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dailywingnews · 21 years

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How to Make a Fake

Vase de Fleurs (Lilas) is not one of Paul Gauguin’s greatest works. It’s a “middle market” painting, which means it changes hands usually for only a few hundred thousand dollars, and without much fanfare. But in May 2000, the painting proved it could still turn heads. When Christie’s and Sotheby’s released spring catalogues for their modern-art auctions, they were alarmed to discover that each was offering the painting—and each house thought it had the original.

One of the paintings, clearly, was a fake. So the auction houses flew both paintings to Sylvie Crussard, a Gauguin expert at the Wildenstein Institute in Paris. She put them side by side and in a few minutes saw that Christie’s version was, in the delicate argot of the trade, “not right.” (The auction house just barely managed to yank its catalogue back from the printers in time.) Still, it was the best Gauguin counterfeit she’d ever seen. “This was a unique case of resemblance. You never see two works which are that similar,” Crussard marvels.

Christie’s broke the news to the horrified owners at the Gallery Muse in Tokyo, who’d had no idea it was a forgery. The real painting went back to Sotheby’s, where its owner—New York dealer Ely Sakhai—successfully auctioned it off for $310,000. But when the FBI traced the history of the fake, they discovered something even more surprising: The original source was none other than Ely Sakhai, too.

According to the FBI, Sakhai had bought the real Gauguin years earlier, cranked out a duplicate, and sold the illicit copy to a Tokyo collector. Then Sakhai brazenly put the original up for auction, in an attempt to double his profits. It was a pure fluke that the unwitting owner of the Tokyo forgery decided to resell his copy at the same time. But for that coincidence, the forgery might never have been detected.

The more the FBI pulled threads, the more fake paintings it uncovered—all Impressionists and Post-Impressionists, and all traced back to Sakhai. On March 9, agents arrested him at his gallery on Broadway south of Union Square, a storefront crammed with antiques and paintings. They charged him with eight counts of wire and mail fraud. Sakhai had allegedly been running one of the most audacious forgery scams ever—a multi-million-dollar operation that has left art experts alternately amazed by his legerdemain and stunned by his shamelessness. In each case of forgery, the complaint says, Sakhai bought a little-known painting by a modern master, faked it, and then sold both the knockoff and the real one. To keep the duplicity hidden, he allegedly sold the fakes to buyers in Asia, the real ones at New York and London auctions. In total, the scheme grossed $3.5 million, according to FBI estimates.

But what was perhaps most interesting was how well this hustle exploited—and exposed—the frailties of the art marketplace. It is a world in which surprisingly few people are willing to stick their neck out and call a fake a fake, so that even as Sakhai’s scheme racked up victims, virtually no one was willing to call him on it. The forger knew this secret of the art world: It is tolerant of frauds, so long as the victims are in far-off places like Tokyo and too humiliated to raise a fuss. As if delivering a judo move, he used the particular quirks of art dealers against them. “We’re talking about a very, very clever scheme,” a former Christie’s modern-art specialist says.

Ely Sakhai would not, at first blush, seem to be a likely international man of mystery. He flew under the radar in the city’s art scene, rarely appearing at parties or art events. Before his arrest, many New York gallery owners had never heard of him.

The dealer with the low profile emigrated 35 years ago from Iran, and quickly established himself as a successful dealer in antiquities. He became known in the Iranian-American community of Old Westbury, a wealthy Long Island suburb. In the local restaurants, Sakhai is a familiar sight, showing up with his Japanese wife and groups of Iranian art-trade friends. He’s also beloved among the area’s ultra-Orthodox Chabad Jews, not least because he paid to build the Ely Sakhai Torah Center—a modest building that houses a few classrooms, run by Rabbi Aaron Konikov, who wouldn’t comment on the charges. “There are a lot of nice stories you could tell about this man” was all he’d say.

In Sakhai’s professional life, though, the stories were rather less pleasant. In the late eighties, he began to show up regularly at Christie’s and Sotheby’s to buy Impressionist and Post-Impressionist works. He cut an unusual figure: A short man with a Clark Gable pencil-line mustache, he was a reserved figure, except for his outlandish outfits. The former Christie’s specialist remembers seeing Sakhai arriving in “cowboy boots and fringed stuff”; one dealer recalls a purple suit. Sakhai later switched to more conservative clothes, but he always carried himself like royalty. “He’d have these big, expensive rings. When you looked at him, you could tell there was money there,” says the dealer.

Though Sakhai bought famous artists like Chagall, Monet, and Laurencin, he didn’t buy their A-list art. He stuck exclusively to cheaper, lesser-known works of no more than a few hundred thousand dollars, tops. Still, “he made an impression because he bought a lot of work,” as the specialist recalls.

Soon, curious stories began to emerge—almost always from people in Tokyo who said they’d dealt with Sakhai. Flush with cash in the nineties, Tokyo companies and collectors had developed an enormous appetite for Impressionist work, and Sakhai apparently found many eager buyers in the “Tokyo bubble.” For example, the FBI says, in 1990 Sakhai bought La Nappe Mauve by Marc Chagall at a Christie’s auction, for $312,000. Three years later, he sold what appeared to be La Nappe Mauve to a Tokyo collector for $514,000. The collector resold the painting, too, and after it switched hands a few times, the new owner put it up for auction at the Galerie Koller in Zurich.

The gallery’s director, Cyril Koller, was about to put the painting on the cover of his auction catalogue when he got, he says, a funny feeling. He decided to look into its authenticity. Sakhai had originally sold the painting with an accompanying certificate issued by the Comité Chagall, a French organization that authenticates all Chagalls. Koller faxed the certificate to France for verification; it checked out. But Koller was still suspicious, so he compared the painting closely to a photograph of it on the certificate. He noticed that the brush strokes were off, and “the colors were strange, a little bit,” he recalls. It was a fake.

Koller had figured out the key element of the forger’s scheme: When he copied a painting, he took the genuine certificate of authenticity and slapped it on the duplicate—thus making it much easier to pass off. Any buyer who looked at the certificate would assume the counterfeit was real. And the original painting could be sold with confidence later on, sans certificate, since it was the genuine item. In fact, Sakhai did precisely that: In 1999, he sold the real La Nappe Mauve at Christie’s for $340,000.

The scheme had one obvious risk, of course: the existence of twin paintings. Over time, several surreal situations emerged in which two seemingly identical paintings cropped up at the same time, like models arriving at a party wearing the same “unique” designer gown. According to the FBI, Sakhai sold a forged copy of Marie Laurencin’s Jeune Fille à la Mandoline to a Tokyo buyer in 1995 for approximately $28,100 (the buyer paid by trading two paintings of combined equal value). The painting was resold a few times and then eventually consigned for auction at Christie’s in 1997—whereupon Christie’s realized that Sakhai also owned the same painting. In another case, a buyer sent to Christie’s a Marc Chagall, called Les Maries au Bouquet de Fleurs, that he had bought from Sakhai. The auctioneers initially sold it for $450,000, then realized that it was a fake; they then rescinded the sale and sent the painting back to its owner. In 1998, a buyer in Taipei reportedly paid Sakhai $80,000 for a supposed Chagall, Le Roi David Dans le Paysage Vert, as well as a Renoir. When he sent Le Roi David to the Comité Chagall for verification, the group declared it a fake—whereupon the French authorities destroyed it. Sotheby’s later discovered that the Renoir was bogus as well.

Soon, enough Asian customers had been burned that word began getting out about Sakhai. Kara Besher, owner of Maru Gallery in Tokyo, had a client who was interested in a Sakhai painting—a “large, gorgeous Modigliani, desirable year, stellar provenance”—but wanted Besher to examine it. Besher met Sakhai at Tokyo’s Imperial Hotel, where he would often conduct sales while in town. He introduced himself as a French art dealer, and Besher was alarmed to see that he’d stacked several apparently valuable paintings casually against the wall. He brought out the Modigliani. She was unimpressed.

“I am not an expert in the artist’s work,” she later wrote in an e-mail, “but the painting didn’t evidence the signs of age one would normally expect. It looked almost comically fresh and new.” (She leaned in closely to see if she could smell fresh paint, but her nose was overwhelmed by Sakhai’s cologne.) She advised her client against buying the painting. Another gallery owner, Y. Mano, also met Sakhai at the hotel, where he was shown works by Monet and Laurencin. He, too, declined: “Fake,” he says bluntly. “No good.”

In the U.S., even the auction houses were beginning to cast a suspicious eye toward Sakhai. Sure, the paintings he was selling would check out fine: They were, after all, real. But Tokyo collectors kept claiming they had the same ones. “Every time we put a painting from [Sakhai] in, we’d get a phone call from around the world saying, What are you doing with my painting?” says the former Christie’s specialist.

They began to question Sakhai more closely; Sakhai denied having anything to do with the fakes. On the contrary, he noted, he often consigned paintings to other dealers—so who knows what happened while the paintings were out of his control? The questioning didn’t seem to faze him. He was “very matter-of-fact” about it, the specialist adds: “Not aggressively defensive.”

Yet one Manhattan antiquities dealer familiar with Sakhai says he, too, noticed clues. For example, he says, Sakhai would regularly buy up old, rather worthless paintings. They’re known to be useful in forgery circles, since a forger can paint a dupe on top of the old canvas, giving the fabrication a facsimile of age. “Everybody who was selling them to him would know what he was doing with them. He wouldn’t care what the painting was,” says the dealer. “It’s been notorious.”

By the late nineties, Special Agent Jim Wynne of the FBI in New York had begun to make inquiries. The FBI will not comment on its investigation, other than to say it took “longer than a couple of years” to assemble the case. But as Wynne interviewed art dealers in New York and Tokyo, Sakhai learned that the noose was closing around him. “Mr. Sakhai has been keenly aware of the existence of this investigation … for close to five or six years at this point,” Sakhai’s lawyer, James Keneally, noted at Sakhai’s initial court appearance on March 9. Indeed, he added, Sakhai “knew beyond any doubt” that the FBI was preparing to move in and have him charged.

If it took a long time for the FBI to bring Sakhai in, observers say, it was probably because international forgery scams are notoriously complex. The FBI would have had to cooperate with police forces in several countries, hunting down dealers undoubtedly reticent to discuss how they’d been hoodwinked. Besides, the art experts are French, the collectors are Japanese, and the need to translate everything seems to have impeded the process.

At least one mystery remains: To this day, the FBI agents do not know who actually painted the forgeries. Copying of a painting is itself not illegal; it’s only when you try to sell it as authentic that it becomes fraud. Some experts say the painter is unlikely to have been American, because American art schools now rarely teach traditional oil technique. They suggest that a more likely place is China, which is flush with ultracheap labor. “The Chinese have a lot of people doing it,” says Denis Dutton, an art expert and professor at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand. Given the high quality of the Gauguin copy she saw, the Wildenstein Institute’s Sylvie Crussard thinks the painter must have been young and vigorous. “You can’t be old,” she says, “to do that.”

When news of Sakhai’s arrest reached the art world, dealers had one question: How did such a nervy scheme go undetected for so long? “What’s just phenomenal to me is that he’d sell the real [paintings] publicly,” says Warren Adelson, president of Adelson Galleries, which specializes in Impressionists. “It’s like a death wish or something. It’s like a B-movie.”

Yet the forger’s success may lie in the art world itself—and how deftly he navigated its politics. By avoiding the New York market, he ensured that he’d generate little local heat. Moreover, Japanese art buyers are particularly reliant upon certificates of authenticity; because they’re so far from Europe, Tokyo collectors do not have easy access to the experts who can spot a fake Chagall at 50 feet. As a result, “the Japanese are famous for being kind of obsessed with certificates of authenticity. They’re almost more important than the actual painting,” says Judd Tully, editor-at-large of Art & Auction. A forger who transferred a real certificate to a counterfeit could be sure that few Japanese experts would spot the deceit. What’s more, since the paintings in question were not famous, few experts would be familiar with them, making it less likely someone would notice a fake. (A Japanese buyer might fly an expert in from Paris to authenticate a $20 million painting, but not a $500,000 one.) Culture helped out, too. When Japanese dealers discover they’ve been cheated, they’re less likely to raise a fuss than European or American ones, because they feel ashamed.

But the alleged scam also relied on one unexpected fact. In the art world, crying “fake” is surprisingly difficult. One might imagine that dealers are manic about authenticity and would be quick to publicize any possible chicanery. But when million-dollar reputations are on the line, openly claiming that someone else has been suckered—or complaining that you have been—can get you slapped with a libel suit. Even when a dealer spots a clear forgery, few people are willing to burn bridges by speaking out.

In the art world, crying “fake” is surprisingly difficult. Even when a dealer spots a clear forgery, few people are willing to burn bridges by speaking out. “What’s your motivation if you see a forgery on the wall at Sotheby’s?” one New York dealer says. “What are you going to do—raise hell until they begrudgingly take it down? No. You think, Maybe I won’t mention this.” Indeed, the dealer criticizes Christie’s and Sotheby’s for doing a lackluster job of spotting the Impressionist fakes. In some cases that the FBI examined, when a collector unwittingly consigned one of the forgeries to auction, the houses blithely listed it in their catalogues—discovering the fake only after receiving puzzled phone calls from Tokyo.

As you’d expect, this sniping annoys the auction houses. “We do our best” to verify authenticity, says Christie’s spokesperson Andrée Corroon. That means not merely giving the artwork a smell test but tracking the paperwork for as many previous owners as possible. Yet even when a fake is suspected, the repercussions can be mild. Auction houses don’t consistently turn a suspected forgery over to the police; they can just send it back to the owner. If the owner doesn’t want it, the auction house sometimes keeps the painting, taking it out of circulation, according to Corroon. And, as observers point out, the sheer economics of the business means that auction houses can’t afford to lavish days on the history of each “middle market” work that brings in only a small commission. “If it’s not a $5 million picture, it’s not the bread and butter,” Tully says. By sticking to lesser-known paintings, the forgery scheme neatly leveraged this market reality.

It is also likely that a plot of this sort could never work again. When the forging scheme began, it was the early nineties, and communication between the U.S. and Asia was much slower. A decade later, when every auction incorporated online bidding and most galleries had Websites, victims could quickly figure out the scam’s central flaw: that a single painting was in two places at once. “Maybe he was sort of living in the past,” muses one New York dealer. “Today, with the Internet, people get the message really, really quickly. It was an astonishing story.” For a forger to pull off a similar scheme today, he’d have to avoid the auction houses altogether, and do everything extremely quietly, through private dealers. Or, like a few great forgers of the past, he’d need to invent “lost” works from scratch, in the style of great artists, with no originals to trip things up—requiring the rare, talented painter who can pull it off.

As for Sakhai himself, he’s still out on bail, and still drives in from Long Island to visit his Manhattan gallery. Customers still come by to assess nineteenth-century candelabra, Victorian vases, the paintings that crowd the walls. But Sakhai isn’t talking; at one point, he calls up to explain, quietly and politely, that it wouldn’t be in his interest. “To be honest, I wanted to come and talk to you,” he says, “but my lawyer advised me don’t. I wish I could.” And then, muttering a quick thank-you, he hangs up.

#news #breaking news #viral #video

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art-news · 20 years

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How to Make a Fake

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sellmyhousefastforcashinfo · 2 years

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10 tips to sell your home for more money

Although it may be easier to sell your home in a seller's market, you should still put effort into making your home look presentable and valuable to potential buyers. There are a few key steps you can take to increase the asking price of your home, from working with an experienced real estate agent to making simple renovations and improvements. By taking these measures, you will be able to sell your home for more money and in a shorter time frame. If you're looking to increase the odds of selling your home and making top dollar, experts say utilizing these 10 tips will help separate you from the competition.

1. Find a trusted real estate agent

If you want to sell your home fast and for top dollar, working with an experienced real estate agent is key. According to the National Association of Realtors, in 2021 homes that were sold without the help of a professional agent had a median price of only $260,000. Whereas, homes that did have an agent sold at much higher rates, with a median price tag of $318,000. When choosing someone to represent you during this process, be sure interview multiple candidates so you can find someone alignment with who could make this experience as seamless as possible for all parties involved.

2. Invest in value-adding improvements

It's tough to decide which home improvements are worth the money, but thankfully there is data to help make the decision easier. According to Remodeling magazine, garage door replacements have the highest ROI of any other project, averaging just under 94%. If you're looking to invest in your home, consider upgrading your kitchen says Realtor Jade Lee-Duffy of TXR Homes in San Diego, California. “The heart of the home is the kitchen, and many buyers will judge a property by its kitchen,” she says. “While a complete overhaul of this space can run into the tens of thousands, a minor update is where you can gain the greatest return. Think about resurfacing cabinets, replacing countertops, a fresh coat of paint or updating the fixtures and hardware.” According to Katie Severance, a Realtor with Douglas Elliman in Palm Beach, Florida, renovating a bathroom is another smart investment. “Renovated kitchens and baths are the ‘money rooms’ — those that add the most value to a home,” she says.

