The former owner of the Original Steakhouse in Broadlands was captured in Texas and arrested on fraud charges.  Osama El-Atari has since been brought back to Virginia and is being held in the federal dentention center in Alexandria.  His disappearance last summer was a hot topic of conversation at the restaurant as the minority owners scrambled to figure out what to do after he fled the country unannounced.

Since then the name of the restaurant has been changed to the All-American Steakhouse and former Redskin Marvcus Patton has become the majority owner.  Pretty exciting stuff for this little subdivision of Ashburn.

Mr. El-Atari had connections with several local politicians including Scott Simpson, the Loudoun County Sheriff, who took campaign contributions from him.  Also, a past employee of the Original Steakhouse and former girlfriend of El-Atari moved to El Paso Texas last year, the same place that he was arrested.  Rumor has it the authorities had her under surveillance and when he contacted her they set up the operation to capture him when he crossed the border from Mexico.

Check out other information on the Broadlands at my real estate micro website.

Day 9 - March 12, 2007

My appointment from Saturday sent me an email this morning saying that she went to a new home community on Sunday and registered me as her agent.  She wants to go down with me and check out the community and possibly write an offer.  I said that would be great and I also found 3 homes in the Broadlands area of Ashburn that might also fit her criteria.  We made plans to look at those 3 houses this afternoon.

1:30 - 3:00  Showing Property

I usually preview property before I take a client just to make sure we are looking at appropriate homes but I was able to ascertain from the online descriptions and pictures that the three homes would be fine.   All three were the same exact floor plan and it was just a difference in lot and upgrades between the three.  We went back through one property a second time and my client was ready to write an offer.  Problem was she did not have a lender letter and she still has to sell her townhouse. 

3:00 - 4:00  Prepare Offer

I get back to the office and call my lender.  I have my client call my lender.  I have an approval letter within the hour. Having a responsive and reliable lender is invaluable.  I put together a contingent offer on the property.

4:00 - 5:00  Sign offer with Client

We go over our offer to buy the property, paragraph by paragraph.  I have structured it in a way that allows my client 45 days to sell her house.  If she cannot then we are not obligated to buy the house.  If the offer is accepted we will have her house on the market the next day.  I have explained all the aspects of this offer to my client and she has signed the contract. 

5:00  Submit offer to Listing Agent

I have the offer faxed over to the other agent and include the comparables that support the sales price of my clients house.  I am trying to build a case that the likelihood of her house getting a contract is high and therefore would be less risky for the sellers. 

5:30 - 6:00 Listing Paperwork

My appointment from Friday meets me at the office and we go over the listing agreement.  We set a price for his house and he signs all the necessary paperwork.  He will go on the market next Monday.

Sunday March 11, 2207

3:00 to 6:00  Floor Shift

I finally got the condo sold and my client came in to initial off on the final price and terms.  After severals days of negotiations and a couple of heated discussions and emails, I think everybody is happy or in my clients case, relieved. 

A three hours shift and only one phone call.  But I did get 6 email leads. 

The week in review looks like this: 36 hours of prospecting, meeting, negotiating and blogging.  One sold contract, two listings and some potential new clients.  Not a bad week.

Day 7 - March 10, 2007

9:00 - 12:00  Floor Shift

I was greeted this morning with an email from a home inspection that was 27 items long.  This house and its owners have tested all my negotiation and communication skills from the beginning.  The sellers have been on the market 381 day.  That doesn't include 4 months of being under contract with a buyer in late 2005 and early 2006.  That contract fell out because the agent they were using failed to explain the dangers of a lease option in a falling market.  They thought they were going to sell the house for $600,000.  The current contract is for $492,000.  That has been a bitter pill for them to swallow and they have blamed everyone but themselves. 

The current home inspection items come from 18 months of renters and neglect.  I forwarded the list to my client in Colorado and he immediately told me he wasn't fixing anything.  20 of the 27 items are plumbing, heating, air conditioning issues that will have to be fixed unless he wants to sell the house as-is.  As-is will put the value of the home closer to $450,000.  For some reason he doesn't understand that making $2000 worth of repairs is a better option, but given all that he has done it shouldn't surprise me.   I let him vent for about twenty minutes, we go over the list one by one and come to a much more reasonable response to the items.  It takes about 2 hours but it keeps the deal together.

I think my main job is not to sell houses but to keep people from making dumb mistakes and failing to do that, my job becomes trying to keep people from compounding their mistakes with even bigger mistakes.

Negotiations continue with the condo.  I think I have come up with a solution that will save my client about $2000 thereby making the current offer from the buyers only $450 worse for my seller.  By moving the settlement date up three weeks, we save the interest, taxes, insurance, HOA fee, and utilities for 21 days.  This takes about 2 hours and one elaborate spreadsheet to explain to my client.  Thank god for a background in finance.  Even after explaining the net difference is only $450, my client sends me an email that is the ultimate vent.  It has cuss words and various other references to getting the shaft but in the end he finally sees the light.   Maybe we can get that wrapped up tomorrow.

