Nashville Tennessee Living

Happy Mother's Day!

To all of my friends who are Mothers, I hope you have a wonderful day today. For those of you who have lost your Mothers, I know how you feel. Take time today to remember the wonderful times with them. Finally, for you who still have your Mothers, remember, everyday is a gift. That's why the Present is so important.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

You can Solicit the Family of the Deceased, but be a little more Professional

Within a week of Burying my Father I received a letter from a Realtor in the City where we've filed to Probate his Estate.

The letter started off fine: "May I offer my condolences on the recent loss of your loved one, as this may be a difficult time for both you and your family." It then went on to SELL me on all of his qualifications and the tools that he uses to market a property to assure me the top retail price in the shortest marketing time.

There was an additional page with the 12 Important Questions for your next Realtor.

"Really", I thought. Being the grieving "loved one", my first thought was what a Bottom Feeder, as I tossed the letter into the circular file.

But then I gave it more thought. We have to prospect for business. Why not look for people settling estates who are from out of state? They probably have to sell the Real Estate to close Probate.

So what would I have said?

I might have continued on with...

You may or may not be ready to think about what to do with the Real Estate. I just want you to know that I am here if you need someone, local, who can answer questions for you.

Once again, I am so sorry for your loss.

Sincerely,

Connie Harvey

What do YOU think?

Less pushy but still totally available.

All your contact information should be on your letterhead, including your website and your blog. They can check you out when the time is right for them.

In MY opinion, you can Solicit the Family of the Deceased, but be a little more Professional.

On April 3rd, my dad, Gene H. Owen, passed away from a short illness. He was full of life. And then he was gone.

Born a twin in 1936, in Fort Payne Alabama, he was best know in his later years as Geno. He and his brother Paul grew up in Fort Payne and both played basketball for the Dekalb County High School.

He graduated from the University of South Carolina with a degree in mechanical Engineering. Over the next 25 years he would live in Chicago, Minneapolis, Kansas City, Pittsburgh and Ridgewood New Jersey.

He settled in Columbus Ohio about 30 years ago and loved it. It was in Columbus one night, when I was in my late 20's, that he took me for dinner and dancing. Between dances, I remember saying "Dad, would you get me a glass of wine?" and he whispered in my ear "Honey, don't call me Dad in public." I've called him Gene ever since.

Being Southern, born and raised, he charmed his Ohio friends with his courteous demeanor, his good manners and his winning smile.

He took up Bridge, and like most things he did, he studied the game to be the best. He loved meeting new people and making new friends. He loved to entertain his friends with his culinary skills.

I was fortunate enough to be present when he was Baptized a few years ago and joined the Livingston United Methodist Church. This was particularly important to me since we buried him on Easter weekend.

Gene H. Owen, seemed like everyone knew him. Just over 2 weeks ago he died suddenly. He was only 76. A very young 76. A life cut short.

My Dad,  Gene H. Owen October 8,1936 - April 3, 2012

If your friends are heavy drinkers, chances are that you'll be a heavy drinker too!

Really, you say? Lately, I've been invited to various Mastermind groups. I've read the invites and what the meeting is about and what I'm seeing is that You Are like Who you Surround Yourself with.

If your friends are overweight, chances are you'll be overweight. If you love to exercise, chances are your friends also exercise.

It's no different with Successful careers. If you hang out with those B$%*ing and Moaning, chance are you'll spend a lot of your precious time B$%*ing and moaning too. The people we spend the most time with influence how we act and what we think.

This is why people join the Mastermind Groups, to have access to powerful minds and goals! If you don't have a Mastermind Group available to you, create your own. Read books by positive successful people.

I can say that the exercise thing was especially true for me this past year. I had lost my running partner (she went and got a job) and kept looking for friends who wanted to walk in the hills of Warner Park. Each person within a week or more would start canceling at the last minute, leaving me stranded.

I finally got hooked up with Susan and we've been running/walking 2-3 days each week since August. She always shows up. I always show up. The others? I don't want to  hear their excuses. Or their whining about their weight.

Figure out where you want to go and then find people headed in the same direction, or better yet, already there. That's who you want to spend time with.

Nashville TN Real Estate

Holt Woods 1st Quarter 2012

The Holt Woods Spring Market Report is being reported with the Bradford Hills Market Report. The number of homes sold was down just a bit, as were the sales prices. Prices appear to be stabilizing. 

There are currently 12 homes on the market as active with 3 of these having contingencies on them. The sole pending property is a short sale.

Holt Woods and Bradford Hills combined only have 9 available homes for Sale. This is a 7 month supply and would indicate that we are turning away from the Buyers' Market that we've been experiencing the past few years.

If you're considering a move in 2012, now would be a good time to read 8 Things you can Do to get Your House Sold!

