We are asking to add Lisa Schlitz's daughter to your prayers Sunday and Monday.

Lisa Schlitz is our buyers agent and she is a member here on Active Rain. Her daughter is having open heart surgery Monday morning at 6 a.m. I asked Lisa to explain the surgery so that we know what to pray for:

"It’s a congenital heart defect (VSD) that is causing the aortic valve to prolapse, harden, and leak. She needs the hole repaired so it will be open-heart surgery-they will do a bypass, stop her heart, repair it, then take her off the bypass machine. Surgery will be 6am on Monday." 

Her daughter will remain in the hospital for a week after the surgery.

I know that Lisa is super stressed as any of us mothers would be. I spoke with her daughter the other day who is nervous but confident. She says she wants them to video tape her heart when it is opened. The doctors declined the video tape. I know that is for liability reasons. But we thought it was so brave of Lisa's daughter to even ask.

We pray that God will guide the hands of the surgeon and the nurses in the operating room and that the surgery will go well and Lisa's daughter will have her heart repaired and live on to reach all of her dreams. I am also asking for the Holy Spirit to be with Lisa to calm her and give her peace.

Sometimes in the stress and turmoil of our lives we may not always have our trials removed but we can always pray for the Lord to abide with us and fill us with his peace.

Thank you all.

We spent the afternoon at the Mac store in Wellington Green Mall. It was really crowded! I was certainly taken aback at how many people were buying Macs and investigating Macs: The new 3G Iphone, the Mac Book and the Desktop Macs.

I am so tired of our HPs and having to replace computers every couple of years so when my little brother started teasing me about replacing the computers so often he told me he has had his Mac for 12 years and never had a problem with it. He is a graphic artist.

So I fell in love with the 17" screen laptop, the MacBook Pro. We think we have made the decision to convert our office over to Mac.

We also like the idea of the mobile service that Mac offers. But what was the coolest thing is NO MORE TOWERS!No more of those unsightly towers and me forever trying to find better places to hide them and all their ugly cords. The Mac is all built right into the monitor, like it is the whole deal. How cool is that!

Tell me why we should! I would love to read your comments about whether we should make the switch or not.

We were on line when brokers were not allowing us to use email for business. That seems like eons ago. We still had those MLS books we carried around with us! Do you remember those?

Back in 1997  Real Estate was really just in a pre- infancy state on the Internet. We were on the leading edge of what was happening on line but that is a different story.

We went offline in 2002 and that is another story also.

In 2006 we decided to go on line again with our new real estate brokerage. But I was now determined not to be taken for a ride again with all the bells and whistles enticing real estate agents to buy the snake oil and witch's brews. I was also adamant about not learning about on line marketing from anyone in the real estate market based on past sour experiences and figuring out that most of those salespeople had really NO clue about on line marketing.

So that began my research and studies. I searched for the top Internet gurus who sold product, physical and information products on line and who were actually making money doing so. Each night I began my studies about 8 p.m. and became so interested with such a desire to learn all that I could. On line marketing fascinates me and really gets my creative juices flowing. I know that all I need is a good team of assistants to really dominate niches on line. I would not stop researching, taking webinars, listening to conferences and then applying what I was taught in a non real estate capacity to see if this all really worked until the wee morning hours. Most nights I would not go to sleep until 3 a.m. or 4 a.m.

So after much research and trial and error I bought into a website that was proven to be another mistake. Like- did I not learn from all these classes I just took? I learned my lesson rather quickly that this particular website was just another gimmick. However, during the time that we had this website- we remained in the Google sand box for quite a while. I was not even indexed. The site was crappy to crawl also.

Getting links would be the key to getting our website out of the Google sand box and get it at least partly indexed until I could find the right website for our business model. Since I knew that I had to get topically related links I searched for real estate related forums.

Finding about 4 to 5 different real estate forums on which to participate in the conversation with; we began to build links back to our website and  in about 2 months of doing that we found ourselves on page 22 of Google for our main keywords. I was so excited that this was actually working. Of course, we all know that page 22 on Google means nothing in the real scope of searching but nevertheless it felt really good to finally be indexed.

