Real Estate and The Real Realtor

Or I should say: color, me bad!

In Portland, homeowners can and should have color in their rooms and the exteriors of their homes. As a Realtor I know that color is so important it can make a difference in a sale. A well chosen paint color can influence the feeling a potential buyer has when they walk up to a house or into a room. Make them feel calm or happy, and they may have that psychological lean toward your home that will add to their decision to buy. I don't claim that it will be THE deciding factor, but it can help.

But do not take any color advice from me.

Last summer we had our house painted. We needed to get away from the grey. It was too close to the depressing winter skies we have here in Portland. I deliberated over the colors. My husband did, too. I got out the color wheel and color swatches. We finally decided on green.

But then we had to decide which of the hundreds of greens out there would be the one. We painted big swatches on the back of our house and finally decided on one.

The painters came, did some fantastically fast work, and were done by the time I got home (early) from showing homes. I HATED it. It made me queasy that I had spent so much time and money on a paint job I hated.

How could this have happened? How could I hate it - and I mean HATE it - after all that research and deliberation.

I know how. I inherited it from my dad. Some people call it color blind, but in our family we call it color stupid. It's not that he doesn't see color, it's that he sees color wrong. Green is brown. Brown is red. Some of this has obviously rubbed off on me.

I know what I like, but I can't seem to pinpoint it myself. Every color pick I make is wrong. So after coming home today and seeing that clownish green looming in front of me, I've decided that it's worth every penny to pay for a color consultant. Even as I'm watching my pennies. I'm not even going to pick up a crayon without asking someone who knows better than I.

Luckily for me and my clients, I work with some great stagers who give good color advice. Or you can do what I should have done in the first place and find a house with a color scheme you like, knock on the door, and get the information from them.

Just don't ask me. It's not pretty. Ugh!

~Amy

** Disclaimer - the picture above is actually ok. In person it looks a lot brighter. I still don't like the color.

Some bring coffee, sweets and treats,
or sandwiches of yummy meats.
Others visit the bakery
and bring croissants so flakery.
Of this practice I'll partake no more.
There is no reason to tally that score.
Like a fire whose flame I douse:
No more food at a open house.
For visitors do not seem to care
or notice the food that is sitting there.
But into my own mouth goes the junk,
and guess who doth look like a punk.
Ask a question; my mouth is full!
I don't look so professional.
And so the treats will stay at home.
Buyers can find lunch on their own.
If sellers ask about leaving food out
I tell them it's better to go without.

A little trifle for this Monday morning...

~Amy Seaholt

I have been asked by all of my clients recently: When do you think this market will turn around?

I don't know, I have to admit.

So I do what I always do if I don't know the answer to something - I try and find it. I've looked into it. I've read up on what so many of the experts have to say. I actually think I'm being driven crazy by all the differing opinions.

A client pointed out that I'm doing much the same with my baby. The question my husband and I keep asking is: When do you think Sugar Bear will learn to sleep on his own? Some advocate letting him cry it out, others say that attachment parenting and co-sleeping are best. I actually think I'm being driven crazy by all the differing opinions.

The more I read up on both issues - housing market and the sleep training - the more I realize that it's impossible to predict the outcome until we look at it in hindsight. At this point, the experts know about as much as I do. Someone may be an expert in the sense that they have a lot of experience in a field, but really what they say is just an opinion. Nobody really knows what's going to happen with certainty and I'm kind of tired of the "my opinion is right" attitude of those experts. Am I the only one who sees this in a whole lotta shades of grey? 

There are many who predict a turnaround in 2009. There are those who say my baby can sleep through the night at 5 months old. There are those who are more pessimistic and think we have several more years of falling housing prices, and that my baby won't be able to sleep through the night until he's closer to a year.

Even the inner circle at Forbes can't agree on when the market will recover, or at least stop bottoming out. They even seemed to have an opinion about babies sleep habits. Huh. Didn't see that coming.

Time is the ultimate expert. It will be time that tells which expert was right about the housing market and how the Bear will learn to sleep. I think instead of putting much stock in what any of these experts have to say, I need to just look at it as interesting information. Let's just all try not to worry so much. It gets us nowhere. (by "all" I mean "me, when I let it get to me.") 

In the end, until we get through this time and can look back on it, everyone else is just guessing. It may be a very educated guess, but it's still a guess.

~Amy

Is it just me, or have you noticed that the real estate market is slow?

It's been a little while since I had any good, qualified leads or referrals. Two months, in fact. Which is where the above addition comes in.

Yesterday marked exactly 2 weeks until my due date with yet-to-be-named baby boy. Business has been slower than I'd like for about 2 months now. And yesterday I got calls from 2 new clients. Which equals no business for me. 2+2+2=0.

Is this what they mean by "new math?"

I thought about trying to salvage the leads. Baby needs a new pair of shoes (and onesies and hats), after all. But I have to remind myself that I am in a service industry. With the way my brain is working right now, it would be a real disservice to these nice people if I tried to make a go of it. It doesn't make sense to give them two weeks of half-hearted attention and then hand them off to a colleague.

In the long run, I must keep in mind, it is better for these nice people to have a good experience than be disappointed in my service. And how can I be of service when I'm busy focusing on nesting? Selfish, I know. But keep in mind there are the baby's clothes that have to be washed for the third time, bathroom tiles that need re-grouting, and cans in the kitchen that need to be arranged with the labels facing out.

Did you know there actually is such a thing as baby brain? At least I think so. I'm not sure. It's biology's way of saying: Stop working. Just finish getting ready for the baby. There are big changes ahead.

So I've passed the leads on to a couple of great people in my office. Thank you Alex and Kelli Sue. I'll happily take a referral until my brain returns to it's normal size and function.

