Central Ohio Real Estate Market News

Entries categorized as ‘Commentary’

I think I’m responsible for the “Big 3’s” troubles

December 2, 2008 · 2 Comments

Well, at least if I’m not totally responsible, it’s people with buying habits like me.

I haven’t owned a Ford product since 1971. It was a red ‘65 Mustang. It was wicked on slippery roads, and I wrapped it - and me -around a guard rail that winter, so that was the end of it.

The last Chevy product was a ‘72 Impala … yes, it replaced the Mustang. Had it until ‘77 when it was replaced with a VW Rabbit for a couple years. BAD! BAD!

sports-carThen I had a series of Nissan Z’s - which I LOVED - until ‘89 when I bought a Jeep because I got my first Dobie and he couldn’t fit well in the 2-seater.

I kept that Jeep until ‘98 when a guy on a motorcycle ran into me and nearly totaled it.

So I bought another Jeep - the WEENR-mobile, and I still have it. It’s been a great vehicle that requires very little costly maintenance, it’s paid for, the insurance is now low, it still looks good, it gets me through the snow and it’s perfect for hauling real estate signs. At 126,000 miles, I figure “it’s only broken in”.

jellySo, other than Nissan, nobody has made much money off of me. I know this is silly, but I just have a real problem paying more for a car than my first house cost.

Plus, all the cars now look like jelly beans. 

You other folks are going to have to be the ones to bail out the Big 3, as I’m sitting tight. I’d rather continue to drive my “shoe box” than a jelly bean.

Copyright © 2008. Reproduction of any portion of this blog post or the images is prohibited by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. If this post is being viewed on any site other than www.ReesesPiecesOfRealEstate.com then the material has been stolen without permission. Violators will be reported.

Categories: Commentary · Transportation
Tagged:

Let’s have some fun … answer a poll!

October 22, 2008 · 2 Comments

The program I use to create this blog has added a new feature … the ability to add a poll widget to our posts. Polls can be fun or informative, but of course, on a blog they’re totally un-scientific.

For this first attempt, I’ll keep it simple and ask an easy, non-committal question. So won’t you participate? Simply click on the appropriate white box, then click on the VOTE button to submit your answer. Later, you can click on the ’see results’ to see how others have answered. Remember, your identity won’t be known and for this one, multiple answers are allowed.

Now, wasn’t that more fun than a political poll!

Copyright © 2008. Reproduction of any portion of this blog post or the images is prohibited by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. If this post is being viewed on any site other than www.ReesesPiecesOfRealEstate.com then the material has been stolen without permission. Violators will be reported.

Categories: Commentary · Dog Tails · Surveys

Do you rely on political polls to make up your mind?

October 13, 2008 · 2 Comments

Polls! Polls! Polls! Are you confused about what you hear or read in the media? One poll says that so & so is leading. Another poll reports just the opposite. In January, I wrote about the need to be careful in interpreting what the Talking Heads TV news anchors are saying and the spin that they try to put on events. To say that the media has influenced this presidential election is an understatement.

In yesterday’s Columbus Dispatch, there was yet another example. The headline read: “Obama,McCain in a dead heat in new state poll”. The secondary headline read: “Republican’s September lead disappears amid Wall Street meltdown, credit freeze“.

To get the real skinny on this poll, you would have had to read down to the 4th paragraph, where you would learn that this poll was based on the opinion of 876 LIKELY VOTERS. Now there are millions of potential voters in Ohio. Are we to trust that these 876 are “statistically representative” of those millions? And what does the word “likely” mean? Does it merely mean they are registered, or does it mean these are people who actually might get in their car and take the time to vote in this critical election? Given recent reports of ACORN voter registration fraud, I’d like to know if these “voters” are legit or fake or have registered multiple times, as is being reported.

In the 5th paragraph, we learn that the survey was done VIA PHONE, commissioned by the Ohio Newspaper Organization (remember newspaper editors/owners have their own agenda). Now I realize that the phone is the easiest and most expedient method to conduct surveys, but is it really a reliable way to judge opinions any more? I know many people who no longer have phone land lines, as they have switched totally to cell phones. Then we must consider the demographics of the person who is willing to answer a surveyor’s questions over the phone without hanging up. With so many reports of identity theft, who are these folks willing to talk to a telemarketer over the phone? Are they truly a representative sample of the general voting population?

