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Tuesday, 28 May 2013 17:37

GRATITUDE, PATRIOTISM AND SACRIFICE

"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life, It turns what we have into enough, and more.
It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity.
It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend.
Gratitude makes sense of your past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow." - Melody Beattie
 
This on will be a short one.  (hmm, your self talk is saying... yeah, Phil writing or saying anything that's "short" will probably only happen if he has a heart attack, mid-sentence!  Don't you just love it when you make fun of yourself the first this in the morning?!!? 
 
Well, let just say today's offering is a short or as long as you'd like to make it.  I wrote lyrics to a song about Gratitude, Patriotism, Sacrifice, Honor, Duty, Service and putting you interests and life behind others, unconditionally.  "Now there's the "old Phil" your self talk is saying.  Yep, even my email blast title was shorter than what I really wanted to write (see I'm getting better... sorta', maybe? .  OK enough with those cute little emoticons, jeez the can get irritating and distracting.
 
I wrote this song in about an hour.  Words were flowing, pretty good for a Monday... but wait... why was it different, like most weekend mornings are different, it was Memorial Day and I was inspired.  I was struck by how focus, attitude and self talk can change a day.  It happens every weekend day morning.  My entire day was changed because of my perspective and expectations.  The birds didn't know it was Memorial Day, my side-kick "Lucky LaRue" didn't really know it was Memorial Day.  She just knew it was one of those days where she get's to roam around our huge backyard, chase birds, rabbits and squirrels, get her feet muddy and the get treats when she comes and sits on her perch next to me as I stream Pandora, write stuff and watch all the clueless wonderment that goes on each morning, that I miss, because I am not out there.  I am on a work day instead of a weekend day, but all this goes on without me.  It's all about your expectations, focus and attitude.  Amazing, I'm going to start trying to start more "work week mornings" that way.
 
OK, this is getting too long already so I will give you some options.
 
THE SONG
You can click on the link below and you can read my offering of all those things I mentioned above in an epic novel (disguised as a song... OK, it's really not that long).  The song, "He Knew What He Was Doing... Do You Remember What He Did?" was inspired by my "personal Wounded Warrior", Joshua Ray, who IS playing in "The Vinny" June 1-3 next week (more on that later).  You can click on the link, the song will download as a Word Document and you can read it now, save it to your computer, or print it out to read later.
 
LUCKY LARUE  You can Click Here to see here after a hard day of playing, chasing rabbits and having fun getting dirty... http://bitly.com/DirtyLuckyLaRue  OK, in all fairness, see her in her normal amazingly cute state... http://bitly.com/LuckyLaRue
 
HE KNEW WHAT HE WAS DOING... DO YOU REMEMBER WHAT HE DID? - Words by Phil "Delta" Dildine (Music to follow later and if I don't chop this sucker down a bit it will be a patriotic equivalent of "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" Iron Butterfly's 1968 hit, just over 17 minute, lol)  Click Here It will download and you can read it now or print it out and read it later... http://bitly.com/HeKnewWhat
Published in Phil's Blog
"I don't know what your destiny will be, but one thing I know: the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who have sought and found how to serve" - Albert Schweitzer
 
How can I write this week's "Today's Wisdom" without addressing the unbelievable and devastating Oklahoma tragedy and the Boston Marathon Terrorist Attack that have killed, injured irreparably and affected so many innocent Americans, many of them children.  How can I ignore these sad and unexplainable events that have happened recently?  I must.  We must.  I recently wrote in March a "Today's Wisdom" that addressed the confusing subject of why bad things sometime happen to good people.  As I count my personal blessing, and how fortunate I am, I have to tell you of some bright spots in my life that happened recently.  Monday, the day of the tornadoes in Oklahoma, my amazing daughter who's 20 and home for the summer from college and who had decided to set a goal to move up the "food chain of restaurants" in our area from the very small but cute and cozy little restaurant that she's been working at for 4 years (her first job) and go ambitiously to the top "fine dining" restaurant in our area, Carrabba's in Hendersonville.  Well what a giant leap this was and a tough challenge. Jeez, I've gotten corporate jobs with less structured processes.  But, after 3 interviews and taking a really hard test of 100 questions of which you need to get 90 correct (dealing primarily with their, not only difficult, but difficult to pronounce menu... which she resourcefully used a language translation app on her computer to learn how to speak many of their Italian named dishes).  She passed with a 92!!  Many other great things happened recently, but Goal + Determination + Action/Service to the Challenge = Success!
 
