The other day I brought a buyer client to a new home community. As we entered the sales office, the sales person was still talking with another couple and their buyer agent.

"We're the only game in town," he was saying in a derisive tone of voice. "We have 40% market share in this area and so and so builder next door has only sold like 6 homes in the past year!" he continued. More talk at the prospects wondering why anyone would even think of buying a home from anyone else, etc., etc.

I looked at the other buyer agent and could tell he was just as unimpressed by this performance and ready to move on. My clients had gone wandering through the model home, so I had a minute alone with the sales person. I asked him to please refrain from trashing other builders and to simply talk about what they had to offer. I told him it was totally unnecessary and besides what he was saying was untrue; I have sold homes in the other community and know that they have sold more than he was reporting.

If you're the leader why do you have to put down the competition? It is so unprofessional and it just makes me wonder. Do you have 40% market share because you're the best or because you're the cheapest production builder in town? Perhaps your prices are lower because of quality? I could go on but the point I'm trying to make is -

SELL YOUR PRODUCT - DON'T TRASH TALK THE COMPETITION!

I first learned about REBARCamps right here on Active Rain. Someone wrote a post about the "Ten Things I learned at REBARCamp in Charlotte" and I knew I had to go to the next one. Several months ago I attended my first in Philadelphia and was overwhelmed by the amount of learning and the number of new friends I made. But I digress. This story is about what I learned at REBCDC, my second BARCamp.

Probably the most important thing I learned is that you really can get to know people on Twitter and FaceBook. In the short time between Philadelphia and DC (aka Herndon, VA), I truly feel that I have made good friends that I only see IRL once in a while. Apply this same knowledge to blogging and tweeting in general and you realize that prospects and future real estate clients can get to know you online well enough to feel comfortable calling you when they need to buy or sell a home in your area.

Second, I saw a degree of cooperation among agents, brokers and service providers in an open environment that I don't get to see on a daily basis in my market area. I think REBARCamps bring out the best in the best among us. I was part of a group like this once before in my life. Back in the late 1970s, I got into the personal computer business when no one in the REAL computer business would take a job selling those "toys". They were sure that PCs were just a fad and would never penetrate the real business market. I managed one of the first computer stores on the East Coast up in Framingham, Massachusetts, and I can tell you we sold a lot of those early Apple computers to CFOs and corporate executives. We were a ragtag group back then. I came from the hotel industry and others came from selling carpet to running a restaurant. I had no degree in Computer Science, in fact many of us had no degrees at all! Apple Computer did a study and found that this group of people that gravitated to the PC Industry early on had one thing in common - a need to know! I've never forgotten that and remembered it yesterday while thinking about REBCDC. Those that lead and those that attend are the ones that care about this business and want to do it better.

I now have over 500 followers on Twitter and it all started with a dozen or so great people I met at REBCPHL. Many now in "My Realtor Friends" column on TweetDeck I only met for the first time at REBCDC, but I felt like they were old friends. For those agents that don't get it, help them if you can, but remember those dinosaurs in the mainframe computer business and know that you are the future of the real estate business.

If you are not yet sure where and how you want to live when you retire, why not try it first? The last couple that did rent this fabulous home in Delaware's premier active adult communities, has made a decision to buy a new home! Is a 55+ community with all the bells and whistles right for you? Try it and see for yourself.

I don't normally re-blog posts, but this is such an important topic and this post was so well-written and researched, I wanted my readers to see it. Thanks to Jeff Geoghan MBA - Lancaster PA Real Estate Expert (The Jeff Geoghan Realty Group, Coldwell Banker Lancaster PA) for excellent work.

Although I have only been in real estate for about 8 years, I have been in Sales and Marketing most of my adult life. Someone taught me early on that the best deals were the ones where both sides could declare a WIN!

If both the buyer and the seller leave the settlement table happy, that is a great transaction. If either side walks away feeling like they got treated badly, who wins? No one.

