my old blog

We closed today on a short sale that's been in the works for some time and were happy to be getting a paycheck so close to the holidays ... but no paycheck.  At the closing table, the attorney told us that short sales were getting flaky.  The title company recently had two experiences where the b...

If you think the offer that was submitted is a good one and likely to be the best one the bank will receive, it's your job to convince the bank to accept it. Most banks will order an appraisal and use that as the basis for their decision. Unfortunately, with the slowdown in sales, some of the com...

There are many details to take care of when you are listing a house for sale and providing all the information about a property that buyers may find important is critical. You may not think that calculating acreage for a property with less than an acre is important, but many buyers are looking fo...

Figure out the best features of your home and find a way to emphasize them: Design a flyer with pictures & stories about special features or experiences you've had in your home. This can evoke emotions that make a house more valuable to a buyer. For example, having your morning coffee with your s...

 By now, everyone who watches HGTV or some other home improvement channel knows that it's important to use neutral colors on the walls to give universal appeal. Smart sellers prepare their homes by having the interior painted before putting them on the market, but too many of them select white fo...

I've been working on a particular short sale for about 9 months. The house is all brick, has a big yard, and is in a good neighborhood.  It should be an easy sale, but that hasn't been the case.  When I first took the listing, the owner lived there and it looked pretty good, inside and out.  It's...

Several years ago, before I got into the real estate profession, we were selling a house and got a referral from a friend for a Realtor.  She was friendly and enthusiastic and couldn't do enough to make our life easier by taking care of all the little details. She went over the top with service w...

To my mind, Florida winters are the best - so many beautiful sunshiny days and not a flake of snow.  You'll hear lots of good advice this time of year for giving special attention to your home and garden and will probably be glad when spring comes if you heed it.  I wonder if there is some specia...

My work life constantly spills over into my personal life and I read recently that some study had found that very successful people have a definite separation between work and their personal life.  Before I read that, I was starting to think that it was OK for work and personal activities to blen...

Everyone I know is shaking their head at the state of the economy and housing market and many strangers I run into (when I'm wearing my Century 21 name badge) express concern as they ask me how the market is doing.  We seem to be worried, but are we willing to forego some personal gain in order t...