Russell Lewis, Broker,CLHMS,GRI

The final event of the first first half of the Architecture at the Umlauf Series season (before taking a break from the summer heat) and will take place Thursday, May 7^th.

The monthly series was founded and is produced by two of my associates at AvenueOne properties; Scott Harvey and Carla Umlauf (granddaughter of the esteemed sculptor) and is sponsored by our firm, AvenueOne Properties. The lectures take place at the beautiful Umlauf Sculpture Garden and the series is now in the middle of its hugely successful third season. Camille Urban Jobe, AIA is the featured speaker. There is a minimal charge of $5.00 for the event but is free to museum memberss.

Thanks again for your continued interest and support!

I recently had an agent visit my office to drop off a contract offer. The receptionist called me and I went to the reception area but could not find the agent among the half dozen people in the sitting area. Returning to my desk, the receptionist called me again and said "Russell, are you going to meet with this agent?" I explained to her that I had already been up front but did not see anyone resembling the lady who was supposedly in the lobby. Our receptionist lowered her voice and said, "Well...she does not look a thing like the picture on her card!" Okay, I said, just discreetly point her out when I come back up to the reception area! Arriving again, I met a person who had no resemblance to the photo on her card, website or blog!

Business cards can be a big deal to people in any profession, especially when starting any new venture and I was reminded of this when I recently read a post by Active Rain newcomer and fellow Austinite Daren Krause about the subject of business cards. So many people (including myself many years ago) go to such extremes trying to decide what type, shape, size and style will best represent them to the world! In Daren's post he included the following YouTube clip and I have to say it is hands down the most over the top sales pitch for a business card that I have ever seen. Go ahead, it's only a couple of minutes long and you really need to see this commercial for the "ultimate" business card.

See what I mean? This guy is the most incredible huckster I’ve seen in a long time and that card?!?! OMG! (as my 16 year old daughter would say) a fold out, flip up, die cut piece of “art” at four dollars apiece and took TWENTY FIVE YEARS to develop? So cool that we would want to keep it and maybe even frame it for posterity? I still do not know what he does except that he somehow builds crowds?!?! Well…so did the Frankenstein Monster, of course those crowds were angry torch wielding villagers! There must be a market for this sort of over the top business card but I am not always the sharpest knife in the drawer and I must be missing something! I thought his statement that “Life is not about being liked” was interesting; he appears to be on the road to phenomenal success in that department!

So that brings us back to the business card that works best for an individual. For me, I do not use a picture and yes, I actually look like my photo! My card is of good stock, I guess and is designed to fit our company logo and style but it really is just for contact info. Name, numbers, email and web address all in a pleasant style and quality that reflects a positive image for me and my company. Again, I think it is an individual choice and will only say that if you do use a picture, make it one the rest of us will recognize and if you pick one of the $4 super fantastic works of art, don’t bother leaving one with me, I usually use extra business cards to mark interesting recipes in my favorite cookbooks!

In the meantime, if you or anyone you know is anticipating purchasing or selling real estate anywhere in Central, West or Southwest Austin or the Westlake/Eanes School District area, I would be happy to be of assistance. Let me put my nineteen years success helping upscale buyers and sellers in Austin's finest neighborhoods to work for you. Contact me for a private consultation at your convenience!

Mobile 512-657-8769

I watched with interest as President Obama during his first hundred days address, state that one of the main things that could help thwart the spread of the current Flu virus was to wash your hands! He said it more than once for a reason. Many people do not take it seriously but it is a FACT! The CDC in Atlanta has determined that the Number 1 way that disease is spread throughout the world is from people NOT washing their hands often and correctly!

Now, I happen to be something of an expert on this particular issue...No Really! Previously I have written about my experience when I described my work Giving Back to Your Community as a School Volunteer. I discussed my role as a health care volunteer dressing up as "Healthy Bear" and teaching classes of kindergarteners and first graders why and how to correctly wash their hands. The fact of the matter is that people everywhere take hand washing for granted.

If you really want to avoid catching any sorts of contagious diseases, here are some easy to remember steps:

1. Turn on the water, warm, not hot and rinse your hands.

2. Soap your hands thoroughly and work up a lather.

3. Vigorous scrub your palms, the tops of your hands, the fingers and finish around your wrists!

4. Do this for about 30 seconds. A good rule of thumb is to sing the chorus of Here we go round the mulberry bush. Just change the words to "This is the way we wash our hands, wash our hands, wash our hands" Or if you can think of something that works for you, sing it! Just make sure you are soaping you hands vigorously for at least 30-45 seconds!

5. Rinse hands under a stream of water pointing hands down for the water to carry away the dirt and germs down the drain.

