Friday should have been a great day. It really should have been. Not just for me but for my client and also for another agent and their client's as well. But it wasn't and here's why. I took a listing for a condo in Ontario, CA in February 2008. It was, is, and remains a Short Sale. And it is getting "shorter" by the minute.
A brief recap for those who don't remember my speaking about this transaction before. (And really, why would you since I started babbling about it when Barack Obama was still just a Senator from Chicago and the Octomom only had six kids.) I listed this home in February 2008, got our first offer in March, '08, the lender got an appraisal that wasn't worth the ink it was printed with let alone the paper it was written on which killed that deal. Then, we got another offer in April '08 which was scuttled by the lender taking 6 months to respond (after bringing the old appraisal up again and making me pay for a new BPO, which I of course did despite the fact that it turned out they had done a BPO of their own but didn't remember it) so we lost 'um.
We next received an offer which really was low at the time (but higher than the current value is now by some $40K) so they didn't respond... We then received another offer identical to the second offer which we again... wait for it... wait for it... Lost because the lender again took to long to respond. Bringing us up to date... err or rather to March '09 when we received our most recent offer.
We should have been good to go here... astonishingly it was the highest valued offer to date and the buyer's said they were in it for the long haul... A slam dunk, right? Well, the lender again took their own sweet time to respond and the value has continued to descend (shocking, I know), in fact it has deflated to the point that when the bank got yet another BPO done it came in at $147,500. And the buyer's appraisal came in at that pricepoint as well.
So, I dutifully submitted the revised HUD 1 and we were off to the races yet again. That was back in May and today we FINALLY got approval for the sale. But, here's the kicker, the approval is for the offer submitted on behalf of a different and long gone buyer ONE YEAR AGO! (And we wonder why we are in the financial mess we are in... but as usual, I digress)
I am pretty much at my wits end and would consider pulling my hair out strand by strand, but I have a whole lot of hair and I don't have that much time so... I got on the phone and called the negotiator to let her know about the little "problem" we were now facing, namely that the payoff amount (which was accurate way back when) was $40,000 over the current market value and it was based upon the WRONG DANGED HUD1!
I know they are busy, I know their desks are piled higher than straw in the story Rumplestiltskin, and I know that they have to serve many masters, but I really don't think it is asking too much to read something like the date on the top of a document now and then. My negotiator couldn't have been nicer (helpfully unhelpful is how I have always described them :-) and she said she was training new people and thought they might be getting the files messed up... Um... Ya think? Geez, I even spoke... personally spoke, to one of her assistants before the offending document was issued and we went over the details of the deal to make sure they had all that they needed. Lot of good that did, I should have just talked to my cat about the deal, it would have been about as useful and a whole lot more fulfilling.
I shall keep you posted as to the outcome here. I tend to believe that Realtor is a synonym for optimist and that is what I am to the core so I still have faith, hope and and undying need to believe that it will all work out in the end. The entire kit and caboodle has been tossed back into the hopper and we are awaiting the result. This should be interesting to say the least...
Take care all, help lots of people and have a wonderful day!
When we first start out in Real Estate, or pretty much any other "sales" type of endeavor for that matter, one of the places we are all told to go forth and mine for business is our "sphere of influence". That loosely translates to your friends, co-workers, family and basically any other poor slob who happens to have had the misfortune of having given you an email address or phone number in the last 10 years. And, most of us do just that, we gleefully set off with our shiny new license (or in my case my folded, spindled and mutilated one courtesy of the U.S. Post Office :-) safely ensconced in our broker;s drawer and we bombarded these folks with email, snail mail and any other contact form we can drum up to "let them know we're in the Real Estate business".
And, while I am fully in support of telling everyone and their pet dog that you are henceforth a bonafide Realtor and are thus ready, willing and able to handle all of their needs both great and small, I also am of the opinion that the very place we are told to plant our garden may be the worst place to hope to be able to harvest the fruit.
Case in point...One of my best friends in all the world is currently in the market to purchase investment properties. She and her hubby have been looking into SFR's, duplexes and triplexes all over the area with some degree of success. I hasten to point out that I still refer to her as one of my best friends and not a client of mine. Why? Because we decided that our relationship with each other was too important to allow the possibility of a business deal interfering with it.
