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

Over the weekend I have been plagued with numerous technology failures. After the first few, I was able to perform some workarounds to keep up with my weekend workload.

But things have gone downhill from there. Now I am having to develop a new set of workarounds over and above the original stopgap measures.

I have a lot of REO reports due on Monday, and it is critical that I am able to get the job done somehow. But now even the simplest of tasks involves running up and down the stairs several times!

Even though I have spent a lot of time making mountains out of molehills, I’ll get the job finished one way or the other.

And I will get PLENTY of exercise in the process!

We are often told that we should NOT make waves, or that those that rock the boat are destined to fail. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

Quite often the pack mentality crushes creativity and squelches excellence. And the chances of being noticed as an individual worthy of consideration are diminished.

Because our unique value proposition is what separates us from the norm and defines us as innovators or leaders in our field. If that means churning up the waters a bit and swimming upstream then so be it!

Nobody ever said that achieving success was easy! Or that there will not be some awkward moments along the way.

Standing out from the crown takes confidence and courage. But it can take you straight to the top!

As my friends in the Northeast continue to dig out from the last snowstorm, here in Newnan Georgia we have a beautiful and warm winter day!

As temperatures neared 70 degrees, a lot of people were out and about getting a jump on some yard chores. In this part of the country, Spring usually arrives in earnest around March 1!

It’s time for early pruning and planning the garden. And although we will have more bad weae next few weeks, now is the time to put down the gardening books and get busy!

Today was probably just a tease, but my mind is now adjusting into “Spring” mode.

I am REALLY looking forward to its arrival!

Since the dawn of cognitive thought, human beings have attempted to predict the future. Old texts and manuscripts are rife with tales of fortunetellers and soothsayers that seemed to have the innate ability to peer into times yet to come.

In the modern information age, we do have the ability to analyze trends based on empirical data, and can offer an educated guess about what lies ahead. But it is in fact only a guess because there are many dynamic variables that can change overnight.

But if we can distance ourselves from science and mathematics and offer our predictions from a more philosophical perspective, it is always better to project an optimistic outlook for the future.

The notion of hope is not based on disconnected fantasy. Rather it is a burning desire deep within the soul to seek better times ahead. And when earnest desire is put into action, the results can be very positive!

I am not a prophet but I choose to be optimistic.

And work each and every day towards a better future!

I had some early warning signs but I chose to brush them aside. Maybe it was just a bad day and the symptoms would take care of themselves.

After all, it isn’t all that unusual to have a slowdown in activity. When you have been around as long as I have it has to be expected every now and then.

But when I went to make some updates on my primary website and got an error message that declares “server not found” my heart started pounding. I immediately typed the URL in my browser and say the dreaded 404 error.

The harsh reality rolled over me like a tidal wave. My website was DOWN!

Panic enveloped me. Had I paid the bill? Did I make some kind of mistake? What did I do wrong? I had visions of Google demoting me to the depths of Sheol with no hope of ascending back to the first page of rankings.

A quick call to my hosting company resulted in an amazingly fast response. The customer service rep indicated that there were some server issues and that the problem was expected to be corrected within thirty minutes.

Five minutes later, the site was up and robust, with no lingering after-effects. All was right with the world again!

But I was still trembling a little! These days, you don’t want ANYONE to think that they pulled the plug on you!

There is nothing worse when showing property than to have the interior of the house is colder than the exterior ambient temperature. Prospective buyers rush through and try to see what they can in the darkness and head straight for the warmth of the car.

What did the buyers actually see during their two minute visit? Usually not much and it is very difficult to make a purchase decision without a thorough examination of the property.

And even though the plumbing is winterized, extreme cold can cause cracks in the drywall and other damage that occurs due to excessive expansion and contraction.

Not to mention the fact that the inspection process is often hindered because the actual activation of all utilities may not coincide with the contractual timeline limitations of the inspection contingency.

 I honestly believe that if all of the utilities were left on for the duration of the listing that the house would command a higher price that would cover all of the additional expenses PLUS an additional profit.

The house would also sell quicker because the buyers would be able to determine suitability for purchase in a much shorter period of time.

2011 has started off with a bang. And while it is still very difficult to get a property closed, the level of activity has risen dramatically.

The undercurrent of phone calls, internet leads, and sign inquiries has been elevated from an occasional distraction to a repetitive mantra. There have been days when there is little time for anything else other than answering questions about properties and home-buying in general.

Sellers are also stirring again and the sixth sense tingles with the possibility of a good Spring which is just a month or two away! All signs seem to point to a better year than 2010.

