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Thank You Active Rain and William Johnson

By Debbie Walsh

Real Estate Agent with SHAHAR Management

June 25, 2010 09:25 AM

So I have been missing 'round the neighborhood lately because I have been sick and in between I have been crazy busy with Real Estate. That is always good news! I am finally at a point where I can stop in and start catching up on "stuff." Mostly because I miss it like crazy but shhhhh don't tell anyone. So this week I had an unfortunate incident with my treasured camera and needed to get a new one pretty quickly because what is a good real estate agent with out a good camera? Now, you are looking at someone who knows NOTHING about cameras except the fact that I will never buy one that uses double AA batteries. (Or any batteries of that type for that matter) I do know what I need in my camera so I thought who could possibly help me with the rest? Immediately I thought of my friends William Johnson and Debi Boucher. Now I know Debi is in Yellowstone and I wouldn't dare bother her there! LOL So I looked up William's phone number in the handy dandy AR index and placed the call. I have never spoken to William in person but many many times in print.

flowers

He answered immediately and spent the next hour or so discussing cameras with me and helped me pick one out according to what I needed it for and what my experience level was. What I expected to be a 5 minute conversation turned out to be a learning experience for me and I now have a camera on a truck somewhere headed for my house that I can't wait to get! William is so knowledgeable and was so kind I cannot thank him enough. What started as a depressing job ended as such a pleasant experience. Active Rain hits a home run again!

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Gloria Todor

Premier Property Sales & Rentals - Springfield, PA

& Doug Durren (484) 431-3686 in SE PA

Debra, Active Rain is such a great community and your post really points that out. Have fun with your new camera!! Gloria

Jun 25, 2010 09:30 AM

Sharon Tara

Sharon Tara Transformations - Portsmouth, NH

Retired New Hampshire Home Stager

Sorry about the bad news part, but it all seems to have turned out pretty darn good! Can't wait to hear all about your experience with the new camera!

Jun 25, 2010 09:39 AM

Janna Scharf

Keller Williams Realty Coeur d'Alene - Coeur d'Alene, ID

Coeur d'Alene Idaho Real Estate Expert

Congratulations on your new capital expenditure! So, AR has an index???????????????????

Jun 25, 2010 10:36 AM

Nick T Pappas

Assoc. Broker ABR, CRS, SFR, e-Pro, @Homes Realty Group, Broker/Providence Property Mgmnt, LLC Huntsville AL - Huntsville, AL

Madison & Huntsville Alabama Real Estate Resource

Debra, glad you are back with us and that William was able to help with your camera selection. Now, are you going to share with us what camera you bought?

Jun 25, 2010 11:11 AM

Jenny Kotulak

RE/MAX Real Estate Centre Inc., Brokerage - Oakville, ON

Broker - Oakville Ontario Real Estate

Yah, I was going to ask what Nick asked. Let's hear what you bought!! Oh and you are everywhere girl. I just picked up the link to this blog off of Linkedin.

Jun 25, 2010 11:33 AM

Darren Revell

Keller Williams Realty Temecula Valley - Temecula, CA

Love to hear stories of Active Rainer's helping others. What a great community!! Eh?

Jun 25, 2010 11:39 AM

Craig Rutman

Helping people in transition - Cary, NC

Raleigh, Cary, Apex area Realtor

Once again, the power of the Rain shines brightly!

So, what kind of camera did you buy?

Jun 25, 2010 12:01 PM

Alicia Gibson

McLeRoy Realty Associates, Inc. - Zebulon, GA

Associate Broker, McLeRoy Realty Associates, Inc.

Debra, Sorry you've been sick but GLAD you are feeling better and also busy! I LOVE the fact that people want to share/help each other out...as it should be. As far as waiting for your camera, brings to mind the ol' ketchup commercial ~ A~-N-T-I-C-I-P-A-T-I-O-N ~ & good ol' Carole King! Have a GREAT weekend my friend!

Jun 25, 2010 12:14 PM

Bruce Walter

Keller Williams Realty Lafayette/West Lafayette, Indiana - West Lafayette, IN

Debra, that is great that you were able to contact William and get all the information that you needed. Russel Ray is also an excellent photographer and knows lots about cameras(also from San Diego). Enjoy your new camera and looking forward to lots of new pictures!

ps--( does your new camera have a power line filter?) ^_~

Jun 25, 2010 01:46 PM

Al & Peggy Cunningham, Brokers

RE/MAX West Realty Inc., Brokerage - Brampton, ON

Our Family Wants To Help Your Family!

We join the inquiring minds want to know group Debbie, what kind of camera in on a truck to you??

Jun 25, 2010 02:27 PM

William Johnson

Retired - La Jolla, CA

Retired

Hi Debra, Thank you for the call today. I enjoyed talking with you very much Thank goodness I had the camera catalog to be able to look up what you were looking for. I certainly hope you will be delighted when it gets there. So you will have to do a follow up story when you take your very first test photo, so try it on something interesting, LOL.Thank you for the nice post and always know I am here to help you in anyway I can.

Debra, One of the very best things ( and they are all just amazing ) is how much help we all get from others here in the Rain. I have networked with so many amazing people.