3. Up your curb appeal

Curb appeal is important because it's your chance to make a good first impression.“Make sure your front yard is free of debris, the bushes are pruned and the grass has been cut,” says Lee-Duffy. “Also, add some bright potted plants by the front door to make buyers feel welcome.” Severance says that some easy updates that can really help improve your home's curb appeal include touching up the exterior paint, adding window flower boxes, and installing a new mailbox. “Adding rich-looking mulch around shrubs and trees can really bring out the charm,” she adds.

4. Get a pre-listing inspection

Another step to think about when you're preparing to sell your home is getting a professional inspection. “You don’t want any unexpected surprises,” says Lee-Duffy. “It’s best to find out beforehand if there are any issues that you can fix before buyers find out on their own.” That would give them the advantage in negotiations for a lower price, or--in a worse case scenario--a way to back out of the deal. So it may be worth spending a few hundred dollars to put your mind at ease. There is, however, a downside to a pre-listing inspection. “Beware, because once a seller becomes aware of an existing defect and does not correct it prior to listing, they are obligated to disclose it to a buyer,” says Severance. “Defects that a buyer learns were known but not disclosed, prior to accepting an offer, can kill the deal.”

5. Highlight the positive with professional photos

Investing in professional photography can help increase your home's resale value. “The majority of people search for properties online,” says Lee-Duffy. “If the photos pop, it can translate into a higher sales price — and sell faster, too.” There are some things you may want to keep to yourself when listing your home online. “I advise against photographing every square foot of the home,” says Severance. “The goal of photographs is not to give all the goodies away online; it’s to make a buyer want to see more — to whet their whistle enough to entice them to see it in person. If they don’t come see the house, they probably aren’t making an offer.”

6. Stage your home

Severance believes that two guidelines should be followed when staging a home: using less décor and maintaining a neutral color scheme. “It’s very important to capture buyers’ interest from the front door,” she says. “Pay extra attention to the entry hall and invest heavily in staging this part of the house. Repaint; place flowers; buy a new area rug, an impressive mirror or a dramatic piece of art.” Declutter your home to make it appear bigger and more open. This means removing large pieces of furniture, getting rid of visual distractions, and minimizing the number of appliances on counters. “And don’t forget to stage the deck or patio, because that is an extension of the house that can make a small home feel much larger than it is,” Severance adds. If you want to increase your home's value by improving its staging, then you have two options: do it yourself or hire a professional. On average, hiring a pro will cost about $1,728.

7. Set the right asking price

If you want to sell your home, setting the right price is key. A fair asking price will result in more buyers scheduling a viewing. “Setting the price too high can be detrimental and prevent buyers from walking through your front door,” says Lee-Duffy. “If you want to be conservative, always price on the lower end to entice maximum buyer interest.” It can be tricky to find the sweet spot of pricing for profit yet not overpricing, but that is where an experienced agent's expertise comes in handy. They will know your house's true value and how much you could potentially make from the sale. “Good pricing requires the expertise to thread the needle,” says Severance. “List at a number that is lower than comparable properties, in order to draw attention to it, but not so low that you will be disappointed if you only get one offer right at list price.” If you can manage to interest enough buyers, you may be able to start a bidding war.

8. Remove personal items

“The goal of any showing is for the buyer to envision their own belongings in the space,” says Severance. Therefore, even though family photos and other mementos might seem like they don't affect how much money your home sells for, they really do matter — especially if you're still living in the house while trying to sell it. “Buyers are thinking of their own furniture, where it will go and how it will fit. It’s the house they came to see, not the items inside of it,” she says. If potential buyers are too busy focused on personal items in the space, then they won't be able to see themselves living there and making an offer.

9. Be ready to move fast

By preparing in advance, you will be able to more quickly respond when your property is listed and offers start rolling in. “Fill out all the necessary documents, such as any seller disclosures, and have paperwork for recent repair work, home renovation costs and utility bills on-hand for any buyer requests that come in,” says Lee-Duffy. Sellers who are slow in reaction time or unresponsive can lose buyers, adds Severance. “If the buyer feels that they are not being dealt with fairly, they are very likely to walk away,” she says.

10. Use your head, not your heart

Lastly, try to see things clearly and without emotion — your home is now a product for sale, not just "home." Be aware of what you would be willing to concede if buyers made requests. It's not uncommon for visitors to ask for repairs or credits, but as the seller it's easy to get offended. “It’s important to take emotion out of it and remember that the buyer usually doesn’t expect to get everything they ask for,” says Severance. “Take a closer look at which requests are valid and fair, and offer something. The cost to you is not in giving the concession — it’s the expense of losing the buyer, putting the property back on the market, starting all over again and getting a potentially lower offer.”

#california #sell my house fast for cash #we buy houses

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sellmyhousefastlosangelesca · 2 years

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Thinking about selling your home? This may be the time

Now that the housing market is beginning to cool, there are some early indications that it may be shifting into a new gravitational pull. For people wanting to sell their homes as quickly as possible, this is the moment. Yet, homeowners are still not listing their homes according to Jeff Tucker, the senior economist at Zillow. While the inventory of homes for sale has risen this spring, he clarified that it is because buyers are backing out rather than a slew of new houses being available. Sell My House Fast Los Angeles CA "Sellers don't seem to be particularly incentivized by these higher prices, or even about how April and May is the best time to list the house for a quick sale that gets a high price premium," Tucker said. The main reason that homeowners aren't flocking to the market to cash in, he said, is simply because they still need a place to live. "They worry, quite reasonably, that they would need to pay a lot to find another place as good or better." "Wait for the right time" is a common refrain among would-be sellers, according to Tracey Murray Kupferberg, an agent with Douglas Elliman in Long Island, New York. "A lot of people are saying, 'Am I making a mistake in waiting because I'm never going to get that dream price again?' There is this fear they might miss the peak," Kupferberg said. But there is reason to believe that peak could be now.

The market is showing signs of slowing down.

Although it is never possible to know the future with certainty, many experts believe that home prices will reach their highest point this quarter. "It is likely the pace of price appreciation will peak sometime this quarter, either in April, May or June," said Tucker. "That will be the high water mark for annual pace of appreciation, then it will decelerate." There are several signs that the housing market is cooling down. Mortgage rates have increased significantly this year, and they are expected to keep rising. This makes it more expensive to finance a home, which reduces buyers' purchasing power. If buyers can't afford a house that meets their needs, they may give up and look elsewhere. This can lead to less competition and some price easing in the housing market. According to the National Association of Realtors, there have also been five consecutive quarters of declines in pending home sales, as well as a decrease in new single-family home sales. That indicates that fewer people are ready or able to buy. According to Realtor.com, the share of advertised properties with price reductions has been rising over the past two months. According to Attom, a real estate data company, the average profit made by selling a median-priced single-family home dipped in the first quarter. While margins often take a hit during winter's slower months, this latest decline marked not only the first since the fourth quarter of 2019 but also saw bigger losses than any other quarterly drop since 2011. "Some sellers really made out over the past two years," said Kupferberg. "Some buyers did, too. It was a win-win then, with rising prices and really low mortgage rates. Now it is different." She said sellers can often be slow to recalibrate after the market shifts, still expecting their home will sell in days with manic bidding wars. "Prices are going to top out," she said. "Then it takes a while for sellers to realize they have to lower their price. This pool of buyers can't afford the home because the cost of borrowing has gone up." Lotte Vonk was on the fence about selling her house because she wasn't sure where her family would go. Because when her second child arrives in a few months, room in her suburban Chicago townhouse will be more limited. However, she couldn't discover many homes for sale that appeared to be a good fit, as well as home costs and mortgage rates just continued to rise. Nonetheless, like many other would-be vendors, she knew that if they didn't sell soon, they would miss out on the greatest offer for their property. "We were very aware of the rising interest rates," she said. "We were thinking we should sell this house and buy now, or renovate so we can stay." Even as they considered expanding the three-bedroom townhouse where they live with their toddler, a dog, and a cat, they still eyed new listings on the market. Earlier this month they found the perfect five-bedroom house in a nearby suburb. Once their bid was accepted, They had one week to put their home on the market. They couldn't afford to carry both homes for long, so The offer to buy stated that the new home was contingent on the sale of the current home by mid-May.

#sell my home fast los angeles #sell my house fast los angeles ca #sell house fast los angeles

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theemperorsfeather · 2 years

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I was expecting to hear something from my real estate agent on Monday, cause that was the official closing date, but I didn't, and alternated between worrying that something had gone Horribly Wrong and believing that if something HAD then someone would definitely have been in touch, and so I didn't bother contacting her to ask.

Today I finally got over my various anxieties and texted her and she said she -did- text me Monday, but she was out of town and her service may not have been all that great (Monday I was also in the process of setting up my new phone, so it's possible the problem was on my end), and everything is fine.

Which is certainly great! everything is fine! but I was also expecting her to tell me about the last important step: how to pick up the keys. I feel like I shouldn't need to um ask this, you know?? Especially since it's been known for about 2 months that the sellers would be staying in the house for 10 days past closing so the usual "sign and get the keys on the spot" process wasn't going to be possible.

#god dammit #angst and woe #she has not been the greatest buyer's agent #not terrible but #there've been a number of things where i read something online and thought #shouldn't my agent have informed me of this?

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tabloidtoc · 4 years

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National Enquirer, November 16

You can buy a copy of this issue for your very own at my eBay store: https://www.ebay.com/str/bradentonbooks

Cover: Jeffrey Epstein’s madam Ghislaine Maxwell’s nights with Prince Andrew and teen Virginia Roberts Giuffre

Page 2: Brad Pitt kicked married galpal Nicole Poturalski to the curb after getting flak from his ex Angelina Jolie -- Brad’s relationship with Nicole hit the skids after Brad decided he needed to shore up his image during his ongoing custody battle with Angie and his focus right now is to get his dad image back on track and give Angie no more ammo to fling back at him

Page 3: Tiger Woods’ romance with Erica Herman has gone off course over legal troubles and wedding pressure and bickering over where to live and Tiger is so fed up he’s considering ditching his nagging girlfriend in Florida and moving back to his native California -- Erica’s been pressuring him to put a ring on it ever since she moved into his Jupiter Island mansion and that’s something he just won’t do and she’s already taken over his household buying new furniture and remodeling the master bath and building a new closet and hiring a gourmet chef -- California is looking better and better to Tiger who only moved to Florida to play on its tough Bermuda grass which helped improve his swing but now Tiger’s ex Elin lives in Florida with their two kids

Page 4: Miranda Lambert is scoffing at ex Blake Shelton’s newly announced engagement to Gwen Stefani and she’s convinced Blake’s third walk down the aisle has failure written all over it because she thinks Blake’s bad to the bone and this marriage will wind up being a total disaster and after the hell Blake put her through Miranda can’t imagine his life with Gwen would be any different, lifelong bachelor Simon Cowell has had a change of heart since his horrific August accident and he’s finally ready to tie the knot with baby mama Lauren Silverman -- after spinal surgery to repair his broken back the entertainment mogul feels lucky to be alive and walking and the one constant in his difficult rehab after surgery has been Lauren and he wants to pay her back with a ring

Page 5: Train-wreck Wendy Williams’ wacky behavior has TV producers scrambling behind the scenes to find her replacement after her unhinged performance on a recent episode of her talk show where she slurred her words and rambled incoherently -- there had been a hope a chatfest helmed by Nick Cannon could be a safety net should the daytime diva who spent a stint in a sober living house last year not be able to continue hosting but plans for that were pushed back after the comic made anti-Semitic rants in a podcast -- they also tried Jerry O’Connell when Wendy was out for three weeks last year but he tanked with viewers -- Wendy’s a mess and it remains to be seen how long producers will be able to put up with her problems before they decide to pull the plug

Page 6: Grey’s Anatomy star Ellen Pompeo hinted that she may be making her final rounds -- Ellen who has starred on the show since 2005 and makes $20 million a year admitted she’s considering slipping out of her scrubs after the current season 17 but her departure could spell the end of the beloved series and show creator Shonda Rhimes has said it’s unlikely the show could continue without her but Ellen has also expressed her desire to spend more time with her husband and their three children

Page 7: Mariah Carey’s brother Morgan blasted her memoir as filled with lies and distortions and he’s considering legal action -- the book called Morgan and sister Alison her ex-brother and ex-sister and Mariah wrote Morgan had a long history of violence and when she was six he slammed their mother into a wall -- Mariah also wrote her siblings and mother were heartless in terms of dealing with her as a human being and once she got famous they started treating her like an ATM with a wig on but Morgan is fighting back and looking to hire a lawyer

Page 8: Reese Witherspoon’s marriage to Jim Toth is in the muck after the stunning collapse of his new business venture and tensions are mounting in the Hollywood power couple’s already troubled union now that the streaming service Quibi crumbled after less than six months leaving content acquisition president Jim out of work while Reese’s star continues to rise and there’s a real balance of power that’s been building up and that’s put a serious strain on the relationship -- living in quarantine added to the stress between them as Reese has been holed up with her two kids with ex Ryan Phillippe Ava and Deacon and her son Tennessee with Jim at the family’s ranch in Malibu

Page 9: Dementia patient Kenny Rogers cut his three adult children out of his $250 million will and now sources fear the late country legend could have been tricked into signing the document -- Kenny left everything to his 16-year-old twins sons with fifth wife Wanda and the will also stated it was his intent to specifically exclude his daughter Carole with his first wife and son Kenny Jr. with third wife and son Christopher with fourth wife and their issue as beneficiaries of his estate -- Kenny Sr. would never disown his own children according to the source especially since the singer’s son Kenny Jr. is incorrectly referred to Kenny Rogers III throughout the will -- the wording is not like Kenny Sr. and something is not right and his older kids are thinking about contesting the will

Page 10: Hot Shots -- Kate McKinnon shot a Saturday Night live skit in NYC, Sophia Bush hit the road in L.A. with her co-pilot pup Maggie, pregnant Jinger Duggar Vuolo in Venice with daughter Felicity, Heidi Klum walking the streets in her native Germany, Snoop Dogg saluted young rappers as he accepted BET’s I Am Hip Hop award

Page 11: Unwitting Jennifer Aniston and Gerard Butler once dabbled in the secret sex cult NXIVM -- the organization masqueraded as a self-help group but in 2017 it was exposed as a pyramid scheme for founder Keith Raniere who forced high-ranking female recruits to become his sex slaves -- in 2010 Jen and Gerry who were dating at the time wound up at one of the introductory seminars but they were turned off by the level of commitment expected and never returned -- they thought it was just a networking opportunity and had no idea what they were getting themselves into, cash-crunched Gwyneth Paltrow is facing hard times like everyone else and is looking to change her free-spending ways -- the belt-tightening caused by the coronavirus pandemic has even hit her lifestyle empire Goop causing her to shut down the London branch and make hard choices for the future -- Gwyneth may be worth $100 million but she and husband Brad Falchuk spend money like it’s going out of style on private jets they use on a whim and they own a fleet of fancy cars and pay steep salaries for staff who are at their beck and call 24/7 and it’s all draining their bank accounts -- they’re looking at making cuts across the board from personal trainers and chefs and drivers to the masseurs and beauticians who come to their house several times a week -- plus the couple believe it’s a bad look for them to be living so high on the hog when the rest of the world is suffering during the pandemic

Page 12: Straight Shuter -- Angelina Jolie spent years developing her own version of the Hollywood classic Cleopatra and now she’s livid that Gal Gadot has stolen the Egyptian queen -- Angie’s dream was to play Cleopatra the role that made Elizabeth Taylor an icon and it was to be the part that won Angie an Academy Award for Best Actress and now that’s over thanks to Gal who will be playing the Queen of the Nile instead, after ABC scrapped plans to honor Regis Philbin with a prime-time tribute Jimmy Kimmel insisted on honoring Regis on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, MSNBC talking head Rachel Maddow is fleeing New York for her Massachusetts farm after hanging a $2.3 million price tag on her NYC pad but Rachel didn’t want potential buyers looking through all the personal stuff at her apartment so all the personal pictures and books and clothing and everything else was shipped out and replaced with staged furniture, Ariel Winter and her dog (picture)

