I absolutely love building things! What I have learned about myself in my last decade on Earth is that I truly enjoy figuring out how to do something myself. It brings me so much joy when I have an idea or plan and it works out! But what I’ve noticed the most is that my plan never works out exactly the way I plan it. There is always some variation that, inevitably, works out better. I have enjoyed learning the faith involved in that element of building. I have built a farm, a business, a family and a home. I have many plans to build many more things in my next decade. Building things takes a little knowledge, a bit of strategy, and a lot of faith.
My best example of building things, in real estate at least, is my current house. If you are not familiar, we built a new construction home on our existing farm. I had so many plans and ideas that didn’t work out! The biggest change that had to be made was in the location of the house. I wanted it placed in the woods on the other side of the creek. We built (and paid for) a culvert, an extra long drive way, and tons of gravel that gets absolutely no use today. But in the end, the house is perfect. We have a brand new home in a great location that gave us a ton of instant equity. I brought the knowledge of how to build the house using a contractor mainly from researching and working through a million different scenarios. We strategized the entire time, learning about land development, financing rules, and building issues. But the real magic came in the faith that it would turn out for the best. And it sure did!
A more recent example of building in real estate is the new construction project that my clients recently went under contract on. It is a gorgeous new house outside of Asheville. An independent builder bought this lot in a new neighborhood and designed and began construction on the home. We went under contract when it was at about 70% complete. This is a unique dynamic where the builder agent is NOT controlling the process of the build for my clients, the way a community home builder or track home builder would. In this case, a buyer agent, such as myself, has proved to be more important than ever! I am trying to help my clients understand what they can and cannot do, since the construction is nearly complete. We recently had an issue with granite. The buyers were able to pick granite, but they didn’t like the selections the builder gave them. As always, my philosophy of real estate is that there is always a solution, so that skill has proved invaluable in new construction!
Probably my most valuable thing that I built is this homestead! It may never be complete, either. But it is truly exactly what I wanted. My goal out here on the farm is to be a self sustaining as possible. I am no doomsday planner, but I grew up in a family that grew our own food and relied on family and friends to get things done. We have been able to create that out here, on a small scale, and I have tons of plans to continue that building…like solar panels on the barn, a deck and detached garage, and increasing the garden.
Building things is my biggest goal in life! I want to build more houses. But I also want to build family and business. I want to help other people build businesses. I want to build more houses for other people. I truly enjoy watching the process, even if I end up cussing the majority of the way through, like we did on our home! That’s the proof that I’m meant to build things. I have a small amount of knowledge and plan to really increase that, maybe even getting my own contractor license. I am great at creating a strategy in all the areas of building! And my faith in the process gets stronger and stronger every time I am proved wrong! I look forward to a long line of more things to build!
In a market of high interest rates, this is one phrase that mortgage brokers are repeating everywhere. It sort of give’s me the heebie-jeebies. And I hadn’t really understood why until recently.
Mainly, by itself, this is just bad financial advice! It’s just like so many things…if you listen to it in a vaccuum or by itself, it isn’t a good move. So let me try to explain, from a non-financial person’s point of view.
The concept is that you can refinance your mortgage at any time. But there is so much more to consider when thinking of a refinance that, without an entire conversation, that advice becomes just a sales gimmick. And here’s why…
The length of the loan. When you took out your mortgage, it is for a 30 year note. When you choose to refinance, it is for a 30 year note. The time does not get shorter! Lets say you bought in 2010 and refinanced in 2021 when rates were 3%. You jut added 11 years on to the amount of time that it will take you to pay off your home. If you were in your 40’s when you did the refi, you will now be in your 70’s when the home is paid off. For most of us that is past the time that we would like to retire, when we would like to work less and pay less bills. Even if you have ample retirement plans (and 75% of us don’t), for possibly 10 years of your retirement you are making a mortgage payment when it could have been paid off. People do this way too often. Instant gratification will not serve your needs in the long game. And LIFE is a long game. For many people this doesn’t seem like an issue because they will buy and sell every 10 or 11 years. But it really is! Unless you are paying more towards the principle of the loan, when you go to resell, the pay off amount has just been reconfigured for a much longer amount of time.
Lower Payments Are Deceiving. When you took out the original loan at $350K, the total you would have paid the bank in 30 years is $815K with principle and interest. The banks have to pay their people. They are not a non-profit. Even when you refinance, you are paying a huge amount over to the bank. In the example I used before, you are still paying the bank $474K (for a new 30 year term). You would have paid the bank $753K even with the refi. Do you think the same house will be worth that much more in 40 years? That depends! If the value of homes appreciates in that neighborhood at an average of 2% per year for 40 years, the homes value would be $772K. But if there’s a cooling period, or a financial crisis, or a fire, or a flood… It is a lot of variables to consider when thinking about getting your money’s worth on a refinance of your home. (And don’t even get me started on refinancing your car…do the same math and you will see the answer is NO!) This might sound confusing…I said I was not financial, not not smart. It helps me to write all the numbers down. Yes, like a high school algebra problem.
