Since when did real estate agents become the official distributors of recipes?  I get a newsletter from an agent (that has not listed a home in my community in 7+ years) that always features recipes.  No market data.  No area information.  Just a couple of recipes and some thinly disguised promo propaganda.  Why?  Really... why? There is another agent that has farmed the area for quite a while as well.  Her newsletter comes out every 5-25 weeks (yes, I meant to say it that way).  In it she lists all of the sales for the last twelve months, the average price and the days on market for the subdivision. She also lets me know that she is number one for integrity and service.  Better, but I don't recall ever seeing one of her signs here either.  The point there is that there is no interpreta... 01/30/2009

Friday morning, and my cell phone rings just as I am getting ready to take my son to school.  Nothing unusual there...  But, it was the caller and the subject that I wasn't really expecting.  The caller was a reporter from the AJC (Atlanta Journal Constitution) that I have talked with previously.  He had called me last summer to get information about the real estate market in Gwinnett County for their annual wrap up of the county.  I like talking to reporters...  Ok, I admit that I just like talking with people.  But, what he was calling about was the second shocker of the day.  Call it a Meme... Basically, he sent me a series of questions to answer about me and my business for a business feature... because of the blogging angle.  I'm not like other real estate agents...  As soon as it ... 01/24/2009

Those are words I hear from my son on an almost daily basis.  He breaks stuff.  He isn't doing it on purpose, but he is also just 4 years old, and he doesn't know how to take care of his stuff as much as he should. Honestly, most of the time... I can fix it.  I have soldered, welded, glued and snapped pieces back into place as required.  But, sometimes that just isn't the case.  Despite a garage full of tools, and the (sometimes I think innate) ability to complete a lot of different types of repairs, I just can't do it. Today it was the antenna for a radio controlled car.  He broke it off inside the controller.  He previously broke the mast further up, and that was also unrepairable, but this time he broke it so that the old one couldn't be pulled out and a new one installed.  It was a ... 01/23/2009

This is one that really chaps my hide.  I understand it from the consumer perspective, but at the same time, it is still a giant misconception. As a consumer, it is always a good idea to talk with a couple of agents before selecting the one to list with.  But the purpose of the talk isn't to see who promises the highest price... unless they are buying it themselves.  The purpose is to find out about their marketing ability and how they are going to best present your home to get it sold. But the burning question is... How much is my house worth? That is the big question.  But, let's think about this for a minute.  If I told you that your house was worth $100,000,000, would that make it so?  If you know your house is worth $425,000, does it make sense to try to market it for $750,000.  Wh... 01/22/2009

All I have heard after the swearing in ceremony of Almighty O was he is not the President because the Oath of Office was done incorrectly.  Oh, please give me a break. Alright, enough is enough.  Last night Obama took the Oath of Office again and this time Justice Roberts got it right. Yes, Roberts is the one who got it wrong not Obama.  They redid the Oath in the White House last night to make all the lawyers happy.  Oh and no Obama did not use a bible or any other book for this redo.  He just raised his right hand and repeated the oath.  The Constitution does not require the use of a bible.  There are more important things to watch out for in these dangerous times. 01/22/2009

I have hear and read a lot about term limits over the years.  I have always supported term limits for all types of elected positions.  One of the key problems with professional politicians is they have lost touch with their constituents because the only world they know is the political world and not the true realities of life here with us mere mortals. Politicians quickly learn how to buy votes with the 3 "P"s: Promises, Programs and Projects.  This is primarily supported (in Washington) not through the bills that they present to Congress; but, through the amendments (pork) that they can add to a bill that someone else has presented.  Examples of this can be found in the records of the longest ruling Elite: Robert Byrd (D-WV)    Senate  50+, House 6 years Ted Kennedy (D-MA)   Senate  46... 01/21/2009

