Burlington Vermont Real Estate

Vermont real estate home inspection court case

Pike Porter (Castle Porter Real Estate) — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 13:38:24 -0800

A recent Vermont Supreme Court decision reminds me, and should remind other real estate agents in Vermont, to make sure that I provide several inspector and contractor recommendations to my buyers and sellers, and to suggest to my buyers and sellers that they review the contractor terms of service. The case is Glassford v. The BrickKicker, and the Supreme Court found that the BrickKicker contract was an unconscionable contract because it limited damages to "actual damages, or equal to the inspection fee, whichever is less," in this case $285; but also required that the party seeking damages submit to binding arbitration and required the party to pay an initial arbitration fee of $1,350, with the possibility for additional arbitration fees. Clearly paying at least $1,350 to recoup no more than $285 is unreasonable, and the court found the contract substantially unconscionable. Additionally, the court found several elements of the contract that were procedurally unconscionable such as a signature line on the front of the contract so that customers could sign without actually reading it. Citing a NJ case, Herner v. HouseMaster of America, which found "unconscionable commercial practice and inherent conflict where record demonstrated that realtor referred buyers to home inspecting service that depended heavily on such referrals and thus had stong incentive to facitilate sales," the VT court found "limiting the liability to the inspection fee does not provide a realistic incentive to act diligently...particularly given the countervailing incentive to please the referring realtor by soft-pedaling the inspection and allowing the sale to go forward." The plaintiff's attorney in the Herner v. HouseMaster took time to indicate the relationship between the agents' desire to see a deal go through, the correlation between the degree to which home inspector will "nitpick" at problems in a house and the referrals the home inspector receives from real estate agents. In fact HouseMaster of America did have a written policy to state both good and bad characteristics of a house for individual buyers but focus on problems for relocation companies. Like the court, I find it unpersuasive that a home inspector should spin a home inspection report more or less positively if the customer is an individual or a corporation. In neither the Vermont case nor the NJ case did the court find any fault in the real estate agent, but in both cases the courts suggested that the relationship between inspector and Realtor can be too cozy at time. Realtors need to provide good recommendations for good inspectors to their buyers and sellers while remaining divorced from the consequences of the inspector's inspection reports. Realtors will rarely provide a single inspector recommendation but instead will provide buyers and sellers three or more recommendations. While there are many good inspectors, my website currently lists four (it was five) that I recommend. I have not, however, read the contracts of any of the inspectors I recommend, and it may be time to recommend that buyers review several contracts before agreeing to one of them. Learn more about home inspectors at the National Association of Home Inspectors and American Society of Home Inspectors.

Reducing Fuel Consumption -- make the pledge

Pike Porter (Castle Porter Real Estate) — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 09:17:03 -0800

Hi agents, and happy new year.

Last year I started the group Green Agents, a group of real estate agents who pledge to use a fuel efficient car for their business. We have 2 members.

We can do better this year.

If you're using a fuel efficient vehicle, please join the Green Agents group. And tell your clients that you've pledged to reduce your carbon footprint.

What a great way to market yourself.

Thanks, and make 2011 a great year.

please consider joining the Green Agents Group

Pike Porter (Castle Porter Real Estate) — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 18:35:10 -0800

Hi agents, and happy new year.

Last year I started the group Green Agents, a group of real estate agents who pledge to use a fuel efficient car for their business. We have 2 members.

We can do better this year.

If you're using a fuel efficient vehicle, please join the Green Agents group. And tell your clients that you've pledged to reduce your carbon footprint.

What a great way to market yourself.

Thanks, and make 2011 a great year.

please consider joining the Green Agents Group

Pike Porter (Castle Porter Real Estate) — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 18:30:03 -0800

Hi agents, and happy new year.

Last year I started the group Green Agents, a group of real estate agents who pledge to use a fuel efficient car for their business. We have 2 members.

We can do better this year.

If you're using a fuel efficient vehicle, please join the Green Agents group. And tell your clients that you've pledged to reduce your carbon footprint.

Thanks, and make 2011 a great year.

Thanks for taking the pledge

Pike Porter (Castle Porter Real Estate) — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 18:24:44 -0800

Real estate agents,

our jobs demand miles and miles of driving. By joining this group you've pledged to take steps to reduce the carbon footprint generated by you in the course of your business, including driving an fuel efficient automobile that gets a least 32 mpg city driving.

