Real Estate Blog Squad

The Hugs and Smiles Cavalcade

Did I get hugs? You bet I did! Did I get smiles? Lots of them! This Year’s NARdi Gras Convention and Trade Show was filled with lots of opportunities to learn, connect and have fun. From the amazing presentation of former Presidents Bush and Clinton, to a tour of the city that was heartbreaking in its devastation, this Convention was a testament to NAR’s incredible vision to take a risk and support the economy of New Orleans. Thank you, NAR, for letting us make a difference! Connecting with friends, new and old, is my favorite convention activity! – Joeann Fossland, e-PRO,GRI, PMN, Master Certified Coach

Good friend, Nancy Thorsen of Idaho Falls is the 2006 WCR Local Chapter President and a fellow “hat lady.” I believe Nancy has twice as many hats as I do!

Trainer ExtraOrdinaire, Darryl Davis, packed both his education sessions with standing room only Get the MP3s of these sessions! You’ll be glad you did!

My new best friend, Peggy Selinger-Eaton, saved me! I left my clicker at home for my presentations and she came to my rescue, lending me hers! What a nice thing to do for a total stranger :>) Visit www.PeggysCorner.com

Bill Wendel  (the gentleman puffing his podcasting chest) is from the Real Estate Cafe and founded the Real Estate Bubble Blog .

No trip to New Orleans would be complete with out beignets and café au lait from the Café Du Monde and another good friend from Santa Fe, Feng Shui Specialist, DeAnne Ottaway.

David Powers from GotVMail.com  completely wowed me with their awesome phone system that lets a single agent, team or small office sound like one of the big guys! It will follow you, fax to you, give clients information about your listings…level the playing field with this one!

Have you seen Mollie Wasserman’s new book, Ripping The Roof Off Real Estate? She and Paula Bean worked hard at the show to help people understand “the times , they are achanging.” They introduced their new course, the ACRE (Accredited Consultant of Real Estate).

Gathering with good friends and eating! Now, that’s about as good as it gets. My fairy blogmother,Fran Thorsen is taking the picture of Nancy Thorsen, Tucsonan Sharon Hildebrand, Donna Elder and another friend from Louisville while we are toasting with our Katrina Ritas!

NAR’s theater gave Preferred Partners a venue to educate folks on all the good deals we receive just because we are a member. I got to share about all the reasons you’d want to do e-PRO and get a $30 discount!

The support staff Kristi McFann and Monica Torres from e-PRO are the best! Talk about great customer service….Sydel (not shown) and Kristi know how to make things seem easy and it is “Easy, when you know how”!!!!!

NAREE Heroes Keep The Katrina Story Alive;It's More Than An Anniversary Story, It's About Family

A week ago I sat in a packed convention hall and listened as two former U.S. Presidents put aside political differences to chart a plan to reconstruct New Orleans. I watched as weary travelers waited patiently for airport shuttles. It was a week of $40 tips for $20 cab fares. New Orleans was host to the largest convention in the city since Katrina hit. 

Mostly, it was a week of inspiration led by New Orleans Times-Picayune writer and NAREE member Greg Thomas (shown at left below)...

... a week when bus drivers and bellmen and waiters and military brass enjoyed the same bountiful measure of dignity and respect.

There is speculation that the Katrina story has run its course, but there was abundant evidence to the contrary. That's Mary Umberger from the Chicago Tribune with Greg Thomas. She is one of many national writers who will keep this story alive for many days to come.

The Times-Picayune Living Section Editor James O'Byrne held NAREE members spellbound as he shared his personal recital of events following Katrina. He lost his home and 45 of his neighbors died in the storm. He has continued to write, and he is building a new home.

Newly installed NAREE president Lois Weiss told members about a recent trip she took to Dubai, where roads and bridges are built quickly and efficiently. She blasted federal officials in Washington, D.C. for a stunning record of failure and demanded that they get the job done immediately in New Orleans.

... and it was a week when a United States Army General endeared himself even to old hippies (including the one behind the camera). -- Frances Flynn Thorsen

Editors Take Musicians' Village Walking Tour;See Colorful New Homes Rising In The Rubble

This was not the standard tour. Dozens of real estate editors from around the country were in New Orleans last week to cover the annual convention of the National Assn. of REALTORS. But the real story was not about the convention, it was all about New Orleans. It was about a city still struggling to recover from the most devastating storm this country has ever seen. The story of Katrina remains the housing story of the century.

Musicians' Village is a success story about a housing project in New Orleans' 9th Ward that involves partners Harry Connick, Nr. and Brandford and Ellis Marsalis and Habitat for Humanity They are building homes for displaced New Orleans musicians.

Colorful new dwellings are being built on cinderblock stilettos across the street and alongside ruined homes and unswept rubble that are stark reminders of Katrina's wrath.

There will be 81 homes here when they are finished. New Orleans needs thousands more. Some of the lucky ones are living in trailers. Others drive hours to work. Families are separated. There is still much work to be done.--Frances Flynn Thorsen

Paul Bean, Orlando FSBOfighterTakes New Orleans By Hugs

Paula Bean, Orlando REALTOR, RealTalker, and moderator of the FSBOfighter Yahoo Forum, had a chance to meet face-to-face and cheek-to-cheek with other industry notables at the NARdi Gras conference in New Orleans last week. Paula is shown at left with Mollie Wasserman (author of Ripping The Roof Off Real Estate) and John Reilly of Internet Crusade, and below with Mollie and Master Certified Coach and e-PRO Trainer Joeann Fossland.

