Nick's Blog

Why oh why Countrywide?

Nick Cameron (Keller Williams) — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 08:42:42 -0600

The perils of a Realtor in 2008 have already gotten off to a great start. In one of the many hats I wear as a Realtor is the hat of foreclosure specialist for Countrywide Home Loans. I do not fully understand why the bank does some of the things that they do. Case in point:

We have a property located in Modesto that is a 1500 square foot, 3 bedroom, 2 bath home built in the 1950's. It has original hard wood floors, new roof, new dual pane windows, but the kitchen and bathrooms are outdated. The piece de resistance is the home sits on over an acre in the city, very hard to find.

The bank lost their shirt of this foreclosure and I empathize with them, so when they said list it a $500,000, I did. Even though I told them the property was worth $380,000; that might seem like sticker shock to some, and a real bargain to others depending on where you live.

Every 2 weeks or so they lowered the price and lowered the price till last week we were at $399,000 and it had a chance to sell, we were about to get an offer sight unseen from Los Angeles when in their infinite wisdom they dropped the price to $317,900, which is a deal, the agent from Los Angeles rescinded their original offer and wrote a new one at $300,000.

One stressful weekend later we are sitting on 3 offers with more sure to come. They are giving this property away, and I for one just do not understand why Countrywide as a bank does this?

CAR Court Decision

Nick Cameron (Keller Williams) — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 10:53:55 -0600

I don't know if many of you read the CAR bulletin about issues we face, but I hope most got to see the judgement that was placed yesterday about the Home Equity Purchase Agreement.

For those of you in states not as sue happy as California, we have a specific contract which is to be used when a noticed of default has been recorded against a property. This contract, also know as, the home equity purchase agreement requires that the agent representing the buyer is insured and bonded for twice the value of the property.

The judgement further acclimated why we as agents need to stay on top of all things legal in our business. The seller decided to sue to get his property back because the wrong contract was used and the courts ruled in his favor, and the buyer lost out on his investment purchase. The buyer has since appealed the decision and is trying to get the home back, but we all know in the end the agents and brokers are going to foot the bill for all involved, like we usually do.

I just thought we would all like to know that if you are working with buyers that are trying to purchase a short sale or home in which and NOD has been filed, make sure the you cross your T's and dot your i's.

Negotiation Tatics

Nick Cameron (Keller Williams) — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 21:16:50 -0600

I am sure many of you have read Steven Covey's 7 Habits, and well it is a great book with many great "habits" to live by. I am doing a refresher course on habits that we should all continue to embody throughout our lives.

I decided to purchase the audio version from audible.com, with a new forward by Steven Covey himself. The book is not meant for real estate, but wasn't I amazed at how much of just his forward called out our entire profession.

The part that I got from it most was about negotiations, in it he said you hammer on each other and try and meet in the middle, where both sides feel like they lost, or at lest one feels real taken advantage of. Doesn't that sound familiar? He suggested instead that you (the negotiator) coming up with creative ways where both parties feel like they won in the end.

I just thought it was refreshing to hear that again, and I hope many of you can get a sample of that introduction, very powerful in this "price improving" market.

Negotiation Tatics

Nick Cameron (Keller Williams) — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 21:15:51 -0600

I just thought it was refreshing to hear that again, and I hope many of you can get a sample of that introduction, very powerful in this "price improving" market.

Alliance Title Woes

Nick Cameron (Keller Williams) — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 10:45:47 -0600

In a very woe is me Edgar Allen Poe way, I find it hard to believe what is taking place in the local California Market. For those of you who have not heard yet, the title company with the largest market share in Northern California have shut their doors, 2 weeks before Christmas and in the midst of the holiday season. Part of the problem could be they have bounced checks to their landlords for the last 3 months!

The reason I find this very hard to believe is quite frankly I thought people had business sense, but I am sadly mistaken. In the heyday of quick sales and refinancing every weekend, Alliance title went and purchased all escrow officers that they could, giving huge signing bonuses and raising their fees in turn, in hopes that all agents alike would flock our business there. I for one did not, because their fees were higher. The writing had been on the wall for a while that this was coming, but it has left us in bad shape.