7. Completely dry your hands with a clean dry paper towel!

OH, he also mentioned, cover your mouth when you cough! Respect yourself and others around you!

That's it, easy as pie. Just do as Healthy Bear says and as I have told the school kids since 1993; Do yourself, your friends and family a favor! Wash your hands correctly and often! Thanks for stopping by, you may now return to your regularly scheduled program!

The third season of the Architecture at the Umlauf Series is underway and will the next event take place Thursday, April 2nd.The monthly series was founded and is produced by two of my associates at AvenueOne properties; Scott Harvey and Carla Umlauf (granddaughter of the esteemed sculptor) and is sponsored by our firm, AvenueOne Properties. The lectures take place at the Umlauf Sculpture Garden and takes place on the first Thursday of each month during the series. This month, Burton Baldridge is the featured speaker. Catering will be provided by The Kimber Modern & Di Lux. There is a minimal donation of $5.00 for the event but is free to museum members.

Thanks again for your continued support I look forward to seeing you there!

"I will do it BEFORE I go back to school", my son promised as we looked at the once glittering tree lying forlornly in the yard. That conversation took place last December when (almost) everyone else in Austin was in the process of taking their tree to the Zilker Park recycling point under the Mopac Bridge and other places set up by the Parks Department to grind the trees into mulch. The conversation was repeated a couple of days before our son was scheduled to leave on January 9th and again I was told, "Don't worry about it, I have plenty of time and will take the tree to Zilker before I leave"! You already know where this is going and yes...our son made it back to school but the tree never made it to Zilker Park...

I mention this only because I am constantly asked by all of my sellers about the best way to get their home ready to sell. Besides pricing the home correctly from the start, de-cluttering and staging the home is of paramount importance. No matter what neighborhood or price range, clearing out and packing up items that will be moved or sold is the first step to making a home presentable. I give each seller a list of websites to access to get them started; this one is by no means comprehensive but a good place to start:

1. Your moving so remove all personal items. Okay, besides that %#!*&% Christmas Tree, remove anything that you don't need or use on a regular basis. Potential buyers need to be able to imagine their own pictures and family mementos throughout the house. Allow them to see themselves living in your home...not you!
2. Clean UP!! Do it yourself or hire a cleaning company to go over your house with a fine comb. Do everything that you've overlooked or put off. A cleaning service can do a complete make ready for you at a reasonable cost. I tell people that if they have not used something in the last year they probably don't need it anyway. Donate, sell or throw away anything you don't really need. Rent a storage unit for any items that will be moved to the next home
3. Hire a handyman to make minor repairs, paint and do all of those things you've put off for years. Make minor repairs to each and every area that needs attention. Often this means repairing items that we let go and just "live with" over time. Noisy or stuck doors, holes in sheetrock, cracked windows, broken outlets and switches and a host of other "minor repairs that add up!
4. Hire a professional home stager to come in and do a proper job of arranging the home for optimum presentation. I cannot emphasize enough the importance of this aspect of getting a home ready to sell. A good Stager can do a very proficient job at a reasonable price depending on the size of the home and the level of work required. At the same time a seller is often more amenable to taking suggestions about removing "Aunt Ethel's horrible wall hanging" or handling other potentially delicate feelings about personal items in the home from a professional (other than you!).

I do not try and re-invent the wheel and point my sellers toward a number of online resources. Here are a few that I think are good:

realtor.com/Basics/Sell/PrepHome/GetReady

4siterealestate.com/gettingReadyToSell

realestateabc/homeselling/showing

homebuying.about.com

In an effort to practice what I preach and as you can see from the pictures, we did finally get the tree to the recycling area and yes it was not until March 10th!!! I lashed the tree to the roof of his truck before I went to the airport to retrieve him for Spring Break. All the way to the airport, I kept getting shocked and amused stares from from drivers on the freeway. It was worth it when I saw the look of astonishment on my sons face as I picked him up from the terminal and it was too funny. I laughed out loud when I saw his incredulous look and unbelieving laughter as I drove up! I only wish I could have taken that picture! He was laughing the whole time to and from Zilker Park and we had quite a few folks gawking as we drove through traffic in HIS truck.

Now here is the really strange thing, when we dropped off the tree, we saw a half dozen other Christmas trees and a park employee informed us that there were at least a dozen more left over the weekend (one with the lights still attached)! My son looked at me and said, "See, we are not so different, lots of people wait to do this". "Yeah, right," I replied," I guess we are just doing our part to keep our beloved city "weird", and we both started laughing. It's good to have him home and I am now off to give some "De-Cluttering" advice to my new clients!