Do you Believe Your Eyes?

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Do you believe your eyes?

I read this book once about a world where Earth was too hostile to live outdoors so humans lived in underground silos. Imagine a skyscraper that goes underground and only one story is above ground.

The level you lived on had to do with your educational achievements and what job you did to keep the silo running. More prestigious jobs were closer to the surface. Most of the people went along with this, what other choice did they have?

But one small group of people started to have questions.

The top level was a type of cafeteria that was all windows. You could see the wind swept and toxic landscape from the safety of the silo.

Every so often someone would have to go outside for a safety mission. They would have to suit up in protective gear with their own air supply. Some of them completed their missions, and others ended in tragedy. Their bodies still laying waste in the wasteland.

Okay, here’s the spoiler alert. DO NOT read anymore if you want to enjoy this book someday

Eventually the main character decides she’s ditching this popcorn stand and steals a protective suit and goes outside.

She can see the bodies laying around her and the hostile landscape but in a moment of shear courage (or stupidity) she removes her helmet.

And low and behold, Earth is just as it should be. She finds herself standing in a field of green grass and the sun is shining on her face.

In the distance she can see other silos, just like the one she’s lived in her whole life.

It was all a trick.

What she was seeing out of the cafeteria windows was not reality.

What she was seeing out of the helmet was a video overlay.

She runs over the top of a hill and finds a small group of other humans living as humans should.

So back to the original question.

Do you believe your eyes?

Do you believe your ears?

Do you believe what you are told?

Do you believe what you read, watch or listen to?

Just because someone says it is so, doesn’t mean it is.

Sadly the truth has become much more elusive than that.

You Did What?!

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You did what?!

When I first started in real estate, I was not as experienced as I am now, go figure. And I was not as good as dealing with difficult people.

I had this one seller that got really upset over some inspection items and repairs that were required by the lender. I tried my best to explain that he didn’t have to do the repairs but the buyer would not be able to move forward with the purchase.

In the end the seller took care of the repairs but then did something not very nice or smart.

He let all the propane out of the tank before closing.

In February.

Needless to say, the buyers had a couple of very cold nights before they could get more propane delivered.

I understand that sometimes a real estate sale can feel personal. As a buyer or seller you might feel “beat up” by the other side.

I always encourage my clients to look at the big picture and recognize the home selling period is just a small slice in time.

And as time has gone on, my hope is that I can bring calmness and clarity to any situation, no matter the people or situation.

With gratitude.

First Time Buyer Credits

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First time buyer credits are a thing of the past.

Sadly, your lender doesn’t care if you are a first time buyer or buying your 10th home.

But its not all bad news!

If you are a teacher or first responder there are some special loan programs available to you.

Also if you are active duty or a Veteran of the US Military, you likely qualify for a VA loan.

And many buyers qualify for down payment assistance and down payment grants.

A great lender will be able to figure out what programs are best for you.

But please for the love of all that is good in the world, DO NOT, call one of the lenders with the fancy commercials

You know who I am talking about.

They work on volume and not on repeat business. They spend millions of dollars on advertising to sell you one loan.

A local lender, recommended by your real estate agent, care about your experience because they hope you might recommend your friends and neighbors down the road.

Life Isn't Fair

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I was 9 years old when I first learned that life isn’t fair.

My third grade teacher, would have a monthly calendar contest. We were tasked with making a creative and colorful calendar on poster board to be displayed as the “official class calendar” for the month.

Oh, this was right up my alley.

I loved coming up with ideas and seeing how many items I could hot glue to a poster board before it could no longer support itself.

Conversation hearts and doilies for February and spring flowers and Lucky Charms cereal for March.

And what better to glue to a calendar in October than the candy corn no one will eat.

Each month, as I poured my heart and soul into my creation, I thought surely my classmates would be awed with wonder and crown me queen of the calendar.

But alas, I never won.

Not a single time.

Now I know this was a long time ago and my memory might be a little foggy but I’m 99.8% sure my calendars were the best, at least some of the time.

But I never won.

