What is happening with the housing market?

Existing Home Sales Blow Past Expectations




Another month, another piece of evidence that the housing market is in recovery.



Existing Home Sales surged in October as the nation's homebuyers took advantage of low mortgage rates, low list prices, and, for some, a generous tax credit.



Home resales are 23 percent higher versus a year ago and home supply is down to 7 months nationwide.



Inventory hasn't been this low since February 2007.



The news shouldn't be surprising, however. The same real estate trade group that produces the Existing Home Sales report also publishes a monthly report meant to predict future home sales called the Pending Home Sales Index.



Pending Home Sales have been through the roof since mid-May.



So, with pending home sales showing no signs of slowing and 80% of pendings turning into actual, closed sales, we can expect existing home sales volume to rise in the coming months, too. Especially because Congress extended the home buyer tax credit to include (1) "Move-up" buyers and, (2) Buyers with higher household incomes.



It's terrific news for home sellers. The housing market turnaround means higher sale prices and fewer concessions to buyers long-term.



To buyers, on the other hand, the news isn't so good. The window to find a "deal" appears to be closing quickly.

This article was originally in Blair Ballins Blog. If you are looking for a great agent in the Phoenix, Az area look up Blair Ballin Weichert realtors Elite  Tell him Chuck from Calif. sent you

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDpFszqNIqE&layer_token=8925f5c1d4fb6d57

Check out my vlog. Please leave a post
THANKS

October 20, 2009

Here is my first video blog. Took me a while to do this. Maybe tomorrow I will get it done in half the time. If you have any comments or have questions about anything on the blog PLEASE leave me a post and I will get back to you. Or you can always e-mail me at chucklinn@topproducer.com.

Tonights gym report : completed 2.3 miles jogging on the tredmill YEAH, and last night swam 95 lenghts aqt the college pool. Working on for the mini triathlon in Carpenteria next year.

Changes

Changes

Changes in mind
Changes in Soul
Changes in body
Changes in friends
Changes in work
Changes in stability
Changes in people

Yes every day we have changes
Some are good some are bad
Some for Health
Some for the people we deal with eveyday

As the world
As the cities
As the goverment
As our enviroment
As our life

Changes

All is Good

Carpenteria,Ca. Home for Sale

Beautiful 3 bedroom 2 bath home in Carpenteria,Calif. One block from the safest beach in Calif.
Call me for information or e-mail.
Chuck Linn
661-466-6591 chucklinn@topproducer.com

Team Linn

Well here we are Team Linn. Next year September 2010 My wife Susan, daughter Candace and myself are going to do the Sprint Triathlon in Carpenteria beach. We watched this year, oh my goodness what have I committed myself for? Swim in the ocean at 6:00am .5m, 10k bike ride and if that's not enough 5k run or probably for me a crawl. Lord help us!

Big Ideas

Big ideas can be intimidating, but even your biggest and most daunting goal can be achieved if you simply break it up into bite-sized chunks.

Struggling author Joseph Heller composed his best-selling book "Catch-22" by writing little chunks in one or two hours every day before work. Imagine what you could accomplish by applying the same principle to one or more of your biggest goals over the next five years.

Remember: the sum total of a lot of little efforts isnt so little.

Rendezvous with History. Today the Flying Fortress B-17 "Sentimental Journey" landed at W.J.Fox Airfeild.Under the direction of Lancaster High School History teacher Jamie Goodreau welcomed the Bomber, 12man and women flight crew, Two WWII women pilots and many veterans.

Some of the Specs. From the B-17G

Wing Span.........................103ft.9 3/8in.

Length................................74ft. 3.9 inches

Height................................19 ft. 2.44 inches

Power Plant......................Wright r-1820-97 Cyclone 1200 hp

Top Speed.........................302 mph.

Fuel capacity....................2,780 gallons carried in wings

Bomb load.........................8000 lbs.

