In my email this morning was an email, ostensibly from one of my clients, from HIS hotmail address asking me to wire him $2500 because he was stranded in London and had lost his wallet.  It was obvious his email account been hijacked so I called him immediately and apparently was not the first to call. He cannot get into his hotmail mailbox.  Wow, I guess I would get rid of hotmail if that was my email, but I guess it could happen to any provider.  I tried to cut and paste the email content here but couldn't make that work.  Just a word to the wise, another phishing scam coming to an email box near you.

I just couldn't resist changing my picture, and after I searched my newly replaced hard drive for my professional picture, I couldn't find a copy of it large enough for the system to accept. The next best choice was on a CD that my son gave me for Christmas one year.  Among the baby pictures and pictures of his college graduation was the one I upload for that great point bonus.  It is a picture taken in about July of 1969, when I was a stewardess (before the days of PC and flight attendants). We had a New York layover and my parents came from Cleveland to spend a few days in NY with me.  This is my dad and I, and I was leaving for our flight, so am in uniform.  My dad is gone now, died at 90, 2 and a half years ago, and was just as handsome the day he died.

And I CAN'T BELIEVE I was ever that skinny!

Thanks for the opportunity to step back in time for a moment.  I think I will leave the picture up for a time--be one of those brokers who uses their college photo in their advertising!

A small group of us in our office got together and bought a Previsite camera (with an incredible fisheye lens) and each of have subscribed to the Previsite service. (www.previsite.com, check it out!) These has to be the most remarkably easy virtue tour to create on the web.  I took the camera one day and shot some pictures of Pinehurst Resort, a few of the clubhouse, inside and out, the wonderful Payne Stewart statue on the 18th green, the Carolina Hotel etc.  Take a look at my little Pinehurst tour at the link below.  One of the very cool things about this program and the fisheye pics is you can grab them and move them around, (looking at magnificent coffered ceilings, exquisite hardwood or marble floors for instance.)There is a picture in the tour below of a hedge--be sure and grab that one and move it up and down.  The picture was a mistake but I left it in for this little exercise.

http://tour.previsite.com/D02C8553-9630-9A4F-84CD-DF90D00778D9

You may think this doesn't have anything to do with real estate (but I am sure all you savvy activerainers know that it does) but I witnessed THE MOST BLATANT example of someone needing customer service training I have ever seen yesterday at a Durham Bulls baseball game.  I was there as a guest of a big family outing.  A group had invited their membership, their significant others, their spouses and their children to come and enjoy an evening at the ball park.  They had a buffet cookout at the Miller Lite tent in left field and our seats were "anywhere in two sections", lower and upper, at the extreme left field end of the park.  Many members of the group arrived early.  Some chose to get their stadium seats first and then get food, others were more interested in eating than in where they sat.  One family of four in particular had settled themselves in four seats in the front row and then gone to get food.  As we got closer to game time, the sections that we were told were ours exclusively filled up with members of the group. Sometime around maybe the second inning, a couple showed up with actual tickets for two of that family's four seats.

They were not part of the group--someone had given them their season tickets and, not unreasonably, they wanted to sit in their seats.  And likewise not unreasonably, the family that got there early and was told by Durham Bulls Athletic Park officials that they could sit "anywhere in these two sections" was justifyably annoyed that nobody had said "anywhere but these two seats, which have actually been leased for the season to someone else," (oh, it really is about real estate), in time for them to simply sit in the four front row seats that were available at the time they sat down. 

A woman, a park official person, was summoned by the couple who wanted their seats and she came and simply told those people, a husband, wife and two kids, who, until moments before happily enjoying a minor league ball game up close and personal (you can reach out and touch the opposing team's pitchers, warming up in what serves as a bull pen from those seats) that they had to move and they could sit anywhere in the (now nearly full) section.  I never heard her say anything resembling an apology. She just turned and waved her arm in the direction of the sections and said "you can sit anywhere in these two sections."  Bear in mind that by now, there probably weren't 4 seats together in the sections and in order to watch the game, the family was likely going to have to separate.  She never said "I am sorry, we screwed up and how can we make it right for you?" She never said to the couple with the tickets, "I am sorry, we screwed up, why don't I find you two better seats?" She simply told the members of our group "you can sit anywhere in these two sections but here."

