You know you are about to take a trip when the phone starts ringing

You know you are about to take a trip when the phone starts ringing and you have more to do than time to do it in…. Wish me luck… May the phone start ringing so I can pay for my trip to China!

I am going to Beijing to see my son and GF! This is going to be so much fun and so interesting… I now have to make lists because as we all know business picks up when you are about to go away… So far I don’t have to refer any business out but I think I will be busy. I have people who can cover for me while I am away. The trip is from MAY 14-28… Right after hubby grades his last final at Boise State University. Yes Professors and their spouses get excited when the term ends too!

I am really mad at CBH homes

I am mentoring another agent.  Her client is trying to build a new home from CBH homes.  They walked into the office and worked out the contract with the CBH agent the terms of the contract.  The sellers agent wrote the contract up with $1500 in the design studio (for upgrades).  We never had a chance to set the terms of the offer since it was complete and our clients had agreed to those terms.  Our clients signed the offer and they countered taking away this money.   This seems to me to be bait and switch.  If we had asked for this it would have been fine for them to counter but they wrote the contract not us.  I am advising that we counter with that money in.  The kids are afraid of losing the contract but they really could use the money so they can have things a house SHOULD have standard… Like a non shallow sink…. A closet door…. A 6 lb carpet pad….

Selling a build job for the first time…

For the first time in my 6 .5 years as a real estate agent I helped a couple write an offer on a build job.  It was sort of interesting on many counts.

1) I am helping a brand new agent out (who I am partnering with) and so technically I just referred it to her…. Well actually she got the client but it is a way to pay me for my expertise…

2) I spent a lot of time researching CBH homes and reading a new type of contract….

3) The biggest problem that buyers seems to run into is that they make the contract and that seems to be a base price.  Then you go to the design studio and pick your colors and upgrades… This can add to the price of the final home.  The couple had already picked some upgrades…We encouraged the couple to go the design studio in the next day or so before they were well underway…

4) Being me I started to worry that they might get a very basic home because they wouldn’t be able to afford the upgrades that they wanted… I am a bit reassured but when we went house hunting they seemed to love vaulted ceilings and that is an upgrade… I think that it might even be one worth paying for…

5)  I never have actually partnered with another agent officially.  This will hopefully be the first of many deals we do together…

6) The couple like the idea of picking everything… This is the obvious good part of buying a new home…

Hopefully everything will go smoothly.  I made sure the couple knew that we were looking out for their best interest.. The other agent works for the builder and represents the builder. Going totally with the builders agent is like letting your husbands divorce attorney write your paperwork….

These are Debbie”s thoughts for the day..

I’m back to blogging again….

Hi!  I am mostly posting this because I seem to have taken a break from blogging…. I was blogging about everything and I sort of stopped for a few weeks… Maybe I needed the break…. I have been doing a bunch of stuff.

Some real estate, some politics and some spreadsheet work. I have had a tough start of the year with many random events hurting my business…. I had the suitcase full of cash, a buyer with heart surgery, a bad inspection,dad’s small stroke, dad’s research project …. Those type of things… Normally I do great but I guess after a while I didn’t want to talk about it… Or maybe its just the tail end of winter….

Well I am still selling houses in Boise, Idaho…. I have a couple of buyer leads….I thought about running for office again…. I sold the house after repairs quickly and for more than the last contract… So I guess what I want to say is that I am back in the game and trying to work up enthusiasm.

 

Will Aishia get a deficency judgement?

Deficency judgement continued….

Aisha

In October of 2011 I showed a house for a buyer.  The owner was home.  She is a lovely lady who developed breast cancer.  She was paying her mortgage until she couldn’t work because of the cancer.  Aisha is a single mother who now has a reasonable job.   She tried to get a loan modification but her bank wouldn’t talk to her.  They tried to tack on all sorts of fees and call it a loan modification. Aisha has two mortgages.

When her home either short sales or is foreclosed on she will get a deficiency judgment for the second mortgage.  So first you get sick. Then you lose your job. Then you lose your home. Then you get slapped with a deficiency judgment for the entire second mortgage.

Wow it is easy to renew my USA Passport!

With my dad just having a stroke and going to Israel I sort of wanted to be able go there quickly.   I looked at my passport and noticed the expiration date of 5/2012…. That wasn’t good…. The airlines don’t always let you on if your passport is about to expire…  Also some countries won’t let you in.  By the way Israel will let you in if you have a return ticket.   I was in a quandary.. By expediting my passport there would be a 2-3 week window where I can’t travel.  I guess in an emergency I could go to Seattle (500 miles away) and throw myself at the mercy of the passport agency…So it is time to renew the passport…

So I googled the instructions…. They were really easy.

