Karen Rodriguez*

I received this picture last evening from a wonderful friend of mine! She was the sister of friends and clients. I did not realize how blessed my family and I would be. After spending 3 days in a car with people you get to know them very quickly. You learn about their lives, their family, their children, where they came from where they are going. Probably one of the best things about this job. When I find them a home that they have fallen in love with I get to sit back and smile. And once in awhile I get to call those clients friends and share the home and the happiness they have found there if only for an occasional BBQ with the families, camping trips, a glass of wine or two, a lot of laughter and a few tears.

Real Estate brings us in contact with all types of people and we get to become friends with a few of them! The variety, the lessons learned, the tears that are shed, and the laughter that is shared all comes back in a simple picture. So when you get frustrated that that deal is not coming together, or those clients are driving you nuts, or the lender is not performing the way or in the time that they said they would....sit back take a breath and pull out a photo or two of your successes now friends and smile.

Remember they all don't go our way and not every deal is perfect..but once in awhile we get to take strangers into our cars, show them an area that we hopefully love, find them a home that they will love..and when they leave we might just have been blessed with a new Friend! I think that is sometimes the most lasting payday of all!!

I was reminded of that today!!

Karen Rodriguez CDPE, SRS, CNE Keller Williams CDA

There are some wonderful homes on land I currently have listed in Coeur d'alene Idaho. Wonderful opportunities for the right buyer looking in this area. Located between the beautiful Sandpoint and Coeur d'alene Idaho. Where the air is crisp this time of year and the fall colors are at their peak. Take a look at this and other Coeur d'alene Idaho. Know someone that might be interested...have them contact me for a private showing!

This is just one example.

http://activerain.com/listings/ID/Kootenai%20County/Spirit%20Lake/83869/2721-w-highway-54

Visit www.KarenNorthIdaho.com for more information on this listing as well as many others.

Karen Rodriguez CDPE, SRS, CNE Keller Williams CDA

We are having an interesting discussion currently in North Idaho that has a direct impact on local real estate and how we go about selling and listing land in a specific area. Just south of Coeur d'Alene is where the Coeur d'Alene tribe and reservation are located. This is encompassess approximately 345,000 acres of some of the most beautiful and fertile land in the area. Producing wheat, barley, peas and Kentucky Blue Grass as well a forest land full of wildlife.

According to he Coeur d'Alene tribe as well as a number of other tribes in our area, the tribes maintain jurisdictional and sovereign authority over their lands, upheld in decisions by the Idaho Supreme Court and the United States Supreme Court. Tribes have the power to establish their own form of government, not necessarily patterned after the federal government. Tribal governments, because they are constitutionally sovereign, are not subject to the requirements of separation of powers or even the establishment of religion, although these principles are almost universal in tribal constitutions. The Indian Reorganization Act points out that tribal Sovereignty is inherent and therefore even farther reaching that the Act itself.

The question is this...according to the CDA Press, approximately 25% of the reservation is currently owned by the tribe. The balance is state, federal and privately owned land located on the reservation. Do tribal members retain the right to hunt on all reservation land even if it is privately owned by non tribal land owners?

The tribe is taking the stance that it is their sovereign right to live, hunt, and govern the reservation land, privately owned or tribal owned. Private non tribal land owners are taking the stance that the land they have bought and paid for on the reservation is private and that tribal members do not have the right to come on to their property without permission to hunt. There have been a number of complaints over the last couple of years of tribal members crossing on to private land to hunt without permission from the land owner.

No matter your stance as and individual in this discussion..As real estate agents working with customers looking to sell and/or buy properties on the reservation, what is our responsiblility in disclosing this to potential buyers and how does this truly apply to private land owners that are not tribal members? A modern day clash of old and I am no expert in the politics of this discussion. However, this issue is currently being debated by the Benewah county prosecutor, seeking help from the U S government to help sort out this controversy. I for one have always recommended to private buyers when looking on reservation land that they complete their own due dillegence having a full understanding of the benefits as well as potential issues.

In the meantime the debate continues!

Karen Rodriguez CDPE, SRS, CNE Keller Williams Coeur d'Alene Idaho

Goal...the result or achievement toward which effort is directed;aim; end.

Dream...most desirable; ideal: to imagine as if in a dream, to pass or spend (time) in dreaming, a succession of images, thoughts, or emotions passing through the mind during sleep..and I could go on.

We often talk about our dreams. What we want to do someday, someplace we want to visit. We "visualize" ourselves doing these things, driving "that" car, living in "that" home, living "the life"! But..and I am guilty of this...that is as far as it goes. It is a dream and nothing more because I make nothing more out of it, taking no responsibility when it does not happen.

I think the real difference between having a dream and having a goal is what I do with it. This simple concept relates to business and life. Goals require effort and planning to complete and they may even have once been dreams. Can my dreams become goals? By definition a goal requires effort, work and direction while the definitions of dreams are usually related to sleep and the passing of time.

I want to chase those dreams and make those dreams into goals!! I talk to others everyday about what it is going to take to make their "dream home" come true and I forget that I need to work for mine. Now this is what I am going to do! I have been laying the ground work for the chase. NOW..The first step has been taken. I am being held accountable!! Scary..a bit.. but I have to answer to someone else for the steps I am taking and the goals I am setting to make my dreams reality.

Accountability is Good!! I think..stay tune this could be an interesting ride!

Karen Rodriguez CNE, CDPE, SRS Keller Williams Realty, Selling North Idaho Real Estate!

It is once again that time of year when the minds of many men and women living in North Idaho look to the hills and listen for the bugle of the Rocky Mountain Bull Elk. The trees have started to turn, there is a certain crispness in the air and something else..something subtle and undetected to most. Time is taken off work, hunting gear is carefully washed and bagged so as not to give off any human scent, bows and rifles are sited in, the excitement builds. Tents are packed, food is gathered, ice chests are filled, and trucks are loaded. All with one focus in mind.. to catch if only a shadow of an elk moving quietly thru the timber.

This is also when many of our neighbors from other states set their sights on Idaho. Some for the first time. For many others this is one of many trips. For most they all find some peace in the freedom and wildness that North Idaho still has to offer. This is also the time that many decide to move their families here to find a simpler more laid back way of life. The search for a new home or piece of land begins with the bugle of the bull elk in fall!

Once here, buyers find that there is so much more to this area. In the Coeur 'D Alene, our lakes and rivers offer many summer time diversions with fishing, boating and just floating down the Coeur 'd Alene river. For those with a little more of a need for speed there is four wheeling, dirt biking, mountain biking and so much more. Winter brings with it snow and the ability to ski and snowmobile. This is definitely a four season area with something for everyone. And for many it begins with the Fall colors and the bugle of the Bull Elk.

My family and I are also subject to the mystery of fall. So Best Wishes and Good Hunting!