WREN’s Blog

Postage Rate Increase - January 22, 2012

Renee Roberts — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 16:37:00 GMT

Postage Rate Increase

Effective January 22, 2012

RUN, don't walk to the post office to stock up on "Forever" stamps by this Sunday! Postage rates for mail classes along with many special services will increase on January 22, 2012.

The new rates:

Letters (1 oz.): 1-cent increase to 45 cents
Letters additional ounces: unchanged at 20 cents
Postcards: 3-cent increase to 32 cents
Letters to Canada or Mexico (1 oz.): 5-cent increase to 85 cents.
Letters to other international destinations: 7-cent increase to $1.05
Prices also will change for other mailing services, including Standard Mail, Periodicals, Package Services and Extra Services.
More information on the new pricing is available at USPS.com

If you have any questions regarding how this may affect your future mailings, please contact Renee.

Consistency. Commitment. Connection. Collaboration.

e: wrengraphics@gmail.com w: http://www.wrenwebdesigns.com t:

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November 2011 NWMLS Statistics

Renee Roberts — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 18:12:00 GMT

November 2011 NWMLS Statistics

Home sales outpace number of new listings for first time in five years

November 2011 Monthly Statistical Recap

Northwest Multiple Listing Service members reported 6,103 pending sales during November, marking the seventh straight month of double-digit year-over-year increases.

Last month's total number of mutually accepted offers was 22.4% higher than the same month a year ago. It also marked the first month since December 2006 that the number of pending sales surpassed the number of new listings (6,043), prompting discussions of possible inventory shortages....(Continued)...

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December 2011 NWMLS Statistics

Renee Roberts — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 16:05:00 GMT

December 2011 NWMLS Statistics

"Healthy marketplaces" emerging with shrinking inventory, favorable financing

December 2011 Monthly Statistical Recap

Home sales finished the year much stronger than they started, with pending sales for the fourth quarter outgaining the first quarter by more than 3,000 transactions for a 21% increase, according to new figures from Northwest Multiple Listing Service. ...(Continued)...

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2012 Calendar Mailings

Renee Roberts — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 11:35:00 GMT

2012 Calendar Mailings

So... the leaves are off the trees (mostly), Thanksgiving is just next week, Holiday decorations have already exploded at the malls... that means the new year is nearly upon us and it's time to mail your calendars!

If you need help preparing your calendars for bulk mail, I'm here to help. From creating decorative labels that match your holiday stationary, to stuffing & sealing and then bundling & hauling them away to the bulk mail acceptance unit at the post office, WREN graphics is available to assist with your calendar mailings again this year.

Calendar Mailing Services & Pricing

If you are planning to prepare all - or just part of your mailings, following are just a few tips that will ease the process:

All mail pieces must be identical in weight & content. No personal notes or cards are allowed, however, a computer generated holiday greeting letter is fine. ...(Continued)...

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Trick or Treat at Windermere Oak Tree

Renee Roberts — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 11:11:00 GMT

Trick or Treat at Windermere Oak Tree!

Pretty princesses, scary monsters, swashbuckling pirates and musclebound superheros. We saw a lot of these and other creative costumes last year... And we had so much fun, we're doing it again! It's almost Halloween and Windermere Oak Tree is planning a trick or treat event that all your little ghouls & goblins can attend!...(Continued)...

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Add a Book To Your Reading List

Renee Roberts — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 10:32:00 GMT

A Must Read for Your Book List

I just finished reading The Thank You Economy and highly recommend this for any small business owner.

Best selling author of Crush It! and self-trained social media expert, Gary Vaynerchuck offers some fantastic insights on how businesses of every size can utilize social media to engage with their clients and cultivate lasting relationships and further improve them by showing them you care!

With several case study examples, he shows us how...(Continued)...

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July 2011 NWMLS Statistics: King & Snohomish Counties

Renee Roberts — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 15:04:00 GMT

July 2011 NWMLS Statistics

July housing activity around Washington described as

"classic good news, bad news story"

July 2011 Monthly Statistical Recap

Sellers of more than 7,000 residential properties listed with Northwest Multiple Listing Service members accepted offers on their homes last month, continuing a stretch of five months with 7,000-plus pending sales. Last month's 7,182 pending transactions (mutually accepted offers) improved on the year-ago total of 5,571 pendings for an increase of almost 29%.

"It's classic good news, bad news story," ...(Continued)...

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June 2011 MLS Statistics: King & Snohomish Counties

Renee Roberts — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 11:50:00 GMT

June 2011 NWMLS Statistics

Pending sales around Washington State at mid-year surpass year-ago levels;
industry leader says "It feels like we have hit the bottom of the market"

June 2011 Monthly Statistical Recap

Continuing the double-digit gain in home sales during May, last month's pending sales surpassed the volume for June 2010 by nearly 36%. Northwest Multiple Listing Service members reported 7,539 mutually accepted offers last month, up nearly 2,000 transactions from the year-ago total of 5,547 pending sales of single family homes and condominiums....(Continued)...

