Saturday morning:

Check and respond to email
Check voice mail, return call to client who is looking for units.

Did you know that most 3 & 4 unit properties can not be seen without an accepted offer?  I suppose it makes sense in the fact it would be very disruptive to tenants to have numerous showings.  A buyer must "drive by" the property, and then make an offer (subject to the buyer’s approval of their visual inspection of the interior). The buyer should find out during negotiations the condition of the plumbing, electrical, etc.  The buyer and seller negotiate the price and when the terms and price are satisfactorily negotiated (an accepted contract) the buyer then has the opportunity to view each interior unit.  Hopefully the listing agent has provided photos of the interiors so that the visual is not a shock.  Sometimes there is renegotiation of price or cancellation of the contract based on the visual.  But if the interior is in similar condition to the exterior there should not be a need for renegotiating, and the buyer can now proceed with hiring their own inspector to conduct a thorough physical inspection.

I have a couple of questions on some on the units my client might be interested in.  One is a home with 2 guest houses, but the home is located in single family zoning, and it doesn’t appear that the guest houses can “legally” be rented (which is my client’s intention). 

I leave messages for several Realtors and then I am off to show six homes to a different client.  After the showings, I return to the office. I retrieve voice mail; one of the messages is about the home with the guest houses, so I pass the info on to that client.

After the showings – there are more questions: one of the properties had an odor from the previous owner’s dogs going wee-wee in the home.  I contacted my hardwood floor guy and asked if dog urine in the floors was as problematic as cat's and the answer is “yes” if a cleaning won’t eliminate the odor, the offending floor boards need to be ripped out and replaced.  Yikes – this one’s out.

The other home my client liked was a flip, I wanted to check the history of the home, how much they owner paid, what did it look like pre-flip – how much money are they making?  Just curious, because their profit (or lack of) has nothing to do with market value.

Sunday,
Check email, voice mail, make misc. phone calls and I have to check the new listings for clients.  This in turn generates more phone calls.  So far I may show one more house…. But the day looks uncomplicated – I suppose I will have to pay bills or they will be late if I wait too much longer.  My other "issue" is my five year lease runs out on the 12th of this month and I need to take care of that......