Marketing Thoughts - 09/29/06 11:17 AM
As I shared earlier this week my household was the victim of a con artist.  My honey made his TV debut here:  http://www.kstp.com/article/stories/S19055.html?cat=1  (And yes, that awful house is my beloved Queen Anne in process of rehab!  Even Craig's talents would not be able to prepare this house for sale!)
But my purpose in bringing this theft up again has nothing to do with safety.  It's the whole concept behind marketing.  Marketing yourself is a numbers game.  For every so many contacts you make, you will score one client.  Most of us are hesitant to call (numbers not on the DNC list) strangers, even … (2 comments)

Blogathon - 09/26/06 09:00 PM
Greg Swann of Bloodhound Blog is writing his last post in the Sellsius marathon as I type.  It is currently 8:56 PM central time.  He will have completed his journey in less than 24 hours.  I'm anxiously awaiting his comments as to how many gallons of coffee and what other secrets to keeping the pace, he has to share with us.  Ardell is working on the tale end of her 5th decade of posts.  Her topic:  Agency.  Wouldn't you know.  There's no other topic that could fill 50 total entries on a blog. … (5 comments)

Sellsius 101 Blogathon - 09/26/06 03:32 AM
It's a couple hours into the beginning of Sellsius first ever 100 + 1 Blogathon.  The two participants, Ardell DellaLoggia from Seattle and Active Rain member Greg Swann of BloodhoundBlog are hoping to complete the required amount of posts in the alotted time, but I just checked and each entrant had only 2, no 3, no 4 written!  Are they sleeping away their valuable time?  If they use the entire 24 hours, that only allows 14.26 minutes per article!  14.26 minutes!  They've committed to quality content as well.  Will they make it?  Or will the winner be the one with the most completed posts?  Virtual bets … (8 comments)

War Breaks Out in Minnesota over Active Rain Part 2 - 09/25/06 04:19 PM
Part 1 of the Minnesota battle begins here!
The battle heated.   Bonnie racked up points and fired the first taunt!    Teresa had frequently written about bugs on her blog.  This would surely get the message across! 
    
Teresa’s fingers cramped the next morning as she worked toward higher points.   Her first retort to the bug was the smashed tomato.She knew it would do Bonnie in.  It worked!  She was frustrated but relentless as always!
Blogging at night. (I admit I am weird but it is a sick woman that blogs alone in the dark)   It’s Bonnie’s forte.  Overnight Teresa falls to fourth … (14 comments)

Safety Again - 09/24/06 10:05 PM
It was me.  Yes, it was me that just a couple days ago said, "Don't let a stranger in your house."  Yea, that was my post.  Granted the safety warning was issued to sellers and not letting someone posing as a REALTOR in your home without a pre-arranged appointment.  But, today, I was the mark.  I'm minding my own business digging up some new garden area at dusk.  A strange woman comes across the street and asks to use the phone.  Easy, I think.  I can bring the phone to the porch.  Then I get the sad tale.  She's been locked … (3 comments)

Misleading Advertising - 09/24/06 01:56 AM
The following e-mail came to my box today.  Normally spam is a quick delete for me but MLS Membership Services seemed official, especially since our dues statements were sent this week via e-mail.  I figured I better open this to make sure I hadn't missed an additional charge of some kind from the MLS.  Much to my surprise the flyer which you can view by going to the link is what displayed in my e-mail.  In many areas this might not be annoying, but our MLS just recently disallowed members from using the term MLS in relation to searching listings on any of our marketing … (3 comments)

Is "The Box" a Protection or Prison? - 09/24/06 01:18 AM
Once, in recent history, real estate agents only represented sellers.  The system was perfect.  It was clean. Buyers could buy houses but the agent hauling them around in their car did not have the buyer's best interest in mind.  That agent worked for the seller.  It was much like a car salesperson.  We all know the car dealer is the one the car salesperson represents. Then a bunch of savvy buyers got together and sued a big company for lack of disclosure and the real estate system got messy . . . real messy.  Buyers were happy because they could now be represented as … (0 comments)

Quarter Baths - 09/21/06 12:12 PM
Eileen Landua had a post recently on how bathrooms are described in her MLS.  We probably all agree that MLS descriptions differ by area.  Some are more clear to the consumer than others.  Eileen's post reminded me of a showing experience I had.  The listing sheet described one full bath and one quarter bath.  My clients of course questioned what a quarter bath was.  I prepped them that most often in a house this age it will be a toilet sitting in the middle of the basement without walls.  We checked the house out.  It was a poorly done rehab and … (3 comments)

