Cutting the Cord, tee hee hee

News is hitting the investment platforms, finally, admitting that cable is hemorrhaging customers and the stock is starting to roll down the hill. By this time next year they can post a counter. And I have to say I’m glad about it. I don’t own the stock, and wouldn’t on principle.

Some radio show hosts call cell phone customer service providers “customere no service”, but that really should apply to cable companies. Think about it. If you are brave enough or unfortunate enough to go TO the brick and mortar shop, you get to take a number and wait an hour, while six to eight employees take turns offering three service providers to the crowd. It would be nice if all eight of them would get it in gear, but until NOW, they haven’t had to. You and I know they are slow dancing in a burning room, but they still saunter around and enjoy building a frustrated backlog of trapped customers. This tells me the ‘customer servants’ can’t see the writing on the wall, or can’t read it, not sure which.

I felt SO GOOD the day I canceled my cable service, and while I was at it I fired their internet service too. Icing on the cake. Why? Oh. Glad you asked.

Once about 8 months ago I called to cancel cable because they were raping me on the cost AND they were charging that ridiculous amount to show me COMMERCIALS. When I called to fire them they asked, “So, why do you want to cancel your cable?”

I replied, “Because I am not going to pay to watch commercials.”

Now, I had some time and I knew they would do the shuffle to reel me back in, and I was curious how that would go. So, smiling, I went along for the ride. By the time she was finished, she had RAISED my already unacceptable bill by THIRTY DOLLARS. So I said, “Hmmm. Does that actually work with people who are calling to fire you?”

“What do you mean?” she asked.

I said, “People want to cancel because the bill is too high, so you RAISE the cost and they actually agree? Does that really WORK?”

She got very quiet. Until she started typing again to try to make me happy watching commercials for a lower price. Well she gave me some free movie channels and lowered my bill, so I stayed a while. But when the free stuff ran out? The bill was AMAZINGLY high. In other words, they made up for free stuff in a big way…or thought they would. I am not stupid and neither, as it turns out, are more and more customers.

So I fired them.

Here’s the deal. Cable companies have raped their clients for years and they got away with that AND horrible customer service because they could. Then when Hulu, Netflix and Youtube came on the scene they thought they could stick it to us again by hiring FRIENDLY people to rape us. Once upon a time, that would have worked. But NOW…we have other options. Lots of them.

So cable is one market segment, the demise of which I plan to watch while I kick back, prop up my feet, pour a glass of red wine and celebrate. I’ll be smiling, thinking about the jerks sweating bullets and scrambling to make it…you know, like we CUSTOMERS have done for years. Only, I could turn in my cable equipment; they can’t turn in their mansions.

Good riddance cable. Won’t miss you at all. Oh and you other guys? The replacements? Learn something. Because some of us have gotten used to no TV at ALL much of the time. Tick tock.

Wanted: Experienced Realtors…

Just like other areas of life, there was a recent push to replace experienced real estate agents with “millennials”. The thinking was that millions of home buyers would be people in this age cohort, that they would be THE buyers and that they would want to work with agents who were their peers. Well that wasn’t on target, to put it mildly. Many of the younger buyers are renting and paying off college loans, or even staying at home with Mom and Dad…not buying. Real estate planners shouldn’t feel bad; retail made that mistake too. Many of the millennials are educated, savvy, street smart and skeptical about anybody wanting their sparse cash. They want details, they want to know their agent has a solid knowledge of the market and is well capable of walking them through the jungle of tasks associated with buying and selling a home. In other words, millennials expect to be leaders and as such, their real estate agent had better be qualified to take that lead.

Millennials who do buy are not usually in the higher end market; rather, they are usually in the first time buyer and first time move-up buyer price range. They, and other who ARE buying in the high end market do not want a “millennial” guiding the transaction. Well, I’m a 10,000 foot view person. I saw this stumble coming a mile and a half away. Don’t get me wrong; I love young people. The ones I get to meet and work with are very smart, very motivated and very sensible about buying. They give me hope for the future. But young real estate agents are not well rounded, confident and knowledgable about the market just yet. They deserve to grow and build a skill base, yes; but that doesn’t negate the value of experience.

So some of the same companies who were nudging the older agents aside are now actively recruiting experience. It’s a shame that experienced agents are often overlooked by the ‘planners’ of the future of area market movement, and that that experienced agents are re-noticed only when the cavalry is needed. But that’s how it goes.

