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TURN OFF YOUR NOTIFICATIONS

03-13-12
Mimi Foster - Colorado Springs Realtor Managing Broker
Mimi Foster - Colorado Springs Realtor Managing Broker: Real Estate Agent in Colorado Springs, CO
  • view my blog
  • Office: (719) 475-7570
  • Mobile: (719) 460-7570

Turn off your notifications

Not that I am proud to admit it, but I have long had a struggle with my email. What started out as a wonderful and rapid option to writing personal notes quickly got out of hand. No longer used as much for communicating, my email inbox then became a funnel for every conceivable marketer, and doubled as my TO DO list. When it got to be so long that I was loathe to even look at it, the hundreds became thousands, and it was certainly no longer a useful addition to my tool kit.

dragonSo I recently bit the bullet and took an Outlook class to try to tame this little monster. It was one of the smartest classes I have taken in a long time, and within a day I had it totally under control ~ the operative part of that being that now I was in control, and not my email that was supposed to be there for my benefit.

Of all of the things that I learned, probably the simplest and, in my opinion, one of the most brilliant ideas that I came away with was ~ TURN OFF YOUR NOTIFICATIONS. When the instructor first said that, I gasped at the thought of the withdrawal of something so, well . . . DRASTIC.

But think about it. I receive, on average, 200 to 400 emails per day. No matter how many I unsubscribe to, they just keep coming back from a different angle. If you have your notification box set up (like I did) to pop up with the little notification in the lower right corner of your screen, the reality of that is that you will be subtlely distracted dozens, if not hundreds, of times per day. Since most of it is junk anyway, it is not worth taking me away from what's important to let me know that something UNimportant has just hit my Inbox. And if it IS important, I will be checking my email throughout the day ~ but now, it is at MY CONVENIENCE. Just this one little change (that, and creating RULES ~ which is another post), and I have had one of the most productive weeks in a long time. When I realized how much work I was getting done, I became very conscious of the fact that it is now so much easier to stay FOCUSED on the task at hand.

If you are a PC user and have Outlook and would like to turn off your Notifications, it is very easy. In your Outlook Toolbar across the top, go to TOOLS > OPTIONS > PREFERENCES > EMAIL OPTIONS (under email heading) > ADVANCED EMAIL OPTIONS (under Message Handling) > WHEN NEW ITEMS ARRIVE IN MY INBOX (I unchecked them all). Have a productive day!

(And if you aren't yet a Subscriber to my Musings, maybe now is the time)

Turn off your notifications was written by Mimi Foster

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My first year in ActiveRain

03-10-12
Mimi Foster - Colorado Springs Realtor Managing Broker
Mimi Foster - Colorado Springs Realtor Managing Broker: Real Estate Agent in Colorado Springs, CO
  • view my blog
  • Office: (719) 475-7570
  • Mobile: (719) 460-7570

Tomorrow I will, I believe, unofficially pass the ranks of Newbie. It has been a long year. It has been a quick year.

Mimi FosterIn November of 2010 I received a call from a friend of mine, Joe Cuchiara, who told me that he thought that I would love this Realtor blogging site called ActiveRain. He was so enthusiastic about it, and I had long wanted to blog, so I signed up, and had no idea where to go from there, so I went nowhere. In January of 2011 Karli Larson from ActiveRain called to say that she saw that I had paid for a year but wasn't using the platform, and did I have any questions?

I had, quite frankly, no idea where to begin. I would log in (I had no idea I got points for that, because, really, what are POINTS?), I would look around, and I would leave. I have mentioned several times that I thought I was in the lobby, and behind one of those doors it felt like there must be a party going on, but I couldn't figure out which door to open.

I am a hands-on learner. Show me and I'll run with it. Leave me to figure out how to do more than sign in and I won't embrace yet another new learning curve. So Karli told me how to write a post and where to post it, and I did. One localism post in January on which I received two comments in my email, and I was so excited that someone had found me! The question was, WHERE did they find me? And how did I get back there to write another post? That seems silly now because we know these things. But I think back on the beginning and wonder how we really learned this stuff.

