Your Stop For Real Estate: 2009

Monday, October 19, 2009

Why Buyers Get Stuck Sometimes

This is worth repeating from my 2007 posting in my previous real estate blog in 2007:

Many buyers get stuck in their searches. They look and they look, but they can't find the house that they want. Toby Israel, in her book Someplace Like Home offers an insight which may explain a lot. She says, the image of our perfect living space is hard-wired into us when we are young. It changes over time, but stays substantially stays the same. Often how we feel about where we live is below our conscious level. Many buyers do not understand what they really want. Rather, they're being driven by what they think they want. She offers a number of ways to bring this material up to the conscious level.

The full citation is Tobey Israel, Some Place Like Home. Using Design Psychology to Create Ideal Places (Chichester, Eng.: John Wiley & Sons, 2003).

I'm going to unpack this in later posts. I recommend the Israel book highly. To order it, they give the e-mail address cs-books@wiley.co.uk

I'm trying to create a more informed real estate customer. Is this working?

For my thoughts on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.

Go to www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com if you would like to get a short story published.

For tips on writing and to read my book for free go to www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com.

For a proper connection strategy, go to www.referralbasedbranding.blogspot.com

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Real Estate's Perfect Storm, Force 2: Disintermediation

Wikipedia defines disintermediation as:

the removal of intermediaries in a supply chain: 'cutting out the middleman.' Instead of going through traditional distribution channels, which had some type of intermediate (such as a distributor, wholesaler, broker, or agent), companies may now deal with every customer directly, for example via the Internet. One important factor is a drop in the cost of servicing customers directly.

This has already happened to the travel industry. It used to be when I wanted to fly somewhere, I'd call up my travel agent and say, I wanted to go to San Diego on a certain date and return on a certain date. She'd say, "I'll check and get back to you." A couple of hours later, she'd call back and book the flight for me. Now, I go to the computer.

It's now happening in the entertainment and publishing industries.

Disintermediation hit me in November, 2006, it became apparent that buyers weren't using agents to the extent they were even a few months earlier. The rapid shift to the computer searches, with Realtor.com, Zillow, etc., has totally changed the industry.

I used to do "floor" time, a period of time when the sales agent would field phone calls. Before that date, people would call up and say, "I want to buy a house, is there someone there I can talk to about it?" I would say, I can help you with that and away we'd go.

Beginning with November people would more likely call and say, "I'm interested in the house at 1234 Main Street. Can you tell me about it?" I'd look it up, describe it to them, then say, "Would you like to see it?" The caller would most likely say, "No thanks, I was just curious about it."

Our office kept records for a month on what callers were looking for. To a call, it was just seeking information. The number of buyers I was working with dropped each month after that.

I'll tell you the problem with this next time.

I'm trying to create a more informed real estate customer. Is this working?

For my thoughts on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.

Go to www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com if you would like to get a short story published.

For tips on writing and to read my book for free go to www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com.

For a proper connection strategy, go to www.referralbasedbranding.blogspot.com

Monday, October 12, 2009

Rewards of Real Estate

What I like about real estate is what I can do for people. When they say, "Thank you, Tim, you changed my life. I couldn't have done it without you," that is its own reward, not any money that may come from transactions. And you have this warm fuzzy feeling with them that will last a long time.

Yesterday, my wife and I were walking around the Graduate Hospital area of Philadelphia. I had a listing over on there that I referred to another realtor when I transitioned to referral real estate. It was a total wreck. Inside and out.

We took a detour and looked around the place. People were living there so I couldn't go in of course. Nor did I have a key. They had totally redone the downstairs, maybe the upstairs too, I couldn't see. They had opened it up where it had been a dank hallway and a tiny living room previously. Around back, where there had been a crapped up "yard," about a 5-square foot dog poop-strewn bunch of dirt, and a falling down concrete block fence, they'd repaired the broken window, paved the yard, torn down the wall, and had a nice driveway. Excellent.

They had taken a wreck of a house, made it theirs, and improved the city in the doing. Fantastic. I wish everyone would do that.

I'm trying to create a more informed real estate customer. Is this working?

For my thoughts on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.

Go to www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com if you would like to get a short story published.

For tips on writing and to read my book for free go to www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com.

