Some cynical jokes about marriage say that men – instead of getting married – should just buy a house a and give it to her to avoid tI he heartache and headaches of the inevitable divorce. I do know plenty of people who have gone through or are currently in the middle of divorces.  But once the relationship ends and you’re ready to start dating again, what do women like?

According to CNN Money, women prefer dating men who own houses as opposed to renters.

Only 2% of women said they preferred to date a man who rents, while only 3% of men said they would choose a woman who rents over one that owns her home, according to the survey, which was conducted by Harris Interactive for real estate site Trulia.

Both sexes also clearly prefer it when there’s no roommate in the picture; 62% of survey respondents, men and women, prefer to date singles who live alone.

So between great interest rates and inexpensive homes add dating to the reason buyers should consider jumping into today’s housing market!

It takes a special kind of agent to work with people prowling for “deals” in the real estate market. I am not one of them. I want to work with clients who will offer a fair price – yes we can negotiate – but FAIR.  So when a client wants to low-ball every single offer, I say it’s time to find an agent who is willing to work with their lack of reality.

Amanda Christiansen from Ft. Wayne, Indiana had a similar experience but she nipped it in the bud,

Deb went on to tell me that her hairdresser got a great deal on a home a few years ago.  She said that she bought it for around 60% of list price.  Yeah, it was listed for $20,000 and she got it for $12,000.  It was also in the highest crime rate area in Fort Wayne, it was a HUD home, and it needed work.  

I told Deb that if she wanted to get a deal like that we needed to start looking in the same place her hairdresser lives.  I also told her that if she was going to take real estate advice from her hairdresser that she should start taking hair style advice from me, and that next time she needed her hair did to CALL ME!  I’ll do it!

What a perfect response!

Photo by Robert Nunnally.

When people decide to buy or sell a home, they tend to obsess.  They watch the internet constantly to see if something new has been listed.  They search photos.  They compare prices. What I didn’t realize is there are certain behaviors of real estate obsession.  Inman News columnist Tara-Nicholle Nelson wrote a funny column about how to tell if you are obsessed,

The Open House Tic. This is a hybrid online and offline version of the fixation exhibited by those who get online every Friday and Saturday to prepare their plan of attack for Sunday open houses. This behavior is completely normal and, even, advisable, in actual house hunters — people who are actually in the market to buy a home, or even home sellers who are (wisely) seeking to scope out the competition.

But it takes on a compulsive element when people who have just bought a home, or have no intention of buying a home anytime soon keep open-house hunting as a weekly habit.

To be fair, this goes on the list of relatively harmless vices, except to the extent that it signals or churns up that feeling of constant discontent, that sense that the home you have is never quite enough.

This goes with the old real estate adage that people LOVE for realtors to drive them around to look at houses. Beware the obsessed!

My weekend project include vacuuming, dusting, and maybe cleaning my bathroom from top to bottom.  I so admire those who actually have real projects (cleaning out closets, perhaps?).  From Apartment Therapy, here are 20 weekend projects for those having an abundance supply of energy and imagination.  (Special focus on #10 for me).

• Get your cleaning supplies together: garbage bag, surface cleaner, broom, dustpan, etc.
• Give yourself a set amount of time for each task. For example, 1-2 minutes per step.
• Pick up anything that’s not in its proper place.
• Gather all of the misplaced items on the top of your dresser or on your bed.
• Pick up each item and put it where it belongs.
• If there’s no specific place for an item, put it in a separate pile.
• Make your bed, dust the furniture surfaces, and sweep or vacuum.
• Find a spot for each of the items in your misplaced pile.

Clearly no one has seen the top of my dresser!

Photo by Ben Babcock. AKA it is NOT my bedroom.

Whether you’re sitting in your office chatting with your fellow agents about what’s new under the sun, driving buyers to a home inspection, or listing a family farm – embarrassing moments happen sometimes.  In my *ahem* several decades of experience and wisdom, I have learned the best thing to do when you do something embarrassing is either 1) Apologize, or 2) Laugh.

Sharkables offers other advice in the Office Survival Tip series,

The absolute worst way to handle any embarrassing moment is to pretend it didn’t happen. While I admire your dedication to your powers of self-persuasion, no one else is fooled into believing you didn’t just eat it on the stairs when you oh so cleverly hop up and keep walking like nothing happened.

No, you need to approach embarrassing moments head on. I know it sounds cheesy, but the best way to take the social sting out of any embarrassing situation is to start it off by laughing yourself.

I profoundly believe a little self-deprecation can actually help someone climb the well-liked ladder. Laugh!

When I think of geeks, my mind goes to living rooms designed to look like the the command deck of the U.S.S. Enterprise and people walking around in Klingon costumes.  However, the fandom geek can be different than the technology geek.

If you feel comfortable around geeks, though, there are some cities that could be more desirable to live in for you!  Forbes magazine has selected the geekiest cities in which to live.  Via Yahoo News:

The capital of Silicon Valley, San Jose, Calif., is the geek capital of America, with 18.2% of the workforce employed in tech or science jobs. In second place: the counter-culture center of Boulder, Colo. It’s not only a favorite of hippies, nature and sports lovers–Boulder has also become a hotbed for tech startups. Some 17.4% of the workforce is engaged in tech or science jobs.

In third place is Framingham, Mass., where 16.6% of workers are science and math geeks. The city hosts the corporate headquarters of the consumer electronics maker Bose and the office supply chain Staples, and a sizable Genzyme research center.

My geek flag proudly waves every single day.  In my own public relations job for a city, one worker always emails me with the greeting “Have a glorious federation day, qaplah!”  One of the police officers brought me a “Romulan Ale” energy drink and another friend brought me a talking Captain Kirk.  I’d do well in any of the cities that made the Top Geekiest list!

Jeremy Smith of Chandler, Arizona should go into video production should he ever leave real estate! Nice job!

Have a great weekend!

Hahaha… if only it was this easy to negotiate!

Enjoy your weekend!