real estate: Search the MLS? Not on a Triangle REALTOR's® Website!
- 10/12/09 03:16 PM
I got hooked up with IDX Broker last spring and went live with their great Triangle Real Estate IDX solution in April. In celebration, I added IDX links to all my Neighborhoods blogs. On my site, on AR, on Trulia. Lots of work, but kind of cool. And I did not notice a rule change that took effect on May 20, 2009, as per this edited selection from the TMLS Summer, 2009, Newsletter: "Does Your Website Offer to Let Consumers "Search the MLS"? (Hint: Mine USED to...) A rule regarding the use of terms "MLS" and "Multiple Listing Service" was added to the Triangle … (10 comments)
real estate: Listing Agents: Get over "Feedback Frenzy." Do your job. Consult, and Sell Houses!
- 10/12/09 01:14 PM
Last week I told prospective listing clients that the only feedback worth a bucket of spit is an offer. They agreed with me. That is what they hired me for. To bring them an OFFER, and negotiate it into a CONTRACT. So we can get to CLOSING. Nowhere in the listing agreement does it say I will maintain a library of feedback. Since they hired ME to tell them about their property, the niceties from someone who has no skin in the game should be suspect or not worried about. And if another agent's input has more value or credibility than mine? They probably hired … (18 comments)
real estate: "Make" the Market? Or Serve in the Marketplace?
- 09/30/09 12:57 AM
The frenzy I see at the looming expiration of the $8,000 1st time Buyers' Tax Credit has me revisiting some thoughts I have had for a few years. While the Cary/Raleigh area has fared better than many other market areas, we are not immune to the forces affecting the real estate industry. As a real estate broker, what is my role in the scheme of things? Should I toil away creating demand for housing among those who barely can afford to buy? Should I work to convince folks to climb out on a limb, to risk everything to stretch to buy a home so I can … (2 comments)
real estate: You don't have to be an Einstein to blog on ActiveRain.
- 09/28/09 01:53 AM
There you have it. It is helpful on a Real Estate-oriented site if you have some insight, interest, involvement, investment, or some other "in" in real estate. But... You truly don't have to be an Einstein to participate on AR. Everyone has a story to tell. Tell yours. In your own words, pictures, video, and your comments on others' stories. Recap: 1. Be yourself. You will always fail miserably trying to be someone else. 2. Have fun. Sheesh. Make sure you have enough fiber in your diet... 3. Tell a story. About a great neighborhood, a funny at a showing, your … (14 comments)
real estate: "My Broker Won't Let Me..." Oh, Grow a Backbone!
- 09/24/09 03:30 PM
The opposite of a third-party confirmation is the "Blame a third party" mentality. When I hear an agent say "My Broker won't let me..." to anyone, it grates on my nerves... When I hear an agent say it to a consumer, I want to shake them and bellow, "FOR CRYING OUT LOUD! GO TO SCHOOL! OR, GROW A BACKBONE!" It's an obvious sign of professional weakness, I think. Probably that one PHRASE is sufficient grounds for a smart consumer to fire their agent. The agent apparently has no foundation in the fundamentals of conducting business. You need to be knowledgeable and capable of clearly explaining the issue, and the … (4 comments)
real estate: "If only the market would bottom out!" Well, what do you call a "bottom?"
- 09/23/09 06:43 AM
It seems that some people prefer to think of the "market" as a swimming pool, complete with striped lanes, a smooth and predictable bottom, clean water, and steps and ladders for convenience. Maybe even lifeguards. We currently see a lot of desire in the market for significant lifeguarding.
Come in! The water is fine. You can see the bottom! I think the swimming pool concept of a market bottom is a dream. Completely detached from reality. So Bernanke says the recession is over. And some folks think he is wrong because no one called them to return to work Monday. Well, Bernanke's impression and … (6 comments)
real estate: "Customer Service" vs. "Customer Satisfaction" vs. "Customer Appeasement"
- 09/13/09 10:36 PM
I was getting coffee at the local Harris Teeter today when I heard the call from the register, "Customer Satisfaction to 8." For a do-over on the register. The Keeper of the Key had to stop by for about 4 seconds. How was that customer dis-satisfied? I wonder. It is a commonly heard page in retail venues. And when it goes over the PA system, it sounds like someone is making a demand that they must be satisfied. My favorite was the day I asked a question at a KMart register on a price. The cashier called the manager over, and they discovered … (5 comments)
real estate: Cary, NC: Normandie offers fine traditional homes in a great location
- 09/03/09 11:21 PM
Normandie is a neighborhood of fine traditional custom homes, built by several well-known local custom builders in the 1990's. View Larger Map Located between Lake Pine Drive and MacGregor West, Normandie residents enjoy superb access to shopping, Apex Community Park, employment centers, NC State University and downtown Raleigh, NC.
