Ramblings of a Baltimore area Realtor

I have been listening a lot to the news and reading a lot about energy savings.  Last fall we went through our house and prepared it for winter and also took stock of our energy saving efforts and despite the increase in gas and electric prices our bill actually went down over the winter before.  Here is what we did:

• where possible replaced all light bulbs with fluorescent bulbs - they take a little longer to come on when you flip the switch but they are over all more energy efficient.
• Changed our thermostat to a set back thermostat with many settings - most  homeowners leave the house to go to work and don't turn back their thermostat to a cooler setting during the day.  It is amazing how much you save by this simple act but I don't know about you but in the morning I'm running around like a chicken with my head cut off and the last thing I think about is setting the thermostat back, so for a small investment we purchased a thermostat to do it for me.  Why should we heat a house when there's no one home?  Likewise, why should we cool a house when there's no one home?
• Insulate your hot water pipes in the basement where accessible.  Your hot water sits in the pipes for a while before it gets to the tap and insulating the pipes will keep it hot rather than letting that heat work it's way out into the atmosphere.
• Our basement windows are old and we live in an older house.  We took plastic and reinforced the seal on our basement windows so that air doesn't come in or out.
• I am a quilter and have lots of fabric and craft supples so I made a draft dodger for under the front door.  I was surprised how much cool air came in under our front door.  You can buy these at Walmart and other like kind stores so you don't need to be crafty to create one.

These are just a few tips from me to make your home or your clients homes more energy efficient this fall and winter season.

6. Plant spring-flowering bulbs.
Tulips, daffodils, and hyacinths are just some of the must haves for spring gardens, but don't forget to plant some crocus, snowdrops, grape hyacinth, and other small, early bloomers right in the lawn. They'll be through blooming and the foliage will have died back before the first mowing. Plant some bulbs in containers then place the pots in a sheltered but cool dry place (you may want to store wrapped in plastic or newspaper to ward off pests like mice, such as a storage building or unheated garage. In early spring (after the last of the snow) bring the containers outdoors to grow and flower.

7. Prepare new garden beds.
Instead of stripping the grass or waiting to till your new bed next spring, start now by laying down a thick layer of newspapers or corrugated cardboard over the lawn area you are planning to transform into a garden bed. Then cover with a layer of straw or mulch. Your local farmer's co-op or garden store is a good place to get straw.  This will smother the grass over the winter, making it easier to till in any remaining lawn in spring, which also adds nutrients to the soil. You may want to use landscape fabric and decorative mulch in place of the newspapers for new perennial gardens. 

Remember that your landscaping plans will go a long way to giving your home more curb appeal for that planned sale in the spring.  You need to get the buyer's in the front door and curb appeal goes a long way to getting potential home buyers there.

4. Prune trees and shrubs.
Prune diseased and damaged branches and remove tree branches that could break under the weight of heavy snow or ice. You can easily identify diseased or dead branches by the lack of leaves on them.  You might also want to look for growth of small sapplings around branches near the main part of the tree.  Once tea roses go dormant, prune back their canes and apply protective mulch. In general, it's best to wait until late winter or early spring for heavy pruning, especially in regions with harsh winters. (If you prune in fall the plant may produce new growth that will be nipped by the cold.) Wait to prune spring-flowering shrubs until after they blossom.  You may want to check with your local garden center to see which shrubs and plants you should prune or trim in the fall and which ones you should prune in the spring.

5. Acclimate houseplants and bring indoors.
You're probably familiar with "hardening off" plants in spring - slowly acclimating indoor-grown seedlings to harsher outdoor conditions by taking them outside for short periods during the day and bringing them back in and gradually increasing their exposure to the outdoors over the course of a week or two. Do this in reverse with houseplants that have been outdoors all summer by exposing them to more and more shade and indoor temperatures. Otherwise, they may suffer setback when brought into the darker, drier indoor climate. Examine plants carefully for insect pests, too. This is a good time to repot using fresh potting soil.

I just have to share my experience in getting a refinance on my own investment property. 

I have been trying to refinance my 2 unit investment property since April..  I have paid for 4 different appraisals and everyone insists on appraising it as a multi unit and charges $500-$750.  Then the next day after the appraisal decide that they can't do the loan because the proeprty is vacant, my credit score is too low, they no longer have the loan product. 