My advice to you is this: Realize that you are making one of the largest transactions of your life, and that you should put that transaction in the hands of experience and knowledge. That doesn’t mean someone who made a high score on the test, although that’s important. It means someone who understands the nuances of the market beyond what the publications say. It means someone who understands that prices in neighboring communities can be very different and why. It means someone who has experience with inspectors and builders. It means someone who knows how to spot hidden potential issues. It means someone who knows what’s worth worrying about and what is not. It means knowing the importance of pricing and how it impacts the overall market. It means knowing how to put the most cash in your pocket at the end of the day.

I decided to write about this subject today because I have been working on a market analysis for the last several days, in a new growth-spurt area, where prices have jumped significantly in the last year. I want to push my list price as high as I can…and be able to have it appraise at that value when the time comes. This of course prompted a deep dive into that area and into that community, and a subsequent spreadsheet…mine, not a canned product.

One of the values I use, LOOSELY, I might add, is price per square foot. And while this is the WRONG WRONG WRONG value to use in pricing a home, it does give you a nice snapshot of market activity at-a-glance, and it can be quite eye opening. It was for me. In my area of interest there were 3 of 14 homes I studied, which had VERY much lower sold price-per-square-foot. This prompted me to look at the listing agency AND agent, and each case, the agent was inexperienced. This costed the home owners/sellers a lot of money they could have made on their transactions and it hurt the overall market. These low-ball prices will be put into the “comp” pot, and will be used by appraisers in pricing other homes for mortgages. And this tells me nobody’s guiding these agents appropriately and nobody has told them the value of strong pricing. Nobody has shared with them that listing with strong prices raises the entire market, which is actually our job…to protect the market.

So, while other home sold in the 118.00 price per square foot, these homes sold at around 108. That adds up. To loss for the sellers. The moral of the story is this: If you hire inexperience, it will cost you. You may never know it…which would be the best scenario. If you do know it, you have to wonder where else you got short-changed.

I need to also say that sometimes it pays to price low if a quick sale is needed…for the SELLER, not the agent. And that’s all I will say about that.

Bottom line: Be sure your agent is experienced enough to be a strong, successful advocate for you. That’s what you are paying for. This isn’t an opportunity to be trendy; this is your money at stake. Experienced agents will understand that.

Real Estate and Millennials

I just read an article that says it’s hard to get ‘Millennials’ into the DIY stores these days, but hope springs eternal as the older ones in the cohort are reaching the median age for home buying. That’s a mouthful. It’s true that they are aging like the rest of us, and it gives me something else to watch swirl around the drain as the marketing folks miss the mark again.

Millennials are buying new homes much of the time, not old homes that need work, and their DIY days are way ahead of them. I’ve watched business after business change their paradigm to cater to Millennials and fail miserably at it. Why? They don’t have a clue. They read the articles that say Millennials are at shopping age OMG! Well heads up people. Millennials don’t shop. They save, they pay student loan debt and they are not baby boomers who live beyond their means.

The impending focus by the big box DIY stores toward Millennials is just another example of how people get on the cart path, so to speak, trying to change things to satisfy the media hype, rather than paying attention to their clientele. Look around you in the DIY stores. There are no DJs or Wifi boutique areas. It’s a big old tool and garden shop. It smells like plywood and there’s always an aisle full of guys on their knees searching through the bin for that perfect screw or bolt. Which still makes me go hmmmm. And I don’t see any Millennials! Not one! Could you envision one of them being interested in the LEAST about that perfect bolt? Not unless you hide a cell phone in the bin as a prize.

It would benefit these businesses to look at JC Penney, for example, who tried to change everything to cater to the young people. Look at their stock price real quickly. I’ll wait. See? Disaster. When JC Penney shut out their foundation clientele you could hear the toilet flushing their income stream. It’s the older generation who are the bread and butter, the ones who made these stores ‘big box’ to start with. They can change things around to be ready for Millennials to arrive, and they can listen to crickets chirping…you know like JC Penney did.

For DIY stores, it’s a bad idea to negate the needs of the foundational clientele, because they are older folks (and I mean over thirty) who have kids who need a nice yard in which to play, kids who make you need to paint, grandkids who break things and flush things that shouldn’t be flushed. And Millennials don’t have kids or are just getting started and they don’t need yards. But all of that aside, the Millennials are not shoppers. Not yet. Electronics? Yes. But that’s about it for now.

