Kick kick.

I’m still kicking that dead horse here.  Harping about MLS photos that don’t show the TRUE picture of what a house looks like.  I took a buyer to see a listing today.  It was a beautiful country setting, all-brick house, acre of land, enough bedrooms, enough bathrooms.  You’d think giddy-up, right?

Wrong.

Kick kick.

The MLS photos didn’t show the gigantic blue tarp covering the caved in roof.

I would hereby like to move that agents everywhere display honest MLS photos.  But I know it won’t happen.  When hired by sellers, our job as Realtors is to find a buyer for the house and to get the most for the seller you can get.  To do that, you first must attract people TO THE HOUSE … everything after that is negotiable.  If we’d seen the blue tarp in advance, we would have never gone to look at the house.

That picture would’ve been worth about 24 miles for me… 24 miles that I wouldn’t have had to drive had I only seen it.

Photo from here… not the actual house.

It’s been awhile since I’ve linked to Lovely Listing - the site formerly known as “It’s Lovely! I’ll Take It” that features funny, interesting, and sometimes just BIZARRE photos of homes for sale.  The author says, “I’m just trying to make myself feel better about buying a house at the absolute peak of the housing bubble.”

I was drawn back today because a friend sent me a link to a house featured on my own MLS … it rather has a party-time feel to it with the bar and spiral stairs.  The gold shag and built-in seating in other pictures add to the effect, but that’s just my opinion.

But this one is my favorite of the day from Lovely Listing … someone’s knocking at your door.

They’ve infiltrated your defenses!

Have a great Monday!

We spent a good part of yesterday evening rearranging the living room furniture so we’d have room for the Christmas tree.  We did something we’ve never done before - put the couch in front of the window.  It was the only way since I picked up a recliner for my mother-in-law this year to help her back pain.

We have decided to save on our electric bill this year and not put up outside lights.  It makes me sad, but sometimes sacrifices must be made.  I’m not going so far as to not use tree lights, but if I decided against them this would be a great alternative!

HT: Brittney from San Francisco (and she found it via Flickr).

An agent in my office described an unbelievable experience he had this weekend while doing open house at a multi-million dollar property.  Although he doesn’t have the listing, an agent from the company has welcomed him to hold open houses - it’s a win for everyone.  He might get a buyer from the event and the seller may sell.  Usually the traffic is heaviest beginning at 2:15 and lasts until about 3:00 p.m.

Sunday was no different. He opened at 1:30 and almost immediately had would-be buyers stopping in to tour the magnificent 9800 square foot home.  Suddenly six cars pulled up together and out of each clown car came at least four people.  The people were all dressed similarly - dark pants, blue and red shirts.

They were like a swarm of locusts as they picked up every flyer, including the mortgage sheets.  Suddenly they began lining up along the staircase and one of them separated to arrange them.  He took out a camera and snapped several family photos.  They then stood in front of the great fireplace, were arranged again, and had another family portrait taken.

Of course, by this time all the other buyer had made a rapid departure and no one else stopped when they saw the house swarming with people wearing the same clothes.  The extended family utterly ruined the open house for the agent in my office.

The question arose, “What could I have done?”

In a word - NOTHING.

Had he asked them to leave, he was treating them differently than other potential buyers therefore would be breaking fair housing laws.  If he said, “No pictures, please” he would have to make sure he said that to every single person who came in the door because - again - fair housing laws.  You can’t treat anyone differently.

It’s one of the darndest things I’ve ever heard about and it really sickens me that people take advantage of and so grossly abuse an open house.  The intention is to SELL the house, not be a setting for a family Christmas portrait.

What would you do?

The fun starts at 1:43 with the dirty house pictures!

Have a happy weekend!

TGIF!  Let’s take this step into the weekend with a laugh or three!  I love these silly design flaws…

The ATM may be a tad hard to reach!

And my favorite… the driveways from h.e.l.l.o operator….

I’ve spent two of the last three days showing homes to a buyer who has just four weeks to find something, negotiate, get a loan, close, and move in.  Fortunately, qualification is not an issue.  However, finding a house is.  I’m getting sick (literally!) of going into nasty houses crawling with mold.  And the things we’ve seen are crazy!  I give you part of my day in pictures!

The itsy bitsy spider was about the size of a half dollar.  Very very creepy!

I’m not sure what this was, but I had to stop and take a picture!

And finally this.  As if half doors weren’t enough for this already freakish bathroom, they put on SALOON doors.  It’s had me laughing all day!

Have you seen any interesting bathroom pictures lately?

I feel sad for Jon & Kate … along with their eight children.  Having watched my friends struggle and fail in their own marriages, it’s such a painful process. Sometimes life just happens so fast.  Meanwhile, Jon & Kate’s house they lived in during happier days is on the market for $315,000.  Located in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania, it has five bedrooms, three bathrooms, and nearly 3000 square feet.

Want to see more?  Follow this link. You can contact their agent Debbie at Brownstone Real Estate Company directly for more information.

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!

Truck for Sale.  Comes with House.

My colleague Adam Hensley posted this on facebook and I couldn’t resist.  I hope no one was home.  Hope the driver was okay.