Life & Real Estate In & Around Athens GA. : July 2008

Here are a few traditional hints to help in your daily life around the home:

• To avoid cutting yourself when slicing vegetables, get someone else to hold the vegetables while you chop.
• To relieve high blood pressure naturally, simply cut yourself and bleed for a few minutes. This will reduce the pressure on your veins and arteries. Repeat as needed.
• If you have trouble falling back asleep after you turn of your alarm, place a set mouse trap over the off button.
• To relieve the symptoms of a bad cough take an extra large dose of laxatives. You will be too afraid of the consequences to cough.
• You only need two tools in life, WD -40 and Duct Tape. If it doesn't move and should, spray it with WD-40. If it moves and it shouldn't, wrap it in duct tape.
• For those times you need a third tool, if you can't fix it with a hammer you have an electrical problem.
• If you only tool is a hammer, everything else becomes a nail
• Some people are like slinkies, they aren't really much good for anything but they make you smile when pushed down the stairs.

Part of my lead generation is talking with FSBO's (For Sale By Owners). 

I have been doing this regularly for sometime but I still get responses that amaze me, regardless how many times I have heard them before.

I just got off the phone with a woman who is selling her own house. She does not want to deal with an agent, does not want to offer a co-op. She doesn't want to pay someone else for something she can do herself.

That's fine. I do a lot of things myself, also. But I know what I am doing (ok, my wife might sometimes have a different opinion), usually.

But this woman does not really understand. Her house (vacant, not where she lives) is an expired listing. It did not sell in 6 months on the market. It was overpriced. Based on comparables, overpriced by about 10% - 15%. I don't know what steps, other than MLS, the agent might or might not have taken to market the place.

But what do I know? I know that if it didn't sell the first time, it was priced too high.

So, what is this woman doing? She is selling it herself to save the realtor commission. On top of that, she has raised the asking price by over $5000. Her only marketing avenues are:

• a sign in front of the house
• 2 for sale by owner arrows pointing towards the property
• a weekly ad in the newspaper

I would like to have told her she more than likely won't sell this home with her tactics. I would like to have told her that her best chance is to trust and use the services of a knowlegdable Realtor. I would like to have told her that she is doing a good job of selling her competitions home. But, at least at this time, she would not have heard me.

I wished her best of luck.

For a copy of my For Sale By Owner handbook, just call me or click on my email link.

On the way into the office this morning I was listening to Neal Boortz. Those of you familiar with him probably know that he is crusty, sometimes crude and rather impatient with some things. He posted a link to this on his website and recommended watching. It is very out of character with the persona he usually presents.

The winner of the 2008 Cannes Film Festival Online Competition Cannes 2008 is Alonso Alvarez Barreda for his short film Historia de un Letrero (The Story of a Sign) produced in Mexico/U.S.A.

It is a very moving, heart warming story of what one person can do to change the life of another in a postive way. How just a few simple words, a few seconds, can mean the difference between success and failure.

It made me think, what simple thing can I do that would make a difference?

What words can I change on my sign to make life better, for someone else as well as for myself?

"The expression of gratitude is but a paltry acknowledgment of our debt to those who have served our nation with honor both at home and abroad, the debt continues to mount." Oconee County Commission Chairman Melvin Davis.

After nearly ten years of herculean efforts, amidst scandal and scrambling for donations, on July 4th, this year, the Oconee County Veteran's Memorial was dedicated. Hundreds of Oconee County residents, veterans and their families attended the emotional and solemn ceremony.

The memorial is a 13 feet tall and 23 feet long monument of marble with the seals of the 5 branches of the military - Army - Navy - Air Force - Marines - Coast Guard - prominently embedded. It is fronted by a small fountain in a courtyard bordered with flowers. The flags of the 5 services, as well as the United States and Georgia flags frame the background.

Much of the labor and materials were provided by local businessess.

The memorial is located in Oconee Veteran's Park, 1.5 miles west of the Oconee County Community Center on Hog Mountain Rd (Hwy 53).