What we learned from our Golden friend

Annie, Team Mascot

August 20, 1992--September, 28, 2008

 

On September 28, 2008, Annie, our team mascot and our family golden retriever was laid to rest after 16 years of loving service to us all.  We want to honor her for all she meant to our team and our family.  Monthly at our team meeting we honor a team member with the Annie Award.  This award is given to a team member that has exemplified Annie’s values:  loyalty, compassion, patience, giving, friendly, good listener, and a servant’s heart.  We will dedicate a section in our future Kristan Cole newspapers, where we can highlight special events, special people, and important issues in our community.  Be looking for Annie’s Corner.

 

Annie came into our lives 16 years ago when we got her from my brother Craig and his wife Sheila.  Annie was a red golden retriever; small hunting breed size.  She was beautiful and the kids loved her.  Annie stood guard over our house, our children and also was known to be the Alfa dog of the neighborhood.  In 1999 she also became the mascot for our real estate team and until this past year, came to work with me every day.  Annie impacted all of our lives.  Several of our team members have written special comments about Annie.  This is how they saw our special friend that taught us so much about how to live life and treat others without ever saying a word.

 

She was tough but she was gentle.

She played hard but she knew how to relax.

She was loyal but she would let us know if she had been ignored.

She knew that the best tasting foods didn’t always smell good.

She always greeted a stranger with a smile and a wagging tail.

She found joy in simple things like a brisk morning roll in the grass.

She was tolerant but let you know when her limit was met in a stern but gentle way.

She respected our dining table but wouldn’t miss an opportunity to snag a morsel if our guard was down.

She was a great listener and knew when we were distressed.

She never backed down from a challenge and never quit.

She knew how to be a friend and was better at being a servant than being served.

She never refused a good belly rub. 

She was a great explorer. She never seemed to worry too much about her boundaries.

She was always willing to make new friends and embark on new adventures whenever she saw fit.

She was carefree and not afraid to march to the beat of a different drummer.

She showed she had true grit and the will to survive.

She never asked for anything in return.  Above all, she was loyal.

 

Knowing Annie was getting older, we added a golden retriever puppy to our family two years ago.  We knew Annie wouldn’t be with us forever, but we also knew that if she would train our new puppy AnnaBell, that Annie could live on through her. 

 

Annie was laid to rest on a Sunday in the place where she often sat looking out over the valley.  The tears were many and the pain of her leaving us forever is excruciating.  My only solace to the emptiness of her being gone is in the knowing that she was a happy dog who had lived a full joyful life because of those she served and impacted.  She understood that no act of kindness, no matter how small is ever wasted. We will miss her so much. 

 

Right now our country is experiencing a lot of pain because of the current financial crisis.  The good news is that we all still have the opportunity to have joy in our lives in the midst of uncertainty because we all still have the opportunity to serve others.

 

Use this for the quoted section: “Annie was laid to rest on a Sunday in the place where she often sat looking out over the valley.  The tears were many and the pain of her leaving us forever excruciating.  My only solace to the emptiness of her being gone is in the knowing that she was a happy dog who had lived a full joyful life because of those she served and impacted”. 

The Jeopardy category for $500 is Famous Hometowns. Alex Trebek reads the following answers: Indianapolis, Indiana; Carthage, Tennessee; and Casper, Wyoming. The contestants now have less than a split second to hit the button, signaling that they know the right answer (in the form of a question, of course).

 

I’ve discovered that you can’t watch Jeopardy without playing along. My wife and I usually watch the show during dinner. Both of us are rather competitive, so we usually pay closer attention to the categories on the tube than the chicken on our plates. We try to be lightning-quick to be the first one with the correct answer. However, for the question posed above, both of us would sit in silence.

 

How about you? Would you know that the correct question is: “What are the hometowns of the last three vice presidents?”

 

What if the answer had been Plains, Georgia; Hope, Arkansas; or Crawford, Texas? Most of us would recognize these as hometowns of past or current presidents.

