Archives of real estate blog entries for December 18, 2006

Featured blog posts


Pre-License education and the value to the agent - 11:21 PM
Over the past couple of days, I've been working on a new course and as part of that the question of what information to include always comes up. For me, trying to create a quality course starts not with an outline but with an idea. What would I want to learn from this course if I signed up to take it?
As I looked around the education arena searching for ideas to answer that question for my course, I found a few (not one, but many) blog posts and articles relating to pre-license education and how good or bad it was. One … (7 comments)

Advice for new licensees-first in a series just for the newbie - 10:01 PM
 I am quickly approaching my first anniversary as a Realtor.  I have had a great first year and look forward to the year to come.  Many say that my success is not the norm and that new licensees usually struggle to make a living for the first part of their career.  I want to share with those who may be struggling the things that I have done in hopes that all new Realtors can increase their business.
 GET AS MANY LISTINGS AS YOU CAN!!    Listings is the key for me.  I go out and find listings any where I can.  The main … (35 comments)

Understanding the Code of Ethics -Article 2: Disclosure - 05:38 PM
This is second in a series of posts describing what the Code of Ethics are and what they mean to you - the buyer or seller.   Please check out  Let's All Understand the Realtor® Code of Ethics ... Article 1 for some general information regarding the difference between a real estate agent and a Realtor®. 
A Realtor® is a member of the National Association of Realtors® (NAR) - the world's largest professional association, and who is bound by a strict Code of Ethics.
Article 2"REALTORS® shall avoid exaggeration, misrepresentation, or concealment of pertinent facts relating to the property or the transaction. REALTORS® shall not, however, be … (27 comments)

What is Localism? - 03:23 PM
For several months we've been talking about how we are going to construct a consumer facing side to ActiveRain.  There has been a lot of speculation on what form this would take, so we decided to give our members a sneak peak into the ongoing development efforts at Localism.com  We are still several months away from an "official" launch of the site.
In the same way in which we launched ActiveRain about half a year ago, it will start off very rough but we will continuously improve on it and add functionality.  Localism is essentially a sister site of ActiveRain, displaying a much more consumer … (72 comments)

Time Magazine Names Me the Person of the Year - 08:20 AM
They also named You Too, or should I say You Tube? Instead of choosing one person for their annual cover story, Time elected to select everyone who was involved in sharing information and specifically sharing it over the internet. This Atlanta 575 Real Estate blog contributed to the cover story thanks to everyone's comments and interaction with me and each other using the web. According to the 2007 Statistical Abstract of United States, American's created 13 Million blogs last year. (Read more about the interesting results from the abstract at New York Times online, including the 64 days a year spent … (19 comments)

12/11-12/18 Active Rain Week in Review..... - 07:45 AM
This is a long week in review - the posts are great, but I also want to point out that the COMMENTS made are just priceless.  I want you to keep in mind that I started this week in review on Monday night, when I was asked by Leanne Paynter to switch.  I had a great time doing this and I am very excited for everyone to read the posts/comments.  Bookmark this (I need you to save this because my husband might be asking for a divorce soon, not knowing why I am always reading everyone posts/comments).  Some are funny posts, … (22 comments)

Quick I need a better score....what to do in a pinch - 05:46 PM
I've been working with credit reports for over 15 years now.  There are some basic steps you can take to improve your credit quickly.  Sometimes it's simple, but often in can seem mysterious and sometimes down right depressing.
Here are a few quick tips to get those scores soaring...
If you need 20 to 30 points in a hurry...
#1  Paydown your revolving lines below 25% or 50% of the available balances on each of your cards.  Make sure ask the customer service department of these companies for a letter signed by someone in accounting that will reflect your new balance.  This is important … (56 comments)

