Archives of real estate blog entries for October 13, 2008

Featured blog posts


5 Surefire Ways to Turn Off a Buyer - 09:58 PM
Remember when you prepared to go out on a first date?  You made darn sure your clothes were ironed, your shoes polished, your teeth brushed and flossed (maybe twice), and perhaps you dabbed on a bit of cologne or perfume.  In the middle of dinner, you might have even snuck into the bathroom for a spray of Binaca (do they still sell that?)
All of this was done in an attempt to impress your date, or at the very least to not turn them off.  First impressions matter.
They matter when you are selling your home too.  Not everyone owns the … (94 comments)

ActiveRain Approved Widgets and Script Codes - 02:18 PM
hanks to all the members that responded to our request for information about their <scripts> and widgets, we now have an "Approved" list for you to use as a guideline.  Our programmers have determined that the following are safe and available for you to use on the network.
For those of you who may have missed the original post, the ActiveRain Team is making an effort to try and keep the network from being compromised by any malicious and threatening scripts or HTML codes.  We asked ALL members who were using <script> widgets or codes on their Blogs, to let us … (179 comments)

RE-BarCamp is coming to Houston TX on October 22, 2008! - 09:59 PM
REBarCamp Houston is an exhilarating gathering of minds & passions in a spontaneous, eclectic, organic, open format event where real estate professionals and technology experts share new discoveries/trends happening in the industry, and discuss their practical application in the present and future of real estate. Get connected with experts - show, tell, share, and learn. Go deep with the innovators of the industry and discuss ways to incorporate on-line strategies, such as blogging, new media, tech tools, social networks, search optimization, and much more, into your business. And the best thing, it's FREE!!!
In today's challenging market, you need an … (28 comments)

LOSE THAT TIE! Just how do YOU dress for work? - 09:48 PM
This is 2008.  Unless you are at a very formal function, or selling to very uptight people, a tie is no longer de rigueur, or is it?   We operate in a Resort area.  Most of our clients are dressed in their vacation attire, so we are spoiled, I know.  We can dress down right along with them.    Just how are you supposed to dress as a Realtor in 2008?   My rule is to dress for the client.  If I am representing a very religious couple, I will wear very little make-up and absolutely no jewelry.  If I am … (73 comments)

How NOT to steal pictures... - 09:46 PM
File this under Public Service Announcement.
Since nearly every cell phone has a camera, and since advanced editing tools are available for free, it makes no sense to steal a picture from the internet.
I know it’s easy to do.  Just do a Google image search and you’ll find exactly what you need, right?
Once you find the image you can just insert the image via the URL that way you don’t have to worry about uploading it to a server.
That is unless the image was originally put up by someone who had a Google alert for anything linking back … (75 comments)

First a Dead Zone, Then a Crowd - 01:05 AM
The first hour of my open house was eerily quiet.  A few cars slowed to a crawl as they passed the open house sign, then moved on.  A neighbor or two biked past, but continued onward with their Sunday afternoon ride.
I walked out and checked to make sure the open house sign was upright.  Yes, standing tall, but no takers on the invitation.  I made some calls, returned a few and even worked on a file.  I jotted down my business priorities for the upcoming week.  I was about to call it a day and close up early, when in … (84 comments)

How to let your potential clients know you're worth the price of admission... - 09:51 PM

Have you been thinking about marketing lately?  Have you made the distinction that marketing yourself is more important than it ever was? (And what the heck does a movie theatre picture have to do with this blog anyways - read on)
You've often heard that in order to compete and be aggressive you need to invest in your business.  Seems like a cruel joke doesn't it?  At a time when you have very little money to invest, because the buyers and sellers are scarce, you need to be doing more, investing more to grow your business.

