Melanie McLane's (themelaniegroup) Blog

I wanted a fresh new topic for 3.5 hours of CE in my home state.  Many agents won't take designation courses (even the one day electives) and most shy away from anything involving a test, like online courses. Yet, everywhere I go, agents are hungry about technology. And the disparity among agents...

  I just completed my first presentation of one of my new classes: "Financing, Dollars and Sense©".  When you are a trainer, you pay a lot of attention to the faces of the people in your audience. I'm constantly scanning their faces for: confusion, boredom, disbelief, and best of all, the "Aha!" ...

It's that magical two weeks we get here in Lycoming County, PA, specifically in South Williamsport, once a year, when the Little League World Series is played in Lamade Stadium.  This event brings visitors from all over the world. I live in Lycoming County, southwest of Williamsport, in a little ...

I just finished my month as the "Ask the Expert" for REBAC. Since I am also an appraiser, valuation questions were my assigned topic. First of all, I have to say it was so much fun I'd do it again -in a heartbeat!  Second of all, I was very impressed by both the thoughtful questions I received an...

As the line from the song "The Gambler" says, you have to ‘know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em, and know when to walk away". That is truer than ever about real estate and listings.  I am primarily a real estate educator, but I also continue to list and sell, working as a team with my hus...

I'm having a busy month, having started in Nashville, TN, then on to San Antonio. I'm in the San Antonio airport now, heading to Harrisburg, where I'll do York, Harrisburg and York and then head home. At the end of the month, I head south to South Carolina, then on to Naples Florida for the RSPS ...

    Ever wish there were ‘three strikes and you're out' in real estate? I have. This week, I heard, saw or observed three different strikes, with three different agents, and they all made me say: "Get Serious-or Get Out of the Way!" Agent #1 is a selling agent. She had buyers who wanted to go bac...

It's the New Year (actually January is coming to a close) and we see the usual changes in real estate this time of year. Across the country, if dues are assessed on an annual basis, many agents are hanging it up. It was fun while it lasted (2000 through 2005), but lately, it's been too much like ...

Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina, Chapter 1, first lineRussian mystic & novelist (1828 - 1910) To paraphrase, all happy real estate markets are alike; each unhappy real estate market is unhappy in its own way.  That may be a ...

Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina, Chapter 1, first lineRussian mystic & novelist (1828 - 1910) To paraphrase, all happy real estate markets are alike; each unhappy real estate market is unhappy in its own way.  That may be a ...