HallesyHouse Blog

Are you ready to lease that commercial property?

Pat Hallesy (KW Commercial) — Fri, 01 May 2009 18:11:13 -0700

You’ve done your research into the competition. You’ve checked out the demographics of the area where you would like to locate your business. Your business plan is ready. You have your banker’s backing. You’re ready to grab a space and sign that lease, right? Wrong!

I would recommend that you engage a competent commercial agent to assist you in your search to find the right space. As I mentioned in a previous blog, there are many factors that go into finding the right space for your business. The area’s market conditions should be a very important factor in making your decision. Who else is going to know those conditions but your local commercial agent?

You may run into lease terms that are totally unfamiliar to you. Do you know the difference between a gross lease and a triple net (NNN) lease? How about usable vs. rentable space?

A Letter of Intent (LOI) is a very important tool to tell a prospective landlord what you want as it pertains to leasing his space. The LOI will outline such things as the length of the lease, the specific rental amount, pass-through costs, and incremental increases in the base rent over the life of the lease. Your agent can help you write a good LOI by asking you the right questions.

A Request For Proposal (RFP) is a tool for you to solicit competitive bids from several landlords for the type of space you want or need. With an RFP, you determine basic requirements and get the landlords to give you their best offer to meet your requirements.

If a landlord offers you a “standard” lease, you can bet that all the terms in the lease favor the landlord. You’ll need your own attorney to review any lease you intend to sign. Not just any attorney, but a local real estate attorney who is familiar with the local laws as they pertain to real estate.

Stay tuned for more hints and tips in future blogs.

Your Business Location

Pat Hallesy (KW Commercial) — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 18:24:34 -0700

Where would you like to locate your business? There are many factors you may wish to consider. Are you just starting a business or are you relocating your existing business? How much traffic will there be near your business? Is your business the destination or a stop along the way to someone’s destination? Are you interested in purchasing property as an owner/user, or would you rather become a tenant in someone else’s property?

For new business owners, let’s assume that you’ve decided the type of business you want to operate and you choose to lease rather than buy. You’ve arranged for bookkeeping services, talked to an attorney about conducting business in your locality, and have presented your business plan to your friendly neighborhood banker who believes in you and is ready to back your dream. What’s next? You need a place to locate your business!

Current business owners have already taken care of most of the preliminaries facing the new business owner. However, you still have to contact your banker, printer, suppliers, and, most importantly, your customers about your relocation.

How do you decide where to locate? The success or failure of your business could hinge on the location you choose. You will need to find out several things, such as the number of cars passing by and what time of day they pass by your business as well as the demographics of the surrounding area. Of a more immediate concern are things such as zoning ordinances and terms of the lease.

If the current zoning of the location you’re considering permits the use you intend, then you will have the opportunity to negotiate your lease. Depending on the area and type of property, there are different types of leases available. Many commercial lease rates are expressed as a dollar amount per square foot triple net (i.e. $18 SF NNN). To help you figure out your cost per month, simply multiply the price by the square feet and divide by 12. Then you’ll need to add the triple net costs (usually maintenance, taxes, and insurance) that are passed on to the tenant by the owner. There are things that you can do to get the landlord to give you more favorable terms, but I’ll address those in a later blog.

My Listings on the map

Pat Hallesy (KW Commercial) — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 17:24:33 -0700

Latest Listings

Pat Hallesy (KW Commercial) — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 17:20:17 -0700

It's been a while . . . .

Pat Hallesy (KW Commercial) — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 16:17:23 -0700

. . . since I logged in to blog. Quite a while. More than a year, as a matter of fact. I guess it's easy to do if you don't put yourself on a schedule. A lot of things have changed in that time - guess I now have plenty of things to write about.

First things first. My main concentration is now commercial real estate with Sperry Van Ness. It's been a very steep learning curve. Fortunately, I've had a great mentor who keeps me on my toes. One advantage that I've brought over from residential real estate is my willingness to think outside the box. Don't get me wrong, there are quite a few commercial agents willing to think out of the box. However, there aren't as many who will go searching for the tools that help get them out of the box.

