Fundamentals and Basics Still Matter – A Lot

Basics MatterAs my 15 year old daughter and I watched the NCAA Basketball finals last night, I once again was reminded that fundamentals and basics matter. In this case, free throw shooting.

After an amazing season and a spectacular run to the NCAA finals, including a spanking of our very own UT Longhorns, Memphis had the game won. All they had to do was make a couple of free throws – 2 out of 5 would have put the game out of reach for Kansas in those last two minutes. My 11 year old daughter can make 2 out of 5 free throws 90% of the time. All Memphis had to do, in the end, was shoot better than an 11 year old girl. Instead, they missed 4 out of 5 critical free throw shots.

Then, Kansas did what champions do. They made an incredible, improbably 3-point shot with seconds remaining to send the game into over time. And they never looked back.

In real estate, basics matter too.

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Austin Realtor or Dog Catcher?

I recently showed a property occupied by a large barking dog. The showing instructions said “appointment with owner”. When I called the seller, the voice message said “if you need to show the property, call the agent”. I called the agent who gave me a different number to call, for the daughter of the seller, who the agent said might be able to go take care of the dog. The agent also told me that another agent had showed the property with the dog inside and said it barked a lot but didn’t cause any problems. I might go try it if I can’t reach the daughter, she said. The daughter didn’t answer when I called, so I left a message. Whew, a lot of effort to try to try to show a property.

When we arrived at the property, my two buyers and Sylvia (who came along with us that day) waited in the van while I scouted out the dog situation. Sure enough, it barked loudly as I looked in through the side glass, but it’s tail was wagging. I opened the door, made the required kissing noises in between “Hey there…Good dog..Hey there”, holding out the back of my hand. The dog, barking incessantly, moved backward toward the kitchen and I followed, hoping to move it into the garage.

As I moved into the kitchen, the dog suddenly stopped barking and bolted around through the living room and out the front door, which I left cracked open in case I needed to exit quickly.

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Home Maintenance Tips

Here are few things you may want to consider doing in and around you home…courtesy of one of our Austin real estate inspectors, Bob Petersen at Precision Inspection.

Keep your A/C filter clean.
A dirty one REALLY increases your electric bill. The best kind to use is the wavy paper type, kind of like what you have in your car’s engine. If you haven’t had your ac checked in the last few years, have it serviced. The outside and inside ‘coils’ get dirty & use more electricity. If your ac unit is in a closet upstairs PLEASE have an automatic shutoff switch put in the drain line to prevent an accidental overflow of the unit. If this happens, water will drip out of your downstairs ceiling ! (and if your floors are wood, they’ll get wet too)

Test your smoke detectors.
Test all the gfi outlets in your home. If they don’t trip off when you push the ‘test’ button , they are defective and must be replaced.

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Agressive Price Drops Needed in Some Austin Areas

I received the below email message this morning from another Realtor. To place this into context for those who may not know, when a Realtor opens a MLS Lockbox with our electronic Supra key, the listing agent is notified (if they have properly registered the lockbox online and attached it to the specific listing) of the showing. Therefore, they have a log of the agents who have shown the property. From this list the agent can seek feedback or send out messages like the one below (edited to retain anonymity). Let’s have a look at what it says:

This message is being sent to all agents that have either previewed or showed a client the property at {Property address} in {Subdivision}. The owner of this property has just reduced the price another $10,000 to ${new price} – the fourth lowest price home in {Subdivision} – and the lowest price per square foot of any property in it’s size. Please keep this property in mind for any of your present or future clients that it may be a good match for this property.

At the time my buyers (who closed on the house they did buy yesterday) viewed this home over a month ago, it was one of many that were priced way too high. It’s been dropped by $20K since then.

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