It was more exciting to discovery that linking back to our website from these forums was working because there are a lot of nasty people on those forums. Oh my gosh! I had never known such nasty and mean spirited real estate agents ever in my 25+ years of being in this business. In fact, I did not know these nasty people really existed in the on line world until I witnessed for myself how mean they were towards each other and towards the consumers. I would bite my tongue more than type. Each morning my routine was to comment on the forums for about 30 minutes. With the start of each morning I would have to tell myself, " Remember why you are here. You are only here to get the link back to your website. Don't pay attention to the rude people here."  Good thing I could separate the two!

One day in one of these forums one of the agents had placed a link to Active Rain and said that all agents should be on Active Rain.

I decided to take a peek with reservation based on the treatment I had come to know in these real estate forums. I think I landed on the home page of Active Rain. It actually appeared to be a bit overwhelming. There happened to be a featured post on the reader board by Sally Cheeseman.  

I noticed that Sally was from Hawaii . I lived in Hawaii for 5 years and it is my favorite place on earth. I like to always keep in touch with all that is going on in Hawaii. So I began to read all of Sally's Hawaiian posts. I felt her warmth and genuine goodness.

Wow, a nice place? Could it be?  A warm and fuzzy place where I could feel welcome but also get links back to our website? Hmmmm, felt like a breath of fresh air!

But best of all, within 8 weeks we were #3 on page one on Google for our main keywords. I keep a journal and decided to go back to the time that this happened. My journal entry on August 13,2007 says, " I am So excited! So Excited!  Our website is now #3 on Google! And I did it all myself by blogging! By Blogging on Active Rain! WOW!"

SEO To The Top Webinar is coming soon to a monitor near you! Make your way to the top of Google in this 9 week webinar held weekly beginning September 2, 2009. Wednesdays at 1:30 p.m. EST.

What will you learn in the SEO TO THE TOP Webinar?

• Understanding SERPS and Search Engines

• The Do’s and Don’ts of Linking Strategies

• Find out who your audience is and writing for your audience

• The anatomy of a blog post for SEO

• Attracting those Google bots to your website

• Action steps to conquer page one of Google

• Properly using Social Web 2.0 for SEO Strategies

• Black hat vs White Hate SEO Strategies

• How to use images and video optimized for best SEO

• How to NOT get scammed by SEO contracts!

• Coach Katerina’s Secret Strategies for Dominating Your Niche! ( there are some things I just don't blog about :))
  

The sessions are recorded and you can go back to them over and over again to relearn the material in the webinars as often as you want to.

Please ask those who have taken this SEO TO THE TOP webinar to find out whether it helped them with their SEO for their Active Rain blog, Activeblogs, Outside Blogs and Websites. You can read some testimonials below. This is just a few of the testimonials. There are many more posts about the webinar and the success the participants are experiencing. I want you to feel good about taking the class. If you do your homework and apply the classes to your online marketing you will get to the top of Google.

"I highly recommend that anyone who's looking to boost their rankings in Google to follow Katerina's highly effective SEO strategies.  Thanks to Katerina, I was able to position myself within two weeks in 9 of 10 spots on page one of Google for a condominium complex I was farming and have also been able to dominate page 1 of Google for two other relevant keywords in my market area.  Katerina ROCKS!  Her SEO techniques work!!

Hope this is okay!  :-)"

Donna Bigda

You ROCK Katerina and I just want to shout it out to EVERYONE!!  http://activerain.com/blogsview/849688/Coaching-Testimonial

"I’d like to share my experience of the additional Keyword tutorial with the class:

I’ve always targeted “Frisco Texas Real Estate” as  one of my main keyword in my information. After I did the Keyword tutorial with you, I realized that only 5,400 hits for that keyword, versus “Frisco Texas Homes for sale” at 27,100.

Also, you taught me how to look at the Google Keyword Bar indicator to see how much relevant information is out there for those keywords. Funny thing is that the 27,100 hits per month one is the one that is less competitive.

So, guess where would I focus my keywords now? I invested in a small amount of my financial resource. But the knowledge you imparted into me will sustain a lifetime. Now, I’m even more focused on what I need to do, what I need to write. I have always gained some presence in my market on the Internet, now I think I might just bust through the roof. Watch out, Frisco TX realtors! I know what I’m doing but apparently from your tags, anchor, titles and links, you probably not!