The funny thing is that while she and I are fine with this decision, there are some others around us who appear to be in high dudgeon about it. They have been spitting mad on my behalf, and have said so, about the fact that she and I aren't working together. While I greatly appreciate their loyalty and concern I don't share their ire and here's why...
She knows that she is a very demanding client, a self described "pain in the neck" and I know she is a very demanding client (I would probably say it was a pain a little lower and more to the back :-) and we know that this could be a receipe for disaster. Oh, we've tried to work together in other areas at other times in our lives, but we know where each others "buttons" are and it has been challenging. We've been best friends since we were 13, we are really more family than anything else as a result, while we love each other unconditionally, we don't always bring out the best in each other.
And this is not the only situation that I have encountered where a good personal relationship has not necessarily translated into a good business one. In my other past business ventures I have tried to work with friends and family only to see what started out as a good thing for all concerned disintegrate into something professionally unfulfilling and personally damaging. Friends are friends, family is family and no matter how smart, educated or capable the rest of the world may see you to be, to those in your innermost circle, your value is diminished. And woe be unto you if you happen to tell them about a pitfall in their path, they ignore you and they fall flat on their face.
As I see it, I am bound by a variation of the Hypocratic Oath, the part where it says "First do no harm". I can't sit by and quietly watch while someone puts themselves in harms way, especially if I see the harm and they can't or don't. I wouldn't do it with a client who walked in off of the street any more than I would if I had known them forever.
But the difference seems to be that the client off the street wouldn't necessarily push me the same way that those who are personally closer to me might. And, the folks that meet me in a professional capacity first, tend to be able to see me through their "professional lenses" and as a result, judge the value of my opinion based upon different criteria. Probably because they don't look at me and see their 13 year old cohort or their goofy aunt who gives Barbies to grown women because she didn't know them when they were kids and she wants to make up for lost time.
So, while others may have had great success working with folks who were friends first and with family as well, I for one am grateful and really, truth be told, much more honored to find out that my relationships with the people in my life matter as much to them as they do to me. So much so that none of us would want something as cosmically unimportant as money to ever come between us.
Take care all, help lots of people and have a wonderful day!
I closed another transaction yesterday and I awoke this morning with that Scarlett O'Hara morning after glow about me. After a languid stretch and a considerable amount of humming to myself I sauntered into my living room only to find that my cellphone had already been far busier this A.M. than I had.
Upon checking my voice mail I heard the harried voice of my Escrow officer admonishing me to check my email urgently as there was a document that she claimed my client had neglected to sign and without it they were not going to disperse my funds. I hasten to point out here once again that the transaction was recorded yesterday so we are closed, finito, a done deal, that's all she wrote and ba-de-ba-de-ba-de "That's All Folks". Or it should be.
Popping up with a 13th hour document never before presented to my client or me which is not a lender requirement, escrow instruction, CAR form, or otherwise discussed, let alone negotiated item (and which says right there on the face in big, bold black ink that it is not to be presented prior to the close of escrow so it appears to be designed to be a "surprise"), amounts to strong-arming my client into signing away their rights after the fact, (something they don't want to do), while holding my paycheck over my head in order to use me as the muscle, (which is something I am not willing to do) is not just dirty pool, it is something akin to an attempted contractual rape. But as usual, I digress...
As is the case with every transaction I have had the pleasure to participate in actively, observe passively, or read about objectively, I am reminded time and time again that in a real estate transaction despite every appearance to the contrary, each time is "The First Time" for all the players and after the deed is done, memories are erased and virginity is mystically restored.
Alas, there seems to be an inability for all concerned to peruse any sort of real estate Kama Sutra in order to ensure that we all wind up satisfied and happy and that no one ends up getting an elbow in the eye. Must we all really behave each and every time we are confronted with the opportunity to shepherd a client from contract to close as though this is the very first time we've ever "done it"?
