Author Archives: One of the ten percent

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.

Recent Hot Market Effects…

Hello again!  I hope your life is going well for you and that you are finding time to do things which bring you joy.

As you know, I am a real estate agent, and somewhere along the recent past I made a comment about what to be aware of in the coming months, with regard to the crazy real estate market.  Well, some of the things I feared are showing up, just as I predicted.  For example, heightened emotions due to multiple offers are definitely in play.  Emotion is not a great idea in a business transaction.  Hard to eliminate, to be sure, but never should emotion lead the way.   I cautioned real estate agents to advise their clients well in that regard, to prepare them for the inevitability of multiple offers and even offers above list price.

I tell my clients to know their limits, discuss them with one another, and be prepared to walk away from an overheated offer situation.  They know before we get in the car, what they are facing and how they will probably react.

It’s funny how people might be ambivalent about a particular home until they know someone else is interested.  If you, as an agent, see that phenomenon, it’s up to you to be the good advisor and make sure your client hasn’t gotten caught up in the competition, that they truly want the house.

And let me also add this: real estate agents are not immune to getting caught up in emotions.  It’s your job to guide, not lose control.

The other issue I cautioned about was homes not appraising for the elevated offer prices.  And now that’s also happening.  Listen, it is up to the realtor to know the market and know when an offer just won’t fly when it comes to the lending part of the equation.  Yes, it feels good to have your offer accepted over the others, but you had better know what to do and how to explain to your excited clients what happened, when the appraisal comes in low and the deal falls apart.  And if you get crazy with the offer price, it will.

Of course sellers want to get every penny they can from the sale of their house…and they should… but listing agents, you need to make sure they understand the implications of an above-list-price offer if it falls through at appraisal.  In other words, it’s not just buyers who need to be prepared.

Okay, here’s another issue.   EVERYBODY is busy.  So inspections take more time, repairs take more time, and underwriters take more time.  If your realtor tells you he can sell your house in 3 weeks and a mortgage is involved, or repairs are involved?  Fire him.  Any good agent knows that service providers are no longer sitting around waiting for the phone to ring.  They are busy and your request will be put into their queue.  DON’T RUSH THE TRANSACTION. Nobody benefits from that.

This market is going to be hot for a while; it takes a while for the pendulum to swing.  Knowledge is power.  Know what to expect and plan ahead.

The Latest Crazy Market Paradigm

Hi everyone!  Hope this post finds you well and I hope you’re planning on either buying or selling your home AND calling me first.  It’s a huge market out there and with an interest rate hike looming, it’s likely to get bigger, faster, busier. Crazier is probably a better word.

We’ve talked about how you can’t even get the offer on the table for consideration before the home goes under contract and now homes are selling BEFORE they hit the market.  Multiple offers have become the norm and it is a STRONG seller market.  Home prices are rising and builders are busy again.  Good to see.  But there’s something new and again, we need to be careful about this.

Sellers are demanding shorter due diligence periods in a market where getting immediate inspection services…for home, septic, well, HVAC, pests, roof…is impossible.  In some cases there’s a two week lead time to get someone out to inspect, and some sellers are asking for a three week due diligence period.  Impossible.  What this does is put undue pressure on buyers who are already incredibly busy getting loan approval and meeting all of their obligations as buyers.  Ultimately, it’s not good for the seller either; they end up with days to get repairs done, rather than weeks, so the stress boomerangs right back on them.

It’s hard to get through the due diligence period, followed by an even more difficult repair negotiation.  Let’s not be stupid about this.  Nobody’s losing anything if the home is under contract with a financially strong buyer and the home is well maintained.  Relax and give the buyers a chance to do their due diligence!  Agents, remember when you agree to this short due diligence period, you could very well be asking for an extension and your buyer might have to fork over more due diligence money.  The seller has a right to ask for it.

Good Things When We Least Expect Them

Not much worse than a raging case of the flu, particularly when you can’t stand to be still.  This is happening to me, but I have made it to the doctor. Tired of feeling sick. BUT I’m so excited about my latest discovery, made while I was flat on my back, stuck in bed.

