Bill and I recently returned from the National Association of Realtors Convention in Las Vegas.  I thought when we planned the trip that it would be a chance for us to relax and unwind.  It was actually a whirlwind of classes, lectures, seminars, and a fabulous EXPO with vendors from all over the world. There were 30,000 Realtors in attendance. We attended classes from 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. for 4 days and never stepped out of the Venetian Hotel.  Some days we did not have time for lunch.  It was amazing and we learned lots.

The most interesting thing was the statement that this year was actually the 5th best year in the history of recorded real estate sales.  Yet, this was the first year that real-estate prices have gone down. 

I was particularly interested in the classes on marketing Luxury Homes and got some wonderful ideas for co-operative marketing that I plan on using on some of our fabulous listings.  We also found an interesting Internet product at the EXPO.  It was a group from Australia that for a nominal monthly fee prepared a slide show with voice overs describing your listing.  The only problem was the language they used was not American English.  I plan on contacting them and helping them learn U.S. real estate English.  It will be fun since I was a former English teacher. 

Bill Cosby entertained at the convention.  He was wonderful.  He told a great real estate story of buying his first home in Los Angeles after just coming from Philadelphia.  He as looking for a brick home since in Philly only poor people had stucco homes, yet all the Realtor seemed to show him were stucco homes.  He finally found a brick home for twice as much as he wanted to spend in the 1960's, about $300,000.  It was just down the street from  Jack Lemon's home.  They lived there for 3 years until the first earthquake.  They then decided to go back East.  Cosby wanted to keep the house and rent it out.  His wife insisted on selling it.  They sold it to Michael Landon for approximately $330,000.  Ten years later Bill Cosby was reading the paper and read the news of Michael Landon's divorce and that he was forced to sell his home for $10,000,000.  Bill Cosby said that in 50 years of marriage.  This is the only time he had something over his wife and he never fails to use it.  It was a great story and I am sure a true one.  Unfortunately, in this and the next few years I don't think we will see such a spectacular increase in the value of homes.

Never-the-less, real estate is still the best investment out there if you are planning on keeping it over the long haul.  The Riverwoods real estate market seems to be picking up.  People who value privacy and the beauty of nature are drawn to our community.  We have one property which is on 7 acres at the end of the road.  It's hard to find this kind of privacy and serenity in today's world and people are willing to pay for it.  Most of our listings are on a minimum of 1.5 to 2 acre lots.  It's amazing that it's not good fences that make good neighbors, its good space between homes that make good neighbors since when ever you need help someone is ready to lend a hand, but your privacy is always respected.

Well we are back at work holding open houses, showing houses and getting new listings so I will sign off as tomorrow promises to be another big day.