Recent home sales in Normandie have ranged between $450,000 to over $500,000.
Click here to view currently available homes in Normandie.
Homeowners Association dues are approximately $300.00 yearly and are used to support maintenance of common areas, and administration of the HOA. … (1 comments)
Sherwood Greens in Cary, NC, is off Davis Drive, located between Park Village and Stonecrest.
Sherwood Greens was developed and built out by Pulte Homes in 2000--2001. The popular open floor plans and large room sizes promoted fast sales of the homes in the neighborhood.
Click here to view currently available homes in Sherwood Greens. Homeowners Association dues are approximately $32.00 monthly and are used to support maintenance of common areas, the community pool, and administration of the HOA.
Schools are managed at the county level, including school assignments. Click here to … (4 comments)
real estate: RE Barcamp Is Coming to Raleigh! #REBCRDU
- 07/30/09 07:44 AM
Well, Eleanor! This is one post that just BEGS to be reBlogged! I'm pumped! Stoked! Fired up! Excited! Engaged! Hopeful! Enamored! Elevated! And generally pleased at the work that you and Pamela St Peter have done already! Good job, getting out of the gate! See you next Tuesday. Signed, Duct Tape Sponsor Mike
Barcamp is coming to Raleigh! Not sure what that is? go to http://www.rebarcamp.com Wanna help? First Planning Meeting July 28, 2009 2:00pm to 3:00pm Cary's Barnes and Noble (directions here) Goals for this first planning meeting include: We expect to determine exactly when the "unconference" will … (4 comments)
real estate: Vacant land in Cary, NC? Sure! We have lots, land, and lots of land! Search by Zip Code
- 06/02/09 02:46 PM
In a booming town like Cary, NC, large builders have full-time staff seeking land opportunities. And smaller builders may spend as much time looking for land as they do building homes. Land is in Demand! Now just be a great time to snatch yourself a prime building site, or a commercial parcel. A little softness in the real estate market has taken some of the emphasis away from sourcing land, and re-focused efforts on selling what they already have. There are infill opportunities, luxury golf course lots, and various commercial sites, and some of the values are compelling compared to past pricing … (0 comments)
real estate: I do not know John Wall. But the internet sure makes it a small world, in a roundabout way...
- 05/05/09 02:53 PM
Nope. I don't know John Wall, but I know of his basketball skills and of the bright future he holds in his hands. I know he has found the basketball spotlight in Raleigh, NC, and in prep basketball and in the college hoops recruiting worlds. There is even speculation that he should jump directly to the NBA. He says he wants "the College Experience." I hope that includes a degree. John Wall is 18, 6-4, about 175 pounds. Quite a few years ago, I was 18, actually nearly 6-5, and about 175 pounds. There the resemblence ends. No one ever categorized me as a "speed merchant." And the … (8 comments)
real estate: Apex, NC: Market Offerings across all price points.
- 04/29/09 03:30 PM
Apex, NC, Triangle Real estate Search Home Search Broken down by price points and noting typical housing offerings within the Town of Apex, North Carolina. Organized within each search frame from least expensive to most expensive. Affordable starter homes to wonderful dream homes for the most discerning buyers. As always, when you find yourself on my website, you never have to register to search for a home, land, multi-family, commercial property, or rental home. Click to see what you can get in Apex for:
$1---------$150,000 $150,001--$225,000 Apex, NC, starter homes, affordable housing, fixer-uppers, and townhomes. $225,001--$275,000 Getting into some nice subdivisions with pools, trails, … (0 comments)
View the current Active Listings in Riggsbee Farm. Riggsbee Farm is conveniently located off of Davis Drive near the intersection of High House Road. Just a few miles away, Davis Drive brings commuters to Research Triangle Park and I 40. Riggsbee Farm also has great proximity to shopping at Stone Creek Village, Prestonwood Country Club, and the Town of Cary’s Greenway system.
