David Width Jr.

I met with a couple last week at a listing of mine they had called on. I went over there to meet them, very nice people by the way, and show them the house. As an agent you should be able to tell when your buyers aren't feeling the "vibe" from a house, and I knew they weren't. So I started into asking questions about what kind of style of home, size, bedrooms, ammenities, etc. and they really weren't able to answer my questions because they weren't sure. So I took the time to take them back to my office and to "analyze" what they were looking for.

My point here is, to not waste your own time as a buyer or the time of your agent, you will need to identify what type of property you could see yourself buying to turn into your home. Below I have listed some ideas as far as identifying your type of home. Before I continue, to make this easy, I will assume you as the buyer have been pre-qualified and know what your price range is. If you have not done this yet, this would be your first step.

IDENTIFIERS:

Locations; Determine where you would like to be located. Do you need to be close to shopping, transportation, where you are employed, near a school, as far from a school as possible, on the water, off the water, etc. etc. This is probably your most important step in choosing where you would like live.

Style of living; Determine what kind of style of living you would like to have. Would you like to be in a condo, towhouse developement, single family neighborhood, adult community (if app.), gated community, a community either dictated by an association or not. After you select your location, then narrow down neighborhoods that fit the style of living you want.

Style of home; Pretty self explanatory here. Would you prefer a ranch, a two story home, bi-level, split level, victorian, cape cod, bungalow, contemporary, log cabin, attached townhouse.

Size of home; After you have determined the style of the home you want, now determine how much space that you are going to need in terms of your famliy, you have company a lot, do you need room for an in home office etc. This is where bedrooms, bathrooms, and square footage need to be determined.

Ammenties/Extras; After you have determined some of the more important factors then determine whether you would like to have, or not have, any of the following; pool, basment, garage, guest house, island kitchen, preferably hardwood floors etc. etc.

Now please understand, all of these things may sometimes be very difficult to match up with each other, or may not be feasible in your price range, and you may have to compromise certain things along the way. However, if you can give your agent your specifics, and what things are WANTS (would like to have) & which things are NEEDS (have to have) it will make the home search process much smoother, quicker, & most satisfying in the end.

I hope this article will help some of you in determining which type of home is best fit for you.

I just wanted to write this blog to get some opinions from my fellow users and visitors here on AR. I have an employee in my office who continuously bashes the "democrats" for everything that goes wrong in this country. I have also met folks who continuously bash the "republicans" for everything that goes wrong in this country also. I am not here to claim my party, because I am not for the party, but rather the individual. I just don't understand how people can be so narrow minded to try and blame everything bad in the United States on one side of the political party or the other. It just seems absurd to me that you would be able to categorize a thing like that. Don't these people understand that a politician is a politician, whether they are republican, democrat, independent, white, black, green, yellow, or whatever else you want to categorize them as. Eventually they are looking out for what benefits them and their friends and have no concern for the American people. Greed is what got our country into the problems it is in today, both politically and non-politically.

So before you go to point fingers or blame either the "republicans" or the "democrats" for all your problems, think twice and know that a politician is a polictician is a politician.

"Politicians are like diapers. They both need changing regularly and for the same reason."

Larry L. Taylor

"We must be the change we want to see in the world."
Mahatma Gandhi ~ Indian Activist

I saw this quote this morning on a daily quote e-mail I am signed up to received, and it just really hit me like a ton of bricks. This comment is so true, and can almost apply to any aspect of a humans life, whether it be relationships, occupations, parenting, etc. etc. The quote in a whole basically says, it has to start with you. So I challenge you today to take that step, and tweak yourself to live a better life in a way of leadership to encourage others to do the same. If we could all just change one "negative" thing in the way we live to influence one another, wouldn't that be a great thing.

Let me know how you feel about this comment.

So monday I wake up to about 14 inches of snow in my front yard. Now today I wake up and it was about 55, and right now it has probably hit about 65 degrees here, the sun is shining and all is beautiful. You would not have known it snowed Monday if it weren't for the plow piles.

I am seeing this in my market here also. One week it is very very busy and I can barely finish all my tasks in one day, and then the next week it is very slow. But the good news is, overall, we now have those "65 degree days" again. The phones are ringing, other agents are setting up appointments to show my listings, and I am currently in neogtiations on three deals.

I hope that I can start getting more "65 degree days" and less "snowy Mondays."

Let me know how your weather/market is in your town?

This post is kind of a play off of my post from yesterday.
http://activerain.com/blogsview/967515/Servicing-will-not-sell-an-unsaleable-home

I am just trying to get some of the agitated sellers in today's market to really sit back and look at some things that they could maybe be doing better to help sell their home, rather then just blaming their agent for the reason the house is still for sale. I just want to break it down a little bit when I say SELLING A HOME HOLDS DUAL RESPONSIBILITY.

Agent's Responsibilities:

- Market that the home is for sale via advertising, open houses, neighborhood postcards, for sale sign
- Set up showing appointments respectful of the seller' schedule
- Negotiate offers/contracts on the behalf of the seller

Seller's Responsibilities:

- Make small repairs that will help home show better i.e. (put up trim, patch up holes, fix leaky faucet)
- Make the home available to be shown and try not to be home when the house is getting shown
- Get any documents filled out or signed and back to me with a key for the house ASAP
- Remove any strong odors, smells, etc. from the house
- Keep house tidy when it is getting shown

I know as a seller you have daily responsibilities also such as working, children, making dinner, etc. and that is completely fine, but make your agent aware that you may need an hour's notice, a day's notice, or even that the house can only be shown between certian hours or on certain days. However, if you do that, also understand that if the house is trying to be shown during these "off times" that you can't show or the house isn't ready, you can not blame your agent for that. As agents we have no idea when a buyer could walk through the door and want to see a property, and you have to try your best to make the home available as much as possible. I had one listing where I had about 15 appointments made to show the home and the seller only approved 3 of them. As a seller you must always have the mind set that this next showing could be the buyer for my home. And it is realistic to think that because 1, they are most likely qualified to see homes in this price range, 2 your home fits their needs and wants, 3 they have probably seen photos of your house online and like what they have seen, and the BIG #4, they are setting up an appointment to see your house. Now I am not saying that every home that doesn't sell is the seller's fault, because there are some agents that don't do their job like they are supposed to, but my point is that selling a home requires compromise and teamwork between the listing agent and the seller.

MAIN POINT: SELLING A HOME HOLDS DUAL RESPONSIBLITY (let me know if you agree or disagree)