Thanks Katerina for being my SEO coach and most of all, my friend."

Also, here is another post that Loreena wrote:

Check it out: http://activerain.com/blogsview/1123933/the-power-of-seo-found-in-unexpected-places

New to Blogging (Or Not)? Check Out the SEO to the Top Webinar
This is a members-only post. Please login to ActiveRain to view this post

Thanks again for all you do!

http://activerain.com/blogsview/1015111/How-to-Sharpen-Your-Edge-with-SEO

Mary Smith

Heather Fitzgerald, REALTOR Greenwood Indiana Real Estate saw this post on The ActiveRain Real Estate Network and thought it might be of interest to you. Please see the link below to review the post.

Yay!!!!! Progress & Forward Motion!!!!!

"The seminar has been awesome. I have learned a lot. I am redoing my websites, and trying to get ownership of my own name."  Tere Rottink

I look forward to having you in our SEO To The Top Webinar too!

West Palm Beach Modern Condo Living at THE SLADE Condominium right across from the Florida Intracoastal Waterways, near the yacht marina and next to all the night life, where nights come alive in downtown West Palm Beach Florida. Come with me as we tour this luxury condo at super affordable prices today!

Feel in the thick of it all as you rock in the clubs on Clematis or dinner at some of the fine dining or just grabbing a bite to eat at a quick stop like Field of Greens. During the day you can enjoy live outdoor concerts with views of our spectacular intracoastal waterways. Cityplace is where the action is from the Muvico Movie theatre to Comedy Improv, shopping, music and all kinds of different restaurants that you get to choose from.

Here is the view from the roof top pool overlooking the famous Florida Intracoastal.

Now,imagine pulling up to your private condo just steps from some of the greatest views and in a quaint and historic area of West Palm Beach. Here is the view to the west.

The Slade is the place to live if modern is your style. You will be fit right in when you enter the lobby full of bright red modern sofas and modular seating arrangments.

There are two pools, one in a garden setting overlooking the west side of the city and the second pool is a ' to die for' edgeless pool that looks like the water is falling right into the Intracoastal! What a view! Check out these photos of the views I captured with my camera.

The gym is spacious with loads of equipment from treadmills to free weights and everything else you need to stay in shape and get your work out in, how convenient is that!

Have your friends over for get togethers in the lounge area right off of the garden pool area. The entire setting is all modular modern just like a revival of the 50's; yet more upscale.

This is a view of the Rock Garden next to the Garden setting pool with plenty of room to sit and read a book or do your morning meditations.

If modern is your thing than you will find your home here at the Slade Condominium at 1551 N Flagler in West Palm Beach Florida. Check out this chair!

We have a short sale listing at the lowest price only $199,777 for a one bedroom condo with Ocean, Intracoastal water views and Pool views in this building on the 11th floor- if you would like further information please call Nestor Gasset or Katerina Gasset at 561-753-0135.

Condo prices have come down to where they are a best buy here in West Palm Beach Florida.

Enjoy the show!

Real estate is local when it comes to market conditions and market trends. Real estate differs from region to region in styles, architecture and amenities generally speaking. For instance; in Florida fireplaces are not the norm whereas in cold winter areas such as Colorado, fireplaces are a standard addition to a home. In some areas of our country people have wood burning stoves and others have coal burning furnaces. There are areas of our country such as here in Florida where you would not dare live without Air Conditioning but in many homes in Washington for instance, air conditioning is more of a luxury than a necessity.

So when we are discussing the effects of cap and trade in your real estate business you will need to take into account the region in which you live as some areas will be more effected than others. 

Here is a really good interactive map from the New York Times. The map I posted below is the map of the votes in the House for and against the Cap and Tax bill that just passed the House. But if you click on the link of the New York Times map, it is interactive.

You can move your mouse over the map and see who voted, what party they belong to and their district. You will be able to see that no matter whether they were democrats or republicans if they are in the farm country of America, high manufacturing areas of America, low energy bills of America and the heartland of America- they voted NO on this bill and for very good reasons. 

