If you are 55 or older, there is hardly a better option for American heritage tours than Elderhostel.(www.elderhostel.com). There are more than 200 trips with a historical focus,from exploring the Oregon Trail to viewing Anasazi rock art in the great canyon areas of Four Corners. Lewis & Clark enthusiasts, there are more than 25 trips focusing on the intrepid exployers, including a kayaking trip to Skamakawa. Elderhostel does an excellent job describing the accommodations and physical requirements of trips.

We decided to hike the "Gunks". This way we could let the hiking customers we have had what to expect. We had to plan for this hike. Most people just go- Not us.

The first step to  successful hike is to have the proper gear. So to the LLBean catalog we go. I spent a small fortune. Back packs, 1st aid kit.Anti-venom snake kit, Hiking boots, rain gear, Shirt with wicking capabilities. I even bought "smart" wool socks. Next  on the shopping list: groceries- trail mix (5lbs) water, propel, water, wet naps. I decided not to get toilet paper because I would  stop drinking 3 days before the hike. We had everything we would need except a SHERPA. We even had a "base" camp site selected.

The day of the hike finally arrives and off we go- My daughter, my partner and yours truly. I decide after about 15 minutes that I can not carry the heavy back pack. So that was passed to my Daughter.

You can't get lost on the hike because the trails are color coded (marks on the trees). We were on an easy trail, so they told me. It wasa very hot &  humid day. I wished I hadn't worn the "smart" wool socks, They were just itchy. We had to climb a hill that I thought was rock scrambling. No!!! this is just some gravel I was told.Since I had stopped drinking days before I was very thirsty. I drank a lot which was OK(I had seen some porta-potties along the way)

We didn't see any animals, just other hikers and campers. Our adventure took about 4 hours. Finally," base camp" (a local restaurant). I got rid of the wool socks and hoped the blisters would heal soon.

It wasn't  Everest, but I put a lot of "spin" on  hiking the "gunks" to anyone that has an interest.

Thursday, June 14th, 2007

Samuel D'Costa was killed while showinga Bowie home in Maryland. Samuel was 36 years old.

 Read the whole press release:GAZETTE.NET by Liza Gutierrea/staff writer: Maryland community newspapers.

A real Estate agent in a vacant house is VULNERABLE. Hosting OPEN houses alone is DANGEROUS. Woman take more precautions than men.

Call your board office and ask for a personal safety class.  We did have one a few years ago. We actually got continuing ed points, but the class was canceled. Something to do with the politics at the state level.

Discuss saftey issues at EVERY sales meeting. Have a speaker come in (State trooper). Request a personal safety course be offered at the conventions.

If you have doubts about a customer Or client do not take the risk. It is just not worth it.

 

 

My real secretary is out sick. I am covering for her. I found out that I can single handed screw up the office.!!!!

I think that we all take staff for granted! I will not do that again. 

I can not find anything, let alone enter appointments into Lucero. Appointments are being made. Just like in the old days. Appointments are not being made using any of the hi-tech stuff. There will not be anything filed until she gets back, because I wasn't sure of her system. Does the paid phone bill get filed under T for telephone???

The agents have stopped asking me questions about how to find things in the office. Amazingly, they are working through this. Someone asked that I transfer a call to an agents Voice Mail. I lied and said the phones were not functioning. but I would get the message to the agent. Which I did!!

This morning I spilled coffee grounds in the freezer. What a holy mess!!! Do we have a Vacuum??? I will bring one from home tomorrow.

This is truly exhausting. Damn!!! The phone is ringing again. I will be back to this blog in a minute. Yeah!! It was a wrong #.

I miss Debbie. I hope she feels better soon. I promise to help her straighten out the office as soon as she gets back.

DO NOT TAKE STAFF FOR GRANTED!!!!!

My business partner won two"free" airline tickets to be picked up after a short sales pitch for the time-share in the Catskills. The Friar Tuck Inn to be exact.

I decided to go along for the ride and to see the sales pitch. Of course, I wanted the additional air fare ticket.

We actually were given an appointment time: 11:30AM on Sunday morning. We are both notoriously early or punctual as the case may be. We did not see many guests. Under ten that we could see. This seemed strange, but maybe they were still sleeping from a party the night before. We walked some more, until it was our time to enter the main building.

Upon entering the building, I was convinced that we were in Hogwarts and soon we would be greeted by Harry himself. I actually saw cages with brown & grey Owls (they were not real). Finally we were greeted by our salesperson: "The half-Blood Prince". His sales pitch began immediately. It was excellent. I rated it an "8". His first mission was to show us around the inside of "Hogwarts" AKA the Friar Tuck Inn. Most resorts feature many meals: so off we go with the "Half-Blood Prince" to the Great Hall. Long tables were set up for lunch or dinnner or maybe a wedding. I say a wedding because of the Dais in the front of the room. No talking hats or signs of Dumbledore. I thought we would sit with the Gryffendors if asked, but that option was never offered.

Our next tour of the facility was outside. The "Half-Blood Prince" asked how we arrived. I was tempted to tell him that we walked through a brick wall and caught a train. I didn't. We showed him the car we arrived in. I think that they determine how much money one has by their car. WE were in a jeep wrangler, the impressive car was at home.

 I am now glad to see the grounds and continue my search for guests (muggles). Very FEW to be seen. I know where they are!!! They are all attending the Quiddich games. But no such luck. All I saw was a horsehoe pit.

