Erin Blaise

I hate brochure boxes. The brochures fade, get wet, get used for scratch paper, and generally get thrown around the neighbrohood. I was paying for something that would shortly be turning into trash! I won't be anymore and I am so happy about it. I am offering instant paperless brochures outside my listing for smart phone users. All you have to do is take a photo of the barcode, then use bee tag (or other qr code reader) and instantly you will have the property information. You will also have my email and phone number so you can text me to see the place! Hooray!

Yesterday I looked at a house the owner wants to sell. Unfortunately, I don't think I'm going to be able to help. The property has been vacant for 16 years. If he would have called me when it originally went vacant, I probably could have done something. The experience made me sad. The house is located in a small town with other vacant houses. There is practically a vacant house on every street. I had to drive through another small town, also with vacant houses to get there. He didn't want much for the house, only $8,000 but I don't think that is going to be possible due to the obvious lack of demand.

The situation reminded me of the book "Your Money or Your Life" by Joe Dominquez and Vicki Robin. The basic premise is people only have a finite amount of time so it is a good idea to make sure the money you earn is spent on things that give you quality of life. One of the suggestions was for people to work in a large city where the pay is higher and stockpile money. Once you have done that, you can buy a house with cash for next to nothing in our unpopulated heartland. Put the rest of your stockpile in the bank and live off the interest. Great plan right? Is it viable? The authors did it so they proved it is possible. It's an excellent book. I recommend everyone read it. If anyone wants to move to a small, affordable town, give me a call! I can set you up.

...and this stage is a place where a unending string of tragedies is constantly unfolding.

Yesterday I attended an inspection by a mold remediation contractor. The potential buyer was not able to be there. She recruited her step mother and grandfather to attend the inspection. Some people get worried when a client brings their relatives to see a house but I wasn't concerned at all. The client's family has a construction company and they can deal with just about any home problem.

After her grandpa saw the house, I was pretty sure he would try to talk his grand daughter out of buying it. This was fine with me. He wanted her to buy something that wasn't a major project. After all, this was her first house and he wanted to make it a good experience for her. I wouldn't argue with grandpa.

The really bizarre part of the whole experience was the mold inpsector. I wish I would have had a video camera with me (and permission to tape). First he tells us it will cost us $600 just to change the "air" out in the house. According to him, we will have to rent professional equipment to "change the air". Ok, check. Then he says we will need to remove all the carpet, drywall, and insulation from the basement. Ok, we can do that too. Then we will need to hve the duct work professionally cleaned. We can do that too. Then we may need to remove the upstairs carpet if it has mold spores in it. Well, seems excessive to me considering all the moisture readings for the unstairs are low. Afterwards we should fix the grade and drainage of the yard. All of this should be filed under the "obvious" way to fix a moldy basement. These all seem normal. Then he launches into:

"After all that there is still a chance that any baby in the house could die of crib death from the mold. Any elderly person could be killed from the mold too. Healthy adults can become permanently disabled or go crazy and have to be placed in a mental health facility or jail if they go undiagnosed."He starts giving us examples of people he knows who some of these things have happened to for 20 minutes!

Me, the grandfather, and step mother were floored. I mean come on! How are all of us walking around living and breathing with all the mold spores flying around if mold spores kill people. I really did not appreciate his approach. Is it too much to ask to have a mold inspector just give us straight facts and not a virual horror story?

I have been talking via email to a couple of people who have been trying to sell their homes without a Realtor. One of them informed me she had contracted with someone to "put her home in the Multiple Listing Service" for a fee. She thinks, because no one has ever shown her the benefit of using a full time professional Realtor, that this is the same as listing her home with a Realtor. At this point, I can't speak to her anymore because she has the "representation" of an agent. The problem with this approach in our area is putting your home in the MLS doesn't "do" anything for you as a seller. If you don't hire an agent to represent you, instead of just someone to put your house in the MLS, you don't have anyone actively marketing your property. In my opinion, hiring someone to put your house in the MLS is like throwing money out the window, why bother? If anyone reading this post is thinking about going this route, make sure to interview a couple of full time professional agents as well so you can see why Realtors are worth every penny they get paid.

I spent a very frustrating Saturday showing duplexes to a client who would really like to buy one. Now, if someone would only cooperate!

The first one we looked at had the "for sale" sign removed and hidden next to the house. I wasn't sure why but I thought maybe it was moved for lawn mowing. I walked up the sidewalk with my client and knocked on the door. No answer but a dog eagerly awaited going inside with us. I unlocked the door and walked in the the living room and there is a nearly naked guy saying "whoa, what are you doing in here!?" I identifed myself and asked him if he was aware of the appointment. At that point, a young lady, wearing a robe, came out of the kitchen. She informed me she was aware of the appointment I had made the previous day but this was not a "convenient time". My client was upset and embarrassed we had been turned away by this nearly nude couple. We left immediately. I called the agent on the way to the next appointment to let her know what was going on. She asked if I could come back at a better time because the seller "really needs to sell". I told her my client had informed me "no thanks" and "I've seen enough".

On to the next one! At the next duplex, no one was home. I unlocked the door and walked in. I had to slam the door quickly in my client's face to protect her as I was being rushed by a huge pit bull and another dog. The place stunk and there was so much junk in the place I wasn't sure we could actually "look" at the building. I shimmied back out the front door and told my client, "I don't think you would like it". She agreed, based on the smell still wafting in the air.

Third one the charm? The next duplex was gorgeous and clean. We liked it! The only problem was the 3 tenants were all there and were truly pissed off stating "you can look at it but we were only notified and hour ago so this is really inconvenient!". Hmmm, I set these all up like 48 hours in advance.

Fourth and final. The last one was empty and clean. The only problem was the cigarette smoke smell. As soon as I walked in, I had to run for the back door and get fresh air. I felt like I was choking to death! Alas, the buyer didn't like it either.

Moral of the story, if you are an investment property owner, and you want to sell, you need to set some ground rules for the tenants or sell it empty! Stop wasting everyone's time.