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    <title>Diane's Blog Log</title>
    <link>http://activerain.com/blogs/ricelord</link>
    <description>Happenings in the South Suburban Illinois &amp; Northwest Indiana areas</description>
    <language>en-us</language>
    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1325406/one-last-opportunity-to-remove-non-relevant-posts-from-property-management-group-before-deletion-time-11-08-09</guid>
      <title>ONE Last Opportunity To Remove Non Relevant Posts From Property Management Group Before Deletion Time 11/08/09</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;We have much to SMILE about!&amp;nbsp; &lt;/strong&gt;Our property management group has GROWN to a record 356 members!!!!!&amp;nbsp; YEAAAA!!!!&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; We thank the recruitment efforts of the moderators and encouragement of membership&amp;nbsp;to post relevant topics!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/2/8/7/4/8/ar125762358284782.jpg&quot; height=&quot;198&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;209&quot; style=&quot;margin: 2px; border: red 4px solid;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Within any group, there comes responsibility.&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; The help has been added, but have been reluctant to REMOVE posts that do not belong here.&amp;nbsp; As of November 8Th, 12:00 NOON, 2009,&amp;nbsp;we will begin to clean house!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/9/1/3/6/0/ar125762379306319.jpg&quot; height=&quot;118&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;160&quot; style=&quot;margin: 2px; border: blue 4px solid;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;NO FUTURE&amp;nbsp;WARNINGS will be issued!&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; The purpose of&amp;nbsp;enforcing the rules is to allow&amp;nbsp;exposure to pertinent content for us all to glean from.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;One of our objectives is&amp;nbsp;to get our share of respect on Active Rain in the property management field!&amp;nbsp; We can do this together!&amp;nbsp; &lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;Please check the content of your posts&amp;nbsp;and remove them if they do not have content relevant to Property Management... even IF you are a Property Manager or Property Management Company.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/6/8/9/1/9/ar125762405591986.jpg&quot; height=&quot;120&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;160&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Remember if YOU remove them yourself, points will not &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;strong&gt;be subtracted&lt;/strong&gt;.&amp;nbsp; If WE remove it, you will automatically have points deducted from your total score.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;THANK YOU IN ADVANCE FOR COOPERATING AND UNDERSTANDING!!!!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Images courtesy of Bing&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Diane Rice, Rice Prprty Mgmnt &amp; Rlty, LLC, South Holland, IL</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Sat, 07 Nov 2009 14:05:02 -0600</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1325406/one-last-opportunity-to-remove-non-relevant-posts-from-property-management-group-before-deletion-time-11-08-09</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1325214/first-time-home-buyer-s-8-000-credit-extended-until-after-income-tax-day-</guid>
      <title>First Time Home Buyer's $8,000 Credit - Extended Until AFTER Income Tax Day!</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If your search to purchase a home for the first time had you in a flabbergasted state&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/4/3/7/3/9/ar125761446993734.jpg&quot; height=&quot;122&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;160&quot; style=&quot;margin: 2px; float: left;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; to hastily make a choice from what's available on the market... guess what?&amp;nbsp; GOOD NEWS!!&amp;nbsp; The deadline date for qualifying for the tax credit awarded to home buyers has been prolonged!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Agents and buyers can both cease from holding their breath... a bit&lt;/strong&gt;, for &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW.shtml&quot; title=&quot;US Congress&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Congress&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; has extended AND expanded the tax credit for qualifying buyers.&amp;nbsp; The official&amp;nbsp;last day for filing &lt;em&gt;(income)&lt;/em&gt;&amp;nbsp;taxes with the &lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.irs.gov/index.html&quot; title=&quot;Internal Revenue Service&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;IRS&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;is April 15Th, 2010.&amp;nbsp; The official last day to have a &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;written binding purchase contract for a home&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;is April 30Th, 2010.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;As long as the house closes by July 1, 2010, the credit can be&amp;nbsp;taken. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If you are&amp;nbsp;a &lt;em&gt;CURRENT&lt;/em&gt; homeowner, and will buy a new home between November 7, 2009 and April 30,&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.862rice.com&quot; title=&quot;8000 tax credit&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/2/3/8/1/6/ar125761468961832.jpg&quot; height=&quot;137&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;134&quot; style=&quot;margin: 2px; float: right;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;2010, a tax credit benefit of $3250 or $6500.00 (&lt;em&gt;depending upon your filing status)&lt;/em&gt;&amp;nbsp;has been&amp;nbsp;made available for you also!&amp;nbsp; This is EXCEPTIONAL news &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;for homeowners who have&amp;nbsp;used their principal residence for 5 of the prior 8 years consecutively.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;BEST NEWS&amp;nbsp;OF ALL??&amp;nbsp; THE TAX CREDIT DOES NOT HAVE TO BE PAID BACK!!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Confused?&amp;nbsp; Do not fret.&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.realtor.org/home_buyers_and_sellers/2009_first_time_home_buyer_tax_credit&quot; title=&quot; 8000 Tax Credit Info&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;The National Association of Realtors&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, has a more thorough explanation at their website.&amp;nbsp; A helpful chart denoting the distinction between the &lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.realtor.org/home_buyers_and_sellers/first_time_home_buyer_tax_credit_2009_info&quot; title=&quot;2009 1st Time Home Buyer Tax Credit&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;old&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt; tax credit rules and the new extended tax credit has been issued by Governors Affairs Division and can be accessed &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.realtor.org/fedistrk.nsf/files/government_affairs_tax_credit_ext_chart_110409.pdf/$FILE/government_affairs_tax_credit_ext_chart_110409.pdf&quot; title=&quot;HomeBuyer Tax Credit brief&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;here.&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;We encourage you to contact your local REALTOR&amp;reg; to acquire&amp;nbsp;personalized information&lt;/strong&gt; tailored to your needs.&amp;nbsp; To start your search for available homes in the South Suburban or Chicago-land Area, click the &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.862RICE.com&quot; title=&quot;Rice Property Management&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Rice Property Management&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; logo below.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.862RICE.com&quot; title=&quot;Rice Property Management&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/6/7/3/6/2/ar12417491626376.jpg&quot; height=&quot;95&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;148&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;Where the &lt;strong&gt;RIGHT&lt;/strong&gt; Price is the &lt;strong&gt;RICE&lt;/strong&gt; Price!&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http:www.862RICE.com&quot; title=&quot;www.862RICE.com&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Rice Property Management &amp;amp; Realty&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, located in South Holland, Illinois,&amp;nbsp;has agents that work with first time home buyers seeking homes&amp;nbsp;in Illinois and Indiana.&amp;nbsp; Give us a call at 708-862-7423&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;(Images courtesy of Bing&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Diane Rice, Rice Prprty Mgmnt &amp; Rlty, LLC, South Holland, IL</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Sat, 07 Nov 2009 11:42:55 -0600</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1325214/first-time-home-buyer-s-8-000-credit-extended-until-after-income-tax-day-</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1319987/realtor-exposed-inappropriately-dressed-don-t-let-this-happen-to-you-</guid>
      <title>Realtor Exposed &amp; Inappropriately Dressed - Don't Let This Happen To You!   </title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My last showing appointment last night, was&lt;/strong&gt; with one of our investors who purchases rental property for us to manage.&amp;nbsp;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/1/6/9/4/2/ar125753273124961.jpg&quot; height=&quot;381&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;250&quot; style=&quot;margin: 2px; float: right;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;He was so excited about this single family home&lt;/strong&gt; because it passed every item on his check list:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;It was the &quot;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;RICE&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&quot; Price - ONLY $39,900.00!!&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;It was the &quot;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;RICE&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&quot; Size (3 bdrm 1 &amp;amp; 1/2 Ba)&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;It was the &quot;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;RICE&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&quot; Location (quiet)&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;It was the &quot;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;RICE&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&quot; Type (all brick)&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;With flashlight in hand,&amp;nbsp;my client had&amp;nbsp;arrived 30&lt;/strong&gt; minutes EARLY in his eagerness to case out the neighborhood, visibly inspect the&amp;nbsp;roof, and walk around&amp;nbsp;rear of the vacant&amp;nbsp;potential investment.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;We have gone on such appointments in the past, &lt;/strong&gt;and have found some&amp;nbsp;short sales and pre-foreclosures&amp;nbsp;to be undesirable, but &lt;em&gt;THIS ONE WAS DIFFERENT!!!&lt;/em&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;(&lt;em&gt;So he thought!) &lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Our eyes are continually on the outlook, &lt;/strong&gt;for we know&amp;nbsp; that&amp;nbsp;in some areas it's an&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/blogsview/1302643/it-s-an-investors-flea-market-in-illinois-indiana-get-ready-to-rack-up-&quot; title=&quot;Investors Flea Market!&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;INVESTORS FLEA MARKET, AND BUYERS CAN RACK UP!!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Upon opening the door, we were both surprised&lt;/strong&gt; to see the electricity on!&amp;nbsp; Good!&amp;nbsp; We then noticed the beautiful hardwood floors!&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;So far so good!!!&amp;nbsp; Now, I &lt;em&gt;KNEW&lt;/em&gt; in my mind&lt;/strong&gt; this deal looked too good to be true... so, obviously there had to be &lt;em&gt;SOMETHING&lt;/em&gt; wrong....&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;My thoughts&amp;nbsp;went to&amp;nbsp;an earlier transaction done with the SAME investor, who has a &quot;gift&quot;&amp;nbsp;for&amp;nbsp;locating&amp;nbsp;some of these diamonds in the rough.&amp;nbsp; Could THIS be one of them?&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Here w&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/4/5/3/2/3/ar125736512532354.jpg&quot; height=&quot;132&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;216&quot; style=&quot;margin: 2px 8px; float: left; border: black 4px solid;&quot; /&gt;e go... this nose of mine detected that familiar water smell.....!!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; Sure enough, we looked up and there it was..&amp;nbsp; the beautifully textured ceiling was&amp;nbsp;dotted with circlets of&amp;nbsp;grey!!&amp;nbsp; Upon quickly surveying the home, we discovered infiltration of moisture that bred&amp;nbsp;spores of&amp;nbsp;....&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.epa.gov/mold/moldguide.html&quot; title=&quot;Mold information&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt; &lt;em&gt;MOLD!!!!!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Let's get OUT of here, &quot;i said!&quot;&amp;nbsp; I want us BOTH to be around to&amp;nbsp;enjoy&lt;/strong&gt; many business transactions in the future!&amp;nbsp; Mold like this needs to be DISCLOSED &lt;em&gt;prior&lt;/em&gt; to permission for access!!&amp;nbsp; It's a detriment to&amp;nbsp;the health&amp;nbsp;of the Realtor and the client!&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;I was EXPOSED and INAPPROPRIATELY DRESSED!!!!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; - If you are an agent of investors seeking a deal....don't let this happen to you... From now on, i will be dressed for the occasion and so should you!&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/2/0/8/2/9/ar125736821692802.jpg&quot; height=&quot;86&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;83&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/6/5/5/1/2/ar125753283521556.jpg&quot; height=&quot;373&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;170&quot; style=&quot;margin: 2px; border: green 4px solid;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/6/7/3/6/2/ar12417491626376.jpg&quot; height=&quot;95&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;148&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&quot;Where the &lt;strong&gt;RIGHT&lt;/strong&gt; Price is the &lt;strong&gt;RICE&lt;/strong&gt; Price!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http:www.862RICE.com&quot; title=&quot;www.862RICE.com&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Rice Property Management &amp;amp; Realty&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, located in South Holland, Illinois,&amp;nbsp;has agents that work with first time and experienced investors desirous of obtaining single family homes as rental property.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;(Images courtesy of Bing&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Diane Rice, Rice Prprty Mgmnt &amp; Rlty, LLC, South Holland, IL</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:01:17 -0600</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1319987/realtor-exposed-inappropriately-dressed-don-t-let-this-happen-to-you-</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1318101/charlotte-property-management-weekly-5-signs-the-home-sales-swine-flu-has-infected-your-rental-market</guid>
      <title>Charlotte Property Management Weekly:  5 Signs the &#8220;Home Sales Swine Flu&#8221; Has Infected Your Rental Market</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Brett Furniss, a Contributor of our Property Management Group online has written a BLOG TO THINK ABOUT....&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div id=&quot;reblogging_tag&quot;&gt;Via &lt;b&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/blogsview/1314224/charlotte-property-management-weekly-5-signs-the-home-sales-swine-flu-has-infected-your-rental-market&quot;&gt;Brett Furniss (BDF Realty, Inc.)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt;:&lt;br/&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;img title=&quot;Home Sales Swine Flu&quot; src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/1/3/2/8/1/ar125709092318231.jpg&quot; height=&quot;98&quot; alt=&quot;Home Sales Swine Flu&quot; width=&quot;130&quot; /&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;Yes, I would like some cheese with this whine.&amp;nbsp; Thanks.&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&amp;nbsp; (Brett Furniss, &lt;a href=&quot;http://bdfrealty.com/property_management.html&quot;&gt;Charlotte Property Manager&lt;/a&gt; and author of &lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;Charlotte Property Management Weekly&lt;/span&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;President Obama has declared the swine flu outbreak a national emergency...&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&amp;nbsp; (&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;Charlotte Observer&lt;/span&gt;, 10/25/09)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Swine flu is now officially both a national emergency and a pandemic!&amp;nbsp; I'm not entirely sure what that means, but it sounds pretty bad and pretty official.&amp;nbsp; I imagine the only party happy about this&amp;nbsp;is the pigs, who take an undeserved public relations hit, but see the demand for its flesh fall among the cautious populous (making its mortality rates decline significantly).&amp;nbsp; If only the scheming cows from the Chick Filet commercials had thought of this, they could have saved themselves millions in dollars of advertising (with better results!).&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Fortunately, I have not been personally infected by swine flu (yet...).&amp;nbsp; I have been &lt;em&gt;affected&lt;/em&gt;, though.&amp;nbsp; I've seen this new, safer way to catch your sneeze by depositing this spittle storm into your own shirt!&amp;nbsp; Yes, the one you are wearing.&amp;nbsp; I've seen some guys on the street do it recently and I still can't stomach the idea of my shirt doubling as a tissue.&amp;nbsp; This is healthier?&amp;nbsp; What is the point of tissues then?&amp;nbsp; That is the next superfluous budget item to go, I'm sure.&amp;nbsp; I'm thankful I haven't seen any females do this. &amp;nbsp;Apparently they believe in Fernando Lamas's (Billy Crystal's Saturday Night Live character) mantra, &quot;It's better to look good than to feel good.&quot;&amp;nbsp; But, I digress.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;However, I have been &lt;em&gt;affected&lt;/em&gt; by the &quot;home sales swine flu&quot; that has &lt;em&gt;infected&lt;/em&gt; the &lt;a href=&quot;http://bdfrealty.com/property_management.html&quot;&gt;Charlotte rental&lt;/a&gt; market.&amp;nbsp; &quot;What the heck does that mean?&quot; you may ask.&amp;nbsp; &quot;And why do you keep &lt;em&gt;italicizing&lt;/em&gt; so much in this article?&quot;&amp;nbsp; Well, let me explain.&amp;nbsp; Being that few people can sell their homes, home sellers are flooding the rental market with their houses.&amp;nbsp; This is creating supply and demand issues that are making it difficult for property managers to fill properties quickly and efficiently (sniff, sniff).&amp;nbsp; Unfortunately, it has become painfully obvious Charlotte is infected.&amp;nbsp; I've heard from other real estate professionals in other cities that they are observing the same thing.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;So what about your market?&amp;nbsp; If it has been infected by the HS H1N1, the following five symptoms should have started to appear:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ol type=&quot;1&quot;&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Rentals are on the market for a much longer time (duration)&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Monthly rental prices have fallen and continue to drop significantly&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;There are a lot more rental homes on the market! (number)&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Realtors who never worked on rentals before are now listing several&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Tenants are consistently trying to negotiate down already depressed monthly rents&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ol&gt;
