Linda's Southeastern CT Real Estate Blog

ST Joseph Statue Sales Soar in New England!

You may have heard about the custom.  In fact, I'm sure it has been blogged about here on Active Rain more than once. I've blogged about the subject twice on my Eastern CT Real Estate Blog.  Home sellers bury a St. Joseph statue in the yard and the home sells.  Once the home is sold, the sellers unearth the statue and give it a prominent place in their new home.  Over the past couple of years, the market was so hot that invoking St. Joseph was hardly necessary.  Last year, as the market slowed, St. Joseph suddenly made a comeback.  I currently have several sellers in Eastern CT, who have buried the little plastic statues in their front yards following the directions that I supplied.  You can even find little St. Joseph home selling kits online for $9.95.

As a catholic, I can understand the connection between St. Joseph and praying for a home sale.  St. Joseph is the patron saint of homes.  I can't figure out why he needs to be buried upside down but I suspect he does have a sense of humor.  I don't consider it blasphemous or superstitious; I actually do believe it works.  2 million or so St. Joseph statues sell each year and I gather many of them end up buried.  Right after I wrote my first blog on the subject, one of my home sellers gave it a try and their home sold  a week later....to a minister.  I really don't make these things up.   

I googled the topic today and found hundreds of links including one in the Boston Globe.  A local shop owner talks about sales of the statue. "If sales of the beige, 5-inch St. Joseph statues are slow, it means the real estate market is strong. If sales are brisk, the market is weak. Lately, all signs point to a real estate meltdown: He's selling 300 statues a month." 

In the 2003 book by Stephen Binz, Saint Joesph, My Real Estate Agent, there are lots of examples of seemingly miraculous home sales.  One story in the book, which has made the rounds on the Internet, is about a rather impatient seller who buried a St.Joseph statue. "He planted it in the backyard, waited a couple of weeks, but nothing happened.  He planted it in the front yard, waited another couple of weeks, and still nothing happened.  He planted it in front of the yard sign, waited, and still nothing happened.  He then planted it in the side yard, waited and still nothing happened.  This went on for over three months.  His yard was full of holes from planting and replanting St. Joseph.  After three months the seller was frustrated and threw St. Joseph in the trash.  A few days later the frustrated seller opened the newspaper and saw the headline "LOCAL DUMP HAS BEEN SOLD"."

Like I said, St. Joseph has a sense of humor.

I started a series of simple staging tips on my Eastern CT Real Estate Blog.    I received permission by the author of "Dress Your House for Success" to use that title as long as I credited her.  I was blogging along and made it to TIP #7 and I am now officially STUCK.   I use the tips in my advertising and marketing - suggesting that people stop by my blog for the Dress Your House for Success Tip Series.  I also refer my current sellers to it. 

So...I was wondering if perhaps a few of you wonderful stagers out there might be willing to provide me with some fresh material.  I, of course, would give you credit for the tip AND include a link to your blog or website.  I'm looking for single tips to continue the series.  I can't think of a better place than Active Rain to help me get UNSTUCK!  

P.S. The mouse is just fine.

In my ongoing study of what makes real estate professionals tick, and in honor of the start of the holiday shopping season, I continue on my quest of questions of the mind.  I recently discussed Morning People vs Late Nite people and found there was no constant among the Realtors®, mortgage officers or stagers here.  So I thought I would turn to the age old Fruitcake question.  Do you hate fruitcake?  

I have observed that people are pretty passionate about the subject.  There is even "The I hate fruitcake hate page." where they state that "There is just something fundamentally Wrong, WRong, WROng, WRONg, WRONG! with Fruitcake."  

I actually like fruitcake. I even make an outstanding fruitcake (I Love to Bake) but have always been reluctant to give one as a gift, fearing it would become the butt of doorstop jokes. (As an aside, my gift to some of my favorite people in the business this year comes from Mrs. Prindable's.)   Many years ago, I posted a question on a political forum that  I frequent, and asked where to buy the best fruitcake.  Without question, Collins Street Bakery in Texas won the survey.  The monks at Holy Cross Abbey in Virginia placed a good solid second.   

