agent: Selling Your Soul For Success? - 03/29/11 03:53 AM
I'm happy for your success.
I love knowing when people around me, people I like, are being successful.  I love a good rags to riches success story.  I love the triumph of a person who sets their sights on success and reaches (and often surpasses) their goals.
ActiveRain success stories are always great and I've written them myself.  Recently though, I've found myself struggling with the thought of the success stories being posted on the main page.  Each story is accompanied by a smiling agent holding the check they received after their success story wrapped up.  There's everything from referral stories … (19 comments)

agent: ActiveRain Brings The Press To My Door - Keep Blogging And They Will Find You - 12/01/09 01:55 AM

image courtesy of my Twitter account and @LaniAR's tweets
ActiveRain helps me get quoted.
Late last week I received a call from California.  I had no idea what was waiting for me on the other end of the phone.  It was Jenna V. Loceff.  She explained she was a reporter for the North Bay Business Journal and wanted to speak with me a bit about social media and real estate.  In researching her article, Jenna, had a few mentions of Flickr and while googling away, she came across my article, "A stern warning (or lack thereof) - Flickr is watching … (12 comments)

agent: Trulia Voices - As A Real Estate Agent Do You Ever Consider How Late You Are? - 11/30/09 03:31 AM

An unpopular thought.
I've never been know as one to shy away from speaking my mind and this time I wonder what the reaction will be.  I'm not here to tell you how to run your business, but I still feel the need to speak up.  At Trulia Voices there is constant controversy over what is the "best" or "right" way to respond to questions.  I have plenty of opinions about that, but you'd probably be shocked to hear some of them.  I'm not as single minded as you may think.
When you join, what do you do?
When you … (12 comments)

agent: I Wish I Could Tell You What Your Agent ISN'T Doing to Sell Your Home... - 11/28/09 07:44 AM
 
Donna Galinsky isn't the only one.
Donna's post about homes that are under marketed or poorly listed is something I've spoken about before with clients, agents, and brokers.  I see it happen too.  Seems we all see them from time to time.  What many non-Realtors® don't know is that the Realtor® Code Of Ethics prevents us from telling that homeowner what we think or violating the client-agent relationship in any way (this is why no agents knock on your door when the sign goes up in your front yard and why all those postcards you get in the mail mention … (1 comments)

agent: Ambassador Series: Soft Connecting With Consumers - 10/27/09 02:50 AM

image courtesy of Twitter, Gimp, and my own conversation with a local consumer
Talking to the consumer...not at them.
Recently, I had a conversation with a local about their home that resulted in a post about "For Sale By Owner" homes in San Antonio (and beyond).  I was pretty proud of the post as I thought I covered the topic pretty well, but after walking away from the post, I realized something was missing.
The person who had inspired the post would probably never read it.  Sure, we talk on Twitter, but do they really pay attention to my posts?  … (5 comments)

agent: BlogWorld 2009: The secrets of Las Vegas are not so secret anymore. - 10/19/09 07:44 AM

photo courtesy of ChicagoGeek
It already feels like it was weeks ago.
I landed in San Antonio late last night from my trip to BlogWorld 2009.  This morning it already feels like it was a long time ago.  So much fun had in such a short space of time always seems to make it feel like the distant past a lot quicker.  To say it was a blast would be to lie.  It was more than a blast.  Seeing friends, meeting new ones, listening to some of the best and brightest, and toying with new products for a few days … (36 comments)

agent: I'm A Real Estate Expert - What's Wrong With This Statement? - 09/22/09 05:09 AM

photo courtesy of Mai Le
Being an expert.
I read a comment on someone's blog today (and won't link to it as the comment doesn't really apply to what I'm writing, it just sent me down this path) that made me think about the word expert and how we use it consistently in real estate.  Everyone wants to hire someone with expertise in their field, no matter what industry you're coming from.  We like to know we're getting the best of the best.  We don't want to hire someone who has no experience in their field.
Merriam-Webster defines expert:
2 … (83 comments)

agent: San Antonio Home Buyers - Why Many Agents Won't Show You A Home "Right Now!" - 09/14/09 01:01 AM
It's a common thing.
Recently SarahGray Lamm wrote a post titled, "ADVICE NEEDED: Blogging Works. Now What..."  The basic premise of the post was how to handle the buyer who calls and says "I need to see this house right now."  Not a client, but someone you've never met before.  Every Realtor® I know gets these calls and everyone I know handles them a little differently, but the outcome is typically the same.  I'm hoping to help San Antonio home buyers understand why many agents won't show the home on short notice.
Time Management
To put it simply, we as agents … (22 comments)