They are not ready for big box DIY. They couldn’t care less about planting a flower bed and if they do, chances are it will be neglected and die because…they have other things to do! Fun things! They go to their friends’ weddings, or their wedding. They go clubbing, they go biking and hiking, they date. Or they get ready to date, or they start a family. It’s that time of their lives. DIY and flower beds are way out there on the radar, if at all.

Some of my all time favorite clients are Millennials. They exhibit true partnership in choosing a home and defining a price range. They never want to max out their purchase power; rather, they stay conservative and realize that they also want to continue to play, or think about starting a family. They don’t need a palace to start with. Don’t get me wrong, they want a nice home, but they are smart about it. They plan to HIRE people to fix things because they are on their computers and iPads and iPhones…or Samsung Galaxies. Millennials budget in repair people! They do not plan to be one.

Oh I know they WILL be one, but they don’t know that yet.

Millennials are tech savvy, not circular saw savvy. They are VERY okay with electronic interaction, including documentation…which is my absolute preference…and they are fun. They also have a true partnership. They think about things together, each has input, and I swear, one person NEVER makes the decision without looking at the other and saying, “What do you think?” And…you might find a Millennial doing some DIY but it’s usually because his father is helping him and Dad is the one shopping for plywood. Young son has researched the issue online so he knows what’s going on, but it’s DAD who is doing the work. Trust me.

On the flip side: There are some Millennials who buy fixer-uppers, but its to save money. And when something breaks, they freak out. They don’t run to the DIY center; they call Dad or somebody they know “who does this stuff”…usually NOT a Millennial. True! Usually a parent or older friend with kids and a big truck and lots of bills who does this work to make extra money…not a Millennial paradigm at all.

And another thing: Better to start catering to women in these places because the Millennial women are strong and smart and engaged. They will be one half of all buying decisions about those nuts and bolts when the time comes. That’s the cohort behavior. A great idea would be to look at how many women are already shopping there and cater to them. Right now. The Millennials will be there in 15 years but if you look around, you will see a lot of women in these places right now…but you won’t see them at the bolt bin. To us a bolt is a bolt.

I know, men think all casserole dishes are the same too.

MARKET STRATEGY FOR THE TRIANGLE

If I said it’s a crazy market would you think I’m repeating myself? Well, it’s a crazy market. There’s a housing shortage folks, which makes it the strongest seller market I have experienced. For the first time in my experience, all of my buyer clients (and one seller) are BUILDING their next home. That’s because…duh…there’s as housing shortage, and people can’t find a home they want to buy! If they find one, there are five offers on the table already! ALERT! TIME TO LIST IF YOU ARE THINKING OF SELLING!! I’ve said that so much I’m out of breath. Again, you can make the MOST on the sale of your home now, while there are people clamoring for a great home to buy and who don’t want to wait six months to build!

Remember when I said I couldn’t wait until the pendulum swung back to center? When I was tired of my sellers getting the pants beaten off of them? Well, I’m glad alright. Sellers are now in control. Like I said, the universe WILL balance. Never fails.

But like always, there’s a “but”.

I find that many real estate agents negate the power of supply-and-demand when pricing homes to list. For example…one-level living is the hottest thing going right now, except for senior living communities…which are also one-level living. So if you have a ranch style home, you are in the proverbial cat-bird seat. Now that only applies if you home is marketable. I’ll explain later.

Back to pricing: Yes, look at the price range of homes in your zip code and focus on your comps. Then search for ranch style homes in the MLS AREA, and see how many ranches are out there. If you find ONE or NONE? Instant benefit to you, Seller. You may now price at the high end of the range and expect to get it. I recently had an agent lambast me in her feedback telling me that my listing was priced TWENTY THOUSAND too high. Well, we sold that house for the price I set. Booyah! Pricing is my strong suit folks. I get it done. If she had listed the house, well, not a happy face on that one. And it would have hurt the market for the community too.

When you meet with me, I will ask you this, “What is your selling goal?” Now that might sound stupid, but bear with me. If your goal is to get rid of the house FAST, that initiates a different STRATEGY for pricing your home. In other words, we might aim a bit lower in price, or come up with some enticing concessions. But if your goal is to get every last penny the market will allow for your property, well that’s another STRATEGY, and its my favorite. That means we price you at the high end of your range, but we expect to MAYBE take a bit longer to sell. I don’t know about you, but I’d wait two or three more weeks to net 5 grand. If you are not in a rush, relax and focus on your bottom line getting BETTER.

