Public Relations is often more valuable than advertising, and certainly less expensive - but it takes work to become a resource - you can't just throw money at it. People block out ads in newspapers and magazines - and yes, even on web pages - UNLESS they are looking for what's advertised - then
...
12/31/2007
Fuel Group, developer of the proposed Westin Hotel and Residences, has sued the City of St. Petersburg for denying their building application. Orginally Fuel Group was going to built a 39 story tower at the corner of 1st St N and 5th Ave N, but reduced the size to appease the neighbors. They stil
...
12/30/2007
Richard Kessler announced yet another redesign of the Grand Bohemian Hotel and Condos, scheduled to rise on the northwest corner of 2nd St and 1st Avenue North. Condo residences associated with a luxury hotel generally command a premium of 25-30%, a touch sell in a market with so many condos avai
...
12/30/2007
How often do you refer to clients with whom you've had transactions in the past as "PAST clients"?In so many aspects of real estate (and life) terminology is SO important.What is the subliminal meaning to you when you refer to someone as a "past" client? To me, this means someone who WAS a client
...
12/28/2007
In Florida, our FAR offers/contracts specify what are required repairs - i.e., what the seller is warranting - and cosmetic items, which the seller is not required to repair. Nothing mentions specifically "safety" issues.In many of our inspection reports, the inspector will point something out an
...
12/28/2007
Today I spoke with a local appraiser, a colleague who has many years of experience in the area and who is recognized by many of the local banks. What are the current appraisal issues?He told me that many lenders are now requiring comparable sales within the last 90 days! This can be a problem in
...
12/28/2007
David and Lisa Webber posted earlier about insurance and polybutylene pipe - and the comments related to the insurance aspect. I started to comment on the pipe aspect but after it went on for several lines I decided I should blog about it instead:Recently one of my clients had a contract, subject
...
12/27/2007
There were several comments to my earlier post so I thought I'd provide you with the actual mission statement: The SIMMS Team Mission Statement: To make a significant difference in our clients' lives; to work with people we like; to ensure that our team members enjoy comfortable lifestyles while
...
12/27/2007
Many companies and/or teams have an annual Retreat - or as we choose to call it, a Team Advance. This is where we look at the year past, the year ahead, set our marketing budget and choices, etc.This year we started out by measuring our year against our Mission Statement. Two parts of our missio
...
12/26/2007
Some people associate Candles for Christmas, but this year I associate Kindle with Christmas.The Kindle (from Amazon) is pretty close to the size of a paperback - maybe 1/2" wider and longer, but to compensate, it's less than 1/2 as thick. This wireless book reader holds about 200 books and you
...
12/25/2007