For a proper connection strategy, go to www.referralbasedbranding.blogspot.com

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Ego and Real Estate

A healthy ego is important in completing a real estate transaction. Your ego is your sense of yourself. You have to know who you really are and how you want others to see you. In a perfect world, people see you as you really are. An unhealthy ego is either an overblown ego, where you are the most important person in the world and everybody has to kowtow to your needs, or a underdeveloped ego, where you undervalue who you are, what you want, and what you need because you have a poor sense of yourself. This interferes with your ability to get what you should get because you give away too much.

In the film Funny Lady, Fanny Bryce, played by Barbra Streisand, gets a plum offer from Flo Ziegfeld. She says she doesn't deserve it because she hasn't suffered enough. Yet in other places in the story she oversteps her bounds by telling Ziegfeld (a god in his industry at the time) what she won't accept. He would throw her out except she was very popular. She has an ego that's sometimes overblown, sometimes underdeveloped.

This is no different than any other business transaction. Each side has to have a healthy sense of themselves, what they want, what they're property is worth, what they want, what they're willing to accept, what they want for the other person, and so-on.

There is no justifiable place in a real estate transaction for an unhealthy ego, just as there is not justifiable place for an unhealthy ego any other business transaction. A overblown ego causes trouble because the buyer or seller's emotion spills over the top and interferes with fashioning a deal that everybody can live with.

An overblown ego infects the transaction and undermines the interest of the offending party or parties. The professional becomes personal and that spells at best a rough ride for the negotiations or downright ugly scenes. This should not be a zero-sum game where whenever one side gains something, the other side loses something. It should be a win/win situation for both sides.

There is a place for emotion. Emotion should support you by informing your intellect. When you have an unhealthy ego, emotion gets in the way of your ability to make rational decisions and act in your own best interest.

You have to remember that buying a house is a business transaction, not a pissing contest.

That doesn't mean that everybody is rational. Real estate horror stories abound.

Sure you're going to react emotionally. You're looking for something that has to meet several needs at once. First off, the new house will be a home that will help you have a satisfying and comfortable life.

Second, it has to be a sound financial investment. It needs to support your life, not be one which requires you to devote your life to supporting your home.

Third, there's a reputational component. Having a house in a given area says things about you to other people. If you want to be know for being rich, you want to live where other rich people live.

Trouble comes in when you want people to see you as rich, but you aren't rich, yet you overbuy, pay too much, take on too much debt, and spend your days working to make that mortgage payment when a better investment in a less tony neighborhood would have worked better. That's why you have to figure out who you are, what you want, what you're willing to give up, and what you won't.

Like I said, a healthy ego is necessary in completing a real estate transaction.

I'm trying to create a more informed real estate customer. Is this working?

For my thoughts on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.

Go to www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com if you would like to get a short story published.

For tips on writing and to read my book for free go to www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com.

For a proper connection strategy, go to www.referralbasedbranding.blogspot.com

Monday, October 5, 2009

Set a plan

When you're looking, set a plan. Decide to see about X number of houses, where X is not more than 10, definitely not more than 20, then if you haven't seen the house you want to make an offer on, recalibrate.

If your agent has taken you to 20 houses, and you can't find one that fits your specifications, you need to rethink something. I actually think the cap should be 10, but that's just me.

Maybe look in a different price range, different area, so on. That doesn't mean that if a house comes open that fits what you want in the category you've sworn off you can't go look at it. You just have to think, "if I've seen 20, and none of them are right, what are the odds that the 21st will be any different?"

Of course, the market might change which can realign the playing field. The market is a lot like that game that comes in a box, and you tilt the surface this way and that to nurse a marble past the holes to the end.

I'm trying to create a more informed real estate customer. Is this working?

For my thoughts on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.

Go to www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com if you would like to get a short story published.

For tips on writing and to read my book for free go to www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com.

For a proper connection strategy, go to www.referralbasedbranding.blogspot.com

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Ability to Repay

One thing buyers have to keep in mind that lenders, when the evaluate a applicant's risk, that is the likelihood that they will default on their mortgage, lenders evaluate the ability to pay the mortgage, not whether you're a good guy, or smart, or anything else.

Buyers find this out when they quit their job and try to get financing for a new house or car. They may have cash in the bank, but since they aren't drawing a paycheck, they can't prove to the lender they will pay it back. Many people with very good credit yet no job are being denied a refinancing because they are perceived to be too risky by the same bank that they may have been paying back for years and years.

This is why I'm saying don't quit your job before you get the new house.

You can always try to wait until your current house sells, but in a difficult lending environment, that may take too long and that new house you wanted might away.

I'm trying to create a more informed real estate customer. Is this working?

