Rate A Home Blog

It's been awhile since I posted on Active Rain. Hello to all my friends.

I wanted to tip my hat to Joyce Ward, in her first publication of a children's book. Joyce is a mother, grandmother and a true Nature lover. Her gift to her grandchildren was a lasting memory that she wanted all parents and grandparents to have the same opportunity to provide to their children and grandchildren. Joyce wrote a book about a true experience she had with a little fellow called a Bob White, while visiting her mother.

The book is easy reading, filled with great illustrations and educational, that makes a great gift. The inside cover provides an area that allows the person gifting to personally sign the book to the receiver. Would make a great gift for clients children or your waiting room.

You can visit her web site at www.naturereading.com

Congratulations Joyce, you did a great job while providing a neat educational gift for our own grand kids!

Today is 08.08.08 (2008) considered the date of good luck. It's reported that there will be over 9000 weddings in China alone today, with the belief that this is the luckiest day in history.

I'm wishing everyone a lucky day. Believe in luck or not, sometimes different things happen in one's life that has to be attributed to luck.

How about that person who has a 1 in 175,711,536 chance of winning the Lotto and they do. But then we hear about the same person who wins the Lotto twice, the odds are huge. Lucky?

Now take the agent in our office who seems to be the lucky one on floor time when a visitor walks in and is looking to relocate to your city. The buyer is looking to purchase a $500,000.00 house today. Their home is sold and cash in hand. Lucky?

The person who knows how to enjoy life, embrace it, takes in the beauty that has been bestowed upon us. Is that considered Lucky? Maybe, but we all have the opportunity to be who we are. Positive, funky, down, up, happy, sad, creative, out going, successful. I'd say we are Lucky to have these choices.

I feel I'm lucky to have found the special person in my life that I call my Wife (sometimes I call her My Bride). Lucky? Yes, and blessed.

VIII VIII MMVIII the day of Good Luck and I wish you the best! But in reality, every day can be your lucky day if you have life, love and laughter.

Carpe Diem, every day!

Do you see these types of reactions when your buyers are touring homes? Frustrated, confused, ready to pull their hair out? Ready to pull your hair out?

Buyer's and Renters are touring more property these days then ever before. If you don't think they are looking for a system to stay organized and keep track of the properties they tour think again.

Rate A Home for the first 5 days has 76.6% of our hits coming from "Walk through Check Lists". Buyer's and Renter's are searching for the tools to help them make a better choice of the place they will call "Home." Are you providing this service to your client?

If you visit Google and enter Walk through Check List in the search, you will see that we are top of the list, page one with the information we provide to the agent for the buyer. The Check List is an excellent service to provide your buyers, plus it will save you un-needed return trips to refresh the memories, thereby saving you not only time, but more importantly fuel expense. 

Real Estate is a service industry, why not take it a step further and provide the services buyers are searching for? When I work with a buyer, I'll fill the check list out while they buyer tours the home, then provide the completed check list after the tour. Your Logo and Name appears on each check list as a continued marketing piece. Think your buyer won't brag up the special service you provided to their friends and family?

Give it a try, you might find out what you have been missing as the final piece of the housing puzzle.

I joined The Rain on October 04, 2007 and shyly surfed the site for the first 10 days. No comments, no posts, in fact I hardly understood the concept of "Blogging." Blogging, it's not even in the spell check system. How important can it be if it hasn't made the spell check system? (hint, hint Active Rain Team). I thought what the heck, I'll look into it now that I'm here.

My first post was on October 14, 2007. Nervous, yep, after seeing the post that some of the seasoned (OK, old timers) Rainer's were posting.

But, what to write? Would I get comments? Will I make a mockery of myself? What would a Blog do for me? Why do I want to subject myself to these dreadful thoughts?

I found a description of What a Blog is by Mike Tyler, I feel he said it well.

Mike wrote: What is blogging?
"Simply put, it's a daily posting of someones thoughts on a web page. Postings are like small articles from the Blog's author. The subject matter of these postings is as varied as human beings themselves. Some are trivial - some of more substance."

I wrote that first post and reluctantly pressed the submit button, boom, there was my writing out there for the world to see, yow. Then I sat back and watched for two days while the comments rolled in, wow, three total. Hey, what about these old timers seasoned Rainers who were getting 50-60 comments per post, what did I do wrong? Maybe no photo's, OK I added one, hhhmmm, no additional comments.

