Brenda D. Moore, Serving Lynchburg, Va. Campbell Cty, Bedford Cty, Bedford City

Today and for the last week or so I have been stressing about what I am getting done and what I am not getting done in my life. Sometimes I feel like there are so many things I want to explore and so little time to do the exploring.

I have become very interested in the last few months in social media networking and how it all works and how to incorporate it in my professional life. Also trying to continue with the everyday habits I already have and use in my business. Sometimes it gets a little overwhelming. In my real estate profession, I feel like I am working so much harder for the business. Our sellers do not understand why their homes are not selliing and our buyers do not know if they should buy or wait.

This morning I was on the Buffini and Company Inc. site and I read the quote for the month of March; "I relax and do my BEST and trust God for all the REST." What an awesome quote. It stopped me in my tracks and made me see that was all that I could do. I had good habits in place and I was added new ones every day. It made me stop and remember why I am a REALTOR and what makes this profession such a rewarding one. I copied the quote down and placed it over my computer to see everyday.

It is so true - God will take care of the rest if we only do our best!

My husband and I decided recently to renovate our upstairs master bedroom and bath and a second bedroom upstairs and bath. We had Chris Sumpter and his men come out and gut our bathrooms and remove all the carpet. They put in a very pretty ceramic shower and ceramic tile on the floor of the master bathroom and tile on the second bathroom. They install the prettiest hardwood floor that I have ever seen from Legacy Tile & Flooring in Forest Square Shopping Center.

One of Dorsey Bradshaw's painters came in today to remove wallpaper from the second bedroom walls and the bathroom walls. He worked all day and I hardly knew that he was in the house. Later my husband, Gene, went up to check out his handy work. All of a sudden he called me from over the balcony. "Brenda, come up here and see what is on the walls of the bathroom". I went running up to see what all the excitement was about.

The history of our home is that a family built it and were the only folks who lived in the home until we bought it. They did a lot of work on this home themselves and loved this house very much. When we bought the house, we bought it from the son. Both of his parents had passed away. He was very young himself going to college. Since he was the only child, I imagine that his mother did this beautiful artwork on his bathroom walls.

I wish I didn't have to cover this artwork up and if there was a way to restore it I would because I know my grandchildren would love this bathroom as much as a young boy did years ago.

Mr. Gibson, if you are out there reading this post, I hope this brings back good memories of a youngsters life on Bethel Church Road.

This information has just come out from Real Living on the $8000 Maximum Credit for First Time Home Owners. Great information to get out to all our clients.

This credit is a true credit and is refundable. What does "refundable" mean? It means that if you do your taxes and your tax liability is only $5000, that gets wiped out and you get an additional $3000 back (assuming you bought a house worth more than $80k, it is 10% of the purchase price up to $8000). If you have no tax liability, you get $8000. If you are due a refund of $1000, you get $9000 total back. There may be exceptions to this but that is how it works for the vast majority of people. It is in this way much better than the Senate's $15,000 credit that would have been spread over two year's tax liability. But even with that, one would have to make $44,600 (after deductions etc, so the number is probably significantly higher) to have $7500 tax liability in a year ($55,350 for a couple) to benefit from the full credit.

With the refundable credit, that is not the case - you get the full amount no matter what your tax liability. So in the first example with $5000 tax liability, the Senate credit would only be worth $5000 in that tax year, whereas this credit is worth $8000. Of course it phases out after $75k single, $150k for a couple, but it is still valuable to a lot of people.

$8000 credit ($4000 for married filing separate)

As a REALTOR, we are always trying to go out of the box to serve our customers. One thing I like to do is stop by my customers from time to time and give them a small inexpensive gift to let them know that they are top of my mind.

Last week I scheduled 35 of these popbys to make to people who have given me referrals, business owners, past clients and current clients with small gifts with taglines that encourages them to remember me to their friends and family.

I love doing these popbys and talking to folks. Sometimes they are not at home or in their offices so I leave them a note, and give them a call to let them know that something is waiting for them on their arrival back home or the office.

This is a great way to get to know folks better and for them to see how I work my business. If I don't get around to all of my folks, I get around to them on another week of popbys.

Next week I will be making calls talking to my sphere of influence. Referrals from these fine people are how I make my business a success.

Be on the outlook, I could be coming your way soon.

Brenda

I have been in coaching with Buffini for two years and have learned a lot about myself. This coaching has helped me use my strengths and work on what I do best. We all have strengths, but we are always thinking about what we do wrong. I turn it around now and think about what I do well.

I find it very hard sometimes to be a REALTOR because I am introspective. I am very happy being within my own world and I am not a person who likes to talk about myself and be in large groups. I do much better one to one with people. I value my time alone and have very little people fuel left over at the end of the day. Because I am introspective, I always set aside time during the day to be by myself and do something that I enjoy. This helps me refuel and be able to do the best by my clients.

I am a resource for my database when needed. I love to give guidance and people are comfortable with me because I listen to their needs and guide them through the process of buying or selling a home.

I am a structured person who plans my weeks and days and checked off the things as I go. I make sure all the details are carried out with a transaction from the start to the end. I am very independent so I am very self reliant and productive.

I love to investigate, learn and understand the complexities of my environment. I am driven to find out the answers to problems. Whenever my clients have problems or questions, I may not know the answer at the time the problem arises, but you can be sure I will track down the solution.

Integrity is my by-word. I love for people to depend on me and I am reliable and dependable. People trust me.

I am a very hands-on person who monitors, nurtures and manages situations in order to have my clients agendas fullfilled. I love to listen to my clients and work hard to execute their needs and wants. I like to give my clients choices. I work hard to create an environment for others to make their own choices by counseling, giving advise and giving input only if invited to do so.

I love to start or create things; to get a listing signed, to break new grounds. I love to have my fingerprints all over the process, to impact or give shape to the process.

I pay attention to the details and have a high internal standard of excellence. I can be patient to a fault.

All of these great attributes come with their own pitfalls, but because I have learned to work through those things, I have come out a better person and a person who knows my weakness but not a person who dwells on them. We all have to find our strengths and your strengths my be different from mine, similar to mine or a combination of mine. We all work together to get our jobs done to the best of our ability.

I think if we would concentrate on what we do well and grow in our lives we would have a better environment to live in. Our children would grow up happier and in more control of their lives as adults.

Focus on the positive!