Are you addicted to Twitter and updating your status on Facebook. As of Jan 1st California will make it illegal to Text while you are driving. I know this seems like an obivious thing not to do but be honest I know I have punched in a reply while navigating through traffic once or twice ;)
Well now you don't have to type. Just say what you want, using your hands free device of course.
Dial2Do - Is a FREE Service and is available in 23+ Countries. You get all the functionality of Jott including, reminders, compose SMS or Emails, you can sync it to read you your email and you can even add appointments to your calander. All for FREE. Dial2Do also syncs to Ping.fm, Twitter, Blogger, freindfeed and a bunch of other tools.
Jott - Gives you quick 15 second note taking ability for free but charges for all the additional services.
PhoneTag - Formerly Simulscribe Charges a per message fee or a monthly subscription.
Yap - Comming Soon. We don't know what the terms of the service will be but you can register on their site to find out more when the service becomes available.
Dial2Do, Jott and PhoneTag all use a combination of Voice reconition software and Human verification to ensure accuracy. The Voice Reconition Software for Yap is susposed to be so advanced very little human correction is needed.
Now go out there and keep both hands on the wheel!
This morning I was looking for guidelines on the National Homebuyers Fund (NHF) Access Program for a client who is writing an offer. I went as I normally do to their web site www.nhfloan.org to find what I was looking for...
NHF still offers 100% CLTV financing, even if the home is in a declining market. The program can be leveraged for purchase money and rate-term refinances. The program can help borrowers with credit scores as low as 600 with automated approval. The program works by setting up a First Mortgage up to 95% and either a 2nd with low payments or Grant Funds with some down payment for the remainder.
So I typed in the url and nothing (Address Not Found)... I tried it again...Still Nothing. So I did a google search. I have the right address so I click on the link again... NOTHING (Address Not Found)!!! Another casualty of the mortgage meltdown I figured....
BUT Wait!
I did not give up there. I figured I'd try to call them. I found a phone number on one of the newsletters I have received from them."Were Sorry but we can not connect you call at this time." Maybe they really are gone.
I tried one last resource. Citi Bank handles the servicing for NHF, let me call one of my friends over there. I got my buddy Jay Cook on the line and he told me "NHF isn't there anymore." "They are moving down the street to a larger building." Wow! What a relief. The program is still alive.
It turns out that they disconnected everything during the move which will be completed in December. No Phones, No Website, just fond memories of a program to be Thankful for.
Now to find out if there are still funds and if our offer has been accepted???
Danke Schoen & Happy Thanksgiving,
Nate Ellis
Check with your loan officer for specific details and restrictions about the program.
Animoto give you a Cool Professional looking product. You can create a 30 second clip for FREE. You can upgrade the service to create longer Clips. The new Script rules in ActiveRain force you to export the video to YouTube first. (If you upgrade you get other options) You can also upload your own music for use with your Virtual Tour. Adding text is easy but you are limited on the number of characters.
Slide is a Great, Easy Free Virtual Tour Slide Show. You can now add free music to the Virtual Tour. The only annoying thing is Slide does not give you an option to not have the show start automatically. So if you are using slide make sure you only have one Slide Show with music set to play on each page. Text options are limited as only captions on each photo.
With all of these programs, if you have a lot of text you may want to create a picture with the text you want and upload it like a photo.
You may want to also take a look at RealEstateShows.com
If you like Animoto click on the Logo above and use the following code to get $5 Off. $5 Off Animoto Service Discount Code --- ogcxhpbi -- Danke Schoen, Nate Ellis REALTOR E-Marketing & Technology Coach Keller Williams Realty
We'll actually I am. I was just elected 2009 President of the Realtors Marketing Association (RMA) in San Ramon, Ca. Our elections were held on November 13, 2008.
Check out the speech I gave to win the election. It's all song titles. Can you guess How Many?
Congratulations to the rest of the elected board!
Mike Tacconi - Vice President
Ernie DeCoite - Treasurer
Joni Toy - Secretary
Haisam Nijem - Sgt at Arms
Dean Kanat - Sgt at Arms
The Thursday morning Real Estate Marketing meeting is held at the San Ramon Community Center and is a forum for Realtors to showcase homes for sale in San Ramon, Danville, Alamo, Blackhawk. Immediately following the meeting is the Broker's Open House Tour were Professionals can visit the homes presented at the meeting and other that are open for viewing.