Now if you will excuse me … my phone is ringing!

Today was an unusual one. I had two calls from two different large national banks that were not only surprising, they were downright helpful.

The first call was from a representative in a short-sale department that called ME with an updated status on one of my listings. I hadn’t even called her first, she just wanted me to know that we were on track and that the bank was hoping that we could continue to work together to accomplish our mutually beneficial task.

The second call was from another large bank where I have a credit card account. They noticed that I hadn’t made a payment this month, and since I had a perfect payment history, they called to see if it was a mistake. It was, and I paid them as we spoke, and they waived late fees and any interest penalties. They treated me like a valued customer!

Needless to say, I feel a lot better about these behemoth institutions than I did yesterday. In both cases I feel that they went the extra mile to offer genuine assistance.

And that make me feel a little more optimistic about any future dealings with them!

So far, the 2010-2011 winter has been a chilly one. There have already been several heavy snows, and plenty of frosty cold temperatures to go around.

But there is something about cold weather that drives us to seek warmth by not only turning up the thermostat but also by snuggling up with a loved one by a warm fire with a steaming beverage or a bowl of hot stew.

There is something very comforting about looking out at the frigid and bleak winter landscape from within the temperate coverage of a flannel blanket big enough for two.

I love cold weather! That is, as long as I’m not out in it!

I will start off by saying that I am very careful about how I spend my money. I’m not cheap, but I try to avoid spending more that I should.

As a result, whenever I need information or a computer program or free advice about anything I go straight to the Internet and do a Google search.

Very often, I find exactly what I am looking for and it’s free. And while that is great in the short term, I wonder what the long term effects of this “expectation of not paying” will be.

And has this notion of service without compensation spread to the real world of bricks and mortar? It does seem like over the last few years there has been an increase in demand for pro bono service.

I wonder just how far this attitude will go before the free services are forced to succumb to economic pressures.

After all, we have been taught all of our lives that there is no such thing as a free lunch!

SEO is a wonderful thing! A properly optimized web presence can attract “clicks” from near and far.

But what happens once a potential customer finds us? Do we deliver on our promise of “more information” or “additional details?

When installing hyperlinks into web-pages, blogs, or paid ads it is most important to meet the promise of what the anchor text touts. Getting clicks is relatively simple. Avoiding a “bounce” is quite a bit trickier.

It is imperative to not just use link anchor text for the purpose of attracting robots and spiders. We always need to consider that we are ultimately creating content for real live human beings!

Keeping this in mind, our landing pages need to be sticky enough to hold the interest of even the most casual web surfer.

We only have one chance to grab someone’s attention. And so our first impression has to be our best impression!

A group of friends and I meet ‘every other Friday” at a local watering hole with instruments in hand and microphones at the ready.

Informally known as “The Geezers,” we play typical bar fare with an occasional classic rock tune thrown into the mix. It’s a good way to keep our musical skills honed and when the crown really gets into the music it can be quite fulfilling.

When a tavern patron asked last night if he could do a number, we politely said yes, and surprisingly the young man started into the Buffalo Springfield’s “For What it’s Worth.”

And although we had never played the song before, the musical impressions that were burned into our brains immediately translated into a lusty rendition that was not only recognizable, but turned out to be a pretty good interpretation of the song.

When you have your amp cranked up, and you hit an unfamiliar note on faith alone, you are really laying it all on the line. In this case, the notes miraculously were the correct ones.

There are times in life when you have to go “all in” on nothing more than your gut instinct. If you do not succeed, you simply keep trying until you get it right.

But if you hit the correct note on the first lick, it’s a special kind of magic!

Some colleagues and I that have been in the business a long time have talked a lot about the changes in real estate as a profession.

The job is nothing like the one I learned in 1984. Every aspect of the real estate process has changes, from agency to inspection to financing to marketing. Nothing is the way it was not all that long ago.

Add to that the fact that the job is much harder now and pays a lot less than in the heyday of ready money and developments on every corner. Selling a home used to be as easy as selling a dozen eggs.

Now it’s like trying to put broken eggs back together.

I have not changed professions, but my job has turned around 180 degrees. Some days are a lot harder than others!

But this is what I do, and I’m determined to keep doing it as long as I am able!

For some inexplicable reason the price of gasoline has always been an attitude indicator for the American consumer.

Never mind that a thirty or forty cents a gallon increase is peanuts compared to increased tax burdens, the annual cost of medical care, or the price of a college education.

But the fact that these magic numbers with the little “nine” at the end are constantly flashed in front of our face has somehow unjustly anointed them as a barometer of the overall economy!