I can also help out my better half with residential real estate over at Keller Williams since I now run a concurrent license (available to those with broker licenses in Virginia to permit working for more than one brokerage firm) there.

About every other month or so, I teach pre-licensing through Mosely Real Estate Schools over at the Keller Williams office.

Now I've put my blogging into my schedule so that I don't let it slip again. The popular saying goes that if it's not scheduled it doesn't happen.

So there it sits - in pieces

Pat Hallesy (KW Commercial) — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 19:00:51 -0700

My poor AVERATEC C3500's CMOS battery (the one that keeps the clock, among other things, going while it's shut down) died several months ago. I've had the computer more than three years, so I suppose I can't complain. But I finally had it with resetting the date every time I turned it on, and it eventually killed my regular battery.

So, I cleared off a section of the better half's desk and pulled out my trusty Leatherman and got to work. On a desktop its a relatively simple procedure to replace the CMOS battery - open up the side, remove battery from motherboard, replace and close it up. A laptop, on the other hand is quite another story. A laptop uses compact parts - that's why they're so expensive. It would be simple to replace the CMOS battery if it was put someplace accessible - but it's not. In order to get to it I had to separate the screen from the body, remove the keyboard, open up the body, remove the motherboard, then pull the CMOS battery off the motherboard (it's glued on to the motherboard) and disconnect it.

With the help of Google, it was relatively easy to find a replacement. I ended up ordering this $8.00 battery from a Malaysian company (via their rep in Vegas). Shipping was $10 (FEDEX).

I now have several plastic baggies with very tiny screws and other parts sitting in my office. They're just begging to be put back together. If I'm lucky, I'll get everything in the right place and it'll all work. Maybe I won't even have any extra parts left over!

You may think I'm nuts for taking it apart and not sending it to a shop, but I enjoy gutting and/or fixing computers - so it served as relaxation time.

After the battery comes in I'll update this post.

Post update: Just goes to show how much I use it - I still haven't put it back together and it's now March! I guess I'll have to make the time over the next couple of weeks to get it done. You can bet, however, that I will back up the hard drive before I power it up!

When to blog - Daily, Weekly, or less frequently

Pat Hallesy (KW Commercial) — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 12:36:02 -0700

I realize that the more successful bloggers tend to blog daily. But I do hate to sit down at the computer and start writing just to have a post that day. For the most part, I'd rather wait until I have something to say that might be of use to someone.

My favorite of all the blogs I write are about how to save money while still conducting business. There are all sorts of tech toys out there that we all tend to want. I believe that you shouldn't have to overpay to have those toys. One of my favorite places to save money is at www.cellphoneshop.net. If I'm in need of accessories for my phone and/or PDA (especially batteries) that's the place to go. They are located in Hong Kong, and most of the cellphone accessories are made 'next door' in China. The prices on batteries are about half of what you can buy them for at the wireless company's sites. You can even get free shipping if you spend $30 or more (yes, it can be hard to buy $30-worth of stuff). The orders shipped to me here (via USPS) in Virginia arrive in about 7 days. So, go take a look and see if they have anything that will save you some $$$$.

Never say never - nothing to do with real estate

Pat Hallesy (KW Commercial) — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 21:42:51 -0700

I'll admit it. I did it to myself. As the pets got older I told the better half there'd be NO replacements when they were gone. I should've known better.

Our two house rabbits (they were litter trained) died within a month of each other. Our 12 year old dog started managing to be incontenant (one time within an hour of being let outside) when we weren't looking. Most unfortunate that it wasn't the wet kind. So, we have to keep her outside when we're not home.

I'll be the first to say that I'm more of a cat person than a dog person. When one of my co-workers brought one of her miniature toy poodle puppies into the office, I sorta fell into like. I figured that he'd make a nice early birthday present for Rhonda (the better half). The puppy however had other plans. He chose me as his human. Sure, he'll go play with Rhonda or our son, but it's me he looks for when he wants to cuddle.

