Club Chaos Agents - All Things Hollish, Wacked, and Jacked

Without reasonable question, banks are in charge of the current Real Estate market here in Scottsdale and the greater Phoenix area.  Patently absurd low pricing of an overwhelming abundance of foreclosure and short sale listings dictates that financial institutions remain the bully of our local pulpit.  While we may lament this eventuality, we certainly cannot deny it without yielding hard-earned credibility.  Dominance in the marketplace, however, should not be mistaken for carte blanche to operate in a manner independent of obligation.

Consumers, and by the transitive property their chosen agents, put up with a great deal when pursuing a distressed (be it physical or financial) property.  Selling institutions call the shots on the choice of title company, manufacture from afar their own addenda that often flies in the face of local custom or … gulp … law.  All too aware that these catacombs house the buried Real Estate treasure they seek, buyers eagerly agree to any and all provisions the banks and their lawyers concoct.  For the most part, after scrutinizing the often arcane verbiage of said addenda and verifying that an actual, legitimate escrow company has been selected to perform the title work (as opposed to some flunky sister company on the other side of the country in which the seller has a financial stake), we swallow hard on the arrogance and proceed under the bank’s terms.  The values on their properties are just too good to be dissuaded by negotiable minutia. 

But that’s where it ends.

Perhaps a happenstance created by a bank that has become accustomed to proffering any mandate it wishes upon a transaction, many asset managers at said institutions and the lackeys charged with listing and selling their portfolios seem to have gained the mistaken notion that they can dictate deviations from the written purchase agreement based on the whims of internal policy.  Case in point, I am currently embroiled in a transaction that is going along swimmingly aside from the seller’s constant refusal to execute documents that were agreed to and made part of the original purchase contract.  I have heard numerous explanations for the contractual breaches, and some of them even make sense.  None of them, though, absolve the seller of their contractual obligations.

The learned attorneys who advise their clients (banks) not to sign certain documents would do well to advise their clients to address such matters at the time, if not before, the contract is negotiated.  I am not an attorney, but surely they understand that unilateral, after-the-fact contract revision and/or breach is far more likely to result in litigation for their clients than the terms of the documents found to be objectionable for one reason or another. 

Then again, perhaps deterrence from future litigation is not in the best financial interest of that crack legal staff.

I call on buyers and their representative agents to stand up for the rights and protections you are afforded by the purchase contracts you execute.  Fear of losing the bargain of a lifetime has led too many to cow-tow to the internal policies of the banks on the other side of the country table.  Yes, there are certain stipulations you must live with if you wish to purchase a bank controlled property, but at the end of the day, they are just sellers who must abide by the same rules and regulations as everyone else.  Assuming you didn't forget to pack heat on your way to a bank-owned gunfight, stick to your guns and do not suffer any shirking of the selling party’s obligations or infringement upon your contractual rights lightly.  And make sure you grab the glock, not the air rifle.  The pea shooter of polite request will just get your hair touseled and cheeks pinched.

It's big boy time when dealing with a corporate monolith.

Aside from my plant based carpet and air duct cleaning business, I have an interior design practice with an in-house faux finishing studio.  My father was an artist and a painter and I grew up around painted finishes, and never thought they would hold any significance for me.  When I was younger, I didn't really care to learn any of these techniques, and sadly, did not.  But, I did always ask my ever patient father to take me to the homes of the rich and famous who were his clients. That was an education in itself and from a very early age, I knew that being a designer would be the most gratifying profession for me. Nine years ago I finally decided to stop hiring others to do decorative painting for my clients and had to reach back into my childhood and re-frame and retrace the steps my father would always beg me to learn. Bittersweet and determined, I did so.

Except now, the way I like to create Frescoes, Lime Washes, Pigment Washes, Venetian Plaster, and almost all decorative finishes presently, is without toxic chemicals and pursuant off-gassing.  Here are a few of the finishes we have done recently without the use of traditional chemically laden formulas. Healthier for the inhabitants as well as for the artists. All of the following were done with hand troweled non-slaked plaster, ground earth pigments and  soy based waxes tinted by us. They can be used almost everywhere - walls and ceilings, doors, furniture, fireplaces, fountains, sinks, and as you can see bathtubs that used to be white.

