Real Estate Blog Archive

Century 21 Redwood Realty agents stay Smarter, Bolder & Faster than the competition because our training is second to none in the industry.  We're excited about our jam-packed, diverse training sessions we have planned for the month of February.

Our Loudoun office is located at 44057 Pipeline Plaza, Suite 225 in Ashburn, Virginia; our Arlington office is located at 1711 Wilson Boulevard; our Washington DC office is located in Dupont Circle at 1701 Q St NW; and our Fredericksburg office is located at 10601 Courthouse Road.  Take a look at our schedule below to see what's offered close to you, and discover for yourself why Century 21 Redwood is the leader in technology and training!

For the recent Inman Connect conference in New York City, one of my friends decided to buck tradition and explore getting an Airbnb place instead.  Several of his friends had rented through Airbnb the past year, with rave reviews, so he was looking forward to the experience.  Everything seemed to be going smoothly with the experience.  He booked online, had several conversations with the host about how to get entry upon arrival, and packed his bags for New York City.  With a little wait at the front desk, he entered the apartment with stunning views and everything as advertised.  Imagine his surprise when 15 minutes after check-in he heard an urgent knocking on the door; it was management, and they wanted to talk to the "owner" immediately.

Friday, January 18th, Century 21 Redwood will be hosting the first Washington DC Open House Art Series of the year.  From 6pm-9pm, we'll be celebrating the works of local artist Margrét Kröyer, while enjoying red & white wine and hors d'oeurvres.  Even better?  Margrét has been generous enough to donate 5% of any sale to Easter Seals and 5% of any sale to HRC!  Our Washington DC office is located in Dupont Circle at 1701 Q Street NW (the corner of 17th and Q). 

Please feel free to invite your Friends, Family and Clients to join us for a very special night.

Every one of you who owns a smart device owns a computer.  It's as simple as that.  The computing power contained in a phone or tablet is similar to or greater than the power of a small 1980's computer.  Yet a large number of people, including some real estate agents, use their smart devices for nothing more than playing games, making calls and entertaining their children.  In fact, gaming and social media are the two largest categories of app consumption. Don't let the device be smarter than you - be a smart user of your smart device!

There was a bit of an outcry recently when Instagram announced a change in their Terms of Service to include the ability to sell for profit any pictures uploaded to their site without notification or attribution to the owner.   Almost immediately, people were deleting their Instagram accounts in protest, which caught Instagram's attention.  Instagram has since backpedaled on their previous announcement, but it raises the bigger question: Who owns your online stuff?

For anyone who's uploaded a picture to Facebook, shared something on Twitter, or taken a picture from Flickr to use on their blog, what you may not realize is the Terms of Service for each application that you should be adhering to in the uploading and sharing of content, including pictures.  

Do you love learning about new artists? Will you be in Arlington, Virginia on January 11th? 

We'd love to see you at our very first Open House Art Series in our Arlington Office (1711 Wilson Boulevard) on 1/11/2013 from 6:00pm - 9:00 p.m.

Please feel free to invite your Friends to join us for a very special night. We will be serving red and white wine, and have hors d'oeuvres!

A little about the Artist:

This week on the Century 21 Redwood blog we continue our focus on prepping for 2013 and in particular what place the social media could, or should play in your business plan.  Is social media in fact right for your business? Does it fit into your marketing plan? Should it?  For some, the world has gone social media crazy whilst others in business hold a more skeptical view on its necessity. At Century21 Redwood, we believe that we should be engaging with our consumers on the channels they chose to engage on. Whether that's Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest or just the good old reliable telephone, we believe it's our responsibility to speak all languages in the social space.  In this two-part series we're examining the most popular social media channels and the 'fit' they may have for your business.  Last week we talked about LinkedIn and Facebook.  This week, we look at Twitter and Pinterest.

Everywhere you turn, you hear more and more about some form of social media.  There are hashtags for TV shows, news anchors with Twitter handles (@brianbolter) and someone exhorting you to give their Facebook page a "Like."

But in life and in the real estate business, which social media is right for you?

The answer isn't that simple.  There is a form of social media for almost everyone, but it's not a necessity in life.  The truth some are unaware of is that you can still run a successful business without engaging on social media; it just depends on who your clients are, what they are looking for and where they are looking.  For example, if the majority of your clientele are of the older generation who would never dream of looking for or buying something online, social media is definitely not for you. 

Recently, I've been preparing for my Century 21 Redwood technology trainings in December, which included compiling a list of my favorite technologies I currently use.  I've included some of their updated versions that are currently on the market, as well as some comparable alternatives for your consideration.  Without further ado, here are ten of my favorite technology "toys" for the holidays:

(1) Apple MacBook Air 13"- While not as robust as a MacBook Pro (which is still on my wishlist) in either storage capacity or overall capabilities, this ultralight computer has all of my needs, especially when loaded with Microsoft Office and the Adobe Suite.  As both a real estate agent and a technology trainer, this computer has faithfully served my needs, and its portability has ensured it goes with me almost everywhere.

A recent spate of laptop and tablet releases has introduced the world to Microsoft's newest operating system Windows 8.  Did you know, however, that there are actually three different versions of Windows 8?  There is Windows 8, Windows 8 Pro and Windows 8 RT.  (For businesses, there's also Windows 8 Enterprise.)  All variations of Windows 8 are nothing like you've probably experienced before in an operating system.  So, should you love or hate Windows 8?