Liz Carter,Broker/Owner of Liz Carter & Team Realty, Katy TX (Houston)

I opened up my e-mail tonight and had mail from Justin Smith Mr. Tomato on Active Rain, and

this is what he had to say, which might be the understatement of the year;

Hey Liz,
Just wanted to show you an updated ranking report on some keywords for Katy. The shorter the bar on the graph, the better your ranking... so, you can see how your ranking has improved tremendously from January.

Hey Justin, that might be the understatement of the year! Below is the chart he sent me

I did some further research, since this is kind of Greek to me, and what did my did wondering eyes behold;

•1. For Katy Texas Real Estate I was #2 on page one of Google

•2. For Katy Texas Realtor I was #1 on page one of Google

•3. For Katy Real Estate I was #2 on page one of Google

•4. For Katy homes for sale I was #1 on page two of Google

•5. For Katy Realtor I was #5 on page one of Google

•6. For Katy Real Estate Agents I was #! on page one of Google

•7. For Real estate agents in Katy I was #1 on page one of Google

Now if all this was not good enough new for one night, I found that Active Rain's Localism (which has tons of my stuff on it of course) ranked on 1) Localism was #9 on page 1,on 3) Localism was #10 page 1,5) Localism was #3 page 2, 6) Active Rain Localism out-ranked my site and was #4 on page 1,and for 7) Localism was #10 on page 1.!

I then did just a couple of more searches, after all I was on Google right? For Top Realtor Katy my web site was ranked #3 on page 1, for Top Real Estate Agent Katy I was #2 on page 1, and for Best agent Katy I was #3 on page 1. Active Rain Localism ranked on page one of all of those searches too. Also a lot of my blogs and listings were on pages 1-2 of Google, so I was EVERYWHERE...but who's keeping a watchful eye out for web site rankings? All I can say is THANKS JUSTIN and ACTIVE RAIN, this stuff does work, and the better I get at bloging, the more time Justin has to keep doing cool stuff on my SEO, and the more time Active Rain keeps improving and adding things for us, FOR FREE, the better it will get!

This is not only good news for me but also for my clients, who after all is why I'm doing it. If 82-85% of the people are now starting their search for a home on the Internet, those of us that are on Active Rain and paying attention to our placement will be far ahead of the game, with tons more qualified buyers to bring to our sellers. That's what it's all about, list a saleable home, get it sold and tell the world as I stated in my post entitled; The Three Basic Things You Need To Do TO Be Successful In Real Estate Sales. If it sounds so simple why does the average Realtor in Texas only sell 2-3 homes a year? The answer is there is more to being a Realtor than most people know. You have to be highly skilled, committed, willing to put in the effort, hours and do what the unsuccessful Realtors will not do.

I'm dedicated, highly skilled and committed to myself and my clients and have the disciple to follow a strict schedule and prospect daily for buyers instead of waiting for the phone to ring. I am also now committed to Active Rain, and bloging to improve my search engine rankings. After all I only want to be #1 on page 1 of the entire search engines for all the searches you can imagine...that's not asking too much, is it?

See you in the Rain, the very Active Rain! Liz Carter, Broker/Owner Liz Carter & Team Realty, Katy Texas. 281-392-SOLD (7653) or visit my web site, http://www.lizcarter.com/.

PS, if any of my friends here on AR need to send someone to the greater Houston, Katy or Sugar Land Texas area, I promise to take very special care of them. Most people don't know where Katy TX is...it is a suburb of Houston Texas approx. 28 miles due West of downtown Houston, Texas, and most people who live in Katy commute to Houston. We have the top rated KISD school district, and great prices, which is what brings most families to Katy and Sugar Land. Sugar Land was rated as the top 3rd small town in the US to live in. Thanks, Liz