12:30 - 2:00  Listing Appointment

Another appointment with a lady who wants to make lateral move and exchange her three story, one car garage townhouse with a two story, two car garage house.  Her house was very nicely renovated so selling it will not be a problem.  Finding her a house might take some time, if in fact it even exists.

I'm taking the rest of the day off and going for a bike ride. 

Day 6 - Friday March 9, 2007

It seems the agent I am in negotiations with thinks we are bluffing but we are not.  I explained to her that my client doesn't have any more money and he is already going to be writing a check at settlement for more than he has.  She asked me if I could prove it.  I said sure I can prove it.  Don't accept our counter offer and watch us walk away from the deal.  Sure enough, this afternoon she responded to our counter with a request for $2500 more.  I tried to explain to her that we just don't have the money.  Her advice was to get a personal line of credit from the bank for the difference.  I suggested that if her client couldn't pay and additional 37 cents per day for the condo, then maybe he is buying too much house.  She didn't like that.  I'd hate to blow the deal up over $2500 but sometimes it happens.  Fortunately, our market has showed signs of firming up so I think we can get another contract fairly soon if this doesn't work out.

1:30 - 3:00  Previewing

I hate previewing because it is so time consuming.  But because of the complete lack of reliable information online, I have to do it so that I can know what the inventory is like, what condition the houses are in and what the trends are.  This afternoon I went through 12 houses in a section called Belmont Greene.  I have a listing appointment there this afternoon so I want to have a good idea of the comparables.  I sold 5 homes in this area last year but haven't had a good look at the properties here in 3 or 4 months.

3:00 - 4:00  Listing Appointment

I had a very good appointment with a gentleman looking to sell his small single family home.  He home was very clean and he was very organized.  He had type written his questions on a piece of paper and was working down the list asking me each one.  He also had an article titled "Questions to Ask yourAgent".  We went down the list and answered those questions too.  He never asked about the value of the house.  He just wanted to make sure that he used the right agent. 

4:00 - 6:00  Floor Shift

Friday shifts are usually good for getting new clients but this shift was very quiet.  I had to tell one client he has termites and a major plumbing problem.  He wasn't too happy.  I also tried to come up with a way to get this condo sold but right now I think we need to just sleep on it and see if we can find a solution tomorrow. 

Home by 6:05.  I live right down the street.

Day 5 - Thursday March 8, 2007

9:00am

Went to the office early to pick up the contract from last night.  Sure enough it was lower than I expected or hoped.  The agent submitting the contract included comparable sales from similar units however she did not include the last sale because it has not gone to settlement.  Fortunately, I knew one of the agents in that transaction so I made a quick call.  I didn't ask for the sales price but I did ask if it was sold for over a certain amount.  If it did than it will be a comparable that will support our counter offer.  Fortunately it did sell for higher.  I called my client and emailed the contract to him and explained the contract and provided a net sheet showing his costs and how much it was going to cost him to sell the condo.

In this case he was actually going to have to come up with money at closing in order to settle because his condo had not appreciated since he bought it 2 years ago.  So we spent about an hour or so figure out his bottom line and strategizing our counter offer.

10:00 - 12:00 Floor Shift

I spent most of the floor shift working on getting the counter offer back from my client, calling the other agent and briefly explaining our situation and letting her know we would have an answer back this afternoon.  I explained that my client was going to have to come up with cash to settle and that we were working on figuring out how much he could come up with.  At this time she let on that her client's best friend lives across the hall and he had seen 4 other units and he liked this one the best.  I told her about the yet unsettled condo and that it was going to sell for more than the last 4 sales.  The negotiations are my favorite part of selling homes and one area that I believe is overlooked in training and discounted by the public.  But just one slip up or miscalculation can cost a client thousands if not tens of thousands of dollars.

The entire process from getting the offer, to explaining the offer to the client, to preparing the counter offer, to calling the agent and explaining the reasoning behind the counter offer and finally sending the counter offer back took about 4 hours.  This part takes the longest to prepare and explain but if you do it right it makes the rest of the negotiations a lot easier.

Oh, and I also finally got a decent lead on my shift today.  A couple wants to upsize their home in Leesburg.  I sent her out some listings but nothing caught her eye.  I will put her in a saved search file and check the neighborhood every couple of days to see if a new listings that meets her criteria comes on the market.

12:00

I finished working on the counter offer and faxed it over to the selling agent.

3:00

Emails and follow up phone calls to my listing clients and past clients.

6:00 - 7:30

Picked up listing paperwork from a relocation client I met about 3 weeks ago.  I had followed up with them after the appointment and submitted the required paperwork to their relocation company.  The paperwork was mainly a market analysis for their home and our marketing plan for selling it.  I have done probably 20 or 30 relocations in the last 3 years so I know the routine.  My meeting with the sellers took longer than usual because I explained the entire relocation process in detail.  The listing goes on the market next Wednesday.

