How to prevent pipe explosion yourself

Posted on December 7, 2010 by Geoffrey Lamb

If your home is vacant and without heat, chances are very good that pipes will burst somewhere in your home if you don’t take action. The below is not the best option and officially, we recommend that you hire a professional to perform this service. However, for those with limited cash resources, performing the following steps is much better than doing nothing and may significantly reduce the chances of damages to your home’s plumbing system.

Step 1: Gather Supplies.

  1. A standard garden hose, at least 50’ in length.
  2. A pair of adjustable pliers
  3. RV Antifreeze, about 4 gallons for up to a 3 bathroom home. DO NOT use automotive antifreeze as you will be pouring this into sinks and automotive antifreeze is toxic. Certain RV Antifreeze is safe for this purpose when used as directed. Be sure to ask a store clerk if you are not sure.
  4. A standard toilet plunger (clean).
  5. Blue painters tape (or scotch tape)
  6. Paper to post notices, bright color is best

Step 2: Turn off main water at street or well.

  1. For city or community water systems, this is usually pretty easy and can be done with a pair of pliers. Just locate the main water disconnect, usually in a small hole in your front yard and twist the valve ¼ turn. The city may have already disconnected your water so this step may not be necessary
  2. For well systems, simply turn off the power to your well pump. Other things probably need to be done to protect the well itself but honestly, I don’t know much about that so you may want to Google it to be sure.

Step 3: Water Heater.

Caution: Make sure water heater is OFF and give adequate time for the water to cool before proceeding.

  1. Even if there is no power, you should still find the main breaker for the water heater and turn OFF. Then place a piece of tape over the breaker switch itself and attach a note beside it which says “Water heater has been drained and must be filled before power is connected”
  2. Turn off water disconnect at the water heater itself. There is usually a knob (similar to an exterior spigot) that’s attached directly to the water line that feeds the heater.
  3. Attach a garden hose to the spigot outlet at the bottom of the water heater and run the hose all the way to the street, or as far away from the foundation of the home as possible. Most water heaters have 40 gallons of water or more, do not allow it to accumulate anywhere near your home, it’s best to drain into a storm drain if possible.
  4. Open pressure release valve on side of heater, usually toward the top. It is usually a small metal lever that just needs to be pulled up. It should be connected to a pipe that come out of the heater and runs downward with an open end.
  5. Open spigot attached to your water hose and wait until water flow stops completely
  6. Close pressure release valve and spigot. Remove water hose.

Step 4: Sinks and shower heads

  1. Got to every sink, shower, tub, exterior spigot, and other misc sources of cold and hot water and turn them all the way on. This will release any remaining water from the lines and also any air pressure. Leave them on, this will allow the air water lines to expand and contract as temperatures change.

Step 5: Bathtubs, showers, and other basins. All of these have a “p-trap” under them, attached to the drain, that holds water and is designed to prevent sewage gasses from entering your home. You need to remove that water and replace it with antifreeze instead. To do that:

  1. Use a clean standard toilet plunger to plunge the drain, like you would a toilet. Do it 3 or 4 times and this should remove as much water from the trap as possible.
  2. Then, pour  ¼ gallon of RV antifreeze down the drain of each one.
  3. For most kitchen sinks, the plunger will not remove the water from the trap. Simply use more anti-freeze, about ½ gallon should be fine.

Step 6: Toilets. For each toilet in the house:

  1. Turn off water at the base, if a disconnect is available.
  2. Flush the toilet and hold down the lever to drain as much of the water from the tank as possible
  3. To remove the water in the bowl, use a standard toilet plunger to push as much of it as possible down the drain. You should be left with a minimal amount of water in the base.
  4. Pour ½ gallon of RV Antifreeze into the toilet bowl. This will fill the inside of the base of the toilet and prevent cracking from frozen water.

Step 7: Use common sense. Every house is different and there may be additional steps required, depending on the plumbing of your home. Consider what you have already done and apply the same logic to other areas of your home which are not mentioned above.

Step 8: Post notices. If your home is for sale, and we’re your agent, then people are coming in and out frequently. You need to warn them that the plumbing is not in service to avoid accidental use or damage to your property. Do the following:

  1. Post a notice on the front door. It should look nice, preferably printed from a computer but neat handwriting is okay too. Simply state “This Property was Winterized on [Date Here]”
  2. Post a notice on the water heater. It should say in large writing: “WARNING – WATER HEATER HAS BEEN DRAINED. DO NOT CONNECT ELECTRICITY WITHOUT FILLING WITH WATER FIRST. FAILURE TO FILL WITH WATER BEFORE CONNECTING POWER WILL RESULT IN IRREPARABLE DAMAGE TO THE HEATING ELEMENT”
  3. Using blue painters tape, tape the lid to each toilet closed and include a note to suggest that winterization has occurred
  4. Post a notice at each sink to alert would-be buyers that winterization has occurred. This one is less important but can explain why the water isn’t working.

And that’s it, about an hour of your time, maybe $20 in materials, and you have possibly saved yourself from thousands in damage. But remember, the above is only recommended when you cannot afford to pay a professional to do it It is always recommended to have a professional winterization service or plumber perform these services for you. They have the ability to actually disconnect your lines and blow them out, adding an extra layer of protection that you probably cannot do yourself.

Share
Posted in Home Maintenance | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Top 10 Concord Real Estate Truth’s

Posted on November 29, 2010 by Geoffrey Lamb

Just like everywhere else, the Concord Real Estate market is not easy to navigate. Gone are the days where you could simply take any home in Concord and place a sign in the yard and expect a sale. Gone is the time where just any agent and the MLS was all you needed and even in Concord, where things are better than many other areas, there is still a need to know the truth about things that will and will not help to sell your Concord Real Estate.

