The Texas Governor’s Mansion, which is located a block southwest of the Texas State Capitol Building in downtown Austin, is the most historic home in the Austin real estate market and the longest continuously inhabited executive residence west of the Mississippi River. Built in 1856, the Governor’s Mansion underwent construction after the Texas Legislature appropriated $14,500 in order for a suitable home to be built for the 5th governor of Texas, Elisha Pease, and his wife, Lucadia.

The mansion is a Texas historical landmark, and the Greek Revival style home was built by master architect and builder Abner Cook, who used buff colored bricks and lumber from Bastrop to build the home, adapting it to frontier life. The mansion, which has floor to ceiling windows and a deep veranda, is cooled in part by wide hallways which provide ventilation in the summer.

The home is basically square with four main rooms separated by a wide hallway down the middle, and there are servant’s quarters and a kitchen in the rear wing. The home has two stories encircled by 29 foot Ionic columns which span the building from top to bottom, with the downstairs floor being sixteen feet high and the upstairs floor being 13 feet high.

The home was completed on June 14th, 1856, and the home was six months overdue at the time, causing the builder to pay rent for the Pease family in a boardinghouse until its completion. At that time, the Legislature appropriated $2,500 for furnishings, and since the amount was not enough to fully furnish the home, the Pease family used their own furnishings, which was a habit that persisted for the next few first families, since the home was large and quite expensive to provide with ample furnishings.

The next governor, Sam Houston, felt the house was too sparsely furnished, and ordered a massive four poster mahogany bed, which is still situated in the southeast bedroom to this day. Temple Houston, Sam and Margaret Houston’s eighth child, was the first child born in the mansion, and at one point, their son, Andrew Jackson Houston, locked members of the Legislature in their chambers and refused to give his father the key. The child was five years old when this occurred, and the child reported only relinquished the key when his father, Governor Sam Houston, threatened to have him arrested.
1000
/>

In 1901, the home was redecorated in the late Victorian style by First Lady Orline Sayers, who brought in plush, overstuffed parlor chairs and numerous potted plants to receive the home’s first presidential visitor, William McKinley, and his cabinet. Her husband, confederate veteran Joseph Sayers, met with President McKinley and his cabinet at an elegant state dinner in the dining room of the mansion.

By 1914, the home had fallen into disrepair, and was renovated by Governor Oscar Colquitt, and later, in 1960, the home was landscaped with formal gardens by First Lady Nellie Connally, and the formal gardens are still in use today. Later, in 1979, the home was completely restored by Governor William P. Clements and First Lady Rita Clements, after the Legislature appropriated $1,000,000 for the project, and at the time, the mansion had been in use for over 120 years.

Today, there are important art collections and heirloom furniture on display, including a collection of portraits and Stephen F. Austin’s writing desk, and the public may tour the mansion with a tour guide provided by the state. The Governor’s Mansion in Austin is something for all residents of Austin as well as Texas to be proud of, so be sure and visit the mansion while in Austin!

By: Dane Smith

Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com

Ki lives in Austin Texas. He works as a realtor in the Austin real estate market. His site has information on current mortgage interest rates and a search of the Austin MLS.

Click the XML Icon Above to Receive History Articles Via RSS!
Additional Articles From - Home | Politics | History

Help blinded D-DAY Heroes
Help Blinded WW2 Japanese Labour Camp Survivors
History of Criminology
Just in Time for Moroccan August Holidays
1000
, Casablanca Market Offers Exquisite Imported Moroccan Decor and Beautiful Moroccan Fabrics
Tips for Planning and Enjoying The Boston Natural History Museum
Renegade: The Making of a President by Richard Wolffe
The History Of Shade Sails
YouTube Racist Turned Crusader
American Education What Went Wrong
The History Of Divorce In The US

Technorati Tags: become a realtor

Websites are becoming the norm among progressive realtors around the country. In addition to displaying property listings for the various markets that you serve, it’s also important to talk about current happenings in your local housing market, and introduce visitors to your company. Your goal with a website is to acquire new leads, and having good content is one way to do just that. Unfortunately, not all realtors know how to create good quality content that their visitors will want to read. Read on to learn about some of the worst things you can do with your website content.

Duplicate Copy

If you prefer to produce the content for your site yourself rather than hire a professional writer to do it, the last thing you should ever do is perform a simple copy/paste job of another website.

One writer in the industry discovered that her client “Bob,” had copied all of his content from a competitor’s website—with the internal links intact! When visitors to Bob’s site clicked the links that were sprinkled throughout the on-page content, they were taken to Bob’s number one competitor’s website, thus exposing himself as a content thief.

Plagiarizing content—whether it’s from a competitor’s website or from a local chamber of commerce site—is unethical at the very least, and in more extreme cases can lead to charges of copyright infringement. In addition, duplicate content damages your site’s rankings in top search engines like Google.

Search engines have become much more sophisticated in the last few years in terms of detecting duplicate content, and will only rank sites with unique content at the top of their results page. If your site has copied text throughout, it will be virtually invisible to the search engines, thus making it nearly impossible for potential clients to find you.

Going SEO Crazy!

A little knowledge is indeed a dangerous thing, and SEO is no exception. SEO, or ’search engine optimization,’ is all about getting your website to rank highly for certain keywords that users are known to search for.

