Let's Hear it for Durham Public Schools!

As a Realtor^®, one of the biggest battles I fight regularly is that of Durham schools.  There is a stigma around that casts Durham Public Schools in a bad light, particularly compared to other school systems in the area.  I’m here to tell you that it just isn’t true.  Statistically, perhaps the numbers for Durham don’t add up to those of Wake or Orange County, but it is important to dig a little deeper.  For instance, on average, the SAT scores of Durham lag slightly behind those of other area school systems, but there are a higher percentage of Durham students taking the SAT than other area school systems (which would tend to bring the average score down).  Statistics need to be investigated closer than what is just seen on the surface, but I’ll discuss that more in a future blog.

What I really want to focus on is my experience with Durham Public Schools, as well as an opportunity to brag about my daughter, Samantha.  You see, we moved to Durham when Samantha started 3^rd grade.  She has always been in public schools, and, in spite of what I had “heard” about Durham schools, that was where she was going to go.  For the most part, it was a great experience.  Yes, there were a few trouble spots, including a school with some administrative problems (since resolved), but that was all part of the learning experience.  I doubt there are many, if any, schools that don’t have some problems.  But the core of teaching and learning was solid.  I’m willing to bet that, if you ask any teacher, they’ll tell you that they love to teach kids who WANT and ARE WILLING to learn.  The kids that the teachers have to “babysit” are the ones that burn teachers out.  Anyway, Samantha was one who WANTED to learn.  I like to think that I, as her parent, had a lot to do with that.

Samantha graduated from Jordan High School with a respectable GPA, and she was in the top 15% of her class.  But she had earned 14 “Advanced Placement” credit hours for college while in high school.  14 credit hours is almost a full college semester!  Now, realize that the AP exams are standardized tests, so they are the same for kids in Wake County, Orange County, Virginia Beach, Los Angeles, etc.  In my opinion, Durham Public Schools served her very, very well.

Another thing that high school (and middle and elementary) did for Samantha was teach her HOW to learn and study.  Following high school, Sam went to the University of Georgia. I’m ecstatic to say that, this Friday – December 17^th – she will graduate with honors from UGA.  She will have earned here Bachelor of Business Administration degree in just 3-and-a-half years!  In that time period Sam has interned for a financial planner for 1.5 years, and served as Treasurer and Licensing Chairman for her sorority.  She has accepted a position as a Business Analyst with Accenture (one of the “Big 4” consulting firms), working out of their Boston office.  I’m also happy to say that she received 4 excellent job offers, and she had a difficult time making a decision – but she was in the enviable position of not being able to make a wrong choice, as they were all good opportunities.

Okay, I know I’ve used this blog to brag about my daughter, but I just want to make the point that not everything is at is appears.  I firmly believe that Durham Public Schools played a huge role in setting Sam up for her great success in college, and that the same can be said for a lot of the other students in Durham.

For those who feel that Durham schools are less than stellar, are they saying that the parents of the 32,566 students currently enrolled in Durham Public Schools (K-12) have made a mistake trusting Durham schools to give their children a good education?  If so, as I mentioned at the start, they’re wrong, plain and simple.  And I’m sure that the vast majority of parents of the 7,518 graduates of Durham Public Schools over the past 4 years are as proud as anyone of the accomplishments of their children.  I know I am!

And, as an aside to the educational rant of this blog, let’s give kudos to some athletic programs in Durham – primarily Jordan High School’s Boys Soccer team and Hillside High School’s Football team – who each won State Championships this year!  Congratulations Durham!

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I appreciate any comments you may have in response to my blog, or suggestions for future blogs.

How's Your House?

If you receive my newsletter, you know that I spend a lot of time talking about taking care of your home.  After all, it is probably among the biggest investments you have, right?  And, if you DON'T receive my newsletter, let me know and I'll gladly send it to you.

I know of two real estate transactions recently that have fallen apart because of the condition of the house.  In both cases, the home inspections that the buyers had indicated significant repairs that were necessary.  The CURRENT "Offer to Purchase and Contract" requires that all "systems" of a house be "functioning as intended and not in need of immediate repair".  There is portion that follows shortly that says "Buyer shall have the right to terminate this Contract if a reasonable estimate obtained by Buyer of the total cost of Necessary Repairs equals or exceeds $____________.  In both cases that I'm referring to, the buyer was able to get out of the Contract because of this clause.  This obviously leaves the seller frustrated because he now has to put the home back on the market (and take care of the repairs indicated by the inspection anyway), and the buyer is upset also, as he has now spent money for a home inspection and will have to pay for another home inspection on the next house he finds, as well as start the home search process all over.


Starting January 1, North Carolina is going to a new Offer to Purchase and Contract, in which case the buyer will be able to get out of the Contract "for any reason or for no reason".  Obviously I'm simplifying this, as there are some other considerations involved, but the bottom line is that it will be even more important for a SELLER to make sure their house is ready to be sold.  Therefore, I am beginning to strongly recommend that a seller have a "pre-inspection" done on their house, and address any issues prior to putting it on the market.  Remove as many buyer objections as possible as soon as possible, and the transaction should be a lot smoother.

