Hey everybody!  ActiveRain seems like a really cool community…I just joined yesterday and upgraded to the RainMaker account today.  This seems like "Facebook / MySpace for Realtors."  Brilliant idea!  :)

Brieft history of me: I was a residential mortgage broker for the last 6 years.  I had a lot of fun, made some great friends and good money.  But that business got really, really lame over the last year.  I wanted – scratch that – desperately needed a new adventure. 

So I went to real estate school, took the Arizona license tests (3 times…oops!), and got my license LAST WEEK!

My plan: I live by the motto that “givers gain."  And I intend to share all the tips, tricks, and mistakes-to-avoid that I learn along the way on my website / blog -- Scottsdale AZ Homes For Sale -- to help out other newbies like myself. 

Here's what I've posted so far:

How To Buy a Domain Name - The process of buying a domain on the after-market, and why I picked the domain that I did.

How To Design A Real Estate Business Card – Business Cards are the “tip of the marketing spear” in real estate, so here's the 5 steps I took to design something different than the Average Joe.  (Dear Joe, sorry for calling you average. LOL!)

I intend to write quite a few more “How To” articles in the future, such as:

• “How To Pick a Good Real Estate WordPress Template” (my current template is soooo bleh!),
  
• “How To Creatively Re-Introduce Yourself to Your Friends & Family List” (which I've been doing this week),
  
• “How To Connect ARMLS To Your Website” (which I'm figuring out today)
• And more...
  

Basically, my own "How To Become a Realtor" series, as I do each step myself.  :)

Since I’m new to ActiveRain, I’d appreciate any feedback you’d care to offer as I cruise through this new adventure!

Cheers, Ashley