I am always late to the party.  Figuratively only.  I like to be prompt in real life.  But when it comes to the latest technology, I may not be the last one finding out, but I’m definitely not a trendsetter.

Yesterday I discovered a great app called Evernote.  It’s available for use on your computer (web based), the iPad, iPhone and Android phones (mine).  It's been available for years, but true to form, I am just discovering it.

As its name implies, it’s for making notes.  But it does so much more than that.  Their site’s tagline is simply “Remember Everything.” And it helps you do just that!  It can save your notes in so many formats that one would hesitate to think of them as “notes:” text, pictures, video, audio, pdf, etc.  And you can access your data across any of the platforms you happen to be on.  Here's a video with an overview:

I spent a while reading up on it and the more I read the more convinced I became that I needed to implement this in my day to day operations.  I approached my kids about it too as I want them to be able to benefit from the increased productivity that comes with becoming so organized (there are GREAT testimonials on the Evernote blog about students raising their GPA with the help of this app).  Right now my kids are not interested but it’s because the advice is coming from Mom.  Shame.

I won’t go into the many things Evernote is capable of in this post.  There are quite a few Active Rain posts on that.  I had fun reading several this morning.  I was disappointed though that I couldn’t find an Evernote group here in the Rain.  So strongly do I feel about the potential of this app that I created a group and went back to those posts and invited their authors to post their articles to the group.

Evernote is, without a doubt, one of those things that can have a huge impact on your productivity.  I am looking forward to learning more each day and implementing it little by little.  I think a group where users share their best practices would be a huge help in doing this.  Won’t you consider joining and sharing the ways you’re using Evernote to make yourself more productive and effective?

And if you’re new to Evernote, joining is easy and free.  I hope you’ll be intrigued enough to do so.  Yes, they have a premium version, and at $45/yr it won't break the bank.  But trust me, the free version will do fine for a good long time.  By the time you need more storage space you will be so hooked on it that you'll agree the small fee is more than worth it.  

I love Outlook.  Using it keeps me organized.  I use it, with a real estate specific overlay known as Respond, to keep track of my emails, database, calendar & transactions.  This post is not to convince folks who don't use Outlook, to use it.  Instead my intention is to provide a couple of ways I organize my Outlook setup in case it helps people use their Outlook better.

I find that with Outlook my systems are always evolving.  I tweak things as I go along.  Sometimes I find that something is not working for me and discover a better. more efficient, way to do the same thing.

My Calendar in Outlook looks like this:

This post is about using my time more effectively.  I can do that by having a system that allows me to delete an email if I need to, act on it immediately if the sistuation calls for it, or move it out of the Inbox and into a folder that will get checked regularly if the email can wait.  Keeping the Inbox clean and tidy all by itself is not my goal.  I can do that by just moving emails to a second Inbox.  But that would be me deluding myself.  After all, out of sight, really IS out of mind.  At least at my age it is.  LOL

The proverbial lightbulb over my head lit up today as I was processing emails.  I have to state that, number 1, I really do try to keep my Inbox empty, or at least under 30 emails.  Right now I have 26.  Number 2, I will NOT move an email into an off-folder just to comply with Number 1 (but this is a recent addition to my rules, I used to do this.  It stinks!).  So far, I did not have the right system for making sure the correct folders were set up and I would remember to check them.  Instead, I was losing a lot of time following up on emails when I received them.  Reacting is not productive.   The other options for me were: leave them in the Inbox until I could get back to them or move them to Inbox2 or another off-folder.  Neither option was really good at making me efficient.  The first one wastes time as I have to go back to the Inbox and re-read dozens of subject lines just to determine which one should be acted upon now that I have 30 minutes to work on administrative stuff.  The second one I've already dealt with.  Out of sight, out of mind.  Even if I did regularly check Inbox2, I was back to re-reading subject lines to determine importance.  And other off-folders NEVER got looked at as my system had not clicked yet.  Time waster.

So my problem was that I was acting upon emails as I received them.  Many times, this is the proper thing to do.  If you get an email from an escrow agent saying that there is a problem, it should be tended to in a timely fashion.  But if I get an email from Lowes Program, I do not have to act upon that immediately!  It can wait.  But just because it can wait, doesn't mean it's not important.  I had to come up with proper folders to move such emails into.  Folders I would remember to check when I had the time to do so.  Folders that make sense with the rest of the system I use.  Here's a picture of my Inbox and folders in Outlook:

The lightbulb over my head was shining its light on the answer.  Create folders that match the blocks of time on my calendar!  Of course, this only works if you have blocks of time set aside to see to all aspects of your business.  I do have such blocks of time set up.  See my calendar picture above.  So now I will move the Lowes email to the folder labeled Pers Mktg Admin.  This folder corresponds with the blocks of time in my calendar the by same name.  The detail is cut off in the picture above, but I have this blocked off 3 afternoons a week.  So I WILL get to it.

