Long Island Relocation>> Long Island Real Estate

This morning started with another story about the troubles in the housing market.  As I opened up CNNMoney.com,  I was greeted with a smack in the face in big, bold type Home sales thud to 5-year low point (what a great way to start the day).  Alright, I've seen this before, no need to stay in bed to avoid today's doom and gloom.

A half hour or so later, I check my voicemail to find a message from an agitated agent on the other side of one of my transactions, telling me that their buyer may be ready to back out because there were some C.O. issues that were still being dealt with.  Of course, the issue being dealt with is following the exact timeline that we said it would follow, but that seems to be of little consequence because it was time to make demands and threats to speed up the process!  I'm sure if the inspectors from the town knew that these buyers were ready to move in, that they most certainly would have shelved all other inspections and made this a priority.  Not!  Strike 2 for today.  It looks this deal will work itself out so I won't have to pull it out of the fire yet again, but this has been a lot of aggravation for a long time already.

After I got the las problem under control, it was time to deal with the government regarding the healthcare plans that our children are under.  In New York State, children that have no access to health plans through their parents employer are eligible for insurance through the state, and the rate depends on your previous year's reported earnings, which are listed on the website for this program.  Of course, they fail to mention that their numbers are off on the website and that they assume extensive (hidden) deductions off of each application, so there is nowhere to know exactly where you stand.  Don't you just love the government?

We were on our way to go meet with a representative of this program, but had to make a few stops first.  When we initially left our home, we left behind a document that we needed so we had to go back home to get it.  Could this day get any better?  Some days, you really just want to crawl back into bed.  Between the constant blogging and the baby waking us up in the middle of the night, this certainly qualified as one of those days.

So we get the document and head out to our destination.  A quick stop at the bank, and we'll be on our way.  Or so we thought.  This bank has a problem with the way that traffic flows in and out of it.  There is a one-lane entrance that people often use as an exit because their only true exit requires a trip through the drive-through to get to it.  If there are cars using the drive through, you must then wait.  Just last week, my wife and I were commenting that they really needed to expand the "entrance only" to allow for an exit as well.  There is nothing but lawn and an investment of some money stopping this from happening.

As we approached the bank, there was another car trying to exit.  We had no choice but to allow them to pull out because we couldn't maneuver the car to get in until this other car was out of the way.  My right turn signal was already on, and I motioned to the person in the car that was blocking the entrance to enter traffic.  As I was motioning, I see an enormous Mack Truck hauling towards me in the rearview mirror, and I knew that there was no way that he was stopping in time at this speed.  I braced for the impact and felt it bounce off of the back part of the driver's side of the car, which only happened because he was swerving into oncoming traffic, where he hit another car.

Miraculously no one was injured, although we were all quite shaken up.  For hours, all I could see was that truck coming at me in the rearview mirror and thought about how close my wife, my baby girl and I came to disaster.  When the shock wore off, anger set in.  This driver was obviously not paying attention and was driving a vehicle that could have done a lot of damage to a lot of people.  The (@#$%%-you pick the word) didn't get out of the truck until the fireman came (the firehouse is right next to the bank), and he didn't even ask if any of us were ok when he was the one that was 100% at fault!

I don't know if he was on drugs or drunk or whatever.  The only thing that I know is that he could have destroyed many lives and many families today, and his matter-of-fact attitude made me sick to my stomach.  I'm sure that this wasn't his first crash, nor will it be his last, as evidenced by his business-as-usual approach to this situation.  As you can see, I'm still angry at what might have been, but I'm thankful that the only damage was to my car and not my family. 

I have to think that someone was watching out for us today, and for that I am thankful.  It also gave me the perspective to not allow the things that were bothering me when the day began to be treated as anything other than a series of inconveniences.  Today, tragedy was averted.  The rest will work itself out in time.

The message is one that has been uttered in many places by many people, but one more reminder can't hurt.  Don't ever leave the house while you're still having an argument.  Don't forget to hug the ones that you love and tell them that you love them.  Don't let the inconveniences of life become bigger issues than they deserve to be.  Life is too short to get caught up in trivial things that are often out of our control, so do your best to make every day count!

Growing up, my brother and sister and I were in the pool at a very early age.  Maybe it's because we went to camp, or maybe it's because we were taught to jump to my father as he would catch us.  To this day, when I reflect back, I still have very fond memories of swimming.  The irony is that we didn't even have a pool in our backyard.  We grew up spending most of our summers in camp, and the time out of camp was spent at a pool club.

When we moved to our current home, and it already had a pool, I thought for sure that I would be creating the same memories with my son that I did with my dad.  The only problem was that he had a great fear of the water, so this process has been difficult (to say the least).  With all of the drownings that we hear about each year, part of you would like to keep them afraid so that they are not tempted to ever go near the water without adult supervision.  However, this fear will only get worse if left unchecked so we knew that we had to do something.

As luck would have it, my son's best friend's dad is a police officer that helps run the Suffolk County P.A.L. (Police Athletic League), and they were having a swim program for two separate four-week sessions over the summer at a local college.  If ever my little guy was going to go in the pool and get over his fear of the water, it would surely be with his best friend right by his side.  After all, no kid wants to feel like they're missing out on fun.

