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    <title>FRIENDLY HILLS Homes for Sale WHITTIER, Ca. Real Estate *LISTINGS* MARK VELASCO's Blog</title>
    <link>http://activerain.com/blogs/mrmarkv</link>
    <description></description>
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    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/2550394/steve-job-s-seven-secrets-of-success-come-on-and-steal-them-he-wants-you-to-</guid>
      <title>Steve Job's Seven Secrets of Success. Come on and steal them, he wants you to!</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;This List posted by William Johnson was a great summary of Steve Jobs' commencement speect at Stanford University in June of 2005.&amp;nbsp; The only thing that I felt might be missing is the actual speech itself.&amp;nbsp; It is a compelling and powerful message that is even more powerful now after his death.&amp;nbsp; Enjoy:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/steve_jobs_how_to_live_before_you_die.html" title="Steve Jobs' Commencement Speech at Stanford University:"&gt;Steve Jobs' Commencement Speech at Stanford University:&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div id="reblogging_tag"&gt;Via &lt;b&gt;&lt;a href="http://activerain.com/blogsview/2546507/steve-job-s-seven-secrets-of-success-come-on-and-steal-them-he-wants-you-to-"&gt;San Diego Real Estate Voice authored by William Johnson GRI CRS e-Pro CDPE (RE/MAX Associates)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt;:&lt;br&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Steve Job's Seven Secrets of Success&lt;/strong&gt;. Come on and steal them, he wants you to!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;strong&gt;Do what you love&lt;/strong&gt;-don't settle, passion is everything. Do it because you love it.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;strong&gt;Put a dent in the universe&lt;/strong&gt;. Develop a clear and concise vision. Have the courage to follow your heart.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;strong&gt;3&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;strong&gt; Say no to a thousand things&lt;/strong&gt;. Focus. Reduce the clutter, make it simple. Get the spark back. Simplicity of &lt;br&gt;having only half dozen people you consult with.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;strong&gt;4. Kick start your brain by doing something new&lt;/strong&gt;. Develop an inquiring mind. Unexpected connections.&amp;nbsp; The apple stores design is based on &lt;a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/carminegallo/2011/05/20/how-the-four-seasons-helped-apple-store-rewrite-the-rules/" title="Four Seasons"&gt;The Four Seasons. &lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;strong&gt;5&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;strong&gt;Sell dreams, not products&lt;/strong&gt;. Re-think something as an entirely new experience. Example, the iPhone revolutionized the telephone experience.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;strong&gt;6.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;strong&gt;Create insanely great experiences&lt;/strong&gt;.&amp;nbsp; Innovate by creating an extraordinary consumer experience.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;strong&gt;7&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;strong&gt;Master the message&lt;/strong&gt;. Steve re-invented the phone.&amp;nbsp; It 's all about how well you communicate.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;Steve Jobs was a Genius, a Perfectionist. The ultimate visionary. Steal his secrets, he expects it!. &lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;Steve once said " Good artists copy, Great artists steal "&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;img title="San DiegoVoiceForRealEstate.com" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/3/3/3/8/9/ar131805678698333.jpg" height="639" alt="Tribute to Steve Jobs" style="margin: 9px;" width="700"&gt;&lt;br&gt;"&lt;strong&gt;You may not want to change the world but you can change and make better your little part of it".&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Presented here as&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;strong&gt; my way to pay tribute to the Inventor and Innovator that touched the most lives in our lifetime.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
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&lt;/div&gt; &lt;div class="agent_signature"&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://kontactr.com/user/markvelasco"&gt;&lt;img src="http://kontactr.com/pics/small.gif" border="0" height="16" alt="" width="90"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>FRIENDLY HILLS Homes for Sale WHITTIER, Ca. Real Estate *LISTINGS* MARK VELASCO (Realty Source, Inc (Luxury Homes Division))</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Mon, 10 Oct 2011 21:15:15 -0700</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/2550394/steve-job-s-seven-secrets-of-success-come-on-and-steal-them-he-wants-you-to-</link>
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    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/2443009/what-is-the-greatest-source-of-business-in-real-estate-</guid>
      <title>What is the Greatest Source of Business in Real Estate?</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What is the Greatest Source of Business in Real Estate?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Here is a hint: It has nothing to do with the internet.&amp;nbsp; Yes, NOTHING to do with technology.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;We all know that any type of sales is a numbers game:&amp;nbsp; A sales person who contacts 2,000 people will generate more sales than someone who is calling only 200 people.&amp;nbsp; However, I am not saying that we need to contact more people that we do not know.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Our greatest source of business in any industry is Repeat Business and Referrals.&amp;nbsp; It takes soo much time, money and energy to be the ONLY promoter of your business.&amp;nbsp; WHAT IF??&amp;nbsp; You had 10 or 20 people promoting your services as a Realtor?&amp;nbsp; Your sales would go up by 10 to 20 times.&amp;nbsp; &lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;Every happy client SHOULD equal a new referral every year.&lt;/span&gt;&amp;nbsp; What this means to me as a Realtor:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;* Focus on the Clients wants and needs as opposed to getting a commission check.&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; If you put your clients first, the money will definitely take care of itself (over time)&lt;img title="Dishonsty" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/6/7/1/6/7/ar131282451776176.jpg" height="191" alt="Dishonesty" width="135" style="margin: 2px; float: right; border: black 2px solid;"&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;* Always be up front and honest with your clients.&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; It is the ONLY way to gain &lt;strong&gt;credibiltiy&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;respect&lt;/strong&gt; from your clients.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;*&amp;nbsp;Do your BEST work at all times&lt;/strong&gt; (even if the commission check is going to be small).&amp;nbsp; We are in the people business and NOT in the commission business.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;* Communication is KEY.&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; This begins with answering your phone or getting back to your clients ASAP.&amp;nbsp; Your clients need to be able to tell you anything (especially when spending a half a million dollars on a home purchase)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;* ASK for referrals because you actually earned the right to be mentioned to friends and family.&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; They will only promote your business if you have done a great job.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Mark Velasco-&lt;em&gt;The 1 Day Home Seller&lt;/em&gt; (So California)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Search MLS: &lt;a href="http://www.CustomHomeSearches.com"&gt;&lt;span style="color: #1e77b9;"&gt;www.CustomHomeSearches.com&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp; find out &lt;a href="http://www.sangabrielvalleyhomesearch.com/sell/" title="What is my home worth?" target="_blank"&gt;&lt;span style="color: #1e77b9;"&gt;What is my home worth?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;div class="agent_signature"&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://kontactr.com/user/markvelasco"&gt;&lt;img src="http://kontactr.com/pics/small.gif" border="0" height="16" alt="" width="90"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>FRIENDLY HILLS Homes for Sale WHITTIER, Ca. Real Estate *LISTINGS* MARK VELASCO (Realty Source, Inc (Luxury Homes Division))</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Mon, 08 Aug 2011 13:32:53 -0700</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/2443009/what-is-the-greatest-source-of-business-in-real-estate-</link>
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      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/2273627/how-to-get-a-call-back-from-a-listing-agent</guid>
      <title>How to Get a Call Back From a Listing Agent</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How to Get a Call Back From a Listing Agent:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Warning: This is my first RANT ever.&amp;nbsp;Please bear with me.&amp;nbsp; I just had one of my &lt;strong&gt;One Day Home Sales&lt;/strong&gt; this past Saturday and I was really frustrated by the messages that were left for me.&amp;nbsp; Here are some &lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;tips on leaving a message that will get a call back from me:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;strong&gt;Speak CLEARLY&lt;/strong&gt;.&amp;nbsp; Two of my thirty plus messages mumbled so much that I actually could NOT understand their name or phone number (No call back possible here, I really DID try to understand)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;strong&gt;Speak SLOWLY&lt;/strong&gt;.&amp;nbsp; I understand that time is money, however, if you speak soo fast that I cannot even understand your phone number, then I may not call back. Three of our fast speaking friends ALMOST did not get a call back.&amp;nbsp; (I think that after listening to your message the third time should be enough to get the entire number).&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;3.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;strong&gt;Leave your number TWICE.&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; I am mostly speaking to the fast talkers in #2.&amp;nbsp; However, a few messages were garbled and leaving your number twice saves me the time of having to look you up.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;4.&amp;nbsp; Limit your messages to LESS THAN 1 MINUTE.&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; DO NOT leave me a four minute message on why your total LOW BALL cash client should get the home.&amp;nbsp; There were at least 4 other cash buyers MUCH higher than your price...so don't waste my time.&amp;nbsp; &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Let your offer and documentation speak for itself.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;5.&amp;nbsp; Don't call me at 6am.&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; I will answer my phone at most hours of the day for MY CLIENTS, but not for you.&amp;nbsp; Respect decent business hours.&amp;nbsp; You could wait until at least 8am, right?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;6.&amp;nbsp; DO NOT argue the comps for MY LISTING.&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; I know my "stuff" and I have never had to lower my Seller's price because it did not appraise.&amp;nbsp; You don't like my other offers' prices...then move on.&amp;nbsp; There are many other homes.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;7.&amp;nbsp; Do not ask me to do you a favor.&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; My loyalty and responsibility is to get my Seller the highest and best price.&amp;nbsp; NOT to do a favor for an agent that I do not even know...REALLY??&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Thats it for now.&amp;nbsp; Thanks for "listening"...that felt great.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Mark Velasco-Southern California Realtor (LA County)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.FriendlyHillsAgent.com" title="www.FriendlyHillsAgent.com" target="_blank"&gt;www.FriendlyHillsAgent.com&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;a href="http://www.CustomHomeSearches.com"&gt;www.CustomHomeSearches.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Search MLS: &lt;a href="http://www.sangabrielvalleyhomesearch.com/listings/propertytype/SINGLE/beds/3/areas/35575" title="Downey" target="_blank"&gt;Downey&lt;/a&gt;,&amp;amp; &lt;a href="http://www.sangabrielvalleyhomesearch.com/listings/propertytype/SINGLE/beds/3/areas/53097" title="Whittier" target="_blank"&gt;Whittier&lt;/a&gt;, CA &lt;a href="http://www.sangabrielvalleyhomesearch.com/sell/" title="What is my home worth?" target="_blank"&gt;What is my home worth?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;div class="agent_signature"&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://kontactr.com/user/markvelasco"&gt;&lt;img src="http://kontactr.com/pics/small.gif" border="0" height="16" alt="" width="90"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>FRIENDLY HILLS Homes for Sale WHITTIER, Ca. Real Estate *LISTINGS* MARK VELASCO (Realty Source, Inc (Luxury Homes Division))</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Mon, 02 May 2011 02:09:05 -0700</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/2273627/how-to-get-a-call-back-from-a-listing-agent</link>
