About Crow Wing County, MN

I am signing up for a Webinar sponsored by the National Association of REALTORS and am thinking how sad it is that we need to even consider these issues. Although I have not had any trouble or even felt uncomfortable at a showing or an open house, I know others who have. I have also heard of robberies, rapes and murders of agents. I am not naive enought to consider that this could not happen in my area. It Could! I am going to do what I can to prevent it from happening to me. To sign up for the free Webinar go to NAR and sign in.

Attend the Free REALTOR® Safety Webinar from NAR: Safety at Open Houses

Your safety is a top priority for NAR and as part of a year-long initiative to help build safety awareness, NAR will host REALTOR® Safety Webinars each quarter led by safety expert Andrew Wooten. The first in the series, Safety at Open Houses, is scheduled for Monday, September 14, 2009 at 10am Central. Advanced registration is recommended.

Photo FLICKR

I see suggestions on Trulia and other sites from well meaning people who seem to think that by watching HGTV, you too can stage your own home. Only 10% of the population can visualize something other than what they are seeing, so you are rare. To top that off, you already have your home how you like it - right. That is the other problem - it is not about you any longer - it is all about getting prospective buyers in the door and to the purchase agreement table. If they do not like the online photos -they won't come to see it. Even worse if there are none.....
If they do not like the view from the road - they will drive on. There are so many other homes to see- why waste time? Are you willing to risk what is perhaps your biggest asset?
If you are serious about selling your home in the Brainerd Lakes area of Minnesota - then contact the team that can take you all the way to Sold and in get there in Style with much less Stress.
A complimentary staging consultation for each of my signed listings, furniture and accessories available for my vacant listings and a virtual tour and flyers for all listings.

We do things differently and it works.

Kathleen Lordbock

REALTOR/Staging Specialist

218-829-0339

Brainerd Lakes area of Minnesota

Keller Williams Realty Brainerd Lakes

Tell your parents, your children, your friends, your clients, everyone you run across. Put your car keys beside your bed at night. If you hear a noise outside your home or someone trying to get in your house, just press the panic button for your car. The alarm will be set off, and the horn will continue to sound until either you turn it off or the car battery dies.

Next time you come home for the night and you start to put your keys away, think of this: It's a security alarm system that you probably already have and requires no installation. Test it. It will go off from most everywhere inside your house and will keep honking until your battery runs down or until you reset it with the button on the key fob chain.

It works if you park in your driveway or garage. If your car alarm goes off when someone is trying to break in your house, odds are the burglar/rapist won't stick around... after a few seconds all the neighbors will be looking out their windows to see who is out there and sure enough the criminal won't want that! And remember to carry your keys while walking to your car in a parking lot. The alarm can work the same way there. I always have my keys out in the Mall of America ramp or the hospital ramps in the cities.

For someone working outside in their yard - who falls or starts to feel ill (heart attack) - push the button. Those living in secluded or rural areas are on their own, but even where I live - if the neighbors knew "the signal" could hear a honking horn across 80 acres.

This is what was left of our 70' trailer home which was inside a 80x170 indoor riding arena - also gone in Brainerd, MN. We never found the appliances, furnace, etc - but our blue toilet was found intact several miles away. Fencing & building in the background were put in after the storm. This tornado hit June 13, 2001 around 8:15 PM and we are still picking up the pieces and cutting up the trees. It was very fast and very devastating and yet, while we did lose horses and possessions, no human lives were lost. It certainly could have been worse! 86 Homes were destroyed and our riding stable and a farm with cattle. We are back in tornado season and I want to give you information that may WELL SAVE YOUR LIFE.

Tornadoes are nature’s most violent storms. Spawned from powerful thunderstorms, tornadoes can cause fatalities and devastate a neighborhood in seconds. A tornado appears as a rotating, funnel-shaped cloud that extends from a thunderstorm to the ground with whirling winds that can reach 300 miles per hour. Damage paths can be in excess of one mile wide and 50 miles long. Every state is at some risk from this hazard.

Some tornadoes are clearly visible, while rain or nearby low-hanging clouds obscure others. Occasionally, tornadoes develop so rapidly that little, if any, advance warning is possible. That was the case with ours. The warning sirens in town went off after we came out to view the damage.

Before a tornado hits, the wind may die down and the air may become very still. A cloud of debris can mark the location of a tornado even if a funnel is not visible. Tornadoes generally occur near the trailing edge of a thunderstorm. It is not uncommon to see clear, sunlit skies behind a tornado.

The following are facts about tornadoes:

• They may strike quickly, with little or no warning.
• They may appear nearly transparent until dust and debris are picked up or a cloud forms in the funnel.
• The average tornado moves Southwest to Northeast, but tornadoes have been known to move in any direction.
• The average forward speed of a tornado is 30 MPH, but may vary from stationary to 70 MPH.
• Tornadoes can accompany tropical storms and hurricanes as they move onto land.
• Waterspouts are tornadoes that form over water.
• Tornadoes are most frequently reported east of the Rocky Mountains during spring and summer months.
• Peak tornado season in the southern states is March through May; in the northern states, it is late spring through early summer.
• Tornadoes are most likely to occur between 3 p.m. and 9 p.m., but can occur at any time.

"People always think that religion and business do not go together. I totally agree - “religion” causes all sorts of problems.

People always think Christians are religious nuts - not true. Christians aren’t religious - we have a “relationship” with God. That’s all he wants - a relationship with you. I talk to God like a best friend. I spent time telling him how I feel, what I would like to see happened, praying for YOUR success and more." Dwan Bent-Twyford

Thanks to Dwan for the differentiation between religion and Christianity. People tell me I am religious - I tell them I am in a relationship. People acknowledge that there is a God and if asked want to (& think that they are going to Heaven). Yet, they have no idea how that would happen (Or think they are "good" and "good" people go to Heaven). They also do not know God or anything about Him and yet want to spend eternity with Him. Why? They do not want to spend their short life on earth "with" Him.
Get to know God, study His word - so much to learn. And pray - talk to Him and ask for your eyes to be opened and for understanding.

photo: Flickr

Kathleen Lordbock

Keller Williams Realty Brainerd Lakes

Top Brainerd Agent

licensed to sell real estate in Minnesota

~Not your ordinary REALTOR. not your ordinary results~