Gene Ward's Real Estate Blog

After reading Mike Mueller's blog about "Who's to Blame", I thought about the frustration this melt down has caused. So.... I thought about my bike trip a few weeks back and how it helped keep me centered. I needed a vacation from real estate more than I realized. Sometimes, all it takes is for use to think back on the good times to realize the present is not all that bad. Sure we are in a mess but we're digging our way out just a little every day. Hope these photos help sooth your nerves a little. If you ever get a chance to take a road trip do it. You meet some of the nicest and most interesting people. It really does expand your horizon and make you think about how really good we have it here in the good old USA.

What a wonderful week of riding through N. CA., Oregon, Idaho and Montana. My best friend and I rode 2600 miles in 7 days through some of the most beautiful country in the western US. I have done this before by myself but it's much better if a friend can ride along. Words can't describe the beauty of the open road so I'll insert a couple pics of my favorite roads, rivers and places. Enjoy.

Abert Lake, Oregon, Hwy 395 north of Alturas. Before you get your water skies out, it's a brine/alkali lake, but it's big and beautiful.

Payette River, Idaho, Hwy. 55 from Boise to McCAll

Payette Lake near McCAll Idaho. Looks like a smaller version of Lake Tahoe but without the crowds. Very u upscale community and the water is o'so cold!

Whitetail Lodge, McCall Idaho. Sits right on the lake. I highly recommend this lodge. The food, rooms, service and attitude are the best. The bridge on the left is where the Payette river exits the lake.

Heading north (hwy 55 to 95), from McCall Idaho to New Meadows. Twisty road follows this river.

Lochsa river, Hwy 12 Idaho. Heading north east from Kooskia to Lolo Montana. This is the Lewis and Clark Trail. Probably one of the most beautiful roads in the country. Over 100 miles of breathtaking scenery. It's so hard to take it all in as there is so much of it. Great bike road too!

Lochsa river, Hwy 12 near Lolo pass Idaho, 8236 ft. elevation at the pass with interpetive center.

 Bitterroot mountain range, hwy. 93 from Lolo Montana to Salmon Idaho. Very beautiful area of western Montana with real friendly folk and 93 octane gas for my bike.

Salmon river, Hwy. 75 from Challis Idaho heading west towards Stanley Idaho 

 This is one of my favorite places. It's one of the most beautiful areas in the country. This is Stanley Idaho and the Salmon river. You can see the Sawtooth mountain range in the background. Just over this mountain range is Sun Valley Idaho.

Still plenty of snow around Crater Lake Oregon in the middle of June.

 I'm not to happy in this photo because I know it's my last day on the road. The Immortal Tree which can be found on the Avenue of the Giants which parallels Hwy. 101 just south of Fortuna. BIG TREES!

Have not blogged in a while so thought I'd at least add something about what I've been up to.

Who said the real estate market was slow? Seems like it was for a while there but not any more. I've been working with first time buyers lately and they just keep coming. My daughter introduced me to some of her 30 something friends and all are wanting to get into a home now that the prices have dropped to reasonable levels.

I love working with first time buyers, they need to be educated about the market, loans, neighborhoods, schools, etc., and these young professionals don't slack off when it comes to due diligence. I'm very impressed with their budgeting skills and the fact that they stick to it. They don't want to buy a home just because they can afford it, they want to buy a home they can feel comforatable in and still have money left in their budget to have a life.

Most homes are REOs so they take about 60 days to close and the sellers won't do anything and really stress the "AS IS" section of the contract. Even if damage is done while in contract, just try to get them to fix it.

In addition to real estate I develop software for real estate companies and agents. Still delivering a program we developed and released in 2004, Real Estate Real Easy. It's contact management, escrow tracking, accounting, mail merge, email, forms, etc. Great program with over 2000 installed to date. Those agents that use it, including myself, love it. Best organizational software for real estate agents. If interested take a look, we even offer a free demo version so you can check it out before purchase.

www.realestate-real-easy.com

In the final stages of completing a new real estate enterprise wide version web site CRM system. It's looking pretty good and should be done by months end. It will handle all the web sites for our franchisees and their agents, with a virtual office built-in. New Area Pro Realty franchises will be available nationwide in about one month. It's a virtual real estate company offering 100% commission and Low monthly and per transaction fee. I became involved a little over one year ago and find it the best business model for experienced real estate and loan agents. I'll keep you posted on the new company and web sites in a future blog.

