Archives of real estate blog entries for October 30, 2006 (Page 2)

Blog posts


Mischief Night - 08:08 PM
What is Mischief Night?
Mischief Night is the night before Halloween but it is more than just a night before Halloween.  Mischief basically means trouble so it is a Trouble Night.  Definitely not the best night for homeowners and even car owners because many horrible things could happen to your home or even your car.  What are some of the possible mischiefs that can occur on Misheif Night?
Here are a few possibilities:
A.) Toilet papering your property, trees and other fixtures on your property/street.
B.) Throwing eggs at homes, cars and other fixtures on your property/street.
C.) Putting bananas in … (3 comments)

How's your hot dog business doing these days?? - 10:44 AM
Mine is doing OK, been better, been much worse.
However I'm almost always a positive thinker and my glass of water is half full.
I've always remembered and always loved this little story about attitude and your outlook on business and life in general.
"A man sold hot dogs in a medium-sized town. He was proud of his hot dogs and made a great deal of money selling his hot dogs. Every day, he would go out and yell from his hot dog stand, "Come and get your hot dogs! The best hod dogs in town!" People came from all over to … (6 comments)

Radon can gas your transaction...but it's an easy fix - 02:23 PM
In my part of the country we have a lot of rock formations close to the surface of the earth which creates a haven for Radon gas.
For those of you that may not have had any direct experience or heard much about it; Radon is a colorless, odorless, gas that occurs during the natural breakdown of uranium which is in most all of the United States.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer in the US ranking just behind smoking as a killer.
Here's a link to the EPA website where you can … (2 comments)

The stats on the Fairfield County, Ct. Market - 08:36 PM
With all the media coverage it's tough to really know what the real trend in any given market is.  Every month I calculate our stats so that my clients have a firm understanding of the reality of the marketplace.  So for those of you interested in Fairfield County, Ct., here they are:
… (2 comments)

Personal Peace you should have a prictice of Serenity - 10:31 AM
In our noisy world, we often find ourselves longing for peace and searching to find it somewhere else. While it's true that there are places we can visit where we can experience peace, such as sacred sites or buildings, we do not need to wait until we get to one of these places to feel at peace. Instead, we can learn to locate the seed of peace inside ourselves and cultivate it so that it grows into a reliable source of serenity that we can always access, no matter where we are. We experience peace when we are in a state … (0 comments)

Home and Land Meditation - Maybe we as realtors make a difference in lives. - 10:33 AM
Just as we take care of our friends and families, our homes and Mother Earth take care of us. Our homes give us a place of refuge-a sanctuary that stands between us and the elements of nature and the rest of the world. The earth is an unselfish giver of life and the steward of our physical and spiritual needs. The earth's bountiful plant life nourishes us, gives us air, and offers us cooling shade. Her waters quench our thirst, and her beauty stirs our souls. Yet it is easy to take both of these wonderful sources of our blessings for … (2 comments)

Haunted Houses For Sale - 08:36 PM
Any real estate professional knows that Inman News is the source for real estate news. Their site is full of the latest information for anyone in the industry. It is a subscription site, but I get their daily newsletters – there is a morning and an evening edition – and you can read any article free that day. Their blog is breezy and every few posts you'll find something of interest even if you're not a Realtor® or a mortgage broker or appraiser. 
Today, for instance, there's a piece about a site that offers to help you find a haunted … (2 comments)

another Housevalue lead closes - 06:05 PM
I know many people have no luck with internet lead generation, but I have had great success.  Today I closed a 2 month old housevalues lead that was looking for 250-300k homes in the Indianapolis area(average home price here is about 145-150k to give you an idea of relevance to price)  Bought a 250k home from me.  I am also listing their current home in two weeks, which is worth about 200k.
I have noticed that I am able to close home buyers much more easier then people that request CMA's off the internet...I am still not for sure why this is … (2 comments)

home prices relative to market rents? - 06:11 PM
This topic was brought up on another forum I read on real estate.  I have a property management arm of my company, who also manages my personal rentals for me.  Here in Indianapolis, we have had stagnant growth for the past 5 years, while we watch everywhere else explode with price appreciations.
Here in Indianapolis, my property manager can rent out a 3 bedroom 2 bath 1,600 sq.ft. BRAND NEW home for about $1,050-$1,295/month.  Purchase price for a home like this is about $135k.  So we have about a 10% cap rate here in Indianapolis.
What is rent's vs. value in other areas … (0 comments)

Conquer Procrastination - 05:40 PM
Procrastination haunts us all lets face it. WHen trying to manage your time effectively procrastination serves as this principles kryptonite. Many of us when it comes to having a specific  deadline we think oh ill do it tommorow. This carries for several days and at the last minute we are running around trying to make the deadline. One way to counter this thought process is to break this into smaller tasks and do just one of the smaller tasks. You could even set a timer and work on the big task for jsut 15 minutes. By doing a little at a … (1 comments)

In Wall Pest Control - 04:43 AM
     One of the less desirable aspects of Florida living is Palmetto bugs, a euphanism for big roaches.  They may have started outside, in the Palmetto  bushes, but they manage to get inside, and it isn't pretty.  (Chameleons, on the other hand, are not only harmless, and eat small bugs, they are really cute).  So,  it's normal in Florida to have pest control companies come in and spray all around the baseboards. Some do it monthly, some quarterly, some annually - in any case, the bugs seem to know the contract term, because they start appearing about a week before the … (0 comments)

