How to Raise money or awareness for your Cause or Charity?

How to Raise money or awareness for your Cause or Charity?

The Power of Twitter, and how it may work for you, your business or better yet Your Cause

first a couple of definitions to make this more understandable

Following is someone you follow and recieve tweets from

Follower is someone who is following you and receiving your tweets.

Friend is when you follow someone who is also following you

Tweet is a 160 character limit message you sent on Twitter to your Followers

ReTweet or RT is you sending to your Followers a message you received from someone you are following, giving full credit to who sent it to you.

As a Follower of @Alyssa_Milano I received a cry for help tweet she received from @AlexsLemonade. If you are not familiar with this amazingly touching story of this little girl you can go to her blog: http://lemonadeblog.com I highly recommend you share it with all you know. The tweet was about her charity who partnered up with Volvo for $1 for every follower on Twitter gained in one day.

I’m following! Help in the fight against Childhood Cancer simply by following @AlexsLemonade http://bit.ly/bdmCz

Obviously something like this spreads like wildfire and is not imposing on the Celebrity or Followers as it is just a simple Retweet and than go click on Follow @AlexsLemonade Well I guess the limit was $25,000 in one day, and they go that and more, so they got the big Check thanks to the generosity of the twitterverse

On another front as a Follower of @Alyssa_Milano I also received a cry for help tweet she was passing along from @Chicajones

Anyone in Grant County, Kentucky? RT @Chicajones: Shelter ordered to euthanize #dogs due to overcrowding: http://bit.ly/bORxO

As an Avid animal lover, with approxiamately 2 dozen animals of her own, she ReTweeted the plea from her TweetDeck application. And although, she warns everyone that she tweets alot, and she does (1000′s in only a few months), I have them go to my phone as an SMS in real time. So I happen to be at my computer and open up my TweetDeck application, find her tweet, and ReTweet it myself, which I am sure many of her 160,000+ followers did as well.

And what is the result of this splattering of Tweets going out over the Twitterverse? A very grateful person who tracked down those who retweeted the original message. I would be @LoveTheGulfRE .

@LisaDee123 @LoveTheGulfRE @CDBest @MicheBella @ro23ro Thank you for RT

One of many I am sure as the next tweet I see from @Chicajones says:

@trueterri @Nattjenta @debdobson @MathildaB @willysilver POWER OF TWITTER! Shelter has adopted out 30 in 4hrs. http://bit.ly/bORxO #spca

Best Automotive Service Station and tune up in Hudson Florida is Randy and Sons

Best Automotive Service Station and tune up in Hudson Florida is Randy and Sons

If you are looking for the best car service at the lowest prices, its Randy and Sons Automotive located on SR 52 just West of Little Road (CR-1).

How did i come across this outfit? Well that is a fair question. A member of my staff needed new tires a few years ago. She had made many many many phone calls shopping around. And lo and behold it turned out that the lowest price she could find was at our neighbor Randy & Sons.

Not only did they have the best price mounted and out the door, but over time they showed themselves to be a company of integrity that only did what was needed.

Randy and Sons has established itself over the years as a trusted local automotive car service station.

Obviously it takes more than just good prices on tires to earn customer loyalty. But let me tell you, I was so pleased with their service, when I ended up using them, that I referred them to my brother AND my mother.

Randy & Sons are up on their training, have some of the latest state of the art equipment to treat your car they way you would want it, every time it gets serviced, regardless of whether it is for a common Lube Oil & Filter, or a complete Tune-up

Randy & Son Professional Automotive

8803 State Road 52Hudson,FL34667-6742

Local: 727-862-3653

For all your automotive needs, Randy & Sons Service Station is the place for you and all your automotive needs. They are honest, courteous, and informative. They take the time to inform you why you need this, or why you do not need that.

Randy and Sons boasts the experience you need in Car Service and the honesty you deserve. And despite not being apart of a big chain, they are still able to get some of the best prices for your car parts in the business. I am in no way trying to tell you to use them exclusively. But I would suggest, for your benefit, that you give them a shot and see if their prices are the best, and than judge for yourself, the level of professionalism they show you and your car when it is in for a tune up or a more extensive service

1. They can beat the competitions price
2. They do a better job for that price
3. Do only what you need, and inform you how to limit needing them through preventative maintenance.

