Brighter Days for Chilean Miners

On Wednesday morning I drove to work bathed in bright sunshine and fresh air as Chilean miner number eleven or twelve experienced the same for the first time in 70 days. I entered the office and cast an eye toward my coworkers. As the day went on I stole glances at fellow agents, administrators and principals. I couldn't help but wonder.....how would we fare if thrown together in difficult circumstances, for an extended period of time, by events beyond our control? Throughout the day we discussed properties, sellers, buyers, and... what to have for lunch... and all the while my assessment of that hypothetical predicament continued. Who among us would emerge as leaders? Who would be our academic, our practical minded organizer, our physician, our mediator, our cheerleader, our counselor, and our clown?

I couldn't help but grin as I mentally assigned each to their role...and my sense of pride and pleasure increased as I came to the realization that from among our ranks each and every position easily could be filled. Even more notable, there are many amazing individuals who are more than capable of taking on multiple roles. I work among a diverse and talented group of individuals who, as a whole, have developed new strengths, strategies and attitudes to better serve our clients and each other as we dig out of our own version of a deep hole brought about by a collapse. With determination, intelligence and good humor collectively we move toward brighter days.

Beem(er) me up

I've been driving a small cheap car for as long as I can remember. My first car, a rusty, light blue VW bug with a wood plank bolted to it where the bumper was supposed to be, was purchased from a family of Vietnamese Boat People in Hallandale, Florida for $125 dollars in 1976. The long, nerve wracking trip home from Hallandale - 40 scorching miles of evilly congested late afternoon South Florida traffic on I-95 - was the first time I had ever driven solo on an expressway. That ride was made even more memorable by the fact that my new car had no a/c, no working speedometer, and a replacement stick shift knob that was bereft of any kind of gear indicator markings whatsoever.

My second car, bought two years later, was also small and cheap, but at least it was new. An end-of-the-model year sale item, my new Datsun was an unusually insistent shade of Kelly green that I haven’t seen on a car since. Hubcaps would have been extra, so I skipped them. Eight years later found me still following the same sad, small-cheap script, this time in a Toyota. The die at this point was cast. I was an adult. I was responsible for my choices. Somewhere along the line, without meaning to, I’d turned into a person who drove small cheap cars, a person with severely limited automotive-type ambitions, a person who not only drove small but obviously thought small as well. When my ex-husband finally drove that Toyota out of my life forever - along with the TV, the sofa, and the stereo – my now former brother-in-law gave me his old Ford Escort. I drove it for years, unperturbed by the numerous indelible blotchy black stains all over the roof and the two-tone front hood. When the Escort gave out I bought the cheapest Toyota I could find. When THAT wore out - 11 years later - I ran right out and bought myself another one. Talk about patterning. All of which brings me to where I am now: behind the wheel of a 5 year old, deshabille but highly dependable and still fully functioning Toyota Echo. No problem, right?

Wrong. There is a problem, and I can encapsulate it in a nutshell: Realtors drive BMWs. Sadly I was in ignorance of this prior to getting into real estate. When I do a showing, I’d say fully 80% of the time the other realtor pulls up to the curb in a recent-late model BMW. If I get there first, I know the other realtor is approaching when I see a BMW turning down the street in the distance. If I’m running late, I know the other realtor has already gotten there because there’s a big old BMW conspicuously parked out front. What’s the deal, folks? The percentages are astounding. Were they giving them away to realtors at one point? Are realtors eligible for some kind of special BMW discount that nobody’s bothered to tell me about? And of course if the other realtor doesn’t pull up in a Beemer then it’s always the equivalent…or so help me, worse. A Mercedes wagon. A new Volvo sedan. A socially responsible hybrid. Sometimes it gets even more over the top. An Alpha Romeo straight out of a Milan showroom. A Jaguar worthy of a movie star. The bottom line? You simply can't show up at a house in a small dinged-up Toyota that cost maybe $10,000 five years ago without looking like a loser when your opposite number is gliding up to the curb in some sleek, pricey symbol of prosperity and success, vanity plates a-bristle with personalized abbreviations.