I spotted the envelope one day when I was six. It was addressed to my brother with an important government return address. It stated - "Registered Alien" next to his name.  Oh the shame, the horror. I knew he was weird, dangerously smug, but this!  He must be a handsome "Grey" I surmised.  But wait a minute; weren't aliens highly intelligent, possessing amazing powers? I ventured a guess that he was suffering from a truly universal malady, one that struck countless humans as well. Evidently, like many others, he was short on talent, long on looks. Though lately, I could hardly understand him as he and our mother were always speaking Latin together.  Something about getting him into the right university, but now I seriously doubted that was the case. Later that evening I questioned my mother about this as tactfully as I could.  She distastefully recoiled and stated in French "We are all registered aliens, except you. What about it?" I stopped in my tracks, I was surrounded.

I should have known something was up with them. The food - always a dead giveaway - snails, frog legs, anchovy fillets criss-crossing everything, often with olives punctuating the negative space; prompting a neighbor to always comment, "oh, it  looks like a board game" which in turn prompted my mother to later mutter "culinary barbarians..." There was also all that runny cheese that could hardly be contained in the plastic wrap, oval and flat rounds tins with keys and strange writing on them filled the cupboards, no neon bright ketchup or mustard ever to be found. And that music they always listened to - opera, never in English or anything clearly understandable.... I had been blind and yet the only one not afflicted.  No wonder when my parents came home, my friends took off so quickly. I used to think it strange when asked if they wanted to stay for dinner, they were visibly shaken.

This latest intelligence sent me on a "search and compare" mission canvassing my neighborhood.  What was really going on in everyone else's home?  Sadly, no one else was fooled.  Every time it rained, the snails would sail out onto the sidewalks. Inevitably, the phone would ring. The neighborhood boys would call and say - "Tell your mother - dinner's on the sidewalk!" For some reason this never bothered me, I thought it rather clever. But I never dared tell my mother this timely news for fear of her going out in the rain and catching them. At this point, I felt she would eat anything that moved.

But really, how had I let myself be duped like this.  Now, it all made sense as to why most of my parent's friends and associates were just like them - certainly aliens as well. And most of them had that insidious "Eiffel Tower" monument, or " Leaning Tower of Pisa"  somewhere in their homes.  Obviously a miniature version of a communication tower, similar to the one Felix and the Professor had...All this made me far more interested in the other houses and buildings around me. I knew what was going on in my newly deemed freakish household.  But what did people who were not connected to such beings do, really?  I had to venture out beyond my circle of friends at this point.

My home, from the outside looked normal.  Once you entered, well, that was a different story. We had modern yet slightly rustic Italian furniture, some of it was sculptural looking made with straight almost Giacometti looking hand wrought iron supports that reminded me of bird legs, cork floors, not as nice as the cork now, and paintings that I didn't really understand. There was brick and wood and white walls everywhere. Just red, black and white it seemed. My mother loved it. The rest of us just endured it. Actually, I hated it. I used to color with crayons, as that was the only medium that stuck, alternating bands of expressive colors in the rusticated grout lines of the brick that surrounded the fireplace as well as an entire wall whenever I could. My ongoing, yet constantly interrupted goal was to finish the entire wall before I was caught. Then my color rationed family could see how truly lovely it would be. I thought it looked beautiful, similar to a Mondrian. Believe me I always paid the price, but I yearned for some extra color and that was all there was in my arsenal. My patient father cleaned it repeatedly and always winked at me afterward.  He was a painter, he knew.  Even though he was one of them...

For my mission, I began to focus on the Spanish Colonial houses and buildings in my neighborhood. They had huge windows and courtyards and foliage allowing me to do my reconnaissance. Everyday, after school, I would leave my friends and go off on my own and peer into various windows in Hollywood, CA. of all places. I chose my streets carefully but was not afraid of anything, why should I be? I lived among aliens.

Our house was modest in comparison to these grand structures. Could mere humans live in these? It was a stroke of surreptitious timing that in one of these beautifully ornate facades, I peered through the mullioned window and saw that "The Munsters" was on.  I, of course always noticed that Marilyn looked so normal and was surrounded by....why I never thought of this before.  Marilyn was just like me, or I was just like Marilyn. And the nerve, those Munters thought she was odd, less than... I had to sit down and peer over the carved stone of the window surround and really observe how she behaved among all this madness. I could not really hear the soundtrack, so I focused intently on the expressions, the gestures, all the unspoken courtesies. She seemed so comfortable, so gracious, so kind and giving. Affectionate even. What was her problem?  She was like I used to be, downright oblivious.

