DEATH AND TAXES

The headline is from a famous quote first credited to Benjamin Franklin in 1789, and appended ever since by endless pundits, politicians, and comedians. But for me, there was nothing funny about my recent trip to the North Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles.

The occasion? Earlier this year I decided to purchase a vehicle I had leased from Nissan, and I needed to transfer the title to the bank as collateral on the loan they had issued for the purchase. Now folks, I’ve lived in six different states over the last thirty years or so. And in almost every state where I’ve resided, trips to the DMV can be prefaced by three words: “Pack A Lunch.” And so I was prepared to face disappointment, and probably the need for a second trip to accomplish my mission. What I wasn’t prepared for was something called a “Highway Use Tax.”

In order for me to transfer the title for a car that I’ve driven in this state every day since January of 2006, the state of North Carolina wants to charge me three cents on the dollar of the purchase price, just to fund the coffers over in Raleigh. I was prepared to fork over 50 bucks or so. I wasn’t expecting an ad hoc fee nearly ten times that amount.

I’m not complaining about the figure. Lord knows, our roads and highways need all the pot-hole filling dollars they can get. I’m not complaining about the tax. I think it’s entirely appropriate that the people who use our state’s roads and highways should support the good folks who build and maintain them (if that’s indeed where this money goes). What I don’t like is the fact that this apparently well-established revenue stream was completely unknown to me until the moment I was standing at the window, ready to complete my transaction. As one of my colleagues puts it, I felt hoo-dooed.

Like many states, North Carolina charges a number of assorted and sundry charges and fees to folks who are wishing to transact business here. Every home Seller that I represent pays “revenue stamps” to the state – most easily determined by dividing the purchase price by 500 – just for the privilege of selling their home to a ready, willing, and able Buyer.

The difference is that I make sure, and double-sure, and then triple-sure that my Sellers understand that this fee will be a part of their expected costs once their home is headed for the closing table. No surprises. No “oh, by the way.” And no hoo-doo.

It’s called communication, folks. And if you or someone you know wants to work with someone who believes in the power of that simple little tool, give me a call. Hopefully I’ll be out of the line at the DMV then.

Robert Flinn, REALTOR®
919-402-1242 (Direct Line)
919-698-2040 (Cell)
rflinn@fmrealty.com (email)

Newton's Cradle

A Christmas gift when I was a kid was sort of an educational toy called “Newton’s Cradle.” It was constructed of five in-line steel balls suspended from a frame. To play with it, you’d lift one or two of the balls and allow them to swing back against the stationary balls in the middle. Lift and drop one ball and the one ball opposite would swing out and back. Lift and drop two balls and — voila — two balls at the other end would swing out and back in tandem. It was advertised to be endlessly fascinating. It wasn’t.

I’ve since learned that the toy was designed to illustrate Sir Isaac Newton’s third law of motion; that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. I think it was also supposed to inspire me to want to learn more about physics and science and stuff like that. That didn’t happen either.

I had a number of such toys growing up. One I remember the most was a box with springs and wires and electrical doo-dads like resistors and switches that let me experiment with low-grade electrical circuits. But that didn’t qualify me to be an electrician. The time I spent watching the steel balls click-clack back and forth didn’t turn me into a physicist or an engineer. And I can’t call myself a chemist because I spent a few afternoons mixing tiny spoonfuls of bizarre elements in a test tube on my parent’s front porch.

That’s why it’s puzzling when people will read a few things on the internet or garner a few facts from a talk-show host and then come to think they’re experts in something as complicated as the buying or selling of real estate. Over and over in the past few years I have seen Buyers – usually Buyers – bring a set of expectations to a transaction that are dramatically off-kilter. Sometimes they insist on wildly underestimating the value of a property. Sometimes they make decisions based on erroneous information. Other times they’ll take a stand on an issue that is so far away from a reasonable compromise with the Seller that the two sides can’t agree on a solution.

All of this usually results from a know-it-all attitude, combined with an unwillingness to listen to experienced counsel or a voice of reason. And sometimes the counsel those folks are receiving isn’t particularly experienced or reasonable.

I spend a great deal of time with my clients helping them understand the process of buying or selling a home. I say quite often that an important part of my job is to provide the information a Buyer or Seller needs to make a smart decision. Who’s the next person you can think of who needs that kind of Real Estate broker? I’d appreciate it if you would give them a call and tell them about me.

Robert Flinn, REALTOR®/ Broker
919-402-1242 (Direct Line)
919-698-2040 (Cell)
rflinn@fmrealty.com (email)

JOINING THE CLUB

One of my managers at the Fonville Morisey office at Hwy 54 says that all of us who provide real estate brokerage services to our clients should move every four or five years… just so we can fully understand what our Sellers and Buyers are going through. But that’s not the reason that my wife and I have put our home on the market.

When our son, Cole, was finishing up his middle school years we looked for an upper school environment that would suit him well. We found it in Orange County at Cedar Ridge high school. We lived in Durham at the time and, after a year of making two 40-minute trips a day to and from Cedar Ridge, we decided to move to Hillsborough. Cole is now nearly half-way through his college career at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis. After graduation he won’t be home for quite a while and my wife and I find the home we live in is now a little too big and a little too far away from church and work and such. So we’re moving. Call it downsizing and centralizing.

Not that that makes it any easier. Like many of the Sellers I represent, I’ve gone though my quite comfortable home and intentionally made it w-a-y less comfortable. I’ve given my family the same counsel I give clients concerning “clutter,” and how distracting it is to a Buyer (and I now have a whole new perspective of how that counsel sounds to the Seller’s ear!). I’ve made that list of chores — big and small — that I’ve intended to get to forever but always found a way to put off. And — although it’s only been a few days at this writing — I’m experiencing the anxiety that Sellers feel regarding showings on their home: First, when am I going to have some, and Second, what might they NOT like about the place that I care for so much?

I tell clients all the time that the emotional ties we have to the places we live are strong… stronger than we might realize. Homes, I believe, live and breathe and communicate and knit themselves into the very fiber of our souls. Our homes represent safety and security, protection and love. The intentional rending of ourselves away from that — no matter what the reason — can be painful. So… for the 92 families that I’ve shepherded through this process since 2004…

I’m getting a new appreciation for how you might have felt along the way.
So maybe my manager is right. And I intend for this experience to make me a better representative for my clients in the future.

Robert Flinn, REALTOR®
919-698-2040 (Direct Line)
919-402-1242 (Office)
rflinn@fmrealty.com (email)