Browsing Category Thoughts, etc.

Technology

checked Google’s Local Search, searched for a Kinko’s, found one in the next town over from where she is going to be in an hour and gave her driving directions for how to get there. Then I called that Kinko’s and asked them if my client could come in, check her email, print out the contract, sign it and fax it back.

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Gourmet Gas Stations

New York Post Online Edition: : While it’s an unlikely culinary revolution, Slim Jims are making way for sushi as gas station convenience stores transform themselves with upscale eats and shed their image as junk food pit stops. It’s an attempt by the industry to discourage the gas-up-and-go mentality and bolster the bottom line with artisanal cheeses, freshly baked breads and high-end meals that entice consumers to linger and eat — and to do it often. “We’re trying to make these stores destinations rather than convenience stops,” said Stuart Lowry, marketing director for The Markets of Tiger Fuel, a Virginia convenience chain that offers fresh seafood, a fancy deli and professional chefs…. Roast beef, fantastic sandwiches, wine, microbrews, coffee kiosks …

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Subdivisions Impose Social Divide

Subdivisions Impose Social Divide: It was not simply that thousands of houses came; it was how they came — in such self-contained communities as Brambleton and Forest Manor, Forest Run and Belle Terra, all with their backs turned to the rambler. And Ivan, once the insider in a sense, became an outsider — a resident of nowhere…. We are becoming more segmented, however – Crozet, 29 North, Lake Monticello, Pantops, et al. According to the Community Associations Institute in Alexandria, four out of five U.S. homes built since 2000 have been in homeowner association-governed subdivisions, where residents pay dues to support such amenities as clubhouses and pools that usually exclude those outside.

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Great post about Big Builders

From an E-Pro listserv – If I were you in Columbus, GA (great area) I would get to know the big builders, their product, their policies and welcome them to the area. They don’t buy in a market unless they know who will buy their product, where they work, how much money they make, how long they’ve been married and what they drive…. Although they won’t share all of this with you, just watch what they do and market to the same person in your move-up market. Move up buyers buy 60 to 65% more than they sell with today’s interest rates when purchasing resale and 65 to 75% when they buy NEW.

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