Page 13: Ailing Joni Mitchell opened up about how she’s still struggling to get back to her old self five years after a debilitating brain bleed -- after Joni was found unresponsive in her Bel-Air home in 2015 she said she was forced to relearn everyday tasks because the aneurysm took away her speech and her ability to walk and although she’s showing slow improvement she hasn’t been writing or playing the guitar or the piano, Randy Travis is defying all the odds as he plans the greatest comeback in country music history as he is making amazing progress after suffering a massive 2013 stroke that most believed would end his career forever and he was given just 1% chance of survival and even after he pulled through doctors believed he would be bedridden and unable to speak -- instead his grueling rehab efforts have miraculously put him on the road to realizing his dream of returning to the spotlight -- some of his motivation is financial; last year he sold his Nashville home and released his memoir which was fueled by his need to pay medical expenses after years of not being able to perform

Page 14: Hollywood Hookups -- Channing Tatum and Jessie J have split again, Cole Sprouse and Reina Silva dating, Kate Beckinsale and Goody Grace split

Page 15: Ariana Grande is raising eyebrows with her raunchy new record Positions -- the former squeaky-clean Nickelodeon star who has been dating real estate agent Dalton Gomez spouted off X-rated odes to an unnamed lover on the LP, six months after sidelining her marriage to former quarterback Jay Cutler Kristin Cavallari admitted there are good days and bad days but insisted it’s been nice to be able to focus on herself and figure out who she is now and what she ultimately wants out of life, hotel heiress Kathy Hilton is joining The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills as a friend of the main cast which includes her half-sister Kyle Richards

Page 16: Crime

Page 17: On Drew Barrymore’s talk show a psychic guest channeled the spirit of one of the host’s former in-laws but the man in question is very much alive -- medium Anna Raimondi told Drew she sensed the aura of a judge causing Drew to burst into tears and named David a relative of her ex-husband Will Kopelman claiming he’d passed but Judge David Kopelman is alive and still going strong -- Will slammed Anna was a submental hack and said he was surprised that Drew chose to give oxygen to someone like that

Page 18: American Life

Page 20: Cover Story -- Prince Andrew is desperate to quash explosive testimony by his pedophile pal Jeffrey Epstein’s accused madam Ghislaine Maxwell but the socialite’s second secret deposition is torpedoing his return from royal exile -- after Ghislaine danced around details of her relationship with the disgraced Duke of York in testimony released a few weeks ago Andrew is sweating bullets about her second grilling under oath which contains details of their intimate friendship and nights with Epstein’s teen sex slave Virginia Roberts Giuffre

Page 22: Don McLean viciously slammed ex-wife Patrisha Shnier as the worst person her ever knew but in their ongoing war of words she maintains he was abusive to her -- Don is still bitter over a 2016 domestic incident at their home in Maine that landed him behind bars and led to divorce after 30 years of marriage

Page 26: Matthew McConaughey confessed he nearly turned his back on Tinseltown to be a wildlife guide like late Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin -- he made a splash in a string of blockbuster rom-coms in the ‘90s and ‘00s but he was eager to move on to meatier movies and even passed on a $14.5 million paycheck in 2010 to seek more substantial roles and the struggle left him considering other careers such as a wildlife guide, Jamie Foxx has been crushed by the death of his beloved sister DeOndra Dixon who was born with Down syndrome

Page 28: Good Catch -- Bachelor stars who are still up for grabs -- Jon Hamm, Owen Wilson, Drew Carey

Page 29: Benicio Del Toro, Ryan Seacrest, Matthew Perry, some stars seem to say I do at the drop of the hat -- Larry King, Jerry Lee Lewis, Billy Bob Thornton

Page 32: Olivia Munn was caught on camera flashing what looked like engagement bling on her left ring finger as she exited a gym following a morning workout in Los Angeles but she reportedly broke up with boyfriend Tucker Roberts last year leaving fans wondering who bought the stunning sparkler

Page 36: Health Watch

Page 42: Red Carpet -- Michelle Pfeiffer

Page 45: Spot the Differences -- Allison Janney on Mom

Page 47: Odd List

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areylapierce · 4 years

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Real Estate Broker's Guide For Retirement Planning (Part 3 of 3)

Both the most common ways to use SDIRAs in real estate are: (1) Purchase an investment property (2) Fund a real residence loan Purchase of an investment property: A real estate agent listed the REO fourplex that was in pretty bad condition. The proprietor prior to the lender getting it back from the foreclosure proceedings cleared the property, did no repairs or maintenance, just received the rents from the tenants as long as he could. Gradually two of the tenants moved out because of the poor problems and the other two quit paying rent because they discovered the owner was going to lose the property to foreclosure. They labeled the owner's bluff and quit paying and the operator disappeared from sight. About 12 months after the find of default was filed the lender now owned the house and property and listed it with a local real estate agent. The professional upon listing the property gave the two remaining tenants "cash for keys" and both tenants packed up and even vacated their units. The property was now 100% vacant. A Buyer's agent had the perfect buyer for it. He previously been working with John for a couple of years. John was self-employed owner of a computer company. John couldn't fix anything but his childhood friend was a general contractor and was able to do all the needed work on John's previously acquired real estate. John did have experience owning rental properties, that were bought in similar condition to the fourplex. After a period John had taken advantage of the opportunity to set up an IRA not to mention always contributed the maximum to it. John was not aware that she could use his IRA to invest in real estate, something he recognized and loved being involved in. John had been very happy with his IRA investments by investing in mutual funds which will had performed real well. When his knowledgeable real estate professional shared with him that he could set up a Self Instructed IRA and invest in real estate, he knew this was a really perfect situation for him. He contacted one of the Custodians out of your list I provided and completed the paperwork the fact that enabled the new Custodian to have his existing IRA folded over into a SDIRA. His timing was perfect, 8 weeks later the stock market did its meltdown. John got $177, 000. 00 now sitting in his SDIRA in which to invest in real estate. John and his agent happen to be very selective; they didn't jump at any put up. They waited over a year until the right deal arrived. A deal that John could use his skills to maximise his return on investment. The property was listed for $275, 000. John and his agent knew that this fourplex received sold for $200, 000 more than the list rate three years earlier. John's agent presented an offer for the purpose of full price the first day it hit the market. John had previously been preapproved for a 55% loan to value non- recourse loan with the bank that he had been doing business with for years. The next SDIRA the loan has to be non-recourse so don't expect to have any loan to be more than 65-70% loan to importance. Don't forget that the law requires the property to be the only collateral. There can be no personal guarantee which allows the lender to come after the SDIRA holder in event of foreclosure. John had believed the rehab of the property would be at least $15, 000 with a worst case cost of $20, 000. On his proposal he used the worst case determine knowing that with a $125, 000 down payment and $5, 000 closing costs he would still have $27, 000 placed in his SDIRA. The remaining funds could be used for sustaining costs as he was rehabbing the property and screening process for good tenants. John's contractor friend estimated that he would've the property in A+ condition within a month. Within with three months John with the help of his real estate agent had four quality tenants each renting a unit at $850/month. John will now be receiving in excess of $1, 200 per month that is going into his particular SDIRA. Monthly Operating Statement: $3, 400. 00-Monthly rental prices of $850. 00 X 4 units -$200. 00-6% allowance for vacancy -$1, 000. 00-30% operating prices. John's agent does management -$900. 00--$150, 000 nonrecourse loan for 30 years at 6% interest Bottom-line is $1, 200. 00+ per month is going into John's SDIRA. Each month the management company sends the Custodian a check, John never handles any of the funds. John's SDIRA is only earning 8% per year, but John has recently turned down two offers in excess of $370, 000 to sell his / her A+ fourplex which is one of the most desired properties in town. The things excites John the most is that if he decides selling the property he doesn't have to do a 1031 Exchange towards defer taxes. The sale proceeds will go directly into his or her SDIRA and will be deferred until he starts withdrawing dollars after he turns 59 1/2. John's real estate agent seems to have shared John's success story with a couple of his pre-existing clients as well as three solid referrals who would like to form a small business group with John for future projects. Some of the investment decision funds will be from SDIRAs and some will not be. Properly put in place this is allowable. They have a couple exciting possibilities that they are building offers on. Fund a real estate loan: This is the most popular area of SDIRAs. I started arranging private investor fiscal loans in 1997 and was given the opportunity to see the power in controlling your retirement through SDIRAs. As I started appointment private individual investors and I brought potential borrowing products to them I was amazed that many of them had huge amounts of money to fund real estate loans. Often when it came moments to vest the loans (the beneficiary name on the loan) it was vested in part or in whole in a SDIRA. Gradually as I developed my investor relationships I enjoyed the particular investor's stories of their financial successes. Many of the investors began having their SDIRA invest in real estate loans back in typically the 1970's. When they originally started they were usually buying supplier carry back notes at a discount. Eventually that developed to broker arranged real estate loans as the laws transformed in the early 1980's. Broker arranged loans created enable you to be in compliance with usury laws. Of course they however bought discounted carry back notes as the opportunities came out. The broker arranged loans were the type of loans i was presenting to them. They typically were a loan who for various reasons needed to be funded by a private dollars source. Loans where: (1) Borrower had lots of collateral and needed quick loan (2) Borrower was in property foreclosure (3) Borrower has an unusual type property (4) Debtor had poor credit (5) Borrower needed funds pertaining to tenant improvements to lease out the property The record was endless with reasons borrowers needed a private real estate investor funded loan. It was very challenging and exciting to arrange these loans. The guidelines on the loans were often one of a kind to the particular situation, but the loan to value highly seldom changed: Single family owner occupied 70% Greatest loan to value Single family non owner engaged 65% Maximum loan to value Commercial 60% The most loan to value Industrial 55% Maximum loan in order to value Land 35% Maximum loan to value Keep in mind certain situations dictated higher or lower loan to make sure you values. As an example a residence in Newport Beach, FLORIDA would definitely generate a higher comfort level and higher loan for you to value than a house in a less desirable part of Southern region Central Los Angeles. Every loan would have its own pluses and minuses which will factor into the rate/terms and loan amounts. The up to date passing of the SAFE Act in 2008 has had the effects of inspiring many new laws on both the talk about and federal level that have a great impact on single family group loans. That is why it so important to do business with professionals. Manage people who know the laws, are members of the good industry professional groups such as California Mortgage Association on California, have experience and a proven track record. The last part of the world you need is a real estate loan that violates legal issues. Recently my company had a loan request for a stockroom building brought to us. The building was free and also clear in a nice industrial section of Southern California. The actual owners of the building had recently inherited it plus were not in need of a large amount of cash, which in this case the buyer/borrower didn't have. The owner was willing to carry back a second trust deed if the buyer/borrower could arrange a loan. Any buyer/borrower had very poor credit due to the rapid expansion regarding his business and the constant need for cash that he wasn't paying back on time. The buyer/borrower had been turned down by each lending institution in town. Frustrated because the building would be perfect for the expanding business and with the possibility that the seller would be willing to assist with the financing this was an opportunity that he couldn't lose. The particular sales price was $1, 700, 000 which was a very fair price, but as always we instructed an appraisal from an appraiser who specialized through this type of property. There is too much at stake to guess within the value of a property. The potential liability in occasion of something going wrong with the loan later on caused by an "inflated value" presented to us by sometimes the borrower or mortgage broker is a very high price paying. We also required an environmental report due to the types of property. Don't skip any steps, do your sufficient research. The appraisal did come in at the $1, 700, 000 sale price. We agreed to make a loan for $1, 000, 000, which was about 60% loan to worth. My investors were happy to get 10. 25% regular monthly interest only payments for five years with a couple of year prepayment penalty. My investors were very risk-free with a 1st trust deed on a nice warehouse at a fairly decent area of Southern California. The buyer/borrower was basically very happy because he was able to acquire a great property just for his growing business without expending valuable cash reserves. He was well aware with his poor credit as well as need to get a stronger financial statement it was going to possibly be at least two years before he was going to a bank loan. Owner of the property was also very pleased because they received the million dollars and a monthly payment check from the $700, 000 second trust deed that they carried back from new buyer. 100% financing didn't provide the needed protection for the dealer of the property. They also got a personal guarantee from patron as well as cross collateral on another property owned by your buyer. Privately funded real estate loans are an important area of real estate financing, especially in today's tight real estate finance current market. Through your SDIRA you can participate in them. I can take note of you thinking, "I don't have that kind of money to advance loans". I don't either, yet my investors as well as I would do these loans. You are allowed to pool your own SDIRA (or other investment funds) with other buyers to make loans. Often this is accomplished with a loan group or with a private money lender that is skilled within grouping investors together. The group of investors would receive title to the loan as "tenants in common" and possess an undivided interest per their percentage of the home loan. It wasn't uncommon to have six to eight investors on one payday loan. By the use of grouping investors together to fund a loan I been given a statement today for my share of a $150, 000 loan that goes into my SDIRA. I did the loan with two other investors six years ago. Typically the loan amount of $150, 000 is secured by a $650, 000 lovely single family vacation home(non owner occupied) from a great part of Southern California. The loan pays 12% interest and the monthly payment from the borrower always arrives promptly. 12% sure beats the wild swings of the stock game lately. You that are familiar with the Rule of seventy two know that 12% will double your investment in half dozen years. Take this opportunity to use your real estate proficiency or the skills of a real estate professional to take control of this future. Use SDIRAs to create an abundant retirement for you additionally your family.

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verdiprati · 5 years

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Looking Ahead

[NOTE: this post is now out of date. Check the schedule tag on my blog for the most recent version of this list.]

Hello, Tumblr friends.

I have been, for a while now, hesitating to continue my customary series of posts chronicling the future public performance plans of my favorite singer, Dame Sarah Connolly.

I have decided to keep compiling and updating the list, but I also want to share some of my thoughts on the matter. Discussion, followed by list of performances, after the jump.

As you will probably have heard by now, Dame Sarah announced in July that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer and would have to withdraw from certain performances while undergoing treatment. She also expressed at the time a hope to fulfill all her other concert and recording commitments.

In the weeks since that announcement, Dame Sarah has made a few further alterations to her performing schedule while also maintaining some scheduled appearances: I myself heard her sing beautifully at concerts in Exeter and London earlier this month. A recent blog post by Jessica Duchen, written after that London concert, mentions that Dame Sarah now faces “a new journey, through chemotherapy.” Chemo protocols and how well individuals tolerate them can be really variable; the soprano Erin Wall has written about how she managed to keep performing between chemo treatments, but chemo can bring on a host of side effects that can make it extremely difficult to carry on one’s normal activities for the duration of treatment, which may take months. (Frankly, just reading that list from the American Cancer Society makes me feel sympathetically ill.)

I am sure you can see the delicacy of maintaining a public list of Dame Sarah’s scheduled performances. There is a lot that Dame Sarah herself probably does not know yet about her own treatment experience and how it will affect her availability (and desire) for work, and we the public may not know whether she is going ahead with any given engagement until relatively late.

I do not want to prematurely write off the next several months of Dame Sarah’s work, and I would still encourage anyone who lives near one of her performance venues to consider buying a ticket. It is a bit of a gamble, but if you can afford the risk of disappointment, go ahead and give yourself the possibility of hearing this wonderful singer.

At the same time, I think ticket buyers for whom Dame Sarah’s participation would be essential to the enjoyment of a concert should be aware that the likelihood of her withdrawal for health reasons is higher than usual in the next several months. What I provide below is the best information available through public channels; I’ll make an effort to update the list if and when I learn of any changes, but editing this list is not exactly my full-time job, and if there is a performance date that you care about, I would urge you to monitor the sponsor’s website and social media feeds for yourself.

Finally, and most delicately, although I consider this blog to be a fairly obscure corner of the internet, I would not want to embarrass Dame Sarah or damage her future employability by chronicling cancellations that might arise from her illness. No singer really wants to be associated with a record of frequent cancellations, however good the reasons for them might be. This consideration has been my greatest point of hesitation. I have, however, concluded that: (a) the circumstance of her illness is already well known in the industry, by her choice; (b) I really hope prospective employers will be understanding of her current circumstances and optimistic about her post-treatment future onstage; ( c ) I am only compiling information that is publicly available elsewhere; and (d) the intended audience for this list is fellow fans who, like me, want to keep tabs on possible opportunities to hear Dame Sarah perform live.

So. Here is the latest edition of my list:

Upcoming Performances by Dame Sarah Connolly

Those of you in Britain might catch a performance in London, Cheltenham, Chipping Campden, or Buxton. Those on the Continent might see Dame Sarah in Madrid, Barcelona, Paris, Amsterdam, Vienna, Hamburg, Köln, Rotterdam, Basel, or Vilabertran. An as-yet-unconfirmed performance may be on the horizon in New York.

The usual disclaimers:

This is not an authoritative list. These are the upcoming performances by Dame Sarah Connolly that I have been able to learn about from Dame Sarah’s new website, Dame Sarah’s agent's website (Askonas Holt), Operabase, Bachtrack, Dame Sarah's Twitter, and generally ferreting around the web.