I tried to sell my investment property and 3 times I had it sold and through a stroke of bad luck the first two lost their jobs and the third had to return to his home country because his wife delivered their first baby early.  She's waiting for approval to come here, he's already an American citizen and owns and operates a very profitable business here and had an 800+ credit score. 

So, last week I got a letter in the mail from Wachovia to give me a credit line on my property and he says, you should refi and I told him my story.  Wachovia just bought World Savings Bank and they increased the number of products they carry.  Long and short of it is I've been a Wachovia customer for quite a while and hadn't talked to them because they are a bank and their loan products have to be more strict than a broker right?  Well, my loan is approved, the house appraised and I'm going to have my property refinanced in a couple weeks at 7.75% (my current rate is 10.625% on an ARM) with a 30 year fixed loan with their "Pick a Payment" product.  Gotta love it!!

2. Clean, sharpen, and oil hand tools.
It's time for that protective maintenance on your stuff.  Use a stiff brush to clean soil, dirt and debris off trowels and shovels, then apply a thin coat of oil and store in a dry place for the winter. This will keep your tools in good order for the next gardening season and keep the rust at bay.  Clean and sharpen pruners and loppers. Take an inventory of your hand tools to see what's missing and make a note to add anything that is missing to your Christmas Wish List.

3. Organize your tool shed.
Hang long-handled tools from hooks or nails on the wall; store small tools in a covered container to keep the moisture and rodents out. Gather old stray seed packets and decide which ones to keep for next year and which ones didn't live up to your expectations and to toss. Place birdseed in a squirrel-proof container (I thought I had done that with the clear store containers with a lid but the squirrels chewed the handles off and then chewed through the lid, so perhaps metal trash type containers would be better). Store all fertilizers and pesticides properly - the labels will tell you how - out of the reach of animals and children.   A well organized tool shed is a good selling point for the coming season, if your home has nice landscaping and garden beds and a well organized tool shed future owners will want to maintain that and a gardening buff buyer is more likely to jump in with a contract if your tool shed matches their expectations.

I have been listening in earnest to all the naysaying about how bad the market is.  Have you been hearing it too?  Have you been buying into all the negativity surrounding real estate? 

Do you remember the 80's?  Many people who have come into real estate recently weren't even born yet, or at least aren't old enough to remember 18% interest.  I bought my first house with a mortgage of 11.5% and thought I was doing good when it dropped to 10.875%.  I remember the historic number of foreclosures with people walking away from 18 and 19% mortgage rates.  I remember when there was no such thing as an 100% no money down mortgage and the only loan you could get was 80%. 

The positive things about today's market:

• Historically low interest rates.  I am refinancing my investment property this week and got a 7 3/4% rate and one of my clients got 5 7/8% on a purchase loan.
• Sellers are willing to negotiate the price and negotiate closing help
• There are a lot of homes to choose from in a lot of price ranges
• We don't have to write escalation clauses into every contract
• You can still get a 100% no money down mortgage
• They just extended the deadline for Nehemiah
• There are a lot of great loan products available for everyone's credit rating and everyone's pocket book

If you can stick it out the market will right itself by spring and there will be just enough business for the people who are serious about helping buyers realize the American Dream of home ownership.  Being in real estate isn't about making money, although we all have to live, it's about helping people buy a home or sell a home, or move for a new job.  It's all about the people and I think we've somehow forgotten that in the rush to get deals to the table, now we're going back to basics - selling homes isn't about the deal, it's about people living their lives in a safe environment where they can fulfil whatever goals they have set for themselves.

I was away for a few days this week attending the Hobbs Herder Mega Managing Seminar in Irvine, CA.  Upon my return my company unveiled our new website and new backend agent support site.  This took quite a long time to come to fruition and now it's here. 

Our site offers state of the art search capabilities for consumers, to search and save their searches in real time.  This is great. 

Our agents will all have their own websites that they can customize or have forwarded to existing websites.  Plus, for the first time all our agents now have their own company email.  They asked for it, now they have it.  The back end also allows them to maintain their customer contact and contact management and send emails through it.  It also encompasses our state contract forms, toolkit presentation software and Advance Realty University for continued growth. 