agent: Realtor® Speak 102: What if the house burns down? - 08/16/09 04:16 AM

photo courtest of dvs
The roof, the roof, the roof is on fire. *
You and your agent have your offer accepted, you've done your inspections and the title company and lender are doing their work to get your home closed in a few short days.  You're about as excited as you can be and can't wait.  By this time next week you'll be putting the keys into the front door of your new home at 123 Fake Street.  Life is good.  In anticipation of your new address, you decide to swing by the house and take a look at … (14 comments)

agent: My wife, my work, my friends, and NAR. Four days in the life of a year old Realtor®. - 05/11/09 12:29 PM

photo courtesy of me and my iPhone
Has it really been four days?
I just looked at my last post and basically, I haven't been around much in the last four days.  I have a good excuse though, my wife just returned from England after a week's vacation visiting her family and to be honest, I wanted to hang out with her more than all of you.  Not that I don't enjoy my time spent here on ActiveRain, but the facts are the facts - I love my wife a whole lot more.
It's also been a busy four days.  … (8 comments)

agent: Realtor® Speak 101: Pre-Approval (from RErockstar.com) - 04/09/09 07:09 AM

photo courtesy of jm3
From a post on RErockstar.com:
If you’ve been in contact with a real estate agent lately (or even spent some time on a real estate website), you’ve probably seen a lot of talk about “getting pre-approved” or “you need a pre-approval.” A pre-approval is vital in today’s market (and in any market in my opinion) to finding the home you want, the home you can afford, and the home you can get under contract without losing it to someone else.RErockstar.com - Your "all access pass" to San Antonio real estate. | RErockstar.com, Mar 2009
You can … (3 comments)

agent: "For Sale" Signs - Getting the phones to ring. - 04/02/09 01:52 PM
I wasn't until recently that I got into listing homes.
For those of you that don't remember, I didn't start listing homes right away when I began my career in real estate.  I felt I needed to be prepared to do so.  Because of this, I didn't join the listing game until the market was full of inventory and things had slowed.
When things are slow, listing a home can be frustrating work.  You find yourself trying to sound upbeat to the seller while banging your head against a wall and feeling like there must be something more you can do.  … (6 comments)

agent: Homeowners Insurance - Great Tips For Homeowners - 03/29/09 10:06 AM

video courtesy of Howcast
Here are my personal tips on Homeowners Insurance.
- Take the videos advice and check your policy annually. You may be able to save money, increase your limits, or cover new items that you have added to you home. My wife and I were recently surprised that it was possible for us to increase our coverage and cut our costs by about $300 per year.
- Having a relationship with your insurance agent can help. If they just sell you the insurance and they're done with you, they aren't the best agent in the world. Insurance … (2 comments)

agent: It's Time To Bury This Monster. - 03/24/09 02:32 PM

photo courtesy of sscornelius
I read something the other day and a crusade was born.
I am going to kill something.  I am going to bury it so deep in the ground the world will forget it ever existed.  I am going to see to it that it is destroyed and removed from this world.  I am on a mission and none of you can stop me.  I am not an angry person in general, but I have reached my limit and the only answer is that it has to pay.  And its death is the only way to resolve … (18 comments)

agent: He just called you a lazy Realtor®...you gonna take that? - 03/19/09 02:00 PM
Lockboxes - lazy or genius?
On AgentGenius today, Ian Watt, a Vancouver agent posted a video opining that lockboxes are lazy and by using them, you're not giving your seller the best customer service.  I like Ian, he's got some of the best vlogs you'll ever see - all while driving a car.  His goal is simple, to change the perception of our industry.  Simple goal, not so simple to achieve, but you have to love a guy with that kind of passion for the what he does and the industry as a whole.
He dropped a hint at this week's … (26 comments)

agent: My first attempt at using the ActiveRain referral system. - 01/22/09 08:29 AM

photo courtesy of Jared.P.
I have an out of state friend, who called me for help.
My friend is looking to buy a house back in Los Angeles, so she called me for help.  Obviously, my license is no good out there, so I needed to refer it out to someone.  I called my agent back in L.A., but she is very busy these days and couldn't take a referral for that area (its a bit far for her - L.A. is a massive sprawling city).  She recommended someone else, but that didn't work out.  I sent out a tweet … (9 comments)