I listed a beautiful 2 bedroom, 2 bath home in Murfreesboro today. It’s cute as it can be… I’d say “Dollhouse” but that’s so cliche! The MLS will say this about it:
Charming, super clean home in great shape! Open floor plan w/vaulted ceiling in LR. Pantry & lots of cabinets in kitchen. Master has trey ceiling, walk-in closet, double vanity. Nicely manicured yard & rocking chair front porch.
Go see pictures and read more here, but here’s are two ”teaser” pictures.
and 
Categories: Listings · Murfreesboro
MISTAKE #1. USING A REAL ESTATE AGENT INSTEAD OF A REALTOR
When you’re looking for help buying or selling property, it’s important to remember that the terms “real estate agent” and “Realtor” are not synonymous. Realtors can provide an extra level of service and to be a Realtor you must be a member of the National Association of Realtors (NAR). The equivalent organization in Canada is the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA). Both are non-profit trade organizations that promote real estate information, education and professional standards. The National Association of Realtors also has earned a strong reputation for actively championing private property rights and working to make home ownership affordable and accessible.
Categories: Selling a Home
When I go to my email host, I always read the real estate and business news … for obvious reasons. This article caught my attention. It describes a white bus that rumbles through neighborhoods touring homes that have been foreclosed on. People pay $45 p/person or $65 p/couple to ride it and on board is a Realtor (the host), a lender and a home inspector. The bus drives by homes in foreclosure so buyers and investors can see this market in a 6-hour tour.
The bus drives by homes where people live and empty homes. They don’t stop at the ones that are occupied because it would “embarrass” the owners. The bus only stops at empty homes for the passengers to get out and look around. At these stops, the inspector points out water damage and gives them a guesstimate of required repairs to make the home inhabitable. In between stops, the lender talks about different types of mortgages for the purchase.
The passengers find the tour to be beneficial, but neighbors aren’t “enthusiastic” about the bus driving through their neighborhood and people gawking.
I was somewhat appalled when I first read this article because to me it feels like these business people are in the profession of carpetbagging. Carpetbagging is a derogatory term for northerners who moved to the South after the Civil War to make a profit from Reconstruction. So profiteering, then.
However, one person on the tour addresses this saying they didn’t feel bad for the folks who lost their homes because it was their own bad decisions that got them into the mess. Maybe. But perhaps not. Every person has different circumstances that led to the foreclosure. What about predatory loans that jack-up rates to the point that working class people are unable to pay. Or perhaps there was a job loss. Maybe the rising costs of everyday expenses (gas, bread, milk) did them in. It could’ve been a single medical emergency that wiped out finances.
The foreclosure bus does seem like a very smart way to make money, but I find it deeply disturbing. By being troubled by this concept, I recall some of the sales classes I’ve taken where the instructor says people are afraid to make money… that we hold ourselves back because we think we “deserve” to live in poverty or we think that barely making ends meet is our way of life. Or we think we belong in middle class rather than being rich.
You know they might be right, but I honestly think that being afraid to make money is NOT what is holding me back. I personally prefer to earn my money by going back to basics. One house or one sale at a time.
Categories: Housing Market · In the News
We had our office meeting this morning where an agent shared that he heard on a morning news show that the real estate market has hit the bottom. Even with that sunny outlook (which I will cling to like a fly on honey), MSNBC News reports it’s too soon to actually say we’ve hit the bottom. Though most of the article was somewhat gloomy, this part definitely cheered me,
The housing industry has also been encouraged by a recent easing in mortgage interest rates, but analysts say ongoing turmoil in the financial market could keep those rates from falling much further.
“I think we are at least two or three months from a sense of (the housing market) going up, and longer than that, maybe six months, for real confirmation at best,” said Blitzer. “There are plenty of people out there, including S&P’s economists, who think we are probably looking at another year before there’s a real bottom.”
I disagree that we’re still a year out of the “real bottom,” but that could be because the Middle Tennessee market remains strong when compared to the national market.
The Housing Market Tracker agrees with me (or maybe I agree with them) that the home prices have finally proven low enough to draw buyers.
The oversupply is severe: In some major markets, including Las Vegas and San Diego, foreclosure-related sales have accounted for more than 40% of all sales in recent months. New data suggests that pressures like these are starting to drive prices low enough to attract some buyers back into the market.
Tennessee’s outlook fares much better… from the Jackson, TN area,
Local Housing Market Expected To Rebound. “Central West Tennessee Association of Realtors/MLS: The inventory of homes on the market in Jackson… measured at 12.6 months in December… On Feb. 29, inventory had fallen to 7.6 months … In Jackson and Madison County… 291 homes sold this year through Feb. 29, a 21% decrease from the 368 homes sold in Jan.-Feb. 2007… Homeowners in Jackson waited an average of 106 days to sell their homes during Jan.-Feb. 2008; an increase of 19 days from Jan.-Feb. 2007… The average price for a Jackson home during Jan.-Feb. 2008 was down more than $25,000 from Jan.-Feb. 2006 to $106,131 from $131,294.” (Jackson Sun, Mar. 24th)
I’m watching, waiting, and yet working furiously to find buyers for my listings, along with looking for the perfect home on behalf of the buyers I’m working with.
