Greensboro, NC Real Estate Larry Story's Blog of the Triad!

Good Afternoon all. Here I am at an Open House for one of my friends and I just had an interesting conversation with a prospective buyer. It seems she is out looking for a new home. They are not increasing in size as much as they are wanting to change school districts with two small children. She made a very intelligent remark that I was glad to hear. She stated that "we are looking at something in the $375,000 range but, the bank said we qualified for $500,000". She was actually extremely surprised that the bank would approve them for that much.

So what does your budget include? Just because the bank will give you $500,000 do you really want to live off Beenie Weenies the rest of your life? Do you not want to send you children to college? I am starting to wonder whose fault it is with some of our present problems in the market today. We all know that just because I can get the loan for the BMW 6 series doesn't mean I want to drive it around with bald tires (because you can't afford to buy new tires).

I always consult with my clients as to what they can actually afford versus what the bank will lend them. It is not that hard. Unfortunately many of us do not sit down and actually look at where all our money goes each month. How much do you spend on eating out? What about your monthly bills the ones you know will be there every month. Then think do I really want to max myself out. Do I want McDonalds to become my special occasion place to eat out? I had this exact discussion with a client a week ago. We started the discussion on how much he wanted to spend on his next home. Then we found out how much he was approved for. Now I asked him what he liked to do. He likes to go out at least once if not twice a week. OK, so where do you like to eat at? Hmmmm PF Changsand Flemings. OK now we are getting somewhere. We ended up lowering the amount he wanted to spend because otherwise. He would be going do the street to McDonalds or Wendy's instead of PF Changs.

To summarize just please be careful. Add up all your expenditures and see what kind of payment you can afford. Then if you want to go higher know up front what type of sacrifice's you will have to make, and for how long.

Hello up there in Allentown, PA. My name is Larry Story from Greensboro, NC. As you know by now Mack Trucks is moving their headquarters to the Volvo Corporate Campus here in Greensboro, North Carolina. I would like to offer my services to any of your past clients, family, friends, or acquaintances that you may have that are relocating to our area. I am with Coldwell Banker Triad and we are relo qualified in the Weichert Network which is the relocation company that Mack Trucks is using. So if you want to get paid I can help with any referrals that you want to send south. All my referrals get paid simply because I turn in every referral to my relocation department in corporate. They of course take a few percent out on top for managing the transactions but, this way I do not have to worry about did this person get paid or not. Your referral fee comes out before I even get paid.

I can help your clients find the "Perfect Home" for them in this unsure time of relocating their family. I understand from my own many moves back when I was in Corporate America. Being uprooted and sent across countless states away from your family and friends is quite unsettling. They need an advocate, an agent, a person that will go above and beyondfor them and make sure that they are taken care of in their new home. So if you like just contact me and my team to help you help them make a smooth transition to their new home here in the Triad of North Carolina.

Larry Story

Broker/Realtor, SRES CHMS

Coldwell Banker Triad, Realtors

1505 Westover Terrace

Greensboro, NC 274087111

Office Phone: (336)282-4414

Cell Phone: (336)327-1841

Voice Mail: (336)545-4632

Email: larry.story@ColdwellBanker.com

Your agent for life whether you buy or sell I am the broker that stands for YOU.

General

* Value, it is one of the most important terms in real estate. My goal is to focus on

value and work with my selling clients to achieve the best price for their home

and work with my home buying clients to find their perfect home.

* Let me show you the value of all the great resources that Coldwell Banker brings to the table.

* Proud husband and father of three children

* Active volunteer Greyhound Friends of North Carolina and father of four "furkids"

* Member First Presbyterian Church

Credentials

* Bachelor of Science Business Administration The Citadel Charleston, South Carolina

* Member National Association of Realtors

* Member of the Greensboro Regional Realtors Association

* Member of the North Carolina Association of Realtors

* SRES Senior Real Estate Specialist

* CHMS Certified Home Marketing Specialist

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Qualifications

• Over twenty years of professional domestic and international negotiations.

• Twenty five years of management experience

• Dedicated full time real estate professional

Specialty markets

• Luxury/Previews Properties

• Farm & Ranch

• Buyer Representative

• Vacation/Second Home

• Military Markets

• Relocation

• Retirement

• First Time Buyers

Languages

• English

• Mandarin

• Japanese

OK first things first, what is your motivation for selling your home? This is a very important question that will determine the direction of the all the decisions made from this point on. Are you being transferred by your work? Do you want to move up in the size of your home or, would you like to downsize your home? Are you know an Empty Nestor? Can you not handle the payments on your home because of an economic situation at home or work? As you will notice after this question, it will become apparent as to why this question is so important.

Now for discussion sake we are going to assume that you have to sell your home because of a work transfer.

