John Palmisano

OK, so as I explained in my blog "The Box." My wife writes about moments in our children's lives. My son, Billy (who is named after my father-in-law) who is 10 now use to laugh in the bath tub and look up at the ceiling. Then one day when walking down the stairs he saw a picture of my wife's father, who died in 1985, and he says da da. My wife and I looked at each other with much surprise, because we joked why Billy laughed in the tub. We said to each other that one of our fathers where looking down at him and made him laugh. My son was probably one to one and half years old, and had a very limited vocabulary, so for him to blurt out da da was surprising for us. Anyway my daughter did the same thing, just not in the bath tub, She would look up at the ceiling and start laughing at nothing like someone was making her laugh, so we decided that they both must have angels. Well here is the story. I know it is not Real Estate related, but it is life related.

Angels for Katie

Your angels came to visit you again today. They must be beautiful because of the delight on your face. I searched your eyes to see if I could see their reflection bouncing off, but I could not. They came to play and amuse you and you are a happy audience to their fantasy. They almost always come in the morning. It must be the hope and energy that a new day of possibilities brings with it that draws them near. It is ironic, however, those very possibilities, with the lessons they teach, will someday keep those angels from you.

I know you came from the angels and danced among them, and they miss you. I know that you are an angel sent to earth to do wondrous works. It is only natural that your angels would be here with you. They protect and guide you, make you laugh when you are happy, and remind you that you are never alone. How beautiful they must be. They want to play around you while you still see them. They delight in your happiness.

I think I must have seen angels once. I believe that they are still with me, but life has taught me not to see them. Once your mind grasps the reality of doubt and forms questions about the unknown, it teaches you unknowingly to close your consciousness to the untouchable. Even the concept of love changes, adding conditions and demands. In the beginning, as it is for you, life has not hurt you. Love is pure and unconditional to all around you. It is only when your heart is truly pure, while it still beholds and encompasses all things with trust and faith, that your mind doesn't grasp the reality of your intellect. Intellect is a necessary thing, but it prohibits you from seeing the unseeable, from believing in the unbelievable, from knowing the difference.

How sad it must be for angels when you no longer see them. They must just live quietly with you, waiting for the day when you will smile at them again. They share your joys, your pains, your accomplishments, and your disappointments in life, and yet, these are the very things that block their presence from you. But you, my baby, know only joy and love. No one has disappointed you yet, because you are without expectation. No one has hurt you yet, because you lack the ability to hurt others. You have known only love, so your heart loves purely.

How quickly this time disappears. Your brother, I think, can still possibly catch a glimpse of his angels from time to time, but they are almost gone to him forever. They will silently watch over him and protect him, as will yours someday soon. He tries to open his heart to them, and he still has an innocence of belief, so they flash quickly through the corners of his eyes. He has however, grown with maturity, experienced harshness and anger, so they are ever so fleeting glimpses for him. He rejoices in your delight, however, when your angels make themselves known to you.

Someday, a long time from now, I want to dance with your angels. You won't be able to see them anymore, but I will be there with them, dancing over you. My heart will once again be pure, like yours, knowing only love. In the meantime, I will enjoy being your angel on earth. I am sure I will not always bring you pure happiness as they do, but I will always love you. Enjoy your angels, sweetheart, for they, like me, love you purely.

OK, so we have our first contract for 2009. The year is starting off well, with my first buyers contract for the new year. Great couple from the Dominican Republic called me this morning wanting to look at one of our listings in a 55+ community. Well I just got back, after meeting with them for signatures on the contract. They got pretty good deal on a 2/2 condo in Fort Lauderdale, very nice couple, so I am glad they are getting a bargain. The funny thing this morning is when they called me at 11:30 this morning, they asked if they could see the listing right away. Well my attitude this morning was not a great one, and I wanted to blow them off, but I did not. I set the appointment for the showing, and called them back asking if they could meet me in an hour an a half, they said fine. As I hung up the phone, I said to myself, John what are you doing you did not pre-qualify them very well. Here we go running out to show property with out pre-qualifying them very well. I said to myself, boy I am starting the new year on the wrong foot. Ah, but I thought to myself, let me show them the property but nothing will happen, the seller will be happy that they received a showing and I will get out of the house. I guess you can say my mindset was way off this morning.

I went out to the property and met with them, they took a look at the property and asked what is the best price for the unit. I spoke with the owner and they gave me a number, I then spoke with the buyer and he said lets do it. Cash offer no contingencies, the buyer asked, where do I fax the letter from my bank showing I have the cash? He then ask me to find some additional properties for investments, he is tired of getting no return on his money in the stock market. He understood that the housing market is not going appreciate for a while, but he knows that it will, and he wants to buy while it is cheap. I do not pull punches with my buyers. If they ask me what I think will happen with the market. I tell the my opinion, which is the market will eventually turn around, but you will need to wait it out for a few years. I tell them that for me real estate is a great investment, but you opinion might differ from mine. I don't want any of my clients to come back to me saying Oh John said the market will change in 2 years, or John said they are not building anymore land in Florida, so buy now, Etc... Hey I don't have a crystal ball, its been in the shop for repairs for a while now. I have to call them as I see them!

