You'd, of course, be right on all accounts. But you'd also be missing out on a true piece of sports history that I'm guessing you know very little about. Marlin Briscoe.
Briscoe played football at the University of Nebraska at Omaha and began his pro football career with my favorite team, the Denver Broncos in 1968. He played quarterback.
Not huge news, really.....unless you are the first African-American starting quarterback in pro football history.
And he was.
Briscoe played QB starting 5 games and appearing in 11 for Denver that season. Would you believe that his 14 touchdown passes that season are a Broncos rookie QB record? Current phenom, Jay Cutler, tossed 9 in limited action his rookie season and Hall-of-Famer, John Elway, tossed a mere 7 TDs in his rookie campaign.
Unfortunately, the starting job was handed to someone else (a white QB) in '69 and Briscoe, feeling betrayed, was released and signed with Buffalo where he was converted to Wide Receiver. After 3 seasons with the Bills (including a Pro-Bowl 1970 season) he went to the Miami Dolphins were he also played WR on a pair of Super Bowl Champion teams- including the NFLs only undefeated squad in 1972 in which he led the team in TD receptions. Briscoe became a journeyman finishing his career with stints in San Diego, Detroit and New England.
Sad that a young man that played QB his whole life attempted a mere 9 passes for the rest of his career after his ground-breaking first season.
More sad even than a quarterbacking talent wasted is the fact that, seemingly, just days after his playing career ended, Briscoe could be found in trashy motels in Los Angeles, smoking crack. Drug dealers once held him hostage for a weekend until an NFL check came in the mail. He lost his family, his money and his Super Bowl rings. Briscoe recovered from his decade or so battle with addiction and has since been a tireless advocate for at-risk youth. He currently is the director of the Boys and Girls Club in California and has his own football camp for children.
A feature film, "The Magician", is being made about Marlins struggles and his road to redemption. Check out more about it at marlinbriscoemovie.com.
Does fantasy football have sequels? I guess it does now......maybe.
Rick Beal was gracious enough to start up the Official 2008 Active Rain Fantasy Football League and it filled quite quickly. Some interested members didn't get invited or didn't act quickly enough to participate so I'm testing the waters with Active Rain 2. If you're interested and have not yet recieved an invite from ESPN to participate...shoot me your email address and I'll get you an invite pronto. We've got a league of three as of 8/20/08 and are in dire need of 9 more members to get going!
Here's the disclaimer though: I'm already in the first league! I won't give up my spot in that until we have 12 people interested, signed up and ready to rock and roll (11 to join me in AR2 and one to take my place in AR1). We're going to do 12 teams, live draft at a date determined by the masses and hopefully have a bunch of fun!
In Coal City, we've been waiting with baited breath for over a year to see the results of the Early Childhood Center.
The school measures out at around 74,000 square feet and features 12 kindergarten rooms, 12 first grade rooms and 6 for pre-schoolers. Obviously, these will be the grades the school houses, after which students will attend Coal City Elementary for 2nd and 3rd grade, Coal City Intermediate for 4th and 5th grade and Coal City Middle School for 6th, 7th and 8th before heading off to high school.
At 6pm on Thursday August 14th, there will be a ribbon cutting ceremony followed by an open house complete with refreshments (until 8pm). Parents, children and community members will have the opportunity to meet and greet educators and administrators of the district while checking out the new building.
"Buyers are liars." My assumption is that this phrase isn't foreign to you. It certainly wasn't me as I learned it in my first office about a month after breaking into real estate. I have always found it cheesy, defeatist, and a pretty good indicator that agents that say it aren't spectacular at their job. Now I know that's the same rash generalization that they are making- but whatever.
A couple months back I received a referral from a family friend (technically our wives are really good friends and we're friendly acquaintances). After speaking with this gentleman for an hour or so and explaining the finer points and process of buying a home I met the young buyer and his fiancee at a house and showed them another couple. He still wasn't pre-approved, but I didn't fret, he was a nice, honest, young man working two jobs....
