Looking Out From the Garage: May 2008

First time. So, I did a little research. Like many others here, it seems, I thought that Meme was pronounced like "me me", but I learned that it is actually "meem", rhymes with theme or dream. I also thought that it was an A|R thing... but found that it pre-dates A|R by quite a while. Interesting stuff... but it won't be my trivia answer. So, on to the show...

I actually got the meme orders twice... three and a half hours apart. And the first thing that occurred to me was Ruthmarie Hicks, what are you doing writing emails at 5:04 am? And LaShawn Norden, 8:35 am is a little better... but still, was I the first person you were thinking of in the morning? I don't think so... So you must be a morning person, too.

This is the Memorial Day 2008 Supermeme. I got nailed with asked eight specific quetions. Let's see how I do...

Who is your favorite musical artist?

That is a first rate evil question. It depends on my mood. And it varies a lot. A LOT. Rob Zombie and Parliament Funkadelic are both on the short list. As are Van Halen (I'll take mine with David Lee Roth, thank you...) and Cowboy Mouth... and Big Bad Voodoo Daddies... and Me First and the Gimmie Gimmies.

[Eyes closed, picking from a hat] Ok, the winner is... Metallica... or Apocalyptica...

Music is actually pretty important to me... and I like extremes.  Bach's Toccata and Fugue or Mozart rather than Kenny G or anything that is normally top 40...

Who is your favorite artist?

Not as evil as the first, but tough anyway...  Short list...  Claude Monet, Ansel Adams and then one of my favorite images of all time... Jaques-Henri Lartigue's Papa at 80kph.  Can you imagine anything that more exemplifies speed?

Who is your favorite blogger?

Jessica Horton would be my favorite from the A|R world.  She has an amazing story, the doesn't back down, and her sense of humor is seriously off... in a good way. 

Some honorable mentions would be Jason Sardi and Ken Cook.  Jason gets a little artsy for me sometimes, but the kid has a way of pulling things into a very sharp focus.  Ken needs to not hold back so much...  ;^ )

If you could meet anyone (alive or dead), who would it be and what is the most interesting thing about them?

Back to the evil questions I see...  I'm going to grab "meet" and take that as a way to eliminate people like my father who passed away 11 years ago.  Ansel Adams and Thomas Jefferson would be on the short list.  There are a lot of people that would be fun to grab lunch with and pick their brains...  Maybe JEB Stuart would be an interesting character... and Sir Henry Morgan. 

What did you want to be when you grew up?

Race car driver... shocker, huh?  My plan was to be a mechanical engineer, work for a car company, make my way to the racing team... and then steal a car and show them that I could put down the lap times.  I because a photographer instead. 

What is the most interesting piece of trivia you know?

Define interesting and trivia...  I am evil good at Trivial Pursuit.  But, here is something fun...  According to the Constitution, there is no guarantee of the "right" to vote.  It outlines why one can't be denied the right to vote, but not why one can be...  For example, it would be Constitutional to disallow right-handed people from voting.  It might even be a good start...

If you could live in any point in history what would it be and why?

I think that we are in incredible times.  But, if I had to pick a point in the past, I would think that the period just before the american Revolution would be pretty cool.  Or the "Old West" of the 1800s. 

What is the most interesting job you have ever held?

Can we define interesting?  I loved being a photographer and assistant photographer.  I went cool places and met cool people... and then shot them.  I did a lot of industrial work with Chipp Jamison, and we had fun shooting in nuclear power plants and executive board rooms.  As a kid, perhaps the coolest thing was working at Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, VA.  I was in ride operations, and photographed season passes, loaded people on the skyride, boiled in the sun sitting on the big hill of the Loch Ness Monster (did I mention a fear of heights?) and gave "the spiel" from the back of the train riding around the park.  I met a LOT of girls...  In fact, there were moms introducing their daughters to me... if they only knew ;^ )

The winner would have to be the gig as a photographer and assistant.  Lots of groovy stories came from that.

Ok, here you go... I'm going to nail tag a few people to give their memes. 

Same 8 questions kids...

Marlene Scheffer

We grabbed a post lunch drink last week... even though she is from the complete opposite side of the country.  Ok, Marlene is on fire she's so fast... It was done before I asked. 

Tommie Berry

He's a brand new guy here in GA... Let's give him a nice welcome. 

Jonathan Washburn

The Kahuna... and I haven't seen him respond to one of these lately... might need some pushing.

Sara Washburn

Mrs. Kahuna... no cheating off of each other, huh?  Sara is a pretty cool young woman... Jon already knows that.  Sara also read my mind.  Of course, I had read her meme shortly after she posted it, but my swiss cheese brain lost that little factoid.

As long as we are hitting the big guns, let's try to pull Matt Heaton out of the shadows.  And just so he isn't standing there by himself... Bob Stewart.  Maybe these guys struck a deal to never be asked... I wasn't part of the deal.

No. 

Actually, it is a cool tool that we have started deploying on some listings.  It allows a viewer to take furniture, re-size it and insert it into a virtual floor plan.  Spin it around, drag it from room to room... check stuff to see what hits and what fits. 

It is a normal process that people go through when they find a house they really like.

Will my furniture fit?

I've had clients that eliminated homes based on a grouping of furniture.  Perhaps they just got a new suite of furniture for the bedroom... or a new flat screen... or even a 108" Snap-On Rolling Cabinet (which costs more than some cars!).  They need a place for their prized items to fit.  Maybe there is a piece of furniture from Grandma's house.  It HAS to fit. 

That is the purpose of SpaceDesigner.  Find out what fits. 

We have it on the virtual tour.  You can try it out here.  Along the bottom there is a little icon that looks like a couple of chairs, viewed from above... ok, you can't tell that until you put your cursor over it.  But, it is there. 

The Big Picture!

Yes, there is a big picture.  We wanted to help prospective buyers feel at home.  Move in with the SpaceDesigner.  Paint and toss down some new flooring with the StyleDesigner... ok, the house doesn't need those things, but tastes may vary.  Virtual Tour.  Video Tour.  Panorama photos.  Scores of other photos.  Tons of links about schools, the community, the Home Owner's Association, the golf course, the county...  And of course there are a bunch more pictures of the house. 

Here is the home's website.  Take a look.  Get comfortable.  Kick off your shoes.  When you are ready to walk in the real front door, give me a shout.

On our newest listing, we have really rolled out the tech.  Of course the seller gave us a great canvas, but here are a few of the cool tools we are employing:

• Single Property Blog.  Instead of a couple of pages, or worse yet, a page, we decided to go whole hog... school info, community info, county info, house info...
• A load of pictures.  We are approaching 200.  Why should a slice of toast on Ebay have more pictures that a 6600 sf home?
• Video... when pictures aren't enough.
• Virtual tour... when video isn't enough. 
  

And then there are a couple of nifty tools that we came across and thought they would be great to roll out on this property. 

The first is called SpaceDesigner, and I'll be talking about that on another post. 

For now, let's talk about StyleDesigner.  Simply put, there are three pictures in the house that a viewer can play with.  No Photoshop.  No coding.  No problems.  Just select the area (walls, trim and floor... counters would be available in the kitchen or bath, too) and the color or surface.  Save it to your computer if you want. 

Here is an example.  on the left is the Dining room as it lives.  I think it is a beautiful room, but maybe you need a different group pf colors and/or materials to complement your furniture... 

After about three minutes of playing... 

We can see that the room has a completely different look.  Probably not as good of a look... ok, not as good of a look...  But I wanted to prove the point. 

Wondering what the property would look like with hardwood floors?  A different color paint? 

Hit the tour...  or  Hit the Property Blog.  Play with it.  It's free.  No registration.  When you are ready to see the real thing, give me a call...

After a tremendous amount of work, AtlantaDwellings.tv has finished editing the video tour for 9010 Brixham Court. Tara and TJ did a great job showcasing this magnificent home. I have posted it to the home's website, and it will be on my website within the next few minutes... Without further ado, here it is.

Thanks for watching!

... from REALTOR Magazine. 

In the June 2008 issue, on page 42, there is the following statement.

Tip 3: Build in a preset price reduction.  While all our practitioners agreed that arriving at the right price the first time is the goal, sometimes you have to be a little more flexible, especially if you are in a marketwhere prices are in decline. 

It goes on to name an agent and deliver a quote. 

But here is the thing... in a decling market, getting the price right the first time is imperative.  If we wait 30 days or 60 days, not only have they lost value because the market is down from when the listing started, but it has already be rejected by most of the buyers. 

I would go on to say that it may be a breach of fiduciary duty to take a listing with the knowledge that it is over-priced for the market.  It obviously isn't dealing honestly with the seller to know that their home won't sell... and not be willing to market it until it is priced to sell. 

And just so that I can deliver an accurate picture of the market, in Gwinnett County, GA last month (April), 5 times as many homes were newly listed as sold.  Bringing listings into the market that are over-priced doesn't help anyone.

In Part I, I detailed just what a CMA was and how how to look at it. 

In this episode, I am going to talk about how is is put together. 

Very carefully.

This is not a science, although there is a bit of science involved.  And any appraiser or agent that tells you otherwise is probably pulling your leg.  There are a few circumstances where value can be pegged hard, but as soon as the properties aren't exactly the same... art is introduced. 

So, your agent is going to assemble the comps in the 4 different catagories.

• Solds
• Pendings
• Actives
• Expireds and Withdrawns

Here comes the art... and the science...  The next step is to adjust the comps to more closely reflect your home.  Of course, the closer the comps are to the subject, and the more comparable they are, the easier and more accurate the CMA can be.  This is also where agents and sellers tend to disagree. 

Here is where I REALLY break from tradition...

I don't walk in and drop a CMA on the table and then fight for a price I want to list the property at.  Instead, I give the sellers the data, and walk them through a few other key items (absorption rates, inventory, etc.) and help them reach their own decision. 

We talk about marketing, and what they expect from me.  And what I expect from them...  We might even work in visits to some of the other competing listings. 

Price is really just a strategy...

This is what it comes down to.  The price is what gets the property on the "Show List."  The property has to sell itself.  Price point is a marketing strategy.  We don't change the price in order to make people feel better about the property... we change the price so that different buyers will SEE the property. 

Warning <valuable information>

After the property is rejected... it is rejected.  Let's say that Mr & Mrs Buyer run across the Property and the price is $455,000.  They see that it is too much (they think that $450,000 is the most they would spend in the neighborhood), and decide not to look at it.  Later, Mr & Mrs Seller drop the price to $440,000.  The vast majority of the time, Mr & Mrs Buyer won't revisit the decision to even look at the Property.  It is old hat, and has been rejected. 

The effectiveness of the price reduction is to get it in front of new people.  In this case, Mr & Mrs Newbuyer might see the property in their search for the first time... since they had a criteria limit at $450,000, and the new price is below that. 

And we can also see that $452,500 would not have accomplished that. 

And neither would a selling bonus to the Selling Broker. 

The bottom line is that the price is going to be set by the market.  Not the agent, and not alone by the seller... or the buyer.  The goal is to make the price part of a winning strategy to get the home sold.

Pretty much ANY real estate agent you use... with the exception of some of the limited service brokers that just put your listing on the MLS when your credit card payment clears... perform some sort of CMA on your property prior to listing. 

But what IS a CMA?

That is a great question, and there are a few answers... depending on local tradition.

The C could be Comparative, Competitive, Comparable, Current... I think some people just pick something and run with it because it starts with a C.

The M is almost always Market.

And finally, the A is almost always Analysis. 

Of note are words that should NOT be connected wit ha CMA done by a real estate agent...

• Certified - By whom would be the question I would ask...
• Marketing - That should be a completely different portion of the conversation...
• Appraisal - Unless the agent is a licensed appraiser, they are not allowed to call the CMA or anything else an appraisal. 
  

Some of the ones I've seen should really be called Completely Meaningless Anomaly.  Rather than pulling comparable properties based on the criteria a buyer might use when comparing properties, the agent uses the CMA to confirm a pre-determined price.  In some cases it is to make the seller feel that their price is justified.  In other cases it is to make the sellers feel their price is NOT justified.  In either event, instead of letting the comps show the value, the comps are selected to derive a value.

So, how should we look at a CMA?

Honestly.  Seriously.  Completely. 

Let's start with honestly.  Look at the comps.  Back personal tastes and preferences out of the mix.  That is very difficult, but things like giant flower wallpaper in the bathrooms DOES NOT add a lot of value.  Even if it was expensive.  Likewise the shag carpet.  And (I hate to say this) the 11 car garage... for the otherwise $350k property.  Most buyers aren't going to add a lot of value. 

