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I use my digital camera a lot for real estate to take many photos of a home for sale to use in photo slideshows, virtual tours and still shots on my websites.  Like some of my portable tools, it doesn't always stay in my car but usually sits on a shelf on my desk until I need it.  Sometimes I wish I had it with me when I'm out and miss a good photo op (still not sure how to download photos from my cell phone and I'm also not sure of the quality).

Yesterday I had a closing for La Grange real estate.  This was a nice brick home that passed the inspection with flying colors. 

Since the closing was a bit later in the afternoon we decided to take our final walk-through right before the closing.  It's a good thing we did since they were still moving and…

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It was late last night when I first went to Zillow.com.  That was part of my problem.  As a REALTOR® I thought it might be a good idea to add my profile to the popular website.  Kind of "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" mentality.  OK, I did it to see if I got a backlink.  No, really, such a popular site might actually bring some traffic.

As I entered my profile I saw the "add a listing" feature.  I decided to try it with one listing I have where my sellers have a contingent contract on another property and need to sell.  I'm trying to do whatever I can to market their place.

It was easy enough to enter and I pressed the Publish link.  To my horror I saw the list price of $349,900 followed by the zestimate of $262,733! 

Today, I tried removing…

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Coyote Not Ugly

Where did they get that saying?  I think coyotes are cute and the recent visit by a coyote to a downtown Chicago Loop Quiznos proves that they are nice looking animals.  I've read of coyotes being found in Chicago but this is the most interesting sighting:
Coyote Visits Quiznos in Chicago

Rattlesnakes Rattling Illinois Residents

Just when you think that has to be the most interesting animal happening in the area there is another story about rattlesnakes in northern Illinois!  And this endangered species bit a nice labrador in McHenry County.  Read all about it here.

Drunken Cop Attacks Bartender

And since we're talking about animals, you might as well read about one of Chicago's finest (hopefully to be ex-finest), attacking… Read Full Post

I know many buyers and sellers realize that real estate agents have a networking system where they can refer a client to an out-of-town, out-of state or out of country agent.  Yet few buyers or sellers take advantage of this and try to go to the area they're moving to or selling from and try to locate their own agent.

While it's not a terrible thing to do it that way, a prospect might be better served by going through a local agent to give them a referral of an agent from the area they are thinking of moving to or selling from.   I am located in Chicago, IL, but can find an agent in any other state, or a different country almost anywhere in the world.

What is the benefit for you?  You don't have to do any searching and interviewing.  That can take a… Read Full Post

I've suggested sellers watch certain television programs relating to real estate and home selling, I'm excited about a new HGTV decorating show that will air tonight at 9:00 p.m.   The show is called Color Splash and stars the winner of Design Star, David Bromstad.

I was hooked on Design Star and I liked David from the beginning.  When it got down to David and another aspiring designer, Alice Fakier, it was a tough decision as I liked both of them.  There was just something about David, though.

David started out a little shy, in my opinion, but a genuinely nice guy.  He even got some constructive criticism about his presentations (not the design but his television skills).  He is from Minnesota but moved to Florida to become a Disney animator by… Read Full Post

This is my final post on the subject – until something else breaks.  The first two posts are here and here.

Again, these things all happened within the same week which was stressful enough without these failures.  But this one brought my blood pressure up the highest. 

I was meeting first-time buyers for their LaGrange home inspection.  I grabbed my Supra key off the holder just in case the seller wasn’t going to be home.  The cradle is supposed to do an automatic update but mine doesn’t for some reason.  I don’t think it ever did.

I tried doing a manual e-sync but it wouldn’t take and I was running late so I thought I would just get the update code over the phone, which is an option.  The key seemed to be working fine, just needed the daily… Read Full Post

I have a headache from working on a new listing plug-in for my Orland Park real estate website that will show nice, professional listings with thumbnail photos and other features.  I’ve been working with the designer for two days but we just can’t get it to work on my blog/site.  That reminded me of this series I’m writing about and I need to take a breather from that.

To refresh your memory, I had a very busy couple of weeks where I needed everything to work smoothly.  Of course, that’s when things start falling apart.  My first problem has already been written about; my bad Internet connection.

I had written several contracts and received several on my listings which needed to be faxed back and forth.  I have been using Winfax which is on my… Read Full Post

I guess you can call me a real estate dinosaur since I’ve been licensed since 1983.  Find out all about me here. 

When I first started in real estate there were no computers.  We had this little fax-like machine for MLS access with the paper that turned black when sitting in your car with the heat and sun.  No photos – how did we sell anything?!

Speaking of fax machines, nope, we didn’t have one.  Thank goodness we had a copier, but I still always carried a supply of carbon paper around.  What a mess.

My first “cell” phone was bigger than my purse.  But anyone who carried their bag phone around was considered pretty advanced (and cool).  I wish I had saved mine instead of selling it to some kid at a garage sale.

Oh, and the pagers.  For some reason…

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