realweenie

I am not transparent

This transparency thing has gotten way out of hand. I am learning too much about some bloggers as they strive to be transparent.  They share things that I honestly don't want to know about.  I hate to sound like I don't care but . . I really don't care what your had for lunch or if you had your annual mammogram.  You call it transparency, I call it too much information! 

Honestly you don't need to write about everything going on in your life on your business blog, I don't think that is what transparency is even about. Transparency is more about honesty and disclosure but it doesn't mean that every aspect of your so called life has to be written about. 

Where is my money?

The nice thing about this blog of mass destruction cleverly disguised as a hot dog stand is that I can vent with little fear of anyone reading it. Especially if it isn't Wednesday.

Ten months ago I listed a condo, a month ago we got an offer and it closed last week.  Selling a loft in St. Paul can easily take a year. This was a nice loft and when it was all over the artist who owned it gave me a hug and a piece of art work that I really like.

I also got a check at the closing table. I brought the check to my former office.  Silly me I thought they would cut me a check since I am the one who got the listing and sold it. I consider myself to be an important part of the process.  My thinking is that without me there would not have been a check to bring to the office.

I was told that the person who cuts checks was out on a community clean up project.  This was on a Thursday.  I asked it it would be possible to get a check on Friday.  I was told that because the person who cuts checks is also the person who puts checks in the bank that I would not be paid on Friday because she would not be able to get the money in the bank on time because of the  volunteer project. I offered to take the check to the bank myself . . as you can imagine the answer was no.

It is nice that they do volunteer work.  I do volunteer work too. I sit on the board of a non profit and I deliver meals on wheels.  In all the years I have been doing the volunteer work it has never interfered with my job.  If I have an obligation to a client it gets done.

Real estate companies do not buy or sell real estate, the agents do all of that and we bring in all of the money.  I would think that paying them would be a priority. I left that company. One of the main reasons for leaving was the way I was treated. My job is very hard and the last year has been a struggle.  I can't work with any company that won't put the agent first.

The person who told me about the clean up day was smiling and told me to have a nice day. When she said that what I heard is "we don't give a darn if our agents ever get paid, it is your problem lady tell someone who cares".  To think she gets paid out of the money that comes in from the agents who sell houses. I am thinking she gets paid every two weeks on time even if there is a clean up day. She maybe even has direct deposit, and the money is just there with no hassle or fuss.

It is possible that there will be some reason that I won't get check today either and it won't be the first time I have had trouble getting a check but thankfully it will be the last time.  

Update

**I am not making this up.  I called today after I wrote this to see if my old office has a check for me.  It turns out that the person who cuts checks is on vacation this week and no one has the password to get into her computer and so they can't cut my check. **

Horn blowing

Here at the real estate weenie, the hot dog stand, cleverly disguised as a blog we believe that everyone should blow his or her own horn. After all if you don't  who will?

I just wanted to explore some of the  of obnoxious, ways people try to subtly blow their own horns via twitter.   I blow my own horn loudly each time I write:  I am all that AND a bag of chips.  In my case it is true, and there is no need to be subtle.  

Some of the examples of person's attempting to subtly blow their own horns are getting kind of old. I wish they would simply state that they too are all that AND a bag of chips and move on.

Horn Toot 1, a Realtor fave: "On my way to yet another closing, I am getting tired of having one a day"

Horn Toot 2, a bloggers fave: "I just keep getting more and more traffic on the great post I wrote last week, it is almost creepy"

Horn Toot 3, a political bloggers fave: "I predicted this five years ago, if only they would have listened but they never do"

Horn Toot 4, a business persons fave:  "they just keep giving me raises, where will it end?"

Horn toot 5, social media guru fave: "I have 9,000,000,000 followers on twitter, how can I keep up with it all?"

With some of the tweets reading them now and then isn't all that bad but some twits use them on a regular basis.  I think that web 2.0 is about transparency. I am sticking with "I am all that AND a bag of chips"  That might be too subtle but I have not figured out how to blast a horn loudly via twitter. I am sure iPhone will have an app for it soon.