Another highlight recently was my commitment and honor to get involved with Wounded Warriors.  It was actually a fluke that brought me to one of them.  Faye Ellis, IREM Chapter Adminstrator and great friend, called me up and said she wanted me to be at an IREM (Institute of RE Management) upcoming meeting for several reasons.  I am not a member of IREM, but she invites me occasionally as a representative for another organization I was fortunate enough to be a part of over the years, The Middle TN CCIM Chapter.  This luncheon had a special connection though... my lifetime friend and business partner Harold Morris was getting a very prestigious and the most high IREM Award given.  But there was another connection, unbeknownst to me, that I was there for.  I believe strongly in the Law of Attraction and that all things happen for a reason, and it was at that meeting, that after hearing Adam Widner, a Wounded Warrior Project Representative, speak... I decided to take action and do something completely spontaneous.  I was truly moved by Adam's short talk on The Wounded Warrior Project.  I physically moved over to the other side of the table to sit next to him and whispered in his ear that I would like to talk with him soon and try to help in some way with this amazing project.  It was at that moment that I decided, immediately, to align my company with the WWP and try to help make a difference, if only in some small way, in some of our local Warriors lives.  I had no idea of what I would do, how I would do it, nor how I would fund the idea.  But that is true goal setting... committing to something that you have no idea how you can do achieve, and then re-commit to it daily, and let your Reticular Activation System (OK, Google that in a minute, lol) take over!
 
After some meetings with the WWP I am proud to announce that I am sponsoring "my Personal Wounded Warrior", Josh Ray, in his next golf tournament.  I also will be speaking at a luncheon meeting in August on the subjects of Home Ownership, Dealing with Distressed RE Situations (that are sometimes brought on by special circumstances caused my these men and women serving our country), and several other subjects, including how, despite their challenges, these amazingly determined and strong Warriors may even have a future in some form of the real estate industry.  I have a goal and a vision of playing some small role in facilitating "Warriors helping Warriors".  I am excited about the opportunity to try and give back.  We have already set up a link on our company website to donate to this amazing project.
 
But what a "connection" these two events, the Oklahoma Tornadoes and The Boston Attack, must have to these Warriors and other service people.  Connections of the horror of seeing friends, comrades, loved ones, family, innocent bystanders' lives being destroyed or altered, indelibly, for life.  Death, limbs being blown off, landscapes that once were beautiful being destroyed in the blink of an eye... connections that are physical, mental and emotional.  But with this horror and carnage come the hallmarks of the human mind and spirit... Faith, Will, Determination, Dedication, Courage, Strength, Empowerment and the overall drive and spirit to SERVE.  To serve... putting all others' interests above your own.
 
As usual, I have written too long this morning, so I will end this one today with the quote that I wrote, and how I ended that "Today's Wisdom" in March on rationalizing why bad things sometime happen to good people...
 
"Maybe Bad Things Happen To Good People, So That The Rest Of Us Will Appreciate Our Own Lives More, Count Our Blessings More, and Share More Goodness With One Another Today." - Phil Dildine
 
Maybe it will help you realize your good fortune with an analogy (that I use often) that if we were all setting in a circle with our troubles piled up in front of us and pushed them towards the middle... most of us would be quick to pull back our pile of troubles and be more thankful for what we have.  If you don't have a tragic situation going on in your life right now, then maybe it will make you stop and count your blessings, spread more joy and smiles today, make someone laugh today, or just do some random act of kindness.  For you my friend, you are indeed blessed... and the best way you can show your appreciation for the good things in your live is to "pay them forward".
Published in Phil's Blog
Inside a lobby of Music City Center.

