Story of Revenge on the cheating spouse....

I saw this posted by a friend on a community here on Google. I thought it was special to share with all of my new and old friends, about the importance of learning the scorn of a woman. Men, don't incur this wrath!

After 37 years of marriage. Jake dumped his wife for his Young secretary.

His new girlfriend demanded that they live in Jake and Edith's multi-million dollar home and since the man's lawyers were a little better he prevailed.

He gave Edith his now ex-wife just 3 days to move out. She spent the 1st day packing her belongings into boxes crates and suitcases.

On the 2nd day she had to movers come and collect her things.

On the 3rd day she sat down for the last time at their beautiful dining room table by candlelight put on some soft background music and feasted on a pound of shrimp a jar of caviar and a bottle of Chardonnay.

When she had finished she went into each and every room and stuffed half-eaten shrimp shells dipped in caviar into the hollow of all of the curtain rods. She then cleaned up the kitchen and left.

When the husband returned with his new girlfriend all was bliss for the first few days.

Then slowly the house began to smell. They tried everything cleaning mopping and airing the place out. Vents were checked for dead rodents and carpets were cleaned. Air fresheners were hung everywhere.
Exterminators were brought in to set off gas canisters during which they had to move out for a few days and in the end they even replaced the expensive wool carpeting. NOTHING WORKED.

People stopped coming over to visit. Repairman refused to work in the house.

The Maid quit.

Finally they could not take the stench any longer and decided to move.

A month later even through they had cut their price in half they could not find a buyer for their stinky house.

Word got out and eventually even the local realtors refused to return their calls. Finally they had to borrow a huge sum of money from the bank to purchase a new place.

The ex-wife called the man and asked how things were going. He told her the saga of the rotting house. She listened politely and said that she missed her old home terribly and would be willing to reduce her divorce settlement in exchange for getting the house back.

Knowing his ex-wife had no idea how bad the smell was he agreed on a price that was about 1/10th of what the house ha been worth, but only if she were to sign the papers that very day. She agreed and within the hour his lawyers delivered the paperwork.

A week later the man and his girlfriend stood smiling as they watched the moving company pack everything to take to their new home.

INCLUDING THE CURTAIN RODS.

Moral - Men, don't mess with the woman of the house and stay married!

#LizBobeck
lizbobeck.com

Google + (PLUS) A Beginner's Guide

I have seen enough on my personal page of people blasting out messages to their "public" circle, I cannot take it anymore. Please understand that Google+ is not a place for you to tell me how nice a house is in Montana or about President Obama or about your depression in your life. We have something for this, its called CIRCLES. Join a circle, share with people in that circle on your passions. Its very, very simple.

You see, Google+ works best when we all get along, when we all engage one another in topics of conversation that MATTER to us BOTH. If you send me garbage that is blasted out to Public, its like sending me an EMAIL that I did not ask for. You need to work with the people in your circles, to build relationships, just as you would with the neighbor next to you or around the corner. You think they want to just receive JUNK mail all day long from you?

Create the GMAIL account, get on GMAIL, its a free service to collect all of your social posts as well as a pretty good email system. From there, you can add a Blog, like this one, on Blogger. No fancy plug-ins needed, just blog, and use YOUR words. Yes, you can share some information and posts, but try and blog from your heart, like my rant here on Google+.

Look, Google has over 1.01 BILLION users, Google+ was started in 2010, it really is about 6 years behind Facebook, with 1.15 BILLION users, as of September 2013. So in only 4 years, Google has really caught up. Some of those are Youtube accounts, but Google is buying companies and then trying to find a way to put them together and make it work (another post for another day). Issue here is that Google is going to pass FB and rightfully so, Google does not spam you with ads while working on blogger or G+. Facebook is all about ads and they still have no search answer. What does Google do better than anyone else? SEARCH.

Hey Liz, I built the darn gmail account, have my blog, now what? OK, start your Google+ account. Look around the page, you see places for HOME, PROFILE, PEOPLE, and other stuff, let's stick with the basics. Profile - Build your profile, who are you, where do you live, what other networks are you connected to? What gets you up in the morning? Do you have a picture, or must we refer to you and millions of others as the mysterious BLUE HEAD SHOT (Default for Google when you have no picture). How social is it looking at a blue head shot? Exactly.

