Apple Valley Ohio Lake Community by Sam Miller

I am looking for some guidance regarding an easy to use flyer and desktop publishing software.  I am looking for something a little more stylish than Pages but I don't want to spend 3 months learning a program either.  The software would be used mainly for printed materials such as flyers, brochures and post cards.  If you have found a software that you really like I would love to hear about it.  Thanks!

Meatball Sundae is an eye opener for anyone in business and especially for those who are interested in marketing such as real estate professionals.  If you are considering launching any type of new marketing there are some considerations that you will want to explore first.  If you don't your product and marketing might go together like meatballs with ice cream toppings instead of meatballs and tomato sauce.  The book is an easy read and it is also available on CD you can quickly download it off of iTunes for only $16.95

During a trip to San Francisco I picked up an impressive real estate homes magazine that got me thinking.  Almost the entire homes magazine utilized wide panoramic photos of the homes and their views.  This was the first time I had seen so many panoramic photos utilized in one place and it really caught my eye because it was so nicely done.  Panoramics compared to standard format photos stand out!

My trip to San Francisco got my internal wheels turning and it got me wondering how else these type of photos in my market.  Has anyone created listing flyers or website page designs that use only panoramic photos?  If you have done this or if you have seen another website that has utilized this concept I would love to see it.  I believe using this concept will make our listings really stand out over other competing homes.

Many homeowners today are faced with financial challenges that are causing serious stress for them and for their family.  In many cases when people are stressed to the limit they lack the ability to think clearly and make logical decisions.  Now consider that the media continues to hype a mortgage melt down and they are continually talking about rising foreclosure numbers throughout America.  Many property owners don't know which way to turn and they are finding themselves in real trouble.  Some of these folks are scared and they just want their home out of their name.

Some real estate investors are doing extensive research and they are locating homeowners who are faced with financial challenges.  Some of these investors will offer to bring your mortgage current and essentially get your caught up in exchange for you deeding your home over to them.  Generally there is a written agreement between you and the investor but understand your mortgage is still in your name and you are still responsible for the payments.  If the investor doesn't make the mortgage payments or if they can't sell the home they could easily walk away from the deal entirely and you are on the hook for the loan.  The kicker is that you no longer have legal ownership in the home but you are still legally obligated to the loan. 

The bottom line is that involving yourself in a deal like this with an investor will very likely land you in more trouble than you were in previously.  Understand that by deeding your home to an investor this only adds to your complications.  Before you sign any papers when working with an investor who wants the deed to your home you should contact a reputable real estate professional and or a real estate attorney and explore your options BEFORE you sign away your home. 

At CRS Sellabration this year I attended a session by Gee Dunsten that focused on generation marketing.  Gee talked about the younger generation and how they embrace technology differently.  This brings me to an idea or a concept I have been thinking alot about lately which involves text messaging.  It seems that text messaging may have surpassed talking on the phone for the younger generations.  I am certain that agents who embrace this technology will have a greater chance of "connecting" with the younger generation and with more connections comes more sales.

For many years on my website www.KnoxCountyOhio.com I have utilized a button that allowed the visitor to "Click Here" for more information.  About a year ago we updated all of our listings with an online form and if you click here you can view the form at the bottom of the page.  I believe the future might be a combination of this type of form with an option for the consumer who is visiting our listings to click on a button and send a text message to me instantly requesting more information or to schedule a showing.  Our younger generations want instant responses to their inquires and by offering a text messaging option we will be notified of the consumers interest instantly and we can respond to their needs the way THEY want to be contacted...via text messaging.   

Most Knox County Ohio residents will see a very small $12 annual increase in their real estate taxes in 2009.  The slight increase is being added as an assessment to help fund the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District.  The $12 annual fee will be billed semi annually and will be built into your real estate taxes and it sounds like it will be listed on your tax bill as an assessment. 

Knox County has 22 townships and 21 of them will be included in the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District.  Hilliard township is the only township that will be exampt and my understanding is that this is because it is located in the southern most part of Knox County.  The $12 fee applies to resididential, agricultural and vacant coded property according to Tom Fisher.  Tom also informed me that indistrial and commercial property will see an assessment also but the fee structure will be different than the $12.

This upcoming assessement will be important for Knox County property owners when it comes time to sell their property because our Ohio residential property disclosure form has a question pertaining to tax assessments.  I believe this will become an issue that requires seller disclosure for residential property owners when they list and sell their property. 

• Amazing location and within footsteps of Dan Emmett School and Park
• This home will surprise you with a tremendous amount of living space
• Attractive traditional ranch floorplan that features 3 nice bedrooms
• The finished basement is extra nice and adds to the overall size
• Priced at only $107,500.  Contact Sam Miller of RE/MAX Stars Realty
• For more information visit www.SamMiller.com or call (740) 397-7800

I love my MacBook Pro and it is by far the best notebook computer I have ever owned.  I bought is about 18 months ago before Leopard came out and I haven't had any issues with the operating system.  I am wondering if the benefits of upgrading to Leopard are truly worth the effort.  For those of you who have done this upgrade did you install the upgrade right over your existing operating system or did you do a clean install from scratch?  I am running parallels and would love not to have to reinstall it along with my MLS software, zip forms and lock box software all over again.  I am hopefull that installing over my existing operating system will be a smooth upgrade but am interested in hearing about others experiences.