Last August I had news delivered to me that put me in a tailspin. At 60 I heard my Doctor in Oklahoma City tell me I had cancer. Two weeks later I was in Houston at M.D. Anderson which for me was where I would be in the best facility to survive my disease. In Oklahoma City I was subject to proprietary medicine and standard record keeping. It wasn't until six months later I went back to my primary care physician to let him know about old CRT machines, and Doctors who didn't understand cancer as well as they knew surgical procedures. The good news was that two weeks  later I was in Houston, and the medical world changed and my world went with it. The pivotal moment for me was started at 6:30am when i checked in for my PET scan. This was going to try to determine whether my primary tumor c... 04/30/2009

I said this many times, that I am lucky to be in Oklahoma City at this time in real estate. Properties we sold to homeowners and investors in 2005 are worth at least what people paid for them and mostly more. Contrast that with areas of Florida and Arizona to name two that have had in some cases 80% drops in value. I am especially proud of the sales to California investors who took a bath elsewhere, but still own their properties here with positive cash flow to boot. The problem is no area is immune to financial problems and Oklahoma is not isolated from the other 49 states. We have had less but turn over a rock and you can find a distressed home. A distressed home means a distressed homeowner. In Oklahoma City with the second lowest major city unemployment rate that number still climbe... 04/29/2009

HPD, aka Historical Preservation District, has been one of my pet peeves in real estate for years. I have lived in an Oklahoma City HPD, Crown Heights, and the inconsistencies are too numerouse to name. What got me back on this subject for the first time this year? Windows. Time Magazine just had an article on homes built before 1939 like the one I had. In general, it is estimated that a home built before this time requires 50% more energy to operate. What you can say is if you are not in an HPD, you are paying for stupid rules by which these people live. I know windows is not the only problem, but it a major energy leak in homes. I remember a hearing against someone who put vinyl double pane windows into their HPD regulated neighborhood home. One of the numerous HPD Nazis, and I don't ... 04/28/2009

I had a comment to a previous post that the area in which they worked didn't have short sales. Oklahoma is one of the least affected states by the mortgage meltdown and bubble bursting world of real estate. Even so, with only 4% of sales last year reported as distressed property, that mask a real problem. I don't think there is an area of the country without them and if you look to VA or HUD repo web sites, I think you will see the tip of the iceberg. It is not that there is no short sales, it may be that their is no short sale experts. With such a low percentage of Realtors taking courses, getting mentoring, and then publicizing there expertise, it leaves many people who will suffer the fate of foreclosure, In Oklahoma City I see many short sale listings over 200 days on market and sti... 04/27/2009

Charlene and I just finished the Certified Distressed Property Expert designation, and although most of it was familiar to us, you always learn new things, especially me. Charlene has been extensively doing short sales for the last three years, and another team member and I are going to assist because the numbers are going through the roof, and this is an area that success means a new lease on ones credit life, and much more. Did you know that you could lose your job in some fields with a foreclosure? How about losing your security clearance? It can happen. Let me give you an illustration as to how this works successfully. Charlene got a call from a homeowner going into foreclosure. I don't want to tell you what field he is in because if you are an Oklahoma City Realtor you might put 2 ... 04/27/2009

I thought I had read it all. Increases in foreclosures according to Realty Trac, lack of movement in Congress to solve the mortgage workout plans, Realtors leaving the business in droves, agony! despair! Not to mention wailing and gnashing of teeth! But folks, the L.A. Times today reported a crisis of biblical proportions so big that Cecil B DeMille couldn't part this Red Sea. Yes, you guessed it, the crisis has reached that bastion of free market capitalism, Silicon Vally. It must be a slow new day or maybe the crisis is lightening up, but horror of horrors, Silicon Valley zillionaires are dare I say it, having to lower their price! Where is Limbaugh when we need him? Alert Keith Olbermann! Yes Kelly Porter did the unthinkable, he lowered his price from $45 Million to 38 million to hel... 04/25/2009

As a 61 year old, I remember the two houses I grew up in. The first was a 1935 bungaloo off NW 25th and Drexel. When my parents decided that they wanted a new home, the old home was already paid for in full. They did do a mortgage on the new home with a 20 year payoff schedule, and this was 1959.  15 years later it was paid off. A cultural event then happened which was commonplace in those days. You would invite the neighbors and have a mortgage burning party. It was a source of pride then. Contrast that with today where the source of pride is often a large house with rooms you do not need, and a mortgage that you strain to pay, or an investment that you did a negative am loan on. What happened? What really changed was the importance of looking rich instead of being rich. Along with tha... 04/23/2009

