God's Covenant in Full Color Effect

Did anyone see the double rainbow in the sky tonight?  Well I did thanks to being at the office and it being pointed out to me.  I was inside on the computer.  I was happy to go outside and capture the sight.

It reminded me of the word "promise".  The story of Noah.  After reading the passage it made me aware of something I never recall reading before or never read with understanding.

Anyways, I'm thankful for the Double Rainbow.  It is a double reminder of God's promise never to destroy the world by flood again.  How fitting after a day like yesterday when men lives where taken at the hand of other men.  It is almost seems like wearing a wedding band, or some other symbolic gesture to remind you of the promises you have made no matter how crazy things get.  A very touching reminder.

I recorded a video of  the part of the rainbow my camera captured.  It did not pick up the double rainbow as well as it shown.  It barely picked up the double rainbow at all.  I saw where other people have tweeted, posted, and shared their experience witnessing the double rainbow as well.

Genesis 9 (King James Version)

Genesis 9

King James Version (KJV)

Genesis 9

 ¹And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.
 ²And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered.
 ³Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.
 ⁴But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.
 ⁵And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man.
 ⁶Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.
 ⁷And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein.
 ⁸And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying,
 ⁹And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you;
 ¹⁰And with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth.
 ¹¹And I will establish my covenant with you, neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.
 ¹²And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations:
 ¹³I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.
 ¹⁴And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud:
 ¹⁵And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.
 ¹⁶And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.
 ¹⁷And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.
 ¹⁸And the sons of Noah, that went forth of the ark, were Shem, and Ham, and Japheth: and Ham is the father of Canaan.
 ¹⁹These are the three sons of Noah: and of them was the whole earth overspread.
 ²⁰And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard:
 ²¹And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent.
 ²²And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without.
 ²³And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness.
 ²⁴And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him.
 ²⁵And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.
 ²⁶And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.
 ²⁷God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.
 ²⁸And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years.
 ²⁹And all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years: and he died.

Now I know there is probably a scientific explanation for the appearance of the rainbow as well.  But it is outside the scope of my scientific readership.

Thank you Lord, Amen!

A 13 Year Old with a Whole Lot of History!

When I logged into Google today, September 27, 2011, I saw the Doodle for today was a theme indicating it is their 13th Birthday.  My goodness how time really does fly.  I see they are ranked #1.  How many years?  I don't know.  I know they are one of the #1 sites I go to every day. Do you remember how they used to look?  Well I used the WayBack Button on Alexa's site to help me reminisce.  Does the screen shot below bring back memories?

Just recollecting over how many ways Google has helped me in my real estate profession.
Google Maps - I remember using MapQuest, Yahoo Maps, and then for some reason Google won out hands down and I can't tell you the last time I went to the other sites for maps.  As Google maps came on the scene and went through some iterations I began using Google Maps almost exclusively at some point. 
Gmail - I use Gmail to receive my email on my phone because I can never get the settings or it could be because of the 24,000 emails on my domain name email acccount.  I can get the all the new messages forwarded right to my Gmail account and read them on my phone.  They sometimes hit my phone before they hit my own email server.  It is a big time saver and helps me to reply back very quickly to my clients and business associates from wherever I am.  Gmail all keeps a conversation thread. How sweet!


Google Apps - I love all the Google apps on my Android phone and desktop.  I can sync my Google calendar and that's one of the apps I like the most.

Google AdSense - I hope to get a check one day!  It's been five years and I'm getting close. It helps to bring more visitors to my website I'm sure.

Google Analytics - I can see what part of the world people view my website from.  It details how many views they get and other data to assist with improving my online marketing.  One day I plan to use this feature to its full potential.  I am still getting use to the new interface
.
Google Alerts - notifies of my information I want to receive alerts about like my name, my company name, some of my competitors, etc.  It is like having my own in-house damage control and PR staff.  One day I hope to be exciting enough or successful enough where I can get some good juicy stuff to read about me.
Google Search - the main reason why I ever started really using Google in the first place.

Google It - it's a term I use when people ask me a question it has saved me countless hours of time.  Especially when assisting my granddaughters with history projects, science projects, and homework in general.

It's Google's 13th Birthday today and I sure do appreciate them!

Contests and Sweepstakes | This Old House

I was online today, September 25th, 2011 and saw a link to this Sweepstakes entry. If you like sweepstakes like I do you may want to enter this one.

