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        <Name>8.5 Lies about Real Estate</Name>
        <Summary>Ignore the Lies -- Learn the Truth about Buying or Selling a Home</Summary>
        <Description>&lt;h2 style="MARGIN-TOP: 2px"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Truth, Justice &amp;amp; The American Way.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img title="Truth, Justice &amp; The American Way -- Buy a House" height="242" alt="Truth, Justice &amp; The American Way -- Buy a House" hspace="6" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/1/7/1/4/6/ar120544587664171.jpg" width="366" align="right" /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;That's what real estate is all about.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&amp;nbsp; If you read the &lt;strong&gt;REALTOR Code of Ethics&lt;/strong&gt; to which all REALTORS subscribe (and hopefully adhere), you'll find our mission right in the preamble:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&amp;quot;Under all is the land. Upon its wise utilization and widely allocated ownership depend the survival and growth of free institutions and of our civilization. Realtors&amp;reg; should recognize that the interests of the nation and its citizens require the highest and best use of the land and the widest distribution of land ownership.&amp;quot;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The preamble goes on to say:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&amp;quot;Realtors&amp;reg;, therefore, are zealous to maintain and improve the standards of their calling and share with their fellow Realtors&amp;reg; a common responsibility for its integrity and honor.&amp;quot;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Like most professions, there are the good, the bad, and the ugly.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img title="There's lots of lawyer jokes" height="185" alt="There's lots of lawyer jokes" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/1/2/4/1/2/ar120544601821421.jpg" width="185" align="left" /&gt;Fortunately, we get a better rap than lawyers.&amp;nbsp; Imagine if Shakespeare had said &amp;quot;Kill all the real estate salepeople.&amp;quot;&amp;nbsp;&lt;strong&gt; It's very rare that any of my friends or clients tell me a knee-slapping funny REALTOR joke&lt;/strong&gt; (I was bombarded with attorney jokes when I graduated from law school and practiced law -- my parents and friends even bought me several volumes of lawyer jokes for my bookshelves).&amp;nbsp; &lt;strong&gt;Thanks to constant antics of politicians like Eliot Spitzer, Bill Clinton, and &lt;a title="Dan Rostenkowski" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Rostenkowski"&gt;&lt;u&gt;&lt;font color="#0000ff"&gt;Dan Rostenkowski&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/a&gt; (remember him?), real estate professionals are certainly elevated above that sleazy bunch.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, a few bad apples can ruin it for the whole bunch.&amp;nbsp;&lt;strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The majority of REALTORS&lt;/strong&gt; are open, honest, trustworthy, and sincerely interested in helping their clients navigate their way through the real estate maze whether purchasing or buying a home.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;That brings us to the 8.5 lies about real estate.&amp;nbsp; &lt;strong&gt;If you ever hear any of these phrases or advice from a real estate professional or even from your best friend, &lt;u&gt;please run, don't walk away, and never look back.&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align="center"&gt;&lt;img title="Lies about Real Estate" height="167" alt="Lies about Real Estate" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/6/5/2/3/5/ar120544618253256.jpg" width="256" /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align="center"&gt;&lt;u&gt;&lt;strong&gt;THE 8.5 LIES ABOUT REAL ESTATE:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;1.&amp;nbsp; Other homes like yours are selling for $450,000.&amp;nbsp; I can get you $615,000.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;2.&amp;nbsp; You are required to use only our mortgage lender and our settlement company.&amp;nbsp; Don't shop around.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;3.&amp;nbsp; Don't worry about being on the main road or about that train track out back.&amp;nbsp; If you shut the windows, it's really quiet.&amp;nbsp; Besides, you'll get used to it.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;4.&amp;nbsp; You don't need any money to buy a home.&amp;nbsp; That's what I learned on late night t.v.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;5.&amp;nbsp; I'm the #1 agent, top 1% of all agents in the nation, etc., etc. &amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;6.&amp;nbsp; Location doesn't really matter all that much.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;7.&amp;nbsp; Open houses and advertisements in the newspaper will sell your home.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;8.&amp;nbsp; &lt;a href="http://activerain.com/blogsview/315305/My-Friend-is-in" target="_blank"&gt;&lt;u&gt;&lt;font color="#0000ff"&gt;We're friends.&amp;nbsp; Of course you can trust me.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;8.5&amp;nbsp; Our commission is non-negotiable and you must agree to work with me for one full year.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;You'll never hear me utter one of these lies.&lt;/em&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;strong&gt;Call me at 703-626-0715 or &lt;a href="http://www.brianblock.com/realtor_contact.shtml" target="_blank"&gt;&lt;u&gt;&lt;font color="#0000ff"&gt;contact me by e-mail &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/a&gt;to start your Northern Virginia or D.C. real estate quest. &amp;nbsp;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Send me a few REALTOR jokes if you know any.&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;em&gt;I've got enough attorney ones already.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</Description>
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