The day after we brought him home our 55-pound Rottweiler/Husky (Baxter) decided to show him who was the top dog. I got a panicked call from our son saying that Baxter had attacked the puppy (we hadn't named him yet) and that there was blood coming from the puppy's nose and mouth. Talk about along drive home. I figured that Baxter had grabbed the puppy by the middle and had done some sort of serious internal damage. Fortunately, Baxter had only gotten him by the nose and shook him when he got too close to her food dish. Our son's panic made things sound worse than they were. A little cleaning by the vet, a shot of penicillin, and another shot of painkiller and the puppy was as good as new (well, a little sleepy until the painkiller wore off).

As you can imagine, it's been an adventure over the last 10 days with a puppy in the house. Whining at night, whining during the day (and that's just from me due to lack of sleep), accidents on the carpet (thankfully it's old carpet).

Baxter and the puppy are learning to get along. Baxter has a little more patience with the puppy chewing on her and the puppy gives Baxter's food dish a wide berth. I hope to be able to get a little more sleep soon.

By the way, the puppy now has a name: Little Bear (because he has a teddy bear face). Of course that's the short version of his name. The long version is Little Bear Who Thought He Could Take On A Big Dog And Lost.

Open House Secret Weapon

Pat Hallesy (KW Commercial) — Sun, 15 Jul 2007 13:48:45 -0700

There's only so much advertising and so many signs (with balloons) that we can put out for an open house. The people that are going to show up are the ones who will show up. The big question for me was "How do i make them comfortable enought to look around with an open mind?"

Of course I don't want to hover around them like a pushy salesman, nor do I want to completely ignore them. I need to be close enough to answer their questions without being so close that they feel that their private conversations are being monitored. Nervous open house guests aren't usually the best kind to have around.

I have read many suggestions for an open house. Some of them I use as is, some I modify, and some I have created as I hold opens.

I try to put out at least 8 signs with balloons. To eliminate the need for helium, I purchased some of the Stand-a-Balloon holders from HAR. I could have went to the manufacturer's online store to get them, but I thought my money better spent buying them from a REALTOR Association store.

The next thing I do is to remove any outside brochures from the brochure box. This makes it so passers by have to come in to get any written information.

As per Rick Barnes, I have a 1/2" thick black binder with a sign in sheet and a bowl of Hershey's Kisses a handspan away from the sign-in sheet. Another suggestion from a Rick Barnes seminar is to sign in a 'fake' name - preferably a Doctor, so that everyone else will sign in. The only time I had a minor problem with this is when a seller had seen the sheet and asked about the Doctor that had seen the house.

I also spread home and self-promotion brochures, along with business cards, throughout the home. The visitor might be more inclined to take my information if they are not made to feel oblogated to me because I saw them take one.

It's a good thing to follow up with the open visitors within 24 hours (before they for get who you are). This way you keep the lines of communication flowing.

Almost forgot - I did mention a secret weapon. Smell is a very important trigger when someone enters a house. Some agents will advocate for potpourri or scented candles. I don't. I quit smoking 6 years ago and artificial scents tend to bother or annoy me. My secret weapon is my bread machine. I bring it in an hour or two before the open so that the aroma of the baking bread saturates the air inside the house. I have yet to meet anyone who doesn't like that particular smell. I also tends to relax people as they tour the home.

What are some of the touches that make your open houses a success?

Have you actually LOOKED at your cellphone bill lately?

Pat Hallesy (KW Commercial) — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 18:54:53 -0700

Even though I get an email notice that my cellphone bill is ready to view online, I rarely do more than look at the total. Somehow, it just doesn't make sense to try and read all 27 pages online. I can't pick up the totals for one phone and look at the same area on the other phone's total. So, for the online version, I look at the total and, if it seems correct, I pay it.

Today I got the most recent paper copy - I know think of all the trees, but I'd kill more trees if I printed it out myself because my paper isn't as small as theirs. As I looked at the total, I realized that it was $20 more than usual. Did the New AT&T (formerly Cingular) add something to my bill due to the name change? Did I, for some reason, not pay my bill in full last time? Or, maybe I paid it late and got hit with a late charge.