During the walk home I kept telling myself, if Marilyn can do it, so can I. Besides, she looked great next to them.  I could use a boost with regards to my slipping authority being the lone minority and all. This new approach, possibly showcasing my attractive normalacy, made me quite happy as during my astute observations just moments ago, it led me to believe that my mother and brother, especially, were so full of themselves, just like Lily Munster.  So for awhile, I abandoned peering into Spanish Colonial windows and hurried home instead to study at "The School Of Marilyn" otherwise known as "The Munsters" on dealing with, well, you know....the differences within families.

Michelle Viggiano  Scottsdale & Phoenix Four Winds Healthy Home Carpet and Air Duct Cleaning www.healthyhomeaz.com 

That train of thought by Ralph Waldo Emerson stared me in the face today while at a clients home.  I rarely go out on carpet and air duct cleaning jobs with the tech, but today I did. My presence is not usually needed out in the field, but today was a bit different.  The client could barely speak as it appeared he had a stroke, so we all had to put our heads together on this one. I went to the address thinking perhaps a care giver would be present.

We ring the doorbell and an older gentleman opens the door and motions us into the main living rooms. He has a modest but charming home with books everywhere, and I mean everywhere.  Once inside the living and dining rooms, I lay my eyes on some of the most beautiful antique and semi-antique Oriental Rugs I have seen outside of Sothebys and markets in Turkey, Iran or Switzerland. I used to be an Oriental rug collector. I stopped, because for me, it was as addictive, as strong as, if you were to put a "d" in front of the word "rug".  Our job was to clean his antique Oriental rugs, but he didn't want us to take them with us, we were to do it there, but in the old world way, by hand, with a brush. I said "yes" with immediate enthusiasm and immediately received a slight jab below my rib cage from you know who. They were so beautiful, just exquisite. It was like hanging around in the old neighborhood. The one I usually avoid at all costs, because I know how relapses happen.  So, yes it is true.  I was intoxicated by the rugs. High on everything they offered to me, just like in the old days.

So several hours later, we gave him the final invoice and recived a check for $300.00 more than the total due. His handwriting was shaky, but there was a note along with the check that read - "When You Were Cleaning My Rugs I Saw Inside You"  As we left he kissed my hand...at that point, I would have gladly done it for free.

 Michelle Viggiano Scottsdale & Phoenix Green Plant Based Carpet and Air Duct Cleaning www.healthyhomeaz.com

Smoke and Mirrors...I was at one with it. It was nothing but a house of cards, from the initial planning stages right up to the departing flight from Iran. Secrets and lies - a resounding yes.  Discoveries and truths - a whispering nod. As it all brought me to my knees more than once.

A Tower of Silence at the Zoroastrian Burial Grounds,Yazd, Iran. I am the figure in black in the lower right.

I had at that point in my life been to about fifty countries and lived and worked in the Middle East for almost a decade. I visited many Muslim countries all over the world and spent a month in Malyasia, time in Egypt, Jordan, Syria, the list is long.  But nothing prepared me for Iran. The jewel in the crown which pierced my temples as I wore it; forever altering my consciousness long after the precious headress was discarded. 

  At the mountains in Iran.

 I should have know something was in store for me in that country. While in Damascus at the Iranian Embassy where our visas were issued, an Orthodox nun, proudly wearing her full habit, would periodically waltz in and out of the building all the while bossing everyone around. The Iranians rewarded her with tea and laughter while she was there and miraculously the smiles did not disappear quickly as she left. That should have been my first clue.

  My male traveling companion pretended to be my husband while we were there.  He is gay,  I was married to my ex-husband at that time.  See, we were hopelessly in sync with the smoke and....So we begin our travels throughout Iran with our dedicated guide.  Ebby, an Iranian who lived in Germany for the last twelve years and is blond due to his Russian ancestry.  We all travel together traversing the country, in an Iranian montaged car that looks like, but does not sound like a Chevy Nova. It appeared as if three Westerners, Americans in this case, were on holiday...with no American Embassy, no American money or credit cards accepted and only the Swiss embassy on Wednesdays, between noon and 2:00 pm, possibly offering any assistance if things turned bad.

Truck drivers are the same all over. Check out the "babes" on either side of the license plate.