I am know as Mr Danke Schoen,and have been member of the Realtors Marketing Association since 2004. I greet everyone at the meeting with a smile and a song every Thursday morning. The meeting is a great place to network and share incredible energy from all those in attendance.
Black Friday is almost upon us. Oh, you don't know what Black Friday is. Black Friday is not some day of remembrance or a time to worship the dead, but rather a day when people wander around like crazy Zombies to get the best deals on all kinds of stuff the Day After Thanksgiving. That's right Black Friday is the biggest shopping day of the year.
So why is this important? I hate shopping in those huge crowds. Besides who wants to get up and go shopping at 5am. (You'd be supprised how many people do)
Black Friday is a great opportunity to pick up all the stuff you have been talking about getting but have put off.
Many of the stores have Internet Only deals as well so you don't have to fight the crowds. But why not go and stand in line a couple of hours talk to people in line and get your lead generation out of the way at the same time. If nothing else you can work off some of the turkey from the night before while you sprint for the 42" 1080i Plasma HDTV for $500. Be carful some of those Zombies are REALLY hungry!
Check out the ads and start making your shopping list.
TechTuesday "Online Polls" Technology Update for the Real Estate Professional 1.9
Novenber 4, 2008 Volume 1 Issue 9
So you have the election on your mind and you you want to know if your candidate has won. If you have subscribed to TechTuesday you would know that's not what we do here. Today's TechTuesday we will show you how to construct an online poll for Free. Who will win the Election? Vote Early - Vote Often.
Now that you have the basics here are a few more tips to help you build your poll.
You can start building your poll once you are in Google Docs by clicking the NEW tab and selecting FORM.
I suggest you use the actual words you want people to choose from in the form instead of numbers like in the video. To do the count with text the formula would be:
"=Countif(b2:b100,"Your Text Here")"
I recommend creating your graph on a seperate sheet. After you have created your new graph you can get the Embed Code to add to your website.
Go to the right of the screen and select SHARE-->Publish as Web Page. Check the auto update box, and select the MORE OPTIONS link at the bottom left of the box. In the New screen select HTML EMBED then click get HTML.
Go out and get your own polling numbers!
Nate Ellis "Mr Danke Schoen"
Keller Williams Realty E-Marketing & Technology Coach
By the way this poll is no way scientific and has a margin of error of 99.9%
Woo..Haa..Ha..Ha..Haah! Did I scare you? Probably not since there are far more scary things going on in the market right now anyway. Today's TechTuesday I'm going to teach you how to speak in Tounges. Well Actually I'm going to show you a bunch of tools to help you translate stuff and learn to speak other languages.
Have you ever received a message like this "удовлетворить вашу женщину с большими мужчина сока"? Do you want to know what is says? You will need to translate it. You have a couple of options to do this. You could just learn every possible language and hope this one is one you know...or you could translate it online. There are several online translation sites to choose from. Here are two of the big ones. Of course by know you have figured out that one of my favorite sites is Google. As luck would have it Google has a translation program for you. You get to select the current language and can translate it into over 30 different languages.
If Google make you feel like a fish out of water then try BabelFish. This is Yahoo's translation program. It can be a bit quicker because you have only one pull down menu for translation options. The short fall is there are not as many translation options.
Both give you the ability to translate whole web pages, just copy the URL and paste it in the translator. Remember these are literal translations. If you are trying to reach an audience of native speakers with your message, I suggest you look at other options like Systran Business Translator unless sounding like a 1st grader works for your marketing.
Speaking
So the words aren't good enough. You actually want to be able to make sounds come out of your mouth in the hopes that someone at the local McDonalds will understand you. You know what they say...If you at least 3 languages you are Worldly, 2 languages you are smart and one language..."Your American". So lean to order your Big Mac in three languages.
To get a jump on learning a language the best resource is a leap across the pond. The has set up a wonderful robust site that can help you learn to speak several different languages. They even send you homework via email. If you just want a quick fix language phrase book, they have that too.
For a more advanced lesson you can join Rosetta Stone or a more economical option like or . If you just want Spanish try The best way of course is to emerse yourself in the culture so go on a trip. Just_For_Fun
Ever feel like you voice didn't match you personality. Or maybe your an Old man surfing the internet posing as a teenage girl for the next John Stossel Sting. Well any way do we have a program for you. The Screaming Bee MorphVOX Voice Changer. With its pitch changer you can sound like a Munchkin or Issac Hayes, you decide.