I sometimes list concerts that are not yet officially confirmed; you should of course check official sources before making plans and be aware that cast changes and cancellations can happen at any time.

I have added links to venue, ticketing, and broadcast information where available. Tips on new information are always welcome! Please contact me via email (verdiprati [at] selveamene [dot] com), Tumblr messaging, or ask box (plain prose only in the ask box; anything with links or an email address will get eaten by Tumblr filters) with corrections or additions.

Recital with Julius Drake at Temple Church, London, November 25, 2019. The repertoire includes Robert Schumann’s Frauenliebe und -leben, Gedichte der Königin Maria Stuart, Judith Bingham’s Adieu Solace, and “songs by Alma and Gustav Mahler.” The Judith Bingham piece is apparently based on the life of Mary Queen of Scots, as are Schumann’s Gedichte.

Elgar, Sea Pictures with the London Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican, London, December 12, 2019. In a concert conducted by Sir Antonio Pappano that also includes instrumental works by Tippett and Vaughn Williams. UPDATE: as explained in a note on the LSO’s website, Dame Sarah has had to withdraw from the concert due to her treatment for breast cancer. Karen Cargill is scheduled to sing Sea Pictures instead.

[New! Deferred broadcast] Bob Chilcott, A Christmas Oratorio (Mary), on BBC Radio 3, December 19, 2019. World premiere performance recorded live during the Three Choirs Festival on August 1 of this year, at Gloucester Cathedral. The other vocal soloists include Nick Pritchard (Evangelist) and Neal Davies (Simeon). The Philharmonia Players are conducted by Adrian Partington, and the combined cathedral choirs that give the festival its name also participate. The recording should be available for listening on demand for about a month after the broadcast.

Wagner, Die Walküre (Fricka) at the Teatro Real, Madrid, February 12, 16, 21, 23, 25, and 28, 2020. Co-stars include Tomasz Konieczny (Wotan), Ricarda Merbeth (Brünnhilde), and Stuart Skelton (Siegmund). (James Rutherford, Ingela Brimberg, and Christopher Ventris appear in the roles respectively on the 23rd.) Pablo Heras-Casado conducts; the production by Robert Carsen is a revival from Oper Köln. Single tickets go on sale November 4, 2019 if I read the Teatro Real website correctly. UPDATE: Although Dame Sarah’s name still appeared on the Teatro Real website well into December 2019, she replied to a fan on Twitter on November 3, “sadly I won’t be singing Fricka in Madrid this time. Waltraute in [Autumn] 2020, Paris is still on!” (Note that as of February 21, 2020, this is no longer the case: Dame Sarah has been replaced by Michaela Schuster in the Paris cast.) In late December, the Teatro Real announced that Dame Sarah had canceled her participation and Daniela Sindram would sing the role of Fricka

Oskar Fried, Verklärte Nacht with the BBC Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican, London, March 13, 2020. From the Barbican website: “Dame Sarah Connolly is currently undergoing treatment for breast cancer and regrets that she must withdraw from this performance. BBC SO are grateful to Christine Rice for replacing her and wish Dame Sarah well in her recovery.”

Recital at Wigmore Hall, London, March 19, 2020. From the Wigmore Hall website: "As Dame Sarah Connolly continues a period of treatment and recovery following her breast cancer diagnosis, she needs to limit her schedule and therefore has had to withdraw from the above concert. We are grateful to Fatma Said (soprano) for taking her place.”

Conversation with Mahan Esfahani at Sir John Lyon’s Theatre, London, March 20, 2020. Per the RPS: "With regret, Dame Sarah has had to withdraw from the event and we wish her all the very best at the current time.” Esfahani is still booked for the event; he will engage in conversation with the conductor François-Xavier Roth.

Appearance at “Bringing the House Down” charity concert at Glyndebourne, Lewes, April 5, 2020. Update: Dame Sarah’s name has been quietly removed from the list.

Mahler, Symphony No. 2, Resurrection, with the Sinfonieorchester Basel, Basel Minster, April 22, 2020. Update: Catriona Morrison is now the listed mezzo soloist.

Mahler, Das Lied von der Erde with the Philharmonia Orchestra, Royal Festival Hall, London, April 30, 2020. Update: a statement on the Philharmonia’s website reads, “Dame Sarah Connolly has had to withdraw from this performance due to ongoing treatment for breast cancer. We are grateful to Claudia Mahnke for stepping in. Dame Sarah intends to return to performing later this year.”

[Canceled] Mahler, Symphony No. 2, Resurrection with the Rotterdams Philharmonisch Orkest, De Doelen, Rotterdam, May 14, 15, and 17, 2020. Chen Reiss sings the soprano part; Lahav Shani conducts. UPDATE: As of this writing on April 6, the orchestra’s website now explains that “Following the government decision regarding COVID-19, this concert cannot take place on the planned dates.”

[Canceled] Recital with Ashley Riches, Joseph Middleton, and Tony Robb at the Chipping Campden International Music Festival, May 22, 2020. The recital was originally billed as a collaboration between Connolly and Middleton only, with repertoire TBA. Now that Riches and Robb have been added to the group, the program has been listed with repertoire by Duparc, Debussy, Ravel, Saint-Saëns, Caplet, and Fauré. The Festival website explains, “Following treatment for breast cancer Dame Sarah has made changes to this programme to reduce her workload while her recovery continues. She hopes very much the audience will enjoy the variety these changes afford.” UPDATE: As of March 23, the entire festival has been canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

[Canceled] Mahler, Symphony No. 2, Resurrection with the Rotterdams Philharmonisch Orkest, Köln Philharmonie, May 27, 2020. Chen Reiss sings the soprano part; Lahav Shani conducts. (A repeat of the program from Rotterdam, above.) UPDATE: See the note on the May 14-17 concerts, above.

[Canceled] Recital at the Musée d’Orsay, Paris, June 6, 2020. With Malcolm Martineau. The program includes Ravel’s Shéhérazade, Elgar’s Sea Pictures, Debussy’s Trois chansons de Bilitis, and various works by Hugo Wolff, Alexander von Zemlinsky, Charles Villiers Stanford, and Cecile Chaminade. UPDATE: as of this writing on April 14, I am now observing the word “Annulé” at the bottom of the concert information page (below the word “Tarifs”), which I take to mean that the concert has been canceled.

[Canceled] Mahler, Symphony No. 8, Symphony of a Thousand with the Wiener Symphoniker at the Musikverein, Vienna, June 12 and 13, 2020. Three Vienna choirs add their forces; Philippe Jordan conducts. The other scheduled vocal soloists are Camilla Nylund, Irène Theorin, Martina Janková, Michaela Schuster, Burkhard Fritz, Iain Paterson, and John Relyea. UPDATE: Although the informational pages for these concerts do not mention their cancellation, the Wiener Symphoniker website has a news post explaining that the Austrian government has canceled all indoor events with more than 100 participants through the end of June, and thus the orchestra’s public performances will not take place during this time period.

[Canceled] Duruflé, Requiem with the Choir of St Catharine’s College, Cambridge, at Ferrandou Musique in Beaulieau-sur-Dordogne, Turenne, and Carennac, France, June 20-22, 2020. UPDATE: this series of concerts is now marked with a “CANCELED” banner on the Ferrandou Musique website.

[Canceled] Mahler, Das Lied von der Erde (in a chamber arrangement) at the Proms at St Jude’s, Hampstead Garden Suburb, July 2, 2020. With Andrew Staples and the Aurora Chamber Orchestra conducted by Nicholas Collon. The orchestra played the same arrangement, with the same vocalists, in 2017; here’s the (very positive) Bachtrack review. UPDATE: Although, oddly, I can find no direct reference to the cancellation of this concert or of the whole festival on the Proms’ website, a tweet from the Proms at St Judes on March 24 announced the cancellation of the 2020 festival.

[Canceled] Mahler, Das Lied von der Erde (in a chamber arrangement) at the Cheltenham Music Festival, July 3, 2020. With Andrew Staples and the Aurora Chamber Orchestra conducted by Nicholas Collon. UPDATE: On April 7, the Senior Management Board of the Cheltenham Festivals announced that the 2020 Cheltenham Music Festival is canceled (along with its sister Jazz and Science Festivals).

[Canceled] Recital at the Buxton International Festival, July 11, 2020. With Joseph Middleton. Songs by Poulenc, Duparc, Mahler, and Schumann. Note the noon hour and the short duration of this performance. UPDATE: Although I am late to pick up the news, cancellation of the Buxton International Festival was apparently announced on March 18.

[Canceled] Mahler, Das Lied von der Erde (in a chamber arrangement) at Wigmore Hall, London, July 17, 2020. With Andrew Staples and the Aurora Chamber orchestra conducted by Nicholas Collon. UPDATE: On March 30, Wigmore Hall announced that it would close for the remainder of the ’19- ’20 season and all performances through July 31 would be canceled.

[Canceled] Recital at Schubertíada Vilabertran, August 21, 2020. With Malcolm Martineau. Songs by Mendelssohn, Liszt, Elgar, Debussy, Ravel, and Chaminade. UPDATE: Although the Schubertíada announced on June 10 that it would go ahead with a schedule of live concerts, Dame Sarah’s has been eliminated. The Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia reports that “[el] concierto con Sarah Connolly ha caído por cuestiones de salud de la mezzo británica” (the concert with Sarah Connolly has fallen due to the British mezzo’s health concerns).

[Canceled] Mahler, Symphony No. 2, Resurrection, with the MDR Rundfunkchor and Sinfonieorchester Basel, in Basel, August 26, 2020. Christina Landshamer sings the soprano solo and Yoel Levi conducts. Part of a concert with a work called “Epitaph” by Andrea Lorenzo Scartazzini. UPDATE: I am not sure on what date the concert was deep-sixed, but the MDR website now marks it as “abgesagt” (canceled).

[New details!] Recital at Wigmore Hall, London, September 30, 2020. With Roderick Williams and Julius Drake; the first concert of the Wigmore’s Mendelssohn and Liszt series.

Recital at Sant Pau Recinte Modernista, Barcelona, October 2, 2020. With Julius Drake. Part of the LIFE Victoria series of recitals; originally announced for November 27, 2019, but postponed due to Dame Sarah’s treatment for breast cancer. Songs by Brahms, Wolf, Debussy, Alma Mahler, Gustav Mahler, and Zemlinsky. As of April 30, LIFE Victoria has issued a press release indicating that they still plan to go ahead with recitals scheduled for the fall of 2020.

Wagner, Götterdämmerung (Waltraute, Zweite Norn) at the Opéra national de Paris, November 13, 17, 21, and 28, and December 6, 2020. Update: the roles of Waltraute and Zweite Norn are now assigned to Michaela Schuster, one of a handful of casting changes reported by OperaWire on February 21, 2020.

[New details!] Handel, Agrippina (title role) at the Dutch National Opera, January 17-27, 2021. Finally, a year and a half after the news started leaking on Twitter, we get the official announcement, complete with a bizarre (even by DNO marketing department standards) video of a rubber-covered woman dancing in a ball pit. The production is Barrie Kosky’s (previously seen at the Bayerische Staatsoper and the ROH, and later moving on to the Staatsoper Hamburg). Ottavio Dantone conducts; co-stars include Ying Fang (Poppea), Franco Fagioli (Nerone), Gianlucca Buratto (Claudio), and Tim Mead (Ottone). If I read the DNO website correctly, tickets go on sale June 3, 2020.

[New!] Stravinsky, Oedipus Rex (Jocaste) at the Dutch National Opera, March 10-27, 2021. In a double bill with the new commission From ‘Antigone’ by Samy Moussa. Other singers in the Oedipus cast include Sean Panikkar (Oedipus), Bastiaan Everink (Creon), Rafał Siwek (Tiresias), and Ramsey Nasr (Speaker). Erik Nielsen conducts; Wayne McGregor directs. If I read the DNO website correctly, tickets go on sale November 17, 2020.

[New!] Stravinsky, Oedipus Rex (Jocaste) with the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester, Hamburg, April 10 and 11, 2021. Even though these concert performances follow on the heels of Dame Sarah’s engagement for the same opera in Amsterdam, the two gigs appear to be administratively and artistically unrelated. Her co-stars in Hamburg include Brenden Gunnell (Oedipus), Tomasz Konieczny (Creon), and Sir John Tomlinson (Tiresias); the MDR Rundfunkchor Leipzig supplies the men’s chorus. Alan Gilbert conducts. The program also includes Le sacre du printemps. Tickets can be ordered starting May 26, 2020, with payment due six weeks before the concert. There’s some background information on the NDR website.

[New!] Recital at the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, May 18, 2021. With Julius Drake. Songs by Mendelssohn, Liszt, Elgar, Debussy, Ravel, and Chaminade. Tickets go on sale June 1, 2020.

[New!] Elgar, The Dream of Gerontius with the Berliner Philharmoniker, Berlin, May 27, 28, and 29, 2021. With Allan Clayton and Roderick Williams, as well as the Rundfunkchor Berlin; Simon Rattle conducts.

[Livestream] The concert on the 29th will be livestreamed on the Berliner Philharmoniker’s Digital Concert Hall platform.

[Unconfirmed / details TBA] Brett Dean, Hamlet (Gertrude) at the Metropolitan Opera, New York, sometime in 2021-22. Allan Clayton, who starred in the title role of Brett Dean’s Hamlet at Glyndebourne in 2017, mentioned in an interview with the Telegraph that he would be reprising the role at an unspecified date and venue in the US. When prompted on Twitter, Dame Sarah indicated that she would be participating in the revival, too (“I shall be misunderstanding my confused boy again”). In a later interview with Opera News, Clayton reportedly specified that he would reprise Hamlet at the Met. The Future Met Wiki places the production at the Met in the 2021-2022 season (as does this New York Times article). Hat tip to Christopher Lowrey, who sang Guildenstern in the original production at Glyndebourne, whose tweet praising Allan Clayton brought the Telegraph interview to my attention. (No indication whether Lowrey will also be cast in the American revival.) Additional hat tip to the Tumblrer who submitted information on this topic via the ask box.

Previous versions of this list can be found under the schedule tag on this blog. This list published October 29, 2019. Updated November 2 to reflect Dame Sarah’s withdrawal from the LSO Sea Pictures. Updated November 3 to reflect her self-declared withdrawal from the Teatro Real Walküre. Edited November 21 to add Das Lied at Cheltenham. Edited November 23 to add the radio broadcast of Chilcott’s Christmas Oratorio. Edited December 15 to add Das Lied at Wigmore Hall. Edited December 20 to update the casting information for the Teatro Real Walküre. Edited December 15 to add the Proms at St Jude’s performance of Das Lied. Edited January 24 to reflect Dame Sarah’s withdrawal from concerts on March 13 and 19 due to ongoing cancer treatment. Edited January 28 to add the Wigmore Hall recital in September 2020. Edited February 10 to cross off the “Bringing the House Down” charity concert. Edited February 22 to reflect Dame Sarah’s withdrawal from the Royal Philharmonic Society event, the Basel Mahler 2 in April, and the Paris Götterdämmerung. I also updated the link for the Philharmonia Das Lied von der Erde / Song of the Earth and added newly-available details for the Chipping Campden recital, the Proms at St Jude’s performance of Das Lied von der Erde, and the Schubertíada Vilabertran recital. Edited February 29, 2020 to add the two Dutch National Opera engagements, the Concertgebouw recital, and the Buxton recital. Edited March 10 to reflect Dame Sarah’s withdrawal from Das Lied von der Erde with the Philharmonia Orchestra. Edited March 23 to add the Ferrandou Musique dates, to reflect the first round of COVID-19 cancellations, and to add cautionary notes for concerts up through July 11. Edited April 6 to reflect the cancellation of the Wiener Symphoniker’s Mahler 8 as well as the Proms at St Jude’s and Wigmore Hall performances of Das Lied von der Erde; to add a link to the Cheltenham Music Festival’s announcement changing its ticket sale dates; and to confirm and clarify the cancellation of the Rotterdam Phil’s Mahler 2 concerts. Updated April 7 with the cancellation of the Cheltenham Music Festival and the Buxton International Festival, and to update the link to the Wigmore recital on September 30, 2020. Edited April 14 to indicate the cancellation of the Musée d’Orsay recital. Edited April 22 to add the Berlin Gerontius. Edited May 6 to update repertoire details for the LIFE Victoria recital and add the Hamburg Stravinsky concerts and the Basel Mahler 2 in August. Edited May 8 to reflect the cancellation of the Ferrandou Musique concerts. Edited June 19 to reflect the cancellation of Dame Sarah’s recital at the Schubertíada Vilabertran and the second (August) Basel Resurrection. I may continue to edit this list as I receive new information.

