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Sonora, CA Real Estate News

By Mother Lode, Real Estate Master
(Real Living Sugar Pine Realty)
Have you ever been provoked? (Of course, you have.) I like the definition of provoke on dictionary.com: "to stir up, arouse, or call forth (feelings, desires, or activity); to anger, enrage, exasperate, or vex." I especially like that last one: Vex. Have you ever been vexed? That's what I'm talking about in this blog post about posting provocatively. If we would be read, if we would gain eyeballs and audience, we need to be verbally "vexing" at times. We need to create / stir up controversy. We need to arouse, call forth feelings (of empathy, compassion, too). Here are 5 ways to do it (with my own blog post examples of each)... 5 Ways to Verbally Vex (Provocatively Post): 1. Play "devil's advocate." (How NOT to Dominate Your Market) 2. Opine (preach) about a pet peeve. (In Defense of R...
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By Mother Lode, Real Estate Master
(Real Living Sugar Pine Realty)
Lightning fast post meant to make you think... 10 Mistakes People Make with Pinterest (plus 1 bonus): (what might you add to the list?) 1. Are afraid to be an "early adopter" (drag their feet). 2. Give up on it too soon (once they get going). 3. Don't realize it's a great platform to recycle content (My Blog Posts board). 4. Don't realize it's a great platform to promote content (My Infographics board). 5. Don't realize it's a great platform to showcase product (Our Company's eMagazine, Homes for Sale). 6. Are afraid to follow, follow, follow, follow other pinners and their boards. 7. Forget to include description with pictures (helps with search engine optimization). 8. Overlook including url on their uploaded pins pointing back to their website (or blog). 9. Neglect liking and repinn...
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By Mother Lode, Real Estate Master
(Real Living Sugar Pine Realty)
I've got the latest Mother Lode market numbers for you to look at today. To begin with, you'll notice the overall sales picture including all sales classes. CLICK HERE to view March 2012 compared to March 2011. CLICK HERE to view April 2012 compared to April 2011. CLICK HERE to view January-April 2012 compared to January-April 2011. You'll also want to notice the graphs including the Mother Lode Residential Unit Sales through February 2012 graph versus the previous five years (clickable picture 1 on above left) along with the Mother Lode Residential Volume Sales graph versus the previous five years (clickable picture 2 on the right) and the Mother Lode Residential Average Sales Price graph versus the previous five years (clickable picture 3 on the left below), respectively. (The data u...
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By Mother Lode, Real Estate Master
(Real Living Sugar Pine Realty)
(click image to enlarge, then in new browser tab or window click again) (To read original post, click here.)
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By Mother Lode, Real Estate Master
(Real Living Sugar Pine Realty)
Have you ever lied? (You just did by not admitting it.) We all lie. We all have lied. We all will lie (in the future). There are many reasons why we lie. Sometimes it's out of fear. Sometimes it's out of embarrassment. Sometimes it's because we're afraid of the consequences of the truth. Sometimes it's to protect somebody else. (Can you think of any reasons why you've lied in the past?) And then there are the people who we lie to. We lie to potential future employers (on our resume). We lie in the way we present ourselves in public (as someone we're really not). We lie about the experiences we've had (ok, it's just an exaggeration/embellishment, not a lie). And we also lie to ourselves. I don't know if you've ever thought about it, but it's true. We lie to ourselves and sometimes it's ...
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By Mother Lode, Real Estate Master
(Real Living Sugar Pine Realty)
A friend of mine recently shared the story of his trip to Disneyland with his wife. Now, what you need to know about this friend (before I tell you the story) is he is about 6 foot 4 and his wife is about 4 foot 10. (No lie.) And so when they went to Disneyland, he talked about how there were just massive amounts of people there ~ like wall to wall. He joked about how the great thing about being so tall is you can see over everybody. Not so for his wife. She was literally buried. So he told her to just hold on to his hand and follow him and don't let go ~ cuz he could see where they were going (he could see over everybody) and could get her where they needed to be regardless of if she could see or not. And the fact is sometimes we just can't see where we're going (/the forest for the t...
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By Mother Lode, Real Estate Master
(Real Living Sugar Pine Realty)
(click thumbnail to see full Pinterest board)
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By Mother Lode, Real Estate Master
(Real Living Sugar Pine Realty)
The light (in my mind) has finally come on with Pinterest and how to use it with Real Estate. Working for a real estate company as a blogger, I'm in charge of all the social media stuff, too. And so when Twitter came along, I had to get my mind around that. And then when Facebook (business) pages were the new thing, I had to get my mind around that. And now it's Pinterest. And I've been thinking, thinking, thinking, thinking. And now I believe I've come up with a way to use it. First things first. As it is with blogging, tweeting, Facebooking, etc., you just need to have fun doing it (bottom line). And, oh, how I can see Pinterest as being so much fun, fun, fun. I was telling the ladies I work with that 80% (or so) of Pinterest users are indeed female ~ and I went on, "And I can see ho...
