real estate: ☕ Coffee Across The Miles with Mr. "Ha Ha" Brian England in AZ 🌵
- 09/25/26 06:43 AM
☕ Coffee Across The Miles with Brian England:
Real Estate, Faith & ActiveRain One of my favorite things about Coffee Across The Miles is discovering how much more there is to someone than what we see through years of blog posts and comments.
My recent Coffee Talk with fellow Rainmaker
Brian England was a perfect example.
I knew Brian through ActiveRain. I knew he was a longtime real estate professional, a man of strong faith, and someone who isn't afraid to participate in a spirited conversation.
What I didn't know was the road that brought him here to Active Rain and to Real … (6 comments)
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real estate: What Your REALTOR® Never Told You
- 09/19/26 06:20 PM
What Your REALTOR® Never Told You...I’m your REALTOR®. And there are parts of this career you may never see.
The Funny Thing About Real Estate: Selling Homes Is Seldom The Hard Part.
I’ve spent long afternoons showing you homes, sometimes when I had barely enough fuel left to finish the tour.
I’ve skipped meals because the only time you could see a house was right in the middle of my lunch hour. (Who are we kidding? It’s rarely an actual “lunch hour.” It’s usually the ten minutes I take to scarf down a grocery store sandwich while pulled over somewhere between appointments.)
I’ve fought for … (29 comments)
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real estate: 🐾 Whiskey's Wisdom: Do More Of It
- 09/06/26 07:39 AM
"Do something. If it works, do more of it.
If it doesn't, do something else."
~Franklin D. Roosevelt
Your action for today is to identify one activity
that has produced some good results for you
and do more of it this week.
Design An Extraordinary Day!
☮💜
I work 100% By Referral And Focus My Energy on The 5 Circles of Life!
My wonderful team is coached by the #1 business
coaching company in North America:
Buffini & Company
...I'm also a 🥷Ninja Selling student for over 26 years!
… (8 comments)
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real estate: What Parenting🍼Taught Me About Real Estate🏡
- 08/30/26 08:35 AM
AI Won’t Replace Great REALTORS®
for the Same Reason It Won’t Replace Great ParentsAI will not replace all real estate agents. It will replace real estate agents who refuse to adopt it. I watched personal computers transform real estate in the 1990s, and frankly, they flummoxed plenty of the old guard. And that is not an age comment. It’s a mindset comment. Some (including my own mother) couldn't handle the MLS being online vs. a book you had to wait for delivery of each week. That's be like arguing for a phone book over a Google search. It was the end … (15 comments)
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real estate: 🐾 Whiskey's Wisdom: Your Personal Value
- 08/29/26 07:24 AM
"A person's worth in this world is estimated according to
the value they put on themselves."
~French Writer, Jean De La Bruyere
Your action for today is
to identify what personality trait
you value most about yourself.
Design An Extraordinary Day!
☮💜
I work 100% By Referral And Focus My Energy on The 5 Circles of Life!
My wonderful team is coached by the #1 business
coaching company in North America:
Buffini & Company
...I'm also a 🥷Ninja Selling student for over 26 years!
… (10 comments)
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real estate: ☕ Coffee Across The Miles: Wayne Martin - Retired in Chicago
- 08/25/26 12:42 PM
☕ Coffee Across The Miles: Wayne Martin,
A Real Estate Career Measured in RelationshipsOne of my favorite things about Coffee Across The Miles is that I never quite know where the conversation will go. Sometimes we talk business. Sometimes family. Sometimes the strange twists and turns that make up a career. And sometimes you get nearly five decades of real estate history packed into one cup of coffee. ☕
That was my conversation this morning with longtime ActiveRain Rainmaker Wayne Martin. I must say, in many ways his career path reminded me of Roy Kelley's. (See my Coffee Talk with Roy on … (12 comments)
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real estate: ⌛One Year From Now, Will You Be Glad You Started Today? 📅
- 08/18/26 07:00 AM
Start Your “One Year From Now” Today!
You don't need to wait for New Year's Day, your birthday or some other annual marker you use to inspire new goals and change. You can start today!
Too many people are living with the pain of regret. In Real Estate alone it's:
The interest rate they didn’t take advantage of when rates were lower.
The house they didn’t buy.
The offer they went too low on and lost the property.
The move they didn’t make.
Today its the self-imposed “house arrest” of feeling trapped by a great mortgage rate, even though the house itself no longer fits their life. … (23 comments)
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real estate: ☕Coffee Across The Miles with🍀Padraic "Paddy" Deighan in Schrodinger!
