Real Estate Entropy

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Brian Miller
Realtor/Broker NC/SC
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Did You Put on Your Clean Underwear…?

January 4th, 2009 categories: Buyer Info, Off-the-Wall, Real Estate Investing, Real Estate News, Seller Info

Underwear

This was originally posted in April last year, but is one of several posts that got affected via a hacker invasion. It randomly came up in a discussion yesterday, so I thought I’d re-post.

Your mother ever tell you that? “Make sure you always have on clean underwear. You never know when you might be in an accident…” Ideally it had to be clean and free of holes, etc. I guess the thinking here is that if you are injured, you don’t want to have people seeing something you’d rather them not see. Plus I guess it is a slight take off of the “Be Prepared” motto of the Boy Scouts.

I had sort of forgotten that tidbit of wisdom (umm…the actual words not the advice). Anyway, I was traveling in the Minneapolis area a few weeks ago, and was packing my bags to head to the airport. By the way – you Minnesota-ites, your guys are nuts are really, really tough to live in that winter climate. Geez, it was 2 below zero my last day there. Can humans live in this? Probably balmy to most of you…whew! Anyway, my suitcase is, of course, the standard rolling suitcase that every single person that flies on a plane has. If you open it, there is this nice net pouch/pocket thing in the top. A nice looking little thing, but I’ve never really been sure what it was intended to be used for.

My “ingenius” solution is to stick my dirty laundry in it. An improvised sorting method. Without just completely grossing everyone out, and embarassing myself, suffice it to say, that by the time my trip is done, and I am re-packing, the “whites” tend to stay in this pouch. On this trip to the Arctic, as I was zipping up my suitcase, I had a concern about those items being in that spot. Not sure exactly why, but I re-opened my suitcase and pulled those out and stuffed them in corners of my suitcase.

Well, ends up this was one of my more clever moves of the week. I get to the airport and once enter security am informed “your airline has selected you for special screening…” Hmmm…really? What a nice airline. Of course, this “special screening” is pretty dang thorough, and they open your bags and go through everything. The best part is that they do this in full view of all the world. As the security guard started unzipping my babg, my heart skips a beat as I think of the stuff in the “pouch”. Then just as it skips another beat, I realize “…hey, no sweat because I had already stuffed the embarassing things elsewhere…”

Ok, so what in the world does this have to do with real estate? Directly? nothing much, but it reinforced a lesson to me on selling and staging homes. That lesson is “you gotta be ready to have someone see your home in a minute’s notice.” It is HUGELY stressfull to have your home on the market. Trying to keep some semblance of a normal routine, yet keeping your home in pristine condition is very, very difficult.

Spoken by Brian Miller | Discussion: No Comments »

A New Look Is Coming

December 29th, 2008 categories: Buyer Info, Charlotte Area News, Home Inspections, Monday Mattoid Musings, NC Mortgage News, Off-the-Wall, Real Estate Investing, Real Estate News, Seller Info

Safety I have been pretty frustrated lately with the appearance and functionality of my blog. One of my biggest problems is how Google sees this site. For some reason yet to be determined, it seems that my site has been de-indexed by Google.

Im not sure of the exact extent as to what that means, but it sounds bad. To keep from pointing fingers, and calling people out in my frustration, I have decided to teach myself how to create a blog site. That is currently underway here. Take a look at it and let me know what you think

As of yet, i dont know exactly how the two sites will be connected, but most likely they will be merged into one

One thing that I am VERY excited about is a new MLS search tool. The Charlotte MLS board just announced that we individual agents can seek out and use whatever outside vendor we choose to provide the search tools. Ive found a great one, who is working on my site now. I will be the first in Charlotte to have their services.

