Kate Elim, Lake Anna Real Estate Specialist

Slow computer getting you down?  Every once in awhile I find my computer begins to give me fits.  While trying to download anything or while scrolling through a site I have to have the patience of Job.  I don't like having to have that much patience with a computer.  I don't mind that with a toddler or with any of my clients but certainly not with a computer.

What gets me is that I put up with it for what seems like days until all of a sudden I realize that I've been fussing around while it's taking longer and longer to accomplish what I need to do.  Once I wake up to that fact I do the sensible thing*.  I restore my computer.

In case this has ever happened to you and restoring might do the trick here is the way to do it if you've never tried:

• Click on Start
  
  
• Accessories
  
  
• System Tools
  
  
• System Restore
  
  
• Next
  
  
• Choose a Restore Date (a date prior to when you began noticing your computer acting up)
  
  
• Next
  
  
• Finish

Do you Bookmark or E-mail Active Rain blogs that interest you?  I've been on Active Rain for a bit over three years and I have way too many bookmarked blogs.  What do I do with them?  I ignore them.  Yes, that's sad to say but it is exactly what I do.

I have way too many bookmarks and absolutely no idea how to find the one I want.  Yet I found that pretty frustrating because there was an absolutely good reason why I bookmarked them in the first place.  I wanted to re-read them, to have them available when I could make better use of the information they provided.

Eventually I pretty much gave me up on bookmarking additional posts...and that hurt!  There is such a treasure trove of terrifically useful information Active Rain members share with one another.  I wanted to find a way to be able to access those posts effectively.

There were so many bookmarked posts that provided new ideas on how to market myself, tips on better serving buyers and sellers here at Lake Anna, how to better understand the magic of SEO, and loads of other topics that I wanted this resource available.

There had to be a better way for me to do that.  Maybe some of you have found your own way to find what you wanted in your bookmarks quickly and easily.  Finally it came to me.

I began to email them to myself.  Yes.  Right next to the icon for bookmarking, above the comment box, is the icon which enables you to email a post.  This is great when you want to share that post with someone else.  It is also great for emailing posts to yourself.

Once I receive the email with the link to the saved post I label it (one of the many great features available with Google email).  Deciding what labels I need is an ongoing project.  Without getting too specific and yet not lumping them all together with one label marked Active Rain takes some doing.  By looking back over some of the posts I had bookmarked and emailed to myself I was able to come up with a short list to get started.  This is definitely a work in progress. 

That spells success to me.  What the heck, anything that makes life a little easier is something to be grateful for.

If you have found a way to easily find the posts that are important to you pleasae let us know.  That is what is so great here at Active Rain, our willingness to share.

One of the things many of us have learned is that to be successful in real estate you have to have a positive attitude.  It is not the only thing to be sure, but it is a mighty important one.

With a positive attitude you realize that many things are possible.  One important thing is to realize that getting older in this profession is not a hindrance.  How is that possible?  Well, it requires the older REALTOR® to make an honest assessment about the way they are going to do business.

Are they going to continue to do it the old way?  Hopefully yes in some respects.  There are a number of things we learned to do when we began back in the seventies, eighties, or even earlier.  Some of these things included:

• maintaining an updated contact data base (so what if years ago that was done with index cards)
  
  
• making sure we always provided personal service
  
  
• being ethical (that really should have been the first thing I thought of)
  
  
• taking continuing ed classes not only because we were required to but because of a real desire to stay on top of our profession
  
  
• understanding the contracts that we filled out...it is not enough to be able to fill in the blanks correctly, it is very important to understand the content and intent of the contracts and all the contingencies
  
• responding to calls and correspondence as quickly as possible
  
  
• treating all parties fairly in each and every transactions
  
  
• the value of marketing ourselves and what we had to offer
  
  
• the importance of learning new things and earning new designations
  
  
• the need to stay on the cutting edge

Little did some of us realize where that last item would take us.  For me, it has brought me to Active Rain and for that I am grateful. 

We older REALTORS® have also learned that we must be willing to embrace new technology in order to:

• master computers (or at least be their faithful servants)
  
  
• text message on our cell phones
  
  
• e-fax
  
  
• e-mail
  
  
• drive cars with built in hands-free phone capability
  
  
• blog on social networks
  
  
• Twitter
  
  
• be aware of wi-fi and hot spots
  
  
• know how to scan
  
  
• take better photographs
  
  
• make our "better" photographs even better with the proper software
  
  
• continue to stay on the cutting edge
  
  

Reading Jason Crouch's post Are YOU a part of the revolution? If not, be prepared to be left behind by those who are made me think of how lucky we older REALTORS® are to have a future in real estate providing we keep up with the changes.

Those of us in our 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s realize that continuing to embrace the things we initially learned and then embracing the many things we've learned through the years we are prepared to continue to provide the type of professional service our clients have come to expect from us.

We are local experts, we are knowledgeable, we are mentors, we are the turn to agents, and we are the ones many people chose because we have proven our worth.  We have a record of accomplishment and a record of living up to our clients' expectations.

If you are getting "older" (whatever that means) and thinking that you may not have many more years ahead to do the work you enjoy so much, rethink that attitude.  If you are still at the top of your game work hard to stay there. 

This is just one of the wonderful things about real estate.  Real estate has been a great career for both women and men, for people of diverse backgrounds and cultures, and a wide range of ages (thankfully).

It is exciting to know that if you are now a young person and thinking of entering the field of real estate you can look forward to a long career.  It is equally exciting to know that if you are "older" you can still be part of this great profession for a long time to come.

Thank goodness.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

If you or someone you know is thinking of buying or selling property at or near Lake Anna, Virginia please contact Kathleen "Kate" Elim, REALTOR®.

Kate lives at Lake Anna, knows Lake Anna, loves Lake Anna, and specializes in Lake Anna area real estate. 

Call Kate at 540-226-1964 or by e-mail at lakeanna.kate@gmail.com. Be sure to check Kate's Web site http://lakeannacountry.com/

Copyright © 2008 By Kathleen "Kate" Elim, All Rights Reserved. *You are Never too Old to Play in the Rain or to be a REALTOR®*.