BLINDS WIDE OPEN - day 353 Where Did 2012 Go?

Already making the 2013 McLaughlin Group marketing budget....
Already planning the Thanksgiving holiday....
Already sweating the cash availability for Christmas....
Already ready for that economic turnaround.....
Already curious for the November 6th results....

Time, can we slow it down, or is it a sign that we are just having too much fun?

This is Laurie, from The McLaughlin Group, keeping it real in real estate!

BLINDS WIDE OPEN - day 352 Historic Landmark

Check out this cool Victorian for $349,000, close to the beach and downtown Ventura. Built in 1910, it was recently renovated yet it resembles its original historic appeal. 

This is Dave, from The McLaughlin Group, keeping it real in real estate!

BLINDS WIDE OPEN -day 351 Welcome to the Lake

Welcome the Jones family, new owners of two Malibou Lake Homes. I hope that their son's memories of living at the lake will be as rich as mine.

This is Dave, from The McLaughlin Group, keeping it real in real estate!

BLINDS WIDE OPEN -day 350 Journey to Two Heavens

Okay, so "you all"(Texas speak) saw the post down in Texas of Kelsey and I hanging out but I need to say that Kels did have to study at times throughout my stay.  During one such break, I sped North a little over an hour oustide of Mckinney to visit Max....Quick background; Max grew up on the lake directly across from us, along with 3 other friends, Keith, John and Ken. Some others came and went but we would be called the originals, as if we were all water birthed in the depths of our lake. When I say we go way back, I mean 49 years. Whether it was fishing, the rope swing, marco polo, snake hunting, shooting the rapids, football, soccer, baseball, we had the very best of childhoods. A friend asked me, "is Max your friend?" How do you explain a bond and a childhood that is really unexplainable to most. It might stir distant memories for some about a long ago, far away summer camp but for us, it was our reality and it was an everyday camp.  Fast forward; from downtown Dallas the landscape evolves and rather quickly, from city, to suburb, to wide open territory and in that wide open territory, you will find Max and his family, nestled on 26 acres alongside a dirt road, that is, County Road 4460 or some crazy number like that. From what I could tell, a very quiet and peaceful lifestyle, not for all, but heaven for Max. On the backside of his 26 acres is the snake house; full of all types of creepy crawlies and slithering rodent eating serpents. Dragons, snakes, crocodiles, tarantulas all housed within this  2000 sq ft facility. Did I mention he has some lethal ones as well and I must say, I was a tad nervous. Cobras, Copperheads, Rattlers oh my! (Wizard of OZ). Max's Serpentarium was a dazzling display of Max's lifelong passion for snakes and his heaven. I was amazed and grateful for the opportunity to catch up with a lifelong friend. Fittingly, we ended our visit with some Texas BBQ and I sped South from wide open territory, to suburb, to city, and then to  my heaven (Cowboy Stadium) and all her angels.

This is Dave, from The McLaughlin Group, keeping it real in real estate!