Recent Posts

• If You Can’t Get Them In The House, You Can’t SELL The House

  It is amazing how people can throw together a green couch and a yellow pillow and call it interior designing.  I can’t match my clothes, let alone trying to make a house match.  What a waste of time.  If people would spend as much time on marketing their homes as they do on making it look pretty, they would have a better chance of selling them. 

  Look at it this way.  If you had the nicest looking home in the neighborhood (on the inside) but no one knows about it, what are you accomplishing?  It is nice to be good with designing things and making things look pretty.  To be honest though, if you can’t get them in the door, your not going to sell that pretty house.

  Take feng-shui for example — this is an ancient Chinese art and science developed over 3,000 years ago which involves proper alignment and position of all matter and objects, namely furniture.  This is real popular in major metropolitan cities and is just one form of interior design used by some homeowners.  If I walked into a house that had good feng-shui, I wouldn’t know it –  I would however notice if the couch is facing the wall instead toward a TV or window.

  No matter what you do to make the inside of a house attractive, and I am not saying it is not important to have a clean and tidy home to show, you have to make sure you market the house enough to draw in the customers.  If you can’t get them in there, what good is it in having a green couch with yellow pillows to show off.

  
  

• The Future Of Real Estate Is Upon Us

  While driving to my office after meeting with a client, I was contemplating whether it is good to allow technology to run my business as much as I allow it.  From setting up my showings through the Internet to writing contracts directly on my touch screen laptop..  the answer is an astounding YES! 

  With the wonderful advancements we have made in real estate compared to the old hard copy MLS print outs that use to be handed out to local brokerages, we are really in a good time for real estate.

  Considering all the gadgets and gizmo’s out there in the world of real estate, its only a matter of time before buyers can basically show houses themselves.  Pretty soon it will be almost impossible to ignore how easy it is to see that house down the street you were dying to critique with little or no agent interaction.  With the invent of things like virtual tours, blackberry phones, and touch screens – we just can’t help but find ways to make it easier to show and sell homes.

  By the time I reached my office, ideas had overwhelmed me.  Virtual tours so advanced that a buyer may get so immersed with a house that they need not leave their computer to have confidence to hit the BUY button! 

  Imagine for a moment, cameras through-out a home with panoramic views that rival that of Google-Maps.  Its almost here and there’s no way to stop it.. unless the owners don’t like to see their home sold like eBay vs reality TV.

  
  

• Knowing when to say NO!

  I had an interesting morning looking at a home that had potential, but alas, was a real fixer with more than its share of problems.  What a piece of work! 

  Mold.. and i am not talking about the green kind on food, this is toxic black mold — so much in fact, it looked like there was fire damage.  There were signs of foundation problems so extensive that the upstairs slanted into a V formation.  All the doors were not only open, but jammed. 

  Why is it so hard to just walk away from a deal?  Every now and then you have to just say ” This one’s just not worth my time”. 

  Sometimes there are things that just need a little TLC and then there are those that just cannot be fixed.  Carpet, roofs, foundations, siding, and even sheet-rock are some things that deter buyers from moving forward on a purchase.  These issues can often times be addressed for very little cost, but I tend to look a bit deeper, delve more into the real problems.

  Does the house your buying for investment have major foundation issues — i’m talking about the kind that has made the exterior buckle, roof to sag, and most importantly, damaged the plumbing.  This is where your real problems are going to be and sometimes hardest to see and fix.  Electrical will usually be another expense that can really run up the tab, so your certainly going to be needing an inspection on all and I mean ALL purchases.

  Even the real pros know their limits.  Gosh!  I can’t think of a single investor that I know that would not turn down a really problem house if it wasn’t going to make a descent profit.  We don’t work that way.  We invest, therefor we are looking to make a nice profit.  If the repairs are going to devour the profit, we move on.

  Next time you walk into the house from hell — step back and breathe.  Then ask yourself, “If I don’t buy this house, who will?”  You will then know whether you can wholesale it to someone else, rehab it yourself, or run like a bat out of hell!

  
  

• Is It Good To Buy A House Near A School?

  We all have been in school at one point in time or another and have walked uphill both ways to get there, right?  With all the commotion, children crossing, bus stops and even afternoon pick-up traffic, what makes living near a school so popular and better yet - good. 

  As with most things, high marks will most always constitute a higher price, so when a good performing school district is present, many may flock to it.  Many families value a good school system as a high importance factor in their home purchase.  Most people are able to discern between the good and bad schools based on overall performance, area crime, and sometimes just word of mouth. 

  There can alternately be some factors about homes near schools that can detract from its value, such as variable noise levels, the asthetics of the school itself and whether the buyer even has children to begin with.  Taking into consideration that most schools are near public offices such as police stations and libraries can also add to the equation, so paying close attention to other criteria may be needed to determine its real value.

  In more cases than not, areas that have appreciating home values will usually host above average performing schools than those areas with significantly depreciated values.  This shows that investing or buying your home near good schools can be a great advantage when it comes to appreciation and more importantly, child development.