I think this is the longest I have gone without a post since I began blogging on Activerain in Dec 2006.

Not sure if it was burn out from all the localism posts, I was trying to do or maybe trying to learn Vista and Office 2007, and getting all the files transferred over to the Sony.

I just hired a new assistant, and after having Betty for 10 years, there has been a lot of training to do getting my systems up and running with her.

However, I'm excited!

If my business was not systematized, I would be in a mess. A system is just recording what you do over and over again so no stone is left unturned. We are tweaking some things, and adding some new ones.

Colleen will be handing all the Buyer Agents transactions from contract to close. This is new. In the past all the Buyer Agents showed the home, wrote the offers, negotiated the offers, set up inspections, attended inspections, negotiated inspections, talked to the lenders, removed contingencies and set up closings.

The reason I have added this new system is because the Buyer Agents were getting bogged down in the details, and the leads registering on our web-site were getting neglected.

As an advocate for my PPC Campaign which I know most of you, don't agree with, it works for us. 42% of all our closings this year are from the internet.My PPC campaigns cost a bundle and the people that find us there must be followed up and taken care of. A phone call ASAP is critical as we all know the consumers are on lots of web-sites. Connecting by voice and building trust is the best way withing a few minutes is the best way to convert them into real life buyers. 

NAR has reported that the first person to contact the buyer usually ends up working with them. We want to give our clients the best service, they deserve from start to finish without neglecting the new prospects.

My lender, Maria Labie reminded me yesterday, Michigan has 4 seasons, Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall. We are now into the fall season where old things pass away and it is time to start a fresh.

Finally, one other new thing we will be doing is being coached by Katerina Gasset on our Expired Listing Niche. I have never gone after expired listings in my 14 years as a Realtor, but after reading so much about it here on Activerain, I am excited about taking on this new endeavor.

I have been following and reading the Agent Genius Blog for a while. It is a great blog that you can subscribe to, full of awesome posts by awesome writers.  They focus on what is "hot in technology and what is hot is our industry."

Agent Genius recently won the Innovator Award in San Franciso at the Inman Conference. I got to meet Lani Anglin-Rosales and her husband Ben Rosales the founders of Agent Genius.

Recently, Lani started a blog on Activerain, where she posts Recaps of posts from Agent Genius.  I subscribe to AG in my feedreader, Google,  so I don't miss anything. 

You can subscribe from Agent Genius Blog, or here on Activerain.  You can also follow them on Twitter.  

One night months ago in November,  I was in front of my computer and I got an email from Lani, "Hey Missy, how can I help you?"  I was shocked, thrilled and blessed. I told her I had just launced my new outside blog, Ann Arbor Real Estate Talk and needed it to move up in SERP. So she said "great, I'll give you some link love".  (and she did)

There are many genius writers from Activerain, writing on this collective blog, Rich Jacobs, Maureen Francis, Marianna Wagner, Ines, Paula Henry andGinger Wilcox.  I do believe you will like it and learn a lot.

It is important to get out of the comfort here in the rain and meet new people and subscribe to other blogs to learn and grow.

Here is the last 2 of her recap posts.

Opening today for the Michigan Wolverines is tomorrow. There is so much excitement living in Ann Arbor and a college town. Even if expectations are low around the country we are looking forward to a new era at University of Michigan.

We have a new coach, Rich Rodrigues, who runs the spread offence which is new and different at this Big 10 school, steeped in a running tradition. "Coach Rod" as he is called is the son of a coal miner from West Virginia, with blue-collar roots, he became a head coach at age 24.

Coach Rod is still not saying who will be the starting quarter-back. My guess is he will play both of them. Nick Sheridan is from Saline, who was the QB when my son Andrew played at Saline. Nick is a walk-on Red Shirt sophomore is competing with Steven Threet, from Adrian for the opening job.  We open against Utah who also runs a spread offense and has their seasoned QB returning.In the past, Michigan has had a hard time defending against the spread offence, but now that we are defending it every day in practice, we should be much improved.

The Stadium is under construction with 49 suites (luxury boxes) not completed.  Construction is due to be completed in 2010 and I have been watching the cranes and the steel around the Stadium all summer.

