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    <title>Very Best of Lora Raine</title>
    <link>http://activerain.com/blogs/lora_raine</link>
    <description></description>
    <language>en-us</language>
    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/2634174/what-it-really-costs-to-get-a-mortgage</guid>
      <title>What It REALLY Costs to Get a Mortgage</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;This is some great advice and information!&amp;nbsp; Borrowers should take notice to ALL the steps that are associated with qualifying for a Mortgage!&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I am always happy to re-blog a post that I believe helps others succeed!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Ed got this one right!&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;div id="reblogging_tag"&gt;Via &lt;b&gt;&lt;a href="http://activerain.com/blogsview/2622245/what-it-really-costs-to-get-a-mortgage"&gt;Ed Gillespie Mortgage Banker/Broker ~ Mortgages for greater Sacramento and CA (First Priority Financial, Inc.)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt;:&lt;br&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10pt;"&gt;&lt;img title="roseville mortgage" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/1/9/3/8/6/ar132250801468391.JPG" height="421" alt="roseville mortgage" style="float: right; margin: 10px;" width="300"&gt;What It REALLY Costs to Get a Roseville Mortgage&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: Arial;"&gt;Recently, I have had a few clients be shocked at closing cost quotes I have given them.&amp;nbsp; On each, I went back and checked my numbers very carefully and, yes, the quotes were right!&amp;nbsp; The client just didn&amp;rsquo;t realize that there were many costs associated with a home purchase!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: Arial;"&gt;No one wants any unpleasant surprises that involve money!&amp;nbsp; So, here is some information on closing costs to help you better prepare for a home purchase.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"&gt;In addition to a down payment, home buyers &lt;/span&gt;&lt;em style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"&gt;should anticipate these possible costs:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: Arial;"&gt;Home Inspection&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: Arial;"&gt;An inspector will review the mechanical, electrical, and structural aspects of your home then provide a written report.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: Arial;"&gt;Condominium/Home Owners Association-related Fees&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: Arial;"&gt;These may be required if you purchase a home in a condominium complex.&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: Arial;"&gt;Well and/or Septic Certifications&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: Arial;"&gt;If the property has either of these systems, a buyer will want professional testing to ensure they function properly.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: Arial;"&gt;Pest&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: Arial;"&gt; Inspection&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: Arial;"&gt;A qualified professional inspects the property, looking for termites and other pests and pest damage then submits a report.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: Arial;"&gt;These costs are common in a purchase transaction:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: Arial;"&gt;Credit Report&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: Arial;"&gt;This fee covers the cost of a three bureau credit report which shows each borrowers&amp;rsquo; credit history.&amp;nbsp; The borrowers will be provided a copy of their credit report.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: Arial;"&gt;Appraisal&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: Arial;"&gt;An appraisal is a professional opinion about the value of your home, prepared for the lender. The appraisal is usually paid for up-front by the borrower.&amp;nbsp; And, in a few cases, more than one appraisal may be required.&amp;nbsp; Buyers receive a copy of the appraisal.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: Arial;"&gt;Title and Escrow&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"&gt; services, such as title search and insurance, so buyer and lender are sure that no one else has any lien, claim, or encumbrance on the property; recording the Deed and mortgage with the County Recorder; Notary for signing services; and, preparing documents necessary to close a real estate transaction.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: Arial;"&gt;Lender&amp;rsquo;s Origination Services&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: Arial;"&gt;For services involved in the creation of a mortgage loan, such as loan processing and the underwriting of the loan.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: Arial;"&gt;Property Taxes&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: Arial;"&gt;Payable to the County.&amp;nbsp; The amount collected depends upon the month of the year the property sale closes.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: Arial;"&gt;Insurance&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: Arial;"&gt;Lenders typically require the first year of fire and hazard insurance be paid up front.&amp;nbsp; Flood insurance will be required if the house is in a flood hazard area.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: Arial;"&gt;Impounds (also call Reserves)&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: Arial;"&gt;Prepayments of funds, held in an account, to cover annual charges for homeowner&amp;rsquo;s insurance and property taxes which will be paid by the lender on the borrower&amp;rsquo;s behalf.&amp;nbsp; Sums will be added to the impound account each month from the monthly mortgage payment. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: Arial;"&gt;Prorated Mortgage Interest&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: Arial;"&gt;Depending upon the time of month a loan closes, this per diem charge may vary from a full month&amp;rsquo;s interest to a few days interest.&amp;nbsp; Future interest payments will be made through the monthly loan payment.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: Arial;"&gt;Supplemental Property Taxes&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: Arial;"&gt;The buyer will be billed by the County for these, by mail, after the sale closes.&amp;nbsp; Supplemental taxes that are assessed due to a change in ownership.&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"&gt;The amount of closing costs varies, depending upon the amount of the mortgage and type of loan (i. e., VA, FHA, USDA or Conventional).&amp;nbsp; A mortgage professional can provide an estimate of costs when a potential buyer completes the prequalification process.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;What if you don&amp;rsquo;t have enough money for closing costs?&amp;nbsp;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; Consider a gift from a family member or participating in a down payment assistance program.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;Related Posts:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;a href="http://egillespie.lenderama.com/?p=636" title="hazard insurance" target="_blank" style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 13px;"&gt;Shopping for a Hazard Insurance Policy&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;a href="http://actvra.in/lh8" title="california hazard insurance" target="_blank" style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 13px;"&gt;A Lesson about Hazard Insurance in California&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://actvra.in/nRC" title="cash to close" target="_blank"&gt;Making Sure Your Cash to Close Comes from the Proper Source&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
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&lt;span style="font-size: medium;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"&gt;Got questions about this post?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: medium;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"&gt;Buying or refinancing a home?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; color: #ff0000; font-size: medium;"&gt;Call me!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: medium;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: medium;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.EdTheMortgagePro.com" title="Roseville mortgage" target="_blank"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"&gt;Ed Gillespie&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span class="Title" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; color: #ff0000;"&gt;(916) 849-9200&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;
&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: medium;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: medium;"&gt;FHA, Conventional, USDA and Specialty&amp;nbsp;Mortgages&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: medium;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: medium;"&gt;Serving Greater Sacramento and All of California&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: medium;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: medium;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://activerain.com/action/blogs_admin/subscribe?subscribed_agent_id=53520" title="Subscribe to Ed Gillespie's Blog" target="_blank"&gt;Subscribe to my blog!&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;