For those of you who actually try and read your cell phone bills and make sense of what is charged for and what isn't, you know how long it took me to find the 'extra' charges. After a 15 minute search of all those lines of text, I finally found the "Credits/Adjustmens/Other Charges" section of the bill. Oh no! Under that section, it just give me an amount. It does however tell me which phones (I have three on this plan) the charge was added to. (Watch all the English teachers shudder - I just created a split infinitive by ending the last sentence with the word 'to' - sometimes I just let my wild side go and forget the correct way to write in English).

AHA! Here's the first one buried on page 12 of 27. It's something called DirectBill Download. The merchant's name is m-Qube Inc. I have never heard of them or their product (something called Buongiorno). So, I go looking for the other charge. Seems I missed this one the first time through. It's on page 5 of 27. Same company. The product this time is called Nevis Mobile.

Now, I'll admit that it could have been possible for my technology-challenged better half to accidentally download something on her phone and not know it. The second charge would've taken someone better than Houdini to actually download to that phone - It's been sitting on the filing cabinet with a dead battery for about four months. I use it exclusively as my voicemail for Spanish. It's directly forwarded to Callwave (which sends the recording to me via email attachment).

I called AT&T and after a couple of minute wait (they're still fielding inquiries regarding the iPhone), got to talk with a very nice gentleman who not only removed the charges (well, they're credited to next month's bill), but placed a block on any DirectBill downloads. All that means is that if I want a new ringtone, then I have to pay for it, then download it and not the other way around.

So, next time you think about not reading your bill, you might want to think again.

How small did YOUR world get today?

Pat Hallesy (KW Commercial) — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 19:15:50 -0700

Every once in a while we all get reminded just how small the world can get. Here's a few of mine:

1. While serving as a voter registrar on a ship off Central America, I ran across someone who had graduated from my high school - just 9 years later.

2. Two of the guys on the ship were born the same year at the same hospital in a small town in Kansas - and didn't know each other.

3. After leaving the service, I drove a semi. Imagine my amazement when I delivered a shipment and the receiver was the CO where I had been stationed two years earlier.

4. I went to talk to the owner of an expired listing - Turns out I was their paperboy 30 years earlier and 60 miles away.

5. The best for last - I attended a train the trainer event. One of the people there happened to be someone who had just taken a management position in our company. I found out that he too graduated from the same high school I did. But wait - it gets better. He told me where he lived at that time (ack! I was their paperboy too!).
Even better than that - After looking at him and rolling his last name around my brain, I decided to ask him one question to confirm a sneaking suspicion I had. I asked him what kind of car his mother used to have. When he told me, I almost died laughing. Turns out that I dated his sister when he was 11!!!!!

When it rains, it pours

Pat Hallesy (KW Commercial) — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 06:01:36 -0700

So, I managed to convince my newest sellers to move a few pieces of furniture into the investment property they want to sell and I schedule a Saturday and Sunday open house.

From ActiveRain comes a contact who wants to list a home for rent. This contact only has time available on Saturday - one of the open house days. Okay, it's time to adjust on the fly. Appointment made for 9:00 am, allow about an hour to make sure all the paperwork is right - I'll still have time to set up the open and put signs out.

I arrive around noon to get myself set up for the open and the owners are still moving furniture into the townhouse. I get the house set up and put my signs out, but don't get back until 5 or 10 minutes after the open is supposed to start. Fortunately, this is a day when no one shows up early.

I meet a couple of neighbors who are out and about, who tell me that another client (I listed the end unit next door to the one I'm holding open - it was under contract in less than 30 days) has recommended me for their future move.

Another neighbor, whose home is also for sale (just not listed with me), stops by the open to check out the differences in their respective homes. Of course the owners are still there and chat up a storm with the neighbors - that's okay because I gain information that I could not have asked for directly.

Then, for 2 1/2 hours, nobody shows up. I usually bring things to do at an open, but I'd rather be meeting and greeting people.

