These two are wonderful young people, destined for success and happiness. And I say this not as the mother of the bride but as a purely objective observer.

OK. Maybe not 100% objective. But they are indeed great and Hernan and I are thrilled that our daughter, Lindsay, and Patrick found each other.

So thank you for allowing me to indulge myself. And I’d rather write about them than real estate any day!

Wow. The news is really hard to hear and read sometimes, even when you’re being quoted directly!

I recently was contacted by a reporter for the New York Times and asked about the real estate market here in Greensboro, NC. He had apparently come across this very blog, thought I had some interesting things to say and wanted to speak directly to me.

I was pleased to do so. After all, getting me to talk is only slightly more difficult than getting me to eat.

And he, Nelson Schwartz, asked good questions, some of them pointedly about the effect of gas prices on home-buying (not much, in my experience), whether foreclosures have worked their way into more upper priced neighborhoods (yes, but not in a “wholesale” way as can be found in some other parts of the country) and so on.

I spoke to what I’ve been seeing and how it ranks in comparison to my experience. Pithy comments, thoughtful commentary, wit all the way around it seemed to me. He asked if I might know of others to whom he could speak - appraisers, lenders, etc., I passed along several names, after confirming with each that it was ok to be contacted by the reporter. And he got other names from other contacts.

Due diligence done right.

The next week Mr. Schwartz came to town and met with many, many people, including me. It was really interesting to see him take notes, which questions he pressed on. Let’s face it, some dude from the New York Times shows up and wants to hear your opinion is cool. It was to me, anyway.

Nice fellow. He called to confirm a quote he was going to be citing, the spelling of my name and what “title” should be used for me (’broker”, “real estate agent”, “Realtor”.

I suggested “Real Estate Queen”. He settled on “Broker”.

And on Sunday, sure enough, there was an article about our city on the front page of the business section of the New York Times.

Most of the people who read it and talked to me about it thought it was nice to get a mention in the Times. And it was hardly news that things are slow, that there’s higher than usual inventory and that some buyers are getting good deals.

But there are some folk - namely, other real estate agents - who are less than enthusiastic about the article. Not because they don’t know that things are tough if you’re trying to sell a house right now. But because there were more negative stats than positive. Because all the numbers don’t reflect that houses are continuing to sell. Because the article doesn’t reflect the many positive things that are going on around here.

I may be persona non grata for a bit, having gone on record stating that buyers are making offers lower than they did a year or so ago. But I’m quite sure I’m not the first person to notice this. It would be hard to miss - like my rear end.

Facts are facts, and as I’ve been writing here for many months, all this translates into this is a fantastic time to buy.

And it’s about time buyers got a break, eh?

So, my 15 minutes of fame didn’t even make that threshold. More like 9 seconds.

**shrug** It ain’t nothin’ but a thing, as we say ’round here.

Tags: NY Times article, real estate market in Greensboro