Armament........................13x.50 caliber machine guns

Sentimental Journey Facts:

Total number of B-17's built.....................12,731

B-17's still in existence...............................50

Operational Cost.........................................$2,000 per. hour

Nose art.......................................................Betty Grable

Aircraft markings.......................................457th Bomb group

Words to Live By

Today I stayed home from work feeling a little blue. Opened my e-mail from someone from work who I don't talk to all that often. He passed the following on to me, he thinks it might have been from Tony Robbins. I hope that the words below help you find some peace and build a relationship whether it be business or personal and takes you to the next level. Thank you to Scott Copper for sending this to me.

ONE. Give people more than they expect and do it cheerfully.
TWO. Marry a man/woman you love to talk to. As you get older, their conversational skills will
be as important as any other.
Three...Don't believe all you hear, spend all your have or sleep all you want.
Four.....When you say "I Love You" mean it.
Five.....When you say " I"m sorry" look the person in the eye.
Six.......Be engaged at least six months before you get married.
Seven..Believe in love at first sight.
Eight....Never laugh at any ones dream. People who don't have dreams don't have much.
Nine.....Love deeply and passionately. you might get hurt but it is the only way to live life
completely.
Ten.......In disagreements, fight fairly. No name calling.
11..........Don't judge people by their relatives.
12.........When someone asks you a question you don't want to answer, smile and ask, "why do you want to know?
13........Talk slowly but think quickly.
14........Remember that great love and great achievements involve great risk.
15........Say bless you when you hear someone sneeze.
16........When you lose,don't lose the lesson.
17........Remember the three R's: Respect for self, Respect for others,and Responsibility for all your actions.
18.......Don't let a little dispute injure a great friendship.
19.......When you realize you have made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.
20......Smile when picking up the phone.
Number 17 if everyone could do this one... My favorite
Thanks again Scott and Tony Robbins

Famous People bahaving badly

What is with the rich and famous? Does too much money and fame makes them go stupid? what do you think of when you here these names ? Mel Gibson,Hugh Grant, Jon Gosselin,Serena Williams,Rep. Joe Wilson, Kanya West just to name a few. You should think Famous and talented actors, Great female sports figure, outstanding politician, Great father, talented musician. No the words that probably come to mind spoiled actors,racist, cheater,bad sportsman, no manners, person who does not respect other people.

When as a society are we going to say enough is enough? Lets quit airing every ones dirty laundry. Lets stop buying into it. Stop buying the trash magazines, watching the bad shows, quit paying these people until they know how to act like everyone else. We don't let our children get away with this why do we let them.

Jon Gosselin, ok we get it you don't love Kate anymore but you have 8 kids man up do whats right quit whoring around and do the right thing. Serena Williams really? You are a great tennis star, lots of little girls love you and you act like a fool as the World watches, shame on you. You need a time out, go help some children that don't have what you have. Rep. Joe Wilson you are old enough to be able to hold that tongue of yours. you don't have to like the President but remember he is the President and he deserves respect. Sounds like you need to be off the floor and work in a veterans home,hospital and earn that money you are getting from we the people. And last but not least Kanya West your performance on the VMA'S last night do you think your mother would be proud of that. You need to have an old fashion spanking with the belt and work with foster kids or children from domestic violence shelters. And remember that same ladder you went up stepping on people will be the same one you will come down or fall from.

Do you know these social networks?

What is facebook? An open-accesssocial networking web site on which people can "friend" you, send you pictures,send private messages, write on your profile and become a fan.
What is it good for? Getting blanket messages out to your network. Staying up to date on what your sphere of influence is saying, reading,watching and doing. Create fan pages for your business that people beyond your sphere can join.

What is Twitter? A free microblogging platform through which users can send and read short messages, known as "tweets".
Whats it good for? Sending real time updates to your sphere of influence. Serving links to articles and items of interest. following leading news outlets and industry thinkers.

What is Linkedln? An online business network that allows you to link up with other professionals across industries; it offers paid and unpaid levels of membership, with features for theformer.
What is it good for? Promoting your professional qualifications and accomplishments. joininggroups to share knowledge and build referrel networks. Asking other members for business.

