My Old-School and My New-School Doings

There is this old-school way do doing things, what we sometimes call, “old-fashion,” not “in the times,” “not with it,” or “living in the past.” I have lived part of my life in the old-school. Now, I live in the new-school.  There is also a new-school and old-school in rea estate. Both can be good and both can be bad.

Examples of old-school include:                       Examples of New School:
Going out side to pick up the paper.                         The paper comes to you online.
Using “him” before “Her.                                            Using, “her” before “him.”
Getting the mailbox full of junk.                               Subscribing to what is wanted via email.      
Going to the store to shop.                                       Going online to shop.
Sending bills through the mail.                                 Doing online banking, and sending bills.
Calling friends on the phone.                                    Instant messaging friends or emailing them.      
Doing business out of brick and mortor.                  Doing business electronically.
Keeping walls a neutral color scheme.                      Experimenting with color schemes.
Working in the box.                                                  Working outside the box.
9:00 to 5:00 job.                                                       Working your own hours.
Going to church every Sunday.                                  Worshipping in your own way.
Going to live talks, conferences, meetings.              Reading/listening to what you want online.  
Blogging to be wordy, and to make a point.              Micro-blogging to get right to the point.
Living in a big house with a room for all.                  Economizing, and sharing rooms.
Thinks Microsoft is the only game in town.               Using other operating systems.
Using a box computer.                                              Using a flat screen computer or laptop.
Saying, “I will call you later.”                                      Saying, “I will email you later.”
Using a mobile phone for calls only.                         Using a smart phone as database, internet, email.
Planned out activities hour by hour.                          Instantaneous planning, not hour by hour focus.
A yard of healthy green grass.                                   A yard with a vegetable garden, and compost bin.
Upsizing, getting the biggest home, car, etc.            Downsizing, getting a smaller home, car, etc.
Rejecting alternative energy.                                      Wanting to explore alternative energy.
Leaving a carbon footprint.                                        Finding ways not to leave a carbon footprint.
Drinking coffee black.                                               Putting things into coffee: vanilla, chocolate, etc.
Buying a home away from shops, stores.                   Buying a home with a town center nearby.
Real estate agent going to office to search homes.   Agent having the MLS on her/his smartphone.

This is by no means a complete list of what I consider to be old-school and new-school. You can think of many more or have a different list altogether. I find myself going back and forth in some of the items, and as we are progressing to a high level of living with each other, we often fall back into the old, limiting ways of doing things.  Where I most see old-school struggling with new-school, is in peoples’ use or no use, of technology. I see in the workplace, employers not using the latest more useful technology. Even in technology companies, I see old-school technology, or technology programs being used.

As a business man, who has to go out and meet people, I prefer to be a mobile office. I like to have everything in the palm of my hand: database, customer lists, Multiple Listing Service, spreadsheets, email system, internet access, camera, notebook, instant messaging, as well as the phone applications. I have all of that on my Treo 700wx. I have used Treos for years now, and have no interest in going to a different phone, at least not now. Treo gives me the new-school world when in or out of the home. I have not had any problems, or complaints in the years that I have been with Treo, starting with Treo 650, and not the 700wx.

Now, why do I think phone calls are old-school?

How often do we get a call when either, we are not able to answer it, in the shower, sitting at the dinner table (is that old-school too?), on another call, using the phone to work on the internet, or check email, in a conversation or meeting, or the caller is soliciting for business?

With email (or in my case gmail, since I am a Google addict) I can view the message when I want. I can carefully study the message, and respond fully to it, not with the distraction or time issue of a phone call, and not having to have the answer right on the spot. We can carefully craft our message response to someone electronic communication, and we can create a message to send to someone after having edited it, and noted what should be in the message. So many times have I hung up with a caller, and regretted not mentioning something. I just do not have the environment to craft a verbal message on the spot, like I do with electronic communication via email/gmail. Even instant messaging has more to it in terms of carefulness than a phone call.

Here is where a mix of old and new can be a healthy balance, and I am seeing this more now than years ago. Maybe a trend, maybe a long-term fact now. What I am seeing is more of a sense of people and businesses coming together in community. New homes with the beauty, and practicality of old times, having a spacious, covered front porch for entertaining visitors, greeting walkers and runners as they go by, and with a town center within walking distance, having shops, eating establishments, offices, and with a park also within walking distance, are all the features of this new sense of urbanization, in a healthy, green environment. Trees, shrubbery, walking paths, a lake or pond, benches and tables, all add to this, hopefully, lasting trend. This new urbanizations combines the old-school with the new-school, creating a better school. Yes, we can mingle more with neighbors, and visitors, since things are closer by, and yet, have the privacy, and state of the art technology of the day. We can be indoors, in our home office, or sitting outside with our mobile office, and still have face to face contact with the community. 