&lt;p&gt;As your real estate doctor, I can tell you that if your market is showing these symptoms, it is infected.&amp;nbsp; The only known 100% cure for HS H1N1 is a mixture of &quot;Excess Cash&quot; and &quot;Time.&quot;&amp;nbsp; If you wait long enough with this mixture, it will go away on its own.&amp;nbsp; You should check with your local economist to get a general range on how much &quot;Time&quot; it will take to subside.&amp;nbsp; And always double your initial estimate on how much &quot;Excess Cash&quot; will be required.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;If you are not lucky enough to have a healthy amount of &quot;Excess Cash&quot; and &quot;Time&quot;, the following steps can be taken to slow the effects of HS H1N1 until it subsides:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ol type=&quot;1&quot;&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Lock your existing tenants into 1 to 2-year leases ASAP at current rental rates&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Lower the rental rates on your vacant homes by 10%&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Increase marketing expenditures on vacancies while advertising the lower rate&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Do NOT work with tenants who are more than 30 days behind.&amp;nbsp; You must evict and get someone else in your rental!&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ol&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Trust your doctor.&amp;nbsp; Follow these simple steps to survive the outbreak in your market!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Brett Furniss is the President &amp;amp; Owner of BDF Realty, &quot;Charlotte's Most Innovative Property Management &amp;amp; Investment Company&quot; (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bdfrealty.com/&quot;&gt;www.BDFRealty.com&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.renttosell.com/&quot;&gt;www.RentToSell.com&lt;/a&gt;).&amp;nbsp; You can follow his Twitter thoughts on the Charlotte real estate market by clicking on &lt;a href=&quot;http://twitter.com/bdfrealty&quot;&gt;http://twitter.com/bdfrealty&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp; He is the author of the FREE E-Manual entitled &quot;How to Rent-To-Sell Your Own Home&quot; (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.renttosell.com/RTS-Book.html&quot;&gt;http://www.renttosell.com/RTS-Book.html&lt;/a&gt;) which details how to get the most potential buyers to your home in this challenging real estate market. &lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Diane Rice, Rice Prprty Mgmnt &amp; Rlty, LLC, South Holland, IL</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:07:14 -0600</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1318101/charlotte-property-management-weekly-5-signs-the-home-sales-swine-flu-has-infected-your-rental-market</link>
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      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1318049/google-sauce-don-t-leave-your-blog-without-it-</guid>
      <title>Google &quot;SAUCE&quot; ..... Don't Leave Your Blog Without It!</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Google &lt;em&gt;SAUCE&lt;/em&gt; you say?&amp;nbsp; Yes, that's what it is!&amp;nbsp; What's that?&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; Well, it simply means that &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com&quot; title=&quot;GOOGLE&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Google&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; finds a &lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/blogsview/1306280/homestyle-cooking-with-mary-applesauce&quot; title=&quot;Mary's Applesauce Blog&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;VERY IMPORTANT REAL ESTATE BLOG&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; and spreads it to the public.... like SAUCE!!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;SAUCE?&amp;nbsp; Yes, SAUCE like in APPLESAUCE!!&amp;nbsp; That's exactly what happened t&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/4/4/5/0/9/ar125728046090544.jpg&quot; height=&quot;105&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;209&quot; style=&quot;margin: 2px 50px; float: right;&quot; /&gt;o:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;A&amp;nbsp;girl named&amp;nbsp;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/askmary&quot; title=&quot;Mary Yonkers&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;MARY &lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Who was &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;NOT&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/em&gt;contrary &lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;As she washed her&amp;nbsp;apples, you know&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;From&amp;nbsp;a silver pail&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;She went on to tell&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;How to make &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;SAUCE&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; on her Show!&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;strong&gt;Here's the&amp;nbsp;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/alerts&quot; title=&quot;Google Alert&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;GOOGLE ALERT&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&amp;nbsp;Mary received after&amp;nbsp;a &lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/blogsview/1315018/inspired-by-mary-yonkers-i-made-applesauce-for-the-first-time-&quot; title=&quot;I Made Applesauce!&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;post&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt; written about &lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/blogsview/1306280/homestyle-cooking-with-mary-applesauce&quot; title=&quot;Mary's Applesauce Blog&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;HER&lt;/em&gt; post&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;!!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/5/3/2/3/5/ar125728017453235.jpg&quot; height=&quot;53&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;52&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: 50px; margin-right: 50px;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;Google Web Alert for: &lt;strong&gt;&quot;Mary Yonkers&quot;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
&lt;table cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; width=&quot;600&quot;&gt;
&lt;tbody&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/url?sa=X&amp;amp;q=http://activerain.com/blogsview/1315018/inspired-by-mary-yonkers-i-made-applesauce-for-the-first-time-&amp;amp;ct=ga&amp;amp;cd=21f4eDQuXKA&amp;amp;usg=AFQjCNGwYV6BmQYssy5VeQksR8WYkmVAbg&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Real Estate Blog Inspired By &lt;strong&gt;Mary Yonkers&lt;/strong&gt; I Made Applesauce For &lt;strong&gt;...&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Now, my mother made everything from scratch while we were growing up, but i honestly had NO interest in cooking..... just eating!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/tbody&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;GOOGLE SAUCE.... THE ONLY WAY TO BLOG!!!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/3/1/0/0/6/ar125729926060013.jpg&quot; height=&quot;233&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;300&quot; style=&quot;margin: 2px; vertical-align: middle; border: blue 8px solid;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&amp;nbsp;Images #1 - courtesy of Mary's Kitchen&amp;nbsp; #2 - courtesy of Diane's Kitchen&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Diane Rice, Rice Prprty Mgmnt &amp; Rlty, LLC, South Holland, IL</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:43:03 -0600</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1318049/google-sauce-don-t-leave-your-blog-without-it-</link>
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    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1317439/in-5-seconds-what-do-buyers-and-sellers-want-to-know-</guid>
      <title>In 5 Seconds:  What Do Buyers And Sellers Want To Know?</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Post By My Rain Buddy, &lt;strong&gt;Gabrielle&amp;nbsp;Rhind&lt;/strong&gt;, whom&amp;nbsp;i simply call &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;GAB In the 'Mornin&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; for she gives us all a shot in the arm as soon as we&amp;nbsp;log onto Active Rain!!&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Thank you my ELECTRIFYING friend!!&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div id=&quot;reblogging_tag&quot;&gt;Via &lt;b&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/blogsview/1317053/in-5-seconds-what-do-buyers-and-sellers-want-to-know-&quot;&gt;Gabrielle (Kamahele) Rhind (Tierra Antigua Realty, Tucson AZ Real Estate Agent)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt;:&lt;br/&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Buyers want to know, &quot;&lt;strong&gt;How much down and how much a month?&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Sellers want to know, &lt;strong&gt;&quot;Can you get me what I want for my home?&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;They both want to know, &lt;strong&gt;&quot;Why should I hire you?&quot;.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;Buyers and Sellers &lt;strong&gt;know&lt;/strong&gt;what they want.&amp;nbsp; They have already found the home they want on the internet or they know what to do to help their home generate a better price by the time they call you.&amp;nbsp; With the thousands of Realtors out there, it seems to me that what consumers need or will be looking for, is an agent who they can trust to help get them through the process of getting what they want.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;So, how can you set yourself apart from the rest?&amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp;&lt;strong&gt;Simply said - by being credible&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/2/8/9/5/5/ar125724756855982.jpg&quot; height=&quot;247&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; style=&quot;float: left; margin-left: 20px; margin-right: 20px;&quot; width=&quot;206&quot; /&gt;Do what you say&lt;/strong&gt; - or don't say it at all.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If you don't know something - don't pretend you do&lt;/strong&gt;.&amp;nbsp; Just say, &quot;I don't know&quot; and follow with, &quot;But I will find out and get back with you.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Be accessible.&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; If someone has to call you more than once to actually &quot;speak&quot; to you - you're losing their confidence.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;With Buyers&lt;/strong&gt;, don't show them what they don't want and what they can't afford; with Sellers, don't tell them what they want to hear - tell them the truth.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;At listing presentations or showing homes&lt;/strong&gt;, don't point out only the good things of a home or &amp;nbsp;just agree with what a client loves about a home.&amp;nbsp; Really look - take note of any flaws or issues and be prepared to guide Seller's on presentation and repairs; &amp;nbsp;and for Buyers, making a well-thought out offer.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Know the market and the inventory first hand&lt;/strong&gt;.&amp;nbsp; Don't just rely on reading comps. Spend time looking at neighborhoods and previewing homes. When a client says, &quot;Have you seen this home?&quot; or &quot;I was wondering about this home ...&quot; - you are going to know and be able to give them first-hand knowledge.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;When you're with your clients - on the phone or in person - be there 100%.&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; Don't get distracted, don't multi-task, don't complain about how much money you're losing on the deal, etc., it's not in your or their best interest.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Develop your people skills.&amp;nbsp; &lt;/strong&gt;When it comes down to it - real estate is a people business.&amp;nbsp; No matter how much you know - unless you can sincerely interact, listen, understand and empathize with people - you won't be able to meet their needs.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;agent_signature&quot;&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: left;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mylivesignature.com/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://signatures.mylivesignature.com/54486/399/9C3D0686405993245660B3A9B3F613F6.png&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;Gabrielle (Kamahele) Rhind - 2009. If you want to reprint parts of this - just email me for my permission &lt;a href=&quot;mailto:rhindohana@msn.com&quot;&gt;rhindohana@msn.com&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;or &lt;a href=&quot;mailto:TucsonsRealEstate@gmail.com&quot;&gt;TucsonsRealEstate@gmail.com&lt;/a&gt;. Buying or selling &lt;a href=&quot;http://idxpro.cisdata.net/AR281766/Search/quick/?IDXSESS=cni14i6afhlshrfolbkv3710p0&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Tucson&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;real estate, &lt;a href=&quot;http://idxpro.cisdata.net/AR281766/Search/quick/?IDXSESS=cni14i6afhlshrfolbkv3710p0&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Mt Lemmon&lt;/a&gt;, Tucson &lt;a href=&quot;http://idxpro.cisdata.net/AR281766/Search/quick/?IDXSESS=cni14i6afhlshrfolbkv3710p0&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;bank-owned homes&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://idxpro.cisdata.net/AR281766/Search/quick/?IDXSESS=cni14i6afhlshrfolbkv3710p0&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Tucson rental homes&lt;/a&gt;, or&amp;nbsp;Tucson lease option homes? Visit&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.buymytucsonhome.com/&quot;&gt;www.BuyMyTucsonHome.com&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;http://twitter.com/GabrielleRhind&quot; title=&quot;Gabrielle Rhind&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.facebook.com/people/Gabrielle-Kamahele-Rhind/1399355345?ref=search&quot; title=&quot;Gabrielle Rhind&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.facebook.com/people/Gabrielle-Kamahele-Rhind/1399355345?ref=search&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;img title=&quot;Gabrielle Rhind&quot; src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/2/2/4/1/1/ar125682423311422.jpg&quot; height=&quot;83&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;118&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;a href=&quot;http://twitter.com/GabrielleRhind&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/9/8/2/1/1/ar125682544211289.jpg&quot; height=&quot;85&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;108&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Diane Rice, Rice Prprty Mgmnt &amp; Rlty, LLC, South Holland, IL</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Tue, 03 Nov 2009 09:53:35 -0600</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1317439/in-5-seconds-what-do-buyers-and-sellers-want-to-know-</link>
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      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1315018/inspired-by-mary-yonkers-i-made-applesauce-for-the-first-time-</guid>