Contests and Sweepstakes | This Old House

I bookmarked their page because it appears they have some articles which I definitely can find interesting enough to read. The first time I ever recall visiting this site and with having an older home I can definitely see this site coming in handy.

Thanks to the Twitter who Tweeted this post on Twitter today.  I would say I hope you win but I want to win!

By the way, when I was looking for the url to post in this blog I found another sweepstakes via an ad on the site, a link to www.Havertys.com for a sweepstakes they are having.

I love the idea of entering on line and not having to go through the snail mail process. 

Good luck! 

Lynne

Green-Eyed Monster Epidemic

As a child I remember asking for more and more ice cream all the time.  I loved butter almond ice cream.  The local ice cream parlor had my favorite and it tasted homemade.  

I remember we had a ice cream churning machine where we would sometimes have homemade ice cream at home.  Now wishing I would have paid attention.  That was some really good ice cream too.  

Well if I ever my grandmother felt I was over indulging she would say "greed is a green-eyed monster".  You know grandmas would always preach as long as you have your basic necessities you are fine.  However, I was normally an extremist, competitive, and had to have what I felt was everything.  My mother's favorite term for me was always the "B" word.  And did I care?  No.  As long as I got what I wanted I didn't care what anyone thought about it.  Hey I was notorious for telling anyone to kiss my derriere.  She often referred to me as selfish, inconsiderate, and ungrateful "B" to boot.  I say “referred” because she would be ranting it to my grandmother as if I were not present in the room.  The thing was as my grandmother used to always tell my mother “if you create a monster you have to live with it, you’re the reason she’s the way she is”.  I used to just ask for stuff to see how far my mother would go.  She would get furious at me but she would get it.  She didn't want her children to want for anything.

Well fast forward numerous years and along comes three people who would change my perspective on life forever.  I am a true believer there is a reason for every season.  Nurturing my children taught me life was not always about me and the things I wanted.  If I had not had my children I admittedly would have been ruthless.  My eye was on the prize of success as I had defined it.  My agenda after having my first child was to graduate from college, go to graduate school for information systems and then law school.  Do a CPA and a law degree and become a monster of a corporate lawyer specializing in cases involving business mergers and acquisitions.  I was always taught to take no prisoners.  Don't get me wrong I was always generous at spirit.  Most often I shy away from people because when I get too close I want to help, and help, and help.  I am one of those who will give and help beyond fault if I don't brace myself.

The topic I chose to write about today if you haven't already figured it out is "greed".  Greed is definitely a green-eyed monster.  Green may be attractive, however when you throw greed in the equation it becomes a whole product.  

One thing I've been witnessing over the last several months and at other times in my life time is how greed consumes folks.  How folks apparently unbeknownst become green-eyed monsters.  They want to use other folks as their foot solider.  They wear out a person using up their skills and abilities for their own self gain never giving anything back.  Once they use you up then you are of no value to them anymore.  I hate to see people fall victim to this syndrome but it happens.  

I've seen what appears to be the monster green all over so many folks lately it is pathetic.  I am not saying it in a judgmental type fashion but as a matter of practicality.  I don't know if it is the state of the economy or what it is.  You have folks who talk about and demean others for the mean green.  Folks will try and throw in stuff totally unrelated to the business at hand for the mean green.  Folks will divert other people leads they’ve worked and earned to other people for the mean green.  Folks will overlook everyone available within eyesight and call in someone from a distance for the mean green.  Folks will tell people you don't work there anymore or they have not seen you recently when you're sitting right in the room with them for the mean green.  Folks will show favor upon others and disregard those who have worked hard and earned their prospects for the mean green.  Folks will tell others not to talk to you you're too smart for the mean green.  Folks will get envious and jealous and form clicks for the mean green.  Folks will sell you out for the mean green.  Folks will try and tarnish your image for the mean green. Folks will work behind your back against you and smile in your face for the mean green.  Folks will disregard how snaking your business, snaking your clients, snaking your opportunities will affect you for the mean green.  I wonder what my ancestors who used to use the phrase it is a dog eat dog world would say about the antics to acquire the mean green today?

Well I'm glad lessons of greed where instilled upon me when I was younger.  I am thankful for all the Sundays my grandmother would drag me off to church by my ear if she had to just to instill upon me the basic values of treating folks with dignity and respect regardless of the mean green.  I'm thankful for the Christian-based mentors along the way who were successful and always challenging me to make money and don't let money make me.

