Tag: multi-family home

Gratitude in Pandemic Times

Posted on by Martin Cross

In early March of this year the pandemic was just beginning to feel real. While most of us still had no clue as to the magnitude or impact of the problem, many of us were beginning to consider making changes to the way we moved through the world. I hadn’t started wearing a mask yet but I began social distancing, wiping down surfaces in homes I visited or held open houses, and avoided contact with buyers sellers and other agents. I remember the first weekend in March when agents looked at me weird, or giggled when I told them I wasn’t shaking hands for a while.

But, as the reality of the world situation started to settle in, I just naturally expected that people would be staying home, working from home, and planning to stay living where they were. I started circling the wagons in preparation for a slow year of business. It was still too soon to tell where things were going but of all the options I considered for what the business year would look like, there wasn’t one that looked like a fairly normally busy year for me and a banner year that some agents have experienced. I hadn’t seen the writing on the wall yet that a combination of lowering interest rates, low housing inventory, people working from home and their desires to be closer to their families or further away from the masses would combine to make for a busy real estate year. All of that said, I have been grateful for the ability to help people land where they wanted at a time that has been and is very disruptive and troubling to most of our lives.

With all of that comes mixed feelings. While I have been able to maintain a comfortable, albeit much less social and more hermited lifestyle, many people around me have struggled immensely this year and anticipate further and more difficult struggles into 2021. I can only imagine the pain and difficulty that many have felt through job losses, illness, the loss of loved ones and displacement from their homes.

As this year comes to a close I feel deeply grateful for my health, the health of my clients, friends, family and my partner. I am grateful for Living Room Realty,    the Real Estate Community and our clients willingness to adapt to doing business in a very different and much safer way. But most of all, I’m grateful for the emotional support I’ve received and especially the support I’ve been able to provide everyone around me. If I can be there for you, please don’t hesitate to reach out.

Be well,
Martin ❤

Selling a Home in a “Challenged” Location

Posted on by Living Room Realty

“Location, location, location” is a common mantra in real estate. And it’s good advice that we drum into all of our buyers that we represent —purchasing a home in an area with good schools, amenities and a safe neighborhood is the smart thing to do.  But what if you’re representing a seller that has an exquisite home that is technically ‘centrally’ located, but also sits in light industrial, near train tracks and has a thriving homeless community nearby?  In a real estate boom, home buyers will clamor for almost any house that hits the market because there is little to choose from. That doesn’t mean agents whom take on more difficult listings will get to rest their bums while their home fly off the market though. You must work really really hard to take them to close. We do wish to SHOUT OUT to sellers –if you have a property set near a commercial pocket or a site that is soon to see development or maybe even on a busy road, and your thinking of selling it — unload it now.  Residential homes with check marks against them can be sold for healthy prices in this current market.

Case in point with our last SOLD listing, we took on a house which was built in the early 1900’s as an original duplex. Remodeled by an interior decorator the house dripped with opulence, including high-end fixtures, cutting design, and private courtyards spaces.  We knew the interior of the house would check many buyer boxes but the location itself could also lead to many-a-drive-by with no agent/buyer entry. As listing agents, the first thing we did was educate our seller that houses with ‘challenged locations’ often take more time on the market to sell.  It is incredibly important; to be truthful and transparent from the start with your seller that practicing patience will be a big part of the listing agreement. Marketing is an important part of any listing, but continued marketing over the listing period is key to a home that is waiting for its buyer match. My enthusiasm for getting the word out about new homes is not difficult to muster, like setting any other goal you set in your life, keeping energized and practicing consistency your end goal will pay off.  We wish to sell a home that might sit for awhile – don’t lose momentum. Who is your buyer? What else needs to be done to the home so it shows perfectly? How do we capitalize on our existing wow factors inside the dwelling?  How much of a deduction do we dedicate to our “hits” in regards to pricing?  These are just a few questions we ask ourselves before we come up with the house strategy.

Just like anything else that sits waiting, a home that sits for more than a couple weeks on the market will need attention to its surroundings. When you are working with an out-of-state seller, just like we did on this last deal, we do our best to drive by our properties weekly with the intention of picking up any garbage that has accumulated on the curbs or sidewalks. Having a rake, broom and dustpan in the car becomes handy. Doing those little things like checking the heat setting inside to see that it hasn’t been buggered with and turned down, assures that agents will be warm when they show the home and wish to stay inside longer with their buyers. This listing accumulated some abandoned cars that settled in front of our house and were soon abandoned.  One phone call into the city to be removed is all it takes. Anytime you have a sign for sale posted in front of an un-occupied property be sure to check on it regularly.  Besides that rack and broom in the back seat, I also carry a bat.

All in all, challenged homes take a bit more work for us agents, but I’ve got to say, when they close you really feel like you’ve kicked some ass.  Our seller did very well on their investment thanks to Chris Speth whom knocked this one out-of-the-park.

His name must be on a bottle of the smoothest whiskey that exists. He sure deserves it!