01/08/2010 by admin.

There have been no car crashes, no misbehaving politicians or other kinds of crimes in the Branson area for the last couple of days. In short, there is no breaking news, nothing to report, according to Branson Daily News.

Some folks might find this annoying.  I find it comforting. The Ozarks truly is a great to place to live!

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01/08/2010 by admin.

01/08/10 -

Great Gifts for the Green Geek
Here are some more ideas for presents that meet at least some of the parameters for environmental friendliness.

Default looms on huge NYC real estate deal
A New York City politician said Friday developers will miss a multimillion-dollar loan payment on the biggest real estate deal in U.S. history.

Mortgage Rates Stuck in Holding Pattern. Two Steps Forward, Two Back
Mortgage rates have been stuck in a back and forth battle all week. We started the new year with improvements which carried over into Tuesday only to see positive momentum fizzle out yesterday morning

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01/07/2010 by admin.

The market looks Ba-a-a-a-a-a-a-ad! It’s scary and driving buyers away…at least for right now.

This current downturn is partly seasonal, especially here in Branson, MO. December 2009 were down 20% from 2008. January 2010 is down 19.50%. So that’s a little upturn. The numbers were actually worse from 2007 to 2008, so we are doing better here in the Ozarks.

But these numbers do little to alleviate the fears buyers have about making that all important decision. The big question on every buyer’s mind - the one they often don’t voice - is “how in the world will we ever pay for this house!”.

I was about 6 when my parents bought their first house. My father remarked to my mother over dinner, “I don’t know how in the world we’re going to afford this payment every month”. The payment was somewhere between $30 and $40.

About 12 years later, after I’d been married for a couple of years, my husband and I bought a house. In the intervening time between signing the contract and going to the closing, we ho-hummed a lot over our dinner, “How in the world are we going to do this - make these payments?!”. The monthly payment was $236.

Moving forward to 2010, the average house payment is around $800 per month in the Tri-Lakes area at the current interest rates. Buyers are still asking each other how in the world they will ever make those payments.

Here’s how you’ll do it: One month at a time. Just like you do paying your rent, only now you actually own the place and can do anything that’s legal without asking thte landlord about it. In fact, you’ll probably be a lot more motivated to create your own unique nest in a home that you own versus one that someone else owns. Who wants to put money into someone else’s pocket by paying rent AND putting all the money and labor into renovations?

The point is that no matter when buyers buy homes the same question arises, yet hundreds of millions of homeowners manage to fulfill their mortgage obligation every month. And they do this even though the economy is bad, there are foreclosures going on everywhere, prices are going up and the jobs market is going down. They do it because a home is the one and only place where they are still free to do as they please.

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01/07/2010 by admin.

There are two reasons the home-sales report isn’t a big deal. First, housing is a highly seasonal business, so the most relevant statistic isn’t the month-to-month trend but the year-to-year trend, which saw improvement. Also, we’re going to have to have this recovery without housing. In fact, we already are. …More…

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01/07/2010 by admin.

Baby, it’s cold outside! And that’s bad news for anybody who’s been to the gas station lately.

The frigid temperatures across much of the United States so far this year are one reason why energy prices have recently spiked. Crude oil is now hovering around $82.50 a barrel, barely below a 14-month high…More…

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01/07/2010 by admin.

If you want to refinance your mortgage into a loan with a sub-5% interest rate, better hurry. Your window of opportunity is closing fast. Lenders are still advertising rock-bottom interest rates, but for most borrowers, rates are rapidly rising into the 5%-plus category…More…

Posted in Advice For Buyers, Advice For Sellers, News | No Comments »

01/07/2010 by admin.

The common reaction to failure is to blame it all on someone else or on extraordinary circumstances beyond your control. I did that. I blamed my ERA broker for my failure to succeed in real estate in Las Vegas. I carried a grudge for years until I owned up to my part in the failure process.

The biggest thing I did to make myself fail was to work in the real estate business part time. My friend who told me he wanted to do real estate on the side elicited only a groan from me. I knew what was going to happen and I told him so.

