Uncategorized October 24, 2011

News from the Club – October 25, 2011

New Technology is great but it seems to be advancing so fast that the average person can’t keep up!!  What good is all this “good” stuff if we don’t have the training, time or energy to learn what it’s all about?!  We don’t really!  Relax!  We just need to do our best to keep up with what our own particular needs and environment request!   Some of us need to know more than others and some of don’t need to know any at all.   That is, we don’t all have to know the latest and the greatest but just those things that can keep “our” everyday business, life and families up-to-date and current with the technological world.  The more I learn the more I see how it can benefit almost anyone in any profession.  It does seem a little overwhelming with everything from: I-phone, X Box, Wii, W 7, QR codes, GPS, Blackberry, Droid, Web, Blog, Bluetooth, MP3 and things I can’t even imagine or comprehend!  Windermere just updated all the personal agent websites last week!  A majority of us don’t like change and the websites are a little more difficult than they were presented to be but we are figuring them out!  Of course, at first we like to whine and complain a little but in the long run, these new sites are going to be great!  Next Windermere will change their main Home Page and search Website to be more user friendly and combine some of the most popular attributes from other sites that clients are demanding.  The best of all worlds!  Before the end of the year our franchise Windermere/CIR for Camano Island and Stanwood will hopefully be reorganized with a type of “cloud” web sharing for our agents which will be another change!  A lot of changes coming before the end of the year to get up and running for a great start to 2012!  It seems like a lot of things all at once but we just have to take them as they come, do what we can, learn as much as we can in the time we have, move on and keep going.  In addition to last week’s blog of staying positive, it is much easier to embrace the new ideas, technology and changes coming our way.  Real Estate has and is changing as well.  We can now be at home or any hot spot on our computers and look at every entire property For Sale in any State or City, we can use our I-phones, Blackberry’s or Droids and the QR codes to go to any listed property and shop for exactly what we want. We can drive around and use our GPS on our phones or handhelds and know where all the listings are located, then use the QR codes again to get either agent information and/or home information.  We can get our I-Pads or Notebooks to go “On Line” as well and get all the information we are looking for from almost anywhere.  Another reason why we as agents need to keep up with as much technology as possible to keep up with our technologically driven clients and the world!

Uncategorized September 19, 2011

News from the Club 9/19

It never ceases to amaze me what a small world it is and how much smaller it gets all the time!  Obviously with the increase in technology, the cyber world and “air space” is most definitely smaller, quicker and easier!  But our actual physical connection to people and places is also seemingly smaller.  Is it really or is that only what adults say?  Do children in today’s world feel it too?  Is it only because I am bigger, older?  In any case, our lives are connected in ways we don’t even realize or always see.  Any person, at any time either walking next to you or past you could have known someone you’ve known or may know currently.  There may be a previous or future connection with someone within arm’s reach.  As in my favorite movie, “It’s a Wonderful Life” you will never know how many lives you will affect everyday and what would happen if you never touched them.  So a man drove past the office with a new landscape business and came by to introduce himself.  He starts saying how he got a wonderful owner contract on a property on the Island and on and on.  Come to find out that the previous owner is a very good friend of mine!  Another client called my phone number from a sign and came by later to chat about Real Estate and remembered that he chatted with my husband over the phone a few weeks previous!  What are the odds that he would call my number from a random sign?  A conversation while a couple was waiting in a line hundreds of miles away brings them to Camano; they stop by the office just to get a recommendation and information on a Bed and Breakfast.  The conversation in the line was with a Camano Island resident who said how wonderful she loved her new home up here and that they should definitely visit.  The resident I sold a home to several months earlier!!  Real Estate activities and Pending sales have and continue to stay up now at 44 from 50 last week for Camano Island!!  Those missing 6 Pending, went to closed sales which is still nearly one a day!!  Strange, fascinating and such coincidental meetings and connections!  I love my job!  I meet so many interesting and unique people and most have become not only clients but friends for years.  The continued stream of buyers in the current market continues not only on Camano but as well in Snohomish!  With more and more people coming to the area, I am anxious to see what new connections will come and who I will meet next!!  We will only be having our Club Friday for the next three weeks.  This week the 23rd, I will be open without a sponsor due to some other engagements and next week, September 30th with a double Open House between Windermere and the Country Club Fire Station 4033 Local Fire Fighters!!  We will end our season with Greenworks of Washington on October 7th.   Come in Friday or any day of the week to see who you might meet!!