TheREALTYgram Blogger

NO BLOGGER LEFT BEHIND -- ActiveRain Breakout Session

No Blogger Left Behind ActiveRain Breakout Join us for a Webinar on July 10 Space is limited. Reserve your Webinar seat now at: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/850331901 What is new at ActiveRain? What is the scoop about the Outside  Blogs and Localism? No Blogger Left Behind Blog Coaches Joeann Fossland and Frances Flynn Thorsen will talk with special guests and panel members about the pros and cons of the "points game" at ActiveRain. Title: No Blogger Left Behind - ActiveRain Breakout Date: Thursday, July 10, 2008 Time: 6:00 PM - 7:00 PM EDT System Requirements PC-based attendees Required: Windows® 2000, XP Home, XP Pro, 2003 Server, Vista Macintosh®-based attendees Required: Mac OS® X 10.3.9 (Panther®) or newer

Planning Blog Webinar BreakoutsLooking for Wordpress and ActiveRain Panelists

No Blogger Left Behind is an eight-week Blog Coaching Webinar series. Our "Breakout" sessions are open to the public. We are planning a Wordpress  Breakout and an ActiveRain Breakout in July. The Wordpress Breakout is a discussion for entrepreneurs and is not exclusive to real estate; the ActiveRain Breakout will be real estate centric.

If you are interested in sharing your Wordpress expertise or your thoughts about ActiveRain as a panelist, please let me know. I will be scheduling the Webinars in the next couple of days. We expect a large turnout for each of these events. E-mail me here.

No Blogger Left Behind Kicks OffNew 8-Week Webinar Series

The latest series of No Blogger Left Behind began with a great Webinar ... we had some audio difficulties and I covered the basics in a follow-up presentation. For more information, visit our registration page. Here is a HANDOUT for Week One.

Trulia Jumps on Foreclosure BandwagonThat Disenfranchises Distressed Homeowners

Distressed homeowners who want to KEEP their homes are a forgotten class. Real estate search giant Trulia is the latest mediatainment player that sees the distressed home market as a pool of buyers and sellers and panders to the hungry investor. Never mind the hundreds of thousands, maybe 2 million, homeowners who would prefer a choice to remain in their homes!

From Trulia press release:

" ... we scoured Trulia Voices to find a panel of foreclosure specialists across the country to provide some advice."

Sadly, there is no advice for homeowners facing foreclosure.  The distressed homeowner is the invisible man in terms of real estate industry outreach and support.

Relevant links:

Let's Learn How to Help Americans KEEP Their Homes

Podcast: How REALTORS Can Help Americans KEEP Their Homes

Voices of Foreclosure - Homeowners Sing a Victorious Tune    Homeowners around the country are successfully staving off foreclosure with consumer advocates at Ac...

10 Tips to Help Homeowners Avoid Foreclosure  Keep all of your loan and sale documents, consult competent help, and avoid foreclosure rescue scams...

Webinar - RealTown Blogs and Social Networking at RealTown

Join us for a Webinar on April 25

Space is limited. Reserve your Webinar seat now at: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/646599313

Learn how to create a RealTown blog with Frances Flynn Thorsen, Managing Editor of RealTown.com and award winning Blog Coach. Watch as she launches a new blog in RealTime. Learn how to use new RealTown social networking tools to attract more visitors to your web site and more buyers and sellers. The following week Joeann Fossland will join a Webinar featuring ActiveRain Blogging and social networking on that platform. Title: No Blogger Left Behind - RealTown Blog Breakout Date: Friday, April 25, 2008 Time: 2:30 PM - 3:30 PM EDT System Requirements PC-based attendees Required: Windows® 2000, XP Home, XP Pro, 2003 Server, Vista Macintosh®-based attendees Required: Mac OS® X 10.3.9 (Panther®) or newer

Hack Moderators at ABC Should be Ashamed!

If you missed the Democratic presidential debate on ABC last night, Editor & Publisher called it "perhaps the most embarrassing performance by the media in a major presidential debate in years."