 

Don’t you think it is strange that we know the hometowns of our presidents, but not the hometowns of our vice presidents? Sure, being the most powerful person in the world is a big deal, but the second most powerful person is still pretty high in the pecking order. Yet, less than half of Americans would be able to identify what side of the Mississippi River the vice president grew up on. That’s sad, considering the odds of a correct guess are 50/50. 

 

I wonder how many people know where Joe Biden grew up. Ask 20 people on the street, and 15 of them would probably ask who Joe Biden is. Even if they did recognize his name, few would be able to pick him out of a lineup, and an even smaller number would know where he is from. I don’t recall seeing Greta Van Susteren or Geraldo Rivera running around Claymont, Delaware interviewing Joe Biden’s elementary school classmates. It wouldn’t surprise me if Kristan Cole and Judy Patrick have had more national air time than Mr. Biden.

 

Now, ask the same number of folks if they recognize the name Sarah Palin. Better yet, to make it fair, just show a picture of her. Unless someone just returned from four weeks in the bush, everyone would recognize the governor’s picture or at least think it was Tina Fey portraying a vice presidential candidate on Saturday Night Live.

 

Face recognition is one thing, but it takes more than that to capture the interest of the nation. Jennifer Aniston may be one of the recognizable celebrities in the country, but most people’s curiosity with her ends with wondering if she is still in love with Brad Pitt.

That is not the case with Governor Palin. America is starving for every tidbit of information they can find about her, her family and the town she grew up in. We know she wears Kawasaki 704 eyeglasses, uses Max lipstick and likes to crack jokes about pit bulls and hockey moms. We can recite the names of her five children (no easy feat if you are not a Van Halen fan). Her husband, the “first dude” as we have come to know him, has had more media exposure than Barack Obama’s second dude.

 

However, what’s most unusual is not our interest in the Palins, but rather our interest in the town that raised her. I have heard that since Sarah, as you locals call her, made her big announcement, you have had more reporters in Wasilla than moose. Anchorage is sold out of rental cars and the Windbreak Café is cooking up a storm. In fact, the only satellite uplink truck within 200 miles has been operating nonstop. Maybe the city council of Claymont, Delaware would consider selling its satellite truck to KTUU-TV, because they’re not using it.

 

Some contend the media’s main purpose for infiltrating Wasilla was to uncover information that could be used against the Republican ticket. I’m sure that was the motivation of many, but little did they know that the more air time they gave Wasilla, the more they raised the curiosity of the rest of the country, or as you call us, the lower forty-eight.

 

Wasilla has become the most talked about town in the U.S., and its name recognition is as strong as some recent presidents’ hometowns. Is this a coincidence or could it be prophetic? Regardless of the outcome in November, what I have come to realize is that your governor – and possibly our next vice president – is the product of hundreds of good people like you, who call Wasilla home. The hand of God may have raised Sarah Palin to where she is today, but there is not a part of her life that doesn’t bare your fingerprints.

 

Wasilla couldn’t be located much further west from the center of the U.S., but it represents the same values, hopes and dreams of middle America. Wasilla isn’t even considered to be in the “heartland” of our great country, although we are learning that you have a heart as big as your state. Your small town of 9,000 people has the attention of the world, and I believe that one day we will have much to thank you for.

 

Geographically, I live about as far away from Wasilla as you can get, yet I am proud to consider you a neighbor. In fact, after some deliberation, I’ve come to the conclusion that you call the rest of the country the lower 48 for the wrong reason. You probably use that term because everyone is south of you, but I think it fits because the entire nation is looking up to you.   

 

Wasilla, Alaska …hum, seems like all the other vice presidential hometowns are just “palin” in comparison. 

 

Author: Denny Grimes, CRS, ABR, MBA. . Denny lives in Ft. Myers, Florida and is a friend of Brad and Kristan Cole. He can be reached at denny@dennygrimes.com. Used with permission.

