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Cousin Itt, Where Are You?
2008-04-24 13:46:00
Yesterday, I was checking out stuff in my neighborhood on our MLS.  And Oh!  My!  God!  There was a house that I’d missed!  A stone Tudor, circa 1925, listed by Eddie Dugas, one of my absolutely favorite colleagues.  And the price was in the five hundreds – the price of a hovel in this neighborhood.  ...

Real Estate Agent - Do They Ever Retire?
2008-04-20 19:50:00
Recently, my State Farm agent, Greg Lyons, had the unmitigated nerve to retire on me. Then, one of my Active Rain blog buddies mentioned that he’d never ever been to a retirement party for a real estate agent. Come to think of it, neither have I!  I’ve been to some memorial services for some agents who worked ...
More About: Agent , Estate , Real Estate , Real Estate Agent , Real

Condo Documents: Not Just A Cure For Insomnia!
2008-03-26 17:30:00
In the District of Columbia, like many jurisdictions, condo buyers get a little extra time after their offer is accepted to look at the basic documents that cover the money stuff and the basic ground rules set down by the owners’ association they are buying into. These papers cover The budget The rules and regulations The by-laws governing the ...
More About: Condo , Insomnia , Cure , Documents

Don’t Give Up Your Personal Contact Information So Easily!
2008-02-27 15:26:00
There are lots of web sites out there promising you all kinds of help you might not need if you are buying or selling a house or condo. It might be access to a gazillion lenders or real estate agents who will cut interest rates or commissions for a crack at your business. It might be the ability to get access to listing information without speaking to some pesky real estate sales person. It might be a free estimate of your home’s value. So you push “Continue”. Then a little screen comes up asking for your basics - your name, where you live and how to contact you. Then you’re off to this wonderul web site where you can do it yourself or save a few bucks - or maybe not. What happens next is that the proprietor of this web site sells your information to one or more lenders and real estate agents - maybe even moving companies, interior designers - you name it. Your name gets put out there to people who make money helping other people get moved. But does you...
More About: Personal , Information , Contact , Give , Give up

Showing Granny’s House
2008-02-27 15:24:00
I just got home from showing a bunch of houses in my favorite champagne-taste, beer-budget neighborhoods, and one of them looked amazing on the MRIS. It was the only house in this neighborhood that actually was beer budget.  It wasn’t the style my buyers were looking for, but they wanted a big lot, and this one was almost half an acre - a farmette by DC standards.  So we put it on the list. The showing instructions said no lock-box, but call the seller.  And when I did, a very sweet sounding person with a sort of senior citizen voice picked up the phone.  She was most gracious and said to come on by.  Oh, and to please excuse the clutter. When we arrived, she introduced herself and her very old doggy.  Then there were the cats.  Some were inside and others were swinging from the trees in the back yard.  The attached 2-car garage had, not a car, but about 6 stinky kitty litter boxes.  And every room had, yes, a whole lot of clutter. And I felt my life fast forward a bu...
More About: House , Granny

Making Sense Of DC Real Estate Trends
2008-02-06 02:14:00
If you are a Washington Area consumer trying to make sense of news reports about the local real estate market, you really have to listen carefully and read between the lines. If, for example, you are listening to a nightly news report on a national network or cable news program, you will be getting information about the country as a whole. Even the local news shows are giving information about the far flung Washington Metro area, and the numbers may have little or no bearing to the market in your own neighborhood. Remember that old saying that all real estate is local? Today at the Evers & Company weekly office meeting, Lisa Fowler, who is the Director of the Office of Housing Policy Research at George Mason University, gave a wonderful presentation on the fine points of the Washington, DC area market for residential real estate. Have you read recently that sales for 2007 were down by 47 percent from their high in 2004? Well, yes, in numbers of properties sold across the whol...
More About: Sense , Estate , Real Estate , Trends , Real

