I got a notice the other day, and I’ve had a client receive one before too, asking me to check the model and serial number on my dishwasher to see if it might be one of those that has had problems.
“What is the problem they are concerned with
Searching for ruminant with huge appetite for gorging opportunity in gully…
I love the idea of renting a goat to clear out the unofficial greenbelt area by my house. Not only does it sound effective and “green
Photo Friday: Understanding Place
Continuing on my adventure of trying out different themes each day, I thought I’d try a multi-media Friday…
And zefrank leads us off with an interesting video about place and context via a tour of Vegas:
Athol continues on his quest to collect the worst of MLS photos… This photo highlighting the photographers thumb is a classic!
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Let the hype begin… Where will you be at 7pm on Sunday?
I created a RE.net photo group on Flickr. My idea with the group is that bloggers could/would post group photos from events, seminars, and/or meetups. I added all the relevant photos from my Flickr stream and would love to see some others get involved! (Just ask for an invite!). I plan to continue to add photos of the different events I attend (and host) and would love to see others… (Photos from the upcoming Sellsius duo’s cross-country trip come to mind!).
(signing up for the RE.net group should be easy enough (you’ll need a free yahoo account), but this is the first time I’ve set up a Flickr group. I’d be curious to know if you’re having any issues with the process!)
A chateau in Texas?… Yours for just under $60M (via Luxist)
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Because it was a Wacky Wednesday…
Will Hicks lets us know that there are plenty of US embassies still on the market…
Ron Ares leads us to the ultimate real estate ethics guru: Ted Truitt
[photopress:wacky_wednesday.jpg,thumb,alignright]Because Flipping should only be practiced by professionals…
It’s the little things that get so darn messy…
If you’re willing to follow, Marlow leads us toward a worldly journey of kitchens, bathrooms, bedrooms, etc where there is no normal: Normal Room
And, of course, the original: Wacky Wednesday
Am I watching the end of cable TV as we know it?
No surprise that I don’t watch much TV (and take the time away from reading blogs???), which makes it all the more surprising that I’ve become addicted to Joost.
Joost is a free TV service/technology from the wickedly-smart guys who brought you both distributed music sharing (Kazaa) and distributed telephone service (Skype). It is “cable-style” in the sense there are a bunch of channels dedicated to specific themes from groups like MTV, National Geographic and Comedy Central.
Just based on their reputations, if I was a Comcast executive, I’d be thinking how can we buy these guys out before I have to pay a Skype-like price for a service that Niklas and Janus have made (essentially) free… again. Any resemblance to dis-intermediation efforts in real estate is completely circumstantial! 🙂
My guess (although I’ve not read this anywhere) is that the backbone of this technology is similar their earlier products in that users are sharing the data with each other as oppose to having any one set of servers stream the information. The beauty of this set-up is that after seeding the correct data, it scales extremely well and service actually improves with more users. The idea being that with more users, there is more likely to be someone local to you who is able to stream you the necessarily data bits.
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Niklas and Janus fascinate me in that they continue to pump out products that can only exist in the world of internet technology and allow them to avoid all the pesky hardware issues that follow their competition. Consequently, they build stuff that consumers can (and do) love.
Nonetheless, I agree with the folks from Lifehacker that the quality is not up to cable standards (yet), but I happily overlook this issue thanks to the extreme usability (i.e. fast-forward, multiple programs on any given channel, etc.) as well as the social-networking aspects (i.e. movie chat!). If you’re interested in peeking into the future of TV, I still have two invites to give out! 🙂
What's all the ruckus in West Seattle?
Tonight is a Salute to Armed Forces Night at the Mariner‘s game. Apparently the armed forces practiced their pre-flight pre-game over West Seattle. Go M’s! 🙂
Another item to add to Daylight Savings Time changes… batteries and power cords
I’ve written a few articles about fire prevention one of them linked here: link with respect to a site that has lots of fire prevention tips. I’ve also written about the dangers of space heaters.
