SarahGray Lamm ~ Chapel Hill / Carrboro / Durham Real Estate Blog ~ Agent Outlier: October 2009

“Cherished Family Memories Reluctantly For Sale To Highest Bidder…
and we do mean high so don’t offend us with a lowball offer.”

I see this ad all the time; in community newspapers and magazines, print, online and in my email. I see it every time I pull up the day’s New Listings in MLS.

You’re kidding…no one would ever run such an ad, would they? Guess again; this is exactly what a seller is saying when s/he decides to ask their real estate agent to “just try it” and put an overpriced home on the market to see if anyone is willing to pay. (Never mind whether or not a lender is willing to lend money to a buyer to overpay for your home but that’s another discussion…)

We all think we are capable of being perfectly objective when it comes to selling our homes. “I know it’s just a house,’ we tell ourselves, “an investment, bricks and mortar, ‘a house’ not a home.” But the problem is that, for you, it is a home.

When you start to ‘de-clutter’ as your agent suggested, you find memories; in the closets, in the attic and under the beds. Memories in your families cherished collections, your children’s school art and your kitchen junk drawer. The pantry holds the ingredients for your loved ones favorite recipes and the walls hold family portraits and local artwork purchased on family vacations and outings.

You start to think about all the good times you’ve had in the kitchen during holidays, family evenings spent in the living room, putting the kids to bed in the bedrooms decorated to reflect their favorite things, the backyard parties with neighbors and friends and the satisfaction of completing a do it yourself project in the garage. You know how much a new family is going to enjoy doing those same things in your beloved home. Someone will appreciate how valuable it is, right? Then there’s the new flooring, the updated bathrooms, the new HVAC system and isn’t your lawn beautiful and well cared for? Surely the next owners will want to keep the custom made draperies that match the Pottery Barn paint in the Dining Room. You’ll leave them; for a price. The washer and dryer are only two years old; a great deal and you’ll throw those in; with the right offer.

Folks, you have long since passed the point of even being capable of objectivity. Loss of objectivity is the first step down the short road to unreasonable pricing. But can’t we just try it? Surely you, my faithful and capable real estate agent, can make them see how valuable all this stuff is? That is your job isn’t it?

My job, dear seller, is to help you understand the realities of the market and to offer up my years of experience to help you prepare your home to appeal to the largest segment of qualified buyers out there and this includes proper pricing. Then I will market it in such a way as to get those buyers through the door so they can see for themselves what a great home you are selling; maybe even get them to imagine all the great memories they can create there so that we can begin to strategically negotiate the selling price. Don’t think for one minute that your offering price is not part of the strategy or the appeal.

Your best buyer may not even get a chance to see your home if their agent tells them it is overpriced. Nobody has the time to be the guinea pig who teachs a seller that their pricing strategy is in need of some serious review. “Make us an offer”, you say, “we’ll be reasonable.” But the buyer has moved on. They are busy preparing an offer on your neighbors’ home. You see your neighbors finally decided that they really want to get on with it, no more trying; they’ve opted for doing. They just dropped their asking price by $20,000 and the buyers can’t wait to get started negotiating for their new home. They’ll be moved in before Christmas and already creating their own memories just about the time you call your agent to say “Let’s price it where you originally suggested…it’s time for us to move on.”

I think there is great value in knowing that some real estate advice should be universal! I appreciate this explanation of why home inspections are so valuable from a very experienced colleague in Virginia, Lenn Harley, as she explains well why a home inspection is money well spent for a buyer. I'm grateful she is allowing me to share her thoughts on the subject with my readers.

In NC, we are a property disclosure state so the seller is required to provide written disclosure of their experience with the property you may be considering purchasing. The reality is that any disclosure is only a first step should something go wrong later and no guarantee of future potential problems. Real information about a properties' condition is only available from a professional home inspector.

You and I will talk alot more about this should I represent your best interest in a home purchase!

I have a confession to make; I ‘get’ Facebook. I really do. I admit that when I first heard that I, as a real estate agent, should’ be on Facebook, I was seriously skeptical. But my business partner, whose job it is to market me and my listings, told me that I needed to give it a chance because if it was going to work I would just have to do it and figure out why after the fact. I trust her so I did it.

Here’s what I know now. I am not on Facebook because I am a real estate agent. I am a real estate agent who is on Facebook. First of all, I do not and have never ‘friended’ just anyone who asks. I have my profile page pretty restricted. You can’t read my wall posts or get info about me unless I let you in! Counterintuitive to real estate, you say? Not really. I’m not looking to meet new people on Facebook. I’m looking to stay connected to people I already know!