Here is a great air tour of what it will look like when completed.

Fans are asked to come early, due to the construction. Of course, all my kids and their girlfriends and boyfriends are going early like at 8:00 for a 3:30 kick-off. Christa will be running through the house, yelling, "get up, it's game day" with the fight song playing in the background. About the only days of the year, she is the first one up.

The Victors Walk will begin 2 hours before the game, as the Wolverines walk 200 yards from the U of M. public safety building to stadium tunnel entrance and into the locker room.

So even with the QB situation not known, a stadium under construction, a new offense, and losing to Appalachian State last year in our season opener, this is still Michigan.

One of THE most winning college football schools in the country, full of pomp and tradition. A place where we sing, "Hail to the Victors" the best fight song known in the country and love every minute of it.

 GO BLUE!!

The Sidetrack Bar and Grill is a charming restaurant in Ypsilanti Michigan; it is located in Depot Town and has the best burgers. It is a completely laid back atmosphere and reminds me of the way life use to be, with lots of old photos on the walls of the history of the SideTrack Restaurant.

The Sidetrack has been in business since the 1800's when it was started across from the railroad tracks in Ypsilanti. The Amtrak Train passes through there although it never stops anymore. You have to pick up a ticket to Chicago in Ann Arbor.

Brick walls, hardwood floors, and a gorgeous bar and every time I go it is standing room only. The Sidetrack has high ceilings, a warm fireplace roaring in the winter months and an outside patio to enjoy in the summer time.

I took Allyssa there yesterday after we had gone shopping for her first car. She had never been and I suggest going. Of course she loved it; the ambiance just takes you in.

When we pulled up she said, "mom did you see what is on the side of the building?" No, I was driving, so after we ate, we walked out and Allyssa took a photo. One the side of the building out above the patio is this saying credited to,

Benjamin Franklin, "Beer is proof God loves us and wants us to be happy."

In 2002, the Sidetrack was named "one of the 20 hamburgers you should eat before you die" by GQ Magazine. The famous burger is 1/3 lb and only costs $5.25. Of course you can get a ½ burger for only $2.00 more. But, it is way too big for most folks. Other menu items at the SideTrack are here.

Gayle King, Oprah Winfrey's best friend said on the Oprah Show, about their burgers, "It is the best of the best."

The Sidetrack is located in the Depot Town communityat: 56 Cross Street, Ypsilanti, MI 48197

If I haven't convinced you about the Sidetrack you can read further reviews here.

 Moving to Ypsilanti, you can start your new home search here.

Lee Lefever is the creator of the Common Craft Blog and all the videos in Plain English. He recently posted one that he created for the Google Reader Team at Google. This one is getting the most out of your Google Reader. 

If you don't know why we need a RSS feed reader, you can watch Lee's video on RSS feeds in Plain English on YouTube.  You can also go and read a post by Andy Kaufman on RSS feeds and the link to the video is there.

Jon Washburn wrote a post a few weeks ago sharing his statistics from his Google Reader account (which is great for knowing what blogs he is reading).

Sarah Washburn also wrote on a post on Getting Your Blog to the top of Google Reader.

Everyone needs a feed reader, and my personal preference is Google. The only problem I have is the same one I have on Activerain with all my blog subscriptions. Too many, but I'm a nut about being afraid of missing something.

This video on Google Reader is only 1.05 minutes long and I know it will be helpful to you so you can share with your friends what you are reading and they can share with you what you are reading. Follow the Google Reader link and go get set up.

If you like these, than you can read a post I did on Twitter in Plain English.

Thanks again, Lee !

Michigan Association of Realtors is holding their annual conference September 17^th through the 19^th in Detroit at the Marriot Renaissance Center.

The calendar for the events can be found here, beginning with the opening of the General Assembly at 5:00 P.M. on Wednesday and a mix and mingle afterwards.

Are there any Activerain bloggers planning on attending? If so lets plan to meet up somewhere.

One of my very favorite all time speakers is attending Terry Watson. He has the closing keynote on Friday at 11 AM. You are being given CE credit of one hour for attending this.