"For a household of four, energy costs go up $436 that year, and they eventually reach $1,241 in 2035 and average $829 annually over that span. Electricity costs go up 90 percent by 2035, gasoline by 58 percent, and natural gas by 55 percent by 2035. The cumulative higher energy costs for a family of four by then will be nearly $20,000.

But direct energy costs are only part of the consumer impact. Nearly everything goes up, since higher energy costs raise production costs. If you look at the total cost of Waxman-Markey, it works out to an average of $2,979 annually from 2012-2035 for a household of four. By 2035 alone, the total cost is over $4,600." Heritage Foundation.

You will notice that the states where the votes were yes are also the states that already have the highest energy bills. The states that voted no are mostly states with presently low energy bills.

Instead of calling this to Cap and Trade- We can really call it the Tax On Electricity Bill.

How does this information pertain to real estate agents? If you live in the lower energy pricing states you are going to be seeing huge increases in household energy bills. If you live in states that are coal powered or oil powered you will see the largest increases ever in your energy bills because those energy sources are going to be punished with taxation.

• How is that going to effect home prices?

• How is that going to effect movement in and out of your state?

• How is that going to effect your real estate office utility bills and who is going to pay for this?

The House is at it again. This was a 1,300 page bill and again as with so many large bills was not read by most of those that voted yes or no. What is it that they don't get? The American people expect our leaders to read what they vote on.

So what else is tucked away neatly into this bill that perhaps no one knows the full implications of yet?

How about the Federal imposition and takeover of building codes? Your local planning and building offices will not be qualified for any Federal funding of any kind unless they adopt what the FEDS say is the new energy efficient building standards. This will create higher prices in building new homes which is then passed on the homebuyers and then you as a real estate agent are also effected because less buyers will be able to afford to buy a new home built . Not to mention having to wait for the Feds to come and inspect the builders and the homes.

How about the new Federal Energy Nazis Inspectors who will come and rate your home before you can sell your home. So before you can list a home for sale, the seller will have to wait for the Federal inspectors to come out. DMV lines anyone? Once that inspector comes out, he or she will give the home an energy rating. If the home does not meet the guidelines the seller will be required to do the work necessary to bring the home up to energy standards before they can sell the home! Can we say money? Does that mean that there will be homeowners who will become prisoners in their homes because they can not afford to make the energy repairs that the feds require? Is that an invasion of your privacy as well as an attack on your property rights?

Hmmm, how is that going to effect short sales where the seller has no money to make the repairs and adjustments?

• How is that going to effect your ability to get listings in a timely manner?

• How is that going to effect your seller who is about to lose their home in a foreclosure?

• How is that going to effect the seller who has to relocate for their job?
  

• How is that going to effect the estates with heirs having to do these repairs and such when there won't be any money until the estate is sold?

I wonder if our House of Representatives and our Congress men and women EVER thought to actually ask us in the field working this business day in and day out how these bills will effect the housing market?

Of course, the US will be living Cap and Tax while the real perpetrators of dirty air like China and India get off scott free. There will be an unfair advantage in pricing products and manufacturing to the point that if a US company even stands a chance of staying in the manufacturing business will have no choice but to move their company oversees which in turn will cause a massive layoff of people increasing the already high unemployment problem we are facing in our country.

• How will the unemployment effect your real estate business?
  

• How will the unemployment effect the REOs and massive foreclosures in your community?

• How will the unemployment effect home values as you get more and more vacant properties in your area?

If you are an agent in America's farmland you will begin to see farms no longer being able to produce a profit. Farms use a lot of energy. Energy use will be punished. This is why nearly every politician from a farm land state no matter what party they are affiliated with voted no to this bill. Their districts will suffer terribly. As this happens we will be buying more and more produce from other countries with far less health standards than our own. I don't trust foods, especially produce from China or other countries except Europe. But we don't import our veggies from Europe! 

• How is this going to effect your real esate business if you live and work in a farm land state?

When it comes down to the nitty and the gritty about this bill you must remember that GE is the biggest supporter of this bill. They stand to make billions of dollars from the passage of this bill. The politicians voting yes on this bill, many of them are getting paid to vote yes. And Al Gore will become the very first GREEN billionaire. It is just too bad that he is not a real capitalist. He could not become a billionaire playing fair and square. Instead, he has an unfair advantage, legislation to make him filthy rich. Not exactly the free market way. It is all about the money.

