Archive for June, 2007

How Much House Can You Afford? - The Importance Of Finding Out First

June 7th, 2007 Categories: For Buyers

I just finished meeting with buyers. The wife had contacted me last week looking for a home. In a matter of 2 days the perfect home was found. Perfect as far as desires go. I was told a mortgage broker was involved and that the house was in their price range. The lady loved the home so much I showed it 3 times in one week. Once to her and 1 child, another time to her and the two other kids, the last time to her and a family member. I was happy to do it. Her enthusiasm was contagious and I love looking at houses. Today I met with her and her husband so I could explain the home buying process and discuss numbers. I’m not a mortgage broker, nor do I play one on TV. Heck, I don’t even play one in my day-to-day real estate dealings. I know the basics. All of them. I know the guidelines and can tell someone if they are in their price range. But when it gets down to the nitty-gritty, I send them to a mortgage broker or a direct lender so they can be told the hard number facts. As we sat in my office and discussed the lending guidelines it became obvious to the husband and myself that they couldn’t afford this house. They would have been hard-pressed to afford a home $100,000 cheaper. The wife kept insisting they could do it. I saw the stars in her eyes. He kept insisting it was above their means. I saw a dedicated husband who was trying to provide for his family but was a realist and knew he could not afford a mortgage that was 87% of his gross pay. The discussion between the two of them escalated and she accused him of not wanting to provide a better home for their children. I started to feel uncomfortable. He got my respect when he kept his cool and calmly told her that they simply could not afford the house. When her disappointment was apparent and tears welled up in her eyes, I wanted to hug her. But I didn’t. She accused him again of not wanting to better himself. He realized where the discussion was headed and he stood up, thanked me for my time and told me they would go home and discuss this in private (as I had suggested when things started to get personal). As they left my office, I had a deep admiration for this man who did not get caught up in the name-calling and handled himself with dignity. He had seemed slightly uncomfortable to have had this discussion in the presence of a stranger but he didn’t seem angry, just disappointed. I also felt terribly sorry for a woman who had been caught up in a pipe dream that could never come to be. I always meet with all parties to a transaction first so we can make sure we are on the same page. This time I made an exception. My schedule was very flexible this particular week and I was able to accommodate all her excited requests for showings, even though I had not met with both her and her husband yet. She insisted they had been to a mortgage broker and he had pre-qualified them. I won’t take anyone’s word for that in the future. I can’t help but feel at this very moment that I was privy to someone’s dream being yanked away from them and their being left holding the tattered remnants of it. Facing reality is often hard. It is easy to make excuses and blame it on things which have nothing at all to do with that reality. Did she even understand? Or would she continue to blame her husband for the fact that they would never live in that home she had fallen in love with? I don’t know. I just know that right now, I’m feeling the effects of that broken dream and it wasn’t even my own.

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Hi Ho Silver Awaaayy!!

June 7th, 2007 Categories: The Redland

It’s not every day I get stuck in traffic behind a horse.  Oh, living in the Miami Redlands, I see horses being transported all the time.  And I usually see local horse owners taking them out for leisurely rides.  But today I saw something different.

I was driving on SW 200th Street when I saw a horse galloping like a bat out of you-know-where towards 200th street.  I knew that if I didn’t slow down he and my vehicle might actually have a sudden and, more than likely, injuring collision. 

As he reached the street he barely slowed and turned onto the street and in front of my car.  He didn’t even signal.  That told me he’s a Miami native ;-)  My daughter and I were very interested in seeing where he was going.  He continued galloping at about 25 miles per hour with us right behind him. 

The cars started to accumulate behind us.  SW 200th Street has a speed limit of 45 mph in that area but I can tell you most folks do 60.  To the state troopers it’s like shooting fish in a barrel when they hang out on that street and give out speeding tickets.  They can reach their monthly quota in one day, I bet.  But now everyone had to slow down to 25 or less based on the horse’s whim.  Plus the horse had the oncoming traffic to deal with as well.

Thankfully most folks were pretty patient and everyone was slowing down to look at this spectacular creature running free in the middle of traffic.  Whheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!  I kept thinking I had to do something and asked my daughter for permission to stop.  I was taking her to school, you see, to look at the posted results and find out if she had made it onto the cheerleading squad.  We mustn’t be late!  It might rain or something and the ink could run and render the results illegible and she might have to wait until Monday to find out if she’d made it.  Horrors!  She begrudgingly agreed that she could spare 5 minutes.

Broker Maggie and Little One to the rescue!  The horse had now decided that a side road looked more interesting and turned down that way (again, without using the turn signal).  We had travelled about half a mile from were we saw the horse get onto the street and I had not seen any vehicles come in off that road.  I checked traffic and made a u-turn.  As I passed a few cars that had gathered I asked one man getting out if that was his horse.  He told me it wasn’t and I told him I knew where he’d come from and I would go alert the owner. 