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      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1975967/the-truth-hurts-especially-when-you-re-not-telling-it-</guid>
      <title>The Truth Hurts (Especially When You're NOT Telling It)</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The Truth Hurts (Especially When You're NOT Telling It)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I had a Listing appointment with a very nice woman a few weeks ago. She invited me into her home and let me share ALL of the information that I had for her home.&amp;nbsp; Finally, came the BIG Question: &lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What is my home worth?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&amp;nbsp; I gave her the value range for her home ending with an estimated List price.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;She was exstatic.&amp;nbsp; Why?&amp;nbsp; Because she said that I was the first Agent (out of 3) that gave her the FULL information regarding her home.&amp;nbsp;&lt;strong&gt; Her complaints were as follows:&amp;nbsp; &lt;img title="lying" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/4/7/6/7/0/ar129005935907674.jpg" height="141" alt="lying" width="126" style="margin: 2px; float: right;"&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;1.&amp;nbsp; The other two Agents had &lt;strong&gt;left out&lt;/strong&gt; the &lt;strong&gt;lowest Comps for her home&lt;/strong&gt;.&amp;nbsp;(She already had a complete set of her own!)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;2.&amp;nbsp; One of the Agents&amp;nbsp;actually &lt;strong&gt;laughed at her&lt;/strong&gt; when she asked about the "omitted" property saying that it was NOT a real sale (when it was a REAL sale)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;3.&amp;nbsp; Both of the other Agents&lt;strong&gt; bad mouthed the other Agent AND myself&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;LISTING TIPS:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;1.&lt;strong&gt; Give ALL information for a home&lt;/strong&gt; (even when it does NOT line up with your view of the home's value).&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;2.&amp;nbsp;&lt;strong&gt; Never laugh at another person EVER&lt;/strong&gt;. It is just plain rude and should NEVER be done.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;3.&amp;nbsp; &lt;strong&gt;Do NOT bad mouth the competition&lt;/strong&gt; because it makes people look classless and insecure.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In this case, the truth hurts because the other two Agents were not telling it.&amp;nbsp; Our Sellers have access to more information than ever before.&amp;nbsp; Trying outsmart our Sellers is NOT a wise thing to do...EVER.&amp;nbsp; It is bad business and it is bad Karma.&amp;nbsp; What say you?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Mark Velasco-Southern California Realtor (LA County)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.sangabrielvalleyhomesearch.com/" title="www.SanGabrielValleyHomeSearch.com" target="_blank"&gt;www.SanGabrielValleyHomeSearch.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Search MLS: &lt;a href="http://www.sangabrielvalleyhomesearch.com/community/area/Arcadia" title="Arcadia" target="_blank"&gt;Arcadia&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="http://www.sangabrielvalleyhomesearch.com/community/area/SanMarino/" title="San Marino" target="_blank"&gt;San Marino&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="http://www.sangabrielvalleyhomesearch.com/community/area/SouthPasadena/" title="South Pasadena" target="_blank"&gt;South Pasadena&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="http://www.sangabrielvalleyhomesearch.com/listings/propertytype/SINGLE/beds/3/areas/35575" title="Downey" target="_blank"&gt;Downey&lt;/a&gt;,&amp;amp; &lt;a href="http://www.sangabrielvalleyhomesearch.com/listings/propertytype/SINGLE/beds/3/areas/53097" title="Whittier" target="_blank"&gt;Whittier&lt;/a&gt;, CA &lt;a href="http://www.sangabrielvalleyhomesearch.com/sell/" title="What is my home worth?" target="_blank"&gt;What is my home worth?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;div class="agent_signature"&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://kontactr.com/user/markvelasco"&gt;&lt;img src="http://kontactr.com/pics/small.gif" border="0" height="16" alt="" width="90"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>FRIENDLY HILLS Homes for Sale WHITTIER, Ca. Real Estate *LISTINGS* MARK VELASCO (Realty Source, Inc (Luxury Homes Division))</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Thu, 18 Nov 2010 01:09:31 -0800</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1975967/the-truth-hurts-especially-when-you-re-not-telling-it-</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1683956/never-give-up</guid>
      <title>Never Give Up</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Never Give Up&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;This was &lt;strong&gt;a speech given by Winston Churchill&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;strong&gt;at a graduation ceremony&lt;/strong&gt; many, many years ago. Actually, he said it slowly and with more emphasis about four or five times and sat down.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;This is the way of our world: if we do not give up...we will eventually get what we are working for&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Would we ever give up on a Baby's chance of walking&amp;nbsp;just because it keeps on&amp;nbsp;falling on its bottom? "It's legs do not work and that baby will never walk?" Of course not! That baby will keep falling for a few weeks or even a few months...then...voila...it can walk.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;This week a Client of mine will be closing on the home of her dreams. She had given up about four months ago. She felt that she was priced out of her dream home. Not me. I kept reviewing her search every couple of weeks.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Four months later...I found what she was looking for.&amp;nbsp; She is going to close late this week and she could not be any happier. &lt;strong&gt;Three words: Never give up!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Best Of Luck To You All,&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Mark Velasco-Southern California Realtor (LA County)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.sangabrielvalleyhomesearch.com/" title="www.SanGabrielValleyHomeSearch.com" target="_blank"&gt;www.SanGabrielValleyHomeSearch.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;div class="agent_signature"&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://kontactr.com/user/markvelasco"&gt;&lt;img src="http://kontactr.com/pics/small.gif" border="0" height="16" alt="" width="90"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>FRIENDLY HILLS Homes for Sale WHITTIER, Ca. Real Estate *LISTINGS* MARK VELASCO (Realty Source, Inc (Luxury Homes Division))</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Tue, 08 Jun 2010 02:55:41 -0700</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1683956/never-give-up</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1677836/would-yelling-ever-accomplish-a-positive-result-</guid>
      <title>Would Yelling EVER Accomplish a Positive Result?</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Would Yelling EVER Accomplish a Positvie Result?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In a word NO. I was showing some homes to a Client of mine in the San Dimas, Ca. area near Bonneli park and in La Verne, Ca. Her limit is under $2 Milliion.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I sent her some homes the night before. I told her that they were very similar to the one that she had sent to me for viewing the next day. She had not had a chance to look at the other Listings. However, she DID want to see these 3 other homes in the area.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;When we met at the first home, I showed her the other Listings. &lt;strong&gt;She said that she liked two and wanted to see them. The third, she said "was not her style."&lt;/strong&gt; Wanting to be courteous, &lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;I called the Listing Agent to let him know that my Client was not interested in this particular home and would not be seeing it after all. This was an hour and a half notice.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;This Listing Agent YELLED "Why aren't you going to show it?" Assuming that he had a terrible day, I ignored his volume and said that the Buyer had changed her mind and that it was not her style. He &lt;strong&gt;RAISED his voice even more saying that she should come ANYWAYS.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;I politely said that she had every right to cancel and hung up.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I hate cancellations as much as the next guy. However, &lt;strong&gt;YELLING and INSISTING that we see a property that she doesn't like? I think NOT.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What would you have done? Just curious.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Best Of Luck To You All,&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Mark Velasco-Southern California Realtor (LA County)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.sangabrielvalleyhomesearch.com/" title="www.SanGabrielValleyHomeSearch.com" target="_blank"&gt;www.SanGabrielValleyHomeSearch.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;div class="agent_signature"&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://kontactr.com/user/markvelasco"&gt;&lt;img src="http://kontactr.com/pics/small.gif" border="0" height="16" alt="" width="90"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>FRIENDLY HILLS Homes for Sale WHITTIER, Ca. Real Estate *LISTINGS* MARK VELASCO (Realty Source, Inc (Luxury Homes Division))</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Fri, 04 Jun 2010 03:11:28 -0700</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1677836/would-yelling-ever-accomplish-a-positive-result-</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1674219/how-to-work-with-million-dollar-clients</guid>
