Valerie Baker - Spokane Realtor®

Spokane in March is hardly inspirational. Oh, sure, I do get excited when I see the first sprouts pop out of the ground, but I am not quite so naive that I take that as a sure sign that Spring will follow close behind. Sometimes it happens . . . more often it doesn’t!

So when I saw a recent challenge from Paula McDonald entitled “What is Springing Up in Your Area?” I must admit I grumbled a little. I just knew other AR members would have posts with great pictures of blossoming trees and a population in flip-flops, while mine would be showing the first little tips of some brave but foolish perennials that I would have to dig out of the snow before I could even photograph them. They were there last week . . .I swear!

While driving down Bernard today I saw a sign.

Plant sale?! In March? Did the Friends of Manito get a little carried away with last week’s balmy weather? Now I must say I am rather drawn in by crazy behavior . . .if nothing else the absurd is good fodder for a blog post, so I decided to go find out more.

A flyer on the door of the Gaiser Conservatory in Manito Park told me what I needed to know . . .it is a TROPICAL PLANT SALE which is happening on March 3 in the Manito Meeting Room. I have long ago given up torturing house plants, so it is probably not an event I will attend, but since I was already at the door of the conservatory there is no way I wasn’t going inside!

Opening just two glass doors transports me from a dreary Spokane day to a tropical forest filled with exotic flowers . . . moist warmth . . .sweet floral smells . . .the soft babbling of a brook . . . PURE BLISS!

Of course, I had to take lots of pictures . . .some to show you how great Spokane is even if our Spring is not yet springing! The rest are to hold me over till Spokane’s glorious outdoor gardens boast their finery!

Looking for a place to call home with four true seasons and affordable housing? Spokane may just be the perfect place for you!

Contact me today for more information on homes for sale in our wonderful city!

Valerie Baker

Realtor®

Exit Real Estate Professionals

(509) 496-6938

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February is a great month for bargains! Who doesn’t love to find the perfect piece of clothing on a clearance rack at their favorite store? How about shoes marked down 65 to 85% with another 15% off if I buy them now? Count me in!

But sometimes, the clearance items just don’t work. The shoes pinch my toes! OUCH! Or they are too big! Flop, flop, flop. And if they ARE just the right size, the heels are way too high or they are . . . .well . . . downright hideous!

Sometimes those bargain shoes just don’t fit! They don’t fit my style . . . my feet . . . my needs!

These days in real estate we get buyers who are looking for a super bargain, because they have heard all about the huge clearance sale of foreclosed and short-sale homes.

We all LOVE it when things go as planned!

The buyer doesn’t elope with another agent.

The inspector doesn’t discover rabid bats living in the attic.

The seller doesn’t quibble a bit when the buyer wants to include Great Aunt Matilda’s portrait in the deal.

The appraisal comes in a whole five dollars over the offer.

The mortgage is rolling smoothly along until . . . bumpity, bump, bumpity, CRASH!

What do you mean my pre-approved buyer can no longer get the loan?!

With all the new rules and regulations in the mortgage industry, it is sometimes not easy to keep a deal together till closing. It is especially difficult when the buyer is on the edge . . . a little short on the down payment, a little shaky on the credit score, a little too close to a past bankruptcy, a little too tight on the debt/income ratio. Sometimes even the tiniest change in the buyer's life or the lending rules can wreak havoc! When the deal is a week away from closing and the wheels fall off the wagon, what do you do?

Go to Plan B, of course!

If you want to buy a house in the Spokane area, I know a mortgage lender who is the QUEEN of PLAN B!

Robyn Garlich-Baird is our in-house, home loan officer and this lady is one tough cookie when it comes to getting the deal to the closing table. She perseveres through the most difficult transactions. In a recent sale, my pre-approved buyer was suddenly too high a risk for a certain bank just one week before closing! She hunted down a whole new loan to make it work. Happy ending for all, except maybe the three trees she killed with that stack of paperwork! :)

A few weeks ago, I went into a local gift shop and saw this mug . . . had to buy it for Robyn as she instantly came to mind. As I was opening my front door, the bag with the mug in it fell to the ground and the handle shattered. Darn! I threw it in the trash! A few minutes later I went back and dug it out . . .after all, isn't Plan B really a test of character? So, I filed the sharp spot where the handle had broken off and gave it to Robyn anyway . . . filled with a few little bottles of "give me strength" juice . . . just in case she ever needs to go to Plan C!