For my thoughts on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.

Go to www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com if you would like to get a short story published.

For tips on writing and to read my book for free go to www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com.

For a proper connection strategy, go to www.referralbasedbranding.blogspot.com

Monday, September 28, 2009

Don't Change Your Financial Profile

If you have your finances pretty well in order and you think you know what you want, don't change anything that would affect your financial profile. Don't quit your job, even if you hate it keep grin and bear it for a little while longer. Don't sign up for any new credit cards. Don't get rid of your credit cards. Don't borrow any more money unless it's an emergency. Don't let them repossess your car. Keep all your insurances in force. And so on. Whatever it is, don't quit your job, even if you hate it. Grin and bear it for a while longer. Once you've bought the house, then quit if you want to.

I'm trying to create a more informed real estate customer. Is this working?

For my thoughts on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.

Go to www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com if you would like to get a short story published.

For tips on writing and to read my book for free go to www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com.

For a proper connection strategy, go to www.referralbasedbranding.blogspot.com

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Financial Institutions

If you don't already have a strong relationship with a financial institution, start one. Shop around. Interview banks. Ask your friends what banks they use. Talk to lending officers about your plans. See what they say. Then take out a checking or savings account at whatever bank you choose. The best kind of bank for you right now is a small, community bank that didn't invest heavily in real estate. It's sounder and tends to be locally controlled, so you get better service. The last kind of partner you want is some national bank who has a branch in your area, but the leding decisions are made in Chicago, the underwriters are based in Los Angeles, and appraisals are ordered out of Houston. Chances are the person you talk to won't know anyone in these far-off places and lots of weird things can happen. A local bank will more likely be locally controlled, so they'll be more responsive to you overall and a stronger partner for you.

If you're already a customer of a bank, and you're happy with it, develop that relationship. Meet the loan officer. Take him or her to lunch. Discuss your plans with them. They'll be happy to talk with you, and since you're already a customer, they'll bend over backward to make you happy because it costs far less to keep a customer than it does to get a new one. And their bosses are looking at them to see how many good loans they're making. It'll be in their interest to work with you.

Whatever financial partner you choose, treat them as a trusted advisor. Share your plans with them. If you have credit problems, get their opinions. Follow their advice. Ask them to review your credit report and tell them what you're doing to repair your credit. If you have a business, too, talk to them about that. We tend to think of banks as big cash registers. They are, but they are also an excellent source of financial and business advice.

Keep in mind, banks tend to be conservative, though there's nothing wrong with that. If the last few years have shown us anything, it's that we need a healthy dose of conservative financial practice. We paid to much for stuff, bought way more stuff than we needed, borrowed when we should have foregone and done with less. Now we're all paying the price.

For my thoughts on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.

Go to www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com if you would like to get a short story published.

For tips on writing and to read my book for free go to www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com.

For a proper connection strategy, go to www.referralbasedbranding.blogspot.com

Monday, September 21, 2009

Get Wrong Stuff Off Your Credit Reports

Once you've gotten your buying behavior in line, start on your current credit reports. Examine each of them for any false information on it. If there's any wrong information, challenge it in writing. And keep a copy. They have to come up with a result within 30 days. If they don't, they're required to take it off. Did I tell you to keep a copy? Well, keep a copy. And while you're doing that, keep a copy.

Studies have found very high error rates by these credit reporting agencies. They don't have the staff, or care, enough to check out all the data they get sent. So it's not totally improbable that there would be some information on there that's not right. This will improve your credit score just by having this stuff off there.

For my thoughts on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.

Go to www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com if you would like to get a short story published.

For tips on writing and to read my book for free go to www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com.

For a proper connection strategy, go to www.referralbasedbranding.blogspot.com

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Look in the Mirror

The first step in improving your credit score is to start behaving in ways that cause credit scores to be low. Pay your bills on time. If you're behind on any, talk to your creditors and work out a plan. Offer in writing to pay them on time and include a check with your offer. Chances are they will accept your offer which means they can stop worrying about you and go on to their next problem. Then, keep your bargain with them. If you do that, your credibility will soar in their eyes.

If you are being hounded by collection agencies, do not avoid them. Talk to them. Chances are you will be able to work something out with them. If not, you know more what you're up against.

If you really feel hopeless, find a credit counselor in your area. Many non-profit agencies have them. They'll work with you. I would not pick one I have to pay, thought, except as a last resort and then check them out so you know they're on the up and up. The last thing you want is to be victimized by the very folks you engaged to help you get out of being victimized.