Organic placement of these keywords is the goal, but some agents add keywords to every second sentence, making the text clunky to read.

Google penalizes site owners for having too many keywords, or “keyword stuffing,” but even if yo
1000
ur site isn’t flagged, it’s important to think about user experience when doing any SEO. Visitors to your site actually read what you put up, so be careful with how many keywords you squeeze into the text. Always keep readability foremost in your mind when producing content for your pages, or else you’ll end up with spammy looking text.

Not Having Listings on your Site

In the early days of the internet, people could get away with putting up a website that had nothing more than a company’s logo and contact information. Now however, real estate buyers are looking for more than just an advertisement—they’re looking for listings. If you don’t put property listings on your site, you’re simply not being competitive in today’s market. Visitors will leave and go straight to a competitor that does have an IDX feed on their site.

One note regarding listings: there is a lot of debate between real estate agents who argue whether one should require visitors to register with their site before they can access a property’s full listing details. Some say that visitors will get annoyed with the registration requirement and go somewhere else, while others contend that registration is the best way to get viable internet leads. After all, by registering with your site, each person must provide you with their contact information and tell you what they’re in the market for. You can then utilize this information when you call them for the first time.

The Excessive Use of CAPS

In internet etiquette, writing in all caps implies that you’re shouting. It’s seen as unprofessional and spammy, so try to avoid it as much as possible. If you want to make a line of text stand out (like “Click here for your free home evaluation.”), use bold or italics instead. If you’re comfortable with html, you could even make the line appear in block quote formation, or put it in a highlight class to really draw your visitors’ eyes. By writing the line as “CLICK HERE FOR YOUR FREE HOME EVALUATION,” you’re yelling at the visitor and making your content look tacky.

When writing content for your website, remember that user experience is your number one priority. Provide real estate relevant information, have your listings prominently placed, and always write original material. You’ll demonstrate to users that you’re a realtor who’s keeping up with the times, and the search engines will love you too.

By: Andy Asbury

Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com

For information about Minnesota lofts, go to MinnesotaLoftsAndCondos.com. There you’ll find Minnesota real estate listings including homes for sale in St. Paul, Minneapolis, and surrounding areas.

Click the XML Icon Above to Receive Copywriting Articles Via RSS!
Additional Articles From - Home | Writing & Speaking | Copywriting

How Big Should Your Headline Be?
Why it’s Important to Get the Grammar Right
5 Essential Tips for an Effective SEO aCopywriting
Spice Up Your SEO Copywriting through Relevant Emotions
If Bird Can Shoot, You Can Flow
How to Build Credibility in Your Copy - An Essential Checklist
7 Important Tips for Web Copy Writing
How To Play 3 Dog Poker Online
Copywriting is an Ideal Career
Website copywriting: shouldn’t we be teaching it in school?

Technorati Tags: become a realtor

For property owners, it is extremely essential that their properties are put to good use and they receive the appropriate dues for it. These days merely owning a property is not enough but you have to find effective ways to rent it out to the right kind of people at the right time. Once you own a property, holding on to your tenants also becomes essential. You can suffer major losses if your property is lying vacant over a period of time. Keeping the above factors in mind, the mode of payment you choose for your tenants often becomes a deciding factor for attracting and retaining them. These days when the whole world is experiencing strides in technological advances, the real estate sector cannot be left far behind. As a property owner, it’s high time that you become technically savvy too. One positive step in this direction would be to allow online rent payments for your tenants.

Over the years, the landlords of residential properties have received rent payments either in person or through mail. However, Internet has revolutionized the whole concept of business communication and online transactions have become quite popular. More and more property owners are embracing the high-tech real estate management tools such as property management software and online renal payments. They are doing so because of a series of benefits they receive from these tools.

As a property owner, you will notice a significant impact on the operational efficiency and bottom-line profits. Accepting rent payments online will reduce unnecessary monitoring and if you do not reside in the same state in which your property is this method would prove to be very convenient for you. You will also be able to keep track of the payment histories of your tenants through the online website which provides you the online rental payment management system. You won’t have to bother to sift through various mails, checks, and other documents. This will prove to be a huge time saver. The information you require would just be a few clicks away and will be presented to you in an organized fashion. For example, if you need to check who all have not paid their rents for a particular month, all you have to do is to login into your online account and you will have access to the information in just few clicks.

For property management companies, these online pa
1000
yment systems are a boon. Implementing an online payment method would mean lower administrative costs for them. They would have to employ far less people as there will be no work related to processing of paper checks, creating journal entries, filling out deposit slips, and having someone to physically visit the bank to deposit them. All these tedious tasks will be automated and would result in efficient management and reduced fraud risks. This also allows to plan out future strategies as the company will be able to forecast the cash flow better.

Apart from the benefits of online rent payment system to the landlords, apartment complex owners, and property management companies, it has considerable advantages for the tenants too. This method is extremely convenient to them as they can make the rent payment over the Internet from anywhere. It also helps them to avoid any late fee if they forget to send the check at a particular date as the required amount is debited from their bank accounts. In conclusion, it can be said that those property owners who do not shift to online rent payment system will be at disadvantage in a competitive real estate environment.

