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Friday, August 15, 2008

Just Another Day...

August 15, 2008
Lynnsy Logue The Real Estate Lady and Condo CanDo in Charlotte, NC
Just an Ordinary Day…
There are many unseen actions during the day as a real estate broker. They are the ones you don’t know about…the ones we don’t talk about. And maybe we don’t talk about them because they are too personal. I sometimes think the perception the general public has about real estate professionals is something about shiny cars, gold jewelry, big paychecks, fish fries and golf tournaments. Maybe so. Maybe not.
I began this morning as I always do on Fridays when it is not raining: walking with the neighbors at 5 a.m. for several miles as we talk about our plans for the weekend. So this morning began a little before I met them. The second item was a note that the truck was coming this morning to load up my neighbors. They are moving to Alaska. A young couple and their five year old daughter. They became friends the very first day they moved across the street and it deepened. Then they became clients as members of their family entered my world. And then they asked me to find a buyer for their house. And I did.Now they are going and I will miss them. So I have spent time thinking of them this morning. Missing them already.
And then as the movers were packing, a client called to brainstorm about “what if’s”, and think about Plan B…and on with another as we talked about what appliances stay and what really goes and how important it is to be patient…and another about a showing tomorrow as I reminded them about opening blinds and draperies…and the info sheet box that I will place in front of their home tomorrow during the Neighborhood Walk Around…And meeting our I.T. person for lunch. We share our excitement about Charlotte and the Market, how she has enjoyed experiencing the Lynx,our lite rail, how she has enjoyed arriving early uptown and can hear the birds uptown in the early morning…and walk along he tree-lined streets before everyone else starts arriving.
And on to show property as the prospective buyer brings his whole family and the family dog and the girl friend…and I give them the special folder I prepared with every bit of information I have on the property and adjoining properties. And told them to go home and talk about it, think about it. I am available.
And I come back to my home office, check email and find a thank you from a client who wanted direction and I sent him my decorator friend who is great with listening and they got along famously and I can hear the calm in his message.

I look out the window across the street. The truck is gone.

Lynnsy Logue The Real Estate Lady and Condo CanDo in Charlotte, NC

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Here's Letter To Realtors and Link:New Tax Credit

August 14, 2008

Lynnsy Logue The Real Estate Lady and Condo CanDo in Charlotte, NC
Straight from the Horses's Mouth Almost:

Dear Lynnsy Logue,
Dear Brokers-In-Charge,
President Bush signed the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, immediate measures that will help homeowners facing foreclosure find ways to refinance and will help strengthen mortgage markets. The package also includes a very substantial tax credit available to first-time home buyers.
In this email, you will find a series of links that provide comprehensive details of the legislation package. We hope you will share this good news with your agents.
To summarize, the legislation package includes Federal Housing Administration Modernization that will simplify and make FHA-backed mortgages more available while helping thousands of families refinance existing mortgages and keep their homes. Other important components of the bill are reform of the government-sponsored enterprises (Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac), permanent increases to both GSE and FHA loan limits, a first-time home buyer tax credit and a program to expand FHA that would allow more homeowners to refinance their mortgages.
“Realtors® are in the business of building communities, and our 1.2 million members understand that this legislation will go a long way in helping people buy and keep their homes,” says Dick Gaylord, NAR’s2008 president.
Wendell Bullard, 2008 president of the NC Association of REALTORS®, agrees. “This is good news for our more than 43,000 members and even better news for our clients,” Helpful links:

Tax Credit Chart
Seller DAP
Reform Chart
Refinance Chart
Q and A

These are charts and might help clarify the program. Enjoy!

Lynnsy Logue The Real Estate Lady and Condo CanDo in Charlotte, NC

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Do You Ever Wonder Why I Read So Much?

August 13, 2008
Yes, I read a lot. Everyday. About the Charlotte Market, about Charlotte, about Charlotte Real Estate and what is going on in various sectors of the market. And why do you think I do that? Because I want you to know more about our market than just what's for sale. If you want to know just what is for sale go to CarolinaHOme.com and youll get our whole database of listings. The region. 17 counties. If you want some thoughtful insight, check out the writers, the thoughts, their opinions...their take on ...well, everything that pertains to the market that I think has value. So come on down...here's one from Bob Herbert of the New York Times.