If you are in this bad a shape, though, you should probably put aside the idea of buying a house right now until your finances are in order.

For my thoughts on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.

Go to www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com if you would like to get a short story published.

For tips on writing and to read my book for free go to www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com.

For a proper connection strategy, go to www.referralbasedbranding.blogspot.com

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Importance of Good Credit

My father, who worked for GE for 50 years, held over 750 patents through GE, was an expert on protecting NASA's launches from lightening strikes, voted Republican every time (he gave John Kennedy 2 weeks to prove himself--and failed of course) always said to keep good credit.

He used to say: "My dad would have lost the store if he hadn't always paid his bills on time."

His father owned the Bosworth Hardware Store in downtown Cleveland all through the depression. His suppliers cut him slack because he had built up all kinds of trust with them. My uncle inherited the store, moved it around the corner from Euclid Avenue when the neighborhood shifted from residential to business, and called it Bosworth Industrial Supply Company. My uncle has passed on, and I don't know if it's still there. I suppose I could google it.

Anyway, credit is equally important today. In looking to buy a home, make sure your credit is absolutely top notch.

Your credit score is being used more and more by all sorts of companies to decide whether they should do business with you and if so how risky a customer you are.

Mortgage companies will not lend to you if your credit score is not high enough, and they will offer you a lower if your credit score is higher.

Insurance companies will not insure your properties if your credit score is really bad. And they will charge you less the higher the score.

All kinds of companies are relying on credit scores in monetizing the risk of doing business with you.

They didn't have credit scores in my father's day, but credit was very important. It remains so today.

For my thoughts on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.

Go to www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com if you would like to get a short story published.

For tips on writing and to read my book for free go to www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com.

For a proper connection strategy, go to www.referralbasedbranding.blogspot.com

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Write Out a Plan

Here's what I said on October 20, 2007, in my other real estate blog: Real Estate 2.0."

After you've done some initial thinking on the subject, brainstormed with your family members, etc., you should write out a plan. Write it down. Have your plan cover the 5 W's.

1) WHAT kind of house you're looking for. Single family, condo, etc., along with its desired features, i.e. number of bedrooms, bathrooms, amenities, etc.

2) WHERE: Where you want to live. If you're moving to a city, what part of the city you want to live in. You may not be sure about this yet, and that's okay, particularly if it's a city you don't know well.

3) WHY: Why you're wanting a house. This may not be so simple as you think. Use a 5 Why tactic to clarify you're reasons.

4) WHEN you're going to look and when you need to move in.

5) HOW you are going to pay for it. [This is actually a H] Are you going to use cash or some sort of financing. Writing it down is the absolutely necessary. And if you don't have all the answers right then, writing it down will help you know what you don't know. After all, knowing what you don't know is just as important as what you do know.

I haven't changed my mind about the process, but I'd add two more questions:

6) WHO: Who's going to live in the house and who's going to do the looking.

7) HOW MUCH: How much can you or do you want to afford to pay.

I'm trying to create a more knowledgeable buyer. How am I doing?

For my thoughts on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.

Go to www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com if you would like to get a short story published.

For tips on writing and to read my book for free go to www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com.

For a proper connection strategy, go to www.referralbasedbranding.blogspot.com

Monday, September 7, 2009

Paranoia in Real Estate Deals

There is room for paranoia in real estate. People do try things that aren't legal or ethical. But often a buyer or seller wills say, regarding something the other side does that seems unusual to them, "What are they up to?"

Usually this happens because the other side has not appeared to have acted in a way that is congruent with the way the speaker imagines a reasonable person would act in their situation. They may mean that the other person has acted as they might.

There is always the possibility of something troublesome going on with the other side. That is by the buyer with regard to the seller, or vice verse.

Not mot of the time, though you hear enough stories that you think the incidence of skulduggery in real estate is a log higher than it really is. For example, on one of my deals, the appraiser was in th house completing the appraisal ordered by the buyer's lender. The seller, who was there to let him in, asked the appraiser when the approval process would be complete. The appraiser said (It was Friday morning at the time) "I'll have the appraisal done today, my report in by Tuesday, and the approval should come on Wednesday.

Wednesday came and went, but no bank approval. My client was on the phone to me: "What are they trying to pull. I told him it didn't mean they were "pulling" anything. Things might just be slower than expected. And that's exactly what happened. On Friday the appraisal was approved and the house settled.

The moral of the story is not to assume the worst unless the worst is justified.

