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What brought you to Active Rain? What did you want to get out of being of AR?
I have been pondering these questions, recently in the past few weeks as the New Year began. I reflect and look at what the benefits or the there lack of are on all my activities. I joined Active Rain initially in 2007. I posted my profile and forgot about it. My initial objective was just to get my name out to the “www” not knowing or understanding what it involved. It has been a long evolving journey. Next I discovered what a great place to find “referrals” from the community. As I was moving in this direction, I started cultivating relationships with fellow Realtors. I noticed I was “evolving” on the Rain. I started adding my input on member posts. I was giving advice, recommendations next thing I realized, I was also taking recommendations and advice from other members. I was discovering, that this place AR is more then just a place to build “Referral Relationships” Next thing I know, I was writing posts. I was writing about my area, where I live. Then I discovered “outside posts” vs. “inside posts”. Slowly I was getting hooked. As time was passing by, I started to make Friendships. As my Evolution was taking place, so was Active Rain. They were evolving as well. Then “Localism” appeared out of nowhere. Now I was sponsoring a community. I saw a new opportunity to get in front of potential Buyers and Sellers. I was writing for the potential clients as well as the Active Rain Community. In the mean time I was learning about SEO, Google Juice and all sorts of other good information. Next thing you know I am syndicating my Blog Posts to all sorts of other Social Networking Platforms such as Facebook.com , Trulia.com, MyDwelling.com to mention a few. Then out of nowhere, here comes the New and Improved outside Blog, that will ping the search engines, wow what they will think of next? I see a lot of fellow Active Rainers are already on board and using it and ranting and raving how great it is. So back to my question to you is : what brought you to Active Rain and what do you want to get out of being on...
read moreBest Friends Animal Society spreading the word on Venice & Marina Del Rey Beaches.
I wrote this post last year. Then I notice today’s Featured Group on Active Rain, wow did not even know this group existed. So I am reposting this word for word with adding this introduction as well as a picture of Best Friends Animal Society’s advertisement. The housing slump hurts more than just people. Animals suffer from the housing market downturn and current economic times too. If you happened to read the LA Times on Saturday, December 6, 2008, the Home Section (Section F) was entitled The Pet Issue. On the front page of Section F was a picture of Baldwin, a black, 1-year old Chihuahua mix currently awaiting adoption (the plight of black dogs and black cats is also addressed in this Section). Animal shelters across the nation, sadly, are filled to overcapacity, due largely in part to pet owners losing their jobs and their homes. Many animals that were once part of a loving home environment now they find themselves bewildered and scared on concrete floors in over-crowded shelter kennel runs. Many of these animals will face euthanasia. LA Animal Services recorded a 20% increase in the number of impounded dogs compared to the same period in 2007. If you are considering bringing an animal into your home by promising to make a lifetime commitment to that animal, I urge you to visit one of your local animal shelters or reputable animal rescue groups. If you are not able to adopt an animal into your home, you may want to consider donating to a reputable animal rescue organization. These organizations work tirelessly every single day to rescue as many animals as they can from the shelters and help place them in new homes. If you are a consumer who is considering buying or selling a home,investment real estate, vacation homes, or beach properties in Southern California, Los Angeles,Beverly Hills,Culver City,Marina Del Rey, Venice or Malibu. Feel Free to give me a call at 310.486.1002 (USA) or email me at EndreBarath@TheMLS.Com or visit one of my websites at https://www.endrebarath.com Best Friends Animal Society from Kaneb, Utah has these advertisements on Venice Beach and Marina Del Rey, CA beaches. How great is that? You can help a homeless Pet as well. Just read the advertisement and follow the...
read moreFollow Up to my post of Breaking News! Active Brad dispells another “urban legend” and earns another Meal for his familyJ
As some of you might have seen my private post, reference ‘ Members Only Posts’ being on the Internet, to those of you I would like to tell you the Great News. I was wrong and the information is not on www.Trulia.com . How is that possible? One minute you see your private post, and then just like magic you do not see it. Well thanks for Brad Anderson taking time away from his busy Saturday and sending me a very helpful comment, what to do, another “urban legend” is dispelled. Evidently I have all my Social Networking sites open. Active Rain being one of them, I can conduct business at my desk and when I have a moment I can jump on Active Rain and see posts and make comments. As I jumped over to www.Trulia.com to see my RSS feed, whether it is working or not. I discovered this optical illusion.: Being a member of AR, the magic of the Computer Memory and Open Browser, I see my private feed on www.Trulia.com . As soon as I followed Brad Anderson’s solution, just like magic I was seeing the RSS feed as a non-member of AR. How about that, I just learned another valuable morsel of information about the Computer and the mysterious magical world of the internet, and at the same time an “urban legend” has bee disproved to us all. Now we can peacefully rant to our heart’s content, in our not so little private world, if we so choose without fear that our ranting is made public. Thanks to Brad and the few of the lesser known hidden minions of AR (the technical staff)...
read moreBeware what you write on “Members only”! Breaking News, Your” Members Only Post” is not for “Members only”!
