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March Newsletter

Did you know? We publish the by design series? Call me for details.

Rainmaker Darrin Friedman

When it comes to web presence Active Rain Blogger Darrin Friedman's spread his net-web wide. He's got a Linked in profile, is blogging on Active Rain, is running a commentary on Twitter and has a facebook profile, too. Darrin is a branch vice president with Coldwell Banker Chevy Chase in Washington DC.
Darrin achieved Active Rain Rainmaker status in part for his syndicated post 5 Things Harry Potter has Taught Me About Real Estate shared here with his permission.

facebook
The idea that facebook could generate revenue from advertising by giving free access to the general public via facebook profile pages sounded good. Users of facebook could exchange photos, messages (public and private), and share personal interests. They could join groups, share links, and make new friends, all on line, all in real time. In return they would be exposed to constant marketing, and various advertising ploys including banner ads. At the same time, the site would systematically collect, analyze, and compile date to assist facebook management with marketing strategies. We joined facebook when my son, daughter-in-law, and 3 year-old granddaughter moved to Japan. Through this forum we're able to share day to day activities, pictures, instant messages, and even friends and family connections. To my surprise, this grew to a veritable, or should I say virtual, network of family and friend connections that's growing larger every week. facebook is growing by the minute and so is the revenue. By August of 2008 the company's value was estimated at between $3.75 and $5 billion. Investors are howling. They've got a winner on their hands. Interested? Got a few minutes? Sign up here, it's free anyone can join. I'll be your first friend!facebook

Enjoy a classic Facebook Song on YouTube and here's another that's just, well, you'll see it's the Facebook Song with Lyrics.

02/02/2009 Newsletter

Lowes Realtor Benefits

Have you signed up for your Lowes Benefits? You could be sending discount gift cards to clients to save them some real world dollars. By using your REALTOR discount you can save money, too. Here you'll find Free 10% off coupons, Free access to helpful videos, Free new homeowner direct mail, and coming soon, free E-Newsletters. You owe it to your clients to check this out.
Also, Coming Soon Lowes E-Coupons, these are coupons you email directly to your clients for immediate savings.


ctfmon.exe ... What Is It?
When you press control, alt, delete and open your Windows Task Manager it shows what programs are currently running on your computer, but what are they?
Click here for the Process Library, you can find out what the files actually do.
Simply type your file name into the search box at the top of the home page and follow the instructions. This can be particularly handy if you're trying to remove programs from your start up menu to speed up your computer.


Technology
For this month's "Best Tech Toy" I'd like to share Allstate Insurance's Know Your Stuff home inventory software. Your buyers and sellers will appreciate this free software download, and you might even want to try it out yourself. Do you keep a home inventory? It just got easier.

01/01/2009 Newsletter

Picture This

You've gone to great lengths to get the perfect picture of your client's property. You've been out in the morning, in the evening, in the afternoon. The front is always in shadow. What's wrong?

If your seller's home faces north there's not a thing you can do about it, but you can plan to make pictures on an overcast day. You might even get lucky and snap a shot when a cloud momentarily obscures the sun. Otherwise, your choices are linited. You can use a photo editing utility. You could also use an inset photo for print advertising and run two pictures instead of one. We can set that up for you.
For more about real estate photography, visit Photography For Real Estate

Blog?
Seems like everyone's blogging and there's a lot of buzz about it. The word Blog actually originates from the term web-log, which would be a commentary, by anyone, about anything. Like a journal, dates run in chronological order. Not enough information? Click Blog for the WiKipaedia version.
There are several super real estate blogs, one of my favorites is Joeann's Blog, subtitled: Relaxed Real Estate for Magnificent Agents managed and written by Joeann Fossland.
And yes, I blog, not regularly, and not particularly well, but you've got to start somewhere. Visit me at:Karen'sCorner.
Have a go at it yourself. You can put up a free blog of your own at: Google's Blogger.

Technology

For this month's "Best Tech Toy" I'd like to share Constant Contact with you. This newsletter has been generated using a Constant Contact Template. User friendly, the site produces a professional and cohesive newsletter at a reasonable cost. This newsletter has been generated using a free trial version. What do you think? Could you use this in your business? Sign up for your free trial today.