But there is a way to BEAT THE SYSTEM
Take a 15 year loan! If you are going to refinance and it has been at least 10 years since you first financed, ask about a 15 year mortgage! They even make a 20 and 25 now! Don’t just take the assumptive 30 year. Yes, the payments will be higher, but you will be paying significantly LESS in interest and more towards principle. It gives you more equity and the bank less money!
Buy Points on your Rate…maybe. Sometimes the lender will apply points without you asking to get your payment to where you can manage it with your debt-to-income ratio. It’s like paying a penalty to get your interest rate down. It doesn’t go toward anything else but a fee to the bank. It may be helpful, but it is not the best solution.
Pay More on Principle. This is always the best option. The more you can put down at the begining of a mortgage the less you pay mothly and in interest. Even in a refinance, that is a great time to pay more towards the principle.
The MOST important thing is that you love your home. I can tell you from experience that if you are in a place where the energy is off, the space isn’t working for your family, the neighborhood has you stiffled, or the commute is causing you too much anxiety (just to name a few reasons people move) than it is time to find a new home. You DO NOT have to wait for the perfect market conditions. There are tips and tricks out there
I think this is a hard concept for people to understand. I have had to explain it a few times to new home owners. The good news is that I have seen a few examples lately of instant equity when people are purchasing homes, which is great news when buyers feel like the interest rates are high. And just like any other market anomaly, this too shall pass. So if you are considering buying, here’s an idea of how this will help you! I wanted to crunch some numbers and show how this benefits buyers in this market.
Let me give you a couple of stories of what I have seen in the market.
One recent buyer in the Mint Hill, NC area purchased a home for $374,900. The appraisal came back at $395,000!
Another buyer recently went under contract on a property for $239, 500 in the Derita area of Charlotte, NC. That appraisal came in at an $11,000 increase for instant equity.
This is happening because of exactly what buyers were hoping for…prices are coming down! There has been so little movement in the market during the past winter months that sellers are dropping prices left and right. You want a deal (as everyone seems to), buy in January or February. The prices of the homes are adjusting, but the appraisals have not caught up. Appraisers generally look at sales for the last 3-6 months. If little inventory is moving, the appraiser only sees the inflated prices that existed when the market was busy. I also look at those same numbers when helping sellers determine a list price, but I use market conditions to guide my clients. Busier market = higher list price. Appraisals do not include market conditions or fluctuations.
But what does that mean for my buyers? It’s like they walk into ownership of that property with money saved in the bank. It is not money that they can actually use. It’s a sort of credit. It increased the value of the home, but they are still paying the mortgage at the list price they agreed to. A homeowner can borrow against the equity in the home through a Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC) or Home Equity Loan. Obviously, it is a loan of some sort and monthly payments are required and there is a fee for borrowing in the interest rate, but it can help homeowners do repairs or make improvements.
For folks who have owned your home for 10 or more years (the average time that people choose to sell is 11 years) you probably have a considerable amount of money in equity in the home. I often advise clients to use that equity to improve their home before they sale. If possible, borrow against that equity to make necessary adjustment to the condition or style of the home to get the absolute highest market value out of your home. We can list it sometimes in a completely different market bracket. Obviously we will sit down and compare the cost of the renovation with the increase in the value of the house and how close those numbers may be before making that decision. If you have to pay $10K for the reno and you’re only going to increase the list price by $10K, like any other investment, it may not be worth the work and time for the renovation. At closing the HELOC will be paid by the attorney so, in some cases, you aren’t even making a payment or paying the interest.
I look at equity a lot like I look at net worth. It’s kinda like fake money. It’s not something that you have liquid in the bank. It requires a little bit of work to get the value out of something. You have to sell an asset to make it liquid. But I do think equity is a lot easier to use than other investments. I amy be a little bias, thought, since real estate is literally what I do!
For the last five years, I have been on a mission to create a charitable legacy from my real estate business with Giving Tree Realty and catering to cats and dogs. I have learned so much!
Number one, rescue is effing hard! It is hard, no matter at what level you participate. The people that volunteer , and stay with our rescue are some of the toughest, kindest, most endearing humans I have ever had the pleasure to meet on this planet! A lot of people like to judge the volunteers, and especially the management of a nonprofit, but I see it a lot like I see parenting. You have no idea, what they do or what they go through! So in my opinion, the only thing I can do is offer whatever support they ask for. I often reach out to our Director and say “what can I do for you?” To which she always replies already do so much. But literally, these animals would not survive if the volunteers and donators at catering to cats and dogs we’re not super committed to the work that we do.