By: Theodore Greer

Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com

The author is an authority person on online rental payments which helps realtor to receive payment on time through online rent payment system

Click the XML Icon Above to Receive Real Estate Articles Via RSS!
Additional Articles From - Home | Finance | Real Estate

Homes of the Rich and Famous
Securing a Mortgage with Bad Credit
Buying A Home After Foreclosure - It Can Be Easier Than You Think
Home Sales: New vs Old
Get Out of Your Apartment Lease
How can I sell my house quickly?
Do You Need to Sell in a Hurry?
Real Estate Investing is highly effective with Real Estate Courses
How to sell property at a profitable rate?
3 Real Estate Investing Tenets For Today

Technorati Tags: become a realtor

Though seriously undermined, a career in real estate is probably one of the most rewarding professions in the world today. As a real estate agent, you find yourself in close proximity to so many beautiful houses and can definitely revel in reflected grandeur. And it’s not always that superficial. There’s no greater joy than showing a lovely starter house to a young couple about to purchase their first home, or closing the sale of a picturesque summer house to an old pensioner, knowing that he’ll be spending many a peaceful evening out on the porch.

Indeed, real estate is about helping people realize their imaginings through encouragement, from showing them the house of their dreams to helping them find good home mortgage lenders to finance that dream. It is rewarding financially, yes, but it is also noble in the true sense of the word.

A Realtor Is As A Realtor Does

Basically, a realtor merely acts as a middleman between the buyers and sellers. An agent is responsible for properly presenting the house to the market, relaying offers and negotiating a mutually satisfactory price, and even recommending home mortgage lenders, should the need arise.

Realtors and home mortgage lenders work hand in hand to provide the best possible financial backing to aspiring home owners. This way, everybody is given a fair chance to bid and subsequently purchase the abode of their dreams. Of course, the dealings between realtors and home mortgage lenders are mutually beneficial to both parties. Home mortgage lenders get their clients, the seller earns from his investment, the buyer gets a home, and of course, realtors get their commissions. It is indeed a win-win situation at its very best.

The Good Realtor vs The Bad Realtor

In a general sense, real estate is straightforward and an honest business dealing. Most real estate agents and realtors are governed by ethics and a strict moral code that prevents them from taking advantage of their fellowmen.

As in every profession and industry, however, there will always be some rather unsavory characters. The same is true in real estate. Stories abound of realtors engaging in malicious practices, all in the pursuit for more money and commissions. When on the market for an agent, it is essential to find a properly licensed realtor with a proven
1000
track record of honest sales. A connection to reputable home mortgage lenders won’t hurt either.

And if you are aspiring to become a realtor, take the time to attend the seminars and classes. Get the proper certifications and licenses. Though aggressiveness will take you places, don’t compromise your ideals in the pursuit of success. Instead, employ compassion and have a genuine desire to help.

For the true real estate agent, a small commission for the benefit of a young family’s joy at owning a home is preferable to hollow victories at the expense of some poor soul forcibly parted from his hard-earned money. Bear in mind that real estate is an industry built on trust and confidence, not on deceit and treachery.

By: Rony Walker

Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com

Want to know more about home mortgage lenders? Check out whataboutloans and also get information on Colorado refinance home loan and Arizona home equity loans.

Click the XML Icon Above to Receive Real Estate Articles Via RSS!
Additional Articles From - Home | Finance | Real Estate

Homes of the Rich and Famous
Securing a Mortgage with Bad Credit
Buying A Home After Foreclosure - It Can Be Easier Than You Think
Finding the Right Orange County Dream Home or Investment Property for You
All about Management Companies and Their Services
Investing in Tax Lien Foreclosures
8 Reasons to invest in Residential Pro
fcc
perty
Retail Space For Lease- Build You Insight
Making Money With Edinburg, TX Foreclosures
Tax Deed Research – Fast Track Your Researching Energies – Invest in Florida

Technorati Tags: become a realtor

Messer’s Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts & Co, have a lot to answer for. Their leveraged buyouts in the 1980s created a long-lasting interest in the enormous value of ‘brands’. But even they could not have imagined just how much this business of brands would infiltrate the life of people in the years to come. It’s turned so bad now that not only is everything you use - from toes to topknot - a brand, everyone too is a brand! The word, like a malevolent air-borne virus, is everywhere. It permeates all conversation and all walks of life.

So it is not uncommon to hear of a certain cricketer’s ‘brand’ of cricket or a TV producer’s ‘brand’ of TV soaps (the TV shows produced by the reigning Queen of soaps having taken over the mantle of lather from Lux as the ‘Beauty soaps of the stars’).

The B-word is now also widely used by giggly, breathless girl-reporters, as they report from fashion shows and gasp at the unwearable offerings of ‘brands’ of gelled, pedicured and manicured designers. Serious-faced reporters on business TV channels use it as they discuss a businessman’s ‘brand’ of management. And of course the entertainment pages are full of interviews where effete directors talk about their ‘brand’ of films.

You got it: today, everyone is a brand. So perhaps it is time to consider the typology and myriad dimensions of this phenomenon.

Acquiring brand-hood

The first thing to remember is that while everyone is a brand, some are born brands, some acquire brand-hood and others have branding thrust upon them.

Abhishek Bachchan clearly is a case of a born brand; given his genetic configuration, it could not have been otherwise. So too are sundry other star-progeny. And the progenitors could be actors, businessmen, politicians; essentially anyone who himself/herself has a claim to being a brand. Baby Suri, manufactured by Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes is even more so: she was a brand before she was even born! She could be the first case in recorded history to be what one could call a ‘branded foetus’.

