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This post on Whaleheart is just so epic that it took me some time to decide where it belongs on Shakadoo. I finally picked Shak & Jill because it so beautifully described a neighborhood in the summer.
An excerpt:
I befriend their garden, car gets a wash and we swim in the inflatable pool before dinner in the screened candlelit gazebo.
The vision painted with the words puts me there in person. *heart*
I visited my parents last weekend because my brother from New Hampshire was there for his vacation. Out of the six kids, only one and his family still live in our hometown. It’s a small town that has lost all its industry in the last 20 years. With that loss went the jobs. And when the jobs went, the people began to leave, too. They went from a population of 4,000 to 2,000, so I’m estimating in another 20 years they may be down to just 500 or so residents.
Ghost towns are popping up everywhere. That’s why I felt a connection when I looked at Lynette’s photos of Helena.
I really wanted through that blue door. I did hear a noise once coming from a hole in the ceiling (and screamed, I think) as I walked through the room but kept coaching myself–convinced I would regret it if I didn’t continue. After what seemed an eternity, I reached the other side of the room.
If I had a lot of free time, I would adore going through old houses taking photos and documenting what’s left of their lifetime.
Most people believe that now is a good time to buy and that home ownership is a good investment option, according to the National Association of Realtors. The problem is not the desire to own a home, rather it is the ability to get a loan and to feel job security. NAR said in a news release,
Pulse surveys for the past eight years have consistently reported that having enough money for a down payment and closing costs are top obstacles that make housing unaffordable for Americans. Eighty-two percent of respondents cited these as the top obstacle, followed by having confidence in one’s job security.
The survey also found respondents were adamantly against eliminating the mortgage interest deduction. Two-thirds of Americans oppose eliminating the tax benefit, while 73 percent believe eliminating the MID will have a negative impact on the housing market as well as the overall economy.
We may still have a ways to go, but that people do have overall confidence in the concept of home ownership is a good thing.
A friend of mine has her house listed by an agent who lives about 30 miles away (with about 1.2 million people separating them). It has been on the market for a full year with intermittent showings. She has dropped the price on the four bedroom house to $144,000 (from $152,000).
I believe that part of the problem is Agent Fatigue. If you have a house listed and there is very little activity on it week after week, month after month, you tend to forget about it. I know, I know… agents should always be doing everything they can to get the house sold!
But what if the agent has:
1) Advertised (and no calls come in)
2) Held Open Houses (and no one shows)
3) Done marketing flyers (they keep disappearing but still no calls)
4) Done extensive online marketing (seasons pass and the snow photos are still up)
5) Talked about it to other agents, former clients, current clients
And still… no sale. Undeniably Agent Fatigue settles in. Sometimes a fresh perspective is needed. It’s okay to find another agent. Get new photos. Get new marketing materials. Get it back on the hot sheets. A year is long enough, even for skilled agents.
One of the joys of living in the Nashville area is we sometimes have celebrity sightings. Celebrities don’t seem to mind because when they are seen, they are generally left alone by the public.
Alas, that may not be enough for Taylor Swift who put one of her Nashville properties on the market. According to Zillow.com,
Taylor Swift’s Nashville mansion is back on the market for $50,000 more than it was purchased a year ago, although median Nashville home prices
have dropped 7.8 percent year-over-year. According to the property
listing, the home is priced below “actual cost” and the listing photos
“do not reflect the latest renovations.”
Excuse me? There are no recent photos? Ms. Swift even if your home is on the market for $1.45 million – no … ESPECIALLY BECAUSE OF THAT – new photos are a must! Here’s hoping the lovely singer doesn’t make that huge mistake while selling your home.
For just $16, a squatter has claimed a $300,000 house in Texas after filing a form with the county. The home owner had walked away after a year of foreclosure proceedings and the mortgage company went under, so Kenneth Robinson claimed an “adverse possession.”
The form he filed with the County says the home was abandoned and he is claiming ownership of the house despite having no electricity or running water, but a few of Robinson’s pieces of furniture and “some things here for my own protection,” he said.
Robinson claims the presence of his belongings gives him exclusive negotiating rights with the original owner, according to Texas law and if the owner wants him out, he would have to pay his mortgage in full and the bank would have to file a “complicated lawsuit,” neither of which Robinson believes is likely.
Texas law does state that if he stays in the house he can petition for ownership in three years, possibly obtaining the full title free and clear which is Robinson’s goal.
That is amazing, but I do feel for the original homeowner who has who knows how many years of payments and potential equity that are gone.
“The Most Beautiful House in the World!” … At least that’s what the real estate company says! What do you think?
First I’d never do it because it’s morally wrong, ethically wrong, and illegal. Secondly, I can never get away with anything… and that has always perplexed me – that people get away with things like short sale fraud.a
The scam artists, usually real estate agents, will secure a legitimate bid on a home, one where the borrower owes far more on the mortgage than the home is worth. Then they arrange for an accomplice investor to make a lower offer on the home.
The agent then presents the lower bid to the lender and asks them to forgive any remaining balance owed — without disclosing that there was a higher bid made on the home. Once the short sale is approved, the scammer then sells the home to the higher bidder, often on the same day.
Unconscionable, that’s what this is. I will say that – in my opinion – about 99.9 percent of real estate agents do adhere to high professional standards and would do nothing like this. It’s a shame that just a handful give a bad name to others.
I was reading a news article today about 10 ways to turn off buyers. The experts absolutely nailed the Number One turn off for buyers… DIRT. I can’t begin to count the number of houses I’ve walked in to show buyers where we’ve spent more time pointing out filth than actually looking at the layout, room dimensions, neighborhood, or other factors that are most important.
We could *smell* the worst house I toured from the driveway, it was that foul.
“If the carpets are old and smelly, you should put in new,” he says. “If they’re relatively new, you should at least have them shampooed.”
Cannon agrees that grime can derail any showing.
“The home should be neat and clean and free of all debris,” Cannon says. “If it reeks of cats or the kitchen sinks and counters are so filthy that it almost looks like the food is moving, I won’t even want to come in.”
