Seattle Tattle, Seattle Battle

Seattle Real Estate News (digest)

Gerhard Ade (Coldwell Banker Bain) — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 14:10:33 -0500

Seattle area sellers in denial?

To find signs of this denial let’s take a look at the Property History of the listings in the data base of the Northwest Multiple Listing Service (NWMLS). The Property History captures the price trend of every property from when it was listed to when it was sold - if and when and how often and by how much the price was reduced. What is used in many published statistics is the spread between the listing price (at the time of the offer) and the purchase price. However, that tells only part of the story....more

What does the Selling Agent sell?

In a word: NOTHING.
When I go house hunting with a buyer I have nothing to sell. I don’t own the houses and condos I show. Yet, in the lingo of real estate I am the Selling Agent.
Until the early 1980s there was only one agent:
the Listing Agent. Buyers thought they were represented by the listing agent when, in reality, they weren’t represented at all. When we bought our first home in 1982 we knew nothing about real estate. The agent was a nice guy and it looked to us as if he was “on our side.” He wasn’t....more

Relocating or Being Relocated?

The prospect of a new job in another country or city can be exciting. The first move is to look for information about the new city on the web. Often, that first move is made by the spouse or “significant other” who is not starting a new job but a whole new life in a new place. Naturally, questions about housing, neighborhoods, and home prices top the list. When there are children, education is another priority concern.
Soon, the personal sense of anticipation meets the realty of corporate relocations. ...more

Seattle: First-Time Buyer Market?

Some say this is a great time to buy. Not so fast, I say.
It’s an OK time to buy if you do not have to sell first. It’s a good time to buy if you don’t have to sell first and have good credit. It’s a great time to buy if you don’t have to sell, have good credit and have saved up for this very purpose. If you are young, have a well-paying job and would find another job in greater Seattle with relative ease, this is your day to go house hunting - eh, make that condo hunting. ...more

Seattle Real Estate News

Gerhard Ade (Coldwell Banker Bain) — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 12:43:22 -0500

Distressed by Distressed Properties Law?

On June 12, the Washington State “Distressed Properties Law” took effect. That’s House Bill - HB 2791 If you have the time to plow through the bill, here’s the whole official mess as a PDF file. If you have a shorter attention span, read the June 6 Press Release from the Washington Attorney General. In their desire to protect homeowners who are "distressed about the possibility of loosing their homes" the law makers may have done more harm than good....more

Issaquah Highlands Home Hunting

This is a great time to buy homes in and around Seattle, especially if you do not have to sell. Two of my first-time buyers are taking advantage of the local buyers’ market. One young couple will close in two weeks on their first home in Monroe, the other just started looking with their eyes set on homes in the Issaquah Highlands.

Ready and Qualified to Buy their First Home

Both couples share a trait that is becoming rare these days: save before you buy and then buy less than what you could afford. Needless to say, it is a treat to negotiate a deal for buyers like that....more

Seller Disclosure Statement: Form Fatale

Almost as inevitable as death and taxes, the Washington Seller Disclosure Statement is a sure thing when it comes to selling residential property in Washington State. Form 17, as it is also called, looms large and larger.

Getting more complex over time.

The state legislature keeps adding and changing Form 17. The last major change was in 2003. Subsequent effective dates and changes/additions pertained to: ...more

Seattle Eastside Condo Conversions

Condo conversions remain an attractive choice for first-time buyers.

(Note: this is an update of an article I wrote more than a year ago for my website GNADE.com .)

Although the Seattle real estate market has cooled off since 2006, condo conversions are still an attractive option for first-time home buyers. With good reason because often it’s the only affordable option.

Over the past four years, developers have plucked one eastside apartment complex after another from the Seattle eastside landscape and created new real estate for sale. Some of the more recent conversions are in or near downtown Redmond, such as the Riverwalk at Redmond - built originally in 1983, The Boulder (1985), and the Bella Vista (1981). A conversion in progress is the Champagne (1969) in Bellevue near 148th on NE 8th Street. ...more

Confounding Condo Conditions

Being on the Bellevue and Kirkland condo prowl with one of my valued clients, I was reminded again how difficult it can be to find out all the facts before making an offer. One of the listing mentions some “possible future assessment” and the listing agent professes not to know anything more specific.

What to do?

Call the management company. I am still waiting for a call back but I’m not holding my breath. Scour the web, looking for “name of condo + lawsuit” or similar, but to no avail.

You want the information? Make an offer!

To get this elusive information the buyer must make an offer and the seller needs to accept the offer - i.e., the two parties must reach mutual agreement. Only then will the buyer receive the RESALE CERTIFICATE (from the condominium association or authorized agent) ...more

Downtown Redmond Condo (SOLD)

Gerhard Ade (Coldwell Banker Bain) — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 02:58:57 -0500

Downtown Redmond living in casually elegant Frazer Court
in the midst of all urban conveniences.
Enjoy life. Save gas. $324,500 (SOLD)

Built in 2001, this 1-bedroom, 722 sq ft condo was renovated and upgraded in 2006.

More info and photos...

The address is 16275 NE 85th St #411, Redmond, WA 98052, MLS Listing 28103167
Call your agent or Gerhard Ade at 425-891-8213 or or send Email for more information.

Edmonds, WA: Two bedrooms, Two stories, Two parking spots; now under Two hundred thousand

Gerhard Ade (Coldwell Banker Bain) — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 14:28:45 -0500

For $199,500, this could be your new address: 20714 76th Ave W, Unit 9, Edmonds, WA 98026 (SOLD)

If so, this is what you will tell your friends:

We enter our townhouse steps from our two parking spots on level ground. (Great when you have your hands full.) We dig the clean and comfortable downstairs with our spacious kitchen and private back porch – our little Schnauzer loves it here ;-) There's a good-size utility room with side-by-side washer and dryer and plenty of storage. For the night and what not we retreat up the stairs to our two sizable bedrooms and a smallish but useful office. This is a great community and neighborhood: all schools are within a quarter-mile and the Edmonds Community College nearby.

What to do first:

Call your agent and tell him/her to check out MLS 28037667. Tell her/him to call the Phone-To-Show number; then GO and SHOW. (Park in one of the two #9 spots.) Don't forget to mention that these Murkin Townhouse units rarely come on the market. Then don't forget to add: This is a Most Willing Seller looking for a willing buyer (that's you). Almost forgot: here's more detail and more pictures! Also: here is the coolest video on the place on animoto.com and here's the same mash-up on YouTube!

What you'll tell your friends when they come to visit and tell you how smart you were because you bought the place at a terrific price ($199,500):

From I-5 or 99 head West on 196th St SW, then South on 76th Ave West. Murkin Townhouses complex entrance is on West side of 76th before 208th St SW. See ya! Yummy food waiting for you!

