Bob Timm's "RealMan" Blog

• 2 car attached garage
• vaulted ceilings
• 2.05 Acres of land
• 3 bedroom
• central air 

This 1974 home sits on great size property. has a roomy laundry room, 3 bedrooms and a full but not finished basement. lots of cupboard space. RV parking, electric heat. carpet and linoleum flooring. long paved driveway. comes with great appliances. and a 572 sq-ft deck (great for summer bbqs).

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BOB Timm (701)-720-8513

HEY! DID SIGMUND FREUD WRITE THAT BUMPER STICKER???

Yesterday while enjoying a spring time walk I ran across a bumper sticker that echoed a thought I'd had many times yet I laughed out loud because I never expected "That" to be on a bumper sticker much less a bumper sticker actually on a car.

Sorry that the bumper sticker is not real readable but I just happened to stop today with my camera and the owners of the car were there and quite pleased to pose for the photo for me. Thanks girls!

The bumper sticker says:

NICE TRUCK, SORRY ABOUT YOUR SMALL PENIS

I should go back and take another shot for you of the parking lot. The girls live in an 8-plex and are surrounded by huge pick-up trucks.

Hope this made you smile as well!

The Landscape Changes When You Are The Land Of Opportunity!

North Dakota, particularly Western North Dakota, had seen slow but steady growth for the last decade or two. Minot North Dakota had seen “better then” slow and steady but only by a thin margin. That was until The Minot Air Force Base added another bomber wing and at just about the same time the US Geological Team announced the largest oil find ever (and anywhere) was under Western North Dakota.

Rumors abounded about how Minot North Dakota may grow as large as Houston Texas over night. I think everyone I know or had visited with was very excited to be living in the midst of an economic boom while much of our country was facing/dealing with economic disaster.

Imagine a town of less then 30,000 people looking to grow to 100,000 over night and then who knows to where after that. People have literally been coming to Western North Dakota by the thousands as it is truly the land of opportunity today.

Then the unthinkable… a flood sent by torrential rains, greater then any flood in recorded history for Minot North Dakota. One forth of the housing was destroyed and the City infrastructure left in shambles. Imagine, 30,000 people with thousands more coming, no housing available prior to the flood, potable water system destroyed, lift stations destroyed leaving the sewage to back-up into many homes that were not destroyed by the flood and sewage being dumped directly into the raging river.

The river cut the town in two equal haves not allowing for traffic to cross from one side to the other. One side of town cut off from grocery stores, many cut off from their jobs, and of course some cut off from their family members.

Besides thousands of homes being lost so were many businesses and schools. Street lighting and traffic lights in the river valley were also destroyed. Facilities such as the State Fair Grounds, the zoo, nearly every park, and baseball diamond were left in shambles.

The flood was nine months ago and of course there are huge reminders everywhere you travel in the valley. Many like me are just returning to our homes after pouring thousands of dollars into restoring them (those that can be salvaged).

Minot North Dakota is still today’s land of opportunity but think about how all of this has affected the housing market. Home prices and rents have doubled in many cased. There is not a hotel room to be had even though four or more new hotels have been built in the last year. People and businesses want to come and share in the bountiful prosperity we offer but there is no place to house people or businesses.

I was just doing a property search for a friend and there were less then two dozen lots for sale and of those lots the average price was about $65,000.

We are starting to see a trickle of long time residents leaving Minot North Dakota turning into a steady stream. Those on a fixed income, especially those whose homes were destroyed, can not afford another mortgage and/or keep up with the inflation caused by such an influx of people coupled with no increase in competitive services and goods. When the time comes that those living in FEMA trailers are booted out of their temporary homes they will have no where to go and I believe the steady stream will be another flood, a flood of people who can not afford to stay.

Prosperity is a good thing, we all dream about it. Few have the vision to profit by it and to keep from being steamrollered over by it. Minot will survive this and grow and grow and grow. Pray for it’s people, the ones who set the foundation, that they will also survive it and not be forced away from their home. I for one never could have imagined how devastating a flood could be and how lengthy a recovery time is involved. Realistically  I think the clean up alone will be close to 2 years and that the “real” recovery will be about five years.

I don’t want to discourage anyone from coming to the land of opportunity, God knows we need you. I just want to prepare you for the big problem of lack of housing before you come. If you can afford $250,000. or more…. No problem.

The good news is that spring is around the corner and people can live in campers and trailers until they find permanent housing. Campers and trailers just don’t work in an area where winter temps can reach 30 degrees below zero.

SUN DOGS, You Really Don't Want To See Them.

These are "Sun Dogs" and you really don't want to see them (in person). What you have here is two pictures with a "sun Dog" on each side of the sun. If I had a panoramic camera we could eliminate one of the suns in the middle. The Sun Dogs almost form a rainbow around the sun.

