Last Wednesday my router died. I ran out to buy another router assuming I'd be up and running in a very short time. Well, four hours later I had connectively and fell into bed at midnight exhausted from hours on the phone with tech support while trying to figure out the problem. Normally, I'm relatively handy with computer stuff and was frustrated that this otherwise simple process turning into such a chore.
Thursday morning I noticed I didn't get any of the usual dozens of messages I get overnight. For some goofy reason, I couldn't receive any of my business email at JessLyman@LYMANandSTEICHEN.com. My business partner Theresa Steichen had no such problem. Our website was up and running. That night I contacted Register.com to see if there was a problem there. Nothing was wrong. I then sent numerous email messages to my hosting company and they didn't respond. I continued to contact them for 6 days and received no answer even when using my personal email.
On Monday morning after an agonizing weekend, imagining that every single one of the thousands of prospects in my database was sending me an email requesting to write an offer on a house they just drove past, I contacted my ISP, Mediacom and they prompted sent out a tech. The tech spent an hour and a half to discover my modem was bad and promptly replaced that. However, this didn't explain why I wasn't receiving my email. I was at a loss. No email at my computer, my PDA (different service provider) or at my ISP's website. In looking at my settings at Register.com I saw that Rackspace was hosting the web developer I used (who still hadn't called or sent a message to my working personal email. I called them but they couldn't help since their contract was with my web developer not me.
To make a long story shorter...it turned out the an AT & T server down the line had blocked my email due to "abuse" not by me but by someone with whom I shared that particular server. As a result, hundreds of other users weren't getting there email either. I put in a request to fix this since I wasn't the "abuser" only to get no response or solution. Thus, I created a new email address at gmail to have my business email re-routed and now, a week later it is working. The abuse scenario still exists but MY NEW WEB DEVELOPER as of yesterday, The Marketing Shop (I'll show you for not contacting me for 6 days!!) has my site up and running and email working. Thank you Jenna Ryan, jenna@themarketingshop.com.
Sure, my clients called me to tell me my email was down. Sure, I showed some homes and handled inquires on my listings. Maybe I didn't miss a sale or listing but I certainly lost some sleep worrying myself crazy. Here I am a new router, a new wireless modem, a new email address (re-routing to my address) and a new web hosting company later, I have my business email working; JessLyman@LYMANandSTEICHEN.com
How dependant we have become on technology! I love the many tools at hand today and use them with gusto but when they don't work, our hands may be tied and our world stops (or so it feels). Thanks to my favorite mortgage broker and friend, Ken Horst, The Great Rate, for listening to me moan through all this!
Thanks for listening.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Monday, September 17, 2007
Media Discourages Home Buyers with Negative Speculation…
Good grief, everyone! This morning as I lay in bed sick with the flu, my head foggy, my voice crackly and incapable if doing much more than watching the news, I hear more doomsday about the real estate market here in Minneapolis, “Home Prices to Drop 10%-20%”. This gloomy tidbit will more inhibit the market than the reality! Buyers see this and say, “Oh, I should wait until it drops again before I buy.” If I were a buyer, I would probably feel the same way. Mayb there are reasons why to buy now.
However, let’s take a look at a reliable source of information, The National Association of Realtors, gleans information directly from the marketplace itself, as opposed to the personal views of a news station exec that is trying to attract more viewers and further line their own pockets.
Yes, it has slowed down. Yes, it’s tough for sellers to sell unless their homes are priced at the low range of the scale. And yes, the numbers show a decline in some areas of housing.
Why would a buyer not wait for the drop they predict? Here’s why:
1. Interest rates are still in the 6% ranges. (I was in real estate years ago when interest rates climbed to 21% for a short period).
2. 100% financing still available. See Ken Horst, mortgage broker for details.
3. More inventory to choose from than ever.
4. Many anxious sellers willing to offer “extras” with an acceptable offer (personal property, pay points and/or closing costs and flexible closing date).
5. The buyer may need (or want) to move, a simple fact that drives the market at this time.
My last two blog entries have been so serious. Next time, I’ll get back to my CookingUpRealEstate theme; hearth, home, real estate, great food, great recipes.
Be well.
Jessie
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Long Time Real Estate Broker – Observations in this Slow Market
After 23 years in real estate, it's been interesting, albeit frustrating, in this odd market. It's as if the masses, a collective group of observers themselves, are waiting for something magical to happen to inspire them to reach into the marketplace and give it a try. They hold their breath in anticipation for the perfect time to make a move. They allow themselves to get sucked in by the media wanting to disbelieve the idle banter about doomsday while they chatter amongst their family, friends and associates glomming onto each tidbit of information that drives them further away.
