is off to day 3 of continuing education class. It's been enlightening and fun so far. Good stuff!

is off to another full day of continuing real estate education class. Looking forward to learning new stuff!

is back at the office for a short time after attending 8:30 hours of real estate class today. Looking forward to a glass of wine later.

calling it an evening after hosting friends for dinner and two games of CashFlow. Cool evening and great company! CashFlow is so cool!!!!!

is working with his broker digesting and analyzing the government's mortgage funding plans. Look for a blog soon. To see my blog go to: http://ping.fm/f3ZW9

is meeting with his first time homebuyer client to complete counter offer for home purchase. One more step moving ahead! Hooray.

Patience, Excitement, Stress

The Phoenix real estate market is booming. Over the last 8 months, over 5,000 single family home sale transactions have occurred each month. In January, 2009, over 6,000 homes sold. Over half of these sales have been REO properties. The great opportunity in this market is for first time homebuyers. In my opinion, prices are at or very near the bottom. Interest rates are in the 5 to 6% range and there are all types of changes in the mortgage market. President Obama has just announced his plans for the housing industry. More changes are on the way.

How does all of this translate to patience? Simply, I am currently working with a 21 year old single homebuyer. I'll call her Brenda. Brenda is anxious for all of the contract paperwork to be completed and she is working hard to understand everything involved in the process. The process has a lot of turns and every contract is different. Teaching patience is critical as things happen, and the process is not always smoothe. Brenda has had lots of questions. This is great to me because I have been able to educate her while building a trusting relationship.

Brenda is also very excited because she really likes the house. She exclaims "It's so cute. I love it!" Her excitement is more than contageous. Her friends are very happy for her and many cannot believe she's buying her first home at such young age.

My client is making one of the most stressful decisions of her young life. She is stressed, and I cannot blame her. I vaguely recall my first effort at buying a home. I didnt' do it. Too much financial pressure! Brenda has handled some curve balls during this process with understanding and maturity. In addition, she has been able to make quick decisions with regard to properties we have viewed. This has carried forward into considering contract options and moving ahead with good decisions.

Brenda and I have a few more hurdles to clear on the way to finalizing the contract. Once that's done we get to go through the inspection process. While the property looks good, we will be taking full advantage of our professional inspectors to make certain the house is as good as it looks.

Stay tuned for more updates.

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