My Little Zillow Meltdown
2008-02-01 23:46:00
Since I actually met the Zillow folks at BloggersConnect last week, I’m almost tempted to take down the couple of rants I’ve done in a couple of blog posts, but as I learned, “Once on the Internet, always on the Internet”. Here in Washington, there are special challenges for any company trying to get an on-line home values database. Neighborhoods are architecturally diverse, so comparing a subject house to it’s “comps” isn’t even apples to oranges. It’s apples to monkeys! Even in a block of identical looking row houses, some are granny houses that were state-of-the-art in 1942, and others have ove-the-top restorations that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars and made the place worth a fortune. So, this week, I have a new listing in Brookland. This is a neighborhood in Northeast Washington over near Catholic University. The housing stock is in varying condition, and the homes are all different - in terms of style, age, size...

Is “You Snooze, You Lose” Returning To The DC Area?
2008-01-27 15:10:00
Earlier this week, I got a call from an agent who showed a listing I have. His people loved it, he said, but the husband was out of town until the end of the week. They planned to make an offer Friday or Saturday.This afternoon, Saturday, as I was driving to my Mother’s 85th birthday party, he called to say he was sending it via MongoFax and would like to present it over the phone. I explained that I’d be available late this afternoon to take a look at it and would call him then. Then 20 miles down the Baltimore Washington Parkway, my Blackberry’s ear bud tickled my ear once again. It was a second agent calling to say she was leaving the same listing with her clients and was writing an offer. And what did my sellers need as a time frame. An hour or so later, her offer was in my Blackberry’s mailbox. (more…) ShareThis
More About: Area , Snooze

For All You Undecided Voters Out There!
2008-01-20 17:30:00
A friend of mine sent me an email with a link to WQAD TV in Davenport, Maine which has a little quiz that undecided voters can take to help them decide on which presidential candidate they should be supporting.You can answer a series of 14 questions, and they will match you with the candidates from both parties whose views are closest to your own. I did it. It was a tie! It gave me two candidates that were the closest to my own views and positions on all kinds of issues. One was Dennis Kuchinich, the Democrat who is left of the salad fork. The other was Ron Paul, the Republican who is right of the soup spoon. Go Figure! ShareThis
More About: Voters

You Don’t Have To Act Your Age!
2008-01-16 03:31:00
A few weeks ago, I saw a statistic that really surprised me. And for the life of me, I can’t remember where. But, hey, this is a blog and not the Washington Post. So I don’t’ have a staff fact checker. But it was an article somewhere that said the average age of the membership of the Greater Capital Area Association of Realtors was 52 years old. 52? That’s pretty old as an average! OK, so the agents in my office, many of whom are real estate legends in Washington (not necessarily because of their age) may fit that profile. But we have this new office down near Dupont Circle full of people who are young and hip and energetic enough to deal with the stairs in its beautiful 4-level turn-of-the-century row house, not to mention all of the walk-up townhouse condos that they list. Shouldn’t they bring the average down? But they were not just talking about Evers & Company, where I work. It was all over DC and Montgomery County. This number came to mind last week at th...

Meeting Old Friends For The First Time
2008-01-13 19:46:00
Last week, I had a ball. I went up to New York for the Inman Real Estate Connect. I was up there with a bunch of bloggers who were in some way involved in real estate, mostly other agents and lenders. There are two places where I blog. One is this site, Captial Homes, and the other is on the Active Rain Network. Active Rain is a bunch of real estate professionals writing about all kinds of issues affecting our industry. We write posts and comment on each other’s stuff, and the whole experience has been fun and educational. Over the last few months, I’ve really bonded with a lot of the other “Rainers”, and if I took a cross country trip in my Lexus, I’d have mooch places for food and shelter all over the country. (more…) ShareThis
More About: Friends , Time , First Time , Meeting