I ask myself if I were a buyer right now what I'd do. My motives would be a huge factor, my level of risk taking would also be a factor and the cautious guidance of an experienced Realtor® would surely be a contributing factor. All said and done, I'd wait. How long? Not long.
What could happen next? Will it "bottom out?" History tells us nothing stays the same, particularly real estate. If all we did was wait, a new influx of buyers will hit the market; the college grads that got the new job, the baby boomers that want to move into a townhouse, the many immigrants that come here with money to spend anxious to grow roots, the 30-somethings that are tired of paying rent and on and on...
It will change. And for those of us who "hung in there," will our fruitless patience be rewarded? Yes! Will our diminished numbers prove to be the essence of our existence and joyfully send us into a wild tailspin of activity? Yes, please.
So we wait. We promote. We market. We encourage. We hope and...dear friends...we blog.
Thank you for listening.
Jessie
To see what's on the market.
I ask myself if I were a buyer right now what I'd do. My motives would be a huge factor, my level of risk taking would also be a factor and the cautious guidance of an experienced Realtor® would surely be a contributing factor. All said and done, I'd wait. How long? Not long.
What could happen next? Will it "bottom out?" History tells us nothing stays the same, particularly real estate. If all we did was wait, a new influx of buyers will hit the market; the college grads that got the new job, the baby boomers that want to move into a townhouse, the many immigrants that come here with money to spend anxious to grow roots, the 30-somethings that are tired of paying rent and on and on...
It will change. And for those of us who "hung in there," will our fruitless patience be rewarded? Yes! Will our diminished numbers prove to be the essence of our existence and joyfully send us into a wild tailspin of activity? Yes, please.
So we wait. We promote. We market. We encourage. We hope and...dear friends...we blog.
Thank you for listening.
Jessie
To see what's on the market.
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Had a broker open in Eden Prairie, gave away wine!
Yesterday I had a broker open for my listing at 10760 Woodwatch Circle in Eden Prairie, MN priced at an affordable $299,900. Since food and real estate are my passions and I haven't had luck with food at broker opens this season, I used wine as my "enticement" to get agents to come and preview the house. I offered a choice of a bottle of $10-$14 red or white wine to the first 25 agents to walk in the door. Wouldn't you expect that I'd give them all away? Only 2 agents showed in the first 10 minutes as we anxiously awaiting more, to no avail.
My favorite mortgage broker Ken Horst, , hereinafter referred to as MFMB, waited with me, flyers in hand for 100% financing(yes, Ken can do this!) while we yakked up a storm over the state of the Minneapolis real estate market. We had held similar broker open houses in the past month for more of my listings, one at 17176 Padons Drive in Eden Prairie priced at $1,395,000, a fabulous 6100 SF artisan inspired lakeshore home with a 1000+ SF nanny quarters or apartment and another at 3973 Games Drive, priced at $489,900 in Minnetrista, a gorgeous, 2 years old, 3100 +SF two sotry with a double stairway and bonus room.
OK, so the market is not so hot. But, I've had the best spring and summer I've had (amidst all the "bad press") working with buyers, many of whom are from out-of-town. After 23 years as a broker/owner I've been lucky to get many referrals and out-of-town clients who have found me online. But, now it has slowed down and I'm only half as busy as I was 6 weeks ago.
What does an energy infused, enthusiastic, upbeat person like myself do when the market slows down? I work my listings and cook, sharing my tasty tidbits with my clientele and friends. As an example when I heard that Ken Horst, MFMB could join me for the broker open yesterday, I made him a special burrito to heat in the seller's microwave that he said was the "best burrito he ever had!"
As a health nut and cook, its always a challenge to make something very low fat that's loaded with flavor and density, leaving one full but not umcomfortable with the rewarding feeling of just having consummed tons of antioxidants, lean protein and healthy grains. So here you go for the recipe for one:
Jessica's Best Burrito
1 Joseph's Flax, Oat Bran & Whole Wheat Lavash (or any whole wheat large tortilla or roll-up)
3 oz cooked lean ground taco meat (I use the 96/4% fat lean gr. beef using any)
1 roasted green pepper*, sliced
1 roasted red pepper, sliced
1/2 roasted zucchini
1/2 medium roasted onion
2 slices fat free Swiss cheese
2 T. Pace Picante sauce
Shredded lettuce
Salt & pepper to taste
*To roast peppers, onion and zucchini:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Wash, clean and slice peppers. Leave skin on zucchini and slice the long way. Clean and slice onion. Spray a piece of tin foil with olive oil spray to cover cookie sheet. Arrange veggies on tin foil, spray once more and season with salt and pepper. Place in oven and roast for 14 minutes, turn over and roast for another 6 minutes. Veggies will be brown but not burned. Shorten or lengthen cooking time based on your oven.