I signed up, put up a professional profile picture (who knew… if this would become a HUGE referral source I didn’t want to be looking like my cat or my baby self at 5 years old.) Then I started scrolling through the friend suggestions Facebook automatically makes based on my (selectively provided) personal information. The first folks I ‘friended’ were other agents in my company. (Still not seeing how this was going to be a great referral source.) But then some of my sorority sisters from UNC started popping up! Great! I’d find one or two and then scroll through their friends and find more folks I hadn’t thought about in years! Then my high school friends started appearing; the adult children of my friends, my neighbors, people I know in my community. This was getting addicting.

Guess what? Everyone I know has a life, career, family, children, grandchildren and interests they’ve developed since I saw them last. Go figure. Facebook is not a place to hang your shingle. It is a place to connect with and learn more about the people you know. When I run into people I haven’t seen in years now, the conversation is different. Instead of “Hey! How are you? How’s it going?” “Great. Good…nice to see you.” We‘re immediately talking about vacation pics just posted, new grandchildren, new ventures and shared sorrows. I know what you’re up to because you posted it and therefore I’m part of your life again.

You still don’t get how this works for your business? OK, don’t join Facebook. I promise it won’t work if you aren’t interested in your ‘friends’ and their lives. But let me share a few things:

• My oldest friends have kids who need places to live at UNC.
• My college friends occasionally look for investment property in Chapel Hill.
• The friends who find out I still have a family home at the beach want to know how the real estate market is at the coast.
• My real estate friends from my hometown have business they need to refer to the Triangle.
• My clients who became friends and have moved away meet people who are coming to the Raleigh Durham area.
• My young clients ‘friend’ me after closing and I can see how they are doing with new jobs, careers, marriages and children so I know when life is leading them toward a lifestyle change.
• I know which of my friends are in industries I need to connect with, whether for business or personal reasons, and we can network to help each other succeed.

Shall I stop now or do you need me to keep going? Still don’t want to Facebook? Then by all means, don’t. There are many things I will never do because I don’t enjoy them. I would stay on Facebook now even if I never received a real estate related call. If you’ve been avoiding Facebook because you don’t ‘get it’… jump in and give it a try. If it’s going to work you’ll figure out why after the fact.

It’s the newest marketing advice in real estate! And probably car sales and insurance sales and any other sales you can think of…’become their trusted advisor.’

Don’t get me wrong. It’s great advice and those who are giving it are correct. But some folks seem to skip over the first word in that advice…BECOME. I am not your ‘trusted advisor’ because I use that term to describe myself on my webpage. I am not your ‘trusted advisor’ because you typed that keyword into a search engine and I came up. I am not even your trusted advisor because I am trusted by others. Not yet...

Trusted advisors are parents, teachers, mentors and friends. People who really know us; who really care about our happiness and want us to succeed and make good decisions. Until such time as I should fall into one of the above categories, I am a salesperson; plain and simple. You are not confused.

How people choose or learn to trust others is as individual as we are. Some folks naturally trust others unless that trust is betrayed. Others naturally distrust everyone until they prove otherwise. Some simply withhold judgment and wait to decide based on a gut level feeling or a telling moment when they know they have a reason to believe. Some never trust anyone and there is nothing I can say or do to change that.

So why should you allow me to advise you? Why should you accept that I am working in your best interest? Why should you even consider that I could be worthy of your trust at any point? I have no idea. Seriously. That’s between you and your gut and you have to live with your decisions just like I live with mine.

What I can tell you is that you are welcome to bring someone you trust with you when we get together to decide if we should work together. They are always welcome to tag along and see the home that you can’t seem to get out of your mind so you can benefit from their trusted opinion. You are welcome to talk to my clients and ask them how they liked working with me. You are welcome to ask me how I would handle a hypothetical situation so you can determine if my knowledge and experience are something you would like to leverage in your own interest. In short you are welcome to do whatever it takes for you to reach whatever level of trust you determine is necessary in order to decide if you want to hire me to help you accomplish your goals. It’s really that simple.

My goal is simple as well. It is to advise you skillfully and knowledgably and offer you my hard earned wisdom so that when you have achieved your real estate goal and are basking in the happy glow of a mission accomplished, you will say, “Thanks, SarahGray, I appreciate everything you did for me and I will be happy to tell anyone considering hiring you that you have earned my trust!”

Sweeter words a salesperson never heard!

Life happens and sometimes a home seller has to move out of a home before it is sold. On occasion there are even circumstances that would lead me to suggest that they move out early to facilitate the sale. But that's not what I'm talking about here.

I'm talking about the fact that vacant homes are homes that present their own unique challenges since there is no one in them to notice if a pipe bursts, the newspapers pile up or the yard looks untended. Many home sellers who, for any number of reasons, end up having to vacate a property during the marketing period, seem to feel it is no different than going away on vacation for a couple of weeks. Everything will be ok, right?