My best friend called me this week. “Val, she said, I have to tell you about my new part-time job! You’ll never guess what it is!” Now let me tell you a little story about Mary. In high school a small group of us got together every weekend and baked cookies. We would take them to school and peddle them in what we called “The Underground Bakery.” Thinking back, we weren’t really too “underground” because we actually sold some to teachers, but they weren’t ratting us out because those cookies were pretty darn good! But, Mary was a talker . . . maybe one could even call her a chatterbox . . .and virtually every week she forgot at least one batch of cookies while busy yakking and burnt them to a crisp! We both laughed when she told me her new job is in a bakery! Luckily, and even she will admit this is for the good of the bakery’s bottom line, she ONLY has to mix up the muffins . . .no baking for Mary.

Yes, I told my friend, that is probably the last job I would have guessed, but then I paused a minute and said, “But who would EVER have thought I would become a Realtor?” You see, I was quite the opposite of Mary. I spent the first eighteen years of my life speaking to few outside of family and a couple of close friends. Every report card, no matter how good, had a disclaimer at the bottom “needs to speak up more in class.” The quote under my junior high picture said something like, “Speak louder please!” I was beyond shy. I was painfully shy.

It wasn’t that I didn’t have anything to say. As a child I was an avid reader and quite the little philosopher. My mind was bursting with ideas and I constructed complex imaginary worlds in my head. But, I didn’t trust anyone enough to share them. Even writing was a challenge because teachers required us to read our work out loud. Because I knew I would have to do so, I censored my own writing to make sure it conformed to what was expected.

After high school I went to college and encountered someone who changed my life . Anyone who has gone to college may be horrified when I say that an assistant professor in English 101 was my savior. As any undergrad knows, 101 classes are rarely inspiring experiences! This professor assigned rather philosophical, thought-provoking subjects for our essays. They were topics that stretched us to think outside the box. He would ask for volunteers to read their work. No way! He never forced me. Finally, about the third week of classes, he said he was going to read an excellent piece by an anonymous contributor and he read my essay out loud. No one laughed. The next week he publicly asked my permission to read another. The world didn’t crash in around me. It progressed from there. Before the end of the quarter, I was empowered to share on my own.

In that English class I learned to trust not only my peers, but also my own ideas. I discovered my commonality with those around me. I married a man whose job took us all over the country and learned to make friends easily and converse with random strangers. I discovered that no matter how different people were from me, we always had something in common.

Looking back at my childhood, I wouldn’t trade the child I was for one more out-going or personable. I might have missed out on so much that has nothing to do with speaking. At an early age I connected with nature and learned to read her subtle signs . . . dark clouds that forewarned of the coming storm or the patches of lawn that drew in the honeybees ready to sting my little feet. And I watched people. I learned to read body language and determine the intent of those I encountered . . . to let down that guard could be disastrous for a child who never wanted to be the center of attention. But one young professor taught me that a little crack in my armor could lead to good things as well. He showed me that trust could mean the difference between existing in my own world or being part of something bigger . . . I took it from there.

So, here I am today, a Realtor. Talking up a storm to strangers. Asking buyers to share intimate details about their lives in order to help them find the perfect home. Listening to sellers with heartbreaking stories of life gone wrong or grandiose dreams of where the future will take them.

Some of these clients are full of trust and ego and have no problem sharing whatever I need to know to help them and then some. Others are more cautious and require encouragement. I don’t think they question my qualifications. It is their own ability to make the right choices that is frightening. To them, buying or selling a home is like taking non-pilots to a lot full of used airplanes and telling them they must choose the one that will fly them across the ocean. They want to take the journey but fear making a decision that might not result in a good outcome. So, they seek someone to educate them.

My job is to teach people about the real estate process and do so at their speed so they are comfortable every step along the way. I give them the facts. I let them know what their options are. I introduce them to experts who educate them even more. We spend as much time as they need to reach a point where they are knowledgeable and confident enough to make the decisions that will have a lifelong impact. . . they have learned to trust themselves!

