Living Beaverton - Your guide to everything Beaverton

Last night, I got an e-mail from someone who said they were new to blogging and wanted some advice. I started writing their response and then it hit me. Kevin Costner was genius and understood blogging.

Do you remember the movie “Field of Dreams” with Kevin Costner? Well, the movie was about a man that mowed down his corn field and built a baseball field in right in the middle of corn season. He was on the verge of losing his farm in bankruptcy and everyone thought he was crazy. He kept hearing a voice that said, “If you build it, they will come.”

Well, that was going to be my advice to the newbie about blogging. Just build it and they will come, just like they did in movie. At first everyone didn’t see Kevin’s vision and only a few people came to the field, just like when you start up your blog. But, by the end of the movie, there was a line of cars as far as the eye could see to pay Kevin to watch a baseball game in the middle of an Iowa corn field, which ending up saving his family from foreclosure.

What was the difference? He believed in what he was doing, no matter what anyone else told him, and as the movie went along he had more and more followers that believed in him and eventually got money for his vision.

That is what real estate blogging is all about! You, the future blogger, have to build your blog that no one besides yourself believes in, but over time you get a few more believers. Then one day, you have a line of people knocking at your blog asking you for advice on home buying and selling and you finally get paid for your work and save yourself from foreclosure.

What is the moral of this story? Be positive, grow and adapt, and you can succeed even when others are failing, you just have to believe even if you aren’t seeing any results immediately! It really doesn’t matter what you write about either, just like books in a book store, everyone has their own preference, there is no one secret formula. People hire people they feel they know, like, and have a good knowledge of real estate.

I, personally, try to let my humor shine through from time to time in my blogs. I like to write about my family, experiences, and I also write about real estate. Does everyone write like I do, well of course not! But, does it matter? No, not really they are getting business just like I am. The key is not to plagiarize, and write from your heart, not someone else’s. If you believe in what you are doing it won’t matter and your followers will come.

I truly believe that if you blog and continue with your other forms of advertising all you dreams can come true.

Welcome to your field of dreams, build and they will come!

Todd Clark - broker
Kastings & Associates
Phone: (503)524-9494
Fax: (503)622-8739
Todd@IFoundYourNewHome.com
www.ifoundyournewhome.com

I decided last week to be more positive and today being Monday, I am announcing that today is going to be a good day, and therefore it will be! I say this before I head out the door to meet with my first client of the day. I will pass on my positive attitude to everyone I meet today, including you, my fellow Activerain friends!

Here is to a great Monday!

Todd Clark - Broker / Sales Coach
Palazzo Realty Group
Phone: (503)524-9494
Fax: (503)622-8739
Todd@IFoundYourNewHome.com
www.ifoundyournewhome.com

I specialize in lease options and owner financing, this creates a lot of notes and tied up cash. Sometimes the seller, after a year or two, wants to just get cashed out and is willing to sell the note and forego the profit they would have made holding the note.

Not only can you get great deals buying notes for 70-80% of the LVR, but these notes are secured by real estate unlike a stock. So if you are a real estate investor who would like to know more about investing in real estate by purchasing notes, please contact me anytime. If you are an investor who likes to track down the deals and get the notes put in place also feel free to contact me. We have plenty of homes available that may work for what you are looking for.

Todd Clark - broker
Kastings & Associates
Phone: (503)524-9494
Fax: (503)622-8739

I had an investor come into a project I was working on about a month ago and proceeded to tell me that this is wrong and that is wrong and that we were priced way too high. I said, well the amount of sales we are having says different.

He wouldn't give me his information, but did take my card and said he would get back to me. I told him that if he waits, they will be gone. He said at this price, I doubt it and he left. Well, today it had been one month since the day he came in to the open house and he said he had been thinking about it, and he wanted to present an offer.

I had to be the person that gave him the bad news that every unit that he had looked at, that I predicted would be sold, had been. We even have had two closing in that month's time and two are scheduled to close in the next two weeks.

He was mad, but I told him that I gave him every chance to buy. Then he asked me why I didn't call him and tell him offers were coming in. I informed him that when I asked for his information he refused to give it to me and said he would call me.

Todd Clark - broker
Kastings & Associates
Phone: (503)524-9494
Fax: (503)622-8739

Today is Friday, Febuary 22, 2008 and it is time for another breakdown of homes sales in the Washington County, Oregon market. I'm happy to say if you own a lower to medium priced home, sales are still making a moderate increase, if your home is price correctly.

While this is good news, higher priced homes are starting to sit a little longer on the market. This just may be due to the fact that we seem to have a larger than normal inventory of the upper end homes.

Here is a breakdown of homes sales for the week by neighborhood. Just click on the link to your neighborhood for the complete breakdown of what the average of homes that are on the market, how long they have been on the market, how many have sold, what their average price was, and how long they were on the market.

As always, if you are looking to buy or sell in the Washington County, Oregon area, I would love to show you how you can save the most money by being on your side during the negotiations.

