Thanksgiving Priority List

This time of year tends to give us a sense of being overwhelmed.

It seems that the “To-Do” list is much longer than can possibly be managed. In recent years, I have experienced more peace and less panic. Allow me to share my PRIORITY LIST with you.

• BE GRATEFUL - No matter your circumstance, there are those among you that have more and those that have less. Let everything that does not inspire appreciation go. It has no place in your life. Notice the beauty of the world around you.

• HAVE FUN – Focus on creating memories that are about laughter, friends and awesome experiences…instead of perfection. Does anyone really care whether your house looks like it was decorated by Martha Stewart if you are too tired to enjoy their company?

• DO FOR OTHERS – The decision about who to help is insignificant. What really matters is how it makes you feel when you look outside yourself to help another. I suggest that you help someone you do not know very well. If nothing comes to mind, go to www.TheHungerSite.com. I researched it on www.Snopes.com and it is a way to give food to the less fortunate WITHOUT any money.

As the Holiday Season rushes through our lives – filled with demands that seem beyond our control – remember that money is replaceable and frequently fleeting…good family and friendships are not.

It is truly a good life...enjoy the moments!!!

Pursuing Happiness - Biochemistry explores

I have a firm belief that the "Highest and Best" use of our time is to spend it in happiness.  The question arises how to accomplish that goal.  Biochemist Matthieu Ricard gives a presentation on http://www.ted.com/ that gives insight on how that can be done.



I am blessed with a sense of natural happiness.  Even when my life has been full of turmoil or stressful situations, I have been able to find more happiness than sadness.  For that I am deeply grateful.

I hope this video either confirms the way you approach life - and happiness - or gives some guidance on how to train your mind to be happy.  It is well worth the effort

Texas Pioneer Families

Stories abound about Texas families that came to our beautiful part of the world and laid down roots in the rich soil of the forests north of Houston.  These are strong families with deep and abiding ties to their parents, and grandparents; aunts, uncles and cousins; and unending of circles in connection to each other.

Land that has been handed down for generations carries a value that simply cannot be reduced to money alone.  Each tree has meaning.  Either it was planted by an ancestor - or - it was spared being cut down because of some carefully considered decision of someone that was related.

Sometimes the buildings housed those family members who have passed and those that are left feel a sense of responsibility to cherish those buildings.  So when some high and mighty commercial real estate agent comes along and tries to dangle a fistfull of dollars in front of them - the experience feels like he is asking you to violate that memory.

I have great empathy for those hearty souls that are so dedicated to the land and the people of their family that came before them.  I respect their desire to honor the past.  I think that it is respectful of the family to consider other possibilities.

What is the highest and best use of this precious family estate (precious because of the connection to family - no matter the financial value)?

Is it time to stop looking back to the history of the family on this piece of land? 

Is it time to become a real estate seller?

Is it time to begin looking forward to the future of the family that can begin again in a place that will offer the lifestyle that is important to them?

Highest is NOT always BEST!

As a real estate agent, I have a number of instances where I need to work with my client to determine the highest and best.

Some people mistakenly think that the highest offer for a piece of real estate is always the best one for the seller. Often, it is a very big mistake to make that assumption.

So how does a prospective buyer make an offer that is the BEST without having to offer the highest dollar amount to the seller?

ANSWER: By learning what motivates them.

Here are a few things that may cause an offer to be chosen:

• The offer that yields the most money at closing…obviously.

• An offer that meets the Seller’s time parameters (Remember that a quick closing is not always desired. In fact, sometimes allowing the seller to take their time to move is the desired circumstance.)

• An offer that includes something of value which is not money. (For example, when a buyer is willing to do some of the make-ready tasks, it can often be quite attractive to a seller.)

• Meeting spiritual needs becomes important when there is a sense of what is the “right” use of the property. When a buyer has an intended use that makes the seller feel good. (Even though the seller is liquidating their investment, it does not always mean that the “heart and soul” invested in the house can be reduced to dollars.)

• A sale that meets the emotional needs of a Seller (Often a seller is willing to take much less than the market price in order to see it owned by a friend or family member.

Uniting Lovingly with the World

Pause...

Take the time to notice.

There are awesome things happening all around you that you MAY be too busy to notice!

This morning, I witnessed an amazing sunrise!

My dog Shadow causes me to experience some good things every morning.  I walk her and she walks me.  I observe the joy that she gets from the little things - like having my attention for about half hour. She wags her tail with unrestricted joy.  She looks for my lead and knows that I will protect her.

Some mornings, our joined experience is taken up another level.  Because we walk sometime from 4:30 to 7am, our opportunity to witness nature varies. Some mornings, we watch the deer or rabbits.  This morning, we watched the sunrise.

This blog is about the "Highest and Best" and let me tell you...the highest and best use of your time and attention is often missed.  There is no doubt that I have missed many the marvelous sunset, countless observations of our wild animals, and loads of opportunity to "stop and smell the roses."

NOW - Today...I commit to letting those moments soak in to my reality.  I want to feel connected to the things that are not busy...too busy to enjoy and marvel...committed to a "to-do" list instead of a "to-be" awareness.

