Lisa Hill (Daytona Beach Real Estate)

For all you bikers, and for those of you who just like to watch, next week, October 16-10, 2008 is this year's Biketoberfest! Be sure to check out the official Biketoberfest web site, sponsored by Bruce Rossmeyer Harley Davidson and Destination Daytona, for a list of events. There are far too many to list here. But it's safe to say there is far more going on, than you'll ever be able to see, even if you don't sleep for days!

Something new for this year is Rocktoberfest! Follow the link to the Bruce Rossmeyer Harley Davidson and Destination Daytona site for more Rocktoberfest information.

Another point of interest for anyone who is planning to attend Biketoberfest, or the Bike Races at the Daytona International Speedway, or if you're considering moving to the Daytona Beach area, is Wyotech. This is one very good reason to buy real estate in Daytona or Ormond Beach. Wyotech is a private school for people who are interested in having a specialized career, working on specific brands like BMW, Kawasaki, Suzuki, Yamaha, Honda, Ducati and of course, Harley Davidson. The Wyotech campus is located at 470 Destination Daytona Lane, Ormond Beach, FL 32174, which is also the home of Bruce Rossmeyer's Harley Davidson empire at Destination Daytona. For more information about Wyotech and the training it offers, you can call 386-255-0295 or click on the preceding link to visit their web site. Of course, the most fun way to learn more about Wyotech would be to come on down to Biketoberfest next weekend and check it out for yourself while you enjoy the festivities.

All the photos in this post are from Bike Week 2008, which was in March of this year. The photo to the right is one I'm sure you men will enjoy =P I shrunk it down in hopes that it won't be too offensive... I hope it worked? To be honest, if you're planning to attend a Bike Week or Biketoberfest, there's a good possibility you'll see a lot more flesh than this. At least this girl has the body to be seen this way! =)

P.S. If anyone finds the last photo offensive, please let me know and I'll be happy to remove it. I actually know the girl from the gym, and I know how hard she works out. And she's obviously umm... proud of her body? LOL

If you're planning to move to the Daytona Beach area, make a Smart Choice and contact Lisa Hill for all your real estate needs.

Visit my web site at www.DaytonaBeachRealEstateSales.com

Here on the Active Rain Real Estate Network, with over 100,000 members blogging about real estate, there's never a shortage of real estate information. And there's even plenty of information about areas where people might like to live, with or without accompanying real estate data. Most of us can always find things to blog about that will provide people with information about our cities and counties, to include on the Localism real estate network. This is why on Active Rain, I created the Things to Do/Places to Visit group. Posts to that group contain information that appeals to both locals, and people from other parts of the country or even the world, who are looking for what different parts of the U.S. has to offer. They're gathering information to support where they might buy real estate some day. And of course, many of these people will need to sell real estate in order to make their move to a new location.

No matter what the real estate (or even the political) happenings in each of our areas, the one thing that almost everyone can agree on is how many animals need loving homes. And unfortunately, in the real estate industry, all REALTORS will eventually find themselves in a house where they find neglected or even abandoned animals. Thank goodness for animal shelters, and for people who are willing to take in and care for the animals whose voices cannot be heard.

In the Daytona Beach area, we have a wonderful animal shelter at the Halifax Humane Society. As a child, my parents always took us to the Halifax Humane Society when we were looking for a new pet. And sometimes we went just to visit with the animals there =) . As an adult, I've continued that tradition with my own family. Of our current little home zoo, we got one of our cats from the Halifax (Daytona Beach) Humane Society about 10 years ago. Of all the cats we saw that day, Kiara was Miss Personality Plus! And she immediately deemed herself to be the princess of our entire household.

As I stated above, in the real estate industry all REALTORS will eventually find themselves in a house where they find neglected or even abandoned animals. And that is how we ended up with our second cat. I found Whiskers living in an empty barn, behind a vacant house in the Daytona Beach area. The home owners had moved out and left the cat behind. At the time, I really didn't want another cat since I also had a guinea pig and a rabbit. So I would drive out to this vacant house every couple of days to check on "Whiskers", and feed and sit with him. He wasn't feral, but he was heading in that direction. I had been leaving him dry food since I couldn't go to that house every day, but the ants kept taking control of that dish. So I would bring him canned food and sit with him on the days when I had some extra time. To be honest, it was really enjoyable since this house was on 10 acres. He would sit beside me, or walk around with me, while we looked at the cows, horses, and ducks in the neighboring pastures. (OK. So obviously I just love all animals.) Anyway, my plan was for someone to eventually buy the house, and the cat would convey. (Hey, it could happen.) But after a couple of weeks of our visits, wild fires broke out in the area where that house and more importantly, the abandoned kitty were located. And I knew I couldn't just leave him there. So I ended up with another cat. You don't even want to know how I caught him and got him into a carrier!

