Amy Salisbury West Virginia Realtor/Jefferson/Berkeley

Avon Bend is a beautiful neighborhood near Charles Town, WV nestled in a curve of the meandering Shenandoah River. I'm partial to the place: I have lived there almost 15 years and am currently the homeowner association president.

We had our annual community picnic on Saturday. Couldn't have asked for better weather, and with about 100 people attending, we all got to meet new neighbors and visit with old friends.

A moonbounce, 3-Legged Races, horseshoes, a 50/50 raffle and doorprizes, not to mention all the wonderful potluck food, made this event one to remember!

Good friend to Avon Bend and 2nd VP of the association, our Debbie W. spearheads the picnic every year. From shopping, cleaning and planning to making sure everyone gets doorprize tickets, a big plate of food and then cleaning up after the shindig is through, she makes it all happen! Many thanks Deb!

(That's her in the white top in the middle, calling out winning doorprize ticket numbers)

We all know how lucky we are to live in this great community. It features 6 acres of private river-access property and a wonderful playground with a swingset, basketball half-court, horseshoe pit and bath house.

Across a small footbridge over the Bullskin Run, we have a large pavilion and firepit. Use of these areas is available to all our residents.

The association offers other events throughout the year, including an Easter Egg Hunt and outdoor movie nights in the summer.

All this and would you believe our homeowner association dues are a mere $30 per YEAR!?!

Yeah, I know I'm the president of the association, but I think its money well spent!

To find out more about our community, visit:

www.avonbend.org

Maybe next year you'll be attending the community picnic as our newest resident!

This morning we were invited to a breakfast meeting and tour of the model home at Huntfield by Carrington Homes. Below is the picture of the Elm Hollow Model:

Karen Leier, the sales representative:

She treated us to pastries, juice and coffee. She even gave us goodie bags! We were thrilled to find CHOCOLATES!

Huntfield is the only West Virginia project for Carrington, though they have other projects in Northern Virginia and Maryland. This is a large neighborhood which will eventually offer single family, townhome and active adult residences plus a retail area. Common area parks, totlots and a pool and clubhouse are in the plans as well.

Carrington has some very nice models to choose from, all except one come with a 2 car garage standard, base prices as low as $199,900! Some other standard features include 9'ceilings on the main level, recessed lighting, basements and 42" maple kitchen cabinetry.

Huntfield is well located in Charles Town, Jefferson County on the south end near the new Washington High School, only about 5 miles or so from Route 7 in Northern Virginia (great neighborhood for those commuting to the metro area.) Our office is just around the corner and we are quite familiar with the subdivision. Now we have this builder's information at our fingertips ready to share with our clients.

Many thanks to Karen at Carrington Homes for an enjoyable and informative morning!

As if short sales (that name being as ridiculous as "jumbo shrimp"), poorly executed appraisals, appraisal reviews and tighter credit restrictions weren't enough to slow down our market, now I'm seeing major problems with deeds holding up closings!

Just this week I found out that one of my closings will have to be postponed for a week due to an unrecorded deed from a foreclosure attorney. Now I'm a little fuzzy on the logistics, but this is the gist of it: The original owners of the foreclosed property filed a quitclaim deed. The house was then foreclosed. The attorney for the asset management company had not, as of this past Monday, filed the deed transferring title. In order for my buyer to settle his purchase of the foreclosure, the state's trustee must issue a new deed, which he can't do because the asset management attorney had not filed his deed yet.

I'm so confused.

Call me crazy, but I thought you had to actually own/have title to a property to sign a listing agreement to sell said property. Call me foolish, but I thought you had to own/have title to a property to accept an offer for sale of said property.

I must be crazy and foolish, because the asset management company did indeed list for sale and accepted an offer from my buyer on this property.

HOW IS THIS LEGAL???

And it happened again yesterday. Another agent in my office was scheduled to close a cash deal today on a foreclosure listed with another local agency. She got the call in the afternoon that not only would closing not happen today, but they are not sure WHEN it will close. Why? The closing attorney cannot write title insurance on the deed. There are so many clouds and defects, it is uninsurable.

How did this property, and the one my buyer is purchasing, make it to the active listings in the first place?

