SarahGray Lamm~REALTOR~ 60K Hours of NC Real Estate Experience~

I spent the morning checking on all my listings and replanting For Sale signs in their front yards. Since we managed to dodge the bullet that was Hurricane Irene by mere miles I didn't expect to find any terrible damage to the properties I represent in Chapel Hill, Durham and Carrboro. Other than the expected debris, all were safe and sound.

It isn't always that way. Those of us who have lived our entire lives in North Carolina understand that hurricanes are capricious and preparing for them is not optional. We know that these “weather events” can strengthen, subside, change direction or fall apart in short order. So we gather deck furniture, secure loose objects, trim loose limbs, and whatever else we can think of to secure our homes from avoidable damage.

As a professional Realtor I have more than just my personal home to worry about. I speak with my clients, particularly if they have not lived here during a previous storm preparation. I drop by each listing and secure my real estate sign in the garage or other area where it cannot become a projectile. I always cringe when I see pictures of a hurricanes' aftermath showing mangled real estate signs embedded in trees or a roof. My signs will never be in those pictures.

This time, we were not in the hurricanes' direct path. I was happy to spend my morning replanting For Sale signs and reporting the lack of damage to sellers who were not here to check their properties themselves. Real estate professionals are not just “fair weather” friends.

As a meteorologist said on television this morning, science has gotten good at predicting when a hurricane will pass over New York City but still isn't very good at predicting what condition the hurricane will be in when it arrives. That is exactly why we in the hurricane zone prepare for them and why we always will.We were some of the lucky ones this time. Our hearts are with those who weren't so lucky.

Selling a home can be a stressful experience, and even more so when the home is the one you grew up in! I know; my sisters and I just did it this year. After losing our father almost two years ago, we were faced with dividing generations worth of personal property, cleaning out a half century of detritus and maintaining an empty home until it could be sold. Exhausting, physically and emotionally, doesn’t begin to cover it.

My folks were fortunate enough not to have had to leave their home and enter assisted living or live with family. My sisters and I were able to take some time to accomplish the overwhelming task of closing up and selling their home. This was hard enough. Sometimes this isn’t possible and Baby Boomers find themselves tasked with not only caring for ill or aging parents but simultaneously cleaning out and selling their home in order to financially care for them.

Transitioning a parent to an assisted living facility or nursing home is not only emotional for both parent and child but there are legal, financial and logistical issues which must be considered. In North Carolina, as in most states, an individual must be mentally competent to sign a listing agreement in order to sell a home or to designate a financial power of attorney to allow someone else, usually a family member, to sell it on their behalf. Before this situation arises it is highly advisable for parents, actually all adults with real property, to have a will and a designated power of attorney allowing someone of their choosing to oversee their financial affairs if they become unable to do so. A financial power of attorney allows a home to be sold immediately to help pay medical or facility expenses.

In order to avoid frustration when the time comes to sell a home for an elderly parent preparation before the event is crucial. Do you know where to locate all legal documents and important papers? If the home is not paid for, where are the mortgage documents and is the mortgage current? Is the insurance up-to-date? Are homeowner’s dues up to date? Where is the deed? What about the contents of the home? All of these items need to be addressed before a home can be sold.

As your Allen Tate Realtor, I can advise you about price, marketing and improvements needed to sell the home for a fair price in a reasonable time frame. I can also offer resources for estate sales, cleaning, repairs and staging. If your parents’ home is in another city I will be happy to help you select a professional who is able to assist you in accomplishing the sale in a timely and efficient manner.

Finally, I highly recommend that you consult with an elder care attorney to advise you about the financial and tax consequences of the sale of your parents’ home while they are living and how it can potentially affect financing of long-term care.

I’m ready to help you during this tough time, as your Realtor and as someone who has been there. Just give me a call. We’ll take it a step at the time and make this tough time as smooth as possible.

Have you seen the Geico commercial about how you’d have to be living under a rock not to know what’s going on? Same goes for real estate - sellers would have to be living under a rock not to know that there is something up in real estate. In my experience, most sellers are NOT living under rocks. That’s why they call a professional when they are thinking about selling.

They call us because they need an honest, forthright assessment of how their situation is affected by the contradictory headlines and media stories they are bombarded with daily. They call us because they want help, reliable help, with deciding how they should proceed. They call us because they want the truth about what they are up against: in their neighborhoods, in their price ranges, in their market areas. They need to know what they can truly expect should they decide to jump into the swirling water that is real estate in 2011.