Now green is good to have.   I won't eat anybodies cookies because I am not a green-eyed cookie monster.  Are you?  

When I get my green I want the mean to stand for meaning.  I want it to mean something special to me that I keep my head lifted up high and be thankful for.

Stay prayed up, stay blessed, there is no testimony without a test.

God grant me the serenity 
to accept the things I cannot change; 
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time; 
Enjoying one moment at a time; 
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace; 
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it; 
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life 
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen.

--Reinhold Niebuhr

In loving memory of

A Shot in the Rear and You're On Your Way

At first it starts off real subtle.  A slight indication things are about to change.  As the years progress things get worse.  You try and figure out what is wrong and no one can figure it out.  After ten years aha someone finally pinpoints what the issue is. 

Okay the issues are identified and solutions are put in place for a remedy. If not a complete remedy something that will cause the issues not to escalate further.  Like a bandage on a wound so it won't get further infected.

Okay years past and there is nothing really you can do but deal with it.  The sleepless nights, the long days.  All you can do is deal with it.

There's a fix here and there's a fix there but there's not a permanent fix anywhere.  You begin to pray feverishly for a solution.  The more you pray the worse the situation gets.  Do you lose faith?  No you pull faith out of the bag you need more it.  You call on your friends, you call on your co-workers, you call on your fellow parishioners, you call on everyone and they all lend their moral support.  Never relenting after over years upon years.  You keep up a good smile.  You keep up a good spirit.  Things are going to get better they just have to.

It is truly amazing how one person can endure so much pain and others don't know what pain is.  I spent the night in the emergency room with my mother.  I'm now recanting her unending faith.  No matter how many trials and tribulations she has gone through with her MS.  It started out with MS and has progressed into about 18 other things she still has faith. 

Her primary doctor won't prescribe her any more medicine and won't return the calls from her or her nurse.  The emergency room won't keep her overnight.  They realize all the conditions, medications, and etc.  some are working with each other and some are working against each other.  The physician she had last night I think was one of the best ones yet.  The situation remains it is nothing they can do to remedy her situation.  All they can do is give her a shot for pain in the rear and send her on her way.

Regrettably it reminds me a lot of the current state of the economy.  It has given a lot of people a shot in the rear and sent them packing.  I hate to be so doom and gloom but on today I wish I had the power to control pain. 

I know my mother is  a true trooper.  I look at her and wonder sometimes why she is not mad with the world.  Smile, greet, love and embrace the world every opportunity she gets.  She can keep things stirred up at times too.  All years of being in the work a day world was her practice run.  It had its benefits.  The quest to the top is not easy you have to stand steadfast and most importantly always keep the faith. 

Just Turned 48 and I feel great!

My birthday was Friday, September 16th.

Social media websites really have a girl at heart when they set up shop.  Thank goodness for FACEBOOK.  It feels great to get so many Happy Birthday wishes. 
All those good blessings certainly brought a smile to my face.

I really have to say I was really impressed with the Google Doodle on my birthday actually having a birthday theme with the text tip "Happy Birthday" pop up.  It was really cool.  Okay if you read my blog you already know FACEBOOK, Google, Email, my website are four items I check everyday.  I posted Happy Birthday wishes to myself on my website.  All bases covered.  lol!

My eight year old granddaughter snapped this photo of me today .  I don't know who wasn't keeping still me or her.  But you can see by the motion in the photo it was one of us.  Too funny!  She is so sweet and adorable I wish I could spread a little of her sweetness all around the world. 

I feel great.  I feel so blessed to have turned 48. I remember a little over two years ago I was just about counted out for celebrating any more birthdays.  I will never forget that down time in my life.  I was working feverishly (literally) to make it my best year ever. The market is not as conducive as it was then.  If I hadn't gotten sick I think I would have been close enough to taste the sweetness of my best the goals I set. I probably would have hit no where near that mark but I was about to die trying.  Now I feel like bouncing back in step again.  I have high hopes of making great strides from this point forward.  I lost weight and put it back on and now have gradually lost weight again and it seems to be staying off.  The number one reason why I feel great.  I didn't realize how much heavier carrying weight feels until I lost it.  I have more energy and look forward to losing a few more pounds.  Keep up limiting the amount of fried food I eat, cut back on eating burgers everyday, I have even as of late cut back on the number of hot fudge sundaes with nuts I eat.


