Lexington Ky Neighborhood Tour by The LEXpert: Stuart Hall

by John Rice

Did another neighborhood video tour yesterday.  Perfect weather again.  I love having my 20-year-old Miata for shooting these videos.

I was in Stuart Hall, which is between Richmond Road and Todds Road near I-75.  I love the location of this place.  If you go out on the Todds Road side, you’re at Hamburg pretty quickly.  If you take the Richmond Road side you can get to the rest of town and the interstate.  There aren’t many places that are really convenient to Hamburg that you don’t have to live with Hamburg traffic to get any place else in town.

Don’t know if it would have the same effect on you, but I have always loved driving out Richmond Road by Jacobson Park.  There are big lakes on both sides of the road and it reminds me of being in Florida with my grandparents.

Okay, there are 284 houses in Stuart Hall according to the PVA.  Most are two story traditional places, a few ranches, and some townhouses.  Several houses have basements.  Most values seem to be in the $225-$375k range for the houses, and $160-170k for the townhouses.  They are building some larger townhouses that will sell for about $250k, but they aren’t built yet.   The schools are Breckenridge Elementary, Edythe J Hays, and Henry Clay High. 

So, what makes it special?  To me, I think it is the lot sizes.  They just seem bigger than you normally get with new/newer construction in Lexington.  I think it is a good fit for the buyer who wants current styles, newer construction and a yard big enough to play in.  Also, the middle school is right in the neighborhood, so if you have or will have middle schoolers, that is a plus!

Here are the names of the roads:  Stuart Hall Blvd (Has some townhouses in the $160-170’s at the end.),  Hays Blvd (Busy Road!), Jane Briggs Ave, Richardson Place, Levi Todd Blvd, Holmes Way, Logans Fort Way (Part of it backs to the old houses along Athens-Boonesboro Road.), Hannah Todd Place (One side backs to $160-170k townhouses.), Emilie Lane and Isabella Lane.

P.S. I said in the video that the townhouses off Hannah Todd were in the $140’s……They are in the $160-170’s.  Guess I was remembering the base price when they were new…..Ooooops!

My worst day in Real Estate

by John Rice

I’ve been waiting to blog about this deal for quite some time.  See, I have an old friend who traded his house towards a new one.  I did a CMA and came up with a value for their old house.  Told them if I were to list it, I’d probably do it at about $235k.  We negotiated the price with the investor who would be taking it in trade.  I got a good laugh when the investor put granite counter tops in the kitchen and painted the place, then listed it for $269k.  The place had only appraised for $225k just a few weeks earlier.

Well, my friends (the previous owners) watched with delight as the days on market for their old house racked up.  We were always joking about the price.  Then we both got that sinking feeling in our guts when the place sold for $272k!!!!!!!  WHAT???????

I knew that the new buyer had rolled their closing costs into the loan and had traded their old house in on this one since I called the listing agent……so I KNEW that the house wasn’t really worth $272k.  My friends were pretty cool about it, but naturally they had a LOT of questions for me.   If they didn’t trust me, it could have gotten really ugly!

So, how did this happen?  Well, to begin with, let me tell you that the listing agent was also the buyer’s agent, and this agent has done a lot of work for the investor who is always taking these trades.  That right there should tell you that this ain’t no usual “Arm’s Length Transaction.”  Who do you think this agent favored in the deal:  The buyer that would be represented once or the investor that keeps feeding the agent listings?  Then, you throw in the fact that the buyers traded in their old house.  There are a lot of ways to shift numbers around here, just like trading in your car.  I knew that when my people traded this house, there was a potential to play with numbers, so what I did was to make sure we worked with real numbers.  I focused on what their old house was worth and what their new house was worth.  Then we treated the deal like the two separate transactions it really was.  But, the buyer who paid too much for this house used the listing agent who was buddies with the investor.  Those poor people didn’t have a chance!

I’ve been waiting for enough time to go by so that I could show my friends the price that their old place went for was not typical of the neighborhood.  In the year that has gone by, three similar houses in the same neighborhood with basements have gone for between $212k and 224k.  There have been 7 other sales within the neighborhood of houses without basements, all under $200k.  Wonder how the new owners feel about this??

You really have to look at the parties involved when you look at comps.  There is a house in my neighborhood that just sold for top dollar.  I was really excited until I looked to see who represented the buyer in the deal.  The listing agent was the one representing the buyer….and…..oh….the listing agent was also the seller!?!  I don’t really consider that to be a normal transaction since the person giving advice to the buyer was not only the listing agent but the seller as well.  Now I’m not saying he did anything wrong, just saying that it takes a really honest person to have not steered THAT deal in the agent-seller’s favor.