Tired of searching Google in English? Try searching in Pirate. That's right matey, you can have your searches swingin' frum the gallows. You can even search for Captain Kirk in "Klingon" or that screwy rabbit in "Elmer Fudd". Sign in to your Gmail account and log in to your preferences. You can even choose from a bunch of Real languages too.
Danke Schoen,
Nate Ellis REALTOR E-Marketing and Technology Coach HomeWay.tv Keller Williams Realty East Bay
So you may have heard that Google has developed it own Phone operating system called Android. Today I'm going to show you how to put the power of Google in your phone with out upgrading or trading in for a new one. Google has set up a Free Service for everyone to harness the power of Google with almost any cell phone. The key to unlocking the power is by TEXTing.
Here's a little story how I found all the info I needed with out my computer and only my phone.
This morning I woke up and had to catch a flight to Austin, TX. I kissed my wife and kids goodbye and was breaking for the door when I realized I should check the weather before I leave. My laptop was packed up and it takes too long to start my Home PC, so I grabbed my phone and TEXT Google at 466453. I send the message "w Austin TX" a few seconds later I get "64F, Rain". Guess I better grab an umbrella.
So I hopped in a cab and made my way to the airport. Its a bit foggy this morning, better check to make sure myflight is on time so I text Google again with my airline and flight number "SW 105", Whala! "Ontime". The cabby isn't very talkative and is listening to French radio. I check how the market is fairing this morning and text Google the stock ticker "dji" (Dow Jone Industrial), market is up 78.4 points, sweet!
We are almost at the airport and I'd like to say thank you in French to my cabby. I text Google "t Thank You in French" and I get "Merci". We get to the airport and my cab ride is $87.45 WHAT??? So, I'm a little rattled and can't figure out how much I need to tip Frenchy for the ride. I ask Google to Calculate it for me "87.45 * 1.15" Google tells me "100.5675" so I give the cabby a $100 bill and race to the terminal. I know I shorted him a bit, but $87 bucks for a cab ride...c'mon.
As I'm standing in line I notice the lady in front of me (OK get your minds out of the gutter) has a cool rolling laptop bag. I ask her where she got it and how much it cost. She said she got it at a luggage store and paid about $100. So I ask Google to Price it for me. "Price Rolling Laptop Bag" "Targus Rolling Notebook Case $34-$67" Pretty good deal I'll need to look for one after the trip. As I wait at the terminal I check the market again. Yikes! down 57 points. Let see how my baseball team did last night "SF Giants" "SFGiants 7, LA Dodgers 2 final" at least my team won last night.
I look through my bag as I'm waiting for the plane and I realize I forgot the directions to the Hotel. So I start by getting the address by looking up the Hotel "Marriott Austin TX". Google found a couple of them. But I know its the one on 4th ST. Now I need the Airport Address "Airport Austin TX" Now its time for directions "3600 presidential blvd 78719 to 300 E 4th 78701". Perfect now the directions are on my phone. I wonder what there cell phone use laws are while driving? Google didn't have an answer for me on that one....
When you need the answer to something why not ask Google. There are a few more things that Google can help you with using their SMS service.You can send them a text message to 466453 to get info for the following items. Standard text message rates apply from your phone provider.
Examples
SMS Function
Short
Long
Local
Pizza 94598
Pizza walnut creek CA
To get business listings, enter what you want to find and include a city and state, or zip
Weather
w 94598
weather walnut creek CA
To get weather information, enter 'weather' (or 'w') followed by a city and state, or zip
Glossary
d ubiquitous
define ubiquitous
To find definitions on the Web, enter 'define' (or 'd') followed by the word or phrase
Sports
sf giants
sf giants
For NBA/NHL/MLB/NFL/NCAA scores/schedules, enter a team name (ex: Lakers, Sharks, Mets, Jets, Duke). Available only for sports in season.
Movies
Batman 94598
Batman walnut creek CA
To get movie showtimes, enter the name of a CURRENT movie and include a city and state, or zip
Stocks
dji
dji stock
To get stock quotes, enter a SINGLE stock ticker symbol or the word 'stock' followed by a less obvious ticker name
Zip Code
94598
Look up zip code information by entering a zip code
Driving Directions
94598 to 94806
walnut creek ca to richmond ca
To get driving directions, enter your start address then 'to' followed by your destination address
Maps
map walnut creek ca
Map 3021 citrus circle walnut creek ca
To get a link to the map of an address, enter 'map' followed by the full address
Flights
Ua 14
united airlines 14
To get flight information, enter the flight number to get gate times or the airline to get the phone number
Area Codes
925
Look up area code information by entering an area code
Products
Input (UPC/ISBN)
price computer
To get product prices, enter 'price' followed by the product name, or enter the UPC/ISBN code directly.