Some things I will be doing to make this system work for me:

• Read emails only during the blocks of time scheduled for reading emails (I have 4 small blocks a day scheduled for that).
• Delete all emails that can be deleted IMMEDIATELY.  If you really don't intend to purchase those tote bags with your logo why keep it for later?  The company will send you another email in the future.  Trust me.
• If the email needs you to act upon it and it can wait for a later time, move it to the proper folder IMMEDIATELY.  If it truly cannot wait, then I act on it now.
• My folders are all inside a sub-folder called ...Calendar Info.  Note that there are 3 dots preceding the name of this folder.  I only did this to ensure that the Calendar Info folder would be right at the top of the list.  I don't want to have to scroll down to find it each time I need to move an email.  By the way, the folders inside it all have 3 dots as well.  You do not need to do this.  It is redundant.  I did it before deciding that I wanted them inside a subfolder.  I decided this because if I didn't have them inside a subfolder, the list got long and bulky.
• Of course, I must keep my appointments with the time blocks on my calendar to ensure that I am following up on everything.  Each week I get better and better at this.  Even today, I had no Client Coffee/Lunch set up so I ate at my desk and worked on this post.
• When working on a specific time block, open the folder by same name and see what things need following up on.
• When finished with that item, delete the email, or move it to wherever you keep such things if it must be kept.  The goal is to keep these folders as close to empty as possible.  They are not meant to be filing folders.  They just temporarily house things so you can act on them.  And if you do move them elsewhere, do so only after deciding that they really do need saving.  Most of my non-transaction emails get deleted when I am done with them.  No need to keep a cluttered electronic filing cabinet just because you can keep purchasing more data storage.  Delete, delete, delete.  Things such as password resets and the like, I keep in a reference folder.
• If an email has a definite deadline, make sure that your next time block for that type of item will allow you to meet that deadline.  I am talking about something that is non-essential...for instance an offer to buy personalized magazines at a huge discount but the offer ends tomorrow at 5;00.  This isn't urgent, but if it's important to me that I not lose out on such a great deal, I will make sure that the deadline is met.  If it's not that important, trash it.  

Throughout the course of business and selling Miami short sales I speak to lots of consumers about the real estate market. Whenever the topic of short sale fraud comes up, they are always surprised. Then I explain what short sale fraud is and that it's alive and well in Miami, much to the chagrin of those of us who fight constantly to change the reputation that precedes us. It's an uphill battle when scams affecting banks and unsuspecting consumers are still so prevalent.

So, what exactly is short sale fraud? It takes various forms. Here are a couple of the more prevalent ones in Miami:

• The selling agent may line up a buyer for the property at market value, but submit a different, lower, offer to the bank for approval. Oftentimes this requires that others be involved in this as well, as the lender will send someone to do a BPO (Broker's Price Opinion - similar to an appraisal but performed by an agent hired by the lender). Once the bank approves the lower offer and the transaction closes, the property is then flipped and sold at true market value. The seller is usually not involved in this type of scam, but can be and would then share the profits of the flip. The loser? The bank holding the original mortgage note who got a lot less for the home than it was really worth.
• This other form is the one that I am seeing much more often and I hesitate to say "seeing" because I have no actual proof that it is happening, just clues, many clues, that point to its existence. This 2nd one involves the seller always. It takes place when a seller has no intention of really selling the house. His intention is to get out from under the "huge" debt (his original purchase price) and stay in the house at the new, lower price. How does this happen? The "sale" takes place to a known buyer, even though they both sign affidavits that it is an "arm's length transaction" and neither one has anything going on with the other (can we say "perjury" boys and girls?). The seller does not act on his own. His real estate professional (and I use the term lightly) has to be knowingly doing this. You see, there will be requests made by other agents who want to show the property. The listing agent then ignores all those requests to make sure the only offer submitted to the bank is the one mentioned above. Why even list it then? Because it is a lender requirement. Shady!!

Today I was looking at closed sales in an area of Miami I know really well and one stood out like a sore thumb. A short sale that had been listed at $660K dropped the asking price to $330K in a matter of two months (red flag #1). Immediately after cutting the price in half, it pended (accepted an offer and changed the status on the MLS to "Pending Sale"). Three months later the transaction closed with a sales price of $250K. This by itself is not the next red flag. But I know this area. This particular home is worth between $440K - $495K in today's market. And it sold for $250K? Big red flag. I'm not really sure whether it's fraud of type A or B above, but fraud it is.

