Great article on Carbon Monoxide and Colorado real estate at http://ping.fm/G4DXl from a guest blogger Tom D'Agostino

Picking up our exchange student at DIA. He is from South Africa. Spent 3 months with us 20 years ago!

I am thankful for my hobby. See http://ping.fm/14g5l

There are 14 reasons to make a residential move during the year end. DO you agree or disagree? Check them out at www.highlandsranchrealestateblog.com

Denver single family home SALES highest! Can you see a trend? Look at the charts at www.highlandsranchrealestateblog.com

What do you think of placing your houses for sale on FACEBOOK business pages?

What are your favorite things about living in Colorado? Let me hear from you at http://ping.fm/wF7vW

Can't you find a REAL job in Denver?
Check my blog at www.highlands-ranch-real-estate-blog.com

Check the state of the Denver Real Estate Market at www.highlands-ranch-real-estate-blog.com

97 days or 2333 hours are left to close your first time buyer so they get their free $8000 tax credit

I am off to evening of operating a model railroad, or if you will, puzzle solving. Great fun

3176 hours left to take advantage of the 1st time buyers tax credit of up to $8,000

SW Florida Real Estate Social Media

We conducted an experiment on adding Facebook users to our fan pages and it worked. Our new goal is to attract 1,000 fans to each of our Facebook Fan Pages, and attract 1,000 followers on Twitter.

Our Twitter accounts are:
@swfltopagents
@brettellis_swfl

Our Facebook Fan pages are:

Ellis Team
Cape Coral Real Estate
SW Florida Real Estate
Fort Myers Real Estate
Future of Real Estate

158 days remain to buy a home and still get the tax credit from the stimulus plan

only 159 days to close & get your tax credit. Details at http://ping.fm/9WXZ4

3 weeks to go before the Garden Railway Convention in Denver www.2009ngrc.com Check it out

Tax Credit only use CHFA's JUMPStart Program if you use a CHFA 1st mortgage. Those are .5-1% higher than other government loans, which limits the buyers ability to qualify.

Downpayment with Tax Credit: $6000 of $8000 is available from CHFA. Must be repaid by 6-1-10. $350 application fee. JUMPSTART is the program

BIG ROCK BLUE MARLINE TOURNAMENT MOREHEAD CITY, NC JUNE 5-13, 2009

It is hard to believe this year marks the 51st ANNUAL BIG ROCK BLUE MARLIN TOURNAMENT! I might be telling my age but I remember earlier tournaments that made big game fishing at 'THE BIG ROCK' famous here in Carteret County, NC.

The photo (upper right corner) is that of a tee shirt I still wear to this day from the "13th Annual Hardee's King Mackerel Tournament" hosted in Atlantic Beach, NC. This tournament boasts that it is the largest all-cash King Mackerel Fishing Tournament in the nation. Having lived in Atlantic Beach, NC for 8 years and right in the thick of this event, that does not suprise me. It is a 5 day tournament and is usually held annually in early September. The Hardee's King Mackerel Tournament exudes excitement all during the tournament for the 'locals' and members of the entire family. There are a variety of activities at the 'Atlantic Station' in Atlantic Beach, NC which accompanies the tournament.

THE BIG ROCK BLUE MARLIN TOURNAMENT in Morehead City, NC is a momentous and monumental event! A few of the Big Rock Events included are the Captain's Cocktail Party, Captain's Dance and a good old Southern Style Pig Pickin'!

Even if you don't fish in this event there are numerous things to do each day. Lie on the beaches and soak up the sun; go shopping in Morehead City, on the Beaufort Waterfront or in Emerald Isle; enjoy wonderful food at great restaurants in the area such as Ruddy Duck's, on the Morehead City Water Front, Cap't Bill's, Sanitary Fish Market & Restaurant or Picata's on Arendell in down town Morehead City.

