Margaret Rome's Blog

They just bought their first house, they both work full time, they take care of two dogs, and they are planning a wedding. But even so, Natasha did not hesitate for a second when I suggested, on Saturday evening, that she be a guest on the radio show at noon on Sunday. 

When I arrived for the show, they were already at the station with big smiles on their young faces. I couldn't help smiling, too, at those contagious grins. Natasha told me that she was a bit nervous, so I suggested that she pretend we are on the phone together (which we were a lot for the past month!) Luke said she does that well…and so do I.

It was a fun show and I think their enthusiasm came through on the air. Now that they have their home, Natasha and Luke will be concentrating on planning their wedding in a couple of months. Don't you love her T-shirt? ("Mrs. Mattey in Training") They have my orders to live "happily ever after," and I believe they will.

www.HomeRome.com

410-530-2400

It could be one of those summer mornings in Baltimore that promises a hot day ahead. Or maybe it's just clear and not too windy. We don't need much of an excuse to head across the Chesapeake Bay for breakfast. If we drove, it could take a couple of hours, but we share twin engine freedom with some friends, so three of us climbed in and took off for a short hop to Kay's Country Kitchen in Cambridge, MD where we met two more friends who flew in from BWI.  As we approached, we had a good view of the airport area, followed by a smooth landing.

Dorchester County on Maryland's Eastern Shore is home to Cambridge Dorchester Regional Airport. The airport building is filled with light from all those windows, and the artist in me loved the angles in the ceiling. Like many small airports across the country, Cambridge Airport has a restaurant. Part of the fun of making day trips is discovering new places to eat where other pilots gather. In fact, the guys only fly to airports that have restaurants...and the food and the company are wonderful. Good service, very inexpensive and delicious, just like at Kay's. If you're traveling through Cambridge, you'll find it well worth a stop at 5263 Bucktown Road in Cambridge (410-901-8844).

What I like best is that a quick getaway like this is a perfect Type E vacation. Different scenery, different people, and in the company of friends – it's refreshment and relaxation packed into a short time. Perfect!

Here is another trip to Cambridge  Wheeee What Fun! THIS is Flying...the Rest is Just Transportation !

www.HomeRome.com

410-530-2400

Overload! That's what it has felt like the last three days. So much information, so much new knowledge, so much sharing and communicating, and so much FUN! 

A couple of times a year the Allen Hainge CyberStars® get together for a conference, and this time Orlando was the destination. In between fabulous meals and running from one air-conditioned space to another (it's hot and humid out there!), I learned so much that my brain is overflowing. Teri Isner did a wonderful job of putting this event together in her home town of Celebration, FL – and then shared enough information to fill up two days alone. Thanks, Teri!

I could hardly keep up  the typing of notes with all the suggestions from Mary McKnight about blogs, websites and what Google wants to see. Tim Kinzler shared innovative ideas for networking and staying in touch with clients(he was responsible for the beach ball). Brad Korn talked about the latest in digital cameras, Jo Ellen Nash had great information on luxury marketing, and Sven Andersen told us about cool gadgets that make great buyer gifts. When I looked around, I could see that others were having as much fun as I was, including Tim Burrell, James Nellis, and the lady who made my computer happy, Wynne Achatz. Wynne was one of the four original CyberStars, and she made it possible for me to have breakfast with my husband that first morning when she took over setting up my tablet PC. She shooed me away, saying, "Just go. I have the exact same PC, I know what to do." Where else but with the CyberStar(tm) group?!

As usual when this group gets together we found great restaurants. One of the evenings we enjoyed paella served by our waiter, Brett, at The Columbia Restaurant with Darryl Baskin, Lee Congdon, and Tim Kinzler. I met one prospect who didn't have much to say…I think this one's going to be a "tough as nails" customer!

Allen Hainge is the power behind the CyberStars – a special thank you to Allen for creating the group and inviting me in. I've learned so much and made such wonderful new friends. Now the challenge is taking all the new information and finding ways to put it to work in my business. That will keep me busy until the next time the CyberStars shine.

www.HomeRome.com

Last week I had settlement on a lovely stone home bought by a young couple buying their first house. Sometimes we forget what it's like for people who have never been through the whole process, and so I asked Natasha to tell me what it was like. Here's her story:

As a first time homebuyer who isn’t overwhelmed? As a young girl in love I wanted to find my castle to share with my Prince Charming (or for those who know the Princess Bride, my Farm Boy). I felt on top of the world knowing that I had the support from my now Fiancé, Luke. 