      <title>How To Work With Million Dollar Clients</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How To Work With Million Dollar Clients:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img title="great customer service" src="http://areyouthereasonwhy.com/images/customer-service-cartoon-1.gif" height="368" alt="great customer service" width="383" style="margin: 3px 6px; float: right; border: black 2px solid;"&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;What is the difference between a $100,000 home and a $1,000,000 home. Okay...yes...there are lot of nicer amenities.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;What is the difference to the Realtor? Yes...instead of a $3,000 commission, there is a $30,000 comission. &lt;strong&gt;The KEY is to&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;strong&gt;GET YOUR MIND OFF OF THE COMISSION!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If we treated each and every client like a Million Dollar Client, then we will have Million Dollar Referrals.&lt;/strong&gt; This may come in the form of ten $100,000 referrals or two $500,000 referrals.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;My point is that our &lt;strong&gt;Clients&lt;/strong&gt; who &lt;strong&gt;feel Valued and Respected&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;will give you the Referrals that you need to thrive in this business.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;ALL Clients (rich or poor) can tell if you are working your "tail" off to give them the best possible service.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Have fun, work hard, and the money will take care of itself.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Best Of Luck To You All,&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Mark Velasco-Southern California Realtor (LA County)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.sangabrielvalleyhomesearch.com/" title="www.SanGabrielValleyHomeSearch.com" target="_blank"&gt;www.SanGabrielValleyHomeSearch.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;div class="agent_signature"&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://kontactr.com/user/markvelasco"&gt;&lt;img src="http://kontactr.com/pics/small.gif" border="0" height="16" alt="" width="90"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>FRIENDLY HILLS Homes for Sale WHITTIER, Ca. Real Estate *LISTINGS* MARK VELASCO (Realty Source, Inc (Luxury Homes Division))</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Wed, 02 Jun 2010 03:33:08 -0700</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1674219/how-to-work-with-million-dollar-clients</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1659622/hungry-buyers-in-southern-california</guid>
      <title>Hungry Buyers in Southern California</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Hungry Buyers in Southern California&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Buyers seem even more eager to buy a home now than ever. It is true that the $8,000 tax credit is gone. However, in &lt;strong&gt;California&lt;/strong&gt; there is now a &lt;strong&gt;$10,000 dollar tax credit (payable over 3 years)&lt;/strong&gt;. There are now &lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;2,000 more reasons ($$) to buy now.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;It is a very interesting time in Real Estate. I wonder &lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;how buyers will respond when there are NO more incentives.&lt;/span&gt; What do you think?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Best of Luck to You All,&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Mark Velasco - Southern California Real Estate (LA County)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.SanGabrielValleyHomeSearch.com" title="www.SanGabrielValleyHomeSearch.com" target="_blank"&gt;www.SanGabrielValleyHomeSearch.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;div class="agent_signature"&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://kontactr.com/user/markvelasco"&gt;&lt;img src="http://kontactr.com/pics/small.gif" border="0" height="16" alt="" width="90"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>FRIENDLY HILLS Homes for Sale WHITTIER, Ca. Real Estate *LISTINGS* MARK VELASCO (Realty Source, Inc (Luxury Homes Division))</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Mon, 24 May 2010 02:30:41 -0700</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1659622/hungry-buyers-in-southern-california</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1658264/great-service-at-a-cemetary-</guid>
      <title>Great Service at a Cemetary!</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Great Service at a Cemetary?&amp;nbsp; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Yes, I said &lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;at a cemetary&lt;/span&gt;. My wife and I were going to a funeral of a really great nephew of mine when we were &lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;lost&lt;/span&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;This cemetary is one of the biggest in Southern California called Rose Hills. There is no telling how long we could have been looking for a certain chapel (one of dozens-miles apart). Out of desperation, &lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;I pulled over and asked a man in a tractor where the Memorial Chapel might be. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;He pulls out a sheet of paper from his back pocket. He asked what was the name of our departed loved one? After telling him, he looks down his list and tells us that he is sorry for our loss and he gave us great directions right to the chapel.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;Try getting information at some Real Estate offices and you may feel like you are in a cemetary: no service and no life.&lt;/span&gt; Rose Hills has truly made a difficult morning...not so difficult on this overcast day. &lt;strong&gt;Hopefully some of us will have the same helpfulness as a guy driving a tractor in a cemetary.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Best of Luck to You All,&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Mark Velasco&lt;/strong&gt; - &lt;strong&gt;Southern California Real Estate (LA County) &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.SanGabrielValleyHomeSearch.com" title="www.SanGabrielValleyHomeSearch.com" target="_blank"&gt;www.SanGabrielValleyHomeSearch.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;div class="agent_signature"&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://kontactr.com/user/markvelasco"&gt;&lt;img src="http://kontactr.com/pics/small.gif" border="0" height="16" alt="" width="90"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>FRIENDLY HILLS Homes for Sale WHITTIER, Ca. Real Estate *LISTINGS* MARK VELASCO (Realty Source, Inc (Luxury Homes Division))</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Sat, 22 May 2010 21:35:09 -0700</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1658264/great-service-at-a-cemetary-</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1657322/treat-your-customers-right-or-someone-else-will</guid>
      <title>Treat Your Customers Right or Someone Else Will</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Treat Your Customers Right or Someone Else Will&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Tonight after our couple's group at church, Tania and I went for a &lt;strong&gt;late night massage&lt;/strong&gt;. We ordered a basic massage. They assigned us our location and then offered an upgrade "at a special rate." &lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;Tania and I refused because the special #2 is just like the special #1 (except double the price).&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;She insisted&lt;/strong&gt; that we would love it. We had it before and we didn't. &lt;strong&gt;STILL she insisted that we upgrade&lt;/strong&gt;. I was almost inclined to walk out (right then). My wife said a firm NO!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;Half way through the massage&lt;/span&gt;...are you &lt;strong&gt;sure that you wouldn't like special #2?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;This is a place that Tania and I go once or twice...okay...sometimes three times a month. &lt;strong&gt;We are now looking for a new massage place.&lt;/strong&gt; Upselling is one thing...Pig headed is another. &lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;Give the customers what they want and they will ALWAYS be back for more.&lt;/span&gt; Try pushing them to get something they don't want?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;No Thank You!&amp;nbsp; &lt;strong&gt;Treat your cusomers right or else someone else will&lt;/strong&gt; ;-)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Best of Luck to You All,&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Mark Velasco - Southern California Real Estate (LA County)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.SanGabrielValleyHomeSearch.com" title="www.SanGabrielValleyHomeSearch.com" target="_blank"&gt;www.SanGabrielValleyHomeSearch.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;div class="agent_signature"&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://kontactr.com/user/markvelasco"&gt;&lt;img src="http://kontactr.com/pics/small.gif" border="0" height="16" alt="" width="90"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>FRIENDLY HILLS Homes for Sale WHITTIER, Ca. Real Estate *LISTINGS* MARK VELASCO (Realty Source, Inc (Luxury Homes Division))</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Sat, 22 May 2010 04:49:35 -0700</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1657322/treat-your-customers-right-or-someone-else-will</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1655650/adversity-builds-character-my-wife-suffered-a-miscarriage</guid>
      <title>Adversity Builds Character-My Wife Suffered a Miscarriage</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Adversity Builds Character-My Wife Suffered a Miscarriage&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;What is Your Response? (Be Honest)&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Just in general, &lt;strong&gt;when things do not go our way...do we pout and quit, do we complain and blame others, do we lash out, do we hide so others do not see our pain?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;CHOOSE Your Response:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Some do and some do not. My point is not to judge...I am just saying look in the mirror when things do not go your way? &lt;strong&gt;Are you happy with your responses to adversity? If not, choose a different response&lt;/strong&gt;. That's right &lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;CHOOSE&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt; a different response.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img title="Mark and Tania Velasco" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/8/1/1/4/8/ar127442686784118.jpg" height="234" alt="Mark and Tania Velasco" width="334" style="margin: 5px; float: right;"&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;My Wife's Choice:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My &lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;wife's response&lt;/span&gt; to her miscarriage was to fight on.&lt;/strong&gt; We cried a lot for most of the day. My wife heard my phone going off for most of the morning (I was going to cancel all of my appointments). I have about 8 Buyers looking for homes right now (6 are very aggressively placing offers, 2 are waiting for the right one)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;Her response was amazing and courageous:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;She said &lt;strong&gt;"One of our dreams (having a baby) is on hold for now. However, we can still make their (my home buyers') dreams happen. Go and make someone happy for today and we will have our happiness (baby) in a few months."&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;We cried and then I went to work.&amp;nbsp; I &lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;showed 7 homes&lt;/span&gt; today and &lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;made 3 very aggressive offers&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;My wife showed me her character today&lt;/span&gt; and &lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;I learned something very valuable today&lt;/span&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Courage is NOT only dying for something that you believe in...it is also helping others with their dreams EVEN when your dreams are not quite working out (for the moment)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Best Of Luck to You All,&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Mark Velasco - LA County Real Estate in Southern California&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.sangabrielvalleyhomesearch.com" title="www.SanGabrielValleyHomeSearch.com" target="_blank"&gt;www.SanGabrielValleyHomeSearch.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;div class="agent_signature"&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://kontactr.com/user/markvelasco"&gt;&lt;img src="http://kontactr.com/pics/small.gif" border="0" height="16" alt="" width="90"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>FRIENDLY HILLS Homes for Sale WHITTIER, Ca. Real Estate *LISTINGS* MARK VELASCO (Realty Source, Inc (Luxury Homes Division))</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Fri, 21 May 2010 03:35:37 -0700</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1655650/adversity-builds-character-my-wife-suffered-a-miscarriage</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1653914/another-way-to-avoid-a-slump-right-crowd-right-thinking</guid>
