine, home builders, television, billboards and relocation companies. Buyers most commonly start their search process online and then contact a real estate agent."
As the statistics and buyers very clearly say; give us an online location where we can see all the homes for sale in an area, lots of photos, and area information as well as information about the homes for sale.
Number two, don't be getting ready for a traditional Sunday open house because we are not going to be doing one. There are several reasons. First and foremost, open houses don't work to sell a particular house. Typically brokers put their new agents out sitting open houses to pick up buyers for other listings.
Personally I don't feel that it's fair to use your house as basically 'bait' to lure buyers in to buy another house. Secondly, open houses usually only attract only lookers, "tire kickers", and unfortunately also criminals looking for a house to rob now or later, often when you and your family are at home. There have also been incidents of visitors to open houses caught looking through medicine cabinets and other location for prescription drugs to steal to feed their habit.
Here's a partial excerpt from REALTOR magaine about holding open houses:
"Nix open houses—they’re neither worthwhile nor safe The article on safety, “ Protect your life ” (September 2003), reminds me that the most dangerous part of real estate is open houses. Besides attracting neighbors, the curious, and unqualified “lookie-loos,” opens draw weirdoes of varying degrees.
In the past few months, right here in Minnesota, there’ve been practitioner abductions and attacks: One salesperson was invited to conduct a market analysis on a home and was sexually assaulted by a man and his sister-in-law. Another was holding an open house at a model home when a man came in, took off all his clothes, and helped himself to the shower. Yet another salesperson had her purse stolen. Two female salespeople were robbed at gunpoint while showing a vacant property last spring.
It’s time for professionals to prevent these kinds of crimes by eliminating the vulnerability: Stand up and educate your clients about the dangers and pointlessness of open houses. They’ll understand that reducing their liability is a great benefit and that you are professional and creative enough to bring the very best buyer—without the risks."
So there you have it; two things I don't do and the reasons I don't do them. Would you like me to continue with my presentation at this time and show and tell you the many things I do to get your house sold; many of them exclusive to me?
Thanks, I'm glad you' agree with me; now let's talk about what works in today's tougher, more competative, seller's market to get your house sold.
The first full week of June turned out to be a fizzle for real estate transfers recorded at the Knox County Register of Deeds office, dropping to just 50 recorded transfers from a high of 187 back on April 12 of 2009.
In fact I believe 50 is the worst week we’ve had thus far in 2009.
Here's a graph with some past week's totals to compare:
Historically May and June have both been pretty strong sales months so just what the heck is happening now.
I believe the main factors depressing our market and sale is an overwhelming lack of consumer confidence towards buying big ticket items like houses, a continuing climb in unemployment numbers, and unfortunately, plunging home values driven by distressed sales (foreclosures & short sales) which now account for 45% of the market.
If someone in your neighbor or area sells their home in a distress sale that affects the values of all homes in that area.
Reuters news service said in a recent article: “Even when the economy begins to grow, analysts expect only a tepid recovery. Plunging home values and rising unemployment have forced consumers to cut spending, and households are expected to continue to rebuild savings for months to come.”
And to further kick the housing industry when it’s down, mortgage interest rates ROSE to their highest levels since December of 2008!
“NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. mortgage rates surged to their highest in almost six months in the latest week, despite government efforts to keep rates at low levels that will help the hard-hit housing market begin to recover. Demand for home refinancing loans, which had been spurred by low mortgage rates, has dropped recently. Even lower rates, however, had been having limited impact on demand for loans to purchase homes.”
Spring is traditionally the peak home buying season so I don’t look for the sales numbers to improve any time soon.
On a brighter note it still is a very strong buyers market for those savvy buyers with good credit and good job prospects.
The $8,000 (or 10% whichever is less) federal tax credit remains in effect until December 1st of 2009. Our Tennessee Housing Development Authority (THDA) has in place a program that will let you borrow from them up to 3.5% of a home’s purchase price (which just happens to the the minimum down payment with FHA financing) and repay them at 0% until 2010 using your $8,000 tax credit.
