Real Estate Reality

...I made a decision that saved my life. After trying to talk myself out of it (or maybe into it) all day, I had gone to the emergency room the night before for the fifth time in five years. This time I calmly said, "I think it's my heart."  Before my husband had the car parked, I was hooked up t...

I challenge NAR to come up with rules and regulations that REQUIRE every Realtor® to go through an ID verification process before meeting a prospect at a property. Only when ALL AGENTS are forced to do this will it become industry standard. If only women agents require ID verification for prospe...

How long after foreclosure before I can qualify for a mortgage? It's a question real estate agents are hearing more often as the housing market recovers from the spiral that started in 2007. While my answer usually goes something like, "Check with a mortgage professional," I also know that there ...

Greg Nino certainly hit a homerun with this blog! I very rarely reblog, but Greg did such a good job describing the challenges presented by a career in real estate that I'm not even going to try to top his effort. And much of what he said can be doubled when you consider the challenges of handlin...

Good-hearted people almost always profess to wanting to help others, but most of us don't go out and start our own charities or projects in order to take part in "paying it forward." And we don't have to, because opportunities are all around us. You don't have to be a volunteer, a "do-gooder" or ...

Chilled to the bone five times today, I closed out the day by bringing home some House Special Soup from Chan's Restaurant. After she took my take-out order, Kiki brought me hot tea to drink while I waited. My family and I love Chan's, and it is our Saturday lunch destination every weekend, so Ki...

As a former teacher, I can look back on my own life and say that the five most influential (non-family) people in my life were teachers. Mrs. Carter, my fourth grade teacher, taught phonics and diagramming of sentences. That was a sound basis for writing, which has been a big part of my life. The...

  Do any of you feel abandoned by what was once an independent platform? When I read the stories last week about Zillow acquiring Trulia, I thought, "Surely not. Surely there is some sort of anti-trust violation here." But, Trulia confirmed that the acquisition is for real. For now, it’s business...

The distraught divorcee phoned to inquire about her ex's foreclosed house, which I had listed and under contract. She wanted detailed information on the foreclosure of the house. Turns out, she was not on the deed, thought they had agreed that he would "get the house," and believed that she had ...

Dear Listing Agent:  Put the details in the MLS sheet If you want feedback, don't get defensive when I give it If I tell you that my client isn't interested, don't continue to bug me Last week, I showed houses all day for three days (25 to 30 houses), and I have been showing houses this week. Tha...