I'm trying to create a more knowledgeable buyer. How am I doing?

I have some other blogs, too. For my thoughts on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.

Go to www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com if you would like to get a short story published.

For tips on writing and to read my book for free go to www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com.

For a proper connection strategy, go to www.referralbasedbranding.blogspot.com

Friday, September 4, 2009

Find Out What You Want

The first step in buying a house is finding out what you want. Sounds like a no brainer, but I mean by "what you want" is what you really want. And knowing that may not be as simple as you think.

I've had a lot of buyers who got all the way into their home buying process and found out they didn't know really what they wanted because they didn't like any of the houses I showed them. Maybe what they really wanted was not to buy a house at all.

Now maybe you have a lot of time to figure this out or you don't. You may have to buy a house right away because of a prospective move, or you lost your lease unexpectedly, like David Niven and Doris Day in Please Don't Eat the Movies.

Or maybe an opportunity for that perfect job came up at the last minute and you have to decide whether to take it or not and if you decide to take it you have to get there right away and you need a house to live in for some reason as opposed to renting right away.

More later.

I'm trying to create a more knowledgeable buyer. How am I doing?

I have some other blogs, too. For my thoughts on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.

Go to www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com if you would like to get a short story published.

For tips on writing and to read my book for free go to www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com.

For a proper connection strategy, go to www.referralbasedbranding.blogspot.com

Sunday, August 16, 2009

Buying a House Can Be Daunting

Buying a house is not for the faint of heart. It can be a very complicated and daunting.

It can involve a fair chunk of cash, a bunch of time, and lots of ego and willingness to negotiate.

It can involve a lot of people involved, agents, brokers, lawyers, accountants, investment people, title searchers, appraisers, contractors, roofers, insurance agents, lenders, foundation people.

It can involve lots of back and forth. Nasty things can be said and the police can even become involved. And special problems might

It can involve shady dealings, minky deals, and outright fraud and intimidation.

It can involve weaks of looking, soul searching, trips back and forth, deals falling through, or you can find your dream home on the first try.

Or, it can be simple and straight-forward. Aunt Eller might sell you her home for $1 on the condition that you allow her to keep it as is until she dies. She may trust you and not even get a lawyer to make it legal.

Or, an investor may come in with a bunch of cash willing to purchase the property without even going inside. If he's scoped out the neighborhood, determined rightly or wrongly that there's a lot of potential and he's going to just tear it down anyway so he doesn't care.

Or, you might be sitting at your dining room table on Sunday afternoon saying to your significant other, "You know if somebody came in here and right now offered us $250,000 for his house, I think we might just take it."

This happened to my first in-laws, John and Kathryn. They had a very big, beautiful, ranch house on a huge lot in a new development just outside Harrodsburg, Kentucky, overlooking a golf course with a great view of some of the state's finest blue grass. They were having dinner, and John said words to that very effect to Kathryn.

That afternoon, somebody knocked on the front door and said something like, "You have a lovely home. Would you consider selling it?" John invited them in, Kathryn fixed some coffee, pulled out one of very best Sarah Lee cakes from the freezer, and away they went. The rest is history. Which shows you can never tell.

A normal settlement involves a buyer, a seller, an agent for each one, a lender, and a title clerk. But there can be a lot to it and the more buyers are aware of what can be involved, how things work together, and what they have to do, the easier it will be. Not simple, but not as daunting.

So let's go to the beginning.

I'm trying to create a more knowledgeable buyer. How am I doing?

I have some other blogs, too. For my thoughts on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.

Go to www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com if you would like to get a short story published.

For tips on writing and to read my book for free go to www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com.

For a proper connection strategy, go to www.referralbasedbranding.blogspot.com

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Real Estate Appraisals for Buyers

Buyers who are buying a house should have the home appraised. If Buyer is using a mortgage to fund the purchase, Lender will require that one be done. If Buyer is paying cash, Buyer should have the home appraised to increase his confidence that the asking price for the house is consistent with the value of other homes in the neighborhood.

Appraisals are not perfect. The rules of appraising sometimes make appraisals look iffy. But for Lender, the appraised value sets the amount above which Lender cannot lend on the home.

For example, if Seller is asking $150,000 for the home, and the appraisal sets the value at at lest that amount, fine. But if the appraisal comes back saying the home is worth only $125,000, the bank cannot lend more than some percentage based on $125,000. That percentage depends upon the loan program under which Buyer qualifies.