Now I finally feel revived like it is coming to me.  Heck in this market I'll settle for 10%.  But I'm not a 10% type person.  I'm a 110% type person.  I give my all and then some.

Back in June 2008 I remember being in so much pain I was praying Lord just take me and let me out of this misery.  My parents were praying for my healing and recovery.  Their grace prevailed over mine.  Even my father who never was a praying person let my mother know he was praying for me.  She told me she had never said anything about praying to her before in all the years she had known him.

I didn't enjoy my birthday with the apple of my eye but I did talk to him the day before.  Of course, he didn't even realize it was my birthday.   Maybe this year I'll make enough money to fly a Goodyear blimp over his house or job in big letters "have you wished Lynne Ruffin a happy birthday today?".  I don't think I could be any more obvious than that.  I just hope he realizes the Lynne Ruffin in the message will be me.  Of course I won't do that.  I love a challenge.  I think that's why I am so intrigued with him.  I seem to be the furthest thing from his mind.

Let me go show off my 48 and still look great shape.  I have on the victory dress I wrote about in  a much earlier blog and it zipped just fine!

Have a great day! 

All I Want For My Birthday Is...

Too old to believe in fairy tales?  Well not me.  I think it keeps you young at heart.  Or maybe it is because I have been reading a lot more fairy tales since my grandchildren are back in school as part of their nightly homework for their reading log.  If fairy tales really do come true, and I've read a lot of them in my lifetime, I sure hope one comes to reality on my birthday, Friday, September 16th, 2011.

And speaking of things which stand the test of time it brings to mind the famous poem by Elizabeth Barrett Browning which has also withstood time.   I can't recall the number of times I've heard it in different mediums over my life time or at least the words to it, here goes:

Number 43

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

I love thee to the depth and breadth and height

My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight

For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.

I love thee to the level of everyday's

Most quiet need, by sun and candlelight.

I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;

I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.

I love thee with the passion put to use

In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.

I love thee with a love I seemed to lose

With my lost saints,—I love thee with the breath,

Smiles, tears, of all my life!—and, if God choose,

I shall but love thee better after death.

                                        --- Elizabeth Barrett Browning

 Not to completely embarrass myself I won't blast him on the Internet.  But all I want for my birthday is him and not just a hug and kiss on the forehead.  When I blow out my birthday candles I want my eyes to open up and see his big beautiful smile looking at me in the center of the table from a candlelit dinner for two to the tune of our favorite Anthony Hamilton song with a mix of some Luther Vandross, Teddy P, and all the other soul smoothness we can appreciate for us to come into unison as our age comes into unison on that day.    

Some things like stories of fairy tales stand the test of time.  I want the person who pulls at my heartstrings to not only become my prince but my king.  How do I get him to even notice me?  How many fairy tales have a happy part where the woman is the aggressor.  I just can't do that. They say a closed mouth doesn't get fed but I think it is a little too much as a woman to tell a man who I don't even think has any interest in me that I want him to be holding the fork which feeds me my birthday cake.  I'm going to need to stop reading so many fairy tales.  Back to work the kids are long gone to bed.

Doesn't the Title Say It All?

Recently, it dawned on me maybe some people really don't realize how much actually goes into being a "real estate sales associate".  The time, resources, marketing, administrative functions, networking, negotiating, working with buyers, working with sellers, working with investors, photography, image control, text messages, phone calls, cold calling, walk-ins, walk-ups, open houses, classified advertising, print advertising, mailings, etc.  for the ultimate challenge of being paid on a performance based commission scale as a self-employed individual.  When I put on my resume that I am a licensed real estate to me it speaks volumes. 

I have had very challenging administrative, professional, technical, teaching, and training positions in my lifetime and I can honestly say being a real estate agent has been one of the most challenging of all.  Why?  Things don't happen until I actually get out and make some effort towards making it happen. 

One day I wrote a blog post on ActiveRain which is a real estate portal where I have seen custom profiles for real estate agents, mortgage professionals, brokers, home inspectors, home stagers, real estate consultants, real estate appraisers, title companies, and the list goes on.  I normally read a little of what everyone has going on via their blog on ActiveRain because there is a lot which impacts the real estate industry.  I read posts from all over.  There is so much to learn, absorb, and benchmark from. 