To help you out, I have composed a list of 10 Concord real estate truths that are pretty standard whether you own Concord Real Estate or real estate anywhere in the country. I use the city Concord throughout this article but honestly, these truths work almost anywhere. And not everyone will agree with me but if they don’t then they’re just wrong. (just kidding but seriously…they are :-) )

Okay, so here we go… Concord Real Estate truths

Truth #1: Niche Specialties don’t sell Concord Homes

Every Concord Real Estate agent claims to be an expert. They all have one specialty or another; some say that one thing matters while others think it’s something else. Many claim to be specialists in a particular Concord neighborhood. Do you know why? Because that thing they claim to be the most important factor to selling, that thing which they happen to specialize in, that’s what they happen to be good at. Or at least they think they are, anyway.

But is it the agent’s fault for propagating this idea or is it the typical Concord real estate owner’s for believing it, almost expecting it in the first place. But what made you believe it? What made you expect it as a quality in your agent? Chicken or egg? Hmm…

I’m not trying to be harsh but this article is about the truth and that certainly is one of them. Agents sometimes have to placate to the beliefs of the public because that’s what you need to hear to believe that we can help.

But the absolute truth is that being a Concord neighborhood specialist was important, but only before the Internet revolutionized real estate. In the 70’s, heck even through the 90’s, real estate agents needed to understand the dynamics of individual neighborhoods because the data just wasn’t available through any other avenue other than personal hands-on experience.

Well, things have changed and it’s certainly not like that today. I think that too many of us, the Concord real estate agents, we’re just not confident enough to correct the misunderstanding of a seller. Plus, to speak this particular truth to a seller in a listing appointment can come across like a sales pitch designed to mask a lack of experience.

After all, if you ask an agent how many homes they have sold in your neighborhood, which answer comes across better to you?

Agent #1: “Sure, I have a ton of experience in your Concord neighborhood. I’ve sold 6 houses in this neighborhood.”

Agent #2: “No, I haven’t ever sold a home in this neighborhood but truthfully that doesn’t matter. With the Internet, we can use tools available to us that allow anyone to be an expert, basically anywhere.”

The first agent sounds great right from the start. It’s the best answer to the specific question you asked and so you received exactly what you were hoping for. Plain and simple, the homeowner expects a neighborhood expert and Agent #1 is giving what the homeowner expects. But does this make agent #1 the most qualified to sell your particular Concord home? Does giving a good answer to a bad question really mean anything at all?

The second Agent makes you think about the question you asked in the first place. He makes you question your assumptions about what works in real estate so before you can even evaluate the quality of his response, you must first determine the validity of your initial question. And beyond all that, you must also trust that this information which you may never have heard, the fact that being a Concord neighborhood expert doesn’t matter, you have to believe that is accurate and not just some Concord real estate agent sales pitch. 

I’m not just talking about other agents, or suggesting that I’m not an offender myself. Remember, I grew up in Concord, I have sold more Concord Real Estate than 95% of other Concord Agents, and I often have the chance to tout my own experience in Concord. So yeah, I’m quick to tell a Concord homeowner that I have sold homes in their neighborhood before, whenever possible.

And I do this, even though I know that it basically means nothing. Those statements of “niche experience” are really more of an interesting fact than anything.

So basically, people in Concord, and other areas too, they just like to hear that an agent has been successful in their specific area. And I think I have explained that it really doesn’t make a difference, but why? How can an outsider be better? Well it’s because of the next truth on the list.

Truth #2: Concord Real Estate is sold the same way as anything else – by advertising. Real Estate agents aren’t trained to advertise at all.

I started by saying that gone are the days when any agent could sell your home. A few years ago, the market was so good that simply putting a home in the MLS with any agent was enough to sell. But even then, those who sold with just anyone suffered lower sales prices and longer durations on the market.

The problem is competency. I don’t mean to disparage every real estate agent, but the truth is that any real estate agent will tell you that a lot of us, if not most, just don’t really have the qualifications to sell a home. Maybe to help you buy one, but selling is an entirely different project.

The thing is that Real Estate Agents in Concord or anywhere else are not really trained on how to advertise… anything. It’s one of the craziest things, this business. Housewives and the unemployed, retirees, or just those who want to work fewer hours… they all get into Concord Real Estate by taking the same 65 hour training course designed by the North Carolina real estate commission.

At first, most agents learn about contracts and law and not much else. I’ve always said that the title of the real estate agent pre-licensing course should be “How to not go to real estate jail.” Because that’s what they teach you, how to stay out of trouble.

New agents come armed with policy and procedure, they know what’s illegal and what to disclose. And that’s great but it takes a lot more than that to sell a home, to sell anything – anywhere. So agents who really want to learn take one of the many “advanced” classes which are designed to teach agents how to do this. They seem like a good idea on the surface and certainly are better than nothing. But imho, they fail miserably. I’m sure I sound pretentious for saying this or maybe I’ve just been doing this for way too long, but those classes which are available to real estate agents, they barely touch the basics and don’t even begin to dive into the fundamentals of how to convey value in a product (your Concord home) to a consumer.

So most people don’t realize that Concord Real Estate agents (and of course, real estate agents anywhere) are not qualified to sell your home by virtue of the fact that they are licensed. There is a lot more to ask and know and chances are, 95% of Real Estate agents would fail even the most basic entry level marketing exam. The best way to determine competency is to know the right questions to ask and just make sure that you’re dealing with a career real estate agent. Avoid part timers, retirees, or back to work housewives. I even think it’s valid to ask about other sources of income. After all, if the agent’s family isn’t dependent upon that agent’s income, how driven is that agent going to be to sell your Concord home or really, any Concord home for that matter?

Truth #3: Concord Real Estate values are local – but nothing else about it is.

Just like everything, Concord Real Estate and real estate everywhere is becoming a part of a national marketplace. There are marketing specialists somewhere in this country who can sell your Concord home faster or better than I – even though I haven’t found them yet, I assume that I just can’t be the best there is :–)

And likewise, I can sell a Real Estate in Topeka, KS faster than the overwhelming majority of agents there without ever having visited the city. The tools available to us online coupled with solid marketing skills and advertising exposure are what create success in Concord Real Estate or anywhere else in the country.

Because in the end, your success is determined by the agent’s skill with marketing, attention to detail, and follow up with opportunity as it presents itself. None of those things have to do with the agent’s current location.

Truth #4: National Companies are misleading you.