Besides the fact that the banks are losing out on huge amounts of money, there are the homeowners in the surrounding areas who are affected as well. The property values are affected by these bogus sales and it hurts other homesellers trying to sell their homes at bona fide market value. With a sale such as this one being used by an appraiser, it will be difficult for legitimate home sales to appraise.

This is infuriating. Besides that, it's illegal. Sigh.

When I moved to Miami from New York City ten years ago, one of the many things that were new to me were the canals throughout Miami-Dade County.  New York City has no flooding problems, unlike South Florida, where the canals were added many years ago to help with the flooding problems.

A very nice perk to having these canals all over Miami are the ducks they provide paddling space for. =)  I know that ducks can be a nuisance in many Miami neighborhoods which have lakes or back up to canals.  People who don't listen to conventional wisdom feed the ducks and create a problem.  Once accustomed to being fed, they will return for more.

Because I don't live in such a neighborhood, I don't suffer from the duck nuisance but can enjoy them from afar.  Today was a treat.  I was driving through a lovely neighborhood in the Southwest Miami area and kept seeing ducks all over the place.  The cutest sight was the mama duck with fourteen ducklings trailing behind her each waddling across as if performing for me.  I stopped the car and thoroughly enjoyed the sight.

Please be careful with the duckies as you drive around!

I emailed an agent this morning to ask some specific questions about his short sale listing.  To his credit, his response time was great!  But that was the only thing that was.

He replied with:

"Call the number on the brokers remarks, that is the actual owner who is also a realtor.  Since its a short sale they are not allowed to list it so I do them the favor but they are handling it."

I looked at his signature and realized that he was the broker for a very large brokerage in Miami.  I was floored!

This "broker" is so dimwitted that he actually disclosed to me the fact that he is helping his agent commit short sale fraud?  He can't even claim he didn't know.  It's right there in his response:  "they are not allowed to list it."

There are so many things wrong with this scenario.  I have blog fodder for at least 6 months with this one. 

I have to work extra hard sometimes to polish up the tarnished reputation that precedes me wherever I go.  A reputation tarnished by unethical people who care more about money than they do about values and mores. 

Today it leaves a bad taste in my mouth to say "I am a real estate professional."  I need some mouthwash.

I've always been a thankful person.  Not for the material things in my life, but for the many people who make it wonderful.  There are so very many of them.

This song has always touched me.  I hope it does the same for you.  No points. =)  Just love.

The words are beautiful.  But don't just read them.  Watch the video and listen to the song.  Alabama did a marvelous job and the video maker put together a fitting tribute.

Acknowledge the many angels in your life.  Or simply know that the choices you make daily, make you an angel in someone else's life.  Be love.

I was walking home from school on a cold winter day

took a shortcut through the woods and I lost my way

it was getting late and I was scared and alone

but then a kind old man took my hand and led me home

now, Momma couldn’t see him, oh but he was standing there

and I knew in my heart he was the answer to my prayers

Oh, I believe there are angels among us

sent down to us from somewhere up above

they come to you and me in our darkest hours

to show us how to live, to teach us how to give

to guide us with the light of love

When life held troubled times and had me down on my knees

there's always been someone to come along and comfort me

a kind word from a stranger to lend a helping hand

a phone call from a friend just to say I understand

but ain’t it kind of funny at the dark end of the road

that someone lights the way with just a single ray of hope

Oh, I believe there are angels among us

sent down to us from somewhere up above

they come to you and me in our darkest hours

to show us how to live, to teach us how to give

to guide us with the light of love

They wear so many faces, show up in the strangest places

to grace us with their mercy in our time of need

Oh, I believe there are angels among us

sent down to us from somewhere up above

they come to you and me in our darkest hours

to show us how to live, to teach us how to give

to guide us with the light of love

to guide us with the light of love

For us diehard Outlook fans, I wanted to post about how I am handling saving the emails that go back and forth in any given transaction, without overloading Outlook.

Those of us who use and love Outlook, have already discovered that you can create a mail folder with your customer's name and save your emails in there.  I do this quickly by simply dragging the email over to the folder and dropping it there.  I drag and drop only after I have responded to the email or created a future task from it.  The idea being that out of sight really is out of mind.  So I do not want it out of sight until I know it requires no further follow-up.