DISC in negotiating - 05:17 AM
Last week my son and I attended realtor.com's latest "dog and pony show" here in St. Pete, primarily because the speaker was Bob LeFever. I met Bob over 20 years ago when he was the trainer for Merrill Lynch Realty, and in fact spent a week with he and a dozen others when he taught the week long management training course. That was before he was a big broker in California. It's always good to see old friends.
But to the point - one of Bob's points was to know all you can about the other side in negotiation. He gave the … (0 comments)

Stagers... are we red headed step children that get no respect? - 05:38 AM
Lately I have been getting a lot of email from stagers that are frustrated with the response they have been getting from the real estate community. Basically they are surprised that realtors are not flocking to them with open welcoming arms and lavishing them with clients. Compared to mortgage brokers or home inspectors we are "red headed step children that get no respect".The best advice I can give you is to "persevere".Staging is new and in many parts of the country untested. So it is up to us as a united industry to get the word out about staging and the … (40 comments)

Blog Comments: Thorns amongst the flowers. - 10:47 PM
When I posted my “Little Orphan Rodney” blog this morning I never thought it would create such a firestorm of comments.
I been so inspired by the spirit of kindness and generosity on Active Rain that I try hard to make my voice here be a voice of inclusion, a voice a sharing… with a dash of humor.  
Two simple little AR blogs in particular have touched me, inspired me and have COMPLETYLY changed the way I now approach my blog and my industry. They represent generosity in the purist of sense. Neither blogger needed to share their “secrets”. But they did. Those two blogs (from a while … (10 comments)

Zillow & Pumpkins and data for consumers - 05:12 AM
Zillow dropped this off at the St. Paul Real Estate Blog a couple of days ago.  It was done by one of their excellent graphic artists.  Since it was not made using the paint program it was not included in the virtual pumpkin carving contest.
They visited my blog and commented one of my posts "The truth about the internet" 
 I pointed out that the data on their site is inaccurate.  They sent me some emails and they took a look at my home, which had the wrong valuation because public data about my home is out of date.  The origional house on … (5 comments)

When drip email goes bad - 12:32 PM
   A couple of weeks ago I tried to contact a real estate agent through a builders web site.  I could not find her contact information so I sent a note congratulating her on her new listing and explained that I was interested in interviewing her for my St. Paul Real estate blog.
One week later I got a note from her with details about the condo project and the renovation.  It was a nice note but was not at all related to my comment and question. I jotted down the number on the bottom of the email and had planned to … (4 comments)

World's Most RIDICULOUS Blog Posting: Get it here, no extra charge - 11:37 AM
I can't really say for sure if this is the World's Most RIDICULOUS Blog Posting but it sure feels like it. And I reserve the right to ridicule myself at my leisure.
Those of you who know me personally will probably think it is and find this a laughable expose with which you will haunt me for weeks if not months. In fact, it's a little embarassing to write about but because I have no phone and only occassional Internet connection from where I am I'll spend most of my lunchtime writing this absurd posting about this preposterous state of indecision. Yet, … (4 comments)

If You Can't Beat Your Competition, Lie To Your Clients - 04:38 PM
Why does it seem this has become the motto of my own industry? If you live in one of the towns where JS from LF advertises heavily on the radio you've heard him say "Don't give a broker another penny of closing costs to refinance! It's a racket! It's a rip-off! Refinance with LF today and we'll pay your closing costs. Your closing costs won't cost you one penny and we don't roll it into the loan!" (paraphrased)
Raise your hand if you believe this is remotely true - I mean that it won't cost you one penny.
Okay, John, put your hand … (1 comments)

Margaret Rome: An Agent's Agent - 05:32 PM

Last Friday the lovely and inspirational mega-agent Margaret Rome wrote a Blog titled Speaking-Networking-Making-Connections.
Margaret shared her wisdom, experience and creativity with agents at a GRI class and then shared that experience on Activerain.
Margaret was asked to speak by Anne Hruby a trainer who Margaret first met 16 years ago when as a newbie agent Margaret signed up for the "Fast Start" training course. Over the years they've remained good friends and mentors for each other.
I commented on Margaret's blog that I love her slogan or as she calls it "slogo" "Sell Your Home with Maragaret Rome" and Homerome.com and asked if she had … (17 comments)

Cowbrellas in Columbus - 01:50 AM

Thanks to a special delivery from an Active Rainer Cowbrella's may soon be all the rage in Columbus Ohio.
I was not going to mention names because everyone on Active Rain would be sucking up and wanting a Cowbrella from the very, very generous Active Rainer who sent these to Elaine Reese and me. 8000 Cowbrella's could break the bank. Of course I can't imagine Jim Lee, Jeff Belonger,  Broker Bryant  or most of the male Rainers with a Cowbrella...
I should have been more firm with Elaine and said "No you post the Cowbrella photo!" Elaine  is determined to not blog on Active Rain.  
Elaine  and the … (18 comments)

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