I was the director of Business Development for a large Century 21 Franchise and then a Platinum Award Recipient with the RE/MAX Organization – I know the benefits of those organizations and exactly what they’re all about. And while they stand for many great things, and have many great agents within them, most people don’t realize that national “brand” real estate companies do absolutely nothing to sell individual listings. And that anyone, no matter how little experience they have, can join them and use the benefit of that brand affiliation to attract your business.

But why list with a C21 or R/M agent over any other agent? The truth is that there is no reason – absolutely none at all.

I am not suggesting that the national brands do very little to sell your home, or that what they do is not working. I mean that they actually do NOTHING. And most of the local franchises of these national brands do exactly NADA as well. Those brands are in place to produce brand awareness and get you to list your home with them. THAT’S IT. Many people, because of careful advertising, really believe that a RE/MAX agent is better than C21 or an independent. Or that RE/MAX sells more real estate, or is just somehow better. But it’s not true, RE/MAX just advertises more. In fact, RE/MAX advertising represents 53% of all the television advertising for all real estate companies. In other words, they advertise more than everyone else, combined. But are they the largest? No, Coldwell Banker is. Even Keller Williams who is sort of a marketing nobody is bigger than RE/MAX but you wouldn’t know it because RE/MAX is a genius when it comes to making the public believe that they are the best.

But are they? Really? And if so, why?

 RE/MAX agents tend to be top-producers and therefore, more experienced than other brands. But that has everything to do with commission structure and things you never hear about and nothing to do with systems or organization structure. And whether they actually sell homes faster (statically, they don’t) has nothing to do with the company itself.

It’s all carefully crafted marketing plan, designed to make you think that one is better but the reality is that the difference are so minuscule that they may as well not exist at all. Ultimately, the national brands take up to 50% or more of the commission from your concord listing agent and then spend that on advertising to get more listings. NOT to sell them – just to get them.

Selling them, that is left up to your individual concord real agent. In fact, nearly 100% of the cost of actually selling a home is paid for by the individual agent, no matter where he or she happens to work. 100%. And so from a purely economical perspective, if your agent happens to be with one of those brands, they have less financial resources (due to generally lower commission splits) to actually pay for the advertising to sell your home. In a sense, the thing they claim to do better is really hindered by virtue of their brand affiliation, not enhanced.

Truth #5: Open Houses don’t work in Concord.

Open houses are now mostly a throwback to the early days of Concord real estate where the only way to see the inside of a Concord home for sale anonymously – was to go to an open house.

Open Houses in Concord used to be a great way to see the inside of a concord home for sale without having to have an actual real estate agent. No one who is just beginning their search wants the assumed hassle of dealing with a pushy sales professional. Most real estate agents aren’t exactly like that but still, most buyers believe we are so they avoid us like the plague until they’re really ready to buy.

Before the internet, the only way to see details about a home, was to actually go there. And the only way to do that anonymously without attaching yourself to a Concord Realtor, was to go to an open house.

You could give whatever name you wanted too at the door and search without hassle. Well today, the internet has changed that and you can do basically the same thing, wherever and whenever you want, without ever leaving your house. That has quickly crushed the open house idea and if not for two very specific reasons, we’d never even think of open houses anymore.

Reason #1 Open houses still exist: Agents Get buyer leads

Concord Agents are still willing to sit at an empty open house for four hours on a Sunday in the hopes that one or two people might come by and turn out to be actual buyers who qualify to buy a Concord home, any Concord home. But the reality is that even IF a buyer shows up, the Concord home they buy will probably not be yours.

Reason #2 Open Houses still exist: You expect us to do it

This goes back to something I said before. We do things that you want us to do, often times even when we know it won’t work. I do not do open houses. And if I lose a listing over it then so be it. My company is not buyer focused, we focus on selling houses and so reason #1 has no importance to me at all. And if my clients don’t trust me enough to believe me when I say these things don’t work, then I’m in an up-hill battle from the start when it come to getting that person to believe me on anything else. But many agents want to make the seller happy, even if they are doing something which is counterproductive to that concord seller’s goals. Like an open house. I work Sundays, almost every Sunday. But I spend time writing blogs and doing other things to keep my websites in the forefront of the Internet so I can sell more homes. Not sitting at am empty house with 3 bean dip and hoping for a tire-kicking buyer to show up at the door.

Reason #3 Open houses still exist: They actually work in other parts of the country.

There are parts of the country where this is still a customary practice and open houses can be effective. Particularly, New England and California. These areas seem to have held onto this practice for much longer than we have in the Concord Area. I really don’t understand the differences, maybe it’s because the population is pushed together more closely and driving isn’t such an issue. Maybe it’s just built into their real estate culture more so than ours. Maybe they just do them better than we do. For whatever reason, buyers do show up at those open houses and so agents keep doing them. This of course, influences the production of those home and garden TV shows on real estate and makes people in the rest of the country, like here in Concord; think it’s still an effective way to sell a home.

Truth #6: The yard sign only helps the agents find your home.

 Less than 1% of Concord homes sold by Realtors are sold because of a buyer drive by. Again, this comes from the fact that the overwhelming majority of people who view the sign in your Concord yard have no idea what your home for sale is all about.

They do call, they ask questions, and then when they find out that the price is too high for them, there aren’t enough bedrooms, or that it’s missing a bonus room, they buy something else instead.

Signs are a great tool for real estate agents to procure leads for buyers that may want to see other property, but it will not sell yours. This is also a reason that less than 15% of “for sale by owner” listings actually sell. The majority of their marketing stock is placed in that sign that ultimately, has no real benefit at all.

Truth #7: Only Real Estate agents and homeowners read Real Estate Magazines

Okay, this one isn’t quite as true as those above, but it’s pretty close. Last year, almost 90% of Concord home buyers found their home on the internet. This means that the remaining 10 or 11% had to be split up between all other media and avenues of introduction, combined.

Those real estate magazines only represent a fraction of that 11% and there are dozens of magazines in Concord. No agent advertises in them all and even if they did, it would only increase your exposure by a few percentage points.

