Brip Blap is definitely one of my favorite web sites to visit.  Not only do they provide great insights into money and life management, but Sean McGrath also links to some fantastic finds.  Today he brings us a post by Moolanomy that provides a link to How to Sell Your House Fast: 9 Tips To Get the Most From Your Home Sale.  Many - of course - are some of the things I’ve been saying for … well forever.  But here is one that paints the world with rose-colored glasses:

Get a Good Agent to Help You Sell. This is harder than it looks and it’s generally better to leave this to the pro. However, you have to remember you’re the boss and that we are dealing with a lot of money here. So don’t just pick any agent that comes along. Call several real estate offices and ask to talk to their top sales agents. Make sure you are comfortable working with the person and ask questions. …

Another important thing to remember is never go into an exclusive contract with your agent. You want to be able to fire your real estate agent if he or she sucks.

First, if you call a real estate office and ask to speak with the “top agent” they’re going to transfer you to the agent on duty (floor time or opportunity time).  We sign up for (or are assigned) when we are to be there to cover the phone and YOUR call will be a floor time call.  You may get someone with 5 years experience or you may get an agent who’s had a license for one week.  This is why asking questions is very important.  Remember, you’re interviewing them to hire!

Finally, I don’t know many agents who will sign a listing agreement that’s not an “EXCLUSIVE RIGHT TO SELL”  Why would we plan to spend advertising money and hours of our time for someone who threatens to pull the listing away on a whim?  Instead, put a time limit on the listing agreement - three to six months.  If during that time you are not happy with the job they’re doing, simply inform them that you want to take the house off the market.  If the agent gets huffy, ask to talk with their broker.  If they are the broker and continue to be unrelenting, tell them you plan to call the real estate commission AND CALL.

You’ll need a good reason to ask the listing to be removed, but if they just aren’t doing their job you are within your rights to find another agent.

Good luck!

Out of curiousity, I looked up on my MLS the least expensive house in the area to the most expensive.

Here’s the least coming in at just over $6,000.

And the most is a pricey $38,000,000.

Actually both have strong merits … affordability v. beauty.  I am 100 percent sure I’ll be somewhere in the middle (toward the lower end, truth be told), but it’s nice to dream of what could be - on both houses.

Do you get good customer service from the service sector?  I love hearing the two simple words, “Thank you” when I pull away from a fast food drive-thru.  I hate it when the worker barely acknowledged that I’m there but I don’t complain because I feel like the workers life must be bad enough if they’re working at a fast food drive-thru.

Last week I had the privilege of being the recipient of one of the BEST customer experiences ever.  My seller was moving his big TV when he dropped it on the hardwood floor.  Not only was the TV irrepairably broken, but it also put big dings in the hardwood floor.   He was terribly upset because he had to leave town and couldn’t fix it.  He authorized me to call a vendor on his behalf to make things right.

On the referral of my broker, I called a local hardwood floor contractor, explained we were closing in two days, and asked if he could take a look.  The contractor got there a couple minutes early, but patiently waited outside in the humidity for me.  When we got inside, he looked pretty hard but finally said we had two options:  1.) pull up hardwood from a hidden part of the house (under the fridge, the pantry) and replace the boards with the dings, or 2.) fix it with putty so it blends in an no one needs to know.  His recommendation was to try choice #2 and I said, “Oh heck yes. Let’s just try to repair.”

After he made the repair, he said the high gloss look would eventually go away (I was nervous) and it would take about four hours to dry completely.  I asked how much was owed, and he said, “No charge!  You’ll remember to refer me next time!”"

I have already referred him to at least three other people in less than a week.  I plan to write about him on my community blog site because his work was outstanding.  That was truly a GREAT customer service experience!

I did disclose the accident to the buyer’s agent and that it had been repaired, but because the buyer had been extremely picky up to that point, I paced.  The buyers looked at the repair and they were fine with it!

In an interesting development of this struggling real estate market (yes I know to say “struggling” could be debated since sales were way up in July … tell that to my husband and our checkbook), the shoe seems to be shifting to the other foot in some cases.

Recently we’ve noted a turnaround in the sales process.  Instead of buyer writing offers to sellers after they’ve toured a home and decided they love it, SELLERS are writing offers to buyers.  The legal question came from our state association of Realtors, “As the buyer’s agent, if I receive an offer from a seller, do I legally have to present it to my buyer who may have no interest at all?”

The answer is a resounding yes.  We have a duty that we owe to clients - and it doesn’t specify whether clients are buyers or sellers - to present all offers and counter-offers.  As in any negotiation, however, the buyer and the seller can say one of three things:  Yes, No, or Maybe (a counter).

I think this strategy is riveting… it’s one I’ll definitely put in my head as a possible way to sell a house on behalf of my listings.

One reason I love living in a house rather than an apartment is that we can break out the grill every summer and feast on burgers, chicken, steak, and hotdogs.  I’m sure there’s more, too, but those four items are about the extent of my grill mastery.

