Fort Worth Real Estate Online

So far I have had a pretty positive day here on Active Rain... having written both a new blog post that attracted all sorts of positive comments, and then making some of my own comments on some really great Active Rainer's blog posts.  It's too bad I have to end it with somewhat of a rant.

I thought we as agents, and as media, had gotten over this "craze" of making blanket negative statements about the housing market in general, but I guess I spoke too soon.

Earlier tonight I read a post that listed a series of "great real estate articles" for one and all to read.  I will not be specific about who the author was, because my rant here is going to be pretty "ranty."

I'm not so sure I would call something a "great list" when it begins with a highly negative linked-to article about how home values dropped all the way down to 2002 levels. 

As a blanket statement... this is JUST NOT TRUE.  And, I don't care who says it is... or who the article refers to as the source of this overly negative news.

Here in the Fort Worth market area values have done nothing of the sort.  They have not plummeted.

I know there are many other areas in the country where what the article, and in turn, what the writer's blog post said may be true... but still.  To make a blanket statement like that can be so hurtful to so many buyers and sellers in other areas where values are either stable, or actually increasing... which IS the case in Fort Worth.

I thought we had gotten over the need to wallpaper the walls with total doom and gloom.

I suggest that those "media types..." and some of us as Realtors... either hold off making untrue blanket statements, or suggest that they put in a disclaimer that states very plainly that although the "dropping of home values" may be true in some areas, there are many other areas where values are actually climbing.  And climbing so well that they are actually experiencing a shortage of properties to sell... because the homes are selling so quickly after being listed... and in many cases... are selling with multiple offers being made.

The national media, and even the National Association of Realtors may not know enough about what is going on... but those of us in the trenches who deal with it every day... should.

Most folks I know turned their clocks back One Hour last night.  That's because the end of Daylight Savings time is here.  So now, it gets darker one hour earlier today than it did yesterday.

That, of course, gave ALL of us one extra hour yesterday (Saturday) to finish all the things on our "To Do" list.

The younger you are, the less trouble or confusion messing with that "one extra hour" will cause you.  But some of us older kids... well... just that one hour can mess with what the sleep doctors call our "circadian rhythms."  For some of us, it will take weeks to adjust. 

Also, it not only affects humans, but plants and animals, as well.  I have even read stories by dairy farmers... that even their milk-producing cows can have a difficult time adjusting.

I don't know about you, but just that extra one hour we got yesterday really doesn't help me catch up with all the "stuff" on my "to do" list... so I am proposing a new idea.

What if... instead of doing the "same old, same old" routine of turning our clocks back only ONE hour to get that extra hour of sleep, or work-time... what IF... we turned our clocks back TWENTY-FIVE hours ?

Instead of getting an extra hour, we would get an entire extra DAY.  We could use it for work... or... we could use it for sleep.  I am tired... I could use the sleep.  So... for almost all of you... today is Sunday.  For me... I get the full extra 25 hours... so for me, it is still Saturday.

I have been reaching into the far corners of my brain... dusting out the cobwebs... and thinking about this.

So... whaddya say ?  Could it work ?

Just wondering...

Life is Never Easy When You Have Two Heads...

Why I thought it would be... I'll never know.  Some things work better... other things... not so much.

But... keeping everything all bundled and bottled up inside just one head... ouch... it used to hurt.  So... I grew another head.

I know... it sounds funny.  And yeah... many of my everyday expenses have gone way up.  Just think... two trips to the dentist.  Twice as much to get my hair done.  And Yikes... just the cost of all that extra lipstick, eye-liner and mascara.

But... I did it.  I thought I had to.  I thought I had no choice.

Have YOU ever thought you needed two heads ?

The Fort Worth real estate market is thriving.  Many fence-sitters have hopped off their perch... and jumped into the market.

Oh sure... at first it was less of a jump, and more like sticking your little toe into the water... but once new home buyers find that the water is just fine... in they jump !

This is an example of what your new home dollars can buy in Fort Worth, Texas for around $125,000.  And yes... it is very possible to pick out your own home design, select all the interior goodies... and have it built "just for you."

