Are You The Experiment? I had a real nice couple with me yesterday I was showing who are relocating to the area. They had picked out about 6 homes to see and one of the neighborhoods I just couldn't place. It was our last showing and as we were driving up I immediately remembered it. I showed in there about 6 months ago and I told my buyers then that I noticed no one has bought in the neighborhood. There were 6 or 7 houses completed in there. Don't get me wrong the houses appeared nice but I told them it was pretty risky to be the first one to purchase. They bought elsewhere. Well yesterday going back....boy was I right. The developer had completely let the place run down. As we drove in I said "folks, now look at the entrance here", over …
This is a list of favorite blogs by Don Wessel concerning real estate in the Greenville South Carolina area!
Let’s Time the Market
Let's Time The Market Market timing for real estate is just as difficult as timing the stock market. Unlike stocks, real estate is local. Folks, I can't say enough about this. Here in Greenville we get a little bit tired of the doom and gloom from the national media about real estate as a whole. Again, real estate is local. I visited with some past clients who want to sell their home this spring and want to do it as a For Sale By Owner. They bought from me about 4 years ago in a nice popular neighborhood. Their son in going to college next year and just wants to downsize a bit. So let's see, will they make any money on their home, you know the media tells us our housing market is the worse since whenever they can come up with. My past …
Does it Snow in Greenville?
Let it Snow Good morning! Yes folks we actually got some snow, 150 schools and businesses are closed and the stores are out of bread and milk! Browsing through the news I see we got about 6 inches. Sure was pretty but I think we have about 70,000 without power. Traffic is at a standstill on I85 for miles and miles. At 5:45 am it's about 29 degrees and not going to warm up too much today so it may stick around a day or two. …
Seller’s Disclosure
South Carolina Seller's Disclosure Good morning. Thought I'd write a bit about the South Carolina Residential Property Condition Disclosure Report. Beginning in January of 2003, South Carolina required owners of residential real estate to provide the purchaser a SDS (Seller's Disclosure Statement). There are four pages to the form with the first page being an explanation to the seller. The seller is asked 24 questions regarding the condition of the property. The statement must be provided in connection with the sale, exchange, option and sale under lease with an option to purchase. One box must be checked for each of the 24 questions. Here's an example: 1. Roof (leakage or other problem)? a. Approximate age of roof covering _____ The …
O’brother Are You Converted?
Captured And Converted! Do you want to be a captured lead? This is a funny term and you hear about it all the time in sales. Captured lead comes from Forced Registration. Forced registration is when you have to sign up on a realtor web site to even "look" at properties. Most realtor web sites do this...why? They want to capture leads....you. You know, put you on an email list, call you, send you stuff so they can turn the captured lead into a prospect and maybe even into a buyer. Folks, I could go into a whole page why I don't require a log in to just look but here it is in a nut shell. You will contact me when and if you are interested in working with me, it's just that simple. So tell your friends, there is no required login to view …
Don’t Write Contingent on Sale!
Don't write contingent on Sale Offers! I rarely write an offer on a home if my buyers have a home to sell and their home is not under contract. Don't do it. That kind of situation puts you the buyer in the worst negotiating position. Why? If the seller is not sure if the contract will ever close they are very unwilling to come down on price or make other adjustments, they just have nothing to lose. Here's why. The seller will continue to market the house, it will still show active on most realtor web sites and in the MLS it will be marked, continue to show and first right of refusal. The first right means that if another offer comes in and is acceptable to the seller, then the buyer who has the first right must release their contingent on …
Greed..
Greed: Good morning! I thought I would relate to you a story about greed I thought about this morning. Real life can be stranger than fiction, especially in real estate. Of course I can't name names here. Anyway, a couple of years ago I had a buyer contact me to purchase a lake lot. He came to town and we spent a day driving from Greenwood to Spartanburg and all in between looking at lots. We looked at a few homes too. At the time prices had been rising rapidly and there was much speculation going on. We found a lot and got a contract on it. The seller had purchased the lot about 8 months earlier and was going to make about $60,000 on it. I believe we had contracted at around $140,000 again I'm going off memory. My buyer returned home (he …
Pick Your Attorney
Pick Your Attorney Did you know our sales contract is only 6 pages long. I have had California buyers comment on this. I think I was told theirs is about 60. Now imagine that! Also in New York, I've been told that everybody has their own attorney. Imagine that! In most situations there is only one attorney closing the transaction. If you need a good one please check with Chris Cogdill, he does a wonderful job. In South Carolina the buyer has the right to choose the attorney of their choice. What aggravates me is these Relocation Companies who try and specify that you must use their attorney. Not correct. They want you to use their attorney because their attorney is engaged by them. I don't recommend it, remember you have the …
No Repairs?
Please Mark It AS Is If No Repairs Let's talk real estate. Here's a scenario. I will have a buyer enter into a transaction in good faith and make a reasonable repair request after inspections. The seller will respond with a no on all the request or will do very minimal things, tighten a screw, etc.... This is one of the most aggravating situations I see today. And I have told listing agents "if the seller intended to sell the home "as is" then they should have marketed it that way." I've even been in situations where the seller is getting close to what they asked for the home and they still won't make repairs. Yes they are entitled and the buyer can decide what to do based on that, but in many cases it is a seller trying to take advantage …
Can’t Serve Two Masters!
So are you a listing agent or buyers agent??? Ok, I'm going to vent for a minute. I don't understand how realtors who list properties consider themselves buyer agents?? Have you heard the old saying you can't serve two masters, well it is particularly so in this business. That's why I tell people to never buy from the listing agent. I've mentioned this before but I think it needs repeating. We have this thing in South Carolina that somebody somewhere came up with called Dual Agency. Say what? In a nutshell it allows the agent to sorta represent both parties in the transaction, but actually what it calls for is for the agent to be "neutral" not favoring one party over the other. Really? So you have a listing agent who has worked hard to …
Should You Pay for Seller Updates?
Should You Pay for Seller Updates? I'd like to write a little about offers and value in pricing. Had some great clients I'm working with write an offer on a beautiful home this past Sunday. Home is located in the Taylors area off Wade Hampton Blvd. Wade Hampton otherwise known as Hwy. 29 connects Greenville to Spartanburg SC. The home is in absolutely pristine condition. I believe the sellers bought it about a couple of years ago and put about $15,000 in it. They really did a wonderful job and I love showing homes that are so well kept. My buyers wrote an offer about seven thousand below list, as a start point. Seller's did not move on price but offered other concessions. Now there is a lot of psychology that goes into negotiating and …
MLS Zones Explained
MLS Zones Explained Thought I'd write about the Greenville MLS for a bit. I am inserting a map of the areas that the Greenville MLS covers. The Greenville MLS is broken up into numbered areas. What you see above is pretty much what you get. For instance if I'm looking for a home for a client in Simpsonville I'd go to area 32. Downtown Greenville...area 76. If I have someone who wants to be a little further out in the country I may head up to area 13 or 14 up Hwy. 14 or 290 or 101 in Greer. A lot of people really like the Wren school district, then I'm heading towards Powdersville area 54 or part of 55. West Greenville, 51 or 60. I have sold homes and properties in Spartanburg too, area 33. I guess what I'm getting at as a person …
Are You Collateral Business?
Collateral business is any buyer who calls a listing agent about one of their listings and gets "converted" into a prospect. It happens even more now because many of the listings you call on that you have found in an internet search that appear for sale are actually under contract. (That's a whole other write up). So.....you call a listing agent on a beautiful home that is either advertised on the internet or worse yet in print (many listings here are out of date or sold). And guess what, it just went under contract.....BUT....."I have others, or I have other ideas or I know of one that might just be coming on the market...etc, etc, etc." You buy into it and guess what, you just became a piece of collateral business. And worse yet the …
Show Me The Comps!
Show Me The Comps! Got a perfect example of why you want to have a buyers agent on your side. A couple of days ago I preview a property for a buyer who is out of the area. Went out, took some pictures, walked the land. This was an older property with some acreage and before I went I researched the history and found out it had been on the market for some time and had quite a few price reductions. In my opinion the property did have some charm but there were some negatives I was concerned about. In particular pricing. I asked the listing agent for comps because I wanted to see the support for the pricing. Here is the thing folks, the listing agent is supposed to be the expert in the area and should have support for the pricing. Yes, I can …
Does Your Buyer’s Agent Know?
Does Your Buyer's Agent Know The Area? Why it's important to use a buyer's agent who works many different areas. There is a huge difference between a listing agent and a buyer's agent in their thought process. I have listed before and I know. Most realtors who are listing agents pick a Greenville area or neighborhood to work. The listing agent will pick the area then completely focus on that area or neighborhood, flooding the area with marketing material and learning as much about the area as possible. There is good and bad to this, yes they learn to know the neighborhood or area but mostly lose sight of the big picture. In other words they come to believe that their area is the best. While I will agree that some areas may be better than …