<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<feed xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom">
  <title>Kristina's Blog - Edwardsville Real Estate Forum</title>
  <link href="http://activerain.com/blogs/kmpratt/atom" rel="self"/>
  <link href="http://activerain.com/blogs/kmpratt" rel="alternate"/>
  <id>http://activerain.com/blogs/kmpratt</id>
  <updated>2008-11-18T21:26:59Z</updated>
  <author>
    <name>Kristina Pratt, Realtor - St. Louis' Illinois Suburbs (Coldwell Banker Brown Realtors)</name>
  </author>
  <entry>
    <title>Neat As A Pin - Just Move In!</title>
    <link href="http://activerain.com/blogsview/796860/Neat-As-A-Pin-Just-Move-In" rel="alternate"/>
    <id>http://activerain.com/blogsview/796860/Neat-As-A-Pin-Just-Move-In</id>
    <updated>2008-11-18T21:26:59Z</updated>
    <author>
      <name>Kristina Pratt, Realtor - St. Louis' Illinois Suburbs (Coldwell Banker Brown Realtors)</name>
    </author>
    <content type="html">
&lt;div style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; color: #000000;"&gt;&lt;font size="2"&gt;&lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" height="100%" cellpadding="10" align="center" width="100%"&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td background="http://www.postlets.com/css/styles/marina/bg_body.gif" valign="top" align="center" colspan="2"&gt;&lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" width="740"&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;td height="20" align="right"&gt; &lt;div style="background-color: #AD8E6E; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; color: #FFFEFD; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 5px; padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;"&gt;&lt;font size="2"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Kristina Pratt&lt;/strong&gt; | Coldwell Banker Brown Realtors&lt;a href="http://www.postlets.com/email_interest.php?pid=1515897&amp;v=re" style="color: #FFFEFD;"&gt;&lt;/a&gt; | 618-917-0775&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt; &lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" style="border-left: 1px solid #E5D2BD; border-right: 1px solid #E5D2BD;" width="740"&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td&gt; &lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" width="100%"&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td&gt; &lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="7" width="100%"&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td style="background-color: #FAF2C9;" colspan="2"&gt;
&lt;table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="1" width="100%"&gt; &lt;tr valign="top"&gt; &lt;td height="30" valign="top" align="left"&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; color: #206591;"&gt;&lt;font size="5"&gt;111 Crestmoor, Collinsville, IL&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td valign="top" align="left" width="560"&gt; &lt;div style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; color: #000000;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td valign="top" style="background-color: #FAF2C9;" colspan="2"&gt; &lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="4" style="border-left: 1px solid #E5D2BD; border-right: 1px solid #E5D2BD; border-top: 1px solid #E5D2BD; border-bottom: 1px solid #E5D2BD; background-color: #FFFEFD;" width="724"&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td align="left"&gt;&lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%"&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td height="35" valign="top" width="350"&gt; &lt;div style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; color: #000000;"&gt;&lt;font size="4"&gt;4BR/3BA Single Family House&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;td valign="top"&gt;&lt;span style="padding-right: 5px;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;td valign="top" align="right"&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; color: #000000;"&gt;&lt;font size="4"&gt;offered at $229,500&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td valign="top"&gt;&lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="3" style="background-color: #FFFEFD; border-top: 1px solid #E5D2BD;" width="100%"&gt;  &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td style="background-color: #FFFEFD; border-bottom: 1px solid #E5D2BD; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; color: #AD8E6E;" width="125"&gt;Year Built&lt;/td&gt; &lt;td style="background-color: #FFFEFD; border-bottom: 1px solid #E5D2BD; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; color: #000000;"&gt;1993 &lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td style="background-color: #FFFEFD; border-bottom: 1px solid #E5D2BD; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; color: #AD8E6E;"&gt;Sq Footage&lt;/td&gt; &lt;td style="background-color: #FFFEFD; border-bottom: 1px solid #E5D2BD; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; color: #000000;"&gt;3,108 &lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt;  &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td style="background-color: #FFFEFD; border-bottom: 1px solid #E5D2BD; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; color: #AD8E6E;"&gt;Bedrooms&lt;/td&gt; &lt;td style="background-color: #FFFEFD; border-bottom: 1px solid #E5D2BD; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; color: #000000;"&gt;4&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td style="background-color: #FFFEFD; border-bottom: 1px solid #E5D2BD; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; color: #AD8E6E;"&gt;Bathrooms&lt;/td&gt; &lt;td style="background-color: #FFFEFD; border-bottom: 1px solid #E5D2BD; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; color: #000000;"&gt;3 full, 0 partial &lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt;  &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td style="background-color: #FFFEFD; border-bottom: 1px solid #E5D2BD; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; color: #AD8E6E;"&gt;Floors&lt;/td&gt; &lt;td style="background-color: #FFFEFD; border-bottom: 1px solid #E5D2BD; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; color: #000000;"&gt; Unspecified &lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td style="background-color: #FFFEFD; border-bottom: 1px solid #E5D2BD; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; color: #AD8E6E;"&gt;Parking&lt;/td&gt; &lt;td style="background-color: #FFFEFD; border-bottom: 1px solid #E5D2BD; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; color: #000000;"&gt; 2 Car garage &lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt;  &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td style="background-color: #FFFEFD; border-bottom: 1px solid #E5D2BD; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; color: #AD8E6E;"&gt;Lot Size&lt;/td&gt; &lt;td style="background-color: #FFFEFD; border-bottom: 1px solid #E5D2BD; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; color: #000000;"&gt;Unspecified &lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt;  &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td style="background-color: #FFFEFD; border-bottom: 1px solid #E5D2BD; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; color: #AD8E6E;"&gt;HOA/Maint&lt;/td&gt; &lt;td style="background-color: #FFFEFD; border-bottom: 1px solid #E5D2BD; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; color: #000000;"&gt;$0 per month&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt;  &lt;/table&gt;  &lt;br&gt; &lt;div style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; color: #AD8E6E;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt; DESCRIPTION&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;hr noshade size="1" style="border-top: 1px solid #E5D2BD;"&gt; &lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="3" width="100%"&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; color: #000000;"&gt;Over 3,00 square feet of living space await the lucky new owner of this spacious all brick ranch.  This home is situated on &lt;br /&gt;
a large corner lot that is approximately .3 acres. on corner lot.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The huge kitchen is a gourmet delight with an abundance of beautiful cabinets, breakfast nook, double oven, and newer &lt;br /&gt;
countertop.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Two fireplaces in the vaulted great room and lower level family room insure that you will be warm and cozy during chilly &lt;br /&gt;
winter nights.  The lower level is also plumbed for a wet bar.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Atrium doors lead out to a 14 X 24 deck.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Call, text or e-mail today to treat yourself to a private showing.  Nancy - 618-791-8007 or Kristina 618-917-0775&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt;  &lt;/td&gt; &lt;td valign="top" width="5"&gt;&lt;span style="padding-right: 5px;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;td valign="top"&gt;&lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="8" style="border-left: 1px solid #AD8E6E; border-right: 1px solid #AD8E6E; border-top: 1px solid #AD8E6E; border-bottom: 1px solid #AD8E6E; background-color: #AD8E6E;" width="100%"&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.postlets.com/create/photos/20081118/212117_P1010526.JPG" border="1" height="262" width="350"&gt;&lt;br&gt;
&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt; &lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%"&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td align="center"&gt;&lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="1" width="350"&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td height="25" align="center" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; color: #000000;"&gt;see additional photos below&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt; &lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt; &lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt; &lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt;  &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td valign="top" style="background-color: #FAF2C9;" colspan="2"&gt;&lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="4" style="border-left: 1px solid #E5D2BD; border-right: 1px solid #E5D2BD; border-top: 1px solid #E5D2BD; border-bottom: 1px solid #E5D2BD; background-color: #FFFEFD;" width="724"&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td align="left"&gt; &lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" width="100%"&gt; &lt;tr valign="middle" align="center"&gt; &lt;td valign="top"&gt;   &lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="3" width="100%"&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td align="left"&gt; &lt;div style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; color: #AD8E6E;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;PROPERTY FEATURES&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;hr noshade size="1" style="border-top: 1px solid #E5D2BD;"&gt; &lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="3" width="100%"&gt;&lt;tr style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; color: #000000;"&gt;
&lt;td width="33%"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.postlets.com/css/styles/marina/blt_features.gif" vspace="3" height="3" width="13"&gt;Central A/C&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td width="33%"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.postlets.com/css/styles/marina/blt_features.gif" vspace="3" height="3" width="13"&gt;Central heat&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td width="33%"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.postlets.com/css/styles/marina/blt_features.gif" vspace="3" height="3" width="13"&gt;Fireplace&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; color: #000000;"&gt;
&lt;td width="33%"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.postlets.com/css/styles/marina/blt_features.gif" vspace="3" height="3" width="13"&gt;High/Vaulted ceiling&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td width="33%"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.postlets.com/css/styles/marina/blt_features.gif" vspace="3" height="3" width="13"&gt;Breakfast nook&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td width="33%"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.postlets.com/css/styles/marina/blt_features.gif" vspace="3" height="3" width="13"&gt;Basement&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; color: #000000;"&gt;
&lt;td width="33%"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.postlets.com/css/styles/marina/blt_features.gif" vspace="3" height="3" width="13"&gt;Balcony, Deck, or Patio&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td width="33%"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.postlets.com/css/styles/marina/blt_features.gif" vspace="3" height="3" width="13"&gt;Yard&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td width="33%"&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/table&gt; &lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt; &lt;br&gt;    &lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt; &lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt; &lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt;  
&lt;tr&gt; &lt;td valign="top" style="background-color: #FAF2C9;" colspan="2"&gt;&lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="4" style="border-left: 1px solid #E5D2BD; border-right: 1px solid #E5D2BD; border-top: 1px solid #E5D2BD; border-bottom: 1px solid #E5D2BD; background-color: #FFFEFD;" width="724"&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td align="left"&gt;&lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" width="100%"&gt; &lt;tr valign="middle" align="center"&gt; &lt;td valign="top"&gt;&lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="3" width="100%"&gt;&lt;tr&gt; &lt;td valign="top" align="left"&gt; &lt;div style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; color: #AD8E6E;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;ADDITIONAL PHOTOS &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;hr noshade size="1" style="border-top: 1px solid #E5D2BD;"&gt;&lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" width="100%"&gt;&lt;tr valign="middle" align="center"&gt;&lt;td height="262"&gt;&lt;div align="left" style="padding-left: 2px; padding-right: 2px; padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.postlets.com/create/photos/20081118/212117_P1010526.JPG" border="0" width="344"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;div align="right" style="padding-left: 2px; padding-right: 2px; padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.postlets.com/create/photos/20081118/212117_P1010528.JPG" border="0" width="344"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;tr valign="middle" align="center"&gt;&lt;td height="262"&gt;&lt;div align="left" style="padding-left: 2px; padding-right: 2px; padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.postlets.com/create/photos/20081118/212118_P1010542.JPG" border="0" width="344"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;div align="right" style="padding-left: 2px; padding-right: 2px; padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.postlets.com/create/photos/20081118/212118_P1010548.JPG" border="0" width="344"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;tr valign="middle" align="center"&gt;&lt;td height="262"&gt;&lt;div align="left" style="padding-left: 2px; padding-right: 2px; padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.postlets.com/create/photos/20081118/212118_P1010530.JPG" border="0" width="344"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;div align="right" style="padding-left: 2px; padding-right: 2px; padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.postlets.com/create/photos/20081118/212119_P1010537.JPG" border="0" width="344"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt; &lt;td valign="top" align="left" style="background-color: #FAF2C9;" width="50%"&gt; &lt;table cellspacing="1" border="0" cellpadding="0" style="border-left: 1px solid #FAF2C9; border-right: 2px solid #FFFEFD; border-top: 1px solid #FAF2C9; border-bottom: 1px solid #FAF2C9; background-color: #FAF2C9;" width="350"&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td&gt;&lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="5" width="100%"&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; color: #AD8E6E;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt; Seller contact info:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td&gt;&lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%"&gt; &lt;tr valign="top"&gt; &lt;td width="35"&gt;&lt;span style="padding-right: 5px;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;&lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="2" width="100%"&gt; &lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; color: #000000;"&gt;Kristina Pratt&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; color: #000000;"&gt;Coldwell Banker Brown Realtors&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; color: #000000;"&gt;618-917-0775&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; color: #000000;"&gt;For sale by agent/broker&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt;  &lt;/table&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td&gt;&lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%"&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td align="left" style="background-color: #FAF2C9;"&gt;&lt;span style="padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 5px;"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.postlets.com/css/styles/marina/btn_powered.gif" border="0" height="25" alt="powered by postlets" width="140"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;td align="right" style="background-color: #FAF2C9;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.craigslist.org/about/FHA.html" style="color: #206591; text-decoration: none;"&gt;Equal Opportunity Housing&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;td align="right" style="background-color: #FAF2C9;" width="35"&gt;&lt;span style="padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 5px;"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.postlets.com/images/eoh_logo.gif" height="18" width="24"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt; &lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt; &lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="0" width="740"&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td height="20" valign="middle" align="left"&gt;&lt;div style="background-color: #AD8E6E; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; color: #FFFEFD; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 5px; padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;"&gt;&lt;font size="2"&gt;Posted: Nov 18, 2008, 7:18pm PST&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
