For those of you who know me, "pushy" isn't really my style. I've always believed that people decide to buy property based on their own life factors, and me doing a 'hard sell' for real estate isn't necessarily going to make someone buy a property if they weren't already considering it.
Well, today I'm going outside my normal comfort zone to tell you: BUY A HOUSE.... SERIOUSLY, BUY A HOUSE.
I keep thinking that for buyers, things just can't get any better.... And then, they do. Rates again dropped last week, putting a 30-yr fixed rate at 4.0%, and an FHA 5-1 ARM at 2.75%. Seriously, if you don't own a house now, it's time to change that. Prices are down, interest rates are down. Inventory is also down, which (if history & the laws of supply & demand are any indicator) will drive prices upward soon.
If you can swing the monthly payments, and are ready for the responsibility of home ownership, it's truly time.
Monday, September 26, 2011
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Dear Home Sellers...
I'm feeling very frustrated today. Having just sold my own home last summer, I know that when your house is on the market every day feels like a week, and every day that goes by without a showing you begin to wonder, "Will anyone ever look at my house again? Will it EVER sell?"
And each time a showing request comes in you get that little pang, "This could be IT." You scrub, you clean, you deodorize, you stash, you illuminate, you vacate.... You come home to find no footprint marks on your vacuum lines, no business card of the agent who was supposedly showing the house, no lights have been turned off. Did anyone even show up?????
You wonder and you wait...
And then the feedback comes in... sometimes days later. Vague feedback (seriously, were they even in the house?), or sometimes no feedback at all. Even worse, the feedback that says something like, "Buyer doesn't want a house without central air conditioning." Let me tell you something, fellow agents: if a house without central air is a deal-breaker, look it up on MLS before you go out looking at houses. It says right on the listing report whether the house has it. Do you know that my sellers spent all morning cleaning, polishing, wrangling children and dogs, and making cookies for you & your buyers only to have you reject the house for something that you could've very easily seen online?
(Yes, agents...I know, I know... sometimes a buyer doesn't know what he wants---or doesn't want--- until he sees it. That will be an entry topic for another day.)
Ugh. On behalf of all of the decent real estate agents out there, I apologize to you, Home Sellers. Most of us try really hard, most of us give constructive feedback, and most of us know how to turn off a light. Hang in there. Statistics currently show that houses in the Twin Cities are selling after an average of 22 showings, so keep that vacuum handy--- it might take a while, but eventually you'll get just the right buyer with just the right agent and you'll get that SOLD sign up.
And each time a showing request comes in you get that little pang, "This could be IT." You scrub, you clean, you deodorize, you stash, you illuminate, you vacate.... You come home to find no footprint marks on your vacuum lines, no business card of the agent who was supposedly showing the house, no lights have been turned off. Did anyone even show up?????
You wonder and you wait...
And then the feedback comes in... sometimes days later. Vague feedback (seriously, were they even in the house?), or sometimes no feedback at all. Even worse, the feedback that says something like, "Buyer doesn't want a house without central air conditioning." Let me tell you something, fellow agents: if a house without central air is a deal-breaker, look it up on MLS before you go out looking at houses. It says right on the listing report whether the house has it. Do you know that my sellers spent all morning cleaning, polishing, wrangling children and dogs, and making cookies for you & your buyers only to have you reject the house for something that you could've very easily seen online?
(Yes, agents...I know, I know... sometimes a buyer doesn't know what he wants---or doesn't want--- until he sees it. That will be an entry topic for another day.)
Ugh. On behalf of all of the decent real estate agents out there, I apologize to you, Home Sellers. Most of us try really hard, most of us give constructive feedback, and most of us know how to turn off a light. Hang in there. Statistics currently show that houses in the Twin Cities are selling after an average of 22 showings, so keep that vacuum handy--- it might take a while, but eventually you'll get just the right buyer with just the right agent and you'll get that SOLD sign up.
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