Things to do in Washington DC: December 2010

New Year's Eve Party,New Year's Eve Party Etiquette and New Year's Eve are probably going to be some of the hot trending topics if not already some of the hottest trending topics. It only made sense to re-blog this one by Trish Bush. Well written blog Trish. Thank you very much for sharing.

     Can I still receive the $8000 home buyer tax credit as a Military Service Member? The answer is absolutely yes. But you can receive the $8000 home buyer tax credit ONLY if you are a Military Service Member or a certain federal employee working outside of the country.Many people still don't know that Military Service Members and certain federal employees working outside of the country can receive the $8000 home buyer tax credit. They assumed that since the April 30,2010 deadline passed for first time home buyers to be under contract and June 30,2010(which was later extended to September 30,2010)to close on the purchase of your house that the $8000 home buyer tax credit is no longer available.

     But in order to receive the $8,000 as a Military service member or federal employee serving outside of the country,you must have a house under contract by April 30,2011 and you must close on the sale of your house by September 30,2011. The income ceiling to qualify for the full credit was raised, from $75,000 to $125,000 adjusted gross income for single filers and from $150,000 to $225,000 adjusted gross income for married couples filing jointly.

• For purchasers of conventional homes, a copy of Form HUD-1, Settlement Statement, or other settlement statement, showing all parties' names and signatures, property address, sales price and date of purchase.
• For purchasers of mobile homes who are unable to get a settlement statement, a copy of the executed retail sales contract showing all parties' names and signatures, property address, purchase price and date of purchase.
• For a newly constructed home where a settlement statement is not available, a copy of the certificate of occupancy showing the owner’s name, property address and date of the certificate.

DISCLAIMER: I am not a CPA,Accountant or Tax preparer so please seek the counsel of a CPA,Accountant or qualified tax preparer for more information about this.

Also you should remember that these following rules apply to the first-time homebuyer tax credit.

• The credit is equal to 10 percent of the home purchase price,up to a limit of $8,000.
• If you qualify for the credit when you file your regular tax return,either your refund will be increased or your taxes reduced by as much as $8,000.
• You can keep the credit, as long as you own the home for at least three years.
• The credit does not apply to any home purchased for more than $800,000.
• The credit is not available if you buy your home from a close relative, such as your spouse, parents, grandparent, child or grandchild -- or a close relative of your spouse.

What qualifies as a principal residence?

It can be a house, a condo, co-op, house trailer or houseboat, within the United States. Vacation and rental homes are not eligible for the $8000 home buyer tax credit for military service members and certain federal employees working outside of the country.

   This is great that Military service members and certain federal employee workers can still receive the $8,000 home buyer tax credit. Everyday people put their lives on the line for us to fight for our country. Even though it is good,more can be done for our great fellow Military service members. Nothing can really compensate for their dedicated service to our country. Now that I have a brother who actually joined the Navy around August 2001 and is now an Officer in the Navy,I even appreciate even more our fellow Military service members who have given their lives and time to serve our country. I am thankful to God for so many people giving soo much to make sure we are safe from attacks of terriorists. Having a family member in the Military,I completely relate to other people with loved ones,friends and colleagues who are serving in the Military.

For more information on the $8000 home buyer tax credit for Military Service members and certain federal employees working outside of the country,please read this blog $8000 home buyer tax credit extension for Military and certain federal employees.

And if you work or live near Andrews Air Force Base,Patuxent River NAS,Boiling AFB in Washington DC,Walter Reed Medical Center,Fort McNair,The United States Coast Guard Headquarters,The Marine Safety Center and The Pentagon and are interested in buying a Washington DC,St.Mary's County MD,Prince George's County MD or Charles County MD House on sale,start your home buying search here

God bless our fellow military members. While we have lost some great people along the way,they will always be remembered and never ever forgotten.

Wal-Mart coming to Washington DC. Good? Bad? What do you think?

Hell-Mart I mean Wal-Mart is coming to Washington DC. It was reported a while back-I guess I was tooo excited to blog about it. I guess I am one of probably many people who are not so crazy about Hell-Mart(What's wrong with me-I did it again)coming to Washington DC. Heck I am not a fan of the store at all.

