FRBO...For Rent By Owner...!!! - 03/31/09 09:02 AM
Would you pronounce that term Firbo...!!!
Our Office staff is operating at about half our peak since we have cut our employees by one half...this also means that we have some extra office space available...
Of course like any owner trying to sell or rent on their own, we would like a first class tenant willing to pay top market price...BUT...
How complementary must the new tenant be with a Title Insurance operation? How much more traffic will they create in our parking lot?? How permanent will they be...if business picks up and we need to 'expand back' … (5 comments)
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No Fooling...April Is Almost Here...!!! - 03/30/09 10:06 AM
What happened to the month of March...??? I didn't even notice the traditional March winds winding down from a roaring lion to a gentle lamb...heralding the gentle spring rains of April...but in 2 days March will say goodbye until next year...and April will make its 2009 debut...
Aside from being 'tax month', April should be sensational this go around...
Easter finery, low interest rates, eager lenders and sellers, plenty of inventory, even some new home close out sales, and opening day of baseball, all promise to make April the poster girl of the Spring Season...!!!
We could all … (22 comments)
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Notre Dame...And Catholic Orthodoxy...!!! - 03/29/09 02:31 PM
I've been a Notre Dame football fan most of my adult life...My cell phone's ring tone is the Notre Dame Fight Song...My children are Notre Dame fans...I would give my right arm for one of my kids to go there...
OR WOULD I...
Before anything, I am a Christian, a follower of Christ, a member of the Roman Catholic Church, the very Church that Christ Himself founded...everything else comes after my faith in God...
You may already know where this post is going...
President Obama, is scheduled to give the commencement address to the graduating class at … (28 comments)
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Does History Really Repeat Itself...??? - 03/28/09 03:16 PM
Does history really repeat itself...???
How many times lately have you heard that our economy's problems are UNPRECEDENTED in History...??? What a lot of crap...oops! I'm sorry, TLW...I just can't get you off my mind...
History doesn't like being unprecedented...it would rather be repeated...and it sometimes turns things so it remains that way...and only the contention that it is unprecedented is repeated...CONFUSING...???
Just to clarify...If HISTORY truly repeats itself, let's ignore the rhetoric and confusion and hidden agendas coming out of D.C., and focus on the looming war...That's right...
You only have to go back to pre … (16 comments)
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Fran's Friday Forum For Finding Freedom From Fear, Failure, Faultfinding, and Fingerpointing...!!! - 03/27/09 07:38 AM
Have you ever marveled at how many 'control freaks' abound these days...
It's all about power and personal accountability...
Now Congress has gotten into the act...I guess they don't appreciate the fact that government should only do what the people can't do for themselves...after all, the Congress is an extension of the people, and not the other way around...from the people comes Congress, not from Congress comes the people...
In fact, besides the military, can you think of ONE program that runs better publicly than it would in the private sector...??? I can't...!!!
Like it or not, Republican or … (13 comments)
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ARGrR...No...We're Not Pirates...Climb Aboard Our Ship...!!! - 03/26/09 08:32 AM
Don't let this title confuse you...It's a PRO ACTIVE RAIN POST...by a Pro Active Rainer...
We're so gung ho on Active Rain that we decided to open up our own Active Rain 'GREEN ROOM'...
What's a 'GREEN ROOM'...???
A 'GREEN ROOM' is a place where people readying to appear on TV prepare themselves by grooming, reviewing, relaxing, etc., while waiting for their opportunity to make their public appearance...
Well Fran, what does this have to do with Real Estate or Active Rain...????
Let me explain...!
We're so sold on Active Rain membership and … (19 comments)
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Over 270 Shopping Days Until Christmas...!!! - 03/25/09 09:22 AM
If you're one of those Americans whose whole life revolves around Christmas and all that the Holiday entails, you probably are thrilled at the information in the title to this post...!!!
Plenty of time to prepare and become organized...
If, however, you're like most of the rest of us, you're taking each day one day at a time...!!!
Funny, how the recession has made us so introspective...that can be a positive thing or a negative thing...it all depends how we process the information...and our FAITH...
Faith, not only in a supreme being, but faith in our economy, … (12 comments)
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Title Insurance In Pennsylvania...Too Long Non Transparent...!!! - 03/24/09 09:27 AM
It's unfortunate that so few people are aware or appreciate the role that title insurance companies and their agents play in the real estate transactional process...
And I'm talking not only about consumers, but even people in places of authority who ought to know more than they seem to display...
One such example of oligarchical and bureaucratic ignorance, comes from our own Pennsylvania Attorney General's office...
In a recent announcement it stated:
Attorney General calls for significant cuts in Title Insurance rates for PA consumers; opposes industry request for rate increase...