 

Did you purchase a newly build home with a 5 star energy rating on or after April 5, 2008?  If so, Alaska Housing has a $7500 REBATE application.  Call Alaska Housing at 1-800-478-2432 and ask for the rebate Program manager or call the Rebate Manager direct at 330-8183, or go online at www.ahfc.state.ak.us/energy  

You don’t want to miss out on this. 

Our friends Bryan and Sharnee Epley who own RE/MAX of Alyeska recently went to 20 mile camping.  Sharnee arranged the trip with their friends for Father’s Day.  These are fabulous photos of their trip.  Since our weather has been so bad here in the valley, I sure enjoyed seeing these pictures.  They camped on a gravel bar about 30 minutes up river from the Seward Highway.  There were two eagles with chicks nesting nearby.  Noah, their youngest fished for dolly varden.  Preston, their oldest, brought a friend and the older boys had their own tent and camp fire.  Dinner was sausages roasted over the camp fire. Sounds like a great time.  If you are thinking about buying or selling in Girdwood, contact Bryan Epley at Bryan@BryanEpley.com 

 

And the winner of our King Salmon Fishing Trip for two is Debra Hesterberg.  Congratulations and happy fishing.  My son Jesse caught a couple of King’s this past weekend.  So the fishing should be good.

 

Next contest we are giving away 2 $50 Shell Gas cards and 8 Free Tickets to North Star Speedway that can be used anytime this summer.  Email me by June 30^th to win. 

 

Later this week I will be posting the real estate market information for the month of May.  Stay tuned.  Kristan

It's true my 4th child Zachariah graduated high school Monday night along with all of his friends and classmates.  Click here to see all of the kids and their families.  It was a fantastic graduation.  Really it was.  The speakers were great in my opinion because they spoke from their heart and their comments were directed to the graduates themselves.  They were concise and to the point. Everything was organized and kept moving, the decorations were nice and the cd of the slide show for each graduate was very special.  The senior advisors Kristy Johnston and Jess Clark did an outstanding job.  We also need to thank the parents who planned this years grad blast, especially Cheryl Curtis.  Our graduates had a safe place to go and celebrate their accomplishments.  Way to go parents.

$3000 in scholarships awarded to 3 seniors this year!  It was fun this past week to travel to Colony High School and Wasilla High School and present our scholarship award winners with their checks.  First place and a $1500 Scholarship went to Michelle Wetherell, a home schooler from Palmer.  Second place and a $1000 Scholarship went to Jarrid McAuliff from Colony High School and Third place and a $500 Scholarship went to Jordan Anderson from Wasilla High School.  Our team will be presenting Michelle her scholarship later this month at our office.  As I listened to the awards being presented to these seniors I was so impressed with our youth.  I was amazed at their accomplishments while also serving their communities and/or participating in sports and other things.  Way to go Seniors!

There is one sign that our market is improving that we can’t miss, and that’s when our phone rings with new customers ready to buy or sell.  But there are other indicators—not including the familiar days on the market, new listings per month, and new contract activity.  Here in Wasilla we sold 34 more homes in April than we did in March; the number of days on the market came down from 126 to 98.  We still have more new listings coming on the market than typical which means in some price ranges we still have an excess supply of inventory. 

 

Bottom line is the market is making progress.  As long as builders continue to curtail their spec building in the $300,000 plus range our market will continue to recover.  As I have said before, sellers are in a pricing war and a beauty contest at the same time.  If you want to sell you have to "be the prettiest" and the "lowest price" as compared to your competition.

 

5 Signs of a Housing Market Pickup

Sign #1:  New Jobs vs. New Housing:  Historically one new home owner is created for every two new jobs, so if job creation continues in Wasilla and builders scale back on production, it’s just a matter of time before the supply and demand equation moves toward equilibrium. 

 

Sign #2:  Fewer Builder Concessions:  Look for new home builders to curtail their offerings of paying buyer closing costs, offering selling bonuses or other concessions they rolled out at the start of the downturn.

