Xiao-Qing (Shall-Ching) Lu's (xlu) Blog

Fall Maintenance Reminders: As Fall approaches you can take a few key steps to ensure your home serves you well through the coming months. Please take to check these items in and around your home and attend to any that need maintenance.  Clean and test smoke alarms.  Test and reset ground fault c...

I'm reporting Las Vegas home sales for the month of August 2009. Due to limited data I researched the data myself from the Multiple Listing Service. Please note the statistics does not include new home sales. Total units of single family homes sold 3,232 Most of the sales volume comes from North ...

Today is Friday but to many Realtors in Las Vegas valley it's just another day. I have a huge appreciation of the Real Estate profession and anyone who is successful in the business. It is not what most people think an easy job to earn a commission check. After spending 30 to 40 hours with a clie...

Showed 10 homes today in Las Vegas with intention to write offers for 2 clients. My record has been in this multiple offer market (seller's market) it takes 8 offers submitted to have 1 accepted. Verbal acceptance does not count. One of my clients submitted an offer with a verbal acceptance from ...

Do you have symptoms of an $100,000 plus agent? Symptoms of an $100,000 plus agent often go undiagnosed because many of its symptoms seem harmless. Recent studies indicate that the early detection of symptoms and treatment can increase agent's net income. You have the symptoms if below points app...

It's been a long time since I moved to day 2 of the Diary of a Las Vegas Realtor. Inspired by movie Julia and Julia who takes one receipe from Julia Child's recipe book each day to cook and blog about it. Here I am talking about my experience as a Realtor and the challenges as well as joy I go th...

As a self employed individual taking time off is extremely important for myself and for my business. I took 10 days off to visit family and friends in my hometown, NJ. As long as I have coverage for my busines in Las Vegas I can still have fun and enjoy time off. Off course it's always staying in...

Diary of a Realtor - Researched $8000 tax credit for first time homebuyers. If the buyer lived in a home bought as a primary residence then buys another home in 2009 then the buyer is NOT ELIGIBLE for the tax credit. If the buyer rented the house to tenants for the past 3 years, then buys another...

Trends in home prices, personal income and mortgage rates, combined with tax advanctages of home ownership, make th is an excellent time to turn the home of your dreams into a reality. If you're thinking of buyign a home, you've probably already asked yourself, "Can I afford to buy?" Another good...

With credit markets still tight, many would be buyers are struggling to qualify for a mortgage or sell their previous homes. But allowing a potential buyer to lease to own can address that problem and even allow the owner to lock in a sale price. Typically the renter agrees to buy the house for a...