Back in the 1960's I read Raise High The Roof Beams, Carpenters by J. D. Salinger. In the opening pages of the story Salinger retells an old Taoist tale that goes like this:

Duke Mu of Chin said to Po Lo: "You are now advanced in years. Is there any member of your family whom I could employ to look for horses in your stead?" Po Lo replied: "A good horse can be picked out by its general build and appearance. But the superlative horse - the one that raises no dust and leaves no tracks - is something evanescent and fleeting, elusive as thin air. The talents of my sons lie on a lower plane altogether; they can tell a good horse when they see one, but they cannot tell a superlative horse. I have a friend, however, one Chiu-fang Kao, a hawker of fuel and vegetables, who in things ppertaining to horsesis nowise my inferior. Pray see him."

Duke Mu did so, and subsequently dispatched him on the quest for a steed. Three months later, he returned with news that he had found one. "It is now in Shach'iu," he added. :What kind of horse is it?" asked the Duke, "Oh, it is a dun-colored mare," was the reply. However, someone being sent to fetch it, the animal turned out to be a coal black stallion! Much displeased, the Duke sent for Po Lo. "That friend of yours," he said, "whom I commissioned to look for a horse, has made a fine mess of it. Why, he cannot even distinguish a beast's color or sex! What on earth can he know about horses?" Po Lo heaved a sigh of satisfaction. "Has he really got as far as that?" he cried. " Ah, then he is worth ten thousand of me put together. There is no comparison between us. What Kao keeps in view is the spiritual mechanism. In making sure of the essential, he forgets the homely details; intent on the inward qualities, he loses sight of the external. He sees what he wants to see, and not what he does not want to see. He looks at the things he ought to look at, and neglects those that need not be looked at. So clever a judge of horses is Kao, that he has it in him to judge something better than horses."

When the horse arrived, it turned out indeed to be a superlative animal.

I recalled the story in the 1980's when I first began selling houses and noted the one letter difference in the two words. Over the years since then I've attended many training classes that seem to focus on how to be a successful real estate agent. Some of the early ones focused on selling techniques and closing maneuvers, but since the mid 1990's and the the advent of Buyer Broker Agreements there has been a shift and the emphasis is now on working with a Buyer in finding the best house possible for that person.

While state laws vary, in Washington, like many others, it is law, that a real estate broker give any new clients a copy of the laws governing that broker's actions. Here is Washington's Law of Agency.

If you (or "u" in today's texting short cut) are looking for the perfect horuse, be sure to add and "r" as in Realtor­® to your set of tools. Looking at pictures online, reading text on a flyer and even touring the property at an open house or with the listing broker are not guarantees that you're getting all of the insight necessary to make a wise decision. The first thing the wise shopper does is to interview brokers until one is found that you sense will be the Kao for you. And when you've found him, work with him to ensure that your real estate adventure is a success. Insist on a Buyer Broker Agreement that holds your agent of choice to work for your best interests.

Also published at Puget Sound Real Estate Professionals

There are reasons why I say don't buy a home now. Let me give them to you.

You can read on Realtor.com and Trulia and Zillow and numerous other websites the Five, or Eight, or Ten reasons to buy, hints to sell, techniques to get a great deal and so on. There are reasons you should not buy a home now, and I'm not just talking about the Seattle residential real estate market. 

The first question you have to ask yourself, and it is one I ask every new buyer at our first interview, Do you really want to be a homeowner? It seems like that is a rhetorical question. Of course the buyer wants to buy a home. That is why he is in the office. The usual answer is, Well, yeah! And I always appreciate the enthusiasm. Then I ask, And what kind of down payment do you have saved up? And the answer tells me how motivated the buyer has been for long enough to save up whatever he has for the down. 

Sometimes the answer to the first question is, My folks really want me to.

And sometimes the answer is, All of my friends are.

And even, Not really but I guess I should.

These are three good answers that should be telling you that now is not the time for you to be buying a home.

A while back I was showing homes to a couple who were renting and they wanted to see a home just down the street from where they lived. I showed them that home and we chatted, but not enough. They both had good jobs, but very little to put down. They could only look week nights, because they liked to go skiing every weekend. When at the places we looked at, he was always looking for the spot where the big flat-screen TV would go, which they didn't own yet. 

