Old Neighbor in Preforeclosure

This is interesting! Last night, I was going through some preforeclosure listings and came across an address that seemed very familiar: it is across the street and about 2 or 3 houses down from the house I used to live in about 2 years ago! I never met the guy living there, but I know the neighborhood and the houses and they are both pretty nice.From what I can tell, this property is not yet listed in the MLS, so the owner may not have an agent yet....

Buyer's Inspection Notice

On Friday afternoon, I received the Buyer's Inspection Notice. They had the property inspected and this notice is a list of things they'd like me to fix. I went out to the property Sunday to verify the items and to meet with my handyman and go over which ones I am willing to fix. Here's the list with my responses: Fascia boards and trim have wood rot / deterioration on northwest corner of patio cover. I will fix this. There is about a 6 inch section...

Article On Why RE Agents Aren't Getting Rich

There's a good article on Slate.com about why real estate agents aren't getting rich from the current housing boom. I love the last line ...

Building My Company's Credit part 2

Following some of the advice from the site in Steve's comment, I went to Dun and Bradstreet to request a D&B number. They have a section where you can check to see if you already have one because 1 out of 2 companies requesting a number already do. It turns out, my company does! So I requested it online. A short while later, I got an email saying they couldn't email me anything because the information I provided didn't match what they had in...

Building My Company's Credit

I'd like to get to the point where my company can apply for bank loans and other financial instruments without a personal guarantee from me, but few banks will lend to a company without some legal recourse against a person should the business fail. To show the business is solid, it needs to have a good credit history. Today, I took the first step towards establishing that credit history.I received an application in the mail from Chase Bank for a...

Meta: A New Record!

Yesterday, this blog had the highest single day hit count in its history: 611! The previous record was somewhere around 400 and I was waiting for the day we broke 500. Turns out, we shattered 500! Thanks to all you readers for making this blog a succe...

Yard Violation Cleared Up

I called the city inspector to verify he got my message from yesterday stating the yard was cleaned and could be re-inspected. He said he did and had checked out the place and it looks good, so that violation is now cleared ...

Meta: Comment Spam

I've been hit with a bunch of comment spam lately. Deleting it is annoying and time consuming so, in an attempt to limit it, I've enable Word Verification for comments. What this means is in order to leave a comment, you will now be asked to type in a series of random letters shown in a graphic in order for your comment to be posted. This prevents automated programs from leaving spam commen...

Now The Paperwork Begins!

Now that escrow is opened, the paperwork begins in earnest!Today, I received a fax from my agent of the earnest money deposit receipt. I also received a contract addendum that changes the name of the buyer from agent's name and nominees to the name of the agent's father, the actual buyer. This is functionally equivalent to assigning the contract but was done via a contract addendum rather than a separate assignment document. My agent also said she...

Yard Is Clean!

Wow! I stopped by the property this morning to check out the work the yard maintenance company did and I am completely impressed! I had told the company about the violation notice I received from the city and that I had to cut the weeds down to no higher than 6 inches and trim a tree that was overhanging the sidewalk. That was what I expected them to do - cut the weeds down. What they actually did was pull them all! There is no evidence of weeds...

Psychology Of MLS Listings

As I wrote about before, I wanted to get this property listed in the MLS using the key words identified in Freakonomics that correlate to a higher sales price. Here is the text of my MLS listing:YOU MUST SEE THIS NEWLY REMODELED HOME... THIS 3 BEDROOM 2 BATH HOME BOASTS NEW PAINT AND CARPET THROUGHOUT.. NEW OAK KITCHEN CABINETS.. NEW COUNTERTOPS.. NEW RANGE/OVEN.. NEW DISHWASHER.. NEW GARBAGE DISPOSAL.. NEW SINKS.. NEW BATHROOM VANITIES.. GREAT FOR...

Moving Forward With Sale

My agent confirmed escrow was opened yesterday. As soon as she gets a copy of the earnest money payment, she'll fax it to me.The next step is providing all the paperwork the contract states I will provide to the buyer: the lead based paint disclosure, the SPDS (seller property disclosure statement), and a list of any insurance claims against the property.I faxed over the lead based paint disclosure this morning.I have requested and received a CLUE...

House Is Sold!

My counter offer to the previous offer was rejected. The buyer did not want to come up with the extra cash or to make the earnest money non-refundable. His agent said she's been trying to get him a house for a couple months, so I guess he's pretty picky. Could be a good thing he backed out.Yesterday afternoon, my agent received a rather strange offer: it was from a family-run real estate agency here in the Valley which is rather large and whose members...

Need New Cabinets In Phoenix?

