Get Real Estate Blog: Salem Oregon Home Trends and Relocation Information

I wrote on Facebook the other day that I think time changes stink.  I am not a morning person to begin with so taking an hour of my sleep away from me leaves me thinking a quintuple espresso is sounding good.  Between the time change and a significant problem in a real estate transaction for one of my clients, I’ve been a bit on the cranky side since Sunday morning.

Then, I got a nice pick me up.

I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t subscribe to the Statesman Journal. I have them in my twitter feed to catch news that I want to read.  As such I tend to miss things that aren’t big local news items.  Apparently, the best of the mid-valley is going on right now.  One of my friends told me on Facebook that someone nominated me for best real estate agent.

I appreciate the nomination, so thank you to whomever nominated me.  I appreciate the thought and it made me just a bit less cranky when I found out last night.

Now we just need to work on spelling my last name correctly.

This post has nothing to do with real estate…well only indirectly.  A local colleague (ie a real estate agent with another company), Charles Price has a really wonderful food blog called Taste of Oregon.

In fact it is so good it was selected as one of the blogs in Saveur for best regional food blog.  The public gets to vote so you all head over there and vote for his incredible food blog.  I’m hoping if I drive enough votes to his blog that he’ll make me dinner.  You all thought I was posting this because I was nice, but really, I have ulterior motives.  Please vote for a local Salemite here.   (You do have to register to vote.)

Whew…I’ve been so busy in the past couple of weeks that my blog has been neglected.  With the tax credit ending soon, buyers are out earlier than usual this year searching for deals… and so are the scammers.  I reported before about the Craiglist scam that hit Salem Oregon regarding rental properties.  True to form and just like the seasonal flu, the scammers are back out in full force for real estate season.

I received a call yesterday from someone wanting to confirm if my listing was for sale or for rent because it was advertised for rent on Craigslist.  Trying to scam some money out of folks here is what the scam said.

Thanks for
your email, I personally own the house, we want our property to be well  taken good care of, and they are some rules and regulation in which i  do give out to tenant willing to rent my house, so please don’t  disrespect my order ,but if you are still capable of renting my house  the rules and regulation goes this way. You must keep my house clean  including the surrounding, you must know the way in which you use the  stove so as to avoid fire outbreak,you must not disturb the neighbor.  We decided to rent out the property due to our transfer to (West  Africa) on a Missionary Work because, in a church here named World  Mission Center, so we are renting it out since we need someone to take good care of the property on my absent.

Have this in mind you must know the kind of person that i am,but nevertheless i am giving you this rules because of what corresponded between me and my last tenant. the keys and documents are with us here in West Africa… so i will need to ship them to you before you can occupy the house but you can drive by the house anytime to take a look.

You might notice a for sale sign, We plan on selling the home before our departure, but after our mission we decided to rent it out so that we can still have the property upon arrival.

2 br | 2 ba

Square Footage:1,218 sqf

House Type: Single Family Home

Pets are welcome!!!

Rent: $600

Deposit: $450

Location:760 Liberty St SE, Salem OR.

So for folks looking to move to Salem Oregon, please be careful of Craigslist scams.  I strongly suggest that if you are planning to rent google the address and see if the house if for sale. If so contact the listing agent directly to find out if it really is for rent.

Okay I had my contest for a new blog name and you all were gracious to spare some brain power and help me out.  While no one came up with a name that would work for me, Thesa Chambers, a wonderful agent in Central Oregon, by the way…got me thinking on a different vein than I had before.

I’d like to think that I am a “call it as I see it” kind of person and share what I believe to be the truth about our real estate market with you all.  I hadn’t really thought about that aspect of myself until Thesa pointed it out and suggested that I have something about “the truth” as my blog name.

So after some thinking I decided to rename my blog “Get Real Estate”   My new tag-line for my blog will be “the home truth and nothing but the truth.”  Cheesy, I know, but what can I say…I’ve got a dry sense of humor.  I look forward to sharing my Get Real market reports with you all here in January and continue with my call it as I see it blogging style.

I wish all of you a safe and happy new year and I’ll see you in the new decade.

Okay all of my much more creative than me readers…

Here’s the deal…

Earlier in the year I participated in a “Blog Idol” for this real estate training I went to.  The name of my blog “The Real Estate Jumble” wasn’t winning any awards with any of the judges.  In fact they thought the name of it stunk so…I still can’t come up with a super cool name for my blog…so I am giving you all a challenge.  And like all challenges…I offer rewards!

So in the comment section write down your ideas for a super cool name for my Salem Oregon real estate blog. Whoever comes up with a great name for my blog will get a $50 gift certificate to the restaurant of your choice.

So…I expect to see some comments people.

Last night a young teen knocked on our door around 11:00 asking for food.  My husband and I were up, the lights were on, and we live in a nice neighborhood.  The obviously well loved teen had some parents who were just struggling to make ends meet.  Anyone with a teenage boy know how much they eat and his parents just couldn’t provide enough for his growing body.  His situation was not about bad parents, by any means,  just a good family on hard times.

As our local Food Share is struggling to meet demand of our local hungry families, I can’t help but feel pangs of empathy for our many struggling families in the Salem-Keizer Oregon area.  While we may be officially out of a recession that doesn’t mean that things are going to ramp up quickly any time soon.  I fear that the knock on my door, may become more common place.

As I was arguing with my 9 year old son this morning about the importance of taking a shower, it is easy to forget about the many good people out there that are struggling in this economy as we get wrapped up in our own lives and situations.  I know for many real estate agents 2009 was a difficult year financially.   The number of agents that have left the large brokerages and started their own small independent ones has grown a lot this year.   As I look at the nice big turkey in my fridge that will provide ample leftovers for my kids for a couple of days, I just wanted to say thank you to all my readers out there.  Some of you have chosen me as your agent to help you buy or sell a house.  Some of you may be lurking out there thinking about using me as your agent and some of you just comment on my posts, which always makes my day.

Thank you for allowing me to have a presence in your life.  May your Thanksgiving be a happy and thankful one.

I was pointed to this blog today and as a real estate agent, I appreciate architecture.   I strongly suggest when you have a few minutes you head over and look at these photos.

The title of the post…

50 Strange Buildings of the World, oh…and there is a Part II and Part III.  Here is a taste of what you will see.

Image courtesy of Jonathan Moreau

Seriously, check out this post.  Just plain cool.

There is no argument that real estate is changing.  The question is what will it look like.   What it will look like depends solely on what consumers want.  G.D. Gearino wrote in a NC business magazine

If ever there’s a field ripe to be made obsolete by technology, it’s real-estate brokerage. There is no objective reason for real-estate agents to exist these days. Buyers and sellers can easily find one another online, and thanks to the endless data capabilities of the Internet, anything you need to know is readily available. From the comfort of your easy chair, you can take a video tour of a home, use Google maps to walk around its neighborhood, check crime statistics for the area, find out what the house next door sold for, etc. At this point, the most useful skill an agent brings to the table is knowing how to open the little lockbox where the key to an available home is secured. Yes, it’s an important task — then again, so was operating a telephone switchboard. When was the last time you talked to a phone operator?

I don’t think real estate agents will ever been made obsolete, but…and I do think this is a big but…the profession will morph or die.  There is no disagreement there.  Here’s why…

Consumers no longer need real estate sales people…they need real estate advisers.  It used to be that real estate agents were keepers of the information…the mighty MLS book.  Knowing what was available was what agents were needed for.  Remember contracts used to be like two pages long.  6 more pages later and several optional addenda real estate is no longer about knowing what is out there, but what to do once you find it.  That part is not as easy as it used to be.

Real estate agents need to know what questions to ask: how to help home buyers conduct their due diligence.  Real estate agents need to know what the market is doing: how to help home sellers prepare their homes as a result.  If the best that a real estate agent has to offer is “this house is great, let’s write an offer” we will indeed become obsolete.   The bar WILL be raised for real estate agents to be more than tour guides.  Consumers will require it.  As you should.

One of the most difficult things about having a blog is that it is an easy target.  I spend a lot of time running data, going to neighborhoods to take photos, and writing content for you all…my readers.  The fact is that my goal is purely selfish: my hope is that you read what I have written and decide that I am the right real estate agent to call when you want help with a home purchase or you’ll give my name to a friend that might need my services.   The point of this real estate blog is to generate business for myself.  I admit it openly and I think that consumers are aware of this.  I share freely what I know in hopes that you all give me the opportunity to help you.

Last night I was running some of my blogs through Copyscape, which is an online content checking program that helps to screen for plagiarism.  I have been plagiarized before, and last night found out I was plagiarized again.  This time it was a local Salem Oregon real estate agent.

I spend hours every week putting blogs together and with a few right clicks and a few chops, someone took it for their own gain.  A few seconds of work compared to my hours.  I can honestly say that as a small independent business owner there is nothing more heart wrenching then having my ideas and content taken by a someone that works for a larger company who directly competes with me.   It is difficult to compete with large companies anyway because many consumers equate big with better…even when it is far from the truth.  But I feel for the clients that choose to hire a real estate agent that takes those kinds of short cuts.

Some of my neighborhood blogs were hacked up, chopped and merged with “new” content.  Now I can’t copyright the idea of writing about neighborhoods, anyone can write about those.  BUT my sentences are mine.  Dear real estate agents, you have to come up with your own sentences.  Don’t cut and paste mine.  Even when you cut and paste my sentences and mix them up with your own…it is still plagiarism.    I can’t help that you read my blog.  I can’t help that you decide to write about the neighborhoods I have written about…despite the fact that there about 200 others to choose from.  Unfortunately copying my ideas isn’t something I can do anything about.  Copying my words…is illegal. Even if you copy one sentence of mine and pass it off as your own…it is plagiarism.

Real estate is a highly competitive industry, but please remember…what’s mine is MINE.  What’s yours…is whatever you create on your own, without taking from me.

Anyone who has watched the Lion King has listened to the song Circle of Life as they talked about the food chain.   Grass is eaten by antelopes who in turn get eaten by lions.   When the lions die they decompose and fertilize the grass that the antelopes eat.  Each plays their part in the food chain and the transfer of energy along the way.

In nature the food chain in this scenario is simple: grass, antelope, lion, grass

The economy has its own food chain. An idea is generated and a product created. Something that is deemed to have value.  This product is manufactured, whether it be cars, wheat, or LED light bulbs.  People purchase the product because they deem it to have value.  Money is paid to the inventor who then can go out and spend it or create more items that have value.    The inventor hires a Salem Oregon real estate agent (okay I couldn’t resist…of course an inventor would hire me) to buy a house now that he has money he got for making a valuable product.  This real estate agent gets money and can go out and buy some more of the inventor’s product or a new product.  Completing the circle of economy or the economic food chain.

In this scenario the economic food chain is simple:  create product, sell product, make money, spend money/invest money in new product, create product.

I am so excited for my local Salem Oregon area home buyers that are able to take advantage of the $8,000 tax credit.   As some of you know, the debate is on about whether or not to extend the credit. The National Association of Realtors is lobbying to extend the credit. The credit would absolutely help me in my business. It would be a good thing for the Melina Tomson economic chain, but I think it is a bad thing for the US economy food chain.  Here’s why…

It doesn’t solve the problem that  the bottom of the food chain has gone away. Imagine if there were just antelopes and lions on the Savannah.   What the heck is the antelope supposed to eat…the lion?  The US economy has the same problem.   We have very little grass, but someone decided to cart some hay in instead to feed the antelopes in the meantime.  We are a bunch of antelopes and lions running around with not enough grass but we have a temporary solution to the problem.   Just as the grass is the starter of the food chain, so is the manufacturing sector.  The fact is that we as a nation have to MAKE something that has value.

I’m opposed to extending the $8,000 tax credit because the fact is that funds are limited. We can’t be all things to all people.  Some people will win and others will lose: not because I want it to be that way, but because it is reality.  For me, the goal is to do what helps the most people.  The fact is that having a solid manufacturing base would help more people than the tax credit.  As such, any monies that would be “given away” should be given to new innovative businesses as low cost loans, grants, whatever...to create jobs producing something of value.

It is better to spend our tax money to create new jobs than it is to help prop up one industry, the housing industry, to help a few.  While I know many of my clients would benefit from the tax credit, the fact is that our economic food chain is broken.  Our grass is gone.  The only question that remains is what are we going to do to start planting some more. It takes a while to grow you know.

For a local Portland Oregon real estate blogger who wrote an opposing opinion on the subject read this blog.