So, the bottom line is that sometimes odd things happen in real estate and you can’t assume that a sale price really reflects market value.  There are enough bad agents and stupid buyers to ensure that things like this continue.

Both of these buyers were like the kid in the picture about to take on the sumo wrestler……It isn’t really going to be a fair match, is it?

What Kind of Realtor would Yoda be?

by John Rice

 

I get soooooo much junk in my inbox.  In real estate, there is a class or program for everything.  Most of it is how to get more leads.  That is the big one.  I have always thought that if Realtors would spend as much time being good at their jobs as they do trying to be on the first page of google, people would come to them.  Speaking of which, I am on the first page of google for a lot of things, but I have done it accidentally.  Hopefully everything has to do with real estate.  I read other agent’s blogs sometimes and am amazed that they write about the best cupcake place in town, or a day at Keeneland, or their newest listing.  Don’t know about you, but if my dentist had a blog, I wouldn’t go there expecting to see a post about eradicating crabgrass from my lawn.  Or if my accountant had a blog I wouldn’t expect a post about the best place to have LASIK surgery……Sorry to get off track here, but I’ve been waiting to say that for a while. 

Back to the class thing.  Now I am all for education.  I learn stuff everyday and really like it.  What I am getting at here is that all these courses I have seen just give you information, but they don’t teach you how to use it.   Especially designations.  Agents are pretty much just playing Wheel of Fortune and buying letters:  CRS, C-CERC, ARB, etc  (etcetera, not another designation!)  I think what we are needing is something to teach agents how to think.  Guess I call that wisdom…..putting the info you have to good use.  If Yoda were a Realtor, he would tell you to use the Force and “Search your feelings, you know it to be true.”

Things are changing everyday in real estate.  You can’t just default to what worked in years past.  For example, in the boom days, you would, as a default, use multiple offer situations to force a good deal for your seller.  Now I think it can actually hurt you to boldly proclaim to a buyer’s agent that there is another offer on the table and they have an hour to give you their highest and best offer.  I have seen several times recently where one buyer will say “I’m not going to get into a bidding war,” then walk away.  One of my buyer’s recently said just that.  I think what a listing agent in this situation needs to do is look at this like chess…..If I do this, then what will happen?  If it goes this way, what will likely be next, if it goes that way, what do I think will result.  I am not that good at chess, but I totally respect the fact that the good players have the next several moves planned way in advance.  That is thinking!

I’m in a deal right now where we made an offer, and another offer was going to be coming in.  My peeps wanted the house, so we went up a little.  We were doing a good job at thinking things through.  We decided to check the box on the contract that says we want an inspection, but we won’t ask for repairs.  We also left the closing date open for the seller to pick.  Why did we do this?  The seller was an elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife and was moving in with family.  We thought that making it simple and easy for him would appeal to his family more than top dollar.  The other agent (who is one of about 10 in Lexington that I think is any good) was also thinking too.  See, he didn’t wait around forever to get the other offer.  He knew we had a good offer and didn’t want to risk losing us.  A bird in hand is better than two in the air as they say…..whoever they are.    The seller took our offer.  That was a wise decision in today’s market.

Each deal is unique because of the people involved.  The more info you have about the other party can really help you to come up with a good strategy, but you have to use wisdom to know what to do with all the info you have collected.

I think it would be cool to have Yoda for a Realtor.  You’d have 900 years of wisdom and experience.  He’d be like “Remember selling this land on Richmond Road to Henry Clay, I do.”  He could sense if the house was right for you, “Knew you would not like Hamburg traffic, I did.”   And most importantly, he could use his lightsaber during negotiations to get you the best deal.

Lexington Ky Neighborhood Tour by The LEXpert: Greenbrier

by John Rice

Went out to Greenbrier yesterday for a video tour.  Great day for a convertible.  Glad I did since it has done nothing but rain today.

Greenbrier is on the east side of Lexington.  When new, it was out in the country.  But since the 70’s and 80’s when it was built, the town has grown out to touch the edge of it.  Now you can get to Hamburg Pavillion in about 5 minutes. 

Greenbrier’s claim to fame is the peaceful, relaxed vibe and the big lots that it offers.  Most of the 70’s houses have acre lots.  The 80’s houses tend to have 1/3 to 2/3 acre lots.  Plus it is home to Greenbrier Golf and Country Club, whose 18 hole course runs through the neighborhood.

