"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.