Nathan Morgan | Nashville Business Journal

Inside a lobby of Music City Center.

Staff Writer- Nashville Business Journal
Email  | Twitter  | Google+

Seven things I learned today on my last sneak peek of Music City Center:

  1. 1. WiFi will be free for visitors.
  2. 2. Music can be played anywhere in the building, including at the Songwriters Hall of Fame, where visitors can listen to song catalogs of Nashville's acclaimed songwriters.
  3. 3. If convention organizers want to hang a car from the ceiling of the 350,000 square foot exhibit hall or drive one onto the stage of the Grand Ballroom, they can.
  4. 4. Music City Center includes seven outdoor locations for guests to look out over the city.Karl Dean also recommends the roosts as potential places to watch Fourth of July festivities.
  5. 5. Music City Center's kitchen, ledMax Knoepfel, can make 20,000 meals a day, if necessary.
  6. 6. Artwork inside includes "Euphony," by Ball-Nogues Studio, about 28 miles of yellow, red and blue beading that hangs about 117 feet long; and "Composition,"Aaron Stephan, which consists of a grid of more than 100 white musical instruments and hangs in front of the Demonbreun Street view.
  7. 7. The average size group at the existing convention center is 1,500, compared to 6,500 at the new center.

The Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp. has reported that 829,574 room nights tied to the center have been booked, short of its 1,000,000 room nights goal that had been set for its opening. Dean hinted there may be more to add.

"I can't think of convention centers that have opened with the numbers of conventions we have booked, the number of hotel rooms we have booked," Dean said on the tour today. "We'll have an announcement next week about exactly where we are. We are ahead of schedule. We'll be fine. It's going to be a big success."

Published in Real Estate News
Friday, 10 May 2013 16:10

America's New Boomtown City Is ...

By Claire Gordon

  • Posted May 7th 2013 @ 8:30AM


Nashville job growthIt isn't just singer-songwriters who are flocking to Nashville these days. So areengineers and nurses,accountants anddevelopersdental assistants and robot-designers. The country music capital led the nation in job growth last year, according to revised data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, andreported by The City Paper. The formerly sleepy Southern town is now the nation's brightest spot of opportunity.

Between 2011 and 2012, the Nashville metro area experienced job growth of 3.9 percent, more than any other metro area with a population of more than 1 million. Nashville's music industry -- the second largest in the country after New York's -- employs thousands, but that's not what's powering the boom. Rather, it's the city's flourishing health care sector, and a wave of companies that have packed up their headquarters and moved to the Tennessee capital. 

More: Oil Boomtowns: Plenty of Jobs, But No Place To Live

Health care is the biggest industry in Nashville: The area is home to more than 300 health care companies, reported BusinessClimate.com, including the two enormous and enormously profitable hospital chains Hospital Corporation of America and Community Health Systems Inc. Nashville's reputation as a thriving medical center has built on itself, with more and more companies in the industry gravitating to the Sun Belt city. There are currently over 800 health-care-related job openings in the Nashville area listed atCareerBuilder.com (an AOL Jobs partner).

Employers like the business-friendly climate: Businesses in an array of other industries have also made the southern migration. Citing the lower cost of doing business, Nissan Motor Co. moved its North American headquarters, and 1,300 jobs, from California to a Nashville suburb in 2006. Tennessee has no state income tax, cheap real estate and low living costs, and to seal the deals, Nashville has been exceptionally generous with the tax breaks and credits it offers companies considering a move.

More: 10 Highest-Paying Jobs In A Booming Sector

The business-process-outsourcing firm IQT Inc. announced that it was relocating from New York City to Nashville in 2011, reported Area Development Online, having been tempted by perks like a grant to offset startup costs, and an additional grant for each job created. Company Co-CEO Alex Mortman also said that the city, which is home to dozens of colleges and universities, including Tennessee State University and Vanderbilt University, had the "smart, educated, technology savvy people" whom they were looking to hire.

