VARbuzz » Heather Elias

Builders Not Building, Banks Knocking Down Homes

Heather Elias — Tue, 12 May 2009 13:36:01 +0000

According to the Winchester Star, new construction has slowed in Winchester and Frederick County to such a snails pace that developers are sitting on numerous vacant lots on subdivisions across the county. Ryland Homes just pulled out of a community in Strasburg, Taylor Ridge, leaving it half built, and leaving the developer saddled with the responsibility of maintaining the vacant lots to protect his investment. One developer quoted in the article said he is waiting out the market by buying and renovating foreclosed homes.

Meanwhile, in California, a bank bulldozed four finished, vacant, new construction homes and 12 partially finished homes to return the site to “a safe, clean and undeveloped state.” Apparently squatters had taken residence in some of the unfinished homes, while others had been vandalized. The bank decided it was a better financial decision to raze the whole project than sell the homes at a loss.

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Are There “Co-Ho’s” in Your Market?

Heather Elias — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 23:23:46 +0000

I was reading Time magazine this weekend and stumbled across an article on ‘communal homeowners’, which they dubbed ‘Co-ho’s’. Basically, a communal homeowner, co-ho, is someone who buys a home with friends. The story profiled several different pairs of homeowners who bought with friends; all were in their 20s and were looking to maximize the size and quality of home they could purchase by pooling their resources with a friend.

For singles who might be stretching it to afford a one bedroom condo if they purchased alone, co-ho’ing it allowed for more square footage: one pair bought a row house in Baltimore, another bought a house in Columbus, Ohio. They typically split the mortgage, utilities, tax break, cost of upkeep, etc, with some sort of long term agreement in place of how and when the home should be sold.

I’m interested to hear if anyone has seen this happening in our local market (Baltimore certainly isn’t that far from Virginia) and whether it was a successful situation. I’ve helped family members (brothers) purchase a home together before, but never worked with a pair of friends investing together. I can see the benefits of pooling resources to jump into the homeownership pool, but I’d be cautious of the downside: combining finances, on some level, with a friend, can potentially lead to a strained relationship and problems if things don’t go according to plan.

Has anyone worked with buyers in a situation like this? How has it worked out? Should we look to encourage this type of purchase with the 20somethings on our contact lists?

Cheers,

Heather Elias

VARBuzz Authors Shine in Washington Post Article

Heather Elias — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 19:36:57 +0000

As I’m sure any of the authors of this blog could attest, more consumers are ‘interviewing’ Realtors by reading their blog posts before they ever pick up the phone to make contact. The Washington Post published an article yesterday in their Real Estate section titled “Making Connections: Web 2.0 Creates New Ways for Agents, Home Shoppers to Find Each Other“, and mentioned three of our VARBuzz authors in the article.

Consumer’s comment about Bob Carney, author of FocusOnFrederick.com:

“I’d been told to never pick a Realtor out of a hat, but I feel like Bob was recommended to us out of the comments on the Internet,” she said. “I just remember reading Bob and going ‘Oh, yeah. He’s the one.’”

Another homebuyer was quoted after working with Danilo Bogdanovic, author of LoudounScene.com and LoudounForeclosures.com:

“It came down to these other two agents. I didn’t know anything about them,” Shields said. Bogdanovic “was the only one you could get a personality from.”

A client of Frank Llosa, author of blog.franklyrealty.com, said:

“When I read Frank’s stuff, I was really impressed by what he knew,” said Yeow, a government health scientist. “I realized he was in Northern Virginia and that sealed the deal.”

The article also touches on the pros and cons of using Redfin, as well as how consumers are looking to LinkedIn for recommendations, or perusing agents’ responses to questions on Trulia Voices to gauge their expertise in different market areas. From personal experience I can attest that clients have picked me after deciding that my personality (as evidenced by my blog writing) was a good fit for theirs.

The quotes of these happy clients reinforces the idea that your blog is your ‘voice’ to connect with consumers. Impressive that the three Realtors named in the article were all Buzz contributors… Kudos to Bob, Danilo, and Frank!

Cheers,

Heather

Finding Blogging Mojo in San Francisco

Heather Elias — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 17:19:04 +0000

I’m still recovering from four days attending Inman Connect in San Francisco, including RE BarCamp the day before. Not only did I have the opportunity to listen to talented speakers and engaging panel discussions, I also got to meet so many people in person that prior to this week I knew from their writing or from interacting with them in various social networking places.

The online real estate community is an interesting bunch; I spend an awful lot of time listening and have thus picked up so many great ideas that I have implemented in my writing and my business. Being able to shake these folks’ hands (or hug them, most likely) and engage in face to face discussions on how they write, how they work their businesses… wow.

