Of course, with the difference in prices he was able to buy a LOT of houses.  I always joke that he bought up half the town.  Maintaining and managing those homes has been a full time job ever since, but they provided him a good living.

He is about the most productive person I have ever known.  I rode with him for a day on a maintenance run of some of his properties.  He could get more done in less time than anyone I ever met.  I had a hard time keeping up with him even though I was only holding the ends of the boards.

So now he has decided it’s time to sell most of his houses.  And he is selling them one by one and doing it easily.  He knows it’s a slow market so here is how he does it.

• He makes sure the home is vacant.  These are rental properties and it is always harder to sell a property with a tenant in it than if it is vacant.  This is not necessarily true of owner occupied homes. 
• He catches up on all the maintenance.  Nothing is left half-way done.  If it needs to be fixed, he fixes it.  If it needs to be replaced, he replaces it.  He does a good job on everything and then repaints.
• He makes sure the lawns are mowed.  He and his grandson make the rounds regularly to make sure the houses look good from the outside.
• He prices them to sell.  He doesn’t have an inflated opinion of value.  He looks at all the competition and then prices his house about $10,000 below the lowest competitor. 

So his homes are in better shape, are easier to view, and are priced better than the competition. 

And guess what?  They sell…quickly.  It is rare for him to have a home on the market more than a couple weeks  Buyers look at the competition and the choice is obvious.

We could all learn a thing or two from Uncle Bill.

My Dad, Gale Van Diest, seems to take to it naturally.  He introduced my to Skype, and talks with his grandkids on Instant Messenger.  Can you believe it…he’s even on Facebook!

Now he has a blog…check it out at Gale’s Blog .

Alaska MLS inc. is a  broker owned, not Realtor owned, MLS system that has all of the Anchorage, Kenai, Kachemak, and now the Mat-Su Valley listings.  There are additional listings from many other areas of Alaska on the Alaska MLS system. 

The new place to search is the public website for the Alaska MLS.  That site is www.alaskarealestate.com .  Don’t go to MatSuMLS.com any more, it doesn’t work.

I’m still tweaking this so check it out and send me an email if you would like to see something different.  The goal is to have it simple, fast, and easy.

Please note…I don’t ask you to sign in.  Just search all you want.  I believe it’s faster and easier than the search engine on alaskarealestate.com.  If you would like to see some different choices please let me know.

Remember, I can show you any of the houses that you find on your search.   Just give me a call on my cell phone 907 232–7900.  Or send me an email.at marty@valleymarket.com .

My sister Jeannette and her husband Paco showed up from Spain with her three children and my other sister Joanne with her husband Kevin and their five children came from Washington. My Dad and Mom, Gale and Jean Van Diest also came up from Washington. 

They joined my brothers Mark and his wife Lorri, Jay and his wife Susan, along with Grace and I.  All of us Alaskans have three children each at home.  My daughter Teressa was the only one who couldn’t make it because she was working for the National Park Service in Virginia. 

We  went to Hatcher Pass, floated the Knik River with an armada of 5 canoes and 3 small boats, picked blue berries up by Gunsight Mountain, caught silver salmon in Jim Creek, went to Whittier, Valdez, and Seward, camped out in wall tents, went on a  Kenai Fjords tour, and ate…a LOT.

We told a lot of stories, and generally let all the cousins get to know each other again. 

We had a birthday party at the Matanuska River Park for my Mom and her brother Bill who were born on the same day but four years apart and heard more stories about the old days. 

Tim Berberich took family photos in Jay’s back yard.  He is a real professional who did a great job with this bunch. I would recommend him to anyone looking for a professional photographer. It’s a good thing we didn’t depend on me and my camera…I had the wrong settings for most of the reunion. 

I do like this one however.

All the while I tried to keep up with my real estate responsibilities.  Please forgive me if I have been hard to reach.  The last family just left this morning. 

Give me a call Monday, I promise I’ll be a good Realtor.

I work with my brother Jay Van Diest, also a licensed Realtor, to help people meet their real estate needs in this area.  I have been a licensed Realtor in this area since 1991, and I think Jay got his license in 1996.  We have been working together now for more than 12 years.

Jay and I work as a team.  Generally he manages the transactions by lining up engineers, title companies, paperwork and closings.  I work directly with buyers and sellers.  But our roles overlap and you can call either one of us to get answers to your questions.

Tamara Van Diest also helps out by taking photos, putting up signs, and writing palmeralaska.net