Contact your Senators now to vote NO now. Click on this link to find your Senators and contact them by email, phone and fax today. Let them know how this is going to effect your business and your community homeowners and buyers. Pass this on...

I received this email last week from one of the agents I coach in SEO for her blogs and websites:  

The first things that you have to learn when you want to list and sell in the luxury market are:
 

• People who own million dollar + homes put on their pants the same way you do, one leg at a time.
• People who live in million dollar + homes are mostly just like you. They are people too.
• People who live in million dollar homes come in two types: those that are truly wealthy and those that are wannabees.
• Truly wealthy people own a lot of books. All leaders are readers. Readers make more money than non readers.
• People who live in million dollar+ homes are mostly entrepreneurs, own their own businesses or are in the executive sectors of companies.
• People who live in million dollar + homes tend to be articulate in language, have a world knowledge, understand history and geography.
• People who live in million dollar + homes are the most down to earth people we have ever been acquainted with.
• People who are truly wealthy are NOT snobs. They are personable, interesting and caring.
• People who live in million dollar + homes give a lot to charity and work in charity events often.

What we discovered after we broke into the million dollar + market is that in looking for a real estate agent this clientele is very appreciate of our work, respect our time and our days off, rarely ask us how much commission we charge and become our friends for life.

We do not live in a million dollar McMansion or a Mansion.  We don't drink wine. We don't go hang out in country clubs or at golf courses in order to find our luxury home clients.

Most of whether you are successful in listing and selling in the luxury market niche depends on how you feel about yourself and your relationship with money.

If you were told growing up that:

• rich people are evil,
• that money is the root of all evil,
• that you have to work hard for your money,
• rich people are selfish
  

than you will need to work on your relationship with money and falsehoods regarding luxury home owners or else you will be intimidated and sabotage your own efforts.

Our experience has been very refreshing working with luxury home owners. Yours will be also. It is all about your attitude. Your attitude determines your altitude.

How do we get luxury home sellers and buyers? Every one of our luxury listings has come from our expired letter, from referrals, from our website and our Active Rain blog.

Measuring the highest and best use of my time is the most important priority in my working life.
We all have 24 hours in a day. We all may choose in which ways we will spend those 24 hours. And we all will never ever be able to make more than 24 hours nor get any moments we spend back again.

So with those choices;
I can choose to sell more units at lower dollar volume or less units at a higher rate of return and higher profit margins.

Let's break that down:
I can sell ten homes at $100,000 each and make $30,000 or I can sell one home at $1 million and make $30,000. ( as examples)
The time that it takes to sell the ten homes is ten times more effort, work, paperwork and liability than selling one home making the same amount of money but with less aggravation, less time, less stress, less work, less paperwork and less liability.

Since we run our real estate business like a real business we are always looking at how much profit the company is making and how we can improve that number.

Selling luxury homes increases our profits, gives us more time with our family, gives us more like bankers' hours, gives us our weekends off and more time to work on income producing activities.

Stay tuned for a post on how we persevered and got our very first million dollar + listing.

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3611 Aiken Wellington Florida Polo Property For sale. This short sale has just been reduced to $1,477,777.

You will love the open floor plan of this home right on the Polo Fields in Southfields of Wellington Florida 33414.

Below is the online flyer of this property. You can enjoy a video tour of the home as well as a slide show. There is a map of the location of the property as well as many highlights and descriptions of the neighborhood and the property. Feel free to click on the flyer below and browse around the property online at your leisure. There are also a lot of photos for your convenience. Please contact Nestor Gasset or Katerina Gasset for further information or a private showing of this Polo Estate.

The Real Bird Flies With Active Rain Blogging was a huge success! Thank you Zoltan and Gabe for sharing these effective Real Bird tools. Gabe even showed us how to make a single property website using Real Bird.

I presented the different ways in which you can use Real Bird with your Active Rain blog and Activeblogs to dominate page one on Google.

We are emailing the link to the FREE WEBINAR RECORDING of this webinar to everyone who signed up on the form that I provided on the webinar post.