The new Agent 360 program will definitely help us in our recruiting efforts to grow our company.  The Advance Realty list more sell more model for our agents coupled with state of the art technology.  How great is that!!

I am currently hiring new and experienced agents for our office in Anne Arundel County.  We have non-mandatory opportunity time (floor duty), $150 for Errors and Omissions Insurance, Coaching, In House Continuing Education, state of the art technology in house and virtually.  Email or call me today if you are thinking about making a change or even if you are just curious and want to know what Advance Realty is all about.  We have 14 locations in Maryland, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Florida.

Think of the fall as a time for "spring cleaning" your garden. In your house, spring cleaning helps you shake off the cobwebs of winter and cleanse your house of the clutter and chaos. Fall garden cleanup has a similar purpose. It's a time to remove old plants, rake up leaves, do one last weeding, and prepare your flower beds for their winter nap. It's also a good time to look back over the gardening season to see what you'll do differently next year and things you'll improve on for the next growing season, and to plan some fall landscaping projects. With this in mind, this will be the first in several tasks for you to do this fall. You'll thank yourself next spring!  And, if you're planning on selling next year - adding curb appeal this fall is a great way to set the stage for your marketing next year.

Remove old dead plants and other garden debris.
Annual vegetables, herbs and flowers are winding down in fall and preparing for their winter hibernation. Once you've taken in the last crop of herbs and vegetables or plants stop producing, pull the old plants or trim back the perennials, shake off excess soil from the roots, and add them to your compost pile. Throw away anything that looks diseased or infested with insects. Replant ornamental beds with fall annuals, such as pansies or mums. Use trash bags to gather and haul materials to your compost pile. Or, use paper lawn bags and add the filled bag to the pile - the paper bag will decompose, too!   You may also want to fertilize and airate  your lawn in readiness for the winter.

How many times have  you been called out to take a listing only to find someone else's magnet on the fridge or sign the listing agreement with someone else's pen?  What does this tell you about your marketing dollars?  Yet, we as realtors spend thousands and thousands of dollars every year buying pens, fridge magnets, flyswatters and other marketing paraphenalia in search of the next deal.  It's like spending thousands of dollars on little house ads in Harman Homes or other similar homes magazines.  Do you know how many of those end up in the trash?  The actual return on your advertising or marketing dollar could be much better spent on a well executed marketing plan that effectively targets the market we want to work with.  Think about the amount of money we spend every year on marketing and what the return on investment actually is.  The consider well placed marketing plans that work and maybe allocate those funds more wisely. 

We stopped advertising in the real estate section of the local paper.  Our ad now runs on Wednesday's and the number of calls we receive has significantly increased.  We cancelled our ads in the local Homes Magazine saving us $2000 a month but have not seen any decrease in the number of calls we have gotten, nor has there been a decrease in business.  The only people who expected to see their homes in Homes Magazine were the seller's, in my 22 years of business I've never gotten a call off an ad in one of those magazines.  Interesting.  We also placed an ad in a local coupon clipper magazine that only gets delivered to single family homes around my office.  We've gotten 3 listings off that.  Another good placement is sponsoring a home owners association newsletter or a church newsletter - it's cheap and again targets the market you want to capture.

Take a good look at how you are spending your money and maybe spend less of it and get a better return on your investment.

Hi Everyone,

It's great to be part of a group here that knows what I'm talking about when I say something. 

I'm in Irvine, California this week attending the Hobbs Herder Mega Managing seminar.  My brain is about ready to burst with all the information I've been taking in.  I attended Gateway in Rockville in August and had a great time and brought a lot of the information back to my office.  Since then Jig Patel came out and presented the 7 Do's and Don'ts of Mega Agent Marketing again and a lot of my agents have signed up for Mega Marketing in November at BWI, I will be going with them to that. 

It's really great to get involved in a culture that will definitely set our businesses aside from the crowd.  Especially in Maryland where there are so many agents that are all doing the same kind of marketing and advertising.  It's refreshing to see so many people reaching out to develop their businesses and working on their businesses.

Who will I see at the BWI Mega Marketing?