Teresa's Seattle Blog

Joining BloggersUnite -Nov - Prematurity Awareness Month®....

Teresa Berry (Dream Home Real Estate Inc) — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 17:01:00 -0600

Prematurity Awareness Month® bloggersunite Join the fight for preemies November 17th

this photo of my grandnephew taken over 3 years ago - is both sweet and heartbreaking....

as he fought to survive - he needed help to breathe, he needed help to eat because he he came too soon to do it on his own.

Over 20 years earlier, I was blessed to be along-side my sister in the delivery room when his mommy was born, so it was a special time as my niece prepared for her first-born.

But his premature birth meant he needed help simply to breathe as he fought to survive. My niece wasn't willing to leave the hospital. For weeks on end she ate, slept and showered there: continuing to love, hope and pray for a day when she could bring her son home.

Coming home for a preemie though can include special care, treatment and attention, sometimes lasting years.

Why has there been an increase in premature births? One of many questions awareness, education and research can help find answers to.

Every year, 20 million babies are born too soon, too small and very sick-half a million of them in the United States....the number has increased 31 percent since 1981. It can happen without warning and for no known reason…. BloggersUnite.com -

To find out what you can do to help "fight for preemies" visit bloggersunite for info and links to other resources.

The "preemie" I love is my inspiration for joining the "fight for preemies" as BloggersUnite November 17th.

How is he now? This recent clip of his first time bowling shows why he's a miracle to me! I'm so thankful for all the prayer, care and love that went into helping him fight to survive. In a word....Joy!

A "VIRTUAL" RE barcamp? Save the Date: Nov 17th....

Teresa Berry (Dream Home Real Estate Inc) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 15:42:09 -0500

ReBlog Source RE Tech World Educating Real Estate Agents On How To Use Modern Technologies To Better Their Business Will Never Be The Same!
On November 17th, 2009 dozens of the most respected educators in the real estate industry converge to host the first of its kind, Virtual Real Estate BarCamp.

Virtual Real Estate BarCamp is a 1-Day Learning Extravaganza.
From 9am until 4pm PST, three concurrent webinar "rooms" will each host 9 different sessions, for a total of 27 different presentations.
There is something for everyone and everything for someone, and best of all, IT IS FREE and attendance is unlimited!

Click below to:
Register.
Learn more.
See who is coming.
Check out the Session Calendar.
Get sponsorship info.

Attendance is projected to be at least 1000 agents, nationwide.
Do not miss out on being part of this ground-breaking event.

Session topics include:

1.      Social Media Risk Management

2.      Flickr for Real Estate

3.      Developing Your Brand

4.      Online Advertising Secrets

5.      Facebook for Real Estate

6.      WordPress Training

7.      Daily Goal Tracking

8.      Starting a Real Estate Blog

...and much more, with new sessions being added every day.

And if that wasn\'t cool enough, individuals from around the country are volunteering to host In-Real-Life MeetUps for after the event.
Learn all day, and then meet to have a beer with local participants. This is going to be a blast!

We hope to see you there! Source RE Tech World

"Ready Brew" Open House Idea

Teresa Berry (Dream Home Real Estate Inc) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 13:19:31 -0500

My love for coffee is no secret so it’s exciting to have a snapshot of mine included with others on the new Starbucks VIA Ready Brew website. During the first weeks of its launch you can check out contests and prizes on StarbucksVia.com with categories including Home, Work and First Taste….

“Outside the Box” VIA comes packaged in single serving sized tubes with a taste compared to regular brew. This could be handy for your Real Estate Agent toolbox.

A thermos or pot of hot water, “VIA Ready Brew” and a little imagination could create a welcoming coffee counter at your next Open House with little effort or waste –

a dozen fit nicely in each espresso cup used for the examples below which are also handy "at home" btw:

October | Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Teresa Berry (Dream Home Real Estate Inc) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 15:16:08 -0500

Reblog from Midori Miller -

"It takes less than a minute to go to their site and click on 'donating a mammogram' for free (pink window in the middle). "
Via Florida Real Estate Trainer | Daytona Beach After School Training | Midori (CENTURY 21 Sundance Realty):
October | Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Please I encourage you to reblog this or even forward this post to your friends and loved ones.

This disease touches so many and changes lives forever..we can do the same but in a positive way!

Help Fight Breast Cancer...the reality is there is a good chance someone you love will be affected by this disease.

You never know...by following the instructions you might save a human life!

SPREAD THE WORD!

