DC Real Estate and Area Events: June 2009

Looking for a Real Estate Agent that will help you buy and/or sell your next house? Want a "Free Real Estate Market Report" in your area of choice? Register on my website at DC Real Estate. I can also be reached at my new Active Rain Outside Blog www.GetDCSold.com -We will get it Sold. Your home that is. Twitter http://twitter.com/DCHomesforsale. Please give me a call at 202-378-0283 (Direct) or 301-560-6700 x1154 (Office) at your earliest convenience. Thank you very much. Looking forward to helping you make your home purchase or sale a stress free and very happy one. Have a great day. "Buy home Washington DC" Zip codes 20019,20020,20032,20011

AREA HOMES Looking for just the right property? Click here for properties for sale in this area. more +

JUST LISTED! Tell us what you are looking for and we will send you new listings as soon as they hit the market.   more +

Looking for a Real Estate Agent that will help you buy and/or sell your next house? Want a "Free Real Estate Market Report" in your area of choice? Register on my website at DC Real Estate. I can also be reached at my new Active Rain Outside Blog www.GetDCSold.com -We will get it Sold. Your home that is. Twitter http://twitter.com/DCHomesforsale. Please give me a call at 202-378-0283 (Direct) or 301-560-6700 x1154 (Office) at your earliest convenience. Thank you very much. Looking forward to helping you make your home purchase or sale a stress free and very happy one. Have a great day. "Buy home Washington DC" Zip codes 20019,20020,20032,20011

AREA HOMES Looking for just the right property? Click here for properties for sale in this area. more +

JUST LISTED! Tell us what you are looking for and we will send you new listings as soon as they hit the market.   more +

It's another monday afternoon. I know I should've wrote this maybe yesterday or earlier today but I couldn't. But anyway while looking for good blogs to read on Active Rain,I stumbled across these five blogs. Now to you they might not be great but I really like these five blogs that I chose to use in my regular blog series called "Five non featured Active Rain blogs that you probably missed".

And for the first time in Active Rain History,my blog Five non featured Active Rain blogs that you probably missed became a featured blog. I got a Gold star for writing about blogs that were not featured but were worthy of being featured-Who knew? I definitely didn't expect it. And before I reveal the five blogs that made the cut this week,I want to thank again Jackie - MortgageVirtualAssistant.com (770.469.7385) - Virtual ... for mentioning me and my blog on Karen Mansour's featured blog Who gets points/gold stars and why? What is the new criteria?-

So here are my "Five non featured Active Rain blogs that you probably missed"-Hope you find some if not all of them helpful.

1. 10 Things I Learnt on Twitter Today: by Mirela Monte  Your Myrtle Beach Real Estate Connection  Myrtle Beach,SC.

Many of us Active Rainers are also Twitters on www.twitter.com. In this blog Mirela lists 10 things she learned on Twitter. She lists 10 good links here. Find out what she learned by reading her blog.

2. One way to kill a sale before you can even sell it by Lanre Folayan  Exit Premier Realty  Upper Marlboro,Maryland.

I don't like salespeople who are liars and are not upfront with me. This is what this blog is about. Want to know what I think is one way to kill a sale before you can even sell it? Please read this blog to find out.

3. Better Than the Flip HD Cameras and a HUGE Sale by Norma Brandsberg  Marks Realty Co.Inc  Lynchburg,VA.

We all know that the Flip Camera is a hit here at Active Rain. Many Active Rainers talk about how great this camera is. I was about to get mine. But after reading this blog,I might have to reconsider. But who what is the new kid camera on the block internet? And why should you buy this one instead of the Flip camera? To find out please read this blog by Norma.

4. How to turn so-so-customers into great ones   by Gabe Sanders  Stuart Florida Real Estate  Stuart,FL.

In this blog Gabe said that 'There is always a tweak or two we can make to improve the customer's experience. I agree. So no matter how good your customer service is,there is always ways to make it better. He also mentions a book in this blog that two authors talk about another industry that applies to ours? So how can we turn so-so customers into great ones? Read this blog to find out.

