South Austin Texas Real Estate blog: November 2008

I knew I was moving slow lately, so slow that the bookworm MeMe caught up with me.. twice no less.. thanks to my dear friends, Ricki Eichler and Betina Foreman... so ladies here ya go ... the rules first.

follow the directions and grab the first book!  But it can not be The BIBLE. 

Anyway, this meme has 6 very simple rules:

•  1. Grab the nearest book.
•  2. Open the book to page 56.
•  3. Find the fifth sentence.
•  4. Post the text of the next two to five sentences.
•  5. Don't dig for your favorite book, the cool book or the intellectual one. Pick the Closest.
•  6. Tag five people to do the same.

The first book I can reach is my vacation beach read, why is it so close? because I loaned it to my sister and she just brought it back and I had not put it away yet.  It was a fun beach read or would be a fun winter nap kinda read.  Its not serious or deep or anything intellectual... its just fun.

SAVANNAH BLUES by Mary Jay Andrews

"It's too depressing to look around anymore.  Just from what I've already seen, it could take hundreds of thousands to restore Beaulieu. Millions, maybe."

I took one last, longing look around the room.  At the cupboard.  It was what had drawn Lewis Hargreaves and his pocket camera into this room.

SO now to target 5 friends who I hope will be friends still when they find out the BOOKWORM has caught up with them.

TANA HUNT    MY GALPAL, WHO MAKES ME GIGGLE AND CRY.

STEPHANIE ZELLOUS  A GREAT LADY, FELLOW COWORKER AND GRACIOUS PERSON WHO I LEARN A TON FROM OFTEN.

KAREN SUE GRAVES AWONDERFUL REALTOR-STAGER MY FRIEND WHO NEEDS TO BLOG MORE

DEB DAHLBERG ROWLAND WE SHARE A LOVE OF OAK TREES AND PAINT HORSES

CHARLES MCDONALD  MY FRIEND IN CHARLOTTESVILLE.

This week I came home to a blaze of color. Every year this tree turns to a fountain of Chocolate or thats what my mind sees when I look at it.

 Here in south central Texas we don't get as much color as folks east of us, but we get some and this is an example that reminds me every year of fall has moved into Texas.   Now I am not a photographer, and this is my new camera that I don't really know how to use yet so just imagine the granduer of this photo is reality. 

The tree is one of those awesome old old oak trees that Austin Tx is famous for, although I don't know which type of oak tree it is... the tree that is still green is a Live Oak and will turn and drop its leaves about March.  By then the brown-reddish tree will be sprouting new growth ... we get to have Green Trees almost all year here.

In person the tree looks like it was dipped in chocolate sauce.  Its definitely Yummy!

Holidays are always expensive, sometimes Realtors are expected to be gifting and giving and Holiday Season is no expection, so I have some ideas that could lessen the bite on your wallet and still make you look like a Realtor who remembers and cares about the family they just sold a house to.  I plan on taking one or two of these gifties to every homeowner I sold or leased to this year...  that's the plan anyway.

This week I have been home recuperating from bronchitis, a nasty thing, and when not in bed I went surfing on the net, I guess idle time is not good... haha.   Here are a few ideas I gleaned from various online sources and imagination.

My first inspiration was Snowman Soup..  I read about this on a cardmakers blog then I googled it.. wow.. tons of information and how to's.  Snowman Soup is a bag of.... Hot Chocolate Mix, a small candy cane, 1 or 2 Hershey's kiss and some miniature marshmallows.. .tie with ribbon or staple across the top and add the poem.. or you could put into a holiday mug and wrap it all in cellophane.                                                                                  

                                 SNOWMAN'S SOUP                                                                                                                   Was told you've been real good this year                                                                                                             Always glad to hear it,                                                                                                                                                With freezing weather drawing near                                                                                                                          You'll need to warm the spirit.                                                                                                                                          So here's a little SNOWMAN'S SOUP,                                                                                                                  complete with stirring stick,                                                                                                                                          Add hot water, sip it slow                                                                                                                                                  Its sure to do the trick.

