So here I am again, back in Real Estate School. Only this time it is 2009 and I am in Scottsdale, Arizona. We are once again in a recession (while I do not have the benefit of hindsight, I do not believe history will show this one as being mild). The Real Estate market has slumped, stocks have tumbled and now we have bail outs for the banks. The employment rate has exceeded 9% and appears to still be increasing. What a great time to start a new business – one of the many reasons my business partner and I started 1 Click Rents. I guess I am still crazy after all these years.

Some things have changed; at least as far as Real Estate school goes. For one thing there is no such thing as a small class (ok we are in a much larger city and I did pick a large Real Estate school). Now everything is in “modules”. 18 to be exact, with each class 4 to 4 1/2 hours long. This is great for our busy schedules. We can complete the required 90 hours anywhere from 10 days to 6 months.

The classes have been packed, with some classes having over 100 students in them. I never know who the teacher will be for the module we are in, yet for the most part they are all characters with larger then life stories to make it interesting (but I have to admit, I do have my favorites).

I very rarely see the same students, but have gotten to know a few. I am meeting students that have moved here from other states – hoping the opportunity will be better, housewives looking for ways to make extra money and others just starting their careers.

Then there are the students with new reasons to return to school. Many have lost there jobs in related fields. They are looking to expand on their years of experience. Then there are those whose requirements to continue with their current jobs are changing. The state government has been busy changing the laws requiring many people in Real Estate associated professions to become licensed in the near future.

According to last night’s class this includes, but is not limited to, Residential Leasing Agents, Commercial property managers and Commercial Leasing Agents. Even Government employees are being affected. This is also affecting my old industry, Mortgage Lending. Loan Originators are going to be required to have 20 hours of education (unless they have the required amount of recent experience) and have a background check done through fingerprinting to qualify for a 2 year license. They have to be licensed by January 1, 2010. They are expecting more laws to be passed, requiring more professions to get licenses (Maybe my new business choice should have been opening a Real Estate School).

It is amazing to me how things change, yet basically say the same. Our main topic of conversation still is passing the test. Once again they are putting the fear of … in us, mentioning how a few have had to take it up to 6 times before they passed. The cool thing is they give the test every hour, 6 days a week, so there is no waiting. But I think taking it more then once is still not an option I want to explore.

So for now – only time will tell how we do, who will be successful, who won’t and if our class will follow the time honored statistics of success. But I believe the odds are great and there is not a better time then now to enter the ever changing world of Real Estate.

Please think good thoughts for me next week when I take my test. Enjoy the weekend, relax, have fun and I will be back next week on a computer near you!!!

Since I started to make this bread my daughter Megan has become addicted to it. One week I was to tired to make bread; so Mark and I happened to buy some bread at the store. Megan tried it and asked for “mommy’s original bread” and so I have been happily making it ever since.

INGREDIENTS
2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
1/3 cup white sugar or for a more sweeter bread or  2/3 cup of white sugar for more of a sandwich bread.

1 1/2 tablespoons active dry yeast
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 cup vegetable oil
6 cups bread flour



DIRECTIONS
In a large bowl, dissolve the sugar in warm water, and then stir in yeast. Allow to proof until yeast resembles a creamy foam. (TIP: Let yeast stand for about 5minitues if it creamy then it means it is not dead and your loaf has a better chance of rising.)
Mix salt and oil into the yeast. Mix in flour one cup at a time. Knead dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth. Place in a well oiled bowl, and turn dough to coat. Cover with a damp cloth. Allow to rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.
Punch dough down. Knead for a few minutes, and divide in half. Shape into loaves, and place into two well oiled 9×5 inch loaf pans. Allow to rise for 30 minutes, or until dough has risen 1 inch above pans.
Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 30 minutes.

Welcome to my Page!!!

Welcome to 1 Click Rents blog page.  In case you have not heard, each week we are going to add articles to help the Landlords learn about what his going on in the rental world, Renter’s make their house a home and in the process learn a little bit about the one thing we all need to know about, Real Estate.

I am Katy, the one you usually get on the phone when you call 1 Click Rents.  We started this company with the goal of matching Landlords and Renters with the ease of the internet followed by great customer service from a local company.  While working on our concepts, we added educational programs.  These programs are designed to not only educate, but provide help to Landlords, Renters and anyone who wants to learn make better decisions.   

Our blog is part of that program.  I will be writing articles about what is going on in Real Estate market.  This includes current trends, changes all Landlords and Home Renters need to know and what’s new at 1 Click Rents.  

The one thing I have learned about this industry- it is always changing, yet the cycles remain the same.  We are in a down market right now, as we are all aware of.  Yet looking at history and statistics; these markets have always come back.  So with this in mind, I will focus on what is going on in today’s market as well as changes that could affect the way we do business in the future.

So you know – I have an extensive background in Real Estate.  For the last almost 20 years I have been in the Real Estate industry in one way or another.  Always up for a challenge, I started in Commercial Finance right after college.  From there I quickly moved to Residential Real Estate Sales (yes, a Real Estate Agent) and Mortgage Lending.  I have owned and managed several rental properties over the years, and of course, have lived in my share rented of properties.  So it is with this background, I feel confident I will be able to provide great, up to date information on a regular basis. 

