Sumter, SC

Real Estate Company joins AgentOwned Realty

Associates Realty in Sumter SC just closed and the broker/owner and her 14 real estate agents just joined with The AgentOwned Realty office in Sumter.

This brings the Sumter AgentOwned office to have 40 agent-owners and is now the #1 office in the Sumter MLS in listing inventory as well as sales.

Congratulations to Kirk McLeod, Chief Operating Officer of the Sumter AgentOwned Realty office, and Shirley Ross, former Broker of The Associates Realty for a job well done in merging these 2 offices.

As I've mentioned before, I have a job along with another agent in our company cleaning the office once a week (a job which will probably disappear when the new agency comes in). Doesn't pay a lot, but every little bit helps. Yesterday I was cleaning by myself, as the other agent had gone home to visit family over the holidays. It took awhile, being alone, having to do the whole thing by myself. It's much easier when you can split the work up. I also took the opportunity to do a few things that we only do once in awhile, as they take longer and since it was just me, I wasn't inconveniencing anyone else. The "few things" included the windows and putting MinWax restorer on the steps. The restorer only takes about ten minutes. Cleaning the windows takes a lot longer. Bottom line -- I got to the office a bit before 8, went home about 3:30.

But -- the most exciting part of the day came about 1 o'clock when the other agent called me. She'd just gotten a call from a neighbor across the street from one of her listings, in a neighborhood that has amongst its characteristics a significant amount of nocturnal activity. Mostly illegal. Anyway, she said the neighbor had called and as I understood her, had just seen someone kick in the house's front door. She asked me if I'd go check it out.

She wants me to go check out a home invasion? Excuse me? I know karate, but if the bad guys see you coming and they have guns, you lose. All the karate skills in the world mean nothing if they shoot you from far enough away, all those Chuck Norris and Steven Seagal movies notwithstanding.

I asked if the neighbor was going to call the police. She said yes. So I said, okay, I'll go see what's going on, but if it looks dicey I'm not getting out of the car.

I left stuff all over the office, as I wasn't finished cleaning, and motored over. When I got there, no cops. No nobody. I parked across the street and got out, and the nice neighbor lady came sauntering out of her house, carrying a phone. I asked if she'd called the police. She hadn't.

Now, my understanding was that someone just kicked the door in, the neighbor said she hadn't seen anyone come out, so whoever kicked the door in was still there, most likely. The only other door opens onto the carport and it was barricaded after another break in. So I called 911 myself.

While waiting for the police, the handyman my friend uses showed up. She'd called him to go see what sort of repairs he could do to try to secure the place. He'd been there most recently Christmas Eve, barricading the carport door which had been kicked in the week before by someone looking for something to steal. He wandered into the back yard to see what he could see (I told him I thought someone might still be inside) and came back to report that someone had busted in a kitchen window, and it was his guess that they'd gone out the front door. Neither of us was inclined to go find out, though.

About that time the cops showed. Nice young men, one of them had been to the house last summer for yet another break in and said there were three bad guys, one of whom he chased two miles. He caught him. And then, he said, they had to call an ambulance for him, the cop, because he was having chest pains. Yesterday he was fighting a head cold, and said if anyone tried that with him today he'd just tase them.

Suits me.

Anyway, during all this the neighbor let us all know that it actually happened the night before, no idea why or how the message got garbled to indicate it had just happened. She said she'd heard a racket, dogs barking and so on. But she didn't get up to see what was happening. I wish she'd called the police then, but I don't blame her for not wanting to investigate, or even to look out a window. If I lived in that neighborhood I wouldn't either. It's a shame; there are elderly people living over there who have lived there for many years, it used to be a safe place, it isn't now and they don't have the ability to leave.

The police checked the house, nobody was there. They processed the scene, but there were no usable fingerprints. At least not in the areas they would have touched. There appeared to be some damage to a closet door.

The owner of the house is deceased, her niece is trying to sell it. She lives in Georgia. My friend has told her repeatedly they need to come get the personal property out of the house. Some furniture has already been stolen and if they wait much longer there won't be any left. The thieves have also tried to pull the heating unit out from under the house to get the copper out of it, so it probably doesn't work anymore, either. There are family photos in the house, quite a lot of them. I can't figure out why they don't seem to want those. If anything happens to them, they'll just be gone forever.

So that was an hour of my day, right there. Moderately interesting. When it was over I went back to the office and finished the cleaning.

And then I went home. I had planned to do some cleaning at home but I was so tired I just didn't care.

Real estate is fun. Mostly.

Market Summary Thru November 30, 2009

1st home is a 1999 Horton 3 bdr/ 2 bth D/W manufactured home with brick underpin, 4 ceiling fans, 16'x22' covered deck that steps down to a 12'x16' covered deck with a 6 person " Clearwater Spa" hot tub. It has a 10'x14' wired, insulated, air conditioned work shop, and a fenced in area behind the house.****** 2nd house is a 2002 Homestead model **Both homes have new "Energy Star" rated insulated white metal roofs installed 6 months ago**. Both homes come with all Whirlpool appliances, including washer/dryer's. *>>>These homes are move in ready,<<<* I will not owner finance, I have clear deed and titles on this property. it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests. Call 803-905-1249 Cathy (THIS $130,000. PRICE IS FOR 2 HOMES ON 5 ACRES) To directly access this property, use this shortcut: http://www.fizber.com/south-carolina-buy-single-family-home-12602877.html