Yes, I am aware that each client is different, and yes, I like to spice things up now and then too, but in real estate, much like other pursuits in life, there comes a point where you realize that there are only so many Slot "A's" your Tab "B" can go into before you begin to repeat yourself and things become at least vaguely familiar, somewhat smoother and a whole lot less painful. Or they should.
We all know what the minimum necessary elements for the successful consummation of a deal are. And some of us (escrow officers, title companies, lender's, etc.) have been involved hundred's, if not thousands of transactions which you would expect would render them "pros". And yet, each and every time we get into bed with each other we flail and fumble like Victorian maidens on our wedding night.
It is not too much to ask that when we are working, instead of behaving like blushing brides we comport ourselves instead like old lovers. Taking pleasure in the familiarity of the act, seeking comfort in its sameness and enjoying the surprises, but always making sure that our partners are able to be confident that we have been down this path before, will get them there safely and will do our level best to keep elbows from meeting eyelids.
Take care all, help lots of people and have a wonderful day!
I am currently sitting in my living room spitting nails and stewing in my own juices. Why you may ask? Well, I'll tell you... I have been working a short sale listing for almost 1 year (yes, you read that right... almost 1 year). I have shown the lender's enough facts and figures to choke a whole herd of elephants... I have begged, pleaded, cajoled, promised, wheedled and even threatened them to try to keep reality in the picture and this deal alive to help my client. I was even on the phone (though I was barely able to speak because of laryngitis) starting at 3 AM on Christmas eve and calling every 10 minutes until I fortunately reached my negotiator to try to postpone the foreclosure and auction of my client's property scheduled to occur at 9 AM on December 26! But today, today capped everything!
Now before I fully launch into my tirade, I want it to be known that the focus of my consternation today is not the lender's (I'll save them for another day very soon when I can do it justice.). No, unfortunately, today the focus of my wrath are the members of my very own profession. My fellow licensees. Not all of my compatriots, merely those Jack's (and Jill's)-Of-All-Trades who truly are masters of none.
Those less than even part-time dilettantes who have a license but no knowledge, training or skill to back it up. Those folks who not only don't truly understand how to write a contract they barely understand how to read one (And who, in most cases have never and I mean NEVER read so much as the full first page of the RPA let alone the full contract.).
I am sick and tired of having my client's victimized by their lack of learning. I am also getting pretty darn tired of having to teach folks who have been licensed since before Mary and Joe mortgaged the manger how to do their job.
I have come to the decision that while there are a talented few who truly can juggle the demands of all of the continuing education necessary to keep up with this ever-changing field of endeavor whilst maintaining additional jobs that run the gamut from the mundane to the mind-blowing, they truly are the exception, not the rule.
Take for example the folks who are Mortgage Broker's first and also represent buying or in some cases listing clients as Real Estate Agents. While they may indeed be legally qualified to serve both masters, I would venture to say that in most cases "Just because you can, doesn't mean you should". They may very well be God's Gift to mortgages but with the volatile nature of that industry just keeping up with the Dow's and the Jones' is a feat all unto itself. To really do it justice, they need to practically eat, sleep and breath lending. So, in order to service their present client's, stay current on the ever-changing market's in's and out's and prospect for new business they sure as heck don't have time to learn much about mine.
When the market was ascending at the break-neck pace of days past, this was still a concern, but in most cases the damage they could inflict was much more limited in scope. Predominately afflicting the folks whose interest they were ostensibly representing. Their lack of skill coupled with their lack of comprehensive training in the potential minefield that real estate sales and purchases can present would in most cases potentially harm their client's a whole lot more than mine.
Not knowing the contracts like the proverbial back of their hand, not being cognizant of the time-lines inherent in a successful transaction and not having ever bothered to clap eyes on any part of the contract beyond where their client's were being asked to sign could mean their folks at best missed something minor and at worst got royally shafted by folks who do know how the game is played and play to win.
But times have changed and the stakes that once were simply high are now stratospheric. Their lack of skill, once merely a irritation to my client has now become a potentially fatal blow and I for one am sick of it. I'll be the first one to concede that this ain't brain surgery here folks (and it's a darn good thing too because if it were their survival rate would be abysmal) but that doesn't mean that the repercussions are harmless. With a flick of their pen and a toss of their hair they can wound their client and practically kill mine.
