Bob's Blog

Introducing the NEW Owasso Magazine (and its editor!)

2008-08-12T17:08:02Z

Owasso is a growing community. We're the kind of town where we were all excited when Wal-Mart decided to build a supercenter here. That was several years ago and since then, we've added a Home Depot and a Lowes and lots of new restaurants.

One of the newest features to come to our town is the brand new "Owasso" Magazine. This publication is the vision of its founder, creator and editor Anna Holton-Dean. The first edition just hit the streets and the response around town is...wow!

Here's a pic of the first cover.

I sat down with Anna today to get to know her a little bit better and to find out about the magazine. Here's a couple of facts about her that I thought were interesting...

She was born in Lake Charles, LA (anybody remember which hurricane hit there?)

She and her husband moved to Owasso in May of 2007 to take a job. On top of moving she also...

got married, graduated from grad school and lost her grandmother all in the same month. Needless to say, May 2007 stands out in her mind as one of those life changing moments when her life seriously changed.

I asked her why she decided to publish the new Owasso magazine. She told me that she had been thinking about publishing a magazine of some sort for quite a while. Most of this thinking happened when she was working as an editor for the Oklahoma magazine and other publications. Her husband was supportive and when they arrived in Owasso, she saw immediate potential. "There wasn't anything like it in Owasso," she said. So with a little bit of faith (or is that a lot???), their own money, a Macintosh computer and a ton of invested time, off she went.

When you pick up a copy, I think you'll agree that it was a good investment!

Currently, the magazine is free, but subscriptions are available. It will be published monthly beginning in October.

This first edtition focused on back to school with stories about the Owasso football program. However, each month will include stories on each of the following:

A special feature (like a person of interest)
A local church
A local business
A city official
An Owasso "when" photo
A dining directory

Anna wrote the copy for the entire magazine and edited it herself. In addition, she oversaw the pics, put together the intial advertising and worked with a graphic designer to create the beatiful Owasso logo for the cover.

She has a website up at www.owassomagazine.com. There will be content added to her website soon, so be patient as it is still under construction.

If you'd like to contact Anna to submit story ideas or to advertise, she can be emailed at publisher@owassomagazine.com

I'll post up a pic of Anna as soon as I get one that she "approves"

Welcome to Owasso!

2008-08-07T21:47:29Z

The land rush finally made it to Oklahoma! As of Thursday, August 7, 2008, we are on the map - that being Localism.com.

So welcome to our town!

Take a moment to check out our pics, read some of our articles and check out Owasso. In the days to come, I'll be adding neighborhoods and pics from around town. For now, suffice it to say that Owasso is one of the cleanest and nices places you can live in the US.

If you're looking to move to the Greater Tulsa area, be sure to give me a call! I've got a dynamic team of four amazing people who can help you find that house you will want to call your home. I'll be introducing the team to the world soon. So stay tuned for more on that.

In the meantime take note! School starts next Wednesday. To enroll, you MUST live within the Owasso fence line OR have a pending contract on a house. Speaking of school, Wal-Mart now has all the supplies you need as well as lists for each elementary school.

Drop us a note to say hi or zip over to our website for more info on our incredible town and to find that special home you've been looking for!

Be Careful What you Write!

2008-08-07T11:52:08Z

Ah, the wonderful art of blogging.

You can say what is on your mind
You can give advice
You can tell funny stories
You can make comments
You can even make yourself look very smart or very stupid, depending on what you say!

If you've been a blogger for very long, you know that sometimes people actually read the stuff we write. And sometimes they make comments. And sometimes they even take what we write to heart!

Take for example, Lindsey Clark, one of our newest AR members.

Lindsey had been reading some of my posts in regards to making the jump into real estate from another career and all the adventures I've been having. And I guess I must have written something that was pretty good at some point along the way because Lindsey sent me an email saying she appreciated my blogs.

I thought, "Wow! How cool is that!!!"

Then she mentioned that she's thinking about jumping into real estate, so I told her the most important thing I could think of. Join Active Rain!!!

And she did!

So do me a favor and run over to her new AR profile and welcome her to the Rain! Click here to find Lindsey

Welcome to a wonderful community Lindsey. I know you'll find a ton of new friends here and lots of great advice! Let me be the first to cristen your new real estate ship for the high seas adventure you're about to take!

Vituperate

2008-08-05T10:03:13Z

Never heard that word before? Me either!

I saw it this morning when I logged onto the internet and looked at my Dictionary word of the day in IGoogle.

IGoogle is a new feature of Google. You can pick your background and choose various items to have show up each time you log onto Google. In my IGoogle page I have a calendar, weather, dictionary word of the day and even videos from Youtube. You can change, add and remove whichever "widgets" you want on your page at any time. It's pretty cool.

