Liz Carter,Broker/Owner of Liz Carter & Team Realty, Katy TX (Houston)

Nope see my 3 loves, some of my reasons. Blessed by family, great clients, and now Active Rain has given me a big boost too!

Liz Carter, Realtor serving Katy, Sugar Land and the greater Houston area since 1976

AM I CRAZY? Sometimes I wonder...Real Estate can be extremely stressful, hard, long hours, tedious job that has no regular paychecks, insurance, benefits or paid vacations. It is filled with rejection, getting blamed for everything that might go wrong (whether it's your fault or not), long unpredictable hours, hurt feelings, rejection and can be a physically dangerous business. You deal with people who act differently than they do under "normal" circumstances since they rate buying or selling a home in the TOP FOUR for stress. It ranks up there with death, divorce, and fear of public speaking! All of this of course occurs after you have done your job by finding a buyer for the seller or a home for the buyer. There are so many people behind the scene that are directly involved with the transaction going smoothly and closing, that you have no control over. There is the other principle (buyer or seller), other agent, lender, their processor, appraiser, underwriter, title company (escrow officer or attorney), their processor, surveyor, mechanical inspector, termite inspector, courier, post office, banks, etc.

People think "Gee I'll get a real estate license, make a fortune, have lots of free time, and all I have to do is show pretty homes"...WRONG. According to the National Assoc. of Realtors, there are 1,338,001 http://www.realtor.org/vlibrary.nsf/pages/membershipcount the average agent in the US only sells five homes a year! So why would anyone in his or her right mind want to become a Realtor? Below are a few things that come to most people's mind:

• MONEY: Possible to make a lot of money (it comes at a high price, a ton of your time & life).
• PEOPLE business: You meet different interesting people you might not normally.
• INTERESTING: Get to see some beautiful, ugly, unusual homes and areas.
• CONTROL: Over the time & hours you work.
• EXCITING: Finding that perfect dream home, especially for the first time home buyer.
• AGE: Unlike some other fields' age is not seen as a negative.
• REWARDING: Helping people with one of their largest financial investments.
• NOT BORING: Everyday is different; you never know what will happen.
• CHALLENGING: It will keep you on your toes, and you never stop learning.
• FULFILLING: Helping people through some very difficult situations.

My primary motivator is mostly the last one; it's about helping people and having them appreciate your efforts. Over the last 32 years I have been fortunate to have sold thousands of homes, and received many letters of thanks for a job well done. I've sold BILLIONS of dollars of real estate during my career, averaging $30-$40 MILLION in production a year. I'm often asked, "Liz are you ever going to retire"? Probably not...thank God I found something I love to do, and as long as I continue to get letters like this one I think I'll stay "crazy".

"I would like to take this opportunity to express my complete gratitude on the service your agency has shown us. When we came to you to sell our home my wife was diagnosed with cancer. The last thing we needed was to worry about the time and effort it was going to take to sell our home. Needless to say with the expertise and compassion your team shown us we did not have worry. Not only did you sell our house in a short amount of time, you did so in a market that was less then desirable. I cannot thank you enough for helping our family through a very difficult time in our live. Your agency is definitely more then just a business, it's about a group of people who genuinely care about there customers. We are forever grateful." Michael & Mary Petro

Staying "crazy" means, I can help people like Michael and Mary, which adds value to my life by serving others in times of need. I'm now helping kids of clients who used me years ago, that's cool too. So when your down or someone gave you a hard time, think of all those times you really made a difference in some ones' life and focus on the good things in your life. By helping others your rewards just naturally follow, below are 3 of mine, my great-great niece, "sleeping beauty", my two great-great nephews on a dive trip to Cozumel, my 3 loves!

Liz Carter is the owner/broker of Liz Carter & Team Realty, located in Katy which is a suburb of Houston, Texas. Liz has ranked every year in the Houston Business Journals' top 25 producing Realtors, There are approx. 25,000 agents in the greater Houston MLS. Visit her at, http://www.lizcarter.com/ or call 281-391-SOLD (7653).