I have discovered the most beautiful person on the planet!  Well, he is new to me anyway. I watched the movie, Unbroken and was stunned by the performance of Miyavi. From the first moment his face shows up on the screen, he captivates. His performance was perfect and you can’t miss the fact that he is simply beautiful. I am convinced we will be seeing a LOT of this young man.

Sick as I was, I googled him, and discovered this to be his acting debut and that he is a trendsetting musician. I watched some of his music videos and my admiration grew. Listen. Don’t miss this young man. He is a force.  I felt so bad to have lost Michael Jackson from among us, but Miyavi might just be a light beginning to burn brightly into that dark place.

Check him out. You won’t be sorry. As for his performance in the movie?  It was the first time I actually looked beyond the brutality of this character type into the soul. I’m betting you will feel the same. He stole the show. Not the story, the show.

The Trouble with Multiple Offers

I am working with five buyers, and ALL have been in multiple offer situations.  This is crazy.  I know; there is a housing shortage, not unexpected and loudly discussed in the news as one after the other builder went bankrupt during the downturn.  But this is beyond the ridiculous.  It’s like a feeding frenzy.  So here we are.  For a time the only homes that stayed on the market were the dog houses…the ones that needed some “TLC”.  Now, even they are getting multiple offers.  It takes above list price to ‘win’, and that’s often with zero concessions requested.

I remember how sellers got the stew beaten out of them during the market downturn.  They had to paint, install new carpet, dance, give up the firstborn child and give away the house to get it sold.  Maybe this is the universe balancing, but I see major issues arising.

Listen, there’s no question that the sellers benefit from this crazy market.  But here’s what’s happening.  House prices are being artificially inflated due to the high demand/low supply paradigm, and I don’t think many of them will appraise for these ludicrous prices.  I see a future of offers falling out during the appraisal process and buyers losing that chunk of money…because the lenders will SURELY make that a non-refundable, pay-up-front fee.  They’d be nuts not to.  Then, we’re going to have a boatload of people who buy high and get stuck when the market comes to its senses.  First time buyers don’t have the money to make up the difference between their offer and a lower appraised value, so in many cases they will lose the appraisal fee.  They can’t afford that.  Agents should protect these buyers.

I know, realtors get a bigger commission from a higher sales price, but the problem is, the buyer clients most certainly will feel the pain later when they try to sell and the feeding frenzy is over.  And let’s don’t forget the builder new home prices.  One builder company who started their pricing at 170 two years ago are now starting at 240.  That’s a huge jump in pricing in that amount of time and guess what?  They can do it and get away with it.  But it’s a bad idea.

I’m warning my clients up front about this situation, and most of them resist the urge to offer too much money…and of course some of the homes do justify the prices…but everybody needs to remember that we are going to be listing these artificially high priced homes down the road, and I remember how painful that was for sellers.

Of course it’s up to the buyer how they want to proceed, but good buyer agents should be spending time explaining what’s going on here.  And yes, I like to make money too, but not at the expense of my buyer clients.

I will say this though: It’s a snooze-you-lose situation out there.  Better have the OTP partially filled out and ready to fly when you go house hunting.  Man, it’s a fast market out there.  So I tell my clients this:  If you HAVE TO HAVE this house, expect to pay full list price and don’t even think about asking for the moon with regard to concessions.  And I remind them that there ARE other houses out there.

Moving Moving Moving

I’ve made a change, or ANOTHER change I should say.  I said goodbye to my Fonville Morisey family a few weeks ago and joined Coldwell Banker Howard Perry and Walston, Strickland Road office.  It was a bittersweet transition, as I left behind a company I loved and people whom I love as well.  These folks will remain family to me.  But I am excited about my future.

I am now a new family member at Coldwell Banker Howard Perry and Walston and am excited about this new part of my journey.  I hope you will stay in touch and wish me well in my transition.  So far it has been a very busy time.

Have a lovely day!