Assemble in following manner: meat, onions, zucchini, peppers, picante, cheese, lettuce. Roll tightly folding over one end. Wrap tighty in plastic wrap. Microwave on hight for 1-2 minutes until warm. If you do Weight Watchers, this entire wrap is only 5 points and a meal in itself.
Roasted peppers and veggies are delicious added to pasta, sandwiches and baked dishes. I usually quadruple this recipe so that I have leftovers to make other wraps during the week when I'm on the run. It's a great way to get your veggie servings each day.
Off I go to a late lunch with a new friend and future client. I'm not only buying lunch but I'm bringing her two pounds of homemade granola, a topic I will discuss soon. Granola and real estate...huh?
If you want to see what's on the market, visit me, Jess Lyman
Happy Day!
My favorite mortgage broker Ken Horst, , hereinafter referred to as MFMB, waited with me, flyers in hand for 100% financing(yes, Ken can do this!) while we yakked up a storm over the state of the Minneapolis real estate market. We had held similar broker open houses in the past month for more of my listings, one at 17176 Padons Drive in Eden Prairie priced at $1,395,000, a fabulous 6100 SF artisan inspired lakeshore home with a 1000+ SF nanny quarters or apartment and another at 3973 Games Drive, priced at $489,900 in Minnetrista, a gorgeous, 2 years old, 3100 +SF two sotry with a double stairway and bonus room.
OK, so the market is not so hot. But, I've had the best spring and summer I've had (amidst all the "bad press") working with buyers, many of whom are from out-of-town. After 23 years as a broker/owner I've been lucky to get many referrals and out-of-town clients who have found me online. But, now it has slowed down and I'm only half as busy as I was 6 weeks ago.
What does an energy infused, enthusiastic, upbeat person like myself do when the market slows down? I work my listings and cook, sharing my tasty tidbits with my clientele and friends. As an example when I heard that Ken Horst, MFMB could join me for the broker open yesterday, I made him a special burrito to heat in the seller's microwave that he said was the "best burrito he ever had!"
As a health nut and cook, its always a challenge to make something very low fat that's loaded with flavor and density, leaving one full but not umcomfortable with the rewarding feeling of just having consummed tons of antioxidants, lean protein and healthy grains. So here you go for the recipe for one:
Jessica's Best Burrito
1 Joseph's Flax, Oat Bran & Whole Wheat Lavash (or any whole wheat large tortilla or roll-up)
3 oz cooked lean ground taco meat (I use the 96/4% fat lean gr. beef using any)
1 roasted green pepper*, sliced
1 roasted red pepper, sliced
1/2 roasted zucchini
1/2 medium roasted onion
2 slices fat free Swiss cheese
2 T. Pace Picante sauce
Shredded lettuce
Salt & pepper to taste
*To roast peppers, onion and zucchini:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Wash, clean and slice peppers. Leave skin on zucchini and slice the long way. Clean and slice onion. Spray a piece of tin foil with olive oil spray to cover cookie sheet. Arrange veggies on tin foil, spray once more and season with salt and pepper. Place in oven and roast for 14 minutes, turn over and roast for another 6 minutes. Veggies will be brown but not burned. Shorten or lengthen cooking time based on your oven.
Assemble in following manner: meat, onions, zucchini, peppers, picante, cheese, lettuce. Roll tightly folding over one end. Wrap tighty in plastic wrap. Microwave on hight for 1-2 minutes until warm. If you do Weight Watchers, this entire wrap is only 5 points and a meal in itself.
Roasted peppers and veggies are delicious added to pasta, sandwiches and baked dishes. I usually quadruple this recipe so that I have leftovers to make other wraps during the week when I'm on the run. It's a great way to get your veggie servings each day.
Off I go to a late lunch with a new friend and future client. I'm not only buying lunch but I'm bringing her two pounds of homemade granola, a topic I will discuss soon. Granola and real estate...huh?
If you want to see what's on the market, visit me, Jess Lyman
Happy Day!