The truth is that in real estate - or any business - unless you’re working in it full time your chances of success are almost nil. So, if you’re thinking about becoming an agent, make sure you can do it full time.

It was eight years after the failed Las Vegas experience that I got my license in Missouri. And what did I do? I went to work in the business part time. You see, I was still acting on the belief that I needed something to “fall back on” in case I failed. And that set me up for another failure. In fact, it almost caused me to get out of the business once again.

But then I lost my “fall back” job. That was the best thing that could have happened because it wasn’t until I actually started treating my real estate business like a business and a career that I actually began to make money. And once I started making money, I didn’t want to stop. And I’m still in the business.

So, learn from my mistake: If you’re going to get in, then get in all the way. Otherwise, don’t get in at all.

Posted in Behind The Scenes - Getting Personal | No Comments »

01/07/2010 by admin.

He said it to me over lunch one day just before the nonchalantly held fork poked food into his mouth, “Yep, I think I’ll get my license; sell a few houses on the side; make me some vacation money….you know?” His eyebrows raised above his open mouth.

Yeah…I know. But guess what: It doesn’t work that way. And there aren’t a lot of real estate folks who will tell you that, either.

Right after getting past the dreaded exam, the next thing is to fill up your days interviewing and being interviewed. You interview the broker and the broker interviews you. Actually, the ball is really in your court. There are few brokers who won’t make you an offer to join their firm. Instead, it is you that must be careful to make the right decision.

My first real estate gig was with ERA in Las Vegas, NV. The Broker explained the office procedures, recounted the fees with me, introduced to me all the other Realtors, but the reality of what that meant didn’t set in until after a few weeks.

Office procedures: When you’re on floor duty, you’re expected to be there (and I was). When you’re not on floor duty, you’ll get called for some delinquent Realtor who didn’t show up for his floor duty. If you say no, expect a little lecture on why it’s in your best interest to jump when called.

Office Fees: If you use a desk (they assign you one), you will pay for it. If you use a phone (the one on your desk), you will pay for it. If you use a piece of copy paper, you will pay for it AND the copies. If you use toilet paper, you will pay for it. If the office staff orders an expensive birthday cake for Tom, the number 1 Realtor in the office, YOU will pay your share of it. You pay for yard signs and business cards, too, but the biggest chunk of money will be paid to the MLS.

In the Greater Las Vegas Board, it was close to $1,000 to get signed up. Then, you have to keep your dues paid on time. You also need a lockbox key to open all those fancy lockboxes.

Right after I joined the Board and paid for the lockbox key, they changed lockbox companies and I had to pay for the whole thing all over again…AND we all had to stand outside in the sun waiting in line to get into the warehouse to exchange lockboxes and keys. That was fun!

After 6 months, having had one listing and one buyer, both of which turned out to be unable to be satisfied with anything I did, I was broke! The decision was made to get out.

Why would I get out rather than trying to get help? Because there was no helpful help within the organization, that’s why and I didn’t trust any other organization by that time.

Oh yes, they will tell you about all the bells and whistles they offer, but you pay for those and quite frankly the bells and whistles are just toys…They often don’t teach you how to do the actual work of getting business.

It’s kind of like having a Barbie doll when you’re a little girl. You play with her, dress her up, take her for rides in her little car and pretend to feed her, but this does so very little to prepare you for having a real baby. The bells and whistles provided in some real estate organizations teach you how to play around, but they don’t teach you how to do the work of actually getting business. They don’t even teach what the work really is!

Let me tell you what the work is now that I’ve actually done some of it for a few years: 1) Talking to people on the phone; 2) Talking to people face-to-face; 3) Talking to people; 4) Talking; 5) Do this over and over and over, sometimes even when you don’t feel like it.

Now, if you’re a customer reading this, you might get the idea that I don’t like to talk with people. You would be wrong. I love to talk with people. I do it all the time. I’m just telling you that real estate brokers will not tell you this little secret to the business and many of them won’t train you in how to get started doing it.