Now, back to Vituperate.

According to the Dictionary word of the day it means to overwhelm with wordy abuse.

Hmmm.

I'm thinking here for a minute...

Where have I run into people who vituperate....

Hmmm.

Lawyers? Maybe
Telephone sales people? Yep
People I've known? Uh-huh
Me? Oh NEVER!!!
Real Estate Agents? Oh surely not!

Lesson of the day as learned on IGoogle Dictionary word of the day...Don't Vituperate people no matter who you are or what you do!

Have fun out there! It's only gonna be around 106 degrees here today!

Sunset

2008-08-04T22:29:37Z

Here in Oklahoma, we don't get awesome sunsets very often. But sometimes it happens.

This picture was taken on my Blackberry Sunday night. I had been visiting with a client and had walked out to go to my van (in the pic) when we saw this spectacular sight. Wow.

It was so pretty that he ran back into the house and grabbed his wife. We just kind of stood there in the driveway for a long time watching the sun fade into the distance as the beams of light got more focused and then faded. It was a perfect moment.

You don't get very many perfect moments in real estate, but when they come they are sweet.

Perfect moments I've enjoyed since going into real estate 1 1/2 years ago have included...

Helping a single mom successfully sell her home after her husband passed away this year during our ice storm.

Selling my first million dollars in real estate! That was fun!

Getting to be Rookie of the year for 2007 with my company.

Watching a young couple literally fall in love with the house they were walking through and watching them (and helping them) to make it their own.

Real estate is an amazing career. It's challenging at times and heartbreaking as well. You can be highly successful in this business or flop miserably. It largely depends on how hard you want to work at it.

At the end of the day though, it is moments like a beautiful sunset in a driveway with satisfied clients that make it worth the time and effort.

Owasso Logo

2008-08-02T18:09:17Z

This is the official logo of Owasso, OK. Owasso is supposed to be an Indian word meaning end of the trail. Owasso was at the end of the trail or a turn around point. As the story goes, the Owasso railroad station had been built by the Northern Pacific Railroad company and marked the end of the line that ran from Minneapolis to Oklahoma.

I don't know if that is true or not, but this is what most folks hold to be true.

Owasso is a community of 26,552 according to Zipskinny.com.

One of the features of our town is that Tulsa is only 10 minutes south. Tulsa is much larger at just under 400,000 people (2000 census count). That means everything you need can be found there IF we don't have it in Owasso. Of course, with the internet and high gas prices, trips to Tulsa don't happen as much these days as they did in the past. My family used to take daily trips to Tulsa. This was before we had a Wal Mart supercenter, Lowes, Home Depot, Target or Best Buy. In fact, at that time (1997) we didn't have a national steak house in town! Owasso now has all these things and more!

Why Owasso?

2008-07-30T07:56:11Z

Owasso is one of those cities out there in America where life is good! If you are moving to Oklahoma, you should consider moving to Owasso, a suburb of Tulsa. Here's a few reasons why...

1. Owasso is a planned growth community. From housing to shopping to hosptials, we've been on a growth track for the last 20 years.

2. Crime is very low, in spite of the continued growth. For a look at crime stats, click here.

3. Housing prices continue to be very affordable. The median price of a home is $143,397 (2007). Here's some sample housing prices and sizes.

	$125-160K: 1500 sq.ft. home with 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and a 2 car garage on a normal lot.
	$160-199K: 2000 sq.ft. home with 3 to 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and a 2-3 car garage on a normal city lot or on a 1/2 acre or acre lot in Rogers county.
	$200-250K: a 2300 sq.ft. home with 3 to 4 bedrooms, 2+ bathrooms, a custom kitchen and a 3+ car garage on an oversized lot.
	$250-Up: 2500+ sq.ft. home with 4+ bedrooms, 2+ bathrooms, custom amenities in every room and a 3+-car garage on a luxury lot.

For information from the official city of Owasso website, click here.

Here's some pics from around our town:

Owasso 6th Grade Center

Owasso City Hall

Owasso Playground at the Sports Park

Beautiful Owasso Sunset

Garth Brooks calls Owasso home!

Yep, Owasso is a great place to live! I'll post more in the days and weeks to come about this amazing community. Stay tuned!

Localism Question

2008-07-29T20:34:07Z

I posted a blog this morning and checked the box for it to appear in Localism and the box for it to appear on my outside blog.

Now the blog isn't showing up on Localism - only on my outside blog. Odd. I think some behind the scenes "editing" may be going on here?

After reading the pro's and cons of Localism I'm wondering if anyone has noticed this situation?

On Localism, is it a given that what you post will be there and stay there? Or is our content subject to a "selection" process of some sort.

