I am designing a few Word Press Blogs that I am very satisfied with except that the display in different browsers could be better.  I prefer 2 column WP Blogs.ress blogs I where I can integrate in-line frames of IDX into the posts, but the problem arises in various browsers is that the display should float with the screen display in bot screen resolution and screen width.  What's the point of having a 21" or wider screen if the web page (Blog just floats center in the window as opposed to side to side! 

Is anyone using a great Word Press Template that has this feature?  I also like WP templates that have a feature for a custom header, and I can change the footers.  The encrypted footers are such a waste of my time.  Any thoughts?  Greatly appreciated!

When I am out of town on business, because I haven't been on a vacation since my I got married, I have four different trusted agents who can be my hands, feet, eyes, and ears in my brief absence.  If I have a vacant house listed and a neighbor calls my cell phone to tell me a light has been on all night and I am on overnight business, I can call Ann and she'll pop over and turn the light off.  If I receive a call from someone who would like to view my listing and I am not available, I can call Mike and she will show you my listing.  If you would like information on a particular city such as Roswell or Alpharetta for example, I can call Cathy and have her call you because these agents are experts with at least 15-20 years experience.  If you are one of my owners and you've lost your key and your garage door won't open and you need me to come over and let you in and I'm four counties away, Harry will come over and assist you.  Do you see where this is going?
 
I don't understand the call I just got from a buyer.  This person told me she is represented by an agent.  However, her agent is at her full time job in Buckhead and can't take her to the property she wants to see right away.  If I can't take her to see it right away, she'll understand, but can I take her on Saturday morning at 9:30 because her agent has to work on Saturday also this week.  Let me get this straight, you are the supposed client of an "agent" but she can't take you now and you already know she can't take you this Saturday, so when can she fit you into her busy schedule?  Another person called yesterday and told me her agent worked for the same company as mine, so I 'HAD' to help her.  Excuse me?  I think you are mixing up the duties of a broker and brokerage house to a client and an unrelated agent like myself doing someone else's job for free.  If I show my listing, did you know your agent may be entitled to a reduced commission or no commission?
 
If your agent is so busy they cannot accommodate you, you are not a respected client.  They are wiping thier shoes off on your back and expect to get paid for it!  A professional agent is always prepared for contingencies and they should have fellow agents they trust or even their broker show you homes or answer questions if they are legitimately unable to get to you in a short time.  My broker has always been accomodating and assisted me even on Super Bowl Sunday and agents, if your broker can't be found, find another broker.  It's called' "Taking care of business!"

Atlanta right now is suffering from a condo and town home overbuilt situation.  New homes builders in the last few years scrambled to fill a market void of condos and more especially town homes.  In layman's terms they over did it on steroids.  I know for a fact that quoting inventory levels and absorption rates is useless with so many properties on the sidelines in bankruptcy court and entire blocks of units waiting to be auction off in bulk sit just below our radar.  Attached housing has a major shadow inventory in this town.

The problem for the home seller is that there is basically no demand for their units.  That is due in large part with rising unemployment and lack of consumer confidence.  How that translates into our business is less sales, and declining prices.  I created a trends chart to show you the pricing of attached condos and town homes to show you what is really occurring in our market.  The overall trend is still not good, and I do not think we have bottomed.  We need jobs.  There is no such thing as a "Jobless recovery!"  Persons need income to pay bills, and cannot contemplate purchases when they are counting the days until their unemployment runs out!  19% of upper end job seekers have left the Atlanta area recently seeking employment!  Attached home prices have plunged 26.62% from January 2007 when compared to January 1020 and the current average sales price of $129,750.

*These prices are reflective of the greater Atlanta METRO MLS coverage area, and do not represent sale prices in the city of Atlanta alone.

PAINT BEFORE SELLING!

One of the first item many homeowners have to consider before placing their home on the market is painting the home and preparing to sell.  This is a process that intimidates many homeowners so much so that they are reluctant to pain, and want to offer the buyers money instead or take a price reduction.  The problem in this market?  many home buyers do not want to paint either.  They want a "Turn Key home" in move in condition.  Could you blame them?

Well choosing a color used to be a difficult item.  You would buy a small test can of paint at the local paint store and try it out on several sections of wall space in your home and try to visualize the right color.  That was certainly a better way to do it than holding up a 2" square paint chip and trying to visualize what the entire room would look like!  Enter the online answer to the age old dilemma.  Sherwin Williams, a well respected paint company has an online visualizer.

With the online visualizer, you can either choose samples of the rooms you are considering painting, an either apply color schemes or click and drag them into place.  You can make the room colors lighter or darker, and apply different of complimentary trim colors.  This works for both inside the home and outside exterior colors. You can also take this one step further.   If you have a photo of the room you are considering painting, you can also upload that and make a decision online.  It has never been easier to accomplish the task without even picking up a paint brush!  There are others out there, but this is the best one I've come across.  Lowe's has one for Valspar paint also.

Sherwin Williams on Line Visualizer - Click Here!