Profile - About - Fill this out, entirely, get social, show us all what you do and how you connect socially, so we can see if we want to be social with you too! Photos - Post some photos of yourself, or if you have a BLOG, you can see all your photos there. Cool, eh?! Youtube - See all of your videos, keep it clean please.

Circles - Ahh, here is where you add people to the circles also known as a group. You add people based on your passions, like where you live, your type of work, your social callings, and these are the people with whom you really want to post out to and enjoy their posts. Forget PUBLIC for now, that is like broadcasting the end of the world is coming, so if you know for certain that the Mayans are coming back in 2014 for another bite at the "end of the world" apple, please post it, otherwise, stay off of it, its just like SPAMMING everyone about a bad danish, of which we have all had so you are boring and run the risk of us MUTING you and or, removing you and letting others know you are spamming us. So knock it off, don't use PUBLIC.

That is enough for now, I hope you enjoy the basics, and please read up on Google+ on the web, in a circle or in a community (Group of people who are passionate about a topic). Please don't spam. Ask me if we can be in a circle, and let me know, so that we can maybe....Hangout (its like holding hands on a first date) and the future of Google+

#LizBobeck
lizbobeck.com 

2013: A look back at the year in Jacksonville's dining scene | jacksonville.com

#Jacksonville saw many new restaurants in the San Marco, #Riverside and #Avondale. Not only did we see a few new ones, we saw some of the older ones expand. A sure sign that the owners believe bigger and better things are sure to come. Here is a new article that just came out with details on some of the changes in our city to our dining options.

2013: A look back at the year in Jacksonville's dining scene | jacksonville.com

#LizBobeck
lizbobeck.com

Power consumption comparison of a house from the 1970s and a modern house of say 2009

I found this from a friend on Google +Samantha Reeves and she was soooo nice to share it with me. So what do you think? If you have lived in an older house, you know most of this "can" be true, windows leak, the seals around the electrical plugs leak, the older appliances can be an issue in terms of reliability and power consumption.

However, I was reading recently where Americans are actually using LESS electricity than they did in the 1970s. Yes, we have more gadgets, but the efficiency of heat pumps and appliances had made it so the utilities are whining that they are not getting the return on their investment into newer systems and we all know where that will lead, higher surcharges. Kind of like being at an expensive country club and at the end of the year, all the members cover the assessment! Check out the link to the article about our local JEA here.

So what do you think? Is your power bill going down and can you relate it to energy savings in your house?

#LizBobeck
lizbobeck.com

Riverside Avondale Trolley Service running this weekend in Jacksonville, no excuse about drinking and driving!

I know you had fun over the holidays here in Jacksonville. You went to the beach, saw a new restaurant at Town Center and you may have even driven to somewhere new and exotic. What if, you did not have to drive and lived in the urban areas of #Riverside #Avondale #Brooklyn and could take the Trolley instead?


The Jacksonville Transportation Authority, in cooperation with Riverside Avondale Preservation, launches the Riverside Avondale Night Trolley beginning on January 3rd and 4th, 2014.  The Night Trolley will run Friday and Saturday nights, from 6:00 pm – 2:00 am, on the first weekend of every month during a trial period running January through June of 2014.  Riverside Avondale Preservation and area merchants invite citizens to experience a clean, convenient, reliable and low cost public transportation as viable alternative to cars in Riverside and Avondale neighborhoods.

The cost is $1.50 for a single ride or $4 for a day pass. Passengers should be prepared to pay exact cash fare of $1.50 each way (operators do not carry change), or simply tap your STAR card for payment. $4 day pass STAR cards that allow for unlimited trolley rides can be purchased at Grassroots Natural Market, Green Man Gourmet, Let Them Eat Cake, Open Road Bicycles, European Street Café, Intuition Ale Works and Bold City Brewery.   Seniors (60 and older) ride free. 

The Night Trolley will feature stops throughout the neighborhood residential and commercial districts, hitting 5 Points, Park & King, the Shoppes of Avondale, the Brewery District, Stockton & College, and the St Johns Village area. The trolley picks up riders everywhere you see a Jacksonville Transportation Authority (JTA) sign posted in the neighborhood along the below route.

