31 Days of December Challenge - Day 23 Started my day off by writing post #22 for the 31 Days of December Challenge. Then I wrote my George Clooney post. I spent the rest of the day finishing the white chocolate peppermint bark candy. Delivering them today to clients and contacts. Spoke to my seller about the accepted offer since we received the Purchase Agreement yesterday. The contract should be done sometime next week. We should close in February. Looking forward to that! Until tomorrow...........have an awesome Christmas Eve! P.S. as I'm trying to post this, I'm getting a message to upgrade to a rainmaker account. I already have one! Sent a message to the AR gods about this :) Weird. 12/23/2010

31 Days of December Challenge - Day 22 Started my day off by writing 2 real estate market reports. One was for Lindenhurst NY and the other for Babylon NY. I still have to get 2 more done and that will be completed today! The other post for was days 20 & 21 for the 31 Days of December challenge. Then I took another counter offer for one of my listings. Almost 6 weeks of negotiating! Talk about challenges! The purchase agreement should be faxed over today. I spent four hours yesterday making white chocolate peppermint bark candy. They are extra gifts for clients and some contacts. I have to wrap them up this morning and then it's out to deliver these candy gifts. I gave out poinsettia plants to these same clients and contacts a few weeks ago. Until tomorrow...........have an awesome day! 12/23/2010

George Clooney Called. He Wants Me To List His Home! But, I had to attend a movie premiere with him first..................   I had to shop for a dress, get my hair and nails done, get waxed, make-up applied professionally of course. Buy shoes. Then there was the 1 hour massage at the spa. It's tough being a real estate agent. I felt bad for the guy. He had no date. Imagine that? Going above and beyond is my motto! 12/23/2010

Lindenhurst NY Real Estate Market Trends Week Ending 12/19/10Lindenhurst NY Homes For Sale: Currently, there are 245 homes on the market in Lindenhurst NY. 54 of those listings are in my Century 21 AA Realty office. Seven homes were listed last week Prices range from $199,900 to $499,000. There is one short sale and one REO Property. When you look at my chart, you will see the average property taxes being over $10,000. This is because 3 of the homes have property taxes over $14,000. Because of this, the average taxes are padded in my chart. One home is on the water and is a legal 2 by permit. According to the Town of Babylon, this "justifies" the high property taxes. Lindenhurst NY Homes Under Contract: Four homes are under contract. Two of them are listings in my office. Listing prices... 12/22/2010

31 Days of December Challenge - Day 20 & 21 Day 20 - Started my day off by writing 4 real estate market reports for Lindenhurst NY, West Babylon, Babylon and North Babylon. I still have to do four more for last week. My goal is to get them done today! I also wrote post #19 for the 31 Days of December Challenge. And called 10 people from my SOI list. Day 21 - Dealt with an offer on one of my listings. I can't go into details about it now but it's going to make for a great blog post in the future! Made red velvet cupcakes for my office party that we had last night. I make them homemade so it took all morning between baking them and making the cream cheese frosting. Spoke with a client yesterday to discuss heating issues. They were quoted $1,000 to have the unit fixed. The person told the... 12/22/2010

31 Days of December Challenge - Day 19Started my day at 10 a.m. by going to a client's home to re-take a photo of the bedroom. The original photo didn't come out that great. It was all bed. So, my client gave me a short step ladder and amazingly it worked! Taking a photo up higher, made all the difference! I took 3 shots and used the best one. I'm very picky with photos. Can't have them blurry or dark. Small spaces are a challenge too. Their bedroom is not small it's just how it's laid out that was the challenge.Wrote a market report post for Babylon NY. I was a week behind. Been doing extra marketing for 2 new listings and that has to come first. Scheduled an open house for my listing in Lindenhurst NY on North 6th Street. It's a month in advance so that should give it great exposure ... 12/20/2010

Lindenhurst NY Real Estate Market Trends Week Ending 12/12/10Lindenhurst NY Homes For Sale: Seven homes were listed. Prices range from $209,900 to $399,900. There is one short sale and two REO properties Lindenhurst NY Homes Under Contract: Two homes are under contract. Prices range from $335,000 to $365,000. They are both in the Lindenhurst NY School District. We will not know the sold prices until the homes go to closing.Lindenhurst NY Sold Homes: Five homes closed. Sold prices range from $220,000 to $359,000. There were no short sales or REO properties. Four of these homes were sold by agents in my office! Way to go! And, three were listed in my office. This is why we are #1 in the Town of Babylon let alone Lindenhurst, NY because we get homes sold! Call me today (631) 703-0201 to fi... 12/20/2010

