Evanston, IL

I've been busy, this year, with CMA's. Lot of people have come out of the woodwork, ready to sell their condos in Skokie, and sell single-family homes in Evanston. They've asked me to come out and give them a Comparative Market Analysis (CMA) of their home Wilmette, and suggest a price that would be competitive in today's market.

All of the CMA's I've done this year have been for prices that are below what the owner paid for the property. All of the owners have purchased their properties fairly recently, the oldest of which was 2004. Ordinarily that would have been enough time to build up some equity, but unfortunately not in today's market. Each and every one of the CMA's I did, showed that they would have to price at or below what they paid... and probably end up taking a loss at closing.

Several of those that I've given prices to, thus far, have been disappointed, but are realistic and are planning on listing with me. Part of the reason they've given is that my analysis was more realistic than the other agents they'd interviewed, and they felt that starting with a more realistic number would allow them to lose less money than if they started with an inflated number. I have to agree (especially since that's the very same language I stressed when I made my pitch).

I'm thinking of adding a tag line to the bottom of my business cards that say "Lose less money with Alan". Do you think that's a winning phrase in today's market? Do you think that would help me sell more real estate in Evanston, IL? Or sell more condos in Skokie?

(okay, for all of you who were about to give me a serious response to that... I'm just kiddin'. I am not going to add "lose less money with Alan" to the bottom of my cards... but some days I feel like it.)

I recently helped a young couple purchase a condo. It was their first purchase, and they will qualify for the $8,000 first-time home buyer's credit. Nice. They were very excited, and I was excited for them.

One of the things that helped them purchase this condo was their excellent credit score. I gave them the name of a local lender I have used in the past, who's performed some miracles, and she got them preapproved, primarily on the strength of their credit score. They have scores in the very high 700's. A very nice number for anybody, but highly unusual for young folks...these days or any other days.

I remember, as part of a young couple, many years ago, we didn't pay a whole lot of attention to my credit score. I wasn't overly concerned... I didn't have bad credit... I generally paid my bills on time, but If I missed one by 30 days (or more)... I didn't give it much thought... Don't worry... I'll pay the bill when they call me.

This young couple doesn't have a great deal of money to put down, so they're only putting 10% down... which as you can imagine, today makes a lender look at them cross-eyed and proctoscopically. But because they have "golden" credit, they qualify for a very nice rate, and a clean conventional loan. If their credit had been significantly lower, they wouldn't have qualified for much of a loan at all.

So, if I can send a simple message to potential new buyers it's to "protect your credit"... it's not fun, it's not sexy, it's not hot... but it will save you money and heartache in the future... and makes your Realtor's job a heck of a lot easier and more pleasant.

Thanx.

We are fortunate enough to have a Cooper's Hawk that considers our neighbourhood his habitat. We live in an area with mature trees (some 50-80 feet tall, elms, oak, maples) and he considers it "prime hunting territory" since it's loaded with plenty of prey (birds, squirrels, chipmunks, mice).

When our dog was a puppy, we were reluctant to let him out in the yard alone, since he was about 4-5 pounds, and we'd seen the Cooper's Hawk swoop down and lift a rabbit of similar size away... only to return the headless body to our yard later. Hawks and other raptors relish the eyes and brain, so often they'll cut off the head (their beaks are powerful and sharp), and carry it away to enjoy later... so as not to overwhelm their energy by carrying the entire body.

Gus-gus is now about 12.5 pounds, but we still keep a close eye on him, when he's in the yard. I doubt that the Cooper's Hawk (which is one of the smaller hawks) could lift him at his current weight... but those talons could do some serious damage.

Yesterday, my wife returned home, and was about to let the dog out into the yard, when she noticed our Cooper's Hawk, calmly sitting on our Cape Hatteras braided rope hammock. When she opened the back door, the hawk didn't fly away... he just stared at her. That's when my wife noticed that he had something "grisly" in his claw.