Later in the … (12 comments)
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Memeless Monday...Meaningful Moves Make Money Matters More Memorable...!!! - 03/23/09 10:24 AM
Now that I have earnestly and safely disposed of the MEME my friend from Lehigh County, Jason Sardi, respectfully imposed upon me, I can get on with the business of survival in a still tractionless real estate market...
Someone asked me this morning how business has been, and I responded with just that analogy...It's been like a car stuck in the snow trying to gain traction...the more gas pedal we depress, the deeper we get bogged down in the snow...I added that if only we could gain a little traction we might be able to pull ourselves out of this … (38 comments)
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Memes, Chain Letters, And Pyramid Schemes...!!! - 03/22/09 10:27 PM
Most of my very close friends know how much I detest all the elements listed in the title...Send me a chain letter, and I guarantee you it will end with me...!!! Does that sound GRINCHY...???
Believe me, I'm not a Grinch...I'm a lovable, fun loving, jolly old, teddy bear of a guy...!!!
But...my buddy to the north, Jason Sardi...has decided to test me in this...and like I do with some of my younger children...I'm going to let him win this one...
He gets under my skin sometimes (only kidding), but I enjoy his friendship and admire his spunk … (19 comments)
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Philadelphia Eagles Vs Daniel Boone Blazers Alumni & Faculty...!!! - 03/22/09 11:41 AM
Philadelphia Eagles Vs Daniel Boone Blazers Alumni & Faculty...2009...!!!
Every year for the past few years the Blazers Booster Club has sponsored this basketball game event as a fund raiser and a special event enjoyable by residents of all ages...!!!
It seems that each year the attendance increases to set new records for a sporting or amusement event...
I hope this year is no exception and the Boosters enjoy a successful fund raiser...!!!
My wife has used this occasion to set up a 'boys night out' for the males in our family, and an opportunity for the … (6 comments)
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Relocate Or Not Relocate...The Flag Pole...!!! - 03/20/09 09:27 PM
My wife and I have a lot of things in common...!!! We also disagree on a few things...! Like Flagpoles...
About 3 years ago, when business wasn't bad, and we purchased many things that we wanted with less regard to what we needed, to satisfy my appetite for an outward expression of patriotism, I went overboard and bought a somewhat elegant and expensive flagpole...designed for home use as well as commercial usage, the flagpole was made of sturdy, rustproof, industrial quality, but it was just what I had dreamed about...and so...
I picked out a suitable spot, right in front … (16 comments)
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Fran's Friday Forum...Freedom From Finding Fault...Fix Focusing For Fixes...!!! - 03/20/09 09:37 AM
The news the last few weeks has been more like a dog and pony show than a presentation of the latest developments in the field of economics, politics, current events, entertainment and sports...
Remember newspapers...???
We would pick them up at the local newsstand or more conveniently, have them delivered directly to our homes...if we still had newspapers we might even find our own homes listed for foreclosure in the classified section before the actual gavel fell...
After checking those legal publication announcements we might carefully check the pages of escheat notices to make sure we were not … (12 comments)
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Stranded On BASE...Can't Get Home...!!! - 03/19/09 08:41 AM
Often it's better to stay on the light side of things before you let utter frustration set in which could even lead to anger...
Such is the case with navigating through Active Rain these last few days...
Oh, I'm used to those 'proxy errors', and 'Apache red hats', and 'Bad gateway' messages...and as long as they remain sporadic and don't become all encompassing, it's not all that cumbersome to navigate through them, instead of sounding the all hands on deck alert...!!! You just need to slow from 'skiing speed' to 'trolling speed'...
Now, I've put in the token requests … (15 comments)
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Muckrakers...A Hundred Years Later...!!! - 03/18/09 10:02 AM
Over 100 years ago, during the Presidential administration of Theodore Roosevelt, the term 'MUCKRAKER' was first used...
It was a term applied to a 'new' generation of 'roving' journalists that went about other areas than their places of residence raking up all the dirt, evil, gossip, and bad news their 'rakes' could loosen from the bottom of the aquarium of life...and then, with their heads firmly bowed down without raising an eyebrow to look up, they published and circulated their 'dirt' around the country and the world...!!!
Over 103 years later, the more some things change, the more they … (15 comments)
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Happy Saint Patrick's Day...2009...!!! - 03/17/09 09:24 AM
When I was a young boy attending Holy Saviour School in Norristown, Pennsylvania, a 'NATIONAL' Roman Catholic school intended for children of Italian American descent only...every Saint Patrick's day hardly anyone would wear 'green'...in fact, most would wear black as a show of solidarity for our ITALIAN heritage, and a show of rebellion against our IRISH cross town rivals...
Things are refreshingly different today...especially after discovering that my grandfather, whom I never knew...landed upon the shores of America at Ellis Island on March 17, 1906...