Well, getting back to the point at hand, being a real estate professional encompasses a whole lot.  I know it may not be the case with everyone and I don't think I am the norm.  I am single so I get to be up early and stay up late and work all day at what I do.  I probably couldn't have a husband to put up with my schedule.  Oh did I mention sacrifice.  At times there are a lot of sacrifices.   We will sacrifice our planned events to show a house.  It is like the world of a starving musician, at times when the market is slow, you take a gig anytime you can get it. 

Below is an excerpt from a blog post I posted preivously on ActiveRain:

Oh the Professional Title Requires More Than You Think! (Members Only)

Today a very important thought came to mind: "As a real estate agent there's a lot in my job description."

•Marketing Skills - advertise and promote properties for sale, promote my expertise


•Written Communication Skills - write contracts, write blog posts, write profiles highlighting me


•Verbal Commnication Skills - talk with buyers, sellers, asset managers, brokers, telemarketers


•MS Word Skills - mail merge for letters, postcards, special promotional events


•MS Excel Skills - seller net sheet calculations, marketing campaign lists, import data for asp pages


•MS Access Skills - active server pages which display on my website


•MS Publisher Skills - just listed flyers, marketing brochures, event flyers


•MS Paint Skills - add banners to photos like reduced, just listed, create custom banners


•NotePad Skills - strip html and get raw data from electronic data interchange attempts

•Video Creation - home made, portal created videos to post on YouTube to embed on websites

•Analytical Skills - figure out which markets are best to target, to use best practices for success

•Negotiator -keep contracts live, negotiate with vendors to get best prices for work to be done for closing

•Advanced Administrative Skills - dotting the i's and crossing the t's, being the front office person, back office person, and field person in day-to-day transactions, keeping a schedule for a very business professional (me)

•Networking - it is a must to try and stay top-of-mind with our sphere of influence, colleeagues, other real estate related professions, local contacts, long distance contacts (relocation clients), other business professionals

Out of all I wrote I forgot one of the biggest things I do which I spend a lot of time doing.   Well now I can think of two:   websites and blogging.  My FrontPage skills helps me try and get additional exposure for my listings by creating, designing, and maintaining my own websites.  The two I spend the most time on are my LynneRuffin.com and my House1st.com website.  I have a company branded site which I have taken the time to customize my version and have it pointing to my domain LynneRuffin.net.   At one point I was up to over 25 domains I purchased to promote my real estate business efforts.  I quickly learned it was taking me more time to manage all those domains and taking away from time I could be spending do real stuff like real estate.  It also requires the ability to refine processes to increase efficiency and promote sales.  My ultimate goal is to have a system in process like a growth venture, I don't have to be hands on all the time for it to reap the success I am striving for. 

Key:  doing it all with a smile! 

It's Time to Hit the Books!

Let's get it started:  School Year 2011-2012 we have weathered the storm (hurricane Irene) and now we are ready, willing, and able to get going doing with taking this school year by storm.  The calendars have been set, the bus schedules have been let, I found the links and posted them to my website today for the Hampton Roads Virginia area for you to get.

The children are excited!  Hopefully the excitement will turn in to the momentum for them to do extremely well all year long. I thought those who are searching the web for school bus schedules and school calendars for the Hampton Roads area may appreciate the links below:

Bus Schedules for Hampton Roads Schools:

• Chesapeake Public Schools Bus Schedule

• Hampton Public Schools Bus Schedule

• Newport News Public Schools Bus Schedule

• Norfolk Public Schools Bus Schedule

• Portsmouth Public Schools Bus Schedule

• Suffolk - sorry I wasn't able to find a working link

• Virginia Beach Public Schools Bus Schedule

School Calendars for Hampton Roads Schools.

• Chesapeake Public School Calendar

• Hampton Public School Calendar

• Newport News Public School Calendar

• Norfolk Public Schools School Calendar

• Portsmouth Public School Calendar

• Suffolk Public School Calendar

• Virginia Beach Public School Calendar 

  Wishing all the school children a fantastic year!  Be safe, be courteous, and most of all be very, very, studious.  A new school year is the greatest opportunity for a new start!  Make it count!

Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift that is why we call it present.   Be are ready to show up and show out in a positive way on the first day and every day of this school year! 

Think About the Little Guy!

Are you about to go into foreclosure? Losing a home isn't easy. As a homeowner you're probably mad as heck at the bank for foreclosing on a home you have put your heart, money, soul, and time into making it into what it is today. It is not just a house to you it is a home.