 

Sign #3:  Months’ Supply:  We had a 10-18 months supply (depending on the price range) of housing during most of 2007.  Currently in price ranges under $250,000 the supply of homes is 3-4 months.  Over $250,000 the months’ supply is still 7-9 months. 

 

Sign #4 Visitors per Listing:  Look at the visitor trends on web sites.  The more visitors looking at homes on line and the more pages they look at suggest buyers are getting serious. On my web site we typically have 135 unique visitors per day viewing over 1200 pages.  Friday we had 292 unique visitors on the site. 

 

Sign #5 Rising Number of Homes Under Contract (pending sale):  When the number of new listings per month is similar to the number of new contracts, we have equilibrium.  If the number of new listings outpaces new contracts per month, we still have a growing inventory of homes which will equate into greater supply than demand.  We haven’t reached equilibrium in our market in most price ranges yet, but we are moving closer each month. 

 

Will you regret not buying in 2008?  With low interest rates, motivated sellers, and reduced prices, will people look back at 2008 and wonder why they didn't take advantage of an ideal buying situation?  This is the beginning of my 25^th year in real estate.  I had only been selling for 4 years when the market declined to an all time low in 1988 through 1990.  Many of my friends later told me how they regretted not buying when the market was at the bottom.  The trouble then as is the trouble now, none of us knew until after the fact where the bottom was.  What I do know is we have low interest rates, motivated sellers and job growth making this a great time to buy.  Call me anytime with questions, 907-373-3575  Kristan Cole.

Several of us went to Girdwood for the slush cup and my oldest son Aaron's birthday.  Boy were there some interesting contestants this year.  I posted a few cute ones, the hot dog and the tin man.  To see some photos click here 

A great group of kids and their teacher from Kasigluk came to visit with me to day to understand the difference between our culture here in Wasilla and theirs in Kasigluk.  Specifically what businesses we have here that they don't have in their village.  For instance they don't have real estate agents in their village as property is not bought and sold like it is here.  To view this great group of kids, click here.  Nicole Twitchell, Renae Keene, Nastasia Anvil, Lane Andrews, & Tammy Schneidler.  Thanks for coming and sharing with me today!  Kristan

It's true, The Kristan Cole Team, for the second year in a row, won the Matanuska Basketball Associations Championship.  They played Weldin Construction in the championship after a 23-3 winning season. Here is the players list: Howard Tresham, Tom Betti, Brandon Blake, John Schroeder, Levi Rollman, Jeff Kline (not pictured), Takia Johnson, Zac Forsyth (League MVP), and Josh Leutzinger.  Congratulations to them all.  Click here to see the team photo.

My good friends Dale and Robin Hamitt caught this 80 pound King Salmon a few years ago.  Sign up for our free King Salmon Fishing trip for two by emailing me and maybe you can catch one like this too.

Colony High School Boys Basketball Team competed at the State Championships March 20 through the 22 of March.  Josh Moseley # 24 is Kristan & Brad’s nephew, and Kristan Cole Team Member Sheila Moseley's son.  The Knights were 3^rd at State and Josh Moseley was name player of the game and also to the All Tournament Team.  Go Knights.

The Denali Shining Stars traveled to Portland, Oregon for the National Cheerleading Championships.  They competed over 3 days.  They made the finals and competed on Sunday March 9th and were awarded 3rd place.  Denali Shining Stars including Kristan & Brad’s daughter Teagen Tanner.

Diamond Award and Circle of Legends Award recipient Kristan Cole with Vinnie Tracy and Chairman of the Board Gail Linger at RE/MAX International Conference in Las Vegas.  Only 99 agents out of over 119,000 with RE/MAX have earned the coveted Circle of Legends Award.   Kristan with Margaret Kelly, President of RE/MAX International.

