Kristin Smith ~ 541-497-6510 ~ Albany & Brownsville Oregon Real Estate

What a crazy market we are in! A house can be priced "right" now & overpriced in a month. Staging is important, yet pricing trumps it every time.

I think the most important thing to know is that right now, bank owned properties (REOs) and Short Sales are driving the market down for the most part. Even appraisers right now are having to use comps from foreclosed properties to determine home value.

It's a great market anyway though, because the buyers are out there! That's the exciting part. There are people looking to buy. Don't be discouraged, just keep plugging along & keep in contact with your agent. Unless of course, you don't have one... :)

Kristin Smith
Keller Williams Realty Mid-Willamette
www.callkdsmith.com

I don't know about your neck of the woods, but in Albany, OR, you can't keep good properties down! This week I had a client call me about a house for sale just about half a mile from my house. It's currently bank owned & had only been on the market for 5 days. I called right away when he told me that the asking price was about $89,000. When I was finally able to talk to the broker, he'd already received 6 offers on the property! To top it all off, when I went by, there wasn't even a SIGN in the yard!

If you know of any great homes needing to be sold quickly in Albany, let me know! I'm doing my best to help these clients find a smokin deal! They're looking for a good, solid starter home for $130K or less. Call me if you have something that would meet their needs & let's talk business!

Cheerfully,
Kristin

What do you look for in customer service? Is it a smiling face, going the extra mile, bringing a cup of coffee? I'll tell you what I like.

I'm sitting at the Power Kia Customer Lounge in Salem, OR. As the proud owner of a pre-used Kia Optima, let me tell you, these people know customer service. When I first brought the car here, I was a new owner & had a problem with the driver's door - it wouldn't open. They went above & beyond, looking it over for me and asked if my timing belt had been replaced. Turns out that it hadn't, and if I had gone much further, I could have had major damage done to my car. They didn't push me to have something done, they educated me. They showed me what needed to be done for my safety and why it needed to be done.

I like to look at my real estate business the same way. If I give my clients great customer service, they're going to tell others about it. Who knows - they might even blog about me! :) If my client wants to buy a house, I want to help them understand the process, not just drive them around to different houses and say, "Do you like this one?". With sellers, I work at exploring all options, not just the everyday "list your house on the MLS and see what happens". I love to think outside the box. In fact, just today, I wrote up a reverse offer on one of my listings, hoping that we can get it sold. Is that the norm? Not really. Do all brokers do this? Definitely not. But there are those of us out there that do!

So whether you're looking to buy a home or sell a home, pay attention to the customer service. Ask your friends if they know someone - even interview the agent. Tell them the top 3 things you're looking for in an agent & be honest. You will be working with this person for a while & they're going to know a lot about you. It's important that you have a good and comfortable relationship with your agent.

Kristin Smith
Keller Williams Realty Mid-Willamette
www.callkdsmith.com ~ kdsmith@kw.com ~ 541-497-6510

I love my coffee. Straight up black at home and work, but when I'm out with friends, meeting clients, or just wanting a break, it's a grande Pumpkin Spice Latte from Starbucks - with whip!

One of my favorite things to do is read the little "The Way I See It" quotes on the sides of the cup. A while back they "decided" they were going back to the original look and I thought the quotes were gone forever - tragedy! But no, at this point at least our local Starbucks on Pacific Blvd. at the Fred Meyer is back to having the cups with quotes. This of course was also after the Christmas red cups during the holidays!

Anyway, I was sitting in a real estate accountability group meeting on Tuesday, and a friend of mine came in with her venti cup. On the side of it was the following quote:

(This isn't my hand, but I managed to find a picture online)

What an inspiration! I strive to be the kind of real estate broker that aims for this type of transaction. Whether it's someone buying their first home, or a seller trying to get their home sold, I want to be that one agent that wins races & moves mountains. While I know that's a lofty ambition, isn't is said that "If you shoot for the moon, even if you miss, you'll end up in the stars"?

Kristin Smith
Keller Williams Realty Mid-Willamette
kdsmith@kw.com ~ www.callkdsmith.com ~ 541-497-6510

So I was sitting here and thinking...in this struggling economy, why is it that I stay in Real Estate? Here are a few of the reasons I thought of:

1. I love the people. You simply cannot trade the feeling that you get when you help that young couple buy their first home, or that single make the most confident step of independence.

2. I love a challenge. Ok, so lately, I could do with a little LESS challenge, but there is a certain amount of a "high" you get from matching people up to homes.

3. I love my town. In Albany, OR, we have a population of between 40,000-45,000 people, so we can still be considered a small community. It's fun to go out & see the different neighborhoods and "discover" areas that I haven't seen before.

4. I love my brokerage. Truly, in all my years of business, I have never worked for a company so encouraging and supportive. It's amazing to see how everyone rallys around coworkers who have a car accident, or get stricken with cancer - and no one expects compensation. It's just what we do for each other.

5. I love paperwork. You guessed it, I was being facetious! :) For everyone who thinks our job is easy, they need to walk a mile in our shoes - make sure they're the high heeled ones that we gals have to wear to make ourselves look professional.

But the real reason I stick with it? I want to help people. It kinda goes back to Reason 1. The people I've met have become more than just customers or clients, they've become my friends. I'm so looking forward to all the new friends that I will be making in 2009. If you want to be one of them ;), give me a call, but above all, have a wonderful year!

So why do you do what you do?

Kristin Smith
Keller Williams Realty Mid-Willamette
kdsmith@kw.com ~ www.callkdsmith.com ~ 541-497-6510