So, on October 16th I tried another, wow, 15 minutes later my first comment, hey this is much better. Of course that was the only one I received, dang. Now I'm losing my will to be a Blogger of the World.

Now it's October 17th, and another shot at stardom, my post goes live and a day later, no comments, I could hear in my head the little sound when Pac-Man gets gobbled up and he disappears. Failed, washed up, done, gone. So desperate I tried to kick start the post myself, naughty me. Nope that didn't work either.

Not ready to give up, I kept posting to try to figure out the secret in The Rain. I adopted the concept of acknowledging the comments (an important etiquette of Blogging) which helped keep the posts alive and build camaraderie with the Rainers.

Finally on November 12, I wrote a simple fun non-business post and yeehaa I went into double digit comments, bingo! I found the secret, off to my next post now that I know what it takes. You guessed it, the next post netted one comment, shoulders drooped again and chest dropped back to my waist. Now that I look at these past posts, I made some Newbie mistakes.

• Lack of Photos
• Titles that didn't grab the readers attention
• Not acknowledging Comments
• Not asking for help or input
• Not being "Active" in The Rain
• Not visiting and commenting on other members posts right away (Networking)
• Not reading the many helpful posts provided by the Active Rain Staff (see the new Group Help/FAQ) and members (see the Active Rain Newbies Group)
• Not submitting my posts to certain Groups that the post met the Guidelines

Today, I have found the importance of being "Active" in The Rain. The site name says it all and the Newbie who gets involved from the very beginning will find that this "Blogging" thing can be phenomenal.

On a side major note, I wanted to let you know how helpful the old timers seasoned members and the Active Rain Team is, here in The Rain. Drop a line to any member and 9 times out of 10 you will get a helpful answer to your question or at least you will be pointed in the right direction. Or you can go at it like I did and be the guy who doesn't ask for directions and head down a few wrong roads.

It's up to you to light the World on fire. Don't expect to be a super-star from the get go. We all had to crawl before we could walk, and blogging is much the same way.

Don't get discouraged, we all started out as Newbies. Even the well seasoned member is learning every day. Ask those questions you have, put it in a post to get different input. Nobody is going to look at a question as being stuppid stupid. Get rid of the pride and ask away.

You will find The Rain, to be a educating, informative and a fun part of your business. Plus, the family and friends across the nation you will acquire as you get involved will surprise you, it did me.

So, dive in and take a refreshing swim in The Rain. It will remove the feeling of the title of this post.

Have Fun and Welcome to the Active Rain Family!

Anyone involved in the Real-Estate Industry is invited to join Active Rain.

Anna Wilson is officially the 100,000th member to our Active Rain Family. Congratulation Anna!

Anna is with W.E Advertise they are dedicated to bringing affordable advertising to people and businesses at a fraction of the cost of traditional avenues.  W.E. offers you fresh advertising with a more personal approach.

Please take the time to welcome Anna to the Active Rain Family, and the ThemThem Group.

I'm honored to have Anna as part of our Group and a member of the AR Family.

Today is the day that Active Rain tops the 100,000 members mark.

A big ThemThem to the Active Rain Team and all the members in helping this network be the best it can be.

I have watched the Members number grow daily and to see it go to the 6 digit number is going to be exciting and rewarding. Because the members are calculated automatically towards the end of the day we will have to watch the new members section, currently it puts membership at 99,952. So within a few hours the 100,000th member should arrive.

Please join me in Congratulating the Team! WTG, Guys and Gals and Thank you for Raining on us, for Free.

Duane

Real-Estate Professionals (Non-Members), please join us on Active Rain and see what you have been missing. You are officially invited.

The 2008 Saugatuck Venetian Festival kicks off on Friday the 25th and runs through Sunday the 27th. (Visit the official Festival web site to view more photos and information)

A weekend of fun and festivities is in store for the visitors to enjoy. The weatherman is calling for pleasant weather, lets hope he's right.

A boat isn't required as many of the activities are downtown, but if you have a boat bring it along and enjoy the beautiful Kalamazoo River that leads to Lake Michigan only minutes away.

Party in town or party in The Cove.

Fireworks, fun, food and music await you.

 2008 Schedule of Events

Friday, July 25^th 2008 Coghlin Park

(Located at corner of Culver & Griffith)

7PM - 12:00PM Kickoff Celebration

Under the tent...Live entertainment by "the Shirey Brothers"
Beer, Wine, Food, Fun, and Free Admission

Saturday, July 26^th 2008

10:00 AM Art Fair in Downtown Saugatuck

11:00 AM Chicken BBQ at Wilkins Hardware

12:00 PM Dinghy Poker Run Starts at Coghlin Park

3:00 - 5:00 PM Kids Fun Area in Cooks Park

Moon Walk, Face Painting, Snow Cones, Craft Tent, and more fun for the kids.

