Last week at the Seventh Annual LuxuryRealEstate.com "Spring Retreat" in Las Vegas, I had the pleasure of participating in a lecture/panel discussion with Michael Edlund, LRE's Director of Technoloy. Our presentation was entitled "The Luxury Lounge: All You Will Ever Need To Know About Using Luxury Real Estate's Online Gated Community".
Our panel was part of the four-day conference at the Four Seasons Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada, which took place April 26-29. Attendees were offered a series of presentations at the Spring Retreat, including:
"The Power of Social Networking: Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn" (moderated by Victor Lund of The WAV Group)
"Dream Big, Risk Big, Taking Over the World One Stroke at a Time" (with featured speaker 2008 Olympic Gold Medalist Mary Whipple)
"Turning Unsold Listings Into Revenue" (presented by William May)
"Short Sales: Don't be the Ostrich with your Head in the Sand" (led by Colleen Olson and Janos Farkas)
"Memorabilia: An Opportunity to Meet Some of the Greatest Minds in the Industry" (led by Ann Chiasson)
"Integrating Who's Who in Luxury Real Estate and LuxuryRealEstate,com Into Your Business" (led by Meghan Barry)
"The Fearless Broker" (led by Penny Evans Carruth), and
"Heart-Centered Real Estate" (with featured speaker Peter Tongue).
Michael Edlund and Eric Kodner prepare to deliver a presentation on the LuxuryRealEstate.com "Luxury Lounge" at the Four Seasons Hotel in Las Vegas.
Michael and I took turns speaking to attendees about the features and benefits of the Luxury Lounge. LRE's Luxury Lounge community has grown hugely, particularly during the past six months.
One of the most memorable events of the conference was a Black Tie dinner and presentation of a Lifetime Achievement Award to Broker Shari Chase. Shari is one of only three LuxuryRealEstate.com members to have been named to LRE's "Billionaire's Club".
The Council of Residential Specialists (CRS) is informing state CRS Chapters that there are seven remaining 2009 Diversity grants still available, but the application deadline is March 15, 2009, just a few days away!
These monies are set aside for the purpose of encouraging programs and events which promote diversity in real estate. Each chapter grant will be in the amount of five hundred dollars.
If your state CRS chapter is interested in applying for one of these grants, contact Toni Sherman (CRS Director of Business Relations) via email, at toni@tonisherman.com.
Madeline Island will be hosting the fifth annual "Big Ice Golf" Tournament in LaPointe, Wisconsin, on February 21.
The event will take place from Noon to 4 p.m. on the 21st. Proceeds from the event will be donated to the La Pointe Volunteer Fire Department. Local businesses have chipped in to sponsor the nine-hole course on the Lake Superior ice. The tournament site offers a beautiful view of the lake and the Bayfield mainland.
There'll be no sand traps, no water hazards and no lugging golf clubs in the hot sun. If you've never played golf on the ice, here's your chance to experience some unique midwinter fun!
Google Earth is a fun and useful utility, but it's far from perfect.
I found myself searching for the town of LaPointe, Wisconsin on Google Earth yesterday evening. And depending on how you type the town's name, you get entirely different results.
LaPointe is the commercial zone on Madeline Island, located at the southwestern tip of the Island. LaPointe Township includes the entire island. Madeline Island is one of the twenty-two Apostle Islands in western Lake Superior, situated about seventy-five miles east of the Duluth-Superior metropolitan area.
There seems to be a sort of eternal debate among Islanders (and summer residents) about whether there should be a space between "La" and "Pointe". It seems to make a difference on the Web when you're searching for our town. I have seen some search engines generate results based upon two separate words, rather than upon the town's complete name, when the space is utilized.
Anyway, Google Earth shows two very different locations for the town of LaPointe (or La Pointe):
Under "Search" and "Fly to", if you type in "La Pointe", you get a location on Oak Island, in the Apostle Islands region of Lake Superior. Oak Island is part of the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, miles from the town of LaPointe.
If you type in "LaPointe", you will see multiple results for LaPointe businesses, including our company, Madeline Island Realty.
In Google Maps, you can submit a correction by visiting TeleAtlas.com. TeleAtlas feeds corrections in map locations to Google Maps on a regular basis, although it may take some time for the change to appear on the Web.
I haven't yet figured out how to get Google Earth to recognize that the town of LaPointe is NOT located on Oak Island.
