Take the 10 minutes to watch this video – Real estate can be an all-consuming experience. Setting limits is more crucial when one is self-employed, because frankly, if you’re not working, you’re not earning.On a related note – an occasionally more crass answer to the question: As a 16 yr old, I will be looking into colleges soon and setting the foundation for the rest of my life. Is there anything you wish you knew at my age?
Browsing Category Thoughts, etc.
Saturday links – 20 October 2007
We pamper our kids, over-schedule them, overemphasize fairness in competition (the score ends in a tie …… and keep them indoors too much, to the point that we’re doing them a huge disservice. Kids aren’t learning how to get hurt, lose, fend for themselves, find their balance and discover minor dangers on their own – all important parts of growing up.Posts like this are why I read Seth Godin’s blog. Add passion, and it’s nearly complete.An interesting twist – absorption rate versus “sales rate” – this will likely find its way into my data analysis of the Charlottesville market soon.Navigating social networking toolsThe shift from Charlottesville to Waynesboro continues.
Monday links 26 August 2007
I’ve been looking for this for some time – a way to capture the water from an air condition’s condensate drainNow, if only I could install a revolving door on my house.Why do kids feel so entitled?The “Right to Dry” (clothes in your backyard)Where is Albemarle growing as of 2nd Quarter 2007? Building permits seem to be returning to more stable numbers (look at 2002 and 2003).I love this analogy – a blog handshake.Three simple ways to use solar power at homeProperazzi – what will the MLS landscape look like when they come to the States?
Soccer schedules, local elections and affordability – 08-15-2007
noted that the city’s goal is to have 15 percent of units in a project be reserved at affordable rates, or a commensurate amount of money donated to a nonprofit.C-ville’s “Best Of” mapped out; alas, there was no “Best Realtor” category.Get ready for the surge of election coverage…. A lot of money is being raised and spent.You can’t go back home again, especially apparently to CrozetUVA’s soccer schedules have been released…. Add the Men’s Soccer schedule to your calendar by downloading this and the Women’s Soccer schedule by downloading this. (my first attempt at doing this, so do so at your own peril 🙂 )Homebuyers with good credit find it harder to get a loanTaking your house public (!)
Blogging 101 for Charlottesville
My blog tracks the Charlottesville and Central Virginia real estate market, market statistics, real estate technology, real estate representation (for sellers and buyers), local politics, “and more.”… Google BlogsearchCvilleblogscvillenewsCvilleTomorrow is tracking the Charlottesville/Albemarle elections (interestingly, no local Republican candidates have blogs – why is that?)Charlottesville News Headlines, thanks again to cvillenews.Look at the “blogrolls” of blogs you come to know and trust (typically on the side of the page).Key parts of a blog:- Reverse Chronological Order of posts, updated frequently- Comments (some debate this, but it is a crucial component of blogging) – participation in the blogs is key. – RSS – Real Simple Syndication – a method of information distribution- Linking to other blogs and citing your sources- Transparency and accountabilityGenerally, reading blogs also necessitates reading in a different way; rather than visiting each individual webpage, the news can come to you.
…Finding the best ones takes time, but it’s worthwhile.How to get started with Google Reader.Slightly more in-depth about RSS readers.If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me anytime.Regarding the guy who called in after I left, who said his blog’s goal is to “destroy Republicans running for office” – surely there are a fair amount of blogs whose goals are to publish vitriol, and there are plenty of political blogs on either side (and all sides) of the political world.
Wednesday links 7-11-2007
While we recycle our bottled water bottles, yesterday my daughter and I went to Blue Ridge and bought Nalgene bottles for every member of the family. Every little bit helps.Is America headed for a rail renaissance?Debunking Portland, The City That Doesn’t Work (PDF)Unspoilt land is valuable, but not priceless.Doomsday in October for subprime?Regarding Facebook:… regardless of the ultimate fate of Facebook, the set of characteristics that it has established – the sense of community; user control over the boundedness of openness; support for fine grained privacy controls; the ability to form ad-hoc groups with flexible administration; integration and linkage to external data resources and application spaces through a liberal and open API definition; socially promiscuous communication – these will be carried with us into future environments as expectations for online communities.Sprint was justified in canceling some of its customers…. Now I need to find someone in Charlottesville who installs them.And I couldn’t post on 7-11-07 without including a few stories about former 7-11’s, now Kwik-E-Marts.
Exceptional customer service
Price of an Empire Builder bag from Tom Bihn in 2004: $130Price of shoulder strap from Tom Bihn in 2004: $25The answer to the following question -I purchased an Empire Builder in February of 2004, and I love it…. I really can’t describe it, but I could send you a picture.Is there a warranty, or should I just order another one?Thank you in advance,Being this?We’d be glad to send you two replacement clips (this is the entire metal part that threads on and off the webbing of the strap) at no charge. Where should we send them?Sorry about the other clips breaking: the clips we’ll be sending you are stronger and better than those.Priceless.Customer service is not achieved by giving out free stuff…. This is one of my real estate goals – to provide service and value so exceptional, so out of the ordinary that people want to talk about it – tell their friends, write about it, and above all, as I will do with Tom Bihn – use my service again.Sometimes it’s simple, sometimes it’s not.