In my last post on Fall Colors, I drove through many areas of Delaware County and Union County. I could do my own survey results based on the political signs I saw in people’s yards. Based on that “survey”, I would say that McCain is leading 3-to-1. However, I showed homes in Clintonville last week, and if I based my survey on that community north of OSU, Obama would be leading 3-to-1. Now we all know that neither of my surveys are correct, but unfortunately, they may be about as correct as the one touted in The Dispatch!

I think I’ll wait until Nov 5 to see what the REAL POLL said!

Read more on ACORN and voter fraud here and here and here.

Copyright © 2008. Reproduction of any portion of this blog post or the images is prohibited by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. If this post is being viewed on any site other than www.ReesesPiecesOfRealEstate.com then the material has been stolen without permission. Violators will be reported.

Categories: Central Ohio · Commentary · Delaware County · Franklin County · Media · Newspaper · Surveys
Tagged: ,

Friday Musings - Tough Week!

October 3, 2008 · 2 Comments

It’s Friday evening and I just don’t feel like writing anything about hard core real estate. It was a heck of a week wasn’t it?

  • I watched the VP debate, but when I listened to the TV talking heads and pundits this morning, I think they must have watched a different debate than I did.
  • The donkeys blame the elephants and the elephants blame the donkeys. Excuse me, but aren’t the donkeys in control of the Legislative Branch of the government? So do I want CHANGE in the Legislative Branch or the Executive Branch?
  • The talking heads are all the time quoting THE POLLS. Have you ever been called to participate in these polls?
  • I really don’t care who a given celebrity is voting for. Sorry to disappoint them, but their opinion doesn’t matter to me and their Hollywood world isn’t at all like my world.
  • Can we have a “DO-OVER” for the primaries?
  • What do wooden arrows and Puerto Rico rum have to do with helping homeowners stay in their homes? (oink - oink)
  • A blogger noted that if the $750 billion was instead given to all registered voters, then each voter would receive $240,000. Hm-m-m-m. Do you suppose that might fix the economy more than the approved bail-out plan?

Personally, I’d prefer the government to get their hand out of my pocket. I just don’t trust the guys inside the beltway to manage my money as well as I would.

Read about the “bail-out bill” from a real estate perspective by the NAR.

Copyright © 2008. Reproduction of any portion of this blog post or the images is prohibited by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. If this post is being viewed on any site other than www.ReesesPiecesOfRealEstate.com then the material has been stolen without permission. Violators will be reported.

Categories: Commentary

A decade of selling homes in central Ohio

September 7, 2008 · 3 Comments

This month is a fairly important month for me. First of all, it marks a milestone birthday for me, but I’m not going to talk about that … it’s too depressing.

Secondarily, it means that I’ve now been in the real estate business for ten years. When I took the 120 hours of coursework in August 1998, the instructors told us that for every three of us in the room, only one would still be in the business after three years. So I guess I’m a survivor.

During the past ten years, the business of real estate has changed quite a bit. Few brokers even had a web site. I started my own web site in 1999. The MLS system was DOS-based and we could only load one photo which took 24 hours to show up on the listing. Many of us used 35mm cameras and had to have the film developed first before we could scan it to load it into the MLS. Within a year we had digital cameras that used the big floppy disks. We thought we were in heaven.

DOS-based MLS - oh, my!

We searched for homes, sometimes via the MLS DOS system, but big thick books were easier to use, however, they were quite expensive and out-of-date by the time they were printed. Because we couldn’t see photos of the interior of homes, we would often show 20-30 homes to find one that was acceptable. Now we may show only 5-10, because the unacceptable ones are eliminated online.

The paperwork required to complete a transaction was far simpler. Now it seems we have disclosures for the disclosures. The Purchase Offer is now up to 10 pages. We can thank lawyers for that.

9-5 … what’s that?

Ten years ago, agents went to the office daily and unless showing homes, the agent was there all day. Now when I go into the office (only a couple times a week), it’s like a ghost town. Most agents work from home because technology allows us to do that. Of course, it means we must buy all the equipment for our home.