I don't need the Con Ed credit but I would never miss Terry. I first heard Terry Watson at a RE/MAX of Michigan convention several years ago. Then the Education Committee of the Ann Arbor Area Board of Realtors brought him in to speak. WOW ! He is so hilarious, and animated.

Terry Watson will also be speaking at 8:30 AM on Friday on the topic of "Buyer Your Mine". This is also 2.0 credit hours for con-ed.

Other speakers for the MAR Convention can be found here. You can register on line for MAR here or contact them at contact@mirealtors.com

If you are planning on attending contact me at Missy@MissyCaulk.com so we can coordinate to have an Activerain meet up.

Lola, Maureen, Gary, Kris, Beth, Ralph, Russ, Terry, Stephan, Karen, Susan, Debra, Derek, Cathy, Angie are "Ya'll coming?

Here's a short video to get you motivated to attend MAR this year.

One more social network?

NO, Zattoo is a streaming video service that is coming to Ann Arbor where it will have its research and development headquarters.

Zatto describes themselves as "Real TV on your PC."

Currently they have a subscription base of over 3 million viewers in Europe and they are expected to roll out there service here in the United States by early 2009.

 They also have over 189 channels where it is located.  You can now download the program onto your computer and watch TV from anywhere where they are located. Soon it will be up and running in the U.S. but since there is currently no channels yet in the U.S. nothing happens. However, if you click on 189 channels, you will see what is offered in Europe.

Chairman and co-founder, Sugih Jamin, is an Associate Professor of computer science at University of Michigan, with a vision to have TV where ever you go, the dream took hold and he and co-founders Beat Knecht, and Wenjie Wang have made it a reality.

Zatto has received rave reviews from TechCruch., one of the most popular blogs out there, introducing new technologies and products all the time. TechCrunch is co-edited by Michael Arrington and Erick Schonfeld. If you're not subscribing, go do it.

Meet the team from Zatto, pretty exciting guys and I can't wait for this to be launched in the United States and to have their headquaters in the U.S. in Ann Arbor.

I would love to be at a Michigan football game and watch the game on TV so you can hear all the calls and see the ball where it actually is on the yard line waiting for if it a first down or not. Or watch TV while flying, or on a long trip. "mommy when will we be there?"

Regardless, pretty exciting the R & D of Zatto is coming to Ann Arbor.

 Oh, the most important thing it is FREE !

It is that time of the year again, and as the commercial says, "It's the most wonderful time of the year." This time next week, all the kids will be ready for opening day on Tuesday, September 2nd.

The calendar for Saline School Year 2008 and 2009.

Several years ago the Michigan State Legislature mandated that ALL schools would start the day after Labor Day, in order to gain one more weekend for tourism. Tourism is huge in Michigan with all the lakes. 

My family and I live in Saline, Mi. Saline is located just 2 miles south of Ann Arbor, close to all the major cultural, educational and recreational centers but still maintaining its "small town atmosphere". It has been the driving force of this small rural community for 100's of years.

The quality of education in Saline Schools has driven all the growth in Saline for the last 14 years. Matter of fact that has been the history in Saline since the one room school house. Education has always been a top priority. Under Michigan's state statute in the late 1800's, school children were only allowed to walk two miles to attend classes, so many rural one room school houses were spread out to comply with that statute.

In March I posted on the Weber-Blaess Schoolhouse that was restored in 2002, which the elementary children get to visit and experience what it was like to attend school in the year 1867. It is located on Woodland Dr and is a hallmark of remembrance for education in Saline.

Over the last one hundred plus years, Saline has continued to grow based on the quality of education that is provided to the students. There are currently 8 schools in the Saline School District, with over 5200 students enrolled. Saline Schools pulls in students from Pittsfield, Lodi, York, Saline, Bridgewater, and Freedom Townships.

There are three elementary schools in Saline housing grades 1-4. As soon as one was built we were in need of another one.

Pleasant Ridge

229 Pleasant Ridge Dr

Woodland Meadows

350 Woodland Dr. 734-944-8985

Harvest Elementary

1155 Campus Parkway 734-944-8901

Grades 5-6 are located in:

Heritage School

290 Woodland Drive 734-944-8970

The Kindergarten is at Houghton Elementary, located at 555 Mills Rd. 734-944-8960. This school houses pre-school, kindergarten and young 5's.

