About Benton County, WA

Christ The King's annual Sausage Fest starts today at 5pm in Richland Washington at the corner of Stevens Avenue and Long Avenue 99354. Click on this link to see the entertainment schedule as well as other information. The schedule includes the biergarten (adults only) and the outdoor stage (families), as well as . New this year there will be a “wine bar” in the indoor biergarten (beer garden) with some nice wines from local wineries. Please do check that out if you like wine! Hope to see you there with your family or just somewhere in the adult section (outdoor or indoor festivities).

Sausage Fest Map (click and print):

~ Colleen & Joe Lane
Co-Owners, Broker, Realtors®
The Lane Real Estate Team
509.438.9344
Email | Twitter | Facebook| LinkedIn
"We work and play in Richland and love every minute of it!"
Originally posted at SausageFest, Richland Washington.

Many of the local firefighters and police were on hand for 9/11 memorial services held today at Howard Amon Park's Tear Drop Amphitheater, Richland Washington, 99352. If you were not there, I was in attendance and took some photos of the memorial:

Old Glory

Many were in attendance.

Waiting to play, "Amazing Grace."

For more photos, visit our 9/11 photo set on Flickr.

~ Colleen & Joe Lane
Co-Owners, Broker, Realtors®
The Lane Real Estate Team
509.438.9344
Email | Twitter | Facebook| LinkedIn
"We work and play in Richland and love every minute of it!"
Originally posted at Howard Amon Park, Richland Washington, 9/11 Memorial

The 2009 Tri City Wa Parade of Homes touring dates and times are:

• Saturday, Sept. 12 and Sunday, Sept. 13 - 9 am to 5pm
• Wednesday, Sept. 16 - 1 pm to 7 pm
• Saturday, Sept.19 and Sunday, Sept. 20 - 9 am to 5pm

The Home Builders Association of Tri-Cities is showcasing 22 homes in the tour this year. The homes are located throughout Kennewick, Richland, Pasco, and West Richland offering the latest in design, style, architectural trends, and of course, the best in workmanship. Tickets: $7.00 on sale at all Tri-Cities area SunMarts

Colleen, an Accredited Luxury Home Consultant (ALHS Designation), is fortunate enough to be with a group of Realtor® folk touring the homes on Wednesday, Sept 9th on a pre-tour courtesy of Creekstone by Newland Communities. Colleen is also grateful for a Parade Home she has in escrow for one of her buyers. If you've never seen a home in the Parade of Homes, we took the liberty (with the permission of the owner/contractor, and buyer) to take some camera stills of our buyer's next new home. I'm sure you will appreciate the quality, views, and decorating this home has to offer:

421 Sundance Drive, Richland, WA 99352

Additionally, Colleen and I took some great photos of the views our buyer will come to call his own. Most homes in Sundance Ridge, Richland Washington have some of these views or similar. Enjoy...

~ Colleen & Joe Lane
Co-Owners, Broker, Realtors®
The Lane Real Estate Team
509.438.9344
Email | Twitter | Facebook| LinkedIn
"We work and play in Tri Cities Washington and love every minute of it!"
Originally posted at Parade of Homes Tri Cities Wa 2009

Where: Spudnuts, 228 Williams Blvd Richland, WA 99354-3410
What: Spudnuts is going to appear on TV's Food Network channel Labor Day at 6pm, PST. The Food Network's Unwrapped show will feature a half dozen donut shops from around the United States. The show's producers will be interviewing Spudnut's owner Val Driver plus taking a peek at behind the scenes details at the shop. How cool is that! Last year, the Travel Channel featured Spudnuts in Donut Paradise.

View Larger Map of Spudnuts Uptown Shopping Center Location

~ Colleen & Joe Lane
Co-Owners, Broker, Realtors®
The Lane Real Estate Team
509.438.9344
Email | Twitter | Facebook| LinkedIn
"We work and play in Richland and love every minute of it!"
Originally posted at Spudnuts Richland Washington.

Recently, I've been working with a buyer who has demonstrated very high personal ethics. He says he will call and he does. He says he'll have a decision by tomorrow and he does. It blows me away! I have the expectation of my fellow REALTORS to have this same ethic. But, should I?

When I was just getting started in the business world, someone whom I had a great deal of respect for told me to keep my expectations high and people would perform to that level. I've discovered, of course, that this is not always the case, but it does keep my expectations of myself rather high. You see, when you expect a certain level of professionalism and it is performed, you build trust. Trust is one of the reasons we get referrals!

So, when an agent says, "I'll get back to you today." My expectation is that they will get back to me today. Too often, however, I have to call them the next morning. Is this an acceptable level of professionalism? If we are doing this to each other, what are we doing to our clients? Do our clients notice that we are not doing what we say?

I'm here today to say that this is not acceptable. Send me a text message if you don't want to talk on the phone or if you don't have an answer. And, if you think that our clients are not noticing, you are sadly mistaken. While I'm trying to build a high level of trust with my client, another agent is undermining my service by making a lower level of professionalism his/her acceptable level. Don't we serve others and put their needs first?

If I expect fellow agents to perform to my expectations, I would be out of business. Their performance cannot defeat me nor lower my level of professionalism. I must maintain my level when working with REALTORS and with clients. This is important to me first and then to my business.

I will make a point to thank this buyer for his ethics and for reminding me that I need to keep my expectations of myself as high as possible. I hope you will, too!