Some of us are still doing business and thriving, but we are left with few choices on who to work with, especially on REO's and some short sales. I just want to take this moment and thank Chicago Title, located next door to us, for at least being honest a year ago and telling us they were cutting back so they could survive, and not lie and act like they were increasing in a "bad market."

Uplifting Story - Bring Hope to your Life!

Nick Cameron (Keller Williams) — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 12:49:09 -0600

It is a 5 minute video, I know the article below is a little long, I just would like for you to read it! Thank You everybody who has shown support!

This is the story of how my wife and I met, which is a very "WWII-esque" story. We met through letters while I was deployed overseas fighting for our country. She is a 3 time cancer survivor, and I am a 2 time combat veteran, this is our story below and our wedding video above. I hope everyone enjoys it.

By Jeff Jardine

On what promises to be a warm and spectacular day in July, Kristen Taylor and Nick Cameron will say their "I do's" outdoors at a hotel in Lodi.

She'll walk up the aisle to a flower-covered archway where Cameron and the minister await.

It's a moment that should have occurred 365 days earlier or, if insurgents in Iraq had had better aim, never at all.

Because even though Taylor and Cameron aren't yet married, they've already endured enough fear, setbacks, heartbreak and tensions together to last a lifetime. But nothing has dampened their love for each other or their enthusiasm for their future.

They've coped with the death of his brother, who was in the Marines. And Nick Cameron saw death and destruction while serving tours in Afghanistan and Iraq.

She is fighting melanoma, which began with a single mole and has returned twice. She's had two surgeries, including one that caused the couple to postpone their scheduled July 2006 wedding one year.

They waded through Cameron's readjustment to civilian life after he mustered out of the Army in 2004.

Through it all, they discovered they were meant to meet, to date, to fall in love and to be married - life's obstacles be damned.

Here's their story: Taylor graduated from Johansen High in 1999, the same year Nick Cameron graduated from Beyer. Both participated in speech competitions, but never against each other.

Cameron attended California State University, Monterey Bay, dropped out after his freshman year, and enlisted in the Army.

Taylor went on to Chico State and began working toward her teaching credential. She taught at Modesto High before joining Johansen's staff, where her mother, Yvonne Taylor, and Cameron's mom, Marcia Cameron, teach.

In October 2001, 22-year-old Marine Cpl. Jeremy Cameron - Marcia's son and Nick's brother - was killed in a training exercise at Camp Pendleton, near San Diego. Taylor accompanied her mother to Jeremy's funeral in Modesto.

As the only surviving son, Nick Cameron said, he was given the option of leaving the Army ahead of schedule.

"But I wanted to finish (his commitment), to do what's right," he said.

A few months later, he shipped out to Afghanistan, serving with Bravo Company in the 3rd Battalion, 505th Infantry Regiment. When he returned in September 2003, his mother staged a welcome-home party. She took the week off to prepare. Taylor, now doing her student teaching, substituted that week.

Marcia Cameron invited her and others in the English department to the party, and that is where Taylor formally met Nick Cameron.

"I was there for maybe 10 minutes because I had a blind date," she said. "But I still remember what he was wearing: a 'Hard Rock Cafe, Bagram, Afghanistan' shirt. It was a joke."

Cameron returned to his base at Fort Bragg, N.C., when his leave ended and learned from watching TV that his unit would soon head to Iraq.

At Marcia Cameron's request, Taylor began writing letters to Cameron.

"I started writing once a week, then twice a week," she said. "Just mundane things that happened. I didn't want to write anything heavy, considering what he was going through over there."

She was hired to teach freshman English at Modesto High and required each of her students to write a 'Dear Soldier' letter.

"I passed them out to soldiers who didn't get much mail," Cameron said.

Military mail being what it is, he'd get a stack of a dozen letters at a time. And while he frequently e-mailed or called his parents, he never wrote letters.

"I had no time," he said.

Then, he wrote one.

"One letter the entire time, and it was to me," said Taylor, who now teaches at Johansen. "I was dating a guy at the time, and I broke it off. It affected me. I concluded there might be something here."

