"Last Lecturer" Andy Pausch Loses His Battle With Cancer - 07/25/08 12:29 PM
I don't know how many of you are familiar with Andy Pausch.  He was a professor at Carnegie Mellon University who was suffering from Pancreatic Cancer that had been determined to be terminal.
His "last lecture" to his students was recorded and became an internet phenomena.  If you haven't seen it, please take the time.  You won't regret it at all. 
The way that he approached his illness and his life serves as a lesson to us all.
 
R.B."Bob" Mitchell
ValueList Real Estate Services, Inc.
 
Bob Mitchell is the president of ValueList Real Estate Services, Inc., St. Louis' largest … (5 comments)

Where Would The Housing Markets Be If The Government Had Dealt With The Sub-Prime Mess In An Effective Manner? - 07/25/08 12:00 PM
I've got a question for all of you, What would have happened if the government hadn't pussy footed around with the sub-prime mess and had addressed the issues in a forthright and substantial way early in the crises?
Would the housing crises have so deep and damaging? 
Could some of the decline in property values have been averted? 
Would there have been thousands of families less that wouldn't have been forced onto the streets?
I think the answers to these questions would have been;"No", the housing crises wouldn't have been so deep and so damaging.  "Yes" declines in property … (12 comments)

Click Click And Other Sounds of Summer - 07/24/08 01:07 PM
"Summer breeze, makes me feel fine....blowing through the jasmine in my mindddd" sang at the top of our lungs in a bad falsetto by three almost grown young men driving down the road in a 1964 Ford Fairlane with glass pack mufflers and 50's on the back.  Oh, I almost forgot the, "Click Click" as the eight track changed to the next song.
No AC, but the windows were down and we had the cooler iced up.  It was the summer after our high school graduation (1979) and before the start of college in the fall.  Jeff Rideout, Kevin "You're barking … (9 comments)

Buying A Foreclosure - You Have To Go In With Your Eyes Open! - 07/22/08 03:39 PM
Last weekend I took my daughter up to Clinton Illinois to a public car auction.  Some of the cars were ones that were owned by the Illinois State Police that they had obtained by seizing them.  Others had been repossessed.  While others were there on consignment. 
My daughter, who just graduated from college (Ohio State) didn't have a lot of money to spend and to her credit didn't want to go into debt to get this car.  She had toured the local car lots and had even gone to look at several that were being offered for sale by their owners.  … (12 comments)

Bicycling Compared To Selling Real Estate - Why They Are More Alike Than You Would Think! - 07/21/08 02:01 PM
Here in Missouri there is a rails to trails project called the Katy Trail.  It runs from north of St. Charles, Missouri to Clinton Missouri (about 260 miles) along the route of the old Missouri - Kansas - Texas railroad.  It is one of the best known of the rails to trails projects and from what I've seen of it, it's a beautiful ride.
The problem is that I hate it!  Since it's on an old railway right of way, it's basically flat the entire length (at least what I've ridden of it so far).  The fact that it's flat means … (4 comments)

The Secret Behind Losing Weight - Why "Diets" Don't Work - 07/18/08 11:36 AM
This morning I read a blog by Robert Swetz called, "Why Are You Overweight" and when I left a comment there, I realized that my perspective on this issue might be something that a lot of folks might find of interest.
You see, I've been fat my entire life.  I was a big baby, a big toddler and when I got to kindergarten I was still one of the biggest kids there.  By the time I was in 4th grade, I could roll to first base quicker than I could run there!
This was about the time that my sister mailed … (27 comments)

Staring Into A Very Deep Hole - Can The Government Allow Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac To Go Belly Up? - 07/16/08 05:02 PM
Last Friday morning I turned on CNBC to watch the business news and the coverage was centered on the crisis at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.  As I sat there listening to the talking heads discussing the possibility of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac going belly up, my own belly was doing back flips.
While I agreed with the commentators who expressed the opinion that Fannie and Freddie were too big to fail and that the government would have no choice but to step in and rescue them, I couldn't get over the fact that there was serious discussion going on … (23 comments)

Does It Really Matter Who You Vote For? - Aren't All Politicians The Same? - 07/15/08 03:58 PM
Democrats and Republicans....what does it matter?  That was the tone of a comment that I just read on a post where the discussion was about the current low opinion ratings that both Congress and The President are currently receiving.
While I can understand that person's frustrations and I can even agree with him that in some ways all of the politicians, with the exception of Ron Paul and a few others, do seem to be alike.  That is; money grubbing ideologs  that are more concerned with lining their pockets and lining up political paybacks for as soon as they leave office. 
… (27 comments)

Figures Lie and Liars Figure! - Why Congress Should Stand Pat On Prohibiting Off-Shore Drilling - 07/14/08 02:04 PM
I just watched President Bush's address that announced that he was lifting the executive order that stood prohibiting off-shore drilling.  During his speech he made statements and gave figures that might make people believe that drilling off of our shores would bring gasoline prices down.
The facts of the matter are that on a short run basis, this simply isn't true.  Drilling off of our shores will take at least 7 years before it could have an impact on gasoline prices.  So it's simply not true that in order to deal with our current energy crises that we need to open … (31 comments)

Goodbye Coco - 07/09/08 10:37 AM
A few years ago my mother suffered a series of mini-strokes and we had to put her in a nursing home.  At the time, my family debated about what to do with her then 15 year old Siamese Cat, Coco. 
At one point, my brother who had moved into my mother's house (where the cat was) had actually put him in the cat carrier to take him to be put down.  As he was walking out the door he got an emergency call from one of his HVAC clients and took the cat back inside and ran the call.
When I … (15 comments)

Do You Make What You're Worth? - Why Licensing Requirements Need To Be Raised - 07/08/08 11:35 AM
The average real estate agent makes right around $39,421 a year gross from selling real estate.  This number which I got from Salary.com and that is about $9,000 a year higher than what the US Department of Labor figure is, is still reflective of what I think is one of the fundamental flaws in the US real estate industry.  That is, that there are simply (still) too many real estate agents out there!  In essence, the pie is getting split too many ways.
If you don't believe me, let's take a look at what the "average" incomes from groups that hold … (12 comments)

A Discounter Defends High Commissions - Why A Smug Attitude Doesn't Make You Right! - 07/03/08 01:55 AM
I don't know if you've read any of what has been written here on AR recently about Jennifer Allans appearance on the internet radio show, "Real Estate Radio USA", but Jennifer has written about it as has Broker Bryant (of course his got featured! ;-) and after reading a comment by Brett Wilson on Jennifer's original post, "Why Our Commissions Are So High" I felt like I had to jump in and call a spade a spade.
While I'll admit that I'm not familiar with Mr. Wilson's radio show, having worked in radio before and having some close friends who are … (74 comments)

 

Bob Mitchell - Realtor St. Louis

Saint Louis, MO

More about me…

ValueList Real Estate Services, Inc.

Address: 4251 Martyridge, St. Louis, MO, 63129

Office Phone: (314) 231-5478

Email Me

A blog about St. Louis real estate and about real estate in general from a guy who has been selling real estate and doing mortgages since 1984. I'm also the owner of ValueList Real Estate Services, Inc. a discount real estate company serving St. Louis since 1995!


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