And what makes me angry to the point sputtering and tears is that their bumbling about in an area in which their choice to fore-go pursuing and acquiring the knowledge, training and skill I know first hand to be critical in the performance of my job means that in some cases what they break, I can't fix.
Now I know times are hard and folks who were once riding high are now scrambling just to stay afloat. But spreading yourself too thin and fragging your focus does no one any good. And if you really want to dominate your field and give yourself and your clients the very best chance of success its time to take your cue from the folks who are tops in theirs. Yo Yo Ma isn't taking time away from rehearsal to work at Guitar Center. Peyton Manning doesn't try to throw the ball to himself and Barry Bonds wasn't stepping off the plate during the game to selling peanuts in the stands for a couple extra bucks. These folks are all wholly dedicated to the single minded pursuit and mastery of one area of one field, and I am quite sure that they would agree that a major reason for their continued success is that laser-like focus.
They are all totally in their game, every minute of every day and we who choose to be members of the real estate profession should be as well.
Take care all, help lots of people and have a wonderful day!
In case you didn't notice, its been rather quiet here on the Claremont front and I am quite certain that some folks thought I dropped off the face of the earth. I am equally certain that there are a few folks out there who hoped that was the case... To the first group I say "I didn't" and to the second group I say "I'm sorry" :-)
So here's what's been going on part of the time and some of what has kept me quiet... It all started way back in October when the C.A.R. (California Association of Realtor's) convention came to town. I headed off to the first event of the convention - Tech Tuesday to continue stuffing my head with tantalizing technical tidbits.
(A side note here, this was a very well organized event but I have to tell you that I probably won't attend Tech Tuesday again. Predominatly because while it gave a great beginner's overview of what is going on in the world of RE tech, I didn't find any classes that were geared toward taking a tech savvy agent to the next level. I took one class on photography which was touted as a session on how to get the most out of your Flip Video camera only to find that although the instructor was very knowlegable about photography in general and definately had a good grasp of lighting, he didn't know the first thing about the Flip camera. I actually wound up answering almost all of the Flip questions and I am by no means an expert. Incidentally, this wasn't the photographer's fault, he had the Flip thing sprung on him at the last possible minute and freely admited that it was not his mileu.)
After the training classes ended the cocktail reception and opening of the showroom began. As we all know, I am a confirmed swag scavenger and view a convention showroom with a level of lust and avarice other women reserve for George Clooney, Brad Pitt or Chocolate. In short, I couldn't wait to hit the floor and hit it I did!
After gathering all the goodies my little bag could hold the first raffle of the event was slated to take place. I dropped my business card into the mix and urged my friend Diana to do the same. Unfortunately, she was bang out of cards and insisting that it didn't matter to her but it sure did to me so I made one for her and then we waited anxiously to see who would win the prizes. They were giving away 6 Flip Video cameras (ironic, huh?) and I really wanted Diana to win one. Having won my own at Inman Connect in San Francisco (Thank you again Zipvo), I had told her that should I win another (yeah, like THAT would happen, right?) I would give it to her.
Well, they started pulling cards and wouldn't you know it out came my card and one other but with a flick of the finger my card sank back to the depths and low and behold the one I made for Diana rose to the top! How cool was that? I was thrilled for her!
The next day I again attended the convention and my lucky streak continued. I entered the drawing for the Toshiba Laptop and was shocked to hear my name called as one of the lucky winners. I hear tell that my patented "happy dance" was quite something to behold (btw, if anyone has any pics or video from either days events I would love to get a gander at it). Now, however I had a problem. I had told everyone who would listen that I wanted to win the Laptop not for me but for my wonderful hubby Mel who really wanted a Laptop of his very own. Now I had won the thing for him, was bursting to tell him, and was threatend under mock pain of death to not tell Mel about my good fortune and to hang on to the thing until December (his birthday is 9 days before Christmas).
Where's the problem you ask? Well, I'll tell ya... My Mel subscibes to my blogs and I realized as I came down off of my raffle induced high that I not only couldn't tell him what had happened, I couldn't write anything anywhere for fear that someone would inadvertantly tip him off in a well intentioned comment so silence ensued.
