Bonita Malone, GRI, SFR, CDPE

Has finding a first home been struggle? Getting beat out by All Cash buyers? Multiple Offers on everything you are interested in?

Here are a couple of ideas to think about:

1. Check out the homes listed by HUD. For CA, HI and GA, these homes are listed on the PEMCO website. Homes listed on the site are available to Owner-occupied buyers only for the 1st 10 days of the listing. This means you are not competing with investors until after 10 days on market - makes your chances much better. Also, Owner-occupied buyers using an FHA insured loan can put as little as $100 down...Yes One Hundred Dollars!!

2. FHA 203K loans are available for purchasing a home that may need some rehab work. This means you can find a home that may need some work and wrap up the rehab costs into the loan. As an example, the house needs flooring, new cabinets, termite damage repairs. By starting with an FHA 203K loan, and getting bids for repair work, you can place an offer on a home that would not be eligible for a regular FHA loan. This should open up your list of available properties to include fixers that you might not have looked at before.

As of July 1st of this year, it is illegal to use a cell phone while driving unless its hands free. Now, granted just the act of talking on the phone is a distraction, but actually using the handset instead of a corded or blue tooth headset is even more of a distraction. Right after the law took effect, it was rare to actually see someone with a phone to their ear, while driving.

It is now a little over 3 months since the law took effect, and as I look around, I see almost as many people driving while holding the handset to their ear. The other day I was cutoff on the freeway by someone so involved in a conversation that he never even noticed me. I know it feels a little different when you first start using an earpiece or headset, but you get used to it. Also, you can get some great hands free car kits. Let's try and be a little safer out there on the streets. Besides, it's the law...at least in CA!

"Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent." --Calvin Coolidge

I have this quote up at my desk. As the real estate market has changed, we are seeing more and more agents leaving the business. Also, getting deals together and keeping them together has also gotten tougher and tougher. I find that there are a lot of very smart and talented people in the business, but being smart does not always pay off. Its the individuals who keep on going saying "I think I can, I think I can..." who will still be here 2, 3, or 4 years from now. I plan on being part the group thats still in the business many years down the road - I know I can...