To take that money and intelligently spend it on internet marketing is a much better use of those marketing dollars and most agents are beginning to realize that. I really believe that the real estate magazine will be dead and gone within the next 5 to 10 years but they do produce blind buyer leads, sort of like the Open Houses and yard signs. So maybe, there will always be a place for a magazine or two as long as there are agents who don’t realize that the money could be spent more effectively online.

Truth #8: Your Concord home will not sell for more than I tell you it will.

I don’t mean to sound like a jerk here (or anywhere else in this article) but this is something that most real estate agents are pretty good at doing; pricing your home.

And some sellers always seem to want to argue with us, even though we have all the data to support our decisions. I was on the phone with a friend of mine who lives in Mexico today. I have showed him where we are overpriced, how multiple homes sold for 20% less than his since we brought it on the market and how that means that his value has dropped. He still argued with me and suggested his home was worth more.

Top five things a buyer doesn’t care about when it comes to the price of your home:

  1. How much you paid
  2. How much your mortgage is
  3. The cost of your upgrades
  4. How much you need to move
  5. Your pride of ownership

I know that everyone thinks their home is worth more than it is and especially people that don’t have a mortgage, they tend to be the worst offenders. You think your Concord home is worth more than your agent tells you then fine, try it out at your price first.

But if you don’t get any showings in the first 10 days, you need to reduce the price to the actual Concord market value once you’ve been proven wrong :–)

Remember, it doesn’t matter how much you love your home, a buyer is not going to pay a premium for it just because you did 3 years ago. A good real estate agent can maybe stretch the value by 5% or even a bit higher. But when Concord sellers start asking for prices 15% higher than anyone else has ever sold for in the entire Cabarrus county area…  You get the point.

Umm, let me see, there has to be something else….

Truth #9: 3k in carpet will raise the value of your home by 10k but 20k in replacement widows is just a nice gift for the buyer.

It’s important to understand the market value of upgrades you do to your home. Some will produce exponential returns while others have virtually no effect at all. I could do an entire post on this issue but one thing I’ll say is that before you make repairs or upgrades to your Concord home, ask your Concord Realtor first.

Truth #10: The truth is hard to hear

If you actually read all of this, I probably came across as a pretentious jerk. Cold, harsh, obnoxious, pick a word. All would probably apply to this post. But the reality is that all I did was speak the truth and what I did not do was try to sugar coat the truth or placate to false perceptions. It comes across baldy, I totally get that and if you and I were across the table from each other, I’d find a way to say all of these things without being so abrasive. I really do try to be a nice guy!

So just remember, if you’re speaking with a Concord Realtor who is saying any of the above and doesn’t seem to be concerned that it’s bothering you or that it wasn’t want you wanted to hear – you should probably hire them to sell your home. Because truthfully, anyone else who says exactly what you hope they would say, they’re just saying exactly what they think you need to hear, in order to get your listing. And if that is happening, who knows what the truth really is.

Okay, that’s it for now. I promise, I’ll be more cheery next time. Until then…

Share
Posted in Charlotte Real Estate, Concord Real Estate | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Don’t read this

Posted on November 28, 2010 by Geoffrey Lamb

Charlotte real estate has been the focus of my entire career.

But when I was a kid, all I ever wanted was to be rich. I didn’t care exactly how but I grew up really poor or at least, I felt poor. I know now that rich or poor is really more contextual to your environment and acquaintances but then, I just felt poor. So I wanted the opposite.

I imagined myself reaching that goal of being rich by opening up a convenience store. I thought it’d be possible to grow my Charlotte store into something huge and one day, own my own Wal-Mart type supercenter. I had it all planned out, I’d by some real estate on the corner of two busy roads somewhere and start selling bubble gum or chips or something, and then grow.

Well, then I turned 12 and everything changed. I guess that’s sort of what happens when you’re a kid, grandiose things seem possible and nothing, not even the thought of competing with someone like Wal-Mart, is too scary to drive you away. But I didn’t really have a passion for candy and chips; it was really just the money I was after.

So as I continued to look for this elusive richness I desired, a man by the name of Carleton Sheets came on TV. He started talking about all the money he had made buying and selling real estate. And I thought, “I could buy Charlotte real estate!” Heck, I could even sell Charlotte real estate too. Of course, Carleton Sheets showed his huge luxury real estate purchases that he was able to buy for something like fifteen bucks and of course, paint the foyer and sell for market value.

And he probably did. But that was never the case for me and probably not for 99.9% of the would-be Charlotte real estate millionaires that also bought his program. But while I can’t credit him with making me rich, that one infomercial did change my life and consequentially, the lives of well over a thousand families I have helped since that day.

Looking back, just life in general is so haphazard. How is it, that a kid trying to avoid sleep can come across something so obviously far-fetched and as a result, make life changing decisions?

Decisions which in turn, ultimately impacted the lives of so many others. I think this is the reality of the world around us, that reality which avoids our immediate perception. I think to recognize how little it takes to change the course of our lives, is maybe to understand the meaninglessness of it all. And so recognition escapes us in lieu of the belief of a more meaningful, purpose-driven existence.

Of course, I do have the days where I see the same situation and think that those little life-triggers, like that commercial, have more meaning and somehow are more profound.

Look, I know this is a real estate blog and it’s supposed to be about Charlotte North Carolina Real Estate in general. No one care’s how I got here or why I’m doing this today but then again, does anyone care about another real estate blog either? Maybe, I hope so but honestly I have written and rewritten the same content about market values and short sales in and around the Charlotte region that my fingers are turning blue. I suppose I have a lot more that I haven’t written yet but for today, I was just a little bored with it and so decided to go this route instead. If you get bored and just want to search for homes in Charlotte or maybe get data on your next Charlotte neighborhood or something, you can go back to the Charlotte website for that. If you stick around here (changes are you clicked back about 5 minutes ago) then by all means, keep on reading.

So moving on, all I know is that I am 32 years old and living in Charlotte, NC and I managed to turn those initial ambitions into a rather successful career. At least that’s what other people tell me anyway. I just think that I define success differently and for me today, it certainly has nothing to do with money the way it did 20 years ago.

