MAY 09, 2018 • Volume 13 • Issue 19
RE WEEKLY RESIDENTIAL • ACREAGE • FARM • COMMERCIAL • AREA DEVELOPMENT 515-233-3299 • 317 5th Street, Ames • All REALTOR® ads within are REALTORS® licensed in the State of Iowa
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Page RE2 • REAL ESTATE WEEKLY • Wednesday, May 9, 2018
TIPS OF THE WEEK SHEDS
GREEN LIVING
DIY TIP
CREATE A BACKYARD RETREAT
GET SMART ABOUT WATERING
TAP OTHERS FOR HELP
Technology can help you water your lawn more effectively, according to Lowe’s:
To simplify your next DIY project, Postit suggests capitalizing on subject matter expertise. Look to your friends and family to see if any of them have ever completed a project similar to yours.
Before constructing a personalized shed, consider these tips from hpba.org: • Have a plan. • Stick to a theme. • Build your shed under your favorite tree to offer natural shade. • Remember to plan for enough room to entertain guests and to hang out in your shed.
Unnecessary watering can waste more than 6,000 gallons of water per month. Installing a smart irrigation system can help you avoid unnecessary watering by automating the watering of your lawn based on weather conditions. You can make final adjustments as the season goes on to ensure your lawn stays fresh and your water usage is manageable.
Ask them questions and learn from their experiences about what to do — and what not to do — before your project even gets started. — Brandpoint
• Choose an exterior paint color that goes with your theme.
DEAR MONTY
Home seller finds buyer — who gets the commission?
RICHARD MONTGOMERY
R
eader question: I’m the homeowner. I listed my home with a real estate agent; however, I found an interested buyer on my own. If that buyer purchase s my house with no help from the listing agent, who gets or keep s the commission? Monty’sanswer: With over 5 million home sales expected this
year, many homesellers will bump into potential buyers during the home sale process. Not knowing the specific circumstances of your transaction, the difference between an interested buyer and an interested buyer that closes on a contract for your home may be substantial. The agent’s job includes negotiating and managing the sales contract, which sometimes is very straightforward, but more often than not, a hurdle or several hurdles will threaten the closing. Sometimes, the work is just trading phone calls with other vendors; but other times it is attending inspections, tracking contingency deadlines, and overcoming a buyer’s remorse, all of which take up chunks of time. An inexperienced buyer requiring a mortgage and left to
navigate through this process on their own has much higher odds the transaction will not ever close.
Your answer is in the contract It is unclear which state you live in and the type of listing agreement that is in place. Each state has different laws and different types of listings. Assuming that your listing is an exclusive right to sell contract, which is by far the most common type of listing, it is likely that the agreement states the broker is paid the commission, regardless who procures the buyer. In the exclusive right to sell contract in many states, the seller agrees to turn any buyer leads over to the broker.
Negotiating the commission
Ask your agent if he or she will compensate you for turning up a buyer. Some agents will consider this; other agents will not. Some agents tell their sellers at the time of listing that they will reduce their fee if the seller can produce a buyer. The agent cannot decide to cut the fee, only the agent’s broker can authorize a change in the contract, which is between you and the broker, not the agent. Richard Montgomery is the author of “House Money - An Insider’s Secrets to Saving Thousands When You Buy or Sell a Home.” He is a real estate industry veteran who advocates industry reform and offers readers unbiased real estate advice. Ask him questions at DearMonty.com.
