We are in some changing times!  The clock changed, the weather is changing, the economy is changing, the price of gas is changing, and the leader of our country will be changed.  As Realtors we have to be resilient to change or find ourselves in the Realtor graveyard that so many have thrown themselves in when it became less easy to make a buck.

I love this business because I get to talk to people and meet new friends and working is not like work when you love it.  The changes that come with this career can help us learn to adapt to many different situations and realize that there so many different people in the world that we need to make sure who we are before we go out and meet people.  By changing ourselves to adapt we are actually becoming more stable within because we learn more about ourselves and understand people better and this makes us better Realtors.

A motivational speaker came to one of our meetings and said that we need to spend more money on ourselves than we do on our business.  She meant more money improving ourselves.  Of course she was trying to get us to buy a ticket to her seminar, but I believe her in part minus the money.  We need to spend more time on ourselves and improving our personalities and adjusting ourselves to our environment with people and within real estate than time spent on the business alone.  This doesn't mean to not make those phone calls or emails or ignore our business but to learn with every step throughout the day how to improve ourselves so that our business will improve.  We can even spend time researching online ways to improve the nice parts about ourselves.

One last thing that my current boss said to me is to focus on the good things about my personality and forget about the bad things.  What we focus on becomes bigger.  So whether it's negative or positive we can increase features of our personality so it just makes sense to focus on the positive!

So, changing and adapting ourselves to survive is an age-old event.  Adaptation.  Survivability.  Natural selection.  Does this ring any bells?  As I was a scientist for so many years I love to look at science and recognize how we are all just living things on this planet and we are all pretty much the same.  We've all agreed to turn our clocks back in the fall, fall back, and turn our clocks forward in the spring, spring forward.  We've all decided to be in real estate on our own accord and those of us who stick out these changing economic times have made a choice to adapt to our environment. 

How can I possibly end this without a comment about the recent election....  Well, I can and I will.  You can draw your own conclusions!

Have a Super Fabulous and Wonderful Day!

Hi Friends,

I recently was inspired at my office meeting on Tuesday.  Because I am new to Coldwell Banker I'm not exactly sure the name of Betty Graham's position but I know she is way up there.  Anyway, she made reference to a Bluegrass song with the lyrics, "The darkest night comes just before the dawn."  She went on to give more inspiring thoughts and ideas but then on Saturday she was very kind to send us all a long letter of encouragement regarding the market.

She said not to worry about the market day to day and don't peak at your 401K and also to not talk about your personal stress in this changing situation.  I thought it was very nice of her to take the time to write a long letter to all of us agents.

She predicts that in 2009 we will triple our transactions...here's hoping!

(but it is nice to see what happened on Wall Street today!)

Melody:)

What a long wait.  My short sale is done and final and I get my check tomorrow.  I will never do a short sale again unless I am helping a friend.

The listing agent is a not-so-easy person to get along with.

I'll write more later...my clients love me and I will lease their house and they have friends....I'm smelling referrals.

When I recover I will give you the low down.

P.S.  not my birthday...that was august 26th, but this feels like my bd!

I know a lot of you have seen this site, but if you haven't, please take a look at www.lenderimplode.com.  It is truly eye-opening.

If you are ever feeling giddy or overly optimistic, take a look at this site and it will bring you back down to earth.  Can Fannie and Freddie be saved?

Hi my dear friends,

I am happy to inform you that I am closing this 5+ month long short (haha) sale that I've been all upset about.  We had 5 days to close.  My clients are both physicians....not only MDs, but specialists and own businesses.  Their tax forms are like 40 pages long.  It took several more days and more days...and the listing agent was harrassing me about the house going into foreclosure if we don't get the loan docs by a certain day.

Well, this government mandate requires lenders to do everything within their power to keep a property from foreclosure.

Just a tidbit when someone's on your back!  grrrrrr!  We are closing and if I never have to talk to the listing agent again, it will be too soon.

Melody:)

Happy Cows live in California?

My son has always called me moo since he was a baby...we have a cute relationship about cows.  And if any of you relate to Gary Larson(Larsen)...Cows of our planet.  My son is now 13.5 and still loves calling me "cow."  It's a beautiful name when I hear him on the phone when he's with his dad.  I don't think the tradition will falter.  I plan to take him to see some other cows in Switzerland next summer.  Cows are cute.

I just commented on a blog that reminded me what my father's advice is and his hope for me.  The blog was about having so many clients in one day that it was becoming a circus.

My father is a broker and he sees what I'm doing but his firm advice to me always is, don't let Real Estate consume your life.  YOu need to make sure you keep other things going on in your life.  Don't discard your hobbies and ignore your friends to make that deal.

I just finished my first year of Chinese Medicine.  I have three more to go before I can practice, and although I'm paying to go to school and it takes my time, my father is always more concerned if I miss class than if I am missing real estate meetings.  He says this because he knows that real estate can control your life if you let it.

I think that if we don't forget to include all of our interests while pursuing our real estate goals we will be able to give our clients more!

Hello Friends,

This is short and I hope sweet.  I do not claim to be Madonna, but she has really got something on reinvention.  Do we, as Realtors, have to keep reinventing ourselves?

I think that we are taught a certain structure of what we should do to be successful, but one person told me to remember to market myself with a special talent or skill to set me apart.  Other people have told me it's a numbers game.  I have to put the pedal to the metal. 

One thing I've learned about myself is that I have to be myself.  I can put all of these tools to work, but within my abilities!  I recently read on Dagmar Sands blog about being a secret agent....check it out because if we don't advertise, nobody will know who we are.

I recently had the experience of selling a refrigerator.  I'm usually pretty shy about telling people I have something for sale.   But today, because of my real estate experience, I told the cashier at Rite Aid and I told my friend in chat and I think I may have sold my fridge because I said something!

We all chose sales so as long as we can get over ourselves and just talk to people and get out there...my boss says, there is no way you cannot be successful!

Do I have to reinvent or just understand who I am to begin with?

XO to all my real estate friends...

Melody:)

Dear Friends,

I am new to real estate, per se, as a licensed agent.  I really thought that I would come in and knock the socks off of everyone with my finesse and skill!

Much to my dismay, this market is not taking what I'm putting out.  Well, I hear this from a lot of agents.  As a lot of you may already know, I've been working on a short sale for months, but I don't want to address the short sale as much as I would like to address the emotional stranglehold it's got on me.

I really had to take a different look at myself.  I'm pretty smart and have had a lot of good things come my way, but geez, when the short sale hit, I really took it to the teeth!  I've had to redesign my character in ways that I never thought possible.  Accept things I would never accept and reject things I would have possibly accepted in the beginning.

Being a Realtor is a strange commission.  You must be something different than you thought when you started out.  You must be intelligent, flexible, loving, caring, intuitive, .....MacGyver!

Besides, you should be able to ride your bike with no handlebars,....can I ride my bike with no handlebars?

Of course I can!

Melody:)

So, the others don't know what we're talking about.  Do you live in Southern California?  Do you work in Pasadena?  Do you drive down Lake Avenue every day to work like I do?

Yes, Indy Mac is the 265th bank that imploded (www.lenderimplode.com) and we should see more, but do you really know what it's like?

Tell me how you think it will be when the next 17 banks implode!!  See the list!  at www.lenderimplode.com

After this I can do ANYTHING!

After you read that, please click on the link for the cure.  I survived real estate 2008 at the Nixon Library

http://isurvived2008.com/on-the-panel/christopher-thornberg/

You've probably already seen this but I'm going! 

Yours truly,

Melody:)