Home buyers are saving THOUSANDS of dollars a year on housing expenses but are bemoaning the fact that gasoline is now over three dollars a gallon, which probably translates into less than $500 per year for the average driver.

Yet everyone talks about the price of gasoline. Nobody in my county (other than me, I suppose) even noticed last year that the “Homestead Exemption” on real property simply disappeared leading to an across the board significant tax increase for homeowners in Coweta County.

But in spite of all of that, those high-tech electric cars are looking more appealing every day!

It has gotten to the point where it happens more often than not. A closing is delayed because there is an issue with the title to the property.

Listing REO property is a lot of work. It requires weekly inspections, property management, and cash outlays. In most cases the listing agent is paying for the utilities and all repairs.

So after all of the work has ALREADY been done, and there is a ready, willing and able buyer ready to close and move-in, these issues of title simply add to the stress and aggravation of everyone involved.

It would be so much easier if the title to the property is cleared PRIOR to putting the house on the market. It would also streamline the process and keep buyers from giving up and moving on to something else.

It seems like such a simple thing. You would think that it would be common sense that prevails.

But we are talking about REO sellers here.

I just got my favorite computer up and running again after a catastrophic hard drive crash. It wasn’t that big of a deal, it took five minutes to install a new drive.

Restoring the system took a few hours, and installing the backups was time consuming. And I elected to start “clean” with many of the applications.

So everything is ALMOST just the way it was. Everything is present and accounted for, but a lot of my tweaks and fine-tuning efforts will have to be readjusted over time.

Sometimes however, it IS the little things in life that make the difference. Nuance is personal and comforting, like an old leather wallet that is bursting at the seams but predictable because you know where everything is!

It will take some time to morph from the antiseptic sterility of the clean install to the reassuring comfort of the old “leather wallet.”

But I finally did get rid of some of those old receipts!

These are trying times, and real estate as a profession is constantly under assault both from the market itself and from the consuming public.

As information constantly becomes more readily available, the perception of the role of the real estate broker is often diminished.

This often foregone conclusion is fundamentality incorrect. Even the most informed consumer does not have the same depth of experience nor the frequently honed technical skills as the field tested broker. A real estate transaction is fraught with risk, and the value of an experienced and competent agent cannot be overstated.

I get calls from consumers every day that are in dire need of representation. Many recognize the fact that there are benefits to be derived from finding the right agent for them. Others are determined to “go it alone.”

That choice lies with solely on the shoulders of the caller. Hopefully the will make the decision that is right for them!

To say that it has been cold in the Atlanta Metro area for the last week in an understatement. The snow and ice that accumulated last Sunday night persisted all week as air temperatures barely reached the freezing mark.

Finally today it warmed up enough to clear up most of the remaining ice on the roadways, which in some cases was several inches thick.

As regional municipalities debate over what more could have been done to have averted the disaster, the fact remains that we are not equipped to deal with widespread icing and we will probably not change much in the way of preparation for these once-in-a-decade kinds of storms.

It’s still early in the year and we could get more winter storms but it is unlikely that we will experience the severity of the conditions that we have endured over the last week.

And I for one, hope that we don’t!

I’m out early this Saturday morning helping a young couple find their own little piece of heaven.

Despite the fact that many doom and gloom prognosticators now blatantly state that home ownership is no longer the American dream, this couple recognizes that this is a great time to buy as a hedge against inflation and for the pride of ownership.

There is nothing more satisfying than being able to assist with such an important decision as buying their first house together. It’s an amazing part of this job that goes beyond money or career.

It’s changing lives in a genuine and meaningful way. And I fee that it’s pretty important work.

And I’m proud to be doing it!

I had an inquiry yesterday from an out-of-state resident that was curious as to what a parcel of land he purchased in 2007 might sell for today.

Whenever I get one of these questions, I first find out as much about the property as I can by studying public records and looking at aerial photos. It turns out that this was a nice lot in a decent area that bordered a small lake.

But unfortunately, like so many others, he had purchased his land near the peak of the price curve, and in one of the areas hardest hit by price deflation.

When he was told what the property would sell for today (less than half of what he paid for it) he waffled between anger and disbelief. It is not unusual under these circumstances to “shoot the messenger” but my job is to be honest and professional.

Today I’ll send him an email thanking him for his time, and some suggestions for marketing his property. I know he’s not really angry with me, but he has been affected in a very negative way with the local real estate market and there still may be an opportunity to work together on a compromise solution.

The market it what it is, and we must approach it with a firm grasp on reality.

And deal with it from a position of knowledge.