To laugh is to risk appearing the fool


To weep is to risk appearing sentimental


To reach out for another is to risk involvement


To expose feelings is to risk exposing your true self


To play your ideas, your dreams before the crowd is to risk their loss


To love is to risk not being loved in return


To live is to risk dying


To hope is to risk despair


To try is to risk failure


But risk must be taken, because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing


The person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing, and is nothing


He may avoid suffering and sorrow, but he simply cannot learn, feel, change, grow, love


Chained by his certitudes, he is a slave


He has forfeited freedom


Only a person who risks is free














Author Unknown

THINGS THAT REALTORS® WISH THAT BUYERS KNEW UP FRONT 1: Buying real estate today is not like the last time you bought real estate, and not like when your parents bought real estate. The rules have changed. A majority of the reasonably priced inventory on the market today is either bank owned (a foreclosure) or a short sale (a property that we are trying to sell for less than the owner owes on it. We have to get the bank/lender’s permission to do this. This bank/lender does not often have a reliable system in place to deal with our request, which means that short sales can be frustrating, bizarre, and unpredictable.) Understand that the bank/seller or bank/current lender in these situations does not care whether or not you buy this property. If you step away they know that somebody else will step up. The old back-and-forth negotiation rules that we all know and love will probably lose you a deal or two. Listen to your REALTOR®’s advice – this is not their first rodeo. 2: All real estate agents are not the same. About half of the real estate agents out there are just that – people licensed by the State of Arizona to sell real estate. The other half are REALTORS®. REALTORS® are also licensed to sell real estate. The difference is that REALTORS® have joined the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR), the Arizona Association of REALTORS® (AAR), and a local REALTOR® Association. If you are reading this, it was given to you by a member of the Sedona Verde Valley Association of REALTORS® (SVVAR). A REALTOR® has sworn to abide by the NAR Code of Ethics. If they have not sworn to adhere to the Code of Ethics they will not be allowed to be a member of any of these organizations. You can read the NAR Code of Ethics at http://www.realtor.org/mempolweb.nsf/pages/code Look for that big ®. It means that you are dealing with an ethical professional. It means that your REALTOR® is highly trained and regulated, and that you now have the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) and the REALTOR’S® Property Resource (RPR) at your disposal. 3: Zillow’s Zestimates (and their ilk) are not gospel. They’re usually not even very accurate. Zillow, Trulia, County Assessor’s property valuations – none of these tools are a reliable way to figure out what a particular property is worth. When you come to your REALTOR® and say “I want to offer the Zestimate price” you may or may not hear the gasp, but I’ll bet it was there. Zillow and the like are advertising sites, in the clever disguise of property valuation sites. Do you see those “Featured Partners” ads? Zillow makes money by selling those ad blocks, and they sell the ad blocks by getting people to come to Zillow hoping to get an insider’s scoop on property values. Your REALTOR® has something better. We can pull current, accurate, targeted valuations through MLS and RPR®, using the RPR REALTOR® Valuation Model. We know the neighborhoods and we know the properties. We can tell you what a property is worth and then we can prove it. 4: Your REALTOR® works on a commission basis. REALTORS® do not usually get a salary. We get paid when your deal closes. We spend thousands of dollars to get licensed and thousands more in dues and continuing education every year. Gas, vehicle maintenance, clothes, cards, paper, ink, computers, office, MLS fees, and SVVAR, AAR & NAR dues, all of this overhead is given to you on faith that you are real and are going to try to buy one of the properties that we show you. People who think “It’s fun to look, and a cheap way to spend a Sunday” with no intention of buying might as well just come into our homes and lift money from our wallets and take the food off of our tables. Also, expecting real estate agents to give up a piece of our commissions during the deal is not cool. Do you expect the barber to renegotiate the price of the haircut with you as he makes his last snip? 5: Buying real estate does not have to be a fight. Even though on paper this is an inherently adversarial process, in reality it doesn’t have to be. Some people say “Yeah, but they want to get the highest amount while I want to pay the least. Of course it’s adversarial!” I would counter with “You want to buy the property. They want you to buy the property. Your REALTOR® wants to help that to happen. Where’s the adversarial part?” Deals can get blown and relationships ruined by the attitude that we must squeeze the last drop of blood out of the “other side.” We must not leave even one smidgen of crumb on the table! Well, maybe you should leave that last crumb. Wouldn’t it be so much better after close of escrow if you felt comfortable calling up the seller and asking if they know why the trees are making that funny noise? 6. Your REALTOR® has the same fiduciary requirements to their clients that your attorney, priest, or doctor has. That’s right – a REALTOR®’s client can expect the same level of confidentiality from their REALTOR® as you expect from your priest. Our agency relationship with a client mandates:  Confidentiality  Accountability  Reasonable Care and Due Diligence  Loyalty  Obedience to lawful requests  Advocating and Good Advice  Disclosure 7: How do I become a client instead of just a customer? Ask for, read and then sign the Buyer’s Broker employment form with your REALTOR®. If you don’t, all that you can legally expect is disclosure. 8: Yes, consensual dual agency is legal in Arizona. Your REALTOR® is legally allowed to be both yours and “the other side’s” REALTOR®, as long as everybody involved is aware of what it means and agrees and gives written permission for them to do so by signing the Consent to Limited Dual Agency form. What does signing this form mean to you? It means that the REALTOR® sort of sits on the fence in between both parties, refereeing. The reality is that sooner or later you will ask a question (How much will they really take for this property?) that your REALTOR® will answer with, “I’m sorry. I’m not allowed to answer that.” Rest assured that the other guy will get the same answer when he asks that same question (How much will they really pay?). 9. A REALTOR® in Arizona is allowed to write contracts. We’re very highly trained in contract writing, and this is part of the service. If you want to run anything by your attorney, feel free. You don’t have to, but you certainly can. If you have any question, ask your REALTOR®. They’ll be happy to explain until you’re satisfied.

That bow and arrow story.Around age 10 my dad got me one of those little badasscompound bow beginner kits. Of course, the first month I went around our land sticking arrows in anything that could get stuck by an arrow. Did you know that a 1955 40 horse Farmall tractor tire will take 6 rounds before it goes down? Tough sumbich.That got boring, so being the 10 yr. old Dukes of Hazard fan that I was, I quickly advanced to taking strips of cut up T-shirt doused in chainsaw gas tied around the end and was sending flaming arrows all over the place. One summer afternoon, I was shooting flaming arrows into a large rotten oak stump in our backyard. I looked over under the carport and see a shiny brand new can of starting fluid (Ether). The light bulb went off in my head. I grabbed the can and set it on the stump. I thought that it would probably just spray out in a disappointing manner. Lets face it, to a 10 yr old mouth-breather like myself, (Ether), really doesn't "sound" flammable.So, I went back into the house and got a 1 pound can of pyrodex (black powder for muzzle loader rifles). At this point, I set the can of ether on the stump andopened up the can of black powder. My intentions were to sprinkle a little bit around the (Ether) can but it all sorta dumped out on me. No biggie, a 1 lb. pyrodex and 16 oz (Ether) should make a loud pop, kinda like afirecracker you know? You know what? Screw that. I'm going back in the house for the other can.Yes, I got a second can of pyrodex and dumped it too. Nowwe're cookin'!I stepped back about 15 ft and lit the 2 stroke arrow. Idrew the nock to my cheek and took aim. As I released I heard a clunk as the arrow launched from my bow. In a slow motion time frame, I turned to see my dad getting out of the truck... OH SHIT! He just got home from work. So help me God it took 10 minutes for that arrow to go from my bow to the can. My dad was walking towards me in slow motion with a WTF look in his eyes. I turned back towards my target just in time to see the arrow pierce the starting fluid can right at the bottom. Right through the main pile of pyrodex and into the can. Oh Shit.When the shock wave hit it knocked me off my feet. I don'tknow if it was the actual compression wave that threw me back or just reflex jerk back from 235 fricking decibels of sound. I caught a half a millisecond glimpse of the violence during the initial explosion and I will tell you there was dust, grass, and bugs all hovering 1 ft above the ground as far as I could see. It was like a little low to the ground layer of dust fog full of grasshoppers, spiders, and a worm or two.The daylight turned purple. Let me repeat this... THE FRICKING DAYLIGHT TURNED PURPLE.There was a big sweetgum tree out by the gate going into the pasture. Notice I said "was". That son-of-a-bitch got up and ran off. So here I am, on the ground blown completely out of my shoes with my thundercats T-Shirt shredded, my dad is on the other side of the carport having what I can only assume is a Vietnam flashback:ECHO BRAVO CHARLIE YOU'RE BRINGIN' EM IN TOO CLOSE!! CEASE FIRE. DAMNIT CEASE FIRE!!!!!His hat has blown off and is 30 ft behind him in thedriveway. All windows on the north side of the house are blown out and there is a slow rolling mushroom cloud about 2000 ft. over our backyard.There is a Honda 185 3 wheeler parked on the other side of the yard and the fenders are drooped down and are now touching the tires. I wish I knew what I said to my dad at this moment. I don'tknow - I know I said something. I couldn't hear. I couldn't hear inside my own head. I don't think he heard me either... not that it would really matter. I don't remember much from this point on. I said something, felt a sharp pain, and then woke up later. I felt a sharp pain, blacked out, woke later....repeat this process for an hour or so and you get the idea. I remember at one point my mom had to give me CPR. and Dad screaming "Bring him back to life so I can kill him again". Thanks, Mom.One thing is for sure... I never had to mow around thatstump again, Mom had been bitching about that thing for years and dad never did anything about it. I stepped up to the plate and handled business.Dad sold his muzzle loader a week or so later. I still havesome sort of bone growth abnormality, either from the blast or the beating, or both.I guess what I'm trying to say is, get your kids intoarchery. It's good discipline and will teach them skills they can use later on in life.Author Unknown

