Brookline, MA

1. Find the lesson in every failure, and you'll never fail.
2. The likelihood that you're right is not increased by the intensity of your conviction.
3. Real friends help you feel worthy and make you want to be better.
4. When you're in a hole, stop digging.
5. Don't confuse fun with fulfillment or pleasure with happiness.
6. Refusing to let go of a grudge is refusing to use the key that will set you free.
7. Hating hurts you more than the person you hate.
8. Counting on luck is counting on random chance; your odds are much better when you plan and work.
9. It's better to be kind than clever.
10. Don't underestimate the power of persistence.
11. The easy way is rarely the best way.
12. It's much easier to burst someone else's bubble than to blow up your own.
13. You can't avoid pain, but you can avoid suffering.
14. Self-pity is a losing strategy; it repels others and weakens you.
15. Shortcuts usually produce short success.
16. Control your attitude or it will control you.
17. It's more important to be significant than successful.
18. The world is waiting for you to heal it.

How to be on schedule when showing homes to Buyers - what are your favorite "recipes"?

Recent Nina Rogof's blog inspired me to write this post.

When I put together a tour for buyers, I try to include at least one property that is "vacant / easy to show" where we don't really have to stick to the schedule. It works well as a buffer if we are running late. I also might do adjustments along the way: say, skip #4 and go to #5 directly because #5 had more strict showing instructions, and I could rearrange to see #4 after #7.

I try to plan for lunch breaks, if the tour is going to take most of the day. Little breathing room is good for buyers to clear the head, it's great strategy if they have kids with them, and kids are tired of going in and out of homes and cars. They need to stop by at a playground and run around wild for 15 minutes - if time permits of course. This breathing room helps with scheduling conflicts as well.

I can see how scheduling issues are a concern with relocating buyers who are only in town for a day or two, but still: some people need more time to decide, and to really look and take in what they see.

These extra 10 or so minutes that we spend at a property can make a difference. I wouldn't rush anyone, unless they are getting late for their plain trip. I also often use my phone to disguise I'm checking the time.

And to conclude it all with a nice story, here it is:

I was showing condos in Brookline to a new client, who is relocating from another country. We've seen 3, and each and every time she would run out of them within few minutes. We would then use the time in between to discuss each apartment complex, proximity of amenities and neighborhood per se. When I asked if she had enough time to look at everything, and reminded her that she can certainly linger longer, our schedule is not air tight, she told me, that she actually is a Realtor® in her home country, so she really needs a couple of minutes to "see it all". And I must give her credit - she truly picked up on every detail, and asked me about it when the listing agent had left...

So, to every rule there is an exclusion!

Home inspectors working in Brookline MA are required to perform a home inspection to the Massachusetts Home Inspector Standards of Practice. A copy of the Standard will be provided to the client by the home inspector.

The MA Home Inspector Standards of Practice is written for the professional home inspector. United Inspection Service has created some easy to read Consumer Information Sheets illustrating what is included and excluded in a Standard MA home inspection. Clear client communications (3c) are one of our core values. See the easy to read one page consumer information sheets for each of the systems in a MA Home Inspection.

Visit the Brookline MA Home Inspection page from United Inspection Service for some useful information about homes in Brookline MA and Massachusetts Home Inspections.

• Massachusetts Home Inspector Standards of Practice
• Recommended Questions to Ask the Seller/Seller's Representative
• Home Inspection Photographs
• Flood Zones
• Lead Paint
• Hazardous Waste Release
• Check the Brookline MA Home Inspector web page for consumer information links ...

Another phenomenal aspect about Brookline MA is the Climate Change Action Brookline Committee or more commonly referred to as the CCABwhich is a committee that is changing the way we live and work through environmental awareness and action with Brookline MA schools, businesses, town government, public policy, residences, transportation food and partners.

The Mission for the Climate Change Action Brookline: CCAB

- Engage 85% of Brookline households in carbon reduction by Dec. 31, 2012
- Achieve a 25% average carbon dioxide reduction for participating households
- Create a program that can be replicated by cities and towns throughout the U.S.

In addition, the committee has been hosting a number of very interesting events over the past week. Here are the remaining events for today and later this week:

Brookline MA Climate Week Remaining Events

Climate Week Brookline: Hope Beneath Our Feet, Restoring Our Place in the Natural World
1 PM
Brookline BookSmith
279 Harvard Street, Brookline, MA
617-566-6660
events@brooklinebooksmith.com
www.brooklinebooksmith.com

Climate Week connects people to ways they can create a better, greener future by taking action at home and work.