But as I look back on my Charlotte career and see that I am not the owner of a Charlotte Wal-Mart, and I am not rich by the standards I’d imagined; I realize that I absolutely don’t care. Crazy, huh? Or maybe just another of life’s truth’s that only come with age which of course, is wasted on the young who are currently attending any of the many schools in Charlotte. If I could only be that 12 year old going to school in Charlotte with the knowledge I have now – I’d tell him to run! No, that’s not exactly true – I do love real estate in Charlotte but my God, I wish I had made fewer mistakes. I tell people all the time that we are perfect at short sales, because we made all the mistakes possible a long time ago. Uhh, perfect is a bit strong in this business but in general, when things go wrong, it’s not usually because of anything we could control. But again, that’s only because we screwed it up a lot, many years ago. And if only I could go back and fix those mistakes before they were made. Hell, if only I could go back further and correct a whole slue of errors that maybe misdirected the beginnings of my Charlotte real estate career – I certainly would.

I wonder exactly how that conversation would go? Probably something like this, “Hey kid, there are a lot of other places to work in Charlotte!” Okay, no…seriously. At the very least I’d say -

  1. Live with your Mom for as long as you can. Don’t move out at 18 just because you know how to buy  Charlotte real estate and have the money to make the payments. No matter how fast you grew up, life becomes real the day you move out.
  2. Buy a bunch of domain names like Google, Facebook, Amazon – Not really applicable but while I’m advising the “me” of 20 years ago, you get the idea. Maybe I’ll jot down some Charlotte lottery numbers too.
  3. Since you’re already hopelessly hooked on Charlotte real estate as your career – read a lot more and trust Charlotte real estate agents a lot less. I didn’t realize that only about 5% of real estate agents in Charlotte are skilled enough to advise someone who is interested in real estate as a career.
  4. Don’t treat people who know less than you do - like idiots. I was a pretty cosky bastard, literally, and had very little patience for those with limited knowledge. I learned quickly that (unfortunately), there is no requirement to be smart or educated when it comes to holding positions of power.

And I’m sure this list could go on and on for a couple of hundred pages but that’s my top 4 in business anyway. I won’t even get into the personal side of things here, after all – this is supposed to be for Charlotte Real Estate so I’ll try to keep it within the context of that today.

So since I had no 33 year old “me” to guide my Charlotte real estate actions, no Dad around at the time, and my Mom was a Charlotte school teacher who never owned a home, I was on my own to make every possible Charlotte real estate mistake.

But I did a few things right too. I figured out pretty early on that Charlotte short sales made a lot of sense, even before anyone actually used that word. I have no clue where the idea was first introduced to me. I would like to believe that I just thought it up because God knows; it sort of feels that way at this point. But I’m sure that some book or maybe someone at a Charlotte investor networking group mentioned the idea.

Wherever I heard it, I know I had to figure out how to sell the idea of a Charlotte real estate short sale to the Charlotte banks and I had to do it alone with no guidance or even an idea of what exactly to say. There wasn’t even a procedure for it, no loss mitigation departments and a lot of collection agents who thought that laughing at me was an appropriate response.

Obviously, I figured that out but what I didn’t realize was that I was setting the stage for my outside-the-box career. And that is both my biggest success and my greatest failure. I totally hate it but at the same time, how could I without sounding ungrateful? What I know to be self-evident of the Charlotte short sale industry is that it can certainly suck. Every single day – I work a minimum of 12 hours. I do that 7 days a week and haven’t taken a vacation in 3 years.

I am the leading short sale realtor in Charlotte North Carolina and going broke fast because of it. Although I keep over 100 listings and have closed almost 1000 transactions, this only seems like an accomplished feat. It seems so much that there are those who hate me just because of it and they don’t even know me at all. That’s people for you but honestly, the reality is that while I may have a lot of closings, there are just as many bills. After all, at any given time, I have 100 scared homeowners who need me to make sure they can save their financial future.

I take that very seriously and sometimes, at the expense of myself and my own family. It’s just hard to balance the happiness of my family against the complete and utter despair of another. So I probably spend twice to 3 times more money or effort to facilitate my short sales than anyone, just because I just can’t stand to fail these guys.

And honestly, I just can’t stand to fail…period. I wonder if it has more to do with that sometimes but either way, I have found that it is very expensive to do this the right way.

I have long since given up on being rich in the Charlotte short sale business but certainly have not given up on the business itself. I have just come to the conclusion that it is something we should do out of love and not for the money. And I’m okay with that, even though I feel like the only non-profit Real estate agency in the country.   And I don’t mean non-profit now, I mean that even in the best markets, it’s still hard to make money selling short sales.

So I wonder if I were to go back and tell that 12 year old kid about all of this, what would he do? I’m sure that whatever it’d be, it would have been a mistake so it’s a good thing I’m not 12 anymore. Now, all I have to do is make sure that I start to see life through the eyes of my 53 year old me. Start asking the question what would the 53 year old me do? Without the next 20 years of mistakes to guide me, I’m not sure how accurate my response will be, but at least this time, I’ll be asking the questions in the first place.

Okay, so forgive me for all of this. I’ll come back later with something actually useful regarding Charlotte Real Estate. Until then (if you actually read this) thanks for listening.

Share
Posted in Charlotte Real Estate | Tagged | Leave a comment

Can you trust the Bank in a Short Sale?

Posted on November 10, 2010 by Geoffrey Lamb

Millions of Americans have been affected by the economic slowdown and as a result, their home mortgage has become too expensive and they can no longer afford to pay.

You can’t blame them for the choices they make, sometimes; it’s literally the difference between making a mortgage payment, and paying for everything else instead. With adjustable rate mortgages, buy downs, and other types of increasing-payment loans, many Americans find themselves in a position where their mortgage payment equals 50% or more of their monthly expenses. Others are in the same position due to a reduction of income but whatever the case, the mortgage is usually one of the first bills they are forced to skip.

In these same situations, you have to consider the bank, too. We always want to blame them for all of these troubles but most people who took those bad loan products, did so with full disclosure of what would happen. The mortgage bank is no one’s councilor or guardian, they offered a product with short term benefits and long term consequences and the consumers took it. They could have chosen something more traditional but they didn’t.

