Getting Things Done

Sorry, I missed posting Thursday and Friday. Thursday I spend the entire day at the old subdivision with my partner. I called technical support for GAMLS and managed to get my listings uploaded. Diana meanwhile was working on the builders program and trying to get things straightened out on those contracts. Then one of the buyers for that subdivision came in to discuss their house. Their house is supposed to be closing next week and it is not ready. They spent about 1 1/2 – 2 hours sitting there discussing the same things over and over–while I wished they would just leave so we could get things done. Repeating a problem over and over does not make things better. I know, I have been doing that this entire week. Another buyer had called Diana saying her house had the wrong color siding and the wrong color paint inside. We drove down to check. Sorry miss buyer but the siding is the color you chose and the inside has not been painted yet. The color you are seeing is primer. And that is why you let the builder finish before you have a fit.

Yesterday, I had the entire day off. Spent the morning getting caught up on some much needed housework and then went into Atlanta to hang out with my kids.

Today is my day off but I will be showing homes at 11:00. If they want to write a contract I will get that done but then I am heading into Atlanta again. 

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Closing Time

What a wonderful day it started out to be!! I met my trainer first thing in the morning then headed off to a 9:00 closing. I had never met this buyer’s family, omg what beautiful little girls. The oldest one, 3, wanted my partner to get her some candy. When she couldn’t produce it this little girl gave her the evil eye for about 20 minutes. It was so funny. She would not smile and could not take her eyes off of my partner.

I had to hang out for a little while for the attorney to cut checks and then head up to Cummings GA to give my old broker the check and pick up our checks. When that was done I headed to our old subdivision to enter my outside listings into the multiple listing servers. FMLS worked just fine, GAMLS was another story. After 2 hours I gave up and headed home. When I got home I was determined to get it done. Needless to say another hour later and I had to give it up before I threw something.

My husband called to tell me he would be late–not something I wanted to hear. A few minutes later he called to see if I could pick him up from work so we could go out to dinner in Atlanta. You don’t have to ask me twice, and Indian food–another favorite. He really made my night. I feel so much better. I know if I had stayed home I would have continued to frustrate myself. Now I am full, happy and ready to start tomorrow.

Change

Today I moved my license to a new broker. Not because I made this big decision by interviewing different brokers to see what they offered. Not because I was looking for change. The only reason I made this move was to secure my position with the builders I represent. I would never had made the move I did without careful consideration and without protecting my interests. Unfortunately the builders don’t think about what it means to the realtor. I believe the builders have no clue what it means to us.

I am not complaining about the move. It is something I had thought about several times, but I had to stay with the company the builders’ chose or move on to another builder or give up on builders entirely. I think if I could do things all over I would give up builders for good. Don’t get me wrong, I like selling new homes and I really think the builders are building a great product with great prices. The problem is, builders ask agents to represent them and sell their homes. Then they ask for our expertise–but they never like what we have to say so they look for someone who will tell them what they want to hear.

Here’s what the builders don’t know. When I move my license from one broker to another, I have to sign a contact with the new broker which isn’t the “deal” I was hoping to sign. Commission splits change, procedures change, how I get paid changes. But here is the worst part. The old broker does not have to pay me for anything under contract at the time of my departure. Hmmmm. I have 9 contracts with the builders and 7 outside sales. Do you realize how much money is on the table? Did the builder ask me? No!!! Luckily for me the broker is not holding back my commissions. I will still get paid. However, this move is costing me the price of one commission because I will have to pay a franchise fee on all my outside sales now that I am with another company. Can you imagine walking away from $1200. just because someone else made a decision to change companies? Do you think I want to leave all that money behind? Oh no. I’m doing it because the subdivision I am selling in right now is selling so fast I believe I can make about 50 times that over the next 6 months. That does not include my outside sales. So, it’s leave $1200. on the table but make 50 times that or keep the $1200. but lose the 50 times that. I work for money. I’m staying with the money.

My new broker seems very nice–I’ll let you know if she isn’t. She isn’t the broker I would have chose but who knows, it may all work out yet.

Time Flies When You Are Selling Homes!

I started today by going to the gym. I joined the gym just about a month ago and decided I needed help, so I hired a trainer. I worked with him two times last week and was pretty confident I could do this by myself. This morning was my first time alone. I did most everything but I just could not remember how to do one of the exercises. I made up for it by doing some cardio for 40 minutes. I think that is a very fair pay off.

I worked at the subdivision again today and it was relatively quiet. One of the buyers’ who verbally accepted an offer yesterday stopped in to pick up the contract (because he did not have a printer) and took it with him to have the co-buyer sign. That is coming back tomorrow. I re-entered a contract in the program the builder uses for production. Somehow we (me and my partner) deleted the entire contract the other day. I was very lucky the program ran smoothly and I had it done in only minutes. Yay!! That is a true miracle.

The counter offer on my listing is being totally ignored by the buyer??? Whatever. Get this, a buyer makes a $15,000. deduction in the list price and will not respond when my seller counters at $7,000. more. Really? The best part of this is that the house is only $69,000. listing. Most sellers would have been insulted at the offer and totally ignored them. Oh well. It’s only been listed for a few days I think we will hang in there.