Others acquire brand-hood. Dhoni acquired ‘branded’ status with his swashbuckling style. So did Sehwag. Both acquired it fairly soon after they were launched, so to say. Dravid took longer. He had to lay the foundation for a long time, before he could become the brand we know as ‘The Wall’.

And then of course there are the
1000
ones who have branding thrust upon them. Perhaps I should say that co-branding is thrust upon them. M. Night Shymalan has no particular desire to be co-branded with India, but journalists will insist on finding some way of describing him so that he becomes a co-branded entity: ‘Of Indian origin’ or ‘India-born’ are common mechanisms employed to do this. Others want to do the same to Bobby Jindal, though what he wants is to be co-branded ‘American’ in the ‘Senator’ product category. We want to do it to VS Naipaul too, even though in his case, the tenuous link for such co-branding became defunct several generations ago.

Me-too brands

If it happens in business, it will happen in life. A new ‘product category’ came into being with the invention of the term, ‘item song’. Barely (pun intended) had Shefali Jariwala and Meghna Naidu gyrated and bit their lips in music videos to achieve brand-hood, that an entire shipment of me-too brands arrived; the same pudgy midriff, the same lascivious look, the same absence of any sign of intelligence disturbing their expression.

Rakhi Sawant is only a more recent specimen of the me-too brands of exposed adipose tissue. In an earlier era these buxom brands were also associated with specific product categories such as textiles. Who can forget the entire batch of fabric softeners represented by Silk Smitha, Nylex Nalini and others? But the trend died out, before others like Rexine Rekha and Kevlar Kavitha could make their mark.

Relevant and irrelevant taglines

If Nike has ‘Just do it’ and Asian Paints has ‘Har ghar kuchh kehta hai’, person-brands too, want or are given different taglines and ‘product descriptors’.

And there are some people brands whose taglines are as memorable as these examples. On the other hand, ‘sexy new starlet’ or ‘volcano of talent’ are completely ineffective in clearly identifying a specific person.

Here then, is today’s quiz on People-Brand lines and descriptors:

Q1: Who is known as ‘India’s liquor baron’?
Q2: Which actor was called the ‘Thespian’?
Q3: Who is called ‘The world’s richest man’?
Q4: Who is called the ‘Sarod Maestro’?

If you got Vijay Mallya, Dilip Kumar, Bill Gates and Amjad Ali Khan right, it just goes to show that these brands have come to own certain specific properties or descriptors.

But not everyone can have such exclusive right to entire product categories.

Nevertheless there are other ways to gain differentiation. So while Sunil Gavaskar was ‘The Little Master’, Sachin Tendulkar became the ‘Master Blaster’.

However, these epithets get used equally often in valid and invalid situations. For example, it may be appropriate to say that, “Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar scored a quick-fire 45 off just 23 balls,” but it is a bit much to caption a picture from his birthday celebrations with the words, “Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar about to cut his birthday cake,” suggesting that he is shortly going to bludgeon the baked item with his weighty willow.

This irrelevant use of a descriptor has broken new ground in the case of a certain tennis player. It is not uncommon to read that, “The Hyderabadi lass fought well in the second set.” What does her play have to do with where she is from? Do we want reports saying, “And the Ichalkaranji boy announced that he would be launching a new banking software package”? Or that “The 24-Parganas danseuse performed the Mohiniattam with grace”?

Of course mere irrelevance pales in comparison to the positively bizarre, as in “The teen sensation was thrashed 2-6, 3-6 in the first round of theŔ

Borrowed branding

And then there is ‘borrowed-branding’. This was invented to make memorable, perfectly forgettable ladies in their launch stage in films. Kiera Knightly was an unknown and had to be propped up as the ‘Bend it like Beckham beauty’. After she got a role in a more successful film she became, ‘Pi
1000
rates of the Caribbean beauty’. And you have ‘Lara Croft beauty Angelina Jolie’ and ‘Spiderman beauty Kirsten Dunst’ and so on. You will note that the word ‘beauty’ is used quite liberally and indiscriminately.

But there are times when even reporters know it would be going too far to call someone a beauty; and so the words ‘hotel heiress’ are employed as a substitute, to provide some borrowed branding to a vacuous bimbo, although her name itself borrows from geography and the hospitality industry.

The most extreme cases of borrowed - or what might be called ‘attributed’ - branding are to be found in Page 3 coverage. Consider for example the number of people who are branded ‘Socialite’. The term is used as if it represents a philosophic orientation, like ‘Luddite’ or ‘Trotskyite’; or a species of animal life like ‘Troglodyte’. In fact, one suspects it only means, “We know this person is rich, but we really don’t know if the person actually does anything other than attend parties.”

And thus it is in the fitness of things that the term ‘poster boy’ has come to be employed as a part of the strategy to launch various citizens as brands. And if some of the posters look a bit frayed fairly quickly, well, you know what they say about the short life cycle of brands in the 21st century.

By: Kiran Khalap

Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com

Kiran Khalap is a brand strategy consultant in India, author and founder of chlorophyll brand & communications consultancy based in Mumbai, India. Kiran plays the role of a brand guru, and is invited to write and speak on branding and marketing in various industry and media fora.