A delightful evening for all your senses event held in Cinco Ranch, Katy Texas

Cinco Ranch Ladies Club Event Enjoyed By All

The Golf Club at Cinco Ranch in Katy, Texas was transformed for the evening into a display of artistry. We are fortunate to have many well know, talented artist in Katy, Texas who displayed a sampling of their art. Some of the artists were our famous Terri Bieber, Claire Payne, Elizabeth Linder, Vickie McMillan, Elizabeth Bailey, Angie Malayika, Lorena Fernandez, Marge Scott and Martin Diaz. Strolling through their art displays was inspiring, wonderful, transforming, and stimulating to your senses. Terri Bieber is the executive director of Artreach. Their mission statement is, "It is the mission of Artreach to bring art-related programs and services to the underprivileged including children at risk, troubled youth, children and adults with special needs, and the elderly". You can contact Terri at art.reach@earthlink.net. It is a non-profit organization that does so much good for our community, "Art is not a thing; it is a Way", you can also learn more about it at, www.artreachonline.org.

Ahaaaaaa the chocolate was everywhere, much to the delight of our sensory palates. Jennifer Cooney of Destination Desserts provided us with treats from her store. "A journey of taste of which few have resisted and many have eaten, catering your special events making them sweeter and more memorable" her brochure says it perfectly. She can be reached at http://www.destinationdesserts.com/, highly recommended by me, as I almost wiped them out during the evening. For the event I provided a chocolate fountain & the chocolate for it, Dark Belgian chocolate by Sephra. They ship worldwide also, http://www.sephrachocolate.com/, fabulous. The splash of the chocolate fountain made a wonderful centerpiece for the evening, sponsored by Liz Carter & Team Realty. My contact information is 281-391-SOLD (7653), http://www.lizcarter.com/, I have been serving Katy residents with their Real Estate needs for 32+ years. Lori Curtis, president of the Cinco Ranch Ladies Club ordered chocolates and truffles from DeBrand Chocolatiers, she used some as door prizes (I was the lucky winner of a box of truffles, yum). I highly recommend DeBrand Chocolatier also, http://www.debrand.com/ , it might be the best I've ever had...but I was kind of on a sensory overload that nightJ. As Lori said, "What better complement to art and chocolate than wine". Supplying us with the third piece of decadent trifecta, The Wine Next Door, owned and operated by long-time Katy family and Cinco Ranch residents John and Robin Dombrowski joined us to provide samples of wines. They are located in the wonderful new outdoor shopping mall in Katy, La Centerra. You can contact them at 281-395-4100, please visit them for insights into the wonderful world of wines, food paring and other tidbits of information on the silky goodness from the vine. John & Robin Dombrowski also happen to be decedents of the founders of Katy, Texas.

Due to the efforts of member Kathleen Weidener we had an opportunity to win an extra special treat. A two-night stay with deluxe accommodations at the Hyatt Regency Lost Pines Resort and Spa in Bastrop, Texas. It is located just northwest of Katy on Interstate 71, 45 minutes south of Austin. This fabulous resort was voted Hot Hotel 2007 by Conde Nast and Spa Django, Hot Spa 2007; you can visit them at http://www.lostpines.hyatt.com/. Janice Baldridge, director of leisure & business travel with Hyatt Regency Lost Pines was personally on hand to present the certificate to the lucky winner.

The evening was a total success with a large turnout of members, friends and neighbors, enjoying each other and the decadent chocolates, exquisite wines and breathtaking art work. Many thanks to Lori Curtis, and all the CRLC board members including Pat McAnear, and Pam Rapp for their time and effort on this very special meeting of the Cinco Ranch Ladies Club, Katy Texas. We are lucky to have all of the board members volunteering their time. The Cinco Ranch Ladies Club is a great place to make new friends and form an instant support group, whether you moved from around the corner or around the world. It is one of the most successful clubs in Katy and West Houston. We offer memberships at only $20 a month. That includes a monthly newsletter, all of the activity groups, a yearly directory, and socials throughout the year (the socials are at a small additional cost). It also of course includes the monthly meetings which are held the last Tuesday of the month at the Golf Club in Cinco Ranch. They start with a social at 7:30 PM and the meetings at 8:00 PM, there is a cash bar. The activity groups have all age ranges, and types of ladies with kids and with no kids; there literary is something for everyone, from gardening, bible study, bunko, poker, movie group, to play groups for moms with kids of all ages. For more information on the CRLC please contact Lori at Lori.curtis@cincoranchconnect.com , or Pat McAnear at mailto:crlc-membership@att.net.

By Liz Carter, resident of Cinco Ranch, charter member, past board member, historian and past president of the Cinco Ranch Ladies Club

Dream Home and Mineral Rights in Texas

Ever wanted to win the lottery or find your pot of gold at the end of the Rainbow? I did! A couple of years ago in August 2005 my husband and I found our "dream home " vacation home for now...retirement home for later, on Lake Limestone. We always had only two requirements.

•1. It had to be on the water with ½-1 acre of land

•2. It had to be in Texas, close to the family & my office Liz Carter & Team Realty, in Katy, Texas

What we found meet that and much more than we ever expected to find. A nice (after some work was done) home with around 2500 square feet, on three acres with one acre being completely on the lake, a pond, and a creek running behind the house. The house itself was a log cabin style with 3 bedrooms, but they are huge rooms, and you can sleep 14, which just happens to be the number of people in our family. So everyone fits comfortably if they all came at the same time, which of course is rare, but nice when we have a hurricane about to hit Houston. It has an enormous back porch and the property is loaded with giant native Post Oak trees, and wildlife galore. It is located only 2 ½ hours from Katy on Lake Limestone. Limestone country is south of Dallas about the same distance as Katy is the other direction, and about one hour east of Waco. Perfect location, house and the price was right too.

Since I hold a Real Estate Brokers license and Bill my husband is also a Realtor, we can buy or sell anywhere in the state of Texas, I knew it would be smarter to hire a Realtor to help us. We needed an area expert and, someone that was not emotional attached. It's worth the money to hire a Realtor who knows the area and gives you advice; I hired a local Realtor named Jeff I found off an ad on the Internet. After only the third time out with Jeff we found our perfect "dream home".

Of course we noticed the many drill sites going in everywhere in that area, in fact one giant rig was setting right out the kitchen window of the house we bought. It was one of the reasons the house had been on the market so long. Natural gas drill rigs are big, ugly, noisy, and all lit up at night. Jeff assured us that the wells only stay up a couple of months and are capped off, so no more eye sore or noise. That was the extent of our conversation or thoughts about the gas wells that were all over Limestone County...mineral rights were never brought up by the three "professional" Realtors.

About six months after closing I got a call from a "Land Man" who worked for the drilling company asking me to verify I was the new owner of the property at Big Creek East in Limestone County. Of course I ask why he needed this information. His reply...Well I need to know where to mail your checks for the mineral rights you own. You could have knocked my over with a feather , someone was mailing me money, $675 dollars in fact and I was a mineral rights owner. I'd found my pot of gold or pot of Natural Gas in this case.

Mr. Oaks who had owned thousands of acres in this neck of the woods and developed Big Creek East and Big Creek West when they dammed the Navasota river to create a power plant for Houston Reliant Energy, which created Lake Limestone. Mr. Oaks sold off tracks of land without retaining the mineral rights, neither had the three previous owners of "my dream home". They apparently did not deem natural gas drilling profitable until a few years ago as gas prices skyrocketed, and natural gas prices with them, then they started drilling like crazy. I now get checks in the mail. The amounts keep going up and I even got an offer to buy my mineral rights for $9,000...no thanks I'll hang on to them...forever, even if I sell my "dream home", I'll be sure to retain my mineral rights in the contract.

"All Of Your Dreams Can Come True If You Have The Courage To Pursue Them."- Walt Disney

by; Liz Carter, Katy Texas 2008

When you first start bloging on Active Rain there is so much too learn, the little nuances make it more enjoyable, but you have to find them first. It's a continuing education kinda thing and you find answers and then have more questions :)...which differently keeps it interesting. The good news is the people are very understanding, caring and willing to share in the rain, so when you learn something "pay it forward", even if you think someone else already has, "The teacher will appear when the student is ready". On your home page there is Associates (you control), and at the bottom, Associations (other AR member control), just knowing that will make it all much easier to start working in both fields.

