Black Friday meant Selling Houses like Crazy in Philadelphia for The Somers Team
This post was inspired by Midori Miller's "Some Agents End their 2008 Business - are you one of them ?" where she referred to agents basically taking the rest of the year off for the holidays or agents complaining they have nothing going on yet are going out shopping and decorating !! I am like Midori where taking 1 or 2 days off each holiday is sufficient.
I was beginning to feel guilty about having such a productive day on Black Friday until reading Midori's post. All in all, I did not have time to take the day off as I was jammed putting 4 (or was it 5 ? ) properties under contract. Here are the highlights of my black friday:
1. Listing appointment in Fishtown in the morning - will be a short sale listing if that is what the owner decides to do. Did not have the owner sign the listing paperwork as it made more sense to let him figure out exactly what he wants to do.
2. Juniata house now under contract - I had my sellers send back a signed contract that I needed to deliver back to the buyers agent - will be a fast settlement in mid December. House number 1 for the day !
3. Fishtown - The buyers agent faxed over the initialed changes for an agreement where we had the seller come in on Wednesday. Had multiple offers for him ! House number 2 wrapped up for the day.
4. Port Richmond property - Someone on my team wrote a deal for a Port Richmond listing on Thanksgiving day !! Rock on ! Called the seller in Florida who verbally accepted the offer. House number 3 wrapped up for the day.
5. Northern Liberties condo - Since mortgage rates dropped this past week that allowed one of our buyers to step up his price range a little bit and wrote a deal this past week. Deal was wrapped up with the seller yesterday... just so happens it is our listing as well (in these tougher markets I think dual agency benefits both clients which will be the subject of a future blog post). Deal number 4 wrapped up for the day.
6. Somerton twin - A deal on this property is very close to being wrapped up, been going back and forth with a buyers agent for the last week or so on this short sale listing of ours. My goal is to get it wrapped up on Monday so this one does not count yet but is getting closer : )
Needless to say, was jammed (and a little stressed) yesterday ! However, when I got home I had a beautiful dinner with Stephanie and had time to post a blog about a new listing in Old City.
It cerainly is not easy !! I think the important item to note is that with each of these deals, there was a lot of hard work that led up to this point and a lot of hard work from this point on to increase their chances to making it to a settlement table. For example, this is the second buyer for the Juniata property. For the Fishtown property, we had the listing prior but the seller needed to take it down for awhile so our relationship was strong enough for him not to consider going "a different direction" . The Northern Liberties condo was under contract for a minute or two in the past until the buyer had cold feet, and the Somerton twin is now on the 3rd buyer (short sale properties are challenging !) . We, of course, do not give up and keep moving foward until settlement success is reached !
As a result, Black Friday was a work day. However, I think today we will relax a little and smile. Our hard work (which is insane at times) does pay off. Agents should have a marketing plan for 2009. Each of the listings above was from a combination of internet marketing, our Thesomersteam site, Just listed / Just sold cards, working with past clients and one expired listing that we took over. Life is beautiful. Thanks Midori for the reminder ! I do not feel guilty anymore !
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Philadelphia Real Estate - Chris and Stephanie Somers
The Philadelphia Real Estate Blog
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Happy Thanksgiving !
Stephanie and I hope that everyone has a great thanksgiving ! There is a lot to be thankful for. Every day we hear a lot of negative news about the economy, the real estate market, foreclosures, government bailouts...etc and sometimes within all that we may forget that Life is beautiful. Life is precious, life is short. There is so much to be thankful for... especially family and friends.
My father sent an email to me this morning with a quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson:
"For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food,
For love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends." Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)
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RE/MAX Hall of Fame Award
Being that it is a tough market, I think it is always important to share successes to show others than success is defintely an option in our current real estate market. A few weeks ago I was awarded with the RE/MAX Hall of Fame award. It can be seen on our site under the About Us section - Philadelphia Real Estate. The info is also shown below.
"Chris Somers is now a member of the prestigious RE/MAX International Hall of Fame. The coveted Hall of Fame Award is only given to Associates with more than $35 million in closed sales volume in real estate transactions since joining RE/MAX. Less than three percent of all RE/MAX Associates worldwide earned this esteemed award this year. Once inducted, the Associate becomes a lifetime Hall of Fame member."
It has been a lot of hard work and a lot of fun to accomplish this level of production. My wife Stephanie and I will continue to strive to be the best that we can in our profession as Realtors in Philadelphia. With hard work, a structured business plan, having goals, and of course being involved with Active Rain and blogging, I believe anyone can be successful in the real estate profession, no matter what the market conditions are !
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If interested in buying or selling real estate in Philadelphia, please contact Chris and Stephanie Somers at thesomersteam@yahoo.com or 215-400-2612.
Philadelphia Real Estate - Chris and Stephanie Somers
Listing success in Northern Liberties
Have you ever really thought that you would be representing a seller to find out that they listed with someone else ? Or it was a competitive situation and the seller chose to list with a different realtor ? In those cases, what do you do ?
I know it is very easy to be super upset and angry. I have heard some agents say "I will never work with so-and-so again ! " . Or other agents will fall into some sort of depression and mope for a day, or a week !
It is easier said than done but my response when this happens is simple. "I wish you success with the listing. If something does not work out or if the property does not sell, feel free to contact me after the fact."
Knowing that is much more difficult to get properties sold in this market, it is very likely that the property does not sell, especially if the seller chose the wrong agent !!!
Also, the seller still may have other properties to sell or will have a referral down the road. As a result, it is important not to burn any bridges, but instead, to always leave the door open !
Today is a good example of this as we just listed 3 condos in Northern Liberties from a seller/developer who had them listed with a different realtor for the last six months. We were in the running the first time around but did not get the listings primarily because the other agent found the property for the seller to begin with which is understandable. The condos range between $250K and $325K. They will not be an easy sell, but the product is great and I like to think with the extra internet marketing and advertising that we will provide, hopefully we can bring a different result to the table ! To the settlement table !!!
Patience is a virtue ! Has this happened to you ?
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Philadelphia Real Estate - Chris and Stephanie Somers
The Philadelphia Real Estate Blog
Click here to receive our Blog updates via email !
Chez Bow Wow in Northern Liberties
Last week we got our cat Charlie shaved and groomed at Chez Bow Wow in Northern Liberties. Whenever we bring him home, he is like a new cat. He is more limber and runs around like a mad man. The first time we brought him home, our other cat Ashley did not recognize for a day ! My wife Stephanie loves it for there is less hair to clean up and less hairballs ! He complains about going in the cat box but we think he really likes it afterwards !
Chez Bow Wow is a relatively new addition to Northern Liberties at Liberties Walk. The staff is always very pleasant and fun. There are always a number of other pets there which makes it a fun trip. The store is certainly a great addition to Northern Liberties and we would recommend to go there for anyone who is intersted in getting their pet groomed !
Below are a few photos of Charlie after his grooming. His haircut costs much more than mine !!!
Check out the website for Chez Bow Wow !
Also look at their photo gallery - a lot of great snapshots !
Maybe I can bribe them to add Charlie to their site ???
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Northern Liberties Real Estate - Chris and Stephanie Somers
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