We recently held our annual Client Open House at our office! The weather was great and so were all the hugs and happy smiles   We love getting a chance to catch up with our clients and our annual open house is one of our favourite days of the year!  For the past few years, we’ve nicknamed this event PIE DAY because we gave away pumpkin and apple pies from Bee Bell Bakery to our guests!  Plus we had the amazing team from SERVUS CREDIT UNION (lead by Janice Brown of the Ellerslie Road Branch) cooking up hot dogs for everyone!  Our staff was busy keeping the popcorn popping, and the Balloon Fairy was on hand building the most incredible balloon creations – she even made a giant fire breathing dragon!  It was fun giving out some amazing door prizes and we also announced our annual team donation to Habitat for Humanity Edmonton.  This year we raised $6500 for this wonderful organization!

Click here to see a short video of the day!

Contributed by Kathy Schmidt, Broker Owner, Schmidt Realty Group

It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No, it’s local REALTOR Chris Miller of Schmidt Realty Group rapelling down the Sutton Place Hotel to raise money for Easter Seals!

Chris was one of the brave volunteers who raised a minimum of $1500 each for the privilege of rapelling down 27 stories in downtown Edmonton this past Tuesday morning. 

Our team at Schmidt is so proud of you Chris!   Whahoo!!!!!
Click here to watch Chris’s adventure on YouTube!

Contributed by Kathy Schmidt, Broker Owner, Schmidt Realty Group

Habitat for Humanity is our chosen corporate charity, and while we all support many other good causes, this is one we support together as a team!  This month half our team donned hard hats and tool belts while the other half kept the business running for our clients!  We have the wonderful privilege of helping families purchase homes every day.  Supporting Habitat allows us the joy of helping some folks who otherwise might not enjoy that fantastic pride of ownership feeling.  It was a great day and I”m so proud of our team for the time and energy they put into this worthy cause!

Submitted by Kathy Schmidt, Broker Owner of Schmidt Realty Group Inc.

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.

Every year we attend an incredible real estate conference in the US.  This year the location for the Star Power Conference was beautiful Denver Colorado!  Star Power is an organization lead by Howard Brinton, an immensely respected real estate trainer.  Howard searches North America for top realtors (the stars), then interviews them and shares their “pearls of wisdom” with other realtors to help them serve their buyers and sellers even better and to grow their businesses.  Larry and I were immensely honoured to be interviewed by Howard in September 2008.  It was a thrill to be flown to Denver to meet with Howard and now to have the opportunity to share what we have learned with others.  At last month’s conference in Denver I had the privilege of speaking on leadership, a topic I am passionate about!  Other stars spoke on their areas of interest and expertise, and there was an incredible list of high-calibre guest speakers including Gary Keller, head of Keller Williams Realty and Larry Kendall, one of the top real estate trainers and forward-thinkers in our industry.  We gleaned some excellent ideas about effectively using social media such as Facebook to assist our sellers, and how to incorporate video into our blogsite.  We also were very affirmed in our overall business philosophy – our hearts are indeed in the right place!  It turns out that doing the right thing is being more and more recognized as also being good for business too! 

Conference "keeners" Mira Wannous,Sheri Grier,Sabrina Bright & Tim McRory!

At SCHMIDT we have always placed a huge degree of importance on our client relationships.  Putting our clients first is not only the right thing to do, but it feels great!  And guess what?  It also builds trust and long-term relationships that also help grow our business!  What we heard over and over at the conference was that today’s consumer is tired of being “sold” (did anyone ever really want that???) and is actively seeking relationships with professionals they can trust as their advisor.  That got a big “thumbs up” from our team as we listened to these respected industry leaders talk about “getting real” and “keeping it personal” and “staying in touch”.  That’s always been our goal – to form lasting relationships with our cilents while helping them make the best real estate decisions possible.   Sometimes it means staying put and renovating. Sometimes it means renting out the property.  Let us help you sort out your options and show you that we mean it when we say you truly come first.  Call on us any time you need a trusted real estate advisor!Contributed by Kathy Schmidt, Broker Owner of Schmidt Realty Group

From mid-October2008 to mid-January 2009 I was fortunate to experience the trip of a lifetime! After spending a week in Cuba with friends I moved on to Mexico City and then on to such incredible adventures in Panama City and up the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu!