I learned many years ago to always check the courthouse for a deed when listing a property. Very honestly, if my sellers provide me with their deed, I do not go check for myself at the courthouse. And given that our tax records are now online, I can check the most recent recorded deed book and page number against the copy of the deed that I've been given.

Several local real estate agencies do the majority of listing foreclosed properties in our area. Is the answer to put title searching on the listing agent's list of tasks to do before activating the listing? Maybe so.

Isn't it illegal to list for sale property that is not owned by the person or entity signing the listing agreement and contract? I think it is.

So what's the answer? This is probably a question best suited for some local attorneys, but what do you think? Have you had any experience with this type of problem?

If I didn't believe that before today, I definitely believe it now!

Well over a year ago, I posted about pending litigation against Richmond American Homes of West Virginia. At that time there were 10 homeowners filing suit over non-functioning radon pipes. Shortly after the post I received a call from the attorney representing these homeowners. He had read my post and we had an interesting discussion. That was that.

Today I was asked permission to be quoted in the next e-newsletter for AARST (American Association of Radon Scientists and Technologists, Inc.)!!! The editor had found my blog!!! Wow...who knew?

Thinking it might be a good idea to update the information from my 1 year old blog post, I found that the CBS Affiliate in Washington, DC, WUSA-9, had done a story just the other day about this lawsuit, so here's the link: http://www.wusa9.com/rss/local_article.aspx?storyid=83411

I found out that a second suit has been filed on behalf of over 100 homeowners. Because this is all pending litigation, nobody's talking, so there's very little additional news to report at this time.

The original post I wrote in June, 2008:

Lawsuit filed against developer (edit/delete)

Good Morning!

Our local paper (Martinsburg, WV) has a story on the front page that M.D.C. Holdings, dba Richmond American Homes of West Virginia is being sued by 10 homeowners for allegedly failing to install functional radon pipes in their new constructions. It says that one homeowner claims that fake pipes were installed to intentionally deceive the building inspector!! WOW!

As far as I can tell there are no realtors/brokers named in the suit at this time.

I know that when I've shown new constructions, I've pointed out that pipes, not mitigation systems, were in place. I also have given my "Radon Speech" many times to prospective buyers of all types of homes (what it is, what it does, EPA recommendations, etc.)

I believe that Richmond American builds homes in other areas of the country and was wondering if similar allegations have been made. Anyone know of anything?

Thanks, Amy

Here is the link to the AARST Winter Edition:

http://www.aarst.org/radon_reporter/Radon_Reporter_Winter09.pdf

The upshot of this whole thing is that I think its wild that a post over a year old would generate any interest whatsoever! You just never know, do you?

Earlier this week I was asked this thought-provoking question:

"Do you think you've lost business since opening your independent brokerage rather than buying a franchise?"

The person who asked is a broker-owner of a nationally recognized franchise, very successful and well respected. And I have to tell you, I was really taken aback.

After a few seconds, I responded, "Honestly, that's the first time I've been asked that question. Much more frequently, its:

"OMG! I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU OPENED A REAL ESTATE COMPANY IN THIS MARKET!!!"

After some good natured chuckling, I said that no, my business partner and I had healthy databases of past clients, friends, etc. We did pretty heavy marketing of the company when we originally opened and have continued staying in touch with our sphere of influence. We've recruited some good seasoned agents and the company has grown nicely over the last couple of years.

We've been courted by a couple of franchise owners since opening. And while we love discussing the options, so far, we've always decided we like things just the way they are.

Here's what I don't know: How many more transactions would we have closed if we had national marketing behind us? Maybe if I had time to research this I'd have my answer. Unfortuantely, between running the business and listing and selling real estate, there just aren't enough hours in the day to delve into that research.

Here's what I do know: Real estate is local. We're local. Our marketing is local. Our clients know who we are (or are referred to us by someone they know who's worked with us), where we are and what kind of service we provide. Communicating with the corporate office is a phone call to my business partner first thing in the morning and talking to her from my desk across the room from her's. We've had business meetings in the park at a picnic table with Moolate's from DQ. Reviewing year-end numbers and strategic planning sessions have occured with nothing more than reports from Quickbooks and a calculator.

This is the way we like it. I'm certainly not knocking those who prefer the corporate structure of a franchised real estate agency, but for us, independence is the best.