San Antonio Home Girl Report

The home girl has cleaned up all the Halloween Decorations at the homestead. (with a bunch of help from the hubby)

Halloween has got to be one of my favorite holidays for many reasons.

1. Candy
2. Grown ups can play dress up.
3. You don't have to have a clean house for it to look absolutely marvelous!
4. Chocolate Candy
5. Dust and spider webs and windows you can't see through are appropriate.
6. Snickers, Butterfingers, Peanut M&M's
7. Everybody loves witches and its ok to act like like one.
8. More Candy

Alas, it's over. The pumpkins are melting, the bats and ghosts are back in a box, the left over candy is hidden so that I will forget where I put it and all that is left are a few cobwebs, some dust and thoughts of the next big event - Thanksgiving.  

It's time to clear away the dust and the cobwebs and get the home clean, sparkly and ready for the holidays.

The best way for a truly great outlook is to clean up what you are looking out. (That's terrible grammar, but I hope you get the gist of what I am trying to say.) Clean your windows!

The best recipe that I ever found for sparkly windows came from an article in the San Antonio Express News in December 2001 by Maribel Zimmerman.

San Antonio Express-News Sunday Real Estate Sunday Dec 9, 2001

By Maribel Zimmerman

Some windows look like they were cleaned with a good amount of spit and an oily mechanics rag. Sticky fingers and wet noses pressed to the glass can wreak havoc on your view, too. But some windows look worse after they have been cleaned. Why? What could possibly have gone wrong? Plenty.

Hastily pursuing the perfect view can mean forgetting the most important credos of crystal clear windows: clean water and the right tools. So, how do you get windows to sparkle the first time? It's really not that hard. 

There are several ways to do the job right. Commercial cleaning solutions can work well, but are not necessary for the job. Old fashioned household cleaners are plentiful in most homes - and expensive. 

Experts at Andersen-Windows suggest beginning with the right stuff: rubber gloves; two buckets or one bucket with two wells; sudsy ammonia; white vinegar; rubbing alcohol; several clean, dry rags, a squeegee; and a ladder, if necessary. 

Now, follow these steps to the best view you've ever enjoyed:

1. First, read and follow the manufacturer's instructions on each cleaning agent and all tools before beginning. In addition, use extreme caution when using ladders around open windows to maintain safe operation and avoid injury. If elevation devices are required, do not use furniture, only equipment intended for that purpose, including ladders, scaffolding, and step stools. And follow all the manufacturers instructions for safe operation.

2. Fill both buckets with 1 to 2 gallons of the hottest water your gloved hands can stand. Use caution in handling hot water to avoid burns and scalding.

3. In one of the two buckets, add one cup each of ammonia and vinegar, plus two tablespoons of rubbing alcohol and stir. The latter will help the water evaporate and add that "twinkle" factor.

4. Begin at the top of the house at the top of the window.

5. Wipe the entire surface with the solution. If necessary, bugs, stickers, and stubborn marks can be removed with a new straight-edge blade, being careful to avoid personal injury or damage to the wndow. Once the dirt is removed, wipe the window a second time with the clear water.

6. Immediately squeegee the window, using a rag to wipe the squeegee dry after each swipe. This will limit the streaks caused by wet lines of water at the squeegee's edge and eliminate dripping onto your sparkling windows with wet tools.

7. Use a clean cloth to wipe only the wet corners and the sill.

Some extra tips

• Again, use extreme caution when working around open window openings. Never leave a window unattended, especially when children are present. Falls may result in serious injury or death.
• Try swiping in only one direction - horizontal or vertical on the inside of the house, and the other direction on the outside. If you do find streaks, you'll know which side needs to be redone.
• Change the water often to eliminate streaks.
• Tie a rope to the squeegee and secure it to the ladder or your belt in case you drop it. Letting the solution dry onto the window while you climb down to retrieve your tools could be the difference between sparkle and debacle.
• Try cleaning windows on sunny, but dry days. Sunlight dries the solution too fast and makes streaks more likely.
• Really dirty windows may need to be rinsed first with the garden hose, but be prepared to clean them immediately. Hard water stains can be stubborn.

For more information about windows, including maintenance, repair and replacement, contact the Greater San Antonio Builders Association at (210) 696-3800 for a free copy of the Remodelors Directory.

The Greater San Antonio Builders Association is a local trade association that offers opportunities to its members to display their products and services.

It makes no representations expressed or implied , regarding the qualifications of its members or the quality of their products and services, but invites you to examine them for yourself at www.sabuilders.com

Maribel Zimmerman is an architecutral representatve for Black Millwork Co. Inc., a member of the Greater San Antonio Builders Association Remodelors Council

This is the recipe for sparkly windows

Solution:

1 cup ammonia

1 cup vinegar

2 Tablespoons Rubbing Alcohol

plus

1 to 2 gallons of HOT water (stir it all together)

After removing the dirt, wipe with clear water only, then squegee.

A friend stopped by the home girl's office yesterday. She was terribly upset because a client that she had worked with for over a decade was terminating their agency agreement. 

It's painful to be fired. Ask any number of the currently unemployed who have been terminated or laid off due to downsizing and the lousy economy. Sometimes the termination is justifiable because of the employee's actions or non-actions, and sometimes not so much. But no matter the cause, the sick feeling in the pit of the stomach is right there, a tight, nauseating knot that lasts for days. Even when the the termination makes sense, it hurts.

In the private sector, employees are paid for their services. In fact, if an employee is not paid for work performed, then a complaint can be filed for theft of services. Governor Perry signed SB 1024 eliminating a loophole that previously existed for a criminal theft of service charge. Under prior law, a party obtaining services from another under a promise to pay could avoid a criminal charge of theft of service so long as the party was making minimal payments. Read more here: 

My colleague did not have such recourse. The buyer felt that she had "found" her home without assistance. 