An orginial antique print by Christian Neighbur of Egyptian hieroglyphics drawn by him during the Danish Expedition to Arabia in the middle of the 18th century.  From the Dutch edition of  Niebuhr's Travels through Arabia And Other Countries In The East, published in the Netherlands in 1776.  From my personal collection.

Why do we wish to connect with millions of let's face it, very often faceless people? If that desire isn't strange enough on its own accord, the willingness to connect is so strong we sometimes, if foolish or brave enough, expose a manifesto, if you will.  About ourselves, what we hold dear, and what we don't. Some may protest and say that's not true in their case.  Yet the non-opaque approach can offer a much overlooked and possibly undervalued property - a somewhat transparent emotional blueprint of our businesses and of ourselves within a commercial framework. My postings on various sites on the web certainly do. Sure, many individuals and corporations are cunning, and engineer only what they want you to know, but those types of bloggers or networkers will always render a blatant  "tell" when they or you least expect it.

 I blog, simply put, because I can. Not because I am good at it, have anything that is terribly original or compelling to pass  on, or impart topics of great interest to most. But let me come totally clean as to why I blog and am on social networks. Because it is expected. Yes expected. In today's world, it is not enough to advertise, go to meetings at the various chambers, have an ethical company and give excellent service. You have to blog about it too!  We are so curious and voyeuristic; we feel a sense of entitlement to command a view behind the scenes. Not content to just peek through the front door, we require access to see what's going on in the back room as well.

Arroyo Garcia petroglyph "Happy" photograph by glyphwalker 

For one of my businesses, my exposure is now totally Internet activated. I no longer do print ads, stopped all conventional advertising in general. Sure I have brochures at particular locations, but the overwhelming business I receive is from the Internet.  It is all from my targeted blogs, my site listings, my web friends whose recommendations are on the net.  If that isn't enough of a bounty, exposure from my various postings, prompted an online friend to connect me with an editor of an online magazine.  I am a regular monthly contributor to the magazine entitled "Magnify You".  www.magnifyyou.com  I enjoy being on the web, posting, reading blogs, meeting people, but I love my real time life, my friends and my social life too and therein lies a precarious balance that I have not yet perfected.

All this posting, blogging, social networking takes quite a bit of time.  It is a bit of a contradiction to me in some ways, as everyone is swimming awash in time management, too pressed for time to actually read books, not enough time with our families, our non-virtual friends. Yet most everyone wants to be able to glean something fresh and juicy from a blog.  Or write one in order to turn on the lights and open the drapes. I remember such warnings when I first lived on my own, to certainly not to do that in the evenings; as the fascination to further investigate was too hard to resist for most humans. I didn't think it to be all together true, but alas, it has been proven a million times over and is what I have learned on the social networks. And for my businesses' sake I am willing to be interchangeably voyeuristic and exhibitionist.

                          Detail from "Cave of Swimmers" at Wali Sura, Gilf Kebir. photo by Kit Constable Maxwell 

 Mill Creek 23, photo by glyphwalker

I studied petroglyphs, cave paintings and wall impressions in college and still do. Researching the various ancient sites it is evident that we have always had this fascination with ourselves and those around us and had to convey the wonderment at all costs. Gossips at heart, maybe.  The new posting sites that have evolved from the ancient ones are Facebook, Linkedin http://www.linkedin.com/in/michelleviggiano Twitter, Biznik, http://www.biznik.com/members/michelle-viggiano   The new "paintings" are with words and some as short as a single brush stroke - the tweet.

I blog mainly about my eco-responsible company because my type of business comes across a different type of scrutiny. Are they for real, are their products as effective, are they just jumping on the band wagon of all things green, etc. For me, it is a labor of love to actively change those traditional possibly negative perceptions.  I frequently give a moment of my time to include a daily visit to the following site, http://www.theanimalrescuesite.com/clickToGive/home.faces  it is part of a larger site http://www.thenonprofits.com  and click or donate in my company's name. Not because it looks good or I feel I should, rather, because it is part and parcel of my and my company's sensibilities. The icon is on my desktop so it can't be easier. I offer links on my website that I believe are helpful and stay within my areas of concern. I do have strict parameters of which types of links I will include.  As a business owner, I don't leave any of that out of the equation. So, I blog publically about what my company stands for and what is does hold supreme. I have learned from others who don't, that they are missing an opportunity to position themselves as intimately and effectively as possible.