Nashville's culture is also a major draw: "The food scene here, the entertainment scene, the people seem friendly, the employee base seems to be welcoming," Hazem Ouf, president of national restaurant chain American Blue Ribbon Holdings, told WKRN-TV about the company's decision to relocate last year. "Certainly you can feel the Southern hospitality here."

While Tennessee's unemployment rate is stuck above the national average, Nashville's is more than a whole percentage point below. It seems that almost every day a major company is changing its tune about where to be headquartered, and that tune is increasingly being played on a fiddle.

Published in Nashville Ranking
Thursday, 09 May 2013 16:43

The Best Cities For Jobs 2013

The Best Cities For Jobs 2013

ForbesBy Joel Kotkin and Mike Shires | Forbes – Tue, May 7, 2013 12:16 PM EDT
  • Alamo Square in San Francisco.

    Yahoo! Finance/Thinkstock - Alamo Square in San Francisco.

The latest edition of our list shows many things, but perhaps the most important is which cities have momentum in the job creation sweepstakes. Right now the biggest winners are the metro areas that are adding higher-wage jobs thanks to America’s two big boom sectors: technology and energy.

Our rankings are based on short, medium and long-term employment performance, and take into account both growth and momentum -- whether growth is slowing or accelerating. (For a detailed description of our methodology, click here.) Consequently, areas that have made the strongest recoveries from deep setbacks often do well. Nowhere is this clearer than in the case of the San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City metropolitan division, our top-ranked large metro area (urban regions with more than 450,000 jobs). Over the last year, employment in the San Francisco area expanded a remarkable 4.1%, and is up 3.3% since 2008.

[More from Forbes: The Best Midsize Cities For Jobs]

A decade ago, the San Francisco area was reeling from the collapse of the last dot-com bubble; the damage was so deep that today it has only 0.6% more jobs than in 2001. Its sharp recent growth is primarily in the information sector, which has expanded a torrid 21.3% since 2009.

Much the same can be said about San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, better known as Silicon Valley, which is No. 7 on our large metro area list due to 3.4% job growth last year, and 2.3% growth since 2008; it is also propelled by 25% growth in information jobs since 2007. Yet looking at the longer term, the Valley, like San Francisco, is still rebounding from a deep downturn connected to the dot-com disaster of a decade ago. In fact, the Valley is still down almost 40,000 jobs from 2001.

Is California Pulling Ahead Of Texas?

Some East Coast boosters of the Golden State are making this claim, but we don’t see it in this year’s numbers. Besides the tech-rich Bay Area, home to two of our top 10 large metro areas, there are no other major California cities near the top. Most of the state's big metros are in the poor to middling range over the long term; only Riverside-San Bernardino (45th place on our big cities list) has 10% more jobs than a decade ago. Los Angeles, the state’s dominant urban region, has lost some 120,000 jobs since 2001.

In contrast, the Texas juggernaut rolls on. Growth there has not only been steady, it’s been widely spread across the state. Texas boasts a remarkable four major metros in our top 10, led by Ft. Worth-Arlington (No. 4), Houston-Sugarland-Baytown (No. 5), Dallas-Plano-Irving (No. 6 ) and Austin-Round Rock, which slips from first place last year to 10th. The state’s other big city, San Antonio, comes in at a very healthy No. 12.

All these metro areas have more jobs than they did a decade ago -- often a lot more. Since 2001, employment in Houston has expanded 20%; in Ft. Worth, it's up roughly 16%; Dallas; 11%; Austin, a remarkable 26.5%; and San Antonio, 18.4%.

The Energy Boomtowns

The unconventional oil and gas boom has helped turn Texas into an economic juggernaut, particularly world energy capital Houston, but growth has also been strong in tech, manufacturing and business services. You see this same kind of blending of energy and other sectors in other strong growth economies elsewhere in the U.S., such as No. 3 Salt Lake City, No. 9 Denver and No. 15 Oklahoma City.