This post is a submission to the ActiveRain / Adobe EchoSign Trust Contest. I could possibly win a prize. You can find out about the contest by clicking here

If you need someone to help you understand your options for buying or selling a home in the Spokane area, contact me! I would love to help you learn the ins and outs of the real estate process!

Valerie Baker

509-496-6938

Exit Real Estate Professionals

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Let’s face it. Most New Year’s resolutions fail. Oh, yes, we hear great stories of people who lose a bunch of weight or pay off all their debt. But, the truth is, the success stories don’t even come close to the number of resolutions that fail.

Are we just a bunch of losers? I find that hard to believe! We all know very successful people who fail at changing some random part of their life year after year after year. Maybe you are one of those people!

So, what gives? I think we set ourselves up for failure!

First of all, the things we are focusing on when choosing our New Year's resolutions may not mean enough to us. Are you wanting to lose twenty pounds because the media has convinced you that is the ideal? Hogwash! I see attractive women (and men) who by Hollywood standards are overweight, but they are fit, healthy and totally enjoying life! They are passionate about something or maybe even many things in their lives.

If you could wake up tomorrow and have one thing be different in your life what would it be? Think about it and be honest with yourself. The only limitation I am giving you is that achieving that change must be legally possible even if it isn't probable.

Would the change SERIOUSLY be to be thinner? Out of ALL the dreams you could have chosen? REALLY? If so, go for it! If not, then that dream is where your energy needs to be focused! As you get closer and closer to your dream , I bet you will see positive changes in your stress level, your relationships, your health and, yes, even your weight!

The second pitfall is that a year is just too long for many people to stay focused. Hey, I sometimes have difficulty focusing for an hour, so I'm feeling your pain with this year-long thing. Maybe creating monthly resolutions would work for you. Consider the monthly addition of baby steps that can build up to the lifestyle you are after. For demonstration’s sake, let’s just say your goal IS to lose weight. How about baby steps that are all about positive changes and are cumulative in nature?

-January . . .drink at least 100 oz. of water a day (yeah, that’s a lot of water but you can drink it while you’re sitting on the couch!)

-February . . .eat 25 g. of fiber a day from real food sources AND you are still drinking the water (you can still do this from the couch)

-March . . .walk 20 minutes FOUR times a week (and there is still that water and fiber that is getting to be routine by now)

-April . . . give up soda in any form (you're probably not drinking too much of it anyway with all that water so it may be a lot easier than it would have been three months ago)

-May . . .

See how this is progressing and accumulating? By the end of 2012 you will have added 12 new healthy habits. You will not have spent the year trying to lose a set amount of weight and possibly failing. . .you will have spent the year changing your lifestyle to a healthier one. Even if you haven't lost all the weight you would like to, you are still going to be healthier. Even if you don't maintain all of the changes, you will most likely hang onto some of them. You will be a WINNER looking forward to the next challenge!

No matter how big or distant our dreams seem today, we can all be a little closer to achieving them by this time next year. We all have a new opportunity EVERY day to make changes that will make us or our lives a little bit better.

I came across this quote today. I would love to give credit to the author but I searched the internet and it always came up by “anonymous.” It will be printed and placed in a prominent spot in my home and office! I hope it inspires you as you head into 2012 no matter what your dream may be!

CHOICE

Today I choose to live by choice, not by chance;

To make changes, not excuses.

To be motivated, not manipulated.

To be useful, not used.

To excel, not compete.

I choose self-esteem, not self-pity.

I choose to listen to the inner voice, not the random opinion of others.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Does your dream for 2012 or beyond involve buying or selling a home in the Spokane area? Are you thinking of getting back to a simpler lifestyle on your own little farm or property? Are you in search of the perfect spot to start a small business in Eastern Washington? Even if you are not at a point where you are ready to buy or sell, let's get together to discuss what little steps you can take this year to get you closer to that dream. . . positive baby steps! Call or email me today before the "new" wears off the New Year!

VALERIE BAKER

Realtor®

Exit Real Estate Professionals

509-496-6938

simply real estate