    </content>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <title>Rare Opportunity - 3/4 acre lot + house in the heart of Edwardsville</title>
    <link href="http://activerain.com/blogsview/796809/Rare-Opportunity-34-acre-lot-+-house-in-the-heart-of-Edwardsville" rel="alternate"/>
    <id>http://activerain.com/blogsview/796809/Rare-Opportunity-34-acre-lot-+-house-in-the-heart-of-Edwardsville</id>
    <updated>2008-11-18T20:47:05Z</updated>
    <author>
      <name>Kristina Pratt, Realtor - St. Louis' Illinois Suburbs (Coldwell Banker Brown Realtors)</name>
    </author>
    <content type="html">
&lt;div style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; color: #33322E;"&gt;&lt;font size="2"&gt;&lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" height="100%" cellpadding="10" align="center" width="100%"&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td background="http://www.postlets.com/css/styles/tribeca/bg_body.gif" valign="top" align="center" colspan="2"&gt;&lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" width="740"&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;td height="20" align="right"&gt; &lt;div style="background-color: #FFFEFD; border-bottom: 1px solid #CCC9B6; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; color: #33322E; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 5px; padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;"&gt;&lt;font size="2"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Kristina Pratt&lt;/strong&gt; | Coldwell Banker Brown Realtors&lt;a href="http://www.postlets.com/email_interest.php?pid=1515828&amp;v=re" style="color: #4B1F63;"&gt;&lt;/a&gt; | 618-917-0775&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt; &lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" width="740" style="border-left: 1px solid #FFFEFD; border-right: 1px solid #FFFEFD"&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td&gt; &lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" width="100%"&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td&gt; &lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="7" width="100%"&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td colspan="2" style="background-color: #FFFEFD;"&gt;
&lt;table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="1" width="100%"&gt; &lt;tr valign="top"&gt; &lt;td height="30" valign="top" align="left"&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; color: #4B1F63;"&gt;&lt;font size="5"&gt;412 E Schwarz, Edwardsville, IL&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td valign="top" align="left" width="560"&gt; &lt;div style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; color: #33322E;"&gt;Amazing Rehab Potential&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td valign="top" colspan="2" style="background-color: #FFFEFD;"&gt; &lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="4" width="724" style="border-left: 1px solid #CCC9B6; border-right: 1px solid #CCC9B6; border-top: 1px solid #CCC9B6; border-bottom: 1px solid #CCC9B6; background-color: #D9D7C9;"&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td align="left"&gt;&lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%"&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td height="35" valign="top" width="350"&gt; &lt;div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; color: #33322E;"&gt;&lt;font size="4"&gt;5BR/2BA Single Family House&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;td valign="top"&gt;&lt;span style="padding-right: 5px;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;td valign="top" align="right"&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; color: #33322E;"&gt;&lt;font size="4"&gt;offered at $89,000&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td valign="top"&gt;&lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="3" width="100%" style="background-color: #D9D7C9; border-top: 1px solid #F2F1ED;"&gt;  &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td width="125" style="background-color: #D9D7C9; border-bottom: 1px solid #F2F1ED; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; color: #33322E;"&gt;Year Built&lt;/td&gt; &lt;td style="background-color: #D9D7C9; border-bottom: 1px solid #F2F1ED; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; color: #33322E;"&gt;1880 &lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td style="background-color: #D9D7C9; border-bottom: 1px solid #F2F1ED; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; color: #33322E;"&gt;Sq Footage&lt;/td&gt; &lt;td style="background-color: #D9D7C9; border-bottom: 1px solid #F2F1ED; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; color: #33322E;"&gt;2,426 &lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt;  &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td style="background-color: #D9D7C9; border-bottom: 1px solid #F2F1ED; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; color: #33322E;"&gt;Bedrooms&lt;/td&gt; &lt;td style="background-color: #D9D7C9; border-bottom: 1px solid #F2F1ED; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; color: #33322E;"&gt;5&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td style="background-color: #D9D7C9; border-bottom: 1px solid #F2F1ED; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; color: #33322E;"&gt;Bathrooms&lt;/td&gt; &lt;td style="background-color: #D9D7C9; border-bottom: 1px solid #F2F1ED; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; color: #33322E;"&gt;2 full, 0 partial &lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt;  &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td style="background-color: #D9D7C9; border-bottom: 1px solid #F2F1ED; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; color: #33322E;"&gt;Floors&lt;/td&gt; &lt;td style="background-color: #D9D7C9; border-bottom: 1px solid #F2F1ED; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; color: #33322E;"&gt; 3 &lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td style="background-color: #D9D7C9; border-bottom: 1px solid #F2F1ED; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; color: #33322E;"&gt;Parking&lt;/td&gt; &lt;td style="background-color: #D9D7C9; border-bottom: 1px solid #F2F1ED; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; color: #33322E;"&gt; Unspecified &lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt;  &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td style="background-color: #D9D7C9; border-bottom: 1px solid #F2F1ED; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; color: #33322E;"&gt;Lot Size&lt;/td&gt; &lt;td style="background-color: #D9D7C9; border-bottom: 1px solid #F2F1ED; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; color: #33322E;"&gt;Unspecified &lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt;  &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td style="background-color: #D9D7C9; border-bottom: 1px solid #F2F1ED; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; color: #33322E;"&gt;HOA/Maint&lt;/td&gt; &lt;td style="background-color: #D9D7C9; border-bottom: 1px solid #F2F1ED; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; color: #33322E;"&gt;$0 per month&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt;  &lt;/table&gt;  &lt;br&gt; &lt;div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; color: #33322E;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt; DESCRIPTION&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;hr size="1" noshade style="border-top: 1px solid #F2F1ED;"&gt; &lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="3" width="100%"&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; color: #33322E;"&gt;Damsel in distress seeks knight in shining armor for a quick rescue!  There is a lot of potential here! Home could be gutted and completely re-done to return it to its former grandeur. The upstairs features its own entrance from the back of the house, separate meters and could be used for a separate living area. This one is perfect for either a rehab project or the rare opportunity to own a 3/4 acre lot in the heart of Edwardsville.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
View more photos at our website http://www.JustDuckyHomes.com&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Sign up for our personal retriever service and get new listings as soon as they hit the market!&lt;br /&gt;
http://www.BuyMadisonCounty.com/MLS.html&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt;  &lt;/td&gt; &lt;td valign="top" width="5"&gt;&lt;span style="padding-right: 5px;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;td valign="top"&gt;&lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="8" width="100%" style="border-left: 1px solid #66655B; border-right: 1px solid #66655B; border-top: 1px solid #66655B; border-bottom: 1px solid #66655B; background-color: #66655B;"&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.postlets.com/create/photos/20081118/203836_P1010600.JPG" border="1" height="262" width="350"&gt;&lt;br&gt;
&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt; &lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%"&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td align="center"&gt;&lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="1" width="350"&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td height="25" align="center" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; color: #33322E;"&gt;see additional photos below&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt; &lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt; &lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt; &lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt;  &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td valign="top" colspan="2" style="background-color: #FFFEFD;"&gt;&lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="4" width="724" style="border-left: 1px solid #CCC9B6; border-right: 1px solid #CCC9B6; border-top: 1px solid #CCC9B6; border-bottom: 1px solid #CCC9B6; background-color: #D9D7C9;"&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td align="left"&gt; &lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" width="100%"&gt; &lt;tr valign="middle" align="center"&gt; &lt;td valign="top"&gt;   &lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="3" width="100%"&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td align="left"&gt; &lt;div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; color: #33322E;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;PROPERTY FEATURES&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;hr size="1" noshade style="border-top: 1px solid #F2F1ED;"&gt; &lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="3" width="100%"&gt;&lt;tr style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; color: #33322E;"&gt;
&lt;td width="33%"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.postlets.com/css/styles/tribeca/blt_features.gif" vspace="3" height="3" width="13"&gt;Hardwood floor&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td width="33%"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.postlets.com/css/styles/tribeca/blt_features.gif" vspace="3" height="3" width="13"&gt;Living room&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td width="33%"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.postlets.com/css/styles/tribeca/blt_features.gif" vspace="3" height="3" width="13"&gt;Basement&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/table&gt; &lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt; &lt;br&gt;    &lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt; &lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt; &lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt;  
&lt;tr&gt; &lt;td valign="top" colspan="2" style="background-color: #FFFEFD;"&gt;&lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="4" width="724" style="border-left: 1px solid #CCC9B6; border-right: 1px solid #CCC9B6; border-top: 1px solid #CCC9B6; border-bottom: 1px solid #CCC9B6; background-color: #D9D7C9;"&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td align="left"&gt;&lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" width="100%"&gt; &lt;tr valign="middle" align="center"&gt; &lt;td valign="top"&gt;&lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="3" width="100%"&gt;&lt;tr&gt; &lt;td valign="top" align="left"&gt; &lt;div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; color: #33322E;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;ADDITIONAL PHOTOS &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;hr size="1" noshade style="border-top: 1px solid #F2F1ED;"&gt;&lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" width="100%"&gt;&lt;tr valign="middle" align="center"&gt;&lt;td height="262"&gt;&lt;div align="left" style="padding-left: 2px; padding-right: 2px; padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.postlets.com/create/photos/20081118/203836_P1010600.JPG" border="0" width="344"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;div align="right" style="padding-left: 2px; padding-right: 2px; padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.postlets.com/create/photos/20081118/203837_P1010601.JPG" border="0" width="344"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;tr valign="middle" align="center"&gt;&lt;td height="262"&gt;&lt;div align="left" style="padding-left: 2px; padding-right: 2px; padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.postlets.com/create/photos/20081118/203837_P1010602.JPG" border="0" width="344"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;div align="right" style="padding-left: 2px; padding-right: 2px; padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.postlets.com/create/photos/20081118/203837_P1010603.JPG" border="0" width="344"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;tr valign="middle" align="center"&gt;&lt;td height="262"&gt;&lt;div align="left" style="padding-left: 2px; padding-right: 2px; padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.postlets.com/create/photos/20081118/203837_P1010604.JPG" border="0" width="344"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;div align="right" style="padding-left: 2px; padding-right: 2px; padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.postlets.com/create/photos/20081118/203838_P1010605.JPG" border="0" width="344"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt; &lt;td valign="top" align="left" width="50%" style="background-color: #FFFEFD;"&gt; &lt;table cellspacing="1" border="0" cellpadding="0" width="350" style="border-left: 1px solid #FFFEFD; border-right: 2px solid #CCC9B6; border-top: 1px solid #FFFEFD; border-bottom: 1px solid #FFFEFD; background-color: #FFFEFD;"&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td&gt;&lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="5" width="100%"&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; color: #33322E;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt; Seller contact info:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td&gt;&lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%"&gt; &lt;tr valign="top"&gt; &lt;td width="35"&gt;&lt;span style="padding-right: 5px;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;&lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="2" width="100%"&gt; &lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; color: #33322E;"&gt;Kristina Pratt&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; color: #33322E;"&gt;Coldwell Banker Brown Realtors&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; color: #33322E;"&gt;618-917-0775&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; color: #33322E;"&gt;For sale by agent/broker&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt;  &lt;/table&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td&gt;&lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%"&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td align="left" style="background-color: #FFFEFD;"&gt;&lt;span style="padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 5px;"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.postlets.com/css/styles/tribeca/btn_powered.gif" border="0" height="25" alt="powered by postlets" width="140"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;td align="right" style="background-color: #FFFEFD;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.craigslist.org/about/FHA.html" style="color: #4B1F63; text-decoration: none;"&gt;Equal Opportunity Housing&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;td align="right" width="35" style="background-color: #FFFEFD;"&gt;&lt;span style="padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 5px;"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.postlets.com/images/eoh_logo.gif" height="18" width="24"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt; &lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt; &lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="0" width="740"&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td height="20" valign="middle" align="left"&gt;&lt;div style="background-color: #FFFEFD; border-bottom: 1px solid #CCC9B6; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; color: #33322E; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 5px; padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;"&gt;&lt;font size="2"&gt;Posted: Nov 18, 2008, 6:43pm PST&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