On his final day in Iraq, though, Cameron's unit came upon an explosive device in the road. They stopped to check it out, and found themselves under mortar attack.

"I remember thinking, 'We've made it through all of this, and now we're gonna die,'" he said "That didn't happen, obviously."

He returned to Modesto on Memorial Day 2004, and Taylor invited him to speak to her classes.

For their first date, he took her to Papapavlo's Mediterranean restaurant in Modesto.

"It turned into a five-hour lunch," Taylor said.

They discovered his Beyer High debate team partner, Amanda Heiner, had been Taylor's best friend growing up. They had other common friends as well.

"We had all these connections," she said.

Learning he's a die-hard Giants fan, she bought him tickets to a game at AT&T Park. She didn't know his parents were season ticket holders, but he played the role of the good soldier.

"I didn't say anything that my parents' seats were better than hers were," Cameron said.

They now were officially dating. Cameron, who became a real estate salesman, soon suggested they buy a home together, and it was clear they were headed toward an engagement. She agreed on the condition that she had a ring on her finger within six months, and he came through as promised. He proposed at Papapavlo's, where they had their first date, and they planned a July 2, 2006, wedding.

Not so fast.

Back in May 2002, while getting ready to graduate from Chico State, Taylor noticed that a mole on her left leg had started to change. She went to a doctor, who wanted her to see a dermatologist. But her insurer at the time considered it cosmetic and refused to pay to have it removed, she said. So the other doctor took it off at the surface and, though it was malignant, told her she had a 1 percent chance of having it return.

Four years later, she noticed a lump on her hip. Doctors at the University of California at San Francisco Medical Center removed 28 lymph nodes from her left hip and groin. Only one was cancerous, but they started her on chemotherapy.

Her father, retired Modesto police detective Ray Taylor, went to every appointment with her. The cancer tested Cameron, who gave her shots in her stomach.

"I always felt the need to do more," he said. "I didn't know what to do."

He felt he needed to be stoic and strong, as his military training dictated.

"I tried to be positive reinforcement," he said. "I never wanted to cry. I wanted to be strong for her."

She needed him to be less Army and more fiancé.

"We had some tense moments," Taylor said. "I needed to talk about my mortality. If I did, I could get it out."

The cancer returned seven months later, this time in her spleen. Because the body can live without the spleen, she wasn't considered terminal. So she had it removed in the fall of 2006 and has been cancer-free since.

There are caveats: She's still considered a Stage IV melanoma patient. And she's gone from having a 1 percent chance of having the cancer again - as was the case after having the first mole removed - to an 80 percent chance it will return at some point in life.

"I'm OK with it," Taylor said. "I've accepted that it's part of my life.

She'll need to go five years without a recurrence to be considered in remission, and if the disease returns, she won't be able to have children.

Yet these two young people forge ahead smiling, grateful to have each other.

Yes, they should have gotten married a year earlier than their new July 1 date. But considering what they've endured in such a short time together, they'll take it.

Practice makes perfect?

Nick Cameron (Keller Williams) — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 16:48:57 -0600

Have you heard the term, practice makes perfect? Well, I think we all have, but this cliché is flawed. Practice does not make perfect, it makes permanent. Perfect practice makes perfect. We stress in our business to do the right thing all the time, however, many of us practice doing the wrong thing and it makes it permanent.

If it is something that we enjoy we are able to easily institute it in our daily lives, like a trip to Starbucks, eating McDonald's, doing anything that brings personal satisfaction for a couple of moments. On the other hand, talking on the phone (cold calls), door knocking, open houses, FSBO's, pop-by's, it is real hard for us to get into the habit of doing it everyday, and therefore makes it hard to get great at it. Those out there with systematic plans of action will always come out on top. My last thought of the day is that a system is an artificial skill. So if you are not good on the phone, get a system, stick with it and you will have that skill.

Welcome to real estate 101

Nick Cameron (Keller Williams) — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 13:33:54 -0600

I made a comment on someone else's blog yesterday about interesting stories you are never told when you join the real estate industry. I thought everyone would appreciate this one.