      <title>Another Way to AVOID a slump: Right Crowd, Right Thinking</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Another Way to AVOID a slump: Right Crowd, Right Thinking&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In our business, it truly helps to be the eternal optimist. I told a friend of mine one time &lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;"if I was not so naive in the beginning of my career, I would have never put in the time that it took to actually become successful."&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;If I had stood around the Office cooler listening to the complainers, whiners, and cry babies...I would have never had the courage to go out and get trained and get clients. &lt;strong&gt;It is a very important thing to watch your crowd. Before you know it...you will be flying high or flying low...it really DOES matter who your are flying with&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Best of luck to you all,&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Mark Velasco-LA County RE (So California)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.SanGabrielValleyHomeSearch.com%20" title="www.SanGabrielValleyHomeSearch.com " target="_blank"&gt;www.SanGabrielValleyHomeSearch.com &lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;div class="agent_signature"&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://kontactr.com/user/markvelasco"&gt;&lt;img src="http://kontactr.com/pics/small.gif" border="0" height="16" alt="" width="90"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>FRIENDLY HILLS Homes for Sale WHITTIER, Ca. Real Estate *LISTINGS* MARK VELASCO (Realty Source, Inc (Luxury Homes Division))</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Thu, 20 May 2010 02:46:07 -0700</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1653914/another-way-to-avoid-a-slump-right-crowd-right-thinking</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1648099/friendly-reminder-to-ca-realtors</guid>
      <title>Friendly Reminder to Ca Realtors</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;This is a friendly reminder to my fellow California Realtors: When sending offers, do &lt;strong&gt;NOT forget to use the new RPA contract&lt;/strong&gt;. I (personally) do not care if you use the old or the new. However, some brokers (like mine) want to use the new contracts now.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;It is what it is. I actually had to resend one contract (I forgot). I was using an old Client offer which was on the old contract. Have a good week all.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Mark Velasco&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.SanGabrielValleyHomeSearch.com" title="www.SanGabrielValleyHomeSearch.com" target="_blank"&gt;www.SanGabrielValleyHomeSearch.com&lt;br&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;div class="agent_signature"&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://kontactr.com/user/markvelasco"&gt;&lt;img src="http://kontactr.com/pics/small.gif" border="0" height="16" alt="" width="90"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>FRIENDLY HILLS Homes for Sale WHITTIER, Ca. Real Estate *LISTINGS* MARK VELASCO (Realty Source, Inc (Luxury Homes Division))</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Mon, 17 May 2010 02:06:00 -0700</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1648099/friendly-reminder-to-ca-realtors</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1646514/la-raincamp-gems</guid>
      <title>LA RainCamp Gems</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;LA RainCamp Gems&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I am currently at the Active Rain Camp here in Los Angeles. One comment that I heard about this camp is that it is like "drinking water out of a fire hydrant." Very True! Here are 5 quick tips that &lt;a href="http://activerain.com/osobluwtr" title="Ben Kinney" target="_blank"&gt;Ben Kinney&lt;/a&gt; (from Keller Williams in Bellingham, Washington) made &lt;strong&gt;5 tips to make sure that your Blogs get the most Google Juice&lt;/strong&gt; possible:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;5 tips to make sure that your Blogs get the most Google Juice&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;1. &lt;strong&gt;Key Words&lt;/strong&gt; should be no more than &lt;strong&gt;2-4%&lt;/strong&gt; of your total content.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;2. Your Blogs should be &lt;strong&gt;300-500 words&lt;/strong&gt; in length.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;3. &lt;strong&gt;Start and end&lt;/strong&gt; your &lt;strong&gt;post&lt;/strong&gt; with your &lt;strong&gt;key word&lt;/strong&gt; phrase.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;4. Blogs should have only &lt;strong&gt;2-4 outgoing links&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;5. &lt;strong&gt;Pictures&lt;/strong&gt; will maximize the chances that &lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;people will stay long enough to read the entire blog&lt;/span&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Other Gems from RainCamp LA:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://activerain.com/mdrewry1" title="Michelle Drewry" target="_blank"&gt;Michelle Drewry&lt;/a&gt; ASP- She was a home stager that talked with me about the value of Home Staging and the &lt;img title="gems" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/2/9/5/3/8/ar127395922783592.jpg" height="150" alt="gems" width="138" style="margin: 5px; float: right;"&gt;value of a home's higher potential resale. She was very knowledgeable and helpful. I hope to keep in touch.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://activerain.com/lbrdesign" title="Lynne Barry Row" target="_blank"&gt;Lynne Barry Row&lt;/a&gt;, ASP, IAHSP, OCAR, WCR-(LBR Design Group Home Staging)- I enjoyed talking to you about my baby to be. You were so informative and friendly. It was great talking to you!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.remopacker.com/" title="Remo Packer" target="_blank"&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;Remo Packer&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt; (John Aaroe Group)- You had REALLY great ideas about getting LOTS of referrals and also for generating new business. You should write a blog about our conversation. VERY powerful.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;Joanne Sterling&lt;/span&gt; (KW Luxury Homes)-You were really great conversation. You are a very knowledgeable Trainer. It is easy to see why you are such a great trainer/Realtor.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Joanne&lt;/strong&gt;-Sorry. &lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;I could not find you on Active Rain&lt;/span&gt;. Find me and &lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;ADD me so that we can keep in touch&lt;/span&gt;. All the Best to everyone and don't forget to "find your pink." (Brad Andersohn)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;You are ALL LA RainCamp Gems!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;If you know of clients who may need some help in the So California, feel free to send them to my site:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.sangabrielvalleyhomesearch.com/" title="www.SanGabrielValleyHomeSearch.com" target="_blank"&gt;www.SanGabrielValleyHomeSearch.com&lt;br&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;div class="agent_signature"&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://kontactr.com/user/markvelasco"&gt;&lt;img src="http://kontactr.com/pics/small.gif" border="0" height="16" alt="" width="90"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>FRIENDLY HILLS Homes for Sale WHITTIER, Ca. Real Estate *LISTINGS* MARK VELASCO (Realty Source, Inc (Luxury Homes Division))</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Sat, 15 May 2010 17:42:24 -0700</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1646514/la-raincamp-gems</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1640453/10-tips-for-pricing-your-home-to-create-buyer-urgency-part-3-</guid>
      <title>10 Tips for Pricing Your Home to Create Buyer Urgency (Part 3)</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;10 Tips for Pricing Your Home to Create Buyer Urgency&lt;/strong&gt; by &lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Mark Velasco&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt; at &lt;a href="http://www.sangabrielvalleyhomesearch.com/" title="SanGabrielValleyHomeSearch.com" target="_blank"&gt;SanGabrielValleyHomeSearch.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;101 Tips to Sell Your Home for Top Dollar&lt;/strong&gt; (Part&amp;nbsp;3 of 11)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Initial selling price&lt;/strong&gt; is the &lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;MOST important factor&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; in getting your &lt;strong&gt;home sold quickly and for top dollar&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img title="money house" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/4/2/0/6/0/ar127364617606024.jpg" height="89" alt="money house" width="109" style="float: left; margin: 4px 8px;"&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;This will determine how many Buyers actually see and visit your home.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The more people that you get to see your home equals more bidders competing for your home.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;(Please Note: &lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;These tips DO NOT apply&lt;/span&gt; in the same way to the pricing of &lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;luxury homes&lt;/span&gt; and/or unique propeties such as &lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;horse properties&lt;/span&gt; or &lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;new construction&lt;/span&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;Tip #12:&lt;/span&gt;&amp;nbsp; Eliminate New Homes and Remodels&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;If your home is not new&lt;/span&gt;, then it &lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;will NOT sell for&lt;/span&gt; the &lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;same price&lt;/span&gt; that &lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;a new property next door sold for&lt;/span&gt;. Neither will a non-upgraded home fetch the same price as a home that has been completely remodeled and/or updated.