Spoken by Brian Miller | Discussion: No Comments »

Charlotte Turkey Trot 2008

November 28th, 2008 categories: Buyer Info, Charlotte Area News, Off-the-Wall, Real Estate News, Seller Info

Trot early One of the Charlotte area’s premier events is the annual Turkey Trot run/race. It is an 8K race (i.e. 8 kilometers or 4.96 miles) and held every year on Thanksgiving morning near South Park Mall. This year marked the 20th anniversary with what was stated as an estimated 5,000 runner/walkers. It is as competitive as you want it to be. There are some very fast runners and others who just got up that morning and decided to give it a shot. A good friend of mine and I have run this every year for the past 13 or 14 years. (We were trying to figure out yesterday how long we have been doing it.)

This year I borrowed my daughter’s compact camera and attempted to take photos of the race and crowds as I raced”. So here is an inside look from a middle-of-the-pack runners perspective:

ttrot start
Here we are all jammed in waiting for the starting gun to fire. I was in the low-mid 30s this morning. Pretty cold to be standing around, but with all these people and the sun shining, it was warming up fast. There is always a lot of joking around, and all sorts of comments as everyone waits to start. The gun goes off finally. You never really hear the announcer. If you are lucky, you hear some muffled sounds from a loudspeaker and suddenly you hear the gun. No problem, though, cuz with all these people you hear the gun and you don’t even budge for a minute or two. Eventually you start walking very slowly, and you eventually reach the start line.
hill start
Here we go, weve passed the first mile marker, feeling good, weather is great, people are joking, and laughing. A slight rise in the road, but whateverlife is great right now. Im out here in the sunshine and cool weather, getting warm, but no problems. Hmmm, Im thinking. Maybe I can make this easier than I thought.

up the hill
Ugh.here we go?? What was I thinking? This is where the course starts making you second guess the wisdom of eating all that food the night before. Only about a half mile from the photo above. Woo hoowe are about halfway here, but have been trying to get up a series of hills huge mountains. The course makes a turn onto Runnymede at this point. According to the race officials, the elevation rises nearly 90 ft over a mile and a half. Most of that is in a three-quarter mile stretch. If you really want to study that, check out the course elevation map provided at the official web site. This stretch really takes it out of you. Notice here, though, how many people are all around. This is a large part of what makes it fun. I overheard one woman say &^% wish I didnt have all that alcohol last night
mile 3

Hallelujah !!! Mile Marker 3 and the evil hills seem to have faded. This camera feels like a brick right now. Ive now decided my goal is to finish and forget the amateur reporting. The course changed slightly last year (I think). We are heading down Colony Road at this point, and just when I think the end must be getting near. Mentally this is a looooong stretch for me. Every year, at this point, Im wondering if I have enough left to get to the finish line without passing out. Way over half-way done, 3/5 complete, 60% finishedjust get to the 4 mile mark

Can it be??!! YESMile Marker 4. I worked up enough energy to drift over and attempted one more photo at mile 4. Its hard to see here. Runners are much more spread out and not near as much conversation going on. A few people will decide now is the time to sprint to the finish. Good for them. At this point you know you are getting close, but its hard to know exactly where the finish line is I heard someone mention that there is an uphill climb for the last quarter mile. yippeecant wait Finish

Now this is always a great sight. THE FINISH LINE. It is great to know you are gonna make it. Tons of spectators cheering. You know its not for you specifically, but why not pretend? There was a decent rise in the course for the last 1/4 mile or so, but not too bad. I was way over dressed this year and wishing I had one less layer, but oh well The good news is that I finished. My official results according those posted was 1,696^th place. Or to put a more positive spin on it 76^th place in my age bracket. Official time for me was 47:25. Not exactly a qualifying time for the Olympics, but I suppose not too bad for an old coot trying to run and take pictures. I noticed in the results that an 88 year old woman finished in 50:13 wow!!! that is amazing
Come join us next year. It is a fun event, a great way to justifying eating more that day, and a great way to just kick off the Thanksgiving/Christmas season.

