{"id":210,"date":"2006-08-14T17:45:06","date_gmt":"2006-08-15T00:45:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/?p=210"},"modified":"2006-09-06T10:08:05","modified_gmt":"2006-09-06T17:08:05","slug":"realty-reality-when-life-hands-you-a-lemon-remodel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/210\/realty-reality-when-life-hands-you-a-lemon-remodel\/","title":{"rendered":"Realty reality: When life hands you a lemon — remodel . . ."},"content":{"rendered":"

Sonia came to us from our web site in mid-April, 2005. Young, unmarried, working very diligently at a job that should have paid better than it did. She was pre-qualified at $115,000, which was a very hard number to hit at that time and would be virtually impossible by now. We were just getting to the real fever of the housing boom, with houses at that end of the price range evaporating in hours. What she wanted was something fairly close to her job in North Central Phoenix. Multi-family was okay, but, obviously, safety was a concern.<\/p>\n

This is my kind of problem. We love those $700,000 buyers, where the commission check is the size of a brand-new mid-size sedan. But that’s show-horse job, and it’s the work-horse tasks that put a Realtor to the test. One of the things that I think earns loyalty and respect from my clients is that I deliver the goods<\/i>. If we’re having trouble finding what we want, I will work the MLS like a Rubik’s Cube until I squeeze the right houses out of it.<\/p>\n

This is what we did, me and Sonia and Cathy. I would pump out new results, Sonia would drive by the properties on her way to or from work, then Cathy or I would go with her to look at the least objectionable ones. Nothing was easy. North Central Phoenix is the land of the vanishing middle class, and the neighborhoods that aren’t crawling with millionaires are crawling with things you need a special license to talk about.<\/p>\n

Eventually we got very lucky, though. A home turned up in the Phoenix Townhouses, a very nice town-home community in the center of town. The home was underpriced, but we saw why when we got there: One owner in twenty years, zero remodels. Everyone wants a bargain, but no one wants what a bargain implies: Less-than-perfect condition. But Sonia had seen a lot of dumps by then, so she could see the value beneath the ugly, old and very dirty decor.<\/p>\n

We fast-talked our way into the house by paying a $500 premium — at Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sonia came to us from our web site in mid-April, 2005. Young, unmarried, working very diligently at a job that should have paid better than it did. She was pre-qualified at $115,000, which was a very hard number to hit at that time and would be virtually impossible by now. We were just getting to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,5,10],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-210","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"hentry","6":"category-marketing","7":"category-real-estate","8":"category-realty-reality","10":"no-featured-image"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7565,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/7565\/nest-realty-jim-duncans-new-broker-joins-the-custom-sign-club\/","url_meta":{"origin":210,"position":0},"title":"Nest Realty, Jim Duncan’s new broker, joins the custom sign club","author":"Greg Swann","date":"March 23, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Long-time real estate weblogger Jim Duncan moved to a new brokerage recently -- Nest Realty. As a part of their launch, they're building custom real estate yard signs, the prototype for which you can see above. Jim asked for my thoughts on the signs, and I'm going to go into\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Marketing"","block_context":{"text":"Marketing","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/marketing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1044,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/1044\/book-review-realty-blogging-a-comprehensive-introduction-to-real-estate-weblogging\/","url_meta":{"origin":210,"position":1},"title":"Book Review: Realty Blogging a comprehensive introduction to real estate weblogging . . .","author":"Greg Swann","date":"February 14, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Back when I used to have a job, I was a complete Insufferable Bastard of a boss. I wouldn't let people take notes about jobs to be done or how to resolve hardware or software problems. \"If you don't know it in your brain, you don't know it.\" Nobody bought\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blogging"","block_context":{"text":"Blogging","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/blogging\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=gregswann-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0071478957","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2124,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/2124\/the-look-of-success\/","url_meta":{"origin":210,"position":2},"title":"The Look of Success","author":"Russell Shaw","date":"October 31, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"This was sent to me today. When I see something this important I want to share it with the world. You can see the original article on AZCentral. This is a Realtor named Anna Kruchten who has a company named Anna Banana Realty. This has already given me an idea\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Marketing"","block_context":{"text":"Marketing","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/marketing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Anna Bananna Realty","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/10\/Anna%20Bananna%20Realty.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2291,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/2291\/looks-like-we-are-at-the-bottom-of-the-prestige-list-damn\/","url_meta":{"origin":210,"position":3},"title":"Looks like we are at the bottom of the Prestige List. Damn!","author":"Russell Shaw","date":"November 30, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"The latest Harris Poll has Firefighters, Scientists & Teachers at the top and Bankers, Actors & Real Estate Agents at the bottom of their \"Most Prestigious Occupations\" list. This poll has been referenced in many articles on the internet. Here you can see the actual results from Harris. It is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Marketing"","block_context":{"text":"Marketing","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/marketing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Little Johnny","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/11\/Little%20Johnny.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2902,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/2902\/can-you-top-this-from-listed-to-closed-in-184-hours\/","url_meta":{"origin":210,"position":4},"title":"Can you top this? From listed to closed in 184 hours","author":"Greg Swann","date":"April 4, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Cathy's $60,000 brother-in-law listing has closed in scratch time. All cash, opened escrow Monday morning, recorded this afternoon. In theory, you can transfer title on a house in Arizona same day, but I'll bet it's been a few decades since anyone got the job done that fast. How about you?\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Marketing"","block_context":{"text":"Marketing","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/marketing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2377,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/2377\/closing-early\/","url_meta":{"origin":210,"position":5},"title":"Closing Early?","author":"Russell Shaw","date":"December 15, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Saturday afternoon, about 2:30 I stopped by the Quiznos at Tatum & Thunderbird, it is in a little strip center right by my house. For those who like details, I had a Diet Pepsi and the regular size prime rib cheesesteak sandwich. Right next door to the Quiznos I saw\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Disintermediation"","block_context":{"text":"Disintermediation","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/disintermediation\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Close up of door sign","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/12\/Close%20up%20of%20door%20sign.JPG?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=210"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}