Who Is Jennifer@realestateclientreferrals.com?
2007-12-29 20:06:00
I’ve gotten several emails a day for the past few days from Jennifer .  Like is she my new best friend or something? It looks like she wants to be! She wants to send me referrals.  She wants to make me the Numero Uno agent in Columbia Heights County in the District of Columbia. She wants to help me to climb that ladder of success! But wait!  DC has no counties!   And there is no Columbia Heights County in Maryland or Virginia either! And hey, if I do not act PRONTO, I will lose out to one of a bunch of other agents – Jennifer actually listed the names of my competitors … although I’d never heard of any of them.  Of course, I’ve never heard of Columbia Heights County either. (more…) ShareThis

Agents, Have You Heard From Jennifer@realestateclientreferrals.com?
2007-12-29 19:06:00
I’ve gotten several emails a day for the past few days from Jennifer .  Like is she my new best friend or something? It looks like she wants to be! She wants to send me referrals.  She wants to make me the Numero Uno agent in Columbia Heights County in the District of Columbia. She wants to help me to climb that ladder of success! But wait!  DC has no counties!   And there is no Columbia Heights County in Maryland or Virginia either! And hey, if I do not act PRONTO, I will lose out to one of a bunch of other agents – Jennifer actually listed the names of my competitors. although I'd never heard of any of them.  Of course, I’ve never heard of Columbia Heights County either. So, Jen!   I have no idea what your deal is.  What do you charge for the leads?  How does it work?  And you know what, even if I did have to buy leads, and I don’t, why would I respond to someone who knows so little about my market that they ac...
More About: Agents

Showing In The Dog House
2007-12-21 04:36:00
We’ve all seen the showing instructions on the Multiple Listing Service: “Fido, the family dog, is friendly.  He might lick you, but he won’t bite.” OK, that’s reassuring. So you and your clients get to the front door and hear the welcoming bark - or is this the bark usually reserved for the mailman?  Or burglars?  It’s hard to tell. But you’re armed with doggy treats, and you know his name, so you turnthe key and open the door.  And the dog is, indeed, friendly. He’s humping your leg! “Down, Fido!  Stop that!  No!  We’ve just met and I don’t do that sort of thing on the first date! “Yikes! (more…) ShareThis
More About: House

Showing In The Dog House
2007-12-21 03:36:00
We've all seen the showing instructions on the Multiple Listing Service: "Fido, the family dog, is friendly.  He might lick you, but he won't bite." OK, that's reassuring.  So you and your clients get to the front door and hear the welcoming bark - or is this the bark usually reserved for the mailman?  Or burglars?  It's hard to tell. But you're armed with doggy treats, and you know his name, so you turn the key and open the door.  And the dog is, indeed, friendly. He's humping your leg! "Down, Fido!  Stop that!  No!  We've just met and I don't do that sort of thing on the first date!" Yikes! A favorite chapter in The Irreverent Guide to Real Estate is "Your Family Calls Him "Fido";  Your Agent Calls Him "Fang".  And it talks about things most agents are uncomfortable discussing with their clients.  While a dog, any size, any breed, or any age, can be a hu...
More About: House

Cheryl Conover Hanks Memorial Service
2007-12-11 15:51:00
Cheryl’s memorial service will be at 3:00 pm on Friday, December 14th, 2008. We are holding it at the McLean Gardens Ballroom, 3811 Porter St., NW, Washington, DC 20016 There will be a reception following the service, and of course, anyone who knew Cheryl is warmly invited to attend. For some amazing photos of Cheryl, click here. ShareThis
More About: Service , Memorial , Cheryl

Cheryl Conover Hanks Memorial Service
2007-12-11 14:51:00
Cheryl's memorial service will be at 3:00 pm on Friday, December 14th, 2008. We are holding it at the McLean Gardens Ballroom, 3811 Porter St., NW, Washington, DC 20016 There will be a reception following the service, and of course, anyone who knew Cheryl is warmly invited to attend. For some amazing photos of Cheryl, click here.
More About: Service , Memorial , Cheryl

