Real Estate Views from St Pete

After just posting about the new security service, My Mobile Witness, I started wondering - what procedures does your office have in place to help keep you secure?

Procedures need to be consistent, so that they are not discriminatory. Some offices have a small sign posted on their reception desk regarding what they ask for. Some offices have procedures; some agents and teams have procedures. What are yours?

• Do you make a copy of their drivers license? If so, does it go in your file, the office file, to the receptionist for the day?
• Do you ask for their car license plate number, or check it?
• Do you take a photo of the prospective clients?
• Do you ask for their signature on anything? Agency disclosure, or guest log? One or both parties?

• First time they come to the office, or before an agent leaves with them or to meet them?

As an agent, how do you account for where you're going?

• Do you leave a copy of the homes you're showing or previewing? Where? With whom?
• Do you call in from stops along the way?
• Do you arrange for someone to call you from time to time?
• Do you instant message when you arrive at or leave a property?

Have you taken any self-protection classes?

We do need to be proactive, so we don't wind up as the latest news story about a real estate agent who was harmed or killed. Let's share what we do to keep safe.

My Mobile Witness is an excellent safety tool I learned about this morning. Often real estate agents meet someone at a property (whether it's a potential buyer or a potential seller). If you're a member (membership is free) of My Mobile Witness, take a photo and send it to the My Mobile Witness link, and there is a date and time stamped photo in a secure environment. You can add a message if you like. This data can only be accessed by law enforcement agencies. Getting into someone's car - even a taxi cab at an airport - snap a photo of the license plate and send it along. Send a street sign, a house number - anything that may be relevant if you don't return.

In 2007 Marc and Scott were looking into purchasing a real estate company. They were concerned about the safety of their agents, and with a technology background, came up with this.So far, it won't work with an iPhone, but their website suggests we check back in a month, as they are working on it. The current technology works with MMS or SMS and not through e-mail.

Prevention pays - the life you save may be your own.

This was the view from the balcony of my hotel room at the Tradewinds on St Pete Beach this morning. The sound of the surf, the mild sea breeze, the bright sunshine - that's a nice weekend welcome.

Taking a couple of days off from work (well, mostly off) I'm enjoying a Staycation with my husband. We took a long 10 minute drive from our waterfront home to St Pete Beach so we saved time, hassle and gas. There are restaurants onsite and within walking distance, though we've chosen to go back to favorites that are a 5 minute drive away.

Last year at the annual Broadwater neighborhood picnic at Ft DeSoto Park (the nation's #1 beach a few years back) we won a 3 day 2 night stay at the Tradewinds Resort on St Pete Beach. We kept waiting for the right weekend, the right weather, etc and since it expires the end of this month, this was it, rain or not.

St Pete Beach is a popular resort with Americans and international tourists, has hotels, condos and single family homes, with lots of restaurants and shops. It's famous for its soft, white sand beaches. I think for lunch we'll wander down to Pass-a-Grille, a town at the south end of St Pete Beach that is very Old Florida in character, just a couple of blocks from gulf to bay.

St Pete Beach is close enough to home that it's a pleasant place to come and walk along the beach at sunset. That's a great way to combine exercise and relaxation - as well as taking time to Smell the Sea.

To me, a neighborhood spot, whether it's a cafe in Europe or here at Kahwa Coffee in downtown St Petersburg, is where you have a mixture of ages and backgrounds, a mix that's - well - just like a neighborhood.

Whether it's a Cheers type bar like The Rare Olive, or Kawha, or Starbucks - if you go at roughly the same time, you may see many of the same people. But if it's all the "on the way to work" crowd, or all the "Mom's afternoon out" crowd, it's limiting.

It's nice when you walk in to a place and they know what you want, how you want it, and who you are. We like being greeted by name. We like feeling special.

Remember that your clients like that, too.

Statistics may be a dry topic, though they can be enlivened by charts and graphs, which visual people prefer. Nonethtless, statistics are a great tool for showing sellers and buyers the reality of the current market. Nearly every conference I attend these days talks about statistcs.

The media talks about averages - national average, even area averages. But we all know that real estate is local. We need to educate them about our local market - time on market, list to sale ratios, competition, short sales. We need to educate them about their neighborhood, or their condo building. Sometimes it's a different market for different sides of the same building.

We need to talk about financing, what can and can't be done today. Clients are concerned about cost, so we need to bring property taxes and insurance into our discussions.

Then we need to do some listening, and some counselling. Finally, they - and we - need to do some soulsearching about whether it's feasible for them to really sell or buy. If not - tell them now.

We all have different reasons for attending (or not attending) the NAR conventions.

For me, it's not the huge parties with thousands of people, nor is it the educational sessions, as good as some might be (there are so many other great educational sessions all year long), it's

• the trade show.  Some years there's not much new and a few hours will whisk me through - other years there are all kinds of new things, and two full days is not enough (lately it's been the former). The trade show is also a chance to connect with some of your current vendors - to find out what's new, how to better use what you have, and to address any issues you have or improvements you want. Face to face is always great.
  
