Many years ago, I had my colors done. 

The idea is to figure out which groups and shades of colors make you look terrific, and which ones make you look like an organ donor waiting to happen.  Of course, you want to go with the look-good-feel-good colors that work for you.

They say this approach is also useful when you are working on decor for your home.  You get a good feeling about a room when it's decorated in your colors.

The woman who did my analysis worked for Color Me Beautiful.  They divide people into one of four "seasons".  And people in one season, the "Autumns" like and look good in browns, golds, maroons, olive greens, and unusual shades of other colors.  But the Autumns only make up about three percent of the people on the planet!

So the other day, I showed a house where they had moved out the buyers pretty decent stuff and brought in a stager.  Well, this gal must have been pure Autumn, because it was all the shades that made my buyers (she was a spring and he was a winter) just want to run out the door!  Golden green couch, Chinese rugs with brown and gold patterns, and maroons swags. 

"Wait!" I said.  "You're reacting to the colors."  And once they realized what it was, they were able to see beyond the staging and realize it was a terrific place.  It's on the possible list now.

This made an impression because I am preparing to list a house that has all the wrong colors - out of That 70's Show!  The seller is up for letting us consign his olive green couch to Value Village and bring one in from our staging warehouse.  He's agreed to have the place painted to make the maroon walls in the master bedroom disappear and transform leaf gold dining room into an oasis of cross-season neutrality. 

And to help choose the colors, I'm going to call a favorite colleague who helped me with my own house.  Oh, my friend is a summer, but she's good at picking universal colors that everyone can feel comfortable around.

President Obama is expected to sign the revised home buyer credit some time tomorrow.  And, at the risk of looking a gift horse in the mouth, I'm not sure how I really feel about the whole thing.

With the increased income caps of $125,000 ($225,000 for married couples), more people in the DC area will be able to take advantage of it.  But think about it a minute.  Is the idea to help first time buyers?  Or is it to help sellers?  And who are the sellers? A lot of them are banks selling foreclosed properties.

Um.  Is this one more bank subsidy?

The subsidy is providing an incentive for buyers to go into the market.  With more buyers in the market, home prices are increasing in some areas, and here in Washington, we are starting to see multiple offers in the double digits for well-priced homes.  So the buyer's tax credit may be offset by higher home prices, at least at the lower end of the price spectrum. 

I have to keep in mind that the lower end of our price range in Upper Northwest DC is upper brackets in other parts of the area.  Many neighborhoods east of Rock Creek Park and in other quadrants will benefit.  And the credit will likely benefit condo sellers.  

While this isn't a bad thing for sellers and the buyers who will get the tax credit, remember that a tax credit is $8,000 per transaction being subtracted from the plus side of the

national budget, which is already bursting at the seams.

In the meantime, I will try to do my part to make hay while the credit is in effect.  Hopefully, the credit will benefit Realtors® around the country, and we will pay more in income taxes, unless of course, we make less than the income cap and buy a place.

This mural is on the side of my favorite bookstore, Politics and Prose on Connecticut Avenue.  They have a large collection of both fiction and non-fiction, as well as great historical stuff about Washington, DC's rich history. 

© 2009 Patricia Kennedy. Unless otherwise noted, the content, both written and in pictures, is the property of Patricia Kennedy . If you would like to use this image, please  email me (housepat@mac.com) with your request. I'll almost certianly say yes, and ask only that you provide a link back to my original content as well as an acknowledgment.  The same thing applies to any other material you see posted here on Active Rain or on any of my other blogs.

I first freaked out when I found out that Willie the Labradoodle's premium dog food was made by the same company in China whose canned pet food was tainted and killing family pets.  Then A couple of weeks ago, Katerina Gasset wrote a post about Chinese drywall that got me to thinking.  Why do we buy their stuff?  Well, for one thing, it's pretty hard to avoid, whether you're shopping in Target, Whole Foods or Bloomingdales. 

So this year, I am looking for shopping venues where I can find Christmas gifts that were made, well, not in China. 

I'm starting off at my friend, Annie Groer's, holiday sale.  She is clearing out a bunch of stuff.  And a lot of it is pretty amazing.

Need some high quality designer costume jewelry?  This is a great place to start.  I walked out with some Chanel earrings on my lobes.  But wait!  This is supposed to be Christmas shopping for the people I love - not accumulating more stuff for me!

And if you're into poodles, there are some of those.  But no Labradoodles.  Oh well!

If you are in the market for pins or earrings with this little beast, there is a lot to choose from.

If you're shopping for your guy, there are some great cuff links,at least if he has any shirts that need cuff links.

Moving on from jewelry -

There are also fashion items that might fit someone smaller than I am.  Especially in the feet department.

And for that person who has everything?  The item to the left is probably not something they already own.

Nor this highly  sophisticated collector's item - a set of rare vases!

How about some JFK memorabilia for your favorite political junkie?

Now, I am just scratching the surface here.  Items include an alligator, mink jacket, some amazing articles of clothing, and much more.  

To view these items, you need an appointment.  Please email me at housepat@mac.com, and I will help you set one up.  Now I'm off to check out a cute place in Georgetown!  More later.