She took a broom out, and shoe-ed him away... but she had to wave it around wildly to make him take notice. After he'd left, we found the remnants of his feast. It appears that he'd caught another bird (maybe a sparrow, or a junco), because there were feathers scattered all around the base of the hammock.

Gus spent a great deal of time investigating the kill-zone... sniffing at each and every tuft of feather... (and then he pee-d on them)... it was an adventure.

A Cooper's Hawk is a woodland Hawk. You don't typically see them soaring in the sky, or large open spaces, like an eagle. They're only about a foot high, have a dappled brown breast, grey feathers, and a slightly blue tinged tail. if you see one up close, as my wife and I have been fortunate enough to do, you'll also note their brilliant orange or reddish eyes. (the hawk in this photo appears to be a Juvenile... ain't he purty??) They are often confused with their slightly larger cousins, the Goshawk and the Sharp Shinned Hawk, who can be 18 inches tall or taller.

Ain't nature grand?

I was sitting at my doctor's office yesterday, waiting in the exam room, when he had to excuse himself and take a phone call.

He stepped outside the exam room, but I could still clearly hear the conversation. All I could hear was one side of the conversation, but you'll get the idea. Fortunately, he had already taken my blood pressure, or it might have been excessively high.

the gist of the conversation was that my doctor had sent a patient to the hospital, a 90 year old terminal patient, to the hospice care section. Apparently there were no hospice beds available when she arrived, so they put her in another bed until one opened up.

While she was awaiting her hospice bed... she was visited by an attending physician to determine her course of care (even though my doctor had already sent complete instruction), another doctor was brought in, then a physical therapist (the woman was practically comatose), and a nutritionist (she was not eating... the feeding tube had been removed).

Now that sounds like extraordinary care, until you realize that each time one of these medical professionals had any contact with her, they billed the family. And of course that means medicare. My doctor was complaining that none of these visits should have been made, none of them were mandated by hospital procedure, and none of them should be billed. They were all unnecessary procedures, unnecessary expenses, and none of them benefitted the patient.

My doctor suggested that the hospital had simply identified an opportunity to tag on some additional expenses to a patients medical care, that likely would never be noticed. And except for the fact that my doctor is an exemplary human being, they would have been right.

That really chaps my hide. Ohh... maybe I should go to the doctor and have that checked out!?

We have a little snowstorm going on, here in Chicagoland. Nothing horrible, just a little snow, all day long. We're supposed to have a total accumulation of about 12 - 14 inches.

Now I'm not complaining... we do live in Chicago, and this is really our first major snowstorm of the winter... and to make it all the way into January before getting hit, it pretty impressive.

This post is about the woman I drove behind on the way back to the office today. That first snow, everyone forgets how to drive, and everything slows down to a crawl. There were a few inches still on the ground in the street. The snow was still flying, and the driver was clearly having some difficulty... pulling out into the street from the parking lot. I was close behind her.

She was fishtailing a bit, and going really slowly... gently weaving back and forth in her lane, clearly trying to find the ruts of the tires that preceded her, or so I thought. It was then that I noticed the driver was leaning into the center of the car... peering into the rear-view mirror, while...

APPLYING HER MAKE-UP while DRIVING IN A SNOWSTORM

o m g !

I think that insurance companies should require their insureds to have a bumper sticker with the insurance companies phone number. I so wanted to call her insurer, and report that she was applying her make up in the midst of a snowstorm.

I followed her "from a distance" for another block or two... saw her slide gently, but firmly into the next intersection... against a red light that she hadn't noticed in time... (I guess the mascara wand got in the way).

Finally, when I saw an opportunity... I passed her... and yes, she was still applying make up as I passed her.

ARRGGGGHHH!H!!!!

I guess I should count my blessings, she could have been applying her makeup, during a snowstorm, while talking on a cell phone!

Be careful on the roads out there... it's snowing, and she's still out there!