Newspapers and pretty home magazines were the primary source of advertising our homes. Now per NAR surveys, only 7% of buyers found their home using this source. That survey was done a couple years ago, so it’s probably even fewer than that now. Now the Internet is the only game in town!

Aren’t computers supposed to SAVE time?

When we took a new listing, it used to take only an hour or two to enter the data into the MLS and prepare in-home brochures. Now it can take nearly 24 hours just to upload the info and all the photos to ALL the many Internet sites. It’s much more time consuming.

We had pagers not cell phones. People called during regular business hours. Now with our cells, we’re on call all waking hours. I’ve had people call as late as 11:30 pm to ask about a home because they were sitting in front of their computer.

I’m not a pop-tart!

It’s become a less safe business. Now few agents will pop-up to go show a home without first having the caller come into the office. Anymore it’s just too risky to meet a complete stranger in an empty home. Plus, with the complex mortgage programs of recent years, we need to have the buyer pre-qualified first before showing them homes.

The cost of being in the business has increased. Our fees to CBR, OAR, NAR and to our brokers has increased. Realtor.com charges us quite a bit more to have our listings be a Showcase listing. Newspaper ads have gone through the roof - too high for the lack of results. The fees for our web sites has increased. If an agent hasn’t bothered to learn basic web master knowledge, then they must pay a techie to do the work for them. And then there’s the price of gas …….

Clients are still the BEST!

The one thing that hasn’t changed are our clients. They’re still a great bunch of people to work with, to get to know, and to become an important part of their life for a few months.

Copyright © 2008. Reproduction of any portion of this blog post or the images is prohibited by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. If this post is being viewed on any site other than www.ReesesPiecesOfRealEstate.com then the material has been stolen without permission. Violators will be reported.

Categories: Advertising · Commentary · Internet · Real Living HER · Realtors® · Realtors® · Safety · Technology

Show those pearly whites to make life more enjoyable.

June 12, 2008 · No Comments

I have several quality real estate bloggers that I follow. (see the blog roll in the sidebar). One of these bloggers posed a simple comment about something he’s been observing in recent real estate transactions. He asked if other agents have found people to be more testy, making the transaction more stressful for all and he wondered if other agents have noticed this.

The blogger is a very nice, very caring person and has always exhibited the utmost concern for his clients and those he works with. I just know that in person, he is probably excellent in moderating a smooth transaction for all involved. I would link to his blog post, but a bully non-licensed person immediately started attacking this nice blogger with off-topic criticism. In effect, this bully exemplified by his actions the very subject of the post. It got real nasty from that point on.

On a daily basis, we’re subjected to numerous negative news … the economy, gas prices, the war, the election, foreclosure stats, climate disasters, unemployment stats, ad infinitum. After a while, this negativism may have an effect on people’s daily moods. I’ve noticed that people seem more stressed - and for some it is justified if they’re about to lose their homes or their jobs.

As Realtors® we’re really involved in our clients’ lives and may see the best … or the worst … of those people’s personalities. Often we’re a sounding board or a buffer between the seller or buyer. We have to take their rants to let them get it off their chest, then we go forward to the other side in a calm, cool, rational manner to best facillitate successful negotiations. 

Have I noticed the change to attitudes that the nice blogger referred to? Yes.

Have you noticed a difference in your co-workers’ moods regardless of the industry you work in?

When you’re confronted with these testy people, do you join in the fray or do you try to be the voice of reason, trying to console them or calm them down? Maybe we’re going to have to become even more sensitive than in the past, to people’s emotional needs. We don’t always have knowledge of what else might be going on in their lives, so a start is to first give them the benefit of doubt and not take their attack personally.

As anyone who reads my blog on a regular basis knows, I’m into dogs. One thing I’ve always noticed is that when I smile at my loyal friend, it causes a tail to wag. If dogs know what a smile means and react so positive to one, think what that will do with people you meet. We all need more smiles.

Copyright © 2008. Reproduction of any portion of this blog post or the images is prohibited by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. If this post is being viewed on any site other than www.ReesesPiecesOfRealEstate.com then the material has been stolen without permission. Violators will be reported.