And that’s when I was introduced to the “good ole boy (and girl)” system.

Some of these kids had been together since kindergarten! They had history! And I was the new kid in 3rd grade.

It was always the same handful of kids that would win. Were their calendars good? Meh, sometimes, but they had the votes and that’s all that mattered.

One month I had had enough and I campaigned on the playground. Disclaimer: nothing of value was exchanged for votes, but I did present a persuasive argument.

Well that didn’t go over well and ended up with a call to my parents. I wasn’t acting the the “spirit of the contest.”

At the tender age of 9 I realized that the “best girl” doesn’t always win.

It broke my heart. And truth be told, it still does.

Life isn’t fair, we all know this but it doesn’t make it any easier.

But I know there will be an occasion that I can share this story with my girls and they might realize that while life isn’t always fair, there is so much to be grateful for and if we focus on the good nothing can get in the way. 

Pottery and Patience

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A hunk of clay. Soft, malleable and unassuming.

Yet, center that piece of clay on the wheel and with careful movements and patience you can create a masterpiece.

I took pottery in college, this is one of my creations.

It was probably my very favorite class…. ever.

One thing you need to know about pottery - you CANNOT be in a rush. See, if you don’t get the clay centered you have no chance of making anything but a mess.

As a twenty something I didn’t know much about “being present” or “finding inner peace”. But I do know that when I sat at the wheel with the clay swirling between my hands that I went to another place.

I would lose track of time, and the room would go dim and quiet.

Just me and the clay.

Only after many failures do you know the moment the clay is ready to become something else.

Ready to become something that is imagined in your mind and flows from your hands into the clay.

Even if you don’t consider yourself “artsy” or “creative” if you ever have a chance to give pottery a whirl I would so recommend it (pun intended).

But as I said you will have to have patience, something all of us could practice more of.

This Quote Has Legs!

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This quote has legs!

It keeps changing for me depending on the times, but that figures because it was written by the great Winston Churchill.

Here’s a couple more famous Churchill quotes.

“A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.”

“You can always count on Americans to do the right thing, after they’ve tried everything else.”

“If you’re going through hell, keep going.”

Keep the faith

Us Vs. Them

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Us vs Them

Black vs White

The haves vs the have nots

Left vs Right

Red vs Blue

Friends, you might not want to hear this but this is what “They” want.

Who is “They” you might ask?

They = The Elites

And by Elites I don’t mean your neighbor who belongs to a county club. I don’t mean your co-worker that just got a brand new car and I don’t mean your cousin that just landed a six figure job out of law school.

The Elites are the ones with THE ULTIMATE POWER.

Our elected and appointed officials of both parties (both past and present), CEO’s of large corporations, large media corporations, big tech, and celebrities of all kinds.

These are the people who are “making all the deals” and running the show. They work under the cover of darkness, behind closed doors and sometimes right in your face

They are THEM. You are US.

And while we are distracted with hating and shaming each other, the deals are getting bigger, dirtier and more costly for the American people.

And the currency to fund these deals:

Your tax dollars

Your relationships

Your family

Your sanity

Your reputation

Your freedom

The Elites are motivated by monetary greed, by fear of exposure for their moral corruption and by their insatiable appetite for more power.

And to pull off their corrupt dealings ALL they ask of the American people is to keep up our entrenched habits of hedonism, busyness, laziness and apathy

We all know to find the TRUTH you must feed from more than one trough. And they count on you not doing that, EVER.

I know people are angry and they are passionate about their point of view. But recognize that anger and passion comes from a fierce love of this country.

There’s a whole lot of judgement, shame, name calling and vilification being dished out on social media, from every angle.

But your friend, neighbor, colleague and family is not your enemy.

Your enemy is “the machine” that wants to wheel and deal at your expense while they whittle away everything you hold most dear.

I’m not going to say we need to “come together”, I think we are still a long ways off from that.

But I will ask you to ponder who you are really fighting.

Don’t let THEM win by walking away from the people and things you love most.

