Showing posts with label Residential real estate. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Residential real estate. Show all posts
Friday, October 1, 2010
Private Transfer Fees
Private Transfer Fees
You got to just love this one. [Please insert sarcasm here!] Some new home community developers have instituted this little gem, A PRIVATE TRANSFER FEE. This practice is now banned in only 16 states, but here is how it works.
Consumer comes along and buys a new home from a developer and a little lien is placed on their deed and ALL subsequent deeds imposing a private transfer fee. These fees can be as high as 1%...$100,000 sale price = $1000 transfer fee, but it doesn’t go away with one sale, it is appurtenant which means it stays with the property FOREVER, which means every time someone sells, the DEVELOPER gets a slice of the seller’s pie.
This is so wrong but it does illustrate why it is essential that real estate consumers hire a full time, professional, market savvy real estate professional.
Saturday, September 18, 2010
A Passion For Real Estate and More
Passion Is Important
Day to day I have the joy of meeting and working with so many wonderful people. I have countless clients and agents who have become some of my closest friends. I am amazed that folks can go from making a call to me expressing interest in a particular home, to actively seeking and buying a home to becoming dear friends. The experience is so very personal for me as a REALTOR. You see, I see it this way; I am helping people find their place and we all need a place.
My commission is to help people find a place to call their own. A place where they will be safe from whatever the world might be throwing at them. A place where they can lay their head at night, raise their children, love, eat, grieve for their losses, celebrate victories and milestones or just be. I innately understand all of those feelings wrapped up in finding a place called…home. I understand the importance of those feelings involved with identifying that warm soft snug harbor and the fact that home, means many different things to different people.
I’ve often said, “Every fanny has a seat,” and I meant it.
Sure mansions are terrific but so are subdivision homes, condos, townhomes and trailers. As varied as we are as human beings, as diverse as our tastes in clothing, so are our desires for housing. No matter what a client is seeking I’m there to help ensure that their home is the best possible choice for them. I love guiding people through the process and sharing with them what I know after 17 years of doing this. Sometimes, I surprise myself with what I know and more importantly what I DON’T know. The key with not knowing is having the strength to say, “I don’t know but I will find out.”
How awful it would be to tell a client something not true or unfounded when it involves that person trying to find a place called home, what a sour taste that would set in a mouth. You see I believe that many in my industry don’t think about the implications of what they are doing for their clients. It’s summed up in that last statement; what they are doing FOR…their clients. Being a REALTOR is not about commission, it is about service, it is about taking care of people first and then the money, the livelihood will take care of itself and will come in countless and unexpected joy.
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Wynterfield Dream Home
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Wednesday, August 25, 2010
The Beach and a resolution
So, I thought that I’d do another installment on the beach saga. After my initial go round with the agent in Carteret County, I did call and leave a message stating that I thought I should handle the lease on my place down there myself. That I’d be happy to pay the agency on Harker’s Island a finder’s fee for bringing a tenant to me. I think that's fair. No one should work for free.
A day went by and silence from area code 252; I did hear from my mom and dad, but nothing, nil, nada from the agent. By yesterday afternoon I was becoming somewhat antsy. I typically don’t leave messages hanging around on my voice mail or email and I really don’t care for it when others do so. Finally mid-afternoon at 2:05 pm an email came. The email tendered the tenant's name and phone number. The agent demurred on a finder’s fee stating that since he didn’t have a management agreement in place when he started down the representation path that he felt he wasn’t due compensation.
I do agree and disagree with that and I do understand this fellow’s soft peddle on compensation. I imagine the North Carolina Real Estate Commission would have a fit over all of this if it were reported; it won’t be. So here’s my advice to all of you out in the blogesphere; if you engage an agent for buying, selling, renting or leasing make sure that you have an agreement in writing outlining who, why, where, how, how much and when. This situation turned out well but it just as easily couldn’t have. What I would have done in the beach agent shoes is emailed an agreement to Durham outlining terms and we would have hammered all of this out before a tenant even entered the picture. The lesson I’ve learned, insist that others do things right each and every time.