Why is Competition bad?           Here is a thought: The basic problem with our educational system in this country is there is no competition in our government schools.  As adults we choose what grocery store, what gas station, or department store we are going to spend our money.  This choice is based on the price, the quality, and convenience of the stores.  But, when is comes to our children the government holds a gun to our head and take our money, then tell us that we can only send our children to this school.  If we want to send our children to a better school (Private) we still have our money taken from us for the government schools. Now I can not think of anything that government does well. Can you?  But, we will turn our children over to them for most of the day to what: E-d-u-c... 01/20/2009

These kind of stray away from blanket misconceptions and are more opinion... based, I feel, in observed circumstance...  It is also a two-fer.  One for sellers and one for buyers. First, for the sellers... There is a tendency among sellers to want to "price in a little negotiation room."  But there is a big problem with that...  Buyers won't look at a house they perceive as over-priced. So, that little bit of "padding" on the price will move your house out of the "gotta see" column, into the "maybe we'll look if there isn't anything else that we like" column... or even the dreaded "nope" zone. I am going to be brutally honest here... at my peril... if you want to sell your home, you have to offer it up at a price that will pull buyers in to see it. And doing it right the first time is k... 01/19/2009

A growing trend with experienced home buyers is one I highly recommend for the first time home buyer. Pick our home inspector as early as possible.  While you are picking your real estate agent also be looking for your home inspector.  By not waiting till after you pick the home you want to buy, you will be reducing your stress level by not having to look for an inspector at last minute. By have an inspector you are comfortable with you now have someone to call with questions on the homes you are looking at. One area that is a bit of a surprise to first time home buyer is the cost of the home inspection.  With the average cost in my area (Metro Atlanta) of around $300.  One way to offset the cost of the home inspection is pre-pay some of the cost to the inspector.  An example is: my cli... 01/19/2009

How Creditors Can Get Around the Automatic Stay Usually, a creditor can get around the automatic stay by asking the bankruptcy court to remove ("lift") the stay, if it is not serving its intended purpose. For example, say you file for bankruptcy the day before your house is to be sold in foreclosure. You have no equity in the house, you can't pay your mortgage arrears, and you have no way of keeping the property. The foreclosing creditor is apt to run to court soon after you file for bankruptcy, to ask for permission to proceed with the foreclosure - and that permission is likely to be granted.   01/17/2009

With all the media coverage of the United States' Inauguration of our first Black President let us not forget the REAL message to the WORLD!  Here in the United States of America ever four years, despite our differences, we have the a Constitutional system in place that allows us to chance our leadership in a peaceful manner.   We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. God Bless Us All. 01/16/2009

Oh, sorry the title should read 600,000 new government jobs.  600,000 new government jobs all part of Obama's so-called stimulus package.  600.000 government jobs are going to appear from where?  The real question is do Americans understand what a government jobs is?  Are government jobs self-sustaining?  Do government jobs create value?  Is it profit or taxes that support a government jobs? While a government job involves work and earns a paycheck, every government job is a burden on the private sector because it takes money away from the people who pay taxes. While some of those jobs, such as military personnel or law enforcement, are essential for our nation, it's no secret that government is full of countless bureaucratic and wasteful jobs that the private sector can better perform.... 01/16/2009

I run across this a lot.  I am NOT a super lister, listing every house I can for sale.  I just want to make sure that you know that up front.  In fact, I don't list every house I can.  I turn down listings.  And what I am about the say is going to make some agents unhappy... Listing too many properties means that they can't get the right attention... I know of a few agents here in the Atlanta area that have HUNDREDS of listings.  Granted, they are teams, but still, I know of individual agents with dozens of listings.  In fact, the common saying in real estate has always been "List to live".  And by that, the speaker is saying that the best way to insure success for the agent is to list a lot of property. But there is a big problem with that...  It is great for the agent, but for the sel... 01/15/2009

Continuing on my series of common misconceptions of, about and regarding real estate and the real estate industry, let's talk about real estate agents... I hear this one a LOT.  It is a common misconception that all real estate agents are effectively the same.  And it couldn't be further from the truth.  Let's start with some very basic differences: Residential specialists Sales specialists Lease specialists Commercial specialists Sales Lease Land specialists Farm specialists You get the idea, there are a lot of ways to break that up... and then there are agents that defy the different classifications and specialties.  But then, just in residential real estate sales, there are agents that specialize in: Buyers Listings/Sellers New Developments/Builder Services But there is something mor... 01/14/2009