You may find that you can now buy a house cheaper than your current rent. A fixed rate payment will never increase over the life of your loan unlike rent payments. See all Knoxville area homes for sale including foreclosures and short sales at www.KnoxvilleHomeCenter.com
With today's market I thought this previous post would be worth recycling. In our area we have a problem with this fungus/algae that grows on roofs and makes them look old and worn when actually an economical removal treatment can make them look almost new again.
A huge part of getting buyers interested in looking inside a house is attractive curb appeal.
Unfortunately in many parts of the country there are unsightly stains and discoloration on roof shingles that make even the most manicured landscaping lose some of it's luster once the buyer's eyes turn upward and see an ugly roof.
A lot of those black streaks and stains are called by a type of 'roof algae' whose scientific name is Gloeocapsa Magna.
Fortunately there is a solution; Roof-A-Cide has an environmentally safe, EPA Approved Algaecide / Fungicide that will make short work of those ugly roof growths and fairly economically as well.
I have a house that had a fairly new roof but the algae was so thick and streaky it caused people to look with suspicion at the shingles.
Today the Roof-A-Cide guys worked their magic and now my roof is sparkling clean and appealing. Check out the before and after pictures below. Photo 1 was taken around noon yesterday and photo 2 was shot around noon today; the difference is astounding.
Here's the before picture, notice the black streaking and stains
And the same roof after; notice the enormous change and how fresh the 'new' roof looks now.
The total cost for this job was $340.00 and I believe it was well worth it. This process is sort of like painting for your roof. It makes an enormous impact just like paint and is equally cost effective.
A little fresh mulch, some blooming flowers, and 4625 is ready to sell for top dollar.
FREE, what a great word; it's one of my favorites.
Let's face it, almost everyone likes free stuff especially if it's real free stuff with no strings attached.
One of the most popular pages on my website, KnoxvilleHomeCenter.com is the "FREE STUFF" page.
And one of the most popular free things I give away is a copy of a free, 52 page ebook titled "450 Ideas To Help Your Home Sell FASTER!".
I bought the reprint rights several years ago from fellow Realtor Wendy Jones for a very reasonable $97.00 including a custom cover with my photo and contact information on it.
For your 97 bucks (economy version $67.00, no custom cover) you get the lifetime rights to publish and print or email as many copies of the book as you can crank out with one reasonable restriction below:
"You will be able to make as many copies as you wish - as long as they are for YOUR CLIENTS, or POTENTIAL CLIENTS. (It is illegal to hand it out to the general public, or other agents)."
I've been giving away this book for several years now and it's brought me back many, many times my $97.00 investment.
Another one of my free things is a link to eNeighborhoods where potential buyers & sellers can sign up for a free bi-monthly newsletter, find out what homes in their neighborhood sold for, and several other nifty things.
I also offer free school reports comparing local schools. You can get your own free of course, from eSchoolProfile.com for your area.
And I have some more free stuff including a free relocation package, free market analysis, and a free calculator to see what your commuting costs would be; helps to choose between a close in house or one further away.
Of course the reason behind all this "free" stuff I give away is just like any other advertising; I just want someone to raise their hand to me and say I want to buy or sell real estate; contact me with the free information I ask for.
Do you have any "FREE STUFF" on your website? If not I highly recommend it to generate leads; potential buyers and sellers love it and they use mine often.
This subject has come up recently on another forum I'm on so I thought it might be worth recycling this post from 2006.
This may have happened to you.
You have a client, buyer or seller, who signs up to do business with you. You do what they asked you to, sell their house or help them buy one, and suddenly just before the deal closes the "Relocation Fee Fairy" (RFF) taps you on the shoulder with her magic want and says: "Great job, by the way those are our clients too, we get a 35, 40, even a 50% referral fee from you for the privilege of working with ‘our clients'.
Back in the old days there really wasn't much you could do except scream, holler, or cry before you paid up because the RFF would tell you if you didn't pay, ‘your clients' would not be able to collect their relocation benefits or some other such story.
After too many visits from the RFF Realtors got together to fight back and now we have some options other than getting out our checkbooks.
First (and this one is best of all for me), some state Realtor organizations have sponsored legislation to make even asking for such after the fact referral fees illegal; my state (Tennessee) is one of them.