What is ActiveRain? A free social network and marketing platform for real estate professionals.
What is it good for? Building relationships within the industry. Getting search-engine optimization through profile and blogging platform.

What is Flickr? A picture and video hosting web site and online community that exists primarily for exchangeing and commenting on photos.
What is it good for? Storing and organizing pictures of listings. Creating slide shows for your blog, social networking profiles, or Web site.

What is Real Town ? A free site that provides a number of online communities and e-mail based discussion groups for real estate professionals. You can also set up your own groups, start a blog,and read articles.
What is it good for? Networking with fellow real estate professionals. Posting your questions about industry issues and technologies. Sharing information with others

Information taken from realtor.org magazine Sept. 2009 issue

Realities of Social Networking

You have your face on facebook you linked in and have even found that tweeting on twitter is not for the birds.
In the Sept. issue of Realtor Magazine you will find the Six realities of Doing business on the Social Web, written by Brian Summerfeild. I am going to give just brief highlights of the six realities go to www.realtor.org or pick up an issue of Realtor Magazine and get the full story on Connections Made. Now What? Six Realities of Doing business on the Social Web.

Reality 1
You have to be a great agent first. One of the biggest mistakes the real estate professional makes is thinking the simple act of creating a web presence through a blog, Facebook, Twitter, or a fancy web site. will in itself bring new business. Matt Dollinger a real estate performance coach says "If your not a great agent, don't worry about social media right now. Its not the silver bullet for your business". Bad agents will not be able to fake it on the web.

Reality 2
Using social media is like riding a bull. getting on is the easy part. creating a strong following on Twitter, facebook and other sites requires a big time commitment.

Reality 3
You don't have to be a tech. wiz to participate

Reality 4
The web is in constant flux. You have to keep up with it. Twitter for example a couple of years ago was practically unknown but today gets about 55 million visits every month.

Reality 5
You cant fake it. you should be the same person on these social media's that you are in your everyday face to face interactions.

Reality 6
The web is so much more than a prospecting tool. By understanding consumers and interacting with them online, you can generate business using what Dollinger terms " the law of attraction" that is, pulling clients to you by sharing valuable information, rather than the more traditional strategy of pushing yourself out to them.

There is more to these 6 realities, go to www.realtor.org or get a copy of the Sept issue of realtor Magazine.
This is a great article has some good info on social media.

Station Fire

It has been a bad weekend here in the Antelope Valley. The Station fire has hit Acton and now threatening Juniper Hills. Several homes south of Acton were lost, families have had to evacuate. family pets and livestock have been taken to the A.V. fairgrounds for safe keeping.

Currently the Station fire has burned 105,00 acres, threatening 12,000 homes and Mt. Wilson Observatory & Communication towers.

On a very sad note on Aug. 30, two firefighters were fatally wounded when their truck went off the mountainside near Mt. Gleason. These two brave men were Captain Ted Hall and Arnie Quinones.

Why Cat Why

What the heck?? I have an 1800 Sq.ft. house with 4 bedrooms and our cat has to lay on the printer that I am using. My dog wouldn't do this.. But she would eat my sandwich I had on the coffee table that the cat wouldn't eat. Hmmmmm

Landfill Vouchers 8-24-2009

A gift from the city of Lancaster. Look in your waste management bill, they give you 2 vouchers for free dumping. This is good for 2 trips to the landfill you can have up to 1 ton of trash which if you want to know is 2,000Lbs. That's a total of 4,000Lbs. of trash. They do not accept any hazardous materials. The list of items they wont take is on the vouchers. The vouchers are good until 6/30/2010. Happy Hauling

House Husbands of Hollywood are you Kidding Me

I just sat and watch a new show on Fox Reality Channel called the House Husbands of Hollywood. The show is about 5 Hollywood couples. You have Billy & Lisa ex dodger and make up artist, Darryle & Tempest both actors, Grant & Jillian TV host and actor, Kathryn & Danny lawyer & actor Charlie and his wife he is actor and thief wife is not shown. The wives have the real jobs as they put it while the husbands don't work and take care of the house and kids. This show is pure garbage. There is not an ugly or un spoiled person among them. Folks this is Hollywood imagined reality.

