tutorials: Have You Given A ServiceMan or Woman a Personal Thank You Lately? - 05/26/12 03:37 PM
We all know how important it is to remember those ServiceMen and Women who have gone before us and paid the ultimate price to insure our freedoms.
Many of us Active Rainers have written posts about this weekend being Memorial Day Weekend, or, as my GrandMother used to call it, Decoration Day.
But... in addition to that... there is one suggestion I would love to make.
One thing I might add... is that each person reading this post... and all the rest of the Memorial Day posts... make a personal vow... that the next time we see someone whom we … (34 comments)
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tutorials: How I Get Rid of Spam Callers... - 03/27/12 02:20 PM
I work out of my "home office"... almost all the time. I don't know if it's just me.. but when I get a "spam phone call" at home... I get a little resentful of having my privacy invaded.
Sooo... let me share with you how I have handled the last few home spam calls. It's a method that seems to have worked... so you may want to borrow it... or not.
Spam Caller: Ring Ring...
Me: <in a very old, crotchety, gently mind-numbing voice... I answer and say> Hello ?
Spam Caller: Yes... Mrs Stone... I'm calling … (136 comments)
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tutorials: I Get Lots of Comments on My Posts. Here is my Ultra-Sneaky, Top-Secret Secret. - 02/13/12 10:54 PM
Every once in awhile someone asks me... Karen Anne... how do you keep getting so many comments on your posts ? What's the deal ? What is your secret ? What can I do to get that many comments on MY posts ?
OK. I have shared this with those who have asked... by private email... but hey, why not just let the secret out ? What is my "secret weapon ?"
Alright... Here's the deal... <she said, laughing to herself about how totally dumb she thinks that phrase sounds... >
I... care. So... I not only reciprocate... I do … (128 comments)
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tutorials: How About if We Put Away the Doom and Gloom Market Statements ? - 12/24/11 11:50 PM
So far I have had a pretty positive day here on Active Rain... having written both a new blog post that attracted all sorts of positive comments, and then making some of my own comments on some really great Active Rainer's blog posts. It's too bad I have to end it with somewhat of a rant.
I thought we as agents, and as media, had gotten over this "craze" of making blanket negative statements about the housing market in general, but I guess I spoke too soon.
Earlier tonight I read a post that listed a series of "great real … (19 comments)
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tutorials: As an Active Rain Blogger... What do You Value more ? The number of Featured Posts you have, or the number of Subscribers to your blog ? - 12/23/11 06:45 PM
A few weeks ago Richard Yates wrote an interesting post titled Subscribers make you a Successful Blogger. True or False? In the post Richard bounced around some great ideas about how he finally made it to number 90 on the list of the Top 100 AR bloggers - by number of subscribers.
Many people do value the number of subscribers they have.
But... over the last many months... there have been many, many, many posts written about "Featured Posts." Some Rainers tried to explain their ideas on what would get a post "Featured."
Others have been very, very upset because they … (111 comments)
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tutorials: How About Turning your Clocks Back Twenty-Five hours Instead of Just One ? - 11/06/11 05:29 PM
Most folks I know turned their clocks back One Hour last night. That's because the end of Daylight Savings time is here. So now, it gets darker one hour earlier today than it did yesterday.
That, of course, gave ALL of us one extra hour yesterday (Saturday) to finish all the things on our "To Do" list.
The younger you are, the less trouble or confusion messing with that "one extra hour" will cause you. But some of us older kids... well... just that one hour can mess with what the sleep doctors call our "circadian rhythms." For some of … (62 comments)
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tutorials: Should the "Featured Post" System be Changed ? - 10/30/11 06:34 PM
I could begin this post with the words... "Ooops, they did it again..." but I fear it would drive folks away... thinking it would be about a Brittany Spears song. Yikes.
But no... you're safe. But yes... it's a post about getting "Featured Posts...", or, in this case... about NOT getting "Featured Posts."
