Coweta Fayette Real Estate & Newnan Homes for sale blog by Richard Weisser of Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Metro Brokers

Come set your joy on golden fronds
That spice the meadow with saffron strains
‘Tis Spring that waxes, fresh verdure dawns
Awakes as Winter’s crescent wanes!
                    ( R Weisser 2012 )

Spring has come early to Newnan Georgia this year. The “jonquils” started blooming in January and the “redbuds” are resplendent in their awakening.

The trees are already budding out. And while I enjoy Spring as much as anyone, you have to wonder about the impact this unseasonably mild winter will have on agriculture.

The famous Georgia Peaches require a significant amount of hours below 45 degrees to properly set fruit. Not to mention the fact that if they bloom too early, a late frost or freeze can ruin a crop.

But like it or not, we have no control of the weather and must deal with it as it comes.

In the meantime, I’ll enjoy the flowers!

I love railroads and I love history. And fortunately, the two are so interconnected that you can’t appreciate one without having a fondness for the other.

Most of the main railroad lines in America were constructed in the 19^th Century. Any town fortunate enough to be situated in the path of the railroad enjoyed a sudden burst of prosperity.

On the other hand, many villages that were bypassed soon faded into obscurity.

The availability of transportation became a necessary component of community survival.

Many modern railroads follow the same right-of-way as their 19^th Century counterparts. And most are punctuated with bits and pieces of local periods from times long past!

If you want to learn more about history in your area, try following the railroad. You just might be surprised at what you might discover.

If you think that the phrase Super Bowl® is in the public domain, think again. The mark is owned by the NFL and its use is strictly monitored and controlled by the football confederation.

Most real estate agents probably don’t think this topic has any application to the business of selling properties. After all, we don’t hawk pizza or televisions or beer.

But using the phrase to promote a commercial endeavor, such as a “Super Bowl® Open House” probably requires a license from the NFL.

Fair use of the expression is likely limited to stories about the game itself. For instance, if you are writing about events during the game or even a journalistic diatribe about fair use of the mark!

Would the NFL issue a cease and desist order to an agent for violating the trademark? Probably not, but the law is the law and if we profess to follow the rules then we should willingly comply with them.

As we plan our “Big Game” parties and celebrations, we must keep in mind that fun is fun, but business is business.

And the two shall not mix!

Disclaimer: The writer is neither an attorney nor an expert on trademark issues. The content contained hereinis only the opinion of the writer. When dealing with any legal issue, always seek the advice of an attorney.

The requirements for real estate licensure vary from state to state. In many jurisdictions, getting a real estate license is a lot easier than getting one to cut hair.

Many suggest that the standard be raised and that more education should be demanded in order to sell real estate.

And while some decry this as a “protectionist” attitude from incumbent agents in order to eliminate competition, I see it differently.

Due to the changes in the actual practice in real estate sales and the ever increasing threat of litigation, strengthening of the licensure process would serve to protect the licensee as well as the public.

The ability to get a license quickly and easily is not a boon. It is a curse.

How much better would it be to send a newly licensed agent into the real world educated and informed?

The agent would benefit as much as anyone.

And be better equipped to serve the public.

There was a time when the MLS was king. Multiple Listing Services fulfilled a specific void in data aggregation and provided a unique source of information that was easily shared by real estate professionals.

Each MLS has its own propriety system for the collection and dissemination of data. In some places, such as Atlanta Georgia, different MLS services compete for membership.

But the simple fact of the matter is that the advent and general acceptance of the Internet as THE venue for information service has rendered the MLS as obsolete. As a matter of fact, even the large aggregator sites should consider their days as numbered.

As search engines become more and more sophisticated, the individual platform will ultimately yield to the enormity of the Internet as a single connected entity that can be indexed and searched at will without the need for third party intervention.

I am seriously considering “going it alone” without an MLS and retaining complete control of my data and content.

It may seem radical now.

By the end of the decade it will be the norm.

Some things should be common sense. If someone tells you that business is slow, or that they are having trouble making ends meet, the best response may NOT be something along the lines of “oh really? I am having my best year ever.”

