Archive for January, 2008
Your House Isn’t Selling? Blame the Hartford Courant-Part 2
I didn’t think I would have more to say on the issue of the Hartford Courant’s reporting of the housing market but I was wrong.
I’d like to add a few points:
-
The Hartford Courant and other media are largely ignored by Realtors. Most won’t write a letter to the editor or won’t call to complain, they’ll just mutter amongst themselves how uninformed the reporting is. I don’t even think most read the paper, at least not for their reporting on the market. I do read the paper but it just makes me mad – ask my husband. And I won’t write a letter to the editor because I think it’s a waste of time. If their reporters are not going to check basic facts with the local board on a question of how many transactions in 2007 had seller concessions when they’re making a claim that seller concessions are inflating prices by 1-3%, they’re not worth a call.
2 comments January 26, 2008
Send an Animal Abuser to Jail and Get a Best Friend
There aren’t too many types of people lower than animal abusers.
Here’s the story- in short, he took a power drill and drilled several holes in a dogs head. It all started when the dog escaped from a cage in the basement and bit an 8 year-old boy. Although not in the link I attached, I found further details surrounding the dog bite – the boy was playing with the two dogs that resided in the home and the play got out of control.
In a fit of rage, the father, rather then drive to the hospital to see his son, drove to where the dog was, pulled out a drill and attacked the dog while it was trapped in its cage. The dog was euthanized due to its severe injuries.
Note: the boy had been bitten in the arm and was only in the hospital for a short period of time. He was fortunate – most dog bites occur to the face. Young boys are most at risk for dog bites.
Furthermore, police commented that the dog was living in deplorable conditions in the basement of the home prior to the abuse. Another dog was found in the home and neither was vaccinated; both were also malnourished.
I don’t think animal cruelty cases are prosecuted enough – animal cruelty is one of the known precursors to other types of crime including child and spousal abuse.
Here’s what you can do:
1) Attend the Hearing that is scheduled for Thursday, February 14th at 9AM at Bristol Superior Court. (131 North Main Street, Bristol, CT 06010 ). A large show of public support to prosecute Mr. Cruz to the fullest extent of the law would help make an important statement about the serious nature of this crime. (more…)
5 comments January 23, 2008
Pass the Hand Sanitizer? Viral Marketing for Home Sellers
Do you know what viral marketing is? Would you know what a real estate agent was talking about if they were saying your house is being viral marketed? Most importantly, would you think it was a good thing?
I ask/comment because I came across another agent’s website touting her brilliant marketing plan for sellers. She uses Viral Marketing! Great, what is it though?
Sometimes real estate agents get a little caught up in lingo that we forget other people don’t know the meaning of words/acronyms we use everyday like PUD, DOM or absorption. That doesn’t mean that as a seller, you shouldn’t be interested in having your agent use viral marketing to sell your home.
Someone who is much smarter than me (insert Seth Godin), describes viral marketing by differentiating it from “word-of-mouth,” which is something we all get.
“Viral marketing is a compounding function. A marketer does something and then a consumer tells five or ten people. Then then they tell five or ten people. And it repeats. And grows and grows. Like a virus spreading through a population. The marketer doesn’t have to actually do anything else. (They can help by making it easier for the word to spread, but in the classic examples, the marketer is out of the loop.) The Mona Lisa is an ideavirus. ” (more…)
5 comments January 21, 2008
Connecticut Real Estate News You Can Use – Jan. 17, 2008
CHFA Rate is down again to 5.125%
The CTMLS (the multiple listing service for 7 of the 8 CT counties) is launching a public website with free access to the MLS. No, Realtor.com still isn’t the MLS. This will be the MLS, unless you live in Fairfield County where their Realtor® board voted AGAINST sharing their data (i.e. listings) with the rest of the state. Sorry, no link for this. Will let you know when it’s live.
And, from Ken Gronbach (now demographer, once ad exec) at a seminar I attended today hosted by Horizon Home Mortgage, some trends that will effect the real estate market and life in Connecticut:
An aggravating factor in the real estate market will be that the homes Baby Boomers (born 1945-1964 and about 79 million in size) built, won’t have anyone to buy them. Gen X (born 1965-1984) is a smaller generation by about 10 million. The only remedy would be an influx of immigration. When do you think we’ll start to see McMansions converted into condos???
Gen Y (born 1985-2005), the largest generation of about 100 million, is about 4 years away (at the peak of the generation) from buying their first house and having a significant impact on the real estate market.
With the increase in population will come an increase in crime in inner cities, driving everyone who moved into upscale downtown apartments back out to the burbs.
As people work more out of their homes, he predicts office space will be become harder to lease.
Know how hard it is to find a contractor? Help is on the way – technical schools are full and have waiting lists of Gen Y’ers waiting to get in.
Add comment January 17, 2008
How Neighbors Can Kill the Sale of Your House
Do you know what your neighbors say about you/your house/neighborhood when your house is for sale? Let me tell you, it may not be pretty.
Your neighbors may be killing your chances for a quick sale at the highest price. And with increased competition, buyers are paying more attention to negative attributes, including the neighbors.
The Buzzkiller
The buzzkiller is a well-meaning neighbor who isn’t really looking forward to sharing information with the buyer that will kill their enthusiasm to buy. Usually approached by the buyer agent or buyers directly, the neighbor will inadvertently or only if asked, reveal information about the house, neighborhood or complex that could scare the buyers away – rightly or wrongly.
From neighbors, I’ve found out about pending condo complex assessments, plans to build new construction across the street, flooding problems in the area, etc. I hate having a neighbor reveal it to me because I can’t verify the info, explain it or not waste my clients’ time by showing them the house if I know the issue would be a deal breaker- it’s best for the listing agent to let the info out FIRST and not let the neighbors reveal it.
The Nosy Retiree
I have personal experience with this one. As a buyer agent, I look for the nosy neighbor (the one staring out the window as I drive up, or selecting the showing time to pull weeds from the sidewalk) and have been known to chat them up. Nosy retirees have lots of time and a lot of opinions about you and the other neighbors and they have been waiting, yes waiting, to tell someone. Who better than your prospective buyers!?!
When I went to sell my house, I knew my nosy retiree neighbor would not be able to resist adding her two cents or at least scaring off buyers my stalking them.
During my open house, my neighbor walked by the front of my house no less than 4 times. And she wasn’t subtle – she walked in front of the house and then stood there watching the open house visitors. Then, she got in her car and drove by it one more time for fun. You know it was bad when I was asked, “What’s with your neighbor?” Should I reduce the price by $10,000 or $15,000 so you’ll just buy it?
I received feedback from other agents that they “met my neighbor.” I didn’t need to ask who.
The Slob
This one is obvious. I recently sold a house where the entire neighborhood was very well maintained, except for one house. The messy house stood out among the rest, with chipping paint, lots of stuff in the yard and lots of cars in the driveway. All of this screams, “Troublesome Neighbors.” Troublesome neighbors have loud parties, they race cars or ATVs up and down the street, they scream at their children and hit them in the middle of the street. Buyers don’t need to see the neighbors to infer their lifestyle – the trash is usually enough.
Sometimes though, the messy neighbors are actually outside, being chased by the local law. This happened during a showing I did earlier this year. Read How’s the Neighborhood and Why Swear Words Don’t Sell Houses.
The Mee-too Neighbor
No one has sold a house on your street in four years and a week after you put your house on the market, your neighbor lists theirs. What does this matter? Two signs on the same street starts to make buyers wonder, “What’s going on here? Why is everyone selling at the same time?” And, you better hope their listing price isn’t lower than yours because as Ricky Ricardo famously said, “You’ll have some ’splaining to do.”
3 comments January 15, 2008
