Jane Terrell Gatlinburg- Sevierville Homes for Sale

Just a reminder that furnishings (even including appliances) are considered by lenders to be "personal property" and are therefore not an automatic part of a short sale negotiation. Typically the owner of a property can remove personal property during the short sale process, unless it is part of the written contract. An addendum to the contract specialfically addessing the personal property in the home is one way to deal with this.

It's so easy to get overwhelmed---switch your TV from channel to channel and one is worse than the next..Warren Buffet says we've fallen off a cliff, the wars continue, polar bears are challenged, real estate sales are in the dumps....it seems everywhere we turn there is just more and more. I was feeling this way, on this early spring morning in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, when I looked out my window and saw 100 robins in my front yard---OK I stopped counting at 86 but I know the rest of them were there! In an eternal symbol of spring's imminent arrival, they had stopped to give me the boost I needed! We'll make our way through these challenges, and be better, more grounded people for it! The robins will come and then the spring!

One of my favorite books, The Last Child in the Woods (Saving our Children from Nature Deficit Disorder) makes the point that all the environmentalists have gray hair, and it's critical that we pass our love of the mountains on to the next generation. This is a photo of my husband doing just that with nephew William---on a fall day in Metcalf Bottoms. It's so easy with all of the distractions and anxieties of today to think about other things, and get lost in the challenges and negativities of the moment. But then, a drive into the mountains and a few moments in the serenity of these hills puts it into perspective. Help someone else love the mountains, too!

As real estate professionals, we have always thought that putting the client first made the best sense for us--business really does work best that way! But today that is even more important than ever, as so many people are trying to navigate the real estate waters that change by the hour. With that in mind, I made a decision to do what I could do to use my knowledge and expertise to assist homeowners here in my own community. I began to focus on the distressed property market, and helping owners who were in trouble or knew that they were about to be. I took hours of classes and became a Certified Distressed Property Expert, and with that gained more knowledge of how to assist Sevier County homeowners. From this experience, I have mostly learned that we are in unchartered waters, and will do better if we work together to solve the problems before us. There really are some alternatives for folks in trouble, and now it's time to help figure out what they are!

JANE TERRELL, REALTOR CDPE

I watched the best show last night--CNBC's "House of Cards"...it was a fascinating look at how we got into the current mess, complete with interviews of the folks who made the decisions that started it all (and they remain totally unrepentant, I might add!) The show goes through the origins of the loans, the development of lucrative bundling of the loans that produced a huge demand for them--and how young people who had literally worked as "pizza delivery" people a month earlier were making 20K a month selling these loans. They then were packaged up, rated AAA and sold to municipalities looking for safe investments--enter Norvik, Norway. This is well worth the couple of hours to watch--highly recommended!

CNBC HOUSE OF CARDS