All Forum Posts by: Shanti S.

Thanks for sharing - this is a great website, I just spent some time exploring other graphics...which led me to many graphics on explaining the financial crisis - which led me to this - visualizing a trillion dollars - very well done IMO

http://www.pagetutor.com/trillion/index.html

Thanks Ingrid would you be willing to share the income and terms of the lease? And in court, did the cell company do all the lifting for you?

I searched but didn't find any information on this so I thought maybe this thread could collect any experience out there on the subject - having cell antennas installed on your commercial building as an additional stream of income.

I've been eyeing a vacant property for a couple of years now, it's commercial with a beautiful hilltop site in an area with spotty cell coverage. It already has a tower on it where cell antennas could be installed without changing the look of the property at all - so improved cell service for everyone with no new ugly cell tower to complain about.

Anyone have experience courting cellular companies or leasing to them?

I would love to own this property but until I thought of this I was struggling with how it would pay for itself - this income stream could possibly make the difference between a good deal and a bad one...there is a ton of space to rent out here as well.

500 fans this morning, myself included - nice ramp up from under 200 yesterday!

Not only not on payroll but no votes either? Aw.

Kiddin', kiddin'.

Ok I'm happy to become a fan, I guess I was instinctively thinking about adding all the BP colleagues to FB and vice/versa - which would be very different. My bad :-)

Just a couple of random ideas -

You’re Joe and Suzy homebuyer. Your buyer’s agent hands you an ipad with an interactive, media rich questionnaire and lots of big thumbnail photos of housing styles and layouts and asks you just to tap any that you have strong opinions on and give them a thumbs up or thumbs down. The software then quickly narrows down available properties you might like…

While driving from showing to showing, your agent puts an ipad in your hands, which shows a moving map centered on your location. Around you, you can see recent sales, houses on the market, and community data (school locations, shopping, etc) which can be called up with a touch to help you get your bearings in your new area. You can easily change settings to only see price ranges or features that you would be interested in. Your interactions with the device download to your broker’s master software to give them more insight on your interests…and the device can be handed back and forth during discussion. In your broker’s hands, she has access to proprietary information for discussion, such as DOM, price history, full MLS data, sales tips, reminders, and points of discussion from the master database to help her close the deal…

Not sure if anyone else is in the same boat as me here, but I look at BP and LinkedIn and others as business networking, and my FB is really personal contacts - friends and family and non-business discussions.

So far, I still have a desire to keep these two worlds somewhat separate. My personal life can still be "none of your business" to people I work with, and I won't be the boring guy who can only talk about real estate to my friends :-)

How do others deal with this?

I'm not a social networking pro by any means so I still have some privacy concerns and not enough knowledge about site settings and filtering for best use....

I am guessing that I may buy an ipad eventually, but probably not the first generation. I'm disappointed in the lack of USB, SD card slot, camera, microphone, and limited memory.

My iPod touch gets used many times per day and continues to amaze me with its capability - it is far from a toy. I have hundreds of notes, pdf and word documents, images, and contacts stored on it which can be called up at a moment's notice. I could not do this with a netbook or laptop – I can’t actually think of any other device that could besides an iphone – but the Android phones are catching up…. Also, the keyboard is really amazing - I can type a lot faster and with more accuracy than on any device of a similar size with actual buttons that I've handled.

Again – complete game changer? No. Revolutionary device which will find unexpected uses in the industry? I think so.

Hi Ingrid, I would look into renting or buying an ozone generator - I've been looking for a good deal on a heavy duty used one on Craig's list (I use a search bot for this) and plan to use it on rehabs/rentals and make it available to members of my REIA.

Ozone in sufficient quantity is supposed to be very effective at removing odors and killing mold.

another cheaper option might be the enzyme odor eater stuff they sell in pet stores - I remember it being very effective on an expensive couch my parents had that a cat peed on..it's a clear liquid

It's hard for me to envision any revolutionary change from this device, but I do think many people are underestimating the impact it will have on the market. I totally disagree that it doesn't offer anything new from the iphone. I also don't think it's anything like a netbook or a laptop, nor is it a replacement for one - they are both arguably more capable but less focused. I do believe it's a new niche which no other manufacturer has effectively exploited yet. I think Apple has set the bar here, and there will be competition, but perhaps it will only be fierce among their competitors. The iphone has been out for years now and still hasn't been dethroned (I recently bought an Android smartphone and while it's a nice attempt, it's laughable when compared side by side and in use).

Where I do think it could shine is in presentation - it's something that can be carried around and produced in a flash, without waiting for boot up time, to present ideas and proposals in a very striking and dynamic visual mode unlike anything we've had before. Two people can huddle in front of a PC, or sit in front of a projector screen, but this is totally portable and intimate in a new way. Apple uses premium materials that you just want to touch and use, and you don't really need any training to get going - just play with it. Used well I think it could be a great tool for selling and getting people excited about your product or service.

For starters, I could see realtors latching on to it to present photos, comps, and stats on site and with greater impact to their clients rather than using reams of paper to print out these things.