My parents had this family portait taken when we lived in Williamsburg, Kentucky, a pretty little town on the Cumberland River near the Tennessee boarder.  I was three years old, and my brother, Jack, was not quite two.  The picture now sits in a frame in my mother's house, and it brought back memories of of a very carefree time in life.  We lived in a little white house on the outskirts of town, with a huge cherry tree and a field of daisies next door.  On the other side, there was a chicken farm owned by P.R. Jones - who kept us in baby chicks and fresh eggs.  

Jack is much better looking today.

On my first date with my sweetie, he suggested that we go out to dinner somewhere.  I immediately thought of Yanni's Greek Taverna in Cleveland Park.  It's that kind of a place.

OK, Yanni's isn't really a dive.  It's a no-frills Greek restaurant with tasty food, great Greek wine (at least the white wine) and an owner who looks a bit like a Greek Gerard Depardieu.

And the food is fun. 

They have all the usual appetizers, hummus, tzatziki, taramosalata, grape leaves, or just get the sampler. 

The Greek salad is huge, and my favorite, the Taverna salad (chopped lettuce with lots of fresh dill, feta cheese and dressed with tzatziki) is also big enough to share.

My favorite entrees are the charbroiled squid or octopus, and you're not into eating sea creatures, they have all of the standards as well.

In warm weather, their outdoor cafe is a place where you are sure to see someone you know, either at the next table or walking down Connecticut Avenue. 

Now, the service is a little bit on the flaky side.  A couple of the waiters are known to be occasionally grumpy - no one is going to fawn all over you.  But they do get the food to the table in a reasonable amount of time, and they'll get the order right.  And when it does arrive, I've found it to taste quite wonderful. 

And that's the most important thing, after all.

There will be a neighborhood Halloween party for Crestwood children of all ages this afternoon at "The Point", located at 18th and Shepherd Streets NW. 

It starts at 3 and ends at 4:30.

There will be treats, and contributions of anything with sugar (well, not coffee) from grown neighbors are welcomed.

It could get scary as our little goblins and gouls collect their first candy of the day and check out the woods, that I'm sure will be appropriately decorated for the festivities!  So grab your costume and, if possible, find a child to bring with you. 

It should be fun!

Gary does it again!  This may be the funniest post I've ever seen here.  Read it and make sure you are not drinking anything, or you will spit it all over your computer screen.

I don't hide my blog under a bushel.

There isn't a person who knows me who doesn't know that I am an avid blogger.  Every buyer and seller I work with sees the link to my blog on my business card, on fact sheets at open houses, under my signature on every email I send them, and every other piece of promotional material that I put out.

Just in case they don't notice it right away, I point it out to them.  Before I take on a new client, and if we don't already know one another from a past transaction, I suggest that they read my blog to get an idea of who I am and how I work.  If they are referral from a past customer, they are often already familiar with it - the friend who gave them my name gave them the blog link before I did.

Once they are a client, I often write about our time together looking at houses, how they make the decision about which one they'll buy, the negotiation and getting it all to the settlement table.  Now, I try to keep it humorous, and I never write about my own clients behaving badly.  Also, I almost never use names (certainly not without their consent) and while they might recognize themselves, other people reading the post would not.

And in almost all cases, the posts make them laugh and they like to read about our escapades on the streets of Washington.

When I wrote Ma'am, Kindly Move Away From My Clients! I got a call within an hour of posting it from my buyers.  Then they shared it with their friends and family.  Wadda Ya Want For A Million Bucks? had the same effect on the woman I showed a sloppily prepared house to.  The couple I was working with when I wrote Selling a Blog Buddie's Listing! wound up joining Active Rain (I made the comments open for members only after the spammers) and they were able to read and comment on that and several of he posts that their transaction spawned.

When it snows, I email a link to Your Snow Shovel Is Your Friend to all of my sellers, which makes me feel less like the nag I might be if I phoned them to say "shovel it!" 

I wrote a post about one of my sellers, Edna Johnston, who helps people get a tax credit for dedicating the facade of their historic home to the L'Enfant Trust.  She loved the post, and so did the people who bought one of my historic listings and asked about the possibiliies with their new home.

And speaking of Edna, she bought her house years ago when I was with Pardoe Real Estate, which morphed into Coldwell Banker, which I left for WC and AN Miller Realtors, then moved to Evers & Company where I am now.  And she tracked me down on Google, which thanks to all of my new found Google Juice, she was able to do easily when she typed my name.  Before Active Rain, I was buried on Page 35.  Now I'm on Page 1 most of the time - which is pretty neat for such a common name.

I'm in a book group, and half of the members are past clients or bought on of my listings.  When I wrote My Fun New Book Group! about our first meeting, they all got a link.

My blog is something that sets me apart from other agents.  It gives my clients, and also my colleagues, something to laugh about.

And as I'm finishing this up I realize that I don't have to talk as much when I'm with them.  I'm not tempted to run at the mouth, regaling them with my funny little real estate stories.  They've read them in my blog!  It's a non-verbal introduction to who I am, which makes it possible for me to listen and learn who they are and figure out how to best serve their real estate needs.

Ya know?  Blogging rocks!  Active Rain really rocks!