Now I have added Active Rain in my life, and career also. It has given me more exposure for my web site, new friends, and a great place to be creative too. I have a great life, blessed with family, loyal clients, a still blooming real estate co., and now the pleasure of watching the FOURTH GENERATIONS of our kids grow up. Who knows maybe one of them will decide to join Liz Carter & Team Realty too?

History of WEST MEMORIAL SUBDIVISION

by Liz Carter, owner/broker Liz Carter & Team Realty

This area in Katy Texas was one of the very first subdivisions to be built in the far west area of Houston. It is located at I-10 @ Mason Road and host approximately 2000 homes. The building began in the very early 1970's and was built as most of the area homes are on what used to be rice fields in the Katy Prairie. There was little else around in those days so the sunsets over the vacant land were spectacular. It was also common to see the thousands of geese flying and landing, they were drawn to the rice fields, and Katy Texas also lies in their migratory path. The subdivision was well planned and laid out almost in a square that boarders I-10 to the north, Mason Rd. to the east, Kingsland Blvd. to the south, and Coppersmith to the West. There are two main boulevards that cut through the area, Provincial Blvd. that runs east to west and Promenade Blvd. that runs north to south. 37 years later the trees along Provincial form a canopy that reach across the four lane street and in some areas touch the trees on the other side.

Another great thing in this subdivision is there are two schools almost in the center of the subdivision that are within walking/biking distance from the whole area. West Memorial Elementary and West Memorial Jr. High are located at the intersection of the two boulevards that also feature a circle in the middle planted with shrubs and flowers. When I first started showing and selling homes here my office was in Houston at I-10 and Bunker Hill in 1976. Buyers would start to wonder were the heck I was taking them around Hwy. 6, since there literally was nothing between that stretch of I-10 except the beginnings of Park Ten. I really liked the peace and small town atmosphere of the area and moved my office to I-10 @ Mason Rd. in 1978 and also bought a home in West Memorial that I lived in for the next 17 years. I even remember the first time I noticed the trees when they reached the point of being visible from I-10 and were higher than the roofs of the homes J...the good old days! However there were a few drawbacks, no grocery stores, no restaurants, no shopping, no movie theaters, etc., now that has certainly changed. Mason Road at the time dead-ended at Highland Knolls, and Hartz Chicken was about our only choice for lunch or dinner. As with all areas of Houston during the "oil bust" in the late 80's, early 90's, prices plummeted, however West Memorial tended to be a little better off than some of the areas north of I-10. Now many of the homes have been remodeled, and the taxes for the area are far below almost all of the other areas since the MUD taxes have been paid off. This area offers many benefits especially price. Pictured is the large park area, there are also two pools.

Below is a chart/snapshot of homes and prices in West Memorial for 2007 from Houston MLS. There were a total of 74 homes sold, and there are currently 23 homes for sale, and 2 pending sales. A=active for sale, S=sold & closed, DOM=days on market, SP/LP=% of asking price to sales price (some variables not noted i.e. buyers closing cost paid by seller rolled into sales price)

Liz Carter area specialist since 1976, http://www.lizcarter.com/. 281-391-SOLD (7653)

FUNNY TRUE STORY; CLUELESS REALTOR IN KATY (Houston) TX.

I got my real estate license in 1976 and was very excited about my new career. I was given a desk complete with a phone (they were rotary back in the old days) and told good luck...that was the extent of my training. After about a week of sitting at my desk and staring at my phone expecting something to happen I got bored (and more brook), so I went to my manager and ask if there was something I should be doing? He told me, "Well why don't you go knock on some doors". Actually good advice however I did not know it at the time plus that's all he said, he didn't tell me what to say or offer any other insightful ideals.