Does anybody know what's going on here?

Back to School Tips in Owasso OK

2008-07-29T07:31:18Z

With school beginning on August 13th, it is time to shift from summer back to school calendars. Here's a few tips to help you get ready for a great school year!

For school supplies, make sure you visit Wal-Mart, Target, Office Depot or other similar stores. That's where you'll be able to pick up your school supplies list. And of course, you can get your supplies there too.

For a school year calendar, click here.

If you plan to enroll your child or children in the Owasso schools, make sure you read this...

Initial enrollment for students new to Owasso Public Schools takes place at the Central Enrollment Center, located at 202 E. Broadway, Owasso, OK in the Student Services Center.

*Acceptable forms of Verification of Residence are: CURRENT, original full-page electric, gas, or water bill reflecting the service address or CURRENT mortgage documents, a CURRENT lease agreement , or a real estate purchase contract (no contingency clauses).

For specific enrollment dates of each grade, click here.

One VERY COOL feature that the Owasso public schools offers your family is email updates. This is especially handy for the wintertime when you will want to know if school is canceled due to snow or ice. The emails are sent out early in mornings so that when you wake up, you already have good and accurate information.

To sign up for the Owasso school email alerts, click here.

Now, finally, if you want to see all this information in one place, go to the Owasso Public school website by clicking here!

Welcome to Beautiful Creekside in Collinsville, Oklahoma!

2008-07-28T14:47:00Z

This new housing development welcomes you! It is located just west of Highway 169 North at 126th Street North in Collinsville, OK. Collinsville is a town just North of Owasso. Both Collinsville and Owasso are just 10 minutes from Tulsa.

Creekside offers affordable new construction with prices below $200,000. There are a variety of builders and a variety of styles. You can choose from 3 or 4 bedroom homes and 2-3 car garages. Most of the builders will custom build for you. Harrold Elementary is within walking distance of the neighborhood.

If you're looking to live close to everything but not in the middle of everything, then Creekside is a neighborhood to definitely check out!

McGraw Realtors - The Premiere Real Estate Company in Owasso & Tulsa

2008-07-28T08:39:22Z

When I "hung" my license with a company, I chose McGraw realtors because I knew there simply isn't a better company in Northeastern Oklahoma.

McGraw realtors is one of the oldest and locally owned real estate companies in Oklahoma. Joe McGraw is a gentleman who believes that customer service is the most important player in any transaction. We have more offices than any other company in the greater Tulsa area, more agents and we list and sell more real estate annually per dollar than any other company period.

You don't list and sell more real estate than others if you aren't any good at what you do. And we're very good at what we do! So, if you're ready to buy or sell, be sure you go with the best! McGraw Realtors!

Open House Saturday, July 25th 4-6 p.m.

2008-07-25T08:39:36Z

Bob Haywood | McGraw Realtors | 918-272-7272

8830 North 143rd East Ave, Owasso, OK

Beautiful home in Owasso, OK! Kitchen features granite countertops & stainless appliances. Bonus room upstairs. Office can be 4th bedroom. Ful

4BR/2BA Single Family House

offered at $187,000

Year Built	2004
Sq Footage	2,136
Bedrooms	4
Bathrooms	2 full, 0 partial
Floors	2
Parking	2 Car garage
Lot Size	8,040 sqft
HOA/Maint	$260 per month

DESCRIPTION

Don't miss this beautiful one owner home located in Owasso, OK. It features granite countertops and stainless appliances in the kitchen, a split bedroom plan and a bonus room upstairs. The office can be used as a 4th bedroom. Neighborhood amenities include a pool, park, small lake and sidewalks. Close to shopping and schools, this home is beautiful!

see additional photos below

PROPERTY FEATURES

Central A/C	Central heat	Fireplace
Walk-in closet	Tile floor	Living room
Bonus/Rec room	Office/Den	Breakfast nook
Dishwasher	Stove/Oven	Microwave
Granite countertop	Stainless steel appliances	Laundry area - inside
Yard

COMMUNITY FEATURES

Garage parking	Swimming pool(s)	Lake
Playground

OTHER SPECIAL FEATURES

OPEN HOUSE SATURDAY JULY 25, 4-6 P.M.

One owner

Full brick

ADDITIONAL PHOTOS

Seller contact info:

Bob Haywood

McGraw Realtors

918-272-7272

For sale by agent/broker

Equal Opportunity Housing

Posted: Jul 25, 2008, 4:02am PDT

"Old School" Real Estate Methods

2008-07-12T08:57:26Z

I pride myself on being on the cutting edge of marketing in the world of real estate. I use the web powerfully and effectively. I'm on Active Rain. I network. I do a variety of other related things that I don't often see other more experienced agents do.