Click the XML Icon Above to Receive Marketing Articles Via RSS!
Additional Articles From - Home | Business | Marketing

How to get your letters opened…
How To Get In With The Big Boys
Save More On Discounted Blinds
Faux Window Blinds – Give A Personal To
1000
uch To Your Home
Tips for Saving Money with the 2010 Entertainment Book
An Insight into Direct Part Marking Technology
How to Use Coupons at the Grocery Store
The UID Encoding and Decoding Technologies
UID Registry Submission Process For the Vendors
Functional Benefits of Direct Part Marking

Technorati Tags: become a realtor

One of the most common diseases that affect the aging population of California is COPD. COPD( chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), is a progressive disease that makes it hard to breathe. “Progressive” means the disease gets worse over time. There is no cure; doctors try to treat the symptoms to relieve the patients’ discomfort. COPD can cause coughing that produces large amounts of mucus, wheezing, shortness of breath, chest tightness, and other symptoms.

To understand COPD, you need to be able to figure out the lungs work. The air that you breathe goes down your windpipe into tubes in your lungs called bronchial tubes, or airways. The airways are shaped like an upside-down tree with many branches. At the end of the branches are tiny air sacs called alveoli. The airways and air sacs are elastic. When you breathe in, each air sac fills up with air like a small balloon. When you breathe out, the air sac deflates and the air goes out.

In COPD, less air flows in and out of the airways because of one of the following reasons:
• The airways and air sacs lose their elastic quality.
• The walls between many of the air sacs are destroyed.
• The walls of the airways become thick and inflamed (swollen).
• The airways make more mucus than usual, which tends to clog the airways.

COPD is made worse by a lot of dust in the air or on days that smog is really high. The smog and dust will close the airways, causing a person to have even more difficulty breathing.

California has recently passed some new emissions control laws to help people with lowered lung capacity. These laws require trucking companies to operate trucks that have a new pollution control system. The new pollution control systems are projected to decrease the amount of fine particulates (smog causing) released into the air by as much as 75% to 85%. These laws don’t go into effect until 2010. Although the new laws are coming in the future, they represent a ray of hope for COPD sufferers.

COPD patients can reduce their symptoms by making a few changes in their lifestyles. The biggest is to move away from the smog centers in California. Not everyone can do that, so try some of these other things: avoid lung irritants, get ongoing care, manage the disease and its symptoms, and prepare for emergencies.

Avoid lung irrita
1000
nts means to stop smoking, and avoid air pollution as much as possible. You can avoid air pollution by closing your windows and have filters on your air condition that filter out the smallest particles as possible. Visit your doctor regularly to receive ongoing care and to manage your illness and all of the symptoms as they appear. Prepare for emergencies by having inhalers on hand and oxygen nearby.

States are trying to pass laws to lower air pollution, treatment is getting better, and patients are becoming more aware. While a cure is not on the horizon, treatment and prognosis is improving.

By: Gregg Camp

Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com

Gregg Camp, of Propertyinsantacruz dot com is a local realtor who sells Santa Cruz homes. He works in the Santa Cruz real estate market and specializes in Rio Del Mar beach homes

Click the XML Icon Above to Receive Disease & Illness Articles Via RSS!
Additional Articles From - Home | Disease & Illness

Will You Get A Throat Yeast Infection?
Panic Disorders Overview
Treatments for diabetes: learn how to manage your type of diabetes
Natural Eczema Treatment For You To Pursue
Cure hemorrhoids earlier
Treatments for Eczema - Introduce to Eczema Treatments
Arthritis Pain Relief and Treatments
Candidiasis Symptoms - How to Spot Candidiasis
Alzheimers Ailment Affects Mill
e70
ions World-Wide. What Can You do to Assist?
Could I have Carpal Tunnel Syndrome?

Technorati Tags: become a realtor

Why do you think most investors get into real estate to begin with? Is it because they like wading through 3 feet of trash inside of dilapidated junkers? Is it because they savor talking on the phone so much that they found a way to make money doing it? Could it be because they enjoy leaving their families at the dinner table in order to spin tires and get a deed signed by a seller who waited until the night before the auction to finally do something about their problem?

The odds are that if you’re anything like me, you don’t take on the demands and risks of real estate investing just for the fun of it. The odds are you’re doing it for the money. Of course, there are the benefits of helping people and there are those feelings of accomplishment after finishing a rehab or selling a house. But if you’re investing primarily for those reasons, go join the Peace Corps, or get a contractor’s license, or become a Realtor.

The only reason I can conceive of someone wanting to invest in real estate is for financial gain, which is not an impure motive. Money is what buys us the freedom to do, well, whatever the heck it is we want to do. But what do we end up doing? We end up working like crazy and not doing the things for which we’re investing in real estate to begin with.

For example: When I started investing, I decided to try to buy as many houses as I could in order to avoid having a full-time job that consumed all of my time. I planned on spending my time at that point writing music (one of my dreams). Now fast-forward three years. I had become a full-time investor running a fast-paced money machine doing deal after deal every month. Guess how many songs I wrote during those three years? Zero…point…zero.

Finally, I realized that I had to find a way to get my life back again and create the time to do what would make me happiest in life, rather than filling in the time with more work. I had been using assistants to do some work for me, but decided to start delegating as much as humanly possible. That’s when I went from working on 40 hours per week on real estate down to 3 hours per day, and so can you.