We decided to try and buy a house by ourselves, without a Realtor. Well, to make a long story short, that didn’t pan out quite how we expected. We ended up houseless in an apartment we had to move out of in about a month. This left us desperate and with no idea where to start. Thanks to my mortgage broker, Bob Bennett at Maryland Mortgage Solutions, he insisted we contact Margaret Rome. 

Well this turned out to be the biggest blessing we ever encountered. At 23 years old, overly stressed trying to plan a wedding and no idea where to start, I left a desperate message for Margaret asking for her help. Not 30 minutes later did I receive a phone call from the most reassuring voice I had ever heard! 

I started to have some hope. There was not one second in any conversation I ever had with her that she wasn’t concerned with what Luke and I wanted and what we were looking for in a house. I was so excited to meet her in person two days later and we hit it off as though I had known her for years. 

Margaret set about researching homes all around Baltimore City and Baltimore County trying to make our dreams come true in a very short time frame. She told me from the first conversation I had with her, “I will not sell you a house, you will find the house you want, and I’ll try to convince you not to buy it, and when you find a house you hate, I will try to convince you to see the positives in it.” Well, that she did. Never once was she pessimistic or optimistic, just the Devil’s Advocate, which is probably what helped this process move along so seamlessly. 

Finally we found a house that my Fiancé loved and I couldn’t quite decide if was right for me until Margaret started talking. She helped me to take a look from a relatively non-biased stance. It turns out this house was the perfect compromise between the two of us; energy efficient for him, and had quirky characteristics of an older historic house for me, with lots of land and a tiny little stream in the back for our two dogs. We thought we had the world in our hands until the negotiating started. 

Keith Whitehead, our brilliant home inspector, came out and brought up some small issues that needed to be fixed and some larger ones as well. I was a little nervous considering our offer was approved and we were set to close within a few weeks. Margaret never let me get upset. She just kept telling me, “Natasha, don’t worry, I WILL get this taken care of,” and she always did. She helped make this process as easy for us, the buyers, as possible. She never once let me second-guess us getting everything we wanted with this house.

It helped we had the best team: Merle Intner - Appraisal Services of Maryland, Charlie Brubaker - Command Pest Control, Mike Quartner - Quartner's Heating and Air Conditioning, Keith Whitehead – Home Advantage Home Inspections, Bob Bennett –Maryland Mortgage Group, and Tom Dreschler – Sage Title Group. 

Two days before closing we decided to go back to the house and make sure everything was in order. Well, everything looked perfect until we stepped inside and the house was 90 degrees with the “air conditioning on.” I was about to have a nervous breakdown because how can you get this all fixed? Well, Margaret called in her big guns and had her favorite HVAC guy show up and give us estimates and tell us what needed to be done. 48 hours later we were fully prepared to go to closing. 

We got to closing at Sage Title Group in Towson; Margaret and Bob Bennett were there, and a few minutes later Tom Dreschler, the attorney who worked with us, came in. From the minute he started talking you could see that he was only concerned about making sure everyone was happy and comfortable that the closing contract was fair to everyone. He did all the research and made all the phone calls necessary to make sure that there would be no favoritism in any wording or paragraphs added to the contract. He double, triple, and even quadruple checked with everyone to make sure every party was happy.

Being a first time homebuyer, of course I was overwhelmed, but everyone there made sure we were at ease before we “dotted our i’s and crossed our t’s.” One of the many words of advice Margaret told me at the closing was “The key to having the best closing is to have everyone leave filling as though they sacrificed a little.” I wasn’t quite sure I understood what she meant until we signed the last line, and I realized that, had we gotten everything we wanted, we would have devastated the seller, and would have come out looking greedy. 

Needless to say, we got the house that is perfect for us, and we are so excited to make it a home. I think the proudest moment Luke and I had was pulling into the driveway of our new home and seeing the SOLD sign out front. However, I am sad at the fact I can’t look forward to hearing from Margaret calling every morning to give us our daily updates, and we can’t go explore more houses and discuss our visions of what it can become. I can tell you however, that I am excited for the day we decide to sell our house when I have no doubt that Margaret Rome will be our first phone call.

Good luck and happy house hunting. I can guarantee you that with Margaret you will find the perfect house.

 - Natasha

www.HomeRome.com

You're kidding, right? Choose just six words to sum up this whirlwind that is my life? Ha! Waaay too many choices. I've got a better idea – here's a list of six-word summaries. Take your pick! 

Sell Your Home With Margaret Rome

Made a wish, Lee came true!

Real Estate the Right Rome Way

A new Active Rain member…Yes!

Packing Light...No Room for Shoes

Have to dress - time for Radio! 

Don't let unimportant things become important!

I just do not do upset!

What's Important Now is important now!