Hope Beneath our Feet: Restoring Our Place in the Natural World is a wonderful new anthology of 53 essays by leading environmental activists and writers, talking from the heart about what they are doing, thinking and feeling that gives them hope and inspiration. Authors include Alice Walker, Michael Pollan, Derrick Jensen, Barbara Kingsolver, Howard Zinn, Diane Ackerman, Bill McKibben, Frances Moore Lappe, Vandana Shiva, among others. Editor Martin Keogh, and local contributing author and activist Vivienne Simon, will discuss the book and lead a conversation based on it. http://shiftmakers.com/hope-beneath-our-feet/

Climate Week Information Session: Going Solar on Aspinwall Hill
4:00 pm - 6:00 pm
The Brookline Center
41 Garrison Road, Brookline, MA
aspinwallhill@gmail.com
www.ahna.us

AHNA Annual Meeting features Going Solar on Aspinwall Hill

The Aspinwall Hill Neighborhood Association will hold its annual meeting on Sunday, January 30, from 4-6 p.m. at The Brookline Center, 41 Garrison Rd. In addition to the business meeting and election of officers, we will have a panel discussion featuring representatives from Green Guild, Sunbug, Alteris Renewables and the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center along with Brookline homeowners who have installed solar. Learn about the costs, benefits, financial supports and feasibility of going solar for individual homeowners, multi-families and larger buildings. Light refreshments will be served. AHNA is a Brookline 2010 Climate Action Partner: please bring your own cup, sign up for an AHNA eco-team, and bring paper shopping bags for our reusables drive for Brookline Recreation kids crafts programs. The AHNA covers the area bordered by Beacon St., Washington St., Greenough St., the D-line tracks and Regent Circle. All are welcome. Visit us at www.ahna.us. Questions? Write aspinwallhill@gmail.com

UPCOMING RESCHEDULED EVENTS:

Climate Week Brookline, Making Sustainable Choices for Green and Healthy Living canceled due to winter storm. Rescheduled for Thurs. Feb. 3
7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Brookline Adult Education Location, Brookline, MA 02446
(617 ) 730-2700
bacep@brookline.k12.ma.us
www.BrooklineAdultEd.org

Join Jess Lerner of Green on The Inside for up to the minute ideas for greening your life.

Do you hope to find the right "green" products but are not sure how to choose? If you are looking to live more sustainably, reduce your impact by choosing green, healthy materials, or just want pointers on where to start, this class is for you.

Go to www.brooklineadulted.org for course details and class registration.

ANOTHER RESCHEDULED EVENT: Originally scheduled on Jan 27th from 7 pm - 9 pm: NEW DATE TBA

Brookline Climate Week; Brookline Greenway Presentation and Charette canceled due to winter storm. Check CCAB events calendar for reschedule date: http://www.climatechangeactionbrookline.org/calendar.php

7pm - 9pm
Devotion School Library
345 Harvard Street, Brookline , MA 02446
bac@brooklinebikes.org
www.brooklinema.gov

Join the Brookline Bicycle Advisory Committee for a presentation and charette on creating a greenway network for Brookline. The evening will feature an overview of the Committee's green routes plan, a presentation by Northeastern University civil engineering students of a 2009 design to create a greenway along Lee and Clyde Streets, and an interactive discussion by Northeastern representatives and community residents on a conceptual design for a greenway along Newton and Hammond Streets.

NOTE: All of this info and MUCH MORE can be found at: http://www.climatechangeactionbrookline.org

Another really cool thing about Brookline MA is the Green Dog Program!

The Green Dog program was created by the Brookline MA Parks and Recreation Commission to allow dog owners to enjoy some off-leash time with their dogs.

There are several benefits to the dogs, their owners and the community

• Dogs get needed exercise and socialization time
• Dogs that are socialized and exercised tend to have better behavior
• Owners get to socialize and network with other members of the community including fellow dog owners and park visitors

There are a few catches though.

• Dogs are not allowed in all parks, just the 14 assigned parks and only during certain off-leash hours.
• All dogs must be registered at the Town Hall and wear a special "Green Dog" tag
• Dog owners must pay a $50 fee if they are residents and $100 fee if they are non-residents. There are other fees for folks who are Commercial Dog Walkers.
• Only dogs 4 months and older are allowed to participate
• Dogs must be licensed, vaccinated and healthy
• Dogs must be under voice control at all times
• Owners must pick up after their dogs

For more info on this Green Dog program, go to www.brooklinema.gov/greendog or call 617-879-5650