Unfortunately, I wasn't listening very well. I found them just what they said they wanted and we made an offer that was accepted. At the inspection it turned out that they had changed their minds. There was so much to do and they would have to give up the ski weekends, and the TV and probably a few other activities they loved, once the winter changed into spring. So they didn't buy. They weren't ready to be homeowners quite yet.

So that is a reason not to buy a home now. You have a decent job but you're not ready to give up a few of life's pleasures to save up the down payment.

Here's another good one. You have a job and there is lots of opportunity to move up the ladder quickly, but it would mean a transfer to another city. Look in to the company transfer policy. If they won't fund the move and cover any loss you might have from the sale of your home, it might be better to wait.

Are you buying a home to flip and make a lot of money like Uncle Harry? Flipping is a job and akin to being an investor. Don't buy into this lifestyle unless you can afford to lose your investment.

It's harder these days to buy a house for very good reasons. Too many people who shouldn't have been homeowners bought when it was easy and now many of them are complaining that they were treated unfairly.

Homeownership isn't for everyone. If you're not ready to make sacrifices and save up for the down payment, don't even go there. If you don't like home maintenance, and can't afford to have every needed repair hired out, perhaps you should be a renter. When you are ready to be a homeowner, give a Realtor® a call. In Seattle call me. My number is right below.

Admittedly, this is a stretch. I wanted to write something with a baseball theme  today, the opening of the 2010 World Series, and just happened to catch this link from a friend.

HOW BASEBALLS ARE MANUFACTURED

The video made a hit with me and I thought that the making of one baseball (or 10,000) and the completion of one real estate transaction (or hundreds) are not alike in any way at all. If you have watched the video, you have noticed that each step is precise. Each ball made the same way. All elements that go into the manufacture of a  baseball are measured and timed and measured again. The cores, the windings, the stamping of the leather covers with holes for stitching are absolutely consistent. in the factory, even though the balls are hand stitched, the 350 stitchers are lined up in rows and look to be one big organic machine doing repetitive actions until the daily quota is ground out. Voila, no errors, the perfect baseball, every time.

On the other hand, each real estate transaction is totally different. Sometimes the public doesn't notice this. They'll pick a Realtor® the same way baseball teams buy baseballs, knowing they are all the same. But all Realtors® are not the same. Some times buyers will select a realty company based on price (they give a rebate), sometimes on apparent volume (bigger is better), or sometimes on location (they're right down the street).

The make-up of the real estate transaction is different every time. The sellers have their unique set of circumstances. They have their unique home to sell. The Realtor® they list with is a unique personality herself. What she brings into the mix and how well she relates with the sellers sets the whole tone of how smoothly the transaction will go. On to the buyers side. Perhaps there are many buyers for this property and price, or perhaps only one. What is the buyer's agent like? What expectations has he created in the buyers?

Other factors that change include the current market trend (is it up or down?), the weather (is it rainy and dark, snowy and cold, hot and sunny?), the current interest rates, the local job climate, and even things like traffic and commute times, schools and more. Differences, differences and more differences.

Once a transaction comes together it is only about the 5th inning. How do the principals feel about it. Is everyone happy (remember 2004-2007 - Everyone was happy, buyers because they won in multiple offers and sellers because the offers were all higher than the asking price) or unhappy (2007-2010 - Sellers are walking with less than they hoped for and buyers are wondering if prices might go down further).

The lenders, the escrow processors and the appraisers  all have something to add to the real estate transaction and they are not afraid to interject their own personalities in with the rest. When there are problems, be they logistical, procedural, or personal, who gets the first call? The Realtor®.

If you are planning to make a steal in the current buyers' market, be sure to select your Realtor® with care. You will want someone with a personality that you are comfortable with and someone you trust. If you need to sell in this market, the same holds true. You may strike out if you don't select a Realtor® with care. We are not all alike. No one transaction is like another.

Winding up, this commercial message has ended. Now back to the game.

I recently had the good fortune to write an offer for some young clients. The standard offer form we use in our MLS is five pages long with the front page being mostly blanks to fill in terms and then 4 pages of boilerplate. In addition to that there are various addenda which usually bring the offer to 15 pages or so.

The first time I write an offer with any client I like to go through the offer pretty slowly. The way the laws read here, and in most states, I think, are that I can tell the client what each clause says, but I should not interpret how it effects them and their rights in the contract. If they have any questions about that, they should see an attorney. I'm pretty careful about the process and do like to go over every clause on each of the 15 pages.

