My apologies for a long hiatus from blogging. I needed to check out from the online social media world for a little while to handle an intense spike of new client activity in the physical world. I was also out since Saturday on vacation. But I’m back!
While I was out, The Daily Show had this hilarious take (embedded below) on Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner’s problems selling his own home as proof that Secretary Geithner’s was unqualified for the job — hope you enjoy!
I hope everybody had a wonderful weekend! On Saturday, the Washington Post had this article with a compelling lead-in:
At what point does the real estate industry’s penchant for boosterism — and the sunny outlook that comes naturally to any good salesman — get in the way of buyers and sellers looking for guidance they can trust?
I will make this one comment: regardless if abuse is prevalent or not, it cannot be disputed that there is an unavoidable conflict of interest here — a direct result of the traditional commission fee model. When your adviser is compensated based on whether or not you take a certain course of action, there is a conflict. I discussed this in my very first post titled “The Problem with Real Estate Commissions”.
The SmithAdams approach avoids this conflict of interest. To that point, we will shortly be enabling you to self-subscribe to detailed market updates for your zip code or area. Click the thumbnail to the right to see a sample report (PDF format) for condos in select Arlington zip codes. If you don’t want to wait until the self-subscribe function is set up, just let me know (1) what area you are interested in and (2) condo/townhouse or single-family home, and I’ll email it to you.
Speaking of Arlington, if you somehow still haven’t seen the Arlington rap on Youtube, here it is:
Unfortunately, it’s not available in the DC area yet. That doesn’t mean homeowners in our area shouldn’t be thinking about how to improve energy efficiency in their homes. Last March, Green Inc, the wonderfully pragmatic environmental blog at the New York Times, invited five practical environmentalists to think about how to green your house and lifestyle in a realistic way. From Katharine Wroth’s suggestions for cutting your utility bills by 25% (great selling point at an open house!) to Josh Dorfman’s explanation of how to make a “dumb” house “smart,” their tips are realistic and fairly inexpensive.
If you are feeling more ambitious, think about conducting an “energy audit” on your home. Auditing his own home, Tom Zeller Jr. found that “as much as 25 percent of your heating and cooling dollars escape through unseen cracks and gaps in your home, which are usually found in attics, basements, duct systems, and around floors, doors, and windows. If you combine all the holes and gaps in a typical house, it can be like leaving a window or door wide open year round.” Plus, seeing thermal images of your house to track air flows and leaks is just cool.
All these little things can add up as you think about positioning your house in today’s market. Using some of these suggestions, you are also helping the earth one baby-step at a time.
Our friend Jill Erber, owner of specialty cheese shop Cheesetique in Alexandria, VA, makes a wonderfully articulate and down-to-earth protest of protectionist measures taken by the outgoing Bush administration against, of all things, Roquefort cheese. You tell ‘em Jill!
With all the ground shifting so rapidly in the real estate industry and the American economy, I was reminded of a video that was originally conceived as a PowerPoint presentation for a 150-person staff meeting at a Colorado high school in 2006 (see the Shift Happens wiki for the presentation’s history, source material, and various versions). It went viral and has been seen by at least five million viewers. Updated in 2007, the version embedded above is just as revealing now as when I first saw it. For instance — WAIT! There is more to read… read on »
If you are feeling more ambitious, think about conducting an “energy audit” on your home.