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Some Short Sale Promoters Push Folks to the Edge With Short Sale Spam

By
Real Estate Agent with Elizabeth Anne Weintraub, Broker DRE #00697006

email spamMy husband laughs at Sacramento drivers who, upon leaving the vehicle, turn around and point the key remote at the car to lock it. That's because some people think it works like a TV remote, which emits infrared signals to the TV, but it doesn't. It sends its signal by radio, through the air. So, you don't need to face the vehicle to lock it. Although, I admit that I do look at the car, just to make sure the lights flash, which tells me it is definitely locked.

Hey, where would we be in modern society without our gadgets?

Take my DisplayKEY, for example. It opens SUPRA lockboxes, which lets me retrieve house keys to show homes. It's an essential part of my real estate business in Sacramento. While I was in The City this weekend, I received an email from MetroList that said it is retiring our DisplayKEYs. It is switching to an ActiveKey system that doesn't update daily in a cradle. Not only that, but MetroList informed me that it has already scheduled an appointment for me to exchange my DisplayKEY for an ActiveKey.

The only problem is the date it has scheduled me for is a day when I will be in Vietnam. Now, you know that MetroList has been working behind-the-scenes on this for months. But it just dropped the bomb in my lap on Friday. A little advance notice would have been nice. Because when I return from Vietnam, my DisplayKEY will no longer work. If my DisplayKEY doesn't work, I can't work. Thanks for the heads-up, MetroList.

Of course, if I had been using eKEY, I would not be in this position. The eKEY system lets an agent access a lockbox through an agent's cellphone. That sounds like an excellent solution. I went to the GE Security website to check devices that support eKEY software, but my BlackBerry 8700 was not listed. Now I remember why I am not using the eKEY system.

I popped over to my service provider's website and, low and behold, the BlackBerry BOLD 9700 is now available. I've been waiting for its release for months! And the BOLD works with eKEY. Plus, it has a video camera, a faster network connection and utilizes trackpad navigation. My 8700 is headed for a funeral. As my service provider reminded me, I've had this phone for 38 months. That's an eternity in a cellphone's life.

That research has solved 2 problems, but a 3rd problem still exists. My email downloads to my BlackBerry. I'll most likely bring my cellphone to Vietnam as I have World Access, which will let me check email from my phone. That will save time as I won't have to visit Internet cafes. Who wants to sit in an Internet cafe when you're on vacation? Instead, I can turn on my phone once a day to stay connected through email. That all sounds feasible except for spam. I deal with overnight spam by deleting it in huge blocks from my computer in the morning. But that won't be possible in Vietnam.

I receive daily huge volumes of spam. The worst offenders are two short sale promoters. How I end up on their targeted spam list is beyond me. One would think they could use their marketing dollars in a more effective manner. They bombard my email with short sale spam. As a Sacramento short sale agent, I don't need their short sale courses since I am tortured enough daily through my very own activities. So, this brings me to the solution of signing up for a spam-blocking service. The downside is important emails may be delayed. But the upside is I will never again have to manually delete their crap.

Some people use spam blockers that require the recipient to click on a link and enter a password to prove that one is not a robot. Those sites annoy me. If they annoy me, they probably annoy others. I guess that leaves Postini or Barracuda to consider. If you have any suggestions regarding spam blockers, I would welcome the input. I hate to do it, but this Sacramento agent has got to lock the gate.

 

 

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elizabeth weintraub

 

 

Weintraub and Wallace Realtors

 

 

Elizabeth Weintraub reviews

 

 

 

Elizabeth Weintraub is co-partner of Weintraub & Wallace Team of Top Producing Realtors, an author, home buying expert at The Balance, a Land Park resident, and a veteran real estate agent who specializes in older, classic homes in Land Park, Curtis Park, Midtown, Carmichael and East Sacramento, as well as tract homes in Elk Grove, Natomas, Roseville and Lincoln. Call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759. Put our combined 80 years of real estate experience to work for you. Broker-Associate at RE/MAX Gold. DRE License # 00697006.

Photo: Unless otherwise noted in this blog, the photo is copyrighted by Big Stock Photo and used with permission.The views expressed herein are Weintraub's personal views and do not reflect the views of RE/MAX Gold. Disclaimer: If this post contains a listing, information is deemed reliable as of the date it was written. After that date, the listing may be sold, listed by another brokerage, canceled, pending or taken temporarily off the market, and the price could change without notice; it could blow up, explode or vanish. To find out the present status of any listing, please go to elizabethweintraub.com.

Comments (12)

Mary Douglas
United Country Ponderosa Realty, Red Feather Lakes, Colorado - Red Feather Lakes, CO
REALTOR, Red Feather Lakes, Colorado

Hi Elizabeth, I will be of no help on the spam blocker thing -- but obviously I missed the post about VietNam! I hope you have a wonderful trip and I cannot wait to see the follow up posts with photos. What an interesting destination to a beautiful country.

Nov 23, 2009 02:23 AM
Thesa Chambers
West + Main - Bend, OR
Principal Broker - Licensed in Oregon

I have a few folks like that no matter what I do to try and get away from their spam it just increases... I lost my supra ekey yesterday while showing property - somewhere I dropped it in the snow.... and it is gone... our phones will not work with our ekey -

Nov 23, 2009 02:24 AM
Elizabeth Weintraub Sacramento Broker
Elizabeth Anne Weintraub, Broker - Sacramento, CA
Put 40 years of experience to work for you

Hi Mary: I haven't really done a post about Vietnam; just briefly mentioned I am going soon. Originally, when we made the reservations, it was due to coincide with the ending of the first-time home buyer's tax credit, LOL.