Top 10 things best things about being a real estate appraiser in Florida.. - 10:01 AM
Ok, So I'm trying to write more about real estate. Enough about me.  With a hint of sarcasm, here are some the best parts of being an appraiser.. (let's stick with the positive, ok?) 
Ok, A top 10 David Letterman drumroll please... 
#10. You get to intrude into peoples homes and get ideas from their decorating, toys, etc. cool! This includes mack-daddy million dollar cribs! yoo hooo Holla at ya boy!!
#9. While taking pictures of comps, you get offered all kinds of goodies while people flag you down in the street.. unless they want to shoot you for taking pictures of their new home.
#8. No … (20 comments)

Property Insurance After Storms and Other Disasters - 07:02 PM
On Thursday night and early into Friday morning, Western Washington was hit with one of the worst wind storms in the region’s history. Puget Sound Energy reported almost one million customers without power, and despite round-the-clock repairs by approximately 350 crews from nine different states and Canada, power has been restored to less than half of their customers. The damage, however, goes beyond power outages. Many homes and businesses have sustained varying degrees of damage from fallen and uprooted trees. Thus, property insurance will play a major role in repairing and rebuilding after the storm.
Like any other agreement, property insurance … (0 comments)

Urban Myths: $1 late payment ruined my credit - 07:50 AM
I have reproduced here a story that many credit repair companies and attorneys will send you to illustrate how much they know about the credit scoring system.  When in fact this story is far from the truth."I am in the middle of a refi for a loan and the mortgage broker lets me know that my FICO has dropped 40 points since my last loan (2 months ago).  My spotless credit report shows a 90 day late for $1.00!  How can this happen?  Well, I contacted my credit card company and it appears that my annual $15 fee on a credit … (13 comments)

Kirkland ActiveRain Update - 12:10 AM
Anyone who lives in the Northwest knows that the last couple days and even still have been a tad crazy. Thursday night we had a second storm roll in with fierce winds and lots of rain that really doesn't happen to often in the Northwest. The storm came in around 2:00pm on Thursday, just before the Seattle Seahawks game, and just dropped rain, rain and more rain. During the game the wind came in and it blew like crazy and power started going out all over Seattle, the East Side and Snohomish County. My power just came on this morning along … (17 comments)

How do you make your way around the Active Rain neighborhood? - 10:33 PM
As humans we tend to form habits? yes? Good. So what are your habits in the AR-hood? Where do you stop to read first? Do you have a favorite starting place or pattern?Are these too many questions? Do you want them to stop? Hee heee.. sorry.
Maybe you start with one blog and then link-hop* (*coined by Mariana).. Do you tend to hijack* other's posts constantly? (*coined by TLW). Or do you start with the dashboard and then return for the featured posts? Hmm.. maybe you prefer groups.. so you can read about a certain topic. We'll if your bored, then … (30 comments)

Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas: Why Are They So Skeered of Technology? - 11:45 AM
When I got my Nebraska license in the mid nineties I realized that technology was a playa in the game. I picked my brokerage based on the technology they offered their agents - even though MLS was still in DOS and the printers were dot matrix - they were still way ahead of the game. When I went on to get my Nevada license the first thing I did was get my domain and started to implement it in my marketing/business plan.
Here we are in a new century and I cannot believe that people still think this is a FAD! What … (33 comments)

Real Estate Pre-Licensing Course... - 05:43 PM
The first time I took the Pre-Licensing course was straight out of College.  I viewed it as just an extension to my educational process.  I was already in the rhythm of going to school so it was easy to stay focused and just do it.
During school I worked in Property management to pay for my education.  Consequently, I was already in Real Estate.  My college didn't offer Real Estate classes so I took the Pre-Licensing course at a Real Estate brokerage in Illinois.  It was a small Real Estate class filled with much older folks than I was.  I really didn't … (21 comments)