I was so excited for being able to find such a nice home for this young family... that I took the picture before the lawn was put in.  The home is just over 1500 sq ft... and has three spacious bedrooms, a large great-room living area, a country kitchen, and a walk-in pantry/utility room that is almost as large as a bedroom... and it comes with a two-car garage.  Fencing is included... as is partial brick, and partial stone front.

If you are a buyer... and think you cannot get a new home for a monthly payment of around $1,000 a month... we need to talk !

As Unlikely Is It May Seem... Once In A While... some buyers or sellers in the Fort Worth, Texas area actually use the services of a Realtor other than Karen Anne Stone.  This can often be a very trying experience for them... fraught with dismay and disappointment.  Here is a case in point:

Pictured to the right... is Ms Ivana Newhouse.  Ms Newhouse had been looking for a new home on her own for quite a while.  Sometimes looking online, sometimes using the Sunday Paper and just driving around... she had not been having very much luck.

Then, she had the misfortune of using the Realtor team of Ilene and Ben Dover, who had only been in real estate for a short time.  The agents had been referred to her by her ex-boyfriend, who it appears was not really trying to do Ivana any favors.

Ms Newhouse was not pleased.  It was an absolute nightmare !

Things did not go well.  Just before closing, the title company lost her documents, so her closing was delayed.  Her loan program disappeared at the very last minute due to the current, ever-evolving mortgage loan mess. 

So, she ended up being stuck with a six-month ARM loan program funded by Klingon Mortgage Corp.  Although her loan officer from Klingon DID attend her closing, the only thing heard from him was mumbling something that sounded vaguely like "Git'r'done."

Her Home Inspector inspected the wrong house, the termite inspector sprayed her kids and the dog instead of the termites, and the pool inspector brought his bathing suit and a portable barbeque grill, and shows no signs of leaving. 

Ivana hired a mover who was unfortunately referred to her by her loan officer from Klingon Mortgage Corp.  At this present moment, Ms Newhouse has no clue what has happened to her furniture.

Whew !

After she finally closed and moved in to her home, she was exhausted.  The next day she met her new neighbors and told them her long and tragic story. 

AS LUCK WOULD HAVE IT... her neighbors had sold their previous home thru Karen Anne Stone of The Michael Group Real Estate, and had also purchased their new home using Karen Anne's services as well. 

After hearing her tale of woe, and being a part of Karen Anne's By Referral Only "Relationship Base," they did as Karen taught them.  They gently planted a "referral seed"... by saying :