More pictures for the impatient-don't-want-to-link-to-another-website-folks:

The changing face of real estate

Gerhard Ade (Coldwell Banker Bain) — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 04:29:55 -0600

I joined Brio Realty on February 7, 2006. On February 4, 2007, I wrote a blog with the title: Nothing Endures But Change

Jonathan Washburn had rejoined ActiveRain and quit as broker and president of Brio Realty. The new broker was Patrick Flynn, the new president was Tyson Knaevelsrud who also ran MTG Mortgage.

Not all change is for the better. You've heard this adage: "Making the right decision is the result of experience and experience is the result of making many wrong decisions." All I knew was that I had joined Brio on the strength of Jon's vision and he had disappeared.

Enter Ardell

I met Ardell DellaLoggia in the virtual world some time in December 2006. In early January 2007 we met at her home in Kirkland. I knew (almost) everything about her which wasn't hard given her ubiquity on the Web. Names like Ardell DellaLoggia and Gerhard Ade are easily "googled." We talked for at least two hours.

I knew that she'd been in real estate for 15 years-plus and had started on the east coast were she grew up. I knew that she had plenty of experience which meant she had made her profitable share of mistakes. With my barely five years of experience at the time, I knew that I could learn from someone like that. And she was not shy in pointing out that my web site contained some errors - and she was not talking about spelling mistakes.

We kept in touch online. My next real world encounter with Ardell was in late spring 2007 when she gave generously of her time and experience in regard to staging a home. It was in no small measure thanks to her advice that this, my most expensive listing to date, sold.

Ardell the Brio Realty Broker

It's been anything but boring since Ardell became the broker. She's not the kind of person about whom one can be neutral. She is confident in her knowledge and ability and not always modest about it. She is not shy to speak her mind but she knows of what she speaks. She knows her stuff. Most importantly, she truly wants to help. She wants me to be successful. She wants Brio Realty to make a difference. Rather than being afraid of change she is a change agent. She's not afraid to make decisions.

Some decisions will be wrong decisions. We learn from experience.

Moving My Blog

Gerhard Ade (Coldwell Banker Bain) — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 01:27:17 -0600

I like to be in control. "Teamwork means a lot of people doing what I say." (ARDELL, I did not come up with this myself so you are permitted to make this your tagline.:-) When I don't have a team I must do it all. That includes telling myself to learn a new skill.

So I moved my SERENE blog. I wanted to be in control. I also want to know how things work. So I am learning WordPress and a bit of PHP and MySQL in the process.

Some of you may consider learning this sort of stuff a waste of time. "Your job is real estate, Gerhard." True enough but have you ever had anybody say: "I wish I hadn't learned to play the piano," or "I am so sorry I learned speaking Mandarin fluently"?

I am not sorry I learned how to write clean HTML and optimize my websites for search engines. Now I can change my websites on the fly in response to something I learned a minute ago. Most of my new business comes from the web because people find me when they look for what interests THEM.

So I moved SERENE. The fashionable thing to say is that "I want to shape the SERENE brand." (Excuse me while I throw up.) But, seriously, a blog is more than the words and pictures that go with it. It's the header and all the "widgets." It's the look of everything and the functionality of everything. It's also experimenting and learning how to improve the brand constantly.

The nice people at RSSpieces (thanks, John, and welcome back to ActiveRain, Mary!) are helping me to move last year's blogging content. Easier said than done. Another learning experience.

Having taken a break from blogging has helped, too. Having ARDELL as a broker will also help. Not just with the blogging but why I am doing it: "your job is real estate, Gerhard!"

Kirkland Juanita condo: live cool, travel green (reduced price 11/1, sold 12/10 )

Gerhard Ade (Coldwell Banker Bain) — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 08:35:50 -0500

One-bedroom, ground level, no-steps entry, 2005 remodeled condo - the perfect place for the first-time-buyer. If that's you, here's what you get:

Modern kitchen with granite counter tops and maple cabinets
Living room with wood-burning fireplace
Porch for relaxing with your pooch* or pal
Covered car port steps away from the door
Community club house with exercise room, hot tub and pool
QFC grocery store, Starbucks and pizza around the corner
Curbside bus service to Kirkland and Seattle
New bus ramp for two-in-a-car commuters and bus users at Kingsgate Park & Ride
Proximity to Juanita Village and Juanita Beach park
Good neighborhood getting better with new Totem Lake Mall

Reduced November 1 from $215,900 to $199,500! (monthly home owner dues $185)

See more pictures and take the online Visual Tour. Open House: Friday, September 14, 2007 - 4 to 7pm.

To see this Kirkland Juanita condo in person, call your agent or contact the listing agent, Gerhard Ade, Brio Realty, Inc at 425-891-8213 or send an email to homes@gnade.com

Address: 11103 NE 124TH Ln #A-102, Kirkland WA 98034 - Google Map

*dogs up to 24 lbs

This is a FSBOW listing.

Old-School versus Internet-Raised Real Estate Agents

Gerhard Ade (Coldwell Banker Bain) — Sun, 02 Sep 2007 02:50:11 -0500

Like most of you agents out there I wonder once in a while if the grass is greener on the other side. In one case the other side was a friend from church, an agent working for an established national company. In the second instance I had to satisfy my curiosity about the new kid in town, a Nevada technology-driven company that gave a presentation in a real conference room using the term "virtual" about most everything else.

Neither encounter proved entirely satisfying.

Old-school agents usually downplay the changes brought on by the Internet. Some are in complete denial that anything is changing. Some can afford to be blasé because they've been blessed with the quiet success of the good old days. They tell stories about an agent who was dropped off in the middle of a cornfield, who made his way to the nearest public phone booth where he started calling people starting on the last page of the local phone directory. The Zswlienskys had never been called by a real estate agent and picked him up with their John Deer and invited him in for lunch. They sold their trailer and moved into a bungalow. The Zimmermans were next. The rest is history. They named the town after him. You can look it up on the Internet.

Speaking of the Internet, that's where the still youngish man lives who gave the presentation about the new way of doing real estate, including a pretty spiffy virtual transaction process. There was one thing he said that gave away his provenance which is programming. "It's crazy to show a buyer 20 homes." Well, he's never met the Zswliensky's grand daughter who is planning to move to Seattle to join that Redmond behemoth. She thinks herself any bit as Internet savvy as any agent and, if it weren't for that keypad and lock-box she would not need an agent at all. So, since she is doing all the work anyway and finding the homes on the Internet, the least she can expect is to see as many homes as she damn well pleases.

