Quite honestly, this topic could go on for hours, or days, so I may be breaking it up into multiple articles, and as time progresses, I’m certain that a new tool will be discovered, or an old tool will be abandoned. The pursuit of cutting costs has become number one priority these days, and it shouldn’t be that way. What I mean, is that we always need to be cutting costs that weigh us down, on easy street, and on skid row.

Managing Contacts

Much of the corporate world uses some variation of Microsoft Outlook, whether the latest and greatest version, or an outdated version, to manage Contacts, Appointments, Tasks, and E-mail.  I recommend Microsoft Outlook as a basis by which you manage your contacts and communication to your contacts.  I’m speaking of the full blown Outlook, not Outlook Express, the kid sister to Outlook.  Outlook express comes with your computer free.

How to Get Outlook Free

A little known secret in the IT world is that you can get Outlook for free.  How?  Well, firstly I’ll explain one major condition that you must meet prior to choosing Outlook as your “Dayplanner.”

Outlook is a corporate level software application.  It’s a big deal.  It does all sorts of things that the average user is unable to take advantage of.  You see, Outlook was designed with bigger things in mind.  Outlook really shines when it is combined with Microsoft’s Enterprise Server product, Microsoft Exchange Server. Microsoft Exchange unlocks the most treasured features of Outlook and allows you to really collaborate with other team members.

What if I don’t have a team? That’s okay, because using Outlook all by yourself, in conjunction with Microsoft Exchange Server will save you thousands of dollars in the future.  You could consider Exchange Server to be your Outlook insurance policy.  You don’t have to have a team to take advantage of the features.

How much does it cost?  Well, if you operate your own server, which 99.99% of you will not be doing, you would need approximately $5000.00 worth of hardware and about $1600.00 worth of software, and a few years of IT experience.  Alas, there is a solution.  There are many companies out there that allow you to “rent” a mailbox that’s operating under Microsoft Exchange Server, allowing you all of the corporate, enterprise features for a single user, and all for around $10.00/month.  That’s cheap insurance.

Why is it a big deal?

Jennifer, anothe real estate agent, recently contacted me to talk about how she could better manage her e-mail and contacts.  “The problem with Outlook is that all of my e-mail is on my computer and I can’t get to it without my computer,” she complained, “and when I try to go online to my webmail, the inbox on webmail doesn’t match the inbox on my computer in Outlook.”

A hosted Exchange account will solve this problem.  Here’s how it works.  You setup your e-mail account with a hosted exchange server company, like Exchange My Mail.  They help you configure Outlook to connect to the server, and Outlook displays all of your data on your computer screen through the interface you’re already familiar with.  Everything including your e-mail, contacts, appointments, and tasks are stored on the server, not on your computer, so that means you could lose your computer, but you’d never lose your data.

When you have your e-mail hosted this way, there is only one copy of everything, which means you read your e-mail once, and it’s read.  There’s no more deleting mail from to places, no more scanning e-mail that you may have already read on one computer, but not on another, etc.  If you have a Windows based smartphone or an iPhone, you can also connect to Exchange and view the same information, live.  Delete an e-mail message in Outlook, and it’s gone on your phone too.  Change a contact name and phone number, add a contact, or delete an appointment, and voila!  Every device you use is instantaneously updated.  Don’t have your computer or phone on you?  No problem, just login to Outlook Web Access anywhere you can use a computer that’s connected to the internet.  All of your data is there, and it’s all in the same place you left it, in the same status you left it.

Managing contacts, appointments, tasks, and e-mail has been made seamless and extremely efficient, and secure, and safe.  I recommend considering this as your primary method of managing this part of your business, and one of the best parts about it is that whenever you use a hosted exchange company for your e-mail, you get a free copy of Microsoft Outlook with your account!  That alone will pay for the service for about a year or so.

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Canyon Gate Condominium at 7887 N. 16th Street in Phoenix.  Aside from the rest is this beautiful condo located just north of the Pointe on 16th Street.  This is a great short sale opportunity just minutes from some of the most popular hiking and biking trails in Phoenix.  Don’t miss out on this one before it’s snatched up at this incredible price.

