April 2009

Are you a sick and tired home seller?

Then I ask that you call your agent right now and that’s a sales tip (see below).

We have all seen the airport and health personnel wearing masks or scanning people for fevers, all looking for swine flu suspects who are traveling home from a trip abroad. Yes, I said HOME the place we all want to go when we feel ill.

A couple of years ago I was showing homes in Loudoun County to a client who was moving in from Texas. We had seen about a dozen homes and came to a nice one that had been on the market a week. It was well painted, gleaming hardwoods, gorgeous kitchen flowing out on to a huge deck. Everything seemed to fit.

So we walked up to the bedrooms to discover the seller, in bed, and so sick that he could barely speak. “I have the flu, please go away” he said in a meek tone.

Needless to say, I was glad that I had my annual flu shot but really wanted to find a decontamination tent, stat!

Or there was the time that my brother and sister-in-law (Pete and Kathy) wanted to buy their first home in Vienna. We looked at a number of Vienna Woods split levels and ramblers, but then decided to see a cozy little cape on Courthouse Road SW. The family left as we arrived telling us to take our time on a sunny Saturday afternoon.

14 days later, Kathy had a pock on her shoulder blade. Yes, the tell-tale sign of a case of Chickenpox. I found out that the child in that little cape had the Chickenpox, and that Kathy had never had the Chickenpox. Oy veh!

So, I will ask the question again, are you a sick and tired home seller? If so, call your doctor and then your agent because anyone who gets sick seeing your house will never, ever buy it.

Power lines, law, human nature and real estate

An interesting aspect of being a real estate agent is that you get to learn about a variety of subjects such as law, environmental issues, construction, mortgage finance, human behavior, negotiation techniques, legislation, and much more. And the successful agents know that having a team or network of professionals is important to providing the level of service that consumers expect.

I answer questions on the Trulia.com site and responded to one today regarding electrical sub-stations and if there were health risks. It was interesting that no one else dared answer this one but I gave an answer that included a link to the Health Physics Association that examines radiation safety. And the effort was appreciated by the person who asked the question.

Having shown dozens of homes over the years near power lines and sub-stations, I gave my own personal observation based on Doug Science, not found using “The Google”.

Sub-stations hum 24 hours a day, and I like to open my windows so that humming would drive me crazy! Can you imagine coming home every day thinking this over and over again? I can’t either so I suggested that he move on to another location.

Consumers often over think issues and can become obsessed that everything must have a logical answer. The Washington Post had an article yesterday about a couple who has spent three years analyzing home prices and made five low offers in that time (all rejected) and lovingly spend hours crunching the data all viewed on huge monitors. When they move into that perfect house at that outrageous price with FiOS and a garage, they will probably wake up one morning, open the curtains, and wonder if that electrical sub-station is a health risk.

Earth Day 2009 in Vienna, Virginia

Happy Earth Day 2009!

I feel like I really chipped-in today by recycling a house built in 1968.  Yes, selling it to new owners! Doug is helping save the planet again. Disclaimer: note that my sale was in Vienna, Virginia and not Hawaii as depicted in this photo.

Did you know that the economic slowdown has had a “green” effect on landfills? The Loudoun County landfill is now projected to have more than a year and a half extra room because trash volume is down. Hey, you didn’t need another new TV anyway.

Here is a hard request that I am going to make to you. A high concentration of the pollution in our waterways is due to fertilizer run-off that we use on our lawns. Now don’t go crazy, but use half the amount of Scott’s LawnMaster IV or find a natural option at the garden center this weekend.

Doing your part can be as simple as turning the lights off when you leave a room.

Agents, it is a job not your life

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