Tag: South Hills Realtor

The One With The Tattletale

by Wendy WeaverLeave a Comment on The One With The Tattletale

In this job you often meet eccentric people and it’s funny. Sometimes you come across people who go slightly beyond eccentric. A person, a stranger, such as this crossed my path for 2 minutes one day and “tattled” on me.

Once I had a house for sale that LOOKED haunted. Three generations of women had lived and died there. In my photos I took there are orbs in a couple of rooms. It was a very old Tudor so the gothic-ness of it lent itself to spooky splendor. Everyone who knows me knows I love this stuff. I go to mediums. I historically have been able to tell when there are spirits or an energy in a house that doesn’t want me there. There weren’t any mean spirits in this house but the energy of these women was for sure present in my opinion. Houses often take on the energy of the people who loved and lived inside it’s 4 walls. I enjoy talking about it. It’s interesting and fun.

Anyway, it was sort of joke amongst people in my office because I was alwasys posting pics etc of this house and like I said, it just LOOKED haunted by nature of what it was architecturally and decor-wise. I didn’t need to SAY anything to elicit comments from the public on how it looked haunted.

Here’s where my story getting downright hilarious/scary/unbeleivable.

One day I was walking into my office as a colleague was walking out so we stopped and chatted casually for about 2 minutes. We were joking around and laughing about my “haunted house” and about the orbs in the pictures etc. I went inside and did some work in the computer room. About an hour later my manager calls my into his office. WHY? WELL….Let me just tell you!!

I got reported by a stranger for SELLING HAUNTED HOUSES. A woman had been in the nearby area outside sitting on a bench or something and overheard my 2 minute funny convo and TATTLED on me for selling a haunted house. I wish I could have been there to hear how it went down, but it went something like this:

“I heard an agent outside say she purposely is selling a house she said is haunted! She said there were ORBS! Do you really have agents here who will take a haunted house and sell it to innocent people and not tell them?” Obviously she was told that of course it’s not haunted, and how could one prove it was haunted to begin with? She was VERY MUCH a willing believer in haunted houses and was REALLY mad at me. She kept talking about the orbs as PROOF beyond a reasonable doubt that it’s haunted. Of course this isn’t true. Orbs are caused by dust in the air hitting the flash etc. We had just been JOKING AROUND.

She literally walked into my building, asked for the manager and reported me for selling a haunted house without disclosing it in writing to every buyer. First of all…..a house being haunted is not a disclosable item in Pennsylvania. Someone dying in the house isn’t even a disclosable item. Second of all, I’m a REALTOR not a ghost hunter. I don’t actually KNOW it was haunted. Certainly not enough to say so as material FACT. Laughing out loud at this moment just recalling this happening. BUT SHE SAID THERE WERE ORBS!

Lady on the bench eavesdropping on people: You refused to give your name so I was never able to defend myself which is SO frustrating. It was a joke. So, in case you are reading this, for your peace of mind, a young couple bought that house and both seller and buyer are happy.

So are the ghosts.

Too much?

Moral of the story: Be careful what you say in public because you never know who is listening and if they are put together right or not.

Photo by rawpixel.com on Pexels.com

The One With The Honest To God Truth

by Wendy WeaverLeave a Comment on The One With The Honest To God Truth

Truths:

