mdrealestateblog.com

OK, I’ve been an A Type personality my whole life. I don’t even feel bad when people call me anal retentive. It’s served me well over my lifetime and I don’t really believe that people can change all that much.

Part of my personality is that I tend to be a bit of a perfectionist. Who am I kidding…you can’t be a bit of a perfectionist, it has to be the whole enchilada or nothing at all. Thankfully, I’m not one of those perfectionist’s that expect everyone else to be one as well.

Now, enter Rich into the shortcut world of digital media. Let’s take texting for example. I’m a constant source of amusement to my three kids and younger clients when I text. I actually try and use correct grammar and punctuation. I took enough rulers across the knuckles from grammar school nuns to change, even now.

They think it’s hilarious when I use an apostrophe (‘) or a question mark (?) in a text message. Even periods (.) aren’t necessary…who knew? UR for (you are) just doesn’t make it in my digital world. I’ll concede to ROTFLMAO, but that’s it.

Active Rain posts are just fine because they aren’t really short cut messages. Your post can be as long as you want, not limited to 140 characters, like Twitter. Actually, there are a couple of grammar and spelling police on AR, who come out every once in a while to scold the most egregious abusers of the English language. Be careful because they get a lot of comments too.

I’ve joined Twitter. I’m following people and they’re following me, and I still don’t know why. I know I'm missing the big picture. I wonder if Twitterers care about punctuation?

Anyway, at least my anal retentive texting has given my kids something else to chuckle about besides me calling my jeans, dungarees.

cul8r

FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER @twitter.com/riarossi

Richard Iarossi, REALTOR®
Long and Foster® Real Estate, Inc.
Crofton, MD 21114
410-451-6255 Office
443-995-9595 Cell
Web: http://www.RichSellsHomes.com
eMail: Rich@RichSellsHomes.com

Annapolis MD Real Estate Specialist
Bowie MD Real Estate Specialist
Crofton MD Real Estate Specialist

©2008 - RichSellsHomes, All Rights Reserved
©iStockPhoto - Licensed for Use

No contest, its the home condition.

I wrote a post about a month ago about why I recommend home inspectors and it's had quite a few spirited comments. What a shocker, not all of them agreed with me. Frankly, I'm kind of surprised that a month later people are still finding the post and commenting. Every time I think its going to die a natural death, a new flurry of comments.

Anyway, someone commented recently and one of his remarks was that agents don't recommend some home inspectors to buyers because they consider those home inspectors to be "deal killers." His basic premise was that because of the size of a real estate commission, agent's would do anything to keep the deal together, including I guess, advocating an unethical practice. It wasn't said outright, but the implication was, even at the expense of the buyers interest. I respect his opinion but I think he's overstating the case.

OK, I'm not naive enough to believe that this can't happen, but I think that some home inspectors seem to be fixated on this as the reason they don't get referrals from real estate agents. There are any number of reasons why agents won't recommend certain home inspectors, but being "too honest and too ethical" is not one of them. Agents are not afraid of recommending someone who knows what he/she is doing.

The vast majority of agents I know aren't intimidated by comprehensive and detailed home inspections. We want to protect our clients because by doing so, we're also protecting ourselves. Unlike some home inspection contracts, our limit of liability isn't capped out at the cost of the inspection. For what its worth, real estate agents and brokers are very risk adverse.

There is no distinction here, the condition of the house should be accurately reported and left up to the buyer whether to proceed with the purchase, or not. There is nothing wrong with a home inspection report that is accurate and comprehensive. It's not the home inspection report thats a "deal killer," its the condition of the house.

If there are home inspectors or agents out there advocating a practice that would put their clients in any kind of jeopardy for a few bucks, than they should be weeded out of the business, period.

I'll say it again, its not the home inspector, and its not the home inspection report, that causes contracts to fall through, its the condition of the house.

Of course, that's just my opinion. I'm sure you have your own.

 

Richard Iarossi, REALTOR®
Long and Foster® Real Estate, Inc.
Crofton, MD 21114
410-451-6255 Office
443-995-9595 Cell
Web: http://www.RichSellsHomes.com
eMail: Rich@RichSellsHomes.com

Annapolis MD Real Estate Specialist - Bowie MD Real Estate Specialist - Crofton MD Real Estate Specialist 

I'm sure you've all heard somebody say "I'll take care of that when I get around to it." Sound familiar?

Well, that excuse is terminated because here it is, your very own "round tuit."

