I haven't been on Active Rain in awhile. It isn't that I wasn't thinking about my old friends here. I missed you all a lot. I even tried to resurrect Carnac more than once, but found it absolutely impossible considering the growth of Active Rain and the fact that 99% of the 200,000 members wouldn't even recognize Carnac. I suspect that some of the new folks would think I'm a wise ass rather than a really nice person with a sense of humor that offends occasionally. (Ok, more than occasionally.) Oh, how I miss the ginzu knives, moderator dart boards, and the spatulas from Spatula City.

I have a feeling that not a whole lot has changed here on Active Rain, including the whining about points. Holy Crap, speaking of points, I see that some people have a whole lot of time on their hands and have a gazillion of them. And I bet the Rain Gods get a barrage of emails complaining that "It isn't fair".  I always thought they should produce a whiner leader board with a list of the people who send the most emails complaining about points.


So....In celebration of my return, you'll find a sneak peek of my presentation for CRS Sell-a-bration. 

Enjoy.  Play nice.  I'll be back.

After delivering a similar session at Triple Play in Atlantic City,  someone in the audience asked me where they could go to discover my other "finds". it occurred to me that Facebook was a natural place to post my favorites including those I use in my "60 in 60" presentation. And so my 60 Websites in 60 Minutes Facebook page was born. I hope you'll stop by, like it, and learn some cool stuff.

But most of all, I hope you'll consider sharing your favorite websites either here or on my Facebook Page. After 33 years in the business, I've learned that sharing unconditionally is the only way to roll!

Linda Davis has been selling real estate in Ledyard CT for 33 years. You'll find Linda's complete profile on her Online Business Card.

This tale of a Connecticut Landlord ends well and there is a lesson to be learned.  Many landlord tales don't end happily because the authorities will tell you there is nothing you can do when your home is trashed by tenants or you lose thousands of dollars in rent.  This tale was written by a client of mine who rented out his home In Ledyard. He really is a very nice man.

 June 17, 2010

Once upon a time a young girl rented a nice house in Ledyard from a nice man. She had a boyfriend and two young children. She seemed so nice.

But the young girl had trouble paying her rent, and paying her utilities. The nice man kept the utilities current so they didn't get turned off, and he gave the young girl plenty of leeway in paying her back rent.

After a few months the young  girl decided she didn't want to catch up on her back rent. She quit talking to the nice man. He had no choice but to begin an eviction process. After almost two months the young girl, her boyfriend, and her two young children were forced to seek refuge somewhere other than his nice house.

But his house was no longer nice, it was a pig sty. There was trash everywhere. The carpets were soiled, the doors were broken, there were holes in the walls, the cupboards were broken, it was as if a tornado had hit his nice house. The nice man called the police and they filled out a report. The District Attorney filed charges and ordered the  girl arrested. Unfortunately no one knew where she had gone.

Fortunately, she and her boyfriend had a habit of beating each other up. So one day when they were having a dispute the police were called. When they took her name and looked it up, found the previous charge and they arrested her. Unfortunately the young  girl made her $1000 bail and went back into hiding. She missed her next court appointment, and the next one, and the next one, and finally a judge ordered her bail revoked and signed a new arrest warrant. Once again the young  girl was found and arrested. This time the court required a $2500 professional bond (bail bondsman money). This time the young girl showed up for her court appearance.

When the young  girl came to court she asked the judge to let her attend "pretrial rehabilitation". This is a program that would allow the young girl to be given a period of probation during which she would complete a rehabilitation course. Then, if she completed the course satisfactorily, the charges against her would be dropped.

Unfortunately for the young girl, the process allows the nice man the opportunity to tell the court what he thinks of this process. The nice man is invited to the court to tell the judge "if (he) think(s) the Defendant should be given accelerated pretrial rehabilitation."

The nice man will attend the next hearing and he will tell the judge exactly what he thinks of granting pretrial rehabilitation to this young  girl.

As a side note, the nice man looked up the recent court records of the young  girl and her boyfriend. It turns out that her boyfriend was arrested last Friday for possession and sale of controlled substances (two felonies). He's in jail under $50,000 bail that he has not met. His next court date is next week. The nice man is considering attending the hearing just to see who shows up and what happens to the young man.

In all of this there are two innocent young children. Who cares for the children? The nice man will request the court to place the children in a proper home environment. These people should not be raising children.

_________________________________

Update July 13, 2010

The little girl didn't show up for her court appearance on 7/2/2010. The nice man did show up. The nice man talked to the court investigator and had her felony charges entered into her record along with several photographs of the damages done to his property. Then the nice man was permitted an opportunity to talk to the judge. The judge listened politely and then revoked the $2500 bail, ordered the little girl re-arrested, and set her next bail at $1,000 cash only.

The little girl probably knew she had made a mistake not appearing in court on 7/2, so she went voluntarily to court on 7/6. She threw herself on the mercy of the court and the nice judge decided to sentence her to:

24 months of probation

Court supervised rehabilitation (whatever that is)

PLUS

Pay the nice man $8,450 for damages. Payments to be made $100 / month.

Now these payments are part of the terms of her probation. To successfully complete her 24 months of probation she must comply. The nice man is very happy with this judgment.

