The Philly Pretzel

Here’s another reason to love Philadelphia: according to the City Planning Commission, daily off-street parking is both “ample” and “cheap.”
Occupancy rates are only about 80%, and availability should continue to cheerily rise with demand so not to worry, friends; when you need parking space for your 2010 Cadillac hybrid, it will be there.

Why doesn’t this cheer me right up?

Because as a Realtor, I’m always trolling for a short-term space, which the Commission admits is “disproportionately expensive” compared to other cities. Typically, an hour’s parking costs more than half as much as a full day.
Plus, it takes me a few precious milliseconds to drive into a parking lot.
What I want, dear reader, is a nice cheap parking space right smack at the curb.
But sometimes, even in my favorite city, you can’t always get what you want.

PS. You can pay your parking tickets online, it’s almost painless.

Technorati: Philadelphia, Center City, Philadelphia parking, parking problems

posted by carolyn

Interpreting housing statistics.

Sure, you know it. But you forget. So let me remind you that numbers can lie sometimes, and words can lie all the time, so please don’t take every housing statistic you read at face value.

Let’s say, for instance, that you’ve just read that “housing prices in this neighborhood have plunged 2%, the greatest drop since 2001.” Before you go hiding under the bed, ask yourself : is 2% really a plunge? If a 150-pound woman lost 3 pounds, would she shriek, “Yay! My weight is plunging!”? No, she would not. But reporters happy to hype up a story use the ol’ plunge-and-soar verbs all the time.

And that’s another thing. What area are those statistics talking about? National home prices are less meaningful if all you care about is that one townhouse at the corner of 3rd and Market. Figures that include both condos and single family homes, when all you’d ever want is a condo, aren’t so relevant to you. It’s also wise not to over-react to the “since such-and-such-a-date” part of a statistic. It adds some dimension to the numbers, but it can also be stretched to the point of absurdity, as in “Mom, I’m starving, it’s 1:30 and I haven’t eaten since lunch.”

Keep your sense of humor. Hang on to your perspective. Yes, these are challenging times in the housing market, but they’re made worse by media slants, twists, turns and melodrama. Seen a good example of it lately? I’d like to hear.

Technorati: philly real estate, market statistics, housing statistics
posted by carolyn

Every once in a while the universe shows me what’s so special about the service that we REALTORS® offer.

Last week I ordered a bed on line and was told that it would be delivered on Thursday between 12 and 5.  Ok, that’s good.  So I rearranged my schedule. 

Two hours before the delivery time, They (I’ll call them They, I can’t bear to mention their name again) realized they couldn’t make it and would have to come Monday instead. Again, I rearranged my schedule so I could be there. When I called at 3:00 on Monday just to make sure They were still coming, They said they’d be there before 5:00. At 6:30, even while the dispatcher was promising me that the delivery would arrive in the next 15 minutes, the driver walked into headquarters claiming that he couldn’t find my house.  (He had a cell phone. Why didn’t he call me? I was sitting there like a lump, waiting.)

They rescheduled again, for Tuesday. For the third time, I rearranged my schedule. This time They came.

Can you imagine something like that happening in the real estate business?  Settlement is scheduled for Tuesday at 3:00.  The buyer and agent don’t show up.  What? They got lost and couldn’t find the office and went home?
We don’t do that.  We can’t. We won’t.

Want to share your horror story about bad service?  Vent a little – you’ll feel better. 

Technorati Tags:customer service,bad service,drive you nuts

 posted by carolyn