KATHY OPATKA Ocean City, MD Re/Max Premier Properties

What? You don't want to show property on a Saturday ... the Prime Time showing day? Are you... (fill in the blank with your favorite word for "unbalanced"!)?

Those were my exact thoughts last Saturday as I attempted to return home from an early breakfast meeting. Using every short cut I knew, it took me one and a half hours to drive a normal 25 minute ride! And I was eternally grateful that I didn't need to enter the island, meet Buyer's ,find parking spaces, apologize to cleaning crews and maneuver around our wonderful vacationers!

Saturday is Turn-Around Day in Ocean City, Maryland! This is the day that the majority of the vacationers end their week's vacation(sadly!) and another group begins their week's fun (happily!). And on any given summer week, we have approximately 300,000 people exiting the island and approximately 300,000 people entering our fabulous town! (Last week was also the White Marlin Tournament. I think we snuck in some extra visitors!) Bumper-to-bumper!

So please be patient with me when I say " what weekday are you available?"

Kathy Opatka

For this Saturday night's entertainment ,I'm reading our local newspaper which is published every Friday, rain or shine!(I have no life!) But we do have fabulous nightlife here in Ocean City. The establishment that I'm reading about is Seacret's ,a fun nightclub, like no other. Entering Seacret's is like stepping off the plane in Jamaica. Shabby,er,rustic,er, shack-like decor adds to the "feel"... ambience of Seacret's, not to mention the sand that squishes between the toes! Great bands, romantic sunsets, floating rafts, scrumpious drinks and delicious foods make Seacret's THE PLACE to go in Ocean City! But the article I'm reading announces that Seacret's has been nominated for "Restaurateur of the Year" for the State of Maryland! This is quite an accomplishment, since "fun" pops to mind before "food" when thinking about Seacret's! But, upon reflection, every meal I've ever had there has been great! So.... good luck, Seacret's,... I'm voting for your well-deserved recognition!

Several years ago, I found myself in a situation where I needed to purchase a home. I had recently moved from a city where I had lived and worked for the past 20 years. After residing with a friend for the first few months of this relocation, I quickly found a rental in a great community.

The rental was a beautiful home, never lived in, and on the water with a boat dock. But,best of all, it was in a safe,self-contained community where my 8 year old could go outside and PLAY!

In the interim of this renting, I rented out my previous home (3 hours away!) and bought an oceanside condo as an investment. ( It was an auction where my hand was suddenly waving at the auctioneer's bid! Who knows what I was thinking?) So at that point, I had a farm in Pennsylvania, a rental property near Annapolis, and a condo in Ocean City. And I'm RENTING a home!?! There was something absolutely up-side-down about that picture!

The decision was made- I had to find a house to buy!

Since my primary objective for this home was a safe place for my son to play, I rode around our neighborhood and copied ALL the addresses of the homes that appeared to be vacation residences. Not paying much attention to what each home looked like, I called each owner and asked they were interested in selling their property.

After days of this endeavor, I actually found a woman who said the magic word"yes"! We negotiated back and forth (she said "no" three times before my convincing proposals were accepted!) before we struck a deal.

This deal had perfect financing, a great interest rate, and ideal terms. But (don't you just hate THAT word?) this house was nowhere near to my "dream" house. As a matter of fact, it was, well... not quite ugly,but fairly close to that description.

I hated it!.... And I bought it!

I had my safe neighborhood, a great financing package and a sturdy not pretty!) cottage on the water.

And I've learned to love it!

Moral: We don't always need to sell clients their "dream" house; sell them a property that meets their NEEDS!