It's amazing sometimes, when you think back over events in your life, and realize God had a hand in things, when you didn't even have a clue. It's like God knew exactly what I needed, even when I didn't have a clue. Whiskers is my little friend who wants to be with me almost all the time. I think God was helping both me and this little kitty.

Whiskers now meows outside my bedroom door to wake me up, so he can get in bed with me. He also has his own "bed" (3 folded blankets) on the back of the couch in my home office. He will follow me all over the house, just waiting for me to sit at my desk, so he can sleep on his bed. At a time when my only child would soon be heading off to college, and my bunny was getting old (she died last year) along came this kitty who makes me feel special and needed =^.^= (And I'm pretty sure the feeling is mutual.) My daughter has now officially started college. And of course a cat can't take her place, but at least I still feel needed. Any parent whose children have left the nest will relate to that feeling of being left with an empty space inside, and wondering how to fill it. Pets are perfect for helping to fill those empty spots =)

Now remember, the kitty I just described was not the one we got from the Halifax Humane Society. He's the one that was abandoned by people who moved out of their house and left him behind. The cat we got from the Halifax Humane Society is the princess of our house. She was still a kitten when we got her....

10 years ago, we made a trip to the Humane Society to choose a cat. And one stood out from the rest. This littly kitty flopped over my shoulder and started purring, then started craning her neck to see out the only window in the room. When I backed toward the window for her, she then put both paws on the window and started flicking her tail at anything that moved. Then she sniffed all over my face, while I scrunched up my nose and laughed because her whiskers tickled. She then reached a paw out toward my daughter and flopped over backward toward her. She had more personality than any other cat in the "cat's room" at the Daytona Beach Humane Society. At that time, my daughter had been begging me for years to get a cat. We had promised her that when we bought a bigger house, she would get her cat. Obviosly we did, and she did =^.^= To this day, even though 'Princess' Kiara has had to deal with the fact that the entire household doesn't revolve around her, (or maybe she just thinks she has one more loyal subject, with Whiskers in the family), she is still Miss Personality Plus; not to mention some serious cattitude! And any time someone rings the doorbell, she's the first one to answer the door. She sits in front of the door, looking out the glass at whoever is standing on the other side, or paces back and forth, rubbing against the door, just waiting for the visitor to come in and pet her. Because of course they're here just to see her. Why else would anyone be here, other than to visit Princess Kiara?

Well, now that you know about my kitties, my guinea pig, my dead rabbit who now haunts the house..... Just Kidding! LOL. (But she is buried right outside my bedroom window.) I encourage you to get your pets from your local Humane Society or ASPCA for your next pet. (Or if you have enough love in your heart for an extra family member, and enough money to care for it, if you find an abandoned pet, please don't just leave it.)

Did you know that this month is "Adopt A Shelter Dog Month"? I don't have a dog, but my parents have a dog and a cat. The most fun to be had is when we put the dogs and cats together (if they get along) and watch them play. It's hilarious!

In honor of their Adopt A Shelter Dog Month, the ASPCA is having a Photo Contest for the Best Dressed Dog! I love it! So if you have a dog, I'd love to see blogs with photos of your furry family member, dressed for it's 15 minutes of photo-op fame. While you're at it, a couple of months ago, I created a new group that I really haven't tried to promote. But this might be a good opportunity to get it rolling. So feel free to subscribe and insert your best-dressed-doggies in the Photo MeMe's group. And feel free to insert your pet photos with your comments on this post =)

If you're a pet lover, who is buying or selling real estate in the Daytona Beach area, make a Smart Choice and contact Lisa Hill for all your real estate needs. Lisa Hill is a Daytona Beach native, listing and selling real estate from Ormond Beach to Edgewater (covering 35 miles of Volusia County coastline).

Spectacular waterfront home for sale... and no Postlet yet =(

Has anyone tried to create a Postlet for a real estate listing in the last couple of days? I'm so frustrated. I have a beautiful new real estate listing on the St. John's River, (yes, these are actual photos of the listing!) that I'd really like to advertise. But I don't like to blog about my real estate listings until I have Postlets for them. For one thing, Postlets makes the blog presentation look much more professional, and in addition, when you create a Postlet for a listing, it sends the listing into syndication in the real estate section on many different web sites, which is really awesome! I use Postlets for my CraigsList presentations as well. But as of last night, Postlets went down for maintenance and a server upgrade (before I had a chance to save the one I was working on. D'oh!).

The good news is, Postlets now has a partnership with FrontDoor, by HGTV. Apparently, some conflicts in comunication between the two sites is what caused the urgent need for maintenance. As for FrontDoor, my own real estate brokerage, Adams Cameron & Co., REALTORS® has been using using FrontDoor for a while now, so I guess that site is growing fast. Have any of you used FrontDoor yet? I haven't personally used it for my listing promotion, and I don't know if I can since my own real estate brokerage is already sending all of our listings to them. But I'd like to know what kind of results other REALTORS® are getting from FrontDoor, or what your personal opinion is of it.