- 07/23/26 05:40 PM
Coffee Across The Miles with Paddy Deighan: Medical Spas, NASA, Rugby, Real Estate and The RainSome Coffee Across The Miles conversations begin with real estate and gradually wander into life. My conversation with Paddy Deighan MBA JD PhD took the scenic route.
My head was spinning with how epic his life has been. TRULY!
We covered healthcare law, tax strategy, medical spas, Wall Street, NASA technology, space-shuttle foam to surf boards, professional baseball, Irish rugby, real estate investing, referral systems and ActiveRain.
You know...the usual coffee conversation. ☕😂
I knew he had an interesting background, but I did not realize how many industries, universities … (9 comments)
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real estate: ☕Coffee Across The Miles with Dr. Paula McDonald in Galveston, TX 🤠
- 07/21/26 12:43 PM
☕ Coffee Across The Miles with Dr. Paula McDonald: A Life of Learning, Resilience, and ReinventionDr. Paula McDonald’s journey has been anything but typical, although I am learning through these interviews that “anything but typical” may be fairly typical for a REALTOR®. It is also why Paula was a natural fit for Coffee Across The Miles. I knew her name and her online presence. This conversation allowed me to understand the remarkable path behind them.
That is precisely what makes her story so compelling. She has been a biology teacher, real estate professional, broker, author, public speaker, lifelong student, mother, and grandmother. … (7 comments)
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real estate: ☕Coffee Across the Miles: Roy Kelley, Retired in MD, Deep VA Roots
- 07/18/26 11:41 AM
Roy Kelley: A Life Built on Initiative, Service, and Deep Virginia RootsI had been looking forward to this conversation with Roy because I knew it was going to be epic—and it absolutely was! I took 10 pages of hand-written notes!
I truly enjoyed our phone call, which lasted more than an hour and easily could have continued much longer. Roy has lived a life far too big for a single blog post, and his memory for names, dates, and details is still sharp as a tack.
I hope you enjoy getting to know Roy as much as I did!
Some people carefully map out … (9 comments)
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real estate: ☕ Coffee Across The Miles with Jan Green 🌞 in Scottsdale, AZ 🌵
- 07/17/26 06:13 AM
☕ Coffee Across The Miles with Jan Green: Building a Greener Business and a Life That Fits!I have to admit, this Coffee Talk began with me serving Jan a generous helping of technical chaos. My Zoom issues left her patiently waiting more than 12 minutes while I scrambled behind the scenes and made a frantic phone call to assure her I had not vanished into the digital abyss. Thankfully, Jan was gracious, patient, and still willing to have coffee with me once I finally found my way into my own meeting. 😅☕
One of the best parts of my Coffee Across The … (12 comments)
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real estate: ☕ Coffee Across The Miles with Dorie Dillard in Austin, TX!
- 07/15/26 06:29 PM
☕ Coffee Across The Miles with Dorie Dillard:
A Career Built on Relationships, Resilience,
and Deep Austin Roots
One of the best things about my Coffee Across The Miles conversations is having the opportunity to learn the fuller story behind my friends I have known through ActiveRain.
Sitting down together for an uninterrupted conversation,
only to realize I only knew the table
of contents to the story of so many of your lives.
That was certainly true of my conversation
with Dorie Dillard Austin TX
Dorie has been a familiar and respected presence in the ActiveRain community since 2008, we joined almost exactly at … (8 comments)
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real estate: ☕ Coffee Across The Miles With Debe Maxwell in Charlotte, NC
- 07/08/26 02:14 PM
☕Coffee Across The Miles With Debe Maxwell: A Career Built on Care, Courage, and CommunitySome real estate conversations start with market stats.
The better ones start with a story. 😉
My recent Coffee Across The Miles visit with Debe Maxwell, CRS was one of those easy conversations where the real estate talk showed up, took off its shoes, and made itself comfortable. We covered careers, family, safety, ActiveRain, market crashes, team-building, client boundaries, and a few of the survival skills you only earn after enough years in this business.
In other words, a normal chat between two longtime REALTORS® who have learned that … (13 comments)
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real estate: ☕ Coffee Across the Miles with Nina Hollander in Charlotte, NC
- 06/30/26 06:37 PM
Coffee Across the Miles with Nina Hollander
in Charlotte, North Carolina
Nina Hollander: A Life Across Continents, Careers, and Client Relationships I had been looking forward to this conversation with Nina Hollander for quite some time. I have always admired Nina’s brass, her candor, and the way she says what she means without wrapping it in too much tissue paper.
