Guru (Sanskrit: गुरु), is a term denoting a teacher

In Western usage, the meaning of guru has been extended to cover anyone who acquires followers, though not necessarily in an established school of philosophy or religion. In the West, guru is  used to refer to a person who has authority because of his or her perceived secular knowledge or skills.

There are many fine real estate "gurus" on today's real estate scene.  Selling residential real estate is a lot more challenging than it looks.   Agents need and welcome help from knowledgeable experts.

Many of these teachers, motivational speakers and market analysts have considerable knowledge about what it takes to succeed in real estate sales.  The best-of-the-best have been in the trenches themselves and speak from the college of hard knocks.

Denise Lones, of the Lones Group, is one of those good teachers.  We quoted Denise recently on the state of the market.

"If you look at charts going back to the 1960's, there have been many ebbs and flows. Long ones sometimes.  Short ones other times. Double-digit appreciations rates [we saw them during the red hot market of two year's back] are always followed by a slowdown and a rise in foreclosures.  But one thing has remained constant - real estate has maintained an average appreciation value of 7% a year for forty years.  Regardless of any ebb or flow.

"Here in Washington State, we are relatively unaffected by [real estate] problems in other areas of the country ... Job growth is on the rise here.  Values have remained steady.  More people are moving here.  And why not?  It's a great place to live, full of opportunity and promise."

Denise will respond to anyone who wants to comment.  Contact Ms. Lones at http://www.thelonesgroup.com/ or denise@thelonesgroup.com  She's one of the best-of-the-best.

Thank you.