Experts Cross The Line On Occasion

In a real estate transaction, there are many people involved who render professional advice and services. Most Realtors will advise their customers to use licensed professionals such as licensed mortgage loan officers, licensed certified appraisers, licensed home inspectors, licensed roofers, electricians, plumbers and contractors. Home-Buyers and Home-Sellers hire these professionals to do specific work related to the scope of their fields.

Unfortunately, there are times when professionals just can’t help in giving their personal opinions to a buyer or seller, not realizing that this personal commentary can sometimes ruin a transaction. In this post, I really wanted to talk about a few mis-steps of those we rely on for “expert” opinions and advice.

Here are a few experiences I have had with “experts:”

• A Home Inspector tells a buyer that his sister is in insurance and this house built in 1945 is uninsurable. (The home was indeed insurable, but this cost the sellers a sale as the buyer walked away from the sale and cited this as the reason. Hey! When did he get his insurance license?)
• A Surveyor told one of my sellers that their friend told them that the property they were selling had an old graveyard on it somewhere in the back acreage. (Wouldn’t you think he’d wait and research the “hearsay” of his friend before mentioning this? Was it right for him to say anything to the seller at all? Not!)
• A Contractor who was replacing siding on a house told my buyer they would never buy this house because it would be a money pit. (They bought the home, had a few minor repairs and enjoying their third year there,.. oh,.. they hired another contractor to do their work.)
• A plumber told a buyer that whoever did the repairs on this house before him must have been a thief and a fool. (As soon as I heard that, I asked him to leave,.. and hired another plumber – do we need that kind of analysis or do we just want to know what we are dealing with,.. the facts please!)
• A heating and air conditioning contractor told a home-seller that the Realtor that said this HVAC system needed to be serviced must not have known that he had been servicing this unit since it was installed, and they didn’t know what they were talking about. (A second HVAC contractor concurred with inspection report and we found out later that this company had been ripping off people for years and he soon lost his license.)
• A home inspector gives opinions in a home inspection, but after his recommendation of a licensed roofer to evaluate, he returns only to say now that the work was substandard and not acceptable. Emotions were escalated by this inspectors personal remarks and opinions. (Realtors facilitated second opinions by a roofer he recommended, and after a meeting with all parties including the first roofer, the transaction was saved over a $50 repair. A more careful choice of words, both on a home inspection and when in person with a buyer, seller or Realtor, might just result in solving a problem easily instead of inciting extreme emotions.)

I’m not saying Realtors are perfect, but here is what we are here for, CALMness. Realtors are generally the ones that are pros at crisis management!

I could go on… but the point is this the choice of words, or personal interjections caused all parties undue stress and aggravation, some a sale, others a lot of money only to have been proven unfounded and really had no business being discussed in the first place. Buyers deserve to have professional advice, reports prepared using language that points to specific issues verifiable by that expert’s knowledge. If there are items outside the service provider’s area of expertise…make sure they make a recommendation to a professional equipped to deal with that issue. 

If you are a buyer and have doubts about a professional opinion ask your Realtor to help you sort it all out!

Local Artist Lucas VanSickle, Tire Swing Designs, sent me an invite to “A Night of Art” for Wednesday September 14th – tonight!  I can’t wait to see what new woodworking projects and pieces Lucas has been working on and to see other local artists with works on display.

It seems the Marriott, Springhill Suites across the county participate in “Nights of Art” and host these events in many cities in support of local artists!  That’s a Big “Thumbs Up” for me!

As a member of the Northeast Business Association, I too support Local Businesses and am proud to be opening a preferred partner’s page soon on HomeSalesofTallahassee.com in support of locally owned and operated service providers. Please check it out.. and watch it grow!

Florida State Football draws the crowds, every single game, but 2011 is an exceptional year! Where do you go on FSU Game days before and after the game?

Our family has a long tradition at Florida State dating back to the early years when my grandmother attended FSWC, Florida State Women’s College! So, the true fourth generation of Florida State Seminole blood runs deep! For years we have tailgated, watched games from both inside the stadium, in our homes and at our favorite Tallahassee area restaurants, bars and the homes of friends and family.