Number two, I’ve learned that people don’t know how to help. Everyone says “oh that’s such a cool concept”, when I explain to them how Giving Tree works, but they don’t know what to do to help. So here’s how it works… for every home that I sell Giving Tree donates 1.5% of gross commission to the rescue in my name. The more homes that I buy and sell the more money the rescue makes! Last year I donated about $1500. This year I’m on a mission to raise $5000! I’ve gotten really close to that number in years past, and I believe this year is going to be really busy in real estate. But what if you don’t want to buy or sell a house, but you still want to help the rescue? Referrals. Referrals. Referrals. I will donate $25 for every referral that you send my way! Click the link above to register –or– click the links below to our social media. But help doesn’t stop there! Spread the word! Like, share, comment, and interact with my social media. Follow the rescue. Follow Giving Tree Realty. Social media, for all its faults, has a way of connecting people with like-minded ideas!
Number three, I’ve learned that I truly wouldn’t do this business. Any other way! Real estate is one of those things that you can be super successful at. I have seen the success and the failure. But I completely believe that your true fulfillment comes from Giving. I can handle all of the stress and anxiety that this industry brings a little easier when I know that I am saving furry lives like the ones below WHILE helping clients navigate the ever-changing market.
LuxioMila GraceIvyAnneLovoThurgoodWaylon JenningsTake a look at some of the furry lives we saved this year!
For some reason that I don’t understand, agents leave our firm all the time. I think in their mind they believe that they will continue the charitable legacy that they begin and Giving Tree Realty on their own (or they don’t care about the charity and didn’t belong there in the first place). I have seen firsthand how they become just the “agent”. Successful? Probably! Especially if they took any of our training classes to get there. Maybe they make a donation here and there. But it’s not always about the donation. It’s about posts like this that get the mission out not only for Giving Tree Realty but also for Catering to Cats and Dogs. It’s about the partnership that’s created between the business world and the nonprofit world. It’s about the partnership that’s created with the people involved in both institutions. And for me, it’s about doing something more that I could ever imagine!
Happy new year to everyone! I am looking forward to a successful and prosperous 2024!
Have you had a rough time? I don’t know if it’s just me. I don’t feel like it is. I’ve talked to a lot of people that are having an equally rough time. What I find is that every one has their own rough season, but we all have them. For some of us it lasts months, for some it lasts years, but all of us go through a period of time where the successes may be small or few and the defeats are giant or plentiful (we’ll get to the difference in a bit). Part of me would like to think this is like a COVID hang over. We tried to fix a national emergency by throwing money at it and now we are paying the price for that economically and socially. I think that even if the problems are not really economical in your life it has a trickle effect into the rest of our psyche that causes this time of utter frustration and disappointment. So I have chosen this as a time to regroup. And what better time than my favorite time of the year, Business Planning Season. This year I want to talk about a season of giving up!
Let’s talk about the idea of giving up first. If you are not someone who has ever done this, maybe it will feel difficult at first, but I can guarantee it will be liberating. This is the act of simply walking away, changing direction, putting it out of your mind, setting it down, moving on, finding a different thing. Whatever it is you choose to give up on, there are no hard feelings, no regrets, and no disappointment. It is a conscious decisions based on some serious, deep inner-work. You make an educated decision to do something else.
Spend some time considering what you should give up on. Look at the things in your life that you really want. If you make a Life List or a Dream Board or whatever you call it, what is up there that you are working hard to achieve and it just isn’t happening? Is there one thing in particular that you have strived for and met with serious pushback or failure? Is there something that you are gaining no traction towards accomplishing, even though you have made some true and honest attempts. I could take 5 blog posts helping you figure out what items to give up on, and maybe one day I will, but for now I’ll give you the abbreviated version. Look for the following 5 categories: 1)Stressful. 2)Impossible. 3)Improbable. 4)Infinite. 5)Unimportant.
This exercise takes a lot of honesty and deep diving into your heart and soul. That’s why it is called inner-work (if you’re not familiar, read this book by an amazing couple). What I’ve noticed is that when we meet with adversity, we tend to focus on fixing the outside issues, like a new job or a new lover, but we avoid fixing the inner issues. It’s kind of like when you have a cold. Do you take medicine to fix the symptoms, or do you focus on fighting the germ? Often, we spend all of our energy on the symptoms and little attention goes to the cause.
STRESSFUL: Is there something out there that you have been trying for maybe even years to do and it just isn’t happening?