The father was annoyed enough to say they were going home (likely NEVER to return). They were made to feel as you might if you had poached someone's seats, snuck into them illegally, and the owner of the seats showed up. rather than sat in seats your were told were yours at the beginning of the evening.

I could think of a thousand ways it could have been handled better, but not one way it could have been handled worse!

Time for a little customer service and sensitivity training at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park.

How's your customer service IQ? I know none of you would ever do something intentionally to make a client or customer feel like they had poached seats in a ball park, but are you paying attention to how the things you do and say make you clients, customers and colleagues feel?  Just a demonstration that made me sit up and take notice.  Customer service takes constant awareness.

Ya know, sometimes we just need a good laugh or two in this crazy business.  My son, Gen Y that he is, is always finding and sharing great links on the web.  More often than not they have nothing to do with real estate, like this one http://www.mathstat.uottawa.ca/~rsmith/Zombies.pdf but every once in a while a real estate nugget shows up.

Do you know about LOLCats?  www.Icanhascheeseburger.com?  well this is sort of a cheeseburger site for real estate listing photos: www.lovelylisting.com

I stop by every once in a while, when I have time to waste or really just need a good laugh or two.  I blogged about the ad with a picture of alf on the phone a couple of weeks ago--that was from this site.  hope you enjoy.

Interest rates and declining prices are combining to create among the most affordable opportunities in 30 years.

Only 5 months since 1970 have seen affordability levels higher.  Combine that near record affordability with the $8000 tax credit for first time home buyers and it is time to rock!  But with the tax credit expiring at the end of November and new regulations concerning appraisals and good faith estimates making 30 day closings a thing of the past, anyone wishing to take advantage of this great combination of circumstances needs to plan on being under contract by early October, mid-October at the latest.

Beautiful lakefront location, adorable, neat as a pin, with absolutely the best views of Pine Lake. Split level ranch with fireplace, hardwoods, ADT securitysystem, many updates, attic fan, master bedroom w/deck. Patio and park-like back yard with dock. Recent price reduction to $300,000 makes this a great lakefront value.

4 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, nearly 2000 square feet, dock and gorgeous lake view

There really can be help for some unlucky homeowners upside down in the mortgages.  A recent item on All Things Considered on NPR featured a handful of Cleveland area homeowners who were negotiating with their lenders getting mortgages released for a 10-20% lump sum payment.  Here's the link to the story:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=111899478

Now the first story told includes a title company owner who went to jail for fraud, and I can't help wondering if that had an influence on Ocwen, the ultimate owner of the mortgage, and their willingness to just get this puppy off the books no matter the cost.

I guess the message in this may be never underestimate the negotiability of a mortgage lender. 

This gorgeous 3000 square foot custome brick home is loaded with features and upgrades you don't find in a spec-built home.  From the moment you walk in, every where you look you see quality. From the beautiful white oak floors featured throughout the living space, to the Luxor high quality kitchen (and bathroom) cabinetry, to the crown moldings, and the two marble fireplaces with custom designed mantles.

There are two hot water heaters and my seller promises you will never run out of hot water. The main floor master features a tray ceiling and ceiling fan, french doors to a private patio, and a glorious en suite bath with separate Jacuzzi tub, shower, two sinks and vanity, linen closet and two large his and hers closets.

A beautiful "screened porch" is really a Carolina room in waiting--insulated, with hvac duct work in place, all that is required are 8 windows and two register grates to add 200 square feet to your living space. Install the windows, knock out the porcelain tiles that have been cut to fit where the registers go, open a valve in the crawl space and you have added a Carolina room.  The HVAC system was sized to accommodate the addition, so no need to upgrade that. 

