Jan O'Brien - Real Estate Coach

Practicing and Cultivating Gratitude in Your Life

2008-11-17T21:07:00-08:00

"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow." -Melody Beattie

In her best selling book "Simple Abundance - A Day Book of Comfort and Joy ", Sarah Ban Breathnach takes the reader on a daily inspirational and transformational journey toward self-discovery and awareness weaving these 6 major themes of gratitude, simplicity, order, harmony, beauty and joy.

The Gratitude Journal is an excellent and easy way to practice daily journaling. Just follow these simple steps to cultivating more gratitude and happiness in your life:

Select a journal or notebook that interests or inspires you. Visit a book store and see what jumps out for you - discover if you prefer ruled or un-ruled, blank pages. My personal preference is the Moleskin notebooks - the blank, unlined versions.
Get a favorite pen or writing instrument. Don't underestimate the value of a great pen!
At the end of the day simply answer this question in your gratitude journal -

Today I am grateful for....

The Everyday Mystic posted this excellent article on Practicing Gratitude. In addition to keeping a gratitude journal, blogger Kristin Robertson suggests these additional ways to practice gratitude and appreciation:

Give thanks in prayer or meditation
Notice and remember "Kodak" moments
Notice and remember synchronicities
Appreciate others - actively let others know they are appreciated

And yet another cool tool to consider and use....The Gratitude Experiment - Watch this Video from GoGratitude.com and take the 42-day gratitude challenge to learn the simple, yet powerful, science and art of using the Master Key of Gratitude.

Take Action - Support NAR's Four-Point Housing Stimulus Plan

2008-11-14T06:30:00-08:00

NAR recently issued this Call To Action - I urge you to Take Action Now to support this plan. We need ALL members to support NAR's efforts to have the NAR Four-Point Housing Stimulus Plan included in any future stimulus bill.

As REALTORS®, we know that at its core, the current economic crisis is the result of problems in our nation's housing and mortgage markets. With Congress considering a return to Washington this month for another economic stimulus effort, NAR has put forth a Four-Point Plan that must be included in any stimulus effort in order to boost the economy and calm jittery real estate markets.

Housing has always lifted our economy out of past economic downturns. Immediate action is imperative to foster a housing recovery that historically leads any overall economic recovery.

Stabilizing real estate markets must be the core of any additional economic stimulus bill. As REALTORS, we must all come together and make our voice of experience heard on Capitol Hill. Please contact Congress today.

Contact Congress today and ask them to include NAR's Four-Points in the next stimulus package.

The Four Point Plan

The most recent economic stimulus bill, the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act, was a good first step towards stabilizing our nation’s economy. Unfortunately, a number of the Act’s provisions have not proven to be as useful at stabilizing the nation’s housing markets as was first thought.

Congress may consider second economic stimulus bill this month. If they do, there are a number of changes that could help to provide more stability to the nation’s real estate markets which most agree is a necessary step towards recovery.

NAR has urged Congress to include the following provisions in any future legislation:

Make the $7500 tax credit available to all purchasers and eliminate the repayment requirement. The credit’s limited availability and required repayment terms have severely limited the credit’s appeal to potential homebuyers. As a result, the credit has not been widely used or proven effective at stimulating sales.
Make the 2008 FHA, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loan limits permanent. New rules for 2009 would significantly reduce the FHA, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loan limit from their 2008 levels. Now is not the time to limit the availability of affordable mortgages.
Get the Emergency Treasury bank relief program back on track by targeting more funds to mortgage relief efforts and increasing efforts to mitigate foreclosures. Don't just give the banks unrestricted cash. Make the program work to improve mortgage and housing markets as it was originally intended.
Permanently bar banks and banking conglomerates from engaging in real estate brokerage and management. The banks have proven they have enough to do to simply properly manage their current lines of business. Do we really want them to manage on the home buying process? Imagine what could have been the situation now if they already had the added ability to engage in real estate sales.

Don't Miss the Social Media Marketing Webinar Series from Domus Consulting Group

2008-11-11T09:33:57-08:00

Domus Consulting Group will be offering their well reviewed Social Media Marketing Workshops starting this week, offering their one hour weekly webinar every Monday at 10:30-11:30 Nevada time over 12 weeks. Their first session is being repeated this Thursday and Friday at 10:30am. Please register for it at http://domusconsultinggroup.com/americana.