Visiting Josue, my World Vision sponsor child and his family, was an extremely touching day. World Vision has changed the lives of this family in so many ways!  During my visit I witnessed the power of World Vision as this organization built a new two room home for this wonderful family!

Mexico is full of incredible food, warm people, alluring culture and countles churches. This church is one of many we found in the town of Patzcuaro.  Patzcuaro is home to the biggest festival in all of Mexico, Day of the Dead.

Viewing Panama City’s skyline from the neighbourhood of San Felipe is breathtaking. The city itself is a bustling melting pot of cultures, cuisines, and shopping, not to mention the incredible engineering feat – The Panama Canal.

 
Nicaragua is home to active volcanoes, large lakes and endless natural beauty. I went ziplining through a rainforest on the side of Masaya Volcano with my mom and aunt. In a few trees we encountered a family of monkeys as we zipped on by!

While in Peru, my boyfriend Thomas and I had the honor of hiking the famous Inca Trail. It was a trying four days of hiking in order to reach the coveted ruins of Machu Picchu.

Along the Inca Trail we were faced with many challenges, one of them being Dead Woman’s Pass. In the morning we started out at the very bottom of one Andean mountain, and by 1pm we reached the top of the summit! Our guide played Peruvian flute music a we reached the top. It was a moment that brought tears to my eyes!

As we neared the gates of Machu Picchu, my excitement grew. I had waited years to see this wonder of the world, and it definitely did not disappoint!

In this photo I am standing on one of the Los Uros floating islands found in Lake Titicaca that borders Peru and Bolivia. Whole villages of indigenous people live on these floating islands made entirely of reeds. Some inhabitants never set foot on solid ground!

This is an arial view of Iguazzu Falls that borders Brazil and Argentina. I was lucky enough to take both a helicoptor ride over the falls and a speed boat ride underneath the falls!

 If ever you take a trip to Central or South America I would love to hear about your adventures. And if you want some tips on some special places to see, I would be delighted to give you my list of favourites!

Contributed by SCHMIDT Client Care Coordinator and REALTOR, Jody Robinson

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

“Throw your dreams into space like a kite, and you do not know what it will bring back, a new life, a new friend, a new love, a new country.” Anais Nin

Most of us at one time or another dream of travelling to new and beautiful places, and of course at this time of year we also dream of being somewhere warm and sunny!  Travel is something we all value at SCHMIDT, and although our dreams and destinations differ, we each look forward to meeting new people, seeing new sights and then bringing photos and video of our adventures home to share with friends and family.  From time to time we’ll post some of our travel photos here for you to enjoy.  And if ever you are planning a trip to a similar destination, we hope you will get in touch so we can share some of our special places with you!

Personally, I love cities. I love their energy!  “For me, cities are like people, with souls and temperaments of their own.” says Arthur Symons.   I agree!  The shopping, restaurants, and people watching all really appeal to me.  While Larry also enjoys a city vacation, he is happiest outside the city limits and preferably near the ocean.  A few years ago we enjoyed a bit of both by cruising the Mexican Riviera.  A cruise ship is like its own city and we had time during the day to enjoy small ports of call and some beautiful beaches.  This photo was taken after an amazing lunch of fresh fish tacos.  When I came home and was compiling our photos, I came across this quote that says it best… 

“Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the number of moments that take our breath away.” anonymous

Our own Jody Robinson donated her beautiful blonde locks to make wigs for kids who have lost their hair due to chemotherapy treatments, and she raised $5000 for cancer research at the same time!  We are so proud of you, Jody!

Each year we host an Open House at our office. It’s a fundraiser for Habitat for Humanity and a fun day to visit with our clients.  This particular year we had a balloon artist on site who decided that we all needed to wear hats for the day…

ATB Financial partners with us in this fundraising event so their van was on site for the day.  That’s our own Jeff Halaby on the roof!