Mortgage Banks are not inherently evil, as cartoons like these from NewHollandPublishers.com would suggest. But, they sometimes must do evil things. People tend to demonize big corporations but the truth about these corporate machines is that they’re really designed to protect the people that work there, all the way down to the lowest levels, and most of them –  just like you and me. Sure, the guys at the top think mostly about the shareholders but the reality is that when a bank goes under, hundreds, if not thousands of people lose their jobs and their livelihood. And so they have to have policies in place to protect their company and prevent that from happening. Policies like foreclosure.

The simple truth is that when the bank loans a person money and that money is not paid as agreed, the bank has every right in the world to foreclose. Period. There’s not much anyone can do to stop them, it is their right, and it is by their good graces that there are even options on the table to stop it.

Or is there something more?

Well, there is the gray area, too. The part of the process that makes mortgagor’s feel betrayed and what anger’s them towards these bank’s more than anything. And it’s not the actual foreclosure itself. Everyone pretty much understands the consequences of not paying. It’s the perception of lies, the mistruths, all of the things they are told will happen but then don’t. This grey area, where thie bank’s right to foreclose becomes overshadowed by something else. Where the bank starts to make promises, in a sense, advertises that they help homeowners in need but then doesn’t.

That really changes things, at least from my point of view. Because like BP, in the oil spill commercials; banks are regularly advertising that they help struggling homeowners to avoid foreclosure. But this advertising isn’t directed at struggling homeowners. Homeowners in foreclosure only represent ½ of 1% of Americans who are potentially watching those commercials. These ads really have everything to do with increasing the public perception of their organization through the media and by word of mouth. And then in return, they sell more banking products.

So because they claim that they help, and use those claims to sell more of their products and services, I would have to say that yes, you can and should fault them for falling short. Those people who work there, just like you and me, have to step-up and make something happen. And don’t get me wrong, I’m not suggesting this isn’t already happening, banks are changing. But this is what has to continue to happen in order for the matter to go away altogether. It is my opinion that, if the bank is going to have a loss mitigation department, then by virtue of offering alternate solutions they are (in a sense), advertising that they help the public. (You should hear some of the outgoing messages when you call in)

So if they are going to set up these departments in the first place, they should have a minimum number of staff to cover their files. My God, at least one person for every 200 files. These banks that push 500 or 700 files on a single person, that just shows a clear and blatant disregard for the outcome of any of those cases. And ultimately, I truly believe it represents false advertising.

And that, I guess finally brings me to the point of this article. Can you really trust them?

Well, that’s a decision that’s in the eye of the beholder. After all, trust is built between two people or organizations and I can’t tell you what to believe. But for me, I trust that most banks want to help you. But I also trust that they have conflicting interests involving self-perseveration and public perception.

In the end, you can really only trust one thing. If you owe somebody money and you put your house up for collateral, they can foreclose on you and they don’t really have to offer anything to help.

That’s where we come in :–) The one thing, the only real reason they offer help is because it benefits them. To make any short sale work, you have to convince the bank that it works for them, that they are getting more money now than they would in foreclosure.  

If they believe that, they’ll see that it’s in their interests to help you short sale your home. But even if the true benefit is for them and not you, take advantage of it anyway. They genuinely do want these programs to work, most banks anyway.

But they really suck at it, still today. And some worse than others. So I tell everyone, real estate agents, buyers, sellers; “Don’t trust the banks!” But honestly, what I’m really saying is that you can’t trust that what they tell you will happen, will actually come true. There are a lot of systematic reasons for the faults and inaccuracy of their statements, but that’s for another article.

If you have any questions about why your bank said one thing, and something else happened, give me a call and I’d be happy to explain why. Until then…

Share
Posted in Short Sales | Tagged , | Leave a comment

The Science of Searching

Posted on November 6, 2010 by Geoffrey Lamb

Searching for Charlotte real estate can be pretty easily compared to raising children. Most people hear this and think, “Huh?” Well, like raising children, anyone can do it. But when you look at how people go about it, you have to wonder what some of them were thinking. :-)

Okay, maybe that wasn’t the best example but with 3 kids running around in my household, and one crawling, I think I can compare almost anything to the science and art of raising them.

Good example or not, it does make a good point. Searching for a home can be a haphazard event, or very much a science. And it all depends on how you do it. You see, it really isn’t as simple as entering your criteria into a search engine like Metrolina Home Finder, and waiting for the results. This is especially true since most of us don’t fully understand what we like in a home, until we start viewing them in person. There’s lots of reasons for this, both tangible and subconscious, but I think the main thing is simply that online advertising can be very deceiving.

To make sure that you don’t accidentally pass over the home of your dreams, a good home search begins with an honest list of all the things that make a house, a “home” for you.  Maybe it’s a specific school system or zip code that you must occupy, or possibly you have to have dual closets in the master bedroom (okay, that’s mine :-) ) Type of floor plan, amenities, whatever; just make sure to write down everything that matters to you about real estate. Then categorize that list into three sections for your “needs,” “wants,” and “desires.”

Once you begin to enter criteria in the Metrolina Home Finder, base your search on the needs ONLY. We have over 10,000 homes for sale, more than anywhere in Charlotte and we even include real estate not available in the MLS. But even with such a vast inventory, if you try to search for homes by entering in criteria for everything you need, want, and desire; then you’re going to be left with very few options.

Don’t worry, wants and desires are important too and they do have a place, just not yet.

Remember that it’s a whole different world once you start to see the homes in person. With any home, there’s the reality of what it is, and then how it looks “on paper.” A good advertising firm can make the most disgusting home seem wonderful online and when you get there, it could be far from what you expected. But what will hurt you even more than the effects of good advertising, is really bad advertising. Because honestly, there’s a lot more bad advertising than good in real estate. And when you pass over a property because of bad advertising alone, you may have just missed out on what would have been, “your perfect home.”

