BILL CHERRY'S GREATEST DALLAS PARK CITIES REAL ESTATE BLOG: February 2008

Many of those who ran the big braggadocios ads about their Dallas real estate sales expertise are evaporating into thin air. 

In reality, their real estate prowess was nothing more than an aberration.  Honest to goodness, it was just an aberration.

Would you believe that some of them have scores of Park Cities listings that have gone unsold for months and months?  How'd you like to be the owner who's stuck with a 2 million buck mansion that your agent with the big new Lexus and hair-do from Osgood O'Neil can't sell?

Have you tried to get her off of the Blackberry long enough to discuss it with you?  Don't answer that one.  It'll just depress me more.

WHAT TO DO....

OK, here it is.  It's now time to go back to using Old Faithfuls when you need a Realtor.

Hands down, we're the most HANDS ON Realtor serving Dallas' Park Cities, Lakewood and Lake Highlands.  We specialize in listing the homes. Our Comparative Market Analyses, although they don't come to you in a fancy folder like hers do, are both free and reliable.  We stand behind them.  And we can defend our conclusions to you, the buyer and his agent, your bank, and the buyer's lender and the appraiser.  We give you good stuff.

You can meet me in person at all of the Dallas area free dinner seminars of the famed KAAM-AM Money Doctor, W. Neil Gallagher, Ph.D.  For reservations, http://www.docgallagher.com or by telephone at 1-800-434-4DOC.  Doc has me there to help people with real estate problems and questions.

Meanwhile, call or email for our CD titled A Realtor's Secret Weapon.  It's free, there's no obligation, and I'm holding a copy for you.

Bill Cherry, Realtors

214 503-8563
Our 43rd Year

Thanks for stopping by for our regular after church visit here in the park.  This is the last Sunday before Christians begin observing the traditions of Lent.  In case you don't have them marked on your calendar, here are the dates:

Lenten Season Dates

February 6 - Ash Wednesday

March 16 - Palm Sunday

March 21 - Good Friday

March 23 - Easter Sunday

ESTATE SOLUTIONS.  Many people, as they get older, sell their homes and the other real estate they own.  What's interesting is that in many states by doing that probate becomes no longer a requirement.  Life insurance names the beneficiaries, bank accounts can be set up so that the balance of the account is payable to one or more beneficiaries upon the death of the accountholder (That's referred to as a "Payable on Death" clause), and finally, stock and other securities can be set up so that at the death of the owner, they are transferred to named beneficiaries, known as "Transfer on Death" clause.

DALLAS SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA.  The symphony has two swell programs lined up for this month.  On February 7^th and 10^th, the Dallas Pops will bring Broadway singer Lisa Vroman to perform selections from "The Love Boat," "South Pacific," "It Happened in Brooklyn," "The Music Man,"  "Meet Me in St. Louis" and "My Fair Lady.

February 14^th through 17, the full symphony will play Barber's First Symphony, Dvorak's Eighth Symphony, and Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 15.

Tickets for all performances, call 214 692-0203. Performances are at the fabulous Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center in Dallas' Fine Arts District.

FIBER OPTICS.  A representative of AT&T called a couple of weeks ago and offered us a plan that would bring the technology of fiber optics to our home.  Our television and internet services would join our land phone line.  The fellow said we would get many more channels, save about ten bucks a month, and they'd send us a check for $100 for allowing them to install it.  And the installation was free. 

It's all in but there are still some minor technical issues. All in all, we are quite impressed with the breadth of the service.

TRUE LAWYER STORY.  My lifelong friend, Elaine Mitrovich, email this one earlier this week.  I saved it for you.  She says this happened in Charlotte, North Carolina.    

A lawyer purchased a box of very rare and expensive cigars, he then insured them against, among other things, fire.  Within a month, having smoked his  entire stockpile of these great cigars and without yet having made even his first premium payment on  the policy the lawyer filed a claim against the insurance company.  In his claim, the lawyer stated the cigars were lost 'in a series of small fires.'  The insurance company refused to pay, citing the obvious reason, that the man had consumed the cigars in the normal fashion. The lawyer sued and WON!

