I’m not supposed to say “Merry Christmas” anymore because it isn’t PC. I started to climb up on my high horse, but then realized, “Well, yeah. If we assume that to say “Merry Christmas!” means that I’m attempting to force the majority of humans into a Christian mold then they’re right and we should give it a rest.”
But what if we just accept the spirit of the thing, instead of thinking so much all of the time? But maybe that’s just easy for me to say, not really being a member of any organizational religion. I called up some of my non-Christian friends and asked them if they feel insulted or coerced or bad when somebody smiles and waves and wishes them a Merry Christmas (or Easter, or Valentine’s Day…………) Neither the Buddhist nor the Taoist nor the Jew nor the atheist nor the agnostic feel insulted at the words “Merry Christmas!” They accept the motivation and ignore the details. It’s sort of like if I was Swedish I could still enjoy the fireworks on the fourth of July, right?
Do you detect some week before Xmas punchiness? Yes, you do. I’m tired of the stress, I’m tired of the buying, I’m tired of planning, I’m tired of thinking about the money I’m spending, I’m tired of Carols and cards and thrice-accursed commercials. (I had already cursed Christmas commercials thrice by the end of October. No telling what the count is by now.) I’m tired of thinking about it and I’ll be glad when the day is over.
I’ve forgotten what Christmas is all about.
But wait a minute! When I was a kid I started counting on December 26th. “365 days until Christmas.” Seriously – I always knew exactly how many days it was until next Christmas. So what the heck? I’d better figure it out before the ghosts come and take me on some strange trips.
(I know exactly what happened, actually. I blame Christmas for things that aren’t its fault. Christmas didn’t create horrible memories – horrible people did. Chance did. Bad luck did. Crap happens and there’s a 1 in 12 chance that it will happen during The Season. If I insist on associating that song or that smell with this happening pretty soon I’ve ruined the whole thing. So then I overcompensate by buying too much stuff, trying to make up for the fact that I’d rather be in Belize.)
But what about the good memories? I’ve been on this planet for 52 Christmases. There’s gotta be something to get twinkly about, right? There’s gotta be a grin or two back there someplace! There are. I’ve just gotta pull my head out of my attitude and see it. There are lots more grins and giggles than there are icks. LOTS more. OK. Like what?
I love the idea of celebrating the birthday of one of the world’s great teachers, and I really love “Peace on Earth, Good Will Towards All.” I love the children’s Winter programs. They do crack me up, those poor little kids up there on the stage. I love the tree. I love the lights. I love to give sparkly presents. (I hate to wrap them, but they’re sure pretty when they’re done.) I love the feast, and I especially love that I now have help cooking it. I love people’s attitudes this time of year - we really are nicer, I think. I love seeing the “Feed The Hungry” bins overflowing. I love the excitement on the grandchildren’s faces when they come over and see a new present under the tree. I love Ralphie.
I believe that the great leaders of all religions taught the same thing: Be nice. Be good. Do your best. Keep your priorities straight. Love another. Take care of the weak and feed the hungry. Do the right thing. We are all brothers and sisters, and what hurts one of us hurts all of us. Respect the Earth. At its best, Christmas embodies these concepts and gives us a season for embracing them.
So there’s the secret. I have to quit concentrating on the things that are nails on a blackboard to me, and make room to see and appreciate the things that are special to this time of year.
Happy Holidays!
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Friday, September 2, 2011
bizarre
It’s weird being human. Life itself is odd, and then we increase the lunacy by choosing a profession with a structure that is inherently bizarre.
We work a job where we often don’t get paid for our time and expertise. I think that every professional in the world should work on a commission basis, just like us. Lawyer? You don’t get paid if we don’t win. President? Not a penny until everybody has something nutritious to eat. Doctor? I’ll write a check when I’m healthy. Airline? Pound sand until I’m on the ground, on time, holding unbroken luggage. Think of the difference THAT would make in the world!
If we do manage to get paid, we get paid the same amount no matter if the deal goes along slicker than a greased pig or if it takes months of blood, sweat, tears, and sleepless nights. Sometimes I make $1,000 an hour, sometimes it’s more like 10 cents an hour.
We work a job where we have no idea when we get up in the morning what’s going to happen that day. A day with a clear calendar at 8 AM might see me writing 6 different offers, we might see 6 deals go south, or I might get a nap. There’s just no predicting.
If we work with a buyer, we usually expect to get paid by the opposing side, which is weird. To explain to a buyer how it could happen that they might get to write us a check (for taking good care of their best interests and probably getting them an awesome deal) is viewed as some sort of nasty betrayal. Truly bizarre!
And then, on top of being human and a REALTOR®, we decide to practice in Arizona - the Wild West and land of Article 26. Article 26 allows a licensee to write contracts. I seem to remember being told (back in the Dark Ages at pre-licensing school) that Arizona is the only state that does allow it. Can you imagine trying to work a deal where you had to wait for an attorney to write the offer and addendums and BINSR? I don’t even want to think about it – I needed a simple letter from an attorney 2 weeks ago and finally got my hands on it last Thursday. Being totally at their mercy would make me crazier.
Sometimes I think that being a REALTOR® is like herding cats (The buyer cat, the buyer cat’s agent cat, the seller cat, me usually as the seller’s agent cat, the lender cat, the underwriter cat, sometimes the asset manager cat, the title examiner cat, the home inspector cat, and the title officer cat who is also trying to herd everybody.) through a maze of thousands of carefully arranged dominos. I want the dominos all to fall precisely at the right time, but these damn cats keep getting their own ideas and it’s illegal and probably bad business to hit them.
Or, being a REALTOR® is like riding a roller coaster. Our income depends on the above dominos falling in an orderly and controlled fashion. This requires that so many other people do their job competently, but how and when they do that job is out of my control. If just one of those people drop the ball or discover a defect in the property or the title report I go from scooting along happily looking forward to a nap straight into crisis mode, in about point-2 seconds. (And yes, I do wave my hands in the air and scream, just like on a roller coaster. It’s great therapy, and the grandchildren find it to be eminently amusing. Try it sometime.)
What about when one of those cats is totally incompetent? Or to be kind, they’re perfectly competent in their own stomping grounds but today they aren’t there? What if that incompetent cat is the agent on the other side of the deal? AND what if in the midst of doing your job and selling the property you agreed to pay him half of the commission if he would bring you a buyer?
I got an offer from just such a guy.
He didn’t include the On-Site Wastewater treatment or the well addendum, both of which were necessary. When I included them with the Counter offer he got confused and twitterpated and defensive.
He did, however, include office-generated addendums that I had never seen, insisting that I disclose an alphabet soup made up of stuff that I have never heard of. When I countered with, “Sorry. We don’t need these stinkin’ addendums” (or something along those lines) he informed me with tears in his eyes that he wouldn’t get paid if they weren’t filled out to his Broker’s satisfaction. This paperwork is necessary and required in Brokerage Far Away. He counseled his buyer to refuse to sign my counter if we wouldn’t do his very important disclosures, which did not have an “I dunno.” option.
I talked to his Broker and beat him with my credentials and finally convinced him that we’re not hiding anything, we just honestly don’t know what those things are and I’m not going to allow my Seller to fill out a disclosure when I don’t know what it’s talking about. He relented and that’s all fine, but we wasted 12 days in the process and my Seller doesn’t have 12 days to waste.
In the normal world out there, we get to pick who we work with. Not REALTORS®. If an agent brings me an offer or my buyer falls with in love with a listing, I work with whatever agent I get. AND they get half of the money, whether they do a good job or whether they just keep running around lighting unnecessary fires that I have to put out. Strange.
For fans of the totally bizarre, what about the short sale that’s in escrow, ready to close, docs are being signed at title as we speak and the bank finalizes the foreclosure, literally 1 hour before the short sale would have recorded? AND then puts it back on the market for $30,000 less than they would have gotten from my buyers 6 weeks ago? Sheesh. Bizarre. And stupid, and makes me pull out and dust off my conspiracy theories in trying to make sense of it.
REALTORS® are a strange breed, to be able to deal with this sort of uncertainty. I think back on all of the agents that I’ve known in the past 24 years. I guess that 1 out of 100 are still active. Especially lately, it’s bizarre and it’s hard, this business of ours. In spite of all that we’re making it work.
I told an agent today that 3 things are required to make it in real estate in a tough market. Success requires talent, luck, and hard work. I think that the agents without all 3 of these have washed out, and today we’re left with the cream of the crop. That’s awesome!
So give your favorite REALTOR® a pat on the back. We’re smart, we’re tough, we’re flexible, we’re brave, and we’re proud of what we do! We are the few, the strong, the REALTORS®!
We work a job where we often don’t get paid for our time and expertise. I think that every professional in the world should work on a commission basis, just like us. Lawyer? You don’t get paid if we don’t win. President? Not a penny until everybody has something nutritious to eat. Doctor? I’ll write a check when I’m healthy. Airline? Pound sand until I’m on the ground, on time, holding unbroken luggage. Think of the difference THAT would make in the world!
If we do manage to get paid, we get paid the same amount no matter if the deal goes along slicker than a greased pig or if it takes months of blood, sweat, tears, and sleepless nights. Sometimes I make $1,000 an hour, sometimes it’s more like 10 cents an hour.
We work a job where we have no idea when we get up in the morning what’s going to happen that day. A day with a clear calendar at 8 AM might see me writing 6 different offers, we might see 6 deals go south, or I might get a nap. There’s just no predicting.
If we work with a buyer, we usually expect to get paid by the opposing side, which is weird. To explain to a buyer how it could happen that they might get to write us a check (for taking good care of their best interests and probably getting them an awesome deal) is viewed as some sort of nasty betrayal. Truly bizarre!