It's now 15 minutes past the end time for the open, so it's time to go sign gathering. I'm in no big hurry to go grab the signs and close everything up for the day because I have to wait for the bread machine (my open house secret weapon) to finish.

I gather up a couple of signs and put them in the garage. As I'm locking the front door, so I can hop in my car and go get the other signs, a group shows up. They love the house. Enough so that they are taking pictures with their
cell phones.

This group leaves and it's time to go gather those signs. I lock up the door and chat a little with the next-door neighbor. Lo and behold! Two more neighbors show up to take a look. Still waiting for the bread machine to finish, I let them in and they tour the house.

Finally, I'm able to go gather up my signs (before the local vigilantes can snatch them up).

On the way back to the office, I finally get in touch with a potential seller. Another appointment. Once again, 9:00 am - before the open.

I don't mind being this kind of busy - it tends to be productive.

A Different Form of Advertising

Pat Hallesy (KW Commercial) — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 05:31:52 -0700

We originally chose the Scion xB that I drive because of the gas mileage (usually about 30 mpg - I even got 35 mpg once). As I looked at it, i realized how great a billboard it is. I'd seen a few others around town with just a company name and phone number on them. I just knew that having 'just' a name and phone number wouldn't do.

At first, i didn't even know that what I was thinking of was called a wrap. I finally figured that out after a few Google searches. Then I had to find someone to do the wrap. I happened to be driving by one of the local sign companies (Fastsigns to be exact) and saw a panel van that they had done. You know the type - 'Use our truck to move...' So, I figured if they could do that, they could do my Scion.

I went in for my estimate, and the franchise owner was the one to do my estimate. He explained that they didn't do the actual wrap on site, but took the car to the Richmond VA shop for that. He measured my car, crunched his numbers, and came up with a figure of $3000. I figured, that in eight months, it would pay for itself - not through generated business, but through saved advertising costs. The local newpaper charges about $90 for a little self-promotional ad that runs once a week. So, at $90 a week, it would take about 33 weeks to pay for itself - and I'd still have the advertising.

It turned out that my timing for getting the wrap done wasn't the best. The graphic designer was on vacation. So I told them I'd design it myself, but that they would have some artistic license in the implementation of the design. Finally, the design was done and I had proofed the final look.

Now it was ready to get the wrap done -- oops, not so fast. A bit of a rush came in when one of the companies they had a contract with needed part of a new fleet done. No problem, just another couple of weeks to wait. Next, one of the guys who does the actual wrap quit and moved out of state. A little bit more of a delay. After a couple of months it was time to send my car to Richmond. Once there, it took a couple of days longer than expected to get it back.

Was I unhappy with them for all the delays? No. They were timely in keeping me informed of upcoming delays and the reasons behind them. To top it off, they discounted the job and added a back window treatment to my wife's 4Runner at no extra cost. I never had to ask for the discount. It was given to me when I went in to pay the final bill. That's customer service.

I don't use them for my real estate signs as they're a little pricier than my normal sign company. I do, however, recommend them to anyone who wants to have similar work done to their car.

A little added touch to the back of our cars is a business card holder. As long as you can accept the fact that a stranger will be touching your car, it's great to have. We even got a listing when the office was closed and our car was sitting out front. The person grabbed a card and called us to list a house later in the day.

Oh yeah, I suppose I should put up a picture of the Scion.

Belonging to more than one MLS

Pat Hallesy (KW Commercial) — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 05:08:36 -0700

For those of you in the northernmost parts of Virginia, there's usually no need to belong to more than one MLS. Even if you are licensed in MD, DC, or WV you'll still be using MRIS. It's a little different farther south.

Want to look for a place in Colonial Beach? Some are listed with MRIS and some with the Northern Neck MLS. How about Louisa County? There are three that cover that county - MRIS, CVRMLS (Richmond area), and CAARMLS (Charlottesville area).

I started out with membership in MRIS. I now also belong to CVRMLS and CAARMLS. Fortunately, once set up, my Supra key works with all three. The only drawback is that I have to buy lockboxes from the area associations. It's the same lockbox (blue iBox), but each box can only be coded to work with the MLS in the local area. So, even though you may have a Supra key, you may not have the rights to open another area's iBox.

