Let’s take a little quiz to see if you think – when a home sells – that items should stay or go.

• Little satellite dish on top of the house?
• Big satellite dish in side yard?
• Perennial flower?
• Fireplace cover?
• Swing Set?
• Curtains?

All of the above items can GO with the seller rather than remain with the buyer. Of course it’s not really black or white.  There are some gray areas which allow them to remain behind.

• Little satellite dish on top of the house?  Remains if it is CLAMPED on rather than screwed in.
• Big satellite dish in side yard?  If the dish itself slides in the tube holding it in place, then the tube which is concreted in remains, but the dish can go.
• Perennial flower?  Okay, these should always stay.  But annual flowers can GO with the seller.
• Fireplace cover?  If the cover is just inserted and remains in place because of spring, it can go with the seller.  If it it screwed and/or bolted in, then it needs to stay with the home.
• Swing Set?  Again it depends on how it was installed.  If the legs are cemented in, the swing set stays. If they are just sitting on top of dirt, then it can go with the seller.
• Curtains?  We are beginning to see some variance in these rules.  Usually curtains could go, but the hardware had to stay in place.  Now we’re seeing state contracts that specify that curtains remain.  If you want to take the curtains with you, be very detailed in the purchase and sales agreement.

To know what should stay and what can go, it depends on whether an item is considered REAL property (or belonging to the real estate) or PERSONAL property.  I’ve told buyers and sellers that if you turn a house upside down and shake, whatever sticks should remain and what would fall away can go.  Still not a bad rule of thumb…

Sometimes unexplainable things happen while showing houses and today was my day.   I took my buyers to a home that had definitely seen better days.  It was beat to pieces, vacant, and just a bit creepy.  As we were walking through the kitchen something hit me on the head.  I thought it was a chain to a light switch (it was that light) but there was nothing there.  I thought maybe a spider had dropped down or a moth hit my head.  Nothing there either.

My buyers saw me duck, but we went on in the back bedroom where we found a black crow.  Dead.

I’m thinking it might have been the ghost of the dead bird dive bombing me.  Creepy!

I’ve been following Lynnae over at Being Frugal for some time now for many reasons, but mainly because we should all choose to live more efficiently even when the economy isn’t in a downturn. Her recent home purchase – with ups and downs and good times and bad – have been fascinating to me (naturally!).  But what she wrote yesterday about her escrow account was riveting.

The bank holding the prepaid taxes in escrow on behalf of the mortgage company went belly up.  The refund check from her escrow account bounced and the dominoes began to fall. Through no fault of hers, other checks weren’t paid so although she can still expect to get her refund, she’s out for about half the check fees (the bank is refunding some).

And in one moment, when a financial institution hasn’t performed ethically, and a bank is shut down, and a lender declares bankruptcy, the lives of hundreds of consumers are turned upside down. We’re left without our money, that we worked hard to earn.  We’re left with overdraft fees to pay.  Fees that are not our fault.  We’re left wondering whether we’ll need to come up with another $1500 by November, so our property taxes will be paid.

Ouch. The lesson learned here is to always try to maintain an emergency fund.  Read your escrow statements, ask questions.

Photo by Alan Cleaver via Flickr Creative Commons. Nice job on the phot, Alan!

I hate dry closings. What are they?  When the lender has cleared a buyer to close, sent the loan package (paperwork) to the title company, everything is printed, signed and notarized, but the funds aren’t there to pay the seller. Because the seller hasn’t been paid, the buyer won’t get the keys to their new house.

Why in this day and age would any reputable lender not be able to have the closing funded?  It’s a wire transfer that you KNOW is coming.  I understand why lenders would want the wire to go at the last minute … because when you have billions of dollars that you’re dealing with, the interest earned overnight is significant.  BUT have the wire ready to hit the morning of closing.  It’s inexusable – in my opinion – to not have it ready to go.

/rant.

Photo by qrrty through Flickr Creative Commons.

Do you get good customer service from the service sector?  I love hearing the two simple words, “Thank you” when I pull away from a fast food drive-thru.  I hate it when the worker barely acknowledged that I’m there but I don’t complain because I feel like the workers life must be bad enough if they’re working at a fast food drive-thru.

Last week I had the privilege of being the recipient of one of the BEST customer experiences ever.  My seller was moving his big TV when he dropped it on the hardwood floor.  Not only was the TV irrepairably broken, but it also put big dings in the hardwood floor.   He was terribly upset because he had to leave town and couldn’t fix it.  He authorized me to call a vendor on his behalf to make things right.

On the referral of my broker, I called a local hardwood floor contractor, explained we were closing in two days, and asked if he could take a look.  The contractor got there a couple minutes early, but patiently waited outside in the humidity for me.  When we got inside, he looked pretty hard but finally said we had two options:  1.) pull up hardwood from a hidden part of the house (under the fridge, the pantry) and replace the boards with the dings, or 2.) fix it with putty so it blends in an no one needs to know.  His recommendation was to try choice #2 and I said, “Oh heck yes. Let’s just try to repair.”

After he made the repair, he said the high gloss look would eventually go away (I was nervous) and it would take about four hours to dry completely.  I asked how much was owed, and he said, “No charge!  You’ll remember to refer me next time!””

I have already referred him to at least three other people in less than a week.  I plan to write about him on my community blog site because his work was outstanding.  That was truly a GREAT customer service experience!

I did disclose the accident to the buyer’s agent and that it had been repaired, but because the buyer had been extremely picky up to that point, I paced.  The buyers looked at the repair and they were fine with it!