Sure we have … (43 comments)

New Hampshire's Most Glorious Season !! - 01:02 AM
                                                                     
           
                                                            ******************
 Autumn, Fall, Foliage Season.....whatever you wish to call it....Mother Nature cloaks herself in glorious color trimmed with deep blue skies and saturated with the smell of crisp fallen leaves! It is her way of softening the Winter chill to come.
This year has been especially glorious! the colors are brilliant and the leaves seem to be staying on the trees longer so we can see the full effect!
Today we took our annual Fall drive. Usually we go to the notches or an area we have not yet traveled, but this year we stayed close to home … (62 comments)

From Thriving to surviving, pleased with Active rains contribution quotient - 09:56 PM
Friends ask hows the market?  and how are you doing? Maybe both questions are rhetorical but they ask. If you don't have the horse power to throw money around in your marketing budget, my good friends here have allows me to run with their (free or low cost) suggestions, and active rain itself has given me face time and world wide web recognition.
We all grumble at the media, But lets face it the strong will survive and we can't control the negative spin and "the news business".But we do control our own business, livelihood and how we conduct ourselves in public. I'm pretty sure my clients … (52 comments)

What Works for Me May Not Work for You!!!!! - 12:15 PM
 One of Best Aspects of the Real Estate Business is is that it is a reflection of society as a whole in the fact we are are individuals and approach life and business in different ways but most times are looking for the same results and that is to be successful as we each define success. There is no perfect way to go about it and some ways work better than others, all involve hard work and perseverance, but what works for me may not work for you and vice versa.
 My Clients Vary across A broad Spectrum From first time buyers to multi millionaires, … (47 comments)

I LOVE My REAL Estate Profession Because....... (Challenge) - 12:06 PM
A year ago we were challenged by Mike Mueller who wrote his post What do you Love about your job? to write about "why I love my profession".  I thought this would be a great time to remember why I continue to love my profession and why I am determined to succeed in the Real Estate Industry.

It sure feels good when I take the every day challenges in our industry and turn it into a prize winning ending.
There are no two transactions alike and I continue to have many learning lessons as I have the past year. So I have added … (116 comments)

Fishing with Active Rain ~ Fun with Keywords - 05:54 PM
Do you remember sitting for what seemed like hours at the end of a
fishing pole, waiting for a fish to strike your bait.  I do.  I think I drowned
quite a few worms in my time.  Not being the most patient person, I would
keep jerking up the bait, to check and see if I had missed a biting fish.  
Anyone who is a fisherman will tell you that doesn't work.
Neither does the wrong bait.

 
Your keywords in your blog are your bait.  They are what the search engines
constantly comb your blog or website for, searching for … (69 comments)

Meeting with the Gods (Active Rain Gods that is). - 12:21 PM
Initially my Nuvi Garmin had it all wrong. This is the street around the corner and down the block.  Imagine my surprise when I pulled on to this sweet street when trying to find the Active Rain office.

One phone call to Rich's personal cell phone (available upon request) got me and Anthony here.

Apparently the job requirement to be an AR God is you have to be tall and attractive.

Pictured here is Rich Jacobson, me, and my husband Anthony.  They are really not that tall.  I am vertically challenged.
 

John Conner was caught … (114 comments)

Under the Weather - Why don't the words come out? - 01:07 AM
What to write about when it feels like you don't seem to be able to put anything good on paper (err... computer screen)? (How about a post like this LOL). It's been an overcast, cloudy, rainy, and cold day here today. Reminds me of my home in Finland a lot.  I have been freezing and feeling kind of bla.  Several times during the day I have sat down in front of the computer - and stared at it - it stared at me back! Several times, I started to write about something and stopped after the first few words. - Sigh - Now … (40 comments)

AR Stagers STALKED in San Diego!!!! - 09:47 PM
That's right. Last week was the IRIS Conference held in San Diego, and I know for a fact that some of our own ActiveRain and Stage it Forward members were relentlessly STALKED! 
How do I know, you might be asking? Because I'm the one who stalked them!
You know how we talk about the AR gods? Well, I met a few SIF goddesses! And, I'm here to tell you that stagers pay good money to learn from these goddesses, and here on ActiveRain, they share their knowledge of our industry with us for FREE!!! I hope you realize how very lucky we … (39 comments)