REAL ESTATE WEEKLY • Wednesday, May 9, 2018 • Page RE3
Page RE4 • REAL ESTATE WEEKLY • Wednesday, May 9, 2018
The best of
shade gardening Think foliage over flowers
By Linda Cobb
More Content Now
F
or a long time, I have been a believer that the shade garden doesn’t have to be boring and sparse. With little sunlight coming through the trees, many people complain about what they can’t grow. Shade gardening gets a bad reputation because it isn’t understood as well as it should be. So I went to see the best shade gardener I know: Pat Burton. I wanted to get some good shade gardening tips for my readers. Burton lives near Glendale, South Carolina. She has had her current garden for the last 47 years, and it is one of the best shade gardens I have ever seen. Her garden has been published in several magazines and newspapers. She says there are many reasons to love shade gardening. First, it is 10 degrees cooler in a shade garden. And growers plant more foliage than flowers. That’s because foliage lasts longer than flowers. Flowers are ephemeral, meaning they are here and then gone. But with leaves, Burton says the choices are endless. “Patterns on the leaves are beautiful along with the size of leaves, the huge ones and even the tiniest heart-shaped epimedium foliage is beautiful. Leaves of all kinds are used in flower arrangements as well as the berries. In addition, berries feed the birds,” Burton says. With the focus being on leaves, Burton is careful not to add too many variegated shrubs because that would make the space too cluttered. Burton’s garden is a restful place with many shades of green. Her shade garden has eight bird feeders. They are garden ornaments with
vines twining up the poles and along the bird houses. Her bird population includes bluebirds, morning doves, woodpeckers, Carolina wrens, goldfinches, titmice, chickadees, barn swallows, and many more. The garden has blue woodland phlox everywhere. The phlox planted itself as nature does, tucking it into the most unlikely places. Burton Japanese Maple prefers woodland plants that are self– sowers. She tells me that nature does not plant three plants in a triangle shape with mulch tucked all around it. Burton says, “I do not plant by the rules. They will find their own homes. The plants are smarter than I am.” She is right and I have to agree. Shade gardens succeed by being a dense, lush, tapestry of greens with delicate flowers here and there. For color, Burton relies on the yellow celadon poppy, one of her favorite plants. These plants find their own home after the initial planting. The pale blue woodland phlox are airy and delicate. But her Virginia bluebells are simply
breathtaking. After the bluebells come the hardy begonias with their green topside leaves and red underside leaves with pale Virginia Bluebells pink flowers. The combination is wonderful. Burton says there is always something blooming. She has very mature camellia shrubs that have been cut back from 10 to 5 feet. In addition, she has planted
viburnum carlesii. She made sure she bought the seller variety that does not get too large. She planted it beside her garden bench that sits near the stream. Rocks line the manmade stream and are covered in lush green moss. She has done her homework, created conditions that are agreeable for moss, and then it happens naturally. Most of her plants are shared plants from other gardeners. Spring is ablaze with woodland phlox, poppies, bloodroot, trillium, bluebells, and Jack-in-the-pulpit, along with bright green leaves. Summer arrives with all of her blooming oakleaf hydrangeas and her blue lacecap hydrangeas. In addition, summer shows off her huge population of hardy begonias. Fall brings the changing of the leaves in her woods. You are blown away with the reds of the Japanese maples, and the yellow leaves against all the green leaves of her anchor shrubs. Winter is carried by her garden ornaments like her bird houses and benches. Opportunities are limitless when it comes to the leaf texture and green color. Some of Burton’s favorite hostas are orange marmalade, El Nino, and June. One of her favorite woodland plants is the brunnera known for its gorgeous leaf design. The green brunnera has beautiful neon blue flowers. The Brunnera “Jack Frost” has heart-shaped silver leaves and blue flowers. Linda Cobb is a master gardener who lectures, teaches, and does garden design in South Carolina. She can be reached at 864-574-8493 or at lindacobb@charter.net. Visit her website at www.mygardenersguide.com.
REAL ESTATE WEEKLY • Wednesday, May 9, 2018 • Page RE5
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Page RE6 • REAL ESTATE WEEKLY • Wednesday, May 9, 2018
Don’t see your home in the
RE WEEKLY Then contact a Realtor® today, because you are missing out on over 39,000+ potential buyers seeing your property for sale. STORY TY COUN
PMENT ERCIAL • AREA DEVELO GE • FARM • COMM RESIDENTIAL • ACREA Street, Ames 99 • 317 5th ® licensed in the State of Iowa 515-233-32 are REALTORS ® within All REALTOR ads
RE WEEKLY
JANUARY 11, 2017 Volume 12 • Issue 2
JANUARY 4, 2017 1 Volume 12 • Issue
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Page RE8 • REAL ESTATE WEEKLY • Wednesday, May 9, 2018
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