Western Mass Homes Lesley Lambert

agent

Why Should You Work With REALTOR, Lesley Lambert?

Choosing a Western Massachusetts REALTOR is a process that should be done after you have researched the agent’s abilities and heard what other customers have had to say about their experience working with this real estate agent.

I had the pleasure of helping a great couple who was relocating to Western Massachusetts this month. Their college friend is a real estate agent in Chicago and he used Facebook to post his referral and read this blog to research me before sending his friends to work with me. I love when a fellow REALTOR sends me a referral because other agents are very often more critical than clients.

These buyers, Doug and Judy were living in temporary housing hours from work and without their pets. We spent some time searching and negotiating, but last week we closed on a terrific house that they were very excited to move into.

Here is what Doug had to say the day of the closing:

We are Family- I Got all my REALTORS with me! Real Estate Siblings and Western MA Community

social gamers & siblings - _MG_0983
We are family….I got all my REALTORS with me!

Recently there have been several events within the real estate community both nationally and locally that have made me exceedingly aware how lucky I am to be part of this amazing community.

Let me start first with the story of my very good friend Clint Miller.

I’ve written already about Clint’s sudden experience with cancer and how it impacted our community and me in particular.

Clint’s story begins years ago when social media was new and he reached out to the real estate community because of his business with Real Estate Client Referrals.

But it goes so much farther than that.

Clint helps to create and foster and nurture a community where real estate professionals from around the world could converse, share and encourage one another. The recent events gave me a realization.

Real estate agents are much like siblings. We may scrap at each other and have our differences and sometimes even full-blown fights break out, however, if someone from outside of the community steps in and ridicules us, threatens us or tries to put us down then we band together any force that is to be reckoned with.

Which brings me to my thoughts on what’s happening to my social media friend Daniel Rothamel.

Known as the Real Estate Zebra, Daniel has been a leader in the real estate space and is an agent that I have watched and learned from for years. He has recently been hit with a lawsuit regarding his use of the real estate zebra by a group called The Lones Group.
Attn Lones Group- this child is branding with Zebra stripes!!!

The Lones Group states that Daniel’s use of the real estate zebra and his blogging confuses consumers because of their use of a zebra theme. This may or may not be true but what blows my mind is that The Lones Group target audience is REALTORS. Daniels friends are REALTORS. It gives one pause…

More important than whether the zebra sign is something that you can trademark and whether Denise Lones has a case or not is the issue of thinking about your target audience. It’s my opinion that they have made a serious error. This opinion is shared by many real estate professionals. But we REALTORS bonded together. My friend Jay Thompson created a defense fund for us to help Daniel with the costs of defending himself. Someone created a #savethezebra tag on Twitter. Many people adopted Zebras as their avatars. Now whether The Lones Group wins their case or not it stands to be considered that they’ve lost already.

I put a comment on a blog on the topic telling the leader of this case that I thought what she was doing was making her seem self absorbed, stubborn, and even a little bit silly. But what is not silly is the power of the real estate community standing behind Daniel. I am proud to number in that crowd.

Another recent experience that I’ve had that was much more local than the previous two is the case of my friend Tom Skrodzki.

Tom’s house unfortunately burned down several weeks ago. His wife (who is pregnant) and their seven children have been misplaced for weeks.

Another real estate friend Heather, reached out to me the day that the fire happened and asked me to help her get the word out that Tom and his family needed some help. Since that time there has been a huge outpouring of help from the real estate community in my area. People have brought clothing toys gift certificates cash sympathy and concern to this family in need.

Another REALTOR, Michael, has never met Tom in person but organized a fund-raising drive for his office and they will be presenting a donation to the family to help defray their expenses. Truck loads of donations have been dropped off at Park Square Realty for this family. This kind of support for a fellow real estate professional and neighboring in the community makes me sincerely proud and grateful to live in western Massachusetts.

So my hope is this:

May Clint recover from this awful episode even stronger than he already is. You have to talk to this guy yourself to really get the picture of the influence he wields. He is a wonder and I am blessed that he is a friend. I pray daily for your speedy recovery, Clint.

May Daniel get to the end of this mess without too much hassle. I don’t want to be a social media glommer and add to the morass of people claiming to be Daniel’s BFF. I know Daniel. Daniel is a nice guy. This is a stupid lawsuit and I hope it is over soon.