One thing I don't do is to make up a flyer and snail mail it to other real estate offices around town. To me that is so "yesterday." Instead, give me my Craigslist Postlets flyer and let's go reach the world! Take a look at this flyer that came in the mail to our office.

When I first saw the flyer I thought, "What in the world??? Are you kidding me??? I would NEVER do something like that!"

Then I looked at WHO sent out the flyer. She's a big dog agent in our town who sells more than I do. She has been in real estate a long time and is respected among the other agents in town. She's a big producer and a very nice person. In short, she's someone I want to be someday!

So now I look at her flyer with a lot more respect. It's still not something I would do, but that doesn't matter. What matters is that she gets the job done. She gets the word out. She publicizes and sells a lot of real estate. Her methods might not be my new, modern methods but you know what? She got my attention!

I think this is a good reminder that there are a ton of methods one can use in this business in order to be effective. And it's a good reminder to me to stay grounded. How dare I think I'm any better than anyone else, just because they might not be as internet savvy as I am.

In this business, you can get your hind end out sold no matter how good you think you are and no matter how many new methods you use!

So, its hats off to a long time agent in our area who is a great person and a great real estate professional, "old school style"

The Weird Weird World of Real Estate

2008-07-12T00:00:05Z

If you don't work in the world of real estate, you may enjoy getting a peak "behind the scenes" at a career that is...well let's just say...interesting!

My last two weeks...

Contacted by a new builder in town to meet with him to possibly work together and list his four houses that are under construction. Yeah! Very good!

Meet with builder and financial partner. Oops financial partner is possibly a risky relationship. Be careful here. Tough negotiations. Not everything lands in my favor. Will the deal go through? Maybe. Do I take the deal? Maybe. But what about the risky financial partner. That could be a very difficult relationship. Do I walk away from 4 $300k listings? Man, that hurts. What to do? What to do? 4th of July brings a little relief, but not much.

Meet with builder, finance guy and my partner. Did I say partner? Yep. Lady in the office who is a producer wants to team up. Yeah! Very good! Uh oh, wait a minute. She doesn't like Mr. Finance man and he doesn't like her. Bad development.

Meanwhile my part time assistant wants to get her license and...be on my team. Uh...I think I have a team...maybe. Don't know. Don't know!

Time passes. A million client phone calls happen. Got a difficult closing trying to come together. Clients need lots of help. I use over 4000 minutes this month already on my cell phone. Whew!

Builder calls again. Time to meet again. Go to lunch. New development. Now financial risky guy and builder have brought in a big dog from another company to be on their listing team. They've got her, another lady and they want me. That means moving the license to another company. But wait, I have this team thing forming up and my assistant is now getting her license and I LIKE where I'm at and...my mom has cancer and a really big scan and meeting with the doctor coming up next week that my sister and i are going too and it would mean walking out on really good friends who have been extremely supportive and my broker...

Clients are calling. The difficult closing is off then back on then off then back on. AARRRGGGGHHHH. Overload.

Pray for direction. The sky stays silent (as usual). Then a sign happens! The broker from the big dog lady's company calls. "Let's do lunch." Okay, why not. Maybe I can get a good feel for someone else in this picture.

It's a good lunch. He's a nice guy. I tell him flat out I'm not moving over and I'm not doing this deal. I don't turn my back on friends, etc, etc, etc. He's cool about it. He tells me about his company's benefits (which brokers do in this business) and we part as friends with respect. Yeah. Good development.

Meanwhile, back at my own ranch...the new partner has been courted by a home building company. They want her to move to their production company...

I swear, this is the weirdest business on the planet and I absolutely love it!

For the Fun of It

2008-07-11T08:43:59Z

This information came through in one of those emails that go around from time to time. I have no idea if it is accurate or where the original source is, so I thought I'd post it to see if anyone can verify it. At the very least, it's interesting reading!

The information is taken straight from the email, so if it is copyright violation, please let me know and I'll remove it...

THE YEAR 1908

What a difference a century makes!

Here are some statistics for the Year 1908 :
The average life expectancy was 47 years.
Only 14 percent of the homes had a bathtub.
Only 8 percent of the homes had a telephone.
There were only 8,000 cars and only 144 miles Of paved roads.
The maximum speed limit in most cities was 10 mph.
The tallest structure in the world was the Eiffel Tower!
The average wage in 1908 was 22 cents per hour.
The average worker made between $200 and $400 per year .

A competent accountant could expect to earn $2000 per year, a dentist $2,500 per year, a veterinarian between $1,500 and $4,000 per year, and a mechanical engineer about $5,000 per year.

