ga: “Are You Swimming with Sharks?”
- 09/15/20 01:23 PM
A few weeks ago, I heard the “Shark Tank” lady, Barbara Corcoran say that real estate was going to continue to flourish unabated. She is supposed to know what she talks about, as does Lawrence Yun, the chief economist for the National Association of Realtors®, who echoes her enthusiasm.
Yet something started in August that not many people are talking about. Remember back in the spring when lenders were offering forbearance on mortgage loans to those who couldn’t make their payments? That sounded like a dilly of an idea to a lot of people. All they heard was “no mortgage payment for … (5 comments)
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ga: Does Smoking in a home affect your ability to sell it?
- 03/24/18 07:09 AM
What affect does SMOKING have on one's ability to sell their home? Lets take this Manchester NH area home that was listed as a FSBO. The parents had moved to Florida and the Son and daughter decided to sell their parents home on their own.
That was last fall that I first saw the home. I had a new buyer i was working with looking in this area, and they did not mind a fixer upper. The picture is the wall in the Bedroom where a picture was removed.
How I wish this was a scratch and sniff blog so you … (1 comments)
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ga: “Expired Again?”
- 09/25/16 11:17 PM
I’ve never had a personal home that expired while on the market, but I’ve been through it with clients enough to understand the disappointment, financial concern, and frustration they endure.
There are generally three reasons why listings expire: asking price, condition, and agent (poor marketing). I personally think that unique qualities of the home also make it necessary to find buyers with those same unique tastes, which may take time.
There is a high probability that price is most significant factor. Many sellers spend months trying to squeeze out another $20,000 from a sale, but in the process end up taking less while … (9 comments)
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ga: Another Shot at Real Estate Agents
- 02/28/15 11:55 PM
I just read an article in "Consumer Reports" that was very disappointing to me. For a magazine that is supposed to rely on credibility to attract readers, this article was all bad advice and hyperbole.
It encourages sellers to spend thousands of dollars getting a home ready to sell, promising they will get their money back and a 20% additional profit! While I agree that their suggestion to paint the front door, and possibly some rooms, and clean out the clutter are fine, they go on about how much money sellers will get back by remodeling bathrooms! That's just bad advice, … (6 comments)
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ga: Property Tax – A Balanced Assessment
- 02/22/15 08:32 PM
In Pickens County, Georgia we have heated subject that recycles itself from time to time regarding our lack of school tax exemption for senior tax payers. In fact, most counties in Georgia do not have the exemption.
Before I begin, I will state that I am a senior. I hate taxes. I do not belong to any group seeking or attacking an education exemption on property taxes for seniors. I hope that when you read this you will appreciate the balance of facts. I don’t blame anyone for trying to save money.
When my kids were in … (1 comments)
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ga: Plein Air Paint Out This Weekend
- 04/16/13 10:01 PM
This is the weekend of Jasper ArtFest, which is always held in the third weekend of April in Jasper, GA.
Featured this year on Saturday will be a "Plein Air Paintout", where competing artists will choose their favorite paint medium, select a subject, and complete a painting between 8 AM and 4 PM on Saturday. They will submit their work at the end of the day to be judged by the public in a people's choice competition for prize money.
The public is invited to observe them actually creating the work along Main Street. Come and vote for your favorite artist. … (0 comments)
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ga: Nothing "Grabs" Me
- 11/03/12 09:11 PM
I got an inquiry from my website about buying some land. No name. No phone. No address. Just some vague guidance on what they guy may (or may not really) be looking to purchase. My tendency, if I have time, is to play this silly game to see if the "prospect" wises up quickly. I might also mention that this is not a huge sale even if it happens.
I did a quick (as in five minute) search and turned up 29 possibilities. I narrowed those down to six and sent them to the mystery buyer. The response the next day … (1 comments)
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ga: Is Downsizing Right for You?
- 10/17/12 10:48 PM
When people downsize, they obviously have too much space. Beyond that, it’s either expense, maintenance, or the hardship of expense or maintenance that motivate them.
The decision to downsize is easy. Just get a smaller house, right? It’s not that simple. People need to consider their lifestyle and hobbies or interests in making a decision. Just getting something smaller if you won’t be able to do the things you like in life is not productive, unless of course you have a reason you won’t be able to do them anymore. Maintaining your quality of life is the real reason, so … (4 comments)
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ga: Low Appraisals Affect Market
- 10/15/12 01:39 AM
Last week I had a closing, finally, which took most of the day, but that was not the first hurdle. REALTORS® are facing a continuing challenge from the appraisal industry. The listing price on this very nice home in Canton was $119,900. It went on the market Thursday, we made a full price offer on Friday, and there were two more offers before Monday. One of the offers was higher than ours, but the game of trying to buy your way into a contract doesn’t work in this market, particularly if you are using a 3% down FHA loan compared to … (4 comments)
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ga: "They're at the Post!"
- 03/23/12 11:06 PM
Any fan of horse racing recognizes that when the announcer says "they're at the post", his voice creeps up steadily until the field crosses the finish line. It is the most exciting part of the race, when the field spreads out for the home stretch.