#sarah connolly #schedule #performances

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alarawriting · 5 years

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Inktober #19: Sling

Here’s a scene I alluded to in “Dr. Ultraviolet Meets Her Nemesis” (again, lack of functional website, cannot link because that makes the post unsearchable, but you can click on the tag to find the rest of what I’ve got for Dr. Ultraviolet.)

***

“What exactly is this… stuff?” Ultraviolet asked her sister, with a sneer that she hoped was making it clear she could be using stronger language.

“You asked for books,” Scarlett said, “so I brought you some of mine.”

Ultraviolet tried to count to 10, but Scarlett interrupted at 4. “I think you might really like Chiaoscuro. It’s about a superheroine who falls in love with a magnetic, charismatic villain—”

“It’s a romance novel,” Ultraviolet said.

“Yes. I know they weren’t your favorites but—”

“I despise romance novels,” Ultraviolet said. “Would it have truly killed you to go to a bookstore and get me something I might possibly enjoy, rather than just bringing me whatever dreck you happened to have lying around on your bookshelf?”

“There aren’t any bookstores around here. Everest drove them all out of business. I could have ordered from them, but they’re evil.”

Ultraviolet happened to know that this was absolutely true. The last time she’d been invited to attend the Villainy Connection yearly networking event for supervillains, Everest’s CEO Josh Bevel had been the keynote speaker. Given that she herself was a supervillain, this was hardly a dealbreaker for her. “Libraries exist, then. And what about used book stores?”

“Look, I went out of my way to do you a favor, Violet,” Scarlett said. “It’s not like I don’t have a lot going on. I’ve got four kids, the economy’s been slowing down and people aren’t buying houses so much lately, and I’ve been having issues with Gavin.”

From long experience with her sister, Ultraviolet knew that Scarlett wanted her to ask about her issues with Gavin, but Ultraviolet would have had difficulty caring less. “How hard is it to bring me a book that isn’t a godawful romance novel? Do I look like the kind of suburban mom who’s wasted her life dreaming of some Mr. Wonderful sweeping her off her feet?”

“It sounds like you’re saying that’s what I am.”

“The shoes don’t just fit, Scarlett, they’re on sale and you have ten pairs in your closet.”

“Fuck you, Violet. I didn’t need to come here. You know, the doctors told me you were in traction and you broke an arm and both legs and you might have fractured a vertebra in your neck, and I was worried about you.”

Ultraviolet sighed. “I appreciate that you were worried—”

“And I didn’t just bring you romance novels. This one, All The Pretty Little Horsies, is about the hunt for a serial killer.”

“What made you think I was interested in true crime, either?” They were in a private ward, but the door was open, nurses bustling around outside, so Ultraviolet didn’t say what she really wanted to, which was “I’m a supervillain, my life is a true crime story, why would I want to read about cops hunting a criminal down?” Admittedly there was a huge difference between her genius and ambitions to reshape the world in the image she wanted, and a mundane serial killer getting his jollies by killing teenage girls or something, but on principle Ultraviolet did not want to be sympathizing with cops.

“Well, it’s kind of like what you do for your career, right?”

Ultraviolet couldn’t control the exasperation in her sigh. “Only in the sense that your career involves selling people haunted houses where evil brownies will crawl out of the walls at night and devour them.”

“That… has nothing to do with what I do.”

“I rest my case.”

“Usually I don’t even sell the houses! I prefer being a buyer’s agent. The seller gets money at closing, but the buyer gets a new future. A place that’s going to change their way of life. Something that might be an anchor, a touchstone for them for the rest of their lives.”

“Scarlett. I don’t care. The point is, I’m not a serial killer, I’m nothing like a serial killer, and we are not in the same line of work. I am a scientist.”

“I thought you were an inventor.”

“I am. I’m an inventor and a scientist. All the greatest inventors were scientists.”

“Thomas Edison wasn’t.”

“Thomas Edison was a liar and a thief who stole everything he did from Nikola Tesla, among others.”

“Henry Ford—”

“—wasn’t even an inventor. Dear lord, Scarlett, what did they teach you in school?”

Scarlett glared at her. “You went to the same school.”

“Yes, but I didn’t learn anything there. Everything I learned was self-study. I didn’t actually pay attention in class.”

“Then how do you know that what they taught me was wrong?”

Ultraviolet glanced up at her IV bag, which was full, and at the clock, which was stubbornly nowhere near the end of visiting hours. “Get me some books about scientists. Preferably books where scientists are right, and everyone else is wrong, and all the people who are wrong get eaten by dinosaurs, and the scientists get to say ‘I told you so’ and end up very wealthy.”

“That’s… really specific.”

“It doesn’t have to be dinosaurs. The people who are wrong could get eaten by aliens. Or viruses.”

“I don’t even know how I’d find a book like that.”

“You’d ask at the library, you heathen. Don’t you read?”

“Yes!” Scarlett snapped. “I read a lot of things! Among them, romance novels and true crime, which are apparently not intellectual enough for the great Doctor Ultraviolet to want to sully her eyeballs—”

“Scarlett! Secret identity!” Ultraviolet whispered in a loud hiss.

“No one’s paying attention.”

“Captain Cosmic knows he dropped me. I wouldn’t put it past him to be searching the local hospitals.”

Cosmic had been trying to fly her to the Max, the ultra-secure supervillain prison that so far, no one had managed to break out of. Ultraviolet had used her nanobot lubricant on him to force him to drop her, without perhaps fully considering the fact that they were a thousand feet in the air by the time it took effect. With lubricant in his eyes and covering his hands, Cosmic couldn’t even see her to catch her, and when he’d flailed around by accident and grabbed her foot by trying to figure out where the screaming was coming from, he hadn’t been able to hold on. She’d had to use her prototype antigravity device to save herself, and it hadn’t had enough power to prevent her from hitting the ground hard enough to break most of her limbs, several ribs, and possibly her neck.

She’d already been in traction for two days, completely immobilized – chest taped, head in a neck brace, legs mummified and hanging from pulleys on poles attached to her bed, arm in a sling. She was bored out of her mind. The only entertainment the hospital offered was a television, and just hearing the sounds of daytime game shows and soap operas and Judge Jeri made her want to kill everyone in the hospital, or at the very least her immediate neighbors on the ward who wouldn’t stop watching that crap. Actually having to see it herself might make her brain fatally overheat with rage.

So when her sister had called and offered to visit, Ultraviolet had begged her to bring books, to alleviate the horrible boredom. But this… dreck wasn’t worth the name “book”. It was a bound collection of paper, containing letters arranged into words that had been assembled to produce some sort of simulation of syntactical meaning, that was all.

“I think if Captain Cosmic was here, there would be a lot more shrieking, and people begging for his autograph.”

“He has a secret identity too. He could be walking right past us dressed as a nurse and you would never guess.”

Scarlett sighed. “All right. I’m sorry I said it, Violet. But you need to stop acting like, just because you’re a genius, everything you don’t like or don’t approve of is stupid. And you could be a little bit grateful. I drove way out of my way to visit you.”

“I’m sure your conscience would have nagged at you if you hadn’t.”

“I tell you what. I’ll go to the library and get your books about scientists, and I’ll bring them by tomorrow.”

“That would be suitable.”

“And I’ll bring Alan. He’s sixteen, so he’s allowed to visit, and I’m sure he’d be thrilled to see his aunt and explain the plot of Battle Island to you, or Kraftwerk, or one of those other video games he’s obsessed with.”

“No! Scarlett, I’m not interested in listening to your offspring prattle on about whatever degenerate pastime has caught his fancy.”

“And I’m not interesting in helping a bitchy older sister who can’t even say thank you, but I’d feel bad about leaving you here all alone. So I’ll bring Alan to entertain you.” Scarlett smiled widely. “I’ll tell him that you’re feeling cranky because you’re in pain, so he should ignore any rude thing you say to him. Since you’d be incapable of asking him to stop politely, I guess that means Alan’s going to have a captive audience tomorrow.”

“Scarlett!”

“See you tomorrow, sis!” Scarlett caroled, and left the room, leaving Ultraviolet to fume about the unfairness of it all. If only she could get decent henches, she could get someone to transport her to her base, where her rapid regeneration machine could heal her within minutes. But no, the union had blacklisted her, and you couldn’t trust non-union henches. Totally unfair. Every other villain had henches lining up around the block – even the ones who routinely shot their own employees. But you mutate the henchmen into anthropomorphic sharks one time… and now, because of that idiot Captain Cosmic and because of the moronic Henchman’s Union, Scarlett was going to force her to listen to her oldest child ramble on about whatever stupid garbage he was in love with right now.

If she could only reach her crutches, she’d get out of this bed and hobble out of the hospital right now.

#inktober 2019 #dr ultraviolet #supers

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androidsfighting · 6 years

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The Adventure Zone fic rec masterlist!

surprising no one, I read WAY TOO MUCH FIC so here’s an incomplete list of some of my fav fics in this fandom! mostly Taakitz and Taagnus, of course. Not in any particular order - adding most recent additions to the top. i made an effort to provide commentary but as you can see i gave up quickly

UPDATE (7/24/19) - added a bunch more fics i’ve read recently, and a couple amnesty fics at the bottom :)

Taakitz

The Winter Prince by tactfulGnostalgic

Taako is nobody’s saboteur. He’s just an ordinary assassin just trying to make ends meet, staying out of trouble (mostly) and keeping his nose clean (sometimes). But when a mysterious buyer makes him an offer he can’t refuse in exchange for the head of the neighboring prince, he ends up falling headfirst into the tangle of a foreign court — and the arms of its ruler, Prince Kravitz.

Blood and Bones and Photos by Evitcani

Kravitz has always dreamed of cities: wrapped in vines, streets peaceful and empty. He never knew the world before the end. Still, life goes on and on and on. The homes he's known are in compounds of chain-link fences patrolled by armed guards, feral zombies creeping around the edges who sing to him in the unsettled night.

There is no cure. There is no hope. There is only what little the survivors scraped together.

Then there's Taako.

And the new world that Kravitz was born into ends too.

Wrong Number by argentoswan

Taako texts a wrong number. Kravitz responds. Everyone else is confused, but they're going with it.

(6:32) so we have moved from strangling to murder (6:39) This is… still the wrong number. (6:41) i know i’m crowdsourcing ideas. quick, best way to hide an extremely tiny body?

A Bit Alarming by argentoswan

Taako gives up his freedom in exchange for the safety of his friends, and ends up locked in an enchanted castle with a surprisingly polite skeleton. Beauty and the Beast AU.

"'I’m afraid your friends were trespassing on my property. It was exceedingly impolite.' 'Yeah, and it’s super polite to lock them in the fucking dungeons.'"

study in light by weatheredlaw

He tells you things, things you don’t know what to do with. They fall out of his mouth and into your open hands, and you fumble them.

Deflection Toward The Relative Major by AuthorGod

He means to say all of this, but all that comes out is, “Why? Why choose me?” Instead of someone better suited he means; a warrior, a wizard, a priest.

I come back to this fic constantly. I love Kravitz-centric fic (surprise surprise) and this is one of the best there is I think

of aspen crowns and catskin down by mildlydiscouraging

The streets of London are slick and dark, and not just literally, although they are so often that too. Here there is not only murder, mystery, and mayhem, but magick as well. Here people go through their everyday tragedies and refuse to see the depths behind their troubles. Here two (and a half) detectives search for the truth.

In the dusk of autumn, with wind slicing down alleys, the good people of London are disappearing. It's up to Kravitz and Taako and, honestly, mostly Angus to solve the case, and maybe a couple other mysteries along the way.

SPOOKY VICTORIAN AU aka MY ENTIRE SHIT

those afternoons and evenings and does he project, does he have ideas? by mildlydiscouraging

The moments and years in between, in which feelings take root despite the constantly changing landscape. Alternatively: The world has been ending for forty years and Taako and Kravitz can't stop falling in love.

tazswap with Kravitz on the Starblaster, absolutely gorgeous prose

Reverie by Itdominic

There was a time Taako really could have taken or left it - life, and the world and whatever. Things aren't like that anymore, he tells himself, luckily, because this whole situation might get to be a real fucking drag otherwise.

heartbreaking but absolutely gorgeous

finale by teacuptaako

After everything, the distinction between alive and dead fades to a confusing grey.

In the wake of ‘The Day of Story and Song,’ Taako and Kravitz start to build their futures together: a labour of love, compromise, trust, and a slowly unravelling web of secrecy.

While the two of them grow closer and closer together, they and the rest of the world get further and further apart.

kravitz centric again, this is such a WEIRD fic and i literally haven’t stopped thinking about it since I read it

Drag Your Cities to the Sea (No Light, No Light) by Desiree_Harding

"The months in Her retinue are long, and the work is hard. Her standards are high, and to satisfy them, Kravitz must be ruthless. But his conviction never falters. She is omnipotent. She is the avenging force of Justice, and Kravitz Her hand. She will keep the kingdom free, and for Kravitz to do her bidding is the greatest honor on this earth."

"Taako’s fingers curl tightly around the ropes of the Starblaster’s rigging as the ship cuts smoothly through the waves of the Sea of Souls below, his heart pounding in his chest and his eyes on the horizon...In these moments, it’s freedom that hangs sweet on his tongue and settles in his lungs, and Taako loves nothing better."

It's a pirate AU! You know the rest!

i live for AUs

All the Things You Prayed For by @anonymousalchemist and @marywhal

Taako's been dead for two years. Taako's been dead for seven decades. Depends how you count it.

Her brother is dead and Lup’s a whole lifetime into the future. It’s a brave new world out there and she’s trying not to think about it too hard. She gets the feeling that if she starts thinking, she won’t ever stop, and she can’t afford to be out of commission. She's the only Captain America the new century’s got.

Lup is Cap, Taako fell from a train, and eventually all ghosts come in from the cold. You guessed it—it's a TAZ/Marvel shakeup baby. We're bringing the party to you.

THIS FIC OWNS MY ENTIRE ASS

The Shape of Our Days Neverending by anonymousalchemist and marywhal

After the epilogue, Taako and Kravitz have a really good day.

just some heckin good fluff amidst all this angst

Other Lives by marywhal

When Kravitz signed up for the job in Phandalin, he didn’t expect adventuring to become his life. He was bored playing for the well-to-do of Neverwinter, sure, but not this bored. He was supposed to make some quick cash, pay off his gambling debts, and go back to his comfortable existence as a bard. He wasn't supposed to join a secret organization trying to save the world.

But here he is, paralyzed on the floor of a crystallized laboratory, and he has yet to keep a suit intact through a single adventure

more tazswap! this is unfinished rn but it’s real good so read it anyway

Bury the Lead by marywhal

Taako’s senior year at Neverwinter High could be going better. Faced with a choice between joining the school’s floundering newspaper or being expelled, he opts for a career in journalism.

Lucretia, the paper’s editor, kind of wishes he'd gone the other way.

if you haven’t read this yet what are you doing with your life

These Unfinished Creatures by marywhal

Someone in Neverwinter is stealing souls from the astral plane. The Raven Queen’s favourite reaper is undercover and on the case.

Relearning how to be human is entirely incidental.

MORE spooky Victorian AU what did i do to deserve this fandom honestly

(you should read everything by marywhal but these are my favs)

our get-along suit by anonymousalchemist

"So, let me get this straight," the reaper says, scythe held flush against Kravitz's neck. A trickle of blood drips down toward his collar. Kravitz swallows shallowly. "You picked up a suit, and the suit happened to be a lich, and the lich wouldn’t let you go, so you just rolled with it?"

"His name is Keats," Kravitz says. "And. Er. Sort of?"

Our own, soft hearts by Wildgoosery (series)

Stories involving a Moon Wedding, its attendees, and its aftermath, written in wildly different formats.

you should read everything Goose has posted but this is one of the first Taakitz fics I read so I have a real soft spot for it

The Body Eclectic by SpaceJackalope

In which Kravitz has many feelings about being dead, having a body, and liking people and things.

A Quiet Refrain by @inkedinserendipity

It starts with some of the most mediocre eggs Taako's ever clapped eyes on. Seven out of ten for taste. Zero out of ten for plating. Somehow, they're still the best damn eggs he's ever eaten.

(Or: Taako realizes he loves Kravitz back.)

it was your heart on the line by @inkedinserendipity and it’s sequels (links here)

one of many fics that inadvertently inspired synecdoche

Istus must be laughing. by writersstareoutwindows

"Whenever people talk about tattoos, Taako rolls down his sleeve. They’re sitting in a circle, usually drinking, laughing and elbowing and sometimes kissing. Whenever they realize Taako hasn’t said anything, he sips his drink, arranges his hair artfully over his shoulder, and says, 'Nah, nah, nah, my dudes, I don’t hold to that,' wiggling his fingers, 'mumbo jumbo tattoo fate-or-whatever bullshit. Chaboi Taako’s a free agent.'"

