Real Estate and *stuff *
A real person helping real people with real estate
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Mayor’s Office Kicks Off “HEAT & EAT” PROGRAM on 11/21 in Marlborough
November 15, 2011
The Marlborough Mayor’s Office, in partnership with the Marlborough Human Services Department, will be holding a second voluntary “Heat and Eat” toll road collection on Monday, November 21st. Funds collected support the Mayor’s Charity Relief “Heat and Eat Program” fund. The collection will take placebetween the hours of 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. at the intersections of Route 20/Granger Boulevard and Route 85/Main Street. Elected officials and City of Marlborough employees will be manning the tolls.
With predictions of fuel costs estimated to rise during this winter season, it is vitally important to do what we can as a community to help those in need. Too often residents are faced with the painful reality of choosing between paying their utility bills or paying their grocery bills. “We don’t want any resident to have to choose between heating or eating,” Mayor Stevens remarked.
In addition to the toll, private donations are graciously accepted.
Checks may be made payable to the “City of Marlborough Heat and Eat Program.”
Checks may be sent to the following address:
Mayor’s Office
City Hall
140 Main Street
4th floor
Marlborough, MA 01752
For further information, contact Kate LaRose at (508) 360-3770. We thank you in advance for your generosity!
Of Whales and Mice…
November 13, 2011
Fred and Ethel…the BNI Whales…had a good taste of a sunny Sunday in real estate and *stuff*! They started the day at 4:30am because Ethel couldn’t sleep very well. She’s pretty nervous about making sure we can stall the foreclosure sale on a property before the end of the month and wanted to pull some more information together. Fred was a bit annoyed at the early hour but as he said “early to bed early to rise, makes a BNI Whale Healthy Wealthy and Wise”…or something to that effect.
After a showing at the new listing, the Whales were thrilled to get an offer on the condo they just listed on Friday! Amazing! Fred remarked that is what happens with a well priced, well marketed listing and timed release to market. The sellers are happy – the BNI Whales are happy and Sunday brimmed with sunshine!
Off to do some more showings and check in on the open houses in Rutland and Leicester. Apparently the mouse solution in the walk up attic worked well because it rained deceased mice on to a prospective home buyer. Consulted with the home owner and we won’t have that happening again (sorry Wendy!). Leicester had good traffic and Fred and Ethel think we’ll have it under contract early this week. I think they are right – they are getting the hang of real estate quickly!
Fred and Ethel finished up the day with scheduling showings for Monday and Tuesday, confirming meetings and visiting Lowes to look for indoor lighting solutions for the living room. Holding back from calling Chris McGarry – the electrician for the 7 Hills BNI Group (top rated with service magic ) to find out how to make an outdoor light an indoor one – Fred and Ethel settled on a new light fixture with the husband and called it a day.
Each profession is allowed just one representative per BNI Group – that means that you will no competition within the group for referrals! We are currently looking for a variety of industries…such as:
Florist
Limo company
JP
DJ
Event Planner
Band manager
Caterer
Event Planner
Wedding Planner
Baker
Real estate attorney
Interested? Let me know!
The Whales on a Whirlwind for Saturday
November 13, 2011
Fred and Ethel got a great taste of Real Estate on Saturday! So much so…we have limited photos of their activities.
They started out with some showings on their listings…specifically 325 Elm Str in Framingham. Elm Street is a short sale with upscale renovations that are “almost” complete. Some elbow grease and this modified ranch in North Framingham on the Sudbury line will SHINE!
From there…the whales moved on to a new client. Fred took a call on late Friday afternoon from a lovely young couple who are trying to relocate from Troy NY to Marlborough because they have an incredible job offer on the table. With only two weeks to orchestrate the move and only one day to find a new place to live – they are urgent! Ethel saw how great this couple is and wanted to help! With a flurry of phone calls and some last-minute showing requests – Fred and Ethel find them a great rental in Assabet Village in Hudson. The couple is thrilled and the whales are excited!
After a quick stop to refuel (Fred and Ethel can really pound the espresso!) They are off to meet a local contractor at another short sale to assess any necessary repairs and schedule the clean up work. The sellers have moved on so the point of contact has become the Realtor. Luckily it’s only down trees and no damage to the property except for a basketball hoop and the mailbox. The Whales are not pictured here due to safety concerns.
And then they are off to ensure that the open houses for Sunday are scheduled and staffed! Thanks to the great team at RE/MAX Professional Associates, Fred and Ethel are confident that the open houses at the following locations on Sunday will go well!