 Here are a few links that offer a range of options and opinions on social networking as a business tool. An article depicting 25 social Media Tips from executives and others at Dell,  General Mills, Home Depot, etc offers interesting insight into social networking for big business. http://www.toprankblog.com/2009/04/social-media-marketing-tips/ 

If you prefer here is a list of green social networking sites http://planetgreen.discovery.com/work-connect/social-media-green-good6.html  and there is http://www.care2.com the largest and most comprehensive, based in Australia.

"Crowded" petroglyph photo by glyphwalker

I check the corporate temperature of other firms regularly.  I can gage if they are hot, cold, or dispassionately luke-warm.  My company and yours convey its overall mentality throughout the dense fibers of its being. Whether that is in person, practice, on paper, or on online.  I offer a thermometer to any and all who are interested in the reading. Here, take my temperature.

Original antique print of Carsten Niebuhr drawings of Egyptian hieroglypics during the Danish Expedition in 1760. From Niebuhr's Travels Through Arabia And Other Countries In The East. This one was published in The Netherlands in 1776 or it could be from identical ones published in Paris in 1779.  From my personal collection.

Here is some business social networking  in action - the photographer. "petroglyphwalker" of all the above petroglyph photographs fabricates individual ones.  He is a geologist who also has the business www.southwestpetroart.com  Check him out, his petroglyphs make great gifts and are beautifully done on a small scale. Delight a child with a gift that they can learn a great deal from - thier ancestors musings...

And while I am at it, in the true interest of being at heart with the social networking cause - please check out http://www.mcromanshades.com Michael Crum fabricates the most beautiful Roman shades and ships nationally and internationally.  Social networking in action!

Everyone wants a piranha.

Whether a professional athlete intent on a signing bonus the size of Madagascar, a victim of a vicious fender bender fixated on the 2.8 million dollar legal prescription for a tender neck or a home buyer/seller whose sole purpose on this earth at the immediate moment is to grind as many Ben Franklins as possible out of the guy on the other side of a negotiation, aggressiveness is typically the hallmark virtue in the professional representation that is sought.

The sports super agent, who we are 95% certain has a life-sized portrait of his bare chested self wearing a boa constrictor around suspiciously well tanned shoulders hanging in his posh downtown office, is universally loathed by all.  Secretly, however, we all know he’d be the only guy we’d call if we needed to make a cash withdrawal from the abundant posterior of a team owner.

The weaselly ambulance chaser with the slicked back, Grecian Formula enhanced locks is similarly unlikely to find himself on the guest lists of many Bat Mitzvahs and baby showers.  That narcissistic predator might eat the baby.  When we spill the drive-thru coffee in our laps or stumble over the “Watch Your Step!” sign at a public establishment, though, he’s the guy we call.

Amicable folks are great to have around, but when the conversation turns to business, we don’t want Mary Poppins going into battle on our behalf armed only with a spoonful of sugar to make the medicine go down.  We’d rather employ the services of Dr. Jekyll to go all Mr. Hyde on the opposition and cram that spoon straight down their throats.

Easy, tiger.

There is a time to kill, and there is a time to frolic.  The problem with the constant grinder is that he often grinds himself right out of a transaction.  It is critical that you leave the other guy with some dignity at the end of a tough negotiation, lest all of your efforts collapse under the weight of the other party’s exhaustion.  After you’ve knocked the poor bloke to the ground and bloodied his nose, do the smart thing.  Extend your hand and help him up.

In practical terms, this is akin to finally saying “yes” after repeated “no’s.”  When you win on the key points, you are often in a position to make a small concession on some trivial tangential issue.  Too many times, I see lost opportunities for a clear victor to score easy diplomatic points at these junctures in the waning moments of a deal.  Want the inspection and other critical aspects of the transaction yet to come to go smoothly?  Give up something that isn’t really necessary.  Offer something minor, but unexpected.

You’ve bitten his neck on price, drank his blood on terms … time to give him a transfusion unless you want to carry his Doppelganger the rest of the way to closing.  For the record, undead weight is quite heavy.

Of course, because you are reading my blog, this advice assumes you were on the dispensing end of said treatment throughout the course of the initial negotiation.  If you were unfortunate enough to be on the receiving end, go ahead and drive a wooden stake through the SOB’s black heart.

*Originally posted at the Scottsdale Property Shop.

There is always opportunity in the margins.  Unfortunately, margins tend to attract the marginal.