Wal-Mart coming to Washington DC might provide what like 1200 jobs in the Washington DC-WHATEVER. Wal-Mart is going to take away hard earned sales from the hard-working citizens who owns and operates local neighborhood organic grocery stores and supermarkets in Washington DC-THAT'S A FACT.

Do we really need a Wal-Mart in Wards 4,5,6 and 7 in Washington DC? Seriously. Besides how come all of a sudden some people are accepting Wal-Mart with open arms now? I mean after all these years all of a sudden Wal-Mart is coming to Washington DC? I am sure there is a reason behind all of this. Bad enough Michelle Rhee is leaving the DC School System. How much can Washington DC bear? I am sure many of you know by now that I am not a fan of Wal-Mart. Why? I can't get into that. 

Wal-Mart has provided many jobs for many people in this recession-No question about that. But why are some employees with less or no experience promoted over employees with years of experience? How come you are not paying your employees fair wage? How come they are not allowed to have a Union? Maybe I can get Walmart CEO Michael Duke who makes more in a hour than most workers will earn annually ... to answer these questions.

So what do you think about Wal-Mart coming to Washington DC?  

To read more about Wal-Mart,please read this Wake-Up Wal-Mart: The Real Wal-Mart Facts

While waiting for someone to meet me and my sister in law at church-YES I was at Church Monday according to Foursquare,I decided to take this picture. Thought it will make a good Wordless Wednesday pic. Its always good to have a camera handy. You never know what you will capture.

31 Days of December Challenge-Day 1. REBUILD. Before I say something PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD,PLEASE DO NOT ATTACK. With this blog I am preaching to the choir. I know I am tardy to the party. But I am going to do my best to catch up with more blogs for this December Challenge.

If there is one word to describe what some if many of us have to do as Real Estate Professionals,the best word that I can come up with is RE-BUILD.  Of course the word SHIFT easily comes to mind. If you haven't read the book SHIFT by Gary Keller-PLEASE DO. 5 STARS IN MY BOOK. In fact I am going to start reading the book again as soon as I finish my current read that I haven't read in a while "THINK AND GROW RICH by Napoleon Hill.   

Re-build is defined as to make extensive changes. To build again. For some of you 2010 probably didn't turn out to be the great year that you envisioned it to be-ME EITHER. But when I look back on some things,I honestly can say that the reason why I didn't have the great 2010 that I planned was because all I did was plan and I didn't execute it. I've learned from many of the great ones here who I think are great Business Planning coaches that you have to break your goals down to months,weeks and even days. Always monitor and write down your goals. If you are off track,maybe you need to eliminate some things and replace it with something else. Keep tweaking it and make the necessary changes that you need to make until you get it right. Many people can write a business plan but how many of us will get business from our plan IF YOU DON'T WORK IT? Grandma voice: YOU GOT TO WORK IT SWEETIE:-)

Many of us need to re-build things not just in our business but our lives also.

• We need to re-build what we are doing to generate business. If your farming neighborhoods/subdivisions/counties/cities didn't help you generate real sales to meet or exceed your goals last year then you need to farm more subdivisions/neighborhoods. Do extensive research on those subdivisions to see if it will be a good fit for you. Don't want to start market an area that will never generate any business for you. A real estate agent told me to target a neighborhood with at least 100 houses that has a 5-7% turnover ratio. If you farm it for 12-18 months,you will start to see some results. Some might not even take that long. YOU HAVE TO BE CONSISTENT. You need to start farming those subdivisions/neighborhoods with your CALL TO ACTION POSTCARDS.(Notice I said "CALL TO ACTION" Postcards not postcards),newsletters,flyers,Door-knocking/Door dropping. And if you want to home buyers in the $500,000+ range,start farming luxury subdivisions.