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;Tip #13:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;strong&gt;Eliminate ALL Distressed Properties&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;img title="distressed property" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/4/6/7/3/4/ar12736469043764.jpg" height="171" alt="distressed property" width="150" style="float: right; margin: 3px;"&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Eliminate&lt;/strong&gt; ALL homes that would be considered distressed properties. This includes &lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;homes that would likely be &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;sold for LESS than a normal market price&lt;/span&gt;. This includes &lt;strong&gt;foreclosure properties&lt;/strong&gt;, properties that needed &lt;strong&gt;lots of repair&lt;/strong&gt; and/or &lt;strong&gt;maintenance&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;divorce&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;probate&lt;/strong&gt; properties.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;Tip #14:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;strong&gt;Factor in the Defects&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Look at the sold and pending homes' &lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;factors or conditions&lt;/span&gt; that may have &lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;contributed to a drop in price&lt;/span&gt;. Issues such as deferred maintance or home defects such as a poor lay out etc. may significantly lower a home's sale price.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;Tip #15:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;strong&gt;Factor In Pending Homes:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Have your Realtor find the prices of home Sold AND homes that are &lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;Pending&lt;/span&gt; in your area. This will give the&lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt; most up to date average value of your home&lt;/span&gt;. Some Realtors price homes by properties that have been sold from one to two months ago or more!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img title="infinity pool" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/6/5/1/1/3/ar127364771531156.jpg" height="169" alt="infinity pool" width="155" style="float: left; margin: 3px 6px;"&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;Tip #16:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;strong&gt;Factor in the Upgrades&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Look at the same properties and consider factors such as upgrades, remodels and city views etc. that may have increased the sale price.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;Tip #17:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; Eliminate Properties That Are Too Far Away From Your Property&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The words &lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;"too far"&lt;/span&gt; can be &lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;very subjective&lt;/span&gt;. In the city "too far" could be as little as a quarter or a half a mile, while in the more rural areas it could mean 10 to 50 miles away. &lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;Your Realtor should be competent enough to know how far is too far&lt;/span&gt;. If they are not sure...FIND ANOTHER REALTOR...FAST.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Tip #18:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;strong&gt;Make Sure Your Home is Comparable&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Make sure that you are comparing homes that have the &lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;same or almost the same number of beds and baths&lt;/span&gt; etc. Also the difference in &lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;square footage&lt;/span&gt; should be &lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;as close as possible&lt;/span&gt; (again your Realor should know the acceptable range for your area).&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;A three bedroom home is rarely the same value as a four bedroom home (even if it is nearly the same square footage).&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img title="old house" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/3/5/2/1/7/ar127364816971253.jpg" height="90" alt="old house" width="121" style="margin: 3px 6px; float: right;"&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Tip #19:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;strong&gt;Subtract Value for Any Deferred Maintenance&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Consider any &lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;deferred maintenance issues&lt;/span&gt; that &lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;may lower your home's value&lt;/span&gt;. A leaky roof my reduce your home's value more than just the cost of replacing the roof of a home. You &lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;must also consider the amount of time that the Buyers will be without the use of the home while the roof is being repaired etc.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img title="evil computer" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/7/8/8/6/7/ar127364843976887.jpg" height="136" alt="evil computer" width="118" style="margin: 3px 2px; float: left;"&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Tip #20:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;strong&gt;Do NOT Use An Online Site To Estimate Your Home's Value&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;While some online sites are not very accurate, some are (at times) reasonable benchmarks for homes in certain areas. However, the computer models are FAR from accurate. They are &lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;sometimes way too low&lt;/span&gt; and at &lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;other times way too high&lt;/span&gt;. &lt;strong&gt;You do NOT want your home's value to be set by an unknown computer algorythm&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Would you ever trust a computer versus a live doctor to diagnose your medical conditions? Then, do not let a computer versus a live Realtor to determine the value of your home either.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;Tip #21:&lt;/span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Calculate Your Selling Price&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Use the &lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;average prices (per square foot)&lt;/span&gt; of the &lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;remaining homes&lt;/span&gt;. &lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;Multiply it&lt;/span&gt; by your &lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;own square footage&lt;/span&gt;. &lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;Factor in&lt;/span&gt; your &lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;own upgrades and home deficiencies&lt;/span&gt;. Take the price that you have and &lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;discount the price&lt;/span&gt; by &lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;5 to 10 percent (depending on your local market conditions)&lt;/span&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt; you have &lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;objectively&lt;/span&gt; added and subtracted the above values&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;you have just created Buyer Urgency&lt;/strong&gt;...leading to &lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;multiple offers ABOVE the listed price&lt;/span&gt;...and if done correctly...&lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;ABOVE APPRAISED VALUE too&lt;/span&gt;! (&lt;strong&gt;We will get into negotiating later in the series and how to get offers accepted that are ABOVE the appraised value&lt;/strong&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;For now&lt;/span&gt;, we are &lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;just setting your home's initial price&lt;/span&gt; that will allow your home to sell for Top Dollar.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;10 Tips to Sell Your Home for Top Dollar&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Part 1-&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;a href="http://activerain.com/blogsview/1636658/intro-101-tips-to-sell-your-home-for-top-dollar-part-1-" title="Intro-101 Tips to Sell Your Home for Top Dollar" target="_blank"&gt;Intro-101 Tips to Sell Your Home for Top Dollar&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Part 2-&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;a href="http://activerain.com/blogsview/1637985/10-benefits-of-a-great-sale-price-lots-of-offers-leverage-part-2-" title="10 Benefits of a Great Sale Price: Lots of Offers/Leverage" target="_blank"&gt;10 Benefits of a Great Sale Price: Lots of Offers/Leverage&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Part 3-&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;a href="http://activerain.com/blogsview/1640453/10-tips-for-pricing-your-home-to-create-buyer-urgency-part-3-" title="10 Tips for Pricing Your Home to Create Buyer Urgency" target="_blank"&gt;10 Tips for Pricing Your Home to Create Buyer Urgency&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;If you know of clients who may need some help in the &lt;strong&gt;So California&lt;/strong&gt;, feel free to send them to my site:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.sangabrielvalleyhomesearch.com/" title="www.SanGabrielValleyHomeSearch.com" target="_blank"&gt;www.SanGabrielValleyHomeSearch.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;div class="agent_signature"&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://kontactr.com/user/markvelasco"&gt;&lt;img src="http://kontactr.com/pics/small.gif" border="0" height="16" alt="" width="90"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>FRIENDLY HILLS Homes for Sale WHITTIER, Ca. Real Estate *LISTINGS* MARK VELASCO (Realty Source, Inc (Luxury Homes Division))</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Wed, 12 May 2010 03:22:36 -0700</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1640453/10-tips-for-pricing-your-home-to-create-buyer-urgency-part-3-</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1637985/10-benefits-of-a-great-sale-price-lots-of-offers-leverage-part-2-</guid>
