Great Carrollton Presentation today - 03/29/10 11:55 PM
Today my staff and I saw a presentation by Peter J. Braster, Sr. TOD Manager for the City of Carrollton. The city has a great master plan for the three DART stations that are set to open in December of this year.
Peter walked us through the development around Downtown Carrollton which is already underway. There is a new parking lot being installed which will be green in that cars will park on "grasscrete" and the paving bricks used in the lot can be reused later when the permanent parking structure is built in a few years. Then this lot … (2 comments)

Gen X, Gen Y & the Older Brokers in the room - 03/25/10 10:12 PM
Today I attended a panel presentation at Collin County Association of Realtors on Gen X and Gen Y Realtors and what they are looking for in a brokerage.  It's a great topic and the 5 presenters were very honest and upfront. 
You would think this would go over well, but the room quickly turned.  It happened first when one of the panel members said he didn't know how Realtors worked without the internet, that it seemed like "ancient history".  It was an unfortunate thing and I don't think he meant it offensively, but it was too late.  The table of "seasoned" … (12 comments)

Need Recruiting Ideas. Any suggestions welcome.. - 03/22/10 02:56 PM
I'm a small, independent broker and my goal for the next 6 months is to add 5 new agents to the company. I've been using a series of Facebook advertisements and emails sent from my IConnect account.
What would draw you as an agent to click on an ad or respond?
Would you be looking for the rate/split up front before knowing more about the agency?
Would you be more interested in the business philosophy of the brokerage?
Would location or office space be important?
Here's a link to my current email ad campaign Texas Pride … (8 comments)

Property Standards Board for the City of Carrollton - 03/19/10 12:40 AM
For the past 3 years I have had the pleasure of working on the Property Standards Board for the City of Carrollton. Where a board like Planning & Zoning deals with what to build in what location, Property Standards deals with dilapidated and unsafe buildings. Before the city staff can take action against a property they need to get the citizen's permission. Our board represents the citizens. We decide if the facts of the property merit the city going onto the property, making the repairs or demolishing the structure.
I think this board is almost more important than Planning & Zoning. … (2 comments)

Let there be light! Solatube Installation at Texas Pride Realty - 03/13/10 11:20 PM
In late August 2009 I started my own brokerage. I planted a flag in the ground and said from this day forth I will work for myself. I rented a humble office in an part of Carrollton that is on the verge or revitalization and all was good. Yet my humble little office lacked on vital necessity. Light!
Being a GREEN person I knew the solution and actually had the forethought to wright the solution into my lease. I recently installed at 10 inch SOLATUBE and the light is AMAZING! The folks who installed the solatube were from Daylight Rangers … (3 comments)

Carrollton Citizen's Evening - 03/10/10 02:57 AM
Tonight was the 3rd Annual Carrollton Citizen's Evening where various city departments distribute information about their services and answer questions. We heard about crime stats, new city codes and code enforcement, and got to meet with our council members and the mayor. As is my custom these days, I documented it all with pictures. Carrollton Citizen's Evening
… (1 comments)

Carrollton Citizen's Evening - 03/10/10 02:55 AM
Tonight was the 3rd Annual Carrollton Citizen's Evening where various city departments distribute information about their services and answer questions. We heard about crime stats, new city codes and code enforcement, and got to meet with our council members and the mayor.
As is my custom these days, I documented it all with pictures.
Carrollton Citizen's Evening
… (0 comments)

The Dallas Home & Garden Show - March 2010 - 03/10/10 02:41 AM
Warren and I went to the Dallas Home & Garden Show last weekend and I took about 200 pictures to document the day. There are a lot of different vendors at the show and I tried to get shots of all the booths. I've spent two days trying to tag the photos but I still have some more to do, but I'm going to post this blog and catch the others later.
See all the pictures of the Dallas Home & Garden Show
… (0 comments)

Hangin' it out to dry - Saving money with Solar! - 03/07/10 04:20 AM

Every year we try to take measures to reduce our electrical load. In six years in our house we have brought our bills down 41%.
Last year I invested $65 and purchased an umbrella-style clothesline. Now I know some of you won't want to do this, but we saved about $350 last year not running our 220 electric dryer and also not putting that dryer heat into the house.

Plus it did me good to have to get up off the sofa every hour and go outside and hang the laundry. I tend to put things out in … (10 comments)

Smart Meters - Are they more trouble than they're worth? - 03/07/10 03:47 AM
Several stories have been surfacing recently about higher than normal electric bills, especially related to the new SMART METERS being installed in North Texas. The meters digitally record electrical usage instead of using the older spinning wheel method. T
he new meters held the promise of allowing electric companies to know when to put more power on the grid and to allow customers to have a better understanding of their usage. However it seems the meters are simply overcharging customers excessive amounts of usage.
See attached video
Thankfully, the Public Utility Commission and some state legislators are catching wind of … (4 comments)

Localism Pictures and my website - 03/07/10 03:39 AM
I have been integrating pictures of local subdivisions into my website using Photobucket. I'm currently paying my son to drive around and take pictures but I'm also advertising on Facebook for others to help. I've had 4 photographer's write me about wanting to take pictures for my site. I'm paying $5 per subdivision.
The Plano Texas page is the furthest along with pictures as well as basic subdivision info.
Plano Texas
Carrollton Texas
Richardson Texas
Let me know what you think. … (3 comments)

I see teardowns. They don't know they're teardowns but there are.... - 03/04/10 10:21 PM
I took a client today to see her #1 house based off looking for hours at MLS listings online. We arrived and it was almost immediately clear that this house just needed to be put down.
Problems included
* roof,
* moisture-destroyed siding on every part of the house,
* yard destroyed
* large trees encroaching on the house
* apartments on two sides of the house
and the inside is just as fun.
My client and I are going back to the lists. … (2 comments)

Loco for Local! - 03/04/10 03:52 PM
So after #RainCamp I've been doing all my blogging and Facebooking. I've also set up several Localism sites on my systems. And while I had pages for all my cities before, they were NOTHING like what I'm working on now.
When I'm finished each page will have links to the various subdivisions in the city, Facebook pages about those cities and links to the city government and municipal services.
These are the three cities I've completed and now that I have the process down with my IDX, I can get the rest done quickly.
Carrollton, TX
Plano, TX
Richardson, TX
… (2 comments)

Localism - My Way! - 03/02/10 01:11 AM
I decided to get local about localism. I spent this evening working my IDX and my webpages to get all the subdivisions in Carrollton loaded into my IDX as searchable links. HOUSE LINKSCarrollton Rental Properties
Carrollton Condos, Townhomes & Duplexes
Carrollton Houses For Sale under $150,000
Carrollton Houses For Sale between $150,000 & $300,000
Carrollton Houses For Sale over $300,000
Carrollton Houses For Sale with Pools
HUD LISTINGS - Carrollton HUD Homes in Carrollton Look what people are saying on our Carrollton FB Page
Carrollton Texas on Facebook Subdivisions to Consider
Arbor Creek
Austin Waters
Bluffview
Booth Creek
Briarwyck Estates
Cambridge … (2 comments)

 
Bobbyhank Rainmaker_large

Bob McCranie

Carrollton, TX

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Broker/Owner - Texas Pride Realty

Office Phone: (972) 754-0582

Cell Phone: (972) 754-0582

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