In my ongoing endeavour to be different but mostly wierd I will be cooking a 22lb turkey in a trashcan this thanksgiving. No this is not some southern version of Americas Funniest Videos. It is an actual recipe that i first tried about 4 years ago. It is not deep frying, oven roasting or rotisserie browning. Its trash canning and it is terrific.  I will not go into the details here but suffice it to say it is the most delicious turkey i have ever tasted and the clients that i share it with all agree. In any event, however you choose to spend this holiday, I hope you will remember how many people there are in your own community that struggle everyday to put food on the table or provide the basics for their kids. Give thanks by giving of yourself in some small way in your community and dont just do it during the holidays but year round. You will be much more thankful from the giving.

I attended a seminar today put on by a realtor association/vendor regarding the use of social networking and technology in the real estate business. It is astonishing to think how this business has changed in just a few short years. There was a time when we were told to mail postcards, send refigerator magnets, join the rotary club or PTA or LMNOP or something. Now it seems all we need to do is get on Facebook and Twitter. Everyone will love you and business will boom. Hmmm, sounds a bit fishy. While I recognize that print ads and postcards are yesterdays models that does not mean we should assume that social networking is the be all end all. It has been my experience that if you are on facebook because you like to chat with your friends and keep up with their lives that is a good thing. If you are on facebook to sell something that is not so good. I have always had the philosophy that you should be genuine in everything you do. Your friends will trust you and use you and recommend you to their friends. I have never wanted billboard business and just because the medium has changed my philosophy has not. I use social networking to inform and be informed. I think I'll keep it that way.

Fear is a powerful thing. It can make otherwise rational human beings act in very irrational ways. There are many types of fear but one of the greatest is fear of the unknown. We often tend to ostracize what we do not know or understand for fear that knowledge will change us. It will! That is a good thing. I am writing in reference to the recent school board elections in Wake County North Carolina of which Raleigh/Cary are the core cities.  The new board members have stated that they want to reverse the years of progressive planning that have made the Triangle one of the most desirable areas to live in all of America. Their rallying cry of "neighborhood schools" screams of isolationalism and segregation. Neither has any future in a progressive world. We strengthen ourselves when we welcome what we are not comfortable with. We grow in understanding when we accept the knowledge of others. I hope that the new board members are speaking from a lack of knowledge of the complexity of this process and will have a different opinion once they get all the facts. This does not mean that the current system is not without issues. Certainly improvements can be made but reverting to "seperate but equal" will bring great harm to our fair city. Raleigh and to an even greater extent Cary, has blossomed over the last twenty years from the foresight of forward thinkers. Lets not take the bloom off the rose for fear of its thorns!

The rain has finally stopped and the fog has cleared. This should be a great day for homes to show. Temperatures in the 70s, very little wind. Had an opportunity to visit friends last night at a party in Midtown in Raleigh. Very nice home with excellent use of open living space and lighting. As a recent graduate of the National Association of Realtors Green course I am intrigued by the use of natural daylighting in a home and this one had an entire wall of windows along the south wall. Southern exposures are best for light and warmth in our part of the country. The floor plan had a good balance of openness and yet seperation. By that I mean it was easy to tell what parts of the home were intended for what purpose but did  not feel closed off at all. The kitchen was very contemporary as well but with good quality fixtures and cabinets. This is important. If you are going to remodel contemporary style take some time and speak with a designer to make sure you achieve that contemporary classical look. What that means to me is that while it looks very modern it does not look trendy. Get it? Great house! Did I mention that the food was terrific and the wine was excellent. That's all for now but stay tuned. More info on Green living in the Cary/Raleigh area to come.

Ciao!

The Raleigh Market is showing signs of recovery. Sales are up. Inventory is shrinking. More people are looking at our listings. Perhaps the dark clouds that have brought the torrential downpours of short sales, foreclosures, and updside down sellers are starting to move out. I certainly hope so. In my former life as a pharmaceutical professional I didnt realize how important the housing market is to a local economy. The past 6 years have opened my eyes. When our market was hot, jobs were plentiful, retail was sailing along, and people had a great attitude about things in general. Once the housing bust hit the Raleigh market we began to experience the same symptoms of this recession that the remainder of the country had been feeling for several years. Our employment picture has been particularly bleak.  I attribute alot of that to the fact that so many people were employed in the residential construction field due to the large number of new homes being built. At our peak over 6,000 students were being added to our local public school system every year. That's alot of homes to be built. When people couldnt sell their homes in other areas they quit buying here and the residential construction industry took a huge hit. Now, we are starting to see a little more activity in the new construction sector and homes are starting to sell at a faster pace. I am hopeful that we have weathered the worst of this mess and can now begin to focus on learning from our mistakes and moving on.

