Well, what next? 

The economy is shot, our markets are falling apart, we are in a recession, in a depression, about to see the end of the world, every state in America is falling apart, the world economy is blown....

Are you sick of seeing these headlines? I am!

The world is not falling apart. America does have a strong economy. The Texas real estate market has slowed, but we are still very strong. Are the million dollar homes moving as fast? No. Can a person with no job, no money down, and no history of income get a loan? Not anymore. 

Things have changed. And guess what folks? They needed to.

Our lenders let anybody have loans, these folks couldn't afford them, and bam we have a problem. Gee, do you think?

Okay, so now what?

The housing market, nationally, was actually moving ahead finally, until all of these banks, and insurance companies started failing. Homes in Florida, one of the hardest hit areas, are "flying of the shelf" now. Prices are more stable, and even more importantly, more realistic. 

Are the markets in trouble? Yes, but like the housing market, they will make it. Things will be okay.

We as Realtors, agents, brokers, have to let the public know just how smart an idea it is now to invest in real estate. One example I heard on tv yesterday was about Florida's market. They said that houses once valued at $287,000 were now selling in the high $80, 000 range. That is an incredible value for buyers! Sure, you have to find them financing, but coach them all on the right way to buy. Show them the importance of having money down, good credit scores, and not buying more home than they can afford. Just because they are pre-approved for 1 million doesn't necessarily mean they should buy a million dollar home.

Just a few thoughts as the market crashes yet again today. Let me know what you think.

I must apologize for my absence folks, but I do have a valid reason why I have not put words on the screen... Well, now that I think about it, probably not too good of a reason, but I digress...

My wife and I have recently purchased a new home. Yeah!

So, during this normal process I have found myself looking at the other side of the coin. Normally, I am the one telling the buyer to schedule this, or call these people, and now I am doing these things. Let me tell you folks, if you haven't bought or sold a personal property in awhile, you should just to remind yourself of how things are on the other side of the phone, or table. 

I found myself actually confused as to how to make my own offer. I know, I do this all the time, what could be so difficult? Nothing, but it felt like everything I did or decision we made was somehow just not quite right. I even went so far as to chew the ear off of my fellow office agent on more than one occasion. Some of these questions went like this: Am I filling this standard contract out correctly? Are you sure I should do this? No, I don't know that information, how should I find it?

Crazy stuff!

In this job I have pretty much taken for granted the fact that I could fill out a normal contract in my sleep, not anymore.

Maybe that's a good thing. I know it is.  Anytime you can learn from any situation, good or bad, you walk away a winner. In this case, I get to own a new home. (If I remembered to sign my name on that last page...)

I have just finished some great classes with one of our trainers, and I can not believe how much information and technology is truly out there. I also can't believe how so many agents become so afraid of change that they end up not utilizing the great tools out there.

I think we should all take some time, maybe once a month or so, and find an agent in our office  that is afraid, or not utilizing our tools. Just be casual and maybe ask something like: "Hey, did you see that great new program that creates CMAs for you? I was worried that it would be too confusing to use, but I picked up how to use it in no time, and don't know how I got along without it."

If you don't feel comfortable doing this, at least take the time to seek out your own opportunites to learn. Everytime you learn something new, you actually increase your worth to the general public, and fellow agents too.

Just a thought, let me know what you think.

I think that he just did. This weekend a couple of new records were set at the box office by this little movie called The Dark Knight.  Was it all that the media cracked it up to be? Yes, and then some. Being some what of a purist, I had my doubts. How could you replace Jack as the best Joker ever? How would this new guy even begin to fill those large shoes? Somehow, Heath did it.

Heath Ledger was incredible, dark, and crazy. He didn't try to replace Jack, Heath put his own spin on the character, and blew it away. 

Overall, the movie was great, but no so much so for the kids. Stuff blew up, there were very few over the top fake scenes, and Christian Bale was incredible yet again. Having grown up watching several different Batmans, I think I like him the best. He seemed honest somehow.  Maybe it's the way he just seemed to fit.

I just wanted to let anybody thinking about watching, that the wait to get in the movie theater was well worth it.  So, if you need a break from the phone for two and a half hours, stop in and watch.

Just a quick note about all the growth in Texas, and Tyler in particular.  WE ARE GROWING!!!!!!!  According to the news reports all over the other night, Tyler has grown a whopping 15% since last year.  Is that nuts are what?  No.  I guess many people have finally figured out that we have a great "small town" feel, while still being city like.  Did I mention all the lakes we are close to? 