I have to give you a bit of a background. I have had some issues with my RSS feed for the past week and I brought it to the attention to the Active Rain Powers to be. I was assured, that the’ Secretive Minions’ in the background the “Tech Guys” are working on it. Since we live in a society and a profession, where the consumer is focused on instant gratification we have developed and I am one who has also expects a quick response. My clients want it, hence I want it. (Anyway the response has not come yet, but that is another story). I started obsessively checking www.Facebook.com , www.MyDwelling.com just to mention a few and all the other places, to see if the problem has been corrected. (Not wanting to bother the Active Rain Gods and appear to be a pain…. After all I have not signed up for the “New and Improved outside Blog” so I am’ small potatoes’, I only pay for the “Localism” Sponsorship.) Long and behold I go to www.Trulia.com and click on my Active Rain Blog link. What do I discover? Holly Tamoly (Do not know how to spell it), but you know what I mean….I see that all my Posts are on www.Trulia.com including the “Members Only Posts” good thing my Ranting and Raving I am not embarrassed about and I do not think it will affect my future client business. (By the Way my existing and repeat clients know and love the fact, that I am straight shooter vs. a “Real Estate Poet” type guy) So the purposes of my post are, just like my Title states: Beware, what you write for “Members only” because it is “NOT” for “Members Only” if you are From New Hampshire i.e.: The Show Me state and do not believe me. Please visit my http://www.trulia.com/account/settings/ where you will find my profile and click on the Active Rain Link and you will see my “members only” posts for everyone’s perusal. If you think I just did not do it correctly and failed to check the proper boxes, please visit my blog at http://localism.com/ca/marina_del_rey and you will see that only my “public posts” are showing. So in conclusion I want to caution each and every member of Active Rain, who has written or is about the write a “Members Only” post it is out there for the whole world to read. So I am sure I am not the first or the last to caution you, but beware what you write. So with that I am going to add from now on all my “Members Only” post my normal closeing for all the consumers to see in the next paragraph. If you are a consumer who is considering buying or selling a home,investment real estate, vacation homes, or beach properties in Southern California, Los Angeles,Beverly Hills,Culver City,Marina Del Rey, Venice or Malibu. Feel Free to give me a call at 310.486.1002 (USA) or email me at EndreBarath@TheMLS.Com or visit one of my websites at...
read moreWordless Wednesday:))) For Liz Moras
Hi Liz I did this just for you. Hope you will enjoy it, From your Marina Del Rey/Beverly Hills California connection:)))
read moreA January day at the Beach! An 80 Degree day in Marina Del Rey, CA.
Well here it is beginning of January, 2009; I have seen the weather reports on the East Coast, freezing, wind chill -10 degrees. Yes, I remember those days, since I lived in Connecticut, New York and Massachusetts. People ask me what is the attraction to Southern California? Why do people gravitate to Southern California? My answer is easy, it is the climate. I have decided to relax this Sunday, not work until late afternoon. This is a luxury I do not often experience. We went for a late breakfast early lunch to the best breakfast place in Marina Del Rey, Café Buna on Washington Street. (I will have to do a post about them). Then we decided to walk on the Beach from the Channel all the way back to the Pier. By the time we got there we were ready for a fantastic Coldstone Dairy Ice cream. Now we were ready to stroll back home. I can not describe what a great afternoon we had in the beginning of a New Year, eighty degree weather and a three hour stroll on the beach, watching people walk their dogs, play beach volley ball. That is the reason we live here and pay for a high cost of living. See for your self I have included some pictures. Do not feel envious, rather should you decide you would like to live here, get in touch and I will help you relocate.If you are a consumer who is considering buying or selling a home, investment real estate, vacation homes, or beach properties in Southern California, Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, Culver City, Marina Del Rey, Venice or Malibu. Feel Free to give me a call at 310.486.1002 (USA) or email me at EndreBarath@TheMLS.Com or visit one of my websites at...
read moreReturn to activerain.com
Have you seen this??? Sorry – the user “johnusedtobeactiverainuser ” no longer exists Return to activerain.com I was tagged for a MeMe so I decided to tagg six other unlucky victims:)) As I clicked on the link to let them know that they are now the recipients of this dubious honor I found the above . As I went one by one same result. What is going on? They still have profiles up and appear to be in good standing. What is happening? As we are improving the site we are loosing these links? Could someone clarify it for me?...