[More from Forbes: The Best Small Cities For Jobs 2013]

But the real evidence of energy’s power can be seen in smaller metro areas. Oil-rich Midland, Texas, places first on our list of smaller metro areas (those with less than 150,000 jobs) and also first overall among the country’s 398 metropolitan areas. Nipping at its heels in second place in both categories is Odessa, Texas. On our medium-size cities list, energy towns with strong growth include No. 4 Corpus Christi, Texas; No. 5 Bakersfield, Calif.; and No. 6 Lafayette, La.

Affordability + Quality of Life = Success

But you don’t have to be a huge tech hub or energy capital to generate new jobs. The No. 2-ranked place in our big metro ranking, Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro-Franklin, Tenn., reflects the power of economic diversity coupled with ample cultural amenities, pro-business policies and a mild climate. Nashville’s 3.8% expansion in employment last year, and 7% growth since 2008, has been propelled by business services, education and health. There’s also been a recent recovery in manufacturing, up over 9% last year, as well as retail and wholesale trade. Like the Texas cities, Nashville has registered long-term growth as well, with 112,000 jobs added since 2001, a nice 16.6% increase.

Much the same can be said about Charlotte-Gastonia-Rock Hill, N.C., No. 8 on our big city list, whose job base grew 3.3% last year. Virtually every business sector has been on the rebound since 2009, including financial services, despite Bank of America’s continuing troubles. Overall the local economy has added 100,000 jobs since 2001, up almost 13%.

Steady, diverse growth can be seen in other low-cost and business-friendly towns such as our No. 11 big metro area, Raleigh Cary, N.C.; No. 13 Columbus, Ohio; and No. 15 Indianapolis. The shift towards stronger growth in areas away from the coasts has continued, at least in the more attractive metro areas.

Who Doesn’t Have It?

Of course, any list has its share of losers as well as winners. Sadly this includes long-suffering old industrial cities such as our last-placed big metro area, Newark-Union, N.J., which is followed, in order, by Saint Louis, MO-IL; Cleveland-Elyria- Mentor, Ohio; and Providence-Fall River-Warwick RI-MA. All but Providence, which stayed about even, slipped from last year’s rankings.

But not all factory towns are headed in the wrong direction. No.  51 Detroit-Livonia-Dearborn advanced an impressive 11 places from last year’s list. The key here has not been the much talked about attempt to turn downtown Detroit into a cool place, but the resurgence of the auto industry. Manufacturing employment, concentrated in the region’s suburbs, is up over 18% since 2009 after decades of tumultuous losses.

Also flailing a bit have been many of our largest, and most often celebrated, metros. Believe it or not, Detroit comes in one place ahead of Chicago-Joliet-Naperville ,Ill., which continues to promote itselfas one of the nation’s great comeback stories, but in reality has continued to lose ground. You can tell the same tale about No. 46 Philadelphia, Pa., No. 41 Portland-Hillsboro-Vancouver OR-WA, and No. 37 Miami, which dropped a staggering 16 places despite the much celebrated recovery of its condo market. Selling to South America flight capital (legal or otherwise) and sun-deprived Europeans does not seem to be doing enough to revive the region’s overall economic vigor.

There are also some signs that the big beneficiaries of the Bernanke-Obama-Bush economic policy may be losing some momentum. New York City, the major winner from the “too big to fail” banking bailout, fell seven places from last year to No. 18. Even Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, D.C., the nation’s prime beneficiary of crony capitalism and fiscal bloat, has lost steam, falling 10 places to No. 26 -- a big decline from its No. 6 rankings in 2010 and 2011. We are usually loath to celebrate declines, but Washington’s loss, reflecting a slowdown in government growth, may be evidence that some equilibrium between the public and private sectors is slowly being restored.

