Andrea Swiedler

Speechless Sunday complimented with a few words! Although the scenery leaves me speechless, the temptation of the keyboard is just too great.

Our leaves have pretty much fallen off the trees, the stark branches rising skyward bring promise of much colder days and snow in its time. There is still color to be seen, one of my favorites is all the bittersweet around. I have been looking for some to wind into a wreath for the front door, but somehow think that it looks far better exactly where it is now.

Three dogs and the Ship of Fools. And how was YOUR day showing homes today?

I had hoped to have 3 homes to show my clients today. A beautiful fall day in New Milford, CT, it was a perfect day for house hunting. Just before leaving my house to meet up with them I got a call confirming my showing for the third home from the home owner. Yes, of course it was fine to come and see the house. Her dog would be in the house loose, and he "should" be fine. He is only possessive of people, not the house. I opted to skip that showing. The agent called me back on the second house, the tenants left the door open, but there would be an older German Shepherd in the house, loose. He is a bit blind, senile and barks a lot. If we are uncomfortable going in, perhaps we could look in the windows??? The first house on the list was holding an open house, so that was a no brainer at least.

We got to the second house, there were two dogs in the house and they went crazy while we were peeking in the windows. NO WAY were we going to walk inside. But my clients are very interested, and we have a showing set for tomorrow, the tenants have promised to remove the dogs when we are there.

When I spoke with the listing agent to confirm the showing for tomorrow and ask a few questions, I did explain that we already have a "deal breaker" if we get to the table. The pirate ship in the front yard needs to stay.... There was a pause, silence at the other end of the line. Pirate ship? What pirate ship? Why the Ship of Fools sitting in the front yard, larger than the house! I asked him when the last time was he actually saw the listing, and he said he drove by today but never noticed it.

OK, tell me, would you notice this if it was in the front yard of one of your listings???? I'm just sayin...

And as a side note, although the "Ship of Fools" just might clinch the deal, all these loose dogs in the homes are preventing anyone from even getting to the deal table! As much as I love dogs, I will not walk into a home with dogs running loose in the house. If you want to get the house sold, take the dogs out for showings! I have been known to do it myself for my clients if they are unable to, dog permitting. So unless you have access to a pirate ship, TAKE THE DOGS OUT! And to think, I thought the 6 llamas I had to find homes for were the strangest deal breaker going!

Change is always inevitable. We all know time marches on, with that brings change we are not always willing or happy to deal with. But they change despite our efforts. Some change is good, some change we are sure is terrible, and some change we don't know what to do with.

Change happens in real estate. The market changes, homes bought and sold, homes lost. Change has come in the form of how homes are bought and sold, yet the end result is that people will buy homes, move in and sell them again. People have lost much in the price of their homes over the past two years with the changes, and yet prices will make a climb up again as things continue to change.

Just like these 2 photographs, some change cannot be stopped. The first photo is the moon setting this morning. I looked out the window and realized that the moon was setting exactly where the sun had been setting a few short months ago. The view has changed, the leaves are going going gone, the colors are different, yet the landscape remains basically the same. The next photo is sunset a few short months ago. And another change is in the wind, the seasons will move on, the landscape will look a bit different again, yet it will be there as always.

There is one constant thought all the changes around us that we can count on, change is always inevitable.

Speechless Sunday does leave me (a bit) speechless.

The sunset reflecting on the moon rising tonight

Bittersweet silo

Cornfields

Remnants of another time

I am still playing with HDR, bracketing and fusing exposures together and test driving the Photomatix program, hence the watermarks on the end result. The above photos are all HDR, fusion comes later!

Investors please remember, it is a hyper local market! With all the foreclosures on the market, I can't blame investors for diving in. I am convinced that this is a necessary thing, that these homes can re enter the market as healed properties and help us to move foreward. Investors are often looking at the homes that no one else can handle, or that no one else wants. Put some money into it, put it back on the market and bingo, a paycheck!

Scenario #1 thought process, let me use the listing broker to make an offer, I can probably get the broker to agree to a commission reduction, especially because they can make even better money by re-listing when I am finished with the simple renovations. Problem? Sounds good to me if I were on your side of the fence. However.... 9 times out of 10 the listing broker for foreclosed properties is from out of town, way out of town. Real estate is hyper local. So, you purchased this great deal, you spent a bit to put it in shape with the nod from your agent on pricing. And, lo and behold the house is now overpriced and not selling. Solution? Use a local Realtor® who is knowledgeable about the hyper local market conditions when you are thinking about purchasing the investment in the first place. Run the numbers with your local Realtor® and get the truth. Will you be out-pricing yourself with the improvements?

Prime example, and oh so true. A foreclosure in a very hyper local market. 2 bedrooms, 1 bath turn of the century home on a postage stamp piece of property.  Not the pricey neighborhood 2 streets over, historically far lower prices that those larger very beautiful homes a few blocks away. Purchase price I will put at $140,000. Based on information from the cousin who is a realtor 50 miles away, this is a great price! After all, it started $50,000 higher, so it must be worth at least $190,000 if it is fixed up!  Mr. Investor puts $50,000 into the house. That puts him $20,000 over the price of the house that sold across the street a month before he purchased his investment in this very hyper local market. A home that the town lists as a 4 bedroom home, it has 2 baths, larger kitchen. OK, so it doesn't have the garage, but, again, this is a very hyper local market, never mind the appraisal issues. Surprised that the CMA given to you by a local Realtor® puts you in the hole?

Scenario #2 thought process, buy a distressed home owner out of the mortgage. Leverage the home and pull money off it since the purchase price was below market value. Distressed homes are often not only distressed money wise, but distressed physically, or shall we say, compromised. Now it's time to sell. And now you find out the property was over leveraged.

This scenario is not so typical, but it is happening. Making decisions as an investor is no different than making decisions as a home owner. Both are large amounts of money that should appreciate in value over time. Should being the key word. Should if the purchase price was appropriate in the first place, should if the market continues to improve, should if regular maintenance is NOT deferred, should if updates are made. And you should have known what the market was all about if a local Realtor® had been contacted.

So, investors, please remember, it is a hyper local market.  You will be courting a local Realtor® to sell your investment at some point in time. It would be far wiser to use their expertise up front than to have to listen to your out of town Realtor® tell you that all of those hyper local agents don't know their stuff, they keep complaining the house is overpriced for the local market. If you are looking for an investment property in New Milford, CT please give me a call, I would be happy to assist.