And do not for a minute think this is just a mom and pop operation. It is treated like one, but they have all the latest high tech equipment to make sure the job is done right. So if you want a personal touch coupled with the confidence the fact that your Tune up or Car Service was done right, you need to get down to Randy & Sons on SR 52 on the Hudson and Port Richey Border.

Spectacular Views from Pasco County’s Only Gulf-front Restaurant & Bar is in Hudson, Florida

Spectacular Views from Pasco County’s Only Gulf-front Restaurant & Bar is in Hudson, Florida

It doesn’t get any better than this! It may not be 5 Star cuisine, but its good food and good times at Sam’s Waterfront Restaurant in Hudson Florida.

You have 180* of panoramic views of the Gulf Of Mexico, which at sunset is breath-taking. The Food is good, the drinks are even better,but the views are priceless. And what could be better on a hot Florida day than cocktails gulf-front watching dolphins, ray’s or manatee’s swimming by

This Gulf-front Restaurant and Bar features modest prices for food and drink. All of the seating is outdoors, with about half of that covered. We some times have showers spring up out of nowhere, but the party keeps going at Sam’s Waterfront Restaurant & Bar in Hudson, Florida.

And aside from the magnificient views available from every table, everyone has a view of the kitchen as well. At Sam’s Waterfront Restaurant & Bar the kitchen is not squireled away behind a wall. It is open to all that wish to be confident of the way in which their food is prepared.

Sam’s Waterfront Restaurant

6325 Clark St
Hudson, FL 34667-1376
(727) 868-1971‎

Take it from a Realtor in Hudson Florida, I have yet to have a client be disappointed, after a long day of house viewings, ending up at Sam’s Waterfront Restaurant & Bar. It truly is a great way to end any day. One client that I go their often with is a fan of the Grouper Sandwich. I enjoy the Burgers or chicken fingers. And sometimes when I am feeling adventurous, I get a shrimp platter (not a big fan of seafood personally, my loss.)

But rest assured, regardless of your tastes, you will find something to please you, while you enjoy the spectacular sunsets.

View Larger Map

Coastal Cleanup Scheduled for Sept. 19 in Pasco County, Florida

Coastal Cleanup Scheduled for Sept. 19 in Pasco County, Florida

The Coastal Cleanup is always held the third Saturday of September and this year that falls on September 19th. The annual event picked up 17.76 tons of trash last year alone. Last years volunteers were over 1800 strong in 20 groups.

The national sponsor of the Coastal Cleanup is The Ocean Conservancy who will provide the plastic bags for the collected trash, as well as literature.

If you want to volunteer you can join one of the groups already established or you can create your own group.

For information and to sign up call Pasco County Recycling at the following numbers:

West Pasco: 727-847-8041

Central Pasco: 813-996-7341, ext 8041

East Pasco: 352-521-4274, ext 8041

Current existing Pasco County Coastal Cleanup groups you can join are:

Anclote Gulf Park fishing pier

Anclote River and Anclote Gulf parks

Anclote sand bar & Gulf Harbor channels & North Anclote Island

Hudson Beach and Signal Cove Canals

Hudson, Sea Pines neighborhood & canals

Hudson, Signal Cove canals and streets

Lacoochee area, The Christian Edge

Land O’ Lakes, entire central area

New Port Richey, all parks and streets

New Port Richey, Werner-Boyce and streets

Shady Hills, Kent Grove Rd

Wesley Chapel streets

Wesley Chapel, Quail Hollow Boulevard

Full details can be found here http://tinyurl.com/ny5547

West Pasco, Florida Mid Year Real Estate Market Report

3632 units are currently for sale in West Pasco, Florida and there are 830 units under contract

but only 1939 units sold year to date so that comes out to about 10 months inventory. At least it is under a year

But lets Break that down for a better view of things

SFR

Currenlty there are 2681 Single Family Homes on the market. Now of the 830 units currently under contract 732 of them are Single Family Homes. Not a good time to be selling a condo or mobile.

1630 Single Family Homes closed in the first half of the year which equates to about 1 years inventory. So i expect a good many of the 732 contracts currently on the market, alot of them will not make it to the closing table.

CONDO

There are 448 Condos on the market as of today. However only 36 are under contract, and only 121 actually closed Year to Date. That means we have about 2 years inventory on the market.

Mobile/manufactured Homes

There are 189 mobiles on the market and year to date 68 have closed.

