Output Stream of Consciousness

After months of not living there and having precious little time to clean it out, the place is bare and has been put up for sale!

It took concerted effort to clean the place out. High, high kudos to Dena and her parents for helping out. I like my soon-to-be in-laws. Not just for their help with the house, lest you think me fickle :)

The search for a realtor was an interesting one. My friend Keith managed to swing an interesting deal with one realtor. In that, he managed to set the commission for both buyer and seller. Kudos to him on that, and that gave me the inspiration for my own search.

In looking up stories about lowering commissions and the like, one theme that constantly came up was that you can find people to accept lower commissions on the selling side, but the advice was prolific about not lowering commissions on the buyer's side.

It's human nature, of course. Your place will be avoided if you offer less to the buyer's realtor. It's not legal, as I found out, but it's insanely hard to prove, and fighting enlightened self-interest like that is like putting your wallet or purse back in a desk you've had things stolen from because you maintain that people shouldn't steal.

Anyhow, after this roundabout search, I started looking in Calgary for a realtor who met these criteria. I found one (there are a few more, I do believe, but not with the same web presence) in the form of Alpha One Real Estate.

When we finally met with the realtor, we really saw eye-to-eye with him. He has a brokerage license as well, and obviously likes to educate as well as be educated. I'll relate more of the conversation in person - it was interesting. Early Calgary internetters will recognize where he worked once upon a time.

Anyhow, the process is started. We should be on MLS pretty soon (realtors get to see things right away)...

STOP PRESS

*laugh* Okay, I was in the middle of typing this when Alpha phoned up and said there had been four showings and an offer already!

I may have to stay by the phone for this...

Plenty of comments:

# Quick, L2, while you still have a chance! :)

Comment by Adam [Visitor] — 09/04/05 @ 14:46
# *laugh* You're too late!

There was an offer put in yesterday. It was slightly lower than we were looking, and it being early days, we weren't going to take it that low, but they came up quite a ways on their counter-counter offer, and the possession date was perfect for our needs - they wanted it and came up with a reasonable proposal.

So it's now C/S, and everything should be done by the first week of October!

So Lowell's TOO LATE! AAA ha ha!

Comment by nimble [Member] — 09/04/05 @ 15:01
# I'll get over it. Whups, already have.

Comment by ElTwo [Visitor] — 09/04/05 @ 21:18
# *laugh* Hey, you skipped a few of the Five Stages of Grief :)

Comment by nimble [Member] — 09/05/05 @ 13:47
# Well, never having gotten to know your old place makes it a little easier.

Comment by ElTwo [Visitor] — 09/06/05 @ 00:51
# It's a nice apartment in the southwest just north of Glenmore Trail with no garden to weed or sidewalk to clear; you'd have loved it, L2!

Comment by Adam [Visitor] — 09/07/05 @ 08:44
# Small update - all the conditions have been waived, and I've been in to get the paperwork done with the lawyers, so the sale is official! Two weeks to get the last couple of items out (had a table, chairs and bed to show the place).

One thing to figure out, though, do I leave the shower curtains, or don't I?

Comment by nimble [Member] — 09/19/05 @ 20:54
# If they're plastic, then yes.
If they're fabric, then no.
:p

Comment by lorelei [Visitor] — 09/19/05 @ 23:50
# Depends what's on them. Penguins are ok, mold isn't :)

Comment by Adam [Visitor] — 09/20/05 @ 09:54
# I get the impression from the names on the contracts that this is two sons being helped out a little by their parents to buy a place. Are you sure mold isn't okay? :)

Lorelei: never heard of a rule of thumb like that - thanks :)

Comment by nimble [Member] — 09/20/05 @ 09:59
# The real estate market in Calgary is nuts at the moment: the prices in my neighbourhood have doubled in the last five years or so, and houses are still selling almost as soon as they go up, some over asking price. I suspect most people won't care whether or not there's a shower curtain left so long as they get the house itself... Don't do the Dutch thing though of removing all bulbs and light fixtures (and indeed everything that isn't nailed down); it's a real pain when you're moving in and suddenly find you can't see anything.