This weekend, however, I took up the challenge of grilling kabobs … both veggies AND meat.  I wrote a guest post for the gals at Home Ec 101 and am posting here as proof that I do sometimes cook at home!

I attended a class this morning called “Agency and the Agency Relationship for Real Estate and Auction Professionals” - free continuing education classes are good especially when I have to have 16 hours by the end of the year!

The auctioneers both hosting and class and in the audience stated repeatedly how much they love working with real estate agents.  With my own company, we can make “auction referrals” to our auction team in certain selling situations.  For example, if the seller has a lot of equity and needs to sell the house FAST.  Of course the auctioneers love these referrals … I don’t know for certain that it’s their bread and butter but I’m fairly sure that referrals really do help them stay in business.

However, after the class I’m not entirely convinced that auctioneers do like real estate agents … on the buyers’ side anyway.  While they say they try to allow buyers the opportunity to inspect the house in the 10-day window that the home is being advertised for auction, in reality it’s hard to find an auctioneer agreeable to meet the agent and buyer for the inspection.  And there are no lock boxes to gain a key for entry.

In addition, unless you register your buyer 48 HOURS in advance of the auction, they are not considered your buyers according to the auction company.  Okay… that’s fair enough.  I wouldn’t like if I was auctioning a property and an agent just showed up and said to a person attending, “Hey neighbor. Let me say that I’m representing you and I can get paid by the seller!”  I agree there must be a way to manage random agents from showing up the day of and saying they represent someone just to collect money for nothing.

HOWEVER, the auctioneer teaching the class said with the 48 hour notice they require, they also require the agent to provide the agency agreement form to PROVE to the auctioneer they are really working with the buyer.  To me - and this is just my opinion - that’s overkill.  If you have a buyer and take the time to register them 48 hours in advance with the name, address, phone number, etc. of the buyer, then that should be proof enough you ARE working with them.

Again just my opinion, but give me a break. Auctioneers should welcome agents who bring buyers, not dig in their heels and make them PROVE IT.

Let’s have a show of hands here… you pull up in front of a home and see weeds in the flower bed, spider webs on the porch, and dog slobber all over the front storm door.  You walk inside - expecting the smell of wet dog fur - and find a cluttered living room with nail holes in the wall.  As you enter the kitchen, the counter is covered with cannisters, a knife block, toaster, blender, paper towels, coffee maker, and a salt & pepper shaker.  On top of the fridge are a line of cereal boxes: Fruit Loops, Shredded Wheat, Special K, Count Chocula, and Cheerios.

The shower curtain is drawn in the bathroom and the sink has a toothbrush, toothpaste, soap, hand lotion, astringent, cotton balls, Qtips, and floss.

In the bedroom you find three dressers, clothes draped over a chair, 29 pictures on the wall of family members, one Holy picture, and a pile of magazine and books on the side table.

I wouldn’t want to buy this house, would you?  Clearly the home has been lived in - and that’s okay.  But I do not want to live in someone else’s memories, so to sell you need to provide a CLEAN, NEAT slate.

Carol-Jean Dixon of Latter & Blum Realtors in New Orleans wrote a great post about staging a home for fun and profit. My favorite part,

Consider removing (gasp!) about 30% of your furniture. This will visually open up your rooms and allow for more space, a key component of every buyer, young or old. Everyone is looking for more space when they buy.

Read the rest of Carol-Jean’s post… she’s got some great ideas that we can all benefit from!

While I am dedicated to my buyers and sellers, my commitment falls a little short for them … I won’t fall on a grenade.  In fact, if I walked into a home and saw a grenade on the floor, my advice would be like The Real Estate Bloggers, “Here is my takeaway from the incident, if you are entering a newly foreclosed upon house and there is something wrong, like a grenade on the floor, get the hell out of there quickly. Don’t pick up the grenade to see if it was real.”

I second that motion!!

In Georgia some apparently disgruntled homeowners who’d been evicted left a grenade as a nasty surprise. Be careful with foreclosures.  They can be great buys, but it never hurts to by wary.

Want a grenade lamp?  Go here.

The only thing I see true on this spoof is the use of the word “Doll House” … it’s my personal pet peeve.  I hate when agents say their listing is a doll house!  It makes me want to make pink tissue paper flowers, not buy a house!  Meanwhile, this is kind of funny … untrue, but funny.

I’m going to hurry and write about this phenomenal faux finish that my pal Ginger pointed out on her site - Ginger Snaps - before Ivy posts it on ShakHammer!  If I was to go on a listing appointment and saw leather walls in a bathroom or bedroom, especially well-done, I’d be elated!  Ginger takes us through the process step-by-step and even posts pictures!

As I said before, it’s a tedious process, so you gotta have somebody to laugh with and good tunes.  I highly recommend some good Bee Gees and 70s music.  Definitely music with a beat.  Jan about kilt me with the ballads at one point…but I forgave her because she made me laugh so hard.  I’m telling you we were like Lucy and Ethel trying to turn those ladders and step stools around without falling over each other.  It was great fun!

Go read how to do it and send me your pics!