Rick Hogue - REALTOR

BOLD is an acronym. As if we need another acronym but for me this one resonates and has brought my business to an even higher level. It means Business Objective: a Life by Design.

How would it make you feel if tomorrow morning you could wake up and have your life become a canvas that you can control by painting it the way you see it evolving. Well that is how I see this program. 8 weeks of homework, affirmations, scripts, exercises, and maybe enough time for a potty break and a quick lunch. All starting at 8:30 in the morning and lasting till 3:30 in the afternoon. This program by the fantastic trainers of Keller Williams International is one that you do not want to miss. Believe me I thought about not going to it and I am so glad that Holly (my wife and partner) and I discussed it.

Jason Edwards is one of the most upbeat instructors I have had in the Keller Williams training system. Not to say that others are boring, because they are not. Jason just puts himself and his dog Chug! into this program from the get go. Every week we would see Dianna Kokoszka in videos and read from her journal. Every week we would make phone calls to perfect strangers and ask them for their real estate business or call real estate agents and ask them to look at what our company has to offer.

In all I guess I made over 900 calls during this class to new people and to old clients using scripts designed to help me build a stronger business. With the guidance of Jason Edwards as our leader, and did I mention Chug!?, we worked through tough times and experienced some very big increases. Not sure if ours was the highest but it sure was great with numbers of contracts and listings soaring each week. Everyday I put my CD in the car and listen as Dianna Kokoszka reads affirmations to me, helping to promote me and what I do for a living.

Also our accountability group has hired Jason Edwards to work with us to keep the BOLD going in our group. Our assignment for this week is to read The Vortex and be ready for our coaching call on Friday and I am happy to say I am 3/4ths completed with this task. Larry Gatti, Noel Harris, Niki Fuller and myself comprise this band of BOLD Adventurers and we look forward to getting together every week.

Look for further updates as our group dives in head first to this great adventure.

Oh, did I mention that I will CAP on Tuesday the 31st of August, which happens to also be my anniversary of 20 years to my lovely bride Holly. Capping means that I have sold 2.3 million dollars in real estate for the year and means that all transactions after this are virtually 100% payout to me less a $25 accounting fee to KW. I also do not start my CAP over till January 1, 2011. I am so excited. Thank you BOLD. Till next time remember, there is an abundance of everything in the world ready for you to ask for it, just be sure you take responsibility for what you ask for and start sculpting your life by design.

In 2006 Beverly Davis, with her good credit and stable job, purchased her first home, a modest three-bedroom ranch in Fairburn, Georgia.

In a tale all too familiar, fourteen months later that stable job was gone. She spent a year underemployed. Then an investment failed. In March, her home was gone, foreclosed by Bank of America.

She did what so many others in this situation have done: She made cornbread.

“The painful adversity birthed some serious creativity and determination. Amazing grace,” Davis told Gut Check via email this morning.

That creativity led Davis to the kitchen and her basic cornbread recipe, which was a staple when she was growing up. The oldest of five children to a mother who died before Davis had reached her 20s, she has always loved cooking.

She tinkered with the basic cornbread recipe until she came up with a bread so good that several neighborhood kids dubbed it “yummylicious.” From there she used the cornbread as a base to concoct the 24 recipes in Homegirl’s Cornbread Sandwiches: Tasty Recipes and Wise Life Lessons, an eBook she’s selling for $10 a download on her website, Cornbread Millionaire. She’s also selling homemade cornbread mix and offering to teach cornbread-making classes, all in an effort to purchase her home when it’s auctioned by the bank.

So far, it’s working. Her venture has landed her on CNN, Consumerist, and Jezebel while her website is filling with comments from people inspired by her story and in love with her cornbread.

And the recipes? They include the savory, like hush puppy cornbread squares with shrimp topping — a cornbread po’boy variation with fried shrimp, the bread infused with the drippings from the shrimp. The sweet, like a layered “cake” of cornbread, sweet potatoes, and marshmallows. And the classics, like her takes on spoon bread, hush puppies and cornbread dressing.