It's Human Nature

What's your biggest problem? Buyers. I know, you need more buyers and you're out there trying to sell your listings, you're doing everything you can to drive web traffic to your site, personalizing yard signs with sign riders, setting up brochure boxes, posting your listings online with Trulia and REALTOR.com, and you're being told print is dead.
Duh -- it is and has always been rare for a client to phone in regarding a property he/she has seen online and make an offer on that property without visiting the area. And they don't always call when they come in for that first look around, do they? Yes, sometimes they call and say, "We're Here" and you call your dentist and cancel the cleaning appointment you waited three months to get -- why -- because you know if you don't drop everything and show them some property, they'll find someone who will.
When they leave the state to go back home, they'll have several real estate books in hand. Our little book will be on top of the stack - after all it's human nature to make piles and to put the smallest items on top. And if you look at our little book, you'll find there's no dateline, rather a volume and issue number - so they'll keep it around a while. If they saw a picture they liked on the way home they'll page to it again and again, fold the corner down, and perhaps call you for information asking you to send them a listing sheet. If they pick up books regularly, they'll get familiar with the companies who advertise, see their agents in print, and feel very comfortable working with you - after all, they feel like they know you.
And for sellers - they picking up books, too, to see what's for sale BEFORE they call a listing agent.
Technology is growing so fast it's downright overwhelming - that's why yard signs will never go out of style - people like to do a drive by to see a home and a neighborhood BEFORE they make an appointment to see a property. They'll pick up the local real estate books, sit down with their maps and call for addresses. Then sitting in the car with their real estate books in the floor and their map on the dash they'll call the listing firm and ask for more information about the house and perhaps an agent. Don't you want that agent to be you?

The Real Estate Book has been in business for more than 30 years, we have teams of people behind the scenes working for you. We syndicate to more than 20 online partners and distribute our local books to more than 500 locations in 4 counties.

On the first of October 2008, I began a new career in real estate advertising. I went to work with Steve Crowley, of Foothills Publishing producing the Southern Foothills & Mountains of NC Real Estate Book.

This left me feeling as confused as a chameleon on a paisley tablecloth.

My first challenge was to learn how to get around Rutherford County including Lake Lure. What an experience that was. I can get lost most anywhere. I’m grateful for all of the customers of The Real Estate Book [TREB] who welcomed me into their offices, offered hospitality drinks and bathroom breaks.

In mid-November, I faced another challenge when I had to attend training at our corporate offices for a week in Lawrenceville, GA near Atlanta. For a gal accustomed to the traffic in Golden Valley, driving was pretty stimulating, and I’m sorry all of my thrill-seeking friends were not with me in the Explorer as we headed down the interstate. You’d have gotten a real kick out of the ride; you might even have asked to drive. I might have let you!

The classes were full, from 8:00 until 5:00 with working lunches. It’s hard to believe it takes a full week to go through training, but it takes every minute of it, with homework to boot.

When I got home, we were soon collecting ad copy, back in production and following that - distribution. I won’t bore you with details, but suffice to say it’s a far cry from the practice of real estate. The learning curve is steep, so steep at times it feels more like a vertical wall than a curve, and it’s taken me weeks and weeks to get to the point where I can return to some of my favorite activities, like blogging.

I’ve been working on the site: KDMcCall.com, adding pages of content that will be appropriate and getting rid of those that aren’t. It’s a work in progress. It’s a handy spot to set up links to TREB sites, to stick links, to host material that might be useful to clients and potential clients, and to help me continue the journey into technology I’ve embarked on.

I expect to be successful in this new venture, but understand if I include a quote from the real estate guru David Knox who said, “If you can’t be good, you’ve got to be there.”

Look for me online!

Golden Valley, Duncan's Creek, Logan's Store

Do you know where these communities are?

I love the northeast section of Rutherford County. Sandwiched between three counties this rural area flows like the First Broad River from one township to the next with nary a break.

For the last five years I've worked predominately in this area, but this year I've had to spend more time in town. The other day I was driving to the office with this year's area closed sales print out in my passenger seat. I was telling myself that I had to branch out, I had to get serious about residential real estate. That print out laid in my seat like a child's failing report card. It was time to drag myself out of the First Broad River basin.

But you know, I didn't feel good about it. As I drove to Spindale via Whitesides Road I felt bad. By the time I reached the RE/MAX Rolling Hills Real Estate office on the 74 A Bypass, I knew I wasn't going to do it. I've vested too much time, energy, and effort into this demographic area. It wasn't hard to do because I absolutely loved it.

One of the reason's I've been so successful in real estate out here is that I've concentrated on the area as my primary "working farm" area. Now, you have to know, the Valley has never had enough roll over business to support a company. And with what's going on in the economy, it's going to be a while.... So, I find myself faced with having to make a decision. I can change my primary focus, at a time when the market is desperate, go into direct competition with the county's top agents, who are by-the-way, surviving too, or step away.

I guess you know I'll be turning in my keys. Look for me on the mountain.

July 24, 2008

He asked his mom, “How did you find the faith, the courage to bring children into the world of the 60's?” “Oh,” she said, “That didn’t happen here.”




General VoNguyen Giap.

