Flagstaff Blog - Real Estate and All Things Flagstaff: January 2008

Click here for more details on this townhome and for the current status of this listing.

To learn about Team Heitland at RE/MAX Peak Properties and why you need us to represent YOU in Flagstaff real estate, visit our website by clicking here.

Last year at about this time, I was at the CRS Convention and had the luck to sit next to Tony Marriott at one of the networking lunches. Before I go to conventions (CRS, RE/MAX, and Star Power, have been on my agenda the last few years), I ask myself what do I want to achieve. Last year it was: Learn how to start a blog. In chatting with Tony, I confided my hope and he suggested I try out Active Rain. By the time I got back to my hotel room that day, Tony had e-mailed me an invitation to join the Rain.

I signed up and wrote my profile before leaving the convention. Shortly after that I posted my first blog post using my already-compiled Annual Flagstaff Real Estate Market Report for 2006, followed quickly by my second post, What's Great About Flagstaff (in summary). I read other Active Rainers' posts voraciously and cannot begin to thank everyone who explained blogging to me. I quickly got the idea to post  regular Things to Do in Flagstaff (which I'd been sending by postcard - how old-fashioned and ungreen!). I posted listings to Localism. A year later, this is post #190 and I'm still reading my favorite Rainers on a regular basis.

In July, I went to the Star Power meeting in Phoenix, armed with questions and in search of blogging tools and great real estate ideas. I found them. I started Flagstaff Real Estate and Community News with a format provided by RealEstateBlogsites. Without what I learned here in the first six months, I would not have known what to ask the vendor or how to interpret what I heard. I now use my other blogsite in place of those postcards, to keep my clients informed about market news, and to advertise my listings. But I keep coming back to Active Rain for my daily dose of news, comment, and fellowship.

Thank you Active Rainers!

After a snow-day on Monday (during which I did a lot of work at home), it's been a very busy week. I'm pleased to say that we put another home into escrow today, demonstrating again that homes sell in this market. I've also enjoyed meeting several new potential sellers this week and hope we'll be able to work together as the year goes along. We listed one home early in the week. My home stager has been hard at work with three of my listings this week. And there was an inspection on yet another of my listings yesterday. All-in-all, a very active week in Flagstaff real estate.

Which may explain why I'm behind in preparing my annual report to clients. I plan to do some work on that this week-end and incorporate it into our monthly printed real estate newsletter to our clients and friends around Flagstaff.

Oh, I'm also working on a new sign design. Here is a picture of the draft. This draft needs the addition of the Equal Housing Opportunity and Realtor/MLS logos. I'm going back to a more traditional RE/MAX brand sign from what has been a more distinctive team sign. These will be more consistent with what other agents in the office do and thus raise visibility of the office around Flagstaff. I'm in favor of reflective signs -- what do other Active Rainers think of the advantages or disadvantages of reflective?

Northern Arizona University is out of session until the beginning of next week, and, except for the snow play activity and skiing ~ of which there has been a lot ~ there are not many things happening around town this weekend. But there are some. If you're looking for something to do in Flagstaff this weekend, check out my suggestions at Things to Do in Flagstaff This Weekend.

If you want to buy real estate in Flagstaff, contact us.

After a few days of only patchy snow from our last storm, during which the snow play areas had to close, we've been hit with a great storm over the last 24 hours. I've been snowed in, but still accomplished lots of real estate work: calls and e-mails about negotiating contracts (we got two agreements over the weekend!), new listings, old listings, as well as writing for my other blog. Thank goodness my client care manager was able to make it to the office to handle the escrow openings, as well as a variety of other stuff.

But I also took a break mid-day to enjoy the beautiful place that I'm lucky to live in near Flagtaff, Arizona. Here are some pictures from my mid-day snow-shoeing adventure. (And note that it's sunny, even during a snow storm, in Flagstaff. (See my whinny post about my visit to Iowa over the holiday.) Here are the pictures:

Here's a photo of ten inches of snow accumulated on the patio picnic bench. Storm is surrounding the house at this point with sun breaking through overhead.

Here is the view looking into our property from the National Forest Service.

This is the fence line between home and the Coconino National Forest, with my snow shoe tracks.

In this photo, I'd like you to focus on how cute Rusty is rather than the size of my hips.

For real estate services from a team of agents that works even when snowed-in, call Team Heitland at RE/MAX Peak Properties.

For today's post featuring the Ponderosa Trails neighborhood of Flagstaff, Arizona, on a warmer day, see Focus on Flagstaff's Ponderosa Trails Neighborhood.

Read about my projects for the first weeks of January, as published for Flagstaff real estate readers. (Yes, I haven't finished, but I do have a new listing presentation and it's on the way to two new prospects as of today.)

Thanks for reading. Happy New Year to all Active Rainers!