• We need to re-build how often the things we are doing to generate business. Great you cold called for two hours. Clap for yourself. Then what happens when days,weeks,months and even years go by and you don't pick up the phone again? And I expect to make how much again? Some people haven't done cold calling in years. (I UNDERSTAND THAT REAL ESTATE AGENTS HATE COLD CALLING-I UNDERSTAND). If you feel that you don't need it,you don't need to do it. But what about some real estate agents who don't have a lot of business or no business at all? You don't have any excuse. Be like NIKE and "Just Do it". You see how much that slogan has helped make them? Cold calling won't cost you nothing but earn you some business if you have the right cold calling script. This old blog that I read today was very helpful 7 Cold calling Tips: Great Info!   And you did some door knocking last week. And expected to get 10 listings that same day. If it was that easy everybody would be doing it right? Again days,weeks and months even years passed by and didn't even FOLLOW-UP with them. It's probably why the next real estate agent has a listing that should be mine.

• We need to re-build our way of thinking. We shouldn't let the Media think that it is not a good time to buy when we all know that it is a great time to buy. If you are one of the people who are guilible and love to hear the doom of the Real Estate Market from POISON,(Oh I am sorry,POISON is my new definition for MEDIA )especially when they talk about discouraging people not to buy Real Estate in this overflow of real estate inventory,then you have a problem. How the heck some old fart thinks that he or she knows more than us when we are the ones doing Real Estate for a living. Then again most of these so called predictors don't know that Real Estate is Local. If they know so much how come they didn't tell us that we will have a mortgage mess?Answer that Genius.

• We need to stop blaming people. We know. We know. Let's face it,we need to stop blaming the lead characters in this Movie "Mortgage Mess" starring(Don't get me started in naming characters in this movie). How long are we going to continue to cry and whine and b(rhymes with the word why you start to scratch yourself)about it? They messed up. We know. Who hasn't messed up in life. While everyone who caused this mess should be held accountable for this mess,we should move on. It's hard to but we need to move on. I need to move on. We can't put our business and lives on hold.  What are we saying if we keep blaming people for something that we are still recovering from? Pray to God that this would never happen again. I don't know about you but this is very painful-SERIOUSLY!

• We need to hold ourselves accountable. Some of us have blamed everyone except ourselves for the reason why we didn't meet or exceed our real estate goals this year. Can you honestly say that you did everything that you could've done to meet or exceed your real estate sales goals this year? (PLEASE DON'T SHOOT ME! AGAIN I AM PREACHING TO THE CHOIR WHEN I SAY THIS. I AM NOT ATTACKING ANYONE) Can you say that I did everything that I could've done to meet my Real Estate goals this year? Maybe you did. BUT I DIDN'T. That's the God honest truth. As I am still working on my Business Plan. (I am still working it-I have a good reason for it),I see that I really didn't do some things that I should've done. Am I being too hard on myself? NO. If I am not going to be hard on myself,who will? Nobody wants to see you succeed in life more than you. YOU ARE THE BIGGEST CHEERLEADER OF TEAM ME.

Got more to say but I am done for now. Again if anyone is mad at me,please don't be. THIS BLOG WAS WRITTEN FOR ME ALSOso I am definitely not attacking anyone. Hope that I helped encourage someone just like all of you fun-loving,caring,sharing,knowledgeable,very unselfish Active Rain superstars always help,encourage and bless me. Before I log off I leave you with what somebody left on her facebook page about two days ago "Amateurs practice till they get it right. Professionals practice till they can't get it wrong. As I re-build my Real Estate career again,pray to God that I won't get it wrong this time like I did before. Good night everyone.

Free DC Area Events.

                                                             FRIDAY

James Brown Happy Hour. This is going to be a free five hour dance party paying tribute to the Godfather of Soul,his fellow musicians and his continuing in his influence on hip-hop artists.

Have you ever been to the zoo at night? Neither have I. But you love going to the zoo then you don't want to miss the Zoo Winter Celebration. Thousands of sparkling lights;zoo keeper talks and live presentations on energy saving tips for the home;and viewing the small mamma and Great Ape houses,Reptile Discovery Center,Think Tank and Kids Farm.

                                                          SATURDAY

Tom Paxton will be performing Folk/Bluegrass at the Millennium Stage at the John F.Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on 2700 F St NW Washington DC. Call 202-467-4600 for more information.

Are you a nerd? Then you might want to come out to the Red Place on 1212 H St NE Washington DC for Nerd Nite. Hear a Marine Biologist talk about how invasive species destroy ecosystems or violent sex life of insects. Really?