18 Burncoat Street Leicester
Open Sunday 1pm to 2:30pm
Foreclosure sale! Title V in hand! 3 bed, 1 bath, .97 acres in need of serious rehab. Priced to sell at $64,350
72 Glenwood Rutland
Open Sunday 12pm to 2pm
Amazing short sale opportunity! 3 bed, 2.5 bath in the main house with hardwoods, fireplace, oversized gourmet kitchen, views of Mt. Wachusett, full dry basement, walk up attic and 2 car garage. Also has a full in-law suite with 2 bedrooms and its own entrance!
Who are the Whales? Have you been following their progress this week? Ask me about the BNI Whales and how Fred and Ethel can increase your business!
Your foreclosure purchase opportunity! UNDER $70k! Open Sunday 1pm to 2:30pm
November 12, 2011
Here it is! The “diamond in the rough” you have been looking for! 3 bedrooms, nearly an acre of flat land, Title V in hand and all for under $70,000!!!! Stop in 18 Burncoat Street in Leicester on Sunday 1pm to 2:30pm to start planning the renovations!
The Whales…Wayland to Worcester and back with lipstick pigs
November 11, 2011
Wow…the Whales had quite the day! Part of the huge success I have as a realtor can be attributed to the weekly sales team meeting I have with the 7 Hills BNI Group. Each week we meet and have a chance to discuss what we do as professionals in our business and then part ways to pass referrals throughout the next six days. (A huge thanks to Pam Crawford at RE/MAX Professional Associates for getting me started – the support and eduction I have with the fantastic group of people I work with is sometimes staggering!)
But back the Whales…
Fred and Ethel started the morning at 6am with a big cup of coffee and the laptop. A quick blog post about the open house this Sunday at 72 Glenwood Rutland. Followed by emails, Craigslist postings, a listing agreement, finalizing a lease agreement for later and verifying that an auction company has received the offer on the short sale listing so we can try to hold off the auction at the end of the month. And then they are off!
Egads…they did not get the offer and YET AGAIN the “find me, fax me” fax upload function is not working! Off to Office Max for Fred and Ethel to get that offer in! Luckily there is one nearby! Fred and Ethel make a note to call into the accessline on Monday morning and get the fax function corrected. $7.68 for a five page fax is just not okay!
Fred and Ethel with meet with Sonia and Dave at their 2 bedroom condo in Marlborough to list it. Sonia and Dave have outgrown their space and want to move into a big home. Fred and Ethel played with their dog Lilly and had a quick game of “what’s in my room” with their daughter before signing the listing agreement and photographing the condo.
Now that the sale portion of Sonia and Dave’s day is done, they take off with their daughter, her friend, faithful dog Lilly in one car and Fred and Ethel get in the jeep with me to take a look at a few houses to begin their search. They are hoping to find the “diamond in the rough” on a lake and we look at lake front in Wayland. Fred and Ethel say “TEAR DOWN” and wonder if the plot shape will allow a nice 2 to 3 bedroom home to be built after this one has a date with a bulldozer!
Off to the next lake house in Wayland. Much nicer but something is amiss. The listing was on the market for 129,000 then off for a week and then put back on the market at 179,000. Fred and Ethel review the house and all the major systems but find no reason for the $50k price increase. It’s an odd layout and Sonia and Dave decide to call it a day. The whales are off to stop back home and post up their condo listing.
Fred and Ethel sort through the pictures, call on getting a copy of the condo docs and verify all the information with public records. Inputting the listing into MLS takes them about an hour total with the pictures. From here, the magic internet will spread the listing to Realtor.com, Remax.com, Trulia, Zillow, amymullenrealestate.com and beyond. Fred and Ethel will give it 24 hours to populate and then start to revisit the sites to make adjustments and monitor the activity. This happens daily for all the listings and helps keep them at the top of any buyer’s home search!
Again with more coffee…these Whales are picky too…they said something about Starbucks??!!?? Really?
Fred and Ethel rush out of the house to make a home inspection in Worcester at 4pm with a buyer. Egads…it didn’t go well. The house has been completely redone on the inside and is an investor flip from a foreclosure purchase. As the home inspector says…”It’s lipstick on a pig. Take off the lipstick and it’s still a pig.” Adam Camosse is a great home inspector and my buyer thinks the world of him. We are waiting to find out why the house is held together in the attic with steel cables. I don’t think we’ll like the answer.
A quick stop at the mail box to drop some prospecting letters in the mail for the morning. Fred and Ethel learn the value of being “the first kid on the block” with expired listings!
Last appointment of the day! Fred and Ethel meet the new tenants Mike and Amy at the rental listing in Marlborough to do a walk through of the apartment and sign their lease. The client Lynne is very excited about her new tenants and Fred and Ethel are shown here pulling up the lawn sign!
*whew* so the whales had a huge day! Listed, closed, viewed, inspected, prospected, blogged and of course took calls and meet new people! They decided that their favorite part of the job was meeting new people and helping them!
If you want to learn more about Fred and Ethel, BNI and RE/MAX – let me know!
