I got an Ipod for my birthday. - 02/26/09 09:20 AM
Both my kids have I-Pods.  My daughter Valerie is in her second one and she is the expert.  My son got his first one for Christmas.  (Although at the end He wanted to get the dog and cats Nintendo games. This is two days before Christmas.  Too late, Santa was done with his shopping.)
For the couple of years that my daughter has had her  I-pod, I truly don't know what she listens too, except for "My chemical Romance" and some soundtracks from movies she likes.  But, this past year she started to ask for Korean music.  Korean music?  where in the … (12 comments)

For new agents: Sphere of influence. - 02/23/09 11:49 AM
In real estate 101 for new agents one of the most important things they teach is to contact your  sphere of influence (That is friends, relatives and coworkers)  and let them know that now you are a real estate agent.  I know a few agents with great connections where this has worked for, but know many more where their friends and relatives have chosen to list their house or use another agent as their buyer representative.
In fact it happened to me.  A close friend from church, who I thought I had lots in common with and was one of my better … (8 comments)

The crisis of credit visualized by Jonathan Jarvis - 02/21/09 12:03 PM
I thought this was very thought provoking. What do you think? The Crisis of Credit Visualized from Jonathan Jarvis on Vimeo. … (1 comments)

The weather in Hampton Roads. Lovely most of the time. - 02/19/09 08:42 AM
The weather in Hampton Roads
I think that weather is a little personal.  While I am freezing and wearing two sweaters in my house my husband and daughter are in shorts and tank tops.  My son is the in between person in the house.
The local weather today will hit a high of 55 with sun and clouds.  Pleasant, very pleasant.
My mother came to visit one year in May, and it was in the 60's and low 70's.  She wore a full winter coat any time she stepped out of the house go a cold.  Hmmm.  We decided our plans … (2 comments)

Why Hampton Roads? Or... Norfolk, Chesapeake, Virginia Beach, Portsmouth, Suffolk, Newport News, Hampton, Williamsburg, Surry County, York county and maybe more cities depending on who you ask. - 02/17/09 11:29 AM
I will make this a series of why my husband and I chose this area as our home after he retired from the Navy.
•1)      Retiring from the Navy we get the health insurance provided for retirees.  We lived in a few locales where there wasn't a large military population.  What we discovered was that when we tried to go to the doctor and make appointments they were never taking new patients.  What we found out is that our insurance pays at the same rate as Medicaid, and that usually is not enough for doctors to pay the bills.  So what good … (0 comments)

Is this too personal for my blog? - 02/17/09 09:53 AM
I started working in real estate when my youngest son started the first grade.  I worked part-time his year in kinder garden, as his was a half day school.
I see pictures of a lot of people crying because their kid went to school for the first time.  Not me, I was glad to have some time for myself, and go out and make some money.
Years later:  My son is now eleven years old.  He still follows me around, and in general does as he is told.  This past Sunday, at church we were waiting for the service to start, … (7 comments)

Respecting other people's time and efforts. - 02/13/09 08:34 AM
With spring ahead my buyer business is picking up.   Once again, I get phone calls from my buyers to cancel appointments that were made to go look at houses , and get the phone calls that we can go look at houses in a couple hours, as the buyer has for some reason or other extra time.
I have a three hour window.  I call 10 listings and get through to three agents on the spot;  leave 7 messages.  Two of the messages are  returned  within the hour,  two of them call me while I am already showing the houses.  Three … (4 comments)

Finding the right tenant - 02/09/09 08:42 AM
In general, I love my tenants.  They are good people that for different reasons do not neet to buy a house, are here for a short time......or cannot afford to buy a house.   I am of the mentality that In most cases everybody should own their own home, " The American Dream."   In a heavily military area like mine, Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, Portsmouth, Suffolk and its surroundings we get a lot of people who will only be here for a short time.  Then, we have the locals or people who just moved in to the area. 
Where am I going … (2 comments)

Todd Clark (Realtor), GRI (Your Washington Co. Real Estate Expert) - 02/09/09 07:27 AM
 As I continue to research and try to understand Active Rain, I find questions that seem to have no answer.
The only search box that I found sent me outside of AR to Google search.  So, I decided to write a comment on one of Todd's blogs.
http://activerain.com/blogsview/898822/To-do-a-local-blog-or-not-to-do-a-local-blog-that-is-the-question
In the comment section, I asked some other unrelated questions.  In all honestly, I expected a three line answer.  Well, he has taken the time to write me a Long personal message.
One of my questions was how do you make friends on AR?  I got my answer in words and actions.  He … (2 comments)

My home is worth more than my neighbors down the street. More on overpriced listings - 02/05/09 08:30 AM
Much has been said about pricing your home right.  It is in all of the real estate information, and all of the seminars on how to sell your home.   The news that prices continue to drop are in all the newspapers.  But sellers are not listening.  In all the listing appointments that I have been in the last month, the expectations of the seller where so unrealistic, that I had a hard time communicating with them. I am talking $60,000 on a $200,000 home and a $90,000 difference on $300.000.  I have a couple other examples, but you get the idea.
… (24 comments)