Oct. 26, 2007 - Save a Tree Eliminate Unwanted Catalogs
Are you drowning in mail?
This time of year seems to bring every imaginable catalogs to my home. Many are unwanted and seem a wasteful use of paper and environmentally irresponsible.
Well now you can do something about it. A new not for profit service offers the ability to "opt out" of catalog mailing lists that you don't want. Simply go to their website and register. It's good for you and the planet.
I have a lot of friends and family in San Diego that I am worried about today. Some have had to evacuate their homes.
Here in Prescott we have some of the same fire concerns, hilly areas, windy conditions and difficult to navigate roads in the mountains. Below is some information from the US Fire Administration on what you can do to maintain your home to minimize the risk of spreading fires.
Wildland fires destroy hundreds of homes and acres of land every year across the country. Fire-safe landscaping is an effective tool that creates an area of defensible space between your home and flammable vegetation that protects against devastating fires.
The United States Fire Administration (USFA) encourages you to keep fire safety at the forefront by learning how to landscape and maintain your property to minimize possible fire damage and slow fires if they start. Remember, fire safety is your personal responsibility... Fire Stops With You!
Defensible Space Works
During the 2003 raging California fires, a number of homes were saved as a result of the owners' careful pruning and landscaping techniques that protected their homes. In a fire situation, the dead trees and shrubs surrounding your home act as fuel for fire. Removing flammable vegetation reduces the threat of fire. Follow these basic rules to create defensible space that works.
Remove all dead plants, trees and shrubs from the site.
Reduce excess leaves, plant parts and low-hanging branches.
Replace dense flammable plants with fire-resistant plants.
The choice of plants, spacing and maintenance are crucial elements in any defensible space landscaping plan.
Tips for a Fire-safe Landscape
Create a defensible space perimeter by thinning trees and brush within 30 feet around your home.
Beyond 30 feet, remove dead wood, debris and low tree branches.
Eliminate small trees and plants growing under trees. They allow ground fires to jump into tree crowns.
Space trees 30 feet apart and prune to a height of 8 to 10 feet.
Place shrubs at least 20 feet from any structures and prune regularly.
Plant the most drought-tolerant vegetation within three feet of your home and adjacent to structures to prevent ignition.
Provide at least a 10 to 15 foot separation between islands of shrubs and plant groups to effectively break-up continuity of vegetation.
Landscape your property with fire-resistant plants and vegetation to prevent fire from spreading quickly.
Choose Fire Resistant Materials
Check your local nursery or county extension service for advice on fire resistant plants that are suited for your environment.
Create fire-safe zones with stone walls, patios, swimming pools, decks and roadways.
Use rock, mulch, flower beds and gardens as ground cover for bare spaces and as effective firebreaks.
There are no "fire-proof" plants. Select high moisture plants that grow close to the ground and have a low sap or resin content.
Choose plant species that resist ignition such as rockrose, iceplant and aloe.
Fire-resistant shrubs include hedging roses, bush honeysuckles, currant, cotoneaster, sumac and shrub apples.
Plant hardwood, maple, poplar and cherry trees that are less flammable than pine, fir and other conifers.
Maintain Your Home and Surrounding Property
Maintain a well-pruned and watered landscape to serve as a green belt and protection against fire.
Keep plants green during the dry season and use supplemental irrigation, if necessary.
Trim grass on a regular basis up to 100 feet surrounding your home.
Stack firewood at least 30 feet from your home.
Store flammable materials, liquids and solvents in metal containers outside the home at least 30 feet away from structures and wooden fences.
No matter where you live, always install smoke alarms on every level of your home. Test them monthly and change the batteries at least once a year. Consider installing the new long-life smoke alarms.
Septic systems are vital to our rural area and so is maintenance. Poorly maintained systems can cause ground water
contamination and create unhealthy living conditions for local residents. University of Arizona has a great article about
septic maintenance that I have posted to my website click on the picture to view or download.
And as a bonus there is an article at the end about bunnies!
Those of you in the Prescott area who are missing Youngs Farm Pumpkin Festival should check out Windmill Farm in Chino
Valley. The former manager at Youngs is now managing events at Windmill. Take 89 to Road 4 North and head West for about a
mile you will see the beautiful grounds on your right.
Every Saturday and Sunday in October 9-5 Hayrides, pony rides, food and all the usual suspects.
If you are not familiar with Chino Valley check out our video by clicking on the picture above.