    </content>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <title>The Reputation Of Realtors - A Small Attempt At Reversing It</title>
    <link href="http://activerain.com/blogsview/794418/The-Reputation-Of-Realtors-A-Small-Attempt-At-Reversing-It" rel="alternate"/>
    <id>http://activerain.com/blogsview/794418/The-Reputation-Of-Realtors-A-Small-Attempt-At-Reversing-It</id>
    <updated>2008-11-17T14:26:57Z</updated>
    <author>
      <name>Kristina Pratt, Realtor - St. Louis' Illinois Suburbs (Coldwell Banker Brown Realtors)</name>
    </author>
    <content type="html">
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Used car salesman.&amp;nbsp; Slicksters.&amp;nbsp; Smooth talkers.&amp;nbsp; Greedy.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;Overpaid.&amp;nbsp; We've all heard the adjectives used to describe our profession.&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; I truly believe that most agents are honest and trustworthy.&amp;nbsp; Most of us look at ourselves as business owners and counselors instead of a sales person.&amp;nbsp; &lt;em&gt;Unfortunately, not all agents are like this and &lt;strong&gt;those that are&lt;/strong&gt; well deserve the reputation that the public has bestowed upon us&lt;/em&gt;.&amp;nbsp; Their actions are applied to all of us in general -&amp;nbsp;fair or not.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I grew up in a real estate family.&amp;nbsp; I know how the public perceives us, and I've known it since childhood.&amp;nbsp; However, it didn't deter me from pursuing my own career as a Realtor.&amp;nbsp; When I started I had the usual goals that we all do.&amp;nbsp; I wanted to help people with their real estate decisions, be successful, be happy and give back to the community I grew up in.&amp;nbsp; One of my main goals in my business, however, was to never act like your "typical" Realtor.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I was waiting early at the office yesterday morning for a client to return from a home inspection.&amp;nbsp; While I was twiddling my thumbs the phone rang.&amp;nbsp; I figured it was probably an agent that just needed to set an appointment, so I answered the phone.&amp;nbsp; I had a nice conversation with an extremely sharp and intelligent woman.&amp;nbsp; The conversation went something like this:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;"Coldwell Banker Brown Realtors, how can I help you?"&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;"Hi.&amp;nbsp; I'm looking for an agent that I worked with about a&amp;nbsp;few months&amp;nbsp;ago, and I can't remember if she was with your company or with XYZ Realty.&amp;nbsp; Her last name was Smith, but I can't remember her first name."&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;"I'm sorry but we don't have an agent here by that name at this time."&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;"Oh.&amp;nbsp; Okay.&amp;nbsp; Well, I wasn't in the position to buy a house with her then, but I am now.&amp;nbsp; I just wanted to see if I could find her.&amp;nbsp; I'll call XYZ Realty and try them."&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;"I can check that last name in the MLS if you would like me to.&amp;nbsp; That way you won't have to call around to the different companies"&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;"Could you please?"&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;"Sure.&amp;nbsp;It looks like Ann Smith is currently with ABC Realty.&amp;nbsp; Would you like her cell phone number?"&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;There was a long pause.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;"Are you an agent?"&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;"Yes, I am."&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Another pause.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;"Why would you do that?&amp;nbsp; Buyers are scarce right now.&amp;nbsp; I'm surprised that you aren't going to try and get my information for yourself.&amp;nbsp; Especially since she works for your competition."&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;"I understand, but I wouldn't want another agent to do that to me.&amp;nbsp; It's not right for me to try and get you as my client when you've been working with someone else.&amp;nbsp; She deserves a chance to help you."&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;One last pause.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;"That's really kind of you.&amp;nbsp; It's not everyday someone does the right thing, in business or just life in general.&amp;nbsp; If you don't mind, I will take her phone number."&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;"Thank you, that is really nice to hear.&amp;nbsp; Her number is 555-1212."&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;"What was your name?"&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;"Kristina Pratt."&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;"Thanks, Kristina.&amp;nbsp; Can I have your number?"&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;So I gave her my number and we parted ways.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Imagine my surprise when I got a phone call at 8:15 this morning.&amp;nbsp; The woman I talked to yesterday was unable to reach her former agent.&amp;nbsp; She called me to see if I would be interested in helping them find a new home.&amp;nbsp; &lt;strong&gt;I asked her if she was sure she wanted to change agents.&amp;nbsp; She told me that if she couldn't remember the agents name from just a few months ago then she must not have been that impressive.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I may not be able to change the opinion of everyone in the country when it comes to Realtors, but I can change the opinion of the ones I work for and come in contact with.&amp;nbsp; My honesty and belief in doing the right thing may have just gained me a client.&amp;nbsp; &lt;strong&gt;Even if her old agent does call and she decides to stick with her, it's okay.&amp;nbsp; Hopefully -&amp;nbsp;long after she buys a home - she will&amp;nbsp;always remember my name.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;    </content>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <title>You Don't Have To Sacrifice City Conveniences For A Private Lifestyle</title>
    <link href="http://activerain.com/blogsview/793021/You-Dont-Have-To-Sacrifice-City-Conveniences-For-A-Private-Lifestyle" rel="alternate"/>
    <id>http://activerain.com/blogsview/793021/You-Dont-Have-To-Sacrifice-City-Conveniences-For-A-Private-Lifestyle</id>
    <updated>2008-11-16T16:53:53Z</updated>
    <author>
      <name>Kristina Pratt, Realtor - St. Louis' Illinois Suburbs (Coldwell Banker Brown Realtors)</name>
    </author>
    <content type="html">
&lt;div style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; color: #666666;"&gt;&lt;font size="2"&gt;&lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" height="100%" cellpadding="10" align="center" width="100%"&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td background="http://www.postlets.com/css/styles/aspen/bg_body.gif" valign="top" align="center" colspan="2"&gt;&lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" width="740"&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;td height="20" align="right"&gt; &lt;div style="background-color: #5A471B; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; color: #FFFEFD; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 5px; padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;"&gt;&lt;font size="2"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Kristina Pratt&lt;/strong&gt; | Coldwell Banker Brown Realtors&lt;a href="http://www.postlets.com/email_interest.php?pid=1412463&amp;v=re" style="color: #FFFEFD;"&gt;&lt;/a&gt; | 618-917-0775&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt; &lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" style="border-left: 1px solid #ABB2C5; border-right: 1px solid #ABB2C5;" width="740"&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td&gt; &lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" width="100%"&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td&gt; &lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="7" width="100%"&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td style="background-color: #FFFEFD;" colspan="2"&gt;
&lt;table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="1" width="100%"&gt; &lt;tr valign="top"&gt; &lt;td height="30" valign="top" align="left"&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; color: #4B6B7F;"&gt;&lt;font size="5"&gt;4 Ginger Ridge Lane, Glen Carbon, IL&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td valign="top" align="left" width="560"&gt; &lt;div style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; color: #666666;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td valign="top" style="background-color: #FFFEFD;" colspan="2"&gt; &lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="4" style="border-left: 1px solid #ABB2C5; border-right: 1px solid #ABB2C5; border-top: 1px solid #ABB2C5; border-bottom: 1px solid #ABB2C5; background-color: #FFFEFD;" width="724"&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td align="left"&gt;&lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%"&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td height="35" valign="top" width="350"&gt; &lt;div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; color: #987241;"&gt;&lt;font size="4"&gt;4BR/2.5BA Single Family House&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;td valign="top"&gt;&lt;span style="padding-right: 5px;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;td valign="top" align="right"&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; color: #987241;"&gt;&lt;font size="4"&gt;offered at $217,550&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td valign="top"&gt;&lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="3" style="background-color: #FFFEFD; border-top: 1px solid #ABB2C5;" width="100%"&gt;  &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td style="background-color: #FFFEFD; border-bottom: 1px solid #ABB2C5; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; color: #666666;" width="125"&gt;Year Built&lt;/td&gt; &lt;td style="background-color: #FFFEFD; border-bottom: 1px solid #ABB2C5; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; color: #666666;"&gt;1979 &lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td style="background-color: #FFFEFD; border-bottom: 1px solid #ABB2C5; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; color: #666666;"&gt;Sq Footage&lt;/td&gt; &lt;td style="background-color: #FFFEFD; border-bottom: 1px solid #ABB2C5; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; color: #666666;"&gt;2,032 &lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt;  &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td style="background-color: #FFFEFD; border-bottom: 1px solid #ABB2C5; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; color: #666666;"&gt;Bedrooms&lt;/td&gt; &lt;td style="background-color: #FFFEFD; border-bottom: 1px solid #ABB2C5; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; color: #666666;"&gt;4&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td style="background-color: #FFFEFD; border-bottom: 1px solid #ABB2C5; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; color: #666666;"&gt;Bathrooms&lt;/td&gt; &lt;td style="background-color: #FFFEFD; border-bottom: 1px solid #ABB2C5; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; color: #666666;"&gt;2 full, 1 partial &lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt;  &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td style="background-color: #FFFEFD; border-bottom: 1px solid #ABB2C5; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; color: #666666;"&gt;Floors&lt;/td&gt; &lt;td style="background-color: #FFFEFD; border-bottom: 1px solid #ABB2C5; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; color: #666666;"&gt; 2 &lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td style="background-color: #FFFEFD; border-bottom: 1px solid #ABB2C5; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; color: #666666;"&gt;Parking&lt;/td&gt; &lt;td style="background-color: #FFFEFD; border-bottom: 1px solid #ABB2C5; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; color: #666666;"&gt; 2 Car garage &lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt;  &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td style="background-color: #FFFEFD; border-bottom: 1px solid #ABB2C5; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; color: #666666;"&gt;Lot Size&lt;/td&gt; &lt;td style="background-color: #FFFEFD; border-bottom: 1px solid #ABB2C5; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; color: #666666;"&gt;.75 acres &lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt;  &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td style="background-color: #FFFEFD; border-bottom: 1px solid #ABB2C5; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; color: #666666;"&gt;HOA/Maint&lt;/td&gt; &lt;td style="background-color: #FFFEFD; border-bottom: 1px solid #ABB2C5; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; color: #666666;"&gt;$0 per month&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt;  &lt;/table&gt;  &lt;br&gt; &lt;div style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; color: #666666;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt; DESCRIPTION&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;hr noshade size="1" style="border-top: 1px solid #ABB2C5;"&gt; &lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="3" width="100%"&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; color: #666666;"&gt;COUNTRY ESTATE LIVING IN THE CITY! Looking for the perfect spot? This gorgeous 4 BR/3bath home on over 3/4 of an acre is move-in ready! French doors to deck off the family room allow you to enjoy beautiful scenery any time of the year. The huge kitchen with loads of cabinets and countertops is open to the family room and masonry fireplace for the perfect entertaining space. Beautiful oak staircase to a master wing w/French doors to balcony, formal livings room and dining room. Heat pump and roof is 5 yrs new, dishwasher 3 yrs new. CLOSE TO EVERYTHING! &lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt;  &lt;/td&gt; &lt;td valign="top" width="5"&gt;&lt;span style="padding-right: 5px;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;td valign="top"&gt;&lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="8" style="border-left: 1px solid #5A471B; border-right: 1px solid #5A471B; border-top: 1px solid #5A471B; border-bottom: 1px solid #5A471B; background-color: #5A471B;" width="100%"&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.postlets.com/create/photos/20081019/090602_2811384_1000.jpg" border="1" height="262" width="350"&gt;&lt;br&gt;
&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt; &lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%"&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td align="center"&gt;&lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="1" width="350"&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td height="25" align="center" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; color: #666666;"&gt;see additional photos below&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt; &lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt; &lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt; &lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt;  &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td valign="top" style="background-color: #FFFEFD;" colspan="2"&gt;&lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="4" style="border-left: 1px solid #ABB2C5; border-right: 1px solid #ABB2C5; border-top: 1px solid #ABB2C5; border-bottom: 1px solid #ABB2C5; background-color: #FFFEFD;" width="724"&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td align="left"&gt; &lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" width="100%"&gt; &lt;tr valign="middle" align="center"&gt; &lt;td valign="top"&gt;   &lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="3" width="100%"&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td align="left"&gt; &lt;div style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; color: #666666;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;PROPERTY FEATURES&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;hr noshade size="1" style="border-top: 1px solid #ABB2C5;"&gt; &lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="3" width="100%"&gt;&lt;tr style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; color: #666666;"&gt;
