Julia Stander

I was chatting with another associate in the office regarding one of her listings. She shared with me the frustration she is experiencing with a client who inherited a home and her challenges marketing it. The home has been vacant for a while and as it sits maintenance is deferred. She has asked them to have someone come out to look at the property and to get it cleaned up because its current condition is impacting the marketability of the home. Her final comment was, "People who inherit a home should get a home inspection right up front!" You know, she's right.

An advanced home inspection by parties who inherit and have never owned the home just makes sense. It makes disclosure easier and prepares the owner for issues they can address up front or adjust the price when selling "as-is". Sellers in any situation want to maximize their proceeds, and having a home inspection will give them needed information to prepare the home for maximum profit. It helps minimize suprises later on when the home does go to contract as well. Making the necessary improvements will provide leverage in price negotiation as well. So really what my associate said makes complete sense.

What do you suggest to your clients who inherit a home to prepare the home for market?

It's spring break and I have taken the week off to spend with my 9 year old son. Of course as a Realtor there never really is "time off". Just because I'm taking a break doesn't mean that business stops, especially if I expect to see my transactions close when I return. I have one customer who lives in Oregon and they want to be under contract by April 30. It means when I find a home of interest, I have to go to the home and take photos and email them to the client. One home came up this week, the same time I planned to take my son to MOSI (Museum of Science and Industry). He had a friend sleep over too. What's a mom to do? Well we did both! After having breakfast at Bob Evans, we drove out to Brandon and the kids gave me their assessment of the home (it wasn't pretty either). It was a vacant home and while I took photos, they discovered the orange tree in the back yard. Once I was finished with the photos, on we went to MOSI, where we had a blast. Time to come home and make dinner. In between the client called and wanted to know more about the home...not good news either....it had mold and other issues but I told her I would send photos so she could see for herself. After dinner I e-mailed the photos and waited for their call later in the evening. I was beginning to feel like the master juggler!

And that was just one day, during the week I had to follow up on the status of an appraisal, make sure some documents were signed and forwarded to the listing agent and somehow still manage to spend some quality time with my son. The good news is al missions were accomplished!

We know, once a parent...always a parent...the job never stops. It's like that as a Realtor too. I bet there are a lot of master jugglers out there! Julia

Breast cancer. Not your typical subject for Active Rain. There are some that may feel this may not be the venue for such a subject. I'll argue that being a Realtor is more than just helping people buy and sell houses. Being a Realtor means being a part of your community and in tune with the things that impact the well being of that community. It may even mean we need to be advocates, not only for private property rights, but advocates for performing regular self exams to assure our families, friends and customers stay healthy.

I have just learned my neighbor has breast cancer. Her home is next to mine and I was the listing agent. It has been great to see her family grow and they are great neighbors. This was a devastating blow to learn about the cancer. We all know someone who has experienced this insidious disease. Recently my cousin had a mastectomy and I know the emotional impact this disease has. I just lost a dear friend because her cancer was found too late and am still mourning her loss. An associate who is part of my CARES team has been undergoing the ravages of chemotherapy. This disease is indiscriminate.

One of the things that I know that makes a difference in terms of treatment and survival rate is early detection. Here's where we can be the advocates. One of the best gifts we can give our customers is the reminder to conduct regular breast self exams. Is it an uncomfortable, touchy subject? Absolutely. However it can be a simple matter of providing a brochure with their closing package and speaking of the cherished friend, colleague or customer who has suffered with this disease. Selling homes is not just about the transaction, it's about creating customers for life.

Many of you have sales that are impacted by the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) and Section 502 Rural Housing Program. Right now, Congress has gone on recess and left some unfinished business associated with these two programs.

Per the National Association of Realtors Realtor Action Center here's how this unfinished business could impact you.

Flood Insurance: The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) is vitally important to the recovering real estate market. Its authority was allowed to expire on March 28th. Until Congress extends NFIP, no new or renewal flood policies can be issued. Thousands of property buyers will not be able to purchase a home or commercial property without the flood insurance coverage provided by NFIP. Consequently, many real estate transactions will grind to a halt.*

Rural Housing Service Mortgage Insurance: Section 502 rural housing single family mortgage insurance provides housing financing for America's rural families. These loans are funded by private lenders and simply insured by the Rural Housing Service. As private mortgage markets have dried up, without these guaranteed loans, many rural families are left out in the cold. With funding expected to run out at the end of April, lenders have already stopped accepting new loan applications.*

It is important you contact your Congressman now and ask them to immeidately take action on these two programs upon their return. I have provided you with a link that will make it easy for you to do that. Let's work together to help assure the viability of a recovering market.

*directly taken from the Realtor Action Center page

There are some who feel politics don't belong on an Active Rain Blog. I would beg to differ. If real estate is your business, politics is your business too. I'm not referring to political ideologies of the different parties, indeed, those discussions need to be in a different venue. I'm referring to staying on top of legislation the affects our industry and economies.

For example, here in Florida, there is Senate Bill 6. If passed, will change teachers compensation to be tied to test score performance. One might ask, "what does that have to do with real estate?" I'm of the opinion that if this bill passes it will negatively affect the quality of the teachers we have in our schools. As most teachers will tell you, the good teachers often get the poorer performing students. If we lose good teachers because their pay is tied to test scores, teachers will leave the field or the state. This impacts real estate because quality schools are an important criteria to a purchase decision. If school quality declines, less people will purchase in Florida.

Another example is Amendment 4, the Hometown Democracy initiative. This will require that any change to the comprehensive plan be voted on by public. A version of this bill was passed in St. Petersburg Beach and it created economic havoc. It essentially put a halt to any economic development and has resulted in costly litigation to the municipality. As Realtors we should encourage opposition to this well intentioned but poorly crafted amendment.

These are just two examples. As Realtors, we should stay on top of issues that affect our industry and communities and be involved in the process. It just makes good business sense.

Julia