General Giap was a brilliant, highly respected leader of the North Vietnam military. The following quote is from his memoirs currently found in the Vietnam war memorial in Hanoi :'What we still don't understand is why you Americans stopped the bombing of Hanoi . You had us on the ropes. If you had pressed us a little harder, just for another day or two, we were ready to surrender! It was the same at the battles of TET. You defeated us! We knew it, and we thought you knew it.But we were elated to notice your media was definitely helping us. They were causing more disruption in America than we could in the battlefields. We were ready to surrender. You had won!' General Giap has published his memoirs and confirmed what most Americans knew. The Vietnam war was not lost in Vietnam -- it was lost at home. The exact same slippery slope, sponsored by the US media, is currently well underway. It exposes the enormous power of a Biased Media to cut out the heart and will of the American public.


Interesting. This arrived in my inbox and reminds me, I meant to write an article about this very thing.


Steve Crowley, who does such a fine job as the Publisher of The Real Estate Book, told me a story.
When he was born in the late 60's, it was a terrible time in America. The Vietnam War was escalating, there were protesters marching in the street, the hippies were forming their own sub/society, drug use was rising. JFK, Martin Luther King, and Robert Kennedy were assassinated, gas prices were rising, the cost of living was increasing, and times were tough. Bringing a child into that world was an act of pure faith.

He asked his mom, “How did you find the faith, the courage to bring children into the world of the 60's?” “Oh,” she said, “That didn’t happen here.”

Steve was puzzled. “Huh?”

“Those things weren’t happening here. They had nothing to do with our lives here on the farm. That was happening on TV.”


I suppose it is with that attitude I’ve continued working in real estate. The market is not strong, it’s statistically off, particularly when compared with the boom years. Sales are slow, land is barely selling, but it is selling. People are looking for and finding deals, and there are some great buys out there.We have not been affected as much in Rutherford County as in other areas. We did not see quadruple inflation following hurricane Katrina. We have not seen tons of interest only loans. While, sales are admittedly slow, I don’t think we’re going to take a beating in the long haul. The majority of my sellers paid a fair price for their property. They have good roads, utilities, and have a very real value in their acreage, and in their homes. Let me tell you, there are areas where new roads are crumbling, where people paid hundreds of thousands for mountain property, where there are no utilities, and water is hard to come by. That’s not happening here.

Dr. Lawrence Yun, Chief Economist and Senior Vice President, National Association of Realtors, says, there is a crises of confidence in the housing market. We Realtors don’t control the market; we don't set prices. What buyers are willing to pay sets the price and consequently market value, and we didn’t have an highly inflated market here. What is happening here is that, like the rest of the nation, we’re slow, but we have young families trading up. They have realized this is a great time to get a nice buy on a home, sure they may sell for less, but they’re also buying for less, and they’re taking advantage of the opportunity to move up. We have people who have been thinking of retiring to NC for years, who think perhaps now is a good time to get a good buy on a home. (And they’re right).



And while many Realtors have left the business it’s given those of us who've stayed more opportunities. Some of us are rethinking our business practices, retooling our websites, working on marketing harder than ever. Some companies are closing their doors, others are opening. The internet has had as much to do with it as the economy. Statistics say 84% of buyers begin their property searches on the internet. That is changing the way we do business.



It’s difficult sitting here this morning looking out my home office window at a Carolina Blue sky behind leaves of green to remember what I saw on TV last night.... One of the reasons I moved to Rutherford County in 1989 was because it’s a gentler place. It’s a great place to raise children, a place with a slower pace, and four lovely seasons. We’re not too far from the coast or the mountains. The weather is not harsh here, and neither are the people. It’s a sweet place, and affords a nice lifestyle, and while the people are hardy and entrepreneurial, they’re also outgoing and friendly. And these are things that haven’t changed.



My phone is ringing... I’ve made an appointment to show land on Monday. And another call and I’m out this morning to show a log home - right now. So, I’m going to take a lesson from history, and move forward, and Thank God it’s not happening here.


Remember the Anne Murray 1983 release, A Little Good News? Email me for a Jango link and you can hear it.






http://www.jango.com/stations/25945532/tunein?u=0&song_id=130988

My Lot Guy

Did you know I have a lot maintenance, sign maintenance, guy?

Successful REALTORS know appearance matters. Most of my clients are out of state, how are they supposed to keep their property tidy and ship shape? Well they can't. That's why, several years ago, my husband volunteered to clean up a few lots and see if it made a difference. He did and we saw more lots sold.

James "Bo" McCall, has certainly contributed to my success in real estate. How many REALTOR'S husbands put lot maintenance into their busy schedules? He cuts trails into properties, cleans up overgrown driveways, and trims around signs. How much does he charge my listed clients? Not a dime.

Not only do the properties he's cleaned up look better, they're easier to show and not just for me, but for other agents in our MLS.