How much better would it be to say something like “I’m doing okay, is there anything I can do to help you get things going again?”

People that are hurting need support and not a reinforcement of their failures. Not everyone has adapted quickly enough to the current market to maintain the same level of business as in the past.

There are ways to help that may be mutually beneficial. Could an experienced agent be a useful addition to your team? Is there some way that your combination of lead generation and another agent’s people skills be a profitable match?

Empathy can only take you so far. Working towards a real solution can take you the rest of the way!

And it could be both cathartic and lucrative!

The woodpile and the furnace grate
Await the tardy guest waylaid.
Is Winter past or only late…
Asleep, to stir another day?
              (R Weisser 2012) 

It seems as if we haven’t has any Winter at all this year here in Newnan Georgia.

As a matter of fact, even though it’s still January, the yellow bells and jonquils are already blooming.

And although we enjoy a relatively mild climate here in the Southeast, we do occasionally get a real taste of Winter, as these photographs from previous years will attest!

Here's wishing you snow if you want it, and sunshine and warm breezes if you don't!

Let me state up front that I could not work for me. After doing things my way for so many years I have become somewhat set in my ways.

I have always taken pride in the fact that I have the ability to put on so many different hats to get the job done. And I have always been reticent when it comes to paying for something that I can do myself.

But there are some days when I wish I could tell the “boss” to stick it where the sun doesn’t shine.

I am my own harshest critic. I demand a lot and my expectations are high. When I fall short I have a hard time letting go.

No one is perfect. We all make mistakes.

Easier said than accepted!

I remember the first time I ever …

Saw a color TV. It was at my great-uncle’s house. I was told that he was very wealthy!

Used a touch-tone phone. We all marveled at the fact that we no longer had to “dial” the phone number.

Ate my first piece of shrimp. I was eighteen years old. Back in those days, we didn’t get around much, and shrimp was not as readily available as it is today.

Warmed food in a microwave oven. We take it for granted now, but it was quite a revolution back in the day!

Used my first computer. It was an IBM 360 and I used a keypunch to enter my program via a cardreader.

Bought my first house. It was 1979 and was much easier than I thought that it would be. I saved up my down-payment and after signing a few papers, I had a brand new home with an FHA 245 negative amortization but fully assumable loan.

Was I apprehensive about taking the plunge and buying a house? Actually, not at all. Owning a home was the American Dream and although I was relatively naïve about the process, I have never looked back.

In the ensuing six years I purchased four different homes. I actually enjoyed moving in those days. Then I settled down and stayed in a house until it was owned free and clear.

There is nothing frightening about buying a house. You have to live somewhere anyway, so why not have complete control of your residential destiny?

As far as I am concerned, nothing matches the self-satisfaction that results from owning your own home.

Is it still the American Dream?

That’s up for each individual to decide.

But to me, the notion of living in a house that belongs to someone else is a nightmare!

If I were elected President of the United States the first thing I would do is press Congress into passing a law that would ban all importation of petroleum in ten years.

Ten years doesn’t seem like that long of a time. But it was more than enough time to initiate a space program and send men to the moon and return them safely with 1960’s technology.

How were we able to do it? The space program became a NATIONAL PRIORITY. The brightest and the best minds were assembled and funding was provided with one sole purpose:

Get the job done!

There are many cheaper, cleaner, and more readily available sources of energy than petroleum. The only thing standing in the way of energy independence is powerful lobbying from big oil and a lack of determination to wean ourselves from fossil fuels.

It should be a national priority. It can be done. I would love to see it happen during my lifetime!

And I pray that it will! 

I am by nature a very curious person. So when there is an occurrence that seems out of the ordinary I naturally want to know WHY!

One of the anomalies that I question is the sudden spurt of calls from a particular area in the country or about a subject related to real estate.

My first guess is that I am returning very high for a very specific search query which immediately results in an unusual amount of traffic directed towards that region or topic.

But trying to duplicate the exact long-tailed search string that might have been entered by a information seeking web surfer can be a very daunting task. And it is rarely a successful endeavor.

