Special offer

When Roaches are a Bad Sign.

By
Real Estate Broker/Owner with Homes By Cross, Inc.

It's a vacant Charlotte home. Your buyers are looking for signals about the house.

Ok. There are some great Charlotte vacant homes! Ready to move in immediately!

The Buyers are psyched from the exterior view. And then You walk in and....Dead Roach

There are a couple dead roaches with their feet in the air. ....and then you know the upcoming question.

"Does this house have a roach problem?"

You want to say "Nope, these are the only ones that got in. Dead as a doorknob. Problem solved "

But you have to say, "I Don't know"

First impressions are important. So my point (and I have listings, too) , If you have a vacant listing and you want to sell it, drop by occasionally, to make sure you don't have a dead critter problem. And it's not just critters. It's 44 pizza flyer's, phone-books, mail, and a host of eyesores that take away from the property.

I know it's the Holidays or you are just a busy person. Human contact on a property makes a difference..  

I have have found some vacant homes that have all the signs of a caring listing agent being absent too long. You can tell it the moment you walk in the door. A little oversight can go a long way in selling a house.

As for my roach-a-phobic clients...

Visions of living in a roach motel was more than they could handle.

( Too bad, it was really a fine property. )

Signature

Comments(19)

Mike Jaquish
Realty Arts - Cary, NC
919-880-2769 Cary, NC, Real Estate

Claude,

I love the title, "When Roaches are a Bad Sign."

I was waiting and waiting for your assessment of "When Roaches are a Good Sign."

Dec 29, 2009 10:12 AM
Claude Cross
Homes By Cross, Inc. - Charlotte, NC
Charlotte NC Homes For Sale

Mike - So you have seen the fruits of our labor? Cheers :)

Dec 29, 2009 10:18 AM
Marney Kirk
Cummings & Co. Realtors - Towson, MD
Towson, Maryland Real Estate

Claude, I was with Mike, was wondering when they were NOT a bad sign! :-) You are so right though about the pizza delivery tags etc too. I had a vacant one that I would go over with my dustbuster to pick up the dead bugs -- it just happens in vacant houses!!! :-)

Dec 29, 2009 10:58 AM
Claude Cross
Homes By Cross, Inc. - Charlotte, NC
Charlotte NC Homes For Sale

Marney - Sorry not to fill the story line. Just frustrated on vacant homes where absence makes the heart grow weaker....or something like that

Dec 29, 2009 11:08 AM
James Bath
Gulf Shores Realty - Venice, FL
REALTOR® , AHWD® , SRES® ,e-PRO®

Roaches are only a good sign in the many Insect Zoos that have sprung up around the Country in the past 25 years.  Aren't those Hissing Roaches great!  They are from Madagascar and about 3" long, with a real Hiss when aroused!

Yes, I am an Entomologist in Real Estate retirement after 22 years researching and administering at Michigan State U.  Just Call Me "Bugman"  I hate pesticides and big shoes, get it?  JIM

Dec 29, 2009 11:08 AM
Claude Cross
Homes By Cross, Inc. - Charlotte, NC
Charlotte NC Homes For Sale

James - Outside of trying to sell a home, I find the resilient Roach a reminder that we will either evolve or not survive. With your 22 years of Entomology, and now with a Realtor twist, I would be pleased to have your show a listing of mine with a couple of croaked bugs. It would be a slam dunk. I would never hiss your contract (unless it smelled), but, I would close with Cheers. Happy New Year.

Dec 29, 2009 11:22 AM
William Feela
WHISPERING PINES REALTY - North Branch, MN
Realtor, Whispering Pines Realty 651-674-5999 No.

Claude...I try and stop by all the vacant listing once a week if no one has been in them.  I spend 10 min. checking things out and I have a snall battery power vacumm to pick up all dead bugs and misc. things.

Dec 29, 2009 11:44 AM
Claude Cross
Homes By Cross, Inc. - Charlotte, NC
Charlotte NC Homes For Sale

Bill - I want to show your homes.  The dustbuster is a powerful weapon  in vacant homes. Cheers

Dec 29, 2009 12:13 PM
Rick Turner
Key Realty - Toledo, OH
Puts People In Their Places!!

Wow, I should have asked for a dustbuster for Christmas!  I have a listing right now with those son of a guns with there legs pointed to the ceiling!!!

Dec 30, 2009 12:29 AM
Mary Douglas
United Country Ponderosa Realty, Red Feather Lakes, Colorado - Red Feather Lakes, CO
REALTOR, Red Feather Lakes, Colorado

Claude, this is a real problem.  We don't have roaches, but there was a vacant home I took some buyers to that must have had 200 dead flies on the carpet by the windows --- oh right by the front door, so they were the first things we saw.  Needless to say, they didn't buy that house either!

Dec 30, 2009 10:08 AM
Claude Cross
Homes By Cross, Inc. - Charlotte, NC
Charlotte NC Homes For Sale

Rick - Sometimes this business is as uncomplicated as a simple dust-buster. Cheers and Happy New Year

Dec 30, 2009 10:14 AM
Claude Cross
Homes By Cross, Inc. - Charlotte, NC
Charlotte NC Homes For Sale

Mary - Common sense and dilligence always shines. Why absent listing agents are ....absent from viewing their properties for sale for a long period of time.... Shines a bad light

Dec 30, 2009 10:23 AM
Al & Peggy Cunningham, Brokers
RE/MAX West Realty Inc., Brokerage - Brampton, ON
Our Family Wants To Help Your Family!

Oh Claude gross, have to admit would feel the same as your clients, but you are right, maybe if the listing agent had done their job, they would be doing an offer with you!

Dec 30, 2009 01:19 PM
Claude Cross
Homes By Cross, Inc. - Charlotte, NC
Charlotte NC Homes For Sale

cHA cHING ! Similar latitudes

Dec 30, 2009 01:24 PM
Renée Donohue~Home Photography
Savvy Home Pix - Allegan, MI
Western Michigan Real Estate Photographer

I was on the short sale buy side of a transaction and the roaches were so thick that I needed to shower every time I went into that house!  We use an "organic" roach killer (coffee grounds in a glass jar).  They can enter but they cannot exit.  Roaches are bad and thick here!

Dec 31, 2009 03:45 AM
Jane Peters
Home Jane Realty - Los Angeles, CA
Los Angeles real estate concierge services

Yes maintenance of empty homes is most important, especially to make sure that a homeless person doesn't find his way in.  My experience once.  Happy New Year, Claude.

Dec 31, 2009 04:59 AM
Claude Cross
Homes By Cross, Inc. - Charlotte, NC
Charlotte NC Homes For Sale

Renee - It's the thick ones that you trip over. Happy New Year !

Dec 31, 2009 10:20 AM
Claude Cross
Homes By Cross, Inc. - Charlotte, NC
Charlotte NC Homes For Sale

Jane - May the credit worthy homeless find all my properties for sale. We aim to please, Happy New Year

Dec 31, 2009 10:23 AM
JL Boney, III
Coldwell Banker - Columbia, SC
Columbia, SC Real Estate

It's so important to keep a close eye on vacant listings and one roach usually means there are more.

Jan 01, 2010 11:25 AM