I do not want this post to be "personal"... so I will not mention any names. But... a post was written earlier today about how the Featured Post System was Broken... and asked for ways to change it.
Obviously, the person writing the post did not think … (169 comments)
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tutorials: If You Want Referrals from Other Active Rainers... Here is One Way To Get Them... - 09/03/11 12:51 AM
Earlier tonight I read a great post written by an Active Rainer who had just CLOSED her very first Active Rain referral. She was so excited... as well she should have been. How cool !
Of course, I congratulated her. I told her how glad I was for her that she "broke the ice" and got her first Active Rain referral closing. I was just being my normal sweet, supportive self. <she said, with her usual dorky grin>
The next comment after mine was from a Rainer who also congratulated her, and then asked her if she had any clients … (92 comments)
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tutorials: Active Rain "Member's Only" Posts are Once Again Accessible... - 08/09/11 09:02 AM
I am sure some of you have figured it out. Some Active Rainers were not able to access any of the blog posts that are labeled "Member's Only." The good new is... I just checked... and it is NOW working ! Hooray.
This had been going on for about the last day and a half. I spoke with Active Rain a few times, I emailed them, and I have even commented on the Active Rain "Facebook Page."
Did you know that there even WAS an ActiveRain Facebook Page ? I only found that out during the last "outage" AR had about … (22 comments)
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tutorials: Getting Paid When you Sell a Builder's Home... A Follow-up Post... - 08/08/11 02:39 PM
In today's Active Rain "Rain Drop" email... which is the "newsletter" that gives about eight posts that are "recommended reading..." there appears a post written by Jean-Paul Peron entitled "Having a sign in the street saying Model Open does not equal Procuring Cause."
In Jean-Paul's post... he tells the story about some buyers who went to a builder's model "open house" without him... and when he asked... after the fact... about being paid a commission... a dispute between him and the builder arose. That is when the discussion of "procuring cause" came up.
Since accessing Member's Only posts hasn't been working … (20 comments)
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tutorials: Want Referrals ? Teach Your Buyers and Sellers How To Make Them. - 07/24/11 03:42 PM
As Unlikely Is It May Seem... Once In A While... some buyers or sellers in the Fort Worth, Texas area actually use the services of a Realtor other than Karen Anne Stone. This can often be a very trying experience for them... fraught with dismay and disappointment. Here is a case in point:
Pictured to the right... is Ms Ivana Newhouse. Ms Newhouse had been looking for a new home on her own for quite a while. Sometimes looking online, sometimes using the Sunday Paper and just driving around... she had not been having very much luck.
Then, she had … (26 comments)
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tutorials: Active Rain Groups... What's The Point ? - 07/22/11 01:50 PM
I joined Active Rain in August of 2007. Since I was hoping that as many folks as possible would read my posts... every single post that I have written... I have "included" in the maximum of five of the Active Rain Groups. Every single one. And... they are not always the same groups. The ones I choose depend on what I am writing about.
To see why this might be a good thing for you to do as well... try this.
Think of each Active Rain Group... as being like a billboard in a different area of town. You have a … (73 comments)
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tutorials: Prejudiced Buyers. What To Do When They Ask those Inevitable Questions... - 07/20/11 09:17 PM
I recently read a post by a Rainer in an office in South Texas... where someone called to ask for help in finding a home there... readily admitted that they were "prejudiced."
They basically told the Realtor that although they did want to purchase a home in the area... that they wanted the Realtor to avoid showing them homes "near any Mexicans." Yikes !
Here is what I did... in a similar situation years ago:
I was showing a couple some homes in Fort Worth in a neighborhood where the prices were in the $175,000 to $225,000 price range.
Then it came. Some of … (104 comments)
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tutorials: How Can You Make Sure you Get Paid When your Buyer Buys a Builder's Home ? - 07/15/11 08:07 PM
Every once in a while someone writes a rant on Active Rain... complaining about new home builder commission policies... and the danger of not getting paid if one of "your buyers" purchases a new home from a builder.
