2010 January

Archive for January, 2010

Groceries and Real Estate? RE/MAX New England to Open Offices in CT, MA, RI Stop & Shop Locations

January 28th, 2010 categories: Real Estate Industry

Yesterday, RE/MAX New England announced it will be partnering with Stop & Shop to open up to 17 in-store branches.

I don’t get it. I get banking at the grocery store. I get renting a movie. I get the need for a pharmacy.

But real estate transactions don’t really qualify as a “quick stop.”

And I can’t imagine that the RE/MAX brand, which is built largely upon the experience and expertise of its seasoned agents, will benefit from this. I have trouble imagining top agents doing business in this environment. I also have trouble imagining that a lot of potential buyers and sellers will be drawn in if there isn’t that quick transaction (check cashing, ATM,etc) to attract them.

What I really think this about is RE/MAX opening more offices and getting more agents. More offices and agents=more fees to RE/MAX. Not a bad thing but if “more” lowers the quality of agent and level of service, then I think RE/MAX is compromising the very thing that attracts many agents and customers to its brand.

But I hope I’m wrong…maybe you’ll see me next year at your neighborhood Stop & Shop. Always the optimist, at least I won’t have to go far to get a cup of coffee or deposit my commission checks.

Read The Real Estate Bloggers post, I’ll Take Some Eggs, A Gallon of Milk and a 3 Bedroom Ranch.

I Know How Stressful Buying and Selling Your Home Can Be

January 18th, 2010 categories: Home Buyers, Home Sellers

For the last few months, I’ve been busy buying, renovating and furnishing a new home.

It took me 3 years to find this house (looking regularly).

It took 4 months to close after we had an accepted contract and after the deal almost fell apart multiple times.

One week after we owned the house, we had a major plumbing issue in the house. Of the backed-up toilet variety.

It’s taken 3 months to renovate it enough so we can move in. In fact, we don’t officially move for another two weeks. I’m literally surrounded by boxes.

I know how stressful and all-consuming buying or selling a home can be. I haven’t written a blog post in three months…just no time.

I know you have doubts about the decisions you’ve made. I know that sometimes you don’t trust everyone involved in the sale/purchase. I know you’re feeling a lot of pressure to be in the new home by a certain date or that you need to be out by a certain date. I know how stressful it is to have people walking through your house day after day and no one seems interested in making an offer.

We’re not done working on our new house yet. Maybe we’ll never be done.

For now, I’m getting back into blogging and hope to share some things I learned along the way.