In case you missed it, the latest real estate statistics have been published for the OKC Metro, including such areas as Edmond, Deer Creek, Moore, Norman, Piedmont, Yukon and beyond.  Judge for yourself, but I'd say there are some very positive indicators of where we've been and where we're going, with sales up and inventory levels down. With the flurry of activity our team - and almost every other agent we've talked to lately - is experiencing, I fully expect that April's numbers will be even more impressive.  Stay tuned!FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER! 04/18/2009

First of all I need to diverge from my post. I am in Los Angeles, I just enjoyed going to a sushi bar, and the tuna sashimi was yummy, and the cured salmon with kiwi and orange fantastic. The fun part was that the three Japanese waiters next table over were taking a break and having hamburger and fries with Coke. It is a global economy and the world is truly flat. Now on to serious issues. Banks are getting tight with new home builders. Certainly national builder have the ability to borrow beyond small indepedndent locals. It is also true that much of the media has focused on homeowners and investors who went beyond their means, and mortgage companies that used predatory lending practices and steered people into subprime loans that they were given incentives to create. Independent build... 04/17/2009

Everyone seems to have an idea of what a small Real Estate Company is like, But I'm here to say - My company is the exception! We are educated, we are on top of our business...There is no office drama, and we dont get lost in the numbers!   If you have sold Real Estate longer than a day you can figure out that YOU are your biggest asset. The company you work for has nothing to do with how much business you create! Everyone claims they have something to offer - So here's what I offer - 1. No overhead - which means you can spend your money on your marketing! 2. A great pay scale where you enjoy the "fruits of your labor" 3. Education! Feel free to ask any of my Realtors how hard I push and provide education. 4. The experience and skills to help you when you need me - Again, feel free to a... 04/17/2009

After a slow start to the year, Oklahoma City is finding itelf equaling 2008 statistics. Call it a moral victory, a shout out to a diversified economy, and add in thank you to our commodity companies in energy and agriculture. Oklahoma is truly OK in 2009. This is the year that only 7 states have been recession resistant, including Oklahoma, according to Forbes, and other reporting services. In March of 2009, The Greater Oklahoma City MLS service which includes the suburbs, has now gotten back to the median price of 2008. Sales compared to last year was only off 56 units, and for the year, the median price of homes rose slightly. The average price was $125K, and the median price rose to $147K and change. Days on market was around the same. Even better news was the drop in inventory by 6... 04/14/2009

This is my first major holiday with my mother. She died in December after I returned from cancer treatment in Houston, and I am grateful for seeing her before she passed. When Mother's Day comes up I will do a blog about the lessons I learned from her in her 95 years, but today my thoughts go back to her as an organizing principle of the family, especially on holidays involving the church. I grew up as a Southern Baptist in Oklahoma, which at that time was about 3 out of every 5 people. It was the late 1950's, and church was mandatory every Sunday, but Easter was my favorite church holiday. First of all it was mandatory to have all new clothes for this one Sunday. My dad was a snazzy dresser so an opportunity to be like him was exciting for a 10 year old, but it was my Mom who took me t... 04/12/2009

The real estate housing bubble has been well documented. Areas like Florida, Arizona, and nevada were overrun with get rich quick investors fueled by subprime laons of all varieties. Homeowners contributed by teruning a blind eye toweards financial responsibility in the crazy belief that the market would only go up, and they could refinance when they ran out of money on the home they could not afford in the first place. The I don't miss him head of The Fed, Alan Greenspan chastised Americans wasign their money on those stupid fixed rate mortgages. The sky was the limit. But just like Icarus who flew to close to the sun and his wings burned, we crashed like this country hadn't seen in our lifetime. Now I see people getting optimistic about values returning to the good ole days of 2006, a... 04/08/2009

I just read a post by Matt Stigliano in Active Rain. He talked about how important it was to find common ground, and used an open house event as a example of how two people who initially don't connect, then open up and connect. As a Realtor who originally wanted to be a Philosophy Professor many years ago, I thought about one of my classes where we were discussing the meaning of Realty. It was about how Reality is mean two people use a common language instead of ideal language. Let me give a simple example and see if you have done this. Early in my real estate career I told a buyer that the closing was the next day and I was waiting for the HUD1. They looked at me as if I was speaking Bantu. The did have that quizzical look. I corrected mysaelf and siad, I mean the closing statement tha... 04/06/2009