I Twittered the debate proceedings yesterday (Twitter is a microblogging platform: http://www.Twitter.com/FrancesFlynnTho

Moderators George Stephanopolous and Charlie Gibson spent the first 50 minutes obsessed with distractions that only political insiders care about--gaffes, polling numbers, the stale Rev. Wright story, and the old-news Bosnia story. And, channelling Karl Rove, they directed a video question to Barack Obama asking if he loves the American flag or not. Seriously!

I just signed a petition to ABC and other media that says: "Debate moderators abuse the public trust every time they ask trivial questions about gaffes and 'gotchas' that only political insiders care about. Enough with the distractions--ABC and other networks must focus on issues that affect people's daily lives."

Want to sign it to? We need a bunch of signers for ABC to take this concern seriously.
Click here to sign.

Thanks!

Podcast: How REALTORS Can Help AmericansKEEP Their Homes

I had a discussion yesterday with Regan Brewer,  Homeowner Services Coordinator for ACORNHousing.org. We talked about REALTORS' role in helping homeowners at risk of foreclosure. We talked about helping those homeowners KEEP their homes. Sometime over the weekend I will post the visuals.

Real Estate Tools Raise the Bar

Here is a discount link for a $25 savings on the e-PRO Certification course for real estate professionals.

Play The FSBO Real Estate Game® with me and build your listing inventory with good, saleable listings!

Sign up for No Blogger Left Behind and learn how to Blog like a superstar!

Rounding Up Real Estate BloggersTo Share Ideas At Blog Roundtable

NO BLOGGER LEFT BEHIND Roundtable: Converting Visitors to Clients (Special Breakout Session)

Join us for a Webinar on February 21 Space is limited. Reserve your Webinar seat now at: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/613746814 Join a roundtable discussion about Real Estate Blogging. How do you capture and convert leads from your blog? How do you identify bona fide prospects? Title: NO BLOGGER LEFT BEHIND Roundtable -- Converting Visitors to Clients (Special Breakout Session) Date: Thursday, February 21, 2008 Time: 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM EST System Requirements PC-based attendees Required: Windows® 2000, XP Home, XP Pro, 2003 Server, Vista Macintosh®-based attendees Required: Mac OS® X 10.3.9 (Panther®) or newer

Tag, I Am It ... Meme'd!

Brendan King meme'd me a couple of days ago. He shared some personal tidbits about himself. Jay Thompson of Phoenix meme'd him. Here's how it works, according to Jay: “Someone with too much time on their hands thinks up some question (typically personal) and starts a post, “tagging” others to do the same, and it flies across the Internet. Before you know it, you’ve found out more about some people than you probably want to know…” 

And then Brendan tagged me!

Here are the rules for this one: 

(1) List 7 things about yourself, (2) Tag 7 people to do the meme on themselves including a link to their sites.

1. I am a proud Blogaholic and I find this whole "meme" business very attractive because I LOVE lists, especially viral lists. I wrote a Be/Do/Have List for My Lifetime just this week. I love Web 2.0 and social networking and I am working on a huge Web 2.0 share initiative you will hear about soon.
2. I am a New Jersey girl. I was born in Jersey City and grew up in Paramus. I have wonderful memories of educational adventures with the Sisters of St. Joseph of Newark and the Sisters of Charity.
3. I had my first weekly newspaper column when I was 15 years old in The Paramus (NH) Post. As an adult I worked in Manhattan for years as a magazine editor and writer before I went to Pennsylvania in 1985 and became a REALTOR.
4. I have been married for almost 32 years ... we have two sons. Jens Holger Thorsen, nearing 30, is married to a wonderful young lady and he is a partner in an Employee Benefits company in Central PA. His little brother, Andreas Holger, 27, is an engineer in Columbus, OH.
5. I am 75% Polish and 25% Irish. I have NEVER learned how to polka. How embarrasssing is that? To be SO Polish and not know how to polka?
6. I love to make bread  and soup. Every kind of bread and every kind of soup. And I like to cook for a crowd, so I never make fewer than six loaves of bread at a time and I never make less than two or three gallons of soup at a time.
7. I am going to become a ferocious advocate about the foreclosure crisis in 2008.

Tag, you're it! Joeann Fossland, Amy Chorew, Karen Kay, Justin Farrow, Jessica Swesey, Byron Van Arsdale, Al Heavens