My ACIM lesson today said, "...we offer a blessing to all things, uniting lovingly with all the world,"  How appropriate!

BTW: The pic is not my own, but a stock photo from Microsoft Clipart.  I did not have my camera.  And besides that, the sunrise I saw was too magnificient to capture anyway.

Get the Maximum $$$ by Deciding on Highest and Best Use

You cannot have great results in your garden until you decide what you want to plant. AND, likewise - You can't sell unrestricted property at the highest and best price and terms unless you first determine the highest and best use of the property.

This analogy may sound a bit facetious when it comes to marketing and pricing real estate - but I believe it rings quite true. Let me see if I can give you a few examples that may drive my point.

There is a piece of real estate currently on the market that I would love to get the opportunity to sell. It is listed by another agent so I cannot share specific information about this property. But it could be a dozen other properties that suffer from the same predicament. This listing has been on the market for more than a year - with two listing agents doing what they feel is right to sell the property.

Location is excellent because it is less than a mile from a highly restricted and highly desired community. It does not have frontage on a major road, but for the appropriate buyer that would be an advantage. It has more than 15 acres of unrestricted land with 5 acres of it a tranquil, scenic pond. The home was built more than 3 decades ago, so many prospective buyers would eventually pull down the house because it does not serve their purpose. The 6 rental units (mostly mobile homes) are very limited in value to most prospective buyers.

OK - I might get myself into trouble here, but I am going to say it...
These listing agents have done it all WRONG!

The way this listing has been presented to the market is only slightly different than it would be marketed if it were in a remote location, poor neighborhood with bad access issues. The descriptions describe the residential and current cash flow benefits of the property. Yet the price is far above the range that would justify purely residential use. The method they are using is like planting green bean seeds and hoping that someone will pay them the price of endive.

I remember 14 years ago when I was learning commercial real estate around the conference table with some of Montgomery County's greatest commercial agents. One of the basic principles that was repeated over and over again is that you cannot establish a price or a marketing strategy until you have determined the "highest and best use" of the property.

I invite you to share your opinions about what the highest and best use would be for this property. I am thinking corporate training center, spiritual retreat, holistic healing community. The most likely buyer will be someone that wants the peaceful surroundings, yet places a high value on the fact that it is very near the face paced lifestyle of the nearby community.

What do you think?

BTW: If you might need a property like this, I can represent you as a buyer. If you own an unrestricted property in the Greater Houston area, contact me for a comprehensive Highest and Best Use Analysis.

Highest and Best...

It is a concept used in the real estate industry in many ways. As a residential specialist, it is most often used in relationship to a competing offer. Even in today's relatively tough market, we deal with competing offers on a regular basis.

When a listing agent (the one representing the seller) gets notification that more than one offer is being submitted, they will usually tell each of the buyer's agents to get the "highest and best offer". That way the seller knows that each of the prospective buyers have been given the opportunity to express the degree of interest in the property and give it their best shot.

A good agent develops a protocol for handling multiple offers that maximizes the benefit to their client. Whether you are a buyer or a seller, you better hope that you have a strong negotiator working on your behalf if you find yourself faced with a competing offer. An uninformed decision about how to handle mulitple offers can lead to dissappointment and even the failure of the sale. (I could write pages in this blog sharing case studies of what works and what does not...and all the nuances where you have to simply take a chance. But that is not what I am posting today. Maybe sometime in the future. Let me know if you would like to see me share those case studies.)

These competing offer situations happen primarilly in two scenarios:


* Foreclosures: When an asset manager places a residential property on the market, if it is priced right it will often have more than one person attempting to purchase it within a week or two.

Please Note: I am speaking about the real estate market in the Greater Houston area...specifically The Woodlands and Spring. If you would like to learn more about what is happening in your market, simply let me know and I will connect you with an expert for your neighborhood.

* Smart Sellers: Many homeowners simply cannot grasp the extreme importance of preparing their home for the market. They look to the agent to obtain a buyer at "the highest possible price, in the shortest amount of time, and with the least hassle." I make that statement in quotes because it is a common promise that agents make to prospective sellers.

When markets were hot, the agents did not always have to share the cold hard fact that the seller has a huge role in whether a house sells or not - AND - how much money they will make in the sale. When markets soften...buyers are able to become extremely picky.

Today's buyers are well informed with all the internet data available. They know a good buy when they see one. They also recognize that the BEST ones seem to sell very quickly, so they have learned to monitor the market and move quickly when something well priced, well staged and well marketed shows up.

It creates two markets for the available inventory. The first market is full of "Smart Sellers." This group of properties often sell in less than two weeks and it is not unusual for there to be competing offers. The second market is the ones that are not snatched off the market by the well-informed and ready buyers. Unfortunately, those properties often linger on the market for months and months. (The statistics are easily gathered to see how the market is working in each community, so don't hesitate to ask for the data.)

This is only one of many areas of real estate where we use the term "highest and best". Keep coming back to this blog to learn about a range of other uses of this phrase. Don't hesitate to call or email me with your questions.