I appreciate neighbors, they know everything!

I have a secret weapon.  I don't pay a fee, I don't have to put gas in it or feed it.  All I have to do is be nice and start a friendly conversation.

My initial conversation can be about almost anything.....then I ask key questions that lead to my real motive.

I use neighbors to fill in blanks when I am a buyer representative.  It is common knowledge that every neighborhood has Miss or Mr busybody.  They know times and days of neighbors comings and goings.  They know repairs like roofs, air conditioning trucks, furnaces, cable even how often the dog is groomed if the neighbor uses a mobile service.  They can tell you if the plumber has fixed the drain field, sprinklers don't work and much more.

  The local neighborhood busybody is a wealth of information.  When you ask the right questions and "just listen" you can learn way more than you want to know at times.  Recently I found out that the wife of a sellers was having an affair according to the neighbor.  Not information that I needed to know or wanted unless a divorce was the reason for the sale.  That could be helpful if one did not want to other to get any proceeds...then my buyer would win big!

                                                                                                                                      Neighbors know everything, some useful and some information is a waste breath and time.  Some is informational only and some might not be repeatable.  I found that a seller said he had hired a contractor to do many of the repairs that were requested.  Only to find out from a neighbor that he had his brother-in-law write up a receipt while he did patch work type repairs instead of the having a professional do the work.  He did a great cover job....but never made the repairs he claimed to have made.  When we had the suspect areas reinspected and I mentioned that paint may only be a cover for the dry rot....the inspector found that to be true.  We wrote an addendum reducing the price and the buyer would have his own contractor do the repairs!  The seller was furious, but agreed when I mentioned to his agent that fraud was a felony...so the seller could decide which way he would like to take the issue.

So have you used the secret weapon to help your buyer in negotiations?  Neighbors can supply you with all types of information, it must be evaluated and used with common sense and good judgement.

    Have neighbors filled in some blanks on properties for you?