5. Marketing in the new economy by Cheri Swigart. Stone Mountain Realty and Building Co. Weaverville,NC.

We all know that this Real Estate Market has been a challenge for everyone involved in the home buying and selling process of a house. This Real Estate Market also means that we have to be more creative as far as how we need to market ourselves and listings. In this blog Cheri gives one way we can make our listing. Very good idea that I don't see too often but have heard before. But what is it? Read Cheri's blog to find out.

Looking for a Real Estate Agent that will help you buy and/or sell your next house? Want a "Free Real Estate Market Report" in your area of choice? Register on my website at DC Real Estate. I can also be reached at my new Active Rain Outside Blog www.GetDCSold.com -We will get it Sold. Your home that is. Twitter http://twitter.com/DCHomesforsale. Please give me a call at 202-378-0283 (Direct) or 301-560-6700 x1154 (Office) at your earliest convenience. Thank you very much. Looking forward to helping you make your home purchase or sale a stress free and very happy one. Have a great day. "Buy home Washington DC" Zip codes 20019,20020,20032,20011

AREA HOMES Looking for just the right property? Click here for properties for sale in this area. more +

JUST LISTED! Tell us what you are looking for and we will send you new listings as soon as they hit the market.   more +

Looking for a Real Estate Agent that will help you buy and/or sell your next house? Want a "Free Real Estate Market Report" in your area of choice? Register on my website at DC Real Estate. I can also be reached at my new Active Rain Outside Blog www.GetDCSold.com -We will get it Sold. Your home that is. Twitter http://twitter.com/DCHomesforsale. Please give me a call at 202-378-0283 (Direct) or 301-560-6700 x1154 (Office) at your earliest convenience. Thank you very much. Looking forward to helping you make your home purchase or sale a stress free and very happy one. Have a great day. "Buy home Washington DC" Zip codes 20019,20020,20032,20011

AREA HOMES Looking for just the right property? Click here for properties for sale in this area. more +

JUST LISTED! Tell us what you are looking for and we will send you new listings as soon as they hit the market.   more +

Okay this must be some kind of joke or something-Seriously. I open my Active Rain inbox and I see a lot of comments on a blog that I recently just wrote.

Karen Mansour of Coldwell Banker Fort Lauderdale Beach just wrote a blog that is now featured called Who gets points/gold stars and why? What is the new criteria?- a must read for all Active Rain members.

First person to make a comment on her blog was Jackie - MortgageOnlineMarketing.com (770.469.7385). Her comments were

I thanked her for mentioning me and my blog in the comment that I later left on Karen's blog. But when I just saw a Gold star on my blog,honestly speaking I WAS SHOCKED! Seriously. It is my second one this year. So to Karen Monsour,REALTOR® Broward,Palm Beach,Miami/Dade! 954-464-4194 anytime! (Coldwell Banker Fort Lauderdale Beach) and Jackie - MortgageOnlineMarketing.com (770.469.7385) and of course the very talented,creative and hard working Active Rain Staff,from the bottom of my ,I want to say THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR MAKING Five non featured Active Rain blogs that you probably missed a

Looking for a Real Estate Agent that will help you buy and/or sell your next house? Want a "Free Real Estate Market Report" in your area of choice? Register on my website at DC Real Estate. I can also be reached at my new Active Rain Outside Blog www.GetDCSold.com -We will get it Sold. Your home that is. Twitter http://twitter.com/DCHomesforsale. Please give me a call at 202-378-0283 (Direct) or 301-560-6700 x1154 (Office) at your earliest convenience. Thank you very much. Looking forward to helping you make your home purchase or sale a stress free and very happy one. Have a great day. "Buy home Washington DC" Zip codes 20019,20020,20032,20011

AREA HOMES Looking for just the right property? Click here for properties for sale in this area. more +

JUST LISTED! Tell us what you are looking for and we will send you new listings as soon as they hit the market.   more +

You ever notice sometimes when you lose something,you can spend a long time looking for that particular thing. While you are looking for whatever it is that you are looking for,you stumble across and find something something that you probably thought was lost or never thought you will find again.