      <title>10 Benefits of a Great Sale Price: Lots of Offers/Leverage (Part 2)</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;10 Benefits of a Great Sale Price: Lots of Offers/Leverage&lt;/strong&gt; by &lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;Mark Velasco&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; at &lt;a href="http://www.sangabrielvalleyhomesearch.com/" title="SanGabrielValleyHomeSearch.com" target="_blank"&gt;SanGabrielValleyHomeSearch.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;101 Tips to Sell Your Home for Top Dollar&lt;/strong&gt; (Part&amp;nbsp;2 of 11)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;Price&lt;/span&gt; is &lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;THE most critical factor&lt;/span&gt; in getting a home &lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;sold quickly&lt;/span&gt; and for the &lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;highest amount&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img title="auctioneer" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/4/1/8/9/6/ar127352337669814.jpg" height="210" alt="auctioneer" width="100" style="float: left; margin: 3px 6px;"&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;2. A home that is &lt;strong&gt;correctly priced&lt;/strong&gt; will bring in a &lt;strong&gt;great amount of traffic&lt;/strong&gt; (Buyers)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;3. If a&amp;nbsp;&lt;strong&gt;great number&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;of of &lt;strong&gt;people see your home&lt;/strong&gt;, it will also &lt;strong&gt;sell quicker&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;4. If a lot of people see your home, there will be &lt;strong&gt;more offers&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;5. &lt;strong&gt;More Offers&lt;/strong&gt; equals &lt;strong&gt;more competetition&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;6. &lt;strong&gt;More bids&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;more competition&lt;/strong&gt; results in a &lt;strong&gt;higher sales price&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;7. More &lt;strong&gt;competition creates Buyer urgency&lt;/strong&gt; (equaling &lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;leverage&lt;/span&gt; or &lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;my terms/my price&lt;/span&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;8. &lt;strong&gt;More Offers&lt;/strong&gt; equals the unique &lt;strong&gt;opportunity&lt;/strong&gt; to &lt;strong&gt;negotiate key terms ahead of time&lt;/strong&gt;. (&lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;More on this key tactic later in the series when we talk about negotiation tips&lt;/span&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;9. &lt;strong&gt;More Offers&lt;/strong&gt; also means that you are also in postition to &lt;strong&gt;pick&lt;/strong&gt; the &lt;strong&gt;most committed&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;financially sound&lt;/strong&gt; (and most able to complete the sale) &lt;strong&gt;Buyer&lt;/strong&gt; at the &lt;strong&gt;highest price&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img title="sad house" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/4/3/6/9/1/ar127352355919634.jpg" height="103" alt="sad house" width="114" style="float: right; margin: 3px;"&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;One of the most important concepts in Real Estate sales:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;10. &lt;strong&gt;Buyers&lt;/strong&gt; will &lt;strong&gt;NOT see a home&lt;/strong&gt; that is &lt;strong&gt;overpriced&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;11. &lt;strong&gt;If&lt;/strong&gt; they will &lt;strong&gt;not see the home&lt;/strong&gt;, they will &lt;strong&gt;not buy it either&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;10 Tips to Sell Your Home for Top Dollar&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Part 1-&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;a href="http://activerain.com/blogsview/1636658/intro-101-tips-to-sell-your-home-for-top-dollar-part-1-" title="Intro-101 Tips to Sell Your Home for Top Dollar" target="_blank"&gt;Intro-101 Tips to Sell Your Home for Top Dollar&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Part 2-&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;a href="http://activerain.com/blogsview/1637985/10-benefits-of-a-great-sale-price-lots-of-offers-leverage-part-2-" title="10 Benefits of a Great Sale Price: Lots of Offers/Leverage" target="_blank"&gt;10 Benefits of a Great Sale Price: Lots of Offers/Leverage&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Part 3-&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;a href="http://activerain.com/blogsview/1640453/10-tips-for-pricing-your-home-to-create-buyer-urgency-part-3-" title="10 Tips for Pricing Your Home to Create Buyer Urgency" target="_blank"&gt;10 Tips for Pricing Your Home to Create Buyer Urgency&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;If you know of clients who may need some help in the &lt;strong&gt;So California&lt;/strong&gt;, feel free to send them to my site:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.sangabrielvalleyhomesearch.com/" title="www.SanGabrielValleyHomeSearch.com" target="_blank"&gt;www.SanGabrielValleyHomeSearch.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;div class="agent_signature"&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://kontactr.com/user/markvelasco"&gt;&lt;img src="http://kontactr.com/pics/small.gif" border="0" height="16" alt="" width="90"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>FRIENDLY HILLS Homes for Sale WHITTIER, Ca. Real Estate *LISTINGS* MARK VELASCO (Realty Source, Inc (Luxury Homes Division))</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Mon, 10 May 2010 17:06:27 -0700</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1637985/10-benefits-of-a-great-sale-price-lots-of-offers-leverage-part-2-</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1636658/intro-101-tips-to-sell-your-home-for-top-dollar-part-1-</guid>
      <title>Intro-101 Tips to Sell Your Home for Top Dollar (Part 1)</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Intro-101 Tips to Sell Your Home for Top Dollar&lt;/strong&gt; by &lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Mark Velasco&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt; at &lt;a href="http://www.sangabrielvalleyhomesearch.com/" title="SanGabrielValleyHomeSearch.com" target="_blank"&gt;SanGabrielValleyHomeSearch.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;101 Tips to Sell Your Home for Top Dollar&lt;/strong&gt; (Part 1 of 11)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img title="$20 sad" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/1/1/1/3/2/ar127346932323111.JPG" height="235" alt="$20 sad" width="507" style="float: left; margin: 10px 8px;"&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Imagine that we are &lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;auctioning off a $20 dollar bill&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;-Would we ever &lt;strong&gt;start the bidding&lt;/strong&gt; at &lt;strong&gt;$25&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;$30&lt;/strong&gt;, or even &lt;strong&gt;$40&lt;/strong&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;-Would &lt;strong&gt;anyone&lt;/strong&gt; ever &lt;strong&gt;show up&lt;/strong&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;-Would &lt;strong&gt;anyone&lt;/strong&gt; even &lt;strong&gt;place a bid&lt;/strong&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;-&lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;How would you find your starting price&lt;/span&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;You may think that these starting prices are ridiculous. Yet, many people do the same for setting their own home's value. Not you (of course), but maybe a "friend" that you might know of?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Your &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;strong&gt;home's maximum worth is what it is&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;strong&gt;regardless of how new or crisp your $20 may be&lt;/strong&gt;. The MOST that it will ever&amp;nbsp; be worth is $20. &lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;If someone pays more than $20, say $25, the appraiser will only approve a value of $20&lt;/span&gt; (&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;there are ways to get a higher amount &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;approved and it does happen under the right conditions...more on that later in the series&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;img title="$20 Home" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/2/7/1/6/3/ar127347007736172.JPG" height="166" alt="$20 Home" width="363" style="float: right; margin: 3px;"&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;Your Realtor's job is to get as close to OR ABOVE&lt;/span&gt; (&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;YES, there are ways to get more than a home's value above the appraised price...as I stated...more on that LATER&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;) &lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;that "$20" value for your home&lt;/span&gt;. That being said, the key is getting the maximum amount of people to show up for the sale of your home.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;Tip #1&lt;/span&gt;: &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The &lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;most important factor&lt;/span&gt; to determine if your home will sell quickly and at or ABOVE the maximum value is your your&lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt; initial asking price&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;10 Tips to Sell Your Home for Top Dollar&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Part 1-&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;a href="http://activerain.com/blogsview/1636658/intro-101-tips-to-sell-your-home-for-top-dollar-part-1-" title="Intro-101 Tips to Sell Your Home for Top Dollar" target="_blank"&gt;Intro-101 Tips to Sell Your Home for Top Dollar&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Part 2-&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;a href="http://activerain.com/blogsview/1637985/10-benefits-of-a-great-sale-price-lots-of-offers-leverage-part-2-" title="10 Benefits of a Great Sale Price: Lots of Offers/Leverage" target="_blank"&gt;10 Benefits of a Great Sale Price: Lots of Offers/Leverage&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Part 3-&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;a href="http://activerain.com/blogsview/1640453/10-tips-for-pricing-your-home-to-create-buyer-urgency-part-3-" title="10 Tips for Pricing Your Home to Create Buyer Urgency" target="_blank"&gt;10 Tips for Pricing Your Home to Create Buyer Urgency&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;If you know of clients who may need some help in the &lt;strong&gt;So California&lt;/strong&gt;, feel free to send them to my site:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.sangabrielvalleyhomesearch.com" title="www.SanGabrielValleyHomeSearch.com" target="_blank"&gt;www.SanGabrielValleyHomeSearch.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;div class="agent_signature"&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://kontactr.com/user/markvelasco"&gt;&lt;img src="http://kontactr.com/pics/small.gif" border="0" height="16" alt="" width="90"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>FRIENDLY HILLS Homes for Sale WHITTIER, Ca. Real Estate *LISTINGS* MARK VELASCO (Realty Source, Inc (Luxury Homes Division))</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Mon, 10 May 2010 02:21:12 -0700</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1636658/intro-101-tips-to-sell-your-home-for-top-dollar-part-1-</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1636653/101-tips-to-sell-your-home-for-top-dollar-part-1-of-11-</guid>
      <title>101 Tips to Sell Your Home for Top Dollar (Part 1 of 11)</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;101 Tips to Sell Your Home for Top Dollar&lt;/strong&gt; (Part 1 of 11)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img title="$20 sad" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/1/1/1/3/2/ar127346932323111.JPG" height="199" alt="$20 sad" width="507" style="margin: 7px 8px; float: left;"&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Imagine that we are &lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;auctioning off a $20 dollar bill&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;-Would we ever &lt;strong&gt;start the bidding&lt;/strong&gt; at &lt;strong&gt;$25&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;$30&lt;/strong&gt;, or even &lt;strong&gt;$40&lt;/strong&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;-Would &lt;strong&gt;anyone&lt;/strong&gt; ever &lt;strong&gt;show up&lt;/strong&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;-Would &lt;strong&gt;anyone&lt;/strong&gt; even &lt;strong&gt;place a bid&lt;/strong&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;-&lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;How would you find your starting price&lt;/span&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;You may think that these starting prices are ridiculous. Yet, many people do the same for setting their own home's value. Not you (of course), but maybe a "friend" that you might know of?