Now you can opt to go the rest of the way alone and try the For Sale By Owner route, but beware of alot of pitfalls out there. I am not going to sit here and tell you that you cannot either there are flat fee brokerages out there that will put your home in the MLS service (that you have to do as a minimum you will see why later). They may even give you a sign to put out. If you decide to go that route to "save money" then just be aware that you need to go ahead and decide how much you are going to pay the buyers agent that comes up if his clients want to see your home. One small note on that as a buyers agent I look forward to dealing with FSBO's I have over twenty years of experience in negotiating international and domestic contracts for millions of dollars. So yes I will sit down face to face with you and negotiate.

On the other hand you need to choose a good Realtor to sell your home. This means interviewing several. We are applying for the position of handling one of your families largest investments. Do you want to trust that to your spouse's best friends sister? You need to ask some pointed questions during the interview also. For example; what is your marketing plan for my home?, how will you find a buyer for my home?, how are you going to communicate with me and how often?, are you going to have open houses? where are you going to advertise my home on the Internet? what are your average days on market for the homes you sell?

Believe me it is a tough decision. I will give you an example. I create an individual marketing plan for every home that I sell. That plan specifically targets the market for the buyers that are going to be looking for that type, size, and price home. I put your home on over 25 websites. My national company will put it on approximately twelve depending on the home. I in turn will create websites and push it up to another twelve to fifteen sites depending on the home and the buyers I am looking for. They maybe from the local area they maybe international depending on the home. I will communicate with you however you prefer on a weekly basis. I can email you a progress report, call and update you personally, or simply mail you a progress report to let you know how many times you home has been viewed on the Internet, how many agents have viewed it, how many buyers have marked it as a favorite, I will tell you how often it has been shown and give you the comments from the buyers agent and the buyer. My average days on market this year is right now well under 60 days.

Now that you have chosen an agent in Greensboro, NC to sell your home we need to get it ready to sell.

First of all declutter. You may not notice it because you live in your home but, your agent should let you know some tips to getting ready for buyers. You will need to maybe remove some furniture if the room is too full. You want the buyer to feel like the rooms are as large as possible. You may need to take some pictures down off the walls and shelves. Same reason while your family is precious to you (as mine is to me) the new buyers need to see wall space so they can envision their pictures and belongings in the home. I would tell you that if you have alot of knick knacks or a wonderful collection of items you might want go ahead and pack them up. You do not want someone accidentally knocking one off a table or shelf and breaking something that your great grandmother passed down to you, or something that your baby boy made in his first grade. Then just keep it clean we are making a showcase here to really show off your home. Maybe a steam cleaning of the carpet and furniture is in order. We want a very clean home for them to see. If you have pets we are going to need to prearrange for them to be put up when there are showings schedule. Not that your pets would ever harm anyone but, think maybe your prospective buyers are allergic or they have had a bad experience in their past and they would fear your pet. Now the outside. We need a wonderful inviting entrance to their new home. Keep the yard mowed and immaculate. Maybe put out some fresh flowers depending on the season. The first impression sometimes can make or break a sale. I have had buyers pull up to the home and not even get out of the car.

Now that your home is ready have you agent get the pictures of it for the listing. I use only a professional photographer for my homes. Frank is the best I feel and he can make your home look wonderful! The idea behind this is not to be deceptive. My job is to get them in the door. Now with well over 80% of all buyers beginning their home search on the Internet those pictures are going to bring them to your doorstep.

Now in Greensboro, NC to sell a home your agent needs to put it in the Triad area MLS system. This will in turn make your home available on Listingbook.com. This is a website we use here in the Triad that links directly to the MLS. So that every buyer looking on that website can see every single home in the MLS service. Do you remember me saying that it was important if you were a FSBO to get into the MLS? Now you know why.

Now just let me do my job and sell your home. Hopefully you will be staying in wonderful Greensboro, NC but, even if you are moving to another part of the Triad say High Point or Winston Salem, NC then you will still be in the Heart of North Carolina.

Well in Home Buying 101 first we can advise you one what to do. By no means do we have the perfect formula for home buying for every person out there shopping for a new home or that investment property. What I would like to do is give you some guidelines that will help you in your decision making process and also some tips for tools in our area of North Carolina that are available for you to use.

A) Home Searching vs Mortgage shopping

Now while some will tell you to speak to a mortgage lender first which in many cases is a great idea some of you are alittle wary of going that far right off the bat. I do understand your being hesitant. But, what you really mush understand is that the broker that will help you or maybe you want to go it alone needs this information in order to direct you and help you in your search. You can jump right into looking for your "Perfect Home" and find the most wonderful home you can imagine only to have those dreams crushed when you find out you cannot afford it. Rejection is a terrible thing. So why even set yourself up for that. Go to a couple of mortgage lenders and lets see just how much you can afford and what you will be approved for.

