North Idaho Janna

Every once in a while we need to step back take a deep breath, refocus and put life back into perspective.  I'm gonna polish up my happy dance!

I know, this is supposed to be speechless... My friend Dale Olesberg captured this stunning picture with his cell phone!  It's taken from south of town, looking towards downtown Coeur d'alene.  The bright lights in the distance are those of the Coeur d'alene Resort.  I still marvel everyday that I LIVE IN A POSTCARD!

My Facebook friend, Stephanie Cowden Smith, is an amazing local graphic designer.  I have fun reading the notes she posts on Facebook of outrageous and often hilarious mistakes in our local print media. This morning's latest post is an ABSOLUTE SCREAM!

This is a colorful reminder to us all to exercise some skill and care in the proofreading of our marketing materials, blog posts, correspondence and emails.

Here is Stephanie's Facebook note.  Stephanie, thanks for the comic releif!  It really does leave one scratching one's head.... 

Once again, the Coeur d'Alene Chamber of Commerce sent out one of their high quality, well written emails to their entire database. This one offers a FREE webinar which will help miximize Chamber Membership. A quick look at the Urban Dictionary shows to miximize is to maximize "the variety of world views and lifestyles you allow into your field of experience." Um. Yeah. Sure.

The big question though is raised after a bit of scrolling down... "Are You Utilizing Your Chamber Member to the Max?" Um, that's a bit of a personal question. Maybe we should ask Bob ;)

After those two doozies, I can totally forgive the missing apostrophe in "whats happening".

I was driving down 7th Street in Coeur d'Alene on my way to the post office yesterday.  It was a glorious day full of sunshine and happiness.  As I passed Reid Street I did a double take.  Was that what I think it is up in that window? 

I circled the block and came back around to find that I WASN'T seeing things, it really was a dog and a cat, sitting in an opened second story window, basking in the sunshine and watching the cars drive by.

They watched intently as I parked, got my camera, and zoomed in on them.  They posed politely, I got my picture and continued on my way.

What a sweet and unlikely pair of comrades.  Certainly not something I am used to seeing everyday!  It put a smile on my face, and I hope it does yours, too.

Coeur d'Alene Resort Golf Course Ranked No. 4 in the Nation!

It's always fun to see Coeur d'Alene get a new national ranking for one reason or another.  It's no secret to those of us fortunate enough to live here that this place is spectacular in more ways than we can count!

This morning, the Coeur d'Alene Press gives a shout out to the Coeur d'Alene Resort Golf Course and it's recent ranking in Golf World Magazine's second annual Readers' Choice Awards.  The poll attracted 46,000 votes.  The Resort course rated among the top 10 in other categories as well. 

The Readers' Choice poll ranks courses in more than a dozen categories, including overall quality and value, condition, reputation, practice facilities, speed of play, clubhouse, hotel accommodations, pro shop, food and dining, off-course activities, service and overall value.

You can read the complete Golf World survey here.

What a great shot of a lone kayaker with a backdrop of the Coeur d'Alene Resort Golf Course Club House and the Lakeside Terrace Condos as his backdrop. Photography credit goes to my sister, Kerri Thoreson.  Is this a great place to live, or what!

Click to see ALL current REO homes for sale in Kootenai County       

If you are looking for a great deal in real estate, take a look at these REO homes currently for sale in the Coeur d'Alene MLS.  REO stands for Real Estate Owned, which is a line item on a bank's balance sheet for real estate the institution owns due to foreclosures. 

This link will be active for 30 days, and will be automatically updated EVERY DAY just as soon as now homes come on the market.  Check back daily for the newest bank owned foreclosures in Coeur d'Alene and surrounding areas.

Lenders are always anxious to clear the REOs from their books, and these types of transactions can close quickly. Give me a call if you have questions or would like more information about any of these banked owned homes for sale in the Coeur d'Alene area. 

Coeur d'Alene Idaho short sale SUCCESS!

Today, my awesome first time homebuyers Henry-Scott and Sherry closed on their first home. 

Their saga began on February 18 when they submitted an offer to purchase a home they loved, which was a short sale.  They loved the golf course neighborhood, and they loved the home on the golf course.  Then came the delays, and the seller's bankruptcy.  I explained to them that it would be long and drawn out, but if that was the house they wanted, they could have it.  It would take the patience of Job, but I would make it happen for them. 