And then, on top of being human and a REALTOR®, we decide to practice in Arizona - the Wild West and land of Article 26. Article 26 allows a licensee to write contracts. I seem to remember being told (back in the Dark Ages at pre-licensing school) that Arizona is the only state that does allow it. Can you imagine trying to work a deal where you had to wait for an attorney to write the offer and addendums and BINSR? I don’t even want to think about it – I needed a simple letter from an attorney 2 weeks ago and finally got my hands on it last Thursday. Being totally at their mercy would make me crazier.
Sometimes I think that being a REALTOR® is like herding cats (The buyer cat, the buyer cat’s agent cat, the seller cat, me usually as the seller’s agent cat, the lender cat, the underwriter cat, sometimes the asset manager cat, the title examiner cat, the home inspector cat, and the title officer cat who is also trying to herd everybody.) through a maze of thousands of carefully arranged dominos. I want the dominos all to fall precisely at the right time, but these damn cats keep getting their own ideas and it’s illegal and probably bad business to hit them.
Or, being a REALTOR® is like riding a roller coaster. Our income depends on the above dominos falling in an orderly and controlled fashion. This requires that so many other people do their job competently, but how and when they do that job is out of my control. If just one of those people drop the ball or discover a defect in the property or the title report I go from scooting along happily looking forward to a nap straight into crisis mode, in about point-2 seconds. (And yes, I do wave my hands in the air and scream, just like on a roller coaster. It’s great therapy, and the grandchildren find it to be eminently amusing. Try it sometime.)
What about when one of those cats is totally incompetent? Or to be kind, they’re perfectly competent in their own stomping grounds but today they aren’t there? What if that incompetent cat is the agent on the other side of the deal? AND what if in the midst of doing your job and selling the property you agreed to pay him half of the commission if he would bring you a buyer?
I got an offer from just such a guy.
He didn’t include the On-Site Wastewater treatment or the well addendum, both of which were necessary. When I included them with the Counter offer he got confused and twitterpated and defensive.
He did, however, include office-generated addendums that I had never seen, insisting that I disclose an alphabet soup made up of stuff that I have never heard of. When I countered with, “Sorry. We don’t need these stinkin’ addendums” (or something along those lines) he informed me with tears in his eyes that he wouldn’t get paid if they weren’t filled out to his Broker’s satisfaction. This paperwork is necessary and required in Brokerage Far Away. He counseled his buyer to refuse to sign my counter if we wouldn’t do his very important disclosures, which did not have an “I dunno.” option.
I talked to his Broker and beat him with my credentials and finally convinced him that we’re not hiding anything, we just honestly don’t know what those things are and I’m not going to allow my Seller to fill out a disclosure when I don’t know what it’s talking about. He relented and that’s all fine, but we wasted 12 days in the process and my Seller doesn’t have 12 days to waste.
In the normal world out there, we get to pick who we work with. Not REALTORS®. If an agent brings me an offer or my buyer falls with in love with a listing, I work with whatever agent I get. AND they get half of the money, whether they do a good job or whether they just keep running around lighting unnecessary fires that I have to put out. Strange.
For fans of the totally bizarre, what about the short sale that’s in escrow, ready to close, docs are being signed at title as we speak and the bank finalizes the foreclosure, literally 1 hour before the short sale would have recorded? AND then puts it back on the market for $30,000 less than they would have gotten from my buyers 6 weeks ago? Sheesh. Bizarre. And stupid, and makes me pull out and dust off my conspiracy theories in trying to make sense of it.
REALTORS® are a strange breed, to be able to deal with this sort of uncertainty. I think back on all of the agents that I’ve known in the past 24 years. I guess that 1 out of 100 are still active. Especially lately, it’s bizarre and it’s hard, this business of ours. In spite of all that we’re making it work.
I told an agent today that 3 things are required to make it in real estate in a tough market. Success requires talent, luck, and hard work. I think that the agents without all 3 of these have washed out, and today we’re left with the cream of the crop. That’s awesome!
So give your favorite REALTOR® a pat on the back. We’re smart, we’re tough, we’re flexible, we’re brave, and we’re proud of what we do! We are the few, the strong, the REALTORS®!
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Revolution
On the surface of the world right now there is war and violence and things seem dark. But calmly and quietly, at the same time, something else is happening underground. An inner revolution is taking place.
Certain individuals are being called to a higher light. It is a silent revolution. From the inside out. From the ground up. This is a Global operation... A spiritual conspiracy.
There are sleeper cells in every nation on the planet. You won't see us on the T.V. You won't read about us in the newspaper. You won't hear about us on the radio. We don't seek any glory. We don't wear any uniform.
We come in all shapes and sizes, colors and styles. Most of us work anonymously. We are quietly working behind the scenes in every country and culture of the world. Cities big and small, mountains and valleys, in farms and villages, tribes and remote islands.
You could pass by one of us on the street and not even notice. We go undercover. We remain behind the scenes. It is of no concern to us who takes the final credit, we care only that the work gets done.
Occasionally we spot each other in the street. We give a quiet nod and continue on our way. During the day many of us pretend we have normal jobs. But behind the false storefront at night is where the real work takes a place.
Some call us the 'Conscious Army'. We are slowly creating a new world with the power of our minds and hearts. We follow with passion and joy.
Our orders are from the Central Spiritual Intelligence. We are dropping soft, secret love bombs when no one is looking. Poems - Hugs - Music - Photography - Movies - Kind words - Smiles -Meditation and prayer - Dance - Social activism - Websites - Blogs -Random acts of kindness.
We each express ourselves in our own unique ways with our own unique gifts and talents. 'Be the change you want to see in the world.' That is the motto that fills our hearts. We know it is the only way real transformation takes place.
We know that quietly and humbly we have the power of all the oceans combined. Our work is slow and meticulous, like the formation of mountains - it is not even visible at first glance. And yet with it entire tectonic plates shall be moved in the centuries to come.
Love is the new religion of the 21st century. You don't have to be a highly educated person or have any exceptional knowledge to understand it. It comes from the intelligence of the heart, embedded in the timeless evolutionary pulse of all human beings. Be the change you want to see in the world. Nobody else can do it for you. We are now recruiting. Perhaps you will join us, or already have....All are welcome... The door is open.
AUTHOR UNKNOWN
Certain individuals are being called to a higher light. It is a silent revolution. From the inside out. From the ground up. This is a Global operation... A spiritual conspiracy.
There are sleeper cells in every nation on the planet. You won't see us on the T.V. You won't read about us in the newspaper. You won't hear about us on the radio. We don't seek any glory. We don't wear any uniform.
We come in all shapes and sizes, colors and styles. Most of us work anonymously. We are quietly working behind the scenes in every country and culture of the world. Cities big and small, mountains and valleys, in farms and villages, tribes and remote islands.
You could pass by one of us on the street and not even notice. We go undercover. We remain behind the scenes. It is of no concern to us who takes the final credit, we care only that the work gets done.
Occasionally we spot each other in the street. We give a quiet nod and continue on our way. During the day many of us pretend we have normal jobs. But behind the false storefront at night is where the real work takes a place.
Some call us the 'Conscious Army'. We are slowly creating a new world with the power of our minds and hearts. We follow with passion and joy.
Our orders are from the Central Spiritual Intelligence. We are dropping soft, secret love bombs when no one is looking. Poems - Hugs - Music - Photography - Movies - Kind words - Smiles -Meditation and prayer - Dance - Social activism - Websites - Blogs -Random acts of kindness.
We each express ourselves in our own unique ways with our own unique gifts and talents. 'Be the change you want to see in the world.' That is the motto that fills our hearts. We know it is the only way real transformation takes place.
We know that quietly and humbly we have the power of all the oceans combined. Our work is slow and meticulous, like the formation of mountains - it is not even visible at first glance. And yet with it entire tectonic plates shall be moved in the centuries to come.
Love is the new religion of the 21st century. You don't have to be a highly educated person or have any exceptional knowledge to understand it. It comes from the intelligence of the heart, embedded in the timeless evolutionary pulse of all human beings. Be the change you want to see in the world. Nobody else can do it for you. We are now recruiting. Perhaps you will join us, or already have....All are welcome... The door is open.
AUTHOR UNKNOWN
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
It's hot out there.
It’s official. It’s hot out there. We high desert dwellers look forward to the evening when it cools off, and plan our days around avoiding the hottest hours. During the summer I get up at 5 AM and then observe the Mexican tradition of siesta. This is a good plan, unless some non-siesta-er makes the phone ring.
We who live here know about the heat and how to stay safe when it’s an oven outside, but what about our clients and guests?
I got a call this morning from some people wanting to go walk property. “Can we meet you at noon on the Hillside Drive parcels so that you can point out the corners?”
“Yeahhhh……No. Temperatures are getting to over 100 degrees by 10 AM, so I’m sorry, but until September I will only walk properties before 8 AM or after 7:00 PM. I will point at the corners from the road, but if you want to walk it will have to be either early or late.”
They had never thought about the heat. They don’t come from here, so what was second nature to me is something that never occurred to them.
What about the foreclosures and other vacant houses? Many of them are buttoned up tight with no cooling going, so walking into them is like opening your oven door when the biscuits are done.
We want to make a living, so we do end up showing property to people who don’t have a history with heat and dehydration. They don’t get that these human bodies of ours can start to shut down after just a few minutes in intense heat.
Since some of us don’t really understand, we need to watch out for each other. How do we do that?
We start by being aware, and by being smart.
The warning signs of possible trouble are: nausea, vomiting, fatigue, weakness, headache, muscle cramps, and dizziness. Signs of BIG TROUBLE are: skin hot to the touch, flushing and redness, absence of sweating, rapid pulse, difficulty breathing, strange behavior, hallucinations, confusion, agitation, disorientation, seizure, and coma. (Well, great. Three quarters of the signs of heat stroke and heat exhaustion are behaviors that I see my clients exhibit every day when they’re considering buying or selling real estate. I guess we’ll have to rely on absence of sweating, right?)
