Archive for Fun stuff!
Organize Your Email with XOBNI!
Wouldn’t it be great to easily invite anyone who emails you to be your friend on Facebook? Or to see an entire conversation thread all at once? Or to quickly locate an attachment a colleague sent you?
XOBNI is “inbox” spelled backwards. I first heard about this incredible communication tool at a real estate conference in Las Vegas last December. XOBNI is a powerful FREE software that quickly analyzes your Outlook account and provides information on the sender’s social network connections, and even shows you a photo of the sender as well. While there is a version you can purchase, I find the free version does a great job!
There’s a good video on the XOBNI intro page on their website, to see a demo of all the features.
Let us know if you try it out and what you think!
Submitted by Kathy Schmidt, Broker Owner of Schmidt Realty Group Inc.
Local Realtors High on Hugs and Pie!
We love any chance to get together with our clients, friends and family. And fortunately for us those three groups overlap a lot. Clients become friends. Friends are also clients. And our team is our second family. Every year we have a client event and this year Saturday October 17th was the day! We invited everyone to have their choice of an apple or pumpkin pie from Bee Bell Health Bakery for pick up last Saturday afternoon. A balloon artist clown was on hand to make everything from animals for the kids to balloon bracelets and diamond rings for the “not so grown-ups”. Our own Jody Robinson kept the fresh popcorn popping and everyone had a great time catching up on each other’s news and just saying hello. I think I got a year’s worth of hugs all in one day – what a great day!
Door Prize Winners:
3rd Prize: A trio of wines was won by Melissa and Josh, clients of Connie Braun
2nd Prize: A $200 gift certificate to M&M’s wa won by Kelly and Clint, also clients of Connie Braun
1st Prize: A traditional Italian prepared and served by Kathy and Larry Schmidt in your home for six guests! (Let’s hope we remember what we learned in our cooking classes in Italy last month!) was won by Myrna, a client of Rachel Igarta’s. We are looking forward to cooking for you, Myrna!
Here are some photos from our fun day!
Submitted by Kathy Schmidt, Broker Owner of Schmidt Realty Group Inc.
Smart Choice for Today’s Environmentally Conscious REALTOR
Watch for it on the streets of Edmonton this spring…
Edmonton REALTORS are doing the happy dance!
GOOD NEWS! The energy is back in the Edmonton real estate market! This morning’s daily report from the Realtor Association of Edmonton stated there have been 1300 residential sales in March. The final number could be even higher as it’s not uncommon for condition dates in offers to be written for the last day of the month. This makes March the strongest month since last September! Yes, it feels a bit more like spring out there folks, and it’s about time! Now if the snow would all just be gone we could really celebrate!
While you wait for the final spring thaw, click here and turn up the volume to see how upbeat the REALTORS at SCHMIDT are feeling about the market these days…
Sucessful businesses know it is SMART to add FUN to the mix!
Southwest Airlines “gets it”! They have learned that adding humour to the sometimes boring and often frustrating experience of air travel is not only fun, it’s also good for business! Smart businesses in every industry are recognizing that their customers are far more than a transaction. Southwest and Westjet both make flying fun. I remember years ago calling Westjet and being on hold for what seemed like a very long time. A pleasant voice came on the line and invited me to press “555″ if I had been on the hold for more than 2 minutes.l I happily punched those three digits in, looking forward to being put through to some sort of priority caller line. Instead, I got a friendly recording with a truly funny joke. Just as the punch line was delivered, and while I was still chuckling, the Westjet agent came onto the line ready to assist me. I was not only a happy customer, that Westjet agent and I had a much more pleasant conversation than if I had been left stewing impatiently for another 30 seconds. Yes, it was a recording. Yes it was a systemized approach. But it was a systemized approach that had my feelings in mind, and I appreciated it.
When you get on a plane, you want to know every bolt is in place, the wings have been de-iced if necessary, and there is enough fuel on board to get you safely to your destination. But you don’t want to have to think about all those things yourself! You want to sit back, relax, and enjoy the flight, potentially with a little on-board entertainment! At SCHMIDT we have tons of systems. There are hundreds of details that need to be attended to as a property is put on the market and sold. It’s our goal to make this process as streamlined and invisible as possible, so you can just relax and enjoy the ride. And if you’re lucky, there might even bit a bit of “on board” entertainment!
Contributed by Kathy Schmidt, Westjet Fan and Broker Owner of Schmidt Realty Group Inc.
Fun Website Offers Front Page News from Around The World!
At SCHMIDT we all love to travel. Sometimes we get on a plane and sometimes we have to be satisfied to surf the web to satisfy our wanderlust. Larry and I are planning a trip to Italy this year to celebrate a special anniversary and birthday – I am even trying to learn Italian!
One recent wintry day I was surfing the web and found this great site. Just point and click on the city you are interested in, and up pops today’s front page from the local newspaper, unedited and in the local language. It’s a fun way to get a flavour for your destination before you leave home. And sometimes it’s a sobering reality check for travelling REALTORS who think they know a little Italian… Ciao!
Contributed by Kathy Schmidt, Broker Owner of Schmidt Realty Group and soon-to-be Italian tourist!
It’s a dog’s life in Edmonton…
Most of us at SCHMIDT are owned by dogs and consider them to be a part of the family. This afternoon my wife and I were dreaming of the day when spring comes again to Edmonton. We love to enjoy our back yard relaxing in the lawn furniture and spending time with friends. Well, it seems our dog Nellie was one step ahead of us! As we glanced out the window we saw Nellie stretched out on a garden bench soaking up the +3 temperatures. You have to love her optimistic spirit!
Contributed by Schmidt Realty Group team REALTOR, Chris Miller
Your Career in Real Estate: The interview
At SCHMIDT we hand-pick and personally train each of our REALTORS to ensure that our style and level of service is consistent throughout our team. We also work hard to make sure that it is the right fit both for the candidate and our team. In-depth interviews help the prospective team member and us decide if working together will create a strong win-win outcome for everyone. Our interviews are pretty relaxed and we definitely take the approach that we just want to get to know you and help you understand if real estate will be the right career choice for you!
With that in mind, here is what NOT to expect in an interview at SCHMIDT
Funny YouTube Video
Take a minute to enjoy this YouTube video that we have nicknamed “Mars meets Venus in their Dream Home”
How NOT to sell a house!
Have a laugh at this British video from YouTube. This is what NOT to expect from the team at Schmidt Realty Group!
