Alamogordo, NM

I just finished a book by John Grisham that made me really think. The book, "Innocent Man", was about a murder that happened in Ada, Oklahoma, in the '80's before DNA analysis. The trial was a joke. The judge was not attentive to the evidence, the prosecutor was out to get certain people and key evidence in the case was ignored or overlooked. The point of this rant is that the victims in this case, the men who were accused and convicted of this crime, talked with the police willingly because they knew they were innocent and therefore had nothing to hide. The police convinced them that they did not need a lawyer if they were innocent. Now, I don't necessarily care for lawyers but if the police want to talk to me I think that from now on I will tell them right up front that they need to talk to my attorney.

Well, it is summer time in southern New Mexico. There are four things you have to have in order to survive here: 1) Sunscreen, 2) Sunglasses, 3) Water, and lots of it, 4) and a good attitude. With temperatures in the 100's ( it will hit 103 today at 5pm) and the humidity low (9 percent) hot weather is something you have to love in order live and work in New Mexico. The hot, dry weather can sometimes work on your mood, thus the good attitude is important. When working with clients going in and out of homes that usually do not have refrigerated a/c, the nerves can get a little on edge. We have to remember that this is an important decision our buyers are making and for some it is their first home and the first time they have compared homes. We have seen these and many other homes before and are familiar with the process but they are not. So be patient. Remember that soon it will be winter and we will be wishing for the dog days of summer.

Don't get me wrong. I still LIKE weekends but I used to LOVE them. Weekends used to mean time to relax or play golf or work around the house. Now weekends usually mean helping another buyer find their dream home. Most people are off on the weekend and that is when they want to look at houses. I like working with buyers and I like helping people but I really miss weekends. Sometimes my wife and I will take off during the week and pretend it is the weekend. But it's not the same. I was in a class last March in San Antonio, TX, and the instructor explained how he would only work 4 days a week, Monday thru Thursday and every weekend he spent with his family. He clarified that by saying that was after he had established his business and had become very successful. I am not there yet. But I hope to be soon. 'Cause I miss my weekends!

I am finding more and more first-time home buyers with the misunderstanding that they can get buy a new home with no money! I'm not talking about no money down loans. I am talking about buyers with no money for closing or inspections or anything. We are getting more buyers asking the sellers to pay all the closing cost and then wanting to low-ball the list price. Somewhere they are getting the idea that sellers are so desperate to sell that they will do anything to get rid of their homes. That is just not the case in our market. On average our sellers are getting 95-97% of their asking price. Home prices have not dropped as much as some areas of the country. All we need to do now is educate the buyers. Sometimes when we explain these facts the buyers walk away with their bubble burst! I will work for by buyer clients to get them the best deal available but when we continually low-ball sellers we are only hurting ourselves in the long run. Home values go down, appraisals are hard to obtain on "regularly" priced homes, and our reputation with our fellow agents is harmed. Let's work hard at educating our buyers!

If you are obsessed with Golf like I am, these are rules you are very familiar with:

• Don't buy a putter until you've had a chance to throw it.

• Never try to keep more than 300 separate thoughts in your mind during your swing.

• When your shot has to carry over a water hazard, you can either hit one more club or two more balls.

• The less skilled the player, the more likely he is to share his ideas about the golf swing.

• No matter how bad you are playing, it is always possible to play worse.

• A golf match is a test of your skill against your opponents' luck.

• Nonchalant putts count the same as chalant putts.

• The shortest distance between any two points on a golf course is a straight line that passes directly through the center of a very large tree.

• You can hit a two acre fairway 10% of the time and a two inch branch 90% of the time.

• Since bad shots come in groups of three, a fourth bad shot is actually the beginning of the next group of three.

• Every time a golfer makes a birdie, he must subsequently make two triple bogies to restore the fundamental equilibrium of the universe.

• A ball you can see in the rough from 50 yards away is not yours.

• If there is a ball on the fringe and a ball in the bunker, your ball is in the bunker. If both balls are in the bunker, yours is in the footprint.

• A good golf partner is one who's always slightly worse than you are.

• If there's a storm rolling in, you'll be having the game of your life.

• If your opponent has trouble remembering whether he shot a six or a seven, he probably shot an eight (or worse).

• It takes longer to learn to be a good golfer than it does to become a brain surgeon. On the other hand, you don't get to ride around on a cart, drink beer, and eat hot dogs if you are performing Brain Surgery!!!!