Then, to further enforce my silence, the following day I was extremely fortunate to win a Wii (Which I gave to Diana since she had told me that she really wanted one and I only entered the raffle to try to win it for her... really!) and to round off the day nicely I won a 32G Ipod Touch (a really cool toy but more about that another time) which was actually the only thing I had truly wanted to win for me.
I have to tell you that I was half expecting to be rolled in the parking lot by a group of disgruntled agents bent on evening the odds.
So, I kept my mouth and fingers silent. The holidays finally arrived... I was busier than all get out making personal appearances (as either my clown character "Ellie" or my esteemed balloon artist self) at The Americana, The Grove and various other locations for holiday events. Incidentally, My Mel was shocked beyond belief and THRILLED with his shiny new toy and I was preparing to share my story and start running off at the fingers yet again despite getting that nasty cold that seems to be making the rounds, when I was hit with what can only be described as a double whammy.
My beautiful cat Oliver who I raised by hand from infancy (he and his brothers and sister were between 5 and 8 days old when I got them, I kept two and the other two were adopted) took ill and unexpectedly but peacefully passed away on January 2nd. He is survived by his brother Simon who, please God, remains hale and hearty despite his approaching 15th birthday, "The Monster" his sometime companion and frequent nemesis and his bereft family.
And, to compound the sorrow, my dear friend Jodie's father after a three month illness, protracted hospitalization and ultimate return home for hospice care joined my "Boo" in death the following morning.
Roger was a kind, loving, funny, sardonic, sarcastic, smart and very special son, husband, father and grandfather whose absence will be missed by all who knew him.
Both our families do take comfort in knowing that while we miss them terribly and I am quite sure they miss us as well, hopefully they have found each other and can share with each other on some other plane the companionship, comfort and loving touch we can no longer share with them.
So, that pretty much knocked me for a loop and it was only today that I was finally ready to put fingers to keyboard once again and rejoin my community of colleagues and friends.
Well, now you know where I've been and why things have been so quiet 'round these parts. I hope things have all been well for everyone, am glad to be back.
Take care all, help lots of people and have a wonderful day!
One of the first acronyms I learned within days, practically within hours of entering the Blogging arena was SEO. Search Engine Optimization was said (or rather typed) with a respect bordering upon reverence. Having your presence in the Internet being noticed and noted by Google, Yahoo et al was considered the be-all and end-all of everything. Well, today I learned why that may not be such a good thing...
I got a phone call from a very nice lady in another state who had found me on the Internet when she did a search looking for help with a Short Sale. As we talked and she laid her story before me I felt worse and worse for her. She is in what my mom used to call a "Mell of a Hess", two different properties in two different states and both are in jeopardy. They are rapidly depleting their retirement account to keep up with the mortgages and are going under with lightening speed.
To add additional pathos to the party, she told me that she had spoken with a "Loss Mitigation Negotiator" who told her that his company would be able to almost guarantee that they could help her with both properties, at no cost to her (unless the bank did not approve the deal which "almost never happens"). He also told her that she would have to sign "a couple of pieces of paper" to have them get started helping her right away, a Release to Convey Information and a Limited Power of Attorney. He is not a Real Estate Agent, but he would refer her to one (whose license is due to expire at the end of September by the way) to handle the sale.
I told her I understood about the Release to Convey as anyone will need that in order to negotiate on her behalf, and in fact I had told her when I was explaining generally how the Short Sale process works, that this would be one of the documents among many that she would need to fill out. But, I asked her, why do they need Power of Attorney?
She read me the letter that they sent her which said that although the document is not mandatory, not signing it would significantly delay her transaction and that they needed it so that they could "sign things for her to keep the deal moving smoothly". I asked her if she had a computer, a printer and access to either a fax machine, a scanner or a Kinkos. Yes, she has all of the above, she said. "Then why do you need someone else to have that level of authority? There is nothing that could come up in a typical Short Sale that requires almost instantaneous response.