The FSU tradition of gathering before and after games continues and downtown and mid-town Tallahassee shops, restaurants and bars are ready for the 2011 crowds and visitors!  The “Fall Frenzy” in Tallahassee hasbegun and lasts from September to November – Don’t Miss your chance to visit local Tallahassee businesses!

If you want to know what to do and where to go in Tallahassee, FL during football games, Visit Tallahassee has a great site featuring some great pre-game and post-game hot spots in Tallahassee, FL. Dining, entertainment, and gathering with friends is a FSU – College town tradition Visit some of these wonderful downtown and college-town locations.  Foursquare me as your friend.. I am sure I will be at one of these great spots with friends before or after FSU football and FSU baseball games! GO NOLES!

Here’s a welcome video from Gene Deckerhoff, voice of the FSU Seminoles!

More on the “Fall Frenzy” September – November 2011

Want to Search Tallahassee Homes For Sale while you are in town? Custom Tour.. or Virtual Tour, you decide!

Good Day and Happy Labor Day!  Last year’s Labor Day post on this blog was very similar to what I was going to write today. First a little history of Labor Day then a report on how I was going to spend my Labor Day.  It’s turning out to be a totally different post, so you may want to read last year’s post first then this one!

Here’s an interesting story about that post, and it inspired me to write, of all things, a post on pricing your home properly and why no offer is a bad offer, but perhaps they are just offers that need some tweaking!

Last year I was showing property to a customer from Queens. I am happy to say that one year later we are in contract, on the same home she picked last year, and for $20,000 less of a sales price than the offer we presented last year. At the time, the owners,marketing their own property as a For Sale By Owner, would not consider an offer of $295,000 on a sales price of $319,000. Today, their home is listed at $309,000 with a Realtor, and their agreed upon contract amount is $275,000 less 6% sales commission, $28, 850 less than the original offer (after commission fees).  What they do have is a clean offer, the same clean offer as before with a qualified buyer at a fair market value, which is unfortunately, about 10% less than last year. Like many sellers today, they have chased the market down, until they met the market price – what a willing and able buyer was offering them!

If you are a seller,#1 work with a Realtor, the chances of you selling your home by yourself in today’s bloated market are less than 5%. #2 There is no such thing as a bad offer, just an offer needing negotiation. Realtors are masters at negotiations and can help you reach your goals. #3 Price your home at or slightly below market value for exposure to more buyers- make it compelling enough that they see the “value” in purchasing your home over others.  If you are considering selling your Tallahassee, FL home, call me today for a true picture of your home’s value and an assessment of what you need to do to get your home market ready. There’s work for all to do before the sign goes up in the yard!

Are you considering selling your Tallahassee home? Put Debbie Kirkland, and the Home Sales of Tallahassee Team to work for you! Contact us for a free home selling consultation.

I wonder how many people in general look at their relationships with others and say, “Gee, I wish I had done this, or said that, or taken a little more time with so-and-so.” I’m really grateful for the many sides of people in my life and that I am getting to see and know all of them. There seems to be one common thread among the ones I admire and call friends, and that is the fundamental desire to push outside every box we seem to have been placed in.

REAL ESTATE BARCAMP ORLANDO 2011

It’s been a week since REBarCamp Orlando, and after arriving home, with two stranded Massachusetts folks, Speaker Leslie Lambert and Moriss Partee,stranded from hurricane Irene,  I am finally getting unpacked and re-organized.

Planning this year’s event quickly became a BIG job when the numbers of attendees rose over 300, then 400, 500 and finally 640.  While I didn’t expect all of them to show, we did calculate that we had over 533 in attendance, a pretty great turnout for events like this. The biggest fear for me was keeping it REAL, and keeping the integrity of a true BarCamp style event intact.

We had a few folks outside their little RE BarCamp shells,..they wanted to get up on the board, get in front of an audience, just could not wait to “present.” So, we decided to mix it up, again , keep it as organic as possible. A large white board held pink stickies with attendees “Need to know” subject matters, and white session facilitators “Will help you know” topics.  I’m not sure it worked exactly like that, but it kept the board from filling with session hogs and gave more people a chance to collaborate and to really think about what the needs of the attendees may be.