More than 95 percent of all births took place at HOME .
Ninety percent of all doctors had NO COLLEGE EDUCATION! Instead, they attended so-called medical schools, many of which were condemned in the press and the government as 'substandard.
Sugar cost four cents a pound. Eggs were fourteen cents a dozen. Coffee was fifteen cents a pound.
Most women only washed their hair once a month, and used Borax or egg yolks for shampoo.

Canada passed a law that prohibited poor people from Entering into their country for any reason.

Five leading causes of death were:
1. Pneumonia and influenza
2. Tuberculosis
3. Diarrhea
4. Heart disease
5. Stroke

The American flag had 45 stars.
The population of Las Vegas , Nevada, was only 30!!!!
Crossword puzzles, canned beer, and ice tea hadn't been invented yet.
There was no Mother's Day or Father's Day.
Two out of every 10 adults couldn't read or write. Only 6 percent of all Americans had graduated from high school.

Marijuana, heroin, and morphine were all available over the counter at the local corner drugstores. Back then pharmacists said, 'Heroin clears the complexion, gives buoyancy to the mind,regulates the stomach and bowels, and is, in fact, a perfect guardian of health.'

Eighteen percent of households had at least one full-time servant or domestic help.

There were about 230 reported murders in the ENTIRE U.S.A

Now I forwarded this from someone else without typing It myself, and sent it to you and others all over Canada & U.S.A Possibly the world, in a matter of seconds!

Try to imagine what it may be like in another 100 years. IT STAGGERS THE MIND!!!!!!!!!!!

A Great Website to Pass Along to Your Clients (and Yourself!)

2008-06-27T08:27:41Z

www.safemanuals.com

Ever needed that user's manual you had when you bought that new (fill in the blank), but you couldn't find it? It happens to most of us (except perhaps for accountants and other better organized people in the world than I am). Pretty frustrating to need that darn thing and not be able to find it, isn't it? Guess what? This happens to your clients too.

Now you can be the hero for your clients and friends! Just get the word out to them that their lost manual might be available online at www.safemanuals.com. And the best part is that it is FREE! How cool is that! If you have a manual or two on hand, you can upload them to share with the world.

Many thanks to Rick DeLuca for this helpful tidbit of information!

How I Picked up Another Client

2008-06-23T22:28:48Z

I was hanging out at the office this past Saturday morning getting ready for a listing presentation and doing some quick market research when a young lady knocked on the door. I let her in and welcomed her. She asked if we had a notary available. Let's see...it's Saturday and I'm the only person around. Probably not.

But ALAS...hold the ship! I didn't have a notary in the office, but I KNOW a notary. She happens to be my preferred closer at a local title company. I knew she might be around this Saturday morning so I called her cell phone and sure enough, she was. And she happened to be in her office. Yes, she wouldn't mind helping this young lady out. So I tell the young lady this and give her directions to the office. As we were walking out the door, she began talking about her house and wanting to move down to Tulsa since that is where she and husband work. By the end of the conversation I had an appointment set to go to their house to take a look and to talk to them about listing. YES!

Why did I get this listing appointment? Because I was available first of all. I could have stayed home and done the work I was doing, but I know that no one is around our office on Saturday's, so guess where I head sometimes? And when I'm there, I'm the ONLY person there! I got the appointment secondly because I was able to provide a needed connection. I have built an awesome group of business professionals who I know I can call on when I have a need. I'm telling you, if you don't have this, you are missing out. These people help me in so many ways. And they bring me business - as do I to them! Finally, I got the listing appointment because I didn't try to push too hard. To be successful in this business, you've got to know when to push, when to hold, when to nudge and when to say just the right thing. Sometimes, not saying anything at all or just handing out a card is the best thing you can say or do.

If your office isn't open on Saturdays maybe you should consider hanging out there a bit. It's amazing how much you can get done when the place is quiet. And it's awesome to be the person who meets that client who just needs a little help.

McMansions

2008-06-23T08:51:18Z

Here in Tulsa we have a battle going on between people with two different points of view. On the one side, you have the home owners in older and sometimes historical neighborhoods in Tulsa. On the other side, you have prospective new home owners who are looking for a place to build.

The problem between these two groups is their view and understanding of redevelopment. The existing home owners don't want the new home owners to come into their neighborhoods because the new home owners are building houses that are too big for the existing neighborhoods. This happens when people look at these older neighborhoods, find a delapidated, uncared for, broken down house and buy the lot. Sometimes they get more than one lot. Then they tear down the old house and build their new bigger house. And the new bigger house is HUGE. These bigger houses have been nicknamed "McMansions" by those who dislike them.

Some people say that the bigger homes don't fit into the neighborhoods. They say that they are too big. And they say that they don't adhere to the architecture.

I think that there are a few things that have to be taken into consideration here...