Houses sell houses; agents foul deals

Can't eat more than you have. (Mom used to say this to others when planning a party so as not to worry if there was not enough)

Pay you stay, don't you won't. (This sums up a loan) 

I guess it's a Type E thing – ideas bubble up, and I don't see any reason to choose just one and discard the others!

www.HomeRome.com

Baltimore, MD

It started with this post by Frances Flynn Thorsen:  FREE Webinar -No Blogger Left Behind Breakout Session Spotlights ActiveRain. Even better, Fran and Joeann Fossland asked me to join them as a panelist. Naturally I said, "Yes!" and figured I'd have some time before the webinar to prepare. And then my day got busy . A listing. A settlement. It was a successful day but looong, and it all added up to me getting home just a few minutes after 6:00 pm. Whew! Caught my breath and logged on just as they resolved some minor connectivity issues. Good thing I can wing it.

We had a great group on the call – Joeann, Fran, Pam Dent, my publisher Peg Silloway, several other Rainers, and especially a new blogger, Monica McNamara from Ocean City, MD. You know I love to share what I've learned, and had fun answering Monica's questions and talking about how important blogging is to my business.

One of Monica's questions was, why would anyone read more than a hundred comments on a blog post? All I could say was that, if you're lucky enough to write a post that gets hundreds of comments, you'll understand! (We also warned Monica that Active Rain blogging can be addictive, especially when you start to get gold stars.) I shared my approach to responding to comments: I acknowledge the comment in my blog's comments, and then I go to the commenter's blog, read their articles, and find something to comment on their blog. I believe this helps to continue building the community and make the connections that real estate is all about.

One of the neat things about a Webinar is that the host, in this case Fran, can let everyone on the call see the same thing at the same time. So when we talked about posts with lots of comments, we could all see her scroll through Active Rain posts. When Joeann talked about AR groups and gold stars, we all watched as Fran brought up a group like Them,Them on the screen. And the same for the search feature as a research tool, tag words, listings, and a host of other topics we covered. We even talked about how blogging is a great way to connect between grandparents and children, with Joeann's delightful granddaughter Lily as a perfect example with her own blog: The World's Youngest Blogger. (Yes, at 6 years old, she writes it all herself, and with a theme – things that begin with "L"!)

Through it all, Fran and Joeann offered many helpful comments. Even though I've been blogging for more than two years, I learned how to make my neighborhood posts better by making the links easier to follow.

Blogging on AR has given me the practice to help me write with more ease, and to be aware of how to relate daily fun and hobbies like feeding birds to real estate. It's also been a great  resource; I had my book cover designed by an Active Rain marketing genius, Marti Garaughty. And over the more than two years since my first blog in January, 2006, I've written so much that it's a challenge to get my new book, Real Estate the Right Rome Way, down to just 12 chapters. 

I thought this was a wonderful webinar! Thanks to Fran and Joeann for making this available to Active Rainers, and for giving me a chance to be part of it. Just one more example of what fun it is to play in the Rain. And Monica…she is so quick that she had joined AR and posted her first (excellent) article before my invitation even reached her!

Monica has already done hers, but I'm challenging everyone else on the webinar to write a post about this today. Let's see what happens!

www.HomeRome.com

Baltimore, Maryland

Let's all get on TRAC !

Sunday June 6th, Margaret Rome will be hosting the live radio program All About Real Estate.

How many Active Rainers will be listening?

Paul Sobwick from  www.TRACauctions.com will be my guest. You might remember that Paul, he's the good looking one, auctioned my Historic Church Are You Waiting for Success?  last year along with many other properties.

Paul and I  will be discussing Accelerated Marketing ... how  properties are sold by giving  sellers yet another option. TRAC - The Realtor's(r) Auction Company - allows all the auction benefits (no commission, no closing costs, "as is", 30 day settlement) while allowing the real estate agent to stay involved to guide the seller to a smooth closing. 

You are welcome to call in with questions or leave a comment on this post for us .

Yes I will have my computer and on line  at the radio station.

We have used numbers before in posts here - my favorite number 944, 10,000 members, 100,000 points, and so forth. Seems as if today numbers are everywhere I look. This photo of a flower with six petals was taken at 5 Wake Forest Court Catonsville, Maryland 21228.

Since I met Marti Garaughty, "The Art of Marketing You" expert, I always am aware of marketing. So today these two come together - numbers and marketing - with a bit of holiday spririt thrown in. Wouldn't this be an ideal day to own a liquor store, and put up a huge banner out  front that read: 

My mom used to say this, and today I smiled when I remembered her and this silly saying. Oh how I would love to own or be the marketing person for a package or liquor store today!

Whatever your favorite numbers, have a great Fourth of July!

www.HomeRome.com