Listing appointments can be even more traumatic. When I get to the house, I know the jig will be up the second the seller sees my car, which is why I’ve taken to parking it safely out of sight - down the street, around the corner, anywhere, just so long as it’s elsewhere. I’m not sure what I hope to gain by this stratagem – trick the sellers into thinking I travel by bus? Hitchhike? Does anyone actually believe you can hail a cab way out on Ten Rod Road? On top of that, every once in a while my cowardly ploy backfires and some courtly, usually older, male seller will insist on walking me to my car. Uh oh. Then I not only look like an idiot (too witless to park in front of their house / too clueless to find it / too out of touch to be GPS-guided) but I also have some fast, face-saving explaining to do in the bargain.

So call me a quick study, but Beemer me up…I may have to buy a new car. But until then, I will probably need to be borrowing yours.

Best Time to Buy a Home in Fifty Years

"This is the best time in fifty years to buy a home. If you don't own a home, buy one. If you own one home, buy another one, and if you own two homes buy a third and lend your relatives the money to buy a home," said John Paulson last month.


Two friends who work in finance emailed this to me, and after reading it several times, I asked, 'Who is John Paulson?'


According to the Wall Street Journal Paulson is:
a hedge fund tycoon who made his name, and a fortune, betting against subprime mortgages when no one else even knew what they were.

According to Forbes John Paulson is:a multibillionaire hedge fund operator and the investment genius who made a fortune going short subprime mortgages a few years ago.

The Wall Street Journal agrees with Paulson: Ignore the critics. The odds have to be on his side…Right now you can borrow for 30 years at around 4.3%. After the mortgage tax deduction, for some people the net effective interest rate is nearer to 3%. That’s going to prove an awesome deal if we see inflation again.

And Forbes said:
As this is the best time in 50 years to buy homes, Paulson advised his listeners to take 30 year mortgages to buy a home as “your debt and interest payments get locked in at record lows, while the price of your home will rise.”

With interest rates the lowest they have been in a generation, if you are considering buying a home, or two, why wait?

Let's Get Cooking: Cooking Tips from a Real Estate Agent

As a real estate agent my focus is to know the housing market so that I may better represent my clients. With that, and especially being part of such a prestigious operation, I often get to see luxurious homes and apartments. With this comes the desire to sell and fill these home of wonder with people whose means reach far beyond what I may make in a lifetime.

Our customers, of all walks of life, are really all looking for the same thing - a comfortable dwelling that doesn't cause too much aggravation, and has amenities that are befitting their needs... we hope! The amenities in question may be as far reaching as an infinity pool that looks as if it fills the Atlantic Ocean to a bathroom sink that can hold a toothbrush or two. We all look at room size, lighting, foundations, bathrooms and of course kitchens.

I know a lot about kitchens. I put myself through college by cooking (of course Mom helped quite a bit, thanks Mom) in quite a few restaurants here in town and in Narragansett where I attended URI. I also grew up being raised by a French mother, and spent a couple of summers in France with my family from across the pond. The food was great, and I memorized many dishes my grandmother made. She lived in a small village where most of the food we ate was grown or raised on her property or her neighbors'.

The one thing I noticed in hind-sight was their kitchens. None were remarkable, except for perhaps the lack of modern appliances that we are so accustomed to. Marble was a term used to describe a child's game. Stainless steel? Of course Vulcan ranges and professional flat tops are quite nice to have, it doesn't mean anything if you don't know your basics of cooking.

Here are a few:

1) Sharpen your knives!! Dull knives will end up hurting you.

2) Use fresh anything whenever possible. Dried herbs may be the only exception.

3) Pre-heat your pans. Saute is a term used to cook something quickly in a hot pan. It seers in the juices.

4) Take care of your tools. Clean your pans, knives, and oven thoroughly. Residuals burn and don't add benefit.

5) Don't skimp. Cookware can last a lifetime. Treat yourself. Cheap pans burn food, dull knives cut fingers.

6) Don't worry about measuring. Add or subtract what you want. When baking, be more precise. Cakes, bread and the like need more attention to detail.

7) Keep it simple. Most things I make take no longer than 20 minutes of prep and or cooking.

8) Look for sales. This will keep your "menu" interesting.

9) Google recipes. I do!

10) Enjoy yourself!! You'd have to really mess something up for your own food to not taste good.

Remember - size, color, shape, worth don't matter. It's what you do with it! Do it right!