Categories: Commentary

I DIDN’T shop till I dropped …

June 8, 2008 · 2 Comments

I dislike shopping. Let me re-phrase that. I dislike shopping for clothes. I like shopping at stores like Home Depot, Lowe’s, Anderson’s or Giant Eagle. But shopping for clothes is akin to sticking toothpicks under my fingernails.

I don’t recall how many years the Polaris Mall (Lewis Center) has been in existence but tonight was the first time I’ve been there, and even then I didn’t go in the Mall portion … just one of the anchor stores close to the parking lot.

I had to bite the bullet because my eldest granddaughter is getting married this Saturday. We’ve known the wedding date for nearly a year, so I guess you could call me a 1st class Procrastinator. The “mother-of-the-bride” told me what I could/should wear.

I “think” I found something acceptable … I’ll need to run it by the “M-O-T-B” for final approval. I’ve still got to buy a couple more things since I ran out of patience - couldn’t take the pain under the fingernails any longer.

As I was trying to select some jewelry, a 2-yr old was screaming at the top of her lungs and the mother simply ignored it. This went on for a good 15 min. Another lady near me groaned that she HATED shopping and mumbled something about today’s kids being out of control. I sympathized with the toddler. Hey, if I could cry I would, too!

I also learned … the hard way … that some restrooms are UNISEX. When did THAT happen! I opened the door under the “RESTROOM” sign … and walked in on man standing. (I’m still working on getting THAT image out of my mind.) HINT: if you’re using a unisex restroom designed to only hold one person, it might be wise to LOCK the door!

When I was in the Fitting Room, I quickly lost patience with trying to undo the little ribbony things that hold the clothes to the hanger. The outfit I selected was 3-pieces so I had to “fight” with 6 of these little ribbony things that were wound around the neck of the hanger so tightly I couldn’t undo but a couple of them. Finally decided I would just buy the outfit and finish trying it on at home. That way the check-out clerk had to figure out a way to get them untangled from the hanger. Then there were the little boys, whose mother was in a nearby fitting cubicle, that kept looking under the various doors until a sales clerk had to tell them to STOP THAT!

My last stop was the Shoe Dept. I selected a particular style but then realized I had to wait for one of the three clerks to actually go get the right size shoe in a backroom. By now it was after 9 PM and there were at least 4 shoppers in line for the same thing. I gave up and left. I’ll buy shoes somewhere else where the boxes are stacked with the shoes.

Thankfully, it’ll be a few years before my NEXT eldest granddaughter is old enough to get married. That will give me time to recover …

Copyright © 2008. Reproduction of any portion of this blog post or the images is prohibited by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. If this post is being viewed on any site other than www.ReesesPiecesOfRealEstate.com then the material has been stolen without permission. Violators will be reported.

Categories: Commentary · Humor
Tagged:

Is it an eyesore or a necessity?

May 29, 2008 · 6 Comments

How would you feel if your neighbors had one of these in their back yard?

A lot of subdivisions forbid them in their deed restrictions.

I’ve had buyers decide to NOT buy a particular home because these sheds were allowed and because there was no consistency to the allowed fencing. Usually those two things go hand-in-hand. The two issues combined can really detract from a home’s appeal.

For some reason, when people install sheds, they always place them in the far back corner of the owner’s lot. Depending on how the lots are configured, that can mean that the shed is actually closer to a neighbor’s home than it is to the owner’s home. That’s the case with this shed.

Do the owner’s ever consider their neighbors when placing a shed? Is the extra storage really worth the lowered property values that they create?

Another touchy subject is swing sets or the large wooden play gyms. Again, parents tend to place them to the back of the lot - rather than up close to the home. Why is that?

Feel free to give me your thoughts on why people put these structures to the back of their lot. Do you think the owners should be required to place them next to their OWN home? Do YOU view them as an eyesore?

Copyright © 2008. Reproduction of any portion of this blog post or the images is prohibited by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. If this post is being viewed on any site other than www.ReesesPiecesOfRealEstate.com then the material has been stolen without permission. Violators will be reported.

Categories: Commentary · Fix-ups · Homes
Tagged: ,

Get ready for the economy to improve!

