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I've long adhered to three "rules" of commenting on ActiveRain and, today, I broke two of them.
It’s one of the questions that I am asked most often and it’s still the one of the few that I WON’T answer:
Direct mail can be extremely expensive but also very lucrative when looking for new business. An expired listing is a sign that at some point in the past, the seller wanted to sell. The typical approach is to create a list of all past expired (or cancelled) listings and send them letters. The rate of return on such mass mailings tends to be very low and the cost cuts into your profits. There is a much better way to go in only a few steps.
If you’ve been following the news lately, you’ve probably heard lots of talk about Skittles, hoodies, and the Etch A Sketch. It was Mitt Romney's campaign aide, Eric Fehrnstrom, who told CNN, “You hit a reset button for the fall campaign. Everything changes. It’s almost like an Etch A Sketch. You can kind of shake it up, and we start all over again.” And, you probably already know that the Romney campaign took a huge hit for this gaffe.
Regular Home Maintenance is so critical to do and so often not done. 
When a homeowner contracts with a real estate agent to sell their house, the house itself gives some assurance that the seller is serious and the agent will eventually be paid for their time and expenses. This is assuming that the agent accepts only listings which have a chance of actually selling.
Good Morning All,
For every appraisal done on the Fannie Mae Form 1004 appraisers have to figure out what's happening with current values (the past 12 months) within a given properties neighborhood and/or market area. Short term market trends differ from long term trends, but Fannie Mae tends to be more concerned with what's been happening in the past 12 months.
A small piece of Lucerne Valley, Calif. was being sold for $41,000 in an all-cash transaction. The buyer and seller lived out of the area, necessitating the closing documents be mailed out for signature. The vacant land sale went sideways when the escrow officer mailed the documents to the seller and demanded they be signed in the presence of an approved notary.
The Worm Has Turned It’s been a long wait. There have been many “fits and starts”. We thought it might have happened several times over the past several years, only to be disappointed. This time it seems to be the real thing. Of course, I’m talking about a residential real estate recovery on the North Shore. All real estate is local. Therefore, I’m not talking about a national, or even a regional recovery. I’m specifically speaking of a strong upswing in the Winnetka, Wilmette and Evanston markets. The Kenilworth, Glencoe and Highland Park markets are showing some new strength … (73 comments)
Money Matters need to be discussed with our children prior to sending them off to College. Last week I had the opportunity to lease a duplex to a young college age couple who did not know how or where to purchase a money order. We met to sign all of the lease paperwork and collect $2500 in rent and deposits and they show up with cash. Oh my, I immediately told them that they would need to go purchase a money order or cashier's check. They looked at each other and then back at me and stated " we don't really … (67 comments)
The phone rang this morning and on the other end was a gentleman that I’ve been emailing with since last week. He wanted to see houses…today at 10am. It was 8am when the call came in and he had 6 houses listed in the email that he sent 5 minutes before he called (I hadn’t seen the email when I answered the call). 
All real estate is local. 
The REAL Cost of Owning Your Pet and the Impact to Your Loudoun County Home's Value 
4.5 Hrs--Anatomy of a Normal Contentious Divorce Settlement.jpg?1369339869)
I was in a coaching session yesterday with 3 other agents. It's amazing how different we all are. At one point, Facebook was brought up and one says how she gets pulled into Facebook for hours. Another brought up how she goes there to read another agent's feed because he's always got something about real estate on his status, which I find obnoxious since it's not on his business page or fan page, it's his main profile page... The coach started talking with me about my goals for next week, and one is to get back to several hours of prospecting … (34 comments)
I work a lot with For Sale By Owners and I try to maintain reasonable relationship with even the most reluctact ones becasue as we all know, many of them will eventually change their minds with enough time and frustration. 
I just got off the phone with one of my Agents. She called to tell me she had just gotten a price adjustment on a listing she has. She wanted them to come down twenty thousand but they only wanted to reduce by fifteen thousand. Still the adjustment should help a lot with the marketing.
Sustainability. Green. Environmentally friendly. Energy Star. LEED. These are all terms used to describe construction and remodeling practices and materials that allow us to provide a better world for future generations. Sound too mushy-mushy for you? Well, look at it this way, the more you know about these practices the more money you could be saving (and even making!)
Brentwood First Time Home Buyers
Stanislaus County Home Sales for March 2012 -TURLOCK - 
… (0 comments)
Another HomeRome Listing Under Contract 3301 Kelsey Ct. 21776 in Carroll County! We found the right buyers for this New Windsor home. Unique design has a walk out level through sliding glass doors and very large driveway access. A family room on this same level has a wood burning fireplace and walk out level to a large patio and the fenced rear yard! The present owner is using this area as his "man cave" and workshop area. The huge country kitchen, with sliders to an over sized deck, is perfect for enjoying magnificent sunsets. This kitchen also overlooks the living room. … (15 comments)
10124 ALLENBY CT, ORLANDO FL 32821 $$$ 74,250 $$$
Active Rain is a wonderful forum...you get to explain a situation...get input from other agents...learn about new software, get market information....view new listings...new laws and policies. No one agrees with everyone else's view 100% of the time. It may not be how you choose to handle a client...a buyer, a broker. The political view does not reflect your own thoughts....and that is what makes the world go around. Disagreeing ...presenting your viewpoint is part of what makes Active Rain the forum it is.
Greetings!
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