Delivering the ruling, the judge agreed with the insurance company that the claim was frivolous. The judge stated nevertheless, that the lawyer held a policy from the company, which it had warranted that the cigars were insurable and also guaranteed that it would insure them against fire, without defining what is considered to be unacceptable 'fire' and was obligated to pay the claim.

Rather than endure lengthy and costly appeal process, the insurance company accepted the ruling and paid $15,000 to the lawyer for his loss of the cigars lost in the 'fires'.

After the lawyer cashed the check, the insurance company had him arrested on 24 counts of ARSON!!! With his insurance claim and testimony from the previous case being used against him, the lawyer was convicted of intentionally burning his insured property and was sentenced to 24 months in jail and a $24,000 fine.

A TALE.  I've told you before about the legendary '50s DJ, Bill "Rascal" McCaskill who was the first to bring rhythm and blues music to the attention of white kids in the Houston area.  His nightly program was called "The Night Train."  At well past 80, he remains a cult hero to those of us who made up his nightly audience, and we're talking about tens of thousands.  Rascal lives in Victoria, Texas with Jerry "Blond Top" McCaskill, his wife of more than fifty years.

Rascal email this story to me early last week:

                                                The Centipede

This guy was lonely and he decided life would be more fun if he had a pet.

So he went to the pet store and told the owner that he wanted to buy an unusual pet.  After some discussion, he finally bought a centipede, (100-legged bug) which came in a little white box to use for his house.

He took the box back home, found a good location for it, and decided he would start off by taking his new pet to the bar to have a drink.  He asked the centipede in the box,  "Would you like to go to Frank's with me and have a beer?"

But there was no answer from his new pet. This bothered him a  bit, but he waited a few minutes and then asked him again, "How about going to a bar and having a beer with me?"

But again, there was no answer from his new friend and pet.  So, he waited a few minutes more, thinking about the situation. 

Finally, he decided to ask him one more time; this time putting his face up against the centipede's house and started shouting,

"HEY, IN THERE!  WOULD YOU LIKE TO GO TO FRANK'S PLACE AND HAVE A BEER WITH ME?!"

A little voice came out of the box - "I heard you the first time!   I'm putting on my shoes!"

Thanks so much for stopping by for our regular Sunday visit here in the park.  It brings me great pleasure. When you are considering buying or sell your home, I hope you'll use a Realtor, and when you're buying or selling in Dallas, I hope you'll consider using me to represent you.  I've learned a lot over my 43 years in this business.  It can be helpful having that experience on your side.  Until next Sunday, remember...

GOD Blesses!

Copyright 2008 - William S. Cherry

All Rights Reserved

Man in the park pen and ink by Galveston artist, Carlotta Barker

For as long as I've been in business, many of my clients have never gone to a title company office to close their half of the transaction.  I handle the closing for the title company in my private office, in the client's home, and frequently at their own office desk.

Frankly there are very few of us who do this.  Licensing requirements have not focused on abstract and title issues in many years.  In some states, they never have.  Things were different in Texas in the '60s.

Back when I was first studying real estate in the University of North Texas Business School in the early 1960s, the university's requirements were voluminous and stringent.  After all, those of us in the classes were getting college credit for them.

On top of that, if the school certified to the state that the student had completed the course study with the overall grade of B or higher, he could sit for the state's broker's exam, bypassing the salesman's exam and apprenticeship requirements altogether.

Part of that course study involved learning the abstract process, working with land surveys and real estate legal and loan documents.  One of my mentors, an old-school Galveston broker, taught me the rudiments of closing. 

I've been doing closings ever since.

I enjoy being able to offer full and competent services to my clients, and I bend over backwards to make sure when I'm representing them, it's smooth, easy, and most of the time, fun. 

If that extra service is important to you, call me.  Knowledge is definitely king in this business.  Oddly in recent years, states have licensed so many who have so little.