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What is the latest from Natalie

Happy New Year !!! I know the market is coming back… following on the heels of a refinance boom..we will see sales happen…. so get listings priced competitively… and call your fan club!

Do you have a “Face” on Facebook?

Sunday, January 25th the NYtimes published an article about Facebook use in the Mid East. It made me think of the power of the internet and even my small role. How will social networking affect our lives in the next decade? I am attached to this laptop and my social networking sites. And you! Click on the article to the right that I wrote about Facebook!

The Clock is Ticking!

We are deep into the new year! ……… bringing to a close a difficult year for our industry. As we step into 2009 the market will pick up, the lending industry will see some changes and start looking for loans, house prices will still be down from years before but they will not continue to plummet, AND…. Natalie will be out there teaching great clockhour classes!

Get Certified to Teach Clockhours!

This is YOUR chance to start the new year out with the certification to teach clockhour classes also! Natalie’s next Instructor Development workshops are February 23 and March 2nd in Alderwood and March 19 and 20 in Belleve.  There will also be one in March in Puyallup. If you have 3-5 years experience in the industry.. real estate, finance, home inspection, title, escrow… you can sign up! See the tab to the right.. Instructor Development Workshop.  Contact Natalie@clockhours.com.

Natalie Specializes in Desperation

Ok.. you have a birthday/renewal coming up in 60..no… 30… no 10 days and you need… HOW MANY CLOCKHOURS? Yes, Natalie will work with you to get your continuing education. Go to CLOCKHOURS BY MAIL… see the link on the right…? You have to take the Core Curriculum and 27 other hours…. there is no registration, password, or initial payment… do the hours.. and then email them to me with CC number or mail by snail mail with a check… Email us at clockhours@gmail.com if you are stressed!!! HOW MUCH IS TUITION? The tuition for the classes is $195 if you take all 30 hours. The 3 hour classes including the Core are $30. The 5 hour classes are $40 (I still have to update some paperwork) and the 7.5 hour classes are $50.

Ethics is NOT the core class

If you are a member of the Association of REALTORS then you are required to take a class on Ethics. It is offered free by the REALTORS so I just don’t compete with that. It does NOT have to be clockhours and has nothing to do with your Real Estate License. (some schools offer it for clockhours but it doesn’t have to be)

Rise above the Market!

Natalie had a fantastic turnout at her instructor meeting on Thursday, October in Bellevue. Brokers, loan officers, title insurance reps and others from as far away as Spokane, Vancouver, Belfair and Kirkland came to network and hear about the newest happenings with real estate education. So much is changing at the department of Licensing over the next few years. We have more classes than ever before. So many of our instructors are writing books…. including Natalie! Notes!

  • New FHA class… Sell more Homes with Government Loans… Learn about FHA now!!!
  • Short sale / distressed property class taught by Glenn Froehlich.. several scheduled
  • Natalie Leads Art Deco and Greatest Hits Tours with Architectural Association
  • Instructor Development Workshop

NATALIE BLOGS! Do you have a Google Reader (an RSS feed) .. go to Google and sign in… then click on “reader” … up at the top next to documents and photos etc.. find “reader.” It will open up and you will see how to set up one for you.. then when you open up google reader every day you will see what is new on all the websites you visit… instead of going to each one separately! So to add my website to your reader… click on the orange box next to clockhours.com. If you see to the right of this screen the list of pages. The Latest Real Estate News is my blog CLOCKHOURS BY MAIL… this is much easier than you can imagine. There is NO password, NO registration, NO log in, and no payment until you complete a class. Just upload a class in a pdf format, read the material, print out the quiz and evaluation and mail to us with tuition. If you are desperate EMAIL us. (Note, I am still trying to fix the SUBMIT button on the contact screen.. email directly at natalie@clockhours.com. The 2008-2009 Core Curriculum class has been uploaded here… you need to take it every two years for your license renewal. Tuition is $30.. and do NOT stress over it.. it looks so hard.. don’t worry! Has the market hit bottom? Did the Bubble Burst? Can it get worse? Hmmm… its only a matter of time until we really know… But, there are positive trends we will see. Investors will take money out of stocks and invest in real estate. Interest rates will stay low for the time being. People will start to pay down their debt. But, no matter, the news just never seems good and positive. This article I wore about headlines was a classic.. .. see what you think.

Headlines

The newspaper loves headlines that are negative to sell news, but look beyond and you can evaluate the numbers yourself. Look at the numbers.. Yes.. there are fewer sales.. but there are sales and median prices are holding! We are so swayed by the media on a regular basis as to how to interpret statistics. Note, for example the following two headlines on May 5th in the two editions of the Seattle newspapers from the SAME statistics from the Northwest MLS. Seattle Post Intelligencer

SEATTLE HOUSING PRICES CONTINUE TO FALL

Seattle Times

HOME PRICES CONTINUE UPWARD TREND

Most people that read the newspaper glance at the headlines and often do not read the article unless it catches their attention. So based on that… WHO read the PI article and WHO read the Times article? What type of people will want to know the negative news and what type of people go after positive trends? Not only that… what about those that don’t even read the article? If you only read the headline then your take will be completely different than someone that read the headline in another paper. Yet, the article is based on the same statistics!!! Is the real estate market seeing an “upward trend” or is it “continuing to fall?” So here are the statistics. The NWMLS reports that last month’s median house price was $448,500. That’s almost $19,000 above February and about $10,000 higher than March. It was up 2% from March. Market heading UP. A total of 2,419 King County houses and condos were sold last month, up slightly from March. This can show a trend that prices are going slightly higher. Market heading UP. The county’s median price, $448,500 was down 3.5 percent from the median price of $465,000 in April 2007. Market DOWN. Seattle’s median house price in April was $440,000, down 2.4 percent from March. This was after two months at $450,000. However, that’s based on a relatively small number of sales — 516, about a third of the county’s total. Market DOWN? April’s pending sales total for the 19 counties the listing service covers was the highest in eight months. Market UP. April’s pending sales fell 32 percent from April 2007, according to a news release accompanying the numbers. Market DOWN. Houses were selling briskly, according to a Windermere analysis, which found that a little less than half of in-city houses sold within a 30 days. A quarter more within two months. Market UP. My take on it… yes the market is down from last year maybe down 20%-30%…. but we are heading for pretty good market for the coming year… with prices slightly lower. Mortgage lending has tightened back to where it used to be… buyers will have to actually “qualify” for a loan and have some money to put down so they will have built in equity. I am most concerned about the impact of the gas/fuel prices affecting our entire economy.

LEAD GENERATION

Work on your own lead generation program.. don’t buy one… There are too many companies out there vying for your dollars promising you leads.. “FORGET ABOUT IT!” Go work on your own leads. The other day I got up in my PJ’s and emailed everyone who I had an email address for that took classes from me 2 years ago this month… and within an hour I had two agents email back that they needed clockhours.. Following up with your past leads is the best path to more business…. I need to remember that more often! Sarah Jean is a gem. She is my assistant and is just on top of all the paperwork that has a tendency to float all over my desk! Thanks for visiting! We can’t wait to see you again! Sincerely, Natalie Danielson New Guidelines for Title Insurance companies! ManOver the past few years real estate agents have been demanding more and more from the title reps that call on them unaware that there is a Washington State Law that limits the amount that can be spent on the agent to $25 per year per agent. The Washington State Insurance Commissioner audited many of the title companies and found a high number of violations. So, the companies have all cut back on all expenditures to make sure they stay in line with the laws. The new guidelines are out and you will see some changes in how they do business. Your title rep has Many resources for you to use. Find out how they can help you but don’t ask for them to dig into their pockets any more.