Gayle Rich-Boxman Fishhawk Lake Realtor®

Man, I love my job!!! Today four and a half hours just flew by! I had new clients at Fishhawk Lake who found me through ActiveRain. Within moments of first meeting, it was delightful to find out how DEEPLY they had delved into my blogposts. I had handed them a copy of the Vernonia's Voice, the paper I write for locally and the husband said, “You write a lot, don’t you?”

It made me laugh and I briefly explained my goal last year to make it a priority to focus on ActiveRain and blog as often as possible. He explained that they read some of my blogs. During the course of the time we spent together, I could tell that they really HAD read them.

The old farmer's tiny red house for example. It was the first one here at Fishhawk Lake and before I could say anything, they asked, “That’s the red house you wrote about, isn’t it? The first building here at the lake? Wasn't it moved 3 times?"

We talked about the annual salmon spawning here at Fishhawk Lake as I pointed out the creeks where you can see them and how careful you have to be if you’re a dog owner because dogs could die from eating dead salmon. They said, “Oh, yes, we read that article of yours about it”….well, didn’t I feel important!!!

They talked about the photos I took, the sense for the community that they got from my blogs about Fishhawk Lake and because of that, they had driven out here the weekend before, checked it out and then contacted me via ActiveRain to set up an appointment. They are a young couple who want to live here fulltime and raise their future children here. It answers the call of their memories of growing up in a small town and that true sense of “community” and all of the joys that that stands for. I can’t WAIT to embrace them as new neighbors!

March came in like a lion today at Fishhawk Lake.

It started yesterday at Fishhawk Lake and I had our driveway all shoveled off and lo and behold, this early AM brought me another white gift. Thanks, Mother Nature!

I again tackled our sloped stamped concrete driveway. I would NEVER suggest someone have this kind of driveway at Fishhawk Lake! Not only do you fall down because it gets slippery, but when the weather gets bad, you need to park your vehicle somewhere FLAT and with gravel, because you could ruin this beautiful driveway. It's gorgeous in the summer and out back, too. This would be better suited in a lovely Florida, Arizona or California setting.

The dogs had a great time, and at one point, they did pose for a couple of Snow Buddy shots.

Jenna was making snow angels.

I shot a crazy video with one hand while shoveling with the other (my first attempt!) I won't be a star on Debb Jane's YouTube Thursdays, but I'm no longer a video-virgin.

The sounds you will hear are the scraping, shoveling that I'm doing along with the squeaking of my snowboots on the wet, sloped driveway. Hey, I took a risk and decided to figure out how to use the video piece of my little "point-and-shoot" camera....sorry didn't realize til later that it would've been good if I'd turned the camera as I made the turn on the driveway. Oh well, lesson learned. I developed an easy system for shoveling the wet and heavy snow, kind of a toboggan-like method, using the slickness of the driveway and the "stickiness" of the snow and just kept it moving up the driveway and across the road with less effort and no back pain (so it won't all melt into our garage later!)

You ready to hear some good news? It’s about time. This title caught my attention:

Housing Crisis to End in 2012 as Banks Loosen Credit Standards

Here are a few statements from this article:

Capital Economics expects the housing crisis to end this year, according to a report released Tuesday. One of the reasons: loosening credit.

The analytics firm notes the average credit score required to attain a mortgage loan is 700. While this is higher than scores required prior to the crisis, it is constant with requirements one year ago.

Additionally, a Fed Senior Loan Officer Survey found credit requirements in the fourth quarter were consistent with the past three quarters.

However, other market indicators point not just to a stabilization of mortgage lending standards, but also a loosening of credit availability.

Banks are now lending amounts up to 3.5 times borrower earnings. This is up from a low during the crisis of 3.2 times borrower earnings.

Banks are also loosening loan-to-value ratios (LTV), which Capital Economics denotes “the clearest sign yet of an improvement in mortgage credit conditions.”

In contrast to a low of 74 percent reached in mid-2010, banks are now lending at 82 percent LTV.

We’re not out of the woods and yet from what I’ve seen around the country with other realtors’ posts and market reports in ActiveRain, the face of the economy seems to be changing in incremental steps this year. It has a totally different feeling than last year at this time. I wrote about this earlier this year, it is a shining stone of hope, one to hold in your hand for good luck. (This doesn't mean you have to kiss the Blarney Stone, either!)

Fishhawk Lake Real Estate-Cash is $till King.

In listening to NPR (National Public Radio) yesterday I heard that a third of all real estate purchases right now are paid with cash and that these buyers are snatching up foreclosures and getting good deals.

Regarding Fishhawk Lake real estate, I have three current buyers I’m working with who are ready: one is a cash buyer, the 2nd is pre-approved for a VA loan and the third is a qualified buyer. My last sale was a cash buyer that I represented who sold a property months before in southern Oregon and turned around and bought one of my listings here at Fishhawk Lake for quite a bit less than the asking price. The sale just before that was a cash buyer, an investor who walked into my office, asked about lots, liked one of them I had listed for a long time at Fishhawk Lake , made a very low-ball offer immediately (sight unseen), I made a phone call to the owners and they said yes they’d take his offer. Boom, done! He wants to eventually build a spec home at Fishhawk Lake and have me list it.

Fishhawk Lake’s real estate community hasn’t suffered with many foreclosures here, but two of them were purchased by cash buyers. Both were bought with the intent of rehabbing them, and eventually selling. One was bought by a young couple who already have a vacation home here, and they've remodeled this off-the-lake home and now have it listed with me for a killer price of $149,900. I’m showing it again this weekend (to someone who found my ActiveRain blog and liked what she read and contacted me through it!) What is also great is that cash buyers are putting money back into the economy in such a way that it is stimulating more activity and feeding off itself.

This is just a snapshot of activity of Fishhawk Lake real estate that supports what I heard seems to be the national trend. It also underlines what I’ve been saying for years, “those who have been smart about their money are still smart about it”.

What are some of your favorite mantras?

These are the words you live by or phrases that easily sum up your goals or life lessons. I was reading a blog recently of Ron and Alexandra Seigel’s about focus. And when thinking about getting answers through focus, this was part of what they concluded:

“Focusing can also lead to discovering new ways to attract more business by finding alternative approaches that can yield more desirable results”.

“The need to know literally draws out answers from your environment and from people who have the answers or know where to find them”.

This prompted me to respond with one of my all-time favorite “mantras”:

Chance Favors the Prepared Mind

I have had a small piece of paper with that phrase on it done in calligraphy for YEARS. It has moved to at least four different homes with me. Such a simple phrase, but it affects me in a profound way.

Focusing on what you need to learn, or focusing on what you want to further understand, comes by opening your mind, your instincts, your AWARENESS and sort of doing your mental due diligence to the highest point of understanding and then asking for more, whether it be through prayer, journaling (much like our daily blogging), asking questions or simply letting it BE, even divine intervention. It does come! Being prepared helps the universe bring it to you. It may not happen in your sense of time, especially if you are an impatient person, but it does happen and can come from the unlikeliest places!