Since 1999 in Tennessee it is illegal for:
"Any person or entity to solicit or request a referral fee from a licensee without reasonable cause, defined as an actual introduction of business and either the existence of a sub-agency relationship, a contractual referral fee relationship, or a contractual cooperative brokerage relationship.
To threaten to reduce or withhold employee relocation benefits or take other action adverse to the interest of a client of a real estate licensee because of an agency relationship.
To counsel a client of a real estate licensee on how to terminate or amend an existing agency contract."
Our state association of Realtors led the charge in getting this law passed; another great example of RPAC dollars and Realtors at work.
Since losing the fight against getting this law passed in several other states (and believe me they tried ;-) ) the Employee Relocation Council (ERC) decided it was in their best interests to switch rather than continue to fight so they funded a sub-group called "The Coalition" and got together with ARELLO, (The Association of Real Estate Licensing Law Officials) to come up with a unified policy and procedures to deal with after the fact fees.
The first and best thing they did was to simply issue a policy statement that says essentially we won't try to collect any more after the fact referral fees if we don't ask up front and actually refer the clients to real estate licensees. They also asked their member clients to sign this pledge which I believe most of them did including Cendant and some of the others including the big players.
Second they developed and implemented a mechanism for real estate licensees to file a complaint at no charge if they feel they've been unfairly visited by the Relocation Fee Fairy, here's a link to the website to make that happen (no charge to the complainant)
A third solution, even if you're contacted up front by a relocation company, is to simply negotiate their fees with them.
All things in real estate are negotiable and that includes referral fees.
I've negotiated a couple down from the 35% & 40% they asked up front to 15 & 20% before they ever gave me their transferee's name so I know it can be done.
Three solutions to make your visit from the Referral Fee Fairy a more pleasant experience.
So before getting out your checkbook do some research, you may be in a stronger position than you realize.
Lots of potential homebuyers are currently eligible for an $8,000 tax credit if they buy a new or resale home before December 1st of 2009.
So why the big deal over a credit; we've always had tax deductions haven't we?
Yes but there is a major difference between a credit and a deduction.
A tax deduction reduces your amount of income subject to tax based on the tax bracket you're in.
A tax credit is a dollar for dollar reduction in your tax liability.
In Tennessee now the Tennessee Housing Development Authority (THDA) has a program in place where a homebuyer can borrow up to 3 1/2% of the purchase price of a home and repay it at 0% from the anticipated tax credit refund.
So if you've been sitting on the fence waiting for the right time to buy; it's here. Conditions for buyers are better than I've seen them in my 30+ years of practicing real estate.
$8,000 Tax Credit for a huge number of potential buyers
A tremendous selection of homes in all price ranges.
Values are now above prices in some homes because of the huge supply of homes for sale.
Mortgage interest and your property taxes are deductible from your federal income taxes.
Interest rates are at the lowest point in over 50 years.
No capital gains taxes on the first $500,000 of PROFIT when you sell your primary residence
Give me a call at (865) 693-3232 or email today and let's see if you qualify for that $8,000 tax credit; Most of my buyers this year have qualified and some have already filed amended tax returns and collected thousands of free dollars from the government. You can too.
Reading the weekly real estate transfers from the Knox County Register of Deeds office I see about the usual for the year number of property transfers recorded. This past week we had a total of 148
And as has been the case for 2009, mid to lower priced homes dominated the sales figures with the $100,000 to $150,000 the largest category once again.
Since the $100,000 to $150,000 price range is such a hot place in an otherwise lackluster real estate market let's take a look at some of the homes that buyers found enticing enough to buy recently.
This beautiful contemporary home with 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, and a 2 car garage sold recently for $150,000
One level living with a nice level yard and sold for just $134,000
This great looking home in the Cedar Bluff Road area closed at just $123,000.
Just a couple of the great buys for sale right now in the greater Knoxville, Tennessee market.
Have a question about Knoxville, TN real estate or homes for sale??
Please feel free to ask a question about any aspect of real estate or a real estate transaction.
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.
;)
;)