In today’s market, every savvy seller wants to know what turns buyers off so they can get their homes sold as quickly as possible for as much as possible. But buyers, take note – there is a minefield of seller turn-offs you can trigger that hold the potential to keep you from getting the home you want at the best price and terms, or to unnecessarily complicate dealings with your home’s seller. Lest you think all of today’s sellers are under the gun and will just put up with whatever behavior buyers dish out, be aware that there are still many multiple offer situations in which buyers have to compete with each other to get a home – buyers who trigger these turnoffs tend to lose in those scenarios. Also, avoiding these seller turnoffs can create a transactional environment of cooperation and avoid things turning adversarial. That, in turn, can empower you to score a better price, get extra items you want thrown into the deal, and even negotiate more flexibility around your escrow and move-in timelines – all perks that can make your life easier and your budget go further. For sellers, these turnoffs pose the potential of irritating you out of an otherwise good deal – maybe even the only deal you have! Here are a few of the most common buyer-perpetuated seller turnoffs, with tips for sellers on how to keep an emotional (and economic) even keel, even if your home’s buyer makes some of these waves: 1. Trash-talking. Trash-talkers are the home buyers who think they’re going to negotiate the list price down by slamming the house, telling the sellers how little it is really worth, how the house across the street sold for nothing, why the school on the corner should make them desperate to give the place away, etc. This strategy never works; in fact, when you attack a seller and their home, you only cause them to be defensive, and think up all the reasons that (a) their home is not what you say it is, and (b) they shouldn’t sell their home to you! Sometimes this happens with buyers who actually love a house and just walk around it fantasizing about all the ways they would customize it to their tastes while a seller is there. Sellers: avoid being at home while your home is being shown. Buyers: save your commentary for your agent; if you do encounter the seller in person keep your conversation respectful and avoid critiquing the house or the list price. 2. Being unqualified for mortgage financing. When a seller signs a buyer’s offer, most often the seller agrees to effectively pull the home off the market, forgoing other buyers who might be interested. As such, the only thing worse than getting no offers on your home is getting an offer, getting into contract, then having the whole thing fall apart when the buyer’s loan falls through – especially if that could have been predicted or avoided up front. Sellers: Work with your agent to vet your home’s buyers’ qualifications, including their loan approval, down payment and earnest money deposit – before you sign a contract. It’s not overkill for your agent to call the buyers’ mortgage pro before you sign the contract and get a level of comfort for how robust their qualifications are. Buyers: Get pre-approved. Seriously. And make sure that you don’t buy a car, quit your job, deposit lottery winnings or do any other financial twitchery between the time you get loan approval and the time you close escrow on your home. (Note: in Arizona a REALTOR® will require that a Buyer furnish a pre-approval form filled out by the Buyer's lender.) 3. Making unjustified lowball offers. No one likes to feel like they are being taken advantage of. And sellers generally know the ballpark amount that their home is worth, as well as what they need to sell it for to get their mortgage paid off. Yes – the price you pay for a home should be driven by its fair market value, rather than the seller’s financial needs, and deals are more available in a market like the current one, in which supply so vastly outpaces demand. But just throwing uber-lowball offers out at sellers hoping one will hit the spot is not generally a successful strategy, especially if you really, really want a given property. Sellers: Don’t get overly emotional about receiving a lowball offer; counter at the price you and your agent decide makes sense based on the total circumstances, including your motivation level, recent comps and the interest/activity level your listing is receiving. Buyers: Work through the similar, nearby homes that have recently sold (a/k/a comparables) before you make an offer to factor the home’s fair market value into your offer price – also factor in how much you want the place, too. Don’t be amazed if you make an offer far below asking, and don’t get a response. 4. Renegotiating mid-stream. Sellers plan their finances, moves and - to some extent – their lives around the purchase price a buyer agrees to pay for their home. If you get into contract to buy a home, find out during inspections that costly repairs need to be made, then propose a lower sale price, repair credit or even actual repairs to the seller, that’s sensible and fair. But if you were aware that the property needed a lot of work before you made an offer on it, then you come back asking for beaucoup bucks’ worth of credit or price reductions midstream, expect the seller to cry foul. And holding the seller up two weeks into the transaction because you caught a case of buyer's remorse? Not cool, and not likely to foster the spirit of cooperation you may need to get your deal closed. Sellers: avoid mid-stream price renegotiations by having a full set of inspection reports and repair bids at hand when you list your home. Buyers: try to avoid renegotiating the entire deal unless you get some major surprises at your inspections or inflating small repairs to try to justify a major price cut. 5. Misleading or setting the seller up. Remember when we talked about buyer turn-offs? Being misled by listing photos or very fluffy property descriptions was high on the list. The same goes for sellers.Offering way over asking with the plan to hammer the seller for a reduction when the house doesn’t appraise at the purchase price? #LAME Making an as-is offer planning the whole time to come back and ask for every penny ante repair called out by the inspectors? Lame squared. Sellers: If you get multiple offers and are tempted to take a sky-high one or one that claims to be all cash, consider requesting proof that the buyer has sufficient funds to make up the difference between what you think the home will appraise for and the actual sale price, and statements showing the cash truly exists. Buyers: Don’t be lame. I’m not saying you have to tell the seller exactly what your top dollar is, but making offers with terms designed to intentionally mislead is really, really bad form – and can result in losing the home entirely if and when your bluff gets called.