Batchelder Properties, Bruce and Sally Batchelder, Brokers

 And why is it capitalized inside the sentence? A small point few sellers or buyers know but which means a lot to those of us in the real estate profession. You only get to capitalize it if you subscribe to and practice the ethics promulgated by our national association.

Really? you might say. Who would notice or care?

Well, you should.

Repeated surveys to rank consumer confidence and trust put realtors (no capital) right up there with used car salesmen. And sadly there have been far too many incidents where a realtor not only did not perform their sworn fiduciary duty but actually violated it with outright criminal acts. Two right here in Siskiyou county lost their licenses in recent years for embezzlement and fraud.

Does anyone remember Eric Estrada who starred on the TV series “CHIPS”? He sidelines as the pitchman for a swarmy real estate company that swept through Lake Shastina years ago buying up lots and then reselling them for multiple times what they paid for them. One I saw they bought for $1,000 and re-sold for $45,000!

The company looks all over for land that seems undervalued and ripe for development and swoop in with briefcases full of cash money to buy. Then, advertising in metro areas with big populations of Hispanics and Asians, they advertise those “Don’t Miss Out!” kinds of once-in-a-lifetime-chance ads. They even bussed people up here, put them up in motels, fed them, and then drove them around Lake Shastina.

So far so good (except for not disclosing real market value to the sellers), but it gets worse. People who read and speak English as their second language get slammed with heavy sales pitches and buy, usually having this same company finance the purchase. Any buyer savvy enough to ask for sale comps is shown THEIR sale comps, not the $1,500 market values. “You bet!! Look here, the one we sold right next to yours went for $50,000!”

Yes, of course many of these sales fell through and the lots were taken back to be sold yet again. There were several of these take back and sell cycles. Today there are still lot owners here sitting on $40,000 lots that are worth $2,000.

So yes, the capital R is important.

Bruce

 

 

April 18, 2018

With the internet (Zillow, Trulia, Realtor.com, etc.) people wanting to list their home for sale are almost overwhelmed with data . . . national and regional sales statistics, economic housing forecasts, even how many ‘hits’ their listing is getting on the web.

This isn’t all good. Stressing out over why the home didn’t get a good offer in the first week may be misreading the reality of the real estate market. Especially the local one.

“Down Below” where homes list for a million and more, people line up to BID, usually over the asking price.

But this is Siskiyou County. There is very little tech industry here. Very little industry at all, actually. Homes and salaries are far, far below the metro areas.

But today’s seller sees the ‘down below’ picture because we are maybe too well informed. “What’s wrong with my home?” we hear a lot. It’s a personal thing of the most emotional type. We Realtors do a lot of counseling and not just financial. There’s nothing ‘wrong’ with your home, you’ve done a wonderful job and enjoyed it for all these years.

A few curb appeal things? Sure. But stay with things that show . . . light rooms (put something bright red in the furthest corner to pull the eye and make the room look larger). Fresh paint on the front door. Flowers out front. Lights on in ALL rooms (including closets, pantries, etc.).

It’s easy to spend money hoping it will come back in the sale but history disputes this. Housing statistics show that 70% of every dollar is the best you can hope to come back home in your sale price. Translated that says I’m going to invest 30% of everything I spend just to ATTRACT a buyer. That’s why the brightness thing above. Light bulbs are cheap.

Bruce

 

 

 

 

 

 

April 17, 2018

   I’m not sure if this analogy holds up, but if you are looking to buy a home you have all the choices in the world. Kind of like a trout cruising a stream looking for a suitable meal. Looks flashy, let’s go take a closer look. Maybe it doesn’t smell just right. Doesn’t come up to scratch for looks, either.  So the you pass.

Meanwhile here is the seller of that house there on shore casting out the best lure he has. Dress it up, skitter it around on the surface (internet). Who’s biting? Get a nibble? Tweak the line a bit but if it doesn’t set (a showing), try another part of the river. Switch lures (drop the price, offer incentives, etc.).

It’s eerie how much real estate is like hunting and fishing.

Bruce

April 17, 2018

Raised Beds, 2013

We have been raising vegetables here on Muskrat Road for some years now. This picture was taken in May of 2013, before we added drip tape irrigation when we were watering by hand (dumb idea). The ground between the beds was covered in pine needles to slow weed growth and we still use them. One year we even invited neighbors to dump their needles and instantly became the darlings of the block.

We compost almost everything organic . . . salad cuttings, egg shells, coffee grounds . . . in what they call “cold” beds. That’s where you pile things up over several months and just let it sit. In “hot” composting, the more popular method, you turn it every so often and check to see that it is heating up and breaking down the ingredients. Cold takes much longer and we don’t harvest a bed until it is two or three years’ old.

This year we’re putting it about 2″ thick on all the beds after first mixing in 2 cups of 15-15-15 (called “Triple 15” that comes in 50lb bags at D L Cowley in Grenada for around $18. Because the beds are raised and scattered we bought a light two-stroke cultivator that we can lift easily and it works well to move this enriched compost into the already amended but used soil from the previous years.

(If not already mentioned the volcanic ash that makes up some areas here is not worth planting without SOME kind of amending. Sierra Pacific Industries between Yreka and Montague sells a good soil mix which you can pick up or have delivered, and there are several landscaping companies that can provide topsoil as well.)

I’ll try to post another story soon about irrigating with drip tape, protecting berries from birds, and a few other things we’ve learned (mostly the hard way). Here’s a teaser about Yankee irrigation:

Bruce

 

 

April 6, 2018

 

Whoa . . . 272 named  and at least that many unnamed ones. Check out this website:

http://allthingsshasta.com/wordpress/?p=1023

Before they used aircraft to stock them California’s Department of Fish and Game used to cart milk cans of trout fry by mule and the trails they took can still be found on maps held by a cherished few retirees.

 

Bruce

 

April 13, 2018

Sally and I take real estate and property management classes from time to time and one that we use in every transaction was on staging a home for sale. It was in Sacramento and had speakers like interior decorators, professional painters, furniture companies, and so forth.

One however caught us by surprise . . . Proctor and Gamble. Well, okay. Soaps, deodorizers, maybe. But she got us all ears with this opener: “P & G is different from most consumer product companies because instead of creating a soap or something and then go research a market to advertise to, we do it the other way around. So our market is you, Realtors. Now can you guess what the product was?”

Brag time here. I was the ONLY one with the right answer (no, there was more than myself in the audience). “Febreeze!” I said.

Her whole speaking topic was about aromas and how buyers respond to them, that’s why Febreeze fit so nicely and why she was invited I suppose. Buyers like NEUTRAL in their senses she said. Neutral colors, empty (‘neutral’) rooms, neutral aromas. It’s true that the aroma of fresh-baked bread is killer (followed closely by tollhouse cookies, vanilla rubbed on an electric burner, etc.). She said it’s because those all remind us of our mothers and how warm and welcoming this home feels like that.

Cigarette smoke is of course the worst one and even Febreeze doesn’t promise to cure that. It soaks into carpet, furniture, wallpaper, paint. Doggie smells, cooking smells, and note this: deodorant smells. Why? What are you trying to cover up with them buyers ask.

So if fresh-baked bread or cookies aren’t handy when you’re getting your home ready for a showing, remember what those buyers are looking for. Neutral.

Bruce Batchelder

530-598-1586