Back at the main building the Prince tries to close us on the merits of this time share, but we were not there to buy. We were there for the airline tickets. We did confuse him: he wasn't sure about our relationship. We didn't tell him that our relationship was only a business one. He didn't know what to do next, so he went for the "CLOSER" (Lord Voldemort). The closer told us that he was upset that his salesperson couldn't convince us to buy. But neither could he. We left with the "free" airline tickets that had so many limitations that they were worthless.

We did have a fun day and I hope you enjoy my true adventure story.

A few weeks ago on a rainy & chilly Sunday afternoon, I went to see an OPEN HOUSE. A customer had asked me about it. This seemed like a good time to preview it.

I got to the Open about 2:00Pm. The only car in the driveway was the agents car. Normally, the agent would have been at the door, happy to see anyone! I did not see the agent until I got to the family room of the house. He was 'watching' a golf tournament. I said HI- no need to get up I am  an agent and will just look around by myself.I thought it was strange that there was not a response. But then Tiger Woods was just about to tee off. I walked around the house and made as much noise as I could but still no response. I decided to check out this situation a little closer. Thankfully, the agent was sound asleep and not dead.

During the time I was there a "real" customer came in. She saw the sleeping agent and asked me if it was OK to look around. I told her that I was not a customer but an agent from another company and that I would stay in the house until she was finished. Sleeping agent slept through this also.

I left when the customer did. She asked for my card. I do not know if anything will come of it..but you never know!

When I got back to the office, I called the broker of the sleeping agent. She would have to deal with this issue. Hopefully, the owner didn't come home to see how her agent was working for them.

I know OPEN HOUSES can be boring. But if you snooze you lose!!!

The new agent interview is scheduled for this morning.

For those yogis in Active Rain: Last week the instructor "tried" to help me perfect a dancer pose. I am probably the clumsiest person in balancing that you will ever meet. As the instructor tried unsuccessfully to help me into this beautiful position of the dancer, I fell to the left. She fell on top of me, we both fell on the person next to me and he fell on the next person. It was the ultimate domino theory.

I was the only one with an injury. I thought I had broken two toes. But they were only sprained and bruised. I think I was gripping with my feet to avoid the fall.

OK, you are wondering: how did this get an agent interview?? I was wearing a company logo shirt. The new agent asked about Real Estate and told me she just completed her sales person course. Hoepfully, she will join our company this morning.

Namaste!!!

If you know that GNN means "gotta go now" and FTR means "for the record" you are probably text savvy.

We hosted a training on Friday by our ERA Business consultant. He introduced us to TXTERA. This has been available since January. I thought it was too complicated to explain and waited for help. It wasn't complicated at all.

TXTERA is a sign rider that will let the txt savvy consumer find out about a house by dialing a phone# and entering a listing #. Within seconds he will get all the pertinent info on the house and how to reach the listing agent. The only cost to this program is the cost of the rider. Under $5.00.

ICBW but ?\??  This is the future!!!!!

I have seen two house fires in my neighborhood. Both homes were totally destroyed, but no  injuries.

The first fire started because of faulty wiring to a hot tub. Instead of having a dedicated wire to the hot tub installed, the owner decided to "save" money and to jury-rig the wiring.

The fire started on the deck late at night when the family was asleep. The explosion from the grill propane tank woke them up. At this point the home was engulfed in flames. The only thing left standing was the front facade of the home.

The second fire was started by the PSYCHO Owner. This couple was going through a messy divorce and the wife was going to get the house.This was the second fire to destroy this house. The first time it was an "accident". They rebuilt and about one year later the second fire occured. This time he went to jail.

It is very devastating to see these burned out structures. I always point out to sellers how dangerous extension cords can be. Sometimes these wires appear to connect everything in the room. Just another responsibility we have in this job.

 

 

This is a story about our bookkeepers misappropriation of company funds.(this happened several years ago)

If anyone had asked me about our bookkeeper, I would have praised her competency plus the fact that she was a family friend not just an employee.

I should have paid more attention when an Amex bill had several items not related to the company business. However, when asked she said"OH I must have used the company card and not my personal one. I will make the corrections immediately." Which she did. I didn't give this any more thoughts. This should have been a RED FLAG!!!. I never thought to look over old bills.

I had noticed she was spending a lot of time on E-Bay. She was buying enough sweaters for her to change 3 times a day for the entire winter. I was wondering how she was able to spend this much money. However, the charges were not on the company cards. She walked away from a substantial deposit for a vacation house, because it wasn't close enough to the beach. She was buying very expensive show tickets from e-bay. She was also becoming very erratic about the time spent in the office.

I was about to set up a meeting with her to ind out what was going on. But I did not have to have that meeting.

My partner asked me one morning in January how many weeks are there in a year. I thought you have to be kidding! Why do you ask??? The answer nearly wiped me out. It seemed that the bookkeeper was writing herself payroll checks exceeding the normal 52 weeks. She had been doing this for a couple of years. The total that we came up with was $11.000.00.

We called her in for a meeting. If it had been anyone else, the police would have been present and she would have been arrested. She cried and said she was sorry and please do not fire me. I will pay back the money. We told her that she was lucky we were not having her arrested. We did not want her children to know about their mother. None of the money has been paid back. I didn't think it would be.

I still have trouble believing this happened. I thought we were friends. I guess not!!!