Lynnsy Logue The Real Estate Lady and Condo CanDo in Charlotte, NC

A fast, cheap step toward energy sanity
While the presidential campaign was mired in the egregious and the trivial last week, there was a hearing in Washington that addressed what should be a critical component of the nation's energy strategy so writes Bob Herbert. He continues… It got very little attention.
Put aside for a moment all the talk about alternative fuels. They are important and the wave of the future, but the fastest, cheapest, easiest and cleanest step toward a sane energy environment is the powerful combination of efficiency and conservation.
That was the message delivered again and again at a hearing of the Joint Economic Committee that carried the title, “Efficiency: The Hidden Secret to Solving Our Energy Crisis.”
California's good example
Two political leaders who are no longer very fashionable were on to this long ago – former Gov. Jerry Brown of California and former President Jimmy Carter, who presciently said of the energy crisis in 1977: “With the exception of preventing war, this is the greatest challenge our country will face during our lifetime.”
It may be hard to believe, but largely because of far-reaching efficiency and conservation measures imposed by Brown's administration, California is now among the lowest of all the states in the per capita consumption of energy. Take automobiles out of the picture and it would have the lowest per capita consumption of any state.
Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, chairman of the Joint Economic Committee, noted that California's extraordinary progress in this area over the past three decades was set in motion during Brown's tenure when the state established building standards that required greater efficiency with regard to heating and cooling. Utilities were required to operate more efficiently and the state, to the extent that it legally could, required appliances sold in California to be more efficient.
A national to-do list
It's not widely understood how profound a change in overall energy consumption could be realized from a big-time, coordinated efficiency and conservation effort.
In addition to the obvious need for more fuel-efficient vehicles, we should be demanding more efficiencies from utilities, we should be requiring states to revamp their commercial and building codes; and we should be trying to weatherize homes from coast to coast, including the homes of families without enough money to make such improvements themselves.
And, of course, there are the everyday good energy deeds that would help make a world of difference: car-pooling; taking public transportation when possible; using more efficient lighting; dropping the thermostat a couple of degrees; buying more efficient appliances; unplugging appliances that aren't in use, and so on.
A leadership shortage
Combining the development of alternative fuels with a real efficiency and conservation effort is the winning hand in the global energy crisis.
People in many parts of the country are already frightened, in the heat of the summer, about next winter's heating bills. Families are worried about having to choose between mortgage payments and fuel bills, or fuel bills and medicine.
The Senate considered but was unable to pass a measure that would have substantially increased financing for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program. It was a bad sign. If the government can't get that done in the current atmosphere, it hardly seems likely that it could move to an even more important step: finding a way to get the homes of these cash-strapped families weatherized so they use substantially less fuel each winter.
We know what we should be doing. What we lack is the leadership, the common sense or the will to get it done.

Lynnsy Logue The Real Estate Lady and Condo CanDo in Charlotte, NC

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Green and Clean Inside and Out...

August 12, 2008
Lynnsy Logue The Real Estate Lady and Condo CanDo in Charlotte, NC
Your lush lawn
Before you stretch out on (or let your kids run barefoot through) that green grass, consider that it may be blanketed with toxic pesticides. “The commonly used insecticides are all chemical cousins of the wartime gas sarin, which was used in the 1995 Tokyo subway attack,” says Philip J. Landrigan, MD, chairman of the Department of Community and Preventive Medicine and professor of pediatrics at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City.
“And the commonly used herbicides are chemical first cousins of Agent Orange, which was used in Vietnam.” So, that “healthy” lawn has the potential to increase your family’s risks of cancer or neurological conditions such as Parkinson’s disease. That’s partly because lawn-care pesticides “aren’t selective killers,” explains Jennifer Sass, PhD, a senior scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) in Washington, D.C. — many can have an impact on your health.

