Earlier today I read a post by Lenn Harley about discrimination by mortgage lenders against pregnant women. This was triggered by a pst by Erica Ramus: Newest Discrimination: Pregnancy & Your Mortgage App.

I was pleased to find out the HUD is on top of this and is taking steps to investigate those lenders that are being accused of this kind of discrimination. Even Vice President Joe Biden had something intelligent to say about this, without inserting foot in mouth.

"Denying a mortgage to people just because they're having a baby is flat wrong. Mothers on maternity leave have jobs, they have income, and they shouldn't have to lose their deal to close on a house because they had a baby. I applaud HUD for taking action on this practice that could potentially affect untold numbers of families."

Whether this happenned only once (although from the reponses it appears to have been a bit more widespread) or is systemic this practice needs to be put to a halt and those who have been doing it prosecuted.

Here is the HUD press release regarding its position on this kind of policy.

I am always amazed by what agents provide as pictures of a property that they place on the MLS. Probably the biggest problem are blurred photographs, followed by bad lighting. Or maybe bad lighting is followed by blurred photographs.

None of these are excusable, but there are some that really standout as very poor practices. While going through expired listings yesterday, I try to see what the agent of the expired listing has done so that I can differentiate myself, I came upon a listing where the main photograph had a portrait framed picture in landscape mode. Yes, the house was on its side. No, the picture here is not the listing photograph, I don't really want the agent to be embarrassed, after all, his listing already did not sell. One of the unfortunate things is that the photo is actually a well framed, well lit and well focused photograph.Unfortunately, this was also the only photograph included with the listing.

No big deal, right? Except for this is the photograph that gets uploaded to all of the  sites that the MLS syndicates to. You know, Realtor.com, Trulia, Yahoo, etc. etc. etc. The places where all of the lookers, prospective buyers, prospective clients go. And with only one picture, and that picture mis-aligned, just what will the looker think. Not only that, what will prospective clients think? They will think that maybe this agent does not pay attention to details. If he/she misses the problem with the picture, what else will the agent miss.

And what about the sellers? Did they not ask to see the listing? Did the agent not show them copies of the listing?

Ok, maybe the picture did not have that much influence on the non-sale of the home (we won't go into the uninformative remarks here), but, I am pretty sure that it sure didn't help.

For information about buying or selling real estate in Athens, Ga and the surrounding communities, give me a call at 706-207-5290. Or email me with inquiries at athensrealestate@earthlink.net. You can search for and view properties in the area at my webpage, The Athens Real Estate Page.

I watched an interview last night with Madeline Sackler, director of the documentary film coming out next month, The Lottery. It is not about winning money but winning a future. It is about the battle between charter and other government schools.

This film follows 4 black families, 4 of hundreds, that have signed up to enroll their children into Harlem Success Charter School. However, there are only limited slots available and the vast majority who enter "the lottery" will not get their children enrolled.

It also follows the attempts by various groups to limit, and even eliminate, charter schools. It was obvious, during the interview, that Ms. Sackler did not expect to uncover what she did during the filming process. And, when pressed for specifics still had a hard time overcoming her preconceptions.

Information that I discovered while watching the interview and then visiting the website:

• The average black or latino 12 grader reads at the same level as the average white 8th grader.
• 58% of black 4th graders are functionally illiterate
• The acheivement gap between low income students and their higher income peers costs the U.S. about $500 billion a year.

Please visit the website http://www.thelotteryfilm.com to find out more about this film, when it will be available in your area, and then go ahead and see it. Read the reviews of the movie, visit the "about the lottery" page. It may open your eyes and want to get you more involved in our schools. It may make you want to question why we spend more money than any other country on education and are falling further and further behind. It may make you look at things differently.

Our education system is damaged, and our usual method of just demanding more money for it is not working to fix it. We have to do more than affirmative action to level the playing field. We have to repair the damage starting with the foundations. This movie may just illustrate one way that can happen. Imagine what our economy would be like with that additional $500 billion restored to it. Imagine if all of our children could read and write, do arithmetic, loved science.... Imagine!

This is a tragedy that needs all of us to help. Please note, the town for the Community Bank of the South is Rockledge. Please put this family in your prayers, and, if you can, write a check!

My wife and I record a lot of TV shows on DVR (the AT&T Uverse unit lets us do 4 shows simultaneously). We watch them at our leisure. We had just finished watching something that was recorded last Monday and decided to watch a half hour show before heading to bed for the night.

We decided upon Designed to Sell and watched an episode recorded last December which originally aired in Nov. 2008. It started out and I saw that it was about a home in the Montrose area of Southern California, where I lived from High School until I went into the military. And then it showed the house they were going to give their "$2000" staging project to.

As we were watching I told my  wife "That looks like the house I used to live in". After a couple of more minutes it was "That is the house that I used to live in". What a shock!

Home in 1964

It had been built in 1961 and my parents were the first owners. They bought it for $22,000. We moved there in 1962. My dad made sure I learned how to build fences, do concrete work, paint interior and exterior walls, climb the roof to put up Christmas decorations, do interior remodeling, roto-till a yard, plant a lawn, do planter beds, etc. etc. etc. And all this while doing all of the stuff a high school guy normally does, sports, friends, girls, cars, sports, girls, etc. etc. etc.

