real estate license: Fishing for Leads - 09/19/17 01:08 PM
Do you like to fish?  If you do, then you will relate to this blog.  I like to fish.  I lose patience sometimes, but if the sun is shining and the fishing isn’t good, I always enjoy just being there.  Fishing reminds me of practicing real estate.  Bob and I use lures a lot, and lures can be like leads.  Some lures are good, some are not so good.  Some leads are good and some leads are awful. 
 
Fishing requires time, patience and effort as does real estate.  Fishing doesn’t always end with success; neither does real estate.  Some days fishing … (0 comments)

real estate license: Travel - 09/19/17 09:32 AM
I love to travel.  We spent more than a few years in an RV ministry where we got to travel around the country while working on churches, Christian schools, Teen Challenges, etc.  It was a great life, but not for the faint of heart.  Now that we’re out of ministry and have settled into a routine with our real estate school, we don’t travel as much as we’d like to.  As you read this blog, we are in New England enjoying friends, family and foliage.  It was on our bucket list to take a train ride and to get Bob up … (1 comments)

real estate license: Become a Hurricane! - 09/11/17 12:47 PM
Florida just got knocked on its “keester” with Hurricane Irma, Texas was pummeled by Hurricane Harvey, and while writing this blog, we still don’t know the calamity Hurricane Jose will cause.  Let’s face it:  this hurricane season was not your Momma’s hurricane season!  Time stood still, businesses shut down, schools shut down, people evacuated, and life became disorganized.
 
Now it’s time to get back to work.  Now it’s time for you to become a hurricane!  Of course, I’m using a hurricane as a metaphor in your real estate career.  Hurricanes can be scattered, unnerving and unpredictable.  That’s not what I want for … (2 comments)

real estate license: Networking - 07/26/17 09:49 AM
You seasoned agents already know about networking, so I don’t mean to preach to the choir.  My contact with students is normally before they become licensed, shortly after they’ve become licensed, and when they are ready to move on to a higher level of licensing.  Forgive me if you are reading this, and you already know the how, when and where of networking.  This blog obviously is not for you!  To the rest of you who may not have already been exposed to teaching, training and preaching about the values of networking, this blog is definitely for you!
 
Back in the 1980s, … (2 comments)

real estate license: Love This Industry! - 07/19/17 06:06 AM
The fact that I love this industry still amazes me after all these years.  I have not practiced real estate since about 2006 when I left to enter into a full-time training/recruiting/teaching position that turned out to be a prerequisite to an early retirement that took Bob and me across the country in an RV ministry while continuing to teach for NAR and CTAR.
 
It took a few years to remember I love this industry and to remember why I love it.  Coming out of an early retirement and starting a new teaching career at 65 was not a difficult decision.  We … (1 comments)

real estate license: A Clear Path - 07/07/17 05:13 AM
Real estate agents sometimes run around without being organized.  They don’t have a clear path to lead them, and their attitudes are like one that promotes slinging enough mud so some of it will stick.  Organization isn’t their thing, and at year-end they complain because nothing seemed to work out and they wonder why they didn’t make the money they expected.  Several REALTORS® come to mind who needed a clear path in their real estate career. 
 
The first was a student who got his license on the first try after working hard to get through our one-week Fast Track class.  He … (0 comments)

real estate license: A Few Suggestions - 07/05/17 05:57 AM
When you are newly licensed and have begun a real estate career, you tend to follow the lead of some major players in your professional life.  Brokers, trainers, and top producers will all have a few suggestions as you muddle your way through the first month of filling out forms, attending meetings, setting up sites, ordering cards, and generally staying bewildered and wondering when and if it will ever end.  Once the paperwork is done, and the dust has settled, it may be time for a few suggestions about what to do next.
 
Granted, not every new real estate agent starts out … (1 comments)

real estate license: The Freedom to… - 07/02/17 04:08 PM
Now that the 4th is over and things are back to normal, reflection on our various liberties is in order.  We have such freedom in this country!  We have the freedom to practice real estate and to earn as much money as we want to.  We are only limited by ourselves.  We also have the freedom to enjoy ourselves when, in fact, we don’t wish to work.  There is no one to tell us we must work today and we should put in so many hours.  Being an entrepreneur gives us the freedom to make our own way.
 
Sometimes the freedom to … (0 comments)

real estate license: Tomorrow Could Be Your Personal Freedom Day - 07/01/17 09:08 AM
Tomorrow is the 4th of July!  TEAM Hughes wishes you the most joyous and safest 4th of July ever!  Just think – tomorrow could be your personal Freedom Day.  Tomorrow could be your very own declaration of independence!  Why would you want to wait to break the chains that are binding you to a dead-end job or to a career that makes you feel you’re in a constant state of servitude?
 
Tomorrow could be your personal Freedom Day by taking that HUGE step toward the passion that’s been burning inside of you.  I recently read a quote by David Ramsey that said, … (2 comments)

real estate license: Raising Your Bar - 06/28/17 07:29 AM
According to the National Association of REALTORS®, there were 1,255,619 active members as of June 1st.  This figure does not include licensees, like myself, who are not members of NAR, but who hold active licenses.  I cannot imagine how many more that represents, but suffice it to say we have lots of real estate licensees in this country!  So, you might agree that raising your bar is necessary to stand out from the myriad of other agents in your area.
 
