Know your Pipes!

How well do you know your pipes? If you know them as well as I do then you need a professional to help. Yesterday a representative from BPG Home Inspections spoke at our KW Team Meeting. He did a quick overview, with pictures, on some plumbing issues that they encounter. His emphasis was the new, and old, types of non-copper pipe that are being used in the home. PBE or Polybutylene “blue pipe”- This pipe was used in the US for a majority of homes built prior to 2000. Because of problems with the pipe it is no longer used in the US for home building. Numerous lawsuits took place because of the failures of the pipe. This appeared to be caused by a chemical reaction between the pipe and chlorine in the water. PEX or Cross-linked polyethylene- Used as an alternative to copper pipe, this pipe is flexible and cheaper. It continues to grow in popularity because it can be used easily in home construction. PVC or Polyvinylchloride-Also used an alternative to copper pipe, this pipe is less expensive to install. A good home inspector should educate you on the type of piping in your home and the potential benefits/pitfalls associated with it. The moral of the story: Do not hire a home inspector based on the cheapest price. I have seen this many times before and the results were not good. Call the inspector; ask for their qualifications and experience. Ask for references. Make this one of the most important factors in purchasing a home. If you find yourselves in the North Atlanta, North Georgia, Lake Lanier area, give us a call. www.randywellsteam.com

Yes Redesigns Still Work!

Yes the market was a lot busier than we have seen in the past few years. The downside is that I see sellers thinking their house will sell because of the market, regardless of how it looks. The Wells Team disagrees with this premise. We disagree based on experience. In the last few months my partner Barb, and marketing specialist Sue, went into two homes and did an extensive redesign on each. They have providing this service to our clients for over 8 years and has brought a lot of successful sales. House number 1 had been for sale for over 3 years! A nice cozy ranch that just needed furniture moved and other items rearranged to give it a "larger" feel. A simple process that resulted in a sale in two months! House number 2 had been for sale over 6 months! We attacked this home the same way moving furniture, rugs from under beds, and moving other smaller items. The idea was to take this 3000 square foot home and open up the living space. Result? Yes we sold this one in a few months also. Buyers are busy these days, as a result, do not have the imagination to see the actual home. Having the home redesigned, or staged, gives these picky buyers a better visual presentation. Better visual presentation means quicker sale. If you need your home staged, or marketed in the North Atlanta area let The Wells Team know! www.randywellsteam.com

Selling your home, AS-IS, and Requesting Repairs

Yes a strange title for a blog but follow my thought process. Your seller negotiates his or hers bottom price for the sale of their home. They feel like they are "giving their home away" and will not go a penny lower. Then the buyer has the home inspected. A few days later the seller receives a list of items the buyer wants repair. Repairs that can run into the thousands of dollars. The seller becomes frustrated and is ready to kill the deal. As an agent representing the seller what do you do??? After seeing this happen, quite frequently, I am inclined to look at some different strategies when it comes to marketing/selling a home: •Market the home AS-IS from the beginning-Personally I do not believe this is a good strategy. From my experience buyer's see a home AS-IS and smell blood. They sense desperation from the seller and are inclined to put in a much lower offer for the home. The buyer bids lower in anticipation of putting money back into the home for repairs. •When negotiations are in progress, good communication needs to take place. In other words the sellers need to convey to the buyers that this is my bottom price and I will not do any repairs on the property. I think this is a better strategy but I believe you will lose a buyer who has no leverage in asking for repairs. So to my fellow agents: Be very clear with your seller. In other words make them aware that a buyer will ask for repairs on their property. Taking away that right, through AS-IS marketing, will cause buyers to look at your home differently. In the end I would advise my seller to anticipate paying for some repairs. Come see us if you are in the North Atlanta, Lake Lanier, North Georgia area! www.randywellsteam.com

Waiting Until the Last Minute? Why?

As real estate agents we are very busy this year. Why do we add more pressure to ourselves, and our clients, by waiting until the last minute to submit amendments? For our non-Georgia real estate agents: After buyers complete their home inspection, they have the chance to ask for repairs to be made. We do this on a form called an Amendment to Address Concerns. We also deal with a due diligence period. This amount of time is negotiated between buyer and seller. I usually see a time period of 7 to 14 days. During this due diligence period a buyer can walk away from the home, for any reason, without financial penalty. During this period if our buyer has any items he wants repaired then we negotiate these items using the form Amendment to Address Concerns. In the past two weeks we have dealt with two situations that were down to the wire. One time we were representing the buyer and one time representing the seller. Representing our buyer, the buyer had last minute concerns about a radon test. The test was considered normal but had readings that raised long term health concerns for my buyer. Due diligence expired Monday night at midnight. My buyer has me submit an amendment to address concerns to the seller's agent Monday morning. His seller is working and felt that she was being pinched about making a quick, last minute decision. Negotiating all day, we finished up the amendment at 9pm, three hours before the deadline. In the case of representing of our seller we had a similar experience. The due diligence was expiring on a Saturday evening. The buyers had their inspection report for over a week but waited until the day before expiration to submit the amendment. Why? In this case their agent went on vacation and said he would take care of it when he returned. My seller felt that she was held hostage to make a last minute decision and did not appreciate the pressure. Fortunately we were able to negotiate a solution. To my fellow Georgia agents: We have an obligation to expedite a home inspection in order to give ample time to review it. If there are items the buyers want repaired, it needs to be submitted earlier to the sellers. The seller needs the time to meet with contractors, get estimates, and review the information before negotiating. Waiting until the last minute because of complacency, makes a stressful negotiation that much harder. Keep an eye on the due diligence date! Check out our website at www.randywellsteam.com