The key to Sun Dogs is that it needs to be below 0 degrees outside or colder. The colder it is outside the more spectacular the Sun Dogs. When I woke up today it was 8 below zero (that's 40 degrees below freezing) actual air temperature. Then there is this thing called "Wind Chill". The weather service is warning that it will be windy today causing a wind chill of up to 45 degrees below zero.

What do we do when it's 45 degrees below zero? You make sure you have several layers of clothing on and you go out there and attend to business just like any other day. Obviously those who work out of doors need to come in frequently to avoid frostbite. On a day like today a person who is not properly dress may experience hypothermia within a few short minutes.

OFFICE SWEET OFFICE

THERE IS NO PLACE LIKE OFFICE

Office Sweet Office. It's small, it's ugly, but it's mine.

After a summer of conducting business out of my mother-in-laws basement, Starbucks, and the public library, I finally have an office to call home office.

With all the positives it's easy for me to overlook the ugly color of the building (which I will repaint this spring) and the fact that the interior needs a little spritzing up.

The next big step is to get that secretary I've talked about for 2 or 3 years. I hired one and she quit before she started because she didn't like the interior colors of the office. This despite the fact I told her she could pick new colors and I'd paint!

I thought the colors were a little loud myself but I kind of like them and now that I've added some "stuff" like desks and bookcases I'm rather pleased. The pic to the right is the reception area that eventually will have a receptionists/secretaries desk.

I'm located on BROADWAY, how cool is that! In Minot Broadway is thee main Street with the heaviest traffic. I've already had more walk-ins in a month then I had in a year in my old location. I'm not knocking the old location, how great was that to be in a movie theater, across the street from a big park, and also on a main arterial of the City?

I'm far from finished with my office project but here are a few more pictures. The pic's include my desk as well as the desk for my personal assistant, my conference area for when I'm meeting with clients and viewing MLS listings, and the play area for kids to run wild while Mom and Dad look at listings with me. In the play area I need to and have removed most of the "junk" and to restock the office with a toy-box and kids furniture.

After spending the summer in my mother-in-laws basement because I lost my home, my office, and my rental property in the flood that destroyed 1/4th of our City this place really looks beautiful to me. Once again it's a joy to actually "GO" to work and to have a place for friends and clients come and visit.

Oddly enough despite the tragedy that struck our City and my family personally 2011 was the best year I've had in business. 2011 was full of blessings thanks to all the kind people who let us know they cared, many who never met us, but all eager to help out those in need because of the tragedy that struck our City.

Oh Yea, Then There's THAT!

INK

In setting up my new office I decided to add ink-jet printers to each desk in addition to the networked color laser copier/printer.  I like having a printer on my desk so if I'm printing something personal, like a receipt from eBay, no one else has to see it plus sometimes I just don't want to leave my work area when I'm immersed in my work.

The one thing I did remembered about ink-jet printers was that ink is just about as expense as gold. I also remembered that I used to purchase ink cartridges any time I saw them at rummage sales, thrift stores, or even if I saw close-outs at Kmart or Walmart. I didn't care if they fit my printer or not.

Why not??? I learned early on that one can use a syringe and suck the ink out of that cartridge you bought for a buck and then pump it into the cartridge you need. I've re-filled the same cartridge many, many, many times.

I don't know how much money I've saved but it may have been enough to pay for that color laser copier/printer.

So why was I at Staples today looking at $30.00 - $50.00 ink cartridges??? I was wondering that myself... until I went home, found my re-inking stuff, and started re-filling a needed cartridge.       Then it all came back to me.

Ooops

CHRISTMAS... Thank God for the Commercialization!

Speaking as a dedicated Christian, follower of the Savior of the world Christ Jesus, I am so happy that Christmas has become extreamly commercialized.

In the USA nearly 90% of our citizens profess a Christian faith, I'm guessing that like myself you are among those 90%.

I would also guess that if you ask those who do not know Christ in the USA what are the two biggest holidays you would overwhelming hear Christmas and Easter.

Many people think that Christmas has been taken over by Satan masquerading as Santa Claus and that retail has totally corrupted the meaning of Christmas. I say that Satan is doing a BIG ooops over his attempt to commercialize Christmas.

POP QUIZ! How many of you/us reading this can name 6 major Christian events and explain them to your children satisfactorily?

At least with the mass commercialization of Christmas no one can deny it's roots. No matter what kind of hermit or religious zealot of a non-Christian faith one may be the fact that December 25th is the day that Christians celebrate our Saviors birth can NOT be denied!

Equally important, the same can be said about Easter! The best thing about Easter is that everyone knows, even if they don't believe, is that it is the day that Christians celebrate our Lord and Savior conquering death and rising again to life.