Associates you control...this is were you add people you meet in the rain and want to stay closer to, be able to pull up quickly; basically it's your address book, it adds them and their post they have written. However, you don't see the post/blogs of an associate unless you click on posts, which pulls all of them up. One of the nicest features is it allows you to quickly go to people you want to return the favor of making a comment on their post and it pulls up all of their recent work first. . Associates/Post.

When you run across someone who you want to add, go to their profile, click on more about me, a button will be on top that says Add as Associate, when you click that it takes you to your home page and give you some options; (Which groups is this associate in?) , you pick what group you want them to make them. You can make names for groups other than Associates, i.e. Inspirations, Agents for Referrals, Personal Friends and as I have, people who are Mortgage People, Escrow/Title Co., and people on the rain that have helped me with SEO issues, I put as, SEO Help

You can then put comments in about the person, why you added them, their market, what you liked about them etc.* Comments will be publicly visible on profile*. This is part I did not read, other people can go on your home page and look at all your associates and what you have said about them, hence "not for your eyes only". One thing for me that is frustrating is there is no spell check for this, so mine can read like gibberish since I have problems with "Cat", but remember others will read this, I thought it was just for me, fortunately I had not written anything that I cared if someone else saw.

You will be adding to this list as you meet more people in the rain, and they are placed in your Associate list in order of when you added them, first to last. To re-order just drag the users image up and down. The persons picture also shows up, when you pull up your list you will see a pencil and a little white square. To edit anything about the person, click on the pencil . That will bring up a screen that allows you to edit the group you have them in and your comments. The small white square is an eraser or trash can and when you click on the one beside the persons picture it erases them completely (you can add them back if you clicked on it accidentally).

Associations (Other AR members' control) and when you click on it, a list of people who have added you comes up, along with the information below. It shows you the date they added you, who they are (name, city, etc.), which type AR member they are, a real estate agent, inspector, title co. or loan officer. The last one, Blocked* is if you want to block this person. Note: * Blocking an agent removes you from all of their associates' lists and prevents them from adding you again. Also, if you block someone, they cannot come into your page and change any comments they made about you. There are four fields when you look at your Associations: DATE WHO TYPE COMMENT BLOCKED. The date is when they added you, who is of course their name and who they are, type is agent, loan officer, title co. etc., comment is what they had to say about you, and the blocked has a small square by it and it you check that you block them.

So now, you know the difference between the two. There are as many reasons to blog as there are people who start bloging, and it is addictive. You could start out as I did just wanting another place to showcase your listings, yourself, and your company, and to get more Google Juice. Then the creative side of expressing yourself, you become more proficient as you learn how to add pictures and write better. What I learned after being on Active Rain for a year now and never expected is the FRIENDSHIPS you make along the way, which was a big bonus. So happy bloging, hope this helps and

remember the quote from Pablo Picasso, "I'm always doing things I can't do, that's how I got to do them".

by; Liz Carter, www.lizcarter.com, Katy, Texas

Liz Carter interview by Texas Realtor Magazine...Three Generation of Native Texans on Liz Carter & Team Realty

Over the years I have been interviewed and published in most all Realtor related media, and lots that were not related. Texas Monthly Magazine named me as the Top Texas Realtor, and the Houston Chronicle, Katy Times, and the Houston Business Journal have also run articles about my team and me. There are two main reasons I think drew their attention, and it is also what makes my team and I unique.

1. Most of my team (75%) is family, & all three generations are native Texans.
2. Our level of consistent high production ,we have averaged 200 trsansactions the last ten years in a row.
   