May the Skrodzki family recover from their tragic loss sooner than later. They already know how blessed they are to have each other. I am so glad to know them.

So thank you, my real estate siblings and community..You done me proud.

A REALTOR’s Snowy Sunday Drive in Western Massachusetts

Mill River, Leeds MA
The better part of today was real estate time spent showing houses to a buyer client of mine. We started late this morning in the Leeds section of Northampton, Massachusetts next to the Mill River. I got there early and took a quick walk up the street to see the river. It had just snowed last night a few inches of beautiful fluffy clean white snow and the river was babbling up against the white fresh white blanket of snow. It was simply lovely.

After showing houses in Northampton, we took the back roads to Chester, Massachusetts. The drive from Northampton through Westhampton and into Huntington was simply breathtaking. The fresh snow was highlighting and outlining the beautiful vistas along these country roads. At one point we turned a corner and on my left was a grove of apple trees covered in snow; their twisted old branches were made more graceful with the blanket of snow and beyond the apple orchards was the valley opening up below.

We were able to stop at one of my favorite hilltown country stores, the Huntington country store.
After brief fueling with the coffee and one of their famous wrapples (I indulged in the Apple Raspberry), we were back on our way to the center of Chester, MA.   After viewing our property, we journeyed down Route 20  back through Huntington, Russell and into Westfield.
As we descended from the Hilltowns back down into the Pioneer Valley and Westfield the sun broke through the winter clouds and the snow was shimmering along the banks of the Westfield River.
Now continuing our journey from Westfield to Agawam, the skies opened all the way out the sun was shining blue sky and the temperatures started to rise and I was feeling very content after our Western Massachusetts journey.
I don’t know if my buyer will buy any of the seven homes we toured today, but our drive from Hampshire County to Hampden County was a slow, serene, snowy Sunday drive that I appreciated for the experience.
Exploring the back roads after a fresh coating of snow made me especially aware of the beauty in Western MA and I feel very lucky to live in a place of such stunning vistas. Today’s beauty made for an especially pleasant day as a REALTOR in Western MA showing houses to a buyer.
You can hear my thoughts from the drive today here:

Showing homes in #westernma. This snowy scene is Leeds, MA

Look Ma- I am in REALTOR Magazine!

photo.JPG

It is no secret that I am a big fan of all things social media and technology in real estate. Using location-based applications is no exception. I have been using applications like Brightkite, Foursquare and Gowalla for a couple of years now in Western MA and have spent a lot of time thinking about how I can utilize them to help with exposure in the local Western MA real estate market.

Last summer I wrote a post on this topic for Agent Genius magazine geared toward sharing some of my thoughts on how location based applications like Foursquare can be used in a marketing and branding sense to expose real estate agents to a new market.

I was beyond flattered when REALTOR Magazine emailed me and asked if they could use some of my post as a quote in an upcoming article on the same subject. Yesterday my broker presented me with the magazine and when I saw the article I was even MORE excited because I shared space in the story with Todd Carpenter, NAR’s social media manager. Todd and I have had the opportunity to meet a few times and I am so honored to be quoted in the same story!

If you want to take a look at the REALTOR Magazine story, click here. I am so proud to see my quote followed up by says Lesley Lambert, a sales associate with Park Square Realty in Westfield, Mass!

If you are interested in learning more about social media, technology or location-based applications you can contact me. If you want a REALTOR who is using new media techniques to help her clients achieve their home-ownership dreams then definitely contact me!

Park Square Realty Awards Breakfast

Park Square Awards Breakfast

Today was the Park Square Realty Awards Breakfast at Tucker’s Restaurant in Southwick, MA. Agents from both the Westfield, MA and Feeding Hills, MA Park Square Realty offices were honored with awards for production, loyalty and some special awards for all kinds of amusing reasons.

One of the reasons that I like working for Park Square Realty is that in addition to being a group of high producing, hard working professionals – we know how to have fun, too!

I was proud to have met my 2010 goal and to have placed in the Platinum Circle and top 5 agents in the company. I also received a loyalty award for five years of working for Park Square Realty.

I made this video to share with you so you can glimpse the inside of Park Square Realty…there is a reason we are number one in our area!