Who is doing this?  Centennial has now had 3 separate threats and the middle school has had one.  On the very day that the middle schoolers were to visit the high school in order for them to get acquainted with the high school, their visit was abruptly cancelled because of the threat of a shooting.  Can you imagine how these kids felt?  The school that they fear already, is surrounded by policeman because someone has threatened a shooting?

This is not to be treated like a childhood prank!  Here’s what I would like to see happen: A reward for the guilty persons name and the subsequent arrest of that person. How could this be so difficult: the person “hand wrote” the notes every time.  And if this was a student who actually wrote the note, then other students know who it is.  It is impossible for kids to keep a secret like that.   In other school shootings, there was a lot of hind-sight: Students who knew that another student was not quite right.  That the shooter had been bullied, he was angry or a loner.  Students who eventually came forward, admitted that the shooter had bragged about his ability to get a gun and how he would love to kill so and so.

I am asking parents to talk with their children.  It is unfortunate that we even have to have these conversations with our children. But they need to know that life is not always safe… even though we live in the Johns Creek bubble. There are people out there that will hurt us.  Maybe the conversation will lead to information that they heard but didn’t seem important at the time, but will actually lead to the person who wrote the note.  Maybe it could save a life.  The person making these threats clearly has a something wrong with them, if they think this is funny. Is it a cry for help? Maybe the life that is saved is the life of that individual making the threats.

Please e-mail me with your thoughts. I am seriously thinking about forming an organization of parents who are concerned about the threats, so we can hold the schools accountable in finding those who are responsible for this.  I think right now, the attitude is: It is only a prank.  ASK OHIO what they think about that.

Rebeccacurrie@bellsouth.net

It has been said that he who controls the information wins. And in real estate, agents no longer control the information. I have to admit that we were scared of the Internet when we first lost control of the information to buyers. But in the end, it became an asset instead of a liability. It has helped us spend less time driving people around only to discover that they don’t like the house after seeing it. It still happens, but not as much as it use to.. So what am I complaining about?

It use to be that when an agent listed a house, the seller’s contact number would be listed in the FMLS and when a buyers agent wanted to show the house, then the buyer’s agent would call the seller to make an appointment; the seller wanting to sell their house always made it easy for the buyers agent to show their house.

Now comes the greedy agent: trying to appear that they are giving good service to the seller by not allowing the buyers agents to call the sellers directly to make an appointment. Instead, the buyers agent has to call the listing agent to make an appointment and the sellers agent will then call the sellers to make the appointment and then call the buyers agent back. Huh? Whew, that made me dizzy! Why does this make sense to anyone? The flaw in the plan is this: the sellers agent, themselves.

They are almost never available, they won’t call back in a timely manner and in most cases it is the next day before they call you back and your buyer is now so frustrated that they don’t want to to see the house. Some agents won’t call you after 7 p.m. or before 9 a.m. and mostly they never call on Saturdays or Sundays. I am not even going to go into the agents who can’t text.

To sum this up: If you are listing your house with an agent, don’t fall for that mess. The agent is only trying to give themselves a reason to talk to the seller and they are trying to control the information. Sellers want constant dialogue with their agent, so this makes sense to the listing agent, but it is a big problem in this industry and it is not helping you sell your house.

However, I give you this caveat: The above does not pertain to all agents, but if your house is not being shown, then test the theory.  Ask an agent to call your listing agent and see what happens.

This is great news for the economy, however; not such great news for my clients! Buyers have been sitting on the fence thinking that the market is going to get worse and that they should wait to buy, in order to get a great deal on a house.  I am here to tell you that you may have waited too long.

Just last week, I made an offer on behalf of my clients on a house that had been sitting for over 2 years!  On the same day, another offer was also made on the same house.  It is a reoccurring theme in this market.  I am told by my fellow brokers that this scenario is happening to them as well. 

It seems as though the hot market right now is $1,000,000.  We have not had many million dollar homes dumped on the market by way of foreclosures so the deals aren’t there anymore.  The $300- $400,000 market was very strong during the early spring and summer months of this year.

The way I see it.. this is a trend.  The market is correcting itself.  It may not be as fast as we want it to be and house prices have not really increased, but they certainly will increase when the inventory is gone through good old: Supply and Demand.

So I hate to tell you; I told you so, but if you have been reading my blogs, you will recall, I have been saying: “now is the best time to buy”.  The market is getting thin for great deals and great houses.  You do not want to be stuck with the houses that are in terrible condition because you waited too long to buy your next house.