Looking Out From the Garage: June 2009

That is right... save the day, July 23rd, 2009... EARLY in the morning. 

We will be meeting at the Duluth Diner on Peachtree Industrial Blvd and Howell Station at 7:00am.  The program will run from 7:30-8:30.  The Diner opens to the public at 9:00am.  There will be plenty of time for socializing, in addition to a great program and Q&A on effectively utilizing Social Media for business. 

My partner for this even is the one and only Ken Cook of the JCKC Radio Show on Blog Talk Radio.  If you haven't been tuning in, you've been missing it... and that isn't good. 

We plan on bringing this format to a few different venues around the Atlanta Metro... if you are interested in hosting an even, please feel free to let one of us know. 

Be there... or be square...

I'm beating my head on a wall... 

Little did I know that I needed 100 fans in order to register a vanity page URL.  And I asked a few friends that are up on things... and they didn't seem to know that little tidbit either. 

So, here is the hot tip... if you don't have 100 fans, you can't register a custom URL for your Facebook page. 

And... I have two pages I would love to get registered... if you haven't already, feel free to become a fan of:

Lane Bailey

Lilburn Dwellings

Thanks...  and feel free to post yours here... maybe we can help you get the needed number of fans if you haven't already.

If the Director of the Sierra Club's Global Warming and Energy Program hates it, it HAS to be cool.  Daniel Becker, the person in that position said, "Shame on International for making this thing...This is a monster truck that only a Hummer could love, and it shows that without government leadership, the auto industry will lead us to more irresponsible, gas-guzzling vehicles." So, It has passed the first test.  And I would welcome Mr. Becker to hook up a 40,000 pound trailer to his Prius, Smart or bicycle...

And that is what the International CXT was designed to do...  tow 20 tons down the road in comfort... for racers, equestrians or RV enthusiasts... anyone that needs to tow heavy stuff without worry.  The curb weight is 14,500 pounds... and that puts it around twice the weight of a Hummer H1.

They say you want a Revolution, well-ell, you know...

-John Lennon

This is the biggest "car" so far...  And while it would be at home AT the track, ON the track would be pretty scary.  And even though it is slower than an economy car, and gets worse mileage than an exotic, the price is up there with the most exclusive cars on the road... these can go for upwards of $300,000...

Of course I would HAVE to be talking about an RV.  And the RV I am talking about is the Fleetwood Revolution.  These are amazing vehicles.  They are loaded with luxury and have tremendous utility.  And some serious power...  The Revolution has a 400hp Cummins 8.9L engine and can tow 15,000 pounds.  It has 1200 lb/ft of torque... that is a LOT.

Leather, wood, stainless steel, tile, flat screen TVs... all of the stuff you want in a luxury home.

The disadvantage is that these are NOT cheap to drive... but they are loaded with luxury and you only have to pack once.

Yesterday I posted about how some companies are adding junk fees to the traditional sales fees for both buyers and sellers. I think this practice is just plain wrong... especially the way it is usually presented.

In order to give my clients options and help them save some money, I offer three different fee structures and two different levels of service for home sellers. Here is the quick rundown:

• Flat Fee - $999 listing plan. This is the plan from our discount arm, WhatIf? Realty. This puts your property on the local MLSs, and gets you a standard sign, as well as a lockbox and flyers. I have a couple of extras, as well as some available upgrades that aren't shown on the company page, for my clients through this plan, so if you are interested, please contact me directly.
• Traditional Listing. This includes all of the traditional services, like full marketing, website, video, virtual tour, interactive floor plan, interactive design tools, custom sign, blog support and more. I don't believe that tossing it in the MLS and then shooting a couple of pictures with my cell phone is a "complete marketing package"...
• The Hybrid Option. This is new and experimental, but really exciting. Many sellers want more than they get from a Flat Fee plan, but they want to save a few bucks. In effect, they are looking for a full-service marketing package with a lower overall cost... So, after looking at how we could offer something to meet this need, this is what we came up with. This includes ALL of the services of our traditional listing and adds a staging consultation. In exchange for an upfront fee, covering much of the cost of marketing, we discount the total cost.

 

For more information, feel free to call.

One other thing to keep in mind is that most real estate agents are actually independent contractors. While we "work for" a brokerage, we aren't employees. In some cases, we have the ability to set our own rates, services and other aspects of our businesses. So, even agents working for the same office may offer different services or fees.

In the case of Diamond Dwellings Realty, we are a small niche brokerage... we have agents that specialize in different areas or market segments. And as a smaller brokerage, we have a LOT of lattitude to deliver the best fit for a client's needs.

My goal is to get YOU the best total deal.

I’ve seen an annoying new trend.  Buyer and Seller “Broker Fees”.  It may go by various names, but amounts to the same thing…  what Clark Howard would call a Junk Fee.

These are quite different from the other fees that may be involved in a real estate transaction, and there are a LOT of fees.  The lenders have fees, the closing attorney has fees, there are state fees, county fees, insurance fees, delivery fees…  Simply put, buyers and sellers are paying plenty of fees.  Adding some BS junk fee like a paperwork fee, transaction fee, administrative fee or broker fee is just adding insult to injury.

There is already a commission or sales fee that the real estate broker and agent are sharing.  There is no reason to add another official sounding fee on top of this that is after the negotiated amounts.

And, that is how it usually works… the seller negotiates the fee for selling their home, and everyone shakes hands… and then the agent mentions that there is a $495 paperwork fee or something along those lines.  They say it is required… maybe not saying that they are the ones requiring it…

In the case of buyers, after going through the buyer’s agency agreement and telling the buyer that the commission is generally paid by the seller, they hit the buyer up for a transaction fee… again, saying it is a requirement.

There are various reasons for this…  What it mostly comes down to is that people and companies in the real estate industry are hurting for income.  But, many of our clients aren’t exactly rolling in money… and even if they were, it isn’t right to tack on junk just because we think we can… Some agents are working for companies that charge US a closing fee for closing a transaction instead of charging a split and the agents are passing it along.  It should be part of their cost of doing business.

I just say NO!

No additional fees.  You will know EXACTLY what you are paying for my services prior to delivery and prior to completing the negotiations.  I try to deliver more for EVERY client than other agents… but that doesn’t mean I need to add junk fees on top of fair fee structure.

And there are some different options available for sellers… but that is another post.

Longtime readers of my blog may have noticed that I write many of my letters to my father here.  I lost him in 1997, but I still think he reads my blog.  I try to limit the online letters to him to just a few times each year... his birthday, Father's Day and a few holidays. 

Dear Dad,

I sincerely hope that you have had a wonderful Father's Day.  I know that not being with your grandsons is probably the most difficult part, but know that you are with them in spirit.  And you are with me every day. 

As I continue on this amazing journey of being a husband and father, I marvel at how easy you made it look.  Of course I remember a few times that you lost it, but I also remember some times (more numerous) when you didn't.  I recall the times when I pushed and tweaked as hard as I could... but you kept your cool. 

As an adult, I can see the sacrifices that you made for me and I can see the also see the pain I caused... even though I really didn't know it then.  I can also see, as a father, the joy that I might have brought as I learned to overcome obstacles and grow.  I remember seeing the pride you had in me... and I can now relate it to the pride I have in my own sons.  And I know that you would be a proud Grandpa with them. 

In short, thank you.  Thank you for setting such a high bar for me.  Thank you for letting me taste failure so that I would know the sweetness of victory.  Thank you for letting me learn pain to better experience joy.  Thank you for giving me so many wonderful experiences.  The summer vacations, the lake, the character building and learning experiences... even the ones I hated then, and love the memory of now.  I could not have asked for, much less had, a better father.  I hope that I can be half the father to my sons as you were (and are) to me. 

I know that you lost your dad early.  And now I wonder how you could have possibly been able to be such a guiding and mentoring father without an amazing example like you have provided me. 

I think of you every day. 

Love,

Your son

When I was a kid, there was one car that took "Bad Ass" to a whole new level.  Forget the Lamborgini Countach and anything coming from Ferrari...  The car that took the look straight to "fighter plane on the street" was the Vector W2 Twin Turbo.  Never mind that it started and failed more times than a beat up VW Bug...  They were COOL.

I can still remember the road test of a pre-production car by one of the magazines back in the early 1980s mentioning that top spped in 1st gear was 90mph... 2nd gear was 155mph... 3rd gear was 220mph... and that was as many gears as there were.  It was powered by an American GM 350 putting out 650hp.  In those days, that was astounding.