Thanks for joining and taking the pledge. Please ask others to consider using a fuel efficient automobile in the course of their work.

Green Agent Pledge

Pike Porter (Castle Porter Real Estate) — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 12:21:42 -0700

Hi all,

I've started a new group: Green_Agents. Group members pledge that they use a fuel efficient vehicle for professional use and take other steps to minimize the professions effects on the environement like printing on both sides of paper, etc.

http://activerain.com/groups/green_agents

Green Agent Pledge

Pike Porter (Castle Porter Real Estate) — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 12:15:28 -0700

Hi all,

http://activerain.com/groups/green_agents

Green Agent Pledge

Pike Porter (Castle Porter Real Estate) — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 12:11:38 -0700

Hi all,

http://activerain.com/groups/green_agents

RIP Champlain Bridge

Pike Porter (Castle Porter Real Estate) — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 12:12:35 -0800

I and several hundred other people almost watched the 80 year old Champlain Bridge explode into lake Champlain this morning.

Just this past year the Champlain Bridge was added to the National Historic Registry as the first and great example of some type of bridge engineering; some type of engineering not destined to stand the test of time. It was a beautiful snowing morning and the sky and lake met seamlessly at an invisible horizon line. The bridge was also invisible from where I stood. Some of the news stations captured the explosion on film, but I think most spectators only heard it--one quick boom like a July 4th firework.

It was perhaps the most anti-climatic event of 2009, but, what with the cheerful crowd, one I'm happy to have attended.

Grand Opening of Castle Porter Real Estate!

Pike Porter (Castle Porter Real Estate) — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 22:24:49 -0700

I'm very pleased to announce the establishment of Castle Porter Real Estate, a socially consious real estate company that strives to reduce costs to sellers, provide financial incentives to buyers, offer superior commissions to its agents, and provide charitable gifts to local not-for-profit organizations by embracing technological efficiency and by avoiding outdated marketing methods and unnecessary overhead. Castle Porter Real Estate will be the real estate agency Vermonters turn to when looking for the single most professional, cost effective, and socially responsible real estate agency in Vermont.

We are located at 52 Elmwood Avenue right in downtown Burlington. Stop in and say hi--or leave a note--its been a busy Spring. Of course you can also find us at Burlington's most awesomest, down-right kick-ass real estate web site this side of the great divide.

In coming weeks we should even have business cards to give away.

Burlington Realtor Back to Work

Pike Porter (Castle Porter Real Estate) — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 09:15:29 -0800

I took a sabbatical for much of 2008 to pursue some art hobbies. The time was relaxing. As much as I love my job, it was a bit tough getting back into the swing of things. Since January 1st, I have one new listing and one pending contract, and three serious buyers, one who has put an offer on a home and still negotiating, another who is ready to make an offer today, and a third who just met with me and her loan officer to review the best way to make an offer on a condo. I'm glad to get back into active work mode so quickly but forgot how much time out of the day, showings, offers, inspections, etc can take out of a day.

During my sabbatical I did get my broker's lisence. I have also redone my website Burlington Vermont Homes and Condos and have another new site in the works that should be unvieled at the end of the month. We still deciding what the new site name will be.

I've reviewed the stats for Chittenden County and Burlington for 2008 and home prices were up about 3% over 2007. Home sales were down, but it is good to know that homes are keeping their value.

Happy new year. Make it a prosperouse one.

Pike

buyer psychology--counter intuitive research

Pike Porter (Castle Porter Real Estate) — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 03:51:11 -0700

These last few months I've read some interesting research summaries regarding buyer psychology. One little tidbit: In a market like we now have with an abundance of inventory and thus choices for the buyer--a buyer's market--buyers are actually more likely to be dissatisfied with their purchase then buyers buying in a seller's market. Why? Because the wealth of options in a buyer's market creates a paralysis of choices. With so many options, it is harder to chose just one. The choice they make, when they finally do pick one, allows buyers to reflect on their purchase and say "we should have gone with..." "if only we had purchased...." A seller's market offer buyer's far fewer choices and thus far fewer reasons to second-guess thier decisions. Consequently, they are more content with thier decision. A second interesting tidbit of buyer discontent: While the common reasoning says buy the smallest, least expensive house in the most desirable neighborhood which will allow buyers to build more equity than purchasing the largest home, buyers are usually more satisfied later by buying the nicest home in less desirable neighborhoods. Why? Because a home is more than a business decision. Though we don't admit it, and may not consciously believe it, we do compare ourselves with our neighbors--Veblen's keeping up with the Jones theory. We are less content being the small fish than being the big fish. Huh.