So, how do you go about joining another MLS? First, your principal broker has to join (this usually means that he or she will have to attend training classes). Once that is done, all you have to do is pay your money to join and take the initial training class for that particular MLS.

It's funny how some of the MLS rules differ. Items that can cause you to incur a fine in one MLS is perfectly okay to do in another.

Examples:

1. When entered into MRIS, the listing must be available immediately for showing. In CVRMLS however, there is a field for delayed showings.

2. MRIS allows me to extend the expiration date of a listing on my own. CVRMLS requires me to send them something to show that the seller has agreed to extend, then they modify the expiration date (agent cannot do this).

3. CVRMLS requires owner names (no 'owner of record' entries). MRIS doesn't matter as long as something is entered.

Therre are a lot more differences like these, but one gets used to them. The hard part is remembering which rule applies where sometimes.

So, step out of that comfort zone and join another MLS. Be prepared to work a little harder to comp properties in those areas out of your 'local' zone. It can be done, it just takes a little extra time.

VOIP Phone Service for Your Home Office

Pat Hallesy (KW Commercial) — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 16:16:24 -0700

When we decided to move from our Office office to our Home office, we knew we needed more than just our conventional landline home phone or our cell phones (service isn't always the best due to our location). However, we do have high speed internet which allows us to use Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP). The one you'll probably know right off the top of your head is Vonage - simply because they have so many commercials on television. While Vonage would have been okay to replace a home phone, they didn't have any business plans that I cared to use.

In my research, I came across ViaTalk. They had a special running for $199 for one year + a free year of service after that. After reading the Terms of Service, I figured out that I had to go for their business service (business lines not allowed on home service plans). On the other hand, the business rates were good if I paid for a year in advance - so that's what I did.

First, I had to order a Linksys adapter (I didn't want to be locked in to a proprietary device that I had no control over such as the one that comes with the Vonage phone adapter that you pick up in the electronic stores). Using my own adapter is what the VOIP services call Bring Your Own Device (BYOD). The only problem with BYOD is that sometimes the instructions aren't as clear as they could be for installation.

Now that I had the phone adapter, I could go ahead and order service.

You have three choices for getting a phone number when you get VOIP service: The first is to 'port' your current phone number. This involves faxing a form to the VOIP service authorizing them to 'take' your phone number from your current provider (just like taking your cell phone number from one carrier to another). You are given a temporary number until your number is ported. The second is to take whatever number you're given. The third option was to request a particular area code and exchange number (the first three digit in your phone number after the area code). Option 3 was the best option for me, even if it took a little longer to get service assigned.

Once my service was activated, it wasn't too hard to set up the voice line. With the business service, a separate fax line is provided as well. However, with VOIP, fax either works or it doesn't. There doesn't seem to be a middle ground. In my case, it didn't work. Since forwarding is free, I have my fax number forwarded to my CallWave fax to email number.

There are so many FREE extra features that are available to VOIP lines that aren't available at all on a regular phone line. One of my favorites is Call Hunt. If I'm not able to answer, I can set up the system (via the internet) to try and 'Hunt me down' at up to 5 different numbers. The caller never realizes that I'm not at the home office. For all the other features, go over to ViaTalk and see what they offer.

Keeping Track of Your Receipts

Pat Hallesy (KW Commercial) — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 03:31:25 -0700

Just got through doing a 2-day Rick Barnes listing seminar. He's a very high energy guy who happens to be entertaining as well. As with all seminars, workshops, etc., you have to decide which pieces of the puzzle to embrace and make your own. If you try to do everything suggested all at once, you'll end up implementing none of it.

Here's one of the things I brought away with me that I'd like to pass on to you: A NeatReceipts scanner and
a bank bag (you can get a set of three at Office Depot for about $10).  What does one have to do with the other?
Simple, keep the bank bag in your car (this is where all your receipts go to hide from you). Instead of putting a receipt in the visor, the glove compartment, or letting the receipt escape to that hidden corner under the seat, you simply put the receipt in the bank bag.