The law of unintended consequences is always lurking, waiting for just this combination of circumstances. And let me point out something about human nature. While your neighbors may be willing to bring in your mail or water your plants while you are on vacation, and will almost certainly call the police if they see a moving van in your driveway while you are beaching it; they may be quite a bit less willing to become involved if they feel you have moved on and abandoned your home to the dreaded For Sale sign. After all, they don't know what folks might think if they are seen walking around your house, picking up debris or checking the doors. Besides, you've broken the bond. You moved on and they have no idea who they will have to deal with once the house sells...after all, it isn't likely you will call them for approval of the new owner. Trust me, neighbors can become a tad bit conflicted over these issues.

Do yourself a favor. Make sure this is a topic of discussion between you and your real estate agent if there is even a remote possibility of your leaving the home during the listing period. This should trigger your agent to begin an entirely new line of discussion. If it doesn't, don't say I didn't warn you.

If you tell me you might move while I have the keys to your property we will immediately discuss the following:

• I take my responsibility to go the extra mile to protect your property seriously; within reason. But it is STILL your property. I am happy to arrange for someone to cut your lawn or blow the leaves from the driveway and even to facilitate payment from you to them for the service.
  
  
• I will make sure to physically check your home more often BUT I cannot be responsible for watering the plants or changing out seasonal decorations. Let's approach one of your friends or neighbors and ask if they would help you out on this score. If not, let's get rid of the plants and decorations or replace them with staging items that don't require tending.
  

Just to be clear, the best option for a vacant home is to get it sold quickly! You'll be happier, your neighbors will be happier and your insurance company will be happier. Let's price it right, keep it in good condition and get it done!

“If I can just get my home in MLS, I’ll pay an agent to sell it.” Sounds reasonable, doesn’t it? I’ve written before about how MLS is an important part of my ‘magic marketing bag of tricks’ but don’t be confused…it’s only magic if I make it that way.

A little history of MLS (multiple listing services) may be in order here. MLS’s were originally designed as dissemination services for professionals – a way for professionals to provide other professionals with information necessary to do their jobs effectively. This includes appraisers as well as real estate agents representing sellers and buyers. Consumers expect professionals to provide them with accurate data and other information as well as expecting us to be able to demonstrate an ability to interpret and employ that data to provide guidance they couldn’t necessarily provide for themselves.

With the advent of consumer technology, MLS has become all that and more; allowing not only ease of access to data but an opportunity for professionals to add value to the basic system and actually use our knowledge of the system, how it works and how it is used, to benefit our clients.

MLS now provides data feeds to many consumer friendly sites and has saved countless hours of valuable time for professionals as well as consumers when it comes to “previewing” property. So how impressed are you when you come across a listing with NO PICTURES? What about a listing with NO ROOM SIZES? How about a description that reads “Cute as a button. Will sell fast. Must see. Sq. Ft. not guaranteed - buyer agent to verify.”

Our TMLS (Triangle Multiple Listing Service) has 200 available fields of which 73 are required. Sure, some may not apply to your listing but many of the non-required fields are very important to a consumer. Like room measurements. Is it important to know if the buyers king sized bed will fit in the master bedroom? Do some buyers care if the master or laundry room is upstairs or down? Will the living room accommodate a piano?

What about ‘features’? We have the option to include your home’s best features. Would a buyer like to know if you have a fenced yard, detached workshop, granite countertops or a community pool? How about a screened porch, security system or audio/video system? Does it matter if these features are reported in the appropriate SEARCHABLE data fields or if they are abbreviated in the “Remarks” section? You bet it does.

In the Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill area, our MLS allows for 12 pictures of your home but requires only 3 which are to be uploaded within 7 days of activating the listing. SEVEN DAYS? That’s the most important part of your marketing period! The chance of getting full price for your home is the greatest during the initial marketing period. What if your home doesn’t have any pictures? Listing syndication (the option brokers have to include their listing information in data feeds that supply home listings to all those consumer home search websites) occurs quickly, usually within a few hours, but certainly within 3 days. No pictures when syndicated means NO PICTURES anywhere the feed is picked up. Somehow I don’t think this is working in my seller’s best interest.

When it comes to computers and end users there is one truism that matters: GARBAGE IN, GARBAGE OUT. It is my professional opinion that anyone allowed to participate in the entering of data that our clients want and need to make informed decisions about the largest purchase of their lives, should be doing so with the highest degree of integrity and attention to detail. We are accountable for the accuracy of the information we provide; always. Simply not providing it, to avoid liability, is NOT the answer.