• the international expo.  Great chance to meet international colleagues and look at what's happening in other countries - all in one place.
• the "outside" meetings of various groups, from ActiveRain to impromptu cyber agent or luxury agent gatherings
• the chance to see favored colleagues who are there for their own reasons.

What's in the NAR convention for you?

One of the benefits of getting up early  is the chance to see night turning to day. This morning after working out (yes, I'm bragging again) I went up to the Vinoy lobby for my usual coffee, newspaper and conversation.

At one point I looked out the window and saw that the sky was the most beautiful shade of blue. It had been raining when I drove over this morning, so my last view was rainy and yucky - now there's this deep, intensive blue.

It was enough to make me get up from my paper, get my camera, go out through the French doors to the verandah and try to capture the blueness. I think I did.

It's always interesting to learn how much is going on within Active Rain that we don't know about. Miss a day of reading posts, or stop after the first few dozen, and you can miss a lot.

The Ninety-Ninth Percentile Group was founded back in February as the "home" for the top 1% on Active Rain. That's about 40,000 points (for those who are wondering how to compute it). I was unaware of it until just a few minutes ago when I was reading a post by Patricia Kennedy, noted that she had posted it to the Ninety-Ninth Percentile Group, and clicked on that group link to see what the group was about.

Since we can only post to a limited number of groups, you might find it interesting to look at which groups your favorite bloggers are posting to, and check them out.

Seth Godin - you should review Margaret Rome's new book. She's a member of Triiibes, and so am I - and this Triibe here at Active Rain wants you to recognize Margaret Rome, not only a great author, but an even greater person. She sets an example for all of us, and is a true Triiibe leader - she helps us up when we're down, and congratulates us when we're up, sending us even higher. She picks up the phone just to say she cares. Broker Bryant had the great idea that if we all wrote asking you to do this, you might catch it in your google alerts and do the review. Please do - she's worth it!

St Petersburg is alive with RAYS fever and fervor. It's not only the streets close to Tropicana Field that have banners celebrating the Rays participation in the 2008 World Series.

After beating the Red Sox to gain entry into the Series, this area has come alive with excitement, whether you're a sports fan or not.

Some ticket holders wouldn't miss the game at Tropicana for anything - others have sold their tickets as high prices and plan to watch it on tv, usually gathering with friends. The local restaurants and clubs are all having Series Watching Parties.

One of our attorney friends is holding a pre-game Tailgate Party at his office, within walking distance of the game.

Not a bad sports year for the Tampa Bay area - the World Series in St Petersburg this month and the Super Bowl in Tampa in January.

This morning in the early hours of the morning, there were signs of activity at the northeast corner of 400 Beach in downtown St Petersburg. No posters, no signs, no "Coming Soon".

Those in the know, know that this will be 400 Beach Seafood and Tap House, scheduled to open on February 15th, 2009. Steve Westphal and Chef Tyson, who run Parkshore Grill a block to the south (at 300 Beach Drive NE), are expanding and plan to have a wonderful seafood restaurant.

Parkshore Grill is a favorite place for dining inside or out - great food, atmosphere, and you'll always meet people you know.

This was kind of like looking at Santa's workshop, to see a drafting table and plans set up as the Command Station, with trenches and pipes stretched out in multiple directions.

Downtown St Petersburg Florida is really a great place to live, work, play and enjoy!

This was a surprising site this morning, pre-dawn, as I drove to the gym. It was so impressive I took the next exit off the interstate ramp and drove closer so that I could take a photo without risking a collision.

Tropicana Field in St Petersburg has a fabric roof - you can be inside during the daytime and not need lights, because the sun shines through.

At night, though, if the Tampa Bay Rays win the game, the roof (dome) is illuminated with Tropicana Orange lights. This is the first time I've seen the lights still on in the early morning - but then, it's the first time the Rays won their right to play in the World Series, which starts here in St Petersburg on Wednesday.

A rare site - an inspiring story of a baseball team - and the locals celebrate the RAYS and party around town. What's the saying? From worst to first.

After heart-stopping games, from top to bottom, from win to lose (much like the stock market of late), the RAYS came home and won their league here, much to the dismay of the Boston Red Sox.

In the pre-dawn darkness, the orange glow of Tropicana Field was a sight to behold!

In Pinellas County, Florida, the average price for condos sold in September 2008 dropped to a new low, as did the median price. The most popular price range for sales was $200,000 - $249,900. There's a 28 month supply of condos. For condos priced over $1 Million there is a 5.5 year supply.

There were twice as many single family homes sold during September as condos.

