Jerry O'Donnell's (jodrealty) Blog

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Real Estate Agent - JOD Realty, LLC
RECENT BLOG POSTS
Whoohoo!  If I listen to the NAR we we are in a recovery! Green shoots everywhere! Hmmm, maybe not. Saw this chart while surfing today: Let us see.  Real unemployment over 20%, foreclosures galore, jobs heading overseas, unsustainable government debt, massive entitlement spending increasing with ...
12/16/2009
If you have to sell a home that is unoccupied, due to death of owners, divorce, a move, whatever, one of the big questions is should you sell it with the furniture still in the house or move the furniture out?  Long ago, before I got into real estate, I had agents tell me to get everything out so...
12/14/2009
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When it comes time to put your house on the market you have to learn a new level of clean!  And I’m not talking just making sure everything is picked up and tidy.  I mean it has to be cleaner than you thought possible.  When serious buyers comes into your house they are not just browsing.  They a...
12/13/2009
This is my opinion based on nothing more than what I read every day.  No fancy graphs.  No surveys or studies.  Just common sense.  I believe there will not be a sustained housing recovery in the USA for a long time.  If we are extremely lucky, there may be some temporary bumps in economic activi...
12/11/2009
  In a word - paint.  At $20 a gallon it is an incredibly cheap way to spruce up your house and prepare it for market.  By all means, let your kids paint their room whatever color they want while you live there.  BUT, when it comes time to sell, buyers may not like the flat black or bright pink w...
12/10/2009
Lately, whenever I read articles by most real estate columnists, or read stuff put out by the National Association of Realtors I sometimes wonder what planet they are living on.  The slightest bit of “this month is not as bad as last month” news and they are trumpeting the market bottom.  Or “now...
12/10/2009
  Once again the leaves have done their job and are now all over everything, including your roof!  Having been to my share of Chapel Hill home inspections, there is a common item that I have heard from just about every inspector.  The best way to protect your house is to clean your gutters!  No r...
12/08/2009
I was going to do an update on the Stoneridge/Sedgefield neighborhood in Chapel Hill.  (Conveniently located in the Chapel Hill School District, but NOT in the city limits.  Thus no city taxes, but great schools.)  It also happens to be MY neighborhood, so I keep an extra close eye on it.  Howeve...
12/01/2009
Just for fun I went to Zillow.com to see what they said my house was worth.  OUCH!!!! According to Zillow, from the high two years ago my house has now dropped 22% in value, most of that drop coming in the last ten months.  This puts me very close to the “under water”  mark.  (You know, where you...
11/30/2009
I think the saying “You sell your house twice” is VERY true.  Once, to get it under contract.  Twice, to negotiate repairs after the inspection.  Repairs can be a major roadblock to a successful close.  You spend all that time and effort to market the house and get it under contract, and then you...
08/28/2009
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Jerry O'Donnell

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