Today I want to write about the dangers of old, or overheating electrical cords, specifically, if you are using extension cords or multi-outlet cords in your home. We all do it. In fact, recently I updated all the outlet cords in our home office because we couldn’t remember how old the ones were that we were using. Plus, we upgraded some power surge protectors for those outlet cords that were being used for our office equipment like computers and printers.
What got me thinking about this post though was what I read as I was reviewing a condominium resale certificate for a client the other night. In two months of the Home Owner’s Association board meeting minutes were remarks about fires that had started in individual units over the course of about 6 months. This association only has 67 units and 2 units had experienced fires only a few months apart from each other. While that is a small percentage overall it is still scary that if either of these fires had gotten out of control many more units would have been affected. Granted, this is a building from 1992 so it should have a sprinkler system and hardwired smoke detectors and thankfully both fires were stopped within the units walls. But, what about those buildings that are grandfathered against these requirements? You can see where I’m going with this as we’ve all read stories of those kinds of buildings burning and people being hurt or killed.
It’s imperative that anyone using extension cords be careful and to check or replace them regularly. Perhaps as Daylight Savings Time is a recommended time to change out the batteries in your smoke detectors perhaps it should also be the time to check your power cords around the house.
In Search of a Secret Weapon
You: An articulate, interesting and dynamic real estate agent/broker with a desire and determination to turbo-charge your online marketing activities. You have a wild streak and are willing to consider the day (potentially sooner than later) when nearly all of your business is generated online (a la Ardell)
Me: A ruthless online real estate marketing machine looking for a short-term commitment so that we can walk on stage in San Francisco at Inman’s Bloggers Connect conference as the winners of Project Blogger. 🙂
I happen to know that Ardell already has already chosen her secret weapon… so has Jim. While I have a few people in mind, I figured I’d open it up to the RCG community before I commit to anyone. (While not required, it would be helpful if you’ve either already attended one of my seminars or would be willing to attend the March 30 seminar in Pasadena…)
Note that there are a bunch of rules and guidelines, but we’ll do our best to differentiate ourselves by not following too many! I’m of the opinion that no one wins in marketing (personal, professional or corporate) by following the rules. 😉
Also, there was discussion while developing “the rules” on the appropriate amount of money that a participant could spend promoting themselves. If you team with me, this will be a very cheap endeavor. I need someone willing to commit time not money…
You can apply to take part by leaving a comment below. My recommendation is to read up on the event and then convince me that you are hungry and can commit to focusing your marketing activities to the online environment over the next few months. There WILL be a lot of publicity around this event, so this is not for the timid.
And in all seriousness, expect to have a lot of fun!
The Longest Season Ever – Spring Forward
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How much is the market influenced by the fact that it stays light longer on weekdays?
We all know it’s true that people tend to look at property more on weekends, unless it gets dark later on weekdays. We all know the second and third quarters of each year are stronger than the first and last quarters. But how much does that have to do with it getting dark earlier and staying light later?
Well, this is a good year to test that, as tonight is the beginning of daylight savings time. For the first time in, I guess my life, we will turn our clocks forward, one hour, tonight, March 11, 2007.
Compare that to April 6 in 2003, April 4, in 2004, April 3 in 2005 and April 2 in 2006, and we are adding about 36 days to the real estate high season. Will be interesting to see how the March 2007 stats compare to previous years. I think they will be stronger due to DST being pushed earlier.
Maybe that will transcend into April. Maybe sellers who would have listed May 1, will be able to spruce up the home’s exterior earlier this year, with a few hours of daylight after work each night, and get their homes listed a couple of weeks earlier than expected.
I’m just happy that the daffodils are in bloom, I see pink trees everywhere, and starting tomorrow…it will get dark later. One of Seattle’s main claims to fame, is our long, long spring and summer days. And this year, we will have even more of it! Enjoy!
More Fun Than Useful…
Inspired by Doug Walker of Rock Paper Scissors fame (and looking for a way to get Bart’s rear off of the top of RCG now that Inman is sending us a bunch of traffic!), I thought I’d share my celebrity look-alike profile from MyHeritage…
I’m thinking the technology still has a way to go… 🙂