Debbie White

REALTOR^® of the Year is the highest honor that this Board can bestow upon one of its members. The Award is presented annually to a REALTOR^® nominated by their peers, then selected by the REALTOR^® of the Year Committee, which is an impartial panel made up of past REALTORS^® of the Year. The Committee reviews all nominations, taking into consideration the member’s involvement in civic affairs and participation in local, state and national committees. They also consider the member’s REALTOR^® spirit and business accomplishments.

At the annual dinner for the Southeast Alaska Board of REALTORS, this award was presented to Debbie White, Broker/Owner of Prudential Southeast Alaska Real Estate.

Debbie is a long time resident of Juneau and obtained her salesperson license in 1999. She worked for two other real estate offices prior to opening her own brokerage in 2008. Within six months she received the Prudential Real Estate franchise for Southeast Alaska.

Debbie is a Graduate of the REALTORS^® Institute (GRI), and Accredited Buyer Representative (ABR) and will soon obtain her Certified Residential Specialist (CRS) designation. She has also served on the Board of REALTORS^® in several capacities, including as president.

When she is not helping people buy real estate, Debbie is very active within her community. In addition to the Board of REALTORS^® she has served on the boards of Southeast Alaska Master Gardeners and Juneau Youth Wrestling. In 2005, Debbie won the Golden North Salmon Derby and repaid the efforts by serving as fundraising chair for 2006. She has spear-headed several fundraising efforts when she saw the need in the community. She was involved in early efforts of the Juneau Teen Suicide Prevention program, and volunteered her time with a gardening instructional project at Johnson Youth Center. She is an active member of Juneau Glacier Valley Rotary and Juneau Chamber of Commerce.

In her spare time, Debbie enjoys gardening, fishing, hiking and other activities. She also loves to cook and wants to write her own cookbook someday. She also enjoys spending time with her family and recently started learning the art of wood turning.

It’s the middle of October and as the termination dust slips down the side of the mountain, it’s time to think about energy efficiency. Energy costs in Alaska can take a huge bite out of the family budget!

Here are steps you can take immediately to save money this winter:

1. Get your heating system serviced.

a. If you have a hot water baseboard heating system or forced-air heating with a boiler or furnace, annual maintenance will ensure efficiency and reliability. The cost for this service can run $250-$300. Knowing you will burn less fuel AND your heat is less likely to go out during a cold snap – priceless!

b. If you heat with a wood stove, pellet stove or oil stove, you aren’t immune to service! Keeping your system clean and running efficiently could save lots of trouble – and lots of fuel in the future! Get that chimney cleaned. One of the most common causes of home fires in winter is what is called a “stack fire”. This is when the built up creosote and other gunk along the walls of the chimney catch on fire.

c. If you have an electric baseboard system, take off the covers and vacuum out all the lint and remove all the little toys that have collected in there. Getting the dust off the fins inside the registers will increase your efficiency.

2. Don’t let your water heater get a chill.

a. Your water heater needs love too! While the technician is on hand servicing your heating system, see if they will service your water heater too. Those people who are comfortable with Do It Yourself: http://www.instructables.com/id/Water-Heater-Maintenance

b. Consider giving your water heater a blankie! There are kits especially made to wrap your water heater safely or you can devise your own. Just be sure not to cover anything that gets hot from electricity, hot water pipes, or gas/propane.

3. Find and stop those air leaks!

a. If you rent, this is going to be more difficult than if the home is your own, but air leaks are a major cause of heat loss in our homes. Places where air leaks into and out of your home are going to become quite obvious over the next few weeks. Stop them as you find them. Here are some obvious targets:

i. Caulk and weather strip doors and windows that leak air.

ii. Caulk and seal air leaks where plumbing, ducting or electrical wiring penetrates through walls, floors ceilings and soffits over cabinets.

iii. Look for dirty spots on your ceilings, walls and carpets, which may indicate air leaks at the joint where the wall comes to the ceiling or floor. Caulk these joints.

iv. Install storm windows if you have them, or get plastic from the hardware store. If this is a major source of air leakage, contact me for information on home energy improvement loans and grants!

Recently, I competed with Brand X on a listing.

Our office is a member of BOTH the Southeast Alaska MLS AND the Alaska MLS. We are the only brokerage in Juneau to have membership in both MLS groups and one of the few in all of Southeast Alaska. One office in Sitka also has membership in both MLS's.

We advertise extensively in the Capital City Weekly Real Estate Guide, Juneau Empire, and in the small newspapers of the rural towns and remote villages in which we serve. We put all listings on both MLS databases with as many photos as allowed. On our own website, we offer unlimited photos. If features of a property warrant 100 photos, we put 100 photos on there. When buyers, such as this one, feel the need to build their own website, we will add a link to their website on the MLS and on our website. We offer equal co-op commission to any broker selling our listings. This is just some of what we offer.

Well, we lost the listing to Brand X.

Brand X is only a member of one of the MLS groups - the one headquarterd several hundred miles away. Brand X does no print advertising in the regional periodical and very little in the local 8 page paper. Brand X has a mediocre website and usually only puts a few photos online. He puts listings in the MLS offering 1/3 the normal co-op commission and keeps the rest.

Mr. SELLER has asked me about giving him a link on my website to his. Um, No. His website links to Brand X. He also asked about putting his website on the OTHER MLS. Um. No. He doesn't have a contract with us. He's also now questioning the lack of internet coverage he is receiving, noting that our website offers greater exposure to buyers. He finally did as I suggested and "Googled" Southeast Alaska Real Estate.

*thunks head*

*slaps forehead*

Well, almost. But I’m done being the Board President of the Southeast Alaska Board of REALTORS®

Tonight we had our transitional meeting. I will step back as Past-President.

WHEW. What a run. We coordinated some great education, raised money for charity and RPAC, and started planning the state convention which will be held in Juneau in September 2010.

Congratulations to Gwen Place, as 2010 President!

One of the activities that bring me out of winter and into spring involves gardening. Catalogues, planning and dreaming! This year, it seems many of my favorite companies have either delayed sending them out, or perhaps have gone paperless. At least a few companies have switched to sending paper catalogues every other year as well. That’s fine – less clutter.

Part of a great landscaping plan involves planning. Our gardening season is wet, cool and short in Southeast Alaska, so there seems to be a lot of time to plan and dream during the long winters. This year is especially hard because we have so little snow cover. (Hopefully I mulched enough to protect my hundreds of bulbs!) When we have white on the ground, it seems to reflect what little light we have. Right now, the sun comes up about 9AM and it’s completely dark by 3PM.