To recap what I learned, I have to write in soundbites, as there were a number of things that struck a chord with me:

Dustin Luther’s suggestion to interview industry folks that we use and recommend on our blogs…lenders, title folks, inspectors, stagers, etc. They can be the ‘featured interview’ and you can send them a link to the post when you publish so they can send it to their sphere.
Daniel Rothamel taking that suggestion further; interview/feature your past clients on your blog, highlight their unique story
Quoting Frank Llosa, who was responding to someone who suggested that listing agents work way harder than buyer’s agents: “If you think a buyer agent is only a taxicab with a keycard, then you had a sucky buyer’s agent”
Dustin on using social networking sites: you wouldn’t walk into the middle of a PTA meeting and yell “Hi, I’m a Realtor! Here’s my phone number and my website!”, so don’t do that on those sites either.
Nicole Nicolay‘s suggestion to become more involved with local schools to help them get the things they need
Dustin: already established online communities are “low hanging fruit” of opportunity
Jeff Turner and YEO…You Engaging Others, reinforcing face to face contact going hand in hand with internet marketing
Dustin: “The internet doesn’t replace contact, it enhances it”

Overall, I think the most prevalent theme from the Bloggers Connect portion of the conference was that we need to remember to blend our online marketing efforts with our more traditional, face to face skills. I heard it said in many different ways that we need to use those efforts to grow and enhance relationships that are already there, as well as give us the platform to make new connections.

When agents in my office asked why I was going, I told them I wanted to come back with ideas on how I could improve my blog and my business. I definitely came away with tons of ideas (my head is still spinning). Just as important, though, I had a chance to strengthen the relationships with the amazing friends that I continue to learn from. Worth every penny I spent to be there.

Cheers,

Heather

Too bad!

Heather Elias — Wed, 21 May 2008 02:39:17 +0000

It just happened again. I’m sitting on an open house, and a couple walks in; immediately I can sense that their desire to see the house has overridden their non-desire to speak with a REALTOR® inside the house. They clearly don’t want to talk to me, don’t want to sign in, are looking around, not making eye contact. I’m welcoming but trying to not get in their way. I ask if they found their way to the open from directional signs or from advertising, and they do answer me. The wife heads downstairs as I ask the husband if they have been to many open houses today (a few, apparently). He says he’s had about enough of opens, trying to look beyond what’s there to what could be there to meet their needs. I’d love to encourage the conversation, but he’s still not making eye contact. I say, “I understand” about the time the wife hits the top of the steps to declare that the house is too small for them. They do explain why, and as I point them in the direction of some slightly larger homes, they are backing toward the door, ready to escape. They say they appreciate the suggestion and take off.

Now, some agents would hold them verbally hostage, force a business card in their hand, make them take a brochure they didn’t want. I know that I gave them an opportunity to talk to me further about their needs, but they obviously didn’t want to. (They may already be working with another agent, they didn’t say.) As they shut the door behind them, I couldn’t help but think, “Too bad!”

Too bad that they wouldn’t let me help them. Too bad that they didn’t ask the questions that they needed to ask. Too bad that they wouldn’t put the expertise of a professional to work for them. For whatever reason, it seems like many buyers don’t recognize how much help an agent can be in recommending a property, a neighborhood, a home design that might work for them. I could have suggested which townhomes they could focus on that would have given them enough room for a grand piano on the lower level, and an entrance for students, because I know my market well enough to know which homes inside each community have the proper elevation to allow for a walkout downstairs.

How do you engage a customer that doesn’t want to be engaged? Are they just doomed to struggle on their own until they get frustrated enough with the process to ask for help? I’d hate to think that those buyers are going to end up traveling from open house to open house until they hit upon one that works for them, only to possibly be preyed upon by an agent willing to take advantage of their lack of consumer education about agency and representation. (I’m not knocking dual representation, but if the buyer doesn’t understand the rights they are signing away it’s a problem for everyone.)

As REALTORS®, are we not explaining effectively what we can bring to the transaction that a buyer would find valuable? Buyers need to know that their buyer’s agent will hold their information confidential, and look out for their interests above all else. That we will listen to their needs and help them find the best city, neighborhood, and home that suits them. That we will negotiate fiercely on their behalf to help them get the best deal. That we will put knowledge and experience to work as they progress through the loan process, the inspection process, and the closing itself. The goal is for the transaction to feel so smooth that the client doesn’t realize all the hard work the buyer’s agent has put in to make it that way.

So for the couple that came through my open house that didn’t give me the chance: I’m sorry that I didn’t get to show you how I could help. I sincerely hope that you are working with a good buyers agent that will guide you to the home of your dreams. And if you aren’t working with one yet, please consider doing so…a buyer’s agent will be able to help you more than you realize.