As a reader here in my little corner of the universe, you may (or may not) be aware that I hang my shingle with a Century 21 brokerage in Ashburn, called Redwood Realty. Anyone who knows me would be aware that gold is not my color of choice, and I’m not so much into blazers, so the chances of seeing me in one of those iconic jackets falls somewhere between slim and none, unless there’s a losing bet involved.

That being said, Century 21 created a bit of a buzz in the industry by choosing to spend a few million dollars to put out a television commercial. Not just any commercial, of course, but a Super Bowl commercial. If you were one of the folks still paying attention to the commercials in the second half of the game, you may have noticed the spot, which featured Donald Trump, Deion Sanders, and Apolo Ohno.  They represented smarter, bolder, and faster, which is C21′s new corporate slogan for its’ agents. Three pre-game commercials explained the premise, and led up to the final ad in the 3rd  quarter.

If you didn’t watch, take a peek first, then read on:

Smarter? Well, I spend at least one day a month either at an educational conference or taking continuing education. That’s not counting the classes that I teach. Yeah, I guess I could qualify for smarter.

Bolder? I certainly don’t dress as sharply as Deion. But I do make it a point to utilize the most cutting edge technology and marketing ideas to help my clients, and have done so since I first got into the business. (Single property websites, facebook advertising, social media, you get the idea. I’m happy to explain more if you’d like.) I’d consider myself bold.

Faster? In the sense of beating anyone in a race, especially on speed skates? Not so much. But I do think I’m quick to adapt to the changing market, and the tools I use keep me in constant communication with my clients. If that counts for faster, I’m in.

While I’m happy with the fact that Century 21, and Redwood Realty as well, provide some great marketing and systems that help my clients with either a selling or buying transaction, I do believe that most of the time that their decision to work with me has more to do with me than with the company I’m with.  (Any of my past clients care to chime in on this?)

It’s nice to see Century 21 provide some entertainment as part of the SuperBowl show, but I’m genuinely curious as to who noticed the commercial in the first place, and what they thought. Did it register for you that it was a Century 21 ad? And did you think it was entertaining? I’d love to hear your comments!

Cheers,
Heather

Bear with me today, I’m going to take a detour from our regularly scheduled programming, because this struck a nerve. Yesterday afternoon, my husband and I received the following email from our daughters’ elementary school:

In keeping with current practices designed to protect the health and safety of all children, elementary students in Loudoun County Public Schools are not permitted to distribute candy or other food items to classmates.  As Valentine’s Day approaches, it is important for parents to understand that candy brought to school by students, including candy attached to Valentine’s Day cards, will be returned to the parent.

Perhaps it was this way last year, too, but I don’t recall getting a strongly worded notice before the holiday. My reaction was “are you kidding me?!” followed with wondering if there was anything I could do to change this. Or at least make my voice heard.

Trust me, I understand that the intent behind this is to protect the students that have food allergies…but as parents we are informed at the beginning of the year if our child is in a classroom with a student that needs to be protected. In our tight knit community, I’m sure we could handle sending in appropriate treats that wouldn’t be a danger. (We manage to make it through lunch every day without incident.)

The candy at Valentine’s day issue is not the whole problem, unfortunately. We can’t send in treats for our child’s birthday. We can’t have a Christmas party, it’s a holiday party. The Halloween parade in the school is now a ‘spirit parade’ with themed costumes… (I think my middle schoolers dressed up as “math nerds”?) Most disturbing to me is that the time honored tradition of Field Day now awards ‘participation ribbons’. There is no first, second, or third place. On American Education Week, we are ‘strongly encouraged’ to show up at pre-assigned times for scheduled performances…just dropping in to observe our child’s classroom in action would be too disruptive, and is discouraged.

I don’t think that school administrators or school boards have malicious intent, but they have stripped so much of the fun of childhood out of the elementary school experience. I can promise you that my life wasn’t ruined, nor did I need therapy, when I didn’t win first prize in the water balloon toss. I sure as hell remember getting first place in the three -legged race, though, and those ribbons are in my scrapbook. And I remember my class parties from elementary school…we all knew what it meant if a boy gave you a small box of chocolates instead of a lollipop with your card! (The teasing was good natured, I assure you!)

Each of these smaller policies are not such a big deal when taken individually, but add them all together and we’ve chipped away at the experience that helps shape these little people into who they will become as adults. At what point do we stand up and say, enough already?

