PropertyManagementMaven: February 2010

I am at the point where I just have to laugh with all the snow that we have had this year in Virginia--otherwise I would cry! The Washington D.C. metro area, which includes suburban Virginia and Maryland, usually gets a couple of light snows, but rarely anything like what we have gotten this year.

The evidence is anecdotal, but it seems to me that the years that we  purchased or upgraded our snow blower were years that we got little or no snow

So here is a list of things that you should do to prepare for NEXT winter. I can almost (but not completely) guarantee that if you do all these things, you will notice a significant reduction in  the amount of snow we see next season:

1. Buy the biggest, strongest snow blower that you can find
   
2. Buy extra engine oil for the super strong snow blower
   
3. Keep the gas can stocked and  in a safe place
   
4. Stock up on snow shovels; all types. Replace any shovel that looks at all decrepit or prone to breaking.
   
5. Buy one of those plow-style snow movers (they look like a big, square plastic sled with wheels at one end).
6. Find one of those nifty ice-choppers (I just used  one to break up the 2 inches of ice that had settled on my driveway). A friend from Buffalo told me about it and it has been a god-send!
   
7. Keep plenty of pet-safe ice melt around
8. Always keep plenty of hot chocolate available
9. Get that emergency generator that you have been coveting (and see #3)
   
10. Make sure you have a battery operated radio (and spare batteries)
11. Have flashlights on hand with batteries to put in them
    
12. Keep extra windshield wiper fluid on hand to restock after a storm
13. Check the pet food and make sure you have enough on hand
14. Don't let prescription medications get below one weeks worth of medication
15. Make sure all family members are outfitted with warm, well-fitting coats, snow pants, boots, scarves, mittens/gloves and hats. Check them in October and buy them then for best selection in both color and fit.
16. Buy a variety of sleds and saucers so that you can have fun in the snow, too!
    
17. Get your cars in for service, check tires and battery, and make sure they always have gas before a possible snow storm.
    

Most years in the D.C. Metro area will not require any of these items...except maybe the warm coat, hat and gloves. This winter we have used them all and gone out for restocking once or twice. I am sure I have left things off of the list, but those were the items that came to mind this morning as we prepared for our latest snow storm.

All kidding aside, next fall when supplies are plentiful, consider purchasing the items on my list. If you stock up early, besides being well-prepared for any snow emergency, you will almost ensure that the rest of us don't have to deal with a snow storm next year. And we will all thank you!

Stay safe and warm!

Holly Weatherwax, Associate Broker

EcoBroker,Graduate of Realtors Institute,Accredited Buyers Representative,e-pro and Accredited Staging Professional Realtor

If I can assist you with the purchase or sale of property in Northern Virginia, please visit my website: www.greatexperience.net , my blog Real Estate and Reston or email me at hollyweatherwax@mris.com. My direct number is 571-643-4902.

I believe buying or selling real estate should be a GREAT EXPERIENCE!

 

 

A client showed me two postcards he was contemplating sending to distressed homeowners, and he asked me what I felt was the best one. My answer was send them both and see what works the best. Send one postcard to 500 people, and send the second postcard to another set of 500. Whichever gets a better response is the winner.

The first elemental step is to ask a homeowner how they heard of you. Pretty simple question that is neglected so many times. How can you gauge the effectiveness of a marketing campaign until you ask a warm lead (someone that contacted you) where they learned of your services?

I can't tell you how many times someone picked up a list from me and later said, "it didn't work out". Most of the time I hear this, there was a unscientific or sporadic approach to measuring results. You can't determine the effectiveness of a marketing campaign. This is very avoidable by simply asking a new prospect how they heard of you. By methodically tracking results of your marketing, you can optimize your campaign based on your learnings.

Here are some practical steps you can take now:

- Ask every prospect how they heard of you.
- Put a marketing code on every mail piece, and ask the prospect what that code is. Put this code on a spreadsheet or a piece of paper.
- Create a unique landing page that corresponds to different marketing pieces. For example, Ad 1 directs homeowners to yoursite.com/foreclosurehelp and Ad 2 directs homeowners to yourside.com/alternativestoforeclosure.
- Attach different phone numbers to different marketing pieces. So if you have five different mailing pieces, get five different phone numbers, and measure which gets the most calls. There are inexpensive online services that enable you to take out several phone numbers. My favorite is www.tossabledigits.com, which can provide multiple local phone numbers that get forwarded to your cell phone or any other number you designate. You can then go online and see how many calls were made to each number.

Marketing shouldn't be a crapshoot, but a science.

 

 

Time. Mine is valuable. Is yours? One thing that agents struggle with is being in control of their time. How often have you popped out to show property at the last minute? Or had to cancel a personal event because one of your customer/clients needed to see you? What about the Buyer who can only look at properties every other Saturday from 4-7 pm? Do you work with them?  I don't.

Here's a fact. There are NO real estate emergencies.

Here's another fact. You will NEVER be caught up. There will always be another call to make. Another website to update.

If  you want to have lasting success in this business and avoid burn out you MUST get control of your time. Work by appointment only.

Don't let others dictate your schedule. Don't do same day appointments. Just let them go. It will save you a lot of aggravation in the long run. If people don't respect your time they will never respect the relationship. That's a fact.

Let folks know at first contact how you work and when you work. People will appreciate knowing these things up front. If your schedule doesn't fit with theirs then just let them go. We can't work with everybody.

Once you set boundaries with your time a funny thing will happen.....you'll start attracting people that will work within your time frames. And because of this you will be less stressed and you will become better at what you do.

