Staging doesn't have to be expensive to make your room really POP!  In this article, Kristine Ginsberg gives a fine example of how by spending just a little money, you can make a BIG difference in appearance.  And appearance is everything when selling your home.  So, check out this bathroom makeover done for around $50.00 and see what you think.

Looking to sell in or around the Hickory, NC area?  Give me a call so we can get your property SOLD

I often get asked by prospective buyers "What does a buyer's agent do and why do I need one?"  Bryan Robertson as written a great article clearly explaining what is a buyer's agent and how we can help you with the home buying process.

The home buying process can be a daunting task, but with a quality agent in your corner, it'll make all the difference.

If you're looking for homes in or around the Hickory, NC area, give me a call and let's see how we can help you find your home today.

Gwen Banta's excellent tale of some listing agents serious lack of proofreading skills (and apparently, inability to use spell-check as well).  Remember folks, it doesn't matter how great a write up it is if the buyers can't understand it (or are too busy rolling on the floor laughing at it).  Funny stuff.  Enjoy!

It's taken me all day to come to terms with the news of Clint Miller's passing.  My thoughts and prayers have been with his family and the struggle that he went through with his battle with cancer.

Would it be a shock to learn that I never personally met Clint?  To many on ActiveRain members, it wouldn't.  They know full well how he could reach out from cyber space and make you feel his love and respect.  I met him first through ActiveRain, then we connected on Twitter.  If you never read his blog, I'd suggest you go there now.  He had a way about with his writing that really drew you in.

In my on again, off again relationship with Twitter, it was Clint that showed me what you could really do with the platform.  Just watching him with his Twitter account, @TheRealClint, I saw that it was far more than just spamming links at people.  It was even more than responding to people.  It was about making real relationships.  Clint made it look easy.  His last tweet, just a day before he died, was wishing a person that they have a great day.  Clint was really a special person.

For those that think social media is a waste of time, all I have to say is that you weren't a social media friend of Clint's.  I never met Clint personally.  To be honest, I wasn't as close of an online friend to him as many of you were.  Yet, when we did speak (usually through 

Twitter), he still made me feel like I had his attention, that I was important to him, that I mattered.  That's difficult for most to do in person.  He could do that through a computer.  That takes a really special person.

I hope that one day, I can be half as good as Clint was online (and I can only imagine his impact in person) at touching people's hearts.  Clint, you will be missed and I am sure that you affected far more people than you could have ever imagined in your short time on earth, my friend.

Clint Miller: The Greatest Man I Never Knew - Rest In Peace:

Mar 9, 1971 - Dec 11, 2011

 

Here is a link to Mimi Foster's post about Clint: In it, she lists a few ways that you can donate to the Miller family if you'd like to do so.

Here is a link to the band, Anchored:  They are donating a portion of their DVD sales to the Miller family.

Are You Contributing to Internet Trash?

I recently read an article that summarized that 90% of Facebook business pages could, or as the author said,should, be deleted because they were of poor design, low traffic, no updates and basically (or literally) abandoned by their creators.  From my experience looking at Facebook business pages, he may have a point.

But, it's more than just Facebook business pages.  If you look around the Internet, you'll find hundreds of dead, inactive or unused accounts.  We hear about the "next great thing" like Twitter, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Facebook, ActiveRain, etc and we jump on it.  We play around with it for a few days or months, then move on to the next great thing.

It's extremely easy to create a website or blog these days.  You've got places like Activerain, Blogger and Wordpress.com where you can have a blog in as little as 15 minutes or less.  And there are literally hundreds of "Build a Website" places where you can start up a basic website on the fly.   This has also created a lot of Internet Trash.  These easy to create sites are usually free and so, unless the user chooses to delete them, they stay out on the Internet forever.  What generally happens with these sites is that the creator gets bored with them, doesn't think it's working, or decides to improve and goes to a self-hosted or some other platform.

A recent Google search really threw this out for me.  I was looking for a computer repair shop in the area and clicked on the top search.  It pulled up a website, but all the links were bad (even Contact Us).  I went back to the search and clicked further down.  It was the same company, different website.  Here's where their cheap starter website was ranking better than their new and improved site.  And this was a computer company.  You would think that they would understand this.

How bad is Internet Trash?  Look no further than right here at AR.  Activerain boasts over 200,000 members, but anyone that has been around here for a bit knows that the "active" number is less than 10% of that (and I'd wager closer to 5% or less).  A quick look at my small area of the map and I can spot a half dozen or more agents that aren't even in the business anymore, let alone keeping their blog supported.

Just imagine how much better the Internet would be if we could clean it up a bit?  I know I've been guilty of Internet Litter.  What about you?

Have you contributed to Internet Trash?

photo courtesy of MyNameMattersNot

Short Sales Are Distressed Sales! Please Prepare Your Buyers

Like many agents around the country these days, short sale listings are becoming a large portion of my business.  I have listed and sold many of them over the last few years.  Admittedly, I had a leg up on most agents, as I've been engaged in short sale negotiating for the past 10 years, before most others even knew what a short sale was!

One of the most frustrating issues with short sales is NOT dealing with the sellers or even working with the all too often uncooperative bank negotiators.  Yes, sometimes both can be issues, but I find that the most frustrating aspect of listing a short sale is the buyers and their agents.

Yep, you heard right!  Actually, I feel that it's the buyer's agents more than the buyers.  From the feedback I get on short sale listings, it's very clear that the agent did not prep this buyer at all about what a short sale is or what may be required.

The most common feedback is "Too much work required for my buyer."  In most cases, short sale listings generally require some paint and carpet (or flooring).  If this is "too much work" for your buyer, then you probably shouldn't be showing them any short sale properties.