The nice man went to court on 7/13/2010 and was given a copy of the courts judgment against the little girl. This paperwork gives the little  girls address. With this information the nice man will be able to get the Department of Children and Families to investigate the living conditions of the two young children living with the little girl and her boyfriend. He will also be able to file a small claims case against the little girl and against her boyfriend for back rent and utilities.

The boyfriend has made his $50,000 bail. His next court appearance will be 7/19/2010. The nice man will go and observe the proceedings of this case.

Sometimes a landlord can get justice.

To be continued.....

Linda Davis has been selling real estate in Ledyard CT for 33 years. You'll find Linda's complete profile on her Online Business Card.

I've been selling real estate in Ledyard CT for over 33 years. I've had good success, sold a bunch of houses, won some awards, and as a result have been invited to speak at a number of real estate events including RE/MAX International Conventions, Inman Connect and regional conferences.

Lots of speakers at conventions and conferences will tell you how to sell real estate and use technology in your business. Unfortunately, many speakers have never actually sold real estate. I'm not a professional speaker and I didn't sleep at a Holiday Inn Express last night but I do sell real estate and use technology in my business just like you.

About a year ago, I created a presentation called "60 Websites in 60 Minutes". I thought I'd share it here! I'm now working on a second group of 60 Websites for when I return to New Jersey this December.

After delivering the session at Triple Play, someone in the audience asked me where they could go to discover my other "finds". it occurred to me that Facebook was a natural place to post my favorites including those I use in my "60 in 60" presentation. And so my 60 Websites in 60 Minutes Facebook page was born. I hope you'll stop by, like it, and learn some cool stuff.

But most of all, I hope you'll consider sharing your favorite websites either here or on my Facebook Page. After 33 years in the business, I've learned that sharing unconditionally is the only way to roll!

Linda Davis has been selling real estate in Ledyard CT for 33 years. You'll find Linda's complete profile on her Online Business Card.

Tough love with a bite of reality for sellers in New London County serious about getting their home sold.

I've told this story a few times over the past year but finally my story has an ending. Not a happy one.

A year and a half ago, I completed a market analysis for a relocation company for a transferring client who owned a home in Ledyard.  My suggested list price of $325,000 was significantly lower than that of the agent I was competing against. The homeowner, thinking his home was worth much more than my recommended price, listed his home at $389,000. The infuriating part of the story is that this home was located in a subdivision of similar homes and not one of them had sold anywhere near that price. To suggest a list price of $389,000 was just crazy. I was so incensed that I sent an email to the relocation contact saying I would have considered it a violation of the code of ethics to suggest listing the property at that price.

Last week the home closed at $210,000. This is not a typo.

Prices continued to drop by about 1% a month in 2009. By listing so far over market value, the relocation company, ended up chasing the market down with a series of price reductions that were too little and too late. In hindsight, my $325,000 estimate was probably a bit high, but had the home been listed at $325,000 in July 2008, I suspect the end result would have been a sales price of about $300,000, a $90,000 difference. It would be unprofessional of me to send an "I told you so" email but I admit I feel vindicated.  

The best chance of selling a home close to asking price is within the first 30 days. Sellers would do themselves a favor by pricing their home lower than the competition and lower than recently sold comparable homes. Chasing the market down is never pretty.

Straight Talk on Tuesday Morning is an ongoing series for sellers in New London County who are willing to listen, roll up their sleeves, and do what they need to do to get their home sold. If you aren't serious about selling your home, then move along. There is nothing to see here.

Linda Davis has been selling real estate in Ledyard CT for 33 years. You'll find Linda's complete profile on her Online Business Card.

I just returned from the National Association of Realtors convention in San Diego. NAR's chief economist Lawrence Yun spoke to a room packed with REALTORS® and projected that real estate prices would climb about 4% in 2010, while the number of home sales will increase 15%.  He also predicts that foreclosures will peak during the first half of 2010 and that Realtor incomes will go up 20 percent next year.

I'm an optimist. Sometimes I even show Pollyanna tendencies, but I just can't join the partying that is breaking out in real estate offices across the nation based on his predictions.

In newspapers and blogs, the mockery has already begun. Take this typical response to Yun's predictions from The Wallet Pop blog: "The good news: National Association of Realtors chief economist Lawrence Yun is predicting that home prices will rise 4% in 2010. The bad news: Lawrence Yun has never been right about anything in his entire life, ever."

A comment on Yun's prediction on the FreeRepublic website by the Antiyuppie was simply "This guy (Yun) was hired because Baghdad Bob had already been snagged By Al-Jazeira. Really."

The Wall Street Journal's Market Watch reported Yun's predictions and has received 200 comments. The most popular comment as voted on by readers was by Economutt, "Gee, I better run out and buy a house before they're all gone. ;-)"

How many times does an economist have to be wrong before people stop taking him seriously? Why do NAR economists as well as real estate association executives feel the need to serve as cheerleaders?

Wouldn't a good dose of reality serve us, as well as the public, better?

Linda Davis has been selling real estate in Ledyard CT for 32 years. You'll find Linda's profile on her Online Buesiness Card. 

Old Time Rainers keep asking if I'll ever do another Carnac Post.  I'm trying to muster up some predictions for 2010.