Waxhaw Autumn Festival

My fishin’ story and selling your house

My dad was a big fisherman.  He loved go to the Tennessee River and spend a weekend drifting down the river.  Many times, he would take my younger brother and me along. 

As a boy, patience is usually not high on the list, but dad would make us sit as still and quietly as possible after baiting our hooks and dropping our lines. 

This is where the fishin’ story comes in.  I sometimes tell it when I list a home for sale:  One day, while sitting quietly for at least five minutes, I decided my bait was not doing its job.  I thought if I reeled in my line and put fresh bait on I would stand a better chance of getting a fish on the hook   So, I started reeling.  Just as my hook cleared the water, I caught site of a fish swimming toward the bait, mouth open.  Had I left it in the water a little longer, I would have probably had the fish.  The thing dad was trying to teach us (other than, be quite, you’ll scare the fish) was patience, which usually is a valuable thing later in life. 

This is what I try to tell clients I work with.  Especially home sellers.  Next to pricing a home correctly, patience is a must.  Buyers will buy according to their schedule.   I know keeping your house on the market over an extended period gets old, but it’s just the way the market is at this time.  No one knows when it will get better. 

With that said, homes are still selling.  Not as many or as quickly as they once did, but some are selling.  As a home seller, you should always keep your property in showing condition and make it as convenient to show as possible.  If you turn away a prospective buyer whose agent has requested a showing, you may have turned away the buyer of your home.  

Checking homes in several subdivisions around Waxhaw, The Oaks on Providence, Hermitage Place,  Kingston on Providence and Alma Village show a large drop in home sales this year from previous years.  Homes are for sale in those subdivisions, just not as many buyers.  The last I checked, interest rates were posted at less than 5% for a 30 year fixed loan and unit inventory is still high, about a 13-month supply as of 7/10/2010 in Union County, NC.  If you are planning to buy, now might be the time to act.

The Peach Lady of Waxhaw

 

The Peach Lady in Waxhaw has been selling peaches, tomatoes and other vegetables in Waxhaw for the past twenty-eight years. The vegetables are grown at Gowan Farms in Lancaster, SC about 17 miles from Waxhaw. The Peach Lady is usually open for business seven days a week May-October. If you’re looking for some beautiful fruit and vegetables, this is the place to go. You can’t miss her. She is on the corner of McDonald St and Highway 16 south.

Student Rebellion at Berkeley 1964

……a radical core uses legitimate issues ambiguously in order to manipulate a large mass.

AynRand – Capitalism

Why Tear Down A House To Add A Room?

This Old House Is Gettin’ Shakey, This Old House Is Gettin Old, This Old House Lets In The Rain, This Old House Lets In The Cold…………..

Today I heard a lady give a good metaphor for Obama’s health care plan. She likened it to building a house. Since I sell real estate I could relate to it. She asked, if you want to add a room to your house, would you tear down your house to add that room? Of course not. That would be a foolish thing to do. Secondly, if you did tear that house down, would you expect to rebuild it at the price you paid ten or twenty years ago. Again, the answer would be no. She said, the only reason you would tear that house down is so you could build a house entirely different from the one you just tore down.

Now, if you stop and think about it, this is what Obama (and the democrats in congress have done). He is tearing down the house (our health care system) under the guise of adding a room (30 million uninsured). Not only is he and his left wing party tearing down the best health care system in the world, he is also taking away, bit by bit, our freedom to choose in America. What’s next on his agenda?

If you value your business, if you value your freedom, get active. For those who were dissatisfied with the Republicans and thought it might be good to lose an election, what harm can they do in four years, now you know. Elections have consequences. Too bad some did not figure that out before the last Presidential election.

One other thing, by no means am I giving the Republican party a pass on this. They did their share of damage when they were in control. If they had acted like adults instead of a bottomless pit on spending, we may not have lost congress in 2006.

Who gave them the authority? Another email sent to Washington.

I’m reading a book “CAPITALISM by Ayn Rand

Here is a paragraph from the book the ELECTED ones in Washington should keep in mind:

The source of the government’s authority is “the consent of the governed.” This means that the government is NOT the RULER, but the SERVANT or AGENT of the citizens; it means that the government as such has NO rights except the rights DELEGATED to it by the citizens for a specific purpose.

Now, go back and reread that paragraph. Let it sink in, because the “regular” people out here, you know, the ones who ELECTED you to go to Washington and tend to OUR wishes have told you and are still telling you, we DO NOT want this government takeover of our health care. If you insist on being like “dead fish” and going with the flow, you WILL be voted out of office. If you are not strong enough to stand up to Obama, your are too weak to stand up for this country.

Send your note now, go to www.congress.org

High Unemployment

Today, I heard there are approximately seven million more homes that may fall into foreclosure. I also read where the White House is now saying we may have to live with high unemployment. I have to ask you, can you keep making a living with this level of unemployment? Why are the politicians in Washington so concerned about taking over a large part of our economy with health care, but do not seem to care about millions losing their homes due to the job situation. If they did, this forced health care bill, which most of America does NOT want, would be put on the back burner until the unemployment is taken care of. Since 1948, we have had three years of unemployment above 9.0%. Now, officials in Washington are saying we will be forced to live with high unemployment for an “extended period”. How long is an “extended period”? Does anyone need to ask why we are angry out here? I do not want to hear anymore about how this President inherited a mess. Every President inherits the mess of the previous administration. Others have inherited much bigger problems than this one.