Random thoughts on art, technology, stuff, and occasionally Real Estate: September 2006

This week's Carnival of Real Estate is up at the Martix Blog ....

And I think I see at least 8 Active Rain members with featured posts!  Wow!  Way to go Rainers!

If you haven't yet tried a tabbed browser, the Blogging Marathon between Gregg Swann and Ardell DellaLoggia would be a good reason to give tabbed browsing a go.

I plan to run Sellsius in one tab, Ardell in another, Greg in a third, and Jon Ernest's play by play in a fourth.  Oh, and if a client happens to call for information on September 26, I can open a fifth tab and work on whatever the clients needs.

Like this:

Mozilla Firefox

Internet Explorer Version 7

I do hope the typo in the date was made by Downey Association of Realtors that sent out this announcement.  If it's part of the Bill, it might never ever go into effect: 

Governor Schwarzenegger signs AB 2429 into law; measure enhances licensing requirements in real estate industry

LOS ANGELES (Sept. 22) – California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed AB 2429 (Negrete McLeod), “Real Estate Salesperson Licensure,” into law.  The measure was sponsored by the CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®. AB 2429 will require salesperson applicants, after Sept. 31, 2007, to complete all three of the Department of Real Estate-mandated pre-license courses prior to taking the license examination.

“Currently, an applicant may take one class, pass the exam, and receive a conditional license, then take up to 18 months to complete the required coursework – all the while engaging in licensed real estate activity,” said C.A.R. President Vince Malta. “AB 2429 will increase the foundational knowledge of sales licensees entering the profession, and prevent ill-equipped licensees from engaging in licensed activity. According to the Department of Real Estate, 85 percent of new licensees came in under the conditional license option last year,” Malta said.

Leading the way...® in California real estate for more than 100 years, the CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® (www.car.org) is one of the largest state trade organizations in the United States, with more than 195,000 members dedicated to the advancement of professionalism in real estate. C.A.R. is headquartered in Los Angeles.

I might have to close up our office on Tuesday, September 26,  so I can follow this.

Greg Swann, Bloodhound Blog, and Ardell DellaLoggia of Searching Seattle have accepted the

Sellius 101 Blog Post Challenge: http://blog.sellsiusrealestate.com/?p=2161

Reported here first by Jon Ernest:  http://activerain.com/blogsview/Its-a-Blogoff-?10030

We often meet clients who have dreams of getting rich quick.  We always urge them to take it slow and cautious instead.  Sometimes we end up parting ways because the clients decide slow and cautious just isn't their style.

Here's a blog I came across while making my rounds through the internet today:

http://iamfacingforeclosure.com/

This young pup of an investor took on too much too fast and got in way over his head.  Do read through back to his post of September 14.  He has high praise for the real estate agent that saved the day on a Utah property.

So far, I haven't cross-posted anything between Active Rain and my outside world blog.  But I think I'll make an exception here.  This is a very interesting situation, and Rainers may want to follow along:

I thought it would be cool to occasionally share thoughts on stuff that I've found really useful.  Here's one:

The Fujitsu ScanSnap. 

It's a compact size (so it fits on a cluttered desk without too much hassle), sheet-fed (so you don't have to open and close the lid for each sheet of paper) scanner that simply does one thing really well.  It scans documents and converts them to the digital PDF format (Adobe's Portable Document Format)

Once you've digitized the documents (or PDF'ed 'em as some people like to say) you can attach the PDF file to an email and transmit it wherever it needs to go. 

The PDF format is very widely used across various system platforms.  The Acrobat Reader is free  and can be quickly downloaded, although most new computers are shipped with a PDF Reader installed, if I'm not mistaken.

Another advantage of having a digital copy of a document:  If the paper original gets misfiled (Oh, No, That Never Happens), you can always find the PDF file on your computer and print another copy.

And no, I'm not affiliated with Fujitsu in any way, shape or form.  I'm just a regular consumer commenting on a product.

Each week, I read over the new listings, pendings, and solds, in an effort to keep up with the twists and turns of this market.

This week, one home in the sold column caught my attention.  It was a big, bold, late 1970s contemporary style home at the top of Mt. Washington.  It sold for a little over 1 million dollars.

It broke my heart to see that sale.  You see, I knew the woman that lived there in the early 1990s.  She was a gifted artist.  Brilliant, creative, out-spoken, a free spirit.  She had some financial set-backs, borrowed some money against the house, ended up giving the lender a Deed-in-Lieu-of Foreclosure, and walking away from the house.

The amount of money she'd borrowed?  Less than $200,000.  Chump change in today's market.  I think of her, and others like her, and my heart breaks. 

Believe me, I am not a religious person, but all the same, I thought of a little prayer for her:

Divine Love, guide The Artist on the path to her highest good.  Bless her with peace, happiness, and joy in a measure that far exceeds the loss she took on that freakin' miserable piece of property.  Amen and AMEN.

I think I've read about other members receiving spam from their membership in Active Rain.  I've received a few  emails from lenders trolling for business, but really very few and nothing offensive.

I received one yesterday that made me laugh so hard it brought tears to my eyes.  It was short and sweet, and one of the sentences read:

                Looks like we are both young bucks working for a common cause.

Oh, my.  "Young Buck"?  Does this kid realize that I'd already voted in three presidential elections before the Real Estate Boom of the 1970s happened?

That made my day.