The Old Folks Home

[dsqard]

Arielle, yes it has always been saying "Please, please, please" ;-)
Wisher, yes they will pay for the move but I don't know what that package will look like yet. I am definitely going to find a good realator but I wasn't encouraged when I went out there on my trip last month and spoke to one. I know who I am NOT using. I have a realator tentatively lined up for selling our house that I found on Angie's List. Great reviews. Hopefully this one will be worth the money they make on closing. We will see. I haven't met one yet that I was impressed with at all.

 

[Arielle]

I found one relator who was great. That was after many false starts. Can you imagine high heels and nylons trekking around farms and woods? Argh. naught. Linda put on jeans and sneakers and found a decent parcel not land locked and not New England swamp. She was a treasure.

 

[Cynthia12]

Good luck DiDi..so much to go through with moving! As Arielle, when we made our move around 5 years ago, and knew it had to be our forever home now, we had the best guy. He was on the phone with us all the time. Even, when I called him once, and I thought, what is up with him? He doesn't sound like he feels very well. Quick answers, so, made the call short. Come to find out, he was in the hospital! Had a heart attack! The nurse told him not to get his phone, lol..but he said he had to when he saw who it was. He knew he was getting close to finding what we wanted.

 

[Cynthia12]

Here is a picture I took the other day of our mountain..I call it our mountain, not far from us.

It had a blanky on )

We had cloud cover over all of the mountains. We are surrounded by mountains..live in a
valley..love it!

 

[Kansaseq]

Cynthia, what a beautiful place you live in! What a view!

 

[dsqard]

Cynthia, that was some dedication from your agent! I don't expect that much from my realtor but a little thought and effort would be nice. I have had realtors that couldn't answer questions about the local schools (he even said that he "probably" should know more about the schools, duh!) and the realtor we used to get this place built wasn't much either. I had a choice between two contractors. They were only about $1000 difference between their bids. I didn't know the area at all and my realtor grew up in this area. When I asked her who she would pick if it was her house, she said it was my decision. I knew that I was asking for advice. She made it seem like it didn't matter so I went with the lower bid. Wound up with an idiot. He was always forgetting what we told him, he lost our color choices for the house, the subs didn't have a copy of the plans (I supplied him with six full sets of house plans) at the house while they were building and the sub work was sub-par. When I mentioned the name of the guy to one of the ladies who I work with and also grew up around here, she just rolled her eyes. If she knew this guy was horrible, why didn't my realtor?
Wisher, I might just chat with people on the VA thread to see if anyone lives around that area to see if there is a good realtor. Our situation will be tricky with all the animals and I got the feeling from the first realtor I talked to that they weren't interested in getting creative.

 

[Arielle]

I wouldn't expect a realator to know the schools, maybe they should, but I wouldn't count on it. THese days most schools are on line and individual states have mandatory testing and that provides a clue as to the level of teaching. It doesn't tell you about the social side of schools, like are the teachers dedicated, nice to students, do people smile at you . . . . I would visit schools when they are in session, ask to meet the principle and have a short meeting. I do think the school secretary is a person with fingers in every pie and her attitude is very important. DOes she have time for you, or is she short and harrassed. Ask the number of students per teacher and how many are in the classroom all the time. We have specialists that float and they seem to be imcluded in thr count. That's my 2 cents.

 

[dsqard]

Arielle, actually schools are no longer an issue for us. This was back when we were moving to Florida and my kids were still attending schools. I would argue though that a good realtor would know at least which school systems in the area are better than others. Think of your local area, don't you know which ones you would want your children to attend? This is basic good information for parents moving into an area. Just a little leg work separates a typical realtor from a great realtor. I expect them to have more information than I can find out on the internet. What other reason would you want to pay them thousands of dollars for? That is my two cents ;-)

 

[Stumpy]

Cynthia, you could post questions on the Virginia forum on http://www.city-data.com/ about schools, good realtors, etc. and perhaps get some info there. On the home page there is a link to school profiles also.

It seems to me that these days a realtor would have much more competition, what with more and more people selling their houses themselves and keeping those thousands, etc., and would be willing to go the extra mile and be more eager to please the customer.

 

[Arielle]

Arielle, actually schools are no longer an issue for us. This was back when we were moving to Florida and my kids were still attending schools. I would argue though that a good Realtor would know at least which school systems in the area are better than others. Think of your local area, don't you know which ones you would want your children to attend? This is basic good information for parents moving into an area. Just a little leg work separates a typical Realtor from a great Realtor. I expect them to have more information than I can find out on the internet. What other reason would you want to pay them thousands of dollars for? That is my two cents ;-)

Yes a good Realtor would know this, you are right. However, it has been my experience that most Realtors are not "good" and I find out after wards how inept they are. Just meaning to try other options, too. I go to my state testing website for my schools testing numbers. THey are not making the grade, but are working on it. In the mean time I supplement my kids education as I don't want to move them for social reasons at this point. Talking to parents is a mixed blessing; many point out the negatives or just the opposite. THe superintendent would tell me how many kids choose our schools rather than their own town school, so yes ours is a better option for those students; however our school system still is not where it should be academically.