The best way to get to the bottom of the matter is to check hits from “referrals” to your site. A referral is simply a clicked hyperlink that that brings a web surfer to your site. Many times you will find a link that has been recently added that drives a sudden influx of traffic. But the most important referrals are those from search engines.

Referrals from search engines will contain the associated search string that was used to locate your site. Or if you use Google Analytics, the keywords will be ranked for you and presented in a very easy to interpret report!

Understanding what is working and why it works is the key to understanding SEO and site ranking. Once you know what is working you can make the necessary changes to transform the “spurt” into a free flowing river of traffic.

It takes some effort.

But it sure is worth it!

I get calls from potential buyers every day that would like to explore the opportunity of purchasing a home.

But the vast majority of these would-be home buyers are not qualified to obtain a loan. Many have either low credit scores, little or no down-payment money, or a combination of both.

Somewhere along the paradigm shift to a high technology society the basic principles of finance have been relegated to a low priority.

The average consumer is more concerned about having the latest and greatest gizmo or whirligig than securing a roof over their head. I have encountered families with monthly wireless expenses which exceed $600.

If you throw cable or satellite into the mix, many are paying more for technology services than they are any other single household expense.

Discretionary spending is directed towards upgrades and faster speeds. Apparently as a culture, we need to be entertained at higher and higher rates of data transfer each and every day.

As a result of this cultural swing saving money for the purchase of a home or controlling one’s income to debt ratio is not nearly as important as being able to watch a video or making birds angry.

With record low interest rates and great prices, nearly anyone can afford a house in today’s market.

It just takes a little financial discipline and a determination to “set aside” a little every month!

Business is cyclical. Marketing is not! A good marketing plan must be consistently implemented over time to be successful.

Too many businesses ignore marketing while they are busy, and then splurge on it during the slow times.

But pushing peaks of marketing against the troughs of weak business is reactionary and results in a significant lag between marketing and new business.

Consistent, dedicated marketing over time acts a damper that mitigates the extreme cycles of business and governs the fluctuations into a manageable flow.

So even the busiest of times demands an allocation of resources for marketing. It’s the best way to prepare for the inevitable downturn.

And steady business is a lot mare manageable and a lot less frustrating!

It’s 2012, prices are down and interest rates are at historic lows. So why in the world are we still writing 30 year mortgages?

Thirty year mortgages were popularized during the days of 18% mortgages and inflated home prices. The purpose was to offset the abnormally high cost of borrowing money.

The problem with the thirty year loan is that in the first ten years, the principle balance is not significantly reduced. The ONLY way to build equity was to sit and wait and home that property values went up.

In today’s market, a 15 year loan monthly payment is still a LOT less for the average home than a 30 year loan was for the same property just a scant five years ago.

Negative equity is killing home ownership. Shorter loan terms are the only CERTAIN way to build equity quickly.

Eliminating mortgages over fifteen years is one way to speed up the housing recovery. Will it take some people out of the market? Not necessarily.

They may have to buy less house, but at they end of the day, they will be better off with a lower par rate and a larger portion of their first payments being applied towards the principle balance of their loan.

It sounds too simple to work.

But it just might be the right fix at the right time!

We often have complaints from our clients who are in the process of getting a loan about the incessant demands for documentation from their mortgage company.

Likewise we hear the same rumblings from loan officers about borrowers that resist every plea for additional paperwork.

As a real estate broker, I have often conciliated the pangs of animosity between the two that seem to fester on nearly every deal. And I usually tell the buyer to buck up and deliver regardless of how petty the request seems to be.

But now I am on the other side of the fence. I’m trying to take advantage of record low interest rates by refinancing my home.

As a self-employed contractor, it’s not just a matter of whether or not I WANT to comply with every request for documentation; it’s about whether or not I CAN comply.

To me it all seems so highly illogical from the get-go. I have been paying a mortgage payment for many years without so much as a single late payment, so why would it be more difficult for me to pay a lower payment?

The loan to value ratio is about 50% even in today’s market. It seems like a no brainer,

I am being asked to jump through hoop after hoop, and I am getting frustrated.

But the lure of an interest rate in the “threes” is just too enticing. So I will continue to meet each new request with proper diligence.