Now, I have occasion to celebrate greatly on Saint Patrick's day...!!!
Arriving here alone, … (13 comments)
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Repetition...The Mother Of Learning...??? - 03/16/09 09:14 AM
In my grade school years if I heard the expression, 'Repetition is the mother of learning' once, I heard it a thousand times...
But is it true...???
All I know is that in today's society it's three strikes and you're out...!
If, after three attempts at most, if something doesn't work...it ends up in the trash can, the circular file, or in our failed ideas folder...
Are we a nation of 'IMPATIENTS'...Are we characterized by our 'IMPATIENCE'...rather than our sticktoitiveness...now there's a word for you...!!!
In the Old Testament Book of Kings, a fellow by the name of … (14 comments)
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Transformation From Wants To Needs...!!! - 03/14/09 11:33 PM
The American lifestyle is pregnant with wants, desires, career ambitions, pursuits of pleasure, selfish leanings, etc...
With a recession deeply upon us, we are beginning to separate our 'WANTS' from our 'NEEDS'...Recession is tough on people, families, businesses, institutions, finances...but there is a 'good' side of recession...It gets us to shift our focus from wants to needs...from self to others...
Do you know what 'NEED' (read 'urgency') is...
As I sat relaxing in my favorite easy chair, I watched, as my 5 year old daughter, Ashley played for hours outside without even a hint of need to go to … (18 comments)
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What's Your Favorite Color...??? - 03/14/09 09:17 AM
Has anyone ever asked you or have you ever asked anyone, 'What is your favorite color'...???
Thinking back, my favorite color has changed over the years...I wonder if that's a good thing...and after some reflection, I have concluded that, yes, changing your favorite color over the years IS a good thing...
Then what about other favorites...flower, tree, ice cream flavor, cereal, number, electronics brand, political affiliation, merchant, style of home, food, snack, raindrops on roses, and whiskers on kittens, etc...and the list could probably go on ad infinitum...
What point am I trying to make...?
… (10 comments)
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Fran's Friday Forum...Featuring Five Findings For Fixing Fiscal Frustration...!!! - 03/13/09 06:41 AM
No matter where you turn these days you will find 'experts' and 'expert wanna bes' offering advice on how to survive the current market and economic crisis...
Some of this advice is solicited and beneficial, but much of it is based on speculation and empty hope and overly optimistic rose colored glasses...
I don't seek to add to the body of advice available out there, and I trust my fellow human beings to do enough due diligence to weed out the wheaty advice from the chaff or baloney advice...
So this post will offer some 'sharing' rather than advice...!
1. We're … (14 comments)
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Big Families...Germ Spreaders Or Immunity Builders...??? - 03/12/09 09:28 AM
I grew up fed with nursery rhymes by both my Mother and Grandmother...some in English, some in Italian...remember this one:
There was an old woman who lived in a shoe,She had so many children she didn't know what to do!So she gave them some broth without any bread,And she whipped them all soundly and sent them to bed!
I never did understand the meaning of that one...BUT...
It raises a good point...What DO you do when you have so many children...?
No, this post is not about 'OCTOMOM'...
As a child living in a row home … (17 comments)
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Wordless Wednesday...CHEEZ-It alian...!!! - 03/11/09 03:13 PM
Wordless Wednesday...CHEEZ-It alian...!!!
… (16 comments)
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The Best Hunting Cartridge...30/30...??? - 03/11/09 08:50 AM
Sportsmen and sportswomen: Don't let this post disappoint you...it has little if anything to do with hunting...but stick around...!
My 12 year old son is smack dab in the middle of Middle School Baseball Tryouts...Justin is in 7th grade...and trying hard to showcase his baseball skills...and impress his coaches and peers...
With still one more season of Little League eligibility, he still would enjoy making his school baseball team...Last year he was one of a few kids to hit home runs over the fence..and he has one heck of an arm in the outfield, at third base, and spot pitching, … (12 comments)
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What Goes Up Must Come Down...It's The Law...!!! - 03/10/09 10:38 AM
What Goes Up Must Come Down...
We have heard that adage repeated many times...and I guess the 'law of gravity' makes it a 100% certainty...BUT...
What about our real material world...?
I heard on the news last night that fashion designers are lowering hemlines and reducing cleavage showings...and the latest trends in fashion are towards more modest and more conservative designs...
In other words, the segment offered, that as stocks, the economy, property values, and net worth go down...higher hemlines, shorter skirt lengths, mucho cleavage, and bling will also see less popularity...
Well at least some good … (19 comments)
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Always Take A Day Off...!!! - 03/09/09 10:23 AM
Last week I wrote a post entitled, "Never Take The Day Off"...