I feel your pain. I feel your aggression. As a real estate agent the pass few years definitely have not been easy for me. But I'm glad I'm in the profession because I realize all acts of retaliation don't impact the big guys. It is the little guys who suffer before, during, and after the process. Yes the banks will take some losses and probably some heavy hits as well. Let's face it no one is really "winning" during the foreclosure process. It is one of those lose-lose situations. You're losing your home which you may only have one of and the bank is losing money which they have lots of.

Okay so you begin to think of ways to retaliate against the bank. Wouldn't it be awesome to rip out the carpets, pour concrete down the plumbing, make the HVAC system inoperable, bust a couple of windows, punch holes all over the walls, light a fire in a gas fireplace, pull the cabinets off the walls, paint the walls a dark hideous color, dig up the garden, write scriptures all over the walls, pour tar on the floors, downgrade your upgrades, take out all the appliances, take down the light fixtures, spread dead bugs all around, leave the place trashed, leave food in the refrigerator to spoil and smell gross, leave trash throughout the house, puncture the exterior siding, take down the porch railings, rip off some fascia, rip a blade off all the ceiling fans, leave a pet behind to suffer, or whatever else deplorable comes to mind? It's all about venting your frustration in a physical way right? Wrong! All wrong!

STOP!!!

Were you ever a first time home buyer? Did you hope for an affordable home which was clean, ready to move right into?

My plea is for the little guy. You're not hurting the bank they have money. The ones who truly feel hurt are the first time home buyers who are trying to get the banks money for a distressed property sale which is within their budget. Optimistically hoping one of the distressed property sales will be their first dream home. They are excited about going out to take a look and when they get there the property is in poor condition or vandalized. They can't believe someone lived in those horrible house conditions you left behind.

If the repairs are too extensive they have to seek alternate financing which will allow for repairs and to finance the home and the repairs normally takes them over their budget. Their dream home has been deemed unfit for habitation in some cases.

Here comes Mr. Investor because he is the only one who can afford to pay cash or maybe meet the requirements for a loan it would take to acquire the property. Thus, you're not hurting the bank in the long run you are hurting the consumer who now cannot afford to buy the home. Mr. Homeowner did your dreams turn to tunnel vision during the foreclosure process? It's hard but don't let it. As I encourage my buyers to do stay optimistic. If it is meant to be it will be.

I know it is hard and it is depressing to lose what was once probably your dream home. If you leave the property in good shape the next buyer will probably appreciate the same features about the home which motivated you to buy it. But please make a little effort to leave the home in the condition where a first time home buyer can move right in. You were a first time home buyer once so you can probably relate to my plea.

The bank you're mad at is probably not going to ever physically come on the property after your hardship. They will be send contractors, vendors, real estate agents to handle their non-performing assets. If things are too wacky they may be even sending the cops to look at possible vandalism charges against you.

Give the little guy a break! Show them the pride in home ownership.

Get Mad - Your Prices Are Just Way Too High!

I received a call from a telemarketer on yesterday. For some reason it caused me a lot of unrest during the night. I would rather go to sleep and wake up with the same person on my mind who has been on my mind for the past couple of years. And the one day he was no longer on my mind he called and was back on my mind again all over again. It's so bad I asked him to pray for me. He's a good guy so I don't mind him being on my mind.

Moving on. Back to the telemarketer call which is apparently all over me for some reason. It actually seemed like the dude who called me got an attitude at the end because I told him I was not going to pay for the services he was offering on any level. I already pay out enough money each month on different portals. What he was offering wasn't even a nip in the bud for what I'm already receiving at about 10 times less the cost.

Thankfully I received a good call and a bad call yesterday from telemarketers. Another portal calling asking me to sign up for their expanded services for half off and the guy was very pleasant when I told him I just couldn't afford to commit at this time my bank account was drained from all the other services I am paying for. He was very polite and let me know they could work with me on pricing in the future and the special they had emailed me in regards to three days ago was only good for three days and it was the last day I could take advantage of it. Have a nice day type ending.

Well getting back to rude dude. He had different tiers of services. Little did he know his stats were not impressive. My personal websites get more activity than his portal in this region based on the net meeting we had where he controlled the presentation and screens from his end as he pointed out stats which are typically of interest to real estate professionals.

At the end of the presentation he offered the higher service first and went down. He ended up asking me something in the neighborhood of would I want any of the services. My reply was "no, the prices are way to high." I was looking at the prices on the different packages right on the screen he was displaying. He seemed to take offense to my response. I was just being truthful.