Official Active Rain Contest: How many members will we have on December 1st, 2008 - Win up to 2500 points! - 12:08 PM
CASTELLUM'S FIRST ANNUAL ACTIVE RAIN CONTEST
 

 
Searching through the database, i came across this post and it got me wondering: When will we reach the next milestone. So i'm interested to see this once unofficial contest come to fruition. My question to you is, "how many members will we have on December 1st, 2008". Prizes will be handed out to winners in the form of points. See below for more info.  
PRIZES
As per our conversation with  Bob Stewart, We are authorized to announce that winners of this contest will receive actual points: 
1000 points will be awarded to the member … (181 comments)


Blog posts


You Call That a Bailout, THIS is a Bailout - 07:00 PM
Boy, it's Monday and there is already a years worth of news to report on the bailouts, credit markets and the global economy.  The central banks the world game out of the G7 meetings with a real fire lit underneith them, some might say desperate and have been enacting financial measures almost hourly in an attempt to unstop the credit markets.  There seems to be a lot of throwing *#$ against the wall to see what sticks, if the markets don't react something that is announced, forget about it and announce something different.
Lets start with the US
An updated bailout … (11 comments)

Twin Cities Coldwell Banker Burnet 10 Day Sales Event Oct 10-19 - 03:30 PM

… (0 comments)

Have You Created Your SearchMe Stack? - 02:12 PM
Have you created your SearchMe.com stack yet?  It was pretty easy with just typing in my name and going through a lot of websites.  The hard part was that Donna Harris is a very common name and I'm all over the place. I tried using some words like Re/Max and Realtor and the names of a couple of publications I've been in, but it was not that easy finding those articles.
Here's my stack:
It's still in Beta, so I'm sure there are changes to come.  I heard about this program a few months ago, but have been very busy with … (16 comments)

All Shook Up Musicsal - 08:00 AM

All Shook Up
Dates: Runs Thru  December Vennue:Marriott Theatre address:Ten Marriott Drive  Lincolnshire, IL 60069  View map from:Marriott Theatre
It's part Elvis. It's part ‘the Fonz.' "It's the best Rock'n'Roll musical since ‘Grease!'"
 -Jeffrey Lyons, WNBC- It's Footloose, Grease and Happy Days all rolled into one! So "Let Yourself Go " to All Shook Up, and you'll be jumpin' out of your "Blue Suede Shoes ." It's 1955, and Chad, a motorcycle ridin', rovin' roustabout pulls into a small Midwestern town. The mayor believes he's the "Devil in Disguise," but Natalie, a mechanic at a local gas station, falls madly … (0 comments)

Arielle at Pelican Marsh - Quarterly Average Prices Paid - 02:23 PM
Below is a graphical representation of the average prices paid for condos in Arielle at Pelican Marsh over the past 4 years.
The highest average quarterly price was $493,000 during the third calendar quarter of 2005. The average price paid during the third quarter of 2008 was $306,666. A reduction of $186,334 or about 37.8 percent.
… (0 comments)

Pinnacle Hills Homes For Sale Luxury Real Estate - 01:28 PM
Today I had the opportunity to meet Kristen Boozman and Grace Lindsey Cash from Portfolio in Rogers, Ar.  These two ladies were sharing some of their unique marketing strategies promoting properties in their market.  Pinnacle Hills is one of the Luxury communities in their market that they were telling some of the leading brokerages from across the world at the Who's Who in Luxury Real Estate conference.
We are looking forward to sharing marketing strageties with these ladies and they will be getting involved in Active Rain in the near future.
If you are interested in learing more Pinnacle Hills and … (0 comments)

Eco-Friendly Remodeling - 11:59 AM
Whether you are making an addition to your home or remodeling your bathroom cabinets, eco-friendly choices can help you conserve resources and reduce your impact on the environment. As the demand for green building materials grows, major manufactures are expanding their affordable sustainable options, so the green choice may also be the less expensive one. Here are some green guidelines to consider during your next remodeling project.
* Consider renewable sources for cabinetry. Choose wood products certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), which will be harvested from sustainably managed forests. Spruce, eucalyptus or reclaimed wood are durable, sustainable options from … (2 comments)

Autumn in Southern California; A Little FreeForm Poetry - 07:31 PM
The morning is cold.  At least "cold" to us Southern Californians.
The air is dry, parched dry; chaffing the skin.
Harsh biting winds whip down from the foothills.
The canyons burn.