If Buyer is using a mortgage, and Lender won't loan on more than $125,000, there would be some discussion about lowering the purchase price of the home. Buyer may say, "Look, Mr. Seller, you're asking $150,000 and this appraisal says a bank won't lend on more than $125,000. Let's talk about reducing the price."

Buyer may say that. Let's see what Seller will say next time.

I'm trying to create a more knowledgeable buyer. How am I doing?

I have some other blogs, too. For my thoughts on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.

Go to www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com if you would like to get a short story published.

For tips on writing and to read my book for free go to www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com.

For a proper connection strategy, go to www.referralbasedbranding.blogspot.com

Sunday, August 9, 2009

One Last Word on Seller Home Inspections

If you have your home inspected, which I recommend. Be aware that the inspection becomes part of the record of the house. You don't have to disclose that you had one, but if the buyer's agent asks, you have to tell them yes and give them a copy of the report if they want it. The buyer's agent will probably go ahead and order an inspection as well, but with two inspections, the confidence is even greater that both the buyer and seller know what the house is.

Be a better citizen of the community and a better partner in the transaction. Get a home inspection.

For my thoughts on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com. I have some other blogs though.

Go to www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com if you would like to get a short story published.

For tips on writing and to read my book for free go to www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com.

For a proper connection strategy, go to www.referralbasedbranding.blogspot.com

Thursday, August 6, 2009

Reason Why Seller Should Get a Home Inspection #3

The third reason a seller should get a home appraisal: Seller has ammunition to use in discussion with Buyer. If the buyer says the roof needs a recoating, and your inspector recommended a roofer look at it and you had a roofer look at it and he said it's fine, you have some rational basis to use for opposing their inspector's judgement that your roof needs work.

I'm right about this, but in 5 years of practicing real estate I haven't known a Seller of mine yet that got a home inspection. Instead, they sat back and played victim and complained about buyers just wanting to have another reason to beat back the price.

Sigh.

Don't be one of those. Get a home inspection.

For my thoughts on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com. I have some other blogs though.

Go to www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com if you would like to get a short story published.

For tips on writing and to read my book for free go to www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com.

For a proper connection strategy, go to www.referralbasedbranding.blogspot.com

Monday, August 3, 2009

Reason Why Seller Should Get a Home Inspection #2.

The second reason a seller should get a home appraisal: Seller knows what needs fixing to make the house show better and more likely to pass inspection.

Too many sellers are passive. They wait for a buyer to make an offer on their home, then wait for the home inspection, then try to have to do as little as possible to the home once the inspector gets through inspecting it.

Intelligent sellers will want to know what needs fixing. They're less likely to get a buyer trying to argue for money at settlement due to repairs. So they have their home inspected, then spend their money to get what needs fixing, fixed.

Then there's the moral question of do you want to sell a defective product. Once that home goes on the market.

People don't want to spend the money on an inspection because they think it's a cost to them. It's an expense, but it's also an investment in the sale. I'm not an accountant, but I believe that it's deductible if it's part of the sale.

I'm trying to educate buyers and sellers about real estate. Is this helping?

For my thoughts on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com. I have some other blogs though.

Go to www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com if you would like to get a short story published.

For tips on writing and to read my book for free go to www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com.

For a proper connection strategy, go to www.referralbasedbranding.blogspot.com

Friday, July 31, 2009

Reason Why Seller Should Get a Home Inspection #1

I also strongly recommend that sellers have their property inspected by a licensed home inspector before they put it on the market.

The first reason I believe this is, they learn something about the condition of their home. Example, our lights in the kitchen have seem to have minds of their own. They go on and off apparently at will.

We had a handyman in here doing some things. I asked him about the lights. "See this?" he pointed to a power cord.

I nodded.

"This is not to code," he said. We hadn't changed it. Our inspector had just missed it. We'll be sure to fix it before we put it on the market. And we'll be sure to have it inspected by a licensed home inspector before we do.

I'm trying to educate buyers and sellers about real estate. Is this helping?

For my thoughts on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com. I have some other blogs though.

Go to www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com if you would like to get a short story published.

For tips on writing and to read my book for free go to www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com.

For a proper connection strategy, go to www.referralbasedbranding.blogspot.com

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Home Inspections for Buyers

I strongly urge buyers to get the property they want to buy inspected. Get it inspected! Get it inspected! Get it inspected!

It bears repeating.

Get the property inspected. Get inspected! Get it inspected!