Remembering Cheryl Hanks - The New Patron Saint of Real Estate
2007-12-05 17:57:00
Yesterday, while I was getting the buyers’ final initials on a contract that took a month to negotiate, my Blackberry rang.  It was my friend Monica Belisan, and as I excused myself to answer it, I knew it might be really awful news.  And it was. Many Washington area agents knew Cheryl Hanks.  She was a best friend and former office-mate, and she died Monday night.  She went to a friend’s wedding in Amman, Jordan, and had a cerebral hemorrhage after the festivities were over.  That was about two weeks ago, and she seemed to be on the path to recovery.  Her friends all prayed like crazy, but it must have been her time. It was the call I was praying would not come. So I got the deal I was praying for and lost the dear friend I was praying for.  Bummer. Her friends and colleagues have been in shock.  Cheryl was an amazing friend and an amazing real estate agent.  (more…) ShareThis
More About: Estate , Real Estate , Real , Saint , Remembering

Remembering Cheryl Hanks - The New Patron Saint of Real Estate
2007-12-05 16:57:00
Yesterday, while I was getting the buyers' final  initials on a contract that took a month to negotiate,  my Blackberry rang.  It was my friend Monica Belisan, and as I excused myself to answer it, I knew it might be really awful news.  And it was. Many Washington area agents knew Cheryl Hanks.  She was a best friend and former office-mate, and she died Monday night.  She went to a friend's wedding in Amman, Jordan, and had a cerebral hemorrhage after the festivities were over.  That was about two weeks ago, and she seemed to be on the path to recovery.  Her friends all prayed like crazy, but it must have been her time. It was the call I was praying would not come. So I got the deal I was praying for and lost the dear friend I was praying for.  Bummer. Her friends and colleagues have been in shock.    Cheryl was an amazing friend and an amazing real estate agent.  When we first got to know each other, we were sharing ...
More About: Estate , Real Estate , Real , Saint , Remembering

When You Have to Sell Over The Holidays
2007-11-28 19:40:00
Conventional wisdom says to avoid listing your house between Thanksgiving and New Years.  Nobody looks then except for the Scroogiest of the bottom fishers. Oh, Yeah? So, is there any way to make the best of trying to sell a house when everyone else is at the mall buying Christmas presents? Yesterday, I showed a house that really made a cse for decking both the halls and the For Sale sign.  It’s a pretty place to begin with.  The big, healthy and tastefully decorated tree looked and smelled wonderful.  There was greenery on the mantel.  The dining room table ad festive candles, and I was waiting for the stuffed goose to materialize. This house was a shameless flirt - I couldn’t imagine it looking more inviting at any other time of the year. And I’m convinced that someone will buy it before Christmas as a present to themselves and their family. I guess the bottom line for a seller is how motivated are you to sell right now?  It’s ...
More About: Holidays , Sell , The Holidays

When You Have to Sell Over The Holidays
2007-11-28 18:40:00
Conventional wisdom says to avoid listing your house between Thanksgiving and New Years.  Nobody looks then except for the Scroogiest of the bottom fishers. Oh, Yeah? So, is there any way to make the best of trying to sell a house when everyone else is at the mall buying Christmas presents? Yesterday, I showed a house that really made a cse for decking both the halls and the For Sale sign.  It's a pretty place to begin with.  The big, healthy and tastefully decorated tree looked and smelled wonderful.  There was greenery on the mantel.  The dining room table ad festive candles, and I was waiting for the stuffed goose to materialize. This house was a shameless flirt - I couldn't imagine it looking more inviting at any other time of the year. And I'm convinced that someone will buy it before Christmas as a present to themselves and their family. I guess the bottom line for a seller is how motivated are you to sell right now?  It's hard to deal wi...
More About: Holidays , Sell , The Holidays