      <title>Inspired By Mary Yonkers, I Made Applesauce For The FIRST Time!</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Now, my mother made everything from scratch while we were growing up&lt;/strong&gt;, but i honestly had NO interest in cooking..... &amp;nbsp;just eating!&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;My older sister paid attention while i flunked cooking and sewing!&amp;nbsp; I have no shame, for later on, my skills in the kitchen improved greatly, but some foods were never prepared.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/3/7/6/3/9/ar125712862993673.jpg&quot; height=&quot;138&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;195&quot; style=&quot;margin: 2px 4px; float: left;&quot; /&gt;Mary Yonkers of Erie, Pennsylvania inspired me to make&amp;nbsp;applesauce for the FIRST time!&amp;nbsp;&lt;/strong&gt; In her post, October 27Th, named, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/blogsview/1306280/homestyle-cooking-with-mary-applesauce&quot; title=&quot;Applesauce by Mary Yonkers&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&quot;Home style Cooking With Mary: Applesauce,&quot;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; Mary outlined her recipe, complete with pictures!&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I was completely enchanted, and asked questions&amp;nbsp;as if&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;a 3 year older would have,&amp;nbsp;which&amp;nbsp;Mary patiently and graciously answered.&amp;nbsp; She had to be thinking, &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&quot;Now, c'mon... this is the simplest thing!! Is she serious??&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;This is not the only time Mary ignited a spark in&amp;nbsp;me.&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; In September, she re-blogged a post authored by &lt;a href=&quot;../../blogs/radnorlake&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Michael Thornton&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;,&amp;nbsp;called, &lt;strong&gt;(&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/blogsview/1225816/colored-text-series-how-to-put-easily-put-color-in-your-posts-&quot; rel=&quot;bookmark&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Colored Text Series - How to Put Easily Put Color in Your Posts...&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;strong&gt;)&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;It was&amp;nbsp;made&amp;nbsp;to sound SO EASY!&amp;nbsp; I figured i could do it too, and created.....&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/blogsview/1228455/my-first-colored-post-&quot; title=&quot;My First Colored Post&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt; &lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;My FIRST Colored Post!!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Back to story.......&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/8/7/0/3/3/ar125713019633078.jpg&quot; height=&quot;167&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;317&quot; style=&quot;margin: 3px; float: right;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Friday, the apples were bought, and today a small batch of applesauce was made!!&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; I used Stevia instead of Splenda for the sweetener, and sprinkled&amp;nbsp;cinnamon on the top.&amp;nbsp; Husbo was the first to taste it!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Yum!!&amp;nbsp; Thank you Mary Yonkers!!!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Image&amp;nbsp;courtesy of &quot;Diane's Kitchen&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Diane Rice, Rice Prprty Mgmnt &amp; Rlty, LLC, South Holland, IL</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Sun, 01 Nov 2009 21:09:51 -0600</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1315018/inspired-by-mary-yonkers-i-made-applesauce-for-the-first-time-</link>
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      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1311531/regrets-mistakes-here-s-an-opportunity-to-toss-them-</guid>
      <title>Regrets? Mistakes?  Here's An Opportunity To TOSS Them!!</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Have you ever done something that was &lt;em&gt;STOOPID&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; Not stupid.... &lt;em&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;STOOPID!!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&amp;nbsp; Stoopid is a dumb thing you &lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/4/0/5/0/6/ar125691886560504.jpg&quot; height=&quot;160&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;160&quot; style=&quot;margin: 4px 10px; float: left;&quot; /&gt;did but didn't know it was dumb until you looked back.&amp;nbsp; When you did, all you wanted to do was to hide, and &lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;stoop&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; as to not bring attention to&amp;nbsp;onlookers that &lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;YOU&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/span&gt; were the one who did it!&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;Did you wish, &lt;em&gt;&quot;if ONLY i could do it all over again... i'd do it differently!!&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&amp;nbsp; Bummer!&amp;nbsp; Instead you keep kicking self in butt... stewing over it time and time again!&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;GOOD NEWS!! Your redemption time is&lt;/strong&gt; here!&amp;nbsp; How so?&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;Pile up&amp;nbsp;ALL of your mistakes, regrets, and stoopid stuff, and bring them over to the 2:00 AM Sunday Morning time, November 1st. &amp;nbsp;Why?&amp;nbsp; Because this is the only&amp;nbsp;chance&amp;nbsp;this year you get to FREELY redeem the time!&amp;nbsp; You get another hour to redo your mess ups... whatever they were!&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Simply place every last one of&amp;nbsp;these mishaps at the last strike&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/2/6/4/2/8/ar125691901082462.jpg&quot; height=&quot;160&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;160&quot; style=&quot;margin: 3px; float: right;&quot; /&gt;e of the 2:00 AM&lt;/strong&gt; time period... never to be seen again!&amp;nbsp; After you've done that, change the hand on the clock to read 1:00 AM!&amp;nbsp; That simple?&amp;nbsp; Yep!&amp;nbsp; You get a whole NEW hour!&amp;nbsp; Now, when the &lt;em&gt;second&lt;/em&gt; 2:00 AM comes.... &lt;strong&gt;don't repeat that same act that made you stoop, OK??&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;This is EXACTLY&amp;nbsp;what you have been waiting for.... TURN THE CLOCK BACK!!&lt;/strong&gt; And start anew!&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;forgetting those things which are behind&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, and reaching forth unto those things which are before.....&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;redeeming the time&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, because the days are evil.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Images courtesy of Bing&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;*************************************************************************************************&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Blog post written by Diane Rice, owner of Rice Property Management &amp;amp; Realty, located in South Holland, IL.&amp;nbsp; Information about rentals, property management, &amp;amp;&amp;nbsp;houses for sale can be found at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.862RICE.com&quot;&gt;www.862RICE.com&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Diane Rice, Rice Prprty Mgmnt &amp; Rlty, LLC, South Holland, IL</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Fri, 30 Oct 2009 11:31:08 -0500</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1311531/regrets-mistakes-here-s-an-opportunity-to-toss-them-</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1304510/i-met-my-husbo-16-years-ago-today</guid>
      <title>I Met &quot;My Husbo&quot; 16 Years Ago.... Today</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;This is a sentimental mushy post, so for those who have had enough of me raving about&lt;/strong&gt; &quot;My Husbo&quot;... don't read another word....&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/7/3/8/7/7/ar125658608577837.jpg&quot; height=&quot;365&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;304&quot; style=&quot;margin: 3px; float: left;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Exactly 16 years ago today, a very shy, tall&lt;/strong&gt; skinny man came into the book store where i worked, and just stood there looking awkward.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What's HIS problem, i thought? Of course&lt;/strong&gt;, i did not know him from Adam, for at the time, the suffering i endured caused me to look really really bad....&amp;nbsp;had lost my car, job, my&amp;nbsp;house.... Everyone...&amp;nbsp; had forsook me.... it was awful!!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;In the spirit realm though,&amp;nbsp;i was FULL&lt;/strong&gt; of the JOY of the Lord, for HE and i&amp;nbsp;were&amp;nbsp;having a continual feast, and nothing else mattered at the time.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Now, unbeknown&amp;nbsp; to me... this man, Anthony,&lt;/strong&gt; had been told that he would&amp;nbsp;&quot;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/blogsview/33772/married-to-my-partner-our-story-&quot; title=&quot;Our Story&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;know his wife when he'd first lay eyes upon her&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&quot;....&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Oblivious to that, my only concern was to&lt;/strong&gt; make sure the customers were buying the right Bibles, books, and tapes!&amp;nbsp;(It was a Christian Book Store)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Back to the story...&amp;nbsp; The reason this day is so&lt;/strong&gt; significant is because God sent Tony to rescue me.... he was my Moses.&amp;nbsp; &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/blogsview/1300683/are-you-led-or-lead-&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;His obedience&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; is priceless, for had he looked on me from the outward, he would have run away!&amp;nbsp; He CHOSE instead to see what the Lord's will was.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;After we were introduced by his nephew&lt;/strong&gt;, we got on&amp;nbsp;the topic of marriage.&amp;nbsp; He asked, &lt;em&gt;&quot;Do you believe the Lord will bless ME with a wife?&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Thinking to myself, &quot;&lt;em&gt;what's HIS problem&lt;/em&gt;&quot;, my answer was...&lt;/strong&gt; &quot;&lt;em&gt;if you would delight yourself in the Lord, HE will grant you the desires of your heart!&lt;/em&gt;&quot;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;I had NO inclination that this man would be MY husband, because, NO MAN wanted me... i was NOT pretty, and was called a &quot;&lt;em&gt;space cadet&lt;/em&gt;&quot;!&amp;nbsp; Abhorred and talked about, i placed myself in&amp;nbsp;a secret hiding&amp;nbsp;spot, a&amp;nbsp;refuge, where i'd get acceptance...&amp;nbsp; hidden in the LORD.&amp;nbsp; Daily HE was my delight!&amp;nbsp; I could run to HIM, for HE alone understood, and&amp;nbsp;gave me comfort from the&amp;nbsp;humiliation i faced.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&quot;MY Husbo&quot; was sent by &lt;em&gt;whom my heart trusted in&lt;/em&gt;, and caused me to forget the reason i was crying.&quot; &lt;/strong&gt;He saw me through the eyes of GOD and loved me from the inside out!&amp;nbsp; We were married 6&amp;nbsp;months later.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/3/8/3/0/5/ar125659011650383.jpg&quot; height=&quot;121&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;164&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;(picture courtesy of Bing)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Today,&amp;nbsp; Tony and i took a little time this morning over shared coffee&lt;/strong&gt; to reminisce with heartfelt gratitude&amp;nbsp;about the immeasurable kindness and goodness&amp;nbsp;shown toward us by a GOD who in His infinite wisdom placed us with one another.&amp;nbsp; My soul does magnify you today my Lord!&amp;nbsp; Receive Glory, Praises&amp;nbsp;&amp;amp; Honor!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Diane Rice, Rice Prprty Mgmnt &amp; Rlty, LLC, South Holland, IL</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Mon, 26 Oct 2009 16:01:48 -0500</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1304510/i-met-my-husbo-16-years-ago-today</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1302643/it-s-an-investors-flea-market-in-illinois-indiana-get-ready-to-rack-up-</guid>
      <title>It's An Investors Flea Market In Illinois &amp; Indiana - Get Ready To Rack Up!</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;In Illinois and parts of Indiana, there are currently 425 ACTIVE listed homes&lt;/strong&gt; on the Multiple Listing Service for $30,000.00 and under!&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;(&lt;em&gt;There are 1196 in the $30K to $70K range&lt;/em&gt;) These all have&amp;nbsp;3+ bedrooms&amp;nbsp;and are&amp;nbsp;ideal for first-time or seasoned investors seeking&amp;nbsp;to develop their single-family-home rental portfolio, because they are so affordable!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/6/9/8/4/1/ar125650011814896.jpg&quot; height=&quot;190&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;585&quot; style=&quot;margin: 2px;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Of the 425 listings, 199 of them have 1 &amp;amp; 1/2 + baths.&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; (&lt;em&gt;Of the available 1196 homes in the 30 to 70K price range, 611&amp;nbsp;of these 3 bedroom homes&amp;nbsp;have 1 &amp;amp; 1/2 baths.&lt;/em&gt;)&amp;nbsp;&lt;strong&gt;Certainly some of them need entire rehabs,&lt;/strong&gt; however, there are many that just need light-weight cosmetic work!&amp;nbsp; The locations of these houses are in varying neighborhoods from the North Side of Chicago to the South Suburban communities as well as Northwest Indiana.&amp;nbsp; &lt;strong&gt;These would make excellent rental homes, for the demand&amp;nbsp;NOW is huge!&amp;nbsp; It's an investors flea market!!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Financing for these types of homes (&lt;em&gt;including rehab loans&lt;/em&gt;)&amp;nbsp;are available from different&amp;nbsp;lending &lt;/strong&gt;institutions, which we highly recommend doing research about prior to agreeing to a specific loan.&amp;nbsp; If you have cash,&amp;nbsp;which is more favorable, your negotiation power is higher, for many of these houses were foreclosed and are owned by banks&amp;nbsp;which are prepared to settle to get them transferred to new owners.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A licensed &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.862rice.com.com&quot; title=&quot;Rice Property Management&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Property Management&lt;/a&gt; company and a&amp;nbsp;reputable&amp;nbsp;building&lt;/strong&gt; and construction company can become your best partners with&amp;nbsp;this investment venture.&amp;nbsp; A Property Management company that specializes in managing rental homes&amp;nbsp;can oversee every aspect of your property,&amp;nbsp;like screening, rent collections, maintenance, annual inspections, and all other tenant matters, freeing up your time to&amp;nbsp;tend to new prospective enterprises!&amp;nbsp; A construction company can get your house in habitable condition.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/1/9/5/3/4/ar125651208443591.jpg&quot; height=&quot;120&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;393&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;For help with your transaction from beginning to end&lt;/strong&gt;, it is recommended to&amp;nbsp;choose a company&amp;nbsp;that can walk you through every aspect from selecting&amp;nbsp;a profitable rental property,&amp;nbsp;successfully bargaining the purchase of it, overseeing the&amp;nbsp;managing of&amp;nbsp;it, and assisting with it's re-sale if your interest level changes in the future!&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;It's an INVESTORS FLEA&amp;nbsp;MARKET in Illinois &amp;amp; Indiana - Get Ready to Rack&amp;nbsp;Up!&amp;nbsp;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/6/7/3/6/2/ar12417491626376.jpg&quot; height=&quot;95&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;148&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&quot;Where the &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;RIGHT&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; Price is the &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;RICE&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt; Price!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Rice Property Management &amp;amp; Realty, located in South Holland, Illinois,&amp;nbsp;has agents that work with first time and experienced investors desirous of obtaining single family homes as rental property.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;(handshake graphic courtesy of Bing)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Diane Rice, Rice Prprty Mgmnt &amp; Rlty, LLC, South Holland, IL</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Sun, 25 Oct 2009 16:26:04 -0500</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1302643/it-s-an-investors-flea-market-in-illinois-indiana-get-ready-to-rack-up-</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1302117/costs-involved-in-buying-a-home</guid>