The schools are Dixie Elementary, Crawford Middle and Bryan Station High……not good really, but I imagine most residents of Greenbrier do private school.

The prices seem to be all over the board, but you can get one that needs some work in the $300-400,000 range.  I think if I had to give a range for most of the houses I would call it $400-600,000.  There are some that are less, some that are more.

What I like about Greenbrier is the vibe.  It is without doubt an upscale neighborhood, but it never has to shout it out to you.  You just see nice homes on nice lots.  The neighborhood has done a lot to protect the vibe.  They got the city to turn Walnut Grove into a dead end street to prevent through traffic.  They also worked hard to get a landscape buffer from encroaching development near the end of Antilles Drive. 

Here is a list of the streets that are in the neighborhood:  Bahama Road, Martinique Lane, Barbados Lane, Tabago Court, Trinidad Court, Marquesas Lane, Antiqua Drive, Caicos Court, Antilles Drive, Montego Court, Eleuthera Court, Jamaica Court, Cayman Lane & Walnut Grove Lane.

Seeing people’s true colors…..Shining through

by John Rice

Well,  It has been a busy last couple of weeks.  I’ve closed 4 deals and written an offer on another place.  I thought I’d share with you  some of what all went down, good and bad.  By the title of this post, feel free to be humming True Colors by Cyndi Lauper.

Guess I’ll start with the best.  Just a few days before their closing, my clients discovered that a window they had replaced a few years ago had leaked during a heavy rainstorm.  It was just about a cup of water.  I’ll spare you the minor details, but the fantastic thing is that my sellers wanted to make sure this was resolved for the buyers.  Do you know how easy it would have been to have never mentioned the leak?  Unless the buyer did the walk-thru during a heavy rain storm, nooooooobody would have even known.  In my line of work, you see people at their best and their worst.  These peeps were at their best.

I closed one yesterday that had been pretty bumpy.  It all started out okay, but every time the seller’s agent and I had something ironed out, there was always a little bitty change when it came time to put it on paper.  When I got the contract, the seller had crossed out the fridge.    When we wrote up the repair list, the seller’s agent called to say that he would do all the repairs.  When I got the signed list back, the word “Replace” had been changed to “Repair.”  Then she tried to tell me that it was just semantics.  I bit my tongue, but I wanted to say that if both words mean the same to her, why can’t we just use the word “Replace?”  Then this seller wanted to stay in the house after the closing.  The contract said possession with deed, which means you get the keys at closing.  My buyer and I both felt like this seller could not be trusted to be out when he said since he always seemed to be renegotiating everything. 

Fortunately the conference room at the mortgage company was tied up.  The sellers went in an office and did all their stuff, then the buyer and I went in and did our stuff.  Well…….My “Stuff” at that point is to snack on whatever candy they have sitting out.  From what I was told, the seller kept making a bunch of sarcastic remarks while he was in the lobby.  When the title guy went out to the lobby to tell them they were free to go, the husband said “Good, I didn’t like him anyway.”  In my line of work, you see people at their best and their worst.  These peeps were at their worst through the whole thing, and are probably like this anytime they don’t get their way.

At another closing, I found out that the buyer’s were not doing a final walk-thru.  Now, I don’t know all their details, but I just can’t imagine not doing a final walk-thru.  I think if these were my buyers, and they didn’t have time nor didn’t want to do it, I would have been over there checking it out for them.  Once we close, any problem is their problem.  I had the seller, so it really just made it easier for me!  That was a pretty friendly deal.  We had some tough parts during negotiations, but nobody was nasty.   My sellers said that the buyers seemed very nice and she wished them well.  Everybody was at their best.

I had a really wacky deal with another one of my listings that closed last week.   During their final walk-thru, the agent called to tell me there was a stain in the carpet and asked if my people would pay to have the carpet cleaned.  I had to graciously say no since the stain was there long before the buyers ever saw the house.    I sent her the pictures I had uploaded on the MLS showing that the stain was already there.  We’ll count this one as everybody being at their best.

Then I had an offer accepted for some of my all time favorite clients.  The seller is an elderly man who recently lost his wife.  The house is one of those once in a lifetime deals for my peeps, and we are all trying to make it easy on the elderly man.  He lost his wife and now is losing his home since he is moving in with family.  Everybody is already being their best on this one, so I am sure it will continue. 

So, here is the advice I give myself:  Decide how you want to be ahead of time.  If you don’t, it is too easy to make a bad choice if you are trying to make that decision in the heat of the moment.  I haven’t perfected this yet, but I know how I want to be.  I guess past generations called that character.