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• Tuesday, December 04th, 2012
‘Tis the Season to Buy & Sell!
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| 'Tis the season to Buy and Sell!
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| Who’s bringing eggnog? Biz
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Category: Buyers & Sellers Tips
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• Monday, April 30th, 2012
Category: Animation
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• Wednesday, April 25th, 2012
So you want me to sit Open House for your property? |
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| No. I will hold “Brokers Open” which is for Realtors to preview your property. But I will not sit an Open House where the general public has access to you home. Why? Let me ask you this: Do you want people you don’t know going through your house checking out your possessions? Sure, you’ve been told to hide your valuables or even remove them during the time your home is on the market. But what about that prescription medication in your bathroom? Hey, those credit card and bank account statements sitting in your desk look good to an identity thief! And that big TV sitting in the living room of your vacation home that is vacant most of the year? |
 The Cat Burglar does not want your cat... |
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 Show me the Money! |
So on one hand, I don’t sit Open House to protect YOU, Mr. & Mrs. Seller. I only allow access to qualified buyers who are ready, willing and able to buy your home and are accompanied by a licensed Real Estate professional. You DO want to maximize the potential for the sale of your home rather than letting anybody off the street in, don’t you? Even if they are not “casing the joint”, Open Houses are used by many buyers to walk through homes in which they have no interest other than to learn the market or to validate a decision to purchase another home. | ||
| On the other hand, I don’t sit Open Houses to protect myself as well. Let’s just advertise the fact that I will be in a house in the middle of the day when no one else is around and there are even signs leading right up to the front door! Realtors have been raped and killed at Open Houses, I have no interest in becoming a statistic. Sit with another agent you say? Well, the State of Hawaii prevents law abiding citizens from carrying a firearm for personal protection. Guess who carries firearms? The not so law abiding citizens with intent to commit a crime. Even if there are several agents with me, a can of pepper spray is not going to do anything to deter an armed intruder. | |||
 How long until the end of Open House? |
Most experienced agents pass off (yes, I said “pass off”) the duty of sitting open house to newer agents because they tell them “If you sit Open House at my listing maybe you will get a potential buyer coming in that does not have an agent!” Or I’ve heard agents say, “I’m sitting Open House this weekend and hope to get a buyer!” Or “Maybe I’ll get a lead on a potential listing!”
Sitting Open House is a very passive form of marketing your home. They are used by real estate agents to convince sellers that they’ll be doing everything they can to sell their home, and they disrupt the lives of sellers with little or no value added to their goal of selling their home. |
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| Whoopty-Doo. “Maybe” and “Hope to”are not key points in my Real Estate business plan… I know that Real Estate is local in its nature, and I’m sure there are areas of the national market where Open Houses do work to some extent to sell homes. And I know I’m going to get blasted as a heretic by those agents. So be it. Would you rather have a passive agent who sits around your house on a Sunday afternoon “Hoping” or an agent that is “Doing” by actively and aggressively marketing your home? I know which one I’d rather have if I were selling my home…
Aloha from Hawaii, Biz
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• Sunday, April 15th, 2012
A Special Tour of the Honolulu Zoo! |
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A while back I had the treat of a behind the scenes tour of the Honolulu Zoo with the Bytemarks gang. Bytemarks is a group of local nerds led by Bert Lum who meet for lunch once a month and take on adventures that most normal peeps don’t get to see. And we are definitely not “normal”  …Bytemarks members range from IT people, engineers, a librarian, me the token Realtor, photographers and mad scientists. The common ground is that we all share a love of technology. |
 Welcome to the Honolulu Zoo! |
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 Hot fence helps prevent jail breaks...
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Now we head to the new Elephant Enclosure, and got the chance to get in the area before the new tenants were moved in. A much nicer home than the old digs, the new hacienda features several swimming pools as well as expanded grounds. |
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 Can you spot the elephant? The new Elephant home features state of the art technology to control the big kids if they get into an Elephant Hissy Fit and become potentially dangerous. Essentially it is like the trash compactor from Star Wars that has panels to enclose and hold the elephant securely. The elephant is then turned over onto it’s side which calms it down enough so that attendants can administer whatever needs to be done to control the situation! |
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 Dr. Ben has Mr. Fox in Quarantine before he can meet his new girlfriend... The Fox's girlfriend, not Docs |
From there we moseyed over to the veterinarian clinic to meet up with Dr. Ben Okimoto. The new 7,000-square-foot clinic was dedicated in 2005 and is an up-to-date facility, complete with rooms for exams, X-rays, surgery and recovery. It allows medical staff to keep sick animals away from those in for routine examinations. It also serves as a morgue for autopsies as well as a quarantine area for new animals joining the Zoo from outside Hawaii. | ||
 In the Zoo Kitchen, everybody gets special food every day! We finished up our tour at the Kitchen. Not the Snack Bar Kitchen, this one is dedicated to preparing meals for all the animals every day. Special diets for everybody can include “Fuzzies”, which are depicted here with their own special walk in cooler. A tasty meal of Adult Mice, anyone?  Fuzzies are Fuzzalicious!