If you see any of these signs in yourself or others, this is not the time to dither around making a judgment call. Dial 911 immediately. My son the paramedic explained to me something that I did not know. There is often no charge for an ambulance call. If you are taken care of by one of the municipalities’ or the County ambulances, the charge is paid by your tax dollars at work. (No, I’m not sure about Sedona.) It’s only if you get one of the private companies that the patient is responsible for paying. No matter - if there’s a possibility of a problem, get help and don’t haggle about which ambulance shows up. These things can go from “maybe I should be worried” to life-threatening very quickly, and for somebody to die or be damaged over an ambulance charge is ludicrous.
So how do we avoid this nice day in Arizona suddenly turning into one of the worst days of your life?
Always have a cooler in your vehicle filled with ice packs and lots of water. (I met a REALTOR® in Ehrenberg who handed out frozen washcloths – that was Heaven.) If somebody is in trouble you will need to cool them down while you wait for the medics. Get them into the A/C or shade immediately, and then slap some ice packs on the groin and armpits. (Snort. Every guy that read this just flinched. Maybe I should say “Gently place some ice packs………?”) Get their shirt wet and have somebody fan them. DO NOT dump a cooler of ice water over their heads – that could put them into shock. The key is tepid to cool water, not freezing cold water.
Dehydration is also big trouble, just as big as heat problems. The two often go hand in hand because if we don’t drink enough water then we don’t sweat and then we get too hot. ALWAYS bring plenty of water and make people drink it – they might not know to do so. (There’s that cooler again.) If you’re drinking beer or coffee or tea or some of the energy monster drinks, know that these do not qualify as liquids. Alcohol and caffeine are diuretics, which eliminate moisture from the body – these drinks add to the problem rather than alleviate it.
Since I’ve lived in this country all of my life, I have gotten overheated and I have been dehydrated. I knew when I was too hot because I felt, well, too hot. The mistake that I made was in thinking that if I ignored it it would go away. No, I should have dealt with it the second I realized, but I was stubborn (Mike had told me that it was stupid to take that hike.) and pretty soon I was in trouble. If you want to read the story it’s at
http://realestateaccordingtocarolanne.blogspot.com/2009/08/yesterday-was-mikes-and-my-6-th.html
I don’t know if it’s true or if it’s an old wive’s tale that if you get heatstroke once you’re more susceptible to it in the future. I am certainly more aware and reactive, but I don’t know if I’m more susceptible.
A doctor once told me that if you’re feeling even slightly thirsty you’re already in the first stage of dehydration. The day that I got dehydrated, at first I didn’t really know what was going on. I was taking my Broker classes in Phoenix during the summer, operating on the thinnest of shoestrings. I forgot my water bottle and didn’t want to pay a buck for water out of the vending machines, so I just sat there in class thirsty and thirstier. I felt suddenly very crappy, and it just kept getting worse. Now that I know what being dehydrated feels like I slam lots of water immediately. I always improve amazingly quickly.
Please, my friends. Be aware, be the voice of reason, be the bearer of water, and be the dialer to 911 if necessary. Let’s take care of each other and let’s be careful out there.
We who live here know about the heat and how to stay safe when it’s an oven outside, but what about our clients and guests?
I got a call this morning from some people wanting to go walk property. “Can we meet you at noon on the Hillside Drive parcels so that you can point out the corners?”
“Yeahhhh……No. Temperatures are getting to over 100 degrees by 10 AM, so I’m sorry, but until September I will only walk properties before 8 AM or after 7:00 PM. I will point at the corners from the road, but if you want to walk it will have to be either early or late.”
They had never thought about the heat. They don’t come from here, so what was second nature to me is something that never occurred to them.
What about the foreclosures and other vacant houses? Many of them are buttoned up tight with no cooling going, so walking into them is like opening your oven door when the biscuits are done.
We want to make a living, so we do end up showing property to people who don’t have a history with heat and dehydration. They don’t get that these human bodies of ours can start to shut down after just a few minutes in intense heat.
Since some of us don’t really understand, we need to watch out for each other. How do we do that?
We start by being aware, and by being smart.
The warning signs of possible trouble are: nausea, vomiting, fatigue, weakness, headache, muscle cramps, and dizziness. Signs of BIG TROUBLE are: skin hot to the touch, flushing and redness, absence of sweating, rapid pulse, difficulty breathing, strange behavior, hallucinations, confusion, agitation, disorientation, seizure, and coma. (Well, great. Three quarters of the signs of heat stroke and heat exhaustion are behaviors that I see my clients exhibit every day when they’re considering buying or selling real estate. I guess we’ll have to rely on absence of sweating, right?)
If you see any of these signs in yourself or others, this is not the time to dither around making a judgment call. Dial 911 immediately. My son the paramedic explained to me something that I did not know. There is often no charge for an ambulance call. If you are taken care of by one of the municipalities’ or the County ambulances, the charge is paid by your tax dollars at work. (No, I’m not sure about Sedona.) It’s only if you get one of the private companies that the patient is responsible for paying. No matter - if there’s a possibility of a problem, get help and don’t haggle about which ambulance shows up. These things can go from “maybe I should be worried” to life-threatening very quickly, and for somebody to die or be damaged over an ambulance charge is ludicrous.
So how do we avoid this nice day in Arizona suddenly turning into one of the worst days of your life?
Always have a cooler in your vehicle filled with ice packs and lots of water. (I met a REALTOR® in Ehrenberg who handed out frozen washcloths – that was Heaven.) If somebody is in trouble you will need to cool them down while you wait for the medics. Get them into the A/C or shade immediately, and then slap some ice packs on the groin and armpits. (Snort. Every guy that read this just flinched. Maybe I should say “Gently place some ice packs………?”) Get their shirt wet and have somebody fan them. DO NOT dump a cooler of ice water over their heads – that could put them into shock. The key is tepid to cool water, not freezing cold water.
Dehydration is also big trouble, just as big as heat problems. The two often go hand in hand because if we don’t drink enough water then we don’t sweat and then we get too hot. ALWAYS bring plenty of water and make people drink it – they might not know to do so. (There’s that cooler again.) If you’re drinking beer or coffee or tea or some of the energy monster drinks, know that these do not qualify as liquids. Alcohol and caffeine are diuretics, which eliminate moisture from the body – these drinks add to the problem rather than alleviate it.
Since I’ve lived in this country all of my life, I have gotten overheated and I have been dehydrated. I knew when I was too hot because I felt, well, too hot. The mistake that I made was in thinking that if I ignored it it would go away. No, I should have dealt with it the second I realized, but I was stubborn (Mike had told me that it was stupid to take that hike.) and pretty soon I was in trouble. If you want to read the story it’s at
http://realestateaccordingtocarolanne.blogspot.com/2009/08/yesterday-was-mikes-and-my-6-th.html
I don’t know if it’s true or if it’s an old wive’s tale that if you get heatstroke once you’re more susceptible to it in the future. I am certainly more aware and reactive, but I don’t know if I’m more susceptible.
A doctor once told me that if you’re feeling even slightly thirsty you’re already in the first stage of dehydration. The day that I got dehydrated, at first I didn’t really know what was going on. I was taking my Broker classes in Phoenix during the summer, operating on the thinnest of shoestrings. I forgot my water bottle and didn’t want to pay a buck for water out of the vending machines, so I just sat there in class thirsty and thirstier. I felt suddenly very crappy, and it just kept getting worse. Now that I know what being dehydrated feels like I slam lots of water immediately. I always improve amazingly quickly.
Please, my friends. Be aware, be the voice of reason, be the bearer of water, and be the dialer to 911 if necessary. Let’s take care of each other and let’s be careful out there.
Friday, June 10, 2011
What are some housing hot-buttons that can get your home sold, stat? Did you know that it helps to have a Trader Joe’s market nearby? There’s so much information on the web these days about how to stage a home and create compelling curb appea, that you might think you know all you need to on the subject. Just when you thought you’d mastered the matter, we thought we’d brief you on 5 more things that can get your home sold, some or all of which might never have occurred to you.
1. Your neighbors. Most homeowners contemplating selling their homes understand the importance of well-kept neighboring homes. Many a buyer has pulled up to an amazing house, viewed it, and left shaking their head with woe because they just can’t cotton to buying the place on account of the shoulder-high weeds, car in the yard or crumbling ruins of the house next door.
On the flip side, your neighbors themselves - not just the homes, but the people - can actually help sell your home. Many homeowners know people who want to live in their neck of the woods; this is one reason many seasoned real estate professionals hold their listings open to neighbors and send out postcards to neighbors announcing the listing - the neighbors might know people who are interested in your home! Also, neighbors who are out and about chatting with each other, laughing and playing with their kids, mowing their lawns or painting their fences, or even who just offer a smile and helpful area knowledge to the buyer-to-be they pass on the street can make a very favorable impression on prospective buyers.
It’s a good idea, if and when you decide to list your home for sale, to touch base with neighbors you know and let them know; it’s in their best interests to get good new neighbors, so they might be able to go the extra mile in showing the neighborhood’s biggest asset - themselves - off to its best advantage.
2. The right sights, smells and sounds. It’s no news flash that the view of a used car lot; stinky foods or animal smells; and the siren song of a fire station next door could be deal-killers. What might surprise is some of the right sights, smells and sounds that can help seal the sale of your home. My experience has been - agents, chime in here! - that the more natural beautiful sights, smells and sounds are, the more favorably they’ll be received by the largest population of prospective buyers.
For example, playing a soundtrack of classical musical is fine, but will cause some skeptical buyers to wonder what noises you might be trying to cover up - especially if you’re in a condo or other potentially thin-walled property where neighbor noise might be an issue. On the other hand, birdsong can be attractive to some buyers. Artificial air fresheners? Not so much. The scent of the jasmine or lavender that grows in your yard? Even allergy victims can appreciate that.
You might be desensitized to the amazing views of trees, mountains or even water outside your window, but pulling back the curtains so prospective buyers can see for themselves is an absolute must.
Home buying is a multi-sensory experience - visual staging of the property itself is no longer just a plus, it’s a must. Homes which create pleasant impressions that fire on all of a buyer’s sensory cylinders definitely have the edge on their competition.