Daily Mugshot

I don't get it, so I thought I would try it and I still don't get it. Why do people like taking pictures of themselves?  I looked at other peoples mugshots and hate to sound like I am bragging but most are even scarier than mine.

Daily Mugshot

Akismet Hates Me

Ah yes I love it when I have time to write on my bad old blog cleverly disguised as a hot dog stand.

If you have not been seeing my comments on your blog it is becasue you have a WordPress blog and have installed "akismet" to block the large volume of spam that goes to WordPress bloggers.  Akismet is smarter than most and has decided that I am bad and I am banned from commenting on all WordPress blogs.

I have been commenting in recent days, I just leave my domain name off and sometimes just use one of the 10 or 12 other domain names that go to my blog.  On the one hand there is such an easy work around that I think akismet is not so smart.  On the other hand I have freinds out there who  like to see my  comments on their blogs, but they never will.    They can't control akismet.

Typepad works differently.  I get little spam and I have a lot more control.  People have gotten banned by the software, but I can fix it or have it fixed so they can comment again.  So I say to akismet users, do you have that kind of control?  If so I would like to leave comments on your blogs using my regular domain name. 

If you don't have that kind of control, which other domain names are being blocked?  Are you ticking someone off without knowing it?  Isn't web 2.0 about having a two way conversation?  When software makes decisions about who to include and who to exclude does it always make the same decision a human would?

It would be easy for me to ban all wordpress bloggers from commenting on my blogs, but I would never do that.  I leave comments on blogs becasue I have something to say, not for a link back to my own blog, so I will keep commenting.  It will affect my ratings to have fewer links to my blog but it will be gradual and I won't feel the impact for many months, and who knows by then maybe I won't be banned any more. . . but maybe I will be. Who knows, it is in the hands of a machine somewhere and I am just a bunch of 1's and 0's.

Questions

There really is such a thing as a dumb question.  The one I am thinking of is not really a dumb question but it is one that I can't answer.

It goes like this:  "I am starting a blog, can you give me some advice?"

Sometimes they ask for pointers but you get the idea.  How can I answer such a question?  I have written tons of posts on the subject on Active Rain, the Real Estate Tomato and even some on Agent Genius.  My blogging peers have done the same.

I can answer specific questions that go beyond, "what kind of camera do you use?"  I have even written posts about what kind of camera I use. LOL

Have a great day, don't bug me. Don't expect advice.  I can answer specific questions, and could write and entire book on the subject of blogs,  but can not give advice.  What do I look like?  Dear Abbey?  I am a Realtor dammit!

What were you thinking?

Yes this is a rant.  What is the point of having a blog cleverly disguised as a hot dog stand if I can't rant once in a while? 

These days I have been spending a fair amount of time with clients who are looking for fixer uppers.  We have plenty of them.  Most are vacant homes that are bank owned.

Here in Minnesota smart property owners "winterize" vacant homes so that there is no danger of pipes freezing, breaking and flooding the home.  Winterizing involves turning off the water and draining the system.

So I go out to show these properties with my clients who are often accompanied by an entourage which consists of fathers, brothers, sisters, minor children of the same, and occasionally someone who knows something abut real estate or about home repairs.

Usually by the time we get to the third house, someone needs a potty break.  It is most often an adult, but occasionally a child.

None of the homes have usable facilities.  I know the drill, and often have to wait somewhere while the entourage takes a potty break.

When I was a child, back a very long time ago, my parents would advise us to drain ourselves before we got into the car.  Great advice.   I go one step further and limit the amount of caffeinated beverages that I consume before showing houses.  While I may fall asleep behind the wheel, at least I won't have to have everyone wait while I take a potty break.

If I could be paid minumum wage for every hour I have spent waiting for the entourage to take a potty break I could probably retire.  I do advise my clients on how to dress for seeing vacant unheated properties in subzero weather.  I am going to be adding some verbiage so that they know there won't be any working facilities in the homes that they will be seeing.  If that isn't enough I will tell them that they need to go potty before touring homes.