Nashville TN Real Estate

Bradford Hills 1st Quarter 2012

The Bradford Hills Spring Market Report is being reported with the Holt Woods Market Report because of the similarities of the properties and there was not a large number of sales.

Prices seem to have finally hit bottom even though we're reporting a slight decline compared to the first quarter of 2011.

Bradford Hills and Holt Woods currently have 12 properties listed as active with 3 having contingencies on them. The one Pending sale is a Short sale.

Bradford Hills has just 9 homes available for purchase. this is  a 7 month supply of Inventory. 6 months is considered balanced so 7 says we're slowly turning away from the Buyers market that buyers have enjoyed the past few years.

Nashville TN Real Estate

Villages of Brentwood 1st Quarter 2012

Sales are up in Villages of Brentwood in 2012! There is another house pending and 2 of the active listings have contingencies on them.

The prices are a little deceiving. The two homes that sold in 2011 averaged 1203 square feet or $120/square foot. The homes sold in 2012 averaged 1600 square feet with a sales price of $91/square foot. Of the 4, the smallest home sold for $122/square foot. As the size of the home increases, the price per square foot usually decreases.

We think it's safe to assume that prices have gone up but probably not the full 5% shown here. There are currently 6 Active Listings, 2 with contingencies. That leave 4, exactly a 3 month supply.

With inventory this low, now is a great time to consider preparing your home for sale. Here are 8 Things you can do to Get your House Sold!

What I learned at REBarCamp Nashville 2012!

For several months I've been reading about the new Addiction, Pinterest. I signed up.

I even pinned somethings. But that was it.

Almost everyday I get an email that someone "started following all of your PinBoards". I have 79 followers and I don't even know what I'm doing.

Thus, when I headed to REBarCamp I felt pretty confident that someone would be teaching about Pinterest. That was going to be my One thing to learn for the day. 

On the board of options for the first class of the day was "Using Pinterest!" Bingo! My One thing had been accomplished by 10:30am.

I hit another class on Time Blocking that was very good but I knew that I wouldn't do most of what she taught so I only took a couple of notes.

By 11:30 I was sitting in the lounge waiting for my AR friends to get out of class so we could go to lunch. Larry Brewer stopped by and showed me how to use the camera and video on my iPhone.

After lunch, I bumped into him again and he pointed out to me that there was a class 12 things you can do with your iPhone and iPad. I headed up there and actually picked up a few things that I didn't know. It was a great day.

This is what I learned about Pinterest. It needed it's own post.
 

5 Ideas for Using Pinterest for Real Estate

For those of you who don't know about Pinterest, it's the newest, latest Social Networking site based on sharing things you like. It's a place where you can "Pin" things you like. It's like putting them on a Bulletin Board, but for others to see.

It's by invitation only right now, but you can actually go to the site and ask for an Invite.

Once you set up your account, you have about 6 "Boards" with popular titles given to you. Things like Recipes, Favorite Places, Things I Love, For the Home, and Books worth Reading. You can change the names of these and you can add more boards. My friend Mimi Foster has 37 Boards that she's created to pin things about things that are important to her!

This is what a typical Board looks like.

5 Ideas for Using Pinterest for Real Estate:

1. Set up a Board where you pin your Blog Posts. Pin a Picture from the post and then make sure that each Blog Pin is linked back to your blog. Set up the board using SEO friendly words.

2. When working with a Buyer who is looking at homes that need Updating, you can create a board of say, Kitchens, that you can then send them ideas via Facebook about what you've pinned for them.

3. Be a Neighborhood Expert. Pin information about a neighborhood and things that are near it. Remember SEO friendly descriptions.

4. Create a Fun Things to Do board for your City. Some people will follow just a board, others will follow you completely.

5. Just like Facebook and your Blog, don't make it all about Business. Let people get to know you by pinning on Boards that show people what you're interested in.

What do Eggs and Bunnies have to do with Easter?

Easter itself, was originally a Pagan Festival celebrating the Return of Spring. The Festival commemorated the Anglo Saxon's goddess of Springtime and Fertility, Eastre. Her earthly symbol was the Hare.

In the Second Century, Christian missionaries tried to convert the Anglo Saxons to Christianity. Early converts were reluctant to give up their own holidays. Slowly they tied the Springtime celebration of Eastre to the same time that was recognized to celebrate the Risen Christ. The name was eventually changed to Easter.

In the 18th Century, German Immigrants brought the idea of an Egg Laying Hare to the United States. That's right a Hare, not a Rabbit. According to legend, only good Children would receive colored eggs in the Nests that they made in their caps and bonnets.

Catholics were forbidden to eat Eggs during Lent. Easter then became the time that they could eat them again. The egg is the symbol of  rebirth and also of Fertility. Thus the abundance of Eggs on Easter Sunday!