If I hadn’t opened my big mouth, I’d be writing a contract inst
2007-10-23 23:19:00
There is this couple I’ve been working with. I’m their second agent, and a dear friend and veteran of many buying and selling transactions as a client referred them. By the time I met them, they had found a neighborhood they liked in Northern Virginia. Since I’d not familiar with this subdivision, I took a couple of hours to blitz every house in the neighborhood that was currently listed, and there were two standouts listed well within their comfort zone for price. We went back together, and they really liked one of them. Yesterday, we went back for a second time, and they decided that, yes, it’s Dream House. We went over the listing information (it hadn’t been out on the previous visits) including a survey, and something caught my attention. There was a creek forming the boundary of the back yard. “Is this in a flood plain?” I asked out loud. Well, there was a survey from when the current owners bought the place that said it was not in a FEMA-designated flood zo...
More About: Writing , Contract , Big Mouth , Mouth , Opened

If I hadn't opened my big mouth, I'd be writing a contract instead
2007-10-23 21:19:00
There is this couple I’ve been working with. I’m their second agent, and a dear friend and veteran of many buying and selling transactions as a client referred them. By the time I met them, they had found a neighborhood they liked in Northern Virginia. Since I’d not familiar with this subdivision, I took a couple of hours to blitz every house in the neighborhood that was currently listed, and there were two standouts listed well within their comfort zone for price. We went back together, and they really liked one of them. Yesterday, we went back for a second time, and they decided that, yes, it’s Dream House. We went over the listing information (it hadn’t been out on the previous visits) including a survey, and something caught my attention. There was a creek forming the boundary of the back yard. “Is this in a flood plain?” I asked out loud. Well, there was a survey from when the current owners bought the place that said it was not in a FEMA-designate...
More About: Writing , Contract , Big Mouth , Mouth , Opened

Payback Time?
2007-10-17 20:51:00
Throughout my real estate career, I’ve enjoyed working with buyers. Maybe it’s because I started off in a strong buyers market, and the habits and skills I developed were geared to finding buyer prospects and then finding their dream homes.  I gained a reputation for being a great negotiator and for being able, when necessary, to put together complicated deals and make them work.  And as a strategy, the buyer thing worked very well for me, at least until the late 1990s. That was when the market went from slow to normal to hot to red hot to white hot!   All of a sudden, being a great buyer broker looked like it could become the path to starvation.  To help balance things out, the listings I got were much easier to sell, so I didn’t have to resort to eating cat food.  But this white hot market was just not a lot of fun when I was on the buyer’s side - and sometimes being the listing agent presented interesting challenges. The str...
More About: Time , Payback

Payback Time?
2007-10-17 18:51:00
Throughout my real estate career, I've enjoyed working with buyers. Maybe it's because I started off in a strong buyers market, and the habits and skills I developed were geared to finding buyer prospects and then finding their dream homes.  I gained a reputation for being a great negotiator and for being able, when necessary, to put together complicated deals and make them work.  And as a strategy, the buyer thing worked very well for me, at least until the late 1990s. That was when the market went from slow to normal to hot to red hot to white hot!   All of a sudden, being a great buyer broker looked like it could become the path to starvation.  To help balance things out, the listings I got were much easier to sell, so I didn't have to resort to eating cat food.  But this white hot market was just not a lot of fun when I was on the buyer's side - and sometimes being the listing agent presented interesting challenges. The strong listing age...
More About: Time , Payback

Condo Owners’ Insurance - Don’t Move In Without It!
2007-10-02 17:13:00
Here in Washington, there was a sad lead story on tonight’s 11 o’clock news. A lovely old condo building on Adams Morgan had a 4-alarm fire that burned today for seven hours. There was a sad looking shot of the unit owners sitting in a large circle in the park across the street talking with the building managers. The building itself looked pretty sorry, with a wrecking ball hanging overhead from a tall crane. Thank God no one was hurt. Another building on that block had a serious fire about fifteen years ago, and that fire brought home to me the importance of advising clients buying condos and coops to make sure they call their insurance agent. Many people are under the false impression that the owner’s association master insurance policy will cover them in the event of a fire or other catastrophe that seriously damages the property. It doesn’t. While the master policy will cover repairs to the building, owners need their own policies to protect their per...
More About: Insurance , Condo , Move , Owners