Don't be a weenie

By Jonathan Dalton

Last night, someone trying to generate links and traffic for a new website suggested the idea of a blogging Kangaroo Court, where we could light-heartedly critique each other’s blogs and point out violations and omissions. It sounded like a really cute idea (so did Pandora’s Box, actually) but it doesn’t make sense for most of us. We’re not writing to be chummy, even if we tend to comment on each other’s blogs. We’re generally writing to generate business. If you’re self-employed and dedicating time talking about your business without trying to gain business, you’re probably doing something wrong.

I ended up pointing him toward Active Rain. Someone else did the same thing. That seems to be the best place for something like this, and it’s not too far different from the weekly weeks in review and Active Rain carnivals and “hey let’s get some points” contests that take place over there all the time as it is. Some may get hurt feelings over being the target of the Kangaroo Court, but that’s part of the cost of playing. Don’t think the public isn’t doing the same mental gymnastics when they read your blog.

So how do you get traffic and links and all that good stuff when you’re a new blog? Write something compelling. Comment on other people’s blogs; maybe they’ll come read yours and link to you at some stage. If it’s compelling then they probably will. Find local blogs and do the same there, unless you’re in Phoenix and the only bloggers are real estate agents.

There’s no shortcut to getting some readership. And readership’s not even the real goal most of the time. It’s actual closed business.

News Media

I can't think of a single single industry that deserves to be mentioned on this blog of mass destruction cleverly disguised as a hot dog stand.

The news media seems to control the economy and of course the housing market.  They like to take little bits and turn them into great big dramatic stories.

They call when I am in my car, or on an appointment.  They never ask if I have a second, like everyone else does, they just start talking.  I think most people will just drop what they are doing and talk to the news media.  It is after all free publicity.

Me I have to be difficult and have passed on some opportunities that I am sure most people would get excited about.  I just can't see helping the media spread half truths and even lies just so I can tell everyone to watch me on TV.

They often know what their story is before they call.  They spend quite a bit of time trying to get me to agree with what they are saying and get me to give an example.  When it comes to buying and selling homes they like to take one small part of the process and turn it into a big story. 

Sometimes the media wants access to my  clients.  It doesn't work that way.  I have contracts with them and part of that contract includes confidentiality.  I can of course call a client and ask if they are interested in being on the local or national news.  I have called clients with just such a request.  Most are not interested in sharing their story with the world even if it does mean they get to be on TV.

Most people who know me know that I can be difficult.  I argue with just about every reporter who calls.  Over the last couple of days I have been trying to convince one reporter that the story they are working on really doesn't make sense.  I guess it is up to them to decide what their viewers want to see.   They will be able to find another Realtor in the metro area who will back them up on the ridiculous story they are working on.  Most would be thrilled with the publicity and not even consider that they are hurting their own industry by  helping spread stories.

The news media don't know much about real estate or the housing market but they like to tell stories about it because that is what people are interested in right now.  The "spin" that they put on it becomes a kind of reality for many people and might even change consumer behavior.  What is reported by the news media does not always reflect reality but I think some times reality becomes what the news media reports.

When you watch the national news, local news or read the paper please keep in mind that what you are seeing is not the news.  It is some ones idea of what viewers are interested in seeing, reading or listening too.  It is mostly stories and make believe.

The Man Who Has Something To Say

I would like to make an important announcement here on the hot dog stand cleverly disguised as a blog.  I think I may have gotten that backward but it really doesn't matter.

If you don't know Jeff Turner . . . . I have no idea how to complete that sentence.  The purpose of this post, which I am publishing at 10:40 CST (that is the current time in fly over land where all the really boring people live) is to share with you Jeff's thoughts over the last 22 hours.  Follow the links and you can see more of Jeff and hear what he has to say about some of his many thoughts:

  Here is my cup, put some kool aid in it:
Overdressed for Seesmic
Re: Re: Re: Overdressed for Seesmic
. . an another
And More . .  

There is a gap in the broadcasts, we recently learned that Jeff sleeps for part of each 24 hour broadcast period.  He is working on recording his thoughts as he sleeps and looking for some technology that will broadcast them to the Internet so that we can stay updated at all times.

Here at the Real Estate Weenie, we are such fans of Jeff's that  we are working on turning Jeff's thoughts into a full length movie, or possibly an ebook.