read moreSeven things you did not want to know about me, but learned anyway
Well here we are, I was tagged for a MeMe by http://activerain.com/craigrutman “Seven things you did not know about me or were afraid to ask”. Now be very carefull most of the time knowledge is power, keep in mind,that this does not apply in this case.:))) •1. I was born in Gyoer, Hungary, where the Danube River intersects with the Raba River.(If that is not easy to find, then look at the city between Vienna and Budapest on the map and you will find it). •2. lived in Austria for about three almost four years •3. also lived in Germany for about five years •4. I am a cook book as well as 1st edition mystery novels collector. •5. I was an Airborne Ranger Infantry Officer in the US Army •6. I love Classical and Jazz Music,( in spite of that have been to many Rolling Stone Concerts as well). •7. I have attended three different Universities and it took five years to finally graduate with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in German. Now that I totally put you asleep with this vast knowledge. Be very carefull what you do with this knowledge. Do not expect super human powers with it:)) Now that was easy. Here comes the hard part finding other Victims/Candidates Please forgive me for wanting to know more about you. •1. http://activerain.com/jessicabigger •2. http://activerain.com/justinukaoma •3. http://activerain.com/kirstenmohan •4. http://activerain.com/silviadukes •5. http://activerain.com/gailtassey •6. http://activerain.com/lizmoras As Craig said: Feel free to post your own “7 things” MeMe either in the comments section of this post or on your own blog. The world wants to know! Here are the rules; 1.Create a blog post with a link to the person who tagged you.2.List these rules in your post3.Share seven facts about yourself in the post4.Identify seven of your friends or contacts whom you will tag to be part of this (at the end of the post, list their names and the links to their sites).5.Let the friends whom you tagged, know that they’ve been tagged...
read moreWhere to Ski This Winter in Southern California
When you think of Skiing, do not just think Colorado, Utah or the East Coast. Here in Sunny Southern California, there are many opportunities to ski, if you desire. For your convenience I would like to pass this on. I am not going to list The Sierras, nor Tahoe. Just Southern California; Bear Mountain 800.BEAR-MTN www.bearmountain.com Buckhorn Ski 714.537-5999 www.orgsites.com/ca/buckhorn Mount Baldy 909,982-0800 www.mtbaldy.com Mountain High 888.754-7878 www.mthigh.com Ski Sunrise 760.249-6150 www.skiwrightwood.com Snow Summit 888.SUMMIT-1 www.snowsummit.com Snow Valley 909.867-2751 www.snow-valley.com Cal Trans Road Conditions: 800.427.7623 If you are a consumer who is considering buying or selling a home, investment real estate, vacation homes, or beach properties in Southern California, Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, Culver City, Marina Del Rey, Venice or Malibu. Feel Free to give me a call at 310.486.1002 (USA) or email me at EndreBarath@TheMLS.Com or visit one of...
read moreMarina Del Rey Market Report #6 Part II.
As I mentioned in my previous Market Report (#5 Part I) we shall do an analysis of 2008 and how it fared with 2007. The numbers are in. So let us look at the statistics. From January 01, 2008 to December 31 2008 we had 195 Condominiums that were sold. The most expensive sale was $2,600,000 directly on the beach, not a penthouse a 3 bedroom 3 bathroom under 2000 sq ft Condominium. The least expensive sale was $280,000 for a studio with one bath approximately 450 sq ft of living space steps from the beach. For the same period in 2007 as in 2008, there were 233 Condominiums that were sold. The most expensive sale was $5,495,000 for a 3 bedroom 4.5 bathroom for a 5, 462 sq ft Condominium on the beach. There was also a PH unit that sold for $4,650,000 5 bedrooms 5.5.bathroom about 5,575 sq ft of living space. The least expensive condominium was a Single with one bath room approximately 422 sq ft of living space for $293,500. In conclusion the overall the numbers were down by only about 8.4 %. If we listened to the Media we would think, that sales were down by 50%. The facts are different, prices are lower, it takes longer to sell, but hardly the numbers, and that we would take from the News Agencies. There is a wonderful opportunity for buyers to take advantage of this doom and gloom mentality of Sellers, News Media and most importantly if you have good financial credit and a good down payment, you can get interest rates as low as your parents or grandparents had 37 years ago. In addition you can negotiate even better sales prices. If you are a consumer who is considering buying or selling a home, investment real estate, vacation homes, or beach properties in Southern California, Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, Culver City, Marina Del Rey, Venice or Malibu. Feel Free to give me a call at 310.486.1002 (USA) or email me at EndreBarath@TheMLS.Com or visit one of my websites at https://www.endrebarath.com...
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