If your agent doesn’t talk strategy with you…ask why! There is more to pricing your home than pulling up some comps and taking an average! Supply and demand MUST be considered! If you have the only ranch style home with an acre or more lot in the whole area? You just hit the jackpot on pricing; I don’t care what the other homes went for.

Understand that pricing your home is a many-faceted operation that takes time, it takes knowledge of the greater market, your LOCAL market…which sometimes means your exact community…and it takes an understanding of what you, the seller, want to achieve.

My goal in any listing situation is to get you, the seller, every penny I can get for you on pricing. But if you just need to move on, we can change that strategy. It’s a team effort and your agent MUST know your needs, not just how to average the sale price of three properties sold in the last three months.

Now, back to having your home “marketable”…People sometimes hate to hear this, but here is the cold, hard truth. If you want TOP DOLLAR for your home, it MUST be in top dollar CONDITION. That means you have to roll up your sleeves and do some cleaning and re-arrange or maybe even remove some pieces of furniture. Remember we look at houses ALL THE TIME. We know what sells and what doesn’t. You HAVE TO DECLUTTER.

Buyers are buying space, not your decor. Don’t fault the professional real estate agent when she tells you what you have to do to get top dollar. Is your decor worth ten thousand dollars to your bottom line? I’ve seen people say yes to that time after time! Amazing! I don’t have that kind of money to spare, how about you? If you do, don’t worry about making your home “marketable”.

So…remember that if you want top dollar, the house must be WORTHY of it. If you are not willing to put in the sweat equity to get top dollar, do NOT blame your real estate agent! Instead, look in the mirror. Remember that selling your home is a team effort and you…let me repeat…YOU are one half of the team. So get involved, know your strategy, and get that home spiffed up to garner the best price! If I’m your agent, I’m going to work very closely with you to get you that price.

Let me just add one more thing: Don’t start getting antsy. If you have chosen a savvy real estate agent who has clearly understood your needs and laid out a great pricing strategy, listen to her and settle down. Selling a home is nerve wracking I know, but you will shorten your life by pacing around being nervous. Relax and let the strategy work. You can count your money and your blessings later, trust me. And if you can’t trust your agent, you’ve got the wrong agent. Just sayin’.

Fallen Leaves

There is an Asian philosophy which encourages reflection on serenity, the deeper meaning of life, even the beauty of its passing. This sort of reflection certainly appeals most strongly to left brain dominant introverts, the ones who live inside our own minds and who seek a deeper meaning in the people and events that swirl around us in chaos. We don’t have a choice in the matter; it’s how we’re wired. I’m not sure whether its a blessing or something else, but it’s never dull nor shallow.

I study things, people, events, because that’s unquestionably more interesting than gossip or television shows or parties. I would rather think about where lightening originates and what was the fuel for the “big bang” if there was no universe to provide fuel, or what makes a person behave in certain ways, than waste brain time on trivia. Obviously I’m not usually the life of the party and that’s okay. There is a world of unanswerable questions and beautiful conundrums to contemplate, and challenges which can never be bested…at least not in this lifetime, or dimension. You choose.

I buried my mother last week. You can’t prepare for that, even if you understand the course ahead of you, even if you know the suffering will end, even if your mother is tired and ready to go. You can’t prepare. But if you slow down and think, you realize there is beauty in the end of life which may be more spectacular than its beginning or even the rises and falls within it. There is no question that suffering is the worst image of humanity we ever see, particularly when it is a loved one who suffers, but when the bond between the physical world is released to that of the spiritual one, there is a peacefulness and beauty not seen at any other time in life in my observation. And I think it is beautiful because leaving the place where, upon entry you immediately begin to die, to a place where your sprit is released from physical degradation to unity with the universe, is unimaginably exciting. That’s part of it.

I have been at the bedside of several loved ones and good friends as they passed on to the next dimension. There is great honor to be able to stand beside someone you love as they leave, to witness their going, to stand guard for them, as it were. It is frightening to contemplate ending until you realize that the spirit does not end; it goes somewhere else but it does not end. It is the greatest contradiction of which I know, to feel such pain and confusion and beauty simultaneously. And yet, there it is, every time.

