About Minnetonka's Lake Minnetonka

MAAR friends Linda Stoechicht (Director of International Programming & Broker Services) and Mark Allen (Chief Executive Officer at the Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors) recently sent me congratulations on the recent article that appeared in Realtor Magazine which mentioned my work on the Wisconsin and NAR Equal Opportunity committees toward the proposed Amendment to Article Ten of the Realtor Code of Ethics. I blogged about this in my Madeline Island Real Estate Blog a few weeks ago.

Linda wrote,

"This is so cool how instrumental you were with getting this issue moving in the right direction. It is good to see that grassroots still has a place and influence in monumental decisions and actions. In case no one has said it....... Thank You, nice job!!!"

I also received a very nice email letter of congratulations from Nina Cottrell, Chief Executive Officer for the Council of Residential Specialists. Nina wrote,

"Congratulations. I was at the board meeting and wondered what were the chain of events that prompted the (Article 10 Amendment) vote. It was long overdue. I'm proud that you are one of my members."

The Realtor Magazine article (written by Editor-in-Chief Stacey Moncrieff) appears in the July - August 2010 online edition of that publication:

http://www.realtor.org/rmonews_and_commentary/articles/2010/1008_news_equalrights

The origin of the work described in the Realtor Magazine article actually began here on ActiveRain. You'll find the details below:

http://activerain.com/blogsview/296743/tell-nar-it-s-time-to-rewrite-article-10-of-the-code-of-ethics-

http://activerain.com/blogsview/1742597/nar-addresses-an-important-issue-thanks-to-a-blogger-on-active-rain

http://activerain.com/blogsview/1659239/closing-the-sexual-orientation-loophole-nar-board-approves-proposal-to-amend-article-ten-of-the-code-of-ethics

http://activerain.com/blogsview/1745359/if-you-ever-doubted-the-power-of-active-rain-you-won-t-want-to-miss-this

I'm delighted that this effort caught the attention of the people at MAAR and the folks at the Council of Residential Specialists.

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Today I thought we could take a look at what real estate is doing out on Lake Minnetonka. Not that it is any big surprise, but things have slowed down a little in 2008 on the famous lake. High end buyers don't seem to be coming out of the woodwork anymore, either because they already bought a home in the last five years, or can no longer afford the luxury lifestyle.

Anyway, the news isn't all that great. About the only positive number coming out of the area is that closed sales for the month of September were up 9%. The not-so-good "positive" numbers show that the number of days a home is on the market has gone up to 181, almost 9% higher from this time in 2007.

The good news to buyers is that the average price of home on Lake Minnetonka has gone down 10.3%. It helps that many million dollar homes are now no longer million dollar homes, but instead priced in the $800,000 - $999,000 range. Most interesting is the fact that the list price, when compared to sale price, shows a 10% difference. That tells me sellers are pricing their homes too high from the get go. Maybe if sellers started off more realistic, their homes would sell quicker.

My 400th blog is about the most beautiful lady in the World - by: Robert Swetz

I wanted this blog to be special because of the number and to try and make my wife Nu Nu a part of Active Rain. She always mentions to me that I am wasting my time with Active Rain and I try to explain to her that AR is different than other networks. So this blog is all about the most beautiful lady in the world.

Nu Nu was born in Myanmar (Burma) and it took her 5 years to just come and visit America. When she came to visit America in 2002 she stayed and worked in San Diego, California. It wasn't more than 6 months and she moved to Minnesota and worked in Minnetonka. We met out of the blue one day, she was working at a Sushi place in Minnetonka and we started dating.

It wasn't long before we got married and moved to Las Vegas, Nevada because there was more work out on the West Coast.

We have had a long road dealing with Immigration and the steps involved in keeping Nu Nu her.

The photo below is of Nu Nu and her daughter Cherry who still lives in Myanmar. We have been working many long years trying to get Cherry here.

Before Nu Nu moved to America she was a singer for 10 years and supported her family of 8 people because she had lost her father to Cancer when he was 54 years old. Once her father had pasted away the only income Nu Nu's family had was hers.

Nu Nu also adopted two twin baby boys that were left at the hospital by their real mother when they were born. The twin boys are 12 years old now and still live in Myanmar.

Nu Nu's mother, daughter, adopted twins and 200 other relatives all live back in Myanmar (Burma).

Nu Nu has one of the biggest hearts in the world and she amazes me every day when I see her kindness towards others. She is loved by many, many people she has touched, especially me.

With in Nu Nu's heart is a very simple request from me and others around her. All she wants is for people to be kind to her, nothing more. So, I go out of my way to give her the kindness she deserves.

This ones for you Nu Nu, from your loving friend and husband Robert.

Story and photographs by Robert Swetz

All photographs by: Robert Swetz and copyrighted/ trademarked by Robert Swetz - Any duplication in any form with out the permission of Robert Swetz will be in violation of a minimum of $5,000 to a maximum of $20,000 dollars - For permission please call Robert direct at: 702-443-7156 or email him at: swetz444@yahoo.com