Well, it's that time of year again and most people are probably struggling a little with finding the silver lining right now. I know for those of us in the real estate industry it is certainly a challenging time. In spite of that I thought I would take a minute to reflect on what is good in my life and I hope you will too.  I have five, two of my own and three stepkids, children that are healthy and happy. They do not go hungry. They do not worry about being bombed while they lie in their bed at night. They have jobs or are in a good school. My wife is crazy about me. She's also crazy but that's another story. I can run ten miles without emergency medical services involvement. I never have a bad hair day. My cat has not enacted her secret devious plot that I know she is working on because she is a cat and thats what they do. I have an orange kitchen floor. My scooter has gas in it. I dont live in Alaska and own a scooter. Cary's tree lighting ceremony, http://www.visitraleigh.com/event.details.php?id=13084, is coming soon. It might actually snow one day. I have a sled. My wife is crazy.....sorry, I digress.  I work in an industry that can legitimately make a difference in a family's life. My clients answer the phone when I call. My daughter in Boston answers the phone when I call. My son in Greenville still has a phone.  I am cooking a trashcan turkey in three days,http://www.thetrashcanturkey.com/ . I have friends, more than one. All in all things are really good. My Dad once told me, son, thats what he called me, things are never all good or all bad so learn to live with both. Dad, got it covered. 

Oh yea, and if you need me you know how to get me.

http://www.MissionPossibleAgents.com

http://www.ysuhomes.com

It's done. It's over. No more running at 6am, swimming in freezing waters and risking life and limb on the highway. This past Satuday, 11/01, marked the first ever Beach2Battleship Ironman and Half Ironman Triatlon in Wilmington NC. As a 50 year old triathlete wannabe I was more than a little relieved to cross the finish line 7 grueling hours after beginning the half. The upside was the setting of the race. Wilmington NC is a port city and home to the Battleship North Carolina which serves as a museum and icon of another time in our history. The event starts with an open water swim in the sound of Wrightsville Beach. Victims I mean contestants then bike through four counties on their way to the battleship park where they begin a scenic run around the river waterfront of downtown Wilmington and return to the battleship for the finish. It was the hardest thing physically I have ever done but I am very glad to have finished. Now the question is do I continue training for the full or do i regain my sanity and stick to shorter races like normal humans. Stay tuned.

For more info on the race or Wilmington go to:

http://www.ci.wilmington.nc.us/

http://www.beach2battleship.com/

For more info on me or my partner/wife go to:

http://www.MissionPossibleAgents.com

Thanks

Just two more days of the "Woman With The Body of A Snake" or the worlds largest pig or horse or fried ice cream cone.....you get the idea.  In the appx thirty years that I have been attending this event it has never ceased to entertain, http://www.ncstatefair.org/2008/. I think the biggest kick for me is not all the silly sideshows or the ring the basket with the softball from h_ll games but the people watching. Did you know that it is physically possible to carry a stuffed animal larger than your car while consuming mass quanities of fried dough, while talking on a cell phone, and yelling at your kids. The only feat even close is when  I see commuters headed to the Research Triangle Park, http://www.rtp.org/main/,  reading their paper at 70mph. No they are not shaving. Dont be ridiculous, you cant shave while reading a paper and driving. You can drink coffee however. Its also fun to watch the teenagers come off the rides in varying shades of green. I, for one, do not partake of anything that spins faster than my spinning class at the gym. I do like the up and down stuff like roller coasters and bungee jumping but thats only because i go unconcious just before the moment of truth.

Attendance has been down a bit this year due to some rain and probably the economy but it is still a great time. If you ever have the chance make sure to stop by and get you some of that fried pecan pie, amazing stuff. If you or your friends want to know more about the Triangle in general or Cary/Raleigh in particular feel free to contact us. We are The Mission Possible Team of York Simpson Underwood Realty. You can visit our website at:

http://www.MissionPossibleAgents.com or http://ysuhomes.com

Ciao!

For many people, whether they be sellers, buyers or brokers, Days On Market has historically been a good indicator of value and sellability(word?) for a home. With the current market however we are seeing significantly longer marketing periods for homes in good neighborhoods with upgraded features and no major negative aspects. This means that when you walk into a home and you find that the home has been on the market for 90 days or longer it may be an excellent choice but is simply a product of fewer buyers and too much inventory. For those of you thinking of selling your home this simply means preparing yourself mentally for the extended marketing time.  Of course there are many motivations for selling and you should have an in depth conversation with your broker concerning your timeline and any other factors that will influence your selling experience. An experienced broker will be able to provide you with lots of data to paint the market picture for you. They will also help you understand what to expect from the process and how best to deal with the roller coaster ride that may be coming your way. A good broker will help to soothe the bumps so to speak by arming you with realistic expectations in regard to selling your home.

On the buy side you should not assume something is wrong with the home simply because it has been on the market for an extended period of time. That does not absolve your broker from the responsibility of practicing due diligence for any property that you may be seriously considering. The facts are the facts and if there is a problem and there is anyway to find out what it is your broker must tell you. The fact that is has been sitting for several months is more a result of excessive inventory and decreased demand than anything else in most cases.

Remember, your best bet for a win/win experience in buying or selling your home is in employing a professional, experienced broker, knowledgeable in your area of the market. The process can be a positive thing for all sides. In fact we believe it is our Mission Possible.