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| We all had a really great time and learned a lot of information from Tommy and Doctor Ben. We appreciate the Zootabulous Tour!
Aloha from Hawaii, |
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Category: Entertainment, Fun Stuff, Historical Sites to Visit
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• Friday, December 23rd, 2011
What is a Short Sale?
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| This short video explains a brief overview of a Short Sale. It’s really, really short!
Aloha, Biz
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Category: Short Sales
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• Sunday, November 20th, 2011
Not Home for the Holidays? Follow these security tips!
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Do you know what to do to protect your home from the bad guys? Even if you are not traveling this Holiday Season, here are some tips to make you home less attractive to thieves.
 Keep the baddies away fom your stuff!
Infographic courtesy of ProtectYourHome.com Check their great site out for more valuable info, and have a safe home! Aloha, Biz
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Category: Be prepared!
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• Tuesday, November 08th, 2011
Asian Pacific Economic Conference snarls Honolulu Roadways
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| Road closures, rerouted traffic and restricted parking are going to plague Oahu until the Dog and Pony Show disbands on November 13th. And parks and beaches will also be closed, find out where and when here! Oh, and here too…I’ll keep y’all updated as to any thing else around town you might need to know. All of Oahu will be under lock down when Michell takes the First Wives Club on a tour of the Island…
APEC Hawaii Travel Lanes affected And try to figure this mess out: APEC Hawaii Recommended Travel Routes Parking? What parking? APEC Hawaii Parking Restricitions Wake me up when it’s over… |
Category: APEC 2011, Traffic
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• Saturday, October 29th, 2011
Spooktacular stuff to do on Oahu! |
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| Yikes! It’s the end of October already. I have been experiencing serious writer’s block and remiss in keeping up on posting here… Or maybe I’ve just been lazy?
But since it’s nearing Halloween in Honolulu, I’m going to fill you in on some scary treats that are happening around the Island this time of year. Back in the ‘90’s I went on a “Honolulu Ghost Walk” hosted by Glen Grant, a local master of the Hawaiian myths and legends surrounding Oahu’s spookiest places. My personal experience was very creepy; Chinatown under a full moon is scary enough without hearing tales of murder and mayhem as you stroll through the streets. |
 Vampire Bagel is watching you... |
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 Pumpkin Pics Courtesy of Aloun Farms
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More keiki friendly is the Aloun Farms Pumpkin Patch in Kapolei where kids of all ages can tour the pumpkin patch and pick out their own Great Pumpkin to take home and carve into a jack ‘o lantern!  BLEH! I don't want to leave the farm! |
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| If you want to take the kids trick or treating, all the major malls on Oahu are hosting events on Halloween. Check out Kahala Mall, Ala Moana Center, Pearlridge, and Windward Mall for spooktacular trick or treating! Raising the Scary O’ Meter up a notch requires visiting the Dole Plantation Haunted Maze which helps raise money for some of the local schools, as well as raising goosebumps… Redlining the Scary O’ Meter in my book is the Haunted Lagoon at the Polynesian Cultural Center. Hop on a frightening canoe ride and see the Laie Lady. The first time I did it was scarier than me looking in the mirror first thing in the morning… and that is truly terrifying! And speaking of looking terrifying the morning after the night before, there are plenty of adult parties going on around town as well. Pretty much every bar in Waikiki has some sort of costume contest, and the people watching is as much fun as it gets! Check it out here for more info.
Aloha,
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Category: Entertainment, Fun Stuff, Holidays
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• Friday, July 29th, 2011
You don’t have to be a Boy Scout to Be Prepared… |
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| It’s that time of year in Hawaii; time to make sure you have a Hurricane Survival Kit. Of course this is assuming you are in an area where you won’t have to evacuate and can stay put. We’ll talk about putting together a “Bug Out Bag” in another post.
This batch of goodies is a great way to not only be prepared for a major catastrophe, but also helps during those longer than expected power outages. |
 Why do they name us after women? Does this wind make my butt look big? |
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 I don't know what it is, but it's got Bacon. So all is well!
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AC-DC Converter Portable Television and Radio |
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| Corded Phone This is one of those things you really need. And I do pay for a landline, even though I use my cell 99.999% of the time. But cells go down in big storms, and I want my family to know I’m ok. Cash Rechargeable Fan Coffee Maker Portable DVD Player No DVD Player? Aloha,
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Category: Be prepared!
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• Friday, July 29th, 2011
Landlords need to read this. Tenants need to read this. |
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| Hawaii has very specific guidelines for Residential Landlords and Tenants. Read it before you enter in a Residential lease, no matter which side of the deal you are on! |
Category: Landlord Tenant Code
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