Then I found Candy Cane Seeds, this is cute cute cute,  a handful of those little red and white circle mints, like restaurants give out for free at the door... Put the "seeds" in a bag and label with the poem. Email me if you would like the Poem I will be happy to send it to you.

Now I have stumbled across another great idea, Santa Kisses, place several Hershey's Kisses in a bag and label with the poem.                                                                                                                 Santa Kisses                                                                                                                          Santa's been busy                                                                                                                Granting your wishes                                                                                                                       So he dropped off this bag                                                                                                             of Santa Kisses!!

or How about Bird Seed in a small paper bag, label with the poem tie with ribbon. Many folks may not want candy but the birdseed would be a wonderful touch.

Google one or more of these items and its sure to bring up many others, I saw  Magic Reindeer Food, Green Grinch Candy Canes, Rudolph Red Nose Reindeer Nose Repair kits and all sorts of cute things.

I know some of ya'll will think this is hokey, or too unsophicated but I believe everyone likes to be remembered in small ways as well as the big ways.  Children love this stuff and most of us still have an "inner child"  that will be thrilled inside to receive a mug of Snowman Soup or a bag of Santa Kisses.

The moral of the story is you can make up a few dozen of these and pass out at little cost, its a "touch" of the personal kind that will bring a smile to someone and a memory of you.  Be sure to add your card to the back of the bag as the realtor who cares about them.  While you are there, ask, "hey do you know anyone who is looking to buy or sell their home in the next few months"?   You could be surprised with the answer.   Good luck and happy prospecting and Happy Holidays to all!

I DON'T KNOW HOW TO MAKE THIS LOOK CORRECT  IN THE BLOG, IT LOOKS FINE WHEN I TRY TO EDIT IT>> WHAT HAS HAPPENED?  I HAVEN'T A CLUE.. IF YOU CAN HELP ME OUT , THAT WOULD BE GREAT!

The latest take action from NAR was a plea for Realtors and all other concerned citizens to tell Congress we need a housing stimulus package.  The letter I read had some very good points in it, so I sent it to my Representative and Congressman/woman. 

The part of the letter I appreciated the most was this paragraph.

Permanently bar banks from engaging in real estate brokerage and management. The banks have proven they have enough to do to simply manage the loan process. Banks should not manage home sales and purchases.

Having read way too many posts about banks snarling and tangling transactions to the point that a perfectly good buyer with money walks away from the deal .. I would like to see this paragraph capitalized, itilacized, bolded and maybe make it bright red.. like bleeding money.

Take action today and then forward the letter to your friends, your family, your neighbors and everyone you know who owns, wants to own or sell a home.  They all have vested interests in this call to action.

If you would like a copy go to   http://takeaction.realtoractioncenter.com/campaign/4pointplan/forward

This morning I have had some extra time to read more blogs and I ran across this one written by Bill Brannon of Hilton Head South Carolina...To Preview or not to Preview, that is the question  (Members Only) 

This has me thinking about what do we tell sellers?  Is your Realtor upfront and honest with you? Or is said Realtor trying to get you to sign the listing agreement? 

Do you tell your sellers to pack up personal items? Icons and relics and visual displays of ethnicity or religion?  What about too many personal baby pictures? 

 I am reminded of the house with the photos of the little girl in a ballet tutu and slippers, she was a doll, photos on shelves and walls and all over, my buyer said as we were driving away ... wasn't that a beautiful little girl, I said, Yes, and what did you think about the kitchen?  bathroom? or master bedroom? My client said, the little girl was breathtakingly beautiful.  I knew the client had NOT looked at the house as she should have.

To this day, I can't remember where that house was but I remember my client being impressed with the photos of the little girl in her ballet outfit.  No, we didn't make an offer on that house, my client bought another house, would she have bought another house if she had really looked at the ballet-girl house? I don't know.. but what I do know is my client left with an impression of a little girl not a house.

That does the seller a huge disservice, Mr & Mrs Seller, you need the buyer potential to FOCUS on the house, focus on the size of the kitchen, the master suite, something that the buyer can take away from your house that seperates you from the house down the block. right now there are a ton of choices a buyer can make, each house can be special with a little effort.