Please tell ten friends to tell ten today! The Breast Cancer site is having trouble getting enough people to click on their site daily to meet their quota of donating at least one free mammogram a day to an underprivileged woman. It takes less than a minute to go to their site and click on 'donating a mammogram' for free (pink window in the middle).

This doesn't cost you a thing. Their corporate sponsors/advertisers use the number of daily visits to donate mammogram in exchange for advertising.

Here's the web site! Pass it along to people you know.
http://www.thebreastcancersite.com/

Midori Miller is licensed in the State of Florida, BK645709 and currently hangs her real estate license with CENTURY 21 Sundance Realty. Midori is also a real estate trainer and an ActiveRain Ambassador and specializes in short sales for Daytona Beach real estate sellers. If you are in the market to buy or sell real estate in Daytona Beach, Florida..please contact us!

JONES "in" for marketing?

Teresa Berry (Dream Home Real Estate Inc) — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 17:55:28 -0500

LOOKING FOR AN EXCLUSIVE way to say thanks for your biz, welcome home, congratulations or other exceptional message?

JONES SODA makes it easy at “my.jones” online where you can create your own remarkable customized 12 pack case (or more) of Jones Soda by uploading a photo for the label and a personalized message for the back.

Imagine customizing for a…

JONES SODA OPEN HOUSE DRINK BAR

Front Label & Back Quote Possibilities

Your Photo, Logo or Identifying Picture on the Label

Your Name, Phone, Biz, or Tagline on The Back

Choose a Flavor | Color to Compliment the Décor | Theme

JONES SODA HOUSE WARMING, CLOSING, OR THANK YOU GIFT PACK Other Label Possibilities:

Photo of The New Home

New Homeowners

Local Park, Landmark, or Neighborhood Attraction

Sold Sign, Property View

Doorway, Welcome Mat or ____ fill in the blank

Love to see what you come up with!

NAHB's Q & A - on that 8,000 first time home buyer tax credit....

Teresa Berry (Dream Home Real Estate Inc) — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 15:17:01 -0500

NAHB's (National Association of Home Builders) Chief Tax Economist answers important questions relevant to the first time home-buyers 8,000. Federal Housing Tax Credit in an informative presentation on NAHB TV. The clip can be viewed below or from NAHB TV on YouTube.

They ask and answer questions I hadn’t yet considered so it might be of interest to you or your FTHB clients. “Federal Housing Tax Credit explained” video offers some insight into specific circumstances that effect how or if a buyer qualifies for the credit. The embed code for this clip is available on YouTube if you want to include on your blog or website.

Historic Charm, Craftsman Style, Everett Home

Teresa Berry (Dream Home Real Estate Inc) — Thu, 08 May 2008 13:18:27 -0500

                                     Picture Perfect, Craftsman Style Home





Fremont Fair in Seattle's "Center of the Universe"....

Teresa Berry (Dream Home Real Estate Inc) — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 16:10:01 -0500

Fremont Fair

An annual event in Seattle’s “FUN”ky “Center of the Universe” community, featuring a parade, eats, drinks, art, music, entertainment, vendors, shopping and more is scheduled for June 20th -21st 2009 –

For details and more information visit Fremont Fair online. A Solid Ground Production & Benefit Event.

2009 Fremont Fair Flyer

Website: Fremont Fair

Your own marketing ‘Word Clouds”….Awesome FREE online generator

Teresa Berry (Dream Home Real Estate Inc) — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 02:20:55 -0600

A free online tag cloud generator from Jonathan Feinberg at wordle.net was all kinds of fun for me today where I saved some images below as screen-shots to share but the site also provides “code” for your results to copy & paste into your website or blog.

Wordle can create typical tag clouds but what sets wordle apart is the ability to select your own words or text, change color schemes, fonts and various other design options. You’ll need java enabled but beyond that I found the application to be pretty simple to “get”.

Tip: Use the “randomize” button to automatically reorder and redesign your word cloud.

A theme of words is one way to personalize a blog post, greeting card, flyer or other marketing piece. You could:

Design an image with names of streets in a town, community landmarks, local attractions or neighborhoods to represent your service area or use words to promote a listing by describing its’ features and highlights. Use an image of blog or network sites on the www.

Decorate a newsletter or website with an image showing your name, company, website, specialties and contact info to help illustrate the character of your business.

Embellish a thank you note or open house invitation with an image illustrating what, where, when –don’t forget to include your name, business, email and contact info.

wordle toy at wordle.net - enjoy! images created at http://www.wordle.net/

images created at http://www.wordle.net/ Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.

