Interesting question to ponder.  Too often we get so busy with managing our businesses that perhaps we don't allow enought time to properly care for our own personal homes.  Has this ever happened to you? The projects you have put off until you had more, had more money, or just had more ambition?  Is the way your home looks affecting your business or adversely affecting your business?

 Should we lead by example or procrastination?  When working with buyers do they wonder what our house looks like?  IS our house/home a reflection of who we are or what we are not?

Successful people live in very different ways. The riches man, may not have the biggest house depending on how much he likes to travel for example.  Or his lack of need to display his wealth.

Conversely, the average person may be trying to live well above their means struggling to keep up with the Jones'. And suffering for it.  Foreclosures up 157% over last year.

Or are Real Estate professional just average?

My home is a work in progress.  It is not my first, it is actually my fourth home.  Each one was very different.  I think my homes evolved as I evolved as a person, and as my interests changed and grew as well as the size of my family.

The first house was a developmental home. Nothing terribly special but over time it evolved as new things we added.

The second home was in a waterfront community. More a bungalow than house. Small and compact, yet warm and loving. Great View of the water.

The third house was a much larger house with a large pool and beautiful garden in a very upscale area.

In choosing where we wanted to live and how we wanted to raise the kids, we took many things into consideration.  Schools were always an important factor.  Quality of life was too. And of course the price.

Having come from a Big City (New York) and moving to a more agricultural area near Disney what benefit would the children derive by country living compared to city living? 

Tranqulity. 

As I look out the window, I see wide smiles, a sense a freedom and plenty of green grass.  I am reminded everyday that for us it was a great choice.

The fourth house was a simple farm house with acreage.   A place to raise the kids and enjoy our love of animals.  An equestrian community where having a horse is the norm rather than the unusual-where kids still climb trees, and plant flower gardens, and collect fresh eggs everyday. 

More like something we read about than actually lived.  Each time it was like starting over from scratch.  A blank pallet. Left to become a vision seen only in an artists eye then put on the canvas.

It has taken years, to get the old house up to date, add the flowers, the reflection garden, raise the ducks for the pond, prepare the in- law cottage for our college kid, and a guest cottage for visiting relatives, convert the old storage building into a horse stable.   Build the garage for hubby and his projects. And finally get that  pool for those hot, sultry, summers in Florida. 

But in the big scheme of things, it was well worth the money, sacrafice, work, sweat, tears, and toil when I see them just being kids.  When I see them swinging on the tree swing, or horseback riding with their hair blowing in the wind. For that moment, I am the kid they actually get to be.  Wow. 

What do I love about Osceola County....only everything.

My home is where I hang my shingle. It is where I work, live and play.  It is becoming a reflection of who we are. Real people, living a simple life helping other people.

My Realtor sign swings from an old fashioned post in the front yard.  The house isn't for sale but everytime someone pulls up and asks if it is...I consider that to be a compliment as well as a lead.  

After helping so many other people prepare their homes for sale, it was nice to come home and practive what I preach.  But it took years to get there. 

So how does it compare to the ones I do sell.  Some are better, some are worse...but home is more than four walls...it is where you live and a piece of yourself. It is where the heart truly is.