&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: small;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://www.linkedin.com/pub/dir/Ed/Gillespie" title="My LinkedIn Profile" target="_blank"&gt;&lt;img title="My RSS Feed" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/6/7/5/4/1/ar131604899214576.png" height="64" alt="Ed Gillespie RSS Feed" width="64" style="margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 10px;"&gt;&lt;img title="EMail Me!" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/3/2/4/5/2/ar131604908025423.png" height="64" alt="email Ed Gillespie" width="64" style="margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 10px;"&gt;&lt;img title="My WordPress Blog" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/7/8/6/8/7/ar131604915478687.png" height="64" alt="Ed Gillespie WordPress blog" width="64" style="margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 10px;"&gt;&lt;img title="Find me on Google!" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/9/9/4/4/4/ar131604921144499.png" height="64" alt="Ed Gillespie on Google" width="64" style="margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 10px;"&gt;&lt;img title="My Blog!" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/8/1/4/7/6/ar131604928467418.png" height="64" alt="Ed Gillespie's Blog" width="64" style="margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 10px;"&gt;&lt;img title="View My LinkedIn Profile" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/2/9/0/9/9/ar131604936299092.png" height="64" alt="Ed Gillesie on LinkedIn" width="64" style="margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 10px;"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;
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&lt;div&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; color: #000000;"&gt;Content in this blog is original to Ed Gillespie and does not reflect the views of First Priority Financial nor is intended to be legal advice.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;Copyright 2008-2011 by &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.EdTheMortgagePro.com" title="Roseville mortgage" target="_blank"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"&gt;Ed Gillespie&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"&gt; | DRE #01424603 | NMLS #244226 | All Rights Reserved&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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&lt;/blockquote&gt;
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&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: medium;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif';"&gt;Life is but a Journey, Enjoy it!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: medium;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;Very Best of Raine&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="color: black; font-size: x-small;"&gt;Content written and managed by C. Raine Williams&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="color: black; font-size: x-small;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Raine Properties &amp;amp; Investments&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="color: #850e05; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 10pt;"&gt;Servicing: North and South Shore areas of Boston &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="color: #850e05; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 10pt;"&gt;(P) 781-591-2392 (F) 877-492-5597&lt;span style=""&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
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&lt;p&gt;&lt;span class="twitter-follow-button"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
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&lt;/div&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>C. Raine Williams (Raine Properties &amp; Investments)</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Mon, 05 Dec 2011 19:23:21 -0800</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/2634174/what-it-really-costs-to-get-a-mortgage</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/2631207/it-s-all-just-a-matter-of-time-</guid>
      <title>It's all just a matter of time...</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Calibri;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="color: red; font-size: 16pt;"&gt;It&amp;rsquo;s all just a matter of time &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"&gt;before the new season 2012 will begin. As we approach the New Year there are a few things sellers and buyers will want to consider before selling or purchasing their home. If you are a seller who has been waiting for the right buyer to come along, then that wait may just be about over. Homes sales have been steady over the past year, however that reflects a decrease of &amp;ndash; 1.7%, this based on market statistics generated from MLS (Massachusetts Listing Service). Although median prices for single families have stayed steady at $349-359k, and while condo sales increased - showing promise, sales continue to improve regardless of the small decrease. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
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&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Calibri;"&gt;&lt;span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"&gt;There are still some great deals to consider, whether selling or buying, there is a market for both, &lt;/span&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="color: red; font-size: 14pt;"&gt;It&amp;rsquo;s all just a matter of time&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"&gt;. There has been an increase on under agreement contracts for single family, two-family, and condos. If you are an investor looking for that one property that could give you a great ROI, there are still several properties with a list price well below market value and growing strong. However, buyers may have a difficult time getting their bid in with local listings because of investor strategies. For buyers the best thing to do during these strategic times is to be proactive while working with your agent. Keep abreast of the changes that are occurring almost overnight, make sure you are ready to &lt;strong&gt;put in a STRONG offer&lt;/strong&gt;!&lt;img title="It's all just a matter of time" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/8/4/9/5/1/ar132297797115948.PNG" height="288" alt="It's all just a matter of time" width="288" style="margin-right: 5px; margin-left: 5px; float: right;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Calibri;"&gt;&lt;span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"&gt;For Sellers who are still looking to benefit on the new season of increase, if you are looking towards requesting a &lt;em&gt;short sale&lt;/em&gt; from your bank, go for it! Banks are willing to negotiating even more since they are now under a microscope for quick foreclosure processes. If you are looking to sell, now is the time to request &lt;em&gt;short sale&lt;/em&gt; information from your bank, and if you are almost at the point of foreclosure, do not wait until the last minute to consider your options. Crossing that bridge when you get to it almost always leads to a disaster, if this happens prepare for the worst, BUT expect the best! As with any contract agreement, following legal procedures is almost evident; you will want to pay close attention to the procedures, processes, and documentations regarding your &lt;em&gt;short sale&lt;/em&gt; with the bank&amp;rsquo;s legal department!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
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&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Calibri;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"&gt;For Sellers, if you think 2012 will be the year your house will finally sell then there are some things you must think through!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
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&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Calibri;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"&gt;FIRST&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"&gt;, if you think you are eligible to do a &lt;em&gt;short sale&lt;/em&gt;, review your circumstances and the situation at hand. Make sure you are not behind with mortgage payments and have any liens against the property, signaling a &lt;/span&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="color: red; font-size: 16pt;"&gt;RED FLAG &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"&gt;with &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"&gt;the bank; final results could mean a denial for your request. It is best to give a good first impression on your current position than a bad impression that will have your bank running the other way, ready to foreclose.&lt;img title="It's all just a matter of time" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/5/7/8/0/8/ar132297790580875.JPG" height="213" alt="It's all just a matter of time" width="320" style="margin: 10px 5px; float: right;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Calibri;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"&gt;SECOND&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"&gt;, you should find out what the value of your house is worth and measure that against how much you owe. The bank is going to want to see that you have taken steps to put your home up for sale before actually requesting a &lt;em&gt;short sale&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Calibri;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"&gt;THIRD&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"&gt;, contact your bank and find out how much is still owed on your property, and try to negotiate the fair market value for your home against doing a &lt;em&gt;short sale&lt;/em&gt;. Make sure you understand the bank's legal requirements for negotiating a &lt;em&gt;short sale&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;always, always, always &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;span&gt;consult &lt;/span&gt;a real estate attorney to represent you in the process! In addition,&amp;nbsp;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;make sure you have a reputable Title Company ready to go the distance for&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;strong style=""&gt;&lt;span style="color: red; line-height: 115%; font-size: 14pt;"&gt; &lt;span style=""&gt;you &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;during the process&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;; this connection will be one of the most important to you during this time. At which the bank will want to review your &lt;em&gt;short sale&lt;/em&gt; request, taking into consideration any outstanding liens that have been placed against the property. At this point the bank could either accept or decline to pay off any outstanding liens at closing, so you should be prepared to take care of them on your own, if not it may become a hard sell if such cost are passed down to the Buyer. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Calibri;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"&gt;FOURTH&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"&gt;, contact your Realtor and&amp;nbsp;let them know that the bank has agreed on your &lt;em&gt;short sale&lt;/em&gt; request. Once your request for a &lt;em&gt;short sale&lt;/em&gt; has been approved you will want to get started preparing your house for the sale. (Paying off any outstanding taxes due, submitting all necessary documents) This should be the time when you feel the most at ease, allowing your Realtor to schedule all showing, submit ALL offers to the bank, and &lt;strong&gt;REPRESENT YOU&lt;/strong&gt; on your &lt;em&gt;short sale &lt;/em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;100%!!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Calibri;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"&gt;FIFTH&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"&gt;, Get ready for a somewhat bumpy ride; a &lt;em&gt;short sale&lt;/em&gt; is a &lt;em&gt;short sale&lt;/em&gt; in name only. &lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;It usually takes 3 months or more&lt;/span&gt; before it is executed in full &amp;ndash; to closing, but could be done in less time if you, the bank, and your Realtor are all on the same page. Buyers will be happy with the results of a quick &lt;em&gt;short sale&lt;/em&gt;, if everything goes accord to plan!&lt;img title="It's all just a matter of time" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/5/4/0/0/0/ar132297803300045.jpg" height="247" alt="It's all just a matter of time" width="220" style="margin: 10px 2px; float: right;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
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&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Calibri;"&gt;&lt;span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"&gt;With the New Year 2012 just around the corner, &lt;/span&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="color: red; font-size: 14pt;"&gt;It&amp;rsquo;s all just a matter of time &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"&gt;for both Sellers and Buyers, be prepared for the significant changes to the real estate market and take advantage of the opportunities that will present themselves! With the steady increase in home sales, for the Massachusetts area and across the nation, home listings versus sales seems promising; despite reports in the real estate industry in regards to Wall Street and Main Street, there is a light at the end of the tunnel!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Calibri;"&gt;&lt;span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"&gt;With that being said...home sales for 2012 look promising, and we should see more and more properties fall under-agreement and proceed to closing. Just within the last 6 month reports show sales of 2,835 in single family, two-family, and in condos, with a total of 5066 for the entire year; this information reported through December 2012. These numbers are pretty good considering the setbacks with the current economy. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
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&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Calibri;"&gt;&lt;span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"&gt;Sellers and Buyers, be prepared to take advantage of the New Year 2012, because &amp;hellip;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Calibri;"&gt;&lt;span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="color: red; font-size: 14pt;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;It&amp;rsquo;s all just a matter of time &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
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&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: medium;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif';"&gt;Life is but a Journey, Enjoy it!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: medium;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;Very Best of Raine&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="color: black; font-size: x-small;"&gt;Content written and managed by C. Raine Williams&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="color: black; font-size: x-small;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Raine Properties &amp;amp; Investments&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="color: #850e05; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 10pt;"&gt;Servicing: North and South Shore areas of Boston &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="color: #850e05; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 10pt;"&gt;(P) 781-591-2392 (F) 877-492-5597&lt;span style=""&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
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&lt;/div&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>C. Raine Williams (Raine Properties &amp; Investments)</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Sun, 04 Dec 2011 13:01:42 -0800</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/2631207/it-s-all-just-a-matter-of-time-</link>
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      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/2625338/duck-duck-duck</guid>
      <title>Duck, Duck, Duck</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;This is some great advice for buyers who feel they are ready but are actually, NOT!!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img title="Charita Cadenhead" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/8/7/5/2/1/ar132267247412578.jpg" height="170" alt="Charita Cadenhead" width="170" style="border: 3px solid black; margin-right: 2px; margin-left: 2px; float: left;"&gt;Charita indicates in her blog, make sure you have your ducks in a row!!&amp;nbsp; It is best to be well prepared and ready to go&amp;nbsp;than not prepared and wasting time!!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Please check out what Charita has to say...Duck, Duck, Duck&lt;/p&gt;
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&lt;div id="reblogging_tag"&gt;Via &lt;b&gt;&lt;a href="http://activerain.com/blogsview/2624907/duck-duck-duck"&gt;Charita Cadenhead, Accredited Consultant  in Real Estate&amp;reg; &amp;amp; Property Manager (Bham WIiRE Realty LLC )&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt;:&lt;br&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Duck, Duck, Duck&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Oh so you've never heard of this game.&amp;nbsp; Well I'm not surprised.&amp;nbsp; Up until now, people have thought that Duck, Duck, Goose was the only game in town.&amp;nbsp; But let me tell you, when it comes time to buying a home, it's no game and you've got to make sure that you have all of your ducks in a row.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;img title="Ducks in a row" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/2/4/5/7/5/ar132264639157542.jpg" height="196" alt="Ducks in a row" style="margin: 10px; vertical-align: middle;" width="300"&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Don't let your goal of buying a home be thwarted by a goose.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Thinking about buying:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Why would you even start your search without confirming that a lender will finance a mortgage for you (ducks in a row)&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Truth or false.&amp;nbsp; A real estate agent works for fun and not money.&amp;nbsp; If you guessed for money, then you guessed it right.&amp;nbsp; Be upfront with your real estate agent so they can take the right course of action at the appropriate time instead of wasting time (ducks in a row)&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Be realistic about expectations especially when it comes to price.&amp;nbsp; You can keep your frustration level down by focusing your attention on homes that fall within your price range (ducks in a row)&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Even if there are claims that you can buy a home with no down payment, you WILL need money for something. Namely your home inspection, appraisal and perhaps some closing cost.&amp;nbsp; If you don't have this money in place, then perhaps it's a good idea.....no let me rephrase that.....it IS a good idea to delay your home search until you do have it.&amp;nbsp; House hunting on the pay day plan is a bad concept any way that you look at it (ducks in a row)&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Relying on someone to help you make decisions?&amp;nbsp; Introduce them into the equation at the beginning of the process&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;If you know you have some credit issues to clear up, then still speak with a mortgage representative.&amp;nbsp; They can tell you which issues matter more than others (ducks in a row)&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Stay focused on the task and the goal. Keep your spending in check and by all means, do not establish any new credit.&amp;nbsp; None.&amp;nbsp; Zilch. Nada (ducks in a row)&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;This list can be lengthy so if you'd like more info, &lt;a href="http://www.bhamwiire.com/contact-charita/" title="Contact Charita Cadenhead" target="_blank"&gt;please contact me, Charita Cadenhead&lt;/a&gt;, &amp;nbsp;and we can go into further detail.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Buying a home is not a game and especially not a game of chance. It's a process that should be well thought out and there is no one better to help you plan than a Realtor&amp;reg;.&lt;/p&gt;