Neighborhood # of Active Listings

Don't know what the Red Comet is? 

The Red Comet was an early fire extinguisher that, like today's sprinkler systems, had a certain melting point and dropped what looked like an upside down, half full water balloon made of glass. Inside the bulb was a liquid that, upon impact with the floor, would extinguish the fire.

The Red Comet wasn't something that not every family had, or I believe, could afford when they first came out. This is a picture of one that was found during the remodel of Schiller Station.

The one seems to be the earliest version I have been able to find even online. The pictures I've been finding are wall mounted and work more like today's sprinkler systems. The systems that were out in the 50's had a melting point and upon reaching that heat would spray a liquid that would put the flames out versus the version we have here that drops and breaks the bulb sending glass and liquid everywhere. The new versions were definitely safer, but from a historical stand point this was a pretty cool find.

I talked to the company that is still around, although in name only, and they don't do things like this anymore. The company that originally manufactured these went out of business in 1985. The new company sells more traditional fire extinguishers. They are still located in Littleton, Co where they moved in 1933 after being in Denver where they had leased a building since 1919. The one that comes with the Schiller Station home seems to be one of the early versions from somewhere between 1919 and 1929.

I have found out that what they used to put out the fire in those early bulbs is considered to be toxic to humans now, so if you should have one and it breaks, get out of the house and let it air out. But this cool little item, plus one more, will be included in the sale of the Schiller Station home.

Todd Clark - broker
Kastings & Associates
Phone: (503)524-9494
Fax: (503)622-8739

First of all, I would like to say that I know not everyone in the banking industry is the same, and I also know I have been pretty harsh with how I've treated some mortgage brokers in the past. But, I've always done it with my client's best interest in mind. If you don't believe me about being harsh when it comes to my interaction with mortgage brokers, please read my blog from last August.

But, this time I have a home that is in a short sale situation, and I must say I'm actually starting to have a good experience with a bank.You see, even though the house is in a short sale situation the owner wants to pay the bank every last dime they are owed!

My client has perfect credit, never been late on a payment, and isn't your typical home buyer or seller, he is a home builder / contractor. He has an amazing remodeled home, but he now owes more on the home that it is worth. However, he doesn't want to ruin his credit or have the property be foreclosed on. He wants to find the right buyer and make this a great home for someone.

You see, my seller owns this home and two vacant lots that he hopes to build on in the next couple months after someone buys them. He wants to keep his perfect credit, but doesn’t have the money right now to pay the bank what they are owed if the sale goes through.

So here was the proposal and I thought it was a great one. He will continue to pay on time every month and when the property sells, the bank pays for the fees for closing, agents, and whatever other fees are needed to be paid. Whatever the difference between the banks net and what they are owed will be put in to a new loan on one of the two vacant lots that are free and clear. Then when they sell, the bank gets the rest of their money, more than likely within 3 months time. A true win-win for everyone, or so I thought!

I called loss mitigation for the bank and was, within 90 seconds of getting on the phone, with a senior loss mitigation person that said they would never even consider that! I even asked so if you are going to ruin this guys credit anyway by doing a short sale, why shouldn’t he just stop paying now and save the $45,000 in payments and live rent free for the next 9 months? She told me that, “Well that would be his choice and he would have his credit ruined if he did that.” I then said, “Well you already told me you aren’t willing to work with him and so his credit will be ruined anyway, so why not save the $45,000 dollars?” She then said “Sorry.” and basically hung up on me.

I had to find out why would the bank be willing to take an $80,000 loss on a home when that same $80,000 would pay that loss mitigation person’s and one other employee’s salary for a year! It just didn’t make sense to me and I had to find out why!

Now, this is where I got to be me and couldn’t take no for an answer. I decided to write a letter to the CEO of the company and explain the situation to him and see if he could answer why his bank would turn down an offer to get paid in full from a long time, and great, customer of theirs. To my surprise, I got an answer back within 36 hours and on top of it, he e-mailed my letter and his response to every senior manager and person he could think of in the company that this was not the proper response to what was a great offer, and that they needed to look into it and get this resolved to be a win-win for everyone involved.

So, to the CEO of this company that was willing to think outside the box and see a good offer when it is put in front of him and not go with the status quo, thank you. I also promise that once this is done and over with, I will announce the banks name and CEO’s name and congratulate him on doing something different to help my client and his bank not have a loss.

Todd Clark - Broker / Sales Coach
Palazzo Realty Group
Phone: (503)524-9494
Fax: (503)622-8739

You ask yourself, how can I help, how can I make a difference? Well, I can tell you one man can make a difference, be it by voting, saving a life, or bringing a life in to the world.

So, whether or not you are going to watch Knight Rider tonight, remember go out and do something different this week, and remember that one man can make a difference.

Todd Clark - Broker / Sales Coach
Palazzo Realty Group
Phone: (503)524-9494
Fax: (503)622-8739