Coming soon…my on-going discussion with an agent who won’t disclose to me whether or not he has an exclusive right to sell listing agreement on a listing in which he states in Multiple Listing that the home is “EO” or “Entry Only.” The Real Estate Commission views this designation “EO” as simply advertising and not offering advice or counsel as in an agency relationship.
Interested in buying, selling, renting or leasing property in Raleigh, Durham, Cary and Chapel Hill, North Carolina; call or text me to 919-608-2372 or email MSullivan@fmrealty.com
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
REALTOR Heal Thyself…Rust-Oleum Counter Coat a Review
REALTOR Heal Thyself…Rust-Oleum Counter Coat a Review
I’ve lived in my home for five years and for five years I’ve deliberated off and on about what to do with the counter tops in my two upstairs bathrooms. The townhouse that I live in was built in 1974 and is 20th century contemporary in style. The price points of my neighborhood don’t justify Granite or solid surface or recycled glass or those type products; even though I’d LOVE them. So, I’ve pondered and cogitated and browsed endlessly on line and in Lowes and Home Depot.
A month ago I decided. The old vanities and tops and sinks and mirrors and lights would go in both baths. It was time to facelift and I was going to do it right. NO, I wasn’t going to both baths at once, I have a screw or two loose but the bolts are still pretty tight, one in tact bath is ESSENTIAL at all times. But then…I really looked at what I had and I learned…that someone, at sometime, for some unknown reason had GLUED the bathroom mirrors to the drywall. My bath has a 4x4 mirror and the hall bath is roughly 2x4. Oh NO, no, no, no, noooo, nutz, netz, dag nab it all. So much for popping out the old and popping in the new, now we’re looking at dry walling, mudding, fixing damage and ENDLESS dust. Back to square one.
It just so happens at a listing meeting in my very own neighborhood, Five Oaks, a friend/neighbor/prospective client showed me what they had done to their bathrooms. I was blown away. They had coated their old counter tops and they looked FABTASTIC. Off to Lowes I went and right there in the paint aisle was a product called Rust-Oleum Counter Coat, made for laminate counter tops. This product comes in a variety of colors for dark or light colored counter tops and they mix it right in the store, just like custom paint colors.
If you decide to paint your counter tops you will need; rubber gloves, drop cloth, disposable paint rollers-smooth ones made of foam, not the nappy ones, a decent paint brush, brush cleaner, disposable paint pans, sand paper and blue tape. The devil here is in details. This stuff sticks to everything so be careful and DON’T spill it.
First, remove everything from your vanity and be prepared to be out of your bath for at least three days. Wipe down your vanity; I used window cleaner and a rag. Then gently scuff the vanity top with sand paper and re-clean the surface. Use your blue tape and carefully tape off all of your edges, sink surface and anything you don’t want to get the Counter Coat on. Make sure the Counter Coat is well stirred. Put your rubber gloves on and carefully add some Counter Coat to your plastic paint pan. One quart sized can of Counter Coat covers 25 square feet, so for my vanity one can was more than enough. I had to purchase two quarts though, one vanity is dark the other is light.
Apply your first coat, the odor is strong, so you might want to crack a window. Do not overwork with your paint roller, the product will bubble if you overwork the roller and that defeats the purpose. Go slow and be careful but don’t convince yourself that you’re done in one shot. Wait a day or so and reapply to spots you might have missed. I went back a third time and re-applied to the entire counter. I was working on a dark surface so I purchased Slate colored caulk and at day three applied the caulk, let it dry and then re-applied the Counter Coat. The first application took several days to dry but the second and third dried much faster.
The result, I’m delighted. My bath got a facelift and the cost…drum roll please…for all materials…less than $50 and I must say the vanity looks GREAT.