Well hopefully whenever you read my "Five non featured Active Rain blogs that you probably missed"blogs,instead of reading my "Five non featured Active Rain blogs",you will also discover something that you didn't know. Active Rain is all about sharing and that's one of the many things I love about Activerain.com. It is a website that shares great valuable information with customers,colleagues,clients and competitors.

So here are my "Five non Active Rain blogs that you probably missed".

1. Anchorage, Alaska Be Sure to Check the Square Footage if you're a buyer (or seller if you want to reduce liability)! by Vanna Siackhasone  Prudential Jack White Vista Real Estate Anchorage,AL

Are you sure that what your square footage of your house is? Home buyer and seller should definitely read this blog by Vanna Siackhasone to make sure that you know exactly the square footage of a house that you are trying to buy or sell.

2. Reality TV and Real Estate by Kim Schreiner ePro Realtor Philadelphia,PA

Reality TV is watched by many of us. But in this blog,Kim is talking how she loves watching certain shows on a certain cable network. What shows is she talking about? You got to read her blog to find out. 

3. Have You Heard About This?? by Frances C.Rokicki  Frances Rokicki Realty,LLC Bolton,CT

Frances C.Rokicki is a broker with Frances Rokicki Realty. She is a certified mentor with a very well known Real Estate company. In this blog she is talking about a new program that is Real Estate well known trainer is offering. The best part? It is at a reasonable price. But who is the Real Estate Trainer that I am talking about? And what is the name of the new program that he is offering? Read her blog to find out.

4. Your Reputation will say a lot!!! by Norma J.Elkins Exit Triple "E"Realty Morristown,TN

We all know that some people view some (NOT ALL )real estate professionals as snakes and not trustworthy. But reading Norma's blog is a good reason why all real estate professional should have a good reputation. Find out why by reading her blog.

5. Looking To Build Your Inventory - here's one of my secret's..... by Lisa McIntree  The Staging Professionals  Saint Catharines,ON

Do you a have a vacant listing that has been on the market for a while and it is getting no activity? Reading this blog might help you get that listing that has been sitting on the market sold and for even more than what you listed the house for. Want to know Lisa's secret on building your inventory? Read her blog to find out.

That's it for this week "Five non featured Active Rain blogs that you probably missed". Be sure to tune in next week. Hope you enjoy this week edition. Have a great week.

Looking for a Real Estate Agent that will help you buy and/or sell your next house? Want a "Free Real Estate Market Report" in your area of choice? Register on my website at DC Real Estate. I can also be reached at my new Active Rain Outside Blog www.GetDCSold.com -We will get it Sold. Your home that is. Twitter http://twitter.com/DCHomesforsale. Please give me a call at 202-378-0283 (Direct) or 301-560-6700 x1154 (Office) at your earliest convenience. Thank you very much. Looking forward to helping you make your home purchase or sale a stress free and very happy one. Have a great day. "Buy home Washington DC" Zip codes 20019,20020,20032,20011

AREA HOMES Looking for just the right property? Click here for properties for sale in this area. more +

JUST LISTED! Tell us what you are looking for and we will send you new listings as soon as they hit the market.   more +

Looking for a Real Estate Agent that will help you buy and/or sell your next house? Want a "Free Real Estate Market Report" in your area of choice? Register on my website at DC Real Estate. I can also be reached at my new Active Rain Outside Blog www.GetDCSold.com -We will get it Sold. Your home that is. Twitter http://twitter.com/DCHomesforsale. Please give me a call at 202-378-0283 (Direct) or 301-560-6700 x1154 (Office) at your earliest convenience. Thank you very much. Looking forward to helping you make your home purchase or sale a stress free and very happy one. Have a great day. "Buy home Washington DC" Zip codes 20019,20020,20032,20011

AREA HOMES Looking for just the right property? Click here for properties for sale in this area. more +

JUST LISTED! Tell us what you are looking for and we will send you new listings as soon as they hit the market.   more +

Donald Trump's Show "The Apprentice" is one of the many reality TV shows that I enjoy watching. (Well! The first season was good). But after the first season,ratings started to plummet. Pitching the show to executives at NBC I am sure was not a hard sell. Why? Donald Trump is famous and I am sure people felt that they could probably know more about him and learn from him since he is a very successful Real Estate Developer. His name "Trump" is a well recognized brand.