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Your &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;strong&gt;home's maximum worth is what it is&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;strong&gt;regardless of how new or crisp your $20 may be&lt;/strong&gt;. The MOST that it will ever&amp;nbsp; be worth is $20. &lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;If someone pays more than $20, say $25, the appraiser will only approve a value of $20&lt;/span&gt; (&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;there are ways to get a higher amount &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;img title="$20 Home" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/2/7/1/6/3/ar127347007736172.JPG" height="145" alt="$20 Home" width="363" style="margin: 3px; float: right;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;approved and it does happen under the right conditions...more on that later in the series&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;Your Realtor's job is to get as close to OR ABOVE&lt;/span&gt; (&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;YES, there are ways to get more than a home's value above the appraised price...as I stated...more on that LATER&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;) &lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;that "$20" value for your home&lt;/span&gt;. That being said, the key is getting the maximum amount of people to show up for the sale of your home.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;Tip #1&lt;/span&gt;: &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The &lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;most important factor&lt;/span&gt; to determine if your home will sell quickly and at or ABOVE the maximum value is your your&lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt; initial asking price&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;(&lt;strong&gt;Part 2&lt;/strong&gt; of my 11 part series will explain: &lt;strong&gt;10 Tips for Pricing Your Home to Create Buyer Urgency&lt;/strong&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;If you know of clients who may need some help in the &lt;strong&gt;So California&lt;/strong&gt;, feel free to send them to my site:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.sangabrielvalleyhomesearch.com" title="www.SanGabrielValleyHomeSearch.com" target="_blank"&gt;www.SanGabrielValleyHomeSearch.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;div class="agent_signature"&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://kontactr.com/user/markvelasco"&gt;&lt;img src="http://kontactr.com/pics/small.gif" border="0" height="16" alt="" width="90"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>FRIENDLY HILLS Homes for Sale WHITTIER, Ca. Real Estate *LISTINGS* MARK VELASCO (Realty Source, Inc (Luxury Homes Division))</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Mon, 10 May 2010 02:19:35 -0700</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1636653/101-tips-to-sell-your-home-for-top-dollar-part-1-of-11-</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1633647/i-m-going-to-be-a-father-</guid>
      <title>I'm Going to Be a Father!</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;After 3 months of trying, we just found out that my wife is pregnant! I am sooo excited and happy. I have heard of couples trying for years! That really had me thinking. I am ready and excited to be a father. Any advice for a new daddy?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;If you know of clients who may need some help in the &lt;strong&gt;So California&lt;/strong&gt;, feel free to send them to my site:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.sangabrielvalleyhomesearch.com/" title="www.SanGabrielValleyHomeSearch.com"&gt;www.SanGabrielValleyHomeSearch.com&lt;br&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Be sure that you send me an e-mail with you and your clients' name and information.&amp;nbsp; &lt;strong&gt;I pay 25% for referrals&lt;/strong&gt;...so let's get to work. Thanks--&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="mailto:velascomark@yahoo.com"&gt;velascomark@yahoo.com&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp; (626) 392-9499 Direct. &lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Search MLS: &lt;a href="http://www.sangabrielvalleyhomesearch.com/community/area/Arcadia" title="Arcadia" target="_blank"&gt;Arcadia&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="http://www.sangabrielvalleyhomesearch.com/community/area/SanMarino/" title="San Marino" target="_blank"&gt;San Marino&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="http://www.sangabrielvalleyhomesearch.com/community/area/SouthPasadena/" title="South Pasadena" target="_blank"&gt;South Pasadena&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="http://www.sangabrielvalleyhomesearch.com/community/area/GriffithParkLosFeliz/" title="Los Feliz" target="_blank"&gt;Los Feliz&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="http://www.sangabrielvalleyhomesearch.com/listings/propertytype/SINGLE/beds/3/areas/35575" title="Downey" target="_blank"&gt;Downey&lt;/a&gt;,&amp;amp; &lt;a href="http://www.sangabrielvalleyhomesearch.com/listings/propertytype/SINGLE/beds/3/areas/53097" title="Whittier" target="_blank"&gt;Whittier&lt;/a&gt;, CA &lt;a href="http://www.sangabrielvalleyhomesearch.com/sell/" title="What is my home worth?" target="_blank"&gt;What is my home &lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;div class="agent_signature"&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://kontactr.com/user/markvelasco"&gt;&lt;img src="http://kontactr.com/pics/small.gif" border="0" height="16" alt="" width="90"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>FRIENDLY HILLS Homes for Sale WHITTIER, Ca. Real Estate *LISTINGS* MARK VELASCO (Realty Source, Inc (Luxury Homes Division))</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Fri, 07 May 2010 11:31:40 -0700</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1633647/i-m-going-to-be-a-father-</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1620380/notify-all-of-the-people-in-your-database-a-sale-a-day-so-far</guid>
      <title>Notify All of the People in Your Database=A Sale a Day So Far</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;I recently reminded all of the people in my Buyer's database that this week will result in $18,000 worth of rebates for Californians. $8,000 for the Federal (which ends this Fri) and the state $10,000 credit payable over the next 3 years.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Result: A sale every day for the last 5 or 6 days and counting. Happy hunting!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;If you know of clients who may need some help in the &lt;strong&gt;So California&lt;/strong&gt;, feel free to send them to my site:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.sangabrielvalleyhomesearch.com/" title="www.SanGabrielValleyHomeSearch.com"&gt;www.SanGabrielValleyHomeSearch.com&lt;br&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Be sure that you send me an e-mail with you and your clients' name and information.&amp;nbsp; &lt;strong&gt;I pay 25% for referrals&lt;/strong&gt;...so let's get to work. Thanks--&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="mailto:velascomark@yahoo.com"&gt;velascomark@yahoo.com&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp; (626) 392-9499 Direct. &lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Search MLS: &lt;a href="http://www.sangabrielvalleyhomesearch.com/community/area/Arcadia" title="Arcadia" target="_blank"&gt;Arcadia&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="http://www.sangabrielvalleyhomesearch.com/community/area/SanMarino/" title="San Marino" target="_blank"&gt;San Marino&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="http://www.sangabrielvalleyhomesearch.com/community/area/SouthPasadena/" title="South Pasadena" target="_blank"&gt;South Pasadena&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="http://www.sangabrielvalleyhomesearch.com/community/area/GriffithParkLosFeliz/" title="Los Feliz" target="_blank"&gt;Los Feliz&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="http://www.sangabrielvalleyhomesearch.com/listings/propertytype/SINGLE/beds/3/areas/35575" title="Downey" target="_blank"&gt;Downey&lt;/a&gt;,&amp;amp; &lt;a href="http://www.sangabrielvalleyhomesearch.com/listings/propertytype/SINGLE/beds/3/areas/53097" title="Whittier" target="_blank"&gt;Whittier&lt;/a&gt;, CA &lt;a href="http://www.sangabrielvalleyhomesearch.com/sell/" title="What is my home worth?" target="_blank"&gt;What is my home worth?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;div class="agent_signature"&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://kontactr.com/user/markvelasco"&gt;&lt;img src="http://kontactr.com/pics/small.gif" border="0" height="16" alt="" width="90"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>FRIENDLY HILLS Homes for Sale WHITTIER, Ca. Real Estate *LISTINGS* MARK VELASCO (Realty Source, Inc (Luxury Homes Division))</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Tue, 27 Apr 2010 12:47:45 -0700</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1620380/notify-all-of-the-people-in-your-database-a-sale-a-day-so-far</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1605345/learning-is-earning</guid>
      <title>Learning is Earning</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;I am up late most nights reading and learning. Over time this is what gives me and you the competitive advantage over time. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Knowledge is NOT power. Correctly applied knowledge is true power. Good night all and good luck.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;If you know of clients who may need some help in the &lt;strong&gt;So California&lt;/strong&gt;, feel free to send them to my site:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.sangabrielvalleyhomesearch.com/" title="www.SanGabrielValleyHomeSearch.com"&gt;www.SanGabrielValleyHomeSearch.com&lt;br&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Be sure that you send me an e-mail with you and your clients' name and information.&amp;nbsp; &lt;strong&gt;I pay 25% for referrals&lt;/strong&gt;...so let's get to work. Thanks--&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="mailto:velascomark@yahoo.com"&gt;velascomark@yahoo.com&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp; (626) 392-9499 Direct. &lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Search MLS: &lt;a href="http://www.sangabrielvalleyhomesearch.com/community/area/Arcadia" title="Arcadia" target="_blank"&gt;Arcadia&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="http://www.sangabrielvalleyhomesearch.com/community/area/SanMarino/" title="San Marino" target="_blank"&gt;San Marino&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="http://www.sangabrielvalleyhomesearch.com/community/area/SouthPasadena/" title="South Pasadena" target="_blank"&gt;South Pasadena&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="http://www.sangabrielvalleyhomesearch.com/community/area/GriffithParkLosFeliz/" title="Los Feliz" target="_blank"&gt;Los Feliz&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="http://www.sangabrielvalleyhomesearch.com/listings/propertytype/SINGLE/beds/3/areas/35575" title="Downey" target="_blank"&gt;Downey&lt;/a&gt;,&amp;amp; &lt;a href="http://www.sangabrielvalleyhomesearch.com/listings/propertytype/SINGLE/beds/3/areas/53097" title="Whittier" target="_blank"&gt;Whittier&lt;/a&gt;, CA &lt;a href="http://www.sangabrielvalleyhomesearch.com/sell/" title="What is my home worth?" target="_blank"&gt;What is my home worth?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;div class="agent_signature"&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://kontactr.com/user/markvelasco"&gt;&lt;img src="http://kontactr.com/pics/small.gif" border="0" height="16" alt="" width="90"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>FRIENDLY HILLS Homes for Sale WHITTIER, Ca. Real Estate *LISTINGS* MARK VELASCO (Realty Source, Inc (Luxury Homes Division))</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Sun, 18 Apr 2010 01:54:34 -0700</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1605345/learning-is-earning</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1604459/saturday-morning-the-best-response-for-calling-warm-leads</guid>