The contrast of these two encounters with the old and the new got me thinking. I am sort of in between the two camps. The old-school agents, besides their good stories, have much wisdom to dispense and I seek them out for their experience and down-to-earth plain smarts. There isn't much the Internet-raised agent can tell me that's going to make me a better real estate agent. But the Internet-raised agent does understand that this business is changing even if he or she doesn't know exactly what this means.

So both sides have a lot to learn - from each other.

Automated Communication can be an Automatic Embarrassment

Gerhard Ade (Coldwell Banker Bain) — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 20:12:20 -0500

It all started so innocently with cut and paste...

The automating of our communications can be a good thing. Starting with cut and paste. But there the trouble starts. I've sent out an email (more than once) where I forgot to replace "Dear Lisa" with "Dear Ludwig." I've received proposals from people where the "document property" in word revealed a different author and a different client. Computers are stupid. I need to stay alert. Check it and check it again.

and grew to endless possibilities of mistakes with the "help" of templates.

This sort of automatic mistake gets worse when you outsource your communications. I am not pointing fingers - this could have happened to me or you.

An automated inquiry for feedback on a listing I saw.

<http://www.homefeedback.com/images/logoNew.gif>

Hi Gerhard,


1234 123th PL NE
Redmond, WA 98053
<http://www.homefeedback.com/USER_DATA/v/anybody/listingImages/Im467ff4efca43e.jpg>    LP: $899,950    MLS#: 27112345
Listing Info: --    Virtual Tour: --
Bedrooms: 4    Bathrooms: 2.5
Est. Sq. Ft: 3700    Year Built: 2004
Map Code: --   Property Type: Single Family


Your Text Here. Your Text Here. Your Text Here. Your Text Here. Your Text Here. Your Text Here. Your Text Here. Your Text Here. Your Text Here. Your Text Here. Your Text Here. Your Text Here. Your Text Here. Your Text Here. Your Text Here. Your Text Here. Your Text Here. Your Text Here. Your Text Here. Your Text Here. Your Text Here. Your Text Here. Your Text Here. Your Text Here. Your Text Here. Your Text Here. Your Text Here. Your Text Here. Your Text Here. Your Text Here.

Thank You,


Powered By Homefeedback.com <http://www.homefeedback.com>

Unsubscribe <http://www.homefeedback.com/jM6IkNpZCI7aToyNDk4MDYwO3M6NDoiQ3RJZCI7aToxO3M6Mz==>

The Your Text Here was meant for text by the listing agent or assistant for something like: "Thanks for seeing my listing. Any feedback, especially regarding pricing, would be appreciated."

(Note: I've changed the data in the homefeedback.com message to conceal the agent's identity.)

Advertising Specialties that fit the Brand

Gerhard Ade (Coldwell Banker Bain) — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 17:44:08 -0500

Ardell DellaLoggia, the new Brio Realty broker, was moving into her new office with, among other things, a Ziploc brand bag full of Zillow.com pens in assorted colors. Generous by nature, she passed some of them out. We started to joke about what was so special about a Zillow pen. This inspired me to think about brand-appropriate advertising specialties (also known as "trinkets and trash" by the ad specialty trade).

The Zillow.com Pen - writes all over the place

The Help-You-Sell Clock (Slogan: For Sale with Owner) - you provide the hands

The Redfin Calculator - subtract whatever you think is wrong from all totals

The Windermere Seahawks Schedule Magnet - 3 by 2 feet, occupying the entire refrigerator door

MLS for Owners Carving Set - manual includes instructions to perform appendectomy on yourself

...any other ideas?

Firetruck-Clock found on promomart.com

You've heard of FSBO? Here comes FSBOW™!

Gerhard Ade (Coldwell Banker Bain) — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 02:59:29 -0500

You've heard of the elevator speech? Whatever you can tell somebody you've just met and who asks you "what do you do" in an elevator before, - ding - the door opens and your potential client exits.

Here's my elevator speech:

"I am a Realtor® who can list your home in whatever WA city you live and after about 10 days your home will appear among the first 3 pages on Google™ for the search "your-city home listings". There's a good chance it will appear on page 1. Why is this important? Because the more people know that your home's for sale the greater the chance you'll have a buyer."

If my elevator guest gets interested I take him to a coffee shop I show him the proof that the FSBOW™ method works and how it works for my clients. FSBOW™ stands for For-Sale-By-Optimized-Web™. Let's look at my current Woodinville listing: For the Google search Woodinville home listings this page on my main website GNAde.com ranks #1 on page 1 (organic results) and, my Woodinville listing I sold last year follows in the #2 spot.

A bit further down, past two homegain.com listings, in 5th place is my new website "ListMyWoodinvilleHome.com" which I created and uploaded on August 16. The results you see here on page 1 of Google were for real on August 25.

All things being equal, why would you list your home with anyone else? I ask.

Whose Real Estate Listing is this anyway?

Gerhard Ade (Coldwell Banker Bain) — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 18:04:20 -0500

Listings are the life blood of real estate.

The saying is “who lists, lasts.” Helping buyers find a home is good. Listing a home for sale is better. As a listing agent my name is out there on the sign in the neighborhood and on the flyer right at street level. My broker advertises my listing in Homes & Land magazine together with other Brio Realty listings.

Real estate agents ask me if they could advertise my listing in print or on the web. I say YES, BUT: limited to the particular publication and, on the Web, limited to the agent’s personal website.

As a listing agent I owe it to my clients to sell their home by promoting the home’s FOR SALE status to the best of my ability. This can include the promotion of my listing by other agents. After all, these agents are looking to find buyers for my client’s home.

I promote my client’s home widely on the web: on my own websites and elsewhere on the web: ad on craigslist.com and placement on Zillow.com and Windows Live Expo (MSN), to name a few.

I also create and post a Visual Tour at visualtour.com where I elect to have the Visual Tour automatically sent to Google Base, HomePages.com, HomeSeekers, PrudentialPropertiesVOW, Trulia, and Yahoo’s classified ads.

Today, I checked these sites to make certain my clients get my/their money’s worth. I checked Trulia. I can’t find the Visual Tour of my listing. But what I DO FIND instead is MY LISTING that has been put there by livingchoices.com.

Who is livingchoices.com?

They did not ask me whether they could advertise my listing! The link from Trulia to livingchoices.com shows that the home “IS OFFERED” by Picket Street which is part of RE/MAX Northwest Realtors. What does OFFERED mean? To the average person this implies that Jesse Moore & Dennis Pearce of RE/MAX Northwest Realtors are the listing agents. It says right above their names: “Contact Agents, ” which at least implies “Listing Agents.”