Don’t let THEM convince you it’s acceptable to throw verbal daggers for all the world to see, thrown in hast and randomly at a person who doesn’t see the world the same way you do.

I refuse to give up on this country and I will NOT give up on you, even if we disagree, especially if we disagree.

God Bless you and God Bless these UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

Low to No Inventory

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Low to no inventory.

Yep, that is the current state of affairs in the real estate market. We have way more buyers than we do houses.

So what are buyers looking for?

Well anything at this point because they can’t be picky, but here are the most common things I hear:

1.) At least 3 bedroom

2.) Under $500K

3.) Something that doesn’t need a ton of work

4.) Master bedroom

5.) Second living room

If you are curious about selling and what your home might be worth please reach out. I will listen to your needs and goals and give you sound advice.

Monsters Under the Bed

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Monsters under the bed.

Do you remember? You know that feeling.

The feeling that there REALLY were monsters under your bed.

Fear that would grip you, and the armor of your blanket. And if you just buried your head under your pillow they couldn’t get you.

It’s crazy how real that feels when you are a child.

And then you grow up.

And the fear of monsters UNDER the bed disappears, but the monsters don’t go away.

As adults we just find them other places. In a job loss, a failed relationship or the death of a loved one.

But here’s the beauty in it all.

The imagination of a child is vivid. Just as it conjures up monsters under the bed it can also craft magical lands with unicorns and castles made of cotton candy.

So I take a cue from my girls.

When the monsters start to creep in I send my blessings to battle.

For every set back, I have 10 things to be grateful for.

For every hurt, I have any number of dear friends who will stop whatever they are doing to help.

And for every unexpected turn in the road I know God is always with me.

With gratitude.

The Pros Don't Want You in Their Game

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This might come as a surprise but I love to play poker.

Strategy, bluffing, betting, holding and sheer luck - it has all the hallmarks excitement.

Poker is full of analogies.

“Know when to hold them”

“Going all in”

“Calling their bluff”

These are analogies that people understand.

So, when the GameStop story broke, I went right to my favorite game of Texas Hold Em to see if I could break it down. After all, the stock market is just legalized gambling.

At first I couldn’t understand the outrage from the hedge fund managers. Its the nature of the market, it goes up and down, deal with it.

But then I remembered sitting at a locals table in Vegas. These are people who play poker for a living, strange, I know.

They discourage rookies from joining just based on their demeanor, but every once in awhile an unknowing tourist with deep pockets will join their game.

On this one particular day, an older man had kept betting all the way to the river with a seasoned pro.

The older man had some so-so hand, a pair of threes if I remember and the pro had King and Ace.

Well what should show on the board but a King, an Ace, one three and two sevens.

The rookie ends up with a full house and the pro has two pair.

Well the pro was all bent out of shape, yelling at the guy, telling him he should have folded at the turn. But rules is rules and the rookie raked in a VERY big pot.

Moral of the story

The pros don’t want you in their game.

They have their little fiefdom to protect and they don’t want you messing it up. And that’s exactly what happened with GameStop. The little guys messed it up for the big boys.

You should also understand that there are two sets of rules in this world, the ones you have to play by and the ones the establishment elites play by.

And truth be told, they laugh in the face of rules and do want they want. If anything, GameStop made that glaringly obvious.

But we all know the stories of the great underdogs in history. Don’t count the little guys out - feels like the tide might be turning in our favor.

Lessons From the Claw Machine

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If you could just get your hands on it.

The thing that eludes you.

The thing that if you had it everything would be better.

The thing you are missing in life.

So you grasp and cling just like this giant claw crane game.

You set it all up perfectly, push the button and pray. And as predicted the claw half-heartedly grabs at the object of your desire and lets go at the last minute.

You knew the odds, but you played anyway.

Have you ever won at this game?

I have, twice in a row believe it or not.

And I can tell you the toys are not nearly as cuddly as they look. Once in your arms they lack the quality you had hoped.

They were just shiny objects behind the glass.

So back to the beginning of this post.

That thing you want so badly, is it all it’s cracked up to be?