May 28, 2008 · No Comments

I just want to alert everyone … the economy will improve this week.

I got my “economic stimulus” check in the mail today.

It’ll be enough to fill the WEENR-mobile with gas till July 5 …

… assuming I don’t buy any groceries between now and then.

WHOOPI!!!!!!!!!!

Copyright © 2008. Reproduction of any portion of this blog post or the images is prohibited by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. If this post is being viewed on any site other than www.ReesesPiecesOfRealEstate.com then the material has been stolen without permission. Violators will be reported.

Categories: Commentary
Tagged:

A Holiday Weekend? Not for Realtors®!

May 26, 2008 · 4 Comments

I had plans for this holiday weekend. Nothing too exciting … just 3 things I hoped to accomplish.

  1. Buy some annual flowers and actually get them planted. Last year I bought them but was not able to find time to plant them so they died.
  2. Go shopping … something I HATE to do … for something to wear to my granddaughter’s wedding in three weeks. I know what I WANT to buy - now it’s just a matter of finding it.
  3. Relax! I haven’t taken a full day off from real estate since New Year’s so I was hoping ….

So far, I haven’t checked off any of the things on my list, but I have had a pretty beneficial weekend.

  • I started it with a lunch with my older daughter - the “mother of the bride” daughter. It was her birthday but the conversation naturally focused on the upcoming wedding. I think we’ve both reached the age where she is becoming the parent and I’m reluctantly becoming the child. (just kidding!) I know what I’m supposed to “generally” wear … where I’m supposed to sit at the wedding and the reception … and which usher will seat me, among other things. I may need to enter these things into my Voyager phone so I remember to do everything just right.
  • I spent some time in the Muirfield area. Since it was a few days before Jack’s Memorial Tournament, the landscape companies were hard at work making everything pretty so all looks well for the incoming guests and TV cameras.
  • I was in the Powell office more than I was my Worthington office. One of the agents there said, “are you back again!” There were several agents in there busy as well with clients and working on contracts. It’s wonderful working for a big broker like Real Living where we can use the computers, copiers, faxes and conference rooms of our “sister offices”. Helps save gas, too!
  • Showed a brand new listing to a buyer. We’ve been viewing homes for a few weeks now. This new listing was far nicer than anything we had looked at PLUS it was much lower priced. So off to the Powell office to write and submit an offer. Got that home in contract the next day.
  • Received an offer on one of my listings. We’re still working on this one.
  • Made a listing presentation to a seller whose home was listed with another broker/agent for the past year.
  • Got some pruning and weed pulling done in between emailing various pdf files to various agents and various clients. Thank goodness for scanners, email and bluetooth! I can talk on the phone without missing a beat with the pruning shears … that’s unless I need to talk with my hands … which is hard for me to do. Don’t you get tickled watching someone talk via a headset? It’s humorous watching someone seeming to be talking to the air and gesturing with their hands. Murphy gives me THAT LOOK that dogs give us when they think we’ve gone crazy.
  • I made sure my listings were all well-stocked with outside flyers just in case a drive-by buyer is interested. Took some new outside photos of a couple of them then later uploaded the new photos to several internet sites.
  • Tried to avoid buying gas at $3.99 this holiday weekend. Think I’m going to have to breakdown today and buy some, however.
 Hope YOU’RE having a terrific weekend and have enjoyed the great weather we’ve had so far. Aren’t you glad you’re NOT a Realtor®!!!!

Copyright © 2008. Reproduction of any portion of this blog post or the images is prohibited by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. If this post is being viewed on any site other than www.ReesesPiecesOfRealEstate.com then the material has been stolen without permission. Violators will be reported.

Categories: Buyers · Commentary · Delaware County · Golf course communities · Homes · Homes for sale · Muirfield · Powell Ohio · Real Living HER · Realtors® · Sellers · Technology

A Heads-Up For People With Fences

May 14, 2008 · 1 Comment

I have a split-rail fence around my back yard as do many of my neighbors. It’s the only type of fence allowed by the deed restrictions. Originally installed to contain my Dobies, it now keeps The Murph from following rabbits as they jump through the holes they’ve made in the wire mesh. There are two gates on either side of my home. The gates aren’t locked but are latched.