3. Your dog. The New York Times ran a piece a few months ago about sweet, well-behaved dogs (and cats!) who reportedly helped sell their owners’ Manhattan apartments. In a departure from the conventional wisdom that dogs should be removed and every trace of their presence erased from the home during showings, the article featured several buyers and brokers attesting to their belief that the presence of a particular cat or dog “help[ed] sell a property by making the place seem warmer or more appealing.” And I’m sure you’ve all heard me tell the story of the San Diego buyer who fell in love with a tract home listed at a price higher than all the nearly identical comparables he’d seen and wanted to make a full-price offer immediately - so long as the deal included the dog!
Definitely consult with your agent before you decide to implement leaving your dog at home for showings as part of your plan. I’m a dog lover, and would be concerned that someone might inadvertently let one of “my girls” out, if I left them there while my house was being shown; as well, would-be buyers or their agents may have allergies your pet could set off. Lately, it seems like I’ve seen many brokers attempting to capture the best of both worlds by making sure that the family pet or even the broker’s own pet is captured in a charming tableau in 1 or 2 of the listing pictures, even if they’re not present at the home during showings.
4. Your happiness. Video and even written love letters that extoll all the virtues for which you love your neighbors, your neighborhood and your property are contagious to buyers. I’ve seen sellers help buyers see their homes through their own loving eyes by posting videos on YouTube and including the link on the listing flyer or even by putting a binder containing a letter plus menus and flyers from their favorite neighborhood restaurants, dry cleaners and other local merchants out on the counter during showings.
Wide-open curtains that let light stream in, light and bright paint and decor colors and other home features that science has proven make residents more happy and functional also create this thought process in a buyer’s mind: “Hmm, these people seem happy here. I could be, too.”
Similarly, indicators that you invested a lot of love in your home by keeping it in immaculate order and pristine condition, by tending a well-cared for kitchen garden, lovingly furnishing and making comfortable (if not overly customizing) your kids’ rooms, all create the feel that a home was happily lived in - it’s like staging your home with a life well-lived, not just paint and tile.
5. The freeway or subway you thought was too close. There is such a thing as a freeway or elevated train tracks being too close to your home; if your place rattles or roars, for example, every time the train passes, chances any buyer will view that as a selling point are pretty slim. However, homebuyer attitudes toward being located near freeways and subways or bus lines are a-changing. Every upward click of gas prices renders buyers a tiny bit more interested in a location that is more commutable.
Where yesteryear’s buyers were all about the posh exclusivity of far-out suburbia, today’s buyers are more interested in financial and ecological efficiency and convenience. I’ve never heard so many homebuyers looking to own homes that will allow them to ditch their cars entirely as I have in recent years!
What might once have been seen as too close to the freeway has gotten a new spin lately, as a highly convenient, commuter-friendly location.
1. Your neighbors. Most homeowners contemplating selling their homes understand the importance of well-kept neighboring homes. Many a buyer has pulled up to an amazing house, viewed it, and left shaking their head with woe because they just can’t cotton to buying the place on account of the shoulder-high weeds, car in the yard or crumbling ruins of the house next door.
On the flip side, your neighbors themselves - not just the homes, but the people - can actually help sell your home. Many homeowners know people who want to live in their neck of the woods; this is one reason many seasoned real estate professionals hold their listings open to neighbors and send out postcards to neighbors announcing the listing - the neighbors might know people who are interested in your home! Also, neighbors who are out and about chatting with each other, laughing and playing with their kids, mowing their lawns or painting their fences, or even who just offer a smile and helpful area knowledge to the buyer-to-be they pass on the street can make a very favorable impression on prospective buyers.
It’s a good idea, if and when you decide to list your home for sale, to touch base with neighbors you know and let them know; it’s in their best interests to get good new neighbors, so they might be able to go the extra mile in showing the neighborhood’s biggest asset - themselves - off to its best advantage.
2. The right sights, smells and sounds. It’s no news flash that the view of a used car lot; stinky foods or animal smells; and the siren song of a fire station next door could be deal-killers. What might surprise is some of the right sights, smells and sounds that can help seal the sale of your home. My experience has been - agents, chime in here! - that the more natural beautiful sights, smells and sounds are, the more favorably they’ll be received by the largest population of prospective buyers.
For example, playing a soundtrack of classical musical is fine, but will cause some skeptical buyers to wonder what noises you might be trying to cover up - especially if you’re in a condo or other potentially thin-walled property where neighbor noise might be an issue. On the other hand, birdsong can be attractive to some buyers. Artificial air fresheners? Not so much. The scent of the jasmine or lavender that grows in your yard? Even allergy victims can appreciate that.
You might be desensitized to the amazing views of trees, mountains or even water outside your window, but pulling back the curtains so prospective buyers can see for themselves is an absolute must.
Home buying is a multi-sensory experience - visual staging of the property itself is no longer just a plus, it’s a must. Homes which create pleasant impressions that fire on all of a buyer’s sensory cylinders definitely have the edge on their competition.
3. Your dog. The New York Times ran a piece a few months ago about sweet, well-behaved dogs (and cats!) who reportedly helped sell their owners’ Manhattan apartments. In a departure from the conventional wisdom that dogs should be removed and every trace of their presence erased from the home during showings, the article featured several buyers and brokers attesting to their belief that the presence of a particular cat or dog “help[ed] sell a property by making the place seem warmer or more appealing.” And I’m sure you’ve all heard me tell the story of the San Diego buyer who fell in love with a tract home listed at a price higher than all the nearly identical comparables he’d seen and wanted to make a full-price offer immediately - so long as the deal included the dog!
Definitely consult with your agent before you decide to implement leaving your dog at home for showings as part of your plan. I’m a dog lover, and would be concerned that someone might inadvertently let one of “my girls” out, if I left them there while my house was being shown; as well, would-be buyers or their agents may have allergies your pet could set off. Lately, it seems like I’ve seen many brokers attempting to capture the best of both worlds by making sure that the family pet or even the broker’s own pet is captured in a charming tableau in 1 or 2 of the listing pictures, even if they’re not present at the home during showings.
4. Your happiness. Video and even written love letters that extoll all the virtues for which you love your neighbors, your neighborhood and your property are contagious to buyers. I’ve seen sellers help buyers see their homes through their own loving eyes by posting videos on YouTube and including the link on the listing flyer or even by putting a binder containing a letter plus menus and flyers from their favorite neighborhood restaurants, dry cleaners and other local merchants out on the counter during showings.
Wide-open curtains that let light stream in, light and bright paint and decor colors and other home features that science has proven make residents more happy and functional also create this thought process in a buyer’s mind: “Hmm, these people seem happy here. I could be, too.”
Similarly, indicators that you invested a lot of love in your home by keeping it in immaculate order and pristine condition, by tending a well-cared for kitchen garden, lovingly furnishing and making comfortable (if not overly customizing) your kids’ rooms, all create the feel that a home was happily lived in - it’s like staging your home with a life well-lived, not just paint and tile.
5. The freeway or subway you thought was too close. There is such a thing as a freeway or elevated train tracks being too close to your home; if your place rattles or roars, for example, every time the train passes, chances any buyer will view that as a selling point are pretty slim. However, homebuyer attitudes toward being located near freeways and subways or bus lines are a-changing. Every upward click of gas prices renders buyers a tiny bit more interested in a location that is more commutable.
Where yesteryear’s buyers were all about the posh exclusivity of far-out suburbia, today’s buyers are more interested in financial and ecological efficiency and convenience. I’ve never heard so many homebuyers looking to own homes that will allow them to ditch their cars entirely as I have in recent years!
What might once have been seen as too close to the freeway has gotten a new spin lately, as a highly convenient, commuter-friendly location.
Monday, June 6, 2011
Have you heard the one about a homeowner foreclosing on a bank?
It happened in Florida, involving a North Carolina based bank.
Instead of Bank of America foreclosing on some poor Florida homeowner, the homeowners had sheriff's deputies foreclose on the bank.
It started five months ago when Bank of America filed foreclosure papers on the home of a couple.
The couple said they paid cash for the house.
The case went to court and the homeowners were able to prove they didn't owe Bank of America anything on the house. In fact, it was proven that the couple had never had a mortgage bill to pay to anyone.
After the hearing, Bank of America was ordered by the court to pay the homeowners' legal fees.
How did it end with bank being foreclosed on? More than 5 months after the judge's ruling, the bank still hadn't paid the legal fees. The homeowner's attorney did exactly what the bank tried to do to the homeowners. He seized the bank's assets.
"They've ignored our calls, ignored our letters, legally this is the next step to get my clients compensated, " attorney Todd Allen told CBS.
Sheriff's deputies, movers, and the Nyergers' attorney went to the bank and foreclosed on it. The attorney gave instructions to to remove desks, computers, copiers, filing cabinets and any cash in the teller's drawers.
After about an hour of being locked out of the bank, the bank manager handed the attorney a check for the legal fees.
"As a foreclosure defense attorney this is sweet justice" says Allen.
Allen says this is something that he sees often in court, banks making errors because they didn't investigate the foreclosure, and it becomes a lengthy and expensive battle for the homeowner.
It happened in Florida, involving a North Carolina based bank.
Instead of Bank of America foreclosing on some poor Florida homeowner, the homeowners had sheriff's deputies foreclose on the bank.
It started five months ago when Bank of America filed foreclosure papers on the home of a couple.
The couple said they paid cash for the house.
The case went to court and the homeowners were able to prove they didn't owe Bank of America anything on the house. In fact, it was proven that the couple had never had a mortgage bill to pay to anyone.
After the hearing, Bank of America was ordered by the court to pay the homeowners' legal fees.
How did it end with bank being foreclosed on? More than 5 months after the judge's ruling, the bank still hadn't paid the legal fees. The homeowner's attorney did exactly what the bank tried to do to the homeowners. He seized the bank's assets.
"They've ignored our calls, ignored our letters, legally this is the next step to get my clients compensated, " attorney Todd Allen told CBS.