The Social Media Marketing System gets real estate agents an online presence that generates leads without blogging. You essentially become the go-to source for breaking real estate news in your area. You can see a slide presentation of the Broadcasting System at Transparent Real Estate.

I've seen how the System works. Using free social media tools, you "broadcast" your expertise in the real estate markets like blogging does. We want to get a group of Americana agents to broadcast market updates en masse and become a powerful consumer resource for breaking Las Vegas real estate news. Here's an overview of the sessions and what to expect:

Curriculum

Session 1	Social Media Marketing - Why an Online Presence is Critical to your Future Career in Real Estate
Session 2	First Practical Steps - Five Steps to Setting up your Social Network
Session 3	Understanding the Strict Protocols of Social Media and the Content You Deliver - Don’t Blow it!
Session 4	Setting up the Tools to Monitor the Social Media - FeedReaders, Social Bookmarking, Social News, Twitter
Session 5	First Steps in Participating in the Social Media - Your Network is Set Up and it’s Time to Leverage It
Session 6	Explaining Active Rain and Blogging - You’ll Soon Figure Out that the Blog will be your Central Marketing Tool
Session 7	The Online Land Grab - Get Your Name Out There - Five Online Services You Must Be On Before Your Competition
Session 8	How to Attract Online Traffic - How Search Engines Work and Why the Social Media is Quantum Leaps more Powerful than a Static Website
Session 9	The New Society - Changing your Sales and Marketing Strategies to Fit with your Online Presence - Retooling your Spammy Email Marketing to be Effective
Session 10	The Secret Nobody Knows - Mass Media is Converging with the Social Media - How to Position Yourself to Access Mass Media Traffic
Session 11	Your Newest Online Resume - Twitter and Friendfeed Strategies
Session 12	Putting it All Together - Integrating Your Offline Real Estate Practice with your Online Presence

I'll be attending. I think it's an effective lead generation system, and you'll learn a lot about the new wave of real estate marketing.

They normally charge $299 for the 12 week session. This week, they'll offer a 50% discount to Americana agents so the total tuition fee is $149 for 12 weeks, about $12/hour session. They "TIVO" the session for later viewing. In addition, they include full access to 100 step-by-step tutorials on blogging and the social media. Their past sessions have been sellouts.

If you're interested, sign up at our special website: http://domusconsultinggroup.com/americana to qualify for the reduced rate. You'll see more details about the curriculum and many testimonials at that landing page.

Hope Replaces Fear as America Decisively Chooses 44th President.. Barrack Obama

2008-11-07T17:12:00-08:00

November 4, 2008, 8:00 pm PST - is that date destined to become another "Do you remember where you were on that date and time?" I think the answer is unequivocally yes! Whether you voted for Obama or not you have to admit - that moment was powerful, emotional, historical, and inspiring.

Some of my random thoughts and feelings as I experienced that historic moment in time:

Hope & change have emerged victorious over fear and apathy.
Hope. Unity. A New Era. Heal the divide.
A clear, decisive victory - record voter turnout.
Overwhelming positive response around the globe.
I'm a witness to history.
The power of many working toward shared goals - focused on results.
Flawlessly executed campaign that stayed on point and theme of change.
Intelligent, strategic, calm, effective leader.
He will surround himself with the best and brightest - it will be a diverse, bi-partisan, powerful leadership team ready to take on the challenges of the day.

For a video breakdown and the full text of President-Elect Obama's historic and inspirational speech - visit Obama Victory Speech - Video, Text at Huffington Post.

This video sums up the overwhelming response and positive feelings of the Obama victory (unless you are a follower of the fear-mongering Fox news channel, that is). It's a NEW DAY!

2008 Election Results Live!

2008-11-04T12:06:06-08:00

Nevada Law & Reference Guide is an Excellent Resource Available at the NV Real Estate Division Website

2008-11-03T16:40:45-08:00

The Nevada Real Estate Division announced the publication of its first textbook on Nevada real estate law, the Nevada Law and Reference Guide. The book covers six areas of Nevada law including: Agency, Fiduciary Duties, Brokerage Agreement, Disclosures and Advertising.

Visit the Nevada Real Estate Division website to access the specific chapters and download the PDF files.

Chapter 1 - Nevada Law on Real Estate Agency

Chapter 2 - Nevada Law on Fiduciary Duties

Chapter 3 - Nevada Law on Brokerage Agreements

Chapter 4 - Nevada Law on Offers and Purchase Agreements

Chapter 5 - Nevada Law on Disclosures

Chapter 6 - Nevada Law on Advertising

Home Prices Continue to Decline Nationally According to Latest S&P/Case-Shiller Report

2008-11-02T13:50:07-08:00

Two of the most closely watched barometers of U.S. home prices are the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight home-price index and the S&P/Case-Shiller home-price index. Read more about these indices at the Wall Street Journal Real Time Economics Blog: Ofheo vs. Case-Shiller: A Primer.

The S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices measures the residential housing market, tracking changes in the value of the residential real estate market in 20 metropolitan regions across the United States.
For a fifth consecutive month, all areas showed a decrease in prices in August compared with a year earlier, led by 31 percent declines in Phoenix and Las Vegas.

Download the recent press release (National Trend of Home Price Declines Continues into the Second Half of 2008 - According to the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices):
CSHomePrice_Release_102831.pdf

Links to other articles of interest:

S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices - link to all the reports and data
Time Article: The Housing Bust: Signs of Bottoming out?
From Bloomberg.com: Home Prices in 20 US Cities Fell From a Year Ago

How To Buy HUD Homes in Nevada

2008-10-31T07:00:00-07:00

Buying a HUD home in Nevada is emerging as another alternative for potentially a good bargain. The active property list as of 10-24-08 had 48 available properties including manufactured homes, condos and single family residences. There have been few HUD homes available in recent years due to the high percentage of conventional loans. With the trend in financing switching back to FHA loans (46% of all Las Vegas closings in September were FHA), expect to see the number of HUD homes available to increase.

Here is a review of the HUD Home bid process and resources:

The local listing broker for HUD is Joe Iuliucci of Prudential Americana Group. Joe and his team ensure all the HUD listings are posted in the MLS and manage the listings for the HUD Marketing and Management Contractor Michaelson, Connor and Boul. The new list is published every Friday.
Buyers must use a licensed real estate agent to submit HUD bids.
HUD properties can be found in the MLS or at MCBREO.com or HUDHOMESNEVADA.com
Real estate brokers must be registered with HUD and be issued an NAID number in order to submit valid bids. You can check to see if your NAID # is current or your broker can register at MCBREO.com.
All HUD homes are on a Master key not on lockbox. Real estate agents can sign out a key at any Prudential Americana office or purchase a HUD key for $3 with a valid NAID # and your business card at the Prudentail Americana Southwest office - 8337 West Sunset Road, Suite 150
Las Vegas, NV 89113 Phone: (702)734- 5555
All bids are submitted electronically directly on the MCBREO website and are considered simultaneous bids. You must have the complete contract and all disclosures completed and signed by the buyer prior to submitting the bid.
When properties first come on the list, there is a 10 day period reserved for owner occupant offers only. Properties will open up to investors on the 11th day if there has not been an acceptable offer to HUD. Daily bids are open to all bidders/purchasers.
All the necessary Forms and Addenda are located at MCBREO.
Also, get the Broker Handbook: A Guide to Selling HUD Homes for step-by-step instructions on the entire process and how to complete the forms.
- Or download it right here: Download broker_handbook_updated1015.pdf

Make sure you review the Bid Results and Statistics area of the website for useful information to assist you with educating the buyer.
Remember the highest net to HUD is the winning bid - basically the offer price less any requested closing costs and commission (HUD will pay a commission up to 5% of sales price).
Check out the comprehensive HUD.gov site for extensive and useful information.

If you are an interested buyer, just give me a call (702-858-9191 or jan@janobrien.com) and I will be happy to refer you to an experienced real estate agent who can assist you.