I’ll be out of town all next week but am bringing my ‘puter and camera with me so I can update once or twice for the Shak & Jill’ers.  My sister and I are heading to Washington, D.C.  She’s never been so I get to be tour guide!  I’m pretty confident my feet and legs will be very sore when I get home on Sunday, April 5th.

One of my goals next week is to feature some of the real estate in the Washington metro area, but I don’t think there are many houses in the “mall” area.  However, I shall try..

Since I have an abundance of packing to do, I’m not going to search my own MLS finding the best of and worst of pictures.  Instead, I’m linking to West Virginia agent Jack LeVine (aka Uncle Jack) to do it for us!

Hope your weekend (and next week) is beautiful, flood free, rain free, blizzard free, and chaos free!

I started what turned into a long comment stream on my facebook account today when I said, “A Realtor’s two favorite words: Binding Contract.”

It turns out there are several more words that real estate agents like even more!

Clear to Close

Closed

Thank you, it’s been a pleasure!

There are even more words I like to hear as a Realtor:

I’m sending you an offer on your listing.

They’ve accepted your offer with no changes.

I’d like to pay a bonus for your work. (Which needs to be paid to the broker because legally a Realtor cannot accept money from any clients or customers.)

There were not major repairs found at the inspection.

You made appraisal!

What do you like to hear as a buyer, seller, or realtor?

I love a good lake front home.

One of my favorite writers – though we don’t see eye-to-eye on some things – brought this little tidbit to my attention via Google Reader.  A man lost his job and called to try to renegotiate his mortgage payment. What happened should surprise us, but given the history of credit in this country lately it shouldn’t:

Guy loses his job, calls Citibank to find out how to get help with his mortgage under the Housing Recovery Act. The operator says the government hasn’t given them the information about HRA yet yet, so can’t help him there, but offers him a Citibank VISA with a $15,000 credit limit and no interest for a year.

You just have to shake your head sometimes.

Photo from BBC News.

A good Realtor needs to stay in touch with their customers, clients, friends, family, and all acquaintances, but sometimes just doing an old-fashioned open house is a part of the back-to-basics business approach that helps them get through slow times.

I held an open house this past Saturday and Sunday and have spotted a new trend in real estate.  The lease-purchase buying option seems to have taken on a new life this past month.  The listing agent for the house I held open put a sign in the yard that said “Lease Purchase Option.”

On Sunday, about eight people came through the door and every single one asked about the terms of the lease purchase.  I think it could be for one or two reasons:  1.) They want their foot in the door to close before November 30th so they can get the $8000 tax credit for first time homebuyers, and 2.) Credit is still an issue, but buyers think that at least if they’re doing a lease purchase, they are moving toward the American dream – which I assure you is still very much alive.

The real estate questions I’ve had these last few months have been:

• Do you know an investor who will buy my house and lease it back to me?
• Can you help me find a lease purchase?
• If I sell my house now, how bad will it be?

With today’s housing report, though, I anticipate the phones will start ringing again from people who do feel secure in their jobs and who are ready to take advantage of lower mortgages and lower prices.

Listing agent Keith Bailey can be contacted in Destin, Florida through this link.

Appraisers have been terribly skittish this last year or so. They’ve definitely taken a good portion of the blame for inflated home prices – especially when the housing bubble burst – so it’s no surprise that they’re being extremely careful with home purchases today.  In my heart I believe appraisers were doing their job basing home values on sales in the last six months.  I can see where prices would climb to a beautiful crescendo based on the last six months, then the last six months, then the last six months when each month the value would leap up several thousand dollars.

And yet they bore a great deal of the blame when the market went thud.

I asked at our meeting this morning if there is a book that appraisers carry with them or have in their offices that details the value of granite counters vs. laminate vs. wood.  Or what does a 1-car or 2-car or 3-car garage add in value compared to a home with no garage?  One agent said she was made aware of a checklist years ago when she took an introductory appraisal class.  But the question remains … if an item like a fence or an above ground swimming pool will have no value in 30 years, does it add value today?