Sheriff's deputies, movers, and the Nyergers' attorney went to the bank and foreclosed on it. The attorney gave instructions to to remove desks, computers, copiers, filing cabinets and any cash in the teller's drawers.
After about an hour of being locked out of the bank, the bank manager handed the attorney a check for the legal fees.
"As a foreclosure defense attorney this is sweet justice" says Allen.
Allen says this is something that he sees often in court, banks making errors because they didn't investigate the foreclosure, and it becomes a lengthy and expensive battle for the homeowner.
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Things that REALTORS® wish that Sellers knew.
THINGS THAT REALTORS® WISH THAT SELLERS WERE ARE AWARE OF, COMING OUT OF THE GATE.
#1: If you want to sell your property the only way to do it is to price it correctly. Curb appeal is important, interior pleasantness is important, extras are important, the right REALTOR® is important, but none of these things matter if the price is inappropriately high.
Unless your property is income producing in some way, the only way to price it correctly is by looking at the current actives and the recent pending and sold listings in your market. The actives are your competition – you have to put your price in line with the lowest of that competition. The pendings and solds are what an appraiser will look at when they determine property value for your buyer’s loan. Depending where these come in, even if we get a buyer to offer an unrealistically high price the appraiser may have to shoot it down.
I’m sorry, but it does not seem to matter whether or not those comps are short sales or foreclosures – I wish that it did. They are still the comps and we can’t ignore them. You might get a tiny bit of leeway for the fact that you’re not selling a distressed house, but not much.
We can no longer price a property by adding up what you owe plus what you want to walk away with. We also can no longer add up how much money you have invested in the property over the years and assume that THIS is what it’s worth, either. It’s sad, but I think that the days when we could set prices based on what you have in the property or what you want to get out of the property are long gone
(I have a Jeep. I’ve had this Jeep for years – it’s a good Jeep and I like it. Today, though, maybe it’s time to get a smaller Jeep, or a Jeep that’s closer to my children, or just a Jeep that’s cheaper or involves less maintenance and overhead.
I paid market value for my Jeep in 2006 – it cost me $25,000. Even with depreciation I figure it must be worth $20,000. The catch is that somebody who is in the market for a Jeep like mine can go and buy a brand new one for $17,500. So why would they give ME $20,000? Well, they won’t.
If I’ve listed my Jeep with a Jeep broker, maybe I’ll get mad and blame the Jeep broker when nobody wants to pay me what I want, even though he has told me that my Jeep Blue Books out at $12,000. (But that can’t be! My Jeep has some really trick stuff! It’s lifted, and Brain the Mechanic who built her installed a blue button that he says is nitro and I am NEVER EVER to push the blue button. My Jeep is so special!
I know what I’ll do - I’ll get a new Jeep broker that will tell me what I want to hear and I’ll list it with him and my Jeep still won’t sell some more. I’ll keep switching brokers and I’ll stay frustrated and my Jeep will lose value every year and sooner or later I’ll finally sell it for less than I would have gotten if I’d been realistic in the first place.)
Are you thinking that this behavior of mine makes no sense? You’re right – it doesn’t. No matter whether we’re talking about Jeeps or houses, it’s all about supply and demand. Right now supply is greater than demand. You have to be competitive with your price.
#2: The extras that you have to offer (like a pool or landscaping or top of the line appliances) will help us to sell your property more quickly, but extra features do not automatically equal extra money in your pocket. Enjoy your extras greatly - they are for you, not for resale value. (Remember my tricked-out Jeep and the blue button, above.)
#3: Listen to your REALTOR®. We know this market, we know the neighborhoods, we know marketing. We know what the buyers are looking for right now, so the things that are important to you might not be what we talk about when we describe your property.
“The REALTOR® in Far Away says that you should blah blah blah………..to get it sold.” The next time I hear that one I’m going to scream.
Your Aunt May in Vermont might have some good ideas (or she might not), or those ideas might be applicable in Vermont, or 30 years ago. Trulia or HomeSmart might have some good ideas, too, but those ideas might not work in this market or with your particular property.
PLEASE don’t insist that I buy print ads. PLEASE don’t try to require that I hold an open house. I might do both of those things, but I probably won’t because I have not observed that those things have much of a return anymore.
Keep in mind that I don’t get paid until your property sells, which gives me great motivation to market it competently and correctly. I will listen to your ideas – 2 or 3 heads are always better than one, after all. Understand that I may not agree to implement all of your ideas. I will have good reasons why I’m not and will be happy to explain them.
#4: Commission is not one of the negotiable items in a sale. If you want a discount then hire a discount broker and accept the discount service. I’ll be happy to talk to you if and when you’re ready to get serious about selling.
#5: You must disclose. If you know something that could conceivably affect the price that a buyer will be willing to pay you must disclose it. (There are exceptions for murder, suicide, sex offenders in the neighborhood and HIV/AIDS, but you MUST sing out about everything else.) If you don’t disclose the buyer could sue you when they find the problem and the neighbors or the plumber says, “Oh, yeah. That thing was always bad.”
#6: Smell is important. Buyers might not realize it, but they form an instant and immediate opinion of a property based on that first whiff as we open the door. It’s primal and it’s powerful.
You know about smoking inside, you know about pet odors, you know about cleanliness. BUT did you know that foofoo spray (or plug-ins, or incense, or candles) can be just as bad, and sometimes even more off-putting than a musty smell? If you use perfumes or chemicals, environmentally sensitive buyers might not be able to go into your house. Bleach, Pine-Sol, Fantastico, Febreze, Glade, …………. Seriously - please don’t. Vinegar and baking soda work wonders, they smell good, and they won’t make anybody sick.
#7: Stuff. Different REALTORS® have different opinions about how you can best present the interior of your house. Some of us say “Make it look like a model home! Make it sterile! I want no more than 2 motel pictures on each wall!” Others say, “It’s OK if it looks a little interesting – maybe people will stay a little longer and look a little harder.” We do all agree that too much stuff is detrimental.
Stuff that a buyer may find offensive is detrimental. (Nudes, Dia de Los Muertos art, paraphernalia, overtly religious imagery, Nazi or Confederate memorabilia, contraband, intimate machinery…… You get the point.)
We need some spaces that can seem like a blank canvas to a buyer. We need rooms that look as big as possible - too much stuff can make a room or a house seem small and claustrophobic. We need light and we need clean.
We need a buyer to be able to look at the property and imagine themselves living there.
#8: Please don’t leave valuables out in plain sight, especially pocketable valuables like jewelry and money and prescription drugs.
After a showing, please check your stuff and your locks and the garage door pull. Make sure that your home is still secure. Let your agent know if anything is awry.
#9: We need for you to leave while the house is being shown. The REALTOR® present knows these buyers and you don’t. We know what this person’s hot buttons are, and we know what to emphasize and what to downplay.
What happened one time was that the buyers were suspicious of the fact that a home was close to the river. They did not see this as an advantage at all – they had several small grandchildren, and they were very worried that the children might get away and get drowned. The seller showed up and started selling how close the river is, how unobstructed the access, what wonderful swimming holes, how he had made an easily traversable path to the deepest hole………. He went on and on and talked himself right out of a sale.
#10: After we put out the sign you may suddenly have scads of people driving by, and sooner or later one of these members of the public will knock on your door and ask to see the house. Gently hand them your agent’s business card and ask them to call and make an appointment. Please do not let unvetted strangers into your home.
I could continue all day, but it’s not necessary. Your REALTOR® is a professional. We’re highly trained, we know what we’re doing, we care, and we do a good job. Use your common sense when you hire your REALTOR® and then listen to us.
#1: If you want to sell your property the only way to do it is to price it correctly. Curb appeal is important, interior pleasantness is important, extras are important, the right REALTOR® is important, but none of these things matter if the price is inappropriately high.
Unless your property is income producing in some way, the only way to price it correctly is by looking at the current actives and the recent pending and sold listings in your market. The actives are your competition – you have to put your price in line with the lowest of that competition. The pendings and solds are what an appraiser will look at when they determine property value for your buyer’s loan. Depending where these come in, even if we get a buyer to offer an unrealistically high price the appraiser may have to shoot it down.
I’m sorry, but it does not seem to matter whether or not those comps are short sales or foreclosures – I wish that it did. They are still the comps and we can’t ignore them. You might get a tiny bit of leeway for the fact that you’re not selling a distressed house, but not much.
We can no longer price a property by adding up what you owe plus what you want to walk away with. We also can no longer add up how much money you have invested in the property over the years and assume that THIS is what it’s worth, either. It’s sad, but I think that the days when we could set prices based on what you have in the property or what you want to get out of the property are long gone
(I have a Jeep. I’ve had this Jeep for years – it’s a good Jeep and I like it. Today, though, maybe it’s time to get a smaller Jeep, or a Jeep that’s closer to my children, or just a Jeep that’s cheaper or involves less maintenance and overhead.
I paid market value for my Jeep in 2006 – it cost me $25,000. Even with depreciation I figure it must be worth $20,000. The catch is that somebody who is in the market for a Jeep like mine can go and buy a brand new one for $17,500. So why would they give ME $20,000? Well, they won’t.
If I’ve listed my Jeep with a Jeep broker, maybe I’ll get mad and blame the Jeep broker when nobody wants to pay me what I want, even though he has told me that my Jeep Blue Books out at $12,000. (But that can’t be! My Jeep has some really trick stuff! It’s lifted, and Brain the Mechanic who built her installed a blue button that he says is nitro and I am NEVER EVER to push the blue button. My Jeep is so special!
I know what I’ll do - I’ll get a new Jeep broker that will tell me what I want to hear and I’ll list it with him and my Jeep still won’t sell some more. I’ll keep switching brokers and I’ll stay frustrated and my Jeep will lose value every year and sooner or later I’ll finally sell it for less than I would have gotten if I’d been realistic in the first place.)