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Cooking Up Real Estate
Food and real estate? What do they have in common? I guess you could say food is love, cooking at home is love of hearth and home and cooking for people has a connotation of love and warmth. So there it is.
Or... selfishly I could say that I love both real estate (been a broker/company owner for 23 years) and cooking and thus my http://www.cookinguprealestate.com/theme was born last Tuesday, May 22, 2007 while my FMB (favorite mortgage broker) Ken Horst at http://www.thegreatrate.com/helped me out with my Broker Open at one of my listings at 17176 Padons Drive, Eden Prairie, MN.
Give me a few days to get my new www.cookinguprealestate.com website up. In the interim, come visit my regular real estate website at http://www.lymanandsteichen.com/.
Click on this MLS link for this great home priced at $1,499,000. Make sure you look at my virtual tour and supplements on MLS, too: http://matrix.northstarmls.com/Matrix/Public/Email.aspx?ID=3270395358
I made a gorgeous flyer with the MLS sheet attached (Listing #3362839) and sent it out to over 8500 agents in the Twin Cities areas. Also, on Monday, I drove around to the larger Eden Prairie real estate offices dropping off a hand made paper flyer with the menu and MLS sheet asking agents to come by to check out this house and have a bite to eat.
FMB Ken Horst ran home when we had the idea about this blog and brought back his digital camera taking photos of the food and me showing off the presentation materials I made for the property.
I cooked for days. In this goofy real estate market we need to do everything we can to sell our listings. Everyone eats and loves "free food" so this was a logical medium to inspire interest. Most listings, as you may know, are sold by a cooperating agent from another company so appealing to them makes lots of sense. What better a way than food? Here's the menu I served.
Crab & Avocado California Rolls
Spring Rolls
Chicken & Vegetable Pot Stickers
Panko Battered Shrimp
with Spicy Dipping Sauce
Steamed Edamame *
Perrier Water
(look below for information about Edamame)
We had about 10 agents show up, some of whom specialize in the upper bracket market. They looked at the house, grabbed a plate of yummy food, sat at the big kitchen table while we proceeded to shared observations about the current state of the real estate market. In the 13 country Metropolitan market:
- Too many houses on the market now. (There were 38,245 new listings in the first quarter). As a result, buyers get confused when they want to look at so many houses.
- Average market time is 145 days.
- Sellers get frustrated when their homes don't sell for almost 5 months.
So the big question was, "Why would anyone want to buy or sell in this market?" We discussed several good reasons:
- If a candidate wants to upgrade they may lose a little on their old house but save much more on the more expensive house.
- Rates are still amazing. Ask my FMB Ken Horst for rates: http://activerain.com/action/blogs_admin/kahorst@yahoo.com
- More homes to choose from allowing a buyer to focus on special features or amenities they've longed for.
- Sellers willing to negotiate enabling a buyer to get more home for the money.
(If you want detailed stats directly from the Minnesota Association of Realtors email me your city at: JessLyman@LYMANandSTEICHEN.com and I'll send them to you right away).
All in all, I was quite pleased with the Broker Open. Did the food sell the house? We shall see. Some of the agents plan to show it. I'll report back here as we progress.
*Edamame- What is it? How do you cook Edamame? Here's a link to an article about edamame:
http://www.onhealth.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=56288
Edamame is a little green pod (non-edible) with the most delicious 2-4 little peas (soybeans) inside that taste like a bit of heaven. They are high in fiber, 9 grams per ½ cup, low in good-for-you fat, 2/5 grams and only 120 calories foe ½ cup of shelled beans.
My dogs, BenBenBen and Worldwide Willie (shown here after climbing his favorite tree), both 
Australian Terriers, love them and come running when I yell out, Edamame! I shell them like pistachios, eating one at atime. They are good for those of us that get some weird satisfactionout of opening things up and popping them into our mouths and they're much less fattening and much healthier than snacking on chips or candy. I buy them at Costco (cheap).
To cook, open an entire 10 oz. bag, pour into a glass bowl (no water needed), cover with a paper towel and microwave for about 5 minutes on high. Then I sprinkle on some kosher salt and eat them hot or cold. However, there are many recipes online for dishes made with edamame but I like them as a side dish to a great meal or simply a snack.
This is my first blog. More will follow with food facts, healthy and not healthy but delicious recipes, cooking experiences, dieting and real estate all in one big pot from which you can scoop out exactly what you'd like.
Thanks for visiting,
Jessie
http://www.lymanandsteichen.com/
JessLyman@LYMANandSTEICHEN.com
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