Thursday, June 28, 2007 - Hot Town, Summer in the City

The heat of summer is here. July is just around the corner and so is the humidity -- muggy, no air moving, miserable-DC-summer.

I worked with a buyer today who was taking his lunch break to look at one particular house. The house is vacant, so it was easy for us to meet up and take our time looking.

Unfortunately, the power was turned off.  I imagine that it's a cost-saving factor for the seller, but wow is it a bad idea! This is one of the worst ways to save a few pennies! Within minutes, the buyer said, "Can we go outside? It's just too hot in here."

In heat and humidity, in a sealed house, mold can grow. Every bad smell that was ever in the house seems to come back. Turned-off and closed-up refrigerators stink to high heaven when opened. Most first-time buyers only open an unplugged refrigerator once -- it's a lesson that's hard to forget as you run from the kitchen to get away from the odor.

Not only that, but buyers wonder what's wrong. Is the A/C broken? Do the appliances even work? What else might be wrong with this house? Looking back over my real estate career, I don't remember a buyer ever making a full priced offer on a house where the appliances were turned off or the power was off completely.

Now imagine the following: It's one of those 90-degree-feels -like-100-degree days. You, the buyer, have been in and out of several houses, in and out of the car, up and down stairs, and you're starting to get overheated and tired. You walk into a vacant house (you're only looking at vacant houses because you need to move right away) and a pleasant blast of cool air hits you. The house smells fresh and dry. You think, maybe I'll hang out here and really take a good second look, because I really don't want to go back outside! So you start to ponder how well this house will fit your needs. Maybe it isn't perfect, but hey, it's got possibilites that you didn't see when you first walked in.

The alternative is the same as the scenario presented above, but now the power is off. You walk in and immediately start sweating. Determined to see the house, you move at top speed, barely taking in the features. Oof, the air is so still, it makes you light-headed. And yuck, the basement smells...like a cellar. Damp and mildewy. Let's get out of here before you pass out. No wonder it's been on the market for so long.

You may approach buying or selling a home as a practical, business decision. But it's also the emotional "gotcha" that makes the difference. The smart seller looks for ways to say "gotcha!"

(C) Susan Pruden.

Wednesday, June 27, 2007 - Empty-nester, That's Me!

As of yesterday afternoon at approximately 4:00PM, my husband and I became Empty Nesters. In case you can't see me right now, I'm doing a little conga-line dance all around our son's (former) bedroom, soon to be a home office. Okay, maybe it's not a true conga-line dance, since there is no line. I'm dancing by myself, but dancing none-the-less!

It's not that I won't miss him. It's that, at 24, it's time for him to go be an adult someplace else, rather than a child at home. I'm actually a little envious, because he's starting off on an adventure -- moving to California with his girlfriend. They're taking a week or so to drive out there and are going to take the time to see the Painted Desert, the Petrified Forest and the Grand Canyon. They don't know it, but they're recreating a trip I made with my family when I was around 14.

It's already quieter around here. No computer game noise, no stereo, no tv (and all at the same time!). No dull roar coming from his room. I'm looking forward to some quiet space of my own. I do sort of wonder when it will sink in that he isn't going to walk in the door any minute, but at the moment I'm still dancing!

(C) Susan Pruden.

Monday, June 25, 2007 - Coughs, Colds and Real Estate

Okay...how do I relate this to real estate? Hmmm...

I know! How hard is it to be excited about showing your house if you've got a miserable summer cold? For that matter, how energized can you feel about looking at houses if you ache all over and your eyes are watering?

With me so far?

Well, my son-in-law, who is a pharmacist, has just co-written a book called "Conquering the Cough & Cold Aisle". (See, I just knew I could tie them together!) Anyway, the book is a guide to understanding which over-the-counter medications lessen the symptoms to the common cold and other common issues. There are easy-to-use charts that group medications by their symptoms.

Obviously, I think it's a terrific book, and worth every penny (click to order!) of its $14.99 price tag. As the tag line on the back of the book says, "With this handy guide, you can conquer the cough and cold aisle before it conquers you!"

Then you can get back your enthusiasm for buying or selling a home!

(C) Susan Pruden.

Tuesday, June 19, 2007 - Committed to Buying a House

Years before I got into real estate, I remember a family who decided they wanted to buy a house. I think one of the parents worked with my mother as a teacher, but whatever -- it's the commitment they made to buy that I've remembered all these years.

They knew they needed to save money, so they went into overdrive during the summer break. They shipped the kids off to the grandparents for the summer, stopped eating out -- not even stopping at McDonalds, stopped going to movies and stuck every penny they could find into their "house fund". No summer vacation -- not even a short trip to the beach. Every time they felt compelled to splurge, they went out to look at houses and neighborhoods instead (and probably took a quick peek at their growing nest egg!).

By the end of the summer, they were amazed at how much they had saved. They were even more amazed at how much they normally spent on non-essentials. They said they didn't even miss most of it.

Their single-minded devotion to meeting their goal has always stuck with me. I guess it all depends on how badly you want something and how much you're willing to sacrifice to meet the goal.

Owning a home seems like a worthwhile goal to me!

(C) Susan Pruden.

Monday, June 18, 2007 - Hooray for Choices in Cheverly

I've been noticing Verizon trucks around town for quite a while now, putting in new cable. They pulled up outside our house today, so of course I went and asked what they were doing.

They're in the first steps of bringing FIOS to our town. I'm so ready for choices -- Comcast has been a disappointment, to say the least. We have intermittent service to our house because we're at the end of the line and Comcast has done everything in their power to ... do nothing.

The Verizon guy that I talked to said that in about 3 to 4 months, we should get mail from Verizon, letting us know that FIOS is here and what the first service is that they'll offer -- he speculated that it would be television.

I came  across a blog by a guy in Newton, Massachusetts, with a detailed description of what you see in your neighborhood, on the line near your house, on the side of your house, and inside when you get Verizon's FIOS Internet service.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to having a choice for my cable service.

Update: Another interesting blog entry on FIOS vs. Comcast.

(C) Susan Pruden.