Ok, I met up with Keith yesterday to settle up our bill. After working with him on this project, I have to say he is a fantastic person to do business with. He has fantastic attention to detail and is considerate of my time. For example, we agreed to meet yesterday at my work to wrap things up. We had not agreed to a specific time - he was going to call when he was on the way. I got a call about 10 minutes to 3 PM saying he was just getting off the...

Offer Fell Through, But New One Received

Now the fun stuff begins - offers and counter-offers!The buyers did not want to agree to my counter offer to make the earnest money non-refundable after the inspection period, so that deal is gone. My agent says this, along with the use of an FHA loan (which is usually used by people with poor credit), indicated a weak buyer.But we've got another offer on the table. This one is for $185,000, which is $5,000 more than the list price. However, the...

Offer For House!

A couple hours before I got the call from my cabinet guy with his cost for fixing the cabinet fiasco, I got a call from my agent telling me she had received an offer for the property! The offer was for full price ($180,000). The buyer was putting 3% down with $1,000 earnest money. It was an FHA loan. They did not want a home warranty. They will pay the appraisal fee. I am to pay a maximum of $410 towards the buyer's closing costs.It sounds like a...

Cabinet Costs

I got a call from Keith last night to discuss the bill for getting the cabinets installed. I had mentally figured around $2,000, which is what the other guy charged me for the job. It turns out to be a bit more than that... The total cost is going to be around $5,200! Keith had about 25 hours of his time in the job, plus his assistant had 25 hours. His rate is $40 - $45 an hour. There was a little more than $1,000 in parts costs and the countertops...

Yardwork Revisited

Well, it seems like I'll have to get the weeds cut down anyway. When I came home from work this afternoon, I had a letter from the city stating I was in violation of city codes. They say the weeds must be cut down to less than 6 inches and a tree on the south side yard must be trimmed so that its branches are at least 7 feet above the sidewalk and 12 feet above the street. I have until August 31st to comply and I will need to have the city inspector...

Cabinet Photos

Here are some pictures of the long awaited cabinets. I have previously posted photos of the old cabinets. Click the pictures for a larger vi...

The $13,000 Phone Call

I was just leaving for lunch when my agent called me. She checked out some active listings in the area and she thinks I can get more than $167,000 for the place. She suggested $180,000. There are 3 active listings in the subdivision and, even at $180,000, mine would still be the lowest priced one. I was a bit concerned because, although I did do a lot to improve the place, the bathroom showers are still a bit, well, not the best. But one house in...

House Is Listed!! (Updated)

Or it will be, as soon as my agent checks her email.I went to the property this morning and everything looks good! The cabinets are finished!! Finally!!! I spent about 45 minutes cleaning up the place. There was a bunch of sawdust from the cabinet install to vacuum up, plus all the boxes for the cabinet doors had to be thrown out. I installed the bathroom light cover and the sink hole plug. The old kitchen countertop was on the back patio. It's too...

Guess What?

The cabinet are not done!Now, I know that probably comes as a surprise to many people. After all, this is just a simple little cabinet job. I mean, how long can it take, right? And the guy told me he would be done yesterday...Ah. Nothing like some sarcasm to start the day off right. I ventured out to the house this morning and discovered the remaining two cabinet doors were still not installed. I was pissed and proceeded to give my lungs and vocal...

Third Time's The Charm For The Hinges?

Keith called me just now and said he's picked up yet a third type of hinge for the corner cabinet doors. Man, I guess Joe didn't have a clue how to make the cabinets and must have done something really strange. Anyway, Keith said he'd get over there tonight after dinner to install them. I told him I was planning on stopping by tomorrow morning before work to check out the job. He said fine. I'm keeping my fingers crossed this will be done. If it...

Turns Out, It's More Than A One Day Delay

Why did I expect things to be done on time? I got a message from Keith on Thursday saying the cabinets would be done on Friday. So I went out to the property on Sunday afternoon and nothing was done. The parts that still need to be installed were there - the veneer and toekicks and such, but they weren't installed yet. The stove was still not put back in place either. So this morning I called Keith and asked what was up. He said his guy was out there...

A Call To End Tax Free Gains On Real Estate

I came across an article on msn.com this morning by a Business Week writer who is complaining about the $250,000 to $500,000 tax free gains policy the IRS provides when selling a residence. (If you aren't aware, you can sell you house and keep up to $250,000 of gains tax free if you are single, or up to $500,000 of gains if you are married. You must have lived in the property for 2 of the last 5 years to qualify for this.) Basically, he is saying...

One Day Delay

I was planning on heading out to the property today to take some pictures and see how things looked, but I just got a call from Keith and will postpone that trip one day. All the cabinets are hung and today they are installing the doors. They are missing one drawer box, so Keith has to pick that up and get it installed. The panels for the sides of the cabinet are still not done, but they should be done and installed tomorrow. (Keith says they are...