We had a great open house with lots of fun and great Mexican food from Tacos Cancun.  The winner of our Mexico trip for two was Andrew Kennedy and his finance Helen Porreco.  They will be leaving this month for a week in Cabo San Lucas at a 5 star hotel.  Should be lots of fun for them.  Well for us still stuck here at home, at least spring is coming.  I will be posted the first quarter market reports the first week of April.  Keep checking back for the full report.  Of course you can always email me with any questions you have.  Kristan@KristanCole.com

Good News:  Someone is going to Mexico.  It's true.  The winner will receive two airline tickets, one week stay in Cabo San Lucas at one of only 3 hotels on the beach downtown.  It's a great trip with lots to see and do.  Brad and I are always thrilled to see who wins.  So, come and join us for some Mexican food and help us celebrate with the winners of this year's trip for 2 to Mexico.  We will be hosting our open house on February 28^th from 5:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.  We will be announcing the Mexico winners at the party and drawing for other prizes too and of course we will be there to answer any of your real estate questions. We look forward to seeing you there!

Saturday night was the RE/MAX annual awards banquet in Anchorage.  It was a lot of fun to see old friends and enjoy a great dinner with my teammates.  Our team won several awards, #1 licensee with RE/MAX of Wasilla, #2 with RE/MAX of Alaska statewide, #2 for RE/MAX of Alaska Commercial Sales statewide, and #1 for RE/MAX of Alaska for total transactions statewide.  I am very proud of our team.  I also qualified for the Circle of Legends Award and was the first one in Alaska ever to receive this award and one of less than 100 RE/MAX agents Internationally to receive the award.  I owe it all to my community, my family and my team.  Kristan

Don't forget I am giving away two lift tickets and a one night stay at our condo at Alyeska on February 21st.  Email me to sign up to win.  This should be fun, our condo is very near the base of chair 3. 

Shanna Lantto turned 30th today.  Shanna has been on our team now for almost 9 years.  We had a cake made for her by Diane's Catering and celebrated with her.  We told her she isn't older....just more mature! 

The CRS Certified Residential Specialist Conference was held in Oahu, Hawaii this year.  Brad and I were both invited to speak at the conference where about 900 real estate agents from across the country came together to learn more about selling is a soft market. 

Brad & I also got away for a much needed vacation to Maui.  We were supposed to go in October, but our trip got postponed as I work hard with others on Matanuska Maid.  We returned home to 20 below temperatures, but at least its sunny every day and the days are getting longer.  The real estate market seems to be picking up a little and that's good news for everyone. 

Happenings on The Kristan Cole Team:

Jesse Tanner my 2nd oldest son and also a listing partner on our team got married on Maui yesterday.  Here is a picture of Jesse and Jen on the beach as they exchange vows.  Makes a Mom cry (happy tears)

Brad Cole here on our team has a busy year ahead.  He is a Commissioner on the State of Alaska Real Estate Commission Board, the President of the Valley Board of Realtors, a Director on the Alaska Association of Realtors Board, and is a Director on the CRS Board (Certified Residential Specialist).  Whew makes me tired just thinking about all of those meetings.  This is great news for our community as Brad will have the pulse on National Real Estate issues as well as our local market.  If you have real estate questions, just leave a comment here on our blog and we will answer your question.

I thought it would be fun to give away two lift tickets and an overnight stay at our condo in Alyeska.  It's right at the base of Chair 3 so you can walk out the door and catch the lift.  If you would like to be entered to win, email me at Kristan@KristanCole.com  and I will enter you to win.  I will be drawing for the winner on February 21. 

Every year we have our open house and give away our trip for two to Mexico.  Our Open House will be February 28th from 5:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.  Come and join us for some Mexican food and help us celebrate with the winners of this year's trip.  Should be good timing.  If you are like me, January and February are when I could really use some sunshine.  Two lucky people are going to get some.  Don't worry we will have some other prizes also.  See you then.  Call me at 373-3575 if you need directions. 

