Make sure you Drive by it at different times of the day and night!

  During one of my many showings this week, I was very surprised (mouth gaping open and all) at a very unusual site.  My clients, who are an adorable couple, took sometime to become aware of the situation.  Since I had been outside waiting for their arrival for a few minutes, I had plenty of time to scope out the neighborhood.
  The property we were previewing was lovely, great curb appeal in a well established neighborhood surrounded by homes of greater or equal value, somewhere in the low to mid $200,000.00
  As I sat down on the step to wait, I noticed the neighbor across the street was sitting in his driveway, open garage door and all, just relaxing. I thought to myself; "he's probably working on something and is resting in between breaks" until....I noticed his lovely wife drag a SECOND chair out unto the driveway to sit next to him, now I was intrigued.  See, they were both staring into the garage from the driveway, and from my limited view into their garage, I couldn't tell what it was they were looking at so intently.  I kept waiting for them to close the garage door (believe me it wasn't a pretty site), thinking "they'll be done soon, and they probably don't want me, and everyone else looking into their messy garage"...I was wrong.  Two minutes later, their son drags a THIRD chair out from the garage, unto the driveway...now I had to look.  So I got up and walked up to the side yard of the property we were going to preview, and that's when I saw it...a BIG flat screen TV  on the Garage Wall!!!!  I couldn't believe it!!  They were watching TV from their driveway! Apparently this must be everyday, they get home from work, pop open the garage door (with the cars in the driveway of course) and pull chairs out to watch the tele, while the whole neighborhood watches them.
Here's my point; When you find a property that works for you, and you think this is the one....DRIVE BY IT! drive by it at different times of the day and night, so you'll have a better feel for the activity in that neighborhood...you don't want any surprises on move in day.
  So go for a drive before you buy, you'll be glad you did.

Need some input..

A client is looking at some Land to Develop for Apartment Complex development, and I would love to have some input from my readers, especially if you're currently leasing or will consider leasing in the next year or so. What is the preference between 1 and 2 bedroom apartments? I've come across too many customers lately that tell me they're looking for a 1 bedroom apartment but just can't find one, so I'm starting to wonder why we don't have more to offer if the demand is there. I know that a lot of clients will lease a two bedroom just because they can't find a one bedroom apartment, but is the demand really that high? I've even had calls from clients looking for a small apartment for their parents who wish to downsize, and just can't find a nice, one bedroom apartment where they would want their parents to live. It'll be interesting to know what the consensus is. Look forward to hearing from you.

Would you consider a listing that had just a couple of pictures?

Going through our Multiple Listing Service today, I noticed yet another new listing worth close to 1/2 million dollars with just two pictures. As a Realtor, I've always tried to promote my clients properties to the best of my ability, and that includes as many pictures as can fit in a listing, so that when our system is promulgated to other websites my client's property will have the best chance to stand out in a sea of properties. So why do sellers not follow up on their listings and see them through a buyer's eyes? I think that mostly, Sellers don't take the time to review a listing after it's been uploaded to the Internet, they just assume that all is well. I've asked buyers if it makes a difference whether or not a listing has pictures or even a virtual tour, and their response has been that; when a property has a couple of pictures, or no pictures of the interior, they dismiss them, they assume the property doesn't show well and they'll pass it up and go to the properties that have outdoor as well as indoor pictures, or better yet, virtual tours. They just don't give that listing a second chance, and unfortunately in this business, if you don't get them to look at your property on the first try, you many not get a second chance.

Why Wait?

Are you still waiting for the perfect time to buy a home? Well the time is now, with the exhistent buyer's market a lot of good deals are waiting for you, not to mention the fact that most sellers are willing to contribute towards buyers closing costs or negotiate their sales prices in order to make a sale.
Another great reason to buy now is the First time Home Buyer Tax Credit, which has been extended to include current Home Owners, but you have to hurry because the Tax Credit Expires April 30, 2010.

Call me to set up an appointment, I'd be glad to sit down with you and go over the details.

Victim of Circumstances

I received a call from one of my clients the morning before I went into the hospital, asking me to talk to her Landlord on her behalf, because she could no longer afford to pay the rent, and she would be vacating the premises soon.
I leased her a property after I sold her home, and she and her son moved in soon after. They were both very happy with the condominium. It's a beautiful condo in a gated community. The landlord gave her a deal on the rent and she ended paying $150 less per month than the rest of the tenants. Because of the discount, she decided to sign a lease for two years, so she wouldn't have a rent increase after one year.
Here we are, a year later almost, and like everyone else in the country, she's having a hard time meeting all her expenses. Now that her son is in College and as a single Mom, although she's tried to keep it together she can no longer afford to pay for the place. This is not a person that takes her responsibility lightly. She understands that breaking a lease is not in her best interest, but it's either that, or declare bankruptcy. I've talked to the Landlord and although in no way has she told me that she will hold the tenant harmless, She's agreed to let me put the property on the market. I've tried explaining the situation to the Landlord and she tells me all she cares about is leasing the property, if the tenant can find someone to lease it, she'll take her off the lease. So I hope that I'll be able to lease it immediately and have everyone happy. My client is a great person, and I know that if circumstances had been different, she would have honored her contract.

Life Goes on..

I really didn't mean to be away so long. Unfortunately I ended up hurting my back (still don't know what I did) and have been in the hospital since last week. I was released last night, and I'm so thankful to be home. I've got a lot of catching up to do, and since I can't drive or move around, I'll have time to answer emails and get back to missed calls and messages. I'll be posting soon, so check back to see what goes on this week and next. I'll keep you posted.