Lindenhurst NY Open House 144 N. 6th Street (Cross Street: West John St.) South of Sunrise Highway Lindenhurst NY Expanded Ranch With Renovated Kitchen! Offering: $399,000Come visit this beautiful home in Lindenhurst NY! Renovated kitchen with glazed, gorgeous counter tops, beautiful cabinets that have plenty of storage space, stainless steel appliances, and Brazilian flooring! Dining room has Brazilian flooring and sliding glass doors that lead out to the wood deck and fabulous yard! Grand living room has so much space you can do just about anything with it! Has hardwood floors and enough windows to let in the natural lighting. High ceilings that boast dramatic lighting. Master Bedroom is large and has hardwood floors and closet. Full bath with a linen closet. Two other bedrooms with h... 12/19/2010

31 Days of December Challenge - Day 18  Day 18 - Started my day by writing a post for day 17 for the 31 Days of December Challenge. Continued to work on my Business Plan for 2011. Made an appointment to see my client to re-take some photos of his co-op. The original photo didn't come out that great. It was all bed. I do not like to see photos of beds and neither do buyers. It looks silly. The way this bedroom is shaped, it's not going to be easy to capture how nice the room is. Will be there today. The rest of the day was filled with cleaning my house like a mad woman, dying my hair (dreaded that task), an sitting down with a carpet company. Want to buy new carpet for the entire house so we've been price and quality shopping. I can say that good, quality carpeting is not cheap! 12/19/2010

31 Days of December Challenge - Day 17 - Marketing DayDay 17 - Wrote two posts for my co-op listing at Fisherman's Wharf in West Babylon. One for a for sale post and the other is for an open house on 1/16/2011. I take my time with these posts. I also uploaded 2 videos for this new listing to YouTube. One was a photo montage video and the other is for the development. Created a web page on my website for my co-op listing and for another listing that I got in the same week. Our MLS has a new service for us called Announce My Listings. I created 2 listings through them and sent them off to my sellers. This is where they can send this announcement to everyone on their email contact list and post it to Facebook. Any extra marketing is a good thing! Then I sat down with my seller files and do... 12/18/2010

31 Days of December Challenge - Day 16 - Getting Organized!Day 16 - After getting over the shock that December is half over, I wrote post #15 for the 31 Days of December Challenge. Then I wrote another post expressing my gratitude towards the Activerain community. Yesterday, I sat down and wrote a list of what I need to be reminded of and set them up in my Outlook calendar. I've always been an organized person but I needed to sit down and figure out what is priority and what is not. So, I set reminders to let me know what blogs are to be written every week and month. And also for yearly. I had to weed out market reports that do not fit with my coverage areas. That will free up time for me to market my listings even better! I then set reminders for future open houses to give those listi... 12/17/2010

It's Been A Great 2010 On Activerain!Over the last few days, I've been thinking about my business during 2010. This led me to thinking about all the wonderful members here in the 'Rain that have helped me survive. Whether it's a good laugh or some a lot of great ideas for marketing ourselves. And learning as much as we can about the real estate business. No matter what we need, it is right here on Activerain. Reading success stories of others can fuel our fires to help keep us going. If that doesn't help to keep us going, then I don't know what would. We go from reading these stories to reading about ideas that work for others. We try them. If it doesn't work for us then.......NEXT! Then there is the friendships we form. Those friendships are priceless and should always remain that way... 12/16/2010

31 Days of December Challenge - Day 15Day 14 - Wrote a post for day 14 for the 31 Days of December challenge. Worked on my 2011 business plan for a few hours. Spoke with a few current clients about what is going on in the market this month. It's starting to slow down so I wanted to make sure they knew why. Made a list of what listings will have open houses next month. I want to plan ahead so that the open house dates get long exposure before it happens. Finished videos for my new co-op listing. Will upload them to AR, Facebood and Youtube once that listing hits the MLS which should be today. Delivered a few more poinsettia plants. Plant delivery will be complete by Saturday. And wrote 4 market reports for Babylon, West Babylon, North Babylon and Lindenhurst NY. That was for 2 weeks ago... 12/15/2010