Do you love watching hockey? Then you might want to check out the Washington Capitals take on the Colorado Avalanche at the Verizon Center on 601 F St NW Washington DC at 7:00pm. Price:$70-$310. Call 202-628-3200 for more information.

Punk rock Legend "Patti Smith" will be at the National Portrait Gallery-Smithsonian Institution on Eighth and F Street NW Washington DC to discuss "Just Kids",a memoir that chronicles her friendship with photographer Robert Mapplethorpe. Time: 2pm. Call (202) 633-1000 for more information.

                                                          SUNDAY

Choreographer/Dancer Peggy Cho fuses Asian martial arts with diverse forms of dance in the world premier of Jeet Kune Do along with music composed by Award winning Asian-American jazz composer Fred Ho. The event is part of the Remembering Bruce Lee series. This event will take place at the Freer Gallery of Art Smithsonian Institution-Jefferson Drive and 12 Street NW Washington DC. Call 202-633-1000 for more information.

Come to the Columbia Heights Metro Station on 3030 14th St NW Washington DC. to see the Theater group Banished? Production takes it to the street. Call 202-637-7000 for more information.

Hope you have a great Weekend. Happy Holidays.

Singing: Baby its cold outside. cold is an understatement. Matter of fact it was very,very cold outside Monday and Tuesday. I was in the house most of the time. Wind was soo strong if I had hair (which I don't),it probably would've blew it off. People who wear wigs and toupee sure hate this weather as much as I do. But it is the weekend. And with about two weeks till christmas and three weeks till we bring in another new year,I am sure that everybody is in the Holiday Spirit. I am sure that it is going to be cold but hopefully Mother Nature will allow some of us to go outside and play.

So if you have been in the house most of the week or all week and finally want to come out of hibernation,I got some DC Area Events that you might want to check out.

                                                                   FRIDAY

N'Dambi with Zo! and the Southern All-Stars will be performing at the club BLACK CAT on 1811 14th St NW. Call (202) 667-7960 for more information. (I am not sure whether this is a free event or not).

Railroad Earth will be performing at the 9:30 Club on 815 V St NW. Call (202) 265-0930 for more information.

The Hackenshaw Boys will be performing also at the 9:30 Club. Call (202) 265-0930 for more information.

Juan Maclean will be performing at 1115 U St NW Washington DC. Price:$10 ONLY after 11pm under 21: But free before 10pm. So don't be tardy to the party-LOL.

                                                                SATURDAY

George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic will be performing at the 9:30 Club on 815 V St NW. Call (202) 265-0930 for more information.

                                                                 SUNDAY

Pianist Anna Bulkina performs with Robert Schumann,Maurice Ravel and Johannes Brahms at the Phillips Collection on 1600 21st NW Washington DC. Price:$20. Call 202-387-2151.

Well like Porky Pig likes to say "T-t-t-t That's all folks". Happy Holidays everyone. Have a great weekend.

Washington DC Real Estate Market Watch Video. Looking to buy a home in Washington DC? Talking (not thinking) about selling your home or condo in Washington DC in areas such as Anacostia,Congress Heights,Petworth and Columbia Heights DC? Then please watch this Washington DC Real Estate Market Watch video to help you with your decision. This video contains valuable real estate information that will assist you with the purchase and/or selling your DC home or condo.

It might be too late for some to spend christmas with your family members and friends in your new home. But at least you can start off the new year in a home. Happy Holidays.

What would you say are the top five skills of a salesperson? Someone posed this question on a group on LinkedIn. But this person asked the top three skills of a salesperson. Reason why I said five because I feel as a salesperson,we need to possess myriad of skills. Many of the people who have commented so far have said things such as the ability to build strong relationships,great communications skills-Listening, the ability to solve problems,time Management skills and discipline.

Brilliant minds might think alike. However some of us don't see this from the same perspective. Since Active Rain is great for sharing,I figure who else would I ask this question than "Real Estate Most funny,cunning,caring,fun-loving,very knowledge,very unselfish and brilliant masterminds.