      <title>Costs involved in buying a home</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/3/2/2/2/6/ar125647813862223.jpg&quot; height=&quot;170&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; style=&quot;margin: 3px; float: left; border: black 4px solid;&quot; width=&quot;170&quot; /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dr. Stacey-Ann Baugh from Upper Marlboro,&lt;/strong&gt; Maryland, who enjoys educating her clients, has written this post&amp;nbsp;to prepare first-time home buyers on what to expect.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Thank you Dr. Baugh, I believe this will be&lt;/strong&gt; most helpful to first-timers from all over the globe!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If you or someone you know is seeking to &lt;/strong&gt;purchase a home in the South Suburban Illinois&amp;nbsp; or Northwest Indiana area, we at Rice Property Management &amp;amp; Realty would be pleased to service you, and&amp;nbsp;can be reached at 708-862-RICE (7423).&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: left;&quot;&gt;Via &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/blogsview/1293229/costs-involved-in-buying-a-home&quot;&gt;Dr. Stacey-Ann Baugh (Long &amp;amp; Foster Real Estate, Inc)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;blockquote&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I work with mostly first-time homebuyers who are not familiar with the process of buying a home and who may be confused about how much money they may need to be able to buy.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;DOWN PAYMENT -&lt;/strong&gt; The minimum down-payment is usually 3.5% of the purchase price. &amp;nbsp;However, this can range from as little as 0% to as much as 20% of the price depending on the type of loan. &amp;nbsp;There are some programs available that assist with down-payment. &amp;nbsp;The Down Payment on your DREAM program in PG County is an example of a down-payment assistance program for first-time home buyers purchasing a vacant foreclosure in the County.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;CLOSING COSTS &lt;/strong&gt;- Closing costs are the costs associated with purchasing the home, acquiring the mortgage, purchasing title insurance, as well as any state or city taxes involved. &amp;nbsp;These costs vary by location and depending on your mortgage arrangements but usually run between 3% and 6% of the purchase price. &amp;nbsp;Sometimes arrangements can be made to have the seller assist the buyer with some or all of the closing costs.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EARNEST MONEY DEPOSIT &lt;/strong&gt;- This deposit is submitted with the offer. &amp;nbsp;The deposit is held in escrow and credited towards the buyer's down payment and/or closing costs. &amp;nbsp;However, this check is cashed following acceptance of the offer. &amp;nbsp;The seller may be entitled to the deposit if the buyer defaults on the contract. &amp;nbsp;This deposit is usually a minimum of 1% of the purchase price and the amount may need to be increased in competitive situations.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;HOME INSPECTION&lt;/strong&gt; - This is paid for by the buyer at the time of inspection. &amp;nbsp;The costs involved vary depending on the size and purchase price of the home but cost approximately $250-$500.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;TERMITE INSPECTION &lt;/strong&gt;- Many mortgages require a termite inspection. &amp;nbsp;This can either be billed to the closing company and paid at the settlement table or paid for up front. &amp;nbsp;The costs range from $35-$55.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;OTHER INSPECTIONS&lt;/strong&gt; - Any additional inspections that the buyer is interested in having done are paid for by the buyer. &amp;nbsp;These may include radon inspections which can cost between $125 and $200, mold inspections, well water tests, septic system evaluations, chimney inspections, and anything else the buyer is interested in investigating prior to committing to purchase the home.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;APPRAISAL&lt;/strong&gt; - A few lenders will have the appraisal paid for at closing. &amp;nbsp;However, many lenders will have the buyers pay for this up-front. &amp;nbsp;That way if something goes wrong with the contract the lender is not stuck with the cost of the appraisal. &amp;nbsp;This can vary in cost from approximately $350-$550.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;If you are interested in learning more about purchasing a home &amp;nbsp;or for more information about the down-payment assistance programs available in Prince George's County, MD don't hesitate to contact me.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;div class=&quot;agent_signature&quot;&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dr. Stacey-Ann Baugh&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Long &amp;amp; Foster Real Estate&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;www.staceybaugh.com&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;staceyannbaugh@gmail.com&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;240-481-3565 (C)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;301-924-1100 (O)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I Make House-Calls!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/6/7/3/6/2/ar12417491626376.jpg&quot; height=&quot;95&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;148&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&quot;Where the &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;RIGHT&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; Price is the &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;RICE&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt; Price!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;/blockquote&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div id=&quot;reblogging_tag&quot;&gt;Via &lt;b&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/blogsview/1293229/costs-involved-in-buying-a-home&quot;&gt;Dr. Stacey-Ann Baugh (Long &amp; Foster Real Estate, Inc)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt;:&lt;br/&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;&lt;p&gt;I work with mostly first-time homebuyers who are not familiar with the process of buying a home and who may be confused about how much money they may need to be able to buy.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;DOWN PAYMENT -&lt;/strong&gt; The minimum down-payment is usually 3.5% of the purchase price. &amp;nbsp;However, this can range from as little as 0% to as much as 20% of the price depending on the type of loan. &amp;nbsp;There are some programs available that assist with down-payment. &amp;nbsp;The Down Payment on your DREAM program in PG County is an example of a down-payment assistance program for first-time home buyers purchasing a vacant foreclosure in the County.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;CLOSING COSTS &lt;/strong&gt;- Closing costs are the costs associated with purchasing the home, acquiring the mortgage, purchasing title insurance, as well as any state or city taxes involved. &amp;nbsp;These costs vary by location and depending on your mortgage arrangements but usually run between 3% and 6% of the purchase price. &amp;nbsp;Sometimes arrangements can be made to have the seller assist the buyer with some or all of the closing costs.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EARNEST MONEY DEPOSIT &lt;/strong&gt;- This deposit is submitted with the offer. &amp;nbsp;The deposit is held in escrow and credited towards the buyer's down payment and/or closing costs. &amp;nbsp;However, this check is cashed following acceptance of the offer. &amp;nbsp;The seller may be entitled to the deposit if the buyer defaults on the contract. &amp;nbsp;This deposit is usually a minimum of 1% of the purchase price and the amount may need to be increased in competitive situations.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;HOME INSPECTION&lt;/strong&gt; - This is paid for by the buyer at the time of inspection. &amp;nbsp;The costs involved vary depending on the size and purchase price of the home but cost approximately $250-$500.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;TERMITE INSPECTION &lt;/strong&gt;- Many mortgages require a termite inspection. &amp;nbsp;This can either be billed to the closing company and paid at the settlement table or paid for up front. &amp;nbsp;The costs range from $35-$55.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;OTHER INSPECTIONS&lt;/strong&gt; - Any additional inspections that the buyer is interested in having done are paid for by the buyer. &amp;nbsp;These may include radon inspections which can cost between $125 and $200, mold inspections, well water tests, septic system evaluations, chimney inspections, and anything else the buyer is interested in investigating prior to committing to purchase the home.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;APPRAISAL&lt;/strong&gt; - A few lenders will have the appraisal paid for at closing. &amp;nbsp;However, many lenders will have the buyers pay for this up-front. &amp;nbsp;That way if something goes wrong with the contract the lender is not stuck with the cost of the appraisal. &amp;nbsp;This can vary in cost from approximately $350-$550.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;If you are interested in learning more about purchasing a home &amp;nbsp;or for more information about the down-payment assistance programs available in Prince George's County, MD don't hesitate to contact me.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;agent_signature&quot;&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dr. Stacey-Ann Baugh&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Long &amp;amp; Foster Real Estate&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;www.staceybaugh.com&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;staceyannbaugh@gmail.com&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;240-481-3565 (C)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;301-924-1100 (O)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;FINALLY! &amp;nbsp;A DOCTOR WHO MAKES HOUSE-CALLS!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Diane Rice, Rice Prprty Mgmnt &amp; Rlty, LLC, South Holland, IL</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Sun, 25 Oct 2009 08:55:03 -0500</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1302117/costs-involved-in-buying-a-home</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1300683/are-you-led-or-lead-</guid>
      <title>Are you LED or LEAD?</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Of all the things &lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/blogsview/47960/GET-REAL-or-Why&quot; title=&quot;why i should not be capitalized&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;i&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; love about my husband, it's his &lt;em&gt;&quot;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;I will NOT be moved&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&quot; spirit&lt;/strong&gt; that gains my highest&amp;nbsp;regard toward him.&amp;nbsp; In our fifteen years of marriage, there has not been a single regret that can be attributed to the decisions he's had to make for&amp;nbsp;our well being, and it's been because of his relationship with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;When challenges presented itself, what did he do?&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; NOT A THING... until he&amp;nbsp;received clearance and directives from God!&amp;nbsp; Before learning of his ways,&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/blogsview/47960/GET-REAL-or-Why&quot; title=&quot;why i should not be capitalized&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;i&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; used to stand on my head....&amp;nbsp; to NO avail!&amp;nbsp; He had no&amp;nbsp;empathy for my childish immature antics, for his mindset as the head, was to steer us in GOD's will.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;In the beginning, when we first met, God had previously informed him&lt;/strong&gt; that he'd &quot;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/blogsview/33772/married-to-my-partner-our-story-&quot; title=&quot;Our Story&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;know his wife when he'd first lay eyes upon her&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&quot;....Of course, when he walked in the door, I DID NOT KNOW A THING.... but &lt;em&gt;HE&lt;/em&gt; did!! Even when he proposed marriage, &lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/blogsview/47960/GET-REAL-or-Why&quot; title=&quot;why i should not be capitalized&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;i&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;thought he was kidding.... but the&amp;nbsp;man was trying to OBEY GOD!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Our entir&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/9/1/5/9/0/ar125634297609519.JPG&quot; height=&quot;144&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;115&quot; style=&quot;margin: 4px; float: left;&quot; /&gt;e marriage, family life,&amp;nbsp;and business is built upon faith!&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; I have&amp;nbsp;a &quot;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;gift&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&quot; of faith, and &quot;my husbo&quot; is a man who walks with GOD.... continually.&amp;nbsp; Traditions, religion,&amp;nbsp;protocol, rules, and regulations placed in the natural by man&amp;nbsp;do not take precedence over obeying the voice of God in our household, for HIS grace has taught us that we have been bought with a price and for a purpose!&amp;nbsp; There is no getting away from it... GOD is continually raising us up!&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;At times, we&amp;nbsp;look pretty offensive in the eyes of others as we carry out specific&lt;/strong&gt; orders&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;originating from the Spirit of GOD,&amp;nbsp;but my husband would rather us suffer humiliation and&amp;nbsp;ridicule instead of being lauded with&amp;nbsp;praise and acceptance of man!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Scripture says, the &quot;S&lt;em&gt;ons of GOD are LED by the Spirit of GOD&lt;/em&gt;&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;... another one&amp;nbsp;says, &lt;em&gt;MY sheep, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;HEAR&amp;nbsp;MY voice,&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; and a stranger they will not follow&lt;/em&gt;.&amp;nbsp; &lt;em&gt;Signs and wonders do follow them that believe&lt;/em&gt;, says another!&amp;nbsp; The Bible is loaded with&amp;nbsp;pages which&amp;nbsp;affirm &quot;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;the JUST shall live by faith&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;, and that &quot;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;it is IMPOSSIBLE to please GOD without faith in HIM!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;From Genesis to Revelation, witness is left throughout for us.&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; How many years do we have to keep reading before we will BELIEVE WHAT IT SAYS???&amp;nbsp; Our walk on this earth is not in sync with the spirit of this world&amp;nbsp;and it's systems.... they are INFERIOR...contrary to GODS ways and will NEVER please HIM... that's why HE uses&amp;nbsp;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/blogsview/167126/the-wisdom-of-this-world-is-foolishness-&quot; title=&quot;Wisdom Of This World&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;FOOLISHNESS &lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/strong&gt;to confound the so called &lt;em&gt;know-it-alls&lt;/em&gt; in this world!&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/5/1/6/9/4/ar125634330649615.jpg&quot; height=&quot;74&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;118&quot; style=&quot;margin: 2px; float: right;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Saints, we need to STOP bringing conjured up stuff to GOD&lt;/strong&gt; asking Him to bless it!&amp;nbsp; &lt;strong&gt;STOP!! &amp;nbsp;WAIT!!&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; ALL of our righteousness is as... FILTHY NASTY CONTAGIOUS RAGS!!&amp;nbsp;It's like&amp;nbsp;we are placing God on OUR level as if HE is hard of hearing!!! &lt;strong&gt;That's being &lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;LEAD&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;... and it will sink&amp;nbsp;us AND our fleshly thoughts&amp;nbsp;with our silly&amp;nbsp;ideas to the bottom of the ocean!!&amp;nbsp;&lt;em&gt;(picture courtesy of Bing Images)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Don't you know HE SEES what's going on?&amp;nbsp; HE is&amp;nbsp;STILL IN&amp;nbsp;CHARGE&lt;/strong&gt; and knows how to take care of us!&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;Did HE give&amp;nbsp;us distinct orders to make something happen???&amp;nbsp; NO??&amp;nbsp; Then let us take a chill pill!!&amp;nbsp; Listen, HE has a plan....&amp;nbsp;Let us WAIT FOR IT!&amp;nbsp; &lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/blogsview/924191/tune-in-listen-then-obey&quot; title=&quot;Tune In, Listen, &amp;amp; Obey!&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;BE LED!!!&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Big on &quot;U&quot;....All the way to the letter &quot;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/blogsview/47960/GET-REAL-or-Why&quot; title=&quot;why i should not be capitalized&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;i&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&quot;&lt;/strong&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;Anthony &amp;amp; Diane Rice, owners of Rice Property Management &amp;amp; Realty, AND Rice &amp;amp; Rice Painting &amp;amp; Carpet Cleaning, located in South Holland, Illinois, have been called unto the service of the Lord to&amp;nbsp;do HIS business upon the earth. &lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;&amp;copy; Copyright 2009 Diane Rice, All rights reserved&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Diane Rice, Rice Prprty Mgmnt &amp; Rlty, LLC, South Holland, IL</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Fri, 23 Oct 2009 20:42:28 -0500</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1300683/are-you-led-or-lead-</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1299098/renters-do-you-have-good-credit-</guid>
