opinion: Why Many Realtors Should Refer Their Short Sale Listings To Specialists - 01/29/11 12:06 AM
 
It never hurts to have public discourse.
Dave Halpern, a Louisville short sale agent, wrote this post a few days ago and at first, I thought it was lacking.  Why?  Because I have a bit of a problem with the word expert at times.  The word is important and I do believe we should all strive to be experts in our field, but often I feel the word is used without a basis in logic or fact.
I (along with a few others) mentioned this in our comments to Dave's post and as you can see from his comment, he … (1 comments)

opinion: The Curious Case of the Real Estate QR Code. - 10/20/10 10:54 AM
QR Codes and Real Estate.
Lately, QR Codes have been all the rage in conversations online amongst real estate types.  Just look here on ActiveRain for blog posts about QR Codes and you'll see what I mean.  Then there's the tweets, the posts outside of the ActiveRain, the magazine articles, the conversations, the vendors, the classes and webinars...
(If you're asking, "What in the world is he talking about?," I'd recommend reading this simple explanation of QR Codes from Lani at AgentGenius - published way back in 2008.)
QR Codes are being talked about everywhere I look.  So today, while reading … (17 comments)

opinion: If you didn't read it, you can't truly react to it. - 05/05/10 05:57 AM

Have you heard a single word I said?
Immediately after reading the title, I suspect everyone will think that I am talking about me, but I'm really just making a generalized statement here.  It occurred while reading a post by a fellow ActiveRain member that (strangely enough) was a re-blog of something I had written.  I had forgotten the post, so I quickly re-read through the re-blog.
The fellow blogger had written a great intro to my post and shared some of their thoughts and feelings about what I had written - in my opinion, the only way re-blogging should … (74 comments)

opinion: ActiveRain - Thoughts on Recent Dark Days. - 05/04/10 05:27 AM
Has the darkness ended?
Obviously, if you've been on ActiveRain for more than a minute in the past few weeks, there's been a lot of talk about the dreaded downtime that has made ActiveRain an aggravation at times.  I've been blogging here since late 2008 and have had an up and down relationship with ActiveRain.  On one hand, I love the opportunities it has provided me and I have enjoyed the many people I have met through the network.  On the other hand, I have been frustrated by the reoccurring problems and sometimes have been forced to wonder if the SEO … (9 comments)

opinion: I hate Tom Ferry. - My Life! By Design. - 04/19/10 11:25 PM
The answers are there, you just need to find them.
I read through the excerpts of Tom Ferry's latest book, "Life! By Design: 6 Steps to an Extraordinary You" (Amazon affiliate link) with great interest.  I've been following Tom on Twitter for quite awhile and have found him to be insightful, funny, and always up for a conversation.  When I arrived at the exercise on page 46, however, I realized how much I hate Tom Ferry.
Before anyone gets their knickers in a twist, I don't really hate him.  I'm just mad because he managed to make me think at 5AM and now … (31 comments)

opinion: Are Your Clients "Thinking" And "Hoping"? - Seeing Two Words In A New Light - 12/08/09 06:57 AM

photo courtesy of mollypop
Finally...a connection.
I had a call today from Stacy Jones of The Jones Team in Katy, Texas, we've been trying to connect for awhile now, but today we finally spoke.  It was a conversation about real estate and technology (mostly websites) and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  It's always great connecting with other agents and just sort of bouncing ideas and thoughts back and forth.  The call went on for about an hour and I think we both took away a few things while chatting.  Sometimes in the middle of a conversation about something, a light goes … (8 comments)

opinion: Better or worse? What would you prefer (consumer opinions welcome)? - 09/02/09 09:38 AM
You know I like to write more than the average blogger.
Not that I enjoy writing more, but that I enjoy writing more words than the average blogger.  It's an affliction that I was born with and it hasn't gone away.  I like to be as in depth as possible and in some cases it may scare away some readers at www.rerockstar.com, but for those that are willing to stick around and bear with me (and there seems to be plenty), I think I often provide a pretty complete picture of the issue at hand.  Some call it over-doing it, I … (10 comments)

opinion: Mortgage Modification Originators: Here Comes The FTC (Re-blog) - 05/17/09 07:43 AM

photo courtesy of d70focus
Here I go again...
With everything that's going on lately, I find myself reading more blogs than ever to see what's happening.  I was over at Ken Cook's blog, reading "FALSE Info Flying Around About First Time Tax Credit as Down Payment" and came across his latest post.  I thought it was great food for thought for everyone involved in the industry and might just help a few consumers who might be feeling the pinch and getting the calls from these mortgage modification companies.
Consumers - I understand the fear and confusion that comes with being … (1 comments)

opinion: San Antonio buyers and sellers: this agent's thoughts and advice. - 02/01/09 10:49 AM

photo courtesy of socialmeda.com
Dear buyers and sellers.
I thought I should take a few minutes to talk about San Antonio's real estate market and the things I've been noticing.  These are my thoughts on what's going on in the world of real estate and I hope you find them useful.  I love San Antonio and I love being a Realtor® here.  Its been a tough ride this last year at times, but as we step into our second month of 2009, I've begun to see a few things that I thought I would share.  If you have questions or … (13 comments)

opinion: Should I list now or wait until spring ? - 12/14/08 01:23 AM
 
I usually try to stick to my own writing on my blog, but this morning I came across this post from Christopher and Stephanie Somers from Philadelphia.  The post says it is written as it relates to the Philadelphia real estate market, but in my opinion, it relates to just about everywhere and certainly to the San Antonio real estate market.  I think its sound advice for anyone looking to sell a home and applies to today, yesterday, and tomorrow as well.  Enjoy it and feel free to stop by their site to leave them some comments.
 
Should I … (2 comments)

opinion: Reading through the 2008 Realtor Technology Report. - 11/30/08 06:58 AM

image courtesy of bradybd
There's a lot to talk about as I'm reading through the 2008 Realtor Technology Report.
You can view the whole report (80MB pdf file) courtesy of Realtor.org.  I could probably write the longest blog post of my life on this tech survey by the Center For Realtor Technology, but I'm just going to pull some things that I thought were interesting.
Who was invited, who participated?
Back in July 2008, 40,000 random selected Realtors were asked to complete a survey via email.  Want a shocking number?  The survey results are based on 942 completed surveys.  That's … (6 comments)