One thing I learned from watching the show "The Apprentice"was when a young kid said "Don't try to sell something that has already been sold". That makes a lot of sense and it is so true. I was shocked to hear that come out of a young kid's mouth. But how can you kill a sale before you can even sell it? I am about to tell you. But before I tell you,here is my story.

Somebody left a message on my voice mail telling me that they have something for me. (I am keeping the company and person anonymous). Only reason that I called back because before I hit erased the message,I wanted to be 100% sure whether this is a good product or not.

So I called the person back. He told me for a certain amount of dollars,I can get this. To try and cut a long story short,I remembered that I have heard of this company before. They knew me and I knew them. (It's a small world after all). The salesperson told me that for x amount of dollars,I will get this. This salesperson walked me through the sales presentation.

About 15 minutes later (something this salesperson could've told me in a minute),I was given a price ten times higher than the first price I was given. What the heck? Are you kidding me? How in the world did a price all of a sudden become ten times more than the regular price that I was first given? I don't even think the first day of GOOGLE's IPO(Initial Public Offering)that their stock rose ten times the amount of the IPO. (I am no stock broker/financial analyst whatever so please don't ask me for stock tips. But if you have some I am all ears-LOL).

The salesperson killed the sale before he/she can even sell it by not being upfront with me. Be upfront with me and tell me what you should've told me in the first place darn it. Why beat around the bush? He/she even had the nerve to try and give me a lower price. So which one is the freaking price buddy? Is this what you call being a true salesperson by giving me one price only to give me a different price 15 minutes later? What you thought that I wasn't going to find out? He/she would've had a sale if they would've been upfront with me. Why? There was no contract. Plus a very Active Rain member gave a testimonial about the product.

So be upfront with me if you are trying to sell me something and don't be around the bush. You never know whether I am going to say yes or no. If I would've had sales using the product,I would've definitely referred it to other real estate professionals here on Active Rain.com. And even though this is probably a great product that would increase my business,I am no longer interested in investing my hard earned money for this company's service. I will take my money and invest it in something else that will probably produce a better return on investment-like buying a bunch of beenie babbies-Yeah right.

Looking for a Real Estate Agent that will help you buy and/or sell your next house? Want a "Free Real Estate Market Report" in your area of choice? Register on my website at DC Real Estate. I can also be reached at my new Active Rain Outside Blog www.GetDCSold.com -We will get it Sold. Your home that is. Twitter http://twitter.com/DCHomesforsale. Please give me a call at 202-378-0283 (Direct) or 301-560-6700 x1154 (Office) at your earliest convenience. Thank you very much. Looking forward to helping you make your home purchase or sale a stress free and very happy one. Have a great day. "Buy home Washington DC" Zip codes 20019,20020,20032,20011

AREA HOMES Looking for just the right property? Click here for properties for sale in this area. more +

JUST LISTED! Tell us what you are looking for and we will send you new listings as soon as they hit the market.   more +

Maybe I need to add more to my blogs. But with the hectic schedule we real estate professionals have,I figure that five would be just enough. Too many good blogs are written everyday that most of us don't get to read.

So here are my top "Five non featured Active Rain blogs that you probably missed-May 31-June 6.

1.TOP 5 TIPS TO WRITING A MORE EFFECTIVE E-MAIL by Harry F.D'Elia-Real Estate and Beyond LLC.

We read and send as well many e-mails in a day. One of those people we send e-mails to are prospects and clients. But what are the five tips that Harry F. D'Elia gives in this blog so that we can all start writing more effective e-mails? Read his blog to find out.

2. NEW FICO SCORING MODEL CHANGES/ EXPERIAN CUTS RELATIONSHIP WITH MYFICO by Paul S.Cook, J.D-Nizin Corporation (Credit Score Professional).

One thing I am doing more now is reading "Recent blogs on Active Rain". I was able to find this one that we all should let our prospects and clients know. A must read for all of us.