Are you thinking that this behavior of mine makes no sense? You’re right – it doesn’t. No matter whether we’re talking about Jeeps or houses, it’s all about supply and demand. Right now supply is greater than demand. You have to be competitive with your price.
#2: The extras that you have to offer (like a pool or landscaping or top of the line appliances) will help us to sell your property more quickly, but extra features do not automatically equal extra money in your pocket. Enjoy your extras greatly - they are for you, not for resale value. (Remember my tricked-out Jeep and the blue button, above.)
#3: Listen to your REALTOR®. We know this market, we know the neighborhoods, we know marketing. We know what the buyers are looking for right now, so the things that are important to you might not be what we talk about when we describe your property.
“The REALTOR® in Far Away says that you should blah blah blah………..to get it sold.” The next time I hear that one I’m going to scream.
Your Aunt May in Vermont might have some good ideas (or she might not), or those ideas might be applicable in Vermont, or 30 years ago. Trulia or HomeSmart might have some good ideas, too, but those ideas might not work in this market or with your particular property.
PLEASE don’t insist that I buy print ads. PLEASE don’t try to require that I hold an open house. I might do both of those things, but I probably won’t because I have not observed that those things have much of a return anymore.
Keep in mind that I don’t get paid until your property sells, which gives me great motivation to market it competently and correctly. I will listen to your ideas – 2 or 3 heads are always better than one, after all. Understand that I may not agree to implement all of your ideas. I will have good reasons why I’m not and will be happy to explain them.
#4: Commission is not one of the negotiable items in a sale. If you want a discount then hire a discount broker and accept the discount service. I’ll be happy to talk to you if and when you’re ready to get serious about selling.
#5: You must disclose. If you know something that could conceivably affect the price that a buyer will be willing to pay you must disclose it. (There are exceptions for murder, suicide, sex offenders in the neighborhood and HIV/AIDS, but you MUST sing out about everything else.) If you don’t disclose the buyer could sue you when they find the problem and the neighbors or the plumber says, “Oh, yeah. That thing was always bad.”
#6: Smell is important. Buyers might not realize it, but they form an instant and immediate opinion of a property based on that first whiff as we open the door. It’s primal and it’s powerful.
You know about smoking inside, you know about pet odors, you know about cleanliness. BUT did you know that foofoo spray (or plug-ins, or incense, or candles) can be just as bad, and sometimes even more off-putting than a musty smell? If you use perfumes or chemicals, environmentally sensitive buyers might not be able to go into your house. Bleach, Pine-Sol, Fantastico, Febreze, Glade, …………. Seriously - please don’t. Vinegar and baking soda work wonders, they smell good, and they won’t make anybody sick.
#7: Stuff. Different REALTORS® have different opinions about how you can best present the interior of your house. Some of us say “Make it look like a model home! Make it sterile! I want no more than 2 motel pictures on each wall!” Others say, “It’s OK if it looks a little interesting – maybe people will stay a little longer and look a little harder.” We do all agree that too much stuff is detrimental.
Stuff that a buyer may find offensive is detrimental. (Nudes, Dia de Los Muertos art, paraphernalia, overtly religious imagery, Nazi or Confederate memorabilia, contraband, intimate machinery…… You get the point.)
We need some spaces that can seem like a blank canvas to a buyer. We need rooms that look as big as possible - too much stuff can make a room or a house seem small and claustrophobic. We need light and we need clean.
We need a buyer to be able to look at the property and imagine themselves living there.
#8: Please don’t leave valuables out in plain sight, especially pocketable valuables like jewelry and money and prescription drugs.
After a showing, please check your stuff and your locks and the garage door pull. Make sure that your home is still secure. Let your agent know if anything is awry.
#9: We need for you to leave while the house is being shown. The REALTOR® present knows these buyers and you don’t. We know what this person’s hot buttons are, and we know what to emphasize and what to downplay.
What happened one time was that the buyers were suspicious of the fact that a home was close to the river. They did not see this as an advantage at all – they had several small grandchildren, and they were very worried that the children might get away and get drowned. The seller showed up and started selling how close the river is, how unobstructed the access, what wonderful swimming holes, how he had made an easily traversable path to the deepest hole………. He went on and on and talked himself right out of a sale.
#10: After we put out the sign you may suddenly have scads of people driving by, and sooner or later one of these members of the public will knock on your door and ask to see the house. Gently hand them your agent’s business card and ask them to call and make an appointment. Please do not let unvetted strangers into your home.
I could continue all day, but it’s not necessary. Your REALTOR® is a professional. We’re highly trained, we know what we’re doing, we care, and we do a good job. Use your common sense when you hire your REALTOR® and then listen to us.
Monday, May 2, 2011
Abraham Lincoln quote
"The problem with gathering your information from the internet is that there's no accountability. Take quotes, for instance; you can never be sure that the person who actually said it is who it's attributed to."
~Abraham Lincoln~
~Abraham Lincoln~
Monday, April 18, 2011
To laugh is to risk appearing the fool
To weep is to risk appearing sentimental
To reach out for another is to risk involvement
To expose feelings is to risk exposing your true self
To play your ideas, your dreams before the crowd is to risk their loss
To love is to risk not being loved in return
To live is to risk dying
To hope is to risk despair
To try is to risk failure
But risk must be taken, because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing
The person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing, and is nothing
He may avoid suffering and sorrow, but he simply cannot learn, feel, change, grow, love
Chained by his certitudes, he is a slave
He has forfeited freedom
Only a person who risks is free
Author Unknown
To weep is to risk appearing sentimental
To reach out for another is to risk involvement
To expose feelings is to risk exposing your true self
To play your ideas, your dreams before the crowd is to risk their loss
To love is to risk not being loved in return
To live is to risk dying
To hope is to risk despair
To try is to risk failure
But risk must be taken, because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing
The person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing, and is nothing
He may avoid suffering and sorrow, but he simply cannot learn, feel, change, grow, love
Chained by his certitudes, he is a slave
He has forfeited freedom
Only a person who risks is free
Author Unknown
Friday, April 15, 2011
THINGS THAT REALTORS® WISH THAT BUYERS KNEW UP FRONT 1: Buying real estate today is not like the last time you bought real estate, and not like when your parents bought real estate. The rules have changed. A majority of the reasonably priced inventory on the market today is either bank owned (a foreclosure) or a short sale (a property that we are trying to sell for less than the owner owes on it. We have to get the bank/lender’s permission to do this. This bank/lender does not often have a reliable system in place to deal with our request, which means that short sales can be frustrating, bizarre, and unpredictable.) Understand that the bank/seller or bank/current lender in these situations does not care whether or not you buy this property. If you step away they know that somebody else will step up. The old back-and-forth negotiation rules that we all know and love will probably lose you a deal or two. Listen to your REALTOR®’s advice – this is not their first rodeo. 2: All real estate agents are not the same. About half of the real estate agents out there are just that – people licensed by the State of Arizona to sell real estate. The other half are REALTORS®. REALTORS® are also licensed to sell real estate. The difference is that REALTORS® have joined the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR), the Arizona Association of REALTORS® (AAR), and a local REALTOR® Association. If you are reading this, it was given to you by a member of the Sedona Verde Valley Association of REALTORS® (SVVAR). A REALTOR® has sworn to abide by the NAR Code of Ethics. If they have not sworn to adhere to the Code of Ethics they will not be allowed to be a member of any of these organizations. You can read the NAR Code of Ethics at http://www.realtor.org/mempolweb.nsf/pages/code Look for that big ®. It means that you are dealing with an ethical professional. It means that your REALTOR® is highly trained and regulated, and that you now have the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) and the REALTOR’S® Property Resource (RPR) at your disposal. 3: Zillow’s Zestimates (and their ilk) are not gospel. They’re usually not even very accurate. Zillow, Trulia, County Assessor’s property valuations – none of these tools are a reliable way to figure out what a particular property is worth. When you come to your REALTOR® and say “I want to offer the Zestimate price” you may or may not hear the gasp, but I’ll bet it was there. Zillow and the like are advertising sites, in the clever disguise of property valuation sites. Do you see those “Featured Partners” ads? Zillow makes money by selling those ad blocks, and they sell the ad blocks by getting people to come to Zillow hoping to get an insider’s scoop on property values. Your REALTOR® has something better. We can pull current, accurate, targeted valuations through MLS and RPR®, using the RPR REALTOR® Valuation Model. We know the neighborhoods and we know the properties. We can tell you what a property is worth and then we can prove it. 4: Your REALTOR® works on a commission basis. REALTORS® do not usually get a salary. We get paid when your deal closes. We spend thousands of dollars to get licensed and thousands more in dues and continuing education every year. Gas, vehicle maintenance, clothes, cards, paper, ink, computers, office, MLS fees, and SVVAR, AAR & NAR dues, all of this overhead is given to you on faith that you are real and are going to try to buy one of the properties that we show you. People who think “It’s fun to look, and a cheap way to spend a Sunday” with no intention of buying might as well just come into our homes and lift money from our wallets and take the food off of our tables. Also, expecting real estate agents to give up a piece of our commissions during the deal is not cool. Do you expect the barber to renegotiate the price of the haircut with you as he makes his last snip? 5: Buying real estate does not have to be a fight. Even though on paper this is an inherently adversarial process, in reality it doesn’t have to be. Some people say “Yeah, but they want to get the highest amount while I want to pay the least. Of course it’s adversarial!” I would counter with “You want to buy the property. They want you to buy the property. Your REALTOR® wants to help that to happen. Where’s the adversarial part?” Deals can get blown and relationships ruined by the attitude that we must squeeze the last drop of blood out of the “other side.” We must not leave even one smidgen of crumb on the table! Well, maybe you should leave that last crumb. Wouldn’t it be so much better after close of escrow if you felt comfortable calling up the seller and asking if they know why the trees are making that funny noise? 6. Your REALTOR® has the same fiduciary requirements to their clients that your attorney, priest, or doctor has. That’s right – a REALTOR®’s client can expect the same level of confidentiality from their REALTOR® as you expect from your priest. Our agency relationship with a client mandates: Confidentiality Accountability Reasonable Care and Due Diligence Loyalty Obedience to lawful requests Advocating and Good Advice Disclosure 7: How do I become a client instead of just a customer? Ask for, read and then sign the Buyer’s Broker employment form with your REALTOR®. If you don’t, all that you can legally expect is disclosure. 8: Yes, consensual dual agency is legal in Arizona. Your REALTOR® is legally allowed to be both yours and “the other side’s” REALTOR®, as long as everybody involved is aware of what it means and agrees and gives written permission for them to do so by signing the Consent to Limited Dual Agency form. What does signing this form mean to you? It means that the REALTOR® sort of sits on the fence in between both parties, refereeing. The reality is that sooner or later you will ask a question (How much will they really take for this property?) that your REALTOR® will answer with, “I’m sorry. I’m not allowed to answer that.” Rest assured that the other guy will get the same answer when he asks that same question (How much will they really pay?). 9. A REALTOR® in Arizona is allowed to write contracts. We’re very highly trained in contract writing, and this is part of the service. If you want to run anything by your attorney, feel free. You don’t have to, but you certainly can. If you have any question, ask your REALTOR®. They’ll be happy to explain until you’re satisfied.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