Or is it like the stuffed flamingo at the arcade- hollow, fake and won by chance.

Focus on the things on this side of the glass. I think you might find there is just so much to be grateful for.

With gratitude.

Avoid These 6 Common Buyer Pitfalls

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Avoid these 6 common buyer pitfalls.

1.) Not getting pre-approved. This is probably the single most important step. You will want to understand the financial aspect of purchasing before you step foot in any homes.

2.) Maxing out your budget. Just because you get approved for $500K doesn’t necessarily mean you should spend that much. Make sure you feel totally comfortable with your monthly mortgage payment which includes principal, interest, property taxes and home owners insurance.

3.) Not paying attention to the fine print. Your home will likely be the largest purchase of your life. Make sure you understand the process with the help of your Realtor and lender.

4.) Thinking with your heart instead of your mind. You might have dreamed of this moment for years. Make sure your decisions come from a place of logic not emotion.

5.) Not understanding the other expenses that are associated with home ownership. These might include mortgage insurance, home owners association dues, utilities, special taxes or assessments.

6.) Not protecting your credit score. If you have ever done any work on your score you know how easily it can go down and how hard it is to get it to go up. Make sure you protect that score because it can be one of the deciding factors of whether or not you qualify for a home loan.

Does the Truth Matter?

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Does the truth matter?

I still think it does.

But society today seems to spin another message. Its okay to lie as long as its just a little lie.

And we have become so skeptical and cynical.

It used to be that photographic evidence was indisputable. Now, I question everything I see.

Hmmm, that looks Photoshopped.

Even videos can be altered and we all know “creative editing” can distort and pervert reality.

So what does one do?

Well to start with, I think its okay and important to ask questions. I also use my intuition, “does this feel right?” And lastly its imperative to build relationships and communities founded on trust.

Its okay to demand the truth be told.

Its okay to expect yourself and others to be accountable and honest.

As the great Winston Churchill said, “The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end there it is.”

Yes, there it is. And it matters.

Show Me the Money!

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Show me the money!

Let’s talk about earnest money.

When a buyer makes an offer on a property, earnest money is tendered shortly there after. If everything goes as planned, the earnest money is applied towards the purchase price at closing.

However, sometimes the wheels fall off the bus!

Sometimes a buyer might decide to cancel their contract, typically this is because of inspection items. If this happens, and the buyer cancels before their specified deadlines, their earnest money is 100% refundable.

So, when might the earnest money be non-refundable? Only if a buyer passes their loan approval deadline and cannot or will not close.

This is very rare and in 600+ transactions have only had a handful of buyers end up losing their earnest money.

Please reach out with questions about earnest money or anything else real estate related.

Say What???

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Say what???

I’m telling you, there are some days that I cannot believe the things I see in this profession.

Several years ago, I got a call from the sister of one of my clients late into the evening. We had met once, but I didn’t really know her well.

She started out saying she was so sorry to be calling but I am the only person she knows in Grand County.

Oh dear, where is this going? I thought to myself.

She followed up by saying that she needed a huge favor…. would I possibly be able to bail her son out of jail.

Huh?

He had been arrested for driving drunk over Trail Ridge Road and she just didn’t want him to spend the night in a jail cell.

Good grief, I don’t think that’s a duty that real estate agents are required to perform but some people will ask anyway!

And for those of you wondering, bail bonds are STILL not a service I offer!

The Cold, Hard Truth

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You’ve all seen it.

American Idol auditions gone bad.

They are cringe-worth at best. I find myself squirming in my seat, its perplexing, strangely fascinating and downright sad.

The worst part is when the families greet the crestfallen contestant with soothing words of comfort. “Oh, sweetie, those judges don’t know a thing. You are the best singer in the world!”

This is the part that drives me insane

Why lie to these poor people? They are terrible singers and NEVER should have auditioned for the show.

Telling someone the cold, hard truth is sometimes very hard. You don’t want to hurt their feelings, crush their dreams or seem insensitive.

But your honesty is sometimes the most important thing they need to hear.

