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

Let’s just say you’ve been sitting around thinking now might be a good time to find a really great house so you have the perfect little corner to put your Christmas tree in this year. Or maybe Halloween is your thing and answering your own door all dressed up to scare small children is a bigger incentive. (Hey, it’s your fun we’re talking about here, not mine.) Maybe 2009 is the year you offered to host the entire family for a good old fashioned Thanksgiving feast. The only thing you know for sure is you want a Chapel Hill or Carrboro address!

We don’t have a lot of time left to get you hooked up. If we start this weekend, just about the time we get you to closing you’ll be buying the pumpkin for the front porch! But what do you need to get started? Let’s assume for the sake of argument that you:

A) Have a job.

B) You have some savings.

And C) you have a credit score above 720.

Sweet! If you qualify for the $8,000 First Time Homebuyers Credit which will expire on Nov.30, 2009. Even sweeter. (Now don’t go assuming this credit is only available if you have NEVER owned a home before. Not true. Read the link for more information.)

If you meet the above criteria and you have between $4375 and $11,712 in savings you need to keep reading because you may be on your way to happy homeownership! (Just so you know – I picked these numbers because that gives you the 3.5% required down payment for an FHA loan which cannot exceed $334,650 in the Carrboro/Chapel Hill market and as of today, the least expensive stand alone home available here is on the market for $125,000.

Here’s what we can look at which meets the following general criteria:

Chapel Hill or Carrboro address / Available as of 06AUG09 / Detached (not a townhome or condo)

~Between $125,000 and $175,000, requiring a down payment of $4375 to $6125, there are 11 properties ranging from 795 sq.ft. to 1943 sq. ft. 9 of them have had price reductions. Most (but not all) need some TLC.

~Between $179,000 and $200,000, requiring a down payment of $6265 to $7000, there are 13 properties ranging from 796 sq. ft. to 1525 sq. ft. 2 of them have price reductions. Most of them are sweet little homes, not a fixer-upper among them!

~Between $205,000 and $235,000, requiring a down payment of $7175 to $8225, there are 20 properties ranging from 1300 sq. ft. to 2205 sq. ft. (There is one at 832 sq. ft. but that skews the picture.) There are 9 which have had price reductions. Most of these are one story homes, a couple are brand spankin’ new and a couple have pretty large lots!

~Between $239000 and $260000, requiring a down payment of $8365 to $9100, there are 13 properties ranging from 1262 sq. ft to 2200 sq. ft. 4 have had price reductions. There is some really sweet stuff in this group! More of them are two stories, one is a fixer-upper and one is a 2 FOR 1 deal!

~Between $262000 and$281000, requiring a down payment of $9170 to $9835, there are 18 properties ranging from 1120 sq. ft to 2496 sq. ft. 11 have had price reductions. Now we’re talking some really great neighborhoods and this includes one pre-foreclosure.

~Between $285000 and $319000, requiring a down payment of $9975 and $11165, there are 21 properties ranging from 1430 sq. ft to 3030 sq. ft. 11 have had price reductions. There are several contemporaries and a few that will get you into a much more expensive neighborhood. There’s even a new construction pre-sale! In this range you will be getting upgrades…granite counters are common.

~Between $323000 and $345000 (gotta leave a little wiggle room at the top end and still try to get under the FHA maximum) requiring a down payment of $11305 to $11712, there are 24 properties ranging from 1350 sq. ft. to 3208 sq. ft. 12 have had price reductions. Now we are talkin’ great neighborhoods, some new construction options, some large acreage and loads of upgrades!

Anything feel do-able? Don’t forget that the $8000 tax credit, if you qualify, can be had pretty close to immediately if you want to amend your 2008 tax return. This might mean you have a parent ready to gift you the little extra you need to move up a notch and you can pay them back before too long! Keep in mind this does NOT include townhomes or condos and if Southwest Durham is an option, the world is your oyster!

What next?!?!

CALL ME, TEXT ME, FACEBOOK ME, whatever works for you…I’m sitting here with my calendar ready to get you started! Oh, my phone is ringing…gotta go...it might be you….