Spoken by Brian Miller | Discussion: No Comments »

Monday Mattoid Musings

October 20th, 2008 categories: Monday Mattoid Musings

Crazyguy

Definition of mattoid : Nobody is ever partly pregnant, but what about being semi-insane? If you know an unhinged genius, borderline psychopath, quirky monomaniac, extreme eccentric, deranged philosopher or restless crank, you know a mattoid. The mattoid is not quite around the bend but always has the turn signal switched on. From an Italian word for “insane”.

I haven’t “blessed” the world with one of my Monday specials in a while, so thought I’d toss out a few comments.

Today is the first “frost” of the season for the Charlotte area. Was it supposed to be this cold? I’m not sure, but it’s fine by me. In the Charlotte area we are blessed with some incredibly great weather. The fall season is my all time favorite. To me, there is nothing better that weather just cold enough to require my favorite pull-over sweatshirt (an ideally still be comfortable in shorts). Of course not exactly client-meeting weather, but still my favorite fashion statement.

We are in pretty much at the peak of the political season this year as well. Lots of negative political ads in several high profile races. Plenty of political phone calls, too, but….you gotta love Caller ID at this time of year. Plus, a few weeks after the election we get to look forward to all the charity telemarketers.

I read the other day, that voters actually like negative ads. Or maybe a better phrase is a good ol’ mud-slinging race. I wonder if it is possible to win an election and not attack your opponent (especially at some of the higher profile races)? If you are publicly attacked, seems you are almost compelled to answer. Once you respond, then it escalates… One of these days I will run for office and test this out.

It’s interesting how controversy always seems to stir up the most publicity. Hmmm…does that mean if I were listing your home to sell, an effective publicity strategy would be to stir up controversy? Oddly enough, it might just work. Hmmm…I gotta think about that one.

Ok, if I hear one more “joe the plumber” comment, I’m gonna snap. One conclusion I’ve reached – if I go vote early (which started last week), it seems to give me a carte blanche approval to ignore any political ad, news report, article, you name it for this political season. Wanna meet me at one of the voting places this week??…HA!

Have a great week…..

Spoken by Brian Miller | Discussion: No Comments »

Charlotte-Mecklenburg School Bells are Ringing

August 25th, 2008 categories: Buyer Info, Charlotte Area News, Real Estate News, Seller Info

Schoolbus “Oh man… “ can’t you just hear that thousands of homes this morning as the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school system cranks up another year. When I was a kid in school, I always hated the end of summer, yet there was some excitement in the start of a new school year. New teachers, new people, new class…

It will be the top news item on all the local stations. Most likely there will be some miffed parents about something – bus schedules, bus route, school schedules, etc. Oh the joy of being a school administrator. I don’t know how they do it.

In case you have not checked it out here is a link to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School System website. Two very convenient links on their site that I refer folks to regularly are the calendar. I mean, you gotta have the school calendar. How else do you count off the days until the first holiday? And guess what? Today is the first day of school, and in only one week there is a school holiday…woo hoo! Does it get any better?

Another good link that is really useful for someone about to move is the school locator page. This is always a difficult link form me to find on the Charlotte-Mecklenburg page. Once you find the assigned school from the school locator page, it would be a good idea to cross check that with the assignment maps. Of course, a person should always check with the school system if there are concerns or doubts.

Police car Speaking of school buses. In North Carolina, one of the most serious traffic offenses you can commit is to pass a school bus unlawfully. According to the NC Dept of Transportation web site. A person’s driving license gets hit with 5 points if you get caught here. There are only two offenses that carry the 5–point penalty – Passing a school bus unlawfully and Aggressive Driving. So if you want to ignore the obvious safety issues about being careful around school buses, there is a great reason to behave.

One thing, though, that I personally get a little confused on is when it is ok to pass a school bus. Obviously as you go through your neighborhood, you cannot pass a stopped school bus with its lights. etc. flashing. Small, narrow roads are no issue for me, but I get a little confused on wide major roads, so today, I thought it would be a great time to look it up. Maybe I’m the only one a little confused, but in case someone else is interested here’s the scoop:

Two-lane roadway: When school bus stops for passengers, all traffic from both directions must stop. This is a no-brainer, isn’t it?