But I now have a new appreciation for buyers that are squeezed through the wringer.

And I will be a lot more empathetic from now on!

Martin Luther King Day is unique in the roll of national holidays. It’s not a day of celebration as much as it is a day of remembrance and reflection, and a time to assess our current dedication to the tenet of civil rights.

We are not talking about ancient history. The Civil Rights Movement occurred during my cognitive lifetime. The images of discrimination and racial bias are seared into my brain.

Housing has always been a hotbed for discrimination. Although most so called “enlightened” sellers and landlords claim to be free of prejudice, many employ subtle tactics with the intent of discouraging protected classes from leasing or purchasing property.

Fair Housing is NOT a principle to be adapted at the discretion of sellers, landlords or real estate brokers.

It is the LAW. And it has teeth.

It is very sad that such an obvious moral principle needs to be legislated and enforced.

But we as a nation have come a long way towards Dr. King’s dream of a society based on character.

Today we officially pause, and reflect, and move forward.

And never forget.

O’ take me to that sheltered cove
Alee from blustered Arctic’s howl,
To pause by red-eyed embers glow
To thaw the bone-chilled weary soul.
                       (R Weisser 2012)

The real estate profession is very time-demanding. Time that is not spent helping clients is usually relegated to finding new customers.

It’s a never ending cycle of “closing” old clients and “converting” new prospects. The pipeline must be maintained and flowing freely at all times.

But like everyone else, real estate brokers still have to maintain some semblance of a “normal” life. But since we are in control of our schedules many cursory tasks are routinely deferred to the realm of “when I have the time to get around to it.”

There are even those times when sleep is placed on the back burner. And as I get older, it’s getting harder and harder to recover from those nights spent burning the midnight oil!

So I have only one query for those of my ilk:
Is there ever a time for rest without guilt?

As a result of readily accessible information about property listings, many buyers like to search listings based on one criteria: PRICE

And we do have many value-priced properties for sale in Coweta County Georgia. And buyers want to see all of these properties in hopes of finding the “perfect” combination of price and livability.

The problem is that many, many buyers are looking for the same thing. And so the good properties sell very quickly. As a result the casual weekend property seeker is very unlikely to stumble upon the right house at the right price.

A good real estate agent can be an invaluable asset in overcoming this dilemma. We see new properties every day and can alert buyers when a “hot” one shows up on the market. It is no longer a matter of being in the “right place at the right time”

Finding the right house at the right price is not a lottery.

Rather it is a calculated strategy for getting an offer submitted on a great house before it is too late. 

Take the rose from the withered field-worn hand
That neither drought, nor tempest daunted from the land
The servant's toils are tempered by a deep rooted faith
In troth, and passion, and loving grace.
                            (R Weisser 2012)

Sometimes even the most well-intentioned overtures can have undesirable side effects. And when emotion takes precedence over logic and common sense, it’s not necessarily a bad thing.

Because true passion goes hand in hand with caring and deep affection.  It is very hard to rile anyone that really doesn’t care or has no love lost on the matter.

But when a “nerve” is struck, it is often due to rousing feelings and emotions that may have been buried deep within the soul and which suddenly erupt and spew forth without interdiction.

And so which is worse? To offend no one because nobody cares, or to ruffle some feathers because there is deep rooted love and concern about the particular subject that may provoke an emotional response?

Call me an old fool, but I’ll take the latter any day.

Stealth can be very useful under some circumstances. Selling real estate is not one of them.

The real estate “Secret Agent” may be highly skilled and knowledgeable, but may have lost sight of the ultimate mission which is to engage as many potential clients as possible.

In the real estate marketing arena, consumers rarely seek technical proficiency. In the overwhelming majority of cases, visibility is the number one reason a buyer or seller will call a real estate professional.

Interestingly enough, developing a dominating presence is no longer the purview of the wealthy. Anyone willing to roll up their sleeves and work can devise a plan that is both effective AND inexpensive.

A regular blog post should be part of any marketing plan.

Is it time consuming? Yes. Does it get results? Yes. Is it expensive? No.

It’s “Sweat Equity Marketing” and it works!