  1. Having to work all summer while my kids are home and hubby home (he’s a teacher) is a tough pill to swallow.
  2. You’ll find me with my laptop working from the pool more days than not.
  3. If you ask me to show you houses for months and months and then screw me over and use your Aunt’s neighbor to help you buy a house I will haunt you and your family when I die. No, really. I will.
  4. Listing agents don’t get paid a penny until your house sells. Pretty much no one wants your house to sell more than you do except me. So, never worry if I’m doing everthing I can. Believe me when I tell you I am.
  5. Buyer’s agents don’t get paid until you actually buy a house. Many people think someone is paying us. They are not. Our time spent with you is our time freely given in the hopes that you will indeed find a house to buy. See haunting warning, item 3 above.
  6. If we tell you over the summer we are unavailable because we have an appointment it’s probably code for “we are at Kennywood and my family will disown me if I cancel their fun day”. You WANT your Realtor to have a balanced life because a happy Realtor is an efficient Realtor. A miserable Realtor will make YOUR life miserable. Truth.
  7. When you write a review online for us on our website or Zillow etc, it’s a priceless GIFT to us. For you it takes but a moment, for us it means a lot and can have a lasting impact. If you have been living under a rock and don’t know….Reviews are EVERYTHING. Buyers read them. Sellers read them. They use them to make decisions on who to hire. You can go to your Realtor’s website and find the review link, or find their profile on Zillow and add your review.
  8. TRUST US….don’t micromanage us. I don’t tell you how to cut open your patient, file charges against a criminal, grade a thesis paper, or deliver the mail. I don’t know how to put an IV in a person or how to safely build a bridge. I TRUST YOU to do those things. You need to trust me that I know how to do my things. I do. Swear.
  9. For God’s sake DON’T PLAY THE WHAT IF GAME. Nothing makes me crazier. Things will happen when and how they are going to happen. Going over 7 different possible scenarios isn’t healthy for you. We figure out a game plan when presented with specific situations. The variables in this job are endless. ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN so playing the what if game is so futile. When presented with a situation we find the solution if one exists. Period.
  10. Finally, Realtors aren’t psychic. OMG how awesome would that be? Sadly it’s just not the case. 11 years later and I’m still shocked when the nicest house ever sits on the market for 62 days while the craphole that smells like cats sells with 7 offers in an hour. Sometimes there’s no rhyme or reason to these things. I often wonder if a house doesn’t sell right away if it’s because it’s waiting for the special person who does eventually buy it. If you have read my other blog posts you know I believe homes have energy and I believe certain people are drawn to or repelled by a home’s energy. There truly is a key to every lock, a buyer for every home. Patience and faith is the reality. Crystal balls are not. If only!!!

The One With The Q and A

by Wendy WeaverLeave a Comment on The One With The Q and A

I totally had writers block, so I turned to my favorite Facebook moms group, “South Hills Working Moms”, and asked if anyone had questions about Real Estate that I could answer. Here are the questions and my hopefully helpful answers:

Q: When should someone engage a Realtor to purchase a home?

A: If you don’t want to spin your wheels endlessly searching totally inaccurate national websites you should engage a Realtor as soon as you begin to contemplate whether buying a house is for you or not. I say the same phrase over and over and over….you can’t make any decision without FACTS. Contact a Realtor, let them advise you on who to contact for a mortgage pre-approval. No one should ever be looking at houses without a pre-approval. Once you have a pre-approval, let a Realtor set you up in a REAL TIME search so that you have accurate info. It takes us no time at all to set you up, it’s easy on our end so don’t feel like it’s “wasting our time” because you don’t even know if you want to move. Sometimes it takes seeing a special house pop up to light your fire. A buyer’s agent services are at no cost to a buyer, so you have NOTHING to lose and everything to gain by finding someone to help you navigate the process.

Q. When should someone engage a Realtor to sell a home?

A. Immediately! A good Realtor (me of course) will come to your house, no obligation and no cost, and walk through with you and give you suggestions on what to do in order to get your home ready to sell. We will show you comparable sold listings for your home and help you to understand what the value of your house is, and go over numbers with you so that you can see what your net proceeds would be after all the fees etc. The process will be laid out for you along with a timeline. By the time a good agent leaves your home, you should have a very solid base of information in order to make your decision. It’s ok to have a couple different agents come take a look. It’s important that you “click” with your Realtor. If you don’t trust them and like them, it won’t work well.

Q. Moving out of town? How to pick a long distance realtor…finding trust over email?

A. I’ve done this many times for people, all over the world, not just out of town. Realtors have a good and strong network everywhere. We have specialized websites and Facebook groups that we all communicate with each other in. I know agents in cities all over the country, and especially all over Pennsylvania. If I know Jane Doe needs to have someone help her find a house in Philadelphia for instance, I reach out to my referral network and I INTERVIEW THEM, search their professional history, do a lot of background research on them and then I make the connection. For this service that Realtor generally pays me a referral fee, so I am motivated to make sure the person I hook you up with is the BEST. If you don’t click, I’ll find you someone else. So basically if you want to find a good Realtor somewhere else, ask a Realtor you know here to help you find the perfect match.

Q. Being stuck in your “starter house” for too long and needing more space but unable to afford any of the fancy “flipped” houses that are for sale, and not having technical skills to buy a crappy one and fix it up:

A. I LOVE THIS QUESTION because it’s filled with opportunities for me to clarify some things. First of all, being able to “afford” a new house….For a conventional loan you only need 3% down to purchase a house, and you can ask seller to pay up to 3% in closing cost assistance. For an FHA loan you only need 3.5% down and you can ask seller to pay up to 6% in closing cost assistance. So in terms of cash you need, it might be much less than you are assuming. ALSO, if you’ve owned your house for a long time you of course have a lot of equity you can turn around and use to purchase the next home. ASK A MORTGAGE PERSON FOR HELP before deciding you can’t do it without actually checking. I can give lots of recommendations for every type of buyer and personality. Secondly, do you KNOW you can’t afford a new house or are you just assuming? Sometimes flips are terrible. Sometimes it’s so much better to buy an inexpenseive and dated home and just tear out carpet, paint, and add new lighting. Anyone can make those changes and they make a huge and inexpensive impact.