Short Sales, Foreclosures & Bank owned properties

Single Family homes

Homes in Foreclosure comprise 37% of the current market actives and 40% sold year to date.

Condo

Surprisingly only 22 of the 448 condos on the market for sale are in some stage of foreclosure. Of the 121 sold year to date 17 were in some form of foreclosure.

Hudson, FL Foreclosure report

WOW

Despite 117 SFR currently on the market offered in some stage in Foreclosre, for the entire month of may only 3 actually closed

Condo’s only have 88 on the market disclosing the foreclosure, but I suspect the number is higher, much higher. However, in May NO Condos in foreclosure sold

and as for the Mobile homes. only 1 of them is listed as for sale but in foreclosure, and one actually sold in may while in some stage of foreclosure.

I thought alot more short sales and the like were taking place, but i guess they are falling apart before reaching the closing table. Streamlining of the deal is most definitely in order. It’s not like this is new, the Lenders should be much more efficient than they are.

Now for Bank owned properties, this actually surprised me:

of 533 active homes, only 18 are bank owned (3.3% of all actives)

however, of the 112 homes under contract, 21 are bank owned (19% of all contracts)

of the 45 homes that closed in May, 13 were Bank owned (28% of all closed)

That is quite a dsparity in the numbers, and the Short Sales falling apart before closing, I think, have alot to do with it.

Now for Condos, their are only 83 units in Hudson, of which, NONE are Bank Owned. nor are any of the units under contract, or any of the condos that sold in teh month of may. That is quite the surprise for me.

Mobile Homes was almost as negligible. 3 active bank owned properties, out of 66, and only 1 of the 5 that sold were Gank owned. However it does mean that 4/5 mobiles sold in Hudson, in May were either in some stage of foreclosure, or Bank Owned.

I think what this all boils down to, is that a Buyer can once again afford to buy a modest home in hudson, so why would they settle for the percieved stigma of a Mobile, or the perceived instrusive associations at a Condo. Once again, in Florida, if you can afford to rent, you can afford to buy

You actually can buy a house here for $45,000. Now even at a 7% interest rate, that is only ~$300/mo Principle and interest. The utitlities will remain the same as renting, for the most part, and insurance on a house valued at so little would be a nominal cost.

it is a great time to be a buyer in the Hudson, Florida, as well as the rest of West Pasco, and Florida as a whole

Hudson, Florida May market update

Currently in Hudson teh worst property there is to sell is a Condo, I am afraid to say

While there are only 83 Condo’s currently for sale, there are 0 under contract, and only 2 sold in May, down from 5 in April. That means there is almost 3 1/2 years inventory on the market 8-(

Now in a close second place would be the Mobile Home market in Hudson. While there are only 66 mobile homes for sale currently, in May only 3 sold, down from 5 in April. And there are only 5 units under contract presently. That equates to 22 Months, almost 2 years, inventory on the market.

Now the Silver Lining on our dark cloud down here, If I can call it that, is the Single Family Residences. While there are actually 533 units offered for sale, there are actually 112 under contract. But the ‘under contract’ number is not exactly a good representation because 1/2 of those contracts could easily explode and fall apart before closing. And while 38 made it to closing in May that is down from 45 sold in April. That is a 15% decline month over month. And it also means that there is only 14 months inventory on the market. this is below average for the West Pasco area.

What is going to get the market going? Well surely the low interest mortgage rates are appealing, but they have been for some time. The $8,000 first time home buyer assistance tax credit is another enticement, but in these hard economic times alot of people are still having trouble coming up with down payments/closing costs/ repair money for new home. NAR just released that the average home buyer spends almost $5000 renovating/repairing their recently purchased home.

Now here in Florida, after a lot of pressure from the Florida Association of Realtors, our state government has authorized a bridge loan program, which enables first time home buyers to use the $8,000 ‘tax credit’ as part of their down payment. And while this may help the market in the near term, I have to wonder, is this not doing exactly what got us into such a dire situation? If people need help getting enough money together to purchase a home, than are they not actually the same people who bought homes they could not afford, some with prime mortgages, and some with sub-prime, only to default later. I hope we do not have a repeat, after all, we aer supposed to learn from our mistakes. If one is to be successful in life, in any profession, than one has to not only be concerned with the near term, but also the Long Term, and to me it seems we are ‘fixing our current problem’ with the exact same practices that got us into this problem. Helping people to buy house, whom without the governments help, they would not be able to afford it.