-The existing home owners want redevelopment in their neighborhoods, but only a certain kind of redevelopment.

-The new home onwers who are building the bigger homes are bringing redevelopment and new life AND probably higher property values back into the neighborhood. Is this good or bad? Would you rather have an abandoned house in your neighborhood or a new, bigger house?

-IF the current property owners are successful in controlling the way people can build in their neighborhood, guess where those people can go? Yep...to the suburbs. ALL the suburbs around Tulsa welcome larger homes, higher property values and new development. And where are the growing school districts these days? Yep...in the burbs (private school enrollement within Tulsa is booming too.)

So the questions that remains is how to bring in redevelopment for older neighborhoods. And if you want that redevelopment, can you restrict people so that they only build the kind of house and size of house that you want? And IF you can get all that done, do you really think people will come and spend all that money to build what YOU want THEM to build?

Needless to say, this is a tough issue for all involved! Maybe 6 billion people on planet earth is starting to get a bit crowded!

Click here to visit the website of a group of people who are against larger redevelopment in mid-town Tulsa.

Click here to see a pic of a McMansion in a mid-town neighborhood.
(Be sure you read the information included about new home construction.)

The Growing Up Chart

2008-06-20T17:52:37Z

Nobody ever told me, when I went in real estate, that I'd be going into a career that is so tightly tied to the emotional side of life.

If you think I'm wrong, just think back to that client you had who got upset over whatever it was. How about the one that absolutely blew his or her top over the AC return air vent that got put in the wrong place by the builder or something like that? Ever had a client get charged an extra $100 they weren't expecting? Talk about hitting a hot button! I've seen everything from red faces to tears over that one. I thought one deal was going to fall apart when the arrogant banker hit up a lady for a historical opinion fee that the bank wanted. Yes HE made HER pay for HIS bank's desire to see what the historical society thought. Hmmmm.

Occasionally I come across the following scene when out showing houses.

You'll recognize it as the "how tall are you now" lines that a mom and dad drew on the garage wall as their kids were growing up. Whenever I find this chart in a house I always wonder about that family.

- Where are they now?
- Why did they move from this house which they once loved?
- How in the world did this poor house get in this shape!!!
- Did the family stay together? Was there a divorce involved? If so, was it ugly?
- Why didn't they take the piece of wall with them? (It's usually in the garage somewhere)
- What memories were made in this house?
- Is the family better off today than they were when they lived here?

Call me sentimental, but the growing up chart always reminds me that this house was an important part of someone's life at one time. Sure, it might be empty and it might smell bad and the carpet might be old today, but at one time, someone loved this house. So I kind of like to think that my job - (call me weird here) is to honor the lives of those who came before by doing my best to represent the possibilities for the future. For example, could this house be a great rental where another family might measure their kids growing up against a garage wall? Maybe. How about a makeover? Is that a good idea for this house? Perhaps. Does the house have a next life? What might that life look like? Does that next life fit into this client's hopes and dreams for what he or she is pursuing?

When I look at empty houses that way, it helps me to keep perspective. It might not be the greatest house in the world, but it did play a part in the life of some family and it might just could do that again. It always reminds me that this job is really about helping people...not just about opening doors to houses.

It also reminds me to keep in mind that the people you have in your life matter. Remember, you don't get to keep them forever. They eventually outgrow the growing up lines.

Did you hug your kids today?

Why They Don't Build Basements In Oklahoma

2008-06-20T10:54:13Z

I used to live up North. I understand how valuable and useful basement space is. However, here in Oklahoma, basements are NOT something you want to dig into. Instead of going down, we go UP with bonus rooms and second floors.

Check out these pics from an actual basement here in our area. The home is in foreclosure and the story is that the people just left the basement flooded when they found out they were going to lose the house. I don't know if the story is true or not, but it wouldn't surprise me. From what I understand, this basement has flooded more than once!

Notice the lovely mold spots. They kind of add a certain "ambiance" to the room!

I'll bet there's been some yucky stuff down that hole in the floor!

Yep, that's mold on the wall. You can make your own penicllin!

Do you think this should be disclosed? The answer is YES!

Oklahoma has had flooding problems for years. We are located in the great plains of America. That means our ground is very flat. When it rains the water runs to the lowest point and it doesn't really care if that lowest point is your basement or a creek. Thankfully, Tulsa spent the money and had the vision to put in one of the nation's leading flood control systems citywide. We no longer flood in Tulsa by and large...only in basements!

Cancer and Real Estate

2008-06-18T10:48:37Z

This is an update on my mom who has cancer. Many of you ask from time to time how she is doing. I often don't respond to the questions because I can't. It's too emotionally taxing somedays.

The current update on my mother is...