2011 North Carolina Offer To Purchase & Contract
Finally the new North Carolina offer to purchase and contract a la 2011 version for residential real estate is out for preview. Hold tight though, it’s not out for use just yet; a bit of a teaser preview. Truly I have been giddy with anticipation and I can’t wait to use it. Oh if we could use it today that would be wonderful.
Stunningly and startlingly alternative one and alternative two are GONE, blown away by the tides of change, a bad idea whose time has come and whose time has sunk into the vestiges of time. Very few of us ever used alternative two, which for a few more months; is a buyer’s option contract. Buyer still has the option of alternative one, the typical real estate deal with earnest money, investigation, re-negotiation of deficiencies and inevitable squabbles over earnest money with sellers when repairs cannot be agreed upon. Or they can still choose the alternative two stepchild; this alternative allows the buyer to put down both earnest money and option money, option dollars are paid right to the seller and if for ANY reason or NO reason by the end of the option period the buyer doesn’t buy the house, then the seller keeps the option money and everyone walks away no foul. Please insert sarcasm (here!) Folks still squabble and squawk over earnest money.
Well at least let’s hope that’s the case. I was listing agent on a property here in Durham on Camden Ave. and an agent with a company whose logo is a blue rock, brought a buyer and we agreed to an alternative two contract. The option time came and went with a flurry of inspections, investigations, repair requests, negotiations and agreements, etc. etc. etc. Then a somewhat lengthy delay to closing and here’s where we hit ballyhoo. The closing attorney a Mr. Booger (name slightly modified) out of Chapel Hill, well after the option period, for ANY and ALL investigations, where the buyer for ANY or NO reason whatever may terminate and walk away from the contract; decides that late in the game that he was going to order survey, title work etc. to whit he discovers that the subject property’s fence is partially on the neighbor’s yard, just a few inches and in this day and age, easily ignored by everyone. Not that I think this ignorance is a good idea; but it is what we do on the caveat that if in the future the neighbors say move the fence…well then the new owners will move the fence.
Well the good attorney Booger starts to make waves. He even goes so far to say that he doesn’t care what the contract says, that if the seller wants to sell then the fence must be moved. He’s always done his title work late in the game and this is just the way it is. Well so much for an officer of the court upholding the letter of the contract and the law. He was so terrible, so awful and so was the big, blue rock agent; that we on the seller’s side took the fence down so that the property would close, that opened a whole new can of worms; but tough noogies to the buyer, their beef was with THEIR attorney and AGENT. So, I digressed didn’t I? Ah yes the new offer to purchase and contract.
Gone are the days of house systems and structures “functioning the purpose for which intended and not in need of immediate repair.” The buyer now has a “due diligence” period to investigate the property and during that period, for ANY reason or NO reason may terminate the contract and the seller may keep the due diligence fee; take note Mr. Chapel Hill attorney, this includes surveys too. There can still be earnest money, but this needn’t be the case; there can be due diligence money, but this also needn’t be the case. GONE is any discussion about specific systems and inspection. Essentially the process is made easier, buyer comes alone, buyer offers, buyer writes a due diligence check to the seller, buyer prescribes a diligence period and investigates. Buyer may make a repair request but seller doesn’t even need to respond and if buyer isn’t happy with that then they may terminate the contract; but it is gonna cost them the diligence fee; if they move ahead and close, they get a credit for the fee.
So as always the devil is in the details, as a listing agent I am going to push my seller clients to accept just a diligence fee and NO earnest money and this way if the buyer terminates everyone walks away. I love it; gone will be the days of a buyer agent just throwing it all against the wall, of low balling, of recommending inept inspectors who will scuttle a deal. In reality I see all parties getting very serious when a home is under contract. Hopefully the days of willie, nillie walking away from a binding contract are numbered; of course we’re always going to have to deal with the odd ball attorney who doesn’t believe in following the written contract…but hopefully they too will become fewer and further between.
Want to learn more...call or text me 919-608-2372
Email me MSullivan@fmrealty.com
Visit my web site TeamMichaelSullivan.com
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