You have 4-5 minutes of a buyers time once they enter the house to capture their attention.  On line you have less time, perhaps 30 seconds?  Perhaps you could use some help in deciding what to leave out and on display and on the walls?  Most Realtors can recommend a stager.  A Stager has the training and artistic eye at making a house look comfortable, often a good stager can do a consultation for you and just show you what to put away or where to place that extra chair.  The cost of a stager is little compared to a house lingering too many days on the market.

What you are doing when selling your house is trying to capture the buyers attention so they will stand there and mentally place their dining room furniture in the dining room, or where the sofa will go in a living room, homes that make somone feel uncomfortable will not do that... the buyer will not linger in this house to do those mental exercises. 

SO while this has not much to do with previewing, its something a Seller Needs to CONSIDER, declutter is not just taking out the trash ... its putting away the personal items that make your home appealing to become someone elses home.  Doesn't that make sense?  You just hadn't thought about it like that before.

If you would like to sell your home in Austin Tx, I would be glad to help you stage it or bring in a Certified Stager.  Call me and lets work together to SELL YOUR HOME.  gail tassey.. gailnttexas@gmail.com  512-217-9482 mobile.  I work at Keller Williams Realty in South Austin, Tx.

OK folks, today is a RANT, a full blown raving message that I need to just do a Dear Diary to...

Almost every day I come to Active Rain and read about my world of Real Estate, I read good and bad, I read posts about humor, sadness, work, children, recipes, books and all types of posts.  I read what I like and sometimes what I need, like its time to do my business planning for 2009.

What I have noticed for the past several MONTHS is a continuing saga of SHORT SALE, FORECLOSURE Sales, all being snarled and tangled and delayed by BANKS.  The very entity this sale is trying to help out and take a "bad asset" off its books.. we present buyers with approval or full cash offers and the bank does its tricks, we jump thru the hoops, we bend over backwards asking for information, waiting waiting waiting and holding the buyers hand, trying to keep a good transaction together and the bank doesn't respond. 

I have read so very many of these deals from all over the country that I must wonder where is the Investigative bodies we need to unravel this mess?  Who or how can we make these deals work?  For our clients, for the banks and for ourselves? 

If ever there was a need for a Congressional Investigation maybe this is it?  The Congress spent weeks on Baseball Players drugging investigation .. why not on How to get a home BOUGHT from a Bank?

Austin Texas is a GREEN CITY, and Mayor Will Wynn would like Austin to be the Leading Green City in the Nation, or the World.  Mayor Wynn has been instrumental in proposing energy efficiency in our daily lives and our homes, with all that in mind here is the latest on whats happening in Austin Texas.

After a long battle the Energy Efficiency Retrofit Task Force has conceded on the Point of Sale resolution that could have cost homeowners up to 1% of the sale price of their home to retrofit the home to energy standards. 

I applaud the Austin Board of Realtors in their conscious fight to bring this to the public and get something so vague and potentially costly defeated, a resolution that could have snarled and tangled real estate closing to an untold mess and delay.

Instead we now have a new Resolution, Chapter 6-7 has been added to the CITY CODE, this affects all single family, multi family and commercial dwellings that are less than 10 years old.  This report is focused on Single Family Residential home sales.

As I understand it, and more understanding will come as it becomes closer to enforcement time, here is the gist of it...

A Residential Energy Audit MUST be provided to a prospective purchaser before the time of sale and the person performing the audit must provide a copy of the energy audit to the director at the City not later than 30 days after the audit is complete.

The Energy Audit must:   be conducted by a person certified as a building performance analyst or equivalent by an agency approved by the Director..  AND  use the audit and disclosure forms prescribed by the rule under Section 6-7-3.

At this point, a homeowner is not required to update anything, only to provide a copy of the audit to any prospective buyer, much like a sellers disclosure.   The Audit is good for 10 years.

The Audit will show potential energy costs and savings if upgrades to systems are made.  The buyer then may perform any or all upgrades to the house after closing for energy savings. 