A new welcome addition I think to the BIG ROCK BLUE MARLIN TOURNAMENT is naming the Ladies Tournament "The Keli Wagner Big Rock Lady Angler Tournament" in honor or a gracious lady who loved and supported this tournament for many, many years. Our community was deeply saddened by the loss of Keli who lost her battle with cancer in late 2008. Keli was a truly wonderful person and a generous, giving member of Carteret County. The RAAB Cancer Clinic is the chosen charity by this event for 2009. I know that Keli would be excited and extremely proud of this decision made by the Board of Directors of the BIG ROCK BLUE MARLIN TOURNAMENT.

For additional updated information and photos on the 51st ANNUAL BIG ROCK BLUE MARLIN TOURNAMENT in Morehead City go to: http://bigrocknews.blogspot.com/

If you are interested in buying or selling any real estate while you are here, please give us a call at www.GenaGilbertRealEstate.com

NC COASTAL PROPERTIES GGRE, Inc.

877-240-0259 Toll-Free or 252-240-0259 Local

Enjoy your visit, have a great time

&

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE LUCKY WINNER!

"YOU'RE IN THE MONEY"

RIVER FRONT LIVING AT AFFORDABLE PRICE! LARGE LOT & COTTAGE UNDER $450,000!

591 Becton Rd, Havelock, NC

Located on the lovely Neuse River over looking Fantastic Water Views. Only a short boat ride to Oriental, NC. This lot and "Carriage House" with 926 Sq Ft living area is affordably priced at $419,000 FURNISHED! Current owners built this "Carriage House/Garage" as a place live in while building a larger home. Owners have decided not to build on this beautiful lot, however, the 'Carriage House' can be used as a Summer Cottage, Guest House or In-Law Quarters. There is ample space should you decide to build a larger home on this 3.43 Acre Direct Water Front lot!

24'X10' Deck with GREAT RIVER VIEWS compliments the 'Carriage House' and provides a wonderful relaxing way to the spend your day watching the gorgeous Sunsets over the water. Start enjoying life now and build your Dream Home at your leisure!

NC COASTAL PROPERTIES

Gena Gilbert Real Estate

Direct #252-659-2368

Office #877-240-0259

ASK FOR 'GENA OR HAROLD'

3 BEDROOM 2 FULL BATH NEAR CHERRY POINT MCAS, NC

CLOSE TO BEACHES, SCHOOLS AND CHERRY POINT MCAS!

$157,900

304 FOXHALL DR, NEWPORT, NC 28570

TURN KEY! MOVE IN!

Like New 3 Bedroom, 2 Full Baths, Double Garage, Large Fenced-in Back Yard with new free standing large Storage Building and Pre-wired for Surround Sound in Great Room! NEWLY PAINTED INTERIOR, NEW FLOOR COVERINGS, POWER WASHED EXTERIOR!

This lovely home is in a great neighborhood, only minutes to the Crystal Coast Beaches, Morehead City and Cherry Point MCAS in Havelock, NC. Home is in excellent condition and ready for the right family to move in at closing!

Beautiful wood floor entry, new plush carpet in Great Room, hall and all bedrooms and new vinyl floors in bathrooms. Located in Newport School District with bus service to all schools. Great Sports Fishing or Inland Fishing areas all around. Great Boating area also!

Go to: http://www.genagilbertrealestate.com/ and http://www.nccoastalproperties.com/ to preview additional photos and details.

BROKER/OWNERS GENA & HAROLD GILBERT 252-659-2367 OR 252-659-2368

Who Did You Enjoy Memorial Day With this Year?

These are some of my friends I spent Memorial Day with this year. They are the wild horses on Shackelford Island in Carteret County, Core Banks of NC. They are not tame but they will allow people to share their environment if you behave and follow their rules.

Rule #1 NEVER get between the Stallion and his Mares!

Rule#2 NEVER get between the Mare and her colt(s)!

Rule#3 Be very quiet and do not spook or scare them.

Rule#4 Walk among them softly and slowly.

Rule#5 If they snort or stomp their hooves, BACK UP!