There is good news, though: More and more towns are enacting neighbor-notification laws, requiring residents to issue warnings before spraying so people can shut their windows or even clear out with their kids and pets (the health danger lasts for days for the commonly used insecticides and weeks for the herbicides). If your town doesn’t have this law, ask neighbors to let you know when they’re spraying — and what they’re using.
On your own turf, do only integrated pest management (IPM), a gentler, environmentally sensitive way of preventing, monitoring, and controlling pests. Safer ecofriendly and organic lawn sprays and other nonchemical options — from aphid-eating ladybugs to heat (electrocution) for termites — are surprisingly effective. Caveat: You may not have the most manicured lawn on the block, but to keep your family safe you have to learn to live with a few dandelions.
Your child's toy box
The main threat here is lead-coated toys. In the past two fiscal years, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has issued 21 recalls of lead-tainted toys, including learning toys and train sets, most of which were made in China (this number doesn’t include lead-related children’s-jewelry recalls).
If you have little ones, consider lead the number-one danger in your home, Landrigan says. In very high doses, lead can cause convulsions and brain damage in young children. But if children are exposed to it in even small amounts, they can have a loss of IQ, a shortening of attention span, and behavioral problems. They’re also more likely to have dyslexia and to drop out of school.
Checking every toy in the house for lead may not help because not all home tests are accurate. Instead, make smart buys. Research toys at www.healthytoys.org before you go shopping. Other ways to protect your kids: Have them wash their hands after playing and before eating, and get them tested for lead.
Your closet
Mothballs are really dangerous chemicals, the vapors are carcinogenic and are also irritating to the nervous system. In fact, if your child swallows one, it can be fatal. Inhaling mothball vapors overnight doesn’t mean you will get cancer tomorrow, but it increases your long-term risk. So use safer moth-repelling alternatives like dried-lavender and cedar products.
And your work clothes swathed in dry-cleaning bags? They harbor perchloroethylene, the most common dry-cleaning chemical, which causes cancer in lab animals, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Heavy exposure to this substance can cause dizziness and confusion, even in adults, so it’s best to minimize your use of dry cleaning. Machine-wash whatever you can on the delicate cycle (not everything labeled “dry-clean only” needs it). Another option: Find a professional cleaner who uses less-toxic solutions, like CO2, or does wet cleaning (a combo of water, biodegradable soap, and steam in special machines).
If you have an item conventionally dry-cleaned, remove it from plastic and air it outside for several hours before hanging it in the closet. This will give the chemicals time to evaporate, reducing the health risk.
Your cat's litter box
Anyone who has changed a litter box is familiar with that cough-inducing dust cloud. It likely contains low levels of crystalline silica, a carcinogen so check the bag or box before you pour it into Fluffy’s litter box. If the warning says to go to the ER if you swallow, it’s safe to assume it’s really toxic. Replace with greener versions made from corn, wheat, alfalfa, cedar, and even pine—all of which work well. You can find natural litters at major pet stores. To give the natural variety an odor-eating boost, mix in a little baking soda. And be sure to keep boxes in ventilated spots such as a screened-in porch.
Your home office
What’s in your home office or cube? Eye and lung irritants from copy-machine toners and fax-machine ink cartridges, in addition to gases from permanent markers, vapors from pesticides, and formaldehyde fumes from particleboard furniture. In the short term, these products—particularly in tightly sealed office buildings — can cause sick-building syndrome, a real illness that’s characterized by symptoms like headache and fatigue. Sick-building syndrome is the result of inadequate ventilation, so if there are no windows in your office, ask a manager to have air exchanges and filters turned on before the workday begins. Your request might fall on deaf ears, but it could also spur change. Why bother? Some of the compounds found in offices are neurotoxic, which means they can cause tingling or numbness and permanent damage to the nervous system over the long term.
At your office, avoid printers and copiers in your immediate work space and take 10-minute walks outside during the day to get fresh air. At home, keep printers and fax machines out of the bedroom, crack windows, and add chemical-removing plants. (Listed below.)
Plants that help
These three easy-to-find houseplants act as natural air purifiers:
Areca Palm removes xylene (from permanent markers and rubber cement).
Boston fern removes formaldehyde (from fiberboard furniture, glues and adhesives, and permanent-press fabrics).
English ivy removes benzene (from oven cleaners, detergents, furniture polish, and spot removers).More green and clean…from
Lynnsy Logue The Real Estate Lady and Condo CanDo in Charlotte, NC

Monday, August 11, 2008

Charlotte Ranks No. 10 !

August 11, 2008

Lynnsy Logue The Real Estate Lady and Condo CanDo in Charlotte, NC

Charlotte’s residents volunteer a lot – thanks, keep on!
Giving to help others keeps Charlotte vibrant.
We're No. 10. Hold on. That's good.
In a national ranking of 50 major U.S. cities on volunteerism, Charlotte comes out 10. We settle in behind, in order, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Salt Lake City, Portland, Seattle, Austin, Columbus (Ohio), Milwaukee, Birmingham (Ala.) and Kansas City (Mo.) Hanging onto the caboose of volunteer service are those capitals of excess – in the eyes of some – are New York and Las Vegas, with Miami dead last. Raleigh came in 33rd.
If there's an activity where we should welcome being in the top 10, it is in volunteer service. Volunteer work is evidence that people care about their neighbors and the health and welfare of the communities they reside in.
Charlotte has long been a community where residents commit to giving time and resources for civic service. Charlotte averaged 30.5 percent volunteerism in 2006. That percentage went up last year to 32.6 percent. The 403,000 volunteers put in 50.3 million volunteer hours, time estimated to be a $982 million economic contribution.
Now, that's puffing-out-your-chest worthy. The largest percent of Charlotte volunteers – nearly 31 percent – spent time tutoring or teaching. About 44 percent volunteer through religious groups or activities; about 23 percent do so through education.
Nationwide, nearly 61 million Americans volunteered in 2007, giving 8.1 billion hours of service, estimated to be worth $158 billion, according to the Volunteering in America report released by the Corporation for National and Community Service. Find the report at https://www.VolunteeringinAmerica.gov.
And though Charlotte saw a rise in volunteers, nationwide an estimated 22 million or one in three volunteers stopped doing so between 2006 and 2007. And it's not because they don't have the time.
Consider the amount of time volunteers and non-volunteers spend watching television. Volunteers report spending 15 hours watching TV while non-volunteers spend 23 hours doing so. That eight-hour difference adds up to more than 400 volunteer hours a year, the report said.
Volunteers make time to do this important work. They are increasingly necessary as economic difficulties push more Americans into the need category.
Don't stand on the sidelines and applaud these volunteers. Join them. It is vital to the health and prosperity of communities and the nation that people commit to such service, and that public and private entities encourage and enable their efforts.
Thanks to our volunteers! Come join us in Charlotte, NC

Lynnsy Logue The Real Estate Lady and Condo CanDo in Charlotte, NC