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There’s a certain threshold in a given area regarding how much you should upgrade your home and how much it will make a difference in the competition. It would not make sense to put a $5000.00 stove in a $200,000 condomimium, etc. That’s just one example. So, when a prospective tenant or buyer is looking for a place to buy or rent, there’s also a threshold to their perception of value, and when something seems out of place, it won’t matter to them that you have the nicest property in the area, when it comes to considering the rent or price.

Most upgrades will increase the ability to sell or rent your home over the next door neighbors, but it won’t guarantee that you’ll be able to draw a premium based solely on those upgrades, especially if the area in which you’re renting or buying doesn’t warrant such upgrades.

For potential rental properties, if you ever find yourself saying, “I can’t drop the rent that low because my mortgage is more than that,” then it’s time to think about the cost of carrying a vacant property.

Let’s say your mortgage payment is $1500/month and your home can draw $1200/month in rent. That’s a loss of $300.00/month when it’s rented. If it’s not rented, it’s costing you $1500.00/month.  If you rent it for $1200/month for one year, you’ll lose only $3600.00.  Let’s see, $3600 divided by $1500 is 2.4.

You choose.  You can be realistic about your asking price and get the property rented and lose $3600 in 12 months, or you could hope and pray you get someone to rent your house at your inflated price and lose $3600 in 2.4 months.  Hmmm… 12 months versus 2.4 months.

If this is your way of thinking, it’s just not realistic and you may need to be innoculated from the virus, infection, or well whatever it is that’s keeping you from seeing the real market conditions.

Remember, time is money and the entire nation is getting a swift lesson in loss mitigation.  Most of us are in a “collection” mindset.  We want the full payment and we want it now, and we waste all of our time trying to hunt it down.  The best method is to mitigate your loss by getting something going…anything.

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So you’ve been sitting on the fence because you think housing prices will continue to fall, right?  Bad idea, unless you can afford to pay cash for a home outright.  Why?  Because the amount of your payment is determined by the rate at which you borrow.  Here’s an example:

Buy a house today for $218,900 with 20% down and a 30-year fixed rate mortgage at current rates of roughly 5.5% and you’ll find yourself with a payment of about $994/month.

Let’s say you’d rather wait until the price of that home comes down to say, $197,000.  GREAT!  Right?  That’s $21,000 less today than it was a year ago.  But wait, the recession has ended and the fed has increased the rates to 6%,  a mere half percent higher.  Guess what your payment will be.  You got it, $994/month.

The home purchased at $218,000 today will cost you $182,000 in interest over 30 years for a total cost of ownership of $400,000.

If you wait one year and lose one half of one percent, that same home at $197,000 will cost you $182,000 in interest over 30 years for a total cost of ownership of $379,000.

$400,000 – $379,000 = $21,000.

$218,000 – $197,000 = $21,000.

So now that we see that the difference in the total cost of ownership is the same as the difference in sale price, what difference would it make to you whether or not you wait a year.

How much money are you going to waste this year on rent?  How much is a year worth to you?  How important is your time and how are you going to feel one year from today when you’re still stuck in a rental that you can’t truly make into your own home?

The bottom line is, waiting for the price of a home to fall may cost you more than you know.  Why wait?  Buy now.