      <title>Renters:  Do YOU Have GOOD Credit?</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If your credit is good, it shows you&amp;nbsp;take responsibility for yourself &lt;/strong&gt;and will most likely make an excellent tenant. &lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http:www.862RICE.com&quot; title=&quot;Property Management&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Property Management&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; companies have the task of seeking occupants who will faithfully make monthly payments and exercise good housekeeping skills.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/7/6/3/0/2/ar125627075920367.jpg&quot; height=&quot;222&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;292&quot; style=&quot;margin: 2px; float: left;&quot; /&gt;At times,&amp;nbsp;available &amp;nbsp;rental homes will&amp;nbsp;remain vacant&amp;nbsp;too long because&amp;nbsp;property managers refuse &lt;/strong&gt;to&lt;strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;take risks&amp;nbsp;in selecting a candidate who has not shown evidence of wise credit usage which reflects on their report.&amp;nbsp; It's always a pleasure to present &lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/blogsview/1289901/unbelieveable-two-in-a-row-&quot; title=&quot;2 In A Row!&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;positive findings&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; back to property owners.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Scores of 600 and up are considered to be good rental potentials&lt;/strong&gt;.&amp;nbsp; Ratings of lesser points indicate troubling challenges, and could be&amp;nbsp;reasons for denial of a rental home.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Annual&amp;nbsp;credit reports for consumers are available and offered FREE&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;by three&amp;nbsp;major credit reporting bureaus.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;Credit scores can be&amp;nbsp;obtained for a charge.&amp;nbsp; More information can be found online at: &lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index.jsp&quot; title=&quot;Annual Credit Report&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Annual Credit Report&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; or&amp;nbsp;by phone at:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li style=&quot;text-align: left;&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Trans Union:&amp;nbsp; 800-916-8800&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li style=&quot;text-align: left;&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Experian:&amp;nbsp; 888-397-3742&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li style=&quot;text-align: left;&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Equifax:&amp;nbsp; 800-685-1111&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If you are&amp;nbsp;searching for&amp;nbsp;a rental accommodation and possess good credit&lt;/strong&gt;, the door is wide open with multiple choices in&amp;nbsp;housing, while those with &lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/blogsview/148284/the-solutions-tenants-with-bad-credit-&quot; title=&quot;Tenant With Bad Credit&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;poor credit&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; are limited.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: left;&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Diane Rice is Broker/Owner of Rice Property Management &amp;amp; Realty, LLC.,&amp;nbsp;located in South Holland, Illinois with licenses in Indiana and Illinois.&amp;nbsp; Rental agents of the company&amp;nbsp;can be reached at 708-862-7423.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;&amp;copy; Copyright 2009 Rice Property Management, All rights reserved&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Diane Rice, Rice Prprty Mgmnt &amp; Rlty, LLC, South Holland, IL</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Thu, 22 Oct 2009 23:24:26 -0500</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1299098/renters-do-you-have-good-credit-</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1290929/a-miracle-at-active-rain-</guid>
      <title>A MIRACLE At Active Rain!!</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What is a miracle?&amp;nbsp; A miracle occurs when a supernatural intervention intercepts&lt;/strong&gt; an impossible situation and makes it possible.&amp;nbsp; This is exactly what happened when &lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/&quot;&gt;Active Rain's&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; own &lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/alharb79&quot; title=&quot;Alex&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Alexander Harb&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, the founder of the group, &quot;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/groups/REChrist&quot; title=&quot;Christianity &amp;amp; RE&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Christianity &amp;amp; Real Estate&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;,&quot; &lt;em&gt;(we affectionately call him &quot;Alex&quot;) &lt;/em&gt;and myself enacted together.&amp;nbsp; He from Orlando Florida, and me from a suburb of the Windy City..... Chicago, Illinois!&lt;em&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;It began when i gradually crept back into blogging mode after a year's hiatus.&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; Here at Active Rain, there are &lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/blogsview/1275857/seasons-on-active-rain&quot;&gt;seasons&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;we individually have to obey or we'll be washed away from our focus.&amp;nbsp; As i sought to restore the neglected &lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/blogsview/1260434/we-re-doing-it-yippee-9-new-members-in-property-management-group-&quot;&gt;Property Management&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; group here at Active Rain,&amp;nbsp;and reacquaint myself with my online buddies, i noticed that Alex was not being that charged up-front General overseeing his troops!!&amp;nbsp; Now, this was quite a change seeing him this way, so naturally, i went behind the scenes to&amp;nbsp;peep into&amp;nbsp;what was up, and spied him actively pursuing the &lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.spacewarsonline.com/&quot; title=&quot;Space Wars&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;wars in space games&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;on &lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.facebook.com&quot; title=&quot;FaceBook&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;FaceBook&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;!!!&amp;nbsp; &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;He was tripping!!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/1/3/2/7/2/ar125588545727231.jpg&quot; height=&quot;163&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;211&quot; style=&quot;margin: 4px; float: right;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Seeing he needed a jump start, i wrote a member's only group post&lt;/strong&gt;, &quot;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/action/blogger_groups/blog_entry_edit/381?blog_entry_id=1257361&quot;&gt;Please Sign This Petition To Motivate Our Founder&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&quot; to appeal to the 1365 members of C&amp;amp;RE, hoping to get their&amp;nbsp;help to snap him out of his spell!&amp;nbsp; Sure enough, faithful &lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/rsloop&quot; title=&quot;Bob Sloop&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Bob Sloop&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; responded to the call by featuring the post, prayed on it, and expressed encouragement.&amp;nbsp; Alex then appeared, openly sharing about his &lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/blogsview/150452/closed-doors&quot;&gt;closed door&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; predicament.&amp;nbsp; The request for help&amp;nbsp;drew genuine supporters like &lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/pcrawhea&quot; title=&quot;Heather Crawford&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Heather Crawford&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/itron&quot; title=&quot;Irene Tron&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Irene Tron&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/junelewis&quot; title=&quot;June Lewis&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;June Lewis&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/shears76&quot; title=&quot;Jason Sardi&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Jason Sardi&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, an unidentified old friend, and other silent-behind-the scene prayer warriors.&amp;nbsp; Great!&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;A caring&amp;nbsp;army was positioned... good ground for a miracle to present itself!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The next stage progressed as a one-on-one dialog developed&lt;/strong&gt; (&lt;em&gt;by email&lt;/em&gt;) between Alex and myself beginning September 30&lt;sup&gt;Th&lt;/sup&gt;.&amp;nbsp; On October 1&lt;sup&gt;st, &lt;/sup&gt;Alex was offered to come aboard with us! &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;We were in dire need of help, because we were working at a deficit,&amp;nbsp;but desired&amp;nbsp;the surplus of new business coming in from investors seeking property management services.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;Essential duties like accounting, marketing, and specialized customer service were not getting the attention it needed, as demands for running a brokerage took precedent.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;It was an IDEAL set-up since&amp;nbsp;Alex had NO job, NO money, NO place to go, and was about to be evicted in&amp;nbsp;a few&amp;nbsp;days....&amp;nbsp;&lt;strong&gt;ALEX NEEDED A MIRACLE... BUT SO DID WE!!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Our conversations were filled with &quot;&lt;em&gt;what ifs&lt;/em&gt;&quot; and &quot;&lt;em&gt;thoughts of&lt;/em&gt; &lt;em&gt;uncharted possibilities.&lt;/em&gt;&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; It all culminated with the phone message we received from Alex, Wednesday, October 7&lt;sup&gt;Th&lt;/sup&gt; at 9:40 AM, which said &lt;em&gt;(in short) &lt;/em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;Diane, did you not tell me that the Lord would come through??&amp;nbsp; I have been given&amp;nbsp;a one-way plane ticket to Chicago and will be there with you Tuesday morning!'&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/8/6/2/1/1/ar125589040111268.jpg&quot; height=&quot;243&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;400&quot; style=&quot;margin: 2px;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;This is truly a MIRACLE IN THE RAIN!&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; The door is wide &lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/blogsview/158054/the-open-door&quot;&gt;OPEN&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; for both Alex&amp;nbsp;&amp;amp; &lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.862RICE.com&quot; title=&quot;Rice Property Management&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Rice Property Management &amp;amp; Realty&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; to &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/blogsview/157180/keep-moving-&quot;&gt;go forward&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;!&amp;nbsp; This could not have taken place without the effectual fervent prayers of those that stood in the gap.... &lt;em&gt;AND&lt;/em&gt; the FAITH of ALEX who, by his works, set the atmosphere for GOD to perform this mighty feat!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/6/0/3/0/1/ar125588876210306.jpg&quot; height=&quot;138&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;181&quot; style=&quot;margin: 2px;&quot; /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/6/4/5/7/7/ar125588902777546.jpg&quot; height=&quot;136&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;186&quot; style=&quot;margin: 2px;&quot; /&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/5/3/6/4/3/ar125588886734635.jpg&quot; height=&quot;136&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;185&quot; style=&quot;margin: 2px;&quot; /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Alex will be licensed as a Realtor in Illinois and Indiana.&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; Meanwhile, we are all being enhanced and invigorated as he lavishes upon us his knowledge of web optimization, extensive marketing expertise, and a host of other services to benefit our &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;bursting-at-the-seams-to-learn&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;team!!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;It's with my deepest gratitude that i humbly come to thank all of the founders of Active Rain&lt;/strong&gt;, their staff &amp;amp; families, each employee, every volunteer, and all of the membership!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;We appreciate&amp;nbsp;you ALL for putting up with me and Alex in our &quot;&lt;em&gt;daze&lt;/em&gt;&quot; of immaturity when we (&lt;em&gt;especially me&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/strong&gt; were out of step with protocol.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; I'd like to take this time to openly apologize to anyone we may have offended directly or indirectly.&amp;nbsp; Please forgive us...... and.....&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;THANK YOU FOR THIS MIRACLE IN THE RAIN!!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;To GOD be ALL the GLORY for the things HE alone has done!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Diane Rice, Rice Prprty Mgmnt &amp; Rlty, LLC, South Holland, IL</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Sun, 18 Oct 2009 13:40:25 -0500</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1290929/a-miracle-at-active-rain-</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1280448/help-has-come-to-the-propety-management-group-</guid>
      <title>Help Has Come To The propety Management Group!</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;It's OFFICIAL!&amp;nbsp; Help has come to the Property Management Group!&amp;nbsp;&lt;/strong&gt; Starting tomorrow, October 12, 2009, we will have FOUR additional moderators!&amp;nbsp; They are:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/cvillecpm&quot; title=&quot;Wallace Gibson&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;WALLACE GIBSON&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/lprest&quot; title=&quot;Leslie Prest&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;LESLIE PREST&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/123land&quot; title=&quot;Rickey Sadler&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;RICKEY SADLER&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/hrhodes&quot; title=&quot;Leisa Wells&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;LEISA WELLS&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;They are your fellow colleagues here in the Rain and have come to help us get BOOSTED!&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; Why do we need promoting?&amp;nbsp; It's OUR Time!&amp;nbsp; Property Management has become a necessary&amp;nbsp;service, just in time to handle the influx of structures appearing in the housing market!&amp;nbsp; Whether you manage commercial or residential, small or large portfolios, there is a need, and we share the commonality of it all!&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: left;&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;We want our spot on Active Rain to SIZZLE!&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; It will with collective support from our voluntary team members and YOU!!&amp;nbsp; You can&amp;nbsp;help by inviting others, posting regularly, and encouraging&amp;nbsp;members with your comments!&amp;nbsp; All ideas are welcome!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/3/2/7/8/0/ar125531972308723.jpg&quot; height=&quot;202&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;205&quot; style=&quot;margin: 2px; float: left;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The new moderators are a perfect fit, for they each bring perspectives from different scenarios.&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; They have each been invited to write a post sharing a little bit about themselves and what they'd like to see happen in the group!&amp;nbsp; Please encourage them, for we are in this&amp;nbsp;together.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I am looking forward&amp;nbsp;to the growth that is sure to show as a result of the involvement by our&amp;nbsp;team&amp;nbsp;moderators.&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;Their primary&amp;nbsp;assignments will be to feature your posts, help with recruitment, monitor content that is not related to property management,&amp;nbsp;and encourage participation!&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;LET'S ROLL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT!!!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Diane Rice&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Diane Rice, Rice Prprty Mgmnt &amp; Rlty, LLC, South Holland, IL</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Sun, 11 Oct 2009 22:59:30 -0500</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1280448/help-has-come-to-the-propety-management-group-</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1278421/loving-the-hell-out-of-your-enemies</guid>
