Cherry Temple

We all get them and there seems to be almost no "nice" way to stop it. They are a scourge on society and clog your inbox. No not spam, worse than spam - Email Chains.

Our well meaning friends sends us the email that has been forwarded 224 times through various emails from friend, to friend to acquaintance to hapless recipient. They take so many forms

Look at the attached photo (usually with a red x in the upper left hand corner) it is Jesus on the cross in a hamburger bun. Keep this chain going so Jesus will continue to live in our hearts. If you fail to forward this to everyone in your contact file Armageddon will be upon us.

Another favorite are the ones that have been floating around since the Internet was born - The liberals on the FCC (now I received this one during the second Bush term) are going to prohibit religious programing on television unless we send this email warning to everyone in your inbox. If you don't, Armageddon will be upon us.

(That is a great one to check out - even the FCC has a page devoted to it denying the whole thing and and it was all based on a 1975 petition that was denied by the FCC.)

What is fun to watch are the administration changes in the really urgent - you must call Congress today because President Obama (when I received it last year it was President Bush) has a bill to sign that would give your hard earned Social Security check to illegal aliens. If you fail to do this Armageddon will be upon us.

What really snaps my garters about these idiotic email is that if anyone along the chain - anyone of those 224 people stopped and visited www.Snopes.com they would see that it is all foolishness. I must admit a couple of years ago I was taken by one that was very minor and when I found out it was foolishness - I sent an apology to all 297 people in my contacts folder.

Was I embarrassed? You betcha. But I sent it out anyway and then sent a note to the person who sent it to me gently suggesting they visit Snopes. About the FCC hoax and there is no other word to call it is almost pure fabrication - when I gently explained it all to my friend she was quite adamant that the Rev. Dobbins said it was so and it was on Angelfire, so it must be true.

So folks - when you get those crazy emails - first - do not forward them to me and second, check www.Snopes.comfor a reality check and then send a gentle correction to your friend. Who knows, one of these days I will get a correction from my friend and with luck it will not cause Armageddon to be upon us.

I am not gadgetphobic and I'm not really techno challenged. I really do enjoy electroic toys and gizmos, many different types of websites and software programs. But since entering the field of real estate I'm blown away by all the gadgets, gizmos and programs folks seem to think they need to do their jobs.

When first entering the field I was okay with my cell phone as my lifeline and it is good to have a laptop with a wifi connection and I actually don't mind text messaging. I really do prefer my new Supra Key over the old version. But the gotta have the newest and latest mentality of this field astounds me.

I don't know about you folks, but if I invested half as much in technology as some of you do, I'd be even more poor than I am now! Do I really need a separate service to track my listings? Should I invest in all these new fangled whirlygigs that will make me the newest real estate millionaire?

What gives? Am I the only agent in America using telephones, you know those black thinks with about 12 buttons that connect to a wire in the wall? (My handsets are cordless) Is everyone else using Blackberries and Strawberries and assorted fruit salads to communicate? Do I really need to spend an additional $25 per month to get that email that came into my computer 1/2 hour before I returned to the office?

How many social networking sites do I need to join? Do they all have to have such esoteric rules that most of us newbies really don't understand? Goodness, I've only been in this business for a few years and I'm already longing for the good ole days.

How much really improves my productivity levels and how much is just a waste of time and money?

OMG! If I post this my you know what is toast!

I almost made that mistake today.

Social networking and blogging are great avenues to share your thoughts and sometimes get input from strangers. But that very publicness of the blogosphere makes it a very dangerous place to put some of your thoughts and feelings. Too bad, this would be a great place to vent sometimes. I think we would get some great feedback from the posters on the boards.

Oh, well, I'll just have to find other avenues to vent my current frustrations. Hmmm, I heard of a broker in Georgia who is open to whiny emails. J/K I couldn't resist.

Everyone, have a great Thursday or as we call it at the beach - Little Friday.

Foreclosures.

I think all of us have shown a foreclose property recently. A little less clean, maybe the appliances have been ripped out, the carpets and bathroom are not pristine. All of them have the "This Property Has Been Winterized" postings near the entrances and all wet areas. In my part of the country that is a quicker indication of a foreclosure than the notice on the listing.

However, by the time the average agent, buyer's representative and our clients see the property all visible signs that this was a home are gone. That is what we see. We do not someone's financial situation or their family's pain, we see this great property coming onto the market at a ridiculous price. We see the properties after the banks' team has been through and sanitized them. That I discovered this weekend is indeed a blessing for all of us and our clients.

The utter breakdown in the life of the family was brought home to me while previewing properties for a client. I am so glad I went by myself. The house was like all the others in the price range. Three bedrooms, two bathrooms, eat in kitchen, small lot, small subdivision. Nothing outstanding from outside. But when I walked in it struck me. Until recently a family lived there. The son was active in sports and was quite good from all the sports certificates on the wall. He had interest in football and baseball. The daughter took dance classes and collected many different characters. Mom and Dad had the usual cough and cold items and like the rest of us had too many of the little things we don't know where to store them.

Yes, the family had moved their furniture but their memories were still on the walls and on the shelves. For some reason this particular agent and the bank decided to list the house before the sanitizing team could do their job. Maybe it is a good thing, maybe not. It made me realize that this was not just a house, it was a home. A really good dose of reality check for us all.