About Effingham County, GA

What comes to mind when you hear God's name? Big, scary? I used to. I had the Trinity neatly packaged. God was the big scary judge. Jesus was my friend and Savior. The Holy Spirit was...well, the Holy Spirit. My perception was so small. We serve a big God who holds the universe together just by His Word. We serve an awesome God who delights in our friendship. Why? Because He loves us. I heard a message on that yesterday and it just touched me so deeply that this uncontainable, everlasting, omniscient, omnipresent God wants to be friends...no, rather He delights in being my friend. Little old insignificant me. Wow....

I've been a believer since I was 7. In the last 6 years, the Father has increased my faith and grown me in ways that I would have never imagined. What was the difference? I had a breakdown of sorts in 2003. We moved to a new county after living in the same area for 30 some odd years. I just wanted so badly to be real. I had lived a fake life for so long and it wasn't working. I will never forget the time and place where I told God that I had enough and I was totally His to break me, mold me, and make me into whatever He wanted. I didn't care what it took. I was dead serious and He knew it. He accepted my gift and He broke me and He's still molding me into what He wants. Each day I have to ask, "Ok Lord...what do you want me to be today? What do you want me to do? Am I where you want me?"

The Lord will seemingly pull away sometimes to see where our faith stands. Mentally, I know He's always there. He tells us so in His Word. But, emotionally sometimes (which can NEVER be trusted), I feel like He's pulled away. My week goes wacky and I feel a void. My heart feels heavy and I have to fight to get out of bed during those times. The Father always is there, watching and waiting. Our Enemy loves these times. He will throw lies at you like darts. This is where Scripture memorization is wonderful. The Holy Spirit will help you filter and thwart off those attempts to confuse us and help us before we do something stupid.

God the Father is a huge giver. Think about it. He gave us His one and only Son to die for us so we could become part of His family forever and ever and live with Him. He gave us life. He gives us the trees, sunshine, air, and nature to enjoy His splendorous works. He has kept it going since the beginning of the time that HE created. He placed - - PLACED - - the stars in the sky and knows each one of them by name. He didn't just fling them out there and hope they spread out enough. Not one of them is missing, Scripture tells us. He knows...KNOWS how many hairs are on your head at any given time. If you are like me, your hair falls out quit a bit each day. What does that tell you? That HE CARES FOR YOU!! and me. Little ol' me. Wow...He leaves me speechless sometimes.

Going back to the gifts...I really enjoy nature. It shows me what a HUGE God I serve and how awesome His imagination is. I go outside each day and watch as each creature does what it was designed to do. I see something new each year. I love orb weaver spiders. They are just cool to watch. I was showing a house one day and saw one up in the corner of the house and while the prospective tenants were inside, I casually mentioned to the Lord that I wanted one. That was a little over a week ago. I had totally forgotten my little request until yesterday. I was trimming my bushes and I saw a web and movement and there it was. A nice sized orb weaver. He didn't forget. He loves me so much that He answered that prayer. But not just with that....He always gives over and above what we ask. And I giggle like a little kid when He does (my neighbors probably think I'm wacky...I know my teens do. LOL) But He didn't just give me one...He gave me two. :-) Isn't He wonderful??

After telling God that I want to see Him more than just "big, scary judge", He has graciously showed me what He's like through little acts of kindness such as that. He cares so much that He gave me not one, but two spiders. You're probably thinking, "So??" So?? It matters to me. If it matters to me, it matters to God. Isn't that awesome??

God is my friend. He's my Father. He's the Creator. He's deep. His ways are higher than our ways and I am just beginning to get to know Him more.

Jesus paid the ultimate price for me. He is my friend and my Savior...my Redeemer. I can't wait to get to Heaven and hug Him!!

The Holy Spirit is God's spirit, Christ's spirit living in ME. I have the mind of Christ. I have the heart of Christ. I am just amazed. Listening to Beth Moore this week, she has expounded on the verse of 2 Tim. 1:7 "For we have not been given a spirit of fear; but of power (GOD'S POWER!!), of love (GOD's LOVE) and of a sound mind (the mind of Christ!)." How awesome is that???

Be blessed and have a fantastic week!

Sheila

Social networking sites are all over the internet. You can get LinkdIn or Plaxo or Facebook or Reunion.com or Classmates.com, MyLife or MySpace or Twitter (still can't seem to "get" that one).

I know several realtors who "dont' have time to mess with that stuff" when I have asked them about joining Facebook. Are you kidding me?

It is the PERFECT place to get out there, re-connect with old school friends, colleagues and potential clients. The best part of it is that it is FREE advertising.

Each person is different and they are going to prefer one social site over another. I am still working on my blogging skills and getting into the regular habit of doing so. I am addicted to Facebook because I can keep up with it on my Blackberry and respond to any comments instantly.

Last year, I posted my listings on their Cribfinder. If someone looks at your homes on there, it automatically sends you a message "You've got a lead on Cribfinder." One person kept looking at my listings so I emailed him. No response. I got a notice that he was looking again, so I emailed him again. Turned out he was looking for a home to buy and I gained him as a client and sold them a house in December. It works!

