Wouldn’t it be great if there was a simple test to tell you if real estate is the right career for you? Maybe the test would sound like this:

            Q: Do you get up before your alarm goes off?

            A: If yes, you’re a go getter. This is good.              

            Q: Did you belong to the pep club in high school?

            A: If yes, you’re enthusiastic. This also is good.

            Q: Do you remember everyone you ever met?

            A: If almost yes, this is good because you’ll need all the contacts you can muster.

            Q: Which of these better describe you? Perseverant or indefatigable?

            A: Either one will certainly help you do well in real estate.

I am just kidding about these questions. But, there are some general attributes to start you thinking about your suitability. Do any of these describe you?

• Self-starter
• Hard worker
• Flexible
• Affable
• Good listener
• Acquainted with the territory
• Informed about the product

Affability is a pleasant and friendly way with people.  In some professions, it ranks higher than ability, affordability, and accessibility. This is really important in real estate.

And the need for knowledge….where can you start? How about online? Since you are online now, this is obviously a medium where you are comfortable.  

Your state may have an online real estate course, and your state Real Estate Commission office can provide this information. Look them up in the state pages of your local phone book.

Or, you can search online, in your usual way. For example, if you look at the State of Illinois web site, and search for “real estate schools”, it will bring up the list of approved schools.  Look at the ones with web sites and think about your needs. Do you want to remain in your current job and take courses in your free time? Do you need flexibility for your family? You can do this!

Or, you can Google online real estate school”…

More later about schools. Let’s go back to attributes. This is a good 10-question quiz that can help you determine whether you would make a good real estate salesperson. 

Take the Quiz

It’s funny how a word can come on the scene and take on meaning in a relatively short time. In our distinctively American way, common usage propels these new concepts into the vernacular and even to the dictionary in a few short years. 

Staging in the context of the residential home market comes to mind. If you are just getting your real estate license and looking ahead to selling homes, you’ll want to know more about staging.

Where did staging start and just what is it? No doubt those models on display in new home developments were our first staged homes and subsequently inspired the notion of staging in other not-so-new residences. Trained experts knew just how to make those small bedrooms look large, and to distract eyes from the unsightly view out the window or the hard-to-work-around beam in the family room.  In the late 1990s, this service came on the scene for individual sellers and real estate professionals. And the word spread when it helped garner higher prices for homes..

Gina March is the successful woman behind www.itsyourstuff.com. She defines real estate staging as “a process in which a trained designer visually prepares a house for sale.” A properly staged home sells an average of 30% faster and for 13% more money than other homes, according to her research.

While you will learn to tell your clients to remove personal photos, to clean up the clutter, to even kennel the family dog, all to make a good impression on potential buyers. Gina takes on this task, completely and comprehensively. She starts with the front yard and works throughout the house, assessing the space based on six key attributes:  cleanliness, clutter, maintenance, a neutral palette, depersonalization and general décor.

A stager’s services include a discussion of the most important things the seller can do to improve a home’s appearance. This can really take the pressure off an agent by objectifying and depersonalizing sensitive issues for the seller.

Visit www.its yourstuff.com to see great before and after pics!!

For those of you who don’t follow the Fed, this rate directly determines the cost of loans within the banking system and indirectly influences other loan rates. Furthermore, it should be comforting to know that the 2.5 percent growth rate in the U.S. housing market should cause no panic. The National Association of Realtors, the U.S. real estate industry's largest trade group, said  that home prices probably will gain 4.3 percent this year. Sung to the Prairie Home Companion tune of “wouldn’t this be a great time for a little rhubarb pie,” maybe now’s the perfect time to get your real estate license.

Housing has been one of the few reliable generators of jobs for the past five years, and one of the only industries creating good jobs for workers without college degrees. Since 2001, the little real estate engine that could has outpaced even healthcare, with over one million jobs added from the housing sector.

The Federal Reserve’s two-year campaign of raising interest rates in a move to curb inflation has had some effect on the housing slowdown, but depending on where you look, some will tell you the boom is still on. So says George Vaughn, a business manager for a local of the Laborer’s International Union of North America that represents almost 50,000 workers in Las Vegas. As reported recently in The New York Times, “building activity for single-family homes, condos, hotels and casinos in Las Vegas is vibrant enough that construction workers are not struggling to find work.”

Times writers Vikas Baja and David Leonhardt add, “The fact that mortgage rates remain low by historical standards offers one reason to doubt that a crash will happen.”

At press time, the interest rate on a  30-year mortgage is still under seven percent !!

Serve it up, nice and hot; maybe things aren't as bad as you thought."

Be bop a reebop, rhubarb pie.