expired listings and photo transfer

Pike Porter (Castle Porter Real Estate) — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 04:34:53 -0700

An expired listing was recently relisted by another agency. The agent asked to use the photos I had taken while the listing was mine. Have others either asked or been asked to use photos by another agent? How have you handled the situation?

Thanks,

Pike

Diaries of an Intern

Pike Porter (Castle Porter Real Estate) — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 13:28:00 -0700

This week was an interesting week to say the least. I was forced outside my comfort zone in the tasks i was asked to perform. First i was asked to get the Grand Lists from the town of Shelburne, South Burlington and the state. I was kind of going in blind to this task because i had no idea what a grand list was. What Pike was looking for primarly with those grand lists was the sales data for specific regions. The second task i was asked to perform was to call local agents to see if they had any sellers that would be willing to lease a condo for 3-6 months. What i had to do was first run a search for vacant condos, and then contact the listing agents. I had been primarily doing e-marketing work before this week, but i really enjoyed interacting with actual agents this week. I'm still learning and still kind of naive about the industry as a whole, but i look forward to oncoming weeks to expand my knowledge of the real estate industry

Diaries of an Intern

Pike Porter (Castle Porter Real Estate) — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 13:53:44 -0800

Since my last entry i have been primarily been focusing on the marketing aspect of real estate through the internet. I had no idea how much marketing came into play when trying to sell a house. Recentley me and Pike constructed a farming campaign to promote his new listing on 27 lupine st. What the famring campaign hoped to accomplish was to create awareness and exposure to the new listing. I was told it was a rare chance someone would call because of the flyer, but the flyers couldn't hurt. It is small things like this that i had no idea about. To be honest i thought i had a small idea of what the real estate market was all about, but after a couple weeks i realized i truly had no idea. I look forward to the weeks ahead i have with Pike to learn more about the real estate industry. The most enjoyable part for me is working with different people on a daily basis, and having to keep a keen eye on current events within the industry. Until next time, i'll talk to ya soon

Women's Rape Crisis Center Pledge

Pike Porter (Castle Porter Real Estate) — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 19:10:31 -0800

Last year was a great year for me: over 4.6 million in production, 19 homes closed, #8 agent in our company, number #4 in Chittenden County, a top Century 21 agent in Northern New England. Last year I also donated to about 1/2 dozen organizations, not including underwriting VPR which I think of as advertizing. The Women's Rape Crisis Center got $500 in 2007 and it was my most satisfying donation. Burlington Community Health Center, Vermont Youth Conservation Corps, a few others I can't remember at the moment also received $500 or an in-kind donation of $500.

Burlington had a horrible rape and murder 2 years ago: a UVM student. It was discovered she was missing when she didn't show up for a dinner with her parents who were visiting for parent's weekend. I imagine what those hours and days were like for her parents who, before they found her body, knew to expect the worst but sneeded to hope for the best; I image what those last few hours and minutes were like for the student; they are all haunting imaginings.

So this year I'm focusing my donations on the WRCC and bumping them up a bit. I'm donating $500 for every transacation in 2008 to the WRCC. If I keep even with last year, that'll be $10,000. I'm hoping to donate $20,000. I've only got $19,500 to go. I'll let you know how it goes.

Its never dull for long

Pike Porter (Castle Porter Real Estate) — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 18:41:24 -0800

So this came through our company email today. I pity Pam:

From: Mellen Mirisola [mailto:mellen@c21jack.com]
Sent: Saturday, February 02, 2008 3:11 PM
To: barmstrong@c21jack.com; lorawilson@c21jack.com
Subject: Nut Case on the loose

Hi, I had a 1 o'clock today at the office, his name is Chris Heath, No show! He also, stood up Lyn Cooper and Bruce Cote in the last few weeks. I called the hotel, that he said he was staying and they had no record of him, so then I called his cell and got a woman named Pam. She married this guy 2 months ago, and he's wiped her out financially.So, she put him on a bus to N.Y. and is getting an annulment!