Realtor.com Featured Tours: The Numbers Don't Add Up - 04:08 PM
In August of 2005 I sat down and did a detailed analysis of the featured tours posted to Realtor.com for 51 of the top cities in America.
I looked at featured tours on single family homes and found what I thought was a shocking number: only 4.35% of all homes had a featured tour attached to them. 95.65% of all homes had no featured tour on Realtor.com. The bottom five cities (Fresno, CA; Littlerock, AR; Hartford, CT; Houston, TX; Portland, OR) had a dismal 1.00% usage. The top five (New York, NY; Scottsdale, AZ; Denver, CO; Sand Diego, CA; Austin, TX) … (80 comments)


Blog posts


What is Localism? - 03:23 PM
For several months we've been talking about how we are going to construct a consumer facing side to ActiveRain.  There has been a lot of speculation on what form this would take, so we decided to give our members a sneak peak into the ongoing development efforts at Localism.com  We are still several months away from an "official" launch of the site.
In the same way in which we launched ActiveRain about half a year ago, it will start off very rough but we will continuously improve on it and add functionality.  Localism is essentially a sister site of ActiveRain, displaying a much more consumer … (72 comments)

Are Newspapers Doomed? - 04:34 PM
As I am preparing my 2007 business plan and budget, I continue to be amazed that I am considering "throwing out" all print advertising.  Some of the magazine ads that I have placed in the past have been fruitful (at best) but the newspaper has been a total disaster. 
In the past year and a half, I have placed approximately 25 display ads and have received 0 calls.  That's a 0 as in zero.  Talk about a bad return on your marketing dollar.  My basic theory when trying to sell houses is exposure creates demand and demand creates value.  If the … (3 comments)

What Have You Done For Your AR Lately? - 08:38 AM
Margaret Rome is a very inspiring woman.  At no time more inspiring to me than when she mentioned AR on the radio!  It got me thinking.  How are we promoting AR?  I'm inviting lenders, inspectors, other agents, and just about everyone I meet to join (they seem reluctant at this juncture)  I'm not certain why I have such a low join rate from so many invites.  In 2007 I'm going to send a letter to all my clients telling them about how they can educate themselves on loans, the process and housing prices all over the United States from this forum.   Moving???  … (2 comments)

No Place Like Home For the Holidays-First Time Buyers Work Towards It! - 10:34 AM
Real estate for me is more like a calling rather than just a profession.  The pleasure I get by handing first time buyers their keys is one of the biggest thrills of my life.  I've had the pleasure this year of working with three families, who, through different circumstances never grew up in a home of their own.  Either it was apartment living, mobile homes, or relatives homes that their families stayed in.  There is no satisfaction greater than finding these people, and working with them to help their dreams become a reality. 
First time homebuyers are often nervous or afraid … (0 comments)

Tablet PC's VS. Notebooks-End of Year Crunch - 01:57 PM
I need to buy a new PC before the end of the year and I've heard great things about tablet PC's and how versatile they are.  I need opinions on tablets vs. notebooks and how they work better as well as ideas on brands please.
The main line of thinking on Tablets, I believe, is that you can draw something out, or write on an MLS sheet before you email it.  Tablet PC'ers; how often does this come in handy?  Does it really add to your presentation?  Have you sacrificed anything to get this ability?
Notebook users that haven't switched, any reason's why … (3 comments)

What's So Juicy About This Tomato? - 02:52 AM
I'll admit that I had no idea what a Meme was until I was "memed" last week by REBlogGirl: Mary McKnight. Meme has been described as the following:
“A unit of cultural information transferable from one mind to the other. (not so clear)”“It’s a thought-stream carried from one person to another” (hmmm)“Virtual blogging game of tag” (warm)“The blogging equivalent of a chain letter” (warmer)“A good excuse to spread a blogging topic around” (hot) The thought-stream that I was tagged with is “5 Things That You Don’t Know About Me.” 
So here goes:
1.  I was raised on the geek side … (7 comments)