Lastly I will add just a note about an important piece that I rarely see in the discussions/news stories about the First Time Homebuyer Tax Credit. It is $8,000 or 10% of the purchase price of the house which ever is less. So if you are buying a bargain at only $50,000, your tax credit will only be for $5,000

Hard Sell or Soft Sell in Hudson, Florida Real Estate

So which is appropriate for a REALTOR®?

As a Stock Broker trained on Wall St., specifically 90 Broad St, I was groomed in the buy or die philosophy of the hard sell. You keep closing the prospect until they open an account and buy stock, or hang up the phone. this is the tried and true Straightline Pitch taught in every brokerage house/Investment Bank in the High net worth individuals division. And as you can tell Brokers make fortunes despite the fact that the High net worth Individual that is targeted knows the script as well as, if not better than, the Broker pitching him the stock. As a result many objections are expected prior to a sale. In fact most brokers will not submit a purchase order if there were not atleast 5 objections before caving in. You are proving yourself worth an initial $50-100k by thinking on your feet, dealing with varying objections while staying on track with the pitch, all the while presenting a worthwhile investment.

500 cold calls per day, minimum or you are fired

50 contacts out of that 500 calls (hardest part of the job is getting past the secretary, or as we called the good ones: The Gate Keepers

10 leads out of those 50 contacts

and than 1 account opened out of those 10 leads

10 accounts to get one who will trade with you

10 traders to find one Whale

10 Whales to make big commissions off of.

That is the Wall St Numbers Game and it has been successful for decades. And it is done 14 hours a day 5 days per week.

Than you have the Soft Sell. I worked for a spell at a company that sold Magazines to benefit Charities like MADD or Childrens Hospitals, etc… You introduce youself and the reason for the call, and ask them if they would be interested in buying a magazine subscription to a magazine they already enjoy, and as a result a piece goes to the charity of the hour (it changed based on time of day, state called, or quotas) But No thank you means No Thank you. Thank you for your time & have a great day was how most calls ended. But employing the numbers game described above once again does yield results. And it did not take me long to realize I was never going to compete with the ‘Top Producers’ because they were women. Some very old, some very young, but very warm gentle soothing voices presenting an idea instead of a sale. Now this was only a weighstation while I figured out my next move after Relocating to Florida. See it turns out a Clean Series 7/63 license & 3 years experience did not seem to matter much to the Majors here in Tampa without at least a 4 year degree.

So I flipped houses for a few years, which really sucked. You see, I have never been that big on manual labor, and after a car accident in ’96 it was out of the question. So for the first time in my life I decided to do manual labor in 90*+ with 90%+ humidity. It did not take long for the thrill of house flipping to burn out so that is when I looked to be a REALTOR®

But it is so much different from all my previous sales jobs, and that appealed to me. Because I quickly learned it is not really about selling. it is about providing accurate information so a person/couple can make a sound decision. Showing houses, pointing out the positives and the negatives, but more importantly , putting them in perspective. Which is why my slogan became “Turning Clients into Friends, by Turning Dreams into Reality.”

Now I must admit the buy or die training does come in handy on the Listing side, but in a much more gentle fashion. Because of it, I almost always get atleast 6% if not 7% on every listing. but that is for another blog.

So the answer to the Original post is: Neither, in my humble opinion. I could argue that the hard sell does come into play, just a smidgeon, on listings, but it occurs so rarely, I will not include it. However it does come in very handy when dealing with sub-par agents. Fortunately, I have not had to endure too many of those. And with our Associatins reporting about 1/2 of REALTOR® failed to renew over the past 2 years, I anticipate even less, atleast until the next bull market in Real Estate, which is a long way off.

Serve your clients needs to the best of your abilities, the Commissions will take care of themselves in the long run

7 Recession-Busting Steps to Take Your Business Higher

STEP 1: Decide to be successful.
STEP 2: Figure out where your market is going
STEP 3: Get the knowledge you need.
STEP 4: Get out of your shell.
STEP 5: Give prospects a compelling reason to work with you.
STEP 6: Shore up your personal finances.
STEP 7: Refresh your image.

For all the details, click below
http://www.realtor.org/rmosales_and_marketing/articles/2009/0905_recessionbusters

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