NARdi Gras Sites And Smiles

Three Presidents Share Vision For New Orleans;Electrify Thousands of REALTORS At Confab

Leadership. Vision. Hope. Commitment. Enterprise. This is just what this city needs and this is precisely what's on the menu. New Orleans tourism and hospitality is alive and well! Just ask the 25,000 plus conventioneers this week at the National Assn. of REALTORS annual convention in the Big Easy.

Two former Presidents of the United States shared the stage with the outgoing NAR president on Saturday in a bipartisan summit that spells optimism for a city recovering from the devastating wrath of Katrina.

When NAR president Tom Stevens announced last year that the trade group would follow through on plans for a convention in New Orleans this year there were many who expressed skepticism. There were some who called him crazy. Now he can say, "I told you so!"

In the days following the hurricane, NAR raised $18 million in immediate relief; local Boards of REALTORS throughout the country raised an additional $4 million to build 54 homes in New Orleans for Habitat for Humanity. REALTORS picked up hammers and saws and paintbrushes and made it happen!

Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush came to town on Saturday and applauded REALTORS for their massive contributions to the relief effort and for giving New Orleans a chance to strut its stuff to a national audience. In the same week that concluded a nasty campaign season and saw an election that turned control of Congress to the Democrats, the two Presidents checked their politics at the door and treated the crowd to one of the most inspiring events of a lifetime.

George Bush displayed wit, warmth, and eloquence that melted the hearts of the most diehard liberals in the audience. He talked about respect for his predecessor following his stunning defeat for office in 1992. He talked about his new role on the world stage and vowed not to beat the political drums about Presidential style and decisions even when he disagreed. He said that promise was difficult to keep at times during Clinton's Presidency. And then Bush shared an uncharacteristic moment of candor and said that he suffers the same struggle with silence about Presidential decision making today. He said that his wife Barbara struggles even harder with it. His honesty was exquisite.

Bill Clinton said that Washington has a chance to make accomplishments despite the fact that there is a Republican in the White House and a Democratic Congress. "Each side now has a serious stake in the success of the other," he said.

Three leaders shared a stage in New Orleans to celebrate the early fruits of success. NAR had record-breaking attendance and there is dancing in the streets. But there is still a lot of work ahead. Billions of dollars need to be raised and disbursed. Whole industries and infrastructure need major retooling and repair. Let's hope the leaders in Washington are watching and listening. -- Frances Flynn Thorsen

NARdi Gras Expo Celeb Watch

Blanche Evans, (above left) enormously popular editor of Realty Times and champion of REALTORS,  is on hand to sign copies of her new books, The NAR Guide to Home Buying and The NAR Guide to Home Selling. The guides offer consumers insight into the complexities of home buying and selling while making it easy to follow and understand how to manage the processes. Each guide also focuses on the unique, and important, role REALTORS play in the transaction and includes several pages of checklists, guidelines and tables making it easy to find and understand the information the consumer needs. NAR offers excerpts of both books.

Master Coach Joeann Fossland (below) tells conventioneers about GotVMail services in the NAR Theater on the Expo floor. Virtual telephone service with a toll-free number and affordable pricing for the real estate masses. It's about time!!

   

NAR Blogging Lounge Is Hub For Gen Y Techies And Bloggers

The National Assn. of REALTORS Blogging Room at the Hilton in New Orleans offers bloggers respite from the frenetic pace of the convention center. Plush leatherette sofas, cafe tables, refreshments, and wireless connections set the stage for a good-humored mingling of cultures as the young CRT staff at NAR greets association leadership and menopausal REALTOR bloggers with smiles, bloggy tech advice, and pecan pastry sweets. In photo above NAR strategic architect Chris McKeever (left) shares some blogging tips with NAR Region 3 vice-president Philip J. McGinnis, CCIM, GAA, e-PRO, McGinnis Commercial Real Estate Company, Dover, DE.

In photo at right, NAR's Keith Garner, CRT managing director, works at his laptop.

Real Estate Blogging LuminariesChart 2007 Course In Blogosphere

"Every REALTOR needs to have a blog in 2007," declared Bernice Ross, Ph.D, MCC at a seminar today, "Blogs in Real Estate: Another Lead Source?" at the annual convention of the National Assn. of REALTORS in New Orleans. Ross is a nationally respected Master Coach, trainer, writer, and real estate visionary.

Joining Ross on the panel was Richard Nacht, Blogging Systems (shown at right), who has developed a state-of-the-art blogging platform that helps REALTORS establish a community presence in their marketplace.

"There are ways to generate business online and offline," he said. Nacht's Community Blogging platform combines blogging modules with other web components that allow multiple user flexibility and search engine success.

REALTOR David Crockett  describes his Lake County Blog Community platform designed by Blogging Systems:  "It is a launch platform for lots of different topics, and they all launch from the same place."

Bill French, MyST Technology Partners, told attendees that blogs add a human component to a REALTOR's web presence.

Blogging Systems executive Paul Chaney (shown at left), co-author with Nacht of Realty Blogging: Build Your Brand and Outsmart Your Competition, was in the first first row acting just plain bloggy!!!

Related links:

  Blogs in Real Estate

Blogs In Real Estate: Another Lead Source?

Realty Internet Trend SettersMake Fashion Statement, Too

  Internet Crusaders John Reilly, Saul Klein, and Mike Barnett are seen at the NAR confab sporting the latest Hawaiian shirtsleeve chic.