Happy 212 Day!!!

You may wonder what the significance of the 212th day of the year is?  For me it is all about the philosophy introduced by a company that I have always loved their stuff: Give More!

The story goes something like this:  "At 211 degrees, water is hot.  But with more more degree of heat, that water changes to steam.  At 212 degrees, this water becomes strong enough to power a locomotive."

So, what are you doing for that one extra degree in your day/week/month?  Are you giving it your all? Sometimes it's only a matter of pushing one more degree before it all cuts loose and works in your favor.

Wishing you a productive day!  And if you need a little motivation to get you going, visit the Give More website link above.  They have some pretty cool stuff.

Cheers!

What's in a question...

Having grown up with one of the Masters of questioning aka my MOTHER!  I have always understood that getting to know more about people happens by asking about their family, work, hobbies, etc.  Often times we run into old friends, clients, co-workers, classmates and it's only a few minutes of questioning to help us get caught up with what is going on in their lives.

Yesterday, we had a great church sermon where Pastor Mark brought to my attention this exact concept of running into an old friend and a frenzy of questions to ask and answer during the time allowed by the brief encounter. He painted a perfect picture of one of my recent run-ins...."Yes, the kids are great!  One graduated from UNC with a music performance degree (his passion is trombone) plus a Broker's license in Real Estate and now helping me on my team, one at NCSU with pursuit of a degree in Geology (of some sort...that is above my head and understanding), and my youngest at UNC applying to the business school as we speak."  This was about all I could share before I started asking about their family so that I could know what was up with them.  What fun it is to catch up!

But, Pastor Mark then trumped this opening concept by asking us all, "What is the best question that you can ask?".  He went on to explain that if you really want to know about someone and what is going on in their lives, ask them this: "What are you praying about/for?"  WOW!  That was pretty deep!

In real estate, I often ask questions that we label, "the Heart of the Matter".  Meaning, what happens if you sell your home (or don't sell your home)?  What happens if you can find the perfect home (or don't find the perfect home)?  Usually, these questions lead to the real motivation behind buying and selling so that I can better serve my clients. But this question posed by Pastor Mark was even deeper than a "Heart of the Matter" question.  It was SOUL deep!  (...yes that was a pun)

How many times do you find yourself praying for help, for others, for praise, for the Glory of God? Sometimes we don't even know what to pray for (and that's okay, too).  But, if you do it all for the Glory, then you can be sure that your prayers are heard.

My daughter has been busy with summer internship and other activities.  One of her summertime hobbies has been painting canvas artwork of special sayings, stories, motivators, etc.  Today, I am using one that applies to all of us and to this thought of "What's in a question...What are you praying about?"

Have a great week and I hope I get the chance to run into some of you in the near future.  In the meanwhile, if you ask what I'm praying for, I'm praying for my friends that I don't get to see very often. 

Peace be with you!

Want to know more about our area?

This photo was of the inside of the RE/MAX balloon as it raised up at Salem Elementary in Apex, NC for the kids to see. It was quite a site! This reminded me of how great our area is to live in and how much I love to talk about it.

But, it seems I am always trying to find sources for providing information to tell people about where we live, what we do, what activities surround us, and how our area is one of the nicest areas in the country to live in and call home.

Do you struggle with this same challenge?

Well, I found a little resource that has been somewhat helpful.  It is a program that uses information pulled from our MLS system.  So, it is more reliable than Zillow and Trulia.  I hope that you will find it a useful resource as well.  It's kind of cool because you can look at areas side by side too!

Of course, the best resources are always the people that you know and trust.  So, when you need local real estate advice, I hope that my name will come to mind.  Feel free to call me, email me or text me at any time. I never tire of talking real estate as it is my hobby (ask my hubby about this one) turned profession and I hold a passion for it!

Hope you're having a wonderful month of July! I can't believe it's already half way over.

Go here for a local community report.

Cheers!
Kathy
919-810-6965 (in case you want to talk or text)

My...20 Years goes by fast!

Yep, this is me and my little Adam (June 30, 1993) at our 1st house in Hoffman Estates, IL as we said goodbye to our old house and looked forward to our NC journey.

March of 1993, my husband (Mike) came home from work one day and asked, "What do you think of North Carolina?"  My response, "I don't know, as I've never been there."  You see, growing up on a farm in the midwest and then living in the suburbs of Chicago, I really didn't get to see much of either coast.  But as it turns out, this question that he posed was just the beginning of our NC journey.

We flew to NC for a visit in April.  I was treated to warm weather, beautiful Azaleas, smiling faces and a slightly slower pace than the Chicago suburbs.  It seemed like making a decision to move to NC was a no-brainer.

It was Northern Telecom (back then) that helped us relocate. They became Nortel at some point. The house in these photos is the one we sold. It allowed us enough profit for me to become a stay at home mom when we arrived in Cary. I hated to say goodbye to my friends, neighbors and our first home.  As soon as that "sold" sign went up, I recall a feeling of homelessness.  But, it was a necessary part of moving and as I have learned from helping others go through this process, a fairly normal sensation.

And now...through a blur of 20 years, we look back to celebrate how much we have grown, learned, loved, and become: "North Carolinians".

Who says you can't close quickly these days?

Happy New Homeowners and closed in 17 days!  

Here's the story:

We sold their house so quickly that we didn't have much "shopping time" to find a new one.  But, we went out on a mission to see if we could prevent a double move and still find the perfect home.

Step one was shopping.  We found a house and it was great, but it had a 5 day wait period for making an offer because it was a foreclosure property. Then, when we heard there were multiple bids, we decided to go big or go home.  Despite going more than BIG ($20K over asking price) we were not the winning bid. Can you say "panic?"  That closing deadline for the sale of their home was fast approaching.

Our shopping time was diminished even further by the time we found another great home. This too, turned out to be a "no-go" property when we discovered there were permitting issues with the finished attic space.  We had wasted precious days in getting answers from the listing agent, owner, builder and city of Raleigh, but at least it prevented us from making an offer on a property that would have turned out to be a nightmare.

Finally, we located a great new construction home and it needed finish work and we needed to be able to get financing, and there wasn't much time to get either done.  We inquired with a lender to see if we could have a chance of closing on the same date as their sale property.  We didn't give this lender much time...17 days exactly from contract to close.

In today's ever changing rules for lending standards, most will tell you they simply can't close in under 30 days. Well, let me tell you, that they are wrong! And we did!  A great deal of work went into making magic on June 24th for the Clayton family.

With much appreciation to Christian Gladwell of American Equity Mortgage, to Trimark Home Inspections for getting our inspection and report done, to Shedor Law Firm for helping us coordinate a rapid closing on top of a back-to-back closing (remember we had to sell a house too!) and to the Claytons who were fantastic sellers and buyers!

Want to know how to make all of this happen?  Call me and I'll help to guide you in the right direction.

Kathy Evans
RE/MAX United
919-810-6965 cell
kathyevans@remax.net