So let’s move on to the details that livingchoices.com provides on Picket Street and Jesse and Dennis. Voila! The first thing we learn about Jesse and Dennis is that: “Of all of our listings for 2006, 100% of them sold (none of them expired, and none of them were cancelled). Homes listed with us averaged 30 days on market, with a selling price of 102.2% of the ...” This all but confirms that they ARE the listing agents of the Woodinville home on 185th Ave NE. In fact, right below is says “54 Properties offered by Jesse Moore & Dennis Pearce” Are these all their listings? I checked on the Northwest Multiple Listing members-only site: As of 08.28.05 at 11 am Jesse has 2 active listings, one with a contingent offer; Dennis has no listings.

So what’s going on here?

All members of the local Northwest Multiple Listing Service (NWMLS) are required to get written approval to advertise another member’s listing. I was asked via email by Dennis and Jesse for permission to advertise my listing in the Real Estate Book of North King/ Snohomish County. My answer was specific: You have my permission for the publication you mentioned in your email below. I’ve never gave approval for my listing to be advertised on the Internet, because I was doing that myself.

Problem is that the Real Estate Book of North King/Snohomish County is published by NCI, Network Communications, Inc. of Lawrenceville, GA, “the largest national publisher of local printed and online magazines for the real estate market.”

NCI also states: “Our websites and online proprietary real estate portal, LivingChoices.com, complement the strength of our print publications. With over 10 million unique visitors viewing 500 million listings annually, LivingChoices.com is a top destination for consumers actively seeking their next apartment or home.” Because LivingChoices.com broadcasts their information to other sites my listing appeared there but in association with another brokerage and agents.

I’m not blaming Jesse and Dennis for giving the consumer the impression that they are listing MY listing and that they have together 54 listings when they have just two. They are the "beneficiaries" (and "victims"?) of livingchoices.com scouring and scraping the web for listings in the area in which the two of them do business in the hope to find potential buyers. Neither Dennis nor Jesse have written the potentially misleading language on livingchoices.com nor are they responsible for broadcasting my listing to Trulia.com and making it look like my listing was their listing.

Jesse and Dennis are probably honest, hard working real estate agents. I say this with confidence without ever having met them. Proof: when it comes to Picket Street Properties and pickettstreet.com, their own website, Dennis and Jesse do not pretend to be listing MY listing nor any of the other 54 listings that appeared to be their listings on livingchoices.com.

Why do I care about all of this?

Because I work very hard to educate my clients and potential customers about this business of real estate. The consumer has a hard time understanding the difference between a listing agent and a selling agent. Can you explain to me why the SELLING Agent is so named when he/she is representing the BUYER? Many consumers don’t even know that they can be represented as a buyer by an agent. And many of those that do, don't really understand the benefit. The listing agent is the one that is publicly visible and thus, “gets the respect” of the consumer. That’s why giving the false impression that an agent is the listing agent is so prevalent in this business.

Real Estate Portals without Rules

Websites like livingchoices.com may serve a purpose but consumers should not look to them as an authoritative source about Real Estate practices. These “intermediary real estate portals” and hundreds like it do not have to follow the member guidelines of a Multiple Listing Service and adhere to the Code of Ethics of the National Association of Realtors. The way they present information does not break any laws as far as I know. But the ways they present information often misinforms and misleads the consumer.

P.S.

I called Jesse and pointed out that my permission to advertise my listing was limited to the local publication and did not extend to the Internet. He and Dennis agreed and they will try to remove the unauthorized postings on the Web. This is the second time I've covered this subject - the first one is called: The Wild World Web.

Good clients make it all worthwhile.

Gerhard Ade (Coldwell Banker Bain) — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 01:11:08 -0500

What makes a "good" client?

The simple answer is one who appreciates what I do. But there's more to it.

I'm currently working with a seller who has done a superb job in preparing the home for sale. This good client made my job so much easier.
I'm closing on a listing with a client who reduced the price when I presented the data that supported a price reduction. This good client trusted my advice.
After considering to make an offer on a home I enumerated several reasons why making an offer was not a good idea. I suggested to keep looking at more homes. The client asked me: "But what about you?" This good client (customer, to be precise) was actually aware of the time they were spending with me without me getting paid (yet). We just made an offer on another, much better, home.
One of my "down-sizing" clients decided to postpone the sale of their home and purchase of a condo until next year. They sent me a gift certificate to a nice restaurant . This good client showed appreciation for the work done so far.

One more thing: these good clients are not "easy" clients. They are demanding but fair and appreciate a job well done.

They make me work harder and happy doing it.

Woodinville, Cottage Lake area home: Living Large Made Affordable

Gerhard Ade (Coldwell Banker Bain) — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 13:18:42 -0500

2,692 sq ft, almost 1/2 acre, three bedrooms upstairs, complete mother-in-law suite downstairs.

Tour this Woodinville home on line

This 30-year young, 2,692 square foot Woodinville home on nearly one-half acre is nothing like your average split level. Offered at $549,000

The address is 15650 185th Ave. NE Woodinville, WA 98072. See this customized Google Map for directions. MLS Listing 27148234
To see this home, contact your real estate agent or call Gerhard Ade, the listing agent, at 425-891-8213 or send him an Email.

Directions: From Avondale west on 159th St, past stop sign at 187th Ave, left (south) on 185th, house on left.

New: architectural-grade roof, almost every window ...more

Upstairs: three bedrooms, two bath, easy-maintenance Trex-brand decks ...more

Downstairs: family room and in-law-suite or apartment with separate, external, ground level entrance ...more

Outside: deep and sunny fully fenced backyard with garden space, running room and a small barn...more

The location: daily conveniences within a two-mile radius, downtown Woodinville is about four miles away, Redmond and the Microsoft campus...more

Northshore schools...more

The Wild World Web

Gerhard Ade (Coldwell Banker Bain) — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 22:21:17 -0500

As a listing agent it is your responsibility to do everything legal, logical, and laudable to find a buyer. That can include letting other agents advertise your listing. About a year ago I began advertising other agents' listings on my website. I selected properties that I found attractive for one reason or another. About two out three agent answered "No" in their email answers to my request. The Northwest Multiple Listing Service (NWMLS) has a rule that permission to advertise another agents listing must be granted in writing - email will suffice.

At the time I thought those agents who said "No" were not acting in their clients' best interest. So when I was asked by a local broker if they could advertise my recent Redmond listing I cheerfully replied "Yes." About a week later I sent another email to the same broker withdrawing my permission. What had happened?

