Mission Statement

In a certain way. [Larry Lawfer]

I was reading some information from various professionals about open houses because I am doing one this weekend. I don’t do a lot of Open Houses, I have a theory about them, but more on that later. Many of the old time professionals will not do open houses, feeling they are a waste of their time. The feel you are stuck in a house for a couple of hours at the whim of the people walking through. You don’t know if they are qualified, what their interest is, you know nothing about the people and they just want to walk through your house and avoid talking to you. What’s not to love about that?

On the other side of the spectrum is the new agent, or the agent new to that particular community who will learn a great deal about the people in the neighborhood from doing an open house. Do Open Houses sell homes, or just showcase them and give the neighbors a chance to peek inside?

I would venture to say most houses are not sold out of their open house, but the process does have merit and value to the overall strategy. Best practices dictate you do everything. Postcards, website, MLS, signs, Craig’s List, Face book, Youtube, Active Rain, all the other real estate sites like Trulio and Zillow are all worthy of a try. The more people who run across your listing the more likely you are to find the right person. In this case more just translates to sooner. The more you do, the sooner you will find the person who wants the home you are showing.

Another benefit of doing an Open House is capturing the buyer as a client. I know listings are a better source than buyers, but buyers do buy, it is just a bit more work. The process can be longer and they can walk away at any point, even with the Rep Agreement, but buyers do buy houses. When Buyers come to an Open House this may be their first step out of the Web world and into the real world. They have seen the house on the Internet and now they are going to go look at some before they contact an agent. It is very early in the process for these lookers and they really haven’t defined how they want their process to go. Meeting people at an Open House and establishing a relationship is just part of the development of the skills that make a good Realtor®. There is less to loose in these encounters and more to gain if you approach it in a certain way. Putting out the postcards in Texas August heat is a work best done early in the day.

The better buy, or the value of buying better.

Anyone out there looking for a home has seen lots of distressed property. There seems to be two markets, the distressed properties than need lots of work and the homes you can move in to and live with little or no changes. The economics of these purchases should be looked at because buying the least expensive house can cost you far more in the short run than purchasing a home that is move in ready with new systems, paint and fixes.

Take for instance the Creek Crossing section of Mesquite Texas. In this neighborhood there are76 houses bought, sold, pending or withdrawn within the last 6 months. Almost a third of these were distressed properties that were purchased at below market rates. The houses had issues like no AC, bad roofs, ruined walls and rugs and other costly repairs. As with all distressed properties there is deferred maintenance. When you add these costs up you will find that buying a distressed property will cost you more time and dollars in the long run than purchasing a property that is “move in” ready at a below market rate because of the distressed properties in the neighborhood.

Interest rates are at an 80-year low. Getting the right house at the right price should be easy with all the properties on the market. It is a buyer’s market, kind of. While there are more sellers now than buyers that doesn’t mean the road to loan approval is easy. In fact the hoops that the banks are making people jump through are more difficult than they ever have been. When you purchase a house that has no physical or repair issues this makes the closing on that deal much easier for the bank.

2508 Waterloo Lane is just such a property. Visit the website and see the home to prove for yourself that you could live there today. You will not have to spend anything unless you need a new Welcome Mat out front. Once the smart homebuyer realizes that buying a home in move in condition will be cheaper in the first year than buying someone else’s distressed property this house will be gone.

Mission Statement: Truth and Service