I was taught that door knocking in one of Modesto's exclusive neighborhoods, I was taught it is the right thing to do, and in California's crazy market I needed clients, so that is what I did. I ended up listing a million dollar home in my first month, and I promised my sellers I would per-approve all buyers before they walked through the door.

One month into the listing there has been a lot of interest in the property but no offers, and then I get a call from a woman, let's call her Rosie. Rosie asks me if I can show her the property right then, (I ignored this red flag, blamed it on the market) I told her you have to be pre approved in order to see the home and she said no problem and gave me her financial advisor's number at Merrill Lynch.

He faxed me a paper that showed she was worth 3 million liquid and had substantial holdings, so she can afford the house. I set up an appointment for that Friday at 5:15pm, I did my due diligence and arrived 15 minutes early to have my sellers leave so I could show the property without interference, but the client had beat me to the punch and was already there, watering flowers?!?!? I asked one of my sellers how long she had been there and they said about 15 minutes, they weren't going to let her inside until I had shown up and they also gave her permission to look around the 1 acre.

As I went to greet her near the rear of the property I heard a splash in the fenced pool area, when I opened the gate, I proceeded to find a buck naked women in her early 50's going for a little swim, much to my surprise she casually got out of the pool and walked over to me naked slipped her dress back on and asked if I could help zip her up! Much to my amazement I had no idea what to do, I asked her to leave and went back to my office immediately, and completely embarrassed.

I called her financial officer and he told me she wasn't all there, you think chief, I could have used that information yesterday! I asked a couple people in my office if stuff happened like this often and I got a resounding no, with lots of laughter. I will forever be known at my first office for this experience.

It just goes to show that in the end we all grow in real estate, and learn from these debacles.

6830 Blue Gum, Modesto, CA

Nick Cameron (Keller Williams) — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 17:32:25 -0600

This is a remarkable ranchette in Modesto, CA. Over 15 acres for the entire property included are 3 homes, the main home is over 2400 square feet, 3 bedroom and 3 bathrooms, new granite counters and beautiful cabinets. The second home is a 3 bedroom 1 bath 1100 square feet of harwood floor paradise, with it's own attatched parking and personal backyard. The last is a little 600 square foot bungalow 1 bedroom and 1 bathroom. The property has 10 acres of almonds, over 50 chestnut trees, and 2 squab houses. All is offered at $1,050,000.

For more information check out www.MoveModesto.com

Motivation for Today

Nick Cameron (Keller Williams) — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 16:30:50 -0600

We had a saying in the army that false motivation was better than no motivation at all. I feel that we as agents can learn a lot from this mantra and know that sometimes we have to fake it in order to make it. My wife comes to me all the time and tells me how many people say, "Your husband is in real estate tight? Wow, must be hard for you two." She responds with a resounding no, not really, he is having his best year to date, a fact that I am really proud of. They congratulate us and then ask how am I doing it and can I help them. Holy smokes, even if it were not true that I was doing well, people want to know how it is done!

This taught me one thing in this market out here in California, in the last 40 days our local news media has ran 33 stories about how horrible real estate and real estate agents are. When anyone here's about some agents succeeding they want to know how you are doing it and if they can join you. So I all I can say to everyone is just pretend you are having a great year, wear a smile, be happy and thank all who are still in the market and more business will come your way. Remember if you act enthusiastic you will be enthusiastic.

Who gave you permission?

Nick Cameron (Keller Williams) — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 18:52:42 -0600

How many of us have said that we need to get back to basics in this market? The we being all of us in the industry, title, loan officers, and agents. I am sure it has been said in a sales meeting or two. It has been hammered into us at trainings and seminars. Dick Dillingham asked us a great question just a few weeks ago in response, who gave you permission to leave the basics in the first place?

He brings up such a great point for all of us to follow. Why did we leave in the first place? This is my 4^th year in the industry, but there is another quote that we need to follow, it is your first year every year, you just have more practice. For example, this is my first year in real estate, for the fourth time. And remember practice does not make perfect, practice makes permanent, perfect practice makes perfect.