As part of their service, a company called VisualTour, will submit a listing to several real estate portals, including Trulia. Two days after I uploaded the Redmond home VisualTour I checked Trulia and, there was my listing and the VisualTour of the Redmond home. My client, who watches my marketing efforts very closely was pleased. Imagine then, when another two days later he sent me an email saying: "...the Trulia listing does not map correctly anymore because the street address repeats the street direction NE (NE NE). I checked, and sure enough, he was right.

What I noticed next was that the VisualTour was GONE! Reason: the broker who was advertising my listing had submitted it to Trulia and replaced the earlier version. They also had made the NE NE error which they denied saying that they simply got the information from the NWMLS without human interference. Well, I know for a fact the MLS will let you only input the Street direction once from a pull-down menu. So the NE NE remains a mystery.

Another aspect of this is the identification of the listing agent/broker. While IDX feeds from NWMLS must state the Listing Office, this does not apply to advertising. So not only was Brio Realty and Gerhard gone from Trulia but, to the average person, the listing had become identified with the advertiser.

As I write this the home is no longer on Trulia. I've asked the people from VisualTour to submit it again. I am tempted to submit the listing myself but that may just cause more confusion.

When someone asks you next time if they can advertise your listing, ask them: WHERE?

Bremerton is like Brazil?

Gerhard Ade (Coldwell Banker Bain) — Sun, 08 Apr 2007 00:04:36 -0500

I've been in Brazil and now I've been to Bremerton. This doesn't make me an expert on either place, but what a Brazilian business man told me about Brazil on the plane to Sao Paolo also appears to apply to Bremerton: "Brazil always had a future and always will."

While I visited Brazil as the "corporate taste bud" (branding czar) for TRW in 1984, my ferry trip to Bremerton last Saturday was part of a more modest mission. I was showing a home to a Brio-generated buyer lead. I agreed to do this for several reasons:

I had been to many places of the Puget Sound islands and peninsulas but never to Bremerton.
The home I was showing was built in 1900 and had been used as a Bed & Breakfast.
The potential buyers sounded like nice people. And I was right.
Taking the ferry is always a "photo-op." I was right on that one, too.

Not being a native I did my homework especially well. Visited the MLS, looked for comps (hardly any for a 1900 Victorian), did Google searches for historical and business facts. Checked the ferry schedule. Most importantly, I called a long-time local friend who will not readily admit that he spent his earlier years in Bremerton. He knew the building I was showing and a former owner - a local politician.

The ferry got me there quite a bit early, so I had time to explore. I had not had lunch. That always makes my driving style more aggressive. There was a sparsity of eating establishments so I ended up at the local Safeway. There were new condos going up near the ferry terminal and other signs of "up-and-coming." On the street where the listing was located were several homes that had been renovated. Others were undergoing the process.

I had plenty of time to pre-view the home - my photo above - before my clients got there. The listing agent, whom I had called the day before, was very helpful in explaining the ins and outs of the place. And there were several. Two separate parts of the house with two entrances, and as we discovered, an attractive attic space with stairs to connect them and a cottage-like structure in the back, fully equipped to live the country live.

My clients liked the place but it needed more work than they were willing to invest in time or money. (Some B&B buyers have romantic notions that are better developed than their wallets.) Being Kirklanders, they asked me about the "future" of Bremerton. I told them that Bremerton had been selected as the nation's "Most Livable City", by Money magazine.

That was 27 years ago, in 1990. Which is why Bremerton may be a bit like Brazil.

Note: this are my personal impressions of an afternoon. There are Kitsap County experts on ActiveRain better qualified than I whose opinions have been formed over a longer time period.

4,444 square feet of privacy surrounded by 2.4 acres of nature; just five miles from Microsoft campus.

Gerhard Ade (Coldwell Banker Bain) — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 01:22:04 -0500

Offered at $985,000 ($222/sqft),
this Redmond Home in the Novelty Hill neigborhood
exceeds today's building standards.

It is solid construction to the core
and has sensible room arrangements.

10518 206th Ave NE, Redmond, WA 98053, MLS 27045765

If you have family or friends they will have personal space to stay a while.
If you are a collector of anything you will have room to store and restore.
If you like to entertain in style your guests will have room to roam.
If you like to look at nature without looking at yardwork you will have time to enjoy.
If you have children to educate the best private school is a stone's throw away.

Offered by Gerhard Ade, Brio Realty, Bellevue, WA; 425-891-8213 (cell)

See more details here

or take the visual tour.

View of south side with gravel walkway leading from front door to steps of deck.

Master suite on main floor with family room and kitchen, formal dining area and step-down living room. Fireplaces in family and living room
Downstairs: bed, bath & 1,000 sqft bonus room w. wet bar/kitchen could be separate living space (MIL), recreation area, collector's domain or home office. Separate entrance and parking.
Upstairs: two bedrooms, full bath and hide-away storage.
Entertain or relax: Step from living, family and master onto Trex-brand deck; walk private trail to creek below
Convenient location: 3 miles to center of Redmond. 5 miles to Microsoft Campus. The Overlake School (private) grounds are across street.

Large windows flood the step-down living room and dining area with light. Quality materials and workmanship are apparent everywhere.

Detail view of bonus room shows raised wet bar /kitchen area and wood stove. This could be office, meeting, collector's, exercise area. Together with downstairs bed and bath all could be for extended family or sublet (has separate entry).

Low-maintenance Trex-brand deck behind family room and master suite has steps on both sides leading to ground level.

Family room with wood-burning fire place and kitchen with island range and eating space. French doors lead to deck. (Natural gas is available for property.)

View of south side with bonus room on lower level and master suite above on main level. Extra parking space for visitors and/or RV. Stairs leading up to deck.

View from deck of re-designed landscaping which included path to private creek in woods below.

Appraised in November, 2006. 413 square meter, 0.97 hectare

I blog, therefore I am.

Gerhard Ade (Coldwell Banker Bain) — Sun, 18 Mar 2007 04:34:31 -0500

In case you haven't noticed, I am preoccupied with blogging. Not just with blogging itself but the nature of blogging. Is it the greatest breakthrough since Gutenberg's invention of movable type?

Speaking of movable type I actually learned to set type by hand, letter by letter, lead piece by lead piece, then tie the type block together with jute string and print my composition with a letterpress. No, I'm not 89 years old. But I've seen metal type replaced by photo type, first the analog then the digital variety, then seen the demise of the typesetting industry, the evolution of desktop publishing and then the birth of the internet. I began learning HTML in 1995 and have added a few internerdy skills since. So here I am and as I've blogged elsewhere, here I blog by the grace of God.

I've been writing for a living for a long time: letters to shareholders, advertising copy, how-to manuals, websites, etc. I even wrote about the Montreal Olympics for a German newspaper. There used to be proofreaders and editors. The joke about corporate annual reports is that they are read by more people before they are published than afterwards.

