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.

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.

So today was a big day for me. I found out that I can be a little blunt when I am putting a point across and sometimes share opinions of things I may know as fact but do not necessarily need to be expressed at a specific point and time. That is really profound to me and I agree.

To step back a little I went out this morning to show homes and the rep had a GLAR key that was set on a timer and it would not open so we ended up rescheduling for Friday at 1 to see this place and another location as well. I went back to the office sent out 40 emails to people I know, wrote 6 letters to others, and 1 postcard. Then I talked to one of my buyers and got them to reschedule for Friday so I did not miss my accountability group at 3.

That was a very good idea. We watched a portion of the Floyd Wickman video on FSBOs and discussed it. I made a statement about how I had two offers that were rejected and that had been dropped and got a couple of eyebrows that raised. Come to find out I was not as productive in trying to get the deal to go through as I should have been and my comrads at arms Linda, Noel, and Larry were like the LNL Railroad with excellent tips on how I could have changed my rejections into sales. I applaud them for their efforts and appreciate everything they said. I also decided to be more realistic with my goals and look forward to next week having my goals met and exceeded by better planning on my part.

After the meeting we were in our office section that will begin to be converted in October and I heard one of my group talking to another agent.and going over a deal that had bothered him and after our conversation it made him contact the other agent to try and recoup his ground on negotiations. The other agent listened as he talked to them and understood and was apologetic as well.

I guess what it really boils down to is that you get what you give. Tonight I wrote to an agent on one of my failed deals from last week and asked him a couple of questions that I hoep will spur our negotiations back from the grave.

I will let you know how htat turns out later.

Tonight I wrote an offer on a home in West Point and talked to the buyers and will probably list their mobile home for sale next Wednesday evening. I also set up showings for Friday and Saturday. I am looking at maybe 3 more offers by Saturday night on homes in Louisville. Wish me luck.

More later.

Today marks 127 years that Labor Day has been observed in the United States. Originally this was a holiday observed in Canada and a machinist by the name of MaGuire in NJ helped to organize the first demonstration and picnic for this holiday in New York in 1882. the holiday was organized by the labor unions to present a solidarity with works and their contributions to the movement forward of the US society and strength of it’s workforce.

In 1909 Congress passed the legislation making this a permanent holiday in all states and thus  putting Labor Day on the holiday map. Though Labor Day has been celebrated for 127 years, This year is the 100th anniversary of the official holiday according to congress.

Reflecting back on today’s events I would say we celebrated quite well. We had a mixed bag of people in our group today from those in public service, to a librarian, social worker, University Professor, several entrepreneurs, office manager, school teacher and an unemployed person.

Food ranged from hotdogs to chicken and osagio cheese  franks, vege-burgers and franks, Broccoli Casserole, Cole Slaw, Sweet Kraut, Vegetable medley Casserole, Mac and Cheese, Mac Salad, Cus Cus, Spicey Cheese dip, to Double Chocolate Caramel Brownies, Cherry Pie and warm chocolate chip cookies.

We swam, played games including Password (a great find that Rita got at a thrift store), and had stimulating conversations from housing starts, to healthcare reform.

I want to thank all that came over and wish those who did not get to attend a pleasant and wonderful holiday whereever you may be.

Now that we have celebrated it is off to great adventures for me during this week leading up to my class in St Louis for CDPE Certification.

Houses to show on Tuesday and new potential agents to come in on Wednesday night to our opportunity night. Then I am off to schedule my FSBO calls and to land a couple of listings for this week.

I hope each and everyone that reads this has a wonderful week and that you have enjoyed your holiday as much as I have. Check out some of the photos I took in the backyard today on my facebook account rick.hogue

Call me if you need to find out about a home in the area 502-649-3431 ro visit my website at http://www.louisvillemls.pro.

It was another great weekend with showing homes to multiple people on Saturday, having a record 17 couples at my open house on Sunday, getting water back into our pond at home, starting on some wood projects in my shop, and knowing that today marks 19 years that I have had the pleasure of being married to my wife Holly. You just can’t ask for more than that.

So on my anniversary, I have 2 homes to show this afternoon, a closing at 4:30 pm and then Holly and I are going out for dinner.

I hope each and everyone that sees this has a fabulous day and week.

More to come.