Now, I'm not going to teach you how to get out of parking tickets. I'm going to help you save your clients a mountain of frustration when they approach their car in the morning and find a nice little present accompanied by a bitter yellow envelope tucked under the wiper blade.
Let me set this up for you: I grew up in downtown Chicago before moving to central Denver 10 years ago. A lot changed between the two cities: most notably the weather and severe drop-off in good Thai restaurants, but there's one thing about city living that followed me from Chicago to Denver and haunted me until yesterday: if you don't move your car by 8 a.m. on street cleaning day, you will get a ticket.
Granted, the idea of moving your car from the street in front of your house may sound like a foreign concept to the covenant-controlled, attached-garage masses, but everybody that lives in a major metropolitan area gets to abide by the absolutely inflexible rules of their friendly neighborhood Streets and San. And one of those rules is getting out of the way of the sweepers. I kid you not: I have been in front of my house in Driving Park at 7:59 a.m., getting into my car and seeing the meter maid at the end of the block warming up her pen. I have been able to grant clemency for a couple of my neighbors here and there, but at least in my neighborhood, if you haven't hit the gas by 8, you might as well reduce your spending money by at least $25.
I've lived under the shroud of the Denver Public Works' mobile profit center for 10 years, and I average about 2 tickets a year. Yes, I'd like to have that $ back, but it's absolutely the principle of the thing. I know how to read a calendar and I know that the first Tuesday of every month is street cleaning on MY side of the street, and it's Wednesday for the other side of Humboldt. Not a difficult concept. To add insult to injury, the street cleaning sign is in MY front yard.
The worst part is that I'm not alone. My entire neighborhood likes the convenience of parking on the street as opposed to making the three-point turn into the alley garage. Plus, we're a front yard neighborhood so we know when people are home. That makes for a great neighborhood - actually, a lucrative one for the city. April 1 is the first day our street gets cleaned, and the occasion is marked by 4 to 5 tickets flapping under wiper blades. I've seen neighbors move their cars to the wrong side of the street two days in a row and end up $50 lighter. Pathetic.
That is, until now. Unlike Chicago, Denver actually wants you to move your car so they can clean the gutters. As a result, they signed on with www.MyMotorMaid.com. My Motor Maid is an automated reminder service that anybody in Denver can sign up for to remind them when the next street cleaning is coming down their street. It takes about 30 seconds to sign up and once you've received the confirmation email, you'll be alerted with plenty of time to move your car.
I just forwarded this link to all my clients and prospects in Denver.
The bad news: My Motor Maid is only in 10 cities across the country, all but Denver are in California. But that shouldn't stop you from helping out your urban, garage-challenged clients from getting nabbed by the meter maids. If you don't live in one of these cities, set up an email distribution list of all your clients/prospects/farm that live in street-sweeping zones. Usually, street sweeping occurs the first week of the month, so put a reminder in your Outlook, whatever, to send an email to your clients reminding them about the impending street cleaning.
Easy as that! And that's how you become a hero without leaving your desk.
Now, I'm not going to teach you how to get out of parking tickets. I'm going to help you save your clients a mountain of frustration when they approach their car in the morning and find a nice little present accompanied by a bitter yellow envelope tucked under the wiper blade.
Let me set this up for you: I grew up in downtown Chicago before moving to central Denver 10 years ago. A lot changed between the two cities: most notably the weather and severe drop-off in good Thai restaurants, but there's one thing about city living that followed me from Chicago to Denver and haunted me until yesterday: if you don't move your car by 8 a.m. on street cleaning day, you will get a ticket.
Granted, the idea of moving your car from the street in front of your house may sound like a foreign concept to the covenant-controlled, attached-garage masses, but everybody that lives in a major metropolitan area gets to abide by the absolutely inflexible rules of their friendly neighborhood Streets and San. And one of those rules is getting out of the way of the sweepers. I kid you not: I have been in front of my house in Driving Park at 7:59 a.m., getting into my car and seeing the meter maid at the end of the block warming up her pen. I have been able to grant clemency for a couple of my neighbors here and there, but at least in my neighborhood, if you haven't hit the gas by 8, you might as well reduce your spending money by at least $25.
I've lived under the shroud of the Denver Public Works' mobile profit center for 10 years, and I average about 2 tickets a year. Yes, I'd like to have that $ back, but it's absolutely the principle of the thing. I know how to read a calendar and I know that the first Tuesday of every month is street cleaning on MY side of the street, and it's Wednesday for the other side of Humboldt. Not a difficult concept. To add insult to injury, the street cleaning sign is in MY front yard.
The worst part is that I'm not alone. My entire neighborhood likes the convenience of parking on the street as opposed to making the three-point turn into the alley garage. Plus, we're a front yard neighborhood so we know when people are home. That makes for a great neighborhood - actually, a lucrative one for the city. April 1 is the first day our street gets cleaned, and the occasion is marked by 4 to 5 tickets flapping under wiper blades. I've seen neighbors move their cars to the wrong side of the street two days in a row and end up $50 lighter. Pathetic.