Many of you may question this post and its relevance  to the real estate business but the study of people is fascinating to me.....and hey, I could have asked "Boxers or Briefs?"    But I won't.......

I  woke up this morning at 6AM just like always.  Not because of any Thanksgiving preparations, just because.  Because I always wake up at 6AM.  In fact, I'm usually in the office by 7:30.  I'm known as a "morning person".   I started thinking about this whole phenomenon at a closing yesterday.  The young buyer seemed distracted.  Finally the closing attorney asked her if she was feeling ok.  She said, "I'm fine but I'm exhausted.  I had to be at work at 7AM this morning".   I tried not to snicker or make eye contact with the attorney. I know he is is often at work by 6:30AM.  But it really did get me thinking....why are some people "morning people" and why are some people "late night people".  And why do some people require 8 hours and others can cruise with just 5-6?   Besides being a morning person, I need, at the very least, 8 hours of sleep.  Plus I'm a great napper!   I take at least a 2 hour nap every weekend!  And Thanksgiving is a great nap day!

The whole sleep thing is certainly intriguing.  I don't think it's hereditary. Or based on gender or nationality.  I really don't know but I still wonder??  And is one way better?  Do morning people or late nite people  make the best realtors?  Mortgage Officers?  Stagers? Presidents?  hmmmmm    zzzzzzzzzzzzz

As sales fall, number of agents increase.

The last 5 years have been an amazing time for real estate agents in Eastern CT.  As prices increased and homes sold quickly,  real estate schools became full of potential agents with visions of easy money and a lot of it.  This is a trend seen throughout the country as the number of real estate agents rose to astounding levels.  Last year, the National Association of Realtors®, grew by 163,117, to 1.2 million members.  And the scary part is that 25% of those members have not had a transaction yet this year. 

Minnesota Realtors® Association Senior Vic President, Christopher Galler recently published a letter on the group's website entitled "Is it Time for a Career Adjustment? " Galler makes some very interesting points, some sure to be unpopular in the real estate community.  

   "As more people enter the industry and those who are not pursuing it as a career continue to take transactions from those who do this as a career, the experience level and problem solving abilities of the industry as a whole declines.  Experienced agents who complete 20 to 30 transactions a year have better problem solving skills than the agents who complete 3-5.  Unfortunately, the industry is trending down - fewer transactions per agent versus more.  As skill level falls, the public perception of the industry falls with it." 

I applaud Mr. Galler for his bold stance.  It is time to weed out the pack by making it more difficult to get a real estate license, increasing mandatory education, raising our fees and policing our membership. The Real Estate business should be a professional career not a part time endeavor.   Let's get serious folks.

The Trade Show - Halloween for Realtors®

If you noticed me missing after Day 4, it was because I ended up sick.  I rarely get sick so I'm calling it the New Orleans Flu. I spent Saturday Nite multi-tasking in the bathroom.  Returning home, I was thrilled to walk out of the Airport in Providence and breathe the fresh air.  Ahhhhhh.   I hate hotels with windows that don't open.  (Since my room also had a mouse, you can probably get the idea, I didn't like the hotel.)  But that's all the complaining, I'm going to do.  The people of New Orleans were thrilled to see us and they all had amazing stories to tell. 

The good news is that I didn't get sick until Saturday Nite after the Trade Show.  A number of Active Rainers met at 8:00AM.  I think others have told the story but it was great seeing some of our most active bloggers including Bill French, Mary McKnight, Sharon Simms, Angus Woodbury and Teri Isner as well as some potential new members like Bunny Mostad, Les Sulgrove, and Deb Alderson.  King Matt (In the blue shirt) of Active Rain was even younger than I thought!  A very soft spoken and impressive young man!  