Lesson learned, we need to screen our buyers better. This guy is a real con, told all 3 of us that he is a widower, looking up to 450K, and had a job with the Grand Isle fire dept. Well all the firemen up there are volunteers! And she said, he's been doing it in other states as well. This would make a great topic at an office meeting. Not only qualifying issue, but a safety issue as well!

Thanks, Mellen

Diaries of an Intern

Pike Porter (Castle Porter Real Estate) — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 15:23:13 -0800

First i would like to introduce myself, my name is Andrew Deloria and i am a senior at St. Michael's College. I chose to intern at Century 21 Jack Associates because i have always been intrigued by the real estate industry, but most importantly the people i came in contact with during the interview process were very welcoming. I would like to say i am very excited to be working with Pike and he already has me working on mini adventures regarding the everyday life of a real estate agent. So far i have primarily focused on the technical side of being an agent and also the promotion side of it as well. I have really enjoyed watching Pike deal with customers because it's giving me a first hand look on how the market works, but also on how to treat clients. Throughout the semester i will be submitting my everyday experiences with Pike in this blog. I'm very excited to see the ins and outs of the real estate industry and i think i found the right guy to show me the ropes.

The numbers are in:

Pike Porter (Castle Porter Real Estate) — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 21:42:00 -0800

2007: 19 units and over $4.6 million in production.

#8 Century 21 Jack agent in the state.

99% list-to-sell ratio when representing sellers

Avg. $9,759.00 savings when representing buyers.

2008: $500 for each transaction in 2008 will go to the Women's Rape Crisis Center. Help me sell 40 units and raise $20,000 to the WRCC in 2008.

The only number you need to remember: (802) 233-2600

Thanks to all of my clients for making 2007 a record-breaking year.

They say its a slow market...fortunately for my clients, I'm not listening.

Pike Porter, multi-million dollar agent with Century 21 Jack Associates.

vermont real estate legislative update

Pike Porter (Castle Porter Real Estate) — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 21:25:11 -0800

Vermont's part time legislature descended upon Montpelier this week to start what looks to be an eventful session. Several REALTOR® issues took center stage in this first week of the session.

Housing Incentives

Greg Brown executive director of the Chittenden County Regional Planners Commission gave testimony about the new neighborhoods workgroup findings to a joint session of the Senate Economic Development, Housing and General Affairs and House General, Housing, and Military Affairs Committees. His testimony provided an overview to the legislators on what some of the points of consensus were, and what the points of contention were among those participating in the workgroup. The legislature applauded the efforts made by Greg and the workgroup, which gives the committees a good starting point to move foreword from in order to craft this worthwhile and much needed legislation. Further testimonies regarding this issue were postponed to a later date.

Buffer Zones for Wetlands

The house fish and wildlife and water resources committee took up An Act Relating to Establishing Buffer Zones Along Waterways of the State (H. 549). Not all wetlands and waterways in Vermont have a designated buffer around them. The proposed legislation (H.549) calls for a minimum buffer of 50ft around all wetlands or, "waterways of the state." The concern for several stakeholders is that many wetlands are small and a mandatory 50ft buffer could take a small wetland and expand it considerably. Also many farms and properties have small streams or ponds contained within their bounds and carving out 50ft on either side of them could render lager portions of the property useless. Overall this legislation could constitute a significant loss of private property use throughout the state.

Rebate, Prebate

The House ways and means committee held a late night hearing on Wednesday with discussion on act 185 and issues surrounding the prebate program. Testimony was given by stakeholders within the lending industry pertaining to specific problems with the program, particularly property tax escrow accounts and how they are administered. According to testimony, some banks are escrowing on the gross tax bill, assuming no prebate regardless of prior rebates, and other banks are escrowing on the net projected bill, or the "likely" prebate. This has caused concerns about banks not operating consistently. In short, the legislature was informed they would have to reopen the bill and write some guidance language for banks to follow when escrowing property tax monies. Numerous issues REALTORS® are facing were also mentioned. Among them, were issues like buyers and sellers not agreeing on whose monies these are. Also it was made clear that for many the home buying process is already a long, confusing, and stressful process and this was just adding to it.