Rule#6 Do NOT try to touch them. As beautiful as they are you must remember they are wild animals.

Rule#7 Do not feed them. They are well provided for by the FEDERAL Wildlife.

Just in case you did not catch my suttle hint on Rule#7, remember the word 'FEDERAL'. Federal Wildlife Officers protect FEDERAL land. You are visiting Shackelford Island which is part of the National Seashore and the Southern Outer Banks.

Enjoy watching and walking among the wild horses and other wildlife but please don't break the rules. The signs that say 'Keep your dog on a leash' are there to protect the horses and the other wild life that calls Shackelford Island their home. :>)

One GREAT Way to Spend Memorial Day!

What a wonderful way to spend Memorial Day or ANY day for that matter!

The photo to your right is a wild mother horse and her colt. This is a sight we see on a regular basis during the breeding season o Shackelford Island in Carteret County, NC. How intriguing it is to see wild horses roaming free and to be able to get up close with them.

Every day at 'Shack' as the locals call it, is a great day and much better than any day at work. Lying out on the beach or lying under a shaded tent or umbrella and watching the boats go by, cooking hamburgers, hot dogs, shrimp, clams you just dug up on the grill. How much better can life get? Not a care in the world, listening to the wave gently splash on the shore, sitting and chatting with good friends and family - it's better than taking any drug you can imagine. :>)

The 'Southern Outer Banks' of NC are a fantastic place to live, work and play. We invite you to visit us at http://www.genagilbertrealestate.com/ or at http://www.nccoastalproperties.com/ and see just how wonderful life can be.

Gena & Harold Gilbert

"Always Placing Your Real Estate Needs 1st"

"Your Coastal Sales Team"

252-659-2368

We Look Forward To Sharing a Piece of Our "Heaven on Earth" with you!

FORECAST FOR A BEAUTIFUL BEACH WEEKEND

This is Oceanna Pier in the background. It has been around as long as I can remember. The people in the picture fishing are my daughter and my granddaughter. What a thrill to see a picture of my kids fishing in the surf next to the same pier I fished off of when I was a small child. What fun we have all had and what great memories we can all share in just one location in Atlantic Beach, NC.

There are only two piers left on Bogue Island. Enjoy them while you can! Nobody knows how much longer they will stand so cherish them and use them as much as possible for now.

Surf fishing is popular most of the year but it really gets busy in the Spring and Fall Seasons. You catch whitings, blue fish and sometimes mackeral. Of course, an old boot or two may catch your line from time to time also. :>)

If you can, come on and get your feet wet this weekend in the ocean or the sound in one of the beautiful beaches of Carteret County, NC. We are friendly folks. We don't mind sharing! :>)

Gena & Harold Gilbert

"Your Coastal Sales Team"

www.GenaGilbertRealEstate.com

GRADUATION FOR CLASSES IN PHOTOGRAPHY

I have been taking classes for the past 12 weeks in Digital Photography and Photoshop Elements 6 to learn more details about how to better my photography images. I graduated 4-20-09 and I am no longer scared to death to touch all the buttons and keys on my Nikon D-40 SLR or my Elements 6 program. Hooray!

These classes taught me a great deal about becoming a better photographer and I will use this knowledge to make my pictures in my Real Estate Career better as well as all other pictures I love to take of my family and the natural wonders that surround us.

HAPPY PHOTOGRAPHING!

Gena

Tips on Buying Short Sales in Fort Myers and Cape Coral Florida

Brett Ellis of the Ellis Team at RE/MAX Realty Group just posted a video on buying short sales and foreclosures in Fort Myers and Cape Coral Florida. Brett is a Certified Distressd Property Expert and works the bank foreclosure and short sale market in SW Florida.

Brett and Adrian Jacobs from Countrywide Home Loans share insider tips on how to effectively buy short sale properties and how to get your offer through quicker, as well as how to best get the banks to say yes.