Then it was off to the Trade Show. I think there were fewer vendors than normal but I'm not quite sure of that. I do know that the giveaways were quite impressive including this cool little thing from Google which looked like a mini lava lamp.  Unfortunately, the cool thing from google had liquid in it and when we arrived at the airport on Sunday, they had already confiscated one and had it on display.  Something tells me they will have a whole collection of them by the time the show is over!   We also got tons of cool pens, calculators, rulers, toys. pads, key chains, tool kits and gizmos - things that blink, light up and make noises too!  I ended up shipping home a box of stuff.  My agents always love getting this crap (a common term for it) when I return from the convention.   Everyone was giving out beads so we were all decked out with bead bling as well as blinking lights before the end of the day.  Here is my convention tip:   If you like the coolest giveaways check out the Title Companies.  They give out the best stuff.  Some of the bigger companies like Avery and Google also hand out impressive junk. Blackberry gave away the most clever pen.....it opened up to display a billboard of Blackberry products.  Can you tell I love the Trade Show???? - It really is like Halloween!!!

My winner of most interactive booth had to be Wells Fargo as they had several contests going on and seemed to attract a great following.  Their party is always a big event as agents scramble to find tickets.  One thing that surprised me was the large number of 1031 Exchange booths.  They seemed to be everywhere.  Overall, I didn't think there was much new stuff.  The one new product I found (and bought) was Announce My Move.   It's a little hard to explain so you can visit there and they can explain it for you.  It was featured as a Cool Tool by Realtor Magazine.  It was my largest purchase of the day.    I did also buy "Realty Blogging" by Richard Nacht and Paul Chaney.   I'm about 1/2 way through and enjoying it a lot - an easy read with plenty of good advice!!!  

There were some obnoxious booth vendors, most notably a couple of pen guys who I won't name even if Bill French said it was ok to call someone a moron if it was true.  (He might not have said that exactly but that is what I heard anyway.)   Les Sulgrove was looking for a business card scanner but the one being demo'd there was unimpressive.  If you have a recommendation for a business card scanner be sure to comment. 

Besides the Halloween aspect, the NAR Trade Show really is the place to see all the current technology and new real estate products all under one roof.  It is also fun to meet the people behind the products I use.  I was able to meet the great folks of Custom House Publishing, Howard Brinton Systems, Ron from HomeFeedback.com, Agency Logic,  ToolKitCMA, Melco Marketing and more! 

I had a great time despite the mouse in my room and the New Orleans Flu.  I'll be there in Las Vegas next year, for sure!

Today I met AR member, Bill French from Real Estate Blog Sites.  Bill spoke at our Cyberprofessionals meeting.  He is one SMART guy.  And very funny too. If you ever have the opportunity to hear him speak, you'll learn a lot!  And laugh a lot!   We also met Tina Beam from Visistat .  It's a very cool product. 

Tonight was the opening of the NAR Trade Show, one of my favorite real estate events of the year. (In fact, it is the only Convention event I attend.) All the big players are here including the major real estate and mortgage franchises.  The giveaways are lots of fun.  I always end up with a great pile of stuff to take home to the team!  Tonight was just a quick run down all the aisles. Tomorrow, I'll do some serious shopping.

Here's what warmed my heart today:  Traffic has been pretty much a mess.  As we took off from the convention center, the shuttle bus driver said, "Thank you all for causing this traffic.  We haven't had any for a very long time."   I never thought I'd enjoy being in a traffic jam.

Here come the Realtors®!!!!   I arrived on Tuesday and it was pretty quiet in the streets.   I was amazed at all the jewelry and antique shops in the French Quarter, one after another for blocks.  I couldn't imagine how many of them had managed to survive. Talk about competition!! Inventory was up and there were few buyers.  Ironic that the arrival of the Realtor® community was so highly anticipated.   I could almost hear the sighs of relief, as last night, the streets were filled, the restaurants were packed and the shoppers were doing what they do best, spend money.  It makes me proud!   