If you were writing for a publication instead of blogging on line would that make a difference to you? Would you find it necessary to ask a friend to read what you wrote? Would you worry about grammar and spelling? I don't care if we call it blogging; it's still writing. Blog is short for Weblog, right? It was meant to be a daily log via keyboard made visible as text on screens via new software that made you almost forget how dreadful the first WYSIWYG web tools were. So a Weblog was meant to be a computer generated diary.

What made blogging so ubiquitous, however, were not the new WYSIWIG tools like Typepad or Wordpress. It was the techno-entrepreneurs who saw the opportunity to exploit one of humanities basic flaws: narcissism. By that I don't mean the personality disorder but the tendency to think of myself better than of others. The difference between "The Gong Show" (anyone remember?) and American Idol is that making a fool of yourself has become much bigger business. Unknowns and well-knowns are allowed to do things in public that makes voyeurs out of spectators. Rubbernecking has come to prime time. And MySpace has become the hunting ground for perverts.

So, how's your blogging coming? Have you had the urge to express yourself daily to people you've never met before the advent of the Internet? If you had lived in London would you have stood on your soap box at Hyde Corner and passionately postulated every day about first-time-buyers being priced out of the market? Was the only reason you did not submit your many letters to the editor of the local rag because you knew you would remain unpublished?

In academia they say "publish or perish." Some real estate blogger postulated that blogging was necessary for professional survival. If consumers did not find you on the web blogging about mortgage fraud, mold, and condo resale certificates they would think you did not know anything about these subjects. Also, they could not get to know you and see your personality.

Well, I'm not so sure about that. I used to write. Now I blog. It makes no difference to me. I love to see my words all over the web. Digit, Reddit. Stumbleupon. Please, please, read what I wrote! Now, why else would you be blogging? Dubito, ergo cogito, ergo sum.

Ergo Blogo.

Kirkland is home but my real estate is anything but local.

Gerhard Ade (Coldwell Banker Bain) — Sun, 11 Feb 2007 18:38:32 -0600

The best thing about my start in real estate was the retail location of Hallmark Realty - in the heart of Kirkland a mere stone's throw from Lake Washington.

Over the past five years Kirkland has been at the center of my business. As the map shows, there is a concentration of orange dots (buyers) and red dots (sellers) in the Kirkland area. Yes, I am a Kirkland specialist. Three of my clients are in the same Kirkland condo complex. I have a website dedicated to Kirkland condos and only a lack of time prevents me form expanding the content.

So how is it that I've done that much business outside Kirkland? Well, real estate may be local but people choose real estate agents for their total qualifications and qualities. Local expertise is just one of these. That's why I've listed a home in Camano Island and helped a Bellevue resident find a vacation home with a glorious view of Port Susan and Mount Baker. That's why a young family asked me to find their first home. We found one that was affordable where they wanted to live.

What's local depends on your perspective. For someone relocating to this area from California, Illinois, Europe or Asia, greater Seattle and the entire Puget Sound area is LOCAL. When these people find my websites in English and German or read my blog they form an opinion based on what they find. Those that contact me may be considering a job or transfer. They are looking for more than a home to buy; they are seeking advice on what it is like to live in the United States. Although many have visited Seattle before, moving here is another matter.

I didn't mind being the weekend tour guide showing off this wonderful area to a German from Munich who was considering a position with Microsoft and preferred a Redmond home. (He did not take the job.) I was happy to take mother and child from Chicago to see neighborhoods like Leschi and Seward Park while the husband had already started his new job at Amazon. They bought a 1930s bungalow that reminded them of Chicago. Another couple with young children who moved here from Singapore decided that living near downtown Issaquah would suit them best.

When I moved with my family to Seattle in 1999, we were eager to learn as much as we could about this area. It is satisfying to share my knowledge and experience with people who are just as curious. In the process I've driven all over the place (green dots) and taken the ferries across the sound.

More recently, a couple called me from the Canadian border and asked to see some listings they had found on Brio Realty's website. We met and looked at about a dozen properties over the next 36 hours. They purchased a home in Kirkland before they continued on their way to California. Currently I am working with two clients who want to downsize by selling their Woodinville homes and purchase Kirkland condos with views of Lake Washington and the Olympic Mountains.

So, despite my foreign roots and the territory I've covered over the past five years, Kirkland is still home base.

Real Estate Agent: a noble profession?

Gerhard Ade (Coldwell Banker Bain) — Sun, 21 Jan 2007 03:49:10 -0600

My son studies business economics at Wheaton College. The kind of math he does is a bit past my level. So are some of the books he reads. During the Christmas vacation at his grandparent’s home I had a cold and finding sleep was hard. Having read the newspaper front to back and back again and feeling not in the least intellectually curious I grabbed one of his books called The Mystery of Capital.

I expected to drop it after a few paragraphs but instead found myself engrossed for the better part of the night. Fear not, what follows here is not a book review. I did not expect this book to have anything to do with real estate; much less, make me think differently about what I do now for a living: helping people buy and sell homes. What I was reading made so much sense that I wondered why I had not read it before. The case the author presented was so clear and the facts so overwhelming I wondered why his findings weren’t as common knowledge as, let’s say, gravity.

Private Property Ownership: Engine of Economy

Without private ownership of property our way of life in the USA would not be possible. Without having documented proof of property ownership entrepreneurship would be a non starter. Over 80 percent of all businesses in this country are started because the entrepreneur puts up the equity of his home as collateral. The home is much more than a place to stay; it’s productive capital. The owner’s title is only a representation of the home but this abstract is actually more important than the tangible property.

Squatters Owned Squat

We should not take the obvious for granted. About 160 years ago there were about 800 separate jurisdictions in the post-gold-rush California, each jurisdiction with its own rules and limited reach. Outside the jurisdiction the property did not “exist”. It was worthless. The earlier squatters who occupied land that wasn’t their’s “owned” property but they did so outside the formal legal system. Only slowly were the laws of the land changed to reflect the reality, thus creating legal ownership. Most significant in that regard were the Preemption Act of 1841 and the Homestead Act of 1862.

To paraphrase the author of the book, Hernando De Soto: Western nations recognized social contracts created outside the law as the legitimate source of formal law and absorbed the contracts into the system. Law created popular property forming capital that drove economic growth.