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Listings XPress 2.0 Virtual Tours

Renee Roberts — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 16:36:00 GMT

Listings XPress 2.0 Virtual Tours

Did you know that Listings XPress 2.0 (Listings to Leads) has added a new feature to help you market your properties? A virtual tour using your still shots that pans through each room with a nice transition to the next.

Gotta say, this system is easy: just upload your still photos, drag to place them in the order you want, write a few captions and there you have it. I bet it took me less than 15 minutes to create the tour, link it to the MLS & post it to facebook.

Take a look at one I just created for an agent: Mercer Island Virtual Tour

If you have any questions or need assistance creating a virtual tour, please give me a call.

Consistency. Commitment. Connection. Collaboration.

e: wrengraphics@gmail.com w: http://www.wrenwebdesigns.com t:

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Seven Easy Steps to Creating A FREE Virtual Tour

Renee Roberts — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 15:42:00 GMT

Seven Easy Steps to Creating a FREE Virtual Tour

There are many ways to create Vitual Tours of your listings. In this post, I'll give you a quick overview of creating a Virtual Tour using 2 FREE programs: Picasa and YouTube.

Click here to view a Sample YouTube Video using Picasa Movie Maker...(Continued)...

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Windermere Community Service Day Volunteer

Renee Roberts — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 11:46:00 GMT

Community Service Day

Friday, June 17th, 2011

What is Community Service Day?

Creating vibrant communities is one of the things that inspire our Windermere network to be involved in service projects that make things a little brighter for all our neighbors. Supporting the communities Windermere serves is at the core of our companyï¿½s formation and growth.

Every year since 1984, Windermere associates dedicate a day of work to complete neighborhood improvement projects as part of Windermere's Community Service Day.

Community Service Day gives us an opportunity to give back to the communities where we live and work. We clean, landscape and repair parks, playgrounds, schools, shelters and community buildings.

After all, real estate is rooted in our communities. And an investment in our neighborhoods gives us all a better place to call home.

Each Windermere office selects a project that best serves its community needs.

For this year's Community Service Day, Windermere's Oak Tree staff and associates will be assisting the Greenwood Boys & Girls Club and Greenwood Elementary School with sprucing up the grounds: removing trash, weeding flower beds, spreading new bark, trimming overgrowth and assisting with packing & moving classrooms.

Community Service Day will be held this year on Friday, June 17, 2011

Stop by, say Hi & take a look at our progress!

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May 2011 King & Snohomish County Statistics

Renee Roberts — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 13:46:00 GMT

May 2011 NWMLS Statistics

Momentum building as home buyers respond to lower prices, favorable financing.

May 2011 Monthly Statistical Recap

Northwest Multiple Listing Service members reported a 43% increase in pending sales of single family homes and condominiums during May compared to the same month a year ago. Sellers accepted offers from 7,509 buyers last month, up from...(Continued)...

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King & Snohomish County NWMLS Statistics: April 2011

Renee Roberts — Tue, 10 May 2011 12:59:00 GMT

April 2011 NWMLS Statistics

Housing market "warming" as brokers report multiple offers in some areas

April 2011 Monthly Statistical Recap

Home sellers around Washington state are starting to a see something that had all but vanished in recent months: multiple offers.

Several directors of Northwest Multiple Listing Service noted they are encountering more bidding wars in certain neighborhoods and price ranges, even though ...(Continued)...

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Postage Rate Increase April 17th

Renee Roberts — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 16:58:00 GMT

Postage Rate Increase

Effective April 17, 2011

Effective April 17, 2011, the postage rate for single-piece, 1-ounce First-Class letters will remain at 44 cents. However, postage for each additional ounce will increase from 17 to 20 cents.

The price for mailing a postcard will increase one cent to 29 cents.
First-Class postage for letters mailed to Canada or Mexico will increase to 80 cents for either country. That's a 5 cent increase for letters to Canada and a one penny increase for letters to Mexico.
First-Class postage for letters to all other foreign countries will remain at 98 cents.
Rates for Express Mail and Priority Mail will not change
Standard (Bulk) Mail rates will increase .004 cents per piece

If you have any questions regarding how this may affect your future mailings, please give me a call.

Consistency. Commitment. Connection. Collaboration.

e: wrengraphics@gmail.com w: http://www.wrenwebdesigns.com t:

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King & Snohomish Co. MLS Statistics: March 2011

Renee Roberts — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 16:34:00 GMT

March 2011 NWMLS Statistics

Housing market doing "surprisingly well" without a stimulus

March 2011 NWMLS Statistics

Last month's pending sales fell below year-ago totals in Western Washington, but brokers say the market is faring quite well, considering last year's activity was boosted by federal tax credits.

The latest report from Northwest Multiple Listing Service shows 7,570 pending sales of single family homes and condominiums during March. That's down about 12% from a year ago when members reported 8,605 pending transactions (mutually accepted offers) across the 21 counties in the Northwest MLS service area.

