Appointments with professionals

Posted on by Teresa Boardman
office
Boardman Realty

When I used to have a traditional job we had office hours and lots of meetings. I don’t really have office hours anymore but that doesn’t mean I am not working. Sometimes I am out showing houses or meeting with a client or listing a house.

Sometimes I have meetings and I go to classes.

Sometimes people just show up at my office and want to meet with me right away because they might want to move. They find that I am not there and will not be back for hours. Often they arrive at my office at the only time they can meet with me.

They usually go away because I can not meet with them on the spot. Sometimes I have appointments all day and can not change them so that I can meet with someone I don’t know who just happened to stop by because they might want to move.

Occasionally I can be found in my office with time on my hands and I will meet with someone who walks in off the street but you really can not count on it.

Just like working with an accountant or a lawyer or a colleague a work. You need to make an appointment. I’ll be there on time or early ready to give anyone who meets with me my undivided attention and effort.

What I find interesting is when I try to set up a meeting with these people who just show up, there isn’t any time that fits into their schedule and I never hear from them again.

I love my phone, I hate my phone.

Posted on by Teresa Boardman

It is Friday, and Fridays are for fun. I can not survive for very long without my phone and I lose it several times a week. Sometimes I am holding while I am looking for it.

Yesterday I lost it in my car and found it by calling myself with a friends phone. A couple of weeks ago I lost it at the downtown Farmer’s market.

I totally panicked when I reached for my phone and it wasn’t there. I retraced my steps through the market. I checked the Brussel sprouts (I love Brussel sprouts doesn’t everyone?) and the beets and went past the honey and checked the corn stand. I could not find it anywhere.

It is a good thing I did not report the phone missing because I found it in my other back pocket and not in the pocket I usually put it in. It gave me a good scare, maybe even a full-blown panic attack.

Once I left my phone at home by mistake. I had to drive 20 minutes or so to meet a client. I knew where the phone was and spent an amazing 90 minutes without it. I felt so free. I had the same feeling I used to get as a kid on the last day of school before summer break.  I’ll never forget that time I had without my phone. It was a happy peaceful time.

Customer service is a thing

Posted on by Teresa Boardman

In recent weeks I have been experiencing some broadband issues in my home. I don’t want to mention any names but there are only two choices for internet access in St. Paul.

The company I use has pointed out that the other company is even worse.

Either way, they demonstrate how bad customer service can be.

blue houseHere are just a few of my experiences trying to get my internet access working again:

  1. Calling and being asked repeatedly for the same information.
  2. Being put on hold for over 30 minutes.
  3. Having my call dropped.
  4. Being told about self-service on a website when I don’t have internet access.
  5. Being told that a device I have hooked up is causing the problem (not possible)
  6. Being told that my problem is probably a bad ethernet cable.
  7. Believing that I am talking to a someone in tech support and being sold an upgrade by a salesperson and later finding out that the upgrade would not have worked in my home but they would have let me pay for it anyway.
  8. Spending hours and hours over a three week period trying to cancel the upgrade.
  9. Being told that the problems with the service because of an upgrade. (later learned that isn’t possible)
  10. Having two technicians come out and “fix’ the problem but the problem remained.

I could make this list longer. Each time I called for technical support I was given a different reason for my spotty internet access.

When I ask to talk to a supervisor or escalate the problem I am told there are no supervisors. I have also been told that no one there can make outgoing calls.

There are only two choices when it comes to internet access both are expensive and offer extremely poor customer service. I have tried them both.

They take poor service to a whole new level that most businesses can not even touch. They serve as an example of what happens when there isn’t enough competition in the marketplace.

Cable and satellite TV are also great examples of what happens when there isn’t enough competition. They put packages of channels together that no one really wants. Sure people want some of the channels but not all of them. I could easily get by with no sports channels.

The bill that comes with broadband services each month is ridiculous and it gets higher every year.

We have used cable and direct TV and are currently exploring the possibility of getting an old-school antenna so that we can get the local channels and stream the rest.

Someday the large companies that provide broadband are going to miss all of the customers they once had. The companies are too large to know or care if they are losing customers because of poor service and overpriced offerings.

Is a house really a home if there is no internet access?

Cumulative days on market by month

Posted on by Teresa Boardman
St. Paul – average cumulative days on market- sept 2017 to Sept 2018

These numbers are from the NorthstarMLS and are for all single-family units which include townhouses and condos sold in St. Paul over the past 12 months. The chat is intended to demonstrate the impact of season on real estate sales. I predict that average days on market will be higher in the third quarter of 2018 than it was in 2017 but not by much.

In 2008 during the housing market crash and great recession the average number of cumulative days on market in St. Paul was 146.

Fall real estate advertising campaign

Posted on by Teresa Boardman

I remember when I used to work with one of the big real estate companies. They had this room called a resource room with marketing materials we could use. There was one a marketing piece for each season on why ______ is the best time to sell a house. I guess for real estate agents every season is the best season to sell a home.

For homeowners, it isn’t that simple.

There are advantages and disadvantages to selling any time of year. Homes do not fetch as high of a price in the winter as they do in the spring but the difference isn’t huge and it all works out for home sellers who also wish to buy a home.

It takes longer to sell a home in January than it takes in June. In fact, it can take two or three times as long. In today’s market, a long time is less than 90 days.

I have listed and sold home in December. There are buyers out looking and there are usually fewer homes on the market in winter.

People who look at homes in the late fall and early winter are usually pretty motivated and it is the same with home sellers. Often people who need to relocate for work are out looking in fall so they can start a new job in January or February.

The spring buying season actually gets started in January so in some cases putting a home on the market in the winter results in an offer in January or February when the prices start going up again.

So . . is fall a good time to sell? I can honestly answer that question with “it depends” but for me, it is always a good time to sell a home because that is what I do. For everyone else the best time to sell is a personal decision. There really is no best time to sell. . . but if you want to sell, let me know I am always ready to sell real estate.

Leaves

Who pays for the photography?

Posted on by Teresa Boardman

When selling a home photography is more important than ever before because homebuyers and their agents shop for homes on the internet.

Amazing photography is rarely free. Someone has to pay for it. Often the real estate agent listing the home will pay for the photography. Many of us consider it an essential part of marketing a home and provide professional photography for each home we market.

Some agents ask the homeowner to pay for photography. Either way works. If your home is on the market and your agent used his/her iPhone to photograph it. Ask for professional photography. If you have to pay for it yourself it is worth every penny . . . assuming the pictures are commercial quality.

 

craftsman style dining room
Dining room with built ins