Spoken Gently's Blog: All Categories

Using Google's mapping features, as well as other recognized company's mapping features is considered fair use and taken for granted by most real estate agents. Well, think again. There has been a case working it's way through the courts whereby an Ambler Pennsylvania real estate agent, Diane Sarkisian, is being sued by Real Estate Alliance, Ltd. REALS (for short) is seeking unspecified damages for Sarkisian's alleged illegal use of its patented property locator method. This lawsuit was filed back in July of 2005 and reported by Inman News. Fast forward a few years to this Inman News article. National Association of REALTORS® has pledged close to $850,000 to help defend Sarkisian. Apparently, this case is still alive and may have an impact for those of us…

That's right, 40 links to your Squidoo lens. Most folks do not take advantage of Squidoo's tagging feature. Each lens is allotted 40 tags, and used wisely, a lens can rise through the Squidoo ranks, provide high quality links to your real estate website, garner traffic, create sales, or all of the aforementioned. I will present a short primer on Squidoo tagging tricks for those interested in creating inbound links to your Squidoo lens.

Anatomy Of A Tag

Whenever a tag is created, a link is placed on the page named with your tag and points back at your lens. For example, on our Flipping Real Estate lens, you'll notice a tag for 'agent estate flipping real (it is the first tag).' That tag is on this page. How did I come up with 'agent estate flipping…

My wife's birthday is today! Colleen turns the big 4-0 today. Proverbs 31:31 writes:

"Give her the reward she has earned, and let her works bring her praise at the city gate."

In times past, business and communication of important information was done at the gate to the city. Today, I'm here to stand at the gate and tell folks what a great REALTOR® and all around great person my wife is. A birthday tribute, if I may. What I've done is created a Squidoo lens about Colleen titled:

"Greatest Real Estate Agent In The World" Check it out!

Oh, Happy Birthday Colleen! You're pretty darn perfect in my books!

Increasing competition in the real estate industry and a large number of net-friendly users, make it important for every business to have a web presence. A website will help you reach out to potential clients 24x7x365—i.e. even when you are asleep! But it is not enough to host a website and wait for clients to come knocking on your door. A lot goes into ensuring that a website gets you ‘real’ business. If you are spending time and money on designing a website, make sure you do it sensibly.

Here are some points to consider when creating an efficient website that will earn you business:

This year's Apploosa at Liberty Christian is Saturday, September 26th, 2009 from 10am to 5pm. For several years Tri Cities Liberty Christian School has organized Appaloosa to garner funds for the children's programs at Liberty Christian. Come join the fun as there will be food, games, entertainment, and you can meet the Mr. and Miss. Apploosa of each class!

Among the many activities, you can Rent-A-Kid, pick lollipops from a lollipop tree, get a Country Photo, spray crazy at the crazy spray booth, and you can even experience Washoos first hand!

Consider joining the folks at Liberty Christian for a fun day, and at the same time help a worthy cause.

Related Resources: Apploosa | Liberty Christian School

Looking for something to do with family or friends this weekend? Consider the Fall Harvest and German Heritage events at the Fort Walla Walla Museum. The two programs are combined this year into a weekend of fun September 22nd and 23rd, from 10am-5pm.

For 15 years, this pioneer-style event brings food and games for everyone, and lots of activities centered around methods and utilities of generations past.

There are plenty of performances to watch and/or participate in like the Living History Company's dances of bygone years. You'll be entertained by the Germans from Russia who tell their saga through music and dancing. Or perhaps you'll be interested in "A Symphony of Color" Heritage Quilt Festival, and a "Sisters in Art" show.

For more activity and…

If you’re a wine connoisseur and considering real estate opportunities in the state of Washington, then Richland, located in the Tri-Cities area near the confluence of the Columbia, Yakima, and Snake Rivers, may just be the perfect place for you. Richland is the central home to a growing and thriving viticulture (wine-producing) area, which is responsible for grape cultivation, generating the production of international brands of world-class fine wine within four major appellations, or certified AVAs (American Viticultural Areas), in Washington State.

These four major appellations surrounding Richland are comprised of the Columbia Valley (7,000 hectares for planting and cultivating wine grapes), the Yakima Valley (5,000 hectares), the Walla Walla Valley…

Here's a video of an upside down house that gives a whole new purpose to the seller's disclosure statement. Daniel Czapiewski, Polish businessman and philanthropist, built this house in 114 days as an artistic statement about the Communist era and current state of the world. Usually, his company builds homes in 3 weeks, however, the workers needed frequent breaks due to being nauseous. The workers, as well as the many thousands of tourists to this tiny Polish village of Szymbark, complain of mild seasickness and dizziness after just a few minutes of being in the home. Most likely due to the body's need to straighten out it's equilibrium. Enjoy this 2 minute video of the Upside Down House: