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Staying Safe!
2007-09-01 00:39:00
There is an Editor's Note in the latest issue of Realtor Magazine that I thought was a little odd. It was all about Realtor Safe ty Week, September 9th through the 15th. It discusses all the lurking bad guys out there who want to rob, rape or maim or murder us and recites all of those platitudes about how agents cannot be too careful out there. That is all true. We should use common sense about personal safety - for both ourselves and our clients. But she forgot something. No mention in this little Editor's Note about Realtors' driving! Realtors are among the worst drivers on the road - and most of us spend a lot of time behind the wheel. And we are distracted for a lot of that time. Here are just a few of the things I've been known to do while behind the wheel: * Eat a sandwich while tooling down I-95 to a listing appointment * Yap on my cell phone * Exceed the speed limit * Gawk at FSBO signs and try to get the number written on a scrap of paper th...

Changing Directions
2007-08-31 18:33:00
One of my favorite cousins and clients is a handsome young Secret Service agent. An important part of his defensive driving training was learning to do a 180 degree turn in every imaginable vehicle, from a Hummer to a stretch limousine. And I've been thinking that this is a good skill for real estate professionals to acquire. Back in the 1980's when I got into real estate, it was a strong buyers' market. And yet my manager was stressing ways to get lots of listings. And during that first year, I pretty much ignored her advice, and stressed finding lots of buyers - a strategy that made my rookie year amazing. This was both good and bad. I honed my buyers market skills, and while I had listings (four were big ones), it was the buyer end of the business that I really loved and focused on. And while the listings all sold, I made a lot more money selling other houses to the buyers I met from marketing these properties. Then, the market shifted. In the late 80's we began t...
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Puppy Envy!
2007-08-30 22:52:00
Last November, an adorable fluff ball joined my household.My expectation was that he would be one of those adorably cute little creatures who could ride around in the car with me, come into the office, and sit in on my business card photo session.  OK, so exploiting your pet is a little hokey - or is it? I am unlikely to find out first hand - at least not any time soon.  Willie is a wonderful friend, but as a real estate partner, he has issues. He humps everything. He gets carsick. He chews cables and electrical cords. He eats pillow stuffing and Italian leather (probably that's what makes him car sick). He is really, really hyper active - the only way to get a clear photo was to have my sister hold onto him. Basically, he channels the Labrador Retriever in my favorite doggy book, Marly & Me. I do have an all time favorite friend and colleague who's got this dog thing down. Wallace is the perfect puppy.  She poses for photos - she is not only on Mary ...
More About: Puppy , Envy

Behind Every Foreclosure
2007-08-22 18:33:00
It’s sad to hear about anyone losing a home to foreclosure.  And right now, there is a lot of the “Who’s to blame” talk in the media.  While I think the homeowner takes the greater part of the responsibility and suffers the most serious consequences, they do have a lot of help getting them into the situation.  Behind every new homeowner, there is a cast of real estate agents, lenders, appraisers and settlement attorneys.  And, except for the appraisers, most of these buyers’ helpers don’t get paid unless the transaction is settled. One thing I haven’t heard is criticism of the real estate agents who represented them as buyers in their transactions – not that I think agents are really responsible for their clients’ bill paying habits.  And even though short sales and foreclosures are rare in the market I deal with, this crisis had helped me to rethink my role in counseling clients, especially first time buyers.Most of the buyers I represent...
More About: Foreclosure , Fore

The Miracle of St. Anthony and the Black Cherry Pearl Lexus
2007-08-17 05:54:00
I started today feeling bad.  It was the car.  The police had me convinced that it was somewhere between my house and a chop shop.  A colleague cited a report in the Washington Post about a ring of baddies after navigation systems.  And I started to think about the things in the car – Supra lockboxes, my electronic measuring gadget, some favorite garments that didn’t quite make it to the dry cleaners.  Then, something happened.  My lucky pen, which is usually in the car, was on the sofa.  Other more important tools of the trade, my St. Anthony statues, usually live in the glove compartment, and for some reason, I brought the bag in the house last week. OK.  About St. Anthony.  He is the patron saint of lost items.  For generations, people in my family have prayed to him to find everything from lost car keys to husbands for unmarried daughters to buyers for unsold listings.  And I always have a stash handy for new listings...
More About: Lexus , Miracle , Black , Cherry , Pearl