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&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://activerain.com/blogsview/1822633/dear-ar-newbies-a-letter-from-a-backdoor-ambassador" title="The Back Door Ambassador" target="_blank"&gt;Origin of BDAMB from Bham (The Back Door Ambassador Series)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://activerain.com/blogsview/2043706/well-i-ll-be-bdamb-bdamb-is-now-amb-from-bham-" title="AMB from Bham is Born" target="_blank"&gt;BDAMB Gains Access Through Front Door&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Charita Cadenhead, Your Metropolitan Birmingham, Alabama Real Estate Broker of Choice&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Got a question about Metropolitan Birmingham real estate? &lt;a href="http://www.activerain.com/chcadenhead" title="My Active Rain Blog" target="_blank"&gt;Just ask Charita&lt;/a&gt;. Need a &lt;a href="http://activerain.com/blogsview/1665402/anyone-know-of-a-good-real-estate-agent-in-birmingham-" title="Need a good Realtor in Birmingham Alabama" target="_blank"&gt;good Realtor(R)&lt;/a&gt; to help you find a new home or sell the one you already own?&amp;nbsp; Just shoot me an email.&amp;nbsp; In need of a rental property?&amp;nbsp; &lt;a href="http://www.realbird.com/feed.aspx?id=A7C2F9B1" title="Subsribe to rental RealBird rental listing feed" target="_blank"&gt;Subscribe&lt;/a&gt; to be notified whenever we list a new rental or home for sale.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://www.charitacadenhead.com" title="Bham WIiRE Realty" target="_blank"&gt;&lt;img title="Bham WIiRE Logo" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/8/1/6/0/1/ar129769973010618.jpg" height="60" alt="Bham WIiRE Logo" width="150" style="margin: 10px; border: black 1px solid;"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;img title="Member of the National Association of Realtors(C)" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/5/3/6/6/9/ar128370824496635.jpg" height="82" alt="NAR logo" width="63"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;a href="http://www.bhammls.com/(eb4alyvof22y3y25m2xiax45)/PropertySearch.aspx?gateway_la_code=CADENCH&amp;amp;AdvancedUI=True&amp;amp;TP=LV" title="Search MLS" target="_blank"&gt;&lt;img title="Search MLS" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/5/9/5/0/8/ar129769967280595.jpg" height="65" alt="Search MLS" width="289" style="margin: 10px; border: black 1px solid;"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;br&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.inandaroundbirmingham.com" title="Bham WIiRE Website" target="_blank"&gt;www.inandaroundbirmingham.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;a href="mailto:bhamwiire@gmail.com" title="Email Charita Cadenhead." target="_blank"&gt;bhamwiire@gmail.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;(205) 527-1112 - cell&lt;br&gt;(205) 321-1200 - Office&lt;br&gt;(800) 496-7431 - Fax&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: x-small;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: small;"&gt;One thing about being in real estate:&amp;nbsp; I can't hide even if I tried.&lt;/span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://www.inandaroundbirmingham.com" title="Bham WIiRE Realty Website" target="_blank"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: small;"&gt;Bham WIiRE Realty&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: small;"&gt;:&amp;nbsp; We're Everywhere You Want to Be!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Birmingham-AL/Bham-WIiRE-Realty/109688243109?ref=sgm" title="Bham WIiRE Realty Listings" target="_blank"&gt;&lt;img title="Charita Cadenhead on Facebook" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/6/8/7/4/7/ar127473305774786.jpg" height="78" alt="Facebook logo" width="102"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;a href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/bhamwiire" title="Link to me on LinkedIn" target="_blank"&gt;&lt;img title="Bham WIiRE on LinkedIN" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/8/1/6/5/9/ar127473311295618.jpg" height="62" alt="LinkedIn Logo" width="69"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://twitter.com/bhamwiire" title="Follow me on Twitter" target="_blank"&gt;&lt;img title="Follow Bham WIiRE on Twitter" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/6/4/4/2/3/ar127473314432446.jpg" height="66" alt="Twitter Logo" width="74"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;a href="http://bhamwiire.wordpress.com/" title="Bham WIiRE on Wordpess" target="_blank"&gt;&lt;img title="Bham WIiRE on Wordpress" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/5/0/6/2/9/ar127473453192605.jpg" height="69" alt="Word Press logo" width="79"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;a href="http://www.bhamrealestatemarket.posterous.com" title="Birmingham Alabama Real Estate Market" target="_blank"&gt;&lt;img title="My Posterous" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/8/4/1/8/1/ar127474356418148.jpg" height="76" alt="Posterous logo" width="84"&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/bhamwiirerealty" title="Bham WIiRE on YouTube" target="_blank"&gt;&lt;img title="Bham WIiRE on Tube" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/4/5/1/6/8/ar127654124086154.jpg" height="57" alt="YouTube" width="80" style="margin: 10px; border: 1px solid black;"&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &amp;nbsp; &lt;a href="http://friendfeed.com/bhamwiire" title="Bham WIiRE FriendFeed" target="_blank"&gt;&lt;img title="Charita on FriendFeed" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/7/9/4/7/7/ar127473307977497.jpg" height="62" alt="FriendFeed logo" width="63"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;br&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
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&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: medium;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif';"&gt;Life is but a Journey, Enjoy it!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: medium;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;Very Best of Raine&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="color: black; font-size: x-small;"&gt;Content written and managed by C. Raine Williams&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="color: black; font-size: x-small;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Raine Properties &amp;amp; Investments&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="color: #850e05; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 10pt;"&gt;Servicing: North and South Shore areas of Boston &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="color: #850e05; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 10pt;"&gt;(P) 781-591-2392 (F) 877-492-5597&lt;span style=""&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
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      <dc:creator>C. Raine Williams (Raine Properties &amp; Investments)</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Wed, 30 Nov 2011 12:02:50 -0800</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/2625338/duck-duck-duck</link>
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      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/2624238/from-one-newbie-to-another-please-welcome-elaina-westry-</guid>
      <title>From One Newbie to Another: Please Welcome Elaina Westry!</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"&gt; &lt;span style="color: black; font-family: 'Cambria Math','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"&gt;I was combing through the Newbie blogs when I came across Active Rain Newbie &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span&gt;Elaina &lt;span&gt;Westry&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;span&gt; &lt;span&gt;s&amp;rsquo;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; blog where she indicates how &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: black; font-family: 'Cambria Math','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="color: blue;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://activerain.com/blogsview/2624095/nervous" title="Nervous" target="_blank"&gt;Nervous&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: black; font-family: 'Cambria Math','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"&gt;she is to be new to blogging.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: small;"&gt; &lt;img title="Elaina Westry" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/4/5/9/4/7/ar132260135174954.jpg" height="220" alt="Elaina Westry" width="220" style="border: 3px solid black; margin-right: 5px; margin-left: 5px; float: left;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: black; font-family: 'Cambria Math','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"&gt;&lt;span&gt;Elaina is from the Rocky Mountain, North Carolina area&amp;nbsp;and she prides herself for being hands on, explaining the entire process of real estate negotiating to sellers and buyers.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; Elaina even has her hands&amp;nbsp;full in the Nashville/&lt;span&gt;Tarbaro&lt;/span&gt; areas as well!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="color: black; font-family: 'Cambria Math','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"&gt;In following my own advice I decided to extend a warm greeting to Elaina with words of reassurance from one Newbie to another. I hope those who see this post will do the same!!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
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&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="color: black; font-family: 'Cambria Math','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"&gt;Welcome Newbie &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span&gt;Elaina &lt;span&gt;Westry&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; to Active Rain!! &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
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&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: medium;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif';"&gt;Life is but a Journey, Enjoy it!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: medium;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;Very Best of Raine&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="color: black; font-size: x-small;"&gt;Content written and managed by C. Raine Williams&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="color: black; font-size: x-small;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Raine Properties &amp;amp; Investments&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="color: #850e05; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 10pt;"&gt;Servicing: North and South Shore areas of Boston &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="color: #850e05; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 10pt;"&gt;(P) 781-591-2392 (F) 877-492-5597&lt;span style=""&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
