The other day, I was going into the local supermarket when I met Jane, an old friend and client. She

immediately asked me (as so many do!) "How is the real estate market?" There was genuine alarm

in her voice. I said: "Fine." She looked startled, and unsure. I elaborated: "In some parts of the country,

like Florida, and Nevada, and California, the real estate prices went wild." I didn't shock her with statistics,

but the Florida Association of REALTORS(R) pegs the overall inflation for ALL houses in Florida at 172% for

the time period of 2000 to 2005. But, here in North Central PA, where Jane and I live and work, the

inflation for the same period is much, much smaller. And, the higher they went up, the bigger they

are falling. Our market is steady, and would be better yet if we could convince people to quit listening to

the media. It's almost as if a hurricane is predicted for the Florida Keys, and everyone where I live wants

to board up their windows. Get a grip, folks! Let's talk fundamentals: in some markets, we do have

a tremendous over supply. Not so much in the boondocks of Lycoming County PA, where our builders

never went on a tear, building new houses as fast as they could. Our market is A-F-F-O-R-D-A-B-L-E.

Really, really affordable. Our average sales price is still south of $150,000. That's a mortgage payment

of about $700 to $850, depending upon how much the borrower puts down. We have people who

live here who have very stable jobs. Like Jane, who has worked in the local hospital for over 20 years. Or

the teachers we have, or the college employees and professors, or the Penn Dot workers, or the nurses

or the local plants that are doing quite fine (despite the gloom and doom on the news every night). And

all those people have to have houses to live in. From where I sit, I don't see a risk of our values

decreasing; they seem to be somewhat flat, but they are not going down. And like other markets, they

have steadily increased for the 30+ years I have been in the real estate business. I summarized all that

to Jane, and then asked my favorite question: "If you have owned your home 10 years or more, would

you sell it today for what you paid for it?" I never get any takers on that one. Look at the history;

historically, home prices go up. The other thing is that for so many people, their home ends up

being their forced savings plan. They buy it and make payments, and as long as they don't get stupid

about refinancing it every two years, at some point they own it 'free and clear'. That's a good thing.

This economy will recover, because of or in spite of all the government intervention--and when it does, the

happy folks will be the ones who bought real estate now. The ecstatic people will be the ones who bought

investment property now, and let the tenants pay it off for them. Consider that concept, if you

have been opening the envelopes from the brokerage house or the 401K folks with trepidation

and fear. Real estate is the ONLY investment someone else will buy for you. We call those folks tenants.

And, with the market changing as it has, meaning that Freddie and Fannie have found religion again,

and have decided not to loan money to people without (gasp!) a job, credit and some money, more

than ever, some people will have to rent. If you are in a position to invest, do so, and let those folks

pay off YOUR mortgage.

Melanie J. McLane, ABR, CRB, CRS, ePRO, GRI, RAA, SRES, 32 year veteran of the real estate industry. Offering training, speaking and consulting throughout the industry, I teach everything from ABR to USPAP. Certified ePRO Instructor. To contact me, email me at: melanie@TheMelanieGroup.com or visit my website: www.TheMelanieGroup.com

It's the height of summer produce season, and my garden is bursting. I walk smugly past the signs in

the supermarket: "Green Beans-Special $1.29 a pound". The roadside stands have them for about

$1.00 a quart, if you are lucky. My garden has them for FREE! And, as I smugly remind my husband as

we enjoy beans and other goodies, all it cost me was $1.29 for a pack of seeds. That, and some work-

roto tilling, mulching with grass clippings from the mower, watering, some Miracle Groâ--some weeding,

but I'm up to my ears in green beans, yellow beans, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes and-my new favorite

regular tomato-"Mortgage Buster"-named, I sure, for how prolific this plant is-if you sell the

tomatoes, they'll help lift your mortgage. I don't sell my produce. I enjoy it (I graze on the cherry tomato

plant, and all I need is a salt shaker for the other tomatoes); I freeze it and I share it with friends and

neighbors. Please don't irritate me, by the way, by asking if my vegetables are 'organic'. All vegetables

are organic! If you don't believe me, see 'organic' and 'inorganic' in the dictionary. But, mine are grown

without pesticides, herbicides and other nasty things. Sandy, our yellow Lab is on constant rabbit patrol

(which is why I have beans, and my friend Barbara doesn't-the rabbits crop hers off at about 2").

Melanie J. McLane, ABR, CRB, CRS, ePRO, GRI, RAA, SRES, 32 year veteran of the real estate industry. Offering training, speaking and consulting throughout the industry, I teach everything from ABR to USPAP. Certified ePRO Instructor. To contact me, email me at: melanie@TheMelanieGroup.com or visit my website: www.TheMelanieGroup.com

Real Estate, like most businesses, focuses on keeping customers and clients happy and making them customers and clients for life. Most agents agree that they are looking for referrals from existing and past clients and are focused on providing satisfactory service. Yet, many times either we fall short, or, the customer or client has exaggerated expectations that we simply cannot meet. What's a Realtor to do? Part of what you do should be carefully selecting who you will work with as a client. Not everyone who comes your way is good client material--it's just like your Mom always told you--all those potential dates out there might or might not be 'husband or wife' material. Someone who expects you to do something illegal should be off your list--"Only sell my home to people who are (are not) in Group A, B or C". Someone who has unrealistic expectations should be off your list: "I know the average price of a home here in Upscale Estates is $1.5 million, but I need you to find me a motivated seller who will take $300,000 down and finance another $300,000 at 1% for a hundred years". Someone who has exaggerated expectations should be off your list: "We think we will need to view at least 400 homes before making a decision, and we expect you to be available 24/7 until we find the right home". The problem is, most unreasonable people are not this blatant. They start off sounding reasonable and then continue to increase their demands. Here's an inescapable truth: You won't make everyone happy. Here's the second truth: As long as you are honest, ethical and consistently work in your client's best interests, you'll still be able to sleep at night. Much of what happens to make clients unhappy is simply beyond their control--or yours.  Early in my career, I had to take a female client who had 'lost it' at a closing into the Ladies room to calm her down. She was angry--at me, at the lawyer, at the lender--but, at the end of the tirade, she was really angry at her soon to be ex-husband and the position he had gotten them into. I got her to focus on the fact that selling the house was one more thing 'off the list' of stuff holding her to the ex. I reminded her that she had hired us to sell her house, and we had done that.  She calmed down and went ahead with her closing. More recently, I had a seller client known for being a 'hothead'. Our transaction proceeded smoothly--until on the final walk through the buyer observed what looked like a leak on the furnace (it was). When I called the seller to tell him about the problem and suggest solutions, he went ballistic on me, the buyer, the other agent, and everyone involved. Later, we lined up a plumber to go look at it (after he had verbally abused my husband--also a Realtor--and threatened to 'punch him in the nose' for bringing up the problem). We got the plumber there by agreeing that we, the listing agents, would pay the plumber if there was 'no problem'. Well, there was a problem. The seller paid the bill. He didn't attend closing, and I'm sure he is still out there somewhere, angry (he moved out of state). I did write him after the closing reminding him that he had hired us to sell his home, which we had done (we got more than asking Price for it) and that our job was to resolve problems and take it to settlement. We never got an apology from Mr. 'Hothead'--and we probably never will. Was he happy? No. Could I have made him happy? I don't think so. Could he have been more unhappy? Yes, if we had managed to drop the ball entirely, so he had no closing. So what's my point? Do the best you can--every time, even to the people who probably don't deserve it. Understand that sometimes you will get the fallout from other things going on in your clients' lives.  Best of all, know that for everyone who is difficult and unreasonable, there are usually 10-15 folks who are wonderful.

 Melanie J. McLane, ABR, CRB, CRS, ePRO, GRI, RAA, SRES, 32 year veteran of the real estate industry. Offering training, speaking and consulting throughout the industry, I teach everything from ABR to USPAP. Certified ePRO Instructor. To contact me, email me at: melanie@TheMelanieGroup.com or visit my website: www.TheMelanieGroup.com