Stop! Thief!
2007-08-15 05:57:00
This morning, I got up, took a shower, got dressed, searched for my keys and walked out the front door to take off for Evers & Company's weekly business meeting. But, wait! Where's the car?  Didn't I park it right out in front of the house? It wasn't there.  I looked up and down the street.  No Black Cherry Pearl Lexus sedan! Yikes! So, I became one of the District of Columbia's victims of car theft - on a scale of 1 to 10 of bad things that could happen, this might have been about a 3.  Nobody got hurt.  It's just a car. And now, I'm feeling guilty! Just last week, a buyer commented on how nice my car was.  I responded by saying it was a gas guzzler that exponentially increased my carbon footprint.  I was actually thinking about selling it and getting a Prius. I'm sorry, car!  You were wonderful!  You made me feel like a serious real estate agent - a rich lady! The District police are actually great at recoverin...
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Recharging Batteries
2007-08-04 18:15:00
This is Friday, and if it were my typical vacation, I’d be packing my bags to go home after one week away from Life on the Streets of Washington, DC real estate.  But this is not my typical vacation.  For the first time since getting licensed back in 1983, I am taking two full weeks off.  So, here’s the thing! It’s taken me this first week to let go of my business, which I left in very good hands.  I no longer feel the need to carry my Blackberry to the beach (OK – it doesn’t work there anyway) or to run into town more than once a day to check messages.  So, yesterday, I caught my first fish!  I’m taking some great photos – both of the town of Chatham and the natural beauty of this part of the world.  Today, we’re going to mosey up to Provincetown. And I’m just connected enough to home to know I’m not missing out on anything.  Willie, the hyper-active Labradoodle puppy is having a wonderful time with my sister and h...
More About: Batteries , Teri , Charging , Erie , Char

Type-A Stops to Smell the Roses!
2007-07-31 19:22:00
I’m starting every day of my vacation with a walk from my beach house into the little town of Chatham. OK, Pat! Stop right there! You are giving the impression that you are starting the day with a brisk walk so you can inhale the fresh, sea air and get some exercise when, in fact, you can’t get cell phone reception at the beach and you can in town! You are really sneaking off to check voice mail and return phone calls. Still, a by-product of the walk was a chance to see the beautiful gardens and, yes, I stopped to smell the roses. But oh – my – gosh! There was not a rose along the several mile walk that had a scent! What’s happening! I read somewhere that roses are being bred to be bug resistant. In the process, are they losing their wonderful smell? Is it too late for me, or for you other Type -A’s to stop and smell the roses? Maybe it just takes more stops to smell more roses than it used to get one great whiff!
More About: Roses , Stops , Smell

Buy High? Sell Low? Oh! No!
2007-07-27 07:23:00
During the last 10 or so years, representing buyers hasn't been easy in my home town of Washington, DC. Prices skyrocketed. There were nasty, bloody bidding wars with dozens of participants. It got so crazy that our local Association of Realtors even added a "Price Escalation Addendum" to our library of boilerplate forms. I can remember feeling elated whenever there were only three or four competitors at any given contract presentation instead of 30 or 40. So, until recently, to buy a house or condo in our nation's capital, you had to * Be willing to give the sellers way more than their asking price; * Pay hundreds of dollars for a home inspection before submitting your offer, or buy the place without the benefit of a home inspection (and a lot of these houses were really old); * Give the sellers an earnest money deposit of at least 10 percent of the asking price; * Forget about any contingency giving you any kind of out, like financing, appraisal, or lead pa...
More About: High , Sell

And Don't Let the Cat Out!
2007-07-23 22:29:00
There is no more serious showing mishap than letting the seller's cat out of the house you are showing.  Or is there? Anyone with an indoor cat knows that the little guy spends a lot of his life sitting in the window sill coveting the birds and squirrels on the other side of the glass pane.  And given the opportunity, most of them would scoot outside in a heartbeat to explore the world. And I think that most agents are very careful, especially when they see a sign on the front door or in the MLS description. But here's a twist! I was previewing a big, really pretty house.  It had been staged down to the clothes hanging in the closet.  If anyone lived there, they were total compulsives - the types who channel Martha Stewart.  As I opened the front door to leave, I felt something brush against my leg.  No I hadn't let the cat out.  I let the cat IN! Yikes! So were these anal retentive neat freaks cat people?  I don't think so. Ther...