&lt;td width="33%"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.postlets.com/css/styles/aspen/blt_features.gif" vspace="3" height="3" width="13"&gt;Central A/C&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td width="33%"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.postlets.com/css/styles/aspen/blt_features.gif" vspace="3" height="3" width="13"&gt;Central heat&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td width="33%"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.postlets.com/css/styles/aspen/blt_features.gif" vspace="3" height="3" width="13"&gt;Fireplace&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; color: #666666;"&gt;
&lt;td width="33%"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.postlets.com/css/styles/aspen/blt_features.gif" vspace="3" height="3" width="13"&gt;Basement&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td width="33%"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.postlets.com/css/styles/aspen/blt_features.gif" vspace="3" height="3" width="13"&gt;Laundry area - inside&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td width="33%"&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/table&gt; &lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt; &lt;br&gt;    &lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="3" width="100%"&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td align="left"&gt; &lt;div style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; color: #666666;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;COMMUNITY FEATURES&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;hr noshade size="1" style="border-top: 1px solid #ABB2C5;"&gt; &lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="3" width="100%"&gt;&lt;tr style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; color: #666666;"&gt;
&lt;td width="33%"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.postlets.com/css/styles/aspen/blt_features.gif" vspace="3" height="3" width="13"&gt;Clubhouse&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td width="33%"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.postlets.com/css/styles/aspen/blt_features.gif" vspace="3" height="3" width="13"&gt;Swimming pool(s)&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td width="33%"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.postlets.com/css/styles/aspen/blt_features.gif" vspace="3" height="3" width="13"&gt;Tennis court(s)&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;&lt;p&gt; &lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt; &lt;br&gt;  &lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt; &lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt; &lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt;  
&lt;tr&gt; &lt;td valign="top" style="background-color: #FFFEFD;" colspan="2"&gt;&lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="4" style="border-left: 1px solid #ABB2C5; border-right: 1px solid #ABB2C5; border-top: 1px solid #ABB2C5; border-bottom: 1px solid #ABB2C5; background-color: #FFFEFD;" width="724"&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td align="left"&gt;&lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" width="100%"&gt; &lt;tr valign="middle" align="center"&gt; &lt;td valign="top"&gt;&lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="3" width="100%"&gt;&lt;tr&gt; &lt;td valign="top" align="left"&gt; &lt;div style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; color: #666666;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;ADDITIONAL PHOTOS &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;hr noshade size="1" style="border-top: 1px solid #ABB2C5;"&gt;&lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" width="100%"&gt;&lt;tr valign="middle" align="center"&gt;&lt;td height="262"&gt;&lt;div align="left" style="padding-left: 2px; padding-right: 2px; padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.postlets.com/create/photos/20081019/090602_2811384_1000.jpg" border="0" width="344"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;span style="padding-right: 5px;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt; &lt;td valign="top" align="left" style="background-color: #FFFEFD;" width="50%"&gt; &lt;table cellspacing="1" border="0" cellpadding="0" style="border-left: 1px solid #FFFEFD; border-right: 2px solid #ABB2C5; border-top: 1px solid #FFFEFD; border-bottom: 1px solid #FFFEFD; background-color: #FFFEFD;" width="350"&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td&gt;&lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="5" width="100%"&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; color: #666666;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt; Seller contact info:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td&gt;&lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%"&gt; &lt;tr valign="top"&gt; &lt;td width="35"&gt;&lt;span style="padding-right: 5px;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;&lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="2" width="100%"&gt; &lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; color: #666666;"&gt;Kristina Pratt&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; color: #666666;"&gt;Coldwell Banker Brown Realtors&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; color: #666666;"&gt;618-917-0775&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; color: #666666;"&gt;For sale by agent/broker&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt;  &lt;/table&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td&gt;&lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%"&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td align="left" style="background-color: #FFFEFD;"&gt;&lt;span style="padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 5px;"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.postlets.com/css/styles/aspen/btn_powered.gif" border="0" height="25" alt="powered by postlets" width="140"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;td align="right" style="background-color: #FFFEFD;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.craigslist.org/about/FHA.html" style="color: #4B6B7F; text-decoration: none;"&gt;Equal Opportunity Housing&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;td align="right" style="background-color: #FFFEFD;" width="35"&gt;&lt;span style="padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 5px;"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.postlets.com/images/eoh_logo.gif" height="18" width="24"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt; &lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt; &lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="0" width="740"&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td height="20" valign="middle" align="left"&gt;&lt;div style="background-color: #5A471B; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; color: #FFFEFD; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 5px; padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;"&gt;&lt;font size="2"&gt;Posted: Oct 19, 2008, 7:01am PDT&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
    </content>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <title>Thinking About Selling Your Home On Your Own?</title>
    <link href="http://activerain.com/blogsview/793019/Thinking-About-Selling-Your-Home-On-Your-Own" rel="alternate"/>
    <id>http://activerain.com/blogsview/793019/Thinking-About-Selling-Your-Home-On-Your-Own</id>
    <updated>2008-11-16T16:51:45Z</updated>
    <author>
      <name>Kristina Pratt, Realtor - St. Louis' Illinois Suburbs (Coldwell Banker Brown Realtors)</name>
    </author>
    <content type="html">
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Selling Your Home On Your Own&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;If you need to sell your home, and you are considering doing it on your own, it is probably &lt;br /&gt;because you are trying to save the commission. &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;Don't let someone tell you that it is &lt;br /&gt;impossible, because it isn't. &amp;nbsp;There are plenty of owners who successfully sell on their own. &amp;nbsp;&lt;br /&gt;Over the years, we have helped these owners &amp;nbsp;and found that the most common issue for &lt;br /&gt;owners is that they didn't realize the commitment and effort it would take. &amp;nbsp;For a lot of them, it &lt;br /&gt;became a full-time job.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Here are some questions to ask yourself before you put the sign in your yard.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;How will I determine my asking price? &amp;nbsp;Should I get an appraisal?&amp;nbsp;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;What will I do if someone wants to put an offer on my house? &amp;nbsp;What happens next?&amp;nbsp;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Where should I advertise my house?&amp;nbsp;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;How much money should I spend on advertising?&amp;nbsp;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;What will I do if an inspection comes back badly?&amp;nbsp;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Are there government or county inspections I have to have performed?&amp;nbsp;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;How do I know if the buyer is qualified?&amp;nbsp;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;What is earnest money, and how much should I ask for?&amp;nbsp;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Do I have a marketing strategy?&amp;nbsp;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Will I be safe allowing strangers into my home? (We care about you and the safety of &lt;br /&gt;your family. &amp;nbsp;Due to recent events in our area involving agents, please click here for &lt;br /&gt;free safety tips.)&amp;nbsp;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Will my house be able to sell in a reasonable time if I can only show it on evenings &lt;br /&gt;and weekends when I'm not at work?&amp;nbsp;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Am I able to negotiate the price and details of my sale without letting my emotions &lt;br /&gt;interfere and affect my bottom line?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;How will I get enough exposure to get the best price possible without listing in the &lt;br /&gt;MLS?&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;If you would like the answer to any of these questions, please&amp;nbsp;contact us. &amp;nbsp;We are happy to help you sell on your own with no sales pressure or obligation. &amp;nbsp;Why? &amp;nbsp;The answer is simple. &amp;nbsp;There might come a day when you need the services of a Realtor, such as in aiding you with the purchase of your next home, or you may recommend us to a friend or family member.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Visit us online at &lt;a href="http://www.JustDuckyHomes.com"&gt;www.JustDuckyHomes.com&lt;/a&gt; for more information about how we can help you meet your real estate goals.&lt;/p&gt;    </content>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <title>My American Hero - Veteran's Day Is Today - THANK YOU VETERANS!!</title>
    <link href="http://activerain.com/blogsview/784096/My-American-Hero-Veterans-Day-Is-Today-THANK-YOU-VETERANS" rel="alternate"/>
    <id>http://activerain.com/blogsview/784096/My-American-Hero-Veterans-Day-Is-Today-THANK-YOU-VETERANS</id>
    <updated>2008-11-11T13:13:25Z</updated>
    <author>
      <name>Kristina Pratt, Realtor - St. Louis' Illinois Suburbs (Coldwell Banker Brown Realtors)</name>
    </author>
    <content type="html">
&lt;p&gt;I posted this when I got back from Las Vegas last week, and shortly after I did I realized that I should have saved it for Veteran's Day.&amp;nbsp; I was so excited about what happened to me personally, that I couldn't wait to share it on Active Rain.&amp;nbsp; So, I had simply&amp;nbsp;planned on making a new post about Veteran's Day... but I really don't think I could&amp;nbsp;write another post that shows the spirit of this day better than this one.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Thank you, Veterans -&amp;nbsp;for our freedom, security and the abillity to pursue the American Dream.&amp;nbsp; Thank you just&lt;em&gt; isn't&lt;/em&gt; enough.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;___________________________________________________________________________________________________&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I just got back home from spending 10 days in Las Vegas with my husband Jeff and his parents.&amp;nbsp; Although I am happy to be home, I will always remember one amazing moment for the rest of my life.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Just one year ago, my father-in-law Bob had brain surgery to relieve his tremors from Parkinson's &lt;img src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/6/9/1/0/0/ar1225947700196.jpg" height="395" alt="" width="269" style="float: right; margin: 6px;" /&gt;Disease.&amp;nbsp; The surgery was botched, and it lead to him losing his ability to walk, talk, eat and left his right arm completely paralyzed.&amp;nbsp; I wrote a post about him that you can read &lt;a href="http://activerain.com/blogsview/745048/Parkinsons-Awareness-Bobs-Story" target="_blank"&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; for more details.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Jeff and I had heard from his Mom that Dad was doing a lot better.&amp;nbsp; However, based on how he was last time we saw him (about&amp;nbsp;six months ago), we took what she said with a grain of salt.&amp;nbsp; At that time he was able to talk a little and eat solid food, but he was very depressed and confined to a wheelchair.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;So you can imagine our shock when we walked through the maze of baggage carousels at McCarran Airport to find Dad sitting on a bench by himself.&amp;nbsp; He rose up to meet us and actually walked us out to the parking garage.&amp;nbsp; This is a man that was in a wheelchair six months ago... and here he was walking.&amp;nbsp; He shuffles his feet a lot, and makes us very very nervous - but he has a new lease on life.&amp;nbsp; We couldn't be happier.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;My father-in-law is a proud military veteran.&amp;nbsp; He served in Korea and two tours in Vietnam in the Army.&amp;nbsp; He loves our country with his entire being.&amp;nbsp; The Air Force doctor suspects that the Parkinson's that has robbed Dad of his quality of life is connected to his exposure to agent orange during the Vietnam war.&amp;nbsp; I've researched this a lot, and there are several valid medical studies showing this link.&amp;nbsp; Odds are, his exposure during the war is what caused Parkinson's later in life.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;That being said, it is very likely that what Dad is going through now is a result of his courageous service to his country.&amp;nbsp; He has sacrificed so much for our safety and freedom.&amp;nbsp; Aside from seeing and doing things in Vietnam that he will never speak of, his oldest son died in a Marine Corps training accident.&amp;nbsp; He has given more to our country than most of us ever will - yet he wouldn't change a thing.&amp;nbsp; His solidarity never wavered.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/7/5/4/3/6/ar122594792763457.jpg" height="400" alt="" width="267" style="float: left; margin: 6px;" /&gt;Right after the surgery last October, a wicked wind storm tore through the Las Vegas valley.&amp;nbsp; The American flag that had been prominently displayed at the Pratt house was torn to shreds.&amp;nbsp; The flag pole was even bent and destroyed.&amp;nbsp; Since Dad still has no use of his right arm, the flag and pole were never replaced.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;When Jeff and I walked in the front door Dad took his son's hand and&amp;nbsp;lead him into the kitchen.&amp;nbsp; There, in the corner, was a brand new flag pole.&amp;nbsp; Remembering never to let the flag touch the ground, on the table sat a flag - that Bob struggled to fold in a perfect triangle with the help of Jeff's Mom.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;That is when I witnessed something I was afraid had been lost forever - father and son working together on an important project.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Jeff installed the new pole, put the new rope through the grommets of the flag and handed it to his Dad.&amp;nbsp; He struggled to raise the American flag with one hand while fighting back tears.&amp;nbsp; Slowly, yet steadily -&amp;nbsp;this proud veteran raised the flag with such honor and pride.&amp;nbsp; He even looped the extra rope around the holder to secure the flag in place.&amp;nbsp; He did all of this with one arm while his legs and left hand shook violently&amp;nbsp;from the Parkinson's tremors.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Robert Pratt is my American hero.&amp;nbsp; &lt;strong&gt;Let's not forget that the freedoms we enjoy are made possible because of soldiers like him - both past and present.&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; There is no way to express my gratitude to such selfless individuals.&amp;nbsp; &lt;strong&gt;Don't forget that Veteran's Day is November 11th.&amp;nbsp; Take time out to thank a veteran or volunteer to help the wounded coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan.&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; You can find more information at the links below.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.woundedwarriorproject.org/"&gt;http://www.woundedwarriorproject.org/&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;- The greatest casualty is being forgotten... donate your time or a few dollars to help wounded veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www1.va.gov/opa/vetsday/"&gt;http://www1.va.gov/opa/vetsday/&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;-&amp;nbsp;Find information about Veteran's Day, events near you&amp;nbsp;and why it's so important&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://web.welcomebackveterans.org/index.jsp"&gt;http://web.welcomebackveterans.org/index.jsp&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;- Volunteer to welcome back our new generation of veterans&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.uso.org/howtohelp/becomeavolunteer/"&gt;http://www.uso.org/howtohelp/becomeavolunteer/&lt;/a&gt; - The USO is not government supported, and is ALWAYS in need of volunteers of all different kinds.&lt;/p&gt;    </content>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <title>Country Living In The Heart Of The City</title>
