The Christiansen Team

That is a direct quote from a friend of a past client (except she pronounced it REAL-A-TOR). She went on to say things like...

* How hard is it to open doors for people?

* Most buyers already know what they want because of the internet. That makes your job easy!

* I think it would be fun to drive around all day looking at cool houses. I could do that every day all day!

* Writing offers can't be that hard.

* I would LOVE to get paid what you do.

* Real estate slows down during the winter right? How cool would it be to take entire winters off???

* Seriously Jared, I want to be a Realtor®! Can I come work with your team?

Instead of lashing back and letting this woman know how many hours I work in a week, or telling her how much time I spend studying the market, keeping current on my knowledge of the process of a transaction, and the work that goes into lead generation...

I told her that if she was really serious about it we can have a little sit down and discuss her options. Not surprisingly... she never called.

Sometimes the public's perception of what we do amazes me. I certainly don't let it get to me, I just thought I would share a chuckle this morning. Have a great weekend!

Jared

In a perfect world our clients would only want to see homes on perfect weather days. 75 and sunny, no humidity, and a slight breeze out of the West. Ahhh... that sounds really nice seeing as it's cold and rainy in Fort Wayne today.

That said, we enjoy showing homes during crappy weather. Are we crazy? Yeah. A little bit. Hear us out...

Showing homes in the RAIN. It gives you a good opportunity to make sure the gutters and downspouts are doing their job and moving the water away from the home. It also gives you a good idea of the basement or windows have leaks.

Showings homes in the COLD. This is the worst in our opinion, BUT you get a feel for how well the home is (or isn't) insulated and how well the heating system works.

Showing homes in the HEAT. We like this much better. It's a good time to see how well the A/C works and exactly how hot the upstairs gets, especially in older homes. There have been a few times where we walk upstairs and it takes your breath away because it's so hot. That's a good thing to know before you buy.

There you have it. There are advantages to seeing homes during crappy weather and we really don't mind doing it. It's part of our job... as long as Amanda's hair doesn't get messed up. :)

10. Keep it cluttered! Put up as many pictures or posters as you can. Fill up that hallway with 150 pictures of your dogs doing super cute things! Oh, don't forget to put up all of your old movie posters too. You know what? Let's take it one step further. If you have mounted deer heads, a stuffed racoon, or a tree stump that you carved in to a bear... remember to proudly display those as well.

9. Wallpaper from the 1970's. Fill your home with this. The more gold wallpaper the better.

8. Leave dirty dishes out during showings. You know what? You might as well leave dinner out because our buyers might be hungry. We showed a home last week that had stale taco shells and crusty beef filling still in the pan. Not kidding

7. Leave your angry dog loose in the house. We have had this happen three different times. Each time our buyers and us had the crap scared out of us. Thankfully nobody was hurt, but we didn't even go in.

6. If it's a rental, make sure your tenant is home and in a really bad mood and eating a giant bowl of Fruit Loops while wearing his pajamas. True story. The tenant didn't want to move and was doing everything he could to keep the house from selling.

5. Leave the trash out and go ahead and scatter some of it in the front yard. Enough said.

4. Paint your windows and kitchen cabinets shut. We have only seen this once with kitchen cabinets, but have seen it a lot on windows, especially on older homes.

3. DARK BROWN PANELLING. Put it everywhere.

2. Make sure your home stinks. Cat urine, wet dog, and rotting carpet are three scents that will scare away almost any buyer.

1. Price it HIGH! Forget about what we tell you. Forget about the market analysis we just did that shows you the home is worth $200,000. Go ahead and list it for $275,000 because that is what your friend at work told you she thought it was worth. (You will NOT be listing this with us FYI)

Of course we am being incredibly sarcastic here. As full time Realtors® in Fort Wayne that work with both buyers and sellers we have seen all of this WAY too many times. These things do turn away most buyers. Of course there are a choice view that can see past it, but most can't. Hope you had a good chuckle. We know we had fun writing this. :)

* You just filed bankruptcy last Friday.

* You don't have a job.

* You DO have a job, but you just started last week and hadn't had a job for the previous 5 years.

* You have 17 collections on your credit and your score is negative 8,000.

* You aren't a legal resident of the United States.

* You can't prove where the money came from for the down payment.

* You want to buy a $250,000 home for $100,000 because it's a "buyer's market in Fort Wayne right now."

* You can't sell your current home because you owe 40% more than what it's worth.

* Your home just got foreclosed on.

* Your home is currently being foreclosed on.

* You can't verify your income because you sell drugs for a living.

Maybe the title of this should have been "You can't get a loan in Fort Wayne if..." but I thought that might be a little boring. Of course you can buy a home paying cash, but if you have any or all of the above issues, you probably can't qualify to buy a home in Fort Wayne (or anywhere) anytime soon. Thanks for reading. :)

1. LOOK INTO THE FUTURE. Hop in your Delorean, speed up to 88 mph, then hold on! Okay, that was weak. When buying a home in Fort Wayne you really need to consider your future plans. Are you going to live there for 5-7 years and then move up? Make sure you buy a home that appeals to many and will be easier to sell in the future than the double wide that sits right next to the propane company and the trailer park.

2. LOOK AROUND. Are you right by railroad tracks? Are you backed up to Interstate 69 and all the noise from the semis traveling 24/7? Are you in a flood zone?

3. CHECK OUT THE HOOD. What are the crime stats? Is it a neighborhood that is dominated by rentals? If there is any question we recommend that our buyers drive through the neighborhood on a Saturday evening.

4. TWO STORY OR RANCH? For the most part you get more square footage for the money on a two story, but they are also higher maintenance. We are reminded of this every time Jared grabs his 20 foot extension ladder to clean out the gutters on OUR two story home. :)

5. SCHOOL SYSTEMS. Is this home in the Fort Wayne school system that you want your children to be in?

6. HEATING AND COOLING. Do you have to have A/C? The summers in Fort Wayne aren't quite as hot as in the South, but it does get pretty hot and steamy here. Can you get by without it? What type of heating do you prefer? Gas forced air? Ceiling heat? Hot water heat?

7. AGE OF THE HOME. We have sold clients brand new construction and 110 year old farm houses. We actually sold a home that was 160 years old earlier this year. Is the wiring updated on the older home? Is the new construction home quality built or did the builder cut corners?

8. LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION. Some would put this #1, but we are random so it's #8. Are you where you want to be? Enough said.

9. LOOK AT THOSE HUGE TREES. When we bought our first home we fell in love with it because of the size, big lot, and price. We loved it so much that we looked past the fact that our lot has 5 HUGE trees that drop a TON of leaves that takes us FOREVER to clean up. Just a thought.

10. HOW OLD IS THE ROOF? A roof is a very expensive thing to replace. Is the roof nearing the end of it's life? Do you have the money to replace it if it is?

There are probably 479 other things we could have included on this list. These 10 are what came off the top of our heads today. Hope you enjoyed the read.