~Heather

If you follow along with any of my social media accounts, you might have noticed some mention of New York City….I am in the Big Apple this week for the Inman Connect conference, which is put on by one of the most respected sources of real estate news, Inman News. I think it’s massively important for me to stay on top of the trends within the industry, so I attend this and a few other conferences throughout the year. My goal is to feed my brain by attending classes taught by some of the brightest minds in the industry; I also appreciate the opportunity to network with these folks and hear how their business is going.  The real estate market and the way that transactions are handled is very different depending where you live, and I find it enlightening to hear how other professionals work.

It also gives me the chance to bring new strategies and good information back that I can put to use for my clients. Above everything else, I want to give my clients the best possible representation I can, and continuing my ‘real estate education’ is a big part of that.

Of course, the LoCoMusings team is still in the office in Loudoun County if you would like to set an appointment or have a question, so don’t hesitate to reach out.  I’ll be back in LoCo tomorrow night.

Cheers,
Heather

(photo credit: Cayusa)

I was having a conversation with some buyer clients of mine recently about new construction, and builder contracts. They were surprised to learn that I could represent them as their buyer’s agent on a contract to build a new construction home. Indeed, they didn’t know, and hadn’t considered it before I mentioned it. Actually, it’s not all that different from representing them on a traditional home purchase; in addition to negotiating on their behalf, I can also help  them ensure that they include options in their home that will maximize the resale value.  (That’s a whole different post!)

The conversation reminded me of a post I wrote back in January 2008, Myth Busted: Buying Without a Buyer’s Agent Does NOT Lower the Price of the Home.  I had every intention of rewriting that post for today, but when I re-read it, it still holds true.  Don’t worry about clicking forward to the original post, here’s what I wrote then:

Now that so much information is available to potential buyers on the internet, from virtual tours to tax records, I have noticed a number of buyers purchasing homes unrepresented by a buyer’s agent. Most of the time, their reasoning behind doing this is that they hope to get a better deal on the home: thinking without bringing an agent with them, the seller won’t have to pay a commission on the buying side, and will lower the price of the house. Unfortunately…

That isn’t what happens. The buyer is not part of the listing agreement, which spells out the commission. That is between the brokerage firm and the seller. The seller is responsible for the full commission amount either way; the buyer’s agent compensation is offered to a cooperating brokerage firm for bringing a buyer and handling that side of the transaction. If the buyer isn’t represented, the listing agent has to accomplish all of the contractual work that the buyers’ agent would handle, except the BUYER DOESN’T HAVE THE BENEFIT OF BEING REPRESENTED.

Allow me to explain further: an unrepresented buyer will still need to have the listing agent help them write their offer to purchase, including all of the assorted addendums and clauses that they need and/or want to have included. This will be done without any advice as to exactly the purposes of the provisions, or how to take advantage of the many protections for the buyer that are standard in the contract  to purchase, if you know how to use them properly. If the offer is countered, the buyer is on their own on how to respond to that counter, including what terms of the contract to adjust to make both sides happy and get the deal done.  The listing agent will handle moving the paperwork back and forth, but will be representing the seller’s best interest (which is his/her job, and in fact legal obligation.) Once the contract has been ratified, the listing agent will be the one to make sure that all paperwork reaches all parties: seller, buyer, lender, title company; the listing agent will make sure the inspections are completed and contingencies met, addendums written and signed.

In this situation, the seller is the CLIENT of the listing agent, while the buyer is a CUSTOMER. It is the obligation of the listing agent to be fair to the customer, but their fiduciary duty is to the seller. They are representing the seller’s interest in the transaction, even though they are facilitating the paperwork for both sides. Whether or not the buyer is represented has no bearing on how much commission is being paid on the listing.

As a buyer, doesn’t it make more sense to have someone representing YOUR interests?

Now, I’d certainly love to be your buyers agent. But if you don’t use me, please use another agent! There’s no reason to go unrepresented. Questions about the buying process? Questions about the market? Click here to ask me.

(I realize that I didn’t talk about dual representation in this post ~ that’s when an agent represents both buyer and seller. I refuse to do it.  I’ll explain in another post next week.  Too many words in this post already!)

Cheers,

Heather

Anyone who knows me can attest to the fact that I’m an optimist, a glass is half full kind of girl. Perhaps it stems from having New Year’s Day as my birthday…each new year in my life corresponds with a new year on the calendar, full of promise and hope. I don’t dread my birthdays at all. I look at them as an opportunity to start fresh. I’m raising a glass to 2012 today, looking forward to the new adventures this year will bring.

Since my family is doing a fantastic job of spoiling me rotten today, I’m making this blog post brief…but I wanted to wish you a very happy new year.  As always, thank you for your friendship and support!

With love and gratitude,
Heather