Life it too short to be stuck in a home you don’t love. If you don’t love it, move. You are not a tree. (I love that quote!).

The One Without an Agent

by Wendy WeaverLeave a Comment on The One Without an Agent

You know those little boats people ride around in in Venice? Gondolas? You go for a ride on them, but there’s a guy who’s job it is to row and to keep you from falling in or hitting your head on the footbridges that you glide underneath. Could you ride in the gondola alone on your trip to Italy? You probably physically could, but why would you? Would you risk falling overboard or a severe concussion? Probably not. The same goes for using a Realtor to buy a house. You CAN buy a house alone, but it’s like riding one of those boats blindfolded like in the movie Birdbox. Here’s what I’d like to discuss:

The other day I listed a home in Castle Shannon. I had 2 offers within hours, and 5 overall within 48 hours. About 3 days after listing, the Realtor.com inquiries started rolling in. 3 of them. By the time they saw the listing I had already sold it. This goes for all the national websites. If you want a fighting shot at getting a house you better have a REALTOR telling you about it the moment it’s posted online, and in many cases your Realtor knows about houses BEFORE they are listed. In a crazy market like this you don’t stand a chance without an agent working FOR YOU.

Two days ago in one of my Facebook groups a woman was talking about being stunned and upset that her taxes were about to double because her current assessment was being appealed by the school district, as often happens when someone buys a house that’s worth much more than what the Allegheny County assessment has recorded. Realtors are supposed to warn their buyers about this potential outcome, especially if the old assessment is really far below the new value. I, along with other agents, saw this post and all wondered the same thing. WHY in the world hadn’t this woman’s agent warned her?? If it’s doubling, that means it was a VAST change in value and would certainly be appealed by the school district. Guess what her answer was? She bought the house without a Realtor. She’s angry at the mortgage company for not warning her, but that’s not the mortgage company’s job. They aren’t in the know about that sort of thing. REALTORS ARE. That’s an expensive mistake. Since hiring a Realtor is FREE, it’s a doubly expensive mistake.

If you are trying to buy a house, HIRE A REALTOR. There’s no cost to you, and they work for YOU with only your best interest at heart both ethically and legally.

Don’t fall off the gondola. Ask for help. 412-818-4734 or email me at wendyweaver@howardhanna.com.

I can set you up in a RealScout account which shows you new listings in real time. All you have to do is ask me to.

The One With All The Trips

by Wendy WeaverLeave a Comment on The One With All The Trips

The job I do comes with its fair share of unbelievable stress, pretty insane hours (I’ll leave that for the next blog post), a constant barrage of problems to solve without letting any of my clients know there even IS a problem, and sometimes it’s a true wonder we all still do it.  

We do still do it though, because when it’s all said and done the job is actually pretty fun and there’s some perks that someone in a regular 9-5 just doesn’t get. The most awesome of which, for me, is the trips. 

I have gotten to go on some pretty fun ones over the years. The resorts and hotels are always top notch, with the best amenities and luxury all the way. The Hanna family doesn’t mess around when it comes to where they take us. They are there too, for even longer than us because they host the different regions at different times. That means the family can be there for weeks in some cases, so the places we go are pretty damn fabulous.  

This year we are going to an all-inclusive resort in Jamaica. Some of the other trips I’ve had the pleasure of attending with the Hannas are Naples, Florida, Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic, Miami Beach, Florida (That one was going to be Cancun but there were too many travel warnings at the time). Every year at the trip they announce where next year’s trip will be. I look forward to that each time. Going on a trip with my good friends who are in the same business is therapeutic and a salve for the stress. Relaxing, drinking, letting loose, and venting, venting, venting about all the craziness we deal with is always just what the doctor ordered.  

My huge passion for travel is one of the reasons I set myself such high goals…. You have to earn the trip. It’s not just handed over to you. I strive for it each year, and always reach it. Here’s to 2019 and another trip well earned. If any of the Hannas are reading this, THANK YOU.