After my listing appointment today, I took my admin assistant to dinner and ended up going to the new opening of the Microsoft Retail store a couple stores down from Apple. I took a photo of some of the people in line in front of the store. So I will write a post about the shopping venture.

You can guess why my comments are always long, LOL.Anyway, your experience and the ones that many of us have here is the RAIN are not unusual. I could tell you many stories where Brad Andersohn and I would talk and he was always chuck full of ideas on how to help me with whatever I needed. Bob is the same way,too. They want all of us to be the best we can be and they will do whatever and always offer advise on how to move forward. So remember that when you start that new group. Shhhhhhhhh! No one will hear it from lips until it is launched. Hope this Shhhhhhh! creates some excitement for you!!

There is nothing in any metwork I know of that works like this. We ActiveRain members help others because we want everyone to succeed with whatever they are doing.

Jun 25, 2010 04:45 PM

Lottie Kendall

Compass - San Francisco, CA

Helping make your real estate dreams a reality

Debra, what a great story. William sounds like a super guy. The networking and sharing that occurs here on the Rain is phenomenal. I look forward to learning about your experiences with your new camera.

Jun 26, 2010 03:24 AM

Sidney Kutchuk - Realty Works Temecula Kutchuk - Realty Works Temecula

Realty Works Temecula - Temecula, CA

Realty Works Temecula

Hope you are better by now and have your new camera....please share when you get a chance...A.R. is the most friendly network around, glad you got help from a trusted A.R. member!

Jun 26, 2010 04:16 AM

Carra Riley & Declan Kenyon

Brokers Guild Cherry Creek Ltd - Westminster, CO

Helping people Transition at all ages!

Debra...It is really nice to be able to call an AR acquaintance and get helpful information to ease your mind when making a large purchase. One more reason AR rocks!

cosmic cow

Jun 26, 2010 06:52 AM

Glenda Cherry

Keller Williams Realty - Herndon, VA

Realtor / Photographer

Don't keep us in suspenders! :-) What kind of camera did you get???

Jun 26, 2010 01:28 PM

Georgie Hunter R(S) 58089

Hawai'i Life Real Estate Brokers - Haiku, HI

Maui Real Estate sales and lifestyle info

How nice of him to help you. Now we're waiting to see your wonderful new pictures!

Jun 26, 2010 02:54 PM

Mary Douglas

United Country Ponderosa Realty, Red Feather Lakes, Colorado - Red Feather Lakes, CO

REALTOR, Red Feather Lakes, Colorado

Hi Debra, William is very knowledgable, so I think you made the right decision to call. My camera also is broken, I was trying to "make do" but soon realized it had to go to the camera hospital - it will be 2 or 3 weeks until I get it Back!! Congratulations on your new purchase and I hope you are feeling better!

Jun 26, 2010 02:58 PM

Rebecca Gaujot, Realtor®

Lewisburg, WV

Lewisburg WV, the go to agent for all real estate

Debra, glad to hear you are feeling better and that you have purchased a new camera...I may just have to give William a call as I am having some problems with my camera...

Jun 27, 2010 01:17 PM

Debbie Walsh

SHAHAR Management - Middletown, NY

Hudson Valley NY Real Estate 845.283-3036

I have to apologize for taking so long to reply. Between not feeling well and being crazy busy with Real Estate I have not been able to get back here much. I finally just finished catching up on my featured post from weeks ago! Any whooooo....

So Janna no AR doesn't have an index per se: but you can look at anyone's page for their info so it is kind of like an index. :-)

And Jenny it is always nice to be told you are everywhere. ;-D Who would have thought those would be the compliments I would like at this age? LOL

For everyone wondering what camera I got, I got a Pentax x90. Now here comes the funny story. It came several days after I ordered it (yay!) so I pulled it out of the box, put the battery in, attached the strap which was no small feat and then realized there was no memory card. So I figured well, let me go on line and order an extra battery since you should always have one (especially if you are me) and I will order the memory card.

Well I could not find the battery anywhere I looked. Amazon, Ritz camera etc....I looked for about a half hour. So I call Ritz Camera and the gentleman tells me they no longer make these particular batteries. What???? WTF? So I said "You sent me an older camera?" He says "it looks that way." "Can I put you on hold?" I said you certainly can because you need to issue me a pickup and deliver me a new Pentax x90.

So while I am on hold for the next 20-25 minutes I am packing up the camera, removing the strap (aaarrrggghhh!!), taking out the battery etc...Then of course it won't go in the box right (they never do!). So just when I finally get everything packed right and the box closed he returns. "Uh miss I have made a mistake." (You sure did I am thinking) So I ask what it is and he says "That camera is so new we don't have batteries for it yet." "But I can direct you to the memory card and someone from the company for the battery."

So now I am looking at the perfectly packaged camera that I now have to open again and re-install the strap on! I thank him profusely and head off to order my accessories!

I have taken a few pictures so far but I am not liking them but that is because I am still trying to figure it out. But I think once I know what I am doing (if I can find a few hours to sit with it-LOL) I will absolutely love this camera. It is alittle smaller than my sony and lighter which I like much better already. It has an amazing zoom which I am trying to figure out also. So it is looking like another phone call might be in order since the book is not really helping me with that. But all in all Mr. Johnson helped me immensely!

Jul 04, 2010 07:59 AM