Lead Paint Dust is Really Evil Stuff
2007-07-17 04:54:00
I live in "This Old House". Almost all of the houses I sell are very old houses. And it follows that mine, and probably yours if it was built before about 1978, has lead paint somewhere under coats of more benign paint or wallpaper. Why am I thinking about his now? My house is being torn up for new bathrooms and central air conditioning. During the demo stage, the crew gave me a mask and suggested that I wear it, at least until dust settled and they could vacuum it up.With each real estate transaction, there is a form required by the Feds that says when you buy a house, you have a 10-day period (that you can waive) to get a lead assessment. Then, there are guys who make a living charging you several hundred dollars to tell you if there is lead paint, at least on the surface. Hello! I will save you the several hundred dollars. There's lead paint! Somewhere between the plaster and the top coat of lead-free Benjamin Moore, it's there! If you're taking a bathroom or kitche...
More About: Stuff , Evil , Really , Paint , Lead

The Renovation Diaries: Week 1
2007-07-15 00:03:00
I will never again, as long as I live, take running water in my home for granted. Since a pipe buried under my bathroom floor burst late April, I have been without running water to the bathrooms on the second floor of my house. For each flush, I had to full two or three empty plastic kitty litter containers from the kitchen sink and lug them upstairs. Or, I could go down to the finished basement where there is a full bath to use the john and take showers. But I’d rather take a bath! Forget it. As close as I get is the whirlpool at my gym, and they won’t let me shave my legs there. My plumber gave me the bad news that both of my bathrooms, circa 1918, had to be taken down to the studs. These early examples of indoor plumbing were a sloppy mix of galvanized steel and copper pipes, and the burst pipes were not only galvanized, but inaccessible – they were buried is 8 inches of concrete. Then my insurance agent, Greg Lyons of State Farm, gave me the good news. The d...
More About: Week , Renovation , Reno , Diaries , Diari

TGIF!
2007-07-09 03:57:00
Friday, I had a settlement. For real estate agents, settlements are a good thing. They mean that, among other things, we got through the transaction, resolved all the issues that inevitably arise, learned something, and helped the buyers and sellers move on to happy lives in new homes. That's what happened on Friday. This was one of the most challenging transactions of my long career. It involved a beautiful turn-of-the-century Victorian bayfront house, some dear friends who were buying it, really nice sellers, and dedicated DC government employees. And like most of my transactions, my clients (the buyers) included a lawyer. The seller was a "for sale by owner" who was also a lawyer. She had purchased it from a lawyer, and the basement apartment (the sourse of the complications) was rented out to two young lawyers who conveyed. When things go awry under these circumstances, it can be a real estate agent's worst nightmare!The seller thought the basement apartment had a cru...

Happy 4th of July!
2007-07-04 22:20:00
A little while ago, I went out to get something out of my car's trunk. On this day when we celebrate our break from England - and it was, um, taxation without representation that was the major issue - I noticed my District of Columbia license plates which read - you guessed it! "Taxation Without Representation" So, for those of you around the country who may be reading this, please remember your friends in the colony of Washington, DC who cannot write their senator or congressman when they are pissed about something. We don't have one! But we do get fantastic fireworks, which I am off to watch in a few hours!
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Me And My Crackberry
2007-07-03 18:20:00
About six months ago, I finally bought a Blackberry. And what they say is true. It is highly, highly addictive. The cell phone aspect is no worse than any phone. It rings. I pick it up. Or not. But there’s more! With it, I can check my email and send out replies pretty much anytime, anywhere except maybe on an airplane. And, I can check stuff on the Internet – like how many blog hits I’m getting or what new listings have come on the market. OK, the thumbs thing is a little awkward, but I’m getting pretty good with the keyboard. But here’s the thing. I was in a car the other day, and while my brother (he was driving) was trying to hold a conversation, I was emailing a colleague who asked for feedback on a listing. He was a little miffed. Later at dinner with friends, the little bzzzz went off (which, of course, I could hear since the little techo miracle was sitting on the table next to the salad fork) and I picked it up to check out a new message. It mig...