      <title>Loving the HELL Out Of Your Enemies</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do you have enemies?&amp;nbsp; OF COURSE you do... they are everywhere...&amp;nbsp;even in the Rain!&amp;nbsp; Seriously,&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com&quot; title=&quot;Active Rain&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Active Rain&lt;/a&gt;?&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;Really?&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; NO!!!&amp;nbsp; Couldn't be... for we are a group of professionals seeking to get our brand out to the public!&amp;nbsp; We work &lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/blogsview/1275857/seasons-on-active-rain&quot; title=&quot;Seasons In The Rain&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;TOGETHER&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; don't we?&amp;nbsp; We LOVE one another.... there&amp;nbsp;are NO haters here!!!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Upon closer examination, you will find that&amp;nbsp;PEOPLE THEMSELVES are not haters&lt;/strong&gt;....a human is not your enemy....&amp;nbsp;a person is just a body, a shell, a container, a conveyor, and that's all.&amp;nbsp; It's what&amp;nbsp;is allowed to&amp;nbsp;fester&amp;nbsp;inwardly&amp;nbsp;that&amp;nbsp;is the&amp;nbsp;poison!&amp;nbsp; In simple&amp;nbsp;infantile language.... it's &lt;strong&gt;WHAT YOU ARE FULL OF!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Whatever you're grubbing upon will surface.... &lt;/strong&gt;and whoever is in the path w&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/8/3/8/6/6/ar125518307066838.jpg&quot; height=&quot;267&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;400&quot; style=&quot;margin: 3px; float: right;&quot; /&gt;ill get a hearty dosage of it!&amp;nbsp; It has NO respecter of people and will be spewed upon anything that moves!&amp;nbsp; Now, it has NO AFFECT on vessels&amp;nbsp;who&amp;nbsp;have been drinking&amp;nbsp;out of&amp;nbsp;the same vat!&amp;nbsp; They'd cancel&amp;nbsp;each other out, resulting in&amp;nbsp;immunity to these death throes.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Ever&amp;nbsp;go pass someone who's full of it?&amp;nbsp; You know not to get too close&lt;/strong&gt;.... for they seek a target to spill it out upon!&amp;nbsp; It's become their everyday language now,&amp;nbsp;and their original&amp;nbsp;purpose is no longer detected, for contamination has set in.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;To think it only&amp;nbsp;began with&amp;nbsp;a tiny drop... it grew as it festered.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How does this happen... and what can be done?&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; It happens when&amp;nbsp;the vessel allows a root to set in... like an uncontested weed.... (&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;a weed will REIGN and become a tree... IF you don't pull it out&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;).&amp;nbsp; What will dislodge it is... FORGIVENESS.&amp;nbsp; Is it that simple?&amp;nbsp; Yes.&amp;nbsp; You see, hatred reigns when a vessel places himself/herself as&amp;nbsp;JUDGE over the perceived slights of others and REFUSE to&amp;nbsp;show them any mercy&amp;nbsp;and are offended by decisions they made&amp;nbsp;that are contrary to what they believe.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;They have entered into a pact with the &lt;em&gt;real enemy&lt;/em&gt; to blame and not forgive!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The hater then becomes entrapped in his/her own cocoon&lt;/strong&gt;... tasting of, and even reveling in their own vomit!&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;Their lifelong pursuit then alters to a new ambition.... &quot;HATE RECRUITER&quot;!!&amp;nbsp; Armed with this venom, the new cadets that join themselves are fed with this same toxicity.&amp;nbsp; WHOA!!&amp;nbsp; It has come to that??&amp;nbsp; YES!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If YOU are the target, you cannot escape from these fiery darts&lt;/strong&gt;, however, &lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;you can love the hell out of that container!&lt;/em&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt; You'd have to get the strategy of LOVE... which is stronger than hate!&amp;nbsp; You must use wisdom, to know &lt;em&gt;how&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;when&lt;/em&gt; to apply it.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;And one more thing.... &lt;strong&gt;THIS CANNOT BE DONE IN&amp;nbsp;YOUR OWN STRENGTH OR YOU WILL GET CLOBBERED!!!&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;There is a &lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jesusfilm.org/&quot; title=&quot;JESUS&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;STRONGER ONE&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; than you that needs to be IN &lt;em&gt;your&lt;/em&gt;&amp;nbsp;vessel!&amp;nbsp; Eat and drink of that vine first.... continually.... then you will become empowered!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/7/1/2/5/9/ar12551874495217.jpg&quot; height=&quot;191&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;213&quot; style=&quot;margin: 3px; float: left;&quot; /&gt;If YOU are the one carrying this hate, and recognize yourself&lt;/strong&gt;, know this.... &lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;you are forgiven&lt;/span&gt;.&amp;nbsp; You no longer have to be tormented&amp;nbsp;by the lies you were bound by.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;strong&gt;TIP OVER!&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; That's it....&amp;nbsp;spill it all out, and allow those tears to flow freely.&amp;nbsp; Your deliverer has come with&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.believers.org/&quot; title=&quot;JESUS&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;HIS&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; WORD of release.&amp;nbsp; It's for YOU! You can no longer&amp;nbsp;carry this.&amp;nbsp; It has alienated you.&amp;nbsp; &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;You are not the enemy!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; The real enemy has&amp;nbsp;manipulated your anger to fuel you.&amp;nbsp; It's one of&amp;nbsp;his devices used to &lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;steal&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; your joy, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;kill&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; your spirit, and &lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;destroy&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; you from living&amp;nbsp;an abundant life!&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Not to worry.... &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.believers.org/&quot; title=&quot;JESUS&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;HIS&lt;/a&gt; LOVE will cover.&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;strong&gt;TIP OVER....&lt;/strong&gt; and fall into HIS ARMS.&amp;nbsp; &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.believers.org/&quot; title=&quot;JESUS&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;HE&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/strong&gt;paid for this so YOU wouldn't have to.&amp;nbsp; For this purpose&amp;nbsp;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.believers.org/&quot; title=&quot;JESUS&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;HE&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; was sent... just receive... open the door to your heart.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;There's something waiting for you.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&amp;copy; Copyright 2009 Diane&amp;nbsp;Rice, All rights reserved&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Diane Rice, Rice Prprty Mgmnt &amp; Rlty, LLC, South Holland, IL</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Sat, 10 Oct 2009 11:26:20 -0500</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1278421/loving-the-hell-out-of-your-enemies</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1276363/using-schools-as-a-resource-a-few-useful-tips</guid>
      <title>Using Schools As A Resource - A few Useful Tips</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: tahoma; color: #660000;&quot;&gt;&lt;big&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Doug Hamilton, Superintendent of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.shsd151.org/education/district/district.php?sectionid=1&quot;&gt;School District 151&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, in South Suburban, Illinois was our guest speaker at the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.shba.org/&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;South Holland Business Association&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt; Luncheon, September 24th, 2009.&lt;/small&gt;&lt;/big&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: tahoma; color: #660000;&quot;&gt;&lt;big&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/small&gt;&lt;/big&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: tahoma; color: #660000;&quot;&gt;&lt;big&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The topic:&amp;nbsp; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&quot;Schoo&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/small&gt;&lt;/big&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/7/8/2/1/0/ar125505959401287.jpg&quot; height=&quot;230&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;308&quot; style=&quot;margin: 2px; float: left;&quot; /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: tahoma; color: #660000;&quot;&gt;&lt;big&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;ls,&amp;nbsp; An Untapped Market&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&amp;nbsp; was presented by Mr. Hamilton with such simplicity, that businesses who who were in attendance must hav&lt;/small&gt;&lt;/big&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: tahoma; color: #660000;&quot;&gt;&lt;big&gt;&lt;small&gt;e all been thinking the same thing.... &lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;&quot;why hadn't we tapped onto this before?&quot;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/em&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/small&gt;&lt;/big&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: tahoma; color: #660000;&quot;&gt;&lt;big&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&quot;Use &lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;US&lt;/span&gt; as a resource&quot;, he reiterated repeatedly!&amp;nbsp; &lt;/strong&gt;We listened as the Superintendent, (&lt;em&gt;who remembered when South Holland was mostly made up of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/1173.html&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;onion fields&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;)&amp;nbsp; insisted we view schools as the biggest business in our neighborhood, sharing that we have not taken advantage of it as a neighborhood resource. &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; With there being 30,000 students enrolled, at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.southsuburbancollege.edu/&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;South Suburban College&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, it is the biggest employer in South Holland, and is the most marketable.&amp;nbsp; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;He went on to list a number of creative ways to get contracts&lt;/strong&gt; with the schools that would promote products of the businesses .&amp;nbsp; He asked the question..... &lt;strong&gt;&quot;What can schools do for you?&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #cc0000;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;&lt;big&gt;&lt;/big&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/small&gt;&lt;/big&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: tahoma; color: #660000;&quot;&gt;&lt;big&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #cc0000;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;&lt;big&gt;&lt;/big&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/small&gt;&lt;/big&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: tahoma; color: #660000;&quot;&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;big&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #cc0000;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;&lt;big&gt;Here are a few of the highlights:&lt;/big&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/small&gt;&lt;/big&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #330000;&quot;&gt;Check School calendars/newsletters for activities to participate in&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: tahoma; color: #330000;&quot;&gt;&lt;big&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/big&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: tahoma; color: #660000;&quot;&gt;&lt;big&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #330000;&quot;&gt;Go in with other companies to bridge projects with&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/small&gt;&lt;/big&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: tahoma; color: #660000;&quot;&gt;&lt;big&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #330000;&quot;&gt;Invite children to bring report cards in to receive a treat&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/small&gt;&lt;/big&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: tahoma; color: #660000;&quot;&gt;&lt;big&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #330000;&quot;&gt;Display achievements done by students in your place of business&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/small&gt;&lt;/big&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: tahoma; color: #660000;&quot;&gt;&lt;big&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #330000;&quot;&gt;Offer business days/tours of the business to the schools, but&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/small&gt;&lt;/big&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: tahoma; color: #660000;&quot;&gt;&lt;big&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #330000;&quot;&gt;KNOW something about the school first!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/small&gt;&lt;/big&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Comic Sans MS;&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #330000;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: tahoma;&quot;&gt;Below: guest pictures....&lt;br /&gt;We left with renewed inspiration to apply tips learned from the luncheon! &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Comic Sans MS;&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/3/0/5/8/1/ar125504639918503.jpg&quot; height=&quot;196&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;261&quot; style=&quot;margin: 3px;&quot; /&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/1/9/9/0/4/ar125504657140991.jpg&quot; height=&quot;195&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;258&quot; style=&quot;margin: 3px;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #330000;&quot;&gt;The Luncheon meal was catered by &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jimmyjohns.com/&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Jimmy Johns&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, and took place at the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.southholland.org/index.php?page=Parks/CommCtr&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;South Holland Community Center&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt; in South Holland, Illinois. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #330000;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/5/8/5/3/1/ar125505191113585.jpg&quot; height=&quot;273&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;366&quot; style=&quot;margin: 2px; float: left;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: arial; color: #330000;&quot;&gt;&lt;big&gt;&lt;big&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/big&gt;&lt;/big&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/small&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: arial; color: #330000;&quot;&gt;&lt;big&gt;&lt;big&gt;Left, President of the South Holland Business Association, (SHBA), Mike Abbott, thanks and prepares the well attended audience before introducing Mr. Hamilton. &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/big&gt;&lt;/big&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/small&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: arial; color: #330000;&quot;&gt;&lt;big&gt;&lt;big&gt;Abbott's Minute Printing Center, Inc., located at 611 East 170th Street, in South Holland, Illinois has been servicing the community since 1972.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/big&gt;&lt;/big&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/small&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;big&gt;&lt;big&gt;&lt;big&gt;Diane Rice, Owner/ Broker/Realtor &amp;amp; Property Manager&amp;nbsp;&lt;/big&gt;&lt;/big&gt;&lt;/big&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/small&gt;&lt;/small&gt;&lt;/small&gt;&lt;/small&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;Of Rice Property Management &amp;amp; Realty, located in South Holland, Illinois holds Real Estate Licenses in Indiana and Illinois, and is co-owner with her husband, Anthony R.&amp;nbsp; Rice of Rice &amp;amp; Rice Painting &amp;amp; Carpet Cleaning.&amp;nbsp; Diane Rice has current membership with SHBA.&amp;nbsp; Are you seeking Property Management?&amp;nbsp; We can be located at:&lt;/small&gt;&lt;strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.862rice.com/&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;www.862RICE.com &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hawaiihomesmarket.com/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/2/3/7/1/1/ar125505709811732.jpg&quot; height=&quot;100&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;133&quot; style=&quot;margin: 2px; vertical-align: middle;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Diane Rice, Rice Prprty Mgmnt &amp; Rlty, LLC, South Holland, IL</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Thu, 08 Oct 2009 22:35:31 -0500</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1276363/using-schools-as-a-resource-a-few-useful-tips</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1273192/do-not-despair</guid>
      <title>Do Not Despair</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Posting to Group....&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do NOT despair for help IS on the way!&amp;nbsp; Take courage and know that even though you are at the END of yourself.... you are right where the BEGINNING of GOD is....&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Be encouraged and do not look to man.... but wait and hear GOD.... HE really is there, and HE has a specific WORD for YOU.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Diane Rice, Rice Prprty Mgmnt &amp; Rlty, LLC, South Holland, IL</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Wed, 07 Oct 2009 07:54:49 -0500</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1273192/do-not-despair</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1269691/update-property-management-group</guid>