• She failed to take into consideration the hours that were spent setting up searches using specific criteria requested by the buyer. 
• She did not take into consideration the number of homes that had already been shown to her.
• There was no accounting for time spent researching property values in communities in which she had expressed an interest.
• No mention was made for reimbursement of travel or gas expenses. 

This is just a partial list. This buyer just didn't understand or care what her friend and agent was doing on her behalf, spending considerable time (and time is money) and concentrated effort. 

This agent is sharp. Had the buyer mentioned that she was not finding her desired home, that her needs had changed, then the search would have been tweaked and more homes may have been available. There was a signed buyer agency agreement and an established relationship of many years. 

Instead of communicating her wishes to her agent, the buyer called ANOTHER agent to show her a property. Kind of like a first date with somebody when you are married to somebody else. I guess the showing agent didn't ask the right questions (are you working with an agent?), had no ethics, or the buyer answered, "not really".

When I receive a sign call and ask "are you working with an agent" and the potential buyer answers "not really" , I usually cringe and then proceed to lose the lead by saying something intelligent like, 

These questions are not an effort to be lazy, to not show our own listings, but should be used as an effort to be ethical, to respect the effortsanother agent has invested into his or her client, and to avoid the confusion caused by an existing buyer's agency agreement versus the procuring cause argument that will probably be offered by the agent that showed the one property that my friends client "found". 

As Realtors, we have an obligation to be ethical. Customers are under no obligation to share in that responsibility, but clients have signed an agreement to be loyal. It just seems to me that you got to dance with who brung ya, and if you don't want that, then break up before the dance begins. 

 Post script. I was able to visit with my colleague today to see how things were going. It turns out that she did have a conversation with the "new" buyers' agent. The agent did ask the questions, but the answer was the usual - not really, not a signed agreement. ( I guess the buyer forgot - hmmm) The new agent has offered to pay a referral to my colleague. I don't really think this is a win-win. I am happy that my friend is getting a little compensation. My opinion of her former client is not so great, slightly better of the other agent, but now I am the one with a sick feeling in my stomach and I don't feel like dancing with anybody.

(From SanAntonio HomeGirl Report - texashomegirl.blogspot.com)

The home girl loves HGTV's House Hunter! I don't really consider it to be entertainment.  At least for me, the show is more like "home" work. I try to guess which home the buyer is going to select, using the keen skills that I have developed over the years, watching their reactions, their body language, what they say and more importantly, what they don't say about each property.
JUST KIDDING

This show is so staged that it's fairly predictable, and let's face it, most buyers are not professionally trained actors.

This episode that I watched this morning was focused on a soon to be married couple buying in the Richmond, Va. area in the $200,000 ish price range. The real estate agent did a great job of finding suitable properties close to the price range for this couple, although I don't think the editors/producers/writers of the show encouraged or allowed her to offer very much advice to the buyers.

What I loved about this particular show was the predictability of the choice the buyers were going to make. The buyers' final choice was to exceed their budget and buy a newly constructed home. Seller's should watch this to see what they are up against when trying to sell a home in a buyer's market.

One buyer remarked in both resale homes that the carpet was nasty, and that she couldn't stand nasty carpet. My TV is HD and it really didn't look THAT bad, but I must admit you could see a few dirty spots, so it probably wasn't in pristine condition. It's just hard to compete with new. 

She made a comment in one home about a cheap plastic door. It appeared to be a type of sliding door between a hall and living area,  probably set up for temporary privacy for an office or other purpose. It could have been easily replaced. It's just hard for weird and temporary appearing to compete with new. 

You can follow the show here:  RichmondMom 

The buyers decision may have been so different if the sellers in either of the previously owned homes had taken the initiative to properly prepare their homes for sale.  There were missing or burned out light bulbs, missing chandeliers, dirty and stained carpet, outdated countertops in addition to non-curable problems such as dangerous dogs next door and a three story drop from the deck. 

The non curables can be cured with the difference in price, but the real objection coming from the buyer seemed to be the dirty carpet, the cheap door and the missing tub in the master suite.  All of the previously mentioned items,  even a remodel for the tub and the cost of a new refrigerator would probably be less expensive after negotiations than the cost of new construction. 

In a buyers market, or really in any market, sellers should stage their homes to compete with new consruction, price to deal with non curables and prep their homes to show at their absolute best. 

There are plenty of ideas on how to stage your home to sell.  I can't find any that are as detailed as I would like for them to be, so I am writing a detailed check list on how to prep your home for sale.  You can get all the information by following this blog.  Just watch for it!

FIRST TIME BUYERS

Don't miss out on an opportunity to be on HGTV.  They are coming to San Antonio!  Learn more by reading Randy's blog:  http://sanantoniorealestate.blogspot.com/ We are giving an additional bonus if they select one of our buyers.  Check it out!  Hurry! 

I am Stephanie Kelley, Realtor® at Keller Williams Legacy, San Antonio, Texas.  If you have questions about San Antonio real estate or just want to chat a bit about our wonderful Alamo City, please call me at or (210) 867-8743, or E-mail me at swwkrealtor@aol.com

Our experienced Realty Solutions Team is always ready to help you with your home buying or selling needs. Visit me at please call me at or (210) 867-8743, Visit me at http://sanantoniohomequest.com or follow my blog at TexasHomeGirl.blogspot.com

The San Antonio Home Girl went to the Parade of Homes this morning!

Every year the Greater San Antonio Builders Association puts on a show featuring the biggest, brightest and best homes, decorating, landscaping, pools, outdoor kitchens, outstanding craftsmanship, awe inspiring designs and ooh la la that they have to offer.