Jun. 14, 2007 - Now Is The Time To Relax

Whew........it's a rough market out there.  In my little corner of the world inventory is way up.  The laws of supply and demand have certainly put some pressure on the sellers.  It's almost like Wal-Mart has entered the real estate market and rolled back prices to 2005.  It's not as if things are not selling at all though.  They are.

If you have only been in your house for a few years and there is really no pressing reason to move, then I would suggest staying out of the fray for right now.  But if you really want to move and you are a seller in todays market you need to relax and let your professional do their job.  Listen to them when they give you an honest evaluation of what the market is like.  Putting a property out there now at 10, 15, 20% more than what is moving off of the market at this time would be a tragic mistake.

If you have been in your house for more years than you can remember then you will probably be pretty thrilled with the price your house will fetch.  When it comes time to buy the replacement home you just have to remember that the days of the $100,000, three bedroom home are long gone.  You will be in a much better position to negotiate as a buyer with a fresh influx of cash, but they still are not giving homes away just yet.

Whatever your particular case may be, if you are a seller in todays market you need to be relaxed.  Just because someone looked at your place twice doesn't mean they are going to make an offer. Hopefully they will but............  Whatever you do, try not to appear too eager to potential buyers.  Put on your poker face and relax so as not to give the prospect any reason to think they would not be insulting you by a 20% under value, low ball offer.  If you have an excellent REALTOR®, you know, one like me, then just trust them and let them do their thing.

As always, if you have found yourself receiving my blog postings via e-mail, it is because I have either blogged about you personally, blogged about something I know is of interest to you, or I consider you to be a person of deep thinking and intellect and I would love to have you occasionally commenting on my blog. If you would like to be removed from the list simply send me an e-mail saying so.

Jun. 6, 2007 - Meet The Kids

I know that once upon a time that consumate real estate blogger from Kirkland, Washington, Ardell DellaLoggia posted pictures of her family on her blog.  Well, move over Ardell, I am filching your idea in a big way.

I mentioned I had a son in my last post.  No sooner had I posted it, then I got a call from him.  He was tipped off by my daughter.  It's nice to know that someone out there reads your blog but especially nice to know that your children read your blog.

So let me introduce you to the kids.  I won't have to tell you too much about each one because you can just click their links and find out about them for yourselves.  My first born would be my lovely daughter, Jamie Pietrzycki. Her name is not Molloy because she is married to Chris Pietrzycki.  They have a daughter Hannah, but I don't believe she has a website yet.  You can see her on her parents sites though.  Then comes my oldest son, Gene Molloy.  I just hope my sites come up before his in the search engine results, I wouldn't want anybody to get confused.  Last but not least there is my younger son Bryan Molloy.

So there you have it, all of my beautiful children have made it onto my blog.  Not only that, but you can even leave comments for them on their own individual sites.  Isn't it something how this wacky internet works, you put it out there and you never know where it's going to show up.  Should you happen to leave them any comments, tell them Pappy sent you.

As always, if you have found yourself receiving my blog postings via e-mail, it is because I have either blogged about you personally, blogged about something I know is of interest to you, or I consider you to be a person of deep thinking and intellect and I would love to have you occasionally commenting on my blog. If you would like to be removed from the list simply send me an e-mail saying so.

Jun. 4, 2007 - The Return Of The Snake Oil Salesmen

I suppose this really doesn't have have a whole heck of a lot to do with real estate, but because of the way it unfolded I felt as though it may benefit others to know about this.

I was minding my own business last night when my cell phone rang.  I answered with my usual answer, "Hello, this is Gene".  The caller identified himself as Gene Stanford and said he knew my son, whose name also happens to be Gene.  That momentarily gave this stranger, who was talking to me like he was my long lost friend, enough credibility for me to ask what I could do for him.  From there it went on to him telling me he could do things for me.  He knew I was in real estate, and because his wife is also a real estate agent, he knows the market is a bit depressed.  How would I like to find out about something that could put me on the path to unlimited riches?

"Sure", says I, "what have you got"?  He told me that he had a system that pushed internet business to Fortune 500 companies.  "What's that?", I ask.  "I just told you", he said.  "I don't understand. You haven't told me anything", I said.  He repeated that he had a system that pushed internet business to Fortune 500 companies and asked me what's not to understand.  If I wanted the nuts and bolts I would have to come to New Lenox and meet with him.  To make a long story short I told him that he had not given me any information about what he had to offer and he certainly had not said anything that would make me want to drive 45 miles to meet with him.  I ended up telling him he sounded like some kind of flim flam man and hung up.

Since he had dropped my son's name, I figured it might be a good idea to give him a call.  I asked him if he knew this Gene Stanford guy and he said he did.  I asked him if he knew what his great business deal is.  He said he kind of did, but the guy was always kind of vague.  He thought it was some company called QuickStar.  Thank God I got to my son in time.  The old Amway scam is back.  It's not really QuickStar, although they don't mind if you think that's what they are saying, it's Quixtar.  Here is a link to The Corporate Narc Website where you can read all about the QuickStar scam and other shady business corporation.  If you have been reading too much already and you would rather watch a video report on the scam here is link to a Dateline NBC story about them. 

Once you have checked this out I am sure if you get a call from Gene Stanford, or anybody like him, you will just say no.

As always, if you have found yourself receiving my blog postings via e-mail, it is because I have either blogged about you personally, blogged about something I know is of interest to you, or I consider you to be a person of deep thinking and intellect and I would love to have you occasionally commenting on my blog. If you would like to be removed from the list simply send me an e-mail saying so.