In the case that you missed the webinar and also missed signing up on the form please go back to the post that I wrote about the webinar. The form is located there. Please make sure you add your email address correctly. If you do not receive an email from us, please add your email again to the form. If you do not get our email by Wednesday that means your email bounced back. I do not have the time to email each of the bounced emails.

Please sign up to get your FREE LINK TO THE Real Bird Flies With Active Rain Blogging by Wednesday night.

You can sign up for your FREE Real Bird account here.

If you attended the webinar and have used my instructions with results please let me know about your results. If you wrote a post about your results; please add a link to your post in the comment section. If you have a testimonial that I may share on my new coaching website that I am in the process of building, please email your testimony to me at coachkaterina(atsign)gmail.com. If you enjoyed my teaching style or my presentation please consider writing me an email regarding that or placing a comment below regarding that because I am building up my "Toot My Own Horn" page on my website:) I appreciate it very much.

The Palm Beach Sheriff's Office, PBSO, has come out with their crime report and Wellington Florida gets high grades! This is great news especially since we live in Wellington Florida!

It is so funny when people from New York move here because they can not believe people leave their doors unlocked around here. Of course, we would never recommend you to do this even if you are safe. The winters are great here because we open up our doors and windows to get that cool winter breeze flowing through our home.

The biggest crime problem we have in Wellington according to the Sheriff is that people leave their cars unlocked and keep their valuables out in plain sight in their cars. It's called, grab and run. This is a huge temptation for juveniles to grab your valuables.

Captain Greg Richter is the Commander of our district. In Wellington we do not have a city police department. The village of Wellington contracts the Sheriff to take care of our public safety. The Sheriff has a tiny little substation in a mall here in town. Captain Richter says that Wellington has one of the lowest crime rates in the entire Palm Beach County but also has a very high rate of solvability. That is the key to low crime he says.

There are a couple of neighborhoods that have had some issues but with the citizen involvement they are being kept under control and constantly a priority to clean up these transient neighborhoods.

Now here is an interesting fact:

Wellington Florida spends LESS on law enforcement than other communities. Richter says that Wellington is doing a better job and spending less money than other areas.

• Wellington spends $7 million dollars a year for law enforcement which is 10% of the budget.
• Compare that to Palm Beach County that spends $20 Million a year that is 29% of their budget. 
  
• Jupiter spends $17.8 Million on law enforcement that equals to 21% of their budget and
  
• Boca Raton spends $34 Million which is 20% of their budget.

Some of the added services the Sheriff offers is the K-9 units, Horse mounted patrol, motocylces, dive team and the helicopters.

The Sheriff will come out to your small business here in Wellington and do a security inspection for you.

They are also partnering with the Village of Wellington creating a Safe Neighborhood Initiative helping to set up and assist with neighborhood watch groups.

One of the things that the Sheriff is concerned about is keeping our children safe. This is important especially as so many families move to Wellington that have children. 

Captain Richter said that most of the kids they arrest are in possession of drugs from their parents' medicine cabinets. He wants parents to teach their children more about the dangers of the very things inside of our homes.

PBSO will also help parents monitor their children's online activity by giving them a copy of ComputerCOP.

ComputerCOP allows parents to look into their kids' computers, track the websites they visit and flag suspect words or phrases. It also will find photo files and deleted emails.  The PBSO recently arrested a sexual predator when a mother was tracking her daughter with ComputerCop.

Of course, if you want to keep this right to monitor your child's online behavior you will want to get involved with the Parental Rights Act that we have in the house because the UN treaty that the US wants to sign could put this right at risk for parents since a part of the child's right UN Treaty says that children have their right to privacy and that even parents are not to violate their right to privacy.

The PBSO can be reached at 561-753-8547 to get your copy of ComputerCop.

To  view Wellington Florida Homes  For Sale Click here. We know Palm Beach County and Port St Lucie Florida and will help you get your home Sold if you need to Sell your home and help you buy your home in Palm Beach County Florida : Call us today.

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PBSO Report- Wellington Florida= Low Crime + High Solvability was first published on South- Florida-Luxury-Living.com.

Photo courtesy of PBSO.