Richard M. Borden

For many of us that are fortunate to live around the Lakes in McGregor Minnesota or for that matter any other lake in the nation that freezes you are well aware of what an Ice out date is. If you are not and have never really given it any thought it is when the Ice officially goes off the lake. You see until then there is not a whole lot of things that you can do around the McGregor Lakes area until the Ice goes off the Lake. Last year in 2007 the Ice officially went off April 20th. This is today the day I am posting this. Only we still have nearly 2 feet of good Ice on Big Sandy Lake and the other lakes around the area, To include Lake Minnewawa, Round Lake, Rat Lake,Horseshoe Lake,Wilkins Lake,Aitkin Lake as well.

I am predicting that the Ice will go out somewere in the range of the 28th of April ~ May 2nd In the last 15 years the ice has only gone out of Big Sandy One other time after the first of may. For Ice conditions and Fishing reports go to www.BigSandyLake.com

Rick Borden~ BigSandyLake.com Realty~Real Estate~Cabin Sales on Big Sandy Lake~McGregor Minnesota

I have been a Realtor for many years and have seen several cycles of the market form the ups to the current down swing we are in right now. For many years I sold and marketed new construction developments in the northern suburbs of Minneapolis Minnesota.

New construction is a very competitive market with all the competing builders in a subdivision wanting a buyers business willing to cut quality and profit margins to a bare minimum just to get the deal. With the market the way it has been in the past couple of years if a project was not set up right from the get go it really did not stand a chance to get off of the ground. I will give you some examples:

1. Landscaping - A huge factor in Marketing a project... what does it look like to a buyer maybe thinking of buying in the development? If the grass is dead and the tree's are dieing and the weeds are overgrown and there is trash all over the place... Guess what!

2. Builders - The builders that have a chance to get a build and do not show confidence in themselves or the product that they build show's right away in a buyers eyes and they can see it a MILE away and will run for the hills... Trust Me on this one folks.

3. Project or subdivision - The over all project has to show like a brand new car in every aspect.

a. The Landscaping is a absolute must.

b. Job Sites of current homes being built - lt must clean and tidy. Customers can see a quality job.

c. No promises of what will be just the plane truth be honest with the customer on what is going on.

d. Information easily accessible to the consumers they want it now and with convenience hopefully it is all on line or may be sent via the Internet.

e. A sales person must has the proper tools to get the job done if not the project will suffer tremendously and lost time is the biggest factor why sales do not happen.

f. Model homes - A model home or a new construction home must have proper landscaping it must show like a real house in a real neighborhood. The other thing that is important is it has to have furniture in it people love to see a home all decorated it gives them a sense of what they like and depth perception as well.

g. Virtual tours - A virtual Tour is an absolute must today in all Real Estate marketing not all are created equal so beware of the quality and make sure you post them to Realtor.com they do a real good job of getting in the customers eye.

This is some of what a new Realtor should do to make sure they stand a chance to come in after someone else in a new construction development. There are so many factors that determine how a project will go but if you start off with these things in mind and you have a good market to work in you will do just fine.

Rick Borden - BigSandyLake.com Realty ~ New Construction Specialist ~ Marketer of fine lake-shore property

Big Sandy Lake ~ McGregor Minnesota ~ Aitkin County ~ Minnesota National Golf Course ~ Settlers Ridge Development ~ New Construction Specialist on Big Sandy Lake ~ Big Sandy Lodge and Resort Town-home specialist ~ Rental property on Big Sandy Lake ~ McGregor Lakes area Specialist ~ Lake-shore Expert.

Aitkin County is is one of Minnesota's poorest County's in the state of Minnesota with one intersection in the whole county with a stop light, it has 365 lakes and 54 % of the of the County is public land or surface water so you can see why it is such a great place to buy or invest in Real Estate. Many people do not know that Aitkin County is home to over 300 species of Birds in fact it is 316 different species can be found in Aitkin County.

Minnesota National Golf Course is located just north of the City of Mcgregor about 9 miles on Highway 65 North at the intersection of County rd. 14 and County rd. 232 make a left a go about 2 miles and you will see Minnesota National and the Development Settlers Ridge. Settlers Ridge has 30O + Homes to be built all around the Golf Course. I am very excited about the Real Estate Market for 2008.

For any information about New Construction Pricing this Spring Contact Rick Borden @ 1-888-249-1690 or vist me on the web @ www.BigSandyLake.com

Rick Borden - BigSandyLake.com Realty

I am fortunate to live, work and play on Big Sandy Lake in Northern Minnesota we are directly located just a few miles north of McGregor Minnesota and that is just a couple of hours north of Minneapolis Minnesota.

I am really excited to see a partnership between the 2 major attractions as far as Resorts and Minnesota Destinations go in Northern Minnesota, I am really excited to see this because they are both right in my neighborhood .The McGregor lakes area has never had a reason for a Play and Stay package and now that these two fine Minnesota destinations are in the same neighborhood we now can offer our tourists Stay and Play golf packages.

Big Sandy Lodge and resort is located on the shores of Big sandy lake and is located on Davis bay the South West side of Big Sandy Lake. Big Sandy Lodge and Resort has Town Homes for Sale as well as Single family homes for Sale too. Prices start from $295,000 and go up from there. The Lodge has an 18 room Motel that features 18 themed rooms for your total comfort and has a Sports Bar on site with daily specials and an Awesome Steak House on the premises.

Minnesota National Golf Course has a Development within the Course called Settlers Ridge and offers property for sale too.

These are just a few examples of some of my listings I have out at Minnesota National Golf Course in the Settlers Ridge Development. We have lots for Sale and we have Homes and and new construction for sale and to be built around the Golf Course.

For complete information on Both of these Fine up North Minnesota Destinations and all Real Estate Questions call Rick Borden @ 1-888-249-1690 or go to my Site http://www.bigsandylake.com/

It really is amazing how much of an impact fishing can have on a person and how a random act of kindness can have an impact on others as well as our self.

The story begins with a couple of guys were going to meet and spend the day out on Big Sandy Lake which is located up in McGregor Minnesota a couple hours north of Minneapolis Mn. The two of them were supposed to meet for breakfast early and then head out to the lake for a days worth of stories and just hanging out on the lake enjoying the sun and catching up on things. Well along about 8:30am or so one of the guys calls and say's he can not make it.....So the other one went out to see if he could catch some fish by him self. OK enough of the 3rd party thing it was me and my buddy Mike.. So I head down with my fresh cup of coffee in a great big to-go cup and see a few people on the dock it was a Lady and 3 Kids. I asked the little guy (Joey) If he had been catching anything as of yet? His reply was there were no fish in this lake and he wanted to quite fishing. I told him that I had caught a few here the other day and that I had pictures of them... He wanted to See them!! So I showed him some Slab Crappies that were 14+ inches and he said to me not in this Lake Mr.

Well I asked him if he minded if I joined him fishing on the dock and his Mom said it was ok so we started to fish.... And it only took a Minute and them Bam there was a 13" Crappie right off the Dock at Big Sandy Lodge and Resort. I started catching some nice Crappies.

I asked him if I could rig up his pole for him? Mom nodded yes and in about 5 minutes ha landed a great big 9" Sunfish he told me..... Mr. This is the Biggest fish I ever Caught. Thanks.

It is times like this that when you take just a moment of your time to say hi. To ask a simple question of someone like are you catching anything?

I will take this precious moment and Cherish it for the rest of my life because we both walked away from that day with memories. I know I did and from the look on Moms face Joey did too!

Thanks Joey!!

Rick Borden - http://www.bigsandylake.com/