I was very happy that the Oklahoma Sooners Womens team made it to the Final Four in St. Louis. I was even more impressed at the 12,000 that showed up to see the regional final here in Oklahoma City. Womens basketball is a joy to watch because they play old style fundamental basketball. But more than that when you add in the 19,000 plus crowds for the NBA Thunder, as a longtime OKC resident I can say I am so proud of our city. Today on my Google alerts I saw that Standards and Poors just raised the citiy's bond rating from AA to AAA, which means that the city gets the lowest rates on its borrowings. Considering that with a combination of sales taxes from a new MAPS project and the city's rating, the 440 million dollar convention center will be a reality. Things are looking up for us, and... 04/01/2009

When you live ina city that the metro area is 650 square miles, and has a road system second to none, it is unusal for me to get into a traffic jam. It happened 40 minutes ago, and there were three lanes of traffic, no accidents, and just a ton of cars. So why should I be happy? We had a traffic jam! The significance is that this city is bustling. We acutally gained 4800 jobs and that is just last month. Prices are either holding or increasing on real estate with a few exceptions where builders have overdone it, and that is at very high prices. A traffic jam means to me that despite the problems in this country we are doing okay thank you very much. Even better, I decided to go to the Apple store last Saturday to get an accessory for my Ipod. I went at 10:30 to avoid the crowd at a mjao... 03/31/2009

As a Realtor of 20 years I can tell you that in a self-employed position of doing service, who can send a week working on marketing a paper work, but then it alsways seems that multiple clients contact you at the same time. No matter how busy you are, when people are ready to look at houses or list their house, you are at their beck and call. The problem this week was that two clients wanted to buy, and one wanted to lease and they are needed a Realtor at the same time which was maybe me. Most Realtors work alone so this is not possible, but I have a 4 person team so it is, and with full service because they are all excellent Realtors. First, one of the crew was on vacation with her sisters. We don't work 24/7, so we are down one. Of the 4 clients, I forgot to mention a 4th, three of us... 03/29/2009

Oklahoma City builders have been promoting a Defy The Trends campaign for over a year. It seems that Oklahoma City has followed along and indeed is doing just that. While foreclosure, excess inventory, and job loss have dominated the news nationally, this quiet section of the country has had calm and stability. Here is a brief breakdown of Oklahoma City news that affects real estate. Housing Inventory. The Daily Oklahoman took statisitics from MLS sales from The Metropolitan Association of Realtors, and based on the last 12 months the metro area has 6.5 months of total inventory. That absorption rate is in contrast to the overheated states where the inventory to sell will take years not months. 6 months is interpreted has a neutral market balanced between buyer and seller. This has allo... 03/28/2009

Your Vote Counts! Pick Your Top '30 Under 30' FinalistBrowse the 50 finalists for this year's '30 Under 30' feature at REALTOR® magazine, then vote for your top pick. April 2009 This year we have an outstanding bunch of young, successful real estate practitioners who are vying for a spot in REALTOR® magazine's annual "30 Under 30" feature. The cover feature, which runs in June, highlights up-and-coming real estate professionals who are already making their mark with smart business practices, community leadership, and industry innovation.   BRANDON AND LINDSEY HART HAVE BEEN SELECTED FOR THE TOP 30 UNDER 30.  PLEASE HELP US TO MAKE THE COVER BY GOING TO THE WEBSITE...http://www.realtor.org/RMOsales_and_marketing/Articles/2009/30Under30_Vote....AND VOTING FOR THEM!!!!!! 03/25/2009

I know I live in Oklahoma, a land without oceans, a land without mountains, a land without......Depreciation! I knew I could find a reason to be here. Actually I am a native of Oklahoma and I love the place. I live in Forbes most affordable major city, and when I travel I don't have to go cheap. But back to the point of this blog, appreciation. The Federal Housing Finance Agency's web site just released national housing trend statistics, and it isn't pretty. Nationally the housing prices are down 3.4% since the third quarter of 2008, the biggest overall decline in 18 years. Oklahoma on the overhand has gone up 1.2%. I know that is not a boom indicator, but wouldn't you be happy with that. Nationally, 1 in every 400 households are in foreclosure according to Realty Trac. Oklahoma is 1 in... 03/19/2009