This is where my situation came from. I had been trying, hoping, praying, working, for one particular thing in our family for 5 or 6 years and it happened! But then it was ripped away. I’ve gone through the why’s and who’s and such and it’s exhausting! One day I woke up and said “I give up”! What I was beginning to notice is that one desire that I had in my heart was not shared by my husband or any other member of my family, or likely even my friend group. And it didn’t really align with all of my other goals. I was truly alone in this desire and that had created so much stress in my life that it was doing more harm than good. It was as if God gave me a glance at the life I would have if he granted that prayer so I could understand how it wasn’t going to be what I had hoped it would be. The stress that it had already created in my life from trying and suffering alone was enough. Giving up on this one thing would do me way more good than ever achieving it. Most of us are not alone in our life, so when we are working towards a particular goal, if those that we do life with are working towards a different one, it becomes like tectonic plates. The friction in our relationships may be building. There may be a collision or a separation that can be catastrophic from just that one issue. That additional stress doesn’t disappear with the satisfaction you will get if you achieve that goal. It would be better in the long run to just GIVE UP!
2. IMPOSSIBLE: Is there something on your Life List that will require a complete restructure of elements that you truly enjoy?
I believe there are people out there that can achieve their goals with hard work. I am firm believer in hard work. I almost think that is about the only thing I do well! And maybe natural talent isn’t as important for some as it is for others. But if you have zero access to the talent required to achieve your goal or the hard work required doesn’t allow for you to achieve other goals, then call it out for what it is and move on! Here’s an example…I wanted to be a Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader my whole chidlhood. I even had the jacket. And though I was a talented dancer and performer, there was no way I was moving to Dallas. I cheered for the Charlotte Rage for a year, tried out for the Honeybees, and decided I had other, more important goals to accomplish.
3. IMPROBABLE: Is there a goal you set that, based on who you are at your core, just isn’t going to happen?
Again, you have to understand who you are to see which goals are going to work. If you are a giver and your goal requires you to be selfish or take, you will spend time spinning your wheels to get to the realization you cannot achieve that goal. Who you are at your core is what all of your goals should be filtered through. There is an exercise in Start with Why by Simon Sinek that I call 7 Layers. I coach it to all of the agents that come to our firm. You begin by writing down the answer to Why? Why do you do that thing? Why do you want that goal? Then you read that answer and ask yourself, But Why? You do that 7 times. By the end you can get to the core of a true why. If your Life List is full of things that do not go along with who you truly are on the inside, then you should GIVE UP on them and start over!
4. INFINITE: Do any of your goals, based on your current location, look like they are further than 10 years down the road?
Let’s talk definitions for a minute. A Life List is a list of things that you want to achieve in your life time. The items on there may take you 30 years to accomplish. That’s fine! But your Goals should not. We use the term BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal). Your BHAG can be something truly wild that would be amazing if you accomplished that in 1, 5, or 10 years. When your goal is too far out, it is very difficult to create measurable steps to get to those goals. Let’s say your goal is to have 5 rental properties in 5 years. That is easy to walk backwards. One property per year means you need to save X amount in year one, make X amount of profit in year 2, etc. We can measure how we get there. If there is a goal in your mind or on your plan that is not measurable or doable in 10 years, rethink the way you are planning to get there. GIVE UP on the current plan and chart a new one with measurable, systematic, achievable steps.
5. UNIMPORTANT: Does anything you’ve been telling yourself that you want to do just not jive with your personality or the rest of your goals?
Here we are, back at this idea of having to truly know yourself to be able to plot a course to achieve goals. If you do not know what drives your or creates happiness in your life or what motivates you from the inside out, then you cannot create goals that are achievable. If you have a goal written down that doesn’t flow from your inner self and true personality you are never going to achieve it. You can spend years trying, but it will not come easy if it ever even comes. Think of having a goal to be a veterinarian, but hating animals. I have met attorneys and doctors that don’t like people, but they don’t ever seem happy or truly fulfilled in their life. When something is important to you, you will carve out time and a path. “Where our focus goes, results follow.” It is so much easier to focus on the things that are important to us at our core. If the goal you are working towards is not worth it, just GIVE UP!
There is a stigma, especially in this self-help world, that giving up is bad. You need to push through, work harder, struggle, be tough. But there comes a point in your life where that struggle is no longer serving you physically, emotionally, or consciously. You are doing everything humanly possible to get there, and this is the key, but it just isn’t getting any closer to being realized. I say this is the key, because you cannot make that decision until you truly acknowledge if you are doing everything within your personal power.
Pick a topic. What have you done this week to get to that goal? What could you have done? What is stopping you?
It isn’t about blaming it on other people. Your goals in life can’t be based on what other people do. I have learned this one the hard way this year. Not even your significant other or family or partner. If you have a goal for yourself that depends on someone else having that same goal or taking some kind of action, you better have had a long, honest, constant conversation with them about how dedicated they are to their side of that goal before you go putting your precious time and energy into striving for it. We cannot control what another human does. No matter who they are. If their goals change and we don’t know it, we will waste or precious resources striving for a goal that is unattainable. And that type of goal is one worth giving up on!