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      <dc:creator>C. Raine Williams (Raine Properties &amp; Investments)</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Tue, 29 Nov 2011 16:22:33 -0800</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/2624238/from-one-newbie-to-another-please-welcome-elaina-westry-</link>
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      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/2621128/in-response-to-jerry-newman-s-contest-a-new-contest-for-recognizing-and-introducing-newbies-to-active-rain</guid>
      <title>In Response to Jerry Newman's Contest ~ A New Contest for Recognizing and Introducing Newbies to Active Rain</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Calibri;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 14pt;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://activerain.com/jnewman6" title="Jerry Newman" target="_blank"&gt;Jerry Newman&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: small;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Calibri;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;had started &lt;a href="http://activerain.com/blogsview/2562498/new-contest-for-introducing-and-recognizing-newbies-in-active-rain%20" title="A Contest Introducing and Recognizing Newbies in Active Rain" target="_blank"&gt;A New Contest for Recognizing&amp;nbsp; and Introducing Newbies&amp;nbsp;in Active Rain&lt;/a&gt; the beginning of November 2011 to encourage seasoned &lt;em&gt;Active Rain&lt;/em&gt; members to reach out to Newbies as a way to welcome them to the group.&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Calibri;"&gt;Jerry&amp;rsquo;s contest rules suggested Newbies write and submit 10 blogs within the month of November 2011 and by doing so&amp;nbsp;Newbies will earn&amp;nbsp;300 points for each blog, a total of 3000 points!&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp; A great way to earn extra points as well as meet and greet new &lt;em&gt;Active Rain&lt;/em&gt; members! &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Calibri;"&gt;Jerry&amp;rsquo;s contest motivated me to achieve a goal, so I start blogging, and I am glad to say I have posted 13 blogs; my first post in October and 12 more posted in November 2011, thus far! &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
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&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Calibri;"&gt;Here is a link to those 12 posted in November 2011!&amp;nbsp; &lt;a href="http://activerain.com/blogs/lora_raine/archives/2011/11" title="Cynthia's Active Rain Blogs" target="_blank"&gt;Cynthia's Active Rain Blogs&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
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&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Calibri;"&gt;On November 23, 2011 (my birthday) my blog &amp;ndash; &lt;a href="http://activerain.com/blogsview/2612204/you-cannot-deter-me-from-loving-what-i-do" title="You Cannot Deter Me from Loving What I Do" target="_blank"&gt;You Cannot Deter Me from Loving What I Do!!&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Calibri;"&gt; was FEATURED!&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;I am humbled and ecstatically happy that other &lt;em&gt;Active Rain&lt;/em&gt; members enjoyed this blog! &lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Calibri;"&gt;Thank you &lt;em&gt;Active Rain&lt;/em&gt; members for welcoming me into the community!! &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
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&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Calibri;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;Special Thanks to &lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="color: #17375e;"&gt;Jerry Newman, &lt;a href="http://activerain.com/donne4loans" title="Donne Knudsen" target="_blank"&gt;Donne Knudsen&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="color: #17375e;"&gt;, &lt;a href="http://activerain.com/monagersky" title="Mona Gersky" target="_blank"&gt;Mona Gersky&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt; for recognizing my efforts! &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
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&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: medium;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif';"&gt;Life is but a Journey, Enjoy it!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: medium;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;Very Best of Raine&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="color: black; font-size: x-small;"&gt;Content written and managed by C. Raine Williams&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="color: black; font-size: x-small;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Raine Properties &amp;amp; Investments&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="color: #850e05; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 10pt;"&gt;Servicing: North and South Shore areas of Boston &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="color: #850e05; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 10pt;"&gt;(P) 781-591-2392 (F) 877-492-5597&lt;span style=""&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
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      <dc:creator>C. Raine Williams (Raine Properties &amp; Investments)</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Sun, 27 Nov 2011 19:00:53 -0800</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/2621128/in-response-to-jerry-newman-s-contest-a-new-contest-for-recognizing-and-introducing-newbies-to-active-rain</link>
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      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/2617052/thank-you-active-rain-this-is-one-of-my-best-birthdays-ever-</guid>
      <title>Thank you Active Rain, This Is One of My Best Birthdays Ever!!</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style','serif'; font-size: 9pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: small;"&gt; &lt;span style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style','serif'; font-size: 10pt;"&gt;I never would have imagined in a million years I would be so consumed by responding and reading post here on &lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="color: red;"&gt;Active Rain&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;!&amp;nbsp; I first heard about &lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="color: red;"&gt;Active Rain &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;at an office sales meeting in October from a team member&amp;nbsp;from&amp;nbsp;our Florida office who had mentioned how great &lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="color: red;"&gt;Active Rain&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt; was for networking!&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; He suggested, as agents we should consider looking into joining as this would be an excellent resource for creating your SPHERE of INFLUENCE by connecting with other real estate professionals, and generate new leads.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; The very next day, I went to the &lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="color: red;"&gt;Active Rain's &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;website to see for myself.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;I was extremely curious and&amp;nbsp;I wanted&amp;nbsp;to see what was going on in the real estate industry with other real estate&amp;nbsp;professionals.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; I signed on only as a basic member at first and within a few hours I received a call from &lt;em&gt;Kevan Carter&lt;/em&gt; welcoming me to the growing community of &lt;span style="color: red;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Active Rain, &lt;/em&gt;&lt;span style="color: #000000;"&gt;encouraging me to become a Rain Maker&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style','serif'; font-size: 9pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style','serif'; font-size: 10pt;"&gt;! &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style','serif'; font-size: 10pt;"&gt;It took me about a month to write my first draft &amp;ndash; Rental and leasing&amp;hellip;not as easy as 1, 2, and 3; for which I saved it as a draft.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; I posted my first blog &amp;ndash; Even through Rain, Sleet, or Snow first to ease my way in gently, hoping all the while not to receive too much criticism for such an outlandish post. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
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&lt;p&gt;&lt;img title="Jerry Newman" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/6/9/1/5/4/ar132207948345196.jpg" height="220" alt="Jerry Newman" width="220" style="border: 2px solid black; margin-right: 5px; margin-left: 5px; float: left;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style','serif'; font-size: 10pt;"&gt;I have to give much thanks to &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://activerain.com/jnewman6" title="Jerry Newman" target="_blank"&gt;Jerry Newman&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; - he welcomed me with open arms and featured me as a Newbie on his post &amp;ndash; &lt;a href="http://activerain.com/blogsview/2593369/let-s-welcome-three-more-newbies-to-our-community" title="Lets Welcome Three More Newbies to Our Community" target="_blank"&gt;Lets Welcome Three More Newbies to Our Community&lt;/a&gt; -&amp;nbsp;after initiating a contest for seasoned Rain Makers to reach out to Newbies.&amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp;For this I have to say: Thank you Jerry for extending out a warm welcome to me as a Newbie to &lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="color: red;"&gt;Active Rain&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;!!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
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&lt;p&gt;&lt;img title="Donne Knudsen" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/8/5/1/1/3/ar132207953531158.jpg" height="239" alt="Donne Knudsen" width="225" style="border: 2px solid black; margin-right: 5px; margin-left: 5px; float: right;"&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