A second story offers two bedrooms with en suite baths.  A roomy bonus room could easily become a bedroom, with the addition of a closet. The owner/designer added a second door to one bath, so it is accessible to the bonus room.

About 3000 square feet of living space, filled with so many thoughtful extras--the garage doors are both 9 feet wide--ready for his and hers SUVs. A gas line is run for your patio gas grill.  An alcove in the keeping room provides a computer desk and cabinets for your home office.

The kitchen, open to a keeping/family room with its own fireplace is the heart of this home. Ample honey maple cabinets, a beautiful island/breakfast bar and rich granite tops invite.  There is a breakfast area, and a formal dining room as well as a soaring ceilinged living room, and gracious foyer. 

Ceiling fans in everyone room but the kitchen area, the handsome white oak flooring, ceramic tiles in the baths, and the work area of the kitchen, porcelain tile in the soon-to-be Carolina room and quality carpet in each of the bedrooms.

Did I mention the floor joists that support the second floor--16" microlam beams act as floor joists in this engineer-designed home.  And insulation in the ceiling and exterior walls exceeds code by 50%. In addition, most all of the interior walls are insulated.  The quality of construction is reflected in the average monthly electric bill of $122!

A Pinehurst Country Club membership is available, transfer fee to be borne by buyer.

In my now 62 years, I am sure I have developed various dependencies on external elements, fields and forces. For the first several years I know I was pretty heavily dependent on my parents for food and clothing and shelter.  I wandered through elementary school dependent on friends, teachers, and macaroni and cheese. In high school, I shifted my dependencies to things like my best friend's little blue camaro convertible, Bearden's hamburgers (if you grew up on the west side of Cleveland, especially in the 50s and 60s, you probably know what I am talking about!), summers at the pool, and winters at the ice rink. During my college years I depended on friends and roommates, my first TRUE love, professors and sorority sisters for helping me feel my way along. More recently I have depended on an employer or two along the way for a paycheck, and in various retail endeavors I was dependent on my customers (and my credit-extending suppliers) to keep me afloat.  I depended on my children to at least keep life interesting, and in reality to give meaning to it all, but  NEVER, EVER do I remember being so dependent, so totally reliant upon, so inescapably addicted to anything as I learned last week that I am to my laptop. I dropped it.  The sound of the fall foretold of a week of d.t.'s and cold sweats.  Waves of nausea enveloped me when I looked down at a screen gone completey alien, covered with eight-inch horizontal black and white stripes.  Only 62 years of observing human decorum kept me from wailing and dissolving into a weeping quivering blob on the spot.  Panic attacks, in the form of rationalizing the immediate purchase of a shiny new one, overtook me. "I need to be searching MLS, I have to communicate with my sphere. I'll die if I don't get those brochures designed and my newsletter (finally) done." My brain kept trying to insist. Those stripes telegraphed a vision of the horror of the following days, spent alternating between controlling the impulse for instant gratification and worming my way onto various office machines and friends' notebooks. A quick fix could be had at Staples, or Best Buy, or on EBay, or by a phone call to Dell.  Dell, those evil crafty dealers, even offered to allow me 6 months before they wanted to see any cash.  "We can take away the pain, you'll feel soooo much better, life can be normal again, just authorize this charge."

I perservered against the onslaught of evil pushers, all trying to ply me with processor speed and hard drive capacity.  My brain and nerve endings called out for new NOW, but my wallet said repair and wait.

Ah and don't you love a story with a happy ending?  It's only been a week, a difficult and tedious and traumatic week, but I lived through it, and so much stronger for the experience.  At least my laptop is stronger--it has a new hard drive that has four times the capacity of the old one.  My wallet is less severely dented, but my dependency--well, I am pretty sure I have to live with that.