As my first grandchild was born, I held my daughter’s hand and for a split second I was in the past as my child was born, and in the present as her child was born. It was as though for some segment of a second, I was not in my body, but elsewhere, observing the passing of time from a distance and obviously not sequentially. It was past and present at once. As my mother passed, I was pulled all the way back to early childhood, feeling the panic I felt as a little girl when my mommy walked away from me, and yet I was an adult mourning my loss now. These events remind me that we live within our reality, but not necessarily THE reality. There is a perspective we simply cannot see clearly from our point of reference.

I am reading a book about people who experienced death, called “near death”, but I disagree. It’s death. It’s brief, not permanent death, but it is death. In any case, without fail these people describe time as being nothing like what we experience in life. I know. I get that. I’ve felt a hint of it three times now. And there’s another extended time ahead of me. Nobody gets out alive.

I try to feel better about never being able to see my mother’s face again, or touch her, or hear her voice in conversation. I know I will never stop missing her. I can say that falling leaves of Fall are never so beautiful as they cling to the tree throughout Spring and Summer. I can say that there is great beauty in the fallen leaf as it wafts to the ground, coming to rest atop other fallen leaves waiting to decompose and contribute to the circle of life. I can try to convince myself to feel okay about death being a part of life. It doesn’t work. Pain is what I feel. I grieve. And yet, great grief is a sign of great love. There is love in grief and beauty in the fallen leaf.

The Dumbing Down of Entertainment

Shock value has become the simple minded avenue through which writers attempt to nab viewers. Perhaps the “shock” paradigm is working because there are few other choices and so few engaged viewers; but I think it’s a flashing neon sign that creativity is dead and intelligent thought is a dead activity. I believe people are becoming less ABLE to think, because nobody really has to anymore. Everyone wins, everybody gets to retake tests until they “pass”, everybody’s entitled, the fun thing is to pull one over on the world and put an unqualified body in a position of power and importance, and if you can read it online somehow that qualifies you as an expert. Faking it and lying have become art, an aspiration. What happened to America? Even a college degree has become unimportant and therefore a useless waste of time because universities are giving them away for financial benefits. So now? BS degree? No big deal. My dog has one.

By the way, a REAL college experience develops creativity and by “real” I mean one where you actually work and lean something. We might be on to something here.

Some of my saddest moments are when I look around at the sheer laziness of people, and some of my most frightened ones are when I see creativity either dying or being killed, before my eyes. People are lazier and dumber by the year, and it seems to be okay, because dumb is a whole lot easier than smart and inquisitive and engaged. But it is also far less rewarding, and unfortunately these unengaged lazies are the ones making rules and running the show. I want a renaissance! I want an end to entitlements and I miss intelligent, engaged people! I miss original thinking, creativity, NEW ideas.

I know I am not the only one who has noticed “remakes” ad nauseam, to the point where we are thrust back in time to think about what led up to the great story someone ELSE once wrote. And I am tired of the practice of ‘sampling’ of others artists’ works because musicians have no talent to create their own good body of work. Forget great; I’ve given up on great. But “sampling” used to be called plagiarism and was not only frowned upon, but also was illegal. EVEN if you gave credit to the person from whom you ‘borrowed’ ideas. Commercials, also known as television, are reduced to using sex and violence as the draws. Why? Because it takes no ingenuity nor creativity to know that men respond to sex and violence. You’ve heard it: Sex sells. And it does, because that’s the norm now. It’s what we teach our children is most important. You know, base animal behavior. That’ll get you a great job. Be an animal.

There’s nothing wrong with sex, but you don’t put man on Mars by watching sexy commercials or porn. You do that by physics, chemistry, action, fitness, bravery, ingenuity and plain old hard work! OH, and lets not forget competition! That’s a dirty word unless you’re talking sports. By the way sports was one way dictators controlled the masses, did you know that? Think gladiators. And now think about how important the NFL has become. We are lemmings.

And don’t tell me there’s nothing new under the sun; there’s new, we are just too lazy and uncreative to search for it.

We used to exist in what we were told was the golden age of television, and perhaps it once was. We saw the birth and development of talk shows with substance, news shows that were truly balanced, and television shows that made you think at least a little bit, about life and circumstances. We saw shows that made you laugh, about real life, not some twisted idea to garner ratings. I recall watching talk shows with political themes where the commentator was almost invisible in the grand scheme, because he (yes usually he) intended the spotlight to be on the guests. Now, the commentator has to be the STAR, and their political views are thought to be somehow more important than anyone else because they have the microphone. But lets face it; reading a teleprompter or a stack of notes does not make you smarter than I, nor entitled to make up MY mind about what’s happening in the world. I need you to stand down and let me listen to the people who may or may not be qualified to make laws by which I will be required to live.