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&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style','serif'; font-size: 10pt;"&gt;Another surprise then came from seasoned &lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="color: red;"&gt;Active Rain &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;member, &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://activerain.com/donne4loans" title="Donne Knudsen" target="_blank"&gt;Donne Knudsen&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; who also responded to my post &amp;ndash; Rental and leasing&amp;hellip;not as easy as 1, 2, and 3.&amp;nbsp; Donne too welcomed me with open arms and featured me as a Newbie on her post - &lt;a href="http://activerain.com/blogsview/2613733/introducing-newbie-ar-blogger-cynthia-williams" title="Introducing Newbie Active Rain Blogger" target="_blank"&gt;Introducing Newbie Active Rain Blogger: Cynthia&amp;nbsp;Williams&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp; For this I say: Donne, I am completely humbled by your acknowledgements and thank you for reading my posts and reaching out to me!! &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
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&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style','serif'; font-size: 10pt;"&gt;&lt;img title="Mona Gersky" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/5/7/9/6/9/ar132207961496975.jpg" height="220" alt="Mona Gersky" width="220" style="border: 2px solid black; margin-right: 5px; margin-left: 5px; float: left;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
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&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style','serif'; font-size: 10pt;"&gt;It was then later that I received yet another acknowledgement as a Newbie to &lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="color: red;"&gt;Active Rain&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt; from &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://activerain.com/monagersky" title="Mona Gersky" target="_blank"&gt;Mona Gersky&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; - she too welcomed me with open arms as a Newbie with her post - &lt;a href="http://activerain.com/blogsview/2611732/introducing-recognizing-newbies-in-activerain-mona-s-choices" title="Introducing &amp;amp; Recognizing Newbies - Mona's choice" target="_blank"&gt;Introducing &amp;amp; Recognizing Newbies in &lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="color: red;"&gt;Active Rain&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&amp;ndash; Mona&amp;rsquo;s Choice&lt;/a&gt;, so I thank you Mona for taking the time to stop by and introducing yourself to me and welcoming me as a Newbie to &lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="color: red;"&gt;Active Rain&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
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&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style','serif'; font-size: 10pt;"&gt;I am extremely grateful for &lt;em&gt;Jerry Newman&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Donne Knudsen&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;Mona Gersky&lt;/em&gt; for taking the time to extend out their arms and giving me an encouraging warm welcome into the &lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="color: red;"&gt;Active Rain &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;community!! &amp;nbsp;I am forever grateful!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style','serif'; font-size: 10pt;"&gt;Through the acknowledgements of &lt;em&gt;Jerry&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Donne&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;Mona&lt;/em&gt;, I have met new members of &lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="color: red;"&gt;Active Rain &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;who have taken the time to stop by and say hello!&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style','serif'; font-size: 10pt;"&gt;Today, I woke up feeling good, not because it is my birthday but because I have meet so many amazing people here on &lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="color: red;"&gt;Active Rain &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;and for that reason, I have MY FIRST FEATURED POST! &amp;ndash; You Cannot Deter Me From Loving What I Do!! &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style','serif'; font-size: 10pt;"&gt;Thank You Everyone and Happy Thanksgiving!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
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&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"&gt; &lt;img title="Happy Thanksgiving" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/3/9/2/0/5/ar132207859250293.jpg" height="262" alt="Happy Thanksgiving" width="545" style="margin-right: 45px; margin-left: 45px; vertical-align: bottom;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
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&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: medium;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif';"&gt;Life is but a Journey, Enjoy it!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: medium;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;Very Best of Raine&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="color: black; font-size: x-small;"&gt;Content written and managed by C. Raine Williams&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
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&lt;p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="color: #850e05; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 10pt;"&gt;Servicing: North and South Shore areas of Boston &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="color: #850e05; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 10pt;"&gt;(P) 781-591-2392 (F) 877-492-5597&lt;span style=""&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
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      <dc:creator>C. Raine Williams (Raine Properties &amp; Investments)</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Wed, 23 Nov 2011 15:47:13 -0800</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/2617052/thank-you-active-rain-this-is-one-of-my-best-birthdays-ever-</link>
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      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/2615650/update-bed-bugs-bill-s-1134-has-been-filed-by-senator-richard-moore-d-uxbridge-</guid>
      <title>UPDATE: Bed bugs bill, S. 1134 has been filed by Senator Richard Moore (D-Uxbridge)! </title>
      <description>&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: 'Cambria Math','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"&gt;According to a recent news release sent by Greater Boston Association of Realtors, there seems to be good news on the way for tenants in regards to the bed bug problem in Massachusetts. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: 'Cambria Math','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"&gt;&amp;ldquo;Massachusetts legislators are considering new &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: 'Cambria Math','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.malegislature.gov/Bills/187/Senate/S01134"&gt;&lt;span style="color: blue;"&gt;legislation&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: 'Cambria Math','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"&gt; to address bed bug infestations and promote early notification and cooperation between tenants and landlords if bed bugs are found in a property. The &lt;strong&gt;bill, S. 1134, was filed by &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: 'Cambria Math','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.malegislature.gov/People/Profile/RTM0"&gt;&lt;span style="color: blue;"&gt;Senator Richard Moore&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: 'Cambria Math','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt; (D-Uxbridge) at the request of the Greater Boston Real Estate Board (GBREB)&lt;/strong&gt; and is also supported by the Massachusetts Association of REALTORS&amp;reg;.&amp;rdquo; (GBAR.com, November 2011, &lt;span style=""&gt;Beacon Hill Lawmakers Hear Testimony on Bed Bugs Bill&lt;/span&gt;)&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: 'Cambria Math','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"&gt;This is good news for tenants whose homes have been overcome by bed bugs, and now it seems that both tenants and landlords will be able to find some sort of resolution, thanks to this new bill, S. 1134.&lt;span style=""&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: 'Cambria Math','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"&gt;According to the GBAR news release, &amp;ldquo;The legislation would establish that property owners are responsible for extermination and further require the state Department of Public Health to create a pamphlet explaining how to identify bed bugs... &amp;ldquo;It&amp;rsquo;s an issue we want to be pro-active on&amp;rdquo;, noted GBREB Government Affairs Director Patricia Baumer at a recent hearing before the Joint Committee on Public Health.&amp;rdquo; &lt;span style=""&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: 'Cambria Math','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"&gt;I recently blogged about the bed bug problem in Massachusetts, and I felt I should reopen and end this discussion with some good news for those who may have been affected! &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;div class="agent_signature"&gt;
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&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: medium;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif';"&gt;Life is but a Journey, Enjoy it!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: medium;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;Very Best of Raine&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="color: black; font-size: x-small;"&gt;Content written and managed by C. Raine Williams&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