Davis repeats that she likes to dream big and includes a list of places where she’d like to bring her cornbread classes. They include the White House, Buckingham Palace, The Oprah Winfrey Show and the restaurant of another Georgia cook who pulled herself out of hard times with her cooking know-how and entrepreneurial skills — Paula Deen.

She takes inspiration from others who have also used hard times as a means to make life better. They give her “…more strength to stay in the fight until I have my house back. I refuse to sit in defeat. Faith won’t let me.”

As she says, “When life throws lemons, make lemonade, bake cornbread, and SELL it!”

Reprinted from author Robin Wheeler with Riverfront Times

Tracy can return to her Texas home, making payments to the woman who unexpectedly bought it for her.

“It means so much to all of us,” Tracy said. “It’s not just a house.”

Marilyn said she was acting on instinct on Saturday when she bought a home she had never seen for a woman she had never met. She was at the foreclosure auction to help her 27-year-old son bid on a house when she started talking to Tracy, who was distraught about her home that was being auctioned.

Tracy had bought the house for $80,000 in 2004 but fell behind on the payments. She lost her job a month after taking out the loan, and earlier this year she lost the house. Marilyn bid $30,000 which was enough to purchase the home at auction.

“She didn’t even know if I had a job or was a nut case,” Tracy said. “She didn’t even see a picture of the house.”

“She needed help. That was it,” Marilyn said. “I just happened to be there and anybody else would have done the same thing.”

“More than my house, she gave me something inside, and that’s more important than material or financial things,” Tracy said.

Asylum and MSN-NBC report that a family was saved from foreclosure due to one of the worlds most well known super heroes.

A family packing up their belongs to move out of their home due to the foreclosure that was eminent, found their way of getting out of foreclosure in a box they were packing up.

Over 70 years ago, the world was introduced to Superman by Action Comics and the world changed. The family had lived in this multigenerational home since the 1950’s where they figure the owners father had stashed the book in a box.

Once it was established that the comic was authentic by Comic Central, the family was able to breath a sigh of relief. See as it turns out this comic will bring in excess of $250,000 dollars on auction next month and could be even higher.

One such comic brought 1 million and was in fair shape and another 1.5 million in above average shape. However this copy is in mint shape.

Congrats to the home owners we look forward to seeing more about this in the near future.

Not to be a downer but there are only 6 weeks till school starts. Do you know where you want your children to attend school in the Jefferson County Public School System or any one of the great private schools in the area? If you do and that district is not where you live then you may want to give me a call. Time is of the essence to get folks settled into their new homes before that first bus comes by to take their children off to school.
So looking at the best case scenario for buying a home in Louisville, if it is not a cash deal, it would take 5 weeks to close a home before school starts. However if you are under contract by the end of July then maybe you might be able to still get your choice of schools for your kids.
Give me a call if you would like to discuss Real Estate in Louisville or the surrounding areas so we can review your needs.

It seems that I have the best intentions about writing for my blog and for some reason I get very busy and forget. Well I am putting it on my calendar to remember to post weekly so that does not happen again.
One of the items that has effected everyone is the first time home buyers credit which is now over for the time being. Yes it ended on the last day of April and closings have to be made by the last day of June. However the state of Kentucky has extended the new home buyers tax credit to the end of December 2010. Just remember that you have to apply for it within 7 days of the close of your home or you will not get it. Check with your bookkeeper or accountant for details on how to apply for it. I have at least 6 more deals closing during June and several more in the works. I should cap by the end of July when this keeps going.
The market in general seems to have gone back to the October 2009 market with indecisive lookers and tough times to get a loan through. Interest rates are a s low as 2.5 and up to 5.25 on home loans.
Our Keller Williams office on the east side of Louisville is really busting the market with many of our people rocking and rolling. I am proud to work with all of them. I should have 7 families into new homes this month which is a personal record for me.
Noel Harris, Larry Gatti, Scott Panella of Team Panella and myself are in a contest to see who can get the most listings and the goal is to have 15 by July 1st that are not pending.
This month I had my first listing that sold in 1 day. I look forward to more of these in the future. I have 12 new listings in all kinds of price ranges so if you are looking to buy let me know as I have everything you may want from investment to acreage.
Thanks to my broker Brad Long for all of his hard work and for Angie Maloney my team leader who have helped the Louisville East office to grow to over 105 agents. I have my first person in my Profit Share tree who will be working in the Douglas Georgia office.
Our fantastic 4-4-3 class starts on Monday so be sure to give me a call if you are an agent and would like to attend. If you want to know how to have 4 listings and 4 sales in 3 months, then this is the class for you to take. Just give me a call at 502-649-3431 to find out more and how you can get involved. You do not have to be a Keller Williams agent to take this class.
Enough of my bantering for today. I hope all of you have a wonderful week and by all means, stay cool.

