Bad Photo of the Week

In real estate I am usually amazed at the quality of photos that agents put up on the MLS for new listings.

Here is an opportunity to make the Seller’s home shine, and the selected real estate agent blows this opportunity right out of the starting blocks by using poor photos.  One of my most favorite is the “back lit” shot…where the details of the house and yard can not be clearly or easily seen by the viewer because “the house” is in a black/dark shadow.

Oh, I realize that agents have a time limit in which they have to work to since the MLS requires that the listing be posted with in “X” number of hours, and that a “Primary” photo accompany the new listing’s entry into the MLS.

Agents usually go back to the property to take more photos.  In this case I don’t think so, as this photo was accompanied by interior shots, and was used as the “Primary” photo of an Open House flyer that was sent to a bunch of different Realtors.

Bottomline:  If you or a friend are listing a house, ask the agents (three) that you are interviewing to bring printed copies of their three listings as they appeared in the MLS.  More about this later.

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Houses Sold and Prices

These are the numbers for the last three months.  Pending means that the offer on a house has been accepted by the Seller, but it has not “Closed” (sold).

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Weekly Real Estate Market Activity for Houses

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The Power of Being a “Daughter”

My daughter lives way away from New Hampshire and is on her own. Taking after her mother she is an independent sort, who, if need be could change a flat tire.

Yesterday, she had a tire that was a leaker, she put self-inflate stuff into it, hoping it would last long enough to get her to the Tire Guys by six o’clock.  It didn’t.

On her way over there, it went flat, and she went to her trunk for her spare…dressed for work, in a dress, etc.  Well of course the donut was flat too.

Living in a realitively small town meant that a fellow stopped to help…when he saw the donut was flat it was just a matter of a simple “whistle” at some other passing motorist, who turned around and came back to help too.  Of course Guy #2 was a friend of Guy #1, and Guy#2 had an air compressor in his truck so they blew the tire up and my daughter was on her way to the other Tire Guys…and made it to their shop by the six o’clock deadline.

She was standing outside the shop, when Guy #1 drove up.  She asked what he was doing there, and he told her, “I wanted to make sure you made it.”

It turns out he was on his way to pick up his eight year old daughter when he stopped to help my daughter.  He simply said, “I thought about my daughter being you, and that I’d appreciate it if somebody checked up on her.”

Ahhh, the power of being a “Daughter”.

(Photo not taken by writer)

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Number of Houses Closed vs. Average Median Sold Price

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