January 19, 2008

I was humbled, but thrilled when The Grainger Leadership Institute presented me with a leadership award at their annual event honoring those professionals that most personify the qualities of leadership in business.   

“The winner of this award stands tall among even the most accomplished in her industry. Her ability to inspire her team stems from a deep commitment to over-serve her clients. I am very impressed with her understanding of group dynamics and her commitment to delivering a higher standard through the power of team work. These qualities have earned Kristan Cole the 2007 GLI Team Builder of the Year Award.”  Mark Grainger  Click Here

 

I just returned from Dallas where I taught a course to other Realtors from across the country on Team Training and Systems Implementation.  Whenever I teach a class I think I always learn more than the attendees do.  I found myself excited to come home and work on some systems within our own team in order to provide better customer service to all of you.  That's what its all about....exceeding expectations.  Here is a photo of me and some of the attendees. 

Reminder--- Email me to sign up for the FREE giveaway is for tickets for two to the Alaska Native Heritage Center along with a book from the center; great for friends and family that will be visiting this summer.  Also a two gift cards for $20 to North Star Bakery just down the street from me here in Wasilla.  Email me no later than January 14^th to be entered to win.  Also don’t forget about our warm coats—warm hearts coat drive for children.  Drop off at our office anytime this month.

If you are thinking of listing your home in the spring, now is the time to start cleaning up and clearing out the clutter so you’ll be good to go in 2008!  I wrote a “State of the Real Estate Market” article for the Frontiersman newspaper that comes out at the end of the month.  This is good information for anyone looking to sell in 2008 or anyone just wanting to know the real facts about the residential real estate market.

Attention all seniors graduating from High School in May of 2008.  Apply for one of our three scholarships we will be awarding this year.   We give away 3 scholarships totaling $3000 each year to graduation seniors. 

Attention all renters!  This is a great time to buy with low interest rates and several new homes to choose from.  Stop throwing away rent and start earning equity. 

Red Cross award.  The local Red Cross Chapter Thanks the Kristan Cole Team for monetary contributions and whole blood and plasma donations

Community Information:  This month’s Free giveaway is tickets for two to the Alaska Native Heritage Center along with a book from the center; great for friends and family that will be visiting this summer.  Also two gift cards for $20 each will be given away to North Star Bakery just down the street from my office.  Email me no later than January 15^th to be entered to win.  Also don’t forget about our warm coats—warm hearts coat drive for children.  Drop off at our office anytime this month.  Seniors and parents of seniors, remember we award 3 scholarships each year to high schools seniors $1500, $1000, & $500.  Email us for details.

Real Estate Update:  Bucking conventional wisdom, a trade group for real estate agents on Monday said the battered housing market is on the verge of stabilizing and inched up its outlook for 2007 and 2008 home sales. The revised monthly forecast from the National Association of Realtors, which followed nine straight months of downward revisions, calls for U.S. existing home sales to fall 12.5 percent this year to 5.67 million -- the lowest level since 2002. Last month, the association predicted 5.66 million existing homes would be sold this year. However, looking on the bright side-the Realtors' group also forecast sales will rise slightly in 2008 to 5.7 million, up from last month's prediction of 5.69 million. Keep in mind that these are national statistics. Alaska, especially our area, has not had the same dismal numbers as some other areas in the country.  In most price ranges under $300,000 we have a very stable market.  What that means is we have less than a 6 month inventory of homes.  A 3 to 6 month inventory is considered a normal, stable market.   

If you are thinking of selling your home in the spring, now is the time to start cleaning up and clearing out the clutter so you’ll be good to go in 2008!  If you are looking to buy, check out our best buy list, click here  Interest rates dipped below 6% this week on 30 year home mortgages.  If you have an adjustable rate mortgage, this would be a great time to convert to a fixed rate mortgage. 

Vosie won the 20,000 mile Alaska Airlines give away.  If you would like to sign up for my Monday morning coffee email where I give updates on the market, our community, and our give aways, contact me at Kristan@KristanCole.com