I've had friends that I went to school with hook up with me on MySpace. I'll post open houses, new listings, or any sort of newsworthy real estate news on my blog there.

LinkdIn...I'm there but I just don't get it. It's like a giant "rolodex" of contacts. There isn't any social networking that I can see.

I love ActiveRain and being able to get opinions and advice from other realtors from all over the country. It's a great place to network.

I still say put yourself on every free site out there and link it back here or your personal website. The next generation are internet shoppers. Be Found!

Is going on with this country and the economy??? To read the news, it's total gloom and doom.

Yesterday I was reading an article on how many people are living in tent cities ranging from Reno to Athens, GA because they've lost their jobs and their homes.

Today there's an article on the President's plan to save the economy with a whopping $700 billion dollar fix. Where is this money coming from?? There have been no spill of details on who exactly it's going to help except the mortgage companies left holding bad mortgages. What about homeowners who are currently struggling to pay their mortgages and have lost their jobs?

I see this struggle everywhere and from what I am reading, this is the largest financial bailout since the Depression. Yet, they don't want the media to call it a recession. Hellooooo!!

One of the supposed remedies is to expand the unemployment benefits. I don't know about you, but that only works for people who aren't on commission.

Personally, I think they need to knock down the gas prices back to 97 cents a gallon, bread 97 cents a loaf instead of $3 and milk $1.50 a gallon instead of $4.50. THAT is what is killing most of us. And to top things off, the electric company is now gouging everybody (at least in my area) because they are "updating" an outdated system. Guess who has to pay for that? Us poor people.

I know everybody has their own ideas of how to "fix" the economy. I think we need to cut prices so that we can afford to live and buy groceries for our families.

We've all heard that famous saying from the movies but how does it apply to real estate? How about changing up the words a little bit to "If you price it right, it will sell!" Even in this market? Yes, even in this market.

The proof is in the pudding (I'm going to cliche' this blog to death). 4 homes in my neighborhood were for sale by the builder at a higher price (in the $180's). They sat on the market until they finally were foreclosed on. An agent in our office got the listings from the mortgage company and priced them almost $40,000 less. They sold in less than a month.

If your house is sitting, not selling...check your price first. Is it too high? Are you being reasonable? Even if you list it high, figuring people will offer you less, you are missing out because people that are only prequalified for $160,000 aren't going to look at homes that are priced in the $190's hoping the sellers will negotiate that far down.

What about the interior? Have you taken a good look at your stuff? Most people looking at homes will get distracted by your collectibles and photos and not notice how big the family room actually is and if their furniture actually fits. Little Susie's cheerleading trophies aren't going to help you sell your house. You are planning on moving anyway, aren't you? Pack it up and get it out of there. Whatever you do not use consistently, move it out. Clear it up so potential buyers can see the space.

Keep the lawn cut, trim the hedges and the excess newspapers picked up. Make it appealing from the exterior so that buyers will want to see the interior. Even if the inside is immaculate, if the exterior is a mess, no one will want to see it.

Look at your house through a buyer's eyes and you will change the way you see your home. It's amazing what a few tweaks will do to improve the attractiveness of your home to buyers.

Happy Selling!

Labor Day weekend is upon us. It seems to have gotten here too quickly this year. Shouldn't we at least have another week before the holiday? Not that I'm complaining...it just seems that this year is flying by. I guess the older you get the faster time goes by.

Do you have any plans for this weekend or Monday? Or do you just plan to "wing it" and do whatever hits you on the spur of the moment?

Personally, I'm a spur of the moment kind of person. I hate planning things in advance. For some strange reason, it makes me feel trapped.

I had floor duty Saturday morning. I came home, took a nap, cut the grass, swam a little, ate some boiled peanuts and just enjoyed the day. Nothing stressful.

Today I got up and went to the early service at church (what was I thinking????). I'm still kinda dragging from that. I usually sleep in a little and go to the 10:30 service. But, it was a spur of the moment thing and I survived. LOL! This afternoon I am sitting at an open house (obviously not busy, huh?). I am enjoying the quiet away from TV's, phones, dogs and getting caught up on my networking and internet surfing for the day.

Tomorrow I was asked if I wanted floor duty. I was like, "Sure." Then it was, "How about all day?" I was like, "Sure." Tomorrow, I'm going to be saying, "What was I thinking??" LOL!

Tomorrow is also going to be a sad day in Effingham. Two of our local, prominent business leaders and fellow Realtors will be buried. They were murdered last Monday morning early at their home. It was a shock to us all. When I first heard the news, I was stunned and scared. I figured it had something to do with real estate, then I heard the rumor that the killing was on a personal level and the fear was eased but the shock remained. It's still strange to ride through town and see for sale signs with their names on it and know they are gone. I pray their killer is caught and brought to justice soon.

May you all have a blessed Labor Day.

Sheila