Do you remember Firing Line with William F. Buckley? He was the person who really started the whole idea of political talk shows. His show was truly a show for intellectuals, but what he did was provide a platform for ALL of the views. Everyone came prepared to state his position and to defend it, in a civilized manner, and everyone expected to be treated with dignity because anything else was unheard of. It was the audience who made up their minds, not some commentator doing it for them. Now, if you want to watch politics, you choose the one that repeats back to you what you want to hear, which adds NO intellectual value at all, and you nod and drool at the oracle commentator who thinks just like you! Nobody wants to entertain the other views or God forbid actually give them a platform, because it has become all about emotion. No brains needed. Dumbed down. Next they’ll just sing it to us as they serve alcohol or drugs.

Lately we see commercials with peoples’ heads exploding, or cannibal cereal bites. Are you kidding me? Do we have ten year old boys writing this stuff? It’s not cute; it’s not amusing; it’s subliminal violence and it’s a red flag, waving frantically, that the creators are unintelligent and uncreative and juvenile, and WE, the consumers are idiots for watching this mess. I don’t. I turn it off. And I wonder where the creative ones are.

And while we are on the subject of turning it off, let’s talk about TV again. I called the cable provider to fire them, and of course they asked me why. I told them I was tired of paying for advertisements. I don’t CARE about what this medication or that medication does, and no I won’t ask my doctor to prescribe it because I also hear the side effects in those ads…which the pharmaceutical companies are trying to make go away, by the way. So far their efforts haven’t worked because there are still some intelligent people out there. But watch. Pretty soon they will disappear from the ads. Why? Because the masses have become so lazy and dumb, so enamored by drugs, that they would rather memorize the ACTUAL names of the plethora of drugs in their cabinet, than get an education and see that these drugs CAUSE most of what ails us these days. Bottom line? Most people clearly don’t mind a continuous stream of advertisements AND don’t mind paying big bucks for them. I’m shaking my head. Where is the substantive content? No longer on TV.

All I’m saying is that I lived in the world where innovation was natural, where great ideas bloomed every day. I lived in the world where people used their imagination and intelligence and enjoyed it. I lived in the world where competition was fostered and where it fomented even greater ideas as a result. I didn’t live in the world where everyone ran around with a bloodsucker raised, frantic to insert it, at any cost, into a host.

Sanders keeps citing Scandinavia as the blueprint for a utopian America, but what he fails to report, or fess up as it were, is that these countries are stumbling under the weight of all of the bloodsuckers weakening the host, and under the weight of the demise of work ethic, which made these countries great to begin with. So their recoveries happened when they adopted more “right leaning” policies…in other words to scrap the entitlements and send the bloodsuckers elsewhere, stop paying people to NOT work. Reward innovation, creativity, a desire to become better!

There’s no such thing as utopia. Instead there’s steady decline as the host dies, unless people get busy and start using their god-given brains. I barely tolerate lazy, and I rage against extortion. But mostly I feel sad at how dumb and lazy we have become, and I know I might see the day that this behavior causes this country to fall. In the meantime, I watch documentaries on Amazon. At least there’s usually some good information there.

What it boils down to is this: The entertainment we are served is a recipe for the environment in which we live. What I’m seeing makes me very sad, because I have seen the “golden age” and this? Nothing like it.

Are You Sitting On a Goldmine?

The universe balances; what goes up must come down; if you don’t like the way things are, wait a minute for the change. Same is true for real estate. Remember when it was a strong buyers’ market, such that sellers had to jump through multiple hoops just to have a CHANCE to sell? Not anymore.

It is now a strong seller market, particularly if you own a one-level home with half an acre or more. In Wake county and surrounding areas, it’s very hard to find a ranch-style home with a big yard. If you can find one, it’s expensive! So chances are, if you are the owner of a property like I just described, your property value is higher than you think!

Add to that the fact that interest rates are still low AND lenders have loosened the process to make it possible to get a loan now, even with no money down, and you, homeowner, have a chance to capitalize on your investment in a big way. If you are ready to up-size or downsize, and you own a ranch style home with some land, think about listing now. You might be surprised what your home is worth…so don’t underprice it if you list. Supply and demand DO make a difference. Hire a realtor who understands this concept.

