Real Estate Investing

Brian’s wife eats a lot of fruit, so he needs your listing!  This was too funny!

I just saw the cutest post at Active Rain by Marc Rasmussen - Sarasota Real Estate where he wrote the 15 things he loves and hates about the real estate business.  I’m going to write my own list (maybe not as long) before I read his so we can see how much alike Realtors are.  Here’s a link to Marc’s if you want to get started on his!

1. I love helping home buyers get into their first homes.   Hands-down the BEST part of the job is the look of joy on their faces at closing and sometimes tears!  I hate it when my buyers lose a bid on a home because they refuse to go $500 to $1000 more.  In the bigger picture, it’s just not worth losing your dream home over that amount.
2. I love showing houses… the drive, hilarious conversations, seeing gorgeous homes, seeing how to NOT decorate.  I hate walking into houses with bad smells and sticky floors.
3. I love clean contracts… those offers that are solid, reasonable.  I hate writing contracts that are piled high with silly contingencies like “contingent upon airport flight pattern not to exceed 20 planes per day”… don’t write a contract if it comes down to that.
4. I love inspectors who don’t kill a transaction because of fear mongering.  I hate it when inspectors cast only gloom and doom even when a simple fix would solve a problem.
5. I love it when my phone rings.  I hate it when I hear crickets and birds chirping.
6. I love it when a CUSTOMER calls my phone.  I hate it when a salesman calls “would you like to increase your google ranking?”  Yes I would but not for $29 p/month.
7. I love it when the appraisal comes in above the contract purchase price.  I hate it when it comes in lower… a phenomenon that has become more commonplace this year.
8. I love it when I can tell people no.  You will be better off not selling right now, don’t put yourself in a bad financial bind… wait a little bit.  You will be better off not buying right now, save more money, establish a stronger credit history.  I hate it when I have to tell people no.
9. I love how real estate opens the door to meeting people in the community. For example, a friend called late last night needing help with a chili dinner. I made one phone call and had 160 servings of chili donated.  I hate sometimes how everyone expects you to help even when you can’t.
10. I love that we have title companies available to protect buyers from making purchases with other liens.  I hate that future claims aren’t protected unless a buyer purchases an enhanced policy.

Okay, here’s my favorite from Marc,

I love when a buyer doesn’t spend too much time in a house they know they won’t buy.

I hate when a buyers knows within the first few minutes of seeing a home that it won’t work for them, however they spend the next 15 minutes visualizing placement of their furniture or critiquing the house.

That’s sooooo true.  It makes me cringe just reading it!

Photo by Recycled Stardust via Flickr Creative Commons.

I was giving such consideration to writing a post about cleaning your sign that I actually took photos of my sign before, during, and after a good scrubbing.

BEFORE

DURING

AFTER

See?  How gross!!  Anyway, while I was *thinking* about writing this, Texas Realtor Deb Brooks actually wrote the post about what your real estate sign can say about the house that’s listed,

Remember what they say about a persons home? If the yard is trashed it’s probably the same inside.

Well, your sign speaks volumes of the way you conduct your overall business. Keep them fresh…

The perfect progression is of course…FOR SALE, OPTION PENDING, PENDING AND THEN SOLD.

She is absolutely right.  If your home is on the market for sale, just as you’d keep the trash picked up and the lawn mowed, the real estate sign should also be clean.  Your agent should bring the sign already clean before it goes in your yard, but if the home is on the market for awhile, it would be okay to either spray it down yourself or ask your agent to come and clean it.  You want that sign to be a reflection of a home being properly maintained and cared for!