After a few months, I took them to look at other homes.  They always came back around to "their" short sale.  The waiting was excruciating, especially when their lease ran out.  They weren't expecting when they started, but they are now in their second trimester!  When they started, there was plenty of time to capture the $8000 tax credit, but as the months dragged on, that was starting to be a concern.

But they trusted me, and hung in there.  They were MODEL buyers. I can't imagine that if I searched the world over that I could find clients as pleasant to work a short sale with!  

Today, their dream became a reality.  Their lender's appraisal came in with a market value of $43,000 more than their purchase price.  I love this picture I took this afternoon at their closing.  They just couldn't stop smiling!

This is the best part of my job.

An associate in my office came around asking for closing gift ideas.  She was taking an informal servey of what things other agents were giving.  I thought I would throw the question out here.

Usually, I will taylor the gift to the receiver, but I admit that it would be easier if I settled on something less customized and had something standard that was in essence part of my personal brand. 

What do you give that would be well received and universally appreciated?  Or, do you even give a closing gift?  I know plenty of people who don't. 

One thing that I have tons of fun making and giving to my recent buyers is Gingerbread Houses at Christmas!  But for closing gifts on closing day, I would love to come up with something that has more flair than a gift card or basket of goodies.  Or does it matter?

For those of you on the RECEIVING end, I would love to know what your favorite closing gift to have received has been. 

Thanks in advance for taking the time to participate in my informal survey!  I will do a post on closing gifts after I get some feedback and do a little more research.

Short sale GOOD NEWS in Coeur d'Alene today!  For the second day in a row I started out the day with a loooooooooooooooooong awaited short sale approval!  Today's good news came in a phone call from the listing agent on my drive into work. 

I LOVE having an opportunity to share some good news.  It's a long story and 4.5 months of emotional torture, but in the end we have what we were working towards!  My buyers are getting the home they LOVE(after looking at so many houses I can't even begin to count them all) and for an AMAZING value. 

The bonus came by way of another phone call, this one on my drive home from work after a long and busy day.  The counter I presented on a cash offer for one of my listings was accepted!  On the first day of her honeymoon, my sweet first time home seller stood her ground and ends up keeping her equity!

Some days are diamonds, some days are coal...

The Joy of Short Sales in Coeur d'Alen Idaho!

I can think of no better way to start the week than to log onto my computer and see an Approval Letter sitting in my inbox!  Someday, when the dust has settled, I will go into detail.  But for now, suffice it to say that my seller has been in a living hell.  The buyers are running out of time to wait.  The approval was declined by the mortgage insurer since June 7th.  My client set out to prove that they had made a mistake.  She provided all the documents requested as well as her CPA's contact information.  The PMI loss mitigator then stopped answering her calls and emails and never contacted the CPA. 

On Thursday I tracked down email addresses for all of PMIs executives, and the board of directors,and sent them all a strongly worded email with the details of the situation.  I left a message on their anonymous complaint hotline, not anonymously.  No one ever got back to me, but this moring there is an approval letter sitting in my inbox!  

Never give up when you know you're right!

Some great advice from my friends in Wisconsin!

Details of all waterfront homes for sale on Lake Coeur d'alene, Hayden Lake, Spokane River, Spirit Lake, Twin Lakes, Avondale Lake and Bayview can be found on the following links:

Lake Coeur d'Alene
Hayden Lake
Spokane River
Spirit Lake
Twin Lakes
Avondale Lake
Bayview

The list is automatically UPDATED DAILY to remove any expired or sold listings, and to add any new listings.  After clicking on the link you will be able to get detailed information of each property, including numerous photos and tax information. 

There are more waterfront homes available right now than anyone can ever remember!  This is a great opportunity to pick up a fabulous waterfront home at an exceptional value.  Please call me if I can be of assistance to you in finding your waterfront dream home! 

My sister, Kerri Thoreson, is a journalist and photographer.  Although I keep a link to her wonderful blog on my own blog and website, I realized that I had never actually introduced her on ActiveRain.  She generously allows me to use her fantastic photos in my posts, and I have done so regularly.  She is truly gifted.

If you would like a treat, and a marvelouse glimpse of life here in beautiful North Idaho, make a visit to her website:

OnLocation North Idaho

"To live in a place other people dream of visiting is incredible. Through the lens of my camera OnLocation North Idaho will bring you a slice of life as we know it in the Idaho panhandle. Enjoy!"

Just about a year ago, my husband and I left Colorado and returned to Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.  It was where we started out, in 1974, and moved away from, in 1981.  In 2008 we came "home."  Starting over in a new place was a challenge, and lonely. I had time on my hands to do what I simply had not managed to find time for before - learn what blogging was all about.