I also would suggest that ANY home owner have a home inspection done.  An inspector will check out things like the built-in appliances, electrical system, plumbing system, heating and cooling systems, roof coverings, doors, windows, exterior building surfaces, foundations, porches, decks, fireplaces and flues, crawl spaces and much more.  Think about it - wouldn't it be nice to know that everything in your house was functioning properly? Consider the "peace of mind" of knowing that the place you live is safe for everyone.  And if there are problems, get them fixed!

If you would like to discuss this further, please send me an email.  And, if you need some names of inspectors, let me know and I'll give you some referrals.

Greed Kills! Part 2

In my last post, I mentioned that the first part of 2010 had good activity due to the home-buyer tax incentives.  There was (and still is) a lot of "inventory", and low interest rates in addition to the tax incentive, so there were a respectable amount of buyers.

I took a listing with a 6-month listing agreement at the end of October of last year.  We tested the market at $250,000, and had a little bit of activity, but no interest.  When we got to the end of the year, I strongly recommended that the seller lower the price.  After all, if there are buyers in the market and a particular home isn't being looked at, it indicates the house is priced too high.  The seller wanted to give it a little more time at that price, and even put together a plan to lower the price as time went on.  The first "date" for lowering the price came, and the seller decided to hold the price.  This went on and on (I have an email trail for proof).  Finally, with three weeks left in the listing agreement, the seller decided to lower the price to $239,500, and told me "you have until the end of the month to get it sold, or I'm going to give the listing to another agent".  Honestly, at that point it was fine with me.  The new price was a good price, but the seller needed to do that earlier in the year - not as the tax credits were expiring and buyers had already made their decisions.  Remember, I had pleaded with the seller to lower the price earlier.  By the way, there were quite a few repairs that needed to be made also, but the seller didn't want to do them until the home was under contract, which is a whole other issue!

Anyway, the listing agreement expired, and the seller listed with a different agent.  The house came back on the market at $235,900.  A month later, it was reduced to $229, 500.  Another month passed, and it was reduced to $220,000.  Two months after that, it was reduced to $215,000.  It finally sold at $206,500, after being on the market for a total of 11 months.  By the way, the new listing agent was "proud" to have sold it at that price.  Really?  Oh, and remember the "plan" I mentioned in the previous paragraph?  It looks like the seller followed through this time.

For what it is worth, I have numerous reports that indicate there were VERY FEW buyers looking at homes between $200,000 and $250,000 from June 1 until present.  Lowering the price as was done did not put the house into a price range where buyers were looking.  There were very few buyers at any price point in that range.

What can we learn from this? First of all, homes that are PRICED RIGHT and SHOW WELL sell, no matter how many buyers are in the market.  That's a plain and simple fact.  The longer a home stays on the market, the more concessions that a seller will have to make (usually monetary). Another lesson is that, whether you like us or not, MOST Realtors will "tell it like it is".  We're trained to know what it takes to buy and sell a house, and that's why people hire us.  We have access to all sorts of sales and marketing reports, so there is "hard data" to back up a lot of what we suggest.  If you're going to use a Realtor (and I hope you will), understand that they are working for YOU and your best interest.

Oh, this sale will probably impact the value of a lot of homes in it's neighborhood, but that's yet another story.  And I congratulate the buyers - they got one heck of a deal!!!

Again, Greed Kills!

Greed Kills! (Part 1)

I market to my neighborhood with regularity, so most of my neighbors are aware of me and my knowledge of our little part of Hope Valley Farms.  But sometimes people just don't want to accept what I have to say regarding our homes.  Here's Part 1 of what will be at least a 2-part piece.


To start with, understand that the first part of 2010 was pretty good from a real estate standpoint, especially with the home-buyers tax incentives that ended in April.  After that, showings and sales went very, very quiet.

Last March I was speaking with a neighbor who was going to put their home on the market.  They told me that they had paid $200,000 for it a few years ago, and since then they had installed a fence in the back yard and upgraded the screen porch (the house really does look nice).  I explained that, in this market, they would be very lucky to get $200,000 for it.  Of course, that didn't appear to be what they wanted to hear, as they listed the house with a different agent - for $215,000.  Folks, there was NO WAY that the house would have appraised for that, and therefore a bank wouldn't lend money for the house.  But again, that's not what the sellers wanted to hear.  (Since I own a home in the neighborhood, I was secretly hoping it WOULD sell for that, because that would add a significant of value to my house - but I knew it was just wishful thinking, hehehehehe). 

Anyway, a few months went by, and they lowered the price to $205,000.  This was still high, but I guess they figured that they could attract more buyers.  Well, after 5 months, the house went under contract, and it closed today (about 5 weeks after going under contract) for $196,500. 

Remember I told them that they would be lucky to get $200,000, and they didn't even get that.  But, to make things worse, they had to make 6 months of mortgage payments, so they really "netted" even less on the house! You have to wonder what would have happened if they had listed the house at the RIGHT PRICE from the start.  Think it would have made a difference?  I do!

See what I mean when I say "Greed Kills"??

Stay tuned for Part 2 - it should be posted in the next few days...

I'm Blogging!

Okay folks, I'm finally blogging!  Now, between Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Blogging, I should stay very busy!  Maybe I'll find time to sell some houses!  

I intend to use this primarily for real estate-related issues, but every once in a while I'm sure I'll have something else to say, so please check back every now and again!