den boer homes: Oh, one of those, huh?
- 07/23/19 05:16 AM
We have a local agent who buys and flips homes. This means he buys homes in need of fixing up and updates the home. Not all that uncommon here and it really helps upgrade the home inventory when done right. Ah, but there is the rub...
This agent is beginning to get a reputation for poor work and cutting corners. The homes he lists are even referred to with a variant of his name, and when uttered to another agent, both sadly shake their head.
These homes seem to have defects hidden or painted over by the rehab team. I don't know if … (7 comments)
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den boer homes: We shall see...
- 07/01/19 06:07 AM
I have good personal friends that want to sell their home. We have been discussing this for quite some time, but the comp numbers in the neighborhood have just been too low.
Recently my friends and I have been revisiting the sales numbers, and I was informed that another agent has told them that they can list for $80,000 over what the comps are saying, and sale for around $50,000 over the comps. My friends want me to "Enthusiastically" get behind these new numbers or they will list with the other agent.
While I would really love to sell their home, I just … (2 comments)
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den boer homes: If you were to stay, what would you do next?
- 06/28/19 05:26 AM
I really like asking this question to my potential seller clients. Along with my suggestions of what the seller should do to make their home ready to sell, I like to ask them what they themselves would do to the house if they decided to stay. Things like paint the living room, or recarpet the upstairs, or replace some shrubs around the house that were on their last leaves, or fix some rotten wood around the windows. These are, coincidentally, the same things that potential buyers will be saying about your home.
When the seller thinks about this question, it helps them understand better … (28 comments)
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den boer homes: New Office!
- 06/17/19 05:34 AM
Atlanta Communities opened up their new Woodstock office last week and it is beautiful! We took a bank building on the main drag through Woodstock and converted it to a great new 18000 sq ft office space. First floor is reception and agent offices as well as conference areas. The second floor has a full kitchen, agent offices, and a great training room that holds over 100 agents at a time.
The third floor has more agent space as well as a full video studio and separate pod cast area for the agents to use free of charge.
Outside, under the old drive through, … (7 comments)
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den boer homes: The Greatest Generation
- 06/06/19 11:04 AM
As I sat briefly this morning and listened to our President and the President of France speak about the Normandy invasion 75 years ago today, it occurred to me that I thankfully haven't the slightest idea what the assembled 150 or so American veterans went through on that fateful day, so long ago. Because of the unspeakable horrors those men endured, we as a people enjoy the freedoms that we now seem to take for granted.
I do know that "Back in the day", people were generally nice to their neighbors. Everyone had guns, but for the most part did not use them … (3 comments)
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den boer homes: We need to sell first, but let's go look!
- 06/03/19 05:47 AM
There are many times that home sellers need to be looking for the next home. If there home sells before they find the next one they could end up homeless and/or in an expensive hotel until they can find and move in to the next home. This dance of trying to have back to back closings is always a bit stressful for everyone.
But what if the potential sellers are not even thinking of selling their home for 6 months and want to start looking for the next one? Well, if they are amenable to putting their home up for sale quickly … (5 comments)
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den boer homes: Getting ready to get ready...
- 05/28/19 05:29 AM
My first broker would occasionally accuse me of "Getting ready to get ready". I think she meant that I was doing things that were not very productive. I think sometimes she might have been right. Since then I have always tried to be mindful to not delay, linger or wait to get things done. Most of the time I am successful, but not always.
I have seen this in my clients as well at times. There are well meaning clients that keep working on a home to get it ready for sale long after the home IS ready for sale. This is great for … (4 comments)
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den boer homes: It's a Love / Hate Relationship
- 05/03/19 05:04 AM
I opened my 2 year old laptop the other day and within minutes it made a very electrical POP and it left this world to go where dead laptops go. I now have a very expensive boat anchor. Not only did it die after just 2 years, but it died last February as well. I was able to breathe life back into it then, but this time I welcome its demise.
My laptops are 17 inch monsters with lots of horsepower under the hood because I need that power for the video and picture editing that I do. Unfortunately these behemoths come with … (6 comments)
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den boer homes: Once upon a time...
- 05/01/19 05:23 AM
I love stories. In particular those told in movie theaters. I also love books. When I open a book to read I am immediately transported into the story. Stories are powerful ways to get a point across. People can relate so much better to stories than to dry facts. As a real estate agent I find that if I can make a point with a story to a client it is much better received.
So, the next question any many minds would be, where do you get the stories from? Well, for me, it comes from life and being engaged in Real … (10 comments)
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den boer homes: Should we keep the pink window treatments?
- 04/30/19 05:30 AM
In a recent meeting with some potential sellers, I was asked if they should keep the pink window treatments, in the pink room. Not just any pink, but a pepto-bismol pink. The color actually wasn't terrible, but it and the window treatments made the room look dated.
So, I offered to the sellers that if it were me, I would take down the window treatments and repaint the room in a neutral color. I then waited for the inevitable backlash from the sellers as to their love of the color and the fact that the treatments were from a long gone great grand … (5 comments)
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den boer homes: Should I be concerned with how my home is marketed?
