Selling When No One Is Buying by sales trainer Stephan Schiffman didn't offer anything new or innovative but I'm glad I read it. It's full of reminders, procedures, warnings and tactic that will get your focused and restarted in forwarding a sales strategy for 2011.

In the first 100 pages Schiffman concentrates on you, the individual and ways to adjust your process and your habits. He insists that knowing your ratios of contacts to clients to sales is important and I agree. First start with your attitude. Make it positive. If you don't believe in yourself or in your product, no one you talk to is going to believe either. Then educate yourself in the means of communication as we know it today. The second part of the book deals a lot with marketing to large companies and while this is not so revalent to real estate agents, the methods of getting to the right people and what to say may well prove valuable.

Each chapter ends with a Take Action demand that should set your mind and feet in motion. If you are reading the book it is because you have goals to reach and are not interested letting a little thing like a bad economy get you down.

In summary the book offers this:

1. The economy is cyclical
2. There's no magic formula for selling in a bad economy
3. Selling in an economic downturn means looking at things in a different way
4. Hard times are a chance to transform your relationship with your accounts
5. Sales is always about attitude

My copy, like almost all of the books I review is available for free. If you'd like it, just send me an email and one day soon it will arrive at your door in the US mail. This book has now been sent to someone.

Click on the book to join the
ActiveRain Book Club Group

• I can't think of a single buyer that bought a listing because of an open house in 2010.
• I can't think of a single buyer I met at an open house and worked with to a closed transaction in 2010.
• I can't think of a single neighbor or other drop in at an open house that listed their home with me in 2010.
  
  
  So recently, in my 2011 plan I decided not to do open houses. I was thinking that I can always find another agent in my office to hold my listings open. If I get all of my listings priced exactly right, they will sell the first week anyway. And I have lots of other things I could be doing on Sundays.
  
  But then I caught part of a Celtic's game on TV. I don't know about you but when I see parquet flooring, when I see the Celtics on TV, I think of Robert Parish, Danny Ainge, Kevin McHale and Larry Bird. 1980's NBA basketball. Sure, you've got your favorites and I respect that. But...
  
  I remember watching Larry Bird in the finals of the NCAA tournament in the late 70's and one interviewer caught him pre-game or post game practicing left handed shots. The interviewer asked him why? And Larry told him it was because he was no good at shooting left handed. Years later, as a pro, Larry told his team mates he was going to take all of his shots left handed in a game. He didn't, but he got more than 20 of his 47 points left handed.
  
  
  
  The point is, maybe my open house skills are rusty. Maybe I need to practice them some more and find a way to make them work in the current economy. So I'm going to add open houses back into my 2011 business plan. I'm going to put a little more thought into the advertising and the presentation. I'm going to meet some interesting people and convert them into clients. 2011 is going to be a good year.
  

   

Our neighborhood, year and a half long traffic circle project to remove ivy and replant with native plants has reached the end of stage three. Our first mission was to remove the well entrenched ivy that had been planted 30-40 years ago. No mean feat if you've ever tackled a significant swath of that invasive. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of what the circle looked like with ivy everywhere.

The next step was to dig out some tree planting holes and break up the concrete under them so the roots of bigger trees we would be plants would have some room to grow. Then we bark-mulched the whole area. Neighbors went down periodically to do a little weeding. We wanted to wait through the summer to plant so that the annual rains would help out in that department.

Behind the scenes were those who knew how to get the grant from the city for the work done and those who researched the native plants and did the planting design.

Over the past few days, George pruned the Hawthorns as the city gardener advised and today Woody and I cleaned up the results of that pruning. It's looking good. I can't wait to see it flourishing in summer.

Thanks to everyone who has helped out. I look forward to seeing you often in the park for weeding and for fun.

Normally, the number of listings decline as the year wends its way to a close. This year is no exception. Some homes are taken off the market and will reappear in January. Others that might come on now will be delayed until after the first of the year. There is just too much to do this time of year.

There are some serious shoppers out there though. There always are. The changes that cause people to move don't pay much attention to holidays. Be that as it may, the Ravenna neighborhood in Seattle currently has 18 single family homes on the market. The average asking price is just under $500,000 and the median price is just over that. The high and low are $725,000 and $247,000.

Ten homes are currently under contract. The median listing price of these homes is $399,000. So one can see that the entry level buyer is active in this market while the move-up and higher end buyers are currently standing pat. That's somewhat surprising as there may never be another opportunity to get a fairly hefty mortgage at such a low interest rate.

Over the past 90 days there have been 20 closings for Ravenna. The lowest sale price was $325,000 while the highest was $771,900. The average sales price for the 20 listings was $492,099 and the median was $481,000. Very similar to the data on the active listings while the pendings show a much lower profile.

The solds are in red on the map below. The pendings in yellow and the active listings in green.

If you have any questions about the Ravenna market please give me a call. I'd be happy to help you with your real estate needs.

I've been enjoying travels with my wife for 25 years. She researches lodging, meals, and adventures well in advance and because of her diligence, we never fail at having top of the line vacations on our middle of the road budget. We started a ten day hiking tour of southeast Arizona in Tucson at the Azure Gate Bed and Breakfast recently, and I have to say that our hosts, Dennis and Christine Widman, provided us with an experience that tops all others over the past 25 years.