Well, she said that the man she spoke with was very nice (shocking, huh?) and that one of the things that attracted her to them was that they advertised that they could prevent Foreclosure and protect her credit. Yes, I told her, I am sure he is a nice guy, and what they are saying is technically true (and the same thing that any Realtor who accomplishes a Short Sale does as well), a Short Sale, if successfully completed does prevent Foreclosure and "protects" her credit in that the Foreclosure would be a huge black mark and the Short Sale would only be a really dark grey one.
She needs help and I can't help her and yet Google told her I was the best person for the job. And it hurts me that I can't. I got into this business to make money, yes, but even more important to me than that, I got into it to help people. That really matters to me more than the money ever could.
I have spent the better part of the afternoon trying to track down some folks who work in the areas her homes are in (near Tucson AZ and Leesburg VA) who are experienced Short Sale specialists. If any of you are, are know someone who is, please send me their contact info ASAP.
So, I have decided that SEO ain't all its cracked up to be. Sure it helps raise you head and shoulders above the crowd, and most of the time that is a wonderful thing. But, sometimes it can put you (or at least part of you, the feeling, human part) in harms way.
Take care all, help lots of people and have a wonderful day!
Don'cha hate this, you get a call from a client wanting to see a home (well I don't hate that part :-). Naturally, the home they most want to see is the one that is listed as "appointment only, no key safe", so I dutifully called the listing agent at all 4 given numbers (by the way, as of now, 10:08 PM, the following day, I have yet to receive a call back) and left messages asking to view the home.
The property is a Short Sale and has been on the market for 230 days... so far. Well, no wonder, no key safe, appointment only, no sign, no response... So I started ranting to my poor hubby (who is usually the patient audience for my Oscar worthy performances), What the heck is wrong with this agent? Do they really want to sell this house or do they just want to list it? And then it hit me - that was exactly what they wanted to do, and they were not alone, there are dozens if not hundreds of agents like them... "Listing" Agents.
Please don't misunderstand, I am not talking about the responsible, highly skilled agents who choose to specialize in working with the owners of the property and who do everything in their power to service their clients and sell the home. I am talking about "Listing" Agents - folks who will take any and every listing they can get their grubby little paws on no matter what they have to do, offer or agree to in order to get them.
They will take a Short Sale without investigating whether or not its a doable deal. And then despite the time critical nature of this transaction, they will agree to not use a keysafe and show the home by appointment only (but are unavailable when anyone tries to make an appointment). They will put the listing on the MLS with no photo (sometimes for months despite possible penalties) or with a picture of the exterior only, taken from the next county. They have never heard of flyers. They will advertise the home as "drive by only". And, of course, they don't have a cell phone and even if they do, they never, and I mean NEVER answer their calls.
Of course they don't discriminate, they give all their clients the same level of "service".
All they are interested in is getting the listing - not selling the home, or helping the people, just getting the listing. And get them they do. But sell them they don't. A search of the MLS will show that quite plainly. Fortunately, I don't count myself among them. I consider myself a Selling Agent.
Sure, I am as excited as the next girl when I am given the opportunity to help someone sell their home. And I am equally excited when I am given the opportunity to help someone buy one. But I think the key motivation for me is being given the chance to help someone. Its not the "deal" that drives me, its the people.
And so, much like Glinda asked Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, I shall paraphrase and ask you - "Are you "listing" Agent or a Selling Agent?
Take care all, help lots of people and have a wonderful day!
I entitled this post "Welcome To The 20th Century" for a reason, its because I can't believe how many agents I run across who are still firmly mired in the functional equivalent of the 19th, the fax machine.
Come on folks, fax machines were cutting edge technology and truly have revolutionized how business is done. But don't you think it might be time to step up to the newer, better, faster, cheaper and easier to read .pdf? Everyone has (or darn well should have) an email address. And, everyone has (or, again darn well should have) a computer and a printer. Of course if you don't have computer then I really am wondering how you are reading this, and if you don't have a printer to go with it, how do you print off your coupons for Borders?
