Roy Brumley

Dear President Obama,

I wanted to congratulate you on your preceding victory in the presidential election and I wanted to tell you how lucky you are to have a house to move to, you know that big white one. For if you needed to buy one and you happened to find the perfect foreclosed, short sale or REO property that you just loved...odds are you would still be living out of your car wondering how you could have NOT gotten it with making a full price offer.

Just a thought? How about we send in an analyzer to look into why some of these are still on the market, WE THE PEOPLE want to buy them we just can't. They seem to want them to sit and rot to the ground but hey why should they worry about selling them when all they have to do is ask for some more money to bail them out!

Think about this President Obama, While people are trying to bring this economy back in the form of a home purchase the Banks and lenders are doing what ever it seems they can to make the process as difficult as possible and to actually break deals. Maybe they could stay in their office long enough to get things done instead of being out spending their BONUS money, again, just a thought.

Last but not least, I would like to say, how dare you grill that nice silver haired gentleman from AIG about how he spent his portion of the bail-out money. It makes perfect since to me to pay millions in RETENTION Bonuses to people who are no longer with the company(wasn't this just this past year) OH PLEASE! That was sarcasm sir. Something has got to give, I am on the verge of avoiding these types of properties like the plaque due to all of the issues involved with them.

Sincerely,

Roy Brumley

Well the economy is in the tank and the Real Estate market is one of the leading causes (so they say, I disagree) so I had this brilliant idea! Lets make foreclosed and REO properties easy to sell, I mean the banks need the money don't they or or did the bailout money put them in a position that they don't have to sell the property.

How many of you have had this problem before - You take a perfectly qualified buyer to an REO property and they LOVE it, so you make an offer - a good offer. A day later the listing agent calls and says "we have a multiple offer situation, I'm gonna need the best offer you can get me". You then make an even better offer than the really good offer that you had already made because quite frankly it is a great deal, That much house for the money. Tick tock tick tock, another day passes then the call comes in that yours was not the best offer even though it may have been $10,000 over the asking price (unbelievable).

You then move on to the next deal putting this one as far out of your mind as possible. Less than a month later you find your buyer a home that they love and you have done your job. Several months pass and you drive past that REO property that you made the incredible offer on and what to your wondering eye should appear but a for sale sign shinning bright and clear. You rush home to check the MLS and it is for sale again and guess what....The price has been reduced, What the @#$!

So back to my original point, these properties should be easier to sell, less red tape, better respect for the buyers and the agents, better service and last but not least, work with people to get the deals done. Well thats my two cents, thanks for listening.

Roy

This adventure called real estate can be so overwelming at times that it is just like being in a giant hole with someone throwing dirt on you one shovel at a time but when it does get like that we all have a choice to make.

What would you do if this were really happening? Many people whould just scream out with every shovel of dirt that hit them....until they were silenced.

BUT! there is another option, when that dirt lands on you, shake it off...and then step up! after so many times of just shaking it off and stepping up eventually the hole will fill up and you will just be able to step right out of it.

This is story that my grandfather told me when I was a child only in his story there were two mules and one just wheyyyyyyed until he was dead and the other did exactly as I said, he shook it off and stepped up till he was free again.

During these tough times we all need to remember to do this one simple thing "Shake it off and step up"

My grandfather was a very wise man for someone that worked with his hands his whole life and another thing that he told me that I have remembered my entire life was this: "If time or money can fix your problems, then you really don't have any problems" If you really think about this saying it is pure truth to the core.

Time and money will fix Real Estate!

The following is a story that I heard today and I thought it to be really inspiring so I thought I would post it, you may have heard it before but if not I hope you enjoy it.

This is a story about Wally the cab driver

One day a gentleman was waiting in line for a ride at the airport. When a car pulled up, the first thing he noticed was that the taxi was polished to a bright shine. Smartly dressed in a white shirt, black tie, and freshly pressed black slacks, the cab driver jumped out and rounded the car to open the back passenger door for Harvey. He handed Harvey a laminated card and said:

"I'm Wally, your driver. While I'm loading your bags in the trunk I'd like you to read my mission statement."