Here are the top 10 cities:

No. 1: San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City, CA Metropolitan Division
2012 Rank: 17th
2013 Overall Rank: 9th
2012 Employment Growth: 4.1%

No. 2: Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro-Franklin, TN
2012 Rank: 9th
2013 Overall Rank: 15th
2012 Employment Growth: 3.8%

No. 3: Salt Lake City, UT
2012 Rank: 3rd
2013 Overall Rank: 16th
2012 Employment Growth: 4.0%

No. 4: Fort Worth-Arlington, TX Metropolitan Division
2012 Rank: 4th
2013 Overall Rank: 20th
2012 Employment Growth: 3.8%

No. 5: Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, TX
2012 Rank: 2nd
2013 Overall Rank: 23rd
2012 Employment Growth: 2.0%

No. 6: Dallas-Plano-Irving, TX Metropolitan Division

2012 Rank: 6th
2013 Overall Rank: 24th
2012 Employment Growth: 3.5%

No. 7: San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA

2012 Rank: 5th
2013 Overall Rank: 28th
2012 Employment Growth: 3.4%

No. 8: Charlotte-Gastonia-Rock Hill, NC-SC

2012 Rank: 19th
2013 Overall Rank: 34th
2012 Employment Growth: 3.3%

No. 9: Denver-Aurora-Broomfield, CO
2012 Rank: 15th
2013 Overall Rank: 41st
2012 Employment Growth: 2.8%

No. 10: Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX
2012 Rank: 1st
2013 Overall Rank: 42nd
2012 Employment Growth: 3.7%

[More from Forbes: Full List: The Best Big Cities For Jobs 2013]

Methodology
We ranked all 398 current metropolitan statistical areas based on employment data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics from November 2001 through January 2013. Rankings are based on recent growth trends, mid-term growth, long-term growth and the region’s momentum. We also broke down rankings by size since regional economies differ markedly due to their scale. For our big cities list, we ranked the 66 MSAs that each have more than 450,000 jobs.

Published in Nashville Ranking
NAS-home sellers
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James Bristol is finally ready to put his five-bedroom home in Green Hills on the market. / Samuel M. Simpkins / The Tennessean
Written by
Duane Marsteller
The Tennessean

 

 
NAS-home sellers
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Bristol is preparing to list his home after seeing the one next door sell in 30 days for the asking price. / Samuel M. Simpkins / The Tennessean
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Each time James Bristol thought about putting his Green Hills home on the market, something changed his mind.

In 2009, it was the housing slump and economic recession, when qualified buyers were scarce and home values were falling. In 2011, the still-soft housing market and the unexpected return of one of his grown children — and a grandchild — nixed any selling plans.

Now, though, Bristol is taking the plunge. He’s preparing to list his five-bedroom home after seeing the house next door sell in 30 days for the asking price.

“That told me it was a good time to sell because the market is getting stronger,” said Bristol, a Nashville attorney.

That’s a message Middle Tennessee real estate agents hope more homeowners hear and act upon, thus relieving an inventory squeeze that threatens to constrain the market’s momentum.

Inventory squeeze

At the end of March, the latest period for which the Greater Nashville Association of Realtors has data available, there were 16,049 residential properties on the market — a 15.5 percent drop from a year earlier. At the same time, sales have soared by more than 30 percent.

Despite the resulting squeeze, price increases have been modest and have stayed in a fairly narrow range in the past year. The median sales price for a single-family house was $169,000 in March, just $500 higher than in the same month a year earlier. Condominiums have fared better, rising by nearly $13,000 in the past year.

The slow price appreciation is holding back would-be home sellers, especially those who bought during the housing market’s heyday and still have little or no equity, local agents say.

“Sellers are waiting for values to come back up more,” said Kendra Cooke of Cooke Realty Partners in Nashville.

There’s also a self-perpetuating Catch-22 of sorts going on: Potential sellers are waiting because they’re worried they won’t be able to find a new place to live because of the tight supply.

At the same time, many homeowners who tried to sell during the downturn — only to see their properties languish on the market for months or even more than year — are hesitant to try again just yet. They will remain tentative until they feel better about the economy, especially the job and housing markets, agents say.

“It all goes back to consumer confidence,” said Price Lechleiter, GNAR president and a broker with Fridrich & Clark Realty. “That’s the driver.”

