Anna Matsunaga

Wow, count down for Tacoma School district....next Wednesday is when school starts. On one hand I can't believe it is almost over and we really did not get to do enough this summer, but at the same time I am ready!

When school starts my oldest will go back to school and he is more than ready. ( as evidenced by his fighting with his siblings, the rest of our team's kids, his extreem boredom and his extreem ethusiam around getting school supplies)

I also am excited as it will give me a more structured schedule and give me more time to do it during the day. Also we have a car pool worked out so I will no longer have the main responsibility for driving kids to school at all!

For the first year my children were in school, I was it for driving, not only was I pregnant and doing full time Real Estate I got to drive everyone to and from school. ( 8 miles each way) The next year I shared driving with my office manager, Kelly. Now this next year is my version of heaven, only driving as a back up for emergencies and when I want to....I know I can put the extra time to good use.

My oldest daughter will be doing school through Washington Virtual Academy. We will have to see how that goes. She is excited and also excited that we are going to make her the pre-school helper for our younger ones.

I'll let you all know how it goes with school starting and the transition with moving our office to a new location as well. In the mean time..... I can't wait!

Yesterday I met with a client who is shopping for 2 homes and showed him a couple. Much of what we are looking at right now of course is a short sale or is bank owned. We have already made an offer on one house that is a short sale and we are waiting for approval of course.....he has waited a week already and no answer. I of course had told him already that it may take a month or even more before we know anything or even have an update.....

Mind you this is a client who I have closed deals in under 72 hours with and who a long closing is usually 21 days for him. So he says....".Short sale, why do they call it a short sale? It does not seem short to me" This strikes me very funny, but also true. I am usually on the other side of the short sale representing the seller and it sure does not seem short (in time) there either.

Since you as a client or Realtor working the Tacoma market are likely looking @ more short sales as well, here is my feed back on them.

The good news is that most banks are putting on more staff to handle the load of short sales needing approval and in many cases what used to take 3 months is taking closer to 3 weeks now. This is good news for those that are waiting for approval. But still it does not seem short in time since only then does the buyer usually do their inspection, appraisal and have their loan underwritten.....Good news the bank very often if you make the offer early enough ( not just days before the foreclosure sale date) usually approves selling the house for much less than is owed on it. ( at least this is good news for the buyer and maybe the seller who can walk away)

So here is what I think these sales accurately should be called.....

Inexpensive, unsure, long sales.

This would be more accurate. Some times the bank approves and some times it does not. ( your odds are increased if there is some one who regularly works with the banks working on your side) Inexpensive since they are usually a good deal ( not always) and long sales for the time you wait for approval.....of course if we are looking at the time that they bank often gives the buyer to close once they have approved the sale, we are back to calling them short sales.

If you would like more information on purchasing or selling a home in our current Greater Tacoma area, please call us we are here to help. Team Momentum, Keller Williams Realty Tacoma, Anna Matsunaga-253 212 1252. You can also visit us on line @ www.teammomentumrealestate.com

A while ago I ran into some of my former childbirth students who I had also done labor support for. I had been sending them my marketing pieces for a while so they knew I was in Real Estate for the past several years, but their phone # had changed, so I had not gotten to actually talk with them for years.

They lamented that they felt it was a real loss to the community that I was no longer in Practice for childbirth and commented that they were surprised I would go into such a different line of work. I really had not thought about that at the time. I honestly felt like the progression of my career was pretty much a career that fit where I was at the time and where GOD wanted me to be at the time and that most of what I had done so far lead up to where I was in Real Estate.... But really this made me think more and I found myself telling them that being a Childbirth Educator and Doula was pretty much the same job. Let me explain.

*When I was a Childbirth Educator it was my job to share expertise and experience with my clients that they did not have. Since I worked with births and pregnancy for a living day in day out and this was often a totally new experience for them and or one they had not had for a while.

* When I was a Childbirth Educator I taught and shared my knowledge and then I encouraged clients to make their decisions after doing more research. I helped them learn HOW to research and what to question and gave them resources to find out and learn more.

*As a Childbirth Educator part of my job was to help my client navigate the many care providers and resources they were going to need now that they were becoming parents ( for the first or the 5th time etc)

* As a Childbirth Educator I was supposed to help my clients get educated, but many of them did make different decisions than I would have with the same information. I had to be ok with that and still support and help them.

*As a Childbirth Educator I had to some times confront a client who was making a decision that was clearly dangerous or did not fit with what they had told me their goals were.

*As a Childbirth Educator my main job was to help my clients know what to expect and to prepare them for making good decisions when the time came. Taking the mystery out of things did a lot for them to help them make good decisions and also to not be stressed.

* As a Childbirth Educator my job was often just to listen to my clients and be a sounding board for them and care about them.