Then, once a week, bring the bank bag into your home office, pull out the receipts, and run them through the
NeatReceipts scanner. The scanner will help you categorize, sort, and keep track of your receipts. So, come next year at tax time, you'll have them already organized and ready for your accountant. If you'd like to save a little money on the scanner, you can get it at Amazon.com for $170.86 (at the time I'm writing this).  To save an
additional $30 you can apply for the Amazon.com VISA card.  So, you can get this $200+ scanner, for about $140.
I almost forgot - this one qualified for free shipping (via USPS and it takes about 10 days, but the receipts will still be in my car by the time it gets here).

Another thing the NeatReceipts scanner is good for is scanning business cards - so there's another group of stuff
that you no longer have to keep around in a pile that you'll never look through.

Have fun shopping and getting organized.

Web Site Adventures - Part II

Pat Hallesy (KW Commercial) — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 19:31:07 -0700

As an update to the previous post, I am now on hold with the previous Web host - trying to return a call to a customer support supervisor. Mind you, I'm trying to return a call that was made to me less than 5 minutes ago - tick tock tick tock.

No, I don't want to leave a message. I want to talk to the person who called me. But, I guess I'm going to be on hold for a while. It would have been nice to get a direct line in order to return the call. I guess customer service just isn't what it used to be. After 5 repeats of the 'All our reps are busy, if you'd like to leave a message you may,
or hold on for the next available operator. Almost thought I was getting somewhere - it started ringing. Nope, back
into the queue.

While I'm waiting for them. . . .

I'm finally getting the hang of Dreamweaver again. Just to be on the safe side, I went out and bought the
Macromedia Studio MX04 for Dummies book. Yep, there's a lot of stuff I had forgotten. I guess it's one of those things that I'll relearn as I go.

Now I'm in the queue for the person whose call I'm returning. I guess 10 minutes of wait time isn't so bad, but everyone has gotten used to a more instantaneous response.

Back to the replacement site development . . . .

Call went through. Of course, the customer support supe asked me if there was anything he could offer to keep me as a customer. I guess I'm too easy - I didn't even try to squeeze anything out of him. We had a discussion on why I felt that they were no longer for me, and that I felt it was time to move on. NEXT!

. . . . for those who are interested, i picked FutureQuest to host my site. One of the things I like about them is that I can give someone like a Virtual Assistant the privileges to read and/or write to just one specific file. So, if I hire someone to modify one page or document, then that's all they can see or modify. Afterwards, I can totally erase them from any sort of access.

Onward to quality control - I'm trying to enlist the help of everyone in my market center to help me find broken links, bad pages, etc. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Another Money Saver - Inexpensive Cell Phone Accessories

Pat Hallesy (KW Commercial) — Sun, 17 Jun 2007 01:37:51 -0700

Two or three years ago I ran across a site for inexpensive cell phone accessories. I think that I might have found it throug Google, but I honestly can't remember. The name of the site is www.Cellphoneshop.net. I was a bit hesitant to buy from them at first - the prices are that good! You know how the saying goes . . . if it's too good to be true, then its probably not. This is one of the exceptions to the rule.

If you spend more than $30 on the site, then shipping (via USPS) is free. You just have to remember the code that's pasted on the main page. The site is based in Hong Kong, and all the shipments to me here in Virginia have arrived in about a week. Only one time did I receive the wrong item. One email to the company was all took to fix the problem . . . I had the replacement item in about four days.

Take the time to check them out. You'll be glad you did.

Saving a little money

Pat Hallesy (KW Commercial) — Sat, 16 Jun 2007 15:04:35 -0700

All of us have had a rude awakening with regards to expenses after we entered the real estate business. Dues here, fees there, and to add insult to injury, all sorts of software and hardware that we 'need' to conduct business. I have found some alternatives that may help.

If you know how to burn a CD (and have a high-speed internet connection) you can download the OpenCD. There are quite a few programs on this CD, and they are all open source - in other words, you don't have to pay for them to legally use them.