"The market is doing surprisingly well without a stimulus," observed ...(Continued)...
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Shredding Event April 9, 2011

Renee Roberts — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 18:35:00 GMT

Paper Shredding Event

April 9th, 2011; 11 am - 2 pm

Update: Successful Day! According to those in the know, Windermere Oak Tree shredded over 4,500 pounds of sensitive documents for our friends & clients. This was *Three Times* the volume from last year! Special Thanks to our chef Dan Fresonke for expert grilling of hotdogs & brats!...(Continued)...
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King & Snohomish Co. NWMLS Statistics: February 2011

Renee Roberts — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 17:16:00 GMT

February 2011 NWMLS Statistics

February housing activity yields "reason for optimism"

Februrary 2011 Monthly Statistical Recap

Housing activity during February continued to reflect the downside of distressed properties with fewer sales and lower prices than a year ago. Nevertheless, brokers believe there are reasons for optimism when taking a closer look at the numbers...(Continued)...
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Procrastination II

Renee Roberts — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 13:21:00 GMT

"The best way to get something done is to begin." ~Author Unknown

On the eve of my 2^nd #rebcsea event, I thought I'd take a moment to reflect on what I've learned and what I've accomplished since then.

Last year I attended Real Estate Bar Camp, an "unconference", a casual, open way to learn about cutting edge real estate marketing ideas directly from your peers who are sharing their knowledge! Topics are suggested by attendees with open forum discussions and demos. It's a very collaborative environment where every hour you have your choice of participating in one of 5 or 6 different topics ranging from social media, photography, software, blogging or other relevant real estate trends.

There I discovered that I'm not so different from other folks who are blogging. Some of these people I actually know, I've also read many a blog post written by several of these people. As a result, the barriers of fear, intimidation, and anxiety were lowered....(Continued)...
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Unique Client Gifts

Renee Roberts — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 16:32:00 GMT

Unique Client Gifts: Items of Value vs. Events

We're now well into February, so if you've created an Annual Marketing Plan, you should be contacting your clients on a regular basis.

Most Marketing Plans emphasize consistent mailings. Items of value including Calendars, personalized pens, sports schedules, local farmer's market locations, and home maintenance tips are also popular.

But what about more unique gifts?

Windermere and our Oak Tree's agents have planned a few events this year, allowing for face-to-face time with our friends, family & clients....(Continued)...
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Your 2011 Marketing Plan

Renee Roberts — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 16:35:00 GMT

Your 2011 Marketing Plan

It's hard to believe we're already a month and a half into 2011! Hopefully, you've had the chance to review your successes from 2010 and create a business plan and marketing budget for this year.

The key to building a strong brand is consistent, regular marketing. You may have been marketing the same way every year for your entire real estate career. But have you analyzed your results? Is what you're doing working for you? How have changes in the economy and local real estate market or technology affected your traditional methods of marketing?

To build a business plan you need to do the following things: ...(Continued)...
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January 2011 NWMLS Statistics

Renee Roberts — Sat, 12 Feb 2011 13:24:00 GMT

January 2011 NWMLS Statistics

Motivated buyers returning to the housing market

January 2011 Monthly Statistical Recap

Dramatic increases in open house activity and shrinking inventory are fueling optimism among members of the Northwest Multiple Listing Service. Commenting on the just-released MLS report on January's housing activity, one director stated, "There is a strong belief in the industry that the worst is behind us and we can look forward with confidence."...(Continued)...
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We Love Craigslist..but so do the scammers!

Renee Roberts — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 16:40:00 GMT

We Love Craigslist!

But So Do the Scammers!

Today I was contacted by an agent who had a problem when responding to an email from Craigslist.org to verify their account. For some reason their email bounced back.

I noticed the problem immediately... Craigslist will NEVER send you an email to verify your account, but the scammers will.

Their emails are sooo convincing, with statements like "Your account will be suspended", "help us enforce our 'terms of use'", or "we've noticed suspicious activity on your account". They pull at every angle to try to get you think that you're protecting yourself by clicking on that link. Don't Do IT!...(Continued)...
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December 2010 NWMLS Statistics

Renee Roberts — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 17:03:00 GMT

December NWMLS Sales Statistics:

Comparison of real estate market activity from December 2010 to December 2009

King & Snohomish County Sales Statistics

Western Washington Home Sales During December Nearly Equals Year-Ago Levels

...(Continued)...
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Santa Claus is Visiting Windermere Oak Tree

Renee Roberts — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 14:27:00 GMT

Santa will be making a special stop at Windermere Oak Tree this year!

Avoid the mall and the crowds by bringing children and grown-ups alike to have a photo taken with Santa and give to a worthy cause....(Continued)...
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October 2010 NWMLS Statistics

Renee Roberts — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 14:03:00 GMT

October NWMLS Sales Statistics:

Comparison of present month and the same month one year ago

King & Snohomish County Sales Statistics

Housing Activity Remained Sluggish During October;
Market Change Not Likely to be "Light Switch" Moment

Housing activity around Washington state remained lackluster during October, with brokers reporting year-over-year declines in pending sales. On a brighter note, prices on sales that closed last month showed signs of stabilizing, with eight counties showing price gains compared to 12 months ago....(Continued)...
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