Comment by Adam [Visitor] — 09/20/05 @ 10:08
# That's too bad - I mean, you noticed with disapproval your neighbors who moved in, jacked up the price $40,000 and then put it up for sale. I don't think we're going to be able to afford Lakeview until/unless it comes down a bit :/

*laugh* The Dutch thing? :) Perhaps that's why there's clauses about fixed assets on the property when you sell places these days :)

Comment by nimble [Member] — 09/20/05 @ 10:30
# Generally fixed assets include light fixtures as well as the more obvious items like wash, dryer, hot water tank, doors, curtains and drapes, and so on unless otherwise specified. In Canada people seem to be pretty easy going on what they leave behind. When we lived in the Netherlands, they weren't. Literally everything was stripped out of the house (ok, not the doors) and the former owner can be quite sticky about it. In the case of the house we had, the owner wanted a cheesy wire spice rack she'd left behind on the back of a cupboard when she realised -- after moving out -- that she'd left it behind. She also later demanded a washing up bowl that had been stuck behind a footboard below the sink. It's a very different attitude.

As far as the price increases go, I don't have a problem with people who move in, fix the place up a bit and the sell and move on. I do have a problem with people who buy solely to profit on a rising market. Sure, it's not technically different to purchasing and holding stocks during a bull market, but no one can live in a bond. (See comments on "Bullshit" made earlier where I'm sure P&T would strongly disagree with this statement...)

Comment by Adam [Visitor] — 09/20/05 @ 10:40
# They have that new show "Property Ladder" dedicated to some of the folks who fix up places and flip. It certainly shows how risky some of that is. Some guys try to make the best of things, but just end up hurting in the end. Saw an episode of that where they were trying desperately to put a shower in the upper floor, but ended up with something where you'd have to be a midget to get a good shower - and there wasn't much else they could do. Tried to sell it for a million, didn't get close to that amount - the funny thing was, they'd have to sell it for $880K+ even to break even, never mind opportunity cost where they could be doing something else.

Those temporary next door neighbours of yours, though, that bought at $240K and then immediately turned around and put it on the market for $280K... antipathy galore from over here.

I don't think we'll be able to afford to move into your area now, I'm afraid. Way out of our price league now, unless our stock shoots the moon :)

Comment by nimble [Member] — 12/23/05 @ 19:01
# Let's hope your stock skyrockets then. I could do with having you down here with Dale and Craig :) And L2 if he ever decided to buy one of the condos they're building down here.

Comment by Adam [Visitor] — 12/24/05 @ 17:13
# Well Adam, rest assured that I would prefer the SW over any other area of town. :)

Comment by ElTwo [Visitor] — 12/24/05 @ 22:34
# Must be due to the WoW discussion on the other thread, but I initially thought you were looking for a nice fixer-upper in Stormwind in the earlier comment...

Comment by Adam [Visitor] — 12/25/05 @ 10:17
# First thing would have to be a door. I mean, just anybody can wander around in your place there. That won't do.

Comment by ElTwo [Visitor] — 12/25/05 @ 23:33
# Well, there is that door to the Champion's Hall which you need to be a certain level to walk through. Rather discourages visitors though. The other issue is that you'd need to be available come day or night; WoW's NPCs don't seem to take time off for sleep or recreation -- pity the poor soldiers in Theramore who have to hack at the practice stumps 24 hours a day, all year long; or perhaps Billy's tormented nemesis who will probably never get her dolly back.

Comment by Adam [Visitor] — 12/31/05 @ 16:31
# Hmmm...I don't think I've followed the Billy thread yet.

Comment by ElTwo [Visitor] — 01/03/06 @ 05:13
# Strictly it's not a quest. Billy is just an annoying kid who runs around Stormwind with his sister's (?) dolly, taunting her as he does so. He does this 24/7, 365. I'm really rather surprised you haven't encountered him yet. On the upside, there's a lot more life in SW than there is anywhere else: you get the three mages discussing Star Trekian magic process; the kids fishing for murlocs and crocolisks; the retired soldiers discussing their battles; the teacher taking her students out for a guided tour around the town. I've actually spent a fair amount of time tailing the various NPCs to listen to what they have to say; it's not great for the phat lewt or levelling, but I enjoy how it gives character to the game. Then there's my personal theory that the Silverwing Emissaries are planning a coup: have you seen how many are wandering around Stormwind?

Comment by Adam [Visitor] — 01/03/06 @ 15:57