Hi Thesa: Oh, no. What happens when you lose your display key? Do you get charged a penalty for losing the first one?

Nov 23, 2009 02:28 AM
Brian Lee Burke
Kenna Real Estate - Lone Tree, CO
Broker & Advising Expert-Kenna Luxury Real Estate

Elizabeth - that's a lot of spam! I thought long and hard about adding some spam blockers but our webguys - that run our e-mail hosting said to think about the risk of not getting the e-mails we do want because many of these blockers will also catch occasional legit e-mails. So we decided against it. I'm using firefox thunderbird instead of outlook which seems to have help a little to filter out junk. Not much though. Plus I think just recently there is more and more incoming spam! Must be the season. ~Rita

Nov 23, 2009 02:35 AM
Chris Ann Cleland
Long and Foster Real Estate - Gainesville, VA
Associate Broker, Bristow, VA

Elizabeth:  We all have our "usual suspects" in the spam category.  As for the Supra system, I just got an Active Key one year ago.  Have used it a handful of times.  Our suburban area is served by 3 Realtor associations.  Two of them use Sentrilock and one uses Supra.  So I get to have TWO lockbox access systems. 

Nov 23, 2009 06:22 AM
Chris Ann Cleland
Long and Foster Real Estate - Gainesville, VA
Associate Broker, Bristow, VA

Elizabeth:  We all have our "usual suspects" in the spam category.  As for the Supra system, I just got an Active Key one year ago.  Have used it a handful of times.  Our suburban area is served by 3 Realtor associations.  Two of them use Sentrilock and one uses Supra.  So I get to have TWO lockbox access systems. 

Nov 23, 2009 06:22 AM
Tammy Lankford,
Lane Realty Eatonton, GA Lake Sinclair, Milledgeville, 706-485-9668 - Eatonton, GA
Broker GA Lake Sinclair/Eatonton/Milledgeville

Nope, can't help you with the spam and I still manually delete it myself.  I tried a couple of things one from bellsouth and one from at&t.  Didn't like either as it was a hassle for my first time clients although they only had to do it once which initally I thought would not be so bad, but after consumers complained to me I just turned it back off and went back to manual deletions.  Now I just delete manually from my netbook (verizon)  when out of town. 

Nov 23, 2009 08:07 AM
Myrl Jeffcoat
Sacramento, CA
Greater Sacramento Realtor - Retired

Oh my goodness - I'm guilty as charged!  I'm one of those point at the car, remote control, infrared gals. . .LOL

Seriously though, the spam really picked up for me this past weekend.  I'm able to filter a bunch of it out, but there is still some that continues to get through!

Nov 23, 2009 12:20 PM
Barbara S. Duncan
RE/MAX Advantage - Searcy, AR
GRI, e-PRO, Executive Broker, Searcy AR

Opening the lockbox with the phone is great.  I've done it for years now.  The Treo that I use may not be replaceable when it dies, however, so I may have to change.  Have a good time in Vietnam and give Valerie a report from time to time.

Nov 23, 2009 12:23 PM
Terry & Bonnie Westbrook
Westbrook Realty Broker-Owner - Grand Rapids, MI
Westbrook Realty - Grand Rapids Forest Hills MI Re

Looks like the change is going to make you life easier. I bet Vietnam has change some since I Left in 1970.

Nov 23, 2009 02:26 PM
Elizabeth Weintraub Sacramento Broker
Elizabeth Anne Weintraub, Broker - Sacramento, CA
Put 40 years of experience to work for you

I received an email from my brother-in-law who saw my Tweet. He was concerned that unscrupulous thugs would think my home will be unoccupied while I am in Vietnam, and that is not the case. Our pets need round-the-clock care, and I would not abandon them.

I also received an email from one of the short sale spammers accusing me of slander. You know what, to slander a person, one must say somthing that is untrue or false, and that is not the case. The truth prevails.

Rita: I thought about losing important emails, but the two spam blockers I am presently using on 2 other emails do a really good job, and only once in a blue moon does a legitimate email get caught in the filter.

Chris Ann: I can't imagine having to carry more than one key to open a lockbox. I'll bet you sometimes mix them up, huh?

Tammy: Are you talking about those spam blockers where a person has to enter letters / numbers in a box to prove that one is a real person? I hate those, too.

Myrl: Now, when you turn around to point the key fob at your car, I'll bet you will laugh and think of me.

Barbara: I'll bet you never lose your phone. But even when your Treo bits the dust, you can just replace it with a faster and better phone. Of course, I spent a good part of yesterday figuring out how to use my new BlackBerry Bold. I finally gave up and called my service provider. It was much easier having a live person walk me through the configuration.

Hi Terry: I hear that 2/3rds of the people in Vietnam were not born before 1975. I suspect there is some resentment for what they call The American War, but I'm looking forward to the trip and meeting the people.

Nov 24, 2009 02:12 AM
Myrl Jeffcoat
Sacramento, CA
Greater Sacramento Realtor - Retired

Elizabeth - Yes, I will think about you!  And what is totally weird about it is that I knew that all along, but still was continuing to do it.  I had a disconnect between my intellect and my fingers.  Senility can't be far behind:-)

Nov 24, 2009 07:38 AM