With many people currently on their Business plan for 2011,I strongly feel that developing existing skills as well as acquiring new skills should be included in a Business Plan as well. Besides it will only make you become a better salesperson to help us serve their needs of our clients and gain more real estate business.

So what would you say are the top five skills of a salesperson? Please share........

     December Does Determine Decisions. I tried to use the same first letters for all of the words in my title. About two years ago,I wrote a blog called Decisions in December. In the blog I talked about how this is the time when many of us are making those decisions in our Real Estate Business. This year I am thinking whether to go over to those idiots at the Banks who are handling my freaking short sales deals and beat the living crap out of them. (This is a PG-13 Blog so I can't say what I wanted to say-LOL).

     Reviewing your Business Plan from this year while you work on Business Plan for next year can help you determine what you can do next year different than this year so that I will yield a greater return on your investment. A very thorough Business Plan will help you determine what you need to do to make the amount of money that you plan on generating next year. One thing that needs to be done in December to have a super great 2011 is SHIFT.

• Shift your farming market. If you feel your farming market is oversaturated with short sales(Considering how long takes to get a Short Sale Approval Letter-Not even close a short sale deal) or if the sales in your farming market for the past 18 months has been moribund-DEAD,then its time to go out and fetch some fresh business.

• Shift your way of negative thinking and turn it into POSITIVE ACTION. I've learned in life that if you hang around negative people,they will bring you down. When you are around negativity,it is going to make you very unproductive. Some people love hanging around people who like to complain a lot about the Real Estate Market so that they can have a dumb excuse to agree with them. We all know that the Real Estate Market is not great. But in spite of the slow Real Estate Market,there is still a demand for Real Estate. It's funny that the Real Estate Market is soo bad yet Real Estate Agent John Doe sold like 12 houses last month-ALONE. 546 houses for sale were sold in PG County MD last month. 122 of those PG County MD Home buyers were cash buyers. There are many ways to generate leads. Don't know how then read this featured blog by Karen Rittenhouse 100 Ways to Create Real Estate Leads

• Shift your associates. If people who you are hanging out with is not helping you improve or grow your business,then you need to cut them loose. This is always a tough one especially if you got that friend who has been with you since FOREVER and have done things together such as attend the Hard Knock Life Tour or Lilith Fair concert together,slept on your couch while you are constantly working endless night on your demo tape so I could send it to either Kanye West or Clive Davis or gave you advice on how to fine tune that spec script so that you can pitch it to a movie executive at Universal Pictures. But sometimes you have to let people go. Somebody here introduced me to www.meetup.com. This is a site where you can not only join groups of your interest but you can form your own group.

• Shift to another Real Estate Company. It is hard relying on that commission check that you was supposed to get in May 2010 only to have more than six months go by and not know whether you are even going to see a commission check again. That's why its good to work with a Real Estate Firm where you can earn a commission check besides your SOLD Listings and Sales. God forbid but what if something happens to you and you can't work for a period of time or can't work anymore period,how are you going to pay your bills and support your family? That is something to really think about.

• Shift your marketing companies/partners. It's great that you provide great customer services and products for my clients. And please don't beat me up when I say this but "Don't a good favor deserve one in return?". How come you keep asking me for business when you have yet to give me any business?". I admit I am a little annoyed at people constantly asking me for referrals when you don't send any referrals my way. If you are all about $$$$$$$$$,what does that say about you as a professional?

• Shift your eating habits. This to me is probably is the most important one. Like I tell people sometimes your best investment is your health. If you don't have good health,you don't have nothing. Let's start practicing healthy eating habits today so that we can live a long and prosperous life and enjoy life with our loved ones and friends. After attending a Bible Study about three weeks ago even though my Pastor John K.Jenkins Sr. didn't even teach about eating healthy,something just told me to start eating more healthy that day. God was trying to tell me something I guess. Glad I listened. I have been eating more healthy since. Its even part of my weekly goals this week.Motivational Monday-NO MORE EXCUSES!. Life is too short. YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE. Make the best of your life everyday while you can because you never know when it is going to be your time to go.

That's all I got to say for now. Please add some of your brilliant ideas on what you plan on Shifting in your Business or Life next year.

                         December Does Determine Decisions