Real Estate • October 2, 2009

Buyers

by Heather Adkinson

I’m am so thrilled to have gotten a phone call from some first time home buyers today. I can’t even begin to tell you how excited I am about this and not for the reasons that you’re thinking. They are coming to look this weekend in hopes of moving right away. I have everything ready, my binder full of listings that fit their criteria and my Buyers Agency Agreement. I am now determined to use these with all my buyers. I’ve been in this business long enough to see what happens without them and in our current real estate environment I refuse to go without them any longer. I digress however…..

The reason I am so excited is that in the past 3 years I have primarily been working as a listing agent, not by choice, it just seems that is what happened. Representing a couple different builders it seems to have taken up all my extra time and with doing Open Houses every weekend there were just never enough hours in the day. I have missed my buyers! My first years in the business I was meeting with buyers every weekend and I loved it. Being able to find the perfect house for my client and knowing when we walked in that was the house for them. It was such a great feeling.

There are obviously different emotions when dealing with a home seller and even more different when it is a builder. It can at times take the fun and excitement out of it when you aren’t the one finding the perfect house for the client. I am working hard to find that balance between listings and buyers so that I can keep not only a steady stream of business but also so I can keep those feelings coming back.

Real Estate • October 1, 2009

Home Inspector Please

by Heather Adkinson

Because of the recent changes to licensing for Home Inspectors we are running into a situation here in Grant County as I’m sure most counties are running into. Our 2 (yes you read that right) our 2 inspectors who are actually still

Inspection

licensed and have all the training required to perform Home Inspections are currently 2 weeks out on Home Inspections. This of course doesn’t work with the 10 day time frame for inspections so I have recently changed my inspection notices to 14 days.

I have some questions for Washington State fully licensed Home Inspectors.

Do you drive to other counties for inspections?
What would an extra cost be for drive time?
Is it safe to hire out of town inspectors…obviously weather conditions in different areas cause different issues in homes so if you’re great over in west side will you be familiar with the issues that can rise on the east side?

Homeowners even though we are running into this issue I think it is just growing pains until everyone is fully licensed. This is something that we needed to have happen to get rid of the inspectors that really didn’t know what they were doing (similar as part time agents). Make sure your Realtor gives you plenty of time to get an inspection done just in case you run into a similar situation. Always, Always, require a Home Inspection.

Real Estate • September 29, 2009

Presenting Offers

by Heather Adkinson

I admit it I think I may have gotten complacent and sometimes in this small town of ours we need to have an agent who does it “different” come in and shake us up a bit. Well it’s been done but I’m still not sure about rocking the boat.

j0438505 I don’t know about where you are but here the buyers agents don’t present their offers to the sellers we let the listing agents do that. Now I’ve heard it’s done differently elsewhere.

It seems that having the buyers agent present the offer would cut down on some of the issues that can especially arise in small towns. Agents know each other a little to well and do all they can to somehow derail an offer if it’s an agent they don’t like. I’m not saying thats the norm but i have seen it happen.

I can also see the side however, where the sellers don’t want to meet the other agent face to face because it makes them uncomfortable in negotiations. Wouldn’t it also put a face on the buyer which would make negotiating a little more difficult for my seller because they either will like what they hear from the agent or they do not.

I’m a little on the fence about this I can see where it would be a good thing for the buyers agent but maybe a bad thing for the selling agent. I would be interested to hear what your experiences are with presenting offers as a Buyer’s Agent to the seller or if you don’t do it that way either.

I would like to hear what you think the pros and cons are for that situation so I can decide if it’s something I would like to pursue in this small town of mine!.

Real Estate • September 28, 2009

Really, Really? Is That How We Work?

by Heather Adkinson

I must admit I have been browsing the websites trying to come up with a topic to write a blog about today when I came across this quote:

For most of this young century, the real-estate scene was dominated by homeowners trading up, flipping properties or snapping up vacation homes. Bubble-driven prices meant that even “starter homes” were out of reach for younger couples. Brokers and agents shunned first-time buyers because they needed too much hand-holding and, of course, because they weren’t that lucrative — why waste time peddling $150,000 condos when you could make seven times as much money selling a single $1 million McMansion?

It came right off the MSN home page real estate website and it really makes me wonder what kind of impression our clients get of us when the mainstream media so harshly points out that first time home buyers weren’t worth our time a couple years ago.

I don’t know about you but to me a Buyer is a Buyer. Weather you’re spending $10,000 (and yes I have a $12,500 listing of raw land) or $500,000. I have time for you!

dilapidated Building

You will never get the impression that it’s just not worth my time. Every buyer is important!

I know that some of you will come on here and say well I’m just to busy with other stuff and I can’t make time for small listings or sales. Thats fine, but we can at least refer these people out to other agents and follow the transaction to make sure that are being taken care of like they should. It all comes down to the good basics of business TAKE CARE OF THE CLIENT!

Lastly I’d like to say I’m disappointed that the media chooses to put an opinion out there that disparages us in such a way. But I guess they wouldn’t have gotten that impression if we hadn’t given it to them right?

Uncategorized • September 26, 2009

What Are Buyers Really Saying?

by Heather Adkinson

Have you ever wondered as your traveling around with your buyer what they really are asking you? This is a brief run-down of some of the things I’ve learned along the way

“I want a 3 bedroom 2 bath with about 1800 sq ft for under $100,000″….what they are really saying

“I would like something for nothing and i would also like it to be on an acre of land.”

“I would like to look at foreclosures I would be interested in a project.”….what they are really saying

“I have never been in a foreclosure home and I want to see how much work there really is.”

“I want to stay in the $100,000-$150,000 range.”….what they are really saying

“I have no clue what I would be preapproved for I’m just pulling numbers from the sky.”

“Hey do you have plans tonight?”….what they are really saying

“Can you drop everything you are doing tonight and show me houses that I’m not quite sure if I’m interested in or if I’m qualified for.”

homes, moses lake

” I called another agent about this listing.”…what they are really saying

“She’s already showed me the house but I’m going to ask you to write it up and then you can deal with the repercussions of that.”

“Do you think they’d let me move some of my stuff in the garage?”….what they are really saying

“I know you told me that it won’t close until tomorrow but I have the truck packed and I gave notice and I’m going to have to sleep in my car tonight unless they let me in.”

Buyers

Home Inspector Please

Presenting Offers

Really, Really? Is That How We Work?

What Are Buyers Really Saying?

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