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Let's Make Movies

I know, I know, I'm supposed to be a Realtor, so why am I making movies? Haven't you heard? Visual tours are all the rage, and some of those slideshow templated freebies, are worse, yes I said worse, than nothing. If you like to fool with pictures and write, and I do, rather than using a templated site like the free ones, (which is, OK, I concede, somewhat better than nothing), you'll want to run a You Tube channel. The freebies are useless when it comes to setting up and running a You Tube channel. So, here are some tips for storyboarding - and more to come. http://video-editing-software-review.toptenreviews.com/how-to-make-a-movie.html In preparation for the next phase of my real estate career I have purchased a new all-in-one computer with touch-screen, a 1 TB hard drive, great graphics card, and everything I need to make it fast and grand and perfect for recording and uploading to YouTube. There's only one thing missing - Your Listing! But it's the fall of the year and my phone is ringing with happy potential buyers passing through and I have to go take them around the valley. I am working on your movies as time allows. I'll send you an updated link as soon as I have one. Video is the next big thing in real estate advertising, and I'm embracing it although I promise, the learning curve is somewhat daunting. Lucky for me, one of my clients Robert Humphrey was the film trainer for the US Military and literally wrote the book, the three books, for Military film makers. He's taken a look at my visual tours and says he'll help me. How cool is that? So, I've bought the equipment, I'm prepared to do the work, now I just need to squeeze a few hours out of my schedule. It'll be worth it, you'll see.

And sorry I had to turn off comments, somebody publishing under the name Pushpendra Yadav started publishing advertising nonsence in my comments and emailing me every 2 minutes. "Omaxe Constructions is amongst the large Real Estate Development companies in India and has executed more than 120 prestigious Industrial, Institutional, Commercial, Residential and Hospital construction projects.
Omaxe " It would seem like Omaxe Construction (s) might like to know the firm they've hired to do advertising is causing some trouble with a Real Estate Blogger in Western Carolina.

From a 2010 United Country Post - Technology in Real Estate

June Website Statistics for United Country

July 2012

I had my left hip replaced on June 26th in Tryon, NC by Dr. Rosenberg and came home to recover. I followed Doctors instructions and for the first two weeks post op was home bound and pretty groggy with pain meds. "How badly did it hurt?" Everyone wants to know and I've gotta tell you, as far as I'm concerned, it hurt more before surgery than afterward. Now granted, I'm recovering, and I'm not brand new, raring to go but it's not bad. I knew I'd made the right decision when I sat on the side of the bed and dangled my legs for the first time.

As a consequence, there was no July Newsletter, everyone had to get by with updates from List Hub and Trulia, but there weren't any complaints. We did stay in touch and I don't know how this happened but real estate started selling. I've had a few more sellers call Clayton in, including Steve and Dawn on lot 89 Big Rock Road, their lot was way overgrown and Clayton put a crew on it and even cut a trail to a huge view. I don't have pictures, yet, I can't get out to the rocky overlook with my cane, but soon, and very soon. I'll be posting pictures.

Meanwhile, here's a picture for you:

This fine specimen was slithering across a driveway on Yellowtop. I believe he would have hung around but he didn't particularly want his picture taken. Luckily the people who were with me saw him, too and we all have interesting pictures on our iPhones as a consequence.

Welcome Friends

Welcome! Beides old newsletter posts you will find lots of information on the real estate blog: http://kdsfarm.blogspot.com . It’s nice to have posts handy, like Home Staging Tips and Can You Say Syndication? And I can post things and reference them without being redundant. As unstable as the real estate market is today it’s good to know there are some things we can count on.

Data feeds. Here’s something we can count on. Like Murphy’s Law, “Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong.” If there’s a data field in your listing that says 3.5 acres, it may be picked up by some sites as 3 acres, and some as .35, and some not at all. This is due to the vast difference in mapping data fields. If you match A to A, there’s no problem, but it you’re using the alphabet and you go to 27 well, then… things just got interesting. I can not map data fields in our system or change how they are mapped, but I can make corrections if needed in the MLS and sometimes by logging into an outside account I can turn off fields. As real estate becomes standardized across the nation we will see some improvements, until then, bear with me. If you find your listing on a website with something weird in it, let me know. I’ll fix it if I can and if not, we can get pretty creative in the public remarks.

To those of you who have had your lots cleaned up thank you. Local landscape firm owner/operator Clayton Self has completed several. If you’d like to keep him on for maintenance, Clayton will be happy to put you on a regular schedule. Since he lives in Bostic and his crews start and end up here, he can swing by your lots, and get these small jobs without sending an entire crew from town. Call him early in the morning 828 245-5213; you‘ll probably have to call before 8 to get him. Call later and his wife, Pansy, will take your call and have him call you. If I need to meet him or direct him to your property let me know and we’ll get together. Clayton is NOT the only firm in the area, Scott Mayhew with All Quality Landscaping 828 245-9245 and Brad Ford 828 245-9309 with BRS Landscaping are both excellent. These are all local companies. I can only recommend firms because of the problems that arise if someone gets hurt doing a job for you on your property. An accident could be charged against your homeowner’s insurance – lot owners? That could get as complicated as data field mapping. I don’t want to go there.

I’ve been really busy getting things together so someone can step into my shoes and run my business for a few weeks. Dropbox has been a large part of that and I’ve nearly met my 2GB limit. Dropbox is a file sharing program that synchs automatically across several devices. I have it on my desktop, laptop, and smartphone. Files are always available and I don’t have to duplicate an upload because they synch. I can add documents from any of my devices and they’ll be in my Dropbox folder. If you need file storage “In the Cloud” Dropbox will host up to 2 GB for you free. I’m soon going to need more storage and you can help me get it for free. Dropbox will bonus me and help you get started with a free account and plus a 250 MB bonus if you’ll join with my link: http://db.tt/3ZwnKPu  Remember to install Dropbox in your computer after signing up, otherwise we won’t get the 250MB bonus.

If all goes as planned I will be having my left hip replaced June 26^th. I have lined up buyer’s agents, Teresa Lederer and David Brackett, and my United Country Broker / Owner, Annette Stover (who can help with anything at all) 828 286-2313 while I’m out. I am having the least invasive, anterior, procedure and expect to be using a walker for a couple of weeks. Since it is typically slow here in the summer, with a peak in the spring and in the fall, this is the best time for me to have this done. So, I’m taking a two week “staycation” and taking care of me. I’ll return to limited duty after two weeks and expect to be back at my desk in four and hopping rocks across creeks in eight. If you need me you may reach me at home. 828 245-3886.

Someone called and said they were publishing a menu for Becky’s Country Store and asked if I was interested. When I found out I could run my QR code which opens my personal website, and gives me an opportunity to invite buyers to Be My Guest and use the MLS on me, for free, I decide to try it. KDMcCall will run on a smart phone. Let’s see if I get any calls. (Proof Attached).

There’s always something happening in real estate. I like to send my Newsletter out the first week of every month. The reason this letter didn’t get out the first week of the month is because I had buyers and sellers.

This is a good thing!

Hope you are well and that life is treating you fine and remember if you don’t hear from me, I need to hear from you.

Best,

 KD McCall

Bostic Real Estate Trends, June 2012 with Karen D McCall

See Bostic Real Estate Trends. Bostic average and median listing prices - Trulia.com

I love graphics, don't you? It's easy to see, at a glance that the average list price is falling and the number of listings is rising. Because real estate follows the laws of supply and demand, we would say the market is trending down, as supply rises, prices fall. While I love graphics, I do not love what this graphic is saying about current market conditions.

Bostic Homes For Sale

Bostic Homes For Sale