Some time goes by and he wants to go out again. STILLdoesn't have a pre-approval and hasn't signed an Exclusive Buyer Representation agreement with me. I hem, I haw and take them out again without either. "Heck, he's a referral from a mutual friend and he has a limited schedule- he'll get approved as soon as he can and I know he's not going to screw me over."
They don't see anything they fall in immediate love with and some more time goes by. I continue to email them properties and with my schedule in case they want to check into anything we have yet to see. Then, FINALLY, I get an e-mail that he's pre-approved although he wants to work on his credit and get a "better pre-approval".
Would you like to table your search for the time being while you do that?
"Nah. I'm still interested in looking." So I continue sending properties his way until a few days later:
"Hey, I am going to table my search for a little while." Not a problem- would you like me to disable the properties being e-mailed to you or would you like to see what's hitting and falling off the market while you work on the credit? "Oh, I'd love to be kept up to date on the market, thanks!"
Cool. What a well out together guy. Then I get this email about 3 days ago:
I just wanted to get your home address so i can send somthing to you. Dont worrie nothing crazy or dangerous. Just a Thank you gift. Im sorry if i wasted your time at all. Thanks for all your help.
Wow. How sweet! VERY few actually appreciate their REALTOR so much that they'll send him a thank you gift...So I reply, "Hey man- your thank you gift to me is allowing me to mail YOUR home address with a bunch of cards to pass out to your friends and loved ones. Tell them I'll work diligently and honestly for them, like you."
Two days later, I get this:
Hey Jim I just wanted to do right by you by letting you know i have found a house through a friend whom is also a Realtor. I'm sorry for wasting your time.
Well Hell's Bells! If there is a way to "do right by me" it's anything other than "wasting my time" and using some scumbag, cherry picking agent on the side. You didn't know your friend was an agent before needing a referral and working with me for 6 weeks or so? Under my general premise I would say that this is my fault and I didn't serve the client like I SHOULD. However, he wants to send me thank you gifts and never one had reason to take exception to the job I was doing for him. Ultimately it IS on me, however, for not having him sign the buyer's representation agreement, so I give him the reply he was looking for:
I sure appreciate the gesture of doing right by me but it's not necessary. You didn't waste my time, sir- it's my job. Now granted it's a job I'm not going to be compensated for. Normally I would have never shown you and your bride-to-be a single house without a pre-approval and wouldn't have taken you on another showing without your signing an exclusive buyer relationship agreement....giving me the same respect and confidence back that I was putting out. I went against better judgment and did neither because you were a referral from [mutual friend]. You don't owe me a thing but honesty and no matter how late it comes out- I sure do appreciate that, sir. I hope you understand that I'm going to disable that automatic search immediately. Not because I'm a jerk or anything like that- but out of respect to your agent- whom I assume is not a REALTOR because a REALTOR doesn't pirate people's clients like that. I won't step on the toes of another...
...and in response I get this from his fiancee (on his email address):
Well now I guess you know better than to go against your better judgement.
ZING! Burn City...and sad but true. While I sent her back a simple email of well wishes "[fiancee], Good luck with everything!" I realized she was absolutely right.
I DOknow better than to go against my better judgment now! A buyer's representation agreement is a long-winded form commitment we give to each other. Will you be loyal to me as I work my butt off for you? I work for free until the day you get the keys to your new home- at which time I'm reimbursed for my hours of service.
So mom, dad, bro, friends, past clients and future ones- when we discuss viewing homes and I reference the agreement that you'll have to sign in order to work with me- I'll also pass you this blog post or regale the story upon you so you know exactly why. No matter how honest I think you are....it's the best way you can do right by me!
There was a 12.27 acre parcel of land for sale to the southern-most tip of my town, Coal City, IL. Instead of listing with one of the local real estate professionals the sellers opted for a company that sells primarily land and commercial developments. I can dig that...makes enough sense from a fundamental standpoint to use a company with expertise in that area.
The lot went up for sale at $920,250 on 8/16/07. Now many of my readers are from around North America- so take my opinion that I thought that price at $75,000 per acre was a little high.