Read the entire article New Video Released About Buying and Selling Short Sales in Cape Coral and Fort Myers Florida Brett's website can be found at Topagent.com

How Do you Respond to a Carpet Allowance?

Should I offer a Carpet Allowance to get my Home SOLD?

This is a great question from many Home Seller's. Here is how I responded to that same question:

---Original Message---
Sent: Tuesday, March 10, 2009
To: 'brad@kornteam
Importance: High

Brad and/or Sonya,
I want to add a $5000 carpet and paint allowance to the listing. The number one thing that seems to be consistently noted in our showing feedback is how “outdated” and/or poor condition ....(I have the full email at our Korn Team blog at www.kornteam.com


---Response---
...consider one more option. …Consider doing a 90 days, same as cash type deal…or even get him to put some cheap carpet (but decent looking) in.

Unfortunately, with all my years of selling, even the allowance will not get them past picking your home. It is truly a “Beauty Contest” AND a “Price War” and you have to win both. Obviously the price is not keeping them away…we are getting some decent traffic. Even a cheap new carpet is still new and looks great.

....I know you are both busy, so you might want to decide if you would rather discount the price and not do the work…make is such a good deal that anyone will overlook the carpets, etc…….OR…..do a little work to make it neutral (cream, off white, wheat colors, etc…) and have a better shot getting the price you are at. The honest truth is...if your home blew their socks off from the minute they walked into the home, carpet and paint would never keep someone from making an offer.

...they are seeing either better values out there, or maybe even homes that don't need the work, and are priced very competitively (sometimes even more than you...but no work needed, and completely updated).

Thanks.Brad
www.kornteam.com
brad@kornteam.com

Asbestos Attic Insulation Remains a Hazard for Homeowners

If you are a home owner and believe you may have asbestos insulation, any disturbance has the potential to release its fibers in the air. Limiting the number of trips to the attic will help limit your exposure. It is important to meet with professional abatement contractors in order to determine what the best course of action is for your situation.

There are many things to consider when remodeling or purchasing an older home. Homes built prior to 1980 have a potential to harbor asbestos materials. A professional home inspection for potentially corrosive insulation materials is extremely important for a variety of scenarios.

Used in millions of homes throughout the twentieth century, asbestos insulation can be a big problem for homeowners because of its corrosive and health deteriorating qualities. Deadly cancer’s such as asbestosis and peritoneal mesothelioma are obtained through asbestos exposure and take the lives of thousands each year. With a latency period that lasts 20 to 50 years, it
it isn’t until the later stages of progression when physicians usually are able to accurately diagnose this disease.

The high amount of asbestos incidents over the last century has lead to mesothelioma attorney firms throughout the country advocating and protecting victim’s rights. The asbestos cover up was jointly executed by corporations and government, limiting citizens and workers of the dangers associated with asbestos.

The Environmental Protection Agency suggests:

- Asbestos insulation should be left undisturbed in your attic.
- Limit the amount of accessories and items stored.
- Do not allow children’s access.
- If you plan to remodel or conduct renovations, hire professionals to handle asbestos to safely remove the material. Removing asbestos by yourself can potentially spread fibers throughout your home and your family will be at risk of inhaling asbestos dust.

It is not always an easy process to determine whether or not a particular insulation contains asbestos. Anyone who is unsure about the insulation in their home should have the materials in question tested. To protect your investment, professional consultants can provide an evaluation of the home. Consultants will identify material defects structures and components of the home, in adherence to or exceeding national, state, and industry regulations and standards.

Creating a Disney Experience in your Buiness

Creating a Disney Experience in your Business

I am in Orlando this week at the KW Family Reunion (annual conference) and today I was fortunate to hear Jeff with the Disney Institute talk about how Disney creates the magical experience. The thought that most rang true today and something that applies to us an our business is in evaluating our customer compass. What is important to our clients?