The present going forward. Memories in a jumble. Not a very neat story, but it's theirs.

another fic that inadvertently inspired synecdoche which i forgot until now!!

things left in the stars by mechanicalclock

You don’t collect things from places that you will never visit again, that’s foolish. It's about learning to let go in all the new ways, adapting quicker and quicker, having fun and forgetting.

Taako and Lup learn to remember.

a moment to bathe in our victory by AnonymousPuzzler

The apocalypse comes and goes. In the aftermath, Taako takes a bath, Kravitz worries too much, and some new feelings are reflected upon.

Taagnus

The end of the word does come and go, Page of Cups, Reversed, and Taking the dogs home by anonymous

About how the world is still here, and how going on can be done.

yellow by weatheredlaw

Washing the dishes, their fingers brushed in the soapy water of the sink and Taako felt a jolt.

Magnus turned and gave him a smile.

Strange Bedfellows by treshornybros (IamJohnLocked4life)

It quickly becomes a habit, and then routine. Magnus is oddly good natured about it. But then Magnus is good natured about everything, so maybe it's not that odd. No one else seems to notice.

They always sleep back to back.

Taako should find that comforting, and he does, at first. It's just like sleeping with Lup.

Sort of.

unremembering by bluebatwings (series)

Their lives divided up into three parts: before, unremembering, and after. Love stories.

At the Interval by AuthorGod

Time grows stagnant. Taako watches as world become fractured and consumed, cultures and civilizations wiped out. All the potential a single person is capable of in a lifetime, just ripped away in a moment.

It doesn't get to him, and it doesn't get to him, and it doesn't until it does.

breaking the same old heart by tardigradeschool

Taako and Magnus in triptych: before, during, and after the Bureau.

The Blue Hours of Morning by daisybrien

Refuge takes its toll. Magnus and Taako talk it out, drunk on the living room floor.

Taagnitz

the only life you could save by @epersonae and hops (series)

this could also go in the Other category bc it’s All The Ships (including magcretia which isn’t even my thing but they write is so so so well that now it is my thing!) but I’m digging through my ao3 history and not finding much taagnitz that’s not pwp/mine (a travesty) so it’s going in here. it’s also about taako and lucretia working their whole Thing out and it’s VERY VERY GOOD

no blinding light by provocation

Elves live much, much longer than humans. By the time most humans die, elves are just reaching adulthood.

Kravitz, on the other hand, is going to live forever.

the fic that made me ship taagnitz

in the focus by weatheredlaw

The sky was clear and the arms of the galaxy that surrounded them arched overhead as they lay in their sleeping bags, staring at the stars.

or: Kravitz knows there's room in all this for something between him and Magnus — he's just not sure what that looks like.

Dust by levelone

It was supposed to be simple: Taako was on TV, and Kravitz is a writer here for some pull quotes. Instead, when they meet in an empty diner in the middle of a desert, Taako says something impossible—and Kravitz believes him.

Oak and Mahogany by hideki16seiyuu

“Don’t try to pull one over on me, handsome. He’s going gray already.”

“He’s in his fifties now, Taako.”

“How much longer is left?”

“Longer than you’d think.”

---

Human lives can never match that of elves in length.

Take Up a Place Beside Me by goodnicepeople

"It's gonna be hard," Taako says, when they're alone again. "You can't... do that. Every time."

Or: Taako and Kravitz move in. Others move on. Some get dogs.

you are the life i needed all along by iwillbeyourgoal

along with the other memories he's gained from the stolen century, taako starts remembering his relationship with magnus on the starblaster.

these small hours by ShowMeAHero

Taako and Magnus get their memories back, and now they need to negotiate some emotions, because they're having a hell of a lot of them all at once.

Other ships/Gen

I Have Seen the Fields Aflame by Desiree_Harding

She hadn’t meant to disappear. Had she known what was going to happen, that one weekend was going to lead to seven entire years without her brother, she never would have gone. But that was all it took.

A modern au in which Lup goes missing, and discovers that the coming home is maybe the hardest part of all of it.

i cried for like an hour after reading this

a thousand points of no return by anonymousAlchemist

Since wizard's daemons often settle as birds and urban legend says that elves are separated from their daemons, no one looks too closely at the fact that Taako and Lup are both single entities, missing the other halves of their hearts. They walk like people, they talk like people, and if they're hard to read because their daemons aren't fluffing up their feathers or swatting playfully with their paws, well, elves are notoriously enigmatic anyway.

This lasts until their first death.

All deaths on the Starblaster are strange. When Magnus first died on the animal planet, I'morko followed right after, both of their bodies dissipating into golden sparks, a strange inversion of the natural order. The pattern holds. Year after year, person and daemon alike dissipate into a fine mist of dust, knit together by the bond engine in the new plane.

During their fifteenth year, Taako is shot through the heart with a well-aimed magic missile. Lup screams and casts one last firebolt, spell-sculpting around their bodies, before unspooling into a fine golden sand.

snake eyed, with a sly smile by faehunting

The circus is a mystery that sets itself up for people who track its movements, for people who are desperate to find it, to find anything. The circus is a mystery that sets itself up for people to stumble upon.

In the morning, the circus is nothing but negative space and the revellers it left behind. They sit up. They try to wet the dust in their mouths. They start the journey anew.

creepy fae weirdness!!!! yes!!!!!

I’m With The Band by redqueentheory, Wildgoosery, and Woven_Gulch (series)

A series of connected stories, equal parts sentimental and horny, about how Brad and Taako and Kravitz fall in love.

wacky BDSM crack ship becomes Greatest Romance Novel I’ve Ever Read, has made me cry multiple times

these strange creatures by anonymousalchemist

Taako sweeps himself into the common area of the Starblaster with all the drama and panache that he reserves for alternate Tuesday afternoons. Barry ignores him with all the practice he has from a decade of alternate Tuesday afternoons.

“I’m exhausted,” Taako whines, draping himself across Barry’s shoulders, the sharp point of his chin poking into Barry’s collarbone. “I’ve been up since for-ev-er, working on this dumb transmutation thing for Lulu.”

“Go meditate, then,” Barry says, absently reaching up to pat Taako’s head.

“Meditate?”

“You know, meditation? Isn’t that, uh, one of your elf things??” Barry finally looks up from his book, barest hint of a wrinkle in his forehead. Taako shakes his head.

“Never heard of it, homeslice. Musta skipped that day at elf practice.”

Barry laughs.

“Elf practice, sure.”

you know... elf practice

all your saints and saviors by anonymousalchemist

It’s not so much that she wants to die per se, as much as it is that she’s done living. The female human life expectancy is seventy-two years on this plane (it was seventy-four years on her home plane) and she’s lost count of her birthdays. But the math is easy. She was twenty when she boarded the Starblaster. A hundred-twenty when they landed in Faerun. A hundred-thirty when the Hunger was defeated. She’s fifty six years overdue.

She’s done her job, is the thing. She saved the world, in exchange for youth, friendship, family. She gave up everything but determination. She considers it fair trade. But now Lucretia is a single-use tool whose purpose no longer exists.

In Her Bones by epersonae

She lives through the destruction of her home, but still they're separated, until Julia sees the green light, and the blue light, and has to figure out what to do next.

better give that heart a listen by tardigradeschool

Barry needs a fake husband if he wants to stay undercover. Magnus is more than willing to help him out. Davenport needs a vacation.

herald of a new dawn by inkedinserendipity

When Lucretia is five years old, she meets her familiar. At seven, she remakes it; at eight, she remakes it again.

Seventy years later it saves her from an unkind world. And a Century after that, it fixes a family that had started to break.

from me to you, with love by inkedinserendipity

Magnus shuts the drawer and says, almost absently, “Tell her I love her, okay?”

Kravitz pauses, debating. He takes a deep breath. “Magnus,” he says, and Magnus, detecting the shift in his tone, looks up immediately. “You know that she already knows, right? She knows that you love her,” Kravitz says gently. “You do tell her every time.”

Magnus chuckles, rubbing a sheepish hand along the back of his neck. “I know,” he says, turning a bit pink. “I just - I love her, you know? I really do. And I guess, when you love someone, you want to tell them that every chance you get.”

your stitches are all out (but your scars are healing wrong) by tardigradeschool

When it’s over, and she can barely feel what makes her herself anymore, the umbrella is tattered beyond repair. With her last traces of energy, Lup grasps for shelter, reaching out for somewhere to store her torn soul until she can be helpful again. At the edge of her awareness, she feels a familiar shape, a familiar warmth -- in her exhaustion she could almost mistake it for her own body. She reaches for it and pulls herself clumsily inside.

Safe and contained, she lets consciousness go.

Voidfish (Reprise) by inkedinserendipity

Angus McDonald is many things — the boy detective, for one. The youngest member of the Bureau of Balance. The unofficial little brother of the THB, however Taako insists he's actually their mascot. He’s a researcher, and a scholar. He's not a fighter. He’s not a hero.

But he can save the world all the same.

Patterns of Migration by goodnicepeople

Magnus builds a house. Angus finds a home. Migration brings things back, in turn.

Hard to Starboard by BlueColoredDreams (series)

In the best world, it ends like this:

By starting over.

and the warmth will never die by Junkyard_Rose

Taako's been gone for maybe two years when Lup thinks she sees him shoplifting from a Hot Topic.

you ever read something that makes you astral project and you can't think about anything else for the rest of the day? me too

(in this category because it's mainly about the twins but it's also taakitz and blupcretia aka the ideal fic)

and at a certain age the child is grown by bimaukery

There are people in his grandpa's house.

AU where the IPRE family all moves in together and find the place less empty than they've been led to believe.

Amnesty

i left a light beside the bed for you by SyllableFromSound

"If she stares at the ceiling without blinking long enough, it starts to look fuzzy. Like there's a grainy film of static over the surface of the plaster. It makes her think of mist outside a window, of the big old tube TV that had sat in the living room of her house for her first few years of life and that had tingled warmly when she pressed her hand to the screen. Everything feels a bit fuzzy now, maybe because it's 3AM. Everything feels warm and a bit familiar.

Finally, Dani says, quietly, 'This is what I imagined it would be like if...if things had gone differently.'"

In which a couple of outcasts have some late-night chats and Aubrey ingests a foreign object to prove a point.

older than the trees by lamphouse

Summer is returning to Kepler, bringing with it humid late nights, not as many tourists as there used to be, and a certain moth man. Unfortunately, they're not the only ones.

Duck talks some shit out. Aubrey chills. Ned gets grifted. Indrid learns to see.

#fic rec #taz: balance #taakitz #taagnus #taagnitz #taz: amnesty #updated 7/24/19

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bountyofbeads · 5 years

Text

Why Does Only One Party Play by the Rules? https://nyti.ms/2MNdCOX

Why Does Only One Party Play by the Rules?

Thanks to Trump’s deepening dependence on “alternative facts,” the assertion of reality is now a viable campaign strategy for 2020 Democrats.

By Jennifer Senior, Opinion columnist | Published October 25, 2019 | New York Times | Posted October 25, 2019 |

It’s that time of the campaign season when some Democrats are starting to feel — as President Jimmy Carter might have put it — malaise. They’re staring at their 2020 lineup and wondering whether it’s a guaranteed recipe for buyer’s remorse. Joe Biden is too old, Pete Buttigieg is too young, Kamala Harris is too uncertain, Bernie Sanders too unpalatable, Elizabeth Warren too unelectable.

All of which may be right. But I have an additional theory for why some Democrats are the vexed and depleted souls they seem to be these days, waking up with lead in their veins and worms in their stomachs. It boils down to this: They can’t escape the sense that they’re living by different rules.

Let me rephrase that: Democrats are acting as though there still are rules, when in fact they’re living in a political multiverse — with at least one parallel reality containing no rules at all.

What do you do when one party stakes its faith — and ultimately government itself — on observable, measurable realities while the other has made the cynical decision to cast these principles away? How do you strategize? How do you cope?

It’s not just that President Trump serially lies in plain sight. (What’s The Washington Post’s latest tally? 13,435? Whatever: Just imagine a whirring odometer on a shuttle to Mars.) It’s that he’s surrounded by occluders and toadies, nihilist tricksters spun directly from the looms of the Marx Brothers’ imagination. (“Who you gonna believe? Me or your own eyes?”)

A raft of House and Senate Republicans — including (say it with me) Senator Lindsey Graham — learned that Ukraine’s top diplomat had confirmed the Trump administration’s aid-for-dirt caper, yet still insists the impeachment proceedings are a sham. The acting White House chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, acknowledged this same quid pro quo in a news conference, only to proclaim later that none of us understands English. Any public servant who dares say that two plus two just might equal four is immediately accused by Trump of radicalism, treason, witch hunting.

Compare that with President Barack Obama’s relationship with those who inconvenienced him. When James Comey, then the head of the F.B.I., made the fateful decision to announce that he’d reopened his inquiry into Hillary Clinton’s emails just days before the 2016 election, Obama could not have been especially pleased. By imperiling Clinton’s chances, Comey was imperiling Obama’s own legacy too. Yet Obama still behaved warmly toward him, according to James Stewart in his new book, “Deep State.” Why? Because “Democrats,” as Jonathan Chait explained in his review of that book, “still believed in institutions and norms.”(See review below)

This idea — that Democrats still believe in norms, customs, the rather crucial notion of checks and balances, in government itself — may be the crux of the multiverse problem. Look at someone like Joe Biden, whose essential pitch (in addition to experience, incremental change, working-class-guyness) is that he can work with the men and women on the other side of the aisle.

But this suggests that compromise is an option. It doesn’t appear that the other side is much interested. You have Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, holding a Supreme Court appointment hostage for nearly a year, blocking almost all legislative debate and passing a bill to protect the 2020 elections from foreign interference only under extreme duress; the world’s “greatest deliberative body” is now a speedway for the Trump agenda. You have the House Republicans informally observing the “Hastert Rule”— named for the former speaker Dennis Hastert, who was carted off to prison for paying hush money to a former student he’d sexually abused — which says bills can come to the floor only if a majority of the Republicans support them. It virtually ensures minoritarian rule.

And you have partisan news outlets with zero interest in reporting the basic facts of Trump’s corruption or the catastrophic consequences of his impulses. We’ve gone from Pax Americana to Fox Americana in the blink of an eye.

Whereas the more traditional media, whatever their unconscious biases, do try to hold Democrats to account. Sure, let’s stipulate that there are more liberals than conservatives at these organizations. Maybe even a lot more. But it was mainstream newspapers that broke the Whitewater story, which led to an independent investigation of Bill Clinton. It was mainstream newspapers that kept Hillary Clinton’s emails on the front page in the run-up to the 2016 election. This newspaper covered Hunter Biden’s business dealings in Ukraine too — in May. These pages also ran an editorial about it. That was in 2015.

Of course Democratic politicians — all politicians — distort, gerrymander evidence, even lie and apply their greasy thumbs to the scales. (What was Bill Clinton doing on that plane with Loretta Lynch in 2016?) The question is whether their sins are occasional or habitual, whether their worldviews are Capra or Chandler. The Trumpkins are firmly in noir territory.

Now you have Trump strafing Facebook with campaign ads popping with falsehoods. Elizabeth Warren, meanwhile, ran a Facebook ad with falsehoods that acknowledged they were false midway through.

Which says it all, really.

So, to repeat: What to do about this? Do you capitulate, sell your soul and resort to the same lawless tactics as your opponents? Or do you take the high road and run the risk of losing?

The only guide we have is 2018. But it’s not a bad one. What it showed was that sometimes it pays to go high. The Democrats just have to aggressively sell an honorable message.

Specifically, what the Democrats should say is: Anyone who’s not in the business of peddling the truth shouldn’t be in the business of government. Or publishing, for that matter. Trump once said that he could probably get away with murder. (And his lawyers recently, surreally, made this same case in a federal appeals court.) That’s what Mark Zuckerberg is doing on Facebook, figuratively speaking, by allowing political ads with demonstrably false content to run on his platform, no matter what other features the company rolls out.

Right now, the Democrats are badly losing the Facebook war. But it’s not too late for them to wage this fight, and in the right way. They could still campaign on the idea of a government that believes in itself — and self-evident truths, like something as basic as the size of an inaugural crowd.

It would be a declaration of values. In the Trump era, that’s not a bad place to start.