At ERA, I actually sat down with a phone book and started cold calling. I just picked a letter of the alphabet and called. I was a Sweathog before I know there were Sweathogs. (A Sweathog is a designation received for having gone through a particular training course).

It was a training course that I needed, so when I decided about ten years later when I moved to another city and state to practice real estate again, I got me a training course, by Floyd Wickman, on how to be a Sweathog. But guess what? This time I had a good broker who let me listen to her copy of the Sweathogs training. And she was a Sweathog graduate!

That’s right. There are good brokers out there who will train you on how work in the business so you can be paid instead of showing you how to play in the business so you can pay them! This is why it is imperative that you understand who has the upper hand in that all important career interview. Remember, it’s you! And if you make the wrong choice, it will cost you plenty because this business is not as easy as they say.

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01/06/2010 by admin.

I went to school and took a test.  That’s how I got started. Ha ha ha.

Ok, seriously. I started in real estate through a back door…the back door of land title insurance with Stewart Title in Austin, Texas. Yep, I did my little stint in Texas for about 5 years.

No one that I know grew up thinking about becoming a Realtor. I’m sure there are people like that - in fact, the NAR proudly parades them across the website and in newsletters every once in awhile - but I never knew anyone who couldn’t wait to go to real estate school.

The first time I ever heard that it was necessary to have a license to sell homes was in 1976 when I was pregnant with my first son and our family needed a bigger place. How homes got sold just never crossed my mind as a topic until then. But, after then, I was intrigued not only with the idea of selling homes, but of making those big commissions!

It wasn’t until after my sons got into school that I went to work as an escrow assistant for Stewart Title. After Stewart laid me off, I went to Lawyer’s Title as a temp, then to Professional Title as a long-term temp. Later, when I moved to the Ozarks, I worked for the now defunct Ozark Mountain Title facilitating title policies which is the last step in the process.

But between Austin and Branson, there was Las Vegas. It was there that I was first licensed and only at the behest of a friend. I remembered from those Austin days of settlement statements and copying everything in the file over and over so no one would be without a copy of everything in the file the laments of the Realtors I talked with. Their laments made me decide that I wasn’t so intrigued with how homes got sold and that I would stick with escrow.

My friend talked me into doing what I had decided was not my dream. Frankly, I did it just so she would have a pal to go to school with. And, being the knowledge sponge that I am, the education would be worth the effort. So I attended the ERA School of Real Estate on Valley View Blvd. in Las Vegas, NV.

The teacher was a kindly lady who had been with ERA for over 20 years and she loved the real estate business so much that she made me overcome my disdain for those previous Realtors’ laments and actually excited me once again about the prospect of selling homes and making those huge commissions.

Yippee!

Now, all real estate school students stress over the exam, but they don’t understand what comes AFTER the exam because if they did, few would take it.

There is a reality to being a Realtor that is not discussed in schools. This reality is the reason that a low percentage of people who go to school, take the exam and embark on their careers actually stay in the business. But that will be a subject for another time.

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01/06/2010 by admin.

Buyers are staying away from the volatile market right now out of fear. This is despite the fact that buyers know home ownership is a hedge for future survival. The problem is that most buyers don’t have a Realtor to represent their interests, so buyers are staying away…in droves!

Despite what you may think, right now is the time to buy a home. This is true even though the market may take a double dip. Why? won’t a new home take a hit in the marketplace? wouldn’t it be better to wait until the market bottoms out? Not neceesarily.

There are other factors to consider when buying a home beside market timing. One factor right now are the buyer credits for new buyers and current homeowners who have been in their home for over five years.  The buyer credits will expire at the end of May 2010. That is the first reason to consider getting into a home very soon.

Second, while the market still have to bottom out, interest rates a likely to rise. Waiting for the bottom to come could actually cost you money in the long run because of those rising interest rates.

Buying a home before the market bottoms out only means that you TEMPORARILY lose equity in your home. But since you’ve already purchased your home when the mortgage rates are low and the buyer credits are still available, you will be ahead of the game when the market returns in the next couple of years.

Don’t be afraid to invest in your future. But, for your sake, hire a Realtor to represent YOUR interests during the transaction.

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