Yep, we are half way through the year. Do you remember all those plans and goals that you had for 2023? How’s it going?? I think this is a great time to re-evaluate where you are, what your doing, and where you want the year to end up. I’ve put together a little plan for myself to evaluate just that and decided to share it here, along with some of my own answers.
Step 1: REVIEW
If you are like me the last 6 months have been pretty hectic. I think everyone’s life is hectic. I don’t care if you have a farm full of animals and a house full of people like me or not. Your life is likely just as busy. Maybe you put all of your time and energy into your work. Or maybe your extended family takes up all of your time. Either way, you have many things pulling you in different directions and the 3 goals you made for your 4 Categories 6 or 7 months ago are probably really hard to remember! That is why we wrote them down! So go back to your Life Planner, Daily Journal, whatever it is called, and look them up. What were you hoping to accomplish this year?
When I review my goals I am actually surprised. I thought I was way off on everything because the year has NOT gone for me as I expected. But in actuality, it’s really just one category that is way off track. The other 3 categories have been fairly successful for a mid-year check. Take some time to read back through what you wrote down and committed to as a goal for this year. You should have written a reason or importance to the goal. Review that too! Is that still true today, half way through the year?
Step 2: REFLECT
This is the point in the process that you have to dig in a little deep to find out why. Sometimes it’s not easy to answer. Sometimes the honest answer is an inside force and sometimes it is an outside force. The big thing is to be HONEST. Try NOT to blame only outside forces. Be sure to identify the things that you have the power to change. I think during COVID, we all learned the difference between the things we had the power to control and the things we did not. I couldn’t control the shut-downs and school closings, but I could control what I personally did every day.
In my Career goal, I am no where close to the number of closing and home sales that I want for this year. I’m only on track for about a third of that goal. Yes, a large portion of that could be attributed to the market slow downs, inflation and interest rates. All of those things are true! But what, in all honesty, could I have done differently to increase my business and work flow? If I am completely honest with myself I did not make the new connections in the community I wanted. I did not stay on top of social media posts and marketing plans like I had intended. If I’m completely honest, I didn’t even really make solid plans to get me there. So now I know there is plenty of work to do the rest of the year!
Step 3: ADJUST
Logistically, do you want to adjust the actual business plan? I think this is a great idea! Let’s make some edits and changes to the plan. Maybe the goal doesn’t change, but the steps to get to that goal do. Or the mode that we use to acheive that goal changes. Take a look at the goals you have set for the year. Do they still align with you? Is there an adjustment that needs to be made based on the last 6 months?
Just like at the begining of the year, you have got to write them down! You have got to communicate them to the universe (and maybe your significant other). You have to make it known that this is what you want to do so someone can help hold you accountable or celebrate your success or send potential help your way. Without the communication part of setting goals you are doing all of this on your own, and that is just not really possible. I am surrounded by an army of strong women, and that is why we are an army, because we need each other to make things happen.
Step 4: DESIGN
Take a look at the goals you have for the rest of the year and work backwards in your head to design a plan that will get you and keep you on the right path to achieve those goals! Here’s an example.
GOAL:I want to close 2 deals a month. (How many contracts do I need to write?)
Write 4 contracts per month. (How many meetings do I need to schedule?)
Schedule 2 live meetings per week. (How many phone calls do I need to make?)
Connect with 2 people (clients/prospects) per day.
The point is that sometimes we have to take a step back and see where we have made progress and where we haven’t. We have to be honest about our expectations as well as our limitations. Self-reflection is the key to improving, no matter what is being improved. Looking at what obstacles we faced this first half of the year is important to growing and learning and improving. Placing blame will get us nowhere but in the failure circle (I failed – I feel horrible – I don’t want to do it anymore – etc).
I want to share some of the tools with you that help me plan my business.
A year ago we were celebrating my oldest daughter’s graduation from high school, like many are this time of year. So after one year of supporting an adult, there is one thing I would like to revisit…529 accounts WILL NOT pay for college! There were so many things that went wrong…the college sent HER a CHECK when we moved the funds, she had to claim it as income, and it never even paid the tuition! I have talked about using real estate to pay for college before, but here’s a brief review:
Buy your newborn a house. (Or your 5YO or 10YO)
Rent the house out to pay the mortgage and expenses.
At the end of 18 years (or whatever), sell and use the profits to pay for college.
