Cherry Temple

It is such a rare sight - everything stops, no matter how little or how much. Even if it doesn't stick to the roads we all burrow in and wait for the snow to melt.

So, here are a few photos from our one day snow storm, Enjoy.

P.S. These are all color photos.

The Marsh as you've seldom seen it.

A lttle fuzzy - it was night, cold and snowing - no way was I going down and getting closer.

Bridget's first snow

Boomer is not liking anything about the weather.

Happy New Year!  

I think most of us are very happy to see the end of 2009, now onward and upward for 2010. 

Many of us are buys writing our New Year's resolutions and working on our business plan for 2010.  Let us start the new decade with a blank slate.  Forget about the sins and excesses of the past decade and start off a new. 

To help you start the new decade off on the right foot, let us take a look at some of the foolishness many of us committed in the past and vow never to do these things again:

 Feel free to add more suggestions.  I assure you I will not be offended.   

I visit another board sponsored by a home and garden network featuring real estate and decorating shows, you all know the initials. The posts on there are really eye opening about how many of us are running/ruining our real estate businesses.

Take a stroll through some of the topics -

"I can't sell my Miami Home - The poster has been trying to sell her home for 2.5 years. Her agent blows her off and doesn't bother to answer questions, just says we don't do it that way here. Currently, the agent is away on a 2 week vacation, it seems the poster has no one at the agency to contact with her concerns.

Next post after several responses critiques of the photography - really bad, and the write up - very confusing.

Subsequent posts it comes out that if she wants more marketing of her home, video tour etc, the agent told her she could pay for it. The comments go on and on. After several more posts the general consensus is to dump the agent and go shopping for a new one.

Another Post -

This person - their listing just disappeared and no one can figure out why. She has questions about why so few showings in a short period of time, the response from the agent according to the poster is they need to cut down a tree, instead of take better photos.

After more posts - it seems the listing agent is not being communicative and doesn't seem to be very proactive.

last one, but I could go on;

"These buyers are confused about what is a cash sale vs a mortgage and if they change their mind mid stream what affect will it have on the purchase. The agent didn't or wouldn't answer so they came to the board seeking answers.

(I was going to post the actual comments in quotes, but decided I didn't want to run afoul of the Permission to Post question.)

Now, what do all these have in common? Where is their real estate agent? Why are they not doing their job? Isn't that what we get very nice commissions (sometimes) to do?

Why are they on a public forum getting advice from strangers with no knowledge of real estate in their market? Because the real estate agent got the contract or the listing and disappeared. We all love to trot out the list of everything we do to earn our commission, but looks to me from looking at other boards, a lot of us are not walking the walk.

So, what questions are your clients asking in an open forum.

Oh, many times Mr and Ms Agent - the listing info is included and everyone can see who it is giving such bad service to their clients.

I just thought ya'll like to know.

Boris was a part of our family from shortly after DH and I said I do. Found on a local tennis court on Halloween by my husband the tennis player Boris came into our lives almost 19 years ago. He was such a loving and cuddly kitten, always nuzzling us under our chin and loving up against our arms. Just a few days later the whelps told us not only did we have a new pet, but we also had ring worm.

That was life with Boris. From the moment he entered our home he was fascinated and frightened by the great outdoors. He would make a run for it and once out the door he was completely frantic, so the search through the shrubs and sending back into the house. Then he learned a new trick. Hiding. Our favorite was when we had tickets for a show 100 miles away and no cat to be found. After completely changing our plans for the day we found him, safe and sound behind the washer; we just barely made the show, much less doing anything else.

Over 18 years I could write a lot of stories, how he really disliked most dogs, how he would ride downstairs on the back of our persnickety cocker spaniel, how he hated other cats even more, how he hid from anyone who wasn't in the house the first day we found him. The very long ride from Richmond to Myrtle Beach wasn't helped much by the medication provided by the vet.

Life with Boris was usually pretty quiet, an ocaisional run in with the dogs, then he started to mellow after about age 14. He came to an understanding with the dogs, you leave me alone and I won't scar you for life.

As he grew older and started to have minor problems we just made him as comfortable as possible, special foods, slip covers and towels on all the chairs and special spots, whatever the old guy needed.

Then earlier this summer, something wasn't right. He had become more social as he grew older, but his gait was a little off. By the time the vet saw him it was much worse, Boris had had a stroke. Of all the things I worried about as he grew older, diabetes, his heart, cancer I never thought of stroke.

Luckily for me Bill was home for the weekend and was there with me as we said good bye to our old friend.