$9.3 Trillion of Dead Capital

So the “Mystery” in the Mystery of Capitalism is legalized and codified ownership of private property. The author uses the discussion of the evolution of private property in the USA to make a much bigger point: unless the former states of the Soviet Union, the countries of South America and the Middle East and the entire Third World move to make “illegal” ownership “legal,” much of the capital of these countries is dead capital. De Soto estimates that about $9.3 trillion of property is owned this way: outside the legal system. A rice farmer, who works a piece of land where his family lives can’t grow the farm or buy another piece of land without proof of ownership. Likewise, the woman who runs the vegetable stand that’s part of her primitive habitat can’t use the property as collateral for getting a loan to buy books for her children.

When I consider that it took generations to overcome such conditions in this country making the private ownership of property a cornerstone of our political and economic system, I can say with pride that I am playing a significant role in a process that is essential to our way of life.

Storm Shakes Seattle Psyche, Warms Hearts

Gerhard Ade (Coldwell Banker Bain) — Sun, 17 Dec 2006 17:22:22 -0600

As I write this, Seattle and environs are very slowly being restored to normal life. Normal is what we take for granted; in this case normal is the supply of electricity.

The things you can’t do without electricity are countless, but high on the list are filling your gas tank and getting cash from your ATM. The police had to escort some tanker trucks to gas stations; some gas stations newly supplied and functioning had to shut down because impatient customers were behaving badly.

Seattelites are self-reliant people; they like their personal space, the more the better. This kind of event challenges Seattle lifestyle preferences. “Powerless” was the Seattle Times’ one-word headline the day after the storm. Powerless means no light, no heat, no gas, no internet access. Powerless means a greater reliance on other people. You may need a complete stranger’s help. That’s tough to take for some.

Seattle nice but hearts of ice?

Of all the places I’ve lived, I’ve found the people around Seattle the least approachable. They treasure their privacy. (That’s a generalization, but most generalizations are true in general when a majority agrees.) In February 2005, the Seattle Times magazine featured an article on this phenomenon: Beyond the smiles, the Seattle Freeze is on. The writer describes the behavior as “antisocial” and looks for causes in the abundance of clouds and the Nordic-Asian reserve that was imported by immigrants hailing from northern Europe and the Far East. My theory is that people came here “to get away from it all” and resent those who came afterwards no matter what their motivation. Contributing to this frosty climate may be the world’s largest software company which “does not play well with others” and hires people for whom not playing well with others can be a requirement because it creates a very competitive environment in which “being liked by others” is not a highly esteemed value.

The citizenry’s tendency to be reserved is mirrored by the city’s remote geographic location. Only to the south is another major US city: Portland. Because distribution channels didn’t always extend to the far northwest, businesses started here and then expanded from Seattle across the country. Think of Starbucks, Costco and Nordstrom.

Melting Seattle hearts

As I finish this multi-day blog, many Seattle neighborhoods, especially on the eastside, are still without power, our home among them. This wasn’t anything close to Hurricane Katrina but bad enough for an area that lives on warm coffee concoctions and high-speed internet connections. I’ll be leaving tomorrow to spend Christmas with my in-laws in Columbus, OH. Since we were not home when the power went out, I will put the breakers in the off-position. And I will leave at least one faucet dripping.

The temperatures have fallen below freezing at night, but the attitude of many locals has melted to heart-warming proportions.

P.S. I took the photos on December 16, 2006 around Woodinville, Wa.

List and Locate are NOT the Same as Sell and Buy.

Gerhard Ade (Coldwell Banker Bain) — Thu, 14 Dec 2006 13:25:05 -0600

“The days of paying thousands of dollars to real estate agents are over…” Working with the TV running in the background (a bad habit), this is what I thought I heard. I looked up to see a bird’s eye view of suburbia with signs of promised savings hovering over the landscape. Next, the viewer was directed to the website – www.shopprop.com

Curious, I checked it out. (You should, too.) An introductory slide show proclaims: “Today’s technology makes it easier than ever to list and locate properties but the rates have remained as high as ever.” That’s in part correct. The rates are not as high as ever. If what is meant by rates are commissions, they are, at least on average, declining.

It is true that technology makes it easier to list and locate properties. Technology, and here comes the rub, does not make it easier to sell and buy property. Being able to locate a property more easily means that fewer buyers (and agents) will get lost but it does not make a property any more attractive to the buyer who knows the smell of kitty litter or an agent who recognizes bad vintage Louisiana Pacific siding by sight. Just because the “data” about a property is available and propagated at infinitum on countless websites doesn’t make the house an easier sell.

The “what” does not say “why.”

In fact, the technology could make it much harder to sell because the data that has been scraped together by the zillows does not include what’s under the pillows. I think I am about to experience the downside of data because I will list a home where Zillows and the actual listing price will be about 20% apart. Zillows has the correct data. Their data is the answer to what but it fails to answer the why. The “what” does not tell you that the property was held in a trust and last sold by a bank for 19% below the initial asking price. I know so because I represented the buyer. The data does not tell you that there were rumors of mold wafting about that kept agents and buyers away for months. Scientific environmental tests found nothing foul and my buyer took advantage of the opportunity.

Kicking the tires is not something technology does well.

Given these circumstances I recommended to have the house appraised before putting it on the market (my client is now moving and asked my advice before listing). We also wanted to know the exact “finished” square footage because the “data” that’s out there does not reflect the complete build-out of the basement by the prior owner. My client and I saw at the time of purchase that the house was much bigger than advertised.

The appraiser did what a good appraiser does: measured and compared. The resulting appraised value, I am afraid, does not square with zillogical data. Technology will not make it easier to list this home. Au contraire, it will make it harder. The data does not tell the story. The data is history and knowing history is more than knowing the date of the battle but who won it and, most important, why the battle was fought. If and when I will list this property I will have some explaining to do, especially to those who put their trust in the data miners and scrapers.

Serving clients by the numbers

Which brings me back to the TV commercial and the aforementioned website. This brokerage must like data and believe that real estate is sheer numbers. “If you buy through ShopProp we rebate the buyer’s commission back to you”, they promise. “They” are currently a broker and one agent and they are looking for agents to become “listing tour guides.” The buyer is charged $50 per hour for home tours, the website says. I found nothing on how much these agent-tour-guides will get paid. But I suppose they are not expected to do much more than locating the properties. That, thanks to technology, is easier than ever.

Stop Working on Your Website and You Could Drop like a Rock.

Gerhard Ade (Coldwell Banker Bain) — Sun, 10 Dec 2006 17:17:15 -0600

So I’ve redesigned my main website – GNAde.com - yet another time. I do this always myself because (a) I know how and (b) I enjoy doing it. Since I write it, design it, code it (strictly html and css) and optimize it all AT ONCE the site is cut from one cloth instead of being a patchwork put together by different experts with different skills.

