Maryland and Virginia Real Estate and Homes Blog

PREVIEWING HOMES IN LEESBURG YESTERDAY WAS AN EXPERIENCE.  I’d like to say it was an adventure.  However, what I come away with is the knowledge that, if any of the listing agents contact me for feedback on any of the four homes I previewed, and I hope they do, they won’t like what they’ll hear.  In fact, several times during the tour, I had to ask myself if the listing agents had even seen the property. 

AGENT FEEDBACK for homes previewed in Leesburg, Va, November 19, 2008.

House #1.  Short Sale.  4 BR, 3 1/2 BA, Colonial, $380,000, 5 years old.  2616 sq. ft.  Owners paid about $650,000 in 2005.  House is beyond filthy throughout.  The carpet would have to be replaced.  The kitchen is filthy with builder’s standard cabinets and appliances.  The oven range door is broken and half off.  Entire house needs renovation and redecorating and it’s unlikely that the systems have been maintained.  House would need about $75,000 for renovation for flooring, kitchen renovation, deck.   Will not show.

House #2.  Foreclosure Sale.  4 BR, 3 1.2 BA, Colonial, $405,800, 5 years old.  2873 sq. ft.  Owners paid about $550,000 in 2004.  House has been stripped of appliances and lighting fixtures.  Very shallow back yard backing to another house (Small lot development).  Lots of hard wood.  Would need about $10,000 for appliances and repair.   House has promise if price is right.  Will show.

House #3.  Short Sale.  4 BR, 3 1/2 BA, Colonial, $420,000, 8 years old.  2595 sq. ft.  Owners paid about $590,000 in 2006.  House needs a good cleaning.  Corian (not Granite) in kitchen, but cabinets and appliances are good quality.  Nice floor plan with angles and style.  Large deck and good back yard.  Large MBR.  Will show.

House #4.  Regular listing??  5 BR, 3 1/2 BA, Colonial, $418,888, 3 years old. 3038 sq. ft.  Owners paid about $650,000 in 2006.  House needs a good cleaning.  Nice floor plan with lots of hardwood.  Good kitchen with Granite, upgraded cabinets and appliances.  No deck making the back yard inaccessible from main level.  Nice finished basement.  Cul-de-sac lot.  Will show.

WHAT DID THE PREVIEW TOUR SHOW ME? 

• The homes all need a good cleaning. 
• Every occupied (3 of 4) home had dirty dishes, pots and pans all over counters, range, etc. 
• Carpets were all dirty. 
• Bathrooms were all very messy and dirty. 
• The distressed real estate market is hitting home owners hard. 
• Homeowners appear to be throwing in the towel and just wanting out. 
• Supra and Sentrilock are a waste of time and money.

Also clear is the fact that, although our boards have succumbed to the high tech key box systems, only one home previewed yesterday was secured by the latest fancy-dancy high tech keybox.  Combo boxes still rule.  REALTORS are made to stand in line for system upgrades, pay high fees, use their USB ports for keypad updates, junk up their hard drive with Supra and Sentrilock software and generally suffer mightily when the dang thing fails in the field, and it will, fully 50% of the homes I’ve accessed in the past 3 weeks were secured by a combination key box.  Oh well.

Courtesy, Lenn Harley, Broker, Homefinders.com, 800-711-7988, E-Mail. .