Since I have spent many years working as a Realtor, and also many years working for several national New Home Builders... I thought I would share my thoughts.
The only set rule... is that there are no "set rules." Builder policy usually depends on the area, and also on what is customary in that market.
Builders in some areas will pay an … (73 comments)
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tutorials: Dagny Eason, Debbie Gartner, Ginny Gorman, and Judy Klem Had a Great Rain Camp in CT - 07/10/11 12:08 PM
I almost NEVER re-blog anything. BUT... this is just awesome.
Dagny Eason in Wilton, CT... and her recently-opened Dagny's Real Estate... put on a Mini-RainCamp at her home... and invited Debbie Gartner, Ginny Gorman and Judy Klem. Watch the video... what a hoot.
I have not gone to any of the RainCamps... even though two of them have already been held in the Fort Worth/Dallas area. Too many crazed Rainers all in one place. All those Rainers together makes Introverted Me want to crawl under the table and whimper.
So Dagny... what a great idea. Now this is something I could … (26 comments)
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tutorials: Taking "Head Shot" Photos for my Blogging and Business Use... - 05/06/11 08:35 PM
My AR friend Marilyn Boudreaux in Lake Charles, Louisiana, just wrote a blog post about having her new "headshot" photo taken. It is obvious that Marliyn is a very attractive woman. Both of the photos in her post... A Picture is Worth A Thousand Words-Especially in Real Estate are just gorgeous, and I think either one of them would work very well for Marilyn.
I think that the way we present our "business" selves to the public is extremely important, so I recently had quite a few photos taken of myself to use in my business brochures, on my blogs … (95 comments)
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tutorials: Can a Buyer's Agent put up a Sold Sign on a Sold Property ? - 03/17/11 10:26 PM
Yesterday I read a post by Victoria Jenkinson questioning the right of a Buyer's Agent... who sold a property that was listed by a different listing agent... to put up their OWN "sold sign" on that property once that property was closed and funded.
Although the majority of agents who made comments... so far there are 89 comments... thought that the Buyer's Agent should not put up the sign... and even accused that agent of being unethical... a few of the more "seasoned" agents had the opposite opinion.
Some of the agents who disagreed with the practice said that even … (178 comments)
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tutorials: A New Source of Blogging Information on How to Do Stuff on WordPress.com - 02/13/11 03:16 PM
I guess it was always there... but it just jumped up and bit me right now. I have no clue how many times it's been on the page, and I have just simply missed it.
I am talking about a great source for Learning Information about WordPress.com (that's the easy one)... not WordPress.org.
I have been messing around... experimenting is probably a more "polite" word for it... with WordPress.com. Ever since the Active Rain mess about ten months ago with all the 502 Server Errors and all that other stuff... I have been trying to learn WordPress.
It's tough, cuz … (59 comments)
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tutorials: How Important Is Your Credibility ? - 01/20/11 12:00 AM
I recently wrote a post titled What You Write in the Comments Section of your Listings... Can Either Make or Break your Credibility .
In one of the comments... a commentor seemed to imply that I was being selfish or self-centered. The implication was that I was over-concerned in trying to "build my own credibility within a Community..." (with that "community" being the other Realtors who read my listings remarks before showing my listings.)
In a question he asked me... he seemed to think that I was choosing establishing "MY" own credibility... over "representing the Seller as the Listing Agent]. In … (52 comments)
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tutorials: What You Write in the Comments Section of your Listings... Can Either Make or Break your Credibility - 12/18/10 07:38 PM
I read a post tonight by Lindsey Hasford about having to read between the lines when reading some of the comments in some of the MLS listings. The comment in question mentioned that the listing needed "finishing touches..." when the house turned out to be a total mess.
There is one thing that many Realtors do not realize when they write comments about their listings like this. The comments section is where a Realtor not only writes about that particular house/listing... but it's also where they take a giant step in establishing their own personal credibility with all their sister Realtors.
… (103 comments)
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