The latest water cooler rumbling to emerge from a recent tour group meeting centered on a purported professional short sale negotiation company.  Here in the Valley, short sale negotiation has become its own cottage industry in the past year and a half, and for good reason.  Most Realtors had never encountered a short sale before the recent woes in the market.  You can include me among those ranks.  As such, there has been great demand recently for third party professionals who know the drill and have contacts within the various institutions for expediting the process.  While the skill-set required to negotiate with the bank is really little more than gumption, persistence and know-how, the learning curve can be steep, and the time commitment impractical.  Many agents would rather enlist the help of a specialist to handle this critical portion of the transaction than practice on their first few short sale clients.  The stakes are too high for an erstwhile, but bumbling rube to fumble it all away.  For many of us, it just makes good, practical sense for all parties involved.

Now comes the “but.”

Back to the recent tour meeting of which I mentioned, the latest scuttlebutt is that at least one major short sale negotiation company is the focus of an open investigation.  It seems there is some question as to whether this outfit was utilizing fraudulent measures to cash in on a much grander scale than the stated fee of their services.  Nothing has been proven, and no charges have been filed to my knowledge (hence the glaring omission of the company name here), but the concern is that this company might have engaged in the “double escrowing” of the short sales they were hired to negotiate.  Plainly stated, upon receiving an offer that both buyer and seller had executed and forwarded to the negotiator to submit to the bank for review/approval, this company is thought to have tabled said offer and worked to negotiate an even lower sale of their own with the bank.  Once accepted, they would orchestrate the virtual simultaneous closings in which they bought the property from the bank and turned around and sold it to the buyers at the higher price.  Neither the buyer nor seller would ever know that there were actually two transactions taking place concurrently.

Of course, if the negotiation with the bank failed, the buyer and seller would simply be informed that the offer had been rejected … eventually.  Even though the bank never saw it.  The buyer wouldn’t be overly thrilled to learn of this, of course, but the seller is the one who really stands to lose in such a scenario.  He is the one with the imminent foreclosure and interminable credit limbo on the line while the entity hired to negotiate on his behalf plays Russian roulette with his financial well being.

So while nothing is proven in this instance as of yet, it serves as a consumer alert.  While I was careful in the selection of the professional I have enlisted to negotiate with the various banks on my sellers’ behalf, some might mistakenly believe that any fly-by-night company that has branded itself as a “short sale negotiation specialist” is reputable.  Just as you would exercise diligence and perform your own investigations in the selection of your Realtor, don’t let your guard down when settling upon the service enlisted to actually talk to the bank.  Find out how long they have been in operation.  Are there any complaints lodged with the Better Business Bureau (though some may be such neophytes that they haven’t been around long enough to incur complaints)?  How long has your specific negotiator been involved in either the Real Estate or banking industry prior to their current position?

Maybe I’m just jumping at shadows, but I can’t help but wonder if this is a niche that won’t prove to be populated by failed Realtors, loan officers, car salesmen, financial advisers, taxidermists, Maytag men and arthritic slow-pitch softball umpires in hindsight.  There are some good ones out there who are absolutely invaluable to the busy Realtor and desperate seller alike, but I am under no illusion that there aren’t more than a few soulless chasms of dollars and teeth hiding behind the polished veneer of a snappy tagline as well.

When dealing with a property that you are trying desperately to sell before the bank forecloses, the stakes are elevated to financial Thunderdome proportions.  If your short sale survives the fight, you will walk away with a limp (credit damage, possible tax ramification, etc), but at least you walk away.  A foreclosure will effectively kill your aspirations of future home ownership for the next 5 years.

Choose your weapon wisely.

*Visit the Scottsdale Property Shop for the latest news in Scottsdale Real Estate*

If you are reading this post, I don't need to bring you up to speed on the power of online media.  You went to your search bar, whether Google, MSN, Yahoo, etc, and typed in a few keywords (Selling A Home In Scottsdale AZ, perhaps?) and here you are.  You likewise understand that today's home buyers perform thousands of similar searches every day with slightly different keywords (Homes in Scottsdale AZ, for example).  Gone are the days of waiting for the Sunday paper to clip the classified ads and open house listings to find a home.  Gone are the days of waiting for much of anything, as a matter of fact.  The internet provides 24/7 exposure for your home on the medium where the overwhelming majority of big game house hunters begin their quest.  That's where we come in.

I'll take ... that one!