Need proof? It closed two days ago in a cash deal (342 days on the market) at, get this, $275,000!!!
WOW- even I didn't see that coming!
So this brings up a couple of things for me. The first and most obvious is- 'wow, this market's so bad that people will possibly unload at any price'. But the bigger issue to me as a REALTOR is how does the agent/ company go about their business from here on? They're "experts" in this type of property so much that the sellers didn't consider a local professional. Yet at the end of the day they took a year to sell a property at 29.9% of its original list price.
*Could you, as a REALTOR, imagine working that into a marketing presentation? "Well, it'll take a year and I'll get you a little less than a third of what I'm putting it on the market at. Sound fair? Sign here, here and here."
*Could you as a seller look at this and be happy or proud in your decision? I hope so because the same guys have a pair listed for $399,000 and $6,375,950 right now. The 6 million dollar parcell is at the same development as the referenced property. If it sells for the same dollar per acre- the sellers will be moving it at about 2 million dollars less than asking.
I certainly do not envy the lady or gentleman that has to price in this type of category in this market as a screw up too low can cause your clients tens and hundreds of thousands of dollars and a screw up too high can have you sitting around for a year and selling at a third of list. Not fun!
I've only read 2 comic books in my entire life. One rainy day circa 1990 I skimmed over a pair of someone's Spiderman books and never REALLY took to liking them. Now, as an adult, I love comic book movies and would probably read the books if time allowed.
My absolute favorite comic book mythos is Batman. I know the stories up and down in and out and 6 ways to Sunday (mostly via other geeks on the internet). Needless to say, after the excellence of Batman Begins I've been pretty jazzed about the sequel for the last year or so.
Here's the trouble: I've been SOOOOOO excited for this film and assumed it would be twice as good as Begins (already the best Batman movie since the 60's). In Heath Ledgers swan song -he's been pumped up as giving an Oscar-worthy performance, a rarity in a film like this. So how could I end up being anything other than let down?
Well, needless to say, I "nerded out" and procured tickets a few days in advance to see it on Friday night. I fully expected to see between one and three folks donning the white face paint and smeared smile in honor of the fallen Ledger but didn't.... don't know if that's good or bad.
What I DID see was a great flick. It'll certainly appeal to the summer-blockbuster crowd. I think most fans of the darker Batman movies, graphic novels, etc. will appreciate it. The film is 2.5 hours long and probably could have cut another 20 or 30 minutes out- but that's my one and only complaint. The performances are as good as hyped. I was more excited to see Harvey Dent than the Joker and Aaron Eckhart did anything but disappoint in his role. I don't want to give anything, plot-line, away other than to say that this certainly lives up to most of the hype it has recieved.
If you're a fan of the bat- go immediately. If you're a fan of BIG movies- go soon. If you're just out looking to see a movie- I HIGHLY recommend this one!
The All-Star teams are in and while you, the voting fan, failed to get White Sox left fielder, Carlos Quentin, into the game- the players voted him in to make up for it. NOW you have a REAL chance to make a difference...
As they have for the last several years, Major League Baseball is allowing the fans to vote in the final all-star in each league. I generally do not care about National League baseball....but I do like both former White Sox players Aaron Rowand and Carlos Lee.
The real reason for the post is to a) urge you to get your favorite player voted in...and b)to super-urge you to get Jermaine Dye of the White Sox in....look at his numbers versus the 4 other gents vying for a roster spot and it's a no brainer....in fact, he's been more productive than a number of guys already on the team!
Come on, do the right thing...for the integrity of the sport we love!!!
Lyn Sims wrote an interesting blog the other day about an email she recieved from Zillow that I HIGHLY recommend you check out. I had a comment for her and a bunch more to say/ question but didn't want to highjack her blogged thoughts taking them in a direction of my own.
A little background for those readers that don't know- zillow.com is a real estate community in which home sellers (both real estate brokers and owners) can advertise their homes. I've been a member for a while and have my listings posted there.