Atlanta Condos have increased slightly in price in the Atlanta metro area for the last 7 months, and that is a good thing, however, sales have not.  There were only 382 closings in January 2010 for single family attached Atlanta homes. (Condos, lofts, townhomes etc.) This was an increase in the average sales price of 9.8% over January 2009.  However, you would have to go back to January 2003 for find a lower monthly total for units sold.  The Atlanta area has been hard hit with commercial overbuilding of condos and townhomes in the last few years, and we will pay the price for a saturated market for many more years to come.  Expect more Atlanta Condos and townhomes foreclosures to come on the market in 2010.

* These numbers are reflective of real estate statistics in the entire FMLS coverage area for Metro Atlanta, and not limited to the city of Atlanta.

Too Many Agents in Atlanta! Do the Math!

I just finished doing a Blog post on the falling home sales in Atlanta metro area.  The numbers were not good.  The numbers were those that we used to see in the late 1990's.  That was a different day and time for the Atlanta real estate market.  Atlanta was growing, slowly but surely we were going places.   Back then, we made OK money, the competition was fierce, and you knew the agents that you were up against.  They were very good, dedicated and could also get the job done.  They were professionals, and seasoned agents each doing over 40-50 transaction sides a year.  Back then it was also difficult to raise the bar for income earned for a real estate agent!  We had about 8500 agents in our FMLS back then, and we sold about +/- 2200 single family homes a month!

Today we have 31564 agentsstill showing active in GAMLS as of this post, and yet January's sales numbers showed only 2220 home sales for single family detached homes.  That is the same number of sales we were doing back in 1998!  The math does not work any longer.  At a quick glance, we have 23,046 agents too many. 

You also must consider back then, we were not dealing with foreclosures, discounting or flat fee listings did not exist.  That meant that agents took home a larger portion of the pie, and could live off their earnings.  Now lets divide the pie into thousands of more pieces!  The math cannot work.  Many brokers, and agents will have to leave this business before it becomes viable to work real estate as a career.  There is not enough business to sustain all.  You cannot sugar coat this with sweet nothings and optimism.  It is a fact based in numbers and statistics of past sales.  The problem goes further than the number of agents and sales.  The collateral damage is without experienced agents, sales do not occur.  There is mare fraud as agents try to beat the system, and in the end, everyone loses.  The Atlanta real estate market becomes dysfunctional on steroids, because the voices of experienced agents are drowned out by the shear numbers of agents that have never even sold one home, but they are advising the seller on price and marketing.  Something has to give.   

***Before someone says, they are not all active, these are agents active in the GAMLS system which pretty much mirrors our FMLS system.  Their dues are paid, and by the way, not everyone was active in the late 1990's either.

The most recent Atlanta real estate sales statistics for detached single family Atlanta homes - were just released from our primary MLS on February 20th for January closed sales.  Despite what the newspapers and media are quoting, I 'm just not finding any good numbers here.  None!  Last January saw the single family closings from 2001 through 2009.  January 2010 surpassed low with the lowest number of closings for a month during the past nine years.  There were 2,222 closings for single family detached Atlanta homes sold and closed in January. This is the lowest monthly of total since January 1998.*

DETACHED SINGLE FAMILY FEE SIMPLE HOMES SOLD IN JANUARY

*FMLS DATA Apply to Metro Area Home Sales and not limited to the City of Atlanta.

Home managers are supposed to stage your home, keeping it model perfect, with nice furnishings.  The reasoning for this is multi-faceted.  First it is believe that an occupied home with nice furnishings will make the home appear better and appeal to the buyers. Next, there is someone tending to the property, cutting the grass, cleaning, keeping the utilities on, and making the home appear well manicured and tended to.  So far so good?  Years ago the concept of professional home sitters arose out of the depressed Texas real estate market in the 80's.  Persons with nice furniture that could move in an out of a home in a moments notice had to be screened and have references to get into the program.  In return, the home sitters were allowed to live in some wonderful properties at a greatly reduced price or rent to the home managers corporation until the home sold, and they would move on to the next vacant home.  As a professionally run program with strict rules, it worked well!  It helped homes sell!

Candidates for house sitting should be immaculate housekeepers, and have nice furniture so the home is show-ready 24/7.   Home managers almost never have pets and cannot smoke in your home, nor are they allowed to permit their visiting relatives who smoke to camp out in your home with their dogs.   Anyway, when you sign on, that's what you believe you're getting.  However, that is the way it used to be!  Enter the amateurs!

This past weekend, I showed two homes occupied by home managers.  I had to call the agent first to get an appointment to see the home so I called the morning before. First warning! They kept stalling on when the home could be shown.  You know the term...the listing agent said "Let me get back to you...."