But what do I do once the transaction closes and I have a customer folder with dozens, errr..... hundreds, of emails in it?  Anyone who has ever left too many emails in Outlook knows what havoc it can wreak.  It slows Outlook down and besides, Outlook was not meant to be a filing cabinet.  It processes your emails and can make you more efficient, but don't use it to file your old case files.  It was never meant for that.

In order for my archiving method to work, and serve as a complete and accurate archive of all emails a couple of things must be stated:

1. You must download all attachments received in those emails and save them to your hard drive.  This is assuming the attachment is worth saving.  That is for you to decide.  I create a folder on my hard drive for all my transactions and have a very specific folder "tree" which includes all my customers with any sort of contracts that must be saved (Listings and Sales for instance).  So any attachments which are emailed to me I download and save them to the customer folder on my hard drive.
2. All Sent emails pertaining to the transaction must also be saved (in Outlook).  You can either do this immediately after sending them, or skip this step if the recipient replies immediately and has included your email in their reply.  To save an email you've sent, you would click on the Sent folder, find your email (it is probably the top one if you just sent it) and drag it over to the customer folder.  This removes it from the Sent folder.  It does not create a copy.  The idea behind saving SENT emails is so you have proof you sent something even if the person does not respond.  Many folks don't respond to emails unless a response is required.  If only action is required, they may just act upon it but not respond to your email.  In any event, it's an e-paper trail that you did in fact send the info. (a note here...some folks use Read Receipts extensively.  I never have so I cannot discuss how that would work.  It may, in fact work better than saving a copy of your sent emails.  Any Read Receipt aficionados who want to provide input, please do).
3.  A month after a file closes I decide it’s time to archive the documents.  (you can do it sooner, later, at the end of the year, whatever makes sense for you.  I chose a month because most correspondence regarding a closing stops within a week after closing usually).
4. To Archive (MY version of archiving, not Outlook’s): Click on Customer folder (you will now see all items in that folder); Edit/Select All; Right click on the highlighted items; Print; Select your PDF writer then OK; Save the resulting PDF to your customer folder on your hard drive (not talking about folder in Outlook here).  I call the file Emails Archived. 
   

That’s it!  I now have a PDF file of many pages (178 was the last one I did) containing all the emails that went back and forth between me and the customer or anyone else involved in the transaction (closing agent; insurance agent; listing agent, etc.)

Then back in Outlook I delete the customer folder.  Yes, this means you cannot pull up an old email and respond to it, but so what?  Anything that ever transpired is in that PDF.  I can save it for years and satisfy the state requirement for email correspondence and make sure my E&O kicks in if I ever need it.  It also just makes sense that if I need to pull up some data that I know was in an email, it's there.  And it's searchable!  If I need to find the email about Supercalifragilistic, I just search the pdf file for that word.  Wooooo hooooo!

The beauty of this process is that it keeps Outlook lean and running smoothly the way it should.  It also keeps you organized and working efficiently and that's just a great feeling. 

This post is not directly about real estate.  It's about this great nation I call home, along with millions of others.

Although I was not born in this country, I love it as if it were my own.  When I go to sporting events, I am one of the first to jump up and loudly sing our National Anthem.  I can never do it without crying.  Sappy?  Maybe.  Genuine?  Definitely.

Someone sent me this video.  I couldn't watch it without shedding some tears either.  Although it's a little on the long side, it is worth every moment.  An enjoyable and profoundly moving history lesson.

Next time you hear our National Anthem being sung, join in and understand truly what the words mean.

Freedom isn't free.  The price continues to be paid by brave men and women.  May we recognize their sacrifice and not take it for granted.

Are you looking for something fun to do this Halloween weekend?   Pinecrest Parks & Recreation has the answer!

Track or Treat will be held on Halloween day at Evelyn Greer Park.  Miami-Dade Monster Merchants will be set up around the track providing treats to all ghosts, goblins and friends.  Please bring a trick-or-treat bag!  There will be a bounce house and haunted house.

Track or Treat

Evelyn Greer Park

Sunday, October 31, 2010

5:00 – 7:00pm

8200 SW 124 Street

Pinecrest, FL

FREE!

Domain of Fears will take place both Saturday and Sunday.  Enjoy an event of scary fun-fear where the killer cupid and his minions await your arrival! Travel through a scary graveyard, the gypsy’s tavern, the castle of hungry vampires, a torture chamber, a portal and killer cupid’s love nest.  This event is appropriate for all ages!  I’m guessing that means that even chickens such as myself can go without fear of really being scared to death.

Domain of Fears

Evelyn Greer Park

Saturday 10/30 & Sunday 10/31

5:00 – 9:00pm

8200 SW 124 Street

Pinecrest, FL

$5 per person