Even better, buy with a 15 year mortgage and let this happy new adult decide to continue renting and make a monthly, passive income or sell and have the lump sum of the sale since it will be owned free and clear and you have 18 years of appreciation. Talk to a financial person about where to put the money. And know that you will pay capital games taxes on the profit. But still! I can promise you a 529, savings, or anything else for that matter, won’t make an 8% return year over year. Yes, that right! Real Estate in Charlotte, North Carolina average an ROI of 8%. At $100,000, that’s $8,000 per year for 15 years. That’s a profit at $120,000, plenty to pay for university of their choice. There are other options, but not anything with that kind of return on investment.
Here’s another example:
Buy a house for $150K (yes, it’s possible)
Rent for $1300/month (putting 10% down)
In 15 years, sell for $350K. The Loan has been paid off and all $350K is profit. That’s like putting away $23K per year.
Again, all the numbers can be adjusted. And there are even more options for financing than there are real estate opportunities. But, yes, even with interest rates “as high as they are” (BTW, they are not…I bought my first house at 11%), you can invest in real estate and make money. The point is, in my opinion, real estate is the most sure investment you can make, especially if you live in the Charlotte area. And there are so many communities around the country that the figures will work out in your favor.
What’s all the hub-bub about Spring Cleaning? Is it anything that people actually do? I think it was more commonly practiced when the home served a different purpose. For many people their home is just a place to stop for rest or to kill time. During the pandemic, when we were forced to stay in our homes, many people began to treat their homes differently. Many people even changed what they called home. Unfortunately the statistics are something like 80% of those who made the decision to sell or buy a home during the pandemic when the real estate market was crazy regret that decision in some way. HOME has taken on a new meaning for most people. Whatever you do there, it should be taken care of and Spring, a time of refreshing and regrowth, is a great time to spruce up the space around you!
My mother, and new Assistant, spent 20+ years with a cleaning company called Cottage Care cleaning other peoples homes. So when I asked her for some tips and tricks to Spring Clean, she had plenty to say!
Appliances:
Stove/Oven – Use the self cleaning setting or just wipe everything down.
Refrigerator – Clean out old things and clean up spills or drips from the shelves and in the doors.
Dishwasher – Run a cycle with a dishwasher cleaner or a solution of white vinegar.
Washer/Dryer – Run a washer cycle with white vinegar and clean the outside dryer lint trap.
Microwave – Soak a sponge with water and microwave for 10 or 15 seconds to loosen dried up bits.
Rooms:
Windows – Clean the inside. Clean the Outside if they tilt in. Pressure Wash if they don’t.
Blinds/Curtains – Wipe or vacuum blinds in closed and open position. Take down and wash curtains.
Furniture – Spot Clean cushions.
Walls/Doors – Wipe down walls with dry duster. Wipe doors with a vinegar solution and remove stains/dirt.
Fans/Switches – Dust off every blade of the fan. Wipe switches with vinegar solution or window cleaner.
Declutter:
Closets – Remove the clothes or items that don’t fit or aren’t used.
Pantry – Clean out expired food or things that will not be used.
Desks – Clean and organize drawers.
Cabinets – Throw out expired or unused items.
Drawers – Organize items so that drawers close easily. Throw away anything that doesn’t fit or doesn’t get used.
Outside:
Porches/Patios – Sweep, clean, wipe down, or power wash the deck and patio.
Furniture – Wipe down the furniture to remove dust and debris Clean or repair cushions.
Flower Beds – Refresh the flowers and mulch.
De-Pollen – Wipe down surfaces including columns or rails to take away pollen.
I am not the cleanest and most meticulous home owner in the world, but I did grow up with a mother that might be. A few of these are pet peeves of mine! The doors and light switches are one of them. Dust on the blinds is the other. The list is pretty extensive and I don’t know if I would ever get all the way through it. But it’s a great list to guide me! Spring brings some of those quiet, secretly beautiful storms that make a great day for cleaning out some of the years yuck. Spring is about renewing and rebuilding. The forest around me on the farm rebuilds the tree canopy so I can take some time to rebuild the order inside my own home.
I am a serious planner! I business plan starting in October for the next year. I have researched, taken classes, conferenced and coached business planning for 5 years now. Here is how I break it down.
Life List…Reflection…Revision…Last Year…This Year…Each Month
It’s a method called “design down” that I took from my teacher days. Start with your end goal and work backwards. What will it take to get to that place on a yearly, quarterly, monthly, weekly, daily basis?
A few weeks ago a friend whose new business has met with a few struggles lately asked for my help in marketing ideas. She texted me one day and asked what kind of planner I used. I told her, “I’m so picky I have to make my own!” After I said it I realized how weird that sounds. But it’s true. There is one planner out that does all the things I need for my business, but it’s bulky and boring (the Ninja Planner)! I wanted something pretty, functional and minimalist. When I can’t find what I want, which is most of the time, I make it! I have been doing that my entire life. I used to even make my own prom dresses because I couldn’t find exactly what I wanted. Now I do it with farm, house, and business stuff. It definitely is how I grow my business. I don’t pay a service to market for me (I’m sure you’ve noticed – hahaha). I DIY just about everything around me, including the plans and planners I use. I thought I’d share some of it here! If you like it, I can share it with you too.