Since Pinellas County is a peninsula between Tampa Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, there's little land for new home construction - often people will buy an existing home to get its location, then tear it down and build a new house. There were more opportunities for building new condos, so there was more speculation going on in the condo market. More speculation = more price drops.

In April 2008 we hit a low for both the median price and the average price of a single family home in Pinellas County, Florida, and each month since then has been higher --- until September, which brought a new low. There's currently a 16 month inventory.

Those figures aren't unexpected, though - people are able to afford less house, so are buying less expensive homes. Therefore - the average and median go down.

Averages can be so misleading! There's only a 3 month supply of homes under $30,000 and a 47 month supply of homes over $1,000,000. Some neighborhoods have had rising prices and others declining prices. One condo can have a huge inventory and next door there are none on the market. All real estate is local.

For real information, prospective buyers and sellers should contact a knowledgeable local agent. After all, the home you want to buy or sell isn't "average", is it?

This book is 10 years old, and it's more relevant today than ever.

Sarah Susanka's philosophy is that quality is more important than quantity. She shows how space can be shared, how rooms can serve multiple purposes, and how nooks can serve better than rooms.

Large homes not only cost more to build, they cost more to furnish, more to clean, more in annual property taxes, and more in utility costs.

Not So Big House isn't a book about sacrifice - it's a book about enhancing, about enjoying a better quality of life in your home.

There's a recent 10th anniversary edition at Amazon with a revised chapter. Susanka has written several other books in the meantime, but I think the best of them was this original book.

It's all about living well. Design and details.

Now I just wish she'd write one about the Not So Big Office!

Russian friends told me about their sounding board or personal Board of Directors, which they called their Kitchen Cabinet (this was back in the times that they would gather in someone's kitchen thinking they would be least likely to be eavesdropped on there).

We all can benefit from a Kitchen Cabinet, and not only when there are BIG issues to be considered. Today I posted on an Autoresponder for Blog Comments and received a LOT of responses. What came out very strongly was not just whether the commenters were pro or con, but how they felt.

Clients and potential clients, as well as colleagues, may not remember what you said, but they will definitely remember how you made them feel.

This is so much better than testing an idea and possibly alienating prospective clients.

When we don't have a sounding board or Kitchen Cabinet, we can be blindsided by looking at just one aspect of a decision. Thanks to all of you for being my sounding board, for preventing a waste of time and poor results. This is just one more reason I'm grateful for Active Rain and all of you that make it what it is!

Thursday noon I attended a few Broker's Open Houses, three in fact, all between $1 Million and $3 Million in the Coffee Pot area of St Petersburg, Florida.

This home is a recently build Victorian style home. One of the most appealing features to me was this octagonal window, with its view of Coffee Pot Bayou (behind the tree). Other rooms have larger windows with views of the waterfront, but this one appealed to me because of the framing.

It's not always size that matters, it's interest, it's attraction.

This doesn't look much different from the photo I took two weeks ago - but that's because all the work has been done on the inside rather than the outside.

Yes, there are a few more windows that you can see here. The partition work, however, doesn't show much from the outside,  though you can glimpe it from the windows.

This is a typical waterfront tear-down in St Petersburg, Florida. The old 1970s single family single story home was town down so that this home could be built on a prime cul-de-sac waterfront lot.

By the way - when I first bought in Florida in 1972, I thought it was great to have a corner lot with a big front yard. I soon learned that was lots of maintenance and little privacy. Now I'd opt for a small street-side lot with lots of space and privacy in the back - like this one.

Here's the history of this teardown and rebuild here in St Pete Florida.

How many areas have a boat-in McDonalds? Madeira Beach, Florida, does!

I thought I could get a decent photo while waiting in the drive-through line (sadly, I was in my car and not in our boat), but the wind dropped just as I pressed down, so that you can't recognize the McDonalds flag on the dock.

If you're out boating with a bunch of kids, they'll prefer this McDonalds to the numerous restaurants along the Intracoastal Waterway that might appeal more to adults. McDonald's Madeira Beach has a long dock that will accomodate several boats, connected to the land and to McDonalds.

This morning, on my way to Seminole to speak on a panel, I looked ahead and saw a "billboard" for the US Postal Service. As I got closer, I saw that it was actually a post office truck (local) up on the bed of a tow truck. Imagine that this truck was further ahead of you ... all you really see is the raised UPS portion...

Obviously no natural elements prevented the delivery of the mail today. As I came closer I grabbed my camera to record this for posterity - and for Active Rainers. It's a bit tilted because the truck itself was, well, a bit tilted.

Since I had been invited to speak on the panel by Active Rainer, Jan Whitlow, I thought it appropriate to take this photo for a post on Active Rain. 

By the way, Jan has helped in the staging of a couple of my sold properties ( note the operative word - SOLD) so it was like meeting an old friend.

So, as you travel through your day, unusual sites will occur - just be sure to have your camera ready!