Regardless of what I said in that post, I'm recanting every word right here and now...
Not really...you see, last week while taking a 'snow day' off, I encountered some plumbing problems at home which caused some unforeseen and perhaps unnecessary repair expenses...
This week, however, I intentionally decided to take Sunday off...at least from blogging and commenting and Active Raining...
What with a couple of sick boys around the house, some Spring like weather providing a window of opportunity for some needed quickie winter … (17 comments)
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Saturday Morning Sitting In The Rain...!!! - 03/07/09 08:57 AM
No, It's not raining in Pennsylvania...at least not in our parts.
In fact, this weekend is supposed to be a fantastic weather event in our parts. But I still have two of my sons not feeling well...one from a spill while taking a shower, the younger one from a sick tummy...and parents remorse and empathy always take charge in situations like this and prevent being in full celebratory mode over what's going on outside...any of you with children know what I'm talking about...
Hopefully, with a little TLC and a small dose of medicine and a lot of encouragement, things will … (18 comments)
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Fran's Friday Forum...Finding Freedom From Financial Frenzy, Fear, & Frustration...!!! - 03/06/09 06:55 AM
First, FINANCIAL FRENZY...Frankly, I'm running out of 'F' words to describe the floundering financial feeling floating freely from friends fiscally frustrated from fossil fuel fighting fanatics...
I'm beginning to separate the sheep from the goats...not good for a practicing Christian to engage in such activity reserved for God alone at the final judgment...
It is tiring listening to so called 'EXPERTS' attempting to steer this Ship of State in the willy nilly direction suited to their whims and fancies and socially bankrupt agendas...!
Further, FEAR...Franklin D. Roosevelt, the last President to slow an economic recovery for years, said … (16 comments)
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The Word 'THE'...It Depends On What You Mean By It...!!! - 03/05/09 09:31 AM
There is a morning show on radio which I sometimes listen to on the drive in to work...the host, Michael Smerconish, who I sometimes agree with politically but not necessarily ethically...ALWAYS introduces a particular guest as 'THE foremost expert in.........'! Now, you wouldn't think use of the incorrect article...THE vs 'A'...would be that upsetting, but it is because it presumes that this guest is the last and final word on the subject...a sort of god in his/her field...
BTW, I respect and credit this particular guest as an expert in his field, but being an expert doesn't mean that you … (8 comments)
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I've Become A Seedy Character...!!! - 03/04/09 09:00 AM
If I remember my grade school grammar well, and what Sister Honora Mary drummed into us in the fourth grade at Holy Saviour Catholic School in Norristown, Pennsylvania many moons ago, a 'y' on the end of a word means 'full of'...so...seedy must mean full of seed...
Do I have you hooked to read on, or are you giving up here...C'mon, hang in there with me...
This post is not what you think it is...!!!
It is almost Spring...the time of year when old seeds germinate, new seeds are planted, and we begin to notice great signs of life wherever we look! … (14 comments)
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Never Take The Day Off...!!! - 03/03/09 12:47 PM
Before you read too much into that title, let me assure you I am not a workaholic...well at least, NOT EXACTLY...
Yesterday was a snow day, not so much that we got a large accumulation of the white stuff (we only got about 6 inches total), but the roads were treacherous, the temperature was single digits real feel, and the winds were blustery and gusting...all in all, a good day, if any, to call it quits when it comes to making it in to work...
Now the good news about staying home in this age of technology and … (17 comments)
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Minding Your Own Business...A Snow Job...??? - 03/02/09 12:24 PM
I remember the good nuns teaching us that the 11th Commandment (and you thought there were only 10) was 'Mind Your Own Business'...
Is it always good advice to do so...???
Not always...!!!
Have you ever been guilty of 'NOT ACTING'...when you should have acted...?
Scripture tells us, 'You shall not stand by idly, when your neighbors life is at stake'...BUT...
How often do we see injustice or unethical or illegal or immoral activities taking place and respond with...'It's not my problem'...
Yes, sometimes we can incur guilt for what we 'don't do'...in religion, it is … (16 comments)
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What Lent Can Teach Us About Real Estate...!!! - 03/01/09 01:06 AM
So The Gospel reminds us that Jesus spent the 'first Lent' in the desert...forty days of fasting, aloneness, listening, praying...and yes, even temptation...
Now read it closely...He was tempted by Satan, but He was led into the desert by 'THE SPIRIT'...
So 'the desert' isn't of itself a bad thing...Go to my friend Mike Jones of Tucson's blog...and see some marvelous pictures of sunsets, saguaro cactus, and undulating rock formations...and tell me you can't find God there...
By the same token, 'temptation' isn't of itself bad either...it can be a doorway to sin if we entertain it, but it … (20 comments)
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