A piece of the American Dream, A Place They can call Home!

I'm so pleased for my customers, they are now proud owners of their first home. A beautiful 5 bedroom home that is sure to be the center of many family gatherings. There was a time we thought this day would not come, but with every one's help, and determination we did it! They are great people and I'm proud to have helped them in realizing their goal of owning a home they can be proud of.
This is the first time in my Real Estate Career that I've ever had FHA come back and tell us they would not guarantee a loan. Because of findings during the appraisal process the lender decided it was risky for them to approve the property and felt that the seller was trying to dump the property on the buyers. We had done our homework and knew that all the lender needed was clarification from the right sources to feel comfortable with the loan. After much work and time, it was approved and closed. I'm happy to report that Team work done between both selling and listing agents, engineer, appraiser, and mortgage broker, all made a huge impact on how this deal was turned around. Of course the buyers were the ones that never lost faith, and because of that I worked harder to make sure they got what they wanted......A piece of the American Dream, A Place They can call Home!

Seller Beware!

I submitted an offer on behalf of my clients last week, for a small home in the North Central Area. The seller took approximately 4 days to respond. When he finally responded, he countered with a slightly higher price and changed the property condition terms to reflect that the property was being sold "as is".
To give you some background; this is a property that has been in the market for the past year. Several different Real Estate offices have listed this property but so far none have been able to sell it. Could it be the seller is set on the value of his property? The property is overpriced for the area, it's over 20 years old and although it's in fair condition, the garage was converted leaving you with a property that is no longer comparable with the area around it, what we call curable functional obsolescence. You also don't have a Private back yard, the home is part of a HOA that is comprised of about 20-30 homes that share a backyard and pool. This already makes it a hard sale..most homeowners want to have a private backyard that they can relax in, and share with their families and friends.
So going back to the offer, I have to ask my buyers to consider whether or not the enclosure of the garage and the lack of a private backyard, adds value to the property for them or not. As a Real Estate professional, I have to deduct value from the property because it has an enclosed garage and is lacking a private backyard, so instead of going with the square footage they're disclosing, I have to deduct the amount of square footage from the garage, giving me a much lower value than what the property is marketed at. I feel our offer was more than fair, and advised my buyers to stand firm...Homes in that area have sold for $30,000 less than what this property is advertised for, and the fact that it's been in the market for so long stigmatizes the property. When a property sits on the market for a long time, buyers assume there is something wrong with it, or that the seller is not negotiable on their sales price. So the seller has lost the ability to negotiate.
In this case, what killed the deal for my buyers was the fact that the seller wanted the buyers to accept the present condition of the property "as is" prior to inspections. This became a big concern for my buyers....they came to the conclusion that the property has probably been in the market this long because something major is wrong with it, and the fact that the seller won't consider negotiating repairs after inspections, told them that he was hiding known defects about the property that could be revealed during a home inspection.
This takes me back to my title for this blog..Seller beware, this is a buyer's market, if you don't want to sell under the current market conditions, take your property off the market and wait for the market to flip back to the Seller's side.

What Order?

According to our previous contractor (the one that's awol), the outdoor light fixtures were ordered months ago and had been in his warehouse for months, just waiting to be installed. He was paid 50% of the cost when he placed the order and the remaining 50% when they arrived according to him.

My client came into town yesterday and directed himself to the Company where the items were ordered, and found out that the contractor placed an order for only half of the light fixtures, and paid only $600.00 deposit with a credit card!!! Since he never went back to pick them up, they sent them back! To top it off, the contractor called the company trying to get a credit on his card since they sent the light fixtures back. I must say he has a lot of nerve. My client paid this man $5,000.00 to order 8 light fixtures and that's not including installation, which was also paid for in advance. My customer had to reorder the items and of course pay for them, again.

If you're in south Texas, on the IH 35 corridor and are working with a contractor, I hope for your sake you're not working with the same person. I know he's currently working on some project in Eagle Pass, Texas, and I'm sure the money that he stole from my client probably went to cover for the money he's stealing from his current project. Of course my client will proceed in legal form against him, but what a shame it has to come down to that.

Anything else?

It seems Mondays are always the most hectic of all days in the week. Getting over the weekend is hard, especially when you worked all weekend! Today I've got a million things to do, and to top it off tomorrow I'll have to deal with building repairs that were not finalized by the previous contractor. Aside from shody work, the contrctor went "missing"and won't return our calls, he has also taken materials and money for work that was not performed. As it stands my customer has a huge loss in time and money. We've had a buyer waiting for the repairs to be finalized and at this point do not know whether or not he'll follow through with the purchase because he needed to occupy the property by the end of the month. So we'll see what happens tomorrow and hope for the best.

Forclosed Homes

It seems that these days we don't have the same inventory we used to have in relation to Foreclosed homes. Our market has been able to absorb a high percentage of foreclosures. Some of these homes last only a couple of days before they're contracted. I've noticed that there are less and less homes being foreclosed on in our area...it seems that most of the loans that had ARM's are coming to an end, and we'll see less foreclosures toward the end of the year and next year. I've seen it all when it comes to foreclosure...the homeowners side and the investor side of it. Although I'll definitely miss the action, I must say that I'm happy to know that less homeowners are losing out on their biggest investment.