Q&A
Enter a fact-based question or query to get facts (ex: india population, who wrote hamlet).
Transaltion
t hello to spanish
translate hello to spanish
To get translations, enter 'translate' (or 't') followed by the expression, 'to' and a destination language, supports: english, spanish, french, german, italian
Web Snippets
To get snippets from generic Web results, enter 'web' followed by the search terms (ex: web stanford university, web ringtones for phone).
Calculator
Use calculator to solve math problems, units of measure or currency conversions (ex: 5+2*2, half cup in teaspoon, 70F in C, 1 dollar in pound, 3 USD in GBP).
Danke Schoen,
Nate Ellis REALTOR E-Marketing and Technology Coach HomeWay.tv Keller Williams Realty East Bay
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// //////// Have you had enough of This YEAR?////////// ////////////Octoberis a GREAT TIME to////////////////// /////////////start planning for Next YEAR.//////////////// //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
There is no better way to avoid a slump then by planning for success. Top Agents have told me that having the mindset for success has carried their business through many a winter. So here are some FREE Tools to help your business start the New Year Stronger.
Start with a Plan
So you wanna double your business next year. How ya gonna do it? Just going out and knocking on more doors may increase your numbers a bit, but Do YOU Have a Plan? So you want a plan but don't know where to start. Thats OK. A great businessman wants to share some of his secrets with you, for FREE.
Donald Trump wants to teach you How to Write a Business Plan. While tips on Hair Styles are not Trump's forte, I'm sure you can learn some tips on improving your business plan.
After you've taken your lesson from "The Donald", get yourself Fired Up and start writing your Plan. If you are a Real Estate Professional there is no better guide than the Millionaire Real Estate Agent (MREA), or the Real Estate Bible as it is so fondly referred to.You will need to buy the Book, but I am sure with the exodus of Realtors from the business you can find one on the shelf at your local Used Book store. Or you can just use the tools available to all for FREE at MillionaireSystems.com You get access to many tools to help you Plan, Track and Build your business.
Get Some Tools to Track Your Results
You've got a plan Now Let's Track it! You are going to need to be able to track your Money and Track your Clients. Here's how you can do it for Free.
Tired of Paying Top Producer, ACT or SalesForce.com every month just so you can send out a couple of emails. Here is a FREE option to help you manage your Clients. ZOHO CRM (crm - Client Relationship Management) is a fabulous online tool to manage your clients information and the sales process. While this is a FREE Toll it is not set up for a Real Estate Business. You will need to spend a bit of time customizing the fields so they are useful for your business. Zoho also has a host of additional online tools to help your business that can replace the use of Microsoft Office.
Now that you can keep track of your Clients lets keep track of YOUR Money. Since you are managing your funds why should you pay for software to do that. OK so there are very good reasons to pay for software to do this, but if you need something to get you started for Free how about something from One of the Best Makers of Financial Software - Quickbooks. This gives you all the tools to start managing your money and your business. If you need more automation and advanced tools you will need to upgrade or incorporate one of their other services.
Now that you have made your money time to Pay Uncle Sam. TaxACT lets you File Your taxes for FREE. TaxACT does not have an income restriction or require any rebates to file your taxes on their website. You will still need to pay to file your State return so you may just end up upgrading anyway. (Hmmm...thats how they get you)
Go Out and Get The Business
You now have a Plan, the tools to implement it Time to get the business. There are many ways to get leads. Here are a couple of suggestions to help you get Free ones.
Blog, blog, BLOG - Get on the internet and let people know who you are. Write about things you know about and like and people will respond. It takes a while to develop this lead source. Just remember as you write, always ask "Is this the First Impression I want to Make" Sign up and start Blogging today.
Lead Lists - If you are in the Real Estate business many title companies can provide you with contact lists of people who own homes in the area. All of this info is public info and can be pulled up on your own by going to the County as well.