That bow and arrow story.Around age 10 my dad got me one of those little badasscompound bow beginner kits. Of course, the first month I went around our land sticking arrows in anything that could get stuck by an arrow. Did you know that a 1955 40 horse Farmall tractor tire will take 6 rounds before it goes down? Tough sumbich.That got boring, so being the 10 yr. old Dukes of Hazard fan that I was, I quickly advanced to taking strips of cut up T-shirt doused in chainsaw gas tied around the end and was sending flaming arrows all over the place. One summer afternoon, I was shooting flaming arrows into a large rotten oak stump in our backyard. I looked over under the carport and see a shiny brand new can of starting fluid (Ether). The light bulb went off in my head. I grabbed the can and set it on the stump. I thought that it would probably just spray out in a disappointing manner. Lets face it, to a 10 yr old mouth-breather like myself, (Ether), really doesn't "sound" flammable.So, I went back into the house and got a 1 pound can of pyrodex (black powder for muzzle loader rifles). At this point, I set the can of ether on the stump andopened up the can of black powder. My intentions were to sprinkle a little bit around the (Ether) can but it all sorta dumped out on me. No biggie, a 1 lb. pyrodex and 16 oz (Ether) should make a loud pop, kinda like afirecracker you know? You know what? Screw that. I'm going back in the house for the other can.Yes, I got a second can of pyrodex and dumped it too. Nowwe're cookin'!I stepped back about 15 ft and lit the 2 stroke arrow. Idrew the nock to my cheek and took aim. As I released I heard a clunk as the arrow launched from my bow. In a slow motion time frame, I turned to see my dad getting out of the truck... OH SHIT! He just got home from work. So help me God it took 10 minutes for that arrow to go from my bow to the can. My dad was walking towards me in slow motion with a WTF look in his eyes. I turned back towards my target just in time to see the arrow pierce the starting fluid can right at the bottom. Right through the main pile of pyrodex and into the can. Oh Shit.When the shock wave hit it knocked me off my feet. I don'tknow if it was the actual compression wave that threw me back or just reflex jerk back from 235 fricking decibels of sound. I caught a half a millisecond glimpse of the violence during the initial explosion and I will tell you there was dust, grass, and bugs all hovering 1 ft above the ground as far as I could see. It was like a little low to the ground layer of dust fog full of grasshoppers, spiders, and a worm or two.The daylight turned purple. Let me repeat this... THE FRICKING DAYLIGHT TURNED PURPLE.There was a big sweetgum tree out by the gate going into the pasture. Notice I said "was". That son-of-a-bitch got up and ran off. So here I am, on the ground blown completely out of my shoes with my thundercats T-Shirt shredded, my dad is on the other side of the carport having what I can only assume is a Vietnam flashback:ECHO BRAVO CHARLIE YOU'RE BRINGIN' EM IN TOO CLOSE!! CEASE FIRE. DAMNIT CEASE FIRE!!!!!His hat has blown off and is 30 ft behind him in thedriveway. All windows on the north side of the house are blown out and there is a slow rolling mushroom cloud about 2000 ft. over our backyard.There is a Honda 185 3 wheeler parked on the other side of the yard and the fenders are drooped down and are now touching the tires. I wish I knew what I said to my dad at this moment. I don'tknow - I know I said something. I couldn't hear. I couldn't hear inside my own head. I don't think he heard me either... not that it would really matter. I don't remember much from this point on. I said something, felt a sharp pain, and then woke up later. I felt a sharp pain, blacked out, woke later....repeat this process for an hour or so and you get the idea. I remember at one point my mom had to give me CPR. and Dad screaming "Bring him back to life so I can kill him again". Thanks, Mom.One thing is for sure... I never had to mow around thatstump again, Mom had been bitching about that thing for years and dad never did anything about it. I stepped up to the plate and handled business.Dad sold his muzzle loader a week or so later. I still havesome sort of bone growth abnormality, either from the blast or the beating, or both.I guess what I'm trying to say is, get your kids intoarchery. It's good discipline and will teach them skills they can use later on in life.Author Unknown
Friday, April 1, 2011
In today’s market, every savvy seller wants to know what turns buyers off so they can get their homes sold as quickly as possible for as much as possible. But buyers, take note – there is a minefield of seller turn-offs you can trigger that hold the potential to keep you from getting the home you want at the best price and terms, or to unnecessarily complicate dealings with your home’s seller. Lest you think all of today’s sellers are under the gun and will just put up with whatever behavior buyers dish out, be aware that there are still many multiple offer situations in which buyers have to compete with each other to get a home – buyers who trigger these turnoffs tend to lose in those scenarios. Also, avoiding these seller turnoffs can create a transactional environment of cooperation and avoid things turning adversarial. That, in turn, can empower you to score a better price, get extra items you want thrown into the deal, and even negotiate more flexibility around your escrow and move-in timelines – all perks that can make your life easier and your budget go further. For sellers, these turnoffs pose the potential of irritating you out of an otherwise good deal – maybe even the only deal you have! Here are a few of the most common buyer-perpetuated seller turnoffs, with tips for sellers on how to keep an emotional (and economic) even keel, even if your home’s buyer makes some of these waves: 1. Trash-talking. Trash-talkers are the home buyers who think they’re going to negotiate the list price down by slamming the house, telling the sellers how little it is really worth, how the house across the street sold for nothing, why the school on the corner should make them desperate to give the place away, etc. This strategy never works; in fact, when you attack a seller and their home, you only cause them to be defensive, and think up all the reasons that (a) their home is not what you say it is, and (b) they shouldn’t sell their home to you! Sometimes this happens with buyers who actually love a house and just walk around it fantasizing about all the ways they would customize it to their tastes while a seller is there. Sellers: avoid being at home while your home is being shown. Buyers: save your commentary for your agent; if you do encounter the seller in person keep your conversation respectful and avoid critiquing the house or the list price. 2. Being unqualified for mortgage financing. When a seller signs a buyer’s offer, most often the seller agrees to effectively pull the home off the market, forgoing other buyers who might be interested. As such, the only thing worse than getting no offers on your home is getting an offer, getting into contract, then having the whole thing fall apart when the buyer’s loan falls through – especially if that could have been predicted or avoided up front. Sellers: Work with your agent to vet your home’s buyers’ qualifications, including their loan approval, down payment and earnest money deposit – before you sign a contract. It’s not overkill for your agent to call the buyers’ mortgage pro before you sign the contract and get a level of comfort for how robust their qualifications are. Buyers: Get pre-approved. Seriously. And make sure that you don’t buy a car, quit your job, deposit lottery winnings or do any other financial twitchery between the time you get loan approval and the time you close escrow on your home. (Note: in Arizona a REALTOR® will require that a Buyer furnish a pre-approval form filled out by the Buyer's lender.) 3. Making unjustified lowball offers. No one likes to feel like they are being taken advantage of. And sellers generally know the ballpark amount that their home is worth, as well as what they need to sell it for to get their mortgage paid off. Yes – the price you pay for a home should be driven by its fair market value, rather than the seller’s financial needs, and deals are more available in a market like the current one, in which supply so vastly outpaces demand. But just throwing uber-lowball offers out at sellers hoping one will hit the spot is not generally a successful strategy, especially if you really, really want a given property. Sellers: Don’t get overly emotional about receiving a lowball offer; counter at the price you and your agent decide makes sense based on the total circumstances, including your motivation level, recent comps and the interest/activity level your listing is receiving. Buyers: Work through the similar, nearby homes that have recently sold (a/k/a comparables) before you make an offer to factor the home’s fair market value into your offer price – also factor in how much you want the place, too. Don’t be amazed if you make an offer far below asking, and don’t get a response. 4. Renegotiating mid-stream. Sellers plan their finances, moves and - to some extent – their lives around the purchase price a buyer agrees to pay for their home. If you get into contract to buy a home, find out during inspections that costly repairs need to be made, then propose a lower sale price, repair credit or even actual repairs to the seller, that’s sensible and fair. But if you were aware that the property needed a lot of work before you made an offer on it, then you come back asking for beaucoup bucks’ worth of credit or price reductions midstream, expect the seller to cry foul. And holding the seller up two weeks into the transaction because you caught a case of buyer's remorse? Not cool, and not likely to foster the spirit of cooperation you may need to get your deal closed. Sellers: avoid mid-stream price renegotiations by having a full set of inspection reports and repair bids at hand when you list your home. Buyers: try to avoid renegotiating the entire deal unless you get some major surprises at your inspections or inflating small repairs to try to justify a major price cut. 5. Misleading or setting the seller up. Remember when we talked about buyer turn-offs? Being misled by listing photos or very fluffy property descriptions was high on the list. The same goes for sellers.Offering way over asking with the plan to hammer the seller for a reduction when the house doesn’t appraise at the purchase price? #LAME Making an as-is offer planning the whole time to come back and ask for every penny ante repair called out by the inspectors? Lame squared. Sellers: If you get multiple offers and are tempted to take a sky-high one or one that claims to be all cash, consider requesting proof that the buyer has sufficient funds to make up the difference between what you think the home will appraise for and the actual sale price, and statements showing the cash truly exists. Buyers: Don’t be lame. I’m not saying you have to tell the seller exactly what your top dollar is, but making offers with terms designed to intentionally mislead is really, really bad form – and can result in losing the home entirely if and when your bluff gets called.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
You know Suze Orman - she delivers hardcore financial gut checks to everyday Americans on a regular basis. In her latest book, The Money Class, she also recently delivered a pretty striking declaration: that the American Dream - which, for many, includes home ownership and upward economic mobility - is as dead as a doornail. To back this up, she points to huge numbers of jobless and what she sees as the near impossibility of getting credit these days.