The House Specific Buyers
2007-06-30 19:08:00
This week I showed favorite buyers a house that was definitely “Buyer Specific ”, and the people I showed it to may well have been the specific buyers – perhaps the only ones in Washington - for whom the house would be perfect.  So, that’s a good thing, right? First, let me describe the place.  At an asking price of about $1.5 million, it is a mid-century bi-level on a busy street, has a sort of plain brown wrapper façade and has two bedrooms.  At least one of these factors would not work for your typical buyer.  So what does work?  While it’s on a busy street, the house is set back, and the lot is large and nicely landscaped.  It was fabulously renovated, with an amazing kitchen and baths (even nicer than what I’m putting into my house).  The rooms are generous in size and sun-filled, and there’s a maintenance free back garden with a very private stone patio.  The house also has a lot of storage space So my guys are almost...
More About: House , Buyers , Ouse , The House

Are We Taking "Staging" Too Far?
2007-06-25 02:07:00
Years ago, I listed a house that showed extremely well. The owners were anal retentive neat freaks taken to a whole new level. I mean, you could eat off the floor of the boiler room in the basement. You could eat off the floor of the firebox in the wood-burning fireplace! These people even had great taste. But their house had been on the market for over a year, and I was their third agent. And even I couldn’t get it sold after a hefty price reduction and ambitious marketing efforts. When a friend gave me a visit to a great astrologer for my birthday, the wise old seer said, “I see a very clean and beautiful house for sale. It is too clean. Tell the owners s to burn a fire and leave a dirty dish in the sink.” They did. It sold. I thought about them the other day while showing a house in Upper Northwest DC. The owners bought it a couple of years ago as a granny house needing renovation, paying somewhere in the high $600’s. They renovated it using builder grade mat...
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Get Me To The House On Time!
2007-06-19 23:09:00
My father was always on time - for everything.  Whenever he had an appointment or meeting, whether it was for the dentist, Mass on Sunday or an airline departure, he always built in what he called "flat tire time".  It was part of some sort of ethic he tried to pass on to his children. Like my father, and most real estate agents, I am habitually punctual, sometimes compulsively so, and have been annoyed by people who are not.  And the last couple of months, in the context of house renovations, I've been amazed at the number of home improvement professionals who have a very casual relationship with on-time arrivals. If someone says "I'll be there between 1:30 and 2 o'clock, and if they show up at 3:15, is says to me that they are careless with their word in small things.  So, how will they handle the big stuff? If a guy shows up late for the first appointment, will he begin work on July 5th, or will it be the 25th?  If I'm planning a wee...
More About: House , Time , Ouse , The House

One More Pull of that Thread!
2007-06-18 23:32:00
First, let me say that the person I'm about to write about has not paid me to post this. For years - about 23 - I've been recommending a central air guy named Ron Gallant. And he has consistently received fabulous feedback from everyone who's used him, and the list includes a lot of clients and friends I really care about. During that time, my own house has been the cobbler's children's shoes, as my clunker window units have done a more or less passable job of keeping my house cool during Washington's humid summers. Since the house is being pulled apart to make way for the new bathrooms, it made sense to go ahead, bite the bullet and have central air put in. So finally, this afternoon Ron was going through my house to put together an estimate and plan for bringing my house into the 21st century. First, he showed up when he said he would! The other guy I talked to came two hours late, and only after I repeatedly called his office (no answer) to make sure I was still on t...
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Condo Envy
2007-06-13 23:16:00
Last November, I posted "When Sparks Fly" about the electrical fire at my friend, Jean Kornfeld's beautiful home that sits just behind my own. Since then, her insurance company has rented temporary digs for her to live in while her house is being rebuilt. It happens to be a very cool 2-bedroom, 2 bath with a den condo on the 1400 block of Church Street. God! It even has parking. And every time we get together and meet at her place, I feel the urge to move downtown.If we are dining in, she can run over to Whole Foods (a block away) for something delicious. Or, if we decide to eat out, there are dozens of restaurants from every continent except Antarctica that are no more than a five minute walk from her condo. Get togethers with Jean are not the only ones that create little pangs of condo envy. My friend, Annie, moved from a big old house to my favorite building at 2500 Q, right on the cust of Georgetown and Dupont Circle. She even has a huge terrace where her friends will ...
More About: Condo , Envy