So, before you go back to the basics, know that you should have never left in the first place, and also know that when your market turns again, continue on with the basics, just add more flare.

Are you a rocking chair agent?

Nick Cameron (Keller Williams) — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 10:33:22 -0600

Are you guilty of being a rocking chair agent? Maybe I should explain what that is first. A rocking chair is a lot of movement with actually going anywhere, get it? So again, I ask the question, are you a rocking chair agent?

The type of agent I am referring to will make sure that no matter what it seems like they are the busiest person alive, yet they don't actually accomplish anything. You know, walk back and forth from the copier, check the fax, check email, check everything but the expired phone log and make a few calls. Do not get sucked in by this agent if you are not one, and well if you are one, stop.

We all from time to time are guilty of this, yes, but that does not mean you should become a professional at it. A rocking chair agent is also a professional victim. That's right a professional victim. Somehow, someway something in their life is always going wrong and they try to bring you into it. The use words, like no this time it is different, or the vehemently deny that they are victims while they tell you there victim stories.

To avoid these kind of agents Mike Ferry suggests that you lock your door and put "Quiet, Prospecting Taking Place, Do Not Disturb," or something along those lines. It truly is a good idea. Also, don't ignore those in your office either; you still need to be a team player.

Blog Curriculum

Nick Cameron (Keller Williams) — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 10:30:07 -0600

I think I have a lot to share with agents out there, and if I am going to follow through with my goal to be a master faculty member, I am going to blog a little each day about classes that I teach and words of wisdom for the industry. I will try and keep them upbeat and a little funny, and if you have suggestions reply back and I will work them in the blog curriculum. So stay tuned for learning the Nick Cameron way.

Do you have a smart shelf?

Nick Cameron (Keller Williams) — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 17:30:18 -0600

All right everybody, it is time to take your stuff off the smart shelf. You know what I am talking about, you go to a seminar, get all jazzed up about learning new stuff, then you put it on the same shelf with all the other materials that got you jazzed up, and now only the shelf is smart.

All too often, myself included, we go to these great events and don't reread the material often enough. So, in my infinite wisdom, I thought as we as a group plan for 2008, we might as well start using the smart shelf to out benefit. We also need to make our goals public, so everyone on here can hold one another accountable. Let me be the first to start:

1) My team will close 60 transactions in the year 2008

2) WE will make our client base happy in the process

3) I will become a master faculty for Keller Williams Realty

4) I will go to family reunion

5) I will blog 5 times a week

Those are just a quick few, later this year, the blog with all my goals will be posted, I just thought this might all warm us up. I look forward to your comments, and by that I would like them to be your goals and I will check on them later next year, up for the challenge?

Car Wash Weekend!

Nick Cameron (Keller Williams) — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 11:32:43 -0600

We had a great weekend raising money for the San Diego fire victims. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those that came out this weekend and contributed. We raised around $1000 dollars this weekend, and although that is not a lot, I for one know every little bit helps.

Be Thankful!

Nick Cameron (Keller Williams) — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 15:34:58 -0500

As the Holiday season rolls around I thought I would bring up some reasons why I am truly thankful that I am in such a great industry, and a great company. Real estate has rewarded me for the last few years, and Keller Williams has rewarded me this year, and for that I am thankful.

Being in real estate has been phenomenal for growing as a person. It is such a self motivated business one can't help but to self reflect all the time. In these periods of self reflection great personal growth often does happen. I served in the military for 4 years and spent time overseas, I was a very cynical and sarcastic person. I never grew as an individual and my personal self was always evaluated as higher than everyone else.

Thank You Realtors® for making me a better person. I have met so many people in this industry that make me want and need to be a better person. In no other aspect of life have there been so many people who care about everyone else as much as most agents do. And, as good as you make us all feel, it, in the end, makes us better people. It is through your careful practice and understanding and success that have paved the way for someone as new as me, 4 years in.