Kenneth Fach, REALTOR
Weichert, REALTORS-Anchor
1607 Village Square Blvd., Suite B103
Tallahassee, FL 32303
Cell: 850-339-5753
Blog: http://KennethFach.wordpress.com  Web: http://KennethFach.com  

Each office is independently owned and operated.

My Wonderful Google Tools

I absolutely love Google, and all that Google has to offer.  Google is my lifestyle. As a real estate agent, I am always going to my toolbox to pull out my Google tools. These useful tools can be for anyone, in any career, or almost for any lifestyle. Here are my favorite Google tools that I always keep in my toolbox:

Gmail
This is what I use for most all of my electronic communication, outside of the social/business networking sites. I like Gmail because you get so much storage power, great spam filters, Google’s search system so you can find any email you need, and a system to organize your electronic communications called “conversations” and which are organized by “labels.” I use Gmail on my Treo 700wx as well as on my laptop. Gmail is my number one favorite Google tool. Go to http://gmail.google.com.

Google Alerts
This is tied to my Gmail account. I set up Google Alerts for any subject that interests me, and these alerts go directly into my Gmail inbox everyday. Some of the alerts I selected and receive include: real estate, Tallahassee, Japanese Gardening, Organic gardening, ranch style homes, soccer, camping, Florida, mortgage, homes. Instead of going to Google Search field, and keyboarding the subject I am interested in, I can have Google research that for me and send me daily alerts. Go to http://alerts.google.com.

Google Docs
I keep all my documents, spreadsheets, and lists in Google Docs. This is a very user friendly system. That is why I like it. You get the date something was placed into the database, and you can file documents and spreadsheets into folders. Go to http://docs.google.com.

Google Maps
So many trips have I been on alone, and with family, and instead of using other mapping tools, I use Google Maps to get me to where I need to go. I have it on my Treo 700wx. I simply input the location, and state, and Google Maps will find it for me, and even provide highlighted road directions on the map, and text directions so I can read how to go to my location. It also keeps a history of my searches. Goolge Maps is super easy to use, and with fast results. You can zoom in and zoom out, and even get a satellite view. Go to http://maps.google.com.

Google Search
This is a great tool to not only search for any subject of interest, but I use Google Search to find myself on the internet, and to see how I am placed. Each entrepreneur or company can do this and see what is visible online about the company or yourself. I can see what sites I am strong on and weak on. This is also a good way to see where your competitors are online.

Goog 411
I can call 800-466-4411, and speak the business and city for which I am searching, and Google will provide me with the listings as well as text message with phone and address information of the business. Goog 411 will even connect me directly to the business listing. Cool!!!

Google Calendar
Now this is a very intuitive system. On my Treo or laptop, I go to calender.google.com, input the event and date, and Google will put it on the calendar for me. I will also get a text reminder. This is awesome. Try it and you will see the intuitiveness of this technology.

Blogger
Now I absolutely an attached to WordPress, but I use Google’s Blogger, for my other online blogs, which are more of a social, personal interest. Like everything Google, Blogger is easy to use, popular, and there is so much you can do to make your blog shine. Google provides the tools and the answers. I often go to Blogger to read others’ blogs and make comments.

Google Reader
As an avid reader of a variety of subjects, and with such a busy work schedule, I don’t have time to search everthing on Google. However, Google does much of that for me in Google Reader, as well as with Google Alerts. Google Reader will store, organize, and receive your blog and rss feeds. Now, you have more reading to do on the subjects that interest you.

Google Notebook
I know, I can always use my Treo tasks, notes or word mobile, to input and store my notes, but I like to be able to keep my notes on the web, so that I can check them from any computer, as well as on my Treo, by accessing Google Notes. You can sort and print your Google Notes. You can also export your notes to Google Docs.

Google News
We all know that Google’s search technology is the best. With Google News, you can search what category of news you want to received, or what topic interests you, and you can get the latest news in your Google News account. I use Google News to search blogs from other people, and to keep up with business news. I can personalize my Google News page. You got to try this. Here you get all the news you will probably want.

Google Talk
I use this to talk via the computer to friends and networking contacts. I may be expanding this and including my customer base. I can get to Google Talk when in my Gmail account. It is handy, and all right there.