I start by creating a “Life List” of things I want to do with a perfect life! Then I make 3 or 4 goals for each section of my life, Career, Family, Relationships, and Self, that will help me get there or get closer to a piece of my perfect life. Then, a separate page for every Goal inside every Category allows me to design down…what steps will it take me to get to the goal? Setting a Target Date helps me align my 2023 planner to achieve those goals. I can put each Action Item on the Monthly Goals in my Planner. At the beginning of each Month I break those goals into steps for the weeks of that month. It may take one week or it may take all month. For Example…if I want to sell 24 houses this year, what do I need to do every month, week, day to achieve that goal? When can I schedule time in my day to do those things?
But what’s the point!? In real estate especially, do you have to plan your month or day or social media or marketing?
In the years that I have been training other agents, I have heard every excuse in the world. My favorite is, “even if I plan it something comes along and changes my plans.” Well, no shit! Life happens! But flying by the seat of your pants doesn’t effeciantly affect change. I will admit, talent and maybe even luck, will get you places. In real estate, your personality and past life or career will likely get you great places. But it won’t get you ALL of the places. And it won’t get you any of those places with consistency.
The Real Estate industry is in a weird place. I have divided agents into 2 categories…Before and During COVID. If you were licensed DC (During COVID), your definition of “business” is very different. Things just fell in your lap! You could literally do minimal work and get maximum profit. You were able to sell a house by working very little. Maybe you built a business with little to no effort at all. And there were so many people looking to sell, clients were easy to find. Being licensed BC (Before COVID), I know that agents have to work hard to get, keep, and help your clients. I can’t tell you how frustrating it is to talk to a friend or acquaintance that bought or sold a home recently without asking for my help! I think it happens once a week, maybe even every day.
My biggest suggestion to agents is to treat this like a business (because it is)! If you were the CEO of a large company, there would be procedure manuals and schedules to follow. You would have marketing plans and calendars and promotions. You would schedule trainings and conferences and meetings. There should be all those things in your own business. Here are my most important tips for Sole Proprietors and Entrepreneurs:
Make yourself a marketing schedule.
Make yourself a social media posting schedule.
Plan time to plan.
Create a Daily Routine
Time Block
I made a schedule that I share with agents in my firm to use for working ON your business because working IN your business is the easy part. It’s called The 15 Hour Work Week (which I’m happy to share). It’s a way to block time in the week for the pieces of growing your business that are most important. And when life and your schedule blow up, you know that things were missed that need to be taken care of later. But writing it down is super important!
Whatever force you believe in, when you speak things into the universe they have a much better chance of happening! I’m not sure if its the speaking or the being heard that makes it so, but it is true. I’m not big on telling other people what my goals and dreams are, but I do write it down. I believe wholeheartedly in vision boards and daily affirmations. Any one else?? One of my favorite quotes is “Stop listening to yourself and start talking to yourself!”
Stop listening to yourself and start talking to yourself!
I don’t care what kind of goals you are trying to achieve this year…it’s going to take a plan and a planner!
In the last few years, I have been a bit more minimalist about my planner, but I do have very specific needs. I used to buy big 8.5X11 size planners when I was a teacher. Now I prefer half-page size ones that I can carry in a large purse or stylish bag instead of a bulky backpack. I need a month, week, and day planner. All three need a place for goals, focus, and tasks. The daily portion needs a time schedule so I can block hours or half hours. The Design Down concept from earlier works the same for every month…what are the monthly goals and how can I break those down each week and every day? I wasn’t able to find something that really met my needs this year, so I made my own.
Here’s my WEEK
And my DAY (obviously for the winter months)
Do you like any of these? I’m happy to share! Digital or Print versions. And if there’s a particular theme you’d prefer, let me know!
The only way that I can get so many things accomplished in my life is by being hyper-focused on one task at a time. I am a mother, run a horse farm, raise chickens and children, run a business, care for my family, and volunteer with a non-profit. It’s a lot to keep up with! We had an instance this week, because of exam schedules, where my calendar didn’t match my teenager’s schedule. She swears she told me she had an exam on that day, but it was definitely not on my calendar, so she couldn’t have because I would have written it down. Luckily, my husband had the day off and could take her to school, but she missed a practice exam that counted as a grade. I may be good at planning and organizing, but I am still not great at mind reading! If I ever figure that one out, I’ll let you know!