*********

Two Candidates, Two Investigations, One Deeply Flawed Agency

By Jonathan Chait | Published October 25, 2019 | New York Times | Posted October 25, 2019 |

DEEP STATE

Trump, the FBI, and the Rule of Law

By James B. Stewart

During the 2016 presidential election, one of the two major candidates labored under the shadow of a criminal investigation by the F.B.I. That candidate was Hillary Clinton. As we now know, though voters had little reason to apprehend it at the time, there were actually two investigations underway — and, while the probe into Clinton’s mishandling of emails played out in public, the more serious probe of Donald Trump’s secret political and financial connections with Russia remained largely unknown until well after the voting had concluded.

In “Deep State,” James B. Stewart, a columnist for The New York Times and the author of “Blood Sport” and “Den of Thieves,” among many other books, tells the story of both investigations. His account produces few new facts, nor a bold new thesis, that would dramatically alter our understanding of either. Instead, his contribution is to combine the two accounts into a single chronological narrative. He shows how the twin investigations turn out to be closely linked, and not just because an election pitted their subjects against each other.

The F.B.I. agents investigating Clinton’s use of a personal email account realized early on that they would never have a prosecutable case. While Clinton had violated laws pertaining to the handling of classified material, she had apparently done so out of a combination of technical ineptitude and convenience, and the government had never charged an offender without establishing nefarious motives. As a result, the bureau concluded it didn’t “have much on the intent side.”

You might think this decision made life easier for the F.B.I., which would be spared the ordeal of having to insert itself into a presidential campaign. Instead, it made life harder. The reason for this: The bureau contained what some Department of Justice officials considered “hotbeds of anti-Clinton hostility,” especially in the Little Rock and New York offices. Stewart describes how F.B.I. officials encouraged colleagues investigating the Democratic nominee with messages like “You have to get her” and “You guys are finally going to get that bitch.” James Comey, the F.B.I. director during the Clinton email probe, went so far as to tell Attorney General Loretta Lynch, “It’s clear to me that there is a cadre of senior people in New York who have a deep and visceral hatred of Secretary Clinton.” Those agents leaked regularly to right-wing media sources that the bureau was turning a blind eye to what they saw as Clinton’s criminality.

This pressure drove Comey to make two fateful decisions. First, when he announced that the bureau was not bringing charges against Clinton, he denounced her “extremely careless” behavior, as a kind of middle course between what the law dictated and what Republicans demanded. Second, when an unrelated investigation into sex crimes by the former Democratic congressman Anthony Weiner turned up more Clinton email 11 days before the election, Comey felt trapped into announcing that he had reopened the investigation.

Stewart shows how Comey violated the F.B.I.’s norm of doing everything possible to avoid involving itself in election campaigns, especially at the end. He believed that failing to intervene would lead conservative agents to leak the story — and would result in his own impeachment by the Republican Congress after the election. As a result, Comey told his staff he needed to publicly reopen the investigation lest he create “corrosive doubt that you had engineered a cover-up to protect a particular political candidate.”

This was a catastrophic violation of protocol — and probably a decisive one; as Stewart notes, the new email story led the news in six of the seven days in the final week before the election. But what drove Comey to this error was the refusal of Republicans in the bureau and Congress to accept and follow the rules. Stewart’s narrative shows Democrats still believed in institutions and norms — even after Comey’s extraordinary intervention against Clinton, he was still treated warmly by President Obama and cordially by Loretta Lynch. Comey felt bound to appease the Clinton-haters because they refused to accept any process that failed to yield their preferred outcome.

Notably, the Republican William Barr enthusiastically endorsed Comey’s decision to reopen the case against Clinton, but then — once Comey became a threat to Trump — cited that very decision as grounds to fire him. Barr’s subsequent elevation to attorney general is an ominous development that hangs over the second half of Stewart’s book.

Unfortunately, his account of the Russia investigation is less satisfying. When Comey briefs Trump on the so-called Steele dossier and its litany of supposed ties between Trump and Russia — including the unproven allegation that Trump had watched prostitutes in a Moscow hotel room urinating on a bed where the Obamas once slept — we see the new president give suspiciously unconvincing denials. “Almost to himself, Trump repeated the year ‘2013’ and seemed to be searching his memory,” Stewart recounts. Trump tells Comey he would not need to pay for sex, and links the charges to other women who have accused him of groping them — charges that have high levels of credibility. He insists his well-known fear of germs would preclude him from enjoying such a performance, even though he could easily have done so at a safe distance.

We also see Trump or his agents dangling pardons before Paul Manafort and Roger Stone, the two advisers who had the closest political contacts with Russia and WikiLeaks, leading to both men refusing to cooperate with the investigation. We come to see Rod Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general and supervisor of the Mueller report, as human Jell-O, losing his composure at times to the point of seeming unhinged. Stewart points out that Rosenstein agreed to meet with Trump privately. “Each time, against seemingly long odds, Rosenstein emerged with his job intact,” he notes. “What did he offer Trump in return? What threats, explicit or implied, did Trump bring to bear?”

Stewart also recounts the harsh treatment dispensed to government officials who, as a result of their involvement in the Russia investigation, became Trump’s targets. The Department of Justice publicized an affair between two agents working on the probe. It demoted the Justice Department lawyer Bruce Ohr after he spoke out, and ended the career of the longtime F.B.I. agent Andrew McCabe. All of these things, Stewart writes, “raise disturbing questions about their willingness to stand up to a president and preserve the long tradition of independent law enforcement and the rule of law.”

However, for all the suspicious patterns he reveals, for all the dots he connects, Stewart does not manage to produce a smoking gun that proves misconduct. We never learn the depth of Trump’s involvement with Russia, or whether he or Attorney General Barr applied undue pressure on the department. If these questions have incriminating answers, the people who hold them probably have no incentive to reveal them and possibly never will. What “Deep State” does tell us is that there are ample grounds for suspicion that Trump’s well-documented efforts to obstruct justice succeeded. To what end? That remains a mystery.

*********

In Tribute to Cummings, Obama Hints at Rebuke of Trump

The former president said that Representative Elijah E. Cummings showed that “you’re not a sucker to have integrity.”

Peter Baker

Oct. 25, 2019Updated 3:52 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON — Former President Barack Obama, who has remained largely silent amid the convulsive impeachment debate now gripping the nation, offered a tribute to a late Democratic congressman on Friday that sounded to some listeners like an implicit rebuke of President Trump.

Speaking at a service for Representative Elijah E. Cummings, who died last week, Mr. Obama never mentioned the president by name but seemed to draw a contrast between his successor and the congressman whom Mr. Trump denigrated last summer.

Mr. Obama said that Mr. Cummings showed that being strong meant being kind and that being honorable was no flaw.

“There’s nothing weak about kindness and compassion,” Mr. Obama told a packed hall at New Psalmist Baptist Church in Baltimore, which Mr. Cummings, a Democrat, represented in the House for the past 25 years. “There’s nothing weak about looking out for others. There’s nothing weak about being honorable. You’re not a sucker to have integrity and to treat others with respect.”

Warming to his topic, Mr. Obama pointed to a sign behind him referring to “the Honorable” Mr. Cummings.

“This is a title that we confer on all kinds of people who get elected to public office,” he said as the largely African-American and Democratic audience responded with knowing applause and laughter. “We’re supposed to introduce them as honorable. But Elijah Cummings was honorable before he was elected to office. There’s a difference. There’s a difference if you were honorable and treated others honorably outside the limelight.”

As chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, Mr. Cummings, 68, had become a major thorn in Mr. Trump’s side and was one of the leaders of the drive to impeach the president for abuse of power. Last summer, Mr. Trump lashed out at Mr. Cummings, calling him “racist” and “a brutal bully” who had done “a very poor job” representing a district that he described as a “disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess.”

Mr. Obama was part of an all-star lineup of speakers and guests at the Friday’s service, including former President Bill Clinton, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Senator Elizabeth Warren.

But much of the attention was focused on the 44th president, who has largely avoided weighing in lately on his successor even as Mr. Trump lately has repeatedly accused Mr. Obama of illegally spying on him while in office and blamed the former president for various policy setbacks.

Mr. Obama made no reference to any of that, but did call on his audience to step up as Mr. Cummings did. “People will look back at this moment,” he said, “and ask the question: What did you do?”

*********

Elijah Cummings’s Funeral Draws Presidents and Thousands of Mourners

Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton spoke Friday at the service for the longtime Maryland congressman.

By Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs | Published October 25, 2019 Updated 3:39 PM ET | New York Times | Posted October 25, 2019 |

BALTIMORE — Representative Elijah E. Cummings was firmly rooted in Baltimore, but for decades his voice extended far from his brick rowhouse on the city’s west side. On Friday, the legacy of his tireless advocacy brought powerful leaders from Washington and elsewhere to his city.

Mr. Cummings, a Democrat who rose in prominence in recent years for his unwavering pursuit of President Trump, died at 68 last week in the city he called home, the same one in which he was born and lived all his life.

Two former presidents, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, were among the prominent cast of politicians, mentees and relatives who spoke at his funeral on Friday morning. Others included Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Hillary Clinton and Elizabeth Warren, the Massachusetts senator and presidential candidate.

Mr. Obama roused the congregation, extolling Mr. Cummings’s values and saying that the congressman had earned the title, “the honorable.”

“This is a title we confer on all kinds of people who get elected to public office,” Mr. Obama said. “We’re supposed to introduce them as honorable. But Elijah Cummings was honorable before he was elected to office.”

“There’s a difference,” Mr. Obama continued, his voice rising as many in the crowd stood up and clapped. “There’s a difference if you were honorable and treated others honorably — outside the limelight, on the side of a road, in a quiet moment counseling somebody you work with.”

Mr. Cummings’s success validates the concept of the American dream, Mr. Obama said, and his compassion and empathy were a lesson that kindness can be a sign of strength.

“There’s nothing weak about looking out for others,” Mr. Obama said. “There’s nothing weak about being honorable. You’re not a sucker to have integrity and to treat others with respect.”

Earlier in the service, following a psalm read by Ms. Warren and a song from one of Mr. Cummings’s favorite singers, BeBe Winans, Ms. Clinton took the stage and thanked members of Mr. Cummings’s district “for sharing him with our country and the world.”

Ms. Clinton said Mr. Cummings never backed down in the face of abuses of power or from “those who put party ahead of country or partisanship above truth.”

“But he could find common ground with anyone willing to seek it with him,” she continued. “And he liked to remind all of us that you can’t get so caught up in who you are fighting that you forget what you are fighting for.”

Ms. Pelosi asked attendees how many had been mentored by Mr. Cummings, and at least a dozen raised their hands. She recalled that he had sought to mentor as many freshman representatives as he could after Democrats took control of the House in the 2018 election.

“By example, he gave people hope,” she said.

Ms. Pelosi had spoken at another funeral in Baltimore on Wednesday for her own brother, Thomas D’Alesandro III, a former mayor of the city.

Earlier in the morning, thousands of grieving Baltimoreans stood in looping lines as the sun rose outside of New Psalmist Baptist Church, which seats 4,000 people and filled up shortly before 10, with many still outside. It’s the same church where Mr. Cummings sat in the front row most Sundays even after he began using a walker and wheelchair.

Mr. Cummings’s body lay in an open coffin at the front of the church on Friday, his left hand resting on his right as mourners passed by and a choir sang gospel music. An usher stood nearby with a box of tissues in each hand.

Elonna Jones, 21, skipped her classes at the University of Maryland to attend with her mother, Waneta Ross, who nearly teared up as she contemplated Baltimore’s loss.

“He believed in the beauty of everything, especially our city,” Ms. Ross said. “It’s important we’re here to honor a civil rights activist who was still around in my generation.”

Ms. Jones, a volunteer coordinator for a City Council candidate, said Mr. Cummings had motivated her to pursue a role in improving her city.

“As a young, black woman in Baltimore who wants to be in politics, he inspired me,” she said.

Mourning residents stood in black coats, hats and heels and sang Mr. Cummings’s praises as the police corralled the extended lines of people who woke up early to pay their respects. Above all, attendees noted, he always looked out for his city.

“He never forgot who we were,” said Bernadette McDonald, who lives in West Baltimore. “He was a son of Baltimore and a man of the people.”

The big names on the service’s agenda, the television cameras lined up outside and the large crowd belied the way many attendees interacted with the devoted congressman, who lived in the heart of West Baltimore and would simply give a knowing nod to those who recognized him on the street. He carried himself like anyone else when running errands or taking a walk around the block.

“If you didn’t already know him, you wouldn’t know who he was,” Ms. McDonald said.

Mr. Cummings saw his profile rise in recent years as he consistently sparred with Mr. Trump, determinedly pursuing the president, his businesses and his associates as head of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform. Mr. Cummings became a leading figure in the impeachment inquiry and was said to still be joining strategy discussions with colleagues from his hospital bed.

Rhonda Martin, who works at a local high school, said Mr. Cummings had inspired the next generation of Baltimore’s leaders by speaking to students in schools around the city.

“He brought a message of hope and told students that he did it, and they can do it, too,” Ms. Martin said.

Mr. Cummings, whose parents were former sharecroppers in South Carolina, graduated from Howard University in Washington and earned a law degree at the University of Maryland. He was first elected to Congress in 1996 and never faced a serious challenge over 11 successful re-election campaigns.

On Thursday, Mr. Cummings’s body lay in state in the Capitol, the first black lawmaker to do so, and Republicans and Democrats praised his integrity and his commitment to his constituents.

Over more than two decades in Congress, Mr. Cummings championed working people, environmental reform and civil rights. He served for two years as the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus and frequently spoke of his neighborhood while pushing legislation to lower drug prices, promoting labor unions and seeking more funding for affordable housing.

Even in his war of words with the president, the battle made its way to Baltimore when, in July, Mr. Trump called Mr. Cummings’s district a “disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess” and appeared to make light of a break-in at Mr. Cummings’s home, during which the congressman scared an intruder away.

The president’s insults still anger Baltimore residents. “See? We’re not all trash and rats,” one congregant said as she sat down in the church on Friday.

Mr. Cummings responded to the president by saying it was his “moral duty” to fight for residents in his district. “Each morning, I wake up,” he wrote, “and I go and fight for my neighbors.”

Jennifer Cummings, one of Mr. Cummings’s two daughters, recalled early morning calls from her father on her birthdays and the ice cream they shared in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor.

Reading from a letter to her father, Ms. Cummings said her father had taught her to “love my blackness” by insisting on buying her dolls with brown skin and telling her to appreciate her lips and nose.

While she was proud of all the titles he held over his life, “perhaps the most important title you held in your 68 years on earth was dad,” she said.

One of Mr. Cummings’s brothers, James Cummings, said that in one of their last conversations, the congressman spoke of his heartbreak over the unsolved killing of James’s 20-year-old son, Christopher Cummings, in Norfolk, Va., in 2011.

The killing “haunted Elijah for the rest of his life,” James said.

Adia Cummings, the congressman’s other daughter, said Mr. Cummings always challenged her and her sister to be better people. And even though he would nudge her about owing him money, he rarely turned down her requests, even recently making sure that she could attend a concert for the rapper Cardi B.

“He didn’t really know who she was, but he went out of his way, even from his sick bed, to make sure I could go see her,” she said.

Maya Rockeymoore Cummings, Mr. Cummings’s wife and the chairwoman of the Maryland Democratic Party, gave a fiery speech that brought multiple rounds of applause and many congregants to their feet more than once. And while she did not cite President Trump by name, she invoked him clearly, saying her husband’s work had become “infinitely more difficult” in the last few months of his life when he “sustained personal attacks” on him and his city. “It hurt him,” Ms. Cummings said.

Looking at Mr. Obama, she recalled that Mr. Cummings had stood with the former president early and proudly. “But you didn’t have any challenges like we have going on now,” she added with a smile, as Mr. Obama nodded and responded with an appreciative chuckle.

Ms. Cummings said she felt as if people were trying to tear Mr. Cummings down, and that the celebrations and outpouring of love this week had assured her that he was sent off with the respect he deserved.

Two days before Mr. Cummings died, his wife said, the staff at the Johns Hopkins Hospital had wheeled him up to the roof to see the sun and look over the city he never left.

“Boy, have I come a long way,” he said, according to Ms. Cummings.

*********

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donbrownposts · 5 years

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Creative Selling

FEAR OF NO

Why do so many people fear the word no? Is this word so negative you would sometimes wish it never existed? Imagine how your childhood would have been if mom or dad never told you no? Stay up all hours, hang out with your friends all night on week days or ever worry about what your mom or dad would say if you did not do your homework or complete a term paper? How about that school teacher who made you keep quiet in class or send you to the principal’s office after throwing an object across the classroom or pushing the fire alarm on a snowy day? How great it would be if you just did not have to deal with the word NO!