He talked about Taks vs Purpose. Everyone in Disney has a job title and with that job title comes a task that must be completed. If you ask everyone in the park what their task is, you will get a lot of different responses. However, if you aks every one of them what their purpose is....they ALL have the same answer. You see, at Disney, the Finance persons' main purpose is not to be "accurate" it is to be sure that everyone they come in contact with has a WOW experience.

If I asked your team what their task is...would I get different answers? Most likely. They all have different job descriptions. What if I asked them all what the purpose is....are you confident they would ALL give the same exact answer? If you asked me that questions, I would say "I think so"...but am I sure? This is a great time to check in with our team and see if we all have the same purpose. If not...what is the purpose? Remember, our clients only move once every 5 years. What makes the experience bad is the unknown. What purpose could you have as a team to make this move feel equivilant to a Disney experience.

new outlook on being successful

Books are incredible! In November, Gary Keller was speaking at a large National Mortgage conference. His message was great. He was giving the Lender community some great information on how to survive this market. Following the event I asked him if he had any information I could use to send to some of my coaching clients. He suggested I read the book "Outlier" by Malcolm Gladwell. It basically talks about the study of extremely successful people. The star sports players, top orchestra players, etc.

I just got into the book and there is a whole new perspective on why some are more successful than others. The piece that really blew me away was regarding the study of time practicing. We have all heard the saying "Practice makes Perfect" and in the book they found that some of the most successful people in their field just practice more than those that are just good. In fact, Mozart was playing music for 20 years before his masterpiece was created.

The study of violin players really helped me look at success in a new light. They did a study of Violin players. They put them in 3 groups. The most successful in one group, the semi-successful in another and the violinist that were not good at all and should be moving on to something else. What they found is the most successful violinist practiced quite a bit more than the middle group and the middle group practiced quite a bit more than the lower group. To summarize...the best players in the study had practiced over 10,000 hours compared to the next closest group that only practiced 8,000 hours and the lowest group had around 4,000 hours of practice.

Bobby Fischer became a Chessmaster only with over 10,000 hours of playing (practicing) chess. Very interesting. If you think about successful agents vs agents that don't make it, and look at their lead generation methods. The most successful agents lead generate almost 3 hours every day. If you apply the 10,000 hour rule to that, and you lead generate 3 hours every day, 5 days a week it will take you 12 years to get 10,000 hours of lead generation in. Can you imagine what your business would look like if you did 3 hours of lead generation for 12 years? Which also lends itself to people who are struggling just to put in 1 hour of lead generation every day. If you take that path it will take you 38 years. Now just understand that I am talking about doing real estate at the Bobby Fischer or Mozart level of success.

Sure puts a different perspective on how important it is to focus on the right things.....EVERY day! practice, practice, practice.

Is NOW a good time to sell?

Many clients ask if they should wait till April (or so) to put their home on the market. Actually, my advice is quite different. No matter what market you are in, the Fall and Spring months are one of the BEST times to be on the market.

Real Estate is everything they taught us in High School Economics....it is "supply" and "demand". The reason people think they should wait is because they heard a lot of homes sell in the summer. Well, that is true. In fact, 50% of home sales in the US sell in the summer months. However, during the summer months there is more competition for those buyers.

What I suggest is to get your home on the market right away. Jan-Mar will be the months you will have the leasst amount of competition for the rest of the year. Many sellers sign 6 month contracts when they list their home. If they list in June and expire around Thanksgiving...the majority of sellers go ahead and take their home off the market. Those are the months that you have the least amount of sellers trying to take YOUR buyer.

Another way to look at it is this, in the summer there are a lot more buyers....but also a lot more homes for sale. In the beginning of the year there are fewer buyers....but they are typically more serious buyers (especially if there is snow and bad weather). Those buyers HAVE to move. So, even though you may get fewer lookers, the lookers out in the weather ar serious buyers. In fact, those serious buyers have fewer homes to chose from, so I would argue that sellers typically get a little more equity during the first months of the year.

If you would like further explanation on this, feel free to contact us at brad@kornteam.com