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&lt;p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="color: #850e05; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 10pt;"&gt;Servicing: North and South Shore areas of Boston &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="color: #850e05; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 10pt;"&gt;(P) 781-591-2392 (F) 877-492-5597&lt;span style=""&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
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      <dc:creator>C. Raine Williams (Raine Properties &amp; Investments)</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Tue, 22 Nov 2011 16:37:45 -0800</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/2615650/update-bed-bugs-bill-s-1134-has-been-filed-by-senator-richard-moore-d-uxbridge-</link>
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      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/2614179/paying-it-forward-a-great-way-to-give-back-</guid>
      <title>Paying it Forward: A Great Way to Give Back!</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="color: #003300; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Estrangelo Edessa'; font-size: 16pt;"&gt;Paying it Forward: A Great Way to Give Back! &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="color: #003300; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Estrangelo Edessa'; font-size: 16pt;"&gt;Just thought I share this with you, as it holds dear.&lt;em&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.gbreb.com/gbreb/web/ReStore.htm" title="GBREB and Habitat for Humanity Team Up!" target="_blank"&gt;The Greater Boston Real Estate Board&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; is teaming up with Habitat for Humanity to get people to donate some household items, such as furniture, fixtures, and appliances.&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="color: #003300; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Estrangelo Edessa'; font-size: 16pt;"&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;img title="donations" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/7/2/1/5/9/ar132191876795127.jpg" height="270" alt="Donations" width="308" style="margin-right: 45px; margin-left: 45px; float: left;"&gt;If&amp;nbsp;you or anyone you know&amp;nbsp;would like&amp;nbsp;to donate, please feel free to&amp;nbsp;reach out to Habitat for Humanity and make sure to&amp;nbsp;&lt;em&gt;pass this information on!&amp;nbsp; &lt;/em&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
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&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Estrangelo Edessa'; font-size: 14pt;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Thank you for sharing~&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
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&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: medium;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif';"&gt;Life is but a Journey, Enjoy it!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: medium;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;Very Best of Raine&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="color: black; font-size: x-small;"&gt;Content written and managed by C. Raine Williams&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="color: black; font-size: x-small;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Raine Properties &amp;amp; Investments&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="color: #850e05; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 10pt;"&gt;Servicing: North and South Shore areas of Boston &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="color: #850e05; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 10pt;"&gt;(P) 781-591-2392 (F) 877-492-5597&lt;span style=""&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
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&lt;/div&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>C. Raine Williams (Raine Properties &amp; Investments)</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Mon, 21 Nov 2011 18:42:41 -0800</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/2614179/paying-it-forward-a-great-way-to-give-back-</link>
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      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/2607951/should-you-have-reason-to-be-concerned-</guid>
      <title>Should YOU Have Reason To Be Concerned??</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: 'Estrangelo Edessa'; font-size: 12pt;"&gt;I woke up to a very disturbing story on the news today about bed bugs; the concern for many residents is that the growing cases of bed bugs is quit alarming and the homes of many people are so infested that is has become difficult for exterminators to keep up with the number of properties infected. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: 'Estrangelo Edessa'; font-size: 12pt;"&gt;Here in Boston, the number of cases has risen substantially and continues to increase, and tenants are not the only ones experiencing this problem but it seems so are movie theaters, department stores, and even 5 star hotels. This problem makes my skin crawl even thinking about it.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: 'Estrangelo Edessa'; font-size: 12pt;"&gt;Do we have a reason to be concerned about bed bugs?&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; Should we be cautious when walking into someone&amp;rsquo;s home and it may be a bit obvious that whoever is living there may just have a pest problem?&amp;nbsp; What about when there is so much stuff everywhere that is makes it difficult to move around without bumping into things? I am not saying all homes are this way, but there are a good number of homes where there are piles and piles of stuff everywhere, making it easy for rodents to hide, including bed bugs.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: 'Estrangelo Edessa'; font-size: 12pt;"&gt;From what I understand it is easy for bed bugs to attach themselves to objects, whether it is your pants, jacket, bag, or purse; whatever makes it easy for them to hitch a ride back to a place that is not infested where they can then multiply and take over. I am forever cautious about what I may carry back with me when I go home, as I should. A place infested with bed bugs is a serious problem and we should all have reasons to be concerned!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
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&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: medium;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif';"&gt;Life is but a Journey, Enjoy it!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: medium;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;Very Best of Raine&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="color: black; font-size: x-small;"&gt;Content written and managed by C. Raine Williams&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="color: black; font-size: x-small;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Raine Properties &amp;amp; Investments&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="color: #850e05; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 10pt;"&gt;Servicing: North and South Shore areas of Boston &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="color: #850e05; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 10pt;"&gt;(P) 781-591-2392 (F) 877-492-5597&lt;span style=""&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
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      <dc:creator>C. Raine Williams (Raine Properties &amp; Investments)</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Thu, 17 Nov 2011 12:33:20 -0800</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/2607951/should-you-have-reason-to-be-concerned-</link>
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      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/2544600/not-all-rental-leasing-opportunities-are-as-easy-as-1-2-and-3</guid>
      <title>Not all Rental/Leasing opportunities are as easy as 1,2, and 3</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"&gt; &lt;span style="font-family: 'Estrangelo Edessa'; font-size: 12pt;"&gt;I often look towards rental/leasing properties, and more often than not there are many &lt;strong&gt;Section 8 Rental Assistance&lt;/strong&gt; applicants who seek the help of a Real Estate Agent because they have tried on their own and had no luck finding a landlord who is willing to participate in a federally assisted subsidy program which will accept &lt;strong&gt;Section 8&lt;/strong&gt; .&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: 'Estrangelo Edessa'; font-size: 12pt;"&gt;Many &lt;strong&gt;Section 8 Rental Assistance&lt;/strong&gt; participants find it extremely frustrating and a bit unfair to hear over and over from property owners: "No, I do not accept &lt;strong&gt;Section 8&lt;/strong&gt;." Quit a few landlords may feel they have a legitimate reason not to consider individuals or families with &lt;strong&gt;Section 8.&lt;/strong&gt; I constantly hear that landlords are skeptical of renting to individuals and families with a &lt;strong&gt;Section 8&lt;/strong&gt; voucher because they feel they will just move in and destroy the property. The second reason landlords will not rent to individuals and families with a &lt;strong&gt;Section 8&lt;/strong&gt; voucher may be that families have children under 6 and that the unit is not lead certified. Fair enough, but is this an over-exaggerated excuse not to rent? The third reason, which some will find a bit absurd to believe, is that landlords base tenant selection on race and/or the ethnic background of these individuals or families. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