She is about to complete treatment #6 of her hard Rituxin treatments. She's supposed to have 8, but the doctor is only going to do 6 because she isn't strong enough to finish all of them. This, of course, leaves some room for doubt as to whether or not the evil cancer has fully been dealt with.

You may remember that she ran over a neighbor's mailbox. My parents have been without a second car for a while, which solved the driving problem. Now my dad is planning to either buy another car or to have his fixed. What he doesn't know is that we have my mom's car keys. We took them when we went to visit a few weekends ago. I'm waiting on the "mom's keys are lost" phone call. Geez, I can't imagine where she'd lose those darn things at!

The neighbors are NOT suing over the mailbox. Some people still have common sense these days!

Okay so that's the update. Let me make an application to real estate now.

In real estate, I am a problem solver. I help clients figure things out all day long. I cannot solve my mother's issues with cancer and that is maddening. My parents are like your worst nightmare client who will not listen to you. You can drop that client. You can't drop your parents. Instead, you have to realize and accept that this is a situation you have to be involved in, but which you have no say and no ability to help with. This is because my parents are choosing how to deal with the cancer. They are not open to what my sister and I would like to suggest.

Some people say to me, "That's right. It's THEIR issue. THEY get to be the ones who choose what they want to do." I understand that, but on my end of the spectrum I say, "This is my ONLY mother. I'd LIKE to be involved. I'd like to be CONSIDERED. I'd like to get to have some say NOW rather than...well rather than later let's say.

I guess each of us needs to keep a few things in mind.

Enjoy EVERY day.
Make the MOST of each day.
Did you wake up this morning? Celebrate and thank God!
Hug your kids
Tell your kids and your parents that you love them
Heal family rifts
Make that other real estate agent and/or client (who is driving you nuts) smile somehow today
Be bigger than problems (yeah right!)
Choose to make the world better today because you were able to

Okay, that's my update. It's a rant and pretty disorganized. I apologize, but whenever I get too close to this cancer stuff, my life seems to go awry.

So now it's back to real estate where things make sense. JK :-)

Do You Help FSBO Sellers?

2008-06-17T08:01:50Z

I have a nice couple who I'm working with right now who are going to be my buyers as soon as they sell their home. They're selling their home as a For Sale By Owner because they don't have enough equity in it to list it with a realtor.

Last night I took them to see a great new listing I have (generated from Active Rain by the way - more on that later). After we took the tour, I asked them how the sale of their property was going. "Pretty okay," was their answer.

Hmmm, at this point I have a decision to make. Do I help them by giving them some tips or not? I know many realtors who wouldn't help at all because they didn't list their house with a realtor. I'm more of the philosophy that we're all here to help one another and that what goes around comes around. So I visited with them about making sure the house was on Craigslist which was really funny because they went, "Craigslist? What's that???" So that was a fun conversation. You should have seen them light up when I told them it was FREE! I also talked with them about paying a buyer's agent and making sure it was clearly advertised, etc.

I didn't give them everything I've got in my bag of successful sales tactics, but I thought those two things would be helpful. After all, if they sell their house, they become my buyers...and that's a good thing!

Here in our area I'm seeing more people trying to sell their home as FSBO's this year than last year. Interestingly enough, I'm seeing less people using discount real estate brokerages and more FSBO.com sites. I wouldn't have expected that. I guess it's due to the decreased cost.

Do you help FSBO's? Are you friendly with people who are trying to sell their home by owner? What's your take on this situation?

Good News for Oklahoma Foreclosure Rates

2008-06-16T08:32:44Z

According to an article in the Sunday Tulsa World, the number of new Oklahoma foreclosures was 30% lower in May than in April. That's great news because anytime you're in a crisis, you start looking for the bottom. When you hit the bottom, you know you're on the way out of that crisis. However, the reality is that we'll have to wait to see if this is the bottom of the crisis or if this is a temporary pause.

picture created by Bob Haywood

Our foreclosure numbers for the month of May were 1,213. That's 30.7% above May 2007, but better than the 58.7% "year over year" increase in April. Note: these stats are taken from the article. There's more good news in the article such as Oklahoma dropping to 29th in the ranking of states with the highest foreclosure rates. We had been ranked 22nd.

Click here to read the entire article.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Oklahoma is a great place to live. The people are nice. The cost of living is low. Gas is around $3.75. You can buy a brand new home for around $150,000 (and up of course). We have seasons and we're close to everything.

Check this out. It's about...

2 hours to drive to Ft. Smith, AR
4 hours to drive to Little Rock
4 hours to drive to Dallas
5 hours to drive to Kansas City
5 hours to drive to Amarillo, TX
6 hours to drive to St. Louis
About a day's drive to Denver

As you can tell from the article in the Tulsa World, our housing market is doing okay. I actually saw something this weekend that I hadn't seen since last summer - more than 1 offer on a property at a time! It was almost a bidding war! Are you kidding me??? UNBELIEVABLE!!!