No more excuses from your spouses or significant others, or you for that matter. When you hear them beginning to procrastinate, just hand them a copy of the image to the left.

Sorry buster, here's your round tuit, so get moving.

This is a very powerful weapon to fight procrastination, use it wisely.

Oh, one more thing. It doesn't work when any NFL football game is on, regardless of time zone. Sorry!

You are licensed to use this once for free. After that you have to donate a can of food to your local food bank. Enjoy.

And no, you can't have my wife's email address.

 

According to a Maryland Real Estate Attorney, the answer is a resounding, maybe.

Real estate agents don't practice law, but we are allowed to create simple addenda, and fill in blank spaces on board approved contracts and addenda. Recently, I received an offer on a listing that used an addendum from a neighboring association. When I get these I spend a little extra time making sure I understand what the addendum is attempting to do.

The provision I had trouble with read:

7. HOLDING DEPOSIT CHECK: It is understood and agreed by all Parties that the Buyer has instructed the Escrow Agent to hold and not deposit the above described deposit check until _________ Days after Ratification at which time said check shall be deposited. In the blank field the buyer and selling agent had placed 12 days.

Messing around with escrow money deposits is one of those areas that get real estate agents and brokers in a lot of trouble.

Since Maryland Law normally requires brokers to deposit escrow monies in 7 business days from contract ratification, the fill in the blank addendum would appear to be in conflict with this requirement.  There is a provision in the law that may allow buyers and sellers to give escrow money direction to brokers, but it seems more related to withdrawal and investment direction only.

Here's the problem, according to the Attorney.  It hasn't been tested in court yet whether a buyer/seller direction can override the seven day deposit requirement in the law.  That makes sense, but it can also put agents and brokers in unnecessary jeopardy.

Many people believe that real estate practitioners make too much money for the work we do. Part of our, and our broker's compensation, is a result of the risk we're exposed to in each transaction.

In my case, I wasn't ready to be a test case, so we countered that clause back to 7 days and moved on to ratification from there.

For the most part, fill in the blank addenda are just fine, and this one may be too.  I'm not ready to be the test case so a precedent can be determined.

I generally follow my gut instinct and err on the side of caution.  It's served me well so far.

 

Richard Iarossi, REALTOR®
Long and Foster® Real Estate, Inc.
Crofton, MD 21114
410-451-6255 Office
443-995-9595 Cell
eMail: Rich@RichSellsHomes.com

Annapolis MD Real Estate Specialist
Bowie MD Real Estate Specialist
Crofton MD Real Estate Specialist 

©2008 RichSellsHomes - All Rights Reserved
©iStockPhoto - Licensed for Use

 

In Virginia and Maryland, two National Parks merge in the center of the Potomac River with some breathtaking scenary.

Great Falls Park is on the Virginia side, while The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park is on the Maryland side.  At the center of the Potomac river you can't tell the difference but each side does have a different look and feel.

The Potomac River coming through the Great Falls area of Virgina and Maryland speeds up pretty well as it goes through Mather Gorge.  Unless something was done the river would not have been navigable getting from Pittsburgh to Washington, DC.  Unloading ships and reloading them downriver has never been very effective.

On the Maryland side, a series of canals were constructed in order to make the river navigable all the way down to Washington, DC. The canal technology, although successful for about a quarter of a century, was overtaken by the efficiency of the railroad system.

Today, the park is a wonderful place to get away for a few hours and enjoy the fall season.  After showing some properties in that area yesterday I decided to take a couple of hours to enjoy an absolutely perfect day and grab a few photos as well.

All pictures taken November 7, 2008.  There are a lot of photos but they have been optimized for the web so this post should still load quickly.

 

Welcome to Great Falls Park - Virginia Side

Mather Gorge on the Virginia Side

Virginia side - not much vegetation left on the tree overlooking the falls.

Virginia side - trees turning and dropping leaves

 

Virginia side - fall colors still evident

Virginia side - brilliant blue sky

 Virginia side - observation deck

View from across the gorge to the Maryland side

Virginia side - panorama of fall colors

 Fall colors being sketched by an artist

 

 Mother nature always reclaims what is hers eventually

Maryland side - entrance. Beautiful fall colors.

Maryland side - canal boat lock

Maryland side - Fall colors reflected in pool

Maryland side - Out of service canal boat

 Maryland side - pretty much what it looks like...ducks asses

Maryland side - Potomac River gorge

Maryland side - Fall colors, bright sky

Maryland - Blue Heron. Should be time to go South soon.

