Real Estate Investing

Several years ago, a colleague who is now retired co-listed a home in Nashville that was haunted.  It was not “supposedly” haunted … it had ghosts, plain and simple.  The home seller was a Civil War buff who had gone to a reenactment with a group of friends.  The reenactment was near an old plantation house and cemetery that were haunted.  There were tales both of laughter from children and images of adults that would appear in windows.  The cemetery was full of ghosts wearing mostly confederate uniforms.

After the reenactment, the group of friends sat on the back of a pick up truck drinking… watching for the ghosts to come out as the skies grew dark.  They waited a couple of hours and decided to call it a night before their wives came looking for them.  But as the brave seller was about to get in his cab, he shouted a challenge to the spirits, “If anyone wants to come home with me, hop in the back of the truck!”   The friends just cackled with laughter and punched him in the arm jovially.  It was a fun night and the memory of it wouldn’t fade quickly.

As it turns out, it didn’t fade at all because within two nights of his return home, mysterious things began happening at his house.  Toys that belonged to his grandchildren would be found on the floor of the playroom in the morning - toys that had been on a shelf the night before.  The seller ran a business out of his house and often times when he was on the phone with a client, he’d hear a child giggling.   Once he heard a toddler crying and he ended his call to see what was going on.  He never did find anyone.

The young spirits weren’t too bad, but an older soul would sit in the rocking chair for two hours every night.  At precisely 8:20 p.m., the rocking motion would begin. At 10:20 p.m. - after the local weather went off - the seller would say, “It’s time to go to bed.” and the chair would stop.

The house went on the market for six months and it was advertised as being haunted.  But no one was interested in buying a house with ghosts.  Why?  According to Curbed Hamptons,

It seems the paranormal don’t sell houses all that well, particularly in a luxury market, so on the surface, the Hamptons is utterly devoid of spirits. A 1991 court ruling in Upstate New York scared many storytellers, when a $650,000 house sale fell through after the seller didn’t reveal the hauntedness of her house. A $32,500 deposit had to be returned after it was proven that the seller had relayed ghost stories to the local newspaper and Reader’s Digest, but not to the freaked out buyer. 

So next time you think about inviting a ghost home with you, be careful.  You might not be able to find a buyer until after the ghostbusters come in to rid your house of unwanted, invisible, cold guests.

Photo by my former colleague of the house that really WAS haunted.

Concept houses can be really interesting.   We have tiny houses, storage buildings converted to houses, cave houses, tree houses, and now…. now we may be getting airplane houses.  The idea was conceived by an entrepreneur right here in my own community - an airplane converted to a house.  But not just any airplane house, according to World Net Daily - one that can withstand hurricane force winds.

Simply put, Bennington is looking to plant a Boeing 727 on a fixed bearing 15 feet above the ground, allowing the plane to rotate 360-degrees into the direction of the wind. The 1,200-square feet of interior space would be decorated with any luxurious furnishings according to the taste of the owner. 

In addition to living quarters (once stripped of all the seats and overhead storage bins, there could be lots of room), the plane could serve as a radar station during questionable weather.  Tom Bennington, the inventor who has a patent on the design, said,

…the first aircraft/residence/weather vane would gain massive media attention, and news and weather crews could even broadcast from there during hurricane season.

I hope it does get massive media attention because I’d love to see the plan(e) in action.

Photo from World Net Daily.

A brilliant, funny, dynamic, amazing agent left our company several months ago.  Amy had earned her broker’s license, so was offered the opportunity to be the managing broker of her own office funded by outside investors.  Her business had dropped significantly while at my company - largely due to the sickly housing market - and she needed to find a stable source of income for her family.  Some investors offered her a broker position so she was paid a regular salary on top of the commissions she earned as a result of her sales.

Amy just stopped by for a visit and I bombarded her with questions about starting a new company.  My cup must be half empty today because I asked her if this is a BAD time to open a new office rather than whether it’s a good time.  Her answer surprised me,

“It’s not as risky now because business is slower, so there’s less to lose.  And I did ask myself, ‘What have I got to lose?  Why not?’”

Amy further explained that the challenge wasn’t in taking the risk, it’s getting a real estate approved office space before you can open.  She said it was difficult to get the letter from zoning saying it’s okay to have office in that location.  Then once you have that, you have to take care of everything including:  signage, obtaining a business license, have your insurance in place, ordering a phone, internet, and all your basic requirements needed to run a business.  And then you have to get furniture!!

Hoo Boy Online gives some tips about opening your own office,

Rent and start up equipment are required if you decide to open your own real estate office, and business education real estate grants can help with this. The cost of starting a new business may be more costly than you originally imagined. Starting your own agency is possible once you have been licensed. Providing you have enough money to tide through the start up phase, you will be able to concentrate on selling real estate and building a successful business that will continue to grow.

A common misconception is that you can get your real estate license and immediately open your own company.  In Tennessee that’s not true.  You must be an affiliate broker - similar to an apprentice-type situation - for a minimum of three years before taking classes and testing to be a managing broker.  You also have to earn many hours of continuing education (I believe it’s a minimum of 120 hours).  I’ve heard the state test if pretty daunting, but have never struck out on my own to conquer it.

There is some online information available about starting your own real estate brokerage firm, including this from Realtor.com.  But we’d be very interested if any readers have done this and can share their own experiences!

Photo from Luxury Home Digest.