The couple I was working with are smart people with good jobs and one would think they would have an interest in knowing what they are signing, but more an more I am seeing changes. And I think the cause of this new attitude is the Internet. That's right. The Internet.

How many times per week do you or any of us who use the Internet daily, looking for new programs to help us be more productive, or wishing to engage in some social activity, or even just to log on for the first time to the public library in our town have to read and then accept the terms of use for the particluar site we've landed on? And how many times do we really read those terms of use? I would answer, from my own experience, not many.

So, as I was reading the boilerplate items to these clients they would often interrupt me toward the end of the first sentence of the paragraph and say "Got it." And I had to wonder if they were speed reading the clause and already knew what it meant to them or did they just not care? It is boring, but important stuff. Things like how we count days, and what delivery of a notice means. These things don't make and difference to us right now. Right now we want this house.

I suspect that there are agents out there who don't takle the time to go through the details. It would be easy just to tell the buyers to sign here and initial there and that is how you get this house. There are terms the buyers could actually change in the boilerplate and if the seller goes along with it, it's quite alright.

It seems to be a case for the buyers of: they dont know what they don't know. Is it up to the agent to make them know these details or to let them sign and then later, when there are questions, just say, "Well, you signed it."

I'm happy to take as much time as you would like when writing an offer. It is important to know the details of the documents that you are signing.

The Seattle Times shared this article by Dave Streitfeld of the New Your Times with us this morning entitled Your home a path to wealth? Experts say no. Stan Humphries of Zillow is quoted as saying, "There is no iron law that real estate must appreciate."

Streitfeld supports the opinion with a vague, "Instead, Humphries and other economists say, housing values merely will keep up with inflation. A home will return the money an owner puts in each month but will not multiply the investment." And Dean Baker of the Center for Economic and Policy Research says that after adjusting for inflation, values will never catch up.

Never? Never seems like a mighty long time. I remember hearing about a war to end all wars. I have to wonder what the purpose of such an article is. I have to wonder why an executive at Zillow would make the statements he made in the article. Is the entire history of home ownership completely reversed because of a three year aberration caused almost entirely by greed on EVERYONEs part.

I will concede that there are people who make a living from buying and selling houses, but they are not the people that drive the market.

Home ownership is a great way to build a nest egg. You won't be able to retire next week or next year because you bought a home today, but you will find rewards if you do continue to pay it off over thirty years, with a payment that never changes.

And if you decide to rent instead, then what happens? Well, the rents will go up every year or so. After all the landlord has to cover the taxes and other expenses. What happens is, you've created a nest egg for the property owner.

In a recent post Some Encouraging Words - A Look Ahead   Eleanor Thorne  relays information that Gen-Y buyers will be out in numbers and recommends what we as Realtors should pay attention to if we want their business.

Here is a bulleted list of Gen-Y traits she suggests we pay attention to: 

• Gen Y loves instant gratification
• Gen Y is notorious for not being able to wait in line
• Gen Y is known for having big expectations.  
• Gen Y is tech dependent.

This is a timely article, and I agree that agents need to embrace the methods of the buying public.  I also have some ageless advice for the Gen-Y would be home buyer.

·         Instant gratification is nice if you are scoring concert tickets or you can take a day off from work to wait in line all night and be the first in line to get the latest i-gimmick. In reality, you will probably own and interact with your new home at least 50 times longer than you will with you next 10 personal communication devices.

·         You don’t have to wait in line to buy a house, but one good tip is make sure you’re not the only one interested in a particular house before you buy it.

·         Big expectations are a good thing to have. Make your list and understand that some things you may have to compromise on. You will be able to change most things later.

·         Relying on technology is important but when shopping for a home, rely more on your five senses plus the good sense of an experienced Realtor, a local, recommended Realtor, and a respected, detailed inspector.

Location – Live near to places you often commute for work or entertainment.

Location – The environment: A condo? A townhouse? A stand alone. A small lot or large? What will your life be like when you are hanging at home? Spend a few hours in the home, yard and neighborhood. Knock on doors and ask neighbors how they like living there.

Location – Will anyone else want to live in this spot when you're ready to move on. Resale is important.

Have patience, my young friends. Work with professionals who go into hundreds of homes each year. There is no money back guarantee if you want to return the home in the first 30 days.