      <title>Saturday Morning The Best Response for Calling Warm Leads</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;I have experimented with calling warm leads for quite a while now. What I have found (for myself, at least) is that Saturday morning seems to be the best time to find my potential clients at home and in the best mood (as opposed to any other day of the week). What say you?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;If you know of clients who may need some help in the &lt;strong&gt;So California&lt;/strong&gt;, feel free to send them to my site:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.sangabrielvalleyhomesearch.com/" title="www.SanGabrielValleyHomeSearch.com"&gt;www.SanGabrielValleyHomeSearch.com&lt;br&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Be sure that you send me an e-mail with you and your clients' name and information.&amp;nbsp; &lt;strong&gt;I pay 25% for referrals&lt;/strong&gt;...so let's get to work. Thanks--&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="mailto:velascomark@yahoo.com"&gt;velascomark@yahoo.com&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp; (626) 392-9499 Direct. &lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Search MLS: &lt;a href="http://www.sangabrielvalleyhomesearch.com/community/area/Arcadia" title="Arcadia" target="_blank"&gt;Arcadia&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="http://www.sangabrielvalleyhomesearch.com/community/area/SanMarino/" title="San Marino" target="_blank"&gt;San Marino&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="http://www.sangabrielvalleyhomesearch.com/community/area/SouthPasadena/" title="South Pasadena" target="_blank"&gt;South Pasadena&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="http://www.sangabrielvalleyhomesearch.com/community/area/GriffithParkLosFeliz/" title="Los Feliz" target="_blank"&gt;Los Feliz&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="http://www.sangabrielvalleyhomesearch.com/listings/propertytype/SINGLE/beds/3/areas/35575" title="Downey" target="_blank"&gt;Downey&lt;/a&gt;,&amp;amp; &lt;a href="http://www.sangabrielvalleyhomesearch.com/listings/propertytype/SINGLE/beds/3/areas/53097" title="Whittier" target="_blank"&gt;Whittier&lt;/a&gt;, CA &lt;a href="http://www.sangabrielvalleyhomesearch.com/sell/" title="What is my home worth?" target="_blank"&gt;What is my home worth?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;div class="agent_signature"&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://kontactr.com/user/markvelasco"&gt;&lt;img src="http://kontactr.com/pics/small.gif" border="0" height="16" alt="" width="90"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>FRIENDLY HILLS Homes for Sale WHITTIER, Ca. Real Estate *LISTINGS* MARK VELASCO (Realty Source, Inc (Luxury Homes Division))</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Sat, 17 Apr 2010 10:40:13 -0700</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1604459/saturday-morning-the-best-response-for-calling-warm-leads</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1604138/last-marriage-class-tonight</guid>
      <title>Last Marriage Class Tonight</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;Tania and I had our last marriage class tonight. It is not required. We are newlyweds and we are about to celebrate our 10th month of being married. We think that it is important to start working on the marriage BEFORE it needs work. I am so happy that we are together.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;If you know of clients who may need some help in the &lt;strong&gt;So California&lt;/strong&gt;, feel free to send them to my site:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.sangabrielvalleyhomesearch.com/" title="www.SanGabrielValleyHomeSearch.com"&gt;www.SanGabrielValleyHomeSearch.com&lt;br&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Be sure that you send me an e-mail with you and your clients' name and information.&amp;nbsp; &lt;strong&gt;I pay 25% for referrals&lt;/strong&gt;...so let's get to work. Thanks--&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="mailto:velascomark@yahoo.com"&gt;velascomark@yahoo.com&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp; (626) 392-9499 Direct. &lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Search MLS: &lt;a href="http://www.sangabrielvalleyhomesearch.com/community/area/Arcadia" title="Arcadia" target="_blank"&gt;Arcadia&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="http://www.sangabrielvalleyhomesearch.com/community/area/SanMarino/" title="San Marino" target="_blank"&gt;San Marino&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="http://www.sangabrielvalleyhomesearch.com/community/area/SouthPasadena/" title="South Pasadena" target="_blank"&gt;South Pasadena&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="http://www.sangabrielvalleyhomesearch.com/community/area/GriffithParkLosFeliz/" title="Los Feliz" target="_blank"&gt;Los Feliz&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="http://www.sangabrielvalleyhomesearch.com/listings/propertytype/SINGLE/beds/3/areas/35575" title="Downey" target="_blank"&gt;Downey&lt;/a&gt;,&amp;amp; &lt;a href="http://www.sangabrielvalleyhomesearch.com/listings/propertytype/SINGLE/beds/3/areas/53097" title="Whittier" target="_blank"&gt;Whittier&lt;/a&gt;, CA &lt;a href="http://www.sangabrielvalleyhomesearch.com/sell/" title="What is my home worth?" target="_blank"&gt;What is my home worth?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;div class="agent_signature"&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://kontactr.com/user/markvelasco"&gt;&lt;img src="http://kontactr.com/pics/small.gif" border="0" height="16" alt="" width="90"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>FRIENDLY HILLS Homes for Sale WHITTIER, Ca. Real Estate *LISTINGS* MARK VELASCO (Realty Source, Inc (Luxury Homes Division))</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Sat, 17 Apr 2010 01:52:57 -0700</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1604138/last-marriage-class-tonight</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1602188/catching-up-on-my-ar-reading-50-great-articles-to-go</guid>
      <title>Catching Up on My AR Reading-50 Great Articles to Go</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;For the last month and a half or so, I have been book marking the AR articles that I have been meaning to read and apply. I would say that there are currently about 50. Wow. I have my work cut out for me. I am always learning sooo much here about technology here on AR.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;If you know of clients who may need some help in the &lt;strong&gt;So California&lt;/strong&gt;, feel free to send them to my site:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.sangabrielvalleyhomesearch.com/" title="www.SanGabrielValleyHomeSearch.com"&gt;www.SanGabrielValleyHomeSearch.com&lt;br&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Be sure that you send me an e-mail with you and your clients' name and information.&amp;nbsp; &lt;strong&gt;I pay 25% for referrals&lt;/strong&gt;...so let's get to work. Thanks--&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="mailto:velascomark@yahoo.com"&gt;velascomark@yahoo.com&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp; (626) 392-9499 Direct. &lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Search MLS: &lt;a href="http://www.sangabrielvalleyhomesearch.com/community/area/Arcadia" title="Arcadia" target="_blank"&gt;Arcadia&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="http://www.sangabrielvalleyhomesearch.com/community/area/SanMarino/" title="San Marino" target="_blank"&gt;San Marino&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="http://www.sangabrielvalleyhomesearch.com/community/area/SouthPasadena/" title="South Pasadena" target="_blank"&gt;South Pasadena&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="http://www.sangabrielvalleyhomesearch.com/community/area/GriffithParkLosFeliz/" title="Los Feliz" target="_blank"&gt;Los Feliz&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="http://www.sangabrielvalleyhomesearch.com/listings/propertytype/SINGLE/beds/3/areas/35575" title="Downey" target="_blank"&gt;Downey&lt;/a&gt;,&amp;amp; &lt;a href="http://www.sangabrielvalleyhomesearch.com/listings/propertytype/SINGLE/beds/3/areas/53097" title="Whittier" target="_blank"&gt;Whittier&lt;/a&gt;, CA &lt;a href="http://www.sangabrielvalleyhomesearch.com/sell/" title="What is my home worth?" target="_blank"&gt;What is my home worth?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;div class="agent_signature"&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://kontactr.com/user/markvelasco"&gt;&lt;img src="http://kontactr.com/pics/small.gif" border="0" height="16" alt="" width="90"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>FRIENDLY HILLS Homes for Sale WHITTIER, Ca. Real Estate *LISTINGS* MARK VELASCO (Realty Source, Inc (Luxury Homes Division))</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Fri, 16 Apr 2010 00:41:01 -0700</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1602188/catching-up-on-my-ar-reading-50-great-articles-to-go</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1600309/yesterday-one-day-after-backing-up-my-computer-my-computer-crashed</guid>
      <title>Yesterday (One Day After Backing Up My Computer) My Computer Crashed</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;Call it a coincidence or intuition or just plain luck...a day after backing up a year's worth of information, my laptop crashed. It was really strange. However, I just plugged in my external hard drive and hit the restore button.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I should put something like pass this on to ten people OR...Lol...I hate those dumb chain letters.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Back up those computers though.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;If you know of clients who may need some help in the &lt;strong&gt;So California&lt;/strong&gt;, feel free to send them to my site:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.sangabrielvalleyhomesearch.com/" title="www.SanGabrielValleyHomeSearch.com"&gt;www.SanGabrielValleyHomeSearch.com&lt;br&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Be sure that you send me an e-mail with you and your clients' name and information.&amp;nbsp; &lt;strong&gt;I pay 25% for referrals&lt;/strong&gt;...so let's get to work. Thanks--&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="mailto:velascomark@yahoo.com"&gt;velascomark@yahoo.com&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp; (626) 392-9499 Direct. &lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Search MLS: &lt;a href="http://www.sangabrielvalleyhomesearch.com/community/area/Arcadia" title="Arcadia" target="_blank"&gt;Arcadia&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="http://www.sangabrielvalleyhomesearch.com/community/area/SanMarino/" title="San Marino" target="_blank"&gt;San Marino&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="http://www.sangabrielvalleyhomesearch.com/community/area/SouthPasadena/" title="South Pasadena" target="_blank"&gt;South Pasadena&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="http://www.sangabrielvalleyhomesearch.com/community/area/GriffithParkLosFeliz/" title="Los Feliz" target="_blank"&gt;Los Feliz&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="http://www.sangabrielvalleyhomesearch.com/listings/propertytype/SINGLE/beds/3/areas/35575" title="Downey" target="_blank"&gt;Downey&lt;/a&gt;,&amp;amp; &lt;a href="http://www.sangabrielvalleyhomesearch.com/listings/propertytype/SINGLE/beds/3/areas/53097" title="Whittier" target="_blank"&gt;Whittier&lt;/a&gt;, CA &lt;a href="http://www.sangabrielvalleyhomesearch.com/sell/" title="What is my home worth?" target="_blank"&gt;What is my home worth?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;div class="agent_signature"&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://kontactr.com/user/markvelasco"&gt;&lt;img src="http://kontactr.com/pics/small.gif" border="0" height="16" alt="" width="90"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>FRIENDLY HILLS Homes for Sale WHITTIER, Ca. Real Estate *LISTINGS* MARK VELASCO (Realty Source, Inc (Luxury Homes Division))</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Thu, 15 Apr 2010 00:22:55 -0700</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1600309/yesterday-one-day-after-backing-up-my-computer-my-computer-crashed</link>
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