I recently received notice from AEP that my electric bill was being recalculated. That same day I received the “recalculated” bill that was double the normal bill I receive. I called the 800 number to learn what was the cause of this double bill.

Apparently since January, my electric usage has been estimated. They finally made it out to get an actual reading … hence the reason for the double bill since the estimates for four months had been too low. The customer service rep told me that normally they take an actual reading every other month, so we tried to figure out why that wasn’t being done at my home.

  • Do I have a fence? Yes, I’ve had the same fence for 11 years.
  • Is the gate locked? No. Same gate for 11 years. Opening it hasn’t seemed to be problem prior to January.
  • Do I have dog? Well, yes … but it’s The Murph … not a big threat! Certainly not like when I had Brutus (a Dobie). Why did The Murph get to be a problem in recent months especially in the winter? HELLO! He’s a low-rider and his belly gets cold so he’s not outside but a few minutes.

Now the best part …

The customer service rep says, “Your home is at the end of the route and perhaps the meter reader didn’t finish the route.”

Say, what?

Could it be that a new meter reader was hired in January and this new person doesn’t want to bother with opening gates, or maybe is so cold by the end of the route that quitting early seems like a good thing to do?

I think I’m going to pay more attention to those “A’s” and “E’s” from now on.

Copyright © 2008. Reproduction of any portion of this blog post or the images is prohibited by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. If this post is being viewed on any site other than www.ReesesPiecesOfRealEstate.com then the material has been stolen without permission. Violators will be reported.

Categories: Commentary · Delaware County · Dog Tails
Tagged: ,

Do the politicians feel YOUR pain??

April 22, 2008 · No Comments

I had to buy gas today for the WEENR-mobile. I bought it at Get-Go at the corner of Rt 3 and Maxtown Rd in Westerville. Normally I have some discount points from buying groceries at Giant Eagle.

Didn’t have any points for today’s purchase so I paid $3.60 (actually $3.599). It cost $56 to mostly fill up the tank.

Oh-h-h the PAIN!!!!!

I think I’m to get my $600 “stimulate-the-economy” check in mid-May. By that time, I may need it just to buy a month’s worth of gas!

Copyright © 2008. Reproduction of any portion of this blog post or the images is prohibited by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. If this post is being viewed on any site other than www.ReesesPiecesOfRealEstate.com then the material has been stolen without permission. Violators will be reported.

Categories: Central Ohio · Commentary
Tagged: , ,

Friday Musings

April 18, 2008 · 2 Comments

It’s such a gorgeous day this morning, that I don’t feel like writing anything about hard-core real estate. So I’m just going to hit some recent highlights.

  • There was a 5.2 earthquake in southern Illinois that some people felt here a little after 5:30 am. I didn’t feel it … did you? We had one back in the early 80’s, I believe, that I DID feel. I had just moved into a new apartment and thought the building was falling down. We had a bird at that time, and he freaked out because something was “rattling his cage”. ;-) Obviously we’re not accustomed to having the ground move under our feet, even though there is a fault or plate that runs under Ohio.
  • A client called this morning to say ‘hi’. They’ve been at their Florida condo since November and are getting ready to make the trek back to their Westerville home. She said they had more northern visitors visit them in Florida this past winter. Gee, I wonder why.
  • The company that mows my lawn stopped by to cut down my ornamental grasses and edge the beds. What normally would have taken me all afternoon, took these 3 young guys a half hour. And they haul away all the grass fronds, whereas I always had to try to stuff them into the brown lawn waste bags … getting a lot of cuts on my arms from the serrated leaves. Sometimes it just really pays to have someone else do the work.
  • Speaking of having someone else do the work, several agents in my office (including me) received an email flyer this morning from a FBSO asking us to help them “sell their house”. The email told us all the “great things” about their home (but with bad photos) and that they would pay a co-op fee. Then they went on to tell us to NOT to bother calling them about listing their home, because they didn’t want to use a real estate agent for THAT. D’ya suppose we could ask them to not spam OUR inboxes either?
  • Lots of open houses have been set up for the weekend, so buyers put on your comfortable shoes and go find your perfect home. Rain is forecast for the morning, but it’s to stop by noon. You can find all Real Living HER open houses at RealLiving.com. Two of my listings will be held open. Agents are setting up showings for the weekend as well. If you’re a “fence-sitting-buyer”, it’s time to get off the fence or you’ll lose out. Don’t say I didn’t warn you!
  • Well, I’m off … hope you enjoy the day!