And it looked like it should be shooting the other cars off the road.

The look hasn't calmed down in the last 25+ years... if anything it is even more slickly sinister.  And despite the rarity, I ran across one in a gas station.  There was a cop there looking at it... and it was fun telling him that the helicopters in the department couldn't keep up with it...

I'll take mine in flat black...

from LaneBailey.com

This is a common question from both buyers and sellers...

For Sellers...

The object is to get enough that it would be painful for the buyers to walk away without cause after the contingencies are settled.  For instance, $100 is obviously too low.  Just about anyone would be willing to walk away from that without too many worries.

But, what about $2,000? Well, if it is a $200,000 property, that might be a substantial amount, but for a $2,000,000 property, maybe not so much.

The bottom line is that you can ask for more if the amount offered isn't realistic.  With VERY few exceptions, the buyer will need to put up a minimum of 3.5% as a down payment on the property in order to get financed.  The earnest money WILL be credited to them at closing, so 1% doesn't seem that onerous... but some buyers may balk.

For Buyers...

Actually, I recommend the same amount in most cases.  There are some exceptions, but not many.  Keep this in mind, the idea is to make the seller comfortable with the transaction.  It IS part of the negotiating strategy.  And since the object of the buyer is to get the best price for the property, making the seller comfortable is a big part of that... and assuring the seller that the buyer will actually close WILL make the seller more comfortable.

I have had sellers ask for amounts that I thought were onerous for the buyers, but not that often.  Most agents don't think about it until there is a problem.  But, the sellers generally DO think about it when they are looking at multiple offers, or they have EVER had a buyer fail to close.

In both cases we aren't talking about failures because of inspection issues or other cause.

This specifically relates to contracts with contingencies released.  When there are hidden issues uncovered during the inspection, the buyer has a right to drop the contract (assuming it is written that way).  But if any financing and inspection contingencies are cleared, and the buyer backs out without a valid reason, the seller HAS been damaged.  The property has been removed from the market, and in many cases it is stigmatized... other buyers may assume that the reason for the failure was related to the property's condition.

In that case, the seller should be compensated for their damage...

Also, remember that often the seller HAS the right to sue the (former) buyer for damages.  While we often assume that the the buyer is only on the hook for the earnest money, that isn't actually the case... the buyer could be on the hook for more.

from LilburnDwellings

I had the opportunity to catch up on some of the shows I enjoy today... and one of them was Trucks on the Spike Powerblock.  The episode today had a segment about fuel economy... and getting better economy. 

It was an interesting segment to watch.  And it showed something VERY important.  Not just about fuel economy, but about many things we do... 

The subject vehicle was a full-size, V-8 powered, 4wd, loaded American pick-up... a Chevy.  EPA city rated at about 15mpg, we aren't talking about a Prius here.  For the test, they laid out a route and ran a baseline.  The route included highway, city and rural driving.  Coming in at 18.4 miles on the single gallon of gas for the route, that wasn't terrible. 

The first test was to try a software/hardware solution.  They used a piece of equipment from a respected manufacturer.  Running the same route, the truck got about 18.8 miles out of the gallon.  Pulling an extra 8 miles out of a 20 gallon tank isn't exatly going to change your world. 

And then they utilized another product...  This one is from a company called Bully Dog, and it is called the Watchdog.  They didn't undo the previous modification, but instead took the driving cues from the Watchdog's Coaching program.  The result was kind of surprising.  A gallon of gas took the truck 22.4 miles.  Now, getting an extra 75 miles out of a 20 gallon tank of gas WILL change your world. 

The thing that changed was the driver's habits.  And that is the bottom line... the most important piece of hardware in the car for increasing fuel mileage is the driver.  And the most important piece of software is... the driver. 

There are some things that you can do to increase the efficiency of your car...

• Run the proper tire pressure
• Keep your car in good tune
• Change the oil regularly at the proper interval
• Make sure you have a clean air filter

But, there are some things that you can do that will have an even more drastic effect...

• Smoothly accelerate from a stop
• Avoid using the brakes when possible
• Drive at a smooth, consistent speed
• Roll up to stops using as little brakes as possible
• Steer smoothly

So, while the Watchdog is $300... and I think it would pay off for a lot of people... remember that driving smoothly and efficiently is free!  In faxct, it is better than free... it puts money in your pocket.