After baby arrives and is a little older, after I get back in to the swing of things, I need to retain this concept. If I can't serve my clients well, for whatever reason, I will refer them to someone else. Too often in the past I've seen people hold on to a client whom they can't properly help. I'm sure I've done it, too. I find it hard to let go of clients both because of my love of my work and for financial reasons. But neither of those are acceptable motivations from the clients point of view. And they're both a good idea if you want to lose your way ethically.

So, my colleagues business cards are permanently in my wallet, ready to be pulled out and handed to anyone who may need their superb services.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to pack a bag for the hospital and worry about other important things; like why do I feel like the Commodores will be appropriate labor music? How's Lionel Seaholt for a name?

 ~ Amy Seaholt

I've been a working mom my daughter's entire 2 ½ years. It's part of our routine. She came with me to preview homes when she was only two months old. Every summer my husband will walk her by houses that I'm holding open.

Being able to work around and with my daughter is part of what makes real estate a great career. It provides my daughter with some special insight into what mommy does, too.

The other day I heard her playing in her room with her dolls.

"You like this house," she said to her baby.

My ears perked up and I tried to listen in without interrupting. In her little two year old voice and pronunciation, she was showing a house.

"There is a master bedroom and that's your bathroom. And you like the closet." Around Portland's East side there is a lack of master suites with good size closets. Apparently even she has noticed.

"It's a pretty house and that's the sidewalk. It's not my house but you should live here," she gave her dolly quite a sales pitch.

A few weeks back I previewed some houses with her for a client. I thought she'd be bored so I tried to hurry through. It was a vacant house with a very large living room, so I left her running circles around the room while I ran upstairs to glimpse the bedrooms. When I came down she was in the kitchen.

"Are those new, Mommy?" She asked, pointing to the appliances.

In the living room, she asked if the fireplace worked. And when I tried to leave without checking the basement, I quickly was re-directed downstairs. "You need to look down there," she insisted. "To see if there is water."

You hear all the time that kids are like sponges. I know it's true, but it still amazes me. How do they pick this up so quickly?

The same afternoon when I overheard her acting out Realtor games with her dolls, I asked her what she had been playing.

"Nothing," she dismissed it. "Just only looking at a house."

"Oh, was it fun?" I asked.

"Yeah, it's my work." She said before she changed the subject.

The best realtors I know are honest, hard working, balance work and family, and have other people's interest at heart. If my daughter wants to do that, then she has my blessing. I hope to live up to those standards myself. I get a little help daily from the smallest realtor I know.

~Amy

The Equity Group Foundation is the charitable branch of RE/MAX Equity Group. I'm the representative for my branch at the foundation meetings and it breaks my heart that we can't give to everyone who comes in and presents their case to us.

We all wish there was more money to spread around. There are so many causes out there. How do we choose what to support? Unfortunately we don't have unlimited resources and we do have to choose.  

One of the causes the Foundation supports whole heartedly is the local branch of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation and their Race for the Cure. By donating to the cause, we are supporting local women in need of cancer treatment, screenings, women's health checks, and other immediate needs of women in our community. And it fits the Equity Group Foundation's criteria for donations by providing direct help to local women in our community.

Personally, I am proud to support this cause. Oregon and Washington have the highest breast cancer rates in the country, and people don't know exactly why. Ask those around you to see how many of them have been affected in some way by breast cancer. You may be shocked.   Our branch office has a goal to raise just $720 this year to go toward the company's total $25,000 target. We encourage anyone in the community to help out, even if they are not affiliated with our office.

The other thing I love is that while it can be a sad subject, the event itself is so happy and uplifiting. Anyone who has ever participated in a Race for the Cure event will tell you that it's such a celebration of life. This year it takes place in Portland on September 21st and I hope the RE/MAX team is stronger than ever.

Me? I'm hoping that participating in the event will be a labor-inducing action. - I'm due on the 23rd with my second child. A boy. Maybe I could name him Susan. -  How great it would be to introduce a new life at a celebration of saved and remembered lives. Plus, they say that breastfeeding reduces your future risk for breast cancer. Appropriate, no?

~Amy Seaholt  

To donate to the Sellwood/Moreland branch fundraising efforts for the Susan G. Komen Foundation please contact me by September 15th, 2008. amy.s@remax.net  

To join the RE/MAX Equity Group team on the day of the event please sign up online HERE. Look for the big RE/MAX balloon prior to the start of the race to connect with other runners and walkers.

I've resisted for a while but the force is too strong. I find myself compelled to start a blog for myself. I've got to start somewhere, so by way of introduction, excuse and apology, here it is.

I don't know why I've resisted the blog for so long. I am in the perfect target market for both reading and posting them...OK, who am I kidding, I just graduated into the target market older than the target market for blogging.

But I feel even older than that. Sometimes I find myself sounding like my mother-in-law when it comes to the "internets" and "those web logs." She often even sounds angry when it comes to these things. I can write freely about this because she will never have a computer, let alone the internet connection, to log on to read this. Yet I see her point - what's wrong with actually TALKING? I don't type fast enough for texting. E-mail can have too much of a delay. Snail mail seems downright passive-agressive.

So here I am with my very own blog. And now I'm embarrassed about it. Not because I'm joining this group of people who in many ways are publising their own diaries online (and that's the best of them), but because I'm so late to the game. Clients are expecting us all to be so tech savvy, and blogging is just part of it. Not having one will soon be akin to not having a cell phone. Odd. Out of touch.

As I write this, though, I can see how this might be a good thing. More personal than an-e-mail, definitely better than a mass mailing. I've even already told you a little about my luddite MIL, and I usually wait to do that until our second meeting.

Having said that, I still think face-to-face is best - whether with a client or your mother in law.

~Amy Seaholt