The search engines appear to agree with me. The site has a Google page rank of five. And, my latest rankings for search terms that matter to me are 18 first positions on page one and 49 among the top five for four search engines. Not bad, but still not good enough to compete with the big boys (and girls ;-). By the big boys I mean real estate sites that offer zilch information but that have saturated the web so thoroughly they pop up everywhere.

This is one of the intrinsic problems of searching the Web: you search for anything and ebay and amazon come up - if not organically then as sponsored links. So you want to buy underwear? Result: “read all about underwear at amazon.com.” Not relevant and not what I was looking for. The same is true for real estate web searches.

The lessons I learned are these: you stop working on your website you drop off the radar screen. You add content, improve your navigation, refine the design, define your voice and you’ll see improved results. Adding a Google site map also helped.

What’s inspired me to pay again more attention to my website is ActiveRain with so many experts on all matters of interest. Meeting these experts on ActiveRain has its advantages. You see their faces, read what they say about themselves, read their blogs and their comments. They, in turn, see all that about you.

I contacted one of these experts (any guesses, here?) and found out that we had more in common than an interest in search engine optimization and the blogging sphere. I received invaluable advice for free and have contracted with that person for work. What’s important is that this all happens on the basis of mutual respect. Both parties will give free advice to each other and the relationship will be mutually beneficial.

Still, keeping up with the web tools and trends is becoming more and more difficult. What inspired me for the last round of refinements was one of the AR experts and a book I bought. The book is “designing with web standards” by Jeffrey Zeldman, (see Amazon.com) who is also the publisher of A List Apart , my absolute favorite site on web design for more years than I can remember.

But, then again, my past is in design and branding. And, despite having neglected my branding site for years it still has a Google page rank of four. So, relevant content does matter!

A Genuine Interest in Your Clients is a Requirement for Doing a Good Job.

Gerhard Ade (Coldwell Banker Bain) — Sun, 10 Dec 2006 15:23:30 -0600

I was looking for one of my client’s addresses in order to send her a Christmas card. Not all the addresses had made it onto my new laptop so I looked through that transparent plastic file box marked “real estate archive.” Next thing you know I spent nearly three hours wading through these papers, reading a phrase here and there and tossing out duplicate documents.

What struck me again is that I am not nearly as interested in the properties as I am in the people who buy and sell them. Surely, I remember that the crawlspace in that remodeled rambler needed a vapor barrier installed. What makes this more than a mere transaction but really memorable, is that I was able to find a first-time buyer a reasonably priced home in the right school district so that their son did not have to change schools in his senior year.

What really mattered was that this other young family was able to find a home under $200,000 in a hot Seattle market, especially at this price level. Yes, it was a double-wide manufactured home but it was in a good location on a large lot, the kind that is bought by investors for the value of the land.

One of the thickest files was that of a relocation seller. I had helped this couple sell their respective condos before they got married, buy their first home together and then sell it. I was a bit sore about the commission cut I agreed to pay to the relocation sharks. That, however, is of no consequence when compared with the loss of my clients' first child just two weeks old. They have moved to the Midwest but the little girl’s grave is still here.

Having a genuine interest in my clients is not some marketing ploy but it is essential for me to keep being interested in doing the very best for them. It is rewarding emotionally and financially.

About three years ago an out-of-state owner asked me if I could find a renter for his home. The renters I found had two Rottweilers so the fenced backyard was perfect. A year later the renters asked me to help them buy a home and the absent owner asked me to sell his. Why? Because they believed that I was not only competent at my job but was able to put myself in their shoes. To top things of, my wife, the mortgage consultant, who had arranged the financing for the former renters, was asked to help a relative with the refinancing of a home.

There are many more human interest stories in these files. A more recent one involves an out-of-state seller who “met” me on my website. The property was not in good condition. I took pictures of it, emailed them to her and was very frank about what it would take to sell. She appreciated that. After the deal closed she sent me a very nice email shown with this blog.

This was a small condo and the commission was very modest. What matters is that I was able to bring the transaction to a successful end. What matters more is that this woman no longer needs to worry about a burdensome property and can go on with her life happier than before. She’ll remember me for that. That’s how I define success.

Real Estate Theater

Gerhard Ade (Coldwell Banker Bain) — Sun, 10 Dec 2006 02:53:13 -0600

Can you think of a business where each transaction is like a new play being performed by a new cast of characters with only the most basic facts known to all? What is known? The asking price and the location of the subject property. There is no playwright and no director. Some of the actors barely know each other and a few of the actors barely know their roles. With nobody knowing the outcome this play is a mystery.

The Cast

The main protagonists are the seller and the buyer. They have not much of a speaking role but leave most of that to their respective handlers. Some of these handlers are known to seek center stage while others would rather hide in the wings. Some have their own script and stick to it, others wing it. Their names can be confusing to the audience and to those whom they promise to represent. The selling agent sells nothing at all but assists the buyer. The listing agent enters the stage usually on a high horse. (“This one won’t last,” is her famous line.)

The Overture

The opening act, called the offer, usually sets the tone. It can be ignored by the receiving party. This means curtains. Everybody goes home and looks to perform in a more promising play. If there is a response, called the counter offer, the buyer can counter again. The handlers calculate, consult, and sometimes cajole. Act one comes to an end if the two parties agree. If this were an opera we just finished the overture. Now the stage is set and the real play begins.

The Stage Is Set

New characters join the action. Some of them have been cast for the play by one or the other agent. The title officer has already played a minor role off-stage. A good title officer is like a referee in a football game. If he does his routine well and doesn’t feel the need to be noticed he’s doing a good job. Seeking attention and having the tendency to dramatize is another actor's trait. He’s called the inspector. His lines can bring the play to a sudden end. Sometimes he introduces actors with minor roles who make the most of them. Mold and other pests do add to the drama.

If the inspection act ends with both parties’ honor still intact, the play continues. In the meantime, papers have been exchanged by the parties with language not everybody always understood. This is a play with the script being written ad hoc. Original script and alterations are being kept. That’s a good thing. Reproduced in facsimile fashion, the re-writes can become unintelligible. Some of the actors can’t read their own lines.

Some players have bit parts on stage but when they appear they get attention. Such is the role of the appraiser. He usually has had more education for his role than all the other actors combined. He too, can bring the play to an untimely end.

The Final Act

The desired end of the play was written into the original offer. The cast member to bring the play to a rousing finale is the escrow officer. The final act takes place on her turf. The seller and buyer sign “docs.” Funds are being transferred, deeds recorded. The roles of the main protagonists – the buyer and the seller - have come to an end. The other actors are looking for another play on another stage. They join with a new cast of characters in a play without a script and an uncertain outcome.