The best feedback is when it goes something like, "House needs to be staged, painted, new roof, etc, etc, etc," When I get these, I'm tempted to respond with "did you look at the price" as we've taken all those into consideration already.

I really think it boils down to a lack of preparation from the buyer's agent.  A short sale is a distressed sale.  I wonder, do these same agents show foreclosures and give the same type of feedback?  I doubt it.  We all know that foreclosures are distressed sales and are generally sold "As Is, Where Is" and we prep our buyers for that.  Yet, when (at least from the feedback I get) some agents show Short Sales, for some reason, those properties should be in pristine condition, require no work whatsoever AND be priced lower than other comparable homes on the market.

Please, if you're going to show short sale listings, make sure that you're educating your buyer on the process, including the fact that a short sale is a distressed sale and it may not be in perfect condition!

Principal write-downs have been discussed as a possible option to reduce foreclosures and help the ailing housing industry for at least the past two years.  According to a recent Bankrate.com article, Forget loan forgiveness, the gods of housing loans, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have spoken and the answer is "No Way!"

The reasons:

a) It doesn't make financial sense to do so

b) "principal write-downs would be a bailout...to borrowers who took out loans they couldn't afford"

Let's examine those "reasons"

Financial Sense: 

Assuming that a borrower now has the ability to make the payments on a newly modified loan on the home that includes a principle reduction and interest modification, it somehow makes more sense to foreclose on the home than keep someone in the property that can now make the payment?  I don't see it.

A foreclosure means that the house will sit vacant for a number of months (or years) before going back on the market.  In that time, it will run down and require a level of repairs in order to get back to "sale shape."  So, either the lender has to foot that bill OR has to reduce the price even further in order to sell it.  In either situation, the sale will be for LESS than what a principle write-down would have been.  Even assuming that it wouldn't cost the lender MORE to foreclose, the end result is the same: we get a new loan for the current fair market value or LESS.  If the current borrower can now perform, how can a foreclosure make better financial sense?

Bailout to Borrowers:

This one really gets me.  We can bailout the banks.  We can bailout Wall Street.  But we can't even consider the idea of bailing out the borrower?  Big Government at it's finest.  As an added insult: "who took out loans they couldn't afford"

I got news for the Big Boys on the Hill...these borrowers were told by the lenders that they COULD afford these loans.  In fact, government encouraged lenders to make sure that more and more borrowers could "afford" these loans.  Everybody had to be a homeowner.  Now, it's the borrower's fault that they couldn't afford it?  They're not solely to blame.

If a principle write-down puts them in a house that they can afford, then you've stopped a foreclosure AND you've kept a house off the market.  One less house on the market is one more step to helping stablize the housing industry.

For those that are going to say, "what about those that are paying their mortgage or don't have one at all?  Why should a person be rewarded for not paying their mortgage?" or similar thought...

First, a principle write-down should only be considered for those borrowers that could actually afford the new terms of loans.  So, it's not going to be for everyone that 'didn't pay their mortgage.'

Second, it's an indirect benefit to everyone that owns a home.  Anything that could make a strong impact on stablizing the housing market is going to help ALL homeowners by keeping your equity in place.

Thoughts?

A simple, yet great, post by Gary Woltal on why you should work with a local professional REALTOR.  Save time and effort and find exactly what you want in a home by using the right agent.

If you're looking to buy property in or around the Hickory NC area, give me a call.

Roger Johnson, 828-381-9245.

Last year, I posted, Have You Checked Your ActiveRain Bookmarks Lately?.  Well, it's that time of year again where I go back through all of my AR bookmarked posts to do some fall clean-up and re-read those great posts that I bookmarked for a reason.

Not familar with the bookmark feature?  It's the little "bookmark" icon near the middle of the screen at the bottom of every post.  If you find something you'd like to read later or keep around for easy access, simply click the link and it'll be saved into your bookmarked AR posts which can be accessed via your "My Home" AR page.  Not an AR member yet?  Sign up today!  It's great!

Below are some more posts from my bookmarks that are really worth a second look (NOTE: some of these are AR Member's Only Posts):

Facebook Marketing Secret #1. The Big Photo Banner. By Bartley Wilson

 A Fun, Free and Practical Resource for Every ActiveRain Member!. By William Johnson. Great App for Photos

Tranforming your appliances for under $100 By Deb Waters

How To Put Links On Your YouTube Video (members only) By Fernando Herboso

You Have a Listing Presentation...What Do You Offer BUYERS? By Kate Elim. Have you thought about a Buyer's Presentation?

Three Awesome **FREE** Photo Sites That You Can Use For Your Blog Posts. Happy Thanksgiving..  By Judi Barrett.

Selling the 45 day listing agreement. By Broker Bryant Tutas.  How confident are you with your current listing presentation?

Using 3rd Level Domains To Market Your Listings (members only) By ROSSI Speaks.  How to create property websites using your own domain name.

 Let's Get Blogging - 101+ Ideas for Your Real Estate Blog (Part II) By Kerry Lucasse. Part I was great, too, but it seems to have disappearred from from AR

 How to reverse engineer your competitors back links to beat them at SEO (video) By Reil Rousopoulos.   Ninja style SEO for your blog or website

 Should You Have Your Picture In Your Business Card? (members only) By Fernando Herboso. An excellent post that truly answers the question

 Get Great Wide Angle Photos without a Wide Angle Camera From Yours Truly.  This is a great little gem of an app to really make some stunning photos

Hope you enjoy some of these great posts from the past.