La Quinta California Real Estate

I got 2 calls to show my listings to other agents and clients during the Super Bowl and then to top it off I got a call for a listing appointment at 2PM - one hour before the game starts. I told them all I have other appointments.

Now I understand some people are not interested in football, but how about consideration for the rest of us. I do love football and Super Bowl Sunday is a holiday to me. I like seeing my friends, sharing good times, good food, good cheer. It is good for my business as I get to see many people who I seldom see and rebuild my real estate connection. Most of all, I get to disconnect from real estate for a few hours and enjoy myself, my husband, and our love of football.

Count me out for showing homes and doing lisiting appointments within 3 hours of the Super Bowl. For now, I am off to the office for 2 hours with clients. Then I am on holiday!

There is still time to buy you and your family a new house for the holidays. There are only 115 more house shopping days until Christmas. The clearance rack of houses with the lowest interest rates in many, many, years is waiting for anxious buyers.

What a better way to start the new year than with a new home for the family. Whether you are looking for a condo, small home, or mansion, real estate agents are on call 24/7 to make your dream come true.

Now is the time to take advantage of the year end clearance of homes for sale!

I feel grateful each day all year round, but let's name 5 things each day we are grateful for from now until Thanksgiving.

I am grateful for:

my husband, son, daughter, grandsons, parents, staff, and wonderful friends

where I live and work

perfect health and safety

3 recent sales in real estate

perfect clients and real estate skills

stamina, energy

peace, calm, love, joy

All this and much more - I am very grateful

Yesterday 2 members of my team and myself went and got our flu shots. We came back to the office and continued to work. When I got ready to go home for the day, I could not find my keys. I told Leanna I could not find them as she was leaving too. She said - don't worry you will find them and left. Needless to say, I did not find them. Leanna came and picked me up and drove me the 7 miles to my house. I went to the drawer and got the other key and went back to the car and the key did not work - FRUSTRATION!

I called my husband. He said he had taken the key for this car and put it in his car incase I lost my key. Once again Leanna came back and picked me up and took me home. Later my husband took me back and I retrieved the car and we had a nice dinner in a nearby restaurant.

I still have not found my key which is disturbing. I do hope it shows up no matter how silly I look.

I was just grateful I did not have clients there wanting to look at homes at that moment.

Today I realize  I need some 'down time' to recoup from my frustration and hopefully find my brain.

I hope this is an isolated incident.

I have a 2010 Lexus RX350. To me this is the perfect car for showing homes. It is not too expensive, has good resale value, holds us well under wear and tear, is easy to get in and out of, and gets decent gas mileage.

My frustrations with the car are the services are expensive and each 25-30,000 miles there are the tires - $1300, brakes $2500, and battery - $700. Then after 36,000 miles is the extended warranty for $1800.

I am at that spot and although I do not want to buy a new car,but when  I look at the financial sense of paying $10,000 difference for a new car ( nearly $3000) is the sales tax for California, it looks like a good move. It looks like I will pay close to the same and have a new car. The frustration for me is that I an signing on for the same frustrations down the line.

I know eventually I will need to sell one of these cars myself and then downsize to a lower price car with less expensive brakes, tires, and service.

Have any of you gone through this? What did you do? How important is a new shiny Lexus SUV for high end real estate clients? Does a new car help sell homes or build an image?

I am trying to analyze this financially and hang onto my money in the smartest way possible.

Last evening i ran into an old friend at a restaurant. Nearly the first words out of her mouth were  that she is getting her real estate license. She wanted to know if Amazon had the book to study. I told her  I did not know about Amazon, but Allied Business School was where most go to get the information and study. She said she only had to take 3 classes and the test and she was going to list and sell her boyfriends $28,000,000 home that has been on the market for over 2 year with an experienced agent.

Here we go again. I love how many people think they can get a license, show a few houses, fill out a few papers and get a big check. I used to try to explain to them what we do and that it is not so simple. Now i just answer their questions and move on. I figure they will find out soon enough the real world of real estate.

I think some people look at me and see how much fun I have and how much i love selling real estate and think they can do it too. There are many parts of being a real estate agent that people don't understand until they do it including the legal liability, knowledge of homes, skill in writing a contract, answering phone, text, email 24/7, and on and on.

I do love being a real estate broker associate and do want people to join our business, but not many I have seen over the years do make it a career long term.

I recommend the movie' Company Men'. This movie is about the challenged economy and how it affects people's lives. I saw this movie last night and still feel the pain. I feel most people have been affected by this economy and as real estate agents and brokers we face people going through the ruins of this economy on a regular basis.

The past 5 years have been challenging for me and my family too. I do hope I have been a support to others while learning alot myself. I do know this is all a cycle, but this cycle has gone on way longer than I thought it would with way more negative ramifications.

Reality - whatever reality is at the moment - is important to survive. A good attitude and a sense of humor make like doable and fun, whatever the situation.

I am amazed on a daily basis how many agents are not punctual. They are late for appointments, floor time, office meetings. It seems somewhere along the line, we in America have lost the importance of being punctual.

I was taught to be on time was a reflection of my character and staying true to my word. As a child, we had big punishments for being even a few minutes late for school and I cannot remember being late for dinner.

Over the years, I am happy to say that most of us have chilled and relaxed a bit, but to me being punctual still is important. It shows others you care about them and yourself too.

Are you punctual? Do you feel it is ok to be late?

I feel very lucky to have sold 16 houses over the past 2 months. 5 have closed. I feel it is harder to close homes now that the past 10 years that I have been a real estate agent. The banks are requiring more and more documentation. The cash buyers are more demanding on repairs and taking longer to get their money to escrow to close. The county is more thorough on the paperwork to close. Add this all up and 30 day closings are going to 45 and 60 days+. I even have one that is 120 days and still counting. Dotting the i's and crossing the t's  is more important than ever.

I have not received many birthday gifts over the years. Today is my birthday and I am 58 years old. I hit the jackpot today.

My husband had me feastured on the morning news for my birthday. He gave me a party a few days ago and also a beautiful Tiffany necklace. He also sent flowers to my office. He is truly a wonderful husband.

I got a card and gift card from my son in Hawaii.

I also got over 50 facebook greetings - how cool is that!

From my friends, I got wine, necklace, earrings, clock, and massage and roses too.

My assistant gave me the best chocolate cake ever.

It is almost worth being a year older to get all the gifts and attention.