Over the years here in The Rain, Nina has shared little nuggets about her life that always made me curious. There were clues of a much larger story behind the posts, the comments, and the real estate wisdom. So when we finally sat … (20 comments)
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real estate: ☕Coffee Across The Miles w/ Kathy Streib: A Busy Retired Life in Texas
- 06/24/26 03:15 PM
What I Appreciate Most About KathyWhat I appreciate most about Kathy Streib is her blend of warmth and practicality.
She has lived enough life to know that things change. Careers shift. Markets rise and fall. Technology gets weird. Families are complicated. Communities need tending. Health changes plans. People come and go.
And yet, she remains curious, connected, and willing to participate.
That is no small thing.
Kathy’s story is not just about being a former REALTOR®, a home stager, a wife, a friend, a Texan, an ActiveRain member, or a "bluebird monitor".
It is about staying engaged with life. It is about adapting without becoming cynical. … (18 comments)
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real estate: ☕ Coffee Across the Miles with Nick “The Brit” Vandekar in Pennsylvania
- 06/18/26 09:54 AM
Coffee Across the Miles with Nick “The Brit” Vandekar in Pennsylvania One of the gifts of Coffee Across the Miles is that you never quite know where the conversation will go.
My recent visit with Nick “The Brit” Vandekar was a perfect example. What began as a simple ActiveRain networking conversation quickly became a walk through one man’s remarkable journey of reinvention, resilience, and starting over more than once.
Nick Vandekar, 610-203-4543 ’s story begins in England, where he grew up around his family’s antique business. His original plan was to join the British military, but a back injury changed that path before … (10 comments)
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real estate: ☕ Coffee Across the Miles with Gwen Fowler in Northwest South Carolina
- 06/17/26 12:10 PM
Coffee Across the Miles:
A Visit with Gwen in Northwest South Carolina
I officially debuted Coffee Across the Miles this week on ActiveRain, and I could not have asked for a better inaugural conversation than my visit with Gwen Fowler SC Lakes & Mountains 864-710-4518!
Gwen was gracious enough to be my first ActiveRain member interview by Zoom, and what a gift that was.
I originally introduced this concept back in April with my Buffini friends, but I had a feeling I would enjoy it even more with my ActiveRain peeps. After all, ActiveRain has always been about more than blogging. At its … (10 comments)
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real estate: 👉 An Invitation ☕ Coffee Over The Miles with TJ Nelson 😊
- 06/15/26 05:12 PM
👉 Let's Chat: An Invitation for You ☕ Coffee Over The Miles with TJ Nelson 😊
Greetings My Active Rain Friends😊
As a fellow Rainmakers and business owners, you already understand the real magic of our businesses is - relationships.
That’s why I’d love to spend a little one-on-one time with you - to learn more about you, your market, your ideal clients, and how I may be able to send more referrals your way. Hopefully to see me quite often connecting agents to other agents in here from my Buffini, Ninja and CRS relationships - 27 years worth so there are hundreds!
The best conversations happen … (8 comments)
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real estate: Because 24/7 Is NOT A Business Plan ⌛
- 04/16/26 06:58 AM
You're Invited to this FREE Training!
Burnout-Proof Your Business
Busy is not the same thing as sustainable. If you want to create a business that is productive, profitable, and sustainable, this session is for you. I’ll be sharing practical insight on how to protect your energy, stay sharp, and keep your business growing without sacrificing everything else that matters.
I’m looking forward to joining Community Connection, hosted by Derek Jones, to talk about Burnout-Proof Your Business on Wednesday, April 22, 2026 at 10 a.m. PT.
If you’ve ever felt like success started costing too much … (6 comments)
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real estate: Out Of The Tree Of Life I Just Picked Me A Plum 😊
- 04/05/26 09:11 AM
Monday, April 5, 1999, was my first day on the job as a California REALTOR®. I began in San Mateo, California, at Cashin Company REALTORS®. I believe my success can be defined three ways; Pete & Theresa Aiello
My first Managing Broker in 1999 Leadership: working under one of the best managing brokers I could have hoped for starting out, Mr. Peter Aiello at Cashin Company Realtors, with whom I still keep in touch. I went on to add to that incredible leadership influence with Liz Piccolomini at One Source Realty & Coldwell Banker, and now at Big Block LPT … (13 comments)
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☕ Coffee Across The Miles with Brian England: 
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