… (5 comments)

Dancing down the home stretch!!! - 05:25 PM


Ok, folks here we are, the 4th quarter, crunch time. My favorite time of year. Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Eve. The weather is changing. We even had a cold front in Florida today. The temperature dropped all the way down to 87. Burrrrrr! It was freezing! Ok, maybe not.
Anyway, I hear, from different sources, that this is a slow period for Real Estate. People are gearing up for the Holidays and let's face it, who wants to move between Thanksgiving and Christmas? Well, if you have been reading my Blog, then you probably know by now, that … (34 comments)

Marble Falls, Texas - 02:04 AM
Marble Falls is a small city on the shores of the Colorado River in the Texas Hill Country. The city was founded in 1887 by General Adam R. Johnson, and incorporated in May of 1907. Marble Falls is located 47 miles northwest of Austin and 85 miles north of San Antonio, so it is centrally located and accessible from two large metropolitan areas. Marble Falls is in the middle of the Highland Lakes chain, and after the construction of the dam which created Lake Marble Falls, the marble falls themselves were no longer visible, unless the lake levels were lowered by … (0 comments)

The City of Manor, Texas - 02:26 AM
Manor is the name of a small city east of Austin, and this small community has many noteworthy attractions. The city was settled in 1872 when it was named after its first postmaster, James Manor. Manor currently has an approximate population of 5,500, a figure which was derived from the number of utility service connections, and the city is twelve miles northeast of downtown Austin. Manor has an area of 1.1 square miles, and in the 2000 census, there were 405 households reported, including around 289 families. 365 of the households in Manor reported children under the age of 18 living … (0 comments)

Mortgage Interest Rates Move Down - 02:31 AM
Mortgage interest rates moved down this week. 30 Year rates feel back below 6 dropping from 6.10 last week to 5.94. 15 Year rates all fell quite a bit going from 5.78 last week to 5.63 this week. Below are rates for the major mortgage products for the last few weeks.
October 9, 2008
30-yr 5.94 15-yr 5.63 5-yr ARM 5.90 1-yr ARM 5.15
October 2, 2008
30-yr 6.10 15-yr 5.78 5-yr ARM 6.00 1-yr ARM 5.12
September 25, 2008
30-yr 6.09 15-yr 5.77 5-yr ARM 6.02 1-yr ARM 5.16
September 18, 2008
30-yr 5.78 15-yr 5.35 … (0 comments)

The Travis Heights Neighborhood of Central Austin - 02:35 AM
Travis Heights is one of the most eclectic neighborhoods in Austin, and has a rich history. The neighborhood was originally an exclusive suburb south of the Colorado River, now known as Lady Bird Lake, and the neighborhood was established in 1913 by the Newning and Swisher families, along with General Stacy, for whom the parks in the area are named. The neighborhood was actually originally settled in the late 1900s, informally, but did not really expand or become fashionable until the early twentieth century, when it grew rapidly. The neighborhood's borders are generally considered to be I.H. 35 to the east … (0 comments)

30855 Kings Valley Way, Conifer, Colorado - 02:06 PM

Newer Home, Sun, Privacy & Seasonal Stream
30855 Kings Valley Way, 4BD/3BA, 2526 SqFt on 0.5 acres. 2 car att gar, serene private setting. Open flrpln w/greatroom, private master suite w/loft, lge decks so exp w/mtn views thru trees. Lower lev walkout w/office, seasonal stream!