In 5 minutes I had the form printed out.  Then went for my passport photo at Walgreens.  Photocopied everything at the office.  Made an envelope of my check, the application (with my photo) and my old passport.  Then I will go to the post office and hopefully have my passport in 2-3 weeks.  Note without expediting it takes $70 less but 4-6 weeks…. In an emergency you can go to the nearest passport office (with proof of travel (ie. Airline ticket)) in less then 2 weeks) and get it in 1 day.  You do need to make an appointment.

So happy traveling… With luck my passport will be here in a couple of weeks.

Found a great investment but cant interest anyone….

Sometimes as an agent we find a cash cow….. A property that has significant extra value in price or a great rental value…. I found one such property…. It is 3 bedrooms, 1.5 bath 1152 sq ft.  in Boise at a negotiated shortsale of $73000 plus closing costs.  It is even possible that the owner would like to stay at the home and rent it.  Whether you are looking for a home or an investment this is it.  The value is $100,000 today if you turned around and sold it.  I have been in it and wrote an offer on it in October.  It is a nice home for the money.  If you want to see it give me a call.  This home is near the Boise Town Square.  It’s not my listing but it is a good one… I am even thinking of making an offer.  I called my buyers but none of them are ready to move on it.  To bad because it is a very nice home for the money.

Idaho Human Rights Day/ Martin Luther King, Jr day – Famous quotes form MLK and others!

I took these quotes from Martin Luther King, Jr. Quotes.   In Idaho we call it the Idaho Human Rights day.  Of course it is inspired by the great man.   Other Great Men and Women have spoke on equality and dreams….  Here it is right from the website.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.
Martin Luther King Jr., I Have a Dream, 1963.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
Martin Luther King Jr., I Have a Dream, 1963.

All men are born equally free.
Salmon P. Chase

All men are created equal, it is only men themselves who place themselves above equality.
David Allan Coe

Coming generations will learn equality from poverty, and love from woes.
Khalil Gibran

Equality is the soul of liberty; there is, in fact, no liberty without it.
Frances Wright

Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Abraham Lincoln

From the equality of rights springs identity of our highest interests; you cannot subvert your neighbor’s rights without striking a dangerous blow at your own.
Carl Schurz

I know my country has not perfected itself. At times, we’ve struggled to keep the promise of liberty and equality for all of our people. We’ve made our share of mistakes, and there are times when our actions around the world have not lived up to our best intentions.
Barack Obama

“All the citizens of a state cannot be equally powerful, but they may be equally free”
Voltaire

Equality is the basis of our society.  No one should think they are better or worse then others because of their diversity or lack of diversity… Debbie Holmes 2012

Very funny video about closing a loan with a Bank of America!

this is really funny! Unfortunately it is a story that does happen….Read my blog post from yesterday http://activerain.com/blogsview/2675329/i-hate-dealing-with-big-banks.

I hope you enjoyed this song as much as I did. This loan finally closed on December 18, 2011. Enjoy!

Open House….My colleague wants to sit at my listing….

 

At our last meeting one of my colleagues asked if anyone had a listing he could open…. At first I looked at him funny….Why would one want to sit in someone Else’s listing?  I got over that when our agency had the new development…. After a while I sort of realized it would be dumb luck if I ever got any money…  It ruined my weekends…Well I did have a beautiful brand new home in a great setting to spend my afternoon in.  But no buyers….If they had an agent no pay…If they came back and didn’t explain that they met that really nice agent at the open house, no pay…..I sat anyway because I said I would…I hoped maybe to pick a buyer…I didn’t…..We lost the listing (they were overpriced and far from town on little lots)….

I realize that my colleague (friend) had no listings and no solid buyers…. I also realized I had two listings I wanted open and didn’t want to sit open houses on both weekend days…..  I thought about it through the rest of the meeting….  After the meeting I told him he could pick which of my listings he wants to open and I would handle the other one….

Wait you say….Don’t you want to represent both sides?  Don’t I want to pick up the buyer?  Well yes of course but I wasn’t going to open both houses…It is very wearing and I have things to do….buyers to service…I want my listing sold.  History tells me somebody else will bring my buyer…It might as well be my colleague and friend.  He picked 105 Bridgewater and I have 722 Pearl.

He called me yesterday.  He went to see the home….He is very excited….This is not a new agent…He is an older man with 20 plus years in the business…  I hope he is successful….It would help both of us if he brings me an offer….I hope he also picks up a buyer…

  Open Saturday 1-4 PM

 

For me I will sit Pearl…. A very nice home about 1/4  of mile from mine….It is on the Boise Bench…A wonderful older neighborhood close to everything with a lot of spirit and class.

  Open Sunday 1-4 PM

 

Sometimes helping another person is a win-win situation.  My friend has something to do today and I have both homes open…Maybe we will both be successful to help us end 2011.  Wish us well….