Are inspectors perfect? No. Are inspections 100% accurate. No. Do inspectors miss things sometimes? Yes. Do inspectors sometimes call attention to things that aren't problems? Yes.

Inspectors have their opinions like everybody else. But they reduce the risk of there being something wrong you missed.

I worked with some buyers who really liked a house in the Fishtown section of Philadelphia. The inspector came out and went through the three floors of the house and it looked perfect. We went downstairs and poked around at the circuit boards and furnace. All was great. It had been recently rehabbed; what could be wrong she thought?

Turned out, lots.

The inspector he donned his overalls and got into the crawl space under a new extension in the back. Full of mold. The builder had, to save money probably or out of either stupidity or ignorance, sunk studs directly into the ground using untreated wood and the thing was absolutely full of mold.

The buyer would never have crawled under there.

The buyer was absolutely broken-hearted. She had dreamed herself into the house. But, we turned down the house and got her money back with nary a peep from the other side. They probably knew about the mold and hoped we wouldn't think to look there. They would have had exposure should she have gone ahead with it, and the buyer would have had a train-wreck on her hands.

We kept looking and found a house she liked even better for less money and was in really good condition.

So all turned out well. I don't know what the builders were going to do about that mold problem. Probably try to sell it to some other sucker.

Get the house of your dreams inspected. Don't become a sucker.

As I said, for more on trust and on entrepreneurship generally, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com. I have some other blogs though.

Go to www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com if you would like to get a short story published.

For tips on writing and to read my book for free go to www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com.

For a proper connection strategy, go to www.referralbasedbranding.blogspot.com

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Lawyers in Real Estate Transactions

In some jurisdictions it's required to have a lawyer represent you in a real estate transaction. In New York State, I understand that attorneys actually handle the real estate transactions. Once the agent and the client has identified the home to be purchased, an attorney takes over. In some counties in New Jersey, I understand, all transactions are subject to a period of judicial review. I think it's 3 days.

In Pennsylvania, having an attorney is not required and in most cases not necessary. However, if you are unsure of yourself in a transaction, there is very specialized legal knowledge required, or you've used a certain attorney in whom you have confidence and you don't know your agent well, having another weapon in your arsenal is not a bad idea. If there are legal issues, and your agent is not an idiot, he or she will recommend you seek legal counsel. Agents are not attorneys and can't be expected to dispense legal knowledge.

My wife hired a lawyer when she bought her condo back in 2004. She didn't know the agent well, and she'd never dealt with a condo before, so she thought she should have one. It worked out pretty well. I wasn't an agent at the time, but from what I know now, I don't think he did the greatest job in the world, nor did the agent, but she was more comfortable with the transaction with an attorney representing her. He actually gave her some very good advice which encouraged us to rescind our offer on the first condo we looked at.

I have had clients use real estate attorneys. In one of my first transactions, my client said she was going to use an attorney. When she told me that I got nervous. I asked my mentor about it, and he said: "You should be happy because if something goes wrong on your end, the lawyer has malpractice insurance."

I have since learned how good that advice was.

As I said, for more on trust and on entrepreneurship generally, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com. I have some other blogs though.

Go to www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com if you would like to get a short story published.

For tips on writing and to read my book for free go to www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com.

For a proper connection strategy, go to www.referralbasedbranding.blogspot.com

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Trust in Real Estate Transactions

I've been writing a lot on Steven M. R. Covey's book, The Speed of Trust published in 2006. It's exceedingly well written and insightful and deceptively complex. If you want a fuller treatment of it, go to my entrepreneurship blog, www.hatman2.blogspot.com and check it out.

Trust is also key in real estate deals. Trust is the fuel that makes real estate go. Without fuel cars won't go. Without trust, deals won't go forward. Look at the current morass we are in.

What follows from this, each side in a RE transaction should act in every instant in a way such that the other side trusts them. That is, they're not lying, and they're going to do what they say they're going to do when they say they are going to do it, and that they're serious.

Usually buyers and sellers don't know each other. Their behavior is the only thing they have to go on, really.

As I said, for more on trust and on entrepreneurship generally, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com. I have some other blogs though.

Go to www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com if you would like to get a short story published.

For tips on writing and to read my book for free go to www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com.

For a proper connection strategy, go to www.referralbasedbranding.blogspot.com

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

How to Avoid Foreclosure

The "Intelligence Report" published in past issue of Parade Magazine has some good points on how to be proactive if you think you might have a problem keeping your home.