Buyer Specific Homes
2007-06-08 15:13:00
Last Tuesday, I saw a great house in Woodley Park.  It had a renovated kitchen, pretty floors, lots of bedrooms and baths, and it was on a beautifully landscaped lot that backed onto the parklike campus of one of the areas private schools.  The gracious living room led to a patio that would be perfect for summer entertaining.  There was only one little thing.  It had no basement and very little storage space. In real estate, we call this "buyer specific".  These are homes that really don't work for most people, but they work extremely well for a few.  When we are out touring the new listings, there's a lot of opportunity for discussing the houses we see with the listing agents.  And in this case, I was really impressed with the agent's approach.  Mary White (with Washington Fine Properties) was asking for feedback.  I felt the house was priced on the nose (although it's quite above it's "Zestimate" but then, yo...
More About: Buyer , Homes , Specific

Zillow.oops Returns
2007-06-05 03:28:00
Today, I finally got a chance to look at the Washington Post weekend real estate section.  And there it was - again!  The latest article about Zillow .com illustrates perfectly why people who give out real estate advice really ought to be licensed. The article ("Does Every Owner Have a Price?") talks about this seriously flawed web site's most recent hare brained idea, "Make Me Move", where people can put up information on a house that isn't really for sale, but could be had for some price the owner pulls out of thin air.  At least, we hope they pull it out of thin air .  God forbid they base their expectations of the value of their most important asset on the  "Zestimate" they can obtain by logging on and typing in their address. One of the problems with "Make Me Move" is that, as the article points out, it invites abuse. You can post your house, or anyone else's.  Say you have pesky neighbors who let their b...
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Home Improvement
2007-06-02 02:54:00
So many of my clients do what I did.  They buy an imperfect house with the best of intentions.  They plan to renovate the kitchen, do some landscaping, lose the purple wall-to-wall in the rec room, and have the lead paint laden cracking plaster repaired.  Then, like me, they help to pave the path to hell.  They move in and get used to the place.  The avocado green kitchen counter isn't all that bad, and the even though the rec room was inspired by "That 70's Show", the shag carpet has some good years left.  And the weeds in the back yard are really sort of - umm -  perennials. Years later, when they unexpectedly decide to move, there's this real estate agent in the living room explaining that, in order to sell the place, they'll have to bite the bullet.  They need granite for the kitchen counter.  They need ceramic tile for the basement floors.  Then they'll have to paint, refinish the hardwood floors, bring in the...
More About: Home , Improvement , Home Improvement , Rove , Improv

Some Thoughts About Condo Fees
2007-05-30 00:37:00
Lots of homebuyers choose single-family homes over condominiums because when you live in a condo, you have to pay a monthly fee to cover your share of the project's upkeep. Often, it's a pretty hefty number. Some buyers don't like that. One could argue $600 per month, which in this area is pretty common, covers the equivalent of about $100,000 in mortgage payments. So choosing a house will enable you to obtain a larger mortgage for the same monthly cost. So you might be talking $800,000 house vs. $700,000 condo. But wait! A huge chunk of the fee covers something called "reserves". A well-managed association will sock away money to cover at least the expenses they can anticipate. Within this fund, there are categories for replacing the roof, maintaining the systems (plumbing, wiring, air conditioning and heating) and repainting, re-pointing bricks, and other handling other maintenance issues. Like most homeowners, I do not squirrel away money into a reserve fund, even th...
More About: Thoughts , Fees , Condo

The Joys of Home Ownership
2007-05-17 01:31:00
A couple of weeks ago, I woke up at 2:30 am to the persistent barking of my adorable Labradoodle puppy, Willie. He's been with me for several months now, and I've learned that he does not bark his little head off in the middle of the night without a good excuse. As I pulled on my robe and headed downstairs, I heard what sounded like the shower. On the way down, I peeked into the bathroom. When I saw no water coming from the showerhead, I realized that Good Dog Willie was alerting me to something serious. And thanks to my dog alarm, I was able to get the water turned off and mitigate the damage.The next day, I learned it was a cracked galvanized steel pipe that went under both bathrooms and had spent about 90 years buried in about six inches of concrete. Its time had come. My plumber explained that both baths had to be taken down to the studs and completely replumbed. Gulp! Then, at his suggestion, I called my insurance company and learned that, while I had to pay the ...
More About: Home , Owner , Ship , Owners