My father's family settled in East Texas in the 1800's,my sister and I were raised in Port Arthur Texas and when I was 17 the whole family moved to Houston. My Mother and Daddy retired back to East Texas and my sister Sandra decided to take her two small children Denise and Nina to Kirbyville TX also, to raise them in a small town atmosphere. I stayed in Houston and got into Real Estate in 1976. I started building a team, long before it was in vogue (1990-91), I never dreamed one day it would be mostly family. Over the years I've been blessed that the whole family has moved to Katy, Texas at various times and most joined my real estate team. My sister Sandra, her daughters Nina and Denise, Sandie who is Nina's daughter and the 3^rd generation. My husband Bill decided to get his Real Estate license about 15 years ago. Pictured on front row to the right of me is Sandie, 2^nd row L-R is Denise and Nina, back row far right is Sandra, and Bill in the middle as the only man is hard to miss. Jean, Chelsea and Monday round out the team, they are unrelated, but they are like family to us all. Following are some highlights from an interview with Texas Realtor Magazine, which of course had some questions on what it's like to work with your family?

Ward Lowe with the Texas Association of Realtors interviewed Liz Carter for an article in their magazine, which is the premiere publication for the Texas of Realtors. What inspired Ward to call for the interview was that Liz Carter & Team has three generations of her family working on her team and has been a practicing Realtor since 1976.

Lowe's first question was which members of the team was family? "My sister, two nieces and a great niece are on my team. They all joined the team at different times, with Sandra Parker my sister being the first member and the first generation along with myself. Then Nina Murray, my niece joined the family business about nine years ago. When Nina's daughter Sandie Acord who is my great niece in more ways than one, graduated high school in 2000, she made the decision to join the family business instead of going to college. Then Denise Acord came on board. My husband, Bill started with me about 15 years ago, after leaving an oil industry related field".

The pros and cons of working so closely with family was another question posed to Carter. "There are three big advantages", Carter said. "The biggest one is that you are working with people you total trust. Second, there is continuity to your business, I can pass it along to the next generations for them to grow and expand the business. Third is that is gives me an opportunity to work at a level that I choose to after a work career of 47 years. The biggest drawback is that we end up talking about business too much outside the office Instead of just being together as a family. We have a rule not talk about work related things outside the office; however that rule is broken often."

In addition to training and coaching her family, Liz has been a mentor to many outside agents and was ask what she tells new agents or people thinking about becoming a Realtor "I caution everyone to be patient; it takes a long time to succeed in this highly completive field". Lowe ask Carter if she had ever suggested that someone look for another line of work. Carter said. "Absolutely, if you don't have a very strong drive and passion plus the time and money necessary to sustain yourself for a minimum of 6 months to a year, look elsewhere. People think real estate is easy, that they can work two or three days a week and make a fortune, the fact is the average agent in Texas only sells 2-3 homes a year. Some people think you can do this part time, which is not possible and do a good job. You end up doing a disservice to yourself, your family, your clients and to the industry.

Ask what advice she had for a broker or agent who's mentoring someone for the first time, "You must find out what the new agent's goals are because we're all motivated by different things. Money, toys, recognition, etc., find out their WHY. By identifying their motivation, you can help them achieve their goals, Liz said." You can reach Liz Carter at 281-391-SOLD (7653) or visit her web site, http://www.lizcarter.com/. One of the things that makes this top producing agent so special is the time she is willing to give up her time to help new agents in their careers.

When I first starring bloging on Active Rain a year ago it was mostly to get my listings/sellers more exposure, and help my web placement on the Internet. I did not do much on Active Rain for several months, and when I did, I discovered a whole a new world, of people I could learn from, and people I could help and teach what I knew about real estate. Active Rain is a great community of triple A type Realtors and others. It's rare to have a group of 70,000 + personalities like this in one place sharing ideals, and for the most part "playing nice" Active Rain is a lot more to me now, it's a place to express myself with the freedom to be creative also I made so many friends here on line. The rain is a place to share, learn, teach, express and get business too. There are referrals from other people on AR, my web site ratings have sky rocketed, and I enjoy bloging/writing too...what more could you ask for? Thanks to all the people who created this great place called active rain, and to all the great people who are on it.

Thanks for the memories, Liz Carter