Here they are:

1. Contact your lender as soon as you thing you might have a problem paying your mortgage.

2. Respond to all mail from your lender in a timely manner. Did you read The House of Sand and Fog? The female character lost her home because she never opened her mail.

3. Know your rights. Read your mortgage docs and learn the law in your area.

4. Prioritize your spending. If you're not that interested in keeping your home, put it on the market right away. If you decide you really want to keep it, put it at the top of your list, except for health care, and pay your mortgage even though you might have to not pay some of your other debts.

5. Avoid foreclosure-prevention companies and scams.

6. Get help from HUD. Call (800) 569-4287, the number they give, for information on avoiding foreclosure at www.fha.gov.

If you would like to read what else I've written on entrepreneurship., go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com

Go to www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com if you would like to get a short story published.

For tips on writing and to read my book for free go to www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com.

For a proper connection strategy, go to www.referralbasedbranding.blogspot.com

Saturday, July 18, 2009

Real Estate's Perfect Storm, Force 1: DIY Culture

We live amid a perfect storm overlaid by the Great Recession, as David Brooks called it. Real estate's perfect storm was a coming together of three individual forces which, taken by itself, wouldn't have had that much affect but which, coming together and interacting, whallopped all of us.

The first force was the arrival of the DIY culture. DIY stands for "Do it yourself." It had been around for a while, but like a tsunami no one sees coming, it hit in a tidal wave sometime in 2008.

DIY culture places the locus of responsibility on the individual, which there's nothing wrong with. But it also demeans experience. Worse, it argues that if you use someone for advice, it undervalues the quality of the experience of doing something.

Coming out of an open house recently, I heard a man and a woman passing by. Each looked to be in their late 20's. I came out behind them, so they didn't see me and didn't know I was listening.

"You have to do it yourself," said the man. "It's the only way you ever learn anything."

We live in the age where expertise is consistently undervalued.

If you would like to read what else I've writing, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com for my ideas on entrepreneurship; go to qww.byandforwriters.blogspot.com if you would like to get a short story published; for tips on writing and to read my book for free go to www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com and for how to network, go to www.referralbasedbranding.blogspot.com

Friday, July 17, 2009

On Staging

Staging is not just decoration. Not just tables and chairs. Staging is finding the unique value proposition of your house and then manipulating the visible symbols of your house to communicate that proposition to prospective buyers.

So you have a house in the city that has a secluded garden with a wall around it? What does that tell you about that house that would attract a buyer? Maybe a protected environment that offers a respite from the world.

So you have a house that has a master bedroom that is a suite with a 360 degree view of the city? You have a way that a buyer can come home from work or other activity that put him above the fray and allowed him to see far and wide.

I had a client who was retiring from the Navy. He loved the navy but was ready to do something else. He saw a condo in a place here in Philly called "Naval Square." He found a unit in a building called the Admiral Halsey. Point, set, match. He could stay in the Navy without being in the Navy.

This is designed to produce more educated real estate customers. Is it working? Did you find it interesting? If you're serious about buying or selling a home, get a good agent.

For my other blogs, go to:

Entrepreneurship--www.hatman2.blogspot.com
To get published--www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com
For tips on writing and to read my book for free--www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com
For a course on networking, go to www.connecting.blogspot.com

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Six Reasons Your House May Not Be Selling

A recent issue of MSN Money, gives six reasons homes don't sell. They got the six things from Bankrate.com.

It's a good checklist. Here it is:
1. It's overpriced.
2. It doesn't "show well."
3. It's in a bad location.
4. You have a lazy agent.
5. You are battling competition or market conditions.
6. Ineffective marketing.
(http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Banking/HomebuyingGuide/6reasonsYourHomeIsntSelling.aspx)

Go to the article for more information. Or, if it's not around when you read this, contact me and I'll give you more details.

This is designed to produce more educated real estate customers. Is it working? Did you find it interesting? If you're serious about buying or selling a home, get a good agent.

For my other blogs, go to:

Entrepreneurship--www.hatman2.blogspot.com
To get published--www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com
For tips on writing and to read my book for free--www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com

Monday, December 28, 2009

Thursday, December 24, 2009

Monday, December 21, 2009

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Monday, December 14, 2009

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Monday, December 7, 2009

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Monday, November 30, 2009

Thursday, November 26, 2009

Monday, November 23, 2009

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Monday, November 16, 2009

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Monday, November 2, 2009

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Monday, October 26, 2009

Thursday, October 22, 2009