Random Bits of Information

What is EcoJoe?  The original (and only) eco-friendly home selling kit!

About six months (or more) ago I had dinner with Cindy Lin of Staged4More.com.  While talking about work and other things, she shared her newest project with me.  EcoJoe.  I had to keep quiet about it all this time.  Any guesses how easy that was?!

Cindy’s Mission:
-Change the way real estate industry uses plastic
-Reduce plastic usage
-Reduce amount of plastic being buried into landfills or your backyard!
-Promote green practices

Cindy’s Description:
The practice of burying a St. Joseph statue dates back thousands of years, when he was first called upon to help sell real estate. Today, home sellers and real estate agents continue the tradition to enlist the saint’s assistance in finding a buyer. Sadly, most of the home selling kits on the market are made of plastic and other content that are harmful to the environment. As an eco-conscious real estate home staging professional, I saw this as an opportunity to create a greener alternative. Our sourcing, production, packaging, materials and distribution support green initiatives and social responsibility.

Cindy will be bringing EcoJoe with her to the StagersLIST Expo in Dublin, California on July 15, 2009.  Please register and join us at the expo, we have some great sponsors and speakers this year, it is a completely different expo from last year.

I think EcoJoe is a great idea and I'm glad I can finally spread the word about this new product.  Great job Cindy Lin!

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349 Foothill Drive in Brentwood, offered at $399,950



Beautiful 4 bedroom home on the golf course at Deer Ridge. Fresh paint, new carpet and Travertine flooring throughout. Huge master suite with marble bath, balcony, great golf course/Mt. Diablo views. Professionally landscaped yards, covered patio, putting green and more. Close to top rated schools, shopping. No homeowner's association.

This home was professionally staged by Amber Arias of Visions-HomeStaging.com and is listed by Tom Schieber of Windermere Properties of the East Bay. Please contact Tom for more information at 925-487-3172 or Tom@Windermere.com


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We have some really great speakers, workshops and topics this year!  Check out the agenda here.

Some Reviews of our Houston Expo this month:

"I just returned from Houston where I attended the StagersList Expo.  If you haven't attended one of their expos, you need to SIGN UP for the next one!  The money and time spent were well worth it.  The sessions were interesting, informative, and relative to your staging business.  You will definitely walk away with several "ah ha" moments that you can immediately apply to growing your business.  I don't want to spoil it for you, so I won't say anything specific, but you should go!" - Nancy Robertson (an AR member)

Some other Active Rain Bloggers you may recognize in this photograph are Ashley Whittenberger, Cindy Bryant, Terrylynn Fisher and Karen Otto.

"Everyone took away something, it was jammed packed with information, and the turnout was great.  I got to meet so many new people in our industry.  Everyone enjoyed it, and I'm looking forward to the next one." - Cindy Bryant

 This year in Dublin our speakers include:
Alyx Flannery of SmartAlyx.com

Ever heard someone talk about the Internet and technology and not have a clue what they said? Alyx is not like that. He will explain his subject without making it confusing, and without making US feel like we don't know what we're doing! We believe he's a huge asset to the StagersLIST Expo series. In Dublin he will be teaching us how to us social networking, improve our SEO, and more!

Alexis Summerfield, MA, Local Feng Shui Consultant (who has been featured on HGTV's Sleep On It!)

Alexis will teach us about using the Laws of Attraction for our home staging clients, homes and work. This FREE lunch workshop is included for all attendees (Lunch is included too!).

Ashley Whittenberger, founder of The Interiority Complex

Ashley will be teaching us the importance of having multiple revenue streams for our businesses. She will help students learn how to navigate their way through the confusing and overwhelming world of custom window treatments and she'll explain how to perfectly and smoothly marry your staging and redesign services with custom window covering sales.

Christine Rae, Staging Trainer, Green Build Science Trainer, and author of Home Staging for Dummies

This year Christine will be teaching us how to us Communication Styles to overcome client objections.  This presentation has been very helpful to our Expo attendees this year so far and is valuable information for any business owner.

And of course, there is more!  Click here to register or read the agenda.

Some of our sponsors:

The Mirror Gallery
RESA (Real Estate Staging Association)
Bekins
The Plant Atrium
The Interiority Complex
CSP (Certified Staging Professionals)

And of course the biggest draw:  Me!  Haha, just kidding.  Couldn't be all business, could I?  (I will be there this year, though).

- offering website design, redesign, maintenance, hosting and virtual assistance
Visit www.StagersLISTWebsites.com or email me if you need any assistance

 

 

  

Click here to read the full article.

We were very fortunate that our Active Rain friend Karen Otto brought Karen Eubank, who writes for Examiner.com, to our Houston expo.  They were both lovely to talk to and get to know, and Karen Eubank wrote a review of our event for her column! Karen Eubank has a staging column on examiner.com and other articles include Staging to Stay, Staging for Divorce and Staging for Safety. 

From Karen's Article:
"The StagersLIST Expo in Houston was a great opportunity to learn from stars in our industry about ways to take my business to the next level," Dallas stager Nancy Robertson of Signature Style Staging said. "I walked away with several ‘ah ha' moments and ideas for increasing business and enhancing the service I provide to my clients."