A couple of years ago I met with a very nice family who wanted to sell their home and move out of state. The winters were getting tough for them and they were having some health issues.

Selling was a must.

I met them at their house and noticed right away this was going to be a tough property. There was stuff everywhere, inside and out. The house was dirty, dark, and falling apart.

They gave me the grand tour and we sat down to talk. I asked them about their goals and timeline for selling their home. They needed to be out of here by September which only gave us 3 months to sell. They were short on time, money and resources to get their home ready for market.

They looked at me with hope in their eyes and asked what was next.

This was the moment for the cold hard truth.

When I first started in real estate I probably would have tried to gloss things over and ease the blow. “No, its not that bad, buyers can look past your stuff.”

Now I know better.

People hire me for my professional and honest advice. This family had a tight timeframe and a pressing need to leave the area.

So I told them the truth.

That no one would buy their home in its current condition. And because we were dealing with a very tight timeframe they were going to need to price their home much below market value to get it sold quickly.

I said all of these things with tenderness and grace, because I very much care about how my words make people feel.

At the end of our meeting they thanked me for my encouraging words.

What?

I didn’t think I sounded encouraging at all, but then I recognized it was the honesty and a thoughtful game plan that gave them feelings of encouragement.

Sometimes the truth hurts, but I believe if you really care for someone you owe them the truth and nothing but.

Does This Sound Like You?

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You bought your first home! You were feeling like you were on Cloud 9.

You had so many great ideas on your Pinterest board to make this place your own. From the cubbies for coats and boots to the chalkboard walls in the kids rooms.

But now several years have gone by and nothing has changed.

Your space is feeling cramped and tight and you are dreaming of a new home.

But how could you swing it?

Everyone knows this market is nuts.

Your current home would be sold in a heartbeat and finding a replacement would be impossible

Prices have gone up so much, it wouldn’t make sense to buy a new home.

Does this sound like you? If so, we need to talk.

I’ve got systems and strategies for helping sellers become buyers, even in a market as crazy as this one. Just like playing chess, each move is calculated and planned Check mate!

6 Big No-No's When Buying a House

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OOPS!! 6 big no-no’s when buying a house

1.) Not getting pre-approved. In this market sellers won’t even consider your offer without a lender letter

2.) Maxing out your budget. If things in your life go sideways you need to be able to handle unexpected expenses and maxing out your mortgage is a no-no

3.) Skipping the fine print. Do you have a prepayment penalty or an variable rate on your mortgage? Its important to know before hand the terms and conditions of your loan

4.) Making decisions from the heart instead of the head. This one is soooo hard. But try and take the emotion out of the equation.

5.) Not factoring in other expenses.

6.) Not protecting your credit score before closing. This is not the time to take out a loan for a new car or furniture for your new home.

When In Doubt, DISCLOSE!

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The sellers property disclosure, your friendly form.

Did you know the number one complaint with the division of real estate is non-disclosure by sellers?

What does this mean in plain English? “We bought a house from Mr and Mrs Seller and they never told us about the roof leak, the cracked foundation, the flood in the basement, fill in the blank.”

So how do sellers avoid this unpleasant situation?

There is this handy form we use in real estate called the Sellers Property Disclosure. This form is your opportunity to air all your home’s dirty laundry.

Sometimes I have sellers balk at this form, they feel reluctant to fill it out.

But think of this form as your get out of jail free card.

The save your bacon form.

The keep you out of hot water form.

You can’t hide things from the new buyer.

Just picture this. New buyer moves in and who should saunter over, but Karen from across the street.

“Oh welcome to the neighborhood! I was just saying to my husband that I didn’t think anyone would buy this home with the moldy attic and all.”

Your neighbors know everything; and if something is wrong with your house the buyers are going to find out eventually.

It’s best to be as thorough and accurate as possible with the disclosure. It will protect you in the long run and keep you out of trouble.

Yes, you might have to make some repairs, but I can promise you it will be a lot cheaper than a lawsuit and attorney fees.

When in doubt, DISCLOSE!