About Conroe's Lake Conroe

The first annual Chase Bergfeld Memorial Golf Tournament will be held at The Links @ Westfork Golf Course in Conroe, TX on Saturday, September 12th benefitting the Chaser Foundation. C.H.A.S.E.R. is a nonprofit organization that provides support and services to First Responders of Montgomery County for water search and rescue missions. Your donation to the CHASER Foundation will be used for search and rescue missions, training, equipment, fuel, food and expenses to get air patrol and support to search locations.

For more information, or to download Registration and Sponsorship forms, please visit http://www.bergogolf.com

Lake Conroe Real Estate

OK, here is my dilemma ...I am in the market for a new car, well, maybe not new, new but new to me. Where do you begin to look these days? Being a good American, I would like to buy American. However, with all the car companies in financial trouble I am leery of buying one and then what happens to your warranty or the value of the car if the manufacturer goes under? I understand that many of the so called "foreign cars" are made mostly in the US and that some American cars are assembled in Mexico. What to do???

OK, let's say I have chosen the type of car that I want, now comes the most painful and irritating part...going to the dealership. You walk in to look around and you are immediately inundated by salespeople. I realize that times are tough and I should be sympathetic, hey I work in Real Estate. Don't chase me away before I even begin to look, the hard sell doesn't work on me. All I want to do is get a feel for the cars and, of course, the prices, then I would like to speak with someone.

OK, let's say I have chosen the model I want...now comes the negotiation - "let me take this to my manager". "We can throw in floor mats if you will pay xyz"... "Maybe we can give you a little more on your trade-in"... (pretty much like presenting an offer to a client). After several trips to the "Manager" we finally come to somewhat of an agreement on price. By the way, why do cars cost much more than my first house? A cute little 3 bedroom/2 bath on a beautiful park-like lot in Shreveport, Louisiana. Oh, and I DO NOT want the extended warranty or any other add on's you're offering.

OK, now, let's say I have just talked myself out of the new car shopping trip. The old ride isn't so bad after all. An oil change and new tires and I am good for many more miles. Wish I could "update" myself so easily. Happy Shopping!

Article by: Carol Hawkins

Everyone knows that listing photos are among the most important aspect of an agent's online marketing of a home. Statistics show that listings with several images get a much higher click rate than listings without, but what about the difference between an image that catches your eye as opposed to just another picture of a house that looks like every other picture on the list.

It's just like curb appeal. Everyone knows how important curb appeal is. Most people still generally judge every book by it's cover, and a home buyer will often not give a home a chance when it doesn't get their attention from the outside. The same is true online, if your home doesn't have "thumbnail appeal" (I just made that up as far as I know) you are likely to have the same results.

Nowadays, every MLS or 3rd party IDX vendor uses a similiar approach when displaying a list of properties in the search results. Just like the image above, with a small thumbnail of the property, and some of the information highlights as a summary. So when the average consumer is scrolling through the list of homes, they will quickly scan the thumbnails and prices and the difference between a property view and a scroll by is often the quality of image in the thumbnail.

For this reason, our team strives to have our listings stand out from the rest by having that extra degree of pop necessary to catch a buyer's attention. We have all of our listings professionally photographed, and make sure we always have several exterior options to choose from.

Obviously this isn't the most important aspect of selling a home, there is no quality of image that can sell a badly overpriced home, but it can make the difference in the amount of exposure a home receives, which is your duty as an agent, and can possibly result in a sell in a situation where the buyer would have never even viewed the home otherwise.

Article by: Jacob Hebert - Director of Technology
The Marion Franke Team - Lake Conroe Real Estate and Homes for Sale

Have you ever been given a job and you are bewildered how to begin?? Well, I am a part-time blogger and, sad to say, have run out of clever little stories to write about. That is pretty sad considering I have only written 8 or 10 blogs! I have written about grandkids, girl friend week-ends, vacation trips, Christmas shopping, etc. I think the only thing I have not written about is the weather. So here goes...

For you people not familiar with Texas weather, it can all be summed up in 2 words ... hot & hotter. We start out with a beautiful Spring; temperatures in the mid 70's. Then you blink your eyes and the thermometer is topping 90+. I'm not sure what happens to those beautiful Spring days in the low 80's, but I think some other state has stolen them from us.

Spring in Texas consists of hot days and every allergen in the air that you can think of except for polar bear dander. This has been our worst allergy season in years and I have the red swollen eyes to attest to that. In the office you can hear sneezes from every corner and you would think there hasn't been a sale in months because of all the red, teary eyes. The thing about our Spring is that you can count on the fact that it won't last long (seems like minutes) and that our beautiful hot oppressive summer is right around the corner. I sound like I am complaining, but I really am not. I would much rather have this weather than 20 below in the winter - I guess it is that old story of to each his own.

So here is my take on weather: enjoy every day, no matter what the weather and remember from Spring showers come beautiful flowers.

Oh, I just remembered, I have not written about marriage - that will be a long one as I have been married forever, so I will save that for another day. I will leave you a little hint: Marriages are made in Heaven, but so are Thunder and Lightening. Oh, that ties in with my weather report. I'm just so clever.

Article by: Carol Hawkins

Lake Conroe Real Estate and Homes for Sale

My Treo phone died on me so I had a replacement phone overnighted which I immediately synked upon arrival. I ran out to show a home before double checking to make sure my new Trio properly synked the EKey data. When I arrived early to the home I was showing, it was raining and I realized none of the EData synced properly. Luckily my client called and said she was stuck in traffic due to rain, so I hung up and immediately called the Supra EKey hotline. The man who answered was so friendly and calm since I just knew he could not help me and was going to tell me to go back to my office to download the data. Instead, he actually sent my new phone an automatic install link and walked me through remote download instructions. It all took about 12 minutes and I was ready to go & it saved the deal! If any agent out there is not taking advantage of the Supra Ekey on their smart phones, they are really missing out. There is no more Kim Voice to deal with and no long authorization code to obtain, just a simple Satellite Sync button and you are off and running.

Article by: Niki Meeks

Lake Conroe Real Estate