Google Products Search
I can go to http://labs.google.com/productswml.html on my Treo smartphone when out shopping, input the product that interests me, and find a list of the best buys for that product. This is so useful.

Google Suggest
When going to Google Labs, you can go to Google Suggest, and input keywords. As you input the keywords, Goolge will create a list of related keywords, and the number of results on the internet for the keywords, so you can visit those sites.

Now, there are many other Google tools, but these are the ones I like the most. I did not always like Google. When I first got serious about the internet starting in 1994, I though Yahoo, Netscape, WebCrawler, DejaVu, Ask Jeeves, were awesome. When Google became one of the three big search engions among Yahoo, MSN, and Google, I stayed loyal to Yahoo, and used Yahoo for all my online researching. I even used Yahoo when working on my master’s degree at Florida State University. However, around 2004, I discovered that Google has it all, and I left my loyal ties to Yahoo and the other search engions for the ever expanding universe of Google. I stopped using my yahoo email accounts, and started using Gmail. Google continues to amaze me, and probably amazes you, too.

Kenneth Fach, REALTOR
Weichert, REALTORS-Anchor
1607 Village Square Blvd., Suite B103
Tallahassee, Florida  32309
Cell 850-339-5753

Each office is independently owned and operated.

A Tallahassee Real Estate Agent Uses Stikkit to Organize

I have been very successful with organizing my tasks, and scheduling appointments and to dos, using an online program called Stikkit. As a Tallahassee real estate agent, I need a system, I need to maintain, feed, organize, and rearrange my database. I need to be able to make quick and easy notes, in the field, and in my home, and to list reminders. I do it all through the the online system of stikkit.com. It is a very user friendly, easy to use, software, that makes it a pleasure to input stikkits, because it is simple, fun, and the appearance is attractive. Plus I get email reminders of what needs to be done as well.

 Stikkit is a free system for storing, and arranging your tasks. I use it to keep up with my database, and service transactions as well. In fact to a certain degree, Stikkit is my Tallahassee real estate agent database. I find it to serve me very well, as a tool should. Tools are our servants.  The best part is, I can do everything with stikkit on my Treo smart phone, without having to access a PC, or laptop. Since it is internet based, I don’t have to worry about losing data, my stikkits.  From any internet connection, I can view my stikkits, and review or update my stucks.

You know how so many people use those small, yellow note pads. They are still used. I have worked in office settings. Well, that is what stikkit serves as, except, it is an advanced online, yellow notepad system, fully electronic, and intuitive. You interact, and it updates other stikkits. It will cross reference for you and track your stikkit history. You can share your stikkits with others too. There is a tag system, like what you find in blog platforms. You can search stikkits using the system of tags. If used as a database of contacts, you can look up contacts by clicking on a letter.

A hard working entrepreneur, including a  real estate agent,  , would greatly benefit from using the Stikkit system. It is a benefit to me, even with all the other systems available. I am going to stick with Stikkit. It works for me and serves me, from my home in Tallahassee to the many neighborhoods I frequent to view homes, show homes, and learn more about the markets. I like the online protection and safety of storing information, but I also use mobile Excel with my Treo to store and update data, in my real estate work, and research, as well. It is all about order. “Order is heaven’s first law,” said Pope, many years ago.

Kenneth Fach, REALTOR, ePRO Certified
Weichert, REALTORS-Anchor
1607 Village Square Blvd, Suite B103
Tallahassee, FL 32303
Cell 850-339-5753   Web  http://KennethFach.com
Blog http://KennethFach.wordpress.com

Each office is independently owned and operated.

Three Useful Real Estate Valuation Sites

There are three useful real estate websites to visit to find an estimated value range of real estate, and property information for homes on the market in most areas of the United States. The three  sites are http://Trulia.com, http://zillow.com, http://HouseFront.com.

With Trulia and Zillow, you can read and respond to blogs, ask your real estate questions and get answers from real estate professionals, and see properties on the market in the geographic area that interests you. People ask many interesting questions regarding howt to buy, and how to sell real estate, and what strategies should be employed. You can ask about whether certain homes are for sale in a particular market, or get advice about what home styles are available in a market area. Trulia has an excellent interactive map on the site, and you can view homes that sold represented by red pins, and homes currently on the market represented by green pins. You can look up homes by zip codes. Since it is an interactive map, you can move it around to other areas, and zoom in or out to see clearly the locations of neighborhoods and streets.