Taken aback, he read the card. It said:

Wally's Mission Statement :

To get my customers to their destination in the quickest,

Safest and cheapest way possible in a friendly environment .

This blew the man away. Especially when he noticed that the inside of the cab matched the outside. Spotlessly clean!

As he slid behind the wheel, Wally said, "Would you like a cup of coffee? I have a thermos of regular and one of decaf."

The gentleman said jokingly, "No, I'd prefer a soft drink."

Wally smiled and said, "No problem. I have a cooler up front with regular and Diet Coke, water and orange juice."

Almost stuttering, the man said, "I'll take a Diet Coke."

Handing him his drink, Wally said, "If you'd like something to read, I have The Wall Street Journal , Time, Sports Illustrated and USA Today."

As they were pulling away, Wally handed the man another laminated card. "These are the stations I get and the music they play, if you'd like to listen to the radio."

And as if that weren't enough, Wally told him that he had the air conditioning on and asked if the temperature was comfortable for him. Then he advised him of the best route to his destination for that time of day. He also let him know that he'd be happy to chat and tell him about some of the sights or, if Harvey preferred, to leave him with his own thoughts.

"Tell me, Wally," amazed he asked the driver, "have you always served customers like this?"

Wally smiled into the rearview mirror. "No, not always. In fact, it's only been in the last two years. My first five years driving, I spent most of my time complaining like all the rest of the cabbies do. Then I heard the personal growth guru, Wayne Dyer, on the radio one day. He had just written a book called You'll See It When You Believe It. Dyer said that if you get up in the morning expecting to have a bad day, you'll rarely disappoint yourself. He said, 'Stop complaining! Differentiate yourself from your competition. Don't be a duck. Be an eagle. Ducks quack and complain. Eagles soar above the crowd. The eagle will fly to some high spot and wait for the winds to come. When the storm hits, it sets its wings so that the wind will pick it up and lift it above the storm. While the storm rages below, the eagle is soaring above it. The eagle does not escape the storm. It simply uses the storm to lift it higher. It rises on the winds that bring the storm. '"

"That hit me right between the eyes," said Wally. "Dyer was really talking about me. I was always quacking and complaining, so I decided to change my attitude and become an eagle. I looked around at the other cabs and their drivers. The cabs were dirty, the drivers were unfriendly, and the customers were unhappy. So I decided to make some changes. I put in a few at a time. When my customers responded well, I did more."

"I take it that has paid off for you," the man said.

"It sure has," Wally replied. "My first year as an eagle, I doubled my income from the previous year. This year I'll probably quadruple it. You were lucky to get me today. I don't sit at cabstands anymore. My customers call me for appointments on my cell phone or leave a message on my answering machine. If I can't pick them up myself, I get a reliable cabbie friend to do it and I take a piece of the action."

Wally was phenomenal. He was running a limo service out of a Yellow Cab. I've probably told that story to more than fifty cab drivers over the years, and only two took the idea and ran with it. Whenever I go to their cities, I give them a call. The rest of the drivers quacked like ducks and told me all the reasons they couldn't do any of what I was suggesting. Great service is a matter of choice. You could either quack like a Duck or soar like a Eagle. According to me, it doesn't have to be just service. This story can be related to anything. It can be the way you act for certain situations like work environment, about life, our future and so forth. Its up to us to be DUCK or EAGLE on each one of these occasions.

Who would you prefer to be?

What a place this Active Rain is, It is such a wealth of information that you can find just about anything that you may need to know. The other day I was needing to revamp my FiSBO folder so I just did a search for FiSBO and the ideas that it gave me were just incredible. All of this is especially helpful when you have a Broker that just refuses to be helpful! (LOL actually I have an incredible broker, and I know she reads these blogs so I thought I would tease her....Gotcha Cindy) Who do you think told me about active rain in the first place. Now that I think about it what better two resources could you have than an incredible broker and access to Active Rain. With those two things by themselves you should be able to be successful in this little game called real estate.