Ryan Homes new model shows shrubs planted right in front of the garage door. Even if the drive is located behind the berm, wouldn’t it make sense to Photoshop that photo so it doesn’t look so stupid?

Via Boing Boing

Cool time-lapse photography make this video of a home in the Bay area stand head and shoulders above other home marketing videos I’ve seen. Made by Tom McCallum of the production company, The Seventh Movement.

Website: 92SandHill

Keep your eyes peeled for a blonde with a big bouffant in a Lexus, suspected of stealing staging items out of vacant homes.

In a perfect case of “it takes one to know one,” a realtor suspects another realtor, one sporting a blonde bouffant, of breaking into two Fremont houses for sale in an attempt to steal items used to gussy up the homes for prospective buyers, according to the Seattle Police Department.

On Aug. 2, the realtor stopped by a house in the 3800 block of Woodlawn Avenue North she is in the process of selling for its owners. The backdoor was unlocked, and a rear window was open.

The realtor noticed two decorative glass containers and two decorative vases had been moved, two bottles of water had been taken from the fridge and placed in the bathroom, and the key to the garage was missing, according to the police report.

The realtor then went to check on a house in the 3600 block of Carr Place North she had recently sold for the owners. The front door was ajar, and the backdoor was unlocked.

Inside, a number of times used for “staging” for-sale houses had been collected and placed together in the basement, according to the report.

While the realtor waited in her car for police, she saw a silver Lexus driven by a pudgy woman in her 50s with a poofy, blonde bouffant pull into the driveway, according to the report. The realtor told police the woman in the Lexus saw her and immediately backed out of the driveway and drove off.

For a number of reasons, the realtor suspects the woman with the bouffant is another realtor and is behind the break-ins.

Police: Realtor suspects another realtor in break-ins from KOMO News

Colby Sambrotto, a founder and former chief operating officer of ForSalebyOwner.com, a large website for owner sales, spent six months trying to sell his condominium himself through online listings and classified ads, before turning over the listing of the 2,000-square-foot apartment to a broker.

The broker, Jesse Buckler, who is with Bond of New York, said he told the seller the apartment in the Lion’s Head building in New York City was priced too low and wasn’t drawing the right buyers.

By May, it went into contract, he said, after attracting multiple offers. It closed in the last few days for $150,000 more than the original asking price.

Details in the Wall Street Journal.

There are certain situations where one can sell a property themselves, but generally “listed” properties sell faster and for more money.