Four years ago, listing agents went through the tedious procedure of adjusting sellers to the idea the market dynamic had shifted. They were not only not going to reap a huge profit on the sale, they were probably going to get killed! We have since gone through the painful process of having buyers strut through properties, nit-picking, and … (29 comments)
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ga: Pickens County GA Defies the Home Value Recession
- 09/21/11 04:16 AM
Pickens Median Sale PricePickens Home Values - Interactive chart … (2 comments)
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ga: Rethink Foreclosures If You're Serious
- 10/09/10 01:04 AM
An interesting thing may be happening with the moratoriums on foreclosures. Everyone is screaming gloom and doom, but there is another scenerio.
Lenders are getting increasingly prickly over accepting offers on foreclosures anyway. So many buyers have made legitimate offers on property, only to have the lender sniff and serve up a perfunctory dismissal. I had one actually go on to raise the price of a property that was priced ridiculously to start with; that's sure going to help us out of the inventory hole.
Now we find out they can't "produce the document" during the foreclosure process, which makes it … (9 comments)
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ga: We Don't Need Financial Reform!
- 04/25/10 02:36 AM
Now that Washington has "fixed" health care, they are setting their sights on financial reform. What caused the current problem with the economy was not a lack of regulatory rules. It was a lack of enforcement of those rules that was promulgated by a failed policy. The FDIC simply looked the other way, or actually forced financial institutions to make loans that were totally stupid.
My record sale involving a dumb loan was in November of 2007. A couple came into a subdivision where I was handling the marketing at the time. Having been in the commercial lending sector for years … (2 comments)
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ga: Foreclosures and the Market
- 04/12/10 05:26 AM
The Oval Office has revamped the foreclosure rules yet again. Maybe this change will work since the program has been largely a failure prior to this. Effective April 5, 2010 the following rules will apply to HAFA short sales.
Allows the borrower to receive pre-approved short sale terms from the Servicer prior to the property listing. These terms are clearly spelled out in a standard Short Sale Agreement form (SSA) provided by the Servicer and agreed to by the seller. The SSA includes the list price or identifies acceptable sale proceeds which are expressed as a net amount after subtracting allowable … (0 comments)
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ga: New Rules For MHA Short Sales
- 04/08/10 05:43 AM
Effective April 5, 2010 the following rules will apply to MHA/HAFA short sales.
The Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives Short Sales Program (with a few new "tweaks")
Allows the borrower to receive pre-approved short sale terms from the Servicer prior to the property listing. These terms are clearly spelled out in a standard Short Sale Agreement form (SSA) provided by the Servicer and agreed to by the seller. The SSA includes the list price or identifies acceptable sale proceeds which are expressed as a net amount after subtracting allowable costs that the Servicer will agree to. The minimum net amount in the … (0 comments)
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ga: Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics
- 12/11/09 11:40 PM
I was going through some papers last week (okay, I was cleaning up my junk pile) when I came across an article written by John Adams in the AJC. It was called "Inside Advice" and titled "2008 prognosticators show existing home sales going up". Mr. Adams is a well respected real estate practitioner and consultant. However, I think it is fair to say his prognostications on January 6, 2008 were a tad off, since we suffered the worst real estate meltdown in history that year. The logic surrounding the "facts" was, well, logical. It was just wrong in the end. As … (3 comments)
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ga: The Meaning of “Listing” Property
- 08/08/09 03:00 AM
I was at a party a couple of weeks ago. A friend of mine, who has been very helpful to my business over time, made the comment that too many real estate agents just want to list property without actually "doing anything". That is a common perception about our business. It got me to reflect on what it is that good agents actually do.
The first thing that everyone should realize is that marketing usually includes listing, but listing does not necessarily include marketing. That is where the main problem lies, but it goes deeper than that. Too many agents spend … (0 comments)
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ga: You and Recession … “Just Say NO”
- 05/17/09 02:21 AM
The late Sam Walton, founder of Wal-Mart, was asked what he planned to do about the recession in 1991. He replied that he planned not to participate. I'd say it worked out pretty well for him.
I was recently introduced to a group of people as "the guy that writes the articles in the paper who tries to sound positive". I suppose that is partially true. It does no good to complain about economic downturns. However, there have been nine recessions since the early 1950's, and every one of them eventually ended. With that in mind, I see reason to be … (0 comments)
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ga: Local Stimulus In Governor’s Hands
- 04/07/09 03:20 AM
Another year has gone by for the Georgia State Legislature. It absolutely amazes me how much time they can spend accomplishing so little. First, they passed a seat belt law several years ago that excluded wearing them in pickups, making us the only state in the union with such a ridiculous law. Then they had to waste the limited time they had this year to correct what was obviously wrong with their previous work. But don't get me started. I believe that we are represented as well as could be expected by Tom Graves and Chip Pearson, and that's all we … (0 comments)
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ga: Preserve Real Estate Equity With 1031 Tax Exchange
- 01/29/09 02:52 AM
By Ron Barnes
Prudential Georgia Realty
Thinking of trading up on an investment property? If so, look into 1031 Tax Exchanges (based on IRS Code Section 1031), which allow taxpayers to defer taxes on capital gains resulting from the sale of investment real estate, often a sizable sum since combined Federal and State taxes can run as high as 38 percent.
With an exchange, owners are able to preserve equity, while still selling the property. The underlying concept is that an exchange of like-kind property for like-kind property does not generate funds, which can be taxed since the profits go directly … (2 comments)
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A few weeks ago, I heard the “Shark Tank” lady, Barbara Corcoran say that real estate was going to continue to flourish unabated. She is supposed to know what she talks about, as does Lawrence Yun, the chief economist for the National Association of Realtors®, who echoes her enthusiasm.
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