Model Home, Strange Life

Yesterday I saw something I've never seen before. I was showing homes and came across a listing that said it was a former model home and all of the furnishing were for sale.  The tax records said it was purchased a year ago by an individual, and now only 15 months later they are selling.  

This house is still completely furnished as the model home.  The towels in the bathrooms still have the ribbons around them.  There is fake wine - plastic - in the wine glasses on the dining room table. There is foamy beer - plastic - in mugs in the family room.  The hard plastic loaf of bread is on the kitchen counter.  The house is packed with decorator tschotskes - model cars, books, wall art, silk flowers.  Even the flat screen TV above the fireplace is cardboard!  

Everything is dusty.   The kitchen is being used - the cooktop is dirty.  Only 2 of the bathrooms, one bedroom, the garage and the storage room are used.  The other 13 rooms in the house have not been touched!  (By the way, there is a junk yard in the lot behind the house. They don't show that in the pictures.)  What a strange way to live.

Short Sale Hostage

Oh, the cruel vagaries of short sales.  Not every buyer can handle the experience.  You have to be flexible about when you are able to move.  Absolutely no deadlines for when you have to be out of your current home.  You must have the patience of Job to wait wait wait as tidbits of information on the progress of the short sale drip slowly through the system, like Chinese water torture.  You might need to pay more for the home than you offered because the lender's appraisal says it's worth more.  If you don't pony up, they'll kick you out of the transaction.  Runner up for the worst outcome for buyers:  The lender doesn't approve the short sale and reworks the loan with the current owner - no sale.  Winner of the worst outcome for all parties: The lender forecloses on the property in the midst of the short sale. No deal.  No house.  Return to GO and collect your earnest money back.

I recently had a client who bought a townhome in Reston - regular sale, totally and beautifully renovated, great price.  Contract was accepted in 3rd week in May.  He had to be out of his current home by end of July.   Sounds like plenty of time.  The one contingency was "Home of Choice" - that means the seller had to find a home they wanted to buy within the specified time frame.  Only problem was that there weren't (and still aren't) very many homes for sale.  She couldn't find anything she wanted to buy.

Finally she chose - oh dear -  a home being sold short sale.  So now my buyer, who bought a home as a regular transaction, had to wait through the whole excrutiating and uncertain short sale process.  He had to move four times between the end of July and when it finally closed the end of October! I won't even go into the details of how we had to adjust the offer price three times to keep the deal alive.

Interesting that the transactions (and the lives of approximately 12 people) didn't depend so much on the short sale being approved as it did on my client's willingness to wait out the whole nightmare. If he pulled, out the whole chain of transactions broke.

I'll gladly share credit with Carole Burnett, also with Long and Foster, for coming up with creative solutions to keep the transaction alive and our clients focused on the outcomes that they wanted- their new homes.  I love happy endings!

Cleanliness is Next . . . . - On Your To-Do List

If you've been a renter of a private home - and sometimes for apartment complexes - you've experienced the strict lease clause requiring the property and the carpet to be professionally cleaned in order to get your security deposit back.  It can come as a shock that the standards aren't nearly as strict when you are buying a home.  The Sales Contract states only that the home has to be broom swept and trash and debris removed. That leaves room for a lot of dirt and grime to be left behind. (As a Realtor, I always point this out to my clients when they are signing the contract, but it can be an easy thing to forget when there are so many other important steps in the sales process.)

When you're buying the home, most likely the owners have it in the best and cleanest condition it has been in since they bought it.  That's all part of having the house on the market for sale.  Some home sellers take a lot of pride in leaving the home spotlessly clean for the new owners.

Yet, often in the chaos and stress of moving, cleaning is the last thing a home seller has time to do.  In the rush of getting that last box out the door, they just may not have time to clean.

Home buyers may consider having the home professionally cleaned, or schedule time themselves to don the yellow-rubber-gloves before they move in.  That way they know they are starting life in their new home with a clean slate.

Behind Door # 1 . . . .

A Realtor never knows what will be on the other side of a door.  I always hope for an up-to-date, Q-Tip clean, and tastefully decorated home.  And I also hope that if the homeowner is home - they have their clothes on!

Here's my routine when showing a home:  Follow the showing instructions in the listing, such as calling the owner and/or the listing agent. If owner doesn't answer, leave my phone number in a voice mail so they can call me if the showing time I propose doesn't work for them.  When arriving at the home, ring the doorbell and wait, ring it again and wait, knock loudly on the door and wait.  Open the door and yell "REALTOR" to alert I'm entering the home.

In spite of these best efforts, I still catch people unaware.  There was the man sitting on his couch, no shirt, beer belly, refilling his belly with beer.  There were the three little boys alone in the living room watching cartoons who were dressed - from the waist up.  There was the woman who, after we had already entered the house, finally came upstairs from the family room, flushed and disheveled.  As we toured the home and went down to the family room, there was a man, also flushed and disheveled.  They were both pretty happy though.

One time I had made an appointment, the wife answered the door and invited us in, chatted with us, etc. When we went upstairs, the husband was standing in the master bedroom with only a towel on - yelling at us for being in his house . Gosh, I assumed he wanted to sell his house considering it was in the multiple listing service.  This was when the market was dead and he was lucky to even get a showing.

