REbarcamp San Antonio is here!

It’s been a long time coming, but REbarcamp San Antonio is finally a reality. I’ve been dreaming of the day when San Antonio would host it’s first REbarcamp, but when I spoke to Philip Becker (my broker) about it, he instantly began thinking it through and helping put together the plan. As “Head Nerd” at Becker Properties, the building of a website fell on me and I’ve been working away at it. With most of it finally in place and where I want it to be, I can now begin working on some other web projects that I’ve had in mind. First up, is a complete redesign of the Becker Properties website.

REbarcamp San Antonio is going to be an amazing event and the hope is to build a great group of agents and industry professionals to learn and share together. We’re hoping the event will be such a success that we can make it an annual event for San Antonio. Of course, that success depends largely on the involvement of the San Antonio real estate community, as REbarcamp is a volunteer organization, with all the profits going to charity. Spread the word and we’ll see you there!

Website: www.REbarcampSA.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/REbarcampSA

Twitter: @REbarcampSA

Twitter Hashtag: #REBCSA

logo courtesy of Something Clever Productions (contains photo courtesy of Beau B)

Celebrate America

Growing up in Philadelphia, the Fourth of July always seemed to have a special significance to me. Maybe it was the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall, maybe it was the backyard BBQs and fireworks, but it really is one of my favorite holidays. Summer time in full swing and always something going on – the Fourth of July is always a busy day of fun and laughter. Whatever your take on the holiday, have a great one and be safe.

Of course, thanks to the drought, there won’t be much gazing skyward this evening, but as with every year, regardless of the ban, I’m sure there will be a few out there that light a few fireworks off. If you do choose to ignore the ban, please be careful. Don’t light them and shoot them toward that grassy field next door or your neighbor’s house. We all think we can get that little fire under control, but wildfires have always told us otherwise. Just try to not burn anything down…please.

I also saw a lot of police out there last night. Pulled up behind a car, red lights flashing, as they investigated whatever it was they pulled them over for. Please think before you grab your keys. If you need to think about it, it’s probably not a good idea. Call a friend, call a cab, call someone – don’t make this a holiday you’ll never forget for all the wrong reasons. As a side note, it’s also a no-refusal weekend so if the cops pull you over, more than likely they’re going to check you, so play it safe and don’t take the risk.

Have a terrific Fourth of July San Antonio!

photo courtesy of MarkScottAustinTX

New home, new role.

As you may know by now, I recently joined forces with Becker Properties. I’m really excited about the energy and ambitious nature of the office and I think you’ll be hearing a lot about what we’re doing in San Antonio and how we’re looking at real estate from some new perspectives. The process of real estate is still the same, but how we work with our clients and how we utilize the tools and technology will be what sets Becker Properties apart from other companies.

As part of Becker Properties, I’ve taken on a new role as well. We’ve tossed around a thousand names from Head Nerd to Chief Technology Officer to Lead Web-Geek to King of All Geekery. Basically, I’ll be handling the company’s web, tech, and social media needs – plotting a course for the company as well as building and maintaining the various platforms.

What does this mean for you, the home buyer and seller? For buyers, you will have access to many of the tools that I make available here through the various Becker Properties websites, plus we will consistently be searching out new technologies that can make your purchase better – from educational ideas to providing you with better search and market data tools. For sellers, this will mean an increase in the exposure your property sees on the internet and a unified approach to getting your home sold. This is something I’ve been dreaming up for sometime now and Philip Becker saw the vision and had the desire and ambition to allow me to team up with his company to bring some of these ideas to fruition.

Becker Properties is taking a different approach by providing their agents with more tools than your average real estate office. It started with an in-house video production unit (have you seen the Becker Properties videos?) and is now expanding to include my work and knowledge of web and social media technologies.

Watch for big changes on the various Becker Properties websites and social media accounts (like the Becker Properties Facebook page) and stop by and say hello.

A few thousand words of explanation.

The short version of the story: I no longer work for RE/MAX Access and fabulous broker, Sheila Moran. As I was on Facebook tonight, I corrected my profile to reflect this change and a few people noticed and had questions. Instead of answering each one individually, I thought I’d do what I do best and write a long-winded blog about it. You may want to go grab some popcorn and a cold beverage.

First, let me start by saying that there is no crazy drama, no wacky “take this job and shove it” type speech, or anything remotely bad about my departure from RE/MAX Access. The decision was made by Sheila and I after several conversations and I leave with nothing but love and respect for Sheila, her sister Kristin, Pat O’Brien, and all the agents and staff in the office. I loved RE/MAX Access and I still love them. I think they’re a great bunch and will dominate real estate for many years to come. So if you were looking for some sort of crazy story about something dark and disastrous, you may want to look elsewhere.