With HouseFront, you can text from your cell phone, 46873, and input the address of a property, and soon, you will get a text message with the approximate value of the property, approximate square footage (from the property records), last sold date, last sold price, and other useful information. I use this all the time as I am driving through neighborhoods, or researching homes. It is a quick reference tool.

Although, these are useful tools for everyone, this is not suggesting that you not use the services of a real estate agent who is in the field regularly, and know with more exactness the values of homes based on comparable properties, and the uniqueness of individual properties. Real Estate Agents are not appraisers, but they do have practical daily, intimate knowledge of their real estate markets, their neighborhoods, and comparable homes.

Kenneth Fach, REALTOR, ePRO
Weichert, REALTORS-Anchor
1607 Village Square Blvd., Suite B103
Tallahassee, FL 32303
Cell 850-339-5753, Blog: http://KennethFach.wordpress.com 

Each office is independently owned and operated.

My Favorite Real Estate Tools

To get any job done, tools have to be used. Tools can be high tech, low tech, or no simple tech. Below is a list of the seven most important real estate tools that I use both in my work as a real estate agent here in Tallahassee, Florida, and in my personal life as a real estate observer.  I share this information as you may want to use these tools too. There are many other tools, but I like to list things in sevens. Here they are:

1. My smart device, which is a Treo 700wx. It keeps my contact database, notes, tasks, calculator, and provides me with my email on the fly, text messenging, Multiple Listing Service application, so I can view properties when with buyers or when studying neighborhoods. I have Google Maps, to view streets, neighborhoods, homes. I also have  a brower on my Treo device. I use it to blog, read blogs, particularly WordPress blogs,  and access websites wherever I am. I can research real estate sites. I can also view PDF files, and excel spreadsheets which I use to document neighborhood real estate data.

2.  A Blog. WordPress is my favorite blog platform for posting blogs,  and for learning and   keeping up with  real estate issues, from other bloggers. WordPress has a lot of dynamic content on so many topics. Buyers, sellers, as well as real estate agents use the blogging service. It is a learning experience to read peoples’ comments, and post comments on others’ blog posts. I consider this a people to people tool. Blogging is about sharing and interacting with others.

3. A digital camera to photograph properties. I have the camera on both my smart device and I have a more powerful stand alone digital camera.

4. A good email account. I use Gmail. I like the folder option, search option, and the filter control. I can also use Google talk and instant message with customers, and prospects while in my Google email account.

5. Google Calendar. I can text message Google Calendar and input events, or appointments, and get a text message back with the input as well as the input on my online Google Calender. So,  the event is recorded in two places. I also use the calendar tool which comes with my smart phone device. 

6. Three property date sources. I use Leon County Property Appraiser website. Most if not all counties, have public information from the local county’s property appraiser website, in which property data can be found: approximate square footage, age of home, dimensions, last sold date, sold amount, owner information, and more information. Also, Housefront offers a great service for accessing pertinent property data from you cell phone via a text message. I use this regularly. Trulia offers a public database of homes sold and homes on the market in localities around the country. It offers an excellent mapping tool, in which you can identify where the homes that are on the market and have recently sold. You can select criteria for searching, such as zip codes of interest, size of home, number of bedrooms, to name a few options for a search.  I use Trulia daily, but also use the Multiple Listing Service whcih offers detailed information, but you have to be members of the service. This is one of the most valuable tools of any real estate agent.

7. A measuring device certainly comes in handy. Buyers needs to measure room dimensions, even if the listing has the dimensions recorded. Mistakes can be found, and it is always in the buyers best interest to make sure the rooms, garage, property size are correct. There are a number of good measuring devices on the market. You can get simples devices or high tech devices. Sellers need to make sure the dimensions are correct before advertising their property.

If you want to know more about the tools I use, or have real estate questions, please contact me.

Kenneth Fach, REALTOR, ePRO
Weichert, REALTORS-Anchor
1607 Village Square Boulevard, Suite B 103
Tallahassee, Florida 32309
Direct/Text 850-339-5753  Blog: http://KennethFach.wordpress.com

Each office is independently owned and operated.

A way to get all your real estate news in one place.

I recently found a very good web source in which you get news information from many different subjects on the same page. In my case, I chose real estate and technology news, so each day, I can check new inputs in these areas of knowledge. As a real estate professional it is important for me to know and learn about real estate issues, and markets in other communities.

Visit http://www.congoo.com/realestatetechnician and register to get daily real estate and technology news.

You might even want to create your own news circle and invite others to share your interests. You can even have your own real estate news circle. Then, you and I will have a lot in common.

