Joni McClintock, CRS

This last March my husband and I celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary. As is our custom for our anniversary, we went to the Oregon coast. We stayed at one of our favorite motels in Lincoln City. We decided to drive around and check out real estate while we were there and happened upon an open house. We struck up a conversation with the real estate agent and she recommended a local motel called the Anchor Inn. This last week end was the long 4th of July week end and we thought it would be fun to go to the coast and meet up with some friends who were staying in Newport at a campground. There was room for us there so we thought we would take the easy way and stay in a motel. The Anchor Inn came to mind and we called and got one of the last reservations. Wow! We were so thrilled with our choice. This place is amazing! It was built in 1946 and has memorabilia everywhere! The quaintness of the place was incredible! The suite was fantastic! With a sitting area and separate bedroom. Then we had a large common living room, kitchen and computer room on our floor. We slept in the main building, but I guess the cottages had their own kitchenettes, living room and bedroom. The first floor had an awesome living room and bar area where they served a hot breakfast that was part of the room price. We all sat around on 40th and 50th furniture and were served by very friendly and welcoming staff. We had great conversations with total strangers and enjoyed every minute of it. We even got a recommendation for a place to have lunch in the future. This place motel was only $79 a night during the 4th of July week end! I heard during the winter months you can stay there for as low as $39 on week nights. That includes a hot breakfast. Oh did a mention that they have a DVD shelf that must have 200-300 DVD that you can check out for free? You have to try this place when you are going to the Oregon Coast. Look it up online. It was a wonderful place to refresh and energized to get back into the swing of life again. No, you don't have an ocean view, but you can hear and for that price we didn't complain. We could easily walk to the beach for my much loved walks along the beach. We want to go back with a group of friends and spend a week end this winter. So thank you to the realtor that was friendly and gave us such a great recommendation. She may not have sold us a house, but she brought more business to her community by having us come back! By the way, I love Oregon! What a place to live and work! And I love what I do. Helping people buy or sell properties in the wonderful state of Oregon. Check out the picture, it is just one room in this very unique motel. http://www.historicanchorinn.com/index.html

I am reflecting today on I how much I love where I live. I love Salem, Oregon! I am looking out at a very beautiful sunny day and am enjoying it so much. I love the fact that last week I could drive an hour and stay at the beach. And if I wanted to I could drive about 2 hrs and go to the mountains I love it that Oregon is filled with wonderful places to camp and we have a favorite only 45 minutes from out house. I even love it when it rains. Ok so I have lived a total of 44 years in Oregon, but did live in Washington and California and I had to come back here as an adult! I love my flower pots in the yard this year. They are so pretty. And I am so enjoying having bird feeders this year. Something I observed from a past client and decided to do this year. Wow is it fun to watch to birds and squirrels feed in my yard! Since I moved back here 24 years ago we have almost moved to other states 3 or 4 times, but something keeps us here. Despite the rain and allergies here we stay. And I am so thankful!

And I really love my job that has flexibility and even now the ability to earn an income. I love working with people and helping them buy or sell a house. Sure we meet interesting people along the way and some times I have to put my social worker degree into use or become a prayer warrior, but I love what I do! People in Oregon are just a wonderful independent group of people that really appreciate the sunshine and live with the rain. This is a great place to live!

I recently audited the Certified Distressed Properties class. What was that?? Well it was a 12 hr. class that gave me more expertise in working with a homeowner in pre-foreclosure. How does a person end up in a situation that the owe more on their house than they can sell it for? There are several reasons it can come to that. Perhaps they lost their job, had a business failure, their property was damaged and lost value, a spouse has died, a severe illness, divorce, mandatory job relocation and can't pay rent and house payment, high medical bills, military service, payment increase, mortgage adjustment, insurance increase, tax increase, reduced income, separation, too much debt and even incarceration. So you see there are many reasons a person can get to that place. A short sale is better on your credit than ending in foreclosure, although I would reccommend you talk to a tax adviser. It is also better for the bank to do a short sale so they are often willing. What do you do? You list your house with an experience realtor that knows how to negotiate with the bank to accept a short sale and provide everything that is asked of you so the realtor is ready when an offer comes. You need to be willing to reduce the price of your home until you get an offer and follow all the realtors advice. Even if it is a short sale, your home should be kept clean and neat to get the best possible price for the home. You can't give up, you will need to perservere so that the house can be sold before a foreclosure happens. So the sooner you list the house, even before a payment is missed the better odds you will have of getting the house sold before foreclosure. I hope this helps someone get started on a successful short sale transaction

Last week I attended a short seminar on how to help your client stage their home before listing it. The people putting on the seminar have developed a great little DVD that you can loan or give to your clients to help them get their house ready. It covers preparing the front of the house for the first impression, and then organizing the kitchen and bathrooms. They break it down into three easy steps in each area. They sell the DVD in a little package with popcorn, a notepad and pen. They will also provide a cover for the DVD with your contact information on it. And to top it off the speaker on the DVD refers to asking your realtor for advise throughout the DVD. I was very impressed and bought a couple of them. They were very reasonably priced and I felt they would be a great tool for listing a home. I am always open to other easy ways to help my clients that won't overwhelm them. Any suggestions??