Doug Jones's (dougj) Blog

From the NAR Today :The U.S. Senate on Tuesday passed sweeping tax reform legislation—packed with major real estate provisions championed by the National Association of REALTORS®—advancing the measure toward final approval.   The U.S. House of Representatives passed its version of the One Big Be...

From Shelly Hagen from XO Staging who I have encouraged to write Active Rain blogs. In a market as competitive—and expensive—as the Bay Area, sellers need every edge. While location and condition always play a role, how a home looks and feels when buyers walk through the door (or scroll Zillow) c...

I should read the News. This was published Monday, June 23 by NationalMortgage Professionals associate editor Aaron Marsh. I just wrote a blog this morning about Trigger Calls.Bill applauded as ‘another important step forward’ that would curb 'abusive' trigger leads A law restricting the sale and...

My customer called yesterday and said that he could not believe how many annoying phonecalls he had received from banks and mortgage brokers soliciting him for his business. They threw numbers and quotes without knowing his situation. I ran a credit report for him yesterday morning and forgot to...

When a salesperson is young, enthusiastic, and motivated and a set back hits, usually the salesperson will bounce back without missing too many steps or opportunities. Why ? I think one reason is age. The younger sales person has a longer view of the road ahead and the younger sales person has t...

The latest Residential Construction report from the Census Bureau showed a noticeable drop in overall housing starts in May, though single-family activity managed a small gain. Building permits also declined, continuing a trend of slight cooling in new construction momentum. As usual, the market ...

  ​Fed Holds Steady; Mortgage Rates Fall This week ended up being underwhelming in terms of interest rate movement despite the much-anticipated Fed announcement on Wednesday. Anticipation aside, there was zero chance of a rate cut at this week's meeting.  While that has some voices in the mortgag...

Normally I do not mention A Course in Miracles because I believe “when the student is ready the book will appear” but there are some gentle ways to improve thoughts and life for more peace and success. This is from lesson 16 of the course.1. (16) **I have no neutral thoughts.**²Neutral thoughts a...

I have made money cutting grass, babysitting (yes and I am a guy), delivering newspapers, selling magazines, working part-time jobs, giving talks, teaching classes, doing magic, from real estate sales, mortgage loans, flipping burgers, hauling Hay, picking vegetables, pumping gas, on a factory as...

A lot of my business ethic comes from a time when I was in the Boy Scouts. I know there has been negative news about the Boy Scouts but all of my experiences were fantastic.  The paragraph below was written 10 years ago fora Sales Magic article. Those Eagle Scouts have graduated from College and ...