State of the State

Governor Douglas delivered his first State of the State address of the New Year on Thursday. He highlighted several key areas his administration would be focusing on - including healthcare, housing, economic development, tax relief, and overall cost containment.

The Governor restated the high cost of home ownership was a huge problem affecting every Vermonter, in addition to workforce development. Many companies are finding housing costs to be a large barrier to moving operations to Vermont. The Governor touted his New Neighborhoods proposal as desperately need regulatory relief coupled with some economic incentives to spur on new housing development. He also added that he would not support any legislation that contains measures that would increase the tax burden on Vermonters. Let's hope that the Legislature will heed the governor's call and keep his message in the forefront of their minds as the sessions progresses.

vermont real estate legislative update

Pike Porter (Castle Porter Real Estate) — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 21:25:07 -0800

Vermont's part time legislature descended upon Montpelier this week to start what looks to be an eventful session. Several REALTOR® issues took center stage in this first week of the session.

Housing Incentives

Buffer Zones for Wetlands

Rebate, Prebate

State of the State

Vermont Market update

Pike Porter (Castle Porter Real Estate) — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 10:16:43 -0800

Despite the market nationally, Vermont's real estate sales activity is actually in pretty good shape. Here are some figures:

For the sales period July through October 2007 volume was up 8.5% compared with the same period in 2006.

For the same period, median home prices were up 3.8%.

Nationally things look a bit different. The National Association of Realtors reports that sales volume in September 2007 was down 19.8% and median price was down 4.9% from the previous year.

Median prices for single family primary homes in Vermont the last three years for the months of July-October: 2005: $201,000, 2006: $210,000, 2007: $217,900.

Median prices for primary residence condominiums in Vermont these last three years for the same months. 2005: $179,900, 2006: $180,000, 2007: $188,040.

Email me at Pike@Century21.com to request a month by month break down by county of sales of homes, condos, land, and multi-units.

Also email me if you want to know the selling price for any home sold in Chittenden County.

another great web tool -- free off-site data back-up

Pike Porter (Castle Porter Real Estate) — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 22:20:27 -0800

I didn't find out about this site under the best of circumstances--someone stole my laptop--but I'm glad I know about it now.

Its called Mozy and offers 2 gigabyte or more of free data backup. Most of my files were backed up on an older computer but I did lose the last 2 weeks of emails and new client information.

You can check their site out at: https://mozy.com/?ref=AYGUA7

If you have other useful sites, let me know about them.

Vermont home buyers, I have some good news and I have some bad news.

Pike Porter (Castle Porter Real Estate) — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 09:40:37 -0800

It is a great time to buy; interest rates are low and there is plenty of inventory to choose from. Recent events as a result are changing the situation however. First the good news.

Interest rates have come down again and are now below 6%! Wow! This will make larger, more expensive homes affordable for Vermont home buyers without increasing their monthly mortgage payment. Now the bad news.

Major underwriters for private mortgage insurance are tightening their requirements as a result of the sub-prime melt down. Consequently, buyers with a credit scores below 620 will not be able to purchase home after January 30th when the new requirements take effect.

It gets bad for investors also. Multi-unit properties with more than 2 units will now need at least 25% down to purchase if it won't be owner occupied. Many small investors will be hurt, both those who have over extended themselves and need to sell--their pool of buyers is going to dry up, and buyers who will not be able to afford investment properties.

Iin short, if your credit score is below 620 or you're an investor looking to purchase a multi-unit property in Chittenden County you have until the end of January to purchase before the private mortgage insurance restrictions take effect.

Welch (and all other Dems) vote to tighten lending practices.

Pike Porter (Castle Porter Real Estate) — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 11:52:20 -0800

Last Thursday, by a vote of 291-127, the House of Representatives voted for H.R. 3915 to tighten lending practices. Among other things it will ban lenders from steering buyers into loans that they dont have the ability to repay, steering buyers in refi-loans that provide no benefits to the homeowner, create a licensing system for mortgage brokers, prohibit excessive payoff fees, late payments, and practices such as encouraging borrowers to default.