I just recently submitted an offer for a hotly contested REO (aren't they all) and because the agent only offered a fax number I had to send it that way. Now, I have been known to drive my offers to an agents office, but as seems to be the way of the world nowadays, this is a seriously out of area agent and I wanted to get my client's offer in theoretically faster.
I say "theoretically" because, despite my burning the midnight (OK it was more like the 10:45 PM, so sue me :-) oil, and despite my sending all 32 pages (none of that "just send the 8 page contract" bunk for me, you may not want to see them all, but by gosh I'm going to send them, because our contract here in California hasn't been only 8 pages for decades) and waiting around to receive my confirmation that all went through, on my end with nary an error, I came to find out that the listing agent "never received it".
Well, it darn tootin' went through and it turned out that they got "part of something that looked like an offer" but they didn't know what it was for or who it was from so they just threw it away. It sure is a shame that WinForms doesn't put footers on the contracts that we print out which have the originating agents info on them... Oh, wait... they do... oops, my bad :-).
The upshot of it all was that instead of getting my client's offer in first and having it taking pride of place in the beginning of the que, we were dead last to have our info arrive. By the time they finally got the offer they had already sent the "first" group off to the bank.
On the other side of the coin, I have received offers on my own listings from agents who "don't use email and don't have a scanner" that were blotchy to the point of resembling a Rorschach test. Now, seriously, how am I supposed to present an offer to my client when I can't read the boiler plate let alone the amount and the terms. And don't even get me started on the folks who are still using the triplicate forms - what the heck's that about anyway?
Not only is sending and receiving information via email easy to do, it truly doesn't require any equipment that an agent or brokerage working in today's market shouldn't already possess. All in one printers are easy to use, easy to find and downright cheap. And email is free.
If you are worried about receiving spam in your personal email, I have a quick and easy fix for that one, don't use your personal email. Set up a business account and only use that address for business related correspondence. Yes, you will still get the occasional offer to help some poor Prince in Nigeria steal some dead guy's money before his corrupt government steals it first, but the "delete" button is easy to use and downright cathartic. If only all problems could be dealt with so swiftly!
Please folks, when you think of .PDF try thinking of it as "Please Don't Fax". Embrace the 20th Century, there's a whole lot of good stuff here (Be sure to check out the little glass fronted boxes with pretty pictures inside - we call them "TV's"), and when you're ready, take the leap into the 21st. Trust me, the water's fine.
Take care all, help lots of people and have a wonderful day!
So, after spending time filling my brain with technology tidbits I took a little cruise down to Pier 39, the famous Fisherman's Wharf to inhale the sea air, crack a crab and gaze in fixated fascination at Alcatraz, when I came upon some Sea Lions who appeared to be there to do the self same thing (imagine that !).
After watching these little and not so little guys and gals basking in the sun I realized that right there, before my very eyes was a vivid demonstration of the Real Estate Market.
As I stood there staring, I wished I could share my findings with everyone and then I realized - holy smoke... I can!
As the proud possessor of a brand new Flip Video Camerawhich I had won just the night before from the wonderful folks at Zipvo and by using the awesome GPS system I won from my friends at Street Advisor (I know, I am the luckiest girl in the whole wide world and winning things is only part of it, I also happen to have the most wonderful hubby ever, two of the greatest Stepsons around, the most beautiful daughter-in-law anyone could have asked for and a granddaughter who would knock your socks off... but I digress) to get me there I was ready to document this "happening". I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!
Take care all, help lots of people and have a wonderful day!
Well, we are well past the original deadline for submissions for the contest that Renae Bolton started and I for one have been sitting on pins and needles wondering who won... the contest that is. We have all won because of it.
I must admit that some of the ideas shared were indeed a breath of fresh air and just participating got my little juices flowing. I am looking forward to seeing the results.
Although how someone could ever judge all these terrific ideas against each other I'll never know. I am just glad I don't have to do it.
Disclaimer: ActiveRain Corp. does not necessarily endorse the real estate agents, loan officers and brokers listed on this site. These real estate profiles, blogs and blog entries are provided here as a courtesy to our visitors to help them make an informed decision when buying or selling a house. ActiveRain Corp. takes no responsibility for the content in these profiles, that are written by the members of this community.
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