I read a lot about how agents should be willing to walk away from an unrealistic seller. Why spend marketing dollars on a listing you know will never sell? I also hear how some agents feel they should go ahead and take an overpriced listing and “teach” the seller what they need to know about the market by letting them get kicked around by buyers agents and buyers who will show them what they “don’t want to hear” from their own agent…like that the house is overpriced, not in good condition or not in high demand. I feel strongly that neither of those scenarios works in the best interest of a seller who calls me because s/he really wants to hear the truth. Telling a seller the unvarnished truth about what is going on in the market in general and in their community and neighborhood in specific is the ONLY thing that works in their best interest. The TRUTH is neither good nor bad. It is simply the facts and conditions as they exist for each specific seller.

When I go on a listing appointment I am armed with everything I know about the home and neighborhood. I have local, regional and national information that will help a seller understand EXACTLY what it will take to sell their home. I have graphs and charts and marketing information and systems but MOST IMPORTANTLY I am prepared to listen. I need to know WHY they are exploring the option of selling and what they hope to accomplish. After I completely understand those two things we run the numbers on different scenarios and discuss their options. Once they have a truthful assessment of their situation, if they are still positive that moving forward with a sale is the right thing for them to pursue, we can then get down to the nitty gritty of discussing the listing and preparation of their home for marketing.

I have walked away happily from more than one potential listing this year WITHOUT a listing, knowing that, with my help, the sellers made the RIGHT decision for themselves. Some chose to rent their home, some chose to renovate (on which I will gladly consult to ensure the home remains sale-able in the future) and some chose to stay put. Many more chose to sell. Those sellers are the ones who are not only in a great position to do so but they are ready for the challenge and excited about their opportunities.

If what you really want is for the seller to make the best decision for their personal situation you won’t need to worry about competing for the listing when the time is right for them to sell, you will have earned it.

How lucky we are to live in the Carolinas! As we head into the Memorial Day weekend and my neighbors and I prepare to celebrate by grilling everything in sight; I know my friends at the beach and in the mountains are doing the same thing! Whether your view is a ligustrum bordered back yard in Carrboro, waves crashing on the beach at Topsail Island or a spectacular sunset over Grandfather Mountain in Blowing Rock, I’m right there with you, thankful every day that I am a Tarheel!    

Speaking of friends and neighbors, I want you all to know, that I am lucky enough to be at a place in my career where using my 30 plus years of my experience and expertise in North Carolina real estate to help you understand exactly what is happening in our neighborhoods and towns is what I love doing best.  My association with Allen Tate Realtors, the #1 real estate company in the Carolinas, is one of the best decisions I have ever made.  Take a look at this video from our President and COO, Pat Riley, who explains so well how important understanding the value of our neighborhoods is to our resetting of the real estate markets in America.

The last few years have been challenging for all Americans and we in the Carolinas in general and Chapel Hill, Durham and Raleigh specifically have not escaped.  I want you, my neighbors to know, that I would be honored to sit down with you and explain how our neighborhood and home values have been impacted and where I believe we are heading. If you don’t need to sell, don’t want to sell but just want to know what the heck is up, I can give you some idea.

Have a great weekend and if you happen to come by and smell good smells coming from my backyard, it might  be a good time to stop by and just ask me “How’s real estate?” I have the answers!

Those of us who work as Realtors in the Triangle of North Carolina, know we have it good. There are many reasons why our area has been less damaged by the bursting of the real estate bubble than many other areas of the country.

North Carolina ranks #3 on the top move in list in 2010 according to United Van Lines Migration Study rising from #10 in 2009. It isn’t rocket science that it takes folks moving TO a city to sell homes.

Distressed properties may have accounted for 33% of home sales nationwide according to NAR but they are just 9% of the total sales in the Triangle Multiple Listing Service (TMLS) which includes the Chapel Hill / Durham / Raleigh markets. Orange County, home to Chapel Hill has around 3% of its current inventory listed as distressed. Will this rise? Probably. Are we anywhere near as bad off as California, Florida or Michigan? Not even close.

But we STILL were part of the bubble bursting. What does a bubble look like in a relatively unscathed part of the country? Take a look:

Yes, we are very lucky here. We can actually see the line beginning to return to a “normal” level. The truth is that the number of closings in the TMLS for 2010 ranked #8 when ranked out of the past 16 years. I’ll take it.

This has absolutely had an effect on the price, terms and condition which sellers are required to accept in order to get their homes sold. Lots of sellers who bought at the peak are still angry; angry that they have to accept that buyers are in control. Some who counted on the “value” of their home at the peak are also feeling like they left money on the table. But that’s the thing with a bubble. Once it bursts there are some folks caught in the deflation. But if you need to sell or just want to sell, it is still possible to do so in the Triangle and move on to take advantage of deflated prices in this and other markets.

Sellers , do yourselves a favor. Talk to a real estate agent who can share the relevant statistics for your market and neighborhood and provide you with REAL marketing options to get your home sold. While we are lucky and still getting Chapel Hill and Durham homes sold quickly, there is a right way and a wrong way to do it.

There is a home for every buyer these days but not yet a buyer for every home!