Hope Leitner, Realtor®, CRS

There is a story about Thomas Watson Sr., the first president of IBM. A young worker had made a mistake that lost IBM one million dollars in business. She was called in to the president's office, and as she walked in, she said: "Well, I guess you have called me here to fire me." "Fire you?" Mr. Watson replied, "I just spent one million dollars on your education!" As Robert Kiyosaki author of Rich Dad, Poor Dad  said, "Don't waste a good mistake...Learn from it!"

Four million golfers in Japan carry hole-in-one insurance. This is because it is customary for golfers in Japan to throw a lavish party should they hit a hole-in-one. These parties are serious business and have been known to cost more than $10,000. Seeing the opportunity in 1982, Kyoei Mutual Fire and Marine Insurance Company started offering a policy to cover the cost of this social expectation. Today for the equivalent of about $68 a year, the policy will cover the cost of a celebration party up to $3,000. Almost 40 percent of amateur golfers in Japan own one of these policies. 

The scene is a lecture room in a medical facility of a university.  The professor of medicine is addressing the students after completing their final exams. "Ladies and gentlemen," he says, "I congratulate you all on completing this course. I wish you all well in your future honorable procession. That leaves only two more things to say. The first is this: half of the things I have taught you as medical facts are, in fact, false! The second is that neither I nor anyone else today knows which half! Sometimes the end of school is the beginning of true education." 

Did you know roadways in Canada, the United States, and Australia have an instruction manual installed right in the pavement. Most people never even notice this secret code. These markers periodically appear on the road to give direction to emergency workers. You may drive past, and even over, these reflectors without knowing why they're there.  A blue raised pavement marker on the road indicates there is a fire hydrant on the curb. This lets fire fighters quickly and automatically know there is access to life saving water. These markers are made from thousands of reflective beads which vary in color depending upon the meaning they convey.  Green indicates that emergency vehicles can open gates to enter a gated community. Red markers indicate areas that are closed to traffic. Yellow or orange separate traffic moving in opposite directions. White indicates the right pavement edge. 

A long time ago, a wolf in the forest was hungry. Unable to find anything to eat, he decided to look for food near a human farm. On top of a hill, he sniffed the air and scanned the fields. Then he heard a sound that seemed familiar, yet strange - a barking noise. He turned and saw a creature on four legs running toward him. "Who are you? Why are you making that sound?" the wolf asked.  "I'm a dog. I guard the house. Who are you??" They exchanged sniffs and realized that they were somehow related, but they'd never seen anything like each other before. "I'm a wolf. I hunt, but I can't find any food. How do you survive?" "I work for the humans. I bark when I see a stranger or a wild animal, and they feed me every day." That sounded like a good arrangement to the wolf. To be fed every single day!  "Can I work like you do?" "Let's see." The dog started to lead the wolf toward the house. "Wh...

I’m inspired by the following story to not only be kind to others, but also to be kinder to myself. What do you think? Here’s the story: On the way back from work every evening, more often than not, there would be a homeless man standing at the exit ramp of the freeway. He waved at every car. He was always happy and smiling and sometimes almost dancing. Every day after work I would gather my spare change, and put it aside to give to him if I saw him. A feeling of joy would come over me whenever he was there as I came off the ramp.   He had that effect. His joy was infectious. Occasionally the red light would be on for a minute and we would ask each other about our day. His answer would always be the same, “I’m blessed!”   Then one day I was called into my boss’s office and told that I was being let go due to some mistakes I had made on a recent project. Needless to say that on my way home that day I was upset. I started calling myself names and reviewing e...

You've packed up your dorm room, thrown your Frisbee into storage, and have bid adieu to those cumbersome textbooks. College has culminated, so what now? This exciting time in a young person's life is ruled by one question: what's next? For many, that answer takes quite a while to define. Many millennials are open to moving back to their parents' houses after college. But for some, moving home may not be a viable option or, at the very least, seems an undesirable path post-college. This is leading recent college grads to a fork in the road: should I rent or buy? With renting costs continuing to rise, many recent graduates are deciding on the latter.  So, as a recent college graduate, what do you need to know when buying your first home? What does the future hold? It can be very daunting to map out the next ten years of your life just as your tassel has been moved to the left. Impulsive decisions should be left in the dorm room and recent grads need to plan where...