The World Equestrian Games -- Day 6?

I know, it's Friday and you've been dying for a new blog post all week and been wondering why the heck I haven't written anything.  Who would've imagined that I would have been out at the World Equestrian Games almost everyday (except Monday which was raining but a really fun day anyway -- saving that for another post).

These aren't our actual bikes, however, we \
did ride bikes out there.  THREE TIMES!!

I think I'm officially a WEG addict.  My beloved sister (aka Mere) from SC has been in town since last Friday night (and we had Isabug here over the weekend too and are now missing her soooo much) and after the kids leave for school, we keep finding ourselves at the World Equestrian Games.  Tuesday, it started as a morning bike ride activity on the new Legacy Trail.  The next thing you know, there we are credit cards in hand at the Horse Park gates buying our $25 grounds passes to the park.  It was only 10 a.m. and it did seem like a shame to ride our bikes all the way out there and not actually go in.



Pretty horses...

 Wednesday, we're back again.  This time with tickets to Grand Prix Dressage courtesy of my mom and dad who wanted to take advantage of the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to go to the World Equestrian games.  They so nicely told me to buy tickets to any event that we wanted to go to for both of my sisters and for them.  (Silly me, I should have bought the $600 tickets to the Maker's Mark Pavilion).  Dressage looked to be at the best time for our schedule and it was fantastic to watch.  In retrospect, it was the perfect contrast to the Reining Championships we went to over the weekend! 

The California Cowgirls...their show is AWESOME!

Before we even left on Wednesday, we already decided to give in to the draw of the Games and come back on Thursday.  Maybe it was the opportunity to see the California Cowgirls.  Or, the Double Dans.  There's just so much to do and so much to see.  It's absolutely irresistible!

A bit of a change up...

You might have noticed that I changed up the blog a little bit. Okay, maybe you haven't noticed because you're here for the first time but I've decided to fully embrace the fact that blogging/writing about real estate is boring. It bores me and clearly from comments (and lack of comments) I received from other people that reading about real estate bored them too. After all, if you REALLY want to read about real estate you can just pick up the newspaper (and get depressed), turn on the news (and get even more depressed) or watch HGTV (I'm going to save my comments and thoughts about HGTV for another post).


Don't think that means I'm not interested in real estate. I am. I still want to sell your house and I still want to help you buy a new one. I pay attention to market trends, I like talking about how best to stage a house, Ilove my clients and closings are really cool (Marc says they're the best part and I do like the shoes, clothes, ballet lessons, lacrosse sticks and food provided from the income) but I'm pretty sure that there are better sources for information about current market trends and how to stage your house. In fact, that would be my other website (Or, be a friend of Bluegrass Sotheby's International Realty on Facebook -- Kelley and Riley in our office post all that great stuff up there all the time.)

So, unless it's really pertinent real estate info that you won't find anywhere else or a really funny real estate story like the time I showed the house that had the Tyrannosaurus Rex mounted head, you won't find it here. From here on out, At Home in the Bluegrass is really about being at home in the Bluegrass (or about being at home in my minivan).

Sotheby's eGallery

As much as I always say that I love real estate for the people, the truth is some mornings I could stare forever at the Sotheby's eGallery houses playing in the widescreen monitor in our office lobby. In addition to beautiful Central Kentucky homes, the eGallery flashes Sotheby's listings from all over the world. Excellent fodder for the "if money were no object game" I like to play sometimes. If you had $5 million would you choose the rustic cabin home in Whitefish Montana or the Greek cliff side home over the sparkling waters of the Mediterranean. Tough call, I know! You don't have to actually stand in our lobby though (not that it's not fun to do that with a latte from the Starbucks next door) you can view the eGallery homes on-line at www.sothebysrealty.com -- click the title to access the site directly.

Real Estate is local!

Working with a lot of relocating clients, I am frequently asked "how's your real estate market in Lexington?" Of course, if every time we open the newspaper or log onto msn.com we get the bad, scary housing market news...you know, the bubble..., I don't blame people for asking.

I had the pleasure this morning to attend a speech by Dr. Lawrence Yun, the chief economist for the National Association of Realtors, for our local board of Realtors. What a insightful talk! Dr. Yun gave a great reminder that when you look at market trends you have to look locally. Comparing what's happening in the California and Florida market trends is like looking at Miami's weather to figure out what's happening in Lexington. Data for our local market, shows there isn't a bubble. The number of transactions in our local market is down, but that fact has little impact on the consumer (only on the people who make an income off the transactions like real estate agents, lenders, closing attorneys...you get the picture). For the consumer, home values are still strong and real estate remains a great investment for almost every buyer.

Dr. Yun presented a lot of great data on our Lexington real estate market vs. national trends and some specific markets like Washington D.C. As soon as his powerpoint presentation is available I'll create a link to it for you.