Bob Haywood, www.BobHaywood.com

Did you know that Christopher Columbus suffered from heart disease and his legs and belly grew swollen in his later years? Did you know he died dejected on May 1, 1506?

How about this one?

Al Capone, the murderous gangster's death only made page 7 of the newspaper when he died of a brain hemorrhage in 1947.

One more...Real Estate Tycoon Harry Black.

Harry Black was a real estate man in New York City from the late 1800's through 1930. He built the famous flat iron building in New York City in 1902, which brought him instant fame and controversy. Many thought the building would fall over in strong winds. It never did.

He would go on to build the New York Time building, thus creating the namesake for Times Square. He also built Macy's and other countless landmarks as well.

This guy was a savvy businessman. During the height of his glory, he merged his construction company with other real estate companies to make the United States Realty Company. This real estate group became the dominant developer in New York and other eastern cities during that time period. And they did very well. At one point, he was worth an estimated 15 million dollars. That would probably be billions today!

But then the stock market crashed and everything came to a screeching halt. Mr. Black was found with a bullet wound in his head and a pistol in his hand 9 months later. Everyone thought he had been killed by the market crash. After all, so many lost so much in that tragic event. Whether he knew it or not, due to his business skills and liquidity, his real estate company had survived the stock market crash in good shape.

These stories and more are found in this great read called "They Went That-A-Way" by Malcolm Forbes. I love the subtitle of the book, "How the famous, the infamous, and the great died." The book was originally published in 1988 and can be purchased at Amazon.com.

I don't normally recommend books to read, but this is one that is perfect if you're a business person. There are so many stories of people who hit it big and then burned out or died tragically. It will teach you mistakes not to make while giving you a good laugh or making you shake your head. In short, it's a great business primer and an easy and fun book to read.

Some of the other people included are: Buddy Holly, Diamond Jim Brady, Babe Ruth, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams. You'll love reading about the people of history and learning from their lives.

So, if you've been feeling squashed by the recession, grab this book. If you've survived the recession just fine, it's a great read for how people have succeeded and failed in all kinds of businesses and endeavors throughout the years.

Are you sick and tired of 1-800 companies or 1-877 companies calling you all the time even though your cell phone is on the Do Not Call Registry? It doesn't seem like spammers care that you go to all that effort to NOT hear from them does it?

Fear not! A solution has been invented if you own and use a Blackberry cell phone!

It's called Call Blocker Pro and are you ready for this? It costs a whopping $2.99.

I found this program the other day when I kept getting calls from some 1-877 outfit that everyone was complaining about on the internet. I thought, "There's got to be a way to outsmart these people." So I went searching at the Blackberry App World and found this little program.

Here's a screenshot from the Blackberry App Store. The program can be downloaded from the internet or through your Blackberry. It is supposed to work with all versions of the Blackberry. I run mine on a Blackberry Curve 8900.

It's easy to install and it works great! The secret to effectively blocking a number is to be sure you put both 1-800 and 800 without the "1". Do the same with 877 numbers or any area code!

Now, whenever a pesky telemarketer calls, I jot down the number, enter into my call blocker program and literally never hear from them again.

Put in a number accidentally? You can take numbers right back out. No problem.

I'm not sure if there is an application like this for the Iphone, but surely there is!

One last thing...get rid of your home land line, use only a cell phone and you've got total control of when the phone is on, off and who can and cannot call!

Now...why didn't my cell phone service provider think of this????

Owasso, Oklahoma 2009 Housing Market Update

It's been an interesting year in the world of real estate here in the heartland, known as Owasso, Oklahoma. You can see from the chart below that we've had fairly consistent sales throughout this year.

You can see from the blue line that our home sales peaked in June at 110 houses sold that month. Typically speaking, this is a bit early for a peak as we usually see this happen in July. After coming down to 61 sales in August, we saw sales run back up to 97 in September. This may have been due to late vacations and the beginning of school being earlier this year. We finished October with 62 total house sales in the Owasso housing market this year.

The purple line shows the average amount of time that Owasso homes are sitting on the market before selling. In general, the time went down in days from 72 in February to a low of 46 in July. The trend began to extend longer beginning in August, which is our typical pattern. September and October averaged about 60 days on the market for homes in Owasso, Oklahoma.

Now let's take a look at the average selling price for homes in the Owasso, Oklahoma area.

You can see from the chart that our housing prices have held fairly steady. Our housing values topped out at an average of $205,000 in June, but then fell to a low of around $170,000 in August. September and October saw the low value begin to climb back to $175,000 and $184,000 respectively.

Now, let's take a look at the average price range of homes in Owasso, Oklahoma that are selling and closing.

This chart shows you that we are selling Owasso houses priced in the $101,000 to $200,000 price range in higher quantities than houses priced higher or lower. This is good news and bad news for home sellers in that price range. It's good news because that's where the bulk of our Owasso, Oklahoma buyers seem to be buying. It's bad news because if you are selling a house in that price point, you have stiff competition!

It will be interesting to see how the Owasso, Oklahoma housing market finishes the year out. We'll keep an eye on the market and report back at the end of November and December.

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Homes for sale in Owasso and Greater Tulsa, Oklahoma

If you have any questions or would like a custom Market Report for Owasso or a specific area of the Greater Tulsa area, feel free to contact Bob Haywood of McGraw Realtors

This Owasso, Oklahoma Market Report is brought to you by Bob Haywood of McGraw Realtors. The report is for residential single family homes only and may not include all sales activity in the area. Figures for sold prices used are NET sold price, price after seller concessions or down payment assistance, if they were offered. This report or any part of it may not be used without permission from Bob Haywood.

*Disclaimer: Data based on information from MarketLinx, Inc. MarketLinx Inc. does not guarantee nor is any way responsible for its accuracy. Content maintained by MarketLinx Inc. may not reflect all real estate activity in the market. Information is deemed reliable but not guaranteed. Reported sales were not necessarily listed or sold by Bob Haywood and are intended only to show trends in the area. Disclaimer: The Bob Haywood Estate Blog does not guarantee nor is in any way responsible for the accuracy of the information provided herein, and provides said information without warranties of any kind, either expressed or implied.

Copyright 2009.© Bob Haywood. All Rights Reserved. Nov 16th 2009. "Owasso, Oklahoma 2009 Housing Market Update"

Ever have an attitude? This is Cherry Blossom, also known as "Boo Boo." She has an attitude towards most things in life. We like to call it a "Puppytude." In this case, she didn't want to sit on the table, but obliged us long enough to snap the picture. She's a lap dog, under the covers heating pad and the biggest little watch dog in the house!

For market reports of the greater Tulsa and/or Owasso area, contact Bob Haywood, "The Name You Think When You Think Real Estate."

www.BobHaywood.com
918-272-7272

Sorry for the words, but this picture was shot with my Blackberry Curve 8900 and has not been touched up or altered in anyway. It was just one of those magical evenings in Owasso when the sunset was simply incredible. If you look closely, you can see the horses in the pasture across the street.

Owasso Oklahoma is located 8 miles North of Tulsa, Oklahoma. It is one of the fastest growing cities in Oklahoma.

For complete market reports or to buy or sell property in the greater Tulsa or Owasso Oklahoma area, be sure to contact Bob Haywood, "Your Real Estate Results Expert!" 918-272-7272. www.BobHaywood.com. Photo and content property of Bob Haywood. You must have written permission from Bob Haywood to reprint, publish or use the picture.