Well, this is no ordinary Kindergartner.  This is a boy that can act his age at one moment and then act my age at the next moment.  The ability to rationalize like an adult is both a blessing and a curse.  It's great to be smart and well-spoken, but it's also great to be young, and my fear was that he would not have the memories of this care-free time in his life that other people do.  How many of us would love to have the freedom that school age kids have?

The swim classes were difficult, but ultimately, with a lot of patience, a young man named David was able to build a rapport with my son and earn his trust.  The average kid's mindset is usually one of joy to be able to frolic around in the water, even if it is in a structured environment.  However, this was not the case.  Every step was a struggle and if not for the patience that David showed, we probably would still be having issues with this learning process.

Slowly, but surely, my son started to look forward to going to swim class because he had fun and liked to see his teacher (and new friend), David.  By the time that August came around, my son was the one always asking me to go in the pool with him.  He even took it a step further and coaxed me into a lake during a family reunion in upstate New York on a very windy day, which I wrote about in a blog entitled Time Flies -  Make Every Day Count. 

It had become apparent that my son had finally started to share my love of the water, which made me very happy.  This little boy went from being petrified of the water to being excited to swim in a matter of weeks all because of a great teacher that showed a lot of patience with him. 

In another blog entitled New Beginnings, I spoke about another very patient and compassionate teacher that has helped my son with the transition to Kindergarten.  Being somewhat of a homebody, my son has had some issues with the separation that Kindergarten requires.  The first day of school this teacher helped coax him into the school much the same way that David coaxed him into the pool, by building a rapport and earning his trust.

These two men did what came naturally to them in an effort to help my son through scary times in his life.  As agents, we should follow their lead and realize that the most important part of the decision-making process when someone chooses us as their REALTOR® is not the listing presentation itself, but rather the ability to build rapport and earn their trust. Margaret Wodawrote an excellent blog about this subject entitled The know / like / trust presentation, if you'd like some more insight about using this concept.

This approach worked so well for my son that he insisted that we take one final dip in the pool yesterday because it was being closed this morning until next summer.  Sometimes in life, we learn lessons that we can bring into our business and make us more effective.  David did such an amazing job with my son that we were in the pool yesterday afternoon for as long as our bodies could tolerate the numbing cold of the water. 

Before his swim lessons, he used to cry before he got into the pool.  When we got out of the pool yesterday, he cried because this was the last swim of the season.  This transformation has been amazing to watch.  Hopefully the school teacher can now work the same magic that David did, as my son is still is working through some separation issues that have been brought on by being away from home so much.

Something tells me that the rapport that he's built with this teacher, and the trust that he has in him, is going to help my son to overcome this hurdle too. 

The next time that you go on a listing appointment, think about how far you can go by building rapport and earning trust.  Here's a little secret...you can go a long way towards creating a know / like / trust presentation simply by posting well thought-out blogs on Active Rain, and then guiding prospective sellers to your blog page. 

Don't you think that you too can make a SPLASH? 

Please share your thoughts about building rapport and earning trust as a way of building your business.

There was a recent story in Newsday entitled "Make new teachers state employees?" by James T. Madore.  When I first saw the headline, I was intrigued, mainly because my first child just started in the school system, and I wanted to see if this would have any impact on his education.  By the end of the first paragraph, there was a mention of "combating soaring property taxes," which was a sight for sore eyes.

It's not everyday that you're thrilled to read about a local politician, but this was just such an occasion.  Senator Dean Skelos is on the case, and Long Islanders should be thankful that he is.  As a REALTOR®, I am dealing with the rising property tax issue on Long Island almost daily.  The taxes here are some of the highest in the country, and we are starting to lose our younger population to more affordable areas of the country.

One of the main reasons that I got into real estate was to help people through the challenging process of buying and selling a home, something that I did many times on my own before ever joining the profession.  In fact, because I've moved so often, I know what an inconvenience it can be, which is why I just posted Your Long Island Move (Helpful Hints and Key Contact Numbers) {an easy-to-follow guide to getting set up in your new home}. 

The desire to help people is also why I created TheLIReloGuy.com.  As a residential real estate specialist, I see many people leaving Long Island for destinations south and west in search of a lower cost of living.  While I hate to see so many people leaving Long Island, I want to do what I can to help them find someone that can make their transition a smooth one.

One of the main reasons that people are leaving is because of the meteoric rise of our taxes, which seems to only be getting worse each year.  Under Senator Skelos' plan, some of the costs of education would be shifted from the local level to the state level, while still allowing local districts to maintain control over the schools.  Under this plan, property taxes on Long Island may be reduced by over $3 billion, which would average out to approximately a $3000 savings over time for each homeowner.

As we're all aware of, there have been some school budget scandals on Long Island in the recent past.  Another benefit of this program is that schools would have to disclose their savings and lower taxes proportionately.  Even though it will take around 10 years to have all teachers hired by the state, this is a program that will be a great benefit to Long Islanders. 

While housing prices are still an issue that contributes to Long Islanders relocating, we may be able to keep some of our own around by lowering the tax rates.  Of course, there is already opposition from the teacher's union, but I think that we all need to look at the big picture here.  If young people can no longer afford to live here, there will be less children on Long Island, which will mean less demand for teachers who are already competing for a limited amount of jobs.  In our school district it has gotten to the point where there were over 100 applicants for a permanent substitution position in the elementary school.  So while this plan may not be everyone's ideal scenario, Senator Skelos' plan may be the thing that saves a lot of jobs and our local economy.