Best of Intentions

I always have the best of intentions to keep this blog updated. Partially for the thousand and thousand of readers that I am sure that I have. Even though the stat counter only says about 20 I am envisioning that people gather around a few 20 computers and read in large groups. Maybe it is read to large groups and people are just drooling with excitement. Maybe I am delusional. Maybe.

Honestly I want to keep this blog updated mostly for selfish purposes. One, to work on my writing. To try different styles, to write when I am in different moods, settings, etc. I have found most of my writing is best when I am overly caffeinated. Hmmm I wonder what that says about me. Anyway, I am going to make a concerted effort to keep this blog updated. The problem is that I only like to read blogs when they are interesting. Mostly funny or informative and therefore when I do not feel like I have interesting content then I do not feel like updated the blog because who likes to read boring content- not me. I am thinking that is a good way to lose a few thousand of my readers.

So let's see what is on my mind today.....stress. It is a funny stress and mostly self induced. You see my husband and I are addicted to the real estate game. We love the chase, we love the game and let's be honest, we love the money making ability. We have been lucky (maybe even a little smart) and have succeeded in our five short years of playing the game. And goodness our realtor certainly loves us. I would say that is where we could be a little smarter because I am pretty sure we have provided our realtor with a steady income for the past few years. But I do believe in order to succeed you need to surround yourself with people smarter than you and she is GREAT at her job therefore it is money well spent.

Well this time we have embarked on a daunting challenge for ourselves. The selling part is taken care of and actually was pretty painless. I won't lie, I was stressed during that period but we have the selling part down pat and are lucky enough to have made a good decision, lot wise and house wise that ended up paying off. Now onto the buying part. This is where the stress comes in! The area we are wanting to buy in is a little above our comfort level and therefore we are trying to really wheel and deal. Our first effort was not the deal we were wanting however I "think" our second deal is going to make it. Fingers crossed. It is a deal unlike any other deal and we are super excited/hopeful!

So who are the players in this game and what role to they play. I love behind the scenes stuff. I think that is why in the accounting world I was drawn to audit. Not because I loved to tie-out hundreds of financials or use tickmarks or even create a lead sheet. No, my favorite part was understanding how the company worked, taking the plant tours and realizing the in depth complexities of what seemed to be a simple company. So if you are like me, when a deal happens, I like to understand how it happened. For instance am I the only one that finds the sell/purchase of the Texas Rangers fascinating. Fascinating because Tom Hicks is completely running one company into the ground yet his real estate company is going to come out on top from the sale. Total nerd I know but at least I am honest!

So anyway, back to our game, in the real estate game we play we do have a few key players. I would say that my husband and I compliment each other nicely. I am the stress ball, number cruncher, glass half empty player and he is the realistic, calm, sometimes number cruncher level headed one. Bless him! We look to several people for advice mainly my parents and my boss. My parents both give excellent advice and differing opinions. My dad is a tax expert and will always run through the financial and tax ramifications with me and my mom grew up with a real estate minded father so she will preach the usual....location location location. "You always buy the smallest house in the neighborhood on the largest lot." Let me tell you- she is right. Works every time!

My boss is a trusted adviser for me. I know most of his financial information (mainly because I handle it) and he is a good businessman. He is a straight shooter and I always appreciate his opinion. My husband knows him as we all work in the same business so it is always nice to bounce things off of him.

Through the escapades I have found that you really do marry your best friend. This game we play would not work for most couples. Husband and I love to move we get bored after being in one spot for too long and we make a good partnership. We compliment each other in this game. It is funny we do not always make the best decisions and goodness we have definitely learned many life lessons along the way but I do feel that through all this we have become closer. Buying and selling real estate is in a way our own form of marriage counseling. It allows us to do something as a team while understanding each other's strengths and weaknesses.

I do look forward to completely our next deal and I think we will probably make this one our final one (for awhile!).

I must add that my sisters have recently gotten into the game, both completely their first deals this year. Let's see if they get as addicted as we are!!