Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Available Homes for $350k in N Mboro

Happy Tuesday!

It is slim pickin's when it comes to homes currently on the market! Though there aren't a ton I did manage to find some beautiful ones available around the $350k mark in North Murfreesboro! Check out what I found!

637 Gardenia Way
$344,900
2013
3003 sq ft

























3031 Twisted Oak Dr
$348,500
2003
3000 sq ft




























2648 Chesterfield Ct
$349,088
1997
3410 sq ft


























Check these homes out on realtracs.com!  

Thursday, March 20, 2014

Uncovering Lies and Slight Untruths!

A while back I had a series of blogs called "Great American Lies." It was a lot  of fun to write these and they got good feedback. Every now and then I uncover a new lie that is built into our culture. You see, if we repeat something in our culture enough, it becomes part of our fabric, even if it is untrue. Some of the previous lies discussed included "you must go to college to be successful," "you must 'do better' than your parents," "fair treatment is equal treatment," and "fathers aren't important if the mother is strong enough." These were great conversation starters.

Over the next few weeks, I am going to revive this idea of common lies. I will be looking specifically at lies that permeate the church and create an environment and culture within the church that is not healthy or inviting for others. Disclaimer: I don't necessarily believe that everything I will call a lie is a purposeful bending or omission of the truth. Some of these are just thoughts that have been twisted and misused for so long that they are "truths" within the church that need to be challenged or thrown out completely. Some of these are just a discussion of semantics BUT semantics are important. Words are the tools we use to communicate about our emotions and religion. Word choice is, therefor, supremely important.

Here are a few of the topics I plan to cover.
  • Young people are the future of the church
  • Hate the sin, love the sinner
  • Christianity is about loving everyone
  • You shouldn't care what other people think of you
  • Judging others is wrong
  • You don't have to attend church to be a good Christian (of course it is also a lie that just because you attend church you must be a good Christian)
  • Christians must stand up for themselves in society
I give these to you ahead of time for a few reasons. 
1) I want you to start thinking about them as lies. See if you can figure out the angle I am going to take. 
2) I want you to challenge me when I write about them. 
3) I want you to hold me accountable to writing this series. 


Tuesday, March 18, 2014

ROOM TO SPREAD OUT!

Happy Tuesday!

So today I wanted to do a quick search on homes in Smyrna with at least two acres. I found two great homes- completely different, but they both have tons to offer!


Check these homes out at Realtracs.com!

The first home is listed at $520,000. It has almost 10 acres and built to impress! Check it out!

126 Lee Hollow Ln
MLS # 1477509


The second home is listed at $840,000 and sits on 30 acres! This is a traditional brick ranch home with so much potential! Of course the real attraction here (and the reason the price is so high) is the opportunity to subdivide and make a new neighborhood.

8575 Rocky Fork Almaville Rd 
MLS # 1497295
For more information on these homes or any others, call Jonathan at 615-668-2353!!

Thursday, March 13, 2014

Need Topics

I am struggling this morning. I have written two whole blog entries and not been happy with either one. They are both saved as drafts but I doubt I will ever publish them. I'm having a hard time being happy with the content of my blog. It seems like my mind wanders in the middle of writing. I go different directions by the end of the blog than I intended at the beginning of the blog. Then it is hard to "fix it".

I would love to have your help. Give me some topics to write on. Give me some pointers on how to focus my writing. Give me some tidbit of advice you've received when writing. Give me something to stick in my writing arsenal.

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Pool Party Time!

Happy Tuesday!

So, it was absolutely gorgeous outside today! With the warmer weather moving in (I am going to ignore the slight cold front moving through) I decided to do a search for current homes on the market with in-ground pools! I searched in North M'boro with a cap of $400,000....look at the beauties I found!

*** I have realized some of the links don't match up with the listings for some odd reason...I have reported the issue, but if it happens again- plug the address into realtracs.com and it will bring up the full listing***

2040 Woodside Ct
$198,500

Click for listing










1428 W Northfield Blvd
$334,900
Click for listing












1116 Ithaca St
$378,900
Click for listing

Thursday, March 6, 2014

Why NOW is a Great Time to List

I can't think of a more perfect storm of circumstances for you to list your home than right now (for most people). Below is a list of conditions that make this a fantastic time to consider selling:


  • Interest rates are still low but are climbing.  This creates a sense of urgency for buyers. Rate increases of no more than 1/2 of a percent are enough to price some people out of the market. 
  • Prices are UP and have stabilized (to some extent). 2013 saw huge gulps of price increases. Because it moved up so quickly we had some issues with appraisals. Now prices are still on the increase but not nearly as quickly. Plus we have the benefit of at least 6 months of higher priced closings in our history. This makes it much easier for an appraiser to give you the value you need. 
  • Inventory is very, very low--especially in the "first time buyer home" market. If your house is worth less than $150k (in Rutherford County), is in good shape and is priced correctly, you should sell it in days, not weeks or months. I have buyers right now that are driving around looking for homes that "look like they might be for sale soon" just so they can get a jump on the
    rest of the public. The good news is that the "move up home" is still somewhat available ($175k-300k). There aren't tons and tons of these like there were 2 years ago but they are out there. This is a perfect opportunity for you if you want to move up from a starter home. I would love to talk with you about this.
  • Spring is upon us! This is the best time of year to list. As the weather warms, sunshine comes out and things start to green up, people look for homes. It is a refreshing time of year. They also want to be settled before school starts back up. 
  • New construction is alive and well again...but they can't keep up with demand AND they are (typically) significantly higher than buying existing. Just the fact that builders are again building gives a local feeling of optimism and says our economy is in good shape again. Plus, if you live in a neighborhood where they are building currently, you get increased traffic. Someone may be drawn to look at a new home and see yours as a better bargain (especially if you fix yours up)
If you are interested in just finding out what your home may sell for, let me know. I am here to be a resource for you. A well educated public is good for everyone. Have a great day!



Monday, March 3, 2014

Words are Powerful

Ok, so I was working on a blog for the past few days and didn't like it. It is on a sensitive topic and I can't seem to get my words down in such a way that it is not confrontational. I've read and re-read it several times and keep seeing the words as somewhat arrogant and somewhat accusatory. That is not at all my intentions so I decided to just write something else. So, if you are a fan of my blog and like to read it on Thursdays, I'm sorry this one is late.

Due to the difficulty of getting that blog right, I am going to write on words. Words are powerful. They can utterly destroy people and they can also make people feel great. Words can spark events that literally destroy nations and they can cause people to achieve much higher than they "should be" able to achieve. Words are powerful. A well chosen, timely, sincere encouraging word will totally change someone's day for the better. An ill-conceived, poorly timed cross word will plunge someone into a truly bad day.

Most of you know that I am constantly preaching to "live on purpose" and not drift accidentally. Too many people just do what they do with no real reasoning other than it is just what they do. They don't take a minute to figure out how to do things purposefully. They never consider that even the small, insignificant things actually matter to at least someone. This is magnified when we talk about how much we talk. There are lots of internet sources out there that report that men speak roughly 7,000 words per day and women speak anywhere from 18,000-24,000. I have no idea if that is accurate but lets say, for the sake of this discussion that it is half right--men speak 3,500 and women speak 9,000. That is a LOT of opportunity to either brighten someone's day, not change their disposition at all or ruin someone's day. It seems to me that one of the biggest weapons we own that can cause harm is our own mouths!

Alright, so you've decided to control your mouth and try to be a force for encouragement and good with your words. How do you do it? If you speak 3,500 words in a day's time, how do you make sure you don't speak someone into a bad mood? Its a lot of responsibility, especially when you consider that it is not just the words themselves that have impact but also the body language, tone, inflection and facial expressions you use when delivering those words. It is also the timing within the conversation and the timing in the day. It is also the medium you use to deliver the words. Phone calls can yield much different results than face to face.

So what do you do? My suggestion is simple but yet so incredibly hard. Here it is:  SLOW DOWN. That's it. SLOW DOWN. Pause, think, breathe, control yourself, think about the possible reaction. Most importantly, listen to what they are saying and ask questions if need be. You can do all of this if you slow down. It's hard to do when your day is constantly overbooked and you have no time to unwind. Its hard to do when the kids are yelling and the spouse wants something and the boss wants something and the traffic is jammed and Wendy's messed up your order and on and on and on. I know it is hard. I am not very good at it. It takes discipline and it takes accountability. It takes (for me) a spouse that tells me when my tone or inflection is not welcoming. It takes a conscious effort to unplug for a few minutes every few hours and just enjoy silence to let my brain rest. For me, it takes a silent, meditative prayer at least once a day where I don't really say anything but just focus on God. Even with all that effort, I can still say stupid stuff or use a more aggressive tone than I intend. I can still hurt people's feelings with my words. I try not to but it still happens. When it does, I apologize sincerely, hope they forgive me and move on.

What about you? What techniques do you employ to control your tongue and to try to brighten people's day with your words?