With my departure, my real estate license has been put into inactive status as I search for a new broker and decide what I want to do. Please note, this is not an open call for brokers to send me their pitch. I’m not interested in blind emails telling me how great you are. This is how Texas real estate works. As an agent, I must work under a broker – no ifs, ands, or buts about it. As I do not have one, all my real estate activity must be suspended until I go to work under a new broker.

I truly loved worked for RE/MAX Access and I will talk Sheila and company up until the cows come home, so how did it come to pass that I am not working for someone I admire and respect so much? Plain and simple it comes down to numbers. My last year in real estate was not great. As a broker, Sheila needs me (and the other agents) to produce (ie, sell houses) in order for the company to make money. Although the clients I worked with had a great time and everything went well, I didn’t have enough clients. I was costing the company money. In addition, RE/MAX (the franchise) charges certain fees to be an agent and I was having trouble keeping up with those fees. In the end, Sheila had to make a business decision and let me go. We talked about it and she didn’t spring it on me suddenly, in fact she really pushed me to succeed so that she didn’t have to make such a decision. She was great to me and I don’t think (she told me as much) that it was easy for her. Sheila put a lot of faith and work into making me a great agent. She was always there for me, both professionally and personally, and I know that always makes something like this hard.

As for me, I could blame my bad year on a million things, but it came down to me just struggling with a lot of things at once. Being a real estate agent isn’t as easy as it looks and with that and my own personal life, I wasn’t managing to bring in new clients. I’m frustrated by this fact and can see a million things I would have done differently, but that’s the past now. There is little more I can do other than to forge on. This week has been an interesting week already and after a few meetings, I am starting to sort things out and get ready to make my next move. I will be moving my license to a new brokerage and there will be a few other surprises for people along the way. Who knows, perhaps my world will look completely different by the time I am done. One thing is certain, I do hope you’ll continue to keep up with me and follow along. I hope no one will read this as a goodbye message – as that is not what it is. It’s simply a change and a retooling, both good things in my eyes.

PS The blog will probably be a little quiet over the next few days as I work on my plans (head on over to Facebook if you want to see what’s on my mind). Some of you may have noticed it’s been a little quiet in general and you’d be correct. I’ve had the worst case of writer’s block and it all comes back to what was going on with me leaving and the things in my personal life. Don’t worry, I’m not done blogging either. You should know by now, I have a lot to say.

PPS Thanks again to Sheila Moran, Kristin Moran, Pat O’Brien, and the agents and staff of RE/MAX Access. I’ll see you around and I hope you all have an excellent year!

According to WordPress, this post is actually 864 words long. Sorry I didn’t hit the thousands.

Tinkering behind the scenes.

When RErockstar.com first launched, my goal was simple: original content for San Antonio home buyers and sellers. That mission has never changed. While many other agents I knew sent out newsletters, I never really dove into that arena, mainly because what I saw out there was a lot of canned information and cut and paste projects. Original content was always priority number one and I never made time for any sort of email newsletter. Recently, a few real estate newsletters have cropped up in my inbox and reading through them I was disappointed (how I got on these mailing lists being my first question, why they lacked original content was my second). Quietly, behind the scenes, I began to plan how I would change that.

All Access San Antonio

By combining the kind of information you receive on RErockstar with more insight from the kinds of questions I get from my clients, All Access San Antonio is going to be the best of the best. If you’re interested in buying or selling or just enjoy living in San Antonio, this newsletter will deliver a monthly dose of the things that matter to you. Sign up is quick and easy and you will never be spammed by me or have your address sold off to other companies peddling their wares. If I want to gain your trust enough to have you hire me as your Realtor®, it certainly wouldn’t make sense for me to violate it be doing that sort of stuff, now would it? Every email has an opt out link at the top and bottom, so you’re able to unsubscribe at any time (and yes, the links actually work!) with ease. Give it a try and see what you think…your feedback is always welcome!

photo courtesy of Spojení

Pass it on…

We share everyday. Websites, funny videos, informative articles…even celebrity gossip. Thanks to social media, sharing is now a normal function of our daily lives. I share things with you, you share my articles with others, we all keep sharing. Just today, someone told me that another Realtor® in San Antonio had shared one of my posts in their newsletter (with proper attribution). The real question is, does anyone care about what you share?

Having your posts (or updates or tweets) shared is a great feeling. It gives validation to the author – that they wrote something that was worth telling your friends about. Every time I see any of my stuff shared someone, I get a little giddy. The thing is, with all this sharing going on, there’s something missing from some of it.

The caring.

When you share something, do you just throw it out there or do you tell your friends, your readers, or your followers why they should care? As more and more people share, dilution becomes a factor. Think of those funny forwards you used to get. Okay, maybe they were never funny, but the first time it was no big deal. The second and third, it was still okay. By the time the forward had circled the globe a few times and you were receiving it from your mom, your dentist, and that kid you never really talked to in middle school, well it was kind of annoying, wasn’t it?