Must get busy finishing up some loose ends as I have much to do before taking a one week motorcycle vacation through N. Calif., Oregon, Idaho and Montana. My friend and I plan on being on the road 7 days and about 3000 miles. It's been over two years since I took any time off so this is going to be fantastic!

Listing a home in this market takes a lot of research to determine the best listing price at which it can not only attract offers but also appraise at the purchase offer amount.

I just had a listing expire after 6 months on the market. The sellers asked that the listing price be higher than my recommendation. I informed them of the dangers of doing this, especially in a declining market. They said they were not worried about it until after the first of the year. Well, the new year rolled around and after much discussion I was able to receive a price reduction. Not enough of a price reduction to make much difference. The listing price was still about $50 thousand dollars more than the market indicated.

During the listing period we received two fair market priced offers, both countered by the sellers with a price that could not be justifed. As you might expect, both buyers walked. The second offer was 80% down, a quick close, and right on the money according to the comparibles. Even had an appraiser take a look at my evaluation and they came up with the same numbers.

The sellers were sent market updates and viewing activity reports weekly, indicating the home was getting good exposure.

One of the sellers felt they knew better how to market a home and insisted it be held open every Sunday. Even felt they knew better than I where to place the open house signs.

When it came time to expire or relist I told the sellers that without adjusting the price to what the market is saying their home is worth there was no reason to expect different results. The two offers were only $5,000 apart in price, with the first offer being more and the second less as the market had dropped a little more by this time. The appraiser and I both felt the home was in the range of $650,000 to $675,000, depending on upgrades. This home fell into the lower of the range as the kitchen and bathrooms had not been updated. The offers were $655,000 and $650,000.

After informing the seller that I would expect an adjustment in price, and that holding it open every Sunday was a bad idea, they decided not to re-list with me. I do not want to take listings that won't sell because the sellers can't or won't listen to what their agent and the market is telling them.

As I look back on this listing experience I keep trying to see if there was something I had done wrong. Even though I did everything right it doesn't matter when the sellers refuse to see the logic. So the lesson here I guess is this; Don't take a listing if the sellers are not willing to listen to you or what the market is saying. Of course you don't always know this in the beginning but I'm sure there are a few additional questions I'll be adding to my listing presentation interview.

Here are the latest Data Quick housing statistics for the San Francisco Bay Area 9 counties.

I have two offers on REO homes, both owned by the same bank. We are in contract on one after the buyers signed the banks counter offer. The other counter will be signed by the buyers today.

I did a CMA on the Brentwood home and the buyers offered a little less than the CMA recommended with up to 5% back to the buyers for closing costs. Now the appraiser has informed me that the home will not appraise for the amount offered. My CMA was about $5000 high according to him. That's still pretty close on a 399k listing price.

The appraiser is giving us this estimate before visiting the property. We had another appraiser do the same thing without knowledge of the first appraiser and he came in exactly the same. As I have visited the property and many others in the same price range/location/condition I think my estimate is closer to the real value. I take into account the ammenities, location and condition of the home compared to the others. This home was in great shape compared to the other bank properties.

What I'm wondering is this;

Will the bank be willing to lower the price to the appraised value and still leave in the buyers credits in place?

If the buyers decide to back out for some reason will the bank put the home back on the market at the appraised value?

Any new buyers would also need the home to appraise so I assume the bank would lower the price.

It may be crazy but if the bank won't budge and puts the home back on the market at a lower price, we'll make a new offer on the lower price.

One other point I would like to comment on.

When I write an offer I porvide the buyers with an estimate of closing costs. It's almost impossible to do now as the banks are choosing the title company, not the buyers. Yes, the buyer can select their title company but it's not recommended for REO's. Not sure how they get away with this, respa and all. So the banks say their title fees will be less if the buyers use their title company so the buyers agree. But after one week in contract there is still no estimate of closing costs from the title company. Heck, they still have not told us who the title company will be.

These are the same banks that wanted to get into real estate. This is a good indication of what would happen if they did.

The old saying, "Those with the gold rule" fits this situation with banks in control of the escrow process.