One of the most useful is called The GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program). It is a photo editor that is comparable to Photoshop. I've even managed to remove the kid's toys from the yard of a main house photo before uploading to my local MLS.

Also included is Nvu (a web page creation tool similar to Adobe's Dreamweaver).

Need to back up your entire Web site (except for those paid outside links that are included in your template site)? Try HTTrack.

Tired of having several different Instant Messenging programs running at the same time? Gaim is included on the disk. Gaim is capable of handling the following IM clients: AIM, ICQ, MSN Messenger, Yahoo!, IRC, Jabber, Gadu-Gadu, and Zephyr

OpenOffice.org is also included in theOpenCD. You no longer need to run out and buy MS Office. This program will open and save Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files. It has a built-in function to create a PDF from the document you have created.

My most recent favorite open source program is also included on the Cd - Audacity. Audacity is a sound editing program that allows you to record audio from outside sources (such as a microphone attached to your computer). The advantage to this is that some of the 800# call-capture services such as ProQuest now have a Web interface that permits you to upload an MP3 or WAV file instead of calling in and recording your message. This saves you money because you are not charged for the time you would have spent on your 800# to record those messages. Simply record the message, save it, and upload it.

If you're still stuck on dial-up, you can order theOpenCD and have it sent to you via snail mail.

Web Site Adventures

Pat Hallesy (KW Commercial) — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 08:18:11 -0700

What a week! For the second time in a month, my Web host crashed our site. The first time, both our site and email were down for two days. The second time, it was just our email that went AWOL for a day. When things like this happen on a weekend, nobody seems to be available to fix things.

For those of you who are thinking that I should've had backups ready - I did! I had used HTTrack to back up my site for viewing on my laptop when I was in an area with no internet service available. So, I had access to all my non-templated content.

On Saturday night, I went ahead and purchased hosting space from FutureQuest. I had been eyeballing them for about three years. The biggest advantage to this host (other than the redundant backup systems) is that they DO NOT host any adult sites. That means that it's a little less likely that your email will get blocked due to the SPAMMING activities of others.

By Sunday morning, I had access to begin development of the 'new' site. Since it's been about 5 years since I did any Web development, I spent about 12 hours creating the main page, property search pages, and contact information pages. I started off my creation spree with Nvu. When I figured out that I'd have to jump through a couple of extra hoops to upload the site via Nvu, I dusted off the Dreamweaver MX04 that I had purchased a couple of years back.

There I was, three or four pages created and many more to go. I needed to add a KW logo to the site. Rats - the one I wanted to use wasn't on my hard drive. At least I could download it from the KW intranet. As I was navigating through the download area, I ran across some free (for KW agents) Web site kits. I downloaded them all and started looking through them. When I showed them to my wife (also an agent), she actually liked the same site kit that I liked!

All I had to do was add our photo, update information about us, and create the links for the public to search the three MLSs that I have membership in. This took up about half the day on Monday. Although there were some dead-end links, the site was basically up and ready! Since I had previously had problems with spambots filling out forms on the last host, I'm hiring a local company, Simply Web Services, to do some tweaking to my forms and my site's SQL databases.

I almost forgot, I received a call from a technician at my previous Web host on Tuesday (that's right - 3 days after the problem occurred). I let him know that I had solved the issue - I had already switched hosts.

KW Website Resources

Pat Hallesy (KW Commercial) — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 06:58:55 -0700

Sometimes I wonder just how many resources I haven't yet found on the KW intranet.

Last weekend my Advanced Access email went down for 24 hours - this after the whole site (along with many others) went down for a whole weekend two weeks previously. So, I took the plunge and purchased Web hosting elsewhere and started doing my site from scratch. After a very long day, I went to download some KW graphics and ran into the eAgentc Agent Web packages -- WOW! Five pre-built sites that are free (there are some modifications needed that you may need to pay someone to do for you) to us. This is in addition to the site available to you through the KW intranet.

Hmm - guess I'll have to dig through the intranet some more :)