Reality lets be serious the minute you put a camera in front of someone and they know lots of people are going to be watching Please. To boot all of these guys are actors or want to be actors. So guess what they are doing acting. I did the take care of the kids and house when my two were little. My wife's job paid way better than what I was bringing in. I worked nights for many years. The one guy is belly aching because his wife wont let him have Kegerator in the house, Really get a job dude even if its waiting on tables. The wives on this show are not any better they treat their husbands like they are the help instead of their husband. But how much of this is just put on for the sake of ratings. Once again a reality show that is nothing more than garbage and not reality.
I give this show a 1/2 point out of 5 points because they thought that their show would be different. It just doesn't work. Save your time and get a filling done its less painful.

What do you think of Real Estate Agents

Had lunch with a friend from Burbank today. He got really lucky I took him with me to preview a couple of bank owned properties. First thing he was shocked by the condition of these three homes and what the price that was being asked. We were just talking and he made a statement that he felt all real estate agents were crooks and were only out to make tons of money and not do much work. Did I say he was a friend? I asked him if he felt that way about me being that I AM AN AGENT! He said "he didn't think so" Wow did I need to do some explaining to him. After we were done I am pretty sure he has a different feeling about agents. But this has made me think..this is a friend that I talk to frequently and I am pretty sure we have talked real estate. But if my friends have this idea what do our clients think. And what am I not doing or not doing that they have this preconceived idea about Real Estate Agents.

So for all the people reading this post, post back to this question What do you think of real Estate Agents? What do you feel we could do different to change this perception

Social Networking

Wow everyone is talking social networking. In the past 3 weeks I have been to 7 social networking seminars. The best being Tom Fery's Summit in Palm Desert last week. If someone was wanting too start a money making business get into social marketing to the older baby boomers. This group does not have the skills to set up their phones, heck they dont even know what phone to buy. Verizon you could sell more phones and planes if you would give a hands on course on smart phones, just saying. Back to the older boomers they are hearing things like twitter,facebook Plaxo just to name a few. This group is totally lost, I have seen the blank stares and the I dont have time for this stuff. Wake up ,it is here not that I am a pro but I am getting much better and I can text my son with out him texting me back 10 other text before I get the first one off. Heck maybe I will start this business.....probably not I have enough on my plate with being a real estate agent in the fantastic Antelope Valley. If you are reading this and need help with social networking give me a call 661-466-6591 or check out some of the blogs I am following they have great information.

I was going to put a video up,but the quality of the sound and the shakey images would have made you say what's up Chuck....Had to get that in ...maybe tomorrow.

Please let me know what you think of the blog and if you have any questions post them and I will answer them to the best of my ability.
Thanks
Chuck

I feel stupid

Wow this blogging thing is going to take some time to get use too. I have been working on it for about 4 hours not sure if I have it that people can see it or not. Dont like the look of it , looking at other blogs to see how to make it look like a place you would want to stay and come back and read my stuff. If you have suggestions please let me know.

Book suggestion

It has already been a week since being at the Tom Ferry Summit in Desert Springs, Ca. I have finished his book: Tom Ferry from Breakdowns to Breakthroughs. It is 133 pages short a very easy read,good information if you are struggling in your real estate business. Topics in this book.
1. Missing the "S Factor in your Plan
2. Failing to Generate enough leads
3. Aiming for the wrong bulls eye
4. Not taking care of your W.O.M.A.N (Has nothing to do with sex or buying her gifts)
5.Failing to choose a Big Sexy Goal
6. Lacking mental Toughness
7. Executing Poorly- Ready, Aim , Launch!

If you need too kick your business up a notch I highly suggest you read this book and do just 1 thing ( you can do more if you want its ok:)
See what happens ,come back and let me know what you did and how you liked the book.
Now go out there and do something freakin fantastic