But you might also have heard of Warren Buffett. He just so happens to be the third richest human being on the planet. In Buffett's most recent letter to his company's shareholders, he, too, made a striking declaration of his feelings about owning a home: "[h]ome ownership makes sense for most Americans, particularly at today’s lower prices and bargain interest rates." And the Oracle of Omaha didn't stop there - he literally raved about home ownership, saying that "the third best investment I ever made was the purchase of my home."
Now, that's a big statement from a guy whose investment decisions have earned him a net worth over $50 billion!
Suze says the American financial dream is dead. But Buffett says buy, and buy now. Who's right? (And who's wrong?!)
Orman is right that one extreme version of the American Dream is dead. But not the traditional American Dream of owning an affordable home that appreciates over time. That basic premise of the value of homeownership is valid. But it may be valid for a smaller segment than ever before. Orman believes that renters should save, save, save up every penny and they may never be a candidate to own a home.
Buffett believes now is the time to purchase as affordability has never been better. Buffet wins here; he's right that a home is a very strong investment, with abundant yields, both financial and emotional. And according to our latest survey, the American Dream of homeownership lives on in the hearts of the 72 percent of Americans who say owning the place they live is a part of their personal American Dream. How can you make sure your exercise in owning a home is set up to be like Buffett's 3rd best investment (#s 1 and 2 were wedding rings, btw), rather than Orman's image of the American nightmare?
Here are 3 basic steps Buffett urges every American who owns a home - or wants to - to include in their approach to home ownership.
1. Ditch your "dream home" for a practical pad. When it comes to homes and mortgages, bigger is not always better. What is better is to buy a home that makes sense for your family's future and its finances. In Buffettt's own words, "a house can be a nightmare if the buyer’s eyes are bigger than his wallet and if a lender . . . facilitates his fantasy." Instead of buying dream homes, Buffett went on, the goal should be to buy a home you can afford.
2. When you buy, plan to hold. Warren Buffett is worth $50 billion, and he still lives in the home he bought 52 years ago - for $31,500. Many Americans got caught in the housing crash when they took on mortgages they could only sustain for a short period of time, then weren't able to refinance as expected. Buffett's stock investing advice has long been to avoid making investments you can't hold for at least 10 years. Likewise, buying a home should be done with a long-term plan to avoid catastrophe when home values fluctuate in the short term.
3. Mortgages should have fixed, affordable payments. In his shareholder letter, Buffett points out that a housing company he holds has done vastly better than other real estate and mortgage industry players and attributes their success to the fact that "our approach was simply to get a meaningful down-payment and gear fixed monthly payments to a sensible percentage of income." Buffett believes these two mortgage musts are the key to avoiding foreclosure, opining that "[i]f home buyers throughout the country had behaved like our buyers, America would not have had the crisis that it did. . .. This policy kept [the company] solvent and also kept buyers in their homes." Unless you are one of those rare buyers who know their income will increase by a predictable amount at a predictable point in time, like a lawyer prepping for partnership, a good rule of thumb is to stick with a fixed mortgage payment (including taxes and insurance) that's under 30 percent of your take home income.
But you might also have heard of Warren Buffett. He just so happens to be the third richest human being on the planet. In Buffett's most recent letter to his company's shareholders, he, too, made a striking declaration of his feelings about owning a home: "[h]ome ownership makes sense for most Americans, particularly at today’s lower prices and bargain interest rates." And the Oracle of Omaha didn't stop there - he literally raved about home ownership, saying that "the third best investment I ever made was the purchase of my home."
Now, that's a big statement from a guy whose investment decisions have earned him a net worth over $50 billion!
Suze says the American financial dream is dead. But Buffett says buy, and buy now. Who's right? (And who's wrong?!)
Orman is right that one extreme version of the American Dream is dead. But not the traditional American Dream of owning an affordable home that appreciates over time. That basic premise of the value of homeownership is valid. But it may be valid for a smaller segment than ever before. Orman believes that renters should save, save, save up every penny and they may never be a candidate to own a home.
Buffett believes now is the time to purchase as affordability has never been better. Buffet wins here; he's right that a home is a very strong investment, with abundant yields, both financial and emotional. And according to our latest survey, the American Dream of homeownership lives on in the hearts of the 72 percent of Americans who say owning the place they live is a part of their personal American Dream. How can you make sure your exercise in owning a home is set up to be like Buffett's 3rd best investment (#s 1 and 2 were wedding rings, btw), rather than Orman's image of the American nightmare?
Here are 3 basic steps Buffett urges every American who owns a home - or wants to - to include in their approach to home ownership.
1. Ditch your "dream home" for a practical pad. When it comes to homes and mortgages, bigger is not always better. What is better is to buy a home that makes sense for your family's future and its finances. In Buffettt's own words, "a house can be a nightmare if the buyer’s eyes are bigger than his wallet and if a lender . . . facilitates his fantasy." Instead of buying dream homes, Buffett went on, the goal should be to buy a home you can afford.
2. When you buy, plan to hold. Warren Buffett is worth $50 billion, and he still lives in the home he bought 52 years ago - for $31,500. Many Americans got caught in the housing crash when they took on mortgages they could only sustain for a short period of time, then weren't able to refinance as expected. Buffett's stock investing advice has long been to avoid making investments you can't hold for at least 10 years. Likewise, buying a home should be done with a long-term plan to avoid catastrophe when home values fluctuate in the short term.
3. Mortgages should have fixed, affordable payments. In his shareholder letter, Buffett points out that a housing company he holds has done vastly better than other real estate and mortgage industry players and attributes their success to the fact that "our approach was simply to get a meaningful down-payment and gear fixed monthly payments to a sensible percentage of income." Buffett believes these two mortgage musts are the key to avoiding foreclosure, opining that "[i]f home buyers throughout the country had behaved like our buyers, America would not have had the crisis that it did. . .. This policy kept [the company] solvent and also kept buyers in their homes." Unless you are one of those rare buyers who know their income will increase by a predictable amount at a predictable point in time, like a lawyer prepping for partnership, a good rule of thumb is to stick with a fixed mortgage payment (including taxes and insurance) that's under 30 percent of your take home income.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
banker morons
My response to a Verde Valley homeowner who made the mistake of asking "How's the market? Can I sell my house yet? What's the percentage of foreclosures?"
Hi, Viktoria. The market is.......can I borrow your words and say "so-so?"
The foreclosures are rampant. The percentages don't really matter because foreclosures are at the bottom of any price range and that's naturally where the buyers go - to the cheapest. I would, too.
"Real" people and "normal" sales all have to wait until the foreclosures are gone, or else compete down there at the bottom. The banks don't care - they'll get bailed out. They just keep undercutting the prices and driving the comps and the market lower every day.
I realize that my sentiments are not what the media is portraying, but this is what I'm seeing.
If a bank-owned house has a fair market value of, say, $100,000 then the bank/owner says "List it at $75,000! Get rid of it!" Then the next bank/owner of an identical house now has a value of $75,000 because that's the comp. And so they say "List it for $50,000! Get rid of it!"
You see where this is going, I'm sure. They're shooting themselves in the foot, and in doing so they're shooting Americans in the head.
Sorry. I do go off on rants when this subject comes up, the banker morons.
Hi, Viktoria. The market is.......can I borrow your words and say "so-so?"
The foreclosures are rampant. The percentages don't really matter because foreclosures are at the bottom of any price range and that's naturally where the buyers go - to the cheapest. I would, too.
"Real" people and "normal" sales all have to wait until the foreclosures are gone, or else compete down there at the bottom. The banks don't care - they'll get bailed out. They just keep undercutting the prices and driving the comps and the market lower every day.
I realize that my sentiments are not what the media is portraying, but this is what I'm seeing.
If a bank-owned house has a fair market value of, say, $100,000 then the bank/owner says "List it at $75,000! Get rid of it!" Then the next bank/owner of an identical house now has a value of $75,000 because that's the comp. And so they say "List it for $50,000! Get rid of it!"
You see where this is going, I'm sure. They're shooting themselves in the foot, and in doing so they're shooting Americans in the head.
Sorry. I do go off on rants when this subject comes up, the banker morons.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Lenten prayer
Fast from judgment, Feast on compassion
Fast from greed, Feast on sharing
Fast from scarcity, Feast on abundance
Fast from fear, Feast on peace
Fast from anxiety, Feast on patience
Fast from evil, Feast on kindness
Fast from apathy, Feast on engagement
Fast from discontent, Feast on gratitude
Fast from noise, Feast on silence
Fast from discouragement, Feast on hope
Fast from hatred, Feast on love
Fast from greed, Feast on sharing
Fast from scarcity, Feast on abundance
Fast from fear, Feast on peace
Fast from anxiety, Feast on patience
Fast from evil, Feast on kindness
Fast from apathy, Feast on engagement
Fast from discontent, Feast on gratitude
Fast from noise, Feast on silence
Fast from discouragement, Feast on hope
Fast from hatred, Feast on love
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