Keller Williams, where do I begin? I have yet to meet one person in the Keller Williams family who has not selflessly cared about everyone else over themselves yet. All of you, and I seriously mean that, have made me so much more than I ever was before, you care more about my family, friends, neighborhood and livelihood, than most people ever would. You want to make sure all aspects of my life are going well, not just real estate, and by doing that, you inevitably make my real estate practice that much better. I look forward to the day when I can reward every single person that works at this great company and show all of them how much they mean to me.

All in all, life is great as long as you never look too far ahead and you don't forget or dwell on the past, but rather live in the moment of focus on those near you. Make them better and they will make you better. Have a great Keller Williams day.

Wonderful Estate in Oakdale, Ca

Nick Cameron (Keller Williams) — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 12:00:11 -0500

This is a wonderful property located in Oakdale, Ca. It is a 4400+ square foot home with 4 bedrooms and 5 bathrooms. This estate is located on just less than 5 acres and has a tranquil creek running through the back of the property. Granite counters on all kitchen and bathroom counters. It has cat-5 wiring throughout, braced and wired for flat screen televisions. Crown molding, closet organizers, 3 heating and air conditioning systems are just a few of the amenities. Wine connoisseur? You will love the 200+ wine storage room, that is hermetically sealed and humidifier controlled.

Check out more at http://www.11625horseshoerd.com/ or http://www.MoveModesto.com

Scare Tatics

Nick Cameron (Keller Williams) — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 11:01:36 -0500

The Modesto Bee here in Modesto, Ca has decided to run a 3 day "expose" of real estate in the Northern San Joaquin valley. We have had the highest forecloasure rate in America for the last 4 months. It was a very doomsday style article, quoting people who prophesized the market will remain down for 3 more years, rents are going to go under, the possibility that the economy will get even worse.

I prefer to start positive, and property is always worth buying, always. Flipping is an art, and in every market and every situation you have to have a deep knowledge of the product and you have to have the ability to lose. This is why I do not flip homes. Purchasing property is to live in, or to hold and earn income and equity over a long period of time. I feel part of our issue as a public, myself included, is we are so used to everything coming as instantly as possible, and therefore all our time frames have been moved up in our minds as soon as possible. If you do not plan on having the home for a minimum of 4 years, don't buy it. It is not that complicated. Also, about "predatory" lending, yes, it happened. In most cases of the bad loans or bad loan products, the purchaser did not plan on staying in the home. That is not the fault of the bank or the loan officer. Property is not meant to be an ATM machine. Buying homes is still a good idea, and in the long run it is worth the money, even if it has lost money over the last year. I was one of the many, many buyers who purchased a home in 2005. I was chastised for putting money down and having a conventional loan because I planned on staying in the property. Now, I have made all my payments I am not upside down, I could sell if I had to and I am happy, and all my money will come back and I do not need to refinance. I love real estate.

On the newspaper, no one knows what will exactly happen in the future. No one. We do know that property values in the long run will go higher, but when is anyone's guess. The paper makes all of its money living in the past playing the devil's advocate, yet we as a public rally behind them like they are experts. The media is just great at reading what happened last week. I would like to bring to all our attention that in 1948 Time magazine said property prices have reached a peak. A peak? In 1948 the average price of a home in California was lower than the average yearly salary now. They are great at inciting a panic, not letting us know where we are going tomorrow. I just hope that first time home buyers talk to those who have made good decisions and not ones who have made bad decisions.

Where have all our manners gone?

Nick Cameron (Keller Williams) — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 11:00:56 -0500

Etiquette has passed our society at 90 miles an hour as we scream down the information highway of life. Friday I was blessed to be able to take my lovely wife to the 20^th anniversary of the Central West Ballet at the brand new Gallo Center for the Arts in Modesto, Ca. This was my first experience in the realm of ballet, and I left disappointed. My disappointment was not at the ballet, but rather at the attendees of said ballet.

First, put the cell phones away, no seriously, take it out of your pocket and turn it off. All cell phones have an off button in order to fly on aircraft, but that is not the only reason the button exists! In this cell phone age of large colorful displays it makes a huge difference when you check your text messages, or email, or missed calls, in a darkened theater. It is not considerate of those around you to stay in contact that often. As opposed to movies, where I am still greatly against the use of cell phones, there is even a break after 90 minutes. If your life is so busy that you can not stay out of touch with someone for 90 minutes, you should not be at the ballet. In a 3 hour performance there were 15 rings around me and hundreds of checking the phone, for whatever reason. We could not even go 10 minutes without a violation of etiquette.