Collier County (Naples) Holiday Camps for Kids - 06:43 AM
The holiday school break for Collier County Public Schools starts on December 22nd.
Working parents are often looking for ways to insure that their children are well cared for during school breaks.
The Collier County Parks and Recreation department does offer programs to assist parents during this period - here are some suggestions:
All Collier County community parks will offer a one day No SCHOOL HOLIDAY FUN CAMP on Dec. 22nd from 7:30 AM to 6 PM for $15 per child.  For additional information call (239) 353-7128.
HOLIDAY SWIM CAMP, for active kids, maybe the answer from Dec. 26 to Dec. 29.  The swim camp … (2 comments)

Naples New Year's Eve at the Phil - 06:53 AM
New York has its Time Square New Year's Eve celebration, Boston has its First Night Celebration, well, the Naples Phil rings in the New Year with the Sounds of Paris and Vienna.
The Naples Philharmonic Orchestra will present a spectacular New Year's Eve concert at 9 PM, that will transport the audience to the music capitals of Paris and Vienna on Sunday, Dec. 31 beginning with a reception at 7:30 PM.  Music director Jorge Mester will conduct the concert.
For more information call the Naples Phil at (239) 597-1900.
… (2 comments)

Naples Weekly Events - 09:27 AM
Very often, people ask me the question "What is there to do in the Naples area?"  There is so much happening in the Naples area that I feel I have not adequately answered their question to the fullest extent possible.  So I thought it might be helpful to post in my Naples Real Estate blog what is happening on a recurring weekly basis over the next several days.
I am hopeful that this will assist both current residents of the Naples area, as well as, those looking for homes for sale or condos for sale in the Naples area.
Today, is Monday so … (2 comments)

Its all about ME - 02:05 AM
So now both Jacqui and myself have been memed. Since its late, she is already asleep and will be on a plane first thing in the morning to see her family in California. One of the great things about the "meme" is that it is getting people involved in the site that have been absent lately....myself included.   Today I just got back from my brother's house in Utah. So here it goes, five things about me:
1. I grew up in Zion National Park. We actually lived inside the park in government housing. I attended the local two room school in Springdale … (7 comments)

Green Valley, Nevada - 06:57 PM
Green Valley is a huge master planned community in Henderson, Nevada. The area became so popular that residents started stating that they lived in "green valley" not Henderson.  The difference is immediately apparent. Green Valley is just that---green.  Tree lined streets, parks, walking and bicyle trails, and a small town atmosphere make Green Valley a great place to work and live. 
Residents of Green Valley have a huge selection of outdoor and cultural activities.  Each year Green Valley is home to several seasonal events, like Shakespeare in the Park.  There are also great after school programs for kids as well as public … (2 comments)

Property Shark - 08:06 PM
I did ~not~ see a big grand opening announcement on this ...  Did I miss it?  Did it fly under my radar? I've been using  Property Shark for quite a while, but I just now realized Shark is also allowing agents to post listings for free ... we just posted a bunch, a bit schizophrenically, since I started under my account, then changed to the company name, but the company name field at Shark turned out to be about 7 spaces too short, so I changed it to Bob's name ...........
Property Shark is not active everywhere -- right now they've got West Coast, Texas, … (6 comments)

Cats and Dogs Living Together! Mass Hysteria! - 08:59 AM
Good grief!  What is it with the ActiveRainers?  This meme'ing bit is viral and terribly funny!  Who'd have thunk that Uber AR persona Maureen Francis was a former millionaire Peace Corps model?  Or did I read that incorrectly?!
Since she and former colleague Missy Caulk kindly tagged myself, a fellow SE Michigander, I will gladly oblige.  At the behest of Maureen, I will tag a few folks myself.
Former Powers of Evil Used for Good - In one of my previous lives (before real estate) I managed three simultaneous races for state representative in SE Michigan, worked in a state senator's office and the governor's office.  … (2 comments)

