I'm Back...

I've decided to start blogging again. It's been 3 and a half months, wonder if anyone will notice that I'm back?

Summer was fun. We went on a vacation as a family, which we hadn't ever done before. We spent 4 days at Yachats, which is on the coast near Newport. We had a great time.

After nine months without a paycheck, I finally closed some home sales in June, July and early September. It is nice to not only help others with their real estate needs, but to get paid too! My real estate business has had its ups and downs, but I'm hanging in there.

I've enjoyed my kids a lot this summer. They've been so fun. (Trying at times, too, but also fun.)

Here are some photos to share:

Here's the Scoop!

After catching up on my friends' blogs, I realize that I am not the only one who has put off blogging for some time. Whew! I guess spring is a busy time for everyone! Mainly what I was going to blog about what how Real Estate is going.

Let's see...my last paycheck was October 11th. (That right there should tell you a lot!) I have two different clients that I have written offers up for that are waiting to hear back if they are accepted because they are short sales (that dreaded word that brings shivers up and down the spines of all but the strongest of Realtors). Hearing back on short sales can take up to several months. One of those buyers is someone who walked in while I was at the office on a Saturday, visiting from Las Vegas, wanted to find some river front property. I gave him some printouts of possible places and on the following Monday I showed one to he and his wife. They came back to the office and wrote up a cash offer! I can't wait for this to go through.

I have also been trying to sell three homes. My most popular listing, the fixer on almost an acre in Boring, (which brought in calls almost daily), ended up being foreclosed on because the seller and the lender could not work out a deal together. (Another short sale situation.) One other listing is also a short sale (deep sigh), and I have been waiting three weeks now for the final approval-which has taken them months to even get to that point. I'm about to strangle someone at US Bank! I'm afraid the buyers for this house are going to give up waiting and find a different house. Actually that already happend for this house--these are the second set of buyers. My third listing has been a puzzle. I thought it would be a simple home to sell. But it is proving to be otherwise. It's a good price for a starter home, but for some reason I am not getting much activity on it. I'm hoping we don't have to reduce the price further.

Last week, when I was the broker on duty I received a call from an agent in West Linn who had a buyer interested in a home in Sandy. They passed the buyer on to me because they didn't want to come out to Sandy. So I showed this family a few homes and it looks like possibly next week I might help them write up an offer on a home that they like! Yeah!

Real Estate life is definitely a roller-coaster kind of job. I am having fun on most days. I am learning so much, too. I hope I can just make it through this difficult time soon so that I can pay my bills, and my babysitters!

A Little About Katie

May already? I really need to post more often. Trying to catch up for the last month is impossible. One fun thing to share is Katie's recent birthday. She turned 4 last Monday. We have a tradition of breakfast in bed on our birthdays, so here is Katie just moments after we woke her up. Then, I took the day off and took her to Starbucks for hot chocolate. We met Christine and Daylynn there. She got to go play at Daylynn's house for a few hours too. I also took her to my office for a few minutes so I could print out some color flyers. Susan, our receptionist put her birthday on the reader board outside for everyone to see on HWY 26.

Katie got quite a few books for her birthday. She LOVES books! My mom made her a neat quilt too. It is made from "Brown Bear, Brown Bear" material. It looks so cute. I don't have a picture of it yet to post, but I will try to take one.

Katie is also enjoying climbing trees now. It makes me very nervous, but she sure loves it! I usually stand right near her incase she should slip. I can't believe how fast she is growing up!

Where did the month go?

I've just spent the last 45 minutes catching up on all my friend's blogs. Instead of commenting on each of them, I'll just let you know that I enjoyed hearing about what has been going on for each of you. My job has been keeping me very busy and it is sad to think that I don't really have a lot to show for it yet. Sometimes I wonder if I'm crazy. Working hours and hours, weeks and weeks, and not making any money. I'm hopeful it won't always be this way, though.

I've had a lot of roller coaster emotional moments this last month, too. Some ups, lots of downs. As I neared my 1 year anniversary at John L Scott (March 11th), I seriously contemplated whether to continue on. Yet, I'm still hanging in there. (thanks to Rob's encouragement. I think he'd like me to make the big bucks so that he can stay home and be the "home-maker").