Maybe it would be a good idea if we could all arrive at some uniformity about whether to use "La Pointe" or "LaPointe" on the Web.
Today, I was delighted to learn that I've been appointed to the Wisconsin REALTORS Association (WRA) Equal Opportunity Committee!
The purpose of the EOC is to monitor and evaluate "legislative, legal and regulatory trends with respect to equal opportunity in housing". The EOC works with our WRA Public Policy Committee to help craft or influence pending or proposed legislation dealing with Fair Housing issues.
I feel honored to be invited to join this WRA committee. I believe that service on association committees and boards is more than an obligation. It's important for real estate professionals to "walk the talk" when it comes to Fair Housing and ethics issues. And service on a committee such as this one is, for me, part of that effort.
Today I attended the Wisconsin CRS Chapter luncheon at the Radisson Hotel and Convention Center, in Green Bay. The CRS luncheon was part of the event schedule for WRA's "Designation Week" which opened yesterday and continues through Friday, February 5.
2009 CRS Wisconsin Chapter members (left to right), Chapter President Pat Dollins, Eric Kodner, Jo Baldridge
Close to fifty Wisconsin CRS Chapter members attended today's networking luncheon, chaired by President Pat Dollins. Following the event, I spent a pleasant couple of hours staffing the CRS booth at the Convention Center, along with Pat Dollins and Jo Baldridge.
And this evening, our CRS Chapter hosted a hospitality suite at the Radisson, with a guest list that included CRS instructors Chuck Bode and LeRoy Houser, as well as 2008 WRA Chairman Mike Spranger.
The Council of Residential Specialists will be hosting their 2009 National "Sell-a-bration" in San Francisco, February 5-7.
According to information provided by some friends (and verified on the Web), the ice caves at the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore are now open and accessible.
Park rangers have reportedly cored the ice between the caves and Meyers Beach, and have found the ice thick enough to accomodate tourist traffic.
The ice caves are awesome and beautiful! You'll need a parking permit or 2009 seasonal pass in order to bring your vehicle into the Meyers Beach lot. You can call the Visitor Center at (715) 779-3398 x399 to verify if the lot is open for parking and to obtain price information.
Bring a camera or two and dress warmly..it can be extremely cold this time of year in the Apostle Islands! You'll have to walk approximately a mile across the frozen beach and lake ice to reach the Mawikwe caves.
LuxuryRealEstate.com created its "Luxury Lounge" just a few months ago and membership in the Lounge has grown dramatically.
A creation of Publisher John Brian Losh (who also pubishes "Who's Who in Luxury Real Estate") and his team at LuxuryRealEstate.com, the Luxury Lounge is a community of luxury property brokers and agents with impressive credentials. Members from all over the globe are now joining the Lounge and networking with colleagues.
In addition to Losh, the creation of the Luxury Lounge site may be credited to many members of the talented LuxuryRealEstate.com staff, including Meghan Barry, Bente Madtsen, Michael Edlund, Courtney Jackson, Brian Langhorst, Jaime Sanders, Betta Peterson, Sunmi Song and Lacey McGarry.
Here's an update on the current condition of the ice road between Bayfield, Wisconsin and Madeline Island.
According to the ice road "Hotline", the road was plowed last Thursday. I'm told the ice is now safe for cars and light trucks and the ice thickness will increase now that some of the snow has been removed from the ice surface.
Accumulating snow may have the effect of insulating the ice from the cold air above it, slowing the increase in ice thickness. The folks who maintain the ice road make an effort to keep the ice plowed once it has grown thick enough to support vehicles.
I plan to drive the ice road this coming week and I plan to upload a Flip video of that trip!
I spoke with my friend Steve McHugh (owner of the new Bell Street Gallery) around Noon today and he informed me that the "ice road" between Bayfield, Wisconsin and Madeline Island opened this morning.
Steve said the ice road is currently open to "cars and light trucks".
Aft view of the windsled "Ice Angel IV" near Madeline Island
A midday call to the Windsled Transportation Hotline (715-747-5400) didn't announce the ice road opening, but the recorded message is supposed to be updated later today.
I'd strongly suggest re-checking the Windsled Hotline number before you schedule a trip across the ice in your vehicle. You may also want to call Arnie Nelson (Nelson Construction in LaPointe) at 715-747-3300.
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