Two-lane roadway with a center turning lane: When school bus stops for passengers, all traffic from both directions must stop. Ok, this might be a little more confusing, and there is not an illustration, but just remember – two lanes? better stop.

Four-lane roadway without a median separation: When school bus stops for passengers, all traffic from both directions must stop.

Divided highway of four lanes or more with a median separation: When school bus stops for passengers, only traffic following the bus must stop

Roadway of four lanes or more with a center turning lane: When school bus stops for passengers, only traffic following the bus must stop. This is the one most confusing to me, because with a turning lane, there is not a physical barrier.

Disclaimer: Ok, now I’ve done what I think are the prudent things here on making sure this is accurate, but I’m not an attorney, and I’m not the Dept. of Motor Vehicles, so please consult NC Dept. of Transportation (www.NCDOT.org). Here are also two links from their site that discusses the rules for passing school buses. The first link is from the Drivers Handbook. The other link is from their information on School Bus Safety.

Have a great week and school year.

Spoken by Brian Miller | Discussion: No Comments »

And the Survey Says……

July 15th, 2008 categories: Buyer Info, Home Inspections, Real Estate Investing, Real Estate News, Seller Info

Gameshow Television game shows are famous for using the line and our survey shows Who knows how these surveys are conducted. Does anyone ever check the results? Is the buying and selling of real estate a game show? Of course not, but there is a big deal survey when it comes to purchasing a home. Surveyor2 That is a different survey. The kind of survey done for home sales is done in a similar fashion today as it was a number of years ago.

That is using the transit and a multitude of tools to essentially measure a property to determine boundaries, dimensions, etc. I have always wanted to follow a surveyor around and look through their scopes, etc. and see what all they do. Seems fascinating to me in an geeky sort of way. Maybe one day I will get the opportunity.

Anyway in a real estate transaction, the question of a survey often comes up in the closing process. In the Charlotte, NC area we are not required to have a survey completed to close out a transaction. Banks dont seem to care, though they recommend a survey be obtained. (This has always sorta baffled memore on this later)

So what is the deal with a having a survey in the closing process? Like just mentioned, a survey is typically not required by anyone to get a home sale completed. I can go out, find me a house, agree to a price with the seller, find an attorney to handle the transaction, hand the seller a check, and have the attorney record the sale at the courthouse. All this with no survey.

If you have never thought much about property lines, surveys, etc. heres some scoop for ya. In everyday-USAsubdivision, property lines were originally established by a surveyor who was under the direction of the developer, city, county, etc. as to how the subdivision would be laid out. The surveyor went around and marked each individual piece of land and probably drove some very long steel rods into the ground to mark the corners of the property. The builder then came in and built a beautiful new home within these property lines. As a side note here: most subdivisions also have rules as to the setback lines on a property. Setback lines establish a sort of buffer between you and your neighbor. Setback lines are the closest point to the property line at which a builder can build on the plat of land. The setback distances are set as part of the rules and agreements with the builder and city/county zoning people.

So what does this have to do with buying a home? And what the heck does it have to do with me if I am buying a home already built? Actually quite a lot. The next part of the survey-scoop being provided here in this post: As a buyer I will be asked (hopefully) by my top notch real estate agent if I want to have a survey completed as part of the closing process. If Ive never done this before, I will probably say umm, I guess so, does it cost me anything? My top notch agent will say oh yes, here in the Charlotte area, a typical survey will run around $400, but they will bill that at closing..

Yikes! Another $400 added to my closing costs? I hadnt budgeted for that, so why should a person have one done? In my opinion, a survey is like a very cheap, one-time insurance policy. When you request a survey, you will get as a finished product a map of your property. It will show very accurately your property lines, set-back lines, all improvements made to the property. Improvements are things like the home, fences, storage buildings, etc. This map will also show any easements, major natural features like streams, lakes, etc. Hopefully the survey will have no surprises like a fence drifting over onto the neighbors property.