Say “leverage” these days and who doesn’t picture Wall Street, failed banks or greedy CEOs? Seems like the folks who got all excited when they heard the definition of the word a few years back forgot to read the caveat in the brackets:

FINANCIAL LEVERAGE - investing with borrowed money as a way to amplify potential gains (at the risk of greater losses)

But should we remove the word from our vocabularies because a few bad apples have co-opted it? I’ve always like the word, personally. When I was a kid I learned that ‘leverage’ was the big advantage you had when trying to move something huge by simply being in position to use a lever. When I was in college I was pleased to realize that ‘leverage’ had intellectual value as well; how much more we could accomplish in a study group than trying to cram all alone into the night. When I began volunteering in my community I learned that altruism can be leveraged. Just because doing something for someone else makes you, personally, feel good doesn’t mean you can’t do it in such a way as to influence others to give more of themselves…all to the benefit of your recipient. Once I was out working in my chosen profession as a residential real estate broker, I learned quickly that in a negotiation, leverage is a measure of which side, at any given moment, has a greater ability to influence the other side. What better value for my clients…I wanted to BE that word.

And what a great word it is…with lots of nuanced meanings, most good, but all applicable to real estate.

Normative leverage is the application of general norms or the other party's standards and norms to advance one's own arguments for one's own good. There is huge advantage in having a complete understanding of the terms, conditions and applications of a real estate contract and all the ancillary addenda as well as being versed in the ‘standard practice’ for a specific area.

Positive leverage is a negotiator's ability to provide things that his opponent wants. Understanding that there are real people on both sides of a real estate contract and knowing how to present options in such a way as to provide a winning experience for each side is a skill I have knowingly cultivated and employ always on behalf of my clients.

Buyer leverage is the amount of bargaining power that buyers have when purchasing goods and services. I haven’t met a buyer lately who didn’t know s/he had this kind of leverage…but knowing exactly how and when to use it is my specialty.

Negative leverage is a negotiator's ability to make his opponent suffer. I wish I could say I never saw this kind of leverage in real estate transactions but it takes all kinds to make a world…knowing how to AVOID falling victim to this kind of manipulation is equally important for my clients. My experience allows me to serve as a buffer against the problems caused by this kind of leverage.

Leverage, for me, is any influence which is compounded or used to gain an advantage. Unfortunately, there are a few folks in this world who seem to forget that just because you CAN doesn’t mean you SHOULD. Operating with integrity is a decision.

I have spent 30 years doing what I love to do…help buyers and sellers accomplish their goals and the combined experience of all that work gives me a huge amount of leverage which I exert on behalf of my clients. When you decide to position yourself to make one of the largest financial decisions that you may ever make in your life, why would you choose NOT to leverage my knowledge and experience in your own best interest?

I recently bought a great book at the Hillsborough Visitors Center called "Orange County Trio" by Elizabeth Shreve Ryan. It's a great tour book and historical guide to the three main cities that make up Orange County, NC as well as the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (my alma mater!) Well written and easy to follow, it has walking tours at the end of each chapter. I had a good time making up this Google Map Guide of the Carrboro Walking Tour! If you click on each stop you can see the street level picture of each spot, some of which had to be repositioned to be accurate. I was able to add information about each place and can even go back and add video if I want to! What a fun tool! I'll be adding the tours for the other areas as well! Enjoy!

SarahGray Lamm is a licensed, full time, residential Broker in the Triangle of North Carolina.  She specializes in serving the real estate needs of home owners and home buyers in Chapel Hill, Carrboro, SW Durham and Northern Chatham County.  With over 60,000 hours of experience in North Carolina real estate, SarahGray is proudly associated with Allen Tate Realtors , the Carolinas largest independent real estate company, ranking #8 in the nation.  With exceptional relationships all over the Carolinas, SarahGray is able to connect you with other professionals in all areas who will make your home buying or selling experience the best you have ever had!