3. HOW TO OBTAIN GREAT TESTIMONIALS! by Sharon Senger and Associates,LLC Virtual Assistant Services.

We all want our clients to write great testimonials about our great services that we offer as a real estate professional. But how do you get great testimonials from your clients? Read Sharon Senger's blog to find out.

4.WOW Your Buyers on Their Time Table by Bob Corcoran-Corcoran Consulting and Coaching.

Bob blog gives some information about home buyers and how to target them. Read this blog to find out more on wowing your home buyers.

5. Your Clients will Love You - Give the Gift of Color! by Joanne O'Donnell Chic Home Interiors, LGLS CP Trainer.

Looking for a closing gift for that special client but not sure what to give them? This one might be it. Joanne's blog talks about a special gift that you can give to your clients at closing. But what is it? Read her blog to find out more.

That's all for this week edition of 'Five non featured Active Rain blogs that you probably missed May 31-June 6th. Hopefully you won't miss these five. I promise you that you will enjoy reading all of them.

Looking for a Real Estate Agent that will help you buy and/or sell your next house? Want a "Free Real Estate Market Report" in your area of choice? Register on my website at DC Real Estate. I can also be reached at my new Active Rain Outside Blog www.GetDCSold.com -We will get it Sold. Your home that is. Twitter http://twitter.com/DCHomesforsale. Please give me a call at 202-378-0283 (Direct) or 301-560-6700 x1154 (Office) at your earliest convenience. Thank you very much. Looking forward to helping you make your home purchase or sale a stress free and very happy one. Have a great day. "Buy home Washington DC" Zip codes 20019,20020,20032,20011

AREA HOMES Looking for just the right property? Click here for properties for sale in this area. more +

JUST LISTED! Tell us what you are looking for and we will send you new listings as soon as they hit the market.   more +

This blog is brought to you by www.getdcsold.com -We will get it sold-Your home that is.

Like my last blog that I wrote DC Free Area Events ,this one doesn't have many events too. But there is always time that you can spend with your family members and friends. Make today your best day ever-Now I sound like Joel Osteen-LOL. Anyway here is the DC Area Events.

                                                   SATURDAY

Mr and Miss Capital Pride Pageant will be held at the Town Danceboutique on 2009 Eighth St NW Washington DC. Price;$10. Time: 7-9pm.

High school bands will compete at the 9:30 Club on 815 V St NW Washington DC for a chance to record their music in the school's studio. Time:11am-3pm. (This is also a sunday event 9:45am-3pm). Price:$5.

                                                      SUNDAY

Russell Peters will be performing stand up comedy at the DC Improv on 1140 Connecticut Ave NW. Call 202-296-7008 for more information.

Claire Shipman and Kathy Kay will discuss and sign copies of womenomics at Politics and Prose on 5015 Connecticut Ave NW. Time:6pm. Call 202-364-1919 for more information.

Dance Africa DC 2009 will celebrate the African diaspora cultural heritage and its transformation into contemporaries and future forms. This event will be held at Dance Place on 3225 8th St NE Washington DC. Price: $25-$30. Call 202-269-1600 for more information.

Howard Gleckman will discuss and sign copies of "Caring for our Parents" at the Politics and Prose on 5015 Connecticut Ave NW. Time:5pm. Call 202-364-1919 for more information.

Me I got work to do. Hopefully I can free myself from my busy schedule and do something fun this weekend. That's of course if I don't go to sleep. Have a great weekend everybody.

Looking for a Real Estate Agent that will help you buy and/or sell your next house? Want a "Free Real Estate Market Report" in your area of choice? Register on my website at DC Real Estate. I can also be reached at my new Active Rain Outside Blog www.GetDCSold.com or Twitter http://twitter.com/DCHomesforsale. Please give me a call at 202-378-0283 (Direct) or 301-560-6700 x1154 (Office) at your earliest convenience. Thank you very much. Looking forward to helping you make your home purchase or sale a stress free and very happy one. Have a great day. "Buy home Washington DC" Zip codes 20019,20020,20032,20011

AREA HOMES Looking for just the right property? Click here for properties for sale in this area. more +

JUST LISTED! Tell us what you are looking for and we will send you new listings as soon as they hit the market.   more +