- 04/22/19 05:56 AM
I love marketing. When done correctly, magical moments happen. In Real Estate these moments show up as sellers receiving more for their home than they expected, and quicker than they hoped. Good marketing drives higher prices and returns quicker sales in Real Estate.
When getting your home ready for sale, we all intuitively know where we need to put our dollars. Usually in the visual parts of a home. For instance, money spent on a new Thermostat or a home warranty are nice additions to a home and can be talked up by the listing agent, but can be lost on a buyer. … (3 comments)
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den boer homes: Taxing Moments
- 04/15/19 05:30 AM
To Tax - "to make onerous and rigorous demands on" - Merriam Webster
Taxing situations are on my mind today for some reason. I wonder if we as agents think about the possibility of "Onerous and rigorous demands" upon our clients when we are working for them. Buying or selling a home has been identified as one of the most stressful times in many peoples lives. Unavoidably, sometimes we agents cause some of that stress by recommending actions for the sellers to take regarding the updating of a home before we list. Agents need to keep in mind that some sellers just … (4 comments)
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den boer homes: Would you buy a car from them?
- 04/11/19 05:33 AM
Here is an interesting scenario...You wake up today and decide this is the day to go buy a car. You have looked around a bit, but you don't really know enough yet about what you want to purchase, so you decide to hit two dealerships today and look at 2 different cars you are interested in.
You pull into dealer number 1 and you are greeted by a very nice salesperson who seems attentive and asks you about what you are looking for. You respond with several ideas and ask the salesperson about a specific car. The sales person pulls out a spec … (37 comments)
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den boer homes: Fees, fees, and more fees
- 03/27/19 06:00 AM
iBuyers. These are the big, well financed companies that come in and offer to buy out sellers and even move them to the next home. On the surface this sounds really good. Maybe too good?
The theory is that these companies can save a seller from the trials and tribulations of having buyers tromp through their home, open houses that inconvenience them, and dealing with crazy offers. I believe that their are some times when these business models mesh well with sellers. Perhaps for an estate sale when the owners don't want the hassle of dealing with the sale process, or maybe … (4 comments)
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den boer homes: Eeek! Mice!!
- 03/25/19 08:03 AM
Rodents? Nope. I'm talking about those little gadgets that move the cursor around your screen. For those of you that use the touch pad instead, well, maybe next blog we can reconnect. But for those of us still attached to our mice, here we go.
About 3 weeks ago I was walking up a flight of wooden stairs when my computer mouse decided to make a run for it. Apparently, 2 years living with me was unbearable, and it made a jump. Unfortunately for it, I caught up with it, but only after it tumbled head over feet back down the flight … (3 comments)
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den boer homes: Curb their Enthusiasm!
- 03/21/19 05:42 AM
Ever pulled up to the front of a home, and even before you leave your car, you fall in love with the home? How about just the opposite. You pull up to a home and decide to not even slow the car down. I call this a drive by. Something about the home just turned you off. It could be something you just can't put your finger on. Or it could be the car up on blocks in the front yard. Either way, these situations both involve what we in Real estate call Curb Appeal.
Curb Appeal has to do with how … (3 comments)
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den boer homes: Sorry, does not exist here.
- 03/18/19 05:32 AM
Friday I spoke with a gentleman looking to relocate from Tennessee to this area to be near his kids. He has a home on a lake in Tennessee and would like to have the same here. Luckily, we are blessed with 2 great lakes in this area, so we started discussing exactly what he was looking for.
The gentleman was looking for a townhome community on the lake with a great view and a dock, or at least access to one. My problem is that we do not have townhomes on the local lake. It is surrounded by single family homes.
My new client was … (2 comments)
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den boer homes: It depends...
- 03/12/19 10:46 AM
This is one of my favorite real estate responses, it depends. An agent will be asked a seemingly easy question to answer by their client, and they may very well respond, it depends. Do you know why? Well, you guessed it, it depends.
Many questions asked in the normal course of events in real estate can have a slew of different answers depending upon the situation. For instance, when a buyer asks, will the seller want to keep the window treatments? The answer depends on what is in the contract. If there is nothing in the contract, the agents will need to … (7 comments)
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den boer homes: What do you do all day?
- 03/01/19 05:31 AM
I wonder sometimes if our clients see Real Estate professionals as people who get up around 10am. Go meet friends for coffee. Have a long lunch. call a few people in the afternoon. And then call it a day. They might if you don't help explain the process as you go about helping them.
There is definitely value added to our clients every minute of the day as a true professional goes about their work. It might not be obvious at first, but the value is there.
For instance, a typical day for me consists of getting to work around 7:30 in the … (4 comments)
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den boer homes: Hey look, it's raining again!
- 02/28/19 05:25 AM
It has been a very wet last year for many states in the south and west this year. I can remember moving to New Jersey after college to take my first job, and there was an article in a magazine shortly after arriving about a dried up lake not far from the apartment. They had a shot of the Governor standing in the middle of a dry lake bed, lamenting that we would see more of this in the future.
Fast forward to today. The local lake here is 4 feet over "Full Pool" and they are having to release copious amounts of … (1 comments)
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We have a local agent who buys and flips homes. This means he buys homes in need of fixing up and updates the home. Not all that uncommon here and it really helps upgrade the home inventory when done right. Ah, but there is the rub...
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