Recently a client of mine mentioned that he'd be attempting to sell his home in a year or so and that Zillow's Zestimate (yes, everything's with a Z) had told him it was worth x amount of dollars. I warned him not to put too much stock in that as a house in my area of Diamond, IL was 'zestimated' at $230,000 and worth maybe $180,000 about a year ago (that's 28% and 50 grand high for the record).
The Zestimates are pretty horrible. Staying away from specific houses- here are the numbers touted for accuracy in the Chicago-Naperville-Joliet, IL region (and a chart for all major metropolitan areas): 30% are within 5% of the Zestimate, 52% are within 10%, of the Zestimate and 77% are within 20% of the Zestimate. You'll find those stats are very similar in the other areas as well...
Those are good?
If I listed homes and sold fewer than 1 out of every 3 within 5% of list price, I'd be ashamed of myself....If I could only get half sold within 10% of list price- I'd be out of a job!!! And don't get me started on 1 out of every 5 houses being 20% off----come on.
So I ask, What good is it (OR Zhat Zood Zis Zit to be more appropriate)?
In zillow's defense, there are areas on the site which tell you where to get more accurate portrayals of a house's value and that zestimates are a starting point....but that begs my REAL question.....WHY EVEN OFFER A ZESTIMATE? Most of them are very inacurate and cause REALTORS agony in having to explain why they are so off...so what's the benefit of even having it? The non-REALTOR users of the site don't like them either. Check the zestimate section of their discussion boards and you'll find these topic starters (JUST from today):
**My home at 632 Macadamia, 92870 has a Zestimate of $547K while the EXACT SAME MODEL 3 doors away (1507 Victoria, 92870) has a Zestimate of $711K! There is no difference in the condition of the two properties (actually, mine probably has mre upgrades). Some differences are understandable, but that negates the credibility of Zillow. I'm not sure what the problem is, but your assistance in correcting my Zestimate will be greatly appreciated.**
**The price you list our home for on here is too low. Not as nice homes as ours are listed on your site higher.**
**My place is a top floor condo with wiews, totally remodel by an architect. A real gem. Zillow Zestimate is $673/sq. ft. while other comps are an average of $940 per sq. ft. Just wandering how Zillow determinated it for my place considering that none from Zillow visit it. This blind way to Zestimate has the risk of pricing a Ferrari car the same than a Fiat.**
**am the owner of 270 Lafayette Street, Unit 2 in Salem, MA 01970. Our Zillow Zestimate shows our purchase price from 2005, but does not include it in the Zestimate. The explination for why it's not included is rather vague and this was your normal run-of-the-mill real estate transaction. We are currently selling our place and I want to ensure prospective buyers get the most accurate information possible.
Please explain! THIS ONE CAME WITH ANOTHER USERS RESPONSE OF:
**Hey same for me. Zillow will do nothing to fix mistakes, in a week or so a staffer might just grace you with a stock response. (thank god for cut and paste )**
This all boils down to one point. If you must use it, use Zillow for what it's good with, finding properties...but leave the valuation of your home to the professionals!
Jim Ludes | Century 21 Coleman-Hornsby | 815-712-7786
109 E. Mississippi, Elwood, IL
Elwood, IL 2-flat on 3 commercially zoned lots (www.Elwoodcommercial.com)
Multi-Family, 2 units
offered at $175,000
Year Built
Unspecified
Sq Footage
Unspecified
Floors
2
Parking
Car garage
Lot Size
Unspecified
Maint
$0 per month
DESCRIPTION
What a fantastic opportunity to make money monthly while owning commercial property in up and coming Elwood. Lot on the "main drag" could be perfect for bank, offices, store, you-name-it! Property currently has a 2 flat and a huge garage with workshop area, fenced yard w/ above ground pool, close to park! Front one-bedroom rents for $550/month. 2nd unit rents for $700. Great investment!!!
Jim Ludes Grundy/Will County, IL REALTOR
Briscoe played football at the University of Nebraska at Omaha and began his pro football career with my favorite team, the Denver Broncos in 1968. He played quarterback.
ZING! Burn City...and sad but true. While I sent her back a simple email of well wishes "[fiancee], Good luck with everything!" I realized she was 
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