Email me and let’s talk about your property. I’d love to meet you and I’d love to list your house.

Checking in

Hi folks. I haven’t written much lately. You know, you go through times when you think you don’t have anything to say anyway…at least I do. And then there are times when I do have something to say but I’m an introvert, so I don’t find it necessary to make noise come out of my head all of the time. Anyway, it’s hard to know where to start these days, with everything going on in the world to which we have access. And then there’s the media slant.

I’m loving the pictures of Donald Trump, for example. ALL photographs depict him with his face scrunched up or have him looking REAL mean…which I LOVE. Makes me laugh out loud. Point is, liberal media will not ever publish a good photo of him because, well, they despise him.

But you know, the smooth-brains won’t get the subliminal nuances and will just think he’s mean. CLEARLY there’s more to him than meanness, but back to the smooth-brains. I am smart enough to see the manipulations and actually get a kick out of them. But it frightens me to think that this stuff actually influences my future. I’m watching the candidates with an eye to who is pulling their strings, funding their OWN agendas, mastering the puppets. Now that’s scary.

I have to laugh at what I imagine to be the Politically Correct knee-jerk reactions to Trump’s outlandish rhetoric. Point is, it’s just enjoyable to hear somebody who isn’t answering to someone’s wallet, somebody with audacity and somebody who says exactly what we say when we are not on stage…well not always, but you get my drift. Translation: I despise political correctness.

I read a lot of news online and see accompanying photographs, and I can’t help but notice how much of the time my back-of-the-mind-cut is, “I wonder how much of this I can believe?” Now that’s a shame. I can’t look at a single photograph without wondering whether or not it’s been photoshopped.

Ah, I remember the good old days (violins please) when a newspaper was a NEWS paper. It had the news, just that. And it was a big paper, not a placemat sized junk publication with mostly ads and the rest so slanted you couldn’t rest a round object on it. We could trust that the media were sure their facts were accurate and what they published was true. Now, I fish out the crossword puzzle and chuck the rest. Wish they wouldn’t drop it on my lawn anyway; I don’t pay for it. But hey, free crossword puzzle.

But printed news isn’t news anymore like it used to be. Hmmm, I wonder how much of that was really true.

SEE WHAT I MEAN? Check you later.

Interest Rake Hike

Well, we’ve been on the roller coaster of opinion about a rate hike for some time. Latest news is that there won’t be one…but there might be one by year end. I wonder how much it cost to have all of that discussion in the ether…but I could have done it free, right here. MIGHT be one? Please. Seriously, I could have said that. I DID say that, in fact.

Janet Yellen had some apparent brain “pauses” in her speech and was, according to CNN, seen by doctors when she finished. It takes a lot out of you to predict the future politically correctly, I guess. I’m not having any brain cramps, spending no money, and I can tell you exactly what will happen. Here goes. Note that I don’t have any wolves at my door that I know of.

OK. Cracking my knuckles. Here goes: As soon as the “FED” decides they can successfully take more money into their coffers, they will. There. Not dehydrated, not feeling dizzy. I’m good. But make no mistake about it, the powers that be know that if they MENTION rate hike the economy…our THRIVING economy…goes running for the hills. We have NOT recovered from the fall, we are not back to the pinnacle. We’re not ready. And I’m guessing that many of us have decided that its a good idea for us to keep more of our hard earned money, rather than sending it out in interest. Call me crazy but I think that’s ALWAYS been a good idea, although believe me, I’ve paid my share of interest.

I have heard a hundred people say they don’t do credit cards anymore. Why? Interest. People are buying so many homes there’s a housing shortage. Why? Interest. It’s LOW. How stupid do you have to be to think that the very thing people AVOID would be a good idea to INCREASE…for the economy?

Watch these people. Watch how many times they threaten to raise rates and then back down because the ‘economy’ runs for the hills. They’re testing the waters on a regular basis. When the economy really IS strong and people have confidence it will stay that way? Then it will be time to raise rates. In the meantime, if you’re thinking of buying or selling, do it now before they pull that trigger. Great time to list while there is a housing shortage…and to buy while rates are…I can’t believe it’s been low so long…low.

Do something joyful today.

brendabriggsrealtor

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Author Archives: Brenda Briggs