I am honored to have been interviewed by the Westfield News last week for feature story on the state of real estate in Western Massachusetts. I really appreciate the opportunity to share my opinion on Western MA real estate, especially first time home sales.
Here is the article:
It is important that you properly prepare your Western Massachusetts home for the winter months.
Let It Snow!
Winterizing your home
Key maintenance tasks to perform
• Clean your gutters. Leaving debris in your gutters is an invitation for trouble. Not only can it freeze and damage the gutters themselves, but it also can force freezing water up under your shingles and damage the roof.
• Disconnect hoses Leaving water in any exterior hoses or pipes can cause them to freeze and burst. If your exterior faucets aren’t self-draining, be sure to turn off the water manually at the shutoff valve inside the house so water doesn’t stand in the wall pipes.
• Schedule a furnace tune-up. checklist of items such as inspecting filters, checking the chimney exhaust, and examining the blower and fuel connections. Expect to pay $50 to $100 for a furnace tune-up.
• Protect your air conditioning unit. If your outdoor air conditioning unit is located under trees or under the drip line of the house where icicles and snow may fall, give it a little protection by placing a sheet of plywood over the top and draping a dropcloth over it. However, don’t create a fully enclosed space, as that can trap moisture and offer winter protection for rodents.
• Close your storm windows. It’s a simple step, but an easy one to forget. Make sure the windows are shut properly so that the outer pane is up and the inner pane is down; this keeps rain and other forms of precipitation out.
• Insulate pull-down staircases for attics.
Spending a weekend or two on maintenance can prevent costly repairs and alert you to developing problems.
SAVING ENERGY, SAVING MONEY!
Put lamps in the corners: Did you know you can switch to a lower wattage bulb in a lamp or lower its dimmer switch and not lose a noticeable amount of light?
Give your water heater a blanket: Just like you pile on extra layers in the winter, your hot water heater can use some extra insulation too. A fiberglass insulation blanket is a simple addition that can cut heat loss and save 4% to 9% on the average water-heating bill.
Turn off the burner before you’re done cooking:
Use the dishwasher: If you think doing your dishes by hand is greener than powering up the dishwasher, you’re wrong. Dishwashers use about 1/3 as much hot water
I finally found the time to stop by Miss Sweets on Franklin Street in Westfield, MA and boy am I glad I did!
This shop is first of all, absolutely beautiful. The decor, lighting, style and ambiance are classy and comfortable making this a wonderful place to sit and enjoy a cup of coffee or hot chocolate. They even have free wi-fi!
I sampled four chocolate truffles and they were all amazing, but I must say my favorite was the Violetta truffle.
The shop has ice cream during the warm months, too! There were gift items available and I plan to purchase some truffles to give as hostess gifts for upcoming parties. Forget your diet and go try some! Be sure to visit Miss Sweets Facebook page AND the actually shop as soon as you can!
This week I received my first really nasty comment on my blog.
My first instinct was to delete and ignore. My mother always warned me that engaging with angry people is fruitless and much like poking a tiger.
My second thought was, wait, there is a blog post here. It might be a sort of blogger’s illness that I want to turn everything into a blog post, but I really want to explore the question that this nasty comment brought up and I want your input, too.
Do me a favor, though? Make the comments a bit less nasty. On second thought, maybe I find nasty comments inspiring.
Without further ado, here is the aforementioned comment:
The fact that you have facebook, twitter and a blog doesn’t make you tech saavy it makes you like everyone else in the world including my 10 year old nephew. Do you know XML? PHP? C+? Ruby on Rails? CSS? I didn’t think so. You real estate agents are pathetic.
I used that quote directly via cut and paste and left the bad spelling in place but I do know how to spell SAVVY.
Now, I CAN actually do some amateur coding, but I really don’t see how that is relevant to being a tech savvy real estate agent. Is Ruby on Rails going to assist me when negotiating a contract? Do I need to know CSS to assist a buyer client in finding their perfect home?
I use technology to be a more efficient and effective real estate agent in Western Massachusetts.
I define tech savvy as the ability to use technology to perform my job in a better way than I could without the technology. I think my effective use of iPhone, iPad, a blog, cloud applications and social media does make me tech savvy.
How do you define Tech Savvy?
Westfield, MA has been suffering serious crosstown congestion for years, but hopefully tomorrow it will be improved. As of tomorrow, December 1, the original Great River Bridge in Westfield, MA will be re-opening!
I visited the bridge today:
