The Cobb County Blog

I love my job. 

Really, I do.  In what other job can you completely change a family's life?  It's rare in the business world, and consider myself the luckiest girl on earth to do it.

Let's take one of my recent clients, the Davidsons.  They contacted me a few months before relocating from San Francisco to Oklahoma City.  Jerry, had just gotten a new job with Devon Energy and was anxious to move and get started.  His family, however, they were a different story.

You see Jerry's wife and two teen age daughters had grown accustomed to big city life and were leary of our Okie style to say the least.  But I'm proud to say that they sent me an e-mail last week and all is good.

They told me how much they liked Bricktown, and how the Hornets games had that big city feel.  And even though there's not a Prada store down the street, they're doing just fine with a few suggestions I offered like 50 Penn Place and some of the smaller novelty shops around town. 

But that's not the best part.  They told me how much better they liked it here.  How the people were so friendly.  How they were really getting in to the culture after they checked out the OKC Museum of Art.  And how the schools were so much more "normal" than what they were used to.

Their message absolutely made my day and reminded me of how lucky I am.  The Davidsons have their new house and their new life.  I've got to think I played at least a little part in their success.  I love my job.

Start building credit early.

Last week I had to do something that I really didn't like.  I had a young couple come to me wanting to buy their first home.  They were so excited, and so was I.  Until we hit a snag, and not just a little one. 

They didn't have a great credit score, and rather than getting into some crazy mortgage program, I advised that they way 12-18 months and try again.  And while that's not the advice I'd give every client.  They agreed it was the best situation.

So, that prompted me to remind everyone of the basics of building good credit.  In theory, it's not hard.  But we all need reminders.  Here's what CNNMoney.com has to say about it.

Correct mistakes.  You're entitled to pull one free credit report every year and you should.  If something is wrong, take the necessary steps to fix it.

Pay your bills on time.  A late payment in the last few months will hurt your score badly.  Make payments on time, even though it might mean you can't make that Best Buy run for the newest CD and DVD releases.

Don't move debt, pay it off. It doesn't do any good to move debt around because it's still a part of your debt to maximum balance ratio.  It's best to just pay debt off when you can.

Don't close accounts. Closing accounts just reduces you balance to limit ratio.  And you want that to be as high as possible.

If you have any questions, you can feel free to shoot me an e-mail.  But the best situation is to have your credit in good shape when you're ready to buy a home, so get started early. 

I love my neighborhood.

It isn't anything new for a REALTOR to sell a few houses in the neighborhood they live in.  After all, that's the best way to know all the little nuances.  But this year, I've been fortunate enough to have really great success in my neighborhood, Glenn Eagles.  And even though I can't really thank the neighborhood, I'd thought I'd at least let all of you know these great reasons to consider becoming my neighbor.

#1 - The houses are really nice.  Sure, there's the well known areas like Oaktree and Gaillardia, but the homes here in Glenn Eagles are just as nice and don't come with quite the price tag.

#2 - What great people.  I'm having as much fun here as I did in my college apartment.  My neighbors, Bill and Joanie, are some of the funnest people I've ever met.  If it's not poker night, karaoke in the garage, or a pool party, it's something just as fun. 

#3 - The schools are great. We don't have kids quite yet, but when we do they'll have great schools.  Edmond Santa Fe and Angie Debo Elementary are some of the best public schools around.

#4 - Minutes from the mall.  Quail Springs Mall is a place near and dear to my heart.  And it's only 5 minutes away!

#5 - Lots of room.  Glenn Eagles is one of the few new neighborhoods in my area that have more than an arms length of distance between houses.  It's not an acreage, but it's still really nice.

If you're looking at buying a home in the next few months, you should definintely check out the Glenn Eagles neighborhood.  And of course, I'll be glad to help. :)