Do you "Love Where You Live" in the Prescott area? Go to our web site and write a review of your favorite place. Just
click on the "Love Where You Live" link at www.Prescott-re.com
Oct. 15, 2007 - Real Estate Industry and Paper - Blog Action Day
Each traditional transaction in real estate uses about 300 sheets of paper from start to finish. With an expected volume
of 6 million transactions for 2007 and this is the worst market in years….well you do the math. Our industry has many new
ways to help reduce this obscene volume but is slow to adopt. For the foreseeable future we will still need to generate
some papers but I have put together a list of 3 of suggestions that would not only bring the paper usage down but can save
money in the long run.
1) Use electronic signatures for paperwork.
This will eliminate the need for you or your clients to print out in order to sign
2) Use a transaction coordination web site
This will allow all parties to see paperwork and email back and forth without generating unnecessary copies.
3) Give your clients a close out disk instead of binder
It is much easier for the clients to keep than the reams of paper and easier to find appropriate files.
These are just a few simple and easy ways that our industry could make an impact on our environment very quickly.
There are also personal choices individual Realtors can make that will help make an impact. See my post from last month
entitled "Can you promote growth and help the environment".
Tomorrow October 15th is the first ever blog action day around the world and there is one topic- The
Environment. Please join me and over 10,000 other bloggers as we to use one voice to do what bloggers to best, create
conversation. You can learn more about blog action day by visiting the website: http://blogactionday.org/
-Vicki Brannock is a real estate agent in Prescott Arizona
After reading an excellent book on career development for the 21st century entitled Personal Distinction I performed an
anonymous survey of peers, clients, friends and past relationships to understand how people see me. Prior to sending out
the survey I took it myself in order to compare how people saw me vs. how I THINK I present myself. The results were
aggregated together to give me a profile. It was a little scary to send that out. Sometimes you think you know what people
think but do you really want to know for sure? Well, I held my breath and did it. Working successfully in the real estate
profession requires certain brand attributes and it was important, although potentially painful to see if that is how I
come across.
What I discovered was something quite different than I thought. For starters I was more critical of myself than other
people were of me. Some of the attributes I thought were quite strong did not even show up on my feedback list.
Still the areas I scored high in were attributes that one would look for in a Realtor. For instance, my high score was in
confidence followed closely by a tie In Dependable, Devoted, Experienced, Forward Thinking, Leader like, and Sincere.
Respondents saw my greatest skill as Communicating followed again by a tie with Managing Projects, Seeing the Big Picture,
Solving Problems and Team Building.
Going forward, I can build on the strengths others see in me and try to diminish weaknesses. Working in a profession that
does not have the strongest level of confidence among the general public requires diligence in understanding how we are
perceived by others.
Testimonials and feedback are becoming more important than ever in running a successful business. I would be interested to
hear how you get feedback and how you use it.
Oct. 1, 2007 - Is our National Association Helping or Hurting Us?
Things have changed rapidly in the past ten years in communication and marketing strategies but it seems as
if the biggest changes are happening this year as social networking and online communication send out information as fast
as your fingers can type or your Podcast can be uploaded. A bi-product of this is that people are extremely well informed
and up to date with facts, figures and data. Because of this we are expecting more from service providers than ever
before. As Realtors we must be armed with statistics, understanding of markets and trends not only in our local area but
in the nation as a whole to be competitive and credible.
On the Today show on Friday it became painfully obvious that the leadership of NAR, who is the face of the
Realtor, had no such preparation. He could not pick out the top 3 fastest growing markets in the U.S. and he had no
statistical information the made any sense whatsoever. If given the benefit of the doubt that he was caught unprepared NAR
certainly does not understand that corecting the information with blogs, video responses and statistical data released
immediatley afterword would have been appropriate and helpful. Prior to this post I could find no such rebuttal anywhere.
But I was able to find the Today show interview on YouTube along with some pretty negative comments about our association
and members.
As a professional in Real Estate I do not believe it is my job to cheerlead for my industry. My job is to
service my clients to the best of my ability. This includes providing accurate information about the current market
conditions. It is no wonder that the general public has such low regard for this profession. We need to present ourselves
as putting the interest of our client above our own at all times. Even if it hurts our pocketbook. If we do not change
course quickly we will become as obsolete and ineffectual as our National Association seems to be.
Dishing it up- information and opinons on market trends, issues, technology and advances in Real Estate and related industries by Vicki Brannock, e-pro, ABR.
Comments are Encouraged! Please note comment area below each post.
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