TheREALTYgram Blogger

Going to San Francisco to Real Estate Connect;Special Foreclosure Workshop to Help Homeowners

I am heading to the top real estate conference of the year in July, Real Estate Connect, in San Francisco in July. I will be speaking at a pre-conference Foreclosure Workshop titled, "Relationships 2.0: How to Help Homeowners While Closing Business" on July 23, 2008.

The Real Estate Connect Conference is sponsored by Inman News. The confab assembles real estate industry leaders to share thoughts and ideas in one of the most highly charged and provocative meetings in the industry.

Creating an Online Presence in Tucson

This weekend's task is building a new real estate web site in Tucson. I am working with stock photos today, but I will add my own images over the next few days, including an original header. Here's what I have done so far:

• Created a new blog dedicated to foreclosure resources. I expect that I will have multiple Tucson area blogs in the short term ;-)
• Registered the domain name TucsonTown.com and hope it will start pointing soon.

Foreclosure Fair in Tucson Smashing Success!

Almost 500 homeowners facing foreclosure met in the Tucson (AZ) Convention Center yesterday and attended workshops and one-on-one counseling sessions with loss mitigators and lenders. Many of these people will keep their homes. Sadly, there was no REALTOR participation at the event.  The event was sponsored by Pima County, with partners that include Freddie Mac, HUD, state regulatory agencies, lenders, ACORN, The Urban League, and Legal Aid.

Additional workshops are being planned for Tucson and other locations throughout Arizona.

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

TheREALTYgram Blogger Is Three Years Old

I am very happy to visit these pages on the third anniversary of my first blog. Since my next visit is The Fat Lady Blog, I am going to celebrate with a no-cal treat ... a visit to some of my favorite blog posts:

The Day the DOJ Came to Visit

Bleeding Edge Journalism

Chalkboard Whore Lesson -- Bankruptcy Bill

FSBO Open House Brawl (with help from the Property Grunt)

Pre-Katrina Photos in the French Quarter

Heavenly Deed Transfer

Coorrupt Mortgage Lender Sonnet

My First Thoughts About RealTown Blogs (July 2005)

Genesis of a Blog that Has Changed My Life

Blogging About an Event that Changed My Life

No Blogger Left Behind - Develop a Blog Business Plan

INVITATION: First Class FREE You can sign up here

Join us for a Webinar on January 16 Space is limited. Reserve your Webinar seat now at: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/558575420 What exactly is a blog? We will talk about The Anatomy of a Blog, Different Blog Platforms, and How Blogging Fits Into A Real Estate Agent's Overall Web Strategy. Title: No Blogger Left Behind -- Develop a Blog Business Plan Date: Wednesday, January 16, 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

The Eyes Have It

Magic in Manhattan. Aussie lassie and soon-to-be-RealTown-Blogger Finn Hanna meets Uber Blogger Kevin Boer.