The horse was oblivious to all this hoopla and was now quietly and calmly getting farther and farther away from us and the civilization to be found on the state road.  I took off to find the owner, the whole time hoping I would be successful.  I’d heard stories of horses getting stolen in the Miami Redlands and I certainly didn’t want this poor fella to be one of the statistics. 

As I reached the road from whence he’d come I turned and saw a truck careening down the dirt road towards us.  I honked frantically at him and he finally stopped.  It turned out he was indeed the owner and I told him exactly where he could find him.  As soon as you pass the train tracks make a right and follow the road.  No, no, the horse isn’t on the train tracks, he’s on the next road that runs beside them and gaining distance every minute.  He thanked me and off he sped!

As we got back on course and headed to school Little One commented “that was fun.”  “Yes Little One.  Living the Redlands often is.”

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Dear John…A Letter To South Florida Sellers

June 7th, 2007 Categories: For Sellers

Dear John, Please don’t hate me for what I’m about to say.  I’m sorry to have to tell you this. 

But…..I’m leaving you. Please don’t be hurt. 

Let me explain.

While you were trying to get more for your house than it is worth, I met someone else. 

His name is Appropriately.  Appropriately is thoughtful and listens when I make price suggestions.  Appropriately is kind and understands that I have his best interest at heart.  Dare I say that Appropriately is also sweet on me….he really likes me!  He values my opinion. 

 I could tell by the way he didn’t argue when I suggested we list his home right below the lowest ones in the subdivision. 

Appropriately doesn’t suffer from delusions of grandeur and throw his faux cherrywood cabinets and granite countertops in my face. He would never do that.  He knows there are others out there offering the same or better.

I guess you could say Appropriately and I have the same goal right now….to get his house sold.

Don’t despair.  You’ll be better off without me.  Somewhere out there is an agent just for you.  Someone who will whisper those sweet nothings you long to hear…”you’re the best on the block.  We can get an extra $50,000 for you easy.” 

The two of you will have plenty of time to get to know each other as you wait for the first showing appointment.  I’m sorry that it wasn’t me. 

But we’ll always have our memories.

Signed, No longer your agent   Next!!    

Disclaimer - lest you think I’m full of myself take a look at these numbers.  They represent the Miami-Dade and Broward market right now, as of 4:03 AM 5/31/07 numbers from the SEF MLS:

I won’t bore you with the fact that this is how we real estate folk figure out the Absorption Rate.  Suffice it to say that there are 77,622 homes for sale right now in our 2 counties and there were only 2,367 closings last month.  That tells me it’s going to be a long time before everything gets sold (2 years, 8 months, 3 weeks and 1 day if you want to get technical).  Tell me again how pretty those cabinets of yours are…..

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I’ll Sell Your Home in 60 Days or Pay you $500!*

June 7th, 2007 Categories: For Sellers

If you’ve been trying to sell your home I’m sure my claim caught your attention, no? After all, the way the market is, any claim to sell a home in 60 days has got to be good, especially backed up with a guaranteed $500 payment if I can’t deliver, right? WRONG!!

*First of all, let me clarify that I do not offer the above to my clients. I put it up there to get your attention and explain how it’s possible that some real estate agents do make that offer.

It’s pretty simple. There is fine print to anything that sounds too good to be true. Here’s the fine print in larger type so you can read it:

• An agent comes to you with the above claim.
• You speak to your significant other about it and say “look honey, they gotta be on the up-and-up, they’re offering to pay if they don’t sell it in 60 days. Let’s give it a try!”
• You sign a listing agreement.
• Your home goes on the market.
• It may sell sell in 60 days. Heck it may sell in 3 if it’s priced right.
• If it doesn’t sell in 60 days you now wonder why it hasn’t. After all, the agent promised!
• You ask the agent for your $500 since the house hasn’t sold in 60 days.
• The agent says “yes, you’ll get it at closing when the house does sell.”
• You reply “WHAT?!!“
• The agent tells you that it was in the fine print. Ah yes, the fine print. The print you didn’t ask to read because they hooked you with their incredible promise.

You see, this agent isn’t guaranteeing anything other than a $500 pay-back to you from the $10,500 commission you’re going to pay him at closing. Isn’t that thoughtful of him?! He is just throwing this claim out there to get you to list with him. He can’t promise to sell your house in 60 days any more than I can. He can’t even promise to sell your house at all. None of us can. Oh wait, I’m having a problem with the terminology because I actually keep my promises. So, yes, they can promise you anything. But can they keep their promises? Those are promises that cannot be kept.

What gets me is that they’re not lying. They’re just not being upfront about all of it and they do grab some clients this way. It’s sneaky. It’s wrong.

So there you have it. The truth behind the incredible guarantee.

I won’t promise to sell your house in 60 days. I will promise that I will market your Miami house to the best of my abilities, and I’m pretty capable. I also promise that I’ll be in touch throughout the whole process. I won’t disappear on you. If you like to hear the truth so you can make informed decisions, you can read more of what I’m about at http://www.maggiesellsmiami.com/ You can also read my real estate blog at Active Rain. I don’t make promises I can’t keep. I just deliver!

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