Let's consider the buyer. Negotiate hard, but always remember that your new neighbors were probably good friends of the seller. If they feel "taken advantage of", how welcome will you be when the neighbors get together for the next Happy Hour? This is a market that has definitely favored the buyer side of the transaction, but sometimes I feel it has brought out the worst in many people. Get a great deal, but be grateful and know when enough is enough. Be gracious and give ground so the seller can move on feeling happy you will be the new owner of their home. It does matter.

We just sold our own home recently. We put a lot of sweat and money into renovations and updates. It was our "model" home. The buyer really loved what we had done and expressed his enthusiasm several times. Yes, he negotiated hard, but he was very respectful and I believe we were as well. We came to the settlement table with both sides feeling good. That made it much easier for me to leave my home and be happy it was in good hands.

In other cases, I have had both sellers and buyers forget when to shake hands and work together for a successful transaction. This also applies to both the Buyer's Agent and the Listing Agent. Don't be the one who is remembered for a stressful and difficult transaction, please.

There is a great choice of properties for sale in Milton, Delaware. From a few totally renovated Historic homes to a great corner property in the Town Center where you can live and have a business, or rent the efficiency and use the 1st floor for business.

There are also some very affordable ranch or cottage style homes in town like the one shown below for only $159,000!

Communities like the Reserve at Fortune Field with large wooded lots and estate-style homes are well located half-way between the towns of Milton and Lewes, Delaware.

Nassau Station is a wonderful residential community just outside the Lewes town limits. You reach the community from New Road, and you get to New Road by turning at the Nassau Bridge and avoiding the Five Points intersection. There are very few lots left and this one is definitely priced for today. There are no costly impact fees when you're ready to build. Public county sewer and water are both available AND since you are not in town limits, there is only a very reasonable county tax. If yor're looking for a nice lot on which to build your dream home at the beach, Nassau Station is a great place to start ... and finish!

Bill couldn't create the kind of havoc the Weather Channel is talking about, could he? Back in 1996, I lived in Wilmington, North Carolina. I had escaped the Washington, DC, Beltway and was searching for a new place to call home. Then along came Fran and Bertha, two hurricanes in the same year and both caused a fair amount of damage. No one wanted to talk to this Northerner about new career opportunities for a burnt-out boomer. All they wanted to talk about was how hard it was to get their insurance agent to call them back!

If it weren't for those two hurricanes, I might still be living in Wilmington, North Carolina. But then I wouldn't have moved again to Coastal Delaware. I wouldn't have met my husband BILL to whom I have now been married for almost 7 years. I wouldn't be a Realtor in Lewes, Delaware, and we wouldn't be in the process of renovating our next home in Lewes, Delaware.

The beauty of living near the Coast in Delaware is that we usually don't see the kind of hurricane activity that our neighbors to the south can experience. AND, as many Baby Boomers are learning, Delaware is so centrally located in the heart of the Mid-Atlantic Region. We are within a short drive to Annapolis and Baltimore, Maryland, Washington, DC, Northern Virginia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvanie, all of New Jersey and New York City or Long Island.

So, let's hope Hurricane BILL passes us by this weekend and heads out to sea. And if you haven't yet visited Lewes, Delaware, come see us this fall. Lewes is a year round place to visit and a great town in which to live.

This is a great commercial property for sale on busy Route 16 just a mile East of Route 113 in Sussex County Delaware. Everyone escaping to the beach for the weekend from Baltimore and the Washington, DC, metropolitan area goes by your front door on Friday afternoon and evening and back again on Sunday. It's also a busy east-west road travelled by contractors, local business people and consumers that use Route 16 on a daily basis.

A good location for a small business office, a restaurant, an insurance office, real estate office or many other uses. Contact Kathy or Bill for a complete list of approved uses for this property, zoned commercial, within the Ellendale, Delaware, town limits. It is on county sewer and there is a new well!

If you've always wanted to own your business real estate rather than leasing and watching your annual costs escalate, this is a great time and a great location.