There were some bumps with vendors and product pimpers, but that won’t happen again so easily,.. you just live and learn as they say! As in any BarCamp, the organizers got great ideas as well as to how to keep that from being an issue in future events.

The highlights for me were somewhat different than for others, for first-timers etc.  This is my third REBarCamp,.. but many of the attendees who were also speakers at the Florida Realtors Conference were actually friends of mine. Yes, friends that I met online during my initial dive into social media. Others were online only acquaintances until REBarCamp Orlando where we had our first “in real life” meetings. 

In any other circumstance, that might be a little weird for some who are not as social, but I have a gift.. it’s that I am from the South. I swear I inherited some ability of intuition about people and when you add the most beautiful part of social media to that, (how social media enables you to learn about people on a deeper level than casual friendships), it just makes for the perfect opportunity for REAL friendships and networks that extend way beyond our business lives. Meeting Diane Guercio and Amy Cesario for the first time after nearly three years of online friendships was like running up to hug a sister you had known all your life, but never laid eyes on. It was wonderful, happy, and yes, brought a little tears, but it was not strange or forced because through social media, I knew them before they ever arrived. Wouldn’t you like to know your customers like this before you ever try to help them? Can you see my point?

All the above may seem a little gushy so for your non-gushers here is also the reality – Social Media and Networking events like REBarCamps give you much more than any other conferences you can attend. Hands down. You want to know how something really works, if it works, you need to get to a RE BarCamp.

So, here are questions that people ask us social media event gushers about all the time:

1. What”return on investment” do you get? 
2. How do you make money with social media?
3. Do you use it for business only or personal use?
4. What do you get out of planning a Real Estate BarCamp?

Simple answers:

1. Business relationships build referral bases, provide you with education from the school of hard-knocks, provide you with money-saving and making tips that you can’t get from a book, and those you can get from a book – or online.  The adopters of social media, who “get it,” will share their knowledge,.. and expect you to do the same. I’m constantly working it, but Social media increased my business by 65% this year. That’s no peanuts!
2. Applying what I just said in #1. You build the relationships, it will come. I have had 6 incoming referrals from others I met at REBarCamp 2010! I’ve made five  direct referrals to my friends of social media. I’ve increased my business by 65% in one year from direct social media marketing efforts, and my sellers are thrilled to see their home being exposed in so many venues. I have acquired buyers directly from social media efforts..and it’s not slowing down.
3. My business is me. “Me” is who I am on a business page as much as a personal page, just in a dress (sort of), and with a certificate that says, “I know a little something about,….and I can help you, and yes, it’s my job, and I hope to get paid for it sooner or later.” People know I’m a Realtor on my profiles, for sure.
4. I get a lot of satisfaction, seeing agents get excited about their businesses again – it’s a synergy that I can’t explain adequately in words, but it’s inspirational. I also have a network of industry leaders, Realtors, vendors, association executives that I would never have met , that I am closely associated with that have given me much more than I have given in return! Plus, I believe in “Pay It Forward.”

This year, I thank my early influencers once again for all that I learn from them.. both on and off the Real Estate Island. MikeMueller of AreWeConnected.com, Diane Guercio – Realtor, Towne and Country Real Estate, Mass., Lesley Lambert, Realtor, Western Mass; Bobby Carroll, Dakno Marketing, N. Carolina; Amy Cesario, Realtor, Denver, CO; Jeremy Blanton, 210 Consulting, Myrtle Beach; and my Ra-Ra sisters (a Mastermind group formed after REBCORL 2010), Chris Griffith, Bonita Springs; Cyndee Haydon, Clearwater and Janie Coffey, Miami and mentors Bill Lublin, Amy Chorew, all of whom were at Real Estate BarCamp Orlando among many others who helped make this one a memorable event. These are some REAL people, and REALLY smart people of REBarCamp Orlando 2011. When’s our next event?