March. In Like A Lion, Out Like A Lamb?

March 17, 2008
Lynnsy Logue, The Real Estate Lady® and Condo CanDo®, Charlotte, NC
March. In like a Lion out like a lamb. ..
Sometimes, I feel compelled to speak out about what I see and hear. Sometimes,
I think being quiet and patient is more peaceful, but more and more I am learning
that faster is not necessarily better, skipping up the steps is not always prudent and
being as thorough as one can be is probably old fashioned. But as I approach my
70th year, I feel an obligation if only to myself to have conversations with myself
about this real estate business. Because while I never said when I was a little girl
that I wanted to be a real estate broker, it has been the perfect vocation for me in
this city I love so well and have for so long.
What are we thinking? For decades it was a requirement to have a termite
inspection. Once I helped a buyer with a two bedroom condominium downtown in The Poplar on the fifth floor. Their mortgage company required a termite letter.
Today, many of the lenders do not require a termite inspection for condominium, town home or single family home. Nothing. ln this city of trees with our usually high water table, termites must gather monthly to laugh and buzz over this latest non-requirement
as they munch away on walls of homes built on slabs, the crawl spaces in older and newer homes, the garages, the thresholds and on. I think having a termite inspector at the home with the structural inspector was one of the best protocols we used to follow. And many of us still do. Regardless.
Cheaper. Better. Faster. I have lived in my home for over four decades and
maintenance is like rearing twins. It is a full time job. Painting and cleaning, and
caulking and repairing wooden siding and wooden deck and wooden ramp. I
know sometimes I wished I would have taken the leap and paid $15 a month
more for all brick. ..but as a woman, I was lucky to get a mortgage at all. I might
have looked twice at vinyl, but even then, only twice. Now I see instances where
wind damage is greater, fire damage is more prevalent because of smaller, closer homesites. The latest wrinkle I learned from a super on a construction site: a home is wrapped thoroughly, the vinyl is installed and the pocket between the wrap and the vinyl can retain moisture. Sound healthy? Insert wheezing and coughing here.
And while crawling around in crawl spaces with the mold guys, I learned that the
up and coming thing might be to have a sealed crawl space without vents, no air, no
light, and a sump-pump...this new theory is probably based on the dollar. It is not
based on a simple theory of fresh air. That is my septuagenarian belief.
Lynnsy Logue, The Real Estate Lady® and Condo CanDo®, Charlotte, NC