The surprises of a survey can, alone, make this money well spent. Heres what I mean. Say you get the survey back and you see that the neighbors fence of the place you are about to purchase drifts over across your property line by a few feet in the far back corner. This is good information because you now have the right to go tear down that section of fence and throw the pieces into his pool. (just kidding I wanted to see if you were still reading). You do have the right to demand Mr and Mrs Neighbor be so kind (we are in the South here in Charlotte, so we are polite) as to remove that part of the offending fence. Wait just a minute though

A beautiful thing about surveys is that your attorney who is handling the closing (or escrow as some call it) can also tell you specifically what your rights are regarding the survey. The best thing is to let the attorney (who probably actually place the order for the survey anyway) advise you as to your rights and recommend the best way to deal with this. Normally you will discover this before the final papers are signed and you can get the seller to deal with it. Asking the neighbor to remove the fence is probably the second easiest solution. The easiest is just to ignore the issue, get the attorney to send the neighbor a letter to notify them. You can move in with having nothing done and live with no issues for probably as long as you own the property. Probably (and an attorney can confirm for your situation) there will never be any questions about this until you go to sell. Your buyer might get pretty excited (and not in a polite Southern way) knowing that they are giving up property to the neighbor and then you will probably have to deal with it. People can be funny about this. Some view giving up a few feet in a corner of the property as a trivial thing. Others will feel they are giving a piece of their soul and are willing to fight to the death for it. If your clever, on-top-of-things real estate agent knows this, he or she should have that fully disclosed in your listing paperwork. That way the potential buyer knows this well before the survey flags it.

The flip side of this is when the home you are buying has a fence or building that extends over onto the neighbors property. Again, you have the option with the sellers as how to best address this. If it is minor (at least in your eyes) you might just accept it and let it go. Of course if your neighbor sells their property and the new buyer finds your fence on his property,that fence might end up in your pool.

The point, though in all this, is that it is really in your best interest to know of any property line issues before you sign the papers. Plus if there are no known issues with your structures nor your neighbors, you have a document proving that to your buyers (assuming you dont add anything to the property). It also is a very informative document for your own use. You will know specifically where your property lines fall and how where the various improvements sit in reference to these property lines. Therefore pay for a survey and be glad you did.

I will close this with a little survey horror story. Just this year I helped some buyers close on a gorgeous home that was only five years old. Fortunately I recommended they pay for a survey. Heeding my advice, a survey was completed. Not only was the neighbors fence encroaching onto my buyers property, but the builder had built the home in the wrong place! It was several feet over the setback lines on two sides. A person cant exactly tear down a house a move it. The seller was not aware of the issue, until our survey. In the end, the seller had to spend A LOT of money in legal fees to get this cleared up. There was a tremendous amount of legal time spent trying to find out whose fault it was and how to clear up the problem. This eventually had to be brought before the city zoning board for a variance request. The closing was delayed by 7 months! If my buyers had not had the survey completed, they would have had this headache on them when the time comes for them to sell. whew!!

If I ever had any doubts about the benefits of a survey, this little incident sealed forever the importance of having one.

Happy selling and buying.

Spoken by Brian Miller | Discussion: 2 Comments »

Monday Mattoid Musings - Independence Day Reprise

July 8th, 2008 categories: Monday Mattoid Musings, Off-the-Wall

Crazyguy

We just came out of one of the great holidays for our country. Its one of the few holidays we dont get too stuck in religon, politics, whatever. July 4 is the birthday of our great country. Of course it is three or four days past July 4 and this is Tuesday NOT Monday (yesterday turned crazy so I am late with this), but I just had to toss out my salutes to a few great performances of the National Anthem.

Maybe Im just old-fashioned, but it drives me nuts when some celebrity sings the National Anthem and adds their artistic intrepretation and performs it in some barely recognizable version. I get goose bumps every time I hear this performed.