So what about some of those other major Christian events? Here are a few that come to mind for me off the top of my head: Pentecost (did you know that Pentecost is the birthday of the Christian church), Ascention Day (did you know that Christ showed himself to all for 40 days after Easter Sunday before ascending up to heaven?), Epiphany (the 12th day of Christmas. It means sudden understanding. Yes even for many of his faithful followers it took 12 days to sink in as to the miracle of Christs conquering death.), Passover, Palm Sunday, Lent, Advent, Good Friday, and Maundy Thursday.

So I say "Bring On The Commercialization"! Let the world know about all/more of the great events of Christianity! Christ will always out shine Santa and the Easter Bunny. I can live with slogans like "You won't get burned on our Ash Wednesday sale" or "Savings are in the palm of your hand this Palm Sunday".

Bring it on, bring on the commercialization so we will have more opportunity to tell our children about the roots of the holiday and how those roots are deep in Christ Jesus. Bring it on so we can share the good news that Jesus Christ is Lord!

REALTORS...A DIVERSE GROUP!

It never ceases to amaze me what a diverse group we Realtors are. Granted some folks hold a Real Estate license as a hobby or even just for their own purchasing benefits. Some Real Estate professionals hold a second job out of necessity just to make ends meet. Many Real Estate professionals have a second occupation because it works well with a hobby. Heck I know one Real Estate agent who's a clown (actually a magician but I think of him as a clown).

I've noticed that a few Realtors really excell at that 2nd vocation BUT I've never seen anyone do so more then my good friend Gabrielle Kamahele Rhind.

Who ever would have guessed that beautiful little Gabrielle's hobby is auto body work??? She is absolutely AMAZING! When Gabrielle read right here on AR about my automobile woes, two crashes in one week, she jumped to action down in Tucson AZ to help out this poor broken North Dakota boy. Check out these amazing before and after photo's.

Kia, after crash, before the amazing Auto Body work by Gabrielle.

Kia, after crash, AFTER the amazing Auto Body work by Gabrielle.

I am sooo indebted to Gabrielle. I can now drive the Kia once again with my head held high and full of pride as I invite my clients to ride with me as we look at homes in the Minot area. What an amazing lady! I love you Gabrielle!

There is No "Right To Receive" or "Obligation To Give"!

I consider myself to be a generous giver. I give more to the church I attend then I think I can afford (but it always works out) and I also give to various charities of my choosing.

At this time of year we are all besieged by pleas to give to just about every cause we can think of... as well as a few we never dreamed of.

The purpose of this post is to relate to you the receiving experience we experienced through the flood disaster Minot ND experienced this year and also to remind you of the "Golden Rule" of giving.

Having lived (and am living) through a disaster like our recent flood I can tell you that it was The Red Cross and The Salvation Army who were first on the scene. They were amazing in their help and generosity. Next, and nearly simultaneously, were all kinds of faith based groups such as Lutheran Disaster Services, The Samaritan's Purse, Mennonite Disaster Relief, and on and on. Faith Based Organizations accounted for 85% of the relief efforts in our disaster. Four months later many of them are still here helping us out with some very difficult tasks associated with flooding. I encourage you to give to these Faith Based organizations during this giving season.

The Golden Rule of Giving is to remember God Loves A Cheerful Giver.

Never give in a begrudgingly way.

The reason I emphasize this is I remember a time when I worked for a non-profit organization that once a year would impound 10% of all employees checks and give it The United Way. Not having a choice in the matter it angered me to the point that I have not/will not give to The United Way ever again in my life time. If you are an employer with a "mandatory" giving plan that does not let your employee choose where his/her gift goes please keep in mind you may be doing more harm then good.

The NEW (1996) RealMan Mobile.

With the demise of the Kia and the sale of my Dodge Grand Caravan I absolutely had to start the search for a new "RealMan" mobile. I don't believe I mentioned the sale of the Caravan previously but the Caravan was the most recent bearer of the "RealMan" license plates and wore them proudly for 3 years. So many things started to fail on the Caravan that when I thought I should buy new tires I felt it was just plain "totaled out".

I love driving the Kia but even I can not imagine asking a client to step into it in it's current condition.

Those of you who have gotten to know me may have grasped the fact that when it comes to cars I have NO ego at all. If a client needs to be shown around in a Cadillac, a Lincoln, or a Hummer then I am not the agent they are looking for. If a client is looking for a Realtor who will work his butt off for him/her and doesn't care if the agent drives a 15 year old car so he can spend more money on his family then HERE I AM!

Meet the NEW RealMan Mobile

1996 Honda Odyssey

Just a note: This pic was shot today (Thanksgiving) and it was in the mid 50's. That's 20 degrees above normal for us this time of year. Note the snow here and there on the ground (it was covered a couple of days ago). Note the neighbor taking full advantage of the unusual weather by washing his car out in the street.