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NEW YORK – Investigators have uncovered unbelievable new evidence in the recent flight incident in the Hudson River. Previously thought to have been downed by a flock of birds shortly after takeoff from LaGuardia, what officials had originally identified as US Airways Flight 1549 was in fact not involved in a mid-air collision with birds and was also discovered not actually to be a US Airways aircraft. Flight 1549’s current whereabouts are unknown, causing concern for the families and friends of the passengers aboard. In the early morning hours of Saturday, January 17th, as divers were retrieving the black box, a flight recorder installed in all commercial aircraft, an unprecedented discovery was made outside of the cabin as the pilot of a rescue Zodiak noticed a tear in the US Airways logo near the right wing exit. Upon further investigation, it was determined that the US Airways identification was a decal covering up the true identity of the aircraft, a decommissioned Oceanic Airlines Airbus A320 hybrid. Upon further investigation, it was discovered inside the cabin as NTSB dive master Colonel H.M. Hornacek III entered the plane that “there was no way the plane could have been carrying passengers. There are no seats from the cockpit to the rear of the plane.” Hornacek also described the cockpit as “violently damaged, as though something had vandalized it severely.”  This obviously raises questions regarding the origin of the “passengers” who were rescued and the validity of their accounts has been under scrutiny by the NTSB since the discovery.

Officials aren’t sure what to make of the situation at this point, but will release more information as it is uncovered.

In another report, the free availability of the popular Lost Boarding Pass Invitation that thousands of people have downloaded has created opportunity for you to hold a Lost Themed Party like no other.  The Season 5 Premier of LOST on ABC is scheduled for this coming Wednesday, so you’ll want to make sure you get your copy of the invitation for your event now, so you have time to print and deliver it.

Since so many of you have requested it for LOST events, birthday parties, weddings, anniversaries, you name it, I am hoping some of you will return to post your story here so we can all share in the fun.

LOST on ABC PARTY REPORTS

We’re looking for your report this season!  Download the boarding pass, send it out as an invitation, throw a killer LOST theme party, take lots of pictures, and I’ll post them all here along with ours.  We want to bring the fanatics together!

LOST Poetry Video

Season 4 ended with a bang at our LOST Season 4 Series Finale party where we recited some pretty creative poems with LOST as the theme.  I’ll be posting the video here on Wednesday sometime before the premier.  If you’d like to be notified when the video is posted, submit your e-mail address in the following form and you’ll receive an announcement.

LOST on ABC Season 4 Premier Party

Need some ideas for the LOST on ABC season 5 premier?  Then read about our Season 4 Premier.

This year, we’re hosting yet another premier party, only this time, we’re going for “best costume.”  The catch is that the costumes will be modeled after a thing rather than a person, or a situation.  Anyone can dress up as a character.  This time, we’re dressing up as situations, things, or places, or characters in a particular situation.

As usual, we’ll have lots of pictures, and I’m sure we’ll give those of you who miss out on a great theme party the opportunity to think about this season’s finale!

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We have a new listing on the market near the Phoenix Mountain Preserve in Phoenix Arizona.  Sherry Engle, of engle design, inc. envisioned what she calls an “Urban Hacienda” and has succeeded in creating exactly that.

Stop by ThirtyFourthPlace.com today for more information.

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An article was recently pushed across my desk which really has made a difference in my life.  It was written by Bill Gray, and I’m not sure where the article was originally published, but I’m posting it here so you have the chance to also read it.

DISCIPLINE, by Bill Gray

Over time it has been proven, without a doubt, that those who possess self-discipline are the most successful.

Self-discipline relates to a person’s integrity and moral ways; it becomes an internal compass that leads you toward your goals.

Those with discipline do not need to be told what to do and rarely need a guidance counselor too lead the way.  No one tells a person with discipline when to get up, when to go to work, or what to do when they get there.  This type of person will set his or her own priorities and schedules and meet their own deadlines.

Self-discipline is more powerful than luck, aptitude, or talent, and provides greater results.  Discipline allows you to set your siights on a target and find a way to achieve it.  It will wear down th etoughest opponent and help overcome the greatest obstacles.

Discipline is the primary ingredient to economic success.  If you lack discipline, your chances of success are slim.  Many with outstanding futures and abundant talent have failed when discipline was lacking.

Most unhappiness comes from a lack of discipline.  Society makes millions of dollars a year on those who lack self-control.  You can inherit a million dollars, but without a disciplined plan you will be no better off in a few years.

We live in a society of abundant “starters” but very few “finishers.”

Bill Gray is publisher of the Arizona Journal of Real Estate & Business and president of the Arizona School of Real Estate & Business.