A recent Metro property reappraisal provides little comfort. It said average home values in Nashville fell by nearly 1 percent from 2008 to 2012, with only a third of Metro’s 35 council districts seeing gains.

That has led some homeowners, especially in high-demand areas, to underestimate what their homes are worth in today’s market, agents say. Those areas include parts of East Nashville, 12South, West End, Sylvan Park, Bellevue and Belle Meade.

Those areas are largely built out, with little new construction, limiting the pool of houses. The reasons those areas are attractive to buyers also make them attractive to homeowners who are already there, further reducing turnover as homes go on the market less often, agents say.

Agents recruiting

Jennifer Core, who has lived in her Inglewood home for a dozen years, said her neighbors were there before her. When Core was the victim of a crime two years ago, those longtime neighbors pitched in to help her recover.

That’s why Core has no plans to sell her 67-year-old house despite receiving “several” inquiries to do so. “I’m not going to leave that kind of connection behind,” she said.

With more buyers than sellers coming to them, agents are ramping up efforts to recruit listings.

Richard Courtney of Christianson Patterson Courtney & Associates said he and partner Stephanie Tipton-Soper recently sent fliers urging homeowners to “take advantage” of the “hottest market in Nashville’s history.” About 3,000 went to previous clients, and 2,000 others were sent to homeowners in neighborhoods that are in demand, Courtney said.

“People who had listed five years ago, a lot of them are getting calls from Realtors saying, ‘Let’s try one more time,’ ” he said.

Bailie Rhea Hodges and Paul Sek of Hodges and Fooshee Realty also went the flier route, sending several hundred last week to homeowners in Nashville’s West End.

“Two years ago, it was extremely hard to find anyone who wanted to buy a house,” Hodges said. “Now it’s hard to find anyone who wants to sell.”

Published in Real Estate News
"Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it." - William Arthur Ward
 
Today is my Father's Birthday.  He would have been 89 today.  Dad passed away when he was 75, and he was proud he lived to that long.  Dad was never one to complain and he is the only person I know that I never heard say an unkind word about anyone.  He looked for the good in people and taught me many things.  I learned a long time ago that "Actions speak louder than words".  We learn from what we are shown more effectively than what we are told.
 
My Dad was born in Gleason, TN and grew up in a small rural agricultural based community of Greenfield, TN, near Dresden and Martin in the NW corner of the state.  Dad had to quit school when he was in the 6th grade to go work on the farm.  Both his parents died when he was 7.  He was raised by his Uncle and Aunt and their children, his cousins, who took him in and treated him as their brother... one of the truest acts of love, charity and kindness I have ever seen expressed.
 
During his rough life after growing up in the great depression he taught me, through words and actions:
 
"Never Give Up"  Action: I'm going to fix this lawnmower if it takes me all week... "What did you kids do with my wrench?!?"  We never could seem to keep up with tools around our house... I think the dog kept eating them!
 
"Help People When You Can and How You Can"  Action: Delivering food to the needy on Christmas, even though we didn't have that much ourselves, and sometimes coming home with vegetables and chickens instead of money from his insurance clients and paying their premium himself, even though he didn't have it to spare.
 
"Always Look For The Good In People"  Action: Never saying an unkind word or mistreating anyone... even if it seemed that they deserved it.
 
"Work Hard And Things Will Work Out"  Action:  He worked from "Can to Can't" everyday of his life, except Sunday.
 
"Don't Pity Yourself and Make the Best of What You Have"  Action: When Dad was around 7, his brother (only a teenager himself at the time and who had tried to look after Dad himself after their parents died but eventually realized that he could not), took him for a "visit" to his Uncle and Aunt's farm outside Greenfield, TN.  My Dad didn't realize that he was being left with these relatives for good.  My Dad ran crying through a field along the road chasing his brother driving away that day back in 1931/32.  I envision this and how he must have felt, when I feel pity for myself, or think I'm having a rough day.
 