Well, it has been several days since my last post, and I will admit that the withdrawals have been horrrrribbbbbleeee.  However, I have legitimate reason why I have not been spilling the knowledge from forth my mind.  It is called a closing.  Yes, almost all of us have had one of those things before, but what made these past few days so special, for me in particular, has to be the fact that it was an FHA loan.  How could that be so bad? Don't thousands upon thousands of those things close daily, or weekly? Sure.  Did I mention that this was also a VA loan? Oh yeah, I must of forgotten that.  It was a VA loan too. 

Those things in themselves should not be so bad, and hey, I got a check. The struggle for me was that we had a set closing for today, and the lender called the title company Tuesday to say that they were ready and the closing was going to be on last Thursday. Great, no problem. I couldn't believe my ears. After all, the lender had just asked me for more paperwork on Tuesday morning.  Ahh, silly me. What do I know about closings? If they say they are ready, then I should just get out of the way and let them do their jobs.

A funny thing happened Thursday, the day of the closing.  The lender decided that I needed to send more paperwork.  Okay, this is getting close, but it's still early.  By 12:30 my title company said no way.  Okay, I'm flexible.  Closing on Friday.  Friday, by 3:30, I figured out it wasn't going to happen again.  That turns into Monday, still need more paperwork. 

Somehow, the buyer was able to sign paperwork, and get a closing. Of course at almost 5pm, no funding until today.  We signed our paperwork, and there it was: finished. 

Has anybody ever dealt with a lender this disorganized before? I mean, they rushed to close less than 24hrs early.

Alas, this too is done, and I have learned a valuable lesson: never let a lender close early on FHA, or VA loans unless you physically see every document finished in the presence of your closer.  At least, that is what I think I took from this. 

Any comments or thoughts would be appreciated.

Yes, I am very thankful for the check, and what did I really do to earn it? Other than the stress, and phone calls, at least I didn't have to dive into a tank full of sharks. Oh wait, I think I did....Just kidding.

So, there I was feeling sick waiting for a close that I hoped would close. I say hope, because two days before the closing date I was still sending needed documents.  Oh, I warned them. I warned them all. No way we can close that quickly. When do you get your check? Well, the closing is set at 4:30 in the afternoon so plan on at least another day or two. Oh? Okay, let's close four days early anyway, just in case.  Twenty phone calls, a frustrated closer, an upset client, a confused agent, and a big mess later... The closing gets moved to another day. Imagine that! 

I find myself wondering how I could have handled that situation differently.  I suggested, listed problems that could arise, I wanted to wait, but how do you convince another agent, their client, and your client, that waiting four more days is not a bad thing?

Any suggestions on how to better handle this type of situation, ( I hope I never have again) would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

I just got an interesting phone call. I have a client who is building homes here in Tyler.  The phone call tonight was from a mutual friend who wanted to start building homes too.  Tonight talked to my client and my client is going to help tonight. (with me so far? leaving out the names for obvious reasons) Of course, tonight wants me to find him land lots of land and the starry skies above, and I would get to list the home built, or homes if they can make enough to keep going. 

So, this makes me wonder if this is something I should try. Should I jump on the build bandwagon? Is building affordable homes the path to financial freedom?  Would I still be able to do my first love: real estate? After all, this is a big part of real estate.  Anyway, what do all of you re pros think? Any pointers, advice, warnings etc.?

Yes, it's true. I can not deny it. I too like to blog. Okay, that was weak. I lovvveee to blog. Oh, and learn too. Isn't that what this place is all about? If you stop learning, if you stop trying new technology, if you fight the ever changing world, how can you expect to be successful? 

So, what am I learning that maybe my fellow raindrops could learn? You have to look everyday at not only this site, but others. You have to think outside the box as to what you think your clients may want.  Learning is an every day thing. You have to set a time limit on AR, or you will be on here all day long! Being part of a community of bloggers gives you a new sense of confidence that comes from knowledge that you now are more competent than over half of the agents in your town.  (unless they are all on here, and then you are at least on a level playing field)

Well, here I am at the end of my first week on AR, and I have to tell you this place rocks. I'm on Facebook, and I have mentioned AR about four times this week.  I love the wealth of information, the kinship, the efforts to help that you find here. I think blogging on AR should be mandatory for all new agents as part of their classes before being issued your license. 

All these things being said, I still don't know how to thank an individual for their comments.  I know how to send an individual message, but is there some way to simply click on their comment and send a quick thanks? 

Big thanks to all those comments so far, I hope to keep blogging and learning for a long time. Have a great weekend.