      "Ivana... the next time you're in a conversation with someone, and they mention that they're thinking of buying a larger or more expensive home... please keep Karen Anne Stone in mind."

~~~                         ~~~                         ~~~

[ Editor's note:  The above story occasionally does happen.  HOWEVER... the names of the buyer, Ms Ivana Newhouse, and Realtors Ilene and Ben Dover are all FICTICIOUS... having been changed to protect either the innocent or the guilty, whichever the case may be. ]

My AR friend Marilyn Boudreaux in Lake Charles, Louisiana, just wrote a blog post about having her new "headshot" photo taken.  It is obvious that Marliyn is a very attractive woman.  Both of the photos in her post... A Picture is Worth A Thousand Words-Especially in Real Estate are just gorgeous, and I think either one of them would work very well for Marilyn.

I think that the way we present our "business" selves to the public is extremely important, so I recently had quite a few photos taken of myself to use in my business brochures, on my blogs and websites.  I thought of having them be those "glamour shots" as well... or at least as glamorous as they could be, and still be of me.  Once I saw the results... I think I would rather use one of Marilyn's photos than any of the best of mine.

Knowing I could prolly never get away with doing that... here is the best "head shot" from the ones they took of me.  Are my eyebrows a little too heavy ?  Do I need more eyeliner ?  Whaddya think ?

When we read the news these days... pretty-much no matter what we read... be it about Colonel Ghadafi and his mercenaries...and the "rebels..." killing each other, or President Obama and the Republicans going at each other's throats over budget cuts and social issues, or even the Miami Heat and the Boston Celtics blasting each other "under the basket"... it's always conflict, conflict, conflict.

Why can't we all just get along ?

Well... sometimes you find two seemingly different creatures who normally do not have any sort of interaction whatsoever... who have broken the mold, and somehow... they have become friends.

What a world this would be if more of us COULD "get along."

I found this today... and cannot remember when I have enjoyed watching anything on YouTube this much.

Enjoy !

Every once in awhile I come across a video that just totally makes me "laugh out loud." It doesn't happen very often. I guess I just either don't laugh that much... or rarely find things that pierce my skull sufficiently enough to make me laugh.

Obviously, this also goes out to all of my cat-loving friends. Two things here: Cats are very hard to "train" how to do tricks. Usually what must be done is either to tickle their curiosity... or make them think that whatever you want them to do... is their idea in the first place.

Enjoy !

I guess it was always there... but it just jumped up and bit me right now.  I have no clue how many times it's been on the page, and I have just simply missed it.

I am talking about a great source for Learning Information about WordPress.com (that's the easy one)... not WordPress.org.

I have been messing around... experimenting is probably a more "polite" word for it... with WordPress.com.  Ever since the Active Rain mess about ten months ago with all the 502 Server Errors and all that other stuff... I have been trying to learn WordPress.

It's tough, cuz I have not been able to find a place where it is simply "taught."  So... it's been kind of "hunt and peck"... a little here, a little there.

So many of the tutorial videos on YouTube are so grossly outdated, or so poorly taught... that they are close to being useless as well.

But... a few days ago I found WordPress.com - Forums.

This section of the WordPress.com site has a very long list of questions that have been asked of WordPress... and the answers from the staff, and from other WordPress bloggers... and the discussions that have followed.

And... today, when I was just bored, and browsing the list of topics, I saw there was a question on changing type fonts, and increasing the font type size. 

I clicked on it, and discovered that there was a question being asked... that I could actually answer.  ME !  Gawrsh.  I knew a WordPress answer.  Here is a link to that "miracle happening" : Typekit font for Coraline theme « WordPress.com Forums.  (My screen name on WP is MyOlderSister)

And when I learned what I shared in my "answer" to that question on the WordPress forum... I actually had to learn a smidge of HTML in order to DO it.  Which I did !

I am so excited. 

Last Sunday... was my 67th birthday.  So I'm figuring... that with this NEW WordPress thingie info source... and my finally starting to understand this stuff... I just might be able to figure out what I am doing by my Seventieth Birthday.  How Cool is that ?

NOTE:  If you like this post, please subscribe to my blog !

It has been pretty cold here in Fort Worth, Texas.  All week long.  Much colder than usual.  Last night it went down to Eight Degrees.  I cannot remember that happening here in Fort Worth.  Not since I moved here in 1982.

I thought that was about it... that it was just going to get cold.  All the snow everywhere else in the nation.  Chicago... cars buried in the snow were shown on the news.  On Lake Shore Drive, of all places.

But then... first the "crawler" came across the Television screen while I was watching an NCIS rerun.  And then... on came the early evening news on CBS Channel Eleven. 

And there he was... everybody's favorite (and latest) local TV meteorologist... Larry Mowry doing his weather program... with Larry becoming the Most Popular TV weatherman in Fort Worth/Dallas

Larry tried to "break it to us gently."  He tried.  And as he went on... he said the "computer models" said to expect maybe 1-2 inches of snow by morning.  He said personally that he thought it might be more like three inches by morning... but he acted like he feared he was "over-doing it."

Well, Larry... here's a picture of what things looked like at 1:30 am tonight.  I took this from my balcony... but did I go down to measure ?  Noper... not a chance.  I worried I might never be heard from again.

So... now we know Larry wasn't kidding.  It appears that Fort Worth is joining the club the rest of the nation has been fighting with for quite some time.  Winter has finally come to Fort Worth, Texas !