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I am happy to expand my blogging repertoire to include my new site, www.RealScottsdaleLiving.com.  Search engine optimization is bliss.  Come on over and offer your opinion!  Thanks for reading and don’t forget to subscribe!

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There are three factors that determine the sale of a home.

• Location
• Condition
• Price

What good news!  Why?  You have nearly complete control over 66% of what sells a home.  Granted, you cannot change the condition of the surrounding properties or the type of construction of your property.  I mean, you could raze your house and rebuild a completely different style home, provided your HOA didn’t prevent it, but then you’d be throwing good money after bad as you created a home that didn’t fit the surroundings.  The condition of the surrounding homes has mostly to do with location anyway, so you really do have control over most of the consumer response to your home.

There are five stages of grief that, if you are not in touch with reality, you will traverse throughout your experience selling a house.  Why is this?  Well, selling a home isn’t like selling off your possessions at a garage sale.  Garage sales are usually designed to eliminate junk.  Your home is a very personal space, and you’ve grown very attached to it, most likely.

My job is to provide you with the right information to help you make an informed decision about how you should price your home, and what you can do to improve its chances of selling.

In todays market, of the determining factors that you can control, price carries the most weight, and many sellers have fallen victim to “rear view mirror” thinking.  Newsflash!  The gig is up.  We have to price our homes in line with what buyers are willing to pay.  Remember that the value of a home is determined upon close of escrow.  Asking more than it will sell for does not declare the new value on the block.  The actual sale price of a neighboring like property combined with an appraisal is what is going to help you price your home properly.

Stage 1: Denial. Nobody is exempt from feeling this if their expectations are out of line.  Not even real estate agents these days are pricing their properties realistically.  If you enter the transaction with a realistic outlook on what your home can actually get in the marketplace, you’ll be able to avoid the denial that accompanies the let down after your property has chased the market.

Stage 2: Anger. Obviously if you’ve felt the loss of thousands of dollars (albeit on paper only, which makes the situation even crazier because you never had the money in the first place) then you’re going to experience all five phases.  To what degree is determined by how quickly you can bounce back from fantasy land.  You will be angry about waiting too long to sell.  You’ll be angry when you realize that your Realtor was right when he/she recommended a much lower price bracket than you insisted upon.  Get over it.  It’s time to sell your home.  Make the adjustments now and minimize your losses (remember, that didn’t even exist in the first place.)  And, if you are actually experiencing more than just losses on paper, that’s all the more reason why you should price your home right, the first time.

Stage 3:  Bargaining. Through your anger you’ll find yourself justifying why things are the way they are.  You’ll begin to think things like, “If only I had.”  “Maybe if we try this we can still salvage our…”  Nope.  You’re where you are now, just get it sold.  Listen to your Realtor.  He or she does this every day and sees people go through this process all the time.  Trust us, we are here to help you move on with your lives.

Stage 4:  Depression. This is where you’ll want to give up.  Perhaps you might even consider taking your home off the market because you’ll find no point in selling.  Most people can’t afford to hold two or more properties.  Lots of people can’t even afford one property these days, especially after getting into the financial trouble that lenders allowed.  You may even want to let your Realtor off the hook and find someone else to sell the home.  Trust the Realtor you have.  If he’s done his homework and is working hard for you, stick with it.  We dread working our tails off to be a victim of the fourth stage of grief, which usually ends in you finding another Realtor who advises you to drop your price only to sell where your first Realtor had already suggested you price your home.

Stage 5:  Acceptance. If you’re a healthy person, you’ll probably make it here quickly.  In fact, if you’re a healthy person, you will probably avoid this entire process of grief through the idea of losing your yet unrealized equity gains in your home.

I can’t stress enough how important it is to price your home to sell.  If you’re serious about selling your house, think about the cost in your lives of the process of selling.  You may own two homes, you may have added utility bills through the process…you name it.  The cost of pricing your home too high can last far longer than it’s worth.  Your time is important.  If you’re not actually serious about selling your house, then you probably shouldn’t list it at all.