This Resolution will take effect June 1, 2009 so anyone contemplating selling their home needs to plan on having an Energy Audit done on their home before putting the residence on the market.  While the cost of said Audit is not determined at this time the expected cost is about $300. 

At first glance that sounds good for all.  Lets hope it is good for homeowners and buyers alike and use this tool to every ones benefit while upgrading our homes to more energy efficiency and money savings improvements.

The Resolution can be read in its entirety at the website of the City of Austin, City Council minutes for Nov 6, 2008.

Recently I was on phone duty, or floor time as some call it and received a call from a nice sounding lady, she found a house she wanted to lease online.  She wanted to view the home on Friday, it was currently Wednesday, and would like to "just meet an agent at the home".  I said," I would be happy to show you this house, first we meet at my office",  and she interrupted me to say," NO, I just want you to meet me at the house and show it to me", I said, "I can meet you at the office and we can plan a tour of homes that meet your needs and go from there". 

She said, "I have 4 or 5 houses to see and limited time in your city on Friday, I just want someone to meet me at the house and show it to me, I don't have time to run all over the area to agents offices".

I said, "Ma'am, I don't work like that, IF you would like to come into my office we can view any house you have found that is on the MLS and visit those relevant to you, one stop shopping here, any agent can show listings of any other agent in the MLS,  I work with buyers and leasee's and I would be happy to help you find the right home at your right price." 

She wasn't having any of that, she said. "I can't believe I can't find ONE AGENT to just meet me at the house and show it to me".

I said, "Ma'am, I can give you the listing agents phone number and perhaps he will be happy to meet you at the house", she said, "I have already called him and he hasn't responded".. and she hung up.

I called the listing agents phone number and left a voice mail with her phone number and told him she will be in town on friday and she wants someone to Meet her at the house!

Afterward and still, I am disturbed by this call, maybe I didn't explain the process properly?  I know I didn't refer to the caller the incident where a Realtor was hospitalized recently because she met a stranger at an Open House, perhaps I should have?  Those are questions I have had running thru my mind, not to mention why would I run across town to show one house knowing this lady is going to see 4 or 5 others with other agents.... I tried to explain the process to her, come into the office, any agent can show all agents listings, etc.  Where or where did I fail this caller and myself?

The public needs to know for every-ones safety we must establish rules of conduct, and in my world the rule is Come Into the Office and we will discuss your needs, I am happy to work with any motivated buyer or leasee, I just will not be a "POP TART" agent anymore. Regardless of the economy and how much business has slowed.  Life is precious and short, a bit of caution is never out of order.

Over my brief real estate career one fact or piece of data I keep hearing is Motivated buyers are willing to come into the office.  I have found that to be true.

I awoke this morning at 2:05am, I heard the winds blowing outside, the branches scrapping the rooftop, the rustling sound of the leaves.  I turned on the television to see how the election had turned out or where it was at this time since I went to bed early with a good book to read.

President Elect Obama was speaking in a victory acceptance speech, were the Winds of Change I heard outside my window a sign of what will be happening in America now?  We have all heard about Change, I have often said in my life, Change is Good, Change is Needed to progress.

I am hopeful that the Winds of Change I heard last night carry our great nation of The United States of America to greater change.

I almost fainted yesterday when I received the FATAL PROXY error when logging into AR.  I thought I was doomed to a day of dismal drudgery (housework) and since the LONGHORNS lost Saturday night in the final SECONDS, it was looking glum ... but I found refuge in my cardmaking box and got a terrific start on some fun Christmas Cards and gift tags.  SO while I missed ya'll yesterday it proved to not be a disasterous day after all.

I thought I would share one to two of my cards here ... just for the curious of mind about what cardmaking is and can be....  mind you I am but a novice at this having been doing it just a few months. So don't judge me yet. :)

What did you do spending hours on a Sunday without Active Rain? 

I send these cards out to my clients and family... I can't say I save much money doing my own cards but its a real personal touch.

The quality of the photos here isn't great because I just scanned them in and didn't do a photo upload.  My digitial camera is not working so this was the best way to get a photo of sorts here..  Forgive me my untalented technie ways.