* As a Childbirth Educator my job was to set a good example and walk the walk and really do the same things I was telling them they should do.

* As a Childbirth Educator my job was also to help promote good communication between the couple and to teach them about eachother and teach good communication skills.

** As a Doula ( Labor Support) my job was to advocate for my client under stressful situations and sometimes to negotiate even in very impossible situations.

**As a Doula my job was to help client have good information to make decisions when the unexpected happened.

** As a Doula my job was to understand what was normal and natural in a labor and keep the couple calm when something that was difficult, but normal happened.

**As a Doula my job was to support the family supporting eachother, not to replace it, just to be there to help facilitate it.

** As a Doula my job was to support with our judging.

** As a Doula it was my job to remind them of their goals and what they wanted when the going got tough.

** As a Doula it was my job to be sure that the couple were empowered in their decisions and in supporting eachother.

**As a Doula it was my job to keep a log of what happened while we were at the labor.

**As a Doula it was my job to be sure nothing was being put over on my client and that they were not being pressured to do things they did not want.

**As a Doula sometimes my job was really dirty work, cleaning up before or after a birth, making meals cleaning up the house after a birth, laundry and so on. In essence what ever was needed that I would be the best person to do it at the time even if it was not neccessarily part of the "job"

**As a Doula it was my job to help them integrate the experience afterwards and to give them resources to help and support them with their new life.

Those of you who are good Realtors do not likely need an explaination of how I feel these 2 jobs are the same job. But here is a really brief discription.

**As a Realtor I educate clients, I consult them on what they really want and help them get it, I let them know if it is unrealistic, I help them understand the process, I hook them up with the resources they need, I support them in their decisions even if I do not fully agree ( unless it is unethical or will really hurt them and then I step out)

** As a Realtor in the transaction I also negotiate for and advocate for clients under stressful and life changing circumstances. Like births each transaction is different and while you can prepare you will never know all the twists and turns. It is my job to help them with information when having to make a fast decision it also is my job to help them have good resources. And often I do things that are not really "part of the job" I simply am the best person to do it at the time. ...and when we are done it is time to help them integrate the experience and be there for them from now on.

Both birth and a Real Estate transaction take time, cannot be rushed, are life changing situations with much at stake, and in a place where you need some one knowledgable and caring to be there for you. It is also a place where you need some one with resources and who knows what is and is not normal and who can help you through the process if it goes differently than you thought ( an it will)

I will say that so far the good part of Real Estate is that I do not have to have my phone/pager on 24 hours a day 7 days a week 365 days a year. No matter how stressful the transaction, so far no one in a Real Estate transaction I've done has ever died nor have I been worried for their life. ( cannot say the same for working with births) and I have never in my Real Estate practice been threatened by a Doctor with an instument in the middle of a transaction. I have had calls after 2am in my Real Estate practice and I have stayed up at night worrying about a client. I have never had to work for 72 hours straight with no sleep in Real Estate and I have never had to leave my small baby to help some one with their transaction like I have had to with a Birthing practice. I have cried and laughed with clients. I have watched them not take my advice and be sorry. I have negotiated hard and still not been able to do for them what I hoped. I have watched what they learned change their lives forever for the good....

Overall it is mostly the same job, with the need for Real Estate knowledge and contracts and ( usually minus the pregnancy and babies) It does involve labor however. ( anyone who's done even one closing knows that!)

I'm curious how your previous jobs prepared you for and compare with what you do now.

If you want to know more about Real Estate in general, or need help with doing a Real Estate transaction ( buying or selling a home) Please call our Team @ 253 212 1252. If you want resources for labor, birth, nursing and so on.....well, I still have some of my old contacts for that too!--Anna Matsunaga, Team Momentum, Keller Williams Realty

So excited to share with my fellow Realtors and the community that my Mom's new book is in print as of now. Was just on Amazon and the Barnes and Noble Websites and there it is. I of course ordered a copy. ( She has not sent me one yet as she does not have her first copies)

I am excited to read it and when I saw the picture of the front cover I was brought back to being a little girl and looking over my Mom's shoulder to look at a very old book with beautiful embossed flowers and other pictures in it along with my great grand mother's hand writing. I know it was one of my mother's prized possessions and one of the few things she had asked my grand parents for.

The picture on the cover looks just like one of the embossed flowers ( or at least how I remember it) I am so excited for the book to get here since I have never heard most of the stories of my great grandmother's life, that were told to my mother and became the basis of this story. I do know that my mom did much research and traveled to meet people who had been there at the time some of the book takes place. I also have read one of the chapters since she consulted me in the writing of a chapter in which a birth took place ( I have been at many births, many of these at home and this birth took place at home so my mom wanted feed back, I suggested a couple of changes, but have not seen them yet)

What I will tell you is my mom is a great writer and she tells a compelling story. Her books have a definate style and I am sure you and I will enjoy reading this one. I can't wait til the shipment gets here.