Lindenhurst NY Real Estate Market Trends Week Ending 12/5/10Lindenhurst NY Homes For Sale: Eleven homes were listed last week and 5 of them are with my office. Prices range from $220,000 to $329,989. There is one short sale and one REO Property. Lindenhurst NY Homes Under Contract: Eight homes are under contract. Four of them are listings in my office. Sold prices range from $275,000 to $439,000. There are 2 short sales and no REO properties. The home that is listed for $439,000 is in the American Venice section of Lindenhurst NY. It is also in the Copiague School District. Lindenhurst NY Sold Homes: Four homes closed last week. Sold prices range from $215,000 to $345,000. There was one short sale and no REO properties. The home that sold for $215,000 was not a short sale and it was bea... 12/15/2010

31 Days of December Challenge - Day 14Day 14 - Wrote a post for day 13 for the 31 Days of December challenge. Wrote another post for one of my new listings in Copiague, NY. Included an area map of the neighborhood, one for shopping and the other for Tanner Park. The home is located very close to this park. Finished my holiday cards. Had a nice conversation with a past client. I called to wish them a Merry Christmas. Delivered more poinsettia plants to people I have met with this year. Yes, I bought a lot of plants! Worked on my Business Plan for 2011. Scheduled a time and day with others that I have met to give them poinsettia plants. They are going to be surprised! 12/15/2010

31 Days of December Challenge - Day 13Day 13 - Spent the entire day editing neighborhood videos for my 2 listings. Created 2 photo montage videos for them as well. Wrote a post for Day 12 for the 31 Days of December Challenge. Helped a past buyer-client with their Home Buyer Tax credit dilemma. In short, the IRS is questioning about why did they pay to buy an apartment? It's a co-op. And yes Ms. IRS Taxwoman, you can buy them. Once I hear the end result, you can bet I will write a post about this! That's all she wrote. See you tomorrow!   12/14/2010

31 Days of December Challenge - Days 11 & 12 Day 11 - Started the day off at 7 a.m. in Copiague, NY to do a video tour neighborhood for a new listing. Then headed to Lindenhurst, NY to meet with a plumber I know to help a client figure out why she has no heat. She was quoted $1,000 for a relay switch from someone else and I found that to be very high. My plumber charger her $200.00 which is what it should be. My client was so happy! This is what it's all about when you are in the real estate business. Took a new listing at the Fisherman's Wharf Co-Op Development in West Babylon, NY. I did a postcard mailing in August and this homeowner kept it. I thought it was just a listing presentation but turned out he was ready to hire me before I even got there. Turns out, I know the homeowner. I... 12/12/2010

Not Having Internet Access Is Like Walking In The Dark! I have a laptop that has WIFI. A few days ago I spent almost a full day of figuring out why our wireless router wasn't working.I did all the troubleshooting myself then called Cisco's toll free number. Turns out, the router lost it's life. Had it for almost 8 years so it gave us a good run. Instead of going out and spending way too much money on one, I bought a brand new one on Ebay for $30.00. If I went to any store it would have cost at least double that. I really should have spent double money. So here I am using hubby's computer. The keyboard sucks. I have to press really hard on the keys, especially the space bar.I have Wifi access to choose from on my laptop but the connections are pathetically slow. Cablevision prides thems... 12/11/2010

 31 Days of December Challenge - Days 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 & 11Day 6 - Wrote a post about drinking and driving during the holidays.Called buyer leads and printed marketing materials for my listings. Took a new listing in Copiague, NY with water-views! DAY 7 - Wrote 2 posts. One was about how lucky I am to be working with great homeowners and the other about my Open House success from last Sunday. Called more buyer leads for 2 hours. Day 8 - Sat with my great Broker for a meeting about my 2011 business plan.I told him that I love being a listing agent and that is my focus. He gave me great ideas and I walked away feeling really great about 2011! Going to focus also on getting my CRS (certified residential specialist). Went to 8 expired listings and not one person was home so I left my brochur... 12/11/2010

Lindenhurst NY Open House Success! - 144 N. 6th Street This past Sunday, I did an open house at 144 N. 6th Street. It was the second one and the home isn't listed that long. The first open house was 2 weeks ago and I had 25 brochures ready and had 3 left by the end of the day. It was from 1 to 3 and I was there until 4:45! So, I print 10 more for Sunday. I brought a book with me thinking it would be slow. It was brutally cold out so I didn't expect much of a turnout. Ha! I was so wrong. I have no brochures left. 10 couples and 3 individuals came. Woohoo! Most of the people came early and I was able to leave at 3:30. This home is a 4 bedroom, 4 bath expanded ranch. Most people are surprised when they walk in due to the home being much larger on the inside than it appears on the outside.... 12/07/2010