My friend Marcus Valdez in Colorado recommended ActiveRain, so I decide to join and see what it was all about. There were just three others in town who were active on ActiveRain: Christina Ethridge, Maryellen Garasky and Pam Jank. Pam and Maryellen started commenting on my posts. Pam has Localism sewn up for my town, I still haven't figured out how I can ever beat her out of sponsorship of Coeur d'Alene.  Christina was featured #1 in town and #2 in the state.  I contacted her to find out why it appeared that she was less active now than she had been before.  Maybe she had found that it wasn't worthwhile and could enlighten me. She explained about some other blogs and other things she was doing, how she planned to get active again on AR.  Christina is VERY savvy technologically.  

Then, the first time I went to the board office for a meeting I heard someone call my name through the car window as they drove in.  Who could it be, no one knew me.  It was Christina, and how fun was that!  One of my first friends in town came through ActiveRain!  My first thought was that I must look enough like my profile picture for her to recognize me from her car across the parking lot! 

Meanwhile, Maryellen, was racking up those points like crazy, the most active of us all.  She would leave nice comments, write beautiful posts and collect gold stars.  I was trying to find my "voice" and figure out how to add photos and links.   

>>>>>NOW FOR MY FAVORITE MOMENT<<<<<

One day I logged on, feeling in a bit of a slump.  Homesick for my friends, family, business and the life I had left in Colorado.  Up popped the list of blogs I subscribe to, with prolific poster Maryann smiling at me from the top.  I clicked her mug and her newest post opened before me.....  

Hey, ActiveRain, when are you going to give Janna Rankin Scharf a FEATURED post already???

My cyber buddy Maryann had taken the AR gods to task for not having ever awarded me one of the coveted gold stars for a Featured Post.  She had even formed a new ActiveRain Group: Get Janna Rankin Scharf a FEATURED Post!  She said some very nice things about me, added a bunch of links to posts I had written, and signed off with:

Alright, ActiveRain, whose bumm do I need to kiss to get this lady a featured post, already??? 

 What a fun, unexpected and happy ActiveRain moment in time that was! 

Shortly after getting started on ActiveRain, I discovered ClustrMaps and hooked my blog up.  How cool to see the little dots appear ALL OVER THE WORLD!  

Are you kidding me?  People are reading my blog from Kazakstan to Saudi Arabia! In fact, they're reading me the whole world over! 

The map is updated daily with dots to represent the IP addresses of computers around the world that log onto my blog.  I am still baffled at the numbers, and locations of far flung, obscure places where someone is sitting at a computer reading what I wrote.

One day, an email popped into my inbox from South Korea.  I was blown away!  Chiho Lew had read my blog post, National Korean War Veterans Armistace Day.

From: Chiho Lew
Subject: Let me show respect to your Dad who passed away in 2004 (Sent via Activerain)
Dear Ms Janna Rnakin Scharf;
It is so nice of you to remember you Dad, who participated in the Korean War bravely for the freedom, on the occasion of the National Korean War Veterans Armistice Day on July 29, 2009. I am sending you this my warm message upon making a cyber journey to the Ronald D. Rankin Veterans Memorial Plaza with the uniformed nice looking gentleman standing majestically whom I guess is your proud Dad.

Chiho Lew
Yongin city, South Korea

One thing that has always puzzled me is that I would have dots in places like Macedonia and Qatar, but never a dot in Mexico!  I checked other people's ClustrMaps, and everyone had plenty of dots south of the border.  It has always been a puzzlement to me. 

Then today, I noticed I HAVE FINALLY GOT A DOT IN MEXICO!  It appears to be just a hair south of the border, but it's definitely in Mexico!

You can see the list of countries of my readership if you click on my ClustrMap on the right column of this blog.  The map is updated daily with dots to represent the IP addresses of computers around the world that log onto my blog.  I'm still scratching my head over some of those outposts.  The world is definitely getting smaller!

Don't be the victim of a scam!  On September 17, the Idaho Department of Finance issued a news release saying that it had ordered two companies, Hillside Financial Group and Outsource Credit Solutions, both allegedly located in Florida, to stop making loans in Idaho.

Why?  Because they have charged outrageously high loan fees in advance of making a loan, and have never been licensed in Idaho.  In two cases, unsuspecting consumers were charged $4,000 and $5600 in advance fees for its loan services. Neither person received any loan products from the companies, according to the release

The department cautioned Idahoans about advance-fee loan scam artists:

"When economic times are tough, we often see a corresponding increase in financial scams perpetrated against Idaho consumers," said Gavin Gee, director of the Department of Finance, in a statement. "Idahoans should remain vigilant in order to protect themselves from fraud by reviewing the warning signs of an advance-fee loan scam."

KNOW THE WARNING SIGNS OF AN ADVANCE FEE LOAN SCAM -

►A lender who guarantees you a loan regardless of your credit rating: A lender may offer loans for many purposes, but a lender that does not care about your credit rating should give you cause for concern.

►You are asked to pay up-front fees in order to secure the loan: Any up-front fees that a lender wants to collect before granting a loan is a red flag to walk away - especially if the fees are packaged as costs for "insurance", "processing", or "taxes". Fees paid for a loan may come after, but not before the loan is approved. This also applies to most fees for mortgage loan modification services.

►A lender who is not licensed in your state: Lenders and loan brokers are required, in most cases, to be licensed to do business as a lender in Idaho. Check FIRST with the Department of Finance to see if the lender you are working with is licensed. 

 Read the Idaho Department of Finance News Release Here.

I realized it's been a while since I posted a really bad MLS photo.  Those outrageously horrible photos that are a pathetic excuse for marketing photos. 

I thought I'd do a new twist this time because something has been bothering me.  I have seen so many signs lately in disarray.  Leaning over, falling over, fallen down, broken, shabby, you name it.  I have been driving by some of the same ones in dismal condition for weeks, months! 

I always wonder, why doesn't the listing agent take a little pride in appearances? 

That sign is advertising YOU as well as your listing!  And why doesn't the property owner insist on a straight, intact, readable sign?  I don't get it. 

Here are a couple signs I have been perplexed by.  The one leaning on the fence with the sign dangling over the water is on a waterfront home that I currently have a buyer currently in negotiations on.  The other one is laying on it's side, and I have driven by it everyday in that state for weeks, if not months. 

Now I know that there are a lot of agents out there who are struggling with their business in this sluggish economy.  Feeling beaten down, frazzled and in distress.  But really, is that the image you want to project to the public with your sign?  To me it says, "Times are tough, I'm depressed and I give up." 

Come on, people!  Have a little pride, if you're WORTH what you're paid then ACT like it! 

Senator Johnny Isakson, R-Ga, has proposed raising the tax credit from $8,000 to $15,000.  In addition he proposes extending the credit to anyone on the purchase of any home.  If approved, the income caps of $75,000 for individuals and $150,000 for couples would be eliminated.

It is no secret that the first time homebuyer tax credit of $8,000 has been credited with spurring on home sales in the entry levels.  It is set to expire November 30th and we are seeing first time homebuyers scrambling to get a house under contract so as to make the deadline.  I had one such prospective first time buyer call me today.  It's hard to find good, affordable homes, and in the lower price ranges there is little inventory and it is definitely a buyer's market. 

The question on every real estate agent's mind is what will happen once the tax credit expires.  There is no question that the current tax credit has been spurring the uptick in sales and has helped to bolster the economy.  I think Senator Isakson's proposed legislation, if passed, would be a huge boon and speed recovery.  It will be interesting to see how it all plays out in the next few months.

Loan modifications and foreclosure prevention - Reality is setting in!

There was an interesting article in the Coeur d'Alene Press this week that I thought you might be interested in.  It had the catchy title of Meltdown 101: Housing help lags high expectations.

It tells of how the government set expectations sky-high earlier this year when President Barack Obama launched an effort to help up 7 to 9 million homeowners avoid foreclosure.

Now, reality is setting in. The effort, dubbed Making Home Affordable, appears on pace to make a far smaller impact on the foreclosure crisis than officials had hoped.

Mark Zandi, chief economist with Moody's Economy.com, expects the program to help around 2 million to 3 million borrowers through modified and refinanced loans. "It's just barely enough to quell the crisis and allow us to muddle through," he said.

Homeowners are upset that they can't get assistance more quickly -- or at all -- even as lenders insist they are doing their best to handle an unprecedented surge in calls for help.

Meanwhile, foreclosures remain extremely high. More than 358,000 foreclosure-related filings were recorded in August, RealtyTrac Inc. reported Thursday. That number was up 18 percent from a year ago and flat from a month earlier.

There are some good Q and A's in the article about the status of the foreclosure-relief plan. Check out the full story here.