Two more months would pass, and noticing that I had done nothing else, Karli called me again. She said that this time she wasn't going to get off the phone until I understood it. She walked me thru as much as my brain could hold, and IMimi Foster wrote my second article, and got two more comments!! I was on a roll. There was a lot I still didn't understand, but I knew how to comment, and now I knew where to write, so I was THRILLED. From there on out they couldn't shut me up, and it was, to me, my beginning day on ActiveRain . . . March 11, 2011.

What I didn't know at the time was that ActiveRain isn't just a blogging site, it's a family. What I didn't know at the time is that there is plenty of SEO to be found from this amazing platform, but that doesn't define the community of which you become a part. What I didn't know at the time is that I would learn to LOVE to write, but not as much as I love the people with whom I would be blessed to interact. And what I didn't know at the time was what an incredible referral network ActiveRain truly is, and the amount of business that this community network would actually generate and share.

So if you are not sure that you want to become a Rainmaker, let me encourage you to do so. Take a few baby steps and get your feet wet, then take the plunge. It has done wonders for my business and wonders for my writing. But most of all, I have become part of a truly amazing family, and made friendships that have been life-changing. It is, without a doubt, the best thing I have done for my business in almost two decades of dealing with real estate.

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Peregrine, Colorado Springs, Zip Code 80907/80919, Real Estate Market Report for February 2012

03-10-12
Nancy Murray ~ Colorado Springs Real Estate
Nancy Murray ~ Colorado Springs Real Estate: Real Estate Agent in Colorado Springs, CO
  • view my blog
  • Office: (719) 964-4810
  • Mobile: (719) 964-4810
Peregrine, Colorado Springs, Zip Code 80907/80919, Real Estate Market Report for
February 2012
Brought to you by Nancy Murray

Peregrine View

February was another slow month for Peregrine with only 3 solds and 1 pending property. Average sales price was $351,000 and median sales price was $340,000, 23% and 25% respectively below this same time last year. List price to sales price is up to 98% for Peregrine sold properties and inventory is back down to a manageable 7 months.

For information about listing your Peregrine home for sale, visit Selling Your Colorado Springs Home.

For the complete report visit Real Estate Market Report for Peregrine.

Peregrine Homes for Sale

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Briargate, Colorado Springs, Zip Code 80920, Real Estate Market Report for February 2012

03-10-12
Nancy Murray ~ Colorado Springs Real Estate
Nancy Murray ~ Colorado Springs Real Estate: Real Estate Agent in Colorado Springs, CO
  • view my blog
  • Office: (719) 964-4810
  • Mobile: (719) 964-4810
Briargate, Colorado Springs, Zip Code 80920, Real Estate Market Report for
February 2012
Less Pine Creek, Cordera, and Wolf Ranch

 Brought to you by Nancy Murray

Briargate

February is starting to show the start of a busy spring and summer for Briargate. With an inventory of less than 5 months, Briargate is in a transition market heading toward a sellers market for this summer. With 50% fewer active listings in February over one year ago, and an increase in buyer activity, 62 pending properties, Briargate sellers can expect to see active buying signs, such as, more showings and a potential for multiple offers. Briargate ended the month strong with 25 closings, that is only 4 less than February 2011 when we still had the buyer incentives.

For information about listing your Briargate home for sale, visit Selling Your Colorado Springs Home.

For the complete report, visit Market Report for Briargate.

Briargate Homes For Sale

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Cordera, Colorado Springs, Zip Code 80924, Real Estate Market Report for February 2012

03-10-12
Nancy Murray ~ Colorado Springs Real Estate
Nancy Murray ~ Colorado Springs Real Estate: Real Estate Agent in Colorado Springs, CO
  • view my blog
  • Office: (719) 964-4810
  • Mobile: (719) 964-4810
Cordera, Colorado Springs, Zip Code 80924, Real Estate Market Report for
February 2012
 Brought to you by Nancy Murray

Search all Cordera Homes for Sale

Codera Community Center

Cordera's had a very slow start for 2012 with no closings in January. For February there were 4 closings in Cordera. Average sales price and median sales price are up 15% from one year ago and up over December 2011. Average days on market is down to 87 days resulting in an 8.5 month inventory. Average list price to sales price is 99.9%, so sellers are not negotiating down much from the list price.

For information about listing your Cordera home for sale, visit Selling Your Colorado Springs Home.

For the complete report, visit Market Report for Cordera.

Homes for sale in Cordera

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