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You Are Your Customers Money

I enjoy reading. I read a lot. I crave knowledge; I thirst to know more than the next person. I want to know who pays me, why they pay me, when I am being paid. What have I done to earn this food on my table? The cigars I smoke? The food I feed my [...]

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Avoid Using Weak Wimpy Words

The definition of a weak, wimpy word is any modifying word or phrase that a) makes you sound less confident and b) can easily be removed and make your original sentence stronger.

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First Time Homebuyers And FHA Mortgages

When is a First Time Homebuyer not a first time homebuyer? According to our loan programs a first time home buyer is anyone who has not owned any property in the past three (3) years at the time of credit application.

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Real Estate Radio

The Success Snowball

Every year, the calendar turns to the winter months.  In many parts of the country; that means snow, cold, and short days.  I happen to live in the Midwest and those three descriptive words definitely hold true. 

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Mass Media and Real Estate Must Completely Change Their Business Models

Any reader to Transparent Real Estate will understand that I believe the media business and the real estate industry are intimately connected because marketing a home requires local, sometimes national, media exposure.

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Why Generation Y?

We (Gen Y) don’t read newspapers. Snail-mail? Forget about it. What’s a LAN line? I have a Blackberry. Why call me? Send me a Facebook Message instead, or better yet, send me a Tweet. By the way, did you see that video on YouTube? It rocks!

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What Your House is NOT Worth.

Being both a licensed real estate agent AND a certified residential real estate appraiser, I’m often the “go-to guy” for all questions of valuation from my colleagues in the office, my buddies at poker night and the lady bagging my groceries.

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Perceived Value

If you’re like most people who own some type of residential real estate, your perception of it’s value is probably what convinced you to buy it in the first place. Realtors constantly try to create an illusion of value in order to sell properties. Sometimes the best perceived value is built into the property and [...]

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Can You Teach Ethics In Real Estate?

I recently took the continuing education course required by NAR called “The Code of Ethics”. I was not happy about taking it and my comments went more like “you can’t teach ethics. Either you have them or you don’t.”

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Gone In 60 Seconds

“Identity theft is one of the fastest-growing crimes in the nation,” says Congresswoman Melissa Bean.  

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