    Copyright © 2008. Reproduction of any portion of this blog post or the images is prohibited by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. If this post is being viewed on any site other than www.ReesesPiecesOfRealEstate.com then the material has been stolen without permission. Violators will be reported.

    Categories: Central Ohio · Commentary · FSBO · Real Living HER · Realtors® · Sellers

    I’m suffering from techie overload!

    April 10, 2008 · 3 Comments

    I’m a pretty techie person … everyone says so … but I’m about to pull my hair out. There’s only so much frustration a person can take!

    Last week, our Board of Realtors switched to a new MLS program. The previous one was called Tempo. The new one is Tempo 5. The new version has lots of bells & whistles but as with any new system, there are bugs to be worked out by the supplier. The system is hiccuping - like when it puts a caption intended for a bathroom, under a photo of the kitchen. I’ve had to redo my listings’ photos 4 times to correct and re-correct the captions so they match the photos. 

    Then this week, WordPress decided to make the Dashboard fancier - notice I didn’t say better - just fancier. I can live with their changes but something happened in the editor box where we write the posts. Even though I type in paragraphs, when I SAVE the post, WP undoes the paragraph formatting. I try to correct it with html coding but again, when it goes through the SAVE process, the program strips all the code and puts in CSS code.

    Then this morning when I turned my cell phone on, all I saw was a blue screen. My contract with Verizon was to run out next month and of course the phone’s warranty just ran out. SURPRISE, SURPRISE! Is anyone NOT convinced that the phones are programmed to die a certain death on time.

    Well, the next few hours were spent at the Verizon store. The first store I visited (in Lewis Center) wasn’t a “corporate” store and thus, wasn’t allowed to have their test phones hooked up to the Internet so shoppers could actually see how they work. So I had to drive to the CORPORATE store near Polaris.

    Based on a recommendation from a blogging Realtor® friend in Cleveland, Carole Cohen, I planned to get a Voyager or an NV. I wanted the big QUERTY keypad (bifocals, ya’know) and I wanted access to email and the Internet. I also considered a Palm Treo since it accesses the REAL Internet, not the mobile version, plus, it can be used with the MLS system and open lockboxes. In the end, I decided on the Voyager for the big screen on both the outside and inside. Like the IPhone, it’s just so cool!

    So once I’m done with my computer work tonight, I’ll be working on my phone’s settings.

    Earlier this week, another agent asked me why I still use a hardcopy dayplanner. It’s days like today that cause me to keep my good ‘ole dayplanner and my land line phone, even though I seldom use it - unless my cell phone dies!

    Isn’t technology supposed to make our lives easier????????

    Copyright © 2008. Reproduction of any portion of this blog post or the images is prohibited by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. If this post is being viewed on any site other than www.ReesesPiecesOfRealEstate.com then the material has been stolen without permission. Violators will be reported.

    Categories: Commentary · Internet · Technology
    Tagged: ,

    Would YOU hit the restart button?

    March 27, 2008 · No Comments

    Sunny 95 (94.7fm) ran a sound bite today for a discussion that Dino will have tomorrow morning. Dino’s question was

    “If life had a restart button … would you push it?”

    As I was tooling around the Delaware County countryside today, I kept thinking about this. Would I?

    I’ve been fortunate in that I’ve been able to do the things that were important to me. So I wouldn’t want to go back simply to achieve something I haven’t been able to do … and new challenges or opportunities to continue to learn and grow present themselves weekly. That’s exciting!

    Wonder if I could just push the REWIND button back a few years then hit the PAUSE button.

    What about you? Would you push the restart button?

    Copyright © 2008. Reproduction of any portion of this blog post or the images is prohibited by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. If this post is being viewed on any site other than www.ReesesPiecesOfRealEstate.com then the material has been stolen without permission. Violators will be reported.

    Categories: Commentary
    Tagged: