Sandra Paulow, Associate Broker, GRI, REALTOR

Okay, not so much a lesson but a rant. I swear there are a lot of Real Estate Agents out there who don't know which end of the camara to hold on to when they are taking listing pictures or if they do, they must be cross eyed! I know I have seen this discussion before but I experienced first hand yesterday how horrible some of the MLS pictures are.

I was helping a friend look for property out of town via Realtor.com. Most of the listings either had no pictures, or just a couple of pictures, or pictures that were so horrible you couldn't tell anything at all about the houses. How in the world do they expect to get anyone to call on them when they take pictures that are not identifiable? I mean seriously, some of those pictures were so bad you didn't know what you were looking at. Some looked like they were taken by an agent with wings? They were taken down on a room but were so crooked or cockeyed that it looked like the room was tilted on it's side.

I wonder sometimes if it is intentional so no one will want to show the properties so the agents can sell the homes themselves, or are they just badly in need of some photography classes. I am not professional photographer myself, but at least I can tell through the view finder if the picture is straight or not. Some of these were so out of focus or crooked you really couldn't telll anything about the homes at all.

Maybe we need to make it a requirement that all agents take some photography classes as part of their continuing education. Maybe they shouldn't be allowed to put a listing in the MLS without pictures. No pictures, no listing exposure. All I know is I can understand why the consumers get frustrated because I have never seen such horribly illustrated properties as I saw yesterday.

Oh well, rant is over. Have a Happy Holiday Week everyone.

Sandra Paulow, Associate Broker, GRI, SFR

Good Evening Everyone,

After one of the busiest fall buying seasons in recent memory, all of the sudden it's DEAD, DEAD, DEAD! I'm not sure where all the Buyers have gone but they sure don't seem to be heading to the White Mountains. Maybe it's because it has been so nice down in the low lands but we usually see some traffic this time of year. There is snow coming soon, really there is. It won't be long before those slopes open again. After your ski trip stop in and say howdy, I'd love to help you find your Perfect Place for your White Mountain getaway.

I guess everyone out Holiday Shopping and putting off their home buying trips and searches until after Christmas? I'm really not complaining, just not sure what to do with myself. I was so busy for so long it seems strange to have time on my hands. I always have work to do like updating the website, working on my DB input tasks, etc. but I sure would rather be out showing property. Guess I should have planned a December vacation. Maybe there is still time to do that. I'll have to check in to it. Going out of town always generates activity so that may do the trick.

Hope you all are keeping busy. Any extra clients you don't know what to do with you can send them my way. I'm always game for a referral.

Later All.

Sandie P.

Why do things always have to happen on the weekends? If something in your house is going to break, malfunction, or flood, it always happens on the weekend.

My latest disaster was a stool that didn't work properly and flooded my hall bath and part of the hallway. I didn't even know about it until my dog woke me from a sofa doze in front of the tube and wanted out. That is when I heard the water running. My first thought ws that my Mother, she is 93, had left water running in the sink. Oh no, the stool had been running over for at least an hour, and squish squish squish went the carpet as I went in to discover what the problem was. It is now 9:00 on a Saturday evening.

Fortunately I have quite a bit of experience with this type of thing having worked for several years for a Disaster Restoration Contractor. I had seen a lot of water damages and knew what to do, but gad, who feels like doing that at 9:00 on a Saturday night.

Oh well, first things first. I got the stool shut off and the water bailed out of it and after a little while with the drain opener and a plunger I got it to drain. Now to the carpet, what a mess! My first evil thought was perhaps I should just turn it back on and let it run all night. At least that way I'd have a big enough disaster to call someone to clean it up and then call my Insurance company about it. Believe me in the years I worked for the Restoration Contractor I know there are people who intentionally did that about every five years because they would get new furniture, new carpet and a paint job out of it. Oh yea, I've seen water damages that cost insurance companies upwards of 50K to repair. I'm just not that kind of person and I would never be able to live with myself if I tried something like that. Besides the anti-lie beacon on my forehead would start flashing "Liar Liar Pants on Fire" anyway.

So back to the carpet. The first step obviously was vacing up enought of the water so it wouldn't keep moving further in to the house. After about an hour of that process it was time to start pulling back carpet. Of course it was soaked so it was very heavy and the pad underneath I knew was toast. By now it's about 10 PM. At that point I said to heck with it for the night, I'd finish cleaning it up in the morning. I slept restlessly, dreaming of drowning in a sea of wet carpeting.

Morning. Okay, first things first, COFFEE! After that the fun would really begin. Cutting the seams at doorways, pulling the carpet out of the house and propping it up somewhere to dry. Removing the wet padding to dispose of it and drying out the floor underneath. More COFFEE! By 11 AM the carpet was outside draped over chairs to dry, the padding was removed and disposed of and I had fans and portable heaters on the floor drying out the floor and the cabinet bases etc. and I'm thoroughly wired from too much coffee.

After the floor dried out, I went out to the garage where we just happened to have about a half roll of carpet padding to replace what had been destroyed. I spent the next hour or so dragging that in, cutting it to fit the floor and tacking it down. That is such fun, heavy awkward stuff! Why didn't I call the pros again? Oh yea, I wanted to save the money.

Well, it is now about 2:30 Pm, my back aches, I have little cuts all over my fingers from the tack strip around the sides of the room, I finally had some lunch and the carpet is still flapping in the wind drying out. Maybe I'll get it put back in by 10 PM tonight. What next, cleaning it of course, but that will have to wait for another day. I'm getting too old for this. Remind me next time to Call the Pros!

Have a great Holiday everyone.

Sandie P.

I was thinking about what to do to help my sellers feel less discouraged. I have several really nice listings in the White Mountains area and they get no traffic. I've looked at the comps, I've priced them well, they show well, everything is right about them but still no one is looking at them. I have shown them myself when I've had the opportunity, but what can we do when the buyers for them are so scarce?

Two of my sellers have told me that they aren't going to renew the listings since no one wants their homes anyway. I can't argue with them, I know they are right. Even if people who are looking could afford them, they are so terrified of overextending or paying too much that look at less than they want in the hope that they are going to find what they want at a lower price.

Our buying season is waning, and many people will take their homes off the market for the winter months. I have tried to convince them that they should leave them on the market for just that reason but they are so discouraged that they don't want to do that. I wish I could give them hope that next year will be a better year, but I don't see that happening. The home buying situation is going to be troubled for a long time to come and if the banks hold true to their actions the past couple of years, they are probably going to drop a whole bunch of REO's about mid-winter just to drive values down some more.

If there are luxury home buyers out there now is really the time to start looking for your dream house. Sellers like mine are so discouraged that they would look at just about any offer just to say they had one. I truly wish there was more I could do for my sellers but the numbers speak for themselves. If you have a high end home, you better love it because the chances for selling it any time soon are pretty slim.

Good Sunday Afternoon Everyone,

Today's writing has absolutely nothing to do with Real Estate. It is rather a reflection on where I was and what I was doing the morning of September 11, 2001. I will never forget that day, it is burned in my memory like it was yesterday.

I was sitting in my living room in Sahuarita, Arizona having my morning coffee and watching the Today Show on NBC. I remember Katie Couric's face when the first plane hit the tower. Everyone thought it was an accident, a tragic accident but an accident none the less. The shock and awe on the faces of those on the show is engraved on my mind. There was horror and confusion, no one knew what to make of it other than something awful had happened.

A few minutes later when the second plane hit the realization came that it wasn't an accident but a deliberate act designed to kill many many people and send our Country in to a complete tailspin. Still, no one expected those towers to come down. We already knew there were many people dead in those upper stories but we never in our wildest dreams expected that the buildings themselves would come down. Sadly, a few hours later that is exactly what happened as we all know.

Too many lives lost just to serve the selfish means of some extremists who hate our country. They still hate us today and although they didn't succeed in destroying us in 2002, the fallout from that day is still affecting us and is slowing destroying our country from the inside out. There is a terrible apathy out in the world today. We accept what is handed us and expect more! We don't complain we just just go with the flow because it is easier than fighting. We must fight to keep our Country strong.

I read an outstanding article this week in our local newspaper about what has happened in the ten years since 9-11 and it was truly scary. I have included the link to the article below. Read it and weep, for if we do not change our attitudes the extremists of ten years ago will have won despite everything.

http://www.wmicentral.com/opinion/letters_to_editor/ten-years-after-have-we-become-the-enemy-of-freedom/article_f4d19760-da70-11e0-bc8c-001cc4c03286.html

It is time once again to stand up and defend our rights as Americans and if you will not fight then you will fail. It is time to change the world again and defend what has made this country great. Apathy is not accomplishing anything, action will.

Have a wonderful week and remember.....We The People!!!

Sandra J. Paulow