Memorial Day weekends are usually great with the extra day added in as a holiday. Often times I'll head out for a fishing trip or partake in a BBQ event somewhere. Well I did manage to stop in on a friends BBQ on Sunday (and as usual, the food and company were great), but I spent most of the weekend with clients on a quest to purchase a home... and I wouldn't have traded the weekend for anything else... and not just because I need the business either (but yes I do need more business and it was part of the consideration).
While I won't divulge too much information about my clients or the the possible purchase they may be involved in... I do want to pass along a few observations.
First off, the weather. I think typically we in Arizona are looking at near 100 degree temps this time of year and the mercury never got anywhere near there. Sure it rained most of the day on Saturday, but the temps were very pleasant.
The temp was nice because my buying clients were very well researched on the market and found quite a few homes that they thought could possibly fit their criteria. Darn near 20 homes. Getting in and out of an air conditioned vehicle and air conditioned home in between normally hot weather conditions is not much fun normally.
For the market my clients (yes they signed a buyer-broker agreement so I can call them my clients) were interested in, I have to say we saw some really nice for sale properties. For the most part the homes were in good showing condition... a few sellers are in the midst of moving out... some other listings were already vacant. Sellers are making good efforts to show their property in peak condition.
Choices, choices... so many homes for sale right now. My client brought a digital camera, asked each owner occupied seller for permission to take photos, to help with their notes on what they liked or didn't like about the listings they saw. At one listing we all headed straight for the backyard to snap some photos of the pool area. This is a great idea if you are home shopping right now, the digital camera thingy. If you don't have such a camera, ask your representative if you can use their's if you are on a similar home hunt.
It is often typical of a buyer to have an idea of the home they are most going to like out of a list of homes to view before I take them out on showings. This weekend was no different. Yet even though my clients have decided to enter negotiations on this home they thought they'd most like, it was still worthwhile to view as many homes that could have fit their criteria.
However, if you are a seller or thinking of selling it should be important to note that in this case, the photos of the listing that they thought they'd most like and the property description obviously helped to get my clients excited about this particular listing even before they actually saw it. We did not view that home first either... but I could tell that there was some comparisons taking place with the listings we had seen before we ended up at the listing they most wanted to see. Good quality photos and descriptions were vital in this case. The listing agent did a very nice job I must say.
My clients saw the listing on the WARDEX public search site that is linked over on the sidebar of this blog. While there is a limited amount of information on the public search site, all it took was an email to me with a list of MLS numbers that I gathered and sent back more detailed information such as location, year built, days on market, etc.
A few of the listings that were initially sent to me had received a contract or were taken off the market for some other reason, which pared down the list by a few. With the list of MLS numbers that were sent, I was able to find additional listings that could have met the client's needs. All in all, it was very easy to communicate back and forth leading up to the time we all headed out for a couple of days home hunting.
I'm also quite happy to report that the client is a reader of MOCO Real and has been for quite some time. I was told that the market updates were very informative and helpful, and the political stuff was at the very least amusing. But the key factor for the phone call the client made to me was the buyers flat fee that I offer.
Now ever since I started blogging here I have received several contacts... and of those contacts I do believe that some of those folks will end up offering me a chance to represent their real estate needs. But in this case... I do believe that this particular client is my first client that is a client because of MOCO Real. Trust me, it is soooo worth it to have worked over a holiday weekend because of this news alone.
Last observation over the weekend... my clients viewed a couple of brand new construction homes that were left open for an open house and each time we viewed a home like that... there was another party looking at the home (in each case unrepresented or at least unaccompanied by a representative). That tells me that folks out there are looking and perhaps activity continues to pick up. Some good news perhaps for the market.
Lastly, trivial matter over the weekend... the Pittsburgh Penguins lost both games in the Stanley Cup final over the weekend in a bad way to the Detroit Red Wings. Awesome!! The supposed 'new' face of the NHL is a crying and whining little twerp who has no business being the 'new' face of the league or let alone captain of his team. He may be a talented hockey player... but he is an embarrassment to all hockey players, professional or otherwise. Just had to throw that in at the end of a long post. Carry on.
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