Condo Owners' Insurance - Don't Move In Without It!
2007-10-02 15:13:00
Here in Washington, there was a sad lead story on tonight's 11 o'clock news. A lovely old condo building on Adams Morgan had a 4-alarm fire that burned today for seven hours. There was a sad looking shot of the unit owners sitting in a large circle in the park across the street talking with the building managers. The building itself looked pretty sorry, with a wrecking ball hanging overhead from a tall crane. Thank God no one was hurt. Another building on that block had a serious fire about fifteen years ago, and that fire brought home to me the importance of advising clients buying condos and coops to make sure they call their insurance agent. Many people are under the false impression that the owner's association master insurance policy will cover them in the event of a fire or other catastrophe that seriously damages the property. It doesn't. While the master policy will cover repairs to the building, owners need their own policies to protect their personal belongin...
More About: Insurance , Condo , Move , Owners

"It's The Relationship, Stupid!"
2007-09-21 19:42:00
While I was writing the first draft of The Irreverent Guide, a had a wonderful writing coach named Jeff Stein. He's a professional journalist and has two books already published and is working on a third now. He was the perfect coach because he knew zip about real estate and lots about writing. After he read my first few chapters, he suggested that I take a sticky note, write on it "IT'S THE RELATIONSHIP, STUPID!!!!" in big bold letters, and stick it to the top of my computer screen. Without knowing about our business, he put his finger right on the point of it all! Whether I'm writing a book about real estate or meeting with a client, it's the relationship! And not just between agent and client! * If you have two people buying or selling a place, whether or not they are married, it's their relationship, complete with any unresolved control issues. * It's the relationship I have with the listing agents whose properties we make offers on. * It's the relat...
More About: Relationship , Stupid

So Many Birds; Just One Stone
2007-09-16 15:14:00
Last night, I did something really fun, and certainly worth blogging about. Phyllis Patterson is a colleague at Coldwell Banker, and she works out of their Old Town Office in Alexandria, VA. She hired my chamber group to help “stage” a house she’s just listed for a very different kind of Open House. Here are the basics of what she did: First, it’s a beautiful home – new construction in Wellington, a neighborhood of the George Washington Memorial Parkway north of Old Town. Second, Diane Dustin, who staged this home, used a minimalist approach I love. Her staging does not distract, but it does help the prospective buyers imagine how they would live in the house. Third, the food (Diane also did the catering) was fresh, simple and delicious. There was lots of good wine, Perrier (for all those designated drivers and the flute player), interesting cheese and fruit. Fourth, she (for the second time) hired my chamber group to play background music (we played Haydn, M...
More About: Stone , Birds , Tone

"Two Buck Chuck" as a Metaphore
2007-09-07 17:19:00
In the world of wine-making, as in the world of real estate, consumers have many price/quality choices. With wine, the sky's the limit, although most of us expect an expensive bottle to deliver a wonderful taste with minimal hangover the next morning.  One might buy a bottle of, say Wine Spectator Magazine's Wine of the Year (Casanova di Niri from somewhere in northern Italy) and spend around $70 a bottle.  Or... A few years ago, my old roommate from New York invited me to dinner.  She and her husband introduced me to Charles Shaw wine - available on the west coast for $1.99 a bottle (hence the Two Buck Chuck moniker) and here in Washington for $2.99 a bottle (we call it "Three Buck Chuck" - something to do with shipping costs).  It is offered for sale at the Trader Joe stores and has become my favorite loss leader when I shop in their new Washington store. So last week, as I drove home from a showing appointment, I was pleased to hear Steve Ins...