Categories: In the News
It’s the week of Spring Break and I’ll be working during most of it. NAR just released numbers for February and there was good news and bad news. The good news is that home sales increased during February, but on the bad was prices continued to drop.
I also started snooping on the web page titled RealtyTrac.com which charts foreclosures and preforeclosures. The numbers are shocking. I’m trying to wrap my head around what this will mean for the economy, for real estate, and most importantly for the people who are losing their homes.
I believe LaVergne showed 202 homes in foreclosure and Smyrna had 80-something. I didn’t go further, but if you want to look around, go to www.realtytrac.com. That’s so sad.
Categories: Housing Market
I hope you have a beautiful Easter Sunday.
Here’s a photo from when I was a kid living in Jacksonville, Arkansas. I’m the girl on the right. 
Categories: Humor, Bizarre & Everything Else
I just listed a house in a beautiful location in the Lake Forest subdivision. My friend lived there for years, but work has finally taken him from Tennessee and to Las Vegas. I always wanted to go to his place for the Fourth of July because he sits on a hilltop on Lake Forest Drive and the view of neighborhood fireworks is supposed to be spectacular.
The home is currently rented, so I couldnt’ get good photos yet of the front of the house (they’re getting ready for a yard sale). But here are a couple…
Oooh-la-la… marble fireplace!
Price $137,000
3 Bedrooms, 2 Baths
1350 Square Feet
2-Car Garage, long driveway with extra parking pad
Minutes to Percy Priest Lake
The carpet does need to be replaced and the seller said he’d provide an allowance to do so with a full price offer. Although he may replace the carpet himself in the next couple of weeks.
Categories: Listings
We’ve started our efforts to go green in my office by recycling. One person asked if I have tips for going green at home, so I wanted to share with you what we’ve done at home so far and what we’re planning to do.
Future Plans
I know there will be much more to come… these are really baby-steps for us. Wish us luck!
Categories: Home Care · Humor, Bizarre & Everything Else
The Smyrna office of Bob Parks Realty is working hard to go green. So far we’ve set up lots of recycling bins, we’re collecting eye glasses, and we’re encouraging agents to carry over the efforts into home. We’ve been writing recycling ideas on shamrocks (e.g., teach children about recycling at a young age, re-use gift bags, etc.) and sharing them. Today my shamrock was drawn from a bowl and I won a Home Depot gift card.
Also at our meeting this morning, we heard from Woody Bruhn of TINTDesign Window Tinting. He presented his 3M window tinting products which do seem to be a great way to save on electric bills. Tinting your home windows greatly cools a home in the summer (not to mention that it helps keep items from fading in the sun). Twenty percent (20%) of all electric bills come from heating and cooling, so by tinting your windows at home it will take two to five years to pay for the window tinting you do. The pricing is about $5 to $7 p/square foot of window, so an average window might cost $80. Mr. Bruhn said you could use any product to clean (windex, etc.) but would not recommend using newspaper to clean the tinted windows because the “wood” in the newspaper can tear after extended use. He also said he had to do two re-do’s due to cats shredding the bottom of a door window.
I haven’t had my own windows tinted, but it’s something I’d definitely consider. Another agent in my office has had most of his house done and he highly recommends it. He showed some placemats he had on his table for two years and how they faded next to a new set. With the window tinting, his placemats are now unchanged.
If you do investigate, Mr. Bruhn does free estimates. Just tell him Kathy Tyson of Bob Parks sent you!
Categories: Bob Parks Realty, LLC · Home Care
The picture below just bugs the fire out of me for several reasons. The names in this photo have been removed for obvious reasons.
It was one of three photos on the MLS promoting a listing. At first glance, the listing agent seems very clever because name recognition is extremely important for Realtors. However, clever like a fox doesn’t make it any better when the fox sneaks into your hen house, kills your chickens and eats your eggs. When any Realtor works with a client, we email buyer reports that contain relevent information about the home. Because WE are working with said buyer, the report does not contain information about the listing agent (name, how to contact, company). When a buyer searches for a home in the MLS himself, then the contact information is of course available.
By blatantly putting a photo of the sign in the yard on the MLS pictures, you’ve shown that you’re doing a runaround of the system because your information will fall into the hands of my buyer when I send them a buyer report. I’d like to think my buyer would be loyal (and I should have the buyer’s representation agreement signed), but this photo puts me at risk of losing the buyer because they may call you directly. I hate to lose them after I’ve sent them homes for months, driven them to ten houses, etc. You get the picture.
But MORE IMPORTANTLY, when you get a listing, you owe it to your client to promote THEIR HOME on the MLS, not yourelf. This agent had two outside pictures of the house and one picture of their sign. Where were the inside photos? The backyard?
Honestly, I don’t think the agent did anything illegal here but it still bugs me.
Categories: Other Agents · Realtor Mistakes
This is LaVergne