I have a lovely home for sale in Hessville.  It was built in 1964.  It has harwood floors and a finished basement.  I have received 3 offers on the property and two that have been accepted.  One had the financing fall through.  The other one should not have fell through.

The buyer had a home inspection done.  Which is a good idea, all buyers should do it.  I also like that the home inspector tells the buyer about maintenance items that come with home ownership.  Which is also a good thing for first time home buyers to know about.

After the inspection I received a response from the buyer stating that they wanted the following items fixed or replaced or $10,425 off the purchase price.  The items were the hot water heater because it had a recall, electrical issues there were 4 outlets with open grounds, the gutters replaced, the roof replaced, the trim on the house and garage replaced, the driveway and walkways replaced and the crack in the garage foundation replaced.

According to the pages of the home inspection that I received.  The "necessary pages" most of these were maintenance items.  I called the agent asking him since when are trim, gutters, and a non leaking 12 year old roof, driveway and walkway MAJOR DEFECTS.  He told me that the contract says anything that would bring the value of the house down is a major defect.  I next called an inspector that some of my clients have used on their transactions and asked him what he thought of the home inspection response.  He stated just as I suspected the only items that were MAJOR DEFECTS were the recall on the hot water heater and the electrical.  The home inspector asked what the summary page stated.  I told him I did not know since that wasn't one of the "necessary pages" that was attached.

Next consulting with my seller, she agreed  to fix the electrical and the hot water heater.  We responded to the home inspection.  Stating that the seller would fix the electrical and the recall on the hot water heater.  The rest were maintenance items and would not be fixed by the seller.

Of course the buyer rejected the response and wanted their earnest money back.  I wanted to fight this since the buyer agent refused to show us the summary page.  He said that we didn't pay for the inspection so we did not need that page.  My seller signed the mutual release to let it go back on the market.  She was upset that the seller wanted her to fix all those items and get house for less than $100,000

For my own curiosity I called IAR.  I explained to them what had happened and asked what was considered major defects.  Not to my surprise the person I talked to said that the driveway, walkway, gutters, trim and non leaking roof are not major defects.  I did let that agent know what I had found out.

If I ever have an issue like this again now I can back it up.  It just goes to show that agents need to not only educate themselves they need to educate their buyers along the way. 

I just received a call from a client of mine that closed on his first house on March 13th. 

Going back to the first time that I showed him the house.  He really liked it.  It was an REO that had been gutted by vandals.  The house had a remodelled kitchen.  The bathroom had to be completely replaced thanks to the vandals.  The kitchen needed a sink basin, faucet and new plumbing.  The bac bedroom window needed to be replaced.  The house also needed a furnace, air conditioner and water heater. 

Needless to say it was a handyman's dream. 

We wrote the offer.  I had it expire 2 months after because the county had lost the deed once.  During all of this the county lost the deed a second time and the deal had to be extended another 15 days.  We thought the nightmare would never end.  On March 13th the deal finally closed.

This was his first home ever he was really excited to finally close the deal. 

I told him that it was important to file for homestead exemption on his property since it was a cash deal.  He called me today to tell me that he had filed for exemptions and since he was a veteran he did not have to pay any property taxes on the house. 

After all that he even gave me a referral.  Now I have another client to find a house for.

This kind of news makes me happy to be a real estate broker to help clients with one of the biggest decisions that they will make.

This lovely 2 bedroom 1 1/2 barh brick ranch has a main floor laundry room.  A finished basement with 2 more possible bedrooms down stairs and a 3/4 bath.  It has an enclosed patio, above ground pool, 2 car garage, new roof, updated electrical and has been freshly painted.

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Do you love to fish, boat, water ski, or tube?  This home is for you.  The lovely home is located 2 blocks from Hudson Lake. Can be either a great home or a summer home perfect for entertaining. Updated 4 bedroom 2 baths. Dry bar. 2 covered porches one on the lower level and one on the upper level. This home is a must see.  Only $124,900.  If you are interested feel free to give me a call.  219-789-1153

Presented by Ronda Myers-Waters  Willems Realtors

Whenever someone asks what I do for a living and I say I'm a REALTOR they always ask isn't the market slow.  I tell them that I have actually been busier than I ever have been.  If you know the price range that most buyers are looking in then you can stay busy and have money coming in.

In my area Northwest Indiana the homes under $200,000 are moving.  Especially under $150,000.  I know that isn't a whole lot of commission but when you can close a few a month then it's not so bad.  I figure I sell thise first time home buyers a home they will eventually want to buy a larger home.  Plus some of their friends might me looking for homes soon.  Great way to get referrals. 