I am looking forward to writing my articles every week and encourage you to send in comments, suggest topics you would like to hear about or just email to say hi.  If I do not know about a topic, I have a large network of friends in the industry and will do my best to find the answers.  My email address is katysblog@1ClickRents.com. So here we go!  Look for my articles every Thursday on a computer nearest you!! 

One of the best investments that our family has made is a fishing license. The best thing about AZ fishing licenses is that you do not need one until you are 14 years of age. If you are over 14 then it will cost around $24.00 dollars with tax.

 My husband loves to fish, and because of this, my daughter now loves to fish too. This has become a great family outing for all of us. We get up early, I bring my latest magazine or book, we pack up the car and we drive.  

A lot of Arizona parks have what they call urban fishing; this is great choice if you have kids whose attention span isn’t very big. They are usually at public parks, so there are playgrounds and “potties”.

One of my favorite stories of fishing with my family happened early this summer. We went to Papago Park and brought a nice lunch and some outdoor games (there wasn’t a play ground where we were).  I knew before we got to the park the day was going to be interesting..  This happened when I realized I forgot one of the main ingredients in my chicken curry sandwiches: the curry.

So the day began.  When we got to the park there was a nice breeze and the sky was beautiful. The ducks were out and keeping Megan entertained.  Did I mention we were able to get a table in a great location! After our interesting lunch, the fishing started.

Megs was having a great time swatting the pole trying to catch a fish. Her daddy was having fun doing his favorite thing – Fishing.  I was totally engaged in one of my favorite magazines. That’s when Mark spotted a tiny little “island” only a few stepping stones away.

He helped Megs cross the little stream on stepping stones. “The island”, as my family now fondly calls it, only kept Megs attention for I don’t know, oh, maybe 2.5 minutes. This is when she decided to try to cross by herself.  She made it across just fine.  I think she was even amazed herself, because she did not just cross it once or twice but three times.

 (The stream that leads off of the main “lake”)

On her way back on the forth time she crashed and fell right in the water!  It was a wet mess for sure, but we can’t help smile and laugh every time we think about it.   So as you can see why, this has become one of my favorite memories of this summer.

For parks that have places to fish, goto the AZ fish and Game Website . This also has all the rules regulations you need to start enjoying this fun summer tradition!

Please feel free to leave me comments, if you have questions, or just want to chat! I am always open to suggestions. This is a big world and I intend to learn as much as I can. Check back as often as you can because you don’t want to miss a thing!

Tiffany Leigh
Things you have to look forward too!

Katy

A friend of mine suggested that getting my Real Estate License (again) would be a good idea, that this would be something my business partner and I should do it.  Her reasons made sense, and it was an idea we had considered before.  With the market changes, or our company specializing in Rental Homes and Apartments, I new I could gain more knowledge!  Besides, it sounded like fun, after all, I have not been in school for longer then I care to admit.  So off I went, back to school.

I originally got my license back in the 90’s.  At the time I decided on this path because I needed to make lots of money (like most people I know, I love to shop), I wanted to have more time with our kids and was really looking forward to more flexible hours (FYI – new agents beware – this is a myth).  My husband had just been transferred to Idaho and I did not know anyone, so there was the added bonus of making new friends.

Times were tough back then.  We were recovering from a mild recession and jobs were hard to find (the unemployment rate was close to bottoming out at 7.2% even though the recession had been over for over a year).  The Real Estate market had slumped, stocks had tumbled (but only for a few months) and then of course there were the Savings and Loans that collapsed.  At the time we really only looked for home sales, yet I did find my best clients were investors in rental homes and property managers.  Oh, the benefits on hindsight.

 We were all in a small classroom with maybe 20 people; of course Boise ID was a much, much smaller town.   We were there for different reasons.  One student was there because she had her license in another state – but heard Idaho was a better market, several were looking for a career changes and some just wanted a career.  Truth be told, we were crazy, entering Real Estate is that economy. 

So for two weeks we went to the same classroom.  Everyday it was the same students and the same teacher.  He did have guest speakers come in to talk about certain topics, but for the most part, we were it.   The teacher was a character, with larger then life stories to make it interesting. It was fun and exciting.   We all got to know each other and I made several long time friends. 

At the time are main topic of conversation was “passing the test”.  They put the fear of … in us and how hard it was going to be, how many people had to take it multiple times and each time you had to pay for it.  That was not an option I wanted to explore.

It seemed like I had to wait forever to take the test (they only gave the test at a certain time each month) and happily I passed it the first time.  Not everyone in my class was so lucky, but eventually all my new friends did pass.

The great thing was the success rate of many of my friends.  We had one classmate who eventually became a broker, a couple graduated into the mortgage industry (including me) and a few sold Real Estate either full or part time for years.  Looking back our class did stay very close to the statistics.