My house is now planned for the middle of my biggest, bestest pasture on my farm, with the promise that it will save me some money. You know when people to tell you that if something is too good to be true, then it probably isn’t? That ABSOLUTELY, MOST CERTAINLY applies to builders. I don’t think that it is really there intention to lie to your face, though. I believe better of people, whether I should or not. What I think really happens is that they don’t know what they are talking about, so they make it up, or say something that they think is true. We’ve all done it. I know I used to do it a lot. Maybe it’s my age, but I find myself more often now being able to say “I don’t know, but I will absolutely find out for you.” When the builder told me moving the house would save me thousands because it wouldn’t need a special foundation, and then they charged me a change order for $16,000 because the foundation was “over-height”, I didn’t accuse Daniel of lying so much as just not knowing what he was talking about.
The biggest problem in ALL of this is the MANAGEMENT of the entire process!
Here’s how this builder’s (and others like them) business model works. You work out a “plan” for the cost of the things you are going to be responsible for in what they called a HOE (Home Owners Equity Sheet). They help you plan for the cost of the septic, well, permits, clearing, landscaping, etc. And when you do that work, you can submit to the builder to be reimbursed for the amount you paid, or at least the amount you estimated, because it is figured in your loan. My HOE was somewhere around $25,000. I had no intention of asking for a reimbursement for any of those things. I was going to pay them out of pocket and know that amount off of my mortgage. Then came the change orders. This is the part they don’t really explain. It’s in the fine print of the 85 page contract, along with many other things that it would behoove you to read. I had 3 choices for the change order. I could pay it in cash up front. I could add it to the loan. Or I could take it out of that HOE. BUT the builder, Shannon in particular, told me my only option was the first. They would not continue working on the house until I could pay that.
I don’t know at what point the internal systems of ValueBuild Homes triggers to do certain things, mainly because no one ever agreed to share a build schedule with me. Maybe they didn’t have a set schedule and were just winging it! But at some point during the foundation build, the wood for framing, the roof trusses, and the floor joists were ordered and delivered. Yay! Right? My home was sitting in the middle of the pasture on pallets. I was so excited! We would have a home by Spring! And then nothing.
Daniel was the only truth teller in the group. He showed up one day and we sat down with the computer and he shared that Option 3 with me, where I could just let the HOE cover the change order. He showed me exactly the cost that went into that $16K. And we worked it all out. I signed everything and we were on our way. But, he shared, there was one problem. He did not have a framer available to start on the building. It shouldn’t take long to find a framer. It was the middle of COVID. People were begging for work, right? It won’t be a big deal.
The framers showed up about 4 weeks later. Those beautiful piles of wood sat in the rain and even snow for about 4 weeks. Do you know what happens to wood when it sits, uncovered, in wet conditions for multiple weeks? Mold and mildew! Do you know how I know that? Once the framing was done, many weeks later, I walked the framed house and found black spots and green growth everywhere on the roof trusses and floor joists between the 2 floors. There was nothing on the walls. Maybe those were treated better or covered in the stacks better. But the roof and the floor were horrible. And I was not paying this much money for a home with mold, mildew or whatever. My hubby was furious!
We were at an impasse. Time #3 of when we should have walked away! I am a solution driven business person. I believe in my heart that every problem has a solution. I have been able to negotiate and save many deals where people think that there is no way around dissolving the transaction. So I put my business brain to action on my own deal and tried to find a solution for this problem. Every time I run in to this type of situation, I am amazed at how many people do not try this type of conflict resolution. I asked the builder management to help me clean the mildew and mold off of the wood. Their solution was to hire a company that could treat the growth with a chemical to kill the growth and make sure it didn’t grow back. I was a little hesitant to accept that. And actually the first company that they suggested that came in didn’t seem to know what they were doing. So, being the DIY-er that I am, I got my tea tree oil, bleach and ladder and started scrubbing the beams. That may have been the hardest job I have ever attempted! I lasted about 4 hours. And only got through the trusses in my office. I immediately called Daniel and told them we would go no further in this build until they had a good solution! They eventually found one (another 3 – 4 week delay).
I think I’ve said this before, but the biggest problem in ALLLL of this is the MANAGEMENT of the entire process. Whoever ordered the wood obviously didn’t know that there was not a framer ready to get started. The sad part is, almost every person that I tell this story to in home construction, with the exception of one person, has said to me “that’s just how it is”. That excuse is just that, an excuse. Do your job better! I bet if it was your house, you would find a way to protect those materials, conserve the stress and time that it takes to fix stupid mistakes and make sure trades are where they are supposed to be when they said they would be there. At the very least, you would lift a finger to make something happen. But they don’t! Contractors are not looking out for their clients, they are looking out for their bottom line…end of story!
southerngirlweb 