    <link href="http://activerain.com/blogsview/779748/Country-Living-In-The-Heart-Of-The-City" rel="alternate"/>
    <id>http://activerain.com/blogsview/779748/Country-Living-In-The-Heart-Of-The-City</id>
    <updated>2008-11-07T22:43:05Z</updated>
    <author>
      <name>Kristina Pratt, Realtor - St. Louis' Illinois Suburbs (Coldwell Banker Brown Realtors)</name>
    </author>
    <content type="html">
&lt;div style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; color: #000000;"&gt;&lt;font size="2"&gt;&lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" height="100%" cellpadding="10" align="center" width="100%"&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td background="http://www.postlets.com/css/styles/tahoe/bg_body.gif" valign="top" align="center" colspan="2"&gt;&lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" width="740"&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;td height="20" align="right"&gt; &lt;div style="background-color: #4A5A4A; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; color: #FFFEFD; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 5px; padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;"&gt;&lt;font size="2"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Kristina Pratt&lt;/strong&gt; | Coldwell Banker Brown Realtors&lt;a href="http://www.postlets.com/email_interest.php?pid=1417099&amp;v=re" style="color: #FFFEFD;"&gt;&lt;/a&gt; | 618-917-0775&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt; &lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" style="border-left: 1px solid #94847B; border-right: 1px solid #94847B;" width="740"&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td&gt; &lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" width="100%"&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td&gt; &lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="7" width="100%"&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td style="background-color: #E7DFD7;" colspan="2"&gt;
&lt;table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="1" width="100%"&gt; &lt;tr valign="top"&gt; &lt;td height="30" valign="top" align="left"&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; color: #4A5A4A;"&gt;&lt;font size="5"&gt;1408 North Bluff, Collinsville, IL&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td valign="top" align="left" width="560"&gt; &lt;div style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; color: #000000;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td valign="top" style="background-color: #E7DFD7;" colspan="2"&gt; &lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="4" style="border-left: 1px solid #94847B; border-right: 1px solid #94847B; border-top: 1px solid #94847B; border-bottom: 1px solid #94847B; background-color: #FFFEFD;" width="724"&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td align="left"&gt;&lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%"&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td height="35" valign="top" width="350"&gt; &lt;div style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; color: #000000;"&gt;&lt;font size="4"&gt;3BR/2.5BA Single Family House&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;td valign="top"&gt;&lt;span style="padding-right: 5px;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;td valign="top" align="right"&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; color: #000000;"&gt;&lt;font size="4"&gt;offered at $289,900&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td valign="top"&gt;&lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="3" style="background-color: #FFFEFD; border-top: 1px solid #94847B;" width="100%"&gt;  &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td style="background-color: #FFFEFD; border-bottom: 1px solid #94847B; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; color: #4A5A4A;" width="125"&gt;Year Built&lt;/td&gt; &lt;td style="background-color: #FFFEFD; border-bottom: 1px solid #94847B; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; color: #000000;"&gt;1996 &lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td style="background-color: #FFFEFD; border-bottom: 1px solid #94847B; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; color: #4A5A4A;"&gt;Sq Footage&lt;/td&gt; &lt;td style="background-color: #FFFEFD; border-bottom: 1px solid #94847B; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; color: #000000;"&gt;2,623 &lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt;  &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td style="background-color: #FFFEFD; border-bottom: 1px solid #94847B; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; color: #4A5A4A;"&gt;Bedrooms&lt;/td&gt; &lt;td style="background-color: #FFFEFD; border-bottom: 1px solid #94847B; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; color: #000000;"&gt;3&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td style="background-color: #FFFEFD; border-bottom: 1px solid #94847B; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; color: #4A5A4A;"&gt;Bathrooms&lt;/td&gt; &lt;td style="background-color: #FFFEFD; border-bottom: 1px solid #94847B; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; color: #000000;"&gt;2 full, 1 partial &lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt;  &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td style="background-color: #FFFEFD; border-bottom: 1px solid #94847B; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; color: #4A5A4A;"&gt;Floors&lt;/td&gt; &lt;td style="background-color: #FFFEFD; border-bottom: 1px solid #94847B; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; color: #000000;"&gt; 2 &lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td style="background-color: #FFFEFD; border-bottom: 1px solid #94847B; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; color: #4A5A4A;"&gt;Parking&lt;/td&gt; &lt;td style="background-color: #FFFEFD; border-bottom: 1px solid #94847B; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; color: #000000;"&gt; Unspecified &lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt;  &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td style="background-color: #FFFEFD; border-bottom: 1px solid #94847B; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; color: #4A5A4A;"&gt;Lot Size&lt;/td&gt; &lt;td style="background-color: #FFFEFD; border-bottom: 1px solid #94847B; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; color: #000000;"&gt;3.20 acres &lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt;  &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td style="background-color: #FFFEFD; border-bottom: 1px solid #94847B; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; color: #4A5A4A;"&gt;HOA/Maint&lt;/td&gt; &lt;td style="background-color: #FFFEFD; border-bottom: 1px solid #94847B; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; color: #000000;"&gt;$0 per month&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt;  &lt;/table&gt;  &lt;br&gt; &lt;div style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; color: #4A5A4A;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt; DESCRIPTION&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;hr noshade size="1" style="border-top: 1px solid #94847B;"&gt; &lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="3" width="100%"&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; color: #000000;"&gt;ABSOLUTELY STUNNING home on 3.2 acres! &lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Fabulous, professionally decorated 3 bedroom/3 bathhome with private drive.  Beautifully landscaped grounds, patio with fireplace, mature trees and plenty of parking.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The wrap-around porch with ceiling fans leads to an elegant entry foyer and the beamed great room boasts a huge masonry fireplace.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Loads of maple cabinets in the chef's kitchen includes all stainless appliances. Master wing includes dressing and sitting rooms. &lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Seasonal view of St. Louis skyline!&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Listing agent Carrie Caton/Coldwell Banker Brown Realtors&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt;  &lt;/td&gt; &lt;td valign="top" width="5"&gt;&lt;span style="padding-right: 5px;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;td valign="top"&gt;&lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="8" style="border-left: 1px solid #94847B; border-right: 1px solid #94847B; border-top: 1px solid #94847B; border-bottom: 1px solid #94847B; background-color: #94847B;" width="100%"&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.postlets.com/create/photos/20081020/184240_front.jpg" border="1" height="262" width="350"&gt;&lt;br&gt;
&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt; &lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%"&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td align="center"&gt;&lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="1" width="350"&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td height="25" align="center" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; color: #000000;"&gt;see additional photos below&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt; &lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt; &lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt; &lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt;  &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td valign="top" style="background-color: #E7DFD7;" colspan="2"&gt;&lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="4" style="border-left: 1px solid #94847B; border-right: 1px solid #94847B; border-top: 1px solid #94847B; border-bottom: 1px solid #94847B; background-color: #FFFEFD;" width="724"&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td align="left"&gt; &lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" width="100%"&gt; &lt;tr valign="middle" align="center"&gt; &lt;td valign="top"&gt;   &lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="3" width="100%"&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td align="left"&gt; &lt;div style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; color: #4A5A4A;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;PROPERTY FEATURES&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;hr noshade size="1" style="border-top: 1px solid #94847B;"&gt; &lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="3" width="100%"&gt;&lt;tr style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; color: #000000;"&gt;
&lt;td width="33%"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.postlets.com/css/styles/tahoe/blt_features.gif" vspace="3" height="3" width="13"&gt;Central A/C&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td width="33%"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.postlets.com/css/styles/tahoe/blt_features.gif" vspace="3" height="3" width="13"&gt;Central heat&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td width="33%"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.postlets.com/css/styles/tahoe/blt_features.gif" vspace="3" height="3" width="13"&gt;Fireplace&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; color: #000000;"&gt;
&lt;td width="33%"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.postlets.com/css/styles/tahoe/blt_features.gif" vspace="3" height="3" width="13"&gt;High/Vaulted ceiling&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td width="33%"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.postlets.com/css/styles/tahoe/blt_features.gif" vspace="3" height="3" width="13"&gt;Walk-in closet&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td width="33%"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.postlets.com/css/styles/tahoe/blt_features.gif" vspace="3" height="3" width="13"&gt;Hardwood floor&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; color: #000000;"&gt;
&lt;td width="33%"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.postlets.com/css/styles/tahoe/blt_features.gif" vspace="3" height="3" width="13"&gt;Basement&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td width="33%"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.postlets.com/css/styles/tahoe/blt_features.gif" vspace="3" height="3" width="13"&gt;Jacuzzi/Whirlpool&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td width="33%"&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/table&gt; &lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt; &lt;br&gt;    &lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt; &lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt; &lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt;  
&lt;tr&gt; &lt;td valign="top" style="background-color: #E7DFD7;" colspan="2"&gt;&lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="4" style="border-left: 1px solid #94847B; border-right: 1px solid #94847B; border-top: 1px solid #94847B; border-bottom: 1px solid #94847B; background-color: #FFFEFD;" width="724"&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td align="left"&gt;&lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" width="100%"&gt; &lt;tr valign="middle" align="center"&gt; &lt;td valign="top"&gt;&lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="3" width="100%"&gt;&lt;tr&gt; &lt;td valign="top" align="left"&gt; &lt;div style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; color: #4A5A4A;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;ADDITIONAL PHOTOS &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;hr noshade size="1" style="border-top: 1px solid #94847B;"&gt;&lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" width="100%"&gt;&lt;tr valign="middle" align="center"&gt;&lt;td height="262"&gt;&lt;div align="left" style="padding-left: 2px; padding-right: 2px; padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.postlets.com/create/photos/20081020/184240_front.jpg" border="0" width="344"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;div align="right" style="padding-left: 2px; padding-right: 2px; padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.postlets.com/create/photos/20081020/183936_living.jpg" border="0" width="344"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;tr valign="middle" align="center"&gt;&lt;td height="262"&gt;&lt;div align="left" style="padding-left: 2px; padding-right: 2px; padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.postlets.com/create/photos/20081020/183936_bath.jpg" border="0" width="344"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;div align="right" style="padding-left: 2px; padding-right: 2px; padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.postlets.com/create/photos/20081020/183936_back2.jpg" border="0" width="344"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;tr valign="middle" align="center"&gt;&lt;td height="262"&gt;&lt;div align="left" style="padding-left: 2px; padding-right: 2px; padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.postlets.com/create/photos/20081020/183936_back.jpg" border="0" width="344"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;div align="right" style="padding-left: 2px; padding-right: 2px; padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.postlets.com/create/photos/20081020/183936_kitchen.jpg" border="0" width="344"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt; &lt;td valign="top" align="left" style="background-color: #E7DFD7;" width="50%"&gt; &lt;table cellspacing="1" border="0" cellpadding="0" style="border-left: 1px solid #E7DFD7; border-right: 2px solid #FFFEFD; border-top: 1px solid #E7DFD7; border-bottom: 1px solid #E7DFD7; background-color: #E7DFD7;" width="350"&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td&gt;&lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="5" width="100%"&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; color: #4A5A4A;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt; Seller contact info:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td&gt;&lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%"&gt; &lt;tr valign="top"&gt; &lt;td width="35"&gt;&lt;span style="padding-right: 5px;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;&lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="2" width="100%"&gt; &lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; color: #000000;"&gt;Kristina Pratt&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; color: #000000;"&gt;Coldwell Banker Brown Realtors&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; color: #000000;"&gt;618-917-0775&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; color: #000000;"&gt;For sale by agent/broker&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt;  &lt;/table&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td&gt;&lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%"&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td align="left" style="background-color: #E7DFD7;"&gt;&lt;span style="padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 5px;"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.postlets.com/css/styles/tahoe/btn_powered.gif" border="0" height="25" alt="powered by postlets" width="140"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;td align="right" style="background-color: #E7DFD7;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.craigslist.org/about/FHA.html" style="color: #4A5A4A; text-decoration: none;"&gt;Equal Opportunity Housing&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;td align="right" style="background-color: #E7DFD7;" width="35"&gt;&lt;span style="padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 5px;"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.postlets.com/images/eoh_logo.gif" height="18" width="24"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt; &lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt; &lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="0" width="740"&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td height="20" valign="middle" align="left"&gt;&lt;div style="background-color: #4A5A4A; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; color: #FFFEFD; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 5px; padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;"&gt;&lt;font size="2"&gt;Posted: Oct 20, 2008, 4:41pm PDT&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
    </content>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <title>My American Hero - Don't Forget Veteran's Day November 11th - Photos Attached</title>
    <link href="http://activerain.com/blogsview/776518/My-American-Hero-Dont-Forget-Veterans-Day-November-11th-Photos-Attached" rel="alternate"/>
    <id>http://activerain.com/blogsview/776518/My-American-Hero-Dont-Forget-Veterans-Day-November-11th-Photos-Attached</id>
    <updated>2008-11-05T23:08:49Z</updated>
    <author>
      <name>Kristina Pratt, Realtor - St. Louis' Illinois Suburbs (Coldwell Banker Brown Realtors)</name>
    </author>
    <content type="html">
&lt;p&gt;I just got back home from spending 10 days in Las Vegas with my husband Jeff and his parents.&amp;nbsp; Although I am happy to be home, I will always remember one amazing moment for the rest of my life.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Just one year ago, my father-in-law Bob had brain surgery to relieve his tremors from Parkinson's &lt;img src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/6/9/1/0/0/ar1225947700196.jpg" height="395" alt="" width="269" style="float: right; margin: 6px;" /&gt;Disease.&amp;nbsp; The surgery was botched, and it lead to him losing his ability to walk, talk, eat and left his right arm completely paralyzed.&amp;nbsp; I wrote a post about him that you can read &lt;a href="http://activerain.com/blogsview/745048/Parkinsons-Awareness-Bobs-Story" target="_blank"&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; for more details.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Jeff and I had heard from his Mom that Dad was doing a lot better.&amp;nbsp; However, based on how he was last time we saw him (about&amp;nbsp;six months ago), we took what she said with a grain of salt.&amp;nbsp; At that time he was able to talk a little and eat solid food, but he was very depressed and confined to a wheelchair.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;So you can imagine our shock when we walked through the maze of baggage carousels at McCarran Airport to find Dad sitting on a bench by himself.&amp;nbsp; He rose up to meet us and actually walked us out to the parking garage.&amp;nbsp; This is a man that was in a wheelchair six months ago... and here he was walking.&amp;nbsp; He shuffles his feet a lot, and makes us very very nervous - but he has a new lease on life.&amp;nbsp; We couldn't be happier.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;My father-in-law is a proud military veteran.&amp;nbsp; He served in Korea and two tours in Vietnam in the Army.&amp;nbsp; He loves our country with his entire being.&amp;nbsp; The Air Force doctor suspects that the Parkinson's that has robbed Dad of his quality of life is connected to his exposure to agent orange during the Vietnam war.&amp;nbsp; I've researched this a lot, and there are several valid medical studies showing this link.&amp;nbsp; Odds are, his exposure during the war is what caused Parkinson's later in life.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;That being said, it is very likely that what Dad is going through now is a result of his courageous service to his country.&amp;nbsp; He has sacrificed so much for our safety and freedom.&amp;nbsp; Aside from seeing and doing things in Vietnam that he will never speak of, his oldest son died in a Marine Corps training accident.&amp;nbsp; He has given more to our country than most of us ever will - yet he wouldn't change a thing.&amp;nbsp; His solidarity never wavered.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/7/5/4/3/6/ar122594792763457.jpg" height="400" alt="" width="267" style="float: left; margin: 6px;" /&gt;Right after the surgery last October, a wicked wind storm tore through the Las Vegas valley.&amp;nbsp; The American flag that had been prominently displayed at the Pratt house was torn to shreds.&amp;nbsp; The flag pole was even bent and destroyed.&amp;nbsp; Since Dad still has no use of his right arm, the flag and pole were never replaced.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;When Jeff and I walked in the front door Dad took his son's hand and&amp;nbsp;lead him into the kitchen.&amp;nbsp; There, in the corner, was a brand new flag pole.&amp;nbsp; Remembering never to let the flag touch the ground, on the table sat a flag - that Bob struggled to fold in a perfect triangle with the help of Jeff's Mom.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;That is when I witnessed something I was afraid had been lost forever - father and son working together on an important project.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Jeff installed the new pole, put the new rope through the grommets of the flag and handed it to his Dad.&amp;nbsp; He struggled to raise the American flag with one hand while fighting back tears.&amp;nbsp; Slowly, yet steadily -&amp;nbsp;this proud veteran raised the flag with such honor and pride.&amp;nbsp; He even looped the extra rope around the holder to secure the flag in place.&amp;nbsp; He did all of this with one arm while his legs and left hand shook violently&amp;nbsp;from the Parkinson's tremors.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Robert Pratt is my American hero.&amp;nbsp; &lt;strong&gt;Let's not forget that the freedoms we enjoy are made possible because of soldiers like him - both past and present.&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; There is no way to express my gratitude to such selfless individuals.&amp;nbsp; &lt;strong&gt;Don't forget that Veteran's Day is November 11th.&amp;nbsp; Take time out to thank a veteran or volunteer to help the wounded coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan.&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; You can find more information at the links below.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.woundedwarriorproject.org/"&gt;http://www.woundedwarriorproject.org/&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;- The greatest casualty is being forgotten... donate your time or a few dollars to help wounded veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www1.va.gov/opa/vetsday/"&gt;http://www1.va.gov/opa/vetsday/&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;-&amp;nbsp;Find information about Veteran's Day, events near you&amp;nbsp;and why it's so important&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://web.welcomebackveterans.org/index.jsp"&gt;http://web.welcomebackveterans.org/index.jsp&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;- Volunteer to welcome back our new generation of veterans&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.uso.org/howtohelp/becomeavolunteer/"&gt;http://www.uso.org/howtohelp/becomeavolunteer/&lt;/a&gt; - The USO is not government supported, and is ALWAYS in need of volunteers of all different kinds.&lt;/p&gt;    </content>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <title>A Vegas Sunrise from earlier this week - Photos Attached</title>
    <link href="http://activerain.com/blogsview/773150/A-Vegas-Sunrise-from-earlier-this-week-Photos-Attached" rel="alternate"/>
    <id>http://activerain.com/blogsview/773150/A-Vegas-Sunrise-from-earlier-this-week-Photos-Attached</id>
    <updated>2008-11-04T01:00:25Z</updated>
    <author>
      <name>Kristina Pratt, Realtor - St. Louis' Illinois Suburbs (Coldwell Banker Brown Realtors)</name>
    </author>
    <content type="html">
&lt;p&gt;I love waking up early in the desert.&amp;nbsp; The air this time of year is crisp and cool, and the sunrises can be amazing.&amp;nbsp; It's not very often you can catch a sunrise with so many clouds here in Las Vegas.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I'm heading home tomorrow after a week of visiting my in-laws, old friends and visiting lots of amazing places.&amp;nbsp; I'm sad to leave, as I love this city so much - but I'm ready to get back home and build up a listing inventory that will be ready to pop in 2009.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;These shots were taken from the front porch of my in-laws house in Vegas, facing the community pool.&amp;nbsp; Enjoy.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/4/4/4/1/6/ar122578172361444.jpg" height="333" alt="" width="500" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/1/7/0/1/1/ar122578183511071.jpg" height="333" alt="" width="500" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/6/1/7/6/2/ar122578191926716.jpg" height="333" alt="" width="500" /&gt;vat&lt;/p&gt;    </content>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <title>Valley Of Fire, Nevada - Photos Attached</title>
    <link href="http://activerain.com/blogsview/772604/Valley-Of-Fire-Nevada-Photos-Attached" rel="alternate"/>
    <id>http://activerain.com/blogsview/772604/Valley-Of-Fire-Nevada-Photos-Attached</id>
    <updated>2008-11-03T17:28:47Z</updated>
    <author>
      <name>Kristina Pratt, Realtor - St. Louis' Illinois Suburbs (Coldwell Banker Brown Realtors)</name>
    </author>
    <content type="html">
&lt;p&gt;Valley of Fire State Park is the oldest state park in Nevada.&amp;nbsp; It is located roughly 50 miles northeast of Las Vegas near Overton, Nevada.&amp;nbsp; The park covers around 34,000 acres.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The Valley of Fire gets it's name from the red sandstone formations that were formed from the shifting of sand dunes in the time of dinosaurs.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The Ancient Pueblo Peoples (AKA Anasazi) were farmers from the nearby Moapa Valley.&amp;nbsp; They used the Valley of Fire for hunting and religious ceremonies.&amp;nbsp; Rock art left behind by the prehistoric occupants can be seen throughout the park.&amp;nbsp; Most of them date from 300 BC to 1150 AD.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;There is so much to do in&amp;nbsp;and around Las Vegas that doesn't involve gambling.&amp;nbsp; :)&amp;nbsp;I hope if you&amp;nbsp;ever make a&amp;nbsp;trip out to this gem of the&amp;nbsp;Southwest that the&amp;nbsp;Valley of Fire is one of your stops.&amp;nbsp; It's really something to see in person.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/7/6/3/4/0/ar12257542104367.jpg" height="333" alt="" width="500" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/5/6/5/8/3/ar122575426938565.jpg" height="333" alt="" width="500" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/6/6/3/3/3/ar122575433366.jpg" height="333" alt="" width="500" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/7/9/2/4/3/ar122575439634297.jpg" height="333" alt="" width="500" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/8/1/5/0/2/ar122575447820518.jpg" height="333" alt="" width="500" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;    </content>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <title>A few vacation pics... Robert Swetz's Group Photos Attached</title>
    <link href="http://activerain.com/blogsview/770742/A-few-vacation-pics-Robert-Swetzs-Group-Photos-Attached" rel="alternate"/>
    <id>http://activerain.com/blogsview/770742/A-few-vacation-pics-Robert-Swetzs-Group-Photos-Attached</id>
    <updated>2008-11-02T01:40:04Z</updated>
    <author>
      <name>Kristina Pratt, Realtor - St. Louis' Illinois Suburbs (Coldwell Banker Brown Realtors)</name>
    </author>
    <content type="html">
&lt;p&gt;Just a couple shots I thought I would share...&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The first three are from my mother-in-law's rose garden.&amp;nbsp; How she grows such beautiful flowers in the desert amazes me.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/6/3/9/3/6/ar122561081963936.jpg" height="267" alt="" width="400" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/5/2/5/0/2/ar122561092920525.jpg" height="267" alt="" width="400" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/6/1/9/6/7/ar122561099076916.jpg" height="267" alt="" width="400" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;A grouping of palms underneath a clear Vegas sky&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/3/3/4/9/1/ar122561112519433.jpg" height="600" alt="" width="400" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Just south of the Mandalay Bay casino is Town Square shopping center.&amp;nbsp; We ate at the Yard House... and it was fabulous.&amp;nbsp; It's basically an outdoor shopping mall with a town&amp;nbsp;center feel to it.&amp;nbsp; This is the only thing we did this trip out that was anywhere near the strip.&amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp;This is the only shot that somewhat came out, as I'm not a very good photographer.&amp;nbsp; :)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/3/8/9/9/8/ar122561130089983.jpg" height="267" alt="" width="400" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I tried to get a good pic of the strip, but they all turned out pretty bad, as my flash wouldn't work for some reason.&amp;nbsp; But... if you ever take a trip to Vegas, go south on Las Vegas Blvd, and make a left on Sunset.&amp;nbsp; This road runs parallel to McCarran Airport and you can get a fabulous view of the entire skyline.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Hopefully, I'll have some time to get some decent photos of some interesting stuff before I leave.&amp;nbsp; :)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;    </content>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <title>Thanks Guys! - Book Of The Month Club</title>
    <link href="http://activerain.com/blogsview/770155/Thanks-Guys-Book-Of-The-Month-Club" rel="alternate"/>
    <id>http://activerain.com/blogsview/770155/Thanks-Guys-Book-Of-The-Month-Club</id>
    <updated>2008-11-01T16:39:04Z</updated>
    <author>
      <name>Kristina Pratt, Realtor - St. Louis' Illinois Suburbs (Coldwell Banker Brown Realtors)</name>
    </author>
    <content type="html">
&lt;p&gt;Just wanted to take a second to say thanks to &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;everyone&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; that has joined the group.&amp;nbsp; I've never started a group on AR before that had so many members so quickly! :)&amp;nbsp; Kristin, Michael and David&amp;nbsp;- thanks for giving the group a jump start with your posts.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I know that November is a new month, but since we started in mid-October, we'll stick with Shift by Gary Keller for the rest of the month.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Feel free to talk about any book at any time, we don't just have to focus on the book of the month.&amp;nbsp; Please keep the great discussions coming!&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Click &lt;a href="http://www.activerain.com/groups/botm" target="_blank"&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; to join our book group - we would love to have you!&lt;/p&gt;    </content>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <title>Unbeatable Bethalto Location</title>