Riggsbee Farm was developed between 1996 and 2003 by Zaring Homes. Typical Riggsbee Farm homes include 3 to 5 … (2 comments)
real estate: New Home Search Solution. Same friendly service!
- 04/21/09 04:01 PM
My clients have another tool in their toolbox. I have signed up with IDXBroker for their MLS Search solution, and my friend Hal took it live tonight. Good job, Hal! It is a first-class deal for clients and Realtor, offering the ability to search for homes within several parameters I did not have to offer before. And the user interface is simple and intuitive. Now visitors to my site can search via Google Maps, neighborhoods, City, Zip Code, and drill down to main floor master suites and fenced yards. Schools are also available search fields, too. And they can search the MLS … (2 comments)
real estate: Condominium or Townhome? Can you tell?
- 03/31/09 03:30 AM
The distinction between condominiums and townhomes escapes a lot of folks. And many North Carolina agents, too. So I did a little Real Estate Show test from photos of buildings in Raleigh, Cary, and Apex, NC. Play the real estate show below and on a piece of paper indicate whether each of the 15 structures in the photo is a condominium or townhome. See, you can't really tell by looking at a building. You MUST look at the legal description to determine whether you are looking at a condominium or a townhome. The difference is not the … (6 comments)
real estate: First-Time Homebuyers: $8,000 is not enough to make a stinky deal worthwhile!
- 03/30/09 06:06 AM
So, every agent in Cary and Raleigh and Wake County is trumpeting the $8,000 first-time HomeBuyer's Tax Credit. And we are all reaching out to first-time buyers to help them. Well, the Tax Credit is great for Buyers who need to do something this year. It can make buying more palatable in a tough market, amongst incredible doom and gloom. But, $8,000 is NOT a good enough incentive to get into a bad deal. $8,000 is not enough money to compensate for poor real estate advice from a professional Realtor who is supposed to represent you as a fiduciary. First-Time Buyers, … (4 comments)
real estate: Morrisville, NC. Best Value in Kitts Creek, 5 Bedroom, 4 Bath with Porches!
- 03/21/09 08:56 AM
Grace. Space. Location. 1905 Grantsboro Lane, Morrisville, NC 27560 View Map Grace and Space describe this Victorian-inspired home. Large rooms. Huge closets and attic. Amenities like 4 full baths, wood floors, granite, 2nd floor laundry, wood-burning fireplace, easy access to community pool and clubhouse, quiet side street. The double front porches are complemented by a private covered stamped-concrete patio in back. Location? Easy access to I-40, I-540, RDU Airport, RTP, and to all the activities in the Triangle. Details Asking Price: $450,000 MLS: 1642993 Sq. Feet: 3600 Lot Size: .15 acre Bedrooms: 5 Bathrooms: 4 # of Floors: 2 HOA/Maintenance Fees: … (2 comments)
real estate: Craigslist Rental Scam
- 03/02/09 12:24 PM
The neverending list of scams in the Raleigh area real estate section in CraigsList is quite impressive. Renting someone else's home out to an unsuspecting sincere prospective tenant just to steal the deposit money is another new low. Actually, this happened to a coworker in our Cary Keller Williams Realty office. We found her rental home listed on Craigslist where the scammer had copied and pasted the photo from Rent.com. The email address was apparently real: her full name and a yahoo email address. And when she was painting at the house in Raleigh, and cleaning up the yard, she noticed that people were driving … (6 comments)
real estate: How I choose home inspectors and other service professionals to recommend to clients...
- 02/28/09 11:17 AM
It seems so evident that a Realtor would recommend top quality service professionals to clients. Yet it is common to see advice to "Never use the people recommended by the Realtor." Home inspectors come to mind immediately. Who better to recommend a home inspector for a Home Buyer? The Cary Realtor who has seen innumerable inspection reports by local guys, or your co-worker's brother in law, who had one guy do one inspection a few years ago in Raleigh? Liability? Can we avoid all liability and still act in a fiduciary role? Aren't we being paid to face down liability? I … (6 comments)
I got hooked up with IDX Broker last spring and went live with their great Triangle Real Estate IDX solution in April. In celebration, I added IDX links to all my Neighborhoods blogs. On my site, on AR, on Trulia. Lots of work, but kind of cool.
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