With a reach that spans continents as well as states, the Real Estate blog that you are riveted to at present is viewed by buyers from around the world.  I'd have to check my visitor stats, but I believe the only locale from which we have not received an inquiry from a prospective home buyer is the planet of Zoltar, which lies within the fourth dimension of Saturn's largest moon (Titan, for all of you keeping score at home on earth). Zoltarians are notorious tire kickers anyway.

If there are buyers here, we'll find them!

So how do you harness this power for good (read: to sell your home)?  The answer is so rudimentary that you are already rolling your eyes at the condescending simplicity of the pitch.

List your Scottsdale, Phoenix or Paradise Valley home for sale with Ray & Paul Slaybaugh!

In addition to prominently displaying your property in front of an armada of prospective buyers, this Little Blog That Could ™ includes a subscription base of hundreds of Realtors from around the country and Canada.  That's what you call synergy, folks.  Every contact leads to an additional pool of previously unreachable buyers.  The more buyers that are exposed to our propaganda, the greater the likelihood of not only attracting a suitor for your home, but in maximizing the ultimate sales price.

Yes, your home will still be exposed to the market by traditional methods.  Flyers, virtual tours, broker tours, enough digital pictures to choke a small animal with mega-pixels and the invaluable face to face networking that makes an experienced agent a prerequisite to the home selling adventure.  Your home will also appear on all of those formerly cutting edge sites that aren't so cutting edge anymore (Realtor.com, etc).

When it comes to selling your home, the bottom line is not just what your agent does, but how he/she does it.  So scroll through my blog archives, see how we market our properties via the Web 2.0 medium and learn a little about us in the process.  Consumers have more information at their disposal than at any other point in the history of man.  They are an insatiable collective beast.  Hungry to buy, you nonetheless can't feed them until they have seen the menu.  Your home may represent the juicy filet mignon to your neighbor's greasy hamburger, but if your waiter never tells them about the specials ...

So call us today to see your Scottsdale home up in these virtual lights!

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Ray & Paul Slaybaugh

Realty Executives

(480) 220-2337

paul@rayandpaul.com

Selling Scottsdale Since 1974

I just visited the "Build It Green" expo in Phoenix today as an esteemed friend and associate had a booth at the venue. He has an eco-repsonsible home improvement store with an architectural division attached to it. He also offers LEED certification classes among others for professionals and non-professional alike in various best practices. While speaking with him, he mentioned sadly how much greenwashing was going on with many of the exhibitors.  His was a tone that was lamentable but not bitter.

I noted this ruefully as lately I have read so many blogs and comments on this site that are scathing about green businesses and the Green Movement at large.  Statements ranging from "...the Green Movement is a plot by our enemies, known and unknown, to destroy the economy of the United States" to "...green businesses are only interested in green of another sort.."  But these declarations were angry, quite absolute and the volume of them was staggering to me.  And it made me wonder how individuals who have not ventured into the personal up close economics of greeness could be so sarcastic and furious.  What have they ventured and lost?  Please don't tell me their innocence.

My friend, has a post graduate degree and could make a very fine living not being attached to anything related to greeness if he chose.  Yes, he makes quite a bit less money but it is a choice due to his convictions. I have three companies and while two of them are eco-responsible one is all about luxury, quarried materials and mostly catering to the excesses of wealth. Yes, that is my confession in True Confessions of an Eco-Entrepreneur... For the first 7 years of one of my green companies, my accountant asked why I continue on at this appalling rate.  But let's stay on track about the dissatisfaction with all things green by individuals who have not staked any claim financially or otherwise in this realm. 

The reality is  - for small business that are truly ecologically green, their revenue is smaller that the mainstream companies that are doing the exact same tasks. I know this. I don't just think I do.  The large companies that are slapping on green labels that they don't want you to read too closely, they are making the lions share of dubious green profits. These are the same companies that perhaps, these angry detractors are quite loyal to.  The giants, - Clorox, Unilever, & Johnson, yes, what we all used to know as the S & P 100, they are the ones that are duping the public en masse. Is that shade of green OK because the company has framed itself permanently as a traditional enterprise? 

By the way, the answer to my accountant regarding that question about constantly subsidizing a fledgling company was this: the strength and longevity of your personal convictions lies within you and radiates outwardly - not the other way around.  I now feel the sharpness of that double edged sword.

Michelle Viggiano Phoenix & Scottsdale Four Winds Healthy Home Carpet and Air Duct Cleaning www.healthyhomeaz.com