Fast forward to this evening. I meet the whole family who happen to all live in Fort Lauderdale. Now there are many similarities with Spanish and Italians. One member bought a property, and all of the cousins, uncles, nieces, nephews, and grandchildren have to look at the contract, and meet the Realtor who sold them the home etc... Well, since the buyer and his wife felt really comfortable with me, now the whole family wants business cards. They want to talk about buying and selling real estate. Now I don't know if any immediate business will come from that, but who knows.

I do have to say, they where some of the nicest people I have met in a long time, and it was a pleasure to do business with them.

Amazing how one little phone call can change your whole mindset. Happy New Year everyone. Lets make it a great one.

John

OK, so the other day I wrote a Blog about some pointers when shooting video. I got a few responses from people who just purchased cameras and where in the process of shooting. One of the main problems is having stability in your shots. I remembered the other day, that I bookmarked a site where you can build a cheap Steadicam for $14.00 dollars. Now for people who do not know what a Steadicam does, if you ever watched a movie and you saw the camera circling the actor, that is usually a person in a Steadi-cam rig.

The picture above shows you a professional SteadiCam operator, which would be out of our budgets. The steadicam that you can build yourself is not as elaborate, so don't worry. What it will do for you is allow you to walk through a home and get fairly steady shots, but you will need some practice. If you are going to shoot video for your clients you should look at the site. He has examples of the steadicam in operation and few other tricks.

here's the site: http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~johnny/steadycam/

I hope this information helps everyone.

Savanna is the largest gated community in the City of Weston making up 20% of the city's population. It is the largest community that borders the natural preserve of the Everglades. 2,963 Homes. Over 12,000 Residents, 2 Guard Gates, 8 Passive Parks, 82 Culdesacs, 5,252 Swale Trees.

Sold versus list price in percentage. Pink bar represents average days on market.

Months of inventory for Weston Savanna. This information is based on closed and pending sales.

John Palmisano

Keller Williams Properties

Weston, Fl 33326

754-245-1404

OK, so I see some Realtors are making videos for their clients. Having worked in film and television post production for over 20 years, I thought I could hand out some tips. If you want to see a sample of my work, just go to: http://www.viddler.com/explore/TelecineArts/videos/1/

I know some of you are using a digital still camera with the video option. I also sometime use that myself. I also have a Panasonic Mini-DV camera that I use, which I bought on E-bay for $100.00 dollars. The one thing you want to invest in is a tripod. You can get a cheap one at Walmart that actually has bendable legs. Tripods can get expensive, and the better ones are very smooth. the one I am mentioning is great to lock in your digital still camera, so you can hold the legs or place it on a table top.

One thing you always want to do is have an establishing shot of the area you are shooting. So lets say the kitchen will be wide, and then shoot different focal points of the kitchen that would be interesting. Now when you edit, you can use the close up shots first, then reveal the establishing shot(wide shot) at the end. Done well, this can build some excitement for the viewer.

Now when you are panning (moving left to right) or tilting up and down. Here is a trick that professional camera people use, hold your breath and stay as steady as possible. Your breathing does effect the steadiness of the camera movement. Also, limit the amount of zoom you use on a camera, if you do zoom, go in close and slowly zoom out, as slow as possible. Practice a few times before you actually start recording.

The other thing I see is that when people edit, they cut into a static shot, then the shot starts moving. Always cut in and out of a shot while the shot is in motion. Also when shooting a long hallway, or coming from outside in to the home. Do not us the whole clip, break it up into pieces to create a time lapse. SO for example walking form the front lawn into the main doorway. Start wide and dissolve in and out of the clip, until you are in the main entrance. This will hide the shakiness of the long clip, to some degree.

The other issue I always see is framing. There is something called headroom. This is the amount of room on top of your subject, or the empty space above them. You want as little room as possible above the person, but leaving some room. The other thing you never want to do is cut the person off at the waist, knees, or neck. I know these areas seem like natural cutoff points, but they are not it looks un-natural. Close ups are the face and and neck, medium shot is just below the chest area, and wide shots are mid point of the shins, or all the way out including some floor area. The other part of framing a shot is called leading or lead room. That is the space in front of the person, and in the direction they are facing. If the person is facing to their right, then you want very little room on their left side, and visa versa. You want them pushed to the left side of the frame as much as possible, and to look natural. .

Now do I always have great videos, no. I get sloppy myself, but I do try to follow these basic rules. You know it is like the old adage "The Shoemaker With Holes in his Shoes."I hope this helps everyone with some basic's. Remember, you are editing the video in your head, as you are shooting. With practice this will become easier. You might also want to plan out a shot list before you go and shoot the home. If you do have any issues, I do have a slew of friends in the business, that I can always go to for help if I cannot answer a question for you.