I am really thinking now it would be nice if the different real estate portals could do a price comparison chart. Similar to the price comparison chart when you are comparing prices to buy domain names and it has a button to click on to compare prices just like when ordering books online or products from other portals like Amazon.

At bare minimum you would expect a telemarketer calling from the West Coast to have done their research as to what agents are generating in this area, what would be a fair and reasonable amount to pay in this area. Especially when your offices are headquartered right here. Least do your own little comparative research before offering a service that can be obtained from other sources. It is a new day. I can set up my own dashboard with my own Google gadgets. I don't need to be out any good money every month to do that. I know about enterprise log ins. Log in once and it automatically logs you into all your social media accounts, email, etc. I also know how to click the "Stay Signed in Button" and the "Save Password" button offered for a lot of portals which costs me about one or two seconds of my time to click on the check box. I'm not new to computers I am one of those who are true to computers and actually try and use them to the full potential of my aptitude to serve my purposes.

The website presented was nice. I would love to be making the kind of money where I could just say sign me up. I am single and I am self-employed. Unfortunately I am not rolling in dough. Anyways, it just was not worth the price he was asking. I didn't set the fee schedule I just declined it.

Based on his reaction I doubt if I ever will use anything more than the free service the portal provides. The reason why I am using the free service is because my information is cached from when I paid for their services before. Rather than have my information cached with old data I use the free version to keep my profile information updated. Often their portal comes up on the first or second page of Google when I search my name.

As I told him on the phone I was paying for their service monthly before and they showed one thing on the interface as my receiving all the leads from my efforts. However, they were not even savvy enough to realize it showed on one of their own screens who was actually receiving my leads on the back end. The local MLS had my leads redirected to someone else from the feed information they were displaying. I emailed them about it and nothing changed. My leads were going to another agent at another company.

He says their new system doesn't allow things to be done the old way anymore. Great! My biggest concern has been resolved. But the other concern now is your prices are at least four times higher than they were before. It seems the only massive change was an update to the version of the dashboard utilized to make it interface with Google gadgets and other newer technology apps. The new dashboard features is impressive, however, the price is oppressive.

I don't know too many agents who could afford to chunk out a big chunk of money each month in this market. Yes only 23 agents signed on in this market for the number of agents in this area speaks volumes. We have an area of very intellectual folks here. The statistics on the number of agents who signed up says it best.

My challenge to rude dude is to come off your west coast high horse and take what I said to action to devise a viable solution on increasing the number of participants to your system in this area. Key component "pricing".

The portals with effective pricing for the value they offer are booked up. I can't even buy zip codes, featured home listings, etc. because they are sold out of the areas I want at prices I am willing to pay.

I would rather take my money and pay for the more expensive zip codes and cities on their portal if I had a couple extra hundred dollars to spend each month and buy up some stuff I declined for the higher priced tiers on theirs. Apparently based on my stats from their portal my own personal stats are higher for number of views on one of my listings than your portal receives for the region here amongst all agents on rude dude's site. Maybe I should have shared my stat reports with him, they are more impressive for me as a single agent than all of the views combined for the agents in the area receive on his portal.

The component on his site which I would really love to have if the leads were going to actually come to me is the lead generation tools. (at a reasonable price only though).

It is nothing personal it is just business. Being self-employed is running your own business and I have to stay mindful of that. Part of running any business is making decisions. The decisions of the heart I wish I had more control over. However, the decisions where the stats, facts, and figures I try and base on logic. It is just not logical for me to opt to pay for something where I will not be receiving more bang for my buck. I could eat at the seafood restaurant I like in this area several times in a month for the cost of your service. Hey, I could even take all my grandchildren once a month if I was just looking for intrinsic value for my money. When I pay out money for business purposes I want business value.

If you were to take time and shop the prices of what others have to offer you would be dropping your prices about 75% dude is what I should have told him. I figure I probably would have gotten cursed out that point. Good thing I had to bring the call to a close because I was waiting on a customer to get in contact with me on his lunch break. But I don't regret not having told him that because it probably would have ensued into a heated debate over nothing. And I say over nothing because I still wouldn't have signed on at his prices.

Time to get up and get going to see what today has in store. Have a blessed one everybody! Please but please handle your telemarketing calls a lot better than me and don't let the stuff linger on your mind. As my grandma use to tell me "It just don't worth it!" No matter how broken the English.

Lynne