We just found out one of our buyers won a “highest and best” offer and today we are told the bank does not have title and the home is being taken off the market until it is straightened out. OMG! I shouldn’t complain. Last year I had a buyer wait 6 months for the bank to finally get the title. I have a buyer right now who has had to extend for 2 months waiting for the title. At least this bank is telling us up front.

Another buyer asked me to “shop” attorneys today for the lowest closing costs. It’s a first for me. In 15 years I have never had to do that one.

Looks like I’ll be meeting a buyer out at Brookmont to check out the lots, then showing another buyer a home later in the afternoon. All this after a sales meeting with our new broker.

Finally Done For the Day

Had a very busy day. I left early to pick up a gift card and drop it off to the agent at another subdivision, then headed off to Kinridge. Wouldn’t you know I missed my turn and ended up going around in a circle. I know, I should not be talking on the phone if I don’t know where I am going, but I thought I knew. I guess I should have used my gps.

Finalized two contracts at the subdivision, wrote another, sent a counter offer on my listing and even managed to finalize an amendment that had to be taken care of today.

I arrived home about my usual time and checked my email–which is what I do–because you never know what has been sent while driving home. One of the builders asked me to please get signatures on the two contracts that were verbally accepted–tonight!  ????????? Really?? I immediately email the other agents with this urgent request, eat dinner and run back to the computer. About 9:00 I receive a call from one of the agents who is frantically working to get the signatures for me. What a doll. 11:00 pm and I just received one of the contracts and emailed them to the builder. One out of two is 50% complete!

I’m going to bed. Tomorrow will come too quickly.

A New Day for This Realtor

I woke up this morning thinking I would have a nice leisurely breakfast, relax a little, and maybe get some laundry done before I head out to the subdivision. As my thoughts run through my head, I remember I have not picked up a gift card for a homeowner who has been gracious enough to open her home several times to potential buyers. So much for my relaxing morning. I am now currently rushing through my coffee so I can jump in the shower and get ready. And so the day has begun!

Real Estate Today

Let me start by saying although I sit on site in a new subdivision, I also list homes for resale and help buyers in the search for their home. Today, I worked at Kinridge Place–on site–while trying to handle some of my outside sales.

I knew before I started out for the day that I would have someone waiting for me at  Kinridge. An agent had called about one of our floor plans and planned to bring his buyer out to see the subdivision and gather some information about the builders and the construction. They were sitting in front of the model when I arrived.

Last night I had an agent schedule a showing for one of my listings. My seller called to tell me she had been sitting in the car with her dogs waiting for 20 minutes. Naturally my seller called while I was trying to gather information for the agent who was waiting when I arrived. I called the agent regarding the showing of my listing as the other agent and his buyer walked through the model home. After several calls between seller and agent, all is resolved and I could concentrate on Kinridge.

The agent and his buyer would like to see the plan but we only have one and it closed yesterday. Hmmm, I called the agent who sold that home to see if she can arrange a viewing. While we were waiting, the agent left. I called the agent a couple times to tell him we can show the home–but he never returned my calls so we could not schedule.

I also had two buyers who were already under contract come in to make their selections. Fortunately they came in at separate times. I had two other visitors who registered and gathered their information.

I had also been working on two counter offers in the subdivision and the printer decided to stop printing. Luckily for me the builders’ go to techie was in the neighborhood and she came out and had it up and running in no time. I was able to get both counter offers out, a change order done (again thanks to our techie) and I left on time.

As I arrived home I received a call from the agent who showed my listing. He had sent me an offer. Yay!! I called my seller to let her know and I sent her an email that explained the contract, attached the contract and I suggested a counter for her. After dinner I headed out to Home Depot with my husband and my phone rang. My seller just saw the email! We discussed the details and as soon as I got home I prepared the counter offer and sent it to her.

I noticed in my inbox I had finally received an amendment from a buyer that had to go to the listing agent yesterday. I had been trying to get a signature for 2 days. Tomorrow is the last day of our due diligence so I sent it to the listing agent and told her I needed an answer from her seller as soon as possible.

Looking for a New Home?

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There’s a new builder in town! That’s right, Piedmont Residential is building new homes in Douglas, Cobb and Cherokee Counties. One thing you will love about Piedmont Residential is they want happy customers! Really, they do. Now I am not saying other builders do not want happy homeowners–they do too, but they all don’t work hard to make you feel the warm and fuzzies like Piedmont Residential. The Piedmont builders will actually sit down with you after a contract to go through that contract and make sure everyone is on the same page. I have worked for a lot of builders and there are not that many who will do this. Piedmont also has an outside company to do your walk through and warranty work. If you build a Piedmont home, you will do 5 walk throughs! Wow, that’s a lot of walk throughs and they use an outside company to do them with you. They also send out a survey from Woodland O’Brien about 45 days after closing. They really want to know how everyone performed from the onsite agents, the builder, the lender, and the warranty company.

Piedmont offers a one year and a 2-10 year warranty on your home. You can be sure you are protected when you buy a Piedmont Residential home. They also use Hardie-plank Plus which is probably the best siding you can get. The color is baked into the siding so you don’t have to paint for about 15 years. That’s right, 15 years!

Check them out–Hey, I’m out at Kinridge and Granite Mills in East Cobb. Come by and visit me.