In the interim, while Postlets is down, getting the kinks worked out of their new partnership with FrontDoor, no existing users can log in, and no new accounts can be created. *sigh* It seems like it's always something.

Until I can get my Postlet created, if you have a buyer for a waterfront property with a boat dock with electric lift, cleaning sinks for you freshly caught fish, a large lot and an almost new 3 bedroom, 2 bath manufactured home, located in Crescent City Florida, for only $270,000, this one's a beauty. And as soon as Postlets get's back up and running, I'll get all the details of this listing posted here.

View all my real estate MLS listings here.

View videos for my real estate MLS listings here.

If you're interested in buying or selling real estate in the Daytona Beach Florida area, make a Smart Choice and contact Lisa C. Hill with Adams Cameron & Co., REALTORS®.

Many of you who commented on my recent blog post about my dealings with an unethical real estate agent, had many questions which I attempted to answer by editing the post a couple of times, and by adding a few comments as well. (Sorry it's such a mess now.) As I said in that post, there were problems every single day of that transaction. That listing agent was the epitome of what most REALTORS® do not exemplify! That experience just solidified the reason I'm primarily a listing agent! In the 8 years that I've been a full-time REALTOR®, and the 14 total years that I've been selling homes, I've never encountered an agent who was so rude, condescending and practically useless. As I said in my previous post, he had never even been inside his own listing that had been on the market for 2 years! And the house was falling apart: I took photos of many of the areas of destruction since it was so hard to believe. But in the last post I wrote about this transaction, my final shock was when I went to pickup my commission check and found that it was not for the proper amount. The unethical agent had shorted my commission check.

Many of you were interested in knowing the outcome of that part of this drama.

Bear in mind, it was only last Thursday (5 days ago) that I discovered this final punch I had received from this listing agent. I knew that our MLS rules were in my favor on this, but I didn't have much hope that there would be any resolution this fast. But last night I decided to call my manager anyway, just in case she had any news yet. As it turns out, the broker of the other agency had called my manager over the weekend, to let her know they had already cut my check and it was ready for us.

It's good to know that our REALTOR® Code of Ethics is serving it's purpose, and although the other agent I had to work with was the biggest jerk I've ever met, (Sorry if that offends anyone. I'm just keeping it real.) it's nice to know that the broker of that agency was not only honest, but quick to take action. There's another lesson to be learned through that... Many times when a consumer works with an unethical or dishonest agent, the consumer tends to believe that agent's entire real estate brokerage to have the same ethics, or lack thereof. This is simply not the case. Since REALTORS® are independent contractors and not employees, we're all free to work with our clients in the manner in which we're most comfortable. (This is why many disagreements can be chalked up to simple personality differences.) But even if an individual agent is as dishonest as my recent encounter, that doesn't mean the entire brokerage is the same. This was just proven to be true by that real estate company's broker when he took quick, decisive action in righting a wrong.

I doubt he'll ever see this post, but if he does, I want to say "Thank You!"

For honest, ethical real estate representation, make a Smart Choice and contact Lisa C. Hill for all your real estate needs.

For all the real estate information you need, visit my web site at www.LisaHillRealtor.com.

View my real estate MLS listings here.

View my real estate MLS listing videos here.

For all our senior residents and anyone with elderly loved ones, here's something you'll enjoy. On Thursday, October 2, 2008 from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., come enjoy the Lovin' Life Senior Expo at the Daytona Beach Volusia Mall on International Speedway Blvd.

Admission is FREE! And there will be...

• Seminars
• Giveaways
• Screenings
• Demonstrations
• Much More

Also, the Daytona Beach Fire Department will be on-site, offering Flu Shots. Medicare is accepted!

The Seminar Schedule is as follows...

11:00 a.m. Physical Therapy with Spinal Decompressions, Daytona Apine & Rehab by Dr. Antos

11:15 a.m. Volunteer Opportunities, at the Talking Books Library

11:45 a.m. Introduction to Pranic Healing, by the Pranic Healing Center of DeLand.

12:00 p.m. Fire and Fall Prevention, by the Daytona Beach Fire Dept.

12:15 p.m. Senior Services, by Council on Aging

1:00 p.m. Belly Dancing Demonstration, by Dottie's Dance Troupe

1:30 p.m. Prostate Cancer, by Dr. B. Thomas Brown

1:45 p.m. Benefits of Acupuncture and Colon Hydrotherapy, by Acupuncture and Skin Care Clinic, Logical Wellness Center

2:00 p.m. Personal Emerbency Response Systems, by Devicon Security Services Corp.

The stage is located by Dillard's Dept. Store, Center Court. Exhibitors will be in the Food Court and Center Court Areas.

This information has been provided by Lisa C. Hill, Daytona Beach Native, and area Real Estate Agent with Adams Cameron & Co., REALTORS®.