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&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: 'Estrangelo Edessa'; font-size: 12pt;"&gt;Section 8 Rental Assistance&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: 'Estrangelo Edessa'; font-size: 12pt;"&gt; is offered in many states across the country provided by &lt;a href="http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?src=/topics/housing_choice_voucher_program_section_8" title="U.S. Housing and Urban Development" target="_blank"&gt;&lt;span style="color: blue;"&gt;U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt; It is a way for low-income families and individuals, including the disabled and elderly, to receive affordable housing assistance; however, not all landlords are on board with accepting the &lt;strong&gt;Section 8&lt;/strong&gt; voucher and because of this many are left wondering why? &lt;strong&gt;Section 8 Rental Assistance&lt;/strong&gt; should be viewed, and intended as, an equal opportunity fair housing opportunity to those who choose to apply and receive additional support to help pay rent. For these tenants who look to find suitable housing, landlords should not find fault or have any bias notions on who they choose to occupy the rental. &lt;img title="families home" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/8/3/7/3/1/ar132192479113738.PNG" height="273" alt="familes home" width="250" style="margin-right: 15px; margin-left: 15px; float: right;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
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&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: 'Estrangelo Edessa'; font-size: 12pt;"&gt;I am not completely convinced anything can be done to solve the problem that is currently upsetting &lt;strong&gt;Section 8&lt;/strong&gt; participants who are looking for housing. From what I understand, it is unlawful to discriminate against anyone, and any participant of &lt;strong&gt;Section 8&lt;/strong&gt; should not be exempt from applying to rental properties in any area; however, as a Realtor placing participants of the &lt;strong&gt;Section 8 Rental Assistance&lt;/strong&gt; program is not as easy as 1, 2, and 3 &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
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&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: medium;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif';"&gt;Life is but a Journey, Enjoy it!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: medium;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;Very Best of Raine&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="color: black; font-size: x-small;"&gt;Content written and managed by C. Raine Williams&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="color: black; font-size: x-small;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Raine Properties &amp;amp; Investments&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="color: #850e05; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 10pt;"&gt;Servicing: North and South Shore areas of Boston &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="color: #850e05; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 10pt;"&gt;(P) 781-591-2392 (F) 877-492-5597&lt;span style=""&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
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      <dc:creator>C. Raine Williams (Raine Properties &amp; Investments)</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Fri, 11 Nov 2011 12:31:42 -0800</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/2544600/not-all-rental-leasing-opportunities-are-as-easy-as-1-2-and-3</link>
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      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/2595545/before-you-go-bring-some-extra-socks-</guid>
      <title>Before you go...bring some extra socks!!</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;Before you go...bring some extra socks!! &lt;span style=""&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;So&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;mething to make you laugh or simply smile to yourself.&lt;span style=""&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
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&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;Anyone who is from the New England area could tell you that the weather can be pretty unpredictable and you must be prepared for just about anything, not reacting to a situation but acting upon it seems to be the key here. More times than not, walking into a home that has already been winterized and prepared for the cold (and you&amp;rsquo;re not sure if it has or not) will leave you asking these questions when you arrive with your client: Are the lights on and is there water coming through from the faucets?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
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&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;As we enter another winter season here in Boston, I have learned when showing a property go prepared! When it doubt always bring a flashlight and some extra socks! What is the reason for the extra socks you ask? Well, homeowners or investors who have put a great deal of work into renovating their homes will strongly recommend before walking through the property remove your shoes at the door; those gleaming hard wood floors throughout may have just been shellacked and no one wants to see shoe prints on all that hard work.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
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&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Before you go...bring some extra socks!!&lt;/strong&gt; I was showing a client a property that featured gleaming hardwood floors; however, I was unaware that the property had already been winterized, so needless to say there was no heat. We walk in and noticed immediately a sign that indicated "remove your shoes", and as requested we removed our shoes and proceeded to enter the unit. OMG! the floors were ice cold! I looked at my client and he stared back at me with a look of concern on his face (I knew this wasn't going to be an easy showing), we both started to laugh at the thought of walking through this entire unit with just our socks. As we hopped from one room to the next laughing out loud, while the sounds of oohh nice and aaahh cold echoed from the ceilings, it wasn't until we had reached the second floor that we both somehow agreed in unison- Dang! These floors are freezing cold! I think we should have brought extra socks! &lt;img title="It's cold" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/1/6/7/8/3/ar132192378038761.GIF" height="251" alt="It's cold" width="220" style="margin-right: 10px; margin-left: 10px; vertical-align: bottom; float: right;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
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&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;That day was a lesson for me as well as my client, one in which I had realized that before scheduling a showing for a property that features gleaming hardwood floors...I must remember...&lt;strong&gt;Before you go...bring some extra socks!!&lt;span style=""&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
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&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: medium;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif';"&gt;Life is but a Journey, Enjoy it!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: medium;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;Very Best of Raine&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="color: black; font-size: x-small;"&gt;Content written and managed by C. Raine Williams&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="color: black; font-size: x-small;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Raine Properties &amp;amp; Investments&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="color: #850e05; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 10pt;"&gt;Servicing: North and South Shore areas of Boston &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="color: #850e05; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 10pt;"&gt;(P) 781-591-2392 (F) 877-492-5597&lt;span style=""&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
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      <dc:creator>C. Raine Williams (Raine Properties &amp; Investments)</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Wed, 09 Nov 2011 09:51:20 -0800</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/2595545/before-you-go-bring-some-extra-socks-</link>
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      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/2544416/newcomer-of-active-rain</guid>
      <title>Newcomer of Active Rain</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;Hello Everyone!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I just joined Active Rain and I am excited to get started.&amp;nbsp; I hope to learn a great deal from fellow Real Estate and industry professionals!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;It is a little bit intimidating, but I am sure I will get the hang of it sooner rather than later.&amp;nbsp; Now if I can only figure out how to add my company logo and banner, I will be all set.&amp;nbsp; Any help will be greatly appreciated.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Cynthia (AKA Lora Raine)&lt;/p&gt; &lt;div class="agent_signature"&gt;
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&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: medium;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif';"&gt;Life is but a Journey, Enjoy it!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: medium;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;Very Best of Raine&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="color: black; font-size: x-small;"&gt;Content written and managed by C. Raine Williams&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="color: black; font-size: x-small;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Raine Properties &amp;amp; Investments&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="color: #850e05; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 10pt;"&gt;Servicing: North and South Shore areas of Boston &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="color: #850e05; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 10pt;"&gt;(P) 781-591-2392 (F) 877-492-5597&lt;span style=""&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
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      <dc:creator>C. Raine Williams (Raine Properties &amp; Investments)</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Thu, 06 Oct 2011 17:43:58 -0700</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/2544416/newcomer-of-active-rain</link>
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