      <title>UPDATE - Property Management Group</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A little update for membership....&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/blogsview/1260434/we-re-doing-it-yippee-9-new-members-in-property-management-group-&quot; title=&quot;YIPPEE NEW MEMBERS&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;With 342 members and growing&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;strong&gt;.... plans are underway to&amp;nbsp;further enlighten&amp;nbsp;the group&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;by bringing in fresh professional property management assistance and insights from YOUR COLLEAGUES!!&amp;nbsp; A few of your&amp;nbsp;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/blogsview/1215933/a-property-management-expert-right-here-in-the-rain-&quot; title=&quot;PM members&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;dedicated&amp;nbsp;members&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; are willing to volunteer their time for&amp;nbsp;our purposes!&amp;nbsp; (If &lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;YOU&lt;/span&gt; are interested also, shoot me an email ASAP!)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Meanwhile, as we prepare, we are tuned in to hearing creative suggestions from&amp;nbsp;YOU&lt;/strong&gt; (by email or post)&amp;nbsp; A few reminders:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;-&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;Commenting on&amp;nbsp;posts is welcomed and&amp;nbsp;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;ENCOURAGED!&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;-&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;There are many groups for &lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;LISTING YOUR RENTALS&lt;/span&gt;.&amp;nbsp; Here are 3 of them:&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/groups/ForRent&quot; title=&quot;FOR RENT &quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;FOR RENT&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/groups/HomesForRent&quot; title=&quot;HOMES 4 Rent&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;HOMES FOR RENT&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/groups/TexasRentals&quot; title=&quot;RENTALS&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;RENTALS&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;-&amp;nbsp; Posts without relevant content to property management is&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;strong&gt;NOT welcomed and&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;DISCOURAGED!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;THANK YOU IN ADVANCE FOR YOUR COOPERATION!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Diane Rice&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Diane Rice, Rice Prprty Mgmnt &amp; Rlty, LLC, South Holland, IL</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Mon, 05 Oct 2009 01:14:54 -0500</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1269691/update-property-management-group</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1257361/please-sign-this-petition-to-motivate-our-founder-alexander-harb-</guid>
      <title>Please Sign This Petition To Motivate OUR Founder.... ALEXANDER HARB!!!!!</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;There are 1365 subscribed members of &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/groups/REChrist&quot; title=&quot;Christianity &amp;amp; Real Estate&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Christianity &amp;amp; Real Estate.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt; We became this BIG primarily because of the lone footwork of our founder,&lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/alharb79&quot; title=&quot;Alexander Harb&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt; ALEXANDER HARB&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt; who was led to open this forum January 25, 2007, where he humbly posted his &lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/blogsview/38242/christianity-and-real-estate&quot; title=&quot;1st Post For Christianity &amp;amp; Real Estate&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;FIRST&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt; invitation to join.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;There were a total of &lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/blogs/alharb79/archives/2007/01&quot; title=&quot;Alexander Harb - First C&amp;amp;RE Posts&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;FIVE&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt; posts written by him at the very end of that month,&lt;/strong&gt; and when February came, he wrote 6 more to be posted exclusively for the &lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/groups/REChrist&quot; title=&quot;Christianity &amp;amp; Real Estate&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Christianity &amp;amp; Real Estate&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;audience.&amp;nbsp; Alex continued to encourage the Active Rain community with his evidence of love and care for humanity.&amp;nbsp; One such post was written in the month of April that same year titled, &lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/blogsview/78324/in-view-of-the-massacre-&quot; title=&quot;In View Of The Massacre&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;In View Of The Massacre &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp; Many responded to this post by praying for families of the victims of the&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Tech_massacre&quot; title=&quot;Virginia Tech Shooting&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt; Virginia Tec&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;strong&gt;h&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;mass shooting.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/5/8/0/5/1/ar125401204815085.jpg&quot; height=&quot;512&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;400&quot; style=&quot;margin: 2px;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Alex was proving to be a very vital leader and community organizer here in Active Rain,&lt;/strong&gt; and more were taking note of it, especially new members who hurried to join up!&amp;nbsp; I think i joined somewhere around July of 2007, and see that i responded to a well read post of his named &lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/blogsview/151935/christianity-and-real-estate-a-perspective-on-forgiveness-&quot; title=&quot;A Perspective On Forgiveness&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&quot;A Perspective On Forgiveness&quot;.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/groups/REChrist&quot; title=&quot;Christianity &amp;amp; Real Estate&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;Christianity &amp;amp; Real Estate&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt; began to grow to such an extent that moderators were needed &lt;/strong&gt;to assist with so many postings by members eager to share uplifting words to every one.&amp;nbsp; One of the first was &lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/enieves&quot; title=&quot;Elizabeth Nieves&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Elizabeth Nieves&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, and Alex wrote a &lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/blogsview/295477/christianity-and-real-estate-welcome-one-of-our-new-moderators-&quot; title=&quot;New Moderator&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;post&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt; to introduce her to the the C&amp;amp;RE family...&amp;nbsp; others were chosen later for a total of 10.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;This brings me to the purpose of this petition..... ALEX needs our help&lt;/strong&gt; to get PUMPED BACK UP!!!!&amp;nbsp; &lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/blogsview/1245098/christianity-and-real-estate-how-are-we-changing-&quot; title=&quot;HOW Are We Changing??&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Changes&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt; have cause him to grow a little distant, and how many of you know that WITHOUT a leader we cannot stand!&amp;nbsp; Here are Alex's very words on his first post....&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&quot;This will NOT be a group where the moderator creates the group and disappears like I heard so many of&amp;nbsp; you say recently.&amp;nbsp; I will visit it every day and I PROMISE to be someone you can talk to and get to know.&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Please sign this petition by leaving an encouraging word and/or prayer for Alex and the group&lt;/strong&gt;, to let him SEE that we need him to stand!!!&amp;nbsp; Thank you in advance for your cooperation!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Diane Rice&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;But EXHORT one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. &lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Diane Rice, Rice Prprty Mgmnt &amp; Rlty, LLC, South Holland, IL</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Sat, 26 Sep 2009 20:31:40 -0500</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1257361/please-sign-this-petition-to-motivate-our-founder-alexander-harb-</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1249301/-tee-time-at-the-2009-calumet-city-illinois-chamber-golf-outing-</guid>
      <title>&quot;Tee&quot; Time At The 2009 Calumet City Illinois Chamber Golf Outing </title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/5/1/1/5/6/ar125356168165115.jpg&quot; height=&quot;340&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;542&quot; style=&quot;margin: 2px;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Saturday, September 18Th, the date was set for the &lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.calumetcitychamber.com/&quot; title=&quot;Cal City Chamber of Commerce&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Calumet City Chamber&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; of Commerce's Annual Golf Outing, held at the &lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thegolfcourses.net/golfcourses/IL/9331.htm&quot; title=&quot;River Oaks Golf Course&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;River Oaks Golf Course&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; In &lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.calumetcity.org/&quot; title=&quot;City Of Calumet City&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Calumet City, Illinois&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The weather could not have been nicer!&amp;nbsp;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/8/4/8/0/2/ar125375961520848.jpg&quot; height=&quot;356&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;475&quot; style=&quot;margin: 2px;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;strong&gt;Below:&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;Shad Whisler&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, Calumet City Chamber Member preparing to take off&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/8/3/5/4/1/ar125356142114538.jpg&quot; height=&quot;287&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;388&quot; style=&quot;margin: 2px;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Below:&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; An attendee &lt;em&gt;(unidentified)&amp;nbsp;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/8/0/0/0/6/ar125356726260008.jpg&quot; height=&quot;270&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;391&quot; style=&quot;margin: 2px;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Below:&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; Team players with&lt;strong&gt; &lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.lawofficesofdgg.com/&quot; title=&quot;Dennis Gianopolus&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Dennis Gianopolus&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, chamber member (&lt;em&gt;in jeans&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/8/4/0/6/8/ar125356713286048.jpg&quot; height=&quot;348&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;471&quot; style=&quot;margin: 2px;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Below:&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; Chamber member &lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://lrbult.com/&quot; title=&quot;Loren Bult&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Loren Bult&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; (&lt;em&gt;red cap&lt;/em&gt;)&amp;nbsp;with partners&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/9/3/1/0/5/ar125356189450139.jpg&quot; height=&quot;341&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;473&quot; style=&quot;margin: 2px;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Below:&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.calumetcity.org/&quot; title=&quot;Calumet City&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Calumet City&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;Mayor,&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.calumetcity.org/mayor.html&quot; title=&quot;Mayor Michelle&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Michelle Qualkinbush&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;em&gt;Co-Sponsor&lt;/em&gt;) with Staff.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/2/5/8/9/9/ar125375857699852.jpg&quot; height=&quot;339&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;469&quot; style=&quot;margin: 2px;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Below:&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.surefactsinvestigations.com/&quot; title=&quot;Elaine &amp;amp; Archie Graham&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Elaine &amp;amp; Archie Graham&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, Chamber Members (&lt;em&gt;on left&lt;/em&gt;) with friends&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/5/4/8/9/0/ar125375893909845.jpg&quot; height=&quot;346&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;462&quot; style=&quot;margin: 2px;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Below:&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;Shad Whisler&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; watches golf swing&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/5/1/6/4/7/ar125375937974615.jpg&quot; height=&quot;356&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;475&quot; style=&quot;margin: 2px;&quot; /&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/4/8/0/1/2/ar125375905221084.jpg&quot; height=&quot;356&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;475&quot; style=&quot;margin: 2px;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Above:&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; Michael McNamara -&amp;nbsp;&quot;My Tour Driver&quot;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Below:&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; Unidentified posers for&amp;nbsp;my blog&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/4/1/2/9/9/ar125375951499214.jpg&quot; height=&quot;356&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;475&quot; style=&quot;margin: 2px;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Contributing Sponsors of the event were:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;Hole Sponsors:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&amp;bull;1.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; LAW OFFICES OF DENNIS GIANOPOLUS&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&amp;bull;2.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; SURE FACTS INVESTIGATIONS&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&amp;bull;3.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; F. ZUCCARELLI SUPT. THORNTON TOWNSHIP&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&amp;bull;4.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; AUNT SALLY'S RESTAURANT&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&amp;bull;5.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; MORTON ROOFING&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&amp;bull;6.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; JAMES GIGIOTTI&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&amp;bull;7.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; THE SHOPPER&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&amp;bull;8.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; SHARON ODEN-JOHNSON&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&amp;bull;9.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; DOROTHY BROWN&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&amp;bull;10.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; ELGIE SIMS&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;Gift Sponsors:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&amp;bull;1.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; ZOOM CLEAN&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&amp;bull;2.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; LAW OFFICES OF DENNIS GIANOPOLUS&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&amp;bull;3.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; J. KUTZ/COLDWELL BANKER&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&amp;bull;4.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; L.R. BULT &amp;amp; ASSOCIATES, LTD.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&amp;bull;5.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; PAYCHEX&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&amp;bull;6.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; FIRST SAVINGS BANK OF HEGEWISCH&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&amp;bull;7.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; LANSING MINUTEMAN PRESS&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&amp;bull;8.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; TORRENCE LIQUORS&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&amp;bull;9.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; AXLES ETC., INC.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Come join up with us next year!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Diane Rice, Rice Prprty Mgmnt &amp; Rlty, LLC, South Holland, IL</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Wed, 23 Sep 2009 22:40:36 -0500</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1249301/-tee-time-at-the-2009-calumet-city-illinois-chamber-golf-outing-</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1252155/your-lies-are-not-fool-proof-that-s-why-we-did-not-rent-to-you-</guid>