November Housing Statistics - 05:59 PM
Of interest to those agents in and around the Ann Arbor, Michigan neck of the woods (aka Paradise), here are some area statistics for you to chew on! 
From Big House Data's Executive Summary:
Two important twelve month moving average trend lines are  beginning to flatten! The diving trend line on the number of sales is starting to pull up and the climbing trend line on the number of new listings has ceased its ascent. This means that the number of sales is coming back into line with normalcy and that potential sellers are hesitant to go "price fishing." In fact, Big … (0 comments)

Time Magazine Just Named YOU Person of the Year - 08:52 AM
 
 
I don't know if everyone realizes how big this is!   Congratulations Everyone At Active Rain that has been writing content for the web!  More importantly, Matt, Caleb and Ben for creating this platform for us to be part of the biggest story of 2006 -- Web 2.0.  YouTube, Blogging are just some aspects of this phenomenon.
Active Rain is a pioneer in this whole new world, and each member of this community is on the cutting edge of technology.  Read more about it at Time Magazine Cover Article.
Reading through the magazine, a short piece from Steve Johnson "It's About Us" struck … (14 comments)

Rich Yahl - Century 21 Mike Miller Realty, Inc. - 02:27 PM
 
My dear friends and fellow realtors at Century 21 Mike Miller Realty, Inc have lost another agent today to cancer.  I am sharing this information mainly because my friends have heavy hearts at this time.  They asked that I share it here and several other places.
Last week Faye & Bernie wrote about Egenia Valley's death which shook this office to its very core.  Later in the week Faye's mother passed away and today I have to share the news of the passing of Rich Yahl.  Rich was only 34 and left behind his wife and two small children.  Services are being arranged … (4 comments)

Time to Change Things Up A Bit! - 04:34 PM
This is my 200th post!  Wow, I cannot believe I have written so much!  It is time for a change...  I am officially handing over the #1 position for Marco Island to Carolyn Rzaca.  I have had that position since July 1st when I joined Active Rain.   Back then getting to a 10th post seemed like a mountain to climb.  Don't worry I am not going far -- I am just moving over to Naples since the majority of what I am working on right now is Naples!  Don't worry the wonderful Market Updates will continue and since Carolyn and I … (9 comments)

Central Texas Horse Facility, Perfect for Trainer or Breeder - 10:41 AM

 This horse facility, originally a Thoroughbred breeding farm, is perfect for trainers, breeders, or someone who wants an equine retreat about 25 miles southeast of downtown Austin in Caldwell County.
 131 acres turnkey operation  3 barns (one 20 stalls with tackroom, one 12 stalls with tackroom with toilet, plus 4 stalls attached to a hay barn with 500 square bale capacity and workshop) 5 stallion paddocksHalf-mile track20 acre hay fieldModerately wooded, so suitable for trail rides and hay rides Separate equipment package available for purchase  Easy access to IH35 and 183 (and the Austin airport) for out of town clients.   
In addition to the … (4 comments)

Beautiful Georgetown Home On One Acre - 11:50 AM
 
This lovely 3/2 on one acre, with a privacy fenced yard including a swimming pool that is 9 feet deep at the deep end (per the owner), has a sunroom overlooking the deck and pool that is perfect for an office, playroom, sitting room, entertainment area, whatever you wish.
 
Relax in front of the fireplace in your living room, entertaining your guests there or in the elegant dining room. 
Beautiful landscaping with a huge oak in front cradled by the circle drive. Tucked on a corner cul de sac lot in a quiet neighboorhood just minutes from Georgetown amenities, shopping, and Lake … (0 comments)

For the MEMED of it All! - 10:26 AM
Well I was very surprised to receive the message that Chris Tesch had memed me.
1.  I was born and raised on the East side of Detroit, Michigan and graduated from Denby High School.  To the right is a picture of the neighborhood I grew up in now!  A very sad sight and most of the homes that were on my street, including mine are gone.  (This house was two doors away from where mine once sat.)
2.  When I was in my teens, I worked for a music company called Grinnell Brothers.  It was probably my most favorite job (until I started Real … (3 comments)

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