From Usenet to Google

Back in the mid 80s, when I was a university student at the University of West Florida, in Pensacola, Florida, I rarely used the computer, did not care too, as I focused my time on reading philosophy, history, literature studying a foreign language, swimming and playing tennis. When I did come aboard in computers, in the late 80’s, early 90’s, I was getting into USENETS, and using the old search engions such as Web Crawler, DejaVu and little by little making the transition to using Yahoo. I thought Yahoo was the greatest discovery of all time it seemed. Then, as I started my gradate studies at Florida State University in the mid 90’s, I started to get very interested in online research, partly thanks to the demands of my graduate studies, techno professors, and peers. Then, when I got into real estate, I kind of left Yahoo, though not completely, and became a Google fanatic. I absolutely am so grateful to Google. Knowledge is so readily available thanks to the excellent Google search tool. I take advantage not only with a simple Google search, but also with Google’s advanced search application. When on the Google search screen, click on Advanced search to see what the possibilities are for a customized search. I think you will be impressed. I was and still am.

Why I Use Jott to Keep my Thoughts Organized

Jott is one of my favorite tools that I use in real estate, and in my social and family life as well. You will see why i like this tool, and call is a real estate tool of importance.

I have observed that so many people misplace things, cannot remember easy but important things, and just put off doing what should or needs to be done. Myself is included in this. I, probably more than anyone else, need a reliable system of order. With Jott, another incredible Web 2.0 creation, I have more order in my life, and can keep my ideas, reminders, to dos, in a safe, orderly place online, and on my cell phone, in the text messaging application.

This is how Jott works. You call the Jott number, and respond to the voice that asks you, “Who do you want to Jott?” You say “me,” “myself,” or the name of the group or folder you want the Jott to go go. Then, you leave a brief message, and that is it.

Here are the reasons why I use Jott daily and why you can use it too.
1. I can get my audio, and text transcription in the text message application of my Treo, and in my gmail inbox, under a a label I created specifically for jotts.

2. I  get a summary of  my past and present jotts daily, kind of like a digest of jotts, so I have not only separate emails for each individual jott, but also a conpendium of  jotts.

3. I can set up Groups for my jotts. My groups include, customers, business to dos, bills to pay, spiritual thoughts, family activities. This is so much easier for order, than just throwing all jotts in one big list online.

4.  I have the ability to add or import contacts so my jotts can be sent to them.

5. Contacts can be added to Groups. When Icall jott, and say the name of the Group, all the contacts in that group will have the same message.

6. There is a search feature so that prior jotts can be found. This is really helpful if you have archived a lot of Jotts.

7. I can call  Jott, and say “Reminder” when asked “Who do you want to Jott.” Now, I say the day and time, and then, begin
your message.

The phone number to Jott is 1-866-JOTT-123 and their website is http://Jott.com .

What I like about Jott is that I don’t have to write on paper, or even input on a keyboard what messages I need to keep. I can just call in the messages. I do plenty of keyboarding as it is anyway, in my blogs, and answering emails. Whatever can save time in this busy world, that is a plus to me. Jott has saved me enormous time. It is also, so, so easy to use. I don’t pay anything for the service either. You should check it out.

Kenneth Fach, REALTOR, Internet Professional
Weichert, REALTORS-Anchor
Tallahassee, Florida 32309
Direct/Text  850-339-5753  http://KennethFach.com

Each office is independently owned and operated.

How I practice “Order is heaven’s first law.”

I got up early this morning to upload, and rearrange my documents in my Google Docs account. I basically now have another storage place for my contracts, documents, marketing pieces: Google Docs. As a rule of thumb, we all need more than one place to keep copies of our important documents, both online and offline. Online, Google Docs gives me a lot of easy maneuverability, and user friendliness. I know exactly what I am doing with Google Docs. For my memos, short messages, reminders, to dos, I use JOTT. I simply call the Jott phone number from my Treo, and then I  verbalize my Jott. Then, I get the reminder in three sources: a text message, a transcription in my gmail inbox, and the audio recording, if i don’t feel like wearing out my eyes anymore. The other cool thing is that all my Jotts, are sent to my Gmail inbox under my Jott label. This is easy to set up, and I can assist with this. It only takes a few seconds.

I also text my calendar events to Google Calender. So I get the calender event or appointment as both a text message when it comes back after my texting is done, and in my online Google Calender.

I have to be so organized and systematic to be happy and successful in my days plans and activities. Dad always did quote from Pope, “order is heaven’s first law.” I wonder what the second one would be.

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Find Real Estate Data Using Text Messaging