Azure Gate is located in The Foothills, northeast of the city, on 5 acres of beautifully tended dessert they have been renewing with native plants and gradually eliminating species not indigenous to the area. Under their care the native wildlife is thriving and currently a bobcat with cubs, coyote, javelina and many species of birds may be encountered on the property. There are two casitas with kitchens and also two large bedrooms in a wing of the main house that provide a library, living and dining rooms and friendly relaxation spaces for all guests. Dennis is an expert wildlife photographer and you'll enjoy the Azure Gate website almost as much as time spent on location. He has published a book, Hummingbirds of Arizona, and greeting cards showcasing his photography are available.

The breakfasts were fabulous. Dennis accommodated my special needs perfectly with some combinations that only someone who loves to cook could invent. Three days of meals at Azure Gate were simply not enough. Dinner recommendations were spot on, as were driving directions to anywhere you might want to go. When we mentioned that we'd be hiking at Muleshoe Ranch, Dennis doctored up a map to show us where we might find the elusive coati in the wild. And we weren't disappointed. Christine, a children's book author, chatted with us about our interests and hers. We already had the Dessert Museum on our to do list and she suggested that the Tohono Chul Park should not be missed. We heartily agree. The Widmans know how to make you feel not like guests, but rather like old friends. Our next visit to southeast Arizona will surely include another visit with the Widmans at Azure Gate Bed and Breakfast.

Whenever I hike in the northwest, I carry a plastic bag to pick up cans, plastic bottles and candy wrappers strewn in the Cascade foothills near Seattle. Seems a never ending task. So on vacation in southeast Arizona this week I wanted to do the same thing on the hiking trails there. We hiked on 6 days and covered over 40 miles. Beautiful weather in the 70's. We hiked Sabino Canyon close to Tucson and we hiked out at Muleshoe Ranch...somewhat remote. We hiked in the Chiricahua Mountains and in Madera Canyon.

My haul for the trip. One can and one piece of paper. I was amazed. Kudos to Arizona hikers. Seattlites, pay attention. Pack in in, pack it out.

You probably already know Richie Naggar if you read Active Rain blogs. You may have learned that often in his daily blog posts you'll find some tidbit of wisdom  that will make you smile, that will open a new door into today's bright sunshine, or that will put you in a self-reflective space, wondering what hit you.  But you may have missed the post in November where he mentioned his book, Pearls for the Soul. 

How many of us would have liked to do what Richie has done? Throughout his life he has collected these proverbs and insights and provided them here for us. His life, his reflections, and these expressions of his attitude are good for the weary soul, good for the slightly smug, and good for the common man to put a new spin on what we face each day.

This is not a book to read and put back on the shelf. This is a book to have handy, to be left out in a place you find yourself daily, like the place you eat breakfast or by the chair you relax in. Each line is like the pill you take to lower your cholesterol, the one-a-day antacid, a birth control medication, a little blue pill, or the nitroglycerin tab that tempers your racing heart. It's medication to be taken in small doses, often, to help keep your mind right.

Try one of these:

You don't understand anything until you learn it more than one way.

Or:

If one cannot collect all the beautiful shells on the beach, what then?

Or:

The quieter you become the more you can hear.

Email Richie and order your copy of Pearls for the Soul today.

Whenever I take a few days off I like to stop in my favorite book store and grab a little something to enjoy on my travels. Recently, with a little down time coming up, I stopped in at Third Place Books in Ravenna for a couple of reasons. It was near noon and Third Place shares space with Vios Cafe. In addition to that the Pub at Third Place occupies the lower level. One can find a variety of craft brews on tap there as well as some neighborhood camaraderie, but since it was only noon, on a work day I opted for a seat in the cafe upstairs.

Soup was all I needed to take the chill off and the soup du jour was an amazing eggplant, potato, cauliflower blend that was completely satisfactory. Next, it was on to make a book selection. But first, you might be wondering about the name "Third Place" and how it came to be. From their website, here's the story.

Sociologist Ray Oldenberg suggests that each of us needs three places: first is the home; second is the workplace or school; and beyond lies the place where people from all walks of life interact, experiencing and celebrating their commonality as well as their diversity. It is a third place. In his celebrated book, The Great Good Place, Oldenberg discusses how the cafes, pubs, town squares and other gathering places make a community stronger and bring people together. 

Ron Sher, a Seattle area developer, applied the idea to the renovation of a shopping center in Lake Forest Park. That building supports a large open commons area adjacent to the book store and includes a food court. People meet there at all times when the center is open. He saw another opportunity in the Ravenna neighborhood and converted a former Puget Consumer Coop grocery store into the 3 entities mentioned above.

I did spot the Best American Short Stories for 2010. This is a series I buy every year and it is great for vacations as you won't  for your whole vacation by some page turner.  But since I've just started the Active Rain Book Club Group, I thought to pick up something I might report on in December. I found what  looks to be promising, but I'll know more about that when I return. Speaking of the book club, my first report was on Trust Agents as I am finished with that I'd like to pass it on. So the first person to ask for it may have it. Just send me your mailing address in an email and I'll get it off to you when I return from this trip.