Saline Middle School is comprised of grades 7-8 and is located in the Old High School. The middle school is located at 7190 N. Maple Rd. 734-429-8070. It was formally the old high school.

Saline High School is grades 9-12. This is the fourth year that the new high school has been open and it is state of the art. It is located at 1300 Campus Drive 734-429-8030.

 Saline Area Schools is a wonderful district dedicated to it students and to their advanced learning opportunities. It is in partnership with the families, wonderful staff and teachers.

As my husband is fond of saying, "Saline parents are the most devoted dedicated and doting families in the Western Hemisphere."

All the schools can be reached by calling 734-429-8000 and following the menu to reach any school building and department.

Our first high school football game is Saturday at EMU, prep day. Saline vs Ann Arbor Pioneer at 8:00 P.M.

Go Hornets!!

***Updated from last year with new calendar, events.***

I love high school and college sports, that's not a shocker.

Saline High School football is one of my favorite sports. Still trying to figure what player I will adopt this year as my own kids will be nowhere on the field.

Of course it goes without saying how much I love the Michigan Wolverines, just look at my page. I can't wait, opening day is next Saturday, 7 days and counting. Of course everyone is anxiously awaiting kick-off with the new coach, Rich Rodriques. 

August 29th is the Big Prep Day Opening at EMU, where Saline plays Ann Arbor Pioneer. Click the link for more information.

The rest of the local schedule for the Saline Hornets is:

September 5th  Bedford High School   Away

September 12   Chelsea High School  Home

September 19   Dexter High School    Away

September 26   Tecumseh                Homecoming.

October 3rd       Lincoln                    Away

October 10th     Milford                     Away

                                                     October 17th     Adrian                     Home

                                                     October 25th     Ann Arbor Huron       Away

Directions to the away games can be found here.

This is intersting in light of all the posts on Video being the next big thing, or already here. You can now watch on the Saline Hornet web site, videos for all the games.

The Saline Hornet Football team has it's own web site, where you can find more information on the team roosters, history and photos.    

***Originally posted on Ann Arbor Real Estate Talk***, by Missy Caulk

Don't feel sorry for me this is life...

I haven't been blogging much this week, I bought a new Blackberry Curve ( after getting laughed at at Inman ) and a new lap top.

I have a new assistant starting after Labor Day and wanted to take my desktop into the office for her. Plus I thought it would be fun to blog in bed. (BIB) You can't BIB with a tablet because Activerain doesn't have the feature for writing on tablet, and I'm not even gonna try to tap out each letter on the built in keyboard on the screen.

So I chose the Sony Vaio, can't even pronounce it. Oh yea....it has VISTA. So another learning curve.

You see, I have been with Nextel for 13 years!! Yea I know weird, huh? or at least an anomaly.

But, Nextel is just not upgrading their phones so I switched to Sprint. Well, not really a switch since it is really the same company.

But now I can do twitpics, and a photo blog.

Hussan Issa helped me and he was excellent in customer service.

Hussan is a Lead Communication Specialist at the Sprint Store, located at 2828 Oak Valley Dr in Ann Arbor, MI.

Today I finally had time to set up the new laptop, spent 4 hours getting it loaded with all my information, when the V key popped off. (opps) When I called, they said "bring it in, and we'll give you a new one". So I took off all the important things in Outlook and took it back in. Only when we got there, they tried to fix it. OK fine, I didn't take off all my firefox add ons.

Problem was we got home, started to put the programs back on and opps the letter V popped off again.

So back to Best Buy to get a new one.

Basically, I've been sitting here since 6:00 AM installing and uninstalling and learning the new Blackberry. When a program was downloading I would play learn the BB.

Finally decided enough was enough!

Hey, its Friday night, I'm usually on my deck at the lake.

In between all this I've been negotiating offers on 2 of my listings, finished 2 CMA's, one to go, and everything else we do in a normal day. 

So that's my week, story and I'm sticking to it.

Hey Jessica Horton, want to send me your "ghost writers" name for Localism? I've got 19 communities to keep up with, and as Mayor I can't neglect my constituents.

Now back to that blogging in bed...........