Do you believe that? Well even if you don't it's still true. You just need to trust me on this one. Can you do that?

Do you need a new Broker?

Want to find out more? www.TTRealtyNet.com

 

Copyright © 2010 http://www.brokerbryant.com/ | All Rights Reserved

 

 

Big Brother

 

62 years ago, a book was written that, even if you haven't read it, you've certainly heard of it, or at least you've heard the phrases that became common in our everyday language since the publishing of the book. Does 'Big Brother' ring any bells with you?

Written in 1948, George Orwell's "1984" has become a classic read, still mandatory in many classrooms. In the book, we learn of the horrifying consequences of losing our freedom to the need for a safe and peaceful society. The people are convinced that their loss of freedom is a small price to pay for the greater good.

Today, I thought of this book and it's message, when I heard on the news that the FBI is once again pushing for the ISPs to keep logs of their users 'origin and destination information for non-content data' for at least two years. Presumably to be used in aprehending child pornographers, terrorists and other persons involved in illegal activities.

In other words, for our own good.

 

 

 

While at first glance, this and other policies such as: 

wire tapping landlines and cell phones, video surveillance and cameras almost everywhere we go, airport body scanners, gun control, the 2005 FCC requirement that all cell phone carriers are required to provide the ability to trace cell phone calls to within 300 feet, etc.,

all sound like reasonable precautions,

I can't help but wonder at how these things could conceivably be put to use at some later date.

 

Not to mention the fact that the government, as well as private entities, haven't always been effective in protecting our private data, and that storing and maintaining this data will be expensive for the ISPs. I wonder who will have to pick up that tab? The FBI? Uh huh. Right.

Much of what Orwell wrote about in 1948 as fiction, is the reality of our world today.

 

Where do we draw the line between ensuring our collective safety,

and preserving our right to privacy?

 

I don't have the answers, I'm just asking questions.

We should all be asking questions.

Shouldn't we?

In "1984", George Orwell wrote, 

“The past was erased, the erasure was forgotten, the lie became truth.” 

 

DBoucher Photography

Nature and Wildlife Photography Notecards

Real Estate Showcase Slideshows

 

Position yourself above your competition - Utilize a "Real Estate Showcase" Slideshow as a listing tool.  Post it on your own website - Realtor Showcase Members can upload it to Realtor.com - Post it on your blog to showcase your listings.

 

"Real Estate Showcase" Slideshow and Web Presentations, more captivating than a virtual tour!

Photos and content by Debi Boucher, DBoucher Photography, all rights reserved, may not be reproduced without express written permission. 

 

10 Must-Have Free Software Tools

Over the years, I have seen a lot of free software downloads.  With most of them, after 2 minutes I find out they weren't worth downloading or the free version is so devoid of features that I can't even check it out on a trial version. 

However, the 10 free gems below are programs I use every day and couldn't live without.  Every one of them is an important part of my daily routine.

Search Engine Optimization 

Firefox - You have probably heard of Firefox already, but do you use it?  Firefox is a web browser alternative to Internet explorer.  It's more computer-friendly than IE, so not as prone to errors and crashes.  For some websites, I still prefer IE, but for all of my SEO and blogging efforts, I use Firefox exclusively.  Part of the reason is because of the next two downloads which are free Firefox add-ons.

Nodofollow Plugin - This nifty little program is an add-on to Firefox and will allow you to right-click on any link on a page, and all of the links will then be displayed as either blue (dofollow) or pink (nodofollow).  A dofollow link will help your website's SEO efforts because the Google robots will recognize the links and go to your website.  Nodofollow links will not help your website's ranking.  You can use this tool to analyze if a particular blog or forum allows dofollow banklinking.

Live PageRank Plugin - Another Firefox add-on, this program will automatically display a website's pagerank and Alexa rank in the lower-right corner of your Firefox browser.

spyglass - I just discovered this excellent SEO tool - Thanks Fred Doleac!  Spyglass allows you to analyze any website or keyword to discover why it ranks where it ranks, what backlinks point to the site or are associated with the keyword, and more.  This is a powerful way to figure out why certain sites are ranking high.  It even will tell you how much PR Google Juice you are getting from each link to your site!

Computer Performance and Efficiency

Glary Utilities - This utility program will speed up, fix, maintain, and protect your computer.  Quickly analyzes your computer for errors, unnecessary temp files, and other problems that will bog down your system if not repaired.

Auglostics - Auglostics is a disk defragmentor program, an alternative to the Windows version.  Auglostics does a much better job than the Windows version and is 10 times faster.  Enough said.

Malwarebytes - This is a spyware elimination program and is one of the best on the market.  I also use Ad-Aware, and between these two and Glary, I believe I am spyware free most of the time.

For best computer performance, you should run these programs a minimum of once per week, along with clearing your browser's cache.

Productivity

Digsby - Centralize all of your IM and social bookmarking profiles into one handy application with this Free Software Download.

pdffactory - Create a PDF of any file or screen shot.  pdffactory will appear as a printer when you choose to print a document or website screen shot.

Trucrypt - This is perhaps the best free software download of the bunch.  Trycrypt allows you to create an encrypted drive on your computer so that no one can read your files unless they know your password.  You don't have to password protect any of the individual files because the entire drive is encrypted.  If you have a lot of sensitive data on your computer like I do, this program is critical to keeping your client's information safe.

RJ Baxter First Mortgage Corp

Branch Manager

303-670-0137 (direct)

27902 Meadow Drive, Suite 120

Evergreen, Colorado 80439

Evergreen, Colorado Mortgage Blog