The secret, of course, is to get some hired help, which everybody knows they ought to, but few actually do. And even fewer still do it right. Some pe
1000
ople try it once, have a bad experience hiring the wrong person, and conclude that “you just can’t find anyone good enough.” I think more people never even take the first step and consign themselves to a life full of tedious, bothersome chores.

These are the main excuses for why investors don’t get with the program and take control of their lives again by hiring help:

“I’m not doing enough deals yet.” Who says you have to be? Hiring an assistant does not have to be a huge deal. You could always find someone early on to put in 2-3 hours/week for you doing simple tasks, like putting up signs, taking calls from buyers, and licking envelopes for your mailers. In fact, getting someone else to send mailers for you (which we both know you would procrastinate doing yourself) will get you more deals than you otherwise would.

“I don’t have the money.” It’s funny that the people who say that they have no money to pay someone $8/hr for a few hours per week somehow manage to come up with thousands of dollars to buy the latest real estate seminar. Paying an assistant is a leap of faith…you pay them for a while, nothing happens immediately, but then before you know it you’re finding more deals and have more time and resources to do them. It works. But if you never take that leap, you will just keep puttering along—not doing any or many deals. But at least you’re saving a few hundred bucks here and there, right? Sounds great…not.

“I don’t mind doing the work myself.” I don’t mind cooking dinner myself, but I don’t want to do it for 10-30 hours per week. Isn’t there something you’d rather be doing besides licking envelopes, making phone calls and delivering simple messages, asking the same boring questions to tenant/buyers who call? If nothing else, get someone else to do these things so that you can spend more time doing things that are more productive, like building a real business instead of getting tied down in busy work.

“I can do it cheaper and better myself.” Do you rehab houses yourself to save money? If yes, stop reading right now because there’s no chance I’ll get this point through to you. If no, then you know that it makes sense to pay someone else to do work for you, so why not apply that principle to other types of work besides renovations? You can do an assistant’s work yourself, and it will be cheaper so far as less money going out of your pocket. But it’s not worth it in the end, because there will be less money going into your pocket as there could be if you freed yourself up to do the things that bring you more deals (or get someone else to do those things). One extra deal would probably pay for your assistant for the next year or two.

“I don’t have time to follow-up with anyone.” Maybe you don’t have the time because you are doing everything yourself. What if it took you 10 minutes to to follow up with someone who would save you 60 minutes of time by doing work for you—would it be worth it? You’d find the time to coordinate with them, wouldn’t you? I look at spending time with an assistant like I do spending money on a deal or on marketing—a necessary and very worthwhile investment. You’d be crazy not to. Make the time and you’ll have more time.

“No one else can do it like I can.” No one else can do what like you can—fold letters? Pick up printer paper at the store? Drop UPS envelopes off in the drop-box? Last time I checked, anyone can do those things. So, if nothing else, find someone to do only the things that would be difficult or impossible to screw up. This will give you at least a few more hours per week to do the specialized work that only you can do. You’ll find that once you’ve done that, you can trust your assistant (provided you hired right) to do other work for you as well, starting with the simplest tasks and working up to more complex things, all according to your level of comfort.

So, how many hours do you work each week, and how many hours do you really want to work? If there’s a big difference b
1000
etween these two numbers, hiring help will get you there. Otherwise, things will NEVER get better, no matter how many promises you make to your spouse. Or, if you are happy with the hours you’re working, ask yourself, “How much more could I get done if there were another Me getting at least 50% more done than I am now by myself? In this case, an assistant is also the answer to getting what you want.

I have consulted with hundreds of investors over several years, and our challenges tend to be exactly the same. I have heard many, many investors (ranging from newbies to pros doing 3-5 deals/month or more) complaining about the same things:

”I wish I had more time.”
“I wish I could get more done.”
“I wish I could have some fun for a change rather than being a slave to my real estate business.”

The solution is always the same, and every investor who discovers this wonders how they ever survived as long as they did without it—Just hire some help. Find the right person, and put them to work immediately. Don’t put it off any longer. Do it now, and you’ll thank yourself for the rest of your life.

By: Alan Brymer

Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com

Alan Brymer has been a full-time investor since the age of 22, and speaks at seminars and investor groups around the country. He is a frequent guest expert for the news media, having been featured on multiple television programs and magazines. To read Alan’s Articles and Blog, go to www.AlanBrymer.com.

Click the XML Icon Above to Receive Real Estate Articles Via RSS!
Additional Articles From - Home | Finance | Real Estate

Homes of the Rich and Famous
Securing a Mortgage with Bad Credit
Buying A Home After Foreclosure - It Can Be Easier Than You Think
4 Ways to Get Rid of the Property & Avoid Foreclosure
6 Steps to Avoiding Foreclosure
Ways of Becoming a Real Estate Millionaire
Ways to Earn Online in Real Estate
Why it is always best to use Atlanta Apartment Locator to find Atlanta apartments
How An Atlanta Apartment Finder Can Help You Find The Atlanta Apartment That’s Just Perfect for you!
Buy, Sell and Rent Commercial and Residential Properties in Gurgaon

Technorati Tags: become a realtor

As eco-conscious habits become more and more part of our collective culture, many people are taking to making their own homes more environmentally friendly. One of the best places to start the eco-journey is in the kitchen.