Not to bore you, with the details, when we got to this property... I understood why they stalled.  The home manager was home.  Second warning.  The home manager was wearing what New Yorker's call a "tenement" tee shirt, cigarette dangling from his lips, chasing his dogs down.  The property hadn't been vacuumed or cleand in some time.  It reminded me of the book, "Lost weekend!"  Ashtrays were filled, boxes thrown into the garage, newspapers all over the kitchen table, week old dishes in the sink; the smell of damp, stale smoke had us wincing.  The home manager had no intention of leaving and seemed put out that we were even there.  Last warning.  We left and won't put a contract on that home because I don't need to have my client paint a house to kill the smoke odors and yellowing, send the drapes to the dry cleaners, have carpets sanitized for the cigarette and pet odors and stains.  A second home we showed appeared even worse!  It was also lived in by house sitters that had trashed a home I intended to sell!  It was obvious they moved in themselves and tore the place up while doing so.  While we were given fast access to that second home that was managed and the manager was not at home, the state of the property was deja vu, Groundhog's Day, La Vida es Sueno.  It is my professional opinion that both homes would have a better chance selling without having any house sitters.  They were trashed!  The sellers were given a line of bull from someone that was learning on the job, but had no experience in real estate and how to sell a home.  One could only wonder if this was a sweetheart deal, and they were collecting rent from a friend or relative at the seller's expense.  If only the seller knew it was obvious to everyone else the house sitters do not want the homes to sell!

Ever hear the term "ready, willing, and able" buyer?  When a person lists their home, they have the right to expect everyone viewing their home financially qualified to purchase in their general price range.  For instance, if I have a client who has been pre-qualified by a loan officer for a house price not to exceed $100,000, I am not about to show that client $200,000 homes.  If the buyer is an investor who wants to bid on foreclosures, I don't have to explain to them that banks will more than likely never take fifty cents on the dollar.  I will do research to find the best deals available and if this investor wants to pay pennies on the dollar, we'll look at auctions and bid.  Many foreclosures are already priced well below value.  In instances where foreclosures are not well priced, the investor will pass on that listing.
 
Investors generally call, identify themselves and their bank, and want to proceed quickly.  While the average person is looking for a home with value and they have time to look at properties, they must also be pre-qualified.  I do not want to know your personal business.  I will never ask your loan officer if you are a millionaire traveling incognito.  However, I definitely want to know that you have at the very least been pre-qualified.  There is an area on listings where the listing agent can write comments that can only be viewed by other agents.  If the listing is a foreclosure, I'll be instructed to not only have my client pre-qualified before viewing the property, I should call "Loan Officer X" and have that loan officer pre-qualify the buyer before making an offer. No pre-qualification, don't make an offer. When it comes to million dollar plus properties, BEFORE you can even see the property, I have to fax over your pre-qualification letter or a "source of funds" letter if paying cash.  I don't want you to empathize or sympathize with the seller - just understand their non-emotional business sense.  It's just business!  You will not be given access to their home if you cannot produce a letter from a lender or bank regarding your financial ability to purchase.  Listing price is another word for asking price so yes, you will negotiate your head off - that's business.  You won't be able to get to first base without credentials.  As a REALTOR, it is my business if you're qualified to purchase.  Other wise, we are just wasting everyone's time and money!

I may have touched upon this subject before and it is occurring again with greater frequency.  I got a call this morning from a frantic buyer who wanted to see a listing RIGHT NOW.  She never mentioned she had an agent, but the second she gave me the mulitlist number, I knew she did.  I returned her call but got put into voicemail.  Four hours later, her "agent" called.  It was 4:15 and she just finished her day at her job in downtown Atlanta and wanted me to race over to my listing and let her buyers in.  I explained I was busy with clients myself.  "But you HAVE TO help me, I need to pick up my child and get home quickly because the babysitter's coming.  I've had a rough week and we go out to dinner on Friday nights."  I suggested she call her backup agent at her office.  Silence.  She didn't know what that meant.  I told her the client actually belongs to her brokerage house, call her broker to assist the clients. 
 
Whenever I leave town which is rare, I have about four other agents covering for me.  In the event Agent A is busy and can't assist either my client or someone inquiring about my listing, Agent B should be able to assist.  I still have two other "go to" agents in the event I can't get the first two on the first ring.  If your agent doesn't have a backup agent or agents, at the very least, their broker should assist you.  Furthermore, you are not working with a professional agent if he/she does not have a system in place for contingencies such as coverage while I'm out showing other clients, illness, vacation, and so forth.
 
There is a term called "procuring cause" and another called the "threshold rule."  Since I ask up front if a person has an agent, I probably won't inadvertently be taking another agent's client out to see property.  If I take your client over the threshold of a house and show it to them, it will be logged into the lockbox on the door establishing when and what time I took them over the threshold.  If I take your client over the threshold of a listing, you are not getting paid.  I'm quoting now from the National Association's Board of Directors adopted Official Interpretation 31 of Article I, Section 2 of the Bylaws amended in 1977 providing in part: [T]he Board or its MLS may not establish a rule or regulation which purports to predetermine entitlement to any awards in a real estate transaction. If controversy arises as to entitlement to any awards, it shall be determined by a hearing in arbitration on the merits of all ascertainable facts in the context of the specific case of controversy.

The moral of the story is....if you want a career in real estate that pays really well, you have to work it!