This requires that we, as professional Realtors®, actually visit the property, verify the information given us by the seller and DO OUR BEST to ensure the accuracy of the data we are obligated to and responsible for providing. Leaving out crucial data, even if not required, or failing to present the seller’s property in it’s best light whether that is by using well written prose or by uploading attractive photos immediately at the time of activation in MLS, is inexcusable.

There is a reason I take pride in being a real estate professional. I approach my business and my obligation to my clients as if my reputation and my clients’ money matter: because they do.

Fearrington Village, as described by Southern Living magazine, - "a unique community located on farmland dating back to the 1700s, near Chapel Hill, North Carolina. "Fearrington Village blends romantic lodging, delectable dining, great shopping, a planned residential community, and glorious gardens in a rare combination that you'll be a hard-pressed to find anywhere else."

22 available homes will be open to the public at Fearrington Village on Sunday, October 11, 2009, from 2 pm to 4 pm. This is a great opportunity to see exactly what kind of homes are available in this unique community and decide if the Fearrington lifestyle is right for you! Please come out and visit and check out this beautiful home, ready for occupancy!

Get Directions to Fearrington Village

This one level, contemporary home is located within walking distance of the Fearrington Village Swim and Croquet Club and not much further to the village center. Located on a quiet cul de sac, the home is on a wooded lot and has many features which incorporate the quiet, wooded serenity into your daily life, including a private bricked patio and screened porch.

A gently sloped ramp is thoughtfully integrated into the exterior design to allow easy access from the level drive and two car Garage to the home's front door. Inside, the open floorplan and hardwood flooring make it an inviting home for those with mobility issues.

Click the Camera icons on the floorplan below to see more photos!

Don't you just love a good survey? I mean a survey that makes you look G_O_O_D! Who knew anyone was interested in which city in America was the SMARTEST?! Seriously?!?

Actually, as I read the criteria I KNEW we were in the running...

Two main criteria:

1. EDUCATION
2. INTELLECTUAL ENVIRONMENT

I'm listening....

EDUCATION = how many degrees...oh, I know we are contenders

INTELLECTUAL ENVIRONMENT = Oh just wait....

1. # of non-fiction books purchased - "intellectual vigor" don't you know...
   
2. ratio of institutions of higher learning - pffftttt...no contest...
3. eligible voters who voted in the last election
   = political engagement

I'm sorry, I know it sounds like I am laughing or disbelieving or something. The truth is that while I am happy to find things that elevate my city (well, that, in itself, is disingenuous since we are three or more cities here) to greater stature, still, I do find humor in this sort of thing.

Don't get me wrong...I love living in Chapel Hill/Carrboro, smallish cities near a bigger city, Durham, near the state capitol , Raleigh; where I can take a college level class at UNC or have a picnic in the Duke Gardens.  I can catch the Stanley cup winning Hurricanes hockey team or the world class rock band U2 at the RBC Center.  I can see Taylor Hicks in Grease or Wynton Marsalis and Willie Nelson at the DPAC. Did I mention that 5 star restaurants abound here?

I like having an airport nearby where I can get on something other than a prop plane or even get a non-stop flight to London. I like being 2 hours to the beach or two hours to the mountains...I can spend the weekend at my family beach house or my friends mountain place and still be home for work on Monday.

Life here is pretty sweet...but "better because we are smarter"? Not so much...

This is an opportunity to help build The Mountains to Sea Trail, an ambitious 1000 mile trail across our beautiful state of North Carolina, which will someday stretch from the Tennessee state line to the Atlantic Ocean!

The trail traverses Orange County through the northern community of Cedar Grove as it follows back roads and crosses NC86 and NC57 from Bryan Park in Alamance County on the way to Durham County where the trail is close to the Eno River State Park.

From there the trail heads through Northern Durham County toward Shinleaf State Recreation Area at Falls Lake, crossing I85 and US15 on the way to Guilford County. Clicking the hot links in this paragraph will take you to the topo maps and trailheads in Google maps. You can follow along the entire trail using these maps.

Today's efforts in Orange and Durham Counties begin at 9am at the Cabe Lands parking lot and "the work involves constructing new natural surface hiking trail, and will involve clearing brush, moving logs, picking up debris, and constructing the trail surface."

If you would like to check out other work days across the state visit Help Build the Trail or you can help in other ways by visiting How You Can Help

Governor Perdue has declared October 2009 as Mountains To Sea Trail Month! This is a wonderful project that will benefit all residents of North Carolina. If you are already enchanted by our own greenway system in the Triangle, imagine how much fun this statewide system will be! Get involved!

Since my goal has always been to be a resource for my clients long past closing, I have had this conversation! I've also seen the duct work of some seriously nasty systems and it is impressive.

My colleague, Michael Thornton of Brentwood, TN has written a fantastic article about things to consider when hiring a ductwork cleaner which I would like to share with you. Very good information! Thanks, Michael