Just heard this morning on the news that our utility cost is due to increase, I found this news very funny simple because about three years ago Capital Home Builders built the first ENERGY STAR Qualified home in Thomasville, GA and many in the industry made comments that building energy efficient and a green product was just a gimmick and that this feature in a home will never go anywhere and that this home was priced higher than a standard spec home. Well, I can say that many wished they had a home like this and I can have my day to say "I TOLD YOU SO".  While consumers unfortunately will have to spend more, I as an owner with the First ENERGY STAR qualified home for sale and priced slightly higher than standard homes because of the stringent guidelines and products used in order to be able to earn the Blue Seal will continue to enjoy the utility&water; savings while living in this ENERGY STAR Qualified home and instead place my utility savings in my savings account. xml version='1.0' encoding='%SOUP-ENCODING%' The thing is that like everything else now many of the listed homes for sale are being misrepresented by their representative that do not have the background or the education to distinguish between a home that is truly efficient to the imitators. These people are just jumping on the bandwagon in order to bring the green minded consumers to their listing and selling them as energy efficient for a stellar price. It just doesn’t work this way, it’s like selling a knock off Louis Vuittonpurse you will pay almost nothing for it whereas, if you want the real deal you will have to open your pockets because you will pay for it. The building industry is moving into this direction and many in the industry now are preaching they are so knowledgeable in energy efficiency and being green and do not give credit where it should be given. So, I would like to be the first one to say “Thank you Capital Home Builders, Inc. for being the first ENERGY STAR Home builder and committed in building 100% Energy Star Custom homes and the first to bring this awareness three years ago when everybody in the industry doubted your vision and let’s be honest here now. Do consumers really think that they will get an ENERGY STAR home for the same price or less than a home that was built to the bare minimum building code? Think again.READ MORE ...read more

Through my regular weekly readings I ran in to a Brokerage blog that I thought was a little disturbing. What do you think? Let me explain. This Brokerage firm talks about how part-time agents are not as good as full time agents. I think this is a low blow from a Brokerage firm to be putting out there.  Am sure this Brokerage had many agents at one time on a full time basis when the real estate industry was doing great and everybody was making money but as we all know real estate has slowed down to a trickle and if you catch it you are so lucky. Some of these agents are not retired people from the work force that can afford to just sit around in their real estate offices taking in the air, wasting electricity or surfing the web becoming an expense for their firms waiting for a phone call or a customer to walk in the front door just so they can call themselves full-time agents or home moms that just need to keep their time busy until their kids get off school. Am sorry for being so harsh it's not my intention and I do not mean to offend any agent out there but let’s get real here most of you know what am talking about.  I am talking about the agents that supported their families with their real estate income, and agents that were great agents when they were full time agents but in hard times hard decisions need to be made. Bills continue to come every month and these great agents had no choice then to get a job in order to pay for their obligations and leave a profession in which they were great at and transition as a part-time agent. Do we just discard them as bad agents and knock them down because they chose to meet their obligations? and strip them of their past performance for becoming a part-time agent. How many of you had no choice or know any of your peers in the industry that had to do this? I know a few and even mortgage brokers that had to transition to a part-time basis because there are some that do work on a commission basis but should we think of them any less?  Do you think it is right for agents that worked or are still working with this Brokerage firm on a part-time basis have the knowledge that their own Brokerage firm thinks of them to be any less? Where did the Brokerage professionalism go? As I read through this Brokerage blog, I was very disappointed because I know Brokerage firms have lost many full time agents to part-time or agents all together due to the market but to read that they may be knocking their own agents that had no other choice but to work real estate as a part-time is to me very unprofessional and turning on their own. A Brokerage firm should never in my opinion lose their professionalism and make a judgment no matter how bad the real estate industry is just to glorify the agents that can afford to stay as a full time agent. A Brokerage firm should limit there blogs to informative information only and let the marketing strategies to their agents. Yes, I understand that an agent that is available for a customer that walks through the door is great. There should be agents in the office for these people that come in. In my opinion, an agent that is in the office other than doing their floor time are just not making money no matter how you dress it or try to justify it they are simply being an expense to their firm.I know the real estate industry is tough and for full time agents to discredit part-time agents as a marketing gimmick is a very low venue and plain jelousy. I think we are more professional then that. There are other ways to market yourself and a Brokerage without getting into a cut throat scenario. Shame on you. ...read more

Through my weekly readings, I ran into this article that I find interesting simply because many in my industry will argue with on this subject when in fact it those no good for neither buyer or seller. This process only benefits the agent. "A look at some of the worst-offending states" By Steve Bergsman Inman Newsâ„¢ Although some states ban the practice, called dual agency, in which the same real estate broker represents the buyer and seller in a real estate transaction, most states have settled for a kind of disclosure Band-Aid that doesn't work well for consumers. It's a little like the warnings on cigarette packets about the dangers of tobacco that really don't make much difference to those who really want to smoke. I'm told that more states used to ban dual agency, but real estate associations lobbied hard for the passage of regulations that permit this 'double-ending' as it is also referred to, in some form. So what we have ended up with is a kind of cigarette packet of regulations: 'Yes, you can have dual agency (or some variation of it), but here's your warning' -- which is most often ignored." READ MORE Read Older blogs ...read more