    <link href="http://activerain.com/blogsview/766795/Unbeatable-Bethalto-Location" rel="alternate"/>
    <id>http://activerain.com/blogsview/766795/Unbeatable-Bethalto-Location</id>
    <updated>2008-10-30T12:29:20Z</updated>
    <author>
      <name>Kristina Pratt, Realtor - St. Louis' Illinois Suburbs (Coldwell Banker Brown Realtors)</name>
    </author>
    <content type="html">
&lt;div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; color: #6F6F65;"&gt;&lt;font size="2"&gt;&lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" height="100%" cellpadding="10" align="center" width="100%"&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td background="http://www.postlets.com/css/styles/sonoma/bg_body.gif" valign="top" align="center" colspan="2"&gt;&lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" width="740"&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;td height="20" align="right"&gt; &lt;div style="background-color: #4B532A; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; color: #FDF8D8; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 5px; padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;"&gt;&lt;font size="2"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Kristina Pratt&lt;/strong&gt; | Coldwell Banker Brown Realtors&lt;a href="http://www.postlets.com/email_interest.php?pid=1349702&amp;v=re" style="color: #FDF8D8;"&gt;&lt;/a&gt; | 618-917-0775&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt; &lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" style="border-left: 1px solid #e7e6d7; border-right: 1px solid #e7e6d7;" width="740"&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td&gt; &lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" width="100%"&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td&gt; &lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="7" width="100%"&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td style="background-color: #e7e6d7;" colspan="2"&gt;
&lt;table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="1" width="100%"&gt; &lt;tr valign="top"&gt; &lt;td height="30" valign="top" align="left"&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; color: #8E0700;"&gt;&lt;font size="5"&gt;604 West Corbin, Bethalto, IL&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td valign="top" align="left" width="560"&gt; &lt;div style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; color: #5E5E56;"&gt;Not Your Typical Cookie Cutter!&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td valign="top" style="background-color: #e7e6d7;" colspan="2"&gt; &lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="4" style="border-left: 1px solid #BDBCAB; border-right: 1px solid #BDBCAB; border-top: 1px solid #BDBCAB; border-bottom: 1px solid #BDBCAB; background-color: #FFFEFD;" width="724"&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td align="left"&gt;&lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%"&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td height="35" valign="top" width="350"&gt; &lt;div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; color: #4B532A;"&gt;&lt;font size="4"&gt;3BR/3BA Single Family House&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;td valign="top"&gt;&lt;span style="padding-right: 5px;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;td valign="top" align="right"&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; color: #4B532A;"&gt;&lt;font size="4"&gt;offered at $130,500&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td valign="top"&gt;&lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="3" style="border-top: 1px solid #BDBCAB; background-color: #FFFEFD;" width="100%"&gt;  &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td style="background-color: #FFFEFD; border-bottom: 1px solid #BDBCAB; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; color: #4B532A;" width="125"&gt;Year Built&lt;/td&gt; &lt;td style="background-color: #FFFEFD; border-bottom: 1px solid #BDBCAB; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; color: #4B532A;"&gt;1983 &lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td style="background-color: #FFFEFD; border-bottom: 1px solid #BDBCAB; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; color: #4B532A;"&gt;Sq Footage&lt;/td&gt; &lt;td style="background-color: #FFFEFD; border-bottom: 1px solid #BDBCAB; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; color: #4B532A;"&gt;1,806 &lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt;  &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td style="background-color: #FFFEFD; border-bottom: 1px solid #BDBCAB; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; color: #4B532A;"&gt;Bedrooms&lt;/td&gt; &lt;td style="background-color: #FFFEFD; border-bottom: 1px solid #BDBCAB; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; color: #4B532A;"&gt;3&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td style="background-color: #FFFEFD; border-bottom: 1px solid #BDBCAB; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; color: #4B532A;"&gt;Bathrooms&lt;/td&gt; &lt;td style="background-color: #FFFEFD; border-bottom: 1px solid #BDBCAB; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; color: #4B532A;"&gt;3 full, 0 partial &lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt;  &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td style="background-color: #FFFEFD; border-bottom: 1px solid #BDBCAB; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; color: #4B532A;"&gt;Floors&lt;/td&gt; &lt;td style="background-color: #FFFEFD; border-bottom: 1px solid #BDBCAB; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; color: #4B532A;"&gt; 2 &lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td style="background-color: #FFFEFD; border-bottom: 1px solid #BDBCAB; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; color: #4B532A;"&gt;Parking&lt;/td&gt; &lt;td style="background-color: #FFFEFD; border-bottom: 1px solid #BDBCAB; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; color: #4B532A;"&gt; Unspecified &lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt;  &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td style="background-color: #FFFEFD; border-bottom: 1px solid #BDBCAB; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; color: #4B532A;"&gt;Lot Size&lt;/td&gt; &lt;td style="background-color: #FFFEFD; border-bottom: 1px solid #BDBCAB; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; color: #4B532A;"&gt;Unspecified &lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt;  &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td style="background-color: #FFFEFD; border-bottom: 1px solid #BDBCAB; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; color: #4B532A;"&gt;HOA/Maint&lt;/td&gt; &lt;td style="background-color: #FFFEFD; border-bottom: 1px solid #BDBCAB; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; color: #4B532A;"&gt;$0 per month&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt;  &lt;/table&gt;  &lt;br&gt; &lt;div style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; color: #4B532A;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt; DESCRIPTION&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;hr noshade size="1" style="border-top: 1px solid #BDBCAB;"&gt; &lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="3" width="100%"&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; color: #5E5E56;"&gt;This one of a kind home is located close to everything Bethalto has to offer.  You're just mintues away from I-255 to hit St. Louis, or enjoy a short trip to the grocery store or the park.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
This home is tucked away from the hustle and bustle of the road due to a large front yard with a good setback.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Inside, you'll find that there is plenty of space for everyone with three bedrooms, three bathrooms (2.75 baths) and over 1800 square feet of living space.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The back yard is fully fenced and features a nice deck for relaxing or entertaining friends.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Call, text or e-mail today to schedule your private tour.&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt;  &lt;/td&gt; &lt;td valign="top" width="5"&gt;&lt;span style="padding-right: 5px;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;td valign="top"&gt;&lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="8" style="border-left: 1px solid #BDBCAB; border-right: 1px solid #BDBCAB; border-top: 1px solid #BDBCAB; border-bottom: 1px solid #BDBCAB; background-color: #FFFEFD;" width="100%"&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.postlets.com/create/photos/20080929/101701_le310c341-m0l.jpg" border="1" height="262" width="350"&gt;&lt;br&gt;
&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt; &lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%"&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td align="center"&gt;&lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="1" width="350"&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td height="25" align="center" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; color: #5E5E56;"&gt;see additional photos below&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt; &lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt; &lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt; &lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt;  &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td valign="top" style="background-color: #e7e6d7;" colspan="2"&gt;&lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="4" style="border-left: 1px solid #BDBCAB; border-right: 1px solid #BDBCAB; border-top: 1px solid #BDBCAB; border-bottom: 1px solid #BDBCAB; background-color: #FFFEFD;" width="724"&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td align="left"&gt; &lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" width="100%"&gt; &lt;tr valign="middle" align="center"&gt; &lt;td valign="top"&gt;   &lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="3" width="100%"&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td align="left"&gt; &lt;div style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; color: #4B532A;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;PROPERTY FEATURES&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;hr noshade size="1" style="border-top: 1px solid #BDBCAB;"&gt; &lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="3" width="100%"&gt;&lt;tr style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; color: #5E5E56;"&gt;
&lt;td width="33%"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.postlets.com/css/styles/sonoma/blt_features.gif" vspace="3" height="3" width="13"&gt;Central A/C&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td width="33%"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.postlets.com/css/styles/sonoma/blt_features.gif" vspace="3" height="3" width="13"&gt;Dishwasher&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td width="33%"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.postlets.com/css/styles/sonoma/blt_features.gif" vspace="3" height="3" width="13"&gt;Refrigerator&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; color: #5E5E56;"&gt;
&lt;td width="33%"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.postlets.com/css/styles/sonoma/blt_features.gif" vspace="3" height="3" width="13"&gt;Stove/Oven&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td width="33%"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.postlets.com/css/styles/sonoma/blt_features.gif" vspace="3" height="3" width="13"&gt;Microwave&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td width="33%"&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/table&gt; &lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt; &lt;br&gt;    &lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt; &lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt; &lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt;  
&lt;tr&gt; &lt;td valign="top" style="background-color: #e7e6d7;" colspan="2"&gt;&lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="4" style="border-left: 1px solid #BDBCAB; border-right: 1px solid #BDBCAB; border-top: 1px solid #BDBCAB; border-bottom: 1px solid #BDBCAB; background-color: #FFFEFD;" width="724"&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td align="left"&gt;&lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" width="100%"&gt; &lt;tr valign="middle" align="center"&gt; &lt;td valign="top"&gt;&lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="3" width="100%"&gt;&lt;tr&gt; &lt;td valign="top" align="left"&gt; &lt;div style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; color: #4B532A;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;ADDITIONAL PHOTOS &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;hr noshade size="1" style="border-top: 1px solid #BDBCAB;"&gt;&lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" width="100%"&gt;&lt;tr valign="middle" align="center"&gt;&lt;td height="262"&gt;&lt;div align="left" style="padding-left: 2px; padding-right: 2px; padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.postlets.com/create/photos/20080929/101701_le310c341-m0l.jpg" border="0" width="344"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;div align="right" style="padding-left: 2px; padding-right: 2px; padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.postlets.com/create/photos/20080929/101702_kitchen-258x192.jpg" border="0" width="344"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;tr valign="middle" align="center"&gt;&lt;td height="262"&gt;&lt;div align="left" style="padding-left: 2px; padding-right: 2px; padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.postlets.com/create/photos/20080929/101702_2814740deck-263x195.jpg" border="0" width="344"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;span style="padding-right: 5px;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt; &lt;td valign="top" align="left" style="background-color: #e7e6d7;" width="50%"&gt; &lt;table cellspacing="1" border="0" cellpadding="0" style="border-left: 1px solid #e7e6d7; border-right: 2px solid #FFFEFD; border-top: 1px solid #e7e6d7; border-bottom: 1px solid #e7e6d7; background-color: #e7e6d7;" width="350"&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td&gt;&lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="5" width="100%"&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; color: #4B532A;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt; Seller contact info:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td&gt;&lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%"&gt; &lt;tr valign="top"&gt; &lt;td width="35"&gt;&lt;span style="padding-right: 5px;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;&lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="2" width="100%"&gt; &lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; color: #5E5E56;"&gt;Kristina Pratt&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; color: #5E5E56;"&gt;Coldwell Banker Brown Realtors&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; color: #5E5E56;"&gt;618-917-0775&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; color: #5E5E56;"&gt;For sale by agent/broker&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt;  &lt;/table&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td&gt;&lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%"&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td align="left" style="background-color: #e7e6d7;"&gt;&lt;span style="padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 5px;"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.postlets.com/css/styles/sonoma/btn_powered.gif" border="0" height="25" alt="powered by postlets" width="140"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;td align="right" style="background-color: #e7e6d7;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.craigslist.org/about/FHA.html" style="color: #8E0700; text-decoration: none;"&gt;Equal Opportunity Housing&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;td align="right" style="background-color: #e7e6d7;" width="35"&gt;&lt;span style="padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 5px;"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.postlets.com/images/eoh_logo.gif" height="18" width="24"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt; &lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt; &lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="0" width="740"&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td height="20" valign="middle" align="left"&gt;&lt;div style="background-color: #4B532A; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; color: #FDF8D8; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 5px; padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;"&gt;&lt;font size="2"&gt;Posted: Sep 29, 2008, 8:08am PDT&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/div&gt;

    </content>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <title>Calling Seth Godin!!!</title>