Free Leads - If you want a bunch of FREE Leads you can check out SalesGenie.com They will give you 100 Free Leads in the hopes that you buy a bunch more from them. These leads will be very, very, very basic and are shared with lots of people. But Hey! Free is Free.
If that's not enough you can always go out and knock on some more doors!
A Man, A Plan, a Canal, Panama!
Danke Schoen and Happy and Profitable Planning,
Nate Ellis REALTOR Technology Coordinator www.HomeWay.tv Keller Williams Realty East Bay
In this issue of TechTuesday we will talk about FREE Tech Support options.
FREE TECH SUPPORT Have you ever had a problem with your computer and there was either nobody to help you fix it or you couldn't figure it out? Have you wished and prayed to the Microsoft Gods for a fix to a glitch? Or maybe you are pretty good with stuff and you just need a little help on writing some HTML code.
Here are 3 FREE sites you can visit for help with your questions.
If you're looking for free technical support, you've found it! This site is run completely by volunteers and paid for completely by donations and sponsors. There is no charge to you (although we do appreciate donations). To get started, check out the Tech Support Guy Forums. We hope you will return frequently! First, you might want to try searching for your answer. Chances are, someone else has already had the same problem you are! If you can't find what you're looking for by searching, you can post your question in our Forums, where other users will try to answer your question.
5 Star Support has offered its "Free Computer Technical Support" service along with hundreds of free computer software downloads for over 7 years! Our dedication to this online computer support community has earned the respect of computer users world wide.
We have assembled one page dedicated to Computer Security. Anything that you need to know about the latest in security threats can be found here at our "Security Center".
An alternate method of free pc support is our "Free Computer Help Forums". There are many friendly moderators on staff eager to help you troubleshoot your computer problems!
Visit our "Computer Tutorials" section for many free computer support related articles, such as; Clean Installation of Windows Vista, Install a Home Network, Configuring a Network Card, Partition a Hard Drive and many more pc help related articles!
We have hundreds of free computer self-help "Tips, Tricks & Tweaks" available at our Tips, Tricks & Tweaks section.
If you're looking for Computer Troubleshooting information, look no further. We have a large database of searchable information at your disposal located in the "Troubleshooting FAQ" section.
Got a headache with your computer and no budget to fix it ..... protonic.com is here to help. We are a free service manned by volunteers all over the planet, helping people fix technology problems. We enjoy the challenge of solving your problem, we are up to date and work as a team. Our standards are assured by Quality Assurance sampling .... we do our best to put the smile back on your face.
Check out the sites above for your Tech questions. You will need to register to gain access to the forums and ask questions but you can usually browse the forums without registering. Most of your tech questions will be answered by email but some of the services do offer a chat board for immediate resolution. While these are trusted sites I DO NOT RECOMMEND granting any of the techs REMOTE ACCESS to your computer. Remote access is the ability of the other user to take control of your computer to manipulate your system files. Get the list of otherFREE Things that Everyone Should Know About.
Danke Schoen,
Nate Ellis REALTOR Technology Coordinator Keller Williams Realty East Bay
Disclaimer: ActiveRain Corp. does not necessarily endorse the real estate agents, loan officers and brokers listed on this site. These real estate profiles, blogs and blog entries are provided here as a courtesy to our visitors to help them make an informed decision when buying or selling a house. ActiveRain Corp. takes no responsibility for the content in these profiles, that are written by the members of this community.
Go to the right of the screen and select SHARE-->Publish as Web Page. Check the auto update box, and select the MORE OPTIONS link at the bottom left of the box. In the New screen select HTML EMBED then click get HTML.
Tired of searching Google in English? Try searching in Pirate. That's right matey, you can have your searches swingin' frum the gallows. You can even search for Captain Kirk in "Klingon" or that screwy rabbit in "Elmer Fudd". Sign in to your Gmail account and log in to your 
This morning I woke up and had to catch a flight to Austin, TX. I kissed my wife and kids goodbye and was breaking for the door when I realized I should 
So I hopped in a cab and made my way to the airport. Its a bit foggy this morning, better 
We are almost at the airport and I'd like to 
As I'm standing in line I notice the lady in front of me (OK get your minds out of the gutter) has a cool rolling laptop bag. I ask her where she got it and how much it cost. She said she got it at a luggage store and paid about $100. So I ask Google to 
I look through my bag as I'm waiting for the plane and I realize I forgot the directions to the Hotel. So I start by getting the address by 
.jpg "MREA Standing")
;)
;)