I want to get my hands on a book or guideline sheet like this because I’d love to show my sellers in black and white that their pool really isn’t worth the $25,000 they think it is.

Here’s more bout why appraisers are careful to the extreme today from USA Today,

More than 60% of mortgage fraud cases last year stemmed from falsified applications, while 28% came from tax returns or financial statements, and 22% came from appraisals, the study said.

Here more interesting information about appraisals by Mary Thompson Lake Lanier, an appraiser in Georgia.

I was watching the morning news earlier and saw someone from the Phoenix area discussing tax incentives offered by the city in order to attract buyers.  The ultimate goal was to sell the over-supply of foreclosed homes so the rest of the market could get back on an even keel.

This is a fabulous idea, but I’d take it even further if I was in charge of a city’s administration.  Here are more suggestions that I’d offer to *owner occupied* homes (I wouldn’t do this for investors looking to rent back out because you want to build a sense of community):

• Waive the water bill (up to $100 p/month) for a full year.
• Waive the sewer bill for a full year.
• If the city has a pool, offer free membership for the entire family for one summer.
• If the city has a wellness center, offer free membership for the family for six months.
• If a family moves with children, offer a $25 voucher toward the little league or soccer team for either sign-up fees or food during the events.

These types of incentives would have several benefits for communities both big and small.  When an individual or family live in a house that was formerly empty, it will have an impact on the local economy.  Restaurants, grocery stores, and other retail business will gain customers.  In addition, a neighborhood would have more value if homes are occupied rather than sitting as a ghost town.

Further, cities could extend these benefits to public servants (police, firemen, teachers, nurses) by doubling the time frame of the allotted benefits.

Cities and other communities should be thinking outside the box right now because stabilizing the economy shouldn’t just be in the hands of the federal government.  They too can do their parts!

You can control what house you buy and the neighborhood in which you live, but there’s no guarantee that you’ll land good neighbors.  You could move next door to a complete lunatic.  You could have someone who is saintly, kind, and generous.  It’s a roll of the dice, folks.

So when Michael told about a weird knock on his door last night – and it *was* a dark and stormy night – I had to raise my eyebrow on his behalf.

... I flicked on the outside light to see who it was, thus meaning I’d probably have to acknowledge this person. It wasn’t a familiar face so asked who it was and got some spiel about it being a project to meet everyone in the neighborhood and improve his public speaking skills.

I wouldn’t exactly define “public” as knocking on a neighbors door in the middle of a stormy evening.  Maybe he was checking out the neighborhood.  It would creep me out.

Photo from Swim at Your Own Risk.

Maybe I’m a day late and a dollar short, but it seems like Facebook is the new rage for Realtors seeking ways to connect with people.  I have a couple of thoughts on this phenomenon and am very interested in hearing what people who aren’t Realtors say about it.

First, it’s *fantastic* when I’ve found old neighbors, classmates, college roommates, work friends, and other acquaintances.  I’ve been reunited with many people who I’m delighted to have back in my life.  Of my 188 friends 36 are Realtors.  That’s about 20 percent for those of you who like statistics.

I’ve asked myself, why would I want to be friends with other Realtors and give them the opportunity to see my *real* friends?  And when I think of that, it occurs to me that’s the agent who is living transaction to transaction rather than in abundance.  Why wouldn’t I want them to be my friend on Facebook?  It’s a great way to attract their attention if I have a new listing that I want to show off to everyone.

Then you run into the challenge of not being on Facebook simply to *sell* to your friends and acquaintances.  I will quickly unfriend those who only post about business: look at this listing!  And will unfriend those who write this kind of drivel that annoys: having a productive day!  I think the purpose of Facebook is not to MARKET, but to be yourself.

I do link to my real estate blog so that it’s fed into my facebook and I do comment on occasion about real estate issues, but my latest update reads, “No more bad hair for at least 3 months. Just stinky hair. Why do perms smell like skunk?”  Unless you’re just being you when you write an update, then you probably shouldn’t be on Facebook. One of my greatest fears is seeming too commercial.  I do want people to know I’m a Realtor, but don’t want them to think that’s the only reason I’m there.

What do you think?