      <title>Your LIES Are NOT Fool Proof..... That's Why We Did NOT Rent To YOU!</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;OK... Here we go!&amp;nbsp; Another application turned down!&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; Oh well!&amp;nbsp; We tried very hard to get&amp;nbsp;YOU, Mr. &amp;amp; Mrs. &lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/blogsview/30096/tenants-are-like-&quot; title=&quot;Tenants Are Like...&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;TENANT&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;,&amp;nbsp;accepted by giving you the benefit of the doubt..... &lt;strong&gt;WE SCREENED EXTENSIVELY, SEEKING CREDIBLE EVIDENCE&lt;/strong&gt;, based upon what you fed us!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/4/2/3/4/6/ar125372083664324.jpg&quot; height=&quot;285&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;400&quot; style=&quot;margin: 2px;&quot; /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;You KNEW they were&amp;nbsp;LIES in the beginning!!!&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp;&lt;strong&gt;Do you think we are that vulnerable???&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; Listen, we are NOT boasting, but we have heard just about it all.... Didn't you not know&lt;strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;we wrote the book&lt;/em&gt; ...&lt;strong&gt;&quot;578 Excuses Tenants Use!&quot;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/strong&gt;We revert to this book exclusively to avert &lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/blogsview/30805/even-god-does-evictions-&quot; title=&quot;Even GOD Does Evictions&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;EVICTIONS!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp; We will properly screen each person desirous to move into one of our accommodations.... it's part of our procedures in&amp;nbsp;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/blogsview/122986/managing-property&quot; title=&quot;Managing Property&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;MANAGEMENT!&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Your LIES are NOT fool proof and will be added to our book!&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; Thank you for the contributions... and &lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;NO!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; we will &lt;strong&gt;NOT&lt;/strong&gt; be dishing out Royalties for your new entry!!&amp;nbsp; Please check this &lt;strong&gt;LIE list&lt;/strong&gt; before you call....&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;Current&amp;nbsp;OVERUSED Circulation of LIES:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Owner&amp;nbsp;is in foreclosure and we have to move immediately!!&lt;/em&gt;&amp;nbsp; -&amp;nbsp;&lt;strong&gt;LIE!&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;We checked the records!&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;I pay my rent on time every month... here are the receipts!&lt;/em&gt; - &lt;strong&gt;LIE!&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;YOU made them yourself!&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;I NEVER had an an eviction! &lt;/em&gt;- &lt;strong&gt;LIE!&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;- It's too new to show&amp;nbsp;on your report.. but WE have ways!&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;It's just for me&amp;nbsp;&amp;amp; 2 kids! &lt;/em&gt;- &lt;strong&gt;LIE!&lt;/strong&gt; - What about the 8&amp;nbsp;we saw on our unannounced visit?&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;We have&amp;nbsp;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/blogsview/142561/Tenants-with-BAD-CREDIT&quot; title=&quot;Tenants with BAD Credit&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;GOOD&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; credit!&lt;/em&gt; - &lt;strong&gt;LIE!&lt;/strong&gt; - Why is&amp;nbsp;your credit score just 389?&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;I am a victim of fraud!&lt;/em&gt; - &lt;strong&gt;LIE!&lt;/strong&gt; - YOU are WEARING the stuff the collectors are going after!&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;Here is my landlord's phone number!&lt;/em&gt; - &lt;strong&gt;LIE!&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; We NEVER call&amp;nbsp;numbers&lt;strong&gt; YOU&lt;/strong&gt; give us &lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;of your friends!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;We had a fire!&lt;/em&gt; - &lt;strong&gt;LIE!&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; That old burnt out excuse!!&amp;nbsp;&lt;em&gt;(Fire Departments keep records you know!)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;My Landlord is a Slumlord!&lt;/em&gt; - &lt;strong&gt;LIE!&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; YOU tore the place up YOURSELF!!&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;My place was broken into!&lt;/em&gt; - &lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;TRUE!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; But the company YOU keep will burglarize ours too!&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;... And the list continues...&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/3/7/0/4/6/ar125372363464073.jpg&quot; height=&quot;500&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;500&quot; style=&quot;margin: 1px; border: black 2px solid;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: left;&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Please Mr. &amp;amp; Mrs. Applicant.... do us all a favor and get your lies straightened out BEFORE you apply&lt;/strong&gt; for a rental!&amp;nbsp; If ALL&amp;nbsp;you have&amp;nbsp;are credit issues, &lt;strong&gt;you do not have to LIE about it,&lt;/strong&gt; be honest,&amp;nbsp;for we have &lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com/blogsview/142561/Tenants-with-BAD-CREDIT&quot; title=&quot;Bad Credit Solutions&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;SOLUTIONS&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; that just may just place you into one of our units!&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; Thank you!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: left;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/6/7/3/6/2/ar12417491626376.jpg&quot; height=&quot;95&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;148&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&quot;Where the &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;RIGHT&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; Price is the &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;RICE&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt; Price!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&amp;copy; Copyright 2009 Rice Property Management, All rights reserved&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;DISCLAIMER&lt;/strong&gt;: Diane Rice, and Rice Property Management &amp;amp; Realty, LLC, disclaims all liability for any damages or losses, direct or indirect that may result from use of or reliance on information contained in this blog or for accuracy of comments or opinions of visitors to my blogs.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Diane Rice, Rice Prprty Mgmnt &amp; Rlty, LLC, South Holland, IL</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Wed, 23 Sep 2009 11:53:05 -0500</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1252155/your-lies-are-not-fool-proof-that-s-why-we-did-not-rent-to-you-</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1247052/why-does-your-picture-have-those-marks-on-it-</guid>
      <title>WHY Does Your Picture Have Those Marks On It?</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/5/2/5/6/8/ar125342076586525.jpg&quot; height=&quot;67&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;96&quot; style=&quot;margin: 10px; float: right; border: black 3px solid;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My driver's license expired in March.&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; I was required to renew in person to undergo vision screening, and get an updated&amp;nbsp;photograph.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My mind was pre-programmed to expect a criminal-looking photograph&lt;/strong&gt; that would be my official identification for the next four to eight years! &lt;strong&gt;--------------------------&amp;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;Those&amp;nbsp;who&amp;nbsp;are acquainted with&amp;nbsp;me, are accustomed to&amp;nbsp;my routine of&amp;nbsp;walking&amp;nbsp;into a crowd&lt;/strong&gt;, charging the atmosphere,&amp;nbsp;revving up the audience until laughter flows,&amp;nbsp;and no difference was&amp;nbsp;made with my visit to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cyberdriveillinois.com/departments/drivers/facilities/chicago/home.html&quot; title=&quot;Secretary of State Illinois&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Secretary of State facility&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;in &lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.illinois.gov/&quot; title=&quot;Illinois&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Illinois&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;After handing over my old license, paying the renewal fee&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;and successfully passing the administered eye examination,&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;time&amp;nbsp;finally&amp;nbsp;came&amp;nbsp;to have&amp;nbsp;my picture taken!&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;When my name was called, i placed the biggest grin on my face&lt;/strong&gt;, made eyeball to eyeball contact with the photographer, and said &lt;em&gt;(in hearing distance of everyone&lt;/em&gt; &lt;em&gt;waiting)&amp;nbsp;....&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;please take an extra&amp;nbsp;ten pounds off my weight&amp;nbsp;and 10 years off my picture!!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&quot;&amp;nbsp; Evoking a smile, he instructed me where i needed to be seated.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/4/9/4/8/5/ar125342380058494.jpg&quot; height=&quot;159&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;227&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5px; border: black 3px solid;&quot; /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/9/4/8/7/9/ar125342311497849.jpg&quot; height=&quot;166&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;179&quot; style=&quot;margin: 2px; vertical-align: bottom; border: black 3px solid;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: left;&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;While waiting for the processing, my next&amp;nbsp;question was&lt;/strong&gt;... &lt;em&gt;&quot;May i have a re-take IF it comes out not to my liking?&quot;&lt;/em&gt;&amp;nbsp; At that point, the photographer had adjusted his composure and listening ear to &quot;ALERT&quot; and was prepared to answer my questions creatively.... but there was no need, for the picture came out &lt;strong&gt;G R E A T!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: left;&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I was so pleased with it&amp;nbsp;that i placed it here on &lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://activerain.com&quot; title=&quot;Active Rain&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Active Rain&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;, on my &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.862RICE.com&quot; title=&quot;862RICE&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Website&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;strong&gt;,&amp;nbsp;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://twitter.com/&quot; title=&quot;Twitter&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Twitter&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.Facebook.com&quot; title=&quot;Facebook&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Facebook&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, and other places on the web! Of course, now there is no dread when asked to produce identification!&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;The visible background &quot;&lt;em&gt;markings&lt;/em&gt;&quot;&amp;nbsp;seen on the&amp;nbsp;license are theft-preventative insertions of the&amp;nbsp;Illinois logo.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; I do not mind displaying it ..... markings and all!&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: left;&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The &lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cyberdriveillinois.com/departments/drivers/drivers_license/newdlflyer1.pdf&quot; title=&quot;Illinois License Renewal Flyer&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;State of Illinois &lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;has several designs for licenses and IDs&lt;/strong&gt; with varying features that distinguishes categories.&amp;nbsp; Here is a link with the details -----&amp;gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cyberdriveillinois.com/departments/drivers/drivers_license/newdlflyer1.pdf&quot; title=&quot;Cyberdrive&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;LINK&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: left;&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If YOU are a driver residing in Illinois, and are up for renewal of your license,&lt;/strong&gt; you can now look forward to getting a better looking picture than you had before.... that is..... UNLESS you look much worse!!&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: left;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Diane Rice, Broker/Owner of &lt;strong&gt;Rice Property Management &amp;amp; Realty, LLC&lt;/strong&gt;.,&amp;nbsp; with offices in South Holland and Riverdale, Illinois&amp;nbsp; can be reached at 708-862-RICE, or on the web at &lt;/em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.862RICE.com&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;http://www.862RICE.com&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Diane Rice, Rice Prprty Mgmnt &amp; Rlty, LLC, South Holland, IL</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Sun, 20 Sep 2009 01:41:06 -0500</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1247052/why-does-your-picture-have-those-marks-on-it-</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1242805/village-of-riverdale-joint-meeting-with-the-riverdale-landlords-association-</guid>
      <title>Village of Riverdale Joint Meeting With The Riverdale Landlords Association </title>
      <description>&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/8/8/4/2/1/ar125318523212488.jpg&quot; height=&quot;450&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;600&quot; style=&quot;margin: 2px; border: black 2px solid;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Police Chief, &lt;/em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.villageofriverdale.org/police.htm&quot; title=&quot;Riverdale, IL Police Chief &quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Hollis Dorrough Jr.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;em&gt;&amp;nbsp; addresses landlords at June 2009 meeting while Joe Hodges, Landlord President (left) looks on.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;NOTICE TO ALL BUSINESS OWNERS OF RIVERDALE ILLINOIS&amp;nbsp;PROPERTY&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Thursday, September 17, 2009 at 5:30PM, the Riverdale Chamber of Commerce &amp;amp; The Riverdale Landlords' Association will have a joint meeting at the &lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.villageofriverdale.org/#&quot; title=&quot;Village of Riverdale&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Riverdale Village Hall&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; at 157 West 144Th Street in Riverdale, Illinois.&amp;nbsp; Refreshments will be served.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;The village inspections of business &amp;amp; multi-family dwellings will be on the agenda.&amp;nbsp; For further information, contact Chamber Secretary, Adelle Swanson at Phone: 708-841-3311 or Email: &lt;a href=&quot;mailto:rdpl2@earthlink.net&quot;&gt;rdpl2@earthlink.net&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/9/7/7/7/7/ar12531875277779.JPG&quot; height=&quot;450&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;600&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Landlords&amp;nbsp;listen attentively at&amp;nbsp;one&amp;nbsp;of the meetings which are held every third Thursday&amp;nbsp;of&amp;nbsp;each month.&lt;/em&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Diane Rice, Rice Prprty Mgmnt &amp; Rlty, LLC, South Holland, IL</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Thu, 17 Sep 2009 06:57:51 -0500</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1242805/village-of-riverdale-joint-meeting-with-the-riverdale-landlords-association-</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1235125/calumet-city-chamber-of-commerce-presents-</guid>
      <title>Calumet City Chamber of Commerce Presents.....</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;The Calumet City Chamber of Commerce, in Illinois is having their annual Auto Show, Sunday, September 13Th, 2009.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/5/6/9/8/1/ar125271547218965.jpg&quot; height=&quot;731&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;532&quot; style=&quot;margin: 2px; border: black 4px solid;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Be sure to attend... and&amp;nbsp; do not forget your camera!&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In addition.... mark your calendars for Friday, September 18Th for the Golf Outing!!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Here are the details..... see you there!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/8/3/7/1/4/ar125271603941738.jpg&quot; height=&quot;800&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;582&quot; style=&quot;margin: 2px; border: black 4px solid;&quot; /&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;</description>
      <dc:creator>Diane Rice, Rice Prprty Mgmnt &amp; Rlty, LLC, South Holland, IL</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Fri, 11 Sep 2009 19:48:45 -0500</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/1235125/calumet-city-chamber-of-commerce-presents-</link>
    </item>
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