I will write a review as soon as I get done reading it!

When I began real estate I must say it was only just a means to an end. I had been in a job that was pretty much killing me for about a year before I got my RE license. I sold advertising to Car Dealers in and around our Tacoma. The job was one with long long hours ( particularly Fridays as we met dead lines) I had a boss who let's just say will never be one of my favorite people and leave it at that. I was getting sicker and sicker and although the benefits ( medical) were a GOD send, I just could not stand being away from my children and working in such a negative environment.

So when I left that job to do RE, ( not even sure how I completed the clock hours since I was working about 70 hours a week and had 2 little kids at home) I was not really committed to RE, I was more committed to not having to leave my kids all day everyday to do something I hated that had no future. The final straw on the job had come when my boss instructed me to cover up something that should not have been and wanted me to charge a customer for something they had not gotten due to an error on the adminstrative side. It was a big and regular account and they wanted me to cover it up. I refused. From there I found myself treated more and more poorly. I was on the verge of a nervous breakdown, not the best place to be upon entering RE.

When I started I had other obsticals too. Since I had quit my job I now had no income and right about that time the friend I had been paying to care for my kids in my home got much much more ill than she had been and was unable to help even part time. So....for the first year and a half or more of my career I had NO child care at all. I worked with them along, I really had no other choices at all.

Then I had child care off and on for the next while. All the while I really just wanted to be a stay at home mom. I wanted to be with my kids and really I wanted a 3rd child. I found myself holding back in fact, afraid of being so busy that I would not be able to care for a new baby or have a healty pregnancy if I had too much on my plate. Then......I got pregnant with our 3rd child. I struggled over the pregnancy with preterm labor as I had everytime. Thankfully since I had been a Childbirth Educator and Doula before I went into advertising and RE, I knew what to do to take care of that, but mostly that is resting and of course eating well......Those of you who know me know which one of those 2 things come easier to me. For those of you who don't know me, I find resting and relaxing very difficult, in some ways almost punishment, and my life has never allowed for much rest at all. Thankfully I made it to 39.5 weeks before delivering my daughter at home on after driving about an hour and a half in labor after showing a home.

Her birth was wonderful and exciting and although she had some initial issues with nursing they were worked out with our Chiropractor and Craniosacral therapist with in the first 3 days or so. I was concerned however about working with 3 small children and really worried about post partum depression since I had had it before and then I did not have as much on my plate.

So.....when an old work associate let me know that one of my former Pre-conception and Early pregnancy students was in need of a job and newly on her own with no support I contacted her. This turned out to be one of the best decisions I ever made. I had very little idea of how I would pay her as I had just 2 things in closing and had been on bed rest and would need a bit of slow time initially with a new baby. However I had loaned my sister money to finish up college and had worked out a monthly payment arrangement that was to begin when my daughter was born. I decided to use that money and the money I had coming in from a real estate assignment I had sold to pay for the help in the house.

Kelly got started and was dependable from day one even with the difficulties she was going through. I liked her when I had met her before and now I liked her even more. She came at first maybe 2-3 days out of the week and helped me clean house and care for the older children. I took Joeleah with me in a sling while I worked and Kelly took care of my home and kids while I worked on the days she came in, her kids were along for the ride too.

I still was really wanting to just stay home even though I enjoyed Real Estate. I wanted more time home with my new baby and my kids just to be a mom and a wife. I still felt pulled and although I understood the team concept in Real Estate and if seemed the only way to go if you were going to stay in long term, I did not get it on a shall we say "cellular level"

That all changed in a flash. One day I had worked about a 12 hour day. ( not that unusual for any of us, but try doing that while nursing and wearing a 6 month old!) I came home and the kids and Kelly must have had a really good day. The house was very clean, the kids were happy and Kelly had a meal started for me. That evening I had a nice dinner with my family and got the kids to bed early and I got to relax that evening. It was the next morning it hit me. I could have a wonderful day with my family, have time to relax and do so even on a day I had worked 12 hours. It also dawned on me that I could do that all and also provide a living for another family as well. I could build a business, I could provide for others and I could give my family a place to grow and give them the chance to have a better life.

I have to say that was the day that our team was conceived. I wanted my business to grow, I wanted to build a team. I wanted to really have a thriving busines. I could see it for the first time. I could really see it.

It took a few more months before we could transition from having Kelly be a mom's helper to being my first assistant. When she got started things really began to gel and we both could see our future. We began to plan and build a future for us and for others too. We are excited to be able to provide a place where we could give ourselves and others the chance to have a business and a life. We are excited that we can help others have the chance to grow and to be able to put their faith and their families before their careers and still have a great career. We are excited to be able to give them the chance to do this and to grow with us.

It's so great to work with out being conflicted and to work with a purpose.