 
$389,900    Kings Valley Custom Resort    Conifer

 
 
 
 
Updated Home with Privacy & Pikes Peak Views!
www.30855KingsValley.com
On a clear day you can see all the way to Pikes Peak from this home's south-facing wraparound deck, surrounded by pine trees and perched above a seasonal stream that meanders through the … (0 comments)

10200 Blue Sky Trail, Conifer, Colorado - 02:16 PM

Darling Home with Big Views
10200 Blue Sky Tr, 3Bd/2Ba, 1802 sq.ft. on 1.76 acres built in 1989. Enjoy a stairless entry into the grt rm featuring vaulted wood ceilings, wood stove & spacious kitch, new carpet. Huge entertaining deck. Sunny site. Large rooms.

 
$239,900    Shadow Mountain    Conifer

 
 
 
 
Darling Home - Very Convenient, Yet Private
www.10200BlueSky.com
Captivating views and warm sunshine fill the cheery great room of this special home. The warm great room offers vaulted pine ceilings, a woodstove and new wood floors in the living/dining area with deck  access to a … (0 comments)

24066 Currant Dr., Golden, Colorado - 02:31 PM

Mount Evans Views, Backs to Open Space!
24066 Currant Dr, 3BD/3BA, 2164 SqFt, 2 car garage. Remodeled. Granite, slate, copper, sub-zero, Dacor cooktop, cherry cabinetry, pantry, natural gas fireplace, wood shutters, new 5 pc. master bath, private studio/office. Southern exposure. Private, minutes to Denver!

$475,000    Ridge Townhomes at Genesee    Golden

 
 
 
 
Backs to Open Space & Mountain Views!
www.24066Currant.com
Walk out your front door to miles of trails, perfect for running or hiking.  This remodeled home is meticulous and offers a sunny, open floorplan with high ceilings, hardwood & slate flooring and custom built-ins.  The … (0 comments)

27959 Fireweed Drive, Evergreen, Colorado - 02:38 PM

Mountain Valley Views - Walk to Town!
27959 Fireweed Dr., 3BD, 2BA, 2142 S.F., carport, .52 acres, sunny, open floorplan, 2 stone fireplaces, wrap around deck, all appl. incl fenced yard, paved drive, gas heat, public water & sewer. Walk to town.

$325,000    Hiwan Village    Evergreen

 
 
 
 
Mountain Valley Views!
www.27959Fireweed.com
This cozy raised ranch home is nestled into the trees with beautiful huge rock outcroppings and a fenced yard.  You'll love the sunny open floorplan with two stone fireplaces, gas hot water heat, public water and sewer, plus wrap around decking perfect for watching … (0 comments)

Mickie Barnett's New Listing - 04:36 PM
7110 49th Dr NE Marysville, WA 98270
Status: Active
Price: $214,950
MLS #: 28171451
Listing Agent: Mickie Barnett
Call: (425) 750-9090 - Map it
Today's best buy is awaiting your personal touch. Located in the Downtown neighborhood in Marysville, this home sits on 1/4 acre lot, has a newer roof and pine soffits, fully fenced backyard with large covered patio for BBQ's and entertaining. The interior offers all kitchen appliances, masonry fireplace in the spacious living room, hardwood floors under the carpeting throughout the living area and bedrooms. Also enjoy the convenience of walking to the Safeway shopping center, … (2 comments)

Getting Ready for Winter - 12:21 PM
Summer is just about over, so it's time to get your house and yard ready for winter. 
1.  Remember to winterize your sprinkler system.  You'll need to turn off the sprinkler system controller and turn off the water at the main valve.  Then, to drain the system, open the drain valves to release the pressure on the system.  Consult with your irrigation system installer or manual for specific instructions for your system.
2.  Drain and store garden hoses.
3.  Remove leaves and debris from gutters and drainpipes.
4.  Clean, cover/put away your BBQ and lawn furniture.
5.  Reset any automatic timers … (0 comments)

Recent Knoxville & Knox County Tennessee home sales - 09:17 AM
 
The Knox Country Registrar of Deeds office recorded the following real estate transactions in Knox County this past week.
More than $1,000,000                  2
$1,000,000 to $500,000               6
$300,000 to $500,000                21
$200,000 to $300,000                39
$150,000 to $200,000                51
$100,000 to $150,000                73
$50,000 to $100,000                  46
Under $50,000   … (1 comments)

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