For more information on the event and details, please go to the Riverside Avondale Trolley website.

#LizBobeck

Real Estate Market is coming back, maybe I can leave the team and do my own thing?

I have a good team right now, a couple of Realtors who are happy assisting me with Investors or who I pay for assistance with my listings and sales. Good ladies who I have known for quite some time and who are helping me grow my business. Do I believe they will "ALWAYS" be there, by my side in my business? Of course not, after all, people want to grow and expand and develop on their own, and being an assistant may not provide the level of development that some want for their future.

I saw this on Inman News today, thought I would blog about what happens when the market is rising, in any industry, and your assistant may start thinking they want to branch out on their own?

by #Teresa #Boardman

It’s a new year and the worst of the housing market crash is behind us (for most of the nation), so maybe you have been thinking about switching to a smaller brokerage or starting one of your own. If you are happy where you are, stay. But if you are not happy, then it’s time to take advantage of your independent contractor status and move on.

Change is scary, but no more so than working on a 100 percent commission basis and navigating the new health care system. The price of being unhappy is high. So is the cost of the security some people feel they’ve gained by staying put.

I started out at a big-box brokerage. The main reason I left was because I felt I could make more money on my own. I didn’t think I really needed to pay for a brick-and-mortar storefront, or for technology that was mostly obsolete.

It turned out I was right. But even if I had been wrong, I really needed to move on.

I’ve learned that it’s possible to make the same amount of money, or more, selling fewer homes on your own. And I’m having more fun.

If you are an agent and you are unhappy with your real estate company, either learn to love it or move on. Even failure is better than never having tried." Which isn’t the same as selling more homes than any other agent and being as rich as Zeus. But even if that were my goal, I believe I could accomplish it more easily outside of a big real estate company.

What’s holding you back? I sure hope it isn’t all the branded marketing pieces you paid for.

By leaving the big-box brokerage, I gave up having that well-known logo on my business cards and for-sale signs. I learned what to say when a prospect asked why he shouldn’t list with brand XYZ if it sells more homes?

The first step is to acknowledge that because brand XYZ has, like, 1,000 agents in the area, they do sell far more real estate than I do. But your prospect needs to sell only one house — his own.

There are many potential buyers and sellers that believe real estate agents are employees of real estate companies and that somehow those companies “sell” real estate or help agents sell real estate.

What about market penetration, they ask? Exactly how does that work in real estate? Buyers flock to homes listed by one brand while ignoring those listed by another? Once I educate the consumer and explain what real estate companies do, I can easily overcome that objection. And with more listings on Realtor.com, it is easier for people to see you and your BRAND NAME (YOU) on the web, the customer forgets the large company...

Real buyers and sellers usually just want to see the house, or want to know if you can sell theirs. Some sellers prefer the big brand. But there are plenty of sellers who do not, and there’s always enough business to go around.

Our clients are not always loyal to us or to a brand, no matter how good a job we do. I have never had any problem explaining my brand to people who then become past clients of the biggest real estate companies around.

If you want to leave your brokerage, start by making a list of services that you depend on from the brokerage and then look at alternatives. Many of the services that real estate agents get through real estate companies are available through the Internet, or not needed at all.

One of the first things I had to do many years ago was to start using my own phone number and email address. Don’t stay at a brokerage just because you get a “free” email account and Web page.

Moving will cost money and some loss of business, so it’s a good idea to do it right the first time. Draw up a transition plan.

Technological advances make it easier than ever to operate a small independent brokerage. The Internet is now the water cooler where agents can interact, network and socialize. Realtor associations provide educational opportunities.

Leaving the big brokerage isn’t for everyone. Stay because you like the people you work with and you think the company is the best in your market. Love it or move on.

Do not stay and complain, or hope things will change, because they probably won’t. Being an independent contractor means you have the freedom to move on. If you’re an agent and you’re unhappy with your real estate company, either learn to love it or move on. Even failure is better than never having tried.

Happy New Year #2014
#LizBobeck
www.lizbobeck.com