With nothing to loose except my dignity I got in my car armed with some brand new business cards (any one out there remember the franchise Red Carpet Realty?), and off I went in search of some doors to knock on. After driving around until my gas gage indicated I would have to stop soon or else. I gathered up my courage and business cards and got out of the car in a neighborhood that was fairly close to my office in the SPRING BRANCH area of HOUSTON. I went to the first house on the block I had stopped on and went to my first door and "knocked"....THANK GOD NO ONE WAS HOME :), what a relief! Arriving at my 5^th home, there was a man on a ladder painting his house. I called out, "Hi my name is Liz Carter, (my first brilliant word of the day), and I'm with Red Carpet real estate". Fortunately he was a nice man and came down of the ladder and shook my hand. I see you are doing some painting...DUH, my next brilliant statement, he responded with yes since he had just found out he was being transferred was fixing up his home to sell. Remember this was 31+ years ago and I still remember the conversation vividly. Well I just stood there, and he finally said, "Would you like to see the house?" Yes of course, triple DUH, and in we went. Not having a clue what to do next, thank God my office was close by and after several trips back and forth from his house to my office and back, he and his wife signed a listing agreement with me. The whole time spent from start to finish was around 6 hours; this might be the longest listing appointment of recorded history!

In about a week the seller called me and said that one of his co-workers wanted to see his home and could I meet them there? Is there another word for Duh???, so off I went and low and behold after viewing the home they said to me, "We would like to buy this house". The saying, you could have knocked me over with a feather comes to mind, and I managed to say let's go back to my office. I promptly and of course barely able to hide my excitement went in search of someone to help me, since I was still CLUELESS. Thank goodness my manager was there and went in and explained everything to the buyers and wrote the contract. Then wallah in about four weeks I got a check, and thought boy have I found the right "job"! The transaction went smoothly and no one got hurt, surly there was divine intervention. This is a funny and scary at the same time true story of my fist real estate transaction. Now looking back, with thousands of closing later I of course realize how disastrous this could have turned out.

It's sad but the consumer today faces the same problems many years later, getting stuck with a clueless agent who is totally untrained, under educated, and has no ideal of what they are doing. Most agents do not get proper training even today, they are told to take floor time, hold open houses, run print ads, and hope someone calls them. When I was licensed it only took 30 hours of classes, pass the state test, join the MLS, and you became a HOUSTON Realtor. Thank God we have increased that and there have been other good things, but still sadly we have too many people who hold a license who should not.

I just finished writing on active rain my TOP TEN REAL ESTATE THINGS TO BE POSITIVE ABOUT IN 2008 .Positive for 2008; Represents a golden window for buyers to find excellent deals on homes with excellent financing, by Liz Carter . One of them was we will have less competition since when the business gets tougher agents leave the business and they have been doing so in record breaking numbers. That is a great thing for us and for the consumer; it is a purge of the real estate industry. Let's all keep growing, learning, and doing the best job we can for our clients. Helping new agents with a mentor program when they first start is a great way to help them, and our industury. Give some of your time, knowdlege, and expericance when a new agent comes on board. I even go out of my way to help agents who work for another company, it's just the right thing to do.

Would love to hear from you on the strange and funny things that have happened to you also, maybe we should write a book? It's good to laugh, especially at yourself. My post of things to be positive for in 2008 has been posted on active rain in case you would like to read it.

Wishing everyone the best year of your life in 2008! Liz Carter, owner/broker Liz Carter & Team Realty. Serving the greater Houston, Katy and Sugar Land areas of Texas. http://www.lizcarter.com/, 281-391-SOLD (7653.

Yes this is me under water, back in the olden days of FILM, it took Bill (my better half, sometimes), many shots to get this picture I use in all my advertising. A fish would swim by, I would have to take a breath, so bubbles were all over the picture, a current with come up and I'ld loose my position, the list goes on and on, but we finally got it. We had a blast. I've used this in my ads for 20+ years, with the tag "Before you dive into buying or selling a home...talk to someone who knows the waters" I get strange calls, like, "I need to talk to that lady with the goggles", or "Can I talk to that lady in the water".