That is not to say that the right buyers won't add value for those features  Just not the value you might want to derive from them. 

And moving to seriously...  Most agents have some idea of what buyers are looking for.  Agents that spend time with buyers have the best track on their tastes.  Even if you know that you don't want to work with an agent, work to understand their methodology.  Even a junky CMA can have some great tidbits... if they are recognizable. 

Each different section of information has something important.  Let's look at each type of listing information.

• Solds - These are the ones that most agents place the most emphasis on.  These are the properties that have sold and closed.  The strength of the Sold Listings is that they represent actual market prices that were paid.  The weakness is that they represent sales that are old...  In the current market, even 30 days may be old.  And the closed sales represent deals that were negotiated at least a month ago.  More likely six months or a year... or more. 
  
• Pendings - The great thing about pendings is that they are generally fresher.  The problem is that we don't know the details until they close... 30 days or more generally after the deal was accepted. 
  
• Active Listings - Know your competition. 
  
• Expireds and Withdrawn Listings - These are the ones that were rejected by thge market. 
  

You may or may not know this, but I just turned the CMA on it's head. 

Stay tuned for Part II

And it has (almost) nothing to do with real estate. 

They have this tool called TimeTube for YouTube.  It is kind of cool.  Instead of searching YouTube and getting a list, the result is a cross between a tag cloud and a timeline. 

TimeTube by Dipity

Frankly, it could just be a groovy timewaster... or it could be a great tool to search videos and find what may be most relevant to your specific needs. 

I guess it all comes down to reasons one may search YouTube for videos. 

Every Sunday I toss a couple of videos on my LaneBailey.com blog.  I obviously have to search out videos sometimes (other times, the videos find me) and this might be a way for me to find both popular and less well known videos.

I sure can. 

Ten hours ago I posted up a blog entry about a listing.  This morning, I ran a search on the address.  The A|R post rank #1.  Trulia was also on the front page at #2.  My blog came in #3.  Under the #1 ranking there were actually two posts... the other was posted 12 hours ago.

There are a few things that make this pretty cool.  The particular listing was withdrawn prior to me listing it, so there was a web presence for the property.  It isn't as if I was working with a blank canvas. 

Previous to publishing the listing I was checking Google each day to make sure the site wasn't showing up while I was working on it.  Trulia was consistently #1. 

I'm sure that as soon as I publish it to GarageHomesUSA it will also breach the top listings.  And of course the single property site will climb as it gets indexed from the high powered sites like Active|Rain, LaneBailey.com and GarageHomesUSA.com. 

When you are ready to have this kind of power unleashed on YOUR property for sale... let me know.

I hope you have the opportunity to visit my newest listing.  This is a beautiful and amazing home. We go way back... The seller actually bought the home from me a few years ago. It was only a couple years old, and beautiful. But, he saw more. The unfinished basement was finished... and finished well. I can't use the word custom enough when I start talking about the basement.

• Not just a wet bar, but a solid Cherry English Pub bar.
• Not just a Wine Cellar, but a stacked stone wine cellar with wrought iron gates.
• Of course there is a fireplace... also stacked stone with a beautiful keystone sunburst design.
• Much more... check out the website.

 Then the main floor started getting attention. It was already close to perfect.  But close wasn't good enough.

• The guest bedroom got hardwood flooring.
• The guest bathroom received new granite counter tops and faux finished cabinets.
• Each room was repainted... wonderfully. Faux finishes, glazes, contracting colors, antiquing.
• The Laundry Room was enlarged and built-ins were added.
• So much more... check out the website.

Not to be left untouched, the upper floor was also upgraded.

• A playroom was turned into a home Theater with stadium seating.
• The Hallway had hardwood flooring installed.
• Each of the bathrooms received new granite counter tops and faux finished cabinets.
• Check out the website.

Of course, there is so much more. There are custom wood plantation shutters throughout the house. There is a 30 kW Generator that can power the whole home in case of a power outage. The yard is fenced... and of course it is a brick and aluminum fence with a lifetime warranty. Visit the website. Visit the Virtual Tour. Coming soon, the video, the interactive floor plan and the interactive style designer. This incredible home is in the Laurel Springs community in South Forsyth, just north of Johns Creek and Alpharetta. It is offered at $969,000.