Lia Gerke

I have been a certified home stager for a little over a year now and wow is it ever making a difference in this market.

On Thursday the 1st we closed on a home that had been listed 28 days and under contract for nearly full price. In this type of real estate world that is no less than a miracle. I am sure the tax credit had a few things to do with the success, but we always received incredible feedback on how well the home showed. That tells me that the staging is paying off in a big way. Not only was my seller thrilled, but the buyers were ecstatic that the home was move in ready and all that was on their To Do list was "unpack." Hooray for staged homes!!

I was having a conversation with a potential client today who just fired their last Realtor because he "Wasn't aggressive enough." I then asked them, what more they were looking for in a Realtor and they replied with "You know, just more aggressive."

So my question to all of you is, what exatly is an Aggressive Realtor?

I was able to take a 6 day vacation to Mexico this past week. What a wonderful time vacation we had, but I am always amazed at how taken I am when flying into Salt Lake City. I am so familar with Utah and Salt Lake county now that I can tell what town I am flying over. I have flown into many cities, including some in Europe and I can honestly say that Utah still takes my breath away each and every time I fly home. The Wasatch front is unlike any other place I have seen. The mountains are so majestic anytime of day or night. The Salt Lake and Utah valleys just glow day or night and Down Town SLC is one of the most incredible to see. I travel at least twice a year and I am always so glad to come home to this amazing beauty we call Utah.

I just read the most intresting article at http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2010-02-15-cities_N.htm

The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index did a study interviewing more than 350,000 Americans on their outlook of jobs, finances, physical health, emotional state of mind and communities and, although there are more than 160 cities listed, the common denominator is cities in the West. The top 10 cities with the happiest people include four in California, two in Utah and one each in Colorado and Hawaii. What could be causing the West to be more of place of optimism than any other region in America? Could it be that the West has always held doors of possible opportunity since it was discovered? A place of new frontier and opportunities waiting around every corner. Or it could the be the beautiful landscape we have: mountains, lakes, deserts, oceans. I definitely feel as though I live in a place full of happy people, and I am proud to be a contributing member of happy attitude and outlook. So if you are feeling blue, come out west, we may have just the thing for you!

I am quickly finding out how important it is to know who is representing your are in the State Senate and, fortunately, I think we have good representation in Saratoga Springs and Eagle Mountain. I had the opportunity to meet the Senator of District 13, Mark Madsen (R) yesterday at a Realtor conference with the Legislators. We covered mounds of information that pertains to the real estate industry and to Utah as far as anticipated growth, estimated jobs coming to Utah and new bills that are underway to improve the way things are done with regards to Property taxes, short sales etc. I am so pleased I was able to attend and get a few moments to chat with Mark Madsen about what he is planning to do to bring some of this good stuff to Northern Utah county. From what I was able to gather Mark is focused on improving transportation out West (WHOO HOO!), and improving education. I feel as though many Realtors and regular citizens take a back seat as to what is being done to move their district, state and national government forward and it is so important to become more involved with what is happening and be up to speed on what changes may be coming you way. Instead of just staying informed once the laws are passed, we as Realtors, should be involved as much as possible with the bills before committee and what we can do to make it a better marketplace for our clients. Take the time to get to know who is representing you and what you can do to get more involved, and you may just be the ones creating the changes instead of adapting to them.