6:00 - 9:00 PM Live Music Concert

Gazebo at Wicks Park

9:00 PM Venetian Boat Parade This Year's Theme "Movies" 

10:00 PM Venetian Festival Fireworks

Over Lake Kalamazoo

Sunday, July 27^th 2008

11:00 AM - 1:00 PM Awards Brunch at Coral Gables
Tickets Available at the Door

9:00 AM - 4:00 PM Classic Old Boat Show at
Dinghy Dock area in Coghlin Park

We had a friend visit us for the weekend and she was so excited that one of her employees was headed off to the 2008 National Football Championships in Memphis, Tennessee this coming weekend. No biggie I thought, then it hit me "National Football Championship", how, what, who? Football is finished for a bit, right, maybe I lost a few months somewhere along the way?

Our friend went on to explain that her employee is a player for the West Michigan Mayhem.

OK, um, never heard of the team. Then she said it's an all female team, full tackle, what? And to top it off she explained how the Team is 11-0 in the Women's Football Association.

Now, I'm stumped, where have I been, stuck in The Rain, nah!

Introducing the West Michigan Mayhem. I wish them the best in their National Play-off against the H-Town (Houston) Cyclones, (10-1) kick-off is at 7:05pm on Saturday, July 26th. Should be a great game, The Mayhem beat the Philadelphia Phoenix Team and The Cyclone won over the Los Angeles Amazons to advance to the National Finals.

Please take the time to visit the West Michigan Mayhem web site to see more photo's, stats and information.

Congrats to both Teams and best of luck to each of you.

End of the 2008 Season Stats (Not including Play-offs) from the NWFA (Did you know you had a Team in your area? I didn't)

We all started out with these computers as early as Kindergarten.

The #2 was our choice and yellow was the color.

They were affordable and a necessity to make it through school.

All mathematicians were encouraged to use them.

The negative was, we could poke our eyes out.

Break downs didn't mean we had to ship them off to a specialist, we simply asked Mom to go to the 5&10 store and pick up another.

They could be thrown away with no loss of information.

If someone would steal it, bummer, but they didn't get all our of personal information.

You could chew on them and not worry about electrocution.

The cost was less then a nickle.

 The delete button was simple to use, we turned it upside down. Can't do that with the computers of today.

When we moved up in the world we went to the Pen, than White Out.

How things have changed, I can't recall the last time I used the original computer.

Thank goodness some times for technology, until we have a break down or the Internet is moving slow. Gosh, to think about it, I think were being controlled by these things!

Mr. Jason Crouch has been crowned the "Favorite Active Rain Blogger" by 36% of the voters.

Followed closely behind by Sir Brad Andersohn netting 27% of the votes.

And Lady Donna Harris with 14% of the votes.

Congratulations to each of you, and all the members who were on the Favorite Bloggers, voting Poll. You are all winners in my eyes!

Thank you to all the members who took the time to vote.

This Poll has been closed and a new poll is open on the right side of this blog page. Please take the time to vote.

Active Rain has launched the new Outside Blog option, the question this week is "Have You Set Up an Active Rain OUTSIDE BLOG"? Please take the time to complete the poll.

Thanks again and have a great day in The Rain,

Duane

Hey, you can stick it in your BLOG!

Go ahead and BLOG yourself!

When I suggest to a Real Estate Professional to join Active Rain and start networking and blogging. You would think I said the nastiest word I have in my vocabulary. People almost start to hyperventilate at the word BLOG. What the BLOG did you just say?

It's a scary word, BLOG, but is it? Why do so many fear the word. OK, I agree, the word BLOG has not made the spell check dictionary as of yet (Hint, Hint Active Rain Team) as most swear words don't, but it's not a naughty word.

Blogging is so simple, it's a marketing tool. Marketingterms.com describes BLOG as:

"BLOG"

Definition

"A frequent, chronological publication of personal thoughts and Web links."

Information

"A blog is often a mixture of what is happening in a person's life and what is happening on the Web, a kind of hybrid diary/guide site, although there are as many unique types of blogs as there are people.

People maintained blogs long before the term was coined, but the trend gained momentum with the introduction of automated published systems, most notably Blogger at blogger.com. Thousands of people use services such as Blogger to simplify and accelerate the publishing process.

Blogs are alternatively called web logs or weblogs. However, "blog" seems less likely to cause confusion, as "web log" can also mean a server's log files."

Many of us have kept diaries throughout our lives, A BLOG is your daily business diary. Do you keep records for taxes? Why? Because you have to, or is it so exciting that you want to? The difference, blogging is fun and can help you make money, get your name, business, products and listings out to the public and allows you to be a marketing guru at no cost!

So if you think that BLOG is a dirty word, and are avoiding getting involved because you are scared, your heading the wrong way. Blogging is here for the Real Estate Professional, don't be afraid just dive in. Sitting on the sidelines and watching the Blog World pass you by will gain you nothing.

Please take that first important step and join the great Active Rain Real Estate Network.

With over 97,000 helpful members to help guide you, the word BLOG will no longer be a dirty word to you.

A day without blogging is like a day without business. Think about it. Can you afford to miss this new way of doing business?

Ted Swoboda of Swoboda Images did it again. He climbed to the top of Mt. Baldy over looking the beautiful town of Saugatuck, Michigan.

Perched high above the harbor, Ted snapped some wonderful images of this years fireworks.

Saugatuck has three fireworks displays throughout the year and Ted is over gracious enough to send these photos to his friends. (Glad I'm one of them.)

My bride and I enjoyed the fireworks from ground level at the harbors edge, it was an awesome display once again.

Take the time to visit Ted's web site for local photos, he does a fantastic job. Thanks again Ted.

                                                      Here's wishing everyone a Happy 4th of July.

Many will spend this weekend celebrating Indepence Day with friends and family.

Watching fireworks, cooking out, going to the parades.

Take the time to be with the ones you love and who love you. Work can wait, it will be there Monday when you return.

Remember those who have, and are in the service for our country. The sacrifices they have made are hard to repay, but a thank you goes along way.

It's a holiday, but a holiday that was granted to us by the men of 1776 and enforced by the men and women throughout history to the present day. Thank You, may we remember you always.

Carpe Diem and make it a safe holiday.   

I recently changed the poll along the side of my blog page.

Here are the results of the previous poll. Thank you to all who voted.

Has Active Rain helped your Real Estate Business?  

42% Yes, Tremendously  

27% Not yet, but I think its going to!  

22% A Little  

09% No, not a bit

Please take the time to vote on the latest Poll, "Who is your favorite Active Rain Blogger?"

It doesn't record who voted, so no one will know.  

Because the Poll has been a bit shy on the right side of this page, if it doesn't show I made it public and you can visit the Poll directly by clicking here.

Here's the choices. (And they are all positive members of the ThemThem Group)

Lenn           Sharon         Jeff          Sally           Jason     Renee   Donna      Brad       Carole

Location, Location, Location ... and a lot of elegance! This statement says it all.

Bentley Waterfront Suites are nestled on the Kalamazoo River, and a short boat ride to beautiful Lake Michigan.

The Bentley consists of four private suites, providing each guest the personal service of Europe, in the heart of the quaint town of Saugatuck, Michigan.

No need for transportation once you arrive as the town is at the front door step.

Breakfast in bed, private terrace and balconies overlooking the water, romance as you watch the sun settle over the town, can all be yours without ever leaving the Suites.

Enjoy the night life, great stores, restaurants and Saugatuck's many art galleries and retire to your private suite without ever walking for more than five minutes at the most.

Plan your escape to this beautiful home, its Suite!

 Bentley Waterfront Suites, a property of Boutique Inns of Saugatuck, is a European Style Boutique Inn. Please visit the web site for rates and dates.

Red Hats enjoy a Tea Party. Bring your Group and experience the hospitality of The Bentley.

Enjoy your evening dinner or breakfast in the dining room.

Watch the world pass by, as you relax on the patio. Stress, not allowed!

Also visit this post for Saugatuck Bed and Breakfast.

A BIG ThemThem to the top point holders of the Group. These are the top bloggers who have given so much to each and everyone of us throughout The Rain. The learning, laughs and lingering friendships have been fantastic.

The ThemThem Group includes Newbies with 200 points all the way up to the Top Point Holder of Active Rain and everyone in between. The awesome part, here they are all equal and practice the "5P" approach (Positive People Providing Positive Posts).

The combined points for the 50 top point holders of the ThemThem Group members, comes to a whooping 11,150,258 and 8972 Associates.

Top 50 Point Holders of the ThemThem Group.

Congratulations to Allison Stewart and the Realtors® Group on the membership going over the 10,000 members mark. The Group has over 20,000 posts as of today covering 400 pages.

Allison, it's a great group, thank you for starting it.

A big ThemThem to you for all your hard work in monitoring such a large Group!

Please join me with your congrats to Allison and the Group. If you are not a member of the Group, please check it out.

Duane

As Fathers Day approaches this Sunday, we are all thankful for our Dad's, Grandpa's and our children's Father.

Let's not forget our True Father. The Man who started it all and gave us the opportunity to start on own families and become Dad's ourselves.

God, Father, Dad I thank you for all you have done and continue to do along with the life you have provided me.

Father, you are the greatest beyond all word!

Happy Fathers Day!

I hope Alexander isn't offended by my use of the Christianity and Real Estate Groups photo of our Father. It was the first Group I thought about.

I'm proud to call my Father, Dad. He has taught me the way of the world in business, life and love.

Dad is a family man all the way. Family to him is his "best friends". Dad, even though he was always in business showed my sister and I the USA World. I was fortunate to visit all 50 States, and many countries around our beautiful world. I do have to admit I missed a ton of school as Dad felt the best education came from seeing the places in person. I was able to relate to so much more while sitting in church after visiting the Holy Land, gotta say Dad had a vision, even though the teachers thought they could teach geography, history and life in general from a class room better then seeing it in real life. I was able to talk in depth about the Great Pyramids, the Sphinx, and Europe as the teachers were text booking the entire world tour to us as students.

Dad and Mom continued the teaching trips with our children starting at the ages of 3 years old. Summer would arrive and off on a two month road trip with all four grand kids. I think about that today with our grand kids and am amazed on the time, effort and money that had to cost Mom & Dad. But to them it was all about education, even though the kids thought it was a vacation. How cool!

Dad, you are the Rock in my World. Your strength, support and Love are out of this World. It's Dad's World!

You are the best, I love you with all my heart, and Thanks for having me, without you I would never be.

Love Me

The photo is of Dad, myself and Josh (My son, who was married this weekend and now enjoying Costa Rica on their honeymoon, hey wonder if they will fly me there for Fathers Day, I better check for the tickets in the mail tomorrow) 

Please share your Public Thank You and admiration of your Dad, in the ThemThem Group where its not about you, its all about Them!

I have noticed that many cities have only a few members in the Active Rain Network. My particular city has a total of 6 members including myself, 3 of which I have invited to join.

Some times I feel like I'm walking alone in The Rain in my area. I have invited nearly all the area Real Estate Professionals to join this great site with not much luck.

So I ask what are we really doing here in the Rain?

My take, of course we all want to build our business presence, I feel that's #1 on most members list. Admit it or not, it was most of goals when we joined. But the awesome part of getting wet in The Rain is the extended Family that develops.

The comradery of Professional to Professional knowledge sharing, friendship growth and the pure fact of learning to be the best we can be through the great membership base Active Rain radiates is second to none.

I don't write much about our business, is that good or bad? Not sure yet. I feel that sharing ones true self with the world is much more rewarding. Family, friends, respect and truth still out weighs a large bank account, although we all need that side to get us through from day to day.

So Really what are we doing here?

We are charting a new course in Real Estate history. One that is sweeping the Real Estate Profession much like the early years of the cell phone or Internet. The current members on The Rain will be the pioneers of Networking when the rest of the Real Estate world wakes up and jumps on the train. By then, newbies will be seasoned bloggers. We all started at the point of newbyism. (New word, grin). Even the top bloggers sat down and placed their fingers on the key board one day, pushed the first key to start their blogging history. The process is much like learning to ride a bike. Newbies, your first post may not get 10 comments, oh well! You are learning to peddle. Peddle yourself by combining a little about your business, your life, your area, your family and friends.

Life in general is much like a race. By being involved and getting your feet wet in The Rain, you will be the leader in your area.

It's not the points, (that's a score card) but what you do with this great tool that will help you reach the winners circle.

Be positive, leave the umbrella behind and enjoy The Rain drops on your head!

Have a great day in The Rain,

Duane

I would like to invite you to join the ThemThem Group where members practice the "5-P" approach of "Positive People Providing Positive Posts" to others! Here its not about you, it's about "Them"!

Happy 4 month anniversary to the 940 members of the Group, WTG!

Non-members, Please join us in the Active Rain Network.