Archive for the 'One Minute Realtor' Category
Wanted: Annapolis Area Realtor, Must Perform Miracles
January 31st, 2008 Categories: One Minute Realtor, Real Estate News, Sellers
You’ve probably heard that sales of St. Joseph statues are brisk these days. Lore has it that if you bury a statue of the saint upside down, facing the street, you’ll sell your home quickly.
According to one online source, St. Joseph’s reputation as a real estate deal maker can be traced to St. Teresa of Avila, who - back in the 1500’s - needed land for a new convent. Lacking sufficient funds and a decent mortgage broker who could find her a competitive rate on a 30-year fixed, she prayed to St. Joseph to intercede, burying medals with his likeness all around the desired parcel of land. It worked, and the land was hers.
Today you can find St. Joseph “kits” all over the web, including places like Catholic Supply. Most include a statue, instructions, and a prayer card for the official burying ceremony. A “deluxe” kit includes all that, plus a plastic burial bag and a St. Joseph house key chain. It’s unclear whether the deluxe version is designed for a faster sale, or higher-end homes, or both.
Heck, if the spirit moves you, go ahead and give St. Joseph a try. Meanwhile, The Moss Haedrich Team will continue to give it our earthly best with the homes we sell. We’re biased, but we think we have the most results-driven home marketing program in the Annapolis area. We expose our listings to millions of potential buyers online, and are now using only the best professional high-resolution photography with virtually all of our new listings. Have a look at our latest here.
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Finally, Some Good News For Annapolis Area Homebuyers and Owners: We Have No Bad Neighbors!
January 22nd, 2008 Categories: Buyers, One Minute Realtor, Real Estate News
Saw a report on The Today Show this morning about the latest online trend: cyber-snitching. I wasn’t aware of the term prior to this but apparently it’s all the rage, that is, going online to tattle-tale on someone for every offense from cheating on tests to driving poorly.
The Today Show guest was the founder of a new site called Rotten Neighbor, a sort of clearinghouse for - well - rotten neighbors. If the neighbors scream, smell, can’t control their barking dogs, or play bongos all night long, you can post a comment about them here, air their dirty laundry address and all.
It’s understandable you’d want to know something about the neighbors before moving into an area. We always encourage homebuyers to knock on doors and talk to people in the area - other homeowners, as well as store owners, the police, whomever - if they want firsthand feedback.
But posting neighbor complaints online seems a little vindictive and an option of last resort. For Pete’s sake, first try to be civil, talk to your neighbors, get to know them, send letters, use police intervention - anything to keep the peace and reach an understanding. (And if you can figure out a civil way to tell your neighbors they smell, you’re a better diplomat than I am.) Going so public with neighbor complaints can only fan the fires of resentment.
Of course, I couldn’t resist plugging in some Annapolis area zip codes and - just as I suspected - there are no bad neighbors in Annapolis. At least none that I could find. In fact, the site wasn’t responding all that well; maybe they were swamped with new complainers from this morning’s publicity. I prefer to think that it’s a regular neighbor love-fest out there in this wonderful city by the Chesapeake Bay.
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Attention Annapolis Homebuyers: There’s Nothing To Be Nervous About
January 3rd, 2008 Categories: Buyers, One Minute Realtor
Homebuyers - here in the Annapolis, Maryland area and elsewhere - are nervous. You might guess otherwise since interest rates are still historically low, inventory abundant, and great deals more plentiful than traffic on the Bay Bridge on a Friday afternoon in August.
Homebuyers should be elated! But like I said, they’re nervous because people who don’t know them, don’t send them Christmas cards and who, apparently, have foolproof crystal balls are making them that way. So buyers are waiting, like the pundits have warned them, because they think the best is yet to come: the best homes, best interest rates, best prices. Pundits like it when people listen to the stuff they say because, well, they’re getting paid to pund and it makes them look very smart.
No Matter What You Hear About the Annapolis Area Real Estate Market, Homes Are Always Being Bought and Sold
Waiting, we’ve all been taught, is a virtue: Good things come to those who wait, and all that. But from where we stand, on the front lines of the real estate trenches, we think Abe Lincoln’s take is perhaps more instructive: “Things come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle.” I can think of at least three recent situations where a buyer fell in love with a home but decided to wait before making an offer, expecting that the price would drop. Didn’t happen. In each case, the home was snapped up by another buyer. Do you want to buy the home you’ve fallen in love with? Or do you want the market’s leftovers?
“Waiting” or otherwise attempting to time the market is a risky homebuying strategy. It assumes an unknowable direction of the market, and fails to account for many other considerations, like your schedule and timeframe, the tax benefits and emotional security and stability that comes with homeownership. Don’t discount those things. Pay less attention to the media pundits, and more to what YOU need, and you’ll do just fine. This is a great time - in the Annapolis area and elsewhere - to be a buyer.
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Annapolis Maryland Home For Sale, Garland Conveys
December 21st, 2007 Categories: One Minute Realtor, Real Estate News
Here’s a signpost at one of our listings, 1006 Boucher Ave in Eastport. It had a pretty red bow in the upper left corner of the sign - a nice, festive touch - but either the 50 mph winds blew it away this past weekend or a passerby thought it would look better on their own For Sale sign.
We like to decorate our signposts around the holidays. I can’t say that a decorated post has ever actually sold a home for us. That would be nice, but it’s not really the point. We just think the decoration adds a little holiday spirit to what is basically a pretty boring post. Our clients like it, people notice, so maybe someday it will help us sell a home.
Speaking of which, the home where this signpost resides would make a wonderful holiday present for yourself, your family, or for someone you know. It’s new construction and has all the bells and whistles - gourmet kitchen, granite, great room, lovely hardwood floors - and a great view of Wells Cove from the master suite. The one next door is also new and was built by the same builder; we sold that one a couple of months ago. And as I mentioned, the garland does convey.
You can view this lovely home by clicking here
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Sticks and Stones May Break Your Bones, But Names Will Sink a Real Estate Deal…
October 18th, 2007 Categories: One Minute Realtor
…quicker than you can say What DID happen to that counter offer? Yes, as contract negotiations move forward, and a deal starts to take shape, sellers and buyers sometimes adopt a candid and less than exemplary view of one another.
We know this because we’re privy to the name calling that sometimes ensues. Depending, say, on the amount of an offer or the length of a repair request, sellers may wonder – aloud – if the buyers are, by turns, dreaming, out of their freakin’ minds, or blood-sucking bottom feeders. Buyers have been known to call sellers stubborn, plain greedy, or dumber than dirt.
All of which makes for great theatre, but seldom helps move a home sale closer to the finish line.
Any agent worth his or her own salt won’t get caught up in the drama and name calling. Among other things, our job is to be the buffer between seller and buyer. We diffuse emotional situations, not kindle them. We’re adept at keeping our clients from shooting themselves in the feet. We might take a quick cheap shot at an unreasonable party if we think it will help you get over it. But remember: you hired us to help you buy or sell a home. You want us to be the calmest person in the room, not act like your best bud.
So, if you’re buying a home in Annapolis and you tell us you want to make an offer on 123 Main St, we’re not going to tell the seller’s agent you said it smelled like a barnyard. If the other agent is a hack, and repeats what was said to the sellers, the deal might die a quick and spiteful death. We’re going to say to the agent that our client is interested in making an offer, “but they will require that you remediate the pet odors.” Expect us to be the picture of professionalism and tact. After all, that’s why they pay us the medium bucks.
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