If you're moving to Oklahoma, you're moving to a great state! Contact me to find your great new or existing home.

RealtyTrac Foreclosure Rates for May 2008

	Total	Foreclosure rate	% changes from April 2008	% changes from May 2007
U.S.	261,255	1 foreclosure per 483 households	7.36	48.32
Oklahoma	1,213	1 foreclosure per 1,325 households	-30.41	30.71

No, You Can't Show My House at that time

2008-06-13T22:52:27Z

"That showing time is too early for us. If you'll come at 12:30, that will work fine. Thank you!"

This was the message I got from a seller in our area tonight on my cell phone. I had called him earlier and had a left a message about showing his home tomorrow morning around 9:30. I know that can be early on a Saturday, but we've got to start early as that's when my buyers are available.

I haven't called this seller back yet (too late tonight), but when I do, there are a few things I'd like to tell him. See if some of these resonate with you.

First, do you really want to sell your house? Because if you do, asking a real estate professional to wait 3 hours later to show your house isn't going to get it sold. Not in today's market. When showing, we are usually on tight schedules. Coming back around to a neighborhood twice is sometimes simply impossible.

The second thing I'd like to ask this guy is, "Do you ever watch the news?" Surely he knows about this little mortgage crisis our country is currently experiencing.

How about this one..."Do you have ANY idea what the interest rates are doing right now?" My mortgage officer friends tell me that they're quoting rates only for that immediate moment in time to people making loan application because things are so unstable right now. Today's rate was closing in on 6.6 and we're probably looking at 7 pretty quickly. Rising mortgage rates mean higher payments. And what exactly is it that we don't have a lot of due to the rising (and may I say ridiculous) gas prices? Yes, that would be extra money for higher payments!

I want to ask him also if he has any idea how many less houses are selling right now as measured against last year. Does he know the stats for our area? Apparently not.

Now, why is any of this important? Why does it matter? Because the answers to these questions are obvious. If you're a breathing human being who lives in America, you know that we're in the midst of a market slow down. If you're a seller, you've got to be super savvy to be successful in selling your home right now. And that means being flexible in the showing of your home. If a Realtor calls you to show your house, get the appointment scheduled and get out of the way! That Realtor might be bringing you the person or couple who falls in love with your home. If you make it hard for us to get into your home, you're really only hurting your odds of success! After all, my buyers have PLENTY of houses to pick from. Not getting into yours just isn't that big of a deal anymore.

For this poor guy, we probably won't be seeing his house tomorrow. Bummer for him!

Beware of Your Shower Curtain!

2008-06-13T07:49:17Z

"Vinyl shower curtains sold at major retailers across the country emit toxic chemicals that have been linked to serious health problems, according to a report released Thursday by a national environmental organization."

This quote comes from a story in the LA times and is a feature on Google News this morning.

The report indicates that chemicals that the curtains are made from are linked to liver damage and other health realted issues.

As consumers we need to be aware of things like this so we can protect ourselves and our kids.

But let me ask you a question. If you're a Boomer aged kind of person, like I am, did you grow up drinking water out of the garden hose? Rememer how cold and fresh that water was? Remember that unique smell? I don't know about you, but I loved that smell. And I thought drinking out of a water hose was a blast. It was like having your very own water fountain! You could play in the cold water on a hot day, squirt stuff, wash off the driveway, grab a drink, run your slip-n-slide and enjoy hours of fun in the afternoon sun.

Now we have to wonder if drinking out of our beloved hoses as kids might come back to harm us. Hmmm, better check out the effects of water hose drinking on the internet. Check in with my doctor? Maybe, but sometimes I think I know as much as he does these days!

Now I've got to worry about my awesome new plastic shower curtain. For the record (call me weird), I like the smell of those new plastic shower curtains. I am reminded of that wonderful new car smell...uh-oh, shouldn't have said that - I can hear a report about the toxins of new cars coming out soon (or did it already???).

Obviously, I'm writing tongue in cheek here, but this is a very serious issue. Parents need to pay attention to things like this in order to keep the kiddos safe and healthy.

By the way, you may have heard that plastic bottles can be dangerous to your health also. Supposedly they leach dangerous chemicals into the water. Is this true?

For a report on this, click here.

Here is the Snopes.com report on plastic bottles.

To read the rest of the LA Times story, click here.

Summary...some things in life just aren't safe! Bummer.
Summary #2 - check out facts for yourself. The internet is a marketplace of ideas where facts often hide!