Ken Montville -- the MD Suburbs of DC

I was writing a blog post on my Outside Blog about an article in today's Washington Post about a "father/son" team that went to a bunch of Open Houses and pilfered the home owner's jewelry and took it to local pawn shops to unload it.

Due to some good police work and getting the word out within the local Realtor community, the Open House thieves have been caught. The Alexandria (VA) police are still seeking additional victims of the Open House thefts in order to wrap this case up. You can find the phone number of the Detective on the case here.

This really brings to mind the dangers of Open Houses in the Internet Age. Most people can find all the information they want about a house on numerous websites complete with Virtual Tours. On top of that, a good buyer's agent can provide you with your very own, personal tour of any house at your convenience. You don't have to wait until Sunday to go.

Honestly, I've never quite figured out why people want to advertise to the world "I'm not home. The door is open. Come on in!" Jewelry isn't the only thing. Prescription drugs, crystal, sentimental keepsakes. All of it is available for the taking.

In my book, if you want to let your neighbors know you're selling your house and you would like them to take a look at it, throw a party. Heck, I may even throw it for you. Just make sure you're there, too...and your valuables are in a safe place.

Scenario: Mr. Seller is very eager to sell his house. He just "happens to be home" when a lot of the buyers and their agents pop by for a visit. Mt. Seller likes to be the tour guide highlighting all the parts of the house he [the Seller] likes about his house. Mr. Seller also likes to talk money.

Yes, that's right. Stuff like "I can do this with closing help or I can do that with less closing help or....." Get the point?

So I get the call from the agent with a low ball offer. I present to the Seller. The Seller tells me, "I told Ms. Agent what I could do and not do and yadda, yadda, yadda. I thought she was on board." Or I get feedback about how awkward the agent felt or that the buyer really didn't like the main feature of the house the Seller was so proud of.

No matter how may times I ask Seller clients to take a walk around the block or go to a movie or hide in the basement, there are those that insist they can sell their house just fine, thank you very much.

I don't get it. If they really didn't want the help, why'd they ask (and agree, in writing, to pay my fee)?

Please...to all you Mr. and Ms. Sellers everywhere: you may get more than you thought, in less time than you thought, with less stress than you thought...if you let your Realtor do their job. Sit back. Relax. We'll get it done.

If you've been thinking if all this Active Rain, Facebook, Twitter, etc. stuff is a waste of time (you know who you are!) you may change your thinking after the next 4 minutes....

During the recent downturn in the real estate market it became commonplace - at least in my little part of the world - for Sellers to kick some money toward the Buyer's closing costs. So, as it turns out, if the Buyer could scrape together the 3.5% for a down payment (assuming an FHA mortgage), the other costs like State and County transfer and recordation fees, lender fees, title company fees, hazard insurance premiums, prepaids like interest and the like would be paid for out of the Seller's proceeds at settlement.

This is wonderful news for the Buyers because it means that they really have very little in the way of out-of-pocket expenses and, if the qualify for a VA mortgage (zero down payment) it's possible they could buy the house for close to zero out-of-pocket money. However, no matter how hard I try, I can never get the home buying experience to equal absolute zero for the buyer.

A recent example comes to mind: a VA qualified buyer found a home they wanted to purchase, we negotiated price and all the other financial terms, including a wonderful chunk of Seller money for Buyer closing costs. It looked like it was going to be almost zero out-of-pocket expense for the buyer. This was a good thing because the buyer didn't have a whole lot of ready cash. The keyword here is almost.

There are certain expenses that most lenders do not include in their good faith estimate and, if they do, the lenders like to collect it up front. The appraisal fee is one such expense. The home inspection is another. No matter what the Good Faith Estimate says, most lenders I know want to grab that appraisal fee up front because if the deal falls apart they still have to pay the appraiser.

The home inspection is another place the buyer actually has to have real money. The inspector usually likes to get paid on the spot. You see, they know the deal might fall apart, too. In fact, it is well known that many inspectors kill the deal by pointing out defects in the house that worry the potential buyer just enough to want to back away from the purchase. So, Buyers need to have a check or credit card ready and available at the time of the home inspection or the inspector may just pack up his or her gear and go home.

This is the "bottom line". Buying a house, under the right circumstances, can almost be done without much cash but you really need some money. This is at it should be. Consider if your were renting an apartment or house instead of buying. There would be the first month's rent and the security deposit and the pet deposit.

There should be some "investment" (another term I hate and will probably write about in the future) into the purchase of the house on the Buyer's part. Buying a house is a big deal and the decision shold not be made lightly. Buyers should expect to have some cash lined up for the purchase. There is no such thing as a free lunch.

In the last couple of days there have been rumblings about "the bottom" and even a cover story in Newsweek entitled The Recession is Over * (note: the asterisk). If you watch CNBC at all and you happen to catch a little of it before you tuned in Oprah on Friday you would have heard all manner of people getting all giddy about the stock market rally, and, most notably, about the fact that the economy didn't shrink as much as expected.

That bears repeating -- the economy did not shrink as much as expected. It did not grow/expand. It just was less shrinkage?

Whooooooa, Nelly. Hold the bus!

Just because things are not getting as bad as rapidly as they have been during the past year does not mean things are good! In fact, President Obama tried to manage expectations by admonishing Newsweek for putting out false hopes to which Newsweek had to reply in another article with the sub-title: Obama Rips Newsweek's Cover. We Rip Back.

Here's the deal: Yes. Everyone would like this "Great Recession" to be over and for the recovery to start rolling. Those of us on Active Rain would really like the housing market to start rolling again. Heck, I see all this "happy talk" all the time about this or that Realtor experiencing multiple offers (subliminal message to buyers: "hurry up and get back in or you'll end up in bidding war hell just like the early 2000s"). I also hear and read the data that most of the buying are first-timers and that they're after the foreclosures with the rock bottom prices. Joe and Jane Homeowner with equity and a nice house aren't getting multiple offers. If, and this is a big if, they price their home aggressively, they'll get that one offer they need to sell the house.

If we start talking up and buying into "the recession is over" giddiness in the absence of solid data and a good strong trend we are doing our clients -- both sellers and buyers -- a grave disservice. There is nothing worse than seller thinking it will be OK to price their home high "because the recession is over" or for buyers who have been on the fence to fall back over onto the rental side of the fence because they have just pulled enough money together for that 3.5% FHA down payment and now won't be able to afford higher priced home.

The economy is finally starting to show signs of life only because of mass government intervention. What happens when the $8,000 First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit expires on December 1st? What happens if mortgage rates start to rise? Credit guidelines have not and do not show any signs of loosening up.

As real estate professionals, we need to be able to manage the expectations of our clients. It's bad enough that most of them will listen to Aunt Harriet or Uncle Jeb who was in real estate for a couple of years back in the 80s. We need to be to voice of reason. I don't want to hear "Newsweek said the recession's over so I want to pretend it's 2004 again." It ain't gonna happen.

Managing expectations may be one of the most important things we do in the coming months. We need to tell out clients, Sellers especially, that pricing their home is still the key to selling it.