    <link href="http://activerain.com/blogsview/755327/Calling-Seth-Godin" rel="alternate"/>
    <id>http://activerain.com/blogsview/755327/Calling-Seth-Godin</id>
    <updated>2008-10-23T17:53:48Z</updated>
    <author>
      <name>Kristina Pratt, Realtor - St. Louis' Illinois Suburbs (Coldwell Banker Brown Realtors)</name>
    </author>
    <content type="html">
&lt;p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Glad I could help Margaret and Broker Bryant! :o)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div id="reblogging_tag"&gt;Via &lt;b&gt;&lt;a href="http://activerain.com/blogsview/752168/Calling-Seth-Godin"&gt;Bryant Tutas Broker/REALTOR(R) Tutas Towne Realty, Inc&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt;:&lt;br/&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;img src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/2/6/0/9/7/ar122471434879062.jpg" height="144" alt="www.homerome.com" width="120" style="float: left;" /&gt;Hi folks.&lt;/strong&gt; My good friend and fellow ActiveRainer, Margaret Rome, is getting close to launching her first book "Real Estate the &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through;"&gt;Right&lt;/span&gt; Rome Way". I'm sure most of you know Margaret but if not....stop over and &lt;a href="http://activerain.com/homerome" target="_blank"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;check out her profile.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Margaret and I joined AR&lt;/strong&gt; at just about the same time, July of 2006. In fact, as far as I can, tell we actually joined on the same day. &lt;a href="http://activerain.com/blogsview/Technology-and-Being-Better-at-What-We-Do?386" target="_blank"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Her first post&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href="http://activerain.com/blogsview/Has-the-bubble-burst-Or-is-it-just-slowly-deflating-?411" target="_blank"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;my first post&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; were both on July 8, 2006.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Margaret and I&lt;/strong&gt; have always had a connection. We are very much alike and handle our businesses the same. I still believe we were separated at birth. Here are a few similarities.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ol&gt;
&lt;li&gt;We are both "solo" agents&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;We both specialize in listings&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;I have a TLW she has a TLH.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;We both have tempurpedic craftmatic adjustable beds!!!&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;We are both soooooooo good looking.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ol&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Anyway....&lt;/strong&gt;Margaret is really wanting to get &lt;a href="http://sethgodin.typepad.com/" target="_blank"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Seth Godin&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; to review her book and maybe writ&lt;img src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/6/9/8/2/4/ar122471455742896.jpg" height="225" alt="Real Estate the Rome Way" width="144" style="float: right;" /&gt;e a blurb on the jacket. So she decided to have a&lt;a href="http://activerain.com/blogsview/745363/What-Are-the-Chances-Seth-Godin-Will-Review-My-Book" target="_blank"&gt; &lt;strong&gt;little contest&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; to see who could come up with a good idea to get Seth's attention. My idea was&amp;nbsp;to get as many Rainers as possible to place this phrase in their next post:&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href="http://activerain.com/blogsview/745363/What-Are-the-Chances-Seth-Godin-Will-Review-My-Book" target="_blank"&gt;Hey Seth Godin!!!! Come over and review Margaret Rome's new book"&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: justify;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I figure Seth has his Google alerts activated&lt;/strong&gt; and if enough of us do this he will not be able to ignore us and will have to come over to see what's going on.&amp;nbsp;If you are not familiar with Seth he is a master marketeer and a best selling author. Getting him to review Margaret's book would be HUGE!!&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: justify;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;So.....if you would,&lt;/strong&gt; next post you write, just take a minute and copy/paste this phrase....&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href="http://activerain.com/blogsview/745363/What-Are-the-Chances-Seth-Godin-Will-Review-My-Book" target="_blank"&gt;Hey Seth Godin!!!! Come over and review Margaret Rome's new book"&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: justify;"&gt;.....and place it at the bottom of your post. Or the top. Or the middle. Let's show Seth the power of the Rain. &lt;strong&gt;How simple is that?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/div&gt;    </content>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <title>Help Fill A Thanksgiving Table</title>
    <link href="http://activerain.com/blogsview/752684/Help-Fill-A-Thanksgiving-Table" rel="alternate"/>
    <id>http://activerain.com/blogsview/752684/Help-Fill-A-Thanksgiving-Table</id>
    <updated>2008-10-22T12:46:30Z</updated>
    <author>
      <name>Kristina Pratt, Realtor - St. Louis' Illinois Suburbs (Coldwell Banker Brown Realtors)</name>
    </author>
    <content type="html">
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Glen Ed&amp;nbsp;Pantry&amp;nbsp;Needs You&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Tough economic times mean that more families this year will not have a Thanksgiving meal.&amp;nbsp; Local food pantries are reporting more food going out than ever, and they are struggling to keep up with demand. &amp;nbsp; The Glen Ed Food Pantry is a collaboration of 18 different churches.&amp;nbsp; It serves over 300 families per month in southern Madison County. &amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The pantry&amp;nbsp;provides regular, emergency and referral services&amp;nbsp;that include: food, clothing, rent and utility assistance, school supplies, Christmas and Thanksgiving baskets. &amp;nbsp; Glen Ed&amp;nbsp;Pantry is part of the United Way of Greater St. Louis.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;They are located at 125 5th Avenue in Edwardsville.&amp;nbsp; For more information about donating food,&amp;nbsp;money or your time please visit them online at &lt;a href="http://www.glenedpantry.org/"&gt;www.glenedpantry.org&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp; If you live outside of Madison County, you can also visit &lt;a href="http://www.unitedway.org/"&gt;www.unitedway.org&lt;/a&gt; to find a&amp;nbsp;pantry near you.&lt;/p&gt;    </content>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <title>Halloween Fun In St. Louis' Illinois Suburbs</title>
    <link href="http://activerain.com/blogsview/751509/Halloween-Fun-In-St-Louis-Illinois-Suburbs" rel="alternate"/>
    <id>http://activerain.com/blogsview/751509/Halloween-Fun-In-St-Louis-Illinois-Suburbs</id>
    <updated>2008-10-21T17:23:25Z</updated>
    <author>
      <name>Kristina Pratt, Realtor - St. Louis' Illinois Suburbs (Coldwell Banker Brown Realtors)</name>
    </author>
    <content type="html">
&lt;p&gt;Now that the crisp autumn air&amp;nbsp;is&amp;nbsp;finally settling into the St. Louis area, it means just one thing - Halloween&lt;img src="http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj318/18finezt/happy_halloween_.jpg" height="233" alt="" width="244" style="float: right;" /&gt; is just around the corner!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In my family, we always make a trip to Grafton to pick out the perfect Halloween pumpkin and buy our yearly supply of homemade jams and apple butter.&amp;nbsp; Then we'd head across the Illinois river on the ferry into Calhoun County.&amp;nbsp; At &lt;a href="http://www.greatriverroad.com/Cities/Hardin/foodCalhoun.htm" target="_blank"&gt;Kampsville Inn&lt;/a&gt;, we stop and enjoy some freshly caught river fish and onion petals.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Even though I'm approaching 28 years old, my parents and I continue to take this time together each and every year.&amp;nbsp; This has been a tradition since I was about 2 years old, and I don't think it will ever stop.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;Every year we still pile into&amp;nbsp;the car and head north from Alton up the &lt;a href="http://greatriverroad.com/" target="_blank"&gt;Great River Road&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Everyone knows about New England in the fall, but we are pretty darn lucky here to have a beautiful color palette of leaves ourselves.&amp;nbsp; If you've never taken the time to take a drive on the Great River Road in autumn, you're really missing out on some of the best natural beauty our area has to offer.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Besides the Great River Road, there are loads of other activities all around the area.&amp;nbsp; There is definitely something for every budget and every age.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;We'll start north of St. Louis and head south from there&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Eckerts Grafton Farm &lt;br /&gt;20995 Eckert Orchard Road&lt;br /&gt;Grafton, IL 62037&lt;br /&gt;Now Open. 9 am - 5 pm daily&lt;br /&gt;Phone: (618) 233-0513&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.eckerts.com"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;www.eckerts.com&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Pick-Your-Own Pumpkins and Apples.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;The cost of pick-your-own pumpkins is $0.39 per pound.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Great Godfrey Maze &lt;br /&gt;1401 Stamper Lane&lt;br /&gt;Godfrey, IL 62035&lt;br /&gt;Phone: (618) 466-1483&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.greatgodfreymaze.com/"&gt;www.greatgodfreymaze.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;OPEN:&lt;br /&gt;September 5 - October 26th&lt;br /&gt;Friday: 6 - 10 PM&lt;br /&gt;Saturday: 11AM - 10PM&lt;br /&gt;Sunday: 1PM - Dusk&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The Great Godfrey Maze is two maze trails cut into 7-acres of corn in Glazebrook Park. Visitors from all over can enjoy getting lost in the maze's twisting turns, dead-ends and traps.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Reinhardt's Berry Patch&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;strong&gt;7503 Kerin Road,&lt;br /&gt;Alhambra, IL 62001&lt;br /&gt;Phone: (618) 633-2888&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Pumpkins and gourds. Call for availability and picking appointments.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Eckerts Belleville Farm&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;strong&gt;951 Green Mount Road&lt;br /&gt;Belleville, IL 62220&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;Country Store: 8 am - 8 pm daily&lt;br /&gt;Country Restaurant: 7 am - 9 pm daily&lt;br /&gt;Garden Center: 9 am - 7 pm daily&lt;br /&gt;Custard Shop: 11 am -&amp;nbsp;9 pm &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Pick-Your-Own Pumpkins and&amp;nbsp;Apples&amp;nbsp;is&amp;nbsp;open at all three farms.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Eckerts Millstadt&amp;nbsp;Farm&lt;br /&gt;Weekends in October, 2008&lt;br /&gt;2719 Eckert Orchard Ln&lt;br /&gt;Millstadt, IL 62260&lt;br /&gt;Phone: (618) 476-3260&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;Their pumpkin patch has any size pumpkin you can imagine, including ones that weigh up to 150 pounds. During weekends in October, Eckert's is hosting its Jumpin' Pumpkin Jamboree with wagon rides, live music and funnel cakes. The Millstadt location also offers Haunted Hayrides through the orchard.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Alton Halloween Parade&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;Begins at Washington Avenue and Broadway &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;10/31 at 7:00 PM&lt;br /&gt;E Broadway &amp;amp; Washington Ave &lt;br /&gt;Alton, IL 62002&lt;/p&gt;    </content>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <title>Why Should You Use Just Ducky Homes To Sell Your Home?</title>
    <link href="http://activerain.com/blogsview/751096/Why-Should-You-Use-Just-Ducky-Homes-To-Sell-Your-Home" rel="alternate"/>
    <id>http://activerain.com/blogsview/751096/Why-Should-You-Use-Just-Ducky-Homes-To-Sell-Your-Home</id>
    <updated>2008-10-21T13:53:02Z</updated>
    <author>
      <name>Kristina Pratt, Realtor - St. Louis' Illinois Suburbs (Coldwell Banker Brown Realtors)</name>
    </author>
    <content type="html">
&lt;p&gt;Selling your property can be one of the most stressful events in your life. Our job is to make the process of your sale as simplified and worry-free as possible. &amp;nbsp;We don't just stick a sign in the yard, put it in the paper a few times and walk away.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;We actively market, using an established network of relationships among agents and the community, as well as leading-edge technology &amp;nbsp;to find the right buyer for your home.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;You will be kept informed every step of the way, and be given clear explanations to educate you on the best options for your unique situation.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;But don't just take our word for it... here is what our clients say:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;"This is a long-over due letter to tell you how much my family and I appreciate all your hard work to sell our home. From our first meeting with Nancy to look at purchasing a home to our last interaction to say "You sold your house!", the two of you have been professional, courteous, empathetic, diligent, humorous, and just flat-out awesome!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;When we suddenly decided to move across the state to be near family, leaving the house behind, we felt confident in your abilities to handle everything from afar. And you did not let us down! Getting two offers within two weeks of leaving, we never had to come back to town! You made sure everything we needed was right in front of us, and you worked really hard to accommodate our access to computer, fax and the like.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;All I can say is THANK YOU. I really came to feel like you two were family, and I only wish that you could be here with us in Milwaukee when we go house hunting next spring. I will continue to tell my friends in Madison County how amazing the two of you are, and I wish you many many years of continued success. We wish both of you amazing happiness, because that's what you brought us! &lt;strong&gt;-- Meaghan&lt;/strong&gt;"&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;"Once again I'd like to thank you for all of your help in making the sale of my property at 30 Grainey so&lt;br /&gt;very successful. &amp;nbsp;In every way that I can think of; &amp;nbsp;your professionalism was and is outstanding. &amp;nbsp;Thank you very much. &lt;strong&gt;-- Steve&lt;/strong&gt;"&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Contact us today to find out about our unique and aggressive marketing plan. &amp;nbsp;There is no doubt the market has changed.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;Your agent should change with market conditions as well.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://www.justduckyhomes.com" target="_blank"&gt;Visit our website&lt;/a&gt;, call or &lt;a href="mailto:kristina@justduckyhomes.com" target="_blank"&gt;e-mail&lt;/a&gt; us today for more information at no obligation to you.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Nancy Milton, Realtor/GRI&lt;br /&gt;Kristina Pratt, Realtor&lt;br /&gt;618-791-8007 Nancy&lt;br /&gt;618-917-0775 Kristina&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Coldwell Banker Brown Realtors&lt;br /&gt;2205 S State Route 157&lt;br /&gt;Edwardsville, IL 62025&lt;/p&gt;    </content>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <title>View The St. Louis Skyline Anytime!</title>
    <link href="http://activerain.com/blogsview/749829/View-The-St-Louis-Skyline-Anytime" rel="alternate"/>
    <id>http://activerain.com/blogsview/749829/View-The-St-Louis-Skyline-Anytime</id>
    <updated>2008-10-20T18:44:01Z</updated>
    <author>
      <name>Kristina Pratt, Realtor - St. Louis' Illinois Suburbs (Coldwell Banker Brown Realtors)</name>
    </author>
    <content type="html">


&lt;div style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; color: #000000;"&gt;&lt;font size="2"&gt;&lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" height="100%" cellpadding="10" align="center" width="100%"&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td background="http://www.postlets.com/css/styles/tahoe/bg_body.gif" valign="top" align="center" colspan="2"&gt;&lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" width="740"&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;td height="20" align="right"&gt; &lt;div style="background-color: #4A5A4A; font-family: Verdana,