Blog Anthology, Posts 151 - 165

***Special Note*** I have moved my primary blog to www.LaneBailey.com. I will post much less frequently on here, and those posts will primarily be these recaps pointing back to the other site. I'd like the thank everyone for reading this blog over the last few months. I enjoy writing it, and it is icing on the cake that others are reading it. The blogger platform has been very good for me, but I needed something a little different, that is why I have the address change. ***I look forward to seeing you on the other site.***

I have been quite happy with the change to WordPress. One of the great things is the level of control I can have over the presentation of the site. It is a lot of fun to try to make the site more user friendly, as well as deliver better content and entertainment. So, feel free to wander over and take a look.

On Thanksgiving morning, the whole family sat down to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Talk about a dis- appoint- ment... Each network seemed to use the entire parade as an excuse to promote their line-ups, rather than actually showing the parade. BTW, congrats to Stephenson High School in Stone Mountain for being selected to the big show.

Still being in the relax mode from Turkey day, the day before, I wrote a post outlining some websites that might be of interest to car people. Welding, shop tools, garage forums, and other enthusiast forums. So, you have a little time, and want to think about garages and garage stuff...

Since I was still in a holiday mode, I got to thinking about tradition. But it's a tradition... ties those thoughts about the way we've always done things back into real estate. I'm a non-traditional agent. It isn't just about technology, but also attitude.

The NAR released some information about housing starts from a third party. The info showed Housing Starts down slightly, but Multi-family are up... Not being one to just pass along the numbers, I also wanted to delve into the regional numbers and figure out what they mean.

Hockey, a three year old, and Twitter is not just about playing floor hockey with my kid, but also about Twitter as a business promotion platform. I'm pretty up-front that I don't "get" Twitter... although Terri Lussier did a great job of outlining how it can be useful over on Bloodhound Blog (a real estate industry blog).

Coming back from a Thrasher's game at Philips Arena in Atlanta, we drove by Fat Matt's Rib Shack. That got me thinking about Good bread, good meat... I just had to write about good southern food that is available around Atlanta, GA. Aside from a couple of BBQ venues, I also mentioned a couple of "meat and three" choices. Read up and eat up...

For years (decades!) we have been the holders of information, the gatekeepers. Real estate agents have always held that information like it was valuable... and, the information does have value. But, in the current age, the information is out there. I am perfectly willing to give away all of the information, and let people work with me because I provide value through helping them filter and translate that information. So, Free Milk... Get your Free Milk!!!

S&P released their survey of home values in different markets across the country. For the Atlanta region, House values UP!?! To find out exactly how much... read the blog. ;^ )

So, I a very willing to admit that I read other real estate agent blogs. It is good to know what others are saying, and to see what sort of reaction they are getting. And, when Jay Thompson had a post about a guy doing 219 mph in Phoenix... Unbelievable!! I had to grab the video and post it. (BTW, I did ask Jay if I could steal it...)

Around the times of the YouTube debates for the Republican candidates, I ran across this video there. I'd almost consider running to answer this question... Ignoring the odd coincidence of Democrat candidate staffers and supporters getting their questions onto the CNN sponsored debate, I wish this one would have made it... of course, no candidate would answer it the way it should have been answered. For the question and answer, follow the link...

Building a better website, part ZCXII is about me crashing my site and then needing several days to get it back online... I hate that I blew it up, but I love the result. Everything works better, and looks better. I'll take the lumps to deliver a better experience to my clients, readers and consumers.

I was having a hard time concentrating on real estate while I was trying to figure out how to fix that which I had broken. So, in Overkill... just about right... I talked a little about technology.

Almost at the end of the long, slow website crash, I tossed up a post explaining what I had managed to do, and how. I also posted a great video to illustrate the point of Just when you think you've got it beat... I try to talk about real estate... really, I do try. Occasionally, I do post about it.

I know... It's officially a rut! I had to talk about crashing the website just one more time. I'm tired of writing about this... I bet you are tired of reading about it...

Finally, a post that isn't about the website! Parkview High School in Lilburn, GA tossed me a little roadblock. Scholarship thwarted, but not abandoned was to let people know that I am still trying to find a way to make this happen. I'm still trying to figure out how to make this a reality. Here is a bonus... I am thinking of opening it to ANY high school senior in Gwinnett County. So, if you are one, or know one... let me know.

I hope that you find a post of interest. Hopefully I'll be back in here next week making another update. When I catch up, I'm going to try to make the updates for the previous week. And, if you need real estate in the Atlanta or Gwinnett County area of Georgia, drop into my website GarageHomesUSA and let me know. Of course, you can find my blog now at LaneBailey.com.