Our country grew out of visions of entrepreneurial spirits.  Back in the earliest days of this nation, men dreamed of owning a … (1 comments)

real estate license: Inspiration - 06/27/17 06:43 AM
In life, we have many inspirations, and some are relegated to our personal lives and some are relegated to our professional lives.  When blogging, I usually try to keep my personal life experiences to a minimum because after all, this is a real estate school blog.  When thinking about inspiration from a professional point of view, it’s easy to figure out what inspires me, and I would love to share that with you!
 
Having entered the real estate industry as a single mother of two small girls, no child support, 32 years old and living in a city where I knew only … (0 comments)

real estate license: It’s Your Choice - 06/21/17 03:33 AM
Again, it’s raining!  We’ve had more rain than we know what to do with, and quite frankly, calling Florida the “Sunshine State” right now is a bit of an oxymoron if you ask me.  As I write this blog, I am in my nightgown, sipping a cup of coffee, listening to the rain flood my yard and, of course, I began thinking about the practice of real estate and how it’s your choice when it comes to getting dressed today.
 
In a real estate career, it’s your choice to go into the office, to go into the field, to go door knocking … (0 comments)

real estate license: When All Else Fails - 06/01/17 05:53 AM
Every part of the U.S. is experiencing an influx of real estate agents and REALTORS®.  
The Association of Real Estate License Law Officials, ARELLO, estimated there were over 2,000,000 real estate licensees in the U.S. during 2015, and that number has had to have grown with the successful market we’ve experienced.  There are some fascinating statistics offered by NAR that show the practice of real estate is growing throughout the country.
 
With all this growth, why then do we see real estate agents failing?  According to REALTOR® Magazine, there are four main reasons why agents do not succeed.  Without going into … (0 comments)

real estate license: Advice to Youth - 05/29/17 03:35 AM
Graduations are all around us and at every ceremony you hear advice to youth that is supposed to make some sort of change in the direction of many of the graduates.  Young people are told to go forward and to set the world on fire, to make changes that will ultimately change the world around them.  Some advice to youth is to go on to a greater education, to be become someone important.
 
My outlook, however, is a bit different.  I graduated high school at age 17 in 1966 and was not one of those kids bound for college.  As a matter … (0 comments)

real estate license: Daily Practices - 05/23/17 03:13 AM
If you are a person of faith, you most likely make prayer a matter of one of your daily practices.  If you are a person with high control issues, one of your daily practices may be to check your credit cards and banking balances to make sure you are in control of them.  If you are a parent with children still at home, you may make a daily practice of telling your children you love them.  If you are a REALTOR® or a real estate agent, one of your daily practices should be to contact someone.  After all, this is a … (1 comments)

real estate license: Disappointments - 05/19/17 11:07 AM
We all face disappointments sooner or later, and some of us face greater disappointments than others.  For instance, I have a 10-year old grandson in Maine.  His name is Oliver and he’s a great kid.  His older brother, Sullivan, is awesome too, but Sully has reached puberty and has lost his “baby boy” edge.  Sully wants to work over the summer, and I get that.  Oliver, on the other hand, is the perfect candidate for, “Come to Nana and let her spoil you this summer!”  Therein lies the disappointment of the week.  Oliver was willing, but after all the unaccompanied minor … (2 comments)

real estate license: Amazing Times - 05/15/17 03:59 PM
We’ve watched the market for years.  As REALTORS®, my husband and I were always aware of interest rates, inflationary times, sellers vs. buyers’ markets, and increases in value.  We entered into ministry in 2006, so we were somewhat insulated against the difficult times that were to follow, although we suffered losses in real estate investments, as well as in our portfolios.  We believe we are now living in some pretty amazing times.  Put your theological beliefs aside, lay your political beliefs down for a few minutes, and let me tell you how a broker who has been around this rodeo for … (0 comments)

real estate license: Be the Best - 05/11/17 04:31 AM
In 1971, I had a neighbor with two little boys and I will never forget some great advice I heard her tell one of her little ones.  When she asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up, he told his Mommy that he wanted to be a garbage collector.  He admired the guys who came around in the big trucks and he wanted to be just like them.  His mother told him how wonderful it was that he wanted to be a garbage man and then came the nugget.  She also told him to be the best garbage … (1 comments)

real estate license: Dreams - 05/09/17 04:21 AM
Dreams are a part of our DNA.  We all have dreams of something better, but at some point, dreams must go from inspiration to participation.  To continue dreaming without executing the dream’s ending is fruitless.  We must bring our dreams into a place of reality.
 
As a younger woman, my dream was to speak in front of people, but I wanted to have something to give people, and I wasn’t sure what I would ever have that other people would want.  The dreams I had throughout the years changed many times, but they always came back to the one common thread, i.e. … (2 comments)

real estate license: Have a Plan - 05/07/17 04:14 AM
Do you have a plan for your future?  In my younger years, I didn’t plan much.  It was a “do or die” situation, especially during the times in my life I was a single mother.  Survival of the fittest was a way of life for me and that didn’t include much of a plan.  Then, life turned around.  It wasn’t any day, and it wasn’t a dramatic event.  There just came a time when paradigm shifts came along, my thinking toward life and goals changed, and if someone had asked me if I have a plan, I could have answered yes.  … (3 comments)