B) Shop smart $$$

OK now we know what the lender will allow you to borrow. BUT, what can you really afford depending on your lifestyle. As one client I recently worked with put it he "likes to go out once in awhile". So the question stands is your idea of going out McDonalds, or P.F. Chang's ? You maybe quailified for one number but, when you work that payment with property taxes and insurance escrow-ed in to your day to day budget does that mean a life of beenie weenies, or can you still have steak once in awhile. Plan now for what you are willing to sacrifice.

C) Buyers Agent

Now you need to pick a buyers agent you are comfortable with. Let's face it some personalities just do not mix. Oil and Vinegar is great on a salad but, they don't mix so choose someone that you can talk to comfortably. This person is paid for and their commission has already been decided by the sellers agent in the listing agreement. So USE THEM!

D) Tools

Your agent in the Triad needs to sign you up on Listingbook.com. This is a tool here in the Triad that will allow you the consumer to surf through all of the homes for sale in the Triad area MLS. So with gas prices what they are do you want to spend hundreds of dollars just driving around or do you want to sit in the comfort of your own office or home for your search. You can put in a large number of specifics to help you narrow down your search and therefore preview the homes in the price range, the size, and the features that you want. I get so many positive comments from clients that once they have logged into the site they love it! It is much more comprehensive then the national sites like Realtor.com since not all the MLS listings go to Realtor.com. Yes of course mine do but, there are alot of small brokerages out there that do not. Some flat fee brokerages that list homes for FSBO's don't go on Realtor.com but, they will be in the MLS site. Plus you can communicate with your broker through the site. The website will notify the agent immediately by email if you leave them a question check a listing as a favorite or any number of things.

E) Take your time.

This is a very, very important decision in your life. For many of you it is one of the largest financial decisions you will ever make. So please do not ever fell pressured to make a decision always talk it out with your broker, your lender, family and friends. I encourage you to always be sure of your decision. I always make my clients fell as secure as possible by giving them all the facts on the home, the mortgage, the neighborhood, and the community at large. I want them to be happy and I want them to always be able to come back to me with any questions or concerns.

So HAPPY HOUSE HUNTING AND ENJOY YOURSELF!

Ah yes I remember the days when I loved the outdoors and could spend all my time outside with nature. Trust me those days are gone! I do still love the outdoors but, best if taken in moderation. My youngest wanted so badly to go to FISH-A-RAMA a bonding weekend of father and son camping and fishing. I though what the heck I have not camped in some time (there was a good reason for that) and he really wanted to go. Of course that is the kicker we do whatever we can for our little ones now don't we. I mean I don't spend enough time with him as it is. So off we go I am even going to use one of their tents. Let me tell you the first day was a bit disjointed but fine. I thought we were mostly going to fish but, instead we were going from fishing to a class on Fish Ethics ( you know be politically correct with the fish) and then to Crafts to make a wooden fishing pole holder. Then lunch a nice slightly warm hotdog. Then to the Fish ID class (it was actually interesting) of which I notice many seasoned angler Dad's were paying quite a bit of attention. Then the dreaded BB gun range and even better the archery range. I tell you what is amusing and scary is a bunch of 7 & 8 year old with air rifles. Teaching range safety to someone that has the attention span of a gnat is a true test of fatherly love for some I noticed. My Caleb actually did pretty good.

Oh but the came the wonderful gourmet dinner of slightly use to be warm chicken fingers, not quite cooked french fries, salad, and cake. Of course being Dad he could eat whatever he wanted. Which was a couple of chicken fingers, some fries and then licking the icing off of the cake. Hmmmm SUGAR. He was wound up good now. Of course you know the strategy get them to go go go and then they will sleep. Well, of course with that may young boys around he ran ran and ran. I thought for sure he would be tired. Nooooo of course then later just when I thought he would konk out someone lit a fire at our campsite. Hmmmm FIRE an old fashioned version of the video game. Let's see what we can burn that will facinate us. BUGS beware.

Oh but then finally bed time. A nice warm sleeping bag on a nice HARD WOODEN FLOOR! OK OK let's get serious. Nowadays my idea of roughing it is the Holiday Inn Express! I want my KING SIZE PILLOW TOP WITH EXTRA MEMORY FOAM MATTRESS AND TWO PILLOWS! My back is now screaming in protest of my utter stupidity.

Although I will say it was every bit worth it to see the repeated smile on my youngest ones face and know that he was happy. Besides between some soaks in a hot tub and maybe a massage and a couple good nights sleep I will bounce back be it every so slowly.

ONE YEAR AGO AT MY WEDDING! Who can resist that face?