Wednesday March 8, 2007

I took the morning off.  I never know when I'm going to get a half day to myself so I spent the first half of the day lounging around.  That's one of the good things about being an agent.  You can sit around in your sweats, drink coffee, answer emails and watch some TV right in the middle of a Wednesday. 

I do not let voicemail or email go unanswered so I always check those in the AM.  It is always easier to just answer them immediately instead of letting them pile up.  It takes 5 or 10 minutes 3 times a day to handle any issues that come up.  That way they don't escalate into bigger problems and take up a whole lot of time at the worse possible moment.

4:00 - 6:00 Floor Shift

Another slow floor shift with 2 internet leads coming in.  I followed up with them immediately.  I also got a call from an agent.  Her client is going to submit an offer on one of my listings.  My client has already called twice asking if I heard anything yet from the agent.  He has already bought another townhouse and needs to get his condo sold so he is understandably anxious.  However, this anxiety was almost certainly apparent when he was at his condo while the buyer and the buyer's agent were going through.  If she is a good agent and picked up on this desperation it will most certainly show up in the offering price.  I always tell my clients to never speak to the other agent but for some reason they hardly ever listen.  And then they are disappointed when they see the "low" offer.  We'll see what happens.

Tuesday March 5, 2007 - Day 3

8:30 - 10:00

We have a meeting every Tuesday for the agents and support staff on our team.  For this meeting I prepare a report on sales and listing activity for my farm area.  I also do some basic analysis for the surrounding areas.  It takes me about an hour to pull the various statistics because I do a pretty in depth analysis that gets into things like inventory loads by zip code, weekly, monthly and quarterly trends, variances over prior year months and quarter, median sales prices, days on market, etc.  I do the report so that I can speak intelligently about the market at all times.  I do this because my background is in finance and I used to do these reports for the executives of a company I used to work for.

10:00 to 11:00  Sales Meeting

This week's meeting was not too good.  We usually go over our team statistics for the week but those were not completed.  Our broker usually does that but she has been given too much work lately by the team owner and she couldn't complete the package.  One thing we usually talk about is inventory, more specifically any good deals we have run across while previewing the inventory.  This week was very busy and I don't think much previewing was done.  I usually try and preview 15 to 20 homes per week but I didn't get to that last week. 

11:00 to 12:00  Floor Shift

A very quiet floor shift.  I did get an email regarding tax assessments.  I recently did a post on the tax assessments and offered to help any residents get their assessed values reviewed.  I have gotten 4 clients take me up on the offer.  I did this in place of the typical agent crap like recipes and gardening tips.  I hate that stuff.

12:00 to 3:00  Lunch at home/Emails and Blogging

I had a free afternoon so I caught up by reading blogs, writing a small post about the Inman blog and following up with listing appointments, buyer leads and my current sellers.  I do 90% of my communication online.  I contact everyone with emails and also refer them to the blogs I write.  I feel it is way less intrusive for most of my contacts.  They can get back to me at their convenience or just ignore me.  I got emails from two listing leads that said they are going to list with me.  I set up appointments to pick up paperwork this week.  Keep the pipeline full.

Overall a quiet day, with a couple of good results.

Monday March 5, 2007

9:30am to 11:30 am

I had a home inspection for a first time buyer in Leesburg.  They bought a 12 year old townhouse and it needed some repairs.  I use a very good home inspector.  He is a structural engineer and is very knowledgeable.  I go to all home inpections so that I know what to ask for on the addendum and how to explain the repairs we want made.  Plus it is a good time to talk to the client, see how they feel about the house, find out more about them and hopefully get future business from them and their friends if possible. The home inspection typically takes 1.5 hours for townhouse and 2 to 2.5 for a single family.  No major problems so it went well.

11:30 to 1:00

Mondays are busy because of all the activity that takes place over the weekend.  Clients get antsy regarding showings and call or email me to see if anyone sent in contracts.  I also like to talk to all my listings and if the activity is down or we have been on the market for 3 or 4 weeks without a contract, I want to get a price adjustment so that we don't lose momentum.

1:00 - 2:30

I had a listing appointment last Thursday that needs to go on the market immediately.  It's a divorce situation and I met with the wife and emailed the husband to discuss their options.  He wants it sold as soon as possible.  She is upset that she has to move and it was apparent at the appointment.  Sometimes you need to have a little counseling experience to do this job. 

3:00 - 3:30

I went over the inspection addendum with the client from this and we chose the items we want fixed and the things that were minor enough to overlook.  I faxed it over to the other agent and now we just wait for their reply.  Hopefully they are reasonable.  Reasonableness is the key to getting homes sold.

4:00 - 5:00

I have another listing that will be coming on this week.  It is a relocation and we needed to sumbit a Broker Market Analysis (BMA) to the relo company before we can get the ok to list the house.  I am running a little low on listings (7) so I need to start filling up the pipeline again.  I have several others that are at various stages.  I will contact them regularly to make sure they know what is going on in the market and also so they use me when it comes time to list.

Not a bad day for a Monday.  Time went by fast and I got to leave a little early and go for a run.