Bill Blog

I get asked about rental homes by potential clients planning to move to the Paducah, KY area. These movers want to rent before purchasing for a variety of reasons. We don't really have a lot of these in the MLS. There isn't a good central location for rentals besides the newspaper, which they can't get. The online version doesn't let the public view the classifieds so I go out of my way to send them a screenshot of the PDF version of the "houses for sale" from the newspaper's classifieds.

How do other agents address this question?

Recently, a developer here in Paducah, KY decided he didn't have the time to continue development of his new "subdivision". I use that term loosely because the project changed a few times. At one time it was planned to be residential and at some point changed into residential and commercial area for businesses and possibly a hotel.

This land is adjacent to interstate 24 and close to an onramp which obviously makes it more valuable. It's amazing that it's been undeveloped for so long.

After wranging with the neighbors over burning the trees and such that was left from clearing the land, the city got involved and decided he needed to haul these trees off instead of burning them near these houses. Supposedly, the brush had poison ivy in it that was supposed to be a factor for not burning it. The city expanded their incentives they had already given the developer to compensate for the added expense involved in hauling off the brush and trees.

A few weeks ago that developer cancelled the project. The land was to be auctioned in 3 tracts. A local auctioneer and RE broker was going to do the auctioning. Before the land even got to auction two of the tracts were given an option to purchase, reportedly for $1,000,000, by Murray State University so they could build a small campus in Paducah.

The third tract was sold at auction last night to a local business owner for a mere $160,000. The newspaper said he hopes MSU will purchase it from him and he'll profit from that purchase.

My point of this entry is concerning taking advantage of the adjacent neighbors. Some of these neighborhood residents don't appreciate the changes taking place in their neighborhood. When you hear of events like this in your community do you go door to door or send mailings to these people offering your home selling services in the event they decide to move?

Coincidentally, there is another neighborhood in this situation near the Ohio River. A coal to diesel plant is being planned that could have many residents in that same situation. Another plant in this area was not approved by the planning commission because of the potential of coal dust. Besides the area residents complaining there is a Harrah's Casino across the river in Metropolis, IL that could be affected by that dust. The plant said the dust would not be an issue because they had measures to prevent that.

A few months ago I had a client come in from Maryland for the weekend. While making arrangements to meet he mentioned he was going to bring his Garmin. I thought, "Oh yeah, like that toy will be useful." I went ahead and got my maps and routes ready.

He brought it with him, stuck it to the windshield and plugged it into the cigarette lighter. The first few houses were closeby so I didn't need the maps. I listened to it while it gave directions. During the short trip to one house the buyer seemed a little disturbed when I didn't go the way the Garmin said to. After I went a different direction through the intersection I heard it say "Recalculating". That peaked my interest. It actually knew I didn't turn there and was determining a new route. Cool!

Anyway, I listened to it for the next few houses while I used my maps. At that time the lowlands in the area were flooded. We ran into a couple of spots that were inpassable due to flooded roads. These were out in the country. We turned around and he pushed an option that said something like alternate route. A little further along we ran into another flooded area. I turned around and went a completely different way the Garmin was directing us.

By the end of the day my maps and routes were in the backseat. I didn't need them anymore. The following week I purchased one on eBay after I reviewed what I wanted at a local store (BestBuy and Circuit City).

I was unable to continue showing him homes on Monday so I had to let another agent in the office show him around and take over the sale. I told her he had a Garmin and it was really fantastic. To my surprise she said that's what she had. Since then I've talked to other agents that use GPS. I didn't realize that many agents had them.

Another client that came up from Chattanooga was using his phone that had built in GPS. I had mine by then but I really didn't want one built into my phone.

I thought I'd share some unfortunate news that happened to my neighbor today.

I got home a little while ago and found my neighbor's house a disaster. He had a large pine tree cut down that was literally about 5 feet from his house. He had it removed because some of the limbs have been falling from it and making holes in the roof shingles and the pine needles are always clogging up the gutters.

The "company" doing the work first cut off all the limbs. Then they cut the trunk as one, large piece. My neighbor, with his backhoe, had a large rope tied to the tree and was nearly 150 feet away from the tree was pulling the tree his direction (over toward my property).

My neigbhor now says they didn't know what they were doing. The guys cutting the tree were apparently amateurs - not that I know anything about cutting trees. When they cut the tree trunk they were supposed to cut it in a particular fashion to ensure it fell whatever direction they needed.

When the tree fell it fell on my neighbors house!

You can see in the photo the damage that was done. I haven't seen what it looks like under the tarp but he said there isn't any noticable damage on the inside but it destroyed about a third of the overhang on  the house. A window in the back of the house was completely knocked off. It barely missed the electricity and phone line. The small white porch is completely destroyed.

Fortunately, this "company" had insurance so he has already gotten the ball rolling with them.

To cut the tree, remove the stump and hall off the wood would normally be about a $1,500 - $2,000 job. This "company" cut the tree down and left it for $275.

Incidentally, my wife was complaining to me that these people were bad news when they were cutting down a tree at another neighbor's house. That house had a much, much larger tree. This could have been my house.

I often take time to read the "In the Trenches" stories on Realtor.org. This section of their web site has stores sent in from agents across the country. Each of these agents are very different and have different ways of doing things. The stories are sometimes odd or strange but mostly funny.

One story from an agent described how he was touring an empty home. As he was walking down a dark stairway he suddenly jumped and shrieked to the top of his lungs. Notice I said "he". He, was a 200 pound agent with 12 years of experience. He screamed after he saw hisself in a full length mirror.  :-)