Currently my listings include
1223 LILLIAN AVE $35,000
525 EASTERN PKWY $106,000
2140-10D BONNYCASTLE AVE $239,000
1919 DEERWOOD AVE $249,900
309 OLD TOWNE RD $189,000
3003 TALISMAN RD $155,000
12209 SARATOGA ESTATES RD $364,900
9802 GRENFELL WAY $175,000
4 others are pending

Wow the snow and weather have been more intense this year and less people have been getting out and about. I am ready for flowers to bloom and to get all kinds of listings.

Currently these are my listings,

• 2734 Garland Ave 35000
• 2701 10D Bonnycastle Rd 249000
• 22 Pine Meadows Dr 639000
• 10021 Glen Meadow Rd 224000
• 7403 Greenlawn Dr 225000
• 3632 Johnston Way 116500
• 4009 Glen Valley Rd 117600

Here is my latest listing

Today as I was watching the news I was informed by a local newscaster that we have received over 21 inches of snow this year. Now to some of the northern states that may not seem to be very much as you get a foot at a time. We do not normally get this much snow except on a rare year such as 1995 when we got 24 inches in one day. Again this happened in February and shut the entire city down for the most part. Now I think we are able to handle the snow a little better and things run smoother.
Enough on the snow and more on the great things going on in Real Estate. I now have some wonderful listings that everyone should want to see 5 acres and 5002 square feet off Taylorsville Rd. located at 22 Pine Meadows Road, Great starter homes located at 3632 Johnston Way, 2701 Taylor Blvd, and 28th and Garland. I also have investment properties located around Louisville and a couple of foreclosures in the 224 range. If you are looking in the Highlands area and want a piece of history you may want to consider my Condo I have listed with it’s panoramic views of downtown Louisville. And for those moving to work at UPS you may want to look at my listing off National Turnpike.
Our accountability group seems to be wavering at this point, a couple of weeks ago Scott Panella decided to drop out of the group and last week Noel Harris expressed that he wanted to stop for a few months. It may be due to the weather, or other reasons but in any case I will continue and ask some others to join the group to strengthen the core.
I am getting ready to head for New Orleans for our annual convention for Keller Williams and two weeks after that Holly will be going to Key West to visit with her mother.
I have several homes due to go under contract in the next couple of weeks and look forwrd to a much brighter March.
More to come later.

Every 2 to 3 years an event happens that is very unusual. A Blue Moon is where there are 13 full moons in a given year or 2 full moons in one month. Now that makes it rare, but for it to occur on New Years Eve and continue into the New Year is very rare. This makes this a magical time all of your hearts desires can happen “Once in a Blue Moon.” My hopes are that this year brings many people that once in a blue moon happening for them.
I have set my goals for 2010 and so has my family. I hope you take the time to put down some things you want to accomplish. I am not talking about resolutions, I am talking about concrete goals you want to achieve in the next 12 months. Instead of just writing them down and forgetting about them, why not also put down how you are going to help make these goals happen. Without effort on your part goals are only resolutions which we love to break or just halfway do.
This is not meant to be a lecture, only a suggestion to look at your goals with a feeling of anticipation that you can really achieve them and not just put them on paper. If you have problems coming up with ideas, you can always email me and I will try to help.
Just to let you know I have 3 primary goals that I have put into place. They are:

• Have 4 sides per month at an average of 175k each.
• Pay 40 k off of my credit card debt
• Research and put into place a plan to open a Keller Williams Office in Southern Florida in 2011.

My plan is in place and hope you will do the same.
Happy New Year Everyone.