Need a "Super Screenshot"? Check this out....

Teresa Berry (Dream Home Real Estate Inc) — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 02:37:46 -0500


Super Screenshot (by Contact Sheet).

To capture an image of a website “Super Screenshot” is a handy tool. No registration or software to download and so many possibilities!

It’s almost as easy as typing the URL into the search bar and clicking “go”. Once the Super Screenshot appears, you can change the size, file type or refresh with a click of your mouse.
- right click to save

one Idea for the road though you’ll likely come up with plenty of your own:

Create a gallery for your blog/post or website and link each image to details or more online info - i.e.

·          Listing Agents Gallery of Homes –

·          An Artists Gallery -

·          Business Gallery of Associates –

·          A Stagers Mini Portfolio –

Ready to give it a shot? Super Screenshot!

More twitter business: for your twitter business - FREE

Teresa Berry (Dream Home Real Estate Inc) — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 12:50:49 -0600

I previously posted on Active Rain about adding your name to the Tweeter Real Estate Directory on justtweetit.com.

Sharing Twibs.com another directory for business on twitter not specific to the real estate industry but it includes over 5,000 business listings and counting including ESPN, CitySearch, facebook, LinkedIn, Mashable, Technorati, Yahoo Real Estate and others*.

It’s free and simple - once registered you’ll receive an@ message on twitter from twibs.com with a link to manage your listing. There’s a spot for your bio and up to 5 website/blog links in addition to your twitter, LinkedIn, flickr and facebook profile links – what’s not to love about free advertisement?

To add your business visit twibs.com where you can also try their well-organized search options that allowed me to quickly find * Starbucks, MTV, TV Guide, H & R Block, Whole Foods, MS Windows, Amazon and numerous other recognizable people, entities and brands already taking advantage of twibs.com directory.

Bloggers posting for a cause - Earth Day, April 22, 2009 - you in?

Teresa Berry (Dream Home Real Estate Inc) — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 22:31:02 -0500

Sharing a bloggers "Call to Action" as “Earth Day” 2009 fast approaches. One way to help raise awareness and focus toward environmental issues is to blog about them.

Is there any place better to get the word out to active bloggers knowledgeable about issues related to living green than ActiveRain? Efficient building design, landscape, energy audits and other green-home topics are just a few possible post ideas.

If you’re interested in joining BloggersUnite for this Earth Day April 22, 2009 event; inspiration, more information, registration and badges are available online. (285 joined this event as of this post) -

This short video below provides some excellent background on Earth Day.

Earth Day Video

Marketing Real Estate with RealBird

Teresa Berry (Dream Home Real Estate Inc) — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 01:07:14 -0500


Real Estate Marketing with RealBird

Real Bird’s initial release of a custom search engine "Search The Real Estate Web" recently got better. A co-branded version for agents is made available as a free service from Real Bird. For details visit the RealBird Blog on the Active Rain Real Estate Network

Visit this link for a live sampling of my co-branded search site provided through RealBird (screenshot below).

Just one of the many useful tools RealBird offers Real Estate Agents including online listing resources, single property sites, widgets, mapping and more.

Offer Your Readers a Seat - & - Feed Them (cute new RSS icons from Smashing Magazine))

Teresa Berry (Dream Home Real Estate Inc) — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 15:09:23 -0500
Now you can offer your readers a seat to get fed

Smashing Magazine released another creative icon set that's great for bloggers - my favorites from this collection are the cozy and colorful RSS feed icons in four colors - with that "welcome home" feel -

Download this freebie set at: Smashing Magazine

What Beautiful "Tweeple"! Artful & Fun"twitter mosaic" love it!

Teresa Berry (Dream Home Real Estate Inc) — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 16:55:41 -0500

Thanks to Mike Mueller of areweconnected.com and host of the popular “Mike’s Minute” here on Active Rain, I learned about “tweeple pages” a useful twitter tool. Visit Mike’s Minute to learn more about the great features of “tweeple pages”.

Another one of my new favorites: “twitter mosaic” from sxoop.com to creates an awesome mosaic of your twitter friends or followers along with code that can be pasted into your website or blog using your twitter id. Below is what “twitter mosaic” generated with my twitter info. (note: it’s an edited version due to code overload in part because of the link feature described below)

Not only does it arrange your favorite twitter faces beautifully, the mosaic links each to their twitter page. To test the link feature click in the example below.

I love this!

Get your twitter mosaic here.