One particularly memorable incident occurred in Reston with my client, his little son, and both of his parents.  We had an appointment.  The lights in the house were all on.  I went through my routine before entering.  We toured the main floor, went downstairs and outside.  They really liked the house so they were spending a lot of time looking at everything and talking about it. Back up to the main floor, sounding like a herd of elephants.  Just as we were about to go upstairs, the homeowner starts screaming at us from up there.  She had been in the shower the whole time and hadn't heard us.  We profusely apologized and hurried out - everyone's nerves rattled.  Thank goodness we hadn't made it upstairs and opened the bathroom door while she was still in the shower! She was m-a-d,  until we bought the house.

My advice to Sellers is not to include the deadbolt key in the lockbox, so that you can lock that during the time you need privacy while at home.  And in general, people - keep your clothes on!

Money Happens

If you haven't already heard the news from every Realtor, lender and title company you've ever done business with, the $8,000 tax credit for first time home buyers has been extended.  Even better, current home owners can get a tax credit of $6,500.  Even better, the income limits to be eligible are significantly raised from $75k for single filers and $150k for joint filers to a whopping $150k and $225k. One catch:  You have to be under contract by April 30, 2010 and close in 60 days.  Read the details here.

Here's why this is such a great program:  Economist predict that job growth should kick in by the 2nd quarter next year.  This program will spur economic activity during the 1st quarter.  Although these tax credits are big amounts for individual payers, the tax revenue that buying a home generates will cause it to pay for itself, plus, plus.

Just think about all of the businesses that make money, and pay taxes, when you buy a house starting with, yours truly, your Realtor.  There are also the loan officer's commission, the banks and their admin staff, appraisers, title companies, home and radon inspectors, termite inspectors, and home warranty issuers.

Think about the trades that get business either when a home owner is fixing up their house to sell, or when an inspection reveals work that needs to be done, or after the home is purchased and the buyer is making it their own.  That includes plumbers, electricians, roofers, painters,  flooring companies and installers, appliance manufacturers and their stores, handymen and home improvement stores.

Speaking of getting your house ready for sale, you'll need to be on the market by March 1st at the absolute latest to have a ratified contract by April 30th.  It isn't too early to start thinking about what you need to do to get your home ready.

The last couple of winters I've been able to stay inside and toasty warm most days because there weren't a lot of people buying and selling.  I expect this year I'll be breaking out the hat, mittens and snow boots.  I'm ready!

From Boardrooms to Bathrooms

I love being a Realtor.  There are so many hats I get to wear:  business owner, marketer, administrator, quasi-lawyer, financial analyst, psychologist, strategist, negotiator, interior decorator, community expert, inspector, architect, handyman.  Now our client Agreements say that I'm none of those things, but in real life, to help my clients reach their goals, I need to have some knowledge of all of those roles.

In a training class I took when first launching my career as a Realtor, all of us newbies were intimidated about competing against more experienced agents to find clients.  How do we answer the question, "How long have you been a Realtor?"  The trainer suggested, "It feels like my whole life!"  In many ways, I have been training my whole life in the areas of expertise needed to succeed.

Part of that training is the fact that I've moved 27 times in my life.  I've also bought and lived in 13 homes across the country.  That's a lot of moving trucks, redecorating, and finding new doctors, preschools and my way around town.  When I found Reston, Virginia, I knew I had found my home.  I moved here in 1996 and I've never wanted to live anywhere else since.

Prior to becoming a Realtor, I worked for Mosaic Sales Solutions for 11 years.  During that time, it grew from a $2million boutique field marketing company located on Madison Avenue to a $200million business in Dallas.  I ended my career there as Senior Vice President of Business Development, reporting to the then president, Bill Lee - an amazingly creative and inspiring leader.  During those years I was involved in every aspect of the business from account management, budgeting, hiring, training, reporting, technology implementation and business development. 

I also had the privilege to work for clients that included American Express, AT&T Wireless, Best Buy, Disney, all of the major film studios, Microsoft's Xbox, and many others.  After countless boardroom presentations and a million miles on American Airlines, it was time for a change.

That change began when I married my wonderful husband, Stephen Clark.  Now I had a reason to stay off airplanes and stay home!  While in Reston I had sold a townhome and bought a condo through my Realtor, Claudia Weintraub.  Claudia has been a Realtor in northern Virginia for 32 years.  While working together, we became friends.  Claudia wanted a partner to join her in business so that she could transition to semi-retirement and some day full retirement.  When I was ready to leave the boardrooms, I asked her, "How about me?"  It's been a perfect partnership ever since.

Now for the bathrooms.  During my first week of showing homes, I was standing in a master bathroom with a husband and wife who were discussing the merits of double vanities.  I thought to myself, "Dorothy, you're not in Kansas anymore!"  I'd moved from writing $20million program proposals and discussing performance metrics with clients to discussing the morning grooming routines of clients.

And I wouldn't go back for the world.  I love the intimacy of really getting to know people and guiding them safely through the process of finding a home that suits their life styles and their budgets. (Our slogan says it perfectly:  Smart Connections Between Hearts and Home)

So, without violating any client-confidentiality, I'll be sharing some of my experiences and insights - both entertaining and informative ones.  I hope you'll learn something helpful for your journey of buying or selling a home.