I hope you have an exceptional day.  Action:  Just decide that's what kind of day you're going to have and it will happen... works for me all the time!  I appreciate you reading this, or as my Dad would say, "Much Obliged".
 

-- 

Thanks, Phil
Make it an exceptional day... It is yours to think, see, believe and make happen!
 
Phil Dildine, CCIM (What is CCIM?) 
Head Coach & Owner - CLOUD REALTY, LLC (formerly The Morris Companies, LLC)
Published in Phil's Blog
  1. homes — buying, rehabbing and reselling for a profit usually within about 90  days — will likely become more favorable for investors in 2013 as home prices  are expected to continue climbing. And while buying  homes as rentals still offers a solid rate of return in many markets, even  buy-and-hold investors typically flip properties periodically to fund their ongoing  rental purchases.View recording of Foreclosure Flipping 101 Webinar with Spike TV's Flip Men.
  2. selected the top 25 markets nationwide where flipping single family homes  offers the highest rate of return based on the flipper’s gross profit — the  difference between average original purchased price and the eventual flipped  sales price of a flipped home. Search potential  flipping opportunities in your neighborhood.
  1. flip

   flip2




  1. Methodology
    create the list, we looked at more than 600 metro areas nationwide where flips  of single family homes occurred in 2012. We counted a flip as a situation where  a sale of home occurred within six months or less of the previous sale of the  same home. From the 600 metros we first narrowed it down to metros with at  least 500 flips in 2012, and then to metros with at least a 9 percent annual  increase in home values between the first quarter of 2012 and the first quarter  of 2013. From that universe of markets we selected the top 25 based on the  gross profit as a percentage of the original purchase price.
 
Published in Real Estate News
Wednesday, 01 May 2013 19:02

Nashville Rents Up 5.1%

Nashville's 2012 rent price increase among nation's highest

 Published January 3, 2013 by William Williams 

 
Nashville ranked among the nation’s leaders in apartment rent price increases during 2012, according to MPF Research, a market intelligence division of RealPage Inc.

Nashville and New York both saw rents rise 5.1 percent, placing the two cities tied for fifth in the ranking. Nationally and by comparison, rents for new leases in the U.S. apartment sector climbed 3 percent during 2012.

Published in Real Estate News
Wednesday, 01 May 2013 18:27

D.R. Horton Comes to Nashville

Jan 15, 2013, 1:16pm CST

Exclusive: D.R. Horton, largest U.S. homebuilder, preparing to enter Nashville market

Staff Reporter- Nashville Business Journal
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D.R. Horton Inc., the nation's largest home builder, is preparing to expand into the Nashville market, according to multiple real estate sources.

To help enter the market, Fort Worth, Texas-based Horton (NYSE: DHI) has expressed interest in buying a privately held local builder, sources said.

Multiple attempts to reach officials with D.R. Horton were unsuccessful.

In August, Horton entered Huntsville, Ala., and the Mississippi Gulf Coast markets after buying Breland Homes, Horton's first acquisition in more than a decade, according to media reports.

Donald Tomnitz, Horton's CEO and president, told analysts during a recent earnings call that the company has been evaluating opportunities in attractive new markets. Horton operates in 77 markets in 26 states. Horton built homes in the Nashville area in the 1990s, but does not currently operate in Tennessee.

Horton sold 18,890 of its homes and posted a profit of $956 million in the 12 months that ended Sept. 30, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Horton isn't the only big builder eying Nashville.

In October, the Nashville Business Journal reported on Columbus, Ohio-based M/I Homes' (NYSE: MHO) effort to break into Nashville’s improving housing market.

Big new players entering Nashville's home construction scene would mean additional competition for local builders. At the same time, the interest speaks to the health and outlook of the local residential real estate market.

Nashville is attracting a lot of interest from out-of-state public and private builders, said Jason Brown of MetroStudy, a housing research firm.

"Nashville has always been a fairly stable market," he said. "As we've begun the upswing in the building cycle, Nashville has been one of the first (markets) to pick up."

Published in Real Estate News
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