Are you happy with your real estate situation?  If not, please give me a call and I’ll help you move from point A to point B in as few steps as possible so you can go about the business of living and enjoying your life.

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Firstly, let me express to you that I am not a developer.  I don’t intend to design any applications for the web, nor do I intend to contribute to the open source movement which has just received a shot in the arm by Google’s new browser: Chrome.  Today is the first day that I’ve had the pleasure, yes the pleasure of using it.  In fact, I’m writing this post inside of Chrome now.

History of the Browser

The reason you may not know anything about the history of the browser is because you entered the internet arena too late.  Netscape, Internet Exploder, Mozilla Firefox, Safari, and now Chrome are a part of my browsing experience, pretty much in that order.  And that represents my evolution through time over the past 13 years.  (Excuse me while I zone out for two seconds listening to “Between Us and Them” by Ulrich Schnauss.)

I’m back.

There are so many users on the internet today who rely on Internet Explorer as their primary browsing tool.  When asked, “what are you using to browse the internet,” it’s expected that a majority of the users out there will say something like, “my computer,” or “microsoft,” or “XP.”  In all cases, they are correct, usually.  The problem is that the question wasn’t specific enough…and even when it is, the specific question of “what browser are you using on your computer which is running Microsoft XP?”

Blank stare.

Right.  You know why?  Because Microsoft embedded the browser inside of the operating system.  When you boot your computer, it’s one of the free applications that you already have.  That is why it dominates most markets.  It has taken over so vastly that corporations whose applications cost millions to develop are stuck using older versions of Internet Explorer until they spend additional millions developing for a better browser, which has been, arguably, until today, Firefox by Mozilla.

Now we have something new.  We have something by Google, and we all know that Google is taking over the world…and most of us don’t really care, because they are so good at what they do.  Google released today the newest in the browser arena called Chrome.  Do we need it?  Probably not.  Will it cause development issues?  Probably.  Will it seed the internet for expansive growth beyond our wildest imaginations?  Absolutely.  Introducing open source technologies (that’s where the community at large contributes to the design and programming of applications) is what fuels this massive machine of exploding growth.

Is it overwhelming?  You bet.  But, the coolest tools we’ve seen emerge over the past 5 years have been a result of open source projects.  Mind you, it’s also a source of great frustrations at times due to the fact that some programmers are good, and some are not, and sometimes their work is supported, and other times abandoned.  But, since it is open source, others can run with it and make it better.  It’s essentially the least expensive way to hire brilliant talent without spending a cent.

So here’s the problem.  The median age of licensed realtors today is around 51 years.  This places them in a unique position, which is atop a technology fence.  Most kick and scream until they fall off the wrong side, but some of the leap with glee to towards the future, embracing change and understanding the nevver ending innovations that come about.  Since Microsoft embedded Internet Exploder in its operating system years ago, the majority of these people use it so much they don’t even know they use it.

Why do I like Chrome?

Well, I have used it to open less than 20 web pages so far, but in doing so, my keyboard habits seem to be understood inherently in the features offered.  CTRL-T opens a new tab, just as expected, to the far right of all of the other open tabs.

If I CTRL click a link, a new tab is opened, but the great feature in Chrome that I haven’t experienced before is that it inserts the tab to the right of the tab from which you CTRL clicked, keeping them right next to each other.  This is very important for someone who utilizes CTRL-TAB while browsing.  CTRL-TAB switches from one tab to the next in succession across the top.  Shift-CTRL-TAB reverses the direction.  Another cool feature is the visual effects and accessibility of downloaded files.  Try it.  Right click an image and watch where it goes and how easy it is to access the file without leaving the browser.  Brilliant.  Setup was simple and took less than 2 minutes, importing not only all of my bookmarks (shortcuts for you old timers in IE), but also all of my saved passwords.  Until I have a bit more experience with it, I’ll keep my mouth shut about it, but so far I expect it’s going to handle everything that I need it to do, much better than its competition.

Thank you Google!

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