Where did the whales go?
November 10, 2011
— 1 Comment
Where did the whales go today? Fred and Ethel are a pair of whales that one lucky member of BNI group get to carry with them for a week in between our meetings. BNI is largest business networking organization in the world and I would be happy to chat with you about if you are interested in finding our more. BUT…back to the whales…the whales are awarded to the BNI member with the best 50 second commercial and I won them this week!
I thought it would be fun to see where the whales go for a week…
Here we are leaving the Whale Home Base in West Bolyston. The whales dutifully come to every meeting at 7am on Thursday mornings for an hour and a half. We meet in the basement of this church because it’s cheap, nice space. Big room, lots of tables – great for networking.
Here the whales are taking some exterior pictures of a property in Worcester. This property is being valued by a bank as part of a bankruptcy case. Part of my job unfortunately consists of performing market evaluations on properties in foreclosure or about to be foreclosed on. We are expecting to see an increase in foreclosures in the fourth quarter. This makes the whales sad because there are a number of options for distressed property owners. If they were able to reach out ahead of time (when their financial trouble start) I can help them!
Here the whales are at yet another property in Worcester that they need to process a valuation on. The whales are getting tired on this rainy Thursday morning because there are 8 properties on their list today. EIGHT! In one day! For just one Realtor! Multiple that into the number of Realtors there are and it’s staggering. One in eight homeowners on average across the country are in financial distress and either behind in their mortgage or in foreclosure. *whew* the whales are shocked at the news and we had a long conversation about the various options for these people…such as modifications, short sales and legal consultation.
The whales stop to refuel. It’s a little known fact that whales actually survive on caffeine alone for most of the week. Truly. I think I saw that on a NatGeo special.
Ah-ha! The whales are excited! We just got word that we have short sale approval on a house in LESS THAN 30 DAYS! That’s amazing! These home owners will be free of their financial burden and can start to put the rest of their lives back together by the first of the new year! What a great way to spend the afternoon! Processing HUDs, submitting backing information, dotting all the “i”s and crossing all the “t”s. Another little known fact about whales is that they are detail orientated. Really…I think I saw that on the same show.
It’s a rainy evening without any appointments for a change and the whales have decided to celebrate their WIN today with the short sale approval by having a cool frosty one while reviewing tomorrow’s schedule and making sure everything is ready.
The whales did good today in their first “real” day of real estate with a RE/MAX Realtor! Let’s see how they do tomorrow!
Tree Falls Over Property Line: Who Pays? Who Picks Up the Pieces?
November 10, 2011
If a neighbor’s tree falls over your property line, file an insurance claim for repairs and cleanup. No house damage? Check if chopping and hauling debris is covered.
When a tree falls
Your neighbor is responsible when a tree falls over your shared property line only if you can prove he was aware that his tree was a hazard and refused to remedy the problem. Regardless, your insurance company restores your property first, and later decides whether or not to pursue reimbursement from the neighbor or his insurer if the neighbor was negligent in maintaining the tree.
Before a tree falls
Write a letter to your neighbor before his dead, diseased or listing tree falls through your roof or over your property line.
The letter should include:
- Description of the problem
- Photographs
- Request for action
- Attorney letterhead–not necessary but indicates you mean business.
Trim their trees
If the limbs of a tree hang over your property line, you may trim the branches up to the property line, but not cut down the entire tree. If a tree dies after your little pruning, the neighbor can pursue a claim against you in civil or small claims court. Depending on the laws of your state, your neighbor may have to prove the damage was deliberate or caused by negligence, but may also be able to recover up to three times the value of the tree.
Before you cut, tell your neighbors what you intend to do to protect your property. They may offer to trim the whole tree instead of risking your half-oaked job.
Your tree falls
It’s always a good idea to take care of your big and beautiful trees, and keep receipts for trimmings and other care.
But if your tree falls over a neighbor’s property line, do nothing until their insurance company contacts you. You may not be liable unless you knew or should have known the tree was in a dangerous condition. If you pruned a tree or shored up trunks to prevent problems, gather your receipts to prove your diligence.
Open this evening – great stop on the way home from work!
November 9, 2011
30 John Drive in North Grafton will be open this evening 5:30 to 7pm – stop in and see!
3 living levels in this upscale townhouse in Forest Hills. Low HOA fees, pets allowed and a one car garage. Tons of natural light, open floor plan and huge bedrooms. Walk out finished basement has many possibilities as a game room, additional bedroom or office. As easy commuter location within 5 minutes of 90, 20, 122 and 140.
Master suite has it’s own full bathroom and walk-in closet. Second floor laundry closet and additional loft space also! Check out a video tour (real video – not stitched together photos): here and here
Great price with motivated sellers – NOT a short sale!