There were some Realtor® events Wednesday including meetings and a CRS dinner cruise but for many it was mostly a day of meeting up with friends, eating, drinking and shopping.  OH...and there is Harrah's Casino too!  (Personally I'd rather see people spend their money in the local shops.)

Besides Realtors®, the trees arrived too.  Along Canal Street are huge cement planters that held trees before Katrina.  The trees have arrived and are waiting to be planted.  Just one more attempt at getting back to normal in the city of New Orleans.

P.S.  To continue the hotel saga, the fire alarm went off at 3:45AM.  At least it probably scared the he*l out of my little mouse friend.

When I heard that NAR had chosen New Orleans as the site of the 2007 National Convention, I was disappointed.  I didn't think the city was going to be ready for 30,000 people and selfishly, I knew that finding a hotel for our Cyberprofessionals  group would be difficult . NAR, in the past, would not let us book a block of rooms together.  But NAR was determined to get people back to New Orleans... so this year, with the help of Judy Burkett , past president of the Baton Rouge Association of Realtors, NAR agreed to allow us to book 30 rooms in the same hotel.

I blogged about my first day here and the tale of the mouse.  You can find that here.  On the second day we took a tour of the city.  The tour ended with a visit to the 9th Ward...it was a scene I will never forget. I've included one of many photos we took of the devastation in just one area. The tour guide was obviously unhappy (more like angry) with "the government" including FEMA and the Army Corps of Engineers. And he was frustrated at how slow the restoration project was going and the unwillingness of congress to send more money.  He didn't exactly blame the president but you could tell he was holding back.  But now having seen it for myself, it is hard to blame anyone.  The rebuilding project is so huge and the task is so overwhelming, it is hard to get your arms around it.  And while the media focuses on New Orleans, there are other sections of the gulf coast in dire straights.  I understand Mississippi needs to completely rebuild 77,000 homes. 

After the tour, we visited the Riverwalk Mall.  I talked to several of the merchants and they were thrilled about the NAR Convention being here.  They were absolutely excited to have a big group of paying customers!   The NAR convention is the largest since Katrina.  We had a group dinner at K-Pauls - they thanked us for coming to New Orleans to help fuel their economy.  Seeing the genuine appreciation of the business owners convinced me that coming here was the right decision after all.

I've arrived in New Orleans. This is my 4th trip here and I enjoy the city.   I was rather surprised at how run-down the airport looks although the cab driver did share they had plans to rebuild it prior to Katrina.  I met some other Cyberprofessionals at the airport and we headed to our NAR hotel, the Astor Crowne Plaza in the French Quarter.  First impression:   Not enough help.  I expected this since my dealings with the hotel prior to scheduling our meeting was very frustrating.   As we lugged in our luggage and boxes for our meeting into the lobby, one bellhop with a cart stood talking to another employee and made no effort to assist us.  Ok, so we saved some tip money. 

Check-in was really s-l-o-w. 

The 4 of us are from 3 different times zones so we headed out to lunch/dinner.  The French Quarter is dirtier and smellier than a remember but we had a good meal and were back before dark as recommended. Lots of wierdos were walking around. The hotel was hosting the Bobby Jindal victory party.  He did win so they actually even got to celebrate.

I was watching the election returns when I saw something out of the corner of my eye.  A MOUSE!   No...not a computer mouse.  A live mouse.   EEEEEEEEK!!!!    I called down to the desk and the gal didn't seem particularly surprised.   She said "Would you like us to remove you from your room, ma am?"    NO....I would like you to remove the mouse from my room!!!!!  So 2 guys arrived (I think they've done this before) with some sticky back stuff which they placed around my room in a couple of places.  I called home to my husband to report I had a mouse in my room and he said "Don't tell anyone or everyone will want one."   NOT FUNNY. 

As I was laying in bed with my shoes on (I know that makes no sense), I decided I'd prefer not to wake up to a squeaking mouse stuck to some tape so I picked up the stuff and hoped for the best. This morning the only mouse in the room is my computer mouse. 

And so it went in New Orleans on Day 1.