So with that said, here are three versions that I really like (no specific order):

Whitney Houston at Super Bowl XXV in 1991:

Then there is Faith Hill:

And one last one (maybe the best because of who it is):

Have a great week.

Spoken by Brian Miller | Discussion: No Comments »

Is it a Mood Swing, or maybe A Hot Flash…??

July 3rd, 2008 categories: Charlotte Area News, Off-the-Wall, Real Estate News, Seller Info

Contemplative guy You ever just stop and think? or maybe want to? I havent had to the chance lately to really do this, but I have been doing a lot of thinking regarding my blog and the direction I want it to go and how to fully engage in the incredibly world of social networking.

One thought that hit me, within the past two weeks or so, is the tone in my blog. Blogging, in my opinion is a lot of fun. It has also been surprisingly pretty hard work.

Recently my site was hacked into, and you might have seen a brief post on that. With the help of my friends over at the Tomato, we have restored things pretty much back to normal. During the up and down period, I found myself frustrated about the inability to post, and hated seeing my blog sort of operating on six of eight cylinders.

But you know, I sort of came to a point, where I just thought ..it is what it is.. things happen. Life will go on, and having a wounded blog is far from being catastrophic. One thing, though, is that it gave me some time to ponder any changes I want to make.

Lecture Perhaps the most major change I want to make is more philosophical. Its easy to use a blog as sort of a platform to tell the world how smart you are. Thats probably ok for the most part, but one thing I find is that its pretty easy to start pounding the podium on a topic. Part of that just comes from the passion of believing in your topic, but sometimes it feels way to heavy-handed for my style.

So, my thinking is, that from now on, I am going to be especially cognizant of the tone I am taking. This blog exists to provide people with good, solid information, of course heavily slanted toward real estate. A key thing though, is that it should be fun. I love funny and/or creative things, so I am of the firm belief my blog should be that way.

Maybe this all sounds a little melodramatic or self-serving, but its not intended that way. Just the contemplative mood I find myself in this morning. Maybe, like the title says, not a mood swing but something else. Who knows

By the way its Fourth of July weekend!! wooo hoooo what a great country we have.

Happy Fourthing to you.

Spoken by Brian Miller | Discussion: No Comments »

Monday Mattoid Musings

June 30th, 2008 categories: Monday Mattoid Musings, Real Estate News

Crazyguy

Woo hoo…here it is. Another Monday in Center of the Universe, aka Charlotte, NC. Weather is plenty warm, but actually not bad for practically-July. Here are a few of my Monday Musings (real estate related and otherwise):

Luggage Ok, first of all, can the airline industry be more messed up right now? Seems they are screaming that they can’t make money, don’t seem to care about customer service, etc. etc. Yet I traveled this week and every flight on every leg was slammed full. I know, it’s summer vacationers, or at least so they say. There just seems to be this sense of “…don’t bother me, we will probably be bought or merge with someone soon, and it will change anyway..” mood among employees. Not sure that I blame them, though.

I was supposed to arrive back in Charlotte at 8:41 pm and actually got here at 2:15 am. Was in bed by 3:30 am. That was fun. One more last vent on this – what is up with charging for any checked bags? Is it just me or didn’t the airlines used to complain constantly that passengers were bringing WAY to much carry-on luggage and WANTED us to check it? Of course, now in our post-911 travel scenarios, checked bags in security means more hassles in the security lines. This will make security better? I don’t think so… Here’s my armchair-airline-CEO solution – raise all the ticket prices by $10, then give everyone a discount of $10 if they don’t bring any carry-on baggage except briefcase and purse.