Click here to read the full article.

Thank you Karen Eubank for reviewing our Houston Expo!  Our next expo will be local for us in Dublin, California.  We'd love to meet some more of our Staging and Real Estate friends!

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On a side note:  While in Houston we were assured we should visit Dallas, Austin, and many other places.  I liked Texas quite a bit and think someday it would be a great idea to take a vacation just to explore this lovely state!

 

 

Rhiannon and I, along with another mother and 2 graduating 5th graders, went to San Francisco to celebrate graduation on the last day of school, June 10.  We had planned to visit the Museum of Modern Art, which is closed Wednesdays (obviously, we didn't plan ahead).  Since we were near Yerba Buena Gardens, we started walking that way.  After 2 rides on the carousel, we walked over to 'Zeum and decided to spend some time there.  We were so glad we did!  What a FUN place for kids and adults.  You can make your own movies, clay-mation, dance videos, and so much more!

Here is the description from the 'Zeum site:

Zeum is a non-profit multimedia and technology museum with a mission to provide multimedia tools for families of all communities to think and act creatively. By providing hands-on experiences in four core creative processes (animation, sound and video production, live performance and visual arts), we encourage youth to share their stories, build their voices, and use multimedia tools for creative self-expression.

The kids played for hours and could have easily spent double the time here without getting bored.  One very cool thing they played with was The Roundabout.  This is a computer generated virtual reality game in which you attempt to direct a ball through a maze.  As you move your body across the maze, the virtual floor image "tilts" causing the virtual marble to roll through the maze.

Upstairs in the dance studio there were computers set up with different graphics programs that I could have sat and played with all day while Rhiannon made her music videos.  A season pass is only $55, which includes one adult and one child.  This is definitely worth the money if you live in the area.  There is no limit to what can be created here, it's a great way to keep your imagination active. I am surprised and sorry I didn't find this place sooner!

- offering website design, re-design, maintenance, hosting and virtual assistance.

 

Gorgeous turn-key 4 bedroom home! Spacious kitchen with gas range and island, lots of cabinet space, open to family room with fireplace, bonus room/loft, master wtih walk-in closet, much more!

Staged by Amber Arias of Visions-HomeStaging.com.

For more information, contact Daniel Diehl of Keller Williams Realty, 925.698.6695, DanDiehl@kw.com.


- offering website design, re-design, maintenance, hosting and virtual assistance
925.672.6764 office, 925.887.6614 fax, Chris@StagersLISTWebsites.com.

Cute single story in The Lakes at Discovery Bay. 3 bedrooms + den. Great finishes include real hardwood floors, granite kitchen with stainless appliances, upgraded baths, ceiling fans, custom paint and more. Fully landscaped yards, garage storage, pad for hot tub. Gated community features parks, trails & more!

Click here for a Virtual Tour.

This home was staged by Amber Arias ofVisions-HomeStaging.com.

For more information, contact:
Tom Schieber
Windermere
Phone: 925.487.3172
Cell: 925.249.1611


- offering website design, redesign, maintenance, hosting and virtual assistance.

Bright and sunny four bedroom home located in the middle of town, close to everything. Beautiful slab granite kitchen with stainless appliances, breakfast nook, gas fireplace, formal living and dining and more. Full bed/bath downstairs. Three car garage. Fully landscaped. No rear neighbor. Walk to park.

Click here for a Virtual Tour.

This home was staged by Amber Arias of Visions-HomeStaging.com.

For more information, contact:
Tom Schieber
Windermere
Phone: 925.487.3172
Cell: 925.249.1611


- offering website design, redesign, maintenance, hosting and virtual assistance.

• 4.5 acres
• Log Home 1140 square feet
• 2 bedroom 1 bath
• Porch with mountain views
• Wood working shop 1800 square feet
• Wood working machinery included
• Both home and workshop solar equipped
• Guest cottage

www.770StagecoachTrail.com

This would be an excellent home or vacation home. Durango offers summer and winter activities including white water rafting and snow skiing.

For more information, please contact
Jacquie Caldwell, Realtor
970-903-1025 cell
970-259-4600 office
835 Main Avenue #217
Durango, CO 81301
JacquieC@RealtyExecutives.com

Offering Website design, re-design, maintenance, hosting, virtual assistance and more.

Fonts are  lots of fun to play with.  Where you can get into trouble with them, however, is when you use a non-standard font on your website.   Why?  Because if you use a font that is not SUPER common, it's quite likely there will be people who look at your site that don't have that font on their computer.  What happens then?  It defaults to times new roman if you haven't chosen any other fonts to default to.  Why is that a problem?  For me it's a problem because I like to have a pretty good idea how my sites are going to look for most people .

It is very possible that is because I am a control freak perfectionist and I am not a fan of Times New Roman.

It is helpful to choose a list of fonts so that if your first one is unavailable the page defaults to the second, then the third, etc.  Try to choose at least one common (arial, veranda, geneva, etc.) font so that your page will get to that one if nothing else works.

If you are creating your own html, you can use coding similar to this: <FONT FACE="Arial, Helvetica, Geneva" >. (This means if arial isn't available, helvetica will be used, if helvetica is not available it will be geneva, if geneva is unavailable it will default to times new roman).

If you are using a designer, they will probably already do this for you, but it won't hurt to send them a list of fonts that you like to work with. 

When I use a "fancy" font (one many people may not have), I tend to use it for titles or emphasis only, and usually create a photo of the title rather than adding it as text .  This allows me to control what the page looks like and still use my chosen font.  Otherwise, the result can be this:

Take care!

Offering virtual assistance, web design, re-design, maintenance and hosting.

 

 

 

Walk score of 66!

Near Trader Joe's, Restaurants, Schools, Starbucks, City Park & More

• Pottery Barn Cute
• NOT a foreclosure or short sale
• 3 bedrooms, 2 full baths
• Updated eat-in kitchen, refrigerator included
• Laminate flooring and carpet throughout
• Formal dining room and atrium patio
• Master with large closet, separate bath
• 3rd bedroom currently used as office
• Newer composition roof
• Attached two car garage
• Fenced yard with patio for entertaining
• Side yard entry lush with plants

Presented by Terrylynn Fisher of Diablo Realty. Visit 870Malibu.com for community information. Contact Terrylynn at 925.876.0966 or email Terrylynn

- Chris@StagersLISTWebsites.com

We have 2 sessions, morning and afternoon, join us for one or both so we can network and learn from each other.  We are bringing you speakers who are still working in the real estate home staging industry, in this economy.  One important message is that you must diversify so that you have multiple income streams to keep you going during tough times.

This is a perfect event to help you feel energized and to give you ideas about keeping your business moving forward. 

I'm excited to be visiting Texas for the first time and look forward to meeting some of my online friends while I am there! 

For more information or to register, visit www.StagersLISTExpo.com.

Where:  Cort Furniture Rental, 5757 Richmond Avenue in Houston
When: June 2, 2009 from 8:30-5pm

Sponsors include:

Yes, i would be great if I made my own.  Since that is not likely to start happening any time soon, however, I thought I would share about Cha-Cha's Salsa.  They offer fresh salsa at our local farmer's markets and it is very tasty.  Cha-Cha's is located oon Port Chicago Highway in Concord, CA.  If you are interested in sampling their salsa (which comes in Mild, Medium & Hot of course), visit one of our Farmer's Markets (Todos Santos Tuesdays from 10-2 or Thursdays from 4-8, Saturdays in Clayton from 8-noon).  You can also call the owners for more information:

Charla Serrano (925) 207-1607 or Ryn Flores (415) 341-3929.

 

I am sure most of you have run into Robert Swetz, now nicknamed Vegas Bob, here on Active Rain.  If you haven't, I highly recommend you check him out.  He posts some of the most beautiful photographs here in the Rain.

I (not so) recently purchased a beautiful photograph from his website at Search My Pics. It is a photo he took in Myanmar.  I have a grouping I am planning on putting up with distressed walls and architecture and this fits perfectly.

When this photograph arrived, both my daughter and myself were so excited.  Vegas Bob had autographed it to both of us.  The photo is 16 x 20 and is absolutely stunning and vibrant.  We are very excited that we now own this photo.  Vegas Bob has been waiting (and waiting) for this post because I am a procrastinator and have not arranged my grouping yet.  This is not because I don't love my photos or because I'm not excited, this is because I am overwhelmed with projects at my house.

I love this photo and am very happy to have purchased it.  I will definitely be purchasing more, and I hope you all have time to check out some photographs at SearchMyPics.com, you will at the very least have a good time browsing these beautiful images.

Last week I received compliments that were passed onto me from two of my clients.  Since the compliments were essentially the same, and my favorite to receive, I wanted to share them with you.  "Not only is your site beautiful, but it is easy to navigate."  The sites are: www.sphereeffect.com and www.serendipityjewels.net.

I work very hard on this step of the creation process.  Why?  Because I think it's one of the most important components to a successful website.  We are marketing to people with a wide range of internet experience.  I believe a visitor to your site should be able to get to any page on the site from any page on the site.  I think that if you make it to hard for people to find things, they leave.  We have to realize that many people have short attention spans when it comes to browsing the internet. We can create a site that is clever and beautiful, but if we cannot keep a visitor to explore the content we have not created a successful site.

One thing I like to do is get a clear idea of ALL content that is going to be included on the site so I can create a coherent "map" or flow chart.  If this structure is in place before you begin on design, it makes everything flow better once you get to the content phase.  Keeping the content flow in mind during the creation process keeps things from getting muddled down the line. 

The steps in a website creation process for me are:

1. Content flow
2. Design to client's satisfaction (look and feel of site)
3. Add all content
4. Test the site to make sure all links and elements are functioning
5. Launch the site

While working on Step 1 I often have a client say, "Can't we just decide this later?"  I can't stress enough that completing this step first makes the rest of the process flow more smoothly and creates a more successful end result.

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