That is, until now. Unlike Chicago, Denver actually wants you to move your car so they can clean the gutters. As a result, they signed on with www.MyMotorMaid.com. My Motor Maid is an automated reminder service that anybody in Denver can sign up for to remind them when the next street cleaning is coming down their street. It takes about 30 seconds to sign up and once you've received the confirmation email, you'll be alerted with plenty of time to move your car.
I just forwarded this link to all my clients and prospects in Denver.
The bad news: My Motor Maid is only in 10 cities across the country, all but Denver are in California. But that shouldn't stop you from helping out your urban, garage-challenged clients from getting nabbed by the meter maids. If you don't live in one of these cities, set up an email distribution list of all your clients/prospects/farm that live in street-sweeping zones. Usually, street sweeping occurs the first week of the month, so put a reminder in your Outlook, whatever, to send an email to your clients reminding them about the impending street cleaning.
Easy as that! And that's how you become a hero without leaving your desk.
If you want only good news about home sales these days, stop reading at the end of this paragraph. Driving Park Historic District average sales prices skyrocketed 20% from 2007-2008!
But you know there'll be a catch.
Read the rest at my company blog or Denver Real Estate and Beyond!
This client was referred to me about three months ago and I had the pleasure of showing homes to her and her two daughters on several occasions. About three weeks ago, she gave me the bad news that she couldn't pull the trigger on buying a house. This wasn't the first time that happened, but she was such a positive person that I was bummed that I wouldn't be spending more time with her.
Last night, I got this letter from her, and I swear I didn't coach her into writing it...:)...
" I would like to share one of the most positive experiences I have had with a professional recently. A few months ago, my elderly parents and I had been discussing their potential move from California to live with me in Denver. With such an uncertain arrangement, I had been hesitant to enlist a realtor. Yet, when I explained the situation to Karl Lueders, I was pleasantly surprised when I was met with encouragement and understanding.
He welcomed the opportunity to help me with the house search, despite knowing the purchase was highly contingent on my parents uprooting themselves from a home they’d happily lived in for over forty years. To entice Mom and Dad, I had added definite challenges to Mr. Lueders' search. This house I was looking for not only had to be perfect for myself and my two young children, but also for two elderly parents with unique needs and extremely narrow tastes. Not once did Karl flinch, balk or voice any apposition to my crazy ideas. Instead, I found him persistently researching my ideas and even asking me more questions to determine more details. He combed and re-combed the market for each of the demands I made: privacy, bright and roomy basement with it’s own kitchen, cul-de sac, this type of ceiling, those type of doors, wide hallways, big trees… the list went on and on.
Karl proved quite knowledgeable in the types and ages of houses, price ranges, locations, and so much more that I would never have considered. To my astonishment, he managed to find a spectacular array of selections for us to view. But, poor man, my pickiness became even more meticulous– too small, too big, ceilings too high, kitchen too… and so on, and so on. Yet, throughout each house viewing, Karl Lueders strove to learn even more of our expectations, obviously honing in on getting an ever stronger picture in his mind as to what we wanted. Surprisingly, the search only lasted a few weeks - and, it was my schedule that kept us from progressing faster, not his. Karl always found time for me, even during the crazy holiday hectics.
I can confidently say that Karl succeeded in his daunting task. He actually found that perfect home – in fact, perhaps even two. One, especially, had nearly everything - plus a few unexpected bonuses! Had it been only up to me, I wanted to place an offer on the spot. My parents, however, elected not to take the life-changing move to Colorado, making the entire excruciating search for naught. Despite this disappointing news, Karl still maintained a pleasant, professional attitude. I would like to highly recommend Karl Lueders' knowledge and services as a real estate agent! Throughout our “house hunt”, Mr. Lueders certainly demonstrated his strengths as a real estate agent. He listened, he researched, he explained. He was always friendly, cheerful, and professional. He made the house search an enjoyable and highly positive experience. In the future, when I have needs to pursue another home, I will certainly seek his expertise again. Again, thanks so much to Karl for all the work he placed into my portfolio."
That made my day. Week and month, too!
Two schools of thought on finding out that Denver was named the \top city to live in by the Pew Research Center:
(Click on the photo for a quick Denver opinion of the poll.)
They say timing is everything and learning this news about Denver actually renewed all the reasons why we moved to Denver in 1999.
It's been a curious six months for a lot of us and it appears that the weirdness isn't winding down. In fact, just last night, the wife and I discussed worst-case scenarios (if you haven't had one of these, they're very depressing, but probably necessary) because our family derives its income from real estate and the financial sector... good times, good times.
So it dawned on us that we should consider a fallout shelter strategy so we talked about all angles of what happens when the s**t really hits, including moving away from Colorado. Apparently, Mrs. L reads the papers more than I do. "Unless we're moving to Paris," Mrs. L said, "you can't go up from here! Besides, we can literally run for the hills if it gets bad enough." Then I thought about all of her cousins that live in Detroit and soon felt this wave of calm wash over me...
...so, like I said, when the trucks start heading this way, I'd be happy to help.
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Real estate and relocation services in Denver, Douglas, Arapahoe and Jefferson Counties. Cities include Denver, Littleton, Cherry Hills, Parker and Greenwood Village. Named top Realtor in 2007.
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