Gayle's Blog

As we all prepare for Gustav, take a little time to do something extra that may help more than you can imagine.  Mr. Jackson's suggestions below are right on.
Gayle Causey
Keller Williams Realty
Monroe, LA USA
http://GayleCausey.com

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There will be more information coming out in the next few days but I'd like to take this opportunity to request help from each of you on behalf of the Ouachita Parish Police Jury.  By Tuesday and Wednesday, regardless of exactly where Gustav come ashore, Ouachita Parish will likely be on the northeast quadrant of the storm and experience heavy rains and extreme wind.  During the Month of August this area had rainfall in excess of 400% of normal.  The ground is saturated.  We are likely to see localized flooding and problems with trees.    Tomorrow and Monday I would ask that each of you take some time to check any areas around your yards and your immediate neighborhoods.  Please pick up debris in ditches and clear leaves and pine straw away from drains and culverts.  The parish Public Works Dept is trying to do some of this but will absolutely NOT be able to cover every place. While clear drains and ditches won't eliminate all flooding problems they will minimize the issues  And again, please take the opportunity to be civic minded...don't limit yourself to your immediate yard.  Help the entire parish by picking up a bit around a nearby roadside area.  We'll all be better for doing so.   I would also ask that you forward this to others on your email lists that are in Ouachita Parish and encourage them to clear their areas as well as pass it along to others.  We have problems with ditches, culverts and clogged roadside drains in Monroe and West Monroe as well as in the parish.  

Charles Jackson
Ouachita Parish Police Juror
District A
318-355-4260

Can you believe it? Here we go again.

Even though I am 300 miles from the coast in Monroe, LA, the devastation of Katrina was felt here, too. Not so much the weather, but the social impact.  LA has not recovered, and there are thousands of our brothers and sisters still scattered over the US who have shared their personal tragedies with the entire nation.  Please, God, don't let it ever happen again.

My daughter and granddaughter are in Algiers. I hope they are on their way to my open door and loving arms.

Best of luck to all during your "evacuation-vacation!" If you're in the Monroe area and need a place to plug in your laptop or use a phone, don't hesitate to call me.

Gayle Causey
http://WestMonroeRealEstate.com
Keller Williams Realty
Monroe, LA USA

Several agents are out of town this holiday weekend, so I stepped in to show a house today for another agent. The house is in a desirable neighborhood, original owner, 4/2.5 with a salt-water pool. It is very clean and well kept. That's the good part. But, I think the owners are busy watching the golf channel instead of the staging shows on HGTV or TLC!  Not only was there GRASSCLOTH on the walls of the hallway & foyer, there were so many little tables that I was unable to count them all!  There was a table with plants, several with phots, some with books, some with owl statues, some with dog statues, one with dolls--you get my drift.  The house was built about 1980, and all the fixtures were very nice for the day.  Wake up, folks!  It's 2008!!  This house will be so much more appealing when the sellers move out.  Unfortunately, it may be quite a while before they move because it will take longer than the average marketing time to sell a house with such dated decor.

You owe it to your sellers to tell them to get rid of so many things. When you list a property, you begin working as partners to get it sold. The bad thing is that listing expenses come out of YOUR pocket. Advertising, signs, time and manpower used to add to websites are all paid for by the real estate agent. The seller has to pay nothing out of their pocket once the house is listed. You are cheating yourself and doing the seller no favor if you don't tell them what they need to do to make the property more appealing to a larger pool of buyers. Let's face it, there's a limited number of people who are specifically looking for brass chandeliers, wallpaper with little blue and mauve flowers, laminate countertops and vinyl floors in the kitchen.

Check out some of the talented stagers in your area as well as the contributors to Active Rain. You could even forward some of the before/after pictures from the staging bloggers to the seller so they will get good ideas.  I pay a local stager for each one of my listings. This small investment impresses the seller, and it saves me lots of money in the long run.

Gayle Causey
http://WestMonroeRealEstate.com
Keller Williams Realty
Monroe, LA USA