Doesn't salesmen deal with no all the time or military personnel are constantly told no throughout their tour of duty and of course we all at one time or another had to face rejection from the opposite sex while finally getting the nerve to ask and then THAT BIG FAT WORD NO. Yes, we are all told no all the time whatever it's being rejected by the opposite sex or told you did not qualify for a certain sports event or get that great job offer that would push your career to the next level? It is all part of life and will always be around regardless of how you make a living or perhaps want to buy a car and the finance company rejects your loan request or declines your application for a mortgage on your dream home. No matter who you are or what you do there will be times when one must sell something including yourself. No is just a big part of the process and selling is a process.

Selling Your Self or Something

What actually does sell yourself or selling something actually mean? Perhaps a better word might be persuasion. Isn't to persuade the same as to sell someone? First let us look at the definition of persuasion. “The action or fact of persuading someone or being persuaded to do or believe something.” Other words associated with persuasion are coercion, inducement, encouragement, urging, enticement, and wheeling. If you are going into B2B sales the most important word you can or should remember is ethics. This word goes a long way in selling oneself which is the key in selling any product or service.

Persuasion, in my opinion, is nothing more than presenting facts to support a theory or hypothesis that answers a question or solves a problem. Ben Franklin as everyone is familiar with from the history of the United States was faced with proving that lightning and electricity was the same. Mr. Franklin, as we all know, did the famous kite flight with a metal key attached to a wire on the kite and when the lightning struck the kite, Mr. Franklin felt a strong shock that proved lightning was in fact electricity. This obviously proved that Ben Franklin's theory of lighting and electricity is the same and was of course an excellent example of persuasion. The power of persuasion is not to force or to push someone into buying something regardless of the results, but is the ability to help solve a problem in his or her business. One can follow all the text book strategies and tactics in the world, and which is important, but nothing is going to happen until both the customer and the seller meets agreement on a specific problem and the seller can demonstrate to the buyer a successful solution that solves the problem. The case of Berger Industries, Maspeth, NY is a perfect case example to illustrate this.

A purchasing agent of several years and who just recently joined the company is briefed by the company's Chief Engineer that the new plastic pipeline product is having issues with assembly of the O'Ring seal, it was very time consuming and frustrating the assembly operator and supervisor. It was originally estimated that the process would take 20 to 30 seconds to install and has been actually taking over one minute and sometimes longer. The operator has to struggle while sliding the rubber seal over the pipe and due to excessive friction finds it to be a very hard in pushing the O'Ring into the groove.” This job was supposed to be a high profit maker but at this rate it will be a definite loser.” The new purchasing agent Norm while holding his finger to his chin expressed, “Let me make a few calls and see what might be done about this.” “There must be a simpler way of accomplishing this. “up Armed with his list of prior relationships in the rubber seal business, places a call to a reputable supplier of rubber products that he did business with at one of his previous employers. Norm was put in contact with myself and after explaining the situation I scheduled an appointment for the following morning. We had the usual hand shake and simple conversation over coffee and after a brief meeting was introduced to the chief engineer and assembly supervisor. Looking at the application reminded me of the exact same problem with another plastic pipe manufacturer. The problem in assembly of O'Ring Seals over any pipe is a significant amount of friction. I asked the customer for a few days to produce some prototype samples and would get back to them. I immediately placed a sample order and had O'Rings in a special compound as I promised delivered to Norm and engineer for test and evaluation. The engineer and assembly supervisor were amazed as to how much faster and

easier the O'Rings slipped over the pipe and into the groove. Their original estimate of 20 seconds per seal was reduced in half to under 19 seconds. Smiles from ear to ear came across to all three participants and obviously I walked out afterwards with a contract for a two-year supply. Our compound was specified as sole source and a two-year contract had the business locked up and out of reach from competition. This is an example of servicing an UN-served market resident immediately flew up to meet with me and question my company loyalty and why I cost the company so much money by selling a special compound as opposed to selling parts already in stock. Once he heard the total story the facts of the case he quickly came to my support and someone else got faced with further training on understanding customer’s needs.

Prospective employees waiting for their job interview, a businessman making the first step of a start-up business or baseball pitcher trying out for a major or minor league baseball team all have the common denominator of the word no. What makes this word so powerful that it puts so many strong people into a frenzy and such a deep fear and anxiety? Such a simple and common word that in many of us will do almost anything to avoid dealing with it. Why would so many people carry so much negative emotion so afraid of the outcome of events? What we do need to realize is that fear in atoll shapes and sizes is a part of everyone's life and it is just about impossible to change that. Famous actors also go through fear of rejection with almost every audition, entrepreneurs may start over twenty business o [opportunities before finding one successful one, polished sales people will make several presentations and be rejected as well as some of the best criminal attorneys will experience some losses at one time or another. Perry Mason even lost a few. You may ask, “Why does these people never fear no or rejection?” It might surprise you, but everyone does at various points in their life. The greatest people, in spite of their success, feels fear and rejection almost all the time. It usually turns out however that fear is never the issue but how one handles fear and rejection is what really matters. In fact, fear is all over the place such as a businessman waiting for a decision on a very important business loan or salesman presenting a product to a new prospect. Both of these people are looking for different results but are feeling the same tension and anxiety that is associated with them

fear. Why is this so? Let us look at different levels of fear and the pluses of fear as well as the negatives.

Fear and Rejection

According to Matt James, PHD. Fear is a basic human emotion. It was wired into our systems for a

beneficial purpose—to signal us in times of danger and prepare us physically so we could accomplish what is necessary for survival.” “Fear lets you see only the downside, and that won't get you very far.” “When warranted, fear can be one of our most vital resources, but as Helen Keller said, "Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than out-right exposure”. “The fearful are caught as often as the bold." “These days, fear has become big business rather than a helpful, valuable resource.” “We live in a climate fueled by fear while the media manipulates fear to earn higher ratings with headlines such as will major storm hit Your Neighborhood while merchandisers tap our fear to sell products.” “ Politicians stir up fear to accumulate votes, religious leaders employ fear to keep flocks in line, and parents use fear to keep kids from misbehaving.” “Fear is woven into the fabric of our lives, perhaps affecting modern adults even more than it did our caveman ancestors.”

“A recent article in the New York Observer recently claimed that “fear is the new normal.”[1] Fear influences the choices we make yet making decisions motivated by fear is flawed, if not dangerous; it will never lead to the healthy, fulfilling lives we crave.” What we can learn about fear should not affect us negatively but should be considered a resource that can and will enhance our productivity and quality of work.

Positive of Fear

We will, in our case, concentrate on the young sales person all shaken up during a sales presentation with the fear of the customer rejecting his or her proposal. We are going to look at some factors and

strategies that will not only turn one's fear into more productivity but provide you with high

FEAR OF NO

Confidence and total command of the situation at hand. The sales person will know that every presentation will not always be a closed sale, but he or she will know that they will achieve their fair share as well as the entrepreneur is going to handle most objectives and tasks with confidence and provide a strong presence to the staff. Let us look at some of the business situations where a strong understanding can provide you with that feeling of confidence and credibility. As we follow Dr. Matt James, he points out several other important factors regarding fear such as “Fear sees only the downside.”

Conquering fear and the word no is not eazy but it is simple. I will be addressing more on this on my next blog post.

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dammholgersen06-blog · 6 years

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The ten Greatest Movers In Manhattan Seashore, CA 2018

Moving Companies Manhattan Beach Florida 32227 Duval County United States

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sellmyhousefastforcash5 · 2 years

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10 Tips To Sell Your House Fast for Cash!

Even in a seller's market, when there is little inventory and bidding wars are frequent, it's still worth investing some time and effort in gaining an edge over the competition. The process of selling your home can vary, depending on the area in which you live. You may need to consult with a real estate agent who is familiar with the market where your home is located. Additionally, You may also want to spend some money making renovations and improvements to attract buyers and increase your asking price. Here are 10 tips, straight from Realtors, on how to make your home stand out amongst the competition and sell for more money.

1. Find a reputable real estate agent.

Working with a professional real estate agent who knows your neighborhood well can help you sell your house faster and for more money. In fact, according to data from the National Association of Realtors, homes listed without the aid of a Realtor sold for a median price of $260,000 in 2021. Before deciding on one agent, speak to several prospects — the better you get along together, the easier everything will go.

2. Invest in value-added improvements.

If you're unsure of which home improvements to make, know that you're not alone—it's a daunting task for anyone. But the most important thing is to spend your money on projects with the highest ROI. According to data from Remodeling magazine, garage door replacements have an average return of just under 94%. So if you're looking to invest in something that will give you one of the highest returns possible, look no further than replacing your old garage door. Realtor Jade Lee-Duffy of TXR Homes in San Diego, California says that minor kitchen upgrades are also a wise investment.“The heart of the home is the kitchen, and many buyers will judge a property by its kitchen,” she says. “While a complete overhaul of this space can run into the tens of thousands, a minor update is where you can gain the greatest return. Think about resurfacing cabinets, replacing countertops, a fresh coat of paint, or updating the fixtures and hardware.” Katie Severance, a Realtor with Douglas Elliman in Palm Beach, Florida believes that updating your bathroom is always a wise investment. “Renovated kitchens and baths are the ‘money rooms’ — those that add the most value to a home,” she says.

3. Improve the value of your home by improving its curb appeal.

First impressions are everything, so don't overlook curb appeal!“Make sure your front yard is free of debris, the bushes are pruned and the grass has been cut,” says Lee-Duffy. “Also, add some bright potted plants by the front door to make buyers feel welcome.” Touching up outside paint, putting window flower boxes, and installing a new mailbox are three simple improvements that do wonders for curb appeal. “Adding rich-looking mulch around shrubs and trees can really bring out the charm,” she adds.

4. Obtain a pre-listing examination.

If you're thinking of selling your home, be sure to get a home inspection first.“You don’t want any unexpected surprises,” says Lee-Duffy. “It’s best to find out beforehand if there are any issues that you can fix before buyers find out on their own.” A home inspection gives you negotiating power to ask for a lower price or, in the event of discovering significant damage, an easy way to back out of the deal. Therefore, it is often worth paying a few hundred dollars for a professional home inspector. Although a pre-listing inspection has benefits, there are also some drawbacks.“Beware, because once a seller becomes aware of an existing defect and does not correct it prior to listing, they are obligated to disclose it to a buyer,” says Severance. “Defects that a buyer learns were known but not disclosed, prior to accepting an offer, can kill the deal.”

5. Create a positive image with professional photos

If you're looking to sell your home, investing in high-quality photography can help you get a higher price. “The majority of people search for properties online,” says Lee-Duffy. “If the photos pop, it can translate into a higher sales price — and sell faster, too.” Although it may be tempting to give buyers a full picture of your home online, you may want to leave some things to the imagination.“I advise against photographing every square foot of the home,” says Severance. “The goal of photographs is not to give all the goodies away online; it’s to make a buyer want to see more — to whet their whistle enough to entice them to see it in person. If they don’t come to see the house, they probably aren’t making an offer.”

6. Give your home a makeover (stage your home)

When it comes to home staging, Severance advises that there are only two guidelines of thumb: less is more, and keep it neutral. “It’s very important to capture buyers’ interest from the front door,” she says. “Pay extra attention to the entry hall and invest heavily in staging this part of the house. Repaint; place flowers; buy a new area rug, an impressive mirror, or a dramatic piece of art.” Remove anything that visually shrinks a space, such as huge ottomans or numerous plants, and take everything off the kitchen counters except for one or two new-looking appliances. “And don’t forget to stage the deck or patio, because that is an extension of the house that can make a small home feel much larger than it is,” Severance adds. If you're feeling up to the task, you could stage your home on your own. But, if you really want to impress potential buyers- and make a good return on investment- it may be worth hiring a professional stager. The average professional costs between $749-$2,825 according HomeAdvisor.

7. Setting the correct asking price is critical.

It's critical to have an idea of what your home's highest selling price should be. A property that is correctly valued will bring in more buyers.“Setting the price too high can be detrimental and prevent buyers from walking through your front door,” says Lee-Duffy. “If you want to be conservative, always price on the lower end to entice maximum buyer interest.” An expert real estate agent will work with you to determine the highest possible price for your home, one that makes the most money without overselling. They can do this since they understand market values and what people in your region are typically ready to pay. “Good pricing requires the expertise to thread the needle,” says Severance. “List at a number that is lower than comparable properties, in order to draw attention to it, but not so low that you will be disappointed if you only get one offer right at list price.”If you're able to interest a good number of customers, you could be paving the way for a bidding war.

8. Before you leave remove and lock up personal belongings

“The goal of any showing is for the buyer to envision their own belongings in the space,” Severance says that family photos and knickknacks might not seem like they have any bearing on how much money your home commands, but they really do matter - especially if you are still living in the home while you're trying to sell it. “Buyers are thinking of their own furniture, where it will go, and how it will fit. It’s the house they came to see, not the items inside of it,” If you have a lot of personal items, the room won't be as entertaining and appealing. "It's not uncommon for buyers to be sidetracked by their own belongings," says George. If they're preoccupied with things such as themselves, they're less likely to notice that the place isn't inviting or engaging.

9. Be ready to move fast

When your home goes on the market, things can move swiftly. To be as responsive as possible to potential bids, it's critical to be well prepared ahead of time. “Fill out all the necessary documents, such as any seller disclosures, and have paperwork for recent repair work, home renovation costs, and utility bills on-hand for any buyer requests that come in,” says Lee-Duffy. Not responding after a sale can be detrimental to your sales. Sellers who are slow in reaction time or unresponsive may lose clients, according to Severance. “If the buyer feels that they are not being dealt with fairly, they are very likely to walk away,” she says.

10. Use your brain, not your emotions.

At the end of the day, try to see things objectively and as a business transaction — your home is now simply a product. Be clear on what you would be open to conceding if buyers bring it up during negotiations. It's not out of the ordinary for interested parties to ask for repairs or credits, so try not to get caught up in emotions and take offense. “It's critical to remove the emotion from it and keep in mind that buyers seldom anticipate receiving everything they inquire for,” says Severance. “Examine which demands are logical and fair, and then deliver something. Giving in on a demand is not costly to you; rather, it's the cost of losing the buyer, restarting the sale process from scratch, and receiving a potentially lower offer.”

#sell my house fast #sell my house for cash #sell my house fast for cash

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sellmyhousefastforcash4 · 2 years

Text

10 Tips To Sell Your House Fast for Cash!

1. Find a reputable real estate agent.

2. Invest in value-added improvements.

3. Improve the value of your home by improving its curb appeal.

4. Obtain a pre-listing examination.

If you're thinking of Selling Your Home ASAP for Cash, be sure to get a home inspection first.“You don’t want any unexpected surprises,” says Lee-Duffy. “It’s best to find out beforehand if there are any issues that you can fix before buyers find out on their own.” A home inspection gives you negotiating power to ask for a lower price or, in the event of discovering significant damage, an easy way to back out of the deal. Therefore, it is often worth paying a few hundred dollars for a professional home inspector. Although a pre-listing inspection has benefits, there are also some drawbacks.“Beware, because once a seller becomes aware of an existing defect and does not correct it prior to listing, they are obligated to disclose it to a buyer,” says Severance. “Defects that a buyer learns were known but not disclosed, prior to accepting an offer, can kill the deal.”

5. Create a positive image with professional photos

6. Give your home a makeover (stage your home)

7. Setting the correct asking price is critical.

8. Before you leave remove and lock up personal belongings

9. Be ready to move fast

10. Use your brain, not your emotions.

#sell my house fast #sell my house for cash #sell my house fast for cash

0 notes

sellmyhousefastforcash3 · 2 years

Text

10 Tips To Sell Your House Fast for Cash!

Even in a seller's market, when there is little inventory and bidding wars are frequent, it's still worth investing some time and effort in gaining an edge over the competition. The process of Selling Your House ASAP for Cash can vary, depending on the area in which you live. You may need to consult with a real estate agent who is familiar with the market where your home is located. Additionally, You may also want to spend some money making renovations and improvements to attract buyers and increase your asking price. Here are 10 tips, straight from Realtors, on how to make your home stand out amongst the competition and sell for more money.

1. Find a reputable real estate agent.

2. Invest in value-added improvements.

3. Improve the value of your home by improving its curb appeal.

4. Obtain a pre-listing examination.

5. Create a positive image with professional photos

6. Give your home a makeover (stage your home)

7. Setting the correct asking price is critical.

8. Before you leave remove and lock up personal belongings

9. Be ready to move fast

10. Use your brain, not your emotions.

#sell my house fast #sell my house for cash #sell my house fast for cash

0 notes