my old blog

In a declining market, it's been shown that sellers get the highest price in the first 2-4 weeks their house is for sale. Values are going down, so the longer the home is on the market, the lower the final selling price will be. Many sellers have found this out the hard way, when they insisted on...

A Reverse mortgage (RM) may be a welcome help to homeowners over age 62 who have sufficient equity in their home and want to stay there but can no longer afford their monthly payment. Or they may want to use their home equity to improve the quality of their life with additional monthly income or ...

We've become accustomed to convenience and most buyers want a house with multiple bathrooms and don't want to consider a house with only one. If your house has only one bathroom, you can mitigate the situation if you: Make sure the bathroom rocks! (check out HGTV for ideas) It must be squeaky cle...

In her blog recently, Instead of a New Year's Resolution... How about a New Year's Theme?, Jennifer Allan suggested we eschew the traditional new year resolutions and come up with a theme for the year instead.  I think this is a great idea, and for 2009, I'm borrowing one of the themes from the a...

According to Wikipedia, "Highest and best use is a concept in real estate appraisal. It states that the value of a property is directly related to the use of that property; the highest and best use is the reasonably probable use that produces the highest property value. This use, the Highest and ...

Some clients are transferring to another state later this year and need to sell their home.  They bought at the peak of the boom and are about to lose $40-$50K when their house goes on the market.  This is a huge amount, especially for a young couple just starting out. They don't have enough equi...

This is a busy time of year as we reflect on the year almost gone and make plans for the new one.  It's exciting to think of the unlimited possibilities that lie ahead and prepare to start afresh with new ideas and resolve. My business plan for 2009 is underway and will be ready to implement on J...

Today I read a blog titled "Are you really willing to change?" It chastened those who responded to a previous blog in which the author emphatically stated that lockboxes should not be used and that the listing agent should always be present at showings in order to point out features to potential ...

Do you ever start out researching a particular topic on the internet and get sidetracked? It happens to me all the time.  If I were able to focus on the task at hand, I think I could accomplish my goal in just a few minutes.  But many internet sites/pages make this difficult.  Most are so crammed...

 This book is visually appealing, small enough to take everywhere you go, easy to read and full of good insights, inspiration, and calls to action.  On page one, the author states "At the beginning of any task, more than anything else, your attitude will affect its successful outcome". If this is...