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By Mother Lode, Real Estate Master
(Real Living Sugar Pine Realty)
We're celebrating moms this coming Sunday and so I was thinking about the various gifts that they receive on Mother's Day and the ones they like the best. I tried to rank them in an order keeping in mind what my own mom would probably most prefer (especially the top 5). It might be different with yours, but I'm hoping I came pretty close to how you would list these yourself. So here I go answering the question... What Do Moms Like Best on Mother's Day? 15. Flowers 14. Candy 13. Hugs and kisses 12. Phone calls 11. No dishes 10. No laundry 9. Breakfast in bed 8. Balloons 7. Cards 6. Brunch 5. Pampering 4. Peace and quiet 3. Dinner out 2. Kids coming to see them 1. Hearing: "I love you" You might also be interested in: 60 Things Your Mother Said To You (That You May Have Forgotten?) 10 Wo...
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By Mother Lode, Real Estate Master
(Real Living Sugar Pine Realty)
Lightning fast post meant to make you think... 10 Mistakes People Make with Newbies (plus 1 bonus): (what might you add to the list?) 1. Aren't patient. 2. Don't offer a helping hand. 3. Try to sabotage them from the start. 4. Overlook telling them office protocol. 5. Leave them twisting in the wind. 6. Don't invite them into inner circle. 7. Judge them (sometimes harshly). 8. Misrepresent those with whom they will work. 9. Are afraid they might outdo them (the newbies will outdo the old timers). 10. Forget how they felt when they were one. BONUS Don't share vital information that would save them from future embarrassment, reprimand and/or firing. You might also be interested in: 10 Mistakes People Make with Relationships (plus 1 bonus) 7 Things to Keep in Mind When You Feel “Violated”
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By Mother Lode, Real Estate Master
(Real Living Sugar Pine Realty)
(click image to enlarge, then in new browser tab or window click again) 5 Dangers of Social Media:  1. Becomes all consuming 2. Puffs up with pride (over numbers) 3. Spread too thin (over too many sites) 4. Offline responsibilities neglected 5. "Affairs" online turn into "affairs" offline (sometimes) How to Write a Blog Post that Nobody Will Read:  1. Use bland title 2. Include misspellings 3. Have no coherent point 4. Don't promote via social media 5. Pepper with curse words You might also be interested in: My Social Media Mistake What If You Lost It All? (Social Media Meltdown)
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By Mother Lode, Real Estate Master
(Real Living Sugar Pine Realty)
What's your passion? What I mean by passion is: What is it that you would do even if you didn't make a cent from it? And it goes even further: What is it that you would just die if you couldn't do it? ~ your literal life would be sucked out of you and you would dry up? That's your passion. Sometimes we can't make a living from what's our passion, but we do it any way, on the side as it were ~ while we make a living at something else so our family can eat. It's the height of life when you can do your passion and make a living at it at the same time. You might also be interested in: Barriers Fragile
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By Mother Lode, Real Estate Master
(Real Living Sugar Pine Realty)
(If you can't see this video, click here.) (If you can't see this video, click here.)
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By Mother Lode, Real Estate Master
(Real Living Sugar Pine Realty)
Remember how you felt when you first entered the business? I'm not talking about Real Estate per se (even though this is a Real Estate blog). It could be any business (or whatever it is you happen to be doing). And when you first started you were gung ho. (Some of you were.) And you were excited to be there. (Hallelujah, I got a job!) And you were ready to reach for the stars. Your spirit was soaring. And then it happened. It could be any number of reasons that caused it. But the air went out of the balloon (sad to say). And you weren't so gung ho anymore. You weren't so excited to be there. You weren't so reaching for the stars. Your spirit wasn't so soaring. So how do you get the flame back? (bottom line) It's not an easy road, but it can be done.  The following list is a good place ...
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By Mother Lode, Real Estate Master
(Real Living Sugar Pine Realty)
Lightning fast post meant to make you think... 10 Mistakes People Make with Relationships (plus 1 bonus): (what might you add to the list?) 1. Think others are better than them. 2. Settle for an abusive one. 3. Get married to the wrong person. 4. Don't listen to advice of parents. 5. Forget you can't judge a book by its cover. 6. Think others are less than them. 7. Too quick to burn bridges. 8. Don't set parameters/boundaries. 9. Gain all their worth from a person (or group). 10. Forget that forgiving protects from bitterness. BONUS Are rude, but then expect help in time of need. You might also be interested in: 10 Mistakes People Make Creating Infographics (plus 1 bonus) 10 Mistakes People Make When Buying a Home (plus 1 bonus)
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