Humboldt County Real Estate Blog

The Wackiest Laws On The Books!

Did you know that in New Hampshire it is illegal to tap your feet, nod your head, or keep time to the music in a tavern, restaurant, or café?  Or that state law in Colorado allows people to rip the tags off pillows and mattresses, despite dire warnings not to do so. 

And in Alaska, while it's legal to shoot bears, waking a sleeping bear for the purposes of taking a photograph is prohibited. 

The dumb laws web site, found at www.dumblaws.com offers an entertaining selection of silly laws on the books in the U.S. and foreign countries.  Compiled by Andy Powell and Jeff Koon, the site offers a sidesplitting look at laws that are outdated...or simply incredibly stupid. Other examples include...

In Fairbanks, Alaska, it is considered an offense to feed alcoholic beverages to a moose.  Sterling, Colorado has a law on the books that states that cats may not run loose at night without being fit with a taillight. 

Roy Rogers used to say," Buy land, because they're not making any more of it!" I have a client who has been looking for 600-1000 acres to raise cattle and is selling his property on the east coast. he would love to have an area where it doesn't get too hot in the summer, about 80 degrees or less and where it doesn't snow 2 months out of the year.

We have that kind of weather here in Humboldt County, but not enough land for sale. Does anyone know of a ranch or even some vacant land?

Ok, I know someon out there is so in tune with Web 2.0 that they have to have the latest innovation on their website. What I'm talking about is the video of themselves on the opening page of theri website. Fess up! Who has one of these?

I have been racking my brain trying to find out how to do this. I've seen it done once and I can never find that website.

What it shows is the Realtor "walking onto the screen" of their site and guiding the viewer to any number of links. It lasts between 30-45 seconds but it is a very powerful and cool thing.

Could someone please tell me how to do this?

I used to hear the saying, "you have to list to last" for many years. I started to find a way to get more listings and realized, " holy crap! I wrote a blog not too long ago on how to get a FSBO to work with you!"

What a dingbat! I should practice what I preach! I reached for the phone, and froze.My palms started to sweat. My heart started to race...what am I going to say? what happens if they hang up on me? what if they ask me if I have a buyer? what if...? what if...? what if...?

I shook my head, stood up and did a "power move". I found that if I stood up while on the phone, my level of energy rose quite a bit and it made it easier to put a smile on my face while speakng to the client( I learned that from Tony Robbins ),

I dialed the first number I saw in the classifieds.

RING RING

Client: Hello?

Me: may I speak to Carla? ( I saw her name in the ad )

Client: You're speaking to her

Me: my name is John Ford of Champion Real Estate and I noticed your ad in the newspaper, have you sold it yet?

Client: No, unfortunately, I still haven't sold it. But I do plan on resubmitting the ad again. Why do you ask? Do you have a buyer for me?

Me: Well, I'm not too sure yet. Many times when i am working with a well qualified buyer, they don't like what's listed on the active market, I try to see what else is out there that may be of interest to them. When would it be possible to preview your property to see if it may qualify with my client? Does today at 4pm work for you or tomorrow at 1pm?

Client: I'm headed up to the property today. Would it be ok to meet me at 3?

Me: uumm not sure.....let me see....I may have to re-arrange a couple of things and I really would like to see your property, let's go ahead and schedule it and if anything changes, I will call you. What is your cell phone number?

Client:xxx-xxx-xxxx Thank you very much for calling, see you then!

I met Carla that same day and not once did I tell her I have a buyer or try and get the listing on that appointment. This is my second week in keeping in contact with her just by droppiong little hints as to the best way to seel is to get her property on the "active market." Our inventory is running low and she could really benefit from the added exposure.

My goal is to schedule as many FSBO appointments as possible and get a good relationship going. I have found that a large majority of FSBO's convert to listings within the first 2 weeks! One of these days I may put on a webinar on how to work with FSBO's and hand out templatesfor you to try yourself!

ok some of you may be wondering, what else is there that could really make us stand out over the crowds? You may already have it or you still don't know what to do with it. It's the webcam! I finally took the plunge and started using my webcam to reply to email messages and give video updates to my clients. I have also successfully use it to get myself a FSBO!

The best program I have found is called CoVideo Systems. You can set up a link on your website where a client could click on it and it will open up your camera and they can text you while you can talk to them live!

So far, I have gone over CMA's, Did a live powerpoint presentation and the next thing I am going to do is a live broadcast of a home seller seminar!

All this for less than $50.00 per month! One day i hope to be able to do a Video blog here on the Rain. ow wouldn't that be cool?