Here is my real estate advice for the week – BUY NOW !! I’ve seen it and heard it from numerous other agents. It seems that buyers are hesitating about making a purchase right now. There is a big fear that they will buy, then home prices will drop, and they will be left holding the bag. Speaking only for the greater Charlotte market, and that includes Cabarrus, York, Union, Lancaster Counties, etc. our prices are very stable and have been for a while. No doubt the market is slow, but slow means something different. Our prices have not dropped significantly if at all. Houses are sitting on the market longer, but the selling prices remain strong

Yes, if you only plan to buy today and sell in one year, then chances are you will struggle to see a financial gain. Unless the market is steamy hot, that is almost always true in normal markets. Today interest rates remain at near record lows. A buyer, right now, can go out and find a great deal on many homes. A great deal doesn’t mean getting 50% of asking price (although of course that is a great deal, but not too realistic). A savvy buyer today can take their time, research and view homes and find a great home at a good price. While there is never a guarantee, chances are that home will appreciate in value quite nicely. I happen to know a great realtor who can help you with this….

Speaking of home prices. Let me know if you want an update sent to you regularly on home sales activity in your area. I have a great new tool that lets me set you up, then you will get a report every so often. You can determine what “every-so-often” means. And like I ALWAYS say – no obligation, no pressure. Just good solid information. You will see more about this soon here. Still a few technical difficulties with my blog (more on that this week). Stay tuned….

Happy Monday to ya….

Spoken by Brian Miller | Discussion: No Comments »

Banging a Noisy Gong…

June 2nd, 2008 categories: Buyer Info, Charlotte Area News, Real Estate News, Seller Info

The past few weeks have had me starting the week with Monday Mattoid Musings, but today felt compelled to share a story

I wasnt sure if to write on this or not, and if so, should it be another topic, but here it is anyway. Boxing kid I took a body shot yesterday sort of unexpectedly. Earlier this year I had been working with this great couple, who had found me via my web site (always a good thing). We seemed to click well, and they are some of those folks you enjoy showing properties to because they are nice, pleasant, etc.

They were considering downsizing, and looking primarily at nice condo/townhomes. We had found one that they liked but was well above what they wanted to pay. We looked at it twice plus others in the complex. The really liked it, but kept saying it was more than they were going to pay. The wife particularly liked one unit. There were some other issues surrounding the unit, but at the risk here of breaching some confidentiality, better leave alone and not mention specifics. Anyway, we left the complex. We had some other discussions about the location, possibly moving on. I needed to do some investigation on some of the issues.

You will find me quickly getting on the bandwagon about quality, service, follow-up, etc, but I dropped the ball here. For lots of reasons, excuses, whatever you might want to call them, I didnt get the necessary information as quickly as I should have. Nearly two weeks elapsed before I got the necessary information. At the time there were valid reasons, but bottom line I could have and should have done infinitely better. To make a long story short, the sales numbers were recently released on this specific complex. Want to take one guess who purchased that condo directly from the listing agent? Yep, and at a sales price of over $500,000. You do the math on how much money I left on the table.

Before you ask, no I did not have a buyers agency agreement. I have argued and will continue to argue a long time about the benefit of these agreements. I am a firm believer in firing an agent who does not uphold their end of the deal. In this case I didnt and would have been fired. Would they have fired me if I was on top of things like I should be, and used that as a means of getting a lower price? Possibly, but somehow Im doubtful. I let myself get too comfortable.Even a thick-headed person like myself can sense somethings up when calls and emails dont get returned, so of course

Crazy muscian2 It is easy to sit here and go on all day about taking care of clients, etc. yet if I dont follow through with my preaching, Im nothing but a crazy man banging a noisy gong. Right now Im quite frustrated with myself, and frankly, a lot embarrassed. I thought about not even posting this, as Im not sure if I will get a lot of lectures on improper paperwork, looking like a fool, or whatever. Hopefully others can learn from my mistake. Its guaranteed I learned yet another lesson. In hindsight I can see all sorts of places where I should have had my eyes and ears open better. Maybe I should quit banging the gong, so I can hear the important stuff.

So there it is as embarrassing and painful as it is. To Lee and Sally (not their real names but if they read this will recognize the similarities), my apologies.

Happy Monday anyway to everyone

Spoken by Brian Miller | Discussion: 2 Comments »

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