Safety - 09/20/06 12:45 AM
Danger is an issue in any profession, but it seems real estate crime has been on the rise lately.  Whether there's better publicity or it truly is increasing is unknown.  Regardless, safety is an issue we all need to remember as professionals. 
This week the Saint Paul Area Association of REALTORS issued a safety alert.  A man posing as an agent approached the owner of a listed home to "preview" the home.  The owner innocently let him in to her home only to be assaulted and raped.  Last year a REALTOR member of Real Talk posted his experience of being "kidnapped" when he met … (6 comments)

What a Fuss! - 09/16/06 09:56 PM
What a fuss a little switch in blog platforms has caused.  I'm absolutely shocked that my little announcment caused such a ruckus!. 
In the last 48 hours I have aclimated myself to Typepad and tried out about a dozen different templates to see how they look.  I started with the three column design and it just seemed too busy.  Trashed it.  I had one with a green bar and pictures of real cut out snowflakes but it seemed too contrived.  Threw that one out as well.  Tried the purple template and substituted my green.  Nearly lost my eyesight!  Went to my website … (13 comments)

Blog Switch Over - 09/16/06 12:14 AM
I've spent the last 24 hours setting up my Real Estate Snippets blog on a new platform.  I'm really glad I didn't start out with this platform as it would have discouraged me back when I was a dinosaur in the tech sphere.  It's really user friendly once you get started, but acclimating to a new process has been difficult.  Not only does one have to sign up but all the blog directories have to be notified.  The old blog platform has to remain active so my badge of honor of being one of the top 10 women real estate bloggers … (16 comments)

Nine-One-One Again - 09/11/06 07:33 PM
I'm not writing this for points or anything, just to get the word out.  Jay & Francy Thompson from Active Rain alerted me to the 2996 Project in one of their comments on my first 911 blog.  I "Googled it" and discovered a most impressive undertaking.  Bloggers nationally and around the world signed up to each do a blog about one of the 2996 victims of 911, not the perpetrators, but the victims.  They had 3,412 volunteers.  These were people like Health Psych from Australia who didn't even know the victims, but felt it important to commemorate the ultimate sacrifice each … (2 comments)

Nine-One-One - 09/11/06 12:17 PM
Will any of us who lived through 911 forget?  Not a chance.  Someday this day will only warrant a brief mention in history books.  In like manner, the day JFK was shot is barely important anymore.  That day, too, was a nation stopper.  Everyone who lived through that day remembers where they were and what they were doing when . . .
The diminishing of tragedy over time is part of history.  Will those who lost their freedom in the Nazi prison camps ever forget?  Never!  But the march of time erases these shocking, tragic events from human remembrance.  Some people even … (8 comments)

Just for Fun - 09/06/06 03:47 PM
Sometimes one needs a diversion from the mundane.  Today I stumbled across a new blog with a little history lesson I found amusing.  You can share the diversion here. … (5 comments)

Balance - 09/05/06 10:27 PM
Life has a way of balancing itself.  Isn't that the principle of ying/yang?  There are discouraging days and building days.  Today was a building day.  A new contact was made that smacked of my first days in real estate.  I've been drip e-mailing new listings to a wanna be client for over a year.  I doubted she would ever buy as she was a nurse's aid and had limited income.  My skeptic's mind is usually counterbalanced by my believer's heart so I kept e-mailing.  The call came from her significant other.  He had a lot of questions for me.  How can others … (2 comments)

A Rose by Any Other Name . . . - 09/05/06 10:04 PM
Did you hear the news?  The second quarter appreciation rate declined from 3.65% in 2005 to 1.17% in 2006.  The annualized appreciation figures are worse:  14.62% in 2005 to 4.68% in 2006!  This is the sharpest decline since 1975 when the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight first started their House Price Indexing.  No wonder we're feeling the pinch.  These are national figures so some areas are better and others are worse.  Call it returning to normal, a buyer's market, the market  righting itself, the balloon deflating.  A rose by any other name is still a rose! … (2 comments)

Lychees - 09/01/06 11:28 PM
Absolutely nothing to do with real estate, but when I was given the word "lychee" captcha I had no clue what it was.  So, thanks to Google and for those in northern climes and any other sheltered person:
"A lychee is a rare sub tropical fruit originating in South China where the lychee is very important in their culture and is famed as "the King of Fruits".
The lychee fruit is about 1½ to 2 inches in size, oval to rounded heart shaped and the bumpy skin is red in color. Once you peel the skin off, the crisp juicy flesh of … (7 comments)

 

Bonnie Erickson

Saint Paul, MN

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The Realty Matrix

Address: 1951 University Ave. W., St. Paul, MN, 55104

Office Phone: (651) 649-1153

Cell Phone: (612) 419-1829

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