Use of any content from the Agent Outlier Blog without permission of the owner is a violation of federal copyright laws .

Remember the old days? Everybody you knew worked ALL the time and when a holiday like The Fourth of July rolled around you finally got a chance to let your hair down and hang out with some good friends and family for a few hours? That was back in the day... BEFORE we had tech stocks in our portfolios and investment property was something you 'flipped' for profit. Before we had money burning holes in our pockets just begging to be spent. Holidays were a one day respite in the month. OK, maybe a weekend. No airplanes. No packing the car. Just cooking out with the neighbors, maybe a movie. Everybody trooping down to the baseball stadium to see the fireworks with the rest of your community.

Then the boom years came. We didn't take a day off when there was a holiday like the Fourth, we booked a weekend...we headed out to the airport to go grill with friends half way across the country. We snagged a deal and went to London for the weekend or found a cruise ship heading to the islands. Did you know there are International Fireworks Competitions held in really great cities around the world every year? Now THAT'S what I call fireworks!!! No remorse. Nobody in the their right mind would call you and ask if they could see houses on a holiday. Are you kidding? The seller probably had company in from out of town anyway.

Welcome to 2009! We are all rediscovering the rewards of hanging out close to home. I'll be grilling out with my neighbors this Fourth of July. Kind of a pitch in, everybody brings stuff and we'll drink lemonade and other stuff. I'll be getting up early to go to the Carrboro Farmer's Market to find fresh goodies for the evening get together. And I'm looking forward to it. It'll be a nice break after a day of showing houses. Yep, I'm showing houses on the Fourth. I have a great client who needs to look then because he, well, has to work.

Fine by me...can't think of a better way to spend my Fourth than doing something All-American...WORKING!!!

SarahGray Lamm is a licensed, full time, residential Broker in the Triangle of North Carolina. She specializes in serving the real estate needs of home owners and home buyers in Chapel Hill, Carrboro, SW Durham and Northern Chatham County. With over 60,000 hours of experience in North Carolina real estate, SarahGray is proudly associated with Allen Tate Realtors , the Carolinas largest independent real estate company. With exceptional relationships all over the Carolinas, SarahGray is able to connect you with other professionals in all areas who will make your home buying or selling experience the best you have ever had!

Use of any content from the Agent Outlier Blog without permission of the owner is a violation of federal copyright laws .

This video says it ALL…about how our clients feel about us and what they value about our services. I cannot tell you how strongly this speaks to me. I am fortunate to have a business made up of about 99% referral business and I have yet to have a former client or friend (many of whom are one and the same) ask me if I would like a “lead.” They call and ask me if I can help a friend, family member or co-worker of theirs with a real estate question or purchase. The answer is always YES!

Sometimes the transaction is easy – peezy and sometimes it is slow and requires hard, hard work (not because of the client but just because real estate can be that way.) Sometimes it’s a telephone conversation that results in nothing more than a heartfelt “thank you!” Other times it becomes a long, mutually beneficial relationship.

No matter what the result of the interaction, I always know I have helped my client or friend look good by sharing my knowledge at their recommendation. And THAT, my friends, is worth my time and is how I built my business.

* Thanks to Jeff Castner for posting the link to 1000Watt Consulting that got me to this video. I've seen their stuff before but managed to miss this one and am happy to find it now. I'm choosing not to reblog because I wanted to focus on something different than Jeff chose to focus on in his post. Needless to say, the video can speak to us on many levels!

SarahGray Lamm is a licensed, full time, residential Broker in the Triangle of North Carolina. She specializes in serving the real estate needs of home owners and home buyers in Chapel Hill, Carrboro, SW Durham and Northern Chatham County. With over 60,000 hours of experience in North Carolina real estate, SarahGray is proudly associated with Allen Tate Realtors, the Carolinas largest independent real estate company. With exceptional relationships all over the Carolinas, SarahGray is able to connect you with other professionals in all areas who will make your home buying or selling experience the best you have ever had!

Use of any content from the Agent Outlier Blog without permission of the owner is a violation of federal copyright laws.