Headed off to get a bit smarter...Mandatory Continuing Education...at the Waynesville Country Club Inn with our favorite real estate instructor Bill Trull.  It is so helpful to agents in these farthest most western counties when Cumbie and Trull will bring those CE classes to us instead of us trying to schedule in trips to Asheville. Thanks Bill.   Last night I was goofing off with YouTube.  This is funny...I started out with the Raisin Bran Dancing Raisins, as you know Ray Charles performed with them.  Over in the side bar was one of my favorite songs, "You Don't Know Me".  This is the way YouTube works, usually one thing leads to another.  The song reminded me of a favorite movie, "Postcards From the Edge" and the first time I heard the multi-talented Meryl Streep sing.  Here ar... 09/16/2012

Showing houses during the rain usually isn't the first choice of Realtors or their clients, but we work with what we're dealt with.  The upside of the rainy days in the summer in the mountains of Western North Carolina would have to be the jewel-like raindrops as the rest on the very happy blooms!     Seeing beauties like this makes it all worth it...     06/10/2012

What on earth could this pouty little angel have done that he chose to sit in a corner on a cold concrete bench on a rainy day in Waynesville, NC?  Whatever he did, he looks like he regrets his actions and could use a little forgiveness...and maybe some hot chocolate!  That always makes me feel better. 02/24/2012

Yeah…going, going, gone. Okay, vanishing inventory might be stretching it yet but here’s what’s happening. I’ve been showing houses this week. Lots of houses with several buyers. Let’s all pause for a moment and send a mental Hallelujah Shout Out to the whichever powers are controlling this…oh wait, what am I saying? We’re in control and the consumer is in the driver’s seat. Back to showing houses. A year ago, as I would prepare the list of houses to show and would call to set the appointments…every single house would be available and the listing agent would be begging for an offer…any offer. It would be so rare to call and be told that one was under contract. This week, each time I called to set appointments two or three houses were under contract. The listing agent sounding…well…conf... 02/24/2012

Do buyers get the blues? Sometimes...how could they not? Especially when there’s a little of them here…a little of them there…one person is on this front…the other is on the other home front. There might be a new job involved or a new town. New jobs mean meeting new people and learning new skill sets…sometimes it means no one’s familiar face is at the dinner table when you finally collapse in exhaustion at your "not really yours" home. Change usually can be a very good thing and it's all necessary to keep our brains and bodies involved and intact.  However...it’s all tiring. Add to all of that, the buyer might be in temporary rental housing AND committed to making a good decision on permanent housing. They’ve got no place to call their own…to really relax and nest. Who wants to move twi... 02/19/2012