The exterior looked much the same, the outside color was a a yellowish instead of a peach color, some trees had been removed, a cinder block fence had been put up on one side of the front. The back looked almost unchanged except for the lemon tree, which was small when I lived there but was now over 40 years old. The inside we only saw the living room, master bedroom and kitchen/dining area. The living room and master bedroom were much the same, only the paint color different. In the living room the carpet had been removed and hardwood or laminate flooring installed.

A Few Years Later

The kitchen had been completely remodeled. All of the cabinets had been replaced and a side door enclosed. There was still the double slider off of the dining area. The flooring was also replaced with hardwood or laminate.

Needless to say, I rewound and watched several scenes multiple times and I put it on do not erase until I manually erase the episode. After it was over, I dug out some old pictures that I got after my mother passed but have never really organized, just one big box. We dug through them a looked at faded 40 year old pictures of the house, my family, my friends.

During the show my wife pointed out the lemon tree and asked if it was there when we lived there. I said yes, and there was even a picture of it when it was about 3 feet tall. With some lemons on it. I called my sister to tell her about this and her first question was if the lemon tree was still there.

The Lemon Tree's Early Childhood

It was great to see something like that on television. I am still exited about it. How many people can find one of their old homes featured on a tv show? Now I have to go and sort out a bunch of old pictures.

My parents sold it in 1972 for about $34,000. It sold in 2008 for $699,000.

I woke up this morning with the increasing aches and pains of getting a bit older. I winced, grumbled, moaned and groaned and loudly commisserated about no longer being young and spry. About how nature is mistreating us in our prime years.

And then I remembered a video clip that a friend of mine, a good golfing buddy, sent me the other day. We go out every couple of weeks a flail away at a little white ball for 18 holes, certainly getting our moneys worth of strokes, and fun. We bitch and moan about the unfairness of the greens, bad bounces. We make excuses for our play, arthritis kicking in, a squirrel passed gas just as I was in the middle of mine down-swing. And then I realize, I don't have it so bad, all things considered.

Meet Butch Lumpkin. If there ever was a person that had a right to complain, had the right to feel that life treated him unfairly, the right to feel sorry for himself, that person is Butch Lumpkin. He took what life handed him and made it work. I wish I could hit the ball as far as he does. I wish that I could score as well as he does. I hope that I can face those trials coming to me in the future as well as he does.

So, the next time you are feeling beat down by life, that you have too many things working against you, that life is unfair, go ahead and visit Butch again. The next time you see someone complaining about their state in life, introduce them to Butch. Most of you, most of us, will realize that maybe we don't have too much to complain about.

Whether you are a golfer or not, you might develop a new appreciation for life after viewing this. Be patiend with the very short commercial at the beginning.

Yesterday Haiti sufferred a 7.0 earthquake. Thousands are dead. Up to 3 million people are estimated to have been severely affected by this event, homes destroyed, services interrupted, etc.

The private citizens of America have always been generous with their time and their money when such disasters have occured. I know that times here may be tough for many, but please, let's show the world that the private citizens of the United States are still the most compassionate, still the most giving when others need our help as the result of disasters like this.

Whether its, $5, $10, $25 or $thousands, please, give what you can.

You can donate to many relief agencies, like the American Red Cross. I will be donating through Americares, where up to 99% of donations goes directly to relief programs and not management or fund raising.

Please, give what you can. The Haitian people are desperately in need of our help!

I received a link to this video in an email this morning. I thoroughly enjoyed it and thought that I would share it with all of you in the hope that you feel as good after watching it that I did.

Although I have been to Alaska multiple times and have seen plenty of moose, I have never seen anything like this. Although I am sure that Jesse Clifton and others have enjoyed scenes like this very often.

So, without any further adieu:

Photos Copyright Mike Saunders - 2009. For information on things to do, dining, lodging or about buying or selling your home in Athens - Clarke County, GA and the surrounding counties, call me at 706-207-5290, click here to send me an email with your inquiries or visit my website at The Athens Real Estate Page.

Do you ever talk to your buyer's about taking title and what their options are? If not, why not? If so, why, and how?

I have seen multiple buyers, especially first time, (or first time in a state) go to a closing and take the title as it is prepared, the attorney or other closing entity not asking one question about how the buyers would like to take title. For instance, here, in Georgia, multiple buyers, including married couples, can take title to a property either as Joint Tenants or Tenants in Common. And most don't really understand the difference or the implications. In other states, there may be different title options, or restrictions.

When my parents bought property in Arizona they purchased as joint tenants. When my father died, my mother thought that she had received the rights to the property. I purchased the property from my mother, or, at least I thought that I did. Come to find out, I only purchased 1/2 of the property, her half. However, I did not find this out until I sold the property, 15 year after my mother died. Nobody told my parents that they need to add "with Rights of Survivorship" in order for my mother to get my father's half. It took some money, and some time, but we were able to get things corrected.

But back to my question, do you ever talk to your buyer's about title? I know that I do, although I only point out the options here in Georgia and do not advise them as to what would be best in their circumstances. I recommend that if they want legal advice as to how they should take title, to talk to an attorney.

Like I said, it might not be a catchy title, but, how a title is taken can catch the buyers unaware when it is time to sell.