I’d never encourage anyone not to share. What I try and do with each and every share (and I don’t always do it successfully I’ll admit) is tell a bit about why I’m sharing it. In that simple act lies the important part – caring. It shows why I care and tells my readers why they might care. It doesn’t make them care, but it gives them enough info to click that link and decide for themselves.

So next time you share something, whether from your friends or from this site, stop for a second and care about it too. It will make the internet a much more caring place.

photo courtesy of wlodi

Edwards Aquifer Dips Below 660 Feet

Once again, San Antonio finds itself under Stage 1 Water Restrictions as the Edwards Aquifer dips below the 660 feet benchmark. We heard it might be coming soon, but here it is. Already here and it’s only April. As the spring leads to summer heat, we’ll be dancing with Stage 2 Water Restrictions before too long. With no immediate relief in sight, it’s time to start planning your water conservation efforts and doing your best to keep the aquifer full.

Stage 1 Water Restrictions

Sprinklers – You may water once a week before 10 AM or after 8 PM (this does not mean you can run them from 8 PM-10 AM). Your watering day is based of the last digit in your street address:

• 0 or 1 waters on Monday
• 2 or 3 waters on Tuesday
• 4 or 5 waters on Wednesday
• 6 or 7 waters on Thursday
• 8 or 9 waters on Friday

If your address is 123 Fake Street, you would water on Tuesday. If you lived on 478 Not Real Avenue, you would water on Friday.

Hand-watering (hose) – Allowed any day at any time. However, despite this wide open ability to use your hose for your lawn, it is still suggested that you stick to a timely schedule and don’t just use this as an excuse to soak your yard. During past water restriction periods in San Antonio, I have seen this rule used and abused. We’re still trying to conserve water, so water sparingly..

Car washing – You may wash your car (at home) during your allotted time schedule (see list above). Commercial car washes are allowed any time. You may not allow water to run off into the street and must use a hose with an automatic shut-off nozzle and a bucket to conserve as much as you can.

There are other restrictions, for a full list, please visit the SAWS Stage 1 Water Restriction page. Remember, the more water you waste now, the quicker we’ll find ourselves in Stage 2 Water Restrictions – so conserve where you can!

photo courtesy of GrooverFW

Support local dogs.

Dog parks. Those happy places where dogs run free and play with others. The site of many a romantic comedy involving accidental meetings or borrowed puppies. Dog parks are a place of rest and relaxation for the owners and a place for their favorite pets to feel the wind against their face (without sticking their head out of the car window). Here’s your chance to support the Bullis Park Pet Project and have some fun while you’re doing it.

On Saturday March 26th, from 10 AM to 2PM, the Women’s Council of Realtors® and Friends of Bullis Park will be hosting a fundraiser for local dogs and their very own space in Bullis Park (map). Be on hand to witness the tug-of-war, refreshments, face painting, bean bag toss, and much more! Tickets are just $10 for adults and $5 for children. Dogs (of course) get in for free! All proceeds go to benefit a new dog park in Bullis Park.

Need tickets? Contact Andrea Gimblet at email hidden; JavaScript is required or call her at (210) 373-3610.

Bullis Park Pet Project
Saturday March 26, 2011
10 AM – 2 PM
$10 adults, $5 children, FREE for dogs
Tug-of-war, refreshments, face painting, bean bag toss, and more!

photo courtesy of Rick Harris

Finally.

I feel like it was months ago that I wrote excitedly about my new partnership with Diverse Solutions to provide San Antonio with a new real estate search function on this site. The process took a little longer than expected (the system set up has to be approved by the San Antonio Board of Realtors®. They approved it and I now have all the code necessary to bring you the best real estate search in San Antonio. Expect to begin seeing changes throughout the day as I tinker with the layout and functionality.

Today I will begin the installation and configuration process, so you’ll be able to get back to doing what you love – searching for homes in San Antonio! Of course, this will also require me going through and finding old links and mentions of the search section in order to clean them up and redirect them to the new San Antonio home search. I hope you’ll enjoy the new set up (they just released an upgrade as well and I think it looks spectacular)!

photo courtesy of Daniel Dionne

San Antonio real estate search returns.

You may recall that my San Antonio real estate search has been down for awhile after the company I had partnered with closed up shop. After a lengthy search of the various real estate search products out there, I have chosen to work with Diverse Solutions and begun the set up process. Their map-based search solution is hands down, the best real estate search available today.

I expect to have the system up and running by the end of the week. It’s a lengthy approval process in which I have to send various forms to the San Antonio Board of Realtors® for signatures and sign offs, but once that is complete, I should be up and running in no time. I hope you’ll enjoy searching the San Antonio MLS and finding your new home on this site!

photo courtesy of Las Valley 702