My last three deals were first time home buyers.  Knowing that this is their first big purchase.  I try to go over with them the advantages of owning a home.  The deductions on income tax.  That the equity that they build while owning a home.  I also make sure that I call them about 5 weeks after the closing to remind them to file their property tax exemptions.  Most people forget to do that. 

I actually had a client lose their house because the taxes went up and they couldn't pay the payment increase.  I felt bad.  I even tried to sell their home using a short sale but the lender wouldn't go for it.  Now it has expired on the market three times and is listed for less than the short sale offer was. 

I know a lot of the  top producers in my area are hurting.  I know that some of them only like to sell higher end home $300,000+ .  That could be why they are hurting. 

There is not a lot of buyers in that price range.  Especially those that bought their homes in the last two years are upside down and would take a loss selling their home in this  market.  But what if they need to relocate for their job what do they do.  A division of the real estate company I work for has helped those owners find tenants to rent their home.  We have been pretty busy with that.  We have more tenants wanting homes then we have home right now.  We are helping them find homes to rent.

I have been in the real estate business for 2 years.  I know at first you rely heavily on family and friends to help get you clients.  You spend a lot of time in the office doing floor duty to get more clients off the signs of the listings the office have.  You may even reap the benefit of a walk-in buyer or seller.  My first closed deal was a seller that walked in.

I enjoy what I do.  I believe it shows.  I have had now a few of my clients give me referrals.  I will be closing with one of the referrals probably the end of this week or early next week. 

I did personally call my past clients and thank them for the referral.  They told me that they gave the friend my name and information.  He told them that I would look out for their best interests and not convince them to buy a home that was not for them.  

I also believe that the blogs from fellow rainers has helped me grow.  I have also referred people moving to other areas of the country by using active rain to find an agent for them.

Looking foward to SPRING, but not all the yard work. Just the place for you! 2 bedroom 2 bath first floor condo in Munster. Neutral colors, Ready to move in. Close to expressways. Enjoy your weekends with your family and friends.

 2 bedroom/2 bath 1st floor condo with garage.  1300 square feet.

 

$170,000

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How many of you have closed deals with fellow AR members?

  I'm happy to say Active Rain helped me close a deal with a client and a fellow Active Rainer, Steve Dalton.  I was excited today to actually meet Steve in person for the first time.  We have had several communications through active rain but this was the first meeting.  I can say if it wasn't for talking to him through AR this deal may not have happened.  My client was getting ready to look at a FSBO when Steve and I had negotiated a deal.  My client was thrilled with the results of the negotiations and now is a proud owner of a brand new Condo.

 I know Steve and his contractors worked hard to make this deal happen.  Thanks for your hard work and dedication.  I hope to do another deal with you soon. 

Why is it that because the media says it's a slow real estate market that other family members and friends think that us Realtors have nothing to do so they dump their responsibility on us?  Just because they have jobs in factories, or offices and I tend to work from home a lot doesn't mean that I don't work.  Yes, I like the flexibility of being a Realtor.  I now get to spend more time with my son and get to watch him participate in activites I didn't get to when I worked shift work at the local steel mill.  But that doesn't mean that I don't get work at all.  I pride myself on giving personal service to my clients.  I don't have an assistant.  I show my clients homes when they are available.  I have a listing, a buyer in contract due to close the end of the month or early next month, two clients getting ready to list their homes and start looking for other homes.  I have a client looking for 3 homes as rentals and another client looking for a home.  I just finished a closing last week with a client also.

I am excited all of this is going on in my career.  I also became the managing broker of my office.  I was really excited about that.

I finally had to tell those family members and friends that I do have clients that I'm working with and I can't do all of this and take care of my responsibility and my clients needs.  The media may say it's a slow market but this is the busiest I have been since I started in real estate back in 2006.  After explaining that to some of the family and friends they now are starting to take care of some of the responsibilities that they tried to dump on me.

Have any of you had trouble finding comps on your mls because each agent puts the listing in differently?  I even call the association to see if I was doing something wrong.  They did not get any properties either.  I know that there have been listings down the street from the new listing that I am going to have since I drive down the street every day.  I put in the address number the direction the street name the postal direction since it is a county road the city, state and zip and the system tells me it can't validate the address.  It would be so much easier if everyone put their listings in the same way.  I had to map the area to get some listings to show up.