Second, what is with the incessant clapping? In the first 20 minutes of the ballet we have clapped for 13 of them, I timed because I was flabbergasted. Granted we were there to honor those who have served for 20 years at the Central West Ballet, but praise comes in due time, and will lose meaning after it is done too much. The clapping fell to normal levels after the first hour, this could be because our hands were now raw, and feeling had returned after our 13 minute clap fest.

Last, the ballet. I enjoyed the short performances very much. It was a great introduction into the world of ballet, and modern dance. Lori Bryhni even threw in a little Metallica for me. All in all I had a good time with good people. I just wish more of them were cog nascent of those around.

Help the Fire Victims this Weekend!

Nick Cameron (Keller Williams) — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 10:27:31 -0500

With the current turmoil in Southern California, we at Keller Williams have decided to help out those displaced by the fires. We are going to host a car wash this Sunday in Tracy, and then one in Modesto, all proceeds will directly to the victims of this horrible disaster. Our goal is to have you tell all people you know about this and email as many people as you can, furthermore; we would like to raise $6000 dollars. I know that is not a huge amount but every little thing we can do is good, and it lets them, the victims, know we still care and that we are here for them. I have experienced a few tragedies in my life and I know how devastating this can be to the moral of a family. I have not heard some of the sad stories but I am sure that there are single mothers who no longer have a place to take care of their children and no place to work as that has probably burned down. So, for those of us in the same state let's see if we can help out our southern brethren and raise some money for them.

Becoming More Purposeful

Nick Cameron (Keller Williams) — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 10:17:28 -0500

We all start most days with the best of intentions, I for one, do it all the time. I just took a course (hands down best one in my real estate career) titled Quantum Leap. In this course it taught a lot of us that we approach each day as entrepreneurial rather than purposeful. We start with energy and drive, excitement and enthusiasm, effort and natural behavior. The underlying meaning is that will only take each of us so far. We must start approaching life, not just work or finances, with purpose. Going at life with focus, options, models, systems, and accountability are important to becoming purposeful. In the class the instructor, Dick Dillingham, asked me to try and pick up a pen that he had laid down on my table, so I preceded to pick it up. Dick said no, I didn't say pick up the pen, I just want you to try and pick up the pen. The enlightenment that I got from this little exercise is that trying gives you a way out, but if you approach a subject, task, or life conundrum with a plan, you do not need to try, you will actually succeed, and therefore failure is not an option. The groundwork for a successful life has been laid out in front of us all by others, and it is high time that we follow them on this path to greatness and forge ahead. I for one know that begins now with me.

Why now is the time to purchase REO's / Foreclosures

Nick Cameron (Keller Williams) — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 11:43:15 -0500

What a lot of people do not yet realize, this is the time to purchase foreclosures in real estate. Banks are going to need the write-offs when the first of the year rolls around. In order to get the write-offs most are going to negotiate a little bit more, or come down in price a little bit more. When approaching the banks with the intent to purchase make sure who actually is the one servicing the loan. Once you find out, for example, Countrywide, you will want to get pre-approved, or pre-qualified through them. The reason for this is if they get to keep the "paper", loan with that compnay, they are not going to lose as much money, if say Wells Fargo, or Bank of Americahad the loan. Moreover, do not ask for a lot of work to completed on the property. Granted, they may do it, but at what cost and time frames. Most, banks are going to want to do an "as is" sale. Make sure that you use a qualified Realtor for the negotiations, it does not have to be the listing agent, but it can be. In the central valley, more specifically, Modesto for myself, foreclosures and REO's are at an all time high. Close to 50% of our market are short sale or foreclosure properties. The ability to take advantage of this market is fantastic, especially because the feds just decided to lower rates last week. It is possible to get a 30 year fixed currently at 6%, jumbo loans, anything over 407k, are still high interest and are not as easily qualified for.