So, in case any of you wondered if I had fallen off the face of the earth, I haven't. I'm still here. Trying to balance (if one can) family, work, friends, volunteering, housekeeping, blogging, returning people's phone calls and e-mails....(sorry for any of you that I didn't respond to recently.)

February 27th 2002

That's the day my baby boy was born. He's turning 7 on Friday. I thought it would be fun to put in some photos of him. The early baby pictures aren't on the computer, so these pictures are from 18 months on...Enjoying the beach. Giving his little sister a hug.

All of his animals.

Taking his bear, Fred, for a hike.

Proud cookie maker!

First day of 1st Grade.

I could go on and on. There are so many fun pictures of my boy. Hope you enjoy them too!

This is an I Don't Think I Will Ever Be Able to Catch Up Post

The days are whizzing by...I have been working a lot, and trying to manage being a wife, mother and housekeeper as well. I've been tired. The kids have been sick. Katie has had a cold for over a week, (Jonathan almost a week), and today Katie started throwing up. Jonathan went to school one day last week (Friday), I only worked two days.

That kinda sums it up.

I did enjoy just sitting on the couch holding my girl today. Sick kids bring out the nuturing in me. She looked so pitiful. I'm hoping tomorrow is a better day for her--and that we don't get what she's got.

"Rock On!"

A fun thing happend to me on Tuesday. At our weekly Sales Meeting I received a trophy. It was in recognition of getting a major price reduction on one of my listings that needs to sell soon. It is actually this silly little statue of a hand doing the "rock on" sign. When fellow agents walk past my office, they give me the "rock on" sign as encouragement. (This happens to be a new motivational technique that one of our principal brokers has come up with.) And indeed, it has been a fun and encouraging week.

Showing Homes

Today was a fun day. I got to take some friends out to look at homes (you know who you are). I LOVE looking at houses. Maybe that is one reason why I got into real estate. Maybe that is also why I have been the one to instigate moving each time we bought a house!

Anyhow, since I was with friends, I took the kids along with me. (One great perk about this job is the flexibility. I would never take my kids with me when going out with clients I don't know.) So Jonathan and Katie got to hang out with me.

The first house was very interesting...a major fixer. The second house was also very interesting...a total dump (the house was loaded with stuff.) Trust me, if you want to SELL your home, clean it up first, and get rid of clutter.

The third house was cute inside, but you could scratch the back of the neighbor next door through your window. The fourth house was okay. The 5th house was a lot more promising. We were going to look at a sixth home, but I forgot to call the realtor ahead to get the key. We'll try again.

All this time the kids are doing great, mine and theirs. Jonathan is going to be a great salesman someday. I should take notes from him. As we were leaving the third house he turned to my friends and said, "So far, I think this is the house you are looking for." What a line! Maybe I'll use it on other clients! Maybe I should just bring him with me when showing homes. He is very cute and charming!

Catch Up Post

Rob's mom was with us for Christmas this year. The kids really enjoyed that. She actually drove up here from San Jose several days before Christmas (in all the snow)!

Jonathan and Katie had a great Christmas break, and holiday. It was so much fun to play in the snow, and just hang out at home as a family. For Christmas, we gave Jonathan a Magic set. He absolutely loves it. He has been trying to practice all the tricks and gives performances to everyone who comes to our house. Katie got some fun gifts too, but the thing I will remember the most is something she said while opening a gift from my parents. One of the gifts my parents gave Katie was new "Princess" underwear. Katie could not contain her excitement. As she unwrapped each individual pantie, she would exclaim, "Look, I got bigger underwear!" Now that is not something you would hear most women say, that's for sure!

My Christmas gift from Rob's dad just arrived today. It got lost somehow with all the crazy weather, and UPS not delivering in the snow. According to the tracking information on the internet, the package arrived in Portland on Dec. 24th. Hmmm. Well, I'm happy it has arrived. (It's a gift card to Bed, Bath & Beyond.) Can't wait to go shopping.

Jonathan is back to school, Katie is back to her routine with the sitters, and Rob and I are back to work. It's good to be back. I'll have to add pictures to my next blog post.