One of the biggest ways you can change the eco-friendliness of your kitchen is by being more aware of what you bring into it on a weekly basis in the form of groceries. Most North Americans buy a lot of pre-made, overly packaged foods every week; the majority of product packaging ends up dumped in landfills after each garbage day.

One of the best things that you can do for yourself and for the environment is to buy food that’s as close to its natural state as you can. This isn’t to say that you should buy raw wheat grains and grind them yourself, but you should buy uncooked, unseasoned meats and raw fruits and vegetables and cook them yourself. Not only will there be less in the way of packaging, but there will be less salt and preservatives going into YOU. Make sure to compost your uncooked, non-meat food scraps as well!

What you use to carry your groceries home makes an impact as well. Many grocery stores across the continent are not offering plastic bags to patrons any longer, instead actively encouraging them to purchase inexpensive reusable bags, bring recycled bags, or offering a biodegradable alternative. If you like a higher quality of reusable bag, check out your local shops or look online; some companies even offer a reusable produce bag for your fruits and veggies.

Another great way to green up your kitchen is by buying only really good quality cooking tools that will last a long time. A few good quality stainless steel pots and pans, a good cast iron frying pan, and some sturdy wooden utensils can last you a lifetime if you take care of them. Avoid Teflon coated pans as they have a limited life-time and there are some health concerns over the use of Teflon. Quality, energy-efficient appliances will help make your kitchen more eco-friendly as well.

The finishing touch on any green kitchen is, of course, in the cleaning; make sure that you don’t use harsh corrosive chemicals when you’re cleaning your eco-kitchen.

Once you’ve greened up your kitchen, it’s easy to move into greening the rest of your home, one room at a time!

By: Lauren Spencer

Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com

Everything you need to know about homes in Santa Cruz is right here at MySantaCruzRealEstate.com. Lauren Spencer, Coldwell Banker Realtor will be glad to answer your questions about Jewel Box CA real estate.

Click the XML Icon Above to Receive Interior Design Articles Via RSS!
Additional Articles From - Home | Home & Family | Interior Design

Four Tips for Picking Out the Right Patio Furniture
At home with… Helen Green
Retro Soda Pop Machines: What To Know Before Refurbishing One
Eyelet Lace For Many Purposes!
How to choose a bistro or bar table
Save on Used Office Furniture and Used Cubicles
Fireplaces and Their Maintenance
Coffee Table Decorating
Moroccan Furniture Creates Timeless Beauty in Any Home
Queen Anne Style Blanket Chest

Technorati Tags: become a realtor

Avoid disappointment and SAVE thousands by reading this article.

Everyday there are people just like you that have their mortgage loan turned down because of any one of these mistakes. By acquainting yourself with 10 Deadly Mortgage Mistakes you can save thousands on your mortgage.

1. Using An Interest Only Or Payment Option Adjustable Rate Loan: If you are using these types of loans to qualify for a more expensive home. A home that you could not normally afford, you may be going down the wrong path. There are some circumstances where these loans are useful, but care should be taken in this housing market with slower appreciation and falling prices in some markets. You could end up with a mortgage value higher than the value of the home.

2. Co-signing On Someone Else’s Loan: You could become a great friend or even a hero to someone by doing this. Before you do, ask yourself. Are you willing to assume that liability? Are you willing to forego getting your own home to co-sign? Those could be the ramifications.

3. Making Late Payments: Late payments (especially within the last year) make if very difficult to qualify you for the best terms and rates. It may even keep you from qualifying at all. It might seem unnecessary to say, but always pay on time.

4. Hiding Things From Your Mortgage Broker: Even though it could be embarrassing to discuss previous financial difficulties. Remember that your mortgage broker is there to help. Your mortgage broker can only help you with those things of which he is aware.

5. Over Using Credit Cards: Yes they are convenient, but if the balances are not kept low or paid off it may make getting the best rates and terms on your loan more difficult. Do not take on new debt without first discussing it with your mortgage broker.

6. Making Large Purchases Prior to Your Mortgage Application: On occasion people think that it is in their best interest to get major purchases out of the way prior to making a mortgage application. A key component to determining how much of a home you qualify for is outstanding debt. It is far better to wait until after purchasing your home before considering other major purchases.

7. Choosing a Lender Just Because They Offer The Lowest Rate: Your mortgage rate
1000
is an important factor with your loan. Remember that it is only one of several factors. You also need to keep in mind the APR and origination fees. Perhaps the most important factor is accessibility. Is the lender located locally? Can you go sit down and go over the details of your financing. If not, you should think long and hard about using that lender.

8. Not Getting Pre-Approved for a Loan: When you become pre-approved you become a cash buyer and have more negotiating power with the seller. Home buyers can save thousands or dollars in negotiating the home purchase by being pre-approved. Any good Realtor will require the pre-approval prior to showing any homes, because they don’t want to waste your time or theirs.

9. Not Planning for Closing Costs: On the day of your closing you will be expected to write a check to cover closing costs. Closing costs are a number of the expenses incurred when purchasing a home. Those typically include attorneys’ fees, taxes, title insurance, prepaid homeowners insurance, points and other lenders’ fees. These closing costs can amount to between 2% and 7% of the selling price of the home. Your lender should provide you with a good faith estimate early in the loan process to estimate these costs.