This means that, for your own benefit, you have to be smarter than that. Try to look “through” bad pictures and poor descriptions. Really see the property for what it is, behind the good or bad marketing. The best way to do this is to ONLY focus on the facts, values, and if you can determine it online, property condition. Ask yourself:

  • Does it meet my real estate needs?
  • Is this home for sale at a fair price?
  • Is the condition acceptable to me?

If the answer is yes then that particular home for sale needs to be one of your likes.

If you answer no to any of the above, skip it and move on to one of the other 10,000 Charlotte real estate listings we have.

If you’re not sure, just ask us and we can help you decide but above all, try to ignore cosmetic issues for now. You cannot usually tell the extent or cost of cosmetic concerns when searching online anyway. And besides, it’s very possible that your dream home, perfect in every other way, has a pink living room!

Just remember, the online search at Metrolina Home Finder is only the first phase of searching and in this phase, you need a TON of options. Save anything that makes sense. But don’t worry; we’ll narrow them down a lot before we take the time to see in person. The main point in all of this is that online, things aren’t what they seem. Keep an open mind and don’t exclude anything unless it falls short of one of the three criteria above.

As always, if you would like to discuss your options or need any feedback or advice whatsoever, my inbox (and my door) is always open. I hope you’ll give me the chance, one day, to help you find that perfect hope that has everything you could possibly need, want, or desire.

Until then, happy house hunting!

Share
Posted in Buying real estate in Charlotte | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

What is my home worth?

Posted on November 6, 2010 by Geoffrey Lamb
Can you tell the difference in market value?

Can you tell the difference in value?

Market value is something misunderstood even by the most educated or intelligent people. Believe it or not, many real estate agents don’t entirely understand it either. But if you ask anyone, their answer is not wrong, “Market value is what your home is worth.”

But what is your home worth?

A lot of people think that tax value is important. Well, it simply isn’t and never has been. Different counties base your tax value on many different variables, some, having nothing to do with your home at all. Likewise, two homes in the same county may have equal tax values with very different market values. As a rule of thumb, it is always best to use tax value as a basis for what you will owe in taxes and so, the lower the better. Still, because so many people (even agents) don’t realize this, having a higher tax value can give you a competitive edge when selling.

Many will say an appraisal can tell us what your home is worth but honestly, your home’s market value has nothing to do with appraised value. The thing to remember here is that appraisals don’t set market value; it is very much the other way around. An appraisal is only a best guess at what a buyer might be willing to pay. It is not a proclamation of what they should pay.

In the most basic terms, your home is worth what a buyer is actually willing to pay.

But market value has to do with your opinion too. If you’re not willing to sell for the highest amount a buyer will pay, if that’s still too low for you, that price isn’t the true market value. However; if you will not or cannot sell at a price to make the buyer happy, that doesn’t mean the property is “worth more.”

Without an agreement between buyer and seller, market value really just doesn’t exist.

Think of any product in the supermarket that was expensive to produce or simply has a lot of value to its manufacturer. It will undoubtedly cost more to consumers than similar discount products. And even before the economy was bad (but especially now) consumers would overwhelmingly choose the lesser expensive product. That is, unless they could appreciate the increased value of the more expensive alternative.

Because remember, what we really purchase is Value. We don’t buy price.

This is where good advertising comes in. A great ad campaign for any product will convey the additional inherent value a product has and help the consumer to see it through the eyes of the manufacturer. Or in your situation, to help the buyer see your home, through your eyes and therefore; to realize that it holds a value higher than your competitors. It can be difficult and certainly, this is not possible for most real estate agents or even most full-blown advertising agencies. But it can be done.

To truly determine the value of your home, a comparative market analysis must be completed by a competent real estate agent. Honestly, I have nothing against appraisers; every one of them I have ever met was really nice. But I cannot count how many overpriced appraisals I have seen since the market crash. I have to attribute it to standards being so strict for them, and the fact that those standards just aren’t designed to accurately judge value in today’s down market. This is especially true of distressed properties. A buyer looking at a home which has repair issues will expect a pretty deep discount in return for taking on a project after closing.

A real estate agent (who is actually selling homes) can look at many different market variables in connection with your home. An active agent can determine value based on recent experience and truthfully, doesn’t even really need a lot of comps to do it. To be a good agent, we have to think like a buyer and so when a Realtor looks at your home’s value, it is essentially through the eyes of your next buyer and not based on “reporting guidelines” or tax value, or worse yet, personal attachment.

If you question the value of your home or would like more information about how much it’s really worth in today’s market, I can help. I sold more homes in Charlotte in 2010 than 99% of other agents. Based on those experiences, scores of sold properties, I know what your home is worth almost without even checking. (But I promise, I will still check)

I’m here when you’re ready. Until then, good luck and take care!

Share
Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

How to buy Charlotte Real Estate

Posted on November 5, 2010 by Geoffrey Lamb

A lot of people think that buying real estate in Charlotte begins with the home search. And while Charlotte real estate can look like this homewe’d love to have you searching at Metrolina Estates for a home for sale in Charlotte, the process actually begins even earlier.First, you need to get prequalified for a mortgage. Mortgage prequalification will help for a number of reasons. First, you don’t want to begin looking at homes (even online) that you can’t afford. You’ll fall in love with a certain type of home or amenities, locations, ect, that you may not be able to buy. Likewise, you don’t want to spend a lot of time looking at property that doesn’t suit your needs when you might be able to afford more.

Then, comes the real estate search. Metrolina Estates offers our exclusive Home Finder service to help people in Charlotte North Carolina find real estate for sale in 13 counties in and around the Charlotte area. Finding Charlotte real estate here is easy.

Once you find one of the perfect Charlotte homes we have for sale here, with the Metrolina Home Finder, you only need to click to send a message to one of our trained associates in your area. We have specialists in every neighborhood throughout the region and your question will be assigned to someone who knows the answers without guessing.

A family happy with the real estate they have foundAfter you have decided which homes for sale look good “on paper” then we will help you to weed through them and maybe eliminate some for reasons which you may not have noticed at first glance.

Out of more than 10,000 homes for sale, we’re left with a list of usually 10-15 which would be perfect for your need. We set up an appointment to go view the homes at your convenience and see what they’re really all about.