Maryland - Tavern and visitor center

Maryland - losing leaves at different rates

Maryland - leaving the park until another day

 

Richard Iarossi, REALTOR®
Long and Foster® Real Estate, Inc.
Crofton, MD 21114
410-451-6255 Office
443-995-9595 Cell
Web: http://www.RichSellsHomes.com
eMail: Rich@RichSellsHomes.com
Outside Blog at: http://www.mdrealestateblog.com 

Crofton MD Real Estate Specialist
Annapolis MD Real Estate Specialist

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Active Rain gods and goddesses, in all their wisdom, must have thought this was a possibility, because they put the option there to delete a comment.  As the originator of a post, you and I have the ability to just delete any comment at will. No jury trial, no witnesses, delete...poof, you're comment is tossed into the digital wastebasket.  First amendment rights don't apply here.

This is an awesome responsibility and shouldn't be taken very lightly, especially if you want to succeed in your blogging efforts.

I don't believe for one minute that what I write is always correct.  Believe me, the erasers on my pencils are worn down to a pretty small nub, and the backspace key on my keyboard is pretty shiny.

The reason I'm thinking about this at all is that I've seen comments on some of my posts, and others as well, that not only disagreed, but were disagreeable, in the manner of the comment.  When a comment is intentionally confrontational in nature, I'm not sure it serves it's purpose any longer in the whole context of the post.

I understand having passion for a point of view but not at the expense of being civil, or at least, trying to be civil.  Blogging, being a flat medium, can easily be taken out of context and misconstrued.

Posting is not done in a vacuum.  What's written here is widely distributed on the web for all to see, including comments.

I have a very low threshold to pass when disagreeing with me, or any other commenter.  All I'm looking for is respectful disagreement.  If you can't word your comment in a respectful manner, than you've chosen to put your comment at risk of being deleted.  Threatening someone is an automatic deletion.  No wailing, no crying, no testimony, no appeal, gone.

So far I've never deleted any comments but have certainly thought about it on more than one occassion.

---

Richard Iarossi, REALTOR®
Long and Foster® Real Estate, Inc. 
Crofton, MD 21114
410-451-6255 Office
443-995-9595 Cell
Web: www.RichSellsHomes.com
eMail: Rich@RichSellsHomes.com

Crofton MD Real Estate Specialist
Annapolis MD Real Estate Specialist

©RichSellsHomes.com - 2008 - All Rights Reserved
©iStockPhoto - Licensed for Use

Geez Rich, you're getting a bit anal retentive as you get older.

When I voted this morning I started the stopwatch on my iPhone to see how long it was going to take.

From walking in the door at my polling place, to verifying and getting a ballot, to voting, and finally leaving, the total elapsed time was 2:22.  Laughable, I brought a book with me after watching TV this morning about the long lines everywhere.

Competence by the local voting officials and volunteers here in Crofton, MD is outstanding and usually underappreciated.  Thank you!

I'm sure the media will be concentrating on the horror stories of people trying to vote today, because that's what they do.  The Croftons of America will be ignored completely.  Man votes in two minutes and twenty two seconds...no news there.

Richard Iarossi
Long and Foster® Real Estate, Inc.
Crofton, MD 21114
410-451-6255 Office
443-995-9595 Cell
Web: http://www.RichSellsHomes.com
eMail: Rich@RichSellsHomes.com

Crofton MD Real Estate

©RichSellsHomes.com - 2008 - All Rights Reserved

Wow, I've been using Firefox as my browser of choice for quite some time.  On AR I've noticed that whenever I'm reading a blog with a background the scrolling is not smooth, but very jerky and slow.  I just chaulked it up to the backgrounds being used.

Tonight I tried several other browsers and the results on the same blog post with a background were different.

Firefox - Jerky and slow

Internet Explorer - Smooth and fast

Safari - Jerky and slow

Opera - Smooth and fast

Chrome - Smooth and fast

Firefox used to be my browser of choice for Active Rain but I guess I'm going to have to switch to Opera.

Yes, I do have five different browsers on my PC.

 

Richard Iarossi
Long and Foster® Real Estate, Inc.
Crofton, MD 21114
410-451-6255 Office
443-995-9595 Cell
Web: http://www.RichSellsHomes.com
eMail: Rich@RichSellsHomes.com

Crofton MD Real Estate

©RichSellsHomes.com