10. Not Providing Documents To Your Mortgage Company Timely: When your mortgage broker asks you for additional paperwork, get on it! Do not complain. They are trying to get you approved. If mortgage brokers don’t get the documentation timely, it can result in locks expiring and higher rates. Worst of all, it could mean a delayed or blown closing date.

By: Bruce Swedal

Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com

Bruce Swedal with ReMax lives in Highlands Ranch Colorado and provides Professional Real Estate Services to the Denver Real Estate market. Interested in the homes available in Denver? Get FREE access at Denver Home Search.

Click the XML Icon Above to Receive Mortgage Articles Via RSS!
Additional Articles From - Home | Finance | Mortgage

Home Mortgage Refinancing Loans
Home Loans San Diego
Adverse Credit Remortgages - You Can Do A Bad Credit Home Refinance!
Easy Advice For Home Loan Modification Hardship Assistance
How To Refinance Bad Credit In The UK Quickly And Easily
Refinance Mortgage Brokers - Good Refinance Mortgage Broker Can Save You Money!
A Shiny Deal with Money
Becoming A Landlord Through Bad Credit Mortgage Loans, The America Example
Nonjudicial Foreclosure - Violation of Borrowers’ Due Process Rights?
What To Think About Before Obtaining A Mortgage In Toronto

Technorati Tags: become a realtor

First off, let me state that every person’s scenario is different. There are many factors in determining if you should sell now, or wait. Obviously, home values have declined since 2005/6. Condos and townhomes have especially been hit hard. So be prepared, if you are going to sell now, or soon- you would be selling for less than you bought it for. If you’re okay with this, then we need to look at what they are selling for now, and decide if you’re ready to list it at that going price point, or if you want to keep it and wait until the market returns. The problem here in waiting, is that when is the market going to return? In a year? In two years? 2014? It may be the best option to sell now, instead of waiting for the market. We are seeing an increased amount of Short Sales and Foreclosures in the market. You will have to compete with these “typically lower-priced” homes. Know that interest rates are ideal AND property values are declining, making it a great time for buyers to get into a home. And with the first-time home buyers tax credit of $8,000- it appears to be a good time to sell, for the year.

This brings me to my next point. When selling, you can either price it ahead of the market, or you can price it to where you are chasing the market. The best scenario is to price your house or condo ahead of the market, so that you will sell it quickly. The alternative is to price it similar to the others, where you are continually doing price reductions (with the market) and end up selling where you should have priced it all along in the first place, and it took a much longer period of time (which means -$$).

Great, what is my point? Just make sure you understand that to sell in this market right now, your home has to be priced properly AND has to show very well. The days of just putting your home on the market “right away” are gone. You have fierce competition in your marketplace and neighborhood, and you need to get with your Realtor and have a complete game plan. If you structure your game plan well before you hit the market, then you are aligning yourself with success and will more than likely hit it. Like I mentioned, you are in a fierce, competitive marketplace and if you don’t have a SOLID game plan, you will be left out in the cold. Worse yet, your house will be on
1000
the market and become that “stagnant house” down the street. In your game plan, your Realtor will give you an opinion on value of your house, so you must decide whether that price is acceptable to sell, or whether you need to wait and possibly rent. Right now, a lot of sellers have decided they don’t want to sell in this tough market. That is just fine as long as you don’t HAVE to sell right now. Renting out your home might be a viable option right now, but know that being a landlord is work. Problems come up with the house, you get the wrong tenants, etc. It can take a lot of time and money.

As far as what is a good time to put your condo on the market (if you decide to sell and take the hit), I think that now might be the best time. Showings are up during the spring and summer, the $8,000 tax credit is out there, and new construction and sellers are offering fantastic deals and incentives. Typically, the winter months are slower, and I would say that your best chance to sell would be in the Spring and Summer. But with the rates being at where they are now, this gives buyers the chance to get in with a good rate, if qualified.

It is up to you to decide what is best for you. Each scenario is different, and you must make the decision yourself, hopefully with some guidance from your Realtor. It may be best for you to wait, but rates sure are low right now. With unemployment going up, home values will decline further. If you price it right now, and it looks good on the inside, and you have a solid marketing plan, you should be able to compete to sell. A lot of the people sitting on the fence have come out to buy with the way rates are right now, and with the first-time homebuyer tax credit.

Good luck, and do your homework before hiring your Realtor!

By: Mike Ciucci

Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com

Work with a qualified, dedicated agent when you sell your Mount Pleasant SC Real Estate home. Find the ideal Charleston SC Realtor at www.BuyingCharlestonRealEstate.com.

Click the XML Icon Above to Receive Real Estate Articles Via RSS!
Additional Articles From - Home | Finance | Real Estate

Homes of the Rich and Famous
Securing a Mortgage with Bad Credit
Buying A Home After Foreclosure - It Can Be Easier Than You Think
Sicamous Lake Real Estate-The Vacation That Never Ends!
Looking For a Home? Get the Best Deals from Shuswap Lake Real Estate
Your Ultimate Real Estate Investment and Home
Atlanta Apartment Guide: Your Guide To The Perfect Atlanta Apartment Rental
Using A Reputable Apartment Management Company to find the perfect Atlanta Apartments and Best GA A
For Vacation, Seclusion, Peace and Comfort Get All: Vacation Rentals
Get a Cyprus Country Map and Start Exploring

Technorati Tags: become a realtor