Believe it or not, out of 15 homes for sale, you may find one piece of Charlotte real estate that suits your needs, if you’re lucky. You see, many homeowners just don’t keep up their homes and showings can be surprising, even shocking at times. But there’s always a diamond in the rough and that, is your next home in Charlotte.

Once we’ve nailed down the home for sale you’d like to purchase, we make an offer.

The offer can be confusing for most because people watch a lot of television these days and most of the shows on TV are produced in other markets, with different rules. In Charlotte, real estate is usually priced pretty close to market value and sellers generally negotiate only about 2-5%. This means that making a low-ball offer can actually cost you more money that you save because the seller can be offended or, your offer can just lose credibility. The best approach is a strategic and realistic offer which we can justify and that you stay firm with, maybe only increasing 1-2% at the most.

The seller and you will come to terms on a price and other contract contingencies and it will be time to do your due diligence. New contracts give you a set period of time to do everything. This means that you get usually about 30-40 days to inspect the property and solidify your loan, and then you go to closing.

Closings in Charlotte NC take place at attorney’s office, usually. They handle all of the paperwork and make sure that the seller can convey clear title to your new Charlotte home.

After it’s all over, you have a brand new home and helped one more person to sell theirs. At Metrolina Estates, we always try to make sure that you get exactly what you want and that you’re happy with all of the decisions you’ve made today, and well into the future.

Share
Posted in Buying real estate in Charlotte | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Charlotte Real Estate

Posted on November 4, 2010 by Geoffrey Lamb

Charlotte Real EstateGorgeous autumn day in Charlotte NC

Charlotte Real Estate varies just as you’d expect in any urban area. One of the main concerns that most people relocating to the area have is the quality of schools.

Schools in Charlotte-Mecklenburg and other systems around the region seem to be among the best in the country to me. There can be a pretty big difference from one system to the other and from one school to the next but Charlotte real estate that feeds to a good school (or at least a school that is considered to be good) will be worth more than real estate that does not.

Crime is a concern too but honestly, does crime really exist here? I know I sound naive for saying that but honestly; I’ve lived here all my live and still forget to lock my doors at night. While I would feel pretty bad for any unfortunate person that tried to come into my house at night :–) I am still not that concerned that it would actually happen. Statistically, some charlotte real estate is in areas which have more crime than others, but for the most part, I think we’re rather safe when compared to other major cities.

The best part about living here for me and many in this area can be summed up into the following three categories:

  1. Weather: We have some of the best in the country!
  2. Quality of life: Your dollar goes further in charlotte and that is also true of our real estate as well
  3. People: Everyone is generally friendlier here. Okay, not everyone – but most people :–)

Trees in charotte ncA lot of people relocating to charlotte want real estate that is in a quiet area, surrounded by trees. I believe that’s the draw of this area for people from other areas who don’t have that. Many of the people relocating to the area are just amazed by how many trees we have. Again, lived here forever so I don’t even notice them any longer.

The median price of homes for sale in Charlotte is 2008 was about $188,000. You can get detailed information on taxes, values, and other things regarding Charotte real estate statistics by clicking that link I just gave you. Even though the median average is higher, the average price of homes that are actually selling in Charlotte is probably a little lower, around 150k but I’m not real sure. Just from my own personal experiences there.

Charlotte has many different alternatives for Real estate and I will be discussing those in future blog posts, including some of my favorite neighborhoods. Until then…

Share
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

The BPO, Short Sale Killer

Posted on October 26, 2010 by Geoffrey Lamb

My team has closed about 65 short sales over the last year or so and, of those we did not close, 80% were due to the BPO.

I received a short email today from a colleague in Florida and its probably the first time I received an email like that since I too, started practicing these methods. Today was the first time I read something which suggested visiting the BPO agent and agreed with it not only in theory but also from experience too.

For almost 15 years, I always believed that meeting the BPO agent would do more harm than good, like I’d just step on their toes or make them angry. But as an instructor recently told me, that was just the angry monkey on my shoulder, making excuses so that I could avoid something I really didn’t want to do. Once I finally got over it, once I decided that I had lost my last Short Sale to the BPO, things started to change.

Most BPO agents have no idea what the true value of a home is until you tell them. Honestly, how many of us know the real value of a home until after we’ve seen it perform on the market?

The BPO agent needs your input on marketing history and repair costs to do a good job but beyond the simple facts, I think most importantly, they need to see the human element. I wasn’t thrilled with the idea of telling a BPO agent how to do a BPO from the start, so I looked for a different angle of persuasion. Now, we focus most on the people involved in the transaction, the Buyer especially. Remember, a lot of people think the seller sort of deserves it for not paying the mortgage. So it’s easier to make the case for the average buyer who is more often than not, a first-timer or someone who otherwise could not afford anything else.

While the truth is that the average seller is someone with a strong work ethic who fought hard, all the way to the end; we don’t talk so much about them. People don’t really want to hear a sob story told aloud – but reading a hardship letter, that’s being nosey and people, admittedly or not, they love that. So, with the seller’s permission, we actually give the BPO agent a copy of the hardship letter, along with all of the comps, our CMA, and our estimate for repairs.

Then at the BPO, we stay focused on pointing out damage and talking about the buyer. The paperwork does the rest.

Trust me, this works. Since we started visiting every BPO 8 months ago, the number of higher than market valuations has gone down by at least 50%. More than worth the trip. Anyway, you’re most dedicated believer in anything is someone who once would argue against it. I was wrong and I only wish I had realised it a little sooner.

Share
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Market coming back?

Posted on October 23, 2010 by Geoffrey Lamb

I’m skeptical about this one…

I want to believe it, we’ve seen a certain uptic lately but thats happened before and I just don’t trust it yet. I read that RE/MAX Intnl did a study which showed this was happening and at lunch with some family today, I was asked if it was true. Short sales are different, things seem to always be steady at about the same pace but as we diversify into other types of brokerage, I wonder if we’ll see these market coming back signs as some news outlets would suggest. Not real sure but as it looks right now, it seems promising.

Share
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | Leave a comment