Many agents and sellers think that one of the ways to create interest is to give the listing an "air of mystery" by tightly controlling how much info they release... thinking less is better. Let me tell you... that isn't a good idea, unless there is a VERY small group of inventory.  Like "potential buyer able to see everything" kind of group.  Perhaps if you have a log home on Lake Lanier... there might only be a couple, but then comes the other variable... NONE of the others can be stunners. So, there are almost no circumstances where playing the "keeping it a mystery" game works to the advantage of sellers. Let's look at the real situation.  Here in Lilburn there are 406 properties.  In every price category over $500k, there are 19 listings.  But... there are surrounding communities, ... 01/13/2009

House bill H.R. 7309  that Rep. Gohmert has introduced would suspend all federal income tax on wages earned and FICA withholding for 2 straight months. This tax holiday would be a direct stimulus to the economy by allowing workers and families to decide how to spend or save their money, instead of another round of pork barrel and vote repayment spending in Congress that would cost less than the remaining $350 billion in already authorized for bailout funds. This is great idea that the MoveOn.org media and the Democrats in Congress are trying to ignore. Opponents will have two main arguments: The tax holiday will not help the lowest income workers. Wrong!  A two-month tax holiday in these economic times might save a small business on the edge of going under. It would reduce federal tax r... 01/12/2009

(On LilburnDwellings.com, I have just started a series about the top ten misconceptions buyers and sellers have about home values.  This is part of that series.) On GwinnettGarageGuy.com I recently wrote a post about price and value. My friend Cindy Jones made a comment about a home with a converted basement that reminded me about this particular misconception... (BTW, Cindy is a great agent, and while we may slightly disagree about this particular issue, I would not hesitate in the least to send her a referral.) Her comment was indirectly about a home with a finished basement being worth more than a similar home with an unfinished basement. And while there is a little bit of truth to that... the value increase is not nearly what most sellers think. Many sellers feel that the basement t... 01/12/2009

You may remember that I took a tour through the local MLS to look at recent Lilburn listings to see how many had pictures and virtual tours.  The post was called Survey of New Listings.  I was actually kind of shocked at how few agents were taking advantage of the FREE opportunity to post pictures for their listings in the MLS.  I was happy to see it was at least a little better when I looked again.  Of the 61 newest listings: 9 had 0 pictures, 14.8% 6 had 1 picture, 9.8% 11 had 2-8 pictures, 18% 14 had 9-11 pictures, 23% 21 had all 12 pictures, 34.4% 9 had virtual tours, 14.8% Last time, just over 60% had fewer than 12 pictures.  This time it is over 65% with less than 12 pictures.  FMLS, one of the local listing services allows 12 pictures.  There is really NO reason for fewer.  Even ... 01/10/2009

It is that time again... I gave FMLS a couple of days to see if there were any fast revisions on the sales data (there was) and now I ready to let fly with the market report covering the preliminary numbers from December and the (probably) final numbers for November. Gwinnett County Real Estate Market Report 1 09 View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: listings sales)     There were some surprises in there... both good and bad. For December, the number of new listings was right in line with what I expected, but sales fell short... although there is a chance that the final numbers will improve... I'm not THAT hopeful. I was looking for another 100 sales, and I just don't see that happening. But the big surprise to the good side was pendings. All year, except for the anomo... 01/09/2009

There are several things I believe all citizens should do if they are able.  1) Vote, 2) Watch government, and 3) Give blood. I have given blood every 3 months since I was 